[KLAUS]

be yourself, everyone else is already taken.

    ELIJAH SIGHED HEAVILY AS he looked away from Juliette, scanning the Lockwoods' property before his eyes landed back on Juliette. A smile graced his lips as he pulled his sleeve down, covering the mark.

"Well?" Juliette asked, crossing her arms over her chest, her brow raised as she awaited an answer. Elijah knew that she wouldn't back down, and he couldn't keep this from her any longer.

"It's quite simple really, Juli." He spoke, his voice smooth and calm. He leaned against the fence with ease as he looked her up and down. "But I've been keeping it to myself long enough, I think now is a suitable time to tell you."

Juliette sighed, looking slightly confused. "What's simple?" She pushed, stepping closer to him.

Elijah placed his hands on her arms, moving them up and down slowly as he prepared to speak. "We're soulmates, Juli."

Her jaw dropped.

Her eyes widened.

Her heart stopped.

Juliette stared at Elijah in disbelief and confusion. She couldn't believe what she had just heard. It didn't feel real, and it couldn't be real.

"Soulmates?" She repeated slowly almost as if the word felt foreign to her.

Elijah nodded as his face was filled with amusement as he watched his expressions and reactions.

"We're.... Me and you...... we're.. soulmates?"

"Yes," Elijah said, calmly.

"WHAT?!"

The original grinned as he chuckled, "You seem surprised."

Juliette's eye twitched as she glared at him, still trying to process the information she was just given. "I seem surprised?! Oh, I'm sorry, you've just told me that we're soulmates! That's completely normal!"

Elijah suppressed another laugh, yet, still allowed a huge grin to tug at his lips. He stepped closer to Juliette, placing his hands on her shoulders. "Okay, okay. Calm down. I'll explain everything to you."

Juliette sighed deeply, "You better. Because I'm very confused,"

"What, you don't believe in soulmates?" He raised a brow.

"No? Not really."

Elijah looked at her in slight disbelief before speaking, "Juli, you live in a world filled with Vampires, witches and werewolves but yet, soulmates are a shock to you?"

Juliette stays quiet as she thinks for a moment. "Shut up!" She responded, her voice slightly whiny which amused Elijah greatly, he adored it.

"Okay, okay. I'll shut up. But it just means I can't explain everything to you." He teased as he turned away from her, looking out onto the lake as he heard Juliette groan.

She stood next to him as she huffed, shoving his arm slightly. "You can't do that to me. You can't drop a bomb like that and then refuse to tell me."

Elijah didn't look at her as he spoke, "Well, you did tell me to shut up... and I am a man of my word, Juli-"

She smacked his arm, "Elijah Mikaelson, I swear, if you do not explain this soulmate crap to me, I am going to kill you and-"

Elijah cut her off with a laugh as he turned to face her. "Alright, alright. I will tell you." He spoke, grinning to himself as he enjoyed watching Juliette get frustrated. "You are adorable when you're mad, do you know that?"

"Explain," Juliette demanded but Elijah didn't miss the blush that crept into her cheeks but he chose not to comment on it in slight fear that he would make Juliette much more frustrated than she already is.

✧✧✧✧

    THE PAIR HAD BOTH ended back inside the Lockwoods' house again. Elijah was stalling and she knew it. The silence between them was thick and uncomfortable and as the minutes dragged on, the more frustrated Juliette got.

She was sitting on the couch, arms crossed over her chest, not even trying to hide how angry she was. Elijah stood a few feet away, added more wood into the fire, and was perfectly composed, perfectly okay with stalling. However, his hand gripped the fireplace tightly, his knuckles turning white from the force. That told her everything she needed to know. He was nervous.

The fireplace crackled as he stared down at it, the only sound in the room, breaking through the deafening silence.

"Can you stop stalling now?" Juliette started, breaking the silence. "If you don't tell me soon I will walk out of here and throw myself into oncoming traffic."

A faint smile graced his lips. "That would be rather dramatic, even for you."

She gave him a look.

Elijah took a breath before sitting next to her, placing his hands on his knees. "My entire life I have known about you. Even before I was a vampire."

Juliette blinked. "Before?" She repeated almost like she didn't believe him.

"Yes," Elijah said softly, facing her fully on the couch. "My mother disrupted the balance of nature by making me and my family into vampires. We were a mistake to nature. Even she... even she believed that we deserved love. And so, before her death, she crafted a soulmate bond for me. Not a spell or a prophecy but rather a tether to you long before you were even born,"

Juliette swallowed, "So, she made someone for you?"

He shook his head. "Not made. Found. You were always you, she just anchored our souls together." Elijah gently took hold of her hands. "The mark on your arm, the burn you felt, it's all part of the bond. It only appears when we are near each other."

"And you're only telling me this now?" Juliette was in shock, she couldn't believe this, it was all too much. Too crazy to believe. But, in this world, anything can be possible.

Even a soulmate bond.

"I didn't want to frighten you," He reasoned, "I couldn't scare you off when we had just met," He tried to make a joke but Juliette was in too much disbelief to react. "I didn't want to believe it myself when I first turned. For centuries, I.... I forced myself to forget about it. I didn't even attempt to look for you. But when I first had the dream with you in it, I knew I had to find you,"

"And when I saw you in that house," He paused for a moment, swallowing quickly before opening his mouth again. "It was like the universe had taken my breath away. I felt so... relieved to have found you."

Juliette felt her breath catch in her throat as she listened.

"I know this is overwhelming," He said, "But you have to understand what this means. I spent years looking for the other half of me. And now you're here. I have been searching for you for years."

"Do you know how insane that sounds? Like genuinely. I can't be someone's destined soulmate."

He faltered slightly, "You're afraid." He spoke, his composure slipping slightly.

Juliette scoffed as she stared at him, "Obviously I am afraid. There are too many things already going on and now this? Elena, Damon and Stefan don't believe anything I say, and they're definitely not going to believe me with this."

She sighed heavily.

A silence settled between them. This one is much more uncomfortable than the last.

Elijah finally spoke after a moment. "We... we don't have to act on anything if you... You're not ready. I just wanted you to know,  I didn't want to keep hiding things from you."

Juliette lowered her gaze, fidgeting with her hands, feeling slightly guilty but she knew that she had too much going on.

Elijah took her hands into his, gently caressing her hands with his thumbs. She glanced up at him as he sent her a soft smile.

"I'm going to help you figure out everything, anything for you," Elijah spoke softly causing Juliette to smile and nod before she leaned forward and gently pressed a kiss to his lips before pulling away.

"That's all you're getting for now," Juliette joked, grinning. "Be grateful."

Elijah returned the grin as he chuckled, "Always,"

Before she could say anything else, the door creaked open and Elena stepped into the living room. Her jacket was in her hand and her phone in the other. She glanced down at their interlinked hands.

Juliette stood up, "How's Jenna? Is she okay?"

Elena sighed heavily as she fully entered the room, placing her jacket on the couch. "She's okay. I told her about everything, she's... dealing." Elena replied, giving Juliette a reassuring smile, which the blonde did not return, she only nodded,

"Finally."

Elijah motioned to the chair opposite him, "Please. Sit." He said to Elena and then turned to Juliette, giving her a look as if he were telling her not to argue. He patted the space next to him, and she sighed heavily but still sat down.

"What is Klaus' curse?" Elena asked, her voice firm as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"My family was quite close," Elijah began "But Klaus and my father did not get on too well. When we became vampires, we discovered the truth. Klaus was not my father's son."

Juliette already knew all of this so she half-listened as she watched Elena's brow raise.

"My mother had been unfaithful many years before. This was her darkest secret. Klaus is from a different bloodline."

Juliette zoned out for the story as she already knew everything. Instead, she sat and thought of what Elijah told her. They were soulmates. Eternally tied together. Bound together, actually, by fate.

It was wild to her.

She was in love with Elijah. She knew that much. But, she also knew there was so much going on in her life. Juliette needed to focus on that while also exploring this... whatever this is that's going on with Elijah.

She was allowing herself that much.

✧✧✧✧

ONCE ELENA KNEW OF Klaus's hybrid curse, the three made their way back to the Salvatore house. However, it seemed that there was much more drama going on there as the living room looked like a hurricane had hit it. Stefan stood near a broken bookshelf while Damon paced around the living room, barely able to contain his anger.

Elena walked in with Elijah and Juliette, making the brothers stop and look at them. Damon's eyes immediately landed on Elijah and darkened. "Seriously?" He said, glaring at Elena. "You've invited him in now?"

Elena nodded, and her expression remained calm. "Elijah and I have renewed the terms of our deal."

The older Salvatore scoffed as he shook his head. "Really?"

Elijah stepped forward, hands tucked into his pockets. "The two of you will come to no harm at my hands, I only ask for one thing in return."

"What?"

"An apology."

Damon blinked in surprise. "A what?"

This was going to be a long night.

✧✧✧✧

Hii guys!!

So I've prewritten three chapters so far and I'm gonna continue to, so I've decided that Friday will be when I post.

However, I also want to start my Spencer Reid book "Statistically Yours" so I've decided that I'm gonna alternate Fridays on which I post. This Friday was born to die, next will be statistically yours!

Hopefully, this works because I'm finally back into writing. I'm blaming character AI I swear. I was so addicted it was so bad. But I've deleted the app and it's been a few days so that's good!! Hopefully, I don't download it again because it ruined my motivation for writing 😭

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!!

byeeee

01/08/25