My bedside lamp flickered on once I'd stepped into my room. Elijah sat in the chair beside my bed, seemingly picking at the fabric.

"What are you doing here?!" Thank god no one else was in the house.

"I thought I made myself clear."

Kathrine. Of course he knew. "Technically, I never engaged with her. Not physically anyway. I stayed well behind the boundary."

"Hardly twenty four hours and you've already broken your word." His jaw jutted forward. "Had I not known better, I would have believed you were seeing that buffoon. You haven't exhibited this behavior since he was around."

"Enzo isn't a buffoon."

"I disagree."

I rolled my eyes. "If I could get the moonstone, then I wouldn't need her. That thing has to be as valuable to him as she is."

"A thought struck me, as I contemplated why you ran. It never made sense." Fuck. If anyone could figure it out, it'd be him. "Beyond saving yourself from what would be a lengthy daggering." Elijah stood. "At first, I believed you needed your freedom. That you were chafing under our close supervision. After all, it wasn't long before you'd hit your teen years, and much like Marcellus, you were a stubborn, petulant, thing. So when you saw the chance to slip away while I was distracted, you took it."

"Elijah-"

"I'm not quite finished." He held up a hand. "Now I've seen your desperation. Despite the threat of recovery, of losing your brothers or your precious control..." He stared me down. "You've done something that Niklaus wouldn't forgive. I just have yet to find out what."

I licked my dry lips, wrapping my arms around myself. "That's quite the jump, old man."

"Is it?"

"I'm only 'desperate' because I know how fucking dramatic you all are. You take something minor and twist it around in your heads to something worse. A horrible betrayal. What kind of dumbass runs away from an Original." Me. I'm the dumbass. "So yeah, I wanted a little freedom after five decades, and maybe I got sloppy with my meditations, but I haven't died and I haven't gone on a ripper binge. I'm okay."

He hummed. "That remains to be seen."

Fucking hell. He made me want to rip my hair out. Imagine how he'd behave if I was actually telling the truth.

Elijah pulled a blood bag from his jacket, holding it out expectantly. "I will personally deliver you, your blood until I've seen your control. If it does not come, then you will go into recovery, and it won't be something you can talk yourself out of again."

I reluctantly crossed the room to him, grabbing the bag from him and took a seat on my bed. There wasn't much of a choice here.

He watching me closely as much of the same thing happened.

I needed to escape, find some other way to bargain my freedom from Nik, if I can't get this to stop. Though where would I go? Elijah would know that I'd eventually return to find my brothers. He'd just wait me out.

Elijah's more patient than I am.

He took the bag away, waiting for my vampire features to fall back down, before giving it back. His eyes narrowed. "Better than yesterday."

"Is that enough to stave off recovery?"

"It's a minute improvement. I'd like to see you drink without your expression shifting."

"Do you know how fucking hard that is?"

Elijah tutted. "Language, dear one."

"I barely had that mastered before Mikael showed up, and that was when I had decades to practice." I groaned. "I feel like that is a little much for the spot I'm in."

He pulled another blood bag from his suit jacket, swiftly replacing the near empty one I held. "You are perfectly capable of meeting my expectations, though doing so would require some patience."

Because that's what this was. I was meant to be perfect in my control.

"That's fine, but maybe with less restrictive time constraints."

"Morgan. I have the utmost faith you can do this." His phone buzzed. "Now, I have to go clean up the mess you've made. Be grateful your brothers have not discovered my ability to compel vampires yet."

"Elijah-"

"That's quite enough, dear one. I'll find a less obvious place tomorrow." Then he was gone.