Elaine's POV
I woke up naked next to Kai, who was sleeping. I carefully slipped out from his side and went to take my bath before rushing downstairs to ask for Cordelia's help with clothes of Kai's size and also breakfast for the both of us.
"Good morning, beautiful," he mumbled while rubbing his eyes. How he fluttered them afterward made me weak in my knees, and at that point, I wouldn't even believe it if someone told me that he could hurt a fly.
"Good morning," I greeted back with a smile while placing a cup of water on the small drawer close to him. "Cordelia will get us a proper meal and something good for you to change into."
His face flushed at my last statement.
"Cordelia? Did you tell her we fucked last night?" he asked while getting out of the bed.
"I mean, I could have," I shrugged, enjoying the redness on his face from the embarrassment he felt.
"Nice one, Elaine," he muttered, quickly picking his stuff and rushing to the bathroom the moment he heard a knock on the door.
"Here you go, little one," she smiled while handing the tray of food over to me before giving me Kai's clothes. "And oh… You don't need to worry about more clothes just in case," she winked at me before glancing at the rumpled sheets.
"Silly old woman!" I joked.
She only laughed in response, promising to see me later after I was done with Kai. I put everything else in order while Kai had his bath, and when he was done, I handed his clothes over to him and made him join me for breakfast.
"C'mon, are you for real?" I asked him, nudging him with my arm.
"You literally told that old woman that we spent the night fucking each other. Now, what is she going to be thinking each time she sees me walking through that door?"
"I didn't need to tell her because I didn't. I was screaming, okay? You made me scream, and you forgot to block the ears of those present," I said in my defense, shutting him up.
"I see," he sighed in defeat, though he didn't want to look after me yet.
"Yeah, and you can make me scream all over again. Maybe right on top of her counter so that I wouldn't have to say anything, and you'd believe me when I tell you that she already knows," I smirked.
"I like the sound of that…" He nodded his head, finally meeting my gaze. "And what time would work best for you?"
He no longer seemed to be joking, so I swallowed hard, picking a chunk of food and forcing it into his mouth, making him laugh.
"I was just kidding, okay?"
I nodded in response, not wanting to say something that would make things escalate from being a joke. I had to recover fully before doing anything of the sort.
We soon finished our breakfast and went for a small walk in the woods. He showed me some hiding spots and also quiet places to chill. We chose one of them, which was not so far from the motel—more like it was at the center.
"So… I've heard a lot about your curse from everyone else, and I haven't really heard anything from you," I shrugged.
"A lot?" he raised a brow at me, surprised.
"Yeah. A lot," I answered back while sitting next to him.
"Can I know what the 'a lot' sounds like?"
"I think Luca told me that you were cursed because the members of the cult didn't want anybody as powerful or more powerful than them, and they sealed a lot of curses, bound them together as one, and placed them on you," I quietly said most of the details that I could remember.
I waited for his response without rushing him into it. He took a deep breath and wrapped his arms around me as if protecting me from something.
"Actually, the last point is wrong. Initially, when I was cursed, it only manifested during the full moon, when I would often lose control and massacre a lot of innocent souls. But in the long run, I started finding my way around it, and that was how I met Damien," he paused as though the memories were replaying in his head. "I thought I was getting a hang of it until the night I couldn't breathe properly, my veins were popping out, I was vomiting black blood, and it was just as if I wouldn't make it to the next day. I did lose control on that particular day and killed many more people than I thought I would."
"Damien couldn't help?"
"We weren't friends, but I could always swear that he did everything he could because I was almost driving our species to extinction. He was scared, and he thought I'd lose it completely, so he decided that I'd stop trying to get redeemed because he feared that I'd do it the wrong way and end up losing control again. I kinda succumbed to it, but the day I first met you in your dreams… it was a game changer for me."
"How?"
"Since I relieved myself of a lot of strength each night, I secretly kept trying to see if I could find my way around it the same way I almost had my way during the full moon. It kept working, though, and each time the pain came, I'd picture you in my mind and try to bear it, promising myself that I'd have you as a reward if I overcame."
I tried to imagine what it was like for him during those days, but out of curiosity, I asked a silly question instead.
"How did you know that I was in existence then? Because if I'm right, you've lived for centuries, and I'm just a new adult."
"I didn't know you existed, actually. I just pictured a pretty woman with nice features each time I was about to go to bed, doing all the nasty things with her in my subconsciousness to relieve the stress and pain I got from having to be me," he shrugged. "However, one day, I decided to cross the border of Raven Hollow to see the world outside of this place—though in the shadows—but that was the first time that I met you. It was crazy because I thought my subconscious mind brought you to life just so that I would have a real reward if I was able to overcome in the end."
His revelation about the dreams gave me goosebumps, and I really didn't know how to react to it. I just sat there, stunned.
"Back to the curse," I reminded him.
"The cult members grew suspicious during the night of another full moon when I didn't react exactly the way they thought I would. Not just them, but Damien also figured out that I was trying new things to adapt to the curse. Something else began to happen. Each time I promised myself a reward and had you in my subconsciousness, it only happened in my subconsciousness, while in reality, I was a mindless monster killing and devouring people. Damien provided lots of clips as proof, and I had to choose between dealing with the pain and maybe not losing control of myself or keeping rewarding my resilience only to move about mindless and totally out of control."
"Why are things no longer that way?"
"Maybe they thought that the more I had to bear a lot of things, the more I'd become stronger if I eventually broke free from the curse."
"And the full moon?"
"Nothing has changed with me losing control. The only difference over the centuries is that I only lose control over a short period of time, but with heightened speed and intelligence, it doesn't feel so different. I mean, I could kill two people in five minutes, but now, I could kill five in two minutes."
I paused to take everything he had said in, and I didn't ask him this time before he continued.
"That's the reason I withdraw from you sometimes because it's never just about the full moon. It keeps evolving from one thing to the other, and Damien has really been of help even though he wouldn't admit to ever helping me. He has pushed through hell for me in those difficult times."
Hearing this about Damien also made me realize that I knew nothing about him. Regardless, I was happy that Kai had a genuinely good person to help him rather than just being a sex-hungry vampire most of the time.
"It must have been very difficult for you during those times, and I promise you on this day, I'd do everything I can to get to the root of this curse, find out other stakes that we haven't discovered yet, and I'll fight by your side until you get full redemption from it," I assured him, while he did nothing but nod in response.