A letter to home .. ((Open))

Elijah liked the sound of the Christmas decor. He couldn't relate with the oversized tree because his parents were never home for that annoying time of year. He had other people to be entertained by and he knew he would never want that old pleb and that banshee of a wife of his coming home just to ruin his Christmas. Not that there was much to be jolly about when the news of parties came in or the rumours of New Year's kisses that his mother had not shared with the pleb of father he had.

Elijah heard Nash hiss in agreement and he felt his skin start to bend to her will as Nash tried to escape her fleshy confines. Even after all that time he had never really got used to Nash's product of leaving him. It always seemed as if she did it on purpose - making it hurt when she left.

Eli felt Nachash push herself into his shirt and he growled in irritation. The thing was making him more irritated than he had felt for a while. It scared people to see a living, breathing snake protrude and eventually leave a living, breathing human.

Eli sighed and tugged his shirt off, over his head and hit the snake when she finally left him. For that he received a bite on the hand and Eli hissed a profanity in Parsletongue as he looked at the now freely bleeding snakebite on his hand. Eli hissed at Nachash again and commanded her to leave. He wasn't going to have her bite him again which she did when she was feeling a bit irate.

But the snake still stayed there, looking at him and especially Amelia.
"Go or I'll bite you back you god for saken piece of skin! Go!" Eli exclaimed in Parseltongue. The snake relented but he she wouldn't go far, when he was angry with her she tried to make amends.

Elijah sighed and dabbed the wound with his shirt. It would get bloodied up quiet nicely and he knew his white shirt would probably be no more but he couldn't help but feel slightly angered that his girl had bitten him. Sure he had gotten annoyed with her and he probably deserved it but lately she was getting some foul moods and there was nothing he could do to help her shake them.

Eli ripped a piece of his shirt away from the main body of it and wrapped it around his palm. The wound was bleeding more than he expected but he didn't plan on being bitten by his own god damn snake! He knew he couldn't run for a while, not as Fluffles or whatever the little girl in the village by his home called his Animagus. It was a white Bengal tiger and a rare sight in Bulgaria, especially in a village.

"Curiously, I expect there is a handbook on 'How to not anger your pet snake' but I believe it is fairly obvious that I have not read it."

"Christmases with 'Ash are always interesting. We scare the housekeepers and the butlers and anyone else that unfortunately worked there. The little maid girls are fun to paint while the run around the kitchen. The only unfortunate thing is, is that they move fast because that ruddy animal is chasing them." Eli chuckled. "the house is almost never decorated as my parents spend more time in Milan together than Victor does at home in Bulgaria. Decidedly he only returns when the house in Milan has burned down but it is never a pleasant thing to find out via one of the maids. It makes your blood run cold or it does me and then Nash hisses, telling me that I'm not a reptile but I'm also a Krum, one of the richest whatevers on Earth and the richest in Bulgaria so why should I worry about the pleb in the other room? I will answer that now, it is because he is married to the scariest woman this side of the Hogwarts Castle. Goodness knows who could be worse than her, I am guessing Molly Weasley when she was angry but my mother is permanently furious with everything, especially me."

Amelia was lost in her own memory, the smell of peppermint replacing the smell of owl droppings and slightly rotting straw. She could hear the violin music that flooded the house, provided by her mother’s many friends in the business. Once in a while, Antoinette herself would sit down with her violin amongst the quartet, adding a fifth person and picking up in the middle of a song as if she had been playing along in her head the entire time. Amelia loved to watch her mother when she played, for it was the only time when her lips were not spread thin or her eyes criticizing everything in sight. She let go of herself when she played, much the same way Amelia did, and it was at these times that Amelia saw her mother most clearly.

The memory faded away slowly and Amelia grasped onto the last bits of it for as long as she could before it slipped through her fingers and she found herself once again in a dimly lit owlery with Elijah. The boy seemed to be in a state of discomfort, growling for a reason Amelia could not discern. She could not recall having said anything that would warrant such a response, nor did she initially understand why Elijah was pulling his shirt over his head. Amelia would have looked away to give him some privacy, as this was the second boy she had seen shirtless in as many days, but the snake which was protruding from his chest made it difficult to avert her eyes. She watched in amazement as Nachash left his body, Elijah’s displeasure presented by way of hitting the snake. Amelia was surprised that the intimate connection between the two did not stop them from becoming angry, but it seemed the snake was equally capable of anger – and much more physical about it.

“Oh!” Amelia exclaimed when the serpent darted its head out and clamped its jaws around Elijah’s hand. The string of parseltongue which dripped from Elijah’s lips was more venomous than she believed the snake to be, resulting in the snake disappearing to somewhere beneath the straw which covered the floor. Initially distracted by the living snake which had just exited Elijah through his sternum, Amelia lost sight of the creature and turned back to see Elijah dabbing at the bite with his shirt. The red seeped into the white cloth, blooming crimson flowers onto the cotton material.

Although the bite must have hurt him, Elijah did not allow the humor – however slight it must have been – to escape him. That was the biggest difference she saw between herself and the boy: he seemed to find the brighter points of life’s experiences, rather than dwelling on the negative parts. While his life, from his descriptions, was not all kittens and rainbows, he still managed to find the light that was Nachash or painting or the colour of her hair. The little things made up for the bad; she envied him this ability to see the good in people and in life.

Elijah’s description of the family Christmas came to a close, Amelia taking all of it in, but finding herself dwelling on the name he mentioned again. She knew she had heard his surname before, but she could not place exactly where. It sounded vague enough that she might have heard it on a guest list for her parents’ parties or over yet another idle dinner conversation, but yet it was familiar in a way that many of those passing names were not.

“Do you…” Amelia began, clearing her throat before beginning again, “Can I take a look at your hand?” Amelia asked, gesturing toward the T-shirt wrapped hand that Elijah had all but ignored through his story about Christmas. Although her parents despised the idea of her learning healing techniques, Amelia had gone around them to learn as much as she could. Her mother thought it ill-fitting of a lady to be dealing with blood or gore, and her father thought it a waste of her magical abilities. He did not understand why she wanted to know how to fix cuts and broken bones when she could be learning to transfigure marbles into Moroccan artifacts. Sometimes their priorities did not exactly align.

“I might be able to do something about the cut, I mean,” she said, refraining from touching him unless he gave his explicit permission. Although Elijah seemed to have no qualms in placing himself in her personal space, the concept of respectful distance had been far too ingrained into her for her to forget all she had been taught.

(Ah, a short one.. sorry)

Elijah was tired, mostly from the energy sucker that just bit him. He had no chance when 'Ash bit him because she was more tranquilising than a stunner. He groaned and pulled the cloth away.

The bleeding had stopped but Nachash had sunk her teeth in deeply and he knew that the bleeding would start again. Eli muttered something unintelligible in Bulgarian and dabbed his fingers on the wound with his other hand. Teasing it, daring it to bleed again.

"If you want." Eli smiled at Amelia. "She wouldn't bite you by the way. Nah, she likes you but has it in for me. Always has." He chuckled and turned so he was sitting cross legged on Amelia's left (or right).

"This is ironic." he chuckled. "Last time she bit me she healed me but I really don't think she will this time. She has been pretty angry the last few days but I expect she'll survive. Can you do anything with it?" he asked, looking down at his hand again.

When Elijah pulled the cloth away Amelia could see the craters on his hand where her teeth had been. The wounds were deep, deeper than she would have expected. The bleeding had ceased, for now, but Amelia knew that did not always imply that healing was occurring. Although the crimson liquid no longer leaked from the wound, it was just as likely to start up later, and that time a T-shirt might not be enough to stop it.

“Don’t!” Amelia exclaimed a bit too loudly, trying to put her hand between the bite and Elijah’s prying fingers before they got there, but she wasn’t fast enough. He prodded at the skin on his hand as if he were buying meat, checking to see if it had gone bad on the inside. Amelia could not for the life of her figure out why people – boys in particular, though she tried not to be sexist – felt compelled to poke at a wound.

“I mean,” she said, moderating her voice this time, “You could do more damage that way. I will do my best with it, but I don’t claim to be capable of all that a healer might be. If you infect it before I seal the wounds the infection will be trapped inside you.”

Amelia took his hand delicately from him, placing it palm up in her own. She inspected the bite more closely, forming a complete mental image of the pattern of the punctures. Although she had some practice with performing healing spells, her experience was somewhat limited. When one was not a registered healer it was difficult to find willing patients, and thus she took what she could get. Most of the healing she had done had involved the privileged children of her parents’ friends. After getting hurt doing something rebellious and far outside the acceptable norms of one’s parents, it isn’t exactly easy to go back to the family physician. Once word got out that Amelia was proficient with healing spells, she became the go-to girl for trust-find kids caught in a tough situation.

“It doesn’t look as if she released any venom,” Amelia said after a few minutes of examination, “which I suppose speaks to her attraction to you. You may think she had it in for you, but if that were true, she would have poisoned you with this bite. I guess she likes you more than you think,” she added, smiling slight at him.

Perhaps that snake and I are not so different...

“Hold still,” she said, gently holding his hand in place as she held her wand in her right hand. Closing her eyes, Amelia waved the wand above the puncture wounds, envisioning the pattern she had been careful to memorize. After the lengthy incantation, Amelia opened her eyes to see that Elijah’s hand appeared, at least, to have returned to its previous state of health.

“How does it feel?” Amelia asked, unwilling to celebrate a healing victory without knowing for sure that she had done her job correctly. Although it may have looked to her to be put right, what Elijah felt beneath the surface was a far better judge of whether or not she had been successful.

Elijah grinned at Amelia's reaction. He liked to irritate the wounds he got. He knew it wasn't just a guy thing because some girls liked to see blood - mostly the vampire ones but that was beside the point. He liked to tease the wounds and see what they would do. Infection never worried him because Nachash would reopen the wounds and she would suck the infection from the bloodstream. Eli didn't think that was possible but somehow she did it.

Amelia had healed the cut and Eli looked down at it. There was a tiny trace of the bites in his palm but they were only scars that seemed to glow in the light. Elijah was awed, she was a fabulous healer. He had, had a fair few cuts and scrapes in his lifetime and he had a few hundred scars which was a bit of an exaggeration but every one of them had a story. His legs were littered with them, long and angry most of them but Nachash never ventured down further than his waist so she had no reason to heal the scars anywhere other than his chest.

"You are brilliant!" Eli declared happily. He leaned over and kissed Amelia on the cheek before hissing something to Nachash in excitement. It was something along the lines of 'Haha I have a Healer in the making and you can't stop me from making her famous'. That wasn't exactly what he said but after gloating for a while he glanced back at Amelia who probably had either a skittish, shocked, pleased (unlikely), scared or some other emotion written across her face.

Elijah felt the blood flood to his cheeks and he ran his newly healed hand through his hair. He had kissed her on the cheek. Big deal, right? The French did it all the time and he spent a lot of time in France so he had picked up some of their habits. The Bulgarians did hugs and kisses all over the face so Eli was glad he had paid attention to French culture and not his own.
"Sorry 'bout that.." Eli said shyly.
Men. He heard Nachash hiss in irritation.

Amelia watched hesitantly as Elijah examined his hand, her breath caught inside her chest until he reached a verdict. She would feel awful if she had accidentally made the situation worse; it had never happened before because she had put much time into practicing her healing spells with the leftover roast chicken or whatever happened to be around the house. But if she managed to physically harm the one person she seemed to getting along with even in the slightest, she knew she would never forgive herself.

Her breath came out in one full burst when Elijah exclaimed her brilliance. He seemed immensely pleased to have his hand in its complete and unharmed form, and his happiness was contagious. Amelia smiled at his glee, feeling for just a moment that the light which emanated from him might have begun to shine over the walls of her personal fortress.

But, as usual, there was something to stop the light from staying too long. Elijah leaned in toward her, smiling like a drunken fool, and planted a kiss on her cheek. The smile which had so easily come to Amelia’s face left almost immediately, wiped away by the shock of the gesture. Her hand rose automatically to the place where he had kissed her, checking to see if the skin was really burning there or if it just felt that way.

Colour flooded to her cheeks, a hot, crimson blush taking over her face and making her freckles disappear. Her breathing rate increased, shorter and faster than she usually did. Her heart skipped what felt like ten beats, making up for it with an increased rate when it caught up with itself again. With one gesture, Elijah had yet again to throw her completely off balance and send her mind into a whirr.

He kissed me! He… he kissed me. Why? He barely knows me. I barely know him. Hair is one thing, but this is something else entirely. This is too much. This is too soon. This is…

He’s looking at you. He’s blushing too. Say something. Say something. Say something!

The shouting which rattled her mind emphasized the time which had passed since the kiss, Elijah’s apology coming out shy and reclusive. Amelia’s eyes were wide and her face red, the picture of embarrassment and shock. She wanted to stay, to brush it off like anyone else could have, but the kiss had been too much for her to handle. The fragment of emotionality Elijah had managed to bring out in her was silenced before it had a chance to speak, her rational side reclaiming it’s post as commander in chief.

“I need to go,” Amelia said abruptly, lifting herself from the ground. Standing above him, Amelia could see the shock and hurt written on Elijah’s face, and although that small fragment he had elicited tried to make one last attempt, is was quashed by the overwhelming need to be alone, away from the pressures to answer questions or feel

“I’m sorry,” she said, knowing this would not be enough. Hoping to avoid any emotional residue which might be hanging around her, Amelia turned quickly and crossed to the door, not turning around as she left the owlery and quickly descended the stairs. Her bare feet made no noise on the stairs as she descended, the cold stone chilling her feet. Her shoes would be a casualty of her inability to let people in, just as she suspected her budding friendship with Elijah would be.

Sometimes, it is better not to hope.

Elijah watched Amelia disappear out of the door and he heard a snake-liked chuckle. He looked down to the floor and saw Nachash curling her way around his leg.
Fool. She hissed, licking his exposed skin and making a scar disappear. Did it occur to you that ssshe doesss not like to be touched!?

Elijah sighed and clenched his hand together. He looked up and saw Ziva come through the porthole with a red howler attached to her leg. Nachash chuckled darkly and continued to heal some of the scars on his leg. Boredom, he guessed.

The curiousss thing isss.. you're here... on the floor with a sssnake, sssome ssshoess and a howler .. why did you not go after her?

Elijah's curse was anything but quiet. Guessing his next move, Nachash quickly slipped under the skin of his leg just before Elijah jumped up. He snatched the shoes off of the floor and glanced at Ziva. He ruffled her feathers and opened the Howler before running out of the Owlery, leaving the Wicked Witch of the West to rant and rave.

Elijah ran down the steps of the Owlery, knowing that Amelia couldn't have gone far. No one could walk that fast through the muddy grass and various pine cones, among other things. Even if she did she would have to do some serious feet exfoliating

Do not tell me you thought of that by yoursself. Nachash hissed. Elijah could hear the smirk in her voice. He just didn't know the bloody snake could read his mind.
"Oddly enough, yes." Elijah chuckled and continued to run. He wondered where Amelia had got to. She was a young woman with a lot of blood running through her veins and if the Vamps were out then she would be in a spot of trouble.

Run, fool, run! he heard Nachash teasing him and Eli wondered how he had ended up like this, running down through the grounds after a girl that had some serious human contact issues with 3" heels in his hands. That's right, Eli. You have finally lossst your mind.

Eli stopped to catch his breath and looked around. Amelia was no where to be seen. He couldn't believe he was stood in the grounds, shirtless with-
We have gone over this Elijah! It's weird, I get it. Nachash hissed. Call her name.

"Amelia! C'mon! I have shoes here! The kiss was a force of habit! I don't regret it but still! Please?! Disappearing into the night is not normal for teenage girls unless it's the newest thing to do in England but I don't know! I'm Bulgarian! Please, Amelia I don't bite - Nachash does. Please come back.."

Elijah sighed and sank to the floor. He put the shoes down beside him and tore a blade of grass out of the ground. He was cold now but he would survive. He had his father's build, the huge shoulders and stupidly large muscles which no one ever saw unless he or his father went around shirtless. Elijah looked lanky with clothes on his torso but that just wasn't the case. The only thing he wished he had inherited was the heat his father gave off. He was freezing himself.

Elijah sighed again and ran his hands through his hair, shaking it up. He wouldn't let himself get over emotional about this. He liked Amelia a lot more than he cared to realise. She was like a puzzle with pieces missing. He had somehow taken it upon himself to find those pieces and make them fit. She didn't seem whole but he wanted her to be.

"Stupid idea." Eli muttered, rubbing his eyes to ward off tears. He had been raised by too many women, the 'time of the month' emotions were finally starting to rub of on him. He growled as he felt a warm droplet of water fall onto his hand and he furiously wiped his eyes again. "Maybe we should just go home 'Ash."

Why?
"I'm a failure, maybe?" Eli said bitterly.
Your problem not mine.

Elijah dropped his head into his hands and massaged his temples. He wasn't used to this, he didn't like people being afraid of him. He was like the BFG except Giants weren't that thin and they generally didn't have huge ears and Eli really wasn't a giant. He just didn't want anyone to be scared of him or his stupid affectionate ways.