Chapter 1

'Pick a card' Chiara Green took a sip of her juice while she held a deck of card in front of the brown eyed brunette with a nice diamond necklace. The woman stared at her with an unimpressed smile. The arrogance was obvious in her eyes but she still took a card and stared at it. It was the queen of heart. 'Remember it, sign it, and put it back.' Chiara said as she putted the glass down. She shuffled the cards with one hand and threw them up as she caught them with the other hand. The deck was placed on table, and Chiara took another sip after she said, 'the first card is your card.' The woman picked it up but then grinned when she saw the ace, and there was no signature, 'it isn't.'

Chiara paused and then turned to her with a surprised look, 'are you sure?'

'Yes'

'But how would you know when you haven't even looked?' Chiara's expression turned to a cheeky grin, and she continued, 'I should have finished my sentence. The first card in your wallet is your card.' The woman narrowed her eyes in scepticism but picked up her bag and opened her wallet. There it was; the queen of heart was placed on the first holder with the woman's signature. Her mouth dropped as she stared at Chiara. 'How did you...'

'Don't think about it, love. It was a tricky one. The queen of heart gets around a lot. No one has ever been able to catch her.' She winked and took a sip of her juice again.

'That was amazing' Matt Donovan said as he took the brunette's glass.

'I fooled myself to believe that I was a magician' I smiled to him.

'You have been her for six weeks, and you still manage to surprise me.'

'The element of surprise is as important as the element of distraction, my dear Donovan; which reminds me, your card is in my glass.'

'But that is not possible, I have right here.' Matt putted a hand in his left pocket but only a sudden astonishment appeared. There was nothing there. Chiara finished her juice in one huge mouthful and as she predicted, the king of spades appeared at the bottom of the long glass with Matt's signature. The surrounding people clapped enthusiastically as Matt took the card out and observed it in disbelief. 'Don't feel bad; the king of spades even fooled the queen of heart.' Matt smiled as Chiara winked.

'I would like to give it a try, darling.' The voice made Matt's smile disappear. Chiara turned around and looked into the brown eyes of a dark haired, handsome man.

'You should stay away from him', Matt warned before he walked away.

'I would be delighted for your assistance.' She smirked with mischievous eyes.

The man sat on the chair in front of her. As she shuffled the cards, she asked, 'what is your name, sir?''

'Kol Mikaelson' he replied with a superior grin.

'Well, Mr. Mikaelson, pick a card.'

He picked a card, signed it and pretended to put it back. He had planned to humiliate this girl and so decided that he would keep the card to himself. It was easy enough to fool people with his incredible speedy reflexes. He smirked to her as she began to shuffle the card in an impressive manner. However, this trick had an introduction. 'Before we continue with the trick, I would like to reveal a magic trick. As a magician it is important to be open-minded, and to be so, it is important believe in everything.' Her smirk became broader, 'Well, my original plan was to give my little audience a threat. I was planning to hide the card under his shirt; but dear Mr. Mikaelson is as playful as he is handsome.' Few of the girls around began to giggle and blush and Kol turned his gaze toward them to wink. Chiara gathered the cards into one big deck again and hit on the table with a consistent rhythm.

'So instead I have decided to teach Mr. Mikaelson a very important lesson.' She turned eyes to the deck, 'Being charming and playful is good; but one should never forget to be humble.' As she said 'humble', one card jumped from the deck into her hand. It was the six of spades with Kol's signature. He stared at it for while but then exclaimed with a grin, 'it is not possible because I have the card.' As he took out the hand with the card, he was only half disappointed. There was indeed a card but it was not his. It was the joker. Astounded, he turned his widened eyes from the six of spades to the joker. With a low voice, Chiara said, 'As long as you can see, you will perceive, and so I can deceive.' She smirked one last time before she left the table went to the bar.