Chapter 7

"Surprised you actually came, wolf." Damon grunted, cutting straight to the chase and gestured Tyler to the table over in the café part of the grill. "Time to finish our chat."

Tyler nodded stiffly, stepping back to let Damon walk ahead of him, refusing to turn his back on this vampire for a second. "After you, vamp." He said quietly, lips compressed in one thin grim line, needing to make this quick so he could go visit his football player that was rushed to the hospital.

Snorting, Damon had to give Tyler Lockwood credit. Wolf boy wasn't as stupid as he thought, but that still didn't mean Damon was going to turn his back on him. He didn't care if they were in a public place, Damon didn't trust easily, especially his natural born enemy. They both stood there staring each other down, eyes narrowed, when Stefan finally joined them.

"Thank you for meeting us, Tyler." Stefan said softly and walked past both of them to show he wasn't afraid and trusted Tyler.

"After you." Tyler said again, this time with a little more edge in his voice, tightening his jaw.

Instead, Damon never took his eyes from Tyler and backtracked to a nearby table that was in the middle of the grill, but close enough to the exit in case this didn't go well. Stefan sighed exasperated when he saw what Damon was doing and reluctantly joined when Tyler sat down at the table. He understood Damon's apprehension when it came to Tyler Lockwood, but if they were going to work together as team, they had to trust each other. That was definitely going to be easier said than done.

"I have to make this quick. My kid ended up being taken to the hospital and I have to go check on him." Tyler informed both of them, swallowing down the worry for Teddy, who was the current quarterback of the football team.

"Did they give you a reason why he collapsed?" Stefan asked with mild concern, leaning back against the chair and ignored Damon's irritated expression.

"They think he was dehydrated, which I don't understand because I make my boys drink at least a gallon of water at every practice." Tyler knew how strenuous football was, especially in the grueling heat they were currently experiencing and took all the necessary precautions. "I think it might be drugs, honestly, and if it is he's done."

"Can we stop making idle chit-chat and get on with this?" Damon growled, interrupting their conversation with flashing ice blue eyes. "We have our own problems to deal with and have things to do."

Stefan glared at his brother's audacity, itching to pop him upside the head for his rude behavior. "As we told you on the field, we need your help in regards to Simone." Maybe this would make Damon happier or at least a little more at ease.

"What exactly do you need me to do?" Tyler quirked his eyebrow, folding his arms in front of his chest, sounding confused. "Yeah, we talked for a little bit, but I know nothing about this girl."

"But you like her." Damon pointed out tersely, daring Tyler to deny it and lie to them. "She was all over you last night and you didn't exactly push her away."

Tyler was tempted to sock Damon right in the face, reigning in his own temper. "Hey, she was a beautiful woman making a pass at me. I'm a man, I'm not about to push away any opportunity to get laid." He defended, clenching his teeth, every muscle in his body tensed.

"What my brother is trying to say is you had a connection with her and she trusts you." Stefan intervened in a polite tone, wishing Damon would just sit there and be quiet before he pissed Tyler off. "All we want you to do is take her out on a date. One date. Ask her questions and see if you can't get the truth out of her about why they're here. We really don't want to use compulsion on her until we've exhausted all of our options." Though Damon had already that morning, unbeknownst to Stefan.

What little brother didn't know wouldn't hurt him, Damon thought smugly, tapping his fingers against the side of his glass. "She'll spill to you, wolf boy. Look, we both want the same thing here. We want to protect our town. As much as we may hate each other, and believe me I do hate you because of what you are, I'm willing to work with you in order to settle this. Just find out why she's here, that's all you have to do. Relay the information back to us and we'll handle it from there. And, think of it this way, you'll probably end up getting laid, which is what you want anyway."

It sounded almost too simple the way Damon explained it, which unnerved Tyler to say the least. "Why don't you want to use your mind control on her to find out the easy way?" He had to ask; his curiosity peaked and stared astutely across the table at Damon.

"Because there's a chance they might not be hiding anything and we don't want to tamper with their minds unless there's no other choice." Stefan said simply, wondering if maybe this was a mistake getting Tyler Lockwood involved.

"What makes you think she'll even go on a date with me?"

For all he knew, this beautiful ash blonde could've been screwing with him, even though that's not what it felt like. Tyler had a hard time forgetting the feeling of her body pressed against his as he bent over her, showing her how to play pool. The smell of her scent intoxicated him, a sweet aroma of some kind of flower, though Tyler couldn't pinpoint it. He could smell the sun on her beautiful tanned skin, everything about her warm and inviting, though he would never admit any of this to the Salvatore's.

Smirking wickedly, Damon leaned on the table with a knowing gleam in his eyes. "Because she wants you." He'd taken a quick peak around Simone Turner's mind the previous night, after she was asleep, and it was filled of nothing except Tyler Lockwood. "If you're going to believe anything I say, believe that, wolf boy."

Tyler somehow believed what Damon told him was the truth and, if that was the case, who was he to disappoint a beautiful woman? "Fine." He grunted, pulling a piece of paper out of his pocket and set it on the table. "That's her number. She gave it to me last night and I was planning on calling her today after the practice was over."

"So you were going to ask her out even before we approached you?" Stefan asked, mildly amused when Tyler nodded and chuckled, clapping the man on the back lightly. "Good play, Tyler."

Damon was not amused, wanting to rip this wolf's head off and be done with that. "Just find out why she's here. I'm sure in that puny brain of yours, you can remember that much." Standing abruptly, Damon swallowed down the rest of his bourbon before slamming it down on the table, stalking out of the grill to his car.

Stefan could walk home for all he cared.

"Don't mind him; he's on edge because of the girls." Stefan said, his way of apologizing on his brother's behalf. "Thanks for doing this and good luck with Simone."

"Something tells me they're not here to cause trouble, at least from what I could tell." Tyler said, thankful Damon was gone because now he could talk to Stefan privately. "If they were up to something, they wouldn't have exposed themselves out in the open like they did. I didn't smell any apprehension or fear from Simone either, she was perfectly calm, cool and collected around me. So either she's a damn good actress or they're not a threat."

Tyler had a keen sense, much like the Salvatore's, because of their enhanced supernatural abilities. "I agree with you, but you know how Damon is. If he doesn't get answers soon, he'll start doing things his way and I don't want those girls hurt." Stefan was doing this for their benefit, refusing to shed any more innocent human blood if he could help it.

"I'll find out what's going on." Looking down at his watch, Tyler cursed and stood up brusquely, cutting their conversation short. "I have to go check on Teddy. I'll call you if I find anything out."

"Good, thanks again Tyler and I hope your kid is alright." Stefan said, standing as well, needing to go inform his girlfriend on what was going on as they both exited the grill.

~!~

Olivia sat downstairs in the living room/parlor in front of the fireplace, staring into the flames thoughtfully, a cup of coffee in her hand. She wore black fleece pajama pants with a short sleeved dark pink top that had a black design splashed on the front. Simone was outside enjoying the beautiful day, not realizing Olivia had gotten up after sleeping nearly thirteen hours straight. It was late afternoon and Olivia felt guilty because she hadn't meant to sleep that long, thankful she only had a small headache to contend with as far as a hangover went.

All she could think about was how to go about finding the Sommers family, if they were even in Mystic Falls. Olivia refused to get her hopes up about this, her entire world tipped upside down within the span of a week. It was sad how, in the blink of an eye, someone's life could change so vastly without warning. Olivia closed her eyes at the thought of her parents buried six feet under and wiped a stray tear away from her cheek as soon as it escaped.

Simone took that opportunity to walk back inside the mansion and stopped at the sight of Olivia, the smile on her face instantly replaced with a frown. "Livi, are you okay?" As soon as the tears began falling, Simone was beside her a second later, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "It's okay, sweetie…"

"No it's not." Olivia stood up from her, setting the cup of coffee down and angrily wiped her tears away. "I hate feeling like this, Sim. I hate feeling incomplete! My parents are dead and they're not coming back! Now I'm in this strange town, in this strange house with two guys we don't even know! What the hell are we doing? We never should've left Atlanta…"

Simone knew this was Olivia's way of grieving and her fear once again taking over about tracking down her biological family. "Livi, what happened to your parents was devastating, but that's not your fault and you can't keep feeling guilty. I know that's what this all boils down too. You weren't there when the house exploded. You were in town while they were in the house and you feel like you should've died with them." Cupping Olivia's face in her hands, Simone forced her tear-filled amber eyes to meet determined jade. "I'm not going to let you give up, do you hear me? You came here for answers and we're getting them one way or another, there's no backing out of this. And no more feeling guilty about your parents' death because it's NOT your fault."

Olivia loved Simone because she was the only person who had kept her grounded and sane throughout the past week. "I don't know what I would do without you, Sim." She hugged her best friend tightly, sniffling and let a few more tears escape.

"I know, Livi. I don't know what I would've done if you died in that fire with them. You're my only friend, the only person who can deal with my hyper blunt ass. You don't judge me either, which is something a lot of people do. I'm so glad you didn't die with them." Something suddenly triggered in Simone's mind, causing her to pull back to wipe Olivia's tears away. "And what's so wrong with being in this gorgeous mansion anyway with two good looking men? Granted, they're not Tyler Lockwood good looking, but you get my drift. And don't think for a second I didn't notice the chemistry between you and Damon Salvatore, missy."

Olivia flushed, dropping her eyes from Simone and turned around to go retrieve her coffee. "I don't know what you're talking about." She mumbled, trying to get her cheeks to stop growing hot.

"Oh whatever, you can't tell me you don't find him attractive!" Simone crowed, following Olivia as she began walking around the living room/parlor. "You can fool a lot of people, Livi, but you keep forgetting I know you better than anyone. I've known you since we were in diapers for Christ sakes! You can't stand there and tell me you don't want to get in Damon's pants."

"Simone!" Olivia groaned, really not wanting to have this conversation, even though it was a nice diversion away from her morbid thinking regarding her parents. "What time do you want to head out of here?"

"I was going to talk to you about that." For some odd reason, Simone didn't want to leave this place. "Look, why should we go pay for a crappy hotel room when we have this gorgeous mansion to stay in? I don't know about you, Livi, but there's no possible way the hotel beds are like the one we slept in last night. Let's just stay for a few more days. I'm sure Damon wouldn't mind, especially since he wants you."

Olivia's jaw dropped, hardly believing what Simone was saying and could feel her cheeks burning by now. "No he doesn't." She grumbled, wishing she was a better liar because even she felt the electricity between them the previous night. "He's way out of my league anyway and I'm not here to plant roots. I'm here to find my biological family, get answers and then go back to Atlanta. Besides, we've intruded on the Salvatore's long enough, don't you think?"

"Okay first of all, there's a difference between having sex for fun and planting roots. Granted, Damon isn't my type, but that man has one HELL of a body on him. You need a distraction and he could be the perfect one, Livi, someone to take your frustrations out on. He's smart, sweet and sexy. Why not just go there and throw caution to the wind?" Simone planted her hands on her hips, knowing she was right in everything she said, a sagaciously smirk crossing her face.

"I'm not a horn ball and don't have sex just for fun, unlike SOME people." Olivia shot back, though there was no malice in her tone, finding this amusing.

"Fine, fair enough, but just admit that he's hot and you want him. I'll leave you alone about it if you do." Simone compromised with glittering jade eyes, laughing at how exasperated Olivia was.

"You are impossible." She griped, finishing off the rest of her coffee and knew Simone wouldn't leave her alone about this until she did. "Fine, he's hot and I want him. I want him to just toss me over his shoulders and take me in every way possible. There, satisfied?"

"Much, thanks." Simone grinned, wrapping an arm around Olivia's shoulders and both girls had a good hearty laugh. "Now then, how about we talk to the brothers and see if there's any way we can negotiate staying here for a couple more days? We could pay them if it'll make you feel better so you don't feel like we're 'intruding'."

Olivia eyed her friend skeptically, pulling away to fully face her. "Why are you so adamant about staying here?" She asked inquisitively, tilting her head slightly.

Simone shrugged, not really understanding why she wanted to stay here either, but something in her brain was screaming at her to stay. "I feel comfortable here and I like this place. It's got that old worldly classy feeling you know? And there's so much room, unlike a shabby hotel that we'd be holed up in. Not to mention, it's in Mystic Falls and we're close enough to where we won't have to keep driving and wasting gas just to do our investigation." Those were all points well-made and Simone was pleased when Olivia couldn't argue with any of them.

Olivia groaned, hating when Simone became the voice reason and finally tossed her hands up in the air. "Fine, alright, but ONLY if they agree to take money from us. I'm not becoming a freeloader. If they don't agree to take money, we're leaving."

Grinning, Simone nodded in full agreement and was glad Olivia was on board with this. "Deal, now go get dressed so we can go out for a few hours, get some fresh air." She ordered, pushing Olivia in the direction of the hallway, already dressed and ready for day one of Operation Sommers.