Andy woke up in the morning to the sound of her phone ringing. Obnoxiously loud. She cursed, and struggled out of her comforter to fumble for her phone on the nightstand, only to overreach and fall off the bed, onto the floor.

She let out another series of choice words as her shoulder impacted the nightstand as she fell, and her phone landed very conveniently in front of her face with a thud. Still belting out that terrible ringtone that she was too lazy to fix.

Andy decided to stay flat on her back. Clearly it was too early for any kind of coordination on her part. After all, it was…11:00 AM?

And the person on the phone was her boss. Shit. She reluctantly answered the phone.

"Hi."

"Andy, I just wanted to tell you that I confirmed your PTO request. Seriously, don't worry about coming into work today, but next time don't put it in on such short notice."

Andy turned that sentence over in her head. She hadn't requested PTO a damn day in her life. But she wouldn't look this (highly suspicious) gift horse in the mouth. And it was the last day before her off days…

"...Okay. I'll see you in three days."

She hung up the phone and slowly placed it on the ground.

That was weird. Very weird. She may or may not have suffered a minor concussion due to the…incident…earlier this week, but she had no missing spots in her memory. Even without the vampire blood, she would have been fine. Eventually.

She wasn't human, even if she did resemble one more heavily than a lot of the supernatural creatures out there. In fact, the only indicators of her Oracle status were her eyes - a dark jewel-like blue that reflected light oddly - and her minor healing factor.

She could heal from just about anything, provided that she had enough time for it to happen. So that maybe-concussion? It wouldn't have done anything to her after a few hours or so. But her leg wouldn't have taken longer without the vampire blood, though it was stiff and achy for a few days after.

Andy knew she was lucky that Elijah's blood had worked on her. Historically speaking, magic or magical substances and Oracles have had very…unexpected reactions. She would take a few days of stiffness and minor pain if it meant that her body didn't have an adverse reaction to the benefits of vampire blood.

But back to that phone call…why was she given this day off? It didn't make any sense - a throbbing sensation behind her eyes interrupted her train of thought. It was the only warning Andy had before she was thrust into the future.

The sound of a soothing, beloved voice, the feeling of skin against her own, a scent of pine and ancient magic, the taste of blood in her mouth. She could see the sun setting through a window, throwing the skyline of the city into beautiful relief and then it was over.

It took her a few minutes before she realized what she had just experienced. She had only read about them or Seen another Oracle go through them in the past.

An impression vision. A collection of sensations that had the potential to come to pass. And most importantly, it was how an Oracle found their mate.

And Andy wasn't going to do anything about it.

It was too dangerous. For her and for her hypothetical mate. Even if she was lucky enough to have a mate in a person who wouldn't want to use her for their own ends, if it got out that there was an Oracle about, then this mate of hers would have to deal with the fallout of it.

Andy didn't need to look into her own future to know that if she found her mate, and they were fortunate enough to have a good relationship, then they would more than likely be killed. Or used in some way.

Oracles were commodities to many factions. The ability to see anywhere and any when would be a boon to whomever had it. No, it would be much safer to just…stay away from this person. For their sake and for her own.

She would look no further, she would ignore any more impressions she received. This mate of hers could still live a full life as long as they never met and bonded. Plenty of people did.

All she really got from the vision was that her mate was most likely a vampire, if the taste of blood that was still lingering in her mouth was any indication.

Andy was about ninety-five percent certain that vampires confirmed the identity of their mate when they smelled their blood in open air, or tasted it.

So she just needed to not bleed in front of any vampires and she would be golden. And if she had the misfortune to bleed in front of this ate of hers then she'd be screwed.

Out of all the creatures out there, vampires had the reputation for being the most, shall she say, fixated on their mates. She'd heard stories of vampires who had tasted a mate's blood and simply refused to leave them ever again.

She supposed it made sense - she'd be protective too if she found the one person who would walk the ages with her and never leave.

But Andy digressed. No bleeding in front of vampires, which was already a life goal of hers. And if this mate of hers did find her…then she supposed she'd cross that bridge when she got to it.

But in the meantime, she needed to get off the floor…

Her phone blared to life. Again.

…right as soon as she answered that.

She pressed answer without glancing at the caller ID. Which was a mistake, because she definitely would have let it go to voicemail if she had.

"Miss Andromeda Evans?"

It was a vaguely familiar, lightly accented voice.

"...This is she."

"This is Elijah. I would like to call in one of those favours."

Andy's heart damn near leapt into her throat.

She had been trying very, very hard to not think about what had happened for the entire week, and hearing the Original's voice was enough to bring it all back to her.

Don't get her wrong - she was grateful that he had saved her life. But the sight of those two people dying was something she would very much have liked to live without.

And that was ignoring that he now knew her full name and phone number. That was just creepy. Being in the vicinity of a being that could kill her - or worse - without breaking a sweat? That was terrifying.

And at least that answered her question of why she was off work today. It would be light work for a vampire to compel her boss. And if he could find her name and phone number, then it would be easy to find out where she worked. The coincidence was too convenient to pass up.

But she did need to make an attempt to keep some boundaries.

"Where should I meet you?"

Because he sure as hell wasn't coming to her apartment.

He gave her an address and a time, before politely bidding her a good day, and hanging up.

In the aftermath of that, Andy… just laid there. For a while. Because holy shit, had a lot happened in the span of - she checked her phone - fifteen minutes.

What the hell had she gotten herself into? What was she thinking, giving freebie visions to an Original vampire?

Oh, right. She owed him her life.

…Fuck it. She was going back to sleep.

A few hours later, Andy found herself standing in front of the door to a penthouse - because of course Mr. Bespoke Suit had a penthouse - and gathered her nerves.

She just needed to get through a meeting with a morally ambiguous ancient vampire in an arguably isolated location. No biggie.

Andy knocked on the door. It swung open less than a second later, revealing the vampire himself.

He was wearing a suit, again, and he was just as annoyingly handsome as every vampire she had seen before seemed to be.

Seriously, what was with immortality and improbable hotness? Was it some sort of requirement to complete the transition? An 'if you aren't at least a 7 out of 10 on a bad day, then you'll die before you complete the change' kind of deal?

"Andromeda. Please, come in."

She did so, biting back the protest on the tip of her tongue about the use of her full name. The sound of the door closing behind her echoed in her ears.

As it turned out, millennia old vampires lived in completely normal penthouses. Well, as normal as a ludicrously expensive penthouse suite could be.

Andy felt very out of place, in her well-worn second-hand clothing, but the feeling of not belonging was nothing new and thus, easily ignorable. The important thing was to get this show on the road.

"What am I looking for?"

Elijah gestured to a quartet of chairs nestled in front of a window that boasted an expansive view of the city skyline. She took a seat. The chair was unfairly comfortable.

He unbuttoned his suit jacket and sat across her before answering the question.

"Not what. Who. Three, to be precise."

Alright. Straight to business. She appreciated that.

"I need names and something connected to them, if at all possible."

"Their names are Rebekah, Finn, and Kol Mikaelson. My siblings. "

Andy sat back into the chair. Well. Family members. That made things easier.

It was very, very difficult to See someone she wasn't familiar with. If someone asked for, say, Rebekah, she would have to discern between every Rebekah on the planet. But if someone asked for Rebekah Mikaelson, presumably an Original vampire, and sister to Elijah Mikaelson, then her task was much, much easier.

Hell, she could use Elijah himself to find them, but if she couldn't find anything useful, she might have a very pissed off vampire on her hands.

Andy tactfully decided to not mention the latter half of that thought.

"I can use you to See them. If we do it that way, you'll be in the vision alongside me."

She held out her hands, palms up.

"I just need to hold your hands."

Elijah studied her for a second.

"I don't need to tell you to not do anything…unwise."

Andy steadfastly refused to react to the warning lurking in those words.

"You do not."

Her voice was level. Her hands did not shake as Elijah took them in his own.

"When do you want me to See them?"

"In the present."

Good. That would be the easiest on both of them.

"Close your eyes."

Andy waited until he did so before following suit. Then, she tightened her grip on Elijah's hands, bowed her head, and Saw.

She was in a dark room with a single door. There were three…somethings in there, their shapes hazy and indistinct.

That meant magic. They were being cloaked.

It didn't matter. It wasn't enough to block her Sight. Few things were. Andy gathered herself, and looked deeper. She caught the vague feeling of something wet trickling down the cheeks of her body, but ignored it.

The figures slowly came into focus. Coffins. Three of them. She walked forwards, aware of the presence observing her intently, and pulled the lids open, revealing three desiccated corpses with dagger sticking out of their chests. She whirled around as the door began to open, and opened her eyes.

The first thing Andy noticed was the fact that there was blood leaking from her eyes. The second was the familiar pain behind her eyes. The third she was the preternaturally still vampire holding her hands in a too-tight grasp.

Andy tensed, fear beginning to claw its way to the forefront of her mind, suddenly very aware of the fact that she was sitting across from a very dangerous, very fixated-looking predator.

His eyes were following the bloody trails meandering down her cheeks, and Andy's impressions from earlier flooded to the forefront of her mind. He separated their hands, and she breathed a sigh of relief when all he did was remove his pocket square, shake it out in a slow deliberate motion, and offer it to her.

Bullet dodged.

Unless Elijah was some kind of god of restraint and self-denial, he couldn't be her mate. She was only operating off of hearsay, but everything she knew about vampires indicated that they made it very, very apparent when they found the one.

"Thank you. This has given me much to consider."

She barely heard what Elijah said, too busy wiping the blood from her cheeks with the offered handkerchief. At least the vision was useful to him, even though she hadn't Seen anything about how to actually find his siblings.

Andy closed her eyes and carefully covered them with her hand as her migraine became even worse.

Fuck witches and their stupid wards that made this worse than it had to be.

"Could I have some water?"

A cup was placed in front of her a few moments later. Andy rummaged into her jacket pocket for her Excedrin, popped a few more pills in her mouth than were strictly healthy, and washed it all down with the water in the cup.

Elijah seemed remarkably undisturbed for someone who had 'much to consider', but she supposed after a thousand years, he'd experienced weirder than what was apparently his siblings' corpses in a trio of coffins.

But didn't that mean they were dead? And why would he not react if they were?

Andy knew that if she Saw any of her own family, estranged as they were, in a similar situation, then she would be out of her mind with worry and grief.

Though, who knew what kind of relationship Elijah had with his family. For all she knew, he was looking for some way to bring them back from the dead.

But Andy wasn't going to ask questions about what clearly wasn't her business. That definitely fell under the category of 'unwise'. She put the cup down.

"I need to be going. Thanks for the water."

She stood up the second she finished talking, knowing that she was being abrupt, bordering on rude, but not caring. She didn't want to be here any longer. This entire affair was the exact opposite of leaving the supernatural world behind her. The shorter she could keep this, and all other vision…consults, she guessed she'd call them, the better.

Elijah stood up with her, buttoning his suit jacket as he did so.

"Of course. I'll see you out."

He did just that, offering a polite goodbye, as Andy left the penthouse, leaving behind an empty cup, a bloody handkerchief and a vampire whose gaze she could feel burning into her back.

As Andy made her way home, she couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched.