This chapter takes place in Season 2, Episode 15.
Chapter Seven: Do Me a Favor
"Luka, for the last time, I don't know how to pull memories out of your head!" Kiara threw herself back into the Martin's couch in frustration. "You're a witch, can't you figure this shit out on your own?"
"I tried. Do you honestly think I'd call you if I didn't have to?" Luka was pacing the living area in front of her. "The Blackwood Grimoire says that succubi have psychic abilities, this should be right up your ally."
Kiara rolled her eyes. She had been there for over an hour trying to help Luka remember what happened to him yesterday, but they were getting nowhere and she could feel a headache forming. "It's not exactly like I have a mentor to train me in this shit. I've been learning on the fly up until you guys rolled into town. You were supposed to be able to give me answers, not ask me for them!"
"I know Bonnie did something to me last night! And I need to know what or we could all be screwed."
"I heard you the first dozen times you said it," Kiara sighed, rubbing circles on her temples. "It's not like I'm not trying here… maybe we just need a new tactic? What did she say when you asked her about it?"
Luka looked at her with a blank face.
Kiara blinked up at him in disbelief. "Has anyone ever told you that you might use magic as a crutch?"
Instead of answering, Luka rushed out of his apartment. Kiara wasn't sure if he expected her to follow, but she did anyway. She was curious to see what would happen. The first place Luka looked at was the grill. It was a good guess. Many people hang out there on the weekends. They stood there for a minute looking around the room until he spotted her. She was sitting at a table with Jeremy Gilbert, Elena's younger brother. Instead of saying anything, or discussing a plan, Luka just walked right up to them.
"Oh great," Kiara mumbled to herself, forced to watch it all unfold with bated breath.
Luka put his hands on their table and said, "You want to tell me what the hell happened yesterday?"
"Sorry?" Bonnie frowned.
"Don't play dumb. We were both here and…"
"And?" Jeremy asked.
"And that's all I remember!" Luka told them. "One minute I'm playing pool and the next I'm waking up in a bathroom stall."
"Sorry, Luka, but everything seemed normal yesterday. I brought you a coffee and we played pool," Bonnie told him.
"See, I think you're lying," Luka said, leaning towards her.
"And I think you need to back off." Jeremy stood up and pulled him away from Bonnie.
Luka stared at the two of them and then stomped back towards Kiara. "Go ask them what happened yesterday," he told her. "They can't lie to you."
"I don't know if I'm ready to have everyone knowing what I am just yet," Kiara folded her arms in front of her. "It's bad enough that Damon knows something's up now."
"You've got to be joking, why did you even suggest coming here to talk to her if you weren't going to help me?" Luka asked, stepping closer to her face.
She could feel eyes on her. "I didn't suggest you come here. I asked you what Bonnie said when you asked her about yesterday! Which you didn't!" she tried to keep her voice low. "And I also told you that I would like to be able to live here after you and your father are gone, remember? How can I do that if everyone finds out about me?"
Luka's eyes hardened and he smacked his shoulder against hers as he left the grill.
Kiara swallowed down her anger knowing Luka was just stressed out. When she looked up, she found it wasn't just Bonnie and Jeremy's eyes on her. There were many people in the grill, including Damon Salvatore, Mr. Saltzman, Jenna, that chick Andie Star from the news, and Elijah. And they were all staring in her direction. Each with their own version of a questioning look. Feeling uncomfortable, Kiara turned and left.
"That girl's so weird," Jenna murmured as Kiara slipped outside. "She's lived next door for a couple of years now, but I almost never see her around. It's like she spends all of her time locked up in her house."
"A girl that beautiful with no social life?" Andie asked, bringing her glass to her lips. "I'd say that counts as strange. What do you think the story is?"
"Yeah, Rick, you know her, right?" Damon asked, already knowing the answer.
"Kiara James?" Alaric asked, trying not to roll his eyes at his friend. "Yeah, she's a student of mine. Sweet kid. Just kinda lonely, you know? It's just her and her mom."
"Doesn't she have any friends?" Jenna asked.
Alaric shrugged. "She's kind of the quiet type, you know? Sits in the back of the class and doesn't raise her hand much. Sometimes she even spends lunch with me in my room, says she wants to study, but I think she's just shy."
"Still…" Jenna said. "the guys have got to be chasing after that girl. How does she not have a boyfriend or girlfriend? Someone!"
"Maybe she's simply not interested in such things," Elijah suggested.
"Yeah. Right," Damon scoffed. "Or maybe she's just got the hots for her teacher, huh Rick?" Damon wiggling his eyebrows at him.
Alaric rolled his eyes. "Shut up, Damon."
But Damon was looking at Elijah, whose fists were clenched tightly at his sides at the suggestion. Damon smirked at him before downing the rest of his drink. "So it's settled? Dinner at my place tonight?"
When Kiara got home, she got the mail before heading inside. She flipped through the envelopes until there was one with her name on it in beautiful cursive lettering and not the name she'd been going by the past couple of years. It was the name her mother gave her: Kiara Sky Carter. Her breathing instantly became panicked as she ripped the envelope open. Inside was a perfectly folded letter with the words: Are you ready to come home?
She stared at the paper, letting her eyes run over the words a few times. It wasn't signed, but she knew the letter could have only come from one person. Her father. But it was impossible. They were cloaked. Sheila Bennett cloaked them. They were safe.
"Holly!" she called, suddenly feeling lightheaded. "Holly, where are you?"
Holly came in from the backyard wearing gardening gloves and a smile. "I'm right here, where's the fire?"
Without saying anything, Kiara handed her the envelope and letter. She watched Holly pull off her gloves to examine them both front and back.
"It's not possible, right?" Kiara asked her. "Sheila did a cloaking spell."
"Sheila Bennett's dead."
"Yeah, for like the past four months, and you said that she channeled you to do the spell so what's left of your magic should be able to keep it up."
"I must not be strong enough…" Holly said. "The spell's effects must have weakened."
A chill ran through Kiara's body. "Are you saying he can find us?"
"Not now, if he could he would be here already, but maybe soon."
"How long would we have?"
"I don't know… weeks? Maybe less," Holly said. "This letter was spelled to find you. It doesn't mean he knows exactly where we are. He probably just wants to scare us."
"So what the hell do we do? Do we run?" Kiara asked, leaning on the kitchen table for support.
"I don't know," Holly said, tossing the letter on the table. She ran a shaking hand over her face. "We can, but if he's going to find us, he'll find us no matter what we do."
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying we need another witch."
Kiara nodded, slowly backing away towards the back door. "Lucky for us, there's a few of those in town. I'll be back. Keep your cellphone on you!"
It seemed like a long shot, but Kiara didn't have a choice. Luka and Jonas were the only witches that knew about her. The only ones that might be willing to help her. Especially considering her… friendship with Elijah. She rushed to their apartment and knocked on their door. Jonas answered.
"Kiara? What's wrong?"
"I know I have no right to ask you for anything," Kiara said, trying not to look as desperate as she felt. "But I need your help."
Jonas stepped inside and she took that as an invitation. When he shut the door, she turned around to face him.
"I need you to do a cloaking spell on me and Holly," she told him.
"Why?" Jonas tilted his head in confusion.
"Because the one that's on us may not be strong enough to hide us anymore," Kiara paced. She glanced at Luka who stepped out of his bedroom to listen in. "I should have realized it last night when Elijah said you did a locator spell to find me. You shouldn't have been able to because Sheila Bennett, Bonnie's grandmother, did a cloaking spell on me when I first came into town. It's why we've been able to stay here as long as we have, but it must be weakening now. I don't want to go back to running. Not again."
Jonas squinted his eyes at her. "Who are you running from?"
Kiara hated having to tell him any of it. She had been telling herself that it was all behind her now, but the past has a way of catching up with you no matter how far you run. "My father," she said.
"Cloaking spells don't fade," Luka said, walking up to her with his arms crossed. "If Sheila did the spell, it died with her."
"Not exactly," Kiara sighed. "Holly did the spell with her, well, Sheila channeled her or something and up until this point, Holly's magic kept the spell going."
"That would only be possible if—"
"Holly was a witch?" Kiara nodded, rubbing her arms. "She is, or at least she used to be. She says it hasn't been the same since she helped me escape my father. She can really only do little nature spells now…"
Luka just stared at her. "I don't get it. Why are you running from your own father?"
"Because not everyone has daddies who love us like you do," Kiara said, not wanting to go into the whole thing.
"That's all you're going to say? Really?" Luka shook his head at her.
"Are you going to help me, or not?"
"Why should we? It's not like we're friends or anything, right? You certainly don't have our back when we need you."
Kiara stared at him in shock. "What?"
"Sure if Elijah asks you for something, you jump right to it, but when I want you to ask someone a simple question, it's a no. But hey, maybe it's nothing personal. Maybe you just only help the guys you're screwing."
Kiara's eyes lowered to the floor, tears pricked her eyes. She'd never felt so degraded in her life. She swallowed and turned to Jonas, who just stared at the two of them in shock. "Fine," she whispered. "I really hope you get Greta back. Please tell Elijah I said goodbye."
Before she could leave, Elijah opened the door and he looked pissed.
Jonas looked him over. His suit was torn and stained with blood. "What happened?" he asked.
"I need you to find Elena," Elijah said. "Now."
The two witches started preparing a locator spell and Elijah turned his attention to her. He picked up her hand and flipped it over to run his fingers over her palm. It seemed to help calm them both. "Now, what's this I hear about you leaving? You wouldn't really leave without saying goodbye to me in person, now would you?"
"It's kind of a long story," Kiara said, not able to meet his eyes. "But I need to leave town."
"For how long?"
"Forever." Kiara could hardly say the word.
Elijah frowned. "Whatever for?" He put his hands on her arms and studied her face. "Kiara, you're shaking. Tell me what's going on. Why are you so afraid?"
"It doesn't matter," she shook her head, glancing at the witches as they began to do their spellwork. "You have a lot going on and—"
"I can multitask," he said.
"Fine," Kiara sighed, knowing he wouldn't take no for an answer. "I may not have been completely honest with you when I told you I couldn't tell you anything about my father. He, kind of, wants me dead. And up until now, he hasn't been able to find us because Sheila Bennett performed a cloaking spell on Holly and me, but after she died it must have started to fade or something because I got this letter in the mail and it was written in his handwriting. I think he's coming for me and without a witch to help me, I'm pretty much screwed—"
Elijah put up a hand to stop her. "Who says you don't have a witch to help you?"
Kiara looked away from him. She didn't want to repeat what Luka said. It was too embarrassing and Elijah was already pissed off, she didn't know what he would do at the moment.
"Kiara," Elijah said, slowly as if trying to contain his anger. "Why would you think the Martin witches won't help you?"
"Because I told her we wouldn't," Luka admitted as he and his father walked back over to them. "But I didn't mean it. I was just pissed off at her and I didn't realize how much trouble she was in."
Elijah squinted his eyes at the boy, unsure if he was telling him the truth, and Kiara kept her eyes on the ground.
"We found Elena," Jonas said. "She's near Dunham Lake, not far from here."
"Then I am going to get her," Elijah told them. "and you two are going to do whatever you need to, to help Kiara or our agreement is off, do you understand?"
The witches only nodded their heads in agreement.
"Thank you, Elijah," Kiara mumbled.
"Everything will be just fine, I promise," he kissed her forehead and disappeared out the door.
While Elijah was gone, Jonas told Kiara to have Holly come to the apartment while they prepared to do a cloaking spell. Kiara only nodded and called Holly to explain the situation. Then she texted her the address. It didn't take long before Holly was knocking on their apartment door. Kiara hugged her on sight.
"Holly, this is Jonas and his son Luka," she told her. "They're going to do another cloaking spell on us."
Holly looked at them and offered a hand for them to shake. "Holly James, thank you for doing this. We really appreciate it."
"We're always happy to help a fellow witch," Jonas said.
"Oh well," Holly looked down. "Thank you, but I'm not really much of a witch anymore."
It didn't take them long to do the spell. Kiara felt instant relief when they said it was finished. She thought about staying until Elijah returned to learn what he was planning to do next, but Jonas asked the two of them to leave so he could talk with his son. She could only assume Luka was going to have to come clean about what happened with Bonnie. So they left.
When Kiara and Holly got home, they packed emergency bags, just in case they needed to leave at a moment's notice. But they would stay for now. As far as they knew, Kiara's father didn't know where she was. There was no point in uprooting their whole lives if they didn't have to.
Before going to sleep, Kiara tried to call Elijah's phone, but he didn't answer. So she went to sleep thinking he would call her in the morning, but he didn't.
That was almost a week ago.
It seemed Elijah disappeared without a trace. No phone call. No note. The Martin's didn't even know where he was. But they all knew one thing, Elena Gilbert was back in town. Which could only mean the Salvatore's did something to him. Kiara wasn't too worried though. Elijah had told her that he was basically indestructible so she knew wherever he was, he would be fine. Or at least that's what she kept telling herself.
Reviewers:
Only reviewer: Thank you! I find the sexual stuff kind of a challenge to write because it's not something I'm really practiced in. But I know since she is a Succubus it's kind of necessity. I'm trying to keep a balance because I don't want to make the story too sex-focused and I don't want to make people uncomfortable when they're reading it. If I do write smut chapters, I may have the smut be stand-alone chapters so people can choose whether or not they want to read them without missing any of the actual story.
justanothermewlingquim: Thank you very much, I appreciate that. :) I'm excited to write about her meeting Klaus in person and seeing how they interact together.
ArtemisLuna85: Thank you. I hope their relationship is progressing at a believable pace. I didn't expect to like them so much together. It kind of snuck up on me, but Elijah is just so likable I guess I shouldn't be surprised, right?
Baradi: Yes, I myself am having mixed feelings now on how their relationship should go. I'm kind of feeling it out and letting the characters just interact with one another for now. My goal is to have my OC's be as sympathetic as possible and try to keep the cast true to character. But I agree that Elijah deserves some love.
sam: Thanks for continuing to read! Happy to see you are still enjoying it so far. :)
Kat: Thank you! :)
Guest: Thank you. I'm glad you liked it!
Sting3: Thank you for reading and leaving your reviews! They are most appreciated. I'm glad to see you are liking the story so far.
Thank you all so much for the reviews! You really motivate me to continue this story. I'm having fun writing it, but there isn't a point of sharing it online if people aren't enjoying it too so thank you for letting me know your thoughts and feelings on this.
Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. :)
