I stood in the Salvatore Boarding House talking to the brothers annoyed.
"We're gonna lose her, Damon." Stefan told him.
"She needs time. It's only been a couple days." Damon said.
"Her humanity's off. She's basically numb to everything that makes her who she is." Stefan reminded him.
"She's a vampire." Damon said pouring himself a glass of bourbon. "Off switch is one of the biggest perks. If being undead gets you down, voila, vampire Prozac."
"She burned down our family home with our brother's dead body still inside." I reminded him angrily.
"Saves us the trouble of having to do it ourselves. I call that a win." Damon said and I clenched my fist in anger. "Worst case scenario: I'll invoke the sire bond and tell her to turn it back on."
"No, her brother just died. If you force all that grief on her at once, it's going to overwhelm her. We need to give her a reason to want to turn it on." Stefan told him.
"Fine, we'll show her a good time." Damon said and Stefan and I shared a look about his plan. "I know it's controversial, Stefan, but people actually like to have fun."
"You really think that's gonna work?" Stefan asked him.
"There's only one way to find out." Damon said.
"Well you boys have fun with that. I have other plans tonight." I told them.
"What plans?" Damon asked me. "What could be more important than getting your sister's emotions back?"
"I'm a married woman. My plans with my husband are not your business. Unless you want to know every little detail about my sex life."
"No thanks." He said making a face and I smirked at him before leaving to meet up with Nik.
We arrived at a truck stop close to town and got out to look for the young werewolf who needed help. We heard a woman scream and Nik held me close to him and used his vamp seed to get to her. He let me go and grabbed the rogue vamps jacket and spun him around to look at us.
"Have a care, mate. That's no way to treat a lady." Nik told him before tearing into the vamp's neck making him scream as he feasted on the vamp before throwing him against one of the trucks.
"Hayley. Nice to see you again." I said smiling down at her.
"You came." She said looking up at us.
"Well, you did say it was urgent." Nik reminded her. The vamp that Nik attacked was moaning loudly annoying me. Little things seemed to do that since my brother died. Nik extended his hand to her and she took it letting him pull her up from the ground. Hayley looked over at the vamp lying on the ground as he got up and ran away.
"Oh, don't worry about him, love. He'll never make it through tomorrow night." Nik assured her.
"What if there are more?" she asked.
"You were foolish enough to make a deal with Katerina Petrova." Nik reminded her.
"She used you to find the cure and now you're nothing but a loose end." I told her. "You'll be lucky if she lets you live to see tomorrow."
"You said you would protect me." She said shoving past us.
"And we will." Nik told her. "Just as soon as you tell me everything you know about Katerina."
"Let's go home. I'm tired of being out in the open like this." I told him. We walked back to the car and headed home.
"Heard about your wedding. Congrats." She said from the back seat.
"Thank you." I said simply.
"What's got you so annoyed with everyone?" she asked me.
"My brother died. Katherine killed him." I told her. "Now you're going to help us kill Katherine."
"Isn't she your friend?" she asked me.
"Doesn't mean anything anymore." I told her. "The moment you go after my family is the moment you forfeit any relationship with me. Just a warning."
"Noted." She told me.
The next day Damon walked into the house as I was playing with Nikolas in the foyer.
"Ah, what an unpleasant surprise." Nik said closing the door behind him.
"So I just came up with a list." Damon told him as they walked closer to me. "It's called "Things You Two Suck At""
"I suppose killing you is on that list?" I asked sarcastically and he just gave me a smirk before turning back to Nik.
"Number one: Finding Katherine. Ever. Number two: covering up your secret phone conversations with that little backstabber Hayley." He said waving a piece of paper in front of us before putting it on the end table. "Yeah, so, where is she? What does she know about Katherine?"
"I should help you?" Nik asked him.
"Mhm." Damon nodded.
"After you lot daggered my brother and imprisoned me in my own bedroom?" Nik asked him.
"You might want to prioritize, Klaus. You have much bigger problems." Damon told him and Nik looked at him blankly. "Katherine has the cure."
"Excuse me?" I asked getting angry.
"My guess is she's gonna want to cram it down your throat. You help me find Katherine, I'll get the cure, I'll give it to Elena, everybody wins. Just let me question Hayley about Katherine." He asked us. Nik just smiled at him.
"Can't help you, mate. Hayley's off limits." Nik said walking past him, picked up Nikolas, and sat on the sofa, letting our son play with his necklace. "Although, I did have a run in with a vampire who may know where Katerina is." Damon turned to look at him. "Too bad for you, I bit halfway through his bloody neck. He probably won't have much time for chit-chat."
That afternoon the four of us were sitting at the table eating. After she was done eating, Hayley put her foot on the chair before pulling her wine to her and taking a drink.
"So, you're rested, you're fed. Tell me about Katerina." Nik told her.
"Most men get their power kick from torture and intimidation. With you, it's drinks and fine dining." She said.
"Hospitality seems to work with some better than others." I told her giving Nikolas a small bite to eat. He'd been copying us trying to us eating so we decided to start him on semisolid food and he was loving everything he was trying.
"But I have been known to change my mind on a whim. Where is Katerina?" Nik asked her.
"You seriously think I know?" Hayley asked him.
"You tipped her off as to what we were up to and set her on a course to find the cure. In return, she sent her lackey to snuff you out. Tell me, what did Katerina promise you?" Nik asked her. Hayley looked at us and paused for a moment before setting her glass down and readjusting in her seat.
"I was in New Orleans trying to find information about my real parents. Katherine found me and told me she could help." She told us.
"An orphan?" Nik said raising his eyebrow at the comment. "Well, that does explain your charming bravado. Abandonment issues will do it every time."
"Sounds like you would know." Hayley said to him.
"We're the only ones that can protect you." I reminded her.
"I'm happy to do so, provided you cooperate." Nik said.
Hayley and I walked into Nik's studio with her drink in hand. She approached his paintings and started to look through them.
"Hate that. Too much. I don't get that." She said before moving to another pile of art. I shook my head at her and smiled. "Hmm... I don't care. Hmm. This one." I looked at the painting to see it was the one with a dark figure silhouetted by a fading sky, standing near a tree. "It doesn't make me wanna puke." I smiled more and moved closer to her and the painting. "Why'd he paint it?"
"Painting is his way of having complete control. Every choice is his- the canvas, the color, everything." I explained to her.
"As a child, I had neither a sense of the world nor my place in it, but art taught me that one's vision can be achieved with sheer force of will. The same is true of life, provided one refuses to let anything stand in one's way." Nik said from behind me before wrapping his arms around my waist.
"So this is your thing- show a girl a few mediocre paintings, whine about your childhood, and I swoon and spill all my dirty secrets?" she asked.
"I felt I had many charms, but, uh, regardless, I'm enjoying myself." Nik told her. "Perhaps a little girl time will also be good for Nicole as well."
"And you do whatever you two enjoy..." she said seductively for a moment before changing her tone. "Up to and including hunting my friend Tyler for the next century."
"He has it coming." I told her.
"And surely I won't be chasing him into the next century. Only until I kill him." Nik told her before releasing me and going to a table to pour himself a drink.
"You talk a good game but the truth is you let him go." She laughed.
"If I simply killed Tyler, my revenge would be over in a moment. Sentencing him to a lifetime of paranoia and fear- that's Tyler's true punishment. But come now." He said walking towards us again. "You never really thought there was a future for you two, did you?"
"I don't know. He might've left Caroline for me if I'd used the cure to kill you." She joked making us laugh.
"You know, if Tyler has even half your resolve, he may actually make it through the year." He told her.
"It doesn't take resolve. It takes allies, a network of people willing to do anything for you, including chase down loose ends to their death." Hayley told him. "That's how Katherine escaped you all this time."
"Perhaps you know the names of Katerina's special little helpers." Nik said looking between the two of us.
"Maybe I know one or two. Maybe I'll even tell you." She said knocking back the rest of her drink.
"Anyone I knew she probably killed by now. I'll be no help to us." I told him. The rest of the day we spent talking about Katherine's network with what information Hayley gave us. That night as we spoke Nik's phone rang and Hayley and I tried to listen in on his conversation.
"My sister informs me that your vampire assailant is dead, so you're safe and free to go." He told her.
"Maybe I could drum up a few more of Katherine's secrets and you could do something for me." She told us trying to get us to let Tyler come back.
"Oh, I'm sorry, love, but you'll never convince me to let Tyler go free." Nik told her.
"And you feel nothing about this?" she asked me.
"He threatened my son." I told her. "If Nik doesn't kill him, I will."
"Well, then, I guess I'll never get my chance with Tyler." She said trying to manipulate us. "Do you wanna know why I like that painting?"
"Well, perhaps it was because it allowed you to see into my deep, wounded soul." Nik offered sarcastically.
"I saw how twisted it really is." She told him. "And maybe I can relate."
"Time to leave." I told her. "Now." She nodded to me before leaving the house. "Wait." She stopped and turned to me.
"What?" she asked me.
"I assume Katherine didn't come through on her part of the deal." I said and she nodded her head. "Show him your birthmark. Maybe he's seen it before." She took off her over shirt leaving her in her tank and moved her hair before showing us the crescent moon birthmark on her shoulder.
"I've only seen that mark on a handful of others, all from the same bloodline- a werewolf clan that once thrived throughout much of what we now call Louisiana." He told her and she quickly turned to face him.
"Don't lie to me- not about this." She told him.
"I wouldn't dare. Matters of family are sacred." He told her.
"Tell me everything you know." She ordered him and for one he did as he was told.
