Like Fire

by AlexisKeller

Chapter 07

"Eve, honey, you're back. How was it? Did you get what you needed?" my mom entered the house, dropping her bag on the table before coming over to the sofa, where I lounged in front of the television, to wrap her arms around me.

"Not really." Hey, that wasn't a lie. "I couldn't find the professor I needed to talk to. I might have to make another trip or two." Granted, the trips would be to find the witch, but this statement wasn't a lie either.

God, I felt so bad lying to her.

She nodded, her eyes turning to look at the clock on the wall above the television. "Did you have dinner?"

"No, I was waiting for you," I sat up and twisted to face her. "How about you go grab a shower and I'll whip us up some pasta?"

"That sounds lovely." She gave me a kiss on the top of my head, grabbed her bag and headed for her room. "I'll be back in ten minutes."

She worked hard, I thought to myself not for the first time since I'd been here. She had completed her residency as a general surgeon in Mystic Falls Hospital and she loved what she did. However, pulling long shifts at the hospital took a lot out of her and I didn't blame her.

She was so pretty too, and no matter how much I asked her about dating, she waved it off saying she didn't have the time. It had been almost eight months since the divorce between my parents, and my father had chosen to stay in the town of Whitmore while my mother moved to Mystic Falls, where she already had a job at the local hospital.

Anyway, mom liked me being around, and was disappointed that she couldn't spend enough time with me. Though I took her lunch at the hospital to have together when she was good to take her break, and she always loved that.

I got up and made my way to the kitchen. At least most nights we were able to have dinner, and I was thankful for that.

"So you got nothing too?" Damon asked with a face.

He'd just gotten back from Reston ten minutes ago and didn't question why Bonnie and I were huddled together on his sofa over more books.

Hearing from Bonnie that she was camped out at the Salvatore boarding house, I'd joined her early this morning with some breakfast and was helping her with whatever she needed as she worked on narrowing down the locations. I had no idea what I was doing, just handing her the books she asked for, but at least things were going well. She'd already eliminated one set of coordinates.

"Nothing worth anything," I answered as he trudged into the den. I'd already told Bonnie and texted him, Stefan and Caroline about not finding Beatrice Miller, the 'Professor' who'd come asking about her previously, the trashed house and all, which predictably had only raised more questions.

"Well, three leads were a bust then," he remarked, heading straight for his liquor.

"Caroline texted. She couldn't get anything helpful either." I informed him.

"Great," he muttered before amending his earlier statement. "All our leads are a bust, then."

"We can only hope the other coordinates work better," murmured Bonnie as she continued flipping pages.

"So with nothing to use against the big, bad Original witch, how do we defend ourselves should she set her sights on us?" Damon wondered out loud. "Because that's going to happen eventually, we all know that. Especially since we're with her kiddies now."

"We keep looking," Bonnie declared.

"That we do," he acknowledged. "But I'm talking more now-ish."

I placed the book on my lap to the side, getting up and walking over to the fireplace to stretch my legs. "A contingency, you mean?"

He waved a careless hand. "You and Stefan with your big words. Yes, yes, a contingency plan. A safety net, if you will."

"We're stuck on this," Bonnie reminded him, exasperated. "How do we even get around to making a contingency plan?"

"Maybe... maybe we can begin by thinking of what she loves the most?" I thought out loud to the fireplace.

Damon snorted. "Clearly not her children."

"Ouch."

In a second, I recognized that familiar voice. Turning away from the fireplace, I saw Kol standing in the entrance to the living room with the most fascinating self-assurance, almost like he belonged there, when I was pretty sure this was his first time here.

How did he do that?

He slowly but confidently walked into the room. Even with the declared alliance, Bonnie had this slightly wary expression on her face and I didn't blame her. She'd been on high alert ever since the Originals rolled into town and the minor suspicion on her face was a long way down from the extreme panic she was in way at the beginning.

Hell, even I—who'd had a good amount of interaction with Kol—was wary of him.

Or maybe it was especially because I'd had a good amount of interaction with him.

Either way, I watched as he strolled down towards me, commenting to Damon, "You know, I don't like you very much but I still can't fault you for that. That's very much right. Which brings us back to the fact that you still don't know what to do about the little problem called Ester."

Damon grunted unhappily at the sight of the vampire, shoving his face back in his drink.

"You don't either," Bonnie pointed out and Kol suppressed a smile.

"That's where you're wrong, witch."

"What do you mean?" I found myself asking and his attention turned to me.

"That means I'll have her eating out of the palm of my hand in an hour, tops, my darling."

Feeling something akin to hope and seeing the same feeling flash across Bonnie and Damon's face, I wondered if they'd finally cracked it.

He stopped right in front of me and smiled that stunning smile that brought me back to when we'd parted in Charlottesville. "I believe I gave you something for safekeeping."

My face burned as I realized that I had that very piece of paper in the front pocket of my jeans, very reminiscent of how he gave it to me in the first place.

But there was more there. The way he'd asked me, the way he held my gaze—it almost felt like some sort of test.

Whatever result he'd thought of, the truth was, we had no need of that paper. I'd told Bonnie about it this morning and she'd gone through everything she could to find something on it, but it was pretty much meaningless to us.

If they could do more with it, then so be it.

I pulled it out of my pocket—refusing to be embarrassed when he had the gall to look smug—and held it up to him. There was a sense of victory in his eyes as he took the paper, smiled that ever-charming smile of his and disappeared from the boarding house.

There was silence for a bit.

Then Damon turned to me.

"Wait, so did we all have an Original on our asses, or was it just me?"

Are you guys enjoying the story? Thank you to the reviewers for the last chapter, and like always, I look forward to hearing all your thoughts! :)