Chapter 3: Making the Deal

When Alexinia woke up the first thing she noticed was that she was in a bed. Considering she had fallen asleep watching movies with Nik the night before she figured that he had just carried her into her room, but when she opened her eyes she was shocked to find herself looking at a very muscular bare chest. Jolting awake she met the amused eyes of her best friend and realized that she had been cuddling with him, and for the first time since they met Nik finally won and managed to make her blush when she brushed against him and felt his morning excitement.

"Nik," she paused not wanting to stumble on her words and make her embarrassment worse, "why am I in your bed?"

She could see the laughter in his eyes even if he didn't dare truly laugh at her, "you cuddled right up to me during the movie and it would have been such a shame to wake you, but the couch was too uncomfortable to spend so much time on, so I moved us here during the night. That's not a problem is it love?"
"Why would it be a problem Nik? I'm just not use to waking up with you," or any man really, but she wasn't going to say that and have Nik twist her words, "unless if I've had a nightmare." He might be an overprotective git, but he was really good at chasing the nightmares away. Something about his presence beside her always made them disappear again.

"No reason that it would be a problem love, although I must say your blush is quite becoming. I'm surprised I haven't seen it before."

Smacking him on the shoulder she pushed down any feelings that weren't platonic, "stop teasing. I was just shocked to wake up beside you when your shirtless considering you had a shirt on last night."

The look on Nik's face was priceless and she was sad that he didn't blush, although she was fairly certain it would be impossible to make Nik blush. "Yes well your body heat was scorching last night love." He told her his husky tone making her want to melt.

"Knock it off Nik, and let me up. I have a mission today and I'd like as much of a start as I can get."

Nik pouted, but did as she asked and let her go before lounging against his bed. It gave her a good look at his abs and she knew if she looked lower that she would see what she had felt when she jumped. Yet she controlled herself to only a few seconds of admiring how hot her best friend was without a shirt before she made her way into her room. Nik was lucky she wasn't a tease like he was, or she would have left her door open when she changed. Usually she would have a shower in the morning before she left, but she had a long day ahead of her and didn't want to waste anytime. Keep telling yourself that, a voice whispered in the back of her head calling her out on the lies she even told herself.

"See you later Nik," she called out as she made her way out of his room. She didn't dare look in his eyes and see the amusement that was probably still there as she made her way out the door.

Luckily enough she had her own license, so she didn't have to worry about one of Nik's minions needing to drive her anywhere. The drive to Mystic Falls is a little boring, but listening to music passes the time as she makes her way to the Salvatore boarding house. Well that was her plan until she got into the town and felt a massive magical energy causing her to turn the car so that she could follow it. Bringing her to some ruins that had a strong wiccan magic coming from within. She wanted to investigate, but noticing that it was getting dark the drive here having taken longer then she had believed she made her way to the Boarding House deciding she would come back later.

The town of Mystic Falls looked like any other small town she and Nik had gone through in the last few years. It was odd to think that once upon a time this had been the town Nik had been born in, so many terrible things had happened to Nik here and she hated that he had to come back here to break the curse. All she wanted to do was protect Nik from pain, but right now she was powerless against these circumstances.

Knocking on the door to the somewhat impressive boarding house Alexinia waited patiently for one of the Salvatore brothers to answer the door. "What do you want?" Damon Salvatore asked gruffly, looking at her in suspicion.

"I am here to make you a deal Mr. Salvatore," she told him, glad she already had her shields up because in the next instant he had rushed towards her like he was going to kill her before he bounced backwards from the power of her shield. "Now, now don't be hasty you haven't even heard what I have to offer."

"Who are you?!" He spat out.

"I am Alexinia, and I'm here on behalf of Niklaus."

Damon's eyes widened in fear before determination over took him. "I won't let you take her!" he snarled although he didn't try to charge her again probably realizing it was pointless.

"That isn't what we wish for either. Call your witch, brother, and hunter and we can discuss my deal; well rather Nik's deal. You are lucky your attack didn't work otherwise the deal I convinced Nik to make would have been thrown out the window."

Growling at her he dialed a number on his phone, "Judgy get over here we have a problem." "Ric get your ass to the boarding house."

It was obvious that he wasn't in the mood to speak to her and she noticed he didn't call for his brother. She wondered if something had happened to him since she and Nik had started keeping tabs on the group in this town. Something that had been necessary for Nik's original plan. Pushing past Damon she smirked as he gave her a lot of room to move not wishing for her to knock him on his ass again, so perhaps he was smarter then she had given him credit for.
There was an awkward silence between them as they waited for the others to arrive. Alexinia figured that her magical strength was the reason Damon wasn't demanding a million answers right now. She truly hoped that he and his friends would accept the deal she was making with them. Although she wasn't really sure how to convince them of her sincereness with the deal. If their witch knew of her type she could make some sort of vow, but if she didn't then they wouldn't believe that Alexinia wasn't tricking them.

"Damon what's wrong?" the voice of a teenage girl broke through the silence. She was obviously Bonnie Bennett considering the power Alexinia could feel, strong for a wiccan witch, but no where near her own power levels.

"Get your butt in here Judgy, you too Ric."

She could feel their concerned glares on her before she even turned to look at them. "Hello please sit."

"Damon?"

"She's a minion of Klaus," he growled making the two jump back in fear, and she could feel Bonnie preparing to attack her.

"I wouldn't do that little Bennett witch. Also I am no minion, Nik and I are friends. Please sit and at least hear me out before you decide I'm your enemy."

"How do we know we can trust you not to kill us?" the Hunter asked.

Shattering the picture closest to her on the wall and then repairing it with a wave of her hand she smirked at them as they jumped looking at her with wide eyes. Wandless magic was something she had mastered ages ago, since it made it easier to work with Nik without the Wiccans realizing exactly what she was capable of. "As you can see if I wanted to kill you I could have done it easily."

"I've never seen magic like that," Bonnie said awe coloring her voice.

"What do you know of the different types of witches Bonnie?"

"I know there are those who work with nature and those who try to work against nature's will," so obviously she didn't know of wand wielders. That made things more difficult.

"Well let's just say I'm a little different then either type nature's will doesn't hold me down."

"Look why don't we get on with why you are here! Instead of bonding over witchy juju," Damon snarked. Any other time she would have retaliated, but right now she didn't think that would help her get what she wanted.

"Fine," she said rolling her eyes. "Nik wants me and the little Bennett to find a way to allow the doppelganger to live through the ritual. Contrary to popular belief we need her to live as a human once the ritual is completed. All we ask is that when we need it the doppelganger allows us some of her blood, and in return Nik won't hurt anyone you see as friends or family."

The three of them looked at her shocked and she knew they weren't completely convinced, but she also could see the hope in their eyes. "How do we know you're not lying?" The hunter asked.

"I never go back on my word, but if you need some sort of proof you may ask me for a favor and I will comply as long as it won't hurt Nik."

"My brother got himself stuck in a spell. You get him out and we are willing to work with you," Damon said after the three of them had a conversation over text messages.

She was glad they had agreed. "Deal. Afterwards you better make your list and anyone on it will not be harmed by Nik, or anyone we work with. Also if you cross me or Nik you'll have to deal with us burning this town completely to the ground, you will never get a better deal that will keep your loved ones safe."

"Deal," Damon said offering her a hand to shake after a brief pause, and Alexinia watched as the golden threads surrounded them. "What the hell was that?!"

"Making a deal with me always does that. If you break your word, or if I break mine, we will be punished through magical means." She explained shrugging her shoulders not really knowing how to explain it to someone who didn't know anything about her type of magic.

"Judgy you never told me you could do that."

"That's because Bonnie can't. It's a special ability I have, now lead me to your brother and I'll free him."

She knew that her magic had made them weary, but also knew that her threat if they crossed her would keep them from doing anything they would regret. Perhaps she would even allow them to borrow the resurrection stone to say a final goodbye to the person/people they missed most.

It didn't surprise her when they made her follow them in her own car. She knew they didn't trust her, but she didn't really care. They would learn in time that she was doing what was best for everyone. Although she was mainly doing what was best for Nik.

What did surprise her was when they led her to the ruins she had been called to before she had stopped at the boarding house. She hadn't realized that the little Bennett witch was capable to such magic, unless if they had another witch in town Nik's minions didn't know about. It had to be a fairly recent cast considering the feel of the magic.

"He's down there," Damon growled once she finally parked.

The group of them went ahead of her down into the ruins as Alexinia felt the magic feeling a way to bend it to her will. She figured there was someone in there they wanted to keep in there, otherwise the Bennett witch could have dropped the spell easily, this type of spell would only drain a witch if she was trying to put it back up again right after she took it down. Not that wiccan witches ever realized exactly why some of their spells were harder to do then others. They just blindly followed what was in grimoires instead of figuring out how the magic worked, and how they could improve of magic that was centuries old.

"Damon, what are you doing here?" The man who was lounging on the other side of the barrier didn't look like he was suffering at all, just confirming that he couldn't have been trapped for long.

"We brought someone to get you out."

Placing her hand just on the outside of the barrier she frowned a little, "I'll have to enter the spell it's easier to take this one down and put it back up from the inside, otherwise you end up spending too much energy."

"Who are you?!" Stefan Salvatore growled.

"The witch who will get you out of there. Now step back, so I can enter, unless if you want me to leave you in there?"

She figured that the brothers had a conversation through their eyes over her head because Stefan stepped back allowing her inside. The moment she was inside and caught the figure lurking in the corner Alexinia felt her anger boil up inside of her. It was so powerful that she didn't even think before she raised her hand sending the other vampire trapped within this spell flying with a sickening crack. The younger Salvatore looked at her with wide eyes, but didn't dare get in her way after she turned her deadly stare towards him. No wonder they needed help, they couldn't risk the bitch being let free. Knowing they had this bloody traitor locked up might even endear them a little with Nik.

Stepping closer to the female vampire who was looking at her in wide eyed fear Alexinia sent a revised version of a crucio at her. It was pure magic energy that sent a thousand knives digging into the vampire's blood vessels, a spell that was specifically made to hurt vampires, making it so that it wasn't illegal despite the spell she had based it off of. She smirked as she heard the bitch scream in pain.

"Nik will be so happy to know that you're trapped. Actually it will make him even happier that he listened to my idea of a deal, to know that they hate you enough to lock you up."

The bitch looked at her with wide eyes at hearing her speak so casually about the Original who had put the bitch through hell like she deserved. Then a mask fell over her eyes and she lashed out, "another one of his witchy followers he tricked into falling in love with him. How pathetic."

Sending another wave of her magic at the bitch magnified tenfold she snarled. "I'm not the pathetic one Katerina. I love Nik, but I'm not in love with him. He's my best friend. Actually Nik says that my childhood and his are quite similar, so making me mad isn't a good idea you traitorous little bitch."

It pissed her off every time someone tried to say she was in love with Nik. Like her level of devotion and love for him couldn't be anything other then romantic. Perhaps if people actually knew how Nik was her first friend, the pain and suffering he had saved her from, they would understand. Besides she didn't lie Nik had told her how similar they were, he even seemed to think her childhood was worse at times. He told her that at least he had people who loved him from the start, to curb the pain he felt and let him feel love, she had no one until Nik. That kind of saving was something that created a bond that would last eternity.

"Come now Mr. Salvatore it's time for us to leave the little bitch to her fate," Alexinia said smirking at how terrified the bitch looked as Alexinia turned her back on her. It almost disappointed her that the bitch didn't try to attack after she turned her back, but Alexinia had heard of the self preservation the bitch was well known for.

"What the hell was that about?" Damon asked staring at her wide eyed as she and Stefan stepped through the barrier. She wasn't sure if it would have worked with the little witch, but all she had to do was grab onto the vampire and drag him through with her, the magic just rippling around the two of them as they passed through.

"Nothing more then she deserved," Alexinia snarled. Seconds later as if he could feel her anger her cell rang, "hello Nik."

"Xinia is everything going to plan?" he asked his voice to anyone else would be indifferent, but she could feel the concern he was trying very hard to hide. Sometimes it was like they shared a link that let him know when her emotions were higher then normal.

"Everything's perfect Nik. They even have a trapped little gift, that will make you so happy you decided to make a deal with them. I had a bit of fun torturing the traitorous bitch of a gift for you."

"Katerina. That really does make me happy. Are you coming back now that you know the area, or are you going to stay?"

"Just a sec Nik," she said turning her attention to the others who were staring at her like she had shocked them. "Are we going to talk more tonight, or will we continue this in the morning?"

"Morning. We need to bring our other allies up to speed," Alaric answered for them all.

"Alright. I'll be back tonight Nik."

"Good stay safe Xinia, or I won't be responsible for who I kill."

"Of course, see you in a bit," she said before hanging up. She had gotten used to him threatening to kill anyone who might try to harm her, and she knew he had purposely said it now to make sure that the vampires with her would realize what would happen if she didn't return to him in one piece. "You all made the right decision. I'll see you in the morning."

Then she left. Not caring if they had any more questions since they had already said they would continue this in the morning. She was just glad that with her apparation abilities they wouldn't realize exactly how far Nik and the rest were. It was a long ride back, but she might have cheated and used magic to hide the car and speeded a little to get there sooner.

She had barely stopped the car when Nik had pulled her out. Standing still she allowed Nik to ascertain that she was in the same condition she had been in when she had left him this morning. He had always been over protective and any time she went on a mission and he couldn't see her he would do this. The once she had gotten a slight paper cut well dealing with paperwork and Nik had looked like he wanted to kill someone the moment he smelt her blood, until she explained it to him and calmed him down.

"I'm fine Nik," she said with exasperated fondness.

"You know I worry love," he told her pulling away with a small smile. "Now you've had a long day so let's get you something to eat because knowing you you forgot, and then it's bed. Can't have you passing out in front of potential enemies."

"Of course Nik." Honestly she knew he was just saying those things for the benefit of his minions eavesdropping, although she never knew why anyone believed it to those he truly cared about Nik could be a bit of a softy until he began to fear for their lives.

AN: Hope you enjoy this chapter. Please tell me what you think, and just in case some people are worried no Alexinia isn't going to become a Mary Sue. She isn't all powerful and does have her flaws. She's just more logical then her male counterpart was in Harry Potter, and she is slightly darker then Harry was as well. Thanks for reading :)