Her tone was completely teasing, showing no fear, and that's when the other two vampires realized that the lovely brunette didn't have a sound coming from her chest.

———————-

Third Person POV:

Desislava was still wearing a pretty grin as she gazed at the vampire holding her. The succubus knew she was in no danger, not only were her pheromones freely dancing across the entire boardinghouse, but the long heady waves of lust rolling off the ravenette were so strong she could nearly taste it. Desi licked her pink lips, watching Damon's baby blues flick over them, before slowly lifting her hands in mock surrender.

"If you'd really like to know, Salvatore, all you need to do is guide this conversation to the sitting room," Desi's eyes appraised him in mock seriousness, "After all, unsavory news is best served with a glass of something strong."

Damon's lust blown eyes were straining to maintain focus before he slowly released his grip on her shoulders. The elder Salvatore was definitely not afraid to get his hands dirty for information, however, he could see in her dark oak eyes a resiliency that would be very difficult to break. This was a woman with backbone, and Damon would be lying if he said that it wasn't one of his favorite attributes in a woman. Desi gave him a warm smile before turning her attention back to Rose and Stefan by the entryway. Extending her hand elegantly, like royalty waiting to be courted, she gestured for the green eyed vampiress to join her side. Rose was more than happy to comply, promptly interlacing her fingers with Desi's. The warm shivers that the small amount of contact gave her was gratifying to say the least and Rose promptly lead her to the sitting room.

Stefan felt that he needed to keep his mind busy to distract himself from the leggy brunette as he began pouring bourbon into four glasses from the crystal decanter. He didn't understand his own emotions at the moment, all he knew was that he was starving. For what? Well, looking into that would only being trouble, whether it was the bloodlust or something else. Someone else. Stefan refused to acknowledge it, no matter how hard it was, purely because he felt so weighed down by his guilty conscience already that anymore burden might break him. As Desi sat on the chaise longue, crossing her long tan legs, the brooding vampire swallowed hard. This is going to be harder than I thought, he admitted to himself.

"Thank you," Desi graciously accepted the crystalline glass of bourbon before fixating everyone with a glance as they all got comfortable with their drinks, "Now onto business. To answer the question that Damon so rudely asked, and to make you all feel a little bit better about the overwhelming tension in this room, I'll make this short and sweet: I'm a succubus."

...

Damon choked on his bourbon as the word escaped her lovely lips. A demon?! A sex demon? First werewolves, then the Originals, and now this, the ravenette was quickly getting annoyed by his own lack of knowledge when it came to the supernatural. It was almost like the last 150 years did nothing to enhance his knowledgeability of his kind. Stefan on the other hand was definitely surprised, but it was completely overthrown by the relief he felt. The almost ethereal lure of Desislava wasn't him being weak, her beauty affected everyone because that was her purpose.

Sharp blue eyes glared at swirling dark ones, "You're a demon?"

The dark orbs rolled back in lazy annoyance, "No, that is a common misconception though, and I'm not surprised that you baby vampires weren't aware of my kind," Desi's perceptive eyes glanced at the vampiress who hadn't said so much as a peep, "I'm glad that Rose here obviously has heard of us though, it'll make explaining go by faster."

Rose nodded, and Desislava couldn't help but wonder if the other woman had figured out when they were last together, or if she realized as soon as she couldn't hear her heartbeat.

"Succubi are basically vampires with a completely different set of rules, they don't feed on blood, they feed on lust, and it can be desire from anyone, doesn't matter if they're supernatural in nature," Rose started, noticing that Desi had a bored expression on her face, clearly the succubus didn't wish to explain it all to the young vampires, "They can walk in the daylight, they don't die from 'the stake in the heart' bit. Succubi have a lot of benefits, however, the gift comes at a hefty price. They are turned by witches in exchange for something, and can only live freely after the witch who cursed them dies. The Succubi are complete slaves to their witch until then, no orders can be denied, even if the witch orders them to kill themselves."

The room seemed slightly colder as the green eyed woman said that, and Rose glanced over at Desislava to ensure she hadn't overstepped her bounds. Desi appeared completely unbothered on the outside, but one only had to look in her eyes to see the raging fires of resentment and hate glowing strong. Not at anyone in the room of course, but Desi couldn't ignore that the 500 years as a slave to Isadora and her whims had created an intense loathing for all things Wiccan related, and even now she would feel twinges of fury when the servants of nature were brought up in conversation. The Salvatore brothers found themselves in an amalgamation of emotion. Damon felt an odd combination of nonchalance, pity, and annoyance, he knew better than most just how those witches could be vindictive, and the blue eyed vampire couldn't imagine having to serve one.

Stefan on the other hand was feeling a bit different, but no less conflicted. Compassion lingered in those forest green eyes as he looked at Desislava once again, his perspective of her changing slightly. And Rose overall was worried that she had made Desi angry, not wanting to harm one of her favorite old flames in such a way. Desi laughed derisively, changing the mood of the room with as much effort as it took to blink, "Now, now, don't feel too bad for me Salvatores. After all, you don't know what I made my deal for. Given the chance I most certainly would do it over again. Which brings me to my next topic of discussion,"

"Generally, I make it a habit to stay honest with people because I believe it is the best way to not complicate relationships, business or otherwise," Desi says with a wink to Stefan, who felt his near-dead heart nearly skip a beat while Damon batted down a swirl of annoyance in his abdomen, "So, to begin I'm going to talk to you a bit about your little curse, then I'm going to tell you what my angle is in all this, and at the end of this friendly discussion I will offer you a deal in exchange for my help."

Damon chuckled dismissively, giving her a sarcastic smile, "And why would we want your help?"

Desi was never one to not enjoy good banter, "Because, Damon," The man felt a shiver on his spine as she said his name, "I've got more than a couple years on you, and I can assure you that you'll want all the help you can get when Klaus comes to town to pick up your little doppelgänger." His teasing blue eyes immediately turned into hard ice as she mentioned the human girl. Elena was a huge bargaining chip in her favor when it came to the Salvatores, and Desi knew she could use it in her favor.

After covering the basics of the Aztec curse once again so that everyone was on equal footing about the sacrifice and Elijah's 'death', not to mention Slater's message, Desi began fervently explaining just how important the moonstone was. If Katerina was as smart as Desi thought she was, she could use that rock to broker herself a deal. Whether it be for her freedom or for her to make a different agreement, Desi wanted to help make her less bored in that cave. Also she added that it'd be beneficial to their efforts to locate the Original Hybrid. Not that the Scooby Gang knew anything about that bit of info of course, but Desi knew she'd have to play a logt of her cards close to her chest. One wrong move and she'd ruin any chance she had of playing the ringleader to this circus, and there was no way her Petrova blood would settle for anything less than the King's place on the chessboard.

———————

It was decided that Stefan and Damon would discuss with Katherine what they were going to do the next day, but there remained a point to be discussed.

"Now that you have your little plan to execute, and I've helped you understand a bit more about who exactly you are up against, it's time for me to reveal something to you so that way we can barter on equal playing fields," Desi stated with the sort of authority one expects from a politician. The three vampires' eyes narrowed, taking in her every word and mentally preparing for what she'd unveil.

"I'm not one for teasing when it comes to business deals, that's much more my goddaughter's business, however, I know you all are very familiar with her brand of business," Damon's icy eyes widened as he realized that Desi had looked familiar in a way he couldn't explain. The quirk of her dark brow, the mischievous glint in her dark eyes, the playful smile that always played on her full lips. There was only one other person in the entire world that he knew had those qualities in spades. Katherine Pierce. Stefan was next to realize what exactly the dark haired woman was insinuating, and as soon as he had connected the dots, the likeness was uncanny. Godmother? Stefan wasn't so sure, they looked almost like sisters. And that's when the brooding younger Salvatore realized why they all hadn't noticed the similarities. Desislava has blasted them with her Succubi charm the minute she knocked on the door, there was no way to truly study someone when your mind was a pheromonal mess. She had planned her entrance so that she could be the one to share that information. The question remained as to why.

Desislava stood up gracefully, as the brothers both did, they were both nearly snarling at her and yet her face remained blank. She sighed as if they were unruly children who needed to be scolded, brushing a loose lock of brown hair behind her ear daintily before bluntly stating, "Salvatores, if I desired to hurt you, I would have when I came in. You have no way to kill me, and trust me when I say that any 'torture' you could afflict on me would feel like BDSM compared to what my witch did to me. Please take a seat like adults so we can discuss my offer."

Damon practically recoiled at her sharp tone. "No offense, gorgeous, but your family has a tendency to be two-faced manipulators and I pride myself on not making the same mistake twice."

Desi's thick brow arched loftily, "And you both wanting to be with Katerina's double isn't making a the same mistake twice?"

Stefan finally spoke up, "Elena is nothing like Katherine."

Desislava lowered the glass of bourbon that she was still nursing back onto the table before fixing both angry vampires with a very grim look, her dark eyes hypnotizing in their intensity.

"If Elena is lacking the Petrova fire, if she lacks the backbone that Katerina has, your human will not survive the storm that's coming to this little podunk town."