Chapter six

Curious

Anya spent the rest of the night flipping through all the Grimoires she owned, looking for any spell that could slow Connor's curse, no matter how dark it was. She was thankful that she had shoved all the spell books that were in her house into bags before she ran away with her brother.

Connor had eventually fallen asleep on the couch next to her, dried blood still staining his face. With an exhausted sigh, Anya heaved the heavy spell book closed and tossed it carelessly onto the coffee table in front of her. That had to be the twentieth book she had gone through, and she hadn't even gone through half the books she owned.

Anya yawned and rubbed her eyes, she was exhausted. Still, she didn't want to fall asleep without looking through all the Grimoires. She didn't want Connor to think she wasn't trying to save him. She was. Anya was literally pouring her entire being into saving him. He had to know that.

She stood up and stretched. She decided she'd make some coffee before digging into the next pile of spell books waiting for her. When she walked into the kitchen and saw out the window that the sun was rising, she frowned. Had she really been up all night?

Anya checked the clock, learning that it was, indeed, five o'clock in the morning. She sighed again and ran a hand over her tired face. Her body begged her for sleep, but all her mind could think about was the fact that her brother was dying. How could she sleep when there was a curse killing him that very moment?

Her thoughts went back to the fact that she would be performing dark magic. The thought sent shivers down her spine. Dark magic. It sounded forbidden, yet there was a part of Anya, a small part, that was curious about dark magic. She was curious as to what she could do with it, how powerful she could be. But most of her was terrified at the thought of dark magic, of being a dark witch.

Anya shook her head slightly. She wouldn't become a dark witch. She'd perform one spell that would slow Connor's curse, and then she'd never touch dark magic again. That didn't make her a dark witch. It couldn't.

Anya managed to convince herself of this, and brought some peace to herself. It was a naïve thought, but it was enough to get her through the day. She ran a hand through her hair and yawned again. She started up the coffee maker, and sat down at the kitchen table. Then promptly fell asleep with her head resting on her arms.

"Anya, wake up!"

She groaned as she sat up, her neck aching and her bleary eyes looking up to see who the asshole who woke her up was.

"What?" she groaned, running a hand over her face. She hadn't slept well, and felt even more tired than she had before she went to sleep.

"Have you been sleeping this entire time?" Connor growled, glaring down at her. "Did you do any research at all last night?"

She sighed. "Relax, alright?" she mumbled. "I was working all night, Connor. I'm sorry if I fell asleep- my entire life doesn't revolve around you, after all."

The room suddenly went very still. "What did you just say?" Connor said, his voice low and dangerous.

Anya froze, suddenly very awake. She slowly looked up at her brother, eyes wide. She hadn't meant to say that. She was just so tired, she hadn't realized what she was saying. "I-I'm sorry, Connor," she said quickly. "I didn't mean it, I promise."

Connor grabbed her arm, his fingers tightening around her wrist painfully. She whimpered, eyes full of fear as she looked up at her brother. "I'm sorry, Connor, I'm sorry!" she repeated.

Connor looked at her, his lip curling in disgust, before her flung her hand away from him, causing Anya to fall to the floor. Her head smacked on the tile, and her vision dotted for a moment.

Anya bit her lip to keep from crying. Out of anger or fear or pain, she didn't know. All she remained on the floor, listening to her brother's heavy footsteps as he stormed out of the kitchen.

She sat up slowly, her wrist aching. It wasn't broken- she thought. Her head was pounding, and she was sure there was going to be a big bruise on her forehead where it connected with the floor. She stood up, knowing she had to get out of the house as soon as possible, before Connor did something worse than spraining her wrist and pushing her to the floor.

She grabbed her purse and the first Grimoire her hands touched from the living room, before she snuck out of the house. She didn't know where she was going, all she knew was that she was more scared of her brother than she had ever been.

It was the first time Anya ever dared think about whether or not Connor was worth it. If her brother was worth turning her back on her family, morals, and beliefs. If he was worth turning to dark magic, turning into a dark witch. He was her brother and she loved him, but was he really worth it if he kept hurting her?

Anya found herself at the Mystic Grill. She got weird looks, knowing that her hair was messy, her clothes wrinkled, her face full of fear and exhaustion. Hell, there might have been blood on her shirt. She didn't know, and she really didn't care.

She sat down at a booth and sighed, rubbing her eyes. Of course Connor was worth it. He was her brother, her blood. She was all he had left. And of course he wasn't going to be in the best mood. He had a curse that was slowly but painfully killing him. She'd be bitchy too.

That's how Anya justified Connor's actions. Because she didn't want to think her big brother to be a heartless monster, who would whore her out to original vampires, have her practice black magic, and hurt her physically and emotionally, all just to save himself.

Yet, that's exactly what Connor Lewis was, and what he was turning into.

Still, she flipped through the old, heavy Grimoire and looked for a spell, any spell that might help Connor. When Anya paused and frowned at the leather bound cover, she realized with an unpleasant jolt that this had been her mother's Grimoire.

Even though she knew she would never find anything that would help Connor in the book, she kept turning pages. A heavy feeling of grief overwhelmed her at that moment, as she studied her mother's familiar handwriting on the yellowing pages. It was one of the rare moments she allowed herself to miss her mom.

As she turned passed spell after spell, Anya stopped flipping when she came across a passage that wasn't a spell. It was newly written too, she could tell. The ink was dark and bold against the paper, it had yet to fade like the rest of the words in the old book.

My dearest Anya, it read, what have you done?

The air left Anya. She reread the sentence over and over again, to make sure she hadn't misread it. But the words remained the same. My dearest Anya, what have you done?

It was with a sinking stomach and great reluctance that she kept reading the letter.

You and your brother have always had a close bond, I know. And I know that you have never saw vampires for what they are- demons, monsters. But this needs to stop now Anya. You need to let the curse take your brother's life like it was meant to. You need to stop looking for the stone, you need to stay away from original vampires, and you need to not go anywhere near dark magic.

This isn't a joke, Anya. You do not know what messes you're getting yourself into. Don't let your brother's bad decisions be the end of you, sweetheart. I hope you realize that the spirits won't let this happen. They won't let you save your brother. I should know; I'm one of them now.

Anya dropped the Grimoire on the table with a loud thud. Her heart was beating erratically in her chest. She stared at the last sentence of the note, eyes wide and unblinking.

I should know; I'm one of them now.

How was that even possible?

"Well, well, well, Little Witch. We meet again."

Anya closed her eyes, praying that this wasn't happening, not now. Not when her dead mother was speaking to her from beyond the grave. But when Anya peeked out of one eye, Kol was sitting across the booth, smirking at her.

"Don't you look like you've just seen a ghost," he said, as Anya took a deep breath and closed the Grimoire. He could hear her heart. It was pounding in her chest. She was nervous around him, and Kol couldn't help but take pleasure in that.

He also noted that Anya looked like she had just rolled out of bed. Messy hair, wrinkled clothes, tired eyes. He had to admit, she pulled off the look rather well. She looked quite attractive. He couldn't help but imagine what the witch looked like with fewer clothes on.

She wasn't in the mood to deal with Kol, especially when she was still shaken from her mother's letter. And even though Connor would break her arm if she wasted valuable time at getting to the Astrum Stone, she still pulled her mother's Grimoire to her chest and made to leave the booth.

"Can't you just leave me alone?" she muttered, suddenly feeling more exhausted than ever at that moment.

Kol grabbed her wrist to stop her from leaving. "Now where's the fun in that?" he countered, smirking back at her.

Anya flinched, not from Kol touching her, but because of the wrist he grabbed. It was the same one Connor had sprained an hour ago, one that was slowly bruising.

Kol frowned at her but didn't pull his hand away. She was turning out to not be nearly as entertaining as he hoped she would be when he spotted her in the Grill. A shame for her, really. Because people who bored Kol ended up entertaining him in other ways that always involved their deaths.

Anya pulled her arm out of his reach, but didn't storm away from the booth. In fact, she settled back into the booth, placing the old spell book back on the table. Her back straightened and she pushed her light brown hair out of her face before looking back at Kol. He didn't know if the little witch was either full of courage or stupidity. It didn't really matter though; his interest in her was piqued no matter which one it was.

"What do you want?" she asked boldly, crossing her arms over her chest. It might have been from her lack of sleep, but Anya decided then and there that no one else would be walking all over her that day. With her brother's violent actions and her mother's accusing letter, Anya was done with being bullied. And she wouldn't let Kol think that he had the upper hand on her.

"Nothing really," Kol said, leaning back with that smirk that refused to leave glued to his lips. Anya didn't know if she found it sexy or irritating. There was a good chance she found it both. "Just hoping you'd provide some entertainment. I hate to inform you, Darling, but you're not that fun today."

Anya frowned, and glared at him. Kol found her even more amusing when she glared. She looked too sweet, too nice, and too innocent to be able to pull off a glare. He had met kittens more intimidating then the little witch sitting across from him. He hadn't been who he was, he might even have thought she looked adorable. But he was, indeed, Kol Mikaelson, and 'adorable' wasn't in his vocabulary.

"I'm sorry if I bore you," she muttered. "It's not like I'm not exhausted or anything," she added sarcastically.

"I'll take your apology into consideration, Little Witch," he said, smirking easily, as if he hadn't heard the second part.

Anya gritted her teeth angrily. But the angrier she got, the more amusing Kol found her. It was as if he fed off of her frustration, her irritation. "Why don't you just go bother someone else?" she muttered. She should have been glad, that Kol found her interesting enough to bother her. It meant her seduction plan was working so far. But all Anya wanted at that moment was for him to go away.

Kol raised his eyebrows. "Oh, you want to play this game, then? Sounds fun." He sat up straight and smirked at her. "Go ahead, Love. Pick a person and I'll go have a midmorning snack."

Anya's face fell and her eyes widened. She hadn't meant it like that, but Kol knew exactly how she meant it. He was just messing with her, testing her. He was going to get his entertainment one way or another.

"How about the bus boy my sister's infatuated with," Kol said, his nose wrinkling as he looked at Matt. Anya recognized him with an unpleasant pang as the friendly local boy from yesterday. "Or the bartender? She's rather sexy, I'd say. Or what about her," he added, looking at a girl who walked past their booth. "She looks delicious."

"You don't need to kill anybody," Anya muttered, eyes downcast.

"You're right, Little Witch," Kol said, turning back to face her. "But I want to."

Anya looked up at him, a fierceness in her eyes that he hadn't ever seen before. "Do you just wake up every morning and decide to be an arrogant, obnoxious monster?" she snapped. "Or does it just come naturally to you?"

It wasn't that Kol was taken aback by Anya's outburst, it was more like he didn't expect it. At that moment, he realized that the little witch wasn't as innocent or sweet or good as he had thought her to be. She wasn't by any means a threat to him- he was an original vampire, after all- but there was a fire inside the witch, a fire he found absolutely curious.

"Kol," a sharp, annoyed, feminine voice said, bringing Kol's rather intense gaze away from Anya, for which she was grateful. "You have ten seconds or else I'm going to leave you here stranded."

Kol sighed, annoyed. "My trollop of a sister calls," he explained to Anya, before standing up. Then he smirked back down at her. "Until next time, Anya," he said, kissing her hand again, almost mockingly. Anya didn't say anything to him. She found the entire conversation with the vampire unnerving.

"Kol!"

"I'm coming, Rebekah," he snapped, glaring daggers over his shoulder at a pretty blonde girl Anya assumed was his 'trollop of a sister'. Which meant she was an original vampire as well. Anya felt even more nervous, knowing there were two dangerous creatures in the bar with her.

He threw one last smirk at Anya before strolling away to Rebekah. She looked curiously at Anya, who quickly hid her face behind her hair.

"Who was that anyway?" Rebekah asked her brother as they walked out of the bar.

"Mind your own, Sister," Kol replied easily. Then they were gone.

Anya took a deep breath to calm herself down. The day had already been very busy and it wasn't even noon yet.

~LIP~

A/N: thank you to: Laurafxox, .Uchiha, Reader1982, julieakaweirdo, Lauren1996007, SkullKey4758, Lovely Rain Dancer, mindyrainbowpants, and Nightwing's Gal for reviewing!

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~Abby :)