Kirya received the call, that the Salvatore meeting had to be a bit earlier than already planned. She took a quick glance at her watch, and moaned as she jumped from the bed. She cracked her toes against the door, as she rushed to the toilet, and swore loudly.

When she was finally ready, both her head and her foot throbbed. After a quick glance in the mirror, she exited the apartment and locked the door behind her.
She had to hail a cab, instead of walking if she wanted a chance to be there on time. Fucking Salvatore!

She hoped only Stefan would be there, she simply wasn't ready to see a probably fully awake and alert Damon, who of course wouldn't even feel slightly hangovered after yesterdays escapades.

The ride was quickly over, and tipping the cab driver generously she jumped out. At a brisk pace she walked over to the large building that held her office. With 70 floors and a somewhat dark exterior, Lake Point Tower, looked slightly intimidating, as it loomed over the nearby streets and the water. It was only a couple of years back, when the vampires came out, that it had been changed from residential, to business.
She hoped Stefan wasn't here yet, she hated being late, and in the coming conversation she wanted to be on top. If he believed that his little trick with changing the time of the meeting would work, he was in for a surprise.

When she exited the elevator on the fourteenth floor, she quickly looked around, making sure he wasn't there yet, before racing to her office. She waved at the clerk sitting by a desk in the middle of the room. She acted as assistant to all the offices on this floor.

"Hey Maddy."

"Hey Alice. You do know you've got an hour before the meeting with mr. Salvatore, right?"

"Nope, he just called and reschedule to now."

"Wow, I would have thought you guys were over that game years ago."

In her first year as the Salvatore lawyer it had been a common sight to see Kirya in a race through the building to get to her office first. They had constantly changed meeting times, or called in an emergency get together not more than ten minutes in advance.

After some time Kirya had realized what was going on, and after a pointed conversation the "emergencies" had slowly dissolved.

Kirya just shrugged. "I guess he wants to check if I'm loosing my touch," she grinned. As a second thought just before entering her office, she added: "Oh, by the way, would you mind getting me some coffee? And if it's not too much I wouldn't mind if you brought it in when Mr. Salvatore arrives. A comment on a broken machine, where you had to get a technician to come fix it before it would work would be fantastic."

"Oh I see... Of course." Maddy winked conspiratorial before hurrying down the hall.

A little bit more relaxed Kirya entered her office. She would show Stefan Salvatore that he wasn't the only who could play the game. Quickly she grabbed some files and placed them on her desk to make it look like she had been working for some time. That and the "late" coffee should do it. No way he could know that she only jumped out of bed twenty minutes ago.

She had only just taken her seat, and picked up a random document before he walked in.
Relaxed she put down the document and rose to greet him.

"Good morning, Mr. Salvatore."

"Miss Black," he acknowledged with a curt nod. At that point Maddy came in hurriedly.

"I'm so sorry Alice. The coffee machine wouldn't work. I had to get one from the tech apartment up on 52nd floor and it took at least 30 minutes before he had time to come fix..." She cut herself off, making it look like she only just realized there was someone else in the room. "Oh, sorry. I'll leave now."

With those words she handed Kirya the coffee and waltzed out the room. Kirya could have hugged her, but had to fight even the smile, that threatened to cross her face. I wouldn't do to make Stefan suspicious.

"So, you said something important had come up?" Kirya said and collected herself.

"Yes. Did you hear about the terror attack yesterday?"

"Yes of course. I was there. I hope no one was fatally harmed?"

Stefan looked surprised by her answer. Damon had obviously not told him that. "Three was lost to the final death, sad, but not as bad as it could have been. The medics fortunately had a massive amount of blood ready. The few humans involved also got out, without to much damage."

"Has anyone taken responsibility for the act?"

"Not yet. We do have our own suspects, though. It will be confirmed soon, if our suspicions are right."

"That's good." The conversation was going nowhere Kirya noted. She was not gonna ruin a perfectly good day of hangovers with smalltalk with Stefan Salvatore.
"So is there anything you want me to do? Or did you have something else you wanted to talk to me about?"

Stefan was silent a moment. When he spoke his words hit like a whip.
"I'd like you to explain yourself about what happened the other day."

Kirya had to take a deep breath not to yell at him. The way he was talking down to her made her furious. He'd always been keen to do it, and she'd always been good to ignore it, but right now it made her want to choke him. It might have to do with her regained memories, somehow they seemed to have added to her personality.

She clenched her hands into fists under the table, and with a voice laced with ice she responded: "I don't see how that is necessary? It is something between Damon and I, and has absolutely nothing to do with you or the Salvatore Corporation."

She met his eyes steadily, still fighting to keep her temper in check. He was her client after all. That notion flew out the window with his next words.

"Oh, so you let him fuck you too? Huh? You know what? I don't even want to know. I only have one thing to tell you: Stay away from my brother. You have shown good judgement untill now, don't disappoint me."

If he thought, that would be the final words on the matter, he couldn't have been more wrong.
Kirya felt her insides go cold, and it must have shown in her eyes, because Stefan almost took a step backwards. It was almost funny to see the century old vampire fazed by a small human.

She got to her feet.
"What Damon and I do are completely up to us. But just to correct your obviously false facts. We did not fuck." She held a short pause to build a little suspension. Then provocatively added. "We got wasted, and I fed him my blood. Oh, and by the way, he told me that vampire bites doesn't turn you. So I guess he can have my blood whenever. When were you gonna tell me that anyway? Huh?"

Stefan took a step closer to her, turning rigid. His voice suddenly turning smug.
"Alice, Alice, Alice..." He moved faster than lightning, and only when he was back in the same spot dangling a bracelet, her bracelet, in his fingers, she realized what he had done. "Vervain, right? You really should ingest it instead. Much safer. Of course then my brother would have choked on the first sip of you..." As an after thought he added: "And of course it would also prevent me from compelling you right now. Too bad."

Kirya felt her stomach clench, as realisation and fear hit her. No! But before she could escape, his eyes and voice caught her in a steel grip.

"Alice. Look at me." Involuntary she gazed into his eyes. "You will..." His head snapped around, picking up a sound too low for Kirya to hear.

Acting on reflex Kirya grabbed a pencil from the desk behind her and jumped forward. Her action surprised Stefan completely, and she had the small wooden stake buried in his chest before he could do anything. He hissed in pain, and Kirya twisted the pencil, nudging it even deeper.

With her free hand she lifted her fingers up where he could see them.
"I am this close," the small gap between her fingers indicating precisely how close. "I'm this close to your fucking heart, so you'd better pay attention."

Stefan looked at her viciously, but kept silent.

"No one compels me. No one. You are lucky to be Damon's brother, if I didn't believe he at least cares about you a little bit, I would not hesitate to end you right now."

She stepped back leaving the pencil in his chest, taking in a deep breath trying to shake off some of the adrenaline as Stefan slowly pulled out the wood.
When he finally spoke his words surprised her.

"Hey Damon." She whipped her head around looking to the door where Damon was watching.

So that was what Stefan had heard when trying to compel her. Kirya didn't know how long he had been standing there, and she had absolutely no idea how he would react to her almost killing his brother.

He caught her gaze and nodded in acknowledgment. "Kirya." Not waiting for a response he changed his attention to his brother, who was straightening his clothes.

"Stefan." His voice turned into a low growl. I guess he's not mad at me then...

Haha... Kirya owned Stefan :-D