Theoretically, if anyone asked, she had committed several misdemeanours and blatant violations of the law in the last two hours under Kol's delighted and watchful eye.

In reality, she had stolen into a blood bank under the cover of darkness, surrounded by manufactured shadows, and plucked up fifteen blood bags to place them into a small icebox. All A or B positive to prevent extra complications for them in the future. A considerate criminal, one would say. She had walked out and locked the door behind her with a little magical manipulation before disappearing into the night. Kol provided extremely unhelpful commentary the entire time, but she had accommodated his minor attempts at distracting her despite the fact she was doing this all for him.

The theft itself could fall under the category of misdemeanour or felony.

Ana would put good money on the latter as the blood she lifted amounted to at least two thousand dollars. It was a terribly say thing to say that an event like this wouldn't even brewak into the top twenty-five list of morally obscure things she's ever done.

She weaved through the alleyways of the city under the cover of night and sloughed off her nitrile gloves into a nearby disposal bin. The warmth of her breath flushed her face beneath the mask despite the cold of the New York winter. Kol followed her placidly, a grin stretching his face and revealing his pearly white teeth. The pale ghostly glow surrounding him sifted through the dark, illuminating the smallest stretch outside of his body.

"You are quite accomplished at crime. Not a trace left behind," he said, clearly thrilled at the new revelation. "Are you interested in a career change in the near future? You would have a willing accomplice at your behest once you resurrect me."

"Kol," she said, voice muffled. "No."

She tucked the cooler closer to her chest as they twisted through the city, gliding against the icy air.

"I never took you for a spoilsport," Kol goaded. "Imagine all the things we could achieve, darling. Magics unknown, stories untold, powers untaken. The world is your oyster if you simply stop holding yourself back."

Ana blinked. "Kol, I have thirteen older cousins who have tried to make me their partner in crime since childhood. You can't bait me into it."

"Oh, the moment you resurrect me, darling… you'll see that I can be quite convincing." His grin turned sly, every movement of his sleek and slick as he strolled beside her. "You will find yourself unable to resist."

"Stop playing the devil on my shoulder." She reached up and pretended to tap his cheek. "I'm reviving you out of the goodness of my heart."

His grin softened and his hand melted through her hair. "I'm quite aware, darling."

All she had to do now was store the potion and pack a bag for her little day trip to the middle of nowhere, Virginia with a population smaller than her neighbourhood back in Japan. She hoped they'd have a restaurant worth reviewing at least.

SUPERNATURALLY STUPID SQUAD GROUP CHAT

[4:28AM Eastern Standard Time]

[jamila tang]: ana lau PLEASE give me the add of the place you stayed in nepal

[gabriel caringal]: If you see this, I need the ritual for large scale banishment. I'm begging you.

[jasmine yeung]: She's probably sleeping. It's like 4am for her.

[ana lau]: i never sleep

[ana lau]: jamila tang it's in kathmandu i sent u an email

[ana lau]: gabriel caringal i sent u an email

[ana lau]: drink eight cups of hibiscus tea and get a blessing before u do anything or u will wake up regretting it for a week

[gabriel caringal]: YOU'RE A LIFESAVER. I'M IN LOVE WITH YOU.

[ana lau]: pls tell me the rest of u are not getting into trouble

[jamila tang]: the gods made us their bitches.

[jamila tang]: we're always in trouble

[ana lau]: tru

[jasmine yeung]: I am drinking martinis in Hawaii with the new flavor of the month.

[koji asano]: is this the one with black hair or is it the ginger

[koji asano]: i will judge you for the wrong answer (i'm fine btw got a task)

[ana lau]: it's the ginger

[jasmine yeung]: ANA!

[koji asano]: you disappoint me, jas

[koji asano]: i thought you'd have better taste than that

[koji asano]: you dated actual royalty

[jasmine yeung]: I already have a dad for that, Koji. Thanks, though.

[heejin kim]: what is wrong with all of you?

[heejin kim]: i guess this means you're back in business, nana.

[ana lau]: the gods hate her! u can never guess why. click here to learn more.

[heejin kim]: i need new friends.

There wasn't anything Ana hated more than driving in the west.

The rental SUV had all the studded tires and possible safety features preinstalled. It changed nothing about the traffic, road conditions, recklessness of other drivers, or any other upcoming problems she faced when driving. If anything, this made her miss Japan and her cousins more. She never drove when they were around and the public transportation negated any need for cars. If it weren't for her unique situation, need for freedom, and required secrecy, she would have agreed to any and all suggestions for a chauffeur employed by her family. As it was, she had complicated needs, and a chauffeur would never meet them.

So, she was stuck behind the wheel with a tray of iced coffee, stacks of pocky, a day bag, the cooler of stolen blood, the resurrection materials, a duffel bag of weapons, and the ghost of Kol. Everything she needed for a seven hour road trip to a backwater town in the south.

The things the gods put her through.

"What is this drivel?" Kol asked when a new song shuffled on.

It was a song from Twice; one of their new Korean city pop tracks, reminiscent of the eighties in East Asia.

"Happy music," Ana said. "I will not take any complaints or dissenting opinions from people I'm resurrecting."

Her ghostly companion lounged in the passenger seat, unbothered by the traffic, eyes on the passing scenery. She envied him, at that moment. If only Tetsuo or Koji were around, she would be in the same position.

"Tell me about yourself," Kol said suddenly. "It really isn't fair that you know all about me when I know nothing about you, darling."

"What?" Ana blinked.

"I've told you things I've told no one else. It's your turn, isn't it?"

"I don't know what to tell you. I'm not that interesting," she said. "People rarely ask about me."

It was a general and hard truth—people didn't ask about her because she rarely gave answers and the situations she found herself in were too chaotic for a game of twenty questions. The only people who knew anything about her beyond surface level were the close friends she'd grew up with and her family. Beyond those ties, people had the surface level and cursory information. Anastasia Lau—ghost guide, food reviewer, and university student.

"You're a divine emissary about to resurrect me from the dead. I'm sure you have some stories for me. A hobby outside of rescuing your friends and forcing peace upon lost souls, perhaps?"

Ana considered her next words with care and chose something inconsequential. A little known fact that held little weight as possible ammunition against her. "I'm an archer. It isn't a useful ability or talent in the modern age where guns exist, but I know how to use those too. Just not as well. I never miss with my bow and arrows."

He examined her closely. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, but I am."

"That I can use a gun or a bow?" She tapped the steering wheel. "It's mandatory that everyone in my maternal family learns before they turn sixteen. It's a tradition."

"A family thing," he mused. "It's rather funny, darling, as you seem like the type to be sheltered by your parents. But, here you are, traversing the world and raising the dead instead of locked in a little tower, guarded by a dragon."

She glanced at him. "They died. A long time ago."

He went silent.

"I'm sorry."

"Death is natural and, like I said, a long time ago," she said. "I've had time."

"You are remarkably well-adjusted," he commented. A half smile, half sneer twisted his face. Exasperation, frustration, and somehow, amusement flashed over his face in quick succession. "I suppose you'll find yourself horrified once you meet my family. We're a bunch of neurotic, violent, maladjusted, and paranoid individuals. Don't allow them to deceive you with their courteous and charming demeanour. That's all learned. You cannot trust a single one of them, but me."

"But you?"

His eyes, a velvety chocolate brown and framed by a thick set of lashes, softened as they met hers. "But me."

"It's a bold idea to call any side of my family functional," Ana said. "Legacy bound as we are."

"Trust me, every single one of my siblings have all had hundreds of years to marinate in our troubles and instability. Your family is incomparable to mine. The one you should avoid at all costs is Nik," he said darkly. "I'll return alive and he might just dagger me over it."

"Dagger?"

His lips pursed and tightened.

"Do you have any good memories with your family?" she asked. "Or should I cancel my plans of leaving you with them? Because I will if you ask."

"They'll remain reasonable enough for a time." Kol paused and contemplated the question. "How about a deal, darling? A memory for a memory."

Ana hesitated for a moment. "I don't see why not. What do you have in your vault of centuries?"

"As you know, my siblings and I travelled often," he said. "One of my favourite times was in the sixteen hundreds. Belaga. We settled there for a few years. It was a rare occurrence of indolence on our part despite the warlords plaguing the country. We had enough time to spend it arguing over interior decoration. Nik and Elijah were monumental with their petty desires. You see, Nik had a studio for his art. It was truly hideous, darling. A mess at all corners. You wouldn't believe such a monstrosity existed until you laid eyes upon it."

A small smile tilted her lips. "Arguing over interior decor? How domestic."

"They still disagree over it to this day. Unlike Nik, I have exquisite taste in all things." A lazy grin tugged at his lips as his head lolled. "One of my favourite things to mention whenever either of them get too comfortable with each other."

"And what were you doing, then?"

"Oh, darling, what was I not doing?" he said. There was a brief tentativeness, as if he intended to skip over his words. "The blood ran red, the warlords courted death, and battles waged on. It was a time of great indulgence and senseless hedonism. In the end, Nik ruined it by provoking a warlord, slaughtering his family, and leaving one of them alive. "

"It must chafe to exist in the modern age." She stared at the long line of cars extending beyond the horizon line of marigold orange and crimson red, the sky coloured by a dying sun. "But someone told me that watching the world change is unlike anything else."

"Time passes by, regardless." Kol leaned back. "It was a matter of adaptation or isolation. The latter would've never ended well with us. Now, it's your turn, darling."

Ana paused, fingers dancing over the steering wheel. The gentle melody of her music filled the car and the soft threads of her sweater pressed into her skin. Heat pulsed through from the vents as she sifted through her memories.

"Second thoughts?" Kol lifted a brow. "I didn't think you were the type to renege on a deal."

"A hard time picking," she said. "I didn't live for hundreds of years like you and, like I said, I'm not overly interesting."

"I'm sure there's something in that little head of yours, darling."

Plenty of her memories were private or classified, sequestered away into the most secret parts of herself, left untold and unwritten by anyone. Others were darker and full of resentment; they would poison the happy tranquility between them. A good handful of her memories belonged to people shrouded in mystery and she never spoke of them out of respect for their privacy. There were even more memories that required years of knowing her before she felt comfortable disclosing them. Her life was tied together in a complicated saga that required plenty of long-winded explanations and additional footnotes.

"On my maternal side, I'm the baby and the only girl." She lingered on her thoughts, almost unsure about her next words and how to phrase the memories. "I was the favourite scapegoat because I wouldn't get in trouble. When I grew up, I became the resident problem solver because I was... special. You have no idea how many times I've untangled my relatives from difficult situations even as a preteen."

The tsunami of her past washed over her—as much as she loved her family, she doubted they would've survived half of the shit they did without her.

"One time, when I was fourteen, I got a call at three in the morning from my older cousins, plastered and stranded. They woke up on a beach in another city, five hours away." Ana laughed under her breath. "I was the first person they called to pick them up. They retained some of their sense, but not enough to remember I was a fourteen year old girl who couldn't drive."

"They couldn't have possibly been that pissed," Kol said in disbelief. "How in the bloody hell do you manage to leave the city while inebriated?"

"Japan's train systems are infamous for their efficiency." Ana remembered the pre-dawn grogginess fading away into sheer incredulity with each slurred word over the phone and the moody irritation of her teenhood washed away her exhaustion with indignation. She giggled at the memory. It was the first of many rude awakenings. "They knew I wouldn't sell them out though—they weren't allowed to leave the city because of a family situation. No one in the family could know or they'd have to have a great, fool-proof alibi. The rest of our family members are either terrible secret keepers or like sharks waiting for blackmail to pounce on. So, I called my best friends, Jasmine and Koji, for a little early morning trip and we took the train to pick them up."

She smiled, wistful. It was one of the few 'emergency' calls she'd ever answered that wasn't life-threatening. Every second of it had engraved itself into her mind. There was the chill of the night wind and the slow blend of the city into suburbia into the countryside, all passing by like a whirlwind of a movie montage. She remembered Jasmine and Koji at her side. She remembered the card games, shared music, the movies on a too-tiny screen, and the boundless laughter from tiredness lasting throughout their last minute trip. Ana could easily picture the visible and crippling relief on her cousins' faces when she arrived on the beach just into time to prevent them from perishing their hangovers like flowers deprived of sunlight.

"In the end, we rented hotel rooms, stayed there for two days, and helped them recover from their hangovers. They spoiled us all when they got better. First drink, ice cream trip, movies, shopping—whatever my best friends could think of. When we got back, I lied and told everyone in my family that my cousins took my friends and I on a day trip because I begged them to. I didn't ask for a lot of things so everyone always let me get away with what I wanted. It was one of the few times I had no responsibilities."

"And you told me your family was dysfunctional, darling," he said. "That doesn't quite sound like it to me. In fact, it sounds almost ideal."

"We're an old money, noble clan. My family might love me, but it's not as simple as everyone thinks. There's politics and business always interfering in that love."

"Isn't that just life?" He smiled, sardonic and biting. "And pray tell, what have these people done to you?"

She stared at the road ahead, fingers tightening over the warm leather of the steering wheel.

"Let's not ruin the mood," she said lightly.

Kol narrowed his eyes. "It was that terrible?"

"According to people who know, yes." She glanced at his face, shrouded and unfathomable in expression. "I survived, though. I always do."

Mystic Fall was a small town, submerged in the idyllic suburbia of the American Dream. A terribly easy thing to love and hate with the false halcyon promises of better days and refuge from the big cities. It was a strangely barren town with low red-bricked buildings that reminded her of the deep American south. The sun had already passed beyond the horizon and left the settlement engulfed by a dull twilight. A dried up tumbleweed rolling down the half-empty streets wouldn't have been out of place.

"This is the centre of the supernatural world?" she asked doubtfully. "It's kind of ugly."

"As it is, darling," Kol said. "We had left long before our input for civil design and architecture could be noted. Unfortunate looking, but that is a fixable flaw."

"Why would you waste your time?" she muttered. She eyed the strange number of American flags hung from buildings and houses as she parked on the street. "And the suspicious amount of nationalism…"

"A penny for the rest of your thoughts?" Kol murmured as they stepped out of the car.

"Only a penny?" she said.

"A horrific thing, indeed, but a dead man is a poor man these days. I cannot commit theft from the realm of Hades like those who attempted in Greek mythology."

"This place is rather mundane," Ana observed. "I can see why people might like it, but I can't see it as the centre for the supernatural world. Why you all returned is…"

"Absolutely baffling?" He grinned. "Well, it was not always such a bore. You see, there were witches, vampires, and werewolves all warring not too long ago. What would you humans call it? Ah yes, hijinks. It had thrived with magic and tension. This is the birthplace of vampires, after all."

She gently pushed her hand through the air and pulsed her own magic through. "There's still powerful magic here. It's concentrated in certain areas as opposed to the entirety of the town, but it isn't gone."

"As much as I would like to provoke the multitude of wankers around here, it'd be best if we avoided those areas, darling."

Ana met the curious gazes of strangers as she made her way down the stretch of sidewalk. She kept her face neutral as she entered the Mystic Grill with the intention of grabbing a quick meal to fuel the upcoming ritual.

"This is why I hate small towns," she said when the leering melted away.

She had grown up like that—under public scrutiny and perpetual divine surveillance. It was the unceasing watching and waiting for judgement while existing in unending limbo. Another form of purgatory on earth. She could not wait to leave.

Kol stared at the charred remains of what was once the Gilbert house in dismay as Ana parked in front. The moon had bloomed slowly overhead with the descent of the sun and cast long shadows from the spikes of leafless trees and evergreens. He turned to Ana and met her expectant gaze. She had her steel potion flask, incense pack, icebox, Mystic Grill takeout, and duffel bag in hand.

"They burned it down," he said, voice uneven and rough.

"This is the place?" she asked.

"Yes, but the entire house is gone. They bloody set it aflame."

"Great. This makes things much easier." Ana walked up the concrete footpath bracketed by yellowed grass, weeds, and dirt. "We don't have to break in or knock people out."

The tensions in his shoulder released at her words. "You can still perform the ritual?"

"The aspects of my magic isn't bound by the natural world rules that you know," she said. "This is spiritual and divine. I don't need any form of remains unlike other resurrection magics that exist. This involves the will of the gods, your soul, and you. Unlike other magics, this isn't non-divine beings imposing their will and wishes upon the world. I'm simply a conduit acting on behalf of the gods."

Kol let out a breath of relief. "Alright, darling. I'm at your mercy."

"You should lay down closest to where you died," Ana advised.

He followed her instructions and laid in the patch of dirt closest to the centre of the remains. She walked around the scorched property. Her voice carried on the evening wind like a nightingale caught in the midst of a song. He didn't understand a single word pouring out of her mouth, but he could see her feet trawling patterns into the dirt. The air hissed with magic as she began to pierce incense sticks into the ground and fire spontaneously lit the ends.

Ana returned to his side and knelt, opening the steel potion flask in her hands. "Are you ready?"

"A little late to ask, isn't it?" He chuckled, voice strained "I trust you."

She smiled slightly and set down the Mystic Grill takeout beside them. A fire enveloped it and she poured the potion over his ghostly form. The shimmering crimson liquid passed through him and soaked the soft ground beneath him like blood from a wound. Some of it pooled around her knees, but never quite touched her. Words left through her barely moving lips, completely foreign to him.

The wind disturbed her loose hair and the strands fluttered around the pale oval of her moonlit face. A pale peony pink incandescence illuminated her silhouette in the dark and the same glow overtook her tea-brown eyes. Beams of light carved through the ground in the most complex magic circle he's laid eyes upon. The potion drowning the dirt morphed into a humanoid shape.

Kol gripped his own hands when hundreds of clamorous voices roared to life around him, their words warring like gambolling beasts and raucous crowds. The voices chanted and blended together while he and Ana sat, hunted, in the centre of the colosseum. It was deafening and immutable.

A gleam of metal appeared in Ana's hand and arched over him—

—a burst of light blinded him.

He reached out, gasping. "Ana!"

The world bled a deep scarlet around them, interrupted only by streaks of pitch black, pure white, and gold lightning. Dozens of eyes dissected them from above and ash-dipped claws slashed across the skies. The buzzing of cicadas filled his eyes and ears. They were no longer on the desolate grounds of the Gilbert House. The crooning, discordant voices layered over him and settled like a pungent cloud. A riptide had caught him and forcibly submerged him beneath, unable to escape from the drowning. Everything felt too hard and sharp. It was as if someone sunk blunt needles and scraped them against his skin. A harsh iron grip latched onto his heart and squeezed in an unrelenting rhythm. Thousands of hands crawled up his skin and rain upon his body, nails scratching and digging in without forgiveness.

He flailed, arms lashing out and body bowing.

A hand reached out and rested on his clammy forehead. Slim, small fingers threaded between his. "Kol, stay still."

"Ana," he rasped, tightening his grasp on her hand.

His eyes flickered around them wildly. She radiated a pale pink light in the dark plane of existence she dragged him into, a luminescent beacon of peace in a world of chaos. He could not see beyond the brilliance, only the mere outline of her form. Ana was the only source of warmth in this realm of ice and wind and death.

"It's almost over," she whispered.

He opened his mouth to speak, to plead for something, but a magic deluge of the most substantial nature filled his mouth like a poison, like an ambrosia. It flooded his lungs and threatened to choke him. The magic pulled him under, engulfing him in lava, and burying him alive. It dragged him into the depths of the unknown.

Kol screamed.

It was terrifying.

It was euphoric.

Ana leaned over Kol's reformed body.

He was an unfairly pretty boy with sharp yet soft features and she could easily imagine his face twisted with mischief. His head rested in her lap and she observed his unjustly smooth skin, deep-set eyes, and fluffy chocolate brown hair. His lean, athletic body only amplified his place as a traditionally handsome man. He had, luckily, formed with the clothes he had taken with him into the afterlife—it wasn't something she had taken into consideration.

Specks of dirt and smears of potion riddled the clothes in question. It suited a lumberjack more than him. She supposed the fact he just returned among the living offered him a convenient excuse.

Ana glanced at her watch and tapped his cheek. "Kol, wake up. We have to go and you have to eat."

A few blood bags rested in her other hand, slowly warming up to body temperature under the coaxing of her own heat and magic. Kol's eyes fluttered open and he squinted at the sky full of stars and moonlight.

He shot up, abrupt and jerky. "You did it," he breathed and turned to her. His clean, bare hands reached out and he hesitated. His fingers caressed her cheeks and his palms cupped her jaw. A low, disbelieving laugh escaped his lips. "I'm alive."

"I said I could revive you." She leaned further back onto her calves and shoved the warmed-up blood bags into his hands. "Here."

Kol tore into a blood bag and emptied it quickly. He threw back three in record time like tequila shooters and paused for a moment. "My bloodlust isn't the same."

"What?"

"My self-control doesn't feel strained. Vampires hunger for blood at every second of the day," he said. "You feel it, constantly. It's an itch in your teeth, gnawing at your stomach, and when you drink… the exhilaration is indescribable. Even better than that cocaine you humans like so much. All of it's… muted."

She hesitated. "You might still be marinating. Come on. You should finish the rest. I have a paper to submit before ten tomorrow and a restaurant to review on my blog while you have siblings to surprise."

Kol laughed, lip and pearly white teeth stained with blood. "You're worried about a paper when you've just raised the dead, darling?"

"I can't use it as an excuse for a late submission." Ana stood up and dusted herself off. "Well, do you have a place to stay?"

"My brother owns a nearby mansion," Kol said.

"Perfect! I'll drop you off and you can prepare for Christmas with them."

Kol caught her hand before she turned around and pulled her into him. He wrapped his arms around her, resting his cheek on her head. His hands tangled into the waves of her hair as he bent down to bury his face against her. Ana tensed but shyly relaxed as he continued to hold her. Her hands lifted and she lightly rested them around him.

"Thank you," he whispered in her ear before he let go of her.

"No need to thank me just yet," she said. His fingers brushed through the strands falling into her face and she almost flinched. "We have things to do, places to be, Kol, former ghost."

"Before we go, Nik is paranoid," he warmed and pulled away. "The moment you walk in with me, he'll think you're out to sabotage him or our family. He might try to kill you. Elijah and Rebekah are slightly more reasonable."

"Kol. Don't worry." She guided him back towards the car. "I'll be gone before morning even comes."

Ana stared at the magnificent mansion spread over several thousands of square feet on several acres of land. It was a pale contour of stone, near unidentifiable in the dark, with black and white accents, and countless amounts of lightless windows and empty balconies. Overgrown weeds, dead trees, and yellowed grass lined the courtyard and driveway surrounding a little unused fountain. It was in slight disrepair, something unlike Kol's description of any of his siblings who would've compelled someone to take care of it all.

"I don't think anyone lives here anymore," she said.

"Those bastards. Of course they'd leave this wretched little place and abscond the moment things became inconvenient for them. They probably had another argument and parted ways in a fit."

"Do we have ideas on where they might have gone? They clearly abandoned Mystic Falls. I don't blame them. There's nothing to do there."

"I was dead," he reminded her.

"It couldn't have hurt to ask," Ana said. "You can stay with me in New York while we search for them. We'll be in Manhattan before three in the morning if we leave now and I can finish my paper."

Kol cursed beneath his breath but gave her a short nod. She started the car and pulled out of the driveway, heading towards the highway.

One step forward, two steps back.

This was starting to become one of the more difficult tasks sent by the gods.

.

Ana pressed her palms into her eyes.

Kol had thrummed with unreleased, furious tension the first half of the drive back to New York City, more subdued than he was as a ghost and probably plagued by his own thoughts. The latter half he spent regaling her with his exploits in the past as a nobleman and lord after she had softly nudged him into talking. He had taken to the storytelling like a duck to water.

He had slowly relaxed by the time they pulled up to a twenty-four hour diner in the heart of Manhattan with her day bag in hand. It was a fusion diner with East Asian influences and she had given it a glowing review in the early days of her time in New York. She had settled into a booth, opened her laptop, and ordered a small spread for the two of them to feast on while she worked.

"You'll have to recoup energy," she had told Kol before she began to furiously type. "Blood won't be enough for the magic."

She had already submitted her paper under Kol's watchful eye. All she had to do was post a review of the Mystic Grill, polish up a contract translation, and check on her friends' assignments across the globe. He had stared at her the entire time, his long legs brushing against hers from time to time beneath the table. He was irritatingly tall, something that hadn't mattered as a ghost, but she was now terribly aware of the fact with how much space he took up.

"Any favourite places like Belaga that your siblings like to return to throughout the centuries?" She took a sip of the Hong Kong style iced coffee she ordered—perfectly smooth, not too sweet, and icy cold. The waitress was going to receive the largest tip she's ever seen as far as Ana was concerned.

"Yes, but they're quite spread out. You see, darling, we're all opinionated, stubborn, and disagree on things often. Those disagreements nearly decimate entire blocks."

"...you don't possibly have their phone numbers, do you?"

He stared at her.

She sighed. "I thought so. Do you all have a last name? I might be able to look for them through modern means."

"Mikaelson," he said. "But don't trouble yourself by looking too hard. Last I heard, Elijah was going by Elijah Smith. I don't know what possible surnames Rebekah and Klaus have chosen, but hopefully they'd have more taste than Smith."

Ana giggled at the clear disdain on his face. Her exhaustion was catching up to her, nipping at her heels. The ritual, the magic, the driving, and the lack of sleep were all contributing to the lowering of her walls, but she still had work to do.

"Do you want to see them?" she asked and stirred her coffee.

"I need to see my siblings eventually," he said. "'Want' isn't quite the operative term when it comes to anything involving them."

"And here I thought the resurrection ritual would've been the hardest part of helping you."

Kol chuckled and leaned back into the booth. "You'll find that nothing is ever simple when it comes to a Mikaelson, darling."

The small diner was almost empty, bar a chef, a waitress, and a half-asleep college student in the corner. It was a tranquil and liminal space where people passed through like ghosts. The dim lights and neon signs cast shadow over exposed copper brick walls. They had sequestered away into a cognac brown leather booth with a thick slab of wood separating them. Ana had ordered enough food for three people, but he had devoured it with ease.

A strange gnawing of hunger had taken its place in his stomach and it was a human experience he had nearly lost to time. He had eaten his fill, nursing a vanilla bourbon milkshake. Ana had drifted back into an intense focus on her laptop.

Kol stared at her indecipherable but relaxed face, intent on catching any slip of her expression. She sipped at her coffee leisurely, humming under her breath as her fingers danced over the keyboard.

The horrors of whatever hellish place that was hadn't affected her at all.

He knew she had braved it with him, remembered her cool palm resting on his forehead and fingers laced through his. She had to have experienced everything that he had. The monstrous faces pressing out of the skies, the constant buzzing, the raging screams, the unbridled chaos of magic—

"Ana, darling," he said, finally interrupting her work. "What was that place?"

She paused and stopped typing. "This place? It's Thuy's Diner. Pretty new compared to what's around, but I know the owner personally and reviewed—"

"—no. The place where you resurrected me." He met her confused tea-brown eyes and reached over to grasp her hands. "It was petrifying. It was worse than the Other Side. It was hell on Earth."

She looked at him oddly. "I guess… you could call it that."

"You were there," he said. "I remember."

"I was," she confirmed.

"And?" he pressed.

She shrugged. "It's the middle realm. It's always like that. The gods convene there from time to time since they refuse to visit each other's realms."

"Always," he said. "You know, darling, despite all my travels… I have never heard of quite a place."

"You wouldn't have," she said. "Few people can access it and it's not really a blast to visit."

"No. If it weren't integral to my revival, I would've rather have conversed with Nik for two hours than experience that again."

A hint of a smile lifted her full lips. She still looked the same, simply a little more tired than before. "You were there because the use of divine powers were required to bring you back. The gods would have to lay witness and they did."

"Was it always like that?"

"Like what?"

"It was asphyxiating. I was broiling in my own skin. A constant deluge of unwanted experiences," he said. "I had magic before. It never felt like that. My magic was euphoric and freeing and blissful."

Ana paused, contemplating his words. "It's an aspect of my magic. I stopped noticing, I guess. I've forgotten what it's like for everyone else."

"This middle realm. Have you ever met anyone else who walked it? Other than you?"

A distant look entered her eye as she stared out of the diner's windows into the streets, slick from rain and melted snow. The skies were slowly lightening, reflected through the little puddles despite the littered streets. A pale purple twilight ascended from the horizon. He could almost feel those hands digging beneath his skin, the hot breath against his neck, and those unearthly sets of eyes boring through him once more. He glanced around the diner but there was no one new and the college student had fallen asleep, head in their arms.

"My friends and cousins with a modicum of divine powers had to experience it at some point," she finally said.

"And?" he prompted when she went silent.

"They hated it," she said simply.

In the next two weeks, Ana dedicated herself to finding the Mikaelsons to no avail. Her family's human resources never perused deep enough and meant nothing in the face of the supernatural. She found herself quite reluctant to tap too deeply into any semblance of her further connections within the magical realms. It would confirm what she had always known—there was no escape from her role as the divine emissary.

(The fact she could feel the gods' disapproving eyes following her throughout the years had meant nothing to her in the end. If they had wanted a better emissary, they could've made another choice. A better one. And they've already had this fight before.)

It did not help that most supernatural beings, especially the old ones, gossiped like Asian grandmothers at Sunday dimsum or at the market. The moment she reached out to one person, it would reach at least thirty ears and raise unwanted expectations amongst the old guard about her return. Priest Yeung Luk, aside.

The lack of success hadn't seemed to worry Kol. In fact, he seemed at ease within the walls of the brownstone. Strangely peaceful. He had accompanied her from time to time on little errands or explored the city on his own while she conducted family business, but he made no mention of the search for his siblings.

In fact, the Mikaelson siblings had become a popular topic within the household while the most important details remained untouched. He mentioned everything, but the hunt for their possible trail.

He told her stories about his family and the centuries of melodrama they engaged in over dinner at times and related their stories to the ones playing on the television. Kol spoke of them and their exploits often—mocking Elijah for a 'cult', Rebekah for her dalliances with the worst of men, and his troublemaking with Nik. At night, he spoke of darker things. The sins they committed through the years and the unrepentant violence done by the hands of the Mikaelsons.

Underneath it all, however, was a yearning.

The same one she heard at the beginning of their little journey.

"Are you afraid of confronting them?" she finally asked. "Your family?"

His eyes narrowed at her dangerously. "What?"

They had slipped back into their routines with ease—like he was still a ghost. She noticed him more, these days, due to his physical body. He towered over her, something that she didn't need to mind until now. Whenever he helped her in the kitchen, he would lean over her easily, and his long arms would extend around her to point while his clothes brushed against her skin.

Now, the hard and tense lines of his body were more salient. The expressions on his face were more apparent. She could no longer disregard his particular, continual need to remain in her space.

Today, she made a simple, healthy spicy Korean seafood noodle soup for dinner. Shellfish, bok choy, beansprouts, and herbs filled the bowls and accompanied the soft, bouncy noodles.

"You talk a lot about your family but you're avoiding finding them."

"Looking to get rid of me, darling?"

She shook her head. "I don't mind your presence here, but I think you're running away from your problems."

He set down his utensils. "Is that so?"

"Yes," she said. "Is there a reason why?"

He smirked and the edges of his pearly white teeth gleamed. "And what makes you so sure that you're right?"

"Because that's what I do," she said. "Run away."

Sometimes, some days, Kol hated Ana.

Her earnest honesty, her truthful observations, had marooned him in a state of unsurety. The nonchalance, the ease in her demeanour—it had left him with the inability to react and lash out. She had looked at him with those discerning tea-brown eyes and asked for the truth while offering her own. Under normal circumstances, he would've led her on a merry chase with dishonesty and half-truths.

In this case, he fell silent and she disappeared into her room after dinner.

He didn't wish to find his family just yet.

Kol could already imagine the lengthy arguments. Elijah's scorn and lack of concern (he had forgiven that little doppelganger bint for his death with such ease and made off with her ancestor, after all). Rebekah's unhindering loyalty to Niklaus and his vision. The troubles that Nik would drag to their doorstep with past enemies and future ones and his acts of self-sabotage. The matter of his dead family members and their probable looming return. His parents never stayed dead and away for long, after all.

Here, with Ana, he was Kol. Not a Mikaelson or an Original Vampire with a target on his back. He didn't have to think about unending hell on Earth or Silas or whatever the world may conjure up to disrupt his little moments of peace. This little house felt more like a home than any house his family had inhabited and abandoned over the years.

Ana appeared at the foot of the stairs amongst his musing. Strands of her hair were still slightly damp, but her lovely face, gentle and open, was clear and bare. His eyes raked up her exposed legs and arms, the sharp curve of her shoulders and collarbones.

He breathed in her warm scent of vanilla, almond, roses, and a strange sweet fruit. She tucked herself into the corner of the sofa and pulled her legs underneath the faux-fur throw.

Ana held out her hand and he raised a brow but placed his hand in hers. She placed a cold metallic rectangle on his palm.

"Here," she said. "An out. It's a burner phone with my number on it."

"And what is this for, darling?"

"If we find your family and you decide they're still awful, I'll rescue you like you're Cinderella."

A smile tugged at his lips as she looked at him. His fingers closed around the phone and he pocketed it.

"You shouldn't have given this to me, darling," he said. "I'll simply use it to stay away from them forever."

Her tea-brown eyes rested on him. "So, what are you thinking?"

"My siblings aren't difficult to find, unlike me," he said. "Trust me, dearest. I'll probably find their tail within the next day. They rarely try to hide."

In the end, any efforts he'd make to search for his siblings would mean nothing. They all had great talents in disrupting any moment of peace he managed to steal for himself.

we're about to meet another one of the mikaelsons in the next chapter! can anyone guess who and how? we'll be meeting some of ana's friends in the future, as you now know them by the supernaturally stupid squad. i wanted to add more scenes with them because they'll be important but it seems that i'll just have to... add more... chapters. this story was honestly supposed to be just romance/pwp but here we are... not doing that.

anyway, it's clear that ana is the type to have atrocious grammar and spelling in texts which will infuriate some people. she also responds more often in memes than using her actual words because she's so busy.

here are some songs i listened to while writing this: sex, drugs, etc. by beach weather, drive to 1980 love by jane pop, lucid dream by aespa, say something by twice, what, me worry? by portugal. the man

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