#buzzing around like a busy bee fetching jean what he needs

[dayurno]

WAH. food as a love language for kevjean….. i have this little (read: so fucking long) kerejean fic ive been playing in the sandbox with where Jeremy like. stumbles into domestic kevjeans life and established relationship. and i DID put a large focus on like. just the little things like that they do for each other (and how he fits into it but their love alone is just as important) and u saying that food as their love language is going to make me cry

it’s just like. i think jean would be the one to learn to cook for them and it relaxes him and kevin makes them drinks and cuts vegetables and nags jean over his shoulder. he’s banned from using the stove because he’s ruined too many pans but he likes to try and help anyway. jean knows exactly how he likes his meals down to the way they’re plated. i think it is important they find peace in the simplicity of food and how they care for each other after years of the Nest and it would be so sweet to watch them be comfortable with it. bah. sorry they make me emotional. this doesn’t even have a point to it

anon.... all i want for christmas is for this fic to be published.......... i love the inversion of takes where most kerejean fics have kevin looking into jeremy's and jean's domestic life instead, i love the themes (slice of life is my shit), i love the idea of jeremy stumbling into it, I LOVE IT ALL.......... you have to send me updates about this wip as soon as you're able okay. and i expect a link once it drops or so help you

AND YEAH :) one of my first hcs for him is that jean is a really good cook. everything he puts his hands on becomes a five star meal immediately. i find him self-disciplined and methodical enough that it'd be an easy task and he. well i don't know about relaxing but i think he'd just enjoy making things with his own hands.... i like to imagine him as a tactile person who likes using his hands to fix and cook and build and touch and etc etc etc! kevin on the other hand (the crowd boos) is an incompetent chef at best but i really think he'd Love to be jean's assistant. fetching stuff for him and doing minor tasks like stirring or cleaning veggies....... ALSO YOU SAYING HE MAKES THEM DRINKS broke me absolutely broke me. kevin would be so happy making jean cocktails or honestly just pouring him juice or water and holding it for jean to drink when his hands are busy.... pah. pah! this is so lovely thank you for sending it

i think, just as an add-on, they would have that annoying couple habit of always sharing food :) ordering for each other, sharing drinks, switching orders when kevin is unhappy about something in his food, at the breakfast table kevin just offers his sandwich for jean to take a bite, etc etc etc.......... what's mine is yours.............. and then they could include jeremy in this too................. always famous. always always famous

[russianspy24]

Devils in the Windy City - Chapter 7

Summary: Elijah travels to Chicago, led by a vague prophecy about a girl who could be the Mikaelson family’s salvation. Klaus soon confronts him, and later Rebekah is drawn into another case of family drama. However, this trip to the Windy City turns out to be longer than a short stint. The Mikaelsons discover that their lives may change forever. Including every other vampire’s.

Word Count: 7,786

Author’s Note: This story is posted on FF.net and AO3, and since I’m on Tumblr, decided to post it here. ‘Bout time I’d say. Hopefully you read and enjoy!

Warnings: Rated M

Previous Chapter - Next Chapter

Chapter 7: Unwanted Guests

The daycare was ordinary. It was a one-story rectangular building that could’ve once been a Verizon Wireless store or maybe one of those family owned furniture stores. Now, colorful paper cut outs of flowers, trees, bunnies, and bumble bees were stuck to the glass of the large windows. The sign above said Children’s Land. The blinds were partially open, revealing rooms with kids. Children were also playing outside in the fenced-in area to the side of the building. The area had a playground, a small field of grass and a cluster of trees. The parking lot was empty mostly, as it wasn’t time yet for the parents to come retrieve their offspring.

Three adults, who were women, monitored the kids outside. One of them was Ollie, who was the youngest. The other two women were older.

It was a sunny, noon spring day, warm enough that hats or scarves weren’t needed, but jackets remained on. A child with a runny nose came running to them and said, “Miss Ollie, Miss Ollie, I need a tissue.”

“That’s not how we ask, Jake,” she said pointedly.

“Please can I have a tissue?” the boy amended with a sniffle.

“Yes, you can.” Ollie squatted and produced a plastic pack of said tissues. She raised it to the four-year-old boy’s nose and said, “Blow,” and he blew with all his might and she nodded curtly, saying, “Good.” After she made sure he had no more boogies, he lingered.

“I’m hungry,” he said with a whine.

Ollie stood and looked down at him with a raised eyebrow, her fist with the tissue at her hip. “Lunch is after playtime. Twenty minutes.”

“Twenty minutes?” gasped the boy. “But that’s soo long away.”

The other two ladies chuckled like hens.

“Be patient, Jacob,” one of them said. The woman was the tallest and rail thin with white hair. “Go play.”

“But…” the boy pouted.

“Go on, buddy. You heard Miss Tonya.” Ollie gave the boy a mock-stern look, which he took very seriously, and then turned around to go back to the other kids.

“A look from you, they march away,” the third lady said, shaking her head. She had short, graying red hair. She also had a thick Eastern European accent.

Ollie grinned and pocketed the crumpled tissue and the rest of the package inside her cargo jacket, giving the woman a sidelong glance. Ollie’s dark hair was up in a ponytail, loose strands fluttering in the wind. “My kids fall apart when I leave, Marfa,” she sighed dramatically. “I come back and they’re demanding and whining.”

“We have to watch our kids and yours. What do you expect? They had substitute for four days,” Marfa said.

“Hey, I didn’t go on vacation,” Ollie countered.

Tonya nudged the younger woman with her elbow. “We know, we know. We just like to give you a hard time.”

“My Timofey said the compote you shared with the pack was better,” Marfa said. “Better than last month’s. Is it new recipe?”

Ollie tilted her head, looking thoughtfully at the playing kids. “I don’t know. Maybe? Maybe my friend Liza said she added more honey in it. I have no idea. But yeah, it was better.”

“Well, whatever she did, Tim said to continue making it like that. I know wolfsbane takes like zhopa.” Ass.

“There’s nothing you can compare it to. It burns your mouth like it’s on fire and takes like gavno,” Ollie said to Marfa. Shit.

“What’s the difference?” Marfa said.

“Trust me. You should be glad you don’t know,” Ollie said with a raised brow.

Marfa’s husband was like Ollie, and Tonya’s in-laws were a part of the pack, so by default, she was, too. The kids ran around like puppies, chasing each other. Every kid’s family was associated with the suburban wolves in some way, whether directly or indirectly. Some were from American wolf families.

Ollie knew how lucky she was that the daycare was so accommodating. It was like one huge family of sorts. She wasn’t necessarily invited to every christening, but the ties were unbreakable. Most people couldn’t be a lone wolves.

Tonya went off to reprimand a couple of boys. Marfa went to take a little girl to potty. Ollie stood alone in the shade of the building and watched as two more little girls brought her a small bouquet of dandelions. It was impossible to linger in the mental clusterfuck of the full moon that had just passed—not when around children. Ollie loved them. No matter what mood she was in, they made her happy.

She raised the dandelions to her face, brushed them against her nose. The wind stirred, a cool breeze, promising summer around the corner. The air here wasn’t as clean as it was where the pack went during their time of the month—the sparsely populated area north of Rock City, by the Wisconsin border—but it was still pleasant.

With the breeze carried the blooming scent of the trees, the smell of the clouds, and the avoidable exhaust of cars on the street. Ollie’s gaze followed the notes in the breeze and looked to the cars that passed. Her stomach grumbled. She was hungry for lunch, too. Most wolves had huge appetites, whether or not the curse was triggered. As much as she loved to cook, Ollie was going to make a quick run while the kids napped to get Marfa, Tonya, and herself sushi across the street.

The joint was small and quaint but had the best maki rolls—in her opinion, anyway. One of those hole-in-the-wall places with a big Buddha by the front and a neon flashing sign that said Sushi! It was usually busy during lunch. They had specials until 4 in the evening.

A man sat at the front windows with a clear view across the street. He was sipping hot sake, which wasn’t half bad, popping edamame into his mouth and dropping the shells into an extra bowl that came with. He was gazing out the window casually. He looked like any of the other patrons that came in to have lunch solo.

“Your Chicago Crazy roll, Viking roll, and the Moonlight roll,” said the waiter, who finally brought the man his food. The arrangement was on a large flat white plate that was decorated with some kind of soy glaze.

“Thank you, and another large sake,” the man said. He’d already finished the first karaf and tossed the last small ceramic shot back. He didn’t look remotely buzzed. He seemed to have a high tolerance.

However, the waiter didn’t comment and simply bobbed his head, taking the karaf away and going off to fetch a new one.

“Let’s see if these are any good,” the man said. He had a distinct English accent. The Moonlight roll in particular had slices of radishes on each piece. They resembled the sphere that hung in the sky at night. How clever.

Knowing how to use chopsticks like most people, Klaus picked up one of the pieces and popped it into his mouth. With an expressionless face, he chewed. When he swallowed, an eyebrow quirked up. “Not half bad.”

He forewent the soy sauce and directed his chopsticks straight to the round glob of wasabi that had been provided next to the ginger slices, and picked a pea-sized amount with the tips of the wood. He proceeded to try the rest of the rolls when his new sake appeared, and he distractedly thanked the waiter, waving off his, “How are you liking it so far?”

Klaus started to feel a little warmth inside his skull by the time that he finished the second karaf. It took a lot for him to feel the effects of alcohol, but no matter—he hadn’t been planning to get drunk, anyway. And sushi wasn’t really why he’d gone out of his way to eat in the sleepy suburbs of Chicago.

When he was finished eating, he looked up to see a new customer enter the establishment. He hadn’t sat right by the door but close enough for him to get a good view.

The girl was short with dark hair, which was up in a ponytail. The jacket she had on was loose, unbuttoned, but her jeans hugged her legs in all the right places and were tight at her behind in particular. Klaus watched as she told the hostess she had a pickup order by the name of Ollie. She was told that it would be out in the minute, so Ollie took a seat on the bench against the wall. This put her directly across from Klaus.

He watched her without taking his eyes off of her while he waited for his check. She, on the other hand, didn’t look to find him staring at her. Like many people nowadays, she busied herself with looking at her phone in her lap.

He took in her features—the subtle way she’d react to whatever she was looking at on her device. Her dark eyebrows arched up ever so slightly, and her full lips curved at their corners. He had no idea what she was looking at it. Maybe it was puppies, or shoes, or a post on Facebook. He himself didn’t use social media.

His blue-green eyes trailed down her face, her neck, to her exposed bosom. It was the way she was sitting, slightly hunched forward, legs crossed and one of her elbows on a knee; the way her t-shirt sagged at the v-neck collar. She had a nice pair. He thought that she was good-looking. Her face was soft, round-shaped. Her gaze was doe-eyed, deep set. But it was her eyebrows that made her look far from innocent. She was supposed to be a wolf after all.

A man came out of the kitchen, the fabric partition flapping behind him, and he held out a plastic bag with three boxes in it. Ollie stood up and pocketed her phone, thanking him. It was as she was turning to head to the exit that another man stepped before her. She looked up as he held open the door.

“After you,” Klaus said. It was hard to ignore his accent. He was long used to the doubletakes that woman gave him when they heard it. Ollie was no different.

She opened her mouth, hesitating very briefly, and then smiled coyly and walked ahead of him into the breezy spring air.

“I’ll have to keep this little hole-in-the-wall in mind,” he said behind her. “The food was surprisingly good.”

She looked at him over her shoulder quickly. One eyebrow rose above the other one. “Yeah, the sushi is good here.”

His own smile dimpled his face, and he watched her go toward the street, but not without one last look at him. Her expression was slightly bemused. She knew that he’d been checking her out. He didn’t follow her, though. He didn’t even consider it. He’d only come to watch from afar. Plus, he didn’t want her getting suspicious. A proper meeting was in order for later.

###

As soon as he heard the word “walk” utter from either of the girls’ mouths, Ramsey was rushing to the front door and prancing in circles, his curled tail wagging. It was his last walk of the night, and although usually it was conducted by one girl, Ollie was going to accompany her friend and roommate. Safety was number one priority. Being protective was one of Ollie’s positive qualities. She might’ve been bossy due to working with children all the time, but she was certainly maternal.

“You’re like my guard dog,” Liza joked as she put on her coat.

Ollie rolled her eyes. “Until we can figure out what the fuck to do with the vampire.” Liza took a small can of pepper spray just in case, pocketed it. Ollie leashed up Ramsey. “But I’ll ask one of the guys I know. I’ll ask him and see if he can come over, watch us.”

“Like a guard dog?” Liza said with a smirk. Despite her inner trepidation, she opened the door. The small hallway was empty. The one with the keys, she ended up locking their apartment behind them.

“Yeah. Don’t call any other wolf that,” Ollie said with a scoff. “Especially not a guy.”

Ramsey rushed down the stairs, pulling Ollie, who held on tight. Liza did feel a semblance of calm knowing that her dog would be the first one to sense trouble. At the same time, she really didn’t want to think about any danger befalling the canine. Ollie reined him with surprising strength. To those who didn’t know her, the way she looked was deceiving.

Ramsey had a long pee in the small front yard within the fence, as always. Half-jokingly Liza said, “Okay, we can go inside now.”

Ollie answered with a scolding note. “We’re going to walk him down the block at least. He needs a walk.” She gave Liza a pointed, sidelong stare.

“I know, I know,” Liza said quickly. They walked alongside each other onto the sidewalk. Liza took out a pack of cigarettes and started to light one. “I was going to get some vervain.” Since the herb was known to repel vampires.

“Good idea,” Ollie approved. She held out her hand for a cigarette of her own. She didn’t smoke often but wanted one sometimes, especially when she was on edge. They periodically stopped while the Akita marked trees and plants.

Liza exhaled a white plume of smoke while looking at the street. A couple of cars passed. “I’ll have to go into the suburbs for that.”

Ollie held Liza’s lighter back to her and inhaled out of her own cigarette. “To that one apothecary?”

Liza looked over her shoulder. No one was behind them. “No, I wanted to go to this Asian one I know of. I don’t want to run into any Russian witches.”

Ollie regarded her seriously. “I think you should just suck it up and get the damn vervain.”

Liza narrowed her gaze. “You don’t know what it’s like.”

Ollie spoke quietly but it was a harsh whisper. “You don’t think I know what it’s like? Really? I can’t go to the burbs without seeing someone I know, asking me if I found a mate yet, or when I’m going to have babies, because most girls my age are already getting married and having a litter.”

Liza huffed a chuckle and shook her head, watching Ramsey. “Oh yeah, you’re such an old maid at 24. That’s not what I’m talking about.”

Ollie gave her a mock-offended look. “I’m just saying.”

Liza shrugged her shoulders. “They’re weird around people who aren’t in a coven.”

Ollie got defensive on her friend’s behalf. “Who cares? Fuck them. You never wanted to be in anyone’s coven anyway. Do you want me to come with you?”

Liza shook her head quickly. “They’ll just think that you want something from them.”

“So?” Ollie didn’t give a rat’s ass.

Liza glowered at the prospect but waved off her offer. “Just forget it. You being there will make it weirder. I’ll go tomorrow.”

Maybe most witches had vervain on hand at the back of the herb cabinet in their witchy laboratories, but that wasn’t Liza. She didn’t have a potions cabinet and neither did she have a place to mix stuff. She just used the kitchen when she needed to make Ollie’s wolfsbane mix. As much as she really didn’t want to go to the apothecary, which was actually disguised as one of those family-owned pharmacies, she had to. Precaution won over apprehension.

The girls walked to the end of the block and then turned back. Ramsey pooped thankfully, and Liza picked it up. There were absolutely no vampires sighted. Ramsey would’ve alerted them.

###

It was about half an hour later, when the girls were back inside, that someone rang the doorbell of the landlord downstairs.

The old man opened the door with a “who on God’s green earth would ring the doorbell at this hour?” type look. But before he could so much as utter, “Who are y--” Niklaus gave him a deadly smile.

“Doesn’t matter who I am. What matters is that you are the lord of this domain and I need your permission to enter. While it is a cumbersome rule I must follow, I suppose I should be grateful that lease agreements are not considered a part of said rule. So I have to only get through you, and then I am free to confront those two,” Klaus looked up at the ceiling, “lovely ladies that you have as tenants.”

“My tenants? What are you doing—who are you?” Stan was sputtering. This stranger was speaking so, well, strangely and quickly, that the landlord had a hard time following. A woman peeked her head through the doorway behind her.

Klaus saw her—his wife, probably. “Well, hello, ma’am. I don’t want to end up killing you as well.” He frowned falsely. “It would be far too much of a mess.”

The old couple gasped. Klaus rolled on the balls of his feet, almost giddy. The two were about to shout bloody murder and shut the door in the vampire’s face when there was a hand on Klaus’ shoulder. Elijah had appeared behind him. One look from the older Mikaelson and the couple silenced just as they were about to scream, for Elijah had stuck his foot past the doorway to stop the door from shutting.

“Now, my brother isn’t going to harm a hair on your heads,” Elijah assured, and as Klaus looked at him, Eljiah gave him a glare. “Forgive him. He beat me here. But I’m glad I got here in the nick of time.” The couple just regarded the both of them with dumbfounded expressions.

“But I like a race,” Klaus said to him. “And I like beating you.”

Elijah leaned past him to get a better lock on the humans’ gazes. “Please invite him in. I promise you two will be safe, as long as you stay inside your apartment and lock your door.”

“Like a lock could keep me out,” Klaus said.

Elijah ignored him and put a hand on his chest to keep him at bay. “Invite my brother, Niklaus, in please,” he told the couple.

Stan blinked, looking from Elijah to his brother, who pursed his lips and scowled. Stan looked a bit scared, but the compulsion was keeping him from freaking out. “Please come in, Niklaus,” he said robotically. As he backed away, so did his wife, and Elijah stepped through first.

“Thank you,” he said, ever polite. Watching them, he made sure that they retreated back into their apartment and closed the door behind them.

Klaus was already going up the stairs. Fortunately, the sound of dog barking made him pause. “Did you know they had an…animal?” he asked.

Elijah looked indifferent. “I did know. Nothing we can do about it now.”

“Canines happen to like me,” Klaus said matter-of-factly. “Perhaps I should go ahead of you.” Elijah was stepping past him.

“Let me do the introductions,” he insisted.

Liza and Ollie already knew who was coming. It was the way Ramsey started to go nuts as soon as Klaus had arrived, wanting to be let inside the two-story graystone. They were expecting the vampire—Elijah—to show up at some point. They hadn’t known when. It wasn’t like they’d exchanged numbers. So presently, Ollie stood in front of Liza, looking through the peephole. Liza had leashed Ramsey up, so she wouldn’t have to hold him by the collar.

The brothers didn’t have to knock on the door. As soon as they reached the second-floor landing, Ollie was opening the door. The man behind Elijah shifted into view and recognition flashed across her face. A little bewildered but firm, Ollie said, “We were wondering when you were going to show up.”

Liza looked back and forth between the two men. Elijah stopped an appropriate distance away. Klaus, not wanting to stand behind, shifted beside him. Before Liza could ask, Elijah was introducing his brother.

“I am so sorry that I’ve come announced again. This is my brother, Niklaus. I promise that we come in peace,” the man said, again, to reiterate what he’d told them the last time.

The girls studied them. The brothers didn’t look in any way similar. For one, Klaus was dressed casually. He wore a vintage Van Halen shirt beneath his leather jacket, unzipped, and stylishly ripped jeans and biker boots. Elijah was, of course, in a suit, as if he’d just gotten off work, albeit late.

“You sound like an alien, Elijah,” Klaus commented, in that accent of his. Ollie narrowed her eyes at him. He simply smirked at her. Elijah ignored him.

“I saw you,” the wolf girl cut in. Her voice hardened. “I saw you today.”

Klaus didn’t bother to lie in the slightest. “I think I’ll be coming back to that sushi place. Elijah, you must try it. They’ve got something called the “Viking roll.”” He elbowed his brother. They’d technically been vikings once. Elijah drew his brows together, had no idea what he was talking about and didn’t like the sound of it.

Liza looked at Ollie, confused, too. “What?” the former said. Ramsey shifted, anxious, and growled. Feeling the tension from the girls didn’t help the canine’s own nerves.

“I was at work, picking up lunch. I saw him there—at that sushi place I took you to once. He was there!” Ollie insisted. There was a flash of fear in Liza’s eyes at that. She took a step back. Elijah watched and started to get frustrated.

“Niklaus, where did you go?” he demanded.

The pairs remained on either side of the doorway to the apartment.

Klaus shrugged, not bothered by the tense atmosphere. “Oh, I just went on a little excursion…to the suburbs of this fine city. Needed to breathe better air…”

Elijah stared at him. “Why on earth?”

Klaus looked between him and the girls, speaking lightly. “Well, I thought I should know who we’re dealing with. Come to find, it’s only a pretty werewolf girl. Harmless, from the looks of it.”

Ollie’s jaw tightened, her expression darkened, and she gripped the edge of the door hard. “Most people make the mistake of thinking that,” she said, an almost low, gravely quality entering her already husky voice.

Klaus pointedly looked Ollie up and down, taking her in. “Oh, I don’t doubt it. But I’ll have you know…” Ollie merely raised her chin as he checked her out, and her eyes turned yellow.

Elijah took his brother by the arm. “Niklaus,” he said sharply.

Klaus shrugged him off and took a step toward the threshold. “I’m one of you.” The younger brother inclined his chin, smiling wide, and his own gaze became the same as hers.

This took the girls by utter shock. Ollie should’ve known, but she hadn’t. She and Liza gaped at him. Although the latter lived with a wolf, the suddenty of this stranger being one as well didn’t make her relax. In fact, as Elijah looked at Liza in particular, he sensed that she felt terrified. She reflexively pulled Ramsey back, despite the dog pulling toward the two men, to no avail.

Klaus clasped his hands in front of him. “It’s all a really complicated story. But we’re half-brothers, Elijah and I.” He briefly glanced at him. “May we come in? For a friendly chat. I wouldn’t dream of hurting either of you, especially with that loyal friend you’ve got there.”

Elijah regarded his brother, who was completely full of it, and scoffed. But Elijah didn’t say anything. He just watched intently. Klaus was being his charming self. As long as he didn’t do the opposite of what he was promising, perhaps this wouldn’t go south. Klaus was looking at the dog, who was whining, and Liza had to use both hands now to pull Ramsey back. As Klaus approached, hand outstretched toward the Akita, restraining him was even harder.

Ollie took hold of the leash too, but Ramsey still got his way. He sniffed and snorted as Klaus neared him.

“What a handsome boy you are,” he said and squatted. “May I come into your humble abode?” He asked the dog this.

Elijah’s eyes widened. He’d never seen Klaus make nice with a dog, let alone to any animal really. His family never really cared for them. They never kept pets. They particularly didn’t drink from animals, either. So this was new. And bizarre is what it was. Elijah didn’t know much about wolves and nuances of their own relationships with animals, particularly canines. Did Klaus know what he was doing? Or had he just gambled this?

“Ramsey, come back,” Liza said through gritted teeth, not that it would stop the dog, who had stepped over the doorway. Ollie just watched, equally shocked.

“Ramses,” she scolded.

Klaus glanced up at them. “Ramses, is it? Like the Pharaoh? What a regal name!” he approved.

After thoroughly sniffing his hand, Ramsey nosed his snout under his palm. Klaus inched his hand even closer to lay it on the animal’s head. For a pat. He started to pet him.

“Good boy,” Klaus said. “What a good boy you are, protecting these girls. What a faithful companion you are. Aren’t you, Ramses?” Now the man used both hands—he started ruffling Ramsey’s head and the dog was liking it.

Liza stared, aghast—how dare this man touch her dog. “Ramsey!” she said again.

Elijah stepped up beside him and Ramsey looked up at the vampire and snarled. Klaus burst into chuckles.

“Oh, he hates you, Elijah. Who would’ve known that my noble brother isn’t liked by such a majestic beast.” Klaus stood, grinning, but hunched over to give Ramsey a little more love.

“May we please come in?” Elijah cut in at last. This was ridiculous.

Ollie looked at each of them, then glanced back at Liza. “It’s your call.”

“What?” Liza said, alarmed.

“Look, I can kick them out. I’ll call up my wolves right now and make sure they’re gone, but they’re here because of you, Liza, whether you want to believe it or not. We still don’t know why.”

Obviously, they had no idea who Klaus really was—a hybrid—let alone that they were more powerful than any regular sort of vampire, but this was left out, and Klaus didn’t correct Ollie. He just clasped his hands in front of him again and smiled charmingly.

“I don’t want to know why!” Liza answered Ollie. Her hands were white on the end of the leash. It didn’t matter that Ramsey had taken an unnatural liking to this Klaus guy. Give Ramsey a steak and a thief could steal whatever he wanted.

“Yes you do. I, for one, do. I want to know why the fuck are you involved with vampires,” Ollie said.

Liza was shaking her head, unable to tear her eyes off of the men. “I’m not fucking involved with vampires. I never was.”

Instead of answering her, Ollie took Ramsey’s leash out of her friend’s hands and stepped aside. “Shoes off,” she told the brothers sternly, her gaze flashing gold again. “And one wrong move. I swear.”

Klaus walked through the doorway without delay. He raised a hand. “Scout’s honor, love.” As he walked further, he swooped to give Ramsey a pat on his back.

“Shoes, Niklaus. We must respect their wishes,” Elijah said as he started to take off his own shiny leather shoes, using the toes of one foot to slip off the heel of the other, then vise versa.

“How very European,” Klaus said with appreciation. He had to use his hands to take off his boots.

Elijah was the one who made sure both of their pairs of shoes were neatly to the side of the door, which Ollie closed behind them. She let Ramsey off the leash. The dog made a wide berth around Elijah. Klaus, completely at ease, stepped ahead and looked around the apartment.

“What a charming home you have. Original crown molding, hard wood floors. Very cozy,” Klaus said. As Ramsey went up to him of his own volition, Klaus resumed petting him.

Liza kept the furthest away from them, arms crossed, and kept looking back at Ollie, who hung up the leash and stepped in direction of the living space. As Klaus unabashedly made his way through the large room, Elijah looked at Liza. Despite their conversation outside the day before, she seemed to be warier of him—no surprise. If Klaus wasn’t with him, it might’ve been different. So Elijah gave the girl a semblance of a smile. She, on the other hand, looked away.

“Did you talk to that psychic kid again?” Ollie asked before awkward silence could make itself comfortable.

Klaus helped himself to looking over what the girls had as decoration on the shelves of their walls—DVD collection, pictures in frames, books, and whatnot. Ollie watched him closely. He didn’t touch anything.

“I did not,” Elijah answered, also watching his brother. “But I can call him again.”

“Please don’t,” Liza said.

“Liza, maybe we should,” Ollie reasoned.

Liza didn’t bother hiding her exasperation. She regarded her friend across the combined living and dining space. “No. I don’t want to call him. I don’t need him to channel that spirit. I don’t care who it claims to be. I don’t want to hear anymore about this shit.”

Ollie glared. “Stop being a child,” she said.

Liza scoffed, offended, crossing her arms. “Olympia, don’t be a bitch to me right now.”

“Ladies,” Elijah cut in quickly. “I don’t have to call Benjamin. But the offer is there. There is no need to argue.”

Klaus had turned around, amused. The anxiety between the girls was almost palpable. “Do you think perhaps it would be possible to have a cup of tea?” he asked all of a sudden. “Nothing a cuppa can’t solve.” He spread his arms in a shrug, ever so innocent. “I heard you work at a tea shop, Elizabeth. You must have quite a collection here.”

“It’s Liza,” she corrected, and didn’t answer his request.

Elijah glanced at him, incredulous. “It’s all right. We don’t need tea,” he amended.

“No, it’s fine.” Ollie was already waving a hand and stepping toward the hallway. “I’m going to go put the water to boil.”

Liza paled all of a sudden at the prospect of being alone with the two men. Klaus went to take a seat at the barely used dining table. Ramsey trotted up to him. He started petting him. As Ollie retreated to the kitchen at the end of the hall, Liza just stared at her dog and the attention that he was getting. It was bewildering. Ramsey was supposed to be a good judge of character and yet Liza got an uneasy feeling from Klaus. Elijah appeared far more…trustworthy, even though she couldn’t say she trusted him at all.

Were looks deceiving? Or was Ramsey just appealing to the werewolf because he was a wolf? The same way Ollie had the effect of seeming more superior when she handled the dog—higher up on the pack order?

“So tell me a little about yourself, Liza,” Klaus said, looking back at the girl, unoffended by her previous lack of response to his desire for tea. Her brown gaze snapped to him. “You’re a witch, huh? And you seem to be a special one at that.”

“I’m not special,” she said flatly.

Klaus tilted his head, a furtive glint in his eye. “Well, you have to be if we’re involved.”

“What do you mean?” she asked, unsettled by that.

Elijah stepped toward the table but didn’t sit down. “Klaus thinks very highly of himself. Remember what I said yesterday, Liza? We’ll figure this out together.”

“Yes, together,” Klaus echoed cheerfully. He scratched Ramsey’s neck, under the collar, and the Akita just melted into his hands.

Elijah studied the girl, who was watching the interaction with an acute sense of betrayal. He could tell that she didn’t like what Klaus was doing. “Niklaus, perhaps you could…”

Klaus raised his eyebrows at him. “Perhaps I could what?”

Elijah exhaled a small breath, glancing back at Liza. “Why don’t you…let the animal go?”

“What?” Klaus looked at them both, blinking, then down at Ramsey. “I’m not hurting him.” The dog was loving his attention!

“Niklaus, just,” Elijah’s face strained, “just let him go.”

Klaus rolled his eyes and looked at him blankly. Then with a glance at Liza, he forced a smile and took his hands back from the dog. Ramsey, however, was taken completely aback—why did this man stop with his ministrations? The dog put his paws on Klaus’ lap and raised himself up.

“I’m sorry that I have such an effect on him,” Klaus said, but he wasn’t really sorry. “I love dogs, what can I say?”

Liza turned away to take a step and peek down the hall toward the kitchen. “It’s fine,” she said grudgingly. Elijah slowly shut his eyes and tilted his head down, shaking it. Klaus just grinned at him. Liza slipped out of sight.

In the kitchen, she approached Ollie, who was putting loose-leaf tea into a tea pot while the electric kettle boiled.

“Do you need help?” Liza asked her.

“No. Go back to the other room,” Ollie said without looking back at her. “Stay with them.”

Liza didn’t say anything right away. So that’s how it suddenly was between them? This tension? Was Ollie mad at her now? Did she not understand why it wasn’t so easy for her to just open up to a couple of strangers, let alone a vampire and his werewolf brother? About the subject of her magic, her dead grandmother—all which wasn’t any of their business? Normally, she would question Ollie, ask her what her problem was, but now wasn’t the time. Leaving Elijah and his brother probably wasn’t the best of ideas, either, though.

So all Liza said, at last, was, “Okay,” and went back down the hall.

Both brothers looked to her when she reappeared. Elijah was walking on eggshells. He looked like he felt bad. “I apologize for the inconveniences,” he said, earnestly.

“It’s fine,” Liza said, perhaps a little more sharply than she intended. She went to sit on the chaise part of the L-shaped Ikea sectional—it was closest to the dining table—and crossed her arms.

Elijah remained standing. Klaus ruffled Ramsey’s chest now, chuckling under his breath. The dog had his eyes closed and he looked like he was smiling from one end of his maw to the other. Liza tried not to look at them. Elijah looked back and forth between her and his brother. Awkward.

“How old is the lad?” Klaus was asking.

“What?” Liza asked.

“Ramses. How old is he?” Klaus clarified.

She found the question odd. Perhaps if Klaus was an animal-loving rando on the street that suddenly stopped to pet her dog, it would’ve been a legit question, but it caught her off guard. “Oh, uh,” she had to wrack her brain, having forgotten her dog’s age, which usually didn’t happen, “He’s, um, he’s turning six in December.”

“Oh, well, that would put you in…the mid-to-late thirties in human years, wouldn’t it?” Klaus asked Ramsey, who looked up at him with squinting triangle eyes. “Handsome boy. At his prime, you are. Yes, you are.”

Liza looked anywhere but at them. Elijah stepped toward her but kept enough of a distance so that she wouldn’t feel her space was invaded.

“I’m sorry,” he said, feeling the need to say so.

Liza looked up at him, studied his expression. He held her gaze. She didn’t see an ounce of falseness within his. He really did appear sincere. She found herself believing in it before she could help herself. Looking away first, she shifted on the edge of the couch, drawing her attention down to her thighs, which she squeezed.

“It’s fine. I mean, it’s whatever. I know dogs like werewolves. I’m not surprised.” She glanced at Klaus and Ramsey, who laid his head down on his lap. “He listens to Ollie better than me.”

Elijah didn’t know what to say to that. He simply frowned. Then they heard Ollie as she came from the kitchen.

“Liza was supposed to inherit her grandmother’s power,” she said in a tone that meant let’s get down to business.

“As in her coven’s power?” Klaus said, perking up. Ramsey sat back on his haunches by his legs.

Liza bristled but remained where she was. “It wasn’t a coven. It just consisted of my grandmother. But like I said, I haven’t inherited anything.”

“Well, maybe you’re just not tapping into it,” Ollie said, putting her hands on her hips. Liza just looked at her. Ollie threw up one hand, gesturing with it. “You never even tried. I never saw you actually try.”

“That’s not the way it works, Ollie,” Liza said coldly.

“How does it work, pray tell?” Klaus inquired, leaning his elbows on the table. Even though he stopped with his ministrations, Ramsey kept his head on his lap.

Liza stood, antsy. She stepped away from them as she answered, held her hands up. “You feel it. I don’t know. It’s hard to describe, but I never felt it. It’s not here. It’s not in me. Okay? If it was, I’d prove it to you.”

“Then we have to find a way for you to get it,” Klaus said. He gave Ollie a glance and a smile, but she just looked at him with those expressive dark eyebrows narrowed.

Liza spun around, crossing her arms again. “Why?” she asked, looking from him to Elijah. “What does it have to do with you and your family? Why am I supposed to use the power on you? Do you want wolfsbane?” This she directed to Klaus. “‘Cause that’s all I can give you.”

“This is something that Benjamin wasn’t able to elaborate on,” Elijah said regretfully. Of course, he left out the mention of his family’s “salvation.” They had been who they were for a thousand years. Nothing had ever changed.

Klaus looked at the table and idly ran finger along the wood. “Well, then he’s useless, isn’t he? Say, Liza, why don’t you contact your grandmother yourself? Ask her directly. Why go through some TV star brat who probably wants money out of us anyway?”

“No. I’m not going to contact anyone,” Liza said flatly. “I don’t do that. I don’t contact the-the dead.”

“Well, why not?” Klaus asked.

Liza’s voice hardened. “Jesus. Because I don’t.”

“Liza, why can’t you just try?” Ollie questioned. She was annoyed, like she was dealing with a stubborn child, who her roommate. Liza didn’t like the tone she was using. “You’re acting like one of the kids I work with.”

It was also embarrassing—being told this. Liza’s face turned red and she looked away, scoffing, trying to find words to say. She was hurt that Ollie would talk to her like this in front of two complete strangers.

“You got a fucking Ouija Board lying around?” Liza said, but without the fervor that she felt a moment ago.

Ollie cocked her head, as if to say, really? “Don’t be a smart ass, Liza.”

Elijah almost felt himself defensive on behalf of the witch, and he took half a step toward her. Her wolf friend really was using an unpleasant tone with her. “We will find another witch to help us,” he said evenly. “Liza, how do you feel about that? If we find a witch—whom you approve of, of course. Unless you know one you trust.”

Liza didn’t look at him or the other two. She blinked a few times. Emotion made her eyes glaze over. “I don’t know anyone,” she said quietly. “I don’t have witch friends.”

Elijah frowned as he said, “All right.”

Klaus studied him for a moment, curious, but then he looked at Ollie, who looked like she’d cooled off a bit. “How about that tea?”

“Sure.” As she was turning around, he stood up.

“I will help you. Do you have Earl Gray, perchance?” he asked, following her.

“We have five different kinds,” Elijah and Liza heard Ollie say to Klaus.

Left alone with Elijah, the witch walked over to her dog, who passed right by her. The girl watched him disappear toward the kitchen, her face blank. “Really?” she said to herself. Yanking back one of the other chairs around the table—it made a squeak against the floor—she fell into it.

After a moment, Elijah also sat down—in the chair beside the one that his brother had occupied. Liza avoided his gaze. She looked anywhere but at him. She fixed her attention across the room at a small crack in the wall that she could see. It was in between the carved frame of the fireplace and the painted plaster. Elijah didn’t watch her. He too looked elsewhere.

She thought of the dream all of a sudden, having forgotten about it until now. She recognized Niklaus, the way he’d smirked at her before she had drowned him. It was the exact smirk that he’d worn while showering her dog with affection. This was most unsettling—apart from tenderness with which Elijah had gazed upon her after the sun had risen. At least there was none of that on his face now. Liza stole the quickest of looks at him. He noticed and she quickly looked back at the fireplace.

“I understand why you want no part of this. Trust me when I say that I do not want to burden you with this. The last thing Niklaus and I need is to involve a witch with our family matters. They’re no one’s business but ours,” he told her, his tone of voice steady. He clasped his hands in front of him on the table and looked down while speaking. “When we find someone to help us contact your grandmother’s spirit again,” Liza visibly shuddered as he mentioned her, lowered her own eyes. He paused sympathetically. Then he went on, softer: “We will get to the bottom of this. I promise.”

“If it isn’t my grandmother, spirits can lie, you know, then you and your brother go away and never come near us again,” Liza said coldly. She looked at him square in the eye, clenching her jaw. Elijah met her eyes solemnly. She tried to steel her emotions—all of them—so that the previous vulnerability was hidden.

He nodded his head. Her gaze flicked to his birthmark on his cheek, then down to his squared jaw, all within the span of a second. She remembered how close he’d been to her, in the dream, their faces inches away from each other, close enough for her to take in every detail of his features. She failed to stop the remembrance before it had returned. Damn it.

Elijah’s expression shifted the slightest as he regarded her, and his eyebrows began to rise. He’d heard her heart skip a beat and quicken its rhythm. Liza blinked. She was made. He sensed something was off—even if he couldn’t find an answer as to why. She cleared her throat and quickly looked away once more.

“I, um—”

“You have my word,” he said. “We will never darken your doorstep again.”

Liza examined her nails as if they were the most interesting thing right then and there. “Good,” was her curt reply.