Leaving the library, she saw a familiar face walking down the street, sharp, squarish features, and brunette hair. The tall, athletic young woman stalked purposefully, and Davina resisted the urge to call out for her. Hayley was talking to an athletic-looking boy who was about the same height as her, looking like an alpha-male-wannabe, which had Davina snorting. Hayley's tastes in men obviously had never improved; Davina was tempted to redirect Hayley's attentions towards Elijah just to cut off drama but knew that wouldn't work. Hayley had to figure her own shit out; all Davina had to do was to make sure that beyond a shadow of a doubt she got Klaus and Hayley together for Hope's conception. After that Davina never wanted to think about her friend's sex life ever again.
Hayley was like an older sister to Davina; she shuddered thinking about her sex life, and she hated ever having to think of Klaus that way.
Davina picked up a coffee before walking to the Mystic Grill.
"Welcome to Mystic Grill," the same massive man greeted her.
"Hello," she nodded as she walked in. "I'm looking for…" she started.
"Over there," he pointed with a weak smirk as he left her.
"Okay… thank you," she smiled as she waved him off. He seemed stunned at her thanking him as she walked to the corner booth.
"Davina," Bonnie smiled as she came up to the table.
"Bonnie," she greeted as she stopped at the table.
"I'm Caroline!" a cheerful blonde vampire announced giddily. Davina had never formally met Caroline Salvatore, née Forbes, before because she had never really been around when Davina visited the Salvatore Boarding School.
"They're Damon, and you met Stefan," Bonnie said, gesturing to the dark-haired one and then Mr. Brooding.
"Pleasure to formally meet," she lied smoothly as she examined them both while seating herself.
"I'd say the same, but you put me in a dumpster," Damon growled.
"I don't like littering," she said with a sharper smile of her own as she focused. Damon winced a bit. "Now, sit back and relax, or I'll make you," she warned.
"Sorry we're late; I had to find my brother," a voice said, her tone clearly annoyed.
"This is Elena and Jeremy," Bonnie said as the slender brunette with the tall, lean young man appeared. The names clicked into place for Davina now as she saw the pair together, and she wanted to lash out for what they had done; if they were dead, they couldn't act against her husband. Davina clenched her fist tightly and took a deep breath to keep her temper in check before the Harvest's power could leak out and create a disaster.
"Hey guys, sorry, I had to get someone to cover the bar," the huge young man who had greeted her appeared. "Sorry, I'm Matt." He offered his hand.
"Davina," she greeted as she shook his hand and offered him a small smile of her own. He seemed so normal, and he reminded her of Josh with his shy smile.
"So, you can help us?" Elena said as she seemed to study Davina. After having been married to the Mikaelson clan and having faced her ancestors' hatred, Elena's attempt at an intimidating glare was adorable but pathetic. It was like being glared at by an aye-aye. At the least the other two vampires didn't try the glares of intimidation; they just seemed to work on making themselves look bigger than they were.
"I need to break sire bonds anyway," Davina shrugged daintily. "An extra witch can only help."
"How are you going to kill an Original?" Elena asked.
"Elena!" Bonnie hissed.
"What!? I think we should know; it's our lives that will be ruined if she messes up," Elena snapped.
"First off, I don't mess up," Davina cut off. "I'm not a self-taught witch. I know what I'm doing, and I have the power to back what I do, and second, be careful how you talk to me, Elena."
"I could snap your neck," Elena boasted.
Davina narrowed her eyes as she started raising the temperature of the blood in the four vampires, three of whom had started getting on her nerves. Elena winced while Stefan gasped, Damon struggled not to show his pain, and Caroline gasped as she clutched the table violently.
"What are you doing!?" Jeremy lunged for her when Davina lifted her hand to freeze him.
"Davina!" Bonnie shouted.
"Whoa!" Matt yelped as he tried not to get in her way.
"Stop it!" Caroline screamed as her nose started bleeding. Elena, Damon, and Stefan weren't in much better shape as Davina leaned over to the writhing Elena.
"You could try to hurt me, or even kill me, but I could drop the town without breaking a sweat," Davina warned darkly. "See, not only do I have the power to back my claim, but I also have the knowledge to know how to do it and the skill to execute it." Releasing her hold, she let the feel again; Elena fell forward, gasping for a reprieve from the receding pain.
"How'd… how'd you do that?" Bonnie asked in both terror and horror.
"Practice," Davina stated.
"Are you willing to be nice now?" Davina asked in her sweetest voice while studying the vampires who were wiping up bloody noses. Elena glared at her, and Davina smiled a bit. "Good," she decided as she dropped the smile to sip her coffee.
"What do you want?" Jeremy asked as he rubbed his sister's shoulders.
"My family is safe," Davina answered honestly. "Why are you trying to break the sire bonds?"
"We want to kill an Original," Stefan answered.
Davina nodded as she sipped her coffee.
"We're trying to help our friend, Tyler," Caroline piped up then.
"Tyler?"
"Klaus made him a hybrid. It's kind of making him… crazy," Matt grimaced.
"Mmm, makes sense," Davina nodded. "Well, we met, and now we're working to break sire bonds. Nice meeting you, have a good night," Davina stated as she stood up and grabbed her coffee.
"Davina, wait!" Caroline jogged after her when she reached the street.
"I'm sorry about them," Caroline said as she came to a stop. The tall blonde grimaced a little. "They just… they're not usually like this, but a lot has happened lately, and they aren't the most trustful anymore," Caroline explained.
"They're allowed to feel what they do; I just don't do well with threats or being told what to do," she shrugged. "I apologize for using you during my retaliation," she offered.
"You… you didn't have to do that," Caroline said softly.
"What?"
"Any of that… that… posturing! That!" Caroline looked proud of finding her word, which amused Davina as she folded her arms. The headmistress of Hope's school had always been this composed woman; Davina had never thought of her any other way. To see Caroline acting like a normal teenager was interesting.
"No, I didn't, but I wanted to make my point faster rather than letting them push me around," Davina said. "I was pushed around enough for one lifetime; it's not happening."
"Do you… do you think you can break the sire lines?" Caroline asked her as they started walking again.
"It's a magical link; it can be broken. It's just about being clever enough to figure it out," Davina chuckled.
"What… what if someone didn't want it broken?" Caroline asked uncertainly.
"You wouldn't want your bond broken?" Davina questioned carefully.
The young vampire stopped as she bit her lip, looking uncertain and confused. "I don't know," she admitted. "The Originals aren't that bad, and…" Caroline trailed off with a shrug. "Klaus saved me; he didn't have to," she explained.
"They aren't that bad. They're dangerous, wild, and they're Vikings." Davina surmised.
"You know a lot about them?" Caroline asked as they walked.
"Probably more than the average person."
"Why do you want to break the sire line?" Caroline asked.
Davina looked at the young woman and saw her apprehension about it, about what Davina wanted to do. Davina sighed; Marcel's smile flashed in her mind, Josh's sarcastic quips came to mind, and Cami's kindness reached out to her.
"Because I can't lose my family," Davina admitted. "I don't… I don't have a human family anymore. My dad's a vampire, and my best friend is too. If I break their link to the sire line, I get to keep them. No matter what. And that saves a lot of heartache for me."
"You…" Caroline started. "Your family was turned?"
"No," Davina chuckled. "At least, not the family you're thinking of. Breaking a sire bond, or link, is not something you can pick or choose; it's all or nothing."
"You're sure about that?" Caroline asked.
"Very," Davina reassured the young vampire.
"I see," she squeaked out. "Um… thank you," Caroline admitted.
"You're welcome," she nodded.
"And I'm sorry about my friends and me," Caroline continued.
"Everyone reacts differently to their own demons," Davina shrugged. "Have a nice night, Caroline," she waved the girl off.
"Oh, wait!" Caroline called out again. Davina sighed as she turned back to see Bonnie jogging towards them.
"Thanks, Caroline," Bonnie huffed. "Hey, I just wanted to apologize about Elena; the whole vampire thing is still new to her," Bonnie said.
"Understandable," Davina shrugged.
"Night, you guys," Caroline waved.
"Night!" Davina waved at the cheerful blonde as she looked at Bonnie then.
"How'd you do that?" Bonnie asked. Davina turned and walked down the street. "I'm sorry if that's forward of me," she said as she walked beside her. "I just, I did something, and I… I haven't been able to feel or access my magic easily, and I just, all that magic you used… how'd you… do it?"
"What do you mean you can't feel or access your magic?" Davina asked, stopping to look at the teen curiously.
"I did something I knew I shouldn't; my friends were in danger, and the spirits… they punished me," Bonnie explained nervously.
"So what magic are you practicing?" Davina asked warily.
"I'm not. There's a professor, and he's helping me… reconnect?" Bonnie explained uncertainly.
"And how is he doing that?" Davina asked.
"He's an expert in the occult. He's been giving me herbs, trying to hypnotize me; he thinks it's curable, that it's just trauma I need to overcome because I fear myself."
"What exactly happened that the spirits cut you off?"
"I performed Dark Magic," Bonnie admitted. "Please don't hate me!"
"Why would I hate you?" Davina asked incredulously.
"Well… the witch spirits I used to talk to scorn me now," Bonnie started nervously. "I sort of figured living witches would too."
"Dark magic is dangerous, but it's not something the spirits would punish you for unless you break the laws of nature," she stated.
"How do you…?" Bonnie started.
"Resurrecting the dead improperly, tampering with the balance of nature, creating immortality," Davina stated blandly. "Dark magic always comes with heavy prices; to practice it, you have to be willing to pay those prices. It sounds like you paid a price."
"What does that mean?"
"I don't think your magic is gone; witches are born after all, but I do think they're going to make it difficult for you. This sounds like a teaching moment for you from the spirits. I can help," Davina admitted.
"You can?"
"Yes, and just for future reference: you can't trick your magic to work for you with hypnotism or psychedelic herbs; you'll damage yourself way more doing that than practicing Dark Magic," Davina stated. "We can fix your magic."
"You're… you're sure?" Bonnie asked.
"After all the stuff I've done, yes, I'm sure," she promised. "But I won't help you if you're taking psychedelic herbs; those are dangerous, with or without magic, and they're dangerous when you're trying to access magic you're cut off from. You can hurt a lot of people if you're not careful."
"I didn't know," Bonnie admitted.
"You're self-taught; there are a lot of things you should've been taught, but that would require a teacher," Davina pointed out.
"Could you teach me?" Bonnie asked her.
Davina stopped walking and stared dumbly at the girl. "Me?" she sputtered.
Oh, that was, hands down, the worst idea since the Tide Pod challenge or all of 2020 that Davina had EVER heard. Her? Teach!? Davina wasn't a teacher; she was a doer. She didn't… She needed Kol…
"You're a witch," Bonnie pointed out.
"Oh boy… Um… I…"
"You don't have to answer right now," Bonnie hurried. "I know we just met and I'm putting you on the spot, but you're literally the first witch I've met who isn't my grams or trying to kill me and my friends."
"I… I'll think it over," Davina offered lamely. "This isn't a yes," she warned sharply. "I'll help you with your magic block for sure, but no more herbs and hypnotism. I am not making a promise to teach you!"
"No more," she promised.
"I have to go, goodnight." Davina waved the other girl off and jogged across the street and slipped into an alleyway. Davina had never taught magic to anyone except Hope, and even that was just basics.
"You should teach her," Kol said out of nowhere.
"Stop that!" she yelped as she spun to punch his shoulder. "You're going to give me a heart attack!"
He snickered as they walked. He was close enough for her to touch and yet so far away. "Didn't think you were the jumpy sort, Davina Claire. What with your ability to drop the whole town." His amusement made her lips twitch as she hugged herself against the cold.
"That should be something to scare you," she warned teasingly.
"I'm pretty durable," he mused.
She rolled her eyes.
"Why do you want to break sire lines?" he asked darkly.
"Because of what's coming," she answered honestly.
"And what's coming?" he asked.
"Can't say yet," she answered.
"Does it have to do with time magic?" He mocked.
"A little," she admitted. "But until we know each other better, and you trust me, I'm not elaborating."
"What makes you think I don't trust you, love?" he drawled.
"Because I'm not stupid, Kol," she stated as she stepped in front of him, which had him stopping to loom over her. Their height difference had always amused her husband, but right now, this wasn't her husband, and he was threatening and domineering, yet she still held her ground.
"You sought me out; some would call that stupid," he mocked.
"I'm not; I knew exactly who I was seeking out. I know everything about your reputation; I know about the wildest of the Mikaelsons and the most unpredictable of the Originals. I know exactly what I'm doing and why I'm here, Kol. But this," she pointed between them. His eyes narrowed dangerously on her, and a predatory look took his features. "This is new to me."
"What is?" he sneered.
"Not having your trust," she stated. Or your love, she added silently.
"Don't take it personally, love," he smiled wickedly. "I don't trust just anyone."
"I know," she sighed. "Which is why I'm not taking it personally, but this, this is hard for me, Kol. We were best friends, partners in crime, and co-conspirators, and now I'm a stranger to you, and you're pretty much a ghost to me because you're here, but you're not the Kol I know and adore."
"Then why'd you seek me out?" he taunted. "Nowhere else to turn?" He sneered with a mocking jeer as he began circling her as a predator did their prey now. Kol's inability to be still amused her as she turned to keep eye contact.
"It's not because I had no one else I could ask," she cut him off. "It's because you're you, and you with all your freaky witch encyclopedia brain and wily nature, you're the only one I trust completely, even if you don't know me right now or trust me right now."
"You know I'm not here," he pointed out.
"And that's why it's hard for me. I want to trust you as I always do, but I can't blindly trust you as I always do," she said as she stepped nearer. He recoiled slightly but held his ground.
"Then why trust me at all?" He ridiculed.
"Because you are you," she stated simply with a smile. "And despite whatever you think or feel about me right now, I trust you as you are, the happy, homicidal maniac or the mischievous, wily old fox. I came to you because you are you and I trust you."
That seemed to stun him completely as he stepped away from her with wide, confused brown eyes. Then he was gone.
"I'll teach Bonnie, if only to keep her from getting herself killed," she said, knowing he'd hear her. Sighing as she rubbed her brow before walking for her motel, internally cursing herself.
-------------------------------------------
Kol stormed into his room at Nik's mansion and wanted to tear something apart, or rather, tear someone apart. Just when he thought he could get that little witch out from under his skin, she had to go saying things that not even his own family had ever said.
No one wanted him for him. They wanted things from him; they wanted him to go do something; they wanted him to take care of something or to share something with them, but they didn't come for him, and they didn't trust him.
No one in a thousand years was ever naïve enough or gullible enough to trust him, and yet…
He was startled at the ferocity of her statement. He desired to hate her for it but found he couldn't. It was unusual.
-------------------------------------------
"I don't think we should trust her," Elena stated as she paced her room with Bonnie and Caroline sitting on her bed.
"Why not?" Caroline sighed.
"You saw what she did!" Elena snapped. "Who's to say she's actually on our side or not!?"
"I hear what you're saying," Bonnie started.
"No, Bonnie, she nearly killed Stefan, Damon, and me!" Elena hissed.
"Don't be so dramatic; what she did hurt, but I don't think she was going to kill us," Caroline protested. "And you were the one who threatened to snap her neck! She's a witch who can help Bonnie!"
"She is the first witch I've met who isn't disgusted with me or trying to kill us," Bonnie pointed out. "And she seemed fairly reasonable."
"Professor Shane is helping you, Bonnie!" Elena protested.
"Professor Shane isn't a witch," Bonnie stated. "I think she could help me, Elena. I think she could really help me."
"Yes, but we know Professor Shane can be trusted! She can't!"
"Why!?"
"Damon saw her talking to an Original," Elena huffed. "He didn't get too close, thinking the Original would see him or hear him, so he stayed away, but he saw her talking to the Original. And not just any Original either, Kol!"
"So?"
"So! The Originals are dangerous! And Kol's a maniac! He attacked Damon with a baseball bat and pretended to be Jeremy's friend!"
"And she said she's here to kill an Original!" Bonnie snapped. "I'm doing this, Elena. I need to."
"Professor Shane is helping you get back your magic though already!" Elena whined.
"Yeah, and it's not working," Bonnie hissed. "It's not going fast enough for whatever we need, so maybe she knows something! She grew up in magic, doing magic, and practicing magic. I didn't! Maybe she knows some way to fix me that won't anger the spirits!"
"Caroline!" Elena turned to the blonde desperately.
"I'm sorry, Elena, but I'm with Bonnie on this one," Caroline said. Elena felt like screaming in frustration now at their blind trust in this witch. Blind trust always backfired!