Like Fire

by AlexisKeller

Chapter 01

There were way too many times when I felt out of my depth after running into the plucky group of people I now called my friends.

And right now—the four of us standing dressed to the nines in front of the Originals' mansion—had to take the cake.

Boy, I knew how to pick 'em. If I'd known before that I'd end up in this position, maybe I wouldn't have said hello to Bonnie at the college freshers welcome party at Whitmore. However now after spending three and a half years together, I knew I was deeply embedded in their supernatural world of friendship, chaos and madness.

And the truth was, I wouldn't have it any other way.

So no, I didn't regret knowing them.

Not one bit.

Even when we were about to do stupid crap like walk into the home of the biggest threats we'd ever come across.

Standing next to me, Stefan snapped me out of my thoughts as he turned to me, shaking his head with a look of worry on his face. "You know what? I don't think you should go in there. They'll figure it out, or worse, they'll know the minute you step inside."

"You worry too much, little brother. We got this," Damon said from next to him, before turning to his right where Caroline stood. "Tell him we've got this, Blondie."

Not deigning him with a response, Caroline leaned over to cast a look at me. "You know that if we're ever out of your sight, we'll be a call away at most, right?"

I smiled at her, knowing and appreciating how it was classic Caroline to make sure everyone was okay. "I know."

That's when she looked to Stefan. "This place is full of people. You know they can't afford to do anything crazy here, right? It's going to be okay, Stefan."

Hoping it was reassuring as possible, I turned my smile to Stefan. "She's right. And you know I can handle myself. It'll be fine."

There was visible hesitance in his expression as he searched my face and I repeated, "It's going to be fine, Stefan."

He nodded reluctantly, before turning back to the mansion in front of us and sighed.

Of course I had no idea how right he was and how I was about to walk into the biggest trouble of my life.

One Hour Ago

"I have a feeling things are going to get out of hand," Stefan confessed as he straightened his tie in the mirror.

"It's a ball thrown by the big, bad Originals. What do you think?" I replied from where I was seated on his bed, constantly trying to make sure I didn't ruin my dress.

His eyes found mine in the mirror. "A little more than you bargained for, isn't it?"

I snorted. Ever since I'd met Bonnie, Caroline and Elena in college, things were hardly like anything I'd ever expected. After getting tangled in so many of their messes, I was enlightened with the information of how there was a whole world out there I was completely unaware of.

Scary as it was, it was also somewhat comforting, if I was honest. The fact that there were beings like vampires, witches, werewolves and doppelgangers out there made me feel much less of an anomaly I'd always thought myself to be.

And then I'd also been introduced to the Salvatore brothers. Stefan, I'd immediately gelled with. Damon, though, took some getting used to.

I couldn't even pinpoint the exact moment it had happened, but somehow I'd become part of a ragtag group of people who took it upon themselves to invite all kinds of trouble possible.

"Seriously," he went on, "You could've jet off to anywhere you wanted with the Originals arriving and no one would've held it against you. Yet you decided to stay."

"Okay, you're wrong that no one would hold it against me because I'm pretty sure Caroline would hunt me down and kill me," I laughed and he chuckled at that. "Honestly, my mom's here. I'll never know why she decided to move to Mystic Falls after the divorce, but I want to be around her. Not to mention, you guys are my friends," I smiled at him, before gloating, "And you know you all totally need me."

"That we do," he smiled back as he walked over to reach for his jacket which lay on the bed next to me. "But for the record, even if we didn't, I'm glad you decided to stick around."

That was Stefan for you. Sincere and warm down to his core.

He continued on. "As for tonight, I want you to remember to be extra careful. We don't know anything about the Originals. I really hope things go alright."

I understood his worry. Almost a month ago, we'd been warned by the mysterious Elijah Mikaelson that when his brother rolled into town, things would go to hell. Understandably, we weren't quite on board since he refused to tell us what Klaus even wanted or was planning. Still, he'd also firmly been trying to recruit for the Kill Klaus Team, but last week he'd shown up at the Grill with Klaus himself, taking back anything he'd said before about wanting revenge against his brother. It had confused us, but of course Damon instantly reacted by picking a fight he couldn't win which had just resulted in the rest of us trying to stop him from making things worse.

We had long scratched the tentative plan we were making against Klaus because we still had no information, and intended to keep an eye on him to interfere only in case he hurt someone.

And then an invitation had showed up yesterday at the Salvatore Boarding House, saying that the Mikaelson Family was finally reunited and celebrating the return of their mother.

It probably would've gone ignored, had we not seen the scribbled This is an olive branch on the back.

Thinking reasonably, we'd decided a yes was prudent.

"We ready to go?" Stefan rubbed his hands together as he scanned his room after having put on his jacket.

With a nod, I got up carefully, trying not to ruin my dress.

It was a strapless deep red gown with what I had to say was a classy and flattering amount of cleavage. Instead of typically flaring out at the waist, it tumbled down in light ruffles that made it look fantastic.

I loved it the moment I saw it when I was shopping for dresses with Caroline.

I caught sight of Damon standing with a drink at the fireplace as we made our way downstairs.

"Damn, Eve," he whistled. "You know it's hard enough not to look at you that way, and then you go ahead and wear that? Jeez."

"I'll keep you in check," I muttered absentmindedly before asking, "When's Caroline getting here?"

I saw Damon make conscious effort to look way from me and I just ignored it. I knew it wasn't his fault—it was just a part of what I was. "Should be a couple of minutes or so."

That was when Bonnie suddenly hurtled into the den, plopping down unceremoniously on the sofa there with her eyes glued to the book in her hands.

I hadn't even known she was here.

"Hey, Bon. What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to look for a precaution or advantage—anything that can help us with the Originals."

"You're wasting your time, Witchy," stated Damon as he threw back his drink. Then, pointing at me, "She's our precaution. You know that. End of story."

Bonnie just shook her head in response. "You guys are literally strolling into the lion's den right now. I'm going to help however I can."

"You want to waste your time, Bonnie, you go ahead." He said before turning to Stefan and I. "Let's go over the plan once more, okay? What happens when we get into serious trouble we can't get out of?"

"Easy," I grinned. "I sing."

That was when the front door bell sounded and Damon smirked his trademark smirk. "Excellent. That's probably Barbie. Which means that it's time to get going."

Damon had disappeared the moment we'd entered, saying something about wanting to greet Mayor Lockwood. Meanwhile Caroline and I stood waiting for Stefan as he went to get the drink Caroline had almost immediately ordered him to get her while grumbling obscenities under her breath.

"What's up?" I eyed her after Stefan left. She'd been perfectly fine outside.

"I just saw Klaus."

What?

"Uh... okay? And?" I raised my eyebrows. "You came to his place and you thought you wouldn't see him?"

She let out an angry noise of frustration. "No, it's not about seeing him. It's the fact that he had this stupid smug look on his face."

Oh. That actually made things a little clearer, I realized as I connected the dots. Grinning, I pointed out, "Well, you are wearing the dress he sent you over the one you bought, so..."

"Okay, you know even after buying it I was on the fence with that one!" She exclaimed with wide believe-me eyes. "And... then I saw this and I just ugh!"

I laughed as she got herself all worked up, not sure if it was really as big a deal as she was making it out to be.

"If everyone could gather please," a voice called out just then, cutting through the buzz of people in the mansion. Caroline and I looked up with everyone else to see five people on the stairs, among which I could only recognize Elijah and Klaus. I'd seen both very briefly when Damon had his altercation with them a week ago, but that was about it.

I had never seen the other three before but I knew without a doubt that this was the Original family.

One would be biased if they didn't admit how ridiculously good-looking all of them were, I found myself thinking.

My eyes strayed to the one who stood at the highest step with a drink in his hand, lips kicked up at the side in a smirk as he surveyed the crowd.

He was utterly gorgeous. So handsome, I almost found it almost difficult to look away.

And it was more than just what he looked like; he exuded pride, power and confidence in a manner that was possibly enough to dwarf the collective energy of the Originals altogether and that was really saying something, because all of them stood with their heads held high, with a visibly large amount of self-assurance and nonchalance.

"Welcome," Elijah continued to address the crowd, and I finally looked away from the stranger., "Thank you for joining us." At that point, a woman walked down the stairs to join the family at the steps and Caroline whispered in my ear, "That's her. The mom, right?"

Elijah confirmed this by casting a glance at the woman before going on, "You know, whenever my mother brings our family together like this... it's tradition for us to commence the evening with a dance. Tonight's pick is a centuries-old waltz. So if all of you could find yourselves a partner, please join us in the ballroom." He gestured to the next room behind him and with a smile, made his way down the stairs.

"God, where is Stefan?" I asked as I looked around from where we stood.

"No idea." Caroline frowned. "It definitely doesn't take this long to fetch a drink."

As people in the room started dispersing, I spotted a familiar face heading towards us and cursed.

"What? What's wrong?" Caroline wanted to know.

"Is Klaus heading over here?"

She tilted her head to the side as naturally as she could without making it seem like she was looking before muttering. "Yes. Crap."

"Okay," I tried to think of a way to exit the situation cleanly. "He's probably going to ask you to dance. Just be calm. I'm going to go and find Stefan."

"Yeah," she nodded. "That's a good plan. Go, quickly."

Without another word to her, I was off, walking briskly towards the bar. Seeing that the crowd had now thinned out as people headed to the ballroom, I scanned the place left and right for Stefan.

Where the hell was he?

I sighed as I surveyed the people passing by the front door. Maybe he'd gotten caught up with someone?

Well, this was now getting worrying.

"May I have this dance?" I suddenly heard from behind me and a sense of dread filled me as I took note of the smooth voice and accent that I certainly wasn't familiar with. I turned around to find that I definitely had crappy luck, because I'd successfully avoided one Original only to come face to face with another one.

That too, the the extremely handsome one.

The one I couldn't pull my eyes away from. Which was ironic, I thought to myself, considering that's how people got around me.

I watched him as his eyes landed on my face. His head jerked back the slightest in surprise as he took me in, struck and astonished.

After that moment of shock, his eyes immediately narrowed as he hissed, "What are you?"

That was when I was sure I'd stopped breathing.

It had taken him less than a second to figure out I wasn't human.

I focused on calming the thudding of my heart and the anxious fear that was now surging up as I tried to put on a confused, I-don't-know-what-you're-talking-about expression.

He couldn't know now. He wasn't supposed to know now. We needed the element of surprise.

He looked at me for a moment longer, and I could've sworn he could feel the discontent I felt. Instantly, he was gone.

He'd disappeared, just like that.

And at once, I turned around to start searching for the others.

NOTE #1: Yes, Elena isn't here and that will be addressed. She will definitely make an appearance, though.

NOTE #2: Scratch what you know about sirens from TVD. The siren concept here will be much different.

NOTE #3: You might've noticed that in this AU I've altered the timeline of events a little bit. That is, they're nearly done with college by the time the Originals arrive in Mystic Falls (instead of being in high school).

I hope you like what you've read so far! The story will progress much more from here and many questions will be cleared up. Do review and let me know what you think!