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Lagging behind the rest of the group, Ana sighed heavily. She prayed that they'd find something about this stupid hex in the apartment, otherwise she may as well have a mental breakdown there and then. I mean, what had she really done to Jonas to deserve this? It was Damon who'd torched Luka, not her. Ugh, karma really sucked sometimes.

The group hung behind Damon at the door as he checked that no one else would jump out. When everybody laid eyes on Luka's charred body, the atmosphere dropped and Damon's forehead creased as he announced "Yep. Everybody's dead."

Ana shoved past Damon's outstretched arm and strolled into the apartment, looking upon the scattered parchments and open books with a heavy gaze. Turning to Bonnie with a raised brow, Ana added "So, feel free to go ahead and work your witchy mojo. Don't worry, I'll be patient."

Whipping his head around, Jeremy frowned at the Petrova. "You know it doesn't work like that, right?"

"Wait, Jeremy, right? Little Gilbert?" Ana turned and asked him and Jeremy nodded in response, though frowning heavily at the second nickname. "Right, well, little Gilbert... I am almost six hundred years old. I have worked with thousands of witches in my lifetime and this would be your first, I assume. Next time, consider that I could be using sarcasm, okay?"

Patting his brown hair, Ana made her way past Jeremy to where Damon stood, resting her head on his shoulder.

Bonnie, however, was more focused on picking up the books around her to acknowledge Ana's remark. With her eyebrows knitted inward, Bonnie looked up to both vampires and added "We should pack up the grimoires. They spent years collecting them. I wanna make sure they're safe."

"You know, we could just get another match and cremate 'em." Damon suggested, looking down at the books with a slight sneer.

Tilting her head at Damon, Bonnie frowned. "Don't be disrespectful. Not to him."

"You mean don't be disrespectful to the conniving witch who hexed me. You know that this'll probably kill me, right? I'm allowed to spit on his grave if I wish." Ana snapped defensively, glaring at the little Bennet.

Putting an arm around Ana in comfort, Damon gave her a brief pointed look before turning to Bonnie. "Fine. I'll bury him."

"What exactly are we looking for?" Jeremy chimed, turning to his girlfriend with a gaze that suggested he knew nothing about the supernatural.

Ana, however, answered first, saying "Hmm, let me think. How about anything that has the word 'hex' in big letters on front, okay? Or do you need me to write that down for you?"

"Okay, you, stop bullying my boyfriend. We're all doing the best we can do, given the circumstances." Bonnie turned to Ana with her eyebrows drawn in and lips pursed. Despite her crossed arms, Ana said no more on the matter - only mentally cursing - leading to Bonnie continuing "According to Luka's dad, one of these contains a spell that'll let me harness the energy that's left behind when a witch dies violently. As for Ana's hex... we'll just have to scan the grimoires once we have them at the Boarding House."

"I didn't know you and father witch were so close." Damon mused, picking up a few of the books on the floor and handing them to Ana to take back, to which Ana dropped them right back on the floor, muttering something incoherent along the lines of "I'm not your servant."

"We weren't." Bonnie deadpanned, giving Damon a cynical look. "But when he gave me my powers back, he gave me a message. If I can find the spot in town, where the old salem witches were burned, I can harness their energy to use when I need it."

Throwing her arms in the air, Ana looked between everyone with wide eyes. "Sometimes I swear I'm the only one here with common sense. You're following some- some advice from some dead guy? He could've been misleading you or tricking you, did you ever consider that? Huh?"

"No, Ana, because, unlike you, I don't have trust issues." Bonnie snapped back, her chocolate eyes flaring angrily as she bore them into Ana's tired ones. Once the witch saw how weak Ana was, her heart softened slightly, but she still remained stoic as she peered upon the Petrova.

"Ladies, ladies. I know I'm handsome, but really, it's pointless fighting over me right now, with everything going on." Damon mused, rising from the floor and scruffing Ana's thick hair. Turning to Bonnie with a sarcastic look, Damo added "And as for the energy-harnessing stuff... I'll pop it on our list of things to do today. Harness ancient dead-witch power."

Turning around with a curious glint in her eyes, Bonnie walked over to Damon. "You know where the witches were burned?"

"Did I forget to mention that?" Damon asked, the ghost of a smirk playing on his lips.

From the other side of the room, Jeremy sighed. He was glancing at the pages of one of the grimoires with a bored expression. "Are we gonna have to read through every one of these books till we find the right spell?"

"I don't know, am I gonna have to listen to your constant complaining until this stupid hex is fixed?" Ana grunted, glaring at Jeremy.

"Okay, okay." Damon mused, dropping the book he was looking in and strolling over to the weak Ana, who looked mere seconds away from tearing out Jeremy's throat. "I think it's time someone got some rest. Who knew not getting blood made you this grouchy. I mean... geez."

Ana coughed slightly, slipping to the floor and leaning against the wall for support. "Fine, you have a point. But, er... okay this is awkward... my legs have gone a bit numb. Probably weakened from the blood loss or something."

"This is no time to joke, Ana."

"No, I'm being serious, Damon. Whatever this stupid hex is, it's messing with my vampire strength, I swear! Look, I bet if I took my ring off I wouldn't even-"

Sliding his arm around Ana's waist and lifting her limp body to his chest, Damon looked down at her with knitted eyebrows "Don't you dare, Ana."

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Heyo everyone! This one took super long to write, I ended up with a severe case of writer's block! We're nearing the end of the first book soon, so it won't be long until Ana and Klaus finally have their oh-so waited for reunion!

As for now though, I hope you enjoy this quickie ;)

MikaelsonMonday x