(1) The Phoenix (D. Salvatore)

Chapter One Hundred and Nine

A/N – I have a profile ready for Damon and Daphne's child, if that is something you guys want to see. I will leave it till the end of the book, either way, so there will be a few days (hopefully) before I get there. I think I have everything else planned, up until the whole Siren season, and I don't have anything planned for Silas or the Travellers yet, but I will come back to that closer to the time.

....

Even with them using the Floo Network to get closer, it is still a long car trip from Dallas to Kansas, even with Damon driving like an absolute madman. He's not really that bad of a driver, but Daphne prefers more magical means of travel. Plus the rental car is a little smaller than they would like. The three of them stuck in a tin can for six hours. Especially with the two of them wanting to be in a bed, curled up with one another after their earlier declarations. That is much preferable to sitting in a car for hours to see a vampire that may or may not have the answers that they seek. This could be for nothing after all. It could all be for nothing. A wild goose chase when she could have been helping with Alaric. Damon pulls the car up on the curb outside of an old, abandoned-looking building. Jeremy leans closer to the window to check the address with the one that Rose gave him.

"This is the address" He assures them.

"Looks about right" Damon mumbles as the three of them climb out of the car. Daphne glances at the house, an uneasy feeling settling over her. A dark ominous feeling. She turns to Jeremy.

"Wait here," She tells him, Jeremy smirks a little.

"Why? So you guys can make out some more??" Jeremy teases, Daphne nudges him with a smirk as she passes him. Damon gives Jeremy a soft swat around the back of the head before he joins Daphne, flinging his arm over her shoulder to pull her into his side. Jeremy smiles a little watching them before he turns and goes back to the car to wait for them.

.......

Inside the house is darkness, despite the afternoon sun outside. Daphne pulls her wand out and holds it in front of her. That feeling hasn't eased any since entering, in fact, it has only worsened. She lets out a breath.

"Lumos" She casts and the tip of her wand illuminates the room, showing that it is filled to the brim with books and other junk. turns on a torch. Damon cringes, wrinkling his nose in disgust.

"Oof, like Vampire Hoarders" He comments, shifting closer to Daphne. Because he feels that dread too.

"So, who is this Mary person?" She asks him.

"Scary Mary" He answers as they move around the room. "She's really old, super creepy"

"And how do you know her?" She counters causing him to smirk down at her.

"I dated her" He admits, she snorts and gives him a look back.

"Of course, you did" She teases. He chuckles softly and touches the small of her back.

"What? I said creepy, not ugly" Suddenly, a loud noise comes from another room, stealing away that sliver of lightness from the conversation. Damon and Daphne both spin towards the door leading to the next room. "Stay close" He whispers to Daphne before he moves towards the door. Daphne clutches her wand and follows him. Damon pushes open the door and steps into the next room slowly. Daphne holds to the back of his jacket, just to let him know that she's right there, and possibly also to steady herself. She turns the wand around the room and the light reveals a vampire who has been staked to the wall. Damon lets out a breath and nods. "Mary" He offers and glances at Daphne. The lights come on in the darkroom to reveal that Kol is sitting in a chair with a baseball bat across his legs. Daphne suddenly feels the swell of anger inside of her. A rage she has never really felt before. This cocky vampire, smirking at them, killed Kreacher. She lunges forward but Damon grabs her arm to stop her, pulling her into his side.

"Quite contrary" Kol comments. "Shame about Mary. She used to be a blast. Don't quite know what happened. I fear all the time she spent with my family might have ruined her. She was a bit of an Original groupie"

"And were you her favourite?" Daphne growls at him, remembering that whilst she wants to tear his eyeballs out of his skull and feed them to Buckbeak, they are still here for a reason.

"You mean, did I turn her? I think I did. But no, wait, maybe it was Rebekah. There was also a Klaus period. And let's not forget the Elijah affair. I spoke to my brother, I know you're trying to find out who you descended from. Now you never will. So, where did we leave off?" Kol stands and moves towards Damon. Damon quickly pushes Daphne away from him, she hits the floor with a thud just as Kol hits Damon's leg with the baseball bat. Damon falls to the ground and Kol continues to hit him.

"Daphne, get out of here!" Damon pleads through grunts of pain.

"Like hell" She argues and pushes herself to her feet, grabbing her wand from where it fell. She turns on Kol, pointing her wand at him. He smirks at her though.

"You clearly don't have what it takes, Little Phoenix" Kol taunts. Reminding her that she's already tried once to hurt him. She couldn't. She could only hurt him. She wasn't strong enough then. But now. Now she has buried Kreacher. Now she is feeling the rage.

"There is one spell" She argues. He snorts.

"There is no proof that will even work" He counters. She smirks a little.

"Let's find out," She tells him. His eyes widen slightly before he covers it. Clearly not thinking that she would go that far to deal with him. She takes a step, her stance shifting to one of more stability. She has no idea if this is going to work, or what the side effects might be. None of the books mentioned anything about this curse working on vampires. They are already technically dead. "Avada Kedavra" She casts and a bright green light erupts from the end of her wand. Damon shields his eyes from it as it bursts from the wand, going straight for Kol. The whole room is doused in green light as it hits Kol. Daphne shields her eyes as the light just gets brighter and brighter before she is then thrown back into the wall by an unseen force.