Sunlight

Chapter 32: Final Stand

Eva shuffled her boots slightly in the forest undergrowth, her arms wrapped around her chest protectively as her sharp eyes searched through the gloom surrounding her. She refused to glance over her shoulder like some scared little girl, though she wished for eyes in the back of her head. Instead, she listened intently to the sounds of the forest around her.

Finally, after what seemed to be hours of waiting, she heard someone approaching, leaves sliding over each other like snakes in his wake. Eva glanced to her left as a man with dark hair and impossibly blue eyes appeared from between the trees like a wraith.

"Silas." She addressed him by his true name, despite never having seen him in his true form like this.

"You called." He replied, stopping a fair distance away from her and holding out his hands to present himself. "I came. So what would you of all people have to offer me?"

Eva brushed aside his words. "The cure. I can return it to you."

"Yet somehow I doubt that." Silas said coolly, sliding his hands into the pockets of his jacket.

"You shouldn't underestimate me." She said just as evenly, watching his every move while she remained still.

"And why is that?" He asked, pacing slightly. Despite his cool demeanor, he couldn't keep still. She supposed desiccating into a fossilized position for over two thousand years could make a person want to never remain completely frozen again.

"Because I won't even ask for protection in return. I don't have much to bargain with. All I ask is that you kill Klaus." Eva curled her lip slightly as she spoke his name, her hazel eyes glowing with fire.

Silas laughed. "See, that is where I don't believe you. Because I can't. Don't think that I don't know about you."

"Whats there to know?" She asked innocently.

"That you are attached to Kol Mikaelson. That you're attached to the whole family through that bond." He watched her speculatively. "Oh yes, I have my ways of finding things out. And that didn't take much digging. Don't expect me to be fooled. Why would you want Klaus dead?"

"Because he makes Kol's life hell. And mine." Eva snarled, before taking a breath and controlling herself. "I might not be as attached to Kol as you believe me to be, but I still want what's best for him. And his brother being alive is not in anyone's best interests. I understand that you have the means to end his life." She uncurled her palm to show a vial of dark red liquid, darker than blood. A potion. And not just any potion. "I have the means to restore your life."

Silas narrowed his eyes and began to walk towards the vial that she held out to him, but she curled her fingers back around the glass and retracted her arm.

"First your word that you will uphold your end of the bargain." She demanded.

Eva stood her ground as Silas slowly came closer, his gaze changing to one of inspection.

"First your word that you won't kill me on the spot." He retorted.

"I'll only be able to do that once I know that you won't kill me." She raised her eyebrows.

His eyes studied her face once again searchingly.

"Can I trust that you wont try to do something so foolish as to stake me with a feeble wooden stake now? It would do very little other than make me very irritable."

Eva scoffed. "Surely I don't look that blonde. And besides, does it look like I could possibly hide a weapon in these clothes?" She gestured to the skinny jeans and shirt that she wore, impossible to conceal a weapon within.