Coalesce (Book Six of The Vampire Diaries)

Ch. 2: Yellow Ledbetter

At the hotel I was staying at for now, I was talking privately to the manager at the front desk. 

Enzo appeared next to me. "So, this, uh, lead you were following."

"What about it?" I asked.

"Did you find anything?" Enzo asked.

I pressed my lips together, shaking my head. "Nope."

"I can always tell when you're lying, Kaylin," Enzo told me. I looked at him weirdly. "You did find something. Why aren't you telling me?" 

"Because you've done nothing to earn being told," I answered. 

Enzo raised his eyebrows at the challenge. 

I smirked. 

******

Enzo had pulled me into the hotel closet, unbuttoning my blouse, kissing my neck. "Oh, just lay it down."

"I told you, they didn't tell me anything," I told him in amusement. 

"So you want me to seduce it out of you?" Enzo asked.

"I can't be seduced," I told him. "It's a Salvatore specialty."

"You Salvatores are also monstrously secretive," Enzo told me. "Lucky for me, I'm quite gifted at unraveling the truth."

Enzo kissed along my neck, down my chest to my bra. 

I took a deep breath, smiling. "Okay. They said there's a coven in Oregon. They'd found a way to communicate with their ancestors on the Other Side before it went away. Maybe they know what happened to Damon and Bonnie. They told me that the coven calls itself the Gemini Coven. They're small and weird and don't like outsiders."

Enzo stood straight, putting his hand on the small of my back to pull me closer. "See? You did lie to me about what they told you."

I gave him an innocent look. "I just wanted you to work for it."

"You could have just told me," Enzo told me.

"Where's the fun in that?" I asked, weaving my hand through his hair, pulling him closer to kiss him.

The sound of Caroline clearing her throat interrupted. 

I pulled away from Enzo, looking toward her with a smirk, pressing my lips together, only slightly embarrassed, but not at all ashamed, buttoning my blouse. "Caroline."

"Kaylin," Caroline replied.

"Well, well, well," Enzo said. "Well, there's a blast from the past." He looked between us. "Looks like Team Blondie is reunited once again."

I looked at Caroline. "Ready to go kick some ass, Care?" 

Caroline was unfazed. "Hell. Yeah."

I smiled.

******

On the road, Caroline was driving.

I was in the passenger seat.

Enzo was in the back.

Caroline was on the phone with Elena.

"You're the last person I think would object to me erasing positive memories of Damon from my head."

"Yeah, but we are literally chasing a lead. What if we find something out? Yeah, you know, what if Damon returns home and everything returns back to normal? And you're just sitting there all confused and weird?"