Title: in the morning you'll decay a little
Fandom: tvd
Rating: teen
Length: ~350 words
Author notes: title from morning parade's under the stars

Lucy should go home.

She’s finally free of her debt to Katherine, free to do whatever the hell she wants. She had plans before getting dragged into this cursed town, great plans.

...that refuse to come back to mind fully. Something about a boat and blackmail and a heist. It feels irrelevant now, the whole backbone of it was to get an item valuable enough to never see Katherine Pierce again. And now, she doesn’t have to.

Yet here she is, hesitating in the parking lot, rather than driving off to anywhere-but-here-land. She has a chance to turn the tables on Pierce, to have the brat vampire owe her. Greed must be overtaking common sense, and Lucy’s always had a soft spot for risky plays with shiny possibilities. (Which may have been how Kat first sunk her claws into her, but that’s so not the point.)

It’s almost too easy to turn the stone barricade to dust, the seal briefly glimmering as Bennett magic brushes against it. Katherine looks up, too slow to completely conceal her surprise.

“Lucy,” she breathes, airy enough to be reminiscent of many a morning spent in bed together. It isn’t fair- not that Kat ever has been.

She smirks, whether to cover the brief vulnerability or draw attention to it, Lucy couldn’t say. “My knight in shining armor,” Katherine finishes.

Lucy snorts, glancing down at her masquerade dress, “Try mercenary in silk.”

“I would, but you’re so far away,” Kat purrs, and her damned pulse quickens, Kat’s smirk widening. “Name your price babe.”

“A Parker grimoire.”

Kat whistles, “Illusion magic- yes, I’m sure they’ll be easy to steal from.”

She shrugs, doesn’t mention that she’s more interested how they create the prison worlds. “If it’s too much for you…”

Her eyes narrow, “We steal it together.”

“Alright.” Lucy drops the barrier, and Kat doesn’t speed away, something relaxing in her chest. It doesn’t mean Kat won’t break their deal later, or that they’ll ever find the grimoire, but they’ll be traveling together again and this time Lucy gets to call the shots. A sentimental mistake probably, one she can’t help but making.

A heart may be a witch’s greatest weakness, but it’s a vampire’s weakness too.