wizard in mystic falls

3

Rei pushed the couch forwards, her muscles straining while her body gradually fell into a sharper and sharper angled position until finally the piece of furniture slid half-way across the floorboards and promptly stopped.

Standing up with a loud sigh, she raised a hand to brush back the hair that had escaped her hastily tied pony tail, fixing the stubborn couch with a determined expression in her eyes.

"Knock, Knock?" Came a hesitant call.

Her eyes snapped up to see Alaric's figure step tentatively inside.

"Alaric!" She exclaimed with surprise obvious in her tone.

His eyes finally landed on where she was standing, hands resting on her waist, amongst the copious boxes and many other things that littered her large living room. "The front door was open," He pointed a finger behind him in explanation.

Rei nodded, short of breath, "Yeah, no, of course." She stepped around one of the larger boxes, skirting a tower of books that had a lamp balancing on the top and jumped over two rolled up carpets. "You're early." She smiled up at the man when she finally came to a stop in front of him.

"Well I had thought to give you a hand," He looked around the room with some dismay. "You told me the other day that you'd almost finished unpacking."

Rei glanced around the room which looked like a bomb had gone off in it and just shrugged, "Tea?" She asked brightly.

The man looked stumped as she floated off down the hall towards the kitchen, "Sure,...I guess."

When Alaric first walked into the kitchen the first thing he noticed was the green. Floor to ceiling glass panels on the far side looked out into a large back garden which bumped right up against the woods behind it.

"You don't find the place too big for one person?" Alaric asked as he looked around the open plan kitchen.

Outfitted with light wood counters, the white French inspired cupboards and draws with modern yellow ceiling lights seemed to practically ooze fashion and money.

Rei looked up at him from over the kettle she was filling up at the tap, "Not yet. I like the space."

Alaric gave a disbelieving chuckle as he took a seat on one of the stools that surrounded the tall centre island.

"I just wanted to thank you again for showing me around the other day. I was a little surprised to see the place so empty though." She poured the boiling water carefully, "I didn't ask before because I didn't want to accidentally jinx it and suddenly find that we had to fight our way through crowds." She explained.

She'd had enough of those for a life time.

Alaric took the steaming cup with a grateful smile, "There was a memorial thing going on up at the Lockwood's property that day. Practically the whole town attended." He explained.

Rei leaned back against the counter, "Memorial?"

She watched as Alaric suddenly froze before glancing up at her from behind his tea cup, "Oh, um, there was a fire in town and the Mayor got trapped inside the building-I'm surprised that you didn't hear?" He said suddenly.

"Apart from your tour and a quick stop for groceries at the next town over I haven't left the house." She explained truthfully.

For some reason, on her third night here she'd been brought down by a killer headache. It was nothing like the ones that she'd been experiencing back home but it was debilitating enough that she'd had to stop unpacking for the night.

"Okay, well let me just grab my jacket and we can go," Rei said as soon as she noticed that he'd finished his tea.

Alaric looked at the jean shorts, tank top and flip slops she was wearing and hid a smile. He'd come to realise pretty quickly that Rei wasn't exactly what you would call high maintenance. Luckily for her, her looks were such that she could get away with it.