A Heart Worth Loving

A few days had passed, since the run in with Seth at the house and Layla had finally added the finishing details to her plan. For the last three days, she had been spending most of the day at the Bennett's house and her magic was already slowly returning, but she didn't really need it for what she had planned.

Heading to the Grill a little after nine, Layla walked in and immediately spotted Hadley sitting at the bar with a glass of whiskey in front of him. Scanning the place to make sure that no one she knew was around, she headed over and took a seat without a word.

"Is there something that I can do for you?" Hadley asked, knocking back his drink and motioning for the bartender to pour him another one.

"Let's not beat around the bush here, I know that you're not a historian and I also know that you're here looking for people from a coven," Layla replied, causing the hunter to pause and look at her, "I can help you locate the people you're looking for, but in return for my help I have a few conditions..."

"I'm listening."

"Number one is that none of my friends will get hurt, number two is that my family will be left out of anything to do with the supernatural and three... you have to leave town as soon as you have what you came here for."

"What makes you think that I'll stick to any deal that we make?" Hadley inquired.

"You're a hunter and despite first impressions, all hunters take deals seriously. Plus, I already know where one of your targets is and there's no way that you'll find him without me."

"Fine," Hadley barked, draining his second glass of whiskey and turning his full attention to Layla, "I won't touch your group of supernatural freaks and I was already planning to leave as soon as my targets were safely locked away in my trailer, so you don't have to worry about that."

Nodding, Layla slipped Hadley a piece of paper and left without another word. Of course, she didn't actually expect him to stick to their deal and had already put something in place to make sure that he did. Walking home, Layla was surprised to find Damon sitting on her front porch and took a seat beside him.

"I know that you're up to something and I have no doubt that you would only argue with me if I tried to talk you out of it, so I've decided that helping you is probably my best option."

"There's nothing to help me with, I told you that it isn't our fight and I meant it," Layla told him, standing up and walking towards the front door, "Goodnight Damon."

"Night."

Closing the front door as she stepped inside, Layla smiled at the fact that Damon was checking up on her and went straight to her room. Waking up the next morning for school, Layla got changed and paused as she spotted another parcel sitting on her desk. Putting it in her bag, she made her way downstairs and took a seat at the table beside Brandon with a smile.

"Gran, has there been any parcels delivered for me recently?"

"Not recently, sweetie, are you waiting for something?" Her gran asked, placing a plate of scrambled egg and a glass of orange juice in front of her.

"Just some more baking stuff... the Mayor ordered some cupcakes and a birthday cake for Tyler's party next week."

"I hope he's paying you for your time," her gran added, "He may be the Mayor and your friend's dad, but that doesn't mean that he can take advantage of you."

"He's paying me, more than I asked for actually and he's going to hand out some business cards to his friends to help broaden my clientele... I have this handled."

"That's good to hear, I'm extremely proud of you, Layla."

Smiling, Layla ate her breakfast in silence and shouted a quick goodbye over her shoulder as she headed to school. Locking her bike up outside, she spotted Stefan standing with Elena near the front entrance and made her way over to walk to class.