A Meeting for the Books

• Remember when we first met? You said — "have you drunk enough?!" •

".."

Hayley looked down at the dagger in Finn's chest, debating with herself if she should pull it out. She didn't know where she was, if it was her dreams or his, and couldn't predict the consequences of her actions.

Having stared enough, Hayley muttered "Fuck it" and pulled the dagger out in a quick manner.

Not even a second after, a pair of fangs were latched on her throat, the owner moaning as he drank her blood. As if it was the most potent drink he'd ever had.

The only reason Hayley hadn't blasted the man ten feet away was that she unconsciously knew he couldn't really hurt her in this dream of sorts.

After a few healthy sips from him, Hayley rolled her eyes and slipped a hand through his long hair, snapping his head back and away from her throat.

Green clashed with green, the already silent clearing became even more dead as the two stared at each other.

"Have you drank enough?"

Hayley was the first one to speak up, not breaking eye contact.

Something seemed to be happening here, between them, but Hayley didn't want to know. She was with Tyler and would never look at another man that way unless she broke up with the Lockwood first.

The hybrid merely wanted to know what she was doing here, and with an Original at that.

"Your blood .." Finn's voice was slightly horse from lack of using it. " .. has the most exhilarating taste." His old English accent was heavy.

Finn straightened up, Hayley's hand falling from his hair before he stood at a proper distance. As if he'd finally cleared his head. He was really tall, at least six foot two so he towered over a barefoot Hayley.

"Thanks ... I guess," Hayley chuckled at the compliment. She then pointed around her. "Not to alarm you, big buy, but I don't know you and I don't know what I'm doing here. Have any clue?"

Hayley knew Finn was a witch when he was still human a thousand years ago. Maybe he had a better explanation than the her mind could muster.

"Excuse my manners, I didn't introduce myself," Finn said as if he wasn't a big, bad Mikaelson. He took her right hand, lifting it to his forehead in greeting. "My name is Finn Mikaelson. Pleased to meet you."

Hayley's mouth opened and closed a few times at his politeness before she snapped out of it. "Oh, uh, hi. I'm Hayley Marshall and the pleasure's all mine." Her mind was slightly jumbled. They were in an unknown land and he thought of introductions first? She hoped the nine hundred years inside the coffin hadn't fried his brain.

Finn saw the peculiar look on Hayley's face and bit back a smile. It appeared that in his effort to take some distance from his mother, he had found someone interesting.

"Do not fret, little one," Finn finally explained. "What you see is part of my conscience."

'Little one?!!' Hayley thought in indignation, narrowing her eyes at him. If not for the fact that he had a millennia on her, she'd have punched him in the throat.

"Your conscience?" Hayley schooled her features. "Then why am I here?"

She had no connections whatsoever with Finn Mikaelson.

"I do not really know myself," Finn assessed her with a questioning gaze. "Are you a witch?"

Hayley nodded. She had no intentions to lie to him. "I am. But what does it have to do with my being here?"

Finn was startled. Even his mother struggled to contact him in his subconscious and yet this little girl had enough power to unknowingly wander in. She must be a pretty powerful witch then, Finn decided. Even if he didn't know how the outside world now worked.

"You must have one item of mine in your possession then," Finn declared. "One from when I was still human."

Hayley sent him a dubious gaze. "Are you sure?" She liked to believe she would know if a Mikaelson artefact belonged to her. She could gain even more money with it!

Finn hummed, resting his hands in his back. Hayley was a little puzzled by his appearance. There was none of the fidgeting from the show, none of the hesitation. His whole being exuded confidence and strength. She wondered if she had even dreamt of the show since every main player she met was different from their show counterparts.

The tall vampire hummed at her earlier question. "I wonder what it is ... do you perhaps own a men's ring?" He asked after a few seconds. "An ancient looking jade ring?" Hayley's eyes widened, all the answer he needed. "It was my brother's gift when I first awakened my witch abilities. It's very precious but I seemed to have lost it along the way nine hundred years ago."

Mouth slightly agape, Hayley reaches into her blouse, pulling out the long pendant that habitually rested on her chest. The first stone was an amethyst, the talisman she'd made on her own and right behind was a large men's jade ring. She lifted the pendant, showing Finn her necklace.

"Well, now that we know why I'm here," Hayley mumbled. She never really parted with the thing. "How do I get back?"

It wasn't that it was unpleasant to be with the vampire, but she had a life to return to.

"You're a witch, little one," Finn said in a cryptic tone. "Nothing but your mind can trap you."

Even if she got the hint, Hayley rolled her eyes, a small smile playing at her lips. "Thanks so much, Socrates."

Finn looked her in the eyes, an unknown emotion swirling through his. "Will I see you again?" While he waited for his beloved siblings to accomplish their plan, he wanted something other than his nagging mother to entertain him.

Hayley shrugged. She didn't know how she got here but if it was simply a matter of sleeping with the ring close by, she didn't mind entertaining the Original.

"May we dream together again if we're fated." She simply said.

".."

Hayley woke up on top of her own bed this time, a startled chuckle escaping her lips.

She met an Original. The Finn Mikaelson who had betrayed his siblings and was called a momma's boy.

It was at this moment that Hayley realized she could not trust the show anymore when it was related to the people's character. Those who were supposed to be annoying, she found cute. The ones we were supposed to root for — like Elena — she couldn't stand. Which them was reality?

Hayley intended to find out the truth behind this world's creation. And what better to learn history than from an Original himself?