ᎻᎬᏚᎢᏆᎪ

CHAPTER FOUR

hestia was, once again, sitting at a table in the grill. she honestly wouldn't have come here for the fourth consecutive day in a row if the pancakes weren't almost as delicious as ambrosia could be at times.

she had noticed the man that had been watching her along with damon last night at the fundraiser event thing, and the woman she'd spotted near him. she thought their flirting was cute, but decided not to get involved with them unless necessary. their relationship was of aphrodite's domain, and she didn't need the love goddess being aware of her presence in a place like this.

when the woman got up to leave, she noticed damon pass by her and head towards alaric, and hestia turned her head away to avoid making eye contact with either of them.

she briefly heard the words "dead" and "killed" get passed between the two of them, and that was where she decided to just altogether ignore them. she and thanatos may get along very well, but she didn't always like when he was around and they were in the mortal realm. it meant someone was about to die or was dead, and she didn't like witnessing things like that.

"hey, you're the lady from last night."

the voice speaking up right behind her had hestia turning around quick enough to be considered panicked, but she made herself calm down enough to smile politely. damon and his friend were both standing behind her, giving her false polite smiles.

'this has to do with me being friends with klaus, doesn't it?' she thinks to herself, ignoring the tension between them and nodding.

"yes, if that's what you want to call me. nice to meet you, again, damon."

he smirks, trying to be flirtatious for some reason, and hestia inwardly rolls her eyes. that action alone made her understand why her beloved niece artemis abstained from men.

"you too. you know, i never got your name last night, before you went off and left. i would've liked to have gotten to know you."

hestia sees his friend pull a face at the obvious flirting, and holds back a giggle at it. apparently, despite being friends, he held disdain for the techniques his friend used. hestia would say that even her kind nephew hephaestus had better flirting techniques than damon did — and hephaestus had only ever tried to flirt with two women before giving up entirely.

"well, i don't really see that happening, but, to be polite, i'm hestia," she introduces, then looks to his friend to see if he would give an introduction as well.

"oh, uh, alaric," he states, smiling politely back before settling into a blank face.

finishing the last of her waffles and her water, hestia places some money on the table and makes to leave but was stopped by damon grabbing her arm in a somewhat tight grip.

smiling innocently in confusion, the goddess asks, "uh, we kinda just met, so, what's with the grabbing?"

"do you remember what i said to klaus last night?" the vampire, hestia realizes, questions her with a dark, serious look.

face the picture of innocent, she tilts her head to the side and gives him a confused look.

"am i supposed to? you guys looked like you were pretty serious before i walked up."

damon lets go of her arm at that, smiling falsely at her and saying a quick goodbye. hestia just gives him a weird look and leaves the establishment, kind of upset about not having gotten to talk to matt since the previous morning. he was a nice boy, seeming too kind for his own good after some of the stories he'd told her about some mishaps in his friend group.

letting out another sigh, hestia decides to spend the rest of the day in her apartment. maybe she should invite hecate over at some point for a drink or something.