A Business Worth Her Time

• Life is well ... until a princess realizes she's dirt poor. •

".."

Hayley was waiting outside the Mystic Grill, leaning against the hood of Tyler's car. Elena was right beside her but the hybrid didn't pay her any attention. She was focused on far more pressing matters.

She was, as of two days ago, dirt poor.

Not poor in the "I'm-soon-to-be-without-roof" sense but in the fact that all that she owned, she could not sustain for long. School was taken care of since Mystic High was a public school in a suburban town but she was accepted into the cheer squad not even a week earlier and was rapidly climbing the ranks. Her school life required cheer uniforms, books and other necessities, all to be bought by her.

Her social life was very active since her friends were either rich founder families' kids or people who'd been in this town since forever. Not to mention that her boyfriend being Tyler Lockwood, the mayor's son with a rich family, Hayley felt the need to keep up.

In addition to all that, Hayley adored to shop and even if her closet was full to the brim, she almost couldn't help herself. She sighed at her own thoughts — she really sounded like a spoiled princess.

Hayley had even taped into Marmee's small inheritance to afford her life in Mystic Falls.

Let's not even mention cars. Since she already had her license from earlier this year, Tyler and his father had volunteered to show her the best car she could buy. She was glad — of course she was, look at how thoughtful her boyfriend and his father were! But — she didn't account for one thing : the Lockwood's money had been flowing for more than a century and she'd been on this earth for barely three years. They only knew luxury while she had to carefully access her finances.

Therefore, with her pride in the way, Hayley bought a car that was way beyond her means. The regret she felt to this day was so potent that she rarely even drove the thing. Even though Hayley was outwardly calm and composed, inside, she was fuming. She needed to find money. And fast.

Hearing the Grill's door open, Hayley's eyes looked up to see Tyler and Matt coming out of the restaurant. The four of them had been on a double date and Matt and Tyler ended up fighting when it was time to pay for the bill. Even if Tyler and her were only together for a couple of months, Hayley knew his character. Therefore, she'd grabbed Elena's arm and walked off, ordering the arguing best friends to split the bill.

"Here we go, babe," Tyler swept an arm around Hayley's shoulders, pecking her on the lips. "We can go."

Hayley smiled up at him but her heart was slightly heavy. This was another thorn in her pride. Usually, she liked to split the bill with her boyfriend but with how tight money was, she'd been forced to stay silent on this one.

Gently patting her heart once she was inside Tyler's car, Hayley calmed herself down. Since she was only fifteen, she could not earn quick money this early but that only applied to humans. She had some contacts from Marmee's side, and therefore, Hayley decided to venture out for some business. Of the supernatural kind.

".."

Three nights later, Hayley sat in front of her computer in her dimly lit room, a smile on her face as she read out the email from her contact.

'I've seen the letter. It would be a pleasure doing business with you, Miss Phillips.

— Slater.'

Marmee's contact was an old witch that worked in a hospital a few towns over as a nurse. When she called her, the witch had agreed to do Hayley this one favor in honor of Marmee's memory. Shortly after, Hayley found herself in possession of two items — an email and a background check profile.

The man she'd sent the email to was called Slater and he was a vampire that appeared to have been turned in 1974. By day, he was a coffee shop owner who would turn into a vampire wealth of supernatural information.

Hayley's business plan would be pretty simple. She intended to create a daylight ring business. She knew of the discord between the witches and the vampires and planned to take advantage of it. Since none of the witches wanted to help their fellow supernaturals, Hayley would volunteer.

Except her prices weren't cheap. And her target audience was older vampires — those who had roamed this earth for centuries. With their wealth, spelling a few daylight rings was enough to set her financially for at least four or five decades. And Slater, being the middle man, would earn a cut of the money as well.

Hayley had racked her brain long and hard before finally deciding to do this. She also made sure to install several security blankets for herself. Her targets being older vampires, she had an agreement with Slater. He would provide their information, including their pictures for a bigger cut.

The reason Hayley wanted to keep an eye on these vampires was simple. They were her plan B.

Since she would be the witch to spell their daylight rings, she could also be the only one to reverse the spell so in some ways, she had some control over them. She could forcefully ask for their help for example or even blackmail them into doing her bidding. And Hayley knew older vampires were smart enough to realize that and there was sure to have some retaliation. But if she kept an eye on them with the intel from Slater and showed them she was not one to mess with, Hayley had hope that she would slowly create a buzz in the supernatural world.

Hayley Marshall had no intention to hide. She would built her business and reputation in the shadows for now, but if push came to shove, she would show the world just how wicked she could be.

Satisfied and feeling rich in her heart, Hayley peacefully fell asleep that night, a small smile on her face.

".."

Hayley gasped awake, feeling disoriented. The last thing she remembered was going to sleep on her fluffy bed so how in the hell did she end up in a clearing.

Standing up, still in her loose shorts and sleeping blouse, she looked around the field. It was a large expanse of flowers, with a single coffin being the only other thing. There were no animals, barely a sound. Just a coffin.

Walking closer, Hayley looked at the closed coffin with an astonished gaze. She recognized this! It was one of Klaus' coffins, one that probably contained one of his family members.

"It can't be ... right?" Hayley muttered, putting her hand on the coffin and swiftly lifting the lid. There was no point in dilly-dallying as she didn't know how much time she had wherever she was.

Upon opening, the coffin revealed a handsome man, with long brown hair and an outfit that looked like it was straight out of a historical book.

Hayley was getting puzzled by the second. The man inside she remembered very well. In the show, he was portrayed in a way that she could not like him but couldn't bare to hate him either.

" ... Finn?"