You hate her. Everything inside of you fucking hates her. After all, she is the reason you are sitting in an empty house that is still technically for sale and smells like old people despite the realtor having told you that it was professionally cleaned less than a week ago. She is the reason Klaus Mikaelson wants you dead.
And where is she?
Probably on the other side of the world with no intention of helping you hide.
You sigh heavily and drag your feet across the hardwood floors as you make your way to the master bedroom. There is no bed, and the thought of having to go into town and compel someone to bring one to the house makes you dread even coming to Mystic Falls. Everything here already involves too much effort and you only arrived seven hours ago.
As you sit on the floor, you try hard to focus on the window at the other side of the bedroom. All I have to do is open it, you think. Lily's lack of knowledge about magic and your coven's lack of desire to teach you have left you a sort of broken witch.
Taking in a deep breath, you close your eyes. You begin to chant a few words in gods-know-what-language. The window slides open about an inch and your eyes fly open to watch. However, almost as quickly as it open, it falls shut again.
"Fuck!" you scream. You are breathing heavy as you attempt to keep your anger under control. The last thing you need is to leave a trail of bodies just because of an urge to take out your frustrations.
However, just as you are completely calm, the doorbell rings. You freeze—could you have been found already?
You can feel your heart beating at what you believe is eighty miles per hour. Still, you swallow thickly and go to the front door cautiously. You peer out the window and do not recognize the man standing on the doorstep. His dark hair almost falls into his eyes and his height is somewhat intimidating to you.
"Hello?" he calls from outside, trying to peer into the windows.
You crack the door open slowly, watching him with suspicion. "Can I help you?" you ask, jaw clenched shut. Your hands are balled into fists and you are on the tips of your toes, ready to run—or fight, if you have to.
"I noticed you moved in here. Or, well—that you're planning to."
"Not planning to. I already have."
"Right, well, there's kind of a problem with that."
"And who the hell are you to tell me there's a problem?"
"I'm sort of the...local vampire," he says. Immediately, you swing the door open and tackle him to the ground. He manages to pin you underneath him before you even know what is happening and he rolls his eyes at you. "Can we start over? Hi, I'm Damon. My brother's girlfriend wants me to make sure you're not going to kill everyone in town."
You hate the joking tone in his voice even more than the hideous smirk on his face. He loosens his grip on your wrists and begins to stand. "And what if that is exactly my plan?"
"Then we'll have to kill you," he says darkly.
"Kill me? One of the most powerful beings on the planet?" You are an idiot. You are such an idiot. You cannot even fathom how stupid you just sounded. You—a heretic who can hardly control her magic—just called yourself one of the most powerful beings on the planet.
"I can think of two things more powerful than a vampire and, honey, you're just not it."
"And what are they?" It is decided. You hate him.
"A hybrid and a heretic. Had to deal with one of both in the past two months, so I'm not exactly in the happiest mood."
Your eyes light up at the sound of the word 'heretic.' "You've met a heretic? Where?"
He looks at you suspiciously and you wish that you had kept your mouth shut. "Why are you so interested?"
"Damon, are you making any progress at all? Who is she?"
You turn around to see where the voice is coming from and find yourself faced with a preppy blonde whose smile is stretched so far across her face as she looks at you that it has to be fake. Damon groans before spitting out, "Great, they sent blondie to watch over me. What did Stefan think was going to happen?"
"Well, considering all of the times you tried to kill Mary Louise and got someone else murdered as a result, Stefan wanted to make sure that you aren't the one who will end up compromising the lives of everyone in Mystic Falls," Caroline shoots back.
"Wow, that was quite a mouthful. College must be going well considering all of the new words you've learned."
"Oh, shut up, Damon." Caroline turns her attention to you. "Hi! I'm Caroline. So, um, why are you here?"
"I needed a vacation," you tell her with a blank expression. "Can I get back to sitting in an empty house doing absolutely nothing? Because that is all I plan on doing here."
"Right, well, I'd love to believe that, but we got another visitor about two months ago and all she has done so far is terrorize the entire town. So, forgive us if we're a little wary about newcomers."
The anger begins to build once again, only stronger than it was during your practice with the window. "I just want to be left alone." You cannot risk word getting around that an unknown vampire is residing in Mystic Falls. Klaus will surely hear of it one way or another. "Please just leave."
"We can't do that," Damon says.
Your hands are beginning to shake. "Leave me alone," you say, voice rising with every word. Caroline begins to back up, shooting a worried look at Damon.
"Damon..."
"Kill her."
Damon rushes towards you and you reach your arms out to him. He flies back, landing against a stone wall that runs around the entire house. He groans and falls to the ground, grabbing his back. You look at your hands, trying to figure out how you did this.
You spin around to face Caroline, who looks at Damon before making eye contact with you. Before you can do anything, she runs off. When you turn to Damon, he is gone.
"So, we're dealing with another heretic? Are you sure?" Stefan asks, voice laced with concern.
"I mean—I don't know. She could just be a witch. Damon's the one who claims she had vampire qualities along with magic," Caroline says. "I'm not really sure if we should take his word for it, though, considering he's the one who made her all murder-y and stuff."
"Forget what I said earlier. College isn't helping you at all," Damon spits at her. He takes a swig from his bottle of bourbon as he leans against the table in the living room. "She would've attacked us anyway."
"How do you know that, Damon? Maybe the only reason she attacked us is because you told me to kill her." Caroline is practically shouting now. At her words, Elena looks up from her spot next to Stefan on the couch.
"Wait, what? You threatened her?" she asks Damon, eyebrows furrowing.
Damon throws his hands up in mock-defeat. "Okay, okay, so I told Caroline to kill her. But that's only because I knew she was going to attack us no matter what. You didn't see her eyes. They were like...pure evil."
"Now you're just making things up," Stefan interjects. "And you probably just made another heretic enemy. We all know how powerful Mary Louise is—and how completely out of control she is. We don't need another one of her running around Mystic Falls."
"So what do you propose we do, brother? First you're all mad at me for wanting to kill her, then you're bringing up facts that lead to one solution for our problems: killing her. It's the only way." Damon puts his cup down and starts towards the door.
"Where are you going?" Elena calls after him.
"I'm going to plan a heretic hunting party with Ric."
He leaves before anyone can say another word. Stefan sighs and rubs his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. "He's going to get everyone in this town killed, isn't he?"
"What if we just...befriend her? Or something." Everyone turns to Bonnie, who has been standing quietly in the corner. "We did it with Rebekah."
"Correction. Matt did it with Rebekah. And then he literally did it with Rebekah," Tyler points out.
"Hey!" Matt shouts. Tyler laughs.
"Listen, man, I got nothing against you. I'm just stating facts."
Bonnie looks at Matt thoughtfully. "Maybe you could do that again? But with this new person?"
"You want me to seduce a heretic?"
"I—no, Matt. I want you to befriend a heretic. You have this, like, natural niceness about you. She'll love it."
"No. I'm not risking my life in an attempt to get close to some random heretic that we know nothing about. This isn't even my problem," Matt declares. Bonnie opens her mouth to speak, but Matt interrupts her. "I'm late for training."
He leaves without another word, leaving Caroline, Tyler, Bonnie, Elena, and Stefan to gawk after him, wondering how exactly this happened.
Caroline claps her hands together. "So! Any other ideas? Tyler, do you want to try?"
"I guess I could..." he begins, trying to think about it. "Yeah, I'll try."
"Great!" Caroline shrieks. "So we have a plan."
"And what exactly is the plan, Caroline?" Bonnie questions.
"Um...Tyler is going to do stuff."
Bonnie rolls her eyes. "No matter what we do, we're all going to get killed."
"Not if Tyler doesn't provoke her," Caroline points out. She turns to Tyler. "Listen, just use your charm on her. Be like, 'Hey, baby. I'm a hybrid, you're a hybrid-thing. Let's hook up.'" Everyone laughs at Caroline's horrible imitation of Tyler's voice.
"Why do I have to hook up with her? Matt was allowed to just be friends with her."
"Yeah, but we all know you're horrible at just being friends with someone," Caroline tells him. Elena stifles a giggle and Tyler rolls his eyes but does not try to counter Caroline's point.
"What do you think, Stefan?" Elena asks, looking up at the younger Salvatore brother.
"I think it's the best plan we have so far."
"It feels great to finally be in a real bed!" You throw yourself backwards onto the new bed that three locals set up for you. It is close to being a religious experience, you think, and you cannot thank yourself enough for finally convincing yourself to go into town and get this done—even with the fear of being tracked down by Damon and Caroline.
Still, as you enjoy the bed, your mind wanders to the name that they mentioned earlier.
Mary Louise.
Could that have been the heretic Damon was speaking of?
You throw an arm over your eyes and groan, not wanting to think about it anymore, but also wanting to find out exactly who is in this town. Caroline and Damon are both vampires—you know that much. But who else is there? More vampires? How many? A possible heretic? Wolves?
"Why couldn't they just leave me alone?" you wonder aloud.
You slide off the bed and close the curtains of the bedroom, planning to attempt a nap. The bed is so comfortable you may actually drift into sleep despite all of your worries and questions about life in Mystic Falls.
Once again, you plop onto the bed. You pull the covers over yourself and settle in, a faint smile creeping across your face at how comfortable this bed is. You remember the man at the mattress store speaking about something called pillow-top.
Your eyes close almost instinctively as soon as your head hits the pillow and you immediately begin to drift into a much-needed sleep.
"You seem relaxed. Which is surprising if you ask me, seeing as you attacked Damon Salvatore earlier and he's plotting to kill you."
Your eyes snap open and you jump out of bed, looking around the room to find the source of the voice. A blonde woman around your physical age stands in the doorway, watching you with amusement. "Who are you?"
She looks at the watch on her wrist. "I'd say you have about four hours before they haul ass to this house and hit you with everything they have. Which may not be much if you actually knew how to control your magic."
"How do you know anything about me? Who are you?" you ask again, voice loud and dripping with malice.
"Do you really think a heretic in Mystic Falls would go undetected?"
Your greatest fear gets the best of you and you cannot stop yourself from asking your next question. "Do you work for Klaus Mikaelson?"
Her face drops instantly and her eyes darken dangerously. You find yourself frightened by her current expression and take a few steps back. "Why would you think I work for Klaus Mikaelson?"
"I—I—" You are unsure of how to answer. If you tell her the truth, you would be outing yourself as a wanted fugitive on the run from the Mikaelson family. However, she does not seem like someone who would take well to a lie.
She surges forward, grabs you by the throat, and pins you to the wall. "I asked you a question." Her grip tightens and you try to choke out your words, but nothing comes out. You wonder if she even expects an answer at this point. "I'm going to let go. Then, I'm going to give you exactly seven seconds to give me an answer. If I'm not satisfied by your response, I will tear you limb from limb. Are we understood?" You nod the best that you can. "Good."
She releases you and you gasp, trying to take in air. "He's looking for me," you manage to get out before the seven seconds are up. "He's trying to kill me. I thought he sent you to find me. That's why I asked."
With her arms folded across her chest and her head slightly tilted to one side, she studies you. Her eyes take you in and you are on a level of discomfort that you never thought you could reach. Moments pass, and she finally unfolds her arms and nods her head, still turning over your words in her mind.
"If you don't work for him, why are you here?"
"Did you not listen to anything I said? Damon Salvatore is plotting to kill you. I came here to warn you," she repeated.
"Why warn me at all?"
"I don't know. Maybe because we're both heretics. Or maybe I just believe that us girls have got to stick together." What a strange thing to say, you think. As if reading your mind, she adds, "That's just a saying I picked up from an old flame."
You nod slowly. "Okay," you say dumbly. "So, um, what should I do? Leave Mystic Falls?"
"That would be the safest—and also the most boring—option, yes. Or..." Her eyes sparkle with mischief.
"Or what?" you press.
"Or you could destroy everything that Damon Salvatore cares about as revenge for him plotting against you."
You watch her carefully, trying to figure out the motive behind her suggestion. But when you look at her you see someone similar to Thanatos, Greek god of death; hated by and hateful towards all mortals and immortal gods.
You are sure now, despite the lack of introductions, that this is the murderous Mary Louise you heard of earlier.
**
"I am quite bored. Even my house has a television in it, and I have only been awake in this era for the last four years," Mary Louise says. Her legs dangle off the side of the couch in your living room and she is eating from a bowl of chips.
"I've only been in this house since this morning. And I don't even know why you're still here."
"I'm here to help you plan your revenge against Damon," she deadpans. You shake your head and pinch the bridge of your nose.
"I'm not taking any sort of revenge against Damon. He hasn't even done anything to me yet. If there's anyone I wish to go after, it's Klaus Mikaelson." This gains Mary Louise's attention. She sits up on the couch and locks eyes with you, a smile dancing across her face.
"If you could have one wish come true, what would it be?" she asks.
"I would wish to successfully kill Klaus and his entire family of Original Brats," you respond. The reply is far too fast for your liking. You do not want her to know that you have been thinking about this for so long.
"Well, what if I told you I could help with that." You raise an eyebrow at her words, inviting her to continue. "My own interests seem to overlap with yours. You see, I've been trying to plot my revenge against Klaus and his family for close to four hundred years."
"Why? What did they do to you?"
"Let's just say that it's a long story that ended with me locked in a box to suffer in a state of desiccation for three hundred and ninety-seven years. But that's not the only thing driving me. You see, Klaus believes himself to be a king. He rules New Orleans in a broken reign—the people meant to fear and obey him are learning to rise against him. Their already-shaken loyalties will not last long."
"And?"
"My point is they will need a new ruler to look to once he falls—a queen, perhaps."
"And you think that will be you?"
She smiles—an evil smile that you are sure is the most terrifying thing you have ever seen. "Klaus sits on his throne because he believes himself to be a king. But if he is a king, then I am a god. And I will drench this world in blood to claim what should be rightfully mine."
"And what is that?" you ask, growing more curious by the second.
"His throne."