Reminder : LJ & Julie Plec and a whole bunch of people own TVD not me. An AU story, a result of my twisted muse. Max, Mara and Rowena Baum are entirely my creations and have no relation to anyone by those names, dead or alive.
Chapter 2
I hated the mornings, it was a routine game as I pretended to get ready for 'school' but in fact my backpack was filled with rations I scrounged up, a change of clothes in case the weather wasn't in my favor, my favourite books and other knick-knacks.
To put it crassly, I didn't want school and school didn't want me. I was the oddball, I didn't belong with any clique and it suited me to extricate myself from the painful process called school. When momma was alive and even on her sickbed; she was relentless in making me go to school.
Nobody knew what went on during my 'fun' days at school; the kid with the hand-me-down clothes and shoes that didn't quite fit. Suffice to say I provided lots of entertainment for the school masses. By the time I was seventeen; I had gone through at least 20 different schools. Life was always on the run with HIM. Our days and nights were spent in rest-houses, seedy motels but occasionally HE would have a change of heart and we would end up in some luxurious hotel; momma and I learned to cherish those rare occasions.
Who am I? Just plain Mara, daughter of the late Rowena Baum c/o Mystic Falls. Momma had been HIS seer, his very own psychic. No, I'm not a witch, momma wasn't a witch. She didn't speak to spirits, play with Ouija boards, conjure spells, have a crystal ball or partook in wiccan ceremonies. She was endowed with visions, sometimes when she touched an object or a person; she saw strange things. Occasionally she would get visions of the people close to her but she couldn't control it. The Baum ancestors had passed down this strange defect to every firstborn. HE collected people like momma, anyone HE assumed could contribute to HIS master plan. Actually he attracted them like flies. Momma was slightly older than me when she met HIM, she was swept away by his good looks, charisma and grandiose plans. Momma did come to her senses but by then it was too late. NO ONE left HIM, you either died naturally or …
Momma was pretty, dark curly hair, dark eyes, fair skin, petite and frivolous. After a year or so of travelling with HIM, she moved into his bed, became his mistress despite the fact that he had a bevy of beauties flocking him wherever he went. I always wondered why momma never got a vision of the destruction that awaited her. She could have saved herself a ton of grief. Momma met someone, a one-night stand, a fling who knows? Someone she met at a hotel they were passing through, HE was occupied and she had too much time on her hands. So began a tryst that resulted in my birth and HIS grudge. HIS hatred was terrifying, from then on he would drain momma almost to the point of death. She was nothing more than his blood slave but for my sake she endured. I really don't know why HE spared me. After all it didn't look like I possessed momma's 'gift'. Why was I allowed to live?
When he came to feed on momma, he ignored me and I was always sent out of the room. Maybe he had some qualms about killing children. Momma always warned me to stay away from him. Later, momma was sick for a few years, HE could have healed her but he didn't. Momma told me, HIS blood or blood of any of his kind could heal but she had betrayed him and it was time to pay the piper.