CHAPTER NINE
Damon and Maggie entered Stefan's bedroom. Stefan groaned and sat up as Damon opened the curtains, "rise and shine! You'll be late for school." Stefan sat up straight, a groan escaping his lips and glared at them both. The very sight of them made him sick. And as he looked at Maggie, all he could see was Lexi's dead and desiccated body. He stood up from the bed and shoved Maggie aside to get to his wardrobe and retrieve a shirt.
Maggie smiled, maybe killing Lexi wasn't the best idea, but she had no other option, right? She saved Stefan from being found out, right? She and Stefan aren't on the best terms at the minute, but she didn't want him dead. She'd rather Lexi dead than him; and so would he, he just doesn't realise it yet. Her smile faltered. "We got the town of our backs. It was for the greater good Stef."
Damon smirked, "and to prove it, we're not gonna feed on any humans. For atleasta week. We'll adopt a Stefan diet! Only nothing with feathers."
The corner of Maggie's lips twitched, but upon seeing Stefan's face glowering at both of his siblings, she put on a straight face and looked at Damon, "you're an ass." Damon grinned goofily at her and flopped onto Stefan's chair by his desk. Maggie returned her attention back to Stefan. "Look, I'm sorry Stef, okay? But, trust me when I say, I did it foryou!"
Stefan put his white shirt on and glared at Maggie, "Oh, of course you did. I now realise that killing my closest and oldest friend is beyond evil, and yet, is still worthy of good old Salvatore humour and loyalty." Maggie and Damon both went to say something at the same time, but Stefan cut them both off, "and yes, now that the secret society off vampire haters are off our backs, you two can go back to your usual routines of 'how else can we destroy Stefan's life this week?'"
Damon stood up, all traces of joking gone and now replaced with anger. Maggie sighed quietly to herself. Like always, all three Salvatores are arguing. She wrapped her arms around herself, she will not feel guilty. Her humanity switch must remain on and active. "And you can go back to sulking and Elena-longing and forehead brooding." Damon added an angry chuckle, "this is fun! I like this." Maggie took a step back. It's all too much. She can't handle this. She looks between her two brothers, both continuing to argue, all because of her. She caused this. She killed Lexi. "I did the right thing!" She tells herself over and over, yet she just can't truly believe it. Yes she was a few decades over a hundred years, but deep down, she was still the same sixteen year old girl who still had so much to learn about the world and herself. Both Damon and Stefan turned their focus to Maggie and stopped arguing instantly as they heard her breathing become thick, heavy and quicker. They knew what was coming; since becoming a vampire, Maggie has had weird episodes when she's close to turning her switch off. Her episodes are somewhat like what you may describe as a panic attack, however she loses all sense of what is around her and hallucinates; there is next to nothing that either of the brothers can do to help her when it happens. As Maggie's eyes closed and she began to fall to the ground, Damon vamped behind her and caught her shivering body. He fell to his knees and lay Maggie's shaking body on the floor, cradling her head between his legs and stroking her hair. Stefan looked at the scene in front of him, this was only the second time he had seen one of his sister's episodes; and despite the fact that she had ruined his life, he could hate her later on. Right now, his sister need him. He walked over and sat beside Damon, and although he knew it wouldn't help he still shook his sister's shoulder gently, "Maggie. Maggie, can you hear me?" Damon glanced up briefly at Stefan, shook his head and looked back down at Maggie. Damon had seen quite a few of his sister's episodes, although he may have missed some when they went their separate ways in the 70s. All he could do is just watch, and let his brother witness it too for the first time since 1893.
Maggie looked up, tears flowing from her eyes, never-ending. She knew where she was already and begged for it to be over. She had heard the gun shots and knew what she had to do. This was her most horrific memory and the one that haunts her the most. The death of her brothers. She walked to where she knew the corpses of her soon to be un-dead brothers were. She reached the bodies and looked gloomily at them, gasping in shock when they both jumped up. "This was you're fault, Maggie. It still is. You cause every argument and conflict. You cause all of our pain." Stefan pointed at her, accusingly.
Damon chuckled, "You should have stayed dead when you were killeddearestsister. We would have been better off." Maggie sobbed as her brothers said the hurtful words, which she knew were correct deep down. She closed her eyes and screamed as the third gunshot sounded.
Stefan jumped in horror as Maggie screamed in agony, back arching and Damon closed his eyes, still stroking Maggie's hair. Damon felt Maggie relax and knew that the worse bit was over. He opened his eyes and saw his sister's clear blue eyes staring back. He leaned down and kissed her head, and let her sit up. Maggie glanced to her left and saw Stefan sitting beside her, just like Damon. A wave of guilt hit her; she killed Stefan's best friend and yet here he is, making sure she's okay. "I'm so sorry Stefan. I truly am. But myself and Damon have a diabolical plan to continue." Stefan sighed and stood up, Maggie was okay. That was good news. But, clearly the noughties is not the decade for the Salvatore's to get along. Maggie looked to Damon, smiled and vamped out of the boarding house. Damon sighed; he knew how this worked. Maggie had figured, just like he had, that it was easier to be an awful person, than live up to people's expectations.
-8-8-8-
Bonnie stood up after picking up her car keys off of the parking lot road and gasped in shock, when she saw Maggie sitting on the bonnet of her car. Maggie looked at Bonnie and narrowed her eyes, "this is your last chance, Bonnie."
Bonnie raised an eyebrow, "I'll scream."
"Oh no, don't do that. Let's stay on point, yeah? Iwantmy necklace. It belongs to my brother and I."
"You can't have it."
Maggie jumped off of the car bonnet and took a few steps towards Bonnie, who took a few steps back. "I can't take it, but youcangive it to me. I'm trying to help you, you know."
Bonnie's heartbeat sped up, "I don'twantyour help."
"Oh, you do want my help, you just don't know it yet. Trust me, it is better you give it to me now, rather than later, because I'm pretty sure Damon wouldn't hesitate to snap that pretty little neck of yours. But you know why you need my help, little witch?" Maggie took another few steps towards Bonnie, who once again took a few steps back. "It's because, you've stumbled into something you need to stumble out of."
"Just leave me alone or I swear-"
Maggie rolled her eyes and cut the Bennet witch off (witches are so frustrating), "No! No threats. Look, a, you hurt my brother last time and b, I wish you no harm. Believe it or not, Bonnie, I wanna protect you. Let me help you get Emily off your back."
Bonnie's eyebrows creased in confusion, "how do you know about Emily?"
Maggie smirked, "I know a lot of things, and I know more about that crystal than you do, and I know that she is using it to creep inside of you. See how scared you are? You should be, because I will get the crystal, even if I have to wait for Emily to give it to me myself. So, next time she comes out to play, tell her that a deal is a deal." And without another word Maggie turned and strutted away from the Bennet witch.
-8-8-8-
Maggie and Damon were sitting at the bar of the Mystic Grill, enjoying sulking and drinking bourbon when Stefan sat beside Maggie. Maggie looked at him and then beckoned the bartender over, "he'll have a coffee please." She giggled and looked at Stefan, "a boring drink for a boring brother."
Stefan smirked, "ouch. What's with the bourbon?"
"We're on edge, aren't we brother? Crash diet." Damon nodded and gulped the last of his bourbon," You know Stef, we're trying to keep a low profile."
Stefan took a sip of coffee, glancing at his siblings with a look of amusement, "you could always just leave. You know, find a new town to turn into your own personal Gas 'n' Sip."
"We'll manage. You don't have to keep an eye on us, Stef."
"I'm not here to keep an eye on you two."
This caught Damon's attention, "then why are you here, brother?"
"Why not?" Stefan took another sip of his coffee.
-8-8-8-
An hour later, Stefan and Damon were playing darts whilst Maggie sat and watched. She took a sip of her bourbon and listened to her two brothers. She couldn't be arsed to talk, unless she was needed. Stefan threw a dart, hit the bullseye and Damon whistled, "Lucky shot Brother."
Stefan smirked as he collected his darts from the dartboard, "more like a carefully honed skill over many decades."
"You're beating me."
"Yeah. It's because I'm better than you." Maggie giggled to herself, her brothers made everything a competition. Salvatore tradition. Her father was just the same.
Damon looked at his brother with a hint of suspicion, "What game are you playing?"
Stefan smiled sweetly at both of his siblings, "that's a funny question considering the fact that I have been asking you two that for months. It's frustrating is it, siblings?"
Maggie looked at her brother a smirk on her face and gave a mock salute, "touché."
-8-8-8-
Maggie stood up, horror on her face staring at Doman. They were on the Mystic Falls High School football field, as Stefan and Damon were playing football in the dark. Maggie was making daisy chains, sitting on the floor, listening to her brothers argue about Katherine, until Damon said one thing that made a shiver run down her spine. "I have a bigger surprise Stefan, I'm bringing her back."
Both Stefan and Maggie looked at Damon in shock, "what? How are you going to do that?"
Damon smirked, although he was a little surprised about Maggie's reaction. "Before Katherine and the others were killed in the church, you remember what it was like in town?"
Maggie shrugged, "Iremember the fear and hysteria."
"Townspeople were killing vampires one by one. When they came for Katherine, I went straight to Emily and said, 'I'll do anything. Name your price, just protect her.' She did just that." And upon seeing the confused face of Stefan he continued, "She did some kind of spell with the crystal, and whilst the church was burning, Katherine wasn't. There's a tomb underneath. The spell sealed Katherine in there protecting her."
Stefan looked shocked, "Katherine's alive?"
"If that's what you wanna call it. She's been trapped in a mystical holding cell for the last century and a half, but you're an expert on a starving vampire, so how do you think she's doing Stefan? And to cut a long story short, I need the crystal to undo the witchy voo-doo. AllIhad to do in return, was save her lineage."
"I remember that, you saved her children." A look of comprehension crossed with confusion washed over Stefan's face.
"So now you know your siblings diabolical plans-"
"Siblings? No Damon, sibling." Maggie finally found her voice and walked slowly towards Damon. "Our dealandplan was to check Katherine was ok, give her a bit of food to revive her, maybe a phone so she could communicate,notto free her." Stefan stepped back in shock as Maggie snarled and continued to stalk closer to Damon. "How could you Damon?" Maggie's voice volume raised and she was finally face to face with Damon; he didn't step down though. "She ruined us Damon! We are what we are because of her! After everything we've been through together Damon, and you betray me like this? I… I just… I don't know how to feel right now. Now, I'm gonna make one thing clear, okay? If Katherine finds her way out of that tomb, I will take person pleasure to shove a stake right through her col, bitter, undead heart, got it?" Damon nodded. Maggie had never been like this with him.Ever. "Good. Well, I'm afraid I must love you and leave you, brothers. Goodnight." The bitterness of their sister's voice shocked them, but they understood. Stefan knew that Maggie blamed Katherine for their dysfunctional family, and now it was up to Damon. Does he chose the love of his life, or his sister?
A/N: Hi guys! Thank you so much for all of your support with this story, I appreciate it so much. Maggie's death will be explored in more depth soon, I promise so hold on. Things are getting bumpy in Mystic Falls…
