37; Kill or be Killed | Part Two

After parking the car near the park, Marissa exited the car and began to walk toward all the townspeople who showed up to help. She glanced around to look for her mother or sister, but didn't see either one. She did, however, see the Salvatore brothers and made her way over to them, and called out a happy greeting once she was in front of them.

"Do you two know where my mom or sister is?" Marissa questioned. She looked around and added, "Or anyone I know for that matter. So far you two are the only ones I recognize here."

"Caroline had an errand to run and your mom is around her somewhere," Stefan answered.

"Great. Just my luck," Marissa mumbled. "Well, if they're not here helping, neither am I."

She looked over at Stefan and asked, "How is Elena doing? I mean, have you two talked any since the break up?"

"Oh, they talked and argued. Longing looks were exchanged and hearts were breaking," Damon said sarcastically as he looked over at his brother to let him know he didn't buy any of it.

"I said drop it, Damon," Stefan warned his brother.

"What?" Marissa asked as she looked at the brothers, wondering what they were talking about.

"I just mentioned to Stefan that I'm not buying this whole faux drama between him and Elena," Damon stated.

"Wait, you two aren't really broken up?" Marissa quietly asked with wide eyes. If they were faking a break up and it got back to Katherine, she didn't want to know what the vampire would do to all of them.

Stefan sighed as he looked away from the blonde and tried to figure out the best way to answer her. It's not that he wanted to lie to her, but he and Elena were pretty sure she was working with Katherine, so the less she knew the better.

Before he could figure out the right words to say, a little girl walked over to them and held out a cup of lemonade, asking if they wanted any. Damon took the cup from her hand and smiled sweetly at her as he thanked her.

Marissa looked back over at Stefan and waited for him to answer her while Damon took a sip from the cup. When he quickly spit it out and began to cough, Stefan and Marissa rushed over to him.

As Stefan led him off to the side, Marissa went in search for water. After grabbing a bottle, she rushed over to the brothers and handed Damon the bottle. He took a few swigs of water and gurgled it, then spit it out.

"What happened?" Marissa questioned with a concern look on her face.

"Vervain," Damon choked out, before taking a few more swigs of water.

Stefan glanced around and saw Mason looking over at them with a knowing look on his face before he went back to what he was doing. When he saw movement from the corner of his eye, he turned back to his brother to stop him from going after Mason.

"I'm gonna kill him," Damon growled as he tried to push past his brother, but Stefan pushed him back and forced him to sit down.

"Listen to me! Sit!" Stefan demanded.

While the brothers went back and forth, Marissa looked around and noticed a few people watching them. She stepped closer to block for them, then saw Mason looking over at them again, causing her to narrow her eyes at him. She had no doubt that he was behind this.

"I'm not listening to anymore of your 'give peace a chance' crap," Damon snapped at his brother. "He's dead!"

"He's got a point," Marissa spoke up, getting the brothers attention. "Mason has made one too many threats. He needs to be stopped."

"Who else has he..." Stefan began to say until it hit him. Looking at the blonde, he stated, "That's the reason you broke up with Tyler. He threatened you."

Marissa slowly nodded her head, her voice soft as she admitted, "He said he would tell everyone- my mom, the council- that I'm a vampire." She blew out a breath, relieved to finally be telling someone the truth. "And I knew if I was exposed, it was only a matter of time before you two were as well."

"Time for playing nice is over," Damon pointed out.

"Okay," Stefan finally said, surprising them both. "I don't like it but he's making threats. He could expose us all. We need to put him down."

"Alright. Let's do it," Damon said. He saw Mason heading for the woods and pointed over toward him as he said, "Woods. Trash duty. Come on."

As he stood up, Marissa asked, "So what are we doing? What's the plan?"

"We're not doing anything," Damon said, gesturing between the three of them. He pointed to himself and Stefan as he added, "We're going to take care of it."

"But-"

"He's right, Rissa," Stefan interrupted her. He looked at the blonde, then added, "You shouldn't be a part of this."

"But I can help."

"We know," Damon said, before sarcastically adding, "We know you could be a little badass hellraiser, if only the big, bad vamps would let you, but it's not happening, Mini-Forbes. Not this time."

"You're a dick," Marissa scoffed as she shot him a look, which only made him flash her his trademark smirk in return.

"Look, Rissa, this could get ugly. It's best if you sit this one out," Stefan stated, getting her attention. "Find Elena and stay with her, okay?"

Marissa blew out an annoyed breath, then nodded her head. She hated to sit this one out. After threatening her, she wanted a shot at Mason too, but she understood what they were saying.

Stefan gave her shoulder a pat as he walked past her and Damon shot her a look of thanks. He knew she wanted her revenge too, but he appreciated her not fighting them on this. There would always be more battles in the future, but this was one he and his brother needed to finish.

Once the brothers walked toward the woods, Marissa set out to find Elena. She finally located her near the waterfall. She began to explain to her what was going on, until she saw her mother walking across the parking lot talking on the phone.

"Where is she going?" Marissa questioned out loud.

"What is she saying?" Elena asked the young blonde.

"I don't know," Marissa mumbled as she shook her head. She tried to listen in, but all she could hear were all the other noises around; a lawnmower running, people hammering and children playing.

"Come on," she added as she grabbed Elena's arm before walking into the woods.

"Where are we going?" Elena questioned.

"I need to get away from the other noises, so I can hear what's going on better," Marissa explained.

"Hear what? What is going on, Ris?" Elena asked with a worried look.

"I don't know. Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but..."

"But what?" Elena asked when she paused.

"The spiked drink, Mason suddenly going into the woods and then my mom jumping on the phone and leaving...it's just all falling into place. Almost as if it's-"

"A set up," Elena interrupted. A look of panic appeared on her face as she realized what was happening. She grabbed onto Marissa's arm as she asked, "Where are they? Rissa, where did they go?"

"I-I don't know," Marissa stuttered nervously. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. When Elena began to talk again, she shushed her as she tried to listen in to locate where Stefan and Damon were.

She could faintly hear them talking to Mason, but before she could fully pinpoint their location she heard the sound of gunfire, causing her to jump and a gasp escaping her lips.

"What? What is it?" Elena asked.

"It's happening," Marissa breathed out as tears filled her eyes. "Stefan and Damon...it happened."

Before Elena could respond, Marissa began to run through the woods and tried to use all of her senses to track them. She skid to a stop when she reached a clearing. She could tell they had recently been there, but now they were gone.

Elena came to a stop beside her and tried to catch her breath. "What is it? Why did you stop?"

"They've been here," Marissa stated as she glanced around and felt her eyes widen when she saw blood on the ground. She walked over to it to get a better look, when she heard the sound of a twig snap behind her. She spun around and narrowed her eyes when she saw it was Mason.

"Where are they?" Marissa growled.

"Where is who?" Mason asked back, playing dumb.

"Stefan and Damon," Elena answered, not in the mood for his games. "Where are they?"

"You don't need me for that," Mason said. Looking over at Marissa, he added, "I'll let your friend here sniff them out. Then we can have a nice chat with your mother."

"We had a deal!" Marissa snapped.

"Yeah, we did, but I have a feeling you haven't been holding up your end of it," Mason stated as he remembered her coming by the house earlier that day. She was supposed to stay away from his nephew, but she wasn't doing that.

"You son of a bitch-" she began to say as she took a step toward him, she planned to attack him until he grabbed Elena.

"Don't be stupid!" he called out as he wrapped an arm around Elena's neck and placed a hand on the side of her head. "Necks snap easy around here."

"You have no idea who you're messing with," Marissa snarled.

"Yeah, I do," Mason said. "You're just a newbie vamp who's in way over her head. Step away from this and maybe I'll let you have a nice, long, life."

"I'm not listening to your threats anymore, lone wolf," Marissa said. "No moon, no shift, no bite. I can take you."

"Wanna bet?" Mason questioned.

"I do," Marissa said with a smirk.

In a flash she rushed over to him and jerked Elena from his grasp, then backed him up until his back slammed into a tree. She held him up with a hand wrapped around his throat with a snarl on her face.

"Where's your fight now, wolfie?" she taunted him.

She removed her hand from his throat and kneed him between the legs, then tossed him onto the ground hard before circling around him.

Looking down at his body, she thought about what he did; threatening her to break up with Tyler and hurting her friends, and felt her anger intensify. With a roar, she delivered a forceful kick to his stomach and watched him lift from the ground and slam against a tree before falling back to the ground on his stomach.

She ran over to him and flipped him over, then began to punch him repeatedly in the face. She was lost in her rage and didn't hear Elena call out her name over and over. The brunette grabbed her shoulders and tried to pull her off of the unconscious man, but she wouldn't budge.

Elena used all of her strength to slam into her, knocking them both to the ground. Marissa scrambled to her feet and threw her head back, her long blonde hair flying behind her shoulders to uncover her vamped out face.

"Rissa, you have to stop," Elena said, keeping her tone soft to not set the young girl off. She slowly stood up from the ground and took a step back when a snarl left the vampire's lips. "Rissa...listen to me, he's had enough and we need to go. We need to find Stefan and Damon, remember?"

Marissa pulled in a deep breath, then slowly blew it as she tried to release all the anger she felt. She reminded herself of the situation at hand- Elena was right, they needed to find Stefan and Damon.

Blowing out another breath, she felt her face shift back to normal, then gave Elena a nod to let her know she was fine and ready to go.

The two walked in the direction Mason came from while Marissa tried to listen to where her mother could have taken the brothers. She came to a quick stop when they came across the old Lockwood underground cellar. It was where Tyler had taken her to during his party. It was where she broke up with him, but she couldn't think about that now. Right now they had to save Damon and Stefan somehow.

She could hear her mother inside as she questioned the brothers. A loud gasped escaped her lips when she heard her mom tell her deputies to kill them.

"What's going on?" Elena asked.

Looking over at the brunette, Marissa whispered, "She's killing them, Elena. My mom is going to kill them."

"What?" Elena gasped. "We have to stop her!"

As she went to run inside the ruins, Marissa grabbed her arm to stop her. "No, wait, we can't."

"What do you mean we can't?" Elena asked confused. "Rissa, this is Stefan. We can't let them kill him or Damon either."

"But-But she'll find out about me, Elena," Marissa stuttered as she began to get upset. She wanted to save the brothers more than anything, but she was terrified of her mother finding out the truth about her. She could still see the look of horror on her sister's face when she found out the truth. She didn't want her mother looking at her the same way.

"I'm sorry, Rissa," Elena softly said before she jerked her arm away and rushed down the stairs.

Marissa blew out a shaky breath and ran her hands over her face. As scared as she was about her mom finding out the truth, she knew she couldn't let Elena go in there alone. She knew what they did to vampires and could only guess they wouldn't like vampire sympathizers either.

She let out a frustrated groan, then ran down the stairs to join the others. She saw her mother and the deputies surrounding Elena, causing her to rush inside and surprising the others.

She heard them ask Elena who else was with her and could see that one of the deputies was trying to point a gun at her, but she ran too fast around the room for him to aim a gun at her.

Coming to a stop behind him, she tilted his head to the side and sank her fangs into his neck. When she heard the other deputy begin to fire his gun, she used the man in front of her as a shield, then tossed him to the ground. She ran over to the other deputy and knocked the gun out of his hand then punched him so hard he fell to the ground and blacked out.

When she heard her mother softly gasp, she slowly raised her head and felt her face shift back to normal. Even with the fangs gone, she knew she still looked scary with her blonde hair damp with sweat against her forehead and blood dripping from her chin.

Her vision blurred with tears as she whimpered out, "Hi, Mom."

•••

Several minutes later, Marissa sat off to the side while Damon drank from one of the deputies to regain his strength. Elena was tending to Stefan, while her mom sat as far away from her as she could with a confused and heartbroken look on her face. She was finding it hard to believe her youngest daughter was a vampire.

Once he was feeling better, Damon scooted over to his brother to check on him. "You need to drink some deputy blood," he stated.

"No. I'm gonna be fine," Stefan said with a groan. "It's gonna take a little bit longer."

"Damon's right," Marissa spoke up from across the room. "Bunnies are not going to cut it this time, Stefan."

"He said he didn't want it, okay?" Elena stated, speaking to Damon and Marissa. She knew how human blood could affect him and how hard he worked the last time to get off of it.

Damon stood and stumbled a little before he caught himself. "This is the most unfortunate situation. Two deputies dead and you..." He turned to look at Liz and added, "What am I gonna do with you?"

"You won't tell anyone, will you?" Marissa questioned, getting her mother's attention. Liz looked at her daughter, then quickly looked away with a pained look on her face. It hurt too much to look at her, knowing what she was now, knowing she wasn't her little girl anymore.

"Mom?" Marissa whimpered out, trying to get her attention again. "Mom, please. I know we don't have the best relationship ever, but I'm still your daughter. You can't- You won't tell on me...on us, will you?"

When she still didn't answer, she took in a shaky breath and continued, "If you don't keep this secret. He will kill you, Mom, and I-"

"Then kill me," Liz choked out, interrupting her.

"No!" Marissa cried out.

"I can't take this. Kill me now," Liz tearfully begged, causing Marissa to jump up as Damon walked closer to her mom.

Damon leaned down to get face to face with Liz. "But you were going to drag it out so painfully," he said, reminding her of what she said to him minutes before ordering her deputies to kill him and his brother.

He grabbed her arms and pulled her out of her seat as Marissa began to cry out to him. She pleaded with him to stop and not to hurt her mother.

When he heard his brother and Elena begging him as well, he spoke up, "Relax, guys. No one is killing anybody." Looking back at Liz, he sincerely added, "You're my friend."

He kept a hold on the sheriff and glanced around at the dead deputies on the ground. "We have to clean this up."

•••

After disposing of the bodies, the others took Liz to the Salvatore house, while Marissa ran home to clean herself up and pack her mother a bag.

Thankfully her sister was out with Matt and out of the house. She wasn't in the mood to lie to her about why she was all bloody and dirty. She was already having to lie to her about where their mother really was for the next few days while she was in the Salvatore's cellar waiting for the vervain to leave her body so Damon could compel her.

Once she was done, she drove to the Salvatore house and knocked on the front door. She gave Elena a small smile, after she answered the door. "Hey, sorry that took so long. I wasn't sure how long she would be here."

"Damon says it'll take three days tops for the vervain to leave her system. Maybe even sooner," Elena said, shutting the door after the blonde walked inside.

The two girls began to walk further into the house and made small talk until Stefan joined them. Marissa shot him a small smile and asked him how he was feeling.

"Better, thank you," Stefan answered as they made their way downstairs to the cellar.

When she heard her mother and Damon talking about her, she came to a stop by the door to listen in when her mom said, "Can you keep Marissa far away from me, please? I don't want to see her."

"She's your daughter, Liz," Damon pointed out.

"Not anymore. My daughter's gone," Liz said with tears in her eyes. "My baby girl is gone."

"You have no idea how wrong you are about that," Damon said, glancing over at the door and seeing Marissa standing there on the verge of breaking down.

Marissa sat her mother's bag down, then turned to walk past Elena and Stefan. She ignored Elena, who called out for her to stop as she walked along behind her.

"Rissa, wait," Elena said, reaching out to grab her arm and stop her. "It's going to be okay. We'll compel her and-"

"Yeah, well, who's going to compel me to forget her words or the look on her face when she saw me kill that man," Marissa interrupted. "She might forget, but I never will. That look is going to be seared in my mind for as long as I live."

With a bitter chuckle, she added, "Which, now, is going to be forever because of what I am. It will never leave me, Elena."

Without another word, she turned and ran out of the house to her car. She raced down the road, but no matter how fast she drove, she couldn't stop seeing her mother's face. It reminded her of the night when Caroline saw her. They both looked at her like she was a monster and maybe she was. Maybe she didn't deserve a family anymore. Maybe she didn't deserve anything.

As her vision began to blur with tears, she knew she needed to get off the road. It was dangerous to be driving when she was as upset as she was, but she couldn't go home.

She was too scared and worried that Katherine was waiting for her. The two things she was supposed to do; keep Stefan and Elena apart and get the moonstone- she didn't do either one and she knew the vampire would be pissed at her about that.

Since going home was out of the question, she went to the one place she always felt safe. She went to the person that always had her back, no matter what.

Walking to the front door, she rang the doorbell and waited. It didn't take long for the door to swing open and Jeremy stood in front of her with a smile.

"Hey, Ris-"

Before he could finish his sentence, she rushed inside the house and threw her arms around him. He stumbled back a little from the impact, then wrapped his arms around her and held her close. He ran a hand up her back, then cradled the back of her head as she began to cry.

"Hey, hey, what's wrong?" Jeremy questioned as he pulled back to look at her.

"She knows," Marissa cried. "Mom knows and she-she looked at me just like Caroline did. Mom doesn't even see me as her daughter anymore. In her eyes, I'm gone...I'm-I'm dead."

She lowered her head as more tears fell down her face. "They both think I'm a monster and maybe they're right. Maybe-Maybe I am."

"Hey, no, no you're not," he argued. Grabbing her chin, he forced her to look at him as he said, "You're not a monster. No matter what happens, no matter what you do, I'll always see you as Marissa Forbes."

He wiped the tears from her face and added, "You are always just Rissa to me. The girl I grew up with, the one I ran in the woods with, the one I jumped in the falls with and climbed trees with. The girl who always had my back and knows that I have hers. You are my best friend, Ris, and nothing will ever change that."

Marissa softly smiled at his words and saw how much he cared for her in his eyes. She had no doubt he meant every word he just said.

"You're my best friend too, Jer. You're about the only thing keeping me sane lately. I would be lost without you." Blowing out a breath, she added, "I know I wouldn't be able to handle any of this without you."

"Good thing I'm not going anywhere then," he said with a smile. "I didn't leave during the princess phase, when you wore dresses and a crown every day. I had to call you 'Princess Rissa' for weeks, but I never left your side, and I'm not going to leave your side now either."

Marissa chuckled at his comment, before wrapping her arms around him and holding him tight. She rested her chin on his shoulder as she thought about their past and thought about how just a few months before they admitted to being in love with each other before Damon compelled them.

Those feelings were still lingering inside her and she didn't know what to do about them. Things were already confusing and complicated, the last thing she needed was to fall for two different guys, but unfortunately life was never fair and that's exactly what happened.

She was in love with two different boys and in the end someone was going to get hurt and that was something she couldn't live with. She couldn't stand the thought of hurting either one.

•••

A/N; To the guest review that wasn't a fan of long chapters, I apologize. Some chapters for this story will be long and some won't be as bad. It just depends on how many parts I divide the episode up in.

Thank you to everyone still reading and the ones who are adding the story to your fave/follow. Also big thanks to cecld16, RHatch89, Momsen-xxxx, LunaEvanna Longbottom, Lucy Greenhill, MammaMia2016 and Guest for reviewing.

Happy reading!
xx