Thank you so much for all the reviews and follows so far!
A/N
Shorter chapter this time because I'm speeding things up just a touch!
NotRob - you are totally correct, Jenna was given such a terrible ending, and after she died she was only mentioned a handful of times and just to try and remind us of how bad Klaus was. But by rehabing Damon early (and without Elena as the thing he leans on), and by making Jenna aware of the supernatural before hand, this should nicely prevent any cock-ups by Damon.
Guest 16 - you'll just have to wait and see what happens with the tomb. I always felt that Klaus and Damon would have been better suited to be friends than Stefan and Klaus, they both love being who they are now, both had terrible fathers, both had siblings that their parents showed favouritism to, and they both lash out in murderous rages when they are hurt emotionally. I never really understood how Elena could ignore all of Damon's darkness, when it was so much like Klaus's. And Enzo and Damon are firmly endgame here, so if Damon and Klaus are friends, you can bet that Enzo's Klaus's friend too! But that's only if they become friends, you'll have to wait and see!
CarlaPA- giving you want you want in this chapter...maybe ;)
Sam- thanks for the review!
Disclaimer: Don't own anything you recognise!
this - other languages (mostly spells)
Maya and her mother Jenna were at the old Fells Church site in the woods, Enzo and Damon would be meeting them there in minutes, Enzo had wanted to meet earlier but no matter how much Maya trusted her friend, she did not trust Damon, and didn't want him to think that she lived in town, for her mother's safety and her own. They were having a picnic on a blanket, enjoying the warm day, Maya asked Enzo to meet her at 10 a.m. she'd wanted to be sure that she would have time between Damon's heartbreak, Anna's rescue of her mother and the destruction of the tomb vampires.
"I can't believe I'm letting you do this," Jenna huffed, annoyed that somehow her 13-year-old had managed to convince her that this was a good idea.
"I mean, is it really convincing, if I just told you I was doing this with or without you?"
"You're right, you didn't convince me, you blackmailed me, and just for that, you're grounded for a month!"
Maya groaned, "Come on mum! This isn't fair, I didn't lie to you!" she knew what being grounded for a month meant.
"No, you just threatened to use your witch powers to keep me at home, while you met up with Enzo and opened up a tomb full of hungry vampires!"
"Desiccated vampires mum! They won't be able to do anything without a little blood!"
"Not the point!" Jenna exclaimed, "So you know what this means, no Caroline!"
"You can't say no Caroline for a month, in the summer! She'll kill me!" Maya protested, why was she being punished for telling the truth?
"Well you should have thought of that before your little magic threat, and don't even think of getting Enzo to compel me, I'm on vervain!"
Maya huffed in annoyance, "Totally regretting telling you about vampires now."
"Are we late?" Enzo called amused as he caught the tail end of the conversation. He and Damon walked into the clearing, startling the two mortals.
"Enzo!" Maya smiled and ran over to him, she threw her arms around his neck and he swung her around, "I missed you!"
"Hello love," he grinned, "enjoying the sun sweetheart?"
"Well between you, Sunshine, the family, self-defence and magic training, it's been a while since I've had time to just relax."
"Oh Enzo, aren't you going to introduce us?" Damon asked sidling up to them both, shooting the girl and her mother a smirk.
"Damon, this is Maya, my best…witch friend."
"Oh the shade Enzo! I knew that comment was going to bite me in the ass!" she laughed.
Enzo snorted in amusement, wrapping a hand around her waist he turned to Damon fully, "Damon this is Maya," he said again, more seriously this time, "my saviour, my hope, my everything, touch her and die."
Damon's eyes narrowed, "Wait, you're telling me that this is the witch that's going to open the tomb? The one that saved you? She's a child!"
Maya scowled at him, "That's right, I am a child, how does it feel to know that a child could save Enzo from Augustine, when a fully grown vampire couldn't?"
"Maya!" Enzo hissed.
"What, I'm opening the tomb because of him, and if he wants to be a dick, I can be one right back!"
"You little-" Damon snarled but was stopped short by Enzo.
"Damon I meant it, you touch her, you die."
"And he won't be the one to kill you," both vampires looked up at the sound of Jenna's voice and saw a gun pointed right at them, "Wooden bullets, before you get cocky, and at this distance, I'm a god damn surgeon with a gun, so step away from my daughter." Jenna scowled as she stood firm as she stared down the Salvatore. Jenna had taken it upon herself to learn how to use a weapon, with the knowledge that her daughter may very well be in danger as she grew up, Jenna was determined that Maya wouldn't have to face anything alone.
Maya tensed, she didn't know what Enzo would do if her mother killed Damon, and she didn't really want Damon to die, she understood his scepticism, most witches didn't even come into their powers until they hit puberty, so she was an anomaly. "Ok how's about we all chill, no one kills anyone, mum, put the gun away, Enzo you keep your friend in check." Enzo nodded and pushed Damon away, and Maya sighed as the older vampire backed off. "Alright then, I presume you have something for me?"
"Yes love," Enzo pulled out an expertly carved wooden box, Maya didn't know why, but she felt like Klaus had actually carved it himself. "Personally, I thought it was a bit flashy, but then again I'm not a witch."
Taking it from him, she opened the box and gasped at what was inside, it was a pendant, made of three different precious stones, the majority of the pendant was obsidian – for protection, and on the front and back, it looked like two wolves heads, one made of ruby – for endurance, and one made of emerald – for abundance, in fact it looked like the wolves on each side of the obsidian were actually embedded in the black stone. "It's beautiful," she breathed, "and exactly what I need." This particular piece of jewellery was definitely going to cost her more than one favour.
"But it will definitely work?" Enzo asked, wanting to make sure before she did anything to put herself in danger.
Maya slipped the necklace on and immediately felt a connection to it, no other witch had used it before, it was truly an empty vessel, and it felt like it had been made just for her, "This will work, trust me," she looked over at Damon, he was unusually tense, she knew that he'd be on edge, being so close to getting his lady love out of the tomb, but there was something more that was wrong. "You should check on him," she said to Enzo, "I'll get started."
Maya and Jenna headed down to the entrance of the tomb, and while Enzo went over to speak to Damon, Maya laid her hands on the stone at the entrance and began to siphon the magic holding the stone in place and channelled it into the necklace.
Damon frowned as he watched the mother and daughter head down the stone steps to the tomb, he was on edge and he hated it, he was about to get everything he ever wanted, Katherine was the love of his life, he'd loved her for 140 years and soon he'd have her again. And yet, here he was, having second thoughts, he knew it was because of Enzo, his best friend, the vampire that he'd abandoned to torture and death, and yet had been willing to forgive him of it all, if only it meant that Damon would never abandon him again. Damon wanted Katherine back, but he didn't want to lose Enzo, he couldn't, and he knew that Katherine didn't like to share, what if she didn't want Enzo around? What if she hurt him? What if she killed him? She was far older than either of them, shaking his head Damon realised that he couldn't risk it, he couldn't risk seeing the heartbreak and betrayal on Enzo's face a second time. Just the thought of hurting Enzo again made Damon want to stake himself.
Looking up, he saw his friend coming towards him, "You need to stop her," he said, eyes wide, almost desperately.
"What?" Enzo asked, what the hell was Damon playing at?
"Enzo you have to stop her, Katherine can't get out!"
If it could have, Enzo's heart would have stopped at the words, was Damon really giving her up when he thought he was so close to getting her back? "Damon, calm down and explain yourself, you've been waiting for this for almost your whole life, this is everything you've ever wanted."
"Enzo she'll kill you! I've thought about it, Katherine doesn't share, she won't like us being friends, and she'll be too strong to stop, I can't-" he broke off for a moment to collect himself, "I can't lose you Enzo, not again." The desperation in Damon's eyes reminded him of the moment he'd realised that he couldn't get Enzo's cage open in 1958.
It took everything in Enzo, not to reach out and bring the slightly older vampire in for a kiss, Damon was choosing him over Katherine, in a moment when he believed that she was only minutes away from being freed, he was choosing to leave her to rot. "Damon, you love her," Enzo said, he needed to make sure that Damon understood what he was doing.
"I don't care Enzo, I'm not losing you again," he said it with so much conviction that Enzo was left with very little doubt of what the elder Salvatore wanted.
Before he could say anything else in response, they both heard the stone covering the tomb scrape across the ground, moving to open for the first time in 140 years, they both whooshed below, "Close it back up!" Damon said, startling both of the mortals.
"What?" Jenna asked, her daughter was in the middle of siphoning the actual barrier spell so that Damon didn't get stuck in the tomb, and he was telling them to stop, "What do you mean close it? You want your girlfriend out."
"I can't let her out," Damon insisted, "Look Enzo's your friend, right? He said that you helped him along with the witch to escape, well Katherine will kill him, we can't let her out, close the tomb."
Jenna sighed, she was studying psychology, and therefore tried to use it to understand what Damon was feeling in that moment, she knew that Katherine wasn't in the tomb, her daughter had told her as much. But Maya had also said that Damon needed to know that she wasn't there, otherwise he would never be able to really move on, and for Enzo's sake, Damon needed to move on. "You really believe she'll hurt Enzo?" she asked carefully.
"Yes, so tell your girl to shut the tomb back up!"
"The vampires inside, will they be able to do anything? Can they talk? Move?"
Damon shook his head, "They've been deprived of blood too long, they're practically corpses."
"Ok, then you need to go in Damon, we won't let her out, but this is a woman that you've loved for what, 140 years? If you're going to end this chapter of your life, you need closure."
"But-" he stopped, could he really voice what was going through his head? He didn't want to hurt Enzo, looking over at his friend, who was deep in conversation with the witch, he decided to say it aloud, just once, "but what if when I see her, I decide that I don't care what she might do? What if when I see her, I decide that she's worth the risk? I don't want hurt Enzo again."
"Damon, just the fact that you're actually having these thoughts, tells me that when it comes down to it, you'll make the right decision, but you need to go in there, otherwise you'll always wonder." Jenna responded, she was happy that he was thinking of Enzo, but Damon had to go in that tomb, he had to know that Katherine didn't care about him, so that he could finally put his love for her to rest.
Damon sighed and looked over at Enzo who nodded, "Okay," he replied moving over to the entrance and glancing at the witch, "You're sure that if I go in, I'll be able to come out?"
"The spell's gone completely, hell Enzo can go in there with you, if you don't trust me, trust him," Maya replied.
The elder Salvatore pulled a blood bag out of his jacket pocket and handed it to Enzo, who gave him a look of surprise, "Just so I won't be tempted," Damon said, before whooshing inside.
Maya looked over at one of her best friends, "Are you going to be okay? In a few minutes, he's going to be heartbroken."
Enzo gave her a sad smile, he knew that Damon was going to be hurt, and that he would have to pick up the pieces for a while, but he truly believed that Damon was worth it, "I'll be fine, oh! Before I forget," he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small bag, inside were ten Lapis Lazuli rings of varying sizes.
"Daylight rings?"
"You mentioned that you didn't feel comfortable living above the clinic anymore, but you and your mother couldn't afford a new place, I happen to have a line on a few vampires that would pay a handsome price for the ability to walk in the sun. I've got a guy who can set up a site online for you to sell them, and the starting prices for the rings are in the region of $1.5 million."
"WHAT?!"
"The ability to walk in the sun isn't something that many vampires outside of New Orleans have been afforded, the older the vampires, the more they're willing to pay. I'll send you the information later so that you can get started on earning some money, and get you and your mother out of that apartment." He smiled when he felt Maya's arms wrap around his waist, he'd wanted to move her and her mother out of their place for years, but knew that there was no way that either of them would let him just buy somewhere for them to live.
They heard a yell of agony come from inside the tomb and Maya knew that Damon had discovered that Katherine wasn't even in there, "Give me the blood bag," Maya said, "I don't want to risk anything happening, give it to me, and then go get him."
Enzo nodded and handed her the bag of O neg and rushed inside to locate his friend, the two of them came out a few moments later, Damon, predictably heartbroken, and Enzo worried that this was going to send him off the rails again. "I'll be in touch love," he said, before whooshing Damon out of there, unwilling to risk the lives of his saviours for one more moment.
Jenna came up to her daughter as the vampires left, "Now what?"
Maya reached her hand out and started to chant "Phasmatos oblinito sepulcrum, phasmatos oblinito sepulcrum, phasmatos oblinito sepulcruim." Jenna watched in wonder as the stone covered up the tomb once again, her daughter's ability to do magic never ceased to amaze her, "I've put a temporary lock on the tomb, Anna won't be here for another four hours, so we've got time."
"Alright then, we should talk about how Enzo has suddenly decided that he wants to make you a millionaire!"
"Ugh, mum!" Maya complained as she followed Jenna back up the stairs.
"I'm just saying, we should look at new places to live, I mean I don't want to stay in the apartment, you don't want to stay in the apartment, Uncle Grayson's got way too much access to us right now, and what Enzo's proposing means that you don't have to worry about college fees, or household bills." Maya insisted, her mother was resistant to Enzo's idea, feeling like it was too much of a handout.
"How am I even supposed to explain the sudden influx of cash to Miranda and Grayson, and the rest of the town? They'll know that there's no way that I could afford a house, let alone the one that you want near Caroline."
"That's easy, you never told anyone who my father was, just say that you were contacted by his estate, and I'm the last living relative, the money's my inheritance. I mean technically, the magic's my inheritance and I'd be making money from it, so it's not like you'd be lying." She shrugged, she wanted to get as far away from the clinic as possible, and the place near Caroline's cost a lot, it was too big and would raise too many questions, but Maya wanted to be near her best friend, and wanted enough space in the house so that Enzo, Caroline and her cousin Jeremy (who still seemed to prefer her, to Elena) could stay over.
Jenna shifted uncomfortably, it was no secret around town that Maya was the product of a one night stand, in fact, things for Jenna were hazy about the night Maya was conceived, she'd snuck out to a frat party on Whitmore's campus, gotten drunk and 9 months later, Maya had been born. Jenna didn't actually know who Maya's father was, she'd told Miranda and her parents that the father had wanted nothing to do with her and that was the story that she had stuck with for 13 years. "Honey, your father-"
"It's okay mum, I don't need to know about him, I don't want to, I have you, and you're all that matters." Maya said, she knew her father was a sensitive topic for her mother, "But the plus side is, we can use the fact that no one knows who he is to fake an inheritance."
The pair were stopped from any more conversation as Anna arrived on the scene, the mother and daughter agreed that it would be best to pretend that Jenna was the witch, and her daughter just an apprentice. Anna was definitely not someone they could trust, and Maya didn't remember much about her, just that Pearl had the Gilbert device, and it was necessary for use later on. Jenna would say the spell to open the tomb, whilst Maya would do the actual magic behind Anna's back, and once Maya had what they needed, she could end the tomb vampires before word got out about them.
"You're going to open the tomb?" Anna sneered.
Jenna gave her a cold glare, (she'd been practicing in the mirror at home), "Let's get one thing straight, the only reason I'm even opening the tomb is because I need the Gilbert device, if your mother didn't have it, I'd leave her in there to rot."
Anna growled and shot forward, but she was stopped by a crippling pain in her head, Maya was giving the old vampire multiple aneurisms, ensuring that they didn't fade in intensity. After a minute Jenna signalled to her daughter to stop her spell. "Are you going to try that again? I have no problem killing you, vampire." Jenna said.
"Alright!" Anna backed off, "You open the tomb so I can get my mother, and you can have the Gilbert device!"
"Remember, you only get your mother, everyone else stays right where they are," when Anna nodded Jenna gestured to the stairs, "Then let's go."
Anna followed the Jenna and Maya downstairs she was getting antsy as she'd believed that any witch would need a celestial event to open the tomb, and this one was about to do it without one. Maya had set up some candles in a circle and they lit as she and her mother descended down the stairs. Jenna stood in the centre of the circle and held her hand out, receiving a nod from her daughter she started to chant. "Phasmatos aperire sepulcrum, phasmatos aperire sepulcrum, phasmatos aperire sepulcrum, phasmatos aperire sepulcrum." The tombstone scraped along the floor as it dragged open, and Anna whooshed inside before it could even open all the way.
"Mum, are you sure you want to be here for this? Because I can do this on my own."
"You're my daughter, you shouldn't even have to do this, but I'm not leaving you alone."
Maya nodded, she didn't want her mother to have any part in the deaths of these vampires, her mum should remain pure to the evils of the supernatural world, but the consequence of being open and honest with Jenna, was that she wasn't willing to turn a blind eye to the horrors of the world, especially not with a daughter that was smack in the middle of all things supernatural.
Anna and Pearl came back but hit an invisible barrier before they could exit, "What the hell is this?!" Anna snarled.
"It's not my fault that you ran in there before I could finish the spell!" Jenna replied, "But now that you're stuck in there, where's the Gilbert device?"
"You're not getting anything until we get out of here!"
"I didn't say give it to me, I want to know that you have it! Show it to me, and I'll let you out."
"Anna," Pearl coughed, she'd been given two blood bags, but was still very weak, "Show them."
Anna scowled but pulled it out of her pocket to show them, Jenna gave her daughter a questioning look and when she received confirmation she held out her hand and finished the chant. "Phasmatos conteram sigillum, phasmatos conteram sigillum, phasmatos conteram sigillum." The barrier came down and Anna pulled her mother out in case the witch changed her mind.
Unfortunately for Anna and Pearl, Maya couldn't let them go, even if they promised to leave town, Katherine would find out about them, or worse they would stay and tip off Stefan about the Sun and the Moon Curse, she couldn't remember why, but it wasn't something she could take a chance with. She froze them both where they stood and they cried out, "What are you doing?! You promised!" Anna yelled.
Maya stepped forward then, "I'm sorry, my mother said that she would let you go, but I didn't say I would," she raised her hand and two stakes floated up.
"NO! PLEASE!" Anna shouted.
"My family are the Gilberts, I can't put them in danger," she replied, "Motus!" The two vampires bodies surged forward, not of their own volition and collided with the stakes. Maya gasped as they collapsed to the ground dead, she hadn't wanted to do this, but she couldn't see any other way of keeping her family safe from the dangers around them. Jenna pulled her daughter close as she let out a sob, "I'm sorry mum, I had to!"
"I know baby, I know," Jenna sighed, Maya had told her how Jonathan Gilbert had trapped Pearl, and that Anna had sworn revenge on the founding family, this was the only way to protect her sister and her niece and nephew.
Maya took some time to collect herself, and then set the rest of the tomb vampires alight, she waited with her mother for the bodies to turn into ash, and then she used her control over water to wash the ashes away, and made it look like nothing had ever happened.
So don't hate me for killing Anna! But Maya is trying to be as logical as possible, Katherine needs to believe that the tomb is still sealed, and there was no way that Anna and Pearl were going to ignore their need for revenge against the 'dopplebitch'. Not to mention right up until Anna had decided she actually liked Jeremy, she was planning on using him as a blood bag for her mother, and since Jeremy's latched on to Maya, she's going to want to protect him at all costs.
Thanks for reading! Please review!