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Thanks for all the reviews! The support you're all giving me is awesome!
LifePrice1412: I didn't like Haley from the beginning, but that's probably because I love Caroline and Caroline hates Haley.
WiseGirlDivergence46: You might get a tiny bit of Klaus and Maya in this chapter, but there's mostly going to be, Kol-Maya, and Caroline-Maya today.
Blu3b3rryT3a: Maya's got to showcase that she's willing to get her hands dirty in order to remain on the same playing field as Klaus, and I think they're dynamic is going to be the kind where Elijah looks at them and thinks 'Oh my God there's two of them!' Grayson's not going to be a problem for too much longer, and there'll definitely be more Teen Wolf references in future chapters.
mrs. morgan 35: I never liked the Haley/Elijah dynamic, and her split loyalties were always an issue for me, because being a part of the Mikaelsons should mean that even when you hate one another, you're on their side. At least that's what I took from the way Elijah and Klaus treated their family, and Maya's very loyal, with what she knows about Haley (or what she will know when she gets those memories back) she won't tolerate her.
xotinkerbella: One of the biggest problems for me about Kol's storyline in TVD was the way that his family reacted to his death (or rather the way they didn't react). Kol is Klaus's baby brother, and Klaus spent 1000 years keeping his family safe by any means necessary. When Kol first died Klaus reacted appropriately, with the threats and the rage, but then when he was freed from the living room the fact that he didn't retaliate, that he didn't kill Elena or Damon, or even Bonnie, didn't make sense. And I know that the MFG have plot armour, they stay alive because they're the main characters, but his lack of reaction didn't match what we knew about him. No matter how much Klaus loved Caroline, he should have burned Mystic Falls to the ground in retaliation for Kol's murder. So in this I'm trying to keep the characters true to themselves, and faced with the information that two of his brother's could die, Klaus would do what he can to stop it.
DeityOfDeadlyRose: Thank you! Just a few more chapters and then we'll be heading into Season 1 we'll get to meet Stefan and Bonnie and Elena all properly!
TheQueenofGoodbyes: I'm glad I'm not the only one, but it is true that the MFG were just as terrible as the Originals, in a much shorter period of time, they straight up murdered thousands on purpose. Not to mention they never would have had an issue if instead of pissing off the super old deadly vampires, they just had Elena sit down with Klaus and offer him like a blood bag a month, it would have been just like donating blood to the hospital. I'm pretty sure with Klaus's feelings for Caroline, he would have been fine with that, if they'd never woken Esther that first time round, Alaric never would have become evil, and Elena never would have become a vampire!
I really wanted to like Davina, she had such potential to be a great character, I know she was a child, so saying she could stop acting childish is a little redundant, but she could have had a great dynamic with all of the Mikaelsons, (I can't get over the fact that she slapped Klaus to try and wake him up, that made me laugh) so I'm going to see if she can be re-written, especially if Kol is getting along with Klaus.
Love the nickname suggestions, I didn't even think of Little Red Riding Hood, (although that will probably come when she's older for you know… reasons). Maya's trying to spare Jenna from all the darkness in the supernatural world, because she doesn't want her mother to embroiled in all the pain that comes with it. Enzo and Damon will def heal up Grayson, and wait till their blood passes through his system before killing him. And Nik and Rebekah's issues are going to come to a head very soon, setting Klaus and his family on very different paths for a bit.
Felinegreat: Thank you! Klaus and Kol are so similar, they're clearly the troublemakers of the family, I don't think TO did their relationship any justice.
Blu3b3rryT3a: I can't tell you! That would ruin the surprise!
Maya was with Caroline, walking over to Elena's house after school, the third Friday of every month was 'family game night' and because Caroline was staying with her for the weekend, she was invited to family night. It happened every so often, that Caroline got to come along, but it always led to extra competitiveness, that inevitably led to fights, so Miranda and Grayson were always weary of Caroline coming along. As the two girls were walking, arm in arm, Maya's phone rang, she looked at the caller ID and flushed when Caroline gave her a smirk.
"You better put that on speaker!" Caroline hissed and Maya pouted, the last thing she needed was for Caroline to have more evidence of their 'flirting'.
Maya cast a quick silencing spell on the immediate area around them and answered, "Hi Nik,"
"Wrong brother darling!"
Maya's eyes widened in alarm, "Kol! Why do you have Nik's phone? How do you have Nik's phone?"
Caroline muted the phone, "Who's that?"
"Nik's baby brother," Maya replied taking the phone off of mute.
"What can I say darling, my brother needs to keep a better eye on his things."
"You know that Nik's going to kick your ass when catches you?"
"He can try," Kol replied amused, he enjoyed Maya's frankness, it was a pleasing contradiction to how most acted around him and his family.
"Why are you calling me Kol?"
"Would you believe that I'm calling just to check on you? To make sure that Augustine hasn't hunted you down and murdered you?"
"No," Maya rolled her eyes and Kol laughed.
"You know you are the first in centuries to speak to me as though I don't frighten you."
"You terrify me Kol, but unlike you I am very mortal, and have very limited time to do what I need to, so I can't afford to let that stop me."
"Well, I do appreciate your honesty." In fact it was something that he admired, it dramatically decreased his desire to murder her just to piss of Nik, if she could hold his interest a little longer, then that desire might disappear altogether.
"What do you want Kol?"
"I need to know, word for word, what you know about Nik's curse, and the failsafe."
"The curse involves the moonstone, and the sacrifice of a werewolf, then a vampire, then the doppelgänger, on a full moon, in the place of her birth. If Nik completes the sacrifice, the Hybrid Curse will be broken, but if he breaks the curse, a failsafe will be triggered, and he won't be able to make any more hybrids, he'll be the only one that exists."
"What makes you think that it's a failsafe, and not an actual component of being a hybrid?"
"Well, to be honest, my magical theory is very limited, mum's not a witch, so everything I know, I taught myself with the help of any grimoire that Enzo and Damon can scrounge up for me. I'd have to get a read on the magic to be certain, but if Esther knew that Nik would need doppelgänger blood in order to create other hybrids, why would she have gone about binding his other half the way she did?"
"What do you mean?" Kol asked intrigued, when working on something like this it was always best to get opinions other than your own, and he was curious to hear her thoughts on the curse.
"If doppelgänger blood was integral to the creation of hybrids then she wouldn't have made the curse so easy to break."
Kol let out a laugh, "You think breaking the curse is easy?"
"Think about it, a werewolf and vampire, easy to find, Mikaelson magic is bound into a very small, easily transportable stone. And doppelgängers are naturally occurring, she had to have known another would appear eventually."
"The doppelgänger only exists because of the Hybrid Curse in order to ensure balance." Kol said, all of his siblings knew that.
"No she doesn't," Maya replied, baffled that Kol of all people didn't know the truth, "Esther used Tatia's blood to create the Originals because it held powerful magical properties, if Tatia wasn't already a doppelgänger then her blood wouldn't have the properties that could be used."
"You're saying that Tatia wasn't the first," Kol replied.
"No, Tatia was a Shadow Self, whatever the reason the doppelgänger exists, it wasn't to specifically break the curse, Esther just piggy backed on to existing magic! Esther specifically weaved the failsafe into the curse, probably because she figured that when the next one appeared, Nik would just sacrifice her without a thought, ending the line for good."
Kol had to sit down, it was like being hit by a freight train, he couldn't believe that he thought that normal human blood had been used the immortality spell, with a spell as powerful as his mother's, of course more than regular ingredients would be needed. "If I can figure out a way around the failsafe, do you think hybrids would transition on regular blood?"
"I think that with the creation of the Originals, Nature fought back as much as she could without disrupting the balance, I think that you have to look at balance when figuring out how Nik will be able to sire hybrids."
"What balance?"
"When a mortal becomes a vampire, they have to transition on mortal blood, it's the beginning and the end of their life. When a werewolf becomes a hybrid, there has to be a balance there too."
"You think that they would have to transition on werewolf blood?"
Maya's eyes widened as information popped into her head, information that she certainly didn't know before, "I think that that they need to transition on Nik's blood! Think about it Kol! The vampire part of him is dead, but the werewolf is very much alive, he's the end and the beginning!"
"That's the reason why the failsafe exists!" Kol said with realisation, "Nik has an endless supply of his own blood! Mother would most certainly wish to keep that hidden from him!" Kol stood, he had to get back to his mother's grimoires now that his research had taken a new turn, "It was a pleasure talking to you darling!"
He hung up before Maya could answer and she turned to face a stern looking Caroline, "Klaus is a vampire and a werewolf?!"
Maya looked at her sheepishly, "Shit did I forget to tell you?"
"I think I would remember if you told me something like that Mai!"
"Oh crap," Maya had so much going on, that she'd also completely forgotten to fill Caroline in on Tyler's little 'puppy' problem as well, Caroline was not going to be happy with her. "There may have been something else I forgot to tell you."
"Damn it Maya!"
Damon was hidden in a dark corner of a restaurant in California, frowning as he watched Grayson pay for dinner with his colleagues. Enzo was waiting in the Gilbert patriarch's car, unwilling to go far, but unable to be out in the open without alerting the doctor to his presence. Damon followed as the group of humans walked out of the door and waited for them to split up and head to their own vehicles. Damon made noise when Grayson reached his car and stood directly behind him, when Grayson heard the noise he turned quickly, trained to react like a hunter would but he'd never been taken by surprise by a vampire before, "Hi doc," he said sinisterly, before knocking him out and stuffing him into the car. "You got a place picked out to take him?" Damon asked, "We can't play for long." They could only hold Grayson for so long before people would think him missing, which meant that Enzo had a limited time to get his revenge, because Grayson needed to be in perfect health when he had his 'accident', and he couldn't have vampire blood in his system when he died.
"I set up a shipping container outside of town, that way we won't have to keep him quiet while we have fun."
Damon smirked, "Perfect," he was going to enjoy watching Enzo work.
Grayson woke with a start, his hands tied above him tightly, holding him so high that his toes barely brushed the ground, he'd been stripped naked and left in a dark dank room by himself. Looking around, he couldn't see anything, there was no sunlight, no light from the moon, or the street or cars. He couldn't hear anything! Where was he? His head jerked up as he heard the scraping noise of metal on metal come from somewhere behind him. A strip of light fell across the room and Grayson saw a shadow pass through it, and then another. His heart pounded; he could feel the fear flood his whole being. He heard two heavy thumps come from behind him and suddenly the entire room was lit up brightly, he squinted at the light, trying to see if he could tell where he was and then jerked back as far as he could when a man appeared in front of him.
"Hello Doctor," Enzo said, his mouth set in a firm line, eyes already revealing the monster within, "Did you miss me?"
"Oh God!" Grayson tugged at his arms, frantically trying to escape, this couldn't be happening! "12144," he whispered, he was going to die, he was never going to see Jeremy or Elena or his beautiful wife Miranda again.
"My name's Lorenzo, I'd tell you to remember it, but you won't live long enough for it to matter."
"Don't forget me," Damon said amused, stepping into view.
Grayson's eyes widened, "You! You were in the hospital with Jenna! Oh God, what did you do to Jenna?"
Enzo growled, this pathetic creature had no right to accuse them of anything, "Meet Damon Salvatore."
"Or as you might have known me 21051," Damon said, "Enzo and I are old friends, and when he said that he was going to torture and then murder one of his captors, well I said count me in!"
Enzo grinned, wanting to twist the knife in deeper, before he started the actual torture, "And we haven't done anything to Jenna, why would we, when she was the one that got me out."
If it was possible, Grayson would have paled even further, "What?"
"Little Maya, the witch that you tried to sell to your sick little organisation, she used her power to rip the door from it's frame, fed me blood, even made me this delightful little daylight ring," he wiggled his fingers, showing off the piece of jewellery, "And Jenna was by her side for the whole thing. They know what you are Grayson, your whole family does, and they don't care what happens to you."
"NO!"
Damon moved in closer, "Oh yes, in fact, your pretty little niece told us exactly where you'd be, practically begged us to make you suffer, just like you wanted her to."
"No I-"
"There's no use denying it," Enzo cut him off, "We found Maxfield, found out everything, once we're done with you, we're going to kill every last member of Augustine out there."
"I'm going to wipe your family from existence, of course we'll keep Maya and Jenna around, they are so very tasty." Damon taunted and grinned at the uptick in Grayson's heartbeat and the increase in the scent of fear in the air.
"Enough talk," Enzo said, "We're nothing but monsters to you, now you're going to see just how right you are!" his fangs came out and he lunged.
Grayson screamed.
It was an ice-cold Monday in January when Miranda Gilbert found Sheriff Forbes and Bill Forbes at her front door, "Liz! Bill, what are you doing here?" Miranda said surprised, she was trying to usher the kids out the door for school, but the look on the Sheriff's face stopped her.
"Miranda, we need to talk, may we come in?"
Miranda pushed a curious Elena and Jeremy out of the way and stepped back from the door, inviting the two in. "Mom what's going on?" Elena asked.
"Go upstairs Elena."
"Mum-"
"NOW Elena! And take your brother with you!"
Elena jumped back in shock at her mother's raised voice, she gripped Jeremy's wrist and dragged him up to her room, "Elena!" Jeremy said struggling against her harsh grip.
"Quiet Jere! I'm trying to hear what mom's saying!" Jeremy stopped struggling and strained his hearing, he could pick up nothing but muffled voices.
Miranda was sat on the couch in the den with Liz sat across from her and Bill next to her, "Miranda, I'm so sorry to have to tell you this," she reached out and took Miranda's hands in her own. "I received a call from the San Diego police department this morning, Grayson went out to dinner last night, with some colleagues from the convention, he was parked away from the rest of his party, and on his walk back to his car, he was shot and killed by a mugger. I'm so sorry Miranda."
"What?" Miranda asked, "No, that's not- he can't be- he's not dead, he's on a flight back to Virginia right now! He's going to be home for lunch!" she denied, shaking her head.
Liz tightened her grip on her friend's hands, "Miranda they found his ID on him, one of his colleagues identified the body."
"NO!" Miranda ripped herself from the Sheriff's grasp, shooting to her feet, "No! He's not dead! I spoke to him last night! You're wrong, it's not him!" she sobbed, "It can't be!"
Liz stood and pulled her friend into her arms, holding onto the shaking woman, tightly, she looked over at her husband, 'Call Jenna,' she mouthed, "I'm so sorry," Liz whispered into the other woman's hair, she would offer as much comfort as she could, while they waited for Miranda's sister to show up.
Jeremy, Elena and Miranda had all moved into Jenna's house a few days after news of Grayson's death broke in the town. It was only temporary, just until the three of them could walk into their own house without being hit with an onslaught of memories of Grayson. It had been ten days since his death, and the funeral was tomorrow. Jeremy had been a mess, he was only 13, he had no frame of reference for the kind of loss that he was suffering. He'd taken up residence in Caroline's room, the one next to Maya's and more often than not, she would awake to him crawling into her bed and she would curl around him and hold him while he cried.
Maya had never felt guilt like this before, she was the reason Grayson was dead now, there was no doubt about it, she thought that she could handle it, but there was a difference between killing people that she didn't know and signing off on the death of a person that you'd grown up with. Her Aunt Miranda was practically a zombie, she spent her days in bed, barely ate, barely slept, barely talked. Jenna was running herself ragged taking care of her. If Miranda was a zombie, Elena was a ghost, she just didn't come out of her room, she made no noise whatsoever, the only evidence that she was still there was the fact that food was placed outside of her room, and it was eaten and the empty plates were left to be collected. Maya would have been annoyed if she hadn't felt so bad, with just a few words, she'd broken her family.
The sniffle she'd heard coming from Jeremy's room was the last straw, she needed some time out of the house, time to deal with what she'd done, she needed to talk to someone. She left the house without saying anything, instead of taking the well worn path between her house and Caroline's, she headed into the woods that surrounded her home. Maya couldn't talk to her mother about this obviously, and laying her problems at Caroline's feet would have been a disaster, not because Caroline wouldn't have supported her, she would have, but Caroline shouldn't have to deal with her issues when she was dealing with her parent's problems. Speaking to Damon and Enzo was out, they were the ones that tortured and killed Grayson, she didn't want to make them feel guilty, because they deserved to have their revenge, Enzo especially. In the end there was only one person that she could talk to.
Sitting down, she cast a quick silencing spell and video called Klaus, "Good Morning Little Siphon."
"Hi Nik," she gave him a tired smile.
"To what do I owe this love? You're three days early for our regular catch up." Klaus was in his studio, his sleeves rolled up, paint stains on his hands, an uncharacteristic relaxation in his eyes.
"If I said that I was just calling to talk to you, would you believe me?"
"I would, if not for that look in your eyes."
"What look?" Maya asked.
"That look of guilt, it has been centuries since I have felt it myself, but I remember it well."
Maya bit her lip to stop it from wobbling, "I guess you heard about Uncle Grayson."
"Are you feeling regret, over his death?" Klaus tilted his head and settled on the couch in his studio, she was definitely upset about something.
Shaking her head, Maya gave a weak laugh, "I wish that was my problem, I could deal with that, but I hurt my family Nik, I broke them, Jeremy, Aunt Miranda, hell I'm even feeling terrible about what this has done to Elena! Jeremy can't stop crying and I have to be there to comfort him, every time, and I'm the reason that his dad is dead. How am I supposed to do that?!"
"Your uncle spent years torturing vampires, because he believed that there is no difference between them and monsters, I may not disagree with that view, but if you hadn't have given Enzo your blessing, do you think that Damon would have waited much longer? Especially after he was captured?"
"No," Maya conceded, with everything she knew about Damon, the fact that he'd held back as much as he had was admirable.
"What you gave your family, was closure, Damon and Enzo made your uncle's death look like an every day, run of the mill occurrence. People in big cities are mugged all the time, it's unfortunate but true, not only that, but the 'mugger' was caught and arrested, your family has someone to blame, someone to let their anger out on. You said it yourself, Grayson was destined to die."
"Yeah, with Aunt Miranda, I didn't realise how much this would hurt her! I think of Grayson as a monster, I forgot that Aunt Miranda didn't."
"Well then perhaps as penance, you could ensure that she doesn't meet her intended end? Give your cousins a parent that they can keep."
"Make sure that Aunt Miranda lives just to assuage my own guilt? That's a little selfish don't you think?"
"I don't think it'll matter to your cousins love, all they'll know, is that they don't have to mourn another loss." Klaus shrugged, he didn't care about being selfish, as far as he was concerned, selfishness was the best way to ensure ones survival, the longer she spent with him, the more that Maya would understand and come to embrace it.
"So!" she tucked her hair behind her ear, not wanting to discuss her problems any further, "Tell me what's going on with you, did you know that Kol's been in contact with me?"
Klaus frowned at the reminder, when he found Kol messing with his phone, he'd thrown his brother through the window of his bedroom, causing quite a stir to the people down below, that was a lot of compulsion that he had to dole out, very quickly in order to ensure that their presence was not noted by the rest of the community. "I do, how was that?"
"Aside from the occasional threats? Pretty good actually, he's been working really hard on that breakthrough that he came to on your curse, and he has sent me several grimoires on older linking spells, and sleep curses, so that I can try to figure out how to break through Freya's curse. I think he's taken it upon himself to be my teacher."
"I hate to say it, but he's probably the best person to teach you, Kol does have 1000 years' worth of magical knowledge to draw from."
"But he's so cocky!" Maya whined, "He's always 'darling' this and 'pretty thing' that, not to mention that I think he's trying to woo me away from you, make himself my favourite Original."
Klaus's low growl sent shivers down her spine, "And what do you say to him then?"
"What is there to say?" she asked, "I tell him that I like working with you, I like talking to you, that we're friends, but it doesn't deter him."
"I'll have a talk with him later, set some things straight."
"You still haven't told me what you've been up to," Maya reminded him, she wanted to be distracted now, "Have you sent Finn to get Freya yet?"
"I'd rather have you do it."
"What?!"
"I'd rather you go to New Orleans, I don't trust Finn."
"Nik New Orleans is full of witches! Do I have to remind you of how they react to my kind?!"
"I don't trust that Finn won't abscond with our sister, and leave me in the lurch with my curse."
"But that still puts me in danger, if I even bump into someone accidentally, it'll tell the witches what I am."
"Speak to Kol first, see if he has a spell that could cloak your magical signature."
"Then he has to know what I am, Nik are you prepared for that?"
"Prepared for what?"
"Prepared to share, don't act like you don't enjoy the fact that you have something that Kol's never seen before."
"Well, it's nice to know that you agree that you're mine." Klaus mused.
"Shut up Nik! You know what I mean!"
Klaus laughed, maybe she hadn't meant to say it, but it didn't make it any less true, she belonged to him. "I'll tell Kol what he needs to know, but if he can give you something that can cloak you, you will go yes?"
"It'll have to be in the summer, I can't really afford to take any more time off of school."
"I'll have him contact you soon. Goodbye my Little Siphon."
"I'm not yours," Maya grumbled in annoyance, hanging up, she was never going to live that slip of the tongue down, Klaus wouldn't let her.
It was March, and the Gilberts had finally moved back home, they'd stayed with Maya and Jenna for a lot longer than anticipated, and it finally took Maya volunteering to pack up Grayson's things for her aunt, for Miranda to snap out of her funk. Her aunt appreciated her niece's thoughtfulness but had decided that she needed to be the one to take care of her husband's things.
In order to give her mother some time alone, Maya had spent the day in the Library, Jenna was relaxing in her room when she heard noises from Maya's bedroom, finally her daughter was home. Getting up Jenna headed to Maya's room, "Hey Maya, I'm gonna go to…" she reached Maya's room but there was no one there, "Sleep." She trailed off, sighing she turned around to go back to her room, where was her daughter? She heard a thud and froze, hearing more noises she grabbed her bat from the hallway closet and poked her head back into her daughter's room, just in time to see someone come through the window. Rushing in and raising the bat over her head she screamed and the person in Maya's room screamed too, shielding themselves from the possible onslaught.
"Caroline!" Jemma yelled, realising who it was, she lowered the bat, heart pounding in her chest, "What the hell are you doing here?!"
"What am I doing?! God do either of you even play baseball?!" Caroline yelled back.
"What?!"
The lights turned on the room, both of them turned to the door and Maya walked in, sighing Jenna moved over to her, "Can you please tell your friend to use the front door?"
"But we lock the front door, she wouldn't be able to get in."
"Yeah, exactly!" Jenna tossed the bat on Maya's bed, "You know what, that's about enough parenting for me, so good night." She stormed out of the room annoyed that her relaxation had been ruined.
"Night mom!" Maya called and then looked back at Caroline, "What's up Sunshine? I'm sure my phone was on this time."
"Dad left," Caroline replied quietly.
"Oh Care," Maya wrapped her arms around Caroline and pulled her in for a tight hug, "I'm so sorry." That was all it took for Caroline to break down in sobs, she buried her face in Maya's hair, returning the hug with much more fervour, her whole life was changing, and she didn't know what to do. "Oh Sunshine, I'm right here, whatever you need, I'm right here."
"Ca-Can I stay here tonight?" she hiccoughed, looking up at Maya with tear filled eyes.
"Of course you can, come here." She tugged Caroline to the bed, she knew exactly what Caroline needed, and luckily for them both, it was the weekend, Caroline would have plenty of time to get her tears out, before school on Monday.
Thanks for reading! If you can please leave a review, I live for the feedback!