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Thanks for all the reviews and follows!
guest: She was traumatised, but she's been pushing all of that down, because she's had other things to focus on, but being confronted with Elena and Miranda, it triggered her trauma.
whataboringlife: I know he's a drama queen, but I'm following the script of how he would react in the first part of Season 1
Ashes2Dust18: Stefan has a lot of potential, but I think that the Traveller Spell that pushes the doppelgängers together is probably part of the reason why he is so willing to overlook her flaws at first.
Nozomi Akiyama: You're welcome
lillen20: We'll go back to seeing more from the Originals soon, because most of Season 1 is going to get wiped out, by the changes Maya has made.
Dark Angels and Light Angels: It seems like all the adults in Mystic Falls were terrible at their jobs, I mean Matt lived on his own, Bonnie lived on her own, Caroline was practically on her own, with her mum having a such a stressful job. Plus Jenna's the 'Teen Mum' I think that she's still written off by a lot of Mystic Falls for it, not to mention I guess that Jenna would probably not react well to being told by someone else, how to parent her child.
xotinkerbella: Kol and Klaus will be back soon, because we're about to hit a lot of changes in Season 1. Vicki won't stay away from Jeremy, not with the way that Tyler treats her, so she's going to get into some serious trouble. But I haven't made a decision on a pairing for Jeremy yet, he's still a kid, so he's got time. Stefan's not going to have any fun for a bit, he's done something bad… I don't care about Zach, he's not an important character for the plot, so he'll probably die. Miranda and Elena will get what's coming to them, eventually.
twibe: Who do you think will be the first to find out the real deal between Damon and Maya?
NonBinaryAceKitten: Early Stefan is a judgy Stefan, and a hypocrite because the guy's a ripper, which is worse than Damon.
Nicolle Cullen Masen: I know it's weird that they're kissing, but they only have to do it in public, on occasion, so not too much. We'll here from Klaus and Kol soon, I just want to get the first few episodes over and done with first.
Rhaelyant: Oh yes, the first really big change to S1 is somewhere in this chapter!
Guest: I haven't written ahead, it's just faster if I'm following part of a script, which I am for the first few episodes of S1. I don't think Miranda knew about Augustine, because then I think that Liz would know, because she was Miranda's best friend, and if Liz knew, she wouldn't have let Caroline go to school at Whitmore.
Serena Salvatore: Stefan's about to learn something else as well!
WiseGirlDivergence46: Damon was great, I think his comforting her really threw Damon off, because why would Damon comfort anyone, when he could just compel them?
tinajayy: You can't forget that at this point, Damon doesn't want to reconcile with Stefan, the only reason the two ended up bonding again was because they spent so much time together, and this time around Damon knows that Elena has to die, so he's not going to want to put himself in a position to feel guilty when that happens. And Maya doesn't like Stefan because she thinks he's a hypocrite, he's a worse killer than Damon, but still acts like he's better than him. And he was mean to Caroline in S1 canon, he was harsher this time because he was distracted by the fact that he already knew that his brother was in town and felt the need to protect Maya. And Maya doesn't need his protection, so she's not going to be happy when he sticks his nose where it doesn't belong.
Blu3B3rryT3a: Nope, Jeremy's birthday was in October, so he was 14 at the start of S1, because the pilot episode was the first day of school, which would have been in September, and according to that episode, Vicki slept with Jeremy before that, in the summer. Tanner's dead! That means Alaric is coming!
LifePrice1412: Liz did question Caroline and Damon at the founder's day party when Damon wanted to get Emily's crystal, but then there was nothing else said about it.
lovelybooks17: Thank you! We'll see more of Nik and the kids soon! I'm going as fast as I can!
sam: you're welcome.
sammyleann: Everybody gets to have their own opinions, so we'll see if yours change the further we get into the story!
Damon watched as Stefan squirmed in his sleep, on animal blood his brother was pitifully weak, it was easy to get into his head, so he sent his brother a dream, a nightmare, Stefan watched as Dream Damon chased and attacked, Dream Elena. The younger Salvatore woke with a shout and Damon smirked at him from the doorway.
"Bad dream?" he asked.
"Damon!"
"Do you know how easy it was to get into your head just now? You really need some human blood, it might even the playing field. Oh!" he put his hand in front of his mouth in faux shock, "Football reference, too soon." Stefan launched a knife in Damon's direction, and it hit him in the stomach, but Damon didn't make a sound, the human blood in his system made it so that an injury like that felt like a scratch. "All right, I deserved that. But I just wanted to let you know that they caught the culprit. The animal responsible for killing Coach Tanner and all those other people." Damon took the knife out and twirled it in his fingers.
"What are you talking about?" Stefan asked.
"It was a mountain lion, a really big one. It attacked a hunter this morning, it's all over the news. 'Deadly beast captured, all's well in Mystic Falls.'"
"Why would you cover your tracks?" Stefan asked, Damon hadn't been shy about who he was, going so far as to attack someone in the actual town, and now he was covering it up.
"I've decided to stay a while," Damon shrugged, "I'm just having way too much fun here with you and Elena."
"Well you can't touch her now."
"Well, the vervain keeps me out of her head, but maybe that's not my target. Believe it or not Stefan, some girls don't need my persuasion. Some girls just can't resist my good looks, my style, my charm and my unflinching ability to listen to Taylor Swift. I mean just look at Maya, that pretty little cheerleader is in love with me." He smirked and stabbed the knife into Stefan's belly, causing his brother to groan in pain, "This is John Varvatos dude," he motioned to his shirt, "Dick move." He walked out of the room and headed straight outside, he needed to pick up some blood bags from the hospital, he had a cooler hidden in the basement and would hide the blood there once Stefan had left the house.
"Alright," Caroline said, bouncing into Maya's room, entirely too perky, she threw open the closet doors and started pulling out dresses, throwing them on Maya's bed, and consequently all over the girl who was curled up asleep.
"Sunshine I thought we talked about this!" Maya groaned, pulling the covers over her head, "You may be a morning person, but I am not."
"And you and I need to decide what to wear to the Founder's Day party, and we need to make sure that Damon and Enzo match us!"
"Why do I need to match you?" Enzo asked, coming into the room.
"Because I overheard my Mom say that the Council's using the party to screen for any vampires in town. The party starts at five p.m. when it is still sunny, anyone that shows up during the daylight hours is automatically discounted as a vampire. So you two are taking us!"
"But I don't want to go to a party," Maya complained.
"I don't care," Caroline said, "Enzo!" she snapped, looking at the vampire, "Get Mai out of bed and into the shower, we don't have a lot of time to get ready."
"It's nine a.m. we don't have to leave until quarter to five!" Maya complained.
"Yes, and we need to pick out our outfits, do our hair, makeup and get our stories straight! So hurry up and get up!" Caroline exclaimed, "Enzo let's move!" Caroline clicked her fingers and he held up his hands in surrender.
"Alright, come on Red," he said, throwing Maya over his shoulder and heading towards the bathroom.
"Enzo don't you dare!" Maya exclaimed, "Enzo! Enzo! Don't even! Enz-Aah!" she screamed in shock when he dropped her in the shower and turned on the cold water. Snarling she waved her hand and Enzo was thrown out of the bathroom, and hit the wall in her bedroom.
He groaned as he dropped to the floor, and looked up at Caroline who was clearly amused by the turn of events. "Not a word," he said and she mimed zipping her lips.
Getting up he headed back to his room, "Don't forget to call Damon!" Caroline yelled.
Miranda rushed over to the Lockwood Estate the day of the Founder's Council party, she'd received a message that there was an emergency meeting of the Council that needed to take place before the party started. She arrived at the Lockwood Mansion and headed straight for the Mayor's Study. "What is so important that I had rush over here?" Miranda asked. She looked around the room, both Richard and Carol Lockwood were there, along with Logan Fell, Liz Forbes, and Pastor Young. "What's going on?"
"The pocket watch isn't working," Richard said.
"What?!" Miranda asked. After the second set of animal attacks the Council had voted to use the Gilbert pocket watch to find out who the vampire was in town. So Miranda had dug it out from storage and gave it to the Council. "What do you mean it's not working?"
"We've tried, and it's not working, are you sure that we have everything we need to get it running?" The Mayor asked.
"It's one piece Richard," Miranda deadpanned, "Are you sure you did it right?"
"I'm positive," The Mayor frowned, "The watch has stopped working, which means that we don't have a full proof way to detect vampires."
"The watch was spelled by the Bennett's we could always ask Sheila if she knows what's wrong with it," Miranda said.
"You really think that Sheila will know what's going on?" Carol asked, "She spends most of her time drunk."
"Do you have a better idea?" Miranda replied.
Damon was in the living room going through Stefan's journal, hoping to get any insight into what his little brother was up to, Zach was skulking around, acting more squirrelly than usual. He could hear Zach come in and waited for his nephew to say something.
"I didn't know that you were here," he said.
"Just going through Stefan's homework," Damon said, flipping through the journal, not moving his eyes away from the pages, "Boy this country sure has dumbed down in the last hundred years. Why he wants to go to high school is beyond me. I mean the 70s he went Ivy League," he looked up at Zach, who remained across the room, "Harvard, I understood. Actually no, I didn't get that either." He flicked through the book and resisted the urge to roll his eyes because he could feel Zach hovering. "Go ahead, purge. Get it out, what's on your mind?"
"Why are you here Damon?" Zach finally asked.
Damon looked up at that, a friendly smile on his face, "To spend time with you Zach," he shut the journal and tossed it aside, "Family's important."
"I know you, you always have a motive. So tell me, what is it this time?"
Damon leant back on the sofa for a moment, really where did Zach get the audacity to question him? The human Salvatore was clearly feeling more confident than normal and that was perplexing. He whooshed from his seat to directly in front of Zach, and grabbed him by his throat. "You are in no position to question me."
"I-I didn't mean to upset you," Zach choked out.
Damon smiled, "This is not upset Zach." He squeezed tighter, genuinely contemplating whether or not he should just kill Zach, when Stefan interrupted them.
"What's going on?" Stefan asked.
The elder Salvatore dropped Zach to the floor and turned to face his brother, "Having a family moment Stefan, spending some quality time." He smirked and walked out of the room, he'd find out what Zach was up to later, but for now, he had to pick up a new suit, all of his were horribly out of date.
Stefan rushed over to Zach and helped him up, "Are you okay?"
"No, I'm not," Zach said, "And neither are you!" he gasped, trying to get his breath back, "How many more people have to die before you see that?"
"I see it, all right Zach, I see-"
"Then why aren't you doing anything about it?" Zach demanded.
"I can't! Zach. I can't." Stefan lowered his voice, wary of the fact that Damon's hearing range was much further than his, "It would take human blood, it's the only way that I could stop him and I can't do that."
Zach looked around and whispered, "Vervain could weaken him, if he ingested it. It would help get you the upper hand."
"Vervain hasn't grown here since 1865," Stefan replied, "Damon saw to that, and the little I had I gave to Elena." Zach looked around again and Stefan gave him a questioning look, "What?"
Zach motioned for Stefan to follow him and the two made their way into the basement.
/ / /
Zach took Stefan down past the regular basement and opened the door to the cell that had been there since the house was built, showing Stefan the large amount of vervain he had growing.
"You've been growing it," Stefan said, walking inside.
"It's just something that's been passed down through the generations, blood only runs so deep when you're related to vampires," Zach shrugged, "Damon would kill me if he knew that I had it."
"But you're telling me. Why?"
"Because I trust you. And you're gonna need it if you wanna get rid of him."
Stefan looked back at the vervain and then at Zach, nodding.
Damon had come back from the tailor with a new suit and was in the bathroom, doing his hair, "Do they still wear ties at this thing?" he asked as Stefan walked in.
"Why are you even going?" his brother asked.
"It's only fitting, we were at the very first one remember?"
"Well I think it's better if we don't draw attention to ourselves," Stefan replied.
"So you should stay here," Damon shrugged, "I'll see to it Elena has a good time." Damon looked back in the mirror and saw Stefan take a sip of bourbon, "My goodness, I've driven you to drink."
Stefan shot him a look before trying on his dress shoes, "I can't seem to rid myself of you, what else am I supposed to do besides go about living my life?"
" 'Go about living my life'" Damon mocked, "See, therein lies your eternal struggle," He turned to face Stefan, "You're dead dude. Get over it." He went back into the bathroom to finish getting dressed and when he came out, he gave himself a quick once over in the mirror, "It's cool not growing old, I like being the eternal stud."
"Yes being a 150-year-old teenager has been the height of my happiness." Stefan rolled his eyes and raised his almost empty glass to his brother.
Damon let out a little laugh, putting on his jacket, "You cracked a funny Stefan!" Stefan didn't say anything but finished his drink, "I should have a drink and celebrate." Damon said, grabbing a glass from the table and moving over to the drinks, where a picture of Katherine caught his eye. The usual stabbing pain that was there when he thought of her, had turned into a dull ache, and honestly, he believed that soon, that would be gone too. But for now, he was to play the heartbroken brother, "1864, you and Katherine were the perfect couple. It was hell watching you dance with her."
"My happiness was short lived, as you well know," Stefan replied, waiting for his brother to take a drink.
"I remember," Damon tossed the picture back on the table and picked up the bourbon and his glass instead, turning around to face Stefan, "I left the party early, I was waiting for her. The night you dropped her off, I was waiting just inside." He started to pour his drink and continued, "You were such a gentleman, gave her a kiss on the cheek, when what she really wanted was…" Damon trailed off for a moment as he remembered that night, remembered being in her room, and then remembered how she compelled him to leave, because she didn't want him. Shaking off the new wave of hurt at that memory, he must have suppressed it, he raised his glass to Stefan, who'd turned around to watch him. "Oh well, here's to history repeating itself, huh?"
He moved to take a drink, but just before it could touch his lips he poured it on the floor, "I admire your effort Stefan," Damon said, coldness creeping into his voice, "Pouring yourself a drink, then spiking the bottle with vervain. I'm not some drunk sorority chick, you can't roofie me." Stefan didn't need to know that Damon had been consuming a little vervain every day at Maya's request, so that he'd be better prepared if someone tried something like that with him. It also prevented compulsion from the Originals, but Maya had fortified his mind, like she had with Enzo, so he didn't need to worry about that. "But I can't help but feel a little used." Damon straightened his cuffs, "I thought we were having a moment," he sighed, "Now I have to go to the party angry, who knows what I'll do?" He walked out of his room and Stefan watched him go, jaw clenched in frustration. He thought that his first plan probably wouldn't work, it's why he came up with contingencies, but upsetting Damon before he was going out with Elena's cousin, probably wasn't the smartest of moves.
"Okay people let's go!" Caroline called, adjusting the scarf around her neck, Damon had just arrived to pick up Maya, the two of them would take his car and Enzo would take Maya's.
"What's the hold up Blondie?" Damon asked, coming inside.
"Mai's taking forever," Caroline muttered, "LET'S GO!" she yelled.
"God Sunshine, relax!" Maya said coming downstairs, Enzo trailing behind her.
"Look at you!" Damon smiled, "You look gorgeous."
Maya was wearing a sleeveless, white, knee length dress, with light blue flowers printed all over it, it hugged her waist and showed off her tanned legs. "Why thank you Mr Salvatore."
"Pfft, I wasn't talking to you," Damon said, deliberately pushing her out of his way and taking in Enzo.
"I've never been so offended in my whole life!" Maya gasped, causing Caroline to giggle.
Enzo smirked and moved over to his lover, "So do you," he said, pulling Damon in by his jacket and kissing him, "I missed you this morning."
"I missed you too," Damon replied.
"Hey!" Maya snapped her fingers, pulling the two out of their own little world, "He's my boyfriend tonight! Keep your paws off Enzo!"
Enzo shot her an annoyed look before walking over to Caroline, "That's just as well, because this charming creature is all mine tonight." He placed his hand on Caroline's waist and gave her a rakish grin.
Caroline responded, by giving him her patented 'bitchy smile' and shook his hands off of her, "In your dreams Enzo!" she turned around, hair smacking him in the face as she did so and marched towards the car.
Maya snickered in amusement before rushing after her friend, she didn't want to get yelled at again.
/ / /
Both cars pulled up to the Lockwood Estate almost in sync and the vampires got out, offering their hands to their female companions, all four of them headed for the entrance to the mansion.
"Caroline! Maya! You both look smashing!" Carol Lockwood smiled, walking over to the entrance, she liked both girls, while Maya was a little rowdy, she and Caroline were a force to be reckoned with when it came to helping plan and execute the Council's many celebrations.
"Thank you Mrs Lockwood," Caroline smiled.
"Thanks Mrs L," Maya grinned, conscious of the two vampires between them, waiting for an invite inside, "Oh this is my boyfriend Damon," she gestured at the man by her side, "And this is Lorenzo, Caroline's date."
"Oh well, come on in," Carol said.
"Lovely to meet you," Damon said, stepping inside, "I've been looking forward to this party for quite a while."
Enzo stepped forward with Caroline and smiled, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Caroline has had nothing but good things to say about you and the Mayor."
"Thank you, please enjoy." She gave them her politician smile and walked off to greet other party goers.
"Let's get a drink," Damon said, offering his arm to Maya, as Enzo did the same to Caroline.
The Siphon and older Vampire headed for the bar, but Caroline stopped when she saw her mother, "Wait here," she said to Enzo and walked over to her mother. "Really, you couldn't even change out of the badge for this?" she asked, annoyed that her mom was always working.
"I'm working honey, who's the date you just tried to sneak past me?" the Sheriff asked, as Enzo went to join his friend and lover at the bar.
"Just some guy," Caroline shrugged, not wanting to give anything away, but she knew that that answer wouldn't cut it for her mother.
"He's a little old for you, don't you think?"
"Oh because otherwise you'd approve, I doubt that."
"Caroline," Liz gave her a stern look and she rolled her eyes.
"Relax, he's good friends with Jenna and Maya, they know each other from New York, he's thinking about moving here to be closer to them so I offered to be his date for tonight, so that he can see what Mystic Falls is really like."
"Fine, where's your dad?"
"Memphis."
"Good-"
"With Stephen," she finished, before rushing off to join Maya in the other room, it was a little mean sure, but her mother hadn't paid her any attention since she'd gotten back from L.A. In fact, Caroline didn't think that Liz had even noticed that she'd stayed at the Sommers for most of the week.
/ / /
The party went on for some time, Maya enjoying being out in public with three of her favourite people, she and Damon ignored Stefan and Elena for a while, opting to schmooze with some of the 'more important' residents of Mystic Falls, before it got dark.
Jenna had come to the party later than the rest of them, needing to finish up a project for her work, before she could even think about going to the Founder's Party, not that she really wanted to. She wasn't important enough to be noticed in town, but she did want to see her daughter all dressed up. She grabbed a glass of champagne and walked over to her little group of people.
"Hey Mom!" Maya smiled.
"Hi Honey, Caroline, you both look so pretty," she said.
"And you look ravishing," Enzo smirked, causing the woman to roll her eyes.
"Enzo, Damon," she deadpanned, "I take it you're enjoying the festivities."
"Free booze and drunk society women," Damon smirked, "Who wouldn't?"
Maya elbowed him in the gut "You're such an ass…"
"But you love me anyway," that was something that Damon had taken to saying a lot, especially now that he'd come back to Mystic Falls, it was if he was reminding himself that now he had people that were on his side, people that cared for him. When he hadn't before.
"How are things going?" Jenna asked.
"Damon is taking special delight in tormenting Stefan," Caroline said, arm wrapped tightly around Enzo's as she felt the gaze of the vampire pass over her at the mention of his name.
"As well he should," Jenna said, "He's a dick, I don't like him."
Damon snorted in amusement at that, "There's not many that aren't a fan of St Stefan."
"Well they obviously haven't met you then."
Maya laughed, "Well that's hardly true!"
"Hey!" Damon gasped, "Words hurt you know?!"
"Oh I'm sorry," Maya offered him contrite look, "Do you want me to kiss it better?"
Damon's eyes danced with mirth, "Definitely later," he said suggestively, causing Jenna and Enzo to grimace.
"Okay I'm your Mom and this is grossing me out," Jenna said, "So I'm gonna go, before I hear anything that might make me puke. Have fun, practice safe sex people." She ran off before they could stop her.
"Jenna!"
"Mom!" Both Enzo and Maya exclaimed as Jenna rushed off in the opposite direction.
Caroline shook her head in amusement and something caught her eye, "Hey look," she gave a little nod and Damon saw Stefan and Elena walking over to Founder's Register, from the first ever Founders Party.
"That's my cue," Damon said, "Caroline, won't you please join me?" the four of them had decided that not only would it be fun, but it would be better for Maya's mental health if she didn't have to interact with Elena as much as their initial plan had called for. So Caroline would split the duties with her, it also made it look like Damon was snacking on more teenagers, which would put Stefan seriously on edge.
"I shall," she said, taking his offered arm, the two of them walked over to Elena and Stefan.
/ / /
"The founding families of Mystic Falls welcome you to the inaugural Founder's Council Celebration," Elena read, "Wow, look, it's the original guest registry. Look at all these familiar names: Sheriff William Forbes, Mayor Benjamin Lockwood…is that Damon Salvatore? And Stefan Salvatore?" She gave Stefan a startled look.
"The original Salvatore brothers," Damon said, amused at the momentary panic on Stefan's face, "Our ancestors, tragic story actually."
"We don't need to bore them with stories of the past," Stefan said, trying to cut his brother off and keep him away from Elena.
"It's not boring Stefan," Elena said, "I'd love to hear more about your family." Stefan had been very guarded, and coupled with the information that Elena had heard from Bonnie, who'd heard it from Tiki, who got it from Caroline, who got it from Maya, it made her suspicious.
"Well I'm bored," Caroline said, ignoring Elena, "I wanna dance, and neither my date, nor Damon will dance with me. So I'm just going to borrow your date." She didn't ask.
"Then why don't you get Maya to dance with you?" Elena asked.
"Because she's busy introducing Enzo to the Mayor!"
Stefan shot a look over at the Mayor, and sure enough he was chatting with the red head and the stranger Caroline had been with, "I don't really dance," Stefan said.
"He does!" Damon said, "You should see him! Waltz, the jitterbug, the moonwalk. He does it all."
"Well that's settled then!" Caroline grabbed Stefan's hand and pulled him along with her to the dance floor. Stefan didn't protest again, likely thinking that Caroline had been compelled to get him away from Elena and wouldn't stop until she did.
They left Damon and Elena alone, for the first time since the night of the football game, "I want to apologise to you for being such a word-class jerk the other night at the football game," the words were like acid in his mouth but he'd get through them, "You didn't deserve it, my therapist said that I'm acting out, trying to punish Stefan, and scaring you was a way I tried to do it."
"Punish him for what?"
"It's all in the past," Damon shook his head, "I don't even wanna bring it up. Let's just say that the men in the Salvatore family have been cursed with sibling rivalry. And it all started with the original Salvatore brothers.
/ / /
Caroline and Stefan were on the dance floor, "Damon told you to ask me to dance, didn't he?" he asked.
"Why would he do that?" Caroline replied, looking sufficiently confused.
Stefan frowned for a moment, before he caught sight of a waiter bringing around champagne glasses, "Would you like one?" he asked, letting go of her and grabbing two flutes from the waiter's tray. Caroline looked away for a moment so he poured some vervain in her drink, he'd get Maya's on the way back over to Damon and Elena, covering all of his bases.
"Sure, just tell me if you see my mom," Caroline replied, taking a glass from him and sipping some.
Stefan smiled and spotted Maya break away from the Mayor, "Would you excuse me for just one moment," Stefan said.
Caroline nodded and raised a brow as she saw him walk over to Maya.
/ / /
"Maya!" Stefan called, walking up to her with a fresh glass of champagne.
She stopped and turned to face him, "Stefan," she said, face devoid of emotion.
"Can we talk?" he asked.
"That depends, is one of those for me?" she asked, nodding at the champagne.
Stefan smiled, "Of course," he handed a glass over to her and watched as she took a sip.
"So what do you want?"
"I wanted to talk to you about Damon," he said, "I know that he can be very charming, but I've known him for a lot longer than you have, and he's dangerous, you should stay away from him."
Maya frowned, Stefan Salvatore was such a hypocrite, yes Damon was dangerous, he was a vampire, all of them were, but Stefan was arguably worse, he was a Ripper, when he fed on human blood, all of his morals went out of the window, and he left nothing but destruction in its wake. He didn't get to talk to her about Damon being dangerous, "Listen to me when I say this, because I'm only going to say it one more time. Damon is my boyfriend, and I've known him, for longer than I've known you. I don't know you, I don't trust you, and from what little I've seen, you're not the type of person that I'd want to take advice from."
"Ma-"
"No, no, let me finish! You've pushed your way into my business, on more than one occasion, you can't back off, when asked. And you were rude and needlessly cruel to my best friend. Did you even apologise for the way you acted at the bonfire?" she asked, "Caroline was just trying to be friendly to the new guy, but let me guess, you'd heard what she was like from Elena and Bonnie, and decided that based on that, you'd treat her like she was just some dumb blonde cheerleader."
"You're right," Stefan said, realising that whatever compulsion Damon had on the girl was too strong for him combat against, "You don't know me, and I was rude to Caroline, I will apologise. But I do need you to hear this, I know Damon, and he's not good for anyone."
"I heard you," Maya said, "And this is me ignoring you," she walked off and headed back to Enzo, before she punched Stefan again, that would not look good for either of them.
/ / /
"The Salvatore name was practically royalty in this town until the war," Damon said, shoving his hands into his pockets, "There was a battle here-"
"The Battle of Willow Creek," Elena nodded.
"Right."
"I know, we talked about it in class. Confederate soldiers fired on a church with civilians inside."
"What the history books left out, was that the people that were killed, they weren't there by accident." Damon walked around her, wanting to put a little more distance between them, "They were believed to be Union sympathisers, so some of the Founders on the Confederacy side back then wanted them rounded up and burned alive." Damon looked down at the little model of the church that was before him, and Elena walked over to him, half entranced by the story, half horrified by what he was saying, "Stefan and Damon had someone they loved very much in that church, and when they went to rescue them, they were shot," Damon's eyes were sad, as he remembered the night of his death, "Murdered in cold blood."
"Who was in the church that they wanted to save?" Elena asked.
"A woman I guess, doesn't it always come down to the love of a woman?"
Elena looked him in the eye for a moment, before she shook off the connection she felt with him, "Look I'm sorry that you and Stefan have this thing between you, but I can't get in the middle of it Damon. I just, I hope you two can work it out."
"I hope so too," Damon said, he heard Maya's laugh and his jaw clenched, it was time to wrap this little charade up, but not without giving Elena something real to think about, "You know, Maya means a lot to me," he said, acting like the caring boyfriend, but genuinely telling her the truth, "And you hurt her, you know that right?"
"Damon look-"
"Don't say anything," Damon said, "You don't have to love her, or care for her, or even like her. But you did something wrong that night Elena, you know it, deep down. You nearly took your Aunt's daughter away from her, and I know Jenna, that would have broken her. The fact that you can't apologise for your Aunt's sake, really makes me question why Stefan even wants to be with you." He gave her a disappointed look and walked off to find Caroline and reunite them both with their respective dates for the evening.
Leaving Elena to gape at him as he left, one moment they were sharing a moment, and the next he was scolding her like she was little child, what the hell was with Damon Salvatore?
/ / /
Damon and Caroline re-joined Maya and Enzo, "So this party is a bust," Enzo said, "But I think we've all stayed here long enough to allay suspicion, don't you?"
Maya nodded, "Definitely, we came, we looked fantastic, and Caroline has been here long enough to show the Miss Mystic committee that she's very involved in all things Mystic Falls, right?" she looked over at the blonde.
"Yeah," Caroline agreed, "We can go home."
"Great," Damon said, "There's just one thing."
"What?" Enzo asked.
"Well we all know that before I met you," he glanced at Maya, "I had a plan to set she-who-must-not-be-named free."
"Right…"
"Once specific ingredient of that plan was an amulet, belonging to Emily Bennett, it would charge up with the passing of the comet so that it could be used to open the, you know, thing."
"Okay, so?" Caroline asked.
"Well I hid it upstairs, in a Lockwood heirloom."
"Seriously?" Maya said.
"Why does everyone hide magical items in the Lockwood house?" Caroline whispered.
"What?" Damon asked, confused, no one had mentioned to him exactly where Maya had located the moonstone.
"Never mind," Maya waved it off, "What's your point?"
"My point is, do you think I should go and get it?"
"A super old talisman, filled with the power of the comet? Sure, I could drain that thing dry."
"Great," Damon said, "Maya you come with me, you two let Jenna know that we're leaving!"
He tugged Maya's hand and the two made their way upstairs, Damon ducked into a study room and Maya followed, watching as he opened an antique and pulled the yellow crystal from it's hiding spot. As she took in the crystal, the vision of Emily Bennett in Bonnie's body flooded her mind. "Well that's hideous," she said.
"Well, it's all yours," Damon replied, dropping it into her outstretched hand.
"Aah!" Maya gasped, dropping the crystal and staring at the burn mark that it left on her hand.
"What is it?" Damon asked worried, looking at the mark.
"That is a powerful talisman, that is directly linked to Emily Bennett," Maya scowled, "She doesn't want me touching it."
Damon frowned, picking it up, "So what do we do with it?"
"Keep it," Maya said, "We can use it as a bargaining chip with Sheila Bennett if necessary."
He slipped it into his jacket pocket, he didn't want to keep it on his person, not when he had to go to the Boarding House, "I'll give it to Enzo," Damon said, "It's probably best to keep it away from Stefan."
/ / /
Stefan frowned as he watched Damon get into his car with Maya, he hadn't fed on either Caroline or Maya yet, and he needed to be there when Damon did, so that he could take his brother and lock him away. He was going to have to follow them.
He kept himself to the woods, as he vamp sped after Damon's car, he watched as his brother went inside the Sommers House, not requiring an invitation, which meant that he already had one. But then Damon came out a few minutes later, hair dishevelled, clothes mussed, a smirk on his face, and Stefan grimaced, Damon hadn't fed on her.
Stefan pulled out his phone and shot a messaged to Zach 'Plan C' was all it said.
Damon got back to the Boarding House, he took off his jacket and tie, and poured himself a drink, it had only been two weeks, but he couldn't wait until this was over.
He missed the easy existence he had, in the little bubble in the Sommers home, he missed waking up to Enzo in the morning, hell he even missed Maya blasting her music in her room first thing as she got dressed. But he had to stay close to Elena, which meant staying close to Stefan, and keeping Stefan suspicious about all the wrong things was the easiest way to do that. Sighing he headed downstairs, he needed a blood bag. Turning the corner he dodged Stefan as he tried to inject him with vervain, "Nice try Stefan, but I'm faster than you," he said, shoving his brother across the hallway and turning to leave, unfortunately while concentrating on Stefan, he hadn't even realised that Zach was close by, and ended up with two vervain darts embedded in his stomach.
Damon groaned in pain, but didn't go down, his tolerance for vervain significantly higher than that of an average vampire his age. "I'm gonna kill you!" he snarled, moving forward, but was hit with another three darts in his back, finally going down, unconscious.
"That took more vervain than I thought," Zach panted, heart pounding, as he realised how close to death he actually was.
"Damon's stronger than expected," Stefan said, picking up his brother and whooshing him down to the cell in the basement. Stefan reached out and grasped Damon's ring, but when he tried to pull it off, he was burned quite badly, "Aah!" What the hell was that? He tried to take the ring again, but had the same result. He couldn't take the ring from his brother, grabbing two more vervain darts, he stabbed them into his brother's leg, if he couldn't take the ring from Damon, then he'd make sure that his brother was too weak to get out.
Groaning as he woke, Damon sensed Stefan looking at him, he felt his hand and smirked, "Couldn't get my ring off huh?"
"I don't need to, you're not going anywhere," Stefan said.
"I wouldn't be so sure of that," Damon panted, as he tried to push himself to sit up but couldn't. "Don't forget, I have a girlfriend in town."
"You broke up with her," Stefan said, "Over text, this morning, it was very abrupt, but I'm sure she'll get over you."
Damon let out a cross between a gasp and a laugh, "Oh brother," he said, "You have no idea what you've done."
Maya woke to her phone chirping, indicating that she had a message, groaning, she reached out blindly for her phone, and unlocked it, so she could see the message. She brushed the hair out of her face and squinted as she looked at the screen, a message from Damon? He knew better than to send her something so early in the morning. Maya opened the text and her eyes widened as she read the message, sitting up straight, she read it again and cursed. "Enzo!" she yelled, shooting out of bed and running over to his room, she threw open the door without knocking and jumped on his bed, shaking the vampire awake, "Enzo!"
"What?" Enzo groaned, Damon hadn't come back last night and he was in a mood because of it, what if he hadn't come back because he'd spent that time with Elena and decided that he wanted to pursue her?
"Damon's in trouble!" she said, getting his attention.
Enzo's eyes snapped open, "What?!"
"He's in trouble!" She showed him the message that she'd received from 'Damon'.
"What the hell is this?" Enzo asked, the message said that Damon was leaving town, and that he was done with Maya.
"Stefan must have done something! He spiked my drink with vervain, Caroline's too!"
Enzo shot out of bed and got dressed in seconds, "Put some clothes on, we're going to the Boarding House."
/ / /
Damon gave Stefan a taunting grin, which was a feat, given how weak he felt, locked up in that cell, "You've done it now Stef!" he coughed.
"What are you talking about Damon?"
"You'll see."
/ / /
Enzo whooshed Maya straight to the Boarding House, stopping just outside of Stefan's hearing range, "What do we do?" he asked, "I don't have an invite, and the human's not home."
"You stay hidden," Maya said.
"What?!"
"You're the ace in the hole Enzo, Stefan doesn't recognise you, probably because he was too enamoured with Elena from the night of the accident, you stay hidden, I'll get Damon out."
"You'll have to reveal yourself to Stefan."
Maya shrugged, "It was going to happen eventually, and now he's made me extra mad."
Enzo's vampire was on full display, "I want to tear him apart," he growled.
"I know," Maya said, "But wait, it'll be all the more satisfying when Stefan realises that Damon has more than one ally in town." Maya's gaze was dark, Enzo could see the blackness creeping into her veins again, "Stefan's about to wish that he'd never touched Damon."
Enzo melted into the trees as he watched his best friend march to the front door of the Salvatore home, she didn't knock, just blasted it inward.
/ / /
Damon and Stefan both heard a crash come from upstairs, "Uh-oh," Damon said, "Told you so."
Stefan whooshed upstairs, only to be thrown back down them by an invisible force, he groaned as he hit floor, skidding to a stop in front of Damon's cell, "Hello Stefan." Maya said, eyes pitch black, skin luminescent with power.
"Maya!" Stefan's eyes widened as he saw the girl, she had magic!
She lifted her hand up, and Stefan was lifted in the air, choking on nothing, "What exactly do you think you're doing, Ripper?" she asked.
Stefan groaned as he felt his insides start to burn, "What- what are you doing?!" he gasped.
"Do you feel that?" she asked, "That's me, boiling your blood from the inside." Stefan groaned in pain, "It won't kill you, that right's reserved for Damon," she said, "But it hurts like hell right!" she growled out, throwing him back against the wall.
"Maya," Damon coughed and she turned her attention to the almost desiccated vampire in the cell.
"Damon!" she gasped, seeing him in such a terrible state, "You need blood."
"Freezer," he said, and she looked around the room, spotting a large freezer in the corner. She opened it and pulled out six blood bags, she wasn't going to take any chances with Damon.
Stefan rolled onto his side, struggling to push himself up, eyes widening as he saw the blood bags, he didn't know that Damon had been feeding on blood bags, he watched as they lifted into the air and floated through the little gap in the cell, "Don't!" he groaned.
Maya lifted her hand and Stefan was pinned against the wall, Damon grabbed the blood bags as they dropped into his cell and drained them in seconds. With his newly regained strength, Damon broke the cell door and stepped out, blood all over his mouth, vampire on full display.
He sneered at Stefan, struggling against invisible chains, "Stefan meet Maya," he stepped next to the girl, running his hand through her hair, "My pretty. Little. Dark. Witch." He said, eyes glinting dangerously.
"Damon," Stefan strained.
"Maya, babe, did you know that Stefan tried to steal my ring?" he asked.
"Did he now?" she cocked her head and Stefan groaned in pain, "Well that was stupid."
Damon smirked, "Oh definitely, what shall we do about that?"
"Hmm," Maya grinned, "I've got it!" she looked over at the freezer and whispered a few words, sealing it tightly, "Stefan can't get into your cooler," she said, "Now how's about we send him on a scavenger hunt?"
Damon's eyes lit up with glee, he whooshed over to Stefan and took his ring, "Back in few," he said, and whooshed out of the house.
Maya dropped Stefan and he grunted, "What are you doing?"
"Well you thought that you should take Damon's ring, just in case. Now he's taken yours."
Damon whooshed back and crouched over Stefan, "I've hidden your ring Stef, somewhere out there, on the property. How bout you go look for it?"
"Damon, don't." Stefan clawed his way to his feet.
The elder Salvatore, gave him a dark smirk, "It's too late for pleading Stef." He shoved Stefan up against the wall, Stefan could barely fight back, "You're hurt, you need to feed," he pulled Stefan's phone from his pocket and snapped it in half, "Let's hope that Zach doesn't come home before it gets dark." He dropped his brother and gripped Maya and whooshed out of the Boarding House.
Thank you for reading! If you have time, please leave a review as they keep me motivated!