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Thank you so much for all the reviews! Over 600 hundred, it's completely mind blowing to me that so many people enjoy this story!
twibe: Thank you! The Papa Klaus vibes are some of my favourite to write, because we never got to see enough of it in TO. You'll have to see how I did with Elena's reaction, she's dealing with multiple things, so initially, it may be different to how you pictured it...
xrysatsan: Thank you! We never got to see what Elijah would have been like with young Hope, so I'm just picturing a lot of him getting drawn into arguments with the kids, especially Luna, because she's growing into her sass.
jessisthebestduh: I know Season 1 isn't the most exciting, so I'm expanding and shuffling and cutting bits out so that we can get to some doppel-shenanigans with Katherine. Hopefully will get there soon!
Blu3b3rryT3a: Genuinely laughed out loud at your review! I love it, I think you should totally do a recap like that for all the chapters, because it's so funny. But yeah, I feel the need to annoy the hell out of Klaus! It's probably the Damon in me. We all know that Damon would 100% make fun of the guy if they were friends, and Klaus just has to let him get away with it because he likes the dude so much.
tinajayy: I just don't like the fact that for the first season especially, Stefan is so hypocritical. You probably are the only one who is upset over Zach, he may have been able to add something to the show, but not the way he was written, like if we knew Zach pre-1994 massacre, it may be different, but we only get to see him after the worst period of his life. I don't know about Caroline and Stefan's friendship, it all depends on how he acts long term with Elena, maybe they'll be friends when Damon and Stefan start mending fences with each other, otherwise I feel like Caroline would feel guilty for befriending Stefan when she's already friends with Damon.
Makaila Horinek: Thank you!
lillen20: Thanks!
neha . sonwane14: Thank you!
xotinkerbella: Don't be too mad at Matt, he and Maya took each other's virginity and I don't think it meant all that much to her either, you probably won't get a flashback of it, but might get like some more info on it, you know if Elena pushes for it. Elena's definitely got to keep her eyes to herself, Damon's not hers to toy with this time round, and Enzo is not someone you wanna mess with. Gotta love Klaus's Papa moments, I love writing them! I can't tell you how Maya's going to fit in with that, she's only 17 remember. But protective Klaus would be a blast to write, Luna would totally have to get her Uncle Kol to distract Papa Klaus so that she can sneak out to meet whoever she's into.
WiseGirlDivergence46: Thank you! Maya totally did not use her knowledge of the future to con Damon and Enzo out of some cash...*wink wink*
LifePrice1412: I can't tell you! You have to read it! Klaus keeps his word by leaving loopholes so that he can use technicalities. It's smart, but it totally makes him a little shit sometimes.
sam: You're welcome.
Felinegreat: Thanks, I had to throw in some fun, because we'd been deprived of Klaus and the kids! I feel like Luna's totally gonna drive Elijah to drink with how sassy she is. Can't tell you who Stefan fed off of, you'll just have to read and see! (hint, it's in this chapter).
Twihardkarebear38: Elena's probably going to have various reactions, given how much info gets dumped on her in this chapter, hope you enjoy it. We're gonna get more Grams now, because I think that TVD really dropped the ball on using her to her full potential in season 1.
Maya looked between Enzo and Damon, "You both owe me 200 bucks," she said.
"Damn it!" Enzo complained, pulling out a wad of cash and handing it over.
"I can't believe this," Damon moaned, taking the money out of his wallet, he made to hand it over but paused, "Wait, is this one of those things that you knew because of your future knowledge?" Maya just shrugged and smirked, "God damn it!" he handed the cash over, "No more betting with you!"
"Really?" Maya asked, "Are you really going to be able to resist betting against me?"
Damon scowled, "Yes."
"Okay," Maya nodded, "Because I was going to bet this 400 bucks, and say I think a bunch of druggies are going to die tonight."
"And why would you think that?" Enzo asked.
"Well in the uh 'world without me' today would have been the day that Damon escaped from the basement, and he attacked and killed a bunch of druggies in the cemetery."
"But Damon's right here."
"Yeah," Damon gestured to himself, "I am!"
"So what's the harm in betting against me then?"
Stefan was walking through the woods after dropping Elena off back home, she wasn't taking the news that he was a vampire well, not that he expected her too. But he was taking his time to go back to the Boarding House, he needed to prepare himself mentally before dealing with Damon and his friends. He was going by the cemetery, when he heard screams and smelt blood. He raced towards the noise and came across multiple bodies lying on the ground, they'd been fed on, there were still a couple of people barely alive, and Stefan was overwhelmed by the scent of fresh blood. He gave in and drained two of them, getting lost in the feed and tearing them apart. Pulling away from the second person, he could hear another heartbeat, looking around wildly, his eyes locked on to the vampire that had started this massacre. "No!" he gasped, he hadn't meant for this to happen. "Vicki?"
Vicki looked up at Stefan, dropping the person that she'd been feeding on, they were dead, her vampire on full display, she hissed and whooshed away. Stefan chased her, but lost her somewhere deep in the woods, "No, no, no, no!" he rushed back to the bodies in the cemetery, he couldn't leave them like this, he had to dispose of them.
Stefan picked up a few bottles of alcohol that he found lying amongst the bodies and doused every one of them with it, he searched them for a lighter and when he found one, he used it to set them alight. He waited long enough to see them catch fire and then whooshed towards the Donavon home, he needed to find Vicki, and he needed to find her now!
Damon rolled over in his bed at the Boarding House, he was sandwiched between Enzo and Maya, the three of them drinking way more than they should have the night before. He felt Enzo tighten his grip on him, and he in turn, squeezed Maya to him, "You know I could get used to this," he mumbled.
"Don't even joke about that," Enzo groaned.
"Mmm," Maya buried her face into a pillow, "This bed is heaven though." Enzo lifted his head, and squinted at her, he reached over Damon and shoved her out the bed. "Aah!" she groaned as she hit the floor, "You're such a dick!"
"My boyfriend, my bed," he said.
Maya waved her hand and Enzo was pushed from the bed by an invisible force, "I can do that too!"
"Just for that, no vamp blood for you!" Enzo said.
Maya sat up, and pulled herself to her feet, her head pounding thanks to the hangover, "I don't need it," she walked to the bathroom, grabbing a glass on her way there and filled it with water from the tap. Coming back into the bedroom, Damon and Enzo watched as she waved her hand over the glass and muttered "Aqua remedium," causing the water to turn bright blue. The moment she downed the drink, her skin regained its healthy colour, her eyes brightened and she lost all traces of her hangover.
"What the hell was that?" Damon asked.
"I haven't quite figured out how to make booze that doesn't give you a hangover, but I did figure out how to make a magical hangover cure." She waved her hand in front of her face, "See, I'm perfectly healthy now."
"Yeah, well 'perfectly healthy' it's your turn to make breakfast," Enzo said, getting up off the floor, and sliding back under the sheets with Damon, "Wake us when its ready."
"Ugh," Maya rolled her eyes and left the room, muttering something about how it was way too early for Enzo's lame dad jokes.
Stefan sat outside the only coffee shop in Mystic Falls with Elena, she'd called him when she'd woken and asked him to meet her. He had no choice but to abandon his search for Vicki, the sun had come up and he knew that she would be stuck indoors, wherever she was, but he needed to talk to Elena, convince her not to tell anyone about him, for both of their safety.
"You said that you would explain everything, that's why I asked you to meet me here. When you Google 'vampire' you get a world of fiction. What's the reality?"
"I can tell you whatever you want to know," Stefan said.
"I know you eat garlic."
"Yes," Stefan nodded.
"And somehow, sunlight's not an issue?"
"We have rings that protect us."
"Crucifixes?"
"Decorative."
"Holy water?"
"Drinkable."
"Mirrors?"
"Myth."
"You said you don't kill to survive."
"Animal blood keeps me alive," Stefan said (leaving out the fact that he had in fact killed two people the night before), "But it also means that I'm not as strong as Damon."
"And yet you let him get involved with my cousin?"
"I couldn't stop Damon even if I tried, and I did try, it didn't work out very well for me."
"What do you mean?"
"My uncle and I caught Damon by surprise the night of the Founders Council Party. I locked him up in the basement, hoping to dry him out. If a vampire doesn't feed, then they desiccate, basically our bodies shut down and we enter a sort of…'living death'. Without blood, he wouldn't have been able to do anything."
"Well what happened?"
"Your cousin." Stefan sighed.
"What?"
"I locked Damon up in an effort to keep him away from your cousin, I thought that he was feeding on her, compelling her-"
"Compelling?"
"Compulsion, it's a form of mind control. All a vampire has to do, is look in your eyes and take control, they can make you do anything, feel anything, forget anything."
"Have you ever done that to me?"
"No," Stefan shook his head, "That necklace I gave you, it's filled with an herb called vervain, it's very harmful to vampires, and it prevents compulsion, I wanted to protect you from Damon's influence. But…I also wanted to protect you from me. You should never take that off, because no matter what happens after today…no matter how you feel about me, you'll know that you were free to make your own choice. I thought Damon wasn't giving your cousin a choice, I thought he was using her."
"You're saying that he wasn't?"
"No, he wasn't…isn't…I don't know what the nature of their relationship is."
"What happened?" Elena asked.
"I locked Damon up, and then sent her a breakup text from his phone. I thought it would be enough to keep her away and eventually forget about him. But that wasn't the case, your cousin…Elena do you know what she is?"
Elena shook her head, "What do you mean? What is she?"
Stefan paused for a moment as a server came up to them to drop off their drinks, he eyed the pulsing carotid in her throat, sighing in relief as she walked away. "I told you, our rings protect us from the sun, but you didn't ask how."
Elena glanced at the signet ring on Stefan's finger, "Okay. How?"
"They're spelled by a witch."
"A Witch?" Elena asked incredulously, "Witches exist?"
Stefan nodded, "They do. Our rings were made when we first became vampires. Witches are powerful, Servants of Nature, and because of what they are, they're immune to compulsion. Your cousin is immune to compulsion Elena."
"Wait," Elena held her hands up, "Are you telling me that Maya is a Witch? Maya? My cousin?"
"Yes," Stefan looked away from her for a moment, checking their surroundings again, before leaning in closer, "It wasn't long after I sent her the 'breakup text', that she showed up at the Boarding House. I was downstairs with Damon, and she burst through the front door. I went to up to see what the noise was, but she used her powers to throw me back down the stairs. Held me in place and fed Damon blood, so that he was back to full strength. And then in retaliation, before Damon left the Boarding House, he took my ring from me, hid it. And he broke my phone, that's the real reason I was out of touch for so long."
"And what? After a couple of days he just gave it back?"
"No," Stefan shook his head, "He told me that he hid it somewhere on our property, the grounds that we own are very large, I spent that time looking for my ring."
"So you're telling me that Damon, and my cousin, who's a Witch, are working together?" Elena asked incredulously, "Why?"
"I don't know," Stefan answered, "Damon and I haven't had a good relationship since we were human."
"And when was that? When were you last human?"
"1864."
Sheriff Forbes covered up a body with a yellow sheet, "I've never smelled one this bad before," Logan said, covering his nose with a handkerchief.
"It tried to cover it's tracks," Liz replied, standing as she surveyed the scene.
"Are you sure?"
"I'm positive. You only burn a corpse to hide cause of death, and there are no shell casings."
"Do we know who they are?" Logan asked.
"The doc will have to check their dental records."
"What story should I run?" Logan asked, following her as she walked around the cemetery.
"Drug deal gone bad," Liz shrugged, "It's not too big a stretch."
"Any word on the Gilbert watch?"
"Mrs Bennett thinks that she might be able to re-spell the watch," Liz said, not really believing that the words were coming out of her mouth, spells, witches, vampires, nothing like that should exist. "But she needs a…spell book, that hasn't been seen since 1864."
"What are we gonna do?"
"Miranda's checking the archives, to see if any the Founders wrote about what they did with it."
"I'll run the story and give her a hand, we need to figure out how to find this vampire," Logan said.
A deputy came up to Liz and handed her a purse, "Found this in the brush about 10 yards away."
Liz dug through it and pulled out a little card wallet, she took out the I.D and sighed, "Vicki Donavan."
"You know her?"
"I went to high school with her mother."
Logan looked around, "You think she's one of these?"
"I hope not."
Stefan had just finished telling Elena about himself, about Katherine, about Damon, when he cleared his throat, there was one more thing he needed to tell her about. "There's one more thing."
"What?" Elena sighed, what more could Stefan have to tell her?
"Last night, I went for a walk in the woods, I found a vampire feeding on some local druggies at the edge of the cemetery, it was Vicki."
"VICKI?!" Elena yelled.
"Elena!" Stefan hissed, looking around at the eyes that were on them now, "You need to be quiet!"
"What do you mean Vicki's a vampire!?" she whispered.
"She was injured, a few days ago, quite severely, so I fed her my blood to heal her."
"What?"
"To become a vampire, you need to die with vampire blood in your system. Then you have roughly 12 hours to make a choice."
"A choice?"
"Feed or die. To complete the transition you need human blood, if you choose not to, then you die."
"How did she die?" Elena asked, "Was it Damon?"
"Honestly I don't know, I fed her my blood and compelled her to leave, I don't know what happened after that. I found her feeding on people in the cemetery, they're all dead."
"And you're just telling me this now?!" Elena exclaimed, grabbing her bag she jumped up and left.
Stefan threw some cash on the table and chased after her, "Elena! Elena wait!" he grabbed her arm.
"No Stefan!" She yanked her arm out of his hand, "Jeremy has feelings for Vicki, what if she shows up at my home!"
"She won't!" Stefan said, "At least not while the sun is out, she can't go anywhere until sundown. You go home and make sure that no one invites her in."
"What are you going to do?" Elena asked.
"Look for Vicki, I need to track her down and try to teach her how to feed."
"But she's killed people Stefan."
"She has," he nodded, "But she's new, a baby vampire, she doesn't know what's happening to her, and doesn't know that it can be controlled. Go home, I'll call you if I find her."
"And if she comes to the house?"
"Keep Jeremy away from her, don't invite her in. You may not like what I'm about to say…but ask your cousin for help."
"What?! No!"
"She's powerful Elena! Powerful enough to take me down, which means that she can take Vicki down without a problem."
"You just said she's working with Damon!"
"When it comes down to it Elena, if I'm across town and Vicki shows up at your house, do you really want to take the chance that she hurts someone? Jeremy? Your mother?"
Elena took a breath, she didn't want her family to get hurt, "Fine, but you call me, the moment you find Vicki."
"I will," Stefan said. He walked her to an alley way and whooshed her to her house, "I'll be in touch."
"That's weird," Maya said, "Elena just texted me, she wants me to come over."
"Do you think something's wrong?" Enzo asked.
Maya shook her head, "No, I'm the first call Nik's vampires make if something's wrong, they haven't sent me anything."
"Well let's go then," Damon smirked.
"Zo you should go home, Elena's not going to invite you in," Maya said.
"Alright," he nodded, "I'll keep an eye on your mum, you'll call me if something's going on?"
Maya nodded, "We will."
"See you in a bit Zo," Damon said, dropping a quick kiss on his lover's lips before the younger vampire disappeared. "Are we running or shall we take the car?"
"The car, it's daylight, we want to act like real people."
/ / /
"Elena's downstairs," Damon said, getting out of the car.
"How much do you want to bet that she's going to freak out when she sees you?"
"Pfft, I'm not taking that bet," Damon scoffed, the two walked up to the front door and rang the bell.
Elena opened the door and then immediately try to slam it shut when she saw Damon, but he pushed it open, "Jeremy go upstairs," she said, her brother stood behind her.
"What? Why?" Jeremy asked.
"Just go!"
Maya looked at her younger cousin and gave him a slight nod, telling him to do as his sister said, Jeremy frowned but did as he was told, knowing that Maya would tell him what was going on.
"You're afraid of me," Damon smirked, leaning against the door frame, "I'm gonna go out on a limb here and guess…Stefan finally fessed up."
"Stay away from me."
"Hey, hey, there's no need to be rude. I'm just here because my girlfriend received a suspicious text from you." He gestured to Maya, "I'm here to keep her safe, who knows what my baby brother would do to her." The dark glint in his eyes was back, "May I come in?" he pointed inside, "Oh wait, of course I can, I've been invited." He took a step inside, letting Maya in before he shut the door.
Elena chanced a glance at her cousin, hoping for some help, but Maya just appeared bored, she'd taken out her phone and was messaging someone. Looking back at Damon, she watched as he studied her house, "We can cut to the chase if you want, I'm not gonna kill you right now. That wouldn't serve my greater agenda." Maya bit her lip to stop from smirking, Damon was being such a dick and she was loving it.
"So," Maya said, "Why am I here?"
Elena looked at her cousin, she grabbed her arm and tugged her away from Damon and into the den, Damon tracked the movement with his eyes, making sure that no one was going to pop up from anywhere. "Did you have to bring him?" Elena hissed.
"It's not exactly like you to ask me nicely for things, I brought Damon in case Stefan was stupid enough to try something. Where is your boyfriend by the way?"
Elena bristled, "He's out looking for Vicki."
"Why? What has the druggie done now?"
"She's a vampire!" she looked at Damon accusingly.
"Don't look at me with those judge-y little eyes," Damon said, "I've never even spoken to Vicki."
"Well Stefan said that she was hurt, so he fed her his blood, and now she's a vampire…somebody killed her."
Damon cocked his head to the side, "One moment please," he tugged Maya back into the hallway and gestured to the area.
Rolling her eyes, she soundproofed the immediate area surrounding them, so no one could hear what they were saying, "What?"
"What did you do?!" he hissed.
"Nothing!"
"Maya!" he crossed his arms.
"Ugh, fine! You let Stefan off from killing Zach, and I get why, you needed to be the one to kill Zach, and I'm fine with that. But you got hurt, and Stefan wasn't getting punished! And neither Enzo nor I, were okay with that! So I got Enzo to compel Vicki, she stumbled into the Boarding House and practically fell down those basement stairs."
"Seriously?! I can't believe you!"
"Oh come off it Damon! You got hurt, and as the people that love you, we reserve the right to enact some vengeance to make ourselves feel better. And it killed two birds with one stone, punish Stefan and get Vicki away from Jeremy, permanently."
"Well it didn't work out that way did it?"
"No, and that's something that you should be questioning. We sent Vicki down there, your brother was starving, and Vicki was ripe for the taking. Stefan fed off of her, but he didn't kill her. How the hell did the Ripper stop?"
Damon took a breath as that realisation hit, "I don't know, Stefan doesn't stop, ever!"
Elena watched as the two talked, but she couldn't hear anything, they weren't far away from her, she should at least be able to pick up their whispers. Walking forward she placed a hand on Maya's arm, breaking the spell, "What?"
"What are you two talking about? And why couldn't I hear you?"
"Oh don't play dumb Elena," Maya said, "When Stefan told you about himself, I'm betting he told you about me too. That's why you called isn't it?"
"If Vicki comes here, I need a way to keep Jeremy safe."
"Well so long as Jeremy doesn't invite her in, he'll be fine, you don't need me."
Maya moved to leave, "Maya!" Elena said, "Please, it's Jeremy." Elena was playing on the fact that she knew Maya loved Jeremy.
Maya paused and frowned at Damon, "Let me make one thing clear Elena, the only person that I'm protecting here is Jeremy. If Vicki comes at you, you better hope that Stefan's close enough to save your ass."
Elena glanced at Damon and he smirked, "Don't look at me, I'm just here for my girl."
"Damon," he looked over at Maya, "Go help Stefan find Vicki."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah," Maya nodded, "With all the people that she killed last night, the Council will be on high alert, we don't want them to know about you guys just yet."
"Alright," Damon said, he swooped in for a romantic lip lock with Maya, before letting her go, "I'll go," he left the house, but before the door could shut, he turned back and directed his gaze at Elena "Oh, tip for later. Be careful who you invite in the house."
Miranda and Logan worked through the Founder's archives looking for any mention of the Bennetts, or witches, or spell books. "Hey what about this?" Logan said, reading through an entry, "This says that Ge-Guh-Gi-Giuseppe Salvatore is the one that ensured that the witches were burned at the stake."
"The Salvatores kept all of their journals, the archives don't have a copy of them, we'll have to ask Zach," Miranda said.
"I'll call him," Logan said, pulling out his phone. He tried calling multiple times but each time, received no answer, "He's not picking up."
"Someone will have to go to the Boarding House then," Miranda sighed.
"Not you?"
"I don't think I'd be very welcome there."
"Why? What did you do?"
"Ugh," she ran a hand over her face, "My niece is dating the elder of Zach's nephews, and I got into a fight with her, in front of him."
"A fight about what?"
"It doesn't really matter, does it?"
"Fine, I'll go," Logan said.
Maya looked over at Elena, her cousin looked like she was almost bursting at the seams with questions, and she was not in the mood to deal with it, "I'm gonna go check on Jeremy." She made to go upstairs when Elena grabbed her hand and pulled her into the den. "What the hell Elena?!"
"How could you not tell me that you're a Witch?!"
"Oh I'm sorry, did I miss the part where we suddenly became close? We're not friends Elena, we're barely even family, you're not someone that I confide in."
"You have magic powers and you didn't think to tell your family?!" she hissed.
She yanked her hand from Elena's grasp, "I did tell my family, you're just not it!"
"I bet you told Caroline!"
"Of course I told Caroline! I spend 95% of my time with Caroline! Why wouldn't I tell her?!"
"And you think Caroline Forbes can keep a secret?" Elena scoffed.
"Well she's been keeping it since I was 10," Maya shrugged, "How did you find out again? Oh yeah, your boyfriend outed me! Without my permission!"
"You attacked him!"
"He attacked Damon!"
"You're dating a killer!"
"So are you!"
"No! Stefan's not like that! He doesn't kill people!"
Maya laughed, "Is that what he's told you? That's funny!"
"Stop laughing!"
"I can't help it! The fact that you believe that Stefan hasn't killed anybody since he became a vampire, it's the funniest thing I've heard all day! How can you be that gullible?"
"I'm not gullible!" Elena shot back, "I know Stefan! He's not a bad person! He's not a killer!"
"He's a vampire Elena, they're all killers, and you know nothing about Stefan Salvatore! He didn't even tell you that he was a vampire, you had to figure that out for yourself. And I have to say that I'm genuinely surprised that you managed to get your head out of your own ass for long enough to know that there was something off about Stefan!"
"You act like Damon isn't a problem, he killed Mr Tanner!"
"Stefan pissed him off," Maya shrugged.
"And you don't see a problem with that? Damon gets angry and people die!"
Maya shook her head, "The supernatural world operates with a different set of rules. You don't get it because you're human."
"So are you!" Elena exclaimed.
"No I'm not! I haven't been human from the moment I was born!"
Elena shook her head in disgust, "How can you just sit there? Knowing that Damon's killed people? Knowing that he'll do it again?!"
"Ugh," Maya rolled her eyes, "This isn't 'Twilight' Elena! Vampires drink blood, human blood, that's what they're designed to do! Damon's no Edward Cullen, and I'm not Bella! If Damon wants to kill someone, he'll do it, because he's a predator, because there's only so long that you can supress the biological need to kill, before you go off. And as long as he doesn't go after anyone that I care about, I couldn't give a crap what he does!"
"I can't believe you!" Elena paced.
"Oh come on Elena, you should be grateful to me, Damon stays away from the Gilberts and Bonnie, and Matt and Tyler, because of me."
"And what about Vicki?!
"Damon didn't do anything to Vicki," Maya said, "Chances are, she found her dealer after being healed, picked up some pills and OD'd. And because she didn't know what was going on when she woke up, she probably fed on the first person that she saw. Damon's not to blame for that, Stefan is, because it was Stefan's blood in her system when she died."
"You're sleeping with a monster!"
"I am," Maya agreed, "It's a lot of fun."
"Is that it? You're having fun with Damon? That's why you let him out after Stefan stopped him?!"
"No, I let him out because I love him."
"Oh please, you barely know him!"
"Damon and I have been on good terms since I was fifteen Elena, that's two years, how long have you known Stefan again?"
"Two years? How did you even meet him?!"
"He's a vampire, I have magic, our paths crossed," she shrugged, "Why do you even care?"
"How are you a Witch?"
"Well when a mommy Witch and a daddy Witch get together and do the dance with no pants-"
"Jenna's not a Witch!" Elena interrupted.
"No? How do you know?"
"Because Mom's not one, I'd know if she was!"
"Would you? I mean, I'm pretty sure that there's plenty about your parents that you don't know. But you are right, neither one of our mothers has magic, which means I got it from my dad, all it takes is one parent and then," she clicked her fingers, "Magic baby."
"I can't believe this," Elena muttered, "How long have you-you been a-"
"I'm gonna stop you right there Elena," Maya said, she was done answering her cousin's questions and gestured between the two of them, "This thing that we're doing, we're not bonding over this, you and I aren't suddenly going to be singing kumbaya and hugging out our problems. You don't get to know about me, because you and I, we're nothing to one another."
"Maya-"
"You killed me Elena, and you still haven't said that you're sorry, and you haven't apologised because you don't care. You don't care that you nearly permanently ended my life, you don't care that you nearly destroyed my mother. You. Don't. Care. So we're nothing, as far as I'm concerned, our only connection is Jeremy. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna check on him, because you sent him upstairs rather abruptly and I'm sure that he's curious as to why."
/ / /
Maya knocked on Jeremy's door, her young cousin was pacing the floor when she went inside. "Jeremy, hey."
"Maya! What's going on?" Jeremy asked.
"Jer we need to talk." She closed the door and soundproofed the room, she didn't want Elena to hear anything that she said. "It's Vicki."
Jeremy looked at her with wide eyes, "What is it?"
"She's a vampire," Maya said softly.
"WHAT?!" Jeremy exclaimed, "What are you talking about?"
Taking Jeremy's hands, she led him to the bed and sat him down, she was going to have to go with Stefan's lie, she knew that Jeremy wouldn't understand why she'd done what she'd done. He'd be upset, hurt, possibly hate her for it, so for now she'd go with Stefan's version of events, "Stefan said that she was hurt, badly enough that he needed to give her blood to heal her. He says that he doesn't know what happened to her after that, but she must have died with his blood in her system."
"How do you know that she's a vampire?" Jeremy asked.
"Stefan was on a walk in the woods last night, he heard screams and smelt blood. He found her feeding on some people in the cemetery."
"The cemetery?"
"Yeah, it'll probably be on the news soon enough."
"Vicki took me to the cemetery once, it's where she hung out with her friends."
"Oh Jer."
"What's gonna happen now?" Jeremy asked, "She can't be out there on her own, she probably doesn't even know what's happened to her."
"I know," Maya nodded, "Stefan's out looking for her, and Damon's searching too. Hopefully they'll find her before anyone on the Council does."
"Can't you do something?"
"I am Jeremy, I'm waiting here in case she comes looking for you."
"No!" Jeremy shook his head, "Can't you do like a locator spell or something?"
"I'd need blood to do the spell, Vicki's."
"What about Matt? He's her brother, would his blood work."
Maya knew it would, but she was hoping that Damon would find Vicki before Stefan did and stake her, "It might," she replied.
"I'm gonna call Matt then," he reached for his phone but Maya stopped him.
"Jer wait! You can't call Matt, Elena doesn't know that you know about all of this, and if she finds out, she'll probably get Stefan to try to compel you to forget."
"Then you call him!" Jeremy exclaimed, "Maya! What are you waiting for?!"
"I'll get Elena to call him, but you need to act like you don't know anything, to keep you safe. I don't trust Stefan with you, and I don't want you to get hurt."
"I won't say anything." Jeremey replied, "But please, find her."
/ / /
"Elena," Maya said, seeing her cousin in the kitchen, "You need to call Matt."
"What? Why?"
"Because neither of the boys are back yet and it's been hours, it'll be dark soon, and Vicki will make another kill, if I have some of Matt's blood then I could try a locator spell."
"Why didn't you do that before?!"
"Do you really want to involve Matt in this? I'll need his blood Elena, how do you suggest that we get it without telling him what's going on?"
Elena frowned, thinking about her ex, she didn't want Matt to know about the supernatural, it would only put him in danger, "I'll figure something out, but I'm calling him."
/ / /
It was an hour later that Matt came over, Elena had given him some excuse about wanting to talk about Jeremy and Vicki, but hadn't figured out how to get Matt to give a little blood. Rolling her eyes, Maya's fingers twitched and Matt caught his fingers on the edge of the glass covering the coffee table and cut himself. "Aah!"
"Matt!" Elena exclaimed, seeing the cut on his fingers, "Let's get that cleaned up!" she said, grabbing his arm and taking him to the kitchen.
Maya waved her hand at the blood droplets that had landed on the table and they floated up, she rushed upstairs before Elena and Matt could come back, and went into Elena's room. Quickly she cast the locator spell and found Vicki, hiding in one of the old abandoned warehouses on the edge of town. She texted Damon the location, hoping that he'd get there before Stefan and went back downstairs and saw Elena see Matt off.
"Well?" Elena asked, turning to the Siphon when Matt was gone, "Did you find her?"
"I texted Damon the location." She shrugged, heading back inside the den.
Elena watched her cousin with narrowed eyes and sent a message to Stefan, he needed to find Vicki before Damon did.
Bonnie was at her Gram's house, she'd accidentally set that car on fire at the Car Wash and knew without a doubt that she was a Witch. "Was our family burned in the Witch Trials?" she asked.
Sheila lit a few candles as she spoke, "No, the girls that were persecuted in Salem were entirely innocent. You have to have more than ignorance to trap a real Witch."
"Well, how did we end up in Mystic Falls?"
"Our family fled Salem in 1692 and relocated here." She turned to her granddaughter, "Our ancestors lived in secrecy for over a hundred years. It's important that we still do."
"Grams, everybody knows you're a Witch." Bonnie said, moving over so that Sheila could sit next to her.
"They also know it's absurd. Can't be true. I'm just a kooky lady that teaches occult at the university. No one really believes, they just poke fun. And let them." She took a drink from her cup of tea, "Don't let them know the truth, or they'll be coming to you for all sorts of things."
Bonnie frowned, "So where's the witchcraft? You've been talking history for two days, I wanna get to the fun part."
"It's not meant to be fun," Shelia said, she needed Bonnie to be careful, especially now that she knew that the Siphon in town probably had access to magic, "It's real and it's serious, and you must understand it before you practice it. Especially in this town."
"What do you mean in this town?" Bonnie asked.
"In the 1800s a Council was formed in this town, made up of the founding families, the Council was created for the specific purpose of dealing with the supernatural."
"The supernatural?" Bonnie repeated.
"In 1864 this town was overrun by Vampires."
"Vampires?!"
Sheila shot Bonnie a look, causing the young girl to close her mouth, "The Vampires were rounded up, locked in the church and killed."
"Wait, you're talking about what happened at the Battle of Willowcreek," Bonnie said.
"Yes," Shelia nodded, "The Battle was used as a cover to kill the Vampires, but…they were rounded up because of us…because of our ancestor. Emily Bennett."
"Who was she?"
"She was a very powerful Witch, she created this," Shelia showed Bonnie the pocket watch.
"She made a watch?"
"No," she took out the clock and replaced it with a compass, "Emily spelled this watch and the compass so that it would point in the direction of any nearby Vampire."
Bonnie thought back to the news lately, the 'animal attacks' and more recently, Mr Tanner, "Is there a Vampire in town?" she asked worriedly.
"There is," Sheila nodded.
"Then, shouldn't we be using this to find whoever it is?"
"We can't, the magic in it has been taken."
"Taken?"
"Yes," Sheila sighed, "I hoped that I would never have to tell you about this, but there are more than just Vampires and Witches out there. There are also Siphons, abominations. And your friend's cousin, Maya, she is one."
Logan parked in front of the Salvatore House, got out of his car and looked around. There were no cars in the driveway, and most of the drapes were shut, indicating that no one was home. Walking up to the front door, Logan rang the bell and knocked. "Hello!" he called, "Zach? Are you in there?"
When he received no answer he walked around the house, he tried a couple of the doors and finally found one that was unlocked, he opened it and walked inside, "Hello? Zach!" Looking around he fought the urge to shiver, this place was creepy.
"Can I help you?"
Logan jumped in surprise and whirled around, seeing a man lounging on the couch nearby, feet up on the table, book in his lap. "Who are you?" he asked, he didn't think he'd seen him before.
"Lorenzo," he shut his book and stood, "I'm a friend of Damon's."
"Damon?"
"One of Zach's nephews. He's uh, dating Miranda Gilbert's niece."
"Right, I saw him at the Founders Council Party," Logan swallowed, offering Enzo his 'News Anchor' smile, "I'm looking for Zach, is he here?"
"No." Enzo said.
"Wh-where is he?"
Enzo shrugged, "No clue mate, you'd have to ask one of his nephews."
"And is one of them here?"
"Nope."
Logan narrowed his eyes at Enzo, getting frustrated, "Do you know where they are?"
"Nah," Enzo shook his head, "Who are you by the way?"
"Logan Fell."
"Well, Logan Fell, seeing as how no one that you're looking for is here, you should go."
"I'd prefer to wait," Logan crossed his arms.
"Listen mate, the front door was locked, so you came in round the side, that's kind of sketchy if you ask me. I'm not all that comfortable with you being here. You could be a thief for all I know."
"I'm the News Anchor!" Logan sputtered, "People in this town know who I am! Nobody knows who you are though, how do I know that you're not the criminal?"
Enzo was stone faced, "I'd be happy to call the Sheriff and clear all of this up," Enzo said, "Of course I'll also be calling Damon, letting him know that you were breaking and entering, and trespassing. And when the Sheriff confirms that I am who I say I am, I'm sure that Damon would be more than happy to press charges…tell me, if you get arrested who becomes the new News Anchor?"
Mayor Lockwood sat down with his wife at the Mystic Grill, he'd just finished speaking with a Sheriff's deputy. "How many are we dealing with?" Carol said.
"The coroner thinks one. Something about the wound radius and jaw pattern-"
"Are we in danger?" Carol cut him off, "It's been hiding from us for this long, it could know that we know. And could it come after us? And should I even be saying 'it'? Is it a he? Or a she? Has it been here before?"
"If it has any historical knowledge of the town, then yes, we could very much be in danger." The Mayor looked around, making sure that no one was listening in.
"So what do we do?" Carol asked.
"Just keep it quiet, we can't have the entire town aware of this. We have to find it, before it finds us."
"Has there been any word on Vicki Donovan?"
"It's confirmed she wasn't one of the bodies."
"Then where is she?"
"I have no idea."
"Has there been any word on the watch?" Carol asked.
Richard nodded his head at the Miranda and Logan who'd just arrived, "Let's find out."
Logan and Miranda sat down with the Lockwoods, "Well? Where are we at?"
"We need access to the Salvatore Journals," Miranda said.
"So call Zach and ask."
"We have, there's been no answer."
"I went over there," Logan said, "But he wasn't home, no one was."
"Does anybody know where Zach is?" The Mayor, Richard, asked.
Logan shook his head, "No."
Damon sped to the warehouse, he was going to kill Vicki, there was no way that a girl like her would be able to handle vampirism without years of guidance, and he wasn't about to get stuck being her teacher. "Vicki?" he called, "Where are you?" he broke off one of the boards on the window, snapping it in half, creating a makeshift stake. "Come out, come out, wherever you are!" He listened for movement, and heard the rustling of fabric coming from the floor above him.
He whooshed upstairs, and found her hiding, "Hello Vicki." He let his Vampire come to the surface and rushed to attack her. Vicki flung herself backward but Damon slammed into her, she wasn't fast enough to dodge him. He had her on her back, straddling her, he raised the stake, but just before he killed her, he was knocked off of her by Stefan, "What the hell?" he groaned. "Stefan?" he shoved his brother off of him and stood, "How did you find me?"
Stefan rushed at Vicki and snapped her neck, "Elena called, told me that you had Vicki's location, she didn't trust that you wouldn't hurt Vicki." He glanced at the makeshift stake in Damon's hand, "I guess she was right."
"Come on Stefan! You really think that Vicki Donovan of all people is going to handle being a Vampire!"
"She deserves a chance, Damon!"
"She's a drug addict Stefan! She's not going to survive."
"If she dies, it won't be because you killed her!"
Damon charged at Stefan, and his brother shoved him off, "Would you look at that! I guess someone's on the human diet again!"
"This is your fault, Damon!"
"No," Damon shook his head, "It's yours." He looked over at the unconscious teen with disgust, "If you're so desperate to save the girl, fine, she's all yours brother. But don't come crying to me when you have to kill her." He whooshed out of the warehouse, a scowl on his face, this wasn't worth the effort. He pulled out his phone and shot Maya a text, he hoped that she wouldn't be too upset with him.
Maya was in the attic of her home, it was her 'magic room' as her mother liked to call it, she was staring at whiteboard filled with information. Damon had told her that he'd let Vicki live, because Stefan believed that she deserved a chance, and Damon thought that it would be a better punishment, Stefan would fail and have to kill Vicki and Damon wouldn't even have to do anything. But in letting Vicki live, a chill had shot down Maya's spine. Something wasn't going right in Mystic Falls, she could feel it, and decided that she needed to map it out. Maya had gotten out a couple of whiteboards, that she used to work out her magical theory before casting new spells, and wrote out what she knew about Mystic Falls on one board, in a code that she and Caroline had come up with when they were seven. And used the other board to map out what had actually happened in Mystic Falls so far.
She looked between the boards comparing the two and paled in realisation, "Shit," she muttered, staring at them in rapidly growing horror.
"What's wrong?" Enzo asked, having received a text from her, asking him to come up, "And what the hell am I looking at?" He looked at the boards, and what appeared to be nothing but gibberish.
"Where's everybody else?" She asked.
Enzo cocked his head to the side as he listened out for movement, "Damon's just arrived with your mum and Caroline's coming up now."
"I'm here!" Caroline said bursting in, taking in the serious look on Maya's face, "What's goi-" She cut herself off as she caught sight of the board, "Oh shit!"
"What?" Enzo asked, "What are you seeing?"
"The hell Zo?" Damon asked, coming in, "I thought we were meeting at the Grill!"
Jenna followed him and stopped short at the boards, "Oh no, not this crap again." It had taken Jenna almost two years to get Caroline and Maya to stop using their made up language, for a short time the girls had used it at school, confusing the hell out of the teachers and prompting a conference with both girls parents, "Please tell me we're not reverting back to nonsense."
"It's not nonsense!" Caroline protested, "It's a very complex, very awesome secret language."
"No it's a made up nightmare," Jenna replied.
"Okay everybody shut up!" Maya said, calling attention to herself, "And sit down! Because I think we have a problem."
Caroline eyed the boards with worry, "You can say that again," she muttered, "Is all of this true?" she asked.
Maya nodded, "Yep."
"Well shit, that's not good."
"Okay one of you is going to have to start explaining!" Enzo demanded, "All I'm hearing is that things aren't good and you saying 'shit' a bunch of times, what is going on?"
"Okay, Damon let Vicki live," Maya said, "And Stefan's got her at the Boarding House right now."
"Which we already knew," Jenna confirmed.
"Yeah, but it got me thinking. Certain things are happening that I've seen happen, but they shouldn't, because things are different now."
"Mai, you're gonna need to break it down for them," Caroline said, being the only other person that could read what had been written on the boards, she already knew where Maya was going with this.
Maya shook her head and looked at the board, "Okay, okay, so I wrote down everything that I know has happened so far on this board," she gestured to the white board with less writing on, "And on the other I put down what I've 'seen' happen and I compared the two. You following me?"
At their nods she continued, "Okay, so in the WWM, that's 'world without me' for those who didn't get it, the night before school started, Damon killed a couple, drained them completely, so that he would have enough fresh blood in his system to connect with that crow, and manipulate the fog. And on the first day of school Damon used a crow, to smack into Bonnie's windshield while she was driving, scaring her, and Elena. And then he used the fog and the crow to freak her out when she went to visit her dad in the cemetery."
"Which is exactly what he did," Enzo said.
"Right," she was talking with her hands, waving them about as she explained, "Which is fine, that's one day! Damon's an ass, of course he was going to do that." Damon looked like he wanted to protest at that, but held back, because he could see that she was working herself up. "Then the next night, in the WWM, Damon killed those two campers out in the woods."
"But Damon didn't do that," Jenna said.
"No, he didn't," she pointed at Enzo, "But you did, Damon was at the Boarding House, but you went to the exact same spot in the woods, killed the exact same people, in the exact same way!"
"Huh," Enzo's brow furrowed.
"And fine, I could probably explain that away, you know, hungry vampire in town, people out in the middle of the woods at night, easy pickings! Right?!"
"Right," Damon said.
"But then! The bonfire!" she pointed at the elder Salvatore, "Vicki was the one that was attacked in the WWM, but you didn't attack her, because you knew that Jeremy liked her, and you didn't want to have to deal with him bitching at you right?"
"You're right," Damon nodded, "I had the chance to go for her, but didn't take it."
"But you did attack somebody. And Jeremy found her body, he tripped over her, exactly like he would have done with Vicki. And then Tanner happened, Stefan said that your love for Katherine was your humanity showing, which pissed you off, because 'A' you don't love Katherine anymore, '2' Enzo is the reason that your humanity is fully back, and 'D' Stefan has no right to act like he knows who you are anymore, because he doesn't. Which pissed you off, so you ripped Tanner's throat out, and left him in the exact same place that I'd seen him in!"
Enzo leant over to Jenna and whispered, "Did she just-"
"Leave it," Jenna shook her head, "Let her finish, we'll correct her later."
"And what else do I have…oh yeah! Zach, dead, at Damon's hands, both then and now. Those deaths at the cemetery, the night of the car wash, that happened before. Only before, it happened because that would have been the day that Damon escaped the Boarding House after three days of being dried out and vervained. He would have killed them all, except for Vicki, and she is my biggest problem right now. In the WWM, Damon turned Vicki."
"Don't look at me!" Damon protested when all eyes turned to him, "I didn't do it!"
"No you didn't, and that's what's getting to me. Stefan fed on Vicki, he stopped before he killed her, he's a Ripper, and a Ripper doesn't stop, so how the hell did Stefan stop before killing her? How did he leave her alive enough to heal with his blood? And how did she actually die?"
"Things are the same but different," Caroline said.
"It's like every move I make to change things, Nature's making a counter move to try and change it back!"
"Okay, so let's think about this," Jenna said, "If things are both the same and different, what's due to happen next?"
"Stefan takes in Vicki, tries to teach her how to be a vampire," Maya sighed, "And then on the night of the Halloween party, she runs away, sneaks into the party, attacks Elena, and gets staked by Stefan."
"Okay, so we have to make sure that she doesn't escape on Halloween," Jenna said.
"Or we could just kill her now," Enzo shrugged, receiving a slap on the back of the head from Jenna.
"If we kill her, she dies as a vampire." Caroline pointed out.
"Which is what happened in the WWM," Maya finished, sighing she scrubbed her hands over her face and threw herself down in a chair, "I need help."
Jenna eyed her daughter, noting the visible stress on her face, the bags under her eyes, indicating that lately she hadn't been getting enough sleep, and knew that it was true, Maya needed help, help that she couldn't give. "You need to go and see Kol," she said, "And maybe Klaus. You call them and set something up, and I'll write you a note for school so that you can go."
"Mom, I can't just go off in the middle of the week, besides it's Care's birthday in two weeks, and we still haven't got a place to have the party!"
"We'll have it here," Jenna said.
"What?"
"Really?" Caroline asked excitedly, she'd been dying to throw a party at Maya's place, but Jenna had always been reluctant to let it happen.
"Yeah," Jenna nodded, "We'll have it here, and the boys will help get everything ready, so you can go and meet up with the Originals and come up with a game plan." She could tell that Maya was worried about something else, something bigger than what she was willing to talk about. And she would bet that Caroline knew what it was that was worrying her daughter. And while Maya was away, she'd press her daughter's best friend to find out what it was.
It was a few days later that Damon and Enzo were drinking together at the Grill, Damon had retreated back to the Sommers house, because Stefan and Vicki were annoying the hell out of him, and Elena, kept insisting on stopping by, despite the fact that she'd told Stefan that she couldn't date him. Maya was on a private plane, flying to California, with two of Klaus's compelled vampires as her bodyguards. Klaus was happy to meet her, and so was Kol, but his paranoia made it so that he wanted the meet to be somewhere other than the pack territory, so they'd all agreed that California was the best bet.
A server had just been over to the Vampires' table to bring them another round of drinks when Miranda and Logan approached them. "Damon," Miranda said, offering him a small smile, she was hesitant to approach him, given the disaster of a dinner she'd held, but Stefan hadn't been around the house and Zach hadn't been answering the phone.
"Mrs Gilbert."
"Please call me Miranda," she said, "Uh, have you met Logan?" she asked, motioning to the man at her side.
"No but my friend Enzo here has," Damon replied, nodding at Enzo, "I hear he stopped by the house."
"Uh yes," Logan said, "Sorry about that, I was looking for Zach, he's not been answering my calls."
"Zach's busy," Damon took a sip of his drink, "He's been uh, buried… in work for a while, I'll let him know that you've been calling. But is there anything I can do for you?"
"Oh," Miranda paused glancing at Logan, she didn't know how much Damon knew about the town, about the Council, and didn't want to give anything away just in case. "We were going through the Founder's Archives and realised that we're missing some of the Salvatore journals."
Damon stiffened and Enzo shot both of the humans suspicious look, clearing his throat, Damon straightened a little in his seat, "Uh, which ones were you looking for, in particular?"
"We were hoping for the ones around the time of the Battle of Willowcreek and after," Miranda said.
"So the uh, mid 1860s and beyond," Damon clarified.
"Yes."
"Is there any reason for your sudden interest in that particular time period?" Enzo asked.
Logan offered the Vampire a tight smile, "No reason in particular, we're just looking to expand the archives for Civil Hall, you know, make sure that the people of Mystic Falls have as much access to the history of this town as possible."
"Well I'll ask Zach to take a look," Damon cut in, eyes narrowed in Logan's direction, "And I'll remind him to call you."
"Great!" Miranda said, "We'll leave you two to your drinks."
The two humans made to leave, but Damon stopped them, "Logan," the man turned to look at him, "The next time that you stop by the Boarding House, and there's no answer, that's not an invitation for you to just let yourself in. And if you do it again, I will be calling the Sheriff."
"Right," Logan said, "Again, sorry about that."
"Well it's just common courtesy really," Enzo said with a dangerous smirk, "Don't go into someone's home unless invited."
"Yeah," Logan nodded.
"You can go now," Enzo said, motioning for them to leave, and they did.
"Who the hell is that guy?" Logan asked, as they walked away.
"Maya introduced him as a friend of Jenna's at the Founders' Party, she said that she met him in New York a couple of years ago." Miranda replied.
"New York? What was she doing there?"
"She and Maya have been going there every year, for the last seven years. They go every summer, sometimes they'll go for a Christmas too."
"Seven years?" Logan said, "That's gotta be expensive, how could she possibly afford that? Hell didn't she move into that big place near the Sheriff's? How did she do that?"
"Maya's father died, left her a large sum of money, and since Maya is a minor, Jenna's the one who got control of it."
"And who exactly is Maya's father?"
"I-I don't know, Jenna's never told me, she always said that the father wanted nothing to do with them."
"And yet he left Maya money when she died?"
"Yes." Miranda nodded.
"Doesn't that sound a little suspicious to you?" Logan asked, "I mean, all of a sudden some guy no one knows, just drops a bunch of cash on them."
"What are you suggesting?" Miranda said defensively, "Jenna's not lying, she has no reason to."
"I'm not suggesting anything," Logan replied, "I just think it's odd."
"Freya," Rebekah said, walking into her sister's room and closing the door, "How would you like to take a little trip with me?"
"A trip where?" Freya asked.
"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm not really convinced by the story that Kol gave me about Nik. I want to know what he's up to."
"Do you know where he is?"
Rebekah smirked, "I had dinner with Kol the other night, and I may have snooped through his phone, Kol is meeting with Nik and their Witch in a few days in Los Angeles, I have the address…"
Freya looked very tempted, "But what about Finn? I don't want him to think that I've abandoned him."
"You're a grown woman Freya, if Finn is so determined to hate our brother, then he can't act like him. And if he kept you here, just because he doesn't want to be alone, well then, he's far more like Niklaus than he'd like to admit. Besides, he's not alone," Rebekah dismissed, "He has Sage."
"I don't know Rebekah."
"Think about it," Rebekah said, "I'm leaving for Los Angeles tomorrow night, call me if you want to come along." She whooshed out of the room leaving Freya to her thoughts.
Freya sat down, her brows furrowed at the conversation, it was true, she didn't believe what Kol had said about Niklaus, the idea that he was 'visiting a friend with a child who had managed to get a hold of his phone.' That made no sense. She wanted to know her brothers, a family is all she ever wanted, and if she knew that Niklaus wasn't all bad, then perhaps she could convince Finn to stop his plotting, and the family could be together once and for all.
Maya was lounging on a towel on the beach, her two Vampire bodyguards were somewhere behind her, their clear instructions to make themselves inconspicuous unless necessary. Klaus and Kol were running late, she expected it from the wildest Mikaelson, he liked to be contrary just because he could, but she was surprised that Klaus hadn't arrived yet. He was the kind of person that liked to show up early, just so that he could scope out the place for exits, sightlines, and potential ambush points, (even with Mikael gone, it was a habit that he hadn't lost). Closing her eyes, the sun warmed her skin and she stretched out, frowning when she felt a shadow cover her. She opened her eyes, ready to chew out whoever was blocking her sun, but instead smiled as she saw Klaus standing above her.
"Nik!" Maya stood and flung her arms around the Original, "You're late."
"Yes well, I was…held up…" he trailed off, his gaze moving from her to his travel companions.
Maya followed his eye line and raised a brow, "You brought the kids…"
"You said it wasn't an emergency, and when I said I was leaving, they…wouldn't let me go without them…"
"Since when does Niklaus Mikaelson let other people dictate what he does?" Maya gave him a cheeky smirk.
"…Shut up!" Klaus scowled.
"Oh my God, you're such a dad!"
"I said shut up!"
Maya laughed, "I'm just kidding Nik!"
Klaus shook his head, "Let's just go find somewhere to talk." He studied her for a moment, "And cover up!"
"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" she asked, looking down at her outfit, in her opinion her bikini was fairly modest.
"It's far too revealing for you!"
"Literally everyone on this beach is wearing something far more revealing than I am!" Maya protested.
He yanked her towards him, hands on the small of her back, so that Maya was pressed against his body, "I don't want to tear off everyone else's clothes, do I?"
"Oh," Maya went bright red at the implication, she hated the fact that he could reduce her to speechlessness, with just a few words. She grabbed her cover up and slid it over her head, "Happy now?"
"That's barely covering anything up!"
"Well it's all I have!" Her hands were on her hips, "You're just gonna have to deal with it!"
"Fine," he said, pulling her back towards him, "Let's find somewhere to sit."
Maya led him and the kids to row of beach chairs, that had been laid out with a table and large sun umbrella between every two chairs. She sat down in one chair, and Klaus took the other, the kids scrambling up on his lap, "How are you two doing?" Maya asked the children.
"W-we-we're fine," Liam stuttered out, cheeks turning red as she looked at him.
Maya gave him a small smile, "The rings are working out well for you both?" she asked, "You've had no problems?"
"N-no," he shook his head.
Klaus looked down at Liam with a small smirk, and spoke to the Siphon in Bulgarian, the only other language that he knew that she was fluent in, "It looks like someone has a little crush."
"Can you blame him?" Maya shrugged, leaning back on her hands.
"No, I can't," he smirked at her, ignoring the curious looks that the kids were giving him. "Now what was so important that we needed to meet in person?"
"I'd rather talk about it with both you and Kol, that way I don't have to explain twice. Where is he anyway?"
"He said he'll be here tomorrow. He wanted to give us a little time to ourselves…I can't imagine why," he shot her a look and she rolled her eyes.
"Damon is such a little gossip, it's not an attractive quality, I can't believe he's your best friend."
"He's not my best friend! Why does everyone keep saying that?" Klaus protested and Maya laughed.
"Because it's true!" she looked at the kids, "Look we have independent people right here to give us their perspective."
"No don't you-"
"Okay kids listen up, if you had someone that you talked to everyday, told your secrets to, had fun with," she motioned for Klaus to keep his mouth shut when he moved to interrupt her, "Listened to you when you complained and always had your back, what would you call that person?"
Liam looked up at Klaus, "You have a best friend," he said.
"He's your best friend," Luna agreed.
"See! The cute ones agree with me!" she grinned, and Klaus growled in response, causing Luna to giggle. "Now!" she clapped her hands and stood up, "Since Kol isn't going to be here until tomorrow, how about we have a little fun? Have you ever put your feet in the ocean before?" when the kids shook their heads, she held her hands out for them to take. They looked up at Klaus, and at his nod, they slipped their hands into hers and went with her towards the water.
/ / /
Rebekah and Freya were together in Los Angeles, Freya found the place rather charming, and spent quite some time pulling Rebekah into every little shop that she passed on the beachfront. "Sister, you know that we're here for a reason, right?" Rebekah said. She wasn't usually one to shy away from shopping, but they were in L.A to spy on Klaus, and they couldn't do that if they were focused on other things.
"I know!" Freya replied, "But I've never been to California before!"
"We can explore later, right now, we should find a place where we can spy on our brothers!"
"Fine," Freya sulked a little, she knew they were there for a purpose, but Los Angeles was so different from New York, especially out by the ocean. "Let's go."
"Come on," Rebekah shook her head at her sister's pout, was that how she looked to her brothers when she didn't get something that she wanted? She tugged on Freya's hand and the both of them stopped when they found a place to watch from, on the beach. The Witch was stretched out on the ground, and neither of their brothers were anywhere to be seen.
"I thought you said this was the time they arranged to meet?" Freya asked.
"It was," Rebekah frowned, "Kol, I can understand being late, he usually cares for no one's time but his own, but Nik is never not on time."
"Do you think that they've arranged something different?" Freya asked alarmed, "Or perhaps they met early?"
"I-" Rebekah stopped as she saw Klaus show up on the sand, and with two small children in tow, "Hang on." She motioned for Freya to look and the two watched as Klaus approached the Witch, the children hanging back, "I think I know those children."
The sisters saw the Witch jump up and embrace Klaus, and speak for a few moments, "What's going on?" Freya asked, "I can't hear them."
Rebekah relayed what they were saying, brow furrowing when the Witch referred to Klaus as a 'dad' and her brother barely disputed it.
The four of them moved over to some seats for more privacy and Rebekah motioned for Freya to follow her to readjust their position. Nothing of magical importance was being discussed but Rebekah was still thrown by what she heard. Klaus with a best friend? Klaus having fun? The sisters watched as the Witch played with the children in the ocean, and then the Witch and the little girl decided to splash Klaus with water, causing the Original to shoot up with a snarl. But contrary to what usually happened when one angered Klaus, the Witch picked up Luna by the middle, yelling 'Run!' and the girls dashed away laughing. Quickly caught by Klaus, who gave playful chase. Klaus grabbed the girl from the Witch's arms and then pushed the Witch in the water, causing her to scream in shock. And Klaus let out a laugh at her, tickling the little girl in retaliation for her splashing him.
"What on earth?" Rebekah whispered as she saw them, this was not something she was prepared for.
"Is this…usual behaviour for Niklaus?" Freya asked quietly, seeing a side of her brother that she never thought she would.
"No!" Rebekah replied in shock, she'd never seen Klaus act like this before, he was…happy! Having fun!
And then they saw Klaus pull, the now soaking, woman towards him, and he leant down and kissed her, causing both of the children to groan in disgust and splash both of them. The two of them broke apart and then chased after the children.
"I've never seen Nik like this before," Rebekah said, "Not even with Marcel."
"Marcel?" Freya asked.
"Um…Marcel was Nik's fri- was his son, Nik took him in as a child in New Orleans, gave him his name, raised him, and yet, I haven't seen a look like that on Nik's face since we were children."
"I see," Freya said, not taking her eyes from her brother, she couldn't hear what was being said, but she could see how he was acting with the children. "You said you might know who the children are."
"Yes, I rescued them last year!"
"Rescued them from what?" Freya asked.
"From some Vampires," Rebekah said, "They are…baby wolves, I stumbled across them, they had nothing, and no one left to care for them."
"Wolves?" Freya mused, "They're so young."
"I'm not entirely clear how they triggered their curse, they weren't too forthcoming with me."
"How did they end up with our brother?"
"I called him, since he's part wolf, I thought that perhaps Nik could help. And he did, he found them a pack, took them to it."
"If he found them a pack, then why is he with the children now? Acting like he's their father?"
"I don't know!" Rebekah replied frustrated, "I don't know anything! This, all of this is so different than what I've seen of Nik for the last millennia! I don't understand!"
Freya saw the distraught look on her sister's face, and reached out to comfort her, "It's all right Rebekah, we shall figure this out…together."
Bonnie knocked on Elena's bedroom door in the morning, she had so much to tell her friend, she didn't even know where to start, "You up?" she asked.
Elena rolled over, "No," she said and pulled her covers over her head, Bonnie marched over and pulled them from her, "No, no!"
"Why haven't you called me back?" Bonnie asked.
"I'm sorry," Elena sighed, letting go of her duvet.
"Are you gonna stay in here forever?"
"Yep."
Bonnie sighed, "Move over," Elena shifted in bed and Bonnie climbed under the covers, "I'm officially worried. What's going on?"
Elena shook her head, "I'm tired of thinking, of talking."
"Can I get a one-line version, so that I can at least pretend to be helpful?"
"Stefan and I broke up."
"I'm so sorry," Bonnie said, "Are you okay? Right, stupid question. I know I've been kind of MIA when you need me the most…I suck."
"You wanna make it up to me?" Elena asked, brushing her hair from her face, "Get my mind off of it."
Bonnie gave Elena a secretive smile, "Just remember you asked for it," she got up and shut Elena's window. She picked up a pillow and ripped it open with a nail file.
"Hey!"
Bonnie dumped the feathers onto the bed, "Be patient."
"Okay..."
The young Witch sat down, "I need to swear you to secrecy."
"It's kind of a bad week for that kind of stuff."
"Swear, because I'm not supposed to be showing you this."
"Okay, I swear."
"Okay. There's no windows open right?"
Elena looked around, "Right."
"There's no fan, no air conditioning."
"None, what are you doing?"
"Grams just showed me this, you're gonna love it. You ready?" Elena nodded and Bonnie smiled. She put her hand over the pile of feathers and slowly lifted it, a single feather floating up, following the movement of her hand, and then fell back down to the pile.
Elena watched in shock, "Bonnie, what's going on?"
Bonnie rubbed her hands together and took a deep breath, this time, hovering both hands over the pile, as she raised them, several feathers floated up. Bonnie put her hands down, looked at Elena and at least 20 feathers shot into the air. Elena looked around in awe, laughing in delight. "It's true Elena, everything my Grams told me. It's impossible, and it's true. I'm a Witch."
"I believe you," Elena smiled, looking at her friend.
"It's weird huh? All this time joking about being psychic, and I really am a Witch." Both girls let out a little laugh, "You don't think I'm a freak now do you?"
"No of course not. Bonnie, I just- I don't understand though. If your Grams asked you to keep this a secret, why did you tell me?"
"You're my best friend," Bonnie said, "I can't keep secrets from you."
That reminded Elena of what Maya had said about Caroline, how she couldn't keep the secret of her own magic away from the blonde, Stefan asked her to keep his secret, but he hadn't said anything about keeping Maya's secret, "Can I tell you something? But, I need you to keep it a secret."
"You can tell me anything," Bonnie smiled.
"It's about Maya…"
Bonnie straightened, her Grams hadn't gone into much detail about Maya Sommers, she had kept her explanation short and mostly just emphasised that Bonnie should stay away from the girl, "What about her?"
"Maya's a Witch too."
"Is that what she told you?" Bonnie asked.
"Well," Elena thought about it, had Maya actually said the word 'Witch' in reference to herself? She hadn't, she'd referred to herself as 'having magic', but she'd never said the word, "No, she said she's magical, she never actually said that she was a Witch."
"That's because she's not," Bonnie said.
"What are you talking about?"
"This is something else that you have to keep to yourself, you can't even let Maya know that you know it."
"What is it, Bonnie?"
"My Grams told me about Maya, she's not a Witch, she's a Siphon."
"A Siphon? What is that?"
"Grams basically explained it like this: Witches are Servants of Nature, we draw our power from it, work in harmony with it, which is why I guess that Grams has such a big garden at home, and why all of her plants always look good, even when the rest of the town is suffering through a cold burst or a drought. But anyway, Witches get their magic from Nature. But a Siphon-" she sighed for a moment, figuring out how to word it exactly, "A Siphon doesn't, they're not connected to Nature, they don't feel it, they can't draw from it, they have no magic of their own."
"But then, how could Maya do spells?"
"A Siphon has the ability to do magic, but none of their own, they have to take it from enchanted objects, or people with magic, like me. They siphon it."
"Which is why they're called Siphons," Elena said in understanding, "So what you're saying is that Maya is like a magical leach? She takes her magic from people?"
"Well, I don't know if she's taken any from another Witch, but she has taken magic from an enchanted object. Something that my ancestor spelled, a long time ago, but it belonged to the Gilberts."
"What?"
"You remember that pocket watch that Jeremy was supposed to get from your dad? The one that's been in your family for generations?"
"Yeah," Elena nodded.
"Well the watch part was removable, and could be replaced by a compass. Together they were spelled so that when in the presence of a… supernatural creature," Bonnie didn't want to scare Elena with the news that not only did Vampires exist, but one was stalking the town, "It would point to them. It was used to hunt… supernatural beings a long time ago. But now, the magic's been drained from it, it's all gone."
"And Maya was the only one with access to it that could take the magic from it! Because she had access to this house!"
"Yeah," Bonnie nodded, "Grams is trying to find a way to get it to work again, but the spell was old, really old, and no one has seen my ancestor's grimoire since she was alive."
"How long ago was that?" Elena asked.
"My ancestor, Emily Bennett, died in 1864, that was the last time anyone ever saw it."
Elena froze at that date, 1864, Stefan and Damon had been turned into Vampires then, that couldn't be a coincidence, "Does your Grams have any leads on where to find this- what was it called again?"
"Grimoire, it's basically a Witch's spell book, and she doesn't have anything solid, but she's more worried about Maya."
"Why?"
"Grams said that Siphons shouldn't exist, that they're abominations," that word made Bonnie feel a whole mess of things, her grandmother was basically telling her that Maya was a monster just for being born different. But Maya couldn't control that, any more than Bonnie could control the colour of her skin, or the fact that she was a Witch. Bonnie didn't like Maya, not one bit, hell she didn't think that she would have even felt anything had Maya died in that car accident, that was how little she cared for the girl. But even she knew that it was wrong to hate someone just for being born.
"What do you mean?" Elena asked.
"Witches are connected to Nature, which is how they are magical. But Siphons aren't connected to Nature, so where did their ability come from? They're obviously not natural, so Grams said that Maya shouldn't exist. That she's dangerous."
"But she does exist," Elena said, she pretty much hated her cousin, but not for existing, that was stupid, "Maya didn't ask to be born, she can't not be who she is."
"I know," Bonnie nodded, "And I honestly don't know if what Grams is telling me about Siphons is some seriously old school prejudices, or actual facts."
"Well then we should find out," Elena said, maybe this would be a good way to take her mind off of the whole, Stefan, Damon, Vicki, Vampire disaster that had been all she could think of.
"How do we do that?"
"We investigate," she looked at the closed bathroom door, it was connected to both hers and Jeremy's room, so she lowered her voice, "I overheard Jeremy saying that Maya was throwing Caroline's birthday party at her place. So all we have to do is score invites to her house, and then we can snoop."
"That's easier said than done Elena! Maya and Caroline, hate us."
"Oh right," Elena faltered, that was true, how were they going to get invites over there?
"I guess there's one thing you could try," Bonnie said, "But you're not going to like it."
"What is it?"
"You could apologise to Maya."
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