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Thanks so much for all the follows and reviews! I can't believe we're nearly at 700 reviews!
whataboringlife: She might try… but don't forget, Maya has the Bennett grimoire and Emily's talisman to use as leverage.
ArtemisLuna85: Damon was rushing around trying to find a present for Caroline because he left it till the last minute. Stefan is busy trying to teach Vicki how to be a vampire, and trying to get control over his own thirst, plus, do you really think that he'd be invited over to Caroline's party at Maya's house? Unlikely. And he and Elena are currently broken up, a little earlier than they did in season 1, but it works for the whole 'Elena not seeing Stefan as a Ripper' thing. Dunno about Jeremy and Davina, they're the same age, which is much better for Jeremy, but they also live in different states, and from what I understand, according to canon, Davina's life is about to become a lot more restricted, thanks to the upcoming Harvest.
Dark Angels and Light Angels: I don't really believe that Lily's family were the first Heretics, because if the Gemini Coven was meant to protect the doppelgängers, then the Coven has been around for 2000 years, there's no way that Valerie was the first Heretic. Elena told Bonnie Maya's secret when she shouldn't have, and then she broke into a place that she had no right to be. So while I'm glad that they don't want to take Sheila's words at face value, they had no right to go into her house.
Guest: That's true, Maya doesn't know that Sheila told Bonnie about her, she just thinks that Elena told Bonnie. She also doesn't know that Miranda is looking for the Bennett grimoire and why. So hopefully, she'll find out soon. The protective features definitely came from Kol and Klaus, Klaus is paranoid and will have insisted on extra protections, and Kol would have loved to help her develop the spells.
Raven R. Mahmood: No you're not. : )
Serena Salvatore: Yes she does! I definitely stole that idea from Charmed!
edwardsgirl21: Until Katherine shows up, they have to be the main bad guys!
niharikas6572: Glad you're enjoying it!
Starhunter18: Hope you like it!
TikiKiki: Hey I love it when people ask questions, even if I can't answer them, it's nice to know that people are still interested! Yes, any creature belonging to Death is part of his attempt to tip the scales back so that there is balance enough for him to be able to access the living plain. But the problem is the Siphons only come from one Coven because they're the only ones that do the merge, which means there aren't a lot of them to begin with. Coupled with the fact that they either get killed or locked away, it looks like they never get the chance to have children of their own to increase how many Siphons there are, otherwise more people would know that Siphons existed. There is an origin for the Werewolves, it's given to us in The Originals. The Witch Inadu/Hollow cursed the seven royal bloodlines, which included her own, before she died. And Haley was a descendent of Inadu's bloodline which is why the Hollow took over Hope, because they were connected through blood.
xotinkerbella: Kol's reaction to Jeremy isn't something that I'm looking forward to, but hopefully it's mitigated by the fact that there's no longer any white oak available to kill the Originals. I'm really shipping Caroline and Kol, but it would be a while before anything happens with them, I mean, Caroline turned down Klaus because she had plans that she wanted to fulfil first, so she'd probably do the same with Kol. But I also feel like Kol is probably more 'in your face' than Klaus is, and he would be more persistent in showing her that he was the best choice, instead of pulling a 'Klaus' and letting her do all those things she wanted to do before expecting her to come to him. When Enzo signed up to be Maya's big brother, he did not sign up for the screaming friends! It's going to take a lot more for Kol to forgive Rebekah, because she's his baby sister, so I feel like her betrayals, both past and possible future, hurt him more than Elijah's apathy to his first death.
Careena1: We're going to get more Sheila, because there's no tomb that kills her this time around, so her life will change something huge in TVD. I already have it planned what she's gonna do, and I think it'll be pretty epic.
Guest: Maya's had to learn to be resourceful, because even though she's got Vampires and magical objects that she can siphon from at the moment, she knows that that could change at any moment, so she needs to know how to adapt just in case. I find it difficult to find sympathy for Elena in the first two seasons, because she's supposed to be 17, and therefore had no right to make decisions for Jeremy when he had a legal guardian, maybe things would have been different for him if he'd been allowed to talk to Jenna about what was going on his life. And she also had no right to not tell Jenna, especially when Katherine came to town and managed to get and invite to the house, and compelled Jenna to hurt herself. At the very least she should have told Jenna after that. And I have 0 sympathy for Stefan because he's 162, he always wanted to give Elena a choice and respect her, but didn't give Jenna or Jeremy the same courtesy. Hell when he compelled Zach back in 1994, he could have even compelled Zach to leave Mystic Falls with his baby and set him with a new life away from Vampires, but he didn't he separated a man and his child instead of protecting them both.
Suiryoko: Thank you!
Ashes2Dust18: Yes, I haven't received any notifications in weeks! It might be because of the email that you're using, apparently a lot of people having the problem have a Hotmail account. So maybe try to change the email you're using and see if that helps? I don't really know what to tell you, I've asked for help, but received no response.
sam: You're welcome.
Blu3b3rryT3a: Caroline will always be a queen! There maybe more than friendship in Kol and Caroline's future, but that's the future! From what I understand, Davina was pretty innocent before the Harvest. I think giving Davina people outside of the French Quarter Coven has really helped her grow, plus the fact that she can work in this business that she has with the girls, has boosted her confidence. Of course Elena's not going to talk to Maya, why would she do something that makes sense and gives her cousin a chance to defend herself.
WiseGirlDivergence46: I love Bonnie too! But right now, the only other person she trusts is Elena, maybe your hate for her in this will change, when Bonnie see's that there's a lot more out there, than just Witches! Thank you!
neha. sonwane14: Hope you enjoy.
The day after the huge birthday bash, had the members of the Sommers house in varying states of disarray. Caroline had woken up, (without the hangover, thanks to Maya's spell), but she did stink of booze, so she had rushed off to get a shower and change, before she went home to spend the day with her mother. Jeremy was passed out in some bushes in the front yard, covered from head to toe in neon paint, it was strange enough that Caroline paused on her way back home, she didn't even know where he'd gotten the paint from, she certainly hadn't provided it. Shrugging she stumbled down the drive, she may not have had a hangover, but she wasn't entirely sober either. Of course, when she passed the barrier that had been set up, her head cleared, her walk straightened, and her eyes brightened. By the time she'd gotten home, her mother was none the wiser about how drunk she'd been.
Damon was shirtless, his jeans around his ankles, covered in glitter, unconscious by the pool, his arms wrapped protectively around a half empty bottle of bourbon. Enzo was out like a light underneath the snack table, dressed only in his underwear, a crooked plastic silver crown on his head, and had several beaded necklaces hanging off of his neck. Cake was smeared all over his stomach and he was snoring like a chain saw.
Maya and Davina were the only two, besides Caroline, who'd managed to get themselves indoors, before crashing. In fact all three of them had fallen asleep together, in a tangle of limbs, beads and glitter, on the floor, in the den. And when Caroline had woken, the other girls had too. The Siphon and the Witch were now surveying the aftermath of the party, the members of the Sommers house weren't the only ones who'd passed out, outside, all of them lucky that it hadn't started raining the in the middle of the night. Maya could see plenty of people from her year still on the grounds. Matt and Tyler, had made a sort of nest with the pool toys and a couple of the girls from the cheer squad. About half a dozen other football players were scattered about, on the grass, along with other girls and boys from the squad, band, track and basketball teams.
"Your mom's not home yet," Davina said, handing the older girl a cup of much needed coffee.
"Yeah, we should probably get everyone out of here before she gets back," Maya said.
"How do you want to do this?"
"Just a minute," Maya crept outside, artfully dodging stray limbs and solo cups, and took six or seven pictures of both Damon and Enzo, before going back to the patio.
"What are you doing?" Davina asked, amused at the sight.
"Taking pictures to send to Kol," Maya replied, "He doesn't think that we know how to party." She went to send them off and her eyes widened at her phone, "Oh no!"
"What?"
"I got way drunker than I thought I did," she said, staring at what were clearly messages that she'd sent the night before.
"What'd you mean?"
"…I appear to have sent some texts…and pictures…"
"To who?"
"…"
"Oh. My. God!"
"…"
"You drunk texted Klaus?! Klaus?!" Davina hissed, "The Original, Klaus?! The one vampire that strikes fear into the hearts of everyone? Klaus?!"
"Well… he doesn't strike fear into my heart…" Maya offered weakly.
"No, he just makes your heart beat out of your chest, and your lady parts tingle!"
"Davina!" Maya said shocked, "You!" she pointed a finger at the girl, "Have spent way too much time on the phone with Caroline!"
"Well, we're not wrong!"
"You two have no business discussing my lady parts! And I told Caroline that in confidence!"
"We're like best friends, you can't keep anything from me," she shrugged.
"Really? How's Tim?"
Davina gasped, "Caroline told you?!"
Maya shrugged, "We're like best friends, you can't keep anything from me." she repeated.
Davina shook her head, "I can't believe she told you," she muttered.
Maya laughed, "We can talk about this later, let's just get everyone out of here before mom comes home."
Rolling her eyes, Davina looked out at the backyard, "How do you want to do this?"
"Maybe give them a rude awakening." she went over to the sprinkler system and grabbed the hose that was attached to the wall, "You want the hose or the sprinklers?"
Davina's eyes brightened, "Definitely the hose!" she'd had fun last night, and now she got to have some more.
"Okay, here you go." Maya handed her the hose, and Davina stood at the edge of the grass and held it out, towards the unconscious teens. Maya smirked, turning on the sprinklers and then the hose on full blast, causing the teens to groan and some to scream.
Davina laughed as she walked towards the ones who weren't being hit with the sprinklers, "EVERYBODY UP!" she yelled.
"UP! UP! UP!" Maya yelled, turning on the sound system and blasting out some ACDC, causing more of them to whine. "EVERYBODY UP! YOU DON'T GOTTA GO HOME! BUT YOU GOTTA GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!" she laughed as Davina ran around the garden and sprayed Damon, causing him to roll into the pool.
"Awe Damon!" Maya called, "You got glitter all in the water! It's gonna end up in the filter!"
Jenna groaned as she sat up, she and Liz had gotten very drunk last night, Miranda had come over, and there hadn't been much talking, they'd fought and her sister had stormed out, Liz hadn't wanted to be caught in the middle of them both, but Miranda had had her support all summer, Jenna needed some support too. So Liz had stayed with Jenna instead, and the two women had watched movies and gotten very, very drunk. "Oh, my head," she held her hand up to her temple, it was pounding.
"Oh my God," Liz groaned, pulling herself up, "I'm way too old for this!" she moaned, trying to steady herself as the room spun around her, "How is it possible that I'm drunk and hungover at the same time?"
"Mom? Jenna? Oh my God!" Caroline stared at both women in disbelief, "Are you two hungover?"
"And drunk," Jenna muttered.
"Oh my God!" Caroline laughed, "I can't believe you two!"
"We are adults Caroline!" Liz said defensively, "We can get drunk if we want to!" she paused "Oh God!" she slapped her hand over her mouth and rushed to the bathroom to throw up.
Caroline looked at Jenna in amusement, "You want some coffee?"
"Please," Jenna said, pulling herself into a chair at the counter.
Caroline shook her head, starting some breakfast for all three of them, and pouring some coffee for her best friend's mother, "Here."
"You're looking suspiciously fresh faced," Jenna squinted.
"Well, it's not like I spent the whole night getting drunk," she replied.
"Caroline."
"Fine, Maya spelled the booze at the house, I'm hangover free," she shrugged.
"Ugh, I think I hate you."
"Why are you hating my daughter?" Liz asked, stumbling a little as she made her way into the kitchen.
Caroline's eyes widened in alarm, not knowing how much her mother had actually heard, "Uh…"
"I was just telling Caroline that I'm severely jealous of her fresh faced and youthful appearance."
"It's true," Caroline nodded, "She's super jealous, it's not a good look on her, neither is the hangover."
It was later in the afternoon when Maya and Davina had taken up residence in the magic room. Davina watched the intricate spell work that went into Monique's bracelet, "Wow, I didn't realise that it took this much to make a bracelet, the ones that we've been making for the website aren't like this."
"The ones we make for our online store are generalised, these are personal, they take a lot more work, and these aren't nearly as complicated as yours."
"They aren't?"
Maya shook her head, "No, take it off and look at the back of the stone."
Davina frowned and undid the bracelet; she didn't like the naked feeling that got without it around her wrist. She looked at the underside of the stone, she couldn't believe that she hadn't thought to look before, rubbing the stone with her thumb, it shimmered a little, and two other stones appeared embedded into the amber, and right in the centre was tiny wolf carved into the orange charm, "What is this?"
"The carnelian is there to protect you from psychic attacks, and the sapphire is to help communicate in the spirit world, I thought you could use that given your powers are connected to the ancestors."
"And the wolf?"
"I suppose technically that would be the symbol of my Coven, if I had one, if I started one myself, this place, my home, it's designed to attack anyone whose magical signature it doesn't recognise, which is basically all Witches, I just wanted to make sure that you'd be safe here."
Davina snapped the bracelet back on, "Why do you have such heavy protections on your home? I mean it can't just be because of the Bennett Witch, you said so yourself, she's just a baby Witch."
"I guess its time to tell you more about myself huh?"
"I need to know," Davina said.
"Okay," Maya nodded, "But you can't tell anyone about this Davina, I need you to promise me, I'm in enough danger living in a town with the Bennetts, you can't tell your Coven, or the Regent about me, if you want to know the truth."
Davina frowned, "Lie to the Regent?"
"Not lie, just…omit, if you can't make me that promise, then it's okay, but then, there's a lot that I can't tell you."
Freya arrived back in New York, hugging her sister, and heading back to the Penthouse, it suddenly struck her as odd that despite his anger at his family, Klaus was still paying for them to live together. Despite Finn's hatred of their brother, he was still happy to live in a house that Klaus provided, use the resources that Klaus had set up for anything he needed, have the Vampires and people that Klaus had compelled run his errands, so that he could say that he wasn't the one causing anyone any pain or misery. Sighing she looked around the large home, that was now practically empty, Kol showed up once or twice, to collect something from his study. Her sister wouldn't come home, and was out there with Elijah, who also refused to come home. And Klaus not only wouldn't come back, but it appeared like he had started a family without them, with his Siphon, and some Werewolf children. This wasn't the family that she wanted, she wanted her family together, she wanted her family whole. She needed to figure out how to get them all back together.
"Freya!" Finn said, whooshing to her, "You've been gone for days!"
"I'm an adult Finn! And for the first time in centuries, I can do what I want!"
"Where were you?! I thought that Niklaus or Kol had hurt you!"
Freya rolled her eyes, she spent years on the run, alone, she knew how to take care of herself, "Not that it should matter, but I was with Rebekah, our sister, we went to California, did a lot of shopping together, and then met some very interesting people at…what I believe is called a night club."
"Sister! How could you be so reckless as to go out with Rebekah without protection? Anything could have happened to you!"
"Oh, that's enough Finn," Freya said, "I just got back, I wanted to go out to lunch with you and Sage, instead you're yelling at me for having my own life! And I am done with these antics!" she held her hand up to stop him talking, "I am the eldest! And I'm not doing this anymore! Our family has been scattered for over a year!"
"And that's Niklaus's fault!"
"It is not just Klaus's fault!" Freya protested, "Everyone in this family has betrayed everyone else! Our siblings kept you daggered for nine hundred years, Rebekah betrayed Klaus and Kol, Elijah betrayed Klaus and Kol, Kol has betrayed Klaus, and Klaus has betrayed everybody! And you are actively trying to betray Klaus now! Trying to stop him from breaking his curse when, whether he does or doesn't, it doesn't have any effect on you!"
"Cursing Niklaus is one of the last things that our mother did with her life! She tried to reverse her mistake! How can you not see that keeping him cursed is necessary?!"
"OUR MOTHER SOLD ME!" Freya finally yelled, "SHE SOLD ME! TO A VILE, VICIOUS, CRUEL WOMAN! How can you think that I would ever want to do anything to help her?!" She looked at her brother incredulously, Finn was supposed to know her, he was supposed to understand her, and suddenly, she felt so separated from the only brother she really knew. Turning around she stormed out before Finn could stop her, throwing her hand back, she shut the door in his face, barricading it with her magic, so that he couldn't follow her, and got back into the town car that Rebekah had procured for her. "Put my things back in the car," Freya told the driver, "We're going somewhere else."
"You're a magic siphon?" Davina repeated, trying to work through the information that Maya had given her.
"And an old soul."
"And Mother Nature has another half, and it's Death, and he's the reason that you exist?"
Maya nodded, "Yep."
"I… need to sit down" and she did, landing quite heavily on the sofa in the magic room, "I…I just- this is a lot of information to take in."
"I know," Maya nodded, "I know that it's hard for you to accept, I'm telling you that something that you believe in, something that your Coven believes in is wrong, I understand that you might not want to believe me, but you asked for the truth."
"I just don't get it, how can everything that I believe in be a lie?"
"It's not everything," Maya said, "You know, Witches still come from Nature, you're still powerful, beautiful, wonderful beings. The difference is, the people that they call abominations, Vampires, Siphons…me, we just come from the other side of the scale, we come from Death. And honestly, is it really so surprising? Witches talk about balance all the time, are you really surprised that Nature has something to balance it out?"
"I just-" she tipped her head back and stared at the ceiling, "How is it, that no one has every questioned this before?"
"Well, Old Souls, they can't remember who they were before, they can't remember what it's like to be in Death's realm."
"You can."
"I'm a special case, and Siphons only come from the Gemini Coven, they die, all the time. Not a single one in the past thousand years has even had children, we're so rare that it's almost unbelievable. Hell I'm lucky to be alive, the only reason that I survived and was able to learn, was because after mom got pregnant she didn't go in search for my father. She chose to raise me on her own, and because she's human, no one ever suspected me."
"And Vampires?" Davina asked, "They're not abominations of Nature?"
"Honestly I don't understand how any Witch could believe that they defied Nature, she's an all powerful being, and any Witch that thinks that they could cast a spell against her will, is an idiot."
Davina paused for a moment and really thought about it, "Okay I can see that," she acquiesced, "But I've heard about Siphons it's never anything good."
"And now you've met one," Maya said, "What do you think?"
Davina looked at the older girl, her friend, her confidant. The person that not only wanted to make sure that she had a chance to live her life, and gave her a way to be independent away from everything, but she wanted to keep her safe, trusted her to keep her secrets, trusted her in her most sacred space. As she took in the serious look on Maya's face, Davina remembered one of their first conversations, "I think that being a Siphon doesn't make you a bad person, if people are bad, then they're bad, what they are, doesn't have anything to do with that. You can't control what you are, anymore than anyone can control the colour of their skin, or their sexuality. I won't tell anyone, what you are, it's no one's business, and you're my friend."
Maya nodded, sighing in relief, "Thank you, Davina. That means a lot to me."
Kol heard the door unlock at the Brownstone and raised a brow, the only other people who had keys weren't even in the state, so he whooshed to the front, stopping short when he saw Freya in the hallway and a man bringing a bunch of bags inside. "Kol!" she said, "Which room is free?"
"Uh… what?" he asked.
"Direct me to a room that I can stay in it!"
"You're not staying here!" he protested.
"Well, I'm mad at Finn, I'm not staying at the Penthouse."
"Well, this isn't my home! I have no authority to invite you to stay!"
Freya shot him a deadpan look, "Don't be ridiculous! You spit in the face of authority," she turned away from him, "If you're not going to show me to a room, then I'm going to pick out one for myself." She went upstairs, the man with her bags trailing behind her.
"Wh-You-How-Wh- Stay out of the master bedroom!" he finally called, "That's occupied! And stay out of my room! And Nik's!" When there was no answer he scowled and whooshed up the stairs after her, "Damn it!"
Davina spent the whole week with Maya, after the red-head's revelation, the two had spent the whole week, apart from Jeremy's birthday, working together, Maya had taught her some techniques that she'd never seen before, but she guessed that being taught by someone with a thousand years' worth of experience, really gave her a leg up compared with other Witches. And as much as she enjoyed her time with Maya and Caroline, what she didn't enjoy was the earful that she'd gotten from her mother, the moment they were on the plane back to New Orleans. Her mom had been furious that Davina hadn't fought to let her into town, to meet the Witch that she was working with, she figured that she'd been given instructions from the Coven to meet Maya and scope her out. But her mother hadn't been able to do that, and her mother felt like she was going back to New Orleans with nothing to show for it.
Davina met with the Regent the moment she stepped foot back in the Quarter, she'd been retrieved from the airport by Regent La Rue's personal staff and her mother was sent back to the Coven.
"Regent La Rue," Davina said, bowing her head, waiting to be acknowledged.
"Davina," Josephine finally said, "Take a seat."
The young girl sat on the settee opposite the Regent, holding a small bag in her lap, "I have what you asked for."
Josephine nodded at one of her girls, and she took the bag from Davina's hands, the Witch checking over the items with a quick diagnostic spell, making sure that it was free of traps, before handing it over to the Regent. Josephine took out three boxes, opening up the first one, she pulled out Monique's bracelet, inspecting it, reaching out with her magic to test the charm. On the surface it felt much like Davina's own protection charm, the differences could be explained away by the fact that each charm had been designed, not only for different people, but for different elements as well.
"This is beautifully crafted," the Regent remarked, "And the magic has been fully absorbed into every part of the bracelet, not just the stone."
"Maya said that we won't always be able to move the stone to intercept an attack, so she used the stone as a focal point, and the protection seeps through into the whole bracelet."
"Did you see how it was done?"
"Yes," Davina nodded, "Maya allowed me to work on the bracelets as well, so if needed, I could probably make one myself."
"Good," Josephine said, "I may take you up on that." She snapped the box shut, inspecting the other two charms, before putting them back in the bag. "Take these to your friends, explain what they are for, and that they are expected to wear them." She dismissed the young Witch, impressed with the work that had gone into the charms, and found herself interested in the potential Harvest girl. While the differences in the charms could be easily explained away, she had a feeling that there was more to the spell on Davina's bracelet than met the eye, and she was curious to see what other surprises the girl had up her sleeve.
Sheila Bennett entered the Grill for the first time in years, her granddaughter had come home hurt and she was not happy. She'd told Maya to stay away from Bonnie, told her mother, that so long as she didn't have any magic, then they wouldn't have any problems. And in one fell swoop, she'd broken both rules. She fingered the Gilbert watch in her pocket, it appeared that Maya had been doing magic for far longer than she knew, if what Bonnie and Elena had said held any truth then Maya Sommers had been practicing magic for years. Looking around, she narrowed her eyes as they locked on the young girl, sitting in a booth way in the back.
/ / /
Maya was waiting on Caroline and Enzo at the Grill, the three of them were going shopping for Halloween outfits, the girls obviously wanted something sexy to wear, but Enzo wanted to get costumes for him and Damon, because he'd never dressed up for Halloween before. The elder Salvatore was refusing to dress up, stating that he didn't need to dress up when he was already a Vampire, but Enzo wasn't about to let him get out of it so easily. Caroline was running a little late, because she was finishing off something for the Beautification Committee, and Enzo had stopped at the hospital to stock up on blood bags, so he would be there in a few minutes. So while she waited, she made notes on new spell ideas for their website in a journal, making quite a bit of progress on Caroline's 'Mary Poppins' idea, when Sheila Bennett sat down opposite her, startling her out of her concentration.
"Maya," the Bennett Witch said, her mouth set in a harsh frown.
"Mrs Bennett," Maya replied, slamming her journal shut and moving it into her lap, "What the hell do you want?"
"I gave you two instructions so that you could stay here in town. And you broke both of them."
"Okay first of all, I didn't go anywhere near Bonnie, I haven't since I was five. Your precious little grandbaby, is the one that snuck into my home, rifled through my things, and then broke into my Sanctum Santorum. And number two, you don't get to dictate how I use my gifts, you are not my mother, or my grandmother, or my friend, you are nothing to me, except a pushy old Witch, that can't keep her nose out of my business."
"Bonnie came home hurt."
"Bonnie needs to learn that there are consequences to trespassing, and after you made threats to my mother on my fourteenth birthday, did you really think that she wasn't going to make sure that our house was protected?"
"She's not the one using magic that doesn't belong to her."
"Oh please," Maya laughed, "It's not like I stole the magic from anyone!"
"Then how do you explain this?!" Sheila forcefully placed the Gilbert watch on the table between them.
Maya's eyes narrowed, the Gilbert watch? She'd drained that when she was a child, why did Sheila have it? "Why do you have that? It belongs to the Gilberts."
"It was spelled, by my ancestor! And now it's empty, you stole that magic!"
"I was six!" Maya said, "I had no idea what I was doing! It was an accident!" (No it wasn't, she'd deliberately drained the watch of its magic, because she didn't want it to ever be used against her Vampires).
"And now, the town is without protection, when there's a Vampire on the loose. People are dead, and now the Vampire cannot be found, you did this. Your kind are nothing but a menace."
Maya put her hand over her heart, "The more you talk, the more you hurt my feelings, and the less inclined I am to help you out with this little problem." She motioned at the watch.
"I didn't come to you for help," Sheila scoffed.
"No?" Maya tilted her head quizzically, picking up the watch, "Because I could probably re-spell it, I studied that particular spell over the summer."
Sheila narrowed her eyes in suspicion, "How could you possibly know that spell? It was cast in the 1860's, by my ancestor."
Maya nodded, "Yeah, Emily Bennett, right?"
"How did yo-"
"Well, that's actually pretty simple, you see, Emily's grimoire was taken by the Salvatore patriarch at the time, Giuseppe, he vowed to never let anyone get their hands on it. But… as it turns out, there's a Salvatore out there that loves me, a Salvatore from way back when." She smirked, "In fact, you might have heard of him, after all he's spent the past 145 years protecting your line."
"Damon," Sheila said, stone faced, she knew about the Vampire that had kept her line alive, one of Emily's children had written about how he'd saved them from being burnt at the stake. And other members of her ancestors had written about him too, warning that he was dangerous, but that he had promised to keep them safe.
"Do you know why he's kept the Bennett line safe, instead of just letting it die out? No? I'll enlighten you then. Damon promised to protect your line, and in exchange, Emily would protect the woman he loved, keep her from burning to death, by locking her in a tomb underneath Fells Church, she'd be kept safe for 145 years, and after the comet, her descendants were to set the woman he loved free."
"I will not help a Vampire," Sheila said.
"Not to worry," Maya shifted in her seat, "Turns out that Emily lied, she didn't save the woman that Damon loved, the woman was already free, and Emily knew that. She played on Damon's feelings, in order to keep her family safe. Which means that Damon, not only doesn't need your help, but you, are no longer entitled to his protection. And because he loves me, he wanted me to learn magic, and who better to learn from, than the Witch that betrayed him."
"You have Emily Bennett's grimoire," Sheila breathed, she never thought that she would see that spell book.
Maya gave her a sarcastic smile, "Like I said, I could re-spell this, if you asked nicely."
"I will never ask for your help." Sheila shook her head.
"Oh well," she shrugged, "If you're not going to ask for help, then you don't really need this then," she waved the watch, and snatched her hand back when Sheila reached for it. "Uh-uh, this is the Gilbert watch, it's passed down from father to son, it belongs to Jeremy, and that's exactly who I'm returning it too. Oh, there's Caroline, it looks like our time is up."
"That watch isn't yours to take, and that grimoire doesn't belong to you."
"The watch belongs to my cousin, and given how hard the loss of his father has been on him, one would think that the moment that you knew that you couldn't do anything with this, you would have given it back. Keeping it from Jeremy, that's just cruel."
Sheila seethed, she couldn't make a scene, Maya was friends with the Sheriff's daughter, she worked on committees under the tutelage of Carol Lockwood, and ever since the accident, she was the town's little darling. "And the grimoire?"
Maya paused, "Well, I might be willing to give that to you, if you can promise to stay out of my business." Sheila was startled, she didn't think that the girl would have it in her to negotiate. "Think about it. You ignore me, and anything that I'm doing, you stay out of my business, and you can have something that's been missing from your family for 145 years." She grabbed her bag and flounced out of the Grill, before Sheila could say anything else.
/ / /
Maya looped her arms in Caroline's and Enzo's, "You two are going to need to go shopping without me."
"What?" Enzo asked sharply.
"Why?" Caroline whined as Maya led them both back towards their cars.
"Because I have to speak with Damon, it's a magic thing."
"Then we'll go with you," Enzo said.
Maya shook her head, "No can do, Halloween's in a couple of days, and we need costumes. Besides, I don't want Sunshine anywhere near Vicki, girl's still got zero control."
"But-"
"No 'buts' Zo, you and Care go and pick out our outfits, I'll see you later."
"I don't understand why I have to stay cooped up here, why can't I just go home?" Vicki asked, looking over at Stefan. The room they were in was dark, because she didn't have any daylight jewellery to protect her from the sun.
"Because you're changing Vicki, and it's not something that you want to do alone." Stefan replied, sitting across from her.
Damon was sat behind them both, reading the newspaper, he wasn't even sure why he'd bothered to be there, it's not like he was the one that turned the Donovan girl. He was about to get up to leave when he heard the front door open, and a few moments later, Maya appeared in the doorway. "Gentlemen," she said, eyeing both Vampires, "Druggie," she sneered at Vicki, before jumping into Damon's lap, "We have a problem." She took the watch out of her pocket and handed it to Damon.
He held it up with a frown, for Stefan to see, "Oh no," the younger Salvatore muttered.
"What is that?" Vicki asked, ignoring the girl on Damon's lap. When she turned, she'd gotten her compelled memories back, including the one where an English Vampire and the red-head had told her to go to the Boarding House and find Stefan in the basement.
"This is a very special, very old compass, what are you doing with it?" Damon asked.
"Sheila had it."
"Sheila?" Stefan asked.
"Bonnie's Grams."
Damon stiffened, "Why the hell did the Bennett Witch have it?"
"If you're so worried that somebody's onto you, why don't you just leave town Damon?" Stefan said, looking over at his brother.
"Damon's not the one going around ripping people apart," Maya said, shooting the younger Salvatore a glare. Stefan startled at that, "What? You didn't think that I knew about the two people at the cemetery? You fell off the wagon real hard, didn't you Stef?"
Damon rolled his eyes, and supressed a smirk, he couldn't get over the fact that he had people in his corner now, people that didn't necessarily like his baby bro.
"And who's fault was that?" Stefan snapped, Vicki had told him about her memory of the red-head.
Maya smirked, snuggling into Damon's side, "Awe, did Vicki tell you?"
"How could you do that to a person?"
"Well," Maya sighed, threading her fingers through Damon's hair, causing the older Vampire to close his eyes with a small groan of pleasure, "It's simple really, I told Vicki, that if she continued to mess with Jeremy, there'd be consequences. Vicki," she held her hand out to Stefan, "Meet your consequences. Granted, I had hoped that you would just kill her, still can't figure out how you managed to keep her head attached to her neck."
"This isn't funny Maya, this was a person's life."
"And that person is a paedophile." Maya replied, causing Stefan to startle.
"I am not!" Vicki cried with outrage, but Maya just waved her hand, silencing her.
"Vicki was 18 over the summer, 19 now, and she slept with my 14-year-old cousin, Jeremy. She did so repeatedly over the summer and when I came back and told her to stop, she continued to do so. Call me crazy, but I don't think that that should go unpunished."
Stefan looked over the young Vampire in disappointment, he didn't know that, he still would never have wanted her dead, but he understood Maya's stance, especially as it involved her cousin. Elena had told him just how close he and Maya were. "I was high!" Vicki said, able to talk again, using her addiction as an excuse.
"Yes you were," Maya replied, "You know she was using Jeremy to get to Elena's pain pills? The ones that she was prescribed after the accident."
"Vicki," Stefan said, disappointed, even more so now that he knew that she'd stolen from Elena.
"I was messed up okay, I didn't make the best decisions!"
Damon ignored them and focused on Maya, "What are we going to do about this?" he asked her, opening the watch, seeing that the compass had been put in place, but wasn't moving.
"You don't need to worry about the compass, it hasn't worked since I was six," she gave him a wink, indicating that she'd drained it of all of it's magic. "What we do need to worry about is why Sheila had it. I didn't think that anybody on the Council knew about the Bennetts."
"Maybe it wasn't the Council," Damon said, thinking back to the odd conversation he'd had with Miranda Gilbert.
"What do you mean?"
"You said that, 'you know who' came to town when you were a kid, wanted to use someone as bait, but Abby dealt with it. Miranda had to have known about the Bennetts."
"And you think that she gave the watch to Sheila when the Council discovered that it didn't work?"
Damon nodded, "It makes sense, especially because she came to me, looking for my father's journals. She wanted something specific, and Enzo told me about the grimoire."
"She was hoping with the grimoire, Sheila could re-spell the compass." Maya realised, "That's how Sheila knows that I have magic, she must have figured that when the watch was drained I'd gotten to it."
"Is that gonna be a problem?" he muttered, keeping his eye on Stefan and Vicki, the two were arguing, not paying attention to them at the moment.
"Sheila knows I have the grimoire, I told her that I'd give it to her, if she stays out of my business."
"You think she'll take the deal?"
"I think if she really wants that grimoire, then she'll back off, for a little while at least." She turned to face the pair of Vampires who were still arguing in front of her, "They're boring me," she sighed.
"Me too."
Maya cocked an eyebrow, before smirking, "Hey!" she said loudly, catching both Stefan and Vicki's attention, "Why is it so dark in here? Let's let some sun in," she waved her hands and one of the curtain's opened, but Stefan sped over and shut it before the light could hit Vicki.
"Maya!" he exclaimed, "Vicki doesn't have a daylight ring!"
"Oops," she shrugged, "My bad. It's a shame you don't know a Witch that could make one…oh wait you do!"
Stefan narrowed his eyes at her, "You can make daylight jewellery?"
"Who'd you think cast that nifty little spell that stopped you from taking Damon's ring?"
Stefan looked over at Damon who merely smirked in response, "Could you make a piece for someone?" he asked, he wasn't thinking about Vicki now, but about his best friend, Lexie, the woman who'd been stuck in dark from the moment she'd been turned.
"Sure, for $1.5 million."
"What?"
"That's my price for a basic ring, any extra's make it cost more."
"You're kidding," Stefan said, stumped at the thought that she would charge for the rings.
"Nope," Maya shook her head, "I have a whole website dedicated to selling them 'magic boutique dot com'. I've been doing it since I was 13."
"You're not serious."
"Yeah, mom was working two jobs to take care of me, and had college to pay for, plus we were living in that cramped apartment above Uncle Grayson's medical practice. Mom doesn't work anymore, seriously, how do you think we afford our house?"
Stefan looked back at Damon, "You paid her?"
Damon snorted in amusement, "Of course not, she loves me Stef, she'd never charge me!"
"Damon told me about your penchant for stealing his ring, I had to make sure that you couldn't do that anymore."
Stefan shook his head, he couldn't believe that there was someone out there just selling daylight rings on the internet. "You're just giving rings to anyone? What if they're bad Vampires?"
"You mean like you?"
"Hey," Vicki said, "I'm hungry, I need something to eat."
Stefan looked over at her, grabbing a cup, he handed it to her, "Here."
"What is it?"
"It's what you're craving."
"Hah, don't lie to the girl." Damon said, "It's so not what you're craving, but it'll do in a pinch. Right Stef?"
"What is it?" Vicki asked again.
"Yeah, what is it? Is it skunk? St. Bernard? Bambi?"
"Go on," Stefan said, ignoring his brother, "Give it a try."
"She's new, she needs people blood, she can't sustain on that stuff." Damon said, brushing Maya's hair from her shoulder, shooting her a questioning look, at her nod, he smiled at her, he loved messing with Stefan.
"Yeah, why can't I have people blood?" Vicki asked, after taking a sip of what was in the mug.
"Because it's wrong to prey on innocent people Vicki."
"You don't have to kill to feed," Damon interrupted, "Just find someone really tasty, and erase their memory afterwards. It's so easy."
"No, no, no, there's no guarantee that you can control yourself okay? It takes years to learn that, you could kill somebody. You already have, but you didn't know what was happening to you, but now, knowing what you know, you'd have to carry that with you for the rest of your life, which if I haven't made clear, is eternity."
"Don't listen to him, he walks on a moral plane way out of our eyeline. I say snatch, eat, erase. Just like this." He tilted Maya's head to the side, and sank his fangs into her neck, taking a couple of mouthfuls of blood, he pulled back, offering her his own bloody wrist to heal her.
Vicki's monster came through, and Stefan had to forcefully keep her in her chair, knowing Maya, if Vicki attacked her, she'd throw the girl out of the window, into the sun, "Damon!" he hissed. "Vicki! Hey! Look at me," Stefan said, getting her attention now that Maya's wound was healed, "We choose our own path. Our values and our actions, they define who we are."
"Okay, Count Deepak," Damon scoffed, standing, pulling Maya up with him, "We are out of here."
/ / /
Maya and Damon reached the front door when the doorbell rang, Damon smirked, he knew who was on the other side. Opening the door, he and the Siphon blocked the entrance.
Elena's eyes widened as she saw the two of them, her heart rate spiking in fear as her attention landed on Damon, "Is Stefan here?"
"Yep."
"Where is he?" she frowned, ignoring her cousin.
"And good morning to you, little miss I'm-on-a-mission."
Elena crossed her arms, her anger spiking, "How can you be so arrogant and glib, after everything that you've done?"
"And how can you be so brave and stupid, to call a Vampire arrogant and glib?" Damon retorted, he didn't know why Elena felt like she could talk to him like that, especially when she knew that he was a killer.
"If you wanted me dead, I'd be dead."
"Yes you would."
"But I'm not."
"Yet."
"Be careful Elena," Maya said, "Alive is a very broad category. A girl with no hands can still be alive," he eyes grew darker, as she saw her cousin swallow in fear.
"Where is Stefan?"
"He's upstairs," Damon smirked, "Singing 'The Rain in Spain.' Knock yourself out." He tugged on Maya's hand, the two of them walking out of the Boarding House. The door slammed shut behind him and he looked at the Siphon, "Seriously? 'A girl with no hands can still be alive'?" he repeated.
"It's true!" Maya shrugged.
"Has anyone ever told you that you're seriously dark and twisted?"
Elena was stood out on a balcony at the Boarding House, hand on her throat, "She threatened me." She said, referring to Vicki. She'd told Vicki that she couldn't see Jeremy and Vicki had choked her until she couldn't breathe.
"She's on edge." Stefan said, "Imagine every sense in your body operating at super-speed. I mean she's uncomfortable in her own skin, and then when you throw in her other issues-"
"How long before it settles?" Elena interrupted, "Hours? Days? Weeks?"
"There's no rulebook."
"Well, how long before you learned to control it?"
"A while, but I didn't have anybody helping me. I had to do it on my own." He took half a step back from Elena, not wanting to be so close when he still had the urge for human blood, "The thing is, it's hard to resist certain people, especially when you're new. It's difficult to separate your feelings: love, lust, anger, desire. It can all blur into one urge: hunger."
"What does that mean?"
"It means that Jeremy can't see her. She might not be able to resist him. And she could hurt him."
"Or worse!"
"I'm not gonna let anybody get hurt," Stefan said, determined to make sure Vicki didn't take another life, after all, it was his blood that turned her.
"I need to get going."
"Elena."
"Please Stefan, there's only so much I can take." She walked out.
"Come on Caroline!" Maya called, "We're going to be late to the party! And we have to get there before everyone's too drunk to remember how good we look!" She adjusted the silver bands that she had wrapped around her upper arms. She was dressed as a sexy girl version of Captain America, with a red, white and blue crop top, and red, white and blue short shorts. She had on thigh high silver boots and fishnet stockings and to complete the look, had a tiny version of the Captain America shield. God she was lucky that her mother was at her own Halloween party that night.
"Alright I'm ready," Caroline said, coming downstairs.
Maya looked up and her jaw dropped, "Oh. My. God."
"What?" Caroline asked, a little self-conscious at her choice in costume.
"Caroline Elizabeth Forbes," Maya started, moving over to her best friend, "I have never been more attracted to someone in my entire life!" Maya looked Caroline up and down. She'd kept her costume a secret, wanting it to be a surprise. She was dressed as Harley Quinn, hair up in pig tails, red and black corset top, that showed off her flat stomach. One red, and one black, fingerless glove on each hand, that reached her elbows. She was wearing skin-tight red and black leggings, with diamonds on the front of each thigh, with knee high leather boots to complete the look.
"Maya!" Caroline blushed.
"I'm serious," Maya said, "You look so hot as Harley, I don't think that I'm going to be able to keep my hands to myself!" She wrapped her hands around Caroline's waist and pulled her close, "I mean, damn girl! You are so fine!"
"Stop it!" Caroline laughed, smacking her shoulder, "I'm supposed to be pale, not red faced!"
"Fine, fine!" Maya held her hands up, "Break my heart why don't you?"
"Alright ladies, we should get going," Enzo said, stopping short when he saw them.
"Zo you're Red Hood!" Maya exclaimed, "That's amazing!"
"And you…are not wearing nearly enough clothing! You march upstairs and cover up young lady!" he said, Maya was basically his little sister, he didn't want to see her dressed up all 'sexy'.
Maya rolled her eyes, "Don't make me, make out with Damon in front of you! You know I will!"
Scowling, Enzo turned his attention to the blonde, "Caroline, you look gorgeous, I'm sure that you will be beating people back with a stick."
Caroline flushed again, "Guys!" she whined a little, fanning her face, "You both need to stop making me blush!"
Enzo smirked, "C'mon! We have a party to get to."
"Hey where's Damon?"
Damon walked into the Grill, adjusting his dark jeans, he couldn't believe that he'd let Enzo talk him into dressing up. He'd thrown a leather jacket over the top of his costume, and so far, refused to put on the mask. He wanted to get nice and buzzed before letting anyone see him dressed up at the party. He ordered a drink at the bar, ears perking up when he heard the Mayor and his wife arguing.
/ / /
"How many martinis have you had?" Richard Lockwood asked.
"Ugh, don't start with me," Carol dismissed.
"Can we go now? We're late for the Halloween party, let's go," he threw back the rest of his drink.
"So go ahead," Carol replied, "I'd like to finish my drink." The Mayor put down his glass and walked away, not in the mood to fight anymore.
/ / /
Damon caught Carol's eye after the Mayor left, raising his glass to her, she offered him a smile and turned back around. The Vampire smirked and moved to sit at the table across from her, "Let me guess, Daisy Buchanan," he said, referring to her costume, "I love a good Gatsby look."
"I've met you before," Carol said, "Aren't you Maya Sommers' boyfriend?"
Damon smirked, "I wouldn't say she's my girlfriend, we're more just…dating."
"It's Damon, right?"
"Oh, you remember."
"Well, you have a face that's hard to forget. What's your last name, Damon?"
"Salvatore," he said.
"Salvatore?"
"Mm-hm."
"Are you any relation to Zach?"
"Zach's my uncle," he leant forward and tried to see if he could compel her, "How do you know Zach?"
"Are you okay?" Carol asked, seeing Damon's eye twitch.
"Yeah," he brushed his eye, "Just something in my eye."
"Well, I know Zach from the Founders' Council." Damon looked her over, and saw a bracelet on her wrist, of course she was wearing vervain, "You know, the Salvatores were one of this town's original settlers."
"Yes, they were," Damon said, "I wasn't aware that Zach was a member. I just recently moved back home with my brother, and haven't really had a chance to meet many of his friends."
"Well, will you tell him to return our calls? We've left several messages."
"Zach went out of town for a bit," Damon said, "But…if it's about the vervain…"
"You know about the vervain?" Carol asked.
"Well, I'm a Salvatore, of course I do."
"Of course."
He raised his glass, "Cheers."
"This isn't fair!" Vicki complained, looking at Stefan, "It's Halloween! If there was any night that I should be able to go out, it's tonight!"
"I'm sorry Vicki but you can't go out, not until you have your thirst under control," Stefan said.
"What like you do?" she scoffed, "I saw what you did to those two at the cemetery! You're not any better than me!"
"Vicki," Stefan sighed, "There's a reason that I drink animal blood, before I bit you, it had been decades since I'd had human blood. Sometimes I slip, and then it's twice as hard to go back to normal. That's what I'm trying to stop from happening with you."
"Ugh!" Vicki stomped off to another room, she just wanted to go out and have some fun. But Stefan wouldn't let her, the hypocrite. Slamming the door behind her, she startled as she heard a creak, and realised that the window to her room had swung open. She went over to shut it, but stopped, looking outside, she contemplated what she'd learnt from Stefan already. He'd said that as a Vampire, she was more durable, could she survive a two story drop without hurting herself? She looked behind her, at her locked door, and then back outside, there was only one way to find out.
"So, you need vervain?" Damon asked, leaning forward.
"Yes, my husband and I only have left what his parents left him. And Zach had promised that he could supply us with more."
"Well, I talk to him all the time," Damon said, "So why don't I just ask him?" he took a sip of his drink, "How much do you need? I mean, how many people do you think?"
"Well, there's our children of course."
"Of course," Damon nodded.
"And friends, family, and everyone on the Council."
"The Council?"
"Zach knows how many…" she took a long sip of her drink, "You know what I am so late, my husband is not going to be happy with me."
"Well, are you happy with your husband?" Damon flirted.
"You're flirting with me," Carol smiled.
"You flirted with me first," Damon shrugged.
"True."
"Let me escort you to the school, it's not safe out there, alone. I mean I've seen 10 vampires tonight!"
Carol laughed, "If only the real ones were as easy to find."
"How's that search going?"
"Oh well, we had the Founder's Party, and anyone who arrived during the day was eliminated as a suspect," Carol said, confirming what Caroline had told them she'd heard from her mother, "And all the rest were just dead ends, so…" she finished her drink, "I've gotta go."
"Okay," Damon said, getting up, "Let's go! Maya's going to be blowing up my phone any minute now."
Elena walked into the Halloween party, dressed as a nurse, with Jeremy at her side, the two of them had been arguing, every time she told him to stop thinking about Vicki, it only made him worse. Matt spotted them and smiled, "You went with last year's costume too huh?" He asked, he was dressed as a bloody doctor.
"Yeah, I didn't know that I was coming until like an hour ago." She smiled back.
"Me neither," Matt said, turning to Jeremy before the silence could become awkward, "And you're going as…you?" he asked.
Jeremy rolled his eyes and stalked off, not in the mood to be nice to his sister's ex.
"He's not talking to me right now," Elena said, "We got into a fight."
"Yeah, I got into it with Vick too when she got home. I'm trying not to smother her, but a part of me didn't want to let her out of my sight."
"She's here?" Elena asked surprised, panic rising up within her.
"Yeah, you can't miss her. She's a Vampire."
Elena's breathing turned heavy, "Where did Jeremy go?"
"Elena what's the matter?"
"I gotta find him!" She ran off in the direction that she'd seen Jeremy storm off in.
/ / /
"There he is!" Maya cheered, as she saw Damon arrive at the party, "So come on, what are you dressed as?"
Damon rolled his eyes, taking his jacket off, revealing his costume, and putting on his mask. "What do you think?"
"Nightwing!" Maya laughed, "That's amazing, I can't believe that you guys are all Batman verse!"
"Kinda makes you the odd one out huh?" Damon smirked.
"Shut it nerd!"
"Maya!" Damon gasped, "There's no call to be rude!" Maya and Caroline giggled, Enzo handing both girls drinks, "Hey! Where's mine?"
"You're late," Enzo dismissed, "Get your own!"
Damon snatched the cup from Maya's hands, "Hey!" the girl protested.
"Ugh," Damon's scrunched his face up in disgust, "This is nasty! What the hell are you drinking?"
"The Lockwood specialty," Caroline shrugged.
The four of them were interrupted by Elena rushing up to them, "Maya!"
"Ugh, Elena, what do you want?"
"Vicki got out!"
All four of them stiffened at that, "What?"
"Matt said that Vicki came home! And he brought her here!"
"Where's Jeremy?" Maya asked.
"I lost track of him!"
Maya looked up at Enzo, "We'll split up," Enzo said, "You look for Jeremy, we'll look for Vicki."
/ / /
Stefan searched the party, he'd followed Vicki in, but the lights and costumes, made it difficult to track her. Spotting the girl, he whooshed through the party, shoving her into an empty room. "What you're following me now?" Vicki asked.
"You didn't really give me much of a choice."
She tried to leave, but he stopped her, "Let me out of here!"
"You shouldn't be here Vicki, crowds like this, it makes it even harder for you to keep yourself under control!"
"I'm fine!" Vicki shrugged.
"Really? No headache? Your stomach's not screaming at you? You're not feeling lightheaded? Or anxious? Or cranky? Like if someone looks at you the wrong way, you could just rip their head off? You wanna know what that's called? It's called hunger. And it's only gonna get worse and worse, every minute that you pretend like it's not controlling you."
Vicki shifted uncomfortably, Stefan was right, she was getting hungrier by the moment, but she didn't want to leave, "I can't stay locked up in that house forever Stefan!"
"Well, you can't stay here, it's too dangerous," he took her arm and dragged her out of the room, bumping into Elena who was looking around frantically.
"Thank God!" Elena gasped, coming up to Stefan.
"What's the matter?" Stefan asked, worried.
"I lost track of Jeremy, I was worried." She glanced at Vicki, not realising that Matt was coming up behind them.
"What's going on?" Matt asked, seeing his sister with Elena and Stefan, which he thought was odd, considering the last time he saw Stefan, Vicki didn't want anything to do with him.
"Hey," Stefan said, "Everything's fine."
An idea popped into Vicki's head and she yanked her arm out of Stefan's hold, "I told you to quit bothering me!"
Elena's eyes widened, "No, Vicki, don't do this."
"Matt, he won't leave me alone," Vicki turned to her brother, knowing that he'd make Stefan go away.
"You need to back off man!" Matt said.
"Matt, it's okay," Elena said.
"No it's not okay. What the hell is your problem? First the house, and now here!"
The moment Stefan's attention turned to Matt, Vicki whooshed away, "Stefan! She's gone!" Elena said, pushing past Matt and running after her.
Stefan moved to go after them, but Matt grabbed him to stop the Vampire. Stefan growled and slammed Matt against the wall, "I am trying to help her!" he said, he dropped Matt and rushed after Elena and Vicki.
/ / /
Enzo and Damon had covered half of the party before they bumped into the girls again, "Hey!" Enzo said, "Any luck?"
Maya shook her head, "I can't find Jeremy anywhere!"
"I checked the Haunted House, and the Ghost Tunnel, he's not there!" Caroline said.
"Vicki?" Maya asked.
"We can't see her," Damon said, he could practically feel the worry building in Maya, Vicki wasn't supposed to get out tonight, with him refusing to get involved in teaching her, they'd all hoped that she wouldn't leave the Boarding House. If Vicki died tonight, it would just pile on the stress.
/ / /
Vicki whooshed through the party, spotting Jeremy on his way out, she pushed him into the wall, causing him to jump in surprise. "Vicki! You scared the hell out of me!" he kissed her, uncaring of the fact that she was a Vampire, and that he shouldn't be near her.
"Sorry," Vicki said, in between kisses, "I'm sorry." She grabbed his hand, "C'mon, let's get out of here!" she tugged him along with her, hoping that Stefan wouldn't find her again. Vicki lead them out of the school, around the back, to where the busses were parked, and shoved him up against one of them, kissing him again.
"I was worried about you," Jeremy said, Damon had said that becoming a Vampire was like having all of your emotions turned up to eleven, all the time, and Jeremy was worried about how Vicki would react to that.
"I'm fine now, but I gotta leave." Vicki said, pulling back from him.
"What? Why?" This had to be because she was a Vampire, he had to tell her that he knew.
"No, Vicki, you can't leave!" she wouldn't be safe if she just took off, anything could happen to her.
"Come with me," Vicki said, "If you come with me then we can be together forever."
"Vick-" she cut him off with her mouth, lips pressed against his, her hunger was awakened again, and she found herself drawn to the pulsing carotid artery in his neck. She didn't mean for it to happen, but her fangs appeared, and scraped down his neck. Jeremy felt the sharp prick and his heart rate picked up, "Vicki?" he asked. And then all he felt was pain, as she sank them into his flesh. "Aah! Vicki!"
/ / /
Elena burst into the parking area, just as Jeremy cried out, grabbing a plank of wood, she ran towards the noise. "Vicki no!" she cried out, hitting her with the wood, while it made Vicki pull away from her brother, it also made her angry. Vicki shoved Elena away, into a pile of old wood, snarling, she moved to attack the Gilbert girl, but was pushed back into a bus by Stefan. She shoved Stefan away from her and disappeared.
"Go!" Stefan said, looking at both Gilberts, "Get inside! Go!"
Elena grabbed Jeremy's hand, and tugged him back towards the school, but before they could get inside, Vicki grabbed Jeremy, throwing him away from his sister, she turned Elena around and sank her fangs into her neck, causing the younger girl to scream in agony.
Stefan's head shot up, and whooshed towards them, picking up a piece of discarded wood on the way to them.
/ / /
Damon focused his hearing and heard the commotion coming from around the back of the school, he grabbed Maya's hand and whooshed them both towards the sound. Only just coming into view as Stefan shoved a stake through Vicki's back, and into her heart.
"No!" Maya cried out, it had happened, just like it had before.
Vicki gasped, looking down at the stake that had been shoved through her heart, and then collapsed the moment that it was removed.
"Vicki!" Jeremy cried out, getting up, "Vicki! Vicki!"
Stefan stopped Jeremy from getting any closer to the now fully dead girl, "Get him out of here!" Elena said, Stefan nodded and looked up at his brother and Maya. Silently asking for help.
Damon nodded, squeezing Maya's hand, he motioned for her to go with Stefan, Jeremy would need her. Elena collapsed to her knees next to the body, crying as she took in the corpse of the girl that she once knew.
Maya was with Jeremy in his room, he was crying in her arms, "Vicki's dead, she's dead!"
"I'm so sorry Jeremy," Maya held him close, and felt a sliver of guilt take root in her heart, not for Vicki, oh no, but for Jeremy, her baby cousin, the little boy that hung onto her every word and toddled around after her, on his chubby little legs when he was four years old. She felt guilt, because once again, her need for vengeance, had caused him pain.
She brushed her hand through his hair, and down the side of his neck, and it came away, wet with blood. "Jer, you're hurt!" she moved in front of him and saw the bite mark on his neck, "God!" she placed her hand over his wound and concentrated on knitting the skin back together, she didn't want Jeremy to have any Vampire blood in his system, not when he was feeling like this.
"She's gone!" he said, hugging his knees to his chest, "She's dead!"
"I'm so sorry Jer-"
"Just make it stop," he cried, "It hurts!"
"Shh, it's okay."
"Why does everybody have to die on me?"
"Come here honey," Maya wrapped her arms around him again, this time he squeezed her back, "What can I do? How can I help."
"I want it to stop," he whimpered, "Make it stop hurting! Please!"
"I-"
"Please Maya, it hurts so bad!"
"Okay, okay," Maya nodded, "You want me to get Damon?" she asked, "If you want, he can make the hurt go away."
/ / /
Damon walked up to the Gilbert house, Enzo had taken over burying Vicki's body, so Damon could take Elena home. "Where is he?" Elena asked Stefan, who was sat outside on the porch swing, waiting for her.
"Inside," Stefan replied, and she rushed inside, just as Maya was coming down the steps.
"How-how is he?" Elena asked, pausing at the site of her cousin.
Maya sighed, not in the mood to be snarky, "He's a mess," she shook her head, "Just like before."
Elena ran up the stairs and into Jeremy's room to see for herself. Coming out after a few minutes of holding and rocking her baby brother in her arms. "I don't want him going through this again." Elena said. "He's just a kid."
Maya nodded, for once she agreed with her cousin, Jeremy found out about Vampires by accident, but he wasn't supposed to get caught in the crosshairs of all the supernatural bullshit that was about to hit the town, "I'll get Damon."
"Damon? No Stefan can-"
"Stefan's weak," Maya cut her off, "Because of his diet, there's no guarantee that it would stick. Damon'll do it, he won't hurt Jeremy."
Damon walked inside, hearing what had been said, "I'll take care of it," he said.
Elena watched him for a moment, before nodding, hesitantly. Damon's gaze slid over to Maya's and she came up to him, "Talk to him," she whispered, "Find out what he wants first."
"Of course," Damon nodded, before going upstairs.
Elena went outside to speak with Stefan, while Maya waited in the house for Damon to come back.
/ / /
"Jeremy," Damon said, walking into the youngest Gilbert's room.
Jeremy sat up, wiping his eyes and looked up at Damon, "Damon, please make it stop." He said.
Damon sat on the bed, "Hey, just tell me what you need."
"I want the pain to go away! It hurts so much! It feels like I can't breathe!"
"Okay, okay," Damon slipped the vervain bracelet from Jeremy's wrist, and put his hand on Jeremy's shoulder, catching his gaze, "Vicki lost control," Damon said, compelling the young boy, "She lost control and attacked someone, and because of it, she's dead. And it hurts, like a loss always will, but the pain isn't crippling, it'll fade, fast. You can move on, and grow, because this won't stop you."