Disclaimer: Don't own anything you recognise!
Thank you for all the reviews and alerts! Sorry about the wait, it was my birthday so I was taking a little time off!
Guest: There are parts of Elena that we could like, but they are ruined by the other parts, the thing is at the beginning, Elena could make her choices, Stefan was happy to let Elena decide what to do, Stefan and Damon only got controlling when they realised that Katherine was after her, before that she had a choice and she chose to stick around Stefan despite wanting to have a normal life. And in the beginning of TVD she said to Matt that he's one of her best friends, yet she chose to not only stick with Stefan, despite knowing that it would bring her into contact with Damon. But then she fell in love with Damon and is with him in the end, and everybody just brushes off the fact that he killed Vicki (And I don't like Vicki, I'm not sure the writers really looked at the implications of how old she was compared with Jeremy) but she was Matt's sister, and Damon killed her for no reason. Damon killed Jeremy, and he didn't know that Jeremy would come back, and again Elena ends up just brushing that under the carpet, like it doesn't matter. I feel like at least with Klaus, for the most part, we knew why he was being bad, and he admits to being the bad guy, we can accept him for that, but Elena doesn't admit to ever being in the wrong. It still really pisses me off that she suffered no consequences to wiping out Kol's entire sire line.
Careena1: Jeremy has the advantage here, because Damon knows that Maya loves her cousin and wouldn't do anything to hurt him.
SeleneMoon21: Thank you!
xotinkerbella: Davina needs to be stronger so that she doesn't get taken advantage of. I wanted to draw that parallel, especially because Freya's just spent a lot of time with Rebekah. Maya has a plan for the grimoire, plus she needs to keep Sheila off her back while she deals with Katherine, and Klaus's curse.
WiseGirlDivergence46: Care definitely looked super hot, her friendship with Maya means that she doesn't have as many insecurities as she did before, so she has more confidence in herself.
sammyleann: Jeremy deserves to choose whether or not to be compelled, and in this he already knew about Vampires, so anything Elena would have wanted, wouldn't have worked.
mrs. morgan 35: I know, they never mentioned it once Damon took over, my guess is that once Damon killed Lexi, he cemented himself as someone to be trusted and they figured, Damon's done more than any of the rest of them when it comes to Vampires and they just throw all of their trust behind him and forget about Zach, from what I understand, Zach was pretty much a shut in anyway.
Guest: There's no way that Maya was going to let him have his memory erased.
NonBinaryAceKitten: Thank you!
lillen20: Thanks!
dragonegyptianblue: Thank you! We'll see if Nature cares about Jeremy remembering.
sam: you're welcome
Omega-Maharan: The Bennett's need a serious kick in the pants, Davina's basically got her whole life ahead of her this time.
Hearteyesmf: I know, but I post on AO3 as well, and where I can, I attach pictures, and I couldn't find a Poison Ivy costume that I liked, so I went with Captain America.
Blu3b3rryT3a: Yes! Davina is finally in the know! Which means that Maya can warn her about things before they happen and Davina will take her seriously. Stefan is a terrible role model, I don't understand why he thinks that baby Vamps need to learn using animal blood, it's a terrible idea. Damon had to do well, he knows that Maya would kick his arse if he messed up Jeremy's mind.
NaRuKo-InuTaiSHo-XD: Thank you!
October 10th 8 p.m.
Klaus was out for dinner with a few members of the Northeast Atlantic Pack, his pack, Cary had pointed out to him early on that as the Alpha (who wasn't technically the Alpha), he needed to establish connections in the pack, reinforce his authority over them. So every month, he would go out to dinner with Cary, his Beta, and several wolves that he had named as the new enforcers for the pack. It had taken him quite a while to choose new enforcers, since the loss of the last ones, none of them were up to his exacting standards, and he had spent months training them in the fine art of battle, before giving them their new titles.
They were at a fairly mid-level restaurant, none of the wolves being ones for fine dining. Naturally Klaus was at the head of the table, with Cary sat to his right, Regina (the one he'd identified as being terrifying to children) on his left, there were also three other women, Alexandra, Jessica and Emma, and two other men, David and Scott. These were the wolves that he would turn into his first Hybrids, after ensuring that the process worked of course. They were smart, ruthless, and above all, loyal, which was exactly what he wanted when creating a whole new race. And despite his own reservations when it came to spending time with the pack socially, he had actually come to enjoy it, a little, at least. So he was indulging in a drink, laughing at the jokes being thrown around, when his phone buzzed with a message.
"Did you smile when you saw my name pop up on your phone just now?" It was Maya, and he realised that he had smiled, the moment he'd seen it was from her.
"Perhaps…" he sent back.
"How have you gone so long without messaging me? I'm such a delight!" his phone buzzed again and caused him to let out a little laugh.
"What are you so happy about?" Scott asked, taking a sip of his beer.
"None of your business," Klaus replied, moving to tuck his phone away, but received another message before he could.
"I hope you haven't forgotten that I exist…because I definitely haven't forgotten about you…"
Klaus raised a brow, that was a little needy…and very unlike her, checking the time, it would have been 11 p.m. in Virginia now, she was throwing a birthday party for Caroline, she must have been a little tipsy.
"I could never forget about you love," he replied.
"I know that look," Regina said, smirking at her Alpha, "That's the look of someone that just got a message from his girlfriend!"
"I don't have a girlfriend," he shot back.
"Oh please!" Alexandra butt in, "We've all seen you cut out of a meeting, or finish dinner early, hell you even bailed on a training session last week, just to talk on the phone. You have a girl…or is it a guy?"
Klaus glared at her, "You shut your mouth."
"It's a girl," Cary muttered.
"Cary!"
"Oh relax! She's gorgeous!" Cary brushed off.
"How do you know that?!"
"Half the time when you answer the phone, you're right next to me! You think that I can't see who's on the screen?" Cary turned to look the rest of his companions, "Seriously, she's totally hot!"
"Stop. Talking. About. How. Attractive. You. Think. She. Is!"
"So you admit it is a girl!" Regina crowed, causing Klaus to growl, "What did she send you?"
"That's none of your business!"
His phone buzzed again, this time coupled with a picture of Maya with a drink in her hand and several boys around her, "Everyone keeps hitting on me! Too bad you're not here to save me "
He frowned at that, but before he could respond, he received another message, this time, just a quick video of Maya and Caroline dancing in the centre of a group of guys.
"Damn!" Regina said, leaning over his shoulder, "They're hot! Which one's yours?" Klaus snarled and whooshed out of the restaurant, "Guess the guy couldn't take a little teasing," Regina shrugged.
"You know that he's going to run you ragged at our next training session?" Alexandra pointed out.
"Eh, it was worth it."
Sunday 1st November 2009
Caroline had chosen to stay over at the Sommers house after the disaster that was the Halloween party, she knew that Maya wasn't going to be feeling great that morning, what with Vicki dying and Jeremy being there to witness it. Maya would probably want to stay in bed, her covers over her head, ignoring the world until Monday, but Caroline wasn't having any of that. So she burst into her best friend's room, flinging open the curtains and jumping on the bed to wake her. "How am I only just hearing that you drunk texted Klaus on my birthday?!" she demanded. Causing Maya to groan as the sunlight hit her face.
"Sunshine!" she moaned in annoyance, rolling over and burying her head under her pillow.
"Oh no!" Caroline grabbed the red-head's arm and flipped her back over, sitting on her stomach.
"Aah!" the Siphon groaned as all of Caroline's weight landed on her mid-section.
"Wake up!"
"What!" she whined.
"Drunk texts! Klaus! Explain!"
Maya scrubbed her hands over her face and sighed, "There's nothing to tell, it happened, I'm over it…"
Caroline scowled at the red-head, watching her for a moment before snatching her phone from the nightstand, "We'll just see about that!"
"Wha-No!" Maya reached for her phone, but Caroline, wily cheerleader that she was, was somehow able to flip over Maya again, this time pinning the older girl's hands beneath her.
"Oh. My. God!" Caroline stared at Maya's phone. The first few messages weren't anything to write home about, they were fun, maybe a little flirty, but as the night had gone on, the messages had not only gotten dirtier, but Maya had also sent a few photos. Photos that Caroline had taken when the girls were messing around with each other, sexy boudoir type of photos. "You sent these to Klaus!" she shrieked.
"Damn it Caroline!"
October 10th, 2009
Klaus was back at the compound after dinner, in the library, enjoying a perfectly aged bourbon, when his phone buzzed again. Maya had been texting him religiously since dinner, the messages getting progressively flirtier, as the night went on. Pulling out his phone his eyes widened as her next message popped up, followed by a picture. "I tk sm sexxxy pics, bt cant post thm…want 2 c?"
The photo that followed, had Klaus swallowing heavily as he struggled to produce an appropriate response. It was a black and white photo, Maya stretched out on her front in bed, her back arched so that her arse was in the air. She had on a skin-tight shirt, dark underwear and thigh high dark stockings. The picture had clearly been taken from a distance, from the side, so someone had to have taken it for her.
"Who took that?" he finally asked.
"Wdnt u lk 2 no ?" she replied with a wink.
Her response had Klaus growling and clenching his fists, Caroline had better have been the one to take that photo, otherwise he might have to come to Mystic Falls early, just to stake his claim.
"Im drunk + sooooo horny. Gna find smne to play wth."
Klaus stiffened, "DON'T YOU DARE!" when she didn't respond he texted again, "MAYA!" she didn't text him back and so he called her, hoping to get her on the phone and distract her, but she wouldn't answer. Klaus furiously messaged Damon and Enzo, wanting to get one of them to stop Maya from making any drunken mistakes. But none of them responded.
Klaus had almost convinced himself to run all the way to Mystic Falls, when Maya texted him again, "I miss ur lips, wish I could feel them all over my body." Coupled with another picture.
Her face wasn't in the photo, but he could tell it was Maya, her wolf talisman nestled comfortably between her breasts. She was sat on the floor, her chest thrust out, giving him a very clear view of her red lingerie. She also had sheer thigh high stockings on, giving him a little peek at the wispy phoenix tattoo she had on her thigh, a tattoo that he'd designed for her.
Klaus could feel his monster creep to the surface, his bloodlust turning into lust for his Siphon. Not only was she wearing the wolf he'd given her, but his artwork was also permanently adorning her body, it triggered something, almost primal, inside of him. She belonged to him, and it took everything in him to not to go out and claim her.
"You're making this very hard for me sweetheart."
"Am I making u hard?"
"Maybe…is that all you have to show me?"
"Maybe…"
He didn't receive anything more from Maya for another hour and a half, it must have been 3 a.m. in Mystic Falls when her last messages came through, "ur so hot, bet ud be hotter moaning my name."
"You're very frisky tonight," Klaus sent back.
"Come play with me, or shud I play wit myself?" with that she sent through her third and final picture. Again, her face couldn't be seen, but she was perched on a stool at the foot of her bed, her back arched, fingers trailing down her stomach, towards her panties.
Klaus squeezed his bourbon tumbler so tightly that it shattered in his hand, spilling alcohol all over the rug, he needed to stop texting with Maya before he did something that he regretted.
1st November 2009
"I can't believe that you sent these to Klaus!" Caroline said again.
Maya moaned in frustration, shifting the blonde off her back, "I was drunk," she defended, "And horny…and lonely."
"Lonely?" Caroline asked, "You're not alone, I mean you could literally have anybody that you want!"
"I know Caroline, that's not what I meant."
The blonde sighed and crawled under the covers with Maya, head resting on a pillow as she stared deep into her best friend's eyes, "Then what do you mean?"
"It was my choice for us not to be together, and my reasons haven't changed, I'm still growing, and Nik needs time to get his shit together…but I miss him so much Care! And I'm always busy, with school, and my plans, and spells and, and, and I always have so much going on! It's easy to just push it to one side. But in the quiet moments, when there's nothing left for me to do, it's like there's a piece of me that's missing. Like there's this gaping crater inside of me and the longer I'm away from him, the bigger it gets."
Caroline's gaze turned sympathetic, she knew that there had been something different about Maya ever since they got back from their summer vacation. She'd thought that Maya was just stressed about everything coming to a head this year, but it was clearly more than that. "I don't understand," Caroline replied, "This whole separation from him, it's your idea, it's part of your plan."
"I know! He needs to stay out of town, because there's no way that Katherine's going to breeze into Mystic Falls without first sending some spies in to see what's going on! And I know I made the right decision with Nik, because I know that he needs time to process all of his feelings for Aurora."
"But Aurora was like a thousand years ago! There shouldn't be any feelings there."
Maya shook her head, thinking about how best to describe it, "As a Vampire, everything that you feel is heightened. Sadness becomes despair, dislike becomes hate, hate becomes loathing, happiness becomes euphoria, like becomes love and love becomes obsession. Aurora was Nik's first love as a Vampire," Maya sighed, "And she broke his heart, and that shaped him into the person that he is today. He said that love was a Vampire's greatest weakness, and he vowed to never love again. And he didn't."
"That's- wow, that's intense," Caroline replied, Maya kept the things that she knew about Klaus very close to her vest, so she knew that what the red-head was telling her was never meant to be repeated.
"And now, he's found out that everything that he based himself on, the betrayal that shaped him, was nothing more than a lie, a lie perpetrated by one of the few people that he trusted, his big brother. He needs time to readjust, to reassess, and to decide if he wants to find Aurora. "
"Do you really think that he'll want to?"
"Honestly, I don't know, he says that she means nothing to him, but what he felt for her…the connection that they shared, that's not the type of thing that you just let go."
Caroline could see the worry on her friend's face, she prided herself on knowing her best friend better than anyone else, but she hadn't known that Maya was holding such deep insecurity when it came to this woman from Klaus's past, "I don't think that Klaus is going to want her back, they may have had a connection, but listen to me." She brushed Maya's hair behind her ear, "You and Klaus, you two have a connection, one that to me, seems pretty unbreakable. You gave him freedom from his father, you gave him another sister, hell you gave him his baby brother back! And pretty soon, you're going to give him the one thing that he's been craving from the moment he was cursed. You're giving him his life back, completely, and you're not doing it because you have to, you're doing it because you want to. Klaus would have to be stupid to give you up in favour of some girl that he loved when he was a baby Vampire."
"You think so?"
Caroline smiled, "When I see you and Klaus together, I can tell that he's the one you're going to spend the rest of your life with. He's your epic love. If you don't believe anything else for the rest of existence, believe that."
Maya snuggled up into Caroline, "Thanks Sunshine. You always know exactly what to say to me."
"Perks of being your best friend," Caroline shrugged. "Now! Damon texted, and he wants us out of the house tonight because he's staying over."
"What?!" Maya asked warily, "Why?"
"He said something about not wanting to hang around the Boarding House on Stefan's birthday, plus he wants to date night with Enzo."
Maya shot up, "It's Stefan's birthday?! Oh my God! Where's Damon?"
"At the Boarding House, he left his favourite jacket there, he's coming straight back."
"I have to go!"
"What? Maya!"
Maya had rushed into the bathroom, starting the shower, and jumping in, she peaked her head above the frosted shower door as Caroline marched into the en-suite, "There's going to be another death this weekend, I have to prevent this one!"
"Oh for-" Caroline threw her hands up in annoyance, "One of these days, you're not going to be able to use your future knowledge as an excuse!"
"Not today though!" Maya replied, scrubbing her body from head to toe, she needed to get over to the Boarding House before Damon did something that he'd grow to regret.
Stefan was in his room hanging out with his best friend Lexi, who'd showed up at about 4 a.m., "So you're saying that there are people actively hunting Vampires in town and yet you're still here."
"Just do me a favour, while you're here, please be careful."
"Ugh!" Lexi threw her head back in exasperation, "Why stay?" she jumped off the bed, "I'm headed to New York next weekend. Bon Jovi, in The Garden. 'Wanted Dead or Alive.' It's our theme song! It'll be a blast!"
"Hey, do you think that he would actually remember us?" Stefan asked, "That was a pretty crazy weekend huh?"
Lexi snapped her fingers, "We can make him remember! Come on! Let's go! I mean, what's keeping you here?"
Stefan gave a little self depreciating smile, "I told you, her name is Elena."
The older Vampire picked up a photo of Katherine from the table and turned to face her best friend, "Well, let's hope that she's better than the last girl you got all sprung over."
Stefan stood and snatched the picture from her hands, tucking it back into a book, "You didn't even know Katherine."
"Because if I did, I'd kick her ass, the little bitch! Speaking of," she held up a finger, "Where's Damon?"
"Probably with his girlfriend."
"Girlfriend?" Lexi asked incredulously.
"Yeah, I'm uh, still trying to work out exactly what the deal is between them, she's not compelled."
"So, she's hanging with your brother because she wants to?" Lexi said sceptically, "That seems unlikely."
"Yeah," Stefan nodded, there had to be something going on that he didn't know about, "Hey, you gonna be okay here? Alone? I got some things I gotta take care of." He had to go in to see the Sheriff, he'd been called in as a part of the investigation into Vicki's disappearance.
"Well it's not exactly like I can go anywhere," she pointed to the covered windows, "And you and Damon are the only ones with these nifty little daylight rings," she lifted his hand observing the Salvatore ring on his finger. "Oh, I have a mood ring from '75, trade ya?"
Stefan grabbed her hand with a smirk, "Doesn't work that way, and you know it."
"Yeah," she sighed.
"Hey Lex, I'm really glad that you came here."
"What are we doing for your birthday? It's not everyday a guy turns 162 years old."
Stefan shrugged, "I may have a line on a Witch that could make you a daylight ring."
"What?" Lexi asked with wide eyes, she'd been alive for 350 years, and had never been able to walk in the sun, "Are you serious?"
"Maybe," he sighed, "I didn't want to get your hopes up, because she doesn't like me very much, but she might be willing to make you a ring."
"Who doesn't like you?" Lexi scoffed.
"It's…Damon's girlfriend…"
"Damon's girlfriend is a Witch?" Lexi asked.
"Yeah."
"And you think that she can make daylight rings?"
"Apparently she sells them, online."
"You're kidding!"
Stefan shook his head, opening his laptop and showing her the page that he'd been browsing, there were necklaces, rings, earrings, hell even a brooch or two. Delicate pieces and sturdier ones, daylight jewellery designed for all manners of preferences.
"All of these are daylight pieces?" she whispered.
"Yeah," Stefan nodded, "The website sells a lot more than just daylight jewellery, but this is the only stuff that I'm interested in."
"Wow," Lexi scrolled down and winced at the prices, "Sheesh! Look at these prices! $1.5 million, for a simple ring?! And what's this option? Personalisation? Personalisation how?"
"I don't know, I think that you have to email the store, and talk about it in more detail. But like I said, Damon's girlfriend runs the website, if I ask, I'm not sure that she'd be willing to give you one. She's really not a fan of mine."
"Well," Lexi said, pushing out of the way and dropping into a seat and pulling the computer towards her, "She doesn't know me yet, and I'm completely loveable! You go do your thing, I'm gonna browse through these and see if there's anything that I like."
Damon eyed Lexi from doorway of Stefan's room, she was so engrossed in what she was doing on the computer, she hadn't noticed him, rolling his eyes, he whooshed inside, "Boo." He said, standing in front of the table.
"Ugh!" Lexi looked at him in disgust and groaned.
"Hello Lexi," he smirked, "What an unexpected surprise."
She let out a scoff, "Unexpected surprise? I think the wrong brother went back to high school."
"How long you here for?" he asked.
"Just for Stefan's b'day," she replied, trying not to get too annoyed at the younger Vampire, she needed to talk to him about his girlfriend.
"Awe, you mean you didn't come all this way to see me?" his eyes drifted down to the laptop screen when she looked away from him, and he quirked a brow, that was Maya's website.
Lexi laughed, "That's it Damon, after a century I finally realised that death means nothing without you." She stood and leant towards him, "Do me."
"Oh!" Damon pulled away, "Why are you so mean to me?"
"Uh, have you met you? You're not a nice person."
"Because I'm a Vampire!" Damon shrugged.
"But you're only the bad parts."
"I disagree," Maya said, watching the two from the doorway, "At least Damon doesn't tear people to shreds," she walked in, "And then put them back together like some horrific jigsaw puzzle." She gave Damon a quick scan with her eyes, making sure that he hadn't been hurt.
Lexi looked over at the girl, taking in her clear confidence, her cocked hip, and her quirked brow, "You must be Damon's girlfriend."
"And you must be…" Maya scrunched her nose in mock confusion, "No, I got nothing, clearly you're not important enough to have been mentioned."
"Well, you're hanging around Damon, he's never been a great judge of character."
Maya regarded Lexi for a moment before letting a smirk creep onto her face, "You know, I might actually like you." Damon groaned in annoyance and Maya rolled her eyes, "Shut it Damon, you know I don't have any Vamp girlfriends! I could use one, instead of being surrounded by the eternal boys club!"
Lexi smiled in return, "I'm Lexi Branson, Stefan's best friend."
"Oh!" Maya winced, "Points off for that!" then she shrugged, "But you're hot, so I'll let it slide, Maya Sommers, Damon's girlfriend."
"Well, there's no accounting for taste," Lexi shrugged, "But you're hot, so I'll let it slide," she repeated back, causing Maya to let out a little laugh, "Can I get you a drink?"
"It is 10 a.m." Damon protested.
"Why yes, you can," Maya said, "Thank you so much for asking!" she caught the look on Damon's face and knew that she needed to talk with him first, "You know what, I will meet you in the parlour, I just gotta give my boyfriend a proper greeting."
Lexi wrinkled her nose in disgust, "Ew, I'll be downstairs." She walked out of the room and Maya cast a quick temporary silencing spell and walked over to Damon.
"What are you doing?" he hissed.
"Stopping you from doing something very stupid!"
"What?"
"You're meeting with the Sheriff today, to give her vervain right?"
Damon nodded, "Yeah it's all part of the plan to get on the Council."
"Yeah well, after your talk with her, you're gonna get some ideas, ideas that are best ignored."
"What ideas?"
Maya glanced behind her, making sure that Lexi wasn't about to burst in, and ensured that her silencing spell was still intact, "You will not use Lexi to throw off the Sheriff's suspicions about Vampires, do you understand me?"
"What? I would neve- actually that's a pretty good idea," Damon conceded.
"No!" Maya smacked him on the arm, "Vicki is dead, because I didn't try hard enough to stop it, I am telling you right here, right now, Lexi is leaving this town as a non-living, living person!"
"Okay, okay!" Damon held his hands up, "I won't do anything!"
"Damon!"
"I promise."
"Good," Maya sighed, she was going to have to keep an eye on Lexi for the weekend, perhaps she should tell her about Stefan's fall from grace, it would certainly get both of them out of town and quickly…she'd keep that in her back pocket, just in case, but for now, Damon's promise was enough to soothe her.
"You're not really going to hang out with her, are you?"
"I wanna get to know her, she always seemed fun."
"Awe but-"
"Damon, I can't hate someone just because you do. But also," she knew that Damon needed reassurance, "I'd pick you over her in a heartbeat. I'd pick you over Stefan in a heartbeat."
"You hate Stefan."
"And I love you," she replied, causing an involuntary smile to creep onto Damon's face, "Now go see the Sheriff!"
Lucien sat in his office, going over the reports that he had been given by his security team, four more of his facilities had been destroyed, along with any and all of the information that they might have had on the locations of the two missing bloodlines. This was getting beyond frustrating, again, Elijah was the one caught at the scene, and the more facilities destroyed, the closer the Original got to him. And while he may only be a year younger than the 'noblest' of the Mikaelsons, without the upgraded Werewolf venom, he was no match for him. But maybe, he could slow the Original Vampire down.
"Rita!" he called through his intercom.
His assistant came in, "Yes sir?"
"Get me my accountant, and business manager…and Arturo."
Rita paused at that, "Arturo? You're certain?"
Arturo was a Vampire that Lucien had turned in the 1300's, as a human, he'd fallen in love with Lucien, and when Lucien turned him, he became sired to him. Lucien had enjoyed it at first, but having the man dog his every step quickly grew tiresome and he sent him away. Arturo came back into his life every so often, whenever he needed someone that he could trust completely, and now seemed like the best time to use the Vampire once more. "I'm certain," Lucien nodded, "Get him here as soon as possible."
Sheriff Forbes sighed as she looked over the paperwork she had on Vicki Donavon, it was most likely that the girl had just up and left town, like her interviews were suggesting, but in doing so, it left Matt alone in his home, with no adult left as his guardian. It was no secret that Kelly Donavon was not cut out to be a mother, more interested in her buzz, and the men that she was with, than looking after her children, and everyone knew that she wasn't in town. It was a problem that she needed to solve, and quickly, Matt may have been 17, but he had no means of supporting himself, and she didn't want the poor boy to lose his home. Massaging her temples, she was interrupted by her office phone, answering it, Liz told her deputy to send in the person waiting to see her.
"Mr Salvatore," she said, seeing the older Salvatore brother in the doorway, carrying a brown package. He walked inside, shutting the door behind him. "I understand from Mrs Lockwood that your uncle's out of town."
"Yes, he is, um, but I spoke with Zach and he filled me in, and asked if I could bring this to you," Damon handed over the package.
Liz took it from him, unsure of what could be inside, but she undid the bindings, and pulled out a purple flower, "Vervain."
"It's all we have at the moment," Damon said, "I hope it's enough."
Liz watched him for a moment, before sighing and putting the plant back in the box, "It's a small circle," she said, "Founding families, a few city officials."
"And your deputies, of course, right?" Damon asked, taking a seat in the chair opposite her, "Are we any closer?"
Liz shook her head, "I think our facts are wrong. We've always believed that Vampires can only come out in the dark. What if that's changed?"
"Is that even possible?" Damon asked sceptically.
"We've exhausted every avenue. We have to consider that the Vampire may be walking around during the day, right in front of us."
"Hm," Damon could feel his jaw clench, "So what's the next step?"
"We're now looking at anyone new to town since the deaths began. It should turn up a suspect or two."
Damon nodded, "And I, of course, will do anything I can to help." Now he knew why Maya was so insistent on extracting that promise from him. Damon knew that if she hadn't, he definitely would have set the Sheriff's eyes on Lexi. Now he and Sabrina the Teenage Witch, would need to come up with a new plan of action, and fast.
Maya and Lexi were in the guest room, chilling on the bed, chatting, with Stefan's laptop lying between them, "I just don't get why you don't like Stefan," Lexi said, "He's kind, and thoughtful, and so much fun!"
Maya shot her an amused look, "He's judgy, and broody, and boring, and a hypocrite!"
"Look, I'll admit that Stefan can be a little closed off at first, but he's a great guy!"
"He vervained his brother, locked him in a cellar, and then sent me a 'brush off' text from Damon's phone. Stefan sucks!"
"Okay," Lexi conceded, "That was probably not his finest moment, he should have gotten the whole story before doing anything. But to be fair, he was just trying to protect you."
"It's the 21st century Lexi, I don't need no man to save me, I could snap Stefan's neck like that," she snapped her fingers.
"He didn't know that you could protect yourself!" Lexi defended.
"Well he should have made sure before he attacked Damon! Also, again, it's the 21st century, I don't need a man butting into my business!"
"Okay, we should probably stop talking about Stefan, because I feel like if we don't, we're going to get into an argument, and I don't want that." Lexi said.
"Well what do you suggest we do?" Maya asked with a wry smirk. She knew exactly what Lexi wanted to do, the open laptop was a clue.
"Well… could we discuss these magic rings that you make?"
"Alright," Maya nodded, "Which one were you thinking of?"
"I was actually thinking about two."
"Two?"
Lexi bit her lip, "I have someone," she finally said, "Someone that I love more than anything."
"You want a ring for them too," Maya said in understanding.
"Yes."
"Alright, show me what you like."
Lexi pulled the laptop towards her, and clicked into the basket, she'd already marked two rings as her favourites. Both rings were made of rose gold, the one that Lexi had picked out for herself was very vintage, the lapis lazuli was a large oval, with a floral halo surrounding it, set with diamonds. The one she'd chosen for her partner, had a lapis lazuli channel cluster, in fact, it looked like an infinity wedding band. "This is what I was thinking…"
"They look like wedding rings," Maya noted.
"Well…that was kinda the idea," Lexi hedged.
Maya glanced over at her and nodded, "Okay, I don't think I've got enough rose gold to hand, I'd have to pick some up, so they might take me a couple weeks to make…"
"Wait, you-you actually make the rings?" Lexi asked, "I thought you just spelled them.
"No," Maya shook her head, "I buy the raw materials, then I make the jewellery with magic, it's one of the reasons that I can guarantee that they're eternal."
"That's…amazing!"
Maya shrugged, "I've been doing it since I was 13, when I was younger the pieces were very simplistic, you know, functional, but I've had a lot of practice now, so things are more detailed, personalised, some people even email me their own designs and ask me to make them."
"You'd really be willing to make these for me?" Lexi prodded, "Even though I'm Stefan's best friend and pretty much hate Damon?"
"As long as you're willing to pay, my freebies are only for family."
"I'll place the order now!"
Kol opened the fridge in the kitchen and growled, when he saw that all of his blood-bags had been moved down to the bottom shelf and stuffed together to make room for actual food. "Freya!" he complained, walking into the living room, where his older sister was stretching out on a yoga mat, "You moved all my blood!"
"I need real food to eat Kol!" Freya shot back, rolling her eyes at her baby brother, "It's not like I threw the blood out!"
"I had a system!" he protested.
"It's blood! You're lucky I don't make you use the fridge in the basement!"
Kol growled in frustration and threw his hands up, storming out of the room and heading back to his study, muttering something about annoying older siblings as he left.
Klaus was outside somewhere in the vast expanse of his lands with Liam and Luna, the children had full access to their wolves and he was teaching them how to use their heightened senses to their advantage, when Kol video called.
Klaus held up a hand, signalling for the children to stop, he sat on the ground and he answered the phone, "Kol."
"She's driving me crazy Nik!"
"Who?"
"Freya! She's everywhere! She's redecorated the living room, she moved my blood in the fridge, and she reorganised the magic room Nik! My magic room!"
Klaus couldn't help himself, he burst out laughing, "Well, you said you felt left out of 'Always and Forever,' now you know what it's like to have a sister dogging your footsteps at all times. Congratulations brother!"
Kol groaned in annoyance, "I take it back! I like being on my own! Can't you take her?!"
Klaus shook his head in amusement, "No can do brother, I already have Rebekah."
"But she's not there! Take Freya! You're all alone!"
"I am not alone, and you know it! Besides, you two are supposed to be working together anyway."
"But Nik!" Kol whined.
Klaus was going to tell his brother to stop complaining when Luna scrambled into his lap, unlike Liam, who preferred to spend time with Klaus in his studio, Luna was infinitely curious about his business, and more often than not, she ended up tucked away in his office while he worked, in fact, he'd even put a little desk and chair in the corner of his office, so that she could do her homework, and play pretend there. "Hi Kol!" she said, giving his baby brother a big grin.
"Hello Darling," Kol matched her grin, "I trust you and your brother are making Nik's life interesting?"
She nodded, "We went to the Aquarium last week! We saw so many sharks!"
"You did, did you?" Kol shot his brother an amused look and Klaus glared back at him, daring him to say something. "You know, I bet that there's mini golf somewhere near you, I hear that's fun. Oh! Or perhaps a waterpark! You did enjoy playing in the ocean."
Luna turned to look up at Klaus, immediately turning on her puppy dog eyes, "Can we?" she asked.
Klaus's eyes widened at the look, "Yeah Nik, can they?" Kol repeated, using that voice that got him anything from his brother.
"You stop that!" Klaus demanded, pointing at the phone screen, and then pointed at Luna, "And you stop that!" then he turned to Liam who was close by and had a smirk on his face, very reminiscent of Kol's, "And Liam, I swear if you start…" Liam held up his hands in surrender, as he fought the urge to laugh at Klaus. "You two," he pointed at Kol and Luna, "Are no longer allowed to talk to one another," he looked back at the phone screen, "Kol you are a menace!"
"Me?" Kol asked affronted, "I'm not the one teaching her how to play you like a fiddle! That's all Maya! You know she and the little wolf have been having weekly chats on her secret phone."
Luna gasped, "Snitches get stitches Kol!" she scowled.
"What secret phone?!" Klaus looked at the girl in his lap, "What secret phone Luna?"
Luna looked away from him, nose pointed in the air, "I don't know what you're talking about!"
"Luna…" Klaus growled.
"I'm not snitch…" she said, squinting her eyes and looking at him in an attempt at being serious, "I'll never tell."
Kol burst into laughter at the affronted look on his brother's face and Klaus scowled at the camera, "I'll speak with you later Kol, I have an interrogation to conduct." He hung up the phone and narrowed his eyes at the little girl who was now attempting to creep away from him. "Luna…"
Damon marched into the Boarding House, looking around for Maya, he found her and Lexi, giggling like schoolgirls in one of the guest rooms. Stefan was eyeing the two of them warily from the doorway. "What is going on?" Damon asked.
Stefan shook his head, looking slightly disturbed at the picture the two made, "I have no idea, I came home and found them like this."
Damon narrowed his eyes, "I don't like it."
"Me either," Stefan replied, for once agreeing with his brother, the two girls acting like they were friends was really freaking him out.
Damon's eyes narrowed in on the empty bottles of bourbon on the table in the room, "They're drunk!" he exclaimed, walking inside, "Lexi!" he hissed, "You got my girlfriend blitzed!"
Lexi laughed, "Oh relax Damon, she can really handle her alcohol!"
Damon scowled, pulling Maya up by her hand, steadying her when she stumbled, "She's 17!"
"Boo!" Maya pouted, "You're not being fun Damon!"
"I'm not being fun, because you've been drinking since this morning! What am I supposed to tell your mother? 'Oh I'm sorry your kid died of alcohol poisoning in my house,' she'd kill me!" He started tugging her out of the room, "Let's go drunky teen."
"Nooo!" Maya whined, "I don't wanna!"
"I don't care!" he threw her over his shoulder and whooshed out of the room, much to Lexi and Stefan's surprise.
"I don't know what's weirder," Stefan said, walking in with his arms crossed, "You getting along with Damon's girlfriend, or Damon acting like a grown up."
Lexi nodded, "Yeah, that creeps me out too." She watched the door, expecting to hear arguing, or see Maya or Damon run past in the hallway, but there was nothing, "When did he start acting responsibly?"
Stefan shook his head, "I have no idea."
/ / /
"Damon!" Maya whined, as he put her back on her feet in his room. He put his finger to his lips then gestured to the room, indicating that she needed to put a silencing spell up, "I'm too drunk for that," she said and he rolled his eyes. Rummaging through his drawers, he pulled out a bottle of her 'alcohol cure' that she'd stashed in various places in the house, for just such an emergency, and handed it over to her. Maya downed the bright blue liquid and immediately sobered up, she whispered a few words and enveloped the room in a silencing spell. "What's up?"
"What's up?" Damon hissed, "What's up?! Liz is practically one step away from discovering that Vampires can walk in the sun! What are we gonna do?!"
"…Well…there is the plan that other you had."
"Which was?"
"Get Caroline to throw a party at the Grill tonight, attack someone, compel them to believe it's another Vampire, make sure the Sheriff knows and then stake the Vamp in order to cement their trust in you!"
"And I was gonna use Lexi," Damon said in understanding.
"Yep," Maya nodded.
"Well, you made me promise not to use Lexi, so who do we use?"
"Uh…I'll text Nik, he's got a bunch of Vampire bodyguards watching us, I'm sure he'll let me use one," she shrugged.
"Are you sure that that's gonna work?"
"Technically, it's your plan."
"Can Caroline get a party sorted by tonight?"
Maya gave him a deadpan stare, "Did you really just ask that?"
"I know, I know," Damon conceded, "I should know better."
"You convince those two to go to the Grill tonight, and I'll go help Care sort out the party."
"Alright, I'll see you later."
Maya was sat with Enzo in a booth at the Grill, and Caroline came up to them with a smile on her face, "Well?" she asked, "What do you think?"
"Never doubted you for a second Sunshine," Maya said, raising her drink to the blonde.
"Considering you only had a few hours notice, it's great love." Enzo said, nodding in agreement. He perked up when Damon walked inside, and joined them.
"Caroline," Damon greeted, dropping a kiss on the cheerleader's cheek and sliding in next to Enzo, "Excellent party."
"Damn right it is!" she exclaimed, watching the people on the dance floor, "I'm amazing!"
"Yes you are!" Maya agreed, "Look there's Lexi and Stefan."
"Has Nik provided us with a patsy?" Enzo asked quietly.
"Over in the corner," Maya nodded at a dark haired guy, stood at a table by himself, "I'm gonna keep him occupied, Zo, you and Care run interference with Stefan and Lexi, and Elena, if she shows up. And Damon…"
"I'll find someone to eat," the elder Salvatore smirked, getting up from his seat, the group split up to take care of the plan.
/ / /
Damon had found a couple outside, he killed the guy, attacked the girl and compelled her to point out the Vampire that they'd decided to use as a patsy, he'd gone back inside and joined Maya and the Vampire.
"Well?" she asked.
He nodded, "Any minute now."
"What?" the Vampire asked.
"Oh nothing," Maya dismissed, "We're just waiting for Mom to show."
Damon stiffened when he saw the Sheriff walk in with the girl that he'd compelled.
/ / /
Stefan and Elena were at the pool table, she'd decided that she didn't want to give him up, even though she was having to lie to her family and friends about who he was, and what better time for them to make up, than his birthday. They saw the Sheriff march over to Damon and Maya and the guy they were talking to, with some of her deputies in tow.
"What's going on?" Elena asked worriedly, Liz didn't look happy.
"I don't know," Stefan replied, tuning in his hearing to the conversation.
/ / /
The Sheriff glanced at Maya, wishing that she didn't have to do what she was about to in front of the girl, she shot Damon a look and quickly injected the man that they were talking to, with vervain. "What are you doing?!" Damon exclaimed.
"Thank you for the vervain," Liz said to Damon, and motioned for her deputies to grab the Vampire, who was now gasping in pain.
"Liz?" Maya said in confusion.
"Not now Maya," Liz said, and she and the deputies rushed outside.
"Go," Maya said to Damon, he followed them outside quickly, and Maya headed round the back, she wanted to make sure that Liz wouldn't get hurt.
Lexi stopped her before she could go far, "What's going on?" she asked, her face a mask of worry.
"There was an attack outside, the Sheriff found the Vampire, stay with Stefan and Elena, and away from the deputies."
Lexi nodded and rushed over to the other two, keeping them from going outside.
/ / /
Maya ran outside, just in time to see the Vampire get control back, he threw both of the deputies into cars, knocking them out. Liz pulled out her gun, and shot at him, unfortunately it had no effect on him, the bullets weren't wooden. She shot him multiple times, but he wouldn't go down. Snarling the Vampire grabbed Liz, his fangs out, he was about to bite her when Maya came up from behind the Sheriff.
"No!" She yelled, she grabbed Liz's arm and waved her hand out, "Motus!" The Vampire flew away from them.
"Maya!" Liz gasped, eyes wide in shock.
"Damon now!"
Damon ran up at human speed, and staked the Vampire before he could get up, and then turned to look at Maya and Liz. "Are you okay?" Damon asked, walking towards them.
Liz nodded, "Yeah, thank you," she looked over at her daughter's best friend, "Maya what-what was that?" she asked in shock.
Maya gave her a sheepish smile, shooting a look at Damon, "Uh, maybe we should get rid of the Vampire first," the elder Salvatore said.
Maya nodded, "It's probably best if we talk about this in private."
"You-you threw that Vampire away from us! Without even touching it!"
"Sheriff!" Damon said, grabbing her arms, forcing her to focus on him, "Someone could come at any moment!"
Liz shook off her shock, "Get it in the car, quickly!"
"Caroline we need to talk." Liz said, as her daughter came out of her room.
"What is it?" she asked with a frown.
"Sit down." Liz gestured for her to take a seat.
"Okay," she said slowly, and sat on the couch.
"How long have you known that Maya had magic?"
Maya knocked on her mom's door, letting herself in when Jenna called for her to enter, "Hey Mom, I'm headed to bed."
"Okay honey," Jenna replied, not really paying attention, she'd been texting with Elijah the past few days and was currently coming up with the perfect reply to one of his messages.
"Just so you know, Liz knows that I'm magic, and is probably gonna wanna talk to you about it in the morning. Cool?"
"Cool." Jenna muttered, and Maya left. Jenna shook her head as the words that her daughter had said actually registered, "Wait…WHAT?!"
"Damon what the hell was that?" Stefan asked the moment his brother walked into the Boarding House.
The elder Salvatore rolled his eyes, "I thought that was pretty clear Stef. I just took care of the town's Vampire problem, now you don't have to worry about being caught by the Council."
"Cut the crap Damon, you never do anything for anyone but yourself."
Damon shrugged, "Alright you got me, I have a diabolical master plan."
"What is it?" Lexi asked.
"Well, if I told you, that wouldn't be very diabolical, would it?" Damon made to head upstairs, but she grabbed him by the arm.
"You used some random Vampire and not me. Why?"
"I'll admit, I was tempted," Damon smirked.
"Damon!" Stefan growled taking a step closer to his best friend.
"But then I thought, if I killed you, who would take responsibility for my baby bro, when he goes off the rails…I mean, has he even told you about his latest bender?"
"Damon!" Stefan hissed.
"What?" Lexi asked confused.
"Baby bro got into a bit of trouble. He turned a girl, then staked her, fed on a couple of druggies and ripped 'em apart. You should probably take care of that."
Lexi turned to her friend, "Stefan?"
Klaus was headed to bed, when he heard sniffling coming from Liam's room, frowning, he opened the door to the boy's room, only to find Liam curled up in a ball in his bed, trying hard to hide his tears. "Liam?" he asked, walking over to him and crouching down so that he could meet the boy's eyes, "What's wrong?"
Liam scrubbed his face, trying to make his tears disappear, "It's nothing."
"Come now," Klaus sighed, he reached out and ran his hand through Liam's hair, "Talk to me."
Liam sniffed, "It's Mom and Dad," he whimpered, "I can't remember what they sound like," he cried, "I'm forgetting what they look like! Luna's alright forgotten what they look like! They're gone and there's gonna be no one to remember them!"
Klaus frowned as he eyed the boy, he couldn't say that he related, he may have loved his mother and father at one point in time, but Mikael's abuse, and Esther's indifference, coupled with her final betrayal, meant that he hated his parents. He'd be happy to forget them and the pain that they'd caused him, but Liam's parents were different. From what little the boy had told him, his parents were good to him and Luna, took care of them, and loved them. "Do you trust me Liam?"
The child nodded, "Yes," he said, brushing his tears away.
Klaus stilled his hand on Liam's head, and reached into his mind, bypassing the pain and suffering that were still worryingly near the surface, and found a clear memory of his parents, pulling it to the forefront of Liam's mind.
Liam gasped as he saw his parents clearly for the first time since they'd died, "I-I didn't know I still had that."
"Tomorrow, we will spend the day in my studio, and I'll paint you pictures of your parents so that you and Luna will never have to worry about forgetting them again." Klaus finally said.
Liam's eyes welled with tears and he threw his arms around Klaus's neck, squeezing tightly, "Thank you Daddy," he whispered.
Klaus's eyes widened, his arms automatically wrapping around the boy. Had he heard that correctly? Had Liam really just referred to him as his father?
Thanks for reading! If you have time, please leave a review! They make me feel amazing!