"Thanks for the offer, Ric, but I can't. I am absolutely swamped today."

Damon had his phone pressed against his ear as he walked into the living room, he ruffled Maya's curly hair affectionately. She looked up at him and smiled, her blue-green eyes sparkling. He grinned back at her, before retuning his attention to the phone.

"Yeah, I get it. She wants to go, and she's asked you to take her, but I really can't. Hang on a sec."

He pulled the phone down against his shoulder and looked over at Anna, who was sitting next to Pearl, as she texted someone, her fingers flying over the screen. Damon cleared his throat and caught her attention.

"Hey, how much do you like Jeremy Gilbert?"

Anna's cheeks flushed a faint pink. She glanced at her mother, who raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything.

"A lot, why?" she asked suspiciously.

"Enough to spend the day playing bodyguard to his sister?"

Anna pulled a face at him,

"What's this about?"

Damon sighed, but explained.

"Elena has asked Alaric to take her to dig through Isobel's research, hoping to learn something about Katherine. Alaric doesn't want to go without back-up, but A. I'm busy today, and B. I really, really, really, don't want to." He emphasized the last part, hoping Anna would get the hint.

Anna rolled her eyes, and held up one finger to Damon, signalling him to wait. She quickly typed a message on her phone and hit send. She waited for a few seconds, until her phone beeped. She read the message she'd received and nodded.

"Okay. Jeremy and I will both be going. He's interested too."

"Ooh, Elena's not gonna like that." Damon said smirking.

"Yeah well, Elena needs to learn she doesn't get to make decisions for everyone else." Anna said, sounding annoyed. She didn't like Elena's bossy attitude, and if she wanted to spend some time with Jeremy, who she really liked, then she would. No matter what Elena's thoughts on it were.

Damon smirked and pulled his phone back up to his ear.

"I've got you some back-up Ric, she'll meet you at the Gilbert house in…" Anna mouthed something to him, "… half an hour." He relayed the information to Alaric, who sounded relieved. "Yeah, of course, if you find anything interesting, I want to know… Have fun." He added sarcastically, knowing it would probably be anything but. He hung up the phone and smiled at Anna.

"Thanks." He said, grateful for her help.

"Don't mention it." Anna said, smiling back. She grabbed her jacket and headed for the door. "See you later."

"Bye."

"Be careful Annabelle."

"Bye Anna."

"Would you like some of this rabbit, Maya?"

Avanyu's voice hissed in Maya's ear, startling her from the book she was reading. She looked up and saw the snake's scaly head hovering over her shoulder, a still kicking rabbit clasped tightly in her jaw. Blood dripped from the wound on the rabbit's neck, staining Avanyu's scales. It wasn't the first time she had offered Maya food, and Maya still wasn't sure how to politely explain to the snake that she didn't eat live animals. It didn't help that Avanyu had seen Stefan hunting and got confused as to why he would eat live animals, but Maya wouldn't.

"No thank you, Avanyu. I've already had breakfast." Maya said,

Avanyu did the snake version of a shrug and proceeded to swallow the struggling rabbit whole, before draping herself across Maya's feet, and basking in the sunlight.

"The sun is warm today, Maya, you should shed those layers you wear and allow it to warm you."

Another thing Avanyu seemed unable to grasp was why Maya wore clothes, and why she wouldn't take them off and allow the sun to warm her instead. Snakes didn't have a concept of nudity, or propriety, or well they didn't have a concept of a lot of things.

"I'm comfortable as I am, Avanyu."

"If you say so, you are a very odd hatchling, so perhaps it is true."

Avanyu closed her eyes and started to doze, and Maya returned to her philosophy textbook. They remained like that in silence for a while, Avanyu basking in the sun and Maya reading about the epistemology branch of philosophy. She wondered what Avanyu would think of the questions that philosophers asked, such as what is knowledge, what is truth, and what is reality. She doubted Avanyu would care much, as long as she had food and warmth.

She wasn't sure how long they were sat like that for, but it was Avanyu who moved first, lifting her head, and tasting the air with small flickers of her tongue.

"Someone is coming, Maya." She said, hissing with displeasure.

For Avanyu to be telling her, it meant it was someone she hadn't met before. Which discounted everyone currently living at the boarding house, the aurors, and Tyler who had all met Avanyu since they'd moved in. Damon had deemed it necessary, since Avanyu seemed to see Maya almost as one of her own hatchlings, and had hissed threateningly at anyone who approached her until Maya introduced them and explained they were either her family, or her protectors, or in Pearl, Anna, and Harper's cases, trusted guests.

Maya looked in the direction Avanyu's head was pointed, she was shocked to see Elena there, and then realisation struck.

"Hello Katherine."

Katherine smirked, eyes alight with amusement, though she maintained a healthy distance between herself, Maya, and the huge snake whose body was draped over Maya's legs and who's head was lifted and hissing threateningly.

"Hello Maya."

Katherine didn't ask how Maya had known she wasn't Elena. Maya though was wondering about Katherine's ability to bypass both the auror's and the wards. She knew all the auror's had been warned that Katherine was in town and that she looked identical to Elena, so Katherine must have avoided their gaze somehow. That she could pass through the wards unimpeded, suggested to Maya that she had no intentions to kill or harm any of the inhabitants of the house. That didn't mean Maya was going to trust her though, just because she didn't intend harm now, didn't mean she wouldn't change her mind. She slid her wand out of her wrist holster and gripped it in her hand.

"You've certainly grown a lot since I last saw you." Katherine commented cheerfully, "You look much healthier now."

Maya shifted slightly, and nodded. It was true after all, when she had last seen Katherine, she'd still been a little too thin and rather short. A year and a half of good food, exercise, and healers treatments and she was now at a healthy weight and a on the taller end of the scale for girls her age. According to Damon, her mum had been taller than average as well, and Himiko had mentioned that her dad was tall as well.

She tilted her head to the side and examined the older woman. She didn't feel at all threatened by her. Possibly because she had come through the wards unimpeded. Possibly because she had heeded Avanyu's warning hiss and maintained distance between them. Possibly because Katherine was doing her best to appear non-threatening. Maya judged the distance she'd left between them, it was enough that if Katherine did make a threatening move, she could portkey away before the vampire could reach her.

"You cut off John Gilbert's hand." She said, having decided it was safe enough to engage in conversation with Katherine for the moment.

Katherine smirked again, and inclined her head slightly.

"I did."

"Why?"

"Because I wanted to kill him, and I needed to get that pesky ring of his out the way. Cutting his hand off seemed the more expedient option."

"But you didn't kill him."

"True," Katherine pursed her lips together and looked thoughtful, "I guess I'll have to try again one day. I think I'll wait for him to come back to town though, now that he's run off with his tail tucked between his legs."

"Why didn't you try to kill Jeremy and Jenna?"

Katherine wagged a finger at her,

"Uh-uh, my turn to ask a question. It's only fair." Katherine looked at her consideringly, "What did Damon say about the jacket I bought you?"

"He was annoyed that you had such good taste in clothes. Lexi too."

Katherine's smirk widened into a grin; amusement danced in her eyes.

"But he let you keep it anyway."

Maya shrugged, as she was wearing it currently, she didn't think it required a verbal answer.

"So, you wanted to know why I didn't try to kill Jeremy and Jenna as well as John… but not, Elena," there was an assessing look in Katherine's eyes, as she stared into Maya's own, as if trying to work something out. "Killing Jeremy and Jenna had no value; it wouldn't have advanced my plan in any way. Why, didn't you include Elena?"

Before Maya could answer, Enzo and Maggie appeared, putting themselves between Katherine and Maya, facing the vampire. Pearl and Harper appeared a second later behind Katherine boxing her in. Katherine smirked. Pearl spoke first.

"Katherine." Her tone arctic levels of cold.

"Pearl." Katherine's on the other hand still had that same amused tone she'd had throughout her conversation with Maya, but there was a wariness in her eyes that hadn't been present before.

"Leave Maya alone."

Katherine gave a casual shrug, managing to look effortlessly elegant as she did so.

"I only wanted to say, hello." She injected hurt into her tone, without dropping the ever-present smirk from her lips.

Maya couldn't help but feel that her emotions and reactions had been much more honest when they'd been alone, than they were now.

"You need to leave now." Pearl said steadily, staring at her old friend.

Katherine didn't flinch or seem at all startled, when Agent Blye and two of her team apparated in with sharp cracks, wands out and pointed at Katherine. Avanyu did though, rearing further and hissing her displeasure at the sudden appearances. Maggie, confident that the situation was now handled, backed closer towards Maya, planning on taking her inside the house, whilst the others dealt with Katherine's presence.

"You're going to hurt my feelings, Pearl." Katherine replied in a sing-song tone.

"If you still value your life as much as you used to Katherine. Then leave."

"Fine. I know when I'm not wanted."

She curtsied mockingly at Pearl, before flashing a quick grin at Maya.

"See you around, Maya."

She disappeared, speeding away in an instant. Maggie crouched down next to Maya, ignoring Avanyu's discontented hisses, which only Maya could understand anyway. She was muttering about people disturbing her sleeping time.

"You okay, sweetie?"

Maya nodded.

"She didn't do anything, She just talked."

"Okay. Why don't you say goodbye to Avanyu, then we'll go inside, and you can tell us what she said."

Caroline stared at the woman who had just shifted the foundations of her entire world.

Again.

For the fourth time in two days.

She could still remember the horror of waking up as a freaking vampire, with no memory of how it happened, or what it meant for her life. All she knew was that she had a burning thirst for blood and a pair of sharp fangs that popped out whenever she was hungry or angry.

Then, Damon had revealed that he was also a vampire, along with Stefan, Maggie, and Enzo. Maya was a witch, but that hadn't felt like such a big revelation since Bonnie had been saying the same thing since September and she was kind of inured to it by this point.

Then Tyler had confessed that he was a werewolf, or at least he could be one, if he ever killed someone. That had been a surprise, but also a relief, since he had sensed that something was off with her, and he had wanted to show her that he understood, that he had a secret too. That had been sweet of him, and it had also explained a lot about the weird conversation he'd had with Maya at the carnival. Maya could see magic, which was how she'd known Mason had triggered his curse. And that was a big deal, because a werewolf bite could kill a vampire, so they had to stay at the Salvatore house tonight, because it was a full moon, and their house was the safest place for vampires to be when a werewolf was around.

Now, this lady. The headmistress of Maya's school, which just so happened to be a school for magic, had completely upended her entire worldview. Because apparently it went well beyond just vampires, werewolves, and witches. There was also angels and demons, fire-breathing dragons, and unicorns! Okay so she kind of totally wanted to see a unicorn, for real, and she was totally gonna bribe Maya into making it happen, but that was totally beside the point. How could any of this be real? How could this be hidden from the world for so long?

"I… uh… what?!"

Professor Aradia smiled kindly and nodded to Maya, who took out a wooden wand from her pocket. Caroline felt a surge of curiosity and fear as she watched Maya point the wand at a thick book on the table. She heard Maya mutter a strange word, and then saw a flash of light. The book transformed into a fluffy white rabbit, with pink eyes and twitching ears. Caroline reached out to pet it, but quickly withdrew her hand when the rabbit stated hopping away. With another flash of light from Maya, it changed back into the original book.

"Okay." Caroline took in a deep breath; she could do this. "I want to know everything."

"And Maya said all she did was talk?" Damon asked.

Everyone who'd been present for Maya's recounting of her interaction with Katherine nodded. Aradia and Himiko had taken Maya and Stefan to do the spell, and Maggie had decided it was a good opportunity to catch Damon up on what had transpired whilst he and Stefan had been out teaching Caroline to feed from animals.

"What did they talk about?" Damon asked, a baffled look on his face.

"Not much, from what Maya relayed, and the little we overheard." Pearl told him, but quickly recounted what Maya had reported to them once Katherine had left.

"So not much more than we already knew or suspected. She was the one who attacked John Gilbert, and she is planning something. What I'm more concerned about is that she waltzed straight through the wards like they weren't there. Is there something wrong with them?"

Agent Blye shook her head.

"Director Calhoun sent a team over to check them out. There are no faults in the wards, they're not weakening, in fact from what he said the blood-base of the wards is doing it's job and they have actually strengthened since they were placed."

"Then how did Katherine get through them?"

"The wards are intention based until you get to the layer on the house itself. If she has no intention to harm anyone who resides in the house, then the wards wouldn't stop her."

"How did she get past the aurors?"

"She timed their patrols, and slipped through the gaps."

"Great!" Damon rubbed a hand over his face, "That's just great."

Maya took her place in the ritual circle, taking deep even breaths, as she allowed her magic to fill her body. Himiko was to her left and Sheila was to her right, Maya had been surprised to see her, but apparently when Professor Aradia had asked her to take part in the ritual she had agreed straight away. The only other person Maya knew was her previous magic teacher Professor Song, who was stood across from her.

In the centre of the circle, Stefan sat cross-legged, clutching a black candle in his lap. His face was pale and tense, his eyes fixed on the photo of Katherine that rested on a small altar opposite him. A white candle burned above her smiling face, casting a soft glow on her features. A cord of braided herbs and fibres connected the two candles, barely touching Stefan's knee and the edge of the photo. Maya and the others each held a similar cord in one hand and a candle of their own in the other.

"It is time." Professor Aradia said, with a glance at the moon, full and bright in the night sky above them, "Let us begin."

She waved her free hand, and the candle in Stefan's hands and the one on the photo ignited with a flicker of blue flame. Then one by one they all lit the candles that were holding. They all touched one end of their cords to the flames, and watched as they caught fire. The cords burned slowly, releasing a fragrant smoke that filled the air. As soon as all their cords were lit, a spark flew from the candle Stefan was holding and the white candle across from him and lit each end of the long cord between them. The cord sizzled and crackled, sending sparks into the air.

And as one they all began chanting the spell, Aradia and Himiko had crafted, letting their magic flow through them as they did so.

"Ignis hoc vinculum frangimus.

Igne purgamus haec paria.

Igne funiculum hunc comburimus.

Ignem finimus carmen.

In igne has animas liberamus.

Numquam iterum ligatus erit"

They repeated the spell over and over, their voices rising and falling in unison. Maya felt the heat of the fire, the pull of the magic, the connection with the others. The cord between the candles burned faster and faster, until it was nothing but ash. The candles flickered and went out, leaving only smoke and silence.

Maya opened her eyes, and looked straight at Stefan. He had an odd expression on his face, she couldn't quite place it, almost pained, but not quite.

"It's done." Professor Aradia, said, "Thank you all for your help. Merry meet, merry part, and merry meet again."

As the circle began to break up, Maya rushed over and fell down at Stefan's side, picking up one of his hands in her own and drawing his attention to her. He smiled, looking as tired as she felt. He put down the stub of the candle he'd been holding and pulled her into a tight hug, brushing a kiss over her forehead, as Damon often did.

"I'm okay Maya. Thank you for helping break the spell."

"How do you feel, Stefan?" Professor Aradia asked, having walked over to join them.

Sheila and Himiko were the only other two who remained, the rest having left already. Stefan looked Stefan looked up at the professor and gave her a weak smile.

"Lighter. Like something has always been there, weighing me down, but I never knew it was there until it was gone." He said, rubbing his chest where his heart was. He felt a strange emptiness there, but also a sense of freedom.

"Good. And how do you feel about Miss Gilbert now?" Professor Aradia asked, her eyes probing.

Stefan thought about it. He tried to recall all of his interactions with Elena since he had met her. He realized that even with the spell muted as Maya had done in September, he had still felt a bond with her. A bond that had not been natural, but forced by the Traveller's curse. Now with it completely gone, he could see Elena more clearly. He wasn't sure he really liked her as much as he had thought he had. He wasn't sure the friendship he had tried to maintain was worth it, given how she had treated Damon, from what he remembered of some of their interactions.

"Nothing. I don't hate her, but I'm not sure I like her that much either. I think I still need to sort through a lot of my memories and feelings, but I'm not sure we'll ever be much more than sort-of friends."

"Have your feelings for Katherine changed at all?"

Stefan laughed,

"Nope I still think she's a manipulative," he glanced down at Maya, "you-know-what, that hasn't changed at all."

"You don't feel drawn to either of them?"

"No. No draw at all." Stefan said, shaking his head. He felt nothing but dislike and anger for Katherine, and indifference for Elena. He felt no attraction, no affection, no loyalty. He felt free.

"Good. It definitely worked then, and with the spell we used, no one should be able to bind you again." Professor Aradia said, smiling. She reached out and touched his shoulder, giving him a gentle squeeze. "You're free, Stefan. You can live your life as you choose. You can love who you want."

"Thank you." He said, completely and utterly sincere.

"You're welcome."

She smiled softly at Maya who appeared to be dozing lightly against Stefan's shoulder. He wasn't surprised, the spell might not have been strenuous to the point of making her nosebleed, but it was probably still quite tiring.

"I think, I should get you both home. Himiko?"

"I'll take Sheila, if you take those two."

"Agreed."

Caroline shifted uneasily on the sofa in the boarding house's living room. Tyler was sat next to her for moral support. She'd decided she needed to tell Bonnie what had happened to her, before her friend worked it out for herself and freaked out, or told Elena. Whom, Caroline was so not ready to let know. Damon had offered to be there, when she told Bonnie as well, but then something had happened to do with a woman named Katherine, and Damon was off dealing with that, and Caroline hadn't wanted to wait.

So here she was.

Sitting on the sofa, across from her best friend, and trying to figure out a way to break the news to her.

"Caroline." Bonnie said eventually, tone firm. "Whatever it is, just tell me. Because it can't be any worse than you stealing my teddy bear when we were nine."

"I'm a vampire!"

Bonnie froze at Caroline's outburst, staring at her in shock.

"Please don't hate me!"

"I… I… What happened? You were fine, you were healing."

"I don't know. I woke up like this and Damon says I have to have died some point after he gave me his blood and before it left my system."

"Damon's looking into it. He thinks it might be connected to the crash, and why the brakes didn't work."

Bonnie still looked stunned, but she was quick to see the underlying meaning in Tyler's words.

"You mean, he thinks she was murdered, and that the crash was the result of a previous attempt."

Tyler nodded.

"Bonnie," Caroline practically wailed. "Do you hate me?" she asked, accompanied by a little sniff.

Bonnie looked startled, but she practically leapt forward and wrapped her arms around Caroline in a tight hug.

"I don't hate you, Care. I don't think I could ever hate you, even if you did something awful, like steal my teddy bear again."

Caroline let out a watery chuckle and returned Bonnie's hug. The friends embraced in silence for a few minutes, before Bonnie sat back and gave Caroline a serious look.

"Do you need me to make you a day-walking ring? Emily wrote the spell down in the grimiore and I'm sure I could do it."

Caroline shook her head and waggled her hand at Bonnie.

"Maya already made me one, before I left the hospital."

"Good. What else do you need? Are Stefan and Damon helping you? Does anyone else know? You're not shut out of your house, are you?"

Caroline shook her head.

"Damon and Stefan helped me trick my mom into giving me an invite. And they've been helping me with everything else as well. How to feed from animals, and blood bags –"

"Not people?"

"Not yet. Damon says in a few weeks once I'm more in control. Just so I'll know how to do it without killing anyone in an emergency."

"Okay." Bonnie nodded, it made sense, and she guessed it was better for Caroline to know and not need to feed from people, than to need to feed from people and not know how to without killing.

"Erm, Tyler's the only other person that knows."

Bonnie gave him a strange look, as if she'd suddenly realised how odd Tyler's presence was, let alone that he'd known about Caroline's vampireyness before she had. Caroline got the feeling she didn't know about Tyler's werewolf thing. This was proven true when Tyler gave her a shrug,

"I have my own deal going on, might even tell you about it one day."

Bonnie shrugged that off and turned back to Caroline.

"So, Elena doesn't know yet?"

"No, and I don't want her to. Not till I'm ready."

"Okay. I wont say anything till you want to, and I'll be with you when you do."

"Thanks, Bonnie." Caroline said, reaching out and embracing her once more.

"Hey, what are best friends for?"

Elena gasped and rubbed her chest. She wasn't sure what had happened, but all of a sudden it had felt like a rubber band that had been pulled tight around her chest had just snapped. Jeremy looked up from the box of Isobel's stuff he'd been going through, concern in his eyes.

"Are you okay?" he asked, his voice laced with worry.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she lied, trying to sound casual. "I just felt something weird."

"You're probably just tired." He shrugged, "Why don't we take a break, this stuff will still be here tomorrow."

"Yeah, probably." She glanced down at the book she'd been holding and closed it with a sigh. "Hey, so do you think werewolves are real?"

"Yeah. I mean, witches and vampires are real, so werewolves aren't that much of a stretch, and Anna didn't seem surprised when Vanessa mentioned them."

"So, about you and Anna…"

"Nope." He shook her head, "Not doing that with you. My relationship with Anna is my business."

"Fine. Just, I'm here if you ever want to talk Jer."

Katherine pushed Mason away and sat up, something had just happened, but she didn't know what. It had to have been something magical. What it was though she didn't know. She rubbed at her chest, but it did nothing to relieve the sensation that had settled there. A sort of absence, as if something had been there and now it was gone.

"Kath?" Mason asked, his voice full of concern.

She shook her head, trying to ignore the strange feeling. She knew it was useless to dwell on it, she wouldn't find any answers tonight. She forced a smile and turned back to Mason. She didn't love him, but she liked him enough, and he was very good in bed. She needed a distraction, something to make her forget.

"I'm okay," she lied, her voice husky. She pushed him down on the bed and straddled him, kissing his lips, "Where were we?"