A/N: Sorry for the late update guys, but I had a really bad week. The pain is killing me... :( But I've been able to cook you something up anyway! So, are you ready for a little cray cray chapter?

Thank you all for reviewing, favoriting and following! Please, leave a review (:

Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries or any of its characters. This is a work of fiction written for entertainment purposes, but the original characters and original storylines present in "My Paper Heart" are my own work.

Something was trying to stir me out of my sleep. I could feel a repeatedly unpleasant tingling at the back of my head. Suddenly I could make it out clearly. Someone was attacking me by throwing themself toward my bed. My eyes shot open urgently and I pined myself up against the headboard in the moment of a heartbeat. I had grabbed the stake hidden under my pillow instinctively, and the only parts of my body still touching the mattress were my tiptoes. I was ready to fight- and all of my senses were heightened. I was already searching the darkness frantically for my attacker before I realized that I couldn't see anything. I was feeling a presence, but couldn't place a body. There was no unusual scent, and the house was deadly silent. Something was wrong. Horribly wrong.

Still scanning my bedroom intensely, I slowly and carefully reached for my bedpost lamp, already knowing that I wouldn't see more that I already had. And as I expected, the room was empty. Then, suddenly, I felt it again. It was coming toward me, but I still couldn't see anything. It wasn't making any sense. The feeling was terrifying. I jumped out of bed dexterously, grabbed my phone swiftly and slammed the door open to rush precipitately into the hallway. I bumped my shoulder hard into the banister, but I couldn't have cared less. I dialed Damon's number urgently.

"It's 4am, Maya. You better be calling me for a booty call," Damon said in a sleepy voice.

"Damon, help me! I don't know what it is… It's attacking me!" I shouted, giving in to panic. I turned my head suddenly and my eyes widened in horror. It was still after me!

"Damon, HELP ME!" I screamed while hurtling down the stairs. I missed a few steps and pushed on the wall to keep myself from falling down, causing my phone to crash onto the floor. I ran like hell until I reached the front door and turned around abruptly, looking frenetically in every direction. My instincts were screaming at me to keep running, but I couldn't help but try to spot my assailant. Something, anything that could help me to fight it. I felt a wave coming to my left and instinctively staked through the air with incredible force. It was pointless. I was fighting the air itself. My breathing was erratic. All I could hear was my heart drumming loudly in my ears. I could feel it on my skin. I could feel it trying to invade my head and my chest. I rubbed my arms and my torso in a frenzy, desperately attempting to get rid of it. The feeling was both terrorizing and nauseating. It felt like dirty hands were running all over me.

It kept pushing and pushing, crushing my insides from the outside until I thought I was going to choke to death. Suddenly, something switched on inside me that turned my fear into rage. I wasn't going to die without a fight. I knew now it was pointless to fight physically… so I roared furiously with all the air inside my lungs. I roared with my gut out of pure rage. I was deafening myself with my wild, raw, powerful scream, and my throat was hurting like hell- but it didn't matter. I was irradiating all the strength I had left to desperately try to force my invisible attacker to retreat.

And suddenly everything stopped. The presence had disappeared. My body was free again. I took a deep and urgent breath. My senses were still wildly heightened, anticipating a new assault. I was in shock. My eyes were trying to pop out of my head and my breathing was wheezing through my painful throat. I felt air moving behind my back and swiftly turned around, my tensed arm raised to stake down mercilessly. I suddenly felt a real, physical hand encircle my wrist forcefully. The situation was beyond confusing for me. I was no longer able to think rationally.

"Maya!" a voice called out loudly. "Maya, it's me! It's Damon…" the voice said again strongly, but in a reassuring tone. I finally came slowly out from my trance-like state. I could now clearly see two icy blue eyes staring at me with an incredible intensity.

"Damon…?" I murmured hesitantly, the sound barely coming out of my broken voice.

"Yes. It's okay, sweetie…" he whispered softly while loosening his hold on my wrist. "You're fine now. Everything's fine," he continued in a soothing tone, carefully taking the stake out of my iron grip. From the way he was looking at me, I could tell I was scaring him to death. I was obviously in very bad shape.

"Thank you," I breathed out quietly, my voice breaking at each word. I was so happy, relieved, and grateful to see him right in front of me that I would have cried if I had had the energy. He slightly and cautiously opened his arms toward me, and I immediately threw myself onto his chest, fisting his shirt with both hands like I was hanging for dear life. He put a strong arm around my lower back to keep me standing and stroked my back and my hair tenderly, whispering reassuring words to relax my shaking body.

Somewhere in the back of my head, I knew I looked like a little girl that needed her father to calm her down after a terrifying nightmare. But I didn't care. I was only focusing on his calm breathing, his steady, slow heartbeat and his warmth. I was trying to get my sanity back. Right now, the only place I could possibly feel safe was in his arms.

I didn't know how long we stayed like that. I had completely lost track of time. But I assumed it had probably been awhile when Damon spoke again.

"What do you say about going to sit on the couch, and you can tell me what happened?" he whispered softly, cupping the back of my neck with his hand to try to get a look at me. I weakly shook my head against his chest as an answer.

"Okay… we're going to stay a little longer like that, then." He kissed the top of my head caringly before resting his chin on it. After a few minutes, the door suddenly opened. I flinched violently between Damon's arms. He tightened his hold around me in response.

"It's okay. It's just Bonnie…" he reassured me, giving me a warm smile.

"What's going on here?" Bonnie asked, alarm in her voice, her eyes opened wildly in shock. She looked at me with intense worry. "Maya, are you OK?" She stepped closer to touch my arm cautiously. I gave her a weak nod.

"How… did you know?" I asked her in a hoarse voice.

"I called her," Damon answered.

"What happened to your voice?" Bonnie asked anxiously, her eyebrows furrowed.

"It's because she… screamed," Damon explained for me. He clenched his jaw tightly while his face turned white at the memory. A shiver ran down my spine at the reminder. He looked down at me with a forced smile on his lips, circling his hand a little on my back. I glanced up at him, a silent question in my eyes.

"You… think it was… a witch thing?" My throat was still really painful, making it hard to speak- but I needed to talk with them to appease my state of shock.

"I have no idea, Maya, since you didn't tell us what happened yet," he said matter-of-factly. "But the only thing I got from your phone call was that you didn't know what it was, so…" he trailed off with raised eyebrows. "I figured if it was a vampire or a werewolf, you would have known! The only options left were witch or ghost, but Bonnie was closer." He pointed this out jokingly, obviously trying to light up the mood. I turned my head slowly to look at Bonnie with a desperate, yet hopeful stare.

"Can you… tell if it was a… witch attack?" She gave me a poor look.

"No, I can't. The only things I can do are see if I can still feel powers coming from a witch, and to check if anything had been bewitched in the house…" she explained softly, with an apologetic smile on her face.

"Please… do that," I pleaded her in a scratchy voice, nodding my head urgently.

"Okay. Bonnie is going to do her witchy thing, but you have to tell us the whole story," Damon said seriously.

"I will…" I affirmed, eventually loosening my grip on his shirt. "But… first… I need to shower." I folded my arms tightly around my chest. Damon and Bonnie exchanged a quick, meaningful glance.

"Bonnie is going to check the entire place, and I will be right outside the bathroom door if you need anything… okay?" Damon said softly. I nodded and gave them both a grateful smile. I reluctantly stepped away from Damon and headed upstairs with weak legs. Damon was hot on my heels.

The scalding water running down my skin was more than welcomed. I closed my eyes and focused on the warmth slowly relaxing my body. I grabbed the bath puff and poured some soap on it. I started to scrub my entire body. The more I scrubbed, the more frantic my moves became. I was trying desperately to make the invading feeling I had experienced earlier go away. After washing myself five times, my skin was red and burning- but I was finally feeling decent again. I let out a heavy sigh and turned the shower off.

KATHERINE'S POV

This thing was taking way too long for my patience. I laid on the floor right outside the circle of candles, propping myself up on one of my elbows. I was scrutinizing Lucy's reactions. Her nose had started bleeding. At least she was putting real effort into it this time. From her furrowed brows, her drawn face and her tensed muscles, I could easily guess that something was giving her a hard time.

Suddenly, her head moved slightly then fell backwards, efficiently cutting her chanting. It looked like someone had punched her violently in the face. She fell flat on her back, onto the ground. I sped to kneel next to her head. Oh perfect. She had passed out.

"Lucy!" I called, patting her cheek to wake her up. "Lucy!" I tried again more forcefully. Her eyes were still closed, and her heartbeat was very slow. I slapped her. No response. I sighed in exasperation. I reluctantly sat on the floor, leaning my back against the wall next to her.

After what seemed like an eternity, she finally opened her eyes. She fluttered her lashes a couple of times and looked around in confusion before her eyes landed on me. She gave me a quizzical stare.

"You passed out," I informed her in a detached tone. "It sure took you long enough to come back among the living," I stated in annoyance, watching while she was straightening herself to sit. "What happened?"

"It didn't work," she answered simply.

"I had figured that out already," I deadpanned, negligently holding her out a tissue.

"It was like… she pushed me back," she started with a puzzled look, while wiping the blood under her nose. "Like, no matter how hard I tried, my powers were bouncing off her body and right back at me…" She looked me straight in the eye and the disbelief was evident.

"Why don't you seem to be surprised at all?" she asked suspiciously. I just stared at her superiorly, a knowing smirk on my lips. "How does she do that?" she whispered, narrowing her eyes at me. I stood up and brushed my pants carelessly.

"Actually, I was counting on you to tell me that." I looked down at her with one cocky, raised eyebrow.

"I have no idea," she admitted bluntly.

"Could it be a witchy thing?"

"No. Witches feel each other's powers. It's an exchange, not an obstacle. It's the first time in my entire life I experienced something like that," she said, baffled. "And I have never heard of someone who could be… immune to magic…"

"Well, you better find out. Because I still have an itching desire to rip your head off for the little trick you played on me with the moonstone…"

I started to walk to leave this dirty, abandoned house, but turned my head around to look at her before disappearing. My voice was harsh. Deadly.

"Don't disappoint me." With one final warning, I fled the room. "And be discreet about it!"