A/N: Thank you so much guys for reviewing, favoriting and following "My Paper Heart"! And for all the lovely messages you sent me. :) Life has taken over lately. Exams are coming up, making it really hard for me to find time and motivation to write. So your reviews and love for Maya, Kathya or Malena would really be appreciated and would certainly cheer me up...

Also, last reminder: this story is going to be rated M...I'll change the rating as soon as I publish the next chapter, just to be safe. If you want to keep reading the story but don't want to read the M chapters, feel free to PM me and I'll tell you which chapters to skip. ;)
Now, I believe Maya is in some serious trouble...how is she going to get herself out of this situation? Hmm...let's find out! Happy reading! ;)

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.

I was in the shower, massaging my scalp when a shiver spread down my spine, raising goose bumps all over my skin. I froze when I recognized the sensation. I was able to feel Katherine's presence while in my shower- not in the middle of the staircase, nor behind my front door but in the shower. Either our many training sessions with Bonnie had increased my abilities substantially without me noticing, or Katherine was walking on my roof. Whether it was option "A" or option "B", I couldn't decide which one terrified me the most.

I rinsed my hair quickly, wrapped myself in a towel and hurried out of the bathroom. I focused my senses on locating her, but I couldn't feel her presence anymore. I stayed alert while finishing my preparation for school and finally went downstairs to head out. When I opened my door, I instantly noticed something hanging at my door handle. There was a thick off-white envelope attached to a silky dark red ribbon, tied up elegantly around the knob. There was nothing written on the envelope, but I had a pretty good idea of who my secret penpal was.

I took it and gently pulled on the fabric to untie the knot. The paper inside was made of the same material as the envelope. The words laying on it were in cursive and italicized, written in black ink. The whole presentation was extremely stylish, down to the old-fashioned handwriting.

"I'll be at the Grill at 3pm. If you happen to be in the neighborhood by this time…

K."

I wouldn't have let myself do that if I had known Katherine was around, but I actually chuckled at her note. She was obviously mocking the fact that I had stubbornly insisted this would not be a date. But my mood darkened suddenly when I realized there would be three problems coming at me if I actually met Katherine.

Matt worked at the Grill. Despite my efforts, I couldn't picture the scenario in which Matt serving Katherine and I drinks, while chatting casually, would not bring up a ton of questions. Not to mention that if he was on shift, there was a good chance Caroline would barge in.

If that wasn't enough already, Damon practically lived there. And I couldn't decide if he would lock me in a basement for real this time or torture me with it for the rest of my life, if he witnessed my meeting with Katherine.

The last-but-not-least issue was that I was supposed to meet Bonnie for our daily training at that time. How was I supposed to snake my way in between those tricky problems without being busted?

I folded the paper back in the envelope and put it in the drawer of my console table. Finally heading to school with a lot on my mind, I had the feeling that this day would be even more complicated than the ones of the past two weeks.

The entire day, Elena had been a lot more invasive and pushy than usual. She made it very clear that she was worried about me and that, no matter what had happened between us, we needed to present a united front now that Katherine was in town. She was obviously able to put our fight aside to concentrate on what she considered to be a bigger problem, but I wasn't. What happened between us was too important for me; it had cut too deep to just ignore it, even for a moment.

The other reason why I wasn't going to indulge her was that if I stayed mad at her, it would keep her out of Katherine's line of fire. Even though the vampire had seemed to agree tacitly to leave Elena alone after my impulsive threat, I wanted her to be safe rather than sorry.

Fortunately for me, the day had also come with some kind of relieving news. Matt wasn't working at the Grill today, and Bonnie believed my lame excuse about having to finish my English paper before joining her for practice. Realizing then that Elena obviously didn't fill Bonnie and Caroline in was also doing wonders for my stress level.

But the effects of this relatively good news didn't last long as I was coming closer to the Grill. I paused far enough from the building so that Katherine wouldn't feel my presence. I was suddenly not so sure this whole thing was a good idea. As much as I did not consider it as a date, I was certain that she was seeing it as one, and all my friends would too, if they stumbled on us.

The idea of sitting at a table and talking to her, instead of being stalked and throwing snarky comments at her on a sidewalk, was making it all a little too real for me. Answering her invitation, and actually showing up, somehow meant in the back of my mind that I was accepting she was now a part of my entourage. Whether I liked it or not. If I was starting to play this meeting game with her, the chances of her leaving town for good would painfully decrease.

I chewed my lower lip nervously and decided to turn around to meet Bonnie instead. But I had barely taken two steps before I stopped again. I was the one who had initiated this meeting thing when I told her to stop stalking me. Sure, I hadn't expected this to be her solution to the problem, but I couldn't deny she had played along. If I wasn't making a little effort myself by stepping into the Grill, she would be really unhappy. And an unhappy Katherine meant a dangerous, unpredictable Katherine. Not to mention that all of this started in the first place to avoid her lurking around and finding out about my training sessions with Bonnie- not to mention my supernatural abilities. Or at least, more of them. Going to that meeting was actually my best option. I sighed heavily and stared at the ground, hoping it would give me some kind of courage. I braced myself and turned around once again, heading to the Grill with my poker face on.

Damon was nowhere to be found- to my surprise, and although my instincts were telling me that Katherine was here, I couldn't find her. I walked toward the counter, letting my eyes wander around. I finally spotted a slim, naked arm adorned with a delicate bracelet and tasteful rings, and dark brown heavy curls cascading over it sticking out of the most isolated booth. Of course she would choose that booth.

I walked my way to her table, making my pace deliberately slow and my steps as nonchalant as I could. My intention was to establish loud and clear to her that I was not looking forward to seeing her. She raised her head up to me and her eyes were literally shining with mischief.

"Maya, what a surprise! I couldn't possibly imagine what brought you here, but I'm glad that you are…" The grin plastered on her face was far too smug for my liking.

"The make-out booth, really?"

"Is it?" she asked lightly. "Well, what can I say? My sensual aura seems to dictate my every move." Her arrogance caused my eyes to roll but I couldn't help a small lop-sided smile to rise on my lips. I took off my jacket and threw it at the end of the booth, before sliding myself on it.

"Since it's the making-out booth, I think you're on the wrong side of the table. You should come sit here." She taped the spot next to her playfully.

"Sure. I'll do that once I've downed three bottles of scotch and passed out," I replied dryly.

"Let's get you something to drink, then!" She raised her arm gracefully and snapped her fingers at the waiter. I raised a disapproving eyebrow at her but kept my mouth shut.

"Vodka. Neat, please," she ordered in an indifferent tone once he had arrived at our table. I gave him an apologetic look.

"An iced tea for me, thank you."

"What happened to getting yourself drunk?" she asked in an exaggeratedly vexed tone after the boy had walked away.

"What happened to learning how to be a friend?" I shot back defiantly, a sarcastic smirk on my lips. "Unless you didn't mean the words that you quoted from my favorite book."

"Oh, but I meant every word. As long as we are friends with benefits."

"Seriously?" I couldn't believe that she had already made two bluntly sexual suggestions within barely five minutes.

"I can tell you that I'm very serious, Maya…" she stated huskily, her burning eyes locked on mine. Fortunately for me, the waiter chose that precise moment to show up again with our drinks. I grabbed the glass gratefully and took a long, slow sip, stalling for the time I needed to ease my unexpected discomfort. I didn't know why I was suddenly feeling this way around her. It had never happened before. Maybe I was feeling trapped by this table, this booth and the whole building. Or maybe I subconsciously knew that it would be a lot more difficult for me to escape her seduction now that the short encounters had turned into long meetings.

"So, obviously you found my note…what did you think of it?" she asked coyly. The idea of Katherine Pierce fishing for compliments caused a sardonic smirk to curl my lips.

"Old-fashioned…and very elegant," I finally admitted.

"Just like me…the elegant part, at least." She giggled mischievously before locking her lips on the rim of her glass.

"Funny. You never struck me as that type before…"

"I am many things…it's entirely up to you to find out about them," she taunted with a sly wink.

"Whether I decide to explore your multiple facets or not, I'm going to reaffirm again, for the millionth time now, that you still need to find another toy to take care of your obvious desire to get laid." I knew that I was playing with fire, talking to her and mocking her like that, but my pride was preventing me from letting this slide and playing it smart. This devilish woman had been back in town for barely two days, and she had once again brought out the worst in me.

"Hmm, such an awful word to say…" she drawled casually, but I could tell from the dangerous glint in her eyes that I was about to regret my previous comment.

"Oh, so now you have manners?"

"I do have manners! And I don't get laid." She placed her glass down on the table with intentional slowness and then stared intently into my eyes. "I…explore. Possess. Ravish." She leaned toward me, pressing her chest gracefully against the table so that her face was only a few inches away from mine. "I taste. Stroke…tease," she purred, her fingertip mapping suggestively the edge of my glass. "I kiss. Scratch. Lick. Bite." She grinned predatorily, her teeth grazing her bottom lip. "I relish in unabashed sex…I take you to places you've never even dreamed of. I make you scream my name and forget yours…but I don't get laid."

I wished I had come to the point where I was immune to her lustful tricks and batting eyelashes, but the entire bar had faded away a long time ago, and it was then that I realized I had forgotten to breathe during the entire time she had been talking. Her eager eyes were burning white-hot holes in my skull, carefully gauging my reaction to her words. I swallowed the dry lump in my throat as discreetly as possible and took a welcomed mouthful of my iced tea.

"Duly noted," I finally answered, my voice coming out a little hoarse. I slowly moved away from her and, leaning my back against the booth, pretended to be completely relaxed. "But I still maintain that you need to find yourself another victim to…have sex with. I'm actually surprised that you couldn't think of anything better than sleeping with me to make Stefan jealous. Damon would've been a better shot, or even Caroline…but me?"

"Who says I want to make Stefan jealous?"

"You. When you first came back to Mystic Falls, almost three years ago."

"I'm not exactly sure what you're referring to…" she said with a small pout on her lips, feigning genuine confusion. The fact that she managed to look cute while doing that was extremely exasperating, considering that she was a manipulative, deadly vampire.

"You said that you came back for him. Unless those were the words you didn't mean." I challenged her with a mocking smirk before taking another sip of my drink.

"In case you haven't noticed, Stefan is busily hooked to a dull-as-a-dishwasher version of me…" She titled her head to one side, amused, knowing perfectly well that I had noticed.

"So what? The infamous Katherine Pierce just gave up? 'Elegant' never crossed my mind as a word to describe you, but 'stubborn' and 'annoyingly persistent' sure did."

What was wrong with me? I was talking to a moody and powerful predator like she was one of my buddies with whom I could mess around. These meetings were definitely a terrible idea.

She glared at me with dark and cold eyes for a second before her features softened again.

"Well, I have eternity now that Klaus is dead. I stayed away from Stefan for one hundred and forty-eight years. I can wait for, let's say, seventy more years…" She stressed the last three words, a cruel grin plastered on her mouth.

"What if Elena becomes a vampire?" I asked in a low voice, watching her carefully.

"We'll see then..." She shrugged one of her shoulders and took a sip of her vodka.

"So I'm just here to kill time and entertain you?"

"Is that a problem?" she asked lightly, before her tongue traced a trail along her lips to catch an imaginary drop of alcohol.

"You mean apart from the fact that I'm being used and can't say a word about it in protest?"

"Aw…poor Maya," she drawled in a mockingly concerned tone. "I think it's time for you to accept that you're enjoying this thing between us as much as I do."

"Oh really?" I sneered dryly with a raised eyebrow.

"We already established that you missed me-"

"You established-"

"…and that- despite what I told you before I left, about there being no more acceptable excuses to let you slip through my fingers- you were actually happy to see me," she stated in a cocky, know-it-all tone. "So what does that mean for you, hmm?"

"Assuming that all of what you just said is true? That I have a damn short memory." I stared at her fiercely and grabbed my glass. "So you're sticking with your story? You're not doing this to make Stefan jealous?" She chuckled lightly, not even fooled for a second by my answer or my change of subject.

"No, I'm not."

"That's what I thought…" I mumbled before wetting my lips with the cold drink. She suddenly snapped serious eyes back up at me.

"What was that?"

"Nothing…you just gave me the confirmation I needed." I should have stopped talking then, instead of trying to be the smartest ass around the table but I couldn't help myself.

"And that would be about…?" she whispered, her brows slightly frowned in confusion, but her voice dripped with curiosity.

"The fact that you used Elena as a lucky shot to get Stefan back."

"What happened to Elena being off limits? I thought the subject was taboo…" she remarked, nodding her head slightly in obvious amusement.

"We're not talking about Elena. We're talking about you and your wicked schemes," I gritted out, my tone coming out a lot harsher that I had intended it to. Her jaw clenched tightly and her features hardened dangerously, but I couldn't let her get away with messing with my best friend. I couldn't let her get into the habit of messing up my relationships.

"That was a pretty desperate and unlikely move, if you ask me, but you hoped that Elena had indeed feelings for me, didn't you? Enough doubt for her to leave Stefan to be with me, or at least, burst their little love bubble…it would have left Stefan all broken and miserable, ready to run into your arms. Am I right?" I continued with a smirk that didn't quite reach my eyes. She didn't take the bait of my provocation. Instead, she stared at me for what seemed an eternity to me with dark, piercing eyes. The air around us was so tense, it could have been cut with a knife. Her features finally softened after a while, and she slowly leaned forward to the table.

"It wouldn't be such a terrible plan, now, would it?" She pretended to genuinely consider it. "Every one of us would have had what we wanted."

"Except Stefan, I guess…" I shot back, playfully narrowing my eyes at her. I realized too late that I should have mentioned Elena as well. Leaving out her name was coming down to admitting there was more to the story between us than just her purely and simply turning me down. And from the way Katherine reacted, I knew that my omission hadn't gone unnoticed.

My attention suddenly drifted away from her to focus on the shiver running down my spine. A vampire was approaching the Grill. And if I was right, that vampire happened to be Caroline. Fuck. I automatically tensed but did my best to hide my panic, not wanting Katherine to realize that I had felt my blonde friend coming, too. When I focused my attention back on her, something in her eyes made me believe that my efforts had been pointless. Once more, though, she didn't say a word about it, and graciously gulped down the last sip of her vodka instead.

"There's a third option, you know?" she said abruptly in a smooth tone, making me confused for a second about what she was referring to.

"Really? And what would that be?" I finally asked, remembering our interrupted conversation.

"I guess you're going to have to find that out by yourself…" she teased seductively, sliding out of the booth in a cat-like manner. Once she was standing at the end of it, she let her fingertips trail along the table separating us, her body language oozing sensuality. She suddenly leaned towards me, her lips moving dangerously close to mine. I was so shocked at the thought that she would try something like this in the middle of the Grill that I didn't even move away. I was frozen in my spot, staring despite myself into her chocolate brown eyes.

"That was fun…I can't wait to do it again," she purred, the hot air escaping her lips fanning mine. My brain was no longer able to work. I couldn't even think to oppose the insinuation that she expected us to do this again. And then, just like that, she vanished, finally snapping me out of my numb haze. I realized that there were no longer traces of her being here. Even her empty glass was missing. Did she do this so Caroline wouldn't find anything that could raise her suspicion about our meeting? Was she helping me, or herself? The familiar voice that came to my ears from the background dragged me out of my scrambled thoughts.

"Katherine! What are doing here?" I heard Caroline bark in a rather angry voice. Oh no.

"Caroline." Katherine's tone was indifferent, thankfully, but disdainful and I couldn't see how this situation could end up in a civilized way when those two were involved. I grabbed my jacket swiftly, jumped out of the booth and rushed in their direction.

"You know, you really should've taken the opportunity of Klaus' death to enjoy your freedom anywhere but here! Nobody wants you here," Caroline shouted bitterly, and despite her fear of Katherine, she was doing her very best to appear menacing.

"Caroline!" I called out to her while I approached the two of them. I stopped just next to her, and tried hard to convince her to shut up with my eyes.

"Is that a threat?" Katherine asked lowly, taking a dangerous step toward her. I put myself instinctively between them to protect my friend.

"Katherine," I warned her as softly as I could manage, not wanting to piss her off even more. Caroline grabbed my arm firmly to pull me behind her, obviously thinking she was the one supposed to protect me, but I stood my ground firmly.

"Don't interfere little Damon," she shot back in a detached tone, not even bothering to look at me, her eyes still narrowed at Caroline. Little Damon? What the hell was that? What game was she playing now?

"Look, it wasn't a threat…right, Caroline?" I said lightly, encouraging my friend to help me ease the toxic tension in the room. She frowned, clearly disagreeing with me, but before she could say anything else, I grabbed her hand from behind my back and squeezed it tightly. She hesitated for a second, but finally shut her mouth and swallowed whatever snarky comment was on the tip of her tongue.

"Good girl…" Katherine drawled in a condescending tone. "Stay out of my way, Barbie. Or your pretty bubble head won't stay attached to your body for very long," she announced icily, before walking predatorily toward her. After shooting a meaningful and deadly glare at her, Katherine finally bypassed us and headed for the outside doors. Caroline was rooted in her spot, but I turned around to make sure that Katherine was actually leaving. She paused before pushing the door open, and turned her head to look me in the eye. She mouthed "Bye, sexy…" silently, and winked playfully at me before disappearing through the door. To say that her behavior confused me was a huge understatement.

"What the hell just happened?!" Caroline shouted in a high pitched voice, efficiently startling me out of my puzzled haze.

"I have no idea…" I mumbled more to myself than to her.