CHAPTER EIGHT; HAUNTED

❝ beneath her beauty laid a beast waiting to 'cause chaos ❞

˚ ༘ ·˚꒰𝒈𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒍, 𝒓𝒖𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒆꒱ ₊

˚ˑ1:35 ━━━●───── 3:47

↻ ◁ II ▷ ↺

↠ⁿᵉˣᵗ ˢᵒⁿᵍ ↺ ʳᵉᵖᵉᵃᵗ ⊜ ᵖᵃᵘˢᵉ

volυмe : ▁▂▃▄▅▆▇▉

･ ｡ﾟ☆

❝ mystic falls ❞

"WHY DO YOU PUSH ONLY ME SO HARD," Maya had only ever asked her father the question once. Her father was never cruel, he pushed her to her limits but once the limit was reached, he pulled her back. Yet he had never cared to offer his other children to learn the skills she did, so it begged the question as to why.

At the time they had been on a run taking a break, a run that ceased to ever end. Grayson had avoided looking at Maya for a moment, trying to find the right words for her to understand. when he finally did turn to reply, all he had ever said was, "Because not only do you need to let the anger go, but you can help people with it when you do."

An annoyingly vague and frustrating answer meant to force her back to her feet on the mere fact something had been said in response to her question. Pressing him further felt useless. Grayson was a vault and no secret would escape him until he decided so. Time had faded her curiosity and the present had given her the clarity she had once craved. Vicki was still out there wandering around, not only making her a threat to herself and anyone in her path, but Jeremy too.

Maya, capable of doing what they no longer had parents for, decided she would ensure they were protected. By the time she finished her conversation with Stefan, MJ hadn't decided to go home. By then she had already brought with her in her car everything she needed, she didn't need to return home. All she had to do was change her shoes from her heeled boots to ones that allowed her to run and her jean jacket into her leather thick enough to protect her skin.

Granted Maya assumed the protection wouldn't be full proof, but it was better than none. After leaving the Salvatore's she knew where to go the cemetery they had last seen her. She had run so fast away the brothers had forgotten there were simpler means of tracking Vicki other than their hearing. And thought Vicki had vanished quickly the impressions her heels left hadn't been so quick to vanish from the ground. Something that managed to help Maya until she gotten back to the streets of Mystic Falls, more specifically the high schools parking lot.

Air was tensed as if to speak warnings to Maya before she understood them. Hearing its caution Maya pulled from its holster her fathers gun he had taught her to shoot with, his hellcat pistol. She didn't think the bullets would kill Vicki, but that wasn't what she wanted. She wanted to give the vampire a warning before giving her to the Salvatore's to get far away from town. The only sympathy left in Maya was in that choice. Vicki was dead to her when she destroyed her relationship with Tyler, but now that she was a genuine threat to Jeremy? Nothing in this world was going to stop her from protecting her siblings -- Maya was keeping her promise.

All that ceased to matter when the quietly approaching footsteps drew closer to her back. It had to be Vicki lurking around for a mindless meal. Something the Donovan would fail to find when she spun around pointing the gun at whomever was there only for her wrist to be gripped up. Maya hadn't known what possessed her to do what she did but her body understood the threat she was facing even if her mind hadn't caught up with the realization. With one hand holding the pistol up, Maya spun on her feet to feel her wrist grabbed just as she believed it would be.

With her free hand she revealed her blade to their throat, a threat meant to scare Vicki more than anything. Maya could feel the thoughtlessness of her plan crumbling in around her, but it short lived when she realized her blade was against the throat of familiar perplexed green eyes. "Stefan," she gasped only then remembering to pull her blade from his neck but he refused to let her go.

"What are you doing here," Stefan hissed taking the gun from her hand passing it off to his brother closing in behind them.

Maya refused to even answer him, instead she snatched her wrist from his grasp revulsion clear as she replied,  "What is he doing here?" The sight of him holding the pistol, her fathers pistol, and all she wanted was it back. It wasn't his to hold. Stepping forward Maya demanded from them, "And give me back my pistol!" Seeing her attempt to charge his brother Stefan once more cut into her path only for her to force herself free again.

Holding out his hands Stefan pleaded, "Just tell me why you're here first."

"Because I didn't trust him," the brunette hissed pointing at the vampire holding the gun only able to look at him. "He killed Vicki and I didn't trust him to keep me and my family safe so I was going to do it myself. Now give me back my father's pistol, now!" It hadn't been until she had it held by another that Maya realized how much it disgusted her to see another hold it. She never had felt that way, granted, only Jenna had tried to touch it since they died and that was to show Maya where it would be hidden.

Jenna touching it didn't enrage her, it didn't enflame her skin, or make her want to break Jenna hands. However when Damon held it? She felt all that and more. Hearing the stressed crackled demand of the Gilbert Stefan turned to his brother with a stare that demanded he give it back. "When she shoots off her own foot with shitty aim I don't want to hear it," grumbled Damon offering the pistol back as carefully as possible.

The Gilbert snatched it back as Stefan began telling her, "Now you need to go back home, May."

"Not until we find Vicki, I tracked her here," Maya insisted beginning to walk away from the brothers.

The pair starred between each other following behind her as Damon remarked, "You tracked her? What the hell do you mean you tracked her? Since when did you become Buffy the vampire tracker?"

"I'm more curious as to how you were accurate with it," Stefan added closing the distance between him and Maya but cutting off her path.

"It doesn't take a genius to find heel prints in dirt," Maya replied flatly her eyes falling behind the vampire to Tyler off in the distance heading towards his car. He had been too far to see the around the bend of the building as he focused only on his car.

At least he was until Stefan's voice echoed loud enough for him to hear, "You being here isn't a good idea Maya." His tone left Maya no choice but to hush him and move them behind the building before they could be fully noticed.

"You being here with him isn't a good idea. You're the reason we are in this whole mess," returned the Gilbert her words coming out as an venomous hiss.

Damon was quick to retort in his own defense coming to stand before his brother, "And you think you're the better the replacement?"

"I'm not you, so yeah, by that standard alone I am already better than you," Maya mocked holding her head up as she stood her ground. It hadn't mattered to her if there was some truth in the eldest Salvatore's logic; Damon was not to be trusted. He was a monster. He had fed on Maya, had her memories locked away behind his will. Maya wanted him dead, or gone, but preferably dead. Since she couldn't kill him, she had to manage his damage. Vicki hadn't deserved to be left to his lack of empathy or Stefan's ability to be brutal enough to his brother to save Vicki over him.

Those words forced a laughter from the raven haired vampire, "So you can hear what Vicki is doing now?" His question made Stefan tune in to what his brother was hearing, his eyes going wide before the blur that was him vanished around the corner. Maya shot a look back at Damon his point made so clear with his demented grin. She had barely made it around the corner before Vicki was in Stefan's arms being torn from Tyler.

Tyler, unsure what was going on, only certain Vicki was crying for Stefan to let her go, rushed to her aid. An act that somewhat shocked Vicki herself. His care for her was always measured by who could see it. But much like Maya had been too slow, so had Tyler. Damon cut in front of the football player just as Maya was joining them. Everything had happened so fast, too fast for either human to grasp it fully before it is over.

"May," was the only question to fall from Tyler's lips which only seemed to enrage a thrashing Vicki. Still, even in the moment he ran for her, he was ultimately distracted by the girl he always wanted. The girl Vicki had always lost to. It was a twist of irony that even Maya noticed. Maya, who had felt like she was never enough, still came out the winner compared to a Vicki who in all honesty, had been very similar to the Gilbert herself.

Adding insult to an already blistering injury, Tyler added, "What do they have you doing?" His eyes landed upon Stefan his gut screaming that he had been had the center of the whole mess. From the moment the Salvatore had gotten there things in town shifted and no one could explain why. But there Vicki was, foaming at the mouth teeth sharper than ever before, hungry for the human flesh of the boy she'd been almost addicted to.

But if Tyler was Vicki's addiction, Maya was Tyler's. A thousand, two thousand years could pass and the second he would see her he would become that same version of himself that had always been in love with her. For Maya, she wasn't about Tyler anymore at all. Even less when he stood waiting for her to answer the question why she was there.

The Gilbert tried finding words but Damon had no room for two humans for the night. "You don't talk."

His order for the Lockwood boy instantly Maya shoot a look his way, "Shut up," she spat back at him.

At the same time that her words flew out, Tyler standing between the human and vampire snapped at him, "Screw you, dude."

The combination of two headstrong human teenagers too foolish to know the threat before them enraged Damon. A rage his brother seemed to know was coming as the raven haired man repeated, "'Dude,' really? 'dude?"

"Damon, don't," Stefan warned while the Gilbert quietly moved her finger to the trigger. The younger vampires voice was enough to let her know, he was scared of what his brother were to do. Though Maya understood shooting him wouldn't kill him, but she would rather enraged him to the point he'd want her dead more than Tyler. However much she blamed him and hated him for their past, but she still was in love with him enough to die for him. Or at least enough to be fed on, again, for him.

Quickly Damon maintained none the wiser of the subtle movements, "Oh come on. Who's gonna miss this idiot?" The comment was enough to sent off the fuse in Tyler and he was letting his fist fly into Damon's jaw. Even quicker still was Damon's speed to grab Tyler by the throat, and nearly as fast as the vampire May had drawn down on him.

For a girl who had never done anything like holding a person at gun point, her hand had been incredibly still. Her mind had thought back to her father, how he had her learn to shoot with two hands, then one hand— her dominant one, before finally her non-dominant hand. Again and again until she shot perfectly no matter what. A skill she thought would only help her win competitions, until this night.

Her action had stilled the air and earned the attention of both Salvatore's. But not the belief of Damon, "You won't," he insisted.

Maya readied the pistol to fire allowing the noise of it to be clearly heard before she responded, "I already want to." Terrified as he was, and as face as his heart raced knowing she had truly been willing to kill for him to survive filled Tyler with a sense of pride he knew was wrong. Logically a human should never want another dead, but in the face of being killed? One always hoped those whom they loved would be willing not only to die beside them, but to kill for their survival. Tyler had known long ago they were willing to die together, but seeing in real time how far she was willing to go ( which was far beyond the norm for most ) was more than his own mother had ever given him. He couldn't help but feel proud he still enlisted that repose.

"Damon," Stefan spoke up still holding on to the young vampire. When he still hasn't released him, Maya stepped forward pushing the pistol closer to his face. "Both of you please, let's go."

"Not until he lets Tyler safely go," said the Gilbert speaking carefully.

After a moment longer Damon had relented by looking to the Lockwood boy ready to compel him, "You left practice, and you saw no one doing anything. Leave when you wake up." Before Maya had even realized, the vampire was throwing Tyler against the car. Faster still was his movement to lunge at Maya forcing her to recoil instinctively only to be stopped by grabbing her forearms. "Don't try that again." 

"Then leave town. You'll never have to worry about me again, otherwise, I'm staying right where I am," replied MJ having to do her best to tear herself from him. He was a lot stronger than Stefan and ultimately they both knew him letting her go had helped break the contact.

"Damon," this time when Stefan spoke it was clear to both there was no room for his brother to wait.

Instead, he held his hands up warning, "Fine, they're your mess then." He gestured to the barely standing Tyler, and Maya going to his aid. The elder brother snatched Vicki from Stefan vanishing quickly from sight after.

Before following suit, Maya sent him one last fleeting glance, "Keep your brother in check, or I will make sure that I do." The Gilbert did not care how many times it would take, how many broken bones it caused, Damon would not be allowed to hurt herself, her friends, or her family ever again. And leaving there that night Stefan knew it; Maya never intended to be a victim again.

Knowledge had done worse than scared her away; learning of vampires had only made MJ run towards the darkness not away as he had somewhat hoped. Stefan simply nodded before vanishing from sight.
With her attention back on Tyler, she swiftly stuff her pistol away into the holster partly covered by her jacket.

Something he barely missed as he came back to his feet while she asked, "Are you okay? I -I saw you — you tripped and hit your car." A lie she had given in hopes his mind would simply just accept what it had been told.

One his had taken a moment but ultimately had accepted given the swift loss of the truth. Rubbing his head he stumbled out, "Y-yeah I'm fine." He seemed to looked around, perhaps his mind trying to find the other people it had seen moments ago. At least until it focused in on her again, it had been the middle of the night in an empty school. "What are you doing here?"

With frightening quickness she would need to think about later, Maya lied, "I couldn't sleep again." It was a well known habit of hers on nights she couldn't sleep ( or even days her mind wouldn't relent ) Maya would go on seemingly endless walks. Usually in the woods but at night she had been a tad more careful.

"It's late? Let me get you home, please," he insisted with a type of desperation that said he was not going to back down. On principle she wanted to say no. Had he not remembered the last time he was responsible for getting her home? Or perhaps he had remembered exactly what happened when he failed to return her home and her parents came out instead. One mistake on a night that was filled with them.

"I'll be fine on my own," she said her tone cutting through him. However bad she felt for what Damon had done, it hadn't changed how burned the image of he had Vicki were in her head. The warm summer air, the loudness of the musics thumping through the ground and up through her feet, and the unforgettable sight of Tyler kissing Vicki in a sea of dancing people. It was almost as stuck as the sight of her father choosing his breath as he beat at the window to break free, her mother with eyes closed, and the rising water filling her lungs and making her head want to explode.

The water she had reflexively swallow unable to fight off the sheer amount submerging her, but that wasn't her daily focus. Her daily focus was the peace she had felt death bringing her just before she fell unconscious. That was the last time she had felt anything truly good.

"Maya, how long are you going to ice me out," he asked.

She knew rationally he hadn't driven their car into the lake, but blaming him was easier than blaming herself for making the call or sneaking out. Thoughts she never allowed herself to think about for long. The course of topic was burning out her sympathy, but even without his memory, Tyler had known he wasn't dead to her. Blaming him was just another way to keep her mother and father alive. Admitting he wasn't to blame not only freed her from blame, but condemned her parents to death fully in Mayas heart.

"I don't know, how long are you going to be fucking Vicki," spat the Gilbert.

"I made a mistake—"

Maya interjected, "A mistake was you kissing her, a mistake was you telling me to leave the party, a choice was you choosing to leave with her after. You choosing you fuck her, and then spend the summer barely able to talk to me or look me in the eye."

"A choice I made because we were going through one of our episodes," Tyler attempted to justify but even as the words fell from his lips he knew he sounded like his father. The tears welled up inside Maya's eyes had resembled his mother's the first time their son caught their explosion after cheating.

It was true, before her parents car ever drove into the quarry they were messy. "Because I knew you wanted Vicki, and you did! Something you tried to tell me I was crazy for thinking." The entire school year Vicki had been begging for Tyler's attention, and Maya knew the older girl hadn't planned to stop during the summer. 

"That's not just it," Tyler reminded almost instantly making Maya turn away from him. Refusing to let this chance pass him by he had to run and cut her off. Once she snatched away from him, he held up his hands assuring he wouldn't try again. Putting both out he begged, "Stop, just stop, I just want to explain. I never had a chance to before." When was he supposed to selfishly defend himself? At her parents funeral? Maya's face twisted with rage but it was clear by her nonmovement she had no intention on leaving yet. With her silence he took a breath he continued on, "I destroyed the only good thing I had going for me because I thought you deserved better than me."

Her brow rose, "You cheated on me because I deserved better?" He hadn't realized how stupid it sounded until it was summed up and repeated back to him. Nodding along Maya started to back away, "Well lucky me, I'm freed." Before fully leaving Maya had stopped dead in her tracks her mind replaying the bitter sting of what she saw that night. How the very image of him with Vicki, him shouting for her to walk away, had cracked her heart.  How it had caused her to make the worse choice in her life; a choice that she would always want to take back was made just the same that night.

Shaking her head she spun back around to face him, "No, I don't get it Tyler, I don't get how out of all the ways to free me that's what you chose. And I don't get how after my parents died you weren't there. After the funeral you could barely look at me. I was too broken, and you couldn't handle it. Just like you couldn't handle being in love with me. I may hate everything, I may want to die every second of the day, but I have enough self respect to know that wasn't the goodbye i deserved. That wasn't the only way of freeing me, you chose to hurt me to free yourself. You were a coward, one who couldn't break up with me like a man, and then you couldn't look at the sad, broken, and lifeless of me left behind"

Maya sniffled forcing away her tears with a swift wipe of her face. "But this is who I am now," she threw her hands up in a way that said her body was acting on its own, as was her mouth. "I don't know how to live everyday, but I do know I deserved better than that. I love you...but you're right I do deserve better." 

"I thought destroying it was the only way--"

"Well congratulations Tyler," she shouted back at the context of why she was really there being fully forgotten. "You destroyed us, but I am not going to let you destroy what is left of me." He tried to reach out for het again but Maya only snatched herself from him once more before walking away. With each step she took Tyler understood one thing, he was the dumbest boy alive, and every bit his fathers son that he hated being. The last sight Maya had of him was of the Lockwood boys tires screeched as he drove away.

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❝ mystic falls high school ❞

The night had taken a toll on Maya, she made it back with a few hours to sleep and luckily without her sister or rest of the family knowing. Stefan had texted to make sure she was safe and let her know Vicki was safe, for now. Though she doubted he wouldn't tell Elena soon enough about what she'd done. A fact she would deal with when it came along, at the current moment she was trying to keep herself awake.

"Why are you so tired? You've been sleepy all morning," wondered the Bennett who had gotten used to seeing a lack of energy from her but this was different.

Opening her locker Maya, with an effortlessness that was starting to trouble her, lied, "More nightmares last night." It wasn't exactly a lie, what little sleep she managed had been interrupted by the certain belief fangs had begun to tear at her flesh. A fresh change to the usual feeling of being submerged in water, though in her dreams she only remembered the pain, never the peace drowning offered.

Offering her the perfect distraction, Maya saw a familiar blonde, Caroline, making her way happily over with bags in hand. "Care," she greeted a smile growing upon her face, "What's this?"

Maya accepted the distraction seemed to do its job when Bonnie turned towards their friend forgetting the previous conversation. Placing the bags down briefly she began, "Your costumes! " Pulling out the first costume she held up a witches hat and dress handing it off to Bonnie.

An act that left Maya chuckling understanding the double meaning behind it for the Bennett. "Seriously," she questioned the blonde.

"Come on," Caroline groaned. "Can someone please be excited that it's Halloween? I just wanna have fun, you know, just some silly, fluffy, Damon free fun."

Maya felt sorry for her friend, she was...slowly moving past to what Damon did to her, them. She could only imagine what was going through her head, Caroline hadn't had any answers at all. "I'll be excited for it," Maya knew the promise was a big one but Caroline had deserved it. After Tyler, after her parents, after pushing everyone away, Caroline never took offense. She understood that whatever Maya had felt inside was bigger than Caroline ever wished to know. Divorced parents was enough of a death to her childhood for the blonde to handle.

The Forbes lit up, "I am so happy you said that!" The regret had instantly begun to form, the look on Caroline's face was too familiar. Reaching down Caroline pulled out a red corset, laced skirt, gloves, and tights. Just when Maya was going to ask, Caroline pushed it into her arms before pulling out a bottle of fake blood. With a beaming face Caroline said, "Sexy vampire. You said last year about doing this and luckily for you I remembered."

Maya had wanted to crawl into a hole and die. This had been her instant karma for laughing at the irony of Bonnie's costume. A joke it killed her not to share, so instead, she forced out, "I love it." Caroline's smile had removed any reservation Maya had about wearing it. Hidden irony can be lived through for a smile so pretty Maya thought.

From the bag from she'd been given, Bonnie pulled out an amber crystal placed upon a black chain and casing holding it safely onto it. "Hey, isn't this the one you got from Damon?"

"Yep," Caroline answered popping the 'p.' She fell against the locker telling the pair sharing knowing looks, "Wear it. Toss it. I don't care. I just want it gone. Hey, have you seen Elena? Do we know what she's wearing?"

The Bennett girl shrugged, "I was with Grams all week-end . I haven't talked to her. Maybe she's with Stefan."

Maya wasn't even able to offer an answer to say otherwise before the blonde was muttering, "Riding to his castle on his white horse."

The two girls shared looks before Bonnie was certain to defend and diffuse, "Don't be bitter. It provoke wrinkles." Caroline instantly began moving and touching her skin at her face as Bonnie rolled her eyes walking off ahead. 

Once alone May pulled the blonde's hand away promising her, "You're eternally beautiful." Just when her smiled formed and was threatening to become a blush, the brunette gesturing to the hallway ahead of them. "Lets go, pretty lady, we can't afford to miss chem."

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❝ the gilbert house ❞

Maya had forced herself to skillfully avoid her sister for the day, which had worked. She had made it all the way home in her car, up to her room readying a bag for Caroline's. It was better for her to avoid the conversation the increasing calls and text told her Elena wanted to have. Stefan had never promised to hide her secret and it was clear he had told her.

Especially when the booming sound of her voice after the front door shut cut her plan out, "Maya! Are you home?"

"Not for much longer," Maya shouted back going into her and Jenna's shared bathroom grabbing her curling iron and make up bag. However silly, Caroline insisting she go to the party was the perfect distraction from focusing solely on Vicki. The Salvatore's, Damon certainly, even if callously so, wouldn't let Vicki threaten their safety. She needed an escape.

Something to take her mind off how much it wanted to finish what it started the night before. Though upon reentering her room she could tell Elena was no longer allowing it to be an option. Taking a deep breath she said, "Stefan told you." It was her sisters turn to stay silent. Maya didn't know why it bothered her so, Stefan was with Elena after all and it only made sense. "At least I know whose side he picked," she muttered crossing the room to her vanity.

"It's not about sides," Elena tried.

Digging through her desk Maya continued, "Good, cause I left last night to ensure Vicki, you remember her, the girl sleeping with our 15 year old brother? Didn't come back to a house she was invited into and hurt our brother."

There was some hurt to Elena's voice as she confirmed, "With dad's pistol? You needed a gun." It was clear Elena hadn't believed Maya had the right to use the weapon.

This had brought a clear stop to Maya who placed her bag down turning to face her sister. Her face was flat and tone cold, "Yes with his pistol. Is that a problem?"

Elena seemed to hesitate, almost as if she understood the gravity of her questioning. Nevertheless the brunette went on, "I didn't think you knew where it was."

Maya had assumed Elena feared the violence she would inflict, but now she understood it wasn't the harm she thought she would give others. No, Elena was terrified her sister still knew where the pistol was. "And you're scared I was going to use it not on protecting us," Maya realized her anger dissipating. The sisters guilt was clear enough for the younger twin to step towards her sympathetically assuring, "If I plan to die, it won't be by gun Elena."

She couldn't tell her sister that she hadn't thought of dying, or of using the gun, but she had rued out the method. There was only one way that felt right to Maya, it seemed obvious to Elena in that moment. Her sister had no plans of shooting herself, but only returning to the waters she escaped from.

"You can't leave me." Elena knew her words weren't fair to her sister who had lived through so much unfairness already, but she couldn't let her think dying was okay. Selfish as she had to be, Elena would do anything to make sure Maya didn't leave her behind. They could die together, they could never be parted.

"I couldn't even if I tried," promised Maya with a hug, a rare occurrence but welcomed none the less. Briefly she pulled away adding, "You don't have to worry about me killing myself."

"I'm worried you might go chasing death," corrected the older twin.

This was an argument Maya couldn't go against, death was the only form of comfort she found. "I'm not," she attempted to lie.

Elena tilted her head, "Then what would you call pointing a gun at Damon?"

Shrugging she answered simply, "Protecting Tyler. He's an idiot but I won't let him die." Turning her back she grabbed her bag from off the floor along with her car keys. "Even if you think it means I'm chasing death. This is our life now and I'm not going to pretend its anything different." Elena face had fallen into that pout that had always tugged at something inside MJ. No matter how she wanted to, she couldn't handle feeling responsible for it. Though she planned to sneak away from the party to check on the Salvatore's and Vicki, Elena's face made her choose otherwise.

Revealing the contents of her bag to her Maya said, "I'm going with Caroline and Bonnie to the school." The look of surprised created on her face forced her to elaborate, "I'm a vampire this year, thanks to Caroline. Irony was not lost on me and it killed me not to say anything about it."

"You seem...happy about going," Elena said as her sister closed the bag up again.

Shrugging May sighed reading off the text she'd gotten on her way home, "Stefan texted to say he 'had it covered' and I could 'scale the house and Damon wasn't going to let me get inside.' Seems he's upset about my actions -- the guy who tried to kill me I literally don't know how many times. Go figure." Elena couldn't help but laugh, for a moment her sister seemed like her old, no, rather, a new version of herself. "I'll be fine tonight, just promise me you'll try and keep and eye on Jeremy? If I know him, he's going to spiral about that -- girl -- Vicki."

Grateful for the attempt on her sisters behalf to be kinder towards Vicki, even if just barely. "I'll watch him." The promise was enough for the younger twin to for one night, allow herself a distraction.

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❝ mystic falls high school ❞

It had been a good idea for Maya to get ready with Caroline's, had she not she was certain she would've come dressed in her costume from last year. The gladiator meant to match Tyler's, the exact one he still decided to wear. Which had effectively been mostly a cape that barely covered his chest that wore leather 'armor' underneath. 

Tyler had been another person she effectively avoided, until  Caroline was accidently behind her blocking her way out while he closed in. "Cider for the ladies. It's a Lockwood special," Tyler said holding out drinks for the two witches and vampire.

The way his eyes lingered on her Maya knew he still had more to say to her.  Caroline laughed at him hardly noticing how he starred, "You mean it's vodka with a dash of cider?"

The Bennett girl shook her head denying the drink, "No way. Last year I was hung over until thanksgiving." The beeping of her phone altered May to a text she snuck a peak at.

"Lightweight," Caroline commented her attention briefly pulling away Tyler's. "I am going to drink until someone is hot enough to make out with," the blonde said happily taking the drink from the Lockwood boy.

TEXT FROM; Stefan

Are you at the school? Vicki got away from Damon and me. She had Matt bring her hear and Jeremy tricked Elena. We're looking inside -- Elena said you'd be here. I'm sorry.

Maya's heart had stopped completely as the whole world seemed to go quiet to her for a moment. Vicki had escaped? Vicki had made her way back to her brother? She didn't wait long to let her know she was looking for them.

"Sounds like a plan," he said glancing back Maya's way only to see the brunette slipping away into the crowd. 

That was a new habit of hers, running away. More often than not Maya destroyed things not by running but by blowing them up, but now she ran away from almost everything. But Tyler couldn't let her this time, she misunderstood what he wanted to do with her. Destroying her was the furthest thing from what he wanted for her. Doing the best he could, Tyler trailed behind her going further and further from the loud crowd of students.

A year ago Halloween had been their favorite holiday together and Maya had cleaned out an abandoned house ( barely, simply removed dangerous objects ) turned it into a real horror house to have a party where those who attended needed to be dressed up. Not only that, she'd set up a generator for classic horror movies to be projected against the wall. Now she had to be given the costume and convinced to come by her best friend to the schools party. 

However different she was where she was sneaking off to was all too familiar to him for him to not know where she was running to. The stoners pit. Yet when she'd managed to hide among the little bit of people that were back there and lose him. So Tyler had thought, she'd simply leaned against the wall hidden by the shadow of the building and his back to her kept him ignorant.

Until Maya's col voice rang through him, "Why are you following me Tyler?" With the fake blood on splattered against her face, and chest gave him a frozen chill. When he didn't speak Maya stepped forward repeating, "I walked away for a reason and you followed -- why?"

"You didn't let me finish last night," said Tyler after swallowing hard. 

Her shoulders fell tiredly telling him, "Because you sounded like an idiot."

He couldn't help but want to laugh but did his best to continue on, "I did, because you were right I chose the way of being a coward because it was easier." His earnestly spoke each word, his words were real. "You deserved better. I saved myself by leaving you behind." Maya opened her mouth to dismiss the whole idea of talking, it had been a dumb choice to begin with. The Lockwood wouldn't let her go, he reached out grabbing her wrist stopping her from leaving.

She didn't want to hear any of this, tonight was supposed to be an escape. A moment to forget and Tyler wasn't letting her forget. Every second of the day he wanted to rehash the past, but the past only drowned her. "Maya please! You said I didn't try before and I want to now just let--"

Maya hadn't allowed him to continue before she started shouting, "Stop! Just stop!" The Gilbert pried his hands off her feeling as if her skin had been set on fire. "You're sorry, I get it but it doesn't change anything. You still cheated, I'm not funny anymore, I'm not exciting. I don't know how to even have fun anymore Tyler! The only thing that made me for a second feel something was--"

The answer to her own statement terrified her. When she realized she hadn't needed to be the victim. The night prior she went after Vicki for no other reason than protecting her brother. That was the closest she'd been to feeling at ease, and it was when she was hunting. Seeing Tyler's waiting face she knew she needed to say something. 

"I want to forgive you, but I don't. Leave me alone Tyler. If you ever loved me let me go in a way that won't break my heart. Instead you're doing what I ask," Maya said her voice tearing at the end with ache and urgency. Jeremy needed her and Tyler needed to get back to people. 

He hadn't known what he expected her to reply with, but in truth he had hope for something he realized was a dream. Rather, a nightmare for Maya. Living a life with a man who would cheat when he needed to leave, only for him to want back in later was hell. That would be for a normal teenage girl, but Maya wasn't that girl anymore. So instead, he stayed silent allowing her to turn away from him.

She took a deep inhale in to calm herself and regain her focus. Her feelings about Tyler had to wait for later. The only place they could be was the back of the school and Maya knew it. Where else would a new vampire take their victim, because that's what she would turn him into. Vicki had never known self control and Jeremy would pay the price.

Her choice to head to the back paid off in the worse way possible when the echo's of Jeremy's scream rippled through the air. Maya opened her mouth to scream out without thinking, "JEREMY!" Within seconds Maya had reached the buses finding only Jeremy on the ground.

Relief filled her chest with air once more as she sprinted towards her brother who was trying to stand. However before the siblings could reach one another, Vicki had appeared from under the busses to push the siblings apart. The hard concrete had knocked the air clear out from her lungs. Worse still was knowing she hadn't a single weapon. All she had was her hands and before she knew she would win, but now? Now she was certain death was waiting.

Maya managed to prop herself up enough to scurry away from a looming Vicki. Her lips were drenched in Jeremy's blood, "I have hated you our whole lives. You think Elena's perfect and you're the fuck up? Get over yourself. Tyler loves you. Jeremy loves you. For crying out loud even my own mother and brother like you! You've only ever been a bitch to my mom."

Vicki reached down grabbing Maya up by her throat, "But least that's one thing I have that you don't," sung the monster before her. The girl who she had known was long dead. Laughing every word Vicki taunted, "My mom may be awful, but at least she is alive." The taunt wasn't enough, Vicki needed to throw Maya against the wooden pile behind them.

The air was certainly gone from her and Maya knew it, but she could still see Vicki looming. But so did Jeremy, and stunning Vicki he stood in her path to his sister. The vampire had truly thought he'd chosen her and immortality, and he had, until he saw what she would do to Maya. No forever with her was worth being made on her grave. Holding out his hands he pleaded with her, "Vicki stop, it's done, it's over. Just go, leave like you were going to."

Once those words had been said both Vicki and Maya knew what they meant, the Gilbert boy had chosen, and it wasn't Vicki. With small breaths coming back Maya scrambled from her back to her knees eyes scanning wildly for something sharp in the ruble. There was a stinging in her hips that she knew was cause for worry, later. Instead her head gripped the sharpest piece of wood she could find ignoring the splinters embedding.

"I thought you loved me," Vicki sobbed returning to her human side for but a moment.

Shaking his head he was forced to admit, "Not more than I love my sister." Vicki let out a howling cry that the Gilbert knew would alert Stefan, or she hoped. The Donovan threw the boy to the ground the bloodshot veins and eyes recreating the monster in her. 

Speeding across the lot she had grabbed the Gilbert girl by her throat only to feel the sharp piece of wood in her stomach at the same time. The shock forced Maya free, rubbing her throat she shouted to her brother, "RUN!" Before Vicki could remove the stake, with her hand still holding it Maya drove it in further.

She held it there till her brother had past the vampire only to release when she could grab his hand. They sprinted maybe three feet before Vicki had caught them in their tracks. Maya stood in front of her brother but before Vicki could do anything, Stefan had come shoving the vampire away.

Vicki crawled under the buses to disappear creating a stillness for a brief moment. The opening of the back door revealing the oldest Gilbert made him snap back into action. "Go. Get inside. Go," Stefan ordered as Elena held the door open while offering her hand out to her siblings.

Maya pushed her brother to the oldest siblings offered safety only to feel hands gripping her hair up. Her scalp was certain to be bleeding by how strong Vicki had grabbed her. Maya had never realized how much the Donovan had hated her to want her dead this much. She was filled with so much craze Vicki was able to bite into Maya's neck and begin tearing at her flesh. Screaming out Maya prayed death would come quicker.

But it didn't need to, as soon as it had begun Vicki had suddenly stopped. Maya had barely fallen to the ground before Stefan's arms had caught her. Her brows furrowed a brief moment before Jeremy screaming, "Vicki!"

Grey had become her new color as every bit of life was replaced by its loss and veins. Every inch of her body had become consumed, but Maya didn't seem much more of it. Instead her eyes found the piece of wood that had never left her hip. It was smaller than a can of soda, but Maya could feel the life leaving her. Until she fully gave into the support of Stefan, the last thing she felt before darkness was Stefan dropping blood into her mouth.

·͙⁺˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚⁺‧͙⁺˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚⁺‧͙⁺˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚⁺‧͙

❝ gilbert house [ maya's bedroom ] ❞

It was about an hour after Stefan returned Maya home she slowly began to stir awake. An hour after Vicki had died, forty minutes since Damon compelled the memory away, and thirty minutes from Elena telling him she wanted nothing to do with him. Maya hadn't a clue as she sat up rubbing her hip to feel nothing but normal skin.

"My blood narrowly saved your life," Stefan said forcing her to snap her head in his direction. She hadn't noticed him until he spoke, but she was grateful he stayed behind. He drew closer to her to say, "How are you feeling?"

"Like someone tried to kill me," she grimaced before admitting, "But grateful you were there. Thank you." There was a silence where the memories returned and she asked, "Vicki's dead isn't she?" His continued silence was an answer. "Where's my brother?"

"He's fine," Stefan said making Maya scoff forcing herself to her feet. An action taken far too fast, Stefan saved her life, she wasn't fully recovered. Weaker vampire equaled weaker healing. With a blurring speed Stefan was at her side keeping her steady. "You're not going to be able to walk, you lost a lot a blood before you went down," he explained. 

Gently he pulled back the blanket before helping Maya back under it. "Jeremy couldn't handle the memory, and Elena didn't want him to suffer anymore." The way he said it Stefan knew it was a heavy blow yet he was still trying to soften it.

"You stole his memories," she asked horrified he would do that to her brother. She was enraged Elena asked, but even more angry he agreed. What gave him the right? 

Stefan shook his head saying, "No, Damon did." Maya's jaw clenched and sleep was not coming back to her. "She wanted to spare him. Maybe it wasn't right, but spare yourself the fight about it tonight." 

"Just go please. I want to be alone," she asked bringing her knees to her chest.

 She didn't want to blame him but everything was worse now than when she woke up today. Maya just wanted the whole fucked up world to go away, and for the moment that included Stefan. The Salvatore nodded assuring her, "Yeah, get some rest." He made his way to her door only to see her curled up on her side back already to him. Today was a day of extremes. Life and death. Being normal and being something completely new. Past and present. One second she was hunting Vicki the next she was her prey. Leaving her with the ultimate question, which one was she?

maya's outfit next chapter