History has shown that witches ceased to exist in the 1700s when men were in power. It is ironic that they refused to see that it was not the men who stopped the witches but the women themselves who made sure that they were killed off from within. Witches born in the newly emerging world that emerged a thousand years ago aspired to the destruction of witches from the old world.

The account of witches from the old world is not widely known, or only discussed in a biased way. It is said that they represent chaos and discord. The old world witches, who were treated as 'others' by everyone, were not accepted in the new world solely because they were considered too powerful and dangerous. If only they knew that their true nature was to be the most compassionate souls. They were blessed by the goddess Hecate to be better and help other witches become one with themselves.

Maeve sat alone outside the Mikaelson mansion thinking back to what she saw a few minutes ago. The image of that woman still built up in front of her eyes; brunette long hair, wrinkled face and a genuinely radiant smile. Her short interaction with a Vlatka made Maeve start to question everything. She ran outside the room to hide from the siblings.

"Are you alright?" she heard him ask as he took a seat next to her.

"Do you take turns to ask me if I'm okay?" she asked him.

He laughed at her question before answering, "yes, we wrote our names down on a piece of paper and picked one. Whoever's name was on that paper had to come see you." he joked making even Maeve let out a cackle.

"Sucks for you wolf boy."

"Are you going to say anything about the dramatic moment you just had inside?"

"The royal covens still exist. They found me." Maeve revealed. "Didn't I say that?"

"Yes, but how is it possible?"

Maeve sighed tilting her head to look at Klaus, "I'm guessing when Esther tried to kill me...nature must have sent a sign of something to them. After all, the four women chosen by Hecate were bonded──not by blood but by their love for one another. That carried on ahead. What I'm trying to say is they found me."

Klaus stayed silent. "Anyways...I'll see to that later. For now let's focus on unlinking all of you, finding out what Esther truly plans on doing considering the location of White Oak Stake remains inconclusive and of course stopping Esther." Maeve stood up and headed to the main door, but not before turning around to say, "thanks for checking up on me, Nik. I appreciate it."

"Are you sure about this? Witches haven't been welcoming towards you so far."

"I know. But look at it this way, I can track down Esther easily. I can put an end to yet another person after my life. Next I find the rest of the covens and we all go home happy."

Elijah drove the car, speeding along the highway out of Mystic Falls. "Those were a lot of 'I' for someone with a target on their head." he said glancing at her briefly before turning his eyes back on the road.

"Yeah well, I need that 'I' because it always is the 'I' that gets the shorter end of the stick." her words cut through his heart making it ache. Something he never gave himself luxury to feel.

Maeve looked at her hands on her lap hesitating to pour out her heart. "Why do you insist on being always at the lead to save everyone? I don't understand why do you go out of your way, always to protect those around?"

Maeve scoffed at his question. "Why can't you ask me normal questions for once?" she rested her head on the headrest of the seat, tilting her head to her left to look at him.

"Normal questions? Like what?"

"What's my favourite color or food. What books do I prefer? Something that doesn't include me pouring my life story to you."

Elijah smiled. He licked his bottom lip before answering, "I am guessing black or blue...definitely not pink. Earthly colors or perhaps darker shades of everything. Coffee, Bacon and Pizza. Harry Potter." Maeve chewed on the inside of her cheek to hide her growing smile.

"How did I do?" he asked her. Maeve didn't answer. "Talk to me." Elijah said suddenly, "Maeve, whatever it is, it won't go away unless you talk about it."

You can trust him. He won't judge you. He could help you.

He will help you realise who you truly are.

Maeve sighed. She gazed out the window collecting her thoughts. "It was the day I was born." she began. "Witches stormed into the hospital half an hour after I was born and began killing anyone who stood in their way. They wanted me dead. My mum and my dad died saving me. So did my Uncle Luther. My mum performed a spell that concealed my powers and my Lycan nature till I turned nineteen. My aunt, Amara safely brought me out of the hospital along with her son, my brother, Ezekiel. I grew up with adoptive parents. They were Doctors. Surgeon and a Gynaecologist."

Maeve took a breath. Elijah beat her to her next words, "you don't have to say anything if you don't want to. I just wanted you to not feel like hiding yourself."

"I don't want to hide anything. Not from you." she told him confidently. "A few weeks after my twentieth birthday it happened. Five witches disguised themselves as professors from my college and came home. I──I don't remember much from that day...I just remember pain, and anger and──blood." she confided in him. "There is a good five minutes missing from my memory of that day. I remember panicking and frantically asking my parents to leave the room and the witches insisting that they stay. They wanted my parents to see it. They wanted them to see who I was...a monster."

Elijah reached out to hold her hand. He grasped her hand in his and tightened his hold. "I yelled and I begged but the witches kept pushing and I...I lost control."

"It wasn't your fault." Elijah told her. Maeve shook her head biting her lip.

"It was entirely my fault. You weren't there Elijah. You don't know the state the room was in. In those five minutes I wolfed out. Four of the five witches were sprawled in that living room covered in blood with blood pouring out of their ears, slashed throats. Blood was spluttered on my face. My hands were drenched in them with my claws out. The magic was heavy in the air, it was so thick I thought that was what would kill me. The inability to breathe in that moment of red."

"What──what happened to your parents?"

Maeve placed her right hand on top of Elijah's that held her left and looked at him, "I compelled away their memories. I compelled them a retired life...country side, away from proper civilisation. Somewhere nobody who knows them might visit."

"You made them forget you." Elijah concluded empathetically feeling her pain. If only he could, in some way ease the weight of guilt on her.

"I asked my brother's friend. The vampire who told us about you guys to make them forget they ever adopted a child. All of my memories for them wiped away. They are just two individuals living a retired life on the shares they bought at high stakes at the right time."

"I am sorry, Maeve that you had to go through all of this."

"I am too. Everyday." Maeve looked out the window with a defeated sigh before she chose to continue, "you asked me why I am always ahead to help. It's because of who I am, they got hurt, I saw them get hurt. I lose control but not anymore. It's because of who I am that I know I can help. I lost a good deal of so much in a span of two years, Elijah. I am not willing to lose anything and anyone again."

"You won't lose us."

"How do you know that?" asked Maeve sincerely. "Your mother has linked you all. If one of you dies, so does the rest of you."

Elijah stopped the car at a red signal picking it as a perfect opportunity to meet Maeve's gaze...giving her his complete attention. He placed his hands on her neck, his fingerstangledin her hair. He leaned closer, keeping his voice calm and low, "I promise you." he said and meant it. "I promise you, you won't lose me."

"I don't like people who don't keep their promises."

"I don't either." he said with a warm smile.

Maeve stared at him blankly repeating his words in her head. He cared for her, he cared for her too much to see her die because she was helping him. The mere thought of Maeve being away made Elijah wish it would be a nightmare and never anything more. He wasn't sure if Maeve had any feelings towards him but he knew that Maeve was the one girl who had managed to let him break his walls just enough for her to see a man he was. A man he hid behind a facade fearing the pain that might come with the loss of the person.

He couldn't bear to see her die because of him or his family. It was his worst fear.

"Are you sure that will suffice?" asked Elijah, gazing at Maeve with amusement. She was struggling to juggle three bags of chips in one hand and two cans of coke in another, all the while she looked through the chocolate section of the small gas station they halted at.

The sun was setting down at the horizon, turning the sky a peaceful shade of orange. The drive to Georgia was still an hour long, so he decided to stop for gas and food.

Maeve threw an annoyed look at him, "you can never have enough food, Mikaelson!" she told him off. "Now be a gentleman and help a woman out."

Elijah crossed the small distance between them and collected the bags of chips from her hand. Maeve scanned the rows of chocolate making a choice, "let's see...dark, mild, milk, nuts...so many choices...so little time."

"Why don't you pick what──what was it, Remus would pick." Elijah surprised even himself when the words left his mouth. Maeve looked over her shoulder shocked at Elijah.

"Since when did you get so sassy?" she asked him, raising a single brow. Elijah hung his head low hiding the smile that threatened to break into a laugh. Maeve felt a sudden warm feeling bubble up in her stomach making even her break out into a smile. She bit her bottom lip feeling her cheeks warm in a fluster.

She turned her attention to the chocolates again. She picked one bar of each choice and turned to Elijah again. "I think this should be enough for an hour."

"Let's go then." Elijah's patience ran a course often but with Maeve, it never did. Every quirk of hers, smile and snarky comment, passion of novels and everything in-between intrigued him──even her undeniable strength and the fear she held for her own shadow more than for someone who was coming after her for her death. 

Minutes passed by and the sun had already set. Maeve had so far finished two bags of chips, deeply lost into the sea of her thoughts. "Every witch has her own mark." suddenly she blurted out. 

"What?"

"Every witch...whether from the old world or new world has a mark. It is common one actually. New World magic when performed leaves the ground dry...dark, barrens the world in the space where it is performed. Esther's magic in the woods left the ground darkened and dry."

"How does that help?"

"We can ask for answers. Find out what she plans by seeing what it is that she did. Like what the spell is." Elijah glanced at her quickly before turning again to the road.

"I don't follow."

Maeve groaned, "considering your mother will seek the help of dark magic, it will simplify my job to find her. If I see her dark magic...like where she performed it I can find a way to put her stop to her magic and by extension her." Maeve grinned proudly at Elijah showing off her teeth.

Before Elijah could compliment her, Maeve gasped looking outside the window quickly. Momentarily the world dissolved around her. An image built up.

It was as if the woods were bleeding. Leaves ruffled harshly before she shed down from the branches of the tall tree around crushing as they fell from being damaged.

Maeve stood in the forest looking at the scene unfold before her. A woman with blonde hair walked from behind her to the center of the clearing she looked at.

"Esther?" she muttered. Maeve watched anxiously as Esther stood joining her hands together. She was waiting patiently for someone.

"Who are you?" someone asked while entering the clearing.

"My name is Esther. I need your help."

The man walked dangerously slowly making his way to Esther. He wore combat boots, a belt and a hilt. His hair was long combed straight to the back. The tips of which ended at the base of his neck. A long face, straight jawline and a light beard.

"What is it that you need my help with?" he asked her weary of the unknown witch's actions.

"I want to rid this world of vampires and kill the Serene witch."

"Serene witches have gone extinct. New World witches made sure of that."

"Yes, but there is a new Serene witch who is a hybrid, the other side being Lycan. She is dangerous and too powerful to exist. I saw her. She tried to kill me and my son." Esther paused before continuing again. "Her powers are unimaginable and nefarious. I need the strength of numbers to rid this world of that abomination."

"Why do you hate the Serene witch so much?"

"I have an old account to settle with the clan." Esther's venemous voice stung Maeve. "I want the immortal magic to kill Maeve." There was a moment of anger and disturbance in the man. Even in the dim light of just the half moon, she could see his clenched jaw and fisted hands.

"What about vampires? They are a part of the supernatural ecosystem."

"They are a plague spreading and creating distress in lives. Help me restore balance."

"Do you know where you are standing? Demanding such a help."

"I'm aware of this enchanted territory called the Maywater Woodland." Esther's voice dissolved.

The scene flickered, voice growing distorted. The sky melted away first before the ground hollowed and Maeve was thrust back.

A heavy gasp left Maeve's parted lips that seemed like a short scream. Her chest rose and fell as Maeve forcefully kept looking around to see where she was.

"Maeve?" a relieved voice brought her to her senses that felt clouded. She whipped her head to her left looking at a worried Elijah gazing back at her.

"Elijah..." she breathed. Maeve didn't wait but pulled Elijah into a hug. She needed that.

"Are you alright?"

"I know where they are..." said Maeve frantically and pulling away. "I know where the covens and Esther are."

"Are you really going to tell me about Esther right now when you were unconscious for ten minutes?" Elijah scolded her, his own panic showing in his voice.

"I──what?"

"Are you okay? Maeve...tell me, are you alright?"

Maeve nodded gulping, "I am fine. Thank you."

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Another chapter done! How'd you liking it?

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Take care everyone!

Raven:)