Chapter Six

3RD Person View

In the basement of the Salvatore Boarding House, Damon Salvatore was slowly coming into consciousness. He was sweating with what would look like a fever to the human eye, his skin a sickly pale, and he felt drained and weak. He groaned in pain, knowing his body was in shut down mode. His brother had locked him in the basement, in a dungeon practically, and he was hungry for human blood.

As his bleary vision came into focus, the first thing he realised was that he didn't have his ring. His daylight ring was gone. He felt his brother's presence, rather than heard or saw, and questioned him.

"Where's my ring?" He croaked. His mouth was so dry from having no blood in his system, it physically hurt him to speak, which was obviously a real bitch.

"Won't be needing it anymore." Stefan said, watching with an ache in his heart as his brother struggled to breathe. It had to be done. Damon was a threat to the whole town, especially his girlfriend Elena.

"How long have I been here?" Damon questioned.

"Three days." Stefan replied.

"What did you tell Mae? She obviously doesn't know I'm down here." Damon groaned, and spluttered a little bit as he forced the words out of his mouth.

Stefan felt guilt gnawing at his insides at his brother's words. Maeva would have stormed down into the basement and set Damon free if she had found out, telling Stefan that he needed to trust that Damon would stop hurting people if he would stop provoking him and visa versa. She always had too much faith in him, even back when he was human.

Since Damon had carried her home from the woods that day, saving her life, she had practically worshipped the ground he walked on…until Katherine came. It was like she suddenly realised that Damon had flaws, that Damon was just as human as they were. Though, Stefan couldn't say that she treated him worse than Damon. She treated Stefan pretty much the same. They were both her saviours in her eyes, but it was just more obvious that she forgave Damon anything, maybe because she knew that Stefan felt more guilt, that he knew better.

"I told her that you had skipped town. She was upset, but she'll be safer with you gone. Everyone will be." Stefan said finally.

"What are you doing?" Damon moaned, turning so he was resting on his side, though just that movement made his body ache.

"During the Dark Ages, when a vampire's actions threatened to expose or bring harm upon the entire race they would face judgement. They sought to re-educate them rather than to punish them." Stefan explained, giving Damon a small history lesson on their own species.

"You know what will happen if I don't feed on blood." Damon replied, his voice quiet as he was overexerting himself just by shifting around and talking.

"You'll grow weaker and weaker. And eventually, you won't be able to move or speak. In a week, your skin will desiccate, and you'll mummify. A living corpse. Unable to hurt anyone. Ever." Stefan said, though it hurt him to say those words to his older brother. The person who had taught him what it meant to be a man. Who had taught him how to play football and how to talk to girls. He missed his brother, but his brother was not the monster that was hurting people.

"So, what, you're just gonna leave me in the basement forever?" Damon questioned, the tiniest flicker of hope in his chest that either his brother would let him go eventually or Maeva would find him and set him free. Hopefully before he got so hungry that he would finally give in to the temptation that was her blood and drain her dry. He would gladly die if that happened.

"I've injected you with enough vervain to keep you weak. Once your circulation stops, I'll move you to the family crypt and then in 50 years, we can re-evaluate." Stefan informed him. He wouldn't let his brother just die, he still loved him, but he couldn't just set him free if he was certain that he would hurt people.

"I'm stronger than you think." Damon said.

"You always have been, but you're not stronger than the vervain, and we both know it. I'm sorry. Didn't have to be this way."

With those final words, Stefan glanced once more at his weak brother and walked away.

I was angry and hurt. Damon had just upped and left the morning after the Founder's Party. I had come home from Matt's, feeling blissfully happy after my night of movies and making out - it was more making out than movies, but still - only to find out that my best friend had skipped town without so much of a goodbye.

I may have cried a little. Stefan and Zach seemed a little uncomfortable, but still tried to comfort me as best they could. It was almost irrational of me to get so upset that Damon had just vanished without a word, but he always gave me a reason. I would get a phone call or a text message or even a freaking letter explaining why he left, but three days have gone by and nothing.

I wouldn't call him first. He had to come to me, had to want me to know why he was a supreme ass and always left without a warning. So this morning when I woke up, instead of dwelling on Damon, I got up, showered and was now stood in front of my wardrobe trying to decide what to wear to school.

Eventually I pulled one a plain white t-shirt and tucked it into a black, Rag and Bone leather zip-up skirt. I grabbed a pair of black knee high boots - not forgetting to put some fresh socks on - and a black Givenchy bag and tossed all of my school stuff into it. It was big enough for notebook and other school books, especially since they still hadn't replaced Mr Tanner for American History. Once I was fully dressed, I pulled my hair back into a loose plait and applied minimal make-up, before I went to meet Stefan downstairs.

Stefan and Zach were talking quietly in the kitchen when I went to look for them, but upon seeing me in the doorway they stopped.

"Would you not do that? I'm over it, okay. Stop handling me with the kid gloves. A) I'm older than both of you, and B) I'll kick your asses if it continues," I threatened, and they both tensed, making me frown at them. I was half-kidding, so why were they taking me so seriously. They were hiding something. "What aren't you telling me?"

"What are you talking about?" Zach asked, feigning innocence.

"We aren't not telling you anything, Mae." Stefan said, and I arched a brow at them.

"Wow. You do realise that you both suck at lying and the fact that you're trying to lie to me is both insulting and hurtful. I am not Elena, Stefan, and I'm not Damon. You and I…we don't keep secrets from each other," I scoffed at his guilty face, feeling angry at him. First, Damon skipped town and now Stefan was lying to me? What the hell was going on with my family? "You act like you're better than him, but you and Damon are the same, though different ends of the spectrum. You do whatever it takes to get what you want, even if it means hurting me in the process. I'm going to school. Don't bother talking to me today."

I turned around and stormed away from the two Salvatore men. I did not like being kept in the dark. Secrets create wedges between people. Secrets do not belong with family. Stefan knew how much I hate secrets, yet he and Zach are keeping one from me. Zach? Seriously?

I drove to school still in my bad mood, listening to angst-filled teen music on my radio, and sat in my car in the parking lot, trying to clear my head before I went to find Elena and Bonnie before class.

They were leaning against Elena's locker, and gave me a smile as I stopped beside them.

"Where have you been all weekend?" Bonnie questioned.

"Salvatore family drama. Damon's skipped town without even saying goodbye, so I was moping." I shrugged, hoping that they would just let it go, because I really wasn't in the mood to talk about Damon at the moment.

"Good riddance. He was hurting Caroline." Bonnie said, and I just shook my head.

"I don't want to get into this. Can we talk about something else? Like how Stefan is a giant tool bag?" I practically begged, and Elena seemed to perk up a bit at Stefan being insulted, which made me raise my eyebrows at her. "Trouble in paradise?"

"Stefan is so cagey about everything still and he hasn't called me for three days." Elena said, and I nodded my head at her.

"Stefan is like a locked door to which you don't have a key. You have to spend a long time to jimmy it open, but by that time you've already ripped out most of your hair and pulled out your teeth out of frustration. Yet, you'll be happy you waited because Stefan is a good guy even if he is being an ass recently," I explained, making Elena laugh at my analogy. "But don't forgive him so quickly. Make him work for forgiveness!"

Elena giggled and nodded, but then all three of our attentions were drawn down the corridor at our blonde friend, who was seemingly back to normal, and organising the car wash for tomorrow, which I had been roped in to. Matt helping out and being shirtless was going to be the only highlight of that car wash tomorrow.

"Unbelievable. It's like nothing happened." Elena muttered to us, as we tore our eyes away from Caroline and two of her followers.

"She's in denial." Bonnie agreed, and I shrugged, before I heard Stefan behind me.

"Hey." He said, smiling apologetically at Elena.

Bonnie and I exchanged a glance, before backing away.

"Hey. Uh, you know, I gotta go…uh, be somewhere right now." Bonnie stumbled over her words.

"I just don't want to be here anyway, so…we're gonna go," I said, honestly, looping my arm through Bonnie's and dragging her down the hallway behind me. "Alright, so I talked to your grams when I was apologising for missing lunch. What with what happened at the Founder's Party, I think you should talk to her. I mean, I can help you, but it's something that your grams wants to do."

"You're not saying that I'm a witch, are you?"

"Bon-bon, you lit candles with your mind. That doesn't exactly spell out normal, does it? That's how I started anyway. I almost set my curtains on fire the first time I tried to use it," I said, using a hushed tone of voice so that people wouldn't over hear us and think that we were freaks. That was the last thing Bonnie needed on the road to discovering her heritage. When she made a noise of disbelief, I sighed and dragged her into the girls toilets so we could talk more freely. I checked that there was no one in the stalls, before I gave her a stern look. "You can choose to not believe it, Bonnie, but being a witch is not a curse. You've been born into something wonderful, and luckily for you, you've got me and your grams to help you through it. I didn't have anybody when I was learning how to use my magic, but you've got me. I promise."

"Can we just go to class? I promise that I'll think about talking to my grams, but let's just drop it for now." Bonnie said, and I nodded, letting her pull me out of the bathroom and to our English class.

I would drop it for now, and concentrate on my English teacher, but Bonnie would have to deal with her situation sooner or later, before someone saw her set something on fire or something. I just closed my concern off for a moment, listening to my teacher drone on about the finer points of Romeo and Juliet. Like I needed to hear about any more awkward love triangles.

Matt had persuaded me into going to the Grill after school, so here we were, playing pool, while he tried to bring me out of my funk. I was so focused on worrying about Bonnie, trying to figure out what Stefan was hiding from me and wondering why Damon hadn't called, that I actually lost a game of pool.

"Come on, Mae, what's wrong?" Matt asked, as we started a new game.

"I'm sorry. It's family problems. Stefan's hiding something from me and I'm trying to figure out what it is." I explained with a sigh, before lining up my next shot. I bent over the table, but felt eyes burning into my back…or a little south of my back. I straightened up, and looked over my shoulder, seeing Matt lift his eyes to mine. He just grinned a little sheepishly, but seemed overall pretty smug, and I actually didn't mind. I rolled my eyes and bent back over, taking my shot and potting the ball straight away.

I took a shot at my next ball, but fluffed it, so it was Matt's go. He leaned over the table and my eyes lowered to his butt. He must have felt me staring at him, just like I had him a moment ago, because he glanced back at me over his shoulder.

"I can see why you guys do this to us all the time." I teased him, as he potted his ball and straightened up, just as Elena walked over.

"Hey, guys, have either of you seen Stefan?" She questioned, looking around for my 'brother' as though he might just pop out of the ground and appear before her.

"Nope." Matt replied, before they both turned their attentions to me.

"I've been avoiding him like the plague all day, but he texted me a second ago to tell you that he was going to be running a little late. Uncle Zach wanted his help with something back at the house," I lied, though I had no idea why. Stefan was lying to me, yet I still couldn't not help him out. Elena was important to him. He loved her, even if he didn't know it yet. "You can hang out with us while you wait for him to show up?"

"Oh, I don't think that's a good-" Elena started excusing herself, but I knew she didn't want to hang out with us because we all knew that Matt was still hung up on her and she didn't want to make it awkward.

"Elena, I insist. My brother is making you wait, and I am more than comfortable with you hanging out with Matt and I." I grinned. It was the truth. I'm not really the jealous type…unless it's Damon or…the guy that I dated in the twenties. I mean, Matt is great, I have a great time with him every time we hang out, but it's not that serious yet. Besides, Elena is my best friend, and she's hung up on Stefan. It's not like I don't trust them.

"Okay then." Elena agreed, after another moment's hesitation.

"I'll rack, you can break." I said, smiling widely at my boyfriend and his ex-girlfriend, who both smiled back at me, probably thankful that I was being so cool about it.

After I had set the new game up, I texted Stefan to give him his alibi, before I dropped my phone back into my bag and focused on the game that the old couple were playing.

Time flew by, and the conversation changed from Stefan, to school, and now we were on the topic of the relationship that Mini Gilbert and Girl Donovan were in.

"And there's Vicki all nonchalant in the bathroom like it's no big deal that they're hooking up." Elena said, as she took her next shot.

"Yeah, I'm not gonna lie, your brother and my sister, that's weird." Matt said.

"It kinda is, but Jeremy is serious about her…" I trailed off, spotting the confusion on Elena's face. "Mini Gilbert confides in me as his sister's weird but awesome friend who 'gets it'. His words, not mine. I used to be just like him, so I understand his recent…destructive pattern, shall we say."

Elena opened her mouth to say something, but her cell vibrated with an incoming text and she looked down at it, with a frown on her face.

"How late is he?" Matt questioned, leaning on his pool cue slightly.

"Hitting the hour mark. Nothing's wrong, though," Elena replied, leaning back across the table to take her next shot. "Which means I'm not talking boy problems with you."

"Okay, talk about it with me. Matt's not here. He's just a super hot hologram." I said, leaning against the table as she took her shot.

"It's not like we were ever best friends or anything." Matt added, and I looked at him with a dry smile. He just smiled back at me, with a hint of reassurance in his eyes. Like he was telling me that he was just trying to be her friend.

"Okay. Here goes. What do you think of Stefan? Is he a good guy?" Elena questioned Matt, while shooting me an apologetic look. Hey, Stefan wasn't telling her anything about himself except the fact that he plays football, had a journal, was a loner and 'our' parents were dead, then that's his fault if she's questioning everything about him. I just shrugged back at her.

"Why? What's he done?" Matt retorted.

"Not any one thing. He's just so secretive. I think there's something that he doesn't want me to know, which makes me wanna know all the more." Elena answered.

"Like what? Like that he's a serial killer and he keeps a clown suit in his trunk?" Matt asked, amusement colouring his tone.

"Stefan's terrified of clowns. He keeps a skin suit in his trunk." I deadpanned, and Elena and Matt laughed at me, as Matt took his shot.

"No, of course not. But what do we know about him, really?"

"He's great at football. Little bit of a loner. He's got an awesome and attractive adopted sister," Matt shot a grin in my direction, and I giggled a little bit, shaking my head at his compliment. "And as much as I hate saying it, he might be a nice guy."

"Stefan is a nice guy. He's almost as nice as Matt, our mild-mannered, all American, football star." I added, and Elena sighed, looking between us both.

"So you guys think I'm just being paranoid?" Elena questioned.

"I think you should talk to him." Matt answered.

"Talk to who?" Matt, Elena and I turned to see who had spoken, and sure enough there was Stefan, our main topic of conversation. He walked towards the pool table, moving towards Elena. "I'm so sorry that I'm late. Did Maeva explain why?"

"Yeah, she said that your uncle needed your help with something at the house," Elena said, but she still didn't look too pleased. "What did he need your help with?"

"He needed my help shifting old furniture in the basement." Stefan lied, but while it didn't appease Elena, it raised questions with me as well.

"We have a basement?" I questioned, confused as to how I had never realised that before or why I didn't know about it until now. Stefan nodded at me, and I gave him a weird look. Why hadn't he told me that we had a basement?

"And you couldn't call to let me know you were going to be an hour late?" Elena asked incredulous. I winced a little, grabbed my bag and Matt's, before I moved towards him, grabbing his hand and pulling him away from the squabbling couple.

"You too have fun," I called over my shoulder, as I dragged Matt away and over to a table far away from the pool table. Matt sat down in the seat opposite me, and smiled at me in amusement. "Phew! We could have been pulled into a couple fight…those I try to avoid as much as possible."

"Yeah…look I gotta ask, do you know why Stefan is being all cagey with her?" Matt questioned, and I smiled sweetly at him. I thought it was kind of sweet that he still cared about Elena, that he still worried about her.

"We've been through a lot as a family. Stefan just has trust issues. Katherine screwed him over by dating him and his brother at the same time. She made them both people that they didn't want to be. He'll open up to her eventually, Elena just needs to be patient." I said, shrugging my shoulders again.

"I don't think she's feeling very patient." Matt said, his gaze moving over my shoulder. I turned my head and followed his line of sight, only to watch Elena storm out of the Grill, leaving a rather forlorn looking Stefan standing all on his own.

"I'll be right back." I said, getting up and going to set Stefan straight. He watched me approach, and looked almost relieved that I was there.

"What do I have to do, Maeva?" He questioned, when I stopped right in front of him.

"You need to tell her about yourself. Not everything if you don't think she's ready for that, but go to her house, cook her dinner and open up. Tell her about your favourite books, your favourite movies, music tastes…she'll relax more around you and if she feels like she knows you better…she'll stop questioning everything and stop listening to the doubts in her head." I said, feeling very wise in that moment, which I quickly shrugged off because feeling wise made me feel old, and while I was over one hundred and sixty years old, I did not want to feel like it.

Stefan nodded, and quickly left and I practically skipped back to mine and Matt's table.

"We should get something to eat," I announced as I sat back down in my seat. I waved the waitress over, and ordered two burgers and a plate of fries, with two sodas. "Food is on me!"

"What did you and Stefan talk about?" Matt questioned with a laugh.

"I am the ultimate relationship fixer, my dear Matthew. I may have just saved Stelena, before my dear adopted brother managed to completely sabotage himself." I grinned, and Matt just chuckled at me, before reaching across the table to hold my hand. I smiled at him, and squeezed his hand a little in return.

It was nice…dating a nice, human guy for a change. Most of my old boyfriends were either supernatural or just plain human evil. Matt was the first good guy that I'd dated in my whole history of relationships, so I hadn't realised before how nice it was to just sit across from a guy you liked, holding hands and just looking at each other. It was easy and nice.

Needless to say, I was starting to really like Mystic Falls.

Today was the Sexy Suds Car Wash, so I was pulling out all my bikinis to decide which one to wear. Naturally, as I was doing this, I got a text from Caroline who wanted to approve what I was wearing, which ended up me modelling all of my bikini tops for her via photos sent by text message.

In the end, we decided on a blue two piece, and I slipped on a pair of faded blue denim shorts and a pair of blue Converse. After I had brushed through, I pulled my hair up into a high ponytail. I grabbed a tank top and jeans for when I got cold, and along with my phone and car keys, I stuffed them into a random bag in my closet and rushed out of the house with it. I didn't want to be late or Caroline would have my head on a stick as a warning to anyone else who dared to show up late.

By the time I got to the car wash, nearly everyone was there and there were a few cars already being washed. I rolled my eyes when I caught sight of Logan Fell's news van. I strolled over to Caroline, who was sitting at the pay desk with Elena.

"I knew the blue was the best choice!" Caroline grinned, before putting her serious face on. "Go find your boyfriend and help him and Bonnie."

"Ma'am, yes, ma'am!" I said, saluting my drill sergeant and proceeded to march away, having received my orders. I quickly found Matt and Bonnie, and found myself on the brink of blushing at the heat in Matt's eyes when he spotted me in my bikini and shorts.

"I think you've effectively silenced Matt forever, Maeva." Bonnie laughed, and Matt shook his head, before walking over to me and dipping down to press his lips to mine. I smiled into the kiss, wrapping my arms around his neck to keep him close to me. To be honest, I wasn't sure if Matt was kissing because he was happy to see me, or so he could have an excuse to run his hands down my bare sides and back. Either way I didn't mind.

I pulled away from him, leaving my arms around his neck, and beamed up at him.

"Hi." I said, a little bit breathlessly.

"Hi. You look amazing," Matt said, and I grinned at him. "Did Caroline send you over here to help me and Bon?"

"Yupp, I'm under strict instructions to not leave your side today." I said, twisting the truth a little bit. It wasn't exactly lying.

I unravelled myself from my blonde boyfriend, and let him pull me by the hand towards the car that he and Bonnie were drying. He handed me a towel with a smile, and then we got back to work.

I only noticed that Matt's attention was less on the car he was drying or on me, when I saw Stefan and Elena out of the corner of my eye. Matt was watching them being all cute, clearly my dinner idea had worked, and was clearly jealous, but I ignored it and kept drying.

"Matt." I heard Bonnie loud-whisper at him, jolting him out of his jealous stupor. He seemed to realise what he was doing, and quickly turned his attention to me, as though to make up for it. It felt odd that I didn't really mind that he was jealous over his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend, because I should be, really. I really liked Matt, so why wasn't I jealous that he was still getting all gooey over Elena?

Maybe it was because I knew what it felt like to watch your first love be in love with someone else. Yeah, that was probably it. I knew how Matt felt, so it didn't bother me as much.

"Oh. Tiki," Bonnie called to the tall, skinny, caramel skinned cheerleader - who I really didn't like - as an old-ish beat-up car pulled up to be washed. "This one's yours."

"Why do I always get the homely ones?" She questioned, and I saw the flicker of hurt on the driver's face. He probably couldn't afford a better car, but he was still here to get it washed and to donate money to a good cause. "Just to be clear, your car's a POS. I mean, we can wash it, but it's still a POS."

"You don't have to be rude." Bonnie snapped at Tiki, and I tore my eyes away from the bitchy cheerleader to my friend, worried that she might lose control over her powers.

"No, rude is uglying up the road with that junker." Tiki replied, as the guy left his keys in the car and walked away. Tiki leant down to fill a bucket with fresh water from a hose, when it suddenly went wild and the soapy water jetted upwards into her face.

While Matt rushed towards Tiki to help her, all the while struggling not to laugh at her girly squeals of surprise and fear, I moved towards Bonnie, shaking her arm to get her to focus on me.

"Breathe, Bonnie. Calm down and focus on me," I murmured into her ear, and she seemed to jolt out of her trance. She looked up at me, but instead of fear or worry, there was…satisfaction in her eyes. "It's not so bad being a witch now, is it?"

Bonnie rolled her eyes at me, and we got back to work, though that didn't last long. Matt "accidentally" splashed me with water when we had started to wash a new car. Let's just say things escalated pretty quickly when I turned the hose on him. Somehow, Bonnie ended up being dragged into our water fight and it was all water, sponges and giggles, until Caroline came over and scolded us.

"God, would you guys stop acting like children?" Caroline hissed at us, her hands on her hips and her mouth screwed up into a scowl.

"Matt started it!" I protested, teasing her by pretending to actually be a child.

"No, I didn't! You did!" Matt retorted, playing along.

Bonnie laughed at us, while we went back and forth accusing each other of starting the water war, but she stopped herself when Caroline glared at her. I'm surprised that Bonnie didn't spontaneously combust at the intensity of Caroline's angry glare.

"Just get back to work." Caroline snapped, and I had to cover my mouth to stop myself from laughing in her face.

"You know what? You're a bad influence, Matt Donovan, so I'm going over to Stefan and Elena, where I'll be so bored that I'll behave myself." I said, tiptoeing to press my lips quickly to his, before I skipped away to the couple who were soaping up a car together. I grabbed a sponge and joined in, earning myself a grin from Elena.

"So how is it in Stelena world today?" I questioned, as I swiped the passenger side window with my sponge.

"Stelena?" Elena asked, confusion on her face. Aw, she's so cute! She doesn't get couple names.

"Stelena…Stefan and Elena. I ship you guys, therefore you get a cute couple name." I said, shrugging as though it was no big deal that I had merged them into one entity. Or that I was a total tumblr geek and actually used the terminology I learned on there. People were cool on tumblr, just saying. I mean, where else can you go to watch hilarious cat videos and ogle steamy hot photosets of Dean Winchester? There is nowhere else, trust me, I checked.

"I can't remember if I warned you that Maeva is the strangest person you'll ever meet." Stefan said, chuckling when I fake glared at him.

"She's not strange…she's quirky. It's refreshing. Anyway, a little weird is cool, and my brother seems to like her." Elena said, and I beamed.

"Mini Gilbert is awesome. We're developing a good bromance," I said, and Stefan rolled his eyes at me. "But, unfortunately, because of his Vicki shaped growth he hasn't texted me for a few days, and you are officially my favourite Gilbert again."

"Aw, thanks, Mae," Elena grinned, before she looked back at Stefan. "You're getting soap in that."

Stefan and I looked down at his hand to his daylight ring, and exchanged a glance, before he decided to play it cool…well as cool as Stefan can. Stefan is literally the worst liar I've ever met, and he's had a hundred and forty five years to practice! He's worse than Joey in that episode of FRIENDS when he tries to lie to get out of a work event…I watch a lot of TV.

"Oh, it's fine." Stefan replied.

"I noticed that Damon and Maeva had one too. Is there a story behind it?" Elena asked, and I knew that she was digging. She was still somewhat suspicious of Stefan…which I don't get, because she's not exactly suspicious of me. Maybe it's because I'm a lot more warm and open than Stefan…I don't know.

"Yeah, it's the, uh…It's the family crest. It's from the Italian Renaissance." Stefan explained, as Elena moved around the front of the car, took his hand and inspected it.

"Huh. What's the stone?" She questioned, as she held his hand in between hers. Stefan put his other hand on the ring, as though he were showing it to her, but really he was holding it so she wouldn't take it off, and he wouldn't become a pile of ashes.

"It's called lapis lazuli. In the Elizabethan period, artists and cloth makers would crush it into powder to make blue paint or dye. It would have been really expensive since lapis lazuli was rare in that time." I informed her, and she looked at me as though she were impressed that I knew all that.

"You should really take them off. I can put them in my bag." Elena offered, and Stefan gently took his hand back.

"No, it's fine, really." Stefan said, and I smiled at her and said the same.

"Okay. I'm gonna get some towels." She said, walking away, probably to find Caroline and tell her that we were out of towels.

We watched her as she walked away, and once I was sure she was out of earshot, I turned to Stefan.

"She's still suspicious you know. She's going to find out. The Gilberts were always too curious for their own good. I just want you to be prepared for the fall out, okay? She will not take it well at first." I said, and he looked at me, and then at the soaped up bonnet of the car, knowing that everything I had said was true.

"I don't know what to do."

"Maybe you should tell her, before she figures it out herself and freaks out. Maybe she'll take it better if it comes from you," I said, before placing my hand over his and squeezing it. "Even if at first she's scared and confused, she'll come round, Stefan. That girl is so into you that she won't be able to help herself from being drawn to you, immortal or not."

Stefan smiled at me, and squeezed my hand a little tighter, before letting me go.

"You should go hang out with Matt. He's getting jealous." Stefan said, with amusement in his eyes. I had to resist the urge to stare at Matt over Stefan's shoulder, because then it would be a bit obvious that one of us could hear him and that we weren't normal.

"Of you and me? Wow. That's a new development," I said, with a brief grin on my face, before it slowly turned back into concern for my 'brother'. "Just remember what I said, okay? Everything will work out okay in the end."

"Yeah?"

"I can feel it, Stefan, and when am I ever wrong?" I questioned, with a smirk, and Stefan shook his head at me.

"That's true," Stefan said, with a chuckle, before nodding towards Matt subtly. "You should go."

I leant up on my tiptoes and pressed my lips to Stefan's cheek lightly, patting his shoulder as I walked away from him. I watched Matt's face as I strolled casually towards him. He looked like he had eaten something sour, his face was a bit screwed up and it made me want to laugh.

I squealed in surprise, because as soon as I was in arm's length of my boyfriend, he pulled me towards him and smashed his mouth to mine. While the feminist inside me wanted to pull away and protest against his caveman hormones, the regular side of me got all giddy at the possessiveness. His arms wound around my waist, and held me closer as he pushed his tongue past my lips, stroking it down mine. When he pulled away, it was only because Bonnie had started flicking water at us to 'cool us off'. I laughed, breathlessly, as we untangled ourselves from each other.

"Mmm…where did that come from?" I questioned, as I took his hand, leading him back towards Bonnie.

"I've wanted to do that since you got here." Matt grinned, as he picked up his towel again and began to wipe down the car he and Bonnie had been washing.

"You already kissed me when I got here, not that I'm complaining about the repeat." I said, smiling up at him, copying his action.

"I know, but I like kissing you."

I smirked to myself, and felt rather smug for some reason or another. Maybe it was because I had a good boyfriend, who got jealous over me. Maybe it was because I was such a good kisser that Matt had to keep kissing me. Maybe it's because everything was finally falling into place.

An hour or so later, we realised that Caroline had seemingly vanished, which left Tiki the Terrible (my new nickname for her) in charge, which meant when Bonnie and I were calmly and casually leaning against the bonnet of a sweet SUV we'd just finished, our peace was disturbed by Tiki the Tramp (another nickname for her).

She thrust a broom in Bonnie's direction, and Bonnie and I looked at her with equally confused looks.

"Sweeper duty."

"What?" Bonnie questioned, neither of us moving from our position against the bonnet.

"We have to clean the pavement." Tiki said, as though cleared everything up.

"It's a car wash." Bonnie said.

"By it's very definition, the pavement is clean." I added, smirking at Tiki's look of anger that I had argued against her. She knew that I didn't like her, and she didn't like me because I was the new girl, at school and on the cheer squad, and because I was good friends with Elena, Bonnie and Caroline, people she wanted to be good friends with.

"But it's not dry." Tiki retorted, with a smug smile that made me want to rip her hair out.

"And I'm doing this, why?" Bonnie questioned.

"Caroline bailed, so that leaves me in charge." Tiki explained, handing Bonnie the broom and sauntering away. I watched her leave, glaring daggers into her back, wishing that I didn't have so much control and that I could set her hair on fire…

…and then I realised that Bonnie had really started a fire, and made me instantly regret my thoughts. I turned around and grabbed her arm at the same time as Stefan did, jolting her out of her trance, which stopped the fire that had surrounded a car and had attracted a lot of attention. I don't think anybody noticed that it was actually Bonnie though.

"Hey." Stefan said, as we turned her away from the now slightly charred vehicle.

"What just happened?" Bonnie questioned.

"You went into trance, Bon." I explained, looking over her shoulder at the people who had crowded near the car.

"Did I do this?" She asked quietly, her voice shaking and Stefan and I exchanged a worried glance, and nodded.

"I think so, yeah." Stefan answered, and I nodded again, confirming it.

"Nobody saw, Bon, so it's okay. Stefan won't say anything, but we need to talk to your grams now, okay? We need to help you with this," I said, and she nodded at me, her eyes wide with fear, but she knew that I was serious and that this whole situation was serious. She needed help controlling her magic and her emotions, and her grams wanted to be the one to do that, with my help. I turned to Stefan, and he waited to ask me what I was going to do. "I'm going to take Bonnie home, calm her down, put some warmer clothes on, and then I'm going to take her to her grams and we'll talk everything through with her. I don't know when I'll be home, so don't wait up for me."

Stefan nodded, and I wrapped my arm around Bonnie's shoulders, leading her away from my brother, to my car.

"Everything's going to be fine, Bonnie. I promise." I whispered to her, trying to calm her down. Everything was going to be fine.

After I'd driven Bonnie to her house, I pulled on my top and jeans so that I didn't freeze to death as the day turned into night. Bonnie was kind of in a state of shock, so I pulled out some clothes for her to throw on from her dresser and when she was dressed, I towed her back to the car and drove to Sheila Bennett's house, her grams.

By the time I had driven there, Bonnie had started to cry, and I had no choice but to take one hand of the wheel, and let her practically break my hand as she sobbed. I knew that it was hard, adjusting to life after finding out that you had magic inside you, but I was going to help Bonnie get through this.

Spotting the familiar house, I pulled up outside and cut the engine. I turned my head towards Bonnie, who was still crying, but had calmed down considerably.

"Are you ready?" I questioned, knowing that, while I didn't want to rush her, she needed help. Without guidance, without training, Bonnie could hurt someone with her magic, and I didn't want her to live with that kind of guilt on her shoulders. She was so young.

Bonnie just nodded at me, and I smiled encouragingly at her, before I climbed out of the car. We walked up the porch to her grams' house hand in hand, and I nodded at her to take the initiative and knock herself.

Sheila opened the door almost immediately, and didn't look surprised to see us there. We shared a look of concern and understanding.

"I don't know what's happening to me." Bonnie said to her grams, tears still rolling down her face.

"I know, dear." Sheila said, pulling Bonnie into the house and into her arms.

"Oh, Grams." Bonnie whispered, and I leaned against the door frame, watching the sweet moment between two generations of witch. I nodded to Sheila, as she mouth 'thank you' to me over Bonnie's shoulder.

As the two women pulled apart, and I was about to follow them inside, I got a text message from Stefan.

Saint Stefan: Zach's dead. Come home.

I gasped, and my mind began to race. How could Zach be dead? Who killed him? It couldn't have been Damon because he wasn't in town, and it couldn't have been another vampire because they wouldn't have been invited inside.

I turned to Sheila and Bonnie, who were watching me with curious expressions, so I put on a smile for them. They had their own problems to deal with right now. They didn't need to be burdened by mine.

"There's a problem at home, and Stefan wants me to go help him out. So, I'm gonna go, but call me if you need me or you have any questions or anything, okay?" I said, and Bonnie nodded, with a smile.

"Thanks, Mae."

"No problem. I'm just keeping a promise I made to someone special to me." I smiled, thinking of Emily, before I rushed back to my car, starting it up and speeding home.

When I got there and I tentatively walked into my home, not really sure if the threat was gone, I couldn't see anyone. I moved into the hallway, and found a dead crow on the hall carpet. I grimaced at the sight of it all torn open. It was definitely a vampire.

"Stefan?" I called.

"I'm in the basement!" Stefan shouted, and I followed his voice down the hallway, into the kitchen, where there was a door that wasn't actually that noticeable, mostly because it was just a lock in the wood panelling. I stepped down a flight of stairs, and my eyes widened as I took in a very dark, dungeon-looking area.

I turned a corner, and there they were. Stefan had Zach in his arms, and I bit back a sob, as I noticed that his neck had been snapped.

"What happened? Who did this?" I questioned, collapsing onto my knees beside them, running my fingers through Zach's peppery hair.

"Maeva, Zach and I…we did something and now it's killed him." Stefan murmured, his voice thick with the sadness we were both feeling. Zach may have been annoying and self-righteous at times, but he was our family, the last normal Salvatore. Now he was dead.

I looked up at Stefan, tears in my eyes, and stared at him.

"What are you talking about? What did you do?"

"The night of the Founder's Party…I spike Caroline's champagne with vervain. Damon tried to kill her, but the vervain weakened him enough that Zach and I were able to lock him in the cell back there. We were going to let him desiccate and then put him in the family crypt," Stefan explained in a rush, like he wanted to get it out of the way as quickly as possible so he could begin his apology. "But I guess he got out somehow, and he killed Zach and now he's gonna hurt a lot of people. I'm sorry, Mae, I'm so sorry that I lied to you and that my lies are going to get people hurt. I'm so sorry."

"You need to find him, and you need to get him back here to me, so I can fix this." I said, my voice eerily calm, though I averted my eyes away from Stefan, looking back down at Zach.

Stefan nodded, and shifted Zach into my arms so he could leave, and I cradled his cold face to my chest. I didn't say anything more until Stefan was gone, and rushing around upstairs. I just stroked Zach's face, tears rolling down my cheeks as I mourned his death.

"I'm sorry we came back here," I whispered to him, even though I knew he couldn't hear me. "I'm sorry that you're dead. You didn't deserve this, Zach, not any of it. I'm so sorry."

I pressed my lips to his cool forehead, and hoped that he was at least as peace now in death.

I couldn't believe that Damon had killed him, even though I shouldn't be surprised. He had killed Joseph back in the fifties, so why would Zach be off limits? It still hurt, though, that it had been Damon to do it and not some random vampire that wanted a place to stay in town.

Blood only runs so deep after all.