My fingers twist the doorknob that opens to the Salvatore boarding house, stepping in the overly large home. To my surprise, Rebekah stands there in her dress from last night with a pair of heels in her hand.

"Good morning, Maya." she smiles at me and my lips form into a straight line. Damon comes to view rather quickly with a buttoned up shirt, except they weren't buttoned and his toned chest reveals itself underneath.

"Hi..." I mutter, shocked by the sight in front of me. The room goes silent for a minute or two, my eyes switching back and forth between the two of them.

"Well, I'd love to stay and chit chat but truthfully, I don't want to." Rebekah states bluntly and opens the front door. She shoots me a wink and waves to the two of us goodbye before shutting the door on her way out.

"What was that?" I turn back around and fold my arms to the blue eyes that bore into mine. "Why? Jealous?" he smirks.

I roll my eyes, growing impatient. "Please button up your shirt." I remind him, pointing to his revealing chest.

"Can't! My hands are full. Do it for me." he states with a smirk still lingering on his lips, raising his hands that are occupied with a bottle of bourbon and an empty glass.

A huge sigh escapes my lips as I come forward and do as he requests. I start buttoning his shirt, one by one as he stares at me from above.

"Why are you drinking this early in the morning?" I question, moving to the middle of his shirt.

"Sometimes you sleep with a person when in reality you wish it was someone else." he states, pouring his drink in his glass before taking a sip.

I finish his last button and pat his chest, looking up at him. "You mean Elena..." I trail on, stepping backwards.

Damon looks at me for a moment with pursed lips and sighs, "Yeah, sure."

He sets his drink down and looks at me, "How was date night with Klaus? Has he puckered his lips for you yet?" he grins at his own joke.

I glare at him, "He, uh, confessed his feelings for me so at least we know it's true. Oh, and he drew a picture of me." This morning I found his newly sketched art in my mailbox and I had an urge to toss it in the trash, but I decided not to.

I look at his facial expression changes from humorous to something unreadable in seconds. He clenches his jaw, "He draws? Since when?"

"If I lived a thousand years, I'd probably figure out how to draw too." I shrug and he nods, grabbing his drink and taking another sip. "Touché."

The door opens and shuts loudly and I turn around to see my sister strutting in with a stern look on her face. "What the hell was Rebekah doing outside?"

"I went over this with him already, Elena. He's just in a mood." I answer for her and she gives me a look before staring back at the oldest Salvatore.

"Did you stop taking your vervain?" Elena crosses her arms and Damon gives her a bewildered look, "You think Rebekah had to compel me?"

"What's wrong with you? She tried to kill me less than forty eight hours ago." she states.

"Can we just move pass that, Elena?" Damon rolls his eyes. "So is that how it's going to be now? I hurt your feelings and this is how you lash out at me?" Elena frowns.

"Well, maybe, for once, something I did had nothing to do with you." Damon states and holds up his glass of bourbon.

"Then who else would it be about?" Elena crosses her arms. Damon's eyes linger on mine for awhile, but doesn't respond to her. I furrow my eyebrows, but don't question it.

"You should know that Esther is planning on killing her entire family. She's linked them all together with a spell. Whatever happens to one, happens to all of them." Elena reminds him.

"Well, that's great! Klaus will finally be dead. We win. Why do you look like someone just shot a panda bear?"

"Uh, because to kill Klaus she has to kill all of them, including Elijah. And he doesn't deserve this!" Elena whines.

"I'm supposed to care about Elijah?" Damon asks, growing annoyed. "Shouldn't you at least care about Rebekah." Elena inquires.

"Two seconds ago, you were pissed that she attacked you. It's a win-win." I roll my eyes once again and began to walk to the door.

I wait for Elena as she comes behind me but Damon blocks her way. Not having anymore patience, I walk out of his home and wait for my sister in the car.

§

I stare at my glass of water on my countertop for quite some time. I lean up against it while sitting on the stool, my hand resting on my chin with a sigh.

Caroline walks into my kitchen with a smile on her face, as usual. "Did the sage work?" I question quickly. Bonnie's upstairs with Elena as she practices how to do a privacy spell with sage to prevent vamp-hearing from listening to any conversation.

"Nope," Caroline answers and stands from across, leaning on the countertop. "she's still working on it. I can hear everything they're saying and how Elena is venting about Damon."

I watch as she rolls her eyes at the mention of Damon and I let out a laugh. "Speaking of boys, Elena informed me on your plan to woo the original hybrid."

I widen my eyes at Caroline's words and she raises her eyebrows. "What about him?" I ask innocently and take a sip of my water.

"Maya! Why are you doing this? I mean, I know he's hot and all but I didn't think that could sway you to do something like this."

Rolling my eyes, I stare back at her. "I don't know," I shrug, "Damon and I thought it was a good idea to draw information from him. You know, in case he wants to bomb Mystic Falls."

"Since when was listening to Damon a good idea?" she questions, folding her arms in annoyance. "It's not! It's just—I don't know. It's too late to back out now." I tell her and place my glass down.

"Okay..." Caroline sighs and stands up straight. "What do you plan on doing with him now?"

I stay silent for a moment, thinking about her question. "I feel like I was too nice to him last night." I confess, flickering my eyes back up to hers.

Her eyebrows furrow, "What do you mean?"

"At first I thought I was losing my grip on him so I decided I should just say what he wanted to hear. Now I just think that was too easy." I rant on.

"Well, next time you see him, play hard to get. I'm sure he loves a good catch." she tells me and I nod, although, that's what I've been trying to do this entire time.

"I still don't like this idea of you being near him. Maya, what if he hurts you?" she asks, her eyes softening slightly and she frowns.

"I am only doing this to protect you guys. If I have a chance to stop him from blowing up this town, I'll take it. And as for hurting me... I can't make promises he won't." I state and she sighs. Klaus has been aggressive on me before, so I always have to keep an eye out for what he plans on doing next.

"Oh, Maya the selfless Gilbert, you need to put yourself first for once." Caroline says and I hop off the stool, putting my empty glass in the sink. "I can't help it. It's in my blood." I shrug at her with a playful smile.

Caroline pulls me into a hug and squeezes me tightly as if I were to slip away. "I'm just worried for my best friend, that's all. If he tries anything on you, I won't hesitate to come to your defense!"

I laugh at her and pull away from the hug. "Thank you, Caroline."

"Of course! Now, let's go upstairs to see if Bonnie finally mastered her witchy-spell."

§

Tonight's the night, I thought as I step into the grill. My eyes linger around the place until I spot Alaric and we exchange looks. I nod at him once before making my way up to the bar countertop.

Everyone was on board with the whole distracting plan on Klaus that Damon and I came up with. We actually figured it's beneficial, especially for what's to come tonight.

Rebekah took my sister and is holding her captive somewhere because this is her way of revenge for daggering her in the back. When I heard this news, I was so quick to save her and the only way to do that is to go along with the orders that were provided for me.

"Maya!" I hear his voice from a few feet away. I turn my heel, walking toward Klaus and another man, who is presume is his brother.

"Klaus," I give him a thin smile and remember what Caroline told me earlier... play hard to get.

"I assume you haven't met my brother yet?" he asks, pointing to the man next to him, who smiles smugly at me.

"No, we haven't, but we wish we had sooner. You are a different kind of beauty." he grins and grabs my hand, placing a kiss on my knuckles.

I swallow thickly, unaware of what to do next. I look up at Klaus, who's staring at my hand being occupied with his brother's lips, and clenches his jaw.

I pull away and smile at him, "I'm Maya. Maya Gilbert."

"You're a Gilbert? Ah, I can see the resemblance now. I'm Kol, the better and most handsome Mikaelson." he smirks and Klaus scoffs, rolling his eyes.

"Enough, brother. Why don't you fetch us some drinks?" Klaus asks and Kol looks at him with a facial expression of annoyance. Before he could protest, I step in. "No, it's fine. I'd rather not."

Kol snickers loudly, "Aw, Nik, the poor girl doesn't want to share a drink with you." he turns his eyes toward mine, "I think I like you now."

"You didn't deny a drink with me before... what's stopping you now?" Klaus grins and I breathe in sharply, forgetting that I did that.

"You should just take the hint, big brother. She's not interested in you." Kol sneers at him. I let my hands fall to my sides and look at the hybrid, "Thanks for the offer, but I'll pass."

And with that, I turn around and exit the grill, secretly hoping he's trailing behind me. I cross the road and come to a halt when I hear his voice call out my name.

I whip my head around, widening my eyes a little bit when I see a car almost hitting him. "Maya!" he chases after me, walking towards me as the car from before speeds away.

"You should be more careful." I warn him when he stands a few feet away from me. "Nice to know you care." he says and his lips curve upwards.

I squint my eyes at him, "I don't," I clarify, "I just don't want to see the news tomorrow; Man mysteriously walks away uninjured after being hit by a speeding car."

He doesn't say anything besides his smirk that keeps growing, if that's even possible. I sigh and turn back around and begin to walk away when he puts his hand on my arm, causing me to come to a stop.

"Is there something I said? How can I quit myself?"

Wow, he really won't stop until he gets what he wants. It's hard to grasp the idea that I'm the thing he wants.

I let out another sigh. If all goes well, this could be my last night with him so I might as well make the most of it. "You don't have to get my attention with your expensive jewelry or romantic drawings." I tell him, pulling anything out of my head at this point, "There are other ways."

"Fine," he says and takes a seat on the bench next to us, "if you prefer to talk, let's talk."

I stare at him with raised eyebrows, almost having the urge to scoff and laugh. "Really?"

"Oh, come on, take a chance, Maya. Talk to me... Come on, get to know me. I dare you."

I oblige and sit down next to him. "What do you want to talk about?"

"I want to talk about you. Your hopes, your dreams, everything you want in life."

"You want to talk about me?" I laugh out loud, "There's nothing to talk about."

Klaus' smile drops and his eyes scan mine. "You don't seriously think you're not worth talking about?"

Truth is, yes I don't think I'm worth talking about. All my life I've been behind Elena's shadow that I never had a chance to be who I want to be.

"It's complicated." I mutter and avoid eye contact with him, feeling my body tense up. "Perhaps we should start small? How about your future?"

I breathe out a large set of air and think for a moment. "My dad is-was a doctor and he inspired me to want to go to medical school one day. So does Elena... we've always had this plan to open up a hospital of some sort." I ramble on, smiling at the old memories.

And we talked... it was actually nice. He's a really good listener and for once I didn't mind his company. He also seemed to be really intrigued, which was surprising to me.

I felt like I was talking forever. I tried to ask him questions, and he'd give me short answers, but he mostly wanted my responses and to learn more about me.

All of the sudden, Klaus gets up and places his hand on top of his chest. I gulp, realizing they have started. "What's wrong?" I question and force a worried expression on my face.

"What did you do?"

I was taken back by his harsh tone, but I push it behind me. "What are you talking about? I didn't do anything."

His hands grab my waist forcefully and I gasp at his aggressive movement. He stares at me with his clenched teeth, "What did you do?!"

"Nothing! Let go of me. You're hurting me." I hiss in pain because of his tightening grip. Klaus lets go of me instantly, muttering an apology.

"Kol!" he comes to realization and darts back to the grill. I follow behind close by, in case my friends were in sight.

He stops walking and spins around. I gasp as I almost body-slam into him. His hands grab onto my arm and he forces me to look into his eyes. "Was this it, then? Every word you've ever said to me, was your attempt in killing me?"

"I was doing whatever was necessary to protect the people I love," I narrow my eyes at him, "you wouldn't know that."

"Of course I would know that! I've fled every country you can name to protect my siblings from my father!"

"Then you should know I would go to great lengths to save my friends and family. No matter the collateral damage." I tell him and he releases me.

"Hmm, I suppose it's time to have a taste of your own medicine." he grins and before I could question what he meant, he grabs my arm again and pulls me to the alleyway between the grill and another building.

"Well, look what we have here!" Klaus voice echos in the night. Stefan and Damon stand there, looking at me with wide eyes.

I spot Alaric holding a semi-dead Kol, who has a dagger in his chest. "Undagger him or she dies." Klaus calls out, pulling me upwards and pushes my back against his chest.

My heart starts to beat rapidly and I stare at the two Salvatore brothers. "Okay! Okay, just let her go." Damon stalks toward us slowly.

"Undagger him first." Klaus says and Damon gives Alaric a nod, who then pulls the dagger out of his chest. Klaus lets go of me and I run into Damon's arms.

Damon holds me tightly, wrapping his arms around my body. I shake in fear, my near death frightening me to another level. "I need you to run home, now!"

"I-I can't, Damon! I need to be here—"

"You don't need to be here, Maya. It's too dangerous." he tells me and I pull out of his grasp. "No, Elena is in danger. I won't leave without a fight."

I turn around and find both Alaric and Stefan unconscious on the ground. Klaus' eyes meet mine and he smirks while I glare at him.

Damon launches at him, which results in Klaus slamming him against the brick wall. "I should have killed you months ago."

"Do it," Damon says, "it's not going to stop Esther from killing you."

"What did you say about my mother?" Klaus lets go of him. "You didn't know I was friends with your mommy? Yeah, we have a lot in common. She hates you as much as I do." Damon responds.

"Klaus, please don't hurt him." I plead and he stops his attack on Damon for a moment, looking straight at me. "I have no desire to listen to you anymore."

"Leave them! We still need them, Niklaus." Elijah's voice comes from above. I look up to see him at the top of the stairs. "What did mother do? What did she do, Elijah?"

Elijah steps down the staircase carefully and makes his way over to us. He holds out his cellphone and connects his eyes with mine, "You tell me where the witches are or I'll have my sister kill yours right now."

I gasp, "What?!"

I turn to Damon for answers and he looks up at the clock tower, deciphering the time to be about 8:30 at night. "You told me we had until after nine." Damon says.

Elijah grins, "I'm sure Rebekah will be more than happy to start her work early."

"Alright, fine.

§

I walk into my house with a loud sigh, dropping my keys on a table nearby. I toss my jacket on the rack and slip out of my shoes. I just got back from Bonnie's, learning that her mother is now in transition thanks to Damon.

But, I don't blame him. He turned her so he could prevent Elena from being killed. I would've done the same thing. However, because of his actions, the Mikaelson siblings remain alive once again. Except Finn, apparently he disappeared along with his mother.

"Hey," Elena's soft voice comes from the top of the staircase and she makes her way down. "Elena..." I smile, pulling her into a hug, "I'm so glad you're okay."

"Enough about me, are you okay? Stefan told me Klaus almost killed you." Elena draws away from our embrace and looks at me with worried eyes.

"He wasn't actually going to kill me," I assure her, although, apart of me doesn't believe that's true, "he knew Damon and Stefan would have obeyed him."

"It doesn't make it right, though. I don't want you near Klaus again. Maya, please promise me you'll back out of this stupid idea to distract him."

"There's no need for promises. I'm sure Klaus is already planning my demise after tonight." I joke, but Elena's horrid reaction alters my smile.

"I'm joking, Elena." I put my hands on her arm. "Still... he probably is planning on killing you." she says, walking toward the staircase.

"I'll figure out a way to prevent my death then." I tell her and she raises her eyebrows at me before strolling back to her bedroom.