06.
"So, Kai" Stefan mumbled, while laying on the bed he and Max shared. He had woken up 2 minutes ago, having Max sleeping with her head on his chest while his arm was wrapped around her. After a heated night, firstly in the couch and then on their bed, they both fell asleep, quite exhausted I might add. Of course, the perfect morning had to be ruined by the mention of the devil's name from Stefan.
"What about him?" Max sighed sleepily, not opening her eyes yet.
"Well, when we visited his father in Portland, he told us a few things about him. You know, him being a psycho and killing all of his siblings. Adding up what Damon told us while we were driving there and what you had said about him, made me realize that it's okay where he's now. We don't want him in our lives I guess" he stated and started caressing her arm.
"It's more than okay Stef. Imagine what Kai will do, if he returns. Believe me, you don't want him to return. Is that what you wanted to ask me?" she opened her eyes, raised her head and looked at him while furrowing her eyebrows.
"No, it's actually something else. Kai's father told Damon that you helped them send him away. He also told him that you were a really powerful witch" Stefan said as he stared deeply into her eyes, probably wanting to see if Max was going to tell the truth.
"Yes that is true. I was a very powerful witch and I'd become the leader of my coven when my parents would die but that surely won't happen now since, you know, I'm a vampire"
Not feeling like sleeping anymore, Max decided to get up and start her day. Stefan on the other hand groaned, wanting to stay in bed a bit longer with his girlfriend. Max laughed at his reaction and went to the kitchen to make breakfast.
"Apparently, we're not going to enjoy the day as I had planned" Stefan said and walked towards the kitchen were Max was now pouring coffee into two cups.
"But I've made coffee and pancakes. What happened?" Max frowned, causing Stefan to laugh at her cuteness.
"And they look delicious, but I have to meet Damon at Whitmore" He kissed her on her lips and took a sip from his coffee.
"Ugh, come on. What did he do?"She complained.
"Well, promise me you won't tell Jo" he pleaded and took a bite from his pancakes.
Max rolled her eyes in annoyance and nodded him to continue, "I won't tell Jo, just tell me"
"Damon compelled Alaric to take the ascendant from her in order for us to bring Bonnie back from that prison world" Stefan smiled slyly and waited for her reaction.
"I'm not surprised...Classic Damon" she commented and began eating her pancakes, leaving her boyfriend looking at her quite shocked.
"I wasn't expecting this reaction of yours but ok..."
Max chuckled at his response and stated that she was used to Damon's actions. She surprisingly added that she had missed his rush plans, earning a sarcastic comment from Stefan along the lines of "Are you telling me indirectly that you like my brother?" But Max only shoved him in the arm playfully and continued talking.
"Actually, I was thinking about going to Liv and chit chat a little. So we can go together, which means..." She gave him a flirtatious smile and it was his turn to chuckle.
"Breakfast?" he placed his hands on her face softly.
"Breakfast" the young vampire replied and gave Stefan a kiss.
++
Stefan dropped her off at the café Liv was working and said that he would go to find Damon. He actually suggested she should go with him but Max denied politely. Although she loved Damon with all her heart -as a friend of course-, she didn't want to hear him blubbering about the ascendant. It was one of those days that all she desired to do was just hang out with her blonde friend.
When she was about to open the door, she heard a scream. But it wasn't a frightened scream, it was a pained one. Being alert and worried at the same time, Max run inside the shop with her vampire speed, ready to protect her; using her reflexes she figured that Liv was upstairs, so she went up the stairs quickly and stood in front of the person who was trying to hurt her friend.
When Max looked the man in front of her, ready to prevent him from doing something, she froze. Kai was standing right before her eyes, looking at her as shocked as she was. He couldn't believe he'd see her again and so did Max.
On the one hand, the warlock thought that the brunette would still be a witch, she'd have grown up, probably have her own family, living somewhere near Portland. But that wasn't the case; his ex-girlfriend had become a vampire and was living outside of Mystic Falls, something he hadn't planned. He was going to find her at some point, make her suffer the way he did and cause her the pain she deserved, after sending him to the prison world. It's just that he didn't believe he'd see her so soon.
Max on the other hand couldn't even utter a word. Her eyes had widened so much no one thought it'd be possible. She kept saying in her head that he wasn't real, only an illusion but it wasn't working. After all, she did send him away and isolated him into that prison. Frankly though, that meet was bound to happen someday; Max only hoped that it would never occur.
The reasons to her unwillingness were many but the main one was the fact that Kai was bad news. If he ever came back, the entire normalcy in her life would vanish and it'd be replaced by pain and misery, because that's what he wanted to make her feel. In addition, Max was well aware of what the warlock could do. Feeling no remorse, he could possibly kill her friends, her mom and everyone she ever met but at the end, the blame would be on her because she was the one who betrayed him, the one who was supposed to be his soul mate and support him to everything he'd do, even if one of those actions was killing his own family.
"Max" Kai mumbled under his breath but Max, having a vampire hearing, heard it.
He was staring at her face, too mesmerized by her beauty. Even if the hate and revenge were clouding his mind, the truth was that he'd missed her. She was the only person that could trigger his sweet side and he was thankful for that. At least he had been before the betrayal.
Two seconds later, something snapped inside of him and the shocked expression left his face. Instead, a wicked smile took its place and the mischief in his eyes returned. Catching her off guard, he used the magic he'd absorbed from Liv and threw her to the wall.
"As much as I'd like to catch up with you, my love, I don't want to let Liv down" he emphasized the words 'my love' and then glanced at Liv, who was even more terrified at that moment.
"You were so bad at hide and seek. I mean you were four, but still...find a better hiding spot" he disapprovingly stated and moved the tables out of the way she had put to prevent him by getting closer. Kai started walking towards her threateningly, ready to kill her when Max got up and run up to him again, this time throwing him off the second story.
"I don't think you're good at playing games either. Come on!" she took Liv's hand and used her vampire speed once again to leave that place, getting her friend somewhere safe and away from the crazy warlock.
++
"Kai's back! Please Stefan, call me as soon as possible. Where are you guys?" Max urged as she left a voice mail on Stefan's phone. She thought that he was still with Damon, whom she called as well but she was sent to the voicemail again. Liv actually forgot to mention that she'd sent him and Elena to find Bonnie at the prison world because of Kai's appearance.
In addition, she couldn't find Caroline because she wasn't at the college nor she was answering her phone, leading the brunette to get even more frustrated and nervous. Specifically, she was afraid of the fact that Kai was free and in their world since she had no idea of what means he would use to get his revenge. He would do anything to fulfill his purposes, without caring about the collateral damages and she was highly aware of it.
Max considered calling Matt but thought otherwise when she realized that he wouldn't know. How would he, anyway? He was just a simple human, trying to live normally among his supernatural friends. The few moments she'd shared with and talk to him, she had realized that he had the pure good every vampire had lost and was searching for, the loyalty and the bravery every man or woman would want to have in them. That's why Max believed it was unfair for him to live like this, being the only human among the supernatural, always worrying about his friends and his life being threatened by vampires, hybrids, witches and every other supernatural creature. Matt deserved a better and normal life.
An hour or so later, Max managed to reach Damon on the phone and told him about Kai. Apparently, he already knew because he had met them at the woods where the former couple was trying to get Bonnie back. The warlock attempted to light Elena up but Damon took care of that by simply throwing him inside Mystic Falls.
"Is Bonnie with you?" Max desperately asked her best friend. A long pause followed after her question, meaning one thing; Bonnie hadn't returned and she was stuck in that prison world, without reason. She was being tortured without having done anything wrong to be punished like that. Honestly, she was in the wrong place at the wrong time and didn't deserve any of it.
The brunette sighed in defeat, not being able to find another way to help the witch. Damon explained everything from convincing Liv to help them to talking on the phone with Bonnie and finally to Kai's attack. Max mentioned then that she encountered him an hour ago at Liv's work and prevented him from killing her by throwing him off the second floor. As a result, she earned a "you go shorty pants" comment from Damon and a sad laugh from Elena. At the end, Max reassured the couple that they would bring her back and asked if they knew where Stefan was, but they replied that they didn't.
Max though was worried; not about Stefan but about Bonnie. The feeling of being helpless and not be able to help her friend was driving her crazy because for the first time she didn't know what to do. The ascendant was broken, Damon had informed her about that, but it could easily be fixed. The real problem was Liv's unwillingness to help, not because she didn't want to but because of Kai. He would steal her magic or he'd try to kill her again if he found out where she was and that was something Max didn't want to happen.
++
Two days passed and there was no sign of Kai. Caroline had returned from the trip to her mom and also Enzo decided to make an appearance too. Apparently, when Stefan shot him at the woods and was about to kill him, he decided otherwise because he took into consideration Max's words about him being Damon's only friend. She was feeling that something was off about Stefan's words but she decided to let it go. After all it was Christmas and she had other things to worry about.
For example, she had to decorate the house with Christmas decorations but she wasn't feeling like it. Instead, she decided to pick up her phone which was ringing annoyingly for two minutes.
"This is Max speaking" she answered in a bored voice.
"Hey, can you meet me and Damon at Ric's house?" a very concerned Elena sounded from the other side of the phone.
"Okay, I'll be there in fifteen minutes" Max hung up, took her car keys and left to find them.
She did exactly fifteen minutes to get to Alaric's house and went inside as quickly as possible, seen as Elena was urgent. As she got inside, she greeted her and Alaric and saw Damon sitting on the couch. Smiling warmly at her, he got up and gave her tight hug, forgetting why they were on Ric's anyway.
"I missed you, dumbass" she let out a laugh and tightened her grip around him.
"I missed you too shorty" he mumbled in appreciation and a moment later they pulled away, remembering the reason why they were there at the first place.
"So what's going on guys? What happened?" Max made the most important question.
"It's about Jo. No one's seen her since yesterday; I actually asked around the hospital and as I said two seconds earlier to the guys, no one has seen her since last night at the ER. Bunch of sub victims came in and one of them is missing as well" Elena explained to all of them while crossing her arms to her chest.
"It was Kai. Jo knew he was coming after her and he did" Alaric concluded.
"Not to give you boyfriend lessons or anything but if you knew Jo's whack job brother was out on the loose and after her, don't you think that keeping an eye on her would be a smart move?" Damon butted in, making a snarky comment.
Cutting Alaric off, Max decided to take the blame too. "I also knew that Kai was out and after Jo. I should've done something too, so don't put the blame only on Alaric, Damon"
"And also, what would you have me do, Damon? Ask you to compel Jo to stay put?" Alaric asked Damon with an accusing tone, reminding him about how he compelled him and basically quite betraying their friendship.
The male vampire started nodding in agreement but Elena decided it was time to put some sense on all of them and make them focus on their real problem.
"There's no point in us arguing. If Kai has Jo, then we need a plan" Elena reasoned.
"Plan's easy; find Kai, kill Kai" Damon made a move with his hand as if cutting Kai's throat.
"It's not as easy as you think it is" Max scoffed and kept talking.
"Trust me, I've already tried twice to do that and both times he managed to get away. Whatever the plan is though, I want to be a part of it. I don't care if I get hurt in the process, the only thing that matters is saving Jo" she said with determination and ready to do everything to save her best friend from the hands of her psycho, ex-boyfriend.
"Wow, how brave of you. I'm going to call Matt, see if he's seen anything" Damon got up and started calling Matt.
Meanwhile, Ric, Elena and Max were chatting a little about where Kai must have put Jo and they concluded that she might have been somewhere were magic couldn't reach, meaning somewhere inside Mystic Falls. That's probably why Damon had decided to call the Donovan boy and see if that would lead them somewhere.
"Beavis and butthead are on the lookout; anyone else brimming with confidence?" Damon sarcastically asked, making Max roll her eyes at him.
"Damon just shut up, you might be surprised of what Matt and Jeremy can do. The other one was Jeremy, right?. We don't have a Daria though"
Max assumed Damon meant the little Gilbert and Matt by calling them 'Beavis and Butthead' because they were always after Bonnie's disappearance together. She gave him an approving look and he winked at her playfully, saying "Tyler can be Daria" but Max disagreed with a head movement.
"I mean this doesn't make any sense" Alaric decided to ignore the two and get back to the real issue.
Max sighed in annoyance and sat on the chair Alaric was sitting minutes ago. Damon was the only one standing up and was deep in his thoughts.
"What could possibly not make sense about magical twins absorbing into one another?" Max commented sarcastically, earning a chuckle from Damon and an approving thumbs up.
"Besides you having fun about this, Jo needs her magic for the merge to work and she got rid of that back in 1994!" Jo's boyfriend pointed out.
"Jo doesn't have magic because she stuffed it in a knife that was stolen and hidden by yours truly" Damon pointed at himself and smirked proudly.
"Kai won't find it" Max assured the other three people in this room.
"Yeah, unless Kai does a locator spell" Alaric pointed out again, in attempt to find a flaw in Damon's plan.
"It's impossible" Max decided to reassure him.
"Why?" The confusion grew larger as the brunette vampire stated.
"Because he was born without the ability to do magic; Kai only absorbs it, something you already know since he took some of Liv's" she tried clearing Ric's confusion and she achieved it for a minute before it appeared again.
"If the only way to restore Jo's magic is to reunite her with that knife, Kai's gonna come for it"
"Ric's right, even if he can't do the locate spell...He's going to make it his mission to find it" Elena intervened and as she was speaking, she kept glancing between Max and Damon because they were the ones that they were so sure of the whole thing, although the former had her concerns about where the latter had hidden the knife, but she tried to keep all the worries in the back of her head, at least for now.
"Great, Kai finds it. Love it" Damon nonchalantly replied to Elena's statement. Max was trying to find the catch, the flaw, whatever you'd like to call it in Damon's plan. No matter how sure he had been the whole time, there's always something that went wrong in a plan, especially when the one who made it, kept making jokes and not worrying at all. The vampire just hoped her assumptions were incorrect.
"Why aren't you concerned?" Elena asked him quite confused and Max didn't blame her, she'd actually started worrying a little too.
"Because if Kai goes for the knife..." Damon turned around and reached out for a wood portrait.
"...I would kill him, because the knife..." he took it from the wall, turned around and opened something on it.
"...Is right here where I hid it. Tada" he finished, while smiling and looking at them proudly.
Max assumptions were proven correct as she mumbled a 'Huh oh' and gave worried glances at Damon and the others.
Elena and Ric had the same expression on their faces, hence why the old vampire decided to look down at the portrait and mimic them. The fact that the knife wasn't on the hiding spot Damon had put it, made the four of them worry a lot more about Jo and wonder about who would've found it. Of course the important thing was to find Ric's girlfriend and Elena and Max's friend before it's too late.
Max's cell rang again and this time, checking the caller ID, she saw it was Stefan.
"Hey" she smiled goofily but Damon rolled his eyes, making her narrow her eyes at him.
"Hey, uh listen; Caroline's mom lost her consciousness and we brought her to the hospital. Can you come and bring Elena along with you? I think Caroline could you use some support right now" Stefan sounded tired through the phone but pleading.
At that moment, Max looked immediately at Elena, she was already glancing at her though. They both had a worry expression on their faces seen as her friend's mother was in a hospital. After all, despite the 'Kai problem', they had still friends to worry about and of course their relatives.
"She's actually with me so don't worry, we'll be there in 15 minutes. Okay?"
"Yeah, be safe" he warned and Max chuckled slightly at this.
"Always, love you" she smiled and hung up, after he said he loved her too.
"Aren't you and my bro two cute vegan vampires, overflowing with love?" As usual, Damon didn't let this interaction go; he had to comment at his best friend's love life, especially since she was dating his younger brother.
"Seriously, walking to rainbows and giving each other stuffed bears must be your everyday activities since the day I disappeared. By the way, how was your life without me weren't you bored or something?" Believing he was funny, Damon smiled smugly.
Alaric and Elena on the other hand rolled their eyes; the only difference between those two was that the latter let out a barely noticeable laugh.
"Damon, do you want me to buy you some humor on the way to the hospital or from the hospital's vending machine? It's your choice really because you're not funny. Come on Elena, let's go" Max nodded at Elena, signaling it was time to leave, while it was Alaric's time to chuckle at his best friend's failed attempt to be sarcastic. He just gave him the finger in return and went to find Luke for information about Jo.
++
The whole drive to the hospital was full of Elena's ranting about Caroline's mom and Max making a few comments here and there. Her friend was mostly speaking, while she was trying to put away some thoughts that were eating her mind. The fact that Stefan was with Caroline when her mom lost her consciousness wasn't supposed to make her concerned, but it did. Surely, they had been friends before Max ever met him and she didn't want to assume things although lately she had begun noticing things.
For instance, it was hard to ignore the look on the blonde's face when she would look at Stefan; the love-y and full of desire eyes, the disappointment when he would care about Max more than her and her reaction when his name would be mentioned. Those were some of the signs which were making the brunette kind of worry and suspicious. She didn't want to believe that Stefan had an interest in Caroline, especially since he had once told her that they were never going to happen (Stefan had told that to Max himself when they were discussing about their pasts). Things though change and words that once were said might not matter in the future.
The girls got to the hospital fifteen minutes later, as Max had predicted and they went quickly to find the two vampires. Walking through the halls of a hospital was not a good experience for neither of the girls.
Max's first encounter with it was back in Portland when she lost her father; he was found lying in the middle of the road at night, barely breathing, by two deputies who also informed her and Julie. Later that night, when the two women had gone to the hospital to identify the body, the doctor told them that he had an animal attack, bitten probably by a mountain lion.
That of course was far from the truth but at that time, Max didn't care about what was true or not; the only thing that mattered was the fact that her dad was dead. That night, she lost not only her father but also her inspiration and her idol. He was the one that pushed her to reach her full potential, motivated her to become a better witch and a better person in order to become the person she was at the moment. One of the most important people to her passed away that day and she was devastated because she loved him deeply, probably a little bit more than her mother.
On the other hand, Elena Gilbert also didn't have the greatest memories from hospitals. Seen as most of her family had died and probably all of her friends, including herself, had been in there because of accidents caused by the supernatural, the feelings of discomfort and unwillingness were justified.
As the two girls marched through the hospital halls, Max noticed Stefan sitting across the probable room of Liz's. He was deep in thought while having placed his arms on his knees and was constantly looking down, the worry obvious in his face. However, Caroline wasn't there with him so Max assumed she was next to her mom inside the room. Of course, the earlier doubts of hers about her relationship with the male vampire crept into her mind once again when she saw him there, but she tried to push them off seen as it wasn't the right time or the place to deal with those.
"Hey Stef, what's going on?" Max asked as soon as they got near him. Frankly, she was worried about Caroline's mom, despite not showing it.
She had met Liz a year ago, when Silas was on a loose. At first, the sheriff didn't trust her because of her vampirism but after Caroline started hanging out with her and becoming her friend, she decided to get to know Max. Gaining each other's trust, the two women became good friends and surprisingly got on well with Damon while solving any mysteries, considering Silas' actions. That was when the brunette started bonding with Stefan's brother too which led to their current close friendship.
"Caroline's mom...She fainted" Stefan informed as he got up and got close to the door of the room, the two girls following him from behind.
"Yes we know that. Won't you tell us a little bit more?" Max urged.
"Yeah, I mean don't you think it looks really bad for someone who just fainted?" Elena pointed at the doctor and the two other nurses standing around Liz's bed like hawks.
"That doctor just came out of the radiology. I overheard her say, Glioblastoma"
"Glioblastoma? But that would...But...No, no!" Not believing what Stefan had said, Elena stood with an open mouth, staring through the window of the room.
"She has cancer?" Max asked, her voice breaking a little.
"We brought her in a couple weeks ago, after Trip's guys grabbed her. Doctors run some tests and apparently... They found something suspicious..." he explained, as Elena shook her head back and forth, not being able to believe the new information.
The other girl was just looking with sad eyes at the poor woman lying on the bed, through the window. She couldn't accept that a woman like Liz would die like this and would also leave Caroline on her own, at least that early.
"But...But that doesn't make any sense! Caroline would have sensed something" Elena insisted.
Stefan sighed before responding, "Or maybe her mom hasn't told her yet..."
"She hasn't told her?" Elena and Max, who was listening, said at the same time, both shocked at what he had told them seconds ago. The latter had now turned her full attention to her boyfriend as she and her friend were waiting for an answer.
"Probably Liz didn't want to tell her right away; I also wouldn't have known if the nurse hadn't told me"
"We can give her our blood though, can't we?" Elena asked them both, mainly Stefan because he was the older vampire, a trace of hope on her voice.
"Elena, don't you think that if our blood cured cancer, wouldn't we have saved millions of lives?" he answered sadly. Everyone's expression was sad, because all of them loved Liz, thus they were all feeling sorry for Caroline.
Elena then sped after the doctor who had come out of the room moments ago, leaving the couple alone.
"No, there has to be another way Stefan! She didn't do anything wrong to have an end like this" Tears began shaping on Max's eyes as she spoke. She thought it was pretty unfair to happen something like that to a person like Liz, but she would have to accept eventually that life is life, everyone should.
"I know, Max. I know" Stefan took a step towards her and pulled her into his arms as she buried her head to his chest. He provided her safety, comfort and everything that she could ever ask for, this is why it would be quite hard to confront him at some point about their relationship. Of course, this talk would happen after Liz becoming okay again; because that's what Max believed.
She thought that at the end of the day, they would find a way to save the sheriff; they had to do it for Caroline, because of the help her mom had provided them all these years and the tolerance she had shown to the supernatural situation going on in Mystic Falls. Her mom was a great woman and didn't deserve to die that early. However, Max didn't want to save her because of Caroline or Liz's great services, no. She wanted to help because Liz reminded her of her father; the two had so many similarities such as strength, persistence and the constant feeling to protect their loved ones at the best way they could, no matter what. It was like a need to save her and that's what she'd do; Max would find a solution and wouldn't let Liz die, like her father did.
++
Elena had gone to find Caroline, leaving the couple sitting outside Liz's room. The doctors were passing by and Max was hoping that one of them would eventually come and say that they had been wrong all this time meaning that the sheriff was okay and Caroline wouldn't lose her mom. But this didn't happen. Instead, the vampire was left staring blankly the white wall in front of her, deep in thought.
"You know, I've always been wondering how some things like this happen to good people; I mean diseases and sudden deaths happen to those who are actually trying to be moral and help the others, not the ones who constantly corrupt the world we live in and care only about their selves" Stefan spoke after a long time of sadness.
"That's what I'd been thinking when I found out about my dad; he was found dead in the middle of the road at night. The police had found him barely breathing, lying there unconscious while he was covered by blood. The paramedics took him to the hospital but it was too late, you know? It was too late and I lost my dad..." A tear slipped down her delicate face which led to another and another, until she couldn't stop sobbing.
Stefan pulled her close to him again and tried to calm her down, while his eyes were filled with tears too but he blinked them away instead. It was one of the few time times he had seen Max crying like this; the sadness and the grief on her voice and her face took him by surprise seen as the fact that she would always be in a good mood, always trying to cheer everyone up in serious situations. But this wasn't the Max he was used to seeing, just the vulnerable side of hers who would show deep emotions when talking about her father or someone she deeply loved after her father.
"Liz reminds me of my dad, so much. That's why I want to save her, Stefan. I don't want to let her die, like I did with my father. It was my fault he died; if he hadn't gone to buy ice cream like I'd asked him that night, he'd still be alive. The vampire wouldn't have bitten his neck, drowned him and leaving him there slowly dying. I was so sure he'd come back, bringing me ice cream and I'd been waiting him, until we got that phone call. I won't make the same mistake again!" Max wiped the tears off her cheeks as Stefan pulled her closer.
"Max, your dad's murder wasn't your fault. It just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Vampires are ruthless when hungry and do things that we regret. Don't ever blame yourself about your dad's death. Life happened. I'm sure your dad was a great man and this is shown by you. He raised a beautiful, smart and strong woman who was taught to be moral, care about her loved ones and protect them. So don't you ever think like that again, okay? We'll find a solution or at least we'll try because we owe it to Liz, alright?"
Max nodded in response and stayed in his arms, saving this moment. She started thinking his words, letting them sink in. Stefan was right about her dad's death but she was finding it very difficult to believe it wasn't her fault. Living all those years with the specific belief surely wouldn't disappear in a moment. The thought was hunting her every time she would remember that night. 'I killed him', 'this was my entire fault, I shouldn't have asked him to leave', 'He died because of me and my spoiled nine year old self', were some of the compunctions.
Sometimes, Max wished she could flip the switch off and feel nothing when it came to her dad but instantly, when considering this, she would remember her mom too. If the vampire turned off her humanity, Julie would have failed as a mother. She and her dad, taught her to be strong and face the problem, not run away from it. Max didn't want to disappoint them so she wouldn't turn the switch off, at least for now.
"Kai's back" Max stated out of the blue, causing Stefan to look at her.
"What? How do you know?" His surprise meant that he hadn't listened to any of her voice mails or seen her texts.
"He was at Liv's work at the same time you dropped me by, so I saved her. There's really nothing important to discuss about" Max dismissed but Stefan clearly thought otherwise.
"Nothing important to discuss about? Max, he could've killed you! Did he hurt you?" He pulled his arm from her body and placed his hands around her face. He started inspecting it for any traumas, not thinking about it much, seen as his girlfriend was a vampire just like him. Concern was written all over his face, hence why Max let out a small laugh causing him to stop and look her in the eyes.
"Why are you laughing?" He sounded a bit offended but Max brushed it off.
"Stef, I'm a vampire; I can heal so even if I had been traumatized, I would've hilled by now" She cupped his face, before placing a small kiss on his lips.
"I mean, he did throw me across the wall but I pushed him off the second story, so no hard feelings I guess" Max shrugged but Stefan was looking at her wide eyed.
"What, why are you looking at me like this?" she nervously asked him after noticing his expression.
"It's just that you never cease to amaze me" Stefan pecked her lips and she smiled at it.
"Well, what can I say? I'm one of a kind" she joked and he chuckled.
"You are one of a kind Max and I'm just glad I've met you" he kissed the top of her head and she leaned onto his shoulder while he rapped his arm around her once again.
++
Max left the hospital urgently after finding Caroline and staying with her a few minutes when Damon had called her. He told her he was with Alaric and they needed her to come to the cemetery outside of Mystic Falls because they had found Kai and Jo. Max had contemplated whether it was a good idea to go and find them or just stay with Stefan and keep company to Caroline. Damon on the other hand thought otherwise and began making sarcastic remarks in order to convince her to come; in the end, he convinced her.
She arrived at the cemetery ten minutes later and saw the two men walking in front of her. When she got out of the car, Alaric punched Damon in the face quite harshly and Max could already imagine why this was all about. However, she decided to react.
"Oh come on, can you two just not act like 10 year olds?"
"No, I kind of deserved that" Damon replied as he was trying to recover from the sudden hit.
"That was nothing" Alaric murmured but with their vampire hearing, the other two heard. Max snickered and internally praised Ric because that was true; Damon had to learn his lesson and not mess up with people, especially one of his best friends.
"Is it because he compelled you to take the ascendant from Jo?" she asked, but it sounded more like a statement, making the former hunter gasp in shock rather dramatically.
"Did you know?" If the phrase 'drama queen' existed on the dictionary, Alaric's name would be next to it.
"Yeah, Stefan told me yesterday" she casually replied.
"Unbelievable" Ric scoffed while Damon rolled his eyes.
"Don't be such a drama queen; I did it to find Bonnie. There's your explanation" the male vampire expressed what Max had been thinking all this time. She gave him a thumbs up and a wink in appreciation but Alaric sent them both a death glare.
Damon then stopped in front of her, having a serious expression. Max realized a speech was coming and she guessed it would be about her ex psycho, who was holding captive Jo, so she prepared herself. In all honesty, when the older Salvatore wasn't a cocky and arrogant vampire but someone who cared about his loved ones, he would say important things. For example, he would give useful advices, have deep and serious conversations but most importantly he would show his worry when something would be wrong. This is why Max saw him as the brother she never had and that also went for him as well.
"I asked you to come here because I want to see if we'll have a reaction from Ka; when we told him that his ex girlfriend was in Mystic Falls...Well, outside of it... You should've have seen his expression. It lasted only for a few seconds but in that time, it was like all the memories between you two flashed in front of his eyes and a feeling of nostalgia crushed him. After that though, he became once again his annoying self. Anyway, my point is that whatever happens, don't give in to his manipulations because we don't want you to get hurt. I mean, can you imagine how much of a pain in the ass Stefan will be? His grumpy self will come out and it'll be worse than the girls in their period. Even the bunnies won't be able to handle it" Damon's speech was cut off by a very much annoyed Alaric, who hissed at them to get back to what they'd come for.
Max couldn't be more relieved, seen as Damon's words had started becoming weirder and weirder as the time went by. However, she took into consideration what he'd said in the beginning, when he was still being serious; she should not let Kai's manipulations get the best of her and that's what she'd do.
Damon whistled slightly to get the warlock's attention, setting the apparent plan that Max had no knowledge about, into motion. His trick worked, seen as Kai walked out, setting his eyes instantly on Max. It was like that moment back to Liv's work, when he saw her for the first time after 21 years; many emotions overwhelmed him but he didn't have time to react this time. Damon caught him off guard, sped up to him and threw him across the tree.
"Cemetery, really?"
Kai sent him away by using his magic and Damon ended up passing the anti-magic border, seen as his skin began burning. His ring didn't work and Kai was smirking at this. On the other hand, Max couldn't do anything nor Alaric as they were watching the scene developing in front of their eyes. Thankfully, the male vampire hadn't gone too far inside so he just stepped out of Mystic Falls, getting back to normal again. Although, the time he did, Kai walked over the border, not being affected by it...Sort of.
"Oh oops, I guess you found the anti-magic border. I drew a line for everyone's convenience, see?" the warlock drew with his foot the line in the ground once again, making it clear to Damon. He glanced towards Max, who was looking at him hatefully before returning his attention to the Salvatore.
"Yeah, you're welcome" Kai nonchalantly said but Damon narrowed his eyes, not even phased by his games.
Alaric had left Max's side and now he was behind Kai, holding a gun pointed at his head and having his other arm around his necks.
"Thank you! Now kill him"
"Alaric, don't!" Max and surprisingly Jo, who had showed up just in time, shouted at the same time.
"What are you talking about?" Alaric furrowed his eyebrows, while Damon was looking at Max like she had grown two heads. He hadn't expected such reaction from her, hence why he was now looking at his best friend surprised. Recovering quickly, he turned his attention to Alaric.
"She's lightheaded and confused; I'll give her some of my blood. Kill him!"
"No, no you can't. If Kai dies, Liv and Luke have to do the merge; it's not fair for them" Jo tried to reason with him.
"Who cares? Kill him" Damon insisted once again and Alaric removed the safety of his gun.
It was like having the devil and the angel arguing in Alaric's mind, just like what was happening in the movies. Alaric though was torn between his girlfriend and his best friend and had to make a choice eventually. Max only hoped he would follow Jo's wish and not Damon's for a reason she had yet to find out.
Seeing Kai two times at the same day probably didn't help much and right now all she wanted to do was dig a hole and dig in it. Frankly, it felt weird once she heard Damon's command to Alaric. It was like hundred knives daggered her whole body but that wasn't the only thing she felt; a familiar feeling, yet quite forgotten and unfelt for years, consumed her. It was desire, reaching to a level that only Kai was able to make her feel. She wanted, no she needed, to feel the passion, the lust and everything coming along with their relationship. Of course though, she couldn't tell anyone that and so she decided to burry those feelings deep down. She had a boyfriend anyway...
"Ric, please don't. I can win, I can beat Kai. I just need a little bit more time to get stronger" Jo begged, speaking straight to Alaric, ignoring Damon's presence.
Kai on the other hand was smirking mischievously, watching his perfect plan setting into motion. Jo had actually helped move forward his plan without knowing and that couldn't make him happier. Eventually, he would merge with her and without doubt he'd win because Jo wasn't strong enough and he knew it. Then, he'd become the leader of the Gemini coven, kill his father and so on and so forth but not before dealing with his ex, who was now standing a few meters behind, watching with worry. The time to deal with Max would come, sooner than she could already imagine and Kai couldn't stop thinking about it.
"We're moved, truly. Now kill him, now!" Damon sarcastically remarked to Jo before ordering Alaric to end with Kai.
"I'll figure a way to win...Please, you have to trust me" Jo continued begging and Max could already see that Alaric was about to break in any minute.
"Keep him alive" The voice of logic sounded.
"Ric" The voice of revenge warned.
Finally, as Max had predicted, Alaric jabbed the gun to Kai's head, causing him to fall down on his knees, lose consciousness and then lie down on the ground. Max let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and closed her eyes in relief. Ric thankfully had chosen to follow Jo's logic and not Damon's which obviously made her happy, though she had a lot explaining to do to the latter about her previous reaction about killing the warlock.
++
"What the hell was that back there? I thought you didn't have feelings for the sociopath!" And what Max was afraid that would happen, finally did.
"I don't. I...I just expressed the voice of logic" Max tried to find a reason in order to justify herself but clearly that wasn't working at all.
"The voice of logic? Max, he's a twenty two year old psychopath who murdered five of his siblings and would murder his whole family if he had time! I believed that you would have already got that by now" Damon accused, making Max flinch a little bit.
She wasn't used to Damon's accusations because they hadn't had any fights until that day. He wasn't really pissed at her, but at Alaric because he wanted Kai dead and didn't expect Jo to work her way into his mind and convince him not to kill him. And just because Max was the only one around since the couple had gone somewhere to help Jo, he decided to take his anger out on her.
"Will you just shut up? Instead of taking your anger on me, you should focus in the main problem here. We have a warlock chained to a grave inside Mystic Falls, who can practically absorb magic" Max whispered the last part, not wanting Kai to hear her if he'd woken up.
"If he finds out that he can absorb the travelers' magic which has shielded the city, we are doomed. He'll be powerful, even if it lasts for a few hours or days and we don't want that. So stop bickering with me and have your eyes and ears wide open!" She hissed, leaving Damon staring at her with an angry look.
"How do you know he'll do that?" He asked rather stupidly, causing Max to roll her eyes.
"I was a powerful witch once and it doesn't require a lot of knowledge to figure it out anyway. Anyone familiar to the supernatural for a specific amount of time can think about this, you just can't use your brain a little" She argued.
"Okay, miss 'I know everything'" Damon made a gesture with his hands, mocking her. Max just rolled her eyes once again but this time she let out a small inaudible laugh.
He then decided to deal with Kai, just like Max had told him to. The only difference between what she'd said and what he did was that he began throwing small rocks to the grave the warlock was chained to. She instantly snapped and the bickering began again.
"Damon, seriously?"
"Will you stop and let me do my job? Caroline's not here but I think you're starting to act like her and believe me; one Caroline I can handle, two? Absolutely not" Damon snapped and got back to whatever he was doing.
Then the devil in disguise decided to take part in their argument but mostly because he wanted to speak to Max and thus he was quite bored sitting there while being chained.
"So Max, I heard you have a new boyfriend. Wasn't it difficult to get over me?"
"Don't talk to her" Damon intervened before even Max get to reply.
"Oh I see, she is your girlfriend. I thought you were done with the whole 'bad boy' type of thing, Max. I guess it was too much losing me" Kai chuckled as Max looked at Damon furiously, not because the warlock thought she dated him but because she wanted to kill her ex. She didn't want to give him the satisfaction though so she decided to stay calm.
"Actually, it was surprisingly easy. To be honest, I thought I'd never get over you but now that I think about it, sending you in that prison was the best thing that has happened in my whole life. Well, after I met Stefan of course" Max smirked and went to seat down on a rock.
Kai clenched his jaw, his body filling with jealousy even though he was trying so far to deny his feelings for her. Their romance wasn't over despite the fact that neither of them didn't want to accept it. In other words, when Max helped the Gemini coven to send him away, she didn't want to. She was kind of forced to because if she didn't, her coven would prevent her from being the leader later on. It was quite a messy situation but the truth is that Max was devastated after sending Kai in the prison world. However, she tried to suppress her love for him and move on. She didn't know though that when she'd see him again, her feelings would show up. After all, they never left.
"So, the good Salvatore...I heard Damon talking to Bonnie about him, back in the prison world. He'd said he hadn't been so happy since he was with Elena, am I right? I wonder why they broke up... Oh yeah, now I remember! She fell in love with his brother, ouch"
Kai let out a sarcastic laugh, slowly changing the conversation towards the Salvatore brothers and Elena. Max had no doubt about him finding out that information from Bonnie and Damon. After all, they were trapped in that prison world for four months and had probably reviewed their whole lives in that time.
Damon then threw a rock towards Kai, using his vampire strength, to shut him off. That didn't stop the warlock, seen as he continued speaking with his usual amount of sarcasm, annoying the two vampires.
"So this whole anti-magic thing, is it like a dome or like a bubble?" Damon threw again a little rock at Kai's way, causing him to jump a little and hide behind the gravestone.
Max and the Salvatore shared a concerning look because of her previous warnings about Kai finding out about the travelers' spells. Not wanting things to get worse, Damon ignored him while he continued rumbling about the matter.
On the other hand, Max decided to tune them out and call Stefan but to her misfortune he wasn't picking it up. So having nothing else to do, she turned her attention once again to the two guys. Damon was still trying to hit Kai with rocks, while the latter was pointing something out.
"That's a lot of travelers, must be a pretty big spell"
Max let out a sigh out of boredom. There was nothing for her to do there, just sitting and having to watch Damon and Kai argue. In the meantime, the warlock had come to a realization about something that would help him break free and gain the power he wanted, even if it meant that this power would be temporary.
"Like a really big spell...So big, it covers every inch of an entire town" he whispered, not wanting to be heard by the vampires, which would be stupid because with their supernatural hearing, Damon and Max would be able to listen to his words...If they paid attention to him a little.
Kai placed his palms to the ground, ready to prove his theory right. He began absorbing the magic, feeling stronger by the second.
At the same time, Alaric drove by, drawing the Salvatore's attention to him, although he kept doing his job.
Instead of listening at the two friends, Max's attention was elsewhere, more specifically to Kai. He had stopped talking or in general reacting to Damon's actions, making her slightly concerned. All the years she'd known him, Kai would never stop arguing until he won, unless he was forced to or he had come up with an idea. Hoping for something else beside the second possibility, she used her vampire hearing to find out.
Kai was focused on drawing magic from the ground, his eyes closed and no doubt filling his mind. He only hoped that after he got away, he would continue with his plan and eventually meet with Max sooner than he had originally planned.
The said girl didn't hear anything but she didn't stop being concerned. On the contrary, she got up from where she was sitting, before glancing to Damon and Alaric's way to see that they were still fighting, and began walking towards the line Kai had drawn to the ground. Stopping right in front of it, Max stood there for a moment contemplating whether she should talk to him or just wait and see where this would go.
She decided it would be better to do the latter and so she used her vampire abilities to hear what he did once again. The difference this time was that he was chanting. Suddenly, the wind started gusting too hard, making her hair fly in different directions and in front of her face. The chanting got louder and Max shouted, "He's chanting!"
Damon didn't hear her though, because he was speaking to the phone with Elena. After her multiple attempts to get his attention, she achieved it while throwing her hands in the air.
"He's chanting! Where's Alaric?" she shouted.
"I'm here. What is going on?" he asked confused while trying to hear what Max was trying to say.
"Kai's absorbing the travelers' magic and we have to stop him, right now! I can't go beyond this line, neither Damon, but you can and-" Max stopped because of the stares she was getting.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Furrowing her eyebrows, she felt a hand being placed on her shoulder and a body standing right behind her.
"Because of me" Kai whispered, making her flinch.
Her eyes widened and she at first gulped. After a moment though, her instinct kicked in and she went to grab his hand to throw him far away, but she didn't make it. Instead, he caught her just in time. Using his magic, Kai mumbled a spell and Max stopped moving. Trapped in her own body, the only thing she could do was stand like a statue while watching the three men in front of her.
It was a magic spell she had taught him while they were still teenagers, back in Portland. Max had made him stand still for three minutes and just staring at her. After a few practices and Kai absorbing some magic from her in order to make the spell, he finally did it and casted it on her. It only lasted for one minute but it was enough time to make the two teens laugh their hearts out for a reason only they knew about.
"I guess I never forgot that spell" he smirked and looked at Damon, who had a horrifying look on his face.
"You little magic sucker; Max was right, you absorbed all the magic from the travelers' spell"
Kai didn't say anything, just raised his arm while looking at Alaric, raised him up and threw him at a tree. He could feel the magic flowing through his veins as he looked at Damon and stated, "A lot of magic".
Max was screaming about Alaric, trying to move but the spell was too strong. The one that the 15 year old Kai had casted on her wasn't as near as powerful as this one and Max was now cursing herself for showing him. Nevertheless, she was now helpless, something she hated the most.
Damon run up to him, pushing him on a tree and ready to punch him, when he disappeared once again.
"I really hate that move. Ric?" Turning around he saw Max falling down on her knees, slightly gasping, while Alaric was having a difficulty in getting up from the ground.
He firstly went at him and offered him his hand. Hesitating a little, Alaric looked at the vampire. Damon rolled his eyes and aggravated he said, "Oh come on Ric, take my damn hand!"
Eventually Alaric did and when he got up, he noticed Max. The thing that took him by surprise wasn't that she had gotten up and was a little bit shaken, no; it was the fact that she had passed the line that the anti-magic spell was starting.
"Why isn't she dead?" He asked while looking at her. Max raised her gaze from the ground and looked at them terrified.
"He absorbed the whole magic. As it seems, we got our town back" She mumbled.
Her body was there but her mind was elsewhere. The thought of Kai destroying everything and everyone she'd ever met and loved alongside the Parkers, was too much and it was the only thing she could think about at that moment. Albeit, the instinct to protect them was enough to get her out of that trance and make it her job to prevent him.
++
Max left the cemetery to go to the hospital. After everything that happened that day, Liz was still there with Caroline by her side, who still needed someone too. She hadn't made a call to inform anyone about her visit since her voice was quite unstable and would sound a bit shaky because of what had occurred back in the woods. However, the fate wanted otherwise.
The sun had set and the sky was dark. The parking lot of the hospital wasn't full but it was enough to irritate Max because of the lack of free space. Finally finding a place to park, she got out and locked the car with her key. She checked her phone, just in case anyone had sent her a text or called her, when she felt a presence behind her. Although she hadn't seen who it was, Max knew the person standing right behind her would come eventually.
Turning around, she came face to face with the one she'd already predicted. There he was, smirking with mischief, a smirk she was still not used to see. His eyes run over to her whole body, from head to toe and then back to her eyes. The smirk quickly turned into a big smile as Kai began shaking his head in some sort of appreciation.
"I knew this moment would come so stop smiling like a jerk" Max hatefully commented while Kai's smile grew bigger, if that was even possible.
"Well on my case, you never cease to amaze me, even after all these years. This is why, we need to have a talk, don't you think?" Kai touched her cheek, but he didn't do it out of love. On the contrary, he used his magic to make her faint.
Max fell in to his arms, while he looked on both sides to make sure that no one was watching.
"Thank god I put a cloaking spell on us" Kai chuckled and took Max on his arms, bridal style. This would be an interesting conversation to have...
_______________________________________________________
not edited (sorry for any grammar and vocabular mistakes, as I said it's not edited)
Oh my god! 9985 words? This is probably the longest chapter I've ever written and it's also probable that I've written almost the whole tenth episode.
Whoa, so there you have it; the 6th chapter! I haven't updated for a long time and that's because of the finals, but now that they're over I can update more frequently. Although, I'm not making any promises since my updating schedule is a mess, sorry about that.
However, I still want your votes and comments on it, no matter if they're positive or negative. I'm looking forward to writing the next episode because it's one of my favorites. On the previous one though (the one you've read a.k.a the 10th), I made some changes on the dialogues and the scenes seen as Max was on them and not Elena, for example.
Max is an emotional person, probably a little bit more than she should be but no one's perfect and who said that showing emotions is a bad thing? In fact I'm quite emotional, but oh well!
So there you go, you have a fact about me and the main character. I hope you enjoyed the chapter and if you did, please VOTE, SHARE AND OF COURSE COMMENT. Tell me your theories, what you liked or disliked the most and not just about this chapter but about every part of the story.
Thanks for reading
xoxo,
Christianna.