Chapter 06
Klaus had had dreams about one of his favourite operas for the nights that Myriam was missing. Les Huguenots was grandiose and spectacular and very few operas were this way. The story was a gripping one as well, a tale of forbidden love, akin to Romeo and Juliet. Family. Long-festering hatred. Betrayal. The massacre of thousands.
He hadn’t been trying to fall asleep, he was turning New Orleans upside down to try and find his wife but hadn’t been able to find her. Not even her trustworthy witches were able to, and she wasn’t at Débauche. But for some reason, he found himself nodding off while brooding. Or when feeding and he couldn’t quite understand why. Yet.
He was supposed to go to the opera with Myriam after his new business partner had given him some tickets, but how was he supposed to go without her?
“Did you forget about us?”
Klaus looked around and saw no one. “Show yourself!”
“I can’t. I’ve been trying to instruct you to go to the opera house for two days now, and you’re not listening. Miss Myriam is there.”
“You could have told me that to begin with!” Klaus fumed.
“I’m not strong. I was instructed to tell you but not to weaken you. Be careful. Mikael took her.”
“Mikael!” Klaus immediately took off and once he arrived at the Opera House. The crowd was laughing, and Mikael was standing proudly on the stage surrounded by people Klaus cared about, stopping him briefly in his tracks when he saw an unconscious Myriam hanging from a rack, reminding him of his own predicament when his father and his mother cursed the werewolf side of him. There were smoke fumes coming off of her as the ropes burned her, there were holes in her clothes from where Mikael had stabbed her to drain her of blood.
“Oh, yes, she’s a sight to behold, isn’t she, boy?” Mikael taunted him. “A wise decision to have her ingest vervain so nobody can compel her. She’s strong because even while torturing her she didn’t want to give up your location. Now, Marcel, however…” Mikael pointed at Marcel who was hanging from a cross. “He and Rebekah summoned me here, and he was more than happy to tell me where you lived. Have you found Elijah yet?”
He jumped on the stage to try and release Myriam, but the vervain burned his hands. Mikael pulled him away from her and held the white oak stake in front of his face.
“No!” Rebekah said as she tried to pull Mikael away from him, causing Mikael to stab her and throwing Klaus across the stage, impaling him on a pole. Klaus thought that Rebekah was trying to save him, but all she wanted was to free Marcel from his bonds.
It wasn’t until Elijah came and pulled the pole out of Klaus that they both quickly undid Myriam’s ropes. “There’s no helping Marcel,” Elijah said as he pushed the unconscious Myriam into his brother’s arms while Mikael was occupied with killing Marcel. “We must run.” Elijah pulled Rebekah off the floor, and they ran.
Mikael was calling for them as they walked into a side street and Elijah carefully placed Rebekah on the floor as he tore a metal spike from one of the nearby windows. “He’s coming. Feed our sister your blood, brother, and leave.”
“Marcel,” was the first thing she said as she woke.
He looked over to the Opera House as it burned.
“He’s gone, sister,” Elijah said calmly.
“No! No!”
“The three of you must flee the city,” Elijah said bravely. “I’ll hold him off, Niklaus.”
“No, we fight him together,” Klaus replied as he helped his sister to her feet before tending to Myriam, feeding some of his blood to her to help speed up the healing.
“We cannot fight him,” Elijah took a few steps towards his siblings. “All we can do is what we’ve done. We deceive him. We lead him astray. Now, I can do that as well as anyone. You take them far away from here. I’ll find you.”
“No, Elijah! No! You can’t!” Rebekah cried. “You can’t, Elijah!” She looked at Klaus with tears on her face. “This is my fault. This is all my fault!”
“It’s not your fault,” Klaus kindly said as Myriam was still unresponsive. “We could really use your demons, love,” he whispered as he pulled her up and put her over his shoulder. “It’s my fault, Rebekah. I’m so sorry.” The sound of the opera house collapsing drew his attention back to the building. “Marcel…” he said in barely a whisper. “I believed we had found a home here…”
“Niklaus, please,” Elijah said breathlessly. “You must leave. Go.” When Klaus opened his mouth to say something, Elijah raised his voice. “Leave!”
And that’s what he did. Carrying Myriam over his shoulder and pushing his sister along, they went to their safe house in Arkansas to plot their next move, to heal and to think of ways to move forward. Perhaps Elijah would be back in time before they’d leave again.
~o.O.o~
“You can’t be serious!”
“I nearly died, Klaus! I nearly died!” Myriam countered. “This is exactly what we’ve discussed so long ago, that in case Mikael would find you again, I’d run. That I’d become your gatekeeper. I’m not as durable as you, remember? I can keep myself safe and keep an eye on you, but if we’re together, it’s going to make things even more difficult. I can’t be with you, Klaus. Not until Mikael is dead.”
“I don’t want you to leave, you’re my wife!”
“And I don’t want to leave!” she yelled at him. “But I have to! Besides, it’ll be just you and Rebekah travelling, if I’m with you, it can get suspicious very fast!”
“Then promise me that you will check in every once in a while!”
“Why are we still shouting?!”
“Promise me!”
“I promise!”
~o.O.o~
2009
For the past 80 years, Myriam had been the buffer between Klaus and anyone who had been looking for him. She had killed most of the people as they were enemies. She had also done some digging into that curse of his. What was needed and why. Why there were doppelgangers, how often did they show up and when was the next popping up? Who was Katerina Petrova? Could she find information on her? A baby picture to aid Myriam in her search for the next doppelganger?
Myriam loved doing research, and because this concerned her husband, she went way down the rabbit hole to get what she needed. And now, she had all of her ducks in a row. Soon, her husband was going to join her again, and his curse would be broken. One less problem for the Mikaelson family.
Mikael had been desiccated and locked away in a tomb in North Carolina in 1995, making the world a much safer space for the time being, and she had briefly considered to rejoin Klaus at that time. However, as by divine happenstance, the next Petrova doppelganger had been born in Mystic Falls in 1992, and Elena Gilbert looked like a carbon copy of Katerina Petrova. An exact copy. As a child, but even more so when she grew into a teenager.
Myriam decided to move back to Mystic Falls, compel the city council to give her a rental home and find a job to keep an eye on the teenager. Teenagers could be so impulsive and didn’t see danger when it was staring them right in the face. She could have gone to the Mansion she had built two hundred years prior, but truth be told, time hadn’t been kind to it, and it needed to be renovated first. But there was no way in hell that she was going to stay in that fleabag motel when her home was being renovated. And humans were slow. She knew this was going to take some time.
She lived as human as possible. After leaving Klaus, she had briefly lived without a daylight ring and only moved around in the dark. The ring Klaus had given her was still, to this day, very expensive looking and vampires knew about Klaus having a wife. It was a hazard. It was a beautiful ring, there was no doubt about it, but a hazard. She had to wait for some of her belongings to arrive from Florence, which included some of her dark objects and one of her self-made daylight rings.
But even with her new ring and her wedding ring safely tucked away, she pretended to be human. Her demons made her appear even more human-like they’d done before, and she was happily living under the radar. She had to get to know the town of Mystic Falls and all of the key players all over again. Luckily, nothing had changed much, she had to deal with the same families, just generations apart, and they weren’t as trustworthy as their ancestors. No, this city council was smart.
They had Zach Salvatore as their vervain supplier, and Myriam tried to stay away from him because Zak Salvatore was his ancestor. A great uncle. Her Zak. The man that had been so kind as to take her in. The man who didn’t like her building the Mikaelson mansion because it was too much.
The council knew about vampires, that was a given. Would they know about werewolves? Would the Lockwoods know about werewolves? Perhaps it was one big family secret! Oh, Myriam loved unearthing secrets, but she had already established that none of the Lockwoods had triggered their curse yet. Otherwise, they’d stink terribly.
“You’ve been trying to avoid me for months,” Zach sounded as he came from the back of the Mystic Grill with a grin on his face. “They let me in, seeing as you’re keeping me coming in from the front while you’re working.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Myriam huffed, as she followed him to the storage room for some privacy. “Vicky, I’m going to take five!” She called out to the teenager who worked with her. “This is a big town, why would I avoid you?” Myriam then asked Zach.
“Because I know who you are, perhaps?” He smiled at her. “You have nothing to worry about, your secret is safe with me.”
“What secret?”
Zach sighed as he produced a diary from his bag and opened it to a page where she could see Zak’s handwriting and his drawing of her. “You’re her.”
“No, that’s not me, sugar,” she shook her head. “Have you had too much to drink?”
“I know about your kind, Myriam. My uncles are like you, although I believe you’re far more kind than they are. As I said, your secret is safe with me, but I do suggest you’re careful with your feeding habits. Your last… snack was a wealthy businessman.”
“I tore him apart and tossed him in the river. He might have been a wealthy businessman, but I have it on good authority that he was into some shady shit and was about to bankrupt one of the store owners.”
“They found him this morning,” he replied with a sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose. “While feeding on the bad guys is commendable, feed elsewhere. We do need a decent dose of bad guys in town so that the sheriff has something to do. Come join me for a drink after work sometime, okay? I’d love to hear stories about my great-great-great-uncle.”
“Sorry sugar, but I’m not a history book,” she said as she moved past him and pulled her phone out of her pocket. Dear Mr Jenkins. I seem to have gotten myself into a pickle regarding my food. Is there any way you can assist me?
Are you in Mystic Falls, again?!
Relax, mon Loulou. Trust me. Would you be so kind as to send bags of food to my home on a regular basis?
I’ll have something arranged. One of my underlings will arrive today with a cooler.
I’m working, he can’t!
Working?
I have to earn rent somehow 😉 Your underling can come by at 3 am tonight. No sooner.
Those blasted emoticons!
Thank you, Mr Jenkins, I’m going back to my shift now!
Zach followed Myriam out with a smirk. “So you’ll be coming by the Boarding House for that drink, right?”
Myriam sighed as she turned around to face him. “Fine… I suppose I owe you one.”
“Tomorrow?”
“Sure,” she sighed again. “Now shoo, I’m working here.”
The next day Myriam dutifully found her way to the Salvatore Boarding House. She could have gotten a room there instead of going through the painful process of acquiring a rental home, but she needed to stay out of Salvatore territory. And now she was right in it.
She had to admit, it was a beautiful home with a large driveway and a fantastic entrance. “Tadaa,” Zach greeted her with a smile. “Come on in, let me give you the grand tour!”
“Who built this place?” she asked in awe as they walked through the corridor. She had already sent her demons over to scope the place and find out about Zach’s true intentions, but they had come back with nothing. There wasn’t an evil bone in Zach’s body.
“Zak Salvatore,” he said with a smirk on his face. “Our line has a habit of calling their firstborns after ourselves. Uh, the son of Stefan and Damon’s half-brother. I suppose Giuseppe wanted to name a son after his brother with his lover.”
“Did Zak find happiness?”
Zach winced then. “You’re going to want a drink when I tell you his story,” he said as he led her to the parlour and poured her a large glass of bourbon. “Did you ever come back to Mystic Falls after you left?”
“No,” Myriam shook her head. “Not even to check up on Stefan and Damon, but to hear that that bitch turned them made me feel sick. They didn’t deserve this kind of life. It’s one thing to have a choice, but to have it forced upon you…”
Zach shrugged. “It happens, I believe that Stefan is happy about it, but I haven’t seen them both in a very long time. Stefan keeps his things here in his room, but that’s it. When he visits, it’s usually brief, and I’m usually never home when he does. I only know about his visits because he leaves some expensive bottles of bourbon behind,” he then let out a breath. “But those two are nothing but trouble. They’re not like you.”
She took a sip of her drink and looked at him. “All vampires are monsters, Zach. Some of us are better at controlling ourselves than others.”
“You’re nothing like them.”
“You don’t know that,” she pointed out. “Perhaps I’m merely being civil with you because I’m working on some evil master plan.”
“Yeah right,” he huffed as he pat on the journal next to him. “Zak did love you, you know.”
“Tell me what happened to him.”
Zach sighed deeply. “You’re not going to like this. On the day that you left, Giuseppe killed Stefan and Damon, but Katherine had been feeding them her blood for weeks, so they woke up in transition. Stefan had a fight with Giuseppe and inadvertently killed him. Zak walked in on Stefan and…”
Knowing what it had felt like when she turned herself, the endless hunger, the feeling of dread and horror filled her heart. “He didn’t!”
“I’m sorry.”
It was only more reason to hate Katerina for what she had done to the boys. This was personal now, much more personal than it had been in the beginning. She hurt someone Myriam cared about! “I’m going to kill her!”
“Don’t you mean ‘him’?”
“Oh, no, because if that bitch hadn’t been feeding Stefan and Damon with her blood, they wouldn’t have turned in the first place. Zak’s death is on her, not Stefan,” she said as she downed her glass. “Fucking bitch!”
“Ah, get in line. She’s trapped underneath Fell’s Church with her friends ever since the council rounded them up in 1864.”
“No, she’s not,” Myriam spat before she took a deep breath to calm herself. “But you’re right. Killing her is not my objective. Yet. She’s a side plot to the bigger story.”
“Why are you here, back in Mystic Falls?”
She took a moment to refill her drink and looked at Zach with a coy smile. “What? Can’t a girl feel a little homesick and want to visit for a while to see how things changed?”
“Sure, but this isn’t your home,” Zach pointed out. “Not like how it’s Stefan’s home.”
“I still lived here. Besides, I’m not in anyone’s way. I have a job.”
“You’re not going to stir up trouble?”
Myriam huffed. “Of course not. Unless that bitch Katerina comes back too, then she might have a problem but don’t worry, the humans of Mystic Falls are safe from me. I won’t harm them.”
“Good. Just checking. Otherwise, I would have told you to leave. We’ve had a good thing going for the last couple of years. No vampires, no werewolves, no witches apart from Sheila Bennett and she’s harmless.”
“She’s a Bennett witch, they’re not harmless.”
“She’s kooky, but a well-respected member of the community.”
“And her mother, and grandmother weren’t harmless. Watch your back with that one. Bennett witches are powerful, manipulative and love power. They can easily get addicted to it, and they’d likely want more, like an addict.”
“You’re just biased,” Zach let out a chuckle. “People change. Families change.”
Myriam pursed her lips before she heard some footsteps on the roof. “Do you have a rat infestation?”
“Nah, that’s likely Stefan coming back home, he loves the roof, allows him to see the entirety of Mystic Falls and what not.”
“I gotta go,” she said as she got to her feet.
“Why? He’d love to see you again!”
Myriam looked up to the ceiling as she could now hear him walk around on the first floor. While she was very angry with Katerina for turning Stefan and Damon and thus causing Stefan to kill her Zak, she wasn’t ready to face him yet. Nor was it the time to reveal that she was still alive.“Not yet,” she said in a whisper before running out of the house back to her own little home, which she decided to immediately check over for security flaws. If one of her Dark Objects left a gap somewhere. There was no doubt that where there was a Stefan, a Damon followed or would soon follow and she wanted to keep unwanted guests out.
Her own home was far from being finished from renovating, and this rental home was difficult to protect as it was part of the city council’s new scheme that everybody should be able to live in a home – they were desperate to keep their numbers up as it was only a small town. Small towns had it difficult, and Myriam wasn’t sure if she had to donate some money to the council again.
No.
She was Myriam Jenkins, Mystic Grill waitress who earned minimum wage and she did not have the money to donate to a town. Not this time. She was here for different reasons than entertainment.
Satisfied by her security issues, she opened her fridge and got a blood bag out of it, one of a week’s worth of blood, brought to her by one of Klaus’ underlings the night before.
The next day it was a little hard to get to work due to a freak storm, but she managed to get to her job anyway, providing shelter for anyone who needed it, but nobody showed up. It was almost as if she saw tumbleweeds rolling through the establishment out of sheer boredom.
She helped with the clean up the next day before work and headed home after her shift while she had to assure a concerned husband that she was alright and no, not hurt at all. And that yes, she was going to come to him that weekend.
But the next day, the entire town was mourning the lives of Greyson and Miranda Gilbert, who had an accident after picking up their daughter Elena from a bonfire party after a fight with her boyfriend. Elena survived the crash, miraculously, but her, and her brother Jeremy’s, parents did not.
Myriam wasn’t sure if this was a good thing or not. A child should not be without her parents, losing her own mother at 15 still hurt after so long. But on the other hand, the fewer family members Elena Gilbert had, the easier it would be to use her as Klaus’ salvation. Maybe Myriam should get rid of Jeremy and her aunt Jenna, too.
Elena and Jeremy Gilbert spent the summer at the Forbes house while Jenna made preparations to become their legal guardian. Jenna was still a child herself, Myriam could see nothing but trouble come from it.
Myriam’s demons told her that Katerina was in California playing with a Lockwood. No doubt it was Mason who was hanging around with a bunch of werewolves without knowing he was a werewolf himself. Until he triggered the curse.
People were stupid.
Somewhere in the first week of September Zach angrily walked into the Grill and pulled Myriam away from the bar. “What’s wrong, sugar?”
“I told you not to feed on people!” He hissed. “You can’t tell me that an animal killed the two you killed on the road last night! Torn apart or not, the council is smarter than that!”
“It wasn’t me!” Myriam growled. “I’ve been a good girl and have been feeding on blood bags and only feed on servants when I go and join my husband for a couple of days. Maybe it’s Stefan!”
“No. As far as I know, he’s not fallen off the wagon and is still feeding on bunnies.”
Myriam blinked then. “He doesn’t feed on humans?”
“He’s a ripper. The taste of human blood drives him insane, insatiable and always wanting more and more. He likes to play with his food too. He uh, told me this. But he has it under control.”
“Have you asked him?”
Zach sighed and shook his head. “He’s enrolling into school right now. I came to you first because I know you’re not on the animal diet.”
“And never will be, thank you very much!” Myriam huffed. “When I do feed, I am careful and won’t kill anyone. I even heal their wounds when necessary. Unless I’m angry. Then I can tear through an entire village like it’s nothing. But I’m here on a mission, and I have excellent self-control. It’s not me you have to worry about. Ask the Ripper,” she shot at him. “How dare you to ask me if I killed and mutilated two people,” she walked away from him and returned to her duties. Asshole. She wasn’t coming over for more drinks any time soon. Not even during the day when Stefan was supposedly in school. Asshole.
Humans were fickle. Vampires were fickle.
She missed her family.
~o.O.o~
Damon got back into town. Oh, he was good at hiding in the shadows, but she’d overheard some girls talking about a tall, dark and handsome stranger with the most piercing blue eyes and then another mentioning he was Stefan’s brother so yeah. Those bodies from a couple of days ago and Vicki Donovan’s attack were Damon’s fault.
But, so far, so good. He hadn’t actually seen her, and she had managed to avoid him while helping everyone to prepare for the Comet party. The same comet that passed by the day Myriam had left Mystic Falls and the same comet which energy was used to seal the vampires underneath Fell’s Church.
But she never attended the celebrations. To make sure that she’d stay out of Damon and Stefan’s way, no matter how curious she was, she needed to be more invisible. She couldn’t stay invisible forever especially with the bodies dropping left and right, but for now, she lead her own life. Damon and Stefan weren’t crucial to her mission, but Elena was. And in a way, Myriam was grateful that Stefan gave Elena a necklace filled with vervain, even if it wasn’t his to give away or his to have in his possession.
She’d reveal herself during the Founders Party that she had been invited to attend, there was this whole heritage thing going on, and Myriam was curious to see how things have endured the test of time. No doubt Elena was going to take Stefan to the ball, and Damon was abusing Caroline so no doubt he was coming with her. Myriam couldn’t care less about Caroline. In fact, the girl might be the only reason why Myriam would kill in Mystic Falls.
Founders Party first, killing Caroline later even if it meant taking away Damon’s toy.
Myriam was happy that this was a party and not a formal ball, although she loved wearing elaborate dresses – it still made her feel like a princess. Instead, she chose a blue and gold evening dress and her favourite black heels.
Attending the party was important, this way Myriam could see how much the council knew about vampires and if they were aware that the recent kills were all done by vampires. If so, she’d need to take action, this council was a lot smarter than the one 145 years ago. She wasn’t going to attempt any compelling, just use her ears to listen in on conversations.
Between listening in on the council and definitely running into Stefan and Damon, it was going to be a busy night.
She was one of the first ones to arrive, which gave her plenty of time to have a look at the collection that the Lockwoods had collected from the other founding families. The first thing she saw was… a drawing of herself. It was more like a painting, and she couldn’t believe it was there and wasn’t sure who made it. “Holy shit,” she quietly exclaimed in surprise.
“Remarkable, isn’t it?”
Myriam turned to see Liz Forbes standing next to her, dressed in her sheriff outfit. “Is this a joke or something?”
“Oh no, it’s a drawing from 1864 alright. My ancestors took it, and other things, after the artist died after an animal attack. Only days before this woman had left Mystic Falls and her servant arrived a couple of days later to announce that she had died in an Inn fire. It was quite suspicious… it still is.”
“How so?”
“Because you’re obviously looking like her, which makes me think you are her.”
“How? You said it yourself, it was made in 1864. It’s not humanly and scientifically possible to live that long, I’m 26 years old,” Myriam laughed, shaking her head. “Who is she, anyway?”
“You and her share the same name. Her name is Myriam Hawthorne, ever heard of her?”
She was quiet for a moment as if she was thinking and then shook her head. “No, sorry. I’m the first girl born in a very long time in our line. There’s no Hawthorne in my family tree. Are you sure she was called Hawthorne?”
“Oh yeah, she’s buried here at the cemetery, big red headstone and all,” Liz then handed Myriam a drink. “Sorry for the questions, it’s just…”
“Strange,” Myriam agreed as she took a sip of her drink and tasting the vervain in it. Stupid Zach caving to the city council or at least Liz Forbes! But since she’d been ingesting vervain for a very long time, Myriam didn’t react to it. “Is this drawing the reason I was invited?”
“Truthfully? Yes.”
She let out a small chuckle as she took another sip of her drink. “I think it’s amazing, though. But that truly isn’t me. Perhaps it’s a doppelganger or something? Ever heard of those?”
“Everybody has a twin, anywhere, anytime? I didn’t think you believed in that kind of stuff.”
“Just because I’m a bartender and waitress at the Grill, doesn’t mean that I’m not educated. It’s just that there’s no real job in esoteric, floaty stuff, so it’s more of a hobby of mine… expensive hobby. Student loans are the bane of my existence,” she shook her head laughing. “I should have made better decisions like my parents had wanted me to, but ah well.”
“You’re a witch?”
Myriam then blinked, a confused look on her face. “Witches don’t exist, only in fairytales. I know my herbs and stuff that can help people, but usually only when they believe it works. I’m a mixologist for herbs. I like to carry stones with me because I believe they work on me. It’s a belief. Not magic because magic isn’t real.” Oh, she had become so good at pretending now, it was almost a second nature.
The sheriff barked out a laugh then. “Oh sweetheart, nobody ever told you the legends of Mystic Falls when you moved here?”
“Oh, sure. But vampires? Werewolves? Witches? Really? What drugs were you guys on back then because I’d like some! But legends are just that, not real.”
“Maybe, maybe not,” Liz shrugged as she looked back at the painting. “Would you ever use Vervain in your tonics?”
“Vervain? No, not really, there’s no evidence that it gives you high-quality effectiveness. Some people use it for detoxing the body from stuff or alleviate depression symptoms. I don’t tend to use it because other herbs do the job better,” she replied with a shrug. “But if you want me to make you some tea or an ointment with vervain, I’d have to find a place where it grows because despite the town being perfect to grow it, it’s nowhere to be found.”
“No, no, there’s no need,” the sheriff replied as she turned to smile at Myriam. “I have my source for it myself. But thank you for enlightening me. Perhaps you could share your wisdom about herbs with the rest of the council after the party is over?”
“Can it be tomorrow?”
“Sure,” Elizabeth smiled and shook Myriam’s hand. “Congratulations, Myriam, you’ve proven to me that you’re not a vampire,” she said lightly before walking away to mingle with the newcomers.
“And I still think that’s a ridiculous thing to say!” Myriam called after her before she looked at the painting for the last time and sighed. Zak had been so stupid to leave this out, but then again, he hadn’t known she was a vampire. She should have been more careful and made sure that she hadn’t left anything behind.
Speaking of leaving things behind, one of her lockets was on display too. Graciously donated by the Salvatore family. Yeah right, it was likely that it was stolen. She could sense that there was still a demon attached to it. “Oh, you poor thing,” she muttered as she started to reach out to it to release it.
“Aren’t you supposed to be dead?”
Merde. Myriam turned around to face Damon, who looked at her. “I could say the same about you.”
“I like your dress,” he smiled at her. “I knew you weren’t dead dead after your elaborate headstone was placed. Scarlet red stone, beautiful letters and that quote underneath it, seriously? Can it be even more obvious?”
“It had to be obvious to you,” she replied as she looked at him. “You look good, Damon. You haven’t aged a day.”
“Ha!”
“Although I would have never wished this for you.”
“Yeah well, neither had I, but I get to torment Stefan eternally now, so that’s a plus.”
“Or you could just stay away from him and live your own life,” she replied after she released the demon quietly. “And stop allowing history to repeat. Stay away from Elena and stop messing with Caroline. Kill her already.”
“Myriam!” Damon laughed as he put an arm around her and lead her to the dance floor to slow dance with her. “This isn’t your town, it has never been. There is no way that I’m going to allow you to dictate what I can or cannot do with my life.”
“Elena will bring you nothing but misery, Damon, you know this. She’ll hurt you as Katerina has.” She needed to leave. After the sheriff’s interrogation, she felt a bit exposed, vulnerable and Damon was making things only worse.
“Yeah well, you’re likely back in town working an angle, but so am I. Would you like to exchange angles and then maybe work together?”
“I work alone,” Myriam let go of Damon and stepped away from the dancefloor. “Besides, you likely want to free Katerina from the tomb, but I can tell you with certainty that she’s not there. Go have fun with your date.”
Damon grabbed her by the arm and pulled him back towards him. “Tell me where she is!”
“Damon, let go of me!” Myriam cried out in pain as she tried to break free. She could have tried harder, but human and all. “I am not your date!” She then slapped his face so he had no choice but to let her go after the display and she stormed outside to cool off. While she was great at pretending to be human and fooling everyone, the emotions were still getting in her way, but she would never turn them off.
When Damon followed her out, she fought the urge to break his neck. “Tell me where she is!”
“No,” Myriam replied sternly. “That bitch will bring nothing but trouble for you, Elena has the same effect on you and Stefan, so if I can control just a little bit on when or where you’re going to see her, then so be it.”
“You’re not being fair!”
“I’m not? Well, tough! Leave Mystic Falls, Damon, if you know what’s good for yourself. I don’t give a flying fuck about your brother because I’m really angry with him too. But mostly with Katerina for being who she is for centuries. And for turning you both.”
“It’s fine!”
“No, it’s not! You deserve a better life than this. I always imagined you’d settle down and have beautiful babies,” she snarled. “And don’t tell me that’s a load of crap because I have my ways of knowing. You didn’t want this, still, don’t, and that’s why you’re in Stefan’s hair.”
“So what, you’re going to kill Katherine?”
“I have my plans for her, but you need to stay clear of her and Elena. Only more hurt will come from it,” she sighed. “Please.”
“Nope,” he shook his head before walking off. “Since you’re not going to tell me where she is, I’m still going on with my plan.”
“Fine!”
“Fine!”
Myriam stuck around until the end of the party and mingled with the rest of them, and at the end of the night, Liz Forbes asked Myriam to reconsider and to join her and the mayor and some others for a little chat. Shrugging, Myriam decided to stick around.
“What is she doing here?”
“Relax, Richard,” the sheriff replied. “She’s here at my invitation, it’s likely that we can use her knowledge about herbs, where to put it in and how to cultivate it. Zach Salvatore’s underground vervain garden could need some expanding,” she added before looking at Carol. “Did you get the Gilbert Watch?”
Oh, was she going to have to fool that old thing again?!
“No,” Mrs Lockwood replied with a sigh. “She said it’s still packed up with her parents’ belongings, and she can’t find it.”
“I can get it.”
Myriam didn’t like Logan Fell. She hadn’t liked his ancestors much either, but they had been easy to manipulate. Not this scumbag who was the town’s celebrity.
“Good, we’re going to need it,” Sheriff Forbes nodded.
“Are you sure?” Carol Lockwood asked carefully.
“Five bodies drained of blood, I’m sure. They’re back.”
“Sorry for interrupting, but what am I doing here and who’s back?” Myriam piped up.
“As I said, you may need to grow some vervain plants, help Zach Salvatore out and—”
“No, we don’t know if she’s a vampire or not!” Logan interrupted. “She’s new to Mystic Falls!”
“Do you take me for a fool, Logan?” Liz shot at him. “I had her drink wine spiked with Zach’s vervain, and she didn’t flinch. Myriam also walks in daylight, and she doesn’t even believe in vampires, witches, and werewolves. She’s human. And the Gilbert Watch will prove it. No vampire is that crafty.”
“Yeah, no. You’re all nuts,” Myriam let out a snort. “If you’d like I can whip up something that stops you from being afflicted by whatever is ailing you, but I don’t want to have anything to do with your crazy.”
“You look like the drawing we had in the parlor, aren’t you the least bit curious to find out if she’s your relative or not?”
“She’s not, I told you, I’m the first woman in a very long time. And I came to Mystic Falls for some peace, a fresh start. I don’t want to be dragged into your shenanigans or smoke what you’re smoking, thank you,” Myriam said as she got to her feet. “But don’t worry, it’s bartender/client privilege, and I’ll not tell a soul that the town’s council has lost their marbles. Have a good night,” she said before she excused herself and left the house.
They knew. It was a good thing that Zach had warned her about the smarter council and if Damon and Stefan were going to get themselves in trouble, then so be it. Damon, she might save, but Stefan? Nah. Besides, it wasn’t her mission. She needed to keep Elena safe. For her husband.
The next few days she kept her head down and worked her shift at the Mystic Grill, now that Vicki was incapacitated – in more ways than one, Myriam had heard the news about the deaths of the stoners and no doubt Vicki Donovan had been involved somehow – Myriam was pulling double shifts. And, for a few days, it was quite nice not to see Damon around. But, according to one of the spirits she had under her command, Damon was locked up in the Salvatore boarding home, and Myriam couldn’t see that end well.
Three days later, Zach was dead. Damon had killed him.
Another day later, Myriam killed Caroline, but instead of drinking her blood or anything, she compelled Caroline to kill herself dramatically – falling from the bell tower would make a bold statement.
Myriam believed she had spotted Anna the vampire at some point, and Logan Fell showed up to be a vampire. Knowing that Damon only turned people for his own enjoyment and Stefan was on the bunny diet, Myriam deducted that Anna was the culprit.
When Stefan’s friend Lexi came to town, Myriam decided to go home for awhile. Elena was going to be safe now that Caroline was dead, Vicki was taken care of, and the city council believed that Myriam was human. So she went home for a ‘family emergency,’ and she wasn’t sure when she was going to come back.
She found Klaus in upstate New York in some vampire dive bar with a cute, tiny brunette all over him, but him drinking his glass of blood while ignoring her. “Alright tiny ninja, get your hands off of my husband, he’s mine,” Myriam growled before she put her arm around him and crawled into his lap. “Hello,” she smiled at him.
“Did you have to be rude to Sameen?”
“That’s what she was called?” Myriam replied as she looked at the retreating groupie. She did have a wonderful body and no doubt she was physically strong. Sameen looked like she had fallen from grace from something. “I like her, can I turn her?”
“You’d have to turn her girlfriend Sam too.”
“Oh, the possibilities,” she grinned before kissing Klaus passionately. “Can I?” Myriam asked while kissing him.
“We’re supposed to keep a low profile, love,” he broke off the kiss with a smile on his face as he pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. “Leave the pets alone. How are you faring in Mystic Falls?”
She sighed as she signalled to the bartender that she wanted something strong. “Did I tell you about the big ass drawing that they had of me at the party?”
“I’d love to get my hands on that,” he smiled at her. “Is that why you’re here? Did they find out who you are?”
“No,” she smiled at him, running a hand through his hair as she picked up her glass of whiskey from the bar. “Zach Salvatore knew, he had my back. The sheriff was doing everything in her power to see if I was a vampire or not, but I managed to convince her by walking in the daylight and ingesting alcohol stuffed with vervain. In fact, they wanted my help due to my herbal knowledge and whatnot… which was my own fault. But yeah…” She sighed as she downed her drink. “My supposed friend killed my friend. Zach’s dead. I killed one of the nasty teenagers by having her step off a tall building, and when I was sure everything was somewhat under control, I left. I just need a breather. Teenagers and teenage vampires suck.”
“We’ve all been teenagers.”
“Yes, but we’re not stuck in that time. And while Kol and Rebekah are, they are more mature than those… fragile teenagers in Mystic Falls. And that broody asshole… he has hero hair, it’s ridiculous. Who is he trying to emulate? Edward Cullen?”
“Who?”
Myriam sighed. “A fictitious vampire. He sparkles when he gets into sunlight, likely because burning to death is a bit too morbid for teenagers to read. I swear, I can see badly written inspired by Twilight books popping up in the future with people wanting to do better or whatnot.”
“Who writes that drivel?”
Myriam shrugged as she kept toying with his hair. “I wanted to get out of Mystic Falls for a while, but I promise you, you’ll like the playground when everything is in place.”
“And what of the moonstone?”
“You really want that specific one? There are others, more powerful ones, you know. I have a few in my possession.”
“Yes, that specific one!” Klaus scowled. “Everything needs to be perfect, and that moonstone is the perfect one! Besides, it’s still my property! Katerina stole it from me!”
“Alright, alright,” she shushed him with a kiss. “I’ll make sure you’ll get that particular moonstone, I promise, my love.”
He sighed as he toyed with her hair, visibly relaxing. “What have I ever done to deserve you, love?”
“Your brother brought in a stray, and you allowed her to stay and to become a part of the family, of course, you deserve me,” she smiled at him. “I’m yours. Forever. Now, take me home, you and I have a lot of catching up to do.”
“Aren’t you hungry?”
She licked her lips as she looked at him through her lashes. “I’m in the mood for my favourite banana.”
They spent their days together in bed, eating the best food they could get and soaked up the culture in New York at night, going to some operas and plays. Myriam loved Raúl Esparza in Speed-the-Plow, a satirical dissection of the American movie business. Not all plays were dull, and this had indeed been a fun one. Still, nothing could top 2006, where she and Klaus went to see Spring Awakening and Les Miserables.
While they never snacked on the talented actors and singers, they did snack on some of the theatregoers although Myriam rather snacked on some of the transients and criminals that crawled around in New York.
~o.O.o~
She went back to Mystic Falls in the second week of December – reluctantly, but she had appearances to keep up, and it wasn’t long before she was caught up with everything that was going on. Nothing had changed. In fact, things had gotten worse.
Caroline was now a baby vamp, and she wasn’t liking it at all. She blamed Myriam for her death, but it had been Damon feeding Caroline his blood so when Caroline died, she became a vampire. Myriam was going to make Caroline her bitch she just needed a little bit more time and less heat on her return from holiday.
The tomb vampires were out, and Myriam wanted to kill them all, but they’d been smart, they’d compelled a human to allow them in, but to keep others out, and as long as Miss Gibbons remained alive, there wasn’t anything Myriam could do. But Pearl and her friends needed to die like they should have done in 1864 but hadn’t because of Katerina. While Pearl and Anna were deemed somewhat docile, Myriam didn’t like the others. And Pearl and Anna’s association with Katerina made them targets anyway.
But maybe Anna didn’t deserve to die. All she had wanted to was to free her mother – which she succeeded – and have a life with Jeremy. Which happened until Vicki Donovan ended up dead after the storm and Anna realised Jeremy wanted to turn into a vampire to be with Vicki. Not with Anna.
Myriam wasn’t sure if she had to do something when Stefan was taken by the tomb vampires or not. It was Stefan, after all, Damon’s brother. But it seemed like Damon and Elena had it all under control, asking the new History teacher Alaric Saltzman for help. Oh yes, Myriam was shocked to find out that the good teacher was also a vampire hunter. And a semi-decent one at that. And that his wife was now a vampire – turned by Damon – and that his wife was Elena’s birth mother.
What a mess, but oh so entertaining!
She kept an eye on the rescue efforts, of course, and was tempted to help Stefan and Elena when Damon and Alaric were doing whatever they were doing, and Stefan had been taken down. Elena had fed Stefan her blood to save the both of them, which was the start of another good drama series, wasn’t it?
Goody-two-shoes Stefan who hadn’t had human blood in a very long time had now human blood in his system. Good thing Myriam had free access to the boarding home to keep an eye on him, much to Damon’s dismay. Myriam had set up a room for herself in one of the spare rooms so she could keep an eye on Stefan because she had her ways of keeping an eye on him while not doing so physically.
And she wasn’t happy with what she was hearing from her friends. Stefan was drinking human blood, a lot of it, saying that he was fine, but he clearly wasn’t. She wondered if the reason why he was on animal blood was because he was an addict. A Ripper. Her demons confirmed it. Who would have thunk? Stefan Salvatore, the addict.
“You can’t be around Elena like this, you know,” Myriam said as she leaned against the doorpost and looked at the vampire who was trying not to drink human blood and do everything in his power to distract his mind and suppress his urges. “You could take a bite out of her, and I can’t have you do that.”
“I don’t want to, and I’m fine,” Stefan countered agitated. “I can control myself, I’d never hurt Elena.”
“You say that now, but what if… I don’t know… you two get all cuddly, and you smell her blood, hear her heartbeat…”
“Myriam, why are you back? I never got to ask you,” he sighed as he looked at her. “You don’t seem to want to talk to me and yet here you are.”
“I don’t like you. You killed your uncle Zak, who was nothing but kind to me, so forgive me that talking to you isn’t high on my priority list. Keeping Elena safe, is,” she said harshly. “I can help you.”
“I’m fine.”
“Come to me when you realize you’re not,” she snapped as she looked at Damon who had just walked in. “Hey, what about I give up my rental home and stay here until my home is finally done renovating?”
“No thanks,” Damon scowled. “We don’t need you being a helicopter parent.”
Myriam let out a chuckle and shook her head. “So who’s going to be my date to the Founder’s Day event then?”
“You’ve been invited, again?”
“Relax, they all think I’m a human, I drank champagne laced with vervain a couple of months ago while the sheriff was grilling me about the drawing you guys donated for the history part of that particular party. Thanks for that.”
“How the hell did we know that you were still alive!” Damon countered angrily.
“No, I’m not angry about it, but they like me now. Because I know my herbs. They probably think I’m a witch or something.”
“I supply them with vervain! ME!”
“And I’m telling them how to use it properly, so what?”
“You’re not going to the event.”
“You can’t stop me from going, Damon, because it’s likely that Elena’s going to attend too, and I need to make sure she stays safe. You two seem to be doing a poor job at it,” she countered. “Besides, your brother is not doing fine. I don’t want him to slaughter the council and everyone attending that party.”
She went up to her room and summoned a demon before ordering it to stick to Stefan and to try to help him fight his urges, to make the transition back to animals a bit smoother. If the demon wasn’t successful, Myriam promised the demon that he’d burn eternally. In slow motion.
