𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐎𝐔𝐒𝐋𝐘 𝐎𝐍 "𝐖𝐇𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐖𝐎𝐋𝐅"

"𝑌𝑜𝑢'𝑟𝑒 𝑎 𝑤𝑜𝑙𝑓." 𝑀𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑎 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑖𝑟𝑙 𝑖𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑠𝑛𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑡𝑜𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑠 ℎ𝑒𝑟, 𝑒𝑦𝑒𝑠 𝑛𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑢𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑎𝑠 𝑠𝑜𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑒𝑦𝑒𝑠 𝑚𝑒𝑡, 𝑏𝑜𝑡ℎ 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑓𝑒𝑙𝑡 𝑎 𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑎𝑟. 𝐴 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑓 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦. 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑𝑛'𝑡 𝑓𝑖𝑔𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑡 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑖𝑟𝑑. 𝐼𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑑𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑡 𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑑𝑖𝑑𝑛'𝑡 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑒𝑥𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑜𝑛 𝑏𝑒ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑡. 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑚𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑖𝑟𝑙, 𝑤ℎ𝑜 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠, 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑚𝑒𝑑 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛.

"𝐼'𝑚 𝐻𝑎𝑦𝑙𝑒𝑦. 𝐻𝑎𝑦𝑙𝑒𝑦 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑙."

"𝑀𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑎 𝐻𝑎𝑙𝑒."

𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡, 𝑏𝑜𝑡ℎ 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑑𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟. 𝑊𝑒𝑖𝑟𝑑, 𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡? 𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑤𝑜𝑙𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑦. 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑓𝑒𝑙𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛. 𝑂𝑓 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡? 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑑𝑖𝑑𝑛'𝑡 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤. 𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑢𝑡. 𝐴𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑡.

Malia gazed at the huge mansion in front of her and squinted her eyes for a better look. The house was big and lavish, she could only wish to be able to live in one of these houses someday. Her lingering gaze stopped when she saw a figure squatting down near a motorcycle. She walked closer, narrowing her eyes upon recognising the figure; Damon's brother. She didn't remember his name. Anyway, he looked up and frowned seeing an unknown person inside his territory. Putting the tools away, he walked towards Malia and blinked when he, too, recognised the girl.

"I saw you with Damon that day. Who are you?" Stefan asked, crossing his arms over his chest, making it look more bulging. Although he sounded friendly, his face said otherwise. His gaze was threatening and he looked serious, constipated even, in Malia's eyes.

Her eyes then trailed down his figure but she quickly looked up, well he is pretty hot, she didn't say anything but went through her phone and showed him a message.

Resident Vampire:
xxxx
Come over.

Damon was an ass. A big one. The one time Malia had a good sleep, he just had to ruin it. It was 7 in the morning when he had sent her this message. She was this close to ignore him but then again, she got curious. And she was sure that curiosity was going to be the death of her someday.

Stefan read the message and scoffed. He somehow knew that Damon had invited her to their house. Why would he do that? As far as he knew, Damon had met this girl recently. So why would he go and do something stupid as inviting the unknown girl home when she was a wolf. Yeah, he had heard their conversation back in the church and he was not guilty of doing that.

She was a threat. She was dangerous. Well, he and his brothers were dangerous too. But this girl in front of him, her case was more concerning. Both acted like they had known each other for a long time. Maybe it was because Damon was lonely—he would never admit it, he was stubborn like that. But with Ric gone and Elena not choosing him, Damon had become very lonely and more annoying. So maybe it was a way for him to move on from the dead and deal with the heartbreak—except for killing and drowning himself in the pool of alcohol, of course.

In a way, it was good thing. But still, Damon was smart and he wouldn't just befriend anyone. Maybe he had his reasons, maybe he needed this or maybe it was all an act and this girl was trying to kill his brother. But either way, if Damon was happy without going bonkers then who was he to stop him?

All Stefan could do was hope, hope that she wasn't what he thought of her and keep an eye out for his brother. He nodded to himself and sighed. Mumbling something inaudible, he walked back towards the motorcycle; which Malia guessed was his.

Reluctantly, Malia followed him and stared at him as he worked on his motorcycle. She was, once again, curious. She knew what this thing was, a motorcycle, but she had never seen one up close so she was a bit fascinated. Stefan could literally smell her excitement which made him confused. What was she excited about?

"What are you doing?" Malia asked but it came out as a growl. Stefan snapped his head up, feeling threatened just to see her smiling widely. He looked confused. And Malia sensed that, she tilted her head and said, "Oh, don't worry about it. I'm a wolf so whenever I'm excited, sad, angry, happy–basically whenever I'm feeling a strong emotion, my voice comes off as a growl. I tried to keep it down, of course, but it never worked so I guess I'm stuck with it."

Stefan nodded but didn't say anything. He could feel her sadness through her voice and eyes, though her face betrayed nothing. Malia was sad indeed, her growl scared humans off. She was odd, sure, but she was friendly. She wanted to make friends and do things that friends did together. One of the many things she had learnt from observing humans; their relations with other humans. It was intriguing and she wanted to try it too.

It would go well in the beginning but then her strong feelings would get in the way and ruin things, making her weird, crazy, scary, and whatnot in human's eyes so she had to learn to keep her emotions at bay but sometimes she just couldn't control it.

"Oh. Uh, Malia...right?" Stefan asked and Malia nodded enthusiastically.

"You remembered! Sometimes it's hard to understand the words when eavesdropping but you seem to excel in it!" Malia exclaimed and Stefan turned bright red, embarrassed to be called out so suddenly. But Malia didn't notice it so she continued, "What's your name again? Seven? Samuel? Savion? Steven? Se–"

Stefan interrupted Malia with a small laugh, "It's Stefan. And I think you need to work on your eavesdropping skill. Your super hearing is getting rusted." Stefan teased Malia and she blushed slightly. Scrunching her nose, she rolled her eyes but still a small grin made its way on her face.

Maybe she isn't that bad, Stefan thought as he stared at Malia's blushing face. Their focus shifted when Damon opened the front door of the house. Malia and Stefan stared at Damon as he walked out of the door leisurely. His eyes roamed around before stopping at his brother and his...friend. Yeah, surprisingly, Damon had started to view the little wolf as his friend. Even more after their somewhat friendly hunter/rescue mission from yesterday.

Damon would never admit but after Ric, he was beginning to feel lonely and to add the complicated and awkward confrontation with Elena about their feelings, he was pretty much heartbroken. In the midst of it all, this amusing wolf had given him something to smile about. He knew it was weird, it hadn't even been 2 days since their first meeting and he was already feeling so much for her. Well, his feelings was all over the place nowadays. He himself felt like he couldn't understand anything that went around his mind, heart and his life these days.

Damon was conflicted.

And he intended to ignore it as long as it didn't come dancing in front of his eyes. Maybe he would ignore it then too. But for now, he was content. And it was enough. Enough to get away from all these unwanted feelings.

Damon glanced at the motorcycle and smirked, "Good day for a midlife crisis. 164 years, I'd say you're due. And stop flirting with my...girl." Initially, he had intended to say 'friend' but he didn't know how to say it. He felt as if it was too soon. And it was. He almost felt embarrassed saying that aloud. Almost. But his ego wouldn't allow him to feel that way.

Everything was so fucked up.

Malia's eyebrows quirked up, smirking at his words. Stefan rolled his eyes and sat down on the motorcycle, making a sound of disagreement. "She's not your girl and since she knows," Stefan pointed at Malia while she just watched them talk. "Elena's transition to vampire has been a little depressing. I'm gonna help her have some fun."

"Oh. Those who can't do, teach." Damon remarked sarcastically and walked out onto the porch.

"Ah, I see we're still fighting. Got it. Where you going?" Rolling his eyes, Stefan asked and eyed Damon with slight distrust.

"That hunter almost killed me–yeah, I'm still salty about it and I'll remain salty until he gets what he deserves, that is my dear brother; death–and then he jacked Tyler Lockwood of his werewolf venom last night, so basically, he's got vampire poison in a bottle which we should feel wary of since it can kill us. So I, along with the little wolfy here, are gonna find him, and I'm gonna eat him." Damon replied and waved his fingers, smirking at Malia.

Malia blinked and scoffed, "What? I didn't agree to it." Stefan looked back and forth between Damon and Malia, thinking Malia was going to disagree with his brother but her next sentence caused Stefan to shake his head in both amusement and disappointment.

"If I'm going to help you find the hunter, I should be the one to eat him. Helpers eaters. I'm going to eat him and I'm going to enjoy doing it. He's been a pain in the ass for a long time." Malia said with a malicious grin and a dark glint in her eyes.

Damon looked at Stefan and whispered, "She's crazy. Don't mind her."

Stefan snorted and whispered back, "I gathered. Oh and I'm coming with you two." He got up from the motorcycle and said in a loud voice.

"I don't want your help. I'll be fine with wolfy. I just want to kill this guy and get the hell out of town. Wasn't that the deal? Whoever Elena doesn't choose leaves?" Damon grumbled in distaste.

"That was before she turned." Stefan stated with a knowing look.

"And I stayed to help. If I take you punching me as the first clue, I'm not wanted here anymore." Damon replied.

Stefan sighed in exasperation and said, "Listen, you blood-shared with my girlfriend, and I punched you in the face. You deserved it. Why don't you stop being dramatic?"

"No, brother, dramatic would be leaving before I kill this hunter." Damon whizzed past Stefan and grabbed a heavily confused Malia's arm before disappearing, leaving a frustrated Stefan behind.

Malia breathed heavily, fanning herself with one hand and trying not to puke as she steadied herself, latching onto Damon's arm tightly while Damon stared at her in amusement, a faint smirk etched on his lips.

"Next time you do it without my approval, you're dead." Malia whispered harshly as she shoved him away and walked towards the Mystic Falls Hospital with a frown.

"So, there's gonna be a next time?" Damon's frustrating laughter echoed in her ear and she scoffed, flipping him off and throwing her own questions at him.

"A hospital? Why are we here? We should have gone to his trailer."

"Someone who knows about us supernatural works here and I have this gut feeling that the hunter would come here if he knows about her. And I know that he knows about her so it's all a plan, wolfy. Speaking of, I'm sure Tyler would love to join us in our hunt since he was jacked by the hunter so I'm gonna call him in a moment. And no, we're not going back to that hellhole. Who knows what kind of shitty idea he's come up this time to kill the intruders. I do have some similar kind of arrows and those freaking bombs from his trailer though. Trust me, that hunter is going to get it bad." Damon ranted and opened his phone, probably dialing for Tyler.

"Klaus? Where's Tyler?" Damon asked, feeling confused and blinked at Malia. Klaus? She had heard that name somewhere but as usual she couldn't remember anything for shit. So she opted to listen to them talk.

"Tyler's otherwise occupied, making big decisions about honesty and whatnot. Is there anything I can do?" A heavily accented voice mused from the other side. Malia cocked her head sideways, listening to this Klaus. He had a good voice and she was a sucker for accents.

"I'm going after the vampire hunter, so if he'd like to join...?" Damon trailed off, waiting for his reply.

"He wouldn't. I, however..." Klaus, too, trailed off and it seemed as if he was smirking on the other end. After confirming his answer, Damon told him to come to the hospital and hung up.

"Be careful of him." Damon warned suddenly and Malia frowned.

"Why? He sounds hot." Malia stated and Damon stared at her in disbelief.

"W-What? Are you stupid? He's a hybrid, the first of his kind. He's an original. Well, one of the originals. Do you know what that means? It means that he—"

"He is one of the first vampires/hybrids to walk on the earth, I know. I know what the originals are, Damon. I'm not dumb. I've heard of them." Malia cut Damon off and Damon glowered.

"Yeah. You've heard of them. And it's different from seeing them. From actually knowing them. And take it from someone who has experienced their wrath first-hand, they are dangerous. More dangerous than any supernatural existence. They are centuries old and many times stronger than us and they are annoying too." Damon gestured between himself and Malia. "You do know that it's just recently that Klaus was successful in breaking his curse, right?" Damon asked Malia with scarily serious expression and she couldn't help but nod.

"Well, it didn't just happen with a snap. He had to drink from Elena, killing her in the process but we brought her back–it's a different story. Anyway, he had to kill a vampire and a wolf, too. Because of him, Tyler activated his curse and Caroline turned into a vampire. He didn't do it directly, someone else had a role in it. He had intended to use them as a sacrifice but me being me–an emotional wreck for a girl who doesn't even return my feelings–I didn't let that happen, which led Klaus to kill Jenna, that's Elena's Aunt, as a vampire. Many people died in vain, lives were ruined because of him and the only one who could kill him, the one that gave us his word to kill him; didn't, because, well, Klaus told him where his family actually was and now they're all back together and it's so frustrating. We can't even kill them because if we do, their entire sire line will die with them which means I'll die too and I love my life." Damon rambled and glared at the ground, huffing in frustration.

"That does seem sad. How many of them are there?" Malia asked in a monotone voice. She really didn't care about some old ass vampire-hybrid family and their centuries of horrid things they had done or they were doing, because she wasn't here for them. She didn't have any business with them.

Damon frowned at her nonchalance but figured that she didn't have anything to do with them so it was quite alright for her to act like this.

"Esther was the mother of the siblings–a shitty mother, I mean who tries to kill their own children? She almost wiped out the whole existence of vampires–who is dead now and thank god for that. Mikael, their father–also a shitty father and an abusive piece of shit–who is also dead, Klaus killed him with a white oak stake, which is the only thing that can kill an original by the way. Now on to the siblings—the eldest one is Finn, was actually because he was killed by Elena and Matt; a stupid human that never seems to die and whose existence is totally irrelevant to us. Now that I think about it, I don't know how he even managed to kill an original. He should be dead." Damon snarled with an exaggerated eyeroll. 

"After him, there's Elijah, the noble one, who is known for not "breaking his word"–which he did by the way when he decided to save his asshole of a brother–and I don't trust him now but he's the only one trustable out of all the siblings so that makes it hard. Then there's Klaus, you know of him. He's the worst of them all. Well, I think that. There's Kol, he's menacing, unpredictable, dangerous, wicked, cheeky, somewhat unreasonable and cocky to a fault and that is something if it's coming from me." Damon chuckled and glanced at Malia who was listening intently.

"At last, there's Rebekah. A walking Barbie. She's annoying, sensitive, erratic, spiteful and vindictive. But she's tolerable, I guess. She is the reason why Elena is a vampire. She killed Elena but she didn't know Elena would come back as a vampire. I kind of hate her for that but we did stab her in the back, literally, and I mean many times so it was to be expected. I can't judge them, you know, they did spent their lives as humans for sometime and even if I've not lived a long life as them, I've lived enough so I can understand them to a certain extent. It's just, it's frustrating that everything had to happen to the girl I love." 

Damon stopped abruptly when he realized that he had gone too far. Again, he would never admit it but it felt good to pour his heart out to someone. He just wished for Ric to be here too. He would be so fed up with Malia's antics at times. He was already so frustrated with Damon and his behavior but he would be even more annoyed with the duo. It would be funny to see him like that. He gazed at Malia for her reaction but her face was giving away nothing.

Damon sighed and motioned Malia to follow him. Whatever he told her just now, he was sure that she understood everything and she'd be cautious of them even if she didn't care. There was nothing wrong in being cautious, right?

"Come on."

Malia followed Damon into the hospital, his rambling from before tucked away in her brain. They had a hunter to kill and she wasn't going to distract herself with the thoughts of the original family. She'd think about it thoroughly when she was home, err, the shabby apartment room she had rented for the time being.

"I love the smell of the hospital." Malia inhaled as her wide eyes darted around the people sitting, walking or talking in the hospital. Damon, hearing her, rolled his eyes and grabbed Malia's hand, walking towards the supply storeroom.

"I hate it." He grumbled. "I know she's going to be here sometime because here is where the vampire blood is. She uses it for the surgery. And that hunter probably knows about that too." Damon said, not wanting to listen to her endless questions.

"What if she doesn't come?" Damon growled softly at her question and led her inside the room, placing them behind the full racks and further into the shadows.

"She will." Damon stated with confidence and reached to his back, pulling out two arrows. He then put his hand inside his pockets and pulled out claymore bombs that looked exactly like the ones form Conner's trailer. Malia watched as he walked around the racks and started attaching the arrows to the claymore bombs. 

"Okay. Now we wait." Damon returned back to his position and smirked at Malia.

"Cool. But what if she doesn't come? Are we going to stay here until she does?" Malia asked again to which Damon replied sarcastically, "Bingo!" Malia glared at him before turning to stare at the door. She could hear people walking and talking outside the room but no one entered in. They would just walk past the room.

After a while, Malia perked up and looked at Damon. "Someone's here." She whispered. Damon shushed her and whispered back, "It's her. Meredith." Malia exhaled with a frown but kept her gaze locked on the door.

The door creaked open and a beautiful, slim, fairly tall woman with slightly wavy dark brown hair entered the room and upon having a closer look, Malia could see that she was wearing a large, very conspicuous bandage on her neck. Damon moved fast, grabbing her and speeding behind the rack where Malia was hiding. Meredith, feeling shocked, tried to scream but once she knew it was Damon, she was relieved.

"What are you doing?" Meredith hissed and looked at Malia curiously, "Who's she? A rebound for your broken heart?"

Malia frowned and stepped closer to the brunette, "I'm his friend. You don't talk about me like that. You don't know me." Malia then flashed her eyes in warning and Meredith took a long step back, her back colliding with another rack behind her. She breathed shakily and turned to Damon for help.

Damon smirked slightly but wiped it off as soon as Meredith looked at him. He grabbed Malia and pulled her back while Malia growled softly. She decided that she didn't like this Meredith.

"You've heard about the vampire hunter running around the town, haven't you?" Damon asked Meredith, receiving an affirmative nod. "Well, I think he's gonna come after you. Since he's looking for vampires to kill and you are literally going around from vampires to vampires for blood and all that. He wants to know about the vampires." Damon stopped when he heard some movement outside the room. He looked down at Malia but it seems she had heard it too.

"He's here." Malia spat and pulled Meredith behind her but Meredith glared at Damon and said, "This wasn't a part of the plan. You told me to lead him to the storage room."

"And you did! Congrats." Damon said sarcastically.

"You didn't tell me he was a hunter and that he was looking for me." Meredith emphasized.

"Wasn't it obvious? Either way, you did an amazing job leading that son of a bitch here so now you're free to go." Damon waved her away but Meredith didn't move. "How am I supposed to go out now? He's here and he's looking for me. He's gonna kill me." She said helplessly.

"He won't kill you. He needs you, remember? He needs to know about the other vampires too. He will just torture you." Malia interjected with a neutral face and Damon smirked. Meredith opened her mouth to retaliate but Malia didn't let her, "Is there an escape route?" She asked and Damon chuckled, "The only one I know is...through a dead hunter."

Malia rolled her eyes and glanced at Meredith. Sure, she hadn't liked the human at first but she would never let an innocent die because of that.

"There is one...in the back." Meredith whispered and Malia immediately pushed her away. "Go on then. Leave. Run. Save yourself. Do whatever." Malia rushed out her words.

Meredith stood still for a moment before asking her, "Why? Why would you save me? You don't even know me."

Malia faltered and flashes of emotions passed through her face—sadness, guilt and regret, which intrigued both Damon and Meredith. Malia was silent, seemingly lost in her thoughts. She snapped out of it when she heard the doorknob being turned. She then looked at the curious duo and mumbled, "Because I've been trying to repent for my past." She pushed Meredith again and this time Meredith obliged with a nod.

Damon's curious gaze lingered on Malia before he turned to observe the hunter that just walked into the room. Conner looked around and turned to leave when he didn't find Meredith but halted when he sensed something...or someone.

"Is a hospital really the best place for a germaphobe?" Conner called out and Damon glanced at Malia before walking out from behind the rack of medical supplies.

"Did I say that I was a germaphobe? Pft, sorry, I meant vampire." Damon scoffed out a chuckle as he walked towards Conner and he immediately pulled out a gun to shoot Damon, but was struck by an arrow. He dropped his gun and bent down to pick it up. When he did so, he was shot by another arrow. He looked at both the arrows and saw they were attached to the claymore bombs from his trailer.

"Stings, doesn't it?"

Damon quipped smugly and ignoring him, Connor attempted to grab his gun again, but someone kicked it out of the way. Malia stared at the scene with interest. The new guy looked down at Conner and at the same time, the hunter looked up.

"Hello mate."

Damon smirked. Malia instantly recognized the man as the hot voice talking to Damon on the phone earlier. As much as Malia wanted to walk out and eat the hunter, she sensed it'd be a mistake doing that so she observed the three of them from behind the rack. Conner was still on the floor, hissing in pain while Damon was smirking at the new guy who was smirking back at him. Klaus. By the looks of it, he stood around 2-3 inches taller than Malia. He possessed curled dirty-blond hair and dark blue eyes that contrasted with his pearl-white skin. He was well-built, while possessing a delicate and yet masculine face. Overall, he was an attractive man. Dangerous, sure, but attractive.

Suddenly, he turned to where Malia was hiding at and said amusingly, "Come on out, love. I can smell your wolf!" True to his words, Klaus did smell Malia's wolf ever since he had stepped into the room.

Gulping nervously, she stepped into the light and glanced at Damon before looking at Klaus. Warm brown eyes met dark blue eyes and they just stared at each other. Damon, finding it borderline awkward and creepy, coughed violently—making them look away.

"Wow. You're hot." Malia said. Damon glared at her whereas Klaus widened his eyes slightly at her blunt words. Klaus found Malia quite intriguing and interesting. Didn't she know about him? If she did, she wouldn't dare to say such things.

"She knows." Damon blurted, sensing Klaus's confusion. "She knows about you. She's just annoyingly blunt and curious." Damon smiled slightly. Klaus nodded and all three of them shifted their focus towards Conner when he grunted in pain. Malia, Damon and Klaus watched as the hunter attempted to pull the arrow out from his side.

"Keep it up, buddy. We'll be scraping you off the ceiling." Damon said.

"You all are gonna kill me anyway." Conner replied but his gaze was locked on Malia.

"Damn right we are." Malia growled and started moving towards him but was stopped midway by Klaus's annoyingly attractive voice.

"No, love, we're not."

Malia glared at Klaus, "We're not?" She asked confused. When Klaus nodded, she sighed and asked again, "And why not?"

"Well, let's not be too hasty. And besides, I feel like we're just getting to know each other!" Klaus exclaimed and looked at the hunter.

"Let's start with the basics. Where are you from? What do you know? Maybe you can cue me in on this "greater evil," because I've fought this guy," Damon pointed at Klaus, "and there's nothing more evil than that." Damon then handed Klaus the letter Pastor Young had written to April that he had stolen from Connor's trailer and Klaus took it, rolling his eyes.

His eyes scanned the letter and an amused smile appeared on his face. "Hmm. Well, yeah, truth be told, I'm as evil as it gets."

"I'm not telling you anything. And if you think if you kill me, it's gonna be over—there's another waiting to take my place." Conner said and somehow managed to sound smug.

"See, this is what I like to hear; vague threats, ominous prophecies, disappearing tattoos." Damon said and Malia frowned. What was he talking about? Conner looked up at the trio but Klaus looked down at Connor and stopped smirking.

"What do you mean, tattoos?" Klaus asked roughly but Damon just waved dismissively, "Don't bother, you can't see the damn thing."

Ignoring Damon, Klaus knelt down next to Connor. "There's more to you than meets the eye, isn't there?" He asked suspiciously but Malia had a feeling that he knew something about whatever they were talking about. Connor looked at him and attempted to stake Klaus, but Klaus was too quick and caught his arm.

"Nice try, but I'm faster than your average vampire." Klaus said tauntingly. 

"Show off." Damon muttered in distaste. 

"Only because you got a taste of it too, didn't you?" Malia retorted and Damon gasped mockingly, "Traitor. You're supposed to be on my side." He hissed and Malia shrugged innocently. "I side with power. And looking at it, he's stronger. And faster. And hotter." Malia smirked at Damon while Damon just glared at her in return.

Feeling amused by their banter, Klaus fought off a smile while he twisted the hunter's arm and grabbed the stake out of his hand. Suddenly, he saw a mark carved into the wood and widened his eyes in shock, recognizing it instantly.

"You're one of the Five." Klaus mumbled in disbelief.

Damon and Malia shared a confused glance and asked together, "The what now?"

"And I'm faster than your average hunter." Conner replied smugly and as he was about to pull the string to the bomb, Malia felt someone grab her, again, and she was rushed out of the room. Malia turned back just in time to see the bomb exploding which threw her through the air, making her land face down on the floor outside the room. With hisses and groans of pain, she stood up and looked behind as the massive fireball dispersed.

"I don't know about the hunter but Klaus is gonna be fine." Damon muttered and turned to walk down the hall. 

"I didn't say anything...?" Malia retorted back, following him with a confused frown. "Then why do you look like you're about to cry any minute now?" Damon snapped.

"I do not!"

"You've got serious attachment issues. We need to fix that." Damon ignored her as he continued to mutter.

"What? No! I don't have any issues. I just, I'm a sucker for accents and it'd be sad to not be able to hear it again. Do you know how hard it is to find a guy that attractive with accent in places like this?" Malia huffed and gestured around her in circular motion.

"He's an original hybrid. He'll be fine. You'll get to hear his so called accent again."

Damon said and rolled his eyes, continuing to walk but faltered in his steps, turning to look at Malia. "What?" Malia grumbled upon noticing his gaze.

"Did you...mean it?" Damon asked in an unusually soft voice, making Malia look at him in confusion. "Did I mean...what?"

"Back there when you called me your friend. Did you mean it?"

Malia frowned and said, "I didn't call you my friend. I said that I was your friend." Malia then waited for his reply but he just stared at her.

"It's the same thing." Damon grunted.

"Oh, is it? Then yeah, yeah. You are my friend, I guess." Malia replied with a shrug.

"You guess?" Damon asked incredulously.

"Just be happy that you are. With how fast everything between us is going, you should feel lucky that I'm even talking to you." Malia said and glared at Damon. He rolled his eyes, a small smile tugged at the corner of his lips and said, "Same to you."

A short silence passed before Damon spoke again, "...So friends?" He asked reluctantly.

"Mm...yeah, friends."