And it begins

"I strive for chaos,

So should you."

•••

"Gasp!"

A dark-haired man gasped awake, confused at his situation. His surroundings were dark... and cold. The last thing he remembered was going home with a delightful date the night before. He looked down at his hands, stuck to his thighs with seemingly no ropes or device yet he could not move an inch.

"What. the. hell?"

It wasn't until an eternity in that suffocating silence that the man heard foreign sounds. Heels? Click. Clack. Click. Clack.

Slowly, a young woman appeared at the doorless entrance of that dark room, a surprised gasp leaving the man's lips.

"I see you recognize me." Hayley dragged a chair in front of the man, a carefree smile on her face. "That means you have been following me... Damon Salvatore."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Damon wasn't a shitty actor. Somebody else would've probably believed him. But Hayley was way too paranoid to not notice the little signs.

"Sure." She leaned forward, tracing his left hand with her fingers, leaving behind trails of blood. Ignoring his pained groans, she continued up his arm. "This is how it's gonna go. You tell me what I want to know, and I don't make you relive your worst nightmares. As simple as that."

Damon wasn't Enzo. Enzo she could talk into something but Damon was far too stubborn at this point in time. She needed something big with him. And if that something was to make him relive his Augustine days, then so be it.

"I won't tell you shit, you bitch! You can torture me all you want!"

"You think my greatest feat is physical torture?" Hayley's whisper was taunting. "How about a walk down daddy issues memory lane, shall we?" Without giving him the time to argue, she grabbed his wrists and catapulted them in his memories. It might seem harsh but Damon was a cannon Hayley could not afford to have loose. He was a very central part of the main players and if his story had changed, she needed to be aware of every single detail.

The trip down memory lane was a bit boring, though Damon wasn't loving it. Hayley was just looking at the tiniest change in that known story.

"There." Hayley narrowed her eyes at a particular memory.

1987. Stefan and Lexi were at a concert, being watched by Katherine who in turn, was being watched by Damon. The latter had meant to torment his brother whenever he was having fun but he didn't realize that the love of his life, the one for whom he'd endured the vampire life was alive and well... and checking on his brother.

Hayley saw how that affected Damon. He turned off his emotions and stalked Katherine for months after that, gathering whatever information he could yet deep down, there was a part of him still in denial. This evidenced by his continued closeness to Bennett witches, ones supposedly strong enough to open the Fell tomb. He wanted to check it for himself.

Pathetic. Hayley thought. But then again, how far would she go for what she believed to be true love?

The memories quickly flashed by until it came to present days and an unlikely informant.

Alice.

Slater's on and off girlfriend. Granted, she was an easy target; even on vervain, all she wanted from her relationship with Slater was to be turned. Put any vampire in his stead and she'd fold.

Now Hayley knew the problem she had to eliminate.

The rest of Damon's plans aligned with majority of his show counterpart. Even with Isobel on his side, they wouldn't bother her much. They had too much of a tunnel vision whereas she was seeing all the players. And Katherine was a minor one.

Pulling out of Damon's memories, Hayley placed her hands on both sides of the unconscious vampire's head. "This is going to hurt." The next second, he woke up screaming, trashing around while she meticulously removed every single inch of their encounter from his mind. Where compulsion was painless, when a witch had enough power to erase a memory, it hurt like a bitch. And it would leave Damon tired for at least a week straight.

After leaving him at the entrance of the abandoned building — she'd chosen somewhere near to where he was staying — Hayley took cover with the night and ran to the woods. Once she was sure no one was around to see her, she allowed her wolf to come out. It would be a long while to Mystic Falls and her wolf needed to play every other day.

What she didn't notice in the shadows of the abandoned building was a tall man watching her every move.

•••

"What can I do for you, my fair lady?"

Hayley rolled her eyes at Slater's antics, a smile tugging at her lips. "I'm in front of your loft."

There was silence for a beat, then she heard "what?!" and some movements inside before the front door opened and she was face to face with her business partner.

"Is there some new business?" Slater asked, letting her in before locking the door behind her.

"Nope."

"Then are you sick?" He sassed. "You never make home visits to yours truly."

Hayley saw Alice lounging in the living room with barely any clothes on. She was at her boyfriend's house so that was understandable.

Hayley turned to face Slater, locking his gaze with hers. "How attached are you to your little pet?"

Slater frowned, looking between Alice and Hayley. "What did she do?"

"Sold information on me in exchange for vampire blood."

The usual merry go round Slater turned serious in an instant, making a move towards Alice. Hayley put a hand on his chest, stopping him. "The transaction was made in the last few days, don't you think she's already drank the blood?" If they killed her, she'd just come back as a vampire.

It took Slater a couple beats to get his breathing under control. He was a knowledge maniac, would probably do anything for it but one thing he steered far away from was selling his close friends' intel to others. Hayley and Slater weren't friends, they were business partners, and that was worse. If Hayley's temper wasn't so good, Alice would've just cost Slater a lot of money.

"Let me take care of this." Hayley walked towards Alice, the other brunette only looking up briefly before waving her hand and staying focused on her movie.

"Hayley, hi. Fancy seeing you here." Her slight German accent peeked through.

"An honor for you I'm sure." Hayley smiled, picking the other girl up by her hair and dragging her to the spare bedroom while ignoring her wails. She attached Alice like a starfish on the bed and cut her wrists, slowly willing the vampire blood out of her system.

Alice kept yelling and trashing around so Hayley went back to the living room, lighting some sage and leaving it near the wall of windows for privacy.

"Take a walk, Slater."

Nostrils flared, Slater stiffly shook his head. "I'll stay. I can do this."

They looked at each other for awhile before Hayley shrugged. This was her, cruel and unflinching in her methods and the sooner he saw that, the sooner he'd get in line.

Going back to the room, Hayley sat next to a sweating Alice, removing the bits of hair stuck to her forehead. "Tut, tut, tut. I'm usually so kind, Alice." She heaved a sigh. "I don't bother until you bother me. Guess you must've taken that for cowardice."

When she was sure the vampire blood was out of her system, she swiftly snapped the other brunette's neck with her werewolf strength and burned the body to prevent any future surprise. She stopped the fire before it would overtake Slater's entire room.

Back in the living room, Slater sat at his computer desk, a glass of scotch in his hand. His eyes were a bit unfocused but clear.

Hayley nodded at him before getting out of his loft. She had classes to get to.

•••

That day was slowly approaching.

Junior High School. The year everything went to shit for many a character. The year for which Hayley had armed herself to the teeth with failsafe after failsafe.

Only a couple months left until the fatal accident that would have the Gilbert siblings orphaned and would start a whole shit-show for the town.

Hayley was driving back from school, thinking about what to do leading up to those days when a bright light flashed in front of her, making her lose control of the car for a split second.

"Shit!" She cursed when the hood of her car appeared bent. "What the fuck?" Not her expensive metal box!

She parked on the side of the road and got out, walking to the hood of the car to see what'd just happened.

Hayley didn't even have the time to open the hood when somebody attacked her from behind, strangling her expertly so that she would pass out in seconds.

... Fuck.