Nothing Personal

September, 2003.

A soft duo of knocks interrupted the silence, followed by a young woman's gentle words. "Peter, you have a visitor." The young nurse stepped into the plain white room, her tennis shoes squeaking against the checkered tile with a much younger girl in tow. The pair separated and the nurse directed a man in a wheelchair away from the window, letting him see the girl for himself. As he revealed his face, the girl winced in shock of the severity of his burns but smiled sympathetically, only parting her pale lips slightly, shy. "I'll leave you two alone" the nurse bid, leaving with a curt nod before closing the door behind her. She patted her hair to make sure her copper stands stayed in place in a strict bun.

"Peter?" The girl's meek voice boldly spoke, eyeing him with cool grey pupils. His lighter blue orbs stared at her intently, confused and also alarmed as his damaged nostrils picked up a familiar scent. She sat down by the window next to him at a safe distance, offering a polite smile before transferring her serene gaze on the window, taking in the luscious green forest and delicate rain dripping over the glass. She glanced back at Peter. "I'm Madison. You don't know me, yet, but we come from similar circumstances." She suspiciously looked back to the closed door before returning her gaze to Peter.

He couldn't speak as he took in her appearance. From her age, no older than seven, she seemed delicate and frail. She was dressed nicely in prep school attire, a grey pleated skirt with a navy blue blazer protecting her small body from the mild chill of room while a white blouse added a sense of innocence. Her long Hershey brown hair was braided neatly over her shoulder and rested on her left shoulder elegantly. It was easy to tell this child was from a wealthy family and it confused him. She smelled similar, like him, but he couldn't place her from memory.

She rested her cool gaze over him with hands confidently at her hips with a knowing grin etched across her lips. He noticed she had a smooth, round face, with rosy cheeks, and reminded him over his niece Laura except for her lighter hair and cloudy colored eyes. The grin did not agree with her childish looks and it concerned him but the emotion couldn't be made across his strained, grief stricken face.

"Three years ago, my parents were murdered by hunters. I believe they are the same hunters that murdered your family, too. I can't be sure though. That's why I came here, for validation." Peter was impressed with her diction and her annunciation but remained silent, listening intently. "I heard my dad call him Chris, Chris Argent, and I think it was his wife, Kate."

Immediately Peter shook his head. "That was his sister, Kate Argent." Madison raised a dark eyebrow, surprised he actually spoke. She waited for him to add more input but silence greeted her instead.

"I was hiding in a cabinet, like my mother instructed me to," she continued, avoiding eye contact. "I couldn't see anything. There weren't any cracks I could peak through and I was paralyzed with fear, scared if I made any movement I would hit a pot or pan and they would find me, too." Madison shook her head. "The hunters were yelling while my parents pleaded for them to let them go." A scowl embedded itself on her fresh, rosy face as her brows knotted together. "I heard the female –Kate –call my mother a bitch and something struck the wall, I didn't know what, and I knew my mother was dead, because I couldn't hear her voice and heartbeat anymore." A wave of moisture built up in her icy eyes but Madison shook them off. "The male –Christopher –was demanding my dad to tell him where the rest of us were but he never did, too overwhelmed with tears, and he cried out for my mother."

She shook her head as if to erase the memory but the scream was clear as day. "Aubrey! Aubrey! Why? Why did you do that to Aubrey?" She mimicked in a deep voice, poorly representing her father's tone, but using enough emotion to ignite her own set of tears. "Chris ended his life, too, with an arrow. I know this because after I was sure the hunters left, I crawled out to investigate. Do you know how traumatizing it is for a four year old to see her parents dead, with an arrow lodged in their heads? Blood smeared over the kitchen? To see the house in disarray and bodies mangled with cuts and bruises, knowing full well they were beaten protecting you? Do you know how heavy that guilt is?"

Peter deeply sympathized for the child and bowed his head respectively, understanding her mourning completely, as he hadn't fully recovered from his. He wasn't sure how to react to her cold eyes though. She was too desensitized, too distant… too dead inside. He knew the feeling well. She was hollow; so was he.

"I don't blame myself anymore. I know it wasn't my fault. I know they are happy –wherever they are –that I survived." She sighed. "I would've stayed there, though, comforting their corpses if the hunters hadn't come back. I scrambled to the garage, hiding behind the trash bins, when I saw them douse my house in gasoline." She scrunched her nose in disgust, remembering the smell distinctively. "I recall their faces clear as day. They will be forever scarred in my brain. One was a slender man, with dark brown hair and eyes like my own but colder. His companion, Kate I assume, was younger with a long handful of blond hair and snake green eyes." Madison snarled, exposing immature canines. "When I get my hands on her, I'll make her suffer. I'll make sure she sees her own death. I'll cut open her insides and fill her intestines with gasoline and light her up with a match. I'll watch her burn from the inside as she cries for mercy but I'll just shake my head. I'll tell her this, 'did you give my parents mercy?'"

Peter shook his head, dismayed. "Revenge is a powerful motive." He could already see it had devoured a huge part of this child but he hoped there was still enough to recover that wasn't tainted with hate. "You shouldn't worry about it, not yet. You're young. Don't let hate consume you. You are far too young to get caught up in this mess. Your parents wouldn't want this.

Her eyes widened in rage. "She burned down your house, coldheartedly killing your whole entire family inside. I bet she enjoyed hearing them scream and plead for help, just like she enjoyed my father crying out for his love. Did you see the smirk she had when the house blew up in a blaze?"

He shook his head. He, too, was inside with his family, he couldn't see her face. The fire was blinding and eventually darkness came over him before he could remember the perpetrator's face or faces. The remembered two of them, two voices, but neither were Kate's but he learned later enough it was indeed Kate who was the mastermind of the Hale's demise.

"I saw her smirk when my house went up in flames, when my parents' bloody remains burned to nothing but an ashy imprint on the kitchen's charred floor. She enjoyed the destruction of my family, of their lives, of our happiness. I bet she smirked the same way, too, when she learned everyone in your family died."

"Not everyone," Peter mumbled. "My niece and nephew were at school. Derek and Laura escaped."

Madison nodded. "But they're orphans, aren't they? I bet they cry every night because their parents can't tuck them in or greet them when they come home for school, let alone the fact they don't even have a home to return to anymore. It's not the same." Peter knew she was talking from experience.

"Who's taking care of you now?"

"An uncle from my mother's side," Madison explained. "My mother was human, you should know. She was innocent. Despite my dad being a werewolf and her being a human, they were in love. I was a difficult pregnancy but they made through it and they showered me with love and affection. We were a happy family. I can remember that." A serene smile replaced her grim grin and Peter thought it looked better on her than her vengeful expression but not a moment later it returned, magnetized. "She was innocent, as was my dad, too, but I didn't get why she needed to die. She wasn't a werewolf. She didn't commit crimes against humanity… It proved to me it was the hunters who don't have a heart." She closed her eyes. "My uncle Frank, he doesn't know of my father's… lineage. He still believes it was just a freak accident, the fire. I won't tell him the truth. He won't believe me and even if he did, I don't want him to get involved. He wouldn't understand." She sighed and glanced at the clock, noticing the time.

"I should leave soon. Frank expects me to be home in fifteen minutes." She pushed herself off the edge of the window pane and directed herself towards the door but eyed Peter one last time.

"Madison," Peter said, looking at her. "Wait, with revenge I mean. You need to accumulate information over time. You need to know the enemy completely before you attack. Plus, with them unaware of your presence –trust me, they wouldn't let you live if they did –you have the element of surprise on your hands. I'll get my own vengeance sometime soon, just like you, but you need to reach your full potential before you try anything. Wait until you're older. Do it then."

"What if I can't wait that long?" she asked. Doubt was evident in her eyes.

"It'll be worth it."

"Good bye, Peter. Hopefully we can both get closure someday."

He nodded, watching her leave. Years later, he would think of her face, young but stone-cold-hard, engraved with a deep grief and hatred when he had his hand around Kate's throat, claws extended, pushing into her flesh. He wanted to say something else, to mention Madison and extend some closure to her, too, but was reminded with her own warning months before, when she returned. Fore he wasn't the only perpetrator in revenge. Whatever he did, she watched over. He knew that. He was demonstrating how to devise the perfect plot of revenge for her. As a mentor, he showed no mercy, and he knew she would follow his steps perfectly.

As he sprawled Kate's blood along the charred walls of his house in front of Allison, he couldn't help imagine Madison doing the same. Madison was just as vindictive as Kate was. She wasn't happy with Kate's death alone. She wanted the whole family to be slaughtered. Kate was just a start.

Chris was just as guilty.

So was his wife.

Allison wasn't.

But Peter knew Madison would go after her. Kate and Chris hit Madison where it hurt, where she suffered perpetually. Kate had stolen her devoted mother, a loving father, and her family. Without them, she fell apart.

Allison was the Argent's glue. What better way to destroy the family then cut the tie holding them together?

As Derek slit his throat, Peter still smiled, knowing it wasn't over. The Argent's haven't escaped their guilt. Madison would soon take over his place and all hell would break loose.

Knowing Madison, she had already devised a way to get close. She would play Scott as a pawn, to get close to Allison. The poor kid didn't know what was coming to him. It was unfair to him, sure, but didn't he know all's fair in love and war?