1864
It was a glorious summer's day in Mystic Falls, Virginia. The sun was shining high up in the sky and cast an elegant light over the grand estate of the Salvatore's. Inside the vast house, many a servant flew noiselessly around making dinner preparations, while two women sat in the parlour, sewing confederate soldier uniforms and gossiping like there was no tomorrow.
"Did you see the dress Priscilla was wearing?!" Shrieked one while the other burst out into fits of laughter.
"I know!"
"I mean it was…"
"GREEN!" They both shouted before falling into fits of laughter again.
The brunette haired girl composed herself before the blonde and looked admiringly at her.
"You know Charlotte, I do believe Mr Samuel Newman has an infatuation with you." The blonde, Charlotte, pulled a face at the name and shivered.
"Enough about him. What exactly are you up to with my brothers Miss Pierce?" Charlotte teased.
"I'm not entirely sure I know what you're speaking of Charlotte." The brunette smiled as they both continued to stitch.
"Katherine?"
"Yes?"
"Are you going to turn me? Like you promised?"
"Soon my dear. Very soon." Katherine cooed. "And then, we will be sisters forever!" They both began to laugh again.
"Charlotte? Katherine?" A slightly gruff voiced echoed throughout the house.
"In here Giuseppe!" Charlotte called as she and Katherine finished their stitching.
"Girls." Giuseppe Salvatore greeted as he stepped into the parlour followed by the younger Salvatores.
"How was town?" She asked.
"Dreadful." He said as he poured himself a drink.
"Why?" Katherine asked politely.
"That Samuel Newman was asking about you again." Damon grumbled. Charlotte visibly stiffened.
"What did he want Giuseppe?" She asked quietly.
"To escort you to a workers dance." He sneered. "I of course declined." He spoke nonchalantly, pleased when Charlotte breathed a sigh of relief.
"Father, Stefan and I would like to take the ladies for a walk." Damon said standing up. "It is too lovely to stay inside."
"Very well." Giuseppe Salvatore permitted.
Life was monotonous for the young women of the Salvatore house, so when an opportunity for Charlotte and Katherine to venture into town alone they jumped at it.
"Have you thought anymore about what I said?" Pearl asked.
Miss Pearl and her daughter – Anna, had recently visited the Salvatore house to inform Katherine of the selling of vervain in the town. Of course as her honorary sister, Charlotte had also been privy to this information so both were in the loop.
"We'll leave soon Pearl, I promise." Katherine said as she sniffed a small vial of what appeared to be perfume. "I need to take care of a few things first."
"You're going to turn both of them aren't you?" Pearl concluded aghast. She had wholeheartedly agreed to turning Charlotte, but the Salvatores too? Katherine simply smiled. "Katherine please, be careful."
"We'll be safe. I promise." Katherine soothed.
"Mr Gilbert's coming." Charlotte informed the ladies.
"Quick, your cheeks." Katherine pinched Pearl's cheeks. "Perfectly rosy."
"Miss Pearl, may I have a moment." Jonathon Gilbert asked.
"Yes of course Mr Gilbert." Pearl smiled before joining him.
"My brothers also?" Charlotte asked Katherine once they were alone.
"We can be one big happy family!" Katherine protested before gesturing for me to also sniff a vial. "Your mother has an admirer." She teased Anna who simply smiled along with Emily.
"I would never cheat Mr Salvatore." Katherine smiled coyly at Giuseppe whom she was currently beating in a game of croquet.
"I'm losing over here! Again!" Giuseppe Salvatore shouted to his sons and adopted daughter who smiled in return.
"She's good. I almost believe she likes him." Damon spoke through his forced smile.
"Perhaps she does." Stefan replied as Charlotte glided over to Giuseppe and slid her arm through his.
"She knows father would have her killed if he knew the truth." Damon smirked.
"Not if we talk to him. Explain how we feel. He could help us keep her safe." Stefan tried to reason.
"Have you gone mad? Father would drive a stake through her heart himself." Damon practically shouted.
"That's not true we can trust him." Stefan defended his father.
"No, not with this. Please, promise me you won't tell him Stefan?" The younger brother contemplated this,
"Okay." Damon nodded at his brother and smiled a real smile at his sister who was playing croquet.
"The sheriff was here earlier." Pearl informed her guests. "He bought large volumes of the vervain elixir."
"Did he try to put his hands on you again?" Katherine asked as Charlotte giggled.
"Doesn't he always." Pearl smirked.
"She's saving herself for Jonathan Gilbert." Charlotte informed Damon who was in-between the women with their arms through his.
"I am beyond saving. We all know that." Pearl smirked.
"How can you be so calm? They're getting closer to you every day!" Damon panicked.
"We are the respectable ladies of Mystic Falls. And thanks to Emily we walk the streets in daylight. No-one will ever suspect us." Katherine soothed.
"Not unless a human tells them." Pearl shot Charlotte and Damon a raised eye-brow which Charlotte returned.
"I'd sooner die." Damon spat.
"And soon, you will. You both will." Charlotte un-looped her arm as Damon and Katherine kissed.
A loud commotion alerted Charlotte to a problem in the upper level of the Salvatore house. Throwing on her robe she approached the door and stepped out onto the landing just in time to hear Giuseppe speak,
"Go get the sheriff, tell him we have a vampire." She gasped and locked eyes with Giuseppe. "Go back to your room sweetheart, this does not concern you." She nodded and raced back into her room leaning against the now closed door eager to listen in on the happenings in Katherine's room. However, only snippets could be heard.
"She's a monster Stefan!" She felt tears prick her eyes.
He was taking her sister. Her hope. Her immortal life!
Sitting on her bed she heard the sound of men approaching the house and Damon racing up the stairs and into Katherine's room.
"No! Don't take her!" A scuffle could be heard where Giuseppe was holding back a hysterical Damon.
"Do you know what they'll do to you if they found out you're a sympathiser!" Charlotte opened her door a crack to see Katherine being carried downstairs with clamp over her mouth. Warily she stepped out and into Katherine's room.
"They'll kill you!"
"Then let me be killed!" Damon shouted before he ran out of the room and followed the men to a wagon.
"Sweetheart?" Charlotte turned to the man who had become her father. "I'm sorry." She let out a sob.
"Why?"
"She was a vampire." Another sob escaped her throat as Giuseppe encased her into fatherly hug before leading her to her own room.
Damon soon returned after Giuseppe had left her.
"She's gone." He sounded dead as he sat beside her on her bed, his eyes awash with unshed tears.
"I know." Once again, tears pricked her eyes. Damon encased her in another hug as they fell backwards onto the bed and stayed in each other's arms until Charlotte fell asleep.
A gentle shaking of her shoulder woke Charlotte.
"Giuseppe?" she asked, rubbing her eyes.
"We need to talk."
"What?!" She shrieked.
"They're dead Charlotte."
"No!" She spoke, refusing to accept this information.
"I'm sorry."
"No!" She was harsher this time.
"Charlotte."
"NO!"
"Charlotte." He shook a hysterical Charlotte. "They were vampire supporters. They fooled us all. I'm sorry, but I couldn't stop it." Charlotte broke down in his arms.
"No." she mumbled, not willing to accept it.
"I'm sorry, but we have things to do." She looked up at him, confused. "I have drafted a new will; I need you to sign it, as my sole beneficiary."
"Pardon?" She sniffed, not quite believing what he was saying.
"I'm leaving everything to you. As my daughter. Now that the boys are dead…" He trailed off as he guided her hand to the pen. She begrudgingly took it and quickly signed her name.
"May I go back to bed, father?" She mumbled, standing up.
"Of course my daughter."
Days past and the heartache Charlotte felt over the loss of her brothers and her sister was becoming more unbearable. Sitting in front of her mirror she heard a scuffle erupting downstairs. Sighing she attempted to ignore it when everything went quiet. Frowning, she tip-toed to the landing and listened…nothing. Shrugging she went to bed and thought nothing more of it.
The next morning, an ear-shattering shriek woke her from her fitful slumber. Dressing in her robe she slightly jogged down to her father's study where the shriek came from.
Entering the room she nearly collapsed, sprawled out on the floor was her father with a bloody throat and an unmoving chest.
"No." was all she said before the world went black.
A triple funeral. Three coffins, two without bodies, one with every drop of blood drained. All mauled by some sort of 'animal'. Shrouded in black, tears flowed freely from her eyes at the constant sight of her father and brothers being buried.
The house was hers to with as she pleased. However, she was expected to marry, have children and recall the tale of how she lost everything in such a short time.
Pity filled eyes surrounded her as she walked alone from the cemetery. Head held high she adopted the no-nonsense persona of a southern woman who had not had her world ripped apart.
The house was empty. Cold and empty. The only sound being the slight swish of a skirt from a scurrying maid. Blank eyes fixed onto a wall of her room as she sat on her bed. The lights from the house dimmed and went out and she still sat. Falling backwards onto her bed she sighed.
A change in the air made her sit up. Her curtains blew in the breeze. Curious, she got up and walked to the window. A tap on the shoulder made her squeak and jump around, coming face to face with one Damon Salvatore.
"Damon." She breathed. He nodded and they flew into each other's embrace.
"We had Katherine's blood in our systems." He explained.
"Of course!" she exclaimed. He chuckled. "Where's Stefan?" Damon's whole demeanour changed.
"I have to explain something to you." She nodded.
"He turned her in?" she couldn't understand.
"Yes."
"Oh." She looked away.
"I came here for a reason Charlotte." She met his eyes. "Come with me."
"Where?"
"Everywhere!" She giggled at his words. "I mean it."
"No." she shook her head.
"No?"
"Not unless you turn me." He looked away. "Please Damon. I want to be with you. I want us to be there for each other. Forever." He nodded. "Really?"
"Yes." She squealed and flew into his arms again.
"Wait," he looked at her confused. "I have to pack some stuff." He chuckled before helping her throw stuff into a bag.
"Stefan will still be here." Damon told her as they walked towards the small clearing beside a lake that he and Stefan hand woken in.
"Ok." They continued.
"Charlotte." Stefan said, stunned as she entered the clearing, hand in hand with Damon who was carrying her bag. She looked up at Damon with sorry filled eyes before running into Stefan's arms.
"Stefan." She mumbled into his shoulder as they hugged.
"Are you sure about this?" Stefan asked.
"Yes. I couldn't be surer." Charlotte nodded to Damon who approached her.
"Drink." He ordered after he'd opened his wrist. Charlotte nodded and latched on. She scrunched up her face at the metallic taste but continued until he pulled away. He moved to stand behind her.
"Wait!" she called out.
"What's wrong?" Damon asked.
"I…I just want to say goodbye." The boys faces softened at their sister and they both nodded as they closed in on her encasing her in a sibling hug. She inhaled deeply, savouring the moment. "Okay." They pulled away and she sat back down on the log. Damon again, moved behind her and stroking her hair once, he broke her neck with a quick snap.
A deep gasp emitted from her as she opened her eyes and sat up.
"Good Morning." Damon chorused as he made his way over to her.
"Morning?" He pointed at the sunrise reflected onto the surface of the lake. "Oh."
"Are you ok?" Stefan asked as he too made his way over to her.
"Yes, but…wow."
"I know." Damon chuckled and held out a hand to her. She gratefully accepted it and stood.
"What know?" she asked.
"Now, you feed." Damon told her s Stefan half carried; half dragged a youngish man over to her.
"Feed?" Katherine had never told her about this part of the transformation.
"To complete the transition."
"O…okay." She warily stepped towards the man who raised his head. "Samuel." She gasped.
"We figured it was appropriate." She nodded. This boy was the bane of her existence. He hounded her, yet she appreciated it.
"Why isn't he resisting."
"Compulsion." Again she nodded; Katherine had taught her and Damon how to properly compel someone.
The sound of blood rushing through veins and arteries lured Charlotte towards the boy. Mouth, watering she placed her head closer to his neck. Without a second thought she plunged her now protruding fangs into his neck and bled him dry. Once done she dropped the body and turned to face the boys, blood dripping from her ruby chin.
"Anything else?" the shook their heads. Damon held out a handkerchief to her and she delicately wiped her chin.
"The sun is about to come up." Stefan nudged his brother who glared at him.
"Here." Damon slipped a gaudy ring onto her finger. "Your sunlight protection ring. Courtesy of Emily and Katherine." She gazed down at the ring.
"Katherine?"
"She planned to turn you. She had Emily make these rings." He said showing her his identical ring.
"Oh." She cradled the ring. Her last gift from her sister.
"You can leave now." Damon old his brother. I allowed you to be here for Charlotte, now leave." Damon spat at his brother.
"Very well brother." Stefan put his jacket on and kissed Charlotte on the cheek. "I hope one day, you can forgive me. Both of you." With that he left. Damon listened intently; making sure his brother was gone.
"I need to tell you something. Something about Katherine and the church." Charlotte turned away, not wanting to hear. "It's important. She's okay." Charlotte snapped her head up and locked her eyes on him. "We'll get her back. But for now…let's have some fun, sister."
Charlotte smirked the first of many smirks and linked arms with her brother.
"Where to?" she asked smiling up at him.
"Everywhere."