Renaissance
By: Darkest Ember
Chapter 1: The New Dark Ages
Summary: Vampires have taken over and are showing no mercy. Two warring vampire lords - Damon and Niklaus - are both racing to break a curse that would give one of them the ultimate title: ruler of the world. But to break this curse one of them needs to find the doppelganger, Elena Gilbert. And they won't stop until she's dead.
Notice: This story is going to a bit different... It is set in modern times. Vampires are evil, with an occasional opportunity for redemption. It's going to work into a Delena story, but you just need to be patient ;) The focus will be more on passion rather than romance. We'll see how this goes. Expect dark themes, violence, language, and all that good stuff.
A dark, thick fog descended over the town of Mystic Falls. It crept along the ground like a snake, consuming everything in its path. The people of Mystic Falls were used to the shadowy nights, though. Some might even say they don't remember what the sun looked like. Things have been anything but bright since the vampires came into town.
Humans who feared for their lives were forced to hide in the shadows, while the "creatures of the night" roamed the streets whenever they pleased. Bloodied bodies would be found piled up outside of the vampire lord's mansion in the morning – an eerie warning to those unfortunate enough to be left alive another day.
You see, vampires occupied almost every state in America. There were a couple of free states, which acted as a safe haven for humans. The vampires claimed that such free states were permitted solely to promote repopulation, but the humans believed that to be nothing more than a cowardice excuse. Those states were free because the best of the hunters have protected them.
It was the same sad story on the opposite side of the globe. Each country had a designated vampire lord. Most of these lords were content with their title and kept to themselves. However, there were two who were not. Lord Damon, of America, and Lord Niklaus, of Europe, both desired total reign of the world. A silent war had been brewing between the two for years.
But neither one could claim to have much of an advantage just yet. Disturbed by the vampires' control over nature, a band of powerful witches designed a curse that prevented the two warring vampires from gaining total control. To break the curse, one needed to obtain a werewolf, a vampire, the ancient moonstone, and the Petrova doppelganger, the latter two of which seemed near impossible to locate.
Until today.
Elena Gilbert walked down the barren road with her eyes locked on the ground. This place used to be full of life and as much excitement as could be expected from a small town. Now it was desolate…just barely functional. Most people avoided being outside whenever possible, the exceptions being school and work. Elena had just finished a morning shift at the local coffee shop and was making her way back home.
Most vampires weren't really out and about at this time. Though they could walk in the sunlight, many preferred to rest at the present hour, which allowed Elena to exhale a few stale breaths of relief.
She despised vampires more than the average person, and for very adequate reasons. The memory was still so fresh in her mind, though it had already been two years since its occurrence. It was when the vampires first came out of hiding. There were no rules or means to protect oneself, and these vampires were absolutely reckless.
A vampire had overheard Grayson, her father, talking to Miranda, her mother, about the family's dinner plans as he made his way out of the medical office. The thought of a whole family surely seemed more appetizing than just having the town's doctor, so the vampire followed him home. He waited in the shadows, watching through the window as the happy family of four sat down to eat.
He knocked on the door, pretending to be lost. Elena's father refused to let the stranger stand outside in the chilly air, so he invited him in, even offered him a meal. Of course, the vampire took the invitation in a different way and savagely bit into Grayson's neck, sending a splash of blood across the wall, covered in family photos. Miranda screamed at the sight, while blocking her children from seeing too much. The vampire turned around and commanded that Miranda come closer.
Elena was horrified, as she watched her mother inexplicably comply. The vampire didn't wait much longer before he bit into her throat. He let her body drop onto Grayson's as their bloody corpses created a combined pool of blood on the floor. Elena stepped in front of her younger brother, Jeremy, as the vampire took a step closer to them. She couldn't really see much of his face – just those animalistic fangs with her parents' blood smeared across his lips.
He cocked his head to the side with amusement. Without any explanation, he turned on his heel and walked out the front door, deciding to let them suffer.
Elena blinked the tears away as she stopped at a crosswalk, waiting for the WALK sign to change. After that horrific night, Elena and Jeremy moved into their Aunt Jenna's home, where they met her boyfriend, Alaric Saltzman, a vampire hunter. He taught them how to protect themselves and hence was probably responsible for their survival thus far.
As she passed by an alley, she heard the faint sound of someone gasping for air, fighting for his last breath. She didn't need to look to know what was going on. Her stomach churned in anger as she passed by the murderous scene, now only a couple blocks from home.
She'd been so lost in contempt, thought, and memory that she hadn't felt the pair of eyes watching her, waiting for the perfect moment to attack.
Damon Salvatore sat in a reclined position on his throne as he listened to someone babbling about the number of dead bodies collected this week. His palm was barely supporting his heavy skull as he stared forward, wearing a bored expression.
The sound of rattling chains and a grunt of disappointment caught his attention. He turned and faced the girl wrapped in chains at the base of his throne. He saw the muscles in her toned arms flex as she tugged at the constraints. She was probably upset that her added vampiric strength was doing her no good.
He reached over and touched her cheek, tracing a scabbing incision. Her healing process had dramatically slowed down due to the heavy doses of Vervain being blasted through her veins. To be fair, he had warned her. Katherine Pierce – the original Petrova doppelganger – and the seductive, selfish vampire that made Damon who he was today.
Damon couldn't help but smirk. This had been the girl that his rival Klaus had tried to capture 500 years ago, and had failed. This was the girl that destroyed the remains of Damon's humanity. And now look at where that got her.
"Get your hands off of me," she barked.
"Now why would I want to do that?" Damon retorted, running a jagged fingernail through the scabbed flesh, causing a thin streak of blood to resurface. "All of this could be over if you would just tell me who the doppelganger is."
"For the hundredth time, I don't know. Just because she's a cheap copy of me doesn't mean I know who she is."
The babbling statistician froze midsentence as the two large wooden doors burst open behind him. Damon's younger brother, Stefan, came inside.
Damon's eyes flickered away from Katherine and to Stefan. "Creating quite the entrance there, brother," Damon noted.
"I think it might be worth your time." Stefan stole a subtle glance at Katherine, his former love. It pained him to see her in such a circumstance, but he now knew that her torture would soon end. "Some sources claim that Klaus found the moonstone. If that's true that means he's one step closer–."
"I know what that means," Damon snarled. He took a moment to calm himself, as a disturbing smile lined his lips as he stood up. "Well, you know what they say. If you want something done right, you need to do it yourself."
He gracefully stepped down the stairs and approached his brother. "Let's go out for a little hunt, shall we?" When they reached the door, Damon paused and addressed the guard. "Make sure she gets locked up."
Katherine sat there helplessly, rolling her eyes as the guard sped over to her. As soon as she was free, she'd make sure all hell broke loose.
Stefan took a moment or two to sit down in his room and gather his thoughts. This confliction he felt was finally becoming overwhelming. He'd known for some time now exactly who the doppelganger was. Ever since he first found her, he followed her…studied her…protected her. Damon's troops had gotten so close to finding her, and each time Stefan would purposely interrupt their progress.
Dear Diary,
I'm not sure how to handle this situation anymore. If I handed Elena over to Damon, that would mean great things for us. He'd have an advantage over Klaus and Katherine would surely be released from Damon's prison. But as much as it pains me to see Katherine in such a position, something is holding me back from turning in Elena. She's already been through so much at such a young age. And I know that she has a hard time living in the world our kind has created. At the same time, Damon promised he'd make things right once he gained total control.
If I turn Elena in, it would be much easier to keep an eye on her. Maybe I can even get to know her a little better. It would be naïve of me to expect her to enjoy my company, but one can only hope… I think tonight I will show her to Damon.
I don't know what I'd do if Klaus were to get her first.
Stefan bit into his lower lip as he tucked the heavy leather journal away on a shelf. With a sigh, he exited the room and met Damon downstairs, still trying to convince himself that he was doing the right thing.
As Elena closed the front door behind her, she was met with a warm blast of air. The house that she now lived in was just as homey and welcoming as her family's house and she felt right at home.
Alaric was sitting at the table admiring his work on a wooden stake, while Jenna was making sandwiches. Elena's felt her stomach grumble as she entered the kitchen.
"Turkey? My favorite," she grinned, grabbing one of the completed ones.
"I figured you'd be hungry by the time you got home," Jenna laughed. But then, she grew noticeably somber. "How were the streets today?"
Elena shrugged. "Mostly empty. Someone was being killed in an alley, though."
"Did you have your weapons on you?" Alaric asked.
"Of course I did." Elena unzipped her jacket and revealed two stakes and a Vervain grenade.
"And…?"
Elena scoffed and pulled her sleeve up to reveal the extra stake.
"Nice work."
Jeremy shuffled down the stairs shortly after the three sat down to eat. "Did you oversleep again?" Jenna asked.
"Guess so. School's overrated anyway," Jeremy sighed, grabbing some cookies from the pantry.
"Just because deranged monsters have taken over doesn't mean you can –," Elena began, but stopped once she saw something, or rather someone, just outside the kitchen window.
It was…it was Damon Salvatore. Everyone knew that he barely left the mansion. What could he possibly want here? The horrific possibilities caused Elena's heartbeat to triple.
Concerned, Alaric and Jenna followed her stare and reacted in a similar fashion. Alaric kept a stake hidden under the table. Without tearing his eyes away from the vampire, he whispered, "Run."
And so the chase begins! Will Damon get his hands on Elena...will Stefan let him?
Comments are greatly appreciated and really help me! Just leave a thought or two on what you think so far. I'm in love with the ideas I have for this story and really hope you guys would like me to continue it