"Dreams are illustrations…from the book your souls is writing about you."
-Marsha Norman
Chapter One: All Around Me
Damon's POV
There I was, in a field that was all too familiar, if I was right, a little but further and, there it was, the old house, standing tall, proud, and well, still standing compared to how it was today. But there were only two people walking around what was a lively house back in it's day, two women. Both dressed in the elegant dresses they wore back in 1864, and both women were both really familiar. I looked down at myself and I was wearing what I usually wear now, so why were they the only ones dressed like it's 1864? I walked closer toward the house, they were both still talking among themselves. It wasn't until the second woman looked at me that I froze in my tracks. Elena? Yes, I was positive it was Elena, I had to train myself to tell the difference while Katherine was around. But why was she dressed like Katherine from 1864? Soon the other woman looked at me and I recognized her too; it was my mother. But what were they doing?
I started walking again and walked through the gates to the house. The closer I got to them, the faster the house and Elena started to fade, only my mother stayed visible, once I reached where they were, only my mother was there and the house was to it's present day state, Elena was gone, and my mother was more dressed for modern times.
"…Mother?" I asked, checking if it was really her
"Hello Damon" She smiled at me and hugged me and I hugged her back immediately "Did Cassandra tell you what I asked her to tell you?"
"Yeah…but how did you even get to her? I thought-"
"Damon, you're a vampire, Elena's a dhampir, your brother's a vampire, Elena's brother Jeremy is a shifter, you should be used to strange things happening" She smiled
"You have a point" I smiled
"I guess I just wanted to tell you myself how proud I am of you" She smiled
"Proud that your son's a vampire?" I asked confused
"Well, without becoming that, you would have never met Elena" She said "She's good for you." She smiled "We were just talking about you actually"
"…So that…what I saw…that was real?" I asked confused, I thought I was still asleep…
"No, that was Elena's dream, I didn't expect you to be able to interrupt dreams, but I suppose that's a side effect from you two sharing blood" She said
"Yeah" I said
My mother smiled and for a minute she flickered, like a image fading away.
"I don't have much time left" She sighed "But I came here to tell you one more thing son" She smiled "Something…well, let's say, rare is going to happen to you and Elena" She said
"Rare?" I asked "Usually 'rare' means bad" I sighed
"I cannot tell you weather it is good or bad, but I promise you that once it happens-" She was cut off mid sentence by a huge flicker that went through her "I have to go" She sighed and kissed me on the cheek "Make me proud son" She smiled
And before I could say another thing to her, like "Goodbye" or "I love you", she faded away. I was left there, looking at what used to be our house, but only for a second before it was like someone flipped the switch. The daylight turned into pure darkness only lit by the moon and the stars. I heard something moving around in the forest for a minute, then a loud blood curdling scream.
I woke up with a start, laying in Elena's bed, in Elena's room, with Elena right next to me of course. I was sitting up straight in bed, Elena was undisturbed by me waking up. I remembered before we came up here, Elena was worried because Jeremy never came back yet, she wanted to go look for him, but I said we should give him space. I looked at my peaceful sleeping angel, she looked so beautiful with the moonlight shining in through her window and lighting up her face.
My mothers words rang though my head, "something rare", that always meant "really bad", roughly translated. The only time "rare" was ever used in a good way was if you were talking about finding a rare gemstone or something, which I doubt would happen. I suddenly heard someone opening and closing the door downstairs. Even though it was probably just Jeremy, I got up and dressed and head downstairs.I walked downstairs into the silence of the house, there was no one down here, all the lights were out, except for the TV still on in the living room. I walked over to the couch and there was Jeremy, already passed out and sleeping peacefully. He was covered with a blanket and everything. I turned off the TV for him since he seemed pretty knocked out and head back upstairs to Elena. When I got up there, she was sitting up in bed.
"You okay?" I asked her
"Fine" She sighed "I was just wondering where you went" She smiled
"I heard Jeremy come back in, he's passed out downstairs" I sighed and sat down in bed next to her
"I'm glad he's back" She said
"He'll be fine tomorrow, wake up, go apologize to Anna, everything will be fine" I sighed
"Someone is pretty optimistic" She smiled and kissed me on the cheek
"Someone has to be" I sighed and laid back down in bed with her and talked to her until she fell asleep. For some reason, I remained wide awake.
Soon the sun rose and I decided that since I wasn't sleeping, might as well go downstairs and check on Jeremy. I walked out of Elena's room quietly and as soon as I walked out, I saw Jenna waking up and heading downstairs.
"Oh…good morning" She yawned "I thought you and Elena left last night"
"We were going to, but Jeremy didn't get in until around 5" I sighed
"Oh" Jenna said "Is he in is room?"
"No, he made it to the couch and passed out in like, two minutes" I said
"Oh, okay" Jenna said and yawned again and started making her way downstairs to see her sleeping nephew. She smiled as she passed by him and made her way into the kitchen.
I looked down at Jeremy and noticed something I didn't notice while I was down here last night, I was too wrapped up in thinking about that damn dream, I didn't even notice Jeremy wasn't breathing! Someone brought him in here and covered him up to fool everyone! Goddamit! The blinds were still closed, I ran up to Elena's room where she kept the two rings like mine and Stefan that were from two male vampires she killed, I took one of the rings and ran back downstairs. I got the ring on one of Jeremy's fingers and the noticed something…burning? I looked down at his wrist where the vervain bracelet still was, making a bright red mark on his skin. I was right, someone changed him. I got the bracelet off of him and threw it on the coffee table. At least now he's be safe from the sun and not fry up.
I heard Jenna walking back toward the living room, she was gonna want to know how her nephew became a vampire all of the sudden over night, truth was, I had no fucking idea how.
"What's going on?" Jenna asked
"…I think…that someone changed Jeremy into a vampire last night" I sighed
"What! Who? You?" She asked angrily now
"No! I was in bed with Elena all night if you remember" I said
"Yes, I do!" She hissed and started rubbing her temples now "Could we not talk about the fact of that 169 year old vampire is engaged to my niece and just the fact of that you two have sex under this roof" Jenna sighed "Who could have changed Jeremy?"
"Well, there's Anna, but her and Jeremy had a fight so I think she would have killed him, not change him" I sighed "There's Adrian and his friends, but they all seem like they really don't want to deal with a newborn, their all 300 years old and up" I sighed "That leaves…new vampire in town"
"A new vampire that would change Jeremy?" Jenna asked
"Maybe they wanted company" I sighed "They must have traced his scent back here and just dropped him off"
"And expecting what?" Jenna asked
"Well, nine times out of ten, a vampires first kill is usually a big bloody massacre of their family" I said
"Lovely" Jenna sighed "When will he wake up?"
"Tonight" I sighed and looked at Jenna's neck "You don't have a vervain necklace like Elena?" I asked
"I do, I just haven't been wearing it" She said
"Wear it. At least until we figure out who this new vampire is and what they want" I sighed
"Okay" Jenna said and disappeared upstairs and was hopefully putting that necklace on
I looked down at Jeremy. He was wearing the bracelet when he came in, so he wasn't forced to do this, he let them do this to him. Maybe he was upset about Anna? But that was no reason to become a vampire, even though I know what it's like to become part of the undead for a woman. How was Elena going to react knowing that her brother was now part of the undead? She was probably gonna think me right away since I'm pretty much the one who told Jeremy all about being a vampire on Founder's Day. Now that Stefan was gone, all trouble was going to get pinned on me…I missed Stefan already. Jenna came back downstairs wearing the vervain necklace Elena gave her, she looked over at Jeremy's body now.
"You sure it wasn't Stefan?" She asked quietly
"Positive. Stefan's not one for creating company. He prefers to be by himself" I sighed
"Guess you got a point there" Jenna sighed
"Damon?" I heard Elena's voice come from the top of the stairs
"Down here" I sighed and waited for Elena to come down here now and see the scene
"…What…happened?" She asked, shocked, and looking down at her brothers body
"Someone changed Jeremy" I said
Elena's POV
"What?" I asked
Damon sighed and walked away from Jeremy's side now and into the kitchen. Jenna was holding onto her vervain necklace that I haven't seen her wear in a while, Damon must have told her to put it on. I walked into the kitchen where Damon disappeared off to and caught him…pouring a glass of orange juice?
"Orange juice?" I asked
"What? I like oranges, sue me" He sighed and started drinking his orange juice
"…Do you know who changed Jeremy?" I asked
"Not a clue" Damon sighed
"So someone changed him and dropped him off here?" I asked confused
"Exactly" Damon sighed
"Wait, but how could they get in here without being invited in?" I asked, finally realizing the problem with Damon's theory
"Crap…I forgot about that" Damon sighed "Maybe it was someone we know after all" He sighed
"Can a vampire control another vampire with that weird mind thingy you guys do?" I asked
"If their powerful enough, yes, the 'weird mind thingy' can control another vampire" Damon smirked
"You think the vampire that did this to Jeremy could have just grabbed another vampire or whoever was out there in the woods and made them bring him in here?'" I asked
"Could have happened too" Damon said "I don't know, we'll have to ask Jeremy when he wakes up, that's the only way we'll find out"
"I guess" I sighed
"He'll be fine Elena, don't worry about it too much, I'll help him" Damon said
"…Thanks" I sighed and walked into the living room where Jenna sat there, sitting next to Jeremy's body on the couch, holding his hand and watching TV "You okay?" I asked Jenna
"Fine" She sighed "I'm just…worried about him"
"Damon said he'll help him" I said
"Strangely enough, that makes me feel a little better" Jenna sighed and a small smile crossed her lips.
I smiled back at her and sat down in the living room with her, but instead of trying to distract myself from everything and watch TV, I was focused on Jeremy. Damon came walking into the room, drinking his orange juice, when he suddenly got this strange look of confusion on his face and he was staring at the TV.
"What is it?" I asked him
Jenna turned up the volume on the TV so that normal human beings could hear it and not just Damon.
"Two teens were found dead today this morning in the forest close to the Mystic Falls Cemetery. Earlier this morning, cops received calls from citizens living near the cemetery saying that they heard 'blood curdling screams'. Once cops reached the scene, the teens were already dead and so far their death has been ruled as an animal attack." The news reporter said
"Animal attacks" I sighed and looked at Damon
"Defiantly new vampire, someone from here would know that the cops would look into our supposed 'animal attacks'" Damon sighed
"The minute we get rid of one vampire, another one comes in town" I sighed
"Yeah, that's how it works" Damon sighed
"So what are we gonna do?" I asked
"Well, maybe their just passing thorough, we'll give it two days max, then if their still here, we either chase them out or kill them" Damon said
"…Alright" I sighed "I'm gonna go get showered and dressed" I said and head upstairs
Wait a minute, something was missing here. I made it up to my room and to the bathroom with no Damon saying "Want me to join?" and I'd say "No" and he'd say "Don't say I didn't offer" and then that was it. But Damon wasn't even upstairs…maybe he didn't want to because we were at my house? No, that wouldn't normally stop Damon. I sighed and let it go, maybe it was the whole Jeremy thing that was actually worrying him a little bit? Who knows, Damon was still a mystery to me most of the time.
Stefan's POV
Something just wouldn't let me leave the state yet. I was still at least an hour away from Mystic Falls in another small town. It wasn't Elena, no, I got it through my head that Elena had chosen Damon to be with forever. It just…felt like my business in Mystic Falls still wasn't done yet. Maybe that's why I stayed close by in this small town? That's all I could really think of. It was the middle of the afternoon and I was sitting in the towns local restaurant, it was a lot like the Mystic Grill back in Mystic Falls. There were quiet a few people in here, and at least three other vampires. But there was one vampire that I noticed that stood out of the crowd. She was dressed like she didn't want anyone's attention, but she could easily get a vampires attention with all that…energy just radiating off of her, she was obviously an older vampire to have all that power. She was dressed in a hoodie and jeans, kept her attention on whatever she was reading off her cell phone, not really touching her food, but occasionally taking sips of her drink. She had long black hair down to the middle of her back, porcelain pale skin, cherry red lips, and piercing blue eyes that were even brighter than Damon's if that was possible.
For a vampire that was awfully powerful, she looked like she hadn't eaten in at least a week. She had dark circles under her eyes that were easily noticeable, and she could have passed off for a sickly person if her looks didn't fool the humans so much. Something about just seeing her there like that made me get up and walk over to her, she looked up at me for a brief second, then looked away.
"Can I help you?" She asked, her voice like wind chimes with a hint of a southern accent in there
"You haven't hunted in a while, have you?" I asked her
"…Not really" She sighed "When you've lived for 500 years, it all gets to be the same." She said
"Wow, you've been around for a while" I said
"Yeah" She sighed "You?"
"Not long, since 1864" I said
"Your still a baby compared to me" She said and smiled a little "I'm Aislinn"
"Stefan" I said
"Nice to meet you Stefan" She smiled and her southern accent became a little more noticeable
"Spent a lot of time in the south?" I asked
"Yeah" She smirked "I can't really help it anymore"
"Happens" I smiled "Where are you coming from?"
"Dallas" She smiled "You?"
"Mystic Falls" I said
"Oh, I've heard of that place" She smiled
"Yeah, every supernatural being seems to have heard of Mystic Falls" I smiled
"Must just be something that draws us there" She said
"Must be" I sighed
"So why are you leaving there then?" She asked
"…Too many memories I guess" I sighed
"It was your home before you were turned, huh?" She asked
"Yeah" I sighed
"We all eventually go back there" She smiled "But I'm guessing that it's more than too many bad memories" She said
"…Part bad memories, part too much to handle" I sighed
"…You can tell me about it if you want. I've been around for 500 years, I've heard it all" She smiled
"…Thanks" I smiled "I'll tell you later after you don't look like your about to drop dead from not hunting" I said
"Yeah, I guess I should have something to eat" She sighed and looked around.
One man locked eyes with her, she didn't say a thing and he walked over to her like a mindless zombie. This girl looked like a starved to death vampire and from across the room, without saying a thing, she was able to trance a man and turn him into her next meal. This was one hell of a powerful vampire.
Bonnie's POV
I was driving over to Elena's house, apparently someone changed Jeremy into a vampire now, and there was a new vampire in town. But that was the least of my worries actually, after that terrifying dream I had last night. I remembered it clearly, somehow I ended up killing what looked like my twin or something, and then there was my Grams coming, and she attacked ME, thinking I was someone else, and she was punishing me for basically killing me. Then out of nowhere this beautiful woman shows up and makes my Grams more powerful, and the pain was real because when I woke up this morning, it felt like I was run over back and forth by a car at least 100 times, I still felt the pain a little bit too.
Once I got to Elena's house, I slowly got out of the car, feeling all my muscles hurting me from that damn realistic dream last night. I finally got inside and first thing I did was sit down on the couch next to Jeremy's unconscious and dying body.
"Bonnie?" Elena asked curiously
"Give me a minute" I sighed and let all my muscles relax for a moment until I finally felt okay "Yeah?"
"You okay?" Elena asked
"Far from it" I sighed "I had this crazy dream last night and it was so…real. I mean I feel all the pain from the dream today"
"…That's not normal" Elena said
"Tell me about it" I sighed "So what's up other than the brother turning into a vampire as we speak and the new vamp in town?"
"That's all we know so far other than the fact of that they must be super powerful" Elena sighed
"Sounds like trouble to me" I said and then noticed a strange quiet in the room "Wait, there's something…missing" I sighed "…Sarcasm…where's Damon?"
"I don't know, kitchen I think. He hasn't been…acting right since this morning" Elena sighed
"You think he's feeling some guilt for not being able to protect someone you love?" I asked
"Maybe" Elena sighed "I hope that's it and it passes over, I can't spend forever with him if he's gonna be…strange like this forever" Elena sighed
"I'm sure this will all blow over and we'll have normal, sarcastic Damon back in no time" I sighed and watched the news talking about the attacks I saw on TV earlier while I was wincing in pain as I woke up, there defiantly was a new vampire in town
Anna's POV
Jeremy. I had to go see Jeremy today. We had to talk this out. Because as stupid as he was for doing something like that to me, I still loved him, a lot. Was I stupid? Was it right to still be in love with Jeremy? I didn't know and really, I didn't care right now, all I knew is that I had to see Jeremy. As I got closer to the Gilbert house I just had this sinking feeling in my stomach, some negative energy was coming off of the house, this was never a good thing, especially when coming off of Elena's house, it always meant something really bad was going to happen. And it wasn't even close to sunset yet and these people had already managed to find some trouble. I knocked on the front door and Elena answered and had a funny look on her face.
"What's wrong?" I asked
"A few things, but the main one being that…someone turned Jeremy last night" She sighed and moved to let me come in
I walked into the living room, not paying attention to anyone else but Jeremy, lying unconscious on the couch, slowly growing to be as cold as I was. I sighed and kissed Jeremy on the forehead, there was nothing I could do, I just had to wait until Jeremy woke up. I would help him, so he wouldn't be a complete wild newly changed vampire. I wonder if Damon knew who this was and he just wasn't telling Elena or Bonnie who was sitting here on the couch in what looked like extreme pain. I walked into the kitchen where I heard Damon moving around. I saw him sitting there at the kitchen table, drinking orange juice, staring off into outer space.
"…Damon?" I asked
"Yeah" He said quickly snapping out of his trance
"…Do you know who changed Jeremy?" I asked
"No! I don't know!" He snapped and stood up from the kitchen table, something had him frustrated "I don't know anything"
I looked out into the living room and I saw Elena was distracted by Bonnie to notice Damon's outburst. I grabbed him by the arm and dragged him out back, this was not the usual Damon, what was up with this drastic change in the matter of a few hours from when I was here last night to now.
"Okay Damon, something is up. Something is bugging you and you better tell me what the hell it is because you know damn well what happens when a vampire holds in some drastic emotion for way too long and they chose not to shut it off" I said
'I don't know what's wrong" Damon sighed "She meant something…"
"Who are you talking about?" I asked confused
"My mother…I had a dream about her last night. She said something 'rare' was going to happen. She never said good or bad, and in my life whenever 'rare' is mentioned, it usually means everything and everyone I love is gonna die" He said, and he just had this dead serious look in his eye and this angry yet, scared look on his face
"You don't know what it is Damon…just let go of it for now. We have big enough problems to deal with right now" I sighed
"I don't wanna do this to her" Damon sighed
"Do what to who?" I asked as calmly as I could, Damon was freaking out now, I was slowly watching the most in control guy I know, lose it
"I can't bring Elena into this…thing we call life! This hell hole of eternity of fighting off vampires and constantly trying to protect your own damn ass! It's bad enough that she got dragged in this far, I don't wanna hurt her anymore" Damon sighed
"Chill out Damon" I said "It was a DREAM. D-R-E-A-M" I said "Your blowing this way out of proportion!" I said
For a split second, and that was all it took, I saw something snap in Damon's eyes and he had me pinned up against the wall by my throat. In a matter of a few more seconds, someone was bursting through the back door.
"Damon!" I heard Elena's familiar voice yell in shock "Put Anna down, now" She said
I saw something snap back into place in Damon's eyes once he heard Elena's voice. He blinked a few times and let go of me and I grabbed my throat, he was a strong vampire, that was for sure.
"What is going on with you Damon?" She asked calmly "Tell me what's bothering you" She said pleading now
Damon said nothing, he wanted to, but he couldn't find the words to say, instead, he took off at vampire speed, leaving Elena and I here.
"You okay Anna?" Elena asked
"Fine" I said "Is he gonna be okay?" I asked
"I think so" Elena sighed "I think I know where he would have gone, but I'll give him a few minutes before I go find him" She sighed
"Something's going on" I sighed "…Wait, what's wrong with Bonnie again?"
"Some realistic dream, she was being attacked" Elena sighed
"You think whoever changed Jeremy is causing everything else to go haywire? Like Bonnie's dream and Damon's weirder than normal attitude?" I asked
"Maybe" Elena sighed "I wouldn't doubt it"
"Just another day here in Mystic Falls" I sighed
Elena's POV
It was getting close to sunset, close to when Jeremy was going to wake up back at home, and still no sign of Damon at any of his usual places. This caused me to think of some of old Damon's favorite places and then suddenly, I knew where he was. I drove down to the Mystic Grill and walked inside and there he was. Drunk already, drinking god knows what number drink that was, sitting alone at the bar, ignoring everything else going on around him.
"Damon?" I said and walked up to him slowly
He looked at me with his bloodshot eyes, then looked back down at his drink and sighed.
"Damon, come on" I sighed "Let's go home"
He looked up at me again, and took a long sip from his drink. I decided to sit down next to him, he wasn't gonna move yet.
"Please Damon" I said and wrapped my hand around his
That seemed to motivate him a little bit. He paid his bill and I helped him up, he was stumbling a little, but not too bad compared to how the old Damon used to be when he got upset and just took off to go get wasted. I got him loaded into the car and he fell asleep a few seconds later, still not saying a word. Once we got back to my house, I had to wake him up to get him at least through my front door. Once inside, I set him down on the stair case, that was as far as he was going for now, Anna would have to take the reigns on the whole Jeremy thing for now. Damon was still too far gone. I stayed there next to Damon even though he never said a word. He just held my hand and traced all the veins that ran through it.
Finally it was time for Jeremy to wake up, and he woke up like how he would have from a long nap. He sat up and looked around, he saw Jenna, Anna, Bonnie, Me, and Damon all around.
"…Who died?" He asked, noticing all of our faces
"You" Damon finally spoke
Jeremy closed his eyes and slowly I saw the familiar expression of him realizing he did something stupid cross his face.
"Dammit! I thought that was a dream" He sighed and buried his face in his hands.
Anna walked over to Jeremy and comforted him. I knew she was still mad at him, but I guess it was true what they said, love will conquer all. Anna held Jeremy there while Jenna started going through the whole nervous cleaning thing again and started nervously cleaning all the dishes in the kitchen. Bonnie was in her chair, her pain had eased up a lot compared to how she was when she got here, she was talking to Jeremy, trying to figure something out, like what happened last night, and who changed him. I was focused on Damon, my Damon. He was sitting here, dazed and confused from all the alcohol he'd consumed in the past two hours I went looking for him. I held him there close to me and kissed him on the cheek. He barely responded except for with the occasional kiss back on my cheek, or tracing the veins in my hand that I had wrapped around him. He looked like a wreck just from all that alcohol, I could only imagine how he felt right now. That also being on top of whatever was causing him to act like this. I would leave it alone for the rest of the night, but tomorrow, I wanted to know, I want my Damon, not this Damon that's trying to take over now. I knew there was still a lot to take care of with Jeremy, the murders, the strange dreams, and who knows what else, but all my brain focused on right now was Damon. Damon leaned his head back and looked up at me.
"I'm sorry" He said
"…It's okay" I sighed and moved down a few steps on the stairway to sit next to him and I kissed him. "Promise to tell me what's wrong tomorrow?"
"…I promise" He sighed and leaned his head on my shoulder, I had a feeling I was the only thing propping him up right now
I grabbed Damon's hand and pulled him closer to me and held his hand in my lap. My poor Damon, whatever it was that caused him to react like this obviously was giving him quiet the scare. Which Damon and scared never usually fit in the same sentence I know, but deep down inside that vampire heart of his, I know something was scaring him, I just had to get him to tell me so I could help him.
A/N: Thoughts?
So, that was the first chapter of the sequel, what do you think ? :]
A powerful vampire is on the lose in Mystic Falls :] Jeremy's a vampire, Bonnie and her all too real dreams…kinda remind you of Cassandra's dreams, anyone? :P She'll be in the next chapter, Cassandra that is :] And Damon freaking out over a dream like that? Guess he really does want to protect Elena, huh? But what was with the freak out and attacking Anna like that? Let me know what you think :] xoxo Avril