NOTE: For any pf those that read my story "Brand New Eyes" & are wondering where the story is, this is it. I decided to delete the other story and republish it with some changes, hope you don't mind :/ N.B: Set in the midst of Season 2, prior to the sacrifice.
1. BRAND NEW EYES
DAMON'S POV
"Two bourbons, if you would please", I asked the helpless bartender, "So, where's Elena?" I asked, turning to Stefan.
"With Bonnie and Caroline. She shouldn't be too long", Stefan answered. I widened my eyes in mock. Sure, girls getting ready with girls, that takes no time at all.
"Thank you" I said to the wide-eyed blushing bar tender, taking a quick sip. "What are the chances Papa Klaus will turn up?" I asked, looking round the room. It was a while since he made an appearance. A while since he made anymore demands about the sacrifice.
"I don't know Damon. All I know is if he does make an appearance, Elena needs to get out of here".
My forehead scrunched up as I scrutinized him. "Why?" I asked.
His expression turned solemn, too serious - as always. "She's not dealing with it".
I coughed a laugh, "C'mon, this is Elena we're talking about. When does she deal with anything?". It was true; Elena wasn't one for handling anything calm. It was one of the things I liked about her, her humanity. But at times, it irritated the hell out of me.
"True, but, the last thing she needs is another appearance from Klaus. She's already made up her mind abut the sacrifice".
This took me by surprise. "What?" I almost spluttered. Really? Really? Just when I thought she couldn't be any more masochistic. Now she was going to give herself over? What was she doing? She'd already made up her mind? You gotta be kidding me.
Stefan drew a sigh. "She's going to go ahead with it".
I slammed my empty glass on the bar. "Not if I have anything to do with it".
Stefan just bowed his head, looking down. "Oh, come on. Seriously." I paused as he didn't look up. "You're not seriously thinking about letting her go ahead with the sacrifice are you?".
Finally, he looked up at me.
"Of course not, Damon." He paused as I ordered another drink. "We've gotta find another way".
"We will" I declared. We had to.
"There's Elena," Stefan said, acknowledging Caroline and Bonnie, and behind them following, Elena. Turning around, I drew a breath. But it wasn't enough to prepare me for her.
She was a beauty in white, walking and meeting Stefan in the middle of the room. I watched enviously as she hugged my brother and kissed him. And smiled fondly as she glanced at me. And like endless times before, the pain of her not choosing me excavated it's claws around me. Love was a bitch, whichever idiot created such feeling should be killed. Or better yet, forced to feel what I was feeling right now.
"Damon", Bonnie hailed without a smile.
"Witchy" I replied, with a huge grin, glad I had something to shine light on my damned soul. She just narrowed her eyes at me, giving me an evil snare. My grin just grew wider.
Stefan and Elena walked over momentarily and I couldn't help but glance at her.
"Hi, Elena", I said, giving her a gentle smile. I was trying to ignore the fact that she had somewhat decided to hand herself over to the devil. My mind instead focused on her chocolate brown eyes, the innocence within them, the somewhat sadness and fear within them. But as ever, she tried to hide them.
"Damon", she said, politely, giving me a smile, "already started on the booze, I see" she said, eyeing the third glass in my hand.
I shrugged, "You know me, Elena. Wherever there's free booze-"
I was interrupted by Caroline as her mouth dropped and she walked – I'm sure she would've ran if she could – across the room, "Oh-My-God!" I followed everyone's gaze to the far end of the room, where a figure came into light.
It was a girl, outshining every other girl in the entire room. She stood alone, dressed in a floor length scarlett dress. But her face was perfection. Absolute perfection. Flawless. She captivated my attention so much that I hadn't realised Elena and Bonnie had started to walk towards the hurdling crowd. Stefan was by my side as I stood in somewhat awe. And the moment she met my eyes – for just the few seconds that they met – I was frozen. In a stance. I was in a daze. Amazed by the way she held herself in front of the crowd that surrounded her. I didn't break free from her light violet eyes; I could look into them forever, even from the distance. Momentarily, she broke my stance and approached Carol Lockwood who engulfed her in a warm hug.
I listened intently as she spoke to Carol. Her voice was gentle, soft, innocent. Her tender heartbeat beating louder than anything else in the room. And her scent... purer than anything else I'd ever known. It sent me into a frenzy.
"Oh my, Scarlett Wood?" Carol asked. How ironic, girl in scarlett was actually called scarlett. The name rang a bell, as if I should know her. But I didn't. She was hesitant and quite hostile toward the crowd emerging around her. It was evident from the look on her face that she didn't expect this.
I took a sip of my drink, not taking my eyes off her.
"Well, haven't you grown!", Carol almost exclaimed. "How are you? Did you come alone? Did you get here okay?".
"Er, yes, I'm... I-I-I'm okay. I got here okay", She stuttered without fail. It made me laugh once and from the corner of my eye, I saw Stefan look at me, dumbfounded.
"What?" I asked.
He gave me that judgy look.
"Don't give me that judgy look", I said, turning around slightly.
"You were listening in weren't you?" he asked, surely disapproving.
I shrugged, "Maybe", fighting a smile.
He nodded his head in disapprovingly. I didn't care. "Well, what's her story?" he asked after a moment, making me break my stance off her.
"What?" I said, in teasing awe. "Am I hearing right? You want me to spy for you"? This time I couldn't stop the smirk tugging at the corner of my lips.
Stefan just rolled his eyes.
"Why don't you do it yourself?"
"Because it's rude" he said, all self-righteously. I just scoffed. Oh yeah, my brother, the decent, innocent one.
"She's new in own. Name's Scarlett. Scarlett Wood".
I watched as he pondered the name in his head. I took another sip as I snooped intently.
"She knows Carol Lockwood. Well, her mother did anyway", I said, scanning the room for Elena. She was behind Caroline, who was now interrogating Scarlett. Great, Blondie's on the scene. She'll probably make her run, regretting ever coming into town. Poor girl.
"How long is she here for?" Stefan asked.
I fought a thin smile as Blondie asked the same question.
"We're about to find out," I said, walking forward, towards the crowd. She met my eyes again and paused, unable to find her words. There was something about her eyes, the way they peered on mine. The way they changed into an intense azure as she looked from me to Stefan and to me again. And in the moment, the very moment I edged near her, I felt something.
The feeling was sharp, negative. It tensed the whole atmosphere, turning everything sour. I couldn't figure it out what it was but the moment she met my eyes, it was as if the whole world went quiet. Just her and me in the room.
From her reserved facial expression, I could tell I intrigued her. Stefan intrigued her too as her eyes darted from me to him and then back to me again. Finally, when she looked away, I was released from the ever-so intense atmosphere.
"Damn, did you feel that?" I asked, truly intrigued. It was a while since anyone made me feel like that… except Elena. But it was different with this girl. This girl was…. Different, dare I say it.
"Yeah", Stefan nodded, his face was scrunched up in deep thought. "There's…there's something different about her". Way to state the obvious brother.
"Yeah, tell me about it. That weird voo-joo thing she's going on doesn't impress me. I gotta find out what she is" I said, finishing my drink and tossing it back onto the counter.
"What?" Stefan almost exclaimed, appearing in front of me as if I'd back away. I didn't. "What do you mean find out what she is?" he asked.
"Come on, she's not human. I thought even you'd sussed that out by now".
"How'd you know?" he asked, doubtfully. Seriously? Why was he a vampire? He should know these things.
"Let's see. No normal human being makes me uncomfortable like she just did. No normal human being gets away with making me feel like that. That weird vibey thing just there, that's not normal. And I'm going to find out".
I started before Stefan could even think twice as to protesting against my actions.
SCARLETT'S POV
The night ensembled into one that I'd never have dreamed of. The entire night, Caroline dragged me along meeting nearly every person in this town. I agreed reluctantly at her gesture to meeting her friends; Matt Donovan whom she eagerly gushed over, Elena Gilbert whom she spoke so fondly of, Bonnie Bennet whose hand I merely nudged yet hard enough for her to almost jump back. Caroline, of course, laughed at this incident but I couldn't help but see Bonnie's confusion and anxiety when our hands met. It was as if… as if she had faced a shocking realisation. It didn't affect me of course; I was far from feeling anything these days. It was coming to the end of the night and I had met - literally - every resident of the town; from Caroline's Mom, sheriff Forbes, to Jenna Sommers who seemed as eager to meet me as Elena Gilbert was, assuring me if there was anything I needed and blah, blah, blah…
By the end of the night, the only few residents I wasn't quite acquainted to were the two brooding males I saw at the beginning of the night. I saw one of them vaguely when Elena introduced herself to me but he somewhat bowed out. I didn't pay much attention at the time and guessed I wasn't staying long enough in the town to care. Tyler tagged along through most of the evening. But then again, I gathered he felt the need to due to Carol. Like his Mom, he seemed nice and kind enough to give me an exit when I'd had enough of Caroline's annoying banter. She was a nice girl – a little talkative and opinionated – but a little too much - after all, it was the first time in what felt like a lifetime that I sincerely connected with the human race. Passing Tyler a friendly glance, I escaped.
I made my way out into the empty balcony on the top floor, passing groups of Caroline's friends from school. I didn't stop long enough to be caught in yet another useless conversation about being the new girl in school and how it affected your social status and so on; again, it wasn't like I was staying here long enough to care.
The air was crisp up here in the night sky. Below the balcony, the lawn was outstretched almost far as the little bespoke woods at the far end, scattered with couples, groups gathering in light conversation. Standing here, it did feel like home; like I'd lived here before. I could hear the light conversations below on the porch and behind in the rooms, but I just stared out into the sky, wondering how, if this was another typical night, where I'd be. Some other city like all the others? Another town in the west somewhere, cooped up in some motel alone? Taking in all the thoughts, I came to the conclusion that it felt surreal that I was actually in the confinements of company. Company I'd seeked for so long. And I was content here.
"Quite a view" a soft voice interrupted. I looked back immediately to see a tall, slender, dark haired man stand inches away from me. It was him. The guy from downstairs – well, one of them anyway. The one giving me that unreeling glare. He smiled gently now and his eyes… his smouldering eyes almost poured into mine. They were light, almost like… like a grey dusk with a hint of ice – if that was even possible. But that didn't mater. What mattered was how close he stood. He was much too close to touch. Meeting his eyes directly for the very first time in the entire night, I couldn't breakaway. We stood silent for what felt like a very long time. Smiling back, I replied – glancing back at the sky.
"Yeah, it's pretty amazing", I gushed. His eyes were still on mine when I glanced at him before dropping my eyes to the floor. It was comfortable the way he stood ever so close.
"I'm sorry, we haven't met" he said, holding his hand out, "I'm Damon. Damon Salvatore". I kept back a laugh at the way he said it. The James Bond resonance was one I'd first heard aloud. Reluctantly, I accepted his hand and he perched down to kiss mine. Wow. If I wasn't mesmerised by his charm, I would've blushed, panicked and had an episode of fainting mildly into his hands. But I was too mesmerised. He let go of my hand as he waited for my reply. Disoriented, I took a moment, "I'm… Scarlett". He smiled.
"Nice to meet you, Scarlett. New in town?", he asked ever so charmingly. The corner of his lips twitched and my heart almost skipped a beat. As if he didn't know that I was new in town, I literally had the welcoming of a clown's freak show. He was simply amusing me.
"Yeah, if it wasn't too obvious with the introduction I had downstairs" I said, almost blushing at my embarrassment.
He laughed gently, "Yeah, that's Carol for you. You'll get used to it," he said, walking to my side, edging to the balcony like I had been before. "Are you staying with her?" he asked. I moved to my previous position beside him, looking down at the crowds.
"Er, no. I've… well, I'm living at our old house. Just at the edge of town".
"Oh," his eyes scrutinised. "Lived here before?" he asked. And then the wave of torture hit.
"Scarlett!" she yelled out. I could hear her coming closer, near me. But I didn't respond. She couldn't find me. Not when I was like this. I was scared of what she would think of me, of what I had become. I wasn't her five-year old daughter anymore. I was… different. "Charlotte!" she called closer, I could hear father calling my name simultaneously. I held my breath as he walked past before stopping a couple of metres. He was looking around hesitantly at the surrounding woods, looking for me. The inflicting pain in my back and chest was excruciating but I bit my lip and held onto the weeds of the thick undergrowth. They couldn't find me. "I don't know where she is. You sure she ran out here?" father asked. "Yes, she saw me and ran. I don't know why. She looked, she looked, scared…" mother's voice trembled on the last word as she broke into tears. My heart ached against my chest as I sobbed silently. I didn't want mother to cry, not like this, not ever. I hated that I had hurt her. "It's alright; she's going to be alright. We'll find her" father reassured. Fighting against the lump in my throat, I wished it was true, I wished I was going to be alright. I yearned and longed for it. But I knew better. Knew from the pit of my stomach to my now aching, jolting heart, that I would never suffice from what I had become. Knowing this, I yelped out a pained cry as my back caved inwards; I let go of myself…
"Hey, you okay?" Damon asked, shifting his posture closer to me. I didn't quite comprehend to what he was asking. I didn't quite understand why the words he said earlier sent such a shock through me. He simply asked whether I had lived here before, not as if he had brought up my entire past. In fact, I didn't know why or how I let myself become such a state. It had been so long since I had this kind of flashback. It felt surreal. I felt surreal.
"You look a little blue" he said, scrutinizing me. Hesitantly, I looked up at him, fidgeting with my sweaty palms. My throat closed up. His eyes scanned mine. Letting out a breath, I readjusted my posture.
"Yeah… yes, I'm fine. I'm just," I looked past him, at the gathering below. "Just been a hell of a day." I finally finished, trying to smile.
"You sure, you don't look so good" he said. His right hand was outstretched onto mine and instantly, before I could even comprehend; a somewhat powerful current shook through both of us. I was forced to take a few steps back. I wasn't the only one to realise what had happened; Damon saw it too. And we stood, our eyes fixated on one another. He was struck in awe – whether shocked or surprised – I didn't know, but his eyes – it were as if they changed colours, smouldering brighter. I was dazed and disoriented and didn't understand it. It was the first time I had, reacted? I didn't know what it meant and I guessed neither did Damon. His eyes still pouring into mine suspiciously, he opened his mouth and …
"There you are!" Caroline's high pitched voice shrilled through me, nearly knocking me back once again. She stood behind Damon with the other, more brooding male I saw Damon with earlier. His eyes – like Damon's – were almost identical.
"I thought you'd got lost. Tyler didn't have a clue where you had gone. Gosh, you missed out on one hell of a party downstairs" she gushed but I was more focused on what looked like a staring competition between Damon and the other male. It didn't take Caroline long to realise I wasn't quite listening to her and she looked in my line of sight, at the other two.
"Oh, you guys haven't met!" she said almost too boisterously. "This is Stefan" and as soon as she said his name, both Stefan and Damon instantly peered back at me.
"He's Damon's brother – I see you've met Damon." she giggled. The corner of Damon's mouth twitched slightly as he smiled mischievously. Somehow, I could tell he was still scrutinising me, like his brother was doing now. After a moment, Stefan smiled, and approached, his hand outstretched slightly to take mine. He was beautiful, of course. Like his brother, he too shared the same eyes but his were, slightly lighter. They looked alike - the similarities in their facial appearance was uncanny. But it was too much for me. Standing here, with them both and Caroline, having felt what I had with Damon, I suddenly felt immensely more uncomfortable.
Instead of placing mine into his, I forced a smile, "Nice to meet you," I simply said, dismissively. Trying hard to ignore his hand, I faced Caroline abruptly – avoiding his hand completely. "I'm going to head home. Just tell Carol I've left". I attempted to flee past her... and failed.
Her mouth fell open as Damon and Stefan repositioned themselves. "You can't go now", she said, her face slightly falling.
"Yeah, stay for a dance," Damon suggested, smiling now with his deep set eyes still close on mine. His voice was calm, full of serenity but his eyes spoke otherwise. There was a playful edge to his dazzling eyes that warned danger out to me.
"Yes! It's about to start soon!" Caroline agreed. I smiled hopelessly; I was going to get out of here somehow. "I can't, I need to get home", I urged.
"We'll drop you off. I'll tell Tyler to drop you off-"
"I can drop you off later… or even Stefan." Damon interjected. I saw Stefan pass Damon a deathly stare. Meeting Damon's pondering eyes finally; I nodded.
"That won't be necessary. I'm tired and..." I paused, looking at Stefan who was almost glaring at Damon from the side, "I've got a lot of unpacking to do".
Before I let them protest further, I started for the door. "But thanks, it was, it was nice meeting you all". I tried to smile convincingly and as calmly as I could at them all. I don't think they bought it.
"Well, I'll see you out", Caroline offered. I didn't want her to but I figured protesting to that was much too rude, so simply smiled back at her and caught a glimpse of Damon who followed Caroline – was he going to see me off too? Great. Caroline came to my side instantly as I made for the crowds. And from the corner of my eye, I saw Stefan grab Damon's arms as he started for us. I didn't wait long enough to see the end of that.
As offered, Caroline saw me off out of the parking lot. She waved as I drove out of the residence. Passing the outstretched lawn and past the gates, I put my foot down on the accelerator and drove as fast as I could out of the place. Coming here was a mistake. One big mistake. Tonight's' episode concluded this fact. I didn't know who the brothers were but what happened back there, it wasn't nothing. First the flashback; I didn't have an episode like that in years. And coming back to this town reinstates the flashbacks? What was happening here?
I didn't know whether it was just this town or the brothers of just the entire new experience, but something wasn't right. Why did I flinch when Damon touched my hand – why then, why not the first time we met? Why did he scrutinise me after that shock? Why did his eyes not leave mine? Why was Stefan looking at him like that, what could it have meant? My mind went into overdrive as I scanned through the nights events; it was all a mystery to me. And I was normally good with mysteries. But, why couldn't I solve this one?
Finally pulling up to the house, I pulled the keys out of the ignition and sat there for a moment. I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath as I fell back into my seat. I was tired. Tired and new to all of this. It had been years since I was back here – back in the company of people. I was bound to exaggerate. Maybe Damon as just simply looking at me because I freaked out, not because of some other issue. Maybe I had the flashback because I was home again. Maybe I was reading too much into everything… maybe, just maybe.
I opened my eyes again and stepped out. I made my way up the porch stairs but an abrupt sound averted my attention. I scanned behind me at the trees and the driveway I'd just came in through; it was vacant. Okay, now I was tired and hearing things. Closing the door behind me, I switched on the lights and made my way up the stairs. I didn't go into my room – which was stacked in boxes and plastic coverings. Instead, I passed the hallway into Mothers bedroom. It was just as I'd left it many summers ago. The room was captivated in her scent. I didn't know why I didn't come in here earlier, perhaps it would've made today easier.
I didn't bother getting changed from the dress and slipped my shoes off before crawling into bed. Sinking into the covers, I lay still. It was dark outside but the bed lamp enfilled the room in mesmerising colours. Her beloved lamp to which I had adored when I was younger – I remembered the night she put it in my bedroom so that I would fall asleep in her arms instead of lying awake, waiting for the nightmares to begin. The memory dug out tears from my already sore eyes. Holding the duvet closer, I tried to blink the tears away. How I wished she was here now, to hold me before the nightmares began…
Somewhat later – after the tears had dried, I drifted into sleep, unknowing whether my nightmares would suffice or not. I was out of it so much I didn't filter the somewhat loud thudding against the floor boards, as if I wasn't alone. As if someone else was in the room, watching me; close enough that I could hear their heart beating silently…
What did you think? Reviews would be much appreciated:)