Summary: One evening while hunting with Stefan and Damon, Caroline finds a woman in the forest, later named "Evelyn," without clothing or knowledge further than that of a newborn. Soon, it is discovered that Evelyn has more-than-human abilities; superior speed, strength to rival a vampire, perfect recall… Mystic Falls' newest resident has everyone asking the same question: What is she?
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Damon was unhappy. Scratch that; Damon was pissed. First of all, his head hurt like hell. It was like one of those mechanical monkeys that crashed the symbols together was standing over him and his head was between the symbols. The pain was constant with every tiny snap of every twig beneath their feet. On top of that, the blond that Damon had taken a sip of the previous night was not agreeing with him; it was probably the drugs that she'd just taken before he'd bitten her. Not his best idea. It all went downhill after that. Stefan beat Damon at pool. STEFAN. Did Hell freeze over and no one bothered to tell me? Damon wondered, tossing his brother a glare, "Refresh my memory; why the hell did I agree to this?"
Stefan chuckled, "Going vegetarian for a week was Option A," He glanced at Caroline, who was trying desperately to disguise her giggles as a cough, "Option B is still available…" He offered teasingly.
"Which is?" Damon asked through his teeth, not amused in the least by Vampire Barbie. Caroline took that as her cue and headed to the south; there had been a loud (for vampire ears, anyways) rustling coming from that direction earlier. Maybe she would snag a deer! That would keep her sated enough for her date with Matt tomorrow…and maybe for a little fun afterward.
"Singing 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun' at the Mystic Grill next Saturday." Stefan said, waiting for his brother's reaction.
Damon glanced sideways at his brother, blue eyes so cold that they could rival the waters of Antarctica, "You are one sick mother fu—"
"Stefan! Damon!" Stefan took off in an instant in the direction of Caroline's scream, cutting his brother's insult short.
Damon rolled his eyes. Miss Mystic Falls had probably found a bunny that didn't want to play nice; maybe she would get rabies...wait, vampires can't get rabies. "Hmm." But then again, Caroline looks pretty damned rabid when she sees another girl pawing Matt. Claws, hissing, foaming at the mouth; the whole nine-yards. Damon chuckled to himself.
"Damon." Stefan's voice came out of the darkness. His brother's voice was colored with fear and confusion. Instincts kicking in, Damon ran at full speed to his brother.
"Whoa—" Damon blinked rapidly as his mind caught up to his body, "Headrush." He looked from Stefan to Caroline; both seemed alright. He clapped his brother on the shoulder, "Stefan, the next time you see me about to drink from a junkie, please…please stop me."
"Damon, look." Caroline whispered, eyes locked on the same thing that Stefan's were; a young woman with copper hair had her knees drawn up to shield her body, her hands were over her ears and her eyes were squeezed shut. Her pale skin was completely unmarked; that knowledge was privy to the three vampires because the young woman in question was naked.
Damon's old-world manners got the best of his curiosity in the end as he draped his leather jacket over her back. She didn't respond to the clothing, if anything she squeezed her eyes tighter.
She could feel them watching her. Like their eyes commanded the thousands of tiny hairs on the back of her neck to stand on end. She didn't want to open her eyes. The strange fluffy thing that she'd seen earlier had nearly frightened her to death. What if the three things that were watching her were like the nightmarish creature from earlier? What if they had lightless black eyes, sharp claws and floppy ears? No, she didn't want to think about it; it was too terrifying.
She pushed the image to the back of her mind, now focusing on the smooth weight that was on her back. It wasn't unpleasant, then again, it was foreign and confusing. But the left over heat from whatever had occupied it earlier warmed her chilled skin, causing her to almost involuntarily remove her hands from her ears and tuck the object tighter around her body.
She could hear them speaking, though their words were nothing more than a mix of high and low pitched mumbles that varied in volume. Curiosity overpowered pure instinct and she slowly opened her eyes…
"Are you alright? Do you need help? Can we call someone for you?" Caroline asked quickly, sympathy coating her voice.
Stefan seized her arm as she took a step toward the woman, "She doesn't know what you're saying, Caroline." The woman was looking at them now, peering curiously with a slight tilt to her head.
The blond vampire shrugged, "At least she's looking at us now…and not naked. That was awkward." She cleared her throat, "Maybe we should call the police…"
They were like the creature that lived in the blue liquid she'd discovered earlier. The difference was that they weren't mimicking everything that she did. And they were all wearing something more than skin. She let out a sigh of relief as she looked to their faces and saw that they had neither dark eyes nor floppy ears. Each one of them was different, although the two males were somewhat similar.
The female had skin and eyes like the liquid-creature. Her hair was a lighter color, like the pretty light that had shone through the leaves before it became absorbed by nothing. The female's strange second skin was multicolored and multilayered. The male that had ahold of the female's arm seemed to be very afraid for her. His body was the picture of strength and his hair was standing straight up.
The older male had eyes like the glittering liquid that she'd encountered earlier; in contrast, his hair and second skin were very dark. He was different from the other male and female. He didn't seem to be afraid of her. He was at her level and apparently, not a threat. The male didn't make a noise, only observed, as he was in return.
They sat there on the forest floor for what seemed like hours before anything changed. "I'm hungry." Caroline said softly. The red haired woman watched every movement of her mouth as Caroline spoke, almost as if she was memorizing the pattern.
Damon spoke without looking at his brother, "Go ahead; I'll catch up later."
Caroline's face morphed from its human guise, giving way to the dark veins and blood-red eyes of a vampire before she turned to leave. The strange woman's eyes widened, taking all of this in. And then, the next time that Caroline spoke, everything changed. "Does this mean that the—"
One flash of fang was all that it took. The red haired woman rushed in a blur at Caroline, throwing her to the ground and pinning her to the forest floor faster than the blond could react. Caroline screamed, but the woman had a hand around her throat, cutting of the air supply almost instantly. Stefan reacted first, ready to seize the woman and throw her off of the young vampire. "Don't!" Damon snapped to his brother, knocking his hands away just in time to grab the woman in an awkward bear hug and haul her off of Caroline. To say that this took a bit of effort would be an understatement.
She screamed and struggled for a moment before relaxing completely in his arms as he lowered her back onto the forest floor. As Caroline regained her composure, she turned to see that the woman was not unconscious as she'd expected, but looking up at Damon curiously. Apparently sensing that she'd done something bad, she averted her eyes to the ground and retrieved the leather jacket that had fallen from her shoulders during the struggle. She tucked it tighter around her body, looking to it and then to Damon. She reached out a hand timidly, touching the leather before touching Damon's arm, making the connection between the heat that she'd felt from the jacket and the body that it had emanated from.
"As an answer to your earlier question, Caroline: I really don't think that calling the police is our best option here…" Stefan said, offering the young vampire a hand to get to her feet.
She scoffed, "No freaking duh."
"I'm going to take Caroline." Stefan said, "Why don't you take her back to the boarding house? We can figure the rest of this out there."
Damon nodded, but his brother and Caroline were already gone. The woman was looking at him again, copper strands spilled over her shoulder, head tilted to the side as if she were asking a silent question. Damon slowly reached out an open hand. She grasped it in both of her hands carefully, almost as if she would break it. She turned it this way and that, as if she were looking for something. She squinted at it, examining his fingers and palm before releasing it. She'd though that he'd been offering her something. "Alright, then." Damon reached his hand out again, this time taking her's and pulling her gently to her feet.
She liked it. The warmth of his touch. It was pleasant and comforting, unlike the constant scratches of the broken twigs beneath her bare feet. He was taking her somewhere away from the tall green and brown giants. Slowly, the harsh ground gave way to soft blades of cool green, a small mercy on the soles of her feet.
There was something in the distance; a large structure with pretty light that was leaking out of several holes in the sides. The pretty light was almost the same as the light that came from above hours before; this light was dim and dark. It wasn't pure. But it was light.
She looked to the dark haired male that was leading her toward the light. He'd had ahold of her hand for a long time, now and she doubted that he was going to give it back. Surprisingly though, she didn't mind one bit.
Damon watched as she slowly grew bolder, touching the wall, the books, the decanter full of bourbon that he could really use a drink of...all the while never letting go of his hand.
Stefan and Caroline returned half an hour later to find the woman from the forest in a maroon colored silk robe sitting on the bottom stair, memorizing the pattern of the Persian run at the base while Damon watched on, holding his bourbon like a security blanket.
"Anything, Damon?" Stefan asked quietly as he and Caroline seated themselves across from his brother.
"Nope." Damon downed the last few drops from his glass, "She's been fascinated by the rug for the last twenty or so minutes. I figured that I'd better leave her be if I want to keep my spine in one piece; I had a hard enough time getting my hand back as it is."
"Do you have any idea what she is?" Caroline asked.
"Well, she's obviously not human and not a vampire…and I'm really-pretty-sure that she's not a werewolf." Damon shrugged, "That's about it."
"Oh crap. I completely forgot!" Stefan groaned, head in his hands, "Elena's coming over. We were going to have dinner—"
"Do you really think that having Elena over is a good idea, considering our current situation?" Damon hissed.
Caroline snorted, swinging her purse over her shoulder as she said while making air-quotes, "Current situation? Really?" She looked at the red-haired woman, "I think she needs a name." Amidst Damon and Stefan's protests, Caroline said a bit louder, "What do you think, Evelyn?" The woman looked directly at Caroline, almost as if she knew that she was being addressed. Caroline smiled smugly at the brothers, "See? She likes it." Caroline opened the front door, "Goodnight Evelyn!" She called. The woman looked at her again, her expression no longer confused, but almost understanding.
The brothers looked at each other, sharing some kind of mental agreement before Damon said, "Fine. I'll keep her upstairs. You keep Elena downstairs. I don't think we need a repeat of what happened earlier."
"Sounds good." Stefan nodded before adding, "Oh, and uh, this isn't getting you out of our bet."
Damon made his way to the stairs, stopping just short of the rug that had fascinated 'Evelyn' for the past half hour. He turned back to his brother, "Whatever." He offered her his hand, smiling a bit as she took it and rose to her feet, "Come on, Ev."
"Just think of this as karma! It's what you get for being a dick all of the time." Stefan laughed.
Damon ignored his brother, tugging on her hand, but she didn't follow him up the steps. Instead, she led him over to Stefan.
Evelyn put a hand on Damon's arm, making sure that Stefan was watching. "Damon." She said clearly. Both men's eyebrows shot straight up. She nodded, "Damon." She said again with emphasis.
The elder Salvatore brother smirked at Stefan, "I don't think she liked you calling me names."
R&R please.