Where the Lonely Ones Roam
Summary: Victoria Donovan is Matt's twin sister. She drinks, does drugs and she's basically a screw-up. Everything changes though the first time Damon Salvatore feeds from her. Damon/OC. Vicki Donovan replaced by Tori/Victoria Donovan. Victoria Donovan portrayed by Amanda Seyfried. Story starts from the Pilot episode.
Pairings: Damon/OC eventually (with a little Tyler/OC and Jeremy/OC temporarily - though wih Jeremy they're just friends when the story begins). Slight Damon/Elena and Damon/Katherine.
So basically this is a story where the character of Vicki Donovan is replaced by an OC character created by me. I decided to maintain the name Victoria but she will be nicknamed Tori not Vicki. I imagine my OC as Amanda Seyfried. I always thought Vicki's story had real potential but her character was so pathetic – I'm sorry that's just my opinion – until the very end. So I decided to take her as an example and create an OC character that replaces her.
Victoria/Tori in this story is Matt's twin sister, so they are the same age. At the beginning of the story, like Vicki in the TV show, she still does drugs and she drinks and she's still with Tyler – but she's only friend with Jeremy – but she's a pretty strong character, unlike the real Vicki. She's just a little lost. After Damon feeds from her in the pilot episode, things will diverge from Canon, and not only where Victoria is concerned. In this story Victoria is not exactly human and who saw a certain deleted scene from season1 with Kelly Donovan, can guess what Victoria is. That doesn't mean that she won't be turned into a vampire though – she will just be different than a normal vampire. I'm not saying more than that on the matter. Just know that Tori is a supernatural creature as well, before becoming a vampire, though she doesn't know until Damon bites her; she will find out about her powers then – like what happened with Lydia in Teen Wolf basically.
Oh, yeah, the title is from a song by Digital Daggers.
I really hope you'll like my story! Please read and review, I want to know your opinions!
Disclaimer: I'll say this only once. I don't own 'The Vampire Diaries' (books or TV Show) nor do I make money by writing this.
Chapter 1
Waking up with a hangover the first day of school was not exactly one of the best decisions Tori had ever made, but that was her, the eternal screw-up. Matt was the responsible one, the football player who actually had a future away from this town. What did she have? She was not good enough at school to win a scholarship and, even with the work at the Grill, she didn't have enough money to go to college. Actually most of the money she gained at work was used to pay the bills and for grocery shopping, with the occasional new clothes she conceded herself once in a while.
She really tried not to think about her future – or her lack of – but sometimes it was really difficult not to. And that explained the hangover. Her head was killing her but at least it had been worth it. She just wanted to shut everything out, at least for one evening. She had fun with Jeremy yesterday. Not that she could remember everything that she did because she couldn't, most of the things that happened yesterday were a blur but she knew she had fun. She always had fun with Jeremy.
Jeremy was her best friend – though their friendship was pretty recent. He was two years younger than her but she didn't care. He was cool and, most of all he didn't judge her. He had a really rough time since his parents' passing and all, so she could relate. She never met her father and her mom was always away with the new flavor of the week so they were alone, she and Matt, left to fend for themselves. They were orphans too, in a way.
Finding the strength to get out of bed was difficult but somehow she managed. She took off her clothes quickly and jumped in the shower. The cold water served to wake her up a little but her head was still pounding.
She dressed in a hurry, picking up the first things she noticed in the wardrobe and descended the stairs towards the kitchen. She needed coffee, badly, and a Tylenol too.
"Morning Tori!" Her brother greeted her with a smile. He was usually a morning person, facing the day in a good mood but today he seemed a little distant. Then, she remembered why. Elena Gilbert had broken up with him during the summer and now he would be forced to see her at school every day. Tori wouldn't be happy either if she was in his situation.
"Morning Matty!" Tori smiled at him and poured him some coffee. Matt thanked her and drank the whole cup in one gulp before running out of the house, revving the engine of his truck and leaving for school. She shrugged at that. She really didn't want to run even if she knew she'd probably end up arriving late on her first day of school. She drank from her cup in long gulps, almost inhaling the whole thing. At the end of it she felt almost human again, even if the shadows under her eyes could tell you the opposite. She took a look at the big, old clock hanged in their kitchen wall and noticed that she still had a few minutes left before she was completely late. She took her bag and her brown leather jacket from the chair in front of her and left the house. She had a second hand car that she loved even if it was a piece of junk. It wasn't like she could afford anything better than that and since it was still going, why complain?
She reached the school in about five minutes and she still had the time to meet Jeremy in the courtyard behind the school, 'the junkies' place' as it was commonly called.
"Hey Jer, how are you feeling this morning? As hangover as I am?" Tori asked with a smirk in his direction.
"Yep. But don't worry, I have the solution for that." And with that saying, he pulled a packet of pills out of his pocket, showing it to her.
"How did you get that?" She asked him surprised.
"They're Elena's. The doctor prescribed them to her after my parents...you know..."
"Oh..." She felt awkward at having asked that and now she didn't know how to break the embarrassing silence.
"Anyway," began Jeremy again, breaking it for her. "Don't take more than two in a six hour window." Tori nodded at him in a show of understanding while stretching out her hand to allow Jeremy to put the pills in her palm. She swallowed them down immediately without the help of water.
"Hey Tori." A voice from behind her called out. "I knew I'd find you here with the crackheads." It was Tyler, her boyfriend.
Tori smiled at him but she suddenly felt uncomfortable in his presence. Things between her and Tyler had been strange lately – or maybe they had always been strange and she was noticing it just now –. She considered him her boyfriend, but sometimes she had the impression that for him, she was nothing more than a convenient fuck.
He had never asked her out on a real date, they basically did nothing more than have sex. He had never asked her – not once – to attend one of those stupid founders parties with him either and there were a lot of them in Mystic Falls and most of them took place in his house. More and more Tori had the impression that he was ashamed of her, or that at least, he thought that his parents would be ashamed of him for going out with her.
"Hey." She said to him anyway, greeting him with a kiss. She noticed Jeremy grimacing in her peripheral vision. Tori knew Jeremy wasn't happy with her choice of boyfriend, he didn't like Tyler.
Tyler kissed her back possessively and she suddenly realized that he was putting up on a show for Jeremy, even if she had no idea why. She immediately stopped kissing him then and Tyler smirked at her before turning his attention to Jeremy.
"Hey, Pete Wentz called. He wants his nail polish back." He mocked him but Jeremy just smirked at him and replied "Pete Wentz, huh? How old school T.R.L. of you. Carson Daly fan?"
Tyler glared at Jeremy and was about to hit him when Tori put a hand on his chest to stop him. "Ty, stop. Jeremy's my friend and he's Elena's little brother."
Jeremy smirked at Tyler one more time, winked at her and then left to go inside the school. "I know who he is. I'll still kick his ass." Tyler said, as soon as Jeremy was out of earshot.
"What do you have against Jeremy anyway? He didn't do anything to you." Tori asked, suddenly irritated at his immature behavior.
"I don't like the fact that he's always around you, following you around like a lost puppy." Tyler said, close to sulking.
Tori raised an eyebrow at him and asked incredulous. "Are you jealous of Jeremy? Is that what this is about?"
"That kid has a huge crush on you. And you're blind if you didn't notice it."
"Jeremy doesn't have a crush on me. We're friends and that's it. Stop behaving like an immature jerk please. You don't have any reason to be jealous of him. You're my boyfriend, aren't you? Not him, so stop behaving like a bully."
Tyler didn't say anything in return and Tori resigned herself to other shows of jealousy from him. She suddenly heard the bell ringing and realized that she was late for history. Not that she cared but she didn't want Tanner to send her to the principal's office on the first day of school. She quickly made her way to the right class and her place on the last row, near the window, and noticed, a few places in front of her, a new face she didn't recognize. He was a handsome guy who somehow seemed older that seventeen years old, with light brown hair and green eyes. She wondered who he was, probably a new student. Her musings were interrupted by Tanner who had entered inside the class just in that moment.
"Once our home state of Virginia joined confederacy in 1861, it created a tremendous amount of tension within the state." Tanner began with his lecture. "People in Virginia's northwest region had different ideals than those from the traditional deep south. Then Virginia divided in 1863 with the northwest region joining the union."
Tori tuned him out almost immediately, spending her time looking out the window and letting her mind wander. When she noticed the time, she realized that the lesson was about to end and she tried to pay attention again but it was pretty useless. She noticed something that was able to capture her attention much faster than anything Tanner could have said. Elena exchanging glances with the new student and smiling at him. Tori glared at the back of her head, offended on her brother's behalf. She was moving on fast, it seemed.
It was about four o'clock and she was at the Grill for her afternoon shift, working. She was cleaning one of the table with a cloth when she noticed Jeremy coming towards her. She greeted him with a smile. "Hey Jer, you want something to eat? Burger and Fries?"
Jeremy smiled at her. "Sure."
"Be right over." She gave the order to the cook and continued serving the tables. She noticed her brother and Tyler sitting at a table together and decided to join them.
"Hey, you guys need a refill?" She asked them, the coffee carafe in her hand.
"Thanks Tori." Matt smiled at her. Tori nodded and poured the coffee in his cup.
"I'd love one." Tyler answered, smiling flirtatiously at her. She smiled back at him before refilling his cup too. She noticed Matt looking at the both of them with a slight frown.
She heard Matt asking Tyler if he was hooking up with her. She shook her head, Matt was noticing it just now? Talking about being oblivious.
When Jeremy's order was ready, she brought it to him with a smile.
"Hey, do you have time to talk for a couple of minutes?" Jeremy asked her suddenly.
Tori frowned at him, confused at his serious tone but nodded. "Yeah, sure. I'm on a break anyway."
"I don't mean to pry Tori but...how can you be with someone like Tyler? I mean, the guy's a total douche. You're too good for him." Tori smiled at Jeremy, touched by his concern.
"Thanks Jer, I appreciate your concern. But I like Tyler, okay? And yeah, he could be a total douche like you said, but...I want this to work, you know? I know that he's a good guy, deep down inside. And he can be very sweet with me when he wants to."
Jeremy huffed at her in disagreement. "You can do so much better than him." He took her hand in his and she suddenly realized that he was looking at her with a look of deep affection. Maybe Tyler wasn't so wrong after all when he said that Jeremy had a crush on her. She felt suddenly uncomfortable but she tried not to show it.
"Maybe. Or maybe Tyler is the kind of guy I deserve." Tori said with an emotionless tone. Jeremy frowned at her and released her hand.
"Don't say that, Tori. It's not true. You're amazing. You deserve everything that is good in this world."
Tori shook her head at him. "I have to go back to work. Sorry." She said to him before quickly leaving his side.
She went back to work and a couple of minutes later she noticed Bonnie Bennett and Caroline Forbes entering the diner. She showed them to a table before asking their orders. Caroline grimaced at her before answering and Tori tried really hard not to roll her eyes at her aptitude.
She listened to their conversation without meaning to when they started talking about the new guy. Tori was curious like everyone else about him. It was an unusual thing for them to have someone new moving into town. "His name is Stefan Salvatore. He lives with uncle up at the old Salvatore boarding house. He hasn't lived here since he was a kid. Military family, so they moved around a lot. He's a Gemini, and his favorite color is blue." Caroline was saying at top speed.
Bonnie looked amazed at her before asking "You got all of that in one day?"
Caroline's answer was typical her. "Oh, please, I got all that between third and fourth period. We're planning a June wedding." This time she really couldn't help rolling her eyes.
It was a few minutes later that Tori noticed Stefan Salvatore entering the Grill with no other than Elena Gilbert and her gaze immediately went to her brother. She noticed immediately the expression on his face and once again she couldn't help but feeling angry with Elena for the pain she was putting her brother through. When Stefan and Elena joined Bonnie and Caroline at their table, Tori asked for their orders too and then scattered away from them. She really didn't want to assist to Elena and Stefan's flirty dance.
The rest of the evening passed slowly and she returned home at ten o'clock, exhausted and with just enough energy to put on pajamas and collapsed on her bed before falling into a deep, dreamless sleep.
The next morning was once again a school day and they had another hour of history. This time Tanner was hell-bent on having them participating to his lesson by asking them questions that of course they didn't know the answers to. "The Battle of Willow Creek took place right at the end of the war in our very own Mystic Falls. How many casualties resulted in this battle? Ms. Bennett?"
Bonnie looked startled at the sudden attention placed on her. "Um…a lot? I'm not sure. Like a whole lot."
Tanner sneered at her while the class laughed. "Cute becomes dumb in an instant, Ms. Bennett. Mr. Donovan? Would you like to take this opportunity to overcome your embedded jock stereotype?"
She smirked at her brother's answer. "It's ok, Mr. Tanner, I'm cool with it."
"What about your sister then?" He said, turning his gaze towards her. "Miss Donovan? Can you answer the question?"
Tori smiled at him innocently. "Sorry no. I'm not good with numbers."
Tanner smirked at her mockingly, "I don't think I've ever seen you doing anything you're actually good at."
Instead of becoming angry at his words, Tori replied with a smirk of her own before answering suggestively, "Well, I'm sure you never will either...or try it for yourself for that matter." The rest of the class – that had obviously caught up on her meaning – laughed aloud at that.
Tanner glared at her before shifting his attention towards some other poor student. "Elena? Surely you can enlighten us about one of the town's most significantly historical events?"
Elena looked like a deer caught in headlights. "I'm sorry, I-I don't know."
Tanner assumed a disappointed expression at her answer. "I was willing to be lenient last year for obvious reasons, Elena. But the personal excuses ended with summer break."
Suddenly another voice interrupted the sudden silence that had been created at Tanner's words. "There were 346 casualties. Unless you're counting local civilians." It was Stefan Salvatore's.
"That's correct. Mister. . .?" Tanner asked surprised.
"Salvatore." Stefan replied impassively.
Tanner looked intrigued at that. "Salvatore. Any relation to the original settlers here at Mystic Falls?"
Tori immediately noticed a slight grimace passing quickly through Stefan's face. "Distant."
"Well, very good." Tanner continued before adding smugly. "Except, of course, there were no civilian casualties in this battle."
Stefan smiled at him in reply before adding with a false, apologetic tone. "Actually, there were 27, sir. Confederate soldiers, they fired on the church, believing it to be housing weapons. They were wrong. It was a night of great loss. The founder's archives are, uh, stored in civil hall if you'd like to brush up on your facts. Mr. Tanner."
Tori smirked at that, like pretty much the rest of the students. Tanner was obviously incapable of finding an adequate reply before all he could answer was "Hmm."
Tyler had actually invited her to be his date at the party at the falls and for once, she was actually excited to be at a party for some other reason than because she wanted to get drunk. She got ready with care, deciding to wear a light blue summer dress that reached her mid-thigh. She put a little make up on and waited for Tyler to come pick her up. She smiled at him as soon as she opened the door and kissed him deeply. When they finally parted, Tori noticed with satisfaction that he appeared a little dazed. She smiled at him again before taking his hand in hers and reaching his car. In about ten minutes they reached the woods where the party was held. Tyler immediately offered her something to drink and she started sipping slowly from a bottle of beer. She didn't want to get drunk and possibly ruin her date by doing something stupid. Unfortunately she noticed Tyler drinking more and more as the night went on.
At one point he decided to bring her with him to the woods to have a little privacy. She wasn't really adverse to that so she accepted. They started kissing, she against the trunk of a tree, Tyler's body against hers. When he started touching her more intimately though, she realized that he hadn't brought her there just to make out with her.
"No, Ty. I'm not having sex against a tree." Tori protested while putting a hand against his chest. She was still smiling though, she wasn't really angry with him. But when he ignored her and continued kissing her and trying to touch her, she started to become angry and a little scared. "Oh, come on, it would be hot." Tyler said to convince her.
She looked at him, now pretty pissed off. "For who? No, it's not going to happen." Tyler ignored her words once again and she tried to stop him but she wasn't strong enough. "It's not going to happen, not here, not like this. No. I said no. I said no!" She tried to push him away but he brought her against the tree with force "Ow, that hurts!"
Suddenly Jeremy appeared out of nowhere, pushing Tyler away from her. "Hey, leave her alone!"
Tyler glared at him, not the least bit apologetic or remorseful. "You know, you're starting to get on my nerves, Gilbert."
"Just go, Tyler." Tori said, intervening in the glaring contest. "It's over. We're over. Get the hell away from me."
Tyler looked at her with a mocking expression before directing one last dig towards her. "Wow. Victoria Donovan that says no. That's a first."
Tori glared at his retreating back before breathing deeply to calm herself down. How stupid she had been. She was so damn excited for this party. And it had ended in the worst way possible.
"Are you okay?" Jeremy asked her, bringing her out of her thoughts. Tori felt his warm hand on her naked shoulder and resisted the urge to cry. "Yeah." Then she looked at him with what she hoped was a smile. "Thank you Jeremy."
"Anytime." Then he stopped to reconsider. "Well, not anytime because that would mean you would find yourself in situations like that more than once and I certainly don't want that but..."
Tori laughed at his bubbling. "Yeah, I understand what you mean."
"Maybe we should go back to the party." Jeremy proposed then but she shook her head. "No, I...I need to be alone for awhile. Can you please…"
Jeremy seemed about to protest but then nodded at her, resigned. "Yes, sure. Whatever you need."
"Thank you." Tori was left alone with her thoughts then and she started wandering around the woods without a precise direction in mind.
About ten minutes later, she suddenly heard a noise behind her, like that of twigs snapping. She turned around immediately, shouting out "Jeremy? Is that you? Jeremy?" No answer.
Suddenly fog started to descend all around her and she noticed the shape of a man through the thick mist. Then the man-shape disappeared from her line of vision before reappearing in a second directly in front of her. Tori wasn't able to distinguish his features very well, but his face – because it was a man's face – looked monstrous, with veins under his eyes, fangs bared and eyes the color of blood. She suddenly felt an excruciating pain on her neck and then everything went black.
Tori woke up a few minutes later on the forest ground with Jeremy's voice screaming at her to wake up. Everything was blurry but she could vaguely distinguish his face and that of Elena's. The both of them were able to carry her between the two of them. She wasn't able to move a muscle, feeling completely drained and exhausted.
Tori heard Elena screaming for help and Matt trying to keep her from falling unconscious, something that was becoming more and more difficult as the minutes went by. She was able to distinguish Tyler's voice in the myriad of voices surrounding her, asking what had happened to her. She heard Elena explaining that something had bitten her and that she was losing a lot of blood. Then someone put a piece of cloth on her neck to stop the bleeding. She was losing consciousness fast even if she was trying with all her might to stay awake. Matt's voice, asking her to stay with him was the last thing she heard before succumbing to darkness.
Tori woke up in a sterile, white room, in a pretty uncomfortable bed and she realized immediately that she was in a hospital room. She looked around her and noticed Matt sitting in a chair near the bed she was laying on. She was feeling anxious and scared and she had no idea what the hell had happened to her. As soon as Matt realized that she was awake, he immediately tried to calm her down, obviously noticing the agitated state she was in.
"Tori…Hey. Hey, it's ok. You're gonna be ok."
"Matt-" She tried to say to him but he interrupted her. "Hey, don't try to talk, ok? You're fine." He tried to reassure her but she needed to tell him, he needed to understand and listen. It was important.
"Vampire." Was all Tori was able to say though before passing out again.