DISCLAIMER:I do not own any of these characters. Everything but my imagine belongs to Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec and all writers of the vampire diaries t.v. show.

*This story is told through Ava's point of view of the tv show.

Lost in the Darkness: Pilot

Avandra Marie Salvatore walked about her room, collecting things to put in her school bag. She put on her black leather jacket, lifting her hair out of the way. She caught herself in the mirror. Long, dark chocolate brown hair. Blue eyes. Soft pink lips, pale skin, and a sharp jaw line. Everything that made her the spitting image of her mother. Her mother is what kept her going, kept her from letting her brothers rip each other apart. Even if she was the youngest, she was the first to turn, so therefore she was strongest. Ava played with the dark blue stone ring around her finger, leaving her lost in her own mind.

A large thump come from outside, pulling her from her thoughts. She walked over to her giant bay window, and opened it. Her twin brother Stefan was looking up at her, a smile on his face. "Come on slow poke! We're gonna be late for our first day of school!" he said, a sense of wickedness in his brown eyes. Ava smiled back. She turned and with vampire speed grabbed her things and jumped down to her brother, the pair headed off to their new school. Their next chance at a normal life.

"Your records are incomplete."

The older secretary was obviously unimpressed by the twins' papers, or lack thereof. This happened every time one or both of them tried to enter school. But hey, when you were two 160 year old plus teenagers, you didn't really have much by way of an identity.

"You're missing immunization records and we do insist on transcripts."

Ava rolled her eyes underneath her glasses, and were about to remove them, when from beside her, Stefan spoke. "Please, look again." He calmly asked. "I'm sure everything you need is there."

Ava was thoroughly impressed by her brother's resolve and the fact that he actually seemed to be successful in his most recent compulsion. Even though she was secretly living off blood bags, Stefan was drinking animal blood. Ava didn't know what kind of strength he had. The woman stared deeply into his eyes, lost in his order, before slowly looking back down.

"Well you're right." She said smiling at him, before turning to Ava. "So it is."

She looked back down at the papers, before moving to her computer to get the twins their schedules. Stefan suddenly took his sister's hand. She looked over to him and nodded, knowing that that compulsion had taken a lot out of him. Stefan turned and walked out of the office, leaving Ava to pick up any of the dirty work. The secretary didn't need much more convincing; she gave Ava the schedules in a speedy manor, also giving her a map with the siblings' classes circled. Once that was done she went to go find her brother and noticed a string of girls staring in the direction where he obviously went in. But as Ava came around the corner she saw Stefan saying goodbye to her. Elena Gilbert. The girl he came back for. The girl who looked like Katherine.

After school, Ava returned home alone. Stefan told her he wanted to go explore the town they once called home. She decided it would be a good time to sneak a few blood bags before he returned. Ava kept her diet a secret from Stefan, not because he would judge her, but because of the way he reacted around human blood. He had spent to long "sober" from the live stuff, and even though Ava had a craving, she didn't want Stefan to suffer.

The only other problem was she had to sneak them outside of the house, not wanting to run the risk of Zach thinking she was killing people. She wasn't getting it live, she had a supplier at the hospital, who she kept compelled. God, what would Damon think if he were here?

She ripped off the top of the bag and devoured it in three gulps and then did the same with the second and then with a third. She hadn't fed in the couple of days and had been running the risk of getting to hungry. And with her wanting to go out later that night, she didn't need to run the risk.

Ava disposed of the bags coyly in the trash, before going into the bathroom to clean up. She cleaned her face and stared at the mirror, getting a flash of the girl she used to be. The naïve girl from 1800s Virginia. The girl who trusted anyone until two men took everything from her. She shook it off, hearing the front door open. "Ava!"

Ava threw down the hand towel and walked out of the bathroom, seeing a distressed Stefan standing at the foot of the stairs. Ava quickly went to his side. "What's wrong Stefan?"

"I lost control."

"With who?"

"With Elena."

Ava got Stefan under control and once night hit she left for the Mystic Grill. She heard it was the best hang out in Mystic Falls. Walking in, she was seated by a tall-ish girl with long brown hair. Ava could smell the drugs all over her. As she sat down, Ava saw three guys that caught her eye. One was blonde, an All-American type in a letter man's jacket. Sitting with him was an athletic looking guy, with dark eyes. However, the blonde guy called him a douche so he was probably not worth taking interest in. But the one that really caught her attention was a younger guy with dark hair who wore all black. He was talking to her waitress, saying how she deflowered him.

Ava laughed and the guy turned toward her as the waitress left. "Did you hear that." he asked.

"Not if you didn't want me to." She smiled. "Do you want to sit down?"

The guy thought about it for a second and then made his way over to her and sat down. "I'm Jeremy."

"Ava. Ava Salvatore." They shook hands and laughed at each other. "That was so old school." Ava said.

"Yeah it was." he said and smiled at her. There was a pause and Jeremy spoke. "So what did you think of her?"

"The waitress. Well, I just think she's using you for drugs, but that's my opinion."

Jeremy contemplated this for a second. "So when did you move here. It's a small town. I would have seen you before."

"Recently, but this place has always been like home."

"Makes sense." He replied. "I would have remembered someone like you."

"Wow." Ava said. "Impressive. You've got some moves."

"Well, maybe I was being sincere." Jeremy said, smiling. Ava licked her lips and moved a piece of hair behind her ear. "So since you're new, you must not know about the back to school party at the falls. It's kind of a tradition and you couldn't officially be a part of the town if you didn't go." Jeremy sighed. "Besides, it would be a good way to get to know you better."

Ava chuckled. "We'll see."

As she said this, she suddenly the air in the room intensify. She turned, smelling something familiar, and saw Stefan entering the bar with Elena. The blonde guy went up to them. Ava turned back around to Jeremy, who seemed occupied in the pair as well.

"I've got to go." She said, breaking him out of his trance.

"Where? With that guy?" Jeremy seemed interested in the fact she might not be single.

"Okay, first, gross. That's my brother. Second, I promised him I'd hang out with him tonight." Ava turned back around, seeing him joining Elena at a table with two other girls. "Though that plan may have changed." Ava got up and picked up her purse.

"Well, I hope I'll see you at the party."

"Maybe you'll get your wish." Ava smirked, giving him a wink, before she turned and walked over to Stefan's table. "Hi." She said, getting the groups attention. "Hope I'm not interrupting."

"Not at all." A very perky blonde girl, who sat across from Stefan said. "Sit please. You're Avandra, right?"

"Ava. I go by Ava." She answered as she sat down.

"Cool." A girl with a darker complexion added. "I'm Bonnie. And this noisy girl is Caroline, and you probably already know Elena."

"We have not met, but I've heard a lot about you." Ava replied, giving Elena a friendly smile, which was returned.

"So I was just asking Stefan here if you guys were born in Mystic Falls." Caroline said, seemingly asking Ava the same question.

"Uh, yeah." She replied. "But we moved when we were still young."

"Parents?" Bonnie asked.

Ava bit her lip as Stefan answered. "Our parents passed away." He said, looking at all the girls of the table.

"I'm sorry." Elena replied.

Stefan nodded and rubbed his sister's back. "It's okay though. Ava here is the spitting image of our mother. And we live with our uncle."

"Any siblings?" Elena asked.

Ava scoffed. "None that we talk to. But this guy was my roommate for nine months, so he's all I need." Stefan chuckled, but rolled his eyes.

"So, if you two are new, then you don't know about the party tomorrow."

Ava smiled, remembering Jeremy's invitation. Dang, these people must love to party. "It's a back to school thing at the falls." Bonnie informed him.

"Are you going?" Stefan asked, turning to Elena.

"Of course she is." Bonnie answered for the girl.

Elena looked at Bonnie, before turning back Stefan, putting a piece of hair behind her ear with a smile. Oh lord, Ava thought. Here we go again.

"Well that was success."

Ava laid on Stefan's bed, flipping through an old book, while her brother changed clothes. "However, I'm pretty sure that Caroline girl was undressing you with her eyes."

"Haha." Stefan said walking out of the bathroom, taking the book from Ava.

"You promised." The twins looked up to Zach storming into the room, a newspaper in his hand. Stefan took the newspaper and Ava got up to see what was wrong. It was an article about two people being killed by an animal.

"This was an animal attack." Stefan promised Zach.

"Oh please." Zach said. "I know what you do. You tear up enough so people don't know the difference. You said you guys had it under control."

"And we do." Ava jumped in, defending her brother, who Zach was obviously pointing the finger at. Ava took the paper and read. She and Stefan hadn't been anywhere near this place that night of the attack. So who was?

"Please Uncle Stefan, Aunt Ava. Mystic Falls is a different place now. It's been quiet for years, but there are people who still remember. And you two being here, it's just going to stir things up."

"It's not our intention."

"Then what is? Why did you come back? After all this time, why now?"

"We don't have to explain ourselves." Stefan said in a stern voice.

"I know that you can't change what you two are. But you don't belong here anymore."

"Then where do we belong." Ava questioned.

"I don't know, but coming here was a mistake."

Ava tapped her pencils on her notebook as she sat in history the next day. History was always her least favorite subject. She lived through it for God's sake; she didn't need to re-learn it. "The Battle of Willow Creek took place right at the end of the war in our very own Mystic Falls." Mr. Tanner lectured. "How many casualties resulted in this battle?" Three hundred and forty six, Ava thought. Mr. Tanner looked around the room. "Ms. Bennett?"

"Um...a lot?" Bonnie answered, obviously flustered. "I'm not sure. Like a whole lot."

"Cute becomes dumb in an instant, Ms. Bennett." Tanner stated. "Mr. Donovan? Would you like to take this opportunity to overcome your embedded jock stereotype?"

"It's okay, Mr. Tanner." Matt replied. "I'm cool with it."

"Hmm. Elena? Surely you can enlighten us about one of the town's most significantly historical events?"

"I'm sorry, I-I don't know." Elena stuttered.

"I was willing to be lenient last year for obvious reasons, Elena. But the personal excuses ended with summer break."

"There were 346 casualties." Stefan said, jumping in. "Unless you're counting local civilians."

Tanner gave Ava's brother a surprised look. "That's correct. Mister...?"

"Salvatore."

"Salvatore. Any relation to the original settlers here at Mystic Falls?"

Stefan nodded. "Distant."

"Well, very good. Except, of course, there were no civilian casualties in this battle."

"Actually, there were 27, sir." Ava said. "Ava Salvatore." She told him. "Confederate soldiers, they fired on the church, believing it to be housing weapons. They were wrong. It was a night of great loss."

Stefan smiled at his sister and then looked back at Tanner. "The founder's archives are, uh, stored in civil hall if you'd like to brush up on your facts, Mr. Tanner."

The whole class broke out into murmurs, impressed and surprised at what the two twins had just done. Ava and Stefan remained stone faced, but Ava knew they just sealed their fate in Mr. Tanner's class.

At the bonfire that night, Stefan and Ava showed up together, but quickly split apart to look for the two Gilbert siblings. Ava found Jeremy by the coolers getting a beer. "Thank you very much." Ava said, slyly taking the bottle from him.

He looked up, mad at first but that quickly changed when he saw Ava. "Hey." he said, grabbing another beer. "I'm glad you came."

"You invited me, so why wouldn't I? Plus it's my first town outing. Don't want the neighbors to think I'm some creature who lives in a cave." Jeremy started laughing and put the bottle up to his mouth. Ava did the same. She could hear his heartbeat as he chugged it down. She so badly wanted to just take a little bit of blood, but she had to keep it under control. And the alcohol helped. She downed it right there.

"Damn." Jeremy said, as she put the now empty bottle down. "You must like to party."

"Only if it's with the right people." They smiled at each other. Out of the corner of her eye Ava could see her waitress from the Grill and the douche bag jock. They were walking into the woods and let's just say they were pretty hands on.

"I'll be right back." Jeremy said putting down the bottle and walking in the couple's direction. Ava sat there for a while by herself. A couple of drunks tried to talk to her, but she had had enough.

"Screw it." she said and walked into the woods after Jeremy.

When she finally found Jeremy he was arguing with the girl, Vicki. She hastily walked away and when Jeremy turned around, Ava was there.

"Ava. I-"

"Just forget it. I thought you invited me so we could have fun, not so you could leave me alone to go after some druggy who doesn't even love you." Ava turned and stormed off, Jeremy eventually following her. But when she was out of sight she used her speed to get ahead of him and back to the party.

She sat against a tree and put her head in her hands. How could she be so stupid? In over a hundred years of living she could never learn. She heard Elena's voice and the voice of that blonde guy. They were talking about their break up. Whatever, Ava thought. She wiped her eyes and got up from the ground and ran right into the guy.

"I'm sorry." he said.

"No, it was my fault." He looked at her hard.

"You're Ava right? Ava Salvatore?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I'm Matt Donovan. Welcome to Mystic Falls. If you ever need anyone to hang out with, me and my friends can do something about that."

"Thanks." Ava smiled and walked away. And Jeremy spotted her. She walked in the opposite direction, back toward the woods. He yelled for her but she didn't stop. Then a new voice added in to the mix. Elena. She was yelling at Jeremy to leave me alone. Ava almost turned around when she tripped and landing on Vicki's body.

Ava gasped in. Her neck was covered in blood and she wasn't awake as far as Ava knew. She quickly got up and feel her fangs piercing through her gums. She knew who's handy work this was. She ran away leaving Elena and Jeremy with the body.

She found Stefan in the crowd of people watching Vicki's body be brought in from the woods. He looked at her and the pair left.

Ava and Stefan both came charging through the door as the entered the boarding house, nearly scaring Zach to death. "What's going on?" He asked, looking up from the papers at his desk.

"Someone else was attacked tonight, Zach, and it wasn't us." Stefan said, as the two climbed the stairs to Stefan's room. "Are you sure it was him?" Stefan asked, looking around.

"I'm positive. I'd know his dirty work anywhere."

Caw!

Stefan and Ava quickly turned around, following a crow that suddenly flew into the room. Ava felt a chill go up her spine, as if all the warmth suddenly left her body. The twins slowly turned around, and faced the one man they so desperately hoped they would not see.

"Damon."

"Hello, brother." Damon said, his voice dripping with no emotion. "Sister."

"Crow's a bit much, don't you think?" Ava asked.

"Wait till you see what I can do with the fog." Damon replied, making his way Stefan's room, inspecting all the little knickknacks.

"When'd you get here?" Stefan asked.

"Well, I couldn't miss your first day at school." He turned to face both his younger siblings. "Your hair's different. I'm glad you went back to brown, Ava. I like it. Blonde was not your color."

"It's been 15 years, Damon." Ava said, already tired of his bullshit.

"Thank God. I couldn't take another day of the nineties. That horrible grunge look? Did not suit Stefan. Remember, it's important to stay away from fads."

"Why are you here?"

"I missed my little brother and sister."

"You hate small towns." Stefan said. "It's boring. There's nothing for you to do."

"I've managed to keep myself busy."

"You know, you left that girl alive tonight. That's very clumsy of you."

"Ah. That can be a problem...for you."

"Why are you here now?" Ava asked, crossing her arms.

"I could ask you the same question. However, I'm fairly certain your answer can be summed up all into one little word...Elena." Damon paused, the air eerily quiet as he started to make another lap around the room. "She took my breath away. Elena. She's a dead ringer for Katherine." Ava could feel the tension in the room begin to grow. "Is it working, Stefan? Being around her, being in her world? Does it make you feel alive?"

"She's not Katherine." Stefan replied.

"Well, let's hope not. We both know how that ended." Damon started to close the distance between himself and his younger brother. "Tell me something, when's the last time you had something stronger than a squirrel?"

"I know what you're doing, Damon." Stefan said, shaking his head. "It's not gonna work."

"Yeah? Come on." Damon hit Stefan's arm. "Don't you crave a little?"

"Stop it." Ava said, a hiss in her voice.

Damon hit Stefan again. "Let's do it. Together. I saw a couple girls out there." Another hit.

"Stop it!"

"Or just, let's just cut to the chase, let's just go straight for Elena.

"Stop it!" Stefan yelled, finally pushing Damon away.

"Imagine what her blood tastes like!" Stefan turned from Damon. "I can."

"I said stop!"

And with that, both of Ava's brothers flew out the window. Ava run after them, jumping down next to Stefan, who was the only one on the ground. She helped him up and Damon stood unharmed by a bush. "I was impressed. I'll give you a six, miss on style, but I was pleasantly surprised. Very good with the whole Rahha face thing. It was good."

"It's all fun and games Damon." Ava said. "But wherever you go people die."

"That's a given."

"Not here, I won't allow it." Stefan said.

Damon raised an eyebrow. "I take that as an invitation."

"Damon please." Ava begged. "After all these years, can't we just give it a rest?"

"I promised you an eternity of misery. I'm just keeping my word."

"Just stay away from Elena." Stefan begged.

"Where's your ring?" Damon asked. Stefan looked down at his finger and his day light ring was gone. "Sun's coming up in a few hours and Poof! ashes to ashes." Damon scoffed. "Relax." he said and extended a hand with Stefan's ring in it. "It's right here." Stefan took it, just when Damon had Stefan and Ava both by the necks. He threw them up against the guest house.

"You should know better than to think you're stronger than me. You lost that fight when you stopped feeding on people. I wouldn't try it again." A rustling came in the distance. "I think we woke Zach up. Hmm." Damon shrugged. "Sorry Zach." And with that, he turned away, whistling, as if nothing had happened.

Dear Diary,

It's happening again.

After so many years apart, Damon has finally returned to me and Stefan's lives. After what happened in 1994, I thought we were done with him, that I could live my life without worrying about my older brothers. I should have known it was too good to be true. I couldn't have been more wrong. No matter how hard we try to have a normal life, the bad things stay with us and follow us. We can't escape them, no matter how much we want to.

I'm just trying to look towards the good. I want to invite it in. But all it has to do, is show up…

Ava put down the pen down inside her notebook, leaning against the tree. She closed the book and set it aside, on top of the tombstone. She traced her hands along the words etched into it.

Lillian Salvatore

A dutiful wife and loving mother

"I miss you so much." Ava whispered, a tear rolling down her cheek. "Please help me keep my brothers from killing each other."