**Author Note: This is my first Vampire Diaries fiction and I've changed a few things to fit the story plot. So no hating please! After all, that's why they call it fiction because ANYTHING is possible. :) Enjoy!** Let It Hurt
Chapter 1
"Jess, come on! You're going to be late for school!"
Jessenia stared in the mirror thoughtfully, chewing her bottom lip and could already feel the nerves building up inside of her. She recently moved to Mystic Falls, Virginia to live with her second cousin, Meredith Fell, and was starting her senior year in high school. After finding out who her father was from her mother, Jessenia wanted to meet him and was told her second cousin lived in Mystic Falls.
Welcoming her with open arms, Meredith told Jessenia she could stay as long as she wanted, though Jessenia still hadn't asked her about her father's whereabouts. Meredith knew who he was and didn't want her cousin meeting him, so she never brought up the subject. Jessenia had moved to Mystic Falls only two weeks prior and was still adjusting, getting ready to start school.
She had more important things to focus on.
That and Meredith had to try keeping all the secrets of Mystic Falls away from her at the same time. There were so many things she didn't want her cousin to know. When Jessenia called her asking to move in, Meredith didn't know how to respond. That was until her mother, Monica, explained exactly why Jessenia wanted to live with her in Mystic Falls. Meredith knew she couldn't deny her cousin the opportunity to meet her father, even though in her mind he was the scumbag of the earth.
How was Meredith supposed to tell her cousin that her long lost father was a vampire?
"Be right down in a sec!" Jessenia called back, finally deciding what she wore would have to do for the first day of school.
Simple skinny blue jeans and a short sleeved wine colored top that had a black embroidered design all over it would have to suffice. Her long brown hair was piled on top of her head –Jessenia had spent an hour on it- and she wore simple black eyeliner that rimmed her jade green eyes. Her lips were painted a clear gloss and foundation was applied to hide any blemishes, black steel toed boots on her feet to finish the outfit off.
Grabbing her bag and hoisting it over her shoulder, Jessenia walked out of the bedroom and down the stairs, smiling tentatively at Meredith. "Sorry, I couldn't decide what to wear." She explained and Meredith nodded.
"No problem, but we are running a little late. Do you have your key and cell phone?" Meredith asked, refusing to let her cousin leave the house without those two things.
"Of course." If Jessenia didn't have her nose stuck in a book or computer, she was texting her friends back in Maryland, where she used to live.
"Good, I want you to take one more thing with you." Meredith pulled something out of her own bag and handed it over, watching her cousin slowly raise a brow. "It's a special kind of mace. Keep it with you at all times and only use it for emergencies." It was actually mace laced with some vervain, a potent herb that was lethal against vampires. "Promise me you won't leave anywhere without this on you, Jess."
Confused, Jessenia just nodded and slowly took the small black container from her cousin. "I promise, Meredith."
Nodding, Meredith grabbed her keys and opened the front door, stopping short at the sight of Alaric Saltzman. He was Mystic Falls high school history teacher and Meredith's current boyfriend, but that's not all he was. In Meredith's eyes, he was a phenomenal vampire hunter and even taught her a few things her family hadn't when it came to defending against vampires.
He was dating Jenna Sommers, but things didn't work out between them. Alaric was hit by a car shortly after their breakup and brought to the hospital, where Meredith treated him. She was sure he was going to die from the extent of his injuries, but Alaric ended walking out with a clean bill of health.
After Meredith hunted him down and demanded to know how he'd healed himself, Alaric finally came clean about it, explaining the ring he wore. It was a magically enhanced ring his dead wife, Isobel, gave him and prevented him from dying. Meredith was fascinated and they started dating shortly after that.
Of course, Jessenia didn't know any of this and Meredith hoped she never found out.
His hand was up in a fist, she had stopped him mid-knock and couldn't help smiling, staring up into his eyes. Alaric smiled with twinkling eyes and a handsome smile at the sight of Meredith, slowly bringing his hand down from the door. Jessenia hadn't met Alaric yet and tilted her head slightly, eyeballing her cousin and knew instantly this was the guy she had talked a lot about ever since she moved in two weeks ago.
"You must be the famous Alaric I've heard so much about." Jessenia stepped forward, extending her hand with a smile of her own. "I'm Jessenia, but most call me either Jess or Jesse."
"Beautiful name." Alaric complimented, shaking her hand politely. "I've heard a lot about you too, Jesse. It's nice to finally match the face with the name."
"Alaric is going to be your history teacher, Jess." Meredith informed her softly, wrapping an arm around her cousin's shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze.
Jessenia blinked, not believing her cousin was actually dating one of her teachers, but didn't say anything. "Oh okay cool." What else was she supposed to say? "I'm pretty good with history."
Alaric grinned, nodding. "You'll do just fine in my class, Jesse."
"What are you doing here, Lark?" Meredith asked, curious as to why her boyfriend would stop by this early in the morning, especially on the first day of school. "Everything alright?"
"Yeah." The look Alaric gave her clearly told Meredith something was up. "I just had to talk to you about something before I headed to the high school."
Meredith knew that look all too well and sighed, nodding. "Jess, why don't you go start the car up?" She handed over the car keys, smiling. "I'll be there in just a minute."
Not thinking anything of it, Jessenia nodded and took the keys, heading down the steps to the car. She did look over her shoulder though and instantly knew something was going on because her cousin had a look of concern cross her face. Jessenia unlocked the door and slid into the passenger seat, doing what her cousin instructed, deciding some country music was definitely in order.
"Are you sure?"
Alaric nodded, frowning a little. "That's why I came to warn you ahead of time that things might get a little hairy today because of Elena's…transformation." Pulling something out of his pocket, Alaric took Meredith's hand and placed the objects into it, closing her fist around them. "I want you to wear one and give one to Jessenia. Elena used to wear it so she wouldn't have to worry about compulsion. I'm not taking any chances now that Elena is…different."
Elena Gilbert was a teenager that had lived in Mystic Falls all her life and was Jenna's cousin. Alaric was technically Elena's step-father because he'd been married to her biological mother. Elena was adopted at birth and found out awhile back who her biological mother was, which ended up being Alaric's dead wife, Isobel. She was murdered by a vampire, but later on Alaric found out that was all a hoax…that Isobel begged the vampire to turn her into one.
On her eighteenth birthday, Elena decided she wanted to be a vampire forever and asked her boyfriend, Stefan Salvatore, to change her. Stefan did what she said, even though it killed him to have to murder her. To become a vampire, she had to have vampire blood inside of her and then killed while the blood was in her system. Alaric respected Elena's decision, understanding why she wanted to become a vampire and supported her.
"How is she doing?" Meredith asked, knowing what happened and pulled back to look up at her.
"According to Stefan, she's handling the transition pretty well. I'm still worried though because she's going to have that uncontrollable thirst for blood." Alaric explained, cupping Meredith's face in his strong hands, kissing her softly. "That necklace I'm giving you for Jessenia was originally Elena's, but with vervain laced in it, she can't wear it anymore."
Meredith understood, slowly opening her hand to look down at the two small necklaces with silver charms on them and lifted one up. "This one mine?" It was a beautiful silver heart locket that had her first initial engraved in it in little rubies.
Alaric nodded, taking it to clasp around her neck. "I saw it and thought of you. Bonnie put the spell on it. You have a big heart, Meredith, it fits you perfectly." He kissed her again, this time a little longer.
"Mmm quite the charmer you are." Meredith murmured, chuckling when Jessenia began blowing the horn, telling her to hurry up. "We really should be going. I'll give this to her before she leaves the car."
"Good, thank you."
Kissing her one last time, Alaric promised to see Meredith later on and walked away, heading to his own car. Meredith touched her cheek, not able to wipe the smile from her face and slid into the driver's side of the car. She buckled up and slowly looked over at her cousin, who was eyeballing her with curious jade eyes.
"Did you have fun?" Jessenia asked innocently, smirking when Meredith flushed even more.
"Quiet you. Here, Alaric wanted me to give this to you. It's a welcome present and, since we're family, he decided to get me one too."
She showed the necklace to Jessenia while dangling her own teasingly. She smiled when Jessenia took it, staring at it thoughtfully while Meredith pulled out of the driveway, heading down the street. Why Alaric wanted to give a gift to someone he didn't even know was beyond Jessenia, but her if her cousin wanted her to wear it, she wasn't going to deny Meredith anything.
Fastening it around her neck, Jessenia smiled down at the small charm that had light red stone at the top. It was definitely a unique design, she loved it and made a mental note to thank Alaric later on for the gift. Meredith hoped her cousin wore that necklace always, even in the shower, even though vampires were not allowed in her house for any reason because she'd never, to her knowledge, invited any of them inside.
Pulling up to the high school, Meredith looked over at her cousin and patted her leg gently. "You'll do just fine, Jess. Remember what I said, keep the mace on you at all times and NEVER take that necklace off. Keep your cell phone on you as well." She hoped she sounded like an overprotective parent instead of a scared child, but either way Meredith wanted to stress the importance.
"I got it, Meredith." Jessenia raised a brow at her cousin and reached over, hugging her. "I promise I'll do what you said. Now stop worrying. It's just high school."
If only that were true, Meredith thought, plastering on a phony smile for her cousin to cut the tension. Laughing softly at her own lame joke, Jessenia stepped out of the car and watched as Meredith drove off. Jade eyes slowly turned to look up at the building, where she would end up graduating from, all Jessenia could do was breathe as she headed inside.
Everywhere she looked, classmates were bantering and carrying on in the hallways, some even making out openly. Jessenia pulled the piece of paper out of her bag and unfolded it, thankful she had home room first because that would give her a chance every day to fully wake up. She was never a morning person, one of the many reasons Jessenia couldn't wait to get the hell out of high school. She headed down the hallway, looking down at the paper and tried watching where she was going so nobody mowed her down.
"Stefan, I'm FINE." Elena stressed for the millionth time, closing her locker and turned to face her boyfriend, folding her arms in front of her chest. "And why is HE here?"
"You know how Damon is, Elena. I can't exactly force him to stay home." Stefan said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "I know you're going to be fine, we just want to make sure."
Damon was actually his backup and Stefan's older brothers. Both of them were vampires and now that Elena was a vampire, they really had to keep an eye on her so she didn't attack anyone Damon smirked at Elena, folding his arms in front of his chest and raised one brow, deciding if he should be smarmy.
"Nice to know you're always thinking of me, Elena." Smarmy was his middle name.
Elena rolled her eyes, opening her mouth to retort and stopped short at the sight of a girl heading down the hall. She was new, Elena could smell the new scent and looked up at Stefan and Damon, both brothers sensing the same thing. It smelled like gardenias and something else that Elena couldn't quite put her finger on. Her eyes suddenly locked on the charm around her neck and Elena felt her brown eyes widen, suddenly realizing who it was.
"That's her!"
"Who?" Damon demanded, looking confused for a second.
Elena shook her head, turning her attention to Stefan. "That's her, Stefan. That's Meredith's cousin that recently moved here. Alaric came to me a few days ago and asked if he could give my necklace to her since I can't wear it anymore." Being a vampire, Elena no longer needed vervain to protect herself, though she still had to be cautious of it because it could now paralyze her.
Now Damon was intrigued. "Meredith's cousin…" He started walking away when Stefan stopped him, both brothers locking eyes.
"Stay away from her, Damon." Stefan ordered, his tone stiff and even. "She's wearing vervain so you can't play with her."
Damon snorted, rolling his eyes. "You truly have no faith in me, Stefan. It ALMOST hurts my feelings. I just want to go say hello and welcome her to the town…" Possibly have a taste of her as well, whatever Stefan and Elena didn't know wouldn't hurt them.
"Yeah AFTER you take her to bed, sleep with her and then attack her." Caroline chipped in, having overheard the conversation. It was one of the many perks of being a vampire. "After all, that's exactly what you did to me."
"And how I wish I could forget." Damon grunted, not amused by the blonde and leaned against the lockers as all three stared him down intensely. "Alright FINE, I'll stay away from her…" He paused, a smirk suddenly tilted his lips, all three knowing it too well. "But I can't guarantee she'll stay away from me."
Stefan groaned when Damon took off before he could say anything else, looking at both Elena and Caroline, all three frowning. "I know what you're going to say…"
"We have to protect her from him, Stefan."
Stefan could only nod, guiding Elena to class with Caroline following suit.