A/N: Hey this is my first Vampire Diaries fan fiction, so wish me luck it picks up at Season 1, Episode 15: A Few Good Men, and carries on from there. I intend to stick closely to the show's plot but do remember as its from an other characters pov most of the time you wont see as much of what's happening and just hear about it. Also I know it will annoy some of you but I wont openly state what Anya is until chapter three but those who have read the books may already have an idea.
I don't own the Vampire Diaries or any of the associated features. I hope you enjoy and please review.
The car drove slowly around each corner hugging the road as it slithered through the trees, my eyes hurt and the never ending sea of emerald and slick black in front of me had me seeing spots. Virginia sure was green. My eyes burned with exhaustion, the same fire in fact that was raging in my whole body right now but I couldn't stop, I needed to get there and fast, as it was becoming a struggling to keep myself hidden and out of sight for much longer. The leather of the steering wheel was crushed and beneath my hands as I held on for dear life trying just for a little bit longer to stay awake, this small town couldn't be far now could it?
My eyes flicked over to the map on the passenger seat and the very brief amount of information I had been given Mystic Falls Virginia, an address was hastily scrawled on a piece of paper along with a list of instructions of what I needed to do once I got there. They were the usual crap Mark gave me whenever he dumped me off somewhere new and 'safe', the first few were kind of obvious and very mundane. Call me, unpack all your stuff etc but then you got to the more- how to word it- specialised instructions that to 95% of the humans would seem overprotective and down right obsessive; don't invite anyone in no matter what, stay out of the woods at night, don't talk to anyone suspicious and (Mark's favourite) don't do anything stupid. His advice was not really necessary anymore after all I was technically twenty two now, even if the official line to the people of Mystic Falls was that I was only nineteen. I guess it was the price we had to pay for what had happened, everyone always tells me it's a gift but in reality it's far from it. I never asked for this and I would wish it upon no-one.
A sign interrupted my brooding as it announced my arrival in the infamous Mystic Falls. I wanted to put my foot to the floor and speed all the way to the house I wanted but I didn't want to get the police on my tail and draw more attention to myself, the car it seemed by the gawks of teenage boys was already doing enough of that. My one and only indulgence in life was this car, I had little possessions due to a constantly moving and very few keepsakes but the one thing I did have was this car, my black 2009 Chevrolet Camaro. Its black tinted windows meant people couldn't see in at me and the speed it moved at made it a brilliant getaway car. The only downfall was that it was memorable and despite Mark's never ending pleas that I get rid of it, there was no way in hell I was giving this car up. I moved through the streets until I found myself in the towns centre, I chewed on my rose lips curious as to if a walk was completely out of order, this place doesn't look evil? It looks quaint and old. I shrugged as I pushed forward in the car until I was pretty much out of town. "Take the second turn off on your right up into the woods; if you pass a boarding house you have taken the wrong route." I recited Mark's parting words as I searched for a turn off.
I had been driving down the road for a good fifteen minutes before the second turn off appeared and as the car crunched down the woodland path I realized that up ahead there was a cross roads, a fork in the road. I growled loudly and slammed my hands off the wheel, I tried deep breathing but I was already seeing red, the tight band that I had controlling myself was beginning to tear and my control was slipping, I hummed out my mother's lullaby to calm myself before throwing the car down the route to the left and sure enough after god only knows how long I pulled up in front of a huge house.
I knew this is where I was supposed to be based purely on the fact the overgrown weeds surrounding the house, the broken windows and general lack of care for the place. It wasn't my charming guardian's style to pick somewhere that was well cared for. I parked the car as close to the door and climbed out. The wind blew over my caressing my porcelain skin as I leaned against the car door. The sun was warm and just being able to be outside in the warmth felt good, I had missed the sun. The last place I has lived was Seattle and if a year there taught me anything; it was that Seattle was never sunny. i ran my fingers through my long chestnut and bronze curls, taking my hair down from its ponytail and I soon felt my hair tickling the middle of my pack where it fell. Right time to unpack, I quickly stretched out my long legs and cracked my back, the one thing they always fail to tell you as a child when they are repeating the mantra of "growing up to be big and strong" is that the taller you get the more painful it is to sit down for a long period of time. I mean I was no giant above the average height, what was Mark had said I was again? 5ft 9" I think? I shook my head and finally began to unpack, following a well practiced routine.
It was early afternoon by the time I had finished setting up the house. Unpacking was easy I had a total of two boxes of clothes and another one of photos. You see usually we had a lot more stuff and I was followed a day later by a moving van but not this time, as Mark had come ahead himself and fully stocked the house. The house and its huge kitchen, bathrooms, bedrooms, a study, a living room, a dining room, a cellar and I could continue on the list of rooms but I would be here all day. The house was huge and old. Mark had stocked every single room full to the brim of everything you would ever want or need in it and then added all the stuff you didn't. This was something in all our years of running he had never done, we usually just pick up what we need along the way and leave most of it behind when we run anyway but not this time. Maybe he really did mean it when he said I was staying here for good this time. I pulled my phone out and called his number quickly eager to hear his voice and sure he enough he picked up on the first ring.
"Anya? " His English accent stronger than ever echoed down the phone and I knew exactly where he had gone this time.
"Yeah Mark it's me, I take it you went back home then oh father of mine." I laughed down into the phone.
"Oh Ha ha your very funny and you know I hate it when you call me that, kiddo, I may be your guardian but I am no father." He laughed at his own play on the word guardian. "So do you like the house?" I smiled at how warm and comforting it was to just hear him speak, I didn't have parents or barely any family left for that matter but I did have Mark and his constant bossing, controlling nature had lead me to see him as the father I had lost. I just wish I could remember my own family but for now Mark made due as my mum, dad and brother.
"It's great, very you- old and dusty." He snorted loudly at my remark.
"I see you put all my stuff in the master bedroom, good choice but I can't help but see now of your stuff is here..." I trailed off toward the end, for some reason he hadn't moved himself in.
"After all it is a 7 bedroom mansion that was grade 2 listed because of the lavishly decorated dining room/reception room whose ceiling and columns were decorated in the intricate Moorish style. It had a library, huge gardens with access to the river and was spread over three floors." He recited it off perfectly, clearly he had been practicing. I ignored his comment as I never had been very much into material things; they only lasted so long with this lifestyle.
"I see you put all my stuff in the master bedroom, good choice but I can't help but see now of your stuff is here..." I trailed off toward the end, for some reason he hadn't moved himself in.
"Well about that, Anya, I won't be coming to get you for some time. We all feel it would be better for you to try and be by yourself for a little while but we will be watching, as always." His voice was tight and constricted, he was being watched.
"By 'we' you mean 'they' have decided and you are having to go along with it right?" bitterness was clear in my voice.
"Look, you and I both know I have no say in this. They got too close in Seattle and we only want you to be safe. I better go, I will call you tonight. Sit rector lux in tenebris vos dulcis angeli." Mark murmured the parting softly at the end as always.
"Sit lumen intrare." I answered in my own reply as I hung up the phone and I couldn't help but remember when they first instructed me to use Latin as a goodbye, I leaned back against the stairs and drifted off into the past.
"You've got to be kidding me!" I screamed at Mark, his amber eyes glittering in the sunlight as we sat in the garden behind the temple.
It was the most beautiful place I had ever seen, the long emerald grass was so soft almost like silk, the flowers were so varied. All colours of roses swayed gently, lilies, orchids and so many more I didn't know the names of but admired their rainbow colours all the same. There was a little stream and mini waterfall someone had crafted with great granite slabs at the based of the garden next to the oak trees and south wall of the garden. When they first took me here I thought to was the garden of Eden and no matter how many times they correct me I am still certain it is. My eyes drifted up to the great dome roof where it lay hidden by the tall streamers, it was as if someone had taken a jungle and placed it in here. I could here all sorts of animals creeping about in the bush. There was no denying the magic of the garden, the never ending garden that seemed to stretch for miles and no doubt it probably did. This was my favourite place and the place I often made Mark take me for my lessons.
I guess you could say it was kind of like a garden centre in here, with its array of glittery fish, hundreds of different brightly coloured birds and so many plant species it was unreal. Marks voice different up and I tuned back in to listen.
"No seriously, this is how we say goodbye, now sit up straight and repeat after me because the elders are watching you right now." He hit my leg where I lay back soaking up the sweet English sun, I groaned as I sat up straight facing him.
"They are always watching." I stated simply and Mark smiled sympathetically.
"It's only because they have waited so long for you my dear. Now the goodbye, for you is different from everyone else-"
"Oh joy, I get a special goodbye as well!" I cut in, earning a stern look so I beamed up at him and waved for him to continue.
"For you my dear when people say goodbye to you they shall say 'Sit rector lux in tenebris vos dulcis angeli' which very loosely means 'Let there be light in the darkness, the ruler of you sweet angels'." I scoffed a laugh as I rolled my eyes but it was ignored as Mark continued on regardless. "To which you reply- 'Sit lumen intrare' which is roughly again 'let the light in'. Now you try"
"Sit lamen enter?" my tongue was too clumsy to pronounce the words with the same elegant grace as everyone else, earning a loud laugh from my teacher. I sung my hand out and hit him in the arm.
"Hey, combat isn't until later for now we practice Latin. Again Il mio dolce angelo." Mark laughed loaudly as i growled in defeat.