Hello everyone and welcome to my new story! I've been reading lots of TVD stories and it got me in the mindset to write one so here it is! Don't worry, I'm not replacing my Teen Wolf story with this one, I'll be writing both so when I get stuck with one I can focus on the other :)

Thank you so much to the lovely shirosagi for helping me figure out a title to this story! :)

Without further ado, here is the prologue to See Me Now.

Time is a fickle thing. You would think it would stay consistent during someone's life but it turns out to be the greatest surprise of all. It ebbs and flows like a river, where you need to hold on to something with all your might or risk being swept under. Although it seems like the hardest ride you could face, it is also the wildest but in a good way. In a way, I feel like my life was too short, ending before I reached the age of nineteen but as I look at it now, I have lived for so long and yet still have so much to discover and so much longer to live.

The idea of living for eternity is not a possibility yet here I am, close to one hundred and fifty years later, still the young age of eighteen. To put it simply, I was murdered but here I am, still writing down my adventures and tales, hoping that maybe the one person I miss the most is looking down from beyond and seeing that I'm still living for them, doing things he had only dreamed of doing. I have travelled the world, immersing myself in different cultures, arts, and languages. I'm fluent in seven different languages and have taught myself how to play six different instruments and to sing. I've dined with kings and queens, seen empires rise and fall and a world at war twice. I went day-to-day, month-to-month; year-to-year with no real place to call home where my non-aging could go unnoticed.

The point of this is not to brag about my accomplishments or to complain of the horrors I've seen but to keep a record of everything, so if some day in my eternal life, I forget what I've done, I can look back to this journal. It is the only way to keep the memory of my closest friend, the man I was falling in love with, alive. I always smile when I think of him.

How can I even begin to describe him? He was very handsome: the most handsome man I had ever met, the kindest too. He was free-spirited but held a sense of duty, whether it was towards our country or to his younger brother who he greatly loved. I cared deeply for the boy as well, only being a year older than him. He was tall and toned; his soft, slightly curled hair was as dark as the wing of a crow but made his strikingly intense blue eyes stand out, captivating anyone who stared long enough. If he were still around today, he would be the eternal stud.

I guess that's what appealed to her when she arrived to town. What a despicable woman, playing with the affections of the two brothers. The dislike I had for her then has only increased after all of these years. He would always share the stories of their time together and confess his love for her. Most importantly, he shared her secret; she was an impossible creature, a vampire. Suddenly things around our quaint town seemed to make more sense. The secret meetings between members of the founding families, my Aunt and Uncle wanting me to constantly carry a piece of vervain with me, the bodies found dead from supposed animal attacks. This she-devil is the reason my life ended but is still continuing today. I suppose to understand the intense loathing I hold for this horrid woman, I should document the events of what happened that night in 1864, where I lost my best friend and the boy who I cared for as if he was my own brother, where my own life was ended in the simple flick of a wrist.

I had been seated on the front porch of my Uncle's house, enjoying the night sky. I had come to town several years earlier due to the sudden death of my father to a sickness that had infested our small town. My mother thought it would be a good idea to get away from the thought of death and spend time with my Aunt and Uncle Fell in Mystic Falls. Suddenly a large group of men ran by screaming about ridding the town a plague. One of the men shouted that they were needed at the Salvatore house, immediately catching my attention. Hauling my large skirt up to allow me to run, I ran behind the crowd of men in attempt to find out what was happening. Ducking behind a nearby tree, I saw them throwing a woman into a caged wagon. The men had discovered that Katherine Pierce was indeed a vampire and were eradicating the problem. The Salvatore brothers both watched in horror as the woman they both loved was taken away but they never knew I was there watching her capture unfold. The younger brother, Stefan, begged for his older brother's, Damon, my closest friend, help at rescuing her.

I couldn't stop them before the worst happened. What happened next still haunts my dreams. The brothers had located the cage Katherine was held in but no rescue happened.

A lone tear falls onto the page, slightly smudging the words before the writer continued.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion. A gunshot ripped through the air and shortly after a rapidly growing bloodstain appeared on Stefan's chest before he looked at his brother and fell to the ground dead. A second shot rang out, hitting Damon in the heart. I screamed his name repeatedly as he staggered backward and as I ran forward only to be grabbed and held back by one of the Lockwood's. My eyes connected with Damon's momentarily, seeing the silent apology in them before he collapsed. Both of the Salvatore brother's dead mere yards away from me; it felt like I had nothing left to live for. George Lockwood, who was holding me back, swiftly brought me home before returning to the task at hand. I told my Aunt, who I had been staying with that I was leaving immediately and proceeded to pack everything I had there.

Once packed, I waited outside for my carriage but I would never get in it. I was grabbed from behind forcefully and suffocated by my captor shoving a bloody wrist in my mouth. Not being able to breathe due to the panic that had set in, I was forced to swallow the blood that filled my mouth. A masculine voice whispered in my ear "I'm sorry sweet Lily," and grabbed both sides of my head, swiftly snapping my neck. I awoke several hours later, lying on the ground feeling confused. A glint of metal in the sun caught my eye. Poised on my right pointer finger was a beautiful ring; an oval lapis lazuli stone was nestled between two pearls all seated on a delicate silver band. Recalling what Damon had told me about Katherine, lapis lazuli was the stone vampires wore to walk in the sun. I didn't know what to do; I was essentially alone. My best friend and his brother were dead, the town had fallen in to chaos, and I had been turned into a vampire. So I did what I thought was best; I ran, as far away as I could.

Which leads me to today, I've finally stopped running and come home. Home to Mystic Falls, VA. I bought a small house out in the woods neighboring the Salvatore boarding house. I figured being close to descendants would help me keep their memory alive.

Sometimes, on clear nights like this, I wonder what could have happened if Katherine had never come to Mystic Falls. Would I have actually confessed my developing feelings for Damon? Would I have been put into an arranged marriage to boost family standings? Would I have kids? Would I have stayed in Mystic Falls forever? Would I be happy? All these questions remain unanswered except for the last one. I'm happy with how things have turned out despite how lonely it is. The world is filled with music and art, true beauty and I get to spend all eternity immersed in it. I wish Damon could see how everything has changed, how I've changed. I hope that if he can see me from the beyond that I've made him proud. I hope I've made both my mother and father proud despite dying so young. I was given an eternity to live and I would like to be able to do anything my undead heart pleases.

I think I've written enough about my past for one night in this new journal. In the morning, I start my senior year at Mystic Falls High. Go Timberwolves. Maybe I can join some kind of club this time or a sports team. Who knows what this new start will bring? On that note, I conclude this entry.

Signed.

Calla Woods

The writer shut the journal and set it down on the tiles next to her. She unfurled from her hunched over writing position to stretch out and lie flat on the roof of her house. She had climbed out her bedroom window onto the relatively flat part of the roof to write and enjoy the starry night sky. A tearful smile graces her face as she stares out into the dark night, her dark brown hair fanned out around her head creating a dark halo. Equally dark lashes rest on pale cheeks as soft pink lips fall open in a sigh. Hauling herself into a sitting position, the girl pulls the sleeves of her large black Henley over her hands and collects her journal before gracefully climbing back into her bedroom. Unceremoniously she drops the journal on to the desk in the corner before going to stand in front of the full-length mirror that hangs from her closet.

Messy hair falls into warm whiskey colored eyes as the girl looks at herself. She's an average height with slightly above average assets. The large Henley falls to her knees, covering the shorts she was wearing. She fixes her hair a bit and puts on a smile.

"Hi, I'm Calla, I'm new." Her voice was light and melodious due to the years training as a classical singer during her time in Italy. With another smile, she opened her closet doors to reveal her vast wardrobe and a freezer that rested along the back wall. She walked down the small hallway to the chest, opening it and extracting a blood bag. Gently sipping on the thick blood, Calla strolled out of her closet to rest her forearms on her windowsill, staring out at the bright moon. The caw of a crow draws her attention to the tree nearest to her house. Perched on the branch is a crow that seems to be observing her. Shrugging it off, she shuts her window, throws out the empty blood bag, turns out her light, and lets herself slip into a dreamland.

Unbeknownst to the sleeping Calla, on the road leading into town, a man with raven hair lies on the ground. He can hear a car approaching fast, allowing a devious smirk to creep on to his face. A fog floods the area, making it harder for the car to see him.

" Watch out!" A female voice screams before the car hits the raven-haired man. He lies on the ground pretending to be injured. He can hear the couple talking in the car.

"Are you ok?"

"We just hit someone! Oh my God!"

"Call for help." The man opens his car door and steps out into the night, leaving the female to keep trying to make a call.

"Come on, come on." The man wonders close to the guy he just hit.

"Please be alive. Oh, my God!" The raven-haired man jumps up from his position on the ground and viciously tears into the man's neck, savoring the warm blood flowing down his throat. He hears the other car door open and vanishes with the body.

"There's no signal! Darren!" A large thump startles the woman, causing her to turn back to the car. Lying across the hood is the body of Darren. "Darren?" Upon closer inspection, she sees his throat had been torn out and she proceeds to scream. The woman starts running down the road towards town and away from the dead body of Darren. Hands grip her shoulders and haul her up into the air, disappearing from sight with a scream.

The scream echoes through the woods, reaching the sensitive hearing of Calla, who wakes slightly from her deep slumber. She makes a humming sound, brushing off the scream as something unimportant before falling back to sleep.