Me: New story about Mystic Falls' inhabitants! Damon: God, it's about time, Liz. Me: Shut up. Damon: *grins* Enjoy the first chapter of TVD: The Hybrid.
-Someone Old, Someone New-
"I'll always love you Damon."
Damon flew up in bed. It was the third night he heard that same voice. It seemed familiar and yet, totally strange. He took a hand over his face and sat like that for a moment. "I need a drink." Swinging his legs off the bed, he tried to get his mind to stop spinning before he stood up. Chiselled torso exposed, he left the room and descended the stairs. Whiskey always cheered him up, but that night he could not shake the feeling of someone watching him. "Katherine must be back in town," he mumbled incoherently. A crack from the fireplace drew his attention. Burned black as coal, a log had rolled out onto the carpet. "Damn it," Damon muttered and picked it up, whiskey in hand. He tossed it back into the hearth.
"You only poured yourself a drink?" Damon smirked and turned around.
"Ah, Stefan, glad to see you're finally awake. Elena up yet?"
"She's still sleeping." Damon nodded and poured Stefan a drink as well. A whisper drifted past his ear and he swung around, dropping the glass and stumbling backwards. The glass shattered.
"Damon, what's wrong?" Stefan asked in sudden concern for his brother. "You seem a bit jumpy lately."
"I…" Damon swallowed and straightened himself up. "I'm fine." With an audible plonk he unclogged the vessel of alcohol again and in a new glass poured Stefan something to drink.
"Damon, you can't do that forever."
"Do what forever?" Damon looked muddled as he faced his brother.
"Run away."
"I'm not. I said I'm fine."
"Is this about Elena?" Damon's lips pulled in a line.
"I said I'm fine Stefan. I'm over it. It's gone. I feel nothing. Happy?"
"Damon, I've turned off the switch. I got it back on. You can too."
"Shut up, would you?" Damon placed his class on the table. "I don't want it turned back on." Elena appeared in the doorway, looking from vampire brother to vampire brother.
"Is everything okay? I heard something break," she said sleepily.
"Go back to sleep, Elena." Stefan looked at his beautiful lover.
"There's the Stefan we all know; always telling everyone what to do." Damon rolled his eyes.
"Damon, are you okay?" Elena asked him with big brown eyes. Damon growled.
"I just wish everyone would leave me the hell alone." He left, ascending the stairs to his room hastily. While he was pulling on a black shirt and jeans, Elena appeared in his room.
"Damon…"
"Leave me alone, Elena."
"What is going on? You can talk to me."
"Once I've figured it out myself I'll let you know, kay?" he replied, his voice dripping with overpowering cynicism. He glided past her and headed for the front door. He shut it loudly behind him. He thought back on the incident that turned him into this only a few weeks ago…
"Go ahead, Damon. Give it your best shot." The same words Klaus said before stuck inside Damon's mind. He lifted the stake high above his head.
"Damon, don't!"
"Back off Stefan. Nothing is going to stop me from killing this hybrid bastard."
"Stop being an idiot and get the hell away from him!"
"I said back off, Stefan!" Damon plunged the stake downward, but something caught his arm and prevented the sharp tip from finding Klaus's heart. He looked up to see his brother holding his arm, stopping him from killing the one person who had hurt Elena so much. Anger seething through his veins, Damon grabbed the front of Stefan's shirt, wrenched it in his fist and threw his brother to the other side of the room. Stefan hit the floor with a loud thud and a groan. Damon lifted the stake again. Klaus bore a satisfied smile which Damon wanted to slap off of his face. He plunged the stake down again. This time the wooden weapon found the heart of his target and Klaus let out an agonised scream. Damon smiled, satisfied, before something snapped inside of him. He fell to the side and curled into a ball, letting out minor sounds of pain.
"It's done." Klaus breathed out his last breath. Damon heard someone enter the room.
"Oh my God! Stefan, are you okay?" It was Elena. Damon pictured her in his mind's eye; kneeling next to Stefan, touching his shoulder before seeing him.
"Damon?" The pain in his heart was gone. Now he felt nothing. Not even towards Elena. Damon slowly got to his feet, seeing Elena watching him carefully. He looked awful; dishevelled hair, ice cold eyes, dried blood from the corner of his mouth, crooked shirt and bloodied hands.
"You're free now, Stefan. Enjoy it," breathless as he is, he shuffled out of the room weakly. Klaus did it. He finally flipped Damon Salvatore's switch.
Damon shook his head as the images flooded his memory. Even now he didn't feel anything towards anyone. Not Stefan and even less Elena. Headlights of a car headed in his direction. It parked near him. Looks like I'm getting a little midnight snack. With a smirk he moved closer to the parked Porsche. The door opened with a dull click and he was surprised to see a girl, no older than eighteen, getting out alone. It counted in his favour, but it was still surprising. Damon simply couldn't resist a beautiful face and a hot body that's well dressed. He might be a vampire, but he liked class. The audible click of heels against the pavement drew his attention down the girl's gorgeous lanky legs. The light of her phone lit up her features as she was typing. Damon frowned. She looked familiar. A little too familiar. The girl's head shot up and she smiled.
"I know you're there." Damon froze. Was she talking to him?
"Come out of your silly hiding spot around the corner." She was talking to him.
"You're pretty good," he remarked with a cocky smirk as he stepped out of the shadows toward her.
"Well, I've had many years' training… Damon?" Damon's brow creased. How did this girl know him? "Damon, is that you?" she asked again.
"Yeah," he said doubtfully, "Who are you?"
"Don't you remember me?"
"Well, I don't think I can if you're in the dark all the time." The girl stepped beneath a streetlight. Damon's expression fell. His face was blank. "My God, Victoria, is that you?"
"I thought you've forgotten about me."
"Yeah it's been like what, eighty years?" he said.
"It's been a long time Damon. How have you been?"
"Crap. You?"
"Why crap?" she asked, ignoring his question.
"Well I re-lost the girl I used to love to my brother, Niklaus flipped my switch and I've been killing people ever since." "Flipped your switch? So, you're bad now?"
"Yep. Full on bad Damon."
"God." She placed a hand to her forehead.
"What are you doing in Mystic Falls?" he asked, inspecting her from head to toe. It looks like she's adapted nicely.
"I moved here. I'm gonna be the new girl in Mystic Falls High School."
"Even though you're like a couple of centuries old?"
"Hey, I look eighteen. Therefore I am eighteen."
"When did you move here?"
"Three days ago."
"You have a place to stay yet?"
"Aww, does Damon still care?"
"I can't care." Dead air hung heavily between them for a moment.
"Yes, it's a few blocks away. You want to check?" "
I've got nothing better to do." Victoria led him back to her car. She handed him the keys; she knew how he loves to drive. She set the GPS to the wished destination and Damon followed its instruction. Soon before long a cottage like house loomed over them. Two stories high, different plants and flowers covering the walls, wooden roof, doors and windows, this house had a sort of homely feeling Damon hadn't felt in a while. He pulled up in the driveway and both the ancient vampires got out of the fab Porsche. She walked up to the front door and unlocked it.
"So you bought the seven dwarves' house?"
"Yes and you've got Maleficent's gloomy castle. What's your point?" For once Damon had nothing to reply with except silence. Despite its old school outside, its inside was quite modernised and appealing.
"I just realised I need a snack." Damon held his grumbling stomach.
"A snack or the snack?"
"The snack." Victoria lifted the carpet away from a trap door. She opened it to reveal stone steps leading to a cellar. She descended the short staircase and tossed two bags out the hole. She came back up with one for herself and tossed the two bags to Damon. He emptied both of the alcoholic blood bags in a second, feeling satisfied. Victoria poured hers in a mug and heated it up in the microwave. After she took a sip, she groaned.
"God, I love technology. Hey, why don't you and Stefan come over tomorrow? I've missed you guys so freaking much." Damon flashed a lopsided smile.
"Aww, does Victoria still care?" She slapped his chest softly.
"Shut up. So?"
"I guess I can mention it to him. He'll probably bring Elena though."
"I wouldn't mind," she beamed at him.
"It'll be good to befriend a girl."
"I thought you and Katherine were buddies."
"She's not in town, is she?"
"No, but…" "But nothing. She's not here so she doesn't count." Victoria looked into her mug. Usually the sight and smell of blood used to repulse her. Now it's the source she can't live without. She looked back at Damon. He still had that same dishevelled look as always, except his eyes were colder. Much, much colder. She remembered the time she loved him. Oh, how she loved him. She loved him dearly. Now still, every time she looks at him her heart skips a beat. But it was worse than before. Before he was in love with Katherine and Elena, but now there was no chance of him loving anybody again because Niklaus flipped his switch. He had stripped Damon of his humanity. The mere thought chilled her to the bone.
"I'd better get going," Damon said into the silence, drawing Victoria out of her thoughts.
"You want me to drop you off?" she asked good-naturedly.
"I think I'll manage. Goodnight Victoria."
"Goodnight Damon." After he left, Victoria lost that happy glow she got usually when she's around him. Damon thought about his meeting with Victoria. What would Stefan say to this sudden invitation? Too soon he approached the front door of his house. He thought about what Victoria said about the mansion and chuckled dryly. He opened the door and found Stefan and Elena sitting in front of the hearth. Typical romance. He shut the door loudly on purpose. The couple turned their heads away from each other to look at him.
"Hey Stefan, guess who's back?" Damon said with a slight smirk. He leaned against the wall.
"Who?" Stefan asked with a small shake of his head.
"Victoria."
Stefan's brows lifted. "As in 'crush-on-you' Victoria?" Damon gritted his teeth.
"She doesn't, and never had a crush on me. And yes. She wants us to go to her new home tomorrow for a little visit."
"Am I invited?" Elena asked.
"Of course," Damon said.
"I think we can arrange that," Stefan said with a nod to Elena.
"What's she like?" Elena wanted to know. Her question was directed at Damon.
"Why don't you go tomorrow and find out?" Damon turned around and headed to his room to wait for the sun to rise.