September 2, 2007. That was the day I was born. I am the last special, and this is my story.
Chapter 1
The first memory I have is of one week after I was born, however, in human years I looked as though I was about twelve months old. It was of my first (and last) pair of foster parents, their names were John and Edith Harmon. They were in their sixties or seventies living in a small, one bedroom apartment in Seattle. John was a retired pastor and Edith a botanist. He would grow her favorite kind of Eden roses on the tiny balcony. She would read him a different passage of the bible as a sort of bedtime story every night. Of course they noticed my rapid growth rate and cold skin, but as far as my angelic-like good looks and heavenly scent, they didn't seem to care. They would call me their "angel sent to them from the Lord" or some bullshit like that. But, regardless of their idiotic beliefs they truly loved me. They named me Eden Rose and told me that they were planning on adopting me. And so we lived happily, for four months.
I was on my way home from the supermarket down the street and my hands were filled with this weeks groceries. I saw a strange man standing on the edge of an ally, he beckoned me to cover over so I did. I was only five in human years so I simply didn't know any better. He tried to rape me, but I was to strong, I pushed him against the wall and his head started to bleed. Then I felt the burning. For the first time in my life I felt a wild hunger that I couldn't control, I felt my fangs come in and my eyes felt like they were about to explode. Before I even knew what was happening, my face was covered in blood and I was kneeling next to a corpse. After a few minutes John and Edith came looking for me, only to find the scene I had just described. I was so scared and confused, I had no idea what was happening to me. They yelled and screamed and called me a demon and a freak. So I ran. I ran faster than humanly possible toward the woods that surround us. I found a lake and looked inside only to see the reflection of a strange monster with bright red eyes. I screamed and kept on running, never looking back.
After about a week, Thomas found me. Thomas was a seven hundred year old vampire, and his best friend Andrea was a witch. They lived together in a small cabin in Northern Canada. She made me a daylight ring so that my skin wouldn't crackle and burn up in the sun. Along with history, math, english, and science, Thomas taught me how to hunt animals instead of people, as well as how to blend in in a crowd. He taught me how to live like a vampire, but he also studied me, trying to find the differences between me and normal vampires. We found out that the first time I ever touched anyone, I would see their whole life, feel every emotion they have ever felt, he always told me I was special. Over the next eight or so months my eyes turned yellow from the animal blood and I grew to my full size and capacity. I could run faster than a cheetah, I could see, hear, and smell things miles away. Everything was enhanced, including my feelings. Which is why me and Thomas fell in love. We planned on getting married and traveling the world together, but when we told Andrea, she became enraged. Little did either of us know, but Andrea had fallen in love with Thomas the first time she laid eyes on him. In her rage she drove a stake through his heart, then mine, then her own. That day I found out that a stake cannot kill a vampire like me. I rushed over to Thomas but it was too late, he had already desiccated. I buried them both, and then I ran once again.
I spent the next six months researching my family. I found out that my father and mothers names were Alaric and Isobel Saltzman. Isobel was murder a year ago, however I also found that a woman checked into a hospital in Seattle under the name Isobel a two weeks after my mother allegedly died. I went ahead and guessed that that was when she had me, I also assumed that she was turned into a vampire, by choice. It was clear that my father had no idea I even existed. But most interesting of all, I found out that I had a half sister who Isobel had had in high school, she was adopted by a nice family and was currently living in a small town known as Mystic Falls, under the name Elena Gilbert. That was where I decided to go.
I arrived at the doorstep of the Gilbert's on February 11, 2009. I told them I was in need of a place to stay after my parents kicked me out of the house, and that this place just popped out at me. They invited me in and accepted me like family. I started going to high school with Elena and Jeremy. I lived a normal life for a year. I was happy. But then, on May 23, 2010, Elena and her parents drove off a bridge. Elena lived, her parents did not. Their aunt Jenna who ironically was staying there that weekend became their new legal guardian. I stayed for the funeral, but then I left. I didn't want to be a burden. They assured me I wasn't but the last thing a new guardian needs is a third wheel kid that technically doesn't even belong to their family. So I took the first bus I saw and rode it till it stopped.
I ended up in New York City. Where I proceeded to research my past, but this time I decided to focus more on what exactly I was. I found a professor who specialized in supernatural studies. He informed me of a rare breed of vampires known as "Specials". When the Original Witch created the Original Vampires, her life long fellow witch decided that she could do better. So she created the Specials. Our skin burns in the sun but it cannot kill us, we smell and look much better than normal vampires in order to attract our prey better, but our skin is cold like ice and completely impenetrable, I couldn't sleep, or cry, but I also had no need to breath, and I could only be killed if I was stabbed by a stake in the heart, ripped limb from limb, and then burned. We also had an extremely accelerated growth rate, that explained why my mother was only pregnant for a week and why it took me only a year to become full-grown. But nature always finds a balance so for each "better" quality, there is also a physical consequence. The two most important rules of my existence are these, each Special has a different gift, that is why when I touch people I can see their lives, but the consequence was epic, there can only be one special a live at a time. Once one of us dies, another is created, but we are doomed to live out our eternity alone.
During the next few months I found a "nest" of vampires. We all lived together like family. For the second time in my very long two and a half years I was happy. I settled down, found a home with them, got a car, I wasn't alone anymore. There was one girl in particular who was turned at the age of thirteen, but that was about a hundred and fifty years ago. Her name was Jane. She was curious as to how I lived off of animal blood, so I would take her with me on my hunts to show her how I did it. One day we took a little longer than usual and when we got home, the house was quiet. Jane went upstairs to see what was going on while I checked the ground floor. Then I heard a thud. I ran upstairs to find Jane with a stake in her heart and a hunter standing over her. He stabbed me in the heart when I was paralyzed by shock. I pulled it out of my heart and stabbed him in his, I made sure my face was the last thing he ever saw. I tracked down the other two hunters that had assisted in killing my family and snapped their necks. I took Jane outside and buried her with my bare hands. I then stuffed a bag with clothes, some cash from the communal safe, and the keys to my '67 Chevy Impala. Then I burned the house down with the hunters and the rest of my dead family inside.
I just drove without even thinking. After about a day I found myself at the Gilbert's doorstep once again. I knocked on the door and Elena answered. I didn't know what to say.
"I'm so sorry. I didn't have anywhere else to go. I just started driving and then I was here. I don't—" she pulled me in for a hug. I saw her meet a strange boy named Stefan Salvator who was a vampire and apparently her new boyfriend, then I felt another pair arms consume me, it was Jeremy. Then he pulled away I saw Jenna standing in the doorway of the kitchen, she came over and embraced me, "Welcome Home" she whispered in my ear.
