Author's Note: So, this is my first fan fiction to be posted on here! Comments and Criticism is welcomed! Just no hating and flaming, please! This fan fiction will be taking place at the beginning of Season 4 of the Vampire Diaries. I'm going to try to stay as close to the lore and universe as I possibly can, but this is a fan fiction. It will stray a bit from Canon and may become it's own story eventually. You have been warned!
Gabriella wasn't too sure what she was doing there. Everything was mostly a blur, a feeling of vertigo and pain.
She stood from where she was lying on the cold, hard ground and looked around at the immediate area: Trees, more trees… Even more trees… Well… there was a rock. At least that was something different…
Gabriella saw a tall spire poking its tip out from behind the trees. She recognized it instantly as the church everyone in Mystic Falls went to.
Taking a step in the direction of the familiar streets of her new home, Gabriella felt wobbly and dizzy. She grabbed at her head and held still. When the wooziness went away, she ran her hand down the side of her face, to her neck, through her long, blonde hair. Gabriella's eyes widened at the feeling of something wet and sticky on her fingertips:
Blood.
She couldn't help it. She had to scream. Gabriella couldn't have held it back if it had meant her life, and if she was bleeding and couldn't remember what had happened, it probably did.
Gabriella gasped for air and touched her neck again, feeling around for a wound…
Wait.
There was no cut, or bite, or puncture hole.
Then where had the blood come from?
Gabriella swallowed hard and pulled her hood up over her head. She just needed to get home, wash off the blood. She could pretend like nothing ever happened… Maybe nothing really did happen. Maybe she was just dreaming. Yeah, that was probably it. She was probably home in her safe, warm bed, having a nightmare. That was the last place she remembered being, after all.
Gabriella approached the church and looked both ways before crossing the street. She hurried over the bridge and started to make her way to 2106 Maple Street:
Home.
Gabriella passed the Grill, the local hangout for all the residents of Mystic Falls, Virginia. She stopped on the curb, holding her hood closed around her neck, tapping her foot impatiently as traffic whizzed by. She needed to get home. She needed to lock the door and get into bed and go to sleep, forget anything ever had happened.
The tiny hairs on the back of Gabriella's neck stood on end as someone passed behind her. She turned her head slightly, watching as the man, shoulders stiff and ridged, got into his dusty-blue convertible parked on the side of the street. Her eyes met his when his headlights came on, making her feel like a deer in spotlight.
Gabriella turned her head quickly, avoiding any more contact with the man's eyes.
The car pulled away almost silently and drove by her.
Gabriella hurried across the street, making her way to the safety of her own home.
Gabriella groaned as light shone in through her eyelids. She could never sleep after the sun rose. Light kept her awake. She grabbed a fistful of comforter and pulled it up over her head, groaning loudly. "Go away, sun!" she sighed, slowly opening one eye, and then the other as she removed the covers from her face. Gabriella swung her legs over the side of her bed. Standing, she felt weak-kneed, tired, as if she'd just run a marathon. She walked slowly across the room, to a mirror, and pulled her hair back from her neck. Had she been dreaming?
Gabriella walked into her bathroom and looked in the sink… The towels soaking in the water from the previous night were red, obviously stained with blood.
She bit her lip and picked up the bloody rags, tossing them into a plastic bag, which she tied up and tossed into the trash can outside her house when she'd gone downstairs to make breakfast. Standing on the curb, she took a deep breath, to recollect herself. A cold gust blew and she shook in her robe.
Gabriella hurried back inside and slammed the door shut behind her. She walked into the kitchen to her right and picked up a frying pan, putting it on the stove. She opened her fridge and looked at the food inside. A minute later, she closed it. She just didn't want to cook. Things weren't going well at all, and it had only been a few days since she'd arrived in Mystic Falls.
Gabriella stood on the outskirts of the forest, in the light rain, on her way to the Mystic Grill. She'd stopped, hoping the scene of the accident would jog her memory. She had to figure out what had happened that night, and figure out why she could barely remember. Seeing the woods led to no such luck.
"Everything okay?" Someone asked from behind her.
Gabriella turned on her heel, looking at a small, dark girl with big green eyes and black hair. "What?" Gabriella asked, sounding as if she were breathless.
"You were just standing there… Is something wrong?"
Gabriella didn't know how to respond. Yeah, something was wrong. But she couldn't tell a stranger. "No… I'm fine." Gabriella faked a smile.
The worried look the dark girl had faded and was replaced with a smile. "I'm Bonnie," she said, holding her hand out for Gabriella to shake.
"Gabriella." She shook the girl's hand.
Bonnie's eyes went wide for a split second, and her grip on Gabriella's hand became slightly tighter. "Oh, my god…"
Gabriella's bottom lip trembled slightly. "I'm sorry?" She pulled her hand from Bonnie's grasp quickly.
"You've been hurt, haven't you?"
Gabriella took a step back. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Gabriella felt her heartbeat quickening as the girl stared her in the eyes for a moment. Bonnie shook her head. "I apologize," she said almost as quickly as Gabriella had retrieved her hand. "Just ignore me." She laughed softly. "Maybe I'll see you around."
Gabriella didn't answer, and with the awkward silence, Bonnie turned and left, jogging off down the sidewalk, splashing puddles under her feet as she went.
Gabriella hurried in the opposite direction, towards the Grill. When she arrived, it started raining harder, and not just raining, but pouring so heavily the raindrops stung her face. Walking inside for shelter, Gabriella ran her fingers through her damp hair and shivered as the warmth from the building consumed her.
"Uhm, excuse me," a blond, young man said, hurrying by her with a tray in his hands.
"Sorry," Gabriella said, barely loud enough for him to even hear. She crossed the room and took a seat at the bar, unbuttoning her pea-coat and drying her face with her scarf she'd had tucked under the collar of her jacket.
"You look soaked," another young man said to her, putting a tray of dirty glasses on the bar near her.
Gabriella looked to her right to find the boy was very good looking, with messy brunette hair and a sweet smile. "I'm fine," she said.
"You want a towel or something?" the boy grabbed the towel slung over his shoulder and held it out to her.
Gabriella couldn't refuse the generous gesture and took the towel from his hands.
"You're not from around here. Just stopping by or are you sticking around?" the boy asked, taking a seat on a stool. He reached across the bar for a damp rag and started wiping the glasses.
"How'd you know that?" Gabriella asked, putting the now-soaked towel on the bar beside the boy.
"I haven't seen you in here before… Either it's just a coincidence we haven't run into each other, or you're new around here. Everyone comes to the Mystic Grill."
Gabriella shook her head. "Yeah, I'm new… I'm not going anywhere anytime soon."
The boy smiled, holding out a hand. "Jeremy Gilbert. It's nice to meet you."
Gabriella hesitated before taking his hand. She looked to his eyes and watched them for a moment for anything strange before giving him a big grin back. "Gabriella Adams. Nice to meet you too, Jeremy."
"Well, I should probably get a move-on before I get scolded for sitting around. I'll catch you later."
Gabriella waved her fingers at the boy as he walked off to continue working.
"What can I get for you?" a familiar voice asked Gabriella, her head turned in the direction Jeremy had run off to. She looked to the man behind the bar and smiled. It was the guy she'd almost ran into on her way in.
"Something light? Some wine maybe?"
"The lightest wine we have. Got it." The man (Matt, the nametag read) turned and reached for a fancy bottle and glass.
"And some Bourbon," someone said as he sat down at Gabriella's left.
She suddenly felt very uncomfortable, a chill going up her spine. She cocked her head to the side so her hair would fall over her shoulder, like a curtain hiding her face.
"Put the lady's drink on my tab, Matt," the man beside her added.
"That's not necessary," Gabriella said a little quickly.
Matt put the wine on the table in front of her. "What am I doing, you two?"
"I'm paying for her drink, Donavon," the man's voice sounded stern.
Matt looked at Gabriella with a frown and shrugged. "Okay, sure." Matt grabbed a bottle of liquor off the shelf and a glass and handed it to the stranger.
"Thank you," the man to Gabriella's left said.
She didn't want to engage in small talk. All she'd wanted was to have a little drink while she waited for the storm to pass and then be on her way back home.
"I see you got caught in that nasty weather out there," the stranger said.
Gabriella sipped on her drink. "I did," she said, trying to mask the tone of annoyance and fear in her voice.
"Did you walk here?"
"I did," she said again.
"C'mon now. You don't have to be like that."
Gabriella sighed and pushed her blond locks behind her ear. "I'm not being like anything." She took a look at the man beside her. Her eyebrows rose slightly, and she wondered if he'd noticed. It was the same man who'd been in the car last night.
"You look oddly familiar," he said, half-closing his eyelids over his neon-blue irises.
"Uh, no… Sorry, I don't think I know you."
The man seemed to be examining her, and she was beginning to feel even more uncomfortable. She turned her head and took a swallow of her wine.
Matt came back with a bill and looked at the stranger. "How's Elena, Damon?"
The man beside Gabriella, Damon, frowned, his expression growing a bit dark. "I'm not in the mood to talk about Elena right now."
"You can at least tell me if she's okay… If she's adjusting."
Damon glared up at Matt. "She'll be fine. She's just getting used to it." Damon took a huge gulp of Bourbon.
Matt shook his head and looked to Gabriella. "Can I get you anything else today, Miss?"
Gabriella looked out the window and shook her head. "No. I'm alright. I'm going to be heading out soon." Gabriella took another swallow of her wine, finishing it. "Thank you. It was good."
"Yeah, sure," Matt replied, taking the glass.
Damon sighed and turned his head to look at Gabriella as she slipped her coat back on. "You're not really going to go back out in that, are you?"
"It's slowing down. I'll be fine."
"If you wait a minute, I'll give you a ride."
Gabriella shook her head. "Again, I'm fine… Really." She buttoned up her coat and flipped her hood up over her head. She heard Damon groan beside her. "Thank you for the drink," she said quickly, walking off.
"Hey! You didn't pay, Damon!" Matt yelled from behind the bar. Gabriella rolled her eyes. Really? He was going to be persistent about a ride too?
"I'll pay tomorrow," Damon replied, jogging after Gabriella as he slid his jacket on. He reached over Gabriella's shoulder to push open the door for her.
"I don't need a ride. Thank you for the offer, but I'm good," Gabriella said, raising a shoulder to shrug him off.
Thunder cracked and lightning lit the sky around Gabriella and she swallowed hard as rain came down all around her. She noticed Damon's convertible next to the crosswalk.
"My ride is right here," Damon pressed. "I can get you home nice and dry." Gabriella looked up at him over her shoulder. He was smirking, but not a cocky kind of smirk. He looked like a wet dog. Why was he standing out in the rain for her?
Thunder clapped again and she jumped slightly. "Fine!" she said a bit too quickly, hurrying over to the powder-blue car. "You can take me home."
"Door is unlocked," Damon replied, walking into the street and climbing inside.
"This is it," Gabriella said, pointing to a brick house.
Damon's eyebrows rose. "Well, that's uncanny."
"What is?" she asked, leaning back.
"My brother's girlfriend lives right next door." He pointed to house number 2104.
"Oh," Gabriella didn't really know how else to reply. She unbuckled the seat belt. "Thanks for the ride… Damon, was it?"
The man shook his head. "Yes it is." He ran his hand back through his wet, black hair. "But I don't think I caught your name."
"Gabriella." Gabriella looked to Damon and smiled. He caught her face in his hand and she gasped, eyes wide.
"You're not going to scream," he said to her.
Gabriella's mind began to go fuzzy, but despite the fear, the aching of a scream caught in her throat, she obeyed. "I won't scream."
"Do you live by yourself, Gabriella?"
She nodded her head slowly.
Damon ran his hand through her hair. "You're going to invite me inside."
"I will," she told him. She got out of the car and headed to her door. Everything inside of her screamed, 'no'. It didn't matter. She didn't have control over herself anymore.
She unlocked her door and opened it wide, stepping inside as Damon just appeared in front of her on the steps, as if he'd moved so quickly from the car to her front door that she hadn't even seen it. "You can come in," she said.
"Don't mind if I do." He was smirking again, but this time his smile was dark. Damon closed the door behind him.
"What's going on?" Gabriella asked.
"Nothing's going on." Damon took a few steps closer to her and she took a step back. He clucked his tongue a few times, reaching out to touch her face. He shushed her softly. "Now, now. Don't run. Don't struggle." His eyes dilated as he spoke orders.
Gabriella continued to obey.
Damon smiled. "That's better." He ran his thumb over Gabriella's lips. "Such a pretty face," he crooned.
She gasped as she found herself up against the wall, Damon's body pressed tight against hers. She could feel every inch of his body, every muscle.
"Now let's have some fun," Damon whispered in Gabriella's ear, moving her hair away from her neck.
