Cursed

**Chapter One**

The Story of My Life

On the outside, Mystic Falls looked like a quiet, normal little town. But It wasn't, not even close. This sleepy little town in Virginia was a bed of supernatural activity. Vampires, witches, werewolves and however many things seemed to just like flock here in groves. Not many normal people knew about what really happened in this sleepy old town, I was one of the unlucky few.

But I wasn't exactly normal myself.

Nows the part where I should probably tell you about myself. My name is Amelia Jane Crossen, but I prefer to be called Ellie. I was born and raised in Mystic Falls, Virginia; leaving only when my mother took her own life before I reached my thirteenth birthday. After that, I was sent to California to live with my aunt, Terra and her vampire fiancee, Marco.

It was there that I learned how not normal I really was. And the messed up story behind my family's power, and the curse that came with it.

The Crossen's were Gypsies, sort of. We had the magic, but we didn't live in covered wagons traveling the old country, or at least not anymore. There were a few gypsy families that were still forced to travel, never allowed to put down roots, they were called the Travelers. And they were mostly assholes.

Honestly, we were more like witches, just a little less judgy when it came to the other supernatural creatures of the planet.

It was on my actual thirteenth birthday that I first found out, not too long after my mother died. Imagine going to bed a perfectly normal, albeit distraught, twelve year old only to wake up as a thirteen-year-old with her possessions floating around the room. The mess was ridiculous and thankfully Terra didn't make me clean it by myself.

The power was our blessing. But more than that, it was our curse. It ate us alive and whether we used it or not it made no difference. There was only one thing in existence that could end the pain of our bodies failing us, to turn. To die, and then rise from our graves as the undead. How we were cursed, though, was very... complicated. Convoluted.

Honestly, I couldn't even really begin to explain the why and the how. As I said, it was very complicated.

As far as I knew, there weren't any other gypsies in Mystic Falls. I knew for a fact that there was a family of witches. My good friend Bonnie Bennett being part of that prestigious family.

Thinking of Bonnie, I let a smile adorn my face. It had been years since I had seen my old group of friends. Since moving we called each other once or twice a week, sending emails just about every day. I actually hadn't heard from my friends in months. One of the last emails I had received was actually from Bonnie, telling me that our friend Elena's parents had died in a car accident. Elena miraculously surviving the waters under Wickery Bridge.

So once school ended I did the only thing I could do. I packed up my belongings and drove a Uhaul all the way from Cali to Virginia.

It took me a little over two days to arrive, and settle back into my families old home. Though it wasn't really so much as settling as it was making my bed and taking a shower before digging through my many boxes of clothes and shoes. None of my old friends knew that I had come home, the plan was to surprise them at the Mystic Grill.

The sun had long since set by the time I had finished getting ready. I kept my outfit simple, yet something that Caroline's inner fashionista would approve of. A silky white tank top adorned with black roses, black jeans and a pair of silver pumps, decorated in sparkling silver glitter. The only splash of color being my blue and silver prayer beads.

It was as I was putting on my black cropped jacket that I noticed the pain in my joints, dull but still there. That wasn't good, but there wasn't anything I could do about it right now. In other words, I still have time.

My families home was set back in the woods on the outskirts of Mystic Falls. It only took a few minutes to get into town on foot for a normal human.

"Viteză" I stated, the power of my family lacing my voice before I took off running. I wasn't as fast as a vampire, I've tested that theory, but I was fast enough to give them a run for their money.

Less than two minutes later, I was standing in the dark alley behind the Grill. After fixing my hair and my jacket, I rounded the corner and walked into the building, my eyes instantly searching for my friends. It didn't seem like they were here yet, so I made my way over to the bar and slapped my fake ID on the counter.

I could have easily used a spell to make the bartender think I was of age, but I had the fake ID for a reason. Might as well use it.

As I waited for my drink, I looked around the crowded area. There was something huge going on tonight, I just couldn't place my finger on what. Then it hit me, the comet. Tonight was the first time in 145 years that this phenomenal ball of fire would appear in the night sky above the town. To the townsfolk, it was just a beautiful occurrence.

But to people like me, people who were supernatural, it meant power. There were a few, mostly witches, who believed that the comet was something that could only bring evil. A part of me could see where they were coming from. An object of power was sure to attract evil, but it can attract good too.

There was no such thing as evil magic. Just evil people.

After my drink was served, and the cool glass rested in my palm, I went back to scanning the crowd. It didn't take long for me to realize that my friends weren't at the Grill. Groaning, I downed the rest of my drink in one gulp and winced slightly at the slight burn I felt in my throat.

Placing the now empty glass on the bar top, I stood and left the Grill, maybe my friends were outside waiting for the comet to pass through the night sky. Finding them would be a challenge. It seemed like just about everyone in Mystic Falls was wandering the streets with small candles in their hands.

Biting my lip, I weighed my options. I could use my magic and track their location, I was dead no matter how much I used. Using too much, however, just sped up the process. Deciding that I could find Elena and the others the old fashioned way, I pulled out my cell phone and hit the speed dial.

"Hello?" Elena's voice came through.

"Hey, 'Lena, what's up?" I asked with a smile.

"Oh, um, nothing much. The comet thing is tonight" she told me.

"Oh cool" I played it off. "So what are you and the others hanging at the Grill or something?" I asked.

"We're actually on our way there now."

"Everything alright?" I couldn't help but ask.

"Yea. You remember Matt's sister, right?" Elena asked. Of course I remembered, they were sort of my cousins after all. "Well, she was attacked a few days ago. She was in the hospital, but now she's wandering around town high as a kite and we can't find her anywhere."

"Aw jeez, I wish I could help" I told her. Little did she know, their search party was about to gain one more.

So I waited, leaning against the brick wall just outside the door. It was then that it happened. Let me tell you, being sucked into a vision kinda sucked. It was like I was being literally pulled from my body, but the thing about that was, my body still needed to do the most basic of functions. I needed to breathe. So by the time I finally snapped back to my body, it was as if I had been close to drowning.

It wasn't often that I had a vision of my self and whenever I did, the visions were always from different perspectives. I saw myself, this time. And I was crouched down on a dark rooftop next to a dark-haired girl I knew as Vicki Donovan. AKA my junkie cousin. There were two other people with us, but I couldn't see their faces. I just knew that it was two males.

And then I was standing back in front of the Grill and gasping for air. I probably looked neurotic. Cursing, ran a hand through my messy brown hair. I didn't need the vision to tell me that Vicki was still missing, but it did tell me that my cousin was still alive. And really that's all that matters.

Fiddling with the key ring in my jacket pocket, I started walking and after making sure I wasn't being watched, I dipped into the dark alley. I kept a small, unnoticeable blade on my key ring for reasons like this. Since I didn't have anything that belonged to Vicki on me, I had to go a different route. Blood always worked.

"Căutați sângele meu" I chanted lowly, my voice barely above a whisper after making a small cut on my finger, I let the blood drip onto my palm. Once the spell had enough, the magic in me started twisting the little red blob in my hand. I always hated tracking this way and I couldn't help the miniscule grimace on my face when the blood formed a teeny tiny little arrow in my palm. Pointing me in Vicki's direction.

Walking briskly, I held my arm close to my body with my palm face up. Discreetly glancing down to make sure that was going the right way. When I finally reached a parking lot, the blood in my hand sizzled and evaporated. I didn't bother looking around the parking lot, and instead, I focused upwards. And it was pretty easy to spot to people up on the rooftop. That had to be Vicki, and whoever she had disappeared with. Knowing her it was probably her dealer or something. After looking around and muttering a quick 'Viteză' was speeding up the fire escape and onto the rooftop. Barely aware of the blur zooming in front of me.

It was the sudden presence of the supernatural that told me that Vicki wasn't up here with her dealer. She had somehow gotten herself involved with vampires. Yay.

"Not bad," said the one that was holding my cousin. "Have you been eating bunnies?" he asked before his gaze snapped to me. "Who's your friend?" This caused the other vampire to spin around and face me, just as my feet touched the rooftop.

"Ellie!" I head Vicki whimper from behind the hand of the vampire. "Ellie please help me."

The vampire next to me whipped around with wide eyes."Let her go" he said, almost pleadingly. As he did, I came a bit closer, and that's when his striking blue eyes caught mine. My breath caught in my throat and my eyes widened. A wave of recognition washed over me, not because I knew this man but because he was going to be someone really important one day. And then, after looking over at the street below, the blue-eyed vampire tossed my cousin at me.

"Vicki, look at me" I murmured to my cousin. "Are you okay?" I met her red-rimmed eyes before looking her over and making sure she wasn't hurt. And other than the stitched-up bite mark on her neck, Vicki looked fine. Scared for sure, traumatized definitely, but she was physically unharmed.

"What's happening?" Vicki cried as she curled into me, her fear made my stomach turn. But as much as I wanted to, I couldn't set the vampire in front of me on fire. My magic wouldn't let me.

"I don't need her to be dead but..." he trailed off with a shrug, his eyes not leaving the vampire that was closest to me. "You might." Then his eyes looked down at where Vicki and I were crouched. "What attacked you the other night?" he asked, the demand clear in his voice. His voice cut through me and I couldn't help the shiver that ran down my spine.

"I don't know" Vicki sniffed "An animal." But I don't think she even really believed that.

Neither did the vampire who had threatened her "Are you sure about that? Think" he said, bending to meet my cousins eyes. I kenw what was happening and I held onto Vicki harder. "Think about it. Think really hard. What attacked you?" But he wasn't compelling her.

"Vicki, was it a vampire?" I asked her quietly, getting her to look at me before her gaze snapped back to the dark haired vamp infront of us.

"A vampire" Vicki repeated, her voice shaking but stronger than before.

"Who did this to you?" he asked louder.

"You did!" my cousin shouted back, shaking off my hands so that she could hold herself up.

"Wrong" "Don't do this" the two vampires said at the same time. "It was Stefan," said the vampire that held my future in the palm of his hand. As he did, Vicki looked at the vampire next to us. I guess his name was Stefan.

"Don't" Stefan begged just as the before the blue-eyed vamp pulled Vicki back up to meet his eyes. I jumped up after her and grabbed her hand, trying to pull her back to me. I knew what he was going to do. He had been the one to attack Vicki in the woods the other night, I was sure of it. Now he was going to compel my cousin to think that it was this other vampire, Stefan Salvatore.

Marco had told me about the Salvatore family. He had run into them about fifty years ago when he had first been made into a vampire.

"Stefan Salvatore did this to me" Vicki whispered as she was forced to forget what happened in the woods.

"He's a vampire" he told her, his pupils dilating and contracting as his compulsion took hold. I had stopped trying to pull Vicki back to me and just watched. There was literally nothing else I could do, I was magically tied to this vampire and to hurt him would mean to hurt me. "A vicious, murderous monster" he added.

"Please, Damon" Stefan begged. "Please don't do this."

"If you couldn't fix it before. I don't know what you can do know" Damon taunted before ripping the bandage from my cousins neck. It was still oozing blood as Damon shoved her forwards and into Stefans arms, who seemed to almost gag at the sight of blood. But he was a vampire, so that made no sense. "Your choice of lifestyle has made you weak. A couple of vampire parlor tricks is nothing comapred to the power that you could have, that you now need."

And then Stefans face started to change, the veins dark and prominent around his blood red eyes. But still, he fought the urge to rip into Vicki, who was sobbing and struggling against Stefan. Thankfully he was able to fight his cravings and tossed Vicki to the ground.

"Vic..." I started towards her, but a strong arm stopped me. Dragging me backwards until my back was pressed against Damons chest.

"I don't think so, gorgeous" he murmured and I could practically hear the smirk on his voice. "You have two choices," Damon told Stefan. "You can feed and make both of them forget or you can let them run, screaming vampire through the town square."

I couldn't help the snort of laughter. Not only would I not be yelling vampire through the town, but I couldn't be compelled. So there was that.

"That's wat this is about?" Stefan asked. "You want to expose me?"

"No!" Damon snapped, pushing me down to the ground near my cousin who was still sobbing. I could tell that she was wondering why I wasn't terrified, sure she knew the stories about the Crossen family. But Vicki Donovan didn't know the truth. "I want you to remember who you are!"

"Why?" Stefan asked as Damon advanced on him. "So what? So I'll feed? So I'll kill? So I'll remember what it's like to be brothers again?"

I had a feeling that Damon was the other Salvatore, Stefan just confirmed it. Marco would absolutely shit a brick if he knew that Damon freaking Salvatore was my Destined Vampire.

"You know what, let them go," Stefan said. "Let them tell everyone that vampires have returned to Mysic Falls. Let them chain me up, let them drive a stake through my heart, because at least I'll be free of you."

"Harsh." I didn't mean for the word to slip from my lips. But as soon as it did, both vampires gaze snapped to me. "Hey, dude, leave her alone!" I said, finding my voice as Damon came over to where Vicki and I were. I could barely hear his words, but I knew that it was part of his compulsion.

"Ellie? What are you doing here? What happened?" Vicki asked me in a daze. "Where am I? Ahhh, I ripped my stitched open" she sniffled.

"Vick, you okay?" I asked softly.

"I took some pills, El" she told me with a watery chuckle. "I'm good." And then she stood on shaky feet and wobbled across the roof top towards the stairs. With one last look to the vampire brothers, I followed after her.

"It's good to be home" I heard Damon say. "Think I might stay a while."

I was too far away to hear anything he might have said after that, but I could feel his bright blue eyes on me.

Vicki walked back to the Grill in silence. She had only asked me why I was back, and that was it. Scoffing when I said that I was here for Elena. Though that reason had changed once I caught sight of Damon. But of course, I couldn't tell Vicki that the reason I wasn't going back to California was because I met the vampire who was destined to sort of kill me. Cuz that would be crazy.

Matt and a few others were already at the Grill when Vicki and I showed up. Of course, he freaked out a bit, considering his big sister had showed up with her neck dripping blood. After hugging his sister tightly, Matt sent me to the back to grab the first aid kit while he got coffee for Vicki. Naturally, he thought she was high. Thanks to Damons compulsion.

I was sitting next to Vicki, sipping on a cherry coke while Matty bandaged Vicki's neck. Vicki may have been older, but she didn't act like it. Like mother like daughter, I suppose.

Suddenly, I could sense the presence of a a vampire nearby. "Ellie said you found Vicki wandering around" I heard Matt say, looking up I saw Stefan walk over to us.

"Yea" Stefan nodded before meeting my eye. I gave a swift nod, silently telling him that his secret was safe with me.

"So, um thanks."

Rolling my eyes, I pulled out my phone before meeting my friend Bonnie's eyes from across the room.

'I'm back bitch, suprise!'

"Matty, I'm gunna head home." I told him, "Will you be okay here?" I asked, Matt just nodded. I knew Vicki would be fine once she 'came down' from her compulsion-induced high.

Naturally Bonnie had texted me back asking why I didn't come over and sit with her and Caroline. And really it wasn't that I didn't want to see them, but I after all the running around I had done today was killing me. I was tired and I just wanted to go home and drink myself to sleep.