Tasha was an unsociable geek when she was twelve, always down the local library with her head in a book instead of going out with her friends. In August 1990, Tasha had come back from a weeks's holiday at a holiday camp on the Somerset coast with my family and had just discovered an author called L.J Smith who wrote about vampires, witches and shape shifters finding their soulmates. They lived in the NightWorld which was full of rules for protecting them from the human world and also forbidding them from revealing themselves to humans, so to have a human soulmate meant that most of the people were outcasts.
Tasha was entranced by her writing but there was one series in particular that was her favourite, that caught her imagination and a certain character in it who made her heart flutter. The Vampire Diaries, three books about a girl who Tasha would never be- Elena Gilbert and the two vampire brothers who were battling for her affections- Stefan Salvatore- the younger of the two whom Elena loved and Damon Salvatore- the older brother who wanted her because she was Stefan's and because she had a great deal of inner strength and would be a suitable match for him as his 'queen of the night.'
Right now, Tasha was trying to work her way through the Night World series of books by ordering them through her library as they seemed to be scattered around the borough and so she had to wait for them and then there was the question of order- it was driving her mad. Tasha was driving her Mum mad as well and her younger sister was driving Tasha mad, so it was Tasha who was sent off to stay with her Dad for a week as punishment.
Her father worked all day and had separated from her mother a couple of years ago, it bored her stiff as not knowing the area she generally stayed indoors and watched telly but even then the house was old and draughty, so today she decided to walk through Bushy Park to Hampton Court Palace and have a look around with the money her Dad gave her.
It was a long walk to the palace and it took her a couple of hours so she got there at midday, then she found out that she just had a couple of pounds left for food which was just about enough to get her a blueberry muffin to eat as she wandered into the first courtyard known as Base Court. She sat down on the floor in a corner and started to tuck in, watching the Jester draw crowds by running up and grabbing people.
She watched as he ran up to a couple of fit looking boys in t-shirts who were a lot older than Tasha- then he ran away without them even saying no, he went up to another person who said no and there was a moment of protest when the Jester pleaded and then he gave up and moved on, but with the two boys he ran up to them and ran away- that was odd.
They started to walk towards Tasha, but they were deep in conversation and didn't even notice her, the older one seemed to be pissed because his little brother was tagging along. "I didn't ask you to tag along, if you don't want to be here then no one's forcing you, brother."
"I'm coming with you whether you like it or not Damon, you know why." The younger one said, Tasha went to gasp and ended up choking just as they walked past her, they both looked at her in surprise, she looked up at them in shock and suddenly remembered the book she had next to her. She went to grab it but Damon got there first, "what's this? How do you know who we are?" he asked in a low hiss. Stefan was standing next to Damon looking shocked as he saw the book, he kept staring at Tasha who got up and had trouble talking at first, "that's the second book in a series called the Vampire Diaries. There are three books and they're based on Elena's diaries." She looked at Stefan who winced at the sound of her name, but he was in vampire mode and started interrogating her, "what's your name?"
"Natasha- Tasha Richardson."
"Okay Tasha, you know who I am then?" Tasha nodded, "I promise you we won't hurt you so don't be scared. But could you tell me where you got them from?" Stefan asked, Damon bent the book back to read it properly. "Can you not do that to my book please? You're going to break the spine," Damon looked at her with a raised eyebrow and Tasha looked back at him pointedly, Damon relinquished and continued to read the book without bending the book so far. "Sorry, I got them from 'Smiths, it's a chain of bookshops that sells stationary as well," Stefan nodded and looked at Damon, waiting for the book.
"So how comes you're here then?" Damon's face had become a rigid mask and Tasha suddenly remembered the content of the book, she wondered if Damon would let Stefan read it and if Stefan would go mad at Damon once he found out. She tried to distract Stefan, it worked for a couple of seconds, "hmm? Oh, we're just here for today, to stretch our legs after the flight from America. We're flying back to Florence tomorrow, Damon wanted to come here and see the palace for some reason."
"I've seen all I want. I don't know about you brother but I'm getting hungry and this is full of rubbish anyway." He shoved the book back at Tasha who took it from him, "I suggest you get out of my sight while I'm in a good mood," he said to her, she nodded and went to pick up her muffin, but Stefan stepped in. "That's not very polite, may I read?" Stefan asked Tasha, who suddenly felt like a rabbit caught in the headlights. "I, er," she looked pleading at Damon, Stefan caught her glance. "What? You don't want me to read the book do you Tasha? Why not?" he asked her gently.
"Do you remember when Elena took blood from Matt after she turned? And you were really upset that she'd blood from Damon as well and although she was confused she loved Damon and not you? And Matt said not to judge her until you knew all the facts" Stefan's eyes widened and Damon's did a little bit as well.
"Yes," he said warily.
"Well the facts are in this one, but they're not good. They might make you angry and hurt you, so will you promise me that you won't do anything to Damon if I let you read it?" Stefan looked at his elder brother long and hard, Damon looked for all the while as if it were water off a duck's back.