Cursed

Chapter One

Mystic Falls, Thirty Two Years Ago

Elena stumbled backward as the body in front of her burst into flames. Kol faltered and waved his arms viscously as he shouted in pain. She watched with big brown eyes as he fell onto his back and withered into nothing more than a pile of ashes and charred bone. Her mouth was left slightly ajar as if she wasn't sure if she should say something or to enjoy the victory, or if she should stay silent in reverence of the fallen Original.

"Elena…" Jeremy looked up from the other side of the body, a hint of horror in his eyes. "I was supposed to kill him."

Mystic Falls, Present Day

"Hey, you're the new girl aren't you?"

Charlie jumped at the voice, a cold Pepsi in hand. She wasn't a morning person—never had been, never would be—and certainly hadn't heard anyone enter the teacher's lounge. It was mid-morning and most teachers were in class. At least they were supposed to be, she turned her body to a slight angle so that she could who was talking to her, holding the back of her hand over her mouth as she tried to swallow the soda that was already in her mouth.

"Sorry?" she croaked.

"I didn't mean to scare you… I'm Jeremy Gilbert. You took over Mrs. Weissman's classes, didn't you?" At her blank look, he added, "The art teacher?"

"Oh, yeah… sorry… I'm Charlie," she said with a blush.

"Charlie what?"

"Griggson. Charlie Griggson. Sorry, I'm kinda useless without my morning Pepsi."

He nodded, sitting in an arm chair across from her. Even with his jacket on, she could see the outline of muscles. For a middle aged man, Jeremy Gilbert was in great shape. He was tall with white skin that had slight tan to it—she assumed from working out in the sun. His eyes were dark, with little wrinkles around them.

"It's okay. So, what brings you to Mystic Falls?"

"Oh, work." She nodded, turning her back to him again to set her Pepsi on the counter.

"There weren't teaching jobs anywhere else?" he asked with raise eyebrows. Charlie couldn't tell if he was serious or joking.

"I…I was born here."

"Really? Huh…" Jeremy crossed his arms, causing the sleeves of his jacket to rise.

Charlie turned back to him. On his right side, from the back of his hand up his wrist to underneath his jacket was a dark tattoo. It was obscure and hard to understand but clearly visible.

"Yeah." Her golden eyes fell on his hand. "That's a neat tattoo. Tribal art?"

He looked down at his arm, his brow furrowed. "Tattoo?"

"On your right arm?"

"Oh, that…" He tugged the jacket down. "A teenage mistake. I was rebellious back then." His mouth turned upward with a little smirk.

"Well, it's neat."

Jeremy smiled a bit. "I should let you wake up. I just thought I'd introduce myself. If you need anything, I'm right down the hall. Room 232." He stood up. "Have a nice day, Miss Griggson."

"You, too, Mr. Gilbert."

She turned back to the counter and picked up her can of soda as she stared aimlessly out the window.

Mystic Falls, Thirty Two Years Ago

Damon had an arm around Elena.

Elena shook her head, looking between Damon and Jeremy.

"I couldn't stop him—"

"He was coming at her, what was I supposed to do? Toss you the stake and hope he magically turned around?" Damon half-glared at him.

Jeremy stared him, his chest moving deeply, partially from anger.

"The whole point of this was to get the mark to grow," his voice rose as he spoke. "You killing him makes this whole thing pointless!"

"Guys…" Elena tried to cut in as fear crept into her voice.

"We'll find another way." Damon half shrugged.

"Guys," Elena said a little louder.

This time both of them looked and realized that her head was turned away from them and the horrific scene in the middle of them.

Her head was turned toward the doorway where Damon had left the door open on his way in. Klaus stood just outside the door, his toes as close to the threshold as he possibly could get. He stood and silently watched their exchange. His jaw was clenched tight and judging from the water in his eyes he had been there for a few minutes.

"Klaus—"

"What… have you done?" he croaked, his eyes lifting to look at Elena.

"We did it for the cure… Jeremy was supposed to kill him to complete his mark… you wanted him dead too." She tried to excuse what they had just done.

"I was going to make him suffer on my terms!" he roared.

Elena blinked and took a small step back.

"I was going to kill him to complete the mark so that we could find the cure."

Klaus took a step back and shook his head; a sickening smirk graced his lips as if he found it funny.

"You think I gave a damn about the cure?" He looked back at them. "I was going to kill you both the second I laid eyes on it."

Jeremy looked at Elena who simply looked away as if surprised. Damon's blue eyes flicked to the floor and the back to Klaus, but his stone-cold face not changing. Klaus leaned as far forward as he could without passing the threshold and looked around the house.

"I'm going to burn this house to the ground." He looked directly at them. "Then I'll kill you as you run for cover just for sport."

Mystic Falls, Present Day

Back in her classroom, Charlie drifted once more, her eyes focused outside the windows.

A dark shape passed by, shocking her into awareness. He hadn't aged a day in twenty years. The black leather jacket he wore reminded her of the one he'd had on the night her sister died. His hair was even styled the same. There was something darker in his eyes though.

And how was he still in Mystic Falls? Surely she wasn't the only person aware of what Damon Salvatore was. There was no conceivable way for him to have been here for the last twenty years without someone noticing that he wasn't aging. Someone would have said something. Sure he could probably come up with something on the fly at first. Botox, face lift… he was a crafty one and probably came with all sorts of things. But those kinds of things could only get you so far—everyone aged despite going under the knife. There was someone in town that had to know his secret. Whoever they were, probably wanted him dead as much as she did.

xXx

He wasn't used to being watched. As a vampire, he was the hunter, not the prey. But he'd been noticing eyes following him over the past few days.

Not that he let it get to him.

Damon Salvatore wasn't going to let anyone threaten him or stalk him, let alone a little girl. A pretty, little blonde thing. Either she was interested in him and too shy to approach him, or she knew what he was. Either way, he'd settle the score with her soon enough. He had seen her coming and going from the high school a few times, she was short and thin with curves that would make an hour glass itself jealous. Her milky skin was softly freckled. She seemed harmless enough, but so did Rebekah from a distance. She was butting into his life and he couldn't have that.

xXx

Charlie adjusted the sunglasses on her face as she trotted down the street. Her long flowing white dress waved in the breeze and she had her hand stuffed deep in the pocket of her jean jacket. The street was busy with people but she had a clear line of sight to the tall, porcelain and handsome man several feet in front of her. He was walking nonchalantly in the direction of his house—a location that she knew very well by now.

She stopped for a moment, looking slightly confused when he turned down a street she didn't recognize. She lifted her sunglasses a little before following him around the corner. She froze a second time after rounding the building.

The street was completely empty.

There were no corners for him to have turned or places for him to hide, but he had disappeared. She clenched her jaw in anger, but took a step back to head home herself; she'd find him again tomorrow.

She started to turn around when she collided with something solid and hard. She stumbled backward in surprise.

Damon smiled charmingly at her.

"I don't think we've been introduced."

Charlie stared at him with an open mouth, her hand in her jacket.

He stepped a little closer. "I'm Damon… Damon Salvatore." He extended his hand to shake hers and she jumped at the sudden movement.

Her hand slipped out of her jacket and an object clunked to the ground. It bounced a few times before rolling forward to Damon's feet.

He bent down and gently picked it up before looking up at her with cold blue eyes. All the charm had disappeared the second the wooden stake hit the ground.

A/N: Dont forget to review! Would love to hear what you think!

-NinaRippner