Ninth.
As we drove back into Mystic Falls an unsettling feeling swept over me. I looked down at the pictures that Katherine had given me studying the faces of the brothers I'd yet to meet. Elijah looked kind enough, although most sociopaths made it their mission to blend in with the crowd. Klaus, on the other hand, was your typical bad boy. I could see it in his eyes; a spark of murderous glee hidden behind a handsome 'come hither' look. He would probably be the one to look out for. I wasn't sure of exactly what a hybrid was and I certainly wasn't looking forward to finding out.
We pulled into Bonnie's driveway and she came running out to greet us. I started to make my way out of the car but was stopped when Stefan told me that he was just dropping off Elena; apparently we had a different destination. Elena and Bonnie looked just as confused when I didn't exit the car but Stefan told them not to worry, he wasn't going to let me out of his site this time. The girls waved from the porch as we drove down the street towards the boarding house.
I tensed up as it came into view. My last few days spent there had been rather unpleasant. As we pulled into the driveway my breath caught in my throat when I saw Damon's car parked next to mine. Stefan could sense my discomfort and he assured me that he would be with me the whole time. I smiled weakly back at him; his reassurances were touching, but we all knew that Damon was the stronger of the two. I had personally seen the outcome of a hand-to-hand battle between them and paid dearly.
We walked up the brick stairs onto the front porch, and Stefan opened the ornate wooden door as I held my breath behind him. I don't know what I was expecting to happen; perhaps Damon standing there waiting to apologize or just pretending that nothing had ever happened. I peered in and saw that my concerns were unfounded; Damon was nowhere to be seen.
"I'm sure that you are probably exhausted, but if you don't mind I have something I'd like for you to look at in the study."
"Would you mind if I get cleaned up a bit first? Rebekah has a bad habit of playing dirty and leaving her victims that way as well." There was still dried blood on my wrist and in my hair and I needed to get out of this dress.
"Of course, why don't we meet back down here in half an hour? I think I might run out and get a bite anyway."
I looked cautiously up the stairs. "Damon's not here, he and Alaric had some business to attend to so he's gone for the day."
"Okay, I'll be quick." I made my way up the stairs and into the familiar bedroom. Once I was locked in the bathroom I slumped down to the floor and let the tears flow. I had come to Mystic Falls hoping to find Katherine, get some answers, possibly help Elena and then to get out of town. Instead I had turned everyone's lives upside down while they put their own plans on hold to save me from the multitudes of messes I got myself into. To make matters worse, Katherine had become an even bigger problem than I had ever expected.
After a few minutes of self- pity I pulled myself together and got into the shower. Twenty minutes later I was ready and headed down to the study to meet up with Stefan. He had not come back from his hunt yet, so I walked back and forth admiring all of the books and antique artifacts that were housed on the wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling shelves. There must have been tens of thousands of books in this one room alone. I heard the front door open and turned to see Stefan entering. He gestured that he needed to wash his hands and a few moments later he was back in the study with me.
"So what is it that you wanted to show me?"
I watched as he pulled out three books from a nearby shelf and then reach his arm deeply into a hidden compartment. When he pulled it out he held two leather bound books. One looked fairly new while the other looked as though it might fall to pieces if you breathed on it wrong. He came as sat beside me on the sofa handing me the more delicate of the two volumes.
"I found this among Katherine's things after she fled Mystic Falls in 1864. At first I wasn't sure what it was; she hadn't yet told us of her European background. We had been under the impression that her family was from Atlanta. Anyway, I found this book which looked like a diary or journal of some kind. Many of the pages are mismatched and were stuffed into the binding at different times. I couldn't figure out what any of it meant until Damon discovered that her family was originally from Bulgaria."
I opened the fragile cover to reveal papers as thin as butterfly wings with markings that were near impossible to read. I flipped through a few of them, but most were just as bad, if not worse, than the first. The paper had rotted and the ink degenerated, I couldn't pick out more than a few characters at best.
"I know that it is in bad shape, so I took it to a friend of mine in Chicago who is a wizard at restoring old documents and he was able to reproduce most of what was originally written in there."
Stefan handed me the newer looking book which I just stared down at for a moment not entirely sure of what I was looking at.
"I can't read Bulgarian, but as far as I can tell that is a collection of journal entries written by Katherine's mother, your grandmother, and Katherine herself. I have no idea what it says, but I think it will mean a lot more to you than it does to me and I want you to have it."
"I don't really know what to say." I had an incredible mix of feelings running through my body. On the one hand it was possible that the real answers to all of my questions could be found in these pages, but it was also possible that my worst fears would be confirmed; I was an unwanted, illegitimate, bastard child who would have been better off left in the woods for the animals to finish me.
"For now don't say anything. I don't know what you might find in there, but take your time going through it. When you're ready you can decide if you want to thank me or slug me." He smiled back at me and I was overwhelmed by his sensitivity and sincerity. "So are we in for the night or do you want to take a chance and grab a bite at The Grille?"
My heart skipped a beat. Matt might be working at The Grille. I couldn't go out looking like this, I would have to change at put on at least a few layers of make-up to hide the damage from the last few days. I had to stop thinking like this, Matt was Elena's ex, he was Caroline's ex, and he was human. I just couldn't get over his similarities to Thomas. I felt like I was that fourteen year old girl in England with a crush on a boy who seemed unattainable.
"Let me just grab a few things and we'll go." I raced up to my room and into the bathroom. I was so nervous that I almost lost an eye trying to line it. My palms were sweating and shaking. I found my purse, Caroline and Bonnie had given all of my stuff to Stefan so I had my wallet, my camera and my journal as well. I put the two diaries in the drawer of the bedside table, I would have to look through them later, but for right now I had one focus and one focus only, seeing Matt Donovan.