I really didn't think I'll post this soon but it was my birthday yesterday so WHY NOT?! :D

I hope you like it! Keep up with the reviews, they mean a lot to me :)

Tell me what you think about this little twist :)

I am one of the lucky ones. I might spend my entire life thirsting for blood and fighting the urge to kill innocent humans, but still, there are pluses.

For one, I do not have a full time job. Which means I don't need to wake up every morning at some godforsaken hour, only to be miserable for the remainder of the day. I never had to deal with that and even the extreme cases of me having to use an alarm were so rare, I didn't even have a chance to get properly annoyed by them. Still, there's nothing better than waking up on your own accord, once your body and mind decide that you have had enough rest. It helps if the sun shines in through large windows, right on your face, reminding you that there are reasons to get up and out of the bed.

Even after all this time, I don't take sunlight for granted. I will never forget how much I have missed it when I had to hide from it.

It doesn't hurt that I have a very funny, smart and good looking guy sleeping next to me, with his abs out in all their glory. As far as mornings go, this has to be one of the best I've had in the last couple of years.

I get out of the bed, careful not to wake Jamie up. I throw on a T shirt over me and I sneak out of the room. I walk through the backyard right to the shed. I open the fridge and down a blood bag; I keep it here and not in the actual fridge because that would not be an easy thing to explain to Jamie. Once I am done with drinking, I lock the fridge and exit the shed, feeling more at ease when I hear him softly snoring in the bed room; he still knows nothing.

Not having anything better to do, I make us some cheese omelets. I am considerate enough to not blast some music through the stereo; I am not alone. If I was, some rock and roll would already be playing.

Jamie's up just in time. The moment I hear him moving around the bedroom, I turn on the stereo and dance around to 'The Strokes' as I serve the omelets.

"You're phone's ringing," he points out when he walks into the kitchen, pointing on my buzzing cell. "Again."

"I know," I sigh. It's been vibrating for the last three days, almost all the time. "It's just Damon."

"And after three days, don't you think he deserves a call back?" Jamie raises his eyebrows.

"Jamie, Damon's calling me because he's pissed, not because he's worried," I roll my eyes. "He's angry I didn't give him a proper goodbye. And that's fair. I probably should have said goodbye before I left. But he did the same thing to me, and he didn't pick up his phone for six months. He'll live."

"What if it is an emergency?" he asks.

"It's always an emergency with Damon," I sigh. It's either his crazy vampire ex, a tomb full of vengeful vampires or werewolves. But I can't explain it like that to Jamie, can I? "I can't always put him first. He is my best friend and I love him, but all my life, I would run to him, whenever he needed rescuing. This time I just want to be left alone for a little while before resuming with my regular duties."

"Zo, people can't just pack up and leave whenever it gets uncomfortable."

"Yeah they can," I chuckle. "I just did."

"Not everyone has a villa in the Hamptons," he points out. Okay, fair enough. I just happen to have the most perfect escape destination. "You can't live like that. Moving your entire life from one place to another, escaping from yourself."

Now, this is going to be a big problem. I thought I could keep the act up and be believable enough but it truly is turning into a problem. He thinks I am escaping from myself when in fact I am trying to find myself. Very literally, too. I need to find out how my life is connected to the life of Cleo and the girl that was there before her. I am not trying to escape from myself. If anything, I am escaping what can only be described as a proper death trap. I'm escaping from werewolves and Damon's crazy vampire ex.

I can't explain that to Jamie, not without telling him what I am, followed by the entire vampire mythology. And I can't tell him the truth. Even a writer with his imagination would have issues with coming to terms with that. He would probably have a complete freak out and run away from me. I could always compel him to forget all about it, if he doesn't take it lightly. The problem is, I really don't want to do that. And I have been giving him vervain ever since we got here.

How can I try to keep him sheltered from it? Why am I so freaking selfish? I should just let him go and make him forget all about it. Or just keep my distance and not offer any explanations. It would work. And it would keep him safe, which is what I am worried about. But I'm not doing it.

In all honestly, I like him more than I would care to admit. Which can only put him in a bigger danger.

"Look, I don't have to live like that," I tell him, carefully choosing my words. "I am lucky. I do not have to get up early in the morning. I don't feel tired by the end of the day. I don't have to stay in the same place for my entire life. I don't have to do it. I live in New York and my home is still very much in New York. I went to Mystic Falls to help my friend and I'll probably go back there to finish what I have started. I don't know what I will do after because I don't have to know right now. I live in New York but I do not have to be there at every given moment. I don't run, Jamie. I went to see my friend. And I had to leave, which is why I had asked you to join me. I need to clear out my head. Once I do that, once I sort out a few things, I will go back to Mystic Falls. And once I am done there… I don't know what I'm going to do and you asking me about it is not going to help me reach that decision. I know, I suck. Believe me, I know that. But you can't expect me to answer questions I don't even know the answers to. If it's too much for you, you can leave. If it's not, I'm going to need you to stop questioning me because despite what you might think, I'm not some sort of kid that runs away from her responsibilities."

I'm older than he is! I've seen more shit than he could ever imagine! He might think he's in a position to patronize me but he's really not. And if that's what it's going to be like, I should know.

At this point, I don't even care if he talks like that because his worried. The reasons do not justify the act. If he's going to make it all difficult for me… I can't have that.

"I'm staying," he announces, after thinking about my words. "I don't know why, but I am."

"Good," I force a smile. "Now that that is settled, I should tell you that I need to make a quick trip to New York. I should be back by tonight. If not, I should be back by tomorrow morning."

"A quick trip to New York?" he asks in disbelief. "You're just gonna go there, out of nowhere, for the afternoon?"

"Yeah," I reply casually. "Don't get all sulky like that; I know that you have to write. I have some things to do and you will have peace, quiet and a terrific view. I have to meet up with my brother and sort out a few things about our apartment; he needs me to be there as well. It'll be incredibly dull, just as my brother is. Trust me, you're dodging a bullet here." I jokingly lie. The truth is, New York is never dull and neither is my brother, but the last thing I want to do is to have to explain to my brother why and how did I end up dating a human. Dating, is that what this is? Well, I guess it is now.

"Fine," he sighs, knowing that I have a point. He has a deadline for a few articles and I'm well aware that I have been a solid distraction for the last few days. He needs his solo time and I am leaving him in the best place in the world for a solo time; a giant, secluded house with a wicked swimming pool and the best view in the entire place. He doesn't have a right to complain about it. "Don't stay too long."

"I won't," I laugh. "You know, you should not be so possessive so fast. That's supposed to be hidden until we've been hanging out for like… months."

"With your track record with escapes, I think I'm allowed to break rules."

"Point taken," I chuckle when he pulls me in for a kiss. "Come on, let's eat up. I need to leave soon."

…

There were a few reasons why I didn't want Jamie to join me in New York. For one, it would be impossible to have a conversation in front of him that would keep him in the dark about vampires, witches and all the other supernatural creatures that we would have to talk about. Add to that that I did not want to explain to Theo and Jess that I am involved with a human. And last, but not least, I did not want Jamie to meet my ex… whatever, who also happens to be a vampire.

Theo and Jess knew that I was no longer in Mystic Falls and unlike Damon, they were willing to leave me be and to help, focusing on other things. When I called them, as I was driving to New York, they were more than ready to inform me on what they have found. And after they have persisted, I allowed them to involve Simon into it as well; I allowed that because he is older than all three of us combined.

I like Simon, I do. He is a good guy. Charming, funny and in a 911 situation, he is happy to help. But Simon always wanted more. It's my fault, because every now and then, I would give him more. Now that I have pulled that away, and he still wanted it, things have become strange between us. Simply put, I have been avoiding him for the last few months and he's a smart guy; he knows I've been doing it.

"Leave it to you, Zoe Cooper, to find werewolves." Simon laughs. I don't join in. I don't even look at him. At this point, I'm too pissed myself to laugh at anything, let alone myself. "In all my years, I have never met a vampire who ran into one of those," he repeats the same words he said earlier, when I have told him that werewolves are very much real. I notice Jess's glare in my direction; it's a warning. She knows I am very close to being angry at Simon. Actually, scratch that; I am angry at Simon.

"Simon, if you think I made this up and if you don't want to help me, you know where the door is. I'm not keeping you chained here," I say. I am angry these days; I am just not a pleasant person to be around; Jamie's been very lucky so far. Simon knows it, they all know it. And Simon knows I need his help for this. Just as he knows that no one is making him do anything. If he's not up for it, I won't hold it against him, but he should stop wasting my time.

"I told you I will help, didn't I?" he asks me, and I roll my eyes at him.

"Then start helping. Please." I add, not wanting to sound like a complete mean girl.

No one is enjoying this. Googling werewolves and reading up old grimoires led us to nothing; the only thing I found from googling werewolves is that the craze about them is still very much alive. We need to dig deeper into that and with the four of us on this task, we might just find out something we did not know before. I hope. If we don't, every effort we made is going to end up being completely useless.

Once Theo, Jess and Simon don't speak up for a few moments, I realize I am leading this cavalry.

"Okay, let's get back to what we have managed to find out," I sigh as I kneel down on the ground, looking at the mess of papers that took over our large, living room coffee table. "So, Katherine was born as Katerina Petrova. Do we know the time and location?" I ask, looking at Jess.

"Yup. It was Bulgaria, 1473. The month is… June," Jess tells me as she reads it out from her notebook. "From that point on, we don't know much. She had a child out of wedlock but she never got to be the child's mother. I would have guessed that the child died, but since we have Elena…"

"The child lived," I agree, nodding my head. "Unless Katerina had another child we know nothing of."

"Highly unlikely," Theo speaks up. "She was turned around the age of 18. Unless she gave birth to her child at the age of 14, I don't find that one to be the case. These were the middle ages, not the dark ones." He tells me. So, we know that Elena's a descendant to that child of Katerina's. We knew that was the case before, but now we know a bit more. And we know for a fact where Elena's roots started.

"Now, we know she ended up in America before the 1860's. What the hell did she do in the mean time? We're looking at, what, 350+ years? More than 350 years of her being a vampire. God knows what she did then. Do we even know exactly when she turned? Or where? That would be helpful; she said she knew my doppelgänger when she was human." I remind them.

"Which would either mean that the two of us are descendants of Bulgarians, or that she met the other you in England," Theo tells me, staring at his other notebook. "I find the latter more likely to be true, as Jess did manage to trace our roots back to Bristol. It had to be in England." He concludes.

"But that's nothing more than an educated guess. We don't have proof," I sigh, throwing some of the papers I held in my hand back onto the desk; I have had it with our impromptu meeting. "I thought we had more. This is good, it's a step forward in the right direction, but it's not good enough."

"Do you want to go to Bristol? Because that's literally the only thing we could do that we haven't done already." Theo tells me, his tone more rude than usual. I bite my tongue, not wanting to start a fight.

"If I thought that would be helpful, I'd already be there," I snap; so much for biting my tongue. "Look, Jessica's logic was good on that one; our family moved to America for a reason. It could have been money, curiosity, or it could have been one of the other common reasons: hiding." I say.

"Do you think that having a vampire in the family would be reason enough?" Simon asks.

"I don't think so," I mumble, shaking my head. "First, Katherine said that the girl was human. Sure, she may have turned, but when Katherine knew her, both of them are human. And we don't have anything else to go on. Plus, if the girl somehow ended up being a vampire, she would have figured it out on her own. If I did not involve my family in it, she wouldn't have to do it either. Being a vampire it's not usually a common topic at Sunday lunch."

"Yeah, but your family was either dead, or crazy enough to join you in vampirism." Theo tells me. For a moment, I am shocked; his choice of words wasn't exactly polite. I was shocked, but when I look at him, he doesn't look angry. It wasn't meant to hurt me; he just didn't think it through.

"First of all, easy on the words, cowboy. Second of all, no one made you do it."

"That's not the point," Theo shakes his head at me. He's the one who missed the point, not me. "Look, if you think that going to Bristol might be helpful, let's just do it. All four or all three of us. We could be on the plane in a few hours. I'm telling you, Zo, if there's anything to be found, we won't find it here."

"You're just saying that because you want to play Indiana Jones," Jess speaks up. "Look, we could do that. And maybe we should. It's your call to make. But I don't think we'll find anything on your ancestor if we keep looking at Elena's ancestor for guidance, even if it is only historical." She tells me.

"Katherine wasn't exactly looking forward to volunteering information, and I don't think it would work, even if I was to torture it out of her. She's the only lead we have." I say with a shrug.

"And what about the werewolf thing? Did you find anything new?" Theo asks and I shake my head.

"Nothing that didn't end up being about Jacob Black." I mumble.

"Look. We'll keep it up," Jess shrugs her shoulders. "We'll do all we can. And you think about Bristol. It's never too late to go for it, but it's a call you need to make. While we're here, we'll do what we can."

"I actually know a guy I could talk to," Simon speaks up. Automatically, all three of us turn to look at him. "He's a friend of mine and he's a very old vampire. If anyone would have something to tell us about Katherine or Katerina, or whatever she went by, back in the day, it's him."

"When can you talk to him?" I ask. This sounds too promising to give up, at least without a proper try.

"He should be back in New York by the end of the week," Simon tells me; perfect, I have to wait some more. "Until he comes back, we will do our thing. Read the books, look it up, wherever we can. He might even know something about werewolves, even if he had never mentioned it to me."

"Okay, you do that," Jess speaks up, taking over my role as a leader. "You do that and we will do what we've been doing so far. We'll find something. We have to, right?" she asks, looking round and the three of us; if she was expecting a cheer or a battle call, she didn't get one. "Every well has its bottom." She shrugs. Jess, ever the optimist of our little group.

I feel tired and useless, as if I have been hitting my head on a brick wall, repeatedly, over and over again. It will move, disappear or stay there for all of eternity and I will still keep charging on it. Idiot.

…

I am sitting on the kitchen counter with a cup of coffee in my hand, staring blankly at the wall before me, when Jess joins me in the kitchen. Without saying anything else, she climbs up onto the counter and throws a hand over my shoulders. Sometimes, that's all you need.

Jessica is not just Theo's long term girlfriend. She has proven to be much more than that, countless times over the years. She is my best friend, right after Damon. And unlike Damon, she's not the kind of best friend that will get you in trouble. Jess is… a protector, I guess. I suppose she is the same thing to me that I am to Damon; that one friend that would back you up, no matter how deep the shit gets. I might love Damon to the moon and back, but I'm not sure if he'd be willing to do the same for me. Jess would. Jess is family. Jess has been a part of this family for more than 20 years now.

"How worried should I be?" she offers me a kind smile once I roll my eyes. "Should I be… worried worried or just like… meh worried?"

"I wish I'd know," I chuckle, not even bothering to hide my frustration at all of this; I shouldn't bother with hiding it from Jess. "All of this is just so… frustrating. I knew nothing about this my entire life and all of a sudden, it all comes crashing down on me. The moment I stepped foot in Mystic Falls, it has been like an avalanche and it's not showing signs of stopping. The deeper we dig, the more we find out and the more we find out, the less I want to know. But I can't pretend like it's not real, can I?"

"Nope, I don't think you can," she shakes her head. "I was hoping to spare you the bullshit, 'look on the bright side' kind of talk, but that's really what you should do at this point. It doesn't matter how bad it gets, you know you can handle it. You're one of the strongest people I have ever met. Despite the avalanche of shit thrown at you, you will still hold your ground. It's okay to remind yourself of that, every now and then."

"I know," I sigh in annoyance. "I just wish that it wasn't so dark, you know. All my life I've thought that being a vampire was a complete accident. Now, with multiple doppelgängers and all of them being either vampires or connected to vampires… it doesn't feel like a complete accident anymore. And I've always justified it as a way to save my own life, to keep myself alive for a while longer."

"Geez Zo, don't think in that direction," Jess tells me, sounding really concerned at this point. "It is still an accident. Even if it was… written in the stars or meant to be, it was an accident. You had no other option. And you should stop thinking about that. It'll eat you out if you keep thinking about it. Take a little break, clear your head and chill out. Let us do the heavy lifting and we'll call you once we find the fucking treasure chest."

"I can't shake it off completely," I persist. "Send me whatever you find. Just text me, call me, email me, whatever. I'll see what I can do about it from my own position."

"Where are you staying, in Hamptons or in Connecticut?" she asks. With the three of us, there are only two options for local getaways; our house in Hamptons our or cabin in Connecticut. If we're staying in the States, we are either in New York or in one of those two places.

"Hamptons," I tell her. I don't need to worry about her or Theo knocking on the door. We've been a team for many years. We know when one of us needs a proper break. When one of us needs to be alone, they are properly left alone. "If you need me to get over here again, I'll come."

"As soon as we have something palpable, we'll give you a call," she confirms. "And we'll send any possible info we have. So go, turn your brain off for a little while. You deserve it."

"Thank you, Jess," I tell her as I pull her in for a hug. "I couldn't have done this without the two of you."

"That's what we're here for," she chuckles. "It's as simple as that."

And it really is. For some people, you just do things, no questions asked. And if you are lucky, really lucky, those people will be willing to do the same for you. Once you help someone, no questions asked and you stand by them, no matter the shit storm, you know you're family, not just friends.

I'm lucky to have a family like this. A family that can be damn sure I will move heaven and hell for them in return, if need be. Because that's the shit you do for the ones you love wholeheartedly.

…

Despite driving over the speed limit, using all of my vampire senses to avoid causing any trouble to my fellow drivers, by the time I got back to the Hamptons, it was already past midnight. I thought I was going to be back sooner, but as it turns out, there was a lot of information that we had to cover. I was not surprised when I found Jamie sound asleep.

I use the time to have a bit more blood, without him noticing that I am sneaking out to the shed. After a quick shower, which to my surprise, did not wake him up, I hop into the bed. Finally, he wakes up. He turns around and throws an arm over my waist, nuzzling his head into my neck.

"What time is it?" he mumbles.

"Almost 2AM," I tell him. "Go back to sleep, it's late."

"When did you get here?" he asks, his voice still groggy.

"Not that long ago. I had a bite to eat and a shower. I had to stay a bit longer than I planned. I might have to go again in a few days." I tell him. It's better to warn him at once. Besides, we have not discussed how long we'll be staying here to begin with. I know what I need to do but I have no idea how long it'll take me to do it. His job is a great one for spontaneous getaways; he only needs his computer and internet. But just because he can afford to stay longer doesn't mean he wants to.

"Did you at least get a chance to catch up with your brother properly?" he asks.

Okay, how? How is it possible that he did not try to lecture me about not being responsible by hiding away in the weekend house? Did he get a lobotomy while I was away?

Or maybe, just maybe, he had realized that this is who I am? And that he can either accept it or go his own way? Could be. Just because he was irrational once doesn't mean he is irrational all the time. And unfortunately for me, I have a thing for irrational boys.

"I did," I sigh, turning around to face him. If he keeps asking questions, he's done with sleeping; we might as well have a normal conversation. "I spent the entire day with him and Jess. Once the lawyer left, we had a chance to properly catch up."

Lawyer. That's supposed to be Simon? I'm going to trip on my own web of lies if I keep it up like this.

"What do they think?" he asks.

"I'm going to need a bit more that that because both Theo and Jess have a mess in their brains."

"What do they think about you going to Mystic Falls so suddenly? And leaving it? And not being home?"

"Look, they know Damon," I sigh. I really need to find a better explanation because 'that's what Damon does' simply doesn't cut it anymore. I wonder if it'll stop being enough for me as well. "Damon is a good guy who tends to make stupid decisions. And I'm the type of friend that will get him out of it, whether he likes it or not. This isn't the first time that I rescued him. And Theo is aware that I am a grown woman, who can decide what she wants or doesn't want to do. He's not in the position to complain."

"You're very close to your brother, aren't you?" Jamie asks, giving me a sleepy smile.

"He's the most important person in this world to me," I answer without even thinking about it. "There is nothing I wouldn't do for him and it goes both ways. No one will ever be more important than he is."

It's not a warning, it really isn't. It would be ridiculous to think that a guy, no matter how perfect he is, could be more important to me than my baby brother.

On the other hand, Jamie is a good guy. I like him more with each passing day and I'm not sure how smart that is. I know that he deserves the truth but what I have to say it's not an easy thing to say. I am willing to wait. I am willing to wait and see if this is worth it. And if it is… I will tell him the truth.

I will tell him what I am. I will tell him the complete truth and he can make a decision. I like him too much to lie about it for the rest of our lives. I just need to be absolutely sure about it first.

"What's your favorite color?"

"What?" I chuckle.

"I know so little about you," he shrugs. God, his eyes are just so… the bluest of the blue. I could stare at him 24/7, despite never really having a thing for blond guys. But Jamie… he's just making me question everything, isn't he? "I know you, but I don't. And I've just realize I don't even know your favorite color."

"It's blue," I admit. Normal Zoe would roll her eyes at such a question. Crazy-about-someone Zoe would think how such a question gives him at least 20 future boyfriend points. Did I just call him a boyfriend? Even if it is in my head? Did I?! Crap, I'm a goner. "What's your favorite color?"

"Green."

I never thought that a day would come when I would just talk about random things at 2AM, with a guy I kind of, sort of, like. A human, at that.

After all that had happened and all that I have seen in Mystic Falls, should I really be surprised? Before, if anyone had told me I would end up being involved with a human, I would NOT believe them. Now… I think I don't have a right to be surprise with this turn of events.

I'm not going to question myself, not anymore. I have done that ever since I was old enough to think on my own, to form my own opinions. I will not do that. I will just do whatever it is that I want to do. Doing that might just end up with me being happy, which would be quite the change.

I don't even know if I know how to be happy!