~Wrench slept uneasily that night, tossing and turning around under the sheets. Knowing that Tanner was a vampire was really disturbing her head, and she tried with all the Power she had to get rid of his face in her dreams. Tanner clouded her dreams with nightmares and visions of death and her own past. Tanner had envisioned Zane and her brother's own deaths, and he even relived her saddest moment when Katherine had changed Wrench into the creature she was currently.
The nightmares came and went for a long time, and the third time she had awaken from a terrbile dream, she gave up trying to fall back to sleep without any fear that the dreams will come back. She sighed deeply, and dug out her diary from the duffle bag underneath her bed. Zane had kept his word, and he and the other boys went back to the shop to collect clothes and items needed for the stay at the hotel.
Wrench didn't really know how to write in a diary. She had never owned one before, and so she sat there with dim lighting, thinking about how to start writing, or even what to say. This was her first entry in the new diary, and she was very unsure about So she started the old fashioned way.
Dear Diary,
~I keep having these strange dreams about death and my own living memories. I understand that Tanner is a vampire, like I am, but is he that strong enough, as strong as Damon, strong enough to sneak into another vampire's head and take over their memories and dreams? Why didn't I see him as a vampire before I found out today? How come I never saw this coming? I know I'm weaker than Stefan, but I have some Power that's enough to sense when another immortal is close by. How can Tanner cloak himself so well? It's all too confusing. It's leaving my brain so jumbled, and it's hard to fit the pieces of the puzzle together to make any sense. I can't think straight now. Tanner has the looks and feel of a human, but when I hear his heartbeat or feel waves of Power rolling off him, it reeks of vampire traits all around him. But there's something else about him that is very different from a normal vampire. He seems...older than he looks. He looks older than me, even. Me and my brothers put together.
Speaking of which...my brother Damon is acting so strange. For the past few days since he's come back to Fell's Church, he's been hanging around me a lot and being a sweet brother. But I don't understand. This isn't his normal behavior. Usually he's off killing someone and feeding on innocent girls, amusement in his black eyes, and he's always trying to pick on Stefan. But lately...he's been a good guy. He bought me this rare diary, and he even kissed my forehead yesterday. He's certainly acting different, and in a way I never knew he could act. When he looks at me, and I stare back, the amusement is hardly there, and he looks at me with something that looks like...like...sympathy. Can it be possible that he loves me as a person and sister rather than a shadow? I just can't be sure anymore. The Tanner thing and Damon's weird behavior is making me so confused; the pieces just don't fit and make sense at the same time. The puzzle pieces go together, but they make up the strangest theories, like Tanner is an Old One, one of the very first vampires that the world had ever seen. But he doesn't look old enough to fit the part.
I guess I better try and fall asleep. Tanner may be strong, but he doesn't scare me into not sleeping. So...goodnight my friend.
~Tanya Mai Salvatore, 6/12/09
Wrench closed the little book and locked it with the key around her neck. She placed the book and pen in the small pocket in the duffle bag. She pulled the covers up to her chin, and knocked herself into sleep before Tanner could beat her to it.
~Outside, it was raining very hard, causing Damon's hair to flatten against his head. A few pieces plastered against his eyes, and he impatiently pushed them away, leaning harder into the tree that he perched in. Watching a hallucinating girl was more annoying and stupid than he realized, sitting in a tree, almost falling asleep casually. Cautiously watching a girl was so boring. He wondered what his sister was doing right now. Probably sleeping, he thought to himself. She flashed his smile at the thought of her.
Damon sighed deeply and leaned up closer to the bark of the tree. The fine scent of the pine tree filled his nostrils, clouding his brain into a sensational visual mist of forest evergreen, something he secretly liked, though he would never admit it to anyone. Except maybe his sister...
Damon groaned and smacked his forehead. Why was he acting so different towards Tanya Mai? She hated him, and he usually ignored people like her. But she was something different, something beautiful and special and wonderful and wise and...
Something suddenly electrocuted his head with a jolt of Power, and with a slight yelp, he fell to the ground, landing on all fours before his face was squished into the muddy earth, shock vibrating through his body. Now that was something that was confusing. Damon felt a gentle stroke of Power from above him, and Damon looked up.
A tall man stood there in a yellow rain jacket, his frame slender even for a man of about thirty or forty. His hair was white-blond, tousled and messy, and his only clothes were a plain white T-shirt and dirty jeans, covered in mud and dark spots of blood. Even his ugly looking hiking boots were stained with blood. The man's eyes were blue, so blue they were electrified blue. The man that stalked Vicki all the time; he fit her description perfectly.
"So," the man purred, chuckling. "The dominant Damon Salvatore gets knocked out of tree. I expected more from you." He held out an offering hand.
"Can you blame me?" Damon replied, standing up on his own. He brushed off leaves and bits of debris from his jeans. "You scared the hell out of me, and I don't really pay attention while thinking."
The cocked his head to one side. "And would I be too pushy to ask what you were thinking about?" he asked casually, slinging an arm around Damon as though they had been friends since they were. Damon grimaced and shrugged off the man's casual gesture.
"Does that concern you in any way?" Damon demanded, climbing back up his tree. The man followed him with out even putting his foot in the tree. He was just...there when Damon resumed his perch on the tree branch.
"Because I am curious about your ways, Damon Salvatore. And about your interesting family," he answered. The man lounged on the branch next to Damon's.
Damon laughed with no humor. "You can go bother my brother if you want, but leave me alone."
"I wasn't talking about your brother."
Damon's black head whipped around, and stared at the new stranger. He growled, flashing pointed teeth.
"If you put one finger on my sister, I will personally rip out your..." He intended to finish, but the man's loud laugh stopped him.
"I'm not the one who you should worry about killing your sister, Damon. I don't want to kill her. Not yet." The man sighed, then blinked. "Oh, pardon my rudeness. I am Klaus, an Old One." He held out a bony hand. Damon looked at that hand, bit it, then turned back to watching Vicki's window. Klaus was startled at Damon's snap at his hand.
"And," Klaus added, not worried about his bleeding hand. "I'm not the one who wants to kill her anyway. I'm leaving that to my old friend who knows so much more about her beautifully ice cold soul than I do." Klaus looked at Damon and smiled. Damon rolled his eyes, then vaulted from the tree. Klaus was right behind him.
"I don't believe you know Tanner Hawkins?" Klaus stated simply. Damon stopped and stared. His sister said something about Tanner. Tanya Mai had said that he was a vampire. Could Tanner be an Old One like Klaus?
"Yes, though vaguely," Damon replied, sounding bored. But somewhere inside him he was afraid his sister was going to get hurt somehow.
Klaus grinned. "Then go ask him." Klaus placed a hand on Damon's shoulder. "Since I admire your skills, Salvatore, I suggest we simply leave each other alone, ignore one another as hunters. Agreed?" Klaus held out his hand again. Damon just glared at him.
"Then....think fast!" Klaus disappeared into Vicki's house somehow, and soon there was nothing but screams of pain and the spray of blood and glass at the window. Damon could only watch with horror.
~It had ceased from raining, and large rain puddles dotted the sidewalk next to the hotel foyer. The fireplace was burning brightly in the lounge, and conventional breakfast was being served. The shops' boys crowded the food counters like vultures, but they only grabbed a little bit to let other people eat peacefully. Donuts, cereal, bagels and cream cheese, coffee, juice and fruit was piled high onto plates, and Zach had brought another three huge boxes of Dunkin Donuts for the boys' sweet tooth craving.
Wrench had slept only two peaceful hours last night, and she woke up so late that as soon as she came downstairs, half the boys had already eaten. Zane did a double take at her hair and random choice for clothes:white T-shirt, black jeans, biker boots and Damon's leather jacket.
"Uh..." Zane began, but she held up a hand.
"Don't ask. No sleep last night, so I woke up late." She speculated the donuts. She couldn't eat human food, but from time to time she liked to eat just to make sure the boys didn't worry about her barely eating habits. "Are those chocolate twists?"
Zane smiled. "Yup; help yourself." He grabbed two vanilla custard-filed donuts topped with chocolate glaze. "So what kept you from sleeping last night?" he asked, pouring his second cup of coffee.
Wrench sat down at a deserted table, nibbling on her donut. "I don't know," she lied. "I guess I have too much on my mind right now." She let her gaze wonder around the room, watching the boys walk around and talk and eat.
Zane added four small packs of sugar to his black coffee, munching on a donut. "Like what?" he prompted around a mouthful of sugary dough.
Wrench shrugged. "Just stuff." And that's when her roaming gaze stopped and stared at the person behind Zane.
Damon. And he didn't look very good.
"Damon?" she said, and Zane's head looked up behind him. He jumped, almost losing his hot coffee.
"Dammit," he cursed, wiping his shirt with a napkin.
"Damon, what's wrong?" Wrench asked, standing up. She touched his cheeks with her small palms. Damon's face was a mask of emotion she never knew he could possess. He was angry, so angry, but he was also very shocked and concerned.
"Tanya Mai, I..." he started, but somehow he couldn't finish. He wrung his wrists in concern.
"Um...I don't mean to interrupt," Zane broke in, jumping up from his chair. "But how the hell do you know this guy?"
A/N:Hey readers!! So do you guys think Tanner is an Old One??? Or is Klaus lying??? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.....and it will get interesting very soon. Closer than most of you think. Just be patient plz!! Thanx!!
~DamonSalvatoreLuver :-D