Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to The Vampire Diaries, TV show or books. However, I decided to have a little play around with the characters (I would definitely like to play with Damon).
Thank you all for your kind reviews. They are always appreciated.
guest – Laura's personality is the older, more cynical version of Elena. This was why she had no problem acting like Elena because she just became her 18yo self. As everyone now knows about Laura, she doesn't have to pretend. However, Elena's younger personality will come out over time and merge into Laura's.
I do apologize that sometimes this story has to follow the show story. It will make sense as to why I'm doing it, although it may take a while.
I hope you all enjoy the chapter.
The four of them headed back into the house, slightly deflated from Laura's sudden memory loss. However, it did confirm the changes which were occurring, although it was uncertain as to whether these were changes for the better. Therefore, Laura decided to explain what had happened.
"I don't think the I have never game is going to work now." Laura told them. "But I'm going to explain why Pastor Young being hospitalized is so significant." She said.
"Will we need alcohol?" Damon asked.
"Copious amounts." Laura smiled.
"At least that's a good thing." Caroline grinned as Stefan just sat back, not saying anything, while everyone grabbed a drink.
"What is all of this about?" Damon asked. "All we know is that Pastor Young can't be allowed to blow up the council." He frowned. "Not that I have a problem with that." He shrugged.
"There's a guy called Professor Shane who teaches at Whitmore college." Laura told them. "He's been brain-washing Pastor Young to blow up the council."
"Why?" Caroline asked.
"Because he wants to raise an immortal called Silas." Laura explained. "He's not a vampire, but he's the first immortal being. He was a witch and some spell was cast. He's entombed on an island off Nova Scotia." She told them. "When Elena turned, she was sired to Damon, and at the time, they thought the only way to break the sire-bond was to team up with Professor Shane and go to Silas." She said.
"I'm guessing there was something Silas could do about the sire-bond." Damon frowned.
"Not exactly." Laura shook her head. "You see, Silas is buried with a cure for vampirism." She told them.
Damon, Stefan and Caroline looked at her in shock.
"So why don't we go get it?" Stefan asked.
"Because you don't want to wake Silas." Laura shook her head. "He's evil."
"So why is this Professor Shady looking for a cure?" Damon asked.
"He doesn't want the cure." Laura shook her head. "Silas has convinced the professor that he will raise his dead wife and kid. Which is why the massacre had to be stopped." She said.
"What's the massacre got to do with anything?" Stefan frowned.
"Pastor Young took out eleven other people." Laura explained. "There needed to be twelve deaths for the magic to work." She said, looking straight at Damon. "Does this sound familiar to you?" she asked.
"Are you talking about Charlotte?" Damon asked as Laura nodded.
"The spell was a fake." Laura told him. "Charlotte is still sired to you. She's just counting every brick in New Orleans." She stifled a laugh. "There's only one way to break a sire-bond. The vampire who is sired to you needs to flip the switch." She said. "It breaks the emotional connection. You never needed to kill those people. Valerie wanted you to do it to fuel her magic. You see, it's a type of magic called Expression, and it is even worse than dark magic." She said.
Fuck!" Damon swore. "That's a lot to take in." he shook his head.
"You killed twelve people to break a sire-bond?" Stefan said to Damon in disgust, before turning to Laura. "You knew this, yet you let him get close to you. How could you?" his face looked at her in disgust.
"I think you should be the last person to judge!" Laura stood up. "I don't want to hear your moral high ground. You're a fucking vampire, be a fucking vampire!" she cried before storming off to her room.
Laura had enough of Stefan for the night. Even when trying to explain the seriousness of the situation, he wanted to make Damon look bad. Except this time, he was making her look bad and she just didn't want to be around him to listen to that. She was having a hard-enough time trying to adapt as it was. There was a knock on her bedroom door.
"Who is it?" Laura called out, hoping it wasn't Stefan.
"It's me." Damon called out. "Can I come in?" he asked.
"Yeah." Laura sighed although she just wanted to be alone.
Damon walked in and closed the door behind him, he carried what looked like a book in his arm, before handing it to her.
"What's this?" Laura asked.
"It's an empty journal." Damon told her. "I'm guessing it won't be long before you forget more and more, so I figured you might want to write everything down. When you've fully merged with Elena, you might not want to know what it say, but on the other hand, you might be intrigued." He shrugged. "I just thought you might want it just in case." He said.
It was such a wonderful gesture, it almost brought tears to Laura's eyes.
"Thank you Damon." She swallowed, taking the empty journal from him. "I will write down the things I want to remember." She said. "I just wish I hadn't forgotten things already." She frowned.
"Well, I've got an idea for that too." Damon smiled as Laura looked at him quizzically. "You know I can give people dreams, right?" he asked.
"Yes." Laura nodded.
"Well, I asked Bonnie if it was possible to give you any magic which would temporarily give you your memories back, every now and again." He said. "She told me it could only be done once. But, if Bonnie does the spell and I go into your head at the same time, I can get those images for you. Then I can put them back in there whenever you want me to. If you want to remember your dog, I can show her to you." He suggested.
"You can do that?" Laura asked.
"I wouldn't pry into anything you didn't want me to see." Damon promised. "You just open up as far as you want me to go, and I can get your memories pretty quickly." He suggested. "But I'm the only one who can do it." He shrugged. "It takes a lot of practice. Caroline isn't strong enough yet, and Stefan has spent too much time on the bunny diet to be capable of anything this powerful. Would you trust me to do it?" he asked.
"I trust you." Laura nodded. "And yes, I'd like that very much." She smiled gratefully.
"Bonnie is going to Whitmore college tomorrow to meet Professor Shadypants. Apparently he has some of her Grams stuff." Damon told her. "So, I thought we can do the spell and then I could teach you to feed." He suggested.
Laura grinned. "I'd like that." She agreed.
"Great." Damon nodded. "Well I'll let you get some rest. And I'll see you tomorrow for Whitmore." He said as he left.
"Goodnight Damon." Laura smiled as he closed the door behind him. After he'd gone, Laura held the journal close to her chest, this gift of her memories was probably the greatest gift anyone could give her, and he'd been the one to suggest it. No wonder Elena fell in love with him. Laura mused.
The next day, they met Bonnie outside the main campus at Whitmore college. Laura had been looking forward to seeing Bonnie to find out what she could do to help her retain her memories via Damon. Laura had been expecting some kind of spell, but to her surprise, Bonnie simply handed over a jar of herbs.
"What do these do?" Laura asked.
"They're spelled herbs." Bonnie told her. "Mix them with water, then drink it. Take a bath as it will help soothe you. By this time, you'll be feeling drowsy. When you fall asleep, Damon simply has to dive into your mind and retrieve your memories. But it will take all night." She warned.
"I'm fine with that." Damon shrugged.
"You sure you don't mind spending the night watching me?" Laura frowned.
"I can't think of anything better to do." Damon grinned. "Well, I can, but you're not ready for that yet." He smirked as Laura rolled her eyes.
Laura turned to Bonnie. "Are you sure that you're okay with this?" she asked.
"Professor Shane wanted to see me. And I think it might be a good idea for you to keep your memories. So yeah, of course I'm happy to be here. Although I'll be going once I've seen the Professor and we've talked about what he was up to." Bonnie replied. "Plus, I wanted to check the place out for myself. Its where I want to study." She smiled.
"I can't imagine having to go to college again." Laura sighed.
"Oh, stop with the pity party. If I can go to college multiple times, so can you." Damon shook his head.
"You went to college?" Bonnie snickered.
"Sure, plenty of times. I always had a thing for sorority girls." Damon smirked.
"You're disgusting!" Bonnie looked at him in dismay.
"I know." Damon whispered proudly as they made their way to the class with Professor Shane. Before they walked in, Damon turned to Bonnie. "So, you know what you've got to do?" he asked.
"I'm to pretend I don't use magic anymore. That I did a spell and there were consequences." Bonnie rolled her eyes. "Please tell me your not going to kill him." She sighed.
"I'm still undecided." Damon frowned as Laura looked at him. "Okay, we'll have to find another way. Maybe I could turn him." He suggested.
"And how would that help?" Bonnie asked.
"Because the guy he is working with is a vampire hunter, which means he'd kill him instead." Damon grinned.
"Has Elijah confirmed where he is?" Laura whispered as they slipped into the classroom.
"When I spoke to him this morning, he told me the Connor Jordan guy was in Seattle." Damon replied so quietly, only Laura's vampire hearing would be able to pick it up. "We're safe here for the time being." He assured her.
"Good, because Professor Shane will know who we are, and the minute he suspects us, Connor Jordan will be heading straight to Mystic Falls." Laura said.
"Well, he's going to be a very disappointed vampire hunter, isn't he." Damon smirked as Bonnie gave him a dirty look before they all found a seat at the back and turned their attention to the Professor's class.
"When I say the word "witch", what pops into your head?" Professor Shane asked. "Halloween costume? Villain of a fairy tale? Maybe an ex-girlfriend? Well, whatever image it is it's probably not Tanyell Soso of Montego, Cameroon." He said as an image of a woman appeared on the screen.
"That's him." Laura pointed out.
"Yeah." Bonnie nodded.
"He's kind of..." Laura started.
"Hot." Bonnie whispered.
"Well, I was going to say weird." Laura smirked as Damon stifled his laughter, as Laura tried to listen.
"Now, in reality, or in this reality at least, witches appear to cross every culture in history. They're the architects of the supernatural; responsible for everything that goes bump in the night from ghosts to vampires to doppelgängers." Professor Shane continued in his lecture.
"What is this guy, Witch-apedia?" Damon whispered as Laura laughed, despite knowing Damon what Damon would say in advance.
"Shhh, shut up." Bonnie looked at Damon angrily.
"Now, if you're a skeptic, you'd call that a coincidence. But, if you're a true believer, you know that there's really no such thing. It scares the crap out of us." Professor Shane joked.
"So, who's on the menu for lunch?" Laura asked as Damon tried even harder not to laugh at her bold and unexpected statement.
"It's up to you, why don't you pick someone." Damon suggested.
Laura looked at him and he raised his eyebrows, allowing her to make the first move. Therefore, Laura started to look at the other people in the classroom. Her gaze fell on a guy who was fiddling with his pencil.
Damon clearly noticed who she was focusing on and decided to help her. "Stoner guys are no good to grab. They're too paranoid and you don't want the extra buzz." He told her as they looked further down the row.
"Now, she is a fun size." Damon pointed to a dark-haired girl wearing glasses. "A tutor. Geeky girls are inherently suspicious of anyone who is nice to them. What you want…" He placed his arm around her shoulder and pointed at a girl. "…is the little blonde, pretty girl. Self-absorbed, easily flattered, you just have to separate her from the pack and make your move." He whispered.
"Am I interrupting you guys?" Professor Shane called out to Damon and Laura who sat back awkwardly, pretending to be interested in the lecture. "Or is it maybe the other way around?" Professor Shane asked.
"Sorry." Laura apologized.
"I was just saying how much I love witches." Damon grinned.
"Yeah, you and me both, brother." Professor Shane said, before turning back to the class. "Alright, listen, we should probably talk about the readings that none of you did." He said.
They listened to the rest of the class, not learning much about Professor Shane. Although Laura already knew plenty, she felt he must be up to something, which was why he'd asked for Bonnie to come and see him. Just because he hadn't been able to blow up the council, didn't mean he wasn't still planning to raise Silas. The simple fact he wanted Bonnie was enough to tell her he had a backup plan. What did worry Laura was they had no idea what he was doing as he was clearly operating in another area. On top of that, Connor Jordan being in Seattle, meant he was killing vampires elsewhere, because he knew the vampires of Mystic Falls had disappeared.
Once they were outside, Laura had to put this out of her mind. She knew what she had to do, and she was going to succeed where Elena had failed. Laura didn't want to go to a Frat party. She was too old for that shit, instead she needed to feed on the girl and then they could go home, and Laura could take the herbs, have a bath and let Damon discover her memories.
Bonnie left to go to speak to Professor Shane, while Laura and Damon followed the young blonde girl from Professor Shane's class across campus. Laura noted they were stalking her like lions creeping up on their prey.
"She's young and healthy; she'll heal up like a charm. Just keep your eye on the ball. Okay?" Damon said quietly.
"It's not a game, Damon." Laura rolled her eyes. "I know that she'll be fine, I'm not a ripper." She said.
"Fine, it's not a game. It's a high stakes dangerous maneuver. Now, just go, just like we practiced. That's all you have to do." Damon told her as Laura walked over to the girl, leaving Damon stood watching her.
"Hey!" Laura called out after the girl from behind. The girl turned around to see who was talking to her. "You're in my Anthro class, right?" Laura smiled.
"Uh, yeah, I guess so." The girl frowned.
"I totally spaced out and forgot to get the reading list. Do you have it?" Laura asked, remembering this was the excuse Elena had used in the show.
"Sure. Uh – let me check." The girl smiled as she looked at her phone. Laura grabbed the girl's wrist and began to compel her.
"This isn't going to hurt. Please don't scream." She told her as Laura looked down at the girl's phone and saw a picture of her with a younger girl. As soon as she did, her stomach dropped, as hungry as she was, she couldn't hurt this girl. It felt, wrong.
"Who's that?" Laura asked, deciding to sound polite.
"It's my little sister." The girl told her.
Laura knew she would have another chance later that night. The Frat party suddenly seemed like a great idea after all. "Get out of here. Go back to class." She told the girl who turned around and walked off.
Laura felt disappointed in herself, she thought she could do better than Elena, but clearly she couldn't. she heard Damon sigh with frustration as he approached her.
"What the hell are you doing?" Damon demanded.
"I just...I saw the picture and I…" Laura shook her head in embarrassment.
"Everybody is someone's uncle or father or camp counselor or bible study teacher. Laura, you don't know these people, why do you care?" Damon asked. "Did the same thing happen to Elena?" he asked.
Laura nodded. "I thought I'd be able to do it because I'm me, not Elena. I was wrong, I must have the same feelings as her, Damon. Sorry I got it wrong." She said sadly as Bonnie walked up to them.
"What's going on?" Bonnie asked.
"Nothing. Laura is educating me on the importance of feelings and trying to pretend she's not Elena." Damon told her. "Elena couldn't hunt, but Laura thought she could do what Elena couldn't, but because she is Elena, she couldn't do it either." He shook his head in disbelief.
Bonnie sighed. "Laura, you are Elena. If Elena couldn't handle something on an emotional level, you'll have exactly the same problem." She said.
"At least I tried." Laura shrugged.
"And failed." Damon piped up.
"Shut up!" Laura snapped at Damon before deciding to change the subject and turning to Bonnie. "Did you talk to Professor Shane?" she asked.
"For a second. He found some stuff of my Grams' in his office and he's gonna dig it up for me. Oh, uh, this." Bonnie handed Laura a flyer for the fraternity murder house party later that day.
"Oh, nice, the answer to all of our problems. A frat party: douche central." Damon grinned and rubbed his hands together. "Which is why, you'll be eating very well tonight." He smirked as Bonnie looked at him in disgust. "So, what should we go as? Victims or killers?" he asked.
"Well I'm not going." Bonnie told them.
"What?" Laura asked. "When are you going to see Professor Shane?"
"In a few minutes." Bonnie replied. "He suggested we meet at the party, but I told him I didn't want to be driving home on my own that late at night." She shrugged. "But I thought you might find it useful." She smiled at Laura.
"Did you already know about this?" Laura eyed Bonnie suspiciously. "Did I tell you before?"
"Might have." Bonnie said innocently. "Look, you guys go get your costumes, I'll meet you back here in a couple of hours." She said. "I'll let you know if he wants to teach me magic." She said. "If he has, then we must assume he's already performed a massacre, or one is imminent."
"Don't forget to put your magic away in your mascara wand." Laura told her.
"It's already there." Bonnie smiled.
"Good luck." Laura said as she hugged Bonnie before they parted ways.
"You ready to go to the ball Cinderella?" Damon asked.
"Don't even think about calling yourself Prince Charming." Laura pointed her finger at Damon, who simply smirked. "Let's get our costumes." She said.
Two hours later, they arrived at the same spot with their costumes in the back seat of Damon's car. Bonnie was waiting for them on the bench near to the tree where they'd parted company. Laura was intrigued to know about Bonnie's conversation with the Professor, as it would give them some indication of what he was doing and where he was with his plan to raise Silas.
"What did he say?" Laura asked as soon as she saw Bonnie.
Bonnie took a deep breath. "He asked if I still practiced, and I told him no, just like you said. I gave him the same spiel you told me to." She explained. "He offered to teach me an alternative way of practicing." She said.
"Shit." Laura shook her head. "He must have found another way to do the massacre." She said.
"He has." Bonnie said sadly. "Have you guys checked your phones today?" she asked.
"No." Damon frowned as he took his from his back pocket. Laura noticed there were over a dozen missed calls. "Liz, Stefan, Caroline, Carol Lockwood." He frowned. "Elijah even." He added.
"Caroline managed to get hold of me before I saw Professor Shane." Bonnie told them. "Pastor Young's gunshot wound wasn't severe. He was sent home the same day. This morning, he held a council meeting and…" she stopped.
"Pooff!" Damon shook his head. "They all went up in a plume of smoke." He said dramatically, as Bonnie nodded.
"That means Connor is probably either on his way to Mystic Falls." Laura said. "Or to here." Her eyes widened with fear.
"I'll call Elijah." Damon said as he walked off to talk to Elijah alone.
"Do you think it's a good idea I go to the party with Damon on my own?" Laura whispered. "It's not what happened in the show." She said.
"I know." Bonnie said. "But the longer you push Damon away, the more your memories will disappear. If you guys end up in the same place as you did in the show, you can keep your memories for longer." She suggested. "But it has to be real, your feelings need to come from the heart, which is why you guys need some alone-time together, to have fun without the interruptions of me, Caroline or Stefan." She said.
"But you hate Damon, so why are you playing cupid?" Laura frowned.
Because he loves you, and he's a lot more tolerable with you." Bonnie told her. "It is completely self-serving." She smirked. "Plus, I get the impression you guys are fated to be together, so I'm just lending a helping hand." She shrugged.
"I'm still not sold on this." Laura shook her head.
"Just wait and see what happens tonight." Bonnie suggested as Damon returned.
"What did Elijah have to say?" Laura asked.
"Connor is still in Seattle." Damon told them. "But he's at the airport." He said. "If he was boarding the plane now, the shortest flight to get here would be a little under seven hours. Then he'd need to drive from the airport, which is at least an hour from here. So as long as we're out of here by 3am, we should be fine." He shrugged.
"Well, I need to get going." Bonnie said. "It'll be getting dark soon."
"I'll let you know tomorrow how everything went." Laura smiled at her and gave her a hug.
"Have fun guys." Bonnie said as she turned around and headed towards her car.
"Thanks Sabrina, I owe you one." Damon grinned as Laura looked at him confused. "Let's get ready for the party." He said as they headed back to the car to get their costumes.
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