Mystic Falls, VA September 2009
Damon returned to his hometown hellbent on fulfilling his promise to Katherine. The years spent dogging or dodging Stefan hadn't been nearly as satisfying as he'd hoped they would be. Misery may love company, but Stefan tended toward angst filled teenager anyway and honestly that was just mind numbingly dull.
Lexi had worked her magic, repeatedly, on Stefan. Every time he'd slip, she'd step up and force him back on the straight and narrow. There were moments, Damon thought, were obsessive Stefan was more fun.
However, 2009 in Mystic Falls was THE year to bring back Katherine. He felt it and just KNEW it. There was a comet, Founders' activities, and just a scent in the air that screamed it was time. Once she was awake all the choices he'd made from the moment he met her would be worth it. EVERY CHOICE.
Imagine his surprise when he realized that poor moaning, moping Stefan had found himself a dead ringer for Katherine. Elena Gilbert. And damn did he want to be a fly on the wall when his brother had to confess the sins of his past, including the attempts he'd made on her ancestor's life. This trip down memory lane was going to be more enjoyable than he'd anticipated.
Playing in the kiddie pool, he took a cheerleader of his own, Caroline Forbes. Vapid, irritating, blonde, but a means to an end. She was the perfect beard for his act of the bad boy older brother while also urging the town's fears to a fever pitch and irritating his baby brother into divulging his true nature to Elena dearest.
It wasn't until he'd gatecrashed a dinner between Stefan, Elena, and the Bennett witch in residence, with Caroline in tow, that he'd realized there might be a rather large kink in his best laid plans. He'd brought the conversation around to the animal attacks, then to the question of local ghost stories. Since his darling brother liked to pop in on the old hometown now and again, he thought someone may have discussed a guy who kept popping up looking the same throughout the centuries. He hadn't expected what came next.
"The football team has a yearly tradition," Caroline started, her voice low, but eyes twinkling with excitement.
"To drink too much and break into a historic landmark." Bonnie interjected with an eye-roll. "They break and enter the Morgan House."
"Morgan House," Elena offered, "I thought no one had ever lived there, how could it be haunted?"
"Didn't Matt tell you?" Caroline smirked. "It's not haunted, they all say that when they go inside nothing is touched, but upstairs, lying on a perfectly made up bed is a pretty woman dressed in an old fashioned dress who doesn't wake up." She was still smiling as she continued. "Tyler said he touched her and she's warm, she's breathing, but she doesn't make a sound or move."
Bonnie glared at her friend. "Then maybe it's a prank being played on the drunk athletes by the drama department?" She questioned dismissively. "There's no way there's a real life sleeping beauty myth in Mystic Falls."
Damon took a long drink from his glass, hoping his brother was too preoccupied with Katherine 2.0 to have paid attention to the story.
"When do the players exercise this tradition?" Stefan asked, his voice almost sounding casual.
"Devil's Night, of course." Caroline answered and for one of many times Damon considered killing her.
"Ah," his brother answered, smiling up at Elena as she came to sit with him. "Sounds fun."
Perhaps Stefan, being a new player on the team was concerned with the issue of gaining entry to a house with no conscious owner and that was his interest. If not the other issue Damon faced, one he hadn't considered before returning, was that Abigail wasn't free. And if he could trust Caroline for anything, it was knowing gossip and the going ons of her schoolmates. That meant that Abigail was still trapped inside her own head and in her house. Dammit.
