Welcome to this new story. My new adventure. Ive been toying with this story line for quite a while and its on a topic that Im passionate about. I really hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Thanks Chelle for beta-ing this and congrats on your reviews and alerts on both CTM and PYLM they are both amazing. So, here it goes.
The old lady's body lay frail on the bed. The comforter molded around her like a cocoon protecting her from the outside world. It was dark in the candle lit room, the glow of the fire casted shadows on the walls that only added to the gloom of the night. The wind rushed in, making the curtains twirl around and the breeze of the ocean filled the room and merged with the spirits of the past. The moon had never shone so bright in the sky; it was full and a mesmerizing white.
The elderly woman shivered on the bed and let out a groan that alerted the young woman sitting on the couch beside her. She opened her eyes and fixed them on her grandmother's body on the bed. She looked so small, so tired. How could someone so full of life and love end up like this? Elena sat up and rubbed her warm chocolate brown eyes with her fists, she saw her grandma shiver again and stood up to go close the window.
The flowing curtain caressed her face and the fresh sent of the sea made her step out in the balcony. The view never ceased to amaze her. The violent crashing of the waves against the rocks and the shadow of the light house stood like a ghost in the distance. "The ocean is like love, Elena," she remembered her grandmother's words. She wouldn't know, she had never been in love, nothing compared to the tempests of the ocean anyway.
Elena had been in and out of relationships, but never took it too far. "You have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your prince, Elena." Her grandma's voice kept ringing in her mind. Granny Louise had even put a tally count on the back of her dresser door for boys Elena and her cousin Jenna had kissed. Every time they kissed a boy they were required by granny's law to immediately inform her so that she could add a tally to the count. So far Jenna was kicking her ass, not only because she was six years older, but when she was Elena's age she already doubled the count.
She just couldn't bring herself to give her body without giving her heart and she hadn't found someone she wanted to give her heart to. She inhaled the tiny drops of ocean and felt them swirl down her throat and in her heart. Her pulse sped up, her breathing became erratic. She closed her eyes and felt her whole body igniting; goose bumps covered her olive skin. She inhaled again, but the crisp scent of the ocean was mixed with a musky masculine scent. Elena felt a shiver travel up her spine, through the contour of her neck line, and in the shell of her ear.
"I'm waiting for you," she heard a deep velvety voice whisper in her ear. Her heart took off like a hummingbird's wings and she felt herself fading away.
"Elena," another voice brought her back to reality. Elena snapped her eyes open and turned back to see her grandmother's eyes open, her heart still hammering in her chest.
"Sweetheart, please close the window and come back inside, you are going to catch a cold," Louise's voice sounded hoarse and forced. Elena faked a tiny smile and nodded, quickly closing the balcony doors. She walked back inside the room and settled on her previous place on the couch.
"Are you okay, honey?" Louise asked. "You seem flustered," she went on.
"Yes, I'm fine. Probably the crispness of the air, that's it," Elena answered in the most reassuring voice she could.
"Elena, I've know you for 21 years, you can't lie to me," Louise smiled her way and closed her eyes with a sigh.
"It's nothing really, I'm just tired from the trip, Grandma, and the semester just ended. I haven't really had time to rest," she answered.
"Yet here you are, taking on the burden of your sick grandmother," Louise replied.
"Get something in that head of yours, Louise Lucia Gilbert, you will never be a burden to me." Elena took her grandmother's hand in hers as she said the words.
They both smiled at each other and Elena fixed the comforter to tuck her grandmother further in.
"I haven't heard my full name in such a long time, sweetie. It reminded me of something. Go to the dresser and open the second drawer to the left," Louise instructed.
"Grandma, maybe we can do this in the morning. You should go back to sleep," Elena said.
"No. I can't sleep now, go do what I told you," Louise said.
Elena reluctantly left the comfort of the couch and slowly walked to the dresser. She opened the doors, stopping for a minute to look at the "frog count", and slid the second drawer to the right open. She always loved snooping in her grandmother's things, everything seemed so precious and beautiful but that drawer was off limits and neither Jenna nor she ever went against their grandmother's wishes.
"At the back, Elena, there's a tin box. Bring it to me," Louise shifted her weight on the bed as she spoke.
Elena moved a few things around in the drawer before taking the box in her hands. She slid the drawer shut and closed the dresser doors before going back to the couch. She sat down, opened the box and handed it to her grandmother. Louise rummaged through the contents of the box until she took what seemed to be an old photograph in her hands. She looked at it before turning her gaze to Elena and then back to the photograph.
"Have I ever told you how I got my name, Elena?" Louise asked.
"Yes, Great-grandma's name was Louise, and Lucia was Great-grandpa´s sister right? Lucia Sommers," Elena answered matter of factly.
"Sommers was her name before she got married." Louise started drifting off to sleep.
"You never told me she was married, you just mentioned she died tragically and very young." Elena was suddenly interested in her family history.
"Yes she was newly married when tragedy found her." Louise's voice sounded more distant by the moment.
"So what was her name then?" Elena pushed.
"Salvatore, her married name was Lucia Salvatore," Louise answered with a yawn and closed her eyes. Elena could tell by her even breathing she was already asleep, so she took the box from her lap and the photograph from her grandmother's hands. The back of the picture read "Lucia. 1922". Elena turned the piece of paper around slowly; she had heard stories of her relative but had never seen a picture of her. Her eyes opened wide and she sucked a breath in when she fixed her stare in the image before her. Her hair was beautifully done in the wavy fashion of the year, her chin rested on her hand and she was smiling. That wasn't what caught her attention though; staring right back at her from the picture was not only the image of a long lost relative, but her own reflection.
Elena gasped as she took in what her eyes were seeing, her own eyes, her nose, and her lips, in the face of someone that died so many years ago. She had heard about relatives that looked alike, but this was haunting. They were identical. Unsure of what to do with her new discovery, Elena took the picture and put it back into the box before closing it and returning it to its spot in the drawer.
She kissed her grandmother's forehead before walking out of the room quietly and closing the door behind her. She walked down the hall to her room and put on her comfy PJ's before sitting down in front of the mirror to brush her hair. She closed her eyes and the same rich voice from before echoed in her ears, "I'm waiting for you."
"You know, Lucia, one of these days I'm going to get tired of chasing you and fix my eyes on someone more willing to receive my attentions." The blue eyes on the man were fixed on the second story window and the waves of the ocean served as background music to his monologue.
He was looking up at the window that harbored and guarded the dreams of the woman who had stolen his heart from the second he had set his eyes on her. The curtain was waving with the wind and he was expecting for her to show her face or throw something at him like had become her habit.
He heard footsteps behind him, but kept looking forward for he knew exactly who that was. Her soft hands caressed his back and moved to rest on the top of his eyes and he felt her breathing on the back of his neck.
She leaned forward to whisper in his ear, "I don't know why you chase me Amato, you caught me the first day I met you."
She planted a sweet kiss on his ear and he slowly turned around. When they were face to face, the azure shade of his eyes crashing in the chocolate brown of hers, there was no one else in the world. Everything faded in the background, the world turned aided by the beating of their hearts. He closed the distance remaining between them and took possession of her lips with his. Never had two bodies molded so perfectly against one another; never had two hearts burned in the same consuming fire to find rebirth in a kiss. She ran her fingers through his raven black hair and he circled her with his arms, locking her in their embrace.
They parted when the sun started to set in the horizon, the birds flew above them running for shelter, for there was a storm coming. Lucia took Amato's hand in hers and ran toward (no 's') the house as the raindrops started falling from the sky. They went in through the back door; Amato had memorized this path for he had been sneaking in to see her for the past couple of months. They walked hand in hand already soaked from the storm. She was dragging him through the corridor and he whipped her back in his arms claiming her lips again. He tangled his fingers in her hair while she cradled his face in her hands, their tongues battling for dominance.
"Jonathan?" he said.
"He's in New York for business again, and I gave the maids the day off. It's just the two of us," she moaned against his mouth. He smirked as a response as he ran his hands down her back. He rested them on her lower back and locked his eyes with hers. When he saw no hesitation, he ran his hands further down to cup her behind and pulled her flush against his body. She could feel his hardness through his dress pants and moaned at the contact. Amato moved them to the wall and pushed Lucia against it while still devouring her mouth. She locked her hands behind his neck as he caressed her outer thighs up and down causing her skirt to rise. He took the opportunity to slide his hands under the skirt and push it further up until it was scrunched around her waist. He twisted his fingers around the sides of her underwear and slid it down her legs. When they reached her knees, she stepped out of them leaving them forgotten on the floor. Amato took hold of Lucia's thighs again, used his strength to pick her up, and she wrapped her legs around him. She let go of his neck to free him from his pants and his already powerful erection sprung free. She used his shoulders as support to push herself up and down again and he slid inside her folds like a knife through hot butter. They both gasped at the contact and he pushed her harder against the wall as he slid in and out of her. She tangled her fingers in his hair and brought his mouth back to hers.
"God, remind me to thank your brother for his constant business trips," he said as he pushed harder and deeper into her. She moaned and licked the shell of his ear.
"He's trying to find me a husband, too, that is why he's been gone so frequently," she bit his ear lobe and chewed on it tenderly.
"That is not funny, Lucia," he groaned and thrusted violently into her core.
"I'm not joking, you have to stake your claim fast or he's giving me to someone else. Mmm God, slow down. Too hard," she moaned.
Amato slowed his pace and took her chin between his thumb and index finger to turn her head to face him.
"You are mine, there is no need to stake my claim." He pushed deeper inside her and she screamed his name.
"There's my claim," he said and he pushed himself inside her once… twice… before he came undone and her shivering walls milked him dry.
He saw the stars shinning in her eyes and felt like the luckiest man in the world when she smiled at him and said, "I love you."
Damon jumped to sit up on the bed. He was shaking and sweat covered his entire body. He ran his hand through his jet black hair and lifted the sheet to look at his center region and groaned.
"Not again," he said. He was a grown man; he wasn't supposed to have things like this happen to him. Yet the dreams were becoming more vivid every night and he was having a hard time focusing on work rather than on the brown eyed girl that had been haunting his unconscious. This time it was against a wall, the night before had been a four poster bed with a white gossamer canopy covering it. Two nights ago, they were going at it on the beach. His inner thighs and cock were completely covered in his sticky seed. He left the bed to go to the bathroom and clean himself up. The woman wasn't even real and she made him cum harder than anyone he had been with. Speaking of which, he turned his head to look at the redhead sprawled in his bed and hoped he hadn't been making noises in his sleep. She was alright, they had met at a bar the night before and she was smart, funny, and insanely hot, but he couldn't help himself but he couldn't help comparing her to the lady in his dreams. Her beautiful brown eyes fixed on his, the way those three words rolled of her lips. Damon Salvatore wasn't a romantic crooner like his brother, but it was heartwarming none the less to hear those words, even in a dream. He made his way to the bathroom and was a real mess so he just took his boxers off, threw them in the hamper and started the water in the shower.
Maybe a nice cold shower was what he needed. He was finally taking a break from work and going to spend a few weeks at his family's estate. His law firm was getting more clients everyday, but he trusted his partner Alaric Saltzman with his life, so a vacation wasn't going to hurt them. Being near the ocean always soothed him. His bags were already packed and he showered and got dressed fast to avoid the woman in his bed. He left some money on the night stand for her to take a cab home. He took his suitcase and walked out of his flat. He got his things in his car and drove away to a very much deserved vacation. Damon drove for a few hours stopping only for gas and it was at one of those stops that his phone rang.
"What?" he answered in an annoyed tone.
"Are you on your way? I can't take them on my own, Damon, you better be on your way," his brother panicked on the other side of the line.
"Relax, Stefan, I'm on my way. You are such a drama queen," Damon answered while taking the gas pump hose and plugging it into his car.
"If you get here they will torture you with their 'why didn't you bring someone?' talk and they will back off from Caroline. I swear if she speaks to me again after today, I'm never letting her go," Stefan responded in a hushed tone.
"You are so whipped, brother, and fret not, I'm only forty five minutes away, but who knows, a blonde could walk by…" Damon trailed off.
"Damon, I swear…" Stefan started only to be interrupted by his brother.
"What was that, Stef? Sorry, I didn't hear you, you're breaking away," Damon rubbed his gum wrapper to the speaker of the phone and disconnected the call. After paying for the gas, he got back in his car and hit the road again.
Damon was closer to his brother than anyone else and he was genuinely happy that he had found someone he wanted to share his life with. However, he couldn't help but feel a hint of jealousy, not because Stefan was getting engaged, God no, he had dodged that bullet for years, but because now he had someone else that was closer to him than he was.
He was possessive like that. His mother always said he was too territorial for his own good and that the woman he chose would have a hard time dealing with his intense emotions. He smiled at the thought of his mother. She was the woman of his life, he wasn't ashamed of that. Yes, Damon Salvatore was a momma's boy. It killed him not to be able to spend more time with her, but with the depth he loved his mother, he hated his father and spending more time with Giuseppe was not on the top of his list.
Their feud started sometime around when he started to walk and his father wanted him to play with a toy train and he said no. Ever since that moment they had made a sport out of antagonizing each other. It was exhausting, but that was the only relationship he had with his father, they didn't know any other way. Stefan, being the golden boy, had always tried to smooth things over between them, but with no success.
He could hear him so clearly, "Damon, you are almost thirty years old, when are you going to find a woman from a nice family and settle down?" Guiseppe's ever constant nagging came to his mind. At least now that Stefan was proposing to his girlfriend, the race to produce an heir for his father had fallen off his shoulders.
He pushed the gas pedal deeper and the engine roared to life. He blasted the volume on the stereo and singing along to Guns and Roses, he let go of his concerns for a while.
Damon pulled into the driveway of the Salvatore mansion and parked his car behind his father's Rolls Royce. Tom, his mother's driver was sitting on the grand stone staircase that leaded up the main house.
Damon got out of the car and threw the keys in Tom's direction, he caught them without a problem and greeted him.
"Welcome back, sir, it's nice to see you again," Tom said with a smile on his face.
"Thomas, cut the bullshit, how's the game going?" Damon walked up the first steps and Tom stood up to shake his hand.
"Yankees are up by three, D," the older man smiled and waved as Damon ran up the stairs and opened the front door of the house.
He opened the door and the familiar coldness of the marble hit him immediately. His steps echoed across the hall and he almost thought he was lucky enough to have walked into an empty house. But as soon as the feeling came it faded because a pissed looking Stefan walked in the parlor.
"Where the hell have you been? You said forty five minutes and it's been 2 hours, Damon." Stefan pulled on his brother's arm to lead him in the living room.
"Twins," Damon answered.
"What? Seriously?" an angered Stefan asked.
"Maybe," Damon smirked and followed his brother inside the spacious room.
Stefan moved to sit next to a frightened looking Caroline. An older woman with raven black hair and impossibly blue eyes stood from the elegant armchair and opened her arms.
"My boy," Arianna greeted her son and took him in her arms.
"Nice to see you, Mom," Damon answered pulling her in a strong embrace. He kissed the top of her head and let her go to fix his stare to the man beside her.
"Father," he said coldy.
"Damon, you have come alone again I see," Guiseppe said without bothering to leave his seat.
"Well of course, I wouldn't dream of sharing you with anyone else, Pops," Damon retorted and Stefan hushed a giggling Caroline.
Arianna intervened quickly, like every time things started to get tense between her husband and her son, which was every single time Damon came to visit.
"Louise Gilbert is terribly ill, the doctors have given up hope. One of her granddaughters is here taking care of her, the poor thing. Maybe we should go tomorrow, Caroline, and keep them company for a while." Arianna was the queen of the subtle transition, especially when it came to avoiding fights.
"Of course, Mrs. Salvatore, I would love to go with you," Caroline answered.
"Elena is coming here today anyway; I asked her to bring some of the Gilbert and Sommers heirlooms for the exhibit," Arianna continued.
"I'm sure Caroline would like someone her own age to spend time with, Stefan, maybe we could arrange for Tom to take them somewhere, or Damon, you two and Elena could go out and do whatever it is young people do these days," Damon smiled at the comment and Stefan threw a disapproving look his way.
"I would love to, Mom. I wonder if this Elena takes the good looks of the Gilberts," Damon answered, Katherine Gilbert had been his go-to toy every summer since he was fifteen.
"Don't even go there, Damon Salvatore. Elena is a good girl and she takes after the Sommers anyway. Louise says she's the spitting image of Lucia." Arianna knew her son too well and she wasn't going to risk straining the family's relationship with the Gilberts.
"Who the hell is Lucia?" Damon asked.
"She was your great uncle Amato's wife, she died so young." Arianna lost her gaze and turned to look at her husband.
"And Amato was a fool that couldn't handle things like a real man and put a bullet to his temple when his wife died," Guiseppe said dismissively.
"So a Sommers was married to a Salvatore?" Caroline asked trying to keep up on the local family histories.
"Yes, they never had children though, so we are still hanging on hope of our families merging one day," Arianna said.
"Which brings us back to, how hot is this Elena?" Damon joked but his mother didn't laugh.
"I mean it, Damon Guiseppe Salvatore, stay away from Elena," Arianna scolded her son.
Caroline and Stefan we're laughing at the scene unfolding in front of them when they heard the door bell. One of the maids passed through the door and stood in front of the family.
"A Miss Gilbert is here for you, ma'am," the maid said.
"Sure, Maddie, send her in," she answered and the maid left the living room.
Elena was waiting in the entrance hall of the Salvatore home. Of course her grandparents' place was big, but nothing compared to this palace. She followed the maid inside and as she was gazing and mesmerized with the paintings she tripped on the laces of her Converse and dropped one of the boxes she was carrying.
All the eyes of the people in the living room drifted to the hall where a loud thud was heard. Damon frowned and stood up to see what had happened. He walked out to the hallway and saw a mass of brown locks covering the face of the girl crouched on the floor picking up old photographs.
He moved forward to help her and kneeled down beside her.
Elena felt someone looking at her and move to kneel beside her, she breathed in the scent and was immediately lost in its decadence.
"We're waiting for you," the velvety low voice said. Elena felt a shiver travel through her entire being at the sound of the familiar voice. She raised her head to look at the man in the eyes.
Damon saw the girl lift her head and he met her brown warm orbes with his ice blue ones. His mind traveled to his dreams the previous nights and he couldn't believe what his eyes were seeing.
"I'll be damned," was all he managed to say.
OK so here it is, any questions, concerns or just to say hi you can DM me or follow me on Twitter sauriemilia. If you liked this please tell it to the review button =)