"Excuse me? You said your parents were dead."

"I know. That day — in here, with Rebekah — I just blurted it out, that my parents were dead. But in all fairness to me, I didn't know at that time whether what I said was actually false. Until I saw him with the vampire hunter, I didn't know if Lewis was alive or dead. I had no way of knowing."

"He's your father?"

"Yes."

"Is your mother going to pop up too?"

"No. She's — she's dead."

Klaus stood up, walked to the mantle, grabbed a glass, poured himself a drink, and downed it in one gulp.

"I can explain. Everything. I'll tell it all to you. Just give me the time to explain."

Klaus pinched the bridge of his nose and stood, motionless. It felt like time had stopped.

"Yes. I want an explanation. You have been shrouded with mystery ever since you arrived here. I want to know everything."

"Okay. I'll tell you anything and everything."

"Start with how you became a vampire. You only mentioned that you were turned against your will."

I nodded. "The early days of my vampire life are similar to those of Caroline's in some ways. We both started our vampire lives through car accidents; hers indirectly, mine directly. We were both alone when we turned, terrified and confused as to why we were craving blood." I stood up from the couch. "I'll tell you what I know, but honestly, it's not much more than what I've already said." Klaus raised an eyebrow in confusion. "I'll tell you about my last day as a human." I started pacing; I couldn't stay still while telling my 'story.'

"My mom took a Friday off from work and I got the day off school. We went into Richmond to spend the day shopping — not a favourite pastime of either one of us. But the real point was to spend the day together. My mom and I planned days like this once or twice a year; I think she was afraid of the day when I would enter into the rebellious, teenage, I-hate-my-mother-and-want-nothing-to-do-with-her phase. At 17, I figured if I hadn't entered that phase yet, I probably wouldn't. But I didn't tell this to her — I loved our days spent together like that. Mostly because the rest of our time was spent basically ignoring each other. My mom was always busy with work and I was always busy with school.

"Not surprisingly, we hardly bought anything while in Richmond. The day was spent talking and laughing. We would try on ridiculous clothes in the stores, just to make each other laugh and to see who could look the worst.

"We had an early supper before we drove back home.

"We were still laughing in the car.

"I don't remember the specific details after that, just bits and pieces."

I paused and took a deep breath. "I remember that we weren't too far from home. My mom kept saying, 'thank goodness we're almost there.' We were driving around a slight bend. There was a car coming at us, heading in the opposite direction. Its headlights were pointed directly at us — too directly. I don't know which car crossed the centre line, but one of them did; we crashed." I stopped pacing and looked at Klaus. "And that was how I died.

"Everyone involved in that accident died on impact."

I couldn't look at Klaus as I continued recalling what happened that evening. "The next thing I remember was waking up in the passenger seat of the car, gasping. I momentarily found it difficult to catch my breath. Almost immediately, I heard a man nearby turn his head away from me to shout in the opposite direction, 'She's alive!'

"I looked around, finally noticing where I was: in the passenger seat of my mom's now-severely-crumped car. And in the driver's seat was my mom. She wasn't moving, and I couldn't hear her breathing.

"The man who had yelled turned back to me and told me to take his hand. The windshield had shattered, and the hood of the car was smushed towards the seats. The dashboard was closer to me than it should have been, but I was able to maneuver my legs enough to get them up on the seat. I grabbed his arm and let him help me out of the wrecked car.

"That was the last time I saw my mom."

"I don't know if I can explain it, but I knew what I was — what I had become — from nearly the beginning.

"Physically, I was completely fine after the accident. A paramedic checked me out while I sat on the step going up into the back of the ambulance, but I only had a few minor scrapes. She was surprised I was able to walk away from that accident.

"It's indescribable, but I noticed changes. Differences. The setting sun seemed so bright and it felt warmer, somehow.

"And then it happened.

"As one of the rescue workers was walking from the car wreck to the ambulance, I was suddenly overcome with an intense feeling; I was so hungry. The paramedic left my side to go to the rescue worker — he had cut his arm and was bleeding profusely. The moment I saw the blood, I wanted to lunge at the rescue worker, but I found that my hands had clung themselves to the edge of the surface I was sitting on. I was subconsciously restraining myself. The paramedic brought that rescue worker closer. It was at that exact moment that I knew I had become a vampire.

"My first instinct was to back up, away from the blood source, but that would have put me in the ambulance, and I quickly realized how stupid it would be to put myself in an enclosed space with the only way to the open air partially blocked by the paramedic and the rescue worker. That rescue worker, who was progressively getting closer.

"My hands let go of the edge they had latched on to and I stepped down onto the ground.

"One second, I was standing there, looking at the rescue worker's wounded arm as the paramedic stepped up into the ambulance to grab something. The next, I found myself at the front of the vehicle with the rescue worker, and I was holding his arm to my mouth. I was drinking his blood. I drank and drank until he passed out; I didn't — I didn't mean to kill him, but I could not stop."

"You knew you were a vampire?" Klaus inquired.

I nodded. "Growing up, my mom used to tell me bedtime stories about vampires. I know that sounds morbid, and nightmare-inducing, but it was a family tradition. The vampire stories my mom told me were the ones her parents had told her. And I loved hearing those stories from my mom.

"My mom was from Mystic Falls. Born and raised. So was my father. They were high school sweethearts, as sickeningly cliché as that sounds. My father's parents moved to Mystic when they got married. But my mom was a member of one of the founding families." I rolled my eyes at the notion. "The whole Founding-Families notion is clearly fake. They were obviously not the first people on this land. There were Natives, surely."

"My family came over here during the Viking Age, and the Natives were well-settled then," Klaus pointed out.

"Exactly! The stupid founding families were just intruders."

Klaus smirked, but let me continue with my story.

"I was talking with Aunt Liz; apparently all the founding families would tell their children stories about vampires. Most thought it was a collection of fiction, set right here in Mystic Falls. Aunt Liz said the oldest child would eventually be told that these stories were, in fact, true. The oldest children were the ones who would join the Founder's Council and continue the fight against the vampires. The younger children were told on a need-to-know basis. It was each parent's choice.

"As the oldest daughter, Aunt Liz was told of the truth behind the stories. My grandparents decided not to tell their two younger daughters.

"When that rescue worker came towards the ambulance, and even — I think — before I recognized that it was his blood I wanted, I thought of those stories. Besides being hungry, one word flashed through my mind: vampire. In that moment, I knew those supposed 'stories' were, somehow, actually true.

"At the visitation for my mother, when Aunt Liz and Caroline showed up, I was terrified. I thought for sure Aunt Liz would somehow just know that I was a vampire. I envisioned her pulling a stake out of her coat or purse and plunging it through my chest." I laughed, a little, at that memory. "Fortunately for me, she had no idea at that time." I sat back down on the couch.

"My parents moved away from Mystic after my mom graduated from high school. (My father was older, and so had graduated a year earlier.) My mom said she always felt stifled and trapped by that whole founding-family thing. So they moved to Williamsburg, a town on the other side of Richmond; it was close enough that they could visit all the time, but far enough away that no one knew every generation of each other's family.

"And that's where I was born."

"Did you know that this isn't my first time in Mystic Falls?" Klaus left his place at the mantle and sat on the couch next to me. "I used to spend every summer here, I guess since I was born, until I was four and Caroline was five."

"That makes sense; the first time we actually spoke, in town square, you asked me about the town's memorable landmarks."

I turned my body more towards Klaus and looked at him, shocked. "You remembered that?"

"Of course," he said, as if it was the most natural thing in the world. The intensity of this gaze nearly left me breathless. I had to tear my eyes away from his in order to keep speaking.

"Apparently, C and I were inseparable during those summers. Then, sometime before the summer when I was five, our mothers had some huge falling-out. I don't know the details; my mom would never talk about it when I asked and I haven't yet worked up the courage to ask Aunt Liz. But they obviously had a huge disagreement; up to the day she died, my mom had never seen her older sister or been through this town since. And neither had I.

"C visited us a few times over the years, but my mom would never let me come to this town. C and I kept in touch through email and the occasional phone call.

"But of course, I don't remember anything about being here in Mystic. I was too young. Or that time was too long ago. Like that night in Town Square, I keep walking around, hoping a building or landmark will look familiar, but so far… nothing. Occasionally, I'll meet someone and once they realize who I am, they'll say 'Oh, I remember you' and proceed to tell me the story of something 'just adorable' I did when I was two or three." I rolled my eyes. "As if I would remember. And the person telling me the story never looks familiar either."

Klaus put his arm around my shoulders. I reached across my chest and grabbed his hand. Our fingers intertwined. I felt that comforting, peaceful, warm feeling encompass me; it was the same way I felt with Klaus that day in the woods. "Just breathe…" I felt better now that Klaus knew the truth. But I knew he still had questions.

"Tell me about your father."

"Lewis," I corrected. Klaus angled his body and pulled me close; I was sitting with my back against his chest. I could feel every breath he took.

I shrugged. "There isn't much to say. I was ten when he left. I woke up one Saturday morning and heard my parents talking in their bedroom. Lewis told my mom that he was leaving. He came into my room, kissed my forehead, told me he was going out, and said goodbye. And that's really all there is to the story; he left and never came back. I hadn't seen him since.

"My mother and I had an odd relationship, but when she did have time for me, she was always very open and honest with me. She told me that Lewis decided he no longer wanted to be part of a family."

"Why would he be working with a vampire hunter?"

I shook my head. "I don't know." That wasn't the truth; I had a suspicion about why we would team up with a hunter, but I wasn't ready to share that idea with Klaus yet. I needed more information first.

"If your mother was so honest with you, why did she never tell you the truth about vampires?"

"I told you — she never knew. Her parents never told her. She died believing vampires were creatures of fiction. She died as I became one."

"Then how did you come to have vampire blood in your system when you died?"

"Ah," I said. "Well done. You have come to the great mystery of my life." I looked up at him to shoot him a look before I dropped the sarcasm and answered seriously. "I have no idea. Vampire blood doesn't stay in a human's system for more than a day, correct?"

"At most."

"Well, I spent all that day shopping with my mom in Richmond. We ate mall cafeteria food. I have no idea how or why I ended up with vampire blood in me. And worse: does that mean whoever put the blood in my system knew the accident would happen? Was it really an accident?"

Klaus didn't have an answer, but he pulled me tighter against him. His free arm encircled my waist and he hugged me from behind. I rested against him and he kissed the top of my head.

"How did you get a day-walking bracelet?"

"Is that what they're called? 'Day-walking'… makes sense." I looked at my right wrist, even though I knew my bracelet was gone. "C mentioned something about witches enchanting them, but I have no idea how my bracelet got spelled. That would be the second great mystery behind my 'creation.' I bought that bracelet at a department store."

"On the day of the accident?"

"No. A year before the accident; maybe more. I actually would have preferred a black stone, but I only saw blue."

"Lapis lazuli."

"I learned the hard way how my bracelet worked. I was preparing for my mother's funeral in our sunlit kitchen, back in Williamsburg. As you may have noticed, I wear a few bracelets."

Klaus chortled. " 'A few'?"

I turned my head and gave Klaus the 'shut up' look. "I thought going jewelry-less for her funeral would look better and it would be a nice gesture; my mom never liked that I wore so many bracelets. So I removed all of them. Luckily, I noticed that I was scalded the instant my fingers stopped touching my silver bracelet with the blue stone, and not one of the other ones I had taken off. I quickly learned the importance of that bracelet.

"It's been so important to me, since I transitioned, that I now feel exposed and vulnerable, somehow, without it." I looked up at Klaus. "But thank you for my ring."