This was written back in 1997. It's cheesy, just to warn you, and it's something I cringe a little at, but I know a few people like it, and Ashke is writing a fic that stems from this (insane chap), so I figured I'd put it up.
Disclaimers: The Vampire Diaries and the characters therein belong to L.J. Smith. However, I promise to return all characters in a relatively healthy state, and to treat them nicely.
Consider this and the books to be set a couple of years or so *after* LJS set them. Just for the sake of preserving the time line in the real world when I wrote it.
The Blurb:
They must stand together...or perish apart. After five centuries of hatred, an uneasy bond has formed between the vampire brothers, Stefan and Damon. Together they move on to a new town, a new start, and new friends. But evil threatens the lives of the students of Redditch High, an evil that wants revenge on those very people Stefan and Damon have befriended. All that stands between it and it's ultimate triumph are the motley crew of teenagers. And they all depend on one thing....can Stefan and Damon truly overcome their differences and stand together?
(Corny, huh? Anyway, read, have a laugh :))
/italics/ (also doubles as the bad guy communication, bad me, but it shouldn't be too confusing)
*thoughts*
((telepathy))
The Crow and The Falcon. (Prologue)
The rain spattered against the grimy window pane, and water trickled in through a hole in the glass, pooling on the inside sill. The odd gust of wind blustered in through the same hole, causing the candles that sat in the middle of the wooden floor to flicker, almost guttering out. Two figures sat hunched over a battered old book, muttering quietly to each other. A perfectly manicured female finger marked a place in the text.
"We're going to do this, then?" The owner of the finger breathed excitedly.
"Uh huh." Her companion grinned. "We wait till midnight, right?" He asked.
The girl nodded. "Midnight." She replied, then looked at her watch. "Only a few more minutes."
The boy arranged a few implements on the top of an upturned box. A dagger, a small bowl, an un-lit black candle, and a chunk of chalk. "How much longer?" He asked.
The girl stared at her watch for a few seconds more. "Now." She whispered.
Silently, the boy took the chalk in his hand, and sketched a circle on the wooden floor. The girl picked up the black candle and placed it carefully in the centre of the circle, while the boy took up the bowl and dagger. He sliced into the palm of his hand, winced a little at the pain, and watched as the blood poured from the wound into the bowl set below. He passed the dagger on to the girl, who did the same. She dipped her finger into the blood, moved to the candle, and held her finger above the wick, allowing the crimson liquid to drip onto the dark wax.
"With power of blood, dark candle a-light." They whispered in unison. A gust of wind blew through the attic, and the candles outside the circle sputtered out, plunging the two figures into darkness. The blood on the wick sizzled and spat, sending out small red sparks before it burst into a dark red flame. The two stared at each other nervously. The girl picked up the bowl and reached in to the circle, placing the bowl carefully over the crimson flame. The boy let out a small gasp of surprise as it stayed there, suspended in mid-air over the candle. He licked his lips, and the pair continued.
"With our blood as our offering, we summon you. Creature of darkness, creature of hate, we call you to our circle."
The pair stared at the candle, waiting for something to happen. Nothing did.
"Maybe we did something wrong?" The girl asked.
"No." The boy shook his head. "Just wait." He whispered.
The bowl began to rotate slowly, but soon picked up speed, spinning wildly. A fine blood mist began to rise from the bowl, tendrils swirling and writhing around each other, and glowing with an eerie intensity. A low pitched hiss began to reverberate around the room, gaining in volume until the boy and girl had to clasp their hands over their ears, shutting their eyes with the sharp pain. Abruptly, the noise stopped.
"Why do you summon me?" A gravely voice hissed. The pair opened their eyes, and stared dumbly into the circle. Rising from the bowl was the a bloody and hazy snake. It's hood suggested it might have been a Cobra, yet it's face seemed to bear some human characteristics. "Why do you summon me?" It asked again.
"We seek power. The power to destroy those we hate." The girl spoke clearly, although a little shakily.
"Such a thing does not come without a price." The snake hissed, narrowing it's eyes. "A great price."
"We're willing to do what you want." The boy said.
"Anything?" The snake laughed a hideous rasping sound when the pair nodded. "Very well. I can give you power. I can help you...dispose...of those you hate. But you must break the circle."
"But if we do that, we cannot control you." Said the girl.
"And if you don't, I cannot help you. My powers cannot reach outside this circle."
The pair exchanged glances.
"If we break the circle, you will help us?" The boy asked. The snake nodded, and after a moments hesitation, the boy reached forward, and rubbed away a portion of the chalk circle. The snake laughed menacingly and stared hungrily at the two children.
"Now I will give you power." It laughed again, and split into two, shooting forward and into the mouths of the children before they were able to react. As they screamed in pain, the bowl clattered to the floor. The candle-light reflected briefly in the empty bowl before the flame extinguished itself, leaving the attic in a dark and deadly silence.
The Crow and The Falcon. (One)
Damon Salvatore was seated towards the back of the class, already tiring of the game he was playing. He'd found it amusing to stare vacantly out of the window for several minutes, until the teacher noticed him and directed him to repeat what he'd said in Italian. Which Damon did. Fluently. It was one of the reasons he'd chosen to take Italian as one of his classes. After the third time of doing this, the irritation could be plainly seen on the teacher's face as he glared, tight-lipped, at the belligerent student. Damon just smiled smugly back, and started the process over again. But it was only entertaining to a limit, and that limit had passed halfway through the lesson. Now he was brooding, and wondering what the hell he was doing here. After a week at Redditch High he thought he would be bored out of his mind. Which he was, to some extent, although there /were/ a few interesting people he'd come across.
The twins, for example. He'd bumped into them a few times during the week. The first he had been removing some books from his locker when he'd backed into them. Normally his preternatural senses would have prevented the mishap, but the hallway was crowded and he was having enough trouble concentrating on holding onto his books as it was. He'd turned round after treading on a foot to come face to face with two pairs of identical green eyes. A boy and a girl. He'd mumbled sorry, and flashed them a charming smile before hurrying off to class. The second time he met them was coming out of the bathroom later in the day. The girl brushed a lock of wine-auburn hair behind her ear, then flipped him a wave with a friendly smile at his apology. A few days later he found himself standing behind them in the lunch queue, and discovered their names. Jessamyn and Michael. Jess and Mike, they'd both insisted.
Currently, he was staring at the back of a head seated two rows in front of him. Primarily because the hair on the head was an electric blue. The girl in question had been in all of his classes so far today, and he was fascinated by her, and not only because of her hair. He could sense a great amount of Power emanating from within her. Similar to Bonnie's but more powerful. By far, most likely from experience more than anything else. Remembering Bonnie McCullough stirred up memories of Fell's Church the previous month and caused his mood to darken.
Over the year since Elena's rebirth he'd been more than surprised to find himself growing closer to his brother, Stefan. But while they grew closer, Elena and Stefan had been drifting apart. Elena's strange return had caused great alarm in the small town, not least to Aunt Judith, who, at first, refused to believe it was /really/ her niece. Explanations were difficult, almost unsatisfactory to many minds.
Elena had been only been missing the past several months, and not dead, they had said. She'd run away after her 'miraculous' survival of the accident on Wickery Bridge, not wanting to stay in Fell's Church with Aunt Judith if she in turn could not accept Stefan. The story they chose to tell was that she'd taken a coach trip to a town she'd stayed in once with her parents, and, after cooling down a little, intended to come back again. But her plans were ruined after being involved in an accident. She awoke in the hospital with no recollection of who she was, or how she got there. Of course, as she was assumed dead there were no missing persons records or such to identify her by. She was merely a Jane Doe in the eyes of the hospital, and, when healthy enough to leave, she wandered around, doing part time work to support herself whilst trying to regain her memory.
This was all well and good, they were told, but what about her body? Elena had acted innocent, she had /no/ idea who the impostor was. None at all. It was Stefan that saved the day. It /could/ have been Katherine who had died, he mused. An old girlfriend who had followed him, unable to accept it was over. Their resemblance to each other was why he'd been attracted to Elena in the first place, he'd said. At least his sense of honour was part way placated by this snippet of truth. He'd thought that Elena had been acting strangely during the last two weeks of her life, not wanting to go home, avoiding all the people she knew. The townsfolk accepted this grudgingly, and life returned to relative normality. Out of the entire town, only those in the clearing that night new the truth. After a warning from Damon, Tyler was keeping his mouth shut, and keeping his distance.
Stefan's choice to stay alive as a vampire when Elena had offered it had been the start of his gradual acceptance of his own nature; no bad thing in Damon's opinion, although he still refused to take human blood. In many ways this acceptance was a part of the downfall of Stefan and Elena's relationship. Elena could never be a part of what he was. She'd been driven near mad when she'd changed the first time, and Stefan had known since she'd come back that he couldn't do it to her again. She didn't want it, no matter how much she'd loved him. It caused a rift to open, and barriers started coming between them as they drifted slowly apart. The relationship had ended a little over a month previously, and it was Stefan who finished it. For her own good, more than anything, to give her a chance at a normal life, with a future and children. That, and he didn't want to see her die for a third time. Stefan still didn't know if they'd keep in touch.
It was Damon who had insisted on a new start for them both. He thought Stefan had been more than a little surprised at Damon /wanting/ to stay with him, but then so had Damon. And so it was that a month later they found themselves joining classes two months into the new school year at Redditch High.
The town itself was considerably larger than Fell's Church, as was the school. The brothers slipped in almost anonymously. School had been Stefan's idea, and he'd been insistent. Damon went along with him, prepared to try anything at least once for the hell of it. The crack of working through the throats of every pretty girl in the school had met with a hard stare from Stefan. His brother had changed enough over the past year that he didn't feel like provoking him further. It probably wouldn't be too bad for his health, but he didn't want to risk it.
Class was finishing as Damon re-emerged from the past, and students filed out of the door. He followed them into the hall, only to be grabbed roughly by the throat and slammed hard up against the wall. It was all he could do to restrain himself from seizing his assailant and ripping their throat out.
"Look, mate, quit staring at me, wouldya. You've been at it all day and you're starting to give me the heeby jeebies." It was the blue headed girl from class. She released him after a moment, and he glared at her.
"You shouldn't do that to people you don't know." He snarled. "It's not very nice. And you could get into all kinds of trouble." He brushed past her and stormed off down the hall, students scattering to avoid him. He sneaked a look back as he turned the corner. The girl grinned and turned in the opposite direction, shaking her head in mock despair. He had half a mind to teach her a lesson later on, but decided against it. Her Power intrigued him.
Disclaimers: The Vampire Diaries and the characters therein belong to L.J. Smith. However, I promise to return all characters in a relatively healthy state, and to treat them nicely.
Consider this and the books to be set a couple of years or so *after* LJS set them. Just for the sake of preserving the time line in the real world when I wrote it.
The Blurb:
They must stand together...or perish apart. After five centuries of hatred, an uneasy bond has formed between the vampire brothers, Stefan and Damon. Together they move on to a new town, a new start, and new friends. But evil threatens the lives of the students of Redditch High, an evil that wants revenge on those very people Stefan and Damon have befriended. All that stands between it and it's ultimate triumph are the motley crew of teenagers. And they all depend on one thing....can Stefan and Damon truly overcome their differences and stand together?
(Corny, huh? Anyway, read, have a laugh :))
/italics/ (also doubles as the bad guy communication, bad me, but it shouldn't be too confusing)
*thoughts*
((telepathy))
The Crow and The Falcon. (Prologue)
The rain spattered against the grimy window pane, and water trickled in through a hole in the glass, pooling on the inside sill. The odd gust of wind blustered in through the same hole, causing the candles that sat in the middle of the wooden floor to flicker, almost guttering out. Two figures sat hunched over a battered old book, muttering quietly to each other. A perfectly manicured female finger marked a place in the text.
"We're going to do this, then?" The owner of the finger breathed excitedly.
"Uh huh." Her companion grinned. "We wait till midnight, right?" He asked.
The girl nodded. "Midnight." She replied, then looked at her watch. "Only a few more minutes."
The boy arranged a few implements on the top of an upturned box. A dagger, a small bowl, an un-lit black candle, and a chunk of chalk. "How much longer?" He asked.
The girl stared at her watch for a few seconds more. "Now." She whispered.
Silently, the boy took the chalk in his hand, and sketched a circle on the wooden floor. The girl picked up the black candle and placed it carefully in the centre of the circle, while the boy took up the bowl and dagger. He sliced into the palm of his hand, winced a little at the pain, and watched as the blood poured from the wound into the bowl set below. He passed the dagger on to the girl, who did the same. She dipped her finger into the blood, moved to the candle, and held her finger above the wick, allowing the crimson liquid to drip onto the dark wax.
"With power of blood, dark candle a-light." They whispered in unison. A gust of wind blew through the attic, and the candles outside the circle sputtered out, plunging the two figures into darkness. The blood on the wick sizzled and spat, sending out small red sparks before it burst into a dark red flame. The two stared at each other nervously. The girl picked up the bowl and reached in to the circle, placing the bowl carefully over the crimson flame. The boy let out a small gasp of surprise as it stayed there, suspended in mid-air over the candle. He licked his lips, and the pair continued.
"With our blood as our offering, we summon you. Creature of darkness, creature of hate, we call you to our circle."
The pair stared at the candle, waiting for something to happen. Nothing did.
"Maybe we did something wrong?" The girl asked.
"No." The boy shook his head. "Just wait." He whispered.
The bowl began to rotate slowly, but soon picked up speed, spinning wildly. A fine blood mist began to rise from the bowl, tendrils swirling and writhing around each other, and glowing with an eerie intensity. A low pitched hiss began to reverberate around the room, gaining in volume until the boy and girl had to clasp their hands over their ears, shutting their eyes with the sharp pain. Abruptly, the noise stopped.
"Why do you summon me?" A gravely voice hissed. The pair opened their eyes, and stared dumbly into the circle. Rising from the bowl was the a bloody and hazy snake. It's hood suggested it might have been a Cobra, yet it's face seemed to bear some human characteristics. "Why do you summon me?" It asked again.
"We seek power. The power to destroy those we hate." The girl spoke clearly, although a little shakily.
"Such a thing does not come without a price." The snake hissed, narrowing it's eyes. "A great price."
"We're willing to do what you want." The boy said.
"Anything?" The snake laughed a hideous rasping sound when the pair nodded. "Very well. I can give you power. I can help you...dispose...of those you hate. But you must break the circle."
"But if we do that, we cannot control you." Said the girl.
"And if you don't, I cannot help you. My powers cannot reach outside this circle."
The pair exchanged glances.
"If we break the circle, you will help us?" The boy asked. The snake nodded, and after a moments hesitation, the boy reached forward, and rubbed away a portion of the chalk circle. The snake laughed menacingly and stared hungrily at the two children.
"Now I will give you power." It laughed again, and split into two, shooting forward and into the mouths of the children before they were able to react. As they screamed in pain, the bowl clattered to the floor. The candle-light reflected briefly in the empty bowl before the flame extinguished itself, leaving the attic in a dark and deadly silence.
The Crow and The Falcon. (One)
Damon Salvatore was seated towards the back of the class, already tiring of the game he was playing. He'd found it amusing to stare vacantly out of the window for several minutes, until the teacher noticed him and directed him to repeat what he'd said in Italian. Which Damon did. Fluently. It was one of the reasons he'd chosen to take Italian as one of his classes. After the third time of doing this, the irritation could be plainly seen on the teacher's face as he glared, tight-lipped, at the belligerent student. Damon just smiled smugly back, and started the process over again. But it was only entertaining to a limit, and that limit had passed halfway through the lesson. Now he was brooding, and wondering what the hell he was doing here. After a week at Redditch High he thought he would be bored out of his mind. Which he was, to some extent, although there /were/ a few interesting people he'd come across.
The twins, for example. He'd bumped into them a few times during the week. The first he had been removing some books from his locker when he'd backed into them. Normally his preternatural senses would have prevented the mishap, but the hallway was crowded and he was having enough trouble concentrating on holding onto his books as it was. He'd turned round after treading on a foot to come face to face with two pairs of identical green eyes. A boy and a girl. He'd mumbled sorry, and flashed them a charming smile before hurrying off to class. The second time he met them was coming out of the bathroom later in the day. The girl brushed a lock of wine-auburn hair behind her ear, then flipped him a wave with a friendly smile at his apology. A few days later he found himself standing behind them in the lunch queue, and discovered their names. Jessamyn and Michael. Jess and Mike, they'd both insisted.
Currently, he was staring at the back of a head seated two rows in front of him. Primarily because the hair on the head was an electric blue. The girl in question had been in all of his classes so far today, and he was fascinated by her, and not only because of her hair. He could sense a great amount of Power emanating from within her. Similar to Bonnie's but more powerful. By far, most likely from experience more than anything else. Remembering Bonnie McCullough stirred up memories of Fell's Church the previous month and caused his mood to darken.
Over the year since Elena's rebirth he'd been more than surprised to find himself growing closer to his brother, Stefan. But while they grew closer, Elena and Stefan had been drifting apart. Elena's strange return had caused great alarm in the small town, not least to Aunt Judith, who, at first, refused to believe it was /really/ her niece. Explanations were difficult, almost unsatisfactory to many minds.
Elena had been only been missing the past several months, and not dead, they had said. She'd run away after her 'miraculous' survival of the accident on Wickery Bridge, not wanting to stay in Fell's Church with Aunt Judith if she in turn could not accept Stefan. The story they chose to tell was that she'd taken a coach trip to a town she'd stayed in once with her parents, and, after cooling down a little, intended to come back again. But her plans were ruined after being involved in an accident. She awoke in the hospital with no recollection of who she was, or how she got there. Of course, as she was assumed dead there were no missing persons records or such to identify her by. She was merely a Jane Doe in the eyes of the hospital, and, when healthy enough to leave, she wandered around, doing part time work to support herself whilst trying to regain her memory.
This was all well and good, they were told, but what about her body? Elena had acted innocent, she had /no/ idea who the impostor was. None at all. It was Stefan that saved the day. It /could/ have been Katherine who had died, he mused. An old girlfriend who had followed him, unable to accept it was over. Their resemblance to each other was why he'd been attracted to Elena in the first place, he'd said. At least his sense of honour was part way placated by this snippet of truth. He'd thought that Elena had been acting strangely during the last two weeks of her life, not wanting to go home, avoiding all the people she knew. The townsfolk accepted this grudgingly, and life returned to relative normality. Out of the entire town, only those in the clearing that night new the truth. After a warning from Damon, Tyler was keeping his mouth shut, and keeping his distance.
Stefan's choice to stay alive as a vampire when Elena had offered it had been the start of his gradual acceptance of his own nature; no bad thing in Damon's opinion, although he still refused to take human blood. In many ways this acceptance was a part of the downfall of Stefan and Elena's relationship. Elena could never be a part of what he was. She'd been driven near mad when she'd changed the first time, and Stefan had known since she'd come back that he couldn't do it to her again. She didn't want it, no matter how much she'd loved him. It caused a rift to open, and barriers started coming between them as they drifted slowly apart. The relationship had ended a little over a month previously, and it was Stefan who finished it. For her own good, more than anything, to give her a chance at a normal life, with a future and children. That, and he didn't want to see her die for a third time. Stefan still didn't know if they'd keep in touch.
It was Damon who had insisted on a new start for them both. He thought Stefan had been more than a little surprised at Damon /wanting/ to stay with him, but then so had Damon. And so it was that a month later they found themselves joining classes two months into the new school year at Redditch High.
The town itself was considerably larger than Fell's Church, as was the school. The brothers slipped in almost anonymously. School had been Stefan's idea, and he'd been insistent. Damon went along with him, prepared to try anything at least once for the hell of it. The crack of working through the throats of every pretty girl in the school had met with a hard stare from Stefan. His brother had changed enough over the past year that he didn't feel like provoking him further. It probably wouldn't be too bad for his health, but he didn't want to risk it.
Class was finishing as Damon re-emerged from the past, and students filed out of the door. He followed them into the hall, only to be grabbed roughly by the throat and slammed hard up against the wall. It was all he could do to restrain himself from seizing his assailant and ripping their throat out.
"Look, mate, quit staring at me, wouldya. You've been at it all day and you're starting to give me the heeby jeebies." It was the blue headed girl from class. She released him after a moment, and he glared at her.
"You shouldn't do that to people you don't know." He snarled. "It's not very nice. And you could get into all kinds of trouble." He brushed past her and stormed off down the hall, students scattering to avoid him. He sneaked a look back as he turned the corner. The girl grinned and turned in the opposite direction, shaking her head in mock despair. He had half a mind to teach her a lesson later on, but decided against it. Her Power intrigued him.