Dear Diary, this morning is different.
There is change.
I can sense it, feel it.
I'm awake.
For the first time in a long time, I feel completely and undeniably wide awake.
For once, I don't regret the day before it begins.
I welcome the day because I know I will see him again.
For the first time in a long time, I feel good.
Matt, Gran, and even Vicky insisted that I should go home and get some rest, but I couldn't stay home.
I would spend the day worrying too much, so I decided to walk to school while Gran was asleep.
Besides, I needed to think.
Vicky claims that a vampire attacked her like an actual vampire attacked her. I wanted to know more, but with Matt and Gran there, they probably would have us both committed.
And what was up with my dream?
Stefan Salvatore looked like a vampire, but...
'Oof!' I bumped into someone I didn't recognize. 'Sorry.'
'The fault is mine.'
A guy about 24 or 25 years old: he was very handsome, standing in at 5'11 with a well-built, toned physique.
He had a light complexion with olive undertones, a strong bone structure with high cheekbones, and a solid jawline.
His dark brown hair looked black and hung just over his ears looked disheveled.
His striking blue eyes wonderfully clashed against his dark hair and eyebrows.
He wore a black leather jacket, a John Varvatos original, a dark blue shirt, black boots, and dark jeans.
He wore a large lapis lazuli on his right pinky; it looked familiar to me.
He seemed familiar to me.
'Nice ring.'
'Thanks, it's a family heirloom.'
Caroline rushed behind him, wearing a pink shirt, skirt, and pumps.
'Bella!'
'Is this the girl you were telling me about?'
As handsome as he was, he was obviously too old for the 16 or 17-year-old Caroline.
'Uh, no. This is-'
'Someone who is very late to school,' I grabbed Caroline's hand, 'as are you! Bonnie is looking for you, and I want to know about last night's party.'
'Oh, well-'
'Plus, Bonnie wants to talk to you.'
A gust of wind threw my hair in the guy's face, causing Caroline to rush to me with a comb.
'I think it's time for us to chat about your hair.' Caroline roughly combed my hair. 'You're wearing the same clothes from yesterday!'
'I know. Ow.'
'And you smell like a hospital.'
'I spent the night at the hospital.'
'Oh, Be-'
'Think she smells delicious.' said the guy.'
There was something predatory in his voice, making me feel unsafe. He gave me a smile that gave off Bundy vibes, and I began to feel like this guy's next repast if I didn't get out of there.
I dragged Caroline away as the guy called, 'Bye, Blondie. See you around, Schoolgirl.'
'Why were you at the hospital?' Caroline asked as I dragged her into the girls' room.
'I was visiting Vicky Donovan.'
'Oh, I heard she was attacked by a wild animal.'
I kept Vicky's vampire claim to myself as I glanced at Caroline; she retouched her makeup.
'I know, Matt told me.'
'She was probably high or something.'
The second person to portray Vicky as an addict.
'Who's that?' I demanded, not wanting to think of Vicky like that.
'I don't know; I met him last night.'
'You met him last night?!'
'Yeah.'
'And you spent the night with him?!' I nearly exploded.
'Calm down!' She flared, matching my heat with her own. 'I didn't have sex with the guy! We talked for five minutes while Bonnie got the car!'
'Then why was he here?'
'He said he had a little brother that when here.'
'Caroline,' Bonnie burst into the room, 'Bella?' She was wearing a hunter-green tunic, dark jeans, and a pair of brown wedge sandals. 'Didn't you wear that yesterday?'
'Yes, I was at the hospital-'
'Were you attacked too?'
'I was visiting Vicky- are you alright?'
'Yeah, I'm fine.'
'You spaced out...'
'Fine, totally fine.'
Her face didn't match her words.
'I didn't see you at the party.'
'I didn't go.' I swallowed my guilt and pointed at the blonde. 'Caroline has like a 30-year-old man-'
'He's not 30! He's college-age.'
'Bringing her to school!'
'Are you talking about the guy from last night?' Bonnie looked at Caroline. 'I thought you didn't know his name.'
'I didn't!' Caroline tossed me an aggravated glance. 'As I told Miss. Judgey, he was dropping off his little brother when he saw me.'
I didn't buy it, but Bonnie gave me a look that warned me not to fight for now, at least.
'Why didn't you come last night?'
'Vicky asked me to go; Gran said no.'
Caroline went to her makeup as I avoided Bonnie's gaze; I got the suspicion that she was trying to read me.
'Are you angry at your grandmother?'
'No.'
'I would be.' Caroline said, putting her makeup back in her bag.
'Keeping you locked up, I would sneak out.'
'I'm not really the party type.'
'What did you want?'
'Huh?' Bonnie choked.
'Bella said you wanted to talk to me. ' Caroline turned to her as I edged towards the door. 'What did you want?'
I saw this as my cue to exit; my attitude were confirmed when I heard Caroline scream, 'Bella!'
I spent the day dodging Caroline, which is not hard to do, considering we have no classes together and aren't in the same grade.
I didn't see Stefan Salvatore, which tanked my already low spirits.
I spent the entire day thinking about Vicky, Stefan Salvatore, and my nightmare.
None of my teachers and classmates noticed; none except-
'I'm sorry, Miss Swan, am I boring you?'
The class giggled as I sat up straight and yawned.
'No, sir. Sorry, sir. Hospitals aren't very comfortable; I didn't get much sleep last night.'
'And you still came to class?' A girl chirped. 'That's a get-out jail-free card if I ever saw one.'
'You don't look ill,' Mr. Tanner said.
'No, I wasn't in the hospital; my friend was.'
'Your friend?' Jeremy veered around to face me; he looked like he had been up all night. 'Are you talking about Vicky Donavan?'
'Do you know her?'
'My sister's ex's sister, how-'
The bell rang, and the other students rushed out the door as I packed my things.
'Is there something I can help you with, Gilbert?'
I jumped and turned to see Jeremy seemingly hovering over me. Jeremy turned to Mr. Tanner as I resumed packing.
'Uh, no, sir.'
'I have a parent-teacher conference in 5 minutes-'
I quickly gathered my things and ambled toward the door; the hem of my pants got caught on the door, and I practically threw my books into a nearby Elena Gilbert.
And Stefan Salvatore.
'Sorry.' I kept my eyes on my things as I began picking up my things.
'So you can apologize.' Elena said in a sarky tone.
'I can if I'm wrong.'
I met her gaze; she was in a blue tank, blue jeans, and black sneakers. She scowled as Stefan Salvatore knelt to help me; he wore a gray T-shirt, jeans, and black sneakers.
'Bella,' Jeremy said, rushing to my side, 'let me help you.'
'It's fine.'
'Weren't you wearing that yesterday?' Elena nudged Stefan Salvatore and pointed. 'She wore that yesterday.'
'Here.' Stefan was holding my copy of Wuthering Heights. 'A fan of the classic, I see.'
'Thank you.'
'It's worn out. Maybe it's time to get a new book.'
I shook my head. 'Never.'
When I took the book, our skin made contact, and his soft skin gave me an electric shock, making me drop my things again.
'Dammit, Bella.' Jeremy muttered, quickly gathering up my things.
I stood up, tossing my hair between him and me, peeking through my dark curtain of hair; he moved to the other side of Elena, pinching his nose.
Did I smell that bad?
Maybe I should have taken a shower when I got home.
I moved to the other side of Jeremy, taking subtle sniffs of my hair. It smelt like a hospital room and strawberries; it was an odd combination, admittedly.
'Thanks.' I muttered as Jeremy handed me my things. 'I should get going.'
'Hold on,' Jeremy started after me, 'wait up.'
'I don't think we have any classes-'
'Is Vicky alright?'
I noticed that he waited until we were out of Elena's earshot.
'When I left, she was sleeping-'
'Do you know what attacked her?'
'I heard it was an animal- I wasn't there. I only know what i was told. She might be awake; maybe Elena can call Matt and ask. Some say that she was...'
'What?'
'On Drugs-'
'What does that have to do with it?'
'She said it was a vampire.'
Jeremy didn't seem to hear my comment; I glanced at Elena and Stefan; Elena was glaring at me and muttering something. Stefan's eyes were locked on me; his gaze seemed predatory, somehow, and I felt frightened.
'Did you say vampire?'
Jeremy's question surprised me, and I turned to find him staring at me.
'If someone assaulted me while I was drunk, I'm pretty sure they would be a vampire to me.'
'Did you see anything?'
'I didn't go.'
'Why not?'
'Gran said no; Vicky, Matt, and her boyfriend, Tyler-'
'That jerk isn't Vicky's boyfriend.'
'Oh.' Was all I could think of. 'He seems nice.'
'He's not!' Jeremy grumbled. 'Don't ever be alone with him.'
'Ok.'
'I have to go.'
Vampire!
Vicky knows that it is a vampire and told Isabella.
She seemed to have written it off as a drunken tale, but I can't have people finding out.
'Is Vicky okay?' I heard Elena's voice ask.
After lunch, Elena went to look for Matt, Vicky's brother, to get
an update on her.
'They're keeping her overnight to make there's no infection, but she should be able to come home tomorrow.'
'That's good news.'
'Yeah'
'Did you get in touch with your mom?'
'Called and left a message. She's in Virginia Beach with her boyfriend, so we'll see how long it takes her to come rushing home.'
'Vicky is lucky that she's okay.'
'I know, and now there's talk about some missing campers.'
'Did she say what kind of animal it was that attacked her?'
'She said it was a vampire.'
'What?'
'Yeah, she wakes up, mutters vampire, then passes back out.'
'Ok, that was weird.'
'I think she was drunk. So, what's up with you and the new guy?'
'Matt, the last thing I want to do is hurt you.'
'You know, I'm... I'm going to go back to the hospital. I want to be there when Vicky wakes up and get the real story about last night.
Get to the hospital before Matt.
After school, I went straight home and booted up my computer. I haven't turned it on since I left Forks; I wonder if I got any emails from Jacob.
I eventually made my way to my favorite search engine and typed one word, Vampire.
Most of the sites were gory or role-playing, and none of them stood out to me.
So I added myths.
Everyone knows that vampires are vulnerable to garlic and Holy items.
Why do vampires hate garlic? I typed into the search engine.
Some sites said it was because it was garlic has a chemical compound called allicin, and some European beliefs that vampirism was a disease. The chemical is supposed to be powerful enough to kill the infection. Others say that it lowers the user's blood pressure. Some just say that it smells so bad.
Do vampires hate garlic? I'd gotten rid of the why.
No, they hate Vervain.
I'd never heard of that; what was it?
What is vervain?
Verbena, also known as vervain or verveine, is a genus in the family Verbenaceae. It contains about 150 species of annual and perennial herbaceous or semi-woody flowering plants.
What is vervain used for?
Vervain is used in traditional medicine to treat infections and abdominal pain and to promote milk production in breastfeeding women.
Why do vampires hate vervain?
Vervain (or verbena) is a potent herb and a vampire's most well-known weakness. Vervain, if touched by a vampire, can cause burns to the skin. If a human has ingested vervain and a vampire feeds on them, the vampire is affected within seconds and significantly weakened. If a human consumes or holds vervain somewhere on the body (such as having it in their hand or pocket or wearing it in jewelry), the human is protected by vampire compulsion and entitled to free will.
Compulsion?
Isn't that, like, hypnosis or something?
Mind control.
I pushed myself away from the monitor and shook my head.
Bella, you're overthinking; vampires aren't real.
Still, I typed vampire novels into the box.
Dracula was at the top of the list, published in 1897.
But another title, Varney The Vampire, caught my eye; it was a series of Penny Dreadfuls published between 1845-1847.
The weekly stories became a full-length novel published in 1847, the same year as my beloved Wuthering Heights.
And it was in the town's library.
I crawled into bed, closed my eyes, and was nearly asleep when a weak voice cried out, 'Bella.'
I rushed downstairs, only nearly falling twice. 'Gran!'
I found Gran standing in the doorway; a man stood in front of her holding her by the neck.
From the top of the stairs, he looked as if he was kissing her, but as I got closer, I could see the blood.
A guy about 24 or 25 years old: he was very handsome, standing in at 5'11 with a well-built, toned physique.
He had a light complexion with olive undertones, a strong bone structure with high cheekbones, and a solid jawline.
His dark brown hair looked black and hung just over his ears looked disheveled.
His striking blue eyes wonderfully clashed against his dark hair and eyebrows.
He wore a black leather jacket, a John Varvatos original, a dark blue shirt, black boots, and dark jeans.
He wore a large lapis lazuli on his right pinky; it looked familiar to me.
He seemed familiar to me; it was the man from earlier. He let of Gran, and she dropped like a stone. He stepped over her and inside the house, a bloody smile spread across his face.
'I've been looking for you.'
