A Week Later…

It's official my fun clairvoyant episodes had effectively screwed up my life. I had gotten home and once my phone was charged up I was bombarded by voicemails from my now former boss yelling at me before firing me telling me not to even both going to pick up my last week of wages and that he would mail them to me. Which was total BS but not like I could really argue since I was an off the books employee.

To make matters worse I was counting on that money to pay rent which was now late so I now had to sneak in and out of my building avoiding my landlord who lived on the ground floor.

And last but not least the fact that I had to turn in a few assignments late had effectively ruined my formerly perfect GPA to some B's and… A C. I shudder just thinking about it.

I had a few leads on a few jobs, or short term gigs but nothing that was going to get enough cash to get my head above water.

I had just gotten out of class after getting a 'I know you can do better' pep talk from one of my professors when low and behold waiting right in front of the building leaning against a blue mustang was the unliving reminder of the shitstorm my life had become.

"Hey Red miss me?" he said with a smirk.

I glared at him before I kept walking.

"Oh come on don't be like that." Damon said.

"Don't be like what? Sane enough to walk away from the guy that almost snapped my neck for because I drew his not so trapped girlfriend?" I retorted as I kept walking but he followed.

"But I didn't snap your neck, in fact I saved you from that douche at the bar so technically you owe me." He said.

"I owe you?" I said stopping. "Are you fucking kidding me? You showing up when you did turned my life upside down. I got fired, I can't pay my rent, and my GPA is in the crapper."

"You didn't even like working at the bar." Damon said.

"That's not the point Damon. The life I was barely keeping together as it was is falling apart. You and your ex girlfriend or one night stand is just something I can't deal with right now nor do I want to." I said.

"Well tough because I need you to come with me." He said.

"Did you not just hear what I said?" I said.

"You know things you shouldn't know. You can see the future before it happens and I know that because this happened to me." Damon said holding out a drawing of him getting his neck snapped by a blonde wearing a Bon Jovi tee shirt. "Last night."

"Angry one night stand?" I said.

"Brother's best friend." Damon said. "I need answers and I'm going to get them."

"I told you what I know already." I said.

"But what if I can get you answers you don't know. Like what you are." Damon said.

"I know what I am. Late." I said walking away.

"I'll fix your problems." Damon said stopping me. "I'll compel your teachers to give you all A's, your landlord to let you live rent free for life and I'll get you your job back though I don't know why you want it back."

"The day I start drawing winning lotto numbers is the day I stop working." I said.

"I'll fix what I broke." Damon said. "Just come with me to see my witch friend."

"If I do go with you I need you to promise you're not going to snap my neck if she tells you something you don't like or I draw something that freaks you out again." I said.

"If I was going to kill you don't you think I would have done it already?" Damon said.

"Damon." I said giving him a look warning him to be serious.

"I promise I won't hurt a single hair on your head little red." Damon said sarcastically.

"Little red, like I haven't heard that one before." I said.

"Are you coming?" he asked.

"Sure, where's your friend?" I asked.

"Atlanta." Damon said opening the car door for me.

"Georgia?" I said.

"Roadtrip." Damon said with a smirk.

"Fine but we're stopping by my place for some clothes." I said.

"Alright." He said getting into the driver's seat and driving to my building. It was still early in the day and I didn't have to worry about my landlord being around but of course he had left me an eviction notice pinned to my door.

"Well shit." I said reading it.

"I'll take care of that." Damon said taking the note and tearing it to pieces. "Nice place." He said sarcastically peeking in but not walking in.

"No it's not" I said walking into the studio not bothering to clean up the mess of drawings scattered around everywhere.

"You're not going to invite me in?" Damon said. "that's kind of rude."

"I know how the vampire thing works but since I'm getting evicted come in." I said not caring anymore. Damon walked in and looked around going through the drawings as I packed up.

"So how long have you been drawing these?" damon asked.

"You mean the you and your girlfriend or just in general." I said stuffing some clothed into an old duffle bag.

"Both." Damon said.

"The one with you in it are pretty recent. Your girlfriend pops up every now and then for about ten years now and the drawing itself my whole life." I said zipping up the bag.

"And your parents didn't say anything about it?" Damon asked. "Especially after Sparky died?"

"Never met my real parents. They died when I was a baby and my foster parents freaked out and kicked me out after the Sparky incident." I said. "The ones that came after always kicked me out when I started drawing things like…"

I looked through it to find a drawing of a vampire in an old suit surrounded by mangled bodies.

"This." I said showing him. "Most kids draw unicorns and rainbows, I drew dead bodies and monsters. Can't really blame them."

"So you're on your own?" He said. "Sounds rough."

"It is what it is." I said with a shrug. "Ready when you are."

With that we headed out.

Damon did the driving because being the guy he was he refused to let anyone touch his prized Mustang.

I took advantage of the drive to get some work done. I was working on an essay typing away while Damon kept trying to distract me. Mostly by blasting classic rock and then singing off key. Joke's on him I listen to heavy metal to keep me awake when I have to pull all nighters.

"You know you're really taking the fun out of this roadtrip." Damon said.

"This trip isn't about having fun it's about getting answers." I reminded him.

"Okay look we're five states away from Georgia, all of your problems are back in New York. So how about you put this." Damon said reaching over and closing my laptop. "And have some fun. You know what fun is right?"

"I get the feeling we have different ideas of what's fun." I said.

"Would it help if I apologize for almost killing you?" Damon said.

"Would you actually mean it?" I answered and he was quiet.

"Alright how about this until we get back to New York I won't kill anyone." He said.

"Can you even go that long without blood?" I asked.

"I never said I wasn't going to feed I just won't kill anyone I bite. Deal?" Damon said.

"Okay but if we're doing this I'm picking the music and…" I said chain the radio as Whitesnake came on. "I don't know where I'm going…"

"Whitensake? Really?" he said.

"Yes Really." I said as I started singing at the top of my lungs.

Surprisingly once I started cutting lose and getting to know Damon a bit he wasn't bad. He was pretty fun and while probably not a good person he was a good roadtrip buddy.

"So I don't want to be a kill joy and ruin the fun and you totally don't have to answer but…" I started.

"You want to know about Katherine." Damon said.

"There's obviously a story there." I said. Damon was quiet for minute.

"I'm from a town in Virginia called Mystic Falls. Same town you drew on my wall." Damon said. "I met her back in 1864, I had just come back from the war and she was staying with my family. She was a vampire and as the vampire hysteria came through the town vampires were hunted and killed. She dated me and my brother Stefan but my idiot of a brother told our father what she was and he along with the rest of the town council rounded her up with the other vampires and burned them alive in the church."

"But she didn't die." I said.

"No, there was a witch, Emily. She cast a spell and sealed her and the other vampires in a tomb under the church. I've been trying to find a way to get her out but so far nothing. And now it turns out she might never have been in there to begin with." Damon said.

"She sounds like a manipulative bitch." I thought out loud before realizing that wasn't exactly what I should say to someone who was obviously in love with her. "Sorry.

"No she is. But she's also beautiful, fun… sexy." He said getting a faroff look.

"For what it's worth, I hope you get her back." I said and he looked at me surprised. "You obviously love her and no matter if she's in there or not or even if you don't end up together you deserve closure. You've been hung up on her almost 150 years, it's the least she can do for you."

"What about you?" Damon said.

"What about me?" I asked.

"You might get some answers about your… crazy drawings." He said.

"It doesn't really change anything. Even if I do figure out what exactly makes me doodle, is anything really going to change? I'll still be the same person I've always been and I'll still get these random blackouts where I draw about things that are going to happen to people I've never met." I said.

"You met me." Damon said.

"I sure did." I said before I sucked it up and did the right thing. "And thanks for saving me at the bar."

"No need. That guy was a dick." Damon said.

"He was." I said.

"I'm getting hungry and I know just the place." Damon said speeding up the car and making a sharp turn.

The next morning after sleeping in the car I woke up to Damon shaking my shoulder.

"We're here." He said.

"Bree's bar." I said reading the sign. "Why am I not surprised your friend happens to be at a bar?"

"This is actually her bar." Damon said leading me inside.

"Damon!" the bartender who I'm guessing was Bree jumped out from behind the bar and pounced on him.

"Oh she's that type of friend." I said finally putting two and two together. That made the two break apart.

"And who is this?" Bree asked Damon.

"Bree Nora, Nora Bree." Damon introduced.

"Hi." She said offering me her hand.

"Hi." I said shaking her hand as soon as she took my hand she froze and started swaying before letting go.

"Oh sorry got a bit light headed." Bree said trying to play it off as nothing which it clearly wasn't.

"Yeah." I said giving Damon a look. "Do you mind if I use your restroom?"

"Oh sure, in the back to the left." Bree said.

"Thanks." I said going to freshen up.

Meanwhile…

Once Nora was out of earshot Bree turned to Damon.

"Where'd your find the kid?" Bree asked.

"Nora? I bumped into her in New York why? What did you feel?" Damon said as Bree walked behind the bar and poured them both a shot of bourbon and she drank her's immediately before pouring herself another one.

"She's… I've never felt anything like that before." Bree said.

"Is that good or bad?" Damon said.

"Depends why did you bring her?" Bree said.

"Last week I was out grabbing a bite to eat when I hear her scream. Some guy attacked her. I drained him and when I turn to her, she looks at me like she knew me. She had seen my ring before she goes into this trance and starts drawing on the wall and when the glass bottle didn't make clear enough marks, she started finger painting with the guy's blood." Damon said and Bree looked at him surprised. "When I tried to stop her she threw me into a brick wall hard enough to break the bricks. I got her out of there and she didn't stop drawing until the next morning where she had no idea what she had done."

"What did she draw?" Bree asked and Damon took out a folded up page showing Katherine and Isobel at a bar.

"That is my one night stand from two weeks ago that I turned into a vampire and that's Katherine." Damon said.

"She's supposed to be in the tomb." Bree said.

"That's what I thought." Damon said showing her another drawing. "I thought she was making it up until this happened.

"Lexi broke your neck. It's not the first time." Bree said.

"She drew that three days before it happened." He said.

"Oh that explains it." Bree said.

"Explains what?" Damon said as Nora walked over.

Nora's POV-

I sat down at the bar and saw the drawings Damon had out in front of him.

"Can I get your something to drink?" Bree asked.

"Just water please." I said. "You kept those?"

"It's not every day I find out my girlfriend isn't locked in a tomb." Damon said.

"Well I think I know what these are." Bree said. "How old are you?"

"Sixteen." I answered and Damon spat out his drink.

"You're sixteen?" he said. "You worked at a bar and you're in college?"

"Skipped a few grades, fake ID." I answered.

"And you've never met your parents or they died when you were really young?" Bree said.

"Yeah?" I said not understanding why she was asking.

"You're an oracle." She said.

"Huh?" Damon and I said confused.

"Like the three witches with one eye from Hercules?" I said.

"Did you just compare this to a Disney movie?" Damon asked.

"No those were the fates." Bree corrected. "But it's a bit similar. Oracles are a witch ghost story."

She looked so serious I didn't even point out the irony of witches having their own version of ghost stories considering they were one.

"So what's the story?" Damon asked.

"The story goes back to ancient times. A time before vampires. Back then there was only one coven of witches, the Delphi. They were the first witches ever, the witches that all other witches that exist today are descended from and they were worshipped by the people around them. They were considered the pillars of the community because they used their gifts to help others but more because some special witches in their coven had the ability to see the future, they were oracles." Bree said.

"Told you, you were witchy." Damon said.

"I'm not a witch." I said.

"Nora's right she's not a witch. Witches are servants of nature. Oracles are the messengers of nature and death." Bree said.

"That sounds way worse." I said.

"Also explains why you can't predict lotto numbers." Damon retorted. "So everything she draws happens?"

"What do you think?" Bree said looking down at the drawings. "The story goes that the oracles don't have any powers other than absolute precognition. As time went on and people grew too reliant on the oracle's abilities so did their fear of them. The vision isn't absolute, they only see what they are allowed to see. After a plague and famine the coven fought within itself killing all the oracles except for one a child. Nature and death refused to allow their child to die so instead they placed a curse on their child to balance the scales. The child would live and die but always be reincarnated with the memories of all their previous lives but at a cost. She would be forced to go through life without family and would always die a tragic young death."

"Well that sucks." I said.

"So everything is true and Katherine is not in the tomb. She's never been in there." Damon said.

"Sorry sweetie." Bree said.

"Great." He said seeming taking it well until he threw his glass into the wall and ran off.

"He'll be back." Bree said trying to reassure me.

"He better. He's my ride back." I said looking around. "Need a hand? I have time to kill."

"Sure." Bree said handing me a rag and I started helping her clean up.

It wasn't until almost closing time that night that Damon walked in with blood splattered on his shirt and some on the corner of his mouth and obviously drunk.

"Okay Bree I need you to use a locator spell. I'm going to find the bitch and kill her myself." Damon said.

"That's a complete 180 from this morning." I said looking at his shirt. "Whoever's blood that is better still be alive Damon."

"They're fine." He said annoyed before going straight behind the bar and grabbing another bottle of bourbon.

"I'll clean up." I told Bree."

"Thanks." She said before going to talk to Damon.

By the time I was done Bree and Damon were getting ready to try the spell. I had never seen a witch perform a spell so I grabbed a seat and waited.

Bree had a map out and Damon was bleeding over it as Bree chanted some words I didn't understand but nothing happened.

"I don't see anything." I said.

"You've done this before." Damon said.

"You know I have." Bree said trying again but still nothing except this time the lights started flickering and her nose started bleeding. "I can't do it."

"What do you mean you can't?" Damon said.

"I can't get a sense on her. It's like someone put a cloaking spell on her." Bree said.

"Damn it!" He said hitting the bar.

"She doesn't want to be found." Bree said. "I'm sorry Damon."

"Let's go." Damon told me.

"You're not driving." I said putting my hand out for the keys.

"You're sixteen." He said.

"And you're drunk." I reminded him. "I might be cursed to die tragically drunk but it's not happening tonight. Keys."

He glared at me but did as I said.

"Thanks for nothing Bree." Damon said walking out with the bourbon bottle.

"Sorry about him," I told her.

"He's heartbroken." She said understanding where he was coming from.

"Thanks for the story." I said grabbing my bag but she stopped me.

"Be careful." Bree said. "He's… he can be good but he can also do a lot of bad."

"I know. I've seen it." I told her appreciating the warning.

I got in the car and started driving back to New York. Damon didn't say anything just quietly stared out the window drinking straight out of the bottle. It was hours before he said anything.

"Aren't you going to say I told you so?" he said.

"Why would I do that?" I said.

"Because you were right." He said.

"Yeah well being right sucks." I told him.

"She was out in the world this whole time and she never looked for me." Damon said. "What a bitch."

"I'm literally cursed to be alone and die young." I said as it finally sunk in and pulled over.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"You're not the only one feeling really shitty right now. Pass the bottle." I said.

"You're 16." He reminded me.

"And you're 160." I retorted before he gave in and handed over the bottle. I cringed at the burn as I took a few gulps. "Ew."

"You get used to it." Damon said. "For a second I thought I was going to get her back. That I'd find her and we would be together. No Stefan, no hiding just us together."

"I thought I'd finally find a way to stop it." I said. "Turns out I'm just more screwed up than I already knew I was."

"I thought you said it didn't matter." Damon said.

"If it didn't matter do you think I would have gotten in a car with a guy who was going to kill me last week?" I said tearing up.

"Don't cry. Just drink." He said handing me back the bottle. "And witches are always spewing ominous facts. I wouldn't take what Bree said literally. She also said you were reincarnated and could remember your other lives. Do you remember any of that?"

"No but the drawings never lie and there are some that never made sense, wouldn't make sense unless it was true." I said. "People that looked like me in old clothes dying in different places. Always alone."

"I could turn you?" Damon said.

"You turning someone is what got us here." I told him.

"Not right now." He corrected. "I'll probably stick around New York for a while if you start dying I'll give you some blood, heal you, turn you. Your pick."

"You really think that'll work?" I asked.

"It's worth a try." He said. "Besides you're not entirely horrible to be around. We did have fun before we got all doom and gloom."

"I haven't had this much fun in a really long time." I said. "And if I happen to draw something that can help you find Katherine I'll let you know."

"I'd appreciate it." He said.

"What are you going to do once you find her?" I asked.

"Not sure yet. I'd say put a stake in her heart but that'd be letting her off too easy." Damon said.

"There's something that doesn't add up about her." I said.

"What doesn't add up? She's a manipulative bitch." Damon said.

"Not that. You and your brother didn't look for her because you thought she was either dead or locked in a tomb but she still had a witch put a cloaking spell on her. So if she wasn't hiding from you two then who?" I said thinking out loud.

"I'll be sure to ask her that when I find her." Damon said before jumping over to the back seat. "I'm taking a nap. We're both too drunk to drive."

"No arguments here." I said getting comfortable in the front seat.