Author's Note 7/30/20: Hello everyone! I was never very satisfied with the first couple chapters of this first installment and so I went back and rewrote the first chapter. Maybe as time goes by, I'll slowly rewrite the next few chapters (specifically chapters 2 - 5), but for now, it's only this first one. Enjoy!

Elowen's FC: Victoria Justice

Esmeralda's FC: Gina Rodriguez

Josiah's FC: Blake Michael

xxxx

A man and a woman were driving down an empty highway, the night sky upon them and the moon gleaming down on them brightly. It was all that illuminated the road, except the thick fog beginning to cascade down the trees swallowed their car fully, making it impossible for the moon's rays to make any kind of difference.

"An hour's drive to hear that crap," the driver, the man, was saying with a shake of his head. "You know, it wasn't even a band. A guy with a guitar, an hour each way."

The passenger, the woman, scoffed.

"He wasn't that bad."

"He sounded like James Blunt."

"What's wrong with that?"

"We already have a James Blunt. One's all we need."

The woman rolled her eyes. "So why did you come?"

The man glanced over at the woman and smiled.

"Because I love you."

"Nicely done." The woman looked through the windshield and frowned. "What's with all the fog?"

"It'll clear in a second."

Suddenly, a dark figure appeared in the road. The woman gasped.

"Watch out!"

Unfortunately, the man didn't break in time and hit the silhouette head on. The man and woman looked at each other in horror before rushing out of the car and running over to the person lying in the road.

"Are you okay?" The man asked frantically, dropping to his knees to lightly shake the person they had hit.

"We just hit someone!" The woman blurted wildly, her eyes wide, beginning to panic. "Oh my god!"

"Call for help," the man instructed from over his shoulder. The woman nodded and hurried back towards the car to retrieve her phone. He turned back to the person on the pavement.

"Please be alive! Oh my god."

The person's eyes popped open, his hand flying out to roughly grab the man's hair and pulling his head to the side so he could sink his teeth into his jugular. The woman turned back around, completely oblivious, with her phone to her ear.

"There's no signal! Darren! Darren?"

She walked back over, saw Darren's dead body slumped over, and dropped her phone. She swung back around and started to dash back for the car when someone dropped down on her from above and whisked her away into the air.

Elowen woke up with a start.

As a result from the dream, she was drenched in sweat and out of breath. A quick glance at the clock told her that it was a little past 4 in the morning. After a few failed attempts to go back to sleep, she decided to get up and get ready for the day. She needed a shower, anyway.

Elowen lived with her mom, Esmeralda, and her younger brother, Josiah. Her dad left shortly after her 8th grade year and even went as far as kicking them out of the house. They moved out of Atlanta shortly after. Her mother's power was empathy, which meant it was literally impossible to get away with anything (Elowen couldn't even do much as steal a cookie out of the cookie jar), while Josiah's power was pyrokinesis. Of course, the baby of the family got the active power. Elowen's power? Elowen had the power of premonition. Not only can she see the future, but she can see the past and the present as well. Whether it's in forms of dreams or touching something and getting an image (sometimes she just simply knows without even trying. It's actually a huge invasion of privacy, though it's not really her fault), Elowen is never wrong.

Which is why her mother immediately confronted her at breakfast later on in the morning. Elowen sighed and set the syrup down, watching as Josiah mosied his way into the kitchen. She turned back towards her mom and started to speak hesitantly.

"I um…" Elowen pushed her bangs behind her ear (her hair was really starting to get too long for her liking), "I had a dream last night."

Josiah had his head buried deep inside the fridge and pried it out at this piece of information. Esmeralda had also perked up, sitting up straighter.

"What about?"

The look she was giving her daughter told her not to lie, though it's not like she could even if she wanted to. Josiah was pouring himself a bowl of cereal as quickly as he could before sitting down at the table. Elowen had retold her dream to her mom and brother, and when she was done, Esmeralda had her lips pressed together in worry.

"I can only think of one culprit. Vampires. This one sounds dangerous." Esmeralda paused for a moment as she collected her thoughts. "Okay, here's what we're going to do. You two come straight home after school today, and no staying out after dark while whoever this is is in town."

"What if we come across him?" Josiah asked.

"Don't engage, under any circumstances."

"What if…" Elowen trailed off, her eyebrows furrowed. "What if there's another one here? One that doesn't mean any harm?"

Esmeralda frowned. "What do you mean?"

Elowen's eyes lifted to meet Esmeralda's. "I dunno. It's just a feeling."

Esmeralda opened her mouth to reply when Josiah beat her to it.

"What do you even know about vampires, mom? Like, have you met one before?"

Esmeralda sighed. "I have, once, a long time ago. He was one of the good ones."

"What was his name?"

Esmeralda shook her head. "Doesn't matter anymore. You two need to get going soon, or else you're going to be late. Be careful today, okay?"

Elowen and Josiah nodded, and then went back to eating their breakfast.

Walking into the halls of Mystic Falls High, Josiah nudged Elowen's arm.

"So, what's it like being an upperclassmen now, Junior?" He asked, his voice teasing. He was trying to help lighten the mood from the walk to school. Elowen silently scoffed at her brother. He really had to find a way to joke about everything, huh? He wouldn't be Josiah if he didn't. She nudged him back.

"What's it like not being fresh meat anymore, Sophomore?" She retorted back and the two of them started laughing. They walked past the office and saw Bonnie and Elena standing there, just looking in.

"Is there a celebrity that's going to attend or something?" Elowen asked casually, coming to stand next to Elena. Said girl just turned and awkwardly smiled in acknowledgment. They only knew each other because Elowen and Josiah knew Bonnie and the only reason they were friends with Bonnie was because Esmeralda was apparently friends with Sheila, Bonnie's grandmother. Go figure.

Elowen gave an equally awkward smile in greeting. She couldn't help her thoughts from wandering. Yes, they shared similar features, and Elowen was sick and tired of being compared to her, but sometimes she couldn't help but figure that Elena was the superior one of the two. She was prettier, popular, had a picture perfect family, a loving father…

Bonnie jarred Elowen from her inner monologue.

"Nah," Bonnie began to say, not even sparing Elowen or her brother a glance. "Just a hot new student."

Elena scoffed, waving her arm in the direction of the office. "We can't even see his face, Bon. How are you so sure he's hot?"

Bonnie shrugged. "I just know."

Being a Traditional witch, Bonnie had the power of knowing by default, which is a sub power of premonition. It wasn't as advanced or in depth as Elowen's power, but it was enough to let Bonnie know she could trust her instinct. She lightly wondered if Sheila had told Bonnie she was a witch yet.

Elena suddenly huffed, "I'll be right back," and walked off towards the boys bathroom. When Elowen turned back towards the office, she was abruptly struck with a new piece of information.

'Oh my god,' she thought to herself. 'He's compelling the secretary!'

Pulling out her phone, she sent Josiah a discreet, one word text.

Vampire.

Josiah read the text and glanced at Elowen as the new student began to turn around.

"Please be hot," she vaguely heard Bonnie mumble, but she was too focused on the fact that he was a real life vampire. What if he was the one from her dream? Oh god. Except… there was a chance that he was the other one. The one who meant no harm.

Elowen waited in anticipation as he finally turned all the way around. She got a good look at his face aaaaaaaand…. Fuck, Bonnie was right. He was hot. But she couldn't think of that right now. Josiah started tugging her away before he could notice them staring.

Elowen saw Elena exiting the bathroom and felt the familiar pull in the pit of her stomach.

Elena was sitting in the cemetery, near her parents' grave, writing in her diary when she looked up and saw a dark figure standing behind one of the tombstones, their face covered by the fog. Her eyes widened and she quickly scrambled to her feet so she could run in the opposite direction. She only got a couple of yards away before she tripped and fell. She pulled herself back up, glancing behind her shoulder, but jumped when she turned around and saw the new student standing in front of her.

"You okay?" He asked in concern.

Elena jabbed her thumb behind her. "Were you following me?"

"No, I, uh, I, just… I saw you fall."

"Uh-huh, and you just happened to be hanging out in a cemetery."

"I'm visiting. I have family here."

A sheepish look came across Elena's face.

"Oh, wow. Tactless. I'm sorry. It's the fog, It's making me foggy, and then back there, there was this- this bird, and it was all very Hitchcock for a second," Elena rambled. "That is the bird movie, right, the Hitchcock?" She paused as she gained her bearings. "I'm Elena."

The new student smiled. "I'm Stefan."

"I know. We have history together."

"And English and French."

"Right."

Stefan tentatively reached over and plucked a leaf out of Elena's hair.

"Thanks." Her eyes caught sight of Stefan's daylight ring shining in the sun. "Nice ring."

"Oh. Um, it's a family ring. Yeah, I'm kinda stuck with it. It's weird, right?"

Elena shook her head. "No! No. It just, I mean, there are rings, and then there's that."

"Did you hurt yourself?" Stefan asked suddenly.

"Hmm?"

"Did you hurt yourself?" Stefan repeated.

Elena bent over and rolled up her pant leg, revealing a gash on her leg that was bleeding from her fall from earlier.

"Oh! Would you look at that. That is not pretty."

Stefan turned away from Elena, feeling his fangs trying to push out, his eyes changing and faint veins slithering down his face. Elena looked up and frowned.

"Are you okay?"

"You should go," Stefan said instead, not turning around.

"Really, it's nothing."

Elena looked away for a split second, and when she looked up again, Stefan was gone.

On the inside, Elowen felt herself panic. The thought of Elena being caught alone with Stefan worried her. The mystery figure worried her just as much, but right now, she was focusing on the present, and that was Stefan making his way towards the men's restroom, where Elena was standing. Without much thought, her anxiety speaking for her, she glanced down at Stefan's backpack and the next second, it unzipped and opened, the contents falling out and clattering against the tile floor. Elena glanced at him, the sound catching her attention, but before she could do anything, Bonnie came over and started pulling her away so they could get to class.

Elowen turned to Josiah.

"Get to class," she mumbled to him in a hurried voice, pushing him down the hall.

Josiah furrowed his eyebrows. "What?"

"Just do it!" Elowen hissed under her breath.

Josiah looked over at Stefan, who was crouched down, picking up his things on the ground, and then reluctantly headed down the hall. Elowen turned back towards Stefan and thought about just leaving him there, Esmeralda's warning to not engage echoing through her head, but… but, Stefan could've been the other one Elowen had sensed. And, if he was the one from her premonition, the thought of him walking around campus unsupervised didn't sit right with her. So, against her better judgement, with loud sirens blaring through her head, Elowen made her way over to Stefan and got down on one knee with him.

"Backpack mysteriously falling apart on the first day?" She asked rhetorically, reaching for a lone notebook. "Been there, done that."

Stefan gave a light chuckle, taking the notebook from her and stuffing it in his backpack. He looked up with a smile, but stopped when he saw Elowen's face. She looked up as well and slowly furrowed her eyebrows when she saw the scrutinized look on his face.

"Is… there something in my teeth?"

Stefan broke out of his stupor, his eyes flickering over to Elena's retreating form before settling back on Elowen. Curious, Elowen looked over her shoulder and saw the back of Elena. Suddenly, she understood. She internally sighed and waited for the dreaded question.

"Sorry," Stefan apologized. "It's just… you look… do you have a sister that goes here?"

"No," Elowen answered with a snippy tone, trying to not let her annoyance show. "You're talking about Elena Gilbert. We're not related."

Stefan blinked at the sound of her voice.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

Elowen sighed, shaking her head.

"No, I'm sorry. I just get asked that a lot."

Stefan nodded in understanding. "Ah, then I'm still sorry. It must get a little tiring."

"That's an understatement."

Elowen picked up the last bit of paper that was still on the ground and saw that it was his class schedule. Her eyes scanned the paper before handing it over to him.

"We have first period history together. Here, I'll show you the way."

Stefan quickly got onto his feet so he could follow her.

"Wait! Hang on. What's your name?"

Elowen looked over at him with a smile. "Elowen. Elowen Ramirez."

"Elowen," Stefan repeated. "That's… an interesting name."

Elowen snorted. "Yeah. I'm never going to find my name on one of those keychains at gift shops, that's for sure."

"I'm Stefan. Stefan Salvatore."

"Salvatore," Elowen mumbled. "That name sounds familiar." She frowned. "Salvatore boarding house? Is that-"

"It's owned by my uncle Zach."

"Oh. I didn't know Zach had a nephew. He's kind of a recluse."

Except, Elowen knew that the roles were reversed. Zach was the nephew, or at least the grandson, and that Stefan was much older than he presented himself to be. Why he was in high school, she had no idea.

They reached Tanner's class and Elowen gestured inside the room just as the bell rang.

"Well, here we are. Fair warning, Tanner's an ass."

Elowen walked ahead and took a seat towards the middle. She started taking out her notebook and pencil when Stefan walked in and took a seat next to her. She ignored him, even when she felt his gaze on her.

Elowen was intriguing to him. He knew that Elena Gilbert was adopted and that's what the connection between her and Katherine was, but he didn't know how Elowen fit into the equation. Not only did she look like Elena and Katherine, her last name was Ramirez. The last Ramirez he knew was back in 1864, and she was a witch. Making friends with witches last time proved to be useful, so maybe… befriending Elowen was something he should do.

Elowen learned that she also shared English, science and P.E with Stefan, and part of her wanted to be relieved that she was able to keep a close eye on him for most of the day, but another part of her was anxious that he might try something. He'd been kind of hovering over her, choosing to sit next to her in all three classroom setting classes, and even went as far as managing to snag her as his science lab partner. It made her slightly nervous, so she was glad that when P.E came along, she was able to catch a break. Of course, that didn't last long.

As she was exiting the girls' locker rooms, having finished showering off and changed back into her school clothes, she heard someone call out her name and when she turned, it was Stefan. P.E was her last class of the day, so she was sure that she would be able to give him the slip soon, but for the meantime, she had to humor him while she waited for Josiah. She gave him a smile.

"Stefan! Hey. How was your first day?"

Stefan smiled back at her and together, they walked back towards the school building.

"Fine, I guess. I mean, is there anything really exciting about first days? It's just teacher's all going over the syllabus that they all disregard within a week."

Elowen laughed. "I mean, you're not wrong."

Elowen had reached the main school double doors and stopped in front of them. Stefan looked over curiously.

"Are you waiting for someone?" He asked.

Elowen nodded. "Yeah, my little brother."

They waited for a couple of minutes before Josiah emerged from the double doors, parting ways with Jeremy Gilbert. Elowen tilted her head as she watched Jeremy head in the other direction. Josiah waved to him goodbye before turning towards Elowen and paused. His eyes flickered over to Stefan warily before slowly making his way over.

Elowen nodded over at Jeremy's retreating form.

"Since when are you and Jeremy Gilbert friends?"

Josiah looked over his shoulder, then back at Elowen.

"We're not, really. We're just paired together for an art project."

Elowen raised an eyebrow. "He's a freshman and he's in your advanced art class?"

Josiah shrugged. "I don't ask questions." He turned to Stefan. "And you are?"

Stefan held out a hand for Josiah to shake. "Stefan."

Josiah looked down at his hand, then back up at Stefan.

"Josiah."

Stefan cleared his throat awkwardly and withdrew his hand. He rubbed at the nape of his neck.

"So… do you guys take the bus, or…?"

"We walk home during the warmer months," Elowen explained. "Which is what we're going to do now. I'll see you to-"

"I'll just walk with you guys," Stefan cut her off with a smile. "Lead the way."

Elowen and Josiah shared a look, but Elowen pushed on a smile and started walking off towards her house. They walked mainly in silence, save for some basic small talk, before they arrived at Elowen and Josiah's house. Esmeralda was out on the front porch, tending to the flowers on the walkway, when she looked up and saw the three of them walking up the sidewalk. She saw Stefan and stood up carefully.

"Hello," she greeted, slightly cautious. "I'm their mother, Esmeralda."

Stefan, like he did with Josiah, offered her his hand. This time around, Esmeralda took it and gave it a shake. Her eyes caught sight of the ring on his finger and moved his hand around to examine it.

"Lapis lazuli," she mused, feeling Stefan's anxiety spike. "Interesting stone choice."

Stefan tried to laugh away his nervousness and nodded. "Yeah, it's a family heirloom. Didn't really have the opportunity to pick something else. I'm Stefan."

He quickly pulled his hand away and cleared his throat.

"Actually, I had a question. Do you know if you guys happened to have family here in 1864?"

Esmeralda bristled, her eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"How do you know that?"

Stefan opened his mouth and realized his mistake, so he tried to make up a quick excuse.

"Um, it's just, I had family here during that time and I remember that they used to know someone with the same last-"

Esmeralda, sensing his emotions, saw right through his lie.

"Kids, get behind me."

Elowen and Josiah looked at each other in alarm, but didn't move.

"Get. Behind. Me," Esmeralda repeated, more forcefully this time. Quickly, Elowen and Josiah did as they were told and Esmeralda protectively stood in front of them.

"Clearly, if you knew we had family here in 1864, you know what we are, and we know what you are, so we can cut the crap. Besides, the lapis lazuli gives you away."

Stefan held his hands up. "I don't mean you any harm. I didn't back then, and I don't now."

"Mom, I don't think he's the one," Elowen mumbled quietly. "He's the other one."

Stefan frowned. "What are you talking about? What other one?"

Elowen faced Stefan. "I'm assuming you know we're Elemental witches, right?"

At Stefan's nod, Elowen continued.

"My power is premonitions. I had one that told me there's a vampire in town killing people, but that there was another one who wasn't violent. You're the one that's not violent."

Stefan shook his head. "I don't eat people. Not anymore."

Elowen felt a jolt as a premonition came on.

Fog creeping down a hill, a crow soaring through the sky, a glimpse of blue eyes in the shadows.

"Damon," Elowen whispered under her breath, causing Stefan to snap his head in her direction.

"What did you just say?" He asked in disbelief.

Elowen, with her eyebrows furrowed, looked up at Stefan.

"Damon," she repeated. "Does that name mean something to you?"

A stoic look crossed Stefan's face.

"He's my brother."

"He's the one behind the attacks, isn't he?" Josiah asked nobody in particular, looking between Elowen, Stefan and Esmeralda.

Esmeralda slowly nodded. "Yeah, he is." She sighed, nodding towards the house. "Come on. We'll talk about this more inside."

Stefan tilted his head. "You're inviting me inside?"

Esmeralda raised an eyebrow. "Do you not want to be?"

"No! No, of course I do, it's just… I didn't think it would be that easy, with you guys being witches. Usually you guys hate people like me."

A small smile crept onto Esmeralda's face.

"Just take the win, Stefan. Come on."

Esmeralda grabbed Elowen and Josiah and led them up the walkway. They all glanced back at Stefan when he didn't move. He finally seemed to snap out of it and followed them up the porch, and then they all walked into the house.