We sit at the bar and I finally learn his name, Stefan, I'm slightly intrigued, as I lean closer to him, he drunkenly talks to me, chuckling over the loud music, and I listen intently to all his stories, all his killings, he's a dark man, with dark secrets, and I wonder if I was going to turn like him, become guarded, indifferent, although, I already was, I was void, but he was right maybe I hadn't officially turned it all the way off.
"Why did you turn it off?" I find myself asking, as I stare into his green eyes, it's the first time I see them harden tonight, as he stares at me intensely.
"Why did you?" He quips, raising a dark eyebrow in my direction.
I stare blank faced at him, as I relieve the oldest memory I have of my brother, playing the flute in the backyard of our parent's house, the sunlight dancing on us, making me feel warm, and safe, as I listen to my brother playing the flute, he was talented, he always loved music, it's such a shame , he died.
I feel myself being brought back to reality as he touches my arm, lightly.
"My brother died." I say blank faced, as I look up at him, and his smirk disappears, and I see an emotion that is unreadable to me, as he stares into my brown eyes, as if he's also reliving some memory, I let him, as I raise the beer to my lips.
He slowly snaps out of it, and I wonder if he has a brother too, if he ever had anyone he loved dearly? I wonder if his brother hurt him in someway.
"I'm Elena." I say suddenly, and he stares at me, as if he's not bothered by what I just said, making him relive somewhat painful memories.
He nods his head, as he turns away, and raises the beer to his lips again.
I feel somewhat awkward next to him, we both don't say much, and minutes pass, until I jump up at a song.
"Do you want to dance?" I ask, Stefan, and he stares at me, as if he's thinking of his answer, and I grab his hand, smirking at him.
"Stefan's chicken to dance." I tease, with a sassy head tilt, and he shakes his head at me, as he vamps speed from the stool onto the dance floor, taking me with him, and I laugh lightly, as I wrap my arms around his strong neck. He holds onto my waist, and for a second, I almost feel human, dancing with him, his green eyes staring at me intently as we sway to the soft jazz band. He twirls me once, and I'm glued to his strong chest, as he sways with me, humming melodically.
I bury my face into the crook of his neck, while his hand gently rubs my back, and I feel a little spark in my spine, as I stay in the crook of his neck, his touch sending shivers down my spine.
"Do you dance a lot?" I whisper, as I close my eyes.
He grunts in response, gently swaying with me.
"Not really." He admits, and I look up into his eyes again, he smirks lightly, as he smooths back my brown hair.
"I usually like to dance when it's louder, and more people are drunk, their easier to feed off of." He admits, as he shrugs his shoulders lightly, a sheepish grin on his handsome face.
"You feed in public?" I ask, amazed, and he chuckles lightly.
"Yeah, I'll show you sometime, but I hear the police coming so we better scat." He says, as he twirls me around one final time.
I'm laughing, but then he dips me, and I can't help but to stare into his green eyes, all concept of time is at a loss, and I don't want to move from this spot we're in, staring at each other, and I'm dying to know what he's thinking, if he's thinking at all, maybe he did this just to see my reaction, and why do I care anyway? I shake my head of these thoughts, as he urges me back up, his hands on my cheek, and suddenly we hear the cracking of the wooden door, and I stare at him, as he takes my hand in his, intertwining our fingers, we vamp speed out, laughing, into the dark night, as we watch the police break into the underground club.
"Do you live around here?" I ask, as we're still holding hands, and probably noticed because his face relaxes, and becomes the same broody expression I'm used to, as he lets go of my hand.
"Yeah, I have an apartment down the street." He says, as he eyes me, and I nod my head, not expanding on my reason for asking.
He notices my slight discomfort and smirks.
"You can spend the night, you know?" He wiggles his black eyebrows at me, and I roll my eyes, and shove him into the wall, playfully.
He chuckles.
"No I'm serious if you want to stay, you can." He says, as he looks at me, and I think it's the most genuine look I've ever seen him have since I've known him.
I think about my options, Jeremy is dead, he's not coming back, my parents are dead.
"I'll stay with you." I say, as I look at him, he nods his head.
"Excellent." He stares as he walks with me down the road, the wind bites my cheeks, it's cold, but I don't feel anything as we walk into the night together back to his apartment.
Stefan's apartment and small and quaint, there's a bookshelf filled with more journals that I could read, a dying fire lights the wooden floor to me, making the room brighter and warm, as I see he has a blue couch, and a wooden coffee table.
"So, your humanity's off but you keep a journal?" I ask him, as I sit on the blue couch, and he nods slightly, sitting next to me.
"Yeah, I like to write down things I do, so what?" He asks, turning to study me, his expression is tense, as if I hit a nerve.
"Okay, then." I say quickly, dismissing the subject.
His broody face softens as he looks into the dying fire, he mumbles something about getting more wood, and I watch him get up, as he shuffles out of the room, leaving me alone to my thoughts.
I sigh deep, as I stand up, looking around the room, he seems to have a lot of paintings, much art decks his walls, and in the corner I see a faint picture, a mother, sitting in a rocking chair, a chubby baby on her lap, and next to him, I see a boy, tall, dark hair, looking at the camera, while he holds the baby's hands, I smile softly, feeling a spark in my heart, as I pick up the picture, it's nothing in my hands, as I trace over the frame, suddenly it's being snatched from my hands.
"Don't touch that." Stefan says gruffly, as he lays it back on the mantle, and I look at him, putting my hand back to my side.
"What's your problem?" I spit out, walking towards him, and but he doesn't turn around.
"Nothing. I just don't want you touching my stuff." He says, as he turns back to face me, his face is stone, and I see he's changed out of his tux into lounging pants and a white wife beater, my brown eyes trace over his big arms, as he looks at me, crossing them.
"Okay." I say slowly, as I sit back on the blue couch, my legs crossed. It's an awkward silence but then Stefan turns to look at me.
"You want a blood bag?" He asks me, as his eyes rake over me, and then back to my face, I won't deny my heart beat pick up against my chest, as I nod my head, sitting quietly.
He stands up again, and I watch him open a wooden door, closing it, I hear his large feet against the creaking steps, as I look at the fire again, I see he didn't put the logs in, so I stand up and grab the wooden longs, throwing them in the fire, my eyes transfixed on the burning fire as I wonder why Stefan didn't want me to touch that picture? Why was it on the mantle if he didn't want anyone to see it? I decide I can't wait for him to come up so I go to the wooden door, opening it, it creaks open, as I see it's a room, filled with expensive wine and bourbon, but then I flick on the light, there lies a wall, pen marks scrawled on it, as I step closer, marveling at the blue wall in front of my face, I creep closer, eager to read what's on it, it's very dusty so I have to run my fingers over it, to remove the dust.
My breath hitches in my throat when I see there's names on there, the pen is faded as I look at the first name.
"Giuseppe Salvatore." I read out loud, as my fingers dance over the faded ink, Salvatore.. Stefan's last name..but what was this wall? What did it mean? Suddenly I feel someone behind me, and I whirl around, turning to see Stefan, he's standing there with a blood bag in his hands, he smirks at me.
"I see you found my wall." He says in a bored tone, as he hands me the blood bag, I take it from him, as I nod my head lightly.
"What is it?" I hear my quiet voice say, as he just stares at me intently, his green eyes harden slightly.
"Wall of people I killed." He says softly, and I watch as he turns away, ripping into the blood bag.
"Wow." I say but my voice doesn't reflect how I'm feeling inside, way deep down, where my humanity is trying to break through, I feel scared.
"Yeah." He says, and I watch as he takes in the blood, the spider veins coming out of his green eyes, and I watch as he relishes in the blood.
"When were you turned?" I ask, and he opens his eyes, looking at me.
"1864." He says, and I feel somewhat shocked as he answers, that means he's been roaming this earth for 56 years, and I'd only been a vampire for a month.
"I don't want to talk about me anymore." He says gruffly, as he sets the empty blood bag in his pocket, he exits the door, and I'm left, looking at the wall, as I try to take on this new information.
I follow him into the living room, blood bag in hand.
He sits by the fire and watch as his green eyes stare into it, and I sit next to him, smoothing down my dress, I'm not sure what to say because I don't know him that well, but I can sense that he's sad, and I don't know why I care so much and this point.
"So my mentor." I say with a dry chuckle as I turn to him, he looks at me, finally, tilting his head at my sudden change of movement.
"What are the in and outs of being a vampire? I figured you'd know since you're way older then me." I tease him, as I nudge him with my shoulder.
He loosens up a little, as he glances at me again, the same smirk on his face.
"Well, blood is amazing." He says, as he looks at me, and I nod my head, as I take a sip of the blood bag, it had my favorite blood type in it A positive.
"When you're a vampire everything is heightened, taste, touch, smell, sound.." He trails off as he looks at me, and I nod my head again, understanding what he means, sometimes I had problems with the sound part.
"Sometimes the sound becomes overwhelming." I whisper, as I throw as I stare into the fire, I can hear his light chuckle in my ears, his heartbeat seems steady.
"Yeah, the key is, is to focus on something, anything, even if it's just one sound, that should drown out the rest." He replies, and I nod my head, and as soon as I focus on his steady heartbeat the outside sounds disappear.