AN: So I know I said that I wouldn't update until next Monday, but I was bored and felt like writing today…thus, this chapter was born. Updates should become regular after this one. Enjoy!
Chapter Two
I was running through the forest again, but this time I immediately knew that I was running from Stefan. The trees were flying by me and the twigs caused my bare feet to cut and bleed, leaving trails of blood behind me on the grass. I still didn't know why I was running from him; I just knew that I had to.
I saw a playground ahead and ran for it, the woodchips piercing my delicate skin. The world around me was spinning as I sat myself down, cringing as I pulled the sharp objects out of my feet. I felt quietness surround me and I knew that he was close, waiting for me to make another move.
As I looked down at my tattered dress, something dark caught my attention. Don't look Elena. Don't look. Despite my advice to myself, I looked down and screamed, immediately feeling bile rise in my throat. Bonnie was lying there, still, with her throat torn open and her own blood spilled around her like a ravine.
The tears slipped down my face as I looked at my best friend, lying there, never to see the world again. Her dead eyes were wide open and staring at me.
"Why are you doing this?" I called out, wanting it all to be over. I couldn't take this torture anymore.
Stefan was right behind me, his arms around my shoulders. "Why am I doing this? Because you're mine. One day you'll see that."
I felt my skin tear as he bit into me, and the only thing my eyes could see was darkness.
For the second night in a row, I woke up, sweat pooled around me, and cried for the rest of the night.
Bonnie didn't come the next day; that was fine with me. I wasn't going to school, anyway.
I knew that I was being a wimp as I went downstairs and poured myself a glass of ice water, but I didn't care; I was exhausted from not sleeping for two nights and I needed a day off.
Aunt Jenna walked down the stairs, looking surprised to see. "Elena? What are you doing up so early?"
I shrugged. "I couldn't sleep. And, by the way, I'm not going to school today."
She shrugged this time. "Fine. Just as long as you realize that today could change the rest of your life. You could ruin it by being lazy and staying home…but, then again, what do I know? I'm just an old lady."
"Not much, apparently," I snapped as I stormed past her, almost crawling up the stairs from lack of strength. I flopped onto my bed, tired and terrified and cranky, and pulled out my latest magazine.
"Five tricks in bed that will drive him wild," I read out loud. I shut the magazine shut and threw it across the room, because I had already used them all, anyway. It wouldn't be a lie if you said that I'd had a fair amount of experience in bed.
I went over to my computer, but there was nothing to look up. I took out my iPod, but there was nothing that I wanted to listen to. I picked out a couple of good books from my bookshelf, but I didn't feel like reading something that I had already read.
"How depressing," I muttered to myself, after cleaning my room and rearranging everything. I had to admit, though, that I felt a lot better after about an hour had passed. I needed to rationalize my fears so that I could overcome them, I decided.
I lumbered down to the kitchen and found Aunt Jenna paying bills. This was perfect, because she hated paying bills and would use anything as an excuse to get out of it.
"Aunt Jenna? Can I talk to you for a minute?"
She looked up, obviously relieved to see me. "Anything to get me out of doing this bills."
I sat down next to her, picking up cupcake.
"Did you bake these?" I asked her; shocked that something could have actually turned out right.
She scowled. "No. I bought them yesterday."
I snorted and bit into it, pleasantly surprised to find that it had cream in the middle.
"So, what do you want?"
The cupcake was so good that I had almost forgotten my dilemma. "Right. So, why do people have nightmares?"
Way to be blunt, Elena.
Aunt Jenna's never surprised by anything, no matter what you tell her. "Nightmares are caused by a deep physiological disturbance. In order to get them to stop, you have to find out what's bothering you, first."
How am I supposed to do that? "So, how do you find out what's bothering you?"
She shrugged. "You confront the source."
Oh, God. I can think of a couple things that I'd rather do than that. I couldn't make her too suspicious, so I dropped the subject.
"Okay. Thanks, Aunt Jenna. I think I'll go to the library."
Despite me being popular, I have an inner book nerd. Reading calmed me down whenever I was in a mood; and today, I was definitely in a mood.
"Why don't you take Jeremy with you? He should get his lazy ass out of the house for once."
I frowned. "Jeremy's home?"
She rolled her eyes. "I can't even remember the last time he actually went to school. The teachers kicked him out sometime last year for being caught stoned for the third time."
"Wait…so he doesn't even go to school? Isn't that illegal?"
She shrugged. "I tell the authorities that I home school him. What they don't know won't hurt them."
This is why I love my aunt so much.
"I'll go get him."
"Good luck with that."
Words of encouragement are always helpful, I reminded myself so I wouldn't snap something that I would regret later.
The stairs were seeming like a less and less happy place to be as I went back up them, taking my own sweet time.
I knocked on his door, wanting to hurry up and get this over with; his room had mold growing in it and burgers that must have been over a month old.
"Jeremy! Open the damned door! I know you're in there!"
The door abruptly opened, causing me to fall into him. He sighed; sounding annoyed as he caught me and stood me up straight, not looking particularly happy to see me. "What the fuck do you want, Elena?"
Jeremy swore all the time. It ran in the family, I think.
"I'm going to the library. Please come with me."
"No, I don't think so." He shut the door in my face as I stood there, not shocked in the least.
"Why didn't you tell me you're being homeschooled?" I shouted through his door.
"Because I'm not!"
I took in a deep breath and composed myself. "You do realize that that's illegal, right?"
"Yeah."
"And you're doing it anyway?"
"Yeah."
I obviously wasn't going to get anything out of him.
"Well, bye, then."
"Whatever. Let me know when dinner's ready, will you?"
I pity the girl that has to marry this pig. "Yeah, whatever."
I stalked down the stairs. I think I'll camp out on the couch to avoid going back up them again, I contemplated to myself.
"Bye, Aunt Jenna."
"Mmm." She was eating another one of those awesome cupcakes. Not that I can blame her, because they were amazing.
I shook my head and ran across the lawn, getting a little bit of energy back in me. I whistled the last stupid pop song on the radio to myself, ignoring the looks I was getting from people around me. Once bitch had the nerve to mutter, "tone deaf" loud enough that I'd be able to hear.
Even though I had regained a bit of energy, I still didn't have enough to turn around and ask her exactly what she meant by that. It was her lucky day.
I stopped into the coffee store, needing an extra boost. Our coffee store was…quaint. That was the only good word I had for it. It was hideous: tiny, shabby and old. The shutters were hanging out of their hinges and the roof had holes in it, so the store flooded every time it rained.
I waited out the short line and looked at a shorthaired girl across the counter who was glaring at me, obviously jealous. I was too tired to deal with this right now.
"One espresso, please, " I asked her politely.
"Shouldn't you be in school?" she rudely asked me. What was with all of these people being rude to me?
"Shouldn't you be getting me my coffee?"
She sneered at me unattractively as she poured my hot coffee into a cup, conveniently forgetting to tell me that the cup was piping hot.
I shoved the money into her dry and cracked hands. "You're so fucking lucky that we're not at McDonald's right now."
She didn't respond; maybe she was wiser than I had thought. As I walked out of the store and sipped my coffee, I began to feel more and more alive again. I had read in a magazine that it was important to read caffeine in the span of one hour instead of gulping it all down; if you don't, all you're getting yourself is a sugar rush and a really bad headache, followed by passing out from exhaustion.
The walk to the library was long and uneventful, besides jay walking and angry dogs barking at me.
My face hardened as I stepped through the threshold of the library, preparing myself to find out more than I ever wanted to know.
I walked up to the front desk, staring at the large polish lady typing away on her computer. "Excuse me?"
She looked up for about half as second before she returned her fingers back to her chocolate bar. What I wouldn't do for one of those right now…
"What?"
She snapped her fingers in my face and I realized that I had been staring at her candy bar. "What? Oh, sorry."
"Don't apologize, girl. Just tell me what you want."
Deep breathes. "Where can I find information on people whose names start with 'S'?"
Fortunately, she didn't care enough to be suspicious of me. "The very back of the library, where that long line of tables is lined up."
"Thanks." Not.
I kept my head down as people stared at me, Elena Gilbert, making her way to the back of the library where geeks came after school to do their homework. It didn't add up; that much I knew. The people would have questions that I wouldn't know how to answer.
There was a huge line of brown tables, just as the lady had said, lined up against the back wall of the library. Finding Stefan fairly quickly, I pulled out his file and sat down at a table, ready to confront my fears.
All of the sudden, just as I was starting to open the folder, someone was sitting in the chair besides me.
"Hello, Elena. I hope I didn't frighten you."
My shriek caused several heads to turn towards us, and I glared at Stefan Salvatore as he lounged in the chair across from me, perfectly at ease.
"You scared me!" What is wrong with you, Elena? Didn't he just say he hoped he hadn't done that?
"I apologize."
I sighed, my tense shoulders starting to relax. "Yeah, that's okay. What're you doing here?"
"What are you doing here?"
I wasn't an idiot. I knew a person that didn't want to answer a question when I saw one. Best to play along.
"Touché."
We sat in silence, neither one of us answering the question that was still lingering in the air; it was awkward. This time, I had no flashbacks of the nightmares I'd been having; I just didn't like the way he intimidated me.
It was my job to intimidate people.
"So…what's in that folder?"
Oh, no. He couldn't know… "Oh, it's nothing." Insert nervous, cheesy and totally fake sounding laugh here. I am so screwed.
"Really? Because it looks like something to me."
"Well, it isn't." I realized I sounded like a complete bitch because I had snapped that at him…I wasn't fun to be around when I got defensive.
"Okay. I didn't mean to be nosy."
We sat in silence again, my fingers tapping against the table and Stefan crossing his legs and staring out the window.
"You're really beautiful, you know."
God, no. "Yeah, I know."
He smirked and I was this close to smacking him.
"Look, I've got to go, Stefan."
He stood up and pulled out my chair for me as I got up from my chair, just like a gentleman. "Thanks."
"Certainly. It was very nice to see you, Elena."
"Yeah. Maybe I'll see you around sometime."
"I'll look forward to that."
I wonder if he noticed me shoving the folder in my pocket as I walked away briskly, determined to get away from him.
"Wow, is it "ditching day" or something?"
DAMN IT. "Caroline! What are you doing here?"
She shrugged, not even bothering to smile. "Did I not just say I was ditching school? I thought you were sick."
Want to play the bitch game? "Well, I'm obviously not. I ran into Stefan, though. How're things going with you and…are you even still with Mike?" I pretended to grimace. "I've heard some rumors…"
Her eyes widened for about half a second. "What kind of rumors?"
"You know…him…hanging out with other girls. And we all know what "hanging out" means, right?"
She scowled. "Well, you would, wouldn't you?"
"I'm pretty sure you would, too. I hope to see you around, Caroline."
She scoffed. "No, you don't."
"I know."
I stalked past her as she grumbled, walking in her high heels over to the romance novels that bordered on porn. Minors should not be allowed to check that out; technically, Caroline and I weren't minors, anyway.
Am I the only person that hates moot points?
As I walked out of the library, I saw the crow again. This time, I strangely felt at peace with it instead of the usual intense hatred I felt towards the bird.
"Hi, Crow," I stupidly said to it, approaching it less cautiously than I should have.
It barked back at me, sounding angry; it flapped its wings like it was threatening to fly away.
"Don't be like that," I muttered as I walked past it, wondering what I should do next. Eventually, I decided to just go home and get some more sleep.
After all: sleep was the most common thing you could find a teenager doing.
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When I woke up I felt refreshed.
It was a nice feeling, as I walked down to the dinner table to help eat the left over pizza. The stairs that had seemed almost as bad as my nightmares this morning now weren't nearly as hideous. There had been no nightmares. Instead, I saw a man's back, and he was walking away from me. He had black hair, stood at a fairly tall height, and wore all black. I was calling out to him not to leave me, to stay with me.
I couldn't understand myself clearly enough to make out the name I was saying, but it started with a D.
"Up so early, Elena?" Aunt Jenna asked me after handing me two pieces of plain cheese.
I shoved the food in my mouth, not caring about manners. "Sorry, Aunt Jenna. I was tired."
She shrugged. "What do I care? Now I have two kids that stay home all the time."
My mouth dropped open, food spilling out of it. "What?"
She smiled cheerfully. "Well, I called the school and informed them that I decided to home school you instead. Ms. Summers didn't give a fuck—surprise, surprise."
"Why the hell would you do that?"
She rolled her eyes. "Don't be such a drama queen, Elena. I took you out of school because I saw how miserable you were there. That kid—Stefan—was scaring the crap out of you and I don't want you anywhere near him."
I was all but hyperventilating from all the thoughts that were running through my head: What about Bonnie? What about defeating Caroline at everything? What about Stefan?
I had to admit, as that last thought came to my brain, I was a bit relieved that I wouldn't have to see him again.
"Aunt Jenna, that is the stupidest and nicest thing anyone has ever done for me."
She punched my shoulder. "Don't mention it, kid. Now, you'd better go and call Bonnie and explain to her why you've dropped off the face of the earth all the sudden."
Damn it. This could be difficult.
I took another piece of pizza on the go with me as I walked to the kitchen, where the phone was, and dialed her number.
"Hello?" She must've been expecting me. Her and her stupid "physic visions".
"Bonnie!"
She laughed. "Damn. What the hell are you eating?"
She must have been in a really good mood; she only swore when she was happy.
"A piece of pizza. Why? Do I sound like I'm gurgling?"
"Yeah, pretty much. Where were you at school today?"
Here it goes. "Okay. I have a bit of a crazy story for you…"
"When don't you?"
I suppose that was a valid point. "No, this is…insane. You ready?"
"Yeah. I'm even sitting down."
Deep breathes. "Okay…Aunt Jenna called the school—without my permission, might I add—and told them that she's going to home school me. Except, she's not actually going to teach me anything. She saw how much Stefan was bothering me."
The other end was silent for a long time. "You're…leaving?"
"No, Bonnie! I'll still see you every day! Just not during school hours."
Just as I had feared, her tone turned venomous. "Well, Elena, I hope you have fun sitting around doing nothing all day. And good luck finding a new best friend, bitch. I'm done."
She hung up the phone and I stood there in shock. What the hell? How could someone make up their mind over something like that so fast?
I couldn't do anything; I couldn't react to that, at least. I found myself walking back into the living room in a zombie-like state.
"Elena? What's wrong?"
My voice was quiet and broken sounding as I spoke. "Bonnie hates me. She doesn't want to be my friend anymore."
Jeremy obviously didn't care while Aunt Jenna got a furious look on her face. She started shouting about how ungrateful Bonnie was to have a friend like me and threw her pizza at the wall, the sauce oozing down like blood from a dead person's corpse.
Normally, I would've found her antics amusing. Not tonight.
I walked up the stairs and into my bedroom, barely realizing what I was doing as I shut the door and locked it. All of the sudden, I was cuddled up in a ball in the middle of my bed, desperately clinging onto the sheets on my bed for support, and bawling my eyes out until there were no more tears for me to cry.
My best friend…my only real friend…was gone.
I sat up most of the night feeling depressed. Eventually, it kicked in that I would never have to go to school again and unwillingly felt myself smile. Who needed Bonnie, anyway? I had Aunt Jenna.
I went to sleep feeling tired and confused, torn on whether to feel heartbroken or not. I guess I must've picked not, because when I woke up the next morning, I had never felt better in my life. Well, I had a headache from crying for hours, but what can you do? Coffee can fix that.
No more school, no more Stefan, no more stress. Life was good.
"Good morning, Aunt Jenna," I said cheerfully as I ran down the stairs for some coffee.
"Um, hi." She looked confused.
"Why do you look confused?"
"Well…your best friend dumped you last night and you were crying your eyes out almost all night long. And now you're cheerful and happy. What gives?"
I shrugged. "I got over her."
"You…got over her."
"Yes," I said patiently, bumping her out of the way so I could reach the coffee.
"Something's up."
I rolled my eyes. "Nothing is up. I'm just excited that I'll never have to go to school again."
"What about college?"
Damn you, Aunt Jenna. "Well, maybe I'll go then. I have better things to do, you know."
Cup of coffee in hand, I walked past her and up into the living room.
"Ouch!" I heard Aunt Jenna yell. I walked back into the room to find her cradling a bloody hand, with a knife on the floor.
"What did you do?" There was blood all over the floor and on the counter, and not to mention gushing from her cut; it was no plain old paper cut.
"I don't know! One second I was cutting up an apple and then…"
I looked over at the apple and saw that it was a dark red…on the inside.
"Ewe. Now, come on, get your hand under some water."
All of the sudden, I heard an earth shattering thud, followed by two men yelling at each other. They were speaking so quickly that I couldn't even understand what they were saying.
"What the hell?" I walked towards the front door and opened it somewhat timidly. The only thing missing out of place was a bush in front of the kitchen; there were no men in our front lawn.
"Maybe I heard them from another house," I muttered to myself. A quick glance around the neighborhood showed no signs of anyone fighting, so I shut the door, feeling a little bit uneasy.
"What happened?" Jeremy asked from where he was sitting on the couch.
"I don't know."
I helped Aunt Jenna clean up her cut and watched old re-runs of Friends with Jeremy for the rest of the day. I never heard from Bonnie, which was fine with me; I didn't need her anymore.
When the last episode ended, I sighed. "What do we do, now?"
He twiddled his thumbs nervously. "Uh, I'm going back up to my room. Leave me alone unless there's food or the house is on fire."
I glared at him, annoyed and disturbed. "Is that code for I'm going to go get stoned and I don't want you to find out?"
"Fuck you, Elena!"
I rolled my eyes as he sprinted up the stairs. Aunt Jenna came in the room, looking sad. "I wonder when his last fix was. Three hours ago?"
I laughed humorlessly. "Probably less. I need to get out of the house."
She tried to look stern for about ten seconds. "If anyone asks, you're homeschooled and you're running an errand for me."
"Of course I am."
I walked out the door, having no clue as to what I was supposed to do. Library? No, I went there yesterday and saw Stefan. Definitely not. I was still kind of hopped up on coffee, so Starbuck's was out of the question—and it was, like, thirty miles away, anyway.
Suddenly, I got the idea to go to the graveyard where my parents were buried. I don't know where it came from, but it felt like a really good idea. In some ways, I was right; in some ways, I was wrong.
Whistling a song to myself, I reached the cemetery in almost no time at all.
"Wow. I guess I can walk faster than I thought." I'm not even sure why I said that out loud; I think deep, deep down, I already knew that something was up.
I sat against my parent's big headstone, pulling out my cell phone: no new messages.
"Bitch," I muttered under my breath. She didn't know what she was missing out on.
All of the sudden, I felt a spark and yelped as my cell phone went dead. I punched at all the buttons, bewildered, but nothing happened.
"Dead battery?" No, I had charged it this morning, and it was starting to creep me out that I kept on talking to myself. I looked around, just in case, making sure that there was no one there.
"Weird." Shut up, Elena!
A thick fog began to form out of nowhere, pooling around my knees. It was cold, like ice. I looked up to see that the sun was still shining bright in the sky, taunting me as the mass of fog kept on growing. I stood up and glared at the crow as it sat on the headstone across from me.
"Surprise, surprise; you're here! Maybe we should just go out on a date and make it official."
"I would like that very much." I screeched as the crow disappeared and a voice spoke behind me, sending cold chills up my neck. I turned around and saw a flash of black hair and fair skin, and then…nothing.
Trembling, I picked up my dead cell phone and ran as fast as my weak legs would carry me, anxious to get away from the psycho that was obviously after me.
The wall—well, run, actually—home at never seemed longer than it did as I broke out into a cold sweat, shivering and feeling like the man was still behind me and blowing cool air on the back. I felt relief when I landed and collapsed on the doorstep, too tired to move any further.
I closed my eyes and tried to forget what had just happened, but it was impossible; it was forever imprinted into my brain.
Aunt Jenna eventually came out and saw me all curled up in front of the door, shaking like it was twenty degrees outside, despite the fact that it was summer.
"What happened to you?"
"Nothing." If I told her what had been going on lately, she would think that I'm insane.
"It doesn't look like nothing."
"Well, it is," I snapped, finding strength to stand up and walk inside, only to collapse again on the couch.
"Maybe you've got heatstroke."
"I said I'm fine, Aunt Jenna!" I didn't mean to yell, but I was on the verge of hysteria and she was standing there, talking about me having heat stroke. "Would you please just leave me alone?"
She shrugged, looking miffed. "Fine."
I crawled back up the stairs sometime later that night, ignoring her when she told me dinner was ready. I climbed into bed and sat there, knowing that there was no chance of me falling asleep. When I closed my eyes, the only thing I could picture was the quick glance I'd gotten at that man.
Insomnia took over for the next three nights. I would fall asleep for about five minutes before waking up screaming and crying, and Aunt Jenna would have to drag me to the bathroom and splash cold water on my face to convince me that I wasn't dreaming anymore.
These late night habits only reminded me of one thing: Stefan. I remembered Aunt Jenna's words took over in my brain: You need to confront your fears to get over them.
Could I really face Stefan? Did I have the courage? What if he really was a psycho? Even with all of these possibilities, I knew that I had already decided what was going to happen.
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Which is exactly why I found myself standing outside the oldest house in Mystic Falls, Virginia: the boarding house. Otherwise known as Stefan Salvatore's house.
How did I know this, you might ask? First, there's one thing you need to know about Mystic Falls: there are no secrets. Try to keep one and you'll only fail epically. And I found out, by the way, because that backstabbing bitch some of you call 'Bonnie' told me.
Just ring the fucking doorbell, Elena. With a deep breath, I complied and, as soon as I did, panic started to set in; I squealed and started running down the lawn before the door swung open and Stefan stepped out.
"Elena?" Why did his voice sound friendly and not creepy? Is that what serial killers' voices really sound like?
I slowly turned around as he started walking towards me, a confused and timid smile on his face. "Um…hi, Stefan." Oh, my God. I can't believe I was actually blushing.
"It's nice to see you. Can I help you with something?"
"No… yes. May I come in?"
He stepped back and held the door open for me. "Of course."
"Thanks," I muttered as I walked passed him and into the hallway. In front of me was the most beautiful house I had ever seen: it was magnificent, grand, and…well, you get the picture. It was an awesome crib.
"Nice place."
He chuckled. "Thank you. My family has lived in it for centuries."
"Do you live alone?" I couldn't imagine a seventeen-year-old boy living all by himself in this huge of a place. Then again, he was Stefan Salvatore.
He seemed to struggle for a minute. "Not exactly. Please, sit down."
I cautiously sat down on the couch, trying to surreptitiously check it for booby traps without looking suspicious. He looked at me strangely before sitting down in his chair across from me.
"I didn't see you at school today." Oddly enough, I didn't really feel uncomfortable at all around him…just awkward.
"Yeah, I'm being homeschooled now."
He smiled, even though it looked a little pained. "That's cool. Is it fun?"
Despite myself, I could feel my lips turning up into a smile. "Can you keep a secret?"
He laughed under his breath for a minute before composing his face. "Yes. I swear not to tell anyone."
For some reason, I believed him. "Okay, so I live with my Aunt Jenna and brother Jeremy. Aunt Jenna is the coolest parent on earth and noticed that I was getting really stressed out about…stuff. Anyway, she took me out of school, but she's not actually teaching me anything."
He seemed to debate with himself for a minute before speaking again. "What a coincidence; it just so happens that I dropped out of school today, too."
"No."
He grinned. "Yes. School isn't really my thing."
"Join the club."
His face looked determined. "So, what is it that I can help you with?"
As strange as it was, I felt kind of comfortable with Stefan. Not in a romantic way…ewe, that's gross to even think about; more in the way that he was like my older brother and would protect me from any harm.
"It was nothing."
He shrugged. "Okay. Would you like to hang around?"
I noticed something strange about him, then: he was staring at my throat.
"Is there a reason you're staring at my throat?"
His eyes were wild and animalistic for about half a second before looking sad and ancient, like they usually did. "No. Sorry."
"That's okay. Look; I should probably get going…."
"Right. Wouldn't want to interfere with your busy schedule." Is it just me, or did he sound kind of bitter when he said that?
"Right… well, maybe I'll see you around."
He smiled. "I hope so. Goodbye, Elena."
I waved as I walked down the lawn and back home; still feeling like something was off. Now that I knew Stefan was safe, it made me feel like there was a whole new mystery to unravel.
When it came time for dinner, we all sat around the table and talked about our day.
"Jeremy? Did you do anything productive?" Aunt Jenna asked.
He shrugged. "No. Not really."
She rolled her eyes. "And Elena?"
I shrugged, just as Jeremy had. "I had several panic attacks, a weird conversation with a guy that I used to be afraid of—I'm not anymore—and went to see Mom and Dad."
Of course she didn't look phased…she was Aunt Jenna, after all. "Cool."
"And you?"
She smiled, getting a little twinkle in her eyes. "I have a date."
My jaw dropped. "No. With who?"
She was all but hopping up and down in her chair while Jeremy sighed dramatically and exited the room, taking his food with him. "Well, I don't actually know his name yet. I found him on a dating site."
"Oh, God. Not again! Remember what happened last time?" The last time she had gone on a dating sight, she ended up with a gay foreign guy that couldn't speak English.
"Yeah, yeah. It's all in the past. And who knows; maybe he's the one!"
"Sure, sure." I finished my food quickly and exited the table, feeling uncharacteristically grumpy about the topic of dating.
"What about you?"
I snorted. "Hell, no. I'm not going on one of those sights. Aren't you the one that's supposed to tell me not to go on sites like that?"
"Eh. We're a dysfunctional family; why bother trying to fix things?"
"That's the spirit."
Once I was in my pajamas and ready to go to bed, I cautiously closed my eyes and saw nothing but black.
Once the nightmares started, though, I saw many different things.
There was a man wearing all black and a girl standing next to him. She was soaked with blood and he had his face to her neck, looking like he was whispering something in her ear. The blood was trickling everywhere and she was whimpering, barely conscious from the blood loss.
The nightmare went on like that for about ten minutes; it was so simple, and yet so disturbing.
I knew what I had to do when I woke up with tears streaming down my face. I shoved my feet into my tennis shoes, clambered down the stairs and stalked out the door, walking like I was in a trance. I was focused, on a mission.
I was going to find out why this was happening.
When I reached the cemetery, I sat down against the headstone and tried to ignore the mind-numbing terror that was beginning to form. All too soon, the fog was all around me, all but suffocating me as I struggled to stand up. This time, though, there was no crow.
"Who are you?" I shouted. "Why are you doing this to me?"
Everything stopped for a second, and then I went still went I sensed something behind me.
"My name is Damon Salvatore."
I did my best not to scream as a slowly turned around, expecting to see some ugly old man with a mangled corpse in his hand. Oh, was I wrong.
When I turned around fully and opened my eyes, I saw the most gorgeous boy in the world standing right in front of me, looking completely at ease. Damon Salvatore.
AN: Who else would like to have Aunt Jenna for a legal guardian? Now that we've met our favorite sexy vampire, we can get this show on the road! New update Monday. Leave me a review if you want Damon to scare the hell out of you (come on: you know you want him to).
Love, Evie
