Chapter One
I spent the entire day with Stefan and the girl I soon came to know as Elena Gilbert. The two of them filled me in on everything, from Katherine not really being dead, to her return to Mystic Falls, to Klaus and Elijah's sudden interest in Elena, the doppelganger. That poor, human girl. At the end of the day, figuring that we'd been shooting the shit enough, I finally turned to Stefan.
"Stef, I need to find someone. Somebody who has the last name Bennett," I said urgently, feeling another pang in my chest coming and Stefan and Elena exchanged looks with each other. "I -" I began and ended in a sigh, rolling my eyes. "Okay, so. Let's talk, away from everybody else."
We ended up back at the Salvatore Boarding House and Stefan poured me a drink while Elena sat down beside me, ready to listen to my tales of woe and whatnot.
"I'm a shape-shifter. I... have a certain animal that I can turn in to at any given time, when I want, whenever I want." I looked around, making sure Elena and Stefan were both paying attention before continuing to speak. "Normally, shape-shifters have the same lifespan as a human and a Lycan - werewolf - but Emily Bennett put this... curse on me. Not really a curse, just a super extended lifespan and the only thing that can kill me is a silver bullet laced with wolfsbane. Granted, that probably won't ever happen, so I'm probably not gonna be dying any time soon - or, y'know, you can always rip my heart out but it's sort of hard to catch me off-guard. Anyway, when I was 10, she put this curse on me. I wouldn't turn 11 until 10 years were up, and then I wouldn't turn 12 until 11 years after that was up. And so on, and so forth, so here I am today, still looking really young with knowledge that even the oldest human alive today doesn't have. It sorta sucks, but hey, now I've got you, right?" I asked with a bright smile and took a sip of my wine while Elena and Stefan continued to stare and exchange looks.
"You're a shape-shifter," Stefan said, as if he needed to hear it from himself in order to understand it. I nodded my head slowly. "And... you can't die unless your heart is ripped out of your chest."
"Or if somebody shoots me with a silver bullet laced with wolfsbane," I added, and he put a hand up.
"Where have you even been all these years?" he asked, eyebrows looking especially furrowy and I shrugged my shoulders.
"Oh, y'know. Here and there, living off of the land. I spent a decade as my animal form once. Never doing that again, that was the most intense thing I've ever done. I can't even look at a rat without thinking awesome, dinner! and it's disgusting."
Damon burst into the house in another one of his drunken stupors. Yeah, it was about four in the afternoon. Sure, he had just spent three hours at the bar. Yeah. He had blood all over his face. Nope, he did not care one bit.
"Stefan! Stef - Stefa - Stefan," he called out as he made his way down to the basement to the cooler. He ripped open a packet of blood and sloppily drank his way through it before making his way up the stairs again and Stefan rushed to the top to help his brother up.
"Damon - what the fuck are you doing?" he asked, lifting his arm over his shoulder and heaving him to his feet. He reached up and wiped the blood away from Damon's face and Damon gave a lilting laugh, eyebrows raising as he attempted to regain his balance.
"Oh, y'know. I was - I was just thinking, that, eternity isn't so bad - y'know, when you have lots and lots of company, except I don't really have company, y'know? But, that's alright, cos I've got blood and I've got alcohol and that's all that I'll ever need..." Stefan rolled his eyes at Damon's drunk ramblings and set him on the couch before Elena got up and made sure he was okay. Stefan turned to Summer and shrugged his shoulders.
"And, Miss Monroe, I present to you, Damon Salvatore."
I looked at the dark, blood-covered thing laying on the couch with his mouth half open and I took a few steps closer, raising an eyebrow as I took a glance at his face.
"Uh huh, that's Damon," I confirmed and I gave the guy a little poke to the side before sitting down at the edge of the couch, nudging him. "Hey. Heeey, drunky," I called and he turned away from me, probably not realizing who I was.
"Le'me alone," he mumbled into a cushion and Elena and Stefan exchanged amused glances. I stood up and couldn't help the soft laugh that bubbled up past my lips, rolling my eyes.
"Yes, sir. Let's relocate so the big guy can get some rest," I suggested and Stefan brought me out back into the yard with Elena trailing behind us. "So, this Bennett witch - do you guys know her?" I asked, and Elena nodded her head.
"Yeah. Bonnie. She's one of my best friends," she said, tilting her head to the side and I raised an eyebrow.
"Well, it seems to me that all of this is really weird and déjà vu-like," I said, sitting down in the snow as I looked up at the flakes falling from the sky.
"What... what d'you mean?" Elena asked and I laughed again, looking up at her and patting the snow beside me for her to sit.
"I've seen pictures and I've read my father's journals. You look like Katherine. You have the Salvatore brothers, just like Katherine. You have a Bennett witch, just like Katherine. Now, you've got a Monroe shape-shifter to do the Bennett's dirty work... just like Katherine," I said, shrugging my shoulders. "It really can't be just... pure coincidence. I'm here for a reason." I kicked at the snow for a few minutes and then I laid down, comfortable in the below-0 weather. "I just have to figure out why I'm here."
Damon's eyes flickered open and he sat up slowly, dried blood caked around his mouth and on his clothes.
"It's fucking Prada," he mumbled to nobody but himself and he shed his clothes and went up to his room to change. Fucking. Prada. He set it to the side for the next laundry day, whatever century that was going to be in, and he pulled on some jeans, a white t-shirt and his leather jacket. "Stefan?" he called out, looking around the house in search for his brother. He drank some blood from the cooler to get rid of his pounding headache before his ears twitched, hearing laughter coming from the backyard. He finished up the blood, cleaned himself up and hurried out the back through the snow. "Stef," he said, reaching for his brother but he stopped when he saw Elena and a girl sitting together, talking.
"Damon," Stefan replied, looking at him curiously. "What's up?"
"I - Well, I was - at - I was at the bar, and there was - I'm sorry, I can't concentrate with two hot girls frolicking in the snow like that," he said, tilting his head to the side and Stefan turned around to see Summer and Elena doing... well, exactly that. Frolicking in the snow. The two brothers stood side by side, arms crossed over their chests as they observed and enjoyed before going back to business. "Okay, so I was at the bar which you probably already know and probably disapprove of, but it sucks for you, because I'm older and I never listen to you anyway. So, I was -"
"You were at the bar - go on, Damon," Stefan cut in, bored of his story already.
"Right, I was at the bar and there was this guy, this random dude that's been walking around and asking people if they knew Mason Lockwood," Damon said, raising an eyebrow. Of course, Mason Lockwood had long been dead. Damon's fault, his bad, oops. "Jules didn't say if there were other werewolves coming around to look for him. Who knows how many more there might be out there?" he asked, raising an eyebrow and Stefan nodded his head.
"Well, we'll talk to Rick tonight, alright?" The two of them nodded their heads in accordance and Damon looked back to Elena with the girl. For a second, Stefan thought that maybe he recognized her, but Damon turned to him and raised an eyebrow.
"If they track snow into the house, I'll kill 'em," he said before walking back through the doors, closing it behind him.
I threw the last snowball at Elena, happy to be around people at last and laughed before returning to the Salvatore house. Stefan was waiting and held up a finger to keep us from going inside.
"Damon said he'd kill you two if you tracked snow inside, and you should never take something like that so lightly when it comes out of Damon's mouth, so, shoes off," Stefan said, shrugging his shoulders and I raised an eyebrow, but didn't argue.
"What's Damon like these days?" I found myself asking, looking off down one of the hallways curiously and Stefan and Elena exchanged glances again.
"He's... kind of," Stefan started, then he made a face and looked to Elena for her to try to describe him.
"He's a little... he's..." Elena trailed off and they both drew blank faces and looked back to me.
"He's a dick?" I tried, eyebrows raising.
"...Yeeeah," they both said at the same time, looking back to me with scrunched up noses. "He's a pretty cruel guy," Stefan admitted with a bit of a shrug. "But... he's got good intentions, for the most part."
"Some of the part. Not really the most part," Elena corrected, and then Damon's face popped up around the corner.
"Really, guys? I'm right here." He walked towards me and I looked up at him. I knew that he'd be handsome - he was quite the looker for a 10 year old, really - and I smiled up at him.
"Ah, the second Salvatore," I said with a raise of an eyebrow and Damon winked at me.
"And to what do I owe the pleasure of having such beautiful company?" he asked as he took my hand and kissed the top of it. I took my arm back before giving him a little bit of a push. I walked around him and turned around as I continued backwards, shrugging my shoulders.
"I figured it was about time I visited my oldest friend ever. I mean, it's almost our birthday, y'know? We have to roll down that hill, lay down in the grass and stare at stuff for hours," I said, and the expression on his face was exactly what I was expecting. His lips parted as he made a motion to speak, but he couldn't form a proper sentence. He settled for silence and he looked at me a little more closely, eyebrows knitting together.
"...Summer?"
I gave Damon a small smile and a shrug of my shoulders while Stefan tugged Elena out of the lounge and up the stairs to give us some privacy.
"Hello, Damon," I said and he didn't react for a while. He just stared at me, looking for similarities and I did the same. Finally, when he was sure that it really was me, he let his guard down and he wrapped me up in a bone-breaking hug. I laughed and slid my arms around him, burying my face against his chest.
"Summer," he repeated with a soft laugh and he pulled away from me to look at me properly, pushing my hair away from my face. A smile stretched over his face and he took a couple steps back. He opened his mouth to speak but I beat him to it, shaking my head.
"I - it's a long story. I'm a shape-shifter, I was cursed with long life, yadda yadda, Stefan can fill you in on that stuff," I said and I sat down. Damon took a seat beside me and looked at me curiously.
"Why did you leave?" he asked after a few minutes of silence and I gave him another small smile, shrugging my shoulders.
"On our 10th birthday, I met Emily Bennett. You're familiar with Emily, right?" I asked and Damon grimaced, nodding his head. "I live longer than any normal human. I've been 20 for the past 9 years, Damon. And I'm gonna be 20 for the next 11," I said with a bit of a smile. "I mean, sure, it's nice. I'm the ultimate cougar. But I kinda missed you. When you were 20, I was just turning 11."
Damon pulled a face at that and he raised an eyebrow, looking out the window.
"...Well, that's a little... weird," he said, pursing his lips before standing up. "You could've came back."
"No, I couldn't have," I said, standing up with him. "Besides, it's not like you tried to look for me either!"
"Why would I? I thought you just completely left me! It was the worst birthday of my entire life, you think I didn't think about you after that? I thought about you every damn day -"
"Until Katherine came along?" I asked, raising an eyebrow and crossing my arms. "Yeah, don't worry. I know all about Katherine. My dad wrote about her to me while I was in Salem with my grandmother. And I've gotta say, how stupid do you have to be -"
I shouldn't have said that. Damon turned and grabbed my arm, throwing me against the wall and he pinned me, fangs dangerously close to my neck.
"You can't leave for a century and come back and just think everything'll be the same," he hissed and I wrenched myself out of his grip, turning into my animal form quickly. Damon lunged at me and I leapt out of the way before growling and hissing, slamming him against the wall.
Stefan and Elena heard several crashes sounding from the lounge and they hurried down the stairs to the study, finding Damon and a wildcat wrestling around on the ground. Damon was surprisingly losing. Stefan grabbed the bobcat and threw it to the side and went to pick Damon up, but Damon had already began to chase after the cat.
"Damon!" Stefan shouted sharply, chasing after him while Elena stood in the middle of the study, completely helpless.
Damon charged at the bobcat in a fit of rage, just running after it because he was so mad. Finally, he trapped the cat in a corner and tightened his hand around its throat. As Stefan came down the stairs to the basement, the bobcat began to transform into Summer.
Correction, the bobcat began to transform into Naked Summer.
I couldn't breathe. Damon's hand was cutting out any oxygen and I had no choice but to change back into a human in hopes that seeing me would bring him back to his senses. My form straightened out, though I was still lifted up off the ground by my neck and the tawny fur disappeared until al that was left was a long, flowing wave of auburn hair.
"D - Damon," I gasped out and Stefan finally pulled him off of me. I covered myself as I curled up in that corner, probably looking pathetic and Damon changed back to his normal self, leaning back against the wall as Stefan helped me to my feet, putting his shirt onto me. I coughed up blood and spat at Damon before making my way back up the stairs, feeling my ribs popping back into place. That was the weirdest feeling ever. "You're right," I decided once I could speak properly and Elena gasped, helping up the rest of the way and covering my bottom half with a blanket.
"About what?" she asked and I coughed again, tasting that coppery metallic blood again, spitting off to the side.
"He's a fucking dick, that's what." I pushed the two of them away and grabbed my clothes off of the floor, changing in the bathroom, too pissed off to be embarrassed. But I could hear Elena and Stefan's conversation.
"I think Damon's finally met his match," Elena said, an amused lift to her voice and I could hear Stefan's laugh.
"I don't know if this town can handle two Damons," he said, "but maybe he'll learn from his mistakes this time around."
"Learn from his mistakes?" Elena scoffed and I couldn't help but grin at that. Damon always sucked at learning from his mistakes. "Damon doesn't learn from his mistakes. He makes the world adapt to them."
Once Damon cooled off a little, I heard him going up the stairs from the basement and I walked down the stairs, basically meeting him once we both hit the main floor. He looked at me and gave me this look like he wanted to just... push me off a cliff while eating me alive. Yeah it was intense. I broke the eye contact and we walked away from each other.
"Oh, and Damon?" Stefan called out from the basement and I turned my head to see Damon freeze mid-step, turning himself to look down the stairs. "She probably has nowhere else to go, so... I'm offering our house as her house." I looked at Damon's reaction and smirked at him, shrugging my shoulders when he met my gaze.
"We'll be prancing around in the sunshine before you know it, D," I said, walking by him and patting him on the shoulder.
"I have never hated you more than I do at this very moment," he said dryly but hey, at least he didn't crush my throat, or anything.
