Chapter 2
Daniel
The house was dark when they arrived, save for the lone lantern that hung from the porches lintel where it had stood since 1835 when the house was built by Helena's father Thomas Fell, the year he married Honora, the year before their eldest child, Thomas Jnr was born.
Damon stopped the car just outside the house and looked over at Helena. She caught his eye and smiled. His baby blues were questioning her.
"I'm alright, Damon. It doesn't pain me as much as it might once have. Come on." She invited jumping out of her car and heading for the door. Damon followed with Caroline, Bonnie and Stefan. They watched as she and Bonnie crossed the threshold. Helena turned back to them. "Please, do come in." She smiled before dropping her keys into a glass dish on the hall table.
"Oh, and darling. Would you close the front door behind you." She called as she wandered through to the kitchen, just through the large double doors on the right hand side of the hallway. Damon nodded and pushed the door closed behind him before following the others down the hall. He saw Stefan gazing around him and the two brothers caught each other's eyes, with slight sad looks. Damon could tell they were both remembering the happier times within the house on the next estate, known as Veritas.
Helena was busy at the stove when the others walked in. She flitted around the kitchen and inhuman speed. "I hope you're hungry, I took the liberty of preparing supper before I left." Damon smiled and caught her eye. She blushed.
"Yes, I'm cooking, Damon. Is that really so surprising?" She asked in a light voice.
"It is when I remember you having a cook- Mrs MacHardy, wasn't it? Buxom woman, Scottish?" Damon asked from the doorway in which he was leaning against the jamb.
"Yes, lovely lady. Died of consumption in 1870, she was 75 you know. But she taught me to cook- all those picnics we shared, Damon, I made every element of them by myself under her tutorage." Damon smiled, impressed and Helena caught his eye and blushed some more. Then the front door could be heard opening and Helena stiffened. Damon moved towards her and placed his hand on her shoulder. Before she disappeared from his grasp leaving he stood holding a wooden spatula, a steaming wok on the stove.
There were voice speaking in the hall and Caroline tried to listen but could hear anything save a light buzzing. Then Helena returned, her arm around a young man's shoulder. She sat him down and only then did Caroline noticed the boy was bleeding.
"Honestly, when will you learn not to mess with Hunters?" Helena scolded the boy as she pulled a splinter of wood from the boys chest, followed by another and another, all of which she dropped into a dish on the counter top by the sink. "Damon, stir. Or it will stick." Damon was staring at her and the boy before he leapt to action and followed her words, still glancing every few seconds to the boy.
"He started it..." The boy began to argue.
"I do not want to hear it, young man. When will you learn not to date daughters of hunters? Honestly have I taught you nothing? There. All gone. Go get yourself cleaned up, we have guests and dinner will be served shortly." Helena instructed and the boy, who appeared no older than sixteen stood up and slouched off towards the hall and the stairs. Helena sighed and placed her hand to her forehead with a sigh.
"Who was that?" Stefan asked as Helena passed him on her way to the wine rack on the wall behind him. Helena paused, placed the bottle she had in her hand on the worktop and sighed.
"My son." The room fell silent, save for the electric whirring of the refrigerator in the corner and the sizzling of the meal cooking in the wok, Damon was stirring.
A short time later Helena and her companions moved into the dining room whilst Helena brought through the plates, of mushroom risotto, placing one in front of each of her guests. Caroline sat beside Stefan with Bonnie opposite next to an empty chair presumably for Helena's son, with both Helena and Damon sat at either end of the large walnut dining table, which had stood in the room since the 1840s when it had been bought. The boy, Helena's son, joined them just as they were sitting down. Helena smiled and walked towards him in the doorway.
"Daniel, this is Caroline Forbes and Bonnie Bennett, Stefan Salvatore and... Your father, Damon Salvatore." There was a stunned silence. "This is my son, Daniel Giuseppe Salvatore." Damon turned and met the blue eyes of the boy, and in them he could see himself, then his eyes met Helena's and they stared at one another for what seemed like an eternity.