-Two-
Over the next week, it's all been the same. Ruin a perfectly good dream to wake up with Stefan, get ready for school, go through town after school seeing Nik in my reflection on windows and mirrors, come home, sing while drawing Nik in a sketch book I keep in my desk, and go to sleep to find him sitting in the same place I left him in my dreams. I didn't mind the constant repeating, it was the teasing his touch gave me. Each morning I knew I'd wake up rested and happy until I looked around for him only to discover yet again he was gone. Did this make me crazy? I'm seeing a man that isn't even real and I liked it.
Tomorrow is the decade dance. 1920's. One of my favorite time periods. All the girls are dressing as flappers and the guys are dressing as mobsters. Elena is making Damon go and Stefan already asked Caroline. Care and I are pushing Jeremy to ask Bonnie. Matt already asked the new cheerleader Rebekah. I couldn't wait.
"What are you looking for?"Nik asks, sitting on my window seat as I look through my desk. For my sketch book. It was gone. I look at him and open my mouth to answer him when I notice he's holding something. He opens it and there is a rough drawing of him. He had my sketch book. I rush toward him to take it, but he was too fast. He steps up to me all too quickly, holding the open book between us, and smiles.
"It's very flattering,darling."He says softly, flipping to another page. There was a sketch I adored. My own twist on Al Capone and Virginia Hill holding each other in the streets of Chicago with a Thompson submachine gun behind Virginia's back. He looks me over, as if imagining me inside the drawing, and smirks. Before I knew it, my stereo was on playing Frank Sinatra, my sketch book was lying on my bed and Nik was holding me close. He smirks and slowly leads me into a dance around my room. The dance was cut all too short once a knock pounded at my door. I turn and see Elena and Caroline standing in my door way. The absence of Nik made my smile slip, but it was inevitable.
"Practicing?"Caroline laughs softly, taking my hand and dancing with me. I laugh and dance with her as Elena hangs my dress on my closet door.
"Oh no no. This is how you do it."Damon chuckles, stepping in and twirling me quickly. He teaches me how to dance what apparently was a signature thing for that era, eyes daring me to laugh at this sincere moment. I didn't. But Stefan did. That ruined that dance too. Damon ran all too quickly, almost inhumanly fast like my attacker had, to grab Stefan and hit him as punishment.
"Who are you going with?"Caroline pries, shutting off my stereo and sitting on my bed. She looks down at my open sketch book and clears her throat awkwardly. I rush to close the book but Elena got to it first.
"No one. I don't have a date."I answer honestly, stepping closer to Elena to get the book back.
"Who is this?"She asks, glancing at Caroline both depressingly and concerned. She looked as if she had to ask Caroline with her eyes if she herself knew. Recognized him at least. That was impossible.
"Just something I drew."I say, not entirely a lie. Elena nods and closes the book, taking my hands in a motherly way. She opens her mouth to say something that seemed to be bothering her but Zach and Stefan walk in. She sighs, dipping her head slightly in a mix of frustration and relief, and pulls away.
"I need to talk to you."Elena whispers to Stefan as she exits my room. Both Stefan and Zach look at Caroline, signaling her to leave the room. She does so, waving with a fake sense of happiness. Something wasn't right. Zach smiles and closes my door. I could hear them walking down the stairs and wait for them to get out of sight before leaving my room.
"Something's not right."I say softly to myself, just above a whisper as I enter the long hall.
"You're right, love. Your family is holding secrets from you."Nik says softly, a hand on my hip as I crouch against the railing of the staircase.
"What are we gonna do?"Caroline asks, panic in her tone.
"What do you mean? She hasn't done anything and she doesn't know anything. She's fine."Zach says, anger and concern in his voice definitively. Elena groans and crosses her arms over her chest.
"She has to know, Zach. How else would she have a picture of Klaus in her sketch book?"She asks, looking at Damon. How did they know how name? Was he real? Was this all a dream?
"He is apart of history, Elena. She could've seen a picture of him and decided to draw it."He retorts, anger rising. She shakes her head and waves her outstretched hand toward Damon.
"Damon is apart of history, Zach. He fought in the civil war. Klaus has nothing to do with history except being the original of our race."She snaps, trying to make her point clear.
"Zach, she got attacked the other night and described a vampire perfectly. She has to know or she's going to get hurt."Caroline says softly, her voice twisting in concern. Vampires? There's no such thing. I turn and look at Nik but he was gone. I sigh and walk down the stairs toward them, ignoring everything I heard.
"Adi, honey, we need to talk."Zach says softly, trying to use his grieving father voice on me as if he felt bad for lying to me all these years. I roll my eyes and pour myself a shot of Damon's bourbon.
"What are you doing? You're almost 19."Stefan says, flashing to my side as I down it. I slam the glass onto the small table and look at him.
"Yea, well you're supposed to be my age but not only do you drink, but you never age. You're the same now as you were when Zach introduced us when I was 7."I growl. I didn't mean to. I hadn't thought about that before, but it was true. Neither of them changed.
"So what's the point of me following stupid rules when all you're going to do is lie to me and trap me in a house full of murderous vampires."I snap, looking at Zach before eyeing the rest. Especially Damon. His hard eyes fell on my face hurt but oddly proud as he follows me around the room. I grab my keys and my jacket, walking toward the front door. Caroline flashes toward the door, leaning against it with a pleading smile.
"Honey, please don't go. Not yet, just let us explain."She says sweetly. I could tell she was hurting. She always hated lying to me. That's what I liked most about her. I sigh and shake my head.
"No. There's nothing keeping me here right now. If there are such things as vampires, then I bet you and your little vampire buddies can find me easily."I snap emotionlessly, nudging her out of the way. Damon steps up to me and grips my hand, his eyes maddeningly black with sorrow as he watches me crumble under the pain of betrayal. I pull away and shake my head faintly.
"Family first, right? Well I'm done being lied to. Come talk to me when you're all ready to stop lying."I say, walking to the car.
"We didn't lie to you."Stefan calls. I open my door and tilt my head slightly.
"You hid a very important, dangerous fact from me for almost 12 years. That's lying Stefan. I'm not stupid."I growl, getting into my car. I watch as he tries to run after me but with Damon's apologetic eyes on me he stops him and nods ever so faintly. Damon only ever really showed emotion with Elena and I and I knew this hurt him, but part of him obviously understood. I had been lied to my entire life and to trust these people so completely just to find out they've been lying too hurts a lot more than I'd expected.
I drive and keep driving until I get to a hotel just outside of Mystic Falls. Part of me kept screaming to go farther, but it wasn't going to miss the decade dance. Not because of a secret about a mythical creature. I check into my room and, along with the drawing supplies I kept in my glovebox, climb into bed. I shrug off my jacket, thinking of Damon as it's black leather darkens against the white sheets, and turn on a random music channel on the television. I sit against the wall with my colored pencils and markers lying beside me and the sketch book on my lap. I him along with the songs playing and trying to calm down. Soon, I'm belting out every word to the songs as I draw my attacker's demonic face.
"Don't forget to breathe, love."Nik's heavenly voice jokes, putting a hand on mine. I close my eyes to revel in his warmth and presence as he shifts to sit next to my.
"They're vampires."I catch myself whispering in a more fascinated tone than what I wanted to lead on. He smiles softly and nods, leaning his head onto my shoulder.
"A lot of people in that town are, dear. Vampires, witches, werewolves. I'm afraid it's all true."He whispers, running his fingers down my arm and lacing them through my left hand. I couldn't believe this, but after what I heard, it wasn't all that surprising. I sigh, shading the veins and eyes of the man red and purplish. He shifts and takes the book from me, cupping my face in his hands. He stares into my eyes and slowly lets his face change. His face was much less demonic as the veins under his eyes darken slightly, two sets of elongated teeth and his eyes flood black instead of red. His normally blue eyes shine a golden yellow as he looks at me.
My heart pounds, but i wasn't going to pull away. He felt protective of me it left me oddly accepting of this transformation. Was this brought on by the shock of my friends and family? I left my hand and trace his veins gently. He smiles and kisses my palm, eyes never wavering from mine.
"There are a few things you should know about vampires."He says softly, breath washing over my arm giving me goosebumps. He smiles at my skin's reaction, flashing his fangs more.
"Other than the sunlight, garlic, crosses and wooden stakes thing?"I says softly, lost in his eyes. He chuckles and nods.
"Some vampires are immune to the sun thanks to a helpful spell. It's normally a piece of jewelry that the vampire wears in the sun called a daylight ring, but it could be anything like a bracelet or a necklace."He starts, face slowly returning to normal.
"We aren't allergic to garlic, in fact we can eat if we need to, but it has no real taste. Crosses are pointless, they do nothing. And wooden stakes do kill us, but they have to be directly in the heart and the sun or fire does kill us but it has to be in heavy amounts."He explains, his hands only slightly moving to my neck.
"We can manipulate people's minds as well with what we call compelling."He says softly, tilting my head up gently. He stares into my eyes as his pupils widen.
"Stand."He whispers, commanding me to move. I smile, laughing faintly at the attempt. He smirks and chuckles.
"At least they had the decency to feed you vervain."He breathes, looking down at my hands in my lap.
"Vervain is a plant that protects against vampire, the same way wolves bane protects against werewolves. It's a poison against us and burns us. The vervain in your system was probably introduced without your knowledge, but this means the man in the woods wouldn't have been able to drink from you without being burned and couldn't compel you because of its protection over your mind. Though depending on the strength of the vampire, they could still manipulate your mind, getting into your dreams and making you see things."He explains. Surprisingly I was able to keep up. It was interesting. We spent hours fighting or what he called 'training'. He was always gentle with me, repositioning my body in positions that would work better and always letting me swing into him with full strength. He said it was easier for me to get the full effect, like learning how to dance. It was odd learning how to protect myself from creatures I thought were made up horror tales told on Halloween just hours ago, but i was happy it was with him. Until something came to mind.
"How do they know who you are?"I ask softly as he straightens back up after taking his long sleeved shirt off. Underneath he wore a white v-neck shirt that reminded me of Stefan and Matt. He looks at me as if trying to remember something happier, reaching for my cheek. I bite my lip and grip his arm, twisting quickly. I flip him onto the floor and lean over him. He chuckles into the carpet like a proud parent before twisting at vampiric speed and grabbing my throat. He's gentle and doesn't squeeze, growling up at me through his fangs again. Slowly his golden eyes fill with a lust I had only seen in Damon when he's seen Elena in one of his shirts. He slowly leans up to me and closes the gap between us, his other hand running up my exposed skin on my left caff as I stand over him. My breath hitches as his fingers run closer and close up to the edge of my shorts. He smiles cockily and shifts his hand around to the back of my neck. I smile my own cocky smirk and press my shoe down into his chest, pressing him back against the carpet. His eyes flare in excitement as they steady in his normal blue again, fingers tugging on my shorts gently. I remove my foot from his chest and drop to my knees, straddling him. I run a hand over his chest, brushing off the dust from my shoe and gripping the shirt I oh so badly wanted to get rid of, leaning forward. His right hand cups my cheek momentarily, lacing his fingers into my messy hair as it falls around our faces, and his left hand rest on my hip. His fingers grip my hip tight, pressing his thumb into the skin over the bone in need. I bite my lip gently and lean forward more.
"I'm real, love."He whispers against my lips, answering my long awaited question. I gasp as his lips brush mine, shivering slightly. He smirks and kisses me lustfully.
'I'm much more real than you'd realize.'His voice hums, though his lips are solidly locked with mine. Was this part of the mind manipulation he was talking about? I didn't get to ask. Before I had a chance to really enjoy the kiss, my door is kicked open and I fall forward into the carpet where his body once laid. I sit up on my knees, back to the door, and run a hand through my hair. There was no way he was real.
"A little dramatic don't you think, Stefan?"I growl, grabbing my things quickly. He steps into the room and tries to help me pack up my colored pencils and markers into the small box I had them in, but I push him away. I tuck the box against the sketch book and walk out with my jacket in hand, brushing Damon off as he tries to stop me.
"I'm coming home, aren't i? Don't touch me."I snap, walking down the hall. Caroline flashes to my side and stops me, hugging me tight. I sigh and up her, resting my head on her shoulder.
"I love you. We all do."She whispers as she pulls away to look at me. I nod slightly and look at the others.
"I love you too. I'm just tired of being lied to."I say before walking on out of the hotel and out to my car. I came here to be away from them and if it wasn't for me leaving my costume at the boarding house then I would stay, but without an argument I came home, locking myself in my room. I said I was going to sleep, but it was a lie. I'm assuming with the combined vampire hearing of four people they knew that and that I was training.