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Chapter 006

The Pervonachalnyue and Their Descendants

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Monday, May 31, 2010; around 2:30 a.m.

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I turn back towards the three other men in the room and look at Jeremy and Tyler as I tell them, "Feel free to stay down here with the quote unquote 'adults' if you want, neither of you will bother me and I'm sure Ric doesn't mind your company either."

Ric nods the same time that Jeremy and Ty do but Ric throws in, "I'm only an adult when absolutely necessary, which is usually when in the company of other adults, and you my friend, despite your many advanced years, rarely qualify as an adult by any standard."

We all laugh at that and I tell him, "That's actually pretty accurate."

I walk over to Jeremy and he smiles as he takes his sketchbook back when I hand it to him. When he grabs it, I hold onto it until he looks me in the eye. When eye contact is made I say, "I meant what I said Jeremy, you've got talent in spades, so at the risk of making Ric a liar and sounding all grownup and responsible, keep your grades up and you'll get into any art school you want. I might even be able to help you pay for school and all of your supplies if you don't get the free ride I'm pretty sure every school you apply to will offer you."

I know from several conversations I've had with Jer that he's wanted to go to art school since he was pretty little, so though his eyes are wide and suspiciously shiny at my offer, he smiles and tells me, "Thanks man, I'm going to hold you to that."

I smile and finally let go of the book, "I hope you do," and I really mean that. Kid is crazy talented. "Ty Jer tells me you're pretty talented too so that offer applies to you too." Since they're quickly becoming younger brothers to me if they need help funding their time at the art schools of their choice I'll happily provide whatever funds they need. I won't just help with tuition and housing either, I did art school a long time ago, so I know supplies are expensive, and I'm sure that's even truer in this day and age.

Ty nods and says, "Thanks man I'll keep that in mind, though my inheritance from my dad should cover whatever school I choose."

I smile and tell him, "Good, but if you find you do need help don't hesitate to let me know. I meant what I said earlier about us being family and family helps with shit like that." He nods again so once I'm satisfied that Jeremy and Ty both truly understand that I'll help if they get into art school I walk back over to Ric on my way to the alcohol stand and grab his glass before pouring us some more Bourbon then I pour another two glasses. Carefully holding two glasses in the same hand, I pick up Ric's and walk it over to him who nods and smiles in appreciation as he leans back and slouches in one of the wingback chairs. Then I walk over to Ty and hand him a glass and then I go back over to Jeremy and hand him the other glass. His eyes go wide again so I say, "I won't tell if you won't, and as long as Ty only has one and you don't try to drive anywhere if you have more than one I think our secret will be safe."

He nods and after grabbing the glass, he takes a sip closing his eyes while he enjoys the burn as it slides down his throat. He surprises me with his knowledge of Bourbon a moment later when he says, "You gave us the good stuff, awesome. Thanks. I won't try to drive anywhere. I promise."

I chuckle as I walk back to the cart to grab my glass and ask, "How do you, at 15, know the difference between cheap Bourbon and the quote, 'good stuff', by taste alone?"

He smiles and shrugs. I figure he's not going to answer but then he does a moment later, "My dad, he liked his liquor. Don't get me wrong he wasn't a drunk, far from it really, but he appreciated what he called 'fine liquor.'"

He pauses with a small smile on his face then continues, "Anyway he believed that I would only rebel and do the clandestine underage drinking thing more than once or twice if he and my mom acted as though drinking was this big thing. So when I was little and we were home, if Dad was drinking he'd let me have sips. Then when I reached about 12 years old, he'd pour me a little, and I mean a little, it really wasn't much at all, but he let me have my own glass. He even bought some cheap stuff just before he died to let me taste the difference."

As I sit down, I smile and tell him, "I actually agree with his opinion. Most kids only abuse alcohol because they're taught it's something they shouldn't do, and as teens, all they want to do are the things that they've been told are forbidden. When really if the adults taught the kids to respect alcohol and its power and drink in moderation from a young age like your dad apparently did then the chances of them abusing it would be slimmer. I mean I'm sure there are some people who are going to abuse it either way but the average kid who's given a sip or two when their parent is having a glass is less likely to look at it as though it's this big thing."

Jeremy nods and says, "That's pretty much what my dad thought."

Ty nods and says, "My dad was the same way."

I nod back and wistfully tell Jer, "I know the Gilbert's historically hated Vampires, but I kind of wish I'd had an opportunity to know your dad. He sounds like a really decent man and a good dad by all accounts."

Jeremy laughs, "He really was, but according to Uncle John my dad was the most gung-ho of the members of the Founding Families about ridding the world of Vampires, so it's probably best that you didn't meet him otherwise he probably would have tried to kill you as often as John did, if not more. While I know in the end, John seemed to realize that not all Vampires are monsters I really don't think my dad would have been as willing to accept that despite Elena and me knowing for a fact that it's true."

He pauses to take a sip then tells us, "I mean I know between you, Stefan, and Anna you've each killed more people than me and Ty have probably ever met in our entire lives combined, but Humans kill people too so it's not just Vampires that are monsters. You guys at least have the excuse that you feel everything stronger than we do so a lot of you turn your switches off. Human monsters just don't give a fuck and there's no underlying reason for it. Plus, although Vampires like you can turn your switch back on, I think the Human monsters can't turn their feelings on at all since they're pretty much born that way, not that any of them would want to anyway." He pauses to breathe and then adds, "Uh sorry, I'll get off my soapbox now."

I laugh, as does Ric before I tell them, "Little known fact about Vampires, around 200 to 300 years old our switches tend to turn themselves back on without our say so and then have this nasty habit of breaking in the on position. Then we're stuck with the guilt of all the horrible shit we did while the switch was off. Personally, I'd go through phases. Sometimes I'd want to feel it all even the guilt and other times it'd be too overwhelming, so I actually turned it on and off a dozen times at least in Damon's 150 years as a Vampire."

I sit back in my chair and take a sip then tell them, "Then again as Drago, I pretty much refused to turn it off after the first time. I still did monstrous things, mostly in the first few centuries, because let's face it the bloodlust can overwhelm the most righteous person if the circumstances are just right and back then my control was less than what Caroline's is now, way less actually."

I smile slightly, "Anyway, I felt, and actually now that I'm myself again I still feel, that not allowing myself to feel the guilt, sparing me that pain, is actually dishonorable. If I'm man enough to take a life, I should be man enough to live with the damn guilt that comes with my actions. I really tried to make every life I took count for something by allowing it to teach me something about myself or life in general. Now I try to be a decent person almost in honor of my victims because otherwise it was all for nothing and that's really sad and depressing."

Ric and Ty nod as Jeremy bobs his head up and down and opens his sketchbook before taking a box of colored Conté crayons out of his backpack that's sitting by his feet. He closes his laptop, places it on the couch beside him, and then crosses his right ankle so it's lying across his left knee before he lays the book on his leg as he takes out a sanguine colored Conté crayon and begins sketching. He's looking at me often enough that I know he's drawing me as I drink my Bourbon.

I studiously ignore the fact I'm being watched and studied and smile as Ric leans forward in his seat and asks, "So 490,450 years old huh?"

I chuckle as I look over at him and smile wider as I reply, "More or less, yeah. Time was kept a little differently during various parts of history. There were 13 months instead of 12 in a year for the entirety of my time before I became a Vampire and then the first 12-month calendar didn't happen until about 6,000 years ago and then after that it switched back and forth off and on until we finally settled on a 12-month calendar the last time. The 13-month calendar is 1 day, 5 hours, 49 minutes, and 12 seconds less than the current calendar so that makes meshing older dates with the modern time keeping more difficult."

I pause to take a sip then sit forward with my elbows on my knees as I continue explaining, "Then as the years go by they kind of blur together even with eidetic memory so keeping track of that many years with any real accuracy is pretty difficult. That said, give or take I was a handful of modern years over 35,450 years old when I was turned Vampire and give or take a millennium that was about 455,000 years ago."

Ric's eyes are wide but he and Ty are nodding as Jeremy asks what others might consider a stupid question, but I'm happy to realize that he knows Ric, Ty, and me well enough to know that even if it is a stupid question we'll humor him and not laugh at him for asking a silly question. That said it's really not a stupid question that he asks, "When did the final shift from 13 months to 12 happen?"

I smile wider quite pleased he asked and say, "Julius Caesar was the last to make major changes to the calendar. The calendar we use now is actually called the Gregorian Calendar but it's basically the Julian Calendar with something like a .002% change in the length of the year making the Julian year of 365 days and 6 hours turn into 365 days, 5 hours, 49 minutes, and 12 seconds. Anyway the Julian Calendar was named after Caesar."

Jeremy smiles and says with bright eyes and slightly louder than necessary, "That's kind of cool."

I shrug, "Honestly the 28 day, 13-month calendar made more sense since it was a lunar calendar and all these 30, 31, 28, and 29 day long months were pretty confusing at first. I mean I know the length of a year is based on the length of time it takes the earth to make a single revolution around the sun, a solar calendar if you will, but think about it, the Julian and Gregorian Calendars work so poorly that every four years we have to add a day to the calendar. The Gregorian Calendar gets even more confusing as years that are exactly divisible by 100 aren't leap years, except when they're divisible by 400."

I look around the room at each of their faces and everyone seems to understand the confusing facts about our current calendar, so I continue, "The 13-month calendar on the other hand was lunar and based on the moon revolving around the earth and therefore didn't require any days past the 28 in every month.

"Then again, I knew the minute I met Caesar he was a narcissistic ass who apparently couldn't tell time to save his life."

My companions all laugh and take sips then all of them almost choke on their sips as what I actually said dawns on them and they all ask, "Wait, you knew Julius Caesar?"

I frown into my drink, "Well I wasn't friends with the man since as I said I thought he was a pompous ass, but yeah I was in the Senate with him and usually disagreed with whatever he said on principle alone. Man was pretty much a military genius, but he let it go to his head and then he began believing his own hype."

I smirk into my glass remembering all the times we butted heads before taking a sip and then tell them, "You should have seen his face when I walked into the room the day after his assassins tried to kill me. They slit my throat and stabbed me about 20 times. I let one run back covered in blood and compelled to tell him they were successful. The other two I fed on to heal myself. Needless to say, it wasn't long before I helped organize his assassination." I pause, then smirk as I lower my voice and tell them, "I may or may not have even compelled Brutus to betray him."

Ric sits up straight at that and laughs before asking, "For real?"

I smile at the memory of the look of betrayal on Caesar's face and say, "Oh yeah he was, as I said, a total asshole and making trouble for a lot of people all to make himself more important. I mean the man had the gall to proclaim himself 'dictator in perpetuity'. Only an idiot does that as it's pretty much the quickest way to get yourself killed or to start a war at the least. It turns out he wound up doing both with that proclamation and ultimately killed the Roman Republic."

Jeremy breathes out a "Wow," and takes another sip before putting his glass down on the table beside the couch.

He pulls up a blank page and writes something on it. He passes the sketchbook to me and I smile as I read what he wrote, "Can we talk about Briseis, Asya, Balthazaar, Dante, and Lilith if we don't say anything to give away that they're who they are?"

Jeremy has a thirst for knowledge that I think will serve him and this family rather well in life. So I look him in the eyes a moment later and with my usual smirk in place and my eyebrow raised I say, "Sure, Little Gilbert, if you stick to the rule I've got no problem talking about that," and really I don't.

As Jeremy nods to show he understands, I stand up and walk over to Ric showing him what Jer wrote. When he nods I show it to Ty and then I tear off the page, take the lighter off the mantle, and light the page before placing it in the fireplace. I watch it turn completely to ash before I turn back to face my companions and ask, "So what do you want to know?"

He thinks about it for a second as I hand him back the sketchbook and he reopens it to the drawing I can now see is definitely of me drinking my Bourbon. Then he tells all three of us, "Well I got a lot of Bonnie's memories of your memories but it's not all filled in yet for either of us."

I nod and after refilling mine and Ric's glasses, I sit back down and tell the boy, "With the amount of memories and the sheer number of years of each person's lives that she remembered it'll take a while to get them all sorted out inside both of your heads. Your brain might actually take slightly longer simply because you're Human as opposed to Bonnie being a Witch, and you saw it all through her mind, which I'm sure acted as a sort of filter."

I smile as I tell him, "The memories are all already there though, so it's just a matter of your brains' processing them and then giving you free access to them. Talking about this might actually help gel them in your head, so ask away, Gilbert."

He stops drawing and stares at the marks on the page before saying, "Okay so, you said you're the oldest and," he pauses and I know he almost said 'Stefan'. A moment later he continues cautiously as he obviously realizes this is going to be harder than he thought, "Dante is 100 years younger than you, so how did you two know each other?"

I nod showing I understand the challenge this conversation is going to present with Caroline being upstairs and her being perfectly capable of hearing everything we're talking about. I can actually hear her telling Elena and Bonnie what we're saying and that she thinks Jeremy wrote something down so with our additional audience in mind I say, "Caroline, why don't you all come down here and save yourself the hassle of having to repeat everything I say."

I chuckle when she tells the girls, "Oops, busted. Be right down Damon."

I wait and a minute later Caroline, Elena and Bonnie come back down the stairs and join us. I smile at their sheepish smiles then I carefully start my story as I decide a little background information is needed. I begin by telling them, "First, Demons live long lives, as evidenced by the fact I've been told I look anywhere between 21 and 30 Human years old and yet I was already more than 35,450 years old when we were turned and I stopped aging. I guess after we reach maturity we age a little less than a Human year every thousand years or there abouts though the aging does slow progressively as we get older otherwise the oldest would be shriveled little old people and they really weren't. The average lifespan was about 200,000 to 250,000 with only eight or nine dozen in each generation reaching 300,000. Although, if a woman suffered from birthing complications then they might die when they were much younger than 250,000 years old."

I smile and take a sip before telling them, "I was fairly young all things considered. Now the species as a whole is fertile for most of their lives starting in our mid-50's, which is pretty much the equivalent of being in your early teens in Human terms and I've known a few female Demons who gave birth after their 185,000th year."

I smile and look at Bonnie as I say, "Not to jump ahead in the story but Briseis and I named our first child, your ancestor, Hali. She had hundreds of children and last gave birth when she was 194,401 years old. Incidentally, she also lived past 300,000 and was about 309,000 when she finally died. A good chunk of my descendants come from her line, though our other children were very fertile as well and only a handful had birthing issues, though thankfully none of them died because of those issues."

I pause then add, "Unlike the women the men are pretty much fertile until their deaths, much like Human men."

I settle more firmly in my seat as I lean back and take another sip then continue, "So anyway, despite there being 104 years between us, Dante and I were Brothers, well, Half-Brothers. My mother died when I was 73 giving birth to my youngest Full-Blooded sister. Then about a year later my father, Lord Hector, remarried."

I stare at the fireplace as I remember the pain of that loss and tell my new family, "I can admit I was angry at first, but the woman, Helena, treated me and my siblings as if we were her own. She was a lovely woman, and once I got to know her she filled most of the hole left behind when my mother died."

I pause to take a sip and use the extra time to prepare myself for sharing her sad story then I say, "Unfortunately, she had eight stillborns before Dante was born 31 years later and then she never really recovered from his birth and died within three years. Although I was 107 when she died and didn't really need a mother figure at that point, I was still devastated having lost another mother, and as I said, she and I were close."

Everyone has sad looks on their faces and the girls all appear to have tears in their eyes so I move the story along, "Our father remarried less than a month later and most people knew he had not only been sleeping with her since before Dante was conceived but had fathered several children with her already. He apparently had planned to leave Helena since she was unable to give him live children."

Now the girls look pissed off so I tell them, "Most men wanted big families full of as many children as possible, the bigger the better, as the more fertile you were the more virile and manly, for lack of a better word, you seemed. My father was no different so he placed more value on Helena's breeding abilities, or lack thereof, without taking into account the wonderful woman she was."

I pause feeling the anger I felt all those years ago at my father's betrayal. So as Jer uses his thumb to smudge one of his lines the pause in my story allows him to ask, "That sucks, was the third wife at least nice?"

As everyone else nods at his question I stand and walk over to pour myself more Bourbon, as this conversation definitely calls for more booze, and laugh a humorless laugh, "Hell no, she was worse than Lilith and Katherine combined. In fact, she was a total bitch who unfortunately taught her bitchiness and sense of entitlement to her 12 sons and 14 daughters she had with my father. My 8 Full-Blooded siblings, Dante, and myself were treated like second rate citizens by Sinclética and our father."

I frown as I tell them, "As a matter of fact, she was actually trying to convince Father to write us all out of his will and give our rightful and rather sizable inheritances to her children only. Unfortunately for her, he had a bit too much to drink one night, and he slipped in the bath and drowned before she was successful. She didn't find him until the next day because she was too busy fucking the help."

I pause and feel the anger I felt all those years ago when I discovered she was bedding two servants when Father was drowning bloom in my chest once more as though it had all just happened. A moment later, I laugh as I remember her face several days after he died when she received news of the state of his will and tell my companions, "Best part about the whole thing was that she got the shock of her life when she discovered he hadn't left anything to her or her children."

I take a sip then finish the thought, "They were paupers overnight and since none of them were even remotely nice to anyone no one offered to help them. I think she wound up selling most of her underage children as slaves and abandoned the older ones completely before she then found herself another wealthy man who was kind enough to beat her to death when he discovered she was once again sleeping with the help."

I refill my still mostly full glass and then go sit back down before taking another sip and continuing my story, "I, as the oldest son, inherited most of my father's assets and it was my responsibility to look out for my younger siblings. Now back then most other men probably would have done what my father and Sinclética did and treated Dante as a second rate citizen since he wasn't my Full-Blooded brother but we clicked from the first moment Helena let me hold him. In fact, I was the only one who could calm his crying when he was a baby, and honestly, once he got old enough to talk and think for himself we were actually closer than I was with my other siblings."

I smile at the memory of my younger siblings and their love of Dante and tell my new family, "Fortunately for Dante, all of our other siblings felt the same way I did, so none of them made much fuss over my giving him the same percentage of our father's wealth as the rest of them."

My smile widens as I tell them, "Now of course you need to realize that by the time my father died, I was already more than a decade past 500 years old and Dante was only 104 years younger. Anyway, we were two peas in a pod. It was only about three years after our father's death when I met Briseis, through our best friend, and she quickly became our shadow."

I frown slightly as I tell them all, "I think at first Dante fancied her but he quickly lost interest, which was lucky for me because once I looked into her chocolate brown eyes I knew I'd never want another woman. So much so that I actually stopped fucking around long before her father allowed me to court her. I dare say the lack of women in my bed was probably a big reason he let me court her."

I pause remembering my abrupt change in behavior and grin as I recall my wedding night, "Courting could take centuries back then, so we married a few years after I turned 700. Dante was my best man, and I'm pretty sure he and her brother bedded the entirety of her side of the wedding party on our wedding night. Don't get me wrong her maidens were beautiful, but I thought sleeping with 10 women all at once was a little much even if there were two of them."

Ric laughs as he gets up to refill his glass, "So you were the devoted one and Dante was the hound dog?"

I chuckle and tell him, "Well I suppose I never really thought of it that way but yes. That is until he met Asya. Briseis was friends with Asya's mother and was actually present when Asya was born. We were all about 35,000 years old give or take a few centuries when she was born and she was barely 100 when we were turned. Fortunately for Dante he already knew by then that she was his intended Mate."

Jeremy interrupts as he remembers Elijah, "So where does, uh Balthazaar was it? Where does he fall into all of this?"

I smile softly and say, "He was best friends with Dante and me and actually how I re-met Briseis since she was his younger sister, and yes he's the brother who helped Dante bed her maidens. Anyhow, she and her mother had been living with a sick aunt taking care of her for most of Briseis' childhood."

I extend my legs out in front of me and cross them before taking another sip and telling them, "You need to know that Demons have three age groups for children, from age 0 to 26 they are completely dependent children. Ages 27 to 53 are pretty much the equivalent of preteens and then 54 to 81 are teenagers. Once they reach 82 they're mostly considered mature and are legally treated as adults though unofficially that can vary slightly depending on the actual maturity level of the Demon in question much like in today's day and age."

I pause to take a sip and remember before telling them, "So she was maybe 30 years into adulthood when she moved back to be closer to Balthazaar. He reintroduced us and I don't know if she knew right away but I definitely knew there'd never be another for me."

I stop and chuckle before confiding, "Honestly I think Balthazaar was the other reason their father let me court her because Balthazaar kept bitching about how I was a drag now that I only had eyes for the 'lovely Briseis'. Really, to hear him and Dante tell it I was a complete bore and no fun anymore, and that suited their father just fine."

The girls all smile dreamy smiles and sigh in unison so I chuckle again and tell them, "Anyway, it was just the four of us against the world until we met the first of a new species, the newly Human Lilith who had her eyes set on Dante and Balthazaar. Balthazaar was in love with her but Dante thought she was too high maintenance… Since she was the first of her kind, she felt entitled, and everyone spoiled her since they thought the birth of a new species was so fabulous. Think Katherine only a billion times worse."

I frown as I tell them, "She finally got fed up trying to play them off each other and settled on wrapping Balthazaar around her little finger. Honestly, I hated her for the longest time, but she mostly made him happy. Eventually we became friends if you could call it that."

I smile and tell them, "Then Asya, our little Air Demon, was born and Dante fell head over heels. Her father wasn't too sure since Dante had a 35,000 years long history of bed hopping and womanizing, but by the time she turned 90, her father knew Dante would stay true to her, so he gave his blessing, and they were married. Less than ten years later Lilith tricked us into drinking the spelled blood and turned us into Vampires, the first by all accounts."

I finish my Bourbon and get up to get myself some more then say, "I mean I was about 35,455 years old and I had never heard of such a thing. I looked through all of our fathers', grandfathers', and great grandfathers' journals. I actually read more than 850,000 years' worth of journals trying to discover if there had ever been anyone like us before. Needless to say, I never found any evidence to support the idea that there had been any Vampires before us."

I pause considering and then tell them, "I'm guessing the spell the Witch used to make the Originals was probably the same or derived from the one Lilith and her Witch, Fontina, wrote and used. Actually, Witch isn't the right word since she was my great-great granddaughter and a Demon, so Spell Caster maybe, anyhow Fontina cast the spell that made us Vampires."

They all look a little shell-shocked and perhaps surprised that the spell caster who helped Lilith trick us into becoming Vampires was my descendant. I sigh and tell them, "Anyway, I know maybe 200,000 to 170,000 years ago a few other families, I think it came to six in total, found and used the spell in an effort to try to stop certain members of my family from destroying their villages. They figured if they were like us they'd have enough power to stop us. What they didn't count on was that our ages alone made us significantly stronger than they were. Lilith searched for and locked down all the copies of the spell to keep the power from being given to everyone. Then she also got the Humans all fired up about the new Vampires and pretty much accused them of being the ones slaughtering whole communities. She even compelled a good chunk of the Humans to hunt down the newly spelled Vampires. Sadly, or maybe fortunately, they didn't last longer than a few years each. Perhaps a few made it to a couple of decades old before they were slaughtered."

I pause again then tell them seriously, "Though I'm actually surprised that no one else managed to use it before that since Lilith talked about her prowess with magic, to whomever would listen, despite it actually being Fontina who had the power. Fortunately, most were too scared of both women to try to steal her Grimoire and any who did try met long painful deaths at Lilith's hand."

I sigh unnecessarily and with a lowered voice tell them, "Though that doesn't mean Lilith herself didn't have her personal Spell Casters use the spell to create more. In fact, over the first 150,000 years or so after we turned she created seven more Vampires using the spell and we were known as the Pervonachalnyue, which as I told you yesterday translates to 'The First Ones'."

Jeremy and Caroline smile and say in unison, "Wow, okay, so 13 First Ones, are the other seven still around?"

I laugh at them and the faces everyone makes at them using the exact same words as each other, but then I frown as my Human memories give me insight into the actions of the younger Pervonachalnyue after we were spelled.

They felt the only ones strong enough to control them were gone forever and they took great fun in killing our Human incarnations multiple times through the centuries so I tell my new family, "Oh yes. They had great fun at our expense after the spell was cast, and make no mistake they will pay dearly for the continued slights they perpetrated against me and mine. They thought they were free of the only ones strong enough to best them, and now the oldest and arguably strongest is himself again, so I'm sure once we settle things with Klaus that I'll find time to pay them a visit, especially once my full family is around me."

That apparently brings Jeremy and the others up short, so he pauses his drawing and as they all look at me curiously he asks, "Full Family?"

"Oh yes, Briseis, Asya, Dante, Balthazaar, Lilith, You, Ric, Bonnie, Tyler, well all of you, and maybe even Matt. You're my family just as much as they are and whether the Humans decide to remain Human or become Vampires you'll always be my family."

Ric and Jer both ask at the same time, "You'd actually turn us?"

I'm honestly startled by the question, so it takes me a second to answer but then I tell them, "Duh! I'd turn any and all of you if you wanted, though make no mistake I learned my lesson from the shit ton of guilt I felt when I tried to force 'Lena to transition if she died during the sacrifice. I was very relieved when Bonnie and John said they had found that spell and even more so once we knew it had worked since I really couldn't stand the thought of 'Lena hating me for the rest of eternity. Bonnie and John really saved me from making a real mess of things and prevented me from totally destroying my friendship with 'Lena."

I look at Bonnie and tell her honestly, "Thank you for that by the way."

She nods so I continue, "Anyway, I won't force anyone to transition, and I will do my best to make sure everyone is fully informed before any final decisions are made."

Smiling I tell them, "Things would be different for you guys though because you'd be one-step down from me and the others, genetically I mean, since we'd all be pretty much equals, strength and speed aside. But you'd have it easier than the Vampires the Originals and their spawn have turned because we have more power simply because of our ages.

"The older your sire when they make you the stronger and more powerful the baby Vampire will be and their control is generally much stronger from the start. So Vampires I made when I was 200,000 years old were immediately stronger, faster, and more in control than the ones I made when I was 100,000 years old. Even just me being 170 affected Caroline's control and Katherine's being 390 when Stefan and Damon were turned affected our control, or mine at least. I'm not sure why Stefan seems to lack so much control, but I'm pretty sure he'd be even worse if Katherine had been younger when we transitioned."

I stop to take a sip of liquor, and then I tell them all, "Anyway keep it in the back of your heads as a possibility, and if you want to talk about it let me know. I'll answer any questions you have because while I know you guys know more than most about Vampires in general you don't know what it's like to be a Pervonachalnyue or one of their descendants."

They all nod and promise they'll keep it in the backs of their heads, then Jer asks, "What about Bonnie can she be turned?" He pauses and looks at her as he continues, "Not that I think she'd want it per say but, well…"

I smile, "She can be turned and if several of my descendants are any indication she wouldn't lose her Witchy powers either."

I turn to look at her and tell her, "Bonnie, I actually want to try to get in touch with three of them. I was very close to them before Tianna placed her spell so I miss them, but more importantly I want to see if they feel up to teaching you further. You have power in spades, but I regret that your grandmother died when she did because now you only have us to help guide you, and while I know more than most about Magick, your ancestors would be able to help and teach you best."

She nods so I continue, "I'll let you know when I track them down and find out whether they're able to come teach you, but in the meantime know that turning you is a possibility. In fact, if you want the details of what your undead ancestors are like as Vampires and how that differs from how they were as live Witches come talk to me later and I'll try my best to give you all the answers you want. Either way you all would have it much easier than Damon, Stefan, and Caroline had it."

They all nod and Bonnie promises, "I'll find a time to bring it up at some point."

I just nod and we all sit quietly as Jeremy continues to draw, the girls talk quietly among themselves about my story and Ric, Tyler and I just contemplate everything that's happened. I'm not sure when it happened but at some point Jeremy and the girls fell asleep so around four thirty I wake them up and tell them to head upstairs to their rooms.

Ty sits up as the others head upstairs and says, "I should probably go sneak back into my bedroom before my mom realizes I'm gone. What time are you guys planning to get up so I can try to get here before you leave for the cave?"

He only had the one glass of Bourbon and he finished that over an hour ago so I know he's fine to drive home. At his question though, I pause and think for a minute and then tell him, "Give me your phone." He takes it out of his pocket and hands it to me so as I punch my number into a new contact entry I tell him, "I'll need at least four or five hours sleep since I didn't get much last night either. I don't know how late everyone else will sleep though since it's already almost five but if you get here and we're already gone give me a call and I'll walk you through the directions to find the cave."

When I finish entering my info I push the button to call my own phone and take mine out of my pocket to save his number so I'll have it if I ever need it. He nods as I hand him his phone back and says, "Okay, thanks man. And thanks for everything else, I really don't have words to express how grateful I am that you protected Care and Matt from me. Or that you didn't end up dying from my bite. And once again thanks for not trying to make me dead back."

I laugh and tell him honestly, "I meant what I said too Ty. You're part of this family, and I was just looking out for all of you. I would step between you and Care again even if I knew it would kill me for good because that's what you do for the people you love, and in case I haven't been perfectly clear you are definitely on that pretty short list."

He nods and surprises me by shaking my hand and saying, "Ditto Man." Then he leaves to try to convince his mom that he was in his bed all night long.

Ric and I spend another half hour drinking and talking about random shit that has nothing to do with our recent dramas or my previous lives before we both follow the others up the stairs and after I make up a bed for Ric, we head to bed.