The Beginning | Damon Salvatore #1

Chapter 8

There's no way you don't know where you are by now. Tell me.

Alex stared down at her phone. Dean was right, she did know now. Mystic Falls: a town littered with vampires and a nasty history. It wasn't Damon or Stefan who opened up to her about it; Elena told her. She couldn't keep it from her after the awesome time she had searching for clothes with Alex being unsure of her personal style. However, Elena wasn't that shallow; she really just wanted to test Alex and see if she would tell her friend, whom she watched Alex text back.

Something has happened. I can't text it, but I will call you as soon as I can. You can't come looking for me right now.

Elena smiled, "Hoping Stefan or Damon will adopt you?" Alex rolled her eyes, laughing.

"Right. No, I know I can trust you all, but I need to help them trust you too," she said as she felt her phone vibrate again.

I'm about to lose my mind, Alex. I need to know you're safe.

Alex breathed slowly, trying to channel whatever peace she could.

I am safe. I promise, Dean.

She shut her phone and shoved it in her pocket.

"Enough proof that I'm just an angel-seeing, Jesus freak with murderous friends?" Elena laughed aloud and lightly pushed Alex's shoulder.

"Okay. I really need to get to work, Elena," she said, picking up the Bible as she sat down on the couch in front of the fireplace.

"Fine, I'll leave you alone," Elena smiled, turning on her heel.

"Elena?" Alex said, feeling fire in her chest. Elena turned back to her.

"Can I not be the only one reading this thing? I'd like to know I'm not alone in this," she said, feeling the fire diminish, knowing she asked what she needed to ask and take the first step to completing what Gabriel said she would have to do. Elena considered, tilting her head a little and finally giving up.

"Sure. I'll find one and come back," she said, already feeling a little uncomfortable. She'd never considered being someone to take seriously what Pastor Young and countless religious people in Mystic Falls had believed.

Once Elena was gone, Alex immersed herself into the stories of the Bible. Starting in Genesis, of course, she felt the impatience of Sarah and the betrayal of Hagar. Her heart ached for Moses and Joseph as they stepped out in faith for things that were most important at the time. Her mind wandered as she was in the last chapter of the book as Joseph died, knowing that anything that was done for his harm, God made it for his good. Why does anyone, including Alex, deserve an ounce of a blessing? What kind of person does it take to look past every impatient moment like Sarah or murderous thought like Cain or afraid feeling like Moses?

"I'm back," Elena said, closing the door behind her. Alex looked over at her, furrowing her brows a bit.

"Didn't you just leave?" She asked, bookmarking her page and setting the book to the side.

"Alex, it's been three hours," she said, freaking herself out.

"Oh. I guess it has," she said, getting up from the couch to get some water from the cart next to it. Damon had methodically put it there.

"It's baffling how long it took me to find a Bible in the most supernatural town on the planet, so I picked you up some food. I think Damon forgets you need to eat," she said as she unpacked her bag full of little styrofoam boxes and finally, Alex noticed, a large and in charge Bible with gold embroidered on the edges.

"Woah. Where on earth did you get this thing?" Alex asked, helping Elena figure out which boxes go with what. She smiled at the smell of the food while Elena tried not to breathe.

"I had to steal it from Pastor Young's old office," she said, eyeing Alex to see what'd she say. Alex just laughed.

"Ironic," she said. Elena nodded and shoved her hands in her pockets, trying to suffocate the awkwardness.

"Thanks for the food," she said. Elena nodded again.

"So how far did you get?" She asked, fiddling with the edges of the thick Bible.

"I finished Genesis," Alex said, walking back over to the couch with some of the food.

"Dang. I really need to catch up," Elena frowned as she sat down on the couch next to her, opening the large book in her lap and bending over it to read each word carefully and clearly.

Alex sat and ate as much as she could as Elena read and asked questions and got angry at Sarah for being so impatient and sad for Joseph because his whole life sucked so he could be the one to save everyone from a huge famine.

"I just don't understand!" Elena argued. "How is any of this good? And we aren't even gonna talk about Lot's daughters."

Alex laughed as she put her empty containers in the bag they came in, tying the bag closed and setting it on the table. She sat back down next to Elena.

"Well, I think I believe it when Joseph said that everything that the devil, I guess, did through his family and through Potipher's wife and through the famine was for the ultimate good for Joseph and the Israelites," Alex explained as best she could. She wasn't totally sure of herself about any of it. She might read it again to be sure.

Elena's hand rubbed her forehead in confusion, "So what are we?"

"What do you mean?" Alex asked, confused by what she meant.

"Are we Israelites?" Elena asked, but her voice was almost a whisper.

"Elena, from what I know about the Bible, which isn't very much, God sends His Son for everyone's ability to be saved, so it wouldn't matter I guess," she said, feeling strange talking about it all. She wasn't sure where it all came from. "At least, that's what my dad taught me when I was little."

"Which part is that?" Elena asked, suddenly anxious as she flipped through the pages, searching for something she didn't understand.

"Elena, you were just mad at Sarah for being impatient and now look at you," Alex laughed. Elena took a deep breath and laughed with her.

"You're right. Let's just keep going," she said, flipping back to the end of Genesis.

"Feel any different?" A voice came from behind them. Alex and Elena turned to see Damon walking in, his light blue t-shirt contrasting with what he had been wearing since Alex arrived: a dark shirt with a leather jacket.

"Not really," Alex said, picking up the Bible again, mimicking Elena as she turned to the first chapter of Exodus.

"How are we supposed to get rid of this guy if you don't feel your supernatural, mystical powers yet?" Alex froze, remembering what Gabriel had told her. She knew the death of Elias wasn't the goal.

"I don't think killing him is going to solve anything except probably kill all of you. You're all linked right? What makes you think your line of vampires isn't connected with him?" Alex asked. Damon rolled his eyes and picked up a glass like he always did for some reason.

"You don't make any sense, Alex. This vampire has done everything he can to make your life a living hell and all you want to do is keep me from killing him?" He asked with ice in his voice. His eyes were piercing and angry; Alex locked hers with them.

"Yes, exactly," she said quietly, seeing Elena snap her head toward her in her peripheral. Damon shook his head and started walking away. He got to the edge of the steps before turning around and addressing her again.

"You, Alexandra Wilson, are psychotic," he said, gulping his drink and setting the drink on the side table before disappearing.

Something in Alex's gut told her that he didn't understand yet, but it was okay because what he didn't know yet would be the very thing that saved him from himself.