[ BOOK ONE ]
Erin Gilbert believed the worst thing that could ever happen to her was the death of her parents. But when the Salvatore brothers waltz into town, she finds herself longing for the sorrow-filled days of the past.
All too soon, Erin's n...
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HARSH SHAKING FORCED Erin's eyes to snap open. The dull colors and once impossible feats of her dream world were torn away, tossing her back into the darkness of her every day.
No, not her every day. Just her bedroom. At least, it should've been. A warm light expelled from the lamp on her nightstand, causing Erin to squint as her consciousness returned. She distinctly remembered turning that off before she went to bed.
Erin squinted, allowing her eyes to adjust to the light, but the shaking of her body made that difficult. She snapped up to where Elena stood beside the bed, leaning over to shove at her body. Her own eyes wide and seemed to be filled with tears.
"Elena, stop," Erin groaned out, raising a hand to swat at her sister. "I'm trying to sleep."
Elena pulled her hands back, but she remained in place. "Erin, wake up. I - I need you," she muttered, sounding strained to Erin's groggy ears.
Erin raised her hands to rub at her eyes, before she blinked and leaned over if swipe her glasses from the nightstand. She slipped them onto her face and looked at her sister, who had in fact been reduced to tears.
"What's going on?" Erin questioned and pushed herself up to sit in her bed. When her stare raked over Elena, her stomach dropped and she froze. "Oh, my God! What happened?"
Elena stood before her with blood coating her hands and up her forearms. One of Erin's shirts from the floor was held in her palm, having been used to shake her awake. She dropped it and exclaimed, "I don't - I don't know. I was - I thought I saw Connor, but it wasn't."
Erin threw her blanket aside, standing to throw on a pair of cotton shorts from the floor. "Who was it?" she asked as Elena's eyes held more tears. "Elena, who was..." she trailed off, and her heart nearly stopped in her chest. "Jeremy."
Erin kicked off the hardwood, sprinting from her room and taking the stairs as fast as she could without falling. She hit the bottom step and ran into the living room, pausing when she noticed Jeremy laid across the couch. Immobile and his neck covered in blood.
"Jeremy!" Erin shouted, racing forward to reach his side. Her breaths grew rapid as she dropped her stare to where a wound sat on the side of his neck. She scrambled to grab at his arms and sighed in relief when she spotted the bulky Gilbert ring on his finger.
Elena entered the room moments after, sniffing as tears streamed down her cheeks. "I didn't know it was him. I thought it was Connor," she stated in a rush.
