TVD
Season 1, Episode 2
The Night of the Comet
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The breeze was gentle, luring me into a sense of security. The green grass soft beneath my feet as I walked, Damon at my side. We were miles away from Mystic Falls, in the woods on the outskirts of Virginia. The greenery was refreshing, the urge to become one with nature overtaking my being. I paused in my walking when we came to a large clearing, stripping the clothes I had worn and handing them to Damon.
He put them in the duffle bag he had brought, sitting down on a tree stump as I laid on the floor. I let the cool feeling of the earth consume me, the grass and wind surrounding me. Slowly, it began to pick up, whirling all around me. The leaves picked up from off of the ground, moving in a circle around my figure. I let my hold on my human form go, allowing myself to become my most natural self. The tingling washed over me, the feeling of my bones changing came along with it. It didn't hurt, it wasn't a punishment but rather what I was born into; what I had always been.
I became bigger, bones emerging from my shoulder blades as my skin started to stretch. I didn't become as big as I could've, we were still in Virginia, there wasn't enough space to contain how big I could get. This would have been better when we were living a few miles away from the city, it was very rural so I could get as huge as I wanted to and never had to be worried about being spotted. My skin stretched over the newly formed bones, scales growing on top of it. They were iridescent on the top, running all the way through to my tail, and yellow on the bottom where my stomach was. At last my head changed, I was no longer the pretty Chinese 17 year old but a multicolored dragon.
My eyes a loud yellow color, a multitude of pink tongues slithering from my mouth. There were three horns sticking out from each side of my face, two large ones at the very top of my head. I was truly terrifying to look at, a body like a lizard full of pop culture dragon features. My mother and father didn't look quite the same either. My mom is a hybrid of a water and earth dragon and my father a wind and fire dragon, they were almost just like me. A dragon's form was unique to them, my mother looking more like a stereotypical western dragon and my father inheriting a more serpent like appearance.
I had gotten the iridescent coloring because of my mom and dad's elements. The shimmering scales represent my ability to naturally control the four core elements my parents could. Any dragon could learn more if they wish, but most stick to the ones they are familiar with. Learning a different power took around a century for you to master like you would a natural born element, and there wasn't really any pay off. Sure you now have a new power, but there aren't that many chances to even show it off. Over the centuries we've become able to coexist efficiently, there are rarely any dragons that start problems and other supernatural creatures don't need that much of any natural born element to be defeated.
It was different when I was a kid though, dragons were warring with witches, so we needed to learn as much as we could to defend ourselves. Interbreeding between similar factions was also common as it would allow for stronger children. I had only learned one extra power since I had turned 1,500 and I had to practice every once in a while to make sure I didn't get rusty. Just because there was no one that was a threat now, didn't mean there wouldn't be one later. I grew up in a war zone, and even though there wasn't much war for me to fight I wasn't ever going to allow myself to become complacent.
As the transformation came to an end, I turned my head towards Damon. Stefan hadn't come because he was on a hunt in New York, the population was big enough that they wouldn't notice a few pedestrians go missing for a few hours; Stefan had enough control of himself to keep them alive if he wished. He preferred to drink animal blood, but every once in a while he would drink his fill of human too. It was better this way, he would still be able to drink human blood, but he wouldn't rip people to pieces like he did in the 1920's.
He stood up, stretching a little. Though the process seemed quick to me, it was really about thirty minutes. I had to make sure that I wouldn't hurt my baby while I shifted, and doing it quickly was more of a fight or die notion. I liked to take my time, to relish in the fact that I was becoming more of myself. I could only hope my children would take to their dragon forms as I have, to love and cherish them the way I do.
As he walked towards me, I used one of my tongues to gather some grass. It didn't taste the best, but they were great nutrition for a baby dragon and that's what matters. As I chewed the grass slowly, Damon began to pet my head, his fingers running against my scales. It was soothing, the feeling of my mate caressing my skin. "Who's a good girl?" He muttered, causing my nose to flair. I was a sucker for pet names, but he knew I didn't fancy him talking to me like a dog. I moved one of my tongues, the slimy appendage whacking him in the face. Not only did it hurt, he would be covered in grass smelling slime until we got home.
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History class had to be the most boring thing I have ever experienced in my life, and I was around 47,000 years old. Tanner blabbed on and on and on without ever considering that he has the most annoying voice. And he didn't even teach a standard curriculum, every word out of his mouth referenced Mystic Falls in some way. I had lived through all of history, and I'm forty two thousand years older than the first historical record, so I would have passed this class regardless of what he was teaching, but my lord he was the biggest bore in the school.
I put my hand on my face to hold it up, glancing around the classroom. The clock said class was almost over, and I sighed in relief. I would kill Mr. Tanner sooner than I would give birth. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Elena. Her finger twirling her brown hair as she stared at Stefan, who was writing in his notebook. I found it a bit ridiculous that he was taking notes when we were all walking textbooks, but he said that he wanted to be an authentic teenager so I bit my tongue. I could make fun of him with Damon when we got home anyways.
"...Originally discovered nearly 5 centuries ago, it hasn't been over Mystic Falls in over 145 years. Now, the comet will be its brightest right after dusk during tomorrow's celebration. Are we bothering you, Ms. Gilbert? Please pay attention in class." Her face turned a little red as she became embarrassed at being caught. Right then, the bell rang, everybody getting up from their seats. Stefan held his hand out, his other holding "Wuthering Heights," helping me up and continuing to hold it as we made our way out of class. He had started re-reading it when we came home yesterday, said that he was feeling nostalgic and wanted to read something from his childhood.
We were only a few steps into the hall when Elena appeared at Stefan's side, looking at the book he held in his hand. "Wuthering Heights" by Ellis Bell." She stated, making a conversation that wasn't really needed. "You know, I can't believe she didn't use her real name." I rolled my eyes, she was really something different. I watched as Stefan's jaw ticked, he was annoyed though he was too polite to say something unpleasant. "All the Bronte sisters used pseudonyms. It was the time. Female writers weren't very accepted then." Why is she talking to us? He asked, Elena looking down at our entwined hands. An upset look passed over her face for just a few seconds, but I had caught it.
Because she likes you. I responded, Elena opening her mouth before I could point out that we would be late for class. "Where did you get it?" She asked, looking up at him. She wasn't flirting, more so she just wanted to talk. "It was passed down through his family." I said, causing her to look at me. "His family hoarded all of their possessions, so there's a huge assorted library with practically ancient books. I restored a few of them in my spare time." It was true, back when we used to come into town long and often enough to establish relationships with the locals, I had taken to restoring the books in the library.
"You can come over later and borrow them if you want." Stefan invited, though I don't know why, Elena hadn't even said that she wanted to read them. Elena's face brightened, and I was quite surprised by how pretty she looked when she smiled. Even if I wasn't particularly happy with her presence, I would play nice. Nobody had ever gotten their way by killing every time they were the tiniest bit inconvenienced. "If you come around four, we should be home. If we're not, Damon will probably let you in." Elena nodded, smiling slightly. He pulled a piece of paper out of his bag, writing his phone number on it.
"We gotta go, uh, class is starting soon." Stefan said, handing the paper to her and pulling the strap of his bag up higher on his shoulder. I pulled my hair back from my face, holding it in a ponytail for a few seconds before letting it go. "Uh, yeah sure, I'll catch you guys later." We both nodded, mumbling goodbyes before making our way to our English and art classes.
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It was only a little while until lunch ended, me and Stefan sitting at one of the round tables. He was chattering on and on about the audacity of Ms. Dana to say that Shakespeare was a bad writer. I had made a friend in art class, her name was Stephanie. She was really into drawing dragons, and was evermore interested when I talked to her about the actual ones. She was going to sit with us today, but her mom had pulled her out of school for a 'Shopping emergency' as she so gracefully put it. I pulled a chicken sandwich, grapes, and a ginger ale out of my bag. It was my favorite soda, and Damon was weak for my puppy eyes. Though I hated being referenced to as a pet, it sure did help me get my way.
Stefan had a more typical lunch out of the two of us, but it was still a weird combination. A peanut butter and jelly sandwich with crackers and cheese with no drink wasn't the best way to go. He ate like a kid and a 40 year old at the same time. I could never take him out to a fancy restaurant without him wanting something from the kids menu. It was a bit pathetic seeing as how old he really was, but to each their own. Stefan suddenly went quiet, his ears twitching and mouth stilling as he moved his eyes' focus to the table. "They're keeping her overnight to make sure there's no infection, but she should be able to come home tomorrow." It was Stefan's voice, but it wasn't his words that flew through my head. He was sharing what he was hearing through his head, and the words of Matt made me draw to the conclusion that it was about one of Damon's victims, Vicki.
"That's good news." Elena's words rang through my head. "Why the hell are you making me listen to this?" I asked him, his eyes looking at me as he responded. "Just keep listening, he might say something important." I nodded, taking a bite out of my sandwich before the conversation came through my ears again.
"Yeah."
"Did you get in touch with your mom?"
"Called and left a message. She's in Virginia Beach with her boyfriend, so...we'll see how long it takes her to come rushing home."
"Vicki's lucky that she's ok."
"I know, and now there's talk of some missing campers."
"Did she say what kind of animal it was that attacked her?"
"She said it was a vampire."
"What?"
"Yeah, she woke up last night and mutters "vampire" and then passes out."
"OK, that is weird."
"I think she was drunk. So what's up with you and the new guy?"
"Matt, the last thing that I want to do is hurt you."
"You know, I'm...I'm actually gonna go back to the hospital. I want to be there when Vicki wakes up, to get the real story about last night." The conversation ended, leaving me annoyed. When Damon said he bit a girl, he never said he didn't compel her so I had assumed he did, but it obviously wasn't the case. The town had a council of vampire hunters, if that girl in the hospital said the right thing to the right people, it very much put Damon and Stefan on the map for their next hunting season. "So we're ditching class for the hospital?" I knew this was immediately where Stefan's mind went, though he never considered the simpler option.
"Y'know we could just call Damon and not have to worry, right?" It was the obvious choice, and Zack didn't need to know that we were skipping school if he received a call home from the front office. "Can't, Damon's on a hunt in the town over." And in just a typical Stefan manor, we're off to compel an unconscious girl with a Damon sized chunk in her neck.
Oh how I wished to have stayed at home today.
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I watched as Matt rushed out of the room, the sounds of his shoes hitting the floor echoing through the hallway. I rolled my eyes as Stefan super speeded into the room, sure Matt would be gone for 4 minutes at most but that was more than enough time to compel the girl and get out. "It was an animal that attacked you. It came out of the night and jumped you. You blacked out. It's all you remember." He didn't waste any time, staring deep into her eyes as he stated the lie that would become Vicki's new reality. "That's all I remember." She repeated, looking drowsy as his words began rearranging her memories.
"An animal attacked you. You blacked out. It's all you remember." He repeated, though he had been on a human blood spree last night, his diet consisted of mostly animal blood, he wanted a guarantee that she would not remember that Damon had taken a drink out of her neck. "That's all I remember." Vicki responded before falling asleep. Stefan gently positioned her body on the bed, pulling the covers over her before coming outside of the room. We walked to the end of the hall, and I guess Matt must have seen our backs because he started to follow us. We sped up, taking multiple turns through the hallway as we tried to avoid him. It was to no avail, as he persisted on his path towards us.
We turned into a room, though it seemed to be the wrong choice because it was full of blood donors. I could practically feel Stefan's face change as he tried to ignore his sudden urge to drink blood. The window, I pointed it out to him. It was in the staircase, nobody would see us and it would get us far away from Matt. We headed inside the staircase, Stefan watching out for Matt as I opened the window. I jumped out first, landing not too far from the parking lot. Hurry up, I said to Stefan after it took him more than a few moments to appear in the window. He jumped down, landing right in front of me, his body weight making a thud against the concrete.
"Can we get chicken nuggets on the way back?" I asked him as we started walking to the car. "You made me skip school, so I think it's the least you could do." I could have stayed at the school if I wanted to, but I wouldn't pass up the chance to guilt trip me some free food. "Only if we use Damon's card." He replied, and it didn't really matter who's money it was as long as it wasn't my own. Though I had accumulated steadily growing wealth over the 2,000 years that money had been a thing, it was nice for other people to pay for me. I smiled, giving Stefan's lips a kiss as I moved to the passenger's seat.
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I was laying on the couch, my legs thrown over Damon's lap as he rubbed my belly. There were multiple little flutters all over my stomach, and I couldn't tell if the baby was super speeding around inside me or if I was having multiples. This wasn't the first time it had happened, but they were too quick to really have a definitive answer by myself. I would be going to a doctor's appointment on Saturday, so I hoped I could have a definite answer after that.
The doorbell rang, interrupting my inhalation of the air. Stefan was in the kitchen cooking, I had all but forced him to make some slow cooked curry, and now he was torturing me. He left the door wide open so that the smell would travel, and now I was stuck having to inhale the delicious scent. "I'll get it." Damon said, but before he could make an attempt to get the door, a figure walked into the room. It was Elena, she looked a bit spooked as she stumbled in. "I...I'm sorry for barging in. The door was...open."
She looked at our position, and I had to realize that she might have gotten an idea. It was only a little bit of a compromising position, but it was intimate enough to be suspicious. If Stefan had not been aware of our relationship I would have been feeling quite caught right about now. I sat up immediately, moving away as if I had been caught in a lie. I wanted to test her before I truly committed to the idea that she wasn't going to try and break us up. The test wouldn't lie in whether she told Stefan about what she had seen us doing, but in whether she tried to throw herself at Stefan after she told him; either right after or at least a few weeks.
"You must be Elena. I'm Damon, Stefan's brother." He introduced himself, standing and offering his hand for a shake. She took it a bit reluctantly, as if she had just seen it come out of a trash can but she still wanted to seem polite. "Oh, Stefan's spoken about you." Damon smirked, that probably stroked his ego a little more than I'd have liked. He loved it when people talked about him. "You're here for the library?" I knew this is what she was here for, but it was always nice to be polite. "Yeah, um, where's Stefan?"
"He's in the kitchen cooking." I replied. She observed the living room, looking at all the antique furniture we had. "Wow. This is your living room?" She questioned, looking in awe at how it was designed. "Living room, parlor, Sotheby's auction. It's a little kitschy for my taste." He gestured to the desk in the corner, "That thing is practically 100 years old." Because it was, most of the furniture was from the Salvatore's who lived in 1829 Florence. It was passed through generations and traveled across the sea to Virginia, it all was refurbished whenever the condition began to wear down.
"I can take you to the library if you want?" She looked down at her phone, a fake look of disappointment passing over her face. "Oh, umm, I just got a text from my aunt. She wants me back at the house." It was like she was trying her hardest not to sound like she wanted to get out of dodge. Her speech was slowed, like she was coming up with her words on the spot. "Oh, that's a shame. You could come over tomorrow if you want too." She looked surprised at my words, she didn't expect me to invite her back after the position she had caught me in. "I probably won't be able to, I have a bunch of things to do after school tomorrow." She rejected, "I'll see you later." She walked out of the house before I could say bye, the sound of the door slamming shut as she walked away from the house.
"That was so rude." Damon said, heading back to his seat on the couch with me. "Didn't even let us say goodbye." I rolled my eyes, placing my legs back in his lap when he sat down. "She probably thinks you and me are having an affair with the way she caught us sitting." Damon sighed, placing his hand back on my baby bump. "What, you want me to compel her?" He asked, he hated doing things he deemed were unnecessary when it came to his vampire powers. "No, I'm going to test her. Stefan gave her his phone number earlier, so she's most likely going to tell him about what she saw. Then it's a 33% chance she either tried to offer him comfort and become his girlfriend without regard for the situation, she bides her time and tries to date him after Stefan has confirmed our fake break up, or she decides she doesn't want to date Stefan after all."
"But why put all the effort into a 66% chance of catching her in a lie?" It was a good question, but the answer was simple. I'm a territorial woman, I spent thousands of years having things stolen and collapsed from underneath my grasp, I would be damned before I let my mates be stolen from me. "Because, with the way Elena has been eying Stefan, I want a guarantee that she won't try to break us apart either now or later. You know how I am." I state, holding on to his upper arm as he rubbed my stomach. "What if he wants to sleep with her?" He asked, and it was a valid question.
There were rules we outlined in our relationship to ensure that we didn't cross any boundaries. Damon, though he loved me, wasn't too sold on 100% monogamy and neither was I. It wasn't a romantic thing as much as it was a sexual thing, and we all had flings over the years we had been together, even inviting multiple partners into our bed for orgys. "As long as she knows our relationship status and that it doesn't mean he's in love with her, same as always."
The flutters returned at an even greater rate than before, making me let out a moan of discomfort. "Nobody ever tells you how inconvenient being pregnant is." I groaned, leaning my hand down to rub my stomach myself. "Only three more months until they're out." Damon said, leaning down and pressing a kiss to my belly. "You hear that little one, only three more months until you're out of there." He spoke to our unborn baby, nuzzling his nose against my baby bump. My heart melted a little as I heard him speak. Damon was all about being the macho sexy man out of the three of us so, I loved it whenever he allowed himself to be gentle and kind. "Food is ready." Stefan said as he stuck his head out of the kitchen. We both stood up from the couch, heading into the kitchen. I was long overdue for a meal.
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3 R D P O V
Elena sighed as she lit someone else's candle, the comet overhead combined with the streetlights illuminating the area. She had asked Stefan to meet her without Feiyan, and he had surprisingly agreed without any persuasion. She had never seen the attractive high schooler without his girlfriend, but apparently Feiyan wanted to sleep in and encouraged him to make some new friends. Maybe she wanted to be alone in the house with Damon. She looked up to see who's candle she had lit, and was a little weirded out to see Stefan standing before her. It was strange that he appeared right as she was thinking of him.
"Thank you. Hi." He said, looking down to see her face. He was around 3/4ths of a head taller than her, and she liked that she was smaller compared to him. "Hi." Elena felt awkward, she was about to tell the boy she was infatuated with that his girlfriend was cheating on him with his older brother, that certainly had enough grounds to warrantée her nervousness. What if the plan went wrong, and even after adding in some details to the story he didn't believe her? "Umm, follow me." she started, moving away from the crowd to a more secluded area of the festival. Stefan followed her, speaking his own words before she could muster up enough courage to tell Stefan the story she had come up with yesterday.
"You know, that comet...it's been traveling across space for thousands of years. All alone." He was muttering, and it felt oddly romantic to the 17 year old girl. "Yeah, Bonnie says it's a harbinger of evil." Stefan sighed, and she could only imagine what his face would look like when she told him what happened. "I think it's just a ball of... snow and ice, trapped on a path that it can't escape. And once every 145 years, it gets to see it's home. Why did you ask me to meet you here, Elena?" Here goes nothing, she thought, turning to face him. "When I came over to your house yesterday, I saw something."
"What kind of thing?" He asked, looking concerned and that made Elena feel more confident in what she was going to do. In his moment of need for comfort after hearing the story, she would be there for him and he would have no reason to think that she wasn't a perfect girlfriend candidate.
"I saw Feiyan, and your brother Damon. They were on the couch and he was rubbing her stomach and she kissed him and they started making out, and her stomach looked like she was pregnant and I thought you should know because nobody deserves to have their girlfriend cheat with their brother." She rambled, and a heartbroken expression came over Stefan's face as she finished. He looked shocked, his hand coming up to cover his mouth. "I need to sit down." He said, stumbling over to sit against a tree.
Elena followed him, taking a seat beside him as he stared at the ground before him. "I can't believe it." He uttered, his eyes full of tears. "I never thought..." Elena slung her arm over his broad shoulders, pulling him into a comforting hug. While Stefan cried about his brother and girlfriend sneaking around behind his back, all Elena could really think about was how warm the hug was, and how nice it would be to lay her head on his shoulder. "I know you don't want to believe it, but I saw it with my own two eyes." She told him, rubbing his back as he wiped the tears from his face.
"All you can do now is move past it." Stefan turned to face her, watching as she spoke. "All you can do now is find someone deserving of you." And with those words being released from her lips, she began to lean in closer, closing her eyes as she moved to kiss him. "What the hell is wrong with you?" Stefan asked as he jumped away from the teenage girl. She opened her eyes in shock, looking at her crushes' angry expression. This was not how things were supposed to go, he was supposed to kiss her and dump Feiyan to be with her. "You need to move on, Stefan. I'm the perfect person to do that with." She tried to bring him under her spell, but those were the wrong words to say.
"First you tell me that my girlfriend is sleeping with my brother and now you're trying to kiss me. In what world does that make sense." He raged, Elena cowering slightly at his words. "Never speak to me again." He was practically yelling as he marched away in anger. Elena stood there confused, this hadn't happened with Matt. It only took one look at her face before Matt had fallen under her spell. She would figure out what caused this, and she would find a way to make Stefan her's. No matter what the cost was.
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