Lucy Williams had been in Mystic Falls for a grand total of three days when she encountered her first vampire. To be fair the population was much smaller than it would become later so she could be forgiven for not coming across one sooner. She'd been driving around the area attempting to familiarize herself with the roads when she came across a man laying across her lane in the middle of the road. He didn't appear injured and his position certainly wasn't natural. Idiot.
She hummed in thought as she brought her midnight blue '69 Charger to a stop and put the car in park. She didn't shut off the ignition in case she needed to make a quick getaway but she doubted it would be necessary. Leaning over, she removed a stake from her glovebox and tucked it into her sleeve before getting out of the car. After a long stretch with no movement from the asshole laying in the road, she cleared her throat. "So, are you planning to move or do you want me to just run you over? I'd really rather not risk the damage to my car so if you could like roll out of the way or something, I'd appreciate it."
In a flash, the man was standing in front of her with a scowl twisting his handsome face. His eyes shifted as he attempted to compel her. "You won't scream no matter what happens."
She shrugged and arched a brow. "Okay, but only if you make the same promise." She nudged the point of the stake against his chest as he seemed not to have noticed it.
He stepped back, putting enough space between them so he could be safe well before she staked him. His gaze narrowed. "I'm going to enjoy killing you."
"Do you have to be an asshole? Seriously. I'm new in town and could use a friend, but we can't hang if you're going to be a dick. I have a strict no douche policy." Some of Lucy's favorite people were vampires. Nothing said this guy couldn't become one of them. Besides, her choices were befriend the vampire or kill him. She'd already signed a year lease on her apartment and having to constantly look over her shoulder for angry vamps wasn't an option for her. "If we could skip the whole 'I'm going to kill you' thing and move right on to 'I like this human,' that would be super."
The vampire tilted his head as he looked her over so she took the opportunity to do the same. He was certainly pretty, this one. Dark hair and brilliant blue eyes were her favorite combination after all. And then he smirked and a wicked glint shone in his eye. Damn, that just wasn't fair.
"What's your name, little human?"
She could tell from his tone that he was amused. "Lucy Williams. Yours?"
"Damon Salvatore," he said with a little bow. He took her hand and brought it to his lips to kiss the back of it. "Now, how about I buy you a drink?"
***
Lucy's life had been filled with people that came and went as she moved around. There were only two constants no matter where she ended up—her father and his best friend, who she'd called uncle since she could talk. Her father had been a roving spirit for most of his life and that hadn't stopped when he had a child. The two of them had been on their own since Lucy was a month old and they never stayed anywhere for long. As long as they had each other they were happy. Her uncle was a vampire who would pop into their lives for months at a time and then be gone just as quickly.
Then her father had gone and gotten himself killed in the most mundane way possible. A brain aneurysm while he was crossing the street. He collapsed in the middle of the crosswalk and never came home.
She'd traveled around for awhile visiting old friends but not making any new ones. This trip to Virginia was her first attempt at making a new life for herself. One without her father. It was a journey she'd feared she'd have to make on her own and then she'd met Damon Salvatore. The two of them had been attached at the hip since the night they met. They clicked. And they talked. About everything.
That's what had brought them to stand in the driveway of the boarding house, staring up at its expanse.
"This place is fucking huge," she finally said, breaking the silence that had stretched between them.
He nodded then waited another beat before changing the subject. "I'm not sure this is a good idea."
"Damon, he's your brother. You love him. I know you swore to give him shit for the rest of all eternity or whatever, but isn't that tiring? Wouldn't you rather just have a brother? You can build a fort in the backyard or something."
He snorted.
"Besides, if you make up with him, you can make fun of him for his obsession over the teenager from up close instead of just saying snarky shit where he can't hear you," she reasoned.
Elena Gilbert was a local teenager that Damon's brother Stefan had rescued from drowning in an accident that killed her parents. Damon had also met her briefly just prior to the accident. Apparently, she looked identical to the vampire that turned them 150 years ago or whatever. Stefan had been semi-stalking her since then while Damon stalked him. Lucy thought the whole thing was stupid but it really didn't affect her. She just did what she wanted to do and Damon joined her more often than not.
When Damon remained silent, she sighed. "Okay, I'm going to knock on the door. You can come or leave me to face your baby brother all by my lonesome." Lucy strolled toward the door ignoring her friend's hiss of protest behind her. If he actually wanted to stop her, he could. She was only human after all.
She knocked on the door and waited a couple of minutes for it to be answered. The man who opened the door was not Stefan but there was a definite family resemblance. The nephew. "Hello, Zach. I'm here to see Stefan."
Surprise flashed through his eyes before he pulled himself together. "I'm sorry, do I know you?"
"Nope. Stefan?"
"I don't know who that is." He licked his lips nervously. He was a piss poor liar.
Lucy sighed and rolled her eyes. "Sure you do. He's your great, great, great whatever uncle or something like that."
Zach narrowed his gaze. "Exactly who are you?"
She lifted a brow but before she could say anything, Damon was there beside her. "Hello, nephew. Aren't you going to invite me in?"
When Zach just stared with wide eyes, Damon placed his hand on the door and shoved it the rest of the way open before stepping inside. "Oh, that's right. My house."
Lucy followed behind and gave a shrug of her shoulders. "Sorry." She wasn't sorry in the slightest.
"Oh, brother of mine," Damon called out in a singsong voice as he strolled into the living room. He'd either find his confidence or he was damn good at pretending. He headed straight to the bar and poured two glasses of bourbon. As he handed Lucy her drink, Stefan appeared in the room.
"What are you doing here, Damon?" His voice was cold, angry.
Lucy sat on the couch as she sipped her drink and watched the two of them. Just observing the way they moved, the way they carried themselves, she could see the difference in their personalities. No wonder they clashed all the time. Uptight and laidback. Serious and snarky.
"Can't I just come visit my baby brother?" Damon asked with a smirk.
"No, you can't. You always have an agenda. You can't come in here and start messing with my life again. I won't let you. What do you want?" Stefan's face was twisted with irritation. It wasn't a good look for him.
"Wow. He is rude," Lucy observed causing Stefan to turn to her in surprise.
His attention immediately snapped back to his brother. "And you know how I feel about you compelling people."
Damon said nothing, his expression only growing darker with every jab and insult hurled in his direction.
"I'm not compelled, douchebag," Lucy sniped. "Damon's my friend."
He snorted. "Damon doesn't have friends."
And with that, Lucy was across the room smacking the younger Salvatore across the face. "Listen, you self-righteous prick. You may think you're so much better than your brother but you've been the only rude one since we arrived. Damon may be cocky and arrogant at the best of times, but he genuinely cares for people. You, however, are just an ass. I convinced him to come here and try to repair things between the two of you, but maybe I shouldn't have. You've both done shitty things to each other and to others. Get over it and start over. Or don't. I don't give a shit. Damon, I'll see you later."
She didn't wait for a response before setting her glass down on the closest table and striding out of the boarding house. She slammed the heavy door behind her before remembering that Damon had ran her there. She was going to have to walk home. Shit. She was halfway down the driveway when a figure appeared in front of her. She was surprised to see it was Stefan.
Her arms were crossed over her chest as she looked up at him. "Sorry I smacked you."
He gave her a lopsided smile. "No, you're not."
She shrugged. "No. I'm not."
He cleared his throat and shifted his weight on his feet. "I am sorry about that in there. You're right I was being a dick. To you and Damon. Can we start over?"
"That depends. Did you apologize to your brother?"
"Not yet, but I will. I wanted to catch you before you walked too far."
"Okay, then," Lucy said with a nod before turning back to the house. "Let's go."
Stefan fell into step beside her. "That's it?"
"That's it. Did you want me to make it difficult for you?"
"Well, no, but I was expecting it."
"One thing to know about me, Salvatore, is that I am rarely what you expect.
***
A month later and the three of them were nearly inseparable unless Stefan was being Stalker Stefan. Then Lucy and Damon usually headed to the Grill for a drink. After all, it was important they got out of the house even if they did they exact same thing they did at home. At the moment, they were all at the boarding house. Lucy was laying on the couch with her head in Damon's lap and her legs in Stefan's while they watched a movie.
Damon played with her hair. "Not that I want our endless days of doing whatever the hell we want to end, but shouldn't you be getting a job or something? How are you paying your rent?"
Stefan frowned. "Of course, if you don't want to get a job, you could always move in here. Then you don't have to pay rent."
"Aw. Look at you two worrying about me. It's so sweet," she teased before turning her attention back to the movie. "Seriously, I'm fine. Don't worry about it."
Damon huffed a laugh. "You're human. I always worry about you."
Lucy made a sound of agreement, but said nothing else.
"You're not going to tell us what you do for money, are you?" Stefan said, amusement coloring his words.
Lucy sighed. "Fine. If the two of you must know, I'm a camgirl."
The elder Salvatore sprayed his mouth full of bourbon in shock.
Stefan frowned and looked between the other two. "What's a camgirl?"
Lucy's lips twitched as she glanced at Damon. His eyes were wide and shook his head. "No way in hell am I explaining that one."
"A camgirl does live shows on the internet," Lucy stated. When Damon nudged her, she rolled her eyes and continued. "People pay me to perform erotic acts live on the internet."
Stefan blinked rapidly and his mouth dropped open. "What? T-that's...I mean...how..."
Damon interrupted his stuttering. "We need to talk about this, sweetheart. Surely there are better ways to make money. Hell, I have money. I'll pay you to not be a camgirl."
At that Lucy found it impossible to keep a straight face. She started laughing and it escalated to the point she was curled up with her arms over her stomach. "That was perfect. You should have seen your faces. I can't believe you guys bought that. I'm with you like ninety percent of the time. When would I possibly be able to do that without you knowing?"
Just as she got her laughter under control, Damon's fingers found the ticklish spot on her ribs while his brother started to tickle her feet. She screamed and howled in laughter while begging them to stop. They finally took mercy on her when she fell off the couch.
She laid on the floor gasping for breath with one hand pressed against her chest. "My dad left me a lot of money and I have a very generous uncle that set up an account for me. I don't ever have to work if I choose not to. Not as exciting as my original explanation, but it's the truth."
As she pulled herself back onto the couch, she caught Zach peeking into the room from the corner of her eye. He quickly disappeared. He'd probably heard her screams and came to make sure she was still breathing. Try as the three of them might, Zach was not happy to be living with two vampires. He was certain he would be killed at any moment. Thank god he'd been compelled ages ago not to tell anyone his 'nephews' were vampires.
Lucy pursed her lips and looked between the brothers. "Did you mean what you said about me moving in here? Because I have an idea."
***
She found Zach in the kitchen. He looked up in surprise when she joined him as he was used to her giving him his space. "Hey, Zach," she said with a grin.
He narrowed his gaze as if not trusting her cheerful greeting. "Um...hello. Is there something I can do for you?" He kept glancing behind her waiting for the boys to show up.
"Actually, I think I may be able to do something for you." She leaned on the counter. "How would you like to live in my apartment?"
He blinked several times. "I'm sorry, what?"
Lucy grinned at his confusion. "I'm here all the time. Half of my clothes are already here. I go home maybe once a week if that and it's usually just to get something I need. So, I have an apartment sitting empty not being used. You are miserable here. I'm offering a trade. I move in here, you move into my apartment. I signed a year lease and pre-paid. Seems a shame to waste it."
"Are you serious?" There was a spark of hope in his eyes. "What's the catch?"
"No catch. Just keep giving us a heads up on the council and I'll keep convincing Damon to not leave bodies lying around. Deal?"
"Oh my god, yes." He gave her an impulsive hug which she didn't return. "I'm going to pack right now. Thank you so much."