002: VAMPIRE? BON JOVI?
Returning from the dead used to be something I did well / I began asking why / I began forgetting how -
ᴍᴀʀɢᴀʀᴇᴛ ᴀᴛᴡᴏᴏᴅ, ᴘᴏᴡᴇʀ ᴘᴏʟɪᴛɪᴄs
*
By the time the analogue clock hanging between the blinds behind the sink had turned to 6:00 am, I had been through five cups of caffeinated tea, all of which did little of their intended effect and instead left me nursing a minor, though sharp and rather painful, headache.
Busying myself, I grabbed Sammy's holiday homework that was sitting on the dining table and placed it in his bag, figuring I could let him sleep in a little as I prepared him breakfast and lunch. It wasn't difficult – though that morning we ran out of milk and cinnamon toast crunch and bread and peanut butter, leaving pretty much nothing in our cupboards besides a few mac n cheeses for our next few dinners. It left nothing for me.
I lost track of time that morning. The day before was the first day of school, and I had missed it so I could get on top of cleaning the house, which had fallen into disrepair with me gone, and which took entirely too long. I allowed Sammy to take the first day off so he could unpack his bag and settle back in home after his school camping trip.
It was perfect timing, really. With the attack happening on the first day of the holidays, his camp meant I could leave home to deal with the side-effects of death, without having to worry about him being looked after by Griffin.
On top of that, Liz's unannounced and early visit had left me with even less sleep than usual, and I hadn't yet gotten used to the school times. I didn't have time to adjust from the holidays, and even worse it took about ten minutes to coax Sammy to wake up, and an additional 15 for us to remember everything we needed.
(We had to go back to the house three times as Sammy had forgotten two books on two separate occasions that we had left the house, and I'd accidently left my entire bag there.)
Needless to say, despite the miracle of having gotten Sammy to Mystic Elementary School on time, the twenty-minute walk from there to Mystic Falls High led me to being around ten minutes late. If it had been the day before that this had happened, I would not have had much repercussions, as my music instructor for my elective cared less about my attendance than I did – only my progress and achievements. However, this was a Tuesday, and Tuesdays meant History first thing, and History meant Mr Tanner. The pretentious, egotistical, condescending Tanner.
Strangely, I cherished walking through the hallway that day. For some reason walking alone throughout the school just felt so ominous, like walking along a silent, empty beach before the crashing of a tsunami. Like the serene calm before the inevitable storm.
It was a moment before I would have to face the judgemental stares of classmates and the pitiful glances of friends, neither of which I was looking forward to. Passing the pale lockers, and listening to the echoes of my shoes on the lino floor lasted only for a few minutes. I found myself in front of the History classroom door with a note from the front office that I had stopped at a moment earlier.
I sighed. Then rolled my eyes. Then scoffed. Then, not even knocking, I opened the door and walked in.
Abruptly, all conversation stopped. Every head turned towards my direction, and I found myself almost grimacing, thinking I should have at least cut bangs to somewhat alleviate the look of the scars that adorned my face - though this thought only crossed my mind for a moment.
For just a second later I felt the cold shiver run down my spine as the feeling of death crawling upon my skin, and the heavying of my heart as if a cruel, suffocating weight had been placed on my chest, and I knew what it was.
I knew what had come back to Mystic Falls.
'You're late,' Tanners uptight tone rang through my brain, through the earbuds that were blasting music through my ears. I turned my head towards him, muttered a low, unsympathetic apology, before throwing the note I had folded into a paper plane on his desk. He glared as he unfolded it and I made my way to my seat, next to Elena, before sitting down and taking out my history book and pen.
I glanced towards Elena momentarily. Both she and Bonnie were the only people I had kept in contact with over break. On May 23rd, on the day that I had died, on the day that everything that I'd known had shifted and morphed into something unrecognisable, Elena had been in a car with her parents, and the three of them went over the Wickery Bridge. As she was drowning, my skin felt on fire as it was torn to shreds, and at around the same time we both took our last breaths. Then soon after we both experienced a miracle. We both came back to life.
She, naturally.
Me?
Not so much.
I smiled softly, and she smiled back, and I noticed the grief still swirling in her eyes and demeanor. We broke contact as Mr Tanner, who had been momentarily distracted from the plane, began rambling about something that I was, and still am, sure didn't appear in the syllabus.
My eyes roamed the classroom. So many memories had been made there; Elena and I trying to recreate the explosion of Thera for a class presentation and instead elephant toothpaste had covered our entire desk and all of our work for the semester. (We'd been reprimanded, reminded that the history room was not the science one, before being informed that we had failed that assignment); Bonnie and I organising a class Olympics when Tanner was sick and our substitute teacher never showed; and Rue and I-
My eyes trailed to the window sill, where years prior we had etched into the wood ER <3 PB, shortly before we left the class and went to the woods, found the clearing by Stephens Creek and pracitsed spells and danced to the sound of the Mockingbirds that would echo us as we sang.
Even though I could see her, and even though due to unknown circumstances she was still within arm's reach, something was so inexplicably cold about our memories. Something sad. I felt a tap on my shoulder and I'd turned to see Elena once more, though this time sporting an empathetic smile. I shook my head, indicating I didn't want to talk about it, and she nodded, understanding, before turning to a boy I had never seen before.
I immediately stiffened, I immediately knew. He was who I was searching for as soon as I entered the class. He was the one who had died.
Elena was whispering to him with a slight blush on her face, and he was responding with a playful smirk, completely engrossed in their conversation - the budding romance between them was completely obvious. After a few moments Elena giggled, shook her head, and placed her hands under her chin, ignoring him with a repressed smile as she pretended to listen to Tanner. The boy looked rather proud at having made her laugh, and he leaned back on his chair, resting his hands behind his head.
Then he looked at me.
From his expression I could tell he was rather startled at being caught, though he didn't look away. He looked confused, and as he tilted his head in curiosity as I tilted mine.
Then I smirked.
'Vampire?' I whispered, and his green eyes that looked so familiar grew slightly wider as a flash of fear overtook his expression. He glanced towards Elena, before turning back to me, and he shrugged, trying to feign carelessness. The tension in his shoulders communicated otherwise.
'Bon Jovi?' he questioned softly, and for some reason I had to hide an actual smile as Living On A Prayer played through my headphones. Despite the unnamed boy being a vampire, despite the definite darkness surrounding him, the supernatural instincts that had been left over from my magic made me fully believe that there was something different about him. That despite the shadows surrounding him, he, unlike most other creatures of the night, fought with teeth and claws to allow the light of his humanity to shine though.
Something told me that he was one of the good ones.
'The Battle of Willow Creek,' Tanners voice carried and distracted us from our short interaction. 'Took place right here in our very own Mystic Falls. How many casualties resulted in this battle? Miss Bennett?'
Bonnie smiled shyly. She'd never enjoyed being picked out from the class, and had once told Tanner so, but also was not "impolite", as she put it, enough to speak up in retaliation when he still did so in front of her peers. Instead she shrugged.
'Um... a lot?' she said sheepishly. 'I'm not sure. Like a whole lot.'
'Cute becomes dumb in an instant, Miss Bennett,' Tanner said, and I immediately scowled at the insult, frustration building in my chest. Both of these actions were incredibly common in Tanners classroom, as he often insulted and belittled students, especially those who didnt deserve it.
Bonnie was incredibly talented, she got top marks in Algebra II and Trigonometry, she just disliked History. No- no- actually. She loved History. I think she just neglected the subject as a silent protest to Mr Tanners teaching methods.
'Mr Donovon. Would you like to take this opportunity to overcome your embedded jock stereotype?'
Matt, pure-hearted innocent heart-broken Matt, laid back in his seat.
'It's okay, Mr Tanner. I'm cool with it.'
I held back a smile of pride. He knew the answer – I had helped him up his grades so he could make the football team as he was falling behind because of the situations with his mother and sister – and the battle of Willow Creek was one of his favourites to review - but in true Donovan fashion, he was holding back in solidarity with Bonnie.
'Hmm, Elena?' My eyes narrowed dangerously. 'Surely you can enlighten us about one of the towns most historically significant events?'
Elena shook her head, embarrassed of being put under the spotlight, underneath everyone's pitiful gaze. 'I'm sorry I-I don't know.'
'I was willing to be lenient last year for obvious reasons, Elena,' Tanner said pointedly, and I looked towards the ceiling in frustration, the anger clearly depicted on my face as I glared. 'But the personal excuses ended with summer break.'
'There is no time limit on grief, asshole,' I snapped before he had barely even finished his sentence. Elena looked over with wide eyes, but I didn't even care for her wordless warning, remembering the numerous times she had called me in the middle of the night, struggling for breath after a night terror of drowning affected her physically, and the times that another fresh wave of sadness and pain caused her guilt to reignite and unstoppable tears to run down her cheeks. 'So why don't you just shut it because, last I checked, you get paid to teach History, not to be a Grade-A jackass.'
The class fell eerily silent.
'And, to educate your mind that's so obviously only used for interior decoration, there were 364 casualties, unless you want to add in the civilians, which, lets be real, you probably don't.'
He blinked, stupefied. He opened and closed his mouth. 'There were no civilian casualties, and you dare-'
'Uh, sir, actually there was,' a voice sounded from my left, and I turned to see that even Elena had wide eyes as she looked towards the unidentified vampire that had spoken up. 'There were twenty-seven, sir. Confederate soldiers, they fired on the church believing it to be housing weapons. They were wrong. It was a night of great loss.'
The sad way he talked made me think he was there, and, giving the immortal status of vampires, this was entirely plausible. I remember looking at him in slight sympathy. Despite not even knowing him, the air of familiarity he held, and the genuineity that shined through his voice, made me sad for him.
'The founders archives are, uh, stored in the civil hall if you'd like to brush up on your facts.'I smiled softly as the entire class failed at holding back laughs. Tanner grew slightly red, his anger protruding through his pucked lips, and I turned towards the vampire, offered him a slight tilt of the head in respect. He beamed, before turning towards Elena, and whispering something that made her smile even wider than him.
I then turned away, smiling softly, drowning out the rest of the class as I put the other earbud in my ear and doodled on the corner of my History textbook.
• • •
I hadn't had a chance to catch Elena and Stefan in the short five minutes before our next class as Tanner held me back, dictating the terms of my Friday detention that I already knew was coming.
The next class I had was a spare, and I used it to sneak into the art rooms – rooms with many shelves lining the walls filled with paint palettes yet to be cleaned, folded aprons that were probably stuck together with paint, mason jars, books with smeared paints over the covers, unwashed paint brushes, and pencils of varying lengths, as well as paint thinners, charcoals, turps, and more. Easels lined the perimeter, with seats to sit on having fluffy covers, and I immediately headed towards the one in the far corner. Blobs of paint were scattered on the walls.
I smiled sadly at the painting I was working on – a rather large oil art murial on canvas of those who the town had lost in the past year. I had done one every year since I was about thirteen - Tyler, a friend of mine, had bragged to his mother who just so happened to be the Mayors wife. She commissioned it, and it had been a tradition for it to be hung at the founders hall during the annual celebrations, then stored in a special part of the museum when it was replaced.
It was almost done. Around thirty people had unfortunately passed, drownings, old age, cancers. The hardest was the toddler who had passed from leukemia, and who I had placed in the middle of the painting, in a cot, with everyone else surrounding it. Using reference photos I had attempted to catch the essence of all of those who we had lost.
Miranda, Greyson and Rue's places stayed empty for a good long while. At this point, I still had yet to even sketch them in, and I wouldn't until the last few days of it's due date. It was too difficult, with Mira and Greyson treating me as their own daughter, and Rue having been one of the people I cared most about in this world.
(At the time. Our memories would later morph into a source of hatred and anger, altered and poisoned by the revelation of secrets. But that is a story for later.)
Reaching for the hook I hammered into the wall, I took my apron that was hanging from it, slipped it around my neck, tied it around my waist, and mixed some of my older paints before getting to work.
It was only later, at lunch, that I managed to catch up with Elena. She was leaning up against her locker, mere inches away from our new resident vampire, who had his back towards me. Elena spotted me over his shoulder and instantly beckoned me over. I smiled, and pulled her into a hug. Despite our many phone calls, I had missed her.
'Hey El,' I whispered with a smile before pulling back, resting my hands on her shoulders and looking over her concernedly. 'How are you holding up?'
'I'm fine,' she said with a strained smile. 'Getting better, at least. I um-' desperate to change the subject she turned towards the new kid. 'I don't think you and Stefan got a chance to meet? Stefan, Evergreen-Rose, Evergreen-Rose, Stefan Salvatore-'
'Eva, please,' I smiled and held out my hand, and he shook it. 'It's odd to see a new face here. Normally people are gunning to leave, not return.'
He tilted his head in alarmed curiosity. 'Return?'
'Of course, Salvatore,' I pointed out with a grin. 'I should have known. Tanner would never have let you go with no punishment unless you were on the footy team, or a descendant of one of the prestigious Founding Families. Almost a shame, though. I would have loved company on Friday.'
'He already gave you a detention?' Elena sighed, shaking her head with a knowing smile.
'Not my fault he's an absolute pratt,' I shrugged. 'Thanks for your help with that, by the way,' I nodded towards Stefan. 'He probably would have chewed me alive in front of the whole class had you not backed me up.'
Stefan smiled. 'I wouldn't worry about it. He doesn't seem like a good guy, and you're, from what I've heard, one of Elenas closest friends. Figured it would be smart having me in your good books going forward.'
Elena blushed and looked towards her feet, hiding a soft smile.
'Anyways, Elena, are you um,' I grimaced as I shifted the conversation to a sensitive topic. 'Are you going to the bonfire tonight?'
She instantly looked towards me, eyes wide.
'Really? Are you thinking of going?'
'Yeah, thinking,' I emphasised with an amused, pointed expression. 'I have to pick Sammy up from school and drop him off at Sheila's, and at some point I have to organise a few things with Griffin, but if I have time I might swing by.'
'I didn't think you would.'
'I wasn't really going to,' I confessed. The first time I had met Rue we were twelve, she had just moved from Chicago to live with Sheila, and she was attempting to shove three smores in her mouth from a bet. She succeeded, I gave her ten dollars from the lost gamble, and she then bought me curly fries and a milkshake at the Grill with it, thus marking our first ever "date". 'But I figured, you know. It's routine.'
'Routine helps,' Elena smiled softly, and I nodded. There was a soft, serene silence between the three of us, before Elena stood up straight, no longer leaning on the lockers for support. 'Well, anyways, I have to hand this letter to Debbie for all my absences. Have fun you two!' she smiled before giving me a quick hug, muttering something about playing nice, and then left down the hall.
Stefan and I glanced at each other.
Then we looked away.
A moment ticked by.
Then we glanced at each other.
Then-
'How did you know?' he almost demanded, though it wasn't in malice. It was simply a question he needed answering. Reasonable.
'Take a really big guess,' I tilted my head and smirked. 'Like, use your big immortal brain. Not a part of it, the whole thing, and question: how does this stranger know that I, a Salvatore no less, is a vampire?'
He frowned in thought and confusion before looking away, grimacing. I thought I could hear him cuss under his breath, though later, he always denied it.
He rubbed his hands over his face, shaking his head.
'You're a witch.'
I grinned. 'Something like that. So, obviously, you have to be extremely careful around me, Salvatore. Bippity-boppity-boo! and I could turn you into a frog if I wanted. Get you to play fetch with a golden ball and leave you trapped in the old Fell Well forever.'
'I'm not here to cause trouble,' Stefan immediately insists. 'I swear. I grew up here, my mother is buried here-'
'I don't care why you're here, Salvatore,' I simply said. 'I genuinely don't. I'm fine with you doing whatever the hell you want, providing you keep casualties to the absolute minimum. In fact, none would be optimal. Drawing attention to yourself brings the council on you- which-' I pointedly looked at him- 'you probably already know hunts your kind. And if the council point at you, they somewhat point at me, and they'll point at the Bennett's, and you're a fool-of-a-took if you think I'd save you over us.'
'Okay, okay, first of all, I don't need saving,' Stefan was visibly amused. 'I'm 163 years old, I'm strong enough on my own-'
'Oh, please. Your bunny diet isn't fooling anyone, least of all me. I could shove a stick in your heart with my bare hands and I doubt you'd have enough strength to stop me. No offence.'He almost flinched in shock. 'How do you-'
'Witch-things,' I shrugged, rolling my eyes. 'It wasn't easy to decipher what the hell my instincts were saying about you- instantly I saw you as like this dark cloud but with a bright golden lining - like an eclipse, really. Super weird. I'd never seen something like it before - in fact, the only time I'd ever seen a resemblance was with a ripper down in Portland. But he was just darkness, tearing through adults and children alike, dozens of families - so, what were you?-
'The only thing that made sense was that you were a ripper with a moral compass, a ripper with a heart - that you were one of those mythical paradoxical vampires that you read in history books but never actually believe in. I'm kind of in awe to meet you, actually, despite the fact you could go off your rockers any second. Your kind is incredibly rare.'
He grimaced, though it was in an air of slight amusement. 'First of all, thank you for the compliments. And second, I'll make sure to hold off on "going off my rocker", just for you.'
'Aw, Stefan, I'm touched,' I grinned and playfully placed my hand on my heart. 'But, just keep in mind that I'll be keeping you in mind. Your species and category are incredibly unpredictable, and, at times, uncontrollable. Despite your obvious denial and your longing to hide your true nature, your addiction has, and definitely will, fluctuate through the centuries, and if this happens to be a time in which you're not in control, and you harm a hair on Elena's head-'
'I would never-'
'I said if, Salvatore,' I interrupted softly. 'If you hurt Elena, or Bonnie, or my brother, or anyone I care about, I will personally see to it that your desiccated body rots in an unmarked pit in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, while your head is stashed in the grossest toilet in the grossest public bathroom in all of America.'
He grimaced before nodding, understanding. 'This um,' he confessed, 'is not the direction I thought my first conversation with Elena's best friend would go.'
'And this isn't how I thought my first interaction with Elena's next boyfriend would be. But pot-a-to, pot-ah-to.'
'Oh. We're not- we're not dating-' he answered sheepishly, but trailed at the disbelieving grin I sent him.
'Please,' I waved him off with a smile. 'I give it like a week. Max two-' The bell rang as Stefan rolled his eyes with a smile, and I tightened my bag over my shoulder before nodding towards him. 'I have to head off to Literature, but you seem nice, Stefan. Don't hurt her. And don't make me regret trusting you.'
He smiled. 'I promise you won't.'
I was already leaving, and he was already half way to his next class when I paused, staring at him as he walked away.
'We'll see,' I whispered.
And although he didn't make any sign of it, I know he heard me.
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(ch. word count; 4044)
(word count, total; 8877)
(TOTAL word doc count; 017)
,
Moved outta home. Began an accelerated double ba at university. Starting a new job. Got another chapter out, and another on the way!
Life is good :)
Eat well, sleep well, and drink some water if you haven't already. See you in the next chapter <3
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