"I'm confused. Are you psychic or clairvoyant?" Caroline asked Bonnie as the three of us walked through the halls.
"Technically Grams says I'm a witch. My ancestors were these really cool Salem witch chicks or something. Grams tried to explain it all, but she was looped on the liquor, so I kinda tuned it out. Crazy family, yes. Witches? I don't think so," Bonnie said.
"Yeah, well, feel free to conjure up the name and number of that guy from last night," Caroline said with a smile growing on her face.
"Caroline, what guy?" I asked, shocked she didn't tell me sooner.
"I didn't see him, Caroline did. Why didn't you just talk to him?" Bonnie asked Care.
"I don't know. I was drunk," Caroline defended, shrugging.
****
I walked down the hospital halls with Matt. I wanted to visit Vicki, to see how she was doing. I actually felt somewhat bad for her. "Hey, I'm gonna get a snack, you go ahead, I will be right there," I said, stopping at a vending machine.
"Ok," Matt said as he continued walking. I pushed a few buttons on the machine when I heard screaming and Matt running out of the room.
"Matt, what's wrong?" I asked, but he just ignored me and kept running. I grabbed my snack and walked towards Vicki's room and saw Stefan there.
"It came out of the night and jumped you. You blacked out. It's all you remember," Stefan said, holding Vicki down on the bed and looking straight into Vicki's eyes.
"It's all I remember," Vicki said in a monotone voice. Stefan turned around and saw me standing in the doorway.
"Stefan, what were you doing to her?" I asked, confused. He looked at me, not knowing what to do. I was then dragged out of the room and taken into a storage closet. I pulled my arm out of his grasp. "What the hell were you doing to Vicki?"
"Forget you saw me here," Stefan commanded, staring into my eyes.
"What the-What are you doing? Why would I forget you're here?" I was becoming more confused by the second.
"Nothing, it's nothing," he dismissed, "I just wanted to check on Vicki."
"Oh ok, yeah," I nodded my head, pretending to believe him. "Definitely, because you call doing that weird command thing just checking on Vicki."
"It was nothing," he repeated.
"Ok," I shrugged, "Well, since it was nothing you won't mind me telling Matt what I just saw." I turned to leave the storage closet when Stefan grabbed my arm to stop me.
"I'll tell you, but you can't tell anyone. Not even, Elena," he said.
"Deal," I said, waiting for him to speak. I raised my brows, "I'm waiting."
"I'm a vampire," his tone was serious, but a vampire? Seriously?
"Yeah, ok, totally believable," I chuckled.
"I'm serious, Rose. I've been alive since 1864. I'm 161 years old." I looked at him skeptically. "My brother is also a vampire. He's the one that hurt Vicki; I was just trying to clean up his mess. What I was doing to Vicki, it's called compulsion. It's a form of mind control."
"Do you, you know, kill people?" I asked hesitantly.
"No, I don't. I feed off of animals. But my brother, Damon, chooses to hurt people." I still didn't know whether to trust him. "I promise, I won't hurt your family or friends."
"Are you going to tell Elena?"
"Eventually, soon, when the time is right."
I nodded slowly, trying to process what he just told me. "Is that it?"
He shook his head, "There's so much more. I want to give you something to protect yourself. We can go back to my house while I explain the rest?" I nodded. We had begun our short walk back to Stefan's house.
"So, what else is there to. . . vampires?" I asked him.
"Sun kills us, so I wear a daylight ring," he shows me the ring that had caught my eye the other day. "A stake to the heart can also kill us. We can turn off the part to ourselves that's human. Everything is heightened when being a vampire, emotion-wise. Vampires are physically a lot stronger, better eyesight and hearing, fast running, jumping. We also have fast healing capabilities. And don't believe what you read in books, it's a myth." I nodded, taking it all in. "What I want to give you is an herb called vervain. It can burn us, it's a vampire's weakness."
It was definitely a lot; I almost didn't fully believe him. But he seemed dead serious, and that would explain all the recent animal attacks. But still, a vampire? It seemed like a stretch.
* * * *
Stefan and I walked into the boarding house quietly because we saw Damon's car outside and Stefan didn't want Damon to see me. Their house was covered in antiques. Stefan and Damon probably collected them over the years. It almost felt a little too old, but it was still beautiful.
"Stefan. And who is this?" Damon announced his presence. He looked familiar, then it clicked. He was at the coffee shop the other night. I looked next to him to see Elena. I hope Elena didn't think I was trying to cozy up with Stefan. He was definitely not my type. Plus, it was my sister's crush. It's against sister-code, and girl-code in general.
"Elena, I didn't know you were coming over," Stefan said, not giving my name to Damon and glaring at him. Damon just had a smirk plastered on his face.
Elena took a small step towards Stefan, "I know. I should have called, I just-"
Damon cut her off, "Oh, don't be silly. You're welcome any time, you too Rose. Aren't they, Stefan?" My face dropped. I never told him my name. I shouldn't be surprised; Stefan just told me he and his brother were vampires.
"How did you know my name?" I asked.
He looked at me and spoke, "Oh Stefan told me. He talks about you a lot, and Elena of course. You know, I should break out the family photo albums, or some home movies. But... I have to warn you. He wasn't always such a looker."
"Thank you for stopping by, Elena. It's nice to see you. Rose, nice talking to you," Stefan said looking at Elena, then back to Damon.
"Yeah, we should probably go. It was nice to meet you, Damon," Elena said, looking between the brothers.
Damon grabbed her hand and started to shake it, "Great meeting you too, Elena." He kissed her hand before Elena walked toward Stefan, who was still glaring at Damon.
"Stefan? Stefan?" Elena called out, trying to get Stefan to move out of the way. I nudged Stefan's shoe with mine and he moved out of the way. Elena and I shared a look before we walked out of the house together.
* * * *
I was at the comet with my candle lit, talking to Bonnie, Caroline, Tyler, and Matt. Well, I wasn't talking, I was trying to listen in on Stefan and Elena's conversation. The summary of their conversation was It's not going to work. I walked up to Stefan, who just stood there, soaking in her words.
"I'm sorry about her," I said, making Stefan turn around and face me.
"It's fine. I get it," he says. I shake my head, chuckling.
"She does like you. She's just scared to get her heart broken. She's usually the heartbreaker, but you're different than the other guys she's dated. You have my approval," I smirked at him as he sent me a smile in return. "Of course, if you do break her heart, I'm gonna have to kill you."
He laughed, "I would expect nothing less."
I smiled, "Great, we're in agreement. I'm going to the grill to get a drink. See you later."
"See you," he mumbled as I walked towards the grill. Once I entered, I made a beeline for the bar. Hopefully the bartender would be compliant and gracious enough to give me an alcoholic beverage.
The bartender comes up, "Hi, what can I get you?"
"Hi, uhm, surprise me, but make it sweet and a splash of alcohol," I smile.
"I'm going to need some I.D.," he says, resting his arms on the table with his brows raised.
I chuckle nervously, "You know, I turn 21 next month so-"
"Get the girl a drink," someone comes up next to me. Damon, just lovely. I'm assuming he compelled the man because the bartender scurried off to get me a drink.
"Thanks," I forced a smile. I didn't want to admit it, especially to him, but I was a tad bit scared. Just a tad though.
"I know you know about me," he whispered. "And don't be scared. If I wanted to kill you, I would've already." Yeah, like that was a huge comfort. The bartender comes with my drink, setting it down on a napkin. I quickly pick it up, drinking it as fast as I can to get away from Damon. I set the glass back down, making my way to leave before Damon stops me with a grip on my wrist. He was about to say something when Vicki came up next to us.
"I know you," Vicki says as Damon lets go of my wrist.
"Well, that's unfortunate," Damon dismisses.
Vicki moves a little closer, "Um...I don't-I don't know how, but your face," she chuckles a little bit, "Excuse me, I'm sorry." She walks away to the bathroom before Damon rises from his seat. I already knew he was going to hurt Vicki again. I may not be too fond of the girl, but I don't want her to die.
"Wait," I say. He stops and turns around to look at me, "Don't hurt her, please. If you want to feed off of someone, I won't mind if you stop hurting my friends."
He smirked, "Sorry, no can do. I have other plans for you." He winked before walking away, leaving me to contemplate his recent words. I hoped his 'other plans' included leaving my sister and I alone, but I highly doubted it.
****
I was talking with Caroline and Bonnie, while Matt was tending to Vicki. "Excuse me. Hi," Stefan says as he walks up to us.
"Hi," Bonnie greets, her head rising from its' resting spot located on her fist.
"Um, have you guys seen Elena?" He asks.
"She went home," I said. Stefan nodded in response, starting to walk away. "I'm going to give you Elena's cell number and her email. She is big on texting, and you can tell her. . .I said so." I wrote Elena's info on a small piece of paper and slid it over to Bonnie so she could pass it to Stefan.
"Thank you, " Stefan murmured, reaching his hand out to grab the paper from Bonnie. Bonnie gasped as they brushed hands. "You ok?" Stefan asked, furrowing his eyebrows.
"What happened to you?" Bonnie whispered. She immediately realizes what she said, "That's so rude. I'm sorry. Excuse me." Bonnie says, getting up from her seat and leaving.
"Yeah, she kind of wigs out. It's like her thing." Caroline says, shrugging her shoulders.
* * * *
Hello Fellow Readers
This is an updated authors note as I have edited the chapter and decringed it to make it bearable. I also had no way to end this chapter so sorry it sucked. Anyways, i hope you guys enjoyed and i will see you all next chapter.