Stefan's Diaries 1 - Origins (15 page)

34

I watched in satisfaction as Damon lustily drank, his tentative sips becoming gulps as he held his face down to Alice’s neck. As Alice’s nearly lifeless body grew white, a healthy flush rose in Damon’s cheeks.

As Damon drank the last drops of Alice’s blood, I took a few steps outside the shack. I glanced around in wonder. Just last night, the area had seemed desolate, but now I realized that it teemed with life—the scent of animals in the forest, the flap of birds overhead, the sound of Damon’s and my heartbeats. This spot—this whole world
—
was full of possibility.

My ring glimmered in the moonlight, and I brought it to my lips. Katherine had given me eternal life. Father always had told us to find our power, to find our place in the world. And I had, though Father hadn’t been able to accept it.

I took a deep breath, and the coppery scent of blood filled my nostrils. I turned as Damon stepped out from the shack. He seemed taller and stronger than even a few moments ago. I noticed that he had a matching ring on his middle finger.

“How do you feel?” I asked, waiting for him to see everything I saw.

Damon turned away from me and walked toward the water. He knelt down and cupped the liquid to his mouth, washing away the remnants of blood on his lips.

I crouched next to him at the edge of the pond.

“Isn’t it amazing?” I asked. “It’s a whole new world, and it’s ours. Forever!” I said, giddy.

Damon and I would never have to grow older.

Never have to die.

“You’re right,” Damon said slowly, as if he were speaking in an unfamiliar language.

“We’ll explore it together. Just think. We can go to Europe, explore the world, get away from Virginia and memories….” I touched his shoulder.

Damon turned to face me, his eyes wide. I stepped back, suddenly fearful. There was something different about him, a foreignness in his dark eyes.

“Are you happy now,
brother
?” Damon snorted derisively.

I took a step toward him. “You’d rather be dead than have this whole world for the taking? You should be
thanking
me!”

Fury flashed in his eyes. “Thanking you? I
never
asked you to make my life a hell from which I can’t escape,” he said, spitting each word into the pond. Suddenly he pulled me into a hug with such strength that I gasped. “But hear this, brother,” he hissed in my ear. “Though we will be together for an eternity, I will make an eternity of misery for you.” With that, he released me from his grip and sprinted into the dark forest.

As his form disappeared into the black shadows of the trees, a single crow rose from the woods. It let out a plaintive shriek, and then it was gone.

Suddenly, in a world that mere moments ago had teemed with possibility, I was utterly alone.

W
hen I try to reconstruct that
moment when I succumbed to my
Power and destroyed my relationship
with Damon, I imagine a split second
of silence. In that second, Damon
turned around, our eyes connected,
and we made peace. But there was no
silence, nor would there ever be
again. Now I constantly hear the
rustling of animals in the forest, the
quickening of breath that occurs when
any being knows danger is near, the
pitter-patter-pause of a heart stopping.

I also hear my thoughts, tumbling and
colliding against each other like
ocean waves.

If only I hadn’t been weak when
Katherine stared into my eyes. If only
I hadn’t gone back to see Father. If
only I hadn’t made Damon drink.

But I did. The fallout of those
choices is a mantle that only grows
darker and more nuanced with age.

And I must live with the consequences
of my misdeeds for eternity.