Chapter Text
The first thing Angeline realizes when she opens her eyes is that she’s lying on a damp forest floor. It’s dark and her head hurts, so for a moment she just closes her eyes and doesn’t move.
She had been partying with some friends and she tries to remember if they drank that much to explain the headache and being alone in a fucking forest, but she’s pretty sure they didn’t. She doesn’t even remember being at the party for too long.
Angeline tries to recall her last memories.
She was dancing, then she was approached by a black-haired, blue-eyed man, he was handsome but there was this look in his eyes, a little too crazed for her liking, the smell of alcohol in him didn’t help his case. So, she tried to reject him nicely, but it just seemed to anger him. She didn’t have the patience to deal with an “alpha man” so early in the night, so she looks him straight in the eyes in an attempt to be firmer in her rejection or something, but his pupils dilating is the last thing she remembers.
Her eyes pop wide open as she sits on the floor.
Was that it? That moment of a girl’s life that she tries so hard to avoid?
Angeline, between ragged breaths of a raising panic attack, starts to analyze the state of her body, looking for signs that something had been done to her.
With tears rolling down her eyes in confusion but also so much relief she finds out that her clothes are intact and there’s no pain between her legs.
But then what was really happening?
She tries to calm down, taking a deep breath as she rises from the floor.
She looks around and has absolutely no idea where she is, where to go.
Her head hurts so badly, the confusion is driving her crazy.
And then it hits her nose. A smell. It’s faint but so good that it makes her body tremble. And she just knows she needs to follow it.
Needs to get to it as soon as possible.
So she follows it. She doesn’t even understand how she knows where to go, but she does. And the closer Angeline gets, the stronger the smell is. More appealing. And there’s this… hunger in her. It makes her throat ache and her gums get tender.
As she finally reaches the source of that divine smell, she realizes it’s coming from a woman, she’s sitting in front of a tent, holding her hand to her chest as she searches for something in her bag.
She’s… bleeding. Angeline realizes in the back of her head. And even though the smell in the air is driving her crazy, she can still organize her thoughts well enough to decide to help.
“Hi… Are you okay?” It’s a dumb question, she knows that, but in her defense her brain isn’t really working right now.
“Oh, hi honey,” The woman says after looking up to Angeline. “I cut my hand while cleaning up the campsite to go to sleep, it was a really stupid accident.” She laughs a little. Angeline doesn’t care much for it as she approaches the woman.
“Can I help with something?” She asks as she crouches down in front of her.
“It was not too deep actually, it just won’t stop bleeding, so I’m looking for something to try and stop it.” The woman extends her arm for Angeline to see that it’s indeed not a big cut, it’s in her palm, close to her thumb, but it’s bleeding a lot.
Angeline gets herself hypnotized by the flow as it starts to form a little pool of blood in the woman’s palm. The smell’s driving her insane.
Before she can think of what she’s doing she takes a hold of the woman’s wrist.
“It’s really fine…” The woman says while watching Angeline with a strange face. Probably starting to think she’s crazy. Angeline is thinking the same.
And then before she can even realize what she’s doing, Angeline brings her palm to her mouth. The woman screams and tries to get away. Angeline holds her tight.
As soon as she swallows the blood, she feels too many things at once.
First her gums ache, her teeth elongate, there’s a pressure around her eyes.
For a second, in the back of her mind, she understands it is all so wrong, but she can’t stop it and —in a flash— she attacks the woman’s neck, it was almost instinctual to aim there.
And it’s between the woman’s screams and the blood flooding her mouth that she remembers.
Angeline was at the Grill, having just eaten a late lunch.
Being a weekend her spa’s schedule was fully booked, so she decided to head to the Grill for an easy burger and fries instead of going home to cook something as she normally would, before going back to the spa.
She finishes her food and heads to the bathroom where she finds a very distressed Caroline Forbes, pacing from side to side. She’s one of her loyal customers so Angeline’s used to the teen agitated lifestyle and how stressed she gets. She used to tell Angeline all about her days during her massage sessions. Even though it’s been some time since she went to the salon.
“Caroline? Is everything all right?” Caroline turns suddenly towards her, eyes restless and slightly saddened.
“Angel… Yes, I’m fine, it’s just…” Caroline looks at her, as if trying to decide if she wants to talk about it or not. In the end she takes a deep breath and takes some steps until she’s right in front of Angeline. With her hands on her shoulders, she looks deep in Angeline’s green eyes. “You’re not going to question anything I say. You’re just going to listen… and then you’ll forget we talked.”
“I’ll listen and forget.” Angeline says as if hypnotized.
“I’m sorry Angel, it’s just all so frustrating, I need to take it all out of my chest before I explode. You’re a good listener. And you’re here.”
“Hey, it’s fine Care, I’m listening, as always.” She smiles at the agitated girl.
“I’m a vampire now.” She laughs, it’s low and it sounds very self-deprecatory. “And isn’t it crazy just by itself?” She returns to pacing. “It hurts Angel, I’m hungry all the time. The only moment it stops is when I feed, but it’s so hard, because I don’t know when I will lose control, drink a little too much. I killed someone, how crazy is that? I hurt Matt. How could I? I love him, I do! But how can I be with him being what I am? I can’t tell him, and it’s so hard to have an excuse for every shitty thing that keeps happening around here. And there’s also Tyler, he’s turning tonight and I’m so scared because it can kill me but it’s so unfair to be scared when he’s the one who’s going to go through it all, you know?” She said it all so fast that Angeline’s brain couldn’t process it even if she tried. Deeply inside, she knows it makes no fucking sense, but for some reason she didn’t care.
“It seems you’re going through a lot, Caroline.” It’s the only thing she can think of saying. She says it as if she understood. She didn’t.
Caroline opens her mouth, as if to say more but she gives up.
“I am, it’s terrible. I’m sorry, I just really needed to get it all out.”
“You know I love to hear you, Care.” Angeline gives a soft smile. Caroline’s going through a lot, it’s all that matters. “I need to go, but it was nice catching up.” And she knows it’s not how she should end the conversation that just happened, but somehow it felt right. She saw Caroline, she listened to her and now she would go.
“Angel… You will forget everything we talked about.” Caroline repeats while looking right at Angeline’s eyes.
And as soon as she got out of the bathroom, it was like she never heard anything at all.
Angeline’s finally heading out of her spa, it’s been another full day, her back hurts after sequential sessions of massage.
She’s getting late for the girl’s night she had agreed to go with some friends. She still needs to get home and get ready.
All the establishments around are already closed, small town that Mystic Falls is, everything tends to close kind of early, she’s not in the main street, so it’s even more expected.
She’s just turning around from the door when a wind catches her face and just like that a woman, around her own age, materializes in front of her. She looks sickly in her graying skin and veined, bloodshot eyes. Her shaggy hair is all over the place. There’s a crazy and pained look in her face.
And before Angeline could process it she suddenly attacks Angeline’s throat. Bites it aggressively. It hurts, badly. Angeline is so confused by the entire situation, and the pain is so great that barely any sound escapes her mouth as she tries to scream.
And as soon as the woman appeared, she’s suddenly gone, a whispered “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry” in her wake.
Bleeding and in shock, Angeline doesn’t know what to do, doesn’t even have the strength to do anything, really.
She’s bleeding a lot.
In a last instinct of trying not to die right then and there, she tries to get up, to get to her car and go somewhere safe.
Eventually, she does get to her car, but before she can open the door, it’s all too much and she collapses against it.
She’s crying, desperate, scared, confused.
In pain. So much pain in her neck.
And then there’s someone right in front of her. A boy. Brown hair and green eyes. Materializing in front of her, just like the woman before him. It makes Angeline’s heart beat faster —barely, she’s that weak. But even in her weak state she tries to process what’s happening.
The boy is looking at her, veins under his eyes, elongated teeth. A monster. Another one. Angeline cries, sobbing silently, too scared that any sound will startle him into hurting her. She doesn’t even try to beg for her life, what’s the point, anyway? She’s already half dead, she can feel it, her vision getting darker.
The man holds her shoulders tightly. It hurts. He seems to be in the middle of a battle with himself, fighting for restraint. He closes his eyes, takes a deep breath. Then he bites his wrist and presses it on her mouth.
She tastes metal. It’s horrible.
She’s drinking someone’s blood. It’s unhinged.
After some time, he pulls his arm away. And just like that the pain’s gone. She feels better, if a bit tender.
“I’m sorry…” He looks at her right in the eyes, pupils dilating.
“You will go home, clean yourself and you will not remember what happened tonight. You weren’t attacked. You are fine.”
And before she can blink, he’s gone.
Who’s gone?
Angeline gets back to her feet. Not really remembering getting to the floor. She gets to her car and goes home. She’s late to a party.
“You will do everything I say… and when it’s over, you won’t remember a thing.” The man says. His widened eyes make her feel —deep in her core— just how afraid she should be. “Come on, we’re leaving.”
And just like that, she follows him. Forgotten is her prior thought of rejecting him.
It feels wrong.
“Where are we going?” She asks as soon as they’re out of the party. She should notify her friends. She doesn’t.
“Haven’t decided yet.” He heads to a blue car. “Enter.” She does, even though she doesn’t want to.
He drives for a while, his grip on the wheel is strong, his knuckles turning slightly white.
Angeline doesn’t say a word with the hope that he’ll forget she is there.
Without realizing she starts crying, silently, only tears dropping down her face. She’s afraid of making any noise.
“Oh no, don’t cry. There’s nothing to cry about yet.” His hand reaches her face and wipes her tear out. She’s trembling but not crying anymore.
A few minutes pass in silence.
“What’s your name?”
“Angeline.”
“Well Angeline, get out of the car.” He says as he stops the car. They are at the edges of a forest. Angeline hates it. It’s foreboding.
She gets out of the car and she wants to run. She can’t.
“Why are we here? What are you going to do?” She asks with a trembling voice.
In the blink of an eye, he’s in front of her. He holds her face between his hands and caresses her face.
“There’s only one thing I’m really good at, right?” A sinister smile appears on his face. He’s crazy. It brings chills to her spine. A sob escapes her plump lips. But no tears are rolling. She can’t cry. “You don’t need to be scared, okay?” He says with fixed eyes on her. One of his hands leaves her face and starts to play with strands of her black hair. And just like that, her fear is gone.
“Okay.”
“Tell me. Have you lost someone before?” He asks way out of the blue.
“I did.”
“How much does it hurt?” His eyes are now desperate. As if he wants someone to know what he’s feeling.
“It hurts… like the pain will never go away. It’s lonely… to be left behind.” And there’s so much emotion going through his eyes, they move side to side while he tries to decide which of hers he wants to look at.
“I lost someone today, Angeline. Killed her. It wasn’t supposed to hurt that much.” He whispers the last part, as if it was a secret.
“I’m really sorry for your loss.” And she says it with honesty. No grief is easy, even for the deranged like him.
He frowns. And he appears to be in an internal battle. His eyes are way too expressive.
He pulls his hands out of her. Takes some steps back, then starts to pace.
“Get out of here… go!”
And that’s all she needs to hear. She runs. As fast as she can, not knowing it will never be enough.
After a minute or two, he’s right in front of her. His face transforms —veins darkening, fangs bared. The crazy look in his eyes is back.
The face of a monster.
“Let’s end this game.”
And then there’s pain in her throat. But she’s not scared. Thank God he took the fear away.
After a moment her eyes blacked out.
The last thing in her mind is that she’s dying and that he is in fact good at one thing… killing.
And as Angeline comes to her senses, it’s too late, the woman is dead in her arms… and she’s the killer this time.