CHAPTER TWO   /   ACT ONE

The Bright Side of Immortality

                             The floor creaked under Gwen's feet, yet the room remained deafeningly quiet. It was 3:47pm in the afternoon and she had yet to exit the guest bedroom. To be honest, she was scared to leave.

The bedrooms weren't so different from the ones in the 1800s, yet when she looked out the window she could tell everything was drastically different. Of course, the trees were the same and the grass wasn't any different than it was before, but everything just seemed to feel off.

Yet the one thing that was most certainly different, is everytime she attempted to come close to the window, the sunlight would burn her the second her skin touched the rays. She figured it was one of the side effects to her newfound vampirism, though it didn't mean it wouldn't annoy her more than anything. So unfortunately she could only gaze out the window from afar.

Her heightened senses, as Stefan liked to call them, were another awful side effect she was going through. All of her senses-touch, taste, smell, sight, and hearing-were more acute. Some people would think that's fantastic and incredible to experience, but she thought it was quite annoying.

Especially the smell.

All the way in her bedroom, it seemed as though she could smell fresh blood. Though she couldn't stop thinking about it. In some way, she was ashamed by her want for more. Given what she had learned about vampires since 1864, she knew that a vampire's need for blood was normal. However, she couldn't help but sense that this was different.

The brunette took a deep breath, combed her hair out of her face, and walked over to the bedroom door, placing her hand on the doorknob.

Gwen twisted the knob and immediately stopped in her tracks the moment the smell of blood became more prevalent. Dark veins formed under her eyes, but quickly disappeared once she cleared her throat. Her hand slid down the railing, collecting dust on her palms as she walked down the stairs to the dark hallway.

The echo of her steps echoed throughout the hallway, along with the ticking of the grandfather clock in the hall. Every creak of the wood, every sound of her shoes hitting the wooden floor caused her to hold her breathe.

Every movement drew her attention to her surroundings. She was paranoid about every sound, smell, and taste in her mouth.

Loud music could be heard from a short distance, and there was the smell of blood. It was undoubtedly different from the music she had heard in the 1800s, but she figured that since 145 years had passed, the music would have changed the most out of everything.

Gwen approached the sound out of pure curiosity, and the stench of blood intensified. She ultimately found herself at the door to what appeared to be a library, but was actually a party.

The oldest Salvatore sibling was dancing while he drank the blood of a girl while two other girl were either dead or passed out on the couch. The thought of Stefan's advice to avoid Damon caused Gwen to step back and consider whether or not to enter.

But then again, she couldn't resist the temptation.

Gwen held her hands behind her back and quietly stepped into the room, clearing her throat to draw his attention. Damon glanced up from the girl's neck, blood smearing across his face as his eyebrows furrowed, staring her up and down.

"Finally decided to come out of your shell?" He teased, evidently in a drunken state.

He released her neck, allowing the young lady to drop to the ground. Gwen winced as she watched her fall, but she managed to keep her hunger hidden.

"Come on, don't be shy." He offered, picking up the half-concious girl by the arm, displaying her neck for the brunette to see. "You know you want a bite."

Gwen turned her head from the neckbite, holding her breath to refrain from smelling more blood. "No thank you." She shook her head. "Besides, I barely know you."

"Well.." He taunted. "I'm handsome, charming..." he paused, letting out an exaggerated sigh. "And irresistible."

Damon winked and cast a seductive glance at Gwen, but the brunette refused to acknowledge him. Instead, she was fixated on the blood dripping from the girl's neck.

Damon followed her gaze and grinned. "You look like my ex-ghostly lover, what else is there to know?"

In her mind, the vampire's voice became muffled. She felt as if someone was taking over her body, but she fought back as hard as she could. She didn't want to hurt the girl, she wasn't that kind of person-she didn't want to be that kind of person; but the thirst was too strong.

Gwen became increasingly desperate with each passing second. But the rush went as quickly as it came. Damon's gaze shifted from the doppelgänger to beside her as the lights flickered on.

His brother stood tall, both arms folded across his chest. His blue eyes bored holes into his brother, causing Gwen to tense up even more than she was already. "No, Buzzkill Bob," He complained.

Stefan switched off the music and turned to Gwen. "Afternoon, Gwen." He greeted, attempting to ignore his brothers "party".

"Sleep well?" He added.

Gwen nodded and smiled. "I did, thank you." She responded politely. The vampire glanced at his bloodlusted brother then back at her before gently grabbing her by the arm and leading her into the living room.

"That's what I meant by a 'fragile state'." He sighed softly.

"I see." She murmered. "At first, I believed that was his normal self."

"Yeah well.." He shrugged lowly. "Surprisingly it's not too hard to tell the difference between this and his 'normal self'."

Gwen hummed, her mind suddenly ignoring Damon and her eyebrows furrowed. "You went out today, didn't you?" She asked.

"I had some things to do, nothing important."
He shrugged.

"But you told me vampire's cannot walk in the daylight?" She questioned him. "I haven't even been able to walk past an open window in hours. How do you do it?"

Stefan stared down at his finger before lifting up his hand towards Gwen's eye level. "This ring." He told her, pointing towards a big, blue, sort of ugly ring, on his finger. "It allows me to walk in the daylight."

"Well, when can I get one?" She inquired.

He grinned and ran a thumb down the edge of the ring. "Once we've figured out how to.. handle this situation."

"I don't understand." The doppelgänger frowned. "What is there to handle?"

"There's a lot to understand about being a vampire before you're able to go out into the real world. Your heightened senses, the bloodlust.."

"Yeah, I believe I'm starting to get that now." She let out a frustrated sigh. The Salvatore's eyebrows drew together at her words, a worried expression etched on his features as he watched the brunette struggle to remain calm.

"What do you mean?" He inquired, his concern increasing tenfold.

The brunette avoided eye-contact. "Nothing. It's nothing." She stated.

Stefan stared at her skeptically before shaking his head and releasing a heavy sigh. "Look, you're safer here, alright?" He assured her, stepping closer. "We'll figure something out.. You're safe, just trust me."

"Fine." Her fists clenched tightly as she looked up from the floor.

Despite the manor's size, staying there felt suffocating. The house felt large but empty; it was too quiet. Annoyingly quiet. It reminded her too much of the tomb.

She remembered everything from her time there, and she wish she hadn't. It was as if she had become paralyzed. She was unable to move, speak, or feel anything. Everything seemed so far away. It was a large tomb, but she felt- was trapped. It felt even worse not knowing what was going on for as long as she did.

The blood she was given was the only thing that worked to revive her. It gave her a sense of liveliness. More than anything, she longed for that sensation.

The sound of her own heartbeat echoed around the empty walls of the old mansion. 

Her heart pounded loudly in her ears, and she could feel the blood rushing through her veins. She could feel the adrenaline coursing through her, and she could feel the hunger growing inside of her.

She wanted to feed. Fresh, human blood. Not one of Damon's leftovers. And if she wanted to feed, she had to leave.

An hour had passed since Stefan had come home and thankfully, made Damon send away his guests. Gwen sat on the couch, the blinds closed and a warm blanket burgundy blanket wrapped over her as she read a book.  She wasn't entirely sure what she was reading though, as she didn't care enough about the contents.

She had too much going on to pay attention to the pages and pages of text. Besides her overwhelming thrist for blood, she couldn't wrap her head around everything else.

For example, Stefan.

His constant attempt to keep her locked inside of his home was understandable, but she couldn't help but assume it was something more than that.

That only made her more curious.

Gwen set her book on the table beside her, placing her feet on the soft rug, as she stared straight ahead at the dark curtains hanging above her.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of footsteps coming down the staircase. Soon after, a particular vampire entered the living room and strolled towards Gwen.

The Hale girl rose from the sofa and faced him as he had just retrieved his jacket from the end table next to the couch.

"Where are you going?" She asked curiously.
He slipped his arms inside his coat and looked towards Gwen for a moment.

"There's this fundraiser tonight at the grill." He answered.

"Grill..?" Gwen tilted her head and walked over the vampire slowly.

"It's like a restaurant." He informed her with a smile on his face. The brunette hummed in response, nodding her head slowly.

Stefan raised an eyebrow at her strange behavior. "What's wrong? You seem a little distracted."

"No, it's nothing." Gwen replied, eyeing the blue ring on his finger as she bit her lip. "..You said vampires were immortal, correct?" She asked after a while.

Stefan nodded in response. "Yeah."

Gwen pursed her lips and bit the insides of her cheeks lightly. "And if we die, we come back to life.."

"Pretty much. What about it?" He wondered.

The vampire didn't say anything while her gaze never left his ring. The girl finally gave in after a protracted struggle and turned her gaze to Stefan's. "It's nothing. I just wanted to be sure you would be okay if I did this."

Just before Stefan had the chance to open his mouth to question her, the doppelgänger snapped his neck and watched as his body fell limp to the ground. She lowered her attention to his lifeless body before bending down and removing the blue ring from his finger.

Placing it onto her right index finger, Gwen admired it thoroughly. Her fingers curled ever so slightly, the ring sitting perfectly on her hand. She smiled slightly as a small wave of satisfaction washed over her.

"Sorry Stefan,"  Gwen whispered as rose from the floor. "But I'm not interested in being your prisoner."

Smiling, she stepped over his body and made her way out of the living room towards the front door. With her right hand grasping the door knob tightly, her other hand resting on her stomach and she took one last look around her living room and hallway, making sure nothing was wrong before exiting the mansion.

With a heavy sigh, she left the house and shut the door behind her. She was overcome with pure ecstasy as the sun touched her skin. Only until it was taken away from her did she realize how much she missed the sun on her skin.

The vampire inhaled deeply and accelerated toward town and civilisation while maintaining a sly smirk on her face.

AUTHORS NOTE
bruh