Back for Blood

Life would be wonderfully simple if it were like the bedtime stories we tell our children, wouldn't it? When the bad dragons capture the princess, the courageous prince defeats the dragon and saves the princess. Sadly, though, that isn't the reality. There is no such thing as good and evil, and the world is not painted in black and white. Would have made everything a lot easier, trust me.

Now, where should we begin? From the beginning? The end? Or from somewhere where it would actually matter? I think that the latter is the best. Now, let us take our first step into the shadows. That is from where it all began... in the shadows.

The night sky matched the black asphalt that led to a small, quaint town of mystic falls. But the travelers of the night were not led astray by the night. The moon watched over them and guided them through the treacherous night. Such a traveler was seen that night.

[Bad to the bone.]

Mystic falls a place that I once considered my home. I never would have thought that I would have come back to this pow-dunk town ever again, and yet, here I am. I was driving towards the town, and a wave of memories was crashing into my consciousness. The memories were bittersweet to me; this was the place where I found and lost everything that I once held dear. I swept aside the dreary memories and turned up the music. It wasn't the time to be reminiscing about the past; it was time to make my future. 

I entered the town, and the place did seem to change quite a bit since last I had been here. But in essence, it remained the same town with so many dark secrets. I was feeling a little hungry, so I decided to stop by somewhere to eat. I was driving around when I saw a restaurant. This will do in a pinch, I suppose. I parked my car outside and went inside. The place was filled with people; it had a much younger crowd than I would have expected from this town. 

As I entered, a young hostess came to greet me. She looked around my age; she had long brown, wavy hair and a pair of amber eyes. She looked beautiful but bags around her eyes and smell of smoke still lingered a little around her. A troubled young girl, "Welcome to Mystic Grill. I'm Vicki; sorry, we don't have a booth free at the moment, but you can sit at the bar and order something while you wait."

I smiled and nodded in agreement, and she smiled back and led me to the bar. As we were walking, she looked behind and asked, with a curious smile on her face, "Are you new here? Haven't seen you before?"

A little chuckle left my me, and I said, "I'm visiting someone."

We reached the bar, but she didn't leave right away, and the answer I gave her didn't seem to satiate her curiosity. I offered her my hand for a shake. "Name's Tommy, by the way." Her face beamed with happiness, and she shook my hand, but it seemed to be short-lived. She looked past me, and I turned around to see what it was that made it so. 

It was a boy with short black hair. His eyes were shooting holes in my back. I chuckled and reeled my arm a little to shake Vicki, and that seemed to have gotten her attention back to me. I looked into her eyes and said, "Take it from someone who has a little experience; you don't want to be with a hot head like that… never ends well."

As soon as I said that, she pulled her hand away and looked at me with a mixture of anger and anguish. "You don't know anything."

I sighed and looked at the bartender. "Whiskey." She left from my side in a huff. The bartender looked at me, and I showed him my ID, and he took it and grunted a little, "Works for me." He poured me a glass, and I took it and drank a little. That's when I felt a presence that I'm all too familiar with. But it's always bad news for me. I looked back to see who it was, and I saw a girl. 

She had soft, black, wavy hair and a light brown complexion. She had a slender figure and looked rather cute, I might say, but the thing that caught my attention was her eyes; they were dazzling emerald, which captivated my gaze.

As I was looking at her, it seemed that I did the same for her. She looked quite deeply at me. I can say that it made me a little happy; it even managed to make me smile. But our locked eyes were broken when a guy came in between us. She started talking to him, and I went back to my drink. 

Soon enough, someone came towards me and tapped on my shoulder. "A table is open now." I turned to look and it was a waitress, I was a little bummed out that Vicki didn't come but it's all the same to me. I finished my drink, and walked to the table, which was on the left side, close to the back. I sat down, and she poured me a glass of water and took out her notepad. "I would like to have a steak sandwich, a beer, and fries."She smiled, nodded, and went away.

I looked back and the girl was still there. She was still talking to the guy, but she kept stealing glances to look at me. I smiled and did a little wave at her and she replied the same, which caught the attention of the guy who looked at me and looked curiously at her and asked, "Who's that?"

She looked back at the boy and said, "I don't know… never seen him before."

The boy looked at her with a cunning look and asked, "Want to go talk to the new guy?"

The girl shook her head in embarrassment, and the guy found it amusing, and I think I did too. Even though I knew it might not end well for me. But I had to take a chance, and who knows, she might come in handy someday. What's the worst that could happen? I got up from my seat and made my way towards her, and the guy said, "Oh, oh, it might be too late now."

The girl looked up and seemed a little flustered. "What?!"

I reached their table and the guy got up and said, "I should get back to the pool table; Tyler has been waiting to get his ass kicked." He looked at me, did a little nod, and smiled. I looked at her, and she had this look of anticipation on her face, I asked with a smile "Can I sit with you? I was getting bored all by myself."

She nodded, and I sat down and smiled. "I'm Tommy" She smiled and said, "Bonnie… Are you new in town?"

I nodded and said, "Yeah… here to visit my family."

She looked confused and I clarified, "Distant family, you know how much fun that is…" I huffed a little. "But what can I do? Family is family, am I right?"

She took the glass of coke and said in a very knowing voice, "Trust me, I get it." She drank a little, stirred the drink, and asked, "Are you done visiting?"

I chuckled and shook my head in disagreement. "No, I haven't even been to the place yet; I just got hungry on the way, and I don't do well on an empty stomach, which makes me queasy."

She chuckled a little and said, "Good." I looked at her and shook her head. "Good to the not yet leaving part, that is." She sighed, and I laughed a little, which made her smile as well.

I leaned back on my seat. "Can you tell me something about your town? I mean, I have been here, but that was ages ago; it seems like a completely different place now."

She tucked her hair behind her ears and clasped her hands. "There isn't much to this town; I mean, aside from the recent disappearance of that couple, nothing much happens here. It's a very boring town."

It seems someone sloppy is also here; it spells trouble for me. "Well, someone like you lives here; it couldn't be that boring." 

She looked at me and gave me a gleeful smile, but as it was happening, someone else entered the restaurant. She looked at where I was staring and saw who I was looking at, and she asked, "Do you know Stefan?" 

I nodded and said, "Yeah actually." Her face wore a saddened expression. I think she might be weary of Stefan. Even she might know his true nature. Stefan saw me and had an expression of surprise, happiness, and suspicion all wrapped in one. It was not until later that I took note of the girl beside him and that gave me quite a shock, to be honest. The girl asked Stefan, "Who's that guy? With Bonnie?" I looked at Bonnie and asked, "Do you know who that girl is beside him?"

She tilted her head and said, "That's...Elena. Why do you ask?" I hummed and shook my head, "Just curious."

I thought that it was a cosmic joke of sorts. They made their way towards us, and then a blonde girl also followed them and came to our table, and the blonde girl asked Bonnie with a very sly smile, "Who's the new guy? Bonnie?"

I looked at Bonnie and then turned towards her, smiled, and offered her my hand, "Tommy." She took my hand, smiled, and shook my hand with great excitement. Stefan still looked at me in surprise, and that caught the attention of the girls. Bonnie, not being able to contain her curiosity, asked, "How do you two know each other?"

I looked at Stefan and asked, "Want to tell them, or should I?"