Chapter 1 ~ The Accidental Meeting

It was an unusually warm morning in late May. Fog was starting to conceal the landscape thinly. Birds were beginning to chirp from their nests, bats were circling the skies looking for mosquitoes before the sun makes its appearance. The wind was eerily absent.
But up in these trees there was a sight that was more than unusual.
Concealed in the trees was a dark figure, sitting on a branch about 30 feet off the ground, back against the trunk. He looked as if he was having a nap, but he was anything but asleep.
His cold, dark blue eyes were watching all movement around him. He knew the sun would be up soon and he would have to leave the tree before that happened.
His attention though, was focused on a window, or rather the woman on the other side of the window.
He wasn't thirsty, or at least he shouldn't be, nor did she look especially stunning, but something about her had him coming back to the same tree for the past 4 nights and into the next morning.
Damon often thought highly of himself. He looked out for himself and only himself, unless there was something in it for him. This time was different.
He wasn't quite sure what he was doing here, maybe he was losing his mind. All he was sure of was that it was time to go back to the Salvatore boarding house before the sun came up.


As we walked in the door of the old boarding house, his brother was there waiting for him.
Stefan was looking at his brother suspiciously as he walked through the door. He was wondering what his dear old brother had been up to the past few days. Hoping that no innocent person had been killed or tortured.
Damon gave his brother a sly smirk. "Well good morning to you too little brother."
"Where have you been?" Stefan inquired.
"Since when do I have to report to you where I go and what I do?" he replied with that same smirk on his face and added a roll of his eyes. It was none of his brother's business.
"I'm just trying to make sure you aren't getting into any trouble."
"Oh dear brother, trouble always has a way of finding me."
"That's what I'm afraid of Damon," Stefan replied and walked up to his room. He wasn't in the mood to argue with him today.
Damon decided to walk up to his room and go to bed. He had been up all night and was tired.
While he fell asleep quickly, he soon found himself unable to stay asleep. He tossed and turned to no avail.
Strange, he thought. I never have a problem sleeping in the daytime.
While time was pretty meaningless to him, there was an old grandfather clock in his room. He kept it wound out of habit more than a desire to know what time it was.
He turned to look at the time, only 10:38 am.
Instead of tossing and turning, Damon decided to get out of his bed. He was still wearing the white t-shirt and pair of black jeans from the night before, so he decided to change into some clean clothes. He was just as vain now as he always was. He sorted through his clothes and settled on a pair of blue jeans and a black t-shirt. He grabbed his black leather jacket and walked down the hall to the washroom, brushed his hair and walked down the stairs into the lounge, or these days they called it a livingroom.


Damon still wasn't sure what he was going to do today. He sat down on the couch to think.
His first thought was to the woman from this morning, the last 4 mornings.


He had ran into her in the town square 5 days ago. Normally he would just apologize and keep walking, but this time was different.
After bumping into him, she let out a strange gasp. He turned to look at her and she looked back, right into his eyes. He suddenly became thirsty, the urge to compel her was overwhelming. But hadn't he drank only a few hours before? The cute young lady from the park? So why was he thirsty again so soon? This mystery got stranger when he realized he couldn't compel her even though he tried as hard as he could.
She looked at him with a coy smile, like she knew him, like she knew what he was trying to do. No, that couldn't be, he had never met her before today. Then what was it?
By the time he realized he had been staring at her, she had turned her back and starting walking away. Suddenly he felt an overwhelming urge to follow her.
So as quietly as he could he followed her around. Eventually, it led Damon back to the woman's house. It was still the middle of the afternoon so he couldn't just hang around, people would get suspicious, so he had decided to go home and wait until nightfall.
And there he went for the past 4 evenings and into the next morning. Just watching, but not sure why.
She was just an average looking woman, nothing extraordinary about her. She was about five feet seven inches tall with medium long brown hair, which happened to be her natural color. She wore very little makeup and her clothes werent flashy. Damon did enjoy her curves though. They were alot like the hourglass shape he was so fond of. But other than that, he could not figure out why he was sitting outside in a tree every night since he bumped into her.
He ran these thoughts through his head over and over until he had drove himself crazy. "I gotta get out of this house," he murmured to himself.
He got up off the couch and decided to go for a drive. He wasn't quite sure where yet, but he swore he wouldn't drive past the woman's house.
After an hour of driving through town and even outside of town, he ended up parking down the street from the woman's house.
It was sometime after noon, he thought, looking up into the sky.
"What am I doing here!?" he said a little too loudly.
A man walking down the street looked at him with an eyebrow raised.
I must be losing my mind, Damon thought. This has got to be one of the strangest things I have ever done and I've done and seen alot of strange things.
At this thought he let out a tiny chuckle. What could be stranger than being a vampire?
He decided to get out of his car. but wasn't sure where he was going yet. Was she even home? he wondered.
After walking around the block three times, he thought it might be a good idea if he got back into his car and go home, people were starting to stare.
As he came around the side where the entrance to her house was, she was coming out the door.
He was unsure what to do. Should he run and hide? Should he just slowly stroll by or what?
His hesitation was just long enough that she noticed him standing there.
She glanced over at him, looking him straight in the eyes again and uttered a surprised, "Oh, hi." and smiled at him.
Damon was once again stunned by her. He felt tongue tied and almost shy. No, I'm anything but shy, he thought. This is just stupid, she's just like every other woman I have met. What the hell is wrong with me?!
The woman turned her head to let out a little giggle and then turned back to face Damon.
"Do I know you?," she asked him.
"I should be asking you that question?" Damon replied with an inquisitive look.
"I remember we bumped into each other a few days ago, but other than that," her voice trailed off as if she was hoping for him to finsh the sentence, but he didnt.
Damon was feeling so many things all at once he wasn't sure what was going on.
What he did know was, he had no clue who this woman was and why he was attracted to her. Or was attracted the right word?
"Excuse me?" she said. "I have to get to work or I'm going to be late. If you would like to talk to me, you could always meet me back here tonight when I'm done my shift?"
How odd, Damon thought to himself. When was the last time a woman was so forward with him and he didn't even compel her? I mean I'm not bad to look at but...
The woman interrupted him before he got to finish his thought, "Ok, I really need to go. If you want to meet me later, I should be back home by 9:15 tonight." She turned her back to Damon and walked to her car.
He was still standing there, with so many questions running through his head as she drove away. "I think after 145 years I have finally lost my mind."
It was the strangest encounter he could remember and he had had many.
He shook his head, walked back to his car and started to drive home.
As Damon approached the boarding house, he realized he had been so deep in thought, he was surprised he hadn't got into an accident.
He had taken the long way home with a few detours. By this time it was almost three p.m. His brother would be home from school soon.
Damon walked into the house and flopped himself onto the couch. He was exhausted. Not just physically because he hadn't slept that night, or the past few nights, but mentally as well. He didn't often have deep thoughts, unless they were about himself. After a minute he gave himself up to sleep.