Incipit Vita Nova 1/6
Title: Incipit Vita Nova
Chapter: 1/6
Plot: Damon considers how he became a vampire at the hands of the radiant and sinister Katherine and how he became indoctrinated, unwillingly, into the vampire way of life by his younger brother, Stefan. After centuries of carnage trying to retrieve Katherine from the tomb, only to discover she never cared; defining crucial moments mark the return of his humanity, such as his meeting with the exquisite Elena, who has a passion, will and intelligence that intrigues him. He falls in love with her, wanting not to hurt but to comfort her with the last breaths of humanity he has inside.
But, with the return of the maniacal Katherine, Damon and Elena find themselves wrought in present dangers they scarcely imagined.
Set directly after Founder's Day, the Season One Finale.
Author's Note:
Okay, so this was never my intention to start yet another story when I'm already scrambling to update "Civil Twilight", but the summer is nearly here and I have much more free time, and besides, this plot has been eating away at me for a good long while. Luckily, I have this entire thing mapped out, and it is intended to be only 6 parts. This chapter is rather short, only be the exhibition of what is to come next. The others will be much longer, I promise.
Thanks so much to Nat for previewing this and actually convincing me to start it! :)
Incipit Vita Nova
In that part of the book of my memory before which little can be read, there is a heading, which says: ‘Incipit Vita Nova: Here begins the new life. Under that heading I find written the words that it is my intention to copy into this little book: and if not all, at least their essence.
The rich irony of the entire situation was that when trying to explain to anyone the nature of “the switch” that came as part of the packaged deal when becoming a vampire, it was by no means meant metaphorically. The strange aspect was that it was, in the very literal sense, something a “creature of the night”, as most of those middle aged professors who taught unusual and supernatural happenings as extra credit courses at any community college, something that one could feel inside. As if your very internal organs were the elaborate furnishings of an ornate bedroom, a switch by the door, the light shinning with feelings of every sort: love, lust, anger, and pride…. Any of the seven deadly sins or selfless acts untainted, and the dark, being the absence of any sort of conflicting emotions; and in one brief instant, you made a decision. The easier route, the more simple and logical choice, would be to take your thumb and forefinger, and pull down the tiny tab of the switch with one faint pop.
Damon’s choice was not so much one that stemmed from personal gain, but from necessity. In order to rescue his long lost love, his creator, his lover, and who he believed was indeed his soul-mate; the task was much easier without having to be needled with any residual “feelings” that were left over from his life as a naïve young boy trying to rebel from daddy’s tyrannical bidding. After all, several centuries’ worth of carnage and violence and brutality, all building up to the moment in a dark and damp tomb of death where he discovered in actuality Katherine never even cared, spurred a domino effect that took the very nuts and bolts of the machine that held Damon’s humanity, and dug it out from the very crevices of the moldy cogs where it had sat, neglected. Only in brief moments with her, the girl who had the rare ability to actually turn him down, who caught him in moments of a genuine smile, and who could actually bury him in any drinking game in the middle of hot and pesky Georgia, did little glimpses of it show, ready to ooze out. Luckily, being a master at self-restraint, Damon never had it go any farther.
Until tonight. Admittedly, it wasn’t all Elena’s doing, although she played a substantial part in it, she opened the floodgates. Capitalizing on his love for Stefan, his rival brother, his newfound friendship with ex-enemy and vampire hunter Alaric, and his attachment to the town that he had arrived home to with every intention of destroying, letting every pathetic human being in it know and feel the torment and loneliness that had plagued him for years, because, without the other, he was nothing.
And now that was indeed not true. Discovering Katherine’s actual reality, that she was devoid of any sort of, well, anything towards him, Damon was at a position where he was finding himself as something, that he didn’t quite discover what it was just yet. But he knew that he would perhaps be just fine.
However, in the rather unfortunate turn of events, Damon found himself in the much-despised position of falling arduously for his brother’s lover. Elena was now everything he aspired in a lot of ways to become, which was strange as she was so much younger than himself; an individual who had traveled the world and studied with scholars the likes of Plato and poet’s with the tongue of Dante himself.
He admired her, he respected her, he was protective of her, and he indeed loved her. If love was part of the definition in which most nights he could not sleep worrying about her safety when Isobel was in town (Although when he slammed her deceitful and foolish body to the ground for ever threatening Elena, he think he made his point.), or when he found himself thinking of her for no specific reason at certain points during the day; but knowing which company she was in no doubt keeping (Despite that of his brothers at times could indeed be quite pleasant, he did no deny.), made him vehemently ill.
The moment on the porch, undeterred by Damon’s constant trying to underplay it all, could not be ordinarily cracked up to a Freudian slip in judgment. Every word he spoke was the truth as always, but it had been the most bare he had ever dared to be in front of her. His impenetrable armor was down, although self-preservation was still present in all its excruciating clarity. Although, it did not hold solid ground; because Damon played on instinct, when Elena looked at him with what any man would have identified as “come hither” signals, he did what he believed she wanted him to do; he kissed her. And she allowed it to continue. Of course, it was undoubtedly her fault.
“I love you, Stefan.” She said it with as much carefree a voice as she could, when still trying to convey how deadly serious she was. Elena found Stefan’s jealously over Damon rather foolish and unfounded, although perfectly understandable. It did not vex her, but indeed perplexed her as to how he could think she had fallen for his older brother in the way she had him. And, indeed, she had not. Damon was a friend; she felt for him, though she also cared for him with such a fierce fire, however, that it frightened her in its magnitude. (The latter part she, of course, decided to omit in her declaration of love for Stefan when disclosing her entirely innocent feelings towards Damon, she cracked up that fierce fire to being unimportant…. not really.) Entering the house, the key stuck in the door, and Elena yanked it free with one twist of her delicate wrist, putting it in her denim pants pocket, and calling for Jeremy as she felt the pleasant air conditioning of the house hit her face, relishing in it as she leaned against the banister of the staircase, recovering from the humidity of the outdoors.
“Jeremy?”
Elena was ready to make a second attempt at mending things with her brother, Stefan’s pep talk at the grill after they discovered Damon had left without a word as per usual, of course helped, and Elena found a new found courage for another attempt at setting things right with her little brother.
A noise from the kitchen startled her, luckily Elena assumed Jeremy was in the kitchen for a late night snack, and that she would not have to trudge up the stairs with her worn out legs that had taken her all the way home from the pageant, as she had insisted Stefan take the car to the hospital, to check in on her friends, and fill her in before she could have the chance of showing up, hopefully with Jeremy in tow, if everything went well.
Walking towards the light shining of the linoleum counters, Elena let out a yelp as her limbs gave way from underneath her, and her leather boots made a swoosh sound followed by a crack as her tailbone hit the floor. Looking down where her legs were parted, Elena saw a trail of blood staining the hard wood that she was sprawled across; red speckles making a trail all the way to the kitchen.
Trying to control her breathing as her chest constricted voluntarily, Elena sat up and walked to the kitchen, to only be greeted with her very self as if she were in her bathroom, looking straight at the mirror; only this self was basked in sleek black leather and holding a steak knife as if she were directly out of a black and white Hollywood horror film; although that did not distract from the imposing and dominant being. And the eyes were soulless.
The being cocked its head to the side.
“I assume I need no introduction.”
“Katherine?”
Katherine came up behind her, and as Elena’s arms were taken behind her back, her wrists bent in a tangled heap against the curve of her waist, the flurry of panic that clouded her brain created a wringing and shrill piercing siren in her ears.
“In the flesh.”
Elena managed to let out a scream before she was bludgeoned with such force; everything went black in a second.
And, several moments later, Damon, having heard Elena’s desperate yell several yards from the house, slammed right through the locked door, cracking the hinges and splintering the wood as the frame of the entrance of the house now hung by only several shards of wood and several screws clinging to their hallow homes in the wall.
“No need for such melodrama Damon,” Katherine stated as she held an unconscious Elena upright by the roots of her hair, “As I understand you have already been invited in, or you would not even be able to take a step further.”
Damon froze where he stood. He had gone from standing at the precipice between heaven and hell after the moment on the porch, to a suspended state of disbelief and fear. Elena looked like a rag doll from a toyshop when being in Katherine’s grip, limp and lifeless.
Recognizing his former lover’s attire, Damon squeaked of several words as resolution dawned on him: “It was you.”
Katherine smirked.
Damon felt like he was being suffocated, he was trying to breathe, but could not summon the usual rhythm of his lungs. Looking at Katherine in shock, he immediately registered the malice in her eyes, and then Damon glanced at Elena’s blank face. It was one of his nightmares coming to a frightening fruition.
“What is your game? This isn’t a simple social call, according to Pearl, you’ve known exactly where I’ve been for the past 20 odd years or so. Besides, I’m certain New York has a much more pleasant entourage that that of any residing in Mystic Falls.” Damon found some fortitude return to him, trying to keep the intonation of his voice as level as possible so not to make known how incredibly susceptible he was.
“Well, now dear, that would spoil the whole shebang wouldn’t it? I’m afraid I can’t indulge you in any of pre-occupations until our delectable Stefan is present. But, that doesn’t mean we can’t have a little fun.” At the end of Katherine’s sentence, Elena’s eyes slowly opened as she regained consciousness. Katherine’s features perked up in amusement. “Right on time.”
“Now,” Her tone as commanding as it was chilling, Katherine took Elena’s chin in her hand and situated her face onto Damon’s form, and, after she discovered it was actually him only several feet away, Elena looked at Damon with a pleading in her eyes.
Wishing that he could simply assure her in some telepathic way, Damon just sent out the very thought comprised of the words he wished to say; She will not harm you. I won’t allow it. I love you and no pain will befall you when I am here.
But of course, he could not speak them out loud. So Elena would not hear them, she would not be reassured.
Katherine giggled. “Apparently this one’s little kid brother is upstairs. I inspected him after I conveniently offed John in the kitchen about a half-hour ago. He’s overdosed on sleeping pills and quite auspiciously has drunk a vial of vampire blood. I want you to turn him. And if you don’t….” Katherine positioned her palms to encircle around Elena’s throat; “I snap her neck.”
To be continued...
Okay, okay so kind of an evil cliffhanger right? lmao
Please REVIEW and we'll see what I churn out next for the following chapter! ;)
Chapter: 1/6
Plot: Damon considers how he became a vampire at the hands of the radiant and sinister Katherine and how he became indoctrinated, unwillingly, into the vampire way of life by his younger brother, Stefan. After centuries of carnage trying to retrieve Katherine from the tomb, only to discover she never cared; defining crucial moments mark the return of his humanity, such as his meeting with the exquisite Elena, who has a passion, will and intelligence that intrigues him. He falls in love with her, wanting not to hurt but to comfort her with the last breaths of humanity he has inside.
But, with the return of the maniacal Katherine, Damon and Elena find themselves wrought in present dangers they scarcely imagined.
Set directly after Founder's Day, the Season One Finale.
Author's Note:
Okay, so this was never my intention to start yet another story when I'm already scrambling to update "Civil Twilight", but the summer is nearly here and I have much more free time, and besides, this plot has been eating away at me for a good long while. Luckily, I have this entire thing mapped out, and it is intended to be only 6 parts. This chapter is rather short, only be the exhibition of what is to come next. The others will be much longer, I promise.
Thanks so much to Nat for previewing this and actually convincing me to start it! :)
Incipit Vita Nova
In that part of the book of my memory before which little can be read, there is a heading, which says: ‘Incipit Vita Nova: Here begins the new life. Under that heading I find written the words that it is my intention to copy into this little book: and if not all, at least their essence.
The rich irony of the entire situation was that when trying to explain to anyone the nature of “the switch” that came as part of the packaged deal when becoming a vampire, it was by no means meant metaphorically. The strange aspect was that it was, in the very literal sense, something a “creature of the night”, as most of those middle aged professors who taught unusual and supernatural happenings as extra credit courses at any community college, something that one could feel inside. As if your very internal organs were the elaborate furnishings of an ornate bedroom, a switch by the door, the light shinning with feelings of every sort: love, lust, anger, and pride…. Any of the seven deadly sins or selfless acts untainted, and the dark, being the absence of any sort of conflicting emotions; and in one brief instant, you made a decision. The easier route, the more simple and logical choice, would be to take your thumb and forefinger, and pull down the tiny tab of the switch with one faint pop.
Damon’s choice was not so much one that stemmed from personal gain, but from necessity. In order to rescue his long lost love, his creator, his lover, and who he believed was indeed his soul-mate; the task was much easier without having to be needled with any residual “feelings” that were left over from his life as a naïve young boy trying to rebel from daddy’s tyrannical bidding. After all, several centuries’ worth of carnage and violence and brutality, all building up to the moment in a dark and damp tomb of death where he discovered in actuality Katherine never even cared, spurred a domino effect that took the very nuts and bolts of the machine that held Damon’s humanity, and dug it out from the very crevices of the moldy cogs where it had sat, neglected. Only in brief moments with her, the girl who had the rare ability to actually turn him down, who caught him in moments of a genuine smile, and who could actually bury him in any drinking game in the middle of hot and pesky Georgia, did little glimpses of it show, ready to ooze out. Luckily, being a master at self-restraint, Damon never had it go any farther.
Until tonight. Admittedly, it wasn’t all Elena’s doing, although she played a substantial part in it, she opened the floodgates. Capitalizing on his love for Stefan, his rival brother, his newfound friendship with ex-enemy and vampire hunter Alaric, and his attachment to the town that he had arrived home to with every intention of destroying, letting every pathetic human being in it know and feel the torment and loneliness that had plagued him for years, because, without the other, he was nothing.
And now that was indeed not true. Discovering Katherine’s actual reality, that she was devoid of any sort of, well, anything towards him, Damon was at a position where he was finding himself as something, that he didn’t quite discover what it was just yet. But he knew that he would perhaps be just fine.
However, in the rather unfortunate turn of events, Damon found himself in the much-despised position of falling arduously for his brother’s lover. Elena was now everything he aspired in a lot of ways to become, which was strange as she was so much younger than himself; an individual who had traveled the world and studied with scholars the likes of Plato and poet’s with the tongue of Dante himself.
He admired her, he respected her, he was protective of her, and he indeed loved her. If love was part of the definition in which most nights he could not sleep worrying about her safety when Isobel was in town (Although when he slammed her deceitful and foolish body to the ground for ever threatening Elena, he think he made his point.), or when he found himself thinking of her for no specific reason at certain points during the day; but knowing which company she was in no doubt keeping (Despite that of his brothers at times could indeed be quite pleasant, he did no deny.), made him vehemently ill.
The moment on the porch, undeterred by Damon’s constant trying to underplay it all, could not be ordinarily cracked up to a Freudian slip in judgment. Every word he spoke was the truth as always, but it had been the most bare he had ever dared to be in front of her. His impenetrable armor was down, although self-preservation was still present in all its excruciating clarity. Although, it did not hold solid ground; because Damon played on instinct, when Elena looked at him with what any man would have identified as “come hither” signals, he did what he believed she wanted him to do; he kissed her. And she allowed it to continue. Of course, it was undoubtedly her fault.
“I love you, Stefan.” She said it with as much carefree a voice as she could, when still trying to convey how deadly serious she was. Elena found Stefan’s jealously over Damon rather foolish and unfounded, although perfectly understandable. It did not vex her, but indeed perplexed her as to how he could think she had fallen for his older brother in the way she had him. And, indeed, she had not. Damon was a friend; she felt for him, though she also cared for him with such a fierce fire, however, that it frightened her in its magnitude. (The latter part she, of course, decided to omit in her declaration of love for Stefan when disclosing her entirely innocent feelings towards Damon, she cracked up that fierce fire to being unimportant…. not really.) Entering the house, the key stuck in the door, and Elena yanked it free with one twist of her delicate wrist, putting it in her denim pants pocket, and calling for Jeremy as she felt the pleasant air conditioning of the house hit her face, relishing in it as she leaned against the banister of the staircase, recovering from the humidity of the outdoors.
“Jeremy?”
Elena was ready to make a second attempt at mending things with her brother, Stefan’s pep talk at the grill after they discovered Damon had left without a word as per usual, of course helped, and Elena found a new found courage for another attempt at setting things right with her little brother.
A noise from the kitchen startled her, luckily Elena assumed Jeremy was in the kitchen for a late night snack, and that she would not have to trudge up the stairs with her worn out legs that had taken her all the way home from the pageant, as she had insisted Stefan take the car to the hospital, to check in on her friends, and fill her in before she could have the chance of showing up, hopefully with Jeremy in tow, if everything went well.
Walking towards the light shining of the linoleum counters, Elena let out a yelp as her limbs gave way from underneath her, and her leather boots made a swoosh sound followed by a crack as her tailbone hit the floor. Looking down where her legs were parted, Elena saw a trail of blood staining the hard wood that she was sprawled across; red speckles making a trail all the way to the kitchen.
Trying to control her breathing as her chest constricted voluntarily, Elena sat up and walked to the kitchen, to only be greeted with her very self as if she were in her bathroom, looking straight at the mirror; only this self was basked in sleek black leather and holding a steak knife as if she were directly out of a black and white Hollywood horror film; although that did not distract from the imposing and dominant being. And the eyes were soulless.
The being cocked its head to the side.
“I assume I need no introduction.”
“Katherine?”
Katherine came up behind her, and as Elena’s arms were taken behind her back, her wrists bent in a tangled heap against the curve of her waist, the flurry of panic that clouded her brain created a wringing and shrill piercing siren in her ears.
“In the flesh.”
Elena managed to let out a scream before she was bludgeoned with such force; everything went black in a second.
And, several moments later, Damon, having heard Elena’s desperate yell several yards from the house, slammed right through the locked door, cracking the hinges and splintering the wood as the frame of the entrance of the house now hung by only several shards of wood and several screws clinging to their hallow homes in the wall.
“No need for such melodrama Damon,” Katherine stated as she held an unconscious Elena upright by the roots of her hair, “As I understand you have already been invited in, or you would not even be able to take a step further.”
Damon froze where he stood. He had gone from standing at the precipice between heaven and hell after the moment on the porch, to a suspended state of disbelief and fear. Elena looked like a rag doll from a toyshop when being in Katherine’s grip, limp and lifeless.
Recognizing his former lover’s attire, Damon squeaked of several words as resolution dawned on him: “It was you.”
Katherine smirked.
Damon felt like he was being suffocated, he was trying to breathe, but could not summon the usual rhythm of his lungs. Looking at Katherine in shock, he immediately registered the malice in her eyes, and then Damon glanced at Elena’s blank face. It was one of his nightmares coming to a frightening fruition.
“What is your game? This isn’t a simple social call, according to Pearl, you’ve known exactly where I’ve been for the past 20 odd years or so. Besides, I’m certain New York has a much more pleasant entourage that that of any residing in Mystic Falls.” Damon found some fortitude return to him, trying to keep the intonation of his voice as level as possible so not to make known how incredibly susceptible he was.
“Well, now dear, that would spoil the whole shebang wouldn’t it? I’m afraid I can’t indulge you in any of pre-occupations until our delectable Stefan is present. But, that doesn’t mean we can’t have a little fun.” At the end of Katherine’s sentence, Elena’s eyes slowly opened as she regained consciousness. Katherine’s features perked up in amusement. “Right on time.”
“Now,” Her tone as commanding as it was chilling, Katherine took Elena’s chin in her hand and situated her face onto Damon’s form, and, after she discovered it was actually him only several feet away, Elena looked at Damon with a pleading in her eyes.
Wishing that he could simply assure her in some telepathic way, Damon just sent out the very thought comprised of the words he wished to say; She will not harm you. I won’t allow it. I love you and no pain will befall you when I am here.
But of course, he could not speak them out loud. So Elena would not hear them, she would not be reassured.
Katherine giggled. “Apparently this one’s little kid brother is upstairs. I inspected him after I conveniently offed John in the kitchen about a half-hour ago. He’s overdosed on sleeping pills and quite auspiciously has drunk a vial of vampire blood. I want you to turn him. And if you don’t….” Katherine positioned her palms to encircle around Elena’s throat; “I snap her neck.”
To be continued...
Okay, okay so kind of an evil cliffhanger right? lmao
Please REVIEW and we'll see what I churn out next for the following chapter! ;)