[ BOOK ONE ]
Erin Gilbert believed the worst thing that could ever happen to her was the death of her parents. But when the Salvatore brothers waltz into town, she finds herself longing for the sorrow-filled days of the past.
All too soon, Erin's n...
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ERIN WAS COLD.SUCH a bone-chilling cold her hands shook with even a mere twitch of movement. Everything about her seemed to tremble beneath the thick duvet she pulled around her body. The fabric held so close it became almost a second layer of skin. And no matter how much clothes she wore or how high she cranked the thermostat, the cold never wanted to leave. It could've been days, possibly weeks. She didn't know, and she didn't care to find out.
Since her brother's death and her family home burned to the ground, Erin scarcely left the guest room she claimed as her own. The same one she always used whenever she stayed at the Boarding House. Her new home, she guessed. She didn't really have a reason to leave the comfort of the four walls. What little comfort they provided.
After all, aside from late night excursions into the kitchen, Erin had access to a connected bathroom. She didn't really need to leave. And even if she did, she didn't want to. What was the point? Her brother was dead. Her home was nothing but ashes. Her sister was a husk of who she used to be. Why would she choose to leave?
Nothing or no one could convince her that emerging from the warmth of the sheets. Not Caroline and her kind words and lovingly made foods Erin barely managed to stomach. Not Damon and his poor excuse for why he urged Elena to turn off her humanity. Not Stefan and his recount of that she missed in her gaze of grief.
Why should she care if Silas followed them from that Nova Scotian island? Why did it matter if he completed the Expression Triangle with a massacre of twelve witches?
It didn't. Nothing did. Not when Erin would have to face the world alone. She couldn't handle that. She didn't want to.
Erin pulled her duvet closer to her chin, staring at the television screen that flickered across the room. At least the brothers were kind enough to install one after she had officially moved into their home. She wouldn't have been able to deal with ear-splitting silence on top of everything else. She needed the background noise. She needed something that still resembled her old life.
The scenes of some show shifted before Erin's eyes, but she didn't absorb anything that took place. She simply stared at the screen, trying her hardest to ignore the chill that consumed her body.
When a knock sounded on the closed bedroom door, Erin continued to lay there and failed to say a word. It wouldn't have mattered if she spoke or not. Whoever stood on the other side would enter whether she wanted them to or not.
Not a moment later, the door creaked open and Stefan poked his head inside. "I just wanted to check in," he voiced, standing on the threshold but not fully moving inside. He never did.
