Lottie Salvatore // Vampire Diaries

Chapter 15

Boston, Massachusetts, 1989

It had been a little over a decade since Elijah found me on the streets of New Jersey. Since then I've improved in my control, and I have begun to understand what he was talking about when he said I wasn't living the kind of life I could as a vampire. I've heard beautiful music, seen beautiful art, and met many interesting people. Exploring the world has given me a new purpose. Since I regained my humanity, my emotions and thoughts have become heightened. My happiness becomes euphoric. Often, throughout the day, I find myself overcome with joy for this new life I have found for myself. However, my sadness becomes depression. Some nights when Elijah is asleep, I stay awake and think of all that I missed out on, how I will never see my brothers, and how I stopped many people fromseeing their loved ones ever again. It feels as if I'm miles away from Elijah, even when he's right next to me. When I do manage to sleep, I find myself dreaming of the forest. The same forest I would dream about a century ago. I walk around, finding people who have been attacked by a vampire. When I try to help them, hunger overtakes me and I kill them. Most mornings, I wake up wishing I had more sleep. Elijah and I will find a little cafe or market or museum to explore. At night, we often find a place to drink and find some friends to take back and drink from.

One night, Elijah and I sit alone in a busy bar. I am drinking some fruity drink with vodka, and Elijah drinks his normal bourbon. We had been sitting there for about two hours. I tried almost every drink on the menu, and Elijah had drank through most of their bourbon supply. The bar was crawling with people. There was a group of women who seemed to be celebrating a marriage, and would cheer every so often. Along with some people gathered around a table taking shots. There is also a piano player who has been playing an upbeat melody the whole night. I look over to Elijah, who must have been watching me examine the crowd. This was something that I did at most bars, checking who is around. Elijah often commented on this being something I did before he found me. I would scan a room to see who would be best to kill first. Now I was simply looking at who it was that was making so much noice, or I was just being nosy.
"I'm glad that you found me, Elijah." I say, and take a sip from my drink.
He hides his smile by taking a drink of his bourbon. For someone who wanted me to find my humanity and emotions, he often has a hard time showing his emotions. His face then drops, "To be completely transparent, I was coming to you to make sure you forgot my family and I."
"What?" I say, "Why?"
"Well," he says, shifting in his seat, "We have many enemies, and I did not want them to be following us. My siblings and I try to cover our tracks."
"Why didn't you?" I ask, although realize about half way through that he still could. He has been having me drink vervain since we found each other. He tells me it will keep him or any of his siblings from compelling me. But he could stop at any point and compel me to forget.
"I couldn't leave you the way you were." He says,
"Where are your siblings now?" I ask.
"Well, my brother Niklaus has always been a loose cannon." He looks down to the bottom of his drink. "However, before I found you, he did something I could never forgive."
I nod. He finishes his drink, and glances dawn at my almost empty drink. "You want another?"
"Sure, thank you." I say, finishing my drink and passing him the glass. He walks towards the bar.
I sit back and watch the pianist, who's lost in the music. I reminisce on the night Elijah and I played piano together. It was over a century ago, but I still remember the little details of his art. He played with passion, as if he was one with the piano. I remember being so fascinated with him. This man seems to be sleepy, and plays slow songs which blend into the background noise of the bar. Elijah bring me back a blue drink, which has a lime on the side.
"This is another drink I found that you haven't tried yet." He says, sitting down beside me.
"Elijah, I want to play piano with you again." I state. He glances at the pianist who is mid-song.
"Alright, I suppose we could compel him to take a well-deserved break." He smiles. Elijah obviously loves the piano as I do. He leads the way over to the piano as the pianist finishes another slow piece, and sits beside him. I watch as he looks in the man's eyes and tells him to take his money and go home for the night. Elijah hands him a $100 bill and the man leaves. Elijah always seems to have a lot of money, which he throws around as if it's nothing.
"He's made enough to go home for the evening. What shall it be?" He asks, moving over so I can sit beside him. I suggest the dang we played together last time we played and he smiles. "I was thinking the same thing"
We play the lively song and the bar seems to come to life even more then it already was. I scan the crowd and watch as people begin to dance and sing. I can't help but smile as the group taking shots rush out onto the empty space in front of us and begin to dance. The group of girls have also began to dance at the bar. I then look over at Elijah who is smiling at me.
That's strange, I think, I'm surprised he's not playing with his eyes closed, like he did that first night.
I smile back to him as we continue to play. The night seems to go on like this for forever. He would play a song, and I would get up and dance with the group in front of us, I would sit back down and listen to his music. It was a great night, until someone unexpectedly arrived.