╔═══*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*═══╗ CHAPTER EIGHT her ╚═══*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*═══╝
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
( masquerade, pt. ii )
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
A girl comes into view. She's wearing a long silver dress and a glittery masquerade mask, so I can't really see her face. But her other features stand out to me rather quickly. She has blue eyes and wavy light brown hair, similar to mine. "Sorry I was late to the party," the girl apologizes flippantly.
"It can't be," Damon breathes from beside me.
The mystery girl lifts her mask off, revealing her face. Her hair falls back down on her shoulders. "Miss me?" she says.
Shock snaps my eyes wide open and freezes my breath. My mind jams, refusing to acknowledge what is going on, and leaving me helpless, vulnerable, in the face of it. But though rational thought has disappeared, my senses go right on recording mercilessly: I'm staring at my own face. The girl standing at the doorway looks like me, an exact replica of me. And yet I can tell that she's nothing like me at all. In the way she carries herself, she just oozes with confidence.
This is Mary. This is the girl from Damon's past that he was so in love with. But how is she alive? She's supposed to be dead.
A pit of dread forms in my stomach.
Much like the blond girl, Mary struts into the room like she owns the place. "I hope I wasn't interrupting anything," she says apologetically, but from the tone of her voice, it's obvious that she could care less even if she were interrupting.
Damon is staring at Mary in shock. "You're not real. You can't be real," he says.
"It's me, Damon, in the flesh." She saunters up to him.
He looks down at her. "I watched your body get buried. You were dead."
Mary turns on her heel and starts walking towards Katherine and the other blond vampire. "At least that's what you were supposed to think," she says. "You see, my good friend Ella here." She nods towards the blond vampire. "Paid me a visit at the sanatorium, and gave me an offer I could just not pass up." She sends the blond vampire—Ella—a smile.
Stefan takes a step forward. "So you're a vampire now," he says.
"Oh, look at you, Stefan, all grown up," Mary says with amusement. Her eyes flicker over to Katherine then back at Stefan and Damon. "Katherine, you were right. Both Salvatores grew up to be quite the catch."
It's Damon's turn to take a step towards her. "Where have you been all this time?" he asks. His voice is filled with desperation and—sorrow.
