Book 1: Time Of Our Lives

Chapter 32: Bloodlines

Chapter 32:

Church Ruins
Bonnie wakes up just outside the tomb, and searches for a way out.

Bonnie: Ow. Hello?! Anybody?! Ahh!

She sees a pentagram inside a circle engraved on the wall.

Gram's Residence
Stefan walks up to the porch and knocks on the door, Grams answers.

Stefan: Hi.
Grams: Can I help you?
Stefan: I'm Stefan.

Stefan extends his hand to Grams. She shakes it.

Stefan: I'm a friend of Bonnie's. This is my sister Giselle.
Giselle: (waves) hello
Stefan: Her dad told me that she might be here.
Grams: She was. Not anymore.
Stefan: Do you know where she went?
Grams: No. But you do.
Stefan: I'm sorry?
Grams: I told her to face down her fear. And I'm sensing now that you know exactly why she was scared. You know what I am. And yet you offered me your hand, which means you wanted me to see that I can trust you.
Stefan: Can you?
Grams: I trust you'll keep her safe. You'd better be on your way, then. I'm not going to invite you in. I'm sure you understand why.

Mystic Falls Library
Anna: (gestures to an aisle of bookshelves) This aisle is local and state history. And Civil War is one over. What do you need?
Jeremy: Local. 1860s. Do you work here?
Anna: Nope. You want reference. This way. Um, home-schooled. I study here for a "mock-school environment." Ah, here we go. Original settlers, town archives, Founders' stuff. It's all here. So, what's your topic?
Jeremy: The town's fear and hysteria surrounding the war and how it influenced certain writers of the time.
Anna: You might want to focus that.
Jeremy: The origin of local folklore and myths.
Anna: [smiling] You mean, the vampires?

Bree's Bar
Elena and Damon are eating.

Elena: Let's just say that I'm descended from Katherine...does that make me part vampire?
Damon: Vampires can't procreate.(eats a fry)  But we love to try.(smirks) No, if you were related, it would mean Katherine had a child before she was turned.
Elena: Did Stefan think that he could use me to replace her?
Damon: Kinda creepy if you ask me. [beat] Come on, what? You don't like pickles? What's wrong with you?
Elena: How can you even eat? If technically you're supposed to be...
Damon: [whispers] Dead? [laughs] It's not such a bad word. As long as I keep a healthy diet of blood in my system, my body functions pretty normally.
Elena: [beat] This nice act. Is any of it real?

Bree interrupts them.

Bree: Here you go. [hands Damon a beer.]
Damon: Thank you.
Elena: I'll have one too.
Damon: [surprised] Hmm?
Elena: Timeout, remember? For five minutes? Yeah, well that five minutes is going to need a beer.
Bree: [smiles] There you go.

Bree gives Elena a beer.

Mystic Falls Library
Jeremy: You're kidding me, right? There's no such thing as vampires.
Anna: Well, there's not a lot of documentation, but the stories have been told since the Civil War. My granddad used to tell me all these creepy stories when I was little. And he said that his granddad told them to him.
Jeremy: Yeah, that would be folklore. Vampires are a metaphor for the demons of the day!
Anna: Which are?
Jeremy: The union soldiers! I've read the stories myself. They talk about the enemy, the demons that attack at night.
Anna: That sounds like vampires to me.
Jeremy: Allegorical vampires. Which is what it is. Creative expression during a very volatile time. I mean, a country at war doesn't want realism. They want fantasy. Thus, vampire fiction.
Anna: Man, you're smart. I gotta give it to you; when I first saw you, I missed it.
Jeremy: Yeah. I've had a rough go of it lately, but I'm just now getting back to my old self.
Anna: Well, good luck on your paper. I gotta get home. [beat] You know, my great grandfather actually showed me a journal once of an ancestor, and he had written all of this creepy stuff about vampires. It was actually really believable.
Jeremy: Wait. A journal?
Anna: Yeah? Why?
Jeremy: Are you sure you have to go?