Silver Linings {A TVD Fanfic trilogy}

1

I put the last box in the car and let out a soft breath. Moving once again. It was the third time in the past two years. We were in search of something big, or old rather.

My life was normal to the common eye. I lived in a small apartment with my dad. Well, he was my step-dad, but he raised me and he was one of the most important people in my life. His name was Alaric Saltzman.

Usually people figured we were biologically related. We had the same smile, which I must've picked up from him as a child, as well as mannerisms. Of course my name was Emmaline Flemming so it sometimes came up in conversation and that was why people knew.

I kept Flemming as my last name as remembrance of my mother. She died a few years ago and Dad gave me the option. It wasn't until later on that I learned she was murdered by a vampire and it hit me like a truck. I understood why dad kept it from me, but it was still hard to cope with, especially the vampire part.

Other than my dad I would visit my mom's parents sometimes. Usually it was just once a year around Christmas time to ask me how I've been and give me cash as an apology for not being in my life. It is what it is, I guess. Dad wasn't close with his parents so it was the same for them except without the actually visiting. They would just send the pity money.

It was really just us and that was okay. We lived in small towns and Dad worked as a history teacher. We moved constantly to try and find the vampire that killed my mom. It was usually at the beginning of the year, but plans changed. Half way through the school year a job offer came up in Mystic Falls for Dad because of a tragic accident. For some reason he was eager for the job and I let him. He said he had a lead in the town.

Wherever I seemed to go bad news followed. I always accidentally ended up in the bad group at school or caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Not to say that I was always innocent because I definitely wasn't.

I was a reckless teen. Through high school I've gotten wasted a few times, slept with a few bad people, and done a few drugs that maybe I shouldn't have.

Every time we moved though, I tried to get better. It's been about three years since I was like that and I was proud of myself. Now I just drank normally at parties and refrained from all one night stands and drugs.

So now we were moving again and I hoped it stayed as it was. School was already in for about two months. That meant that everyone was already settled in to where they needed to be, which left me: the awkward girl who doesn't know what she's doing. If I wasn't confident I would be having a heart attack.

I was raised to be strong. I grew up learning basic fighting skills. Dad put me in karate and boxing for a while. That lead eventually into the 'job' I did with my dad.

I was unique in ways. I was a girl who didn't have a mom so that was different in of itself. I liked to draw and I was actually good at it. I usually acted on impulse and was bad at using my emotions. I had a carefree attitude and style. I acted like I had no worry in the world, and to be honest I really didn't have any. They were trivial worries. I was worried I wouldn't make any friends by now. And yeah I'll admit that I was worried I'd be drawn to another crowd of bad people, but they were all things that I could change if I wanted to. There was one thing I was more scared of than anything- the fear of the unknown.

I was scared of what I couldn't see. The things that creeped at night. More specifically a thing. The monster that killed my mother in cold blood, a vampire.

My dad told me all about them when I was fifteen and since then I trained with him to make sure they didn't hurt anyone else. We hadn't crossed any vampires yet, but the place we were going was rumored to have lots of history of them.