Written In Blood

Chapter Fifteen.

The Year: 1863
Location: The Camps of Gettysberg. 

To occupy her time, Rayna had decided to become a nurse, serving the Confederacy at the Battle of Gettysberg. It was a good way to help people, but also to keep herself fed without people raising questions.
It was during this time that she met a rather dashing human, who seemed to had lost his way in the world. He had come back from the day's battle. He was unconscious when he arrived.
The first thing Rayna noticed about him was his beauty. His raven black curls, his perfectly chiselled jawline.
She looked over his notes.
"Damon Salvatore." She read aloud. "Shrapnel wound in the chest. Easily fixed.
"She beckoned over another nurse, asking for her help to lift him.
Together, they removed the top half of his uniform, allowing Rayna to observe his wounds.
Most of them were mere scrapes and grazes, but she tended to the deeper wound at his sternum and patched it up with tourniquets. 

He was out all week, but he awoke, feeling awfully dazed.
Rayna watched as his friend smiled to him.
"Hi there, hero. You've been out a long time."
"Mail call!" A large officer entered the tent with an even larger bag of letters.
Damon was passed one and Rayna watched on as he read.
"News from home?" His friend asked.
"My brother..." He sighed. 

After her rounds, Rayna stopped by Damon's bedside, seeing his friend had left him for his duties.
"Good morning, Lieutenant Salvatore. It's nice to see you awake. You look better, more colour in your cheeks." Rayna greeted him with a smile.
Damon looked up at her and gave her a smile in return.
"What happened to me? Henry never said." He asked, groaning as his movements agitated his wounds.
"Just a few cuts, scrapes and a mild concussion, Lieutenant." Rayna replied.
He nodded, trying his very best to remember.
"Where is your brother?" Rayna asked, realising how ridiculous she just sounded. "I overheard you and your friend talking."
"Home. In a small town called Mystic Falls." The soldier replied.
Rayna's attention peaked.
"Mystic Falls? Why, I haven't been there in quite some time. It wasn't even called Mystic Falls when I was there." She chuckled.
"It is a rather small town, miss. I, for one, am surprised you've been there at all." Damon raised an eyebrow with a little side smirk. "May I ask your name?"
Rayna looked away, smiling to herself.
"My name is Rayna." She replied.
Damon smiled brightly.
"What a beautiful name. Call me Damon."
"Well, Damon. How are you feeling?" Rayna asked.
"Hungry and aching. But a part from that, I feel just fine." He answered.
"Then I want you to go and get some breakfast." She told him.
He smiled at her, nodding.
"If you don't mind, Miss Rayna, I'd like to see you again soon. I hope I'm not being too untoward." He said, bashfully.
Rayna raised an eyebrow. "Of course not. I would like that very much."
A blush rose to Damon's cheeks.
"Then I shall return as soon as I can."
Rayna smiled and looked down, hiding her own blush.
"I will see you later, Damon." She said.
He smiled brightly as he put his uniform on, then bowed his head to bid her goodbye. 

The hours ticked by and eventually days. It was months before she gave up waiting and there was still no sign of Damon. Rayna hadn't seen him since that day in the field hospital.
She had been relieved of her duties, and so went on to return to the place she hadn't been for almost two hundred years.

Mystic Falls.

She walked down the streets of the small town, taking in everything it had become. Passing a Police Officer, she stopped, grabbing his attention.
"Excuse me, sir. I'm looking for the nearest hotel. Would you be able to point me in the right direction?" She asked.
"It's on the way to the Sheriff's Department, Miss. Allow me to escort you." He smiled, holding out an arm in the designated direction.
They walked for a mere five minutes before reaching the hotel.
She thanked the policeman and bid him goodbye. He was about to leave when she suddenly remembered a rather important detail.
"Oh, sir? I was wondering whether you knew where Damon Salvatore lives?" She raised an eyebrow.
"Of course, Miss. The Salvatores live a mere fifteen minutes' walk from here." He replied, pointing toward the South of the town. "In that direction."
Rayna smiled kindly to the Policeman and thanked him before going and checking into the hotel.