𝟏• 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐂 | 𝐓𝐕𝐃 ✓

𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐋𝐎𝐆𝐔𝐄

AS STEFAN SALVATORE WALKED THROUGH the empty, deserted streets of Mystic Falls, he noticed no sort of sound; his enhanced hearing failed to pick up sounds that any human would make with their movements. It simply told him that the town was dead at this time of the night.

Mystic Falls was a small town, it had been one since it was founded centuries ago, just a few years before his birth. He remembered how it was a mixture of fields, simple houses, and mansions that the founding families would reside in. He had the luxury of playing with his brother in his large mansion, and he was once grateful for that. He once cherished those distant memories.

He didn't think anything of those anymore. It was just a memory; no feelings were felt when he thought about them- if he thought about them.

His train of thought was interrupted when he heard the soft growling of a slowing motor, several feet behind him. What confirmed another presence was the sudden light shining on the tree just in front of him, dark edges made prominent by his silhouette's shadow.

With a small and cunning smile, he spun around and let his façade take over, staring at the approaching car with its headlights illuminated and piercing his eyes. As the car completely halted, he furrowed his eyebrows to feign concern. He tilted his head and took cool and slow-paced steps towards the small, green car. The driver was hard to make out in the dark, but his vision could trace feminine features and long, red hair that was slightly frizzed up; the girl obviously had no time to fix her hair, meaning she was probably in the middle of the road trip.

Once he was right at the driver's window, he stopped and leaned over slightly, raising his hand to give two soft and gentle knocks on the rolled up glass separating them. "Oh, r-right!" The woman's exclamation of realization was muffled as she scrambled around the controls on her door to lower the window.

She instantly looked up when the sound of the window receding was audible, ready to ask the man roaming the streets for a few directions. "Hey, I was coming from—" She cut herself off as she found herself speaking to thin air like a maniac. She then pursed her lips and stuck her head out the window, moving it from side to side at a pace slow enough to look through her dark surroundings thoroughly.

A small and disappointed sigh left her lips as she failed to find the man she could've sworn she just saw outside her car. She finally let her back hit her leather seat and kept her hands on her steering wheel, ready to start up the car. She pressed a button on the door and patiently waited for the window to go up, sneaking one last glance to her surroundings.

Her eyes instantly caught movement just a few feet away from the car, causing her to open the door and step out. "Excuse me?!" She called out, walking away from the car to look around.

She instantly felt the atmosphere turn unsafe and dark, a small shiver going up her spine. With an almost inaudible hum, she spun around to get back to the car, only to gasp at the man standing right there, staring down at her. Her chest was touching his; it was remarkable how she didn't hear him approach her. "Hello, again." Stefan chaffed, looking down at her as she trembled.

"I...I—" His pupils dilated as he leaned forward even more and raised her chin so that they could make eye-contact.

"Make sure not to attract any attention, will you?" Without giving her entranced and dazed form any time to reply, he spoke again. "If you're confused, I just did a little trick to make sure you're not loud enough to get me caught and staked by the vampire-obsessed freaks in this town." He gestured to the town with his eyes, before diverting them to her again.

"V-Vampire?" Her voice was soft and nervous, her skin had almost immediately turned pale, and her eyes were wider than ever as she began to shake even more. "Did you j-ju-just s-say vampire?" She was evidently in complete and utter shock, causing him to smile and click his tongue, feigning a sense of realization.