Chapter Text
Chapter 1:
Baltimore City, Maryland: The Greatest City in America, or so the benches around here say. Honestly, it’s not that great. If you were measuring a city by the number of homicides or the amount of crime that takes place there, then yeah, Baltimore is great. Number one city for sure.
It’s been named the deadliest city in the country many times over the years. It’s had more murders than New York City, Philadelphia, Miami, Seattle, Los Angeles, even Las Vegas. I find it interesting that crime rates can be seemingly decreasing across large cities all over the United States, but murder is on the rise. I guess humans just love killing each other. All the facts I’ve heard and read don’t really matter that much to me. It’s not like I’m going to be a casualty of the Baltimore crime scene.
Nope, I’m already dead.
I thought getting away from Mystic Falls would be a good idea, one that I have expressed many times over my centuries on this Earth. I’ve tried multiple times to get away over the past few years, but something or someone always pulled me back. Well I finally decided to fulfill Stefan’s request. I wouldn’t say I ran though. Damon Salvatore never runs away. No, I would say I made a quick unexpected exit.
I didn’t intend to stop in this dank depressed city, but D.C. wasn’t really my thing, so I just kept going. This was the next largely populated city that I came across, and this place had a lot to offer someone like me. I knew I wasn’t the only vampire in town; this place seemed to have a good amount of them hiding in the shadows. I didn’t plan to kill anyone while I was here, but I like to keep my options open.
This city was overflowing with young delicious smelling people…and I was never one to resist an appetizing buffet.
The summer here is hot and humid, but the sun always brings people out into the open. There were a few different popular areas around the city. While the Inner Harbor’s a main hub for businesses and offices, it also holds many tourist attractions like the Baltimore National Aquarium and the piers where there’s a concert every weekend. People always gathered around near here: students trying to find their way around, visitors taking pictures, and of course, business people making their way from office to home.
It created an open field for me to sit and watch. I’ve always taken great pleasure in observing the masses.
It’s easy here, the wide open area, no small streets or houses lining the way, if I wanted that I would have gone to Fells Point or Federal Hill. Sure, those places were good to pick up drunken girls on late nights, but the Inner Harbor was my main hunting ground. There was just something about watching lambs wander about, completely oblivious to the lion waiting in the wings that made me positively giddy.
Aside from it being overly populated, I didn’t have a whole lot to say about Baltimore. I had been better places, places that certainly smelled better than this one, but still I’ll admit this place has a certain charm to it.
It didn’t take long for the late afternoon rush of people to start making their way out of the many office buildings along Pratt Street. I liked to walk over the few footpaths just off the Inner Harbor. It was slightly less crowded over here, but I could look at the water, not that it was much to look at. The water in the harbor is gross, but hey that’s where many idiots have dumped bodies over the years, so what would you expect?
Most of the time I tried to ignore the putrid smell coming off the water, but on warm days like today, it made it a bit challenging. But I could ignore the smell and still search out something mouthwatering, and that’s exactly what I was doing. I sat down at the benches outside one of the entrances to the aquarium, and waited sifting through the scents around me, searching for something that piqued my interest.
It was a little after five in the afternoon when I smelled something wonderful, something different, something I had never smelled before. It didn’t smell completely human, it carried just the hint of something else, more than enough to garner my curiosity, and of course it was intoxicating. I breathed in deeply, pulling the scent in as hard as I could. I sensed the different layers of this sweet scent; it smelled of ambrosia mixed with honey, strawberries and freesias. I stayed still and allowed the delectable fragrance to invade my every sense, utterly and completely.
I searched the few people walking over the footpaths, but none led me to the scent I was looking for. Maybe the smell came from across the water? There was a light breeze, so it’s possible this smell was coming from further down the way.
I stayed put on my bench, waiting. I would let the scent come to me. But even as I waited, I could feel something pulling me. This deep ache in my chest started slowly as the scent became stronger, coming closer to me. The ache spread out down my arms and legs, settling over me like a desperate need.
Then I saw her.
Immediately the pull got stronger. Yes, she was the one.
She had her head down with earbuds in, ignoring the people around her with such determination. She would look up occasionally, checking to see if the path was clear in front of her. She seemed to know exactly where she was going, but she continued hiding her face as much as possible as she walked. I could tell this was a path she took often.
Her long wavy dark brown hair flowed around her as the wind picked up and blew her scent directly into my path. I held onto the moan that threatened to slip from my lips as I breathed her in.
I watched as she made her way closer. My eyes took in her petite slender form, hidden under her short tan trench coat; it seemed a little warm for that but whatever. Her hands were tucked tight in the pockets, and I could see the navy floral dress just under the coat that moved as she walked. My eyes followed the line of her body down to her beautiful legs. They were smooth, creamy, pale and perfect.
God I want to touch those legs. No I didn’t just want to touch them . . . I wanted them wrapped around me while I made her scream out my name in pleasure. Fuck. I wanted her. Not just because of her scent, I wanted all of her.
But that wasn’t the only ache I felt.
Before I even thought about getting up and moving towards her, I honed in on her face. What I saw there made the ache in my chest clench my slow beating heart painfully.
I don’t know why I didn’t notice before, okay I was ogling her body, sure whatever, but when I focused, there on her pale pretty face were quiet tears. As I studied her more, I could see the pain that was etched there.
I immediately felt guilty about my obvious desire for the girl, no, I couldn’t approach her. I wouldn’t. Not yet.
I wanted to, but this girl . . . something inside me made me want to protect her. I wanted to wipe those tears off her delicate heart shaped face. I wanted to take away the pain that so obviously was tearing her apart inside. I didn’t just want to use this girl. I wanted to help her.
Great. Just what I need.
The dark part of me was shaking its head. It wanted me to grab her and consume her, completely. And I wanted to let it take over, but the other part of me, the part that held my humanity would not allow me to do it. No, this was not a conquest. This was a victim. A victim I wanted to wrap up in my arms and hold onto. I wanted to make her whole again.
I stayed still as she passed by me, but my body wanted to follow her. It acted on its own. I barely registered my movements as I began trailing behind her. Luckily, I didn’t have to hide here, there were many people around, and she wasn’t looking back behind her. Following this girl was way too easy.
She kept moving steadily and kept her head down. Another few blocks and we were passed the Inner Harbor. She walked a few blocks up and entered an apartment building. It looked like the entire block was apartments; she could live in any one of them. I noticed the parking garage directly adjacent to the building she entered, it did have a gate, but it closed at 11 p.m., not that that would stop me from getting in if I wanted to.
I watched her walk in the small entrance, and she immediately walked up the tall wooden staircase at the front of the hallway, ignoring the elevator, and keeping her keys in her hand. I watched from across the street as she made her way up the two-story stairway and then quickly went through the first door on her right. So she lived on the second floor. That made things easy.
I waited to see if she lived in the street facing apartments, but after a few minutes I saw no movement in the windows above. I quickly crossed the street and walked down the open alley next to the building and the parking garage.
Luck seemed to be on my side today. I looked around the open area of the garage and I could see the back of the apartments were clearly visible. The apartments that lined the block all had inner entrances in this garage. I looked up above the back entrance to the building I saw the girl enter, and there she was. In the apartment closest to the parking garage I could see her through the blinds of the window that were drawn halfway. She had taken off the trench coat and was turning on a lamp then she turned away from the window.
I could barely see her from down here. I needed to get higher up so I could see more. I quickly looked around to make sure the area was clear and jumped to the second level of the parking garage. I knew in this form I would be a bit obvious, a man staring into an unsuspecting woman’s apartment window, yeah what’s not creepy about that?
So I shifted and perched on the concrete ledge. No one would find a bird conspicuous.
From here I could clearly see into her apartment. The apartment was large and open with impressively high ceilings, but the room was a bit bare. She had a couch, rug, book shelves, television, but there was nothing on the walls. Maybe she hadn’t lived here very long? I saw a few empty boxes tucked in the corner and assumed as much. She wasn’t in the main room at the moment, but I could see a long hallway that went the length of the apartment to the front door. There was a room off the hallway that must lead to her bedroom. I could hear water running from the bathroom.
I waited for her to come back into the room, and when she did she had changed her clothes. Now she was wearing tight black yoga pants and a dark green long sleeved shirt, with her face freshly washed and a thin headband pushing her hair back away from her lovely heart-shaped face. She looked simple and natural more like herself. This was who she really was, not that done up business looking woman I saw on the street. While I appreciated how attractive she looked in her professional attire, the way she looked now made me smile.
As she made her way toward the kitchen, following along beside her I saw a cat. It was a short grey and brown chubby tabby that was meowing like crazy at her.
I heard her shush the annoying little thing. Her voice was sweet and she chuckled lightly as the cat circled her legs. She opened a door next to the kitchen, her pantry, and crouched down toward the bottom shelf. I could hear her measuring food in a cup and then she quickly walked across the room and dumped it in the cat’s bowl.
She also refilled the cat’s water bowl, and then she went back toward her bedroom. She was only gone for a minute before she came back with her cellphone in hand. It was in a simple black wallet looking case, folded over, I could see credit cards and IDs in the card slots, but I couldn’t make out a name from this far away.
She walked over to the grey tweed couch which was right near the window, and put her phone down before heading over to one of the wooden bookshelves. On top of the bookcase on the right side of the room sat two matching silver lamps, and on the other side of the room directly across sat a matching wooden bookcase with two blue ceramic lamps. The blue ones looked much older, antique almost, perhaps she inherited them?
She walked toward the right bookshelf with the silver lamps and picked up a small black book of matches. I watched as she quickly lit a candle and then went back to the couch.
She grabbed a remote that was lying on the couch beside her, and turned on the television. She waited a few moments before she pulled up a music application on the large screen in front of her. And then, after another moment I could hear music begin to play. I could hear the light sounds of guitar, but I didn’t recognize the song playing. I was really not expecting the beautiful sound that began to flow from her as she started to sing along with the music.
I stayed perched on the ledge frozen as her voice carried through the room, covering the original artist’s voice. The sound of her was so desperate and broken, but hauntingly beautiful. She knew these words well. She must have sung this song many times before.
I had a dream about a burning house
You were stuck inside
I couldn't get you out
I lay beside you and pulled you close
And the two of us went up in smoke
Love isn't all that it seems
I did you wrong
I'll stay here with you
Until this dream is gone
I've been sleepwalking
Been wondering all night
Trying to take what's lost and broke
And make it right
I've been sleepwalking
Too close to the fire
But it's the only place that I can hold you tight
In this burning house
I listened to her in awe as she sang clear and strong. She never cracked or missed a note. While she sounded sad, she also sounded confident while she sang. I wondered if that was always true when she sang. But it seemed obvious to me that confidence was not something that came easily to this girl.
She stayed silent when she finished. She didn’t move to get up. She just sat there staring at the screen of her television. I watched her turn her head toward the window, toward me. She got up and walked over to the further window and with a bit of effort, she lifted it up about a foot to allow some of the warm air into the room. I watched her inhale and then scrunch up her nose in disgust.
Well her window did face the dumpsters as well as the garage, which was unfortunate for her, but the open window allowed her fresh scent to flow outward toward me. I inhaled again and felt the tension that I had been holding onto since I started to follow her, ease out of me. The ache in my chest also seemed to lighten as I breathed her in.
She looked down toward the few people who were walking below. She didn’t smile or stare at anything in particular until her head turned towards me.
For some reason, as her eyes focused on me, I held my breath. It wasn’t like she would see anything but a lonely crow, just sitting on a ledge. But I couldn’t help myself. I wanted her to actually see me, but instead all she saw was a bird.
After another few minutes, she closed the window and walked back toward the kitchen. I watched as she heated up a frozen meal and then sat back on the couch with her cat. She watched television for the next few hours before she went to bed.
I watched closely at what was an obvious basic display of depressive behavior. She sat there for about five hours straight and she barely moved the entire time she was sitting on the couch. She didn't really look at her phone while she’s sitting there either. Maybe she has no friends to talk to? Not that I would find that at all surprising based on what I’ve seen so far. Or maybe she’s just having a quiet night in? That seemed a bit hopeful. Something about her movements made everything she did seem so routine.
Well either way she just sits there mindlessly watching a show that she barely pays attention to. What’s even the point of turning it on if you’re not going to watch it?
But as I watch and study her, I can see her emotions right there on the surface. Sadness, boredom, loneliness, and a hard resolve on top of everything else. I know those feelings. I recognize them. Those are feelings I feel every god damn day. A constant need to drown out the silence around you, to make yourself appear normal even when no one is watching.
But someone is watching. I’m watching. And I could clearly see that this girl wanted to appear normal.
I wanted so badly to be in that room with her, but that was just the dark part of me. The vampire part of me. If I was in there with her now, I could just compel her into doing whatever I wanted and that would be that. But this girl, while seemingly plain and simple on the outside carries a heavy weight on her shoulders. I can see it in her empty eyes, in her lack of energy, in the way she tossed and turned for a couple hours before finally succumbing to an uneasy sleep.
As I watched her throughout the night, I couldn’t help but wonder if there was more to this girl than meets the eye.
I remember the instant I smelled her that something was off, something in her blood wasn’t quite right, but I couldn’t tell what it was. I wanted to get closer to her, I needed to get closer, but I wasn’t sure how. There didn't seem to be anyone close to her at all.
This girl is in pain. A lot of it.
She may be hiding it from everyone around her, but I am not just anyone. I know pain. I am a master at hiding pain behind a snarky attitude and sarcastic remarks, but this girl wasn’t hiding her pain that way, at least she didn’t appear to be. Still, she knew how to wear a mask, and I want to see behind it.
I don’t even know her name. But I want to know it. I want to know everything. So I will wait and watch.