It felt like a twisted joke sitting in the grill of Mystic Falls across from Damon, seeing his sharp features and bright blue eyes again, and the fact that they both still retained their youth. From outside of this booth they probably looked like any ordinary people did, and from the conversation they were about to have they likely sounded like an ordinary couple having a fight. However, they were anything but and this was anything but an ordinary lovers spat. This was a apparently long overdue conversation, one that clearly was going to reopen wounds for both of them. When the waitress dropped off Clara's drink and the bottle of bourbon she thanked her before downing the entire glass then looking up and meeting Damon's gaze.
She never hated Damon just as she knew that she never would hate Damon. Even after all the events that had taken place back in 1864 she didn't hate him, she didn't think of him as some villain, she was just bitter. She was hurt and she had been hurting for the last 150 years because she wouldn't let herself heal. And as she looked across the table at the man she had once hoped to marry, and have a long happy human life with, she realized that she hadn't wanted to heal. She'd spent the last 150 years being angry, lashing out, and not exactly making friends but it had seemed the easier choice than dealing with her emotions properly only to end up let down again.
Clara tucked her hair behind her ear and leaned back into her own seat with a sigh. "I have to go way back, because I think it's important you know the whole story. Not just who turned me. A little over one hundred and fifty years ago you left to fight in a war to try and prove to everyone that you weren't who they thought you were. And when you returned the first few weeks you were back were magical in my eyes. I mean there you were in the flesh, alive. And I still couldn't tell you how many nights I laid in my bed crying out of worry for you. How many times I prayed that you would return to me safely, or just how much I missed you, so seeing you return was the happiest I'd been in forever. But our time together was cut short when Katherine came rolling into town, she sank her teeth into both you and your brother. And I had my suspicions back then about her, I'd over heard the rumors that she was a vampire and it all made sense to me. Didn't make it hurt any less being abandoned by not only the man I love but my best friend, but it made sense. She'd clearly done something to do you. And knowing that no one else in town would do anything to save you I thought I would try myself. Only the night I went to attempt to talk some sense into you, which I know now would not have worked, was the night you died. When I arrived at your house it was madness. And I heard the gunshots then Giuseppe called out that his sons were dead, I lost myself that night. I hid and waited for them to move your body then leave you before I saw for myself. Stone cold dead, that's what you were. I cried over you for what felt like hours, but it was more like minutes then I saw Katherine making her way into the woods clearly trying not to be seen so I followed her. If I couldn't have you back the least I could do was confront the woman who'd ruined everything for me. She laughed at the thought that I could hurt her, and at first I thought she was just going to kill me then and there. But I didn't think that would be so bad, I mean at least if I died it wouldn't hurt so much thinking about a life without you. Apparently ending my life was too easy, so she fed me her blood, informed me that I would be just like her for eternity then snapped my neck. When I woke up she'd drug my body into some clearing forced me to feed then told me to enjoy my eternity alone because she had taken everything I loved. I did return to Mystic Falls shortly after turning only to see that she was right. Everyone in town thought I was dead so showing up wouldn't look good, they all thought you were dead which verified everything Katherine said to me. I was alone. So then I left town for good, I eventually found a coven of witches who were kind enough to make me a daylight ring, and I've been traveling on my own ever since," she told him as she poured more bourbon into her glass, proud of herself for holding herself together somewhat as she explained her side of the story to Damon.
"Thanks," Stefan said sarcastically as he shook his head. "I hope you're ready then for a real hometown experience Abernathy," he said laughing softly. He wasn't sure that she was really in for much of a show given Mystic Falls was pretty small and not much had really changed over 150 years, but it was still his home. "I know a witch too by the way who I'm sure I could persuade to get you a daylight ring you wanted one," he added noting that he still didn't see a ring on her finger which clearly meant she wasn't able to walk in the sunlight. But he also knew that there were some vampires out in the world who didn't want them. Lexi had never really been into the idea of them either. She use to tell him that she preferred the way she lived without out because it helped her embrace who she was as a vampire rather than trying to live as a human when she wasn't. And he understood that. They weren't really for all vampires, partly because it could be very difficult to find witches willing to help vampires, and because some vampires fully accepted what they were and found some kind of purity in living as vampires who only walked around at night.
"I suppose I can show you around here first while we wait for the sun to finish setting," Stefan said of course not wanting to put his friend at risk. "So this is one of the newer places of Mystic Falls actually. It's the Salvatore Boarding house which was built in the early 1900s so after Damon and I were both long gone from here. This is not where I grew up, actually the house I grew up in doesn't exist any more. It burnt down ages ago. So if you need a place to stay while you're in town you're welcome to stay here. There are plenty of bedrooms, multiple bathrooms, everything you need really," he said motioning for her to follow him so he could give her the grand tour.
"The kitchen is pretty huge, and we have a basement that has a wine cellar. It's also where the freezer is which is kept stocked with blood bags. Damon drinks them, when he's not out in the world terrorizing the people. And um my family is in the business of keeping the town supplied with vervain so be extra careful if you go down there as there's a ton of it still growing. We haven't quite figured out how to get rid of it all without coming off as suspicious. There's also a couple of cells down there so I'm not entirely sure I want to know all of my family history. I'm sure it's the one of the journals around here what they used them for. But I can also imagine that I know," he said not enjoying the thought that vampires were probably kept them and tormented before they were killed back in the day.
[ sorry for such a long winded reply with Clara... I got started and couldn't seem to stop
]