Roses Are Red...And So Is Your Blood.

"What did she look like, again?" Stefan asked.

Elena sighed heavily. "Skinny, snow white hair and skin, dressed all in black, and--her eyes! Oh her eyes!"

"Cobalt," said Damon from the doorway.

"Yeah, how did you know?" asked Elena.

Damon stared off into the air. "Because she's supposed to be dead."

"Damon," Stefan started, "it isn't her. She is dead. This is probably just a family member."

"That's not even possible, Stefan!" the elder brother shouted. "The entire Black line ended in 1866 when she was killed!" Stefan stared in awe and asked what he meant. "Yeah, she was the last one, brother. The last one with the pure Black bloodline. The last Black ever."

"Can one of you tell me what's going on?" Elena half-demanded.

Stefan sighed. "Back in the 1860's, there was a very powerful family in Mystic Falls - the Black family. One year, the youngest daughter had to stay with our family because her siblings had moved and her father was going to get a doctor outside of town since her mother had fallen drastically ill. They didn't want her to catch it because she was already prone to getting sick, so she stayed with us because our fathers were close friends."

"She was the most beautiful young woman you could ever set your eyes on," said Damon as he remembered the girl. "Always wearing these black Victorian dresses which made her look even paler and her hair even snowier, and when she laughed or smiled, she could light up a room the way she made her cobalt eyes shine. It was when Katherine started causing trouble that we learned the truth."

"What truth?" asked Elena.

"She had a curse on her," Stefan answered. "One that was placed at birth."

" Angelus diu Everto noctu;
A decorus procer,
A cruentus os.
Eyes ut animadverto totus,
A vox vocis ut sono poena.
Dulcis parvulus in sunlight,
Mortifer bestia adveho nightfall.
A verto of cruor can servo vestri core,
Promissio of eternus diligo ,
Haud misericordia haud magis." said Damon.

"What does any of that mean?"

"It's the Latin curse that was on her. She only ever told me," Damon sighed. "Angel by day, Demon by night; A beautiful princess, A bloody sight. Eyes that see all, A voice that sings pain. Sweet child in sunlight, Deadly beast come nightfall. A turn of the blood can save your core, A promise of eternal love, No mercy no more."

"It meant," Stefan explained, "that in the day, she was a beautiful, normal girl. But as soon as the sun set, she turned into a dark--"

"Don't you dare say it, Stefan." Damon glared.

"Damon, she was a monster."

"So are we!" He yelled. "She was no monster! She couldn't help it!"

"She almost killed you once!"

"Wait, what?" said Elena.

"Yes," said Stefan, "she lost it one day and attacked Damon."

"You don't even know the full story, Stefan," Damon growled. "Don't you dare judge her."

"So what is the full story?" Elena asked curiously.

"She was a stillborn," said Damon, "but her parents didn't want to lose her. So they begged the moon goddess to spare their little girl because she was born in the middle of the night on a full moon. I don't know if it was actually the goddess or a witch, but someone said they could make her live with the curse. So her parents agreed, she was cursed, and lived. That was in 1513."

Stefan and Elena's jaws dropped. "But how was she alive in the 1860's then?" Stefan asked. "She wasn't a vampire."

"No, but that curse turned her into a hybrid. She called herself a dhampir. That let her live all that time. Since it was her mother's blood to curse her and cause her to live, she could only die after her mother passed, and her mother wouldn't have that. So she begged for life too."

"So they were all under the curse then?"

Damon shook his head. "Her mother's request was refused. She was supposed to live long enough where her daughter could live a well enough life. But there was something never right in that woman's head. So she began studying witchcraft and split her soul, giving a part to the necklace her daughter always wore. In the 1600's, she was tried for being a witch and hung. But she came back because her other half remained in her daughter's necklace."

"That's why she freaked out when Katherine broke it..." said Stefan, understanding now.

Damon nodded. "Once Katherine smashed that necklace, her mother fell ill. The man and children that lived with them were actually their relatives. Not father and siblings, but more like nephew and cousins I believe. Then after her mom died, she became vulnerable. Then whole vampire thing happened. The last of her family members were killed by vampires - a couple got turned and staked - which only left her. She got attacked, and for fear that she would turn, she was staked, placed in a white casket wrapped with silver, vervain dipped chains, and buried."

"So she is dead." Stefan said.

"Nobody took her rings," said Damon.

"So what?"

"She wore four that were all infused with magic. The one on her right middle was her daylight ring; left middle was her moonlight ring; right ring finger was her grandmother's old wedding band that kept down the rage; and the one on her left ring finger was her mother's wedding ring which held the secret third piece to her mother's soul. She couldn't die with that ring on. Her mother made sure of it, but she never knew."