Vampire Diaries 1. Introductions

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing but Alex. The Vampire Diaries and Highlander are owned but much more creative and brilliant people than me.

**Chapter One: Introductions**

Damon sat at the bar in the Mystic Grill watching his brother play pool with his girlfriend, Matt, and Caroline, contemplating how he was going to spend the rest of his evening. Seeing as tormenting his brother was not an option tonight, surround as he was by his new found "friends", Damon surveyed the room looking for a quick meal. Catching the eye of Kelly Donovan (who was well on the way to passing out), Damon quickly led her outside and had his fill. Deciding he really wanted nothing more than to go home and nurse his favorite bottle of bourbon, Damon propped his meal up against the side of her car and left for the boarding house.

* * *

Damon woke up the next morning on the living room couch to a persistent knocking at the front door and quickly remembered that vampires do in fact get hangovers. Grumbling about unwanted guests who had better be good looking if they wanted to survive the morning, he opened the door, to discover a pale fist about to knock on his already pounding head. Catching the fist in his hand, Damon found himself staring at a pair of green eyes surrounded by a curly mass of ebony hair.

"Oh, I'm sorry; I wasn't expecting the door to open that quickly." Damon looked down at the young woman with a frown,

"If you thought you might wake someone up, why would you knock on their door at this ungodly hour?" The girl looked between Damon and the fist he still held in his hand with a frown now growing on her own face,

"I am sorry for waking you sir, after what, judging by your appearance, was a good night. The last I knew, Zack was living alone and never had guests besides me, so I was not expecting to wake anyone but him." The girl was now trying, unsuccessfully, to tug her fist from Damon's hand.

"Zack isn't here. He's on vacation." _'the permanent kind'_ Damon thought.

Alex didn't know who this guy was, and understood that he might be a little upset, but not letting go of her hand was starting to tick her off. Now he said the Zack didn't live here. First of all Zack was committed to this house the way the Queen of England was committed to preserving her crown, to him, vacation was a dirty word, and second, even if Zack had a meteor hit his head and decided to go away, he never would have left without telling her where he was going.

"Where did Zack go?"

"Australia. Said something about seeing the wildlife." Damon said with a shrug of his shoulders. Alex ripped her fist out of Damon's hand, gave him a shove (with given his current condition, worked better than it would for most people) and stalked past him into the house.

"First of all, Zack doesn't leave Virginia, second, he hates the heat, and third he loathes anything stronger than him with big teeth." This caused a small smirk to begin to appear on Damon's face. Contemplating why Zack might not have liked anything with big teeth. A tug on his shirt, reminded him that the little spitfire was still raving at him.

"…therefore, you're lying. Now where is he?" Alex started to go through the house yelling for Zack while Damon still stood in the front entrance with a stunned look on his face.

"I'm afraid my brother is telling you at least a partial truth. Zack isn't here anymore." Stephan stood in the living room with a sad look on his face. "I'm Stefan, Zack's nephew, and the one at the door is my brother Damon." Alex looked at Stefan with a look of disbelief.

"What my brother didn't tell you is that Zack didn't go to Australia, Zack died a few months ago. You were a friend of his?" Alex stood in the living room with a shocked look.

"I've known him for many years. I guess that explains why his letters suddenly stopped." Stefan took Alex's arm and moved her to sit on the couch, knocking his brother's empty bottles out of the way. Alex turned to look at Stephan, "How did he die?".

"He fell down the stairs. Broke his neck."

By this point Damon had moved into the room, studying Alex from the fireplace. She was pretty, her green eyes and dark hair were paired with a relatively petite body, yet she had curves in all the right places. She moved with an elegance no commonly seen and while she was clearly upset, she seemed to have good control and wouldn't be the type to fall into hysterics like some other young women. He judged her age to be in her early twenties.

"I'm sorry. I wasn't aware Zack had friends outside of town, as you said, he kept close and never travelled."

"Zack and I rarely saw each other, I live far from here, but we wrote letters constantly." Alex looked up from her lap and extended her hand to Stefan. "I'm Alex Sonders".

"Pleased to meet you" Stephan replied, "Though I wish it was better circumstances and perhaps that you had been greeted a little more pleasantly." At this, Stephan looked over at Damon with a scowl which Damon returned.

"She was pounding on the door at 8:00 in the morning and when I opened it, she tried to use my head instead. How was I supposed to react?" _Saint Stephan is at it again_ Damon thought.

"Perhaps a little hospitality would have been good, it's not her fault you had a solo drinking party last night." Stephan turned to Alex. "I really am sorry about Zack."

"Not your fault. But I do need somewhere to stay. I'm afraid my car has begun to make some interesting noises and I don't want to leave before I make sure it's ok." _And find out why the dark one lied to me instead of telling me Zack was dead. What is he hiding? _

"Well, I could talk to the owner at the Grill. They have rooms available above it."

"No need to go to that trouble. Zack had a room always made up for me. I do have a habit of dropping by unannounced." Alex had a grin on her face and a far away look in her eyes, clearly thinking of previous occasions. She suddenly snapped out of it and looked at Stephan. "I'll just go get my things and get myself set up." With that, Alex got off the couch and marched past Damon out the door to get her luggage, leaving two stunned Salvatore brothers staring after her.


	2. Lay of the Land

**A.N: I apologize profusely for incorrectly spelling Stefan's name in the last chapter. This is the first story I've ever written and while I tried to spell check, I was nervous about posting and notice I missed quite a bit, including Stefan's name (which is inexcusable) I promise I will get better.**

**Chapter Two: The Lay of the Land**

**Alex's POV**

Looking around the room, I was overcome by memories. I had known both Zack and his parents Mark and Janice. They had allowed me free reign to decorate the room as I wanted it and as a result, it was nothing like the rest of the house. This room was bright with a set of French doors to the left of the entrance that led onto a small balcony that held a round table and chair. The curtains were sheer, meant more for decoration than keeping any light out. A big canopy bed opposite the balcony and a fainting couch are the only pieces of furniture. A door to the right of the entrance leads to an en suite bathroom (the only true "modern" room in the house) and a door to the right of the bathroom leads to a moderate sized closet. It is truly my room and I will never forget a young Zack's grumbling about having to paint the whole thing, while his Dad did the bathroom and his mom and I shopped for furniture.

"Why do the girls get to shop? They LIKE to shop. Why do the guys always get stuck with the jobs that suck?!" Zack had said while his Mom and I giggled.

"Because it keeps them happy Zack" Mark had replied. "And the last thing you want in your house is an unhappy woman. Trust me."

I had outwardly laughed at this, admiring the wisdom the man had.

"Reminiscing are we?" I turned to find the dark one, Damon, leaning against the door frame with a smirk on his face. "I always wondered why this room was different. I presume it has something to do with you."

"Mark and Janice allowed me to have this room, so I made it my own. Is that a problem for you?" This guy really got on my nerves. Who did he think he was Zeus, leaning against the doorway like he's completely irresistible? And why did he lie about Zack. A scowl appeared on his face.

"No, I have no problem with the room; it's the person occupying it who doesn't seem to realize she's talking to the person who now owns it and perhaps should be a little nicer, that is bothering me at the moment."

**Damon's POV**

After overcoming my momentary speechlessness from the arrival of our new guest, I decided to have a shower to sober up (which takes all of 2 minutes when you're a vampire) and find out exactly who this woman is. Alex she said her name was.

I walked down the hall to what I can only assume is her room. I had noticed before how different it was and wondered if she was the influence behind it. When I got to the door, she was standing in the middle of the room gazing around with a distant look in her eyes and a slight smile on her face. As though she were remembering something she found amusing.

"Reminiscing are we?" I asked.

She then proceeded to get snarky with me and I not so gently reminded her to whom the house she was in belonged to. Who did she think she was? I had considered maybe having some fun with her, but now I was having serious thoughts to just making her my breakfast.

**Alex's POV**

I decided that in order to save my sanity, I needed to make sure this guy understands the lay of the land around here. I'll have to check the nephew story. Zack mentioned he had relatives, but never said anything about an annoying nephew who liked to throw weight around he doesn't have. His brother seems nice, why does he have to be such a jerk?

"I think you will find that Zack left behind instructions in his will regarding my occupation of this house in the event that he died. I should know, I helped him write it up. I suggest you go and find a copy before you start issuing threats. There should be a copy in the safe in the library behind the third bookshelf to the right of the door, third shelf down from the top."

"I think I'll do just that." With that, he turned and stalked down the hallway, presumably to go to the library. Good riddance.

Damon stalked into the library mumbling about uninvited guests. _How does a person become more annoying dead than they were alive_? Zack had one really annoying friend.

Opening the safe Damon pulled out a pile of papers and sat down at the desk. Rifling through them, he found one labeled 'Last Will and Testament' and opened it up.

"I, Zack Salvatore, being of sound mind and blah blah blah….Moneys are to be left to...blah blah blah….The Salvatore Boarding House and all land associated with shall be left in the care of my descendants. Should I leave before I have any children or family, the house will be left to my two nephews Damon and Stefan Salvatore with the following stipulation; Should I die without heirs, Damon and Stefan Salvatore shall own equal shares in the Salvatore Boarding House unless they should at any time refuse the hospitality of said house to one Alex Sonders. Alex is to be allowed free use of the house and, in particular, the 'white room'. Should either of my nephews refuse her entry, they will forfeit any rights to the house at which time the rights shall pass to Alex. Should Alex then perish from unnatural means, the house will then be given to the town of Mystic Falls to use as they see fit and……….ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!! STEFAN!!!!!"

"What are you yelling about? You know I can here you across the house without having to raise your voice." Stefan now stood in front of Damon with a look of confusion on his face.

"Have you read this? Do you know what our 'nephew' put in his will?"

"Well considering his 'uncles' are vampires, I imagine it isn't exactly normal." Stefan reached out to take the Will from Damon.

Damon watch Stefan read the Will and if it was possible, become more and more pale the farther he read.

"What could he have been thinking? He wants us, two vampires, to live with a human! Why would he do that to us, or rather to me? He knew what you are like; I'll spend most of the time trying to hide the fact that we're vampires and the rest of the time trying to make sure you don't make a meal out of her." Stefan collapsed into the chair with a stunned look on his face.

"I can't kill her. If I kill her, we lose the house completely. Zack is becoming more a pain dead than he was alive. Not to mention our 'little' problem currently occupying a bedroom upstairs." Damon was now pacing back and forth in front of the desk.

"Well, there isn't much we can do about it now. Remember, she said she only drops in from time to time. Hopefully this will be a short visit and then she'll go back to wherever she came from." Both Stefan and Damon looked up as the doorbell rang. Stefan got up from his chair and handed Damon the will.

"That will be Elena. Get a grip Damon. There's nothing you can do about it." With that, Stefan turned and walked out of the library to get the front door with Damon following behind him.

Stefan opened the door and let his girlfriend in the house.

"Good morning. Damon, you look like your having a pleasant morning." Elena was smiling at Damon's expression. If it were possible for vampire's heads to explode, his would have been gone.

"We've had a bit of a surprise thrown at us this morning. It seems that Zack had a friend that he thought enough of to leave her part of the house." Elena was looking at Stefan like he had three heads instead of fangs.

"How is that supposed to work?" Elena now just looked confused.

"That's what I and my brother would like to know."

"I think it will work out just fine, provided everyone can be nice to each other and act like civilized people." Everyone turned to see Alex walked up the hallway. "I heard the doorbell and my curiosity got the better of me." _And I should know who is around if I'm going to find out what happened to Zack. _Alex reached out her hand to Elena.

"I'm Alex. Zack and I were friends for many years."

Elena shook hands with her. "I'm Elena. Stefan's girlfriend."

"Nice to meet you." Alex stood with a smile on her face looking back and forth between the faces of the three people she knew had the answers she wanted.

**A.N.: Sorry for putting two in one chapter, but I just want to let people know that I would be absolutely thrilled to get suggestions. I have a general idea of where this story is going, but as it is my first story, any help will be greatly appreciated.**


	3. Another Visitor

**Chapter Three – Another Visitor**

"So what are we supposed to do? Play human until the human leaves?" Damon, Elena and Stefan were in Stefan's bedroom discussing the situation they now found themselves in.

"Why is this such a big deal for you two? It's not like you don't 'play' human everyday anyway." Elena had been listening to the conversation for three hours now and was getting impatient with the way it just continued in circles.

"We play human outside the house, inside the house we can do whatever we want. We have no where to be ourselves, and we both know how patient Damon is." Stefan sat beside Elena and put his arm around her.

Damon rolled his eyes, "Why is it everyone thinks I'm incapable of controlling myself. I have managed to survive the last 145 years you know. I even managed the last 50 without holding anyone's hand!" Damon said with an expression of fake excitement. "What? No applause?"

Stefan and Elena looked at each other and rolled their eyes. "Look, lets just play along for now and see where this goes. She said herself; she isn't going to be around for long. Surely we can survive for a little while."

A dark figure was wandering around the ruins of the old Salvatore home. Periodically, they stopped and stooped to the ground searching for something. Then they continued on, moving in a clear pattern, making sure to cover every inch of ground. They continued in this pattern for more than an hour, before stooping one more time and began to dig. From the hole they pulled an ornate box and looked like it could have been a woman's jewelry box. A smile graced their face before they stood up and disappeared into the woods leaving an air of menace behind them.

The next morning, Damon walked through the living room and out the glass doors only to stop short at the sight of Alex in a pair of short jean shorts and a blue camisole sitting on the low wall that separated the patio from the back yard, reading a book balanced on her knee and eating a bowl of cereal.

"If this is the sight I'm going to be gifted every morning, you can stay as long as you want" Damon drawled.

Alex didn't acknowledge Damon's comment or even look up from her book. Deciding a more direct approach was in order; Damon walked up to Alex and snatched the book off her knee.

"War and Weapons: An encyclopedia of Medieval Weaponry. Wow, I'm impressed. I didn't know anyone could be more boring than Stefan. I should have a medal cast to commend you on your accomplishment."

Alex was now jumping for the book while Damon held it over is head laughing. "Damon give it back. I should have a medal cast for you for being the most ridiculous, self-centered, narrow-minded ass I've ever met. Oh, I'm sorry; ass is too big a word for someone of your IQ level."

"Oh, you wound me." Damon gave Alex the book back and staggered with his hand over his heart and a wounded look on his face. "Though I must admit, I do like a girl with a bit of sass in her." Alex rolled her eyes and jumped back up onto the wall. "Seriously though, haven't you heard of those new fangled things they have called guns. I hear bombs are popular too. What good are swords now-a-days?"

Alex looked up with a smirk on her face. "Well, they can come in handy. You never know when something might need to be severed." Alex let her eyes move down to the front of Damon's pants and then moved them back up again. Damon smirked back at her.

"There would be a great many ladies very upset if that were to happen. Shame for someone as pretty as you to get killed by an angry mob."

"Oh, I have no doubt. What would all the cougars and elderly widows in town do without you? I wonder if you're brother……" Alex's head suddenly snapped around to look out at the backyard and the woods beyond.

"You were saying? …....Would you like to continue that thought?" Alex wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention to Damon, which was something he was not used to, nor something he appreciated. He focused on the woods trying to find what had grabbed her attention so rudely. At first, he found nothing. Then using his enhanced hearing, he heard a heartbeat. It had to be more than 100 yards inside the woods. She couldn't possibly hear it, could she?

Damon looked at Alex; sure enough she was looking at the exact spot where the person would emerge if they kept coming towards the house. Could it be a coincidence? Was she just ignoring him and happened to be looking in the right direction? It would be one of very long odds.

Damon focused again on the woods; it seemed the person was moving back in the opposite direction. The tension in Alex's body slowly left and she turned her attention back to Damon.

"Sorry I can't continue this very intelligent and worthwhile conversation with you Damon, but I have places to go and things to do. See you later." Alex jumped off the wall and headed into the house in the direction of her room. Damon watched her leave like a hawk watches its next meal. No regular human could have sensed that person and wouldn't have reacted as thought they were a threat to them. _What is this girl hiding? Or what is she hiding from?_ Damon intended to find out and he had a feeling he had better find out in a hurry.

**Sorry it's so short. I'm in the middle of exams and having a hard time finding time to write. Review Please!!!**


	4. Confrontations

Alex walked into the front office of city hall two hours later. "I'm here to see Mayor Lockwood please." The women behind the desk looked at Alex's clothes and lack of makeup with a look of clear disapproval. _If only you could see my jewelry collection lady_ Alex thought with a smirk.

"Do you have an appointment miss…?"

"Alex. No, I don't. Just tell him I'm a very good friend of Zack Salvatore's and I'm here regarding his death."

"Very well. Wait here please." The woman got up and went through the large mahogany doors behind her. She returned a few seconds later and showed Alex into the office.

_Well, someone sure is high on themselves_. Alex thought. The office was massive with a grossly oversize desk that would require both people on either side, to fully extend their arms and lean over the desk to have any hope of shaking hands. The walls were covered in pictures and framed news clippings all featuring the Mayor and how wonderful for Mystic Falls he is. _Gee, I wonder who has influence at the newspaper around here._ Alex was forced to stop her internal overview when the Mayor stepped into her line of vision.

"Good Morning, I'm Mayor Lockwood. Janet said you had news of Zack Salvatore's death. I'm sorry, I had no idea he was dead. His nephews said he left for an unexpected vacation." He extended his arm towards the desk "Please have a seat. You mentioned you were a friend?"

_Well, isn't that interesting. The same story Damon tried to feed me._ Alex sat in the chair. "Our families have been very close for many, many years now. I knew Zack when he was very little. As for his vacation, that's where he died. Apparently his friend had a few too many and while he was trying to help him outside, Zack fell down the stairs and broke his neck. He friend walked away with nothing but a broken arm and a bad handover."

"I'm sorry. I hadn't heard any of this and I see Damon quite often. He never mentioned this." The Mayor paused for a moment; Alex could practically see the smoke pouring from his ears. "Why didn't Damon tell me this? Zack was his uncle. You're just a friend of the family." The Mayor was now glaring at Alex. Though whether he was mad at her or Damon, she couldn't figure out.

"Zack only died a few days ago, that's why you haven't been told this before. I assume you're seeing Damon more often because of the council." The Mayor's eyes doubled in size at this. "I'm here for the same reason. Zack mentioned before he left that his nephews were here but as I wasn't sure if they knew of the council and having read of all the recent 'animal attacks', I thought I would come and make sure Zack's role in the council was being continued by someone." Alex was watching the Mayor's reactions through this little speech. It was a wonder the man was allowed to hold office in a town like this. His thoughts showed all over his face and he seemed incapable of controlling his reactions. How he managed to keep anything a secret, was a mystery to her and he clearly didn't like secrets (like her knowing of the council) being kept from him. He went from shocked to indignant to anger in about 10 seconds.

"Well, I'll have you know that Damon has been looking after everything and doing an exceptional job in his uncle's absence and I hope he continues to do so now that Zack is dead. However, I don't understand how Zack could have been so foolish as to let an outsider know of the council." The Mayor's face was now beet red and he stood up from his chair

"What happens in Mystic Falls is the business of the council and **only** the council. He had no right to tell you any of the council's business; you are not part of a founding family."

Alex stood from her chair with a sneer on her face. She really didn't like this man. "For you're information mayor, since clearly you lack the knowledge and never bothered to find out anything about a key member of your precious council, I was practically adopted by Zack's parents for a time. It's kind of hard to hide a room full of a mysterious herb from someone living in your home. And because I have been helping Zack since his parents died, this council owes almost every idea Zack brought to it, to me! This town was everything to Zack and so it is extremely important to me and I intend to continue looking after it whether you like it or not. From what Zack told me, you never came up with anything yourself. I really hate men who sit back and let other people do the work and yet take all the glory. Generally men like that, with an office as overdone as this one, are trying to make up for a lack of intelligence and perhaps a lack of control at home. Where is your wife Mayor? Zack and I had several conversations about her 'extracurricular activities' not to mention yours. " Alex turned a walked to the door, putting her hand on the hand before turning back to the very stunned Mayor.

"And by the way, the idea of giving vervain to all the council members and their families was one of those ideas that came from me! Perhaps you should be a little more courteous and a little less self-righteous Mayor. You owe you're safety to me!" With that Alex opened the door and slammed it behind her. Holding her head high, she left city hall, determined to have a conversation with the oldest Salvatore brother.

* * *

Meanwhile, Damon was in the woods behind the boarding house watching a person stalk around his house. This was a new person; the person who appeared earlier had not had a heart murmur. Normally Damon would have thought of a person caught wondering too close to the boarding house as having a meal delivery service. But two people wondering close to the house within a few hours of each other was too much of a coincidence to let go.

Like the person from earlier, this one looked around for a few minutes and then made to leave. Damon decided to find out what he could.

Damon stepped out from behind a tree in front of the intruder. "Can I help you? Didn't anyone tell you it's rude to snoop around someone's home and not introduce yourself?" Damon began to stalk towards the human, who seemed frozen in shock.

"Well? What are you doing here?"

The man stood up tall and looked Damon in the eyes. "I'm looking for someone I believe may be staying with you. Alex Sonders."

Damon narrowed his eyes at the man. "And what is wrong with knocking on the front door and asking politely if she is at the house? Did your mother not teach you that it can be dangerous to sneak around other people's property like you have something to hide?"

The man seemed to stumble for a response and began looking around himself nervously.

"Well I….I….Alex and I haven't always got along, so I wanted to make sure she was in a good mood before I tried to approach her."

Damon rolled his eyes, deciding he'd heard enough ridiculous and half-baked lies out of this man. He compelled the man to tell him exactly what he was doing here.

The man's voice became trance-like "I came to find out if Alex is still alive"

Damon's scowled at the intruder "What would make you think she would be dead, and what is she to you?" This woman clearly has a history she'd not shared with him and his brother.

"Miguel returned from here this morning, I assumed that meant he'd killed her, but I have to be sure. My boss will be very upset if I don't find out for sure."

"Miguel is the person who was sneaking around this morning? Why would he kill her and why would it make a difference to your boss?" _Is this Miguel a hit man or something? What is Alex involved in?_

"Killing each other is what they do. It's my job to watch them and record their history."

Damon was beginning to get the feeling that the 'they' the man was talking about was more than Alex and this Miguel, but just as he was about to ask, the man snapped up like he'd been shot with a tazer and tried to run away. Damon managed to grab the man's sleeve and heard a ripping sound. The man had a tattoo on his wrist that looked like a symbol you would find in a secret society like the Masons.

Just as Damon was about to reach for him again, Stefan called his name from the window. In that second, the man shot of like a bullet and disappeared into the woods. Damon turned to go back to the house with two thoughts running through his head. The first, how disgustingly slow his reaction had been when the man tried to run away. What kind of bad ass vampire couldn't catch a simple human? His hunting skills were really getting rusty. And second, Alex was definitely more than a family friend of Zack's and if people were looking to kill her, Damon wanted to know why.

* * *

**Sorry about the long wait for this one. I'm done exams now, so I should be able to post every couple of days. Next chapter will be the confrontation between Damon and Alex this has all been building too. **

**The reviews have been great, keep them coming please!**


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Vampire Diaries, Drama, Romance