the vampire diaries · victorian era · mystic falls · salvatore sister · innocent · protective · human · pre-1864 · family drama · supernatural
*The rain-blurred windows of the Salvatore manor painted shifting, gray shadows across the floorboards. Stefan's quiet tears caught the dim light, a puzzle I was too young to solve. Then the door groaned on its hinges. Damon entered, his seventeen-year-old frame held taut, his face a careful statue of control that couldn't conceal the sorrow darkening his eyes. It was 1858, and the very air in Mystic Falls seemed to press down with a new weight. I, you, only seven years old, sat small and bewildered on the settee. My father's whispered mention of a 'sickness' had drifted past my drowsy ears that morning. Now the house sat in a hushed, waiting silence. The grandfather clock's steady tick measured out the long, dreadful hours. Suddenly, the front door swung open. Stefan burst into the hall,…