The gym doors slide shut behind him with a dull hiss.
The sun hangs low on the horizon, painting the streets of Mystic Falls in amber and long shadows. Theo rolled his shoulders and started walking.
The system remained quiet for once, as if it had never existed, although that didn't really matter. His footsteps echo softly against the pavement as he cuts through crosswalks. As if hearing Theo's thoughts, the system voice rings out.
[UNKNOWN BEING IS WATCHING HOST]
Damn it, note to self, never speak too soon...he thought, feeling annoyed for jinxing himself. Approaching a vending machine next to a gas station, pulling out $2.50, he put it into the machine and pressed E5 to get a coffee.
When the coffee fell out, he reached for it, pulling the tab back and taking a sip of the coffee, only to immediately spit it out.
"Ugh, so bitter," he said in frustration, throwing the can of coffee into a nearby trash can.
Continuing his walk home, Theo looked at the sunset in the far north, its orange hue shaded with a hint of red. Sighing, he looked away from the beautiful view, and instead of going home, he walked toward the forest where the party was supposed to be held. It was quiet, too quiet in fact, that it made him question reality itself, and the mist surrounding him was acting strangely as if it was alive.
Beyond the line of trees, there stood a single man standing at a height of 5'10" with brown eyes and black hair. Theo's eyes widened as he looked at the man who was now walking towards him rather calmly, taking his time. Theo knew who this man was the moment he saw him.
'Damon Salvatore..' he thought, with a grimace. He had no idea why he had to take a detour to this damned forest to encounter this crazy lunatic, but at the very least, he was thankful to be thrown into the beginning of the timeline instead of the middle of it, which would have been very bad.
"What do we have here?" Damon said, with a smirk, coming to a stop a few feet away from Theo. Looking at Damon, Theo tensed his muscles, ready to defend himself from Damon. "Who are you and what are you doing here?" Theo asked him, feigning ignorance, trying to hide his nerves.
Damon threw a smirk at Theo, and then he was gone as if he wasn't there in the first place. Feeling a chill run up his spine, Theo turned only to meet the vampire's dark gaze, who still wore a smirk on his face.
"Whoa, you have some pretty good instincts, kid, too bad you won't be able to develop them further," he said, grabbing hold of Theo's neck and lifting him as if he weighed nothing. The voice of the system whispered into Theo's ear, who was struggling to breathe.
[YOU HAVE ENCOUNTERED AN AWAKENED VAMPIRE - DAMON SALVATORE]
[NEW QUEST: DEFEAT DAMON SALVATORE]
[REWARD: 120 XP, 3% ON CURRENT TEMPLATE]
'Are you fucking shitting me...I can't beat a vampire who's over 100 years old, let alone a new vampire...I think' he thought straining himself to stay conscious. "Y-You damn bastard, who do you think you are..." he said as his eyes began to glow a shade of blue.
"Oh, well, what is this are you, a witch or something, kid?" Damon asked him, loosening his grip on the boy. "No, I'm something beyond your comprehension. I am something worse than a witch," Theo said, grinding his teeth. "Well, aren't you a feisty little human...wait, that doesn't seem right, you don't smell human, what are you, kid?" he said, only to be kicked in the crotch.
He then let out a painful groan, dropping Theo as he fell into a vulnerable position. Whom immediately retreated dozens of feet back to avoid the temporarily downed vampire. "W-What a kick I shouldn't have let my guard down, especially around a kid like you," Damon said as he groaned from the lasting pain as he started regenerating.
Getting up, Damon dusted the dirt off his pants and sent a hateful glare towards Theo, who, in return, took several steps back, crunching sticks and leaves under his weight. The vampire slowly walked towards the transmigrator, who, in turn, also started to walk towards him. Both were filled with relentless killing intent; neither was willing to give up.
Mist began to surround Damon as the distance between them decreased. 'What the hell is he controlling mist? No, that's impossible, I could have sworn I was transmigrated into the TVD series, not the book' he thought, widening his eyes but not coming to a stop at the approaching vampire.
Calming himself, Theo flexed his muscles and dashed forward towards the deadly vampire like a bullet. The old vampire side steps, avoiding the boy with ease. Theo, who was caught off guard by Damon's reaction speed, was unable to come to a complete stop before crashing into a tree, forming a cloud of dust.
"That must have hurt, didn't it, kid?" Damon called out to him, laughing at his pain. "Ughh, shut up," Theo said, getting up, causing the wood dust and bark to fall off his form. He spat dirt and bark from his mouth and rolled his shoulders. The ache bloomed and dulled, like his body was deciding how much pain it felt like acknowledging today.
The system hummed, low and empty, like a fly that would keep pestering him.
[WARNING: HOST CONDITION UNSTABLE]
[ADAPTATION PROTOCOL: ACTIVE]
Blue light pulsed beneath his skin, veins glowing briefly before fading. Damon noticed.
"Well, I'll be damned," Damon said, tilting his head as if he were admiring a strange piece of art. "You don't scream like a human when you crash into a tree. You don't smell like either. And now you glow like a lantern," his smile sharpened. "Mystic Falls just keeps getting better."
Theo didn't answer. Talking wasted oxygen, and that was valuable in every world because of humanity destroying the ecosystem. The mist thickened, wrapping around Damon's boots like it was fond of him."So," Damon continued conversationally, "here's how this usually goes. I snap your neck, drink what's interesting, and toss the rest into the woods and crash a party." he blurred forward. Theo moved on instinct.
The world lurched. Sound stretched like taffy. Damon's hand passed through where Theo's throat had been a heartbeat ago, fingers closing around nothing. Theo reappeared a few steps to the side, boots carving into the dirt.
Damon blinked and then laughed.
The sound echoes into the vast expanse of the forest. Then the laughter stopped, and the forest seemed to hold its breath.