chapter two:
brave new world

     Thomas opened his eyes to the sunlight brightly entering his room, he winced as he pushed his face against his pillow to shield his eyes. He groaned in annoyance when his door was opened, he heard the high heels his mother wore and then he pushed his face more into the pillow as she walked inside more.

"Thomas, your uncle Mason and Tyler are going for a run. You should go with them. Get out of the house for once". He groaned as he looked at his mother, his hair was a mess and he wanted to scream into his pillow for the throb that ran along his head.

Perhaps spending the night at the bar downing beer after beer wasn't the best idea for him. He's never once in his entire life ran alongside his brother or anyone else for that matter. His father always insisted he'd stay fit and active, maybe join a sport like his brother and prove to people he was strong.

He never did any of those things, he saw the disappointment in his mother's eyes as she walked towards the door. "Figured you'd wanna know, I'll be out for the morning" she closed the door behind her and he heard her descend down the hallway.

He pushed his hands against his face as he sat up, he let out a heavy breath as he slumped along the edge of his bed and stared at the door. He thought about everything that happened the past week and he sighed deeply. His father was dead and everything around him was turning into a disaster.

He knew eventually the full moon would be around the corner and he'd be far more defeated as he locked himself away. He stood up off his bed and approached his door, as he pulled it open the strong scent of death lingered into his nostrils making him gain a headache.

He frowned deeply as the scent got stronger, he walked along the hallway and his eyes locked on with the woman almost immediately. The same one from last night that for some reason was desperately trying to figure out how his curse was activated. He felt like he was gonna faint as he walked down the steps where he saw his mother smiling as she spoke kindly to the woman in front of her. The one who for some reason was dressed exactly like Elena, but Thomas knew this imposter wasn't Elena, just by the stench of death that lingered along the air as he looked at her.

She smiled, as she spoke and even her voice sounded like Elena's it was almost unsettling. Thomas let out a weak breath "mom, shouldn't you be getting to that meeting of yours?" his eyes lingered on Elena as he smiled weakly. His mother looked at him "oh yes, Elena was just telling me about the carnival the school is holding tonight. You know you should really go Thomas, you're always locked inside that room of yours". He sighed in annoyance "not always, besides I have to go to the carnival anyways, I'm helping with one of the stands. Why don't you get going, I'm sure Elena here can tell me all about the carnival".

He caught the smirk that rose along her lips as she looked at him, her eyes looking so cloudy up close as she smiled at Thomas's mother. He watched as his mother left the house in a hurry, her hands gripping tightly onto her purse. She was hiding something and he needed to figure it out for the sake of her safety.

He let his worry fade away as he looked down at Elena; her sweet like mannerisms vanished almost immediately. "You're not that great at pretending to be Elena" his tone was laced with annoyance as he moved past her. She sighed "it worked for your mother just fine, and even that brother of yours".

She walked around him as she looked at him "Tyler was it? He's a real catch, and he's clueless". She grinned as she placed her hand along Thomas chest, he felt the coldness of her flesh as she dug her fingernails into his shirt. He looked down at her "what exactly are you playing at here? You're obviously obsessed with my family since you keep popping up around here. Or maybe it's your obsession with what I am, I'm more so interested in what you are and why the hell you look exactly like Elena".

She couldn't help but laugh and he took offense to it as she moved her hand upwards. She gripped his chin harshly and he felt the rage in his body moving towards the surface. "Who says you get to figure it out? I have you right where I want you, helpless and alone. I don't negotiate with just anyone, especially filthy wolves, this is all for the means of my survival".

He gripped her wrists when she went to touch his hair, she was a wild card that never ended and he knew she wasn't up to any good. The way she held herself made him anxious as he kept his gaze on her, any sudden movement and she'd likely kill him. "Why are you here? If you won't tell me who the hell you are, you can at least tell me why you're so insistent on messing with my family".

She smirked and he wanted more than anything to rip it off her face. He felt like he was going crazy the more he looked at her, she was a mystery and it made him feel more drawn towards her. He sighed when she ignored his question and she walked towards the door.

"If you're so smart, don't you think you'll figure it out? Maybe I just want something from you and not the rest of your family, you're an easy target Thomas but I always have a plan B and I'm always prepared".

She waved at him weakly before she left, he ran after her but she was already gone by the time he stepped outside. "Damn it" he sighed deeply before he angrily pushed the door shut as he walked back inside.

—

  "We need someone on the ring toss stand, unless you'd prefer handing out cotton candy or popcorn". Bonnie Bennett was a kind girl and although Thomas personally didn't speak to her much, he still found her company less annoying compared to others. She held onto a clipboard and she looked stressed as she made sure the carnival was still going according to plan. With Caroline Forbes being in the hospital everything went to Bonnie to handle, Thomas figured he could help seeing everything was going slow.

"Ring toss sounds pretty fun, aside from the dead fishes they give out as prizes" he looked around at all the stands that were slowly being placed around. "I'll take all the help I can get, this is all so last minute and I have no idea who's in charge of what".

Bonnie sighed deeply and Thomas smiled slightly "well don't worry about it, I'll handle the ring toss or anything else you need help with. Perks of being unnoticed around here is I can be quite flexible".

He turned at the sight of Elena approaching and he felt his heart sink when the strong scent of death didn't enter his nose. This was clearly the real Elena and he could tell by the brightness in her eyes, she smiled sweetly at him as she looked at Bonnie.

"Please tell me you know where the bags of prices are, apparently someone misplaced them and I can't find them anywhere". Her tone was so soft and sweet and part of Thomas found it kinda funny how someone could easily pretend to be Elena Gilbert.

Bonnie looked down at her clipboard "uh, they should be all together" she sounded so worried and Thomas looked past her towards the crowd of people. "Could be inside, I can check for you, maybe they got lost in the storage closet. People tend to do that".

Bonnie smiled "that would be really helpful if you could find them. Just find me once you find them, I gotta set up the karaoke machine". She walks off and Thomas pushes his hands into his jacket pocket before he makes his way towards the entrance of the school.

The scent of death entered his nose as he walked along the hallway towards the storage closet. He felt his heart racing like crazy as he turned around, he jumped almost immediately at the sight of Caroline standing beside him when he turned back towards the storage closet. "Caroline! You scared the shit out of me, what are you doing here? I thought you were in the hospital recovering".

He let out a heavy breath as he leaned against the lockers for a moment as he calmed his heart. That scent was so strong, he could barely keep his focus on what Caroline was saying as the scent grew stronger. It lingered all over Caroline and it made his head ache as he looked at her with concern.

"You alright Caroline?" The girl looked at him and she saw the distress hidden behind his eyes, his heart was racing like crazy and he looked so lost. "I'm fine, just looking for someone who I saw come in here".

He nodded as he pushed open the storage closet door Caroline looked at him "I'm sorry about your dad, I don't think I told you that yet". She smiled before she turned around and made her way down the hallway, Thomas sighed deeply as he looked inside the storage closet. The bags of prizes laid weakly on the ground, he grabbed hold of them and made his way down the hallway towards the exit.

—

  "This is just depressing" Thomas leaned against the chair inside the booth as he watched Tyler attempt to get the ring around the bottle. He missed every single time and it made Thomas feel amused "I saw a literal twelve year old do better at this game than you man".

Tyler groaned in annoyance as he threw the last ring and it clattered along the ground "let's face it man you're no good at this game, go back to football and literally everything else you do". Tyler looked at his brother with deep glare as he leaned into the booth "you clearly rigged it or something, I'm normally good at this game and I always beat it".

Thomas threw his hands into the air "I mean maybe you're just bad at it, having a big ego could also be another factor to your skill issues". He chuckled as he picked the rings up off the ground and Tyler huffed "whatever man, I'll come back and try again after I beat uncle Mason at arm wrestling".

Thomas sat down as he looked at Tyler "good luck with that, everyone always loses to him". Tyler shrugged his shoulders before he walked off. Thomas sighed softly as he put his jacket back on, the air felt more colder than it did when this first started.

He felt anxious and he didn't understand why, ever since he saw Caroline everything's just felt off. The entire carnival reeked of death and it made his head feel fuzzy as he tried to figure out where it was coming from. In this case he wanted to know who it was coming from, he didn't know why he was hoping he'd see her face again. He shouldn't trust someone who looked exactly like Elena, it was odd watching her try to be Elena and she got away with it too which made things far more complicated.

He didn't enjoy the company of his family but he would protect them at all costs. His thoughts faded away when a ring was tossed and it landed perfectly around a bottle. "I win, what price do I get?" he recognized the voice before he could even smell the stench of death. He stood up and looked at her, she was dressed exactly like Elena, only this time her hair was curly aside from a few strands that were pushed back. She wore red polish and her lips were dark as she pressed her hand down onto the booth.

"You just keep showing up out of nowhere, this is the third time I've seen you poorly attempt to be Elena. She doesn't paint her nails or wear makeup that much anymore. Why exactly are you even here?".

The woman scoffed "rude". He rolled his eyes as he looked at her with annoyance. "It's the truth, you clearly want something from me so fess up already or just leave me the hell alone".

"Who says I want anything from you? Maybe I just like messing with you, your heart is racing and I know you're just dying to know what's going on". She smirked and he felt so small under her gaze "but if you're so curious, perhaps I'm searching for something that your family has. Something of great importance that I need".

He frowned "that's what this is all about? You getting something from my family? What are you even looking for, because my family has a lot of things I don't even care to know about".

"A moonstone" her voice was so cold as she looked at him, she clearly wasn't walking away until he said he'd find it for her. Of course part of him wanted her to just walk away so he could pretend this wasn't at all making him loath being so aware of who she was.

He bit his tongue to hold back his rude remark as he sighed deeply "fine, if I find this stupid moonstone for you will you leave my family the hell alone?". She smiled and he saw the mischief in her eyes "only if you get me that moonstone, otherwise I might just have to kill that mother of yours and make you an orphan. Time is of the essence, don't fail me".

She walked off and Thomas sat back down as he processed what she said, a moonstone. His entire family's life was on the line because of some stupid stone that he'd likely find when he got home. He definitely wasn't enjoying this one bit and if giving this mystery woman a moonstone meant she'd leave him and his family alone, he'd do it in a heartbeat.

—
authors notes:
everyone clap and cheer for me. Because I finally updated a tvd book where it involved me actually writing something new and it wasn't an old draft where I just edited it. Talk about progress, proud of myself. I even made an end gif for this book after like months of it not having one, another great achievement if you ask me. Anyways enjoy this chapter, I promise I'm going to do my best to keep updating for this book because I love it so much.