The rain wasn't something that Sofia disliked nor liked. Ever since she was a small girl she would sit on her bay window and stare at the rain for hours on end, never once leaving her spot for anything. Often times, someone had to force her to eat, drink, and move around for a bit. At first, Sofia used to fight against the prodding of her family, but she soon began to become grateful for it. It helped her refocus and relax. Sofia remembered Elena arguing how she got away with doing nothing during those rainy days.

Her parents had thought it to be a weird hobby of hers, but Sofia soon began to do small notes as she watched the rain. Her eyes always looking glassy and far away when she would do her notes. It freaked her parents out at first. But when they saw just how relaxed Sofia would become afterward, they told Elena to drop it and find something to do instead of interrupting her sister. They just couldn't take the one thing that seemed to make their youngest daughter happy, it felt wrong.

Though, Elena just began to copy what Sofia was doing, claiming that Sofia would always copy what she would do. It didn't take long before Elena became used to writing in her diary that it became her own form of therapy. Their parents would tell others that it was the other way around. They would say Elena began writing after Sofia. Everyone knew the truth, but that didn't stop Elena from trying to convince others she was right.

Why would Elena try to make it seem as though she was always the one to have started writing first? Not that Sofia cared too much, but she remembered seeing Elena putting random dates that had already passed once and thought Elena might have been jealous. Jealous of what though? Again, Sofia never asked and kept her thoughts to herself.

Every time the rain came, it felt as though Sofia was in a trance. Images and clips of something would pop into her head- often coming true the next day or two.

It happened that night as it had begun to rain early in the morning- close to the witching hour. A few days since Halloween night, when she found out the supernatural existed.

Sofia knew she had been asleep in her room when it began, but when she woke up she found herself in front of the old Salvatore mansion she redid. Her plain blue t-shirt and black yoga pants were clinging to her like a second skin; her long blonde hair dangled heavily down her back as her gaze was to the sky. Growing cold- Sofia walked inside the house, fighting the strong urge to sit by a glass window to watch the rain.

She hadn't noticed her journal in her hand- it hadn't been wrapped in clingwrap but it was still dry from the downpour. Biting her bottom lip, Sofia made her way to the bathroom- trudging up the stairs and to the room she used as her own.

How the peach fuzz did I sleepwalk all the way here while it was raining? How did I not wake up sooner?

The thought kept repeating in her mind. Why hadn't she woken up before getting to the mansion? She hadn't even felt the heat the shower gave as she listened to the rain outside, her mind going blank for a bit. Her eyes felt heavy as she slowly closed them as she cleaned herself.

A car.

Elena upside down, blood on her head.

"Sofie!"

Black boots coming closer.

"Kitten?"

With a gasp, Sofia hurried out of the shower in a slight panic. She had to write down what was happening before she forgets. Stumbling down the long staircase, Sofia slipped a few times as she rushed. Ankle throbbing as her foot got caught under the couch leg. Just as she made it to her journal, she forgot why she was in such a hurry. She wasn't even dressed for fluff's sake.

With irritation, Sofia tugged her purple strip of hair harshly. She needed a grip on reality. Whatever vision she saw she knew it was important. Visions had been happening much more recently and Sofia had no idea why these visions were happening more. Sometimes it didn't have to rain anymore for a vision to occur. She had been having more of them since she and Damon had taken that bath, but the images made no sense to her. Though she saw two Elena's- one of them was clinging to a handsome man, who was dressed rather formally. 

"What is even happening to me," Sofia asked herself. Her other hand reaching up to her face, her fingers tapping at her temple as she wondered. The flashes might return, but she'll have to wait until then. She just had to be patient and hold her journal around until then.

She was glad to have gained resistance to the allure of the rain. It was hard to fight against the pull, but she still had the visions. Perhaps that was why she had the visions without the rain. She fought so hard against the lure of the rain, so now it didn't have to always rain for a vision. 

Though, she wrote them down as they happen or right after they happen. The reason why is because she would forget until she had the deja vu feeling when it happens. Or she would see it again in her dreams and she will remember it instantaneously. A majority of the time, she would dream of it. 

The rain quickly had begun to get heavier, thunder clapping as lightning lit the dark sky. With a gasp, Sofia ran up the stairs- forgetting about the rain and its alluring pull. Journal in hand- Sofia panicked to herself on being alone during a thunderstorm. 

How she hates thunder and lightning. The last time there was a thunderstorm was during school hours- she had jumped so high and ran out of the seat she was in. She remembered the look on the teacher's face as she had bolted out the door- full of freight and rage as she called for Sofia to come back to the class. Sofia didn't. She ran to the nearest empty room and hid there until Elena had to come and drag her outside to their parent's waiting car.

That storm had lasted for hours before it stopped. Sofia refused to eat or drink anything as her fear of the storm went away with the storm. She never grew out of the fear of storms. 

Now, as she hid under the blankets on her bed, she debated on who to call. She could always call Elena, but that would involve her knowing about this place- her place. As much as she liked her sister, she wouldn't allow Elena to come here and ask many questions or to bring unnecessary drama. The blonde knew it would happen. Instinct told Sofia it would.

There was Jeremy, but he wasn't much help in comforting Sofia at all- plus he would most likely use her place as a bribe to do what he wants. He would threaten to tell their aunt about this place and say he would keep quiet if she did what he wanted. She loved her brother, but not enough to give him leverage for her to keep this place secret. As much as this was a theory, Sofia wouldn't take the chance either way.

Jenna would be a no. Her aunt is pretty laid back, but she is constantly worried about Sofia being left behind and not getting enough attention that her siblings got. Seeing that Sofia had rebuilt an old haunted house all on her own would make her aunt feel neglectful. So she was out of the picture.

Whimpering at the sound of a particularly loud roar of thunder, her arms wrapped around herself. Trying with all her might to keep herself physically together if she couldn't keep herself together mentally or emotionally. She almost dialed the passcode as her thumbs shook on her phone's buttons. 

"I don't want to be alone," Sofia squeaked out loud. Fear rose higher as lightning flashed- making the room turn bright in the dark. Another roar sounded and she accidentally threw her phone on the floor.

Her body shook with uncontrolled fear. When the sound dimmed enough, Sofia made a grab for her phone. Seeing his name in her favorites, she dialed his number. He became someone who she knew she could rely on and vice versa.

Another loud rumble happened as she waited for Damon to pick up. It got louder by the second. On the third ring Damon picked up with a groggy hello, but the thunder roared louder than it had that night.

"Damon," she cried into the phone. Tears flowed down her cheeks as she screamed at the loudness of the thunder. "I need you..."

She didn't get a response, just the monotone sound that came when someone hangs up. For some reason, Sofia felt betrayed as she curled into herself under the stuffiness of the blanket on top of her. Of course, Damon wouldn't help her. She was just a human- he was superior to her. Was she wrong about opening up to him? For relying on him?

Teeth gnawed on the chapped skin of her bottom lip, Sofia wondered why she never brought her Stitch plushy to this house. The squishiness of the stuffing inside the soft fabric of the blue alien always had her calm during the storms. Maybe if she had, she wouldn't have bothered Damon at three in the morning and feel betrayed for something that might have been out of her control. Then again, she did sleepwalk here. 

Ever since she was seven she had a huge love for the Disney character- often getting a new Stitch merch for herself on her birthday. Usually, she got something small or a shirt, but she had gotten a giant plushy when she had gone to Disneyland. Stitch was always there when she needed comfort from the storms. Now that she doesn't have him, Sofia feared she wasn't going to be able to relax enough to get back to sleep.  

The bed dipped beside her- fear consumed her. Could a stranger have gotten in? It doesn't help that Mother Nature sent her monthly gift- her emotions a bit more out of whack than normal. 

"Kitten?"

Eyes widening, Sofia pulled the blanket off herself to see Damon sitting on the bed. He didn't have on any clothes other than his black boxer briefs. Beside him was Sirius, drenched and hissing lightly at Damon- Damon just rolled his eyes at the drowned Sirius.

"You came?"

Narrowing his eyes, Damon growled, "I had to find you first."

Seeing he was drenched, Sofia became worried about him catching a cold as she went to grab his hand. She ended up throwing herself at him as thunder roared once again. Her small arms wrapped around his middle, clinging to him until the sound left. His body went sailing backward onto the foot of the bed. His breath coming out of him in a strangled gasp. Interesting. Sirius meowed and went to hide somewhere else.

It took a moment to get his breath back, but when he looked down at the blonde form shaking in his hold he knew something was up. His brows furrowed as he connected the dots of her fear.

"Are you," Damon stopped himself as she shook his head. "Of course you're not okay. C'mon."

Picking her up, he brought her to the brown cushioned chaise in the room. Docking her iPod to the dock, Damon put the music on as loud as it could get.

"You hung up. I thought you wouldn't come," Sofia murmured. 

"You needed me," Damon said over the music. "I then wanted to know why you needed me."

She watched as the rainwater trailed down the skin of his back, how it dripped from the dark clumps of his hair. He was soaked because she didn't want to be alone. With a sigh, Sofia grabbed his hand and led him to the bathroom. "I don't want you to get sick."

She turned the shower on hot- hoping if she got him to get warmer quicker he wouldn't catch a cold. Though, she hadn't expected Damon to laugh at her. She was worried about his health and all he could do was laugh. For some reason, she felt slightly offended.

"It's not funny," she huffed, "I'm worried about you getting sick."

"Kitten," Damon stopped his chuckling, "Vampires don't get sick."

Furrowing her brows, "you don't?"

Shaking his head, Damon then stripped out of his boxers, "no, but I am feeling cold. Want to join me?"

At first, his words hadn't registered so she just nodded her head and began to undress. Her mind was on the fact that she still knew next to nothing about vampires. So, learning that vampires don't get sick was both interesting and concerning. Of course, she knew that vervain was poison to vampires as well as a mental block from the compelling trick that they have. But could there be an illness that vampires could get?

If vampires don't get sick, then could that be why their blood is able to heal any human from most diseases and injuries? Could there be magic in the blood of the vampire race that could also factor into it?

"Nice ass," Damon grinned down at the short dazed girl.

The music was still loud enough to drown out most of the thunder, so he just had to keep her distracted enough to not pay attention to it.

Sofia hummed lightly as she threw her hair in a messy bun, "thank you. Can you help me?"

Her finger got stuck in a large snarl and was becoming hard to get her hand out of her hair. Damon groaned lightly as he looked at the knot.

"How the hell did you manage this," he asked as he stepped closer to the blonde.

Her blue eyes caught sight of his lower body and felt her blood rush to her cheeks. "I don't know..."

Try as she might, she couldn't stop staring at him. This wasn't her first time seeing this but whenever she did see Damon like he is she wasn't facing him until he was in the water. Sofia wasn't sure why she never let herself take a glimpse before. Sure she was sixteen but she never thought about the other sex until now. How couldn't she when a naked man is in front of her helping her with her hair? Not to forget the fact she willingly joined him for his shower- both parties being naked in a steaming bathroom with the door open. Not to forget the fact that there was a kitten in the other room. 

"Like what you see," Damon asked in a slightly annoyed tone.

He thought she was different from the other women he had been around. It was one of the reasons he liked being around her so much- he didn't feel her lust for him which made him feel his own lust. She was somehow like a calming charm for him and made him feel normal. Sure he drank her blood, but he hasn't lusted for her blood at all. If he tasted it then yeah, he would start to lust for it.

Although, he didn't smell lust coming from her, just curiosity. "It's not that," Sofia said oddly calm, "I just never seen or been with a man like this."

Confused, Damon got the last of the knot undone. "Like, naked or sexually?"

"Both," Sofia replied as she grabbed a cloth and body wash. "Sure, we bathed together naked, but I never allowed myself to look at your body, so I haven't seen a man naked before now. Then there is the fact I was never interested in getting involved in popping my cherry. Well, I thought I would wait until I was either married or in a relationship that lasted at least a year before doing anything. I wanted it to mean something special."

Nodding his head, Sofia turned Damon around so she could clean his back for him. Her mind was focused on cleaning him so she hadn't noticed the way he stared at her as if she were odd.

"I think it's a load of shit if someone says they want it to be special," Damon said as he stole the cloth from Sofia. "Sex is sex. There isn't anything special about it."

With a giggle, Sofia leaned herself back against the shower wall- her arms crossed in front of her. She ignored how the air was colder there. "How are babies made?"

"Sex," Damon said with a tone of boredom. "Sure, babies and families are special, but they aren't for me. My family sucks. I can't impregnate a woman anyway. So sex is sex."

"Was that before or after becoming a vampire?"

"After," Damon said lightly, "my father was very strict with my relationships. He would have married me off had we not met Him. I wasn't allowed sex with my partner until I was married to her." Not that he hadn't fooled around with the other townswomen.

With a light frown, Sofia could feel a bitterness cover her mind as she listened to Damon. She wanted to know who this him was, but there was something else she wanted to ask. "Did you want a family of your own?"

Damon's eyes snapped towards her. Fierce and most definitely screaming danger. With a growl, Damon had Sofia pinned under him and on the wall, her body beneath his own. Being beneath him had Sofia feeling dizzy. There was so much hate and want behind those icy blue eyes of his- it must have had been something that Damon had wanted when he was human.

"Did you not hear me when I said I can't impregnate a woman? Or were you trying to get closer to me by asking if I wanted one when I was human?"

Never letting her gaze leave his eyes, Sofia frowned deeper. "I heard you. I just wanted to know. You aren't the same Damon you were when you were a human. I'm not referring to the obvious. You are an immortal being; a vampire."

"You mean a killer," Damon spat.

"No," Sofia said lightly, "I think you are a survivor. A fighter."

Damon stared at Sofia for a long while as he thought her words over in his mind. "You know, I fell in love with a woman a long time ago, but she was burned in the old church after we met. Only she and twenty-six other vampires weren't burned, they were poisoned and placed in a tomb under the church. She is the one I waited over a hundred and fifty years to get back. Nothing- and I mean nothing- will get in the way of that."

"Then," Sofia said as she leaned closer to Damon, who stepped back, "I will still help however I can."

Sighing, Damon rinsed off and placed his briefs in the dryer, and waited for them to dry as he watched Sofia snuggle up beside him. He was wearing a towel around his hips as Sofia had redressed in her brother's black t-shirt. By the time his briefs were dry, Sofia had fallen asleep, so he placed her in the bed before dressing and joining her.

******

It was after school when Sofia had gone back to her home, Elena had asked to hang out with her so they could catch up with all of the supernatural that they had walked into. Even though she had been helping spread rumors about her, Sofia wanted to get more intel on what Elena knew. Damon had Sirius for the night, so it made it easier for her to get everything ready. 

Elena had noticed that Sofia had become closer to Damon through that small window of time- well closer than most others were. Elena had decided to take it upon herself to tell her sister everything she had learned about Stefan and Damon. She had told her sister about how the animal attacks had all been Damon, which Sofia wasn't surprised about. The brunette then told her of Katherine, her story of being burned in a church fire- but Sofia didn't even flinch at that either.

"Okay," Sofia said lightly as she painted Elena's toes a light purple. They were both sitting in her room on the floor. "He is a vampire, he needs to feed. Katherine isn't dead, she is trapped in a tomb under the old church."

Sofia shouldn't be involved with someone as dangerous and shady as Damon. Elena was determined to stop whatever was happening to Sofia, for all she and Stefan knew Damon could be compelling Sofia as he had with Caroline, just to get to them. There was the smallest possibility, so small that it could be wishful thinking, that Damon truly cared about Sofia. But his heart wasn't big enough for anyone but himself. The fact that he was trying to get Katherine out of the tomb was just proof that he only cared about himself.

Stefan had told Elena that the moment Katherine was freed Damon would take her and leave the town. Leaving her sister behind. The thought both pleased and annoyed Elena because of Sofia not being involved with the supernatural. Damon wouldn't be in the picture, and without Damon in the picture how could Elena be sure that Sofia would still be interested in the supernatural. She would be alone in this once more.

Elena rolled her dark brown eyes, "he also killed Stefan's best friend on his birthday." Nothing, "he could kill you and your friends."

"Don't have friends," Sofia snapped at her sister. Her hair waved lightly in the non-existent wind, but neither girl noticed the shift in her hair. 

Flinching at Sofia's tone, Elena pulled her feet away from the smaller girl. Elena couldn't imagine how Sofia was feeling, especially when she had many who were there for her when she needed them. Sofia had no one, and Elena couldn't help but feel it was her fault, but she needed her sister to stay away from Damon for her safety. "I'm sorry."

It wasn't like Elena understood what Sofia went through on a daily basis to keep herself from being hurt. Elena wasn't the one to feel afraid to want something and fear it would be taken away from her forcibly. The rabbit incident wasn't the first time Elena had unknowingly had caused Sofia to fear of reconnecting to someone or something. 

She also didn't want Elena to continue with her talk to get her away from Damon. She felt that Elena was trying to make herself feel special by being able to be friends with a vampire. She also got used to the notes she got on a daily from those in school, Damon had forced Sofia to show the notes to the other blonde. Now Caroline would keep a close eye on Sofia, so now it seemed that Elena was trying to prevent her from having Damon in her life. 

Clenching her fists hard enough for her nails to cut into the flesh of her palms. She needed to focus on something other than the fact that Elena and Stefan had been trying to stop her from being around Damon. They were supposed to be doing their nails before the Salvatore Brothers came to their house. She took a deep breath before slowly letting it out. 

"Not really your fault," Sofia lied. Her words felt weak and untrue even to her own ears, but Elena seemed to have bought the lie. "Damon had told me about Kathrine."

Sofia knew Elena wrote down everything, so she may have read a bit from it in order to put more of the pieces together- after sneaking in the house after an hour of sleep and stealing Elena's diary. There were some other things she had learned but wished she never read. Luckily, it only took her an hour to read all that Elena could, so she placed the diary back where it was and left for school.

She knew that Elena looked identical to Katherine, she learned that Elena learned about Katherine after having sex with Stefan for the first time. Sofia felt bad for Elena, but she also was angry at Stefan for hurting her. Even if he did it unknowingly. Stefan shouldn't have had a photo of Katherine lying around when he has a girlfriend. Especially if the girlfriend looked exactly like his and his brother's ex.

Damon had told her earlier about the woman he and his brother had fallen for. He told her she was the one he was saving. Having put together that Katherine was the girl Damon was saving, Sofia had felt a wrecking ball hit the bottom of her stomach.

Even though she said she would help Damon, there was a small part of her that wished the Elena look-a-like would stay in the place. Something about Katherine set her off and it bothered Sofia not knowing why. Today, Sofia was going to be looking for clues in John Gilbert's journal with Damon, Elena, and Stefan.

"So," Elena trods lightly, "why do you want to help?"

Snapping her attention to her, Sofia glared at her. "I am helping someone who wants it."

"Yeah," Elena said slowly, "but it could cause a lot of problems opening the tomb. Damon will kill you the moment that Katherine is free."

He might not, Elena thought to herself, but I need her to doubt Damon's self-control.

Fighting the strong urge to scratch her face off, Sofia took a deep breath to calm her fraying nerves. "I don't care. If he kills me then so be it. It's not like I even belong in this family."

The words tumbled out of her lips like lava, they burned her. She didn't know where the words came from. Sure, she wondered why she didn't look like the rest of her family but she never felt she didn't belong. Yet, the words Damon had said a few days ago had her wondering. 

The words just seemed to come from nowhere the moment she opened her mouth.

"What are you talking about," Elena said shaking her head slowly as a fake smile formed on her lips. Her pin-straight hair swayed side to side, but Sofia noticed the hint of fear in her eyes- Elena knew something. "Of course you do."

"Am I adopted," Sofia asked Elena. Elena froze and looked away, Sofia saw this and her rage grew. Getting up, Sofia threw a punch at the cat she had on her bed. "Of course I am."

"I found out the night I skipped the family night." The night that her parents were killed. "I didn't know what to feel about knowing you were adopted. They weren't even going to tell you until you were eighteen."

Sighing, Sofia counted to ten in her head. It wouldn't do much good if she lost her temper now. Releasing her nails from the skin of her palm- she noticed the red crescent-shaped marks on them, little streams of blood coming from the openings. "I'm going down."

Elena wrapped her hand around Sofia's elbow and tugged her back into her room, "no. We are talking about this."

Enraged, Sofia ripped her arm out of Elena's grip. Her hair lightly swaying as she did, "we have nothing to talk about."

Before her sister could protest, Sofia rushed to her room where she went to the closet to grab their ancestors' journal. Only she noticed it was missing- it wasn't there.

Panic flooded her mind as she dug everything out of the drawer. Still, even with everything out she couldn't find it. Where could it have gone? Did someone take it? Who would take it? The more she thought about it, she began to remember that Jeremy had used it to make his extra credit history report. 

Sighing, Sofia rushed out of the house unaware that her feet were glowing a bright red with each step. What she did notice, was that the more she walked the more energy she felt; it got to the point she was becoming dizzy with how much energy she felt. 

Stomping feet slapped the cement behind Sofia and soon a tight grip was on her wrist. 

"Stop being a bitch," Elena spat as she dragged a dizzy Sofia back inside of their home. "I said we-" Elena wasn't able to finish before she was in the air. 

Her body flipped in the air before landing harshly on the house with a loud snapping resounding through the air. Crying loudly Elena began to blame Sofia for being a psycho.