Jeremy was in the library. He was looking for research on the myths of Mystic Falls. Somewhere on the other end of the library, a girl was sitting by herself. She remembered how she had seen her own body a few weeks ago, greyed and shriveled. Now things were out of control and she had no way to do anything as a spirit. No one she knew of could even see her right now.

She decided to walk through the familiar halls of the library. Just then, Jeremy came down the same isle. "Sorry, I didn't see you there." Jeremy said. The girl looked at him in surprise. The girl looked behind her. There was no one there but her.

"You can see me." It wasn't a question.

"Of course I can. Not like your invisible." Jeremy said. The girl thought of how ironic that statement was.

"Sorry if I come across as weird, but I'm usually a loner." The girl told him. "I spend most of my time reading here. My name's Anna."

"I'm Jeremy. So, do you hang out here often?"

"Kinda." Anna said.

"Do you know anything about history?"

"A lot, actually. You doing research or something?"

"I've got this report I have to do for class. I figured maybe you knew this place well enough to…"

"Of course I'll be happy to help." Anna said. Jeremy followed the somewhat strange girl through the aisles of books. "This aisle is local and state history. And civil war is one over. What do you need?" She turned around and asked him

"Local. 1860s." Jeremy told her.

"You want reference, then." Anna said. "It's this way. I was homeschooled, but I do most of my studying here, it feels a lot friendlier than sitting around the house." She stopped by the reference aisle. "Ah, here we go. Original settlers, town archives, founders stuff. It's all here. So, what's your topic?"

"The town's fear and hysteria surrounding the war and how it influenced certain writers of the time." Jeremy told her.

"You might want to focus that." Anna said. It sounded familiar to her. A little too familiar.

"The origin of local folklore and myths." Jeremy said. Then she knew what he meant.

"You mean the vampires?" Anna asked him.

"What?" Jeremy said, confused. "You're kidding me, right? There's no such thing as vampires."

"Well, there's not a lot of documentation but the stories have been told since the civil war." Anna explained. "My granddad used to tell me all these creepy stories when I was little. And he said that his granddad told them to him"

"Yeah. That would be folklore. Vampires are a metaphor for the demons of the day." Jeremy said.

"Really? Which are what, exactly?"

"The union soldiers. I've read the stories myself." Jeremy told her. "They talk about the enemy, the demons that attack night."

"That sounds like vampires to me." Anna said. She decided to leave out that she used to be one.

"They probably made it up." Jeremy said. "Think about it. A country at war doesn't want realism. They want fantasy. Thus, vampire fiction." Anna smiled.

"Man, you're smart. I gotta give it to you. When I first saw you, I missed it."

"Yeah. I've had a rough go of it lately." Jeremy told her. "But I'm just now getting back to my old self."

"Well, good luck on the paper." Anna said. "Maybe I can help with some stuff. My great grandfather actually showed me a journal once of an ancestor and he had written all of this creepy stuff about vampires. It was actually really believable."

"A journal?"

"Yeah."

"You want to go somewhere with me?" Jeremy asked.

"Okay." Anna said. She was nervous. She hadn't really left the library for the past few days.

They ended up at the Grill. "So, you have no idea where the journal is?" Jeremy asked.

"Nope. Gramps died. And all the kids split his stuff. Not like I can ask him or anything." Anna told him. She hoped that the two of them were alone so it wouldn't look like Jeremy was talking to himself.

"I just find it weird that our ancestors kept the same kind of journal. It's crazy." Jeremy said.

"Maybe it's based in some partial reality." Anna told him.

"No. It's gotta be a metaphorical. My ancestor wrote short stories."

"Really? That explains why you're hung up on it being just fiction."

"No, it's cause I've seen those movies like fifty times." Jeremy said.

"Even Twilight?" Jeremy looked at her. "Sorry, I just thought…never mind."

"Please, that's like a total chick flick." He pointed out. "You're not into that are you?"

"No. I don't really get time to see the movies, anyway. Besides, nothing beats the classic novels." Anna told him.

"So, can we meet again tomorrow? For the project, I mean." Jeremy asked.

"Of course." Anna said. "I'm always hanging out there. I'll see you around. It's been nice meeting you." She left the Grill. Not that anyone else would notice. She wondered why Jeremy was able to see her.

The next day, Jeremy was back at the library again. Anna came over to him, with the research she had looked up last night. She knew why he could see her now and hoped he wouldn't figure out her secret. "Hey."

"You made it." Jeremy said.

"Look, I did a little research last night to find some proof." She handed him the papers she'd been carrying. She had no idea how she was able to do that, but it helped when the time was necessary.

"What does it mean?"

"I only went as far as the early nineteen hundreds." Anna told him. "Turns out there've been a string of attacks in and around this town for the past seventy-five years." She started going through the research with him. "It's really consistant. Four people killed in 1953. In 62, there were five bodies found near the town. 74, three people dead. And there's been five attacks this year. All of them suffered major blood loss, like drained of blood."

"Whoa." Jeremy said. "You really knew what to look for."

"Look, I'm not trying to force my beliefs on you or anything, but the facts here don't lie." Anna told him. "Anyway, I've got some studying of my own to do. I'll see you around." She walked out of the aisle.

"Wait." Jeremy got up to go follow her. By the time he stepped out, it was like she'd disappeared. He turned back to the notes in his hand. He knew he had to finish the paper, but couldn't help but wonder what was up with Anna.