Blood Brothers. Amy Rickman

      Ian Somerhalder

      *

      Damon Salvatore

       Introduction

      The mist is rising. Somewhere, close by, a raven caws. A slow chill begins to creep up your spine – whether from the sudden cold in the air or the eeriness of the scene, you’re not sure. It occurs to you that a midnight stroll through a graveyard might not have been such a good idea.

      A twig snaps, bird wings flutter. It’s almost impossible to hear anything over the beating of your own heart. Did something just move in the shadows?

      You feel the sudden heat of breath on your shoulder. Now you remember why you came here, to this place, to this graveyard with its broken tombstones and creeping vines: you came to learn more about one of the brothers – but which one will it be?

      You spin around and out of nowhere one of them has appeared. Tonight, it’s Damon Salvatore. His piercing bright blue eyes have you weak at the knees; his lopsided bad-boy smile sets you to trembling. Yes, he is the one you wanted.

      Lucky for you, Damon has a little time tonight. He is always willing to talk about his favourite subject – himself – before he gets too hungry to resist taking a bite out of you.

      There’s no turning back now…

       Chapter One

       Ian’s Green Beginnings

      Damon: I’m here to eat cotton candy – and to steal your girl. (1.22, ‘Founder’s Day’)

      The first thing everyone notices about Ian Somerhalder is his startling eyes: they’re deep blue and piercing, almost magnetic, and they immediately set him apart from the pack. ‘He can look you in the eyes and make you do whatever he wants,’ says Julie Plec, one of the creators of The Vampire Diaries. Ian even has a nickname among his cast-mates that is especially appropriate: ‘Smolderholder’ so it’s hardly a surprise that this gorgeous man from the Deep South of the USA has ended up playing the sexiest of all monsters, the undead seductor: a vampire.

      It helped as well that he grew up in the homeland of vampire authoress extraordinaire Anne Rice (author of Interview With The Vampire and creator of one of the greatest vampire characters of all time, Lestat). Ian’s home lay just across Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans in Mandeville, Louisiana. It’s a place known for its rich history, gothic atmosphere and mythical creations: ‘I grew up on the lake in New Orleans, on the north shore, in a more rural area, and I could look across the lake and see New Orleans. I remember always thinking, “There’s vampires over there.”’ Not that Ian would ever admit to being scared, not even as a child. ‘Sometimes we’d go over there when I was a little kid, and it wasn’t that it was scary, but it was enticing. It was the not-knowing. Now that I’m on [The Vampire Diaries], it’s cool to go back there and see it. I thought, “Wow, I used to look at that skyline from 26 miles away, across this huge lake, and think, Are the vampires going to get me, mom and dad?”’

      Of course they would come to get him – but not quite yet! There were still many years to go before Ian would cease to wonder about vampires and start becoming one.

      Ian was born Ian Joseph Somerhalder on 8 December 1978 in Covington, Louisiana, and he is the middle sibling between his older brother, Robert (better known as Bob) and his younger sister, Robyn. Both of Ian’s siblings have gone on to have successful careers of their own – Bob was a professional cyclist and Robyn worked in broadcast journalism. Ian didn’t have the same kind of sibling rivalry with Bob that his character Damon has with Stefan, though: ‘There wasn’t much rivalry,’ he told Metro. ‘My brother was seven years older so he just kicked my ass.’

      His dad, Robert Somerhalder senior, worked as an independent building contractor and his mother, Edna, was a massage therapist from Mississippi who grew up on a pig farm! It’s obvious that Ian’s good looks come from the unique mixture of his background: his dad can claim English and French heritage, while his mother is Irish and part-Choctaw Native American.

      The