My heart was beating wildly in my chest, could this possibly be how everything ends. Could this be how my short young existence comes to completion?

I scanned my surroundings, trying not to let my panic take over. Unfortunately, the pitch black of the darkness was keeping me from seeing much of anything. I could make out the trees that were close to me, but even they were vague since the cloudy sky was blocking the moon and stars from their usually casting of light.

I pressed my back up against the tree behind me and tried to quiet my breathing. I could feel tears fill my eyes; I did nothing to stop them from falling. I tried to listen for noises but the pounding of my own heart was drowning out everything else.

After a few moments, my breathing began to even out, though I continued to shake. I was debating whether or not I should stay put or try and find my way out. Gathering all the courage I could muster I pushed myself away from the tree and begin to walk forward. I tried to tread quietly, hoping to make as little as noise as possible.

I could vaguely make out a clearing in the trees so I headed that way. I was almost there when he stepped in front of me. He smiled a sickening smile that said he had been here the whole time. He had been here watching me. His yellow eyes were shining brightly even though there was no light for them to cast off of.

I tried to back away from him but he grabbed me by my shoulders and pulled me closer. I watched as his eyes turned blood red with hunger, dark veins appearing under his eyes. His fangs began descending in his mouth. Everything seemed like it was in slow motion but it wasn't.

"I have been wondering what you tasted like for a long time now." His voice came out as almost a whisper.

He let go of me long enough for one of his hands to curl up in my long blonde curls, he roughly yanked my head back sharply. I screamed in pain.

"Hush now. It will be over soon enough." And with that said he sank his fangs into the tender part of my neck.

I could feel myself going numb as he drank greedily from me. I could literally feel the life fading away from me. It happened quicker than I thought it would. I was already fading into the black abyss when I started to fall to the ground. I never even felt it when I hit the cold winter ground.

Three Months Earlier...

I sighed as my boyfriend, Tyler, yet again got into a pissing contest with some guy. I mean really, was it too much to ask to just walk away from a confrontation every now and then.

"Dude, you were checking out my girlfriend's ass!" Tyler yelled, shoving the guy against the wall.

"Yeah, well it's a fine piece of ass." The guy said, shoving Tyler back.

"Enough Tyler lets just go." I said tiredly. It had been a long day; I had just finished with my cheerleading practice. I was also getting tired of Tyler's macho act, which as of lately had begun getting worse. He has always been on the aggressive side but gradually it has just been getting worse.

"Why don't you listen to your old lady and go home." The guy said taunting Tyler.

That little comment was enough to send Tyler into a fit of rage. He jumped on top of the guy and began pounding him in the head with his fist.

"Tyler, Stop!" I yelled, trying to grab his arm. He was too strong for me though. He just ended up shoving me away.

Luckily Stefan Salvatore just happened to stroll by and stepped in, easily pulling Tyler off the guy. I smirked, Stefan's vampire strength easily overpowered Tyler's muscles. Of course Tyler was annoyed Stefan could over power him so easily but Tyler didn't now that vampires existed.

I only knew because my best friend Elena was dating Stefan's older brother Damon and had told me in a drunken moment of confession. She was telling me how great Damon was in bed but what could she expect he was a vampire.

Of course I didn't believe her at first but she convinced Damon to show me his vampire face. Scared the crap out of me when his eyes darkened and the veins appeared. Elena just laughed and told me that Stefan was one too. The strange thing was that knowing the Salvatore brother's secret only made us all become better friends. They trusted me and I trusted them. Of course Tyler hated it that I had become close friends with two of the hottest guys in Mystic Falls and absolutely forbid me to ever be alone with either one of them.

I was seriously getting tired of Tyler's attitude and was thinking of ditching him entirely. I had once thought he was the love of my life, but I would never tolerate being bossed around by any man.

After Tyler's little jealousy display I knew I had hit a limit with what I was going to put up with. Tyler had jerked away from Stefan and looked at me, "Let's go Care."

"Not going to happen Tyler." I said, grabbing my bag and slinging it over my shoulder. "Stefan, do you think you could give me a ride home?"

"Sure." Stefan said, looking between me and Tyler. I think he was waiting for Tyler to go off but Tyler just looked at me with a look of shock. Only Tyler would be shocked at the fact that I wasn't impressed by that little display.

After Stefan dropped me off at my house I was debating on whether or not to go a party that was going on tonight. It was Friday night after all, I really didn't want to spend the night alone watching television. Plus Elena and Damon were going to be there. So I got ready for the party

Originally I was supposed to have ridden with Tyler, but since that option was out I grabbed the keys to my car and headed to the party.

The first thing I noticed when I got there was Tyler's car was one of the first cars pulled up in the driveway. So he did decide to come, I decided to go seek him out. Just maybe he was ready to apologize for this behavior.

I scanned the party goers and easily spotted his spiky black hair, the hair he spent more time perfecting than I spent on mine.

As I got closer I noticed his arm was around fellow cheerleader Becky Samson. My blood began to boil. I had caught him flirting with her on previous occasions, but this time he was physically touching her.

I knew, however, that Tyler was only doing this so he could get a jealous reaction out of me therefore justifying his jealous behavior earlier. I was definitely not going to play along with this game.

Grabbing a cup, I went to the keg and got me some beer. I tried filling my cup but realized the keg was empty.

"There is another keg over there." A deep and accented voice came from behind me.

I turned around with every intention of thanking this person with the voice that gave me the shivers. I, Caroline Forbes, who has never been known for bouts of silence, was rendered speechless. The man before me was gorgeous.

I looked up into a pair of beautiful blue green eyes. He smiled at me and I almost died, dimples…he has dimples! A blonde foreign hottie with dimples was standing before me and all I could do was stare at him with my mouth agape.

He seemed amused by my reaction which only caused him to smile wider. I finally got enough wits about me to say "Thanks."

"No problem, love." He said.

I just smiled at him, knowingly blushing the whole time. I tried to walk past him towards the other keg but he blocked my path.

"My name is Nik", he said holding out his hand.

"I'm Caroline." I said, going in to shake his hand. He yet again surprised me by taking my hand in his large one and kissing it gently. I blushed even more; I had never had a guy do that before. It was very sweet.

"Well, Caroline, it's a pleasure to meet you."

I loved the way he said my name. If I could record it and put it on repeat to listen to when I went home I probably would. "It's nice to meet you too Nik. You are obviously not from around here. What brings you to Mystic Falls?"

He was about to answer when I felt an arm snake around my waist and pull me somewhat roughly towards them. I could tell by the smell of the cologne that it was Tyler.

"There you are baby." He said. I could tell by the sound of his voice that he had started drinking as soon as he got here. "Who's this?" he asked rudely.

I watched as the softness that was in Nik's eyes earlier when he was talking to me completely disappear.

"My name is Niklaus. But you can call me Klaus." He said.

That's weird I thought, he told me to call him Nik but told Tyler to call him Klaus. I looked at Tyler, waiting for him to respond to Nik or Klaus's introduction. Tyler could see the annoyance on my face so he finally responded.

"I'm Tyler Lockwood. I've seen that you have already met my girlfriend."

Klaus just smiled at Tyler; however this was a different kind of smile. His dimples never appeared this time. "Lockwood, you must be related to Mayor Lockwood."

"Yeah, that's my mom."

"Well, I must be on my way. Tyler, I have a feeling we will be seeing each other again very soon." He said with a smirk. He turned back to me, the softness returning to his eyes. "Caroline, it was truly a pleasure."

"It was nice to meet you too." I said as he walked away from us.

"What the hell was that about Caroline?" Tyler said, dropping his arm from my waist.

"What do you mean Tyler?" I sighed, knowing exactly where this conversation was headed.

"You were flirting with that dude." He said, pointing in the direction Klaus had walked.

"Oh I was, was I?" I seethed. "How's Becky?"

Tyler just rolled his eyes. "She was happier to see me than you are lately."

"I'm sure she was. She is the town whore after all." I said which was pretty much true. Well, at least that was the rumor.

"You should be talking." He growled. However, his eyes widened in shock when he realized what he had just said. "Caroline, I..."

I didn't give him time to get out his apology before I smacked him hard across his face and stomped off in the direction of my car.

When I got home I barely made it to my room before I burst into tears. Not like it mattered anyway, my mom was at work like usual. I cried until I finally dozed off.

I hadn't been asleep very long before the ringing of my phone woke me up. Looking at the caller ID I saw it was Damon. What was he calling me at 1:00am for, I thought. Thinking something might have happened to Elena I answered quickly.

"Hello."

"Hey Blondie, it's your favorite Salvatore." Damon said.

"Really, this doesn't sound like you Stefan." I said, jokingly.

"You're so funny Blondie." He said. "I'm sure you're wondering why I'm calling at this odd hour but I wanted to let you know that we have a little problem with your boyfriend here."

"What?" I asked, confused. "What's wrong?"

"Well, we can explain more when you get here but the cliff notes version is your boyfriend just killed someone."