"Chapter 1 – Runaway"
Blood, dripping from broken veins and spilling onto the ground… her body… her mouth... excites Elena to no end.
Power courses through her, and she loves how strong she's become. The thrill of innocent life fading before her invigorates her, and, if not for her stifling shadows of ex-boyfriends, she'd revel in the kill; she's more powerful than she's ever been, and the feeling is going to her head. Her heightened senses make the world feel so amazing—in a way she never would have imagined. The beauty in her newfound sense of smell entices her, ravishing her brain with delicious curiosity. She can hear and see things previously limited by her human vision. Every touch to her taste buds feels utterly orgasmic; definitely better than sex.
Had she known the sheer glory of what she is, she would have discarded her pathetic humanity the day she was turned.
Mystic Falls may be infested with filthy vervain—the only plant poisonous to her kind—but the neighboring town's soil can't grow it. And, because of her insatiable thirst, Elena is allowed to feed there on occasion. Though she must have her wardens with her, this new town—ripe for the picking—is undeniably appeasing.
And while it tears him up inside to watch, Stefan keeps a close eye on her.
As her glorified personal babysitter, ex-boyfriend number one's job is to make sure that she doesn't kill anyone or expose what she is; on the plus side, his hero complex is toning up her compulsion abilities. But now, more than a week without her humanity, he turns the doppelgänger-sitting over to Damon. After all, he is her boyfriend, not to mention her sire.
If she has it her way—if she takes a page from the book of Katherine—he won't be either of those things for much longer.
Other than late night blood runs, Elena is probably the most boring vampire in existence; at least Stefan has his 'Ripper' past to make him interesting.
If only she could be so lucky.
Stefan, and subsequently Damon, decided that—even though she was a vampire without her humanity—Elena must keep up the charade that she's a normal human being. But a faulty wire burned down her home with her little brother asleep inside; all of her 'friends' walk around her on eggshells, keeping a close eye on her to make sure she doesn't go off the deep end; she needs to drink blood to survive.
Normal is, and always has been, out of the question.
All Elena wants to do is get the hell out of Virginia and see the world, live a thousand action-filled lives. Maybe her abhorrent doppelgänger has the right ideas; living fast, never dying, taking whatever she wants, no matter the cost.
Who cares about silly things like 'consequences'?
But first she needs to evade her pesky, sire-bonded boyfriend and his doom-and-gloom brother.
Right now, the main priority of the Salvatore brothers is to track down Katherine Pierce, get the cure back from her, and possibly drive a stake through her cold, unbeating heart. Now is the perfect time for Elena to disappear.
She won't take any belongings. Without the use of money, clothes, or anything else, it would only make things more obvious. After all, she can just compel her way into the lap of luxury. She'll have to get a new cell phone, though; Damon, irritating as always, would try to track the one she has. But hopefully, she can get halfway across the country before he even knows she's gone. She won't have long to formulate her plan, but she's getting the hell out of Mystic Falls before the day's done, even if it kills her.
There was only one thing she desperately needed: a witch to throw everyone off her trail. She could convince Bonnie to help her, but that would be a long shot. There aren't many other witches on call, either.
But no matter what, Elena will see her plan through.
Around lunch, Stefan corners Elena by her locker. She looks up at him with a blank stare. "What?"
"Don't 'what' me," he returns calmly as he touches her arm. "We need to talk."
She crosses her arms, snatching them from her ex-boyfriend, and rolls her eyes. "Then talk," she demands. "But make it quick; I've got classes to skip and a boyfriend to get back to."
"You're pushing it, Elena," he warns. "You're gonna blow everyone's cover with the way you've been acting lately."
She smirks. "It's about time we all moved on from this little hole in the ground."
He grabs her arms roughly. "I'm serious," he snarls. "We're essentially stuck here until Silas is gone and Klaus gets the cure. You're going to ruin everything we worked for with your reckless behavior."
Elena scoffs and yanks her arms free. "So, you're telling me I have to just sit here while Klaus is off finding the only thing in the world that will make me his little fountain of hybrid youth?" she demands. "I think not. I'm immortal, Stefan; we both are! I'm ready to have some fun and I'm not going to let the oldest vampire in the world take that away from me."
She turns to walk away when he grabs her by the arm. Elena quickly flips him, pinning him against a locker. "Don't touch me," she snarls before darting away, leaving Stefan in her wake to take care of the twenty or so students who saw the scene.
Once outside of the school, she dashes away, letting her feet take her wherever they see fit. And before she knows it, she stops in front of a hair salon.
Maybe a little color would do me some good.
Convincing twenty rational, vervain-ridden teenagers that they hadn't seen Elena run off at superhuman speed proved to be a difficult task.
Where there's something unexplainable, there are questions, and Stefan doesn't know the answers. So instead of trying to make them all believe a lie—something he's often left to do, thanks to a certain brazen vampire—he disappears in the blink of an eye, hoping they'll pass off the strange phenomena as exhaustion from overworking.
The world passes by in a blur, and it feels nice to have the extra air crashing against his skin. But as nice as it feels, Stefan is far too pissed to enjoy it. Before he knows it, he's kicking down the door to the boarding house. The large, chestnut door groans as it fractures, but it's nothing he hasn't fixed before.
The smell of bourbon radiates from the den, accompanied by Metallica on low. Damon lounges on the couch with his laptop, lips pursed and foot lightly tapping to the beat.
"You're home early," he announces, not tearing his eyes from his Silas Research Duty.
"You need to do something about Elena!" Stefan demands adamantly, stomping over to his brother.
"No can do," Damon lies, clicking away on the keys. "We both agreed that making Elena turn off her humanity was a good thing." He smirks. "Besides. I like her better this way. She's fun."
"Well her fun is going to expose us," Stefan points out. "She's reckless, Damon; she flipped me against a locker and ran off—in front of God knows how many people. You need to control her, or people are gonna start asking questions and we're going to end up on the wrong end of the answers."
Damon looks up from the computer with a scowl, pausing the music. "She's not a dog, Stefan," he growls. "Let her have a little fun; soon, we'll get the cure, she'll be human again, and she can live a normal life. If you want, I'll take her out of your hair—wherever she wants to go to cool off, because I guarantee she won't want to be here anymore." He smirks again as an idea plays in his head. "Who knows? We might have a little soirée or two in France."
"I'm serious, Damon," Stefan persists, pointing an accusatory finger his way. "You need to do something about her before she does something drastic."
Damon groans in annoyance. "Alright," he gripes. "I'll find her and talk her into acting a little more… human." He closes the laptop, tosses it beside him on the couch, and stands up. He looks to Stefan with an annoyed glance. "But you owe me, little brother."
"I'd say you owe me, Salvatore," a voice announces arrogantly from the doorway. "Both of you, actually."
The brothers turn to face Klaus, standing tall in the broken doorway. As usual, his clothes are freshly tailored, yet relaxed. And of course, he's donned all black; a tiny speck of navy protrudes from his shirt.
"And what do we owe you for, exactly?" Stefan questions calmly, turning to face the Original, before Damon can speak.
Klaus smirks. "For letting you both live after your countless acts of betrayal," he answers smoothly. "For all intents and purposes, think of me as your father… And Daddy's not happy."
"What do you want?" Damon groans, closing his eyes and rubbing his temples. "We've got more important things to do today."
"That's right, Damon," Klaus purrs. "You and I have some work to do."
He shifts his gaze to the younger Salvatore brother. "As for you, Stefan, you've made it blatantly obvious that you're unworthy of my trust. Therefore, you will be given a different task." In the next instant, he pins Stefan to a wall, his arm pressed across his neck.
"You listen to me," Klaus hisses as his gaze captures Stefan's. The Salvatore's face numbs and becomes blank as Klaus's pupils dilate with compulsion. "You are going to stay in this house until I tell you otherwise. You will not answer your phone, or your door. You will be dead to the world until I see fit. Do I make myself clear?"
Considering recent events, Klaus has kept a distant eye on the Salvatores and the notorious doppelgänger. At every turn, the incessant vampires have guarded Elena and kept him from creating his army with her blood. After all, what is a king without his army? Though long and tedious, he's watched the three of them, waiting for one of the boys to fall off their misguided white horse and allow him to whisk Elena away.
It didn't take long for Stefan to misstep.
Thankfully in monitoring this new Elena, Stefan forgetting to take his medicine saves Klaus a lot of time and energy that could be used toward his bigger schemes.
"I understand," Stefan breathes lifelessly.
The Original smirks and removes his arm from Stefan's neck, looking on proudly as Stefan sinks to the floor. The younger vampire's eyes fall, and he retreats inside himself, his brooding nature filling the room and souring the atmosphere.
Klaus remembers his purpose and turns to Damon, his angelic face hard like stone. "As for you," he starts quietly, "you are to aid me in finding Katerina and retrieve the cure."
Damon crosses his arms and narrows his eyebrows. "So you can use Elena as your little hybrid smorgasbord?" he spits venomously. "No dice."
Klaus's lips fall into a tight purse and his eyes shoot daggers across the small distance between him and Damon. "Your Gilbert girl has long since worn out her worth," he snarls. "However, I'm feeling generous; should you comply, I will let her live, as well as find a way to allow her to create the next of kin in the Petrova line. And, I give you my word that I no longer wish to use her blood to sire hybrids."
"And what if I say no?" the younger vampire challenges.
The Original smiles devilishly. "I force you to come with me, kill Katerina and your pathetic girlfriend, and dispose of you after several gruesome hours of torture."
Damon refuses to falter. "I don't believe you for a second," he sneers. "Find someone else."
Klaus rolls his eyes and breaches the gap between them before the Salvatore can even comprehend what has happened. His hands envelope Damon's head and he stares intently into Damon's striking blue eyes. "And here I hoped you weren't a complete imbecile."
Like Klaus, Katherine Pierce lay in wait, keeping an eye on Elena. After the events that transpired that day on the island off the coast of Nova Scotia, the aftermath intrigued her. The situation could be used to her advantage, and she intended to take it; the thought of forcing Elena to be human again and offering her to Klaus has always been a vied prospect, and now she's closer to obtaining it.
Centuries of running from a powerful Original have taught her how to hide her scent from young vampires like the Salvatore brothers, especially a baby vamp like Elena.
Instead of going directly after her goody-goody-turned-dark-princess doppelgänger, Katherine follows Stefan. His annoyance with Elena makes her feel giddy, setting her plan in motion.
Intending to dangle the cure in front of him, she'll make him like putty in her hands; he'll do whatever it takes to make Elena human again, since that's all the little bitch has whined about since turning.
As she prepares to leave her hiding spot of two houses down, dread washes over her. She halts and remains hidden as her body tunes into the overbearing presence of the Original. She watches in agitated silence as he saunters up the house, a disgusting air of cockiness billowing off him.
"What the hell are you up to, Klaus?" she whispers to herself. Taking extreme precaution, she nears the house just enough to eavesdrop. Figuring out his plan before he can carry it out gives her the advantage she needs to keep her own in motion and finally be free of the blond devil.
The lack of actual conversation, added to the sickening crack of someone's neck, unnerves her. Damn those Salvatore brothers; they probably pissed him off, and now she doesn't know what the hell is going on.
Disgruntled, she hurries away from the boarding house in search of Elena. She's always been a girl quick on her feet, always had to be, so she'll just make some fine tweaks to her plan.
Not long after, she spots Elena exiting the local salon and scanning the parking lot. Katherine's brow rises at the drastic new change in Elena's hair; she never figured the Gilbert girl would want to be a redhead.
After scanning the lot, Elena spots a black BMW and quickly makes her way to it. She contemplates breaking the window, but that would give away the stolen vehicle on the spot. Instead, she makes her way over to the passenger's side and breaks off the door handle. It's not as inconspicuous as she would like, but it's good enough for now. Quickly climbing into the car, she leans over the front seat to unlock the driver's door before the car alarm can sound. She shifts focus to under the steering wheel, pops open the underside of the steering column, and quickly hotwires the engine—a trick she learned from her brother during her young, rebellious phase.
Katherine lightly flexes her fingers on the wheel of her blue Ford Fusion, awaiting Elena's next move.
"So why are we following your twin?" Genevieve, Katherine's witch, questions from the passenger's seat. She twirls a lock of her curled, golden hair.
"She's not my twin," Katherine reminds impatiently. "And I want to know what she's up to."
"Why does it matter?" Of all the witches Katherine could have found on short notice, she had to pick the nosiest teenager in Virginia.
"Because wherever she goes, Klaus is sure to follow," Katherine explains, keeping her eyes locked on Elena as she hotwires the BMW. "Without her humanity, she's a lot like me." Katherine smirks at the revelation. "And I want her to get all of the fun and mischief out of her system before I shove the cure down her throat and hand her over to Klaus."
Gen sighs. "Yeah, but… This is still pretty boring."
Katherine scowls and her head snaps to the young witch. "Ask another question or make another snippy comment, and I'll break your neck," she threatens. "You may have power, but you're young and don't know how to use it. That makes you disposable. So. Unless you want to wind up in a ditch missing your heart and a limb or two, don't speak unless spoken to."
Gen rolls her eyes and rests the side of her head against the window.
It's going to be a long ride.