Disclaimer: I don't own anything but Tallie, everything belongs to their rightful owners. The title of this comes from a poem by Sylvia Plath.

Chapter One

It was dark when the cab pulled over, at some small bar on a strip in the middle of nowhere. Throwing some of her last notes at the driver, she climbed out of the car, lugging her duffel bag with her. It probably wasn't a smart thing to do, but she ignored her these cautious thoughts. The stop only served to put off her inevitable arrival in Mystic Falls, at the house of the man that half of her DNA came from, but she'd never actually met. She predicated that this town would be no different from every other place she had lived while she was passed around from relative to relative. And now there would be nothing for her to pass the time with until she moved once again. After all, what entertainment does a small town offer anyway?

The bar was old and run down, whose inhabitants consisted of some obnoxious college boys that believed that everyone in the bar cared about their conversation, the airhead girls that were fawning over them and a few seedy looking men that took far too much interest in her arrival.

It took only a bat of her eyelids and a few sultry words for the bartender to look over her lack of ID, and the fact, although she looked older then her actual age, she didn't quite look of drinking age. It took all of about five minutes after she got her drink for one of the college boys to approach her. He was average height, not very muscular, with tanned skin, sandy blonde hair and light brown eyes. His speech was slurred and he kept looking over to his friends for encouragement.

"What's your name?" He asked, his eyes blatantly staring down her shirt

"My name," she said, a devious smirk on her face, "Is, you can go fuck yourself. Because you ain't getting any from me tonight."

"Now," he said, his face pulling into a frown, his voice lowering to sound more threatening she supposed as he put his arm around her chair, "That's not very nice. So, I'll ask you again. What's your name?"

"The answer hasn't changed." She spat out at him, his attempts to frighten her failing miserably, she started getting up from the chair but he blocked her path, "You better move, I'm not someone you want to piss off."

"What are you going to do to me?" He asked, grinning at her in a way she was sure he wouldn't be if he knew what she was capable of

"Maybe you should back off." Came a masculine voice, as an arm pushed the boy out of the way

She turned to see a tall and broad man, with olive skin, dark brown hair and green eyes. He was quite good looking, and judging by the frightened look on the boy's face, they both knew the man was quite capable of beating the boy to a pulp. The boy sneered at her before returning to his friends, a defeated look on his face.

"I was handling it." She said to the man, "You didn't have to interfere."

"A simple thank you would have been enough," the man said, sitting down next to her, "And I could see that you were handling it, just thought I'd offer some assistance."

"The assistance wasn't needed." she said, her tone softening, "But thank you."

"So, what is your name?" He asked, smirking at her

She stared at him for a while, trying to deliberate whether she should tell him her name or not. He was attractive, and he didn't seem suspicious. But she knew she was lacking when it came to judgment of men.

"Tallie." She said, offering her hand to him, "And yours?"

"Mason." He rexiled, taking her hand and giving it a firm shake, "Are you new around here?"

"Yeah, just moved here." She said bitterly, "Well, not here, Mystic Falls."

"It's a wonderful town." He said, in tone that made her unsure if he was joking or not, "Where are you from?"

"All over." She shrugged, "I've lived in more places then I could count on two hands."

It was an exaggeration, but he didn't need to know that. Long ago, she'd learnt that men preferred an air of mystery about her. And that was the way she preferred it with everyone. Nobody had to know everything about her.

"I grew up in Mystic Falls." He said, "I've spent the last few years in Florida."

"Why would you come back?" She asked, astounded that anyone would return to what she suspected was a boring back water small town

"Family business."

"Family, they always have the habit of taking us places we'd prefer not to go. She said, setting down her drink and getting up

"Where are you going?" He asked

"I've got to call cab." She said, "I'm sure the one that brought me here has left."

"I've got a car." Mason said, "I could give you a lift."

A smile crept onto Tallie's face, she could tell where this was going, but failed to care about the repercussions. She needed a lift, and her father wasn't expecting her until tomorrow.

"Sounds good to me," she said, picking her duffel bag off of the ground, "Let's get outta here."

Mason followed her out of the bar, a feeling of accomplishment overcame her, as she smiled slyly to herself. Maybe the town would be more interesting then she originally thought. She opened the door to his car and threw her bag into the back, turning around to see him standing behind her. It was only a few seconds before his lips were on hers, and her arms were around his neck, pulling him closer.

"I think we can take a detour," she said to him, a grin lighting up her face

The sunlight beamed into the room through the windows, hurting her eyes as she awoke in the arms of her bedmate. Mason was still fast asleep as Tallie rose from the bed, looking around the room for her clothes. She had managed to find her pants and bra but was unable to find her top. She knew there was no way she could walk out of there without a top, and she also quite liked that top, so she was intent in finding it.

"Are you planning on sneaking out without your top?" Said Mason, who had awoken from his sleep and found her top for her whilst she was busy tearing up his room in search of it

"Yeah, give your neighbours a good shock." She mocked, grabbing the shirt from him, "How scandalous would it be? Half naked girl doing the walk of shame from your room."

"You'd be the talk of the town." He said, laughing along with her, "Last night was fun."

"It was," she said, throwing the top on, "But sadly, we must part ways."

She picked her duffel bag from where she had dropped last night, she was glad that it didn't contain any breakables given how careless she had dispersed of it in favour of Mason's touch.

"It's a small town," he said, "Maybe I'll see you again."

"Probably."

Taking her time to fix her clothes, she waited until she heard the bathroom door close. When she was sure that Mason wouldn't be returning anytime soon, she took his wallet off on the nightstand. Opening it up, she took the twenty dollar note and slipped it into her pocket. Judging by the house, it wouldn't be missed, and thievery was one of her many bad habits.

Tallie had almost made it out of the house without coming into contact with anyone, when she turned a corner and collided into another body.

"Shit." she mumbled, looking up at the boy that she had run into. He was taller then her, muscular with olive skin, black hair and dark brown eyes, "Sorry."

"It's okay," he said, giving her a puzzled look, "Who are you?"

"A friend of Mason's." She said, it was a lie but this was a stranger that didn't need to know about her sexual exploits, "He was letting me crash here for the night."

"Okay," he said, obviously still unsure about her, "Well, I'm Tyler, his nephew."

"Tallie." She said, "It's nice to meet you, even if my face did just smash into your chest."

"Smash might be a bit extreme." Tyler teased, smirking at her

"And gently brushed against would be putting it mildly." she said, "It is a very hard chest, I could've broken my nose on your muscles."

"I'm sure," he said, his smirk widening as he moved to the side, "I guess I should be letting you get on your way."

"Yeah." she said, but she only made it a few steps before realising that she had no way of getting to her father's house, "Hey, Tyler. Would you mind giving me a lift? It's not far."

"Sure." he said, before leading her out of the house

The drive was as short as she promised, and she learned that Tyler was a student at the high school. She told him that she had just moved to town, but conveniently left out the part that she would be going to the same school as him. She assumed that they would see each other on her first day anyway, why ruin the surprise?

"Thanks for the lift." She said, as they pulled into the driveway

"No, problem," he said, "I'll see you around."

"I bet," she said, grabbing her bag before getting out of the car

Tallie flashed one last smile at Tyler, before approaching the front door of her new house. The house was two storeys, and larger then any other place she'd lived so far, not that she'd lived in any overly large houses. She approached the wooden door, and swiftly knocked on it. Almost straight after she knocked, the door opened, to reveal the man she recognised from the photo as her father. He was tall, probably 6'3, lean and slightly tan, with dark hair and eyes. She shared the dark hair with both him and her mother, but had her mother's hazel eyes and dark complexion.

Peter Collins was an accomplished doctor who had just moved to Mystic Falls, and also just found out he had a teenage daughter in need of a guardian. So, like the hood Samaritan she was sure he was, he took her in.

"Tallulah." He said, moving out of the way so she could come inside, "I wasn't expecting you until later today."

"I decided to come early." She said shrugging her shoulders, he didn't need to know that she was all but thrown out of her Aunt's house as soon as guardianship of her was transferred to him, "Surprise you."

Tallie looked around the house; the living room to her right had a couch and television, with a bookcase and some photos on the wall. She could see some boxes piled up in the corner, and figured that he hasn't finished unpacking yet.

"And it's Tallie." She told him, "Nobody calls me by my full name."

"Not even your mother?"

The question remained unanswered, and he soon realised his mistake, by the way her jaw clenched. Her mother was a touchy subject, even for those she cared about. Not that there were too many of those.

"Well, it's a nice surprise." He said, in assuring manner that she didn't believe for a second, she doubted that he really enjoyed finding out that he had a child that was basically being forced into his custody, "I have to go to work," he said, looking down at his watch, "Your bedroom is at the top of the stairs to the right."

"Thanks." She said, giving him a curt nod before following his directions to find her room.

The room was mostly empty, it was large, and contained only a double bed, a wardrobe opposite, with a desk to the side next to an empty bookshelf. He'd obviously not cared to properly furnish it, but at least the bed had sheets.

"I didn't know what you liked," he said, walking up behind her, "So I decided to leave it to you to decorate."

She just nodded in reply, before dumping her bag onto the floor; she supposed that she wouldn't be there for long so why bother unpacking. Pemma net residency was a foreign concept to her.

"I'll be gone for the day." He said, "You should probably unpack, get settled in."

"Why?" She muttered, "I won't be here long."

Peter just raised his eyebrows, but said nothing in return, not trusting himself to say the right thing. He had no practice with teenage girls, let alone ones that had been through what she had.

"I'm getting a ride with a colleague of mine, so my car will be yours for the day." He said, handing her a set of car keys, "Go out and see the town, maybe meet some friends. Here's some money for lunch, you can go to the grill, it's opposite the town square."

Tallie held in her scoff, she was sure that he wouldn't approve of any 'friends' she would make. She was positively sure that he would most definitely not approve of her actions last night, but what he didn't know wouldn't hurt him.

"Thanks," she said, taking the keys and throwing them on the bed, "I guess."

They heard the beeping of a car horn, and Peter gave a sigh. "That's my ride, here's your house key," he said, handing her another key that joined the other on the bed, "I'll be back for dinner."

"See you later." She replied

Peter gave her, what she considered to be, a forced smile before leaving her room. When she heard the closing of the front door, she let out a groan. She resented the idea of having to stay here, but it was better then where she was living before. At least it wasn't a two bedroom house for seven people that all seemed to hate one another.

She quickly removed the clothes she had been wearing for two days, and instead put on denim cut-off shorts and a half top. Her Aunt had always been at her about wearing clothing she considered to be too revealing, but she never listened to anyone, lest of all that horrid cow.

Slipping the keys and money Peter had given her, they joined the money she had stolen in her pockets. As she exited her room, she flicked her wrist to close the door behind her. It was an unnecessary display of power. But she loved being a witch, revelled in the power it gave her. And judging by the fact that she had just slept with a werewolf last night, she wasn't the only supernatural creature in town.

'Everywhere I go, I'm second to arrive. My reputation precedes me, and sometimes it skips out on the bill.'

Jarod Kintz

I hope you enjoyed the first chapter, please remember to review and tell me what you think. The next chapter will be out soon, and Tallie will meet more of Mystic Falls' inhabitants.