Hey guys!

So this is my first fanfiction in like.. forever? I used to write Harry Potter fanfics, waaaay back in the day, when I was like 13 years old. (and writing this I realize how old I already am... D: )

However, I've got quite a few things to say before we can jump into the story :D

1. I'm German, so I apologize for all the errors you are definitely going to find in my work. But I hope that you forgive me and please don't shy back pointing out my mistakes in any way. I do wanna learn and I know my English is not nearly perfect, but I love this language, which is why I chose to write in it instead of German.

2. In regards of the story, I already have like a rough outline on some main events and where I am going with my character. I don't wanna just repeat what happened on the show and simply change the dialogue where it is necessary to incorporate my OC. However there are still some points where I haven't decided how far I am going to deviate from the original story line. So if you have any thoughts, wishes or preferences, please let me know (if any of you even chooses to be that invested in this story, we don't know that yet :D).

Oh and just so you know, I like it better if things about the characters are explained or revealed along the way, so if there is any confusion about my OC's backstory, don't worry, it will all be explained sooner or later :)

Well, enough rambling, I really hope you guys bear with me on this one, I'm certainly gonna try and give my best. Soooo... let's jump into the story, shall we? ;)

CHAPTER 1

Home. She was back home.

Taking in a deep breath the dark-haired girl finally found the courage to open the door to her old house. It was overwhelming. Nothing had changed. Every little object was exactly were she left it, inevitably coated with an impressible amount of dust, but in the exact same position. Tears were threatening to pool in her eyes, but she shook it of, she knew from the very beginning, that this would be hard and decided long ago that there really was no point in dwelling on the past.

What a realistic goal, coming back to the town that was filled with so many memories. She had to suppress scoffing at herself for being so naive.

Slowly she began to venture trough the house, sliding her fingers along the furniture every here and there, a sad expression on her face and on the verge of crying once again. Her hand squeezed into a fist, and she slammed it into the wall next to her, trying to regain composure. Deciding to simply deal with this later, she went to her truck, got her things out of the car and just threw them into the hallway. It wasn't like there was somebody else here to care about that anyway.

Going for a walk, getting a drink, doing anything other than being alone in this house seemed like a good idea to her, so she grabbed her purse and went to do just that.

An hour later, the dark-haired girl walked through the town, a cup of coffee-to-go in her hand. If she ever loved anything, it was just that. Wandering aimlessly through whatever her environment had to offer. She just decided to turn into some empty alley next to her, and she was fairly certain that it was in fact empty, when she suddenly collided with something. Or someone.

She gasped and opened up her eyes only to be stunned by the sight in front of her. An amazingly handsome man was standing there, smiling down at her curiously with one of his eyebrows slightly raised. He had brown eyes and hair, just like herself, although his hair was a few shades lighter than hers. Dressed in an extremely expensive looking suit he really stood out from his environment, which made her stare at him in even bigger wonder.

Only when she felt the dryness of her mouth, did she realize that she was starring at him, mouth open. And only after that did she realize that half her coffee was now splattered across his dark-blue shirt and black suit. Her eyes widened in embarrassment, but she finally managed to let words escape her mouth.

"Oh god", she blurred out, cheeks reddening. "I am so sorry. I-" She was at a lost for words. Everything she could come up with, sounded incredibly stupid in her head.

"It's quite alright", the man smirked down at her, as he seemed to realize, that that was extent of what she was going to say.

She felt her knees growing a little bit weaker, she always had a thing for accents. Still, this was so not like her. Acting like a teenage girl with some stupid crush on a boy, she literally just met. She breathed in, shook it off and gave him a smile.

He returned it and spoke up again. "But I do believe that I owe you a new beverage, Miss …? "

"Davis. Rachel Davis.", she smiled thankfully at him for trying to turn this rather awkward situation around.

"Elijah Mikaelson. It's my pleasure", he said and before she knew it, her hand was in his, his lips grazing her knuckles, never breaking eye-contact. She had to suppress a gasp, but not just because, of the pleasant feeling his lips on her skin sent through her body, but mainly because this short touch was enough for her to know the truth about him.

Slight disappointment began to settle in, but she wouldn't let it sink to far. Judging someone by what they were, had always seemed wrong to her. Even though she had to deal with the lack of this sentiment towards herself way to often in her 23 years on this earth, didn't mean that she wouldn't show it towards others.

"Quite the gentleman.", Rachel mused.

"So I've been told.", Elijah replied, still an amused expression on his face.

"Well, we should do something about that.", Rachel pointed at the coffee on his cloths. "Before it sets."

"No worries, really.", he waved his hand, dismissing the subject.

"You can say that however often you want, but that isn't gonna change anything about my guilty conscience. So there are two options here: Either you come back to my house and let me take care of it or I give you some money for the dry-cleaning", she already started fumbling in her purse to look for her cash when he gently lay his hand on her wrist, stopping her movement.

"There really is no necessity. But may I ask: Has it occurred to you, that I would be perfectly capable of removing this stain by myself?"

Rachel contemplated this for a second, not wanting to refer to gender-specific stereotypes, but she still ended up shaking her head and narrowing her eyes at him a little bit. "No...", she spoke slowly, "Not really." An embarrassed smile formed on her face. "But if you are so persistent in refusing my help, then so be it.", she shrugged, but her smile grew wider mostly to show him that she wasn't at all offended but rather amused by this strange encounter.

Elijah looked at her with an expression she couldn't quite decipher. "It is simply a matter of principles. I am in the wrong. It was I who did not pay attention to my surroundings.", she opened her mouth to disagree but his look made her stop. "So.", he shifted slightly and his expression turned into a friendlier one. "How about that drink?"

She looked at him with sheer amusement and sighed. "Well, before we go back and forth on this subject the entire day, I guess I will simply accept your offer"

"Wise choice.", he smirked and began to move and lead the way.

About fifteen minutes later they were in a rather secluded area of Mystic Falls, all the while chatting about different kind of things. If you could even referrer to it as chatting. Elijah's choice of words made Rachel feel almost dumb, even though she knew she wasn't. But since she knew what he was, she guessed, that he was probably already quite old.

They have come to an agreement, that they swing by Elijah's home, so he could get changed into something clean, and after that find a place where they could get a drink. Now they were standing in front of a massive building, which apparently was his home. Rachel gasped a little bit at the sight of the house.

"I know it is quite...", Elijah began.

"Pretentious?", Rachel turned to him with wide eyes realizing what she just said. "I'm sorry", she shook her head. "Rude."

Elijah merely gave her a side-glance and raised one side of his lips. "Well...", he shrugged his shoulders, seemingly agreeing with her.

After Elijah changed into clean clothes, which was the only other outfit he had at this house, being just undaggered earlier that day, he made his way downstairs to the waiting Rachel.

It was astounding. He couldn't quite explain why exactly he was so interested in her. She seemed to almost radiate some sort of lightness and cheerfulness, even though her eyes gave away all the weight she carried.

Walking down the stairs and seeing her waiting for him, made him come to the same conclusion as earlier: She was truly beautiful. Her dark hair with golden highlights, which increased in numbers and got even lighter the lower they went, lay in big natural waves on her back. All of her facial features went along in a perfect way forming an extraordinary beautiful face. Her brown eyes held a warmth which somehow drew him to her and sparkled every time she smiled or laughed at him.

She was dressed rather casually with a pair of black jeans, a beige top with a few fancy details here and there and a dark green cardigan, who had the same color as her sneakers.

The way she wore those rather common clothes combined with the fact that she didn't wore a drop of make-up made her look comfortable in her own skin and her beauty simply effortless - which was especially appealing to him. Even her scent was an interesting combination of sweet and floral, light and fresh, and earthy and spicy. Everything about her was all in all a weird but more than pleasant mixture.

When he stood almost directly next to her she turned to him and smiled. "Such a big house and you are here all alone?"

"Yes my brother seems to be otherwise occupied at the moment and technically...", he gestured around the interior, "it's his house."

A thoughtful expression went over Rachel's face. "Hm... and why does your brother need such a big house then?"

Elijah couldn't suppress his smirk "I suppose most of the room in here is reserved for his ego."

That made her laugh, a sound he already grew to like in the short amount of time they got to know each other. "That bad, huh?"

"That bad." Rachel simply shook her head slightly, eyes filled with amusement.

"Shall we?", Elijah asked, extending his hand towards the door. She curtsied, a mocking look on her face and began to walk to the door.

Rachel and Elijah decided to go to the Mystic Grill, since first of all, it was the only real option and second of all, she really wanted to see that place again, even though at the same time she kind of dreaded it.

Luckily there weren't too many familiar faces inside, she had to fend off a few people commenting on how she was back just to ask her in a pitying tone if she was doing okay. After she told every single one of them that she was doing just fine, convincing them all, Rachel led Elijah to the bar indicating she wanted to sit there.

"Closer to the alcohol", she said to him with a smirk, but it wasn't a joke, not entirely. Being back stirred up all kind of feelings and to say that it was tough would be highly underrated. Thankfully she had a distraction by her side, in the form of a very attractive vampire.

Rachel decided that she wanted this subject out of the way, so when their first drinks were served she turned to him to clink their glasses and asked: "So, how many centuries have you actually been around?" It looked like he almost choked on his drink. He really had not picked up on the fact that she knew.

"Pardon me?", Elijah eyed her with an expression of curiosity but also slight mistrust.

"It's not that hard to pick up on if you know they exist", she shrugged, "You're cold to the touch and you act and speak as if you were around at a time where it was normal to act and speak like that." She wouldn't tell him the actual reason she knew. She had only told three people about it since she was 9 years old, but it seemed as though it was good enough to convince her companion.

"Quite a few.", Elijah said to answer her question.

"Vague much, huh?", Rachel laughed at him. "Okay, well... maybe you'd like to share something else about yourself then?"

"And what precisely would you like to know about my life, Miss Davis?"

Rachel almost visibly cringed. "For starters, I would much prefer if you please just call me Rachel." He nodded once, the corner of his mouth turning up. "I don't know... how about you tell me something about your family, you already mentioned your brother, who seems like quite the...", she couldn't think of suitable and non-insulting word so she just let it be. "Any other siblings?"

"Yes, three of them. But my relationship with my siblings is rather complicated and most times even catastrophic."

"I see", he obviously didn't want to go into further detail, and Rachel chose to simply accept that, even though he made it quite difficult to keep up a consistent conversation, since he seemed to be so secretive.

"So what about you? Tell me about your family."

Ouch. She knew this would backfire, why did she have to ask him about his family? Of course, he would direct this question back at her. Apparently her immediate change of emotions did not go unnoticed by him, because he laid his hand on hers and stroked the back of it with his thump in a reassuring manner.

A few hours later, Elijah and Rachel were still sitting at the bar, one more drunk than the other.

After the first 30 minutes or so, Rachel had ordered him at least triple of what she was having, because according to her his vampire-induced tolerance for alcohol seemed unfair. He played along, especially because she seemed to be wildly upset about the topic of her family.

He had learned that her adoptive father died two years ago, which was when Rachel had left Mystic Falls. Her adoptive mother left around seven years ago and hasn't come back since. She had no siblings, whether biological nor adopted but he made a quick escape when the subject fell on her biological parents. It was obvious how much she didn't want to talk or apparently even think about them.

After they had managed to turn their conversation around they shared a rather delightful exchange. Given with more and more alcohol both of them opened up a bit more, just as a lot more words came out rather slurred, mostly hers. She told him all sorts of things about herself, mainly her likes and dislikes, such as her love for video games and mathematics and her intolerance for the color pink, hot-pink to be precise.

He himself shared quite a few stories about various decades that she specifically asked about (obviously to determine how old he was), which she followed with surprisingly high interest, claiming that insight from someone who was actual there to witness it, made almost everything interesting...

"I don't know, maybe not model railroads", she contemplated, tipping her index finger against her chin as if in deep thought.

"Once I talked to a guy who was totally into that kind of stuff, and I don't know if it was him or the hobby itself, but I couldn't have actively listened to him even if my life had depended on it."

He laughed. He didn't know exactly how to comment on that, she kept talking about such random things, seemingly everything that, for whatever reason, popped into her mind. The fact that her talking became more and more slurred just added to his amusement, although he couldn't deny that it was all quite endearing.

"Careful there", he said and quickly put a hand on her lower back when she almost fell of her stool again. She glanced at him with a slightly embarrassed but still thankful expression and leaned forward on the counter to keep herself steady.

"I think maybe this is a sign to call it a night", she said to him with an apologetic look on her face. Elijah nodded in agreement and waved at the bartender telling him they were ready to pay.

As the young dark-haired man walked over to them Rachel began searching through her purse. He laid a hand on her arm signaling her to stop the search, that he would pay for it himself.

"Nooo.", she straightened herself slightly. "No Elijah I can't let you do that. Do you have any idea how many drinks we had? How many drinks I ordered. Why on earth should you have to pay for that?", Rachel whined with an almost desperate voice.

Not putting the topic up to discussion he simply handed the bartender the amount of money they owed plus a rather unconventionally high tip.

"I will pay you back, I hope you know that.", Rachel pointed her finger at him in an unsteady way and obviously tried to look threatening, definitely failing at that.

Elijah let out a short laugh and stood up, ready to steady Rachel and help her get up, too. She took his hand and almost instantly fell into his already waiting arm, not at all able to stand on her own just then. After a short while he managed to maneuver them out of the bar.

It was brain-wrecking, thinking about it now. Originally he wast just out to get a haircut, worrying about meeting with Damon first thing tomorrow, filled with anger towards his brother for going back on his word once again. Not to mention what he felt at himself for falling for it repeatedly... But the encounter with the beautiful woman he had now wrapped an arm around and whose head leaned against his shoulder had actually managed to take his mind off of all these things.

"There it is", Rachel said and looked at the front door of the house they were now standing in front of. A conflicted expression began to show on her face, which seemingly did not go unnoticed by Elijah who suddenly laid a hand on her shoulder encouraging her to say what was on her mind. Rachel let out a rather loud sigh, inwardly debating on what she wanted to share with the vampire she met just a few hours ago and what not.

"I was always doing just fine being alone, mostly better even. But lately...", Rachel looked down at her shoes, not really sure how to express herself.

"I could accompany you for a while, if you please. I may not be the best company to keep around, but perhaps it would help you feel less... alone."

Rachel looked at him, half in shock. Why would a man she barely knew care about how she felt? Moreover a vampire who now wanted to be invited into her home? It was weird. Very weird. Rachel eyed Elijah suspiciously and he shifted, obviously aware of her inner trouble.

"I can see why you are troubled by my offer, but rest assured, I do not hold any ill intentions towards you."

Rachel sighed, contemplating, but quickly decided to simply go with the "code" she lived by. If you hold off on things that could bring you joy, just so you don't get hurt, then what's the point of it all?

Besides, what could really happen? If he wanted to harm her he could have done so already. For this to somehow play into his cards, he would have to have some seriously twisted and cruel end-game and she simply didn't think he did. He looked genuinely concerned about her well-being. Not to mention that every time he touched her over the evening her heart seemed to skip a beat and she simply didn't want the night to end just yet.

She reached for her keys and unlocked the door. Rather slowly she went inside and turned towards the handsome vampire standing on her porch, whose eyes seemed to follow her every move, all the while waiting patiently.

Taking a deep breath Rachel went over her decision one last time before she opened the door all the way, a small smile on her face.

"Would you like to come in, Mr. Mikaelson?"

AN: Phew! That was quite the challenge, I've gotta say... I thought that since I read and watch and listen to pretty much everything in English, writing in this language would... well, not be easy, but definitely much more easy than it actually turned out to be...

Anyway, that's the first chapter. I know that barely anything happens, but look at it as some sort of introduction. Plus I do wanna know if there's even anybody out there who has interest in reading my story :)

I am also not entirely certain how explicit I am gonna be considering sex-scenes and such.

I also have no idea, at which point exactly it would turn from T to M rating.

Maybe you could give me some insight on that :)

I hope you enjoyed it and maybe want to read more. Since this is my first fanfic (and not even in my native language) I am really reliant on your thoughts, so please comment away. ;)

Hopefully until next time.