A/N – One of my all time favourite TV shows is the Vampire Diaries and so I thought why not throw Lexa and Clarke into that world and see where it goes.

Please let me know if this is something you would like to see me continue by leaving a review.

Introduction

11th March

Dear Diary,

Today will be different. It has to be. I will smile and it will be believable. My smile will say 'I'm fine, thank you. I will no longer be the sad little girl who lost her father, I will start fresh. Be someone new. It's the only way I'll make it through.

Clarke Griffin stopped writing. She re-read the words she had written and then shook her head slowly, pen still hovering over the unfinished page of her journal. Her mind unwillingly swam with the memories of this summer. My father is gone, she thought sadly.

With a resounding sigh she threw them both to the end of the bed. Clarke knew she needed to get a better handle on things if she was going to survive today. She made her way over to the Victorian mirror hanging on the wall and glanced at her reflection fleetingly. Her golden hair fell freely down her back whilst full lips hid her underlying pain beneath a sweet smile. It was enough to fool most people as long as they didn't look close enough.

"Clarke! Where are you? You're going to late for school!" the voice drifted up from below.

Clarke quickly ran a brush through her hair again before she grabbed her backpack and headed downstairs. In the kitchen, her younger brother Jasper was eating cereal at the table, and her mother Abby was burning something on the stove. Abby had never been the domestic type up until her father passed away, ever since that day she has been struggling day and night to keep their family intact.

"Morning," Clarke said to both of them as she grabbed a power bar out of the cupboard, "I don't have time for breakfast."

"But, Clarke, you can't go to school on an empty stomach," Abby complained whilst moving the most burnt piece of bacon around the frying pan that Clarke had ever seen.

Clarke threw her mother a disgruntled look before waving the power bar in her direction, "I'll make do with this, thanks."

"But, Clarke-"

"And I'll probably be going to Grounders with Raven and Octavia after school, so don't bother making me dinner."

"Clarke-"

Clarke was already at the front door. She closed it behind her, effectively cutting of her mothers distant protests, and stepped out on to the front porch. The relationship between Clarke and her mom has been strained since her father died. In many ways Clarke still blamed her for his death, and even though she knew it was wrong to do so she just couldn't shake the feeling for some reason.

Maple Street was deserted. The tall Victorian houses looked strange and eerie, almost like they were void of life inside. As she walked down the street her mind began to wonder and the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. It felt like something was watching her. The sky overhead was as blue as her eyes and without a cloud in sight. The air was humid, and Clarke was certain that there was eyes on her.

Clarke looked around cautiously before she caught site of something dark and familiar in the branches of a tree. It was a crow, sitting as still as Clarke was standing now. And it was watching her intently.

She tried to tell herself that the crow wasn't really watching her. That she was just in its line of sight or something, but a voice in the back of her mind was telling her otherwise. She could see every detail of it; the threatening dark claws, the sharp beak, the glittering of black eyes.

It was so motionless that it could have been passed off as a statue of a bird sitting there. But as she continued to stare at it, Clarke came to the sudden realisation that it was definitely looking right at her. Before she knew what she was doing, she had dropped her backpack on the ground beside her feet and picked up a stone, "Get out of here," she said shakily, "Go on! Go away!" and with that said, she threw the stone.

There was an explosion of leaves when the stone made impact, but the crow soared up unharmed. She watched as it circled above her a few times, a black silhouette against the clear blue sky. Then, with one harsh croak, it wheeled away towards the woods behind the house.

Clarke quickly glanced around, suddenly self-conscious. She couldn't believe what had just happened. If anyone had looked out of their window and saw her yelling at an innocent bird, they would think she had gone crazy.

A gust of wind made the leaves flutter around her feet, and Clarke took a deep breath. Down the street a door opened and several children poured out, laughing amongst themselves. She smiled at the sight, and took another steading breath, relief flooding her. How could she have been so stupid? This was a beautiful day, a new start, and nothing bad was going to happen.

After picking up her backpack, Clarke began to walk as quickly as she could without a backward glance at the tree.

The crow thundered through the top of the massive oak tree, and Lexa's head jerked up instinctively. When she realised it was just a bird, she relaxed again.

Her eyes dropped to the limp brown form in her hands, and her stomach knotted with regret. If she had known how hungry she really was she would have hunted something bigger. But, of course, when the hunger takes hold there is no time to be picky. It is a luxury that is often denied to her. She was lucky that this time she'd only killed a rabbit.

She rose from her knees, sunlight glittering down on her curly brown hair as she stood beneath a canopy of ancient oak trees. In black jeans and a simple T-shirt, Alexandria Dragomir looked everything like an ordinary high school student should.

Except she wasn't.

She had come deep into the woods, where no one would see her, to feed. Now she meticulously licked her gums and lips, to make sure that the remnants of her meal were completely gone. She didn't want to take any chances. Concealing herself was going to be hard enough as it was.

For a moment she faltered, wondering once more if she should be doing this. Perhaps she should just go back in to hiding, what right did she have to live a normal life? But she was tired of living in the shadows. She was tired of the darkness and the endless solitude of her measly existence.

Polis was her home, though. It was where she was born and raised. The place was rich with history and some of it belonged to her kin. The Dragomir family was once well known and respected amongst the towns people. After all they were one of Polis's founding families, but decades had passed since then and her family name was nothing but a distant memory now.

Lexa thought she might come to like the people of Polis, though. And perhaps, she just might find a place amongst them. She'd never be accepted completely, of course. A bitter smile curved her lips at the idea. There would never be a place where she could belong completely, where she could truly be herself. But being home might be the closest she ever gets, she thought.

Lexa realised she was still holding the rabbit. Gently, she laid it down on a soft bed of red leaves. Far away, too far for human ears to pick up, she recognised the sound of a fox approaching cautiously, ready to pick at the remains of her breakfast.

Sighing sadly, she slung her backpack over her shoulder and looked up when something caught her eye. She noticed the crow that had disturbed her earlier. It was still perched in the oak tree, and it seemed to be watching her. Frowning, she stared back at it for a moment, there was something unnerving about it.

Shaking the thought away she began to move almost silently, through dead leaves and dry twigs, toward the edge of the woods. She glanced back and saw that the crow had left the branches and now stood menacingly over the rabbit.

There was definitely something sinister and oddly familiar to it. She forced herself to tear her eyes away from the sight of it and hurried through the woods, jaw set. She didn't want to be late for her first day of school.