Thank you guys for the amazing phenomenal response you gave to the story. Love everyone who read, favorite, followed and reviewed. Your response made my day. So here's the next chapter. Oops almost forgot to mention, I don't own Vampire Diaries.

Chapter One

Oh darlin' your kisses taste bitter,

And those lies are too sweeter,

Spoil the taste of my mouth,

Might as well write,

The saga of your faithlessness with glitter.

My taste is like blood,

And you taste of wine,

I might be your addiction,

A shot of pure adrenaline.

-Blood and Wine by Lucifera Santez

He came to her in her dreams, a disembodied voice echoing across the scenic panorama of her fantasy. Chione, Chione just a name he uttered. Spoke with such heart wrenching intensity that she wanted to cry. She didn't know who he was, had no idea why he called her Chione even after she had told thousand times her name was Caroline not Chione. Apart from the mistaken identity he was great. She could talk to him as she had never talked with anyone else. She found herself telling everything to a voice inside her head, well maybe except editing few parts. He never said a word apart from that name Chione. Sometimes she would catch a stray word or two in a tongue she didn't understand. He never elaborated, never said anything except Chione. Sometimes it felt as if he was trying to tell her something she didn't quite understand. She never saw him, never caught a glimpse of how he looked except for occasional glance at blonde hair or eyes that were bluer than the skies in a summer day. She spilled out her every thought, every secret to him. When her day was bad, which was almost every day, all she wanted was to go to sleep where he would be waiting, waiting for her. Most of the days she felt his touch, a warm sweet caress of comfort and love on her skin. She didn't know who he was? A ghost, a shadow, hallucination of her forlorn mind? Whoever he was, wherever he was, he was sad and lonely. She didn't know how she could tell that but it felt as if she knew it in her heart, felt in her weary bones.

Sometimes she wanted him to utter Caroline instead of Chione. Wanted him to talk with her, not just to listen her ramble but to share his views, his problems. But he never did. She felt dread before she woke in mornings, what if he wasn't there tonight? What if she had bored him with her petty problems? But he was always there, in back of her mind, a silent, solitary, comforting presence. Sometimes it felt as if he kissed her, a warm press of feelings on her lips, a sweet touch of longing, and an escaping tendril of locked desires. Her shadow angel as she called him was the best thing that had ever happened to her, a blessing even if he was made up figment of her mind.

And god knew she never had much blessing in her life. She could feel the sun coming up as her dream was fading away, she could feel him slipping again beyond her reach. She wanted him; she had always wanted him as far as she could remember. She had always had him from the time she could dream. He had been the only constant part of her childhood and maturity and yes that sounded pretty fucked up. Well she was fucked up and so was her life. So what if she took a little comfort from a hallucination of her mind? She deserved it. She could feel his voice getting faint and she knew it was stupid to think he won't be there when she went to sleep again but it was a fear that stemmed from long insecurity. Whatever she had loved had always been taken from her, whatever she had cared for had always died, whatever she had needed had always deserted her. She needed him; she needed him far more than she needed relief from the pain that bloomed along with the bruises all over her body.

Please don't go, please don't leave me. She knew it was futile to hold the barest part of one's sanity but she always did. She didn't know why, didn't know why she repeated the same words over and over again every morning, perhaps she wanted to construct a reality where someone waited for her, cared for her, loved her. Long stretching silence had trained her never to expect his answer, to open her eyes as soon as the she repeated the words but today she lingered, waited, perhaps for his reply, perhaps to ward reality a bit more.

I'll be here Chione; I'll be here when the shadows descend.

It was faint, but it was there. A warm husky voice that made her think of warmth, sanctuary and love. She never wanted to wake up, wanted to live in these dreams she created with her phantom stranger who called her Chione. Dreams were better, dreams were good than reality. You didn't had to face the demons who roamed in the guise of nice smiles and pretty face. You didn't had to face mothers who chose strangers over you. You didn't have to maintain a façade in dreams; you could be you in there.

It was time to wake up, face the brutal reality where she was going to get two lashes on her back for being handful seconds late and locking her door in night.

Caroline Forbes stared at her barely covered form in the mirror. Bruises covered most of her back and her upper arms. Not to mention the pain she was feeling in her bones, the clenching muscles that burned with agony. There wasn't a mark that showed her breaking heart and her mutilated soul. The marks of her flesh would heal but her heart would not. She examined herself with a critical eye noting the flaws and the birthmark above her heart. It was a wolf, a very beautiful depiction of wolf if she said so herself. It was more like tattoo than birthmark. She could see every little detail. But that wasn't the only freaky thing about it. Apart from that weird aspect there was nothing extraordinary about her. She didn't want to get ready for school. She just wanted to curl in a ball and go to sleep but she couldn't. That was the word there, couldn't. She always used it these days and now it had become force of habit for anything that could remotely give her peace and comfort.

She dressed herself wearing her customary jeans with full t-shirt that covered the evidence of hurt on her skin. She twisted her hair in simple pony. She looked at her bare dresser devoid of the usual teenage stuff. There was no open makeup kit. No leaking foundation bottle, no eye shadow or curler. There was just a comb, few scrunchies and hair clips that were her possession. Pathetic wasn't it? That's what happened when you lost the will to oppose.

She dreaded going down for breakfast. She knew what would happen when she sat down on the table to eat. She knew what awaited her everyday and yet she returned to this hell hole because she didn't have any other option. She had nowhere to escape, nowhere to hide from the demons and nightmares of her broken life.

Caroline could feel his disgusting touch as his fingers moved over her jean clad thigh. She tried to clench her thighs together to ward off his hands to where they were trying to touch. He pinched hardly and she wanted to cry with pain. But she bit inside of her mouth to stay silent.

"You are a good girl aren't you Caroline?" he purred and she wanted to vomit.

Under the table his hands neared the juncture of her thighs, pinching hardly above the cloth. She counted her breaths to make the time pass. Tears burned like acid behind her eyes but she refused to give him the satisfaction to see her cry.

The oncoming sound of her mother's feet alerted him and he withdrew his hand. She wolfed the food in haste to escape this den of debauchery. It hadn't been always like this. Once upon a time they had been happy. She, her mother and her father. But they had gotten divorced and her father had moved away with his boyfriend and she had been left with this woman who claimed to be her mother. Nights of partying and drinking, days with booze and drugs had resulted in Lizzie Forbes's suspension from her job. She had started bringing men home with her, men who drove Harley and sold coke for living. Caroline's life had become one long tale of misery afterwards. The cruel taunts of her mother, the degrading comments and the beating she bore had made her wary of coming before her mother when her mother was indulging herself in her many vices. How drastically it all had changed. Now when she looked back at her childhood, she thought she was watching a stranger's history. Her mom's sheriff uniform had been replaced by tight dresses, hooker make up and killer shoes, her dad had been replaced by a man who was a monster in guise of a human.

If Caroline's life had been hard before, it had escalated to hellish agony when her mom had met Mike. He was one of those pretty faces who used their good looks to cover a nature that was of a savage animal. Her mother had married Mike within two months and he had moved in with them. Could she ever describe the dirty feeling she got when he looked at her, from up to down as if she was some whore he was thinking of using. He touched her in places where she had allowed no one to touch. She couldn't oppose him, couldn't tell anyone how soiled he made her feel. From three years she was protecting herself in nights, locking her room before she went to sleep. She always saw his shadow as he paced in front of her door, kicking her door in frustration, threatening her but she always stood her ground even if that earned her three lashes from his belt in the morning.

When had everything changed for her? When had her mom changed so much that only thing that mattered to her was her weekly supply of drugs? When had she turned into coward?

There were so many questions, questions whose answers she could never find.

The constant honking of horn got her attention and she stood to place her plate in sink. Her mom was nursing a cup of coffee, her faced stained with yesterday's ruined make up.

She rushed towards the door when his hateful voice instructed her to stop.

"I will just escort you to the door, Caroline." He answered at her mom's inquisitive expression.

This is what she dreaded, being alone with him even for moments. He could inflict memories so heinous in those few minutes that it was impossible to forget them. Worse than his touches were the things he made her say, things that she wouldn't have uttered in thousand years if she wasn't terrified of the pain and humiliation he awarded her.

She braced herself as he came near enough to touch. He took her hand, prying open her fist forcefully as he twined his fingers with hers and he led them towards the door.

"I am hearing the Donovan boy is giving you special attention. Whoring yourself to boys of high school are you?" his eyes glinted.

She shook her head in denial as his hand crushed her fingers.

"Answer me Caroline." He whispered furiously.

"No." she tried to convince him. How had he known about Matt?

"Well then that's good Caroline. Your cherry is mine to pop, you do remember what I will do when I fuck you and I find you are no longer a virgin?" he asked pleasantly.

She remembered it, remembered it as clear as day. His promise that if she sold her wares to any high school boy before he took her virginity, he would make her sorry, he would make her rue the day she had thought about having sex with anyone else. And the whole time his hand had kept sub merging her hand in boiling water.

She shuddered at the memory.

"I see you remember. Your virgin little cunt is begging for my cock isn't it Caroline?" he twisted her nipples over her shirt. She whimpered in pain.

"Say it." He commanded as he pinched her nipples harder.

She didn't knew from where that urge to defy him suddenly came but she steeled herself as she jerked her hands from his hold and replied, "No."

Surprise flickered on his face but he masked it as quickly as it came.

"Surprising, the little kitten has talons. But don't worry Caroline I will shear them tonight. From this night onwards you will be my slut, wont you good girl?"

With final painful twist of her nipples, he released her and opened the door, waving to Elena who sat waiting in her car as he pushed her outside.

When the door slammed shut behind her she ran as if hell hounds were on her heels, dashing in the open door as she mouthed Elena to go.

A kilometer away from her home she lost the contents of her stomach on the side of the road as Elena sat holding her hair back, running soothing circles on her arm. Only Elena Gilbert knew what went behind the close doors of her home, only Elena Gilbert knew what kind of hell Caroline Forbes lived in….

Whole day of school passed as some dream. Classes rushing by as she sat not listening anything they said. Her nightmares were coming true. Tonight he would spoil her, he would rape her and she could do nothing about it. Dread and terror were the skin on her muscles of fear. Agony was the heart that pumped misery. And just like that it was time to go back to that inferno, time to go back where that inhuman creature waited to sully her, waited to take only thing she had saved from him.

"Care what is it? You are too quiet. What did that asshole do?" Elena voiced her concerns as they drove from school.

Caroline broke down; the tears finally escaped her eyes. Elena had been her confidant from the day everything had started, she had been her friend from the day they had sat together in kindergarten.

"I don't wanna go back home Elena. He will be there." She sobbed.

Elena braked the car on the side of the road and she took Caroline's hand in hers.

"Care tell me what happened today."

"He said he would do it today Elena. He said he was going to fuck me tonight." She shuddered as the word passed her lips.

Elena let her cry as she held Caroline's hand in silent support.

"You aren't going to that place Care. I will call your home near eight and tell him that you have a group project. I am not letting you anywhere near him from now on. You can stay with me in nights. And you know how alone I am these days. Jeremy is settled in his new school, aunt Jenna is on some research team. The house feels too big."

Caroline nodded in relief. Poor Elena, her parent's car had gone down from Wickery Bridge. They both had perished in the accident.

They had fun; they painted each other's nails, ordered Chinese food and settled to watch 'Dracula'.

"Can you imagine that kind of love?" she asked Elena.

"Which kind?"

"One which defied times and ages. One which resonated in every particle of your soul, one that you knew you couldn't live without in the deepest part of your heart. One like Dracula and his wife." She mused with a soft smile on her face.

"That kinda love doesn't exist these days Care. And moreover Dracula's usually aren't good looking and hot as Jonathan Rhys Meyers." Elena laughed.

"But still Elena wouldn't it be something to have that kinda love."

"Yeah, that would be something."

The door bell rang and Elena paused the DVD as she went to take the delivery. Caroline looked around thinking how did it feel to live with normal people, to live in security of love. Maybe once upon a time she had known the feeling but now it was just a distant memory.

"What are you thinking Care?"

"Nothing. But what's got your panties in twist?"

"Excuse me?" Elena was indignant.

"Oh you listened me. Now spill the beans, whom did you see to give you I am horny, I wanna have sex look?"

"I don't know Care, he was standing a bit far, talking with someone on phone, and he wore a suit Care and looked so handsome. I can't even describe it. It was as if suddenly something blasted in my face and I couldn't help staring at him."

"Pent up sexual frustration Elena. That's what that was." Caroline laughed.

"Yeah." Elena rolled her eyes, "you wait here, I am gonna go call your home and inform them you aren't coming."

Caroline used the moments of Elena's absence to look out from the window, trying to search the man Elena was talking about.

"Care, you gotta run." Elena was panting as she came running towards Caroline.

"What?"

"He suspected you were here Care. He is coming to get you. Come on I gotta hide you or take you somewhere else. Come on Caroline." Elena said as she searched for her car keys.

Elena had dragged her to the hall. They were nearing the door. Caroline didn't know what was happening; somehow suddenly her happy dream had changed into nightmare.

Suddenly the door flew open and standing there was her personal horrendous demon.

"Thought you could hide from me Caroline?" he mocked as he came nearer. Elena tried to stop him, shouting for her to run but her limbs weren't obeying. He pushed Elena away roughly as he came and grabbed her hand, pulling her towards the door.

But this time somehow she resisted, somehow she thought she could face him.

"No, I won't go with you." Her voice rang out, not quite steady, not quite fearful.

"Is that so? Do you want me to concentrate my attentions on Elena? Do you want me to fuck her as you watch? I agree she won't be quite pleasurable as she whores herself regularly for the younger Salvatore boy but do you want to see your best friend raped in front of you?" he murmured near her ear, too low for Elena to hear.

And just like that all the courage vanished, went down the drain as he yanked her out of Elena's house.

Elena Gilbert raced out of her house as Caroline's vile step father's car tore out of her drive way. She didn't know what to do. She couldn't go to police and she couldn't even call Stefan for help. She couldn't ask anyone she knew for help either. Mike Randall had made Caroline a liar too many times for anyone to believe her. She couldn't let that monster have his way with Caroline. He couldn't infect her with his twisted perverted darkness. Caroline was everything good, warm and sunny. Caroline was her best friend. She had to save her. She looked around; nobody was out except for the suit guy who was still talking on his phone. He will have to do. Engaging stranger was good than someone you knew.

"Excuse me, hello?" he turned around. He was beautiful; yeah that was the only word for him. She would have pondered over his features and hair color if she could see him clearly without darkness and if she had time. This was emergency so no ogling pretty strangers.

"Yes?" he sounded rich, sophisticated type.

"Will you please help me? My friend she is in danger, her step father dragged her home and his intentions are less than honorable. I have no one I can call to ask help, will you help me?" There was something in his eye, a look, a feeling which wasn't quite human but she didn't care. She had to help Caroline.

She had lost her parents; she wasn't losing her best friend just because some psychotic creep felt like he needed to have sex with young girl.

"Of course. If you would give me the address….?"

Okay so maybe she was surprised when he asked for Care's address. Because most people, strangers that is would have suggested calling the police first. Maybe he was secret Bruce Wayne or Clark Kent, defender of the innocent and all that shit. He sure looked superhero alter ego types, every suit clad inch of him.

"I shall bring her here miss? Pardon me I didn't catch your name."

"Elena Gilbert and you are?" okay so she was fishing, what was the harm in little bit innocent flirting? It wasn't as if she was gonna see him again and then she had to ask. What would she answer if Caroline asked who was the hot guy she had sent to save her?

"Known by many names." He smiled as he answered and turned to walk away towards Care's home.

Her shirt was torn, the skin of her stomach bloody from the beatings he had given her. She was bound to her bed, gagged as his belt made the arcs of crimson again and again on her flesh.

"Will you defy me again Caroline?" he asked.

She shook her head, blinded by the pain that coursed in her veins.

"Will you be my little whore Caroline?" he asked as he dropped his clothes one by one coming near.

She wanted to shriek, wanted to tell him that she would kill him for laying a single finger on her but she couldn't. When had Caroline Forbes died and had let this weak stranger take her place? When had she stopped struggling against the vile things he did to her? Perhaps the day when he had first given her crossing wounds on her back.

"So who's going to come between us now? Who is going to stop me from what I have fantasized about from past four years Caroline? Who is going to stop me from fucking you?" he paused, "the answer my little kitten is no one….."

*Hahaha*I know I am evil for leaving you on a cliff hanger. But trust me it's necessary for the story. So any guesses about the man in suit? I know most of you would have guessed it.

This chapter is a tribute to one of my best friends who faced abuse and came out a winner. I have based Caroline's character on her. Whatever I have written, it was her idea. She wanted to perform the final exorcism of her memories and when she told me the whole story I was crying for what she went through. I really salute her for her courage. It's easy to say you are broken and you don't want to change anything because it hurts but it takes guts to admit you are fucked up and you want to be better. It takes determination to face your bleak past.

So let me know what ya think of this chapter and stay tuned for the next installment of 'The Blood of Anubis'.

-Eos