A/N: quick note, gotta say I'm overwhelmed by the amount of story alerts and favourites. And the reviews have really made my day and encouraged me to write as much as possible. And thank you to the person who added this fanfiction to their community, muchas gracias! I hope you are all enjoying the story so far! Anyway, this chapter is basically a filler leading to a rather big event next chapter so stay tuned.

Disclaimer: Once again I do not own Vampire Diaries.


Chapter 2

Runaway

When making a reappearance into the apartments living room, all chatter fell silent. Though for the first time that day Charlotte thought she would appreciate the silence, truthfully - it was eerie. The feel of eyes burning into the back of her skull made her squirm. And just from the corner of her eye it was easy to see Callum was about to speak, but she did not need, nor want to hear what he had to say. Making a beeline for the kitchen, she hoped these people would take the hint and leave her in peace. However people in this century seemed reluctant to take orders, she wondered what else had changed in her time of absence.

"Charlotte-"

"Please, call me Miss Petrova, sir." she asked kindly. Knowing without turning it was the English boy who followed her.

"Another thing ya' yet to learn, girl. We call each other by our first names 'ere." he explained, stalking around the kitchen to face Charlotte.

"It is quite inappropriate and personal if I do say so. You do not know me, therefore you call me Miss Petrova." It was a simple order to follow, she thought, surely he was capable of that.

"Well, Miss Petrova. I just came to tell you, ya' look rather fetching."

"Excuse me?"

"Fetching, beautiful, lovely. I'm trying to compliment you, Petrova." The boy grinned, his eyes roaming over her body, and lingerie on her exposed legs.

Charlotte did nothing but frown, crossing her arms over her chest. If anything she looked damn right silly. The witch who called herself Lucy had sent her to bathe when they first arrived in Mystic Falls. Turned out a thousand years in a tomb did not do much for your appearance. Her hair had been disheveled, a dress that had once been beautiful was now filthy and torn. But the most horrific part was herself, her skin being rough and cracked in places, the girl who stared back at her in the mirror was almost beyond recognition. After a long and worthy bath, she had dressed herself in garments lent by Lucy that consisted of a white sleeveless blouse, matched with simple jean shorts and black laced boots with a heel so thin it was ridiculous. Some of the things they wore in twenty first century was an abomination.

Acquiring herself a glass of water, she shook her hair to the boys response. "Showing so much leg if far too appalling." Charlotte smiled, taking her eyes of Callum and making an entrance back into the living room.

"Charlotte, come sit. You do look so much better know you've cleaned up." Lucy chirped.

But what she said went through one ear and out the other as all Charlotte's attention had been switched to a new girl sitting beside Lucy. She appeared than bit younger than Lucy, with cocoa brown hair and almond brown eyes. There was no denying she was beautiful.

"Hello Charlotte." She spoke softly.

Charlotte blinked, unsure of what to say. It had been a long time since being around other humans, making her feel at nerve. She couldn't help it, spending so much within her own company, she guessed it was how she got used to living.

"Charlotte, this is Bonnie, Bonnie Bennett. My cousin." Lucy tried to ensure a smile, though after a while she gave up and turned back to her cousin. "She doesn't speak much."

"Emily Bennett." It rang a bell, she was sure the vampires who had fed on her in the tomb had mentioned the name. But it seemed such a long time ago. "Bennett." Charlotte repeated, though it was no use. She couldn't recall the conversation the vampires had discussed about her.

"No, my name is Bonnie." The new girl rose up from her seat. "Emily is an ancestor of mine, how do you know of her?"

Charlotte shook her head, she did not want to talk of that. And thankfully Bonnie took the hint and did not press on about it any more.

"Goodness, there really is no difference. You all truly look the same."

"Pardon?" Charlotte frowned, wondering what this girl was on about.

"Your doppelgängers... Katherine and Elena?" Bonnie questioned, clearly just realising the original Petrova had no clue what she was on about. "Your descendants. When you were sacrificed for the sun and moon curse the original witch made it so your descendants would create a doppelgänger. A replica of you to reverse the curse."

"... Curse?"

Doppelgänger, sacrifice, curse... all the words were nothing, yet they meant everything to her. The words roamed around in her mind, trying to latch onto some sort of memory - anything to even trigger a thought. Doppelgänger, sacrifice, curse... blood, fire. There was a lot of blood. The same face as the male in her dreams resurfaced, his face contorted in pain. And then it was like a thousand burning needles were being jabbed into her mind, but this wasn't happening in her head. A wave of nausea hit her like a cannonball as she let out a blood curdling scream.

"Make it stop, please make it stop!" she begged through the tears that forming in her eyes.

It was hopeless to focus what was going on around when the severing pain throbbing her head refused to ease off. There was a bustle of movement and chatter around her, but she could make no sense of it. It was simply no use, all she could do was give buckle under the inflicting pain. Her knee's hit the wooden oak floor boards with a thud as slowly each limb of her body went rigid, loosing its will of strength until there was nothing.

. . .

"I'm telling you, Lucy. I think there's some sort of block in her mind, keeping her from remembering what happened all those years ago ." A distant female voice could be heard, but it seemed to far away to take a grasp on and identify a face to the voice.

"There's a spell for that, you know. It's in a family Grimoire, but it's a powerful spell. Compulsion can't even break it. Whoever put that spell on Charlotte didn't want her to remember what happened."

"Or, they did not want her to remember why it happened and who for."

"You mean... Klaus?"

"Indeed."

. . .

Charlotte had no recollection of passing out. The last coherent memory she had was Bonnie mentioning a curse and then pain, a lot of pain. Along with a memory trying to fight its way through her mind. But her mind had resisted. Twilight had set in now, indicating it was just past sun down and dusk was soon to commence. The pain that struck her mind hours previous had now thankfully faded to a faint ring in her ear, nothing she couldn't handle. However memories of her past were still locked away and refusing to be released. There was no chance in a million she would try to access them again.

It was only then she released she sensed no presence of other people in the small apartment. No voices to bother her, no one to stand in her way. Leaning forward from the couch she lied on, a piece of lined paper caught her eye with a note in manly writing scribbled on it.

Gone into town to run some errands, be back as soon as possible. Sit tight and don't think about moving, Lass. Lucy prepared some food in the kitchen if your hungry. - Callum.

Charlotte frowned, Lass, the pet name he had obtained for her had to go. Though what bothered her more was the small fact they expected her to be patient and wait for their return. She had put up with a thousand years of imprisonment, and she was not going to put up with it a moment longer. Especially in the company of such a young witch and what she guessed a silly warlock. It was quite simply not going to happen. She was in control of herself now, not anyone else.

Making a break for the door, she flipped the handle but as expected it was locked. It did not cause any harm in trying though. Her eyes roamed the room searching for something that could open the door; a key maybe. Nothing came into view, it was no use. She was stuck here... unless.

It was a slim chance, but all she had to go by. Charlotte crossed the room and examined the nearby window for a lock. Fortunately it had been left open, perhaps the odds really were in her favour. She lifted the window open and gazed down below, taking note the apartment was six stories up. If any one else was to jump, they would likely injure themselves severely, maybe even death. But not being your typical human, Charlotte figured she could make the jump with as much as a broken leg and heal within minutes.

Positioning herself on the ledge, she felt her heart beat violently inside her chest having never been one for heights. It was either now or never. Taking a deep breath, she threw herself from the ledge. A ghostly cold wind whipped her hair and clothes as she fell into the night. The view of the ground was no longer in view as her vision blurred from the impact of the speed until she hit the ground. A crunch echoed throughout the alley the window had looked down upon. And it only took a few moments until the pain set in. She felt as though her whole body was paralysed, each bone harshly frozen. But a burning sensation threatening to explode in every joint and muscle. Without even looking she knew the fall had broke her worse than she anticipated.

She dared scream, or try to writhe in pain, for she knew that would only slow the process of healing. It felt like a lifetime that she lay there, even though only an hour had passed. She felt every fractured bone ends scrape and grind at one another, fixing into place and knitting instantaneously. A feeling of relief caused by absence of pain broke through her. She sucked in a deep breath before pushing herself up from the ground and leaning against the nearby wall. It made her curious, how far could she push herself? Say the decapitation of the head, would she die then? The thoughts roamed her mind, but the last was one she was not willing to try.

After a few moments of gathering herself together and dusting off the dirt from her clothes, she set off. Within minutes of endless wondering she found herself walking into Mystic Fall's town square. People bustled in out and of buildings with bags full of objects. Some sat outside on tables and chairs, sipping at beverages and creating conversation. Crispy orange leaves of all different shades fell from the surrounding tree's giving Charlotte the knowledge it was autumn. But the cool temperature beg to differ, maybe it was nearing winter.

One building in particular caught Charlotte's attention. Her eyes found the sign above the entrance that read 'Mystic Grill'. It was a forward guess, but instinct told her they must do alcohol. And some beor really sounded good right about now. A rather strong alcoholic, sweet fruit-juice, one she had not drunk in a thousand years.

Making her way into the building, she was surprised to be greeted by a restaurant rather than a bar. None the less, it held a bar to her assurance. She took a seat on a stool in the far end and waited until one of the bartenders approached her. She tried her best at a smile, and learnt his from his name tag.

"Hello Matt, would you do the pleasure of getting me a beor."

It struck odd when Matt frowned, leaning his arms on the bar in front of Charlotte.

"You feeling alright? I think you mean beer. Sure you ain't been drink already today, Elena?" he laughed half-heartedly.

Elena, Bonnie had mentioned that name, something about her doppelgänger. Deciding it best not to reveal her identity, she went along with the disguise.

"Beer, yes, I stand corrected. I shall have a beer." she nodded, chewing on her bottom lip. How was she suppose to act like this Elena, when did not even know who Elena was?

Matt turned his back and attended to pouring her the beer. A pale amber liquid filling the glass he held.

"Here you go." he placed the drink down in front of her. "And don't worry, it's on the house."

"Thank you."

"Now tell me what's really up, Elena. Your a mess. And what's that blood? Did Stefan hurt you?"

Who the heck was Stefan? "No, I took a bit of a tumble earlier. I assure you I'm quite alright. Nothing to worry about."

"How can we be sure of that?" Boomed another voice from behind her. A voice that set off alarm bells within her mind, her body practically tingling with familiarity.

Whipping her head around, the first thing that caught her sight was the eyes. The ones that had stared so lovingly at her in the dream had been replaced with dark, haunting ones. They pierced her like a knife. They held no sincerity, no light, just darkness.

He smiled cunningly as he walked over and took a seat on the stool beside the one she reserved. If she could wish, Charlotte would say the man in her dreams was a different person. Not the same man. But her gut feeling told her the latter.

"We meet again." He smirked.