A GIRL IN A GILDED CAGE

"IT TOOK MANY YEARS OF VOMITING UP ALL THE FILTH I'D BEEN TAUGHT ABOUT MYSELF, AND HALF-BELIEVED, BEFORE I WAS ABLE TO WALK ON THIS EARTH AS THOUGH I HAD A RIGHT TO BE HERE."

When she made the decision of leaving she hadn't really been thinking everything through. Even now she wasn't really thinking rationally. In a way she had thought someone would come after her. She had always thought that her family was the only thing that would be forever. It was a childish thought. Nothing was consistent and nothing lasted forever. Family didn't. Love didn't. And that scared her.

The thought of living her immortal life alone forever scared her to death. When she walked away she hadn't been thinking. She just wanted to be away from the poison that was her family, but she hadn't thought that she was leaving them.

That thought only sunk in when she was walking through the streets of Mystic Falls with nowhere to go. Her home was gone. She had nothing. Not even a family.

Her mind was going crazy and even though she was a vampire, the cold was catching up to her. When she left the house she hadn't thought of putting on regular clothes. She had no money on hand and she couldn't even leave the city because she had no idea where everything was.

Being in a box for more than nine hundred years left you without any sense of how the world had changed. She knew there were city's bigger than this, but she had no idea where they were or even they're names and because she couldn't possibly sleep on the street, she had only one place to go.

And somehow she didn't think she was welcome they're either.

Skye hopped from one leg to another while waiting for someone to open the door. With her vampire hearing she could hear heavy footsteps before the door swept open before her.

A weak smile appeared on her face as the blonde shuffled on her feet. In the door stood none other than Damon Salvatore. He looked apprehensive on seeing her and she saw he was about to throw the door in her face.

'I know you have no reason to trust me,' she spoke up quickly.

Damon raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms over each other. 'So what are you doing here?'

Skye swallowed and put her hands together.

'I left.'

He looked at her like she wasn't making any sense, 'You left? Where?'

She looked away for a second and prepared for the worst. 'Home. Klaus and Rebekah.'

He looked surprised and she almost laughed, wasn't it for the fact that she was close to tears.

He looked like he wanted to ask her why, but instead he asked, 'And what has that to do with me?'

She bit her lip, 'I need somewhere to stay.' This time he actually did laugh and Skye couldn't help but cringe.

He mockingly pointed to himself. 'You want to stay here? You'll probably kill us in our sleep. You're right, I don't trust you.' He went to close the door, but her hand shot out and grabbed a hold of it.

Damon rolled his eyes.

'I know. But I have nowhere to go, Damon. I'm alone. I have absolutely no reason to try and kill you.' She swallowed again. 'I could have killed you once. I didn't.' Her last statement pointed to the fact that she hadn't killed him after they had slept together.

He narrowed his eyes and studied her, 'What do I get out of it?'

For a moment she was silent and he smirked, 'You can't possibly think that you can just stay here without some sort of payment.'

She knew he was right but that didn't stop her from feeling annoyed. 'The chance is bigger that you will kill me in my sleep then me killing you,' she spat.

That only made Damon smirk harder, 'Bye, bye,' he waved his fingers to emphasis his statement.

The door was almost closed when she said, 'Wait.'

With a grin he opened the door wider again. 'Yes, Skye?' he said sweetly.

She bit her tongue and sighed. 'Seeing that Klaus hasn't gotten his stakes back yet, I'm assuming you are at least missing one.'

Damon went to protest but she silenced him. 'If you don't have it by the time he comes here to demand the stakes back I will help you.'

She breathed in through her nose and breathed out through her mouth, 'I will stall him to give you guys more time.'

This made Damon's face almost split because of how big he was grinning.

He stepped aside and made a motion for her to come in. With a relieved sigh she stepped inside of the warmth.

Before she could take another step, Damon held her by the throat and pushed her against the wall.

She gasped for breath and clawed at his hands to get some air in her lungs.

He brought his face close to her. 'I hope for you that you weren't lying.'

Fire erupted from within her and with one swift motion he was the one against the wall and with a hand around his throat.

Damon glared at her and tried to push her back but she tightened her hold. 'You have no right to threaten me. I have done nothing to you. I'm a guest in this house and I will behave, but don't even think for one second that I can't beat you.'

He was turning blue by now, but Skye only let go when she was sure she had made her point.

Skye gathered herself rather quickly while Damon was gasping for air. He rubbed his throat and looked up at her with a pained smirk, 'Noted.'

The room she got assigned to wasn't as large as the one she had gotten from Klaus, but she didn't truly mind. Downstairs she could hear the fighting of Damon and Stefan.

She had gathered the information that Alaric, their history teacher and weird friend/guardian, had an evil alter ego that had hidden the White Oak Stake he had in his possession prior of finding out about this alter ego.

They had him locked up in the cellar downstairs and were waiting until the bad side of Alaric showed up so that they could question him about the location of the stake.

This information wasn't shared with her willingly. She had to do a lot of prying, what almost made Damon want to throw her out of the house again.

Stefan and Damon's argument went from her to Alaric and back the entire time. She tried not to listen. With crossed legs she was sitting on the bed with satin sheets. They probably belonged to Damon.

Her eyes roamed the room, but she wasn't really looking.

Now she was alone the full weight of her decision crashed down on her. She had left the only people she knew for people that killed her brother. Granted, her brother was a dull person that wanted to help their mother kill his entire family, but still.

Thinking rationally never had been her best quality.

Without her notice the fighting downstairs had stopped. Her door creaked open and she looked up. In the doorway was standing Stefan, his arms crossed over his chest.

His eyes roamed over her body, not in a sexual way, he was just studying her, trying to find ulterior motives.

'Thanks for letting me stay here,' she spoke quietly.

He nodded. She sighed.

'I'm not going to kill you guys in your sleep. I already told Damon that.'

Stefan hesitated for a second but then nodded towards her. 'You need some different clothes?'

Her eyes traveled down towards her clothes at his words. A pink sweater and gray leggings.

With a sheepish smile she looked back at Stefan, 'If it isn't too much trouble.'

He uncrossed his arms and stood upright, 'I'll be right back.'

She watched him leave before she stood up from the bed, walking towards the mirror in the corner of the room.

The black ribbon that was holding her hair back was undone easy and she shook her hair so that it was falling loosely around her face.

Red tear marks were visible on her face and she scrubbed at them with her hand. The scrubbing became more determent and furiously. Tears pooled in her eyes again and made everything blurry.

The scraping of a throat interrupted her. Her hand stilled and then dropped towards her side.

She blinked the tears away and turned to Stefan with a watery smile.

He was holding a bundle of clothes in his arms and he seemed quite uncomfortable seeing her almost having a mental breakdown.

With wobbly legs she walked towards the boy and took the clothes. 'Thanks.'

She laid them on the bed and turned back to Stefan who was scratching the back of his neck.

'You can ask.'

He looked at her questioningly.

'Why I left them and why I'm staying here instead of leaving town,' she explained. The girl let her body drop back on the bed.

'It does seem... strange,' Stefan uttered cautiously.

He took a few steps further into the room and Skye patted the bed next to her. He hesitated but then moved toward her and took a seat next to her.

Skye looked in front of her. 'All my life I've been protected by my family. They took the beatings for me. And I'm thankful for that.' She looked back at Stefan.

'But by being protected as much as I was I've been smothered. They didn't allow growth. Nik daggered me as the first family member to be daggered. I've been in a box for more than nine hundred years. And while my siblings got out once in a while, I never did.'

It was weird talking about this to Stefan. She barely knew him, but in a way, she felt understood by him.

'It's strange. You guys killed my brother. You guys want to kill me. But when I thought of somewhere to go, the only place I could think of was here. And I think that's because you guys are as broken as me.' Stefan frowned.

'My family ruined me because they loved me. They ruined each other and they fell apart. You and Damon, you ruined each other, but you didn't fell apart. You found something to live for. You guys did good. Everything that has been done to you, you let it made you for the better. My family didn't.' A tear streamed down her face and she embarrassingly wiped it away.

'Before I left, Rebekah said something to my brother that made me see things differently.'

She thought back to the words that had flipped a switch inside of her.

"The Salvatore's may fight like dogs, but in the end they would die for each other. At least they know what family means. You destroyed ours," quoted Skye. Her eyes searched Stefan's face.

'You have what I want more than anything. You have a family that puts the other before themselves. You have the life I never got.'

After the strange talk with Stefan, the girl took a shower and dressed in her borrowed clothes. She could see they belonged to Elena.

She had gotten a simple white tee and blue jeans. It wasn't her style, but it did fit. She wasn't allowed to be picky now.

Her throat burned and she knew she had to drink soon. She always tried to divert the blood drinking for as long as she could, but eventually she always had to drink.

With that in mind she walked downstairs to see Elena and the Salvatore brothers talking to each other. When she was in the shower, she had already heard Stefan telling Elena about Skye staying here for a while.

At first Elena had been wary and worried, but eventually she decided that Skye could be helpful. Skye thought Elena also took pity on her. She didn't truly care.

The moment Skye stepped into the room, their eyes moved to her.

'You're wearing my clothes.' Was the first thing that left Elena's lips upon taking sight of her.

Damon smirked and swirled his whiskey while Stefan looked a bit guilty. When Elena caught sight of their expressions she shook her head, 'I don't mind though.'

A grateful smile took over Skye her face, but being so close to a human only made her throat burn more.

She turned to the boys and swallowed, 'Is it possible for me to get a little blood?'

Her cheeks became red with embarrassment. Even though she had been a vampire for more than a thousand years, she had never gotten over the fact that she needed blood to survive.

'Now you want our blood too?' Damon teased with a smirk. If it wasn't for the fact Damon had been joking, she would have thrown up right then and there.

'It's in the cellar,' Stefan told her. She nodded and took a step towards the hallway, but Elena's voice stopped her.

'I'll go get it for you. I need to give Alaric a few things anyway.' She held up a bag that Skye hadn't noticed before.

Skye threw a glance to the brothers to see if they were okay with it and seeing they were, she nodded to the brown haired girl. Skye could see her taking a liking to Elena already.

When Elena was out of the room, Damon turned to his brother. 'I'll go get my stuff.'

That left Skye and Stefan alone in the room. The girl took a seat but felt a little intrusive.

On the fireplace was laying a White Oak Stake which made her even more uncomfortable. She knew they wouldn't get anything out of killing her, but it was still weird to be in a room with one of the only weapons that could kill her.

Stefan moved to the fireplace and stared broodingly into the flames while waiting for the others to return.

Not much later Damon came back downstairs with his luggage. Skye knew Elena and Damon were going on a road trip, but she didn't know what for. They wouldn't share.

'You hear from Klaus yet?' Damon inquired Stefan. Skye tensed at her brother's name.

'Not yet. I'm sure I will soon though,' Stefan replied as he took a hold of the stake.

'He's expecting me to deliver two stakes, I only have one.'

Damon leaned against the table, 'Well, that's gonna be disappointing for him.'

Stefan nodded and turned towards Damon, 'I'll get it out of Alaric. I just need some time.'

Damon grinned at his brother, 'I like your confidence, Stefan. I don't share it, but I like it.'

Stefan narrowed his eyes at Damon and Skye looked away. She hated intruding family talks.

'You don't think I got what it takes,' Stefan realized.

'Well, you're good Stefan again. You're in control. And somehow I don't think sweet little Barbie here has what it takes either.'

This time Skye narrowed her eyes and was about to protest that she wasn't a Barbie, because let's be honest; she really didn't get what it took, but Damon kept talking.

'Sorry, you might get the girl but you lose the edge. Speaking of...' That's when Elena walked in, holding a blood bag.

A relieved sigh escaped the blond girl as she stood up to take the blood bag.

The urge to just rip open the bag and drink the sweet thick blood here before them was huge, but she held it back.

'Have you ever flown first class?' Damon questioned the doe-eyed girl Elena.

She narrowed said eyes at him, 'Who did you have to compel for that?'

Damon mockingly held his hands over his heart, 'You think that low of me?' Elena rolled her eyes as Damon smirked. 'Pft, please. I use miles'

He gave them one last grin and a wink before he picked up his luggage and walked out the door.

'Don't let Skye kill you!' He yelled over his shoulder.

The person in question huffed and dropped herself down on the chair once again.

When Damon was out of ear shot, Elena looked at Stefan and opened her mouth to say something, but Stefan cut her off, 'Be safe.'

Elena closed her mouth and looked a little hurt, but turned to Skye.

'Bye,' the girl said to her awkwardly.

Skye nodded and smiled while playing with the straw of the blood bag. 'Good luck, with whatever it is you are going to do.'

Elena smiled at her apologetically, but then walked out of the door after Damon.

They were silent for a while before Stefan pointed down, 'Uh-'

Skye nodded and made a motion for him to go. He studied her for a moment, probably looking if she wasn't planning on doing something and then nodded and left the room.

Skye her eyes fell to the blood bag in her hand and after a deep breath she teared it open and started drinking. The cold liquid streamed down her throat, lessening the burn, and a small moan left her mouth. She sucked the blood greedily out of the bag as she felt the veins under her eyes pop. She banned the thoughts of her being a monster to the back of her mind.