Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries.

Just an heads up before you read the chapter: this story is something I'm writing for fun; it won't be centered on the canon plot, not for a while at least and it's meant to be a light read (reason why it's only rated T for eventual cursing or wtv); that said, I hope you like the first chapter and are interested to read more!

THE BALLAD OF VIOLETA
CHAPTER 1

Violeta is three and the huge man towering over her is nothing but a menace. Violeta is three, but she isn't really. Well, she is, but she feels like she's fifty in comparison to the man that's looking into her wide brown eyes.

He reeks of cigarettes, she notices. That's good, because it means that she has something to hold over him. Figuratively, because she's still three and he's fourteen and he's as tall as she'll never be. Maybe.

Violeta's first memory is of a beautiful woman sending a pretty smile at her, her arms circled around what she thinks it's her own body. The woman looks tall and it doesn't take a genius, even if Violeta is pretty sure she is one, to recognize the woman as her mother. She hopes she'll grow up to be like her, at least in height.

Then again, the memory could be fake and distorted, seeing as she was probably a baby.

She's getting sidetracked, though. "What are you glaring at?" he asks, his lips lifting in a snarl that Violeta has only seen on dogs before. Hmm, that would be a good nickname for the menace. Dog is too generic though, should she call him Mutt?

Yes, it sounds perfect joined to his name. "Well, Mutt, you smell funny."

Violeta's voice is high, typical of a child, but her words and discourse are almost perfect. Sometimes she puts too much emphasis on her 'r's, but it's often because she wants to remind people of her Spanish blood. It makes it funny and her adoptive mom always smiles sweetly at her when she does it, so she doesn't stop.

She grins when he flinches, his blue eyes wide and begging. She likes this game, she thinks. She and her adoptive brother have been snarky around each-other for a few months now, all because he found her playing in his room. Violeta doesn't like when people think they can tell her what to do, because she's smart and even if she's three she can probably work her brain better than all the town.

Mason, her sweet older brother that is currently placed high in her bad books, recovers quickly, shaking his head. "I was out playing basket with the guys," he says, his adam's apple bobbing up and down as he smacks his tongue. Violeta smiles again, her hand coming in sight from behind her back.

"So, you wouldn't mind if I gave these to daddy, right?"

Mason gapes at his little sister, her tanned hand circling the white packet of Lucky Strike cigarettes he has taken to smoking lately. He groans, because he can never win with the almost four years old child and his hand swipes the box from hers.

"What do you want?" he growls out, his eyes moving around their property just to make sure their parents aren't near. Their older brother isn't much of a problem, both because he's off at the Grill with his friends and because he pulled way worse things when he was his age (and isn't he lucky he didn't have the Little Devil around to bug him?).

Violeta's eyes shine and Mason gets uncomfortable, because that kid is too smart for her own good. "I want the code for daddy's safe."

Violeta is turning six today, but she's not very happy. Both her parents, the adoptive ones, died a few months back in a plane crash. Richard, her older brother, was named town Mayor just a few days later and she hasn't seen him much lately. It's the first birthday she's spending without them and she's not sure how she should behave.

Mason is at her side, his hand playing with her long chocolate locks. He looks at her, his blue eyes worried but Violeta doesn't have much to say to him. It's the first time she feels alone and she doesn't know why, but her heart doesn't hurt as she thinks about her biological mom.

Violeta thinks that she's trying to protect her, wherever she is, and so moves her brown orbs towards her older brother. "Do you think Carol will let me play with Tyler today?" she asks, because she's never too sure with the woman. They might live together, have been all for the past six years now, but she has the feeling that Carol never liked her much.

She remembers hurting Tyler once, when he was being annoying, but she doesn't really know how it happened. Her emotions flared and suddenly Tyler was knees deep in mud, his nose bleeding as he cried for his mom.

A pang finds place in Violeta's heart, because she doesn't have a mom anymore. Tyler has one and she's mean to her, because she won't believe her when she says she didn't do anything to her son. "Hmm, tell you what. Why don't we have a trip next year for your birthday?"

Violeta forgets the hurt in her chest quickly after those words, because she loves travelling and she loves Mason even more. She nods, all childish smiles and shining eyes.

Mason ruffles her hair and this time Violeta doesn't protest, but only brings her tiny hand to brush them back into place.

Mason looks at her with his wide blue eyes and Violeta smiles mockingly at her older brother. It's her seventh birthday and like promised, he's taking her out of Mystic Falls.

He went to pick her up at school and found her seated near a boy and his overprotective older brother mode slipped on as if it was just a natural instinct. She figures it actually is, seeing as the boy she was talking with is three years older than her and the son of one of the Founder's family.

Jealous Mason is funny, decides Violeta. If anything, he's funnier to poke fun at. He glares at her as she plays with his car radio, trying to find a song that's not as boring as the one he listens to all are. She realizes soon enough that it's an impossible deed, because everyone seems to like coma-inducing boring like songs.

Violeta's face light up with one of her best grins and she can feel Mason's groan reverberate, the Pink Floyd Greatest Hits shining in hot pink over the tape in her hand. It's her birthday anyway, so he gets to do all she wants.

She sits back on the car seat, her straight back meeting the soft material of the leather. She sings along when her favorites come on, earning several chuckles from her older brother because she can't sing and she knows it perfectly well.

They stop a little ways out of Mystic Falls and Mason parks the car near the entrance of what seems like a natural reserve. She remembers hearing of this place from her dad, who always liked to come here the nights of the full moon.

(It didn't take a genius to understand there was something more meaningful in his words and she catched up pretty well, just as she now understands why Tyler got hurt without her lifting a hand and why this place is calling to her.)

Mason brings her over his broad shoulders and her tiny legs dangle around his neck, her hands on his head as they chat. He has a cooler bag in his left hand, while his right is set on her knee to make sure she doesn't fall from him.

They sit near the Falls and the loud sound of water is clear as they eat their way through the twelve or so mini-sandwiches Mason in the morning. He asks her about school, because lately he's been too immersed in his basket games and the dates with the many girls of the town to spend time with her. She inquires about said dates, because it's always funny to embarrass her older brother.

It's night and the crescent moon is out and Violeta's thoughts wander towards her parents. She wonders if they're happy, wherever they are now and if they're still by each-other's side. Mason lets out a surprised yell and Violeta is confused for a second, but she blushes when she notices the way the used tissues are floating in the air.

"I'm a witch," she says, because that's the best way to tell someone. It clearly isn't, because Mason blacks out and she's left guarding his unconscious form for a few hours before he wakes up.

That's something she has to work on, because she can't have people fainting left and right.

Mason leaves, a few months before her twelfth birthday. He's twenty-two so she doesn't blame him, but he didn't tell her and didn't take her with him.

She doesn't take it well and she's a bit embarrassed about it, because she's going into her teens and she's smart, she doesn't need anyone to take care of her.

(It doesn't make it hurt any less, because she feels like he's the only family she has left but now that he's somewhere else in the world, she's alone in a big house.)

Carol doesn't care and Richard grumbles whenever she tries to bring him up, so she stops. She'll find him by herself, because between being alone in Mystic Falls and being alone while searching for her brother she prefers the latter.

The night she turns twelve she leaves the big mansion, a black bag secured on her back and only a note left on Richard's desk. She makes sure to open the safe before she leaves though, because there's something there that has been calling to her for years and now seems like a good time to take it.

Violeta gets on the pullman for Atlanta, because Mason always talked about big cities as if they were the best invention in the world. Not that they're inventions, but he worded it like that.

Violeta doesn't hear from Richard, even if she knows he has the number of the yellow mobile phone Mason bought her for Christmas. That only cements the idea that he's not family.