Α/Ν: I am really overwhelmed guys! I can't believe the positive response this story has gotten! I would like to thank all of those that red the story and all of you that reviewed and put this story on your favorites and on alerts! Thank you all so very much!

Of course many thanks to my amazing beta Anastasia Dreams!

Warnings: As I have mentioned before this is going to be a dark story and in this chapter the nightmares begin. Memories and dreams are in italics.

Sweet Nightmares…

The night is darkening round me,
The wild winds coldly blow ;
But a tyrant spell has bound me,
And I cannot, cannot go.

The Night is Darkening Around Me

Emily Bronte

Chapter 2: Night Full of Terrors

There was an eerie silence all around the forest, but she kept walking. It was a beautiful place, full of wonders and colors, the air, the grass, the trees and the open sky above. If there was something that she really enjoyed about being a vampireit was that all her senses were alert. She could feel and sense everything at a whole new level. She couldn't believe it at first but now she could see more colors, more shades, the whole spectrum of colors. She could feel with her touch every fiber of reality, and then some. When she was running so fast, that everything around her was turning into a shapeless blur, she had a feeling of freedom that as a human she could have only dreamed of. When fresh human blood was running through her veins she felt more supernatural then ever. She could bend the laws of nature, break every human convention that was holding her down and keeping her trapped inside her own flesh. Humanity was a blessing, but it was also a chain wrapped around her body like a heavy anchor. Still she was not a human anymore and she needed to come to terms with that. Humans were something different. They were weak and she is not weak. Not anymore, now she was free. She could feel it in her heart, in her body, in her mind, she wasn't human any more, she was a predator, she was powerful, a hunter. She could live for the thrill, for the hunt. She could tear the world apart and shape it to a new form. She was superior in that way. Her kind was. She was a vampire.

She stopped walking like she was struck by an electric current. Since when did she feel and think that way? This trail of thought was very disturbing. She had always been proud at herself for being able to hold on to her humanity, to her empathy. To wake up every morning and look in the mirror at a reflection that wasn't making her feel shame. She wasn't a monster. She could never be one, she wouldn't allow it.

"Come on now, deep down in your most primal and primitive thoughts you know you are one. Ruthless, untamed, magnificent."

As if she was in pain her hand trembled and reached for her chest in despair. She felt like her heart was going to explode as it beat erratically against her ribcage. She was fighting her own thoughts, her own nature, and it was the first time that her neurotic nature that was all about control was giving up on her. She craved blood. She wanted it more than ever. Those thoughts were taking over, challenging her to embrace her inner true nature.

"You want to feel it, to enjoy the hunt. Come on Caroline. The glorious feeling of draining a human, the last heartbeat of a living being, the last breath, the sensation, the blood, the blood, oh the blood."

Taunting thoughts. A demon that you could never avoid; but it was like those thoughts were not hers and at the same exact moment they felt like they were part of her. Like something beyond her control was controlling her darkest parts, her deepest needs.

A seductive voice. One that was promising everything and everything was only what HE could give to her.

She licked her lips.

She was all alone in the forest; no one could see her or hear her thoughts. She could at least admit it to her self. She was intrigued by him. He had awakened a desire in her. Every time she was thought of him her body ached with need. For the first time she wasn't a second choice, he could make her his world and he could give her the world. He wanted her, only her. Klaus. He had lived a thousand lives and yet here he was, claiming her, wanting her, admiring her light and her beauty. Could he see the light and the darkness in her soul? Is it that he could see a lonely kindred spirit? One that was so similar with his? They were both lonely; they both had felt rejection and both of them were nature's abominations.

"Stop Caroline. Just stop!"

She had to stop those thoughts. They were confusing her. What was happening? Her mind seemed all messed up. Like a raging battle of wills inside her own head. She hated him. And yet right now it would seem that all clarity was gone. Her desires and instincts were taking over.

But she hates him, she has to, she does!

"No you don't!" a voice spoke in her head. That little voice, the one that every time she was thinking of him, was betraying her again and again.

Dirty blond curly hair, deep blue cerulean orbs.

Presumptuous and powerful.

One of his kind.

Her mate.

That thought made her shiver through out her whole body. This couldn't be. What was the matter with her? Was she possessed or something?

She looked down at her feet, they were surrounded by fog. A thick layer was covering the ground. Was it there before? Everything around her blurred and she blinked, her eyes were heavy but her senses were fighting to become more alert.

Why was she so confused all of the sudden?

For a brief moment she felt her head aching, her temples slightly burning, a dull pain that was coming and going. Vampires don't have headaches, do they?

Something was holding her down, immobilizing her. Down where? She was standing.

"Snap out of it!" a faint whisper echoed all around her.

Holy hell was that her voice?

"Fight, fight back, fight him, wak…"

The pressure in her head became stronger, so sharp that she felt like crying and then the voice stopped.

She felt numb and she couldn't remember why she had stopped walking. She had to move, the forest was calling and night was coming.

She took deep breaths and looked at the sky. Full moon was rising.

There were no stars above her. Darkness and blackness was all around. The moon past its apex. The only light in the sky casting shadows everywhere.

She started walking, unsure where she was going.

There was no destination, just aimless walking into the magical scary night.

She liked the forest when it was bathed in the sunlight but not in the darkness.

She had to go back home but she felt so lost and so alone. She knew perfectly well that danger lurked in the night and this place held its own mystery. Evil resides here she can feel it. The misty forest, the dim moonlight, it is not safe. And when you are dancing in an evil playground there is nowhere you can hide.

She could have been safe, if she had only let him stroke her fears away when he was there for her. But now she was all alone. Would she be alone for all eternity to come? Alone in the dark? Nowhere to be found?

She needs to calm her self but she is so afraid. She wants to be brave, to be loved, not to be rejected. Not to be here. She has to get out of here. So she keeps walking.

She walks and stumbles. The ground is covered in mud. All black, everything is black.

And then she freezes, she hears it. Howling. A terrifying sound that mortifies her. It feels really near. It comes closer, and she can remember; this sound is not unknown, it is every vampire's fear. One bite is all it takes.

She starts running, running fast. If she can only make it out of this forest! It is her only chance!

She has to be quiet though, not to invite the creature.

She doesn't look back but she knows, a werewolf is at her heels, and she needs to escape. She looks again at the full moon while she is running, so tempting and dangerous as she runs from its lure. She glances back and all her suspicions are painfully confirmed. A wolf, a werewolf is at her tracks and it turns her blood in to ice. She has never seen anything like this before. His size is huge, enormous. No normal werewolf would look like that. He is an alpha. His teeth are long and bloody. Sharp claws. His fur is a mixture of silver and gold. A magnificent terrifying creature that looks more like a giant lion than a wolf. She can barely register how fast he runs. Faster than her. Much faster and he is approaching. He shines under the moonlight and she can feel his craving for blood, her blood. He has set his golden bloodshot eyes on her, she is his target.

She runs faster than before, so fast that her breath was caught in her throat and if she were not a vampire her heart would most certainly have given out. Tears fell from her eyes, time is running out.

And then the impossible happens.

All her vampire strength is gone. She starts slowing down.

"NO, NO, NO this can't be happening!" She is panicking, her speed is fading, her limbs are burning and giving out. She wants to keep running, but her blood is boiling, her heart is hurting, her flesh turns warmer and warmer by the second. Life is coming back into her form only to certify her demise.

A mocking voice in her head makes her want to die.

"You wanted to be a human, now be one."

The Fates have condemned her tonight. Her dream, her impossible hope to become a human even for a moment has come to haunt her as her worst nightmare. She is so helpless, so weak. She was damned as a vampire and now she is doomed as a human, and all she prays is to become a vampire again. It is her only fighting chance but her wish isn't coming true. She is bound in humanity. All her chances are gone. She is gone. The creature is approaching. He howls and growls. He is coming for her.

She wants to scream but there is no voice. She stumbles over a rock and falls hard on the muddy ground. Her knees get scraped and now they sting, the blood seeping through the torn flesh. Her ivory hands are stained with bloody scratches. Blood soils the mud.

The wolf smelling the sweet inviting scent of her blood comes closer. He is in very close range and he wants to play with his prey. Her injured bloody hands are covered in mud and her face in tears. She is feeling completely human now. No power, no higher senses. All that is left is her fear, and the wolf is sensing it and now it craves more than her flesh, it craves her soul. She could have turned it off if she was a vampire but now she doesn't have that option anymore. All she has is the fear that paralyzes her.

The moon seems so far away now. It is hurting her, it is out of reach.

Rebekah kept walking slowly, around her an aura of death. She could feel a rush of adrenaline surge through her veins. She could hear heartbeats, she could smell blood, and she could even feel the pain without having to witness it. Mortals, such fragile little things after all.

A sadistic smile painted her face, so similar to the one her brother wears more often than he should. Yes, she and Klaus are one and the same, predators, killers. And they know of power, blood and death. Maybe in another lifetime things could have been different. Maybe they could have held on to their humanity, to their hearts, to their souls. But now, in this life, in this reality, they are the monsters everyone fears.

Survival of the fittest. She believes it, she lives by it. She has spent her entire existence running, but no more. She won't run, she won't hide and she will not spend another day in a casket or in fear. For a thousand years she has always been on the run, her face might have the look of eternal youth, but her spirit is so tired, she needs to breathe again, to feel safe again, she needs to live again and for that to happen Elena has to die. Tonight.

She kept walking the hospital corridors. Elena Gilbert was in one of these rooms. After her brother finally gave her permission to get rid of the irritating brunette she went straight to Elena's house were she saw Jeremy carrying her away. She was bleeding. She could have killed her right there but she was not going to take any chances, even slim ones as her brother did. She wanted Elena to be all alone. The Salvatores must still be at the bottom of the lake which was really convenient. She never understood their need to keep Elena safe no matter the cost, but right now all her protectors were nowhere around. Fantastic!

She stood behind a wall and saw Jeremy Gilbert talking to the doctor. Meredith Fell was telling him that Elena had just a slight concussion. She kept focusing on their conversation and then she turned and went straight into Elena's room and closed the door behind her.

She saw her sleeping in the hospital bed. She approached slowly and took one of the pillows. This would be it; she did hate the girl after all. Vengeance would be sweet.

But before she knew it a memory flashed before her eyes.

"We deserve to live, we are better that they are" she said angrily to Elijah.

"Are we?" he looked at her with shame in his eyes, his morality and his love for his family battling inside him. Klaus was the one that in the end never left her but it was Elijah that truly kept his word. He was the one that always put their family above all, even above his morals, and that was something that right now was hurting him. His shame and his sorrow was evident on his face. Elijah hardly ever opened up and never with her but now he was breaking before her. She had lost her mother tonight, now she had only an enemy that went by the name Esther and right now she was losing her brother too. She could see it in his eyes, he was about to leave. Everyone leaves her in the end one way or another, but it was the next words that slipped from his tongue, barely audible but loud as thunder, that cut her the most.

"Mother made us vampires, she didn't make us monsters, we did that to ourselves" he said accusing them all and then left leaving her behind.

She was a monster and she was all alone.

She grasped the pillow almost tearing it in pieces. Her hands momentarily trembled as she kept it inches from Elena's face. She closed her eyes and put the pillow aside. She was a monster, but sometimes even monsters have their moments of guilt and mercy. Well, at least moments of guilt, because Rebekah Mikaelson doesn't know anything about mercy. This is what she kept repeating to herself anyway.

She kept staring at Elena. The girl was about to die in a hospital bed all alone. She could relate to that, she knew what was it to be alone, to live and to die alone and maybe as a last gesture she could make her feel less lonely. She hated that girl, that is a given, but in the end Elena was about to give her life in order for her and her brothers to live their own in peace. She could spare her one last moment of joy. She gently put her hand on Elena's head and closed her eyes.

Rebekah would give her a moment of happiness, a memory that will accompany her last breath.

Elena sighed in her sleep as Rebekah infiltrated her mind. She went deep into Elena's subconscious and dug through her memories searching for a happy one. She went through the pain and the shadows and she half expected to find a memory of Elena with Stefan or with Damon but in the end the memories that Elena held most dear were the ones with her family.

In the tunnels and the whirlwinds of Elena's mind a memory covered the sleeping girl's dream.

Elena smiled in her sleep. She didn't want to wake up. She wanted to stay right there.

She wanted to stay where her parents were. Where she could touch them and hug them, and hold them like she did the last day she spent with them. A day that started like any other, and ended in a way that no day should ever end.

But that morning was the last she was going to spent with them. If she only knew it back then she would have cherished the moment to the fullest. She wouldn't have let the moment go, she would have made it last.

She saw Jenna, and her mom, she saw her dad. And she felt so happy. Her life was normal and maybe a little boring but she had all she could ever ask for. Her family was there for her and she has loved. Maybe something was missing, but she hoped, and deep in her heart she knew, that one day she would find passion and excitement and she would be complete. Then she would share her happiness with all those she loved and loved her in return. She would grow old and have children and she would try to be as good a mother as hers was.

Her mom kissed her with so much love and her beautiful, radiant smile was like a breath of life.

She was happy, if only she could hold on to that moment forever.

All the voices and the laughter seized, they faded as the sharp pain spread from her neck to her whole body in less than a second and the last sound was the noise from the cardiogram. The flat line in the monitor was irrevocable. Her last thought, somewhere deep in her mind before she lost her last breath was that in the end no one should want to live forever.

Rebekah looked Elena for the last time. She had just suffocated her with the pillow, she had though that it would be easier to snap her neck but she didn't want to leave any suspicions to anyone that this wasn't a sudden yet natural death. It was over. She ran faster than ever. She just had to go away. She didn't want to hear the doctors coming to rescue Elena and she didn't want to see her brother mourning her. She ran and she ran until she couldn't anymore. She ended in the forest trying to catch her breath. She was a vampire and she didn't need to breathe but she wanted to breathe again and she was now free to do it without fear, but for some reason she found she couldn't. Everything was darker than ever.

Elijah's voice echoed in her mind again and again.

"Mother made us vampires, she didn't make us monsters, we did that to ourselves"

"So Damon tell me, what is it that I want?"she asked intrigued by him.

Her sweet face, her smile, all the innocence were making her so beautiful, different from Katherine, so much more beautiful.

"You want a love that consumes you, you want passion, and adventure, and even a little danger." He could hear her heartbeat beating faster.

"So what do you want?" looking straight into his eyes.

He was falling, deeper and deeper. The abyssal depths of the waters surrounded him and he was floating in darkness. No air, everything felt so cold and all he could feel and sense was her. Elena. She lingered in his thoughts even when there was nothing left in him. He could see her face, her smile and he felt her fading from his memory and from his reach. His body was slowly waking up but he could feel that something wasn't right and Elena was his only thought.

Damon's suspended body barely moved in the water and all he knew was that she was falling far away from him, and he was afraid that he would be condemned never to reach her.

He was feeling it, something was terribly wrong. He was losing her; he had to go to her.

"I want you to get everything you are looking for"

His clouded mind was craving for more; he wanted to be everything she was looking for. Most of all he wanted her to be happy and safe. But right now all he knew was that she was slipping away. He could almost feel her calling him and that pull was enough to make him come back from the nothingness that was holding him.

He suddenly opened his eyes and everything was blurry and wet. There was no oxygen. Water flooded in his mouth, covering every inch of him. He was going under by the moment and water was everywhere.

"What the hell happened?" he thought as his vision became more focused his muscles aching as he slowly moved.

Rebekah!

Barbie Klaus took her brother and snapped his and Stefan's neck.

Stefan!

He frantically looked around and saw his brother floating in the bottom of the lake some meters away from him. He was still unconscious. She threw them over the damn bridge.

He quickly swam to his brother and as fast as he could he headed towards the surface carrying Stefan's body with him. He could feel his brother slightly moving. That was good because they had to hurry. Elena was in danger; they had to go to her. NOW!

Time stood still, she couldn't move, she could barely even think, all she knew was that the wolf was coming to collect her flesh and her soul. She could swear that she was hearing voices from afar. The help that was too near to her, yet so far away. Like someone was giving her hope and then brutally taking it away. She wanted to scream but she didn't have a voice. She couldn't speak, she couldn't even breathe. The voices in her head, like a haunting choir, were praying and pleading for this nightmare to end.

The wolf was coming closer and closer and her skin from her heart down to her legs was burning. Her wounds were bleeding, inviting the creature closer and closer. He was circling her, every step in the mud creating the circle of an imaginary cage holding them both in. A night full of terrors, another prey was about to die in the cold of the night and it was her, was her only coherent thought. Her human heart was beating frantically and she could see her last breath lingering in those golden eyes.

The wolf lifted his head towards the sky and furiously howled, his fur shining under the moonlight and then with supernatural speed he attacked before her mind could even form a thought. He was a male she was sure of it, and those golden eyes were familiar, causing her a feeling of fear and excitement. The scent of her blood filled the air; the wolf's claws were digging in her flesh holding her down to the ground. His bloody teeth tasted her as the sharp nails of his claws carved into her forearms and her legs. He was scratching and cutting in unimaginable depths every part of her body. He was satisfying his hunger with her skin and flesh, it was a rabid predatory attack and the more she was resisting the more assertive and fearless the wolf was becoming. The moments were stretching to eternity, and every moment was more painful than the one before. Her tears were mixing with her blood and she was looking at the moon above, a hazy image in the black starless sky. The silver fur of the wolf was now tainted by her crimson beads of blood. It was no longer running in her veins. She tried to resist, to pull away, to find a way out but it was useless. She was fighting with everything she had but her human strength was giving away. Every attempt she was making to free herself was causing her more pain; infinite otherworldly pain. The wolf was attacking her body again and again immobilizing her. The ground was turning red and the wolf was growling, enjoying his killing and her mind was exploring unfamiliar grounds of terror and suffering. Why wasn't he just ending her life? Why was his attack never ending?

The pain and the agony were unbearable; every movement causing her nerves to break into torturing fire. The beast had her imprisoned under his body and was smelling her neck, ready to take another bite of her flesh and she was shivering, her exhaustion winning the battle. The fog around them was getting thicker and thicker and the wolf was inhaling the scent of her dishevelled bloody hair and licking her neck while his teeth were becoming one with her torn flesh.

She remembered a painting she had seen a long time ago, a fascinating image of a beast claiming his mate while in the same time killing the object of his desire, but not in a million years would she have thought back then that this would happen to her.

Her tears were the only signs of her torment, of her terror. She wanted to cry in agony but she couldn't. She was ice-cold and burning at the same exact moment, her wounded body shivering uncontrollably. The throbbing pain was evoking her most hidden fears. She could taste her blood in her mouth and even though she was now a human she could still enjoy the metallic divine taste as a vampire, forgetting for a moment that it was her blood she was relishing. But it was, and with every lost drop her life force was fading. She didn't want to die. She wanted to live, to see the beauty in the world, she wanted to have a greater destiny that this, she wanted to have it all. Her tears were falling and she was waiting in vain for someone to come and save her. But she was all alone and the creature that was killing her was her last connection to this world, he was taking her life away and with it her hopes and dreams, everything she ever wanted. She just wanted one more chance. One chance to see the world in all its beauty and glory, but it was too late and the night was darkening, her life ending.

Teeth and claws were breaking her skin even more and what scared her the most was that although the pain was excruciating she seemed to enjoy it. She derived a strange pleasure from it. She looked at the golden eyes, her blood tainting the silver fur and realised she was finally letting go, her life draining out of her. The wolf was now looking her with sad eyes, mourning the loss of her life. He howled with the wind that was bending the trees and thenshefinally screamed. Louder than ever, she just…screamed.

"Time to wake up sweetheart."

All she could hear through her own screams was his voice, her body was aching and fear was consuming her but all she could hear was his voice. He was calling her back. His hands were holding her down as she kept moving frantically around her sheets. The smell of her own blood, the wolf, the haunting night were all so real, so painfully real, more real than anything else she had ever experienced, but his voice was her way out of it.

"Wake up Caroline." He was gently shaking her sweaty body, his voice tender yet commanding.

She jolted up, her eyes stricken with terror opened and tried to adjust to the darkness of her room. She was in Klaus's arms. He was holding her down while she was blindly and instinctively fighting him, still shaken up and not completely alert. She wasn't dreaming anymore but she wasn't completely awake either. His superior strength was holding her in the shelter of his embrace stilling her abrupt movements.

"Breathe sweetheart, come on." His voice was almost hypnotic.

She did as she was told. She tried to breathe again and again. Unevenly at first but with each breath her body was regaining control. He was stroking her hair, soothing the fears he had caused. With that thought she violently pushed him away.

She could feel that her face was wet, her tears real. She turned her face up to him, more tears running down her cheeks, she couldn't control them she was still so terrified. Her body was still feeling the pain and the horror he had made her experience in the dream he bestowed upon her. He was sick and he made her feel sick too. She had been tortured before, but no one had made her feel so helpless. He had played with her hopes and dreams, with her fears.

How was it possible for him to show her his best side and then hurt her like that? He was truly evil. Until now he had shown her a fake side, but he had finally revealed his psychotic character in all its glory. She was right to hate him; she should never forget who he really was and she should have ever believed, not even for a moment, that he was capable of change. He wasn't and he never would be.

She just wished that she had the power to hurt him. To make him feel all the pain he made her feel and then some more.

That fire in her eyes made him want her even more. That light, that fighting sparkle, was what made him want her like he had never wanted anyone else before. The tears were making her eyes seem even more luminous in the dark. Those eyes that were silently watching him with contempt and despair. She was accusing him without using words and he could feel himself smiling. He was enjoying this immensely. Her fear was intoxicating and his need for revenge was not appeased. She looked so fragile and beautiful. Today they almost had him sealed away in a coffin, desiccated and helpless, and she was his only hope, she was his only thought, her smile and her eyes were the only things he would take with him. She didn't know it but even in her betrayal –one that he would make her pay for– she was still his hope and remedy. Now he finally had her so near and not just as a thought he couldn't touch. She was in front of him in the flesh, in all her breathtaking beauty. Soon, he promised himself, soon she would be his. And she would be his most treasured possession. He would spend an eternity holding her in his arms and being with her in her dreams, but until she belonged to him, body and soul, he would turn those dreams into nightmares. And the only one to soothe and hold her after every long and restless night would be him and only him.

His hand gently stroked her wet cheek and she moved to the edge of the bed. She tried to put some distance between them even though she knew it would be useless and his smirk confirmed that.

"Did you sleep well love?" The irony and the false concern in his voice painfully evident.

She stared at him, she was doomed and they both knew it.

Reviews, criticism, opinions are always welcome.