Trigger Warnings : Graphic Depictions of Violence, Kidnapping, power imbalance, dubious consent

Because I could not stop for death,

He kindly stopped for me,

The Carriage held but just Ourselves

And Immortality.

- Emily Dickinson

March 1919,

New Orleans

Her heart was like a beating drum in her chest, her eyes darting about as she glanced at her companion surreptitiously. His shoulders were pulled taut, jaw clenched tight and the corpse, cold and decaying, was an augury that his anger would not bode well for her. Not unlike the last time she had run from him, the yelling and howling still echoing in her ears.

A tingling sensation danced along her spine, her mind obsessively recalling his capabilities. The way he could likely hear her heart, his ability tocontrol others, bend their wills to his own with little more than a word. The way he had relished in violence, blood and gore his familiars, that he wore even now, as a second skin.

Pins and needles pricked at her veins, fear curdling deep within her.

Vampire.

She had heard the word only once before she had met him, at a council meeting, one that she wasn't even supposed to be aware of, let alone quietly witness. She'd thought of most of her town as fanatics back then. As she sat next to him however, she wished she had paid more attention. Had-

After all, he couldn't be completely invincible, he just couldn't.

She'd be doomed otherwise.

Her stomach swooped, where she had expected him to shout, he stayed silent, didn't even deign to look at her. She breathed slowly, trying to control the beating of her heart.

She needed to hide her fear, to hold on to what little dignity she had left.

She held another shiver at bay as she recalled the words he had said with conviction in the middle of the dirt road. He might as well have said that heowned her. Only a week ago, she might have agreed with him, that he owned her, that he had consumed her, now though, the words were like manacles digging into her bones. The mere thought of it, of her chained, while he held the keys made her feel as if something was crawling within her skin had given her the push to run. Despite trepidation.

She licked her dry lips, almost gagging at the coppery tang that lingered along the crevices and the roof of her mouth. Pushing away memories. Like everything that had to do with him, she suspected that he had given her his blood to leave his imprint on her, in her. No doubt he took pleasure in the idea that it was his blood which healed her, even through his rage, even if he would've liked her to bleed and suffer, like the last time.

She held in soft gasp, all thoughts run out of her mind, when she saw the Abattoir. Looming in the dark, its shadow falling over her, almost consuming her as they approached it.

It had been christened appropriately; the place where things came to die.

The hollow of her neck pulsated in tandem with her still erratic heart as they finally halted in front of the building. Unlike the last time, when he had offered her his hand - a mockery of her manners, this time he gripped her by her arm and dragged her out of the car and into the house. She tripped over her feet as she attempted to match his angry stride, his body coiled next to her, but his punishing hold kept her from falling over.

She followed him across the compound, giant M's adorning the pillars, and up two flights of stairs. The fight bled out of her by the time he pushed her inside the room that had been declared hers just a few days ago, the curtains pulled apart to expose the window, dried blood stains by it. She knew who they belonged to.

He pulled her into the hard pane of his chest, his stubble brushing along the top of her head, the length of her brushing against him lightly, and when her heart raced again it wasn't just because of fear. Even though it clawed at her skin from deep within her like a living, breathing thing, especially when she noticed his bloodstained countenance, he still elicited more than just fear within her.

Like always.

"It was a three hour head start, wasn't it, love?" His breath on her skin had heat pooling within her guts, the endearment curdling low in her stomach as she looked at him in an attempt to see him as the beast he was.

And it was an unsettling sight still, him grinning at her while covered in blood.

At first it seemed as though he didn't understand it, but he was quick to notice her discomfort, his lips twisting into something cruel. He stepped closer to her, backing her up until her spine curved along the windowsill, his eyes dancing in amusement. "He was just a two hundred year old vampire," two hundred sounded like an eternity to her, but it clearly wasn't to him, "and you couldn't even outrun him."

There was a mocking in his tone, it embarrassed her, that he would belittle her after all she had done to escape, so she forced herself to hold his gaze. He raised his brows at her defiance, and she felt warmth rise within her chest. "I did outrun him. That's why you…" she wet her dry lips with her tongue, "killed him. And came for me yourself."

"He couldn't follow a simple order, what's the point of keeping him then?" He said dismissively and although she had been witness to his brutality once before, it was still jarring to hear that he had killed someone for a job badly done. Even if it was a vampire. "And you," there was a hard edge to his voice then, all pretence of humour gone from his tone, and suddenly, her fear was clawing at her chest, squeezing her lungs, "running away as if you have any right."

"But I do-" She let out a sharp cry when his fingers dug into her shoulders, his grip so tight she was unable to move.

"No, you don't," she shrunk away from him as dark veins appeared beneath his eyes, the blue in them disappearing underneath the overpowering black. "You are not leaving here, and if you even try to make another attempt," his voice was even despite his palpable rage, laced with a sickening sweetness and that scared her more than anything else had all night, "I will torture and kill everyone you've ever met, and I will make you watch."

Darkness creeped into her bones even as his facade was firmly in place again, frowning at her. He was waiting for some kind of response and she willed her heavy tongue to move, "I won't."

His hand reached up to her cheek, the one that wasn't stained scarlet, and he grazed his knuckles over her skin, almost feather light, raising heat along its path, "there's a good girl. You'd be quite perfect, if only you stopped trying to run, little lamb." He sounded sure, confident in the way he had raised her fear, but she refused to look away from his searing gaze. He stepped away from her then, and in the next moment, she was alone.

She blinked at his sudden disappearance, her eyes darting about the place as she waited for him to appear again. Her chest rose and fell heavily, her knees were so weak she collapsed against the cold floor.

Even though it appeared as if she was alone for the moment, she knew he'd never really leave her alone again.

She tried to regain control over herself, and pulled herself away from the wall, turning on the only bulb in the room. There was flickering for a few seconds, along with a slight buzzing sound, before light filled the room, and she gasped. From the bedside, she could see her image in the mirror propped in the corner clearly. Crimson stained her wrist, her arm, along the corner of her mouth and that- that was his blood, that he had used to heal her. She rubbed her thumb against it, pulling her skin taut, trying to clean it, to be rid off it, but it was a stubborn stain, refusing to disappear.

She gave up eventually, pain and fear and exhausting crashing into her as her knees buckled and she felt the cold ground beneath her through her mud stained dress. It was almost as if there was no point now; all of this had started months ago, if she had just turned away from him the first time that she had met him in her home town, she might not be here, miles away and terrified.

But then, she'd been so naive, thinking that nothing bad could ever happen in Mystic Falls.

Two months back,

Mystic Falls

She had wandered off the street, she'd made her excuses to all her acquaintances, and they had waved her off. She'd been grateful for it, a sudden need for solitude overtaking her as she sneaked into the woods. Most people, especially her family would disapprove of her actions, but she had never been particularly good at following orders, even if it had calmed down over the last few months. She hadn't been around this part of the woods in a long while, cooped up as she had been in her house, and it was refreshing to feel the setting sun, wind caressing her hair softly.

She wished her mood was as pleasant as the nature around her was, but that wasn't something she could change, at least not now. Instead she tried to lose herself in admiring the wildflowers. Most people would comment on the immaculate flowers in perfectly manicured gardens, but she couldn't help but admire the wildflowers in the woods, that grew haphazardly, with their sharp thorns and the dirt on their petals, however they wanted. Sometimes, in deep recesses of her mind, she felt envious of them.

She sighed as she heard movement along the road, and walked towards the edge of the woods, she never did venture into the bowels of the forest, fear holding her back even as she yearned to see it, and saw a car along the road. Cars were still quite rare, even though her family had two, but this one looked special, like the ones in the magazines her uncle would read. She walked up to a large tree, it had been there for decades, longer perhaps, and spied a man who looked like he was about to snap, his voice raised as he spoke to someone she couldn't see.

Her heart raced as she saw his features, he wasn't the most handsome man she had seen, not by a long shot, but there was something about him. Despite the immaculate hair and suit, there was something rough around his edges, something raw. For a moment, he looked right at her, his eyes widening slightly, the setting sun casting a glare at them that only made them shine and she couldn't help but stare back. She didn't leave her hiding place, even though she'd been spotted, but she stared at his eyes, as captivating to her as a flame was to a moth.

She stepped back then, waiting for him to leave. After what she was certain was a significant amount of time, she stepped around the tree, letting out a gasp when she collided into something hard, almost losing her footing. She didn't fall though, felt a warm hand wrap around her wrist, helping her regain her balance.

She looked up, struck by the same blue eyes that were wide, almost in wonder, gazing down at her in appreciation. In a moment though, he'd released her and she stepped away from him.

"Apologises, it seems I've scared you." He didn't sound as if he was sorry at all, his voice drawling insincerely, eyes shining in mirth.

"Are you? It seemed as if you meant to scare me." She expected him to look bashful or embarrassed, ashamed even, but instead his smirk widened, the apples of his cheeks giving way to his dimples and she thought, unhelpfully, that she might have judged his his looks a little too quickly. Still, something in his eyes screamed danger.

"Not to scare you," she took a small step back at the insincerity in his tone, "I was merely curious as to why there was a young girl hiding in the woods. Perhaps you were in trouble." There was something about his tone that set off warning bells in her head, along with some sort of magnetism she had scarcely experienced before.

"I've lived here my whole life, you're the one who seems to be in trouble." He let out a small chuckle at that and she tried not to focus on the warmth it spread through her belly, because she had a fiancé, and surely, he was just passing through.

"Oh, I haven't been in trouble in ages love. Although," he leaned forward as if conspiratorially, "my brother would insist that I am the trouble." She thought, as she spied him surreptitiously, that his brother may have been right.

"Well, if that's the case, then I should leave." For a small moment, there was a dark look in his eyes, and she caught his hand twitch, as though he might reach out to catch hold of her again. Before she could try and steal away from him however, the look was gone, and he stepped away from her.

"Of course, although I'm sure we'll meet again." She didn't give him a response, she doubted she'd ever meet him again, and sneaked back onto the street and away from him, flush clinging to her skin.

He was right however, she did meet him again.

Thank you very much for reading and reviewing. This story is a slow build and includes multiple pairings but has a Klena endgame.

We'll be focusing on chapters set in the past for now, but there will be a chapter set in the present soon, where we see what Elena is doing.