"Ugh!" Caroline screeched, "this wardrobe sucks. Elena, what did you buy?!"

"Clothes!" Elena shot back.

"No, I have clothes, you have…." she trailed off and flailed her hand dramatically at Elena's closet. "… this disaster!"

"No," Elena said, grabbing out a black dress that looked killer on her. "What you have isn't clothes; it's underwear masking itself as clothing and failing miserably!" She then held up the dress in front of Caroline. "This actually covers my tits!"

Caroline rolled her eyes, "Ph-lease, this is designer."

"Let me guess, Hoe couture?" Elena deadpanned.

"It's Haut Couture!" Caroline said indignantly.

Elena smirked, "I know. I still maintain mine was more descriptive."

Bonnie took that moment to step between the women. She was always the peacemaker of the group. "Seriously? Retract your claws, ladies. Wear what you want so we can get out of here. I'm getting hungry."

"There's blood in the fridge," Elena offered as she slipped on her back dress. And then her black stiletto heels.

Bonnie scrunched up her face and said, "I know. I had a bit, but…" She grinned wickedly and said, "I like it warm from a hot body. They say a meal is part presentation."

That got Caroline to smile and add, "You have to love a sexy body with warm blood and grabby hands."

Elena snatched up her keys up and beckoned, "Time to go, girls." The three vampires climbed into her vehicle, and she pulled out of the drive into the night.

Elena was a Gilbert through and through; she just wasn't as young as she looked. She grew up in a loving family. Her parents adored her, and they were prominent and respected members of the town. She also had two older brothers. One had her hero, and the other was her tormentor.

John, the middle child, was a "rambunctious" child, her mother would say to anyone who was listening. The moment that she walked away, they would all roll their eyes. It was Grayson, the oldest, who always defended her. She would run to him crying because John had stolen her doll and she didn't know how, but he always retrieved it for her. Any time she needed him, he was there for her. Gentle Greyson even punched the first guy that broke her heart.

That was why, when someone murdered her, she went to Grayson when she realized she didn't stay dead. She was so confused and scared. One moment she was being strangled by a guy trying and failing to rape her, and the next, she was waking up knowing something was very wrong.

She didn't find out until afterward that her father was a member of a secret society that experimented on vampires, and her fall down the stairs that morning had been a bigger deal than her father had let on. He had dosed her with vampire blood to save her. That blood was still in her system when she died.

Before she made it to her brother and her protector, she got the scent of blood. She didn't understand the pull, but it defeated her. The woman was dead before she realized what had happened.

Crying, bloody, and terrified out of her mind, she found her brother home alone. Tears of relief flooded her eyes.

"Grayson," she croaked out. "Please. Please help me." She reached for him and was shocked when he recoiled from her. His accompanying glare only added to her terror. "Please, help," she begged.

His look of revulsion had her pulling back in confusion and hurt. "Brother, won't you help me?" she asked, suddenly unsure of his response for the first time.

"My sister is dead. You're a monster inhabiting her body!" he said coldly and made for a drawer she was told never to open. One that when he pulled something from it, she realized it was a wooden stake.

She ran.

Yet, it was a hidden syringe of vervain, not a staked, that took her down.

Once again, she woke up confused and scared. That was when she learned what the Augustine Society was and that her father didn't have any qualms about cutting into his baby girl. After all, he made it clear, just like Grayson had, that she was a monster with his daughter's face.

Bonnie, another vampire prisoner, had been her lifeline that first week. She explained what had happened to Elena and who she now was. She was the other vampire locked up with her and experimented on.

Then after three weeks, he came in. She was hurt and starving, but still, she was on her feet in a flash. "You killer!"

"Takes one to know one. They found that woman's body, the one you killed."

She snarled at him. "Just like you, I have the evidence of your kill."

"Liar," he hissed. "You have no evidence it was me!"

She shrugged, "Really? Do I need concrete proof or just suspicion? My father loathes me, but not his dead daughter. Don't you think he'd go after any lead he had on her death? Even from a vile vampire?"

"You won't tell him!" he admonished. She just laughed. "Of course, I would. It will give me something to scream out while he's cutting on me."

He grew deathly pale. She knew she was right, and she had him. He was stuck.

"What do you want?" He snapped out.

She crossed her arms and smirked, "Freedom for my friend and I. After all, she knows who killed me now too."

She knew she had him. If he killed her again, there would be an investigation, which was a risk she knew he wouldn't take.

Elena had spent three weeks of hell with a woman who was now her best friend. Starving them of blood had another effect. They were both incredibly controlled. They knew true hunger pains, and the temporary bloodlust that overcame them was easy to fight.

For the first time, she learned to really live. She didn't return to her hometown. Even to go after the monster that killed her. She didn't want to go back and face the pain of her family. And she knew there was a counsel trained to destroy her kind and knew what she was.

Time passed, and they met Caroline. A new vampire who quickly became close with them. She fit in, and they loved their lives together.

But sometimes, the past had to be confronted, and Elena decided she had run long enough. They got an apartment together not far from Mystic Falls. She was tired of running from her demons.

That day had been particularly hard for her. She spied on the family home. Grayson was much older, married, and had a son named Jeremy. He was happy. She missed the brother that loved and protected her, but looking at him now, she knew that was gone.

Hence club-night. A night to let go and not feel the pain from the past hurts. A night to remember. She loved her afterlife and her soul sisters.

They slipped into the club easily. They didn't even have to compel anyone. The bouncer moved out of the way and opened the door for them. Then they were in with the heat, music pumping, and blood flowing through intoxicated bodies.

Caroline smirked at Elena, "You get dibs all night."

Elena scanned the room and pulled her friends with her to the dance floor. She decided to see who she could lure over. It thrilled her to have them come to her with lust in their eyes and blood pumping.

She felt eyes lock on her, and she turned, dancing and swaying as she checked him out. His dark hair and blue eyes entranced her, and she felt a desire pool in her. She raked her eyes over his gorgeous body and almost gasped when she saw his ring.

She finished her perusal, trying to play off her shock, and shot him an unimpressed look. She wasn't. Sure, he was sex on legs, but the ring destroyed it for her.

"He's hot," Bonnie said, nudging her. "He looks like he'd be willing to give you more than just his blood."

Elena scoffed, "He's a Salvatore. Look at the ring." Bonnie didn't hide her disgust as well as Elena did.

"Who?" Caroline asked.

Elena frowned, "a founding family like the Gilberts. I'm a monster to him."

"Too bad. I bet he'd be great in the sack."

"He would stake me, not fuck me," Elena replied.

"We should probably choose a new club," Bonnie said, eyeing Salvatore wearily.

"I'm missing something," Caroline said, confused.

Bonnie nodded. "It would be his father that killed her. The ass that tried to rape her first."