Welcome to The Dark Gift everyone!

Thank you for giving this work of Fan-fiction a chance to bring you back to the amazing world of The Vampire Diaries retold through my own lens.

~ Disclaimer ~

Just reminding you that this short story is a work of fan-fiction and that things definitely will not happen like they do in the television show.

Once again, thank you so much for checking out this story and I truly hope y'all enjoy!

This story is only available on AO3, fanfiction . net, and Quotev.

Prologue

Revenge is sweet, but blood is sweeter still.

There's something to be said about nothingness, it is one way to describe the place one goes when giving into a bout of sleep. But, Caroline wasn't just merely asleep. She was crossing the great divide with the intent to make it back into the land of the living... so to speak. At first, she felt nothing. The numbness had long since seeped into her being but slowly, the sensations from her various nerve endings crept back into her limbs. The prickling awareness sparkling across her body until she was finally able to open her eyes, only to find herself in a hospital bed. Groggily, she sat up and got the sense that something was infinitely different. She just knew that something very important had changed. She could feel the air from the ventilation system blowing across her skin, the hairs on her arms raising in reflex because of it. She could hear things that normally would never have been possible, footsteps of the hospital staff, quiet groans of pain from other patients, the continuous drips of fluid from their intravenous bags. It was quite unsettling for Caroline to come to these conclusions, it was almost enough for her to forget the reason why she was currently in Mystic Falls Hospital in the first place. The reason for all this being she was just in a car accident. Memories of that traumatic event and others hit her like the truck that almost sent her careening off the road earlier that day. As she sat in the hospital bed, she sorted through her memories to the best of her ability. Terms like blood, compulsion, transition, vervain... and vampire, were rattling around in her thoughts and she couldn't make any sense of it. Phantom pains radiated throughout her body. Caroline's eyes began to sting as the tears began to well in her eyes before sliding down her cheeks. She was seriously overwhelmed. However, there was one thing she was certain of and it was that she had to get out of this got damned hospital. Her head was killing her and her throat itched something furious. She could take better care of herself in her own house instead of waiting on nurses bring her a morphine drip that she no longer even needed.

Under the guise of exploration, she grabbed at her IV stand and gingerly placed her socked feet onto the ground before meandering through the corridors. She saw a nurse who merely nodded at her with an expression, that read approval at how well she was getting around after such and ordeal, plainly written across her pretty brown features. She continued her stroll until she found what she was looking for, a lost and found section not far from her assigned room. After locating such an area, she did the completely unthinkable. She stole hand-me-downs. Quite the shock but hey, there was a first time for everything. The adrenaline coursed through her veins as she hid the spoils of her raid under her bland hospital gown. She knew she probably looked foolish but luck was on her side since she didn't run into any more hospital staff on the way back to her room. Once she was in the clear, Caroline dressed as quickly as she could manage. Her headache wasn't as bad as before but her throat felt so raw it was as if she had swallowed a spoonful of cinnamon. With her new clothes successfully donned, a dark beanie and a pair of sunglasses included, she made for the nearest exit. It was dark out, that much was apparent as the sun seemed to have just set. The sky was a deep purple and the light was quickly dwindling as the day turned to night. She began her trek home, keeping to the shadows as she stole into the parking structure before exiting from the other side. She rubbed at her neck again but kept walking until she nearly stumbled over some trash peeking out of the alleyway she just passed. It was a beer bottle and it was still rolling as if someone had kicked it in her direction.

"Sorry 'bout that," a raspy and low voice said, the person it belonged to didn't sound all that apologetic at all. It was a man, she could tell, and was already dreading the coming encounter. She just knew what kind of person he was already.

"Don't worry about it," she said gruffly, trying to make her voice sound deeper than it truly was. She didn't even look in his direction as she turned back toward the street.

"C'mere you," he said before grabbing her by the back of her shirt and dragging her into the alleyway.

A searing rage turned her vision murky and red as visions of another situation where she was held against her will raced through her thoughts. She'd be damned if she let that happen again. She did not need this right now. Her head was killing her again, her throat fairly burned, and her gums were fucking pulsing like she just flossed for the first time in weeks. Her mood was quickly souring and she was not having it tonight. Turning abruptly in her attacker's grasp, she scratched at him and smiled triumphantly when he let her go with a indignant squawk. She had drawn blood on the first try.

"You rabid bitch!" He exclaimed. "Look what you've done to my fucking face!"

She did look, she was transfixed at the sight before her. She had gotten him good and the bloody trails down the side of his face were proof of her glorious victory. Almost as if she were in a trance, she looked at her fingers. They were stained red. Bringing them up to her lips, she sucked them into her mouth and moaned at the taste. She had never tasted anything like this before. It was like eating the juiciest burger, eating the iciest ice cream, drinking the best wine. She didn't even realize her eyes were closed but when she opened them again, it was like she was seeing the world around her for the first time. It was as if she had activated her own version of the sharingan everything was so clear. She snorted at the thought.

"Oh you're fucking crazy, I'm outta here!"

She laughed louder at that. She felt so different, so strong. If only a taste did that, she wondered how she would react with more. Turning her gaze toward the fleeing man, she felt herself leaning forward slightly before breaking into a sprint. She could tell that he realized that she was chasing him. She could hear his heartbeat and it was pumping fast. She giggled and watched as he whirled around, but she was no longer there.

"Behind you," she whispered, making her breath tickle his ear.

He whirled around once more but, again, she wasn't there. The sound of tinkling bells in the distance was the only warning he got before Caroline struck him down where he stood. From her place above him, she looked down at him, her gaze coming in sharp down her nose as her stare pierced him. The man before her looked nothing like the blue-eyed devil from her memories, but he was still all she saw.

"Ya know," she said twisting the hair that peaked out from beneath her beanie around her index finger. "Preying on women isn't the flex you think it is. Did you ever wonder what would happen if you caught the wrong woman in your snare? Of course you didn't. I'm clearly the wrong woman to prey on, but you didn't know that, did you? You underestimated me and that, my dear, will be your downfall."

"What are you talkin' about?" He spat from his place on the ground. The audacity of this man.

The sound of bells tinkling came again. It was her laughter, it sounded innocent which was in direct contrast with the manic look in her eyes. She grabbed him up like he was an insolent child.

"I'm going to kill you now," she said as she felt her face change. His expression turned from incredulous to terrified in a matter of seconds. "And there's nothing you can do about it."

Her fangs descended, blood filled the veins below her eyes. She tilted her head back for a millisecond before plunging her teeth into his jugular. Savagely she drank from her prey, ripping into his throat like the apex predator she now was. She couldn't stop, she didn't want to. She kept drinking, taking massive swallows until there was nothing left. Not even his head. She had unconsciously ripped it from his body. With a satisfied inhale, she lifted her head to the sky and basked in the beginning rain before tossing the useless corpse into the nearest dumpster. Taking a step deeper into the alley, she stalked into the incoming darkness.