On The Run

Chapter 1

Flashback

Burning flesh. The smell gets lodged in her nose and likely to never be removed. That's the only smell around Caroline as she lays in a heap on the floor of the old Lockwood torture cellars. The same cellars once used to house vampire captures in the olden days of Mystic Falls. The vervain gas still lingers in her lungs and it's like inhaling glass each breath. Whats left of her skin and face pressed against the damp cement floors and mercifully her jacket is pulled over her head as a form of shield from the blistering rays of sun. A trap shoot that opens to the top of the cellar bathes the room in sunlight. Sunlight that was once a feeling of peace, now turned deadly.

Sizzling. That's the only sound that can be heard from the tiny room, apart from her owns pathetic cries of help. The pain only stop once she has passed out and can no longer feel. Her only reprise to the burning. Her daylight ring has long since been removed and scattered about the room someplace. I'm doing well to stay awake, let alone go hunt for a ring. I break and let another cry spill from my lips. But who would come to her, a monster, an outcast even before she was turned to a vampire. Tossed aside by her family, betrayed by the few people she called friends.

"I should have never came back." sobbing beneath my jacket. She was out on her own with no one the wiser were she had traveled but damn her social streak. Caroline couldn't stay alone very long, she needed people. Friends. I wanted to give my old life another try and how stupid that was to do. Coming back for people is what landed her in this mess to start with. But no more.

Slowly, the burnt skin starts to disappear from her legs, the portion that's not covered by the now destroyed sundress. I peak out through my jean jacket and see that the sun has almost set. Why am I not dead? Why have I not been turned to ash? What little she knows about vampires, she learned from the Salvatore's. Or should she say Damon, once the compulsion he held over me was lifted, once I turned. Although, being burnt by the sunlight was pretty much vampire 101. Hours have ticked by and Caroline has no idea how long her body lays there, helpless. Once the sizzling feeling is gone, she manages to move on to her knees, head still down trying to regain her strength.

A heavy thud and metal scraping across the floor alerts Caroline to her past visitor. She shudders at the thought but regains her bearings. She has to face him, there is no way around it. I first see heavy dark shoes and stare up into the face of the person that has tortured me. The person that left me to burn and turn to ash. The shocked, wide eyed look of her visitor says it all. Caroline should be dead but she isn't. Why? I can only muster up one word before the tears streak down my face,

"Father."

Caroline shook her head, trying to rid herself of the memories. As if that's all it took to rid herself of one of the worst days in her life... Non life. So she found herself standing across the street, staring at the large brick building of The Grill. She had been here a good ten minutes, standing here like a idiot. Just willing herself to go in and face everyone she turned her back on - who turned their backs on her - two years ago. Her hair perfectly curled, flowing down her black leather jacket and grey loose tank top. Down to her fitted skinny blue jeans and heeled ankle boots, nothing was out of place. To any stray pedestrians, she was just a girl enjoying a glance around her childhood town, not someone reliving the tortures in life.

"Maybe no one is even here. They don't have to know I'm here. Not yet."

Glancing at her watch she sighs heavily and drops her hands to her sides. Fat chance of that happening. It's after 7 o'clock in Mystic Falls, were else would anyone be. Especially the supernatural beings, not adhering to normal human restrictions of a job or responsibilities. Hell most of them have probably been day drinking since noon. Sighing again and fixing her jacket for the millionth time, she went to step off the curb to cross the street until a voice caught her attention.

"Well your new." A strong British accent floated out to Caroline from a few feet to her right. Turning her head to see who was interrupting her inner monologue, her gaze froze on the blonde standing near her. The female had exquisite taste in clothing , dressed in black and grey with layers of thick blonde hair rolling down her shoulders. Her arms were folded over her chest and head held high as if she automatically knew she was better than Caroline. She was a vampire and old as well from the looks of it. Vampires had a particular scent and presence about them that wasn't hard to distinguish from humans.

"Who doesn't need to know your here yet?" The stranger push forward since Caroline didn't speak up. Her fingers now drumming against her arm, clearly the blonde wasn't used to not getting the answers she wanted. Well too bad for her. Caroline cleared her throat and once again regained her composure,

"Sorry, but I don't make it a habit to discuss my business with people I just met. Stranger danger and all So... if you will excuse me."

Caroline stalked off towards The Grill, faster than she would have like to have walked, not wanting to appear intimidated. She had to deal with the non stop questioning that was about to hit her from her former friends and the last thing she needed now was to deal with this Princess vampire in the middle of the street. She dropped her hand on the door handle and paused just for a moment, knowing that the vampire was watching her steps from right behind her. Well here goes nothing.

The Grill still looks the same as it did two years ago with its wrap around booths and small scattered tables around the room. The same random group of high school kids huddled around the pool tables , trying to decided who is going to ask the hot girl from homeroom out. Her eyes scan the room as she stands at the main entrance of the restaurant and a anvil of weight lifts off her shoulders. "No one is here" Caroline thinks to herself and a lazy grin slides across her face.

"So is this your thing, stand in random spots smiling like a fool with nothing better to do?" The new blonde smirked.

"So is this your thing, following around random strangers because you have nothing better to do?" Caroline questions, shooting her eyebrows to the ceiling. She was already on edge and in need of a good drink and this blonde was working her last nerves.

" I'm here to see a friend of mine and clearly you are here to avoid someone. New in town and already making enemies? What a pity." The blonde pouts her lips and scrunches her eyebrows, trying not so hard to keep this smirk off her face.

"Caroline?" A male voice blurts out in shock from across the room near the bar. Her head darts over and lands on one of the few people she would actually be glad to see right now. The smile is plastered on her face and she can't help but move towards him.

Rebekah steps forward but stands off to the side with her arms crossed, watching the two embrace in a gently hug and exchange pleasantries. Clearly they were friends but she has never seen the blonde baby vampire since she returned to Mystic Falls. That's all her and her family needed was a new vampire in town and yet another friend of the Mystic Falls gang that insisted on ending the lives of yet another one of her family members. Or maybe she was just passing through and would be gone without an issues.

"Right Rebekah, because that's how easy your life has been the past 1,000 years" she inwardly scolded herself. This new blonde would team up with the rest of the misfit gang and most likely try to bring about the demise of her family. They would of course fail miserably, causing Nik to lash out and rip their hearts out or chase them off like he did that mutt Tyler. This girl was off in some ways. She was hesitant to even step inside the building let alone team up to kill her family. She was hiding something and hiding from someone. Still better to keep an eye on her just in case. Rebekah pulls out her phone and sent a text to her brothers,

"New blonde vampire in town and happens to be friends with the Mystic Falls gang. It could go either way and she seems to have something to hide."