✔ The Way We Burn || Kol Mikaelson (Complete)

Prologue

Warning: This fanfiction's rating is mature. It isn't there to simply look beautiful and this fic contains graphic depictions of violence, sexuality, strong language, etc. Also, there is a physical assault in this chapter - and only this chapter -  with some minor but existent non-consensual touching (over clothes). Do not read if this could trigger you.

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October 21, 2010.

The fifteen years old car, a Honda Accord which grey paint seriously needed a makeover, was running on the road smoothly. The sun had already set and the headlights were put on, the yellow light barely able to pierce through the night. The tall trees on both sides of the road didn't help, their shadows were projected on the asphalt as if to catch the car and not let it go. Still, the vehicle was moving forward.

The road was a very long one. With very few people on it. In fact, at this hour of the day, Nora Caldwell and her Honda Accord were the only ones in the vicinity. From the inside of her car, the twenty years old woman had turned on the radio to distract herself from the monotony of the drive. The loud music was filling the inside of the car, a stark contrast to the silence outside.

"And all along I believed I would find you," Nora sang out of tune, her voice coming out all loud and squeaky. "Time has brought your heart to me, I have loved you for a thousand years. I'll love you for a thousand mooooooooooooooore."(*)

It would have been nice to say it was because she was tired but, really, she was just a very bad singer.

Though, she was tired. Being an air hostess could be quite taxing, especially when some assholes decided to annoy the hell out of her. In her first international plane. Twelve hours at serving a bastard with a stick so far up his ass all he could say was shit.

She couldn't wait to be home, Nora thought. Home sweet home, with her slightly overprotective parents who were no doubt waiting for her with a cup of hot chocolate and a warm bath. God, two days away from home, and she was already homesick. How was she supposed to leave her parents' house one day?

At the idea of home, she accelerated, slightly exceeding the speed limit. It wasn't something she often did, quite the contrary actually. But it wasn't like she was going to die the one time she choose to not respect the highway code. Really, the straight empty road was practically begging her to speed up.

With one hand on the wheel, she used the other to turn the volume of the radio up. Her eyes left the sight of the dark bitumen barely a few seconds. Still, it was enough for something to appear in front of her car.

Her breath stopped when the shadow appeared in her peripheral vision. Quickly, Nora put her second hand next to the first on the wheel and tried to maneuver her car and avoid hitting the unknown element. Whatever it was, it didn't move and it was too close to her car. She hit it violently. The airbag went off and she lost the little control she had. With horror, she felt the car continue its crazy race and hit something else.

Her whole body was hurting. Logic asked her to try to reach her phone and call her parents - or at least an ambulance. However, logic wasn't the first thing on her mind. Nora had hit something. Her body shook. She had hit something. God, she might have killed an animal. And she could feel blood running along her cheeks. And she had hit something. Something that might be dying. And it was the first time, the very first time, she had exceeded the speed limit. The very first time.

Shakily, she extracted herself from the car. The bumper was destroyed, crashed into a tree. A hysterical scream tried to cross her lips and she barely managed to hold it. Instead, she broke into tears, scared and relieved to be alive.