Revenge is an Act of Passion ~ Kol Mikaelson : Vampire Diaries

Prologue

I don't carry any possessions with me, that would mean I actually had any to begin with. All I keep are the clothes on my back to keep me warm through the frigid winter nights, and the hope that my petty thieving habbit will get me some food. But this is me assuming that I'll even get as far to meet someone I can practice my pick-pocket skills on.

I jump in fright when an owl hoots, and I suddenly become aware of the fact that I am the only one travelling on this dirt track through the woods. Staying away from the main roads had seemed like a smart idea earlier, but now I regret the decision. The isolation is making me nervous. Another bird - this time a crow - calls out, accompanied by the snap of a twig, and I find myself speeding my pace.

'You are being paranoid,' I scold myself. But the problem is, I'm not being paranoid. Or I am? I am not sure. The line between absurd paranoia and sensibility has been a blur ever since I found out. . . The Secret, I suppose.

The Secret. The one thing that had initially drawn my interest to the Mikaelson family. When I had first heard word of the 'mysterious' new family to town, I was interested. After meeting them - or spying on from a safe distance - for the first time, I had decided that there was nothing obviously unusual about them, but the locals were right when they said that they held an air of mystique about them, that they smiled like they knew a secret we could never dream of knowing. A secret that I then became determined to find out.

Over the next few months, the family had become an obsession, of sorts. Everyday when I was out in town I'd listen out for the gossip from the rich women that had dined with them, I'd watch the girl as she'd patiently sit through the tea parties of the town women - she always left looking positively bored, I'd spy on the men as they kept their distance from the us low life villagers, all from my safe hiding place in the shadows.

I was certain they'd never noticed me. No one ever did. After all, I was a pick-pocket, a thief, my life depended on not being seen. The punishment for stealing was death. As far as I was concerned, no one needn't know I existed.

But he did. And that's how this whole mess started.

The snap of another twig brings me out of my flashback. I flinch instinctively away from the direction the sound came from. Another snap. My nerves are on edge now. This is more than just a coincidence. My breathing hitches in fear. Realisation crashes down on me and I have to the worn sleeves of my dress in a feeble effort to keep myself from shaking in fear. I know he's faster than this, too sneaky to make simple mistakes such as snapping a twig.

No sooner than when I break into a frantic run, does a single figure appear in the path ahead of me. I stiffle a scream.

"Now, now, Alexandria, don't run," he says, his smooth velvet voice sounds close. I blink, and he's standing right in front of me. "You know how much it annoys me."

"Kol, please," I beg, but my plea falls on deaf ears.

I don't even have time to scream before he leaps forward and snaps my neck.

And the world goes black.