Elena woke up encased by darkness, her body jostling as the car sped down the road. She threw herself upwards, scared and alone about to call out for her mummy when she paused. Outside the window was a blur of beauty, entrancing her- hypnotising.

When she finally broke from her state, she almost called out again. The man in the front seat was no man she had ever seen before. Not her parents, or a relative, a stranger- a stranger with a dark aura.

Not only was there a man but a woman too. She looked fierce, angry and ready to kill. Elena had never been more afraid in her life. Tears began to spill and sniffles began but she never said a word. She didn't want to see their faces, she was too scared to see their faces. They didn't listen to her silent request. The female, the one who wasn't driving, turned, revealing a heavy set of makeup and a mask of irritation on her face.

Elena shuffled backwards, finding herself as far back as possible in seconds. She was trapped. Trapped with these two strangers in a strange metal contraption than she could only assume was a car- it wasn't her parent's car. The woman, with inhuman speed, flung her head to the man in the driver's seat, away from Elena. She nodded before the man sighed and pulled over. Elena looked at them with wide eyes. Why were they stopping? Would she see her parents again?

The man flung himself out of the car and approached her door, opening it gently, and bringing her out of the car by the waist and standing her on the ground, crouching to reach her level afterwards. She trembled with fear but his touch, rather than scare her further, seemed to have at least some calming effect.

He stared at her, his pupils dilating just a fraction before he spoke. 'Calm down.' He spoke so soothingly, gently that Elena could not resist following the orders. She no longer shook, a calm smile spreading across her face. The man blinked and suddenly it was gone. She was still calm but no longer entranced in the man's icy eyes. His voice, when he spoke again, had been replaced by anger and impatience but Elena was no longer scared, in fact, she believed it to be calming.

'I'm Klaus, Elena. This is my sister Rebekah.' He began, warily searching the child's eyes for signs of running. It would not be as if she could get anywhere- she was a young human, he could catch her in less than a second.

'W-Who are you?' She spoke, eyes wide and juvenile. She looked so innocent. A star in contrast to Klaus' darkness.

'We're your new parents, we adopted you, don't you remember?' Klaus lied smoothly. Elena simply looked shocked.

'My parent's gave me away?' Her eyes filled with tears and it was clear that Klaus had begun to panic. His eyes darted to their surroundings to find anything, anyone to help. But, Rebekah stepped in. She had always wanted a child and her reading on parenthood would come in handy for the time being.

'No, Elena. They simply wanted to give you a better life. So, now we're your parents, okay? We're going to take extra special care of you.' Rebekah's lies were less smooth than Klaus', she hated lying to the girl, such an innocent girl at that but it had to be done. Elena's face brightened up immediately, such childish acceptance.

Elena should have been scared but she wasn't. These people were so calming, their auras mysterious but calm. They looked unafraid. They looked like the people Elena wanted to be: strong, powerful, kind. She was wrong. These people were all too powerful and nothing less than cruel. Except for Elena. For Elena, they had gone soft. Why not just compel the girl? Neither were sure why they didn't do just that.

'What about my brother?' Elena looked hopeful, though her smile diminished. Rebekah and Klaus looked at each other in panic. They had not prepared for that question at all. This was all too spontaneous and they knew the lie would most likely put them at some sort disadvantage- whatever that could be with a five-year-old.

'He's going to join us, just not yet.' Rebekah smiled fakely, her voice breaking slightly towards the middle of the sentence as Elena's face dropped.

'But he is coming, right?' She asked, her eyes wide with hope. Rebekah nodded, strained and guilty and began to clamber back into the car without turning back.

'Of course he is.' Klaus reassured, unsure of what else he could do. Despite knowing this plan of action would backfire, it would put her off the subject for a while or at least, he hoped. He propped her back into the backseat and got into the driver's seat again and pulled back out onto the road.

Elena felt a calm wash over her. She had better parents now, right? That's what they said. She only had the mindset to believe them. She felt she had no reason not to. She couldn't know this was unusual. She couldn't even tell something was off, this was all what she believed could be normal. She drew her attention back to the window and watched as they passed field upon field, some decorated with fields of corn, other with mysterious animals Elena had never seen and even a few that expanded for miles, going as far as the horizon.

'Where are we?' Elena asked quietly, smiling, continuing to watch as they passed by more and more unfamiliar territory. Rebekah turned around, putting on her best sweet smile in attempts not to scare the child and gently said, 'England, dear.'

-

Elena couldn't tell what she was supposed to think of the statement. England. It rang through her head like church bells, echoing over and over and over. Such a foreign country, so far away from home. How had she found herself here with no memories of the journey? How had she forgotten that she was being adopted? It could have been her age or maybe it was just the mind play of Klaus himself- who came across as so gentle and caring. A facade to hide the real monster.

She looked at both of them, her brows furrowed in thought. She examined them from head to toe and couldn't seem to make any inferences about them. Age, ageless. Personality, private. Looks, rather different despite supposedly being siblings. Then again, despite saying they were siblings, they were now her parents, weren't they? Elena couldn't fathom how that was possible.

'Are you okay, little one?' Klaus asked from the front seat as her face became more and more contorted as she pondered over who her new parents really were.

'Yeah.' She smiled gently at him, staring into his bright blue eyes as if they were the sea. She wasn't afraid, she wasn't timid, she wasn't even shy, she was excited, excited to have these new parents in her life. Her old parents, if that's what they could now be deemed, were amazing- she loved them- but that hadn't stopped them from being busy. They were doctors, they worked long shifts, laborious shifts. They often came back tired and drained in the morning, not realising that they were supposed to bring Elena to school. Elena didn't mind, she still loved them but there were definitely times of...loneliness. If Jeremy hadn't been there, she wouldn't know what she would have done.

Klaus laughed at the pure endearing nature of the child. He was drawn in every time he looked at her. It was as if she really was his daughter. He hadn't felt this before, this happiness. He had raised a child only once before but with Marcel, his paternal instincts were different- he was a mentor, not a father. This was something new, a paternal bond. No, something different. It wasn't quite placeable.

They looked at each other gently, both smiling, before Klaus regained his attention and scowled as he threw his gaze back to the road, paying attention to the road ahead. He couldn't think thoughts like that, not now, not ever. This child had her purposes and that was all it was. She was there to die...so he could live. Because he knew what he was living now was not life. He felt that part of himself locked away. It was agony. So, Elena was here to fix him.

It seemed, she was fixing him in a very, very different way.

After an hour of silent driving, Klaus stopped the car. All three of them peered out the window, varying emotions through each of them. Klaus, a nonchalant feeling of dismissal as he saw the familiar house- one that he had lived in centuries house. Rebekah, nostalgia. She had lived here for so long so long ago. She had loved it and she wished to love it again. Elena, awe. The house- or mansion, rather- was huge, beautiful and no doubt luxurious on the inside from the sneak peak she saw through the closed off windows.

The lights blared on before any of them left the car, someone was inside. Someone Elena hadn't met just yet. She was blinded momentarily but it seemed neither of her parents in the front seat even blinked. She wondered why.

Both adults slipped from the car quickly, leaving the poor girl behind. Of course, at five, Elena hadn't even left a booster seat, never mind get out of a car. She was trapped. The seatbelt trapped her in the seat and the door trapped in the metal box that was slowly suffocating her. The air felt thick, tension rising, tears meeting her eyes. She frantically looked around, unsure of what to do. She saw the red button saying press, no doubt to get the seatbelt off, but as she pressed down, it didn't seem to be going very far. She wasn't sure what she was doing wrong but the button was not moving. She was still trapped.

Tears began to spill down her cheeks as she watched both Klaus and Rebekah stray from the car, not even looking back to check Elena was there. They had come to assumptions too quickly. Klaus was the first to look back and with a brief look of panic passing his face, he paced back to the car and opened the door to reveal a heavily-breathing, panicking Elena.

'Why aren't you coming, Elena.' Klaus was panicking himself, although he would never show it on the outside. The little girl was bawling by now, such childish nature that he wasn't yet used to.

'I can't do it!' She sobbed, pressing down on the button harshly, it still not moving- whether it was jammed or her, Klaus was unsure.

'Please don't cry, little one.' He panicked as he frantically looked around. Was he supposed to do it for her? Was he supposed to stop her crying? Was he supposed to do something, anything? He growled, annoyed at himself more than the girl but in doing so, he had bared his fangs. His eyes met hers and suddenly the tears dripping down her cheeks weren't from panic but from fear.

Elena recoiled, her eyes wide but she was still trapped, she couldn't move. Her eyes burnt and her lungs screamed in agony as she continued to sob. She was scared, terrified, afraid of the man she was already beginning to warm to. Afraid of the monster he truly was.

Klaus' eyes quickly widened as he retracted his fangs and cupped the girl's face. 'Please don't cry.' He begged. He wouldn't let the girl see him for the monster that he was. Not until it was needed, at least. His mind told him it was for safety- so she wouldn't run. He should have known better. This was for his own selfishness- he wanted to satisfy his quench for somebody, anybody, to show him any love, anything true. Someone to see him as anything but the monster he was deemed to be.

He rushed to wipe the tears from her cheeks and finally decided to just push down the button and undo the seatbelt, an easy task for him- especially as it appeared that it wasn't jammed. He pulled her out of the seat and into his arms, embracing her as she stained his cashmere coat with dirty tears.

'Everything's okay, Elena. That's how you say it. Elena, right?' She nodded and he smiled. He never was one to remember names but he could tell he was already infatuated. He would deny it, hide it but never would he forget that he cared about this girl. It would always be there, he could feel that- even so soon after meeting her. It was like fate.

He continued to calm her in a hushed tone as Rebekah gaped at the two of them. Her brother hadn't looked so gentle, so kind since he was a child himself. This child really was a miracle. Rebekah wallowed in it. It wouldn't last long, even she knew that. As one of the few that loved that man, she knew the girl would one day be abandoned but for now, she would let him have his fun. Let him love a girl that he was going to kill. A torturous game to let continue but an even worse one to stop.

Elena's tears finally dried up as Klaus set her down, smiling gently. 'Come on, little one, it's time to see your new home.' One last smile and the fear was drained from her. She hardly remembered what happened. How blissful to have such little memory. How blissful to already forget how much a monster your father is.

Elena grasped Klaus' hand gently, letting Klaus encase hers with an odd feeling of cold that brought warmth to her small hand. He led her into the house slowly, her little legs walking fast even to match his slow pace. Klaus soon lost his patience, though, and swung her back into his arms and opened the door to the mansion.

In that moment, as the door opened, Klaus didn't feel weak, even with a child in his arms. He felt that once such feared atmosphere: peace. But, he knew peace didn't last long. 'Nik!' Rebekah screeched, vibrating the very foundations of the house. Elena trembled, burying herself in the crook of Klaus' neck as he scowled at his sister who had apparently used her inhumane speed to check over the house.

'Rebekah.' Nik said, a volume that no human would hear from that distance but he knew Rebekah would. 'You know there is no need to shout. My hearing has not dulled since the last time we talked.' His voice was impatient but his temper was not yet lost. He was used to his sister's childish tantrums, his only hope that he could get through Elena's too.

Rebekah huffed and didn't continue to whine as she once was. It would only be something petty. A lack of dresses, maybe, or maybe she only had 199 pairs of shoes and not 200. Something very...Rebekah.

'Should we get you to bed, love?' Klaus laughed as he looked at the girl nodding off on his shoulder. She nodded weakly, her eyes shutting, burying herself deeper into the crook of Klaus' neck. Klaus chuckled once more and quietly made his way up the stairs, taking Elena to the last door on the left- her bedroom.

Suddenly more awake, Elena stared, marvelling at the door. It was carved intricately, her name engraved in the door. Klaus had put special attention into the details. He wanted the girl to feel at home, if only just to trick her into a false sense of security.

'Do you want to see inside?' He asked gleefully, watching her nod furiously with a wide smile on his face.

'Let me see!' She squealed. Klaus agreed, setting the girl down on the floor and putting his hand on the door handle.

'Come on sweetheart, let's see your new room.' He pushed the door open and inside was the most beautiful thing Elena had ever seen. It was a girl's paradise. Her paradise.

word count: 1093

edit 1 - 30.04.17 - new word count - 2047

edit 2 - 06.05.17 - new word count - 2737