"Are you hungry?"

Elena smiled at her uncle. He surveyed the eggs she had in the frying pan from over her shoulder.

"I suppose..." He sat at the table, opening the newspaper as he did every morning. Sometimes he cooked, sometimes she did. It was usually the two of them, except for Mrs. Hathorn when she came in to provide Elena's schooling.

"Alright." She added bacon to the pan after she'd slid the eggs onto ceramic plates.

She allowed her mind to wander as she cooked, sometimes gazing out the window to the late spring forest that surrounded them. It was an isolated existence, but she hadn't known anything different. Her Uncle Mikael sought to protect her, as he had since she was a little girl. It had always been the two of them for as long as she could remember. They rarely saw anyone venture through this area. It was secluded, but not far from the mountain cliffs and a waterfall.

Some days she would hike down and reward herself with a solo swim in the clear blue-green pools at the bottom. She'd carry along her radio and listen to different stations as she floated on her back, the dj's announcing contests for concerts and vacations and restaurants. She would daydream about living amongst other people, having a friend to talk with over dinner, dancing to her favorite band playing live, visiting the ocean and sunbathing in the sand. Seeing cities, shops, museums. She knew what the world at large looked like from the other side of a computer screen. But she wanted - no, needed - to experience it all in person.

She loved her uncle as the only parent she had ever known, and she knew he was quite fond of her as well. And this corner of the forest would always be her home. But she longed for the day that she could stretch beyond its boundaries and spread her wings, so-to-speak. He promised her that once she was eighteen and finished with school, her time would come. He'd even encouraged her to request college catalogs, telling her that her brilliance would bring her far in life. He read her stories with a proud look in his eye, lauding them as works to stand with those of the great authors in the world. He commiserated that this existence was not normal, but at the same time he worried that the people who cut her parents' lives so short would be after her. She didn't understand the significance of her eighteenth birthday, but now it was only a handful of days away. She could practically taste her freedom.

"Here you go."

She set his plate down in front of him. He gave her a thankful smile, taking a second to pat her hand. She sat across from him and she cocked her head to read the headlines across the page. She was well-versed in current events from devouring the newspapers that Mikael brought home. Elena was a voracious reader, as evidenced by the stacks of books that lined the walls of the cabin, the towers set between the vertical joists. Her uncle often teased her that their collection could rival any library. But he was happy to feed that habit for her.

"So many animal attacks," she remarked. Mystic Falls was the closest town, though still a good 15 miles away. It was nestled in the valley below this particular mountain range, a sleepy small town entrenched in its colonial history from what she had always read. Its residents held a peculiar obsession with honoring that history and its Founders. She wondered what it felt like to be part of families that had known each other for decades, maybe even more than a century, bloodlines intertwined and enmeshed. Sometimes she wished for that familiarity, siblings and cousins to share with.

"Hmmm," Mikael acknowledged, though his expression didn't reveal much.

"Do you think it's rabies? Or...?"

His steely blue eyes met her dark brown ones. "I think it's best to be prepared either way."

She nodded, looking down at her plate. She didn't like the foreboding feeling that settled itself like lead in her stomach. It made her food taste like cardboard and sapped her appetite. The crossbow sat next to the front door, her means of protecting herself. She knew her uncle had other weapons at his disposal, mainly his fangs and his strength. She had faint early memories of those who had ventured too close and met their end at his hands. He had warned her of the nightwalkers, the others of his kind who may try to come for her. Wooden arrows and stakes were in abundance in their home. She had never used one herself, but he had her trained. She was as quick and stealthy as she could be.

Elena never asked much about his nature. It never felt like something she could prod about. As kind as Mikael was to her, she was also aware that he could be stern and his boundaries were set to be respected. She often wondered how he came to be a nightwalker. She knew she wasn't one herself. The Internet provided some information, such as burning in the sun or drinking blood. Her uncle went out in the daylight, so she knew he was unusual in his abilities. And he ate food. But his sharp gleaming teeth were etched into her memory, with a ring of blood smeared around his mouth. She didn't doubt what he was, and she wondered why she wasn't too. She had spent hours in the bathroom inspecting her teeth for any changes as she got older, but none came. She was completely ordinary and human.

The rustle of the newspaper folding broke her out of her thoughts, and she noticed Mikael's plate was empty. He smiled at her. "I have business in town today. I will return by nightfall. No animals to worry about."

"I'll lock the doors just in case," she promised.

"Excellent." He leaned down to brush a light kiss on top of her head before he headed to the door. "I will bring back dinner. You can text me if you think of anything specific that you require."

"Thanks. See you later."

He waved as he shut the door behind him, and the screen door slapped back into place. She pulled the folded front page to her, reading more of the headlines. The animals had attacked a young woman a couple of years younger than her. Vickie Donovan. Miraculously she had survived, despite requiring numerous blood transfusions. A chill ran down Elena's spine, one she tried to ignore.

Nothing would happen, she told herself. She was safe here.

The world had turned over a quarter of a million revolutions and this very spot had barely changed. He solemnly regarded the ground. The energy of their transformation was still possessed here, the soil so bloated with power that Elijah could almost see it with his naked eye.

That power served as a tether that he hadn't ever managed to cut despite drawing the cord as thin as possible - across states and continents and countries for decades, centuries at a time. It never crossed his mind to return here once he had left one thousand years ago. He couldn't articulate why he was back. The memories that this place held would be better forgotten. So much betrayal and savagery. Blood on his hands. Allegiances broken.

Any good moments were just as painful to recall. His life had held promise once, surrounded by a family that he had to forget. Remembering set the dull ache to burn in his chest, one he had trouble breathing around. He had convinced himself that it was better to be alone now. Less to trouble him and deter him from his course. But every so often the pain trickled through, as it threatened to now.

He frowned. Coming back here was a distraction... or the key to the puzzle he'd spent the last century trying to solve. The Celtic mystic had clasped his hands inside hers not even a week ago and guided him to this speck in the vastness of the world. He had instinctually suspected it was all a ruse, but her green-eyed gaze was so fierce that it sent a jolt of power straight through to his gut, to his soul. And she was far too young to fully understand what he was or the circumstances surrounding his nature. His family's history was so far buried from human consciousness that there was no way she knew she was sending him on a pilgrimage to his supernatural birthplace. And so he traveled to Virginia solely on her command. He felt like he'd be betraying his destiny if he tried to avoid it.

Something or someone was here and would have the answers to finding his lost siblings.

Elijah put his hands in his pockets, the sole of his expensive Italian shoe snuffing out a small wildflower that dared to grow in this spot. There could be no beauty in a place of such horror. He glanced up at the noon sun before he headed deeper into the cover of the forest.

The ground was still damp from a few days' worth of rain, but the sunlight speckled through the leafy canopy above. Elena had brought a tarp out with her so she wouldn't ruin another pair of pants with grass and dirt stains. She had pruning shears and clippers with her, and a a wheelbarrow sat off to the side. The gardens around the cabin were starting to look like a jungle. Mikael could have cared less, but she figured it was something else to pass the time. She had done a lot of research on shade gardens a couple of years ago, and now they had a substantial array of perennials decorating the cabin's perimeter. She had a successful vegetable garden closer to a nearby clearing too. But today this was her focus.

She put in her earbuds and started clipping away. She deftly shaped the shrubbery into more pleasing shapes and pulled out dead leaves and weeds. After about half an hour, her waste pile had grown to a decent size. She stood and turned to head to the wheelbarrow.

She couldn't take another step, however. Her heart was beating out of her chest as she came face to face with a man she had never seen before. Her mouth moved but she couldn't say anything, and he looked equally as alarmed. How long had he been watching her?

A second or two passed before her brain connected with her feet and she turned to bolt back to the house. He had her wrist, however... he was quick. Too quick.

"Who... who are you?" she squeaked.

Her mouth had gone completely dry and her tongue felt too big, too sluggish to form the words. Her heart was hammering inside of her chest and she was fighting to stay focused around the adrenaline running through her veins. They'd probably only stood like this for a few seconds, but it seemed like a lifetime passed between each one. He looked strangely out of place here in the forest, a black tailored suit adorning his lean frame. She began to wonder if this was one of the people who had killed her parents, if he was back to get her as Mikael so often worried. If he was a nightwalker like her uncle...

His dark brown eyes narrowed slightly, and a strand of nearly black hair fell across them. She could practically count each hair of the stubble across his razor sharp jaw as she waited for him to speak.

"You know who I am, Katherine," he answered. She detected a faint European accent, and the harsh undertone surprised her. As did the name.

"Y-you have me confused with someone else," she stammered, and she gasped when he pulled her closer.

"Don't lie to me."

"I'm not, I swear! My name is Elena - ah!" His fingers bit into her wrist and she could feel her bones on the verge of crushing. "Please, you're hurting me!"

Two hot tears squeezed out of the corners of her eyes and she winced at the pain. He drew in a deep breath, his face closer than before as he studied her. That made her heart go erratic and she wasn't sure if the proximity or the fear or the pain was going to make her pass out first. She tried to force herself to calm down, she wasn't going to make it out of this alive if she didn't keep her wits about her.

But something small, almost imperceptible in his expression changed at that moment. He'd made some sort of connection and she felt his grip on her loosen.

Elena's wrist was screaming but she didn't linger... it was a brief open window of opportunity. She ran as fast as her legs would carry her around to the front of the house, and she didn't stop until she was on the other side of the door. If he was a nightwalker, he would need an invitation. She remembered that much from the Internet lore - it was a universally-accepted truth.

Once she had caught her breath and her heart wasn't threatening a deadly arrhythmia anymore, she gingerly reached for the crossbow. It was already primed with a stake, drawn back and ready to fire once she found her target. Elena took another deep breath, her long dark hair forming a straight curtain around her face as she bowed her head in silent prayer. She needed to live to see eighteen. She couldn't die like this, before she ever got a taste of freedom. And she wasn't about to let this man dictate that for her.

She felt the anger start to overtake her fear as she left the safety of the cabin, one sneakered foot in front of the other. She kept as quiet as she possibly could, gingerly stepping around leaves and twigs on the forest floor. One wrong move would sabotage her stealth attack. She brought the bow up to her chin as she rounded the corner of the house.

But there was no one there. Her eyes widened, and she comically whirled in a circle, half-expecting to see him behind her. Still... no one was there. She was alone, as she had been before. For half a second, she wondered if she had imagined it all. The bruise blooming over the olive skin of her wrist reminded her otherwise.

He had completely vanished.

A disaster. An absolute catastrophe, draped in mystery and bestowed with the beautiful face he had known for a thousand years... but he did not know Elena.

A human.

How was she human? How did she even exist? Katerina had died, turned not long after they'd met. Unless she'd had a child...? But after all the time they had spent together, how would he not know? They had shared far more clandestine secrets than that before she turned and ran for the next five hundred years. Katerina would have confided that to him. This had to be an anomaly, some supernatural glitch.

And this girl knew nothing of what she was.

Elijah's normally unflappable mind was traveling through hundreds of miles of thoughts in seconds, and there were no signs of it slowing down on its own. He was torn between returning to the bed and breakfast in Mystic Falls where he was renting a room, or marching back to that isolated little cabin in the woods... to do what exactly?

He wasn't sure. But he'd felt an immediate need to protect her, that it was his duty to shield Elena's existence from the world at all costs. If it ever became public knowledge, she would never be safe. And while he didn't know her - yet - his chest tightened at the thought of her fulfilling her destiny. It couldn't happen. He could not allow that. He had to protect her identity from the world at large.

Unless... someone already knew what she was. Is that why she was living so far from civilization? Yet she was so close to the clearing where their blood had spilled. That couldn't be a random coincidence. And as he recalled the mystic's reading, he knew Elena was central to his reason for returning here. So that begged the question: who had her? She didn't appear to be unhappy or in any immediate danger. And keeping her hidden appeared to be their main priority as well. This individual had to know that she was the doppelgänger.

Elijah didn't turn back to the woods. Instead, he approached his car. As he settled into the driver's seat, he decided that today he would let her be. He had to tread the situation very carefully and gain her trust. Alone. He had unnecessarily terrified her enough, but he would return very soon. He needed to talk to her, rectify their first encounter. He needed to know who kept her there.

And though he hated to admit it to himself, now that he knew of her existence, it would be impossible to stay away.

"I thought you would be a bit more enthusiastic about dinner."

Her uncle's expression was friendly enough, but she could see the worry in his gaze. Her fork twisted at the linguine noodles in her chicken marsala, but she couldn't put the food in her mouth. The moment it passed her lips, her stomach would revolt.

"I'm sorry," she offered as she carefully laid the fork on the edge of her plate. "You know this is my favorite, but my stomach started bothering me shortly after you left... maybe the eggs weren't cooked enough this morning."

His chest rose and fell with a subtle sigh. He held his napkin in his hand, studying her for a brief moment. Elena didn't swallow and was careful not to signal any nervousness. She didn't want to make him suspicious. The fact that she couldn't eat was bad enough.

Mikael gave a nod, accepting her excuse. She didn't know if she had ever lied to him before, but if he knew someone had found her here today with the possible intent to hurt her, he would go apoplectic. He might even drag her away to god-knows-where, and she didn't want that. She was terrified, but she also needed to stay put. And the longer she stayed in his presence, the more her awkward behavior would put her at risk of raising questions.

"I think maybe I should lie down."

She stood, ready to clear her plate, and she almost jumped out of her skin when his hand landed on her wrist. Their eyes met again and she didn't know how she kept from trembling. But there was only concern, no suspicion. He patted at her hand.

"Leave it. I'll put it in the refrigerator."

Elena nodded before retreating to the staircase. Her legs felt heavy with exhaustion but she climbed the spiral stairs to the loft area above and closed the door behind her. She surveyed her room, checking behind curtains and inside of her closet. She hadn't invited him in, but she was still anxious that the nightwalker would have found a way into her room. Once she was satisfied that she was alone, she pulled the wooden stake out of her waistband and shoved it underneath her pillow.

Her mind wouldn't stop racing after she settled into bed. She couldn't understand how the man had found her, or why he looked like he'd seen a ghost. Why he called her Katherine. Who was Katherine? He was so emphatic when he said it, and they were so close...

She swallowed hard, butterflies swirling against the confines of her stomach. It had to be more than a passing resemblance - he sounded convinced that she was someone else. Did she have a sister? Did he know someone from her family? She had wished for some clue to her origins for so long, and the first total stranger she'd encountered in ages gave her enough of a taste to leave her demanding to know more. She knew she would probably never see him again. She didn't exactly want to, but she also had so many questions. She needed to know his name, some way to track him down. Maybe if she could find out who he was, she could find out more about her family and who was after them. She could finally be free and not look over her shoulder.

She stared at the dim pitched ceiling overhead, the planks meeting at the peak of the triangular roofline. As much as Elena wanted to ignore this chance encounter, hide it, push it out of her mind and pretend that it didn't exist... she couldn't. It was the first moment in a long time that she had felt threatened. And somehow, deep down, Elena knew it would turn her promised freedom into a fight. It was a gut instinct, something she felt in her soul. It made her head spin, caused her breath to painfully catch. She didn't want to fight her uncle. But she worried that once he found out, he would block her path into the world. What she had been promised for years, what she had patiently waited for, what was finally just barely beyond her reach would be pulled right out from under her. And she wasn't strong enough to battle her uncle, even if she wanted to. Which she didn't.

Which also meant it wasn't worth worrying about just yet, especially not when she was still so rattled. She wasn't calm enough to counter an argument that hadn't even happened yet. All of these outside forces... she had no control over anyone else, nor could she predict anything. All she could do for now was wait. She had to see how it would play out. Elena finally closed her eyes. She wouldn't think about it anymore tonight.

Tomorrow would be a new day.

"Well, hello, Mikael."

Mrs. Hathorn smiled at Elena's uncle, and Elena focused on the papers on the coffee table in front of her as she listened.

"Judith. Always a pleasure to see you."

The older blonde woman's cheeks probably sported a dusting of pink, and Elena always noticed that there was some mutual flirtation between her uncle and the married teacher. Nothing they'd ever acted on, she knew - that went against her uncle's moral code - but enough to put a spring in their steps.

"You as well. Elena and I have a lot to review today to prepare her for her senior year studies."

"Sounds fascinating. I'm sure she will excel, just as she always does."

"Of course! One of my brightest students."

Elena glanced up to see them both looking at her, both holding mugs of coffee that Mikael had prepared. She smiled sheepishly. "Thanks. I definitely can't slack off now. I need to get into a good college."

Her uncle's posture stiffened ever so slightly at her mention of her pursuing her education, and of course Elena was quick to read more into it. If they had been alone, maybe she would have questioned him about it... the months were ticking down to him needing to fulfill his promise of letting her leave, and the way he squirmed just solidified her hunch further. But at the same time, she knew it could just be the normal anxiety any parent faced at their child leaving the nest. And when she looked at him through that lens instead, she had a hard time holding onto her suspicions. They'd spent years together, of course he would be nervous about it. If she was being completely honest, she was nervous too. And if he wasn't being honest... it wouldn't be the first time her compassion and naïveté had caused her problems. She wanted to think the best of him, she wanted to blame anxiety for all of her newfound wariness.

"You'll have no problems with that, sweetie." Mrs. Hathorn sat next to her on the couch, giving her a squeeze around the shoulders, but Elena's smile was a little more forced this time.

"I will leave you ladies to your studies," Mikael said, pulling his jacket off of a nearby chair. "I probably won't return until after you leave, Judith. If you need me, Elena..." He held up his phone.

She nodded. It seemed strange that he would go into town two days in a row... but as far as to why, she couldn't formulate a theory beyond something to do with her 18th birthday. He hadn't seemed on edge or anxious lately. Nothing seemed to be bothering him or out of sorts. Nothing except for the frequency. Of course after her strange encounter the day before, she was suspicious of everything. But what were the chances that the two would coincide? Maybe her uncle knew this man...?

"I decided on a topic for our English curriculum this year." Mrs. Hathorn was digging far into the depths of her bag, a drawn out search for the highly-anticipated books. Elena's curiosity was almost enough to make her forget her uncle's peculiar behavior, albeit briefly. But the color drained from her complexion when she saw the first title land face-up on the table. "Gothic horror."

As the covers of Dracula and Frankenstein stared back at her, Elena knew this couldn't possibly be a coincidence. But who could be toying with her?

Hours later, she was stretched like a cat in the sun across the couch cushions. Her mind was visiting a much darker place in Stoker's masterpiece. Mrs. Hathorn often left earlier on the days when Elena began a new reading assignment to give her time to dig in. And Elena was so far removed from reality that she almost fell from her perch when there was knocking at the door.

She approached the entry distractedly, eager to return to her book. But she stopped dead from turning the handle when those dark eyes from the day before peered at her through the glass.

Handsome and terrifying, she thought before she could catch herself. Her mouth went dry, unnerved about the subconscious truths her mind offered up. Terrifying she could handle, but not handsome. He'd been out for blood yesterday... she shouldn't be considering him handsome.

And yet she couldn't stop herself from staring. He was older than her, but not... old. Maybe enough to make it a little inappropriate for her to consider him attractive and let her mind wander. If she had to guess, he looked to be in his late 20s. But her mind half-screamed "DANGER" at her, telling her to back off. There was something about his gaze... some wisdom beyond what he appeared. Maybe a tinge of weariness. Definitely danger. She shouldn't have been surprised that the first male that she came in contact with was all wrong for her to even fantasize about, and she'd read enough books to know how wrong this sort of arrangement would go - not that I am even considering it, she told herself - but she was still intrigued. And the way he was looking at her... she had to wonder if she terrified him, too. She absently clutched at her wrist, and his eyes dropped to where he'd grabbed her the day before. His mouth quirked, and he met her gaze again.

"I'm sorry," he called through the door. "We need to talk... Elena."

She blinked at the way he said her name, his accented voice raising some deja vu that lodged itself in the back of her brain and made her head spin. But she opened the door, leaning against the interior casing with her arms crossed. She was safe within the confines of the threshold, but her heart still skipped with worry at the thought of her uncle coming home to find this man here.

"So, talk..." she said, and she raised her eyebrows as she dragged the end of the sentence up, suggesting that she needed a name to complete it.

He hesitated, a small sigh escaping him. She sensed that he didn't like conceding control. But apparently he would anyway, at least to gain her trust. "Elijah," he offered. "My name is Elijah. I apologize for harming you yesterday. I thought you were someone else."

"Katherine."

"Yes." His voice was solemn, but there was a flash of fire in his eyes. It made her wonder how exactly he knew this Katherine, and who she was. The fire was anger, for sure. But Elena was briefly jealous that Katherine also made him brood. The way his lips pursed... that had to be a lot of history. And if she had to guess, it wasn't all hate.

"She looks like me... a lot like me," she mused.

He nodded. "Identical to you."

That threw her off-guard, and she tried to regain control of her reaction. They'd barely been standing here for five minutes and already he'd given her more insight into what her past was than any conversation with her uncle. If they looked alike... "Then we must be related? Maybe my sister?"

"No, I don't believe that's the case." He squinted at her. "You don't know if you have siblings?"

She straightened, reversing mentally as she was wary of how much to offer. Even though he knew things about her, she knew nothing about him or his agenda. "Some of my family has been missing for a long time," she said.

He bit at his lip, and he leaned one hand against the doorframe. "Elena... we need to talk. And I don't think we should do so here."

"Why not?" She tried to act nonchalant even though she was running down a list of excuses in her head for when her uncle inevitably returned and found her talking with a strange man.

"Because I'm assuming you don't live here alone, and we need as much privacy as possible. I worry who may overhear." He drew in a deep breath again, reigning in his intensity at the look of alarm on her face. "You can trust me, despite what happened yesterday. I would never harm you... I give you my word."

A chill ran down her spine, served up with a side of butterflies starting to rustle in her stomach. Normally she felt poised and confident, but at this moment, she was cursing her nervousness in the presence of attractive members of the opposite sex. She needed to test his honesty, despite the fact that her legs were ready to carry her out the door at the reassuring tone of his voice. "I need to know if you're a vampire first," she said hesitantly. She wasn't sure she'd ever said the word aloud before. She'd never had the opportunity to discuss it with anyone, and if she'd ever mentioned it to her uncle, he would have known she'd been researching.

A second of surprise passed over Elijah's face, but if she hadn't been watching closely, she would have missed it. "Yes," he said simply, and she noticed him glance over her shoulder. "Your book paints a fairly accurate picture of us."

She didn't know how to answer that. They stared at each other, and when he finally smirked in unintended amusement, she felt the blood rush to her cheeks in embarrassment. God, why am I so awkward, she thought ruefully. She let her hair fall to hide her face as she started to turn away. "Let me just leave a note," she mumbled.

She grabbed a piece of paper from her notebook and jotted a quick message that she'd be back in time for dinner. She looked at the clock... it was 2pm. That would give them at least a couple of hours, and if she didn't return... her uncle would know to look for her. She shoved her keys into her pocket and locked the door handle. Then she held her breath and stepped over the threshold.