1956 Flashback

Time was endless in the dark cells of Augustine's workhouse. I had completely given up hope, the mere fact that I had no friends to hope to save me was one of the reasons. The only good friend I had made was the person who put me in here.

I never saw Angie except for when she was bringing in other vampires. It seemed that we had too much of a personal connection to have her treat me. I was also sure that if I ever got into close proximity with her again, I would scratch her eyes out.

Why was I so special to them? They had been trying to figure out what I was for the past few decades, often stripping me completely naked to analyze every part. By the end of every day, I felt used, disgusting, vulnerable, and utterly helpless.

The only good thing I could say was that they treated me with a little more care than the others. They couldn't afford for me to die on them. They didn't know what could kill me, and I was too much of a mystery to them to accidentally die.

New people would be brought in every week, and the old ones would die after a while. No one ever escaped this hellhole.

I had only bonded with one other person here, Lorenzo St. John. But he had been here much longer than I had. I was on the right-hand cell next to him, and he would take turns talking to me and then another man on the left-hand side. I never met the other guy.

Lorenzo was pretty cynical but had a fire inside him that still burned brightly after all the decades of being trapped. He would often tell me about his longing for a family, and I would tell him stories of all my travels.

I was pretty sure that his would be the saddest death in this place.

"Number 32942, get up! Today's a special day for you," one of the doctors opened the cell door, grinning nastily.

"What's happening! Where are you taking me?" I asked frantically, seeing that he was dragging me in the opposite direction of where we normally went.

"You, my dear, are being shown off today. Think of yourself like a gorgeous painting that people will get to ogle at. Our greatest mystery! Still unsolved!" The doctor made various motions with his hands as he spoke.

"What the hell are you talking about?" I snapped, as he pushed me into a room.

"Make her beautiful!" he ordered the ladies who closed the door. "Perhaps some make-up would help."

The ladies bathed me roughly, flinging on a fancy dress that was much too tight to breathe comfortably in. They then slapped some makeup on my face, not caring how top-quality it was.

It turned out that I would be presented to the audience of bloodthirsty investors and donors so that they could see Augustine's most valuable "prize".

Little did I know, that by the end of the night, I would be free of these contains.

End of Flashback

I woke up with a pounding headache, probably from the body weight of alcohol I had consumed the night before. For a second, through my pained haze, I forgot where I was.

"I imagine you aren't feeling too good right now," I heard a voice say. "I did hit you a little harder than I wanted to. Oh well, at least you woke up."

"You're a sick person," I spat, looking around and realizing that I wasn't tied down or anything. "You know, I can probably write you down a list of therapists to go to. Do you have a pen?"

He grimaced in annoyance and clenched his fists in his lap as if to restrain himself.

"It seems you have gotten more childish and immature with age," he muttered angrily.

"Um, you do realize I can just walk out of here right?" I pointed out, motioning to the lack of security and obstacles stopping me.

"Well, if that's what you want," he grinned maliciously. "Go ahead."

I looked at him for a few seconds in confusion. Then I slowly got up from the bed I was laying in and walked towards the door.

"See ya," I said, opening it.

"Of course, if you don't listen to what I have to say, I will hunt down everyone you love and brutally rip out their hearts and other lovely organs right before your eyes," he mused, not even turning around to talk to me.

I stopped and closed the door again.

"Psycho."

"Now," Liam got up and started walking in circles. "As you may or may not know, I have been hatching a plan to kill you."

"Oh my gosh," I covered my mouth with my hands. "Really? And by the way, you're never supposed to reveal your plan to the opponent."

"Will you shut up," he barked, continuing to pace. "So, that's been put on hold for the moment, so we can just forget our differences."

"Um, what. How am I supposed to forget that you dimwit?" I asked indignantly. "This is a waste of my time Liam, and frankly, way more anti-climatic than I had expected. Get to the important part please."

He pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation. "I have a greater picture in mind. I was only focusing on one corner of it when I could have it all!"

He breathed heavily after that sentence as if the excitement took too much energy out of him.

"I don't have to steal your power, but I can make you more powerful. Side by side, we could be unstoppable!"

"You're assuming that I would actually work with you," I scoffed. "And that's no-go for me."

"You will once you know what I'm about to offer you," Liam said, catching my attention.

He walked over to one of the many shelves and took something out of the 5th one. It was a small bottle with dark liquid in it. Behind him, I could see that he had many more rows of those bottles, but for what, I didn't know. Next to the shelves was a long table lined with dozens of knives of different shapes and sizes.

"What is that?" I questioned, unable to help my curiosity.

"This is liquified Hellcraft," at my startled expression, he added "Don't worry. It's not as bad as it sounds. If you drink it, it will make you stronger."

"I am not drinking some random devil thing you just hand over to me," I exclaimed. "Nuh-uh!"

"Kaitlyn," he tried to keep his voice calm. "Right now, you're weak, defenseless, you can't even shift for god's sake! I can, by the way. This will strengthen you, give you more power."

"Why would you give this to me?" I challenged, and he rolled his eyes.

"Because I want you on my side. Times have changed Sister. This is the 21st Century now, women can become men's equals."

"Please, women were always equals, if not higher," I scoffed. "We actually use our brains."

"Whatever," he snapped. "Try some."

Without waiting for my response, he took out a glass and started pouring the liquid inside. It was a deep maroon color and almost looked like blood, even though the texture was much too light. It had a luminescence to it, and the Hellcraft seemed to glow in the lighting.

"I'm good," I refused, but he didn't listen, slamming the cup down right in front of me.

"Try some! And I'll let you go unharmed. I also won't touch your friends."

"Is this thing really that valuable, that you would let go of your plan?" I remarked, and he nodded. "Fine, I'll take this one glass only."

"That's fine by me."

I raised the glass to my lips and let the cool liquid slip into my mouth. As soon as it touched my tongue, I choked on the burning sensation. With some difficulty, I swallowed it down, and it went down my throat slowly, stinging the entire way. I had sipped half of the tall glass.

"Ew, that was horrible!" I croaked, coughing into my hands. "Is it supposed to taste that bad?!"

"It's Hellcraft, what do you think?" Liam deadpanned. "How do you feel?"

At the very question, I noticed the enormous difference my body felt with only a few sips. It was as if everything was heightened, as Stefan loved to say. I could see everything in a fish-eye view, smell everything, hear better, and felt as if I could run for miles.

I never noticed how clumsy my mundane body was until I got up out of the bed.

"Wow," I breathed out, in awe of the magical liquid.

"What have you done?" I heard a voice gasp from right next to me, and turned to see the ethereal figure of my mother.

That's when I seemed to realize what exactly I was doing, and the dazy trance snapped. I sat back down on the bed quickly and pushed the cup away from me.

"N-no," I stammered. "I can't take this. I won't drink anymore!"

"You haven't finished the glass," he practically growled.

"This stuff is right from Hell!" I yelled. "I can literally feel the dark power coursing through my veins!"

"Well, how do you think you'll get more powerful, huh?! Are you gonna keep going to those useless training lessons with the Salvatore, or keep struggling to find more information! You've already gotten kidnapped 3 TIMES! And you couldn't even fight back. You're completely helpless! Your friends don't even need you!"

"Stop!" I choked out, not wanting to listen to him. "You don't know anything about me or my life! I'm leaving now!"

"That wasn't our deal," in his rage, the whites of his eyes disappeared until the whole surface was black.

"What have you done to yourself?" I gasped.

"He's been taking the Hellcraft," my mother whispered sadly. "Oh, Liam."

"You've been taking this crap?! It's literally consuming you from the inside out!"

"No! It's making me strong!" he bellowed. "And it will for you as well! Don't be dumb Kaitlyn."

"Let. Me. Leave," I warned. "Now."

"Or what?" he smirked. "You can't do anything that would hurt me. And I still haven't taught my lesson to you yet. You don't disrespect your elders."

He whistled through his fingers and two men rushed in, grabbing me by the upper arms and dragging me towards a chair. I tried to fight, even managing to clock one of them on the ear, but they were too strong. I was utterly pitiful, just like my brother said.

They tied me down with tight ropes that cut into my flesh, making me wince in pain. Once it was all over, they left the room, and it was only Liam and me. He hummed lightly, picking up one of the many various knives he had on the long table, and walked over to me.

"Do you know what this blade is made out of?" he asked me, but I didn't answer. "It's made of a rare metal called tantalum and is extremely poisonous to angels. Think of it like vervain and vampires."

"Is that what your sword is made out of?" I hissed.

"Oh no, that's made out of something entirely different," he chuckled. "Listen carefully Kaitlyn, for I am about to educate you."

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