Set Fire to the Past and Watch it Burn (Elena AU Part 1)

She had lost everything, her parents, her aunt, her uncle/birth father, and finally her brother. The pain was too much to bear. One person alone couldn't possible contain so much loss and heartache. She didn't want to go on. How could she with her entire life in shambles? Ever since she had learned about the existence of vampires so much more had gone wrong in her life than she could ever imagine. 

Elena took one last look at look at her family home and felt the tears stinging her eyes. All this place brought was an intensely unbearable pain. Holding back the tears that threatened to spill from her eyes she lit a match and dropped it onto the booze that soaked the floor. With that, she walked out the front door and into the yard. She didn't care who saw the raging inferno as the entire house went up in flames. 

The dancing firelight reflected in her eyes as she watched the only home she had ever really known turn into nothing. She had to explain her brother's death, and she got rid of the one thing that contained as much pain as her own mind and heart. Too much for her fragile human soul to bear. It was at that moment that she turned to Damon and begged him to compel away her memories. She wanted no trace of her old life left to drag her down into the dark abyss. 

If she had been a vampire she would have easily flipped her humanity switch and taken away all emotion. Thus far, she had been lucky enough to survive as a human. With so many vampires around her, this was shocking, but at the same time not. She wanted to remain human. With a surge of anger and pain coursing through her, she demanded that her memories of vampires, werewolves and anything else also be wiped. 

Despite the memory wipe, one thing remained unchanged as it was part of her very DNA. She was and always would remain a doppelganger, even if she had no recollection of this. As part of the compulsion, she was told to wear her vervain necklace and that it had a special sentimental value to her. She was given a new name and a new life. Despite all of this and no longer having recollection of the world she was and forever remained a part of, inevitably she would one day be drawn back in. 

It was with this knowledge that she started with a clean slate and felt drawn to New Orleans. There she got a job at one of the busiest bars in town and was able to start her life anew. She was going by the name of Shelly now as part of her new life package, but nothing could ever change who or what she truly was. 

Despite her compulsion to forget the world of anything not human, she was followed one night after her shift ended. Waving to her coworkers with the bubbly smile she always wore she stepped out into the still bustling French Quarter. It wasn't unusual for a drunk tourist to seem like they were following you. Shrugging it off she told herself, "Snap out of it Shelly. Nobody is following you!"

It wasn't long before she was quickly pushed into an alley seeing the darkness around this man's eyes and fangs growing in his mouth. Her heart was beating very fast as he tried to compel her not to scream. This compulsion failed as her necklace kept her safe. A hand gripped her throat tightly and threatened to cut off her air supply, the bare skin on this man's arm brushing the silver pendant. Letting out a painful yelp as his skin burned, he knew that in order to get her, he would need to catch her without the necklace.

Moving back, his face returned to human as a sinister threat was spoken into the warm, humid night. "Next time, you won't be so lucky Elena." Blinking her eyes fast as he was gone as quickly as he had come, she couldn't figure out what had happened. Who...no what was he and why had he called her by another name than her own? What the hell had her necklace done to him? Rubbing her sore neck, she quickly made her way back home, determined to solve this mystery about who she was and what this thing had wanted with her.