David

After her parents died in a car accident, the girl clung to school as the only thing that remained reminiscent of normal life. Mystic Falls was gray and quiet, but the days passed—and that was enough to keep her from going crazy.

She noticed the new guy's presence immediately. His gaze lingered on her longer than it should have. Not warm. Studying. It made her feel cold. Then everything seemed to fall into place. Michael was attentive, calm, caring. He walked with her to the cemetery, held her hand when she couldn't cope with the pain on her own. Sometimes she noticed oddities—cold skin, shallow breathing—but love always found its justification.

Everything collapsed with the arrival of his older brother. David Salvatore smiled as if he knew more than anyone else. A week later, in an empty school, she heard the greedy sound of drinking. In the restroom, David was biting into the neck of another student.

" How long are you going to watch? I thought you were smarter, but this is even more interesting. I'm a vampire. Like everyone else in the Salvatore family. My little brother just decided he was better than the rest of the clan. "

A second later, he grabbed her by the neck and pressed her against the wall with such force and harshness that it seemed as if a hole had been left in the tile, but he certainly didn’t care about the pain and her attempts to escape, which seemed pitiful in comparison to the strength of what she learned was a vampire.

" I can bite through your neck in a second, and you won't even notice. Except you'll feel a warm trickle down your skin... which I'll lick off, by the way. With great pleasure. "

A smile spread across his face, revealing sharp, white fangs, coated with barely noticeable blood from the student lying next to him. His voice dropped to a whisper that reverberated through every bone in her body.

" I'm giving you five seconds to escape. You won't make it in time? I assure you I'll shed a man's tear at your funeral. Or not... it depends on how fast you run. "