The Vampire Diaries

Something was wrong.

Elena put her journal down on the windowsill and moved cautiously to the door, extending her hearing throughout the house in order to pick up on any loose floorboards or any doors or windows opening – she could hear nothing, whatever the noise had been whoever had made it had gone: or was stood on the opposite side of the door. She stalked back across her room and grabbed a heavy-book; she didn't have many weapons as such at her disposal so the book would have to be protection enough. She turned the knob and opened the door, springing back – in case something flew at her – but relenting when she realized that there was no-one on the landing.

She crept across the hall to Jeremy's room and pushed open the door and felt the book drop from her hands, in a blur of emotion she crossed the room and turned Jeremy over, he was still warm after death but she could tell from his neck it had been snapped and implicitly understood what that meant, she scanned his wrist for his ring and swore loudly when she saw he wasn't wearing it. She dropped to the floor in tears beside Jeremy, clutching his hand, and then flew away from it as she felt it clutch back, he leaned awake in bed as though it had been a bad dream and Elena heard the sickening crack as his neck righted itself on his shoulders. He smiled at her warmly as though nothing was the matter.

"Jer…how do you feel?" Elena ventured, maintaining her distance, she had to get out of the room – if Jeremy bit her then he wouldn't have a choice and she could tell even though he was her brother that wouldn't stop him being hungry for her blood – the thirst would be overpowering, it would block out any other warnings or common sense, it would just call him to blood.

"A little…thirsty," he admitted but did not move, Elena remained wary but stopped edging closer to the door, "Elena am I-"

"-not yet, you haven't had blood," Elena blurted out before chiding herself for pointing out what he needed to do to transition, now she would have to make the decision, she needed to get out of there, "Jer do you-" She saw tears form in Jeremy's eyes and then begin streaming down his face, her maternal streak urged her to rush across and hug him tightly in her arms but she resisted the call.

"Klaus." He mouthed and Elena immediately turned and fled, slamming the door behind him and running into her room, shutting her door behind her, she flipped open her phone and hammered in Stefan's number, waiting as the tones droned on in her ear until he picked up, "Get here – now." She paused and waited for panicking minutes – every noise was Jeremy breaking free from his room, preceding to bite her, every creak on the floorboard him edging closer, every sound at the window Klaus returned to break in and turn her too, she turned in frightened panic when the window jostled and then realized it was Stefan, he prized the window open and slipped inside, wrapping her in a protective embrace, immediately Elena felt her fear for herself abating, though her worry for Jeremy lingered, deep in her stomach.

"What is it?" Stefan probed, stroking the back of her head lovingly, "Shh…Shh, Elena what is it?"

She looked up into his deep, dark eyes and she felt herself removed of worry and felt herself become rapidly composed, "He's been turned…and he said it was by…Klaus." She felt Stefan stiffen at the news, as though a current had shot up his back sending him rigid in her arms, the stroking stopped and she felt the arms slip away from her as her boyfriend processed the news that the Werewolf-Vampire hybrid presumed dead had returned from the other side.

"Did he…?" Stefan prodded, searching Elena's neck for bite-marks but she shook her head, he checked her wrists for good measure regardless. "What do you want me to do?"

"I…I don't know – he's probably better at your place where you can keep an eye on him," Elena looked into his eyes for reassurance, he returned her look with one of agreement, "it will have to be me…when he turns I mean…I'm not gonna let him ruin anyone else's life."

"Are you sure you want him to turn – do you even know what he wants?" Stefan reminded and Elena frowned indecisively, she'd simply presumed he would want to live on…to be with Bonnie…to be with the others…simply to ensure that he lived a real life, "It's a big decision for you to take on your own for him Elena…I think he's old enough now that you can trust him to make his own choice."

"Thank you for tonight," Elena confided, kissing him tenderly on the cheek, "he's in his room…I'll call Bonnie to come over and I can break the news to her, I don't know how she's going to take this." Stefan nodded and left her in her bedroom while she quickly text Bonnie, she crossed to Jeremy's bedroom and found Stefan looking at an empty bed and then towards the open-window, Elena frowned deeply – Jeremy was gone, a new Vampire unleashed upon a town of unsuspecting people. She considered the parallels to Stefan as a ripper and found herself running towards the front door at exactly the same time as Stefan.

. . .

Caroline hovered at the bar and sipped nervously at her cocktail, she wasn't even sure why she'd asked Matt to make it – maybe to warm her up after the cold night and the experience they'd gone through…maybe to reassure herself that she was still alive: that she'd made it through it all, maybe to reassure herself that this was her Matt, that he had pulled through Jeremy's ordeal unscathed and presumably been saved by Olivia, that this wasn't just some phantom from the other side, from the veil dividing the worlds of the living and the dead, here to torment her about her feelings for her love – for the one boy that had ever made her feel truly alive, made her feel truly joyful and truly remorseful – the one she had given her heart to.

He rested his head on his wrists as he looked across the bar to her – the Grill was deserted and it was so surreal to be completely alone with Matt, like she'd wanted to be for so long and have nothing to say to him…other than to order a Martini…something she'd never had before just on a whim to see if her boyfriend…ex-boyfriend…boy-who-she-loved-but-hadn't-determined-their-relationship really was the same person he had been before. He seemed singularly unfazed by the fact that he had nearly died, curiously detached that Jeremy Gilbert had tried to kill him, relaxed to the point that she was actually unsettled by his serene disposition.

She swirled the olives and looked him in the eye across the bar, "Do you…feel different?"

"I feel fine Car," he said turning away to ensure that all the bottles were in the right place, "why do I look different?" He turned around and smiled at her with that sweet heartthrob smile that had made Caroline feel so warm inside, feel so heartened, it was the kind of smile that made even the coldest hearts melt – the kind of smile that normally broke hearts but in Matt's case it was only his heart that had ever been broken, first by Elena and then by Caroline herself when he'd discovered she was a Vampire though that was inadvertent – she hadn't meant for the news to break his heart and she hadn't meant to become a Vampire. It was simply an unfortunate circumstance of being one of Elena Gilbert's friends that you had to have some supernatural trait.

"No you look…exactly the same, exactly as handsome," she said almost absent-mindedly and then fixed him with one of the piercing gazes that he couldn't wriggle out of so easily if he wanted to avoid her on a topic, "Matt…what's going on…between us…with us…what are we? Because I really need some clarity you know? I mean are you done with me, are we over? Because every time I think that we're over or that you've moved on we end up…getting drawn closer together."

"I'm…look I'm sorry…I haven't been fair or really handled the whole Vampire thing all that well…if I was understanding and had been a real man then I would have stood by you and helped you…and…I didn't…and I wish I could say it was because I was scared or I didn't know how to help you but it wasn't that Caroline," he looked her straight in the eyes and at that point she knew the relationship was over and his heart would never be hers again, even if he might own hers forever, "somewhere deep inside of me I felt…uncomfortable around you…maybe even…maybe I was disgusted or something…I just…I'm not like Elena…I don't just accept things like that so easily Car…I'm…I'm sorry but I think it's time that we just…parted ways. I want to stay friends but I know…and I think you to do that it'd just be too hard."

Caroline nodded and held back her tears, stowing them elsewhere to be let out another time…she wanted so very badly to cry over Matt, to let out all her pain and anguish…let away all her love in the form of other emotions…allow her personal energy to just diffuse into the air around her and leave her, bereft of love for Matt, bereft of love for anyone, a robot that could move without attachment or passions toward other people. She felt a different emotion in that instance though – danger. She could feel every single nerve in her body reaching out for the source of the disturbance, every fibre of her being on alert as her senses extended through the building and she hollowed in on it – the bathroom window – now forced open, someone was advancing from the other side. She had crossed the room in the blink of an eye but unfortunately fell for the typical trip of getting smashed in the face by the exploding door of the room and carried across to the opposite side of the Grill, momentarily dazed. She heard the thing crossed the room and heart Matt yell as though there was a struggle and then groan as though in continuing and momentary pain. Caroline threw the door back off herself and righted herself spying Jeremy Gilbert, once more drinking at Matt before dropping his limp body to the floor and turning to face Caroline.

She ran at him – a snarl escaping her mouth as she lunged toward him, knocking him into a set of chairs and then finding him stronger than her, as he rose to his feet, grabbed her face and smashed her to the floor, she looked up as he snapped a chair-leg and turned it toward her, moving to prompt it and then paused as his hand was arrested and the steak removed from it forcibly, he then dropped to the floor – Caroline recognized the sign of a mental aneurism: did that mean Jeremy was a Vampire again? Had something gone wrong after the ceremony – did he continue to have a part of the Beast within him?

She looked up for her saviour and spotted Matt, standing staring at his hands intently and then he looked to her – worry etched on her face, she flipped open her phone and hammered in Elena's number, allowing it ring out before she answered on the other end.

"Hey it's Caroline…yeah…yeah he's at the Grill with me and Matt…how did you," she paused as Elena interjected again, "no sure…something happened to him but he's fine now, we'll look after him till you get here." Matt raised an eyebrow at her and she shrugged, "She's bringing Stefan and Bonnie – should I call Damon?" Matt shrugged and gave her an you know this better than I do look and her eyes narrow offensively, her sadness of before forgotten in the adrenaline of the momentary danger shared between them, "I'll just text him." She neglected to text Tyler – she probably had better leave it, bringing him into the situation between her and Matt at this point wouldn't help, she wasn't just going to jump into the Werewolf's arms…she wasn't even sure how she felt about Tyler…she wasn't even sure what it was she was meant to do.

. . .

Tyler slid out of his bed and crept along the hallway to the bathroom – he was tired and needed the embrace of sleep but he was unbearably warm and even with the window open in his room he was burning up: it probably had something to do with the proximity of the Full Moon – a few days away but he was becoming more agitated and needed his rest for that ordeal – not that he wasn't glad to have survived almost being killed and then be brought back to life by an angel…or whatever it had been, but sometimes being a lycanthrope consumed everything. He was going through one of those all-consuming periods.

He turned on the light and bent down, splashing his face with water and then froze as he spotted the smirking, blonde-haired figure in the reflection of the mirror, he turned around and Klaus was gone, running wild in the Mansion. Tyler crept from the doorway and walked in a controlled but swift way – hoping to move quickly without having Klaus appear out of nowhere…his mind couldn't even process the fact that Klaus couldn't be here and he should be dead, all it could think was autopilot him to safety – if he got to his room and bolted the door he could be safe, or at least safer than he already was.

He swung inside the door to his room and closed it, sinking to the floor, relieved that he had made it one piece, and then he heard a man clear his throat behind him.

.

Damon wasn't even sure why he was drinking with Alaric – was he too old? After more than a century of being a twenty-something he had developed an instinct for when he was becoming stale, and sipping Scotch with a High School History Teacher didn't feature into his dark, alluring disposition which he hoped would continue to lure him dozens of young, unsuspecting girls and there willing necks for his pleasure. Perhaps it was because as the elder brother he felt like it was a token of achievement to be able to do this, he sipped at his Scotch pensively as he regarded Alaric who had seemed jumpy since he'd gotten a text a few minutes before.

"If I didn't no better," Damon said in one of his voices that started of calm and controlled and gradually transitioned into menace, "I'd say that that text rattled your cage Ric – have you got something to hide, something you want to keep from me?" he prodded, allowing his eyes to grow a little with the occasional world, adding an increased hint of menace.

"I'm not the one that wants to hide things," Alaric replied curtly with a kind of fortitude that Damon wouldn't have given him the credit for having, "maybe you should look a little closer to home than me?"

"Stefan?"

Alaric didn't offer a reply.

"Elena."

He remained stubborn and unrevealing.

"Ric," Damon said smiling in a way that was mock-friendly but laced with a sinister edge, "either you tell me who's keeping things from me or I rip your heart out right now." He said, hovering his hand above the spot on Alaric's chest.

"They're at the grill – Jeremy's a Vampire." Alaric murmured, "They thought I should keep you away – you know, in case you do anything rash."

Damon smiled and in the blink of an eye he was gone and Alaric was alone, he dialled in the number and let the tones ring out on the cell-phone.

"He did exactly what you predicted he would, I'd guess five minutes before he's with you." He estimated, Alaric rose to his feet as there was a knock at the door and crossed to it and opened, scanning for the person who'd rung the bell and dropped to the floor at a whimper as he spotted Tyler, naked, and shivering lying on the floor, bound in a kind of shimmering, metallic net, Alaric drew him in side and looked at Tyler, he was covered in cuts and bruises and blood was trickling out of each wound on his body, slowly but perceptibly, he lifted the phone, "I need help, now."

.

"What happened to Bonnie?" Caroline asked as Stefan and Elena entered through the back door, crossing quickly into the main part of the room and crouching beside Jeremy who remained glazed over – unconscious, after what had been done to him – after what Matt did to him Caroline corrected herself though she didn't want to venture what Matt had actually done, until she'd discussed it with him: that was beyond human capability, Jeremy should've been able to snap Matt cleanly in half – he very nearly had snapped her in half.

"She had to go," Elena deflected, she didn't want to say anything that might worry Caroline, the whole appearance of Tyler on the doorstep had been unsettling, the fact that she could predict Klaus had something to do with it was just filling her with a growing sense of danger, of evil, pervading all around as she had felt in the weeks before the return of Giuseppe, she'd hope she'd seen the back of it, "and Damon's on his way too," it seemed prudent to tell them he was on the way, she wasn't even sure why she'd kept him away…probably because he was too volatile around fresh Vampires that had just turned, she'd also carefully observed a growing urge to protect Jeremy growing within Damon – something that probably owed to his feelings about having neglected his relationship to Stefan but was also an outlet for his unrequited feelings of affection for Elena, she mused about that before being drawn back to the situation and dropping to Jeremy's side, stroking gingerly at his face, "what happened to him?"

Caroline spotted Matt moving to talk and interjected, "I knocked him out…he was…strong but I managed to outmanoeuvre him, brain versus brawn." She shrugged smiling sweetly as if the issue had been no trouble, she caught Matt's eye for a moment and saw a fear in them – an anxiety – did she not want the others to know? Was he worried about what she was doing – whether somehow she didn't want them to know anything – did he think she was trying to be controlling?

Elena stumbled backward on her hands as Jeremy's eyes flew open and she even let out a cry before getting back to her feet and moving to stand above her brother, Stefan dropped beside him defensively, Caroline on the other side ready to grab them. Jeremy took a few deep breaths: he was panicking gasping for air and then settled, swinging his head around scanning for someone or something and then he breathed a single world, "Klaus."

.

He watched on as the building exploded into flames, like an enormous many-tentacled beast the fire smashed out of the windows, licking toward the sky, swirling wildly, like a crazed animal, desperate to break free from its bonds, bracing against its prison and gradually tearing it to pieces. Klaus licked his lips with glee and then looked to his loyal servants – Greta and Maddox and smiled at them, his faithful lieutenants – completely terrified of him and what he would do to them, completely loyal because what other choice did they have? He would just find someone more powerful than them, someone to replace them, to fill the hole in the line – and then they would die.

Fear was his greatest tool, and he intended to exploit it.

.

Hope you liked my new Chapter,

I really liked writing for TVD first time around so hopefully it'll be as good this time,

Reviews and Responses very welcome and accepted,

Acrobat

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