I woke up with an immense pain in my head. My cellphone read that it was almost 2 in the morning, and I was in an unfamiliar place, surrounded by unfamiliar people. I was lying across an old couch, that reeked of booze and sweaty bodies. As I held my pounding head, and struggled to get up, I felt something wet splash my shirt.
"Woah, m-my bad dude!" A drunken guy that I did not recognize had spilled a solo cup full of beer all over my brand new blouse.
"Really? This is new ugh!" I complained. He merely shrugged and kept walking. Typical. I held onto the side of the couch as I stood up, but I didn't realize how drunk I still was. My legs felt like jello, and I nearly fell to the hard wood floor before grabbing onto a nearby desk and pulling myself back up to my feet. I wondered just how much I had had to drink before this. I clutched onto the wall as I stumbled through the house, and into another room.
The whole house was littered with solo cups and beer bottles, but it must've been ending when I awoke, as the only people left in sight where a couple of men with their backs turned to me. One was a tall, slender male with clean cut brown hair and the other was a shorter, thick set male with long, untamed, dirty blonde hair. Both looked to be somewhere in their twenties. They were also the only thing standing in my way of the only visible exit. I tried to walk straight towards the front door, so that I could pass them quickly. Instead I stumbled, my body still feeling limp from the alcohol, and fell into the wall with a thud. They saw me.
"Where do you think you're going?" The taller man asked, swaggering towards me, so close that I could already smell the booze on his breath.
"The party's over. I was just leaving." I said matter-of-factly, avoiding eye contact with him and trying not to let on how terrified I was starting to feel.
His lips curled into a wicked grin, and his cold, clammy hand reached up and caressed my cheek.
"The party's just getting started baby." He said, as I smacked his hand away harshly.
"D- Don't touch me!" I wrapped my arms tightly around my body, trying to guard myself, and attempted to walk out again. The shorter man, who had been merely observing up until this point, quickly walked over to join us. Now both men were standing right in front of me, blocking me from leaving. I started to panic. Every idea I had of getting away from this situation, every defense I could use, I no longer had.
Two months ago, I had been cured from vampirism. When my friends and I finally managed to get our hands on the cure, after months of searching for it, we all agreed it would be given to Klaus (by force of course). We found out we couldn't kill him, or it would kill off his entire bloodline as well, including Elena, Damon, Stefan, Tyler... And me. Curing him was our only option to stopping his constant torment and control over us, and we were all determined to make that happen. Unfortunately our plan didn't go as we had hoped. I was the one chosen to administer the cure to Klaus, because of his odd, yet slightly flattering infatuation with me. My friends thought he would be at his most vulnerable when I was with him. So that weekend, I went to see him at his temporary home in Mystic Falls. At first everything was going just like my friends and I had planned. Klaus and I talked about anything and everything, we drank whine, we laughed, and he wasn't suspicious at all.
After a couple of hours, Klaus was at his most vulnerable he had been all night. He was slightly drunk, and trying to steal a kiss from me every chance he got. "It's time. Don't be afraid Caroline, you can do this." I thought to myself. Klaus was staring at me with his oceanic eyes. As he leaned in close to try to kiss me once more, this time I leaned in as well, feeling our lips touch for the first time. I tried to ignore the chills that rushed through my entire body as Klaus' cherry red lips collided with mine, then moved down to the gape of my neck. This was my only chance to inject him with the cure, and finally gain freedom from him for everyone; justice for the countless friends and family that had died at his hands. Jenna.. .. All of his hybrids... This was for them, and I would follow through.
With one hand running through Klaus' hair as he left a trail of light kisses down my neck, I slowly reached into my pocket with my other hand, pulling out a small syringe containing a blood-red liquid. I ran my fingers over it until I could find the release that would allow me to push the cure into his veins once I injected him with the needle end. Finally, I felt my finger touch the flat circular top. As Klaus reached down, lightly pushing my shirt up so that he could begin kissing my stomach, I reached for the bottom of his shirt as well, pulling it upwards and exposing his back. In one swift movement, I drew my arm up quickly to plunge the syringe into his back. Instead, a hand caught my wrist mid-way, and a glaring face met mine.
"You must think me really stupid, love. Coming here, seducing me..." He lifted his body from mine so that his knees were on either side of me, holding my chest with his hand. "And thinking I wouldn't notice you try to STAB ME IN THE BACK?" After the yelling had stopped and Klaus' face was no longer red with anger, he began to.. Wait was I seeing this right? He was laughing... Not just any laugh though, there was something chillingly sinister about it. "Here I was thinking we were the same Caroline when ironically -" He paused, his face suddenly turning to a glare again. "We couldn't be any more different." His hand pushed into my chest harder, tightening his grip on me. It was when I saw his other hand, that I began to plead. He was still holding the cure-filled syringe, and it was aimed right for my neck.
"Klaus! Please, don't do this! I'm begging you! I'm.. I'm sorry! You don't have to do this, just let me exp -" But before I could finish pleading, his hand had moved to my throat. I could feel the air leaving my lungs by the second.
"Enough Caroline, I'm tired of hearing your lies." The needle end of the syringe was now touching the flesh on my neck. I struggled to push his hand away, but there was no use. My lungs were already reaching their end, and the little energy I had left was long gone by now. "Consider this my final gift to you love."
And then, everything went black.
When I awoke, though my eyes were still shut, I could tell there was something different about my surroundings. The manor was now completely silent. Too silent. The fire beside the couch I lay on had also seemed to die out, and I knew I would be awaking to an eery darkness. But more than my surroundings themselves, my senses seemed to be lacking as well. Not once since my time as a vampire had I ever heard complete silence. In our ears, there was always something to be heard, whether it be an appliance running, or cars speeding past on the streets, but I heard nothing.
Even more terrifying than the silence, was the presence I felt next to me. I wasn't sure if there was really someone there, or if my mind was just playing tricks on me. I was terrified to open my eyes, afraid of what could be watching me in the darkness, but slowly, I opened my eyelids. As soon as I did, a lamp flickered on, lighting the small living room. Someone was indeed sitting on the coffee table next to the couch, staring me down with a menacing grin, but it was not Klaus. Worse.
"You look like hell. Would this be a bad time for an I told you so?"
Rebekah. I should've guessed. Apart from Elena, Rebekah was the only other vampire wanting the cure. She had even helped us find it. Instead, we decided to give it to her brother, Klaus. In her eyes, we had betrayed her; taken away her one chance at having the life she always wanted. If she was here, my chances of making it out of this house alive were slim to none. Rebekah was an original, and she could only be killed with a specific weapon. One I did not possess. When I finally looked up and made eye contact with her, she wore a devilish smirk.
"Rebekah.." I could barely get the words out, as my neck was still recovering from being strangled just minutes earlier. "To what do I owe the pleasure?" I was positive she could hear my heartbeat pulsating quickly with fear. She twisted a piece of her perfectly straight blonde hair in her finger, and rolled her eyes, still wearing her signature bitchy smirk towards me.
"Well if we're being honest, I came here to kill you." Her face transformed into a look of superiority towards me, which wasn't surprising, as Rebekah always thought herself a queen, and everyone else merely her worthless subjects. At her words, I instinctively began to move inches farther back into the couch, but I had nowhere to go.
"Rebekah, just listen to me, you don't want to do - " Before I could get the rest of my words out, Rebekah was on her feet, looming over me with a glare.
"I don't want to hear it!" She was yelling now, just inches from my face. "I told all of you to give ME the bloody cure, yet you gave it to my brother." She paused, looking up in thought. "Well, you tried giving it to my brother... " This thought must've given her some satisfaction, as her lips curled into a smile momentarily. "You know I helped you people, even after you all tried to have me and my family killed on more than one occasion."
A tinge of guilt raced through me at Rebekah's words. She was right after all. I tried responding to her accusations, but I was beat to the punch once more.
"But, I thought it over, and I realized death would be too easy." She sat back down on the coffee table in front of me, crossing one leg over the other. "You're human now Caroline, so wouldn't it be more fun to let you suffer through it? I know how much you liked being a vampire and all but..." Her shoulders raised in a quick shrug, and her voice became slightly chipper. "Oh well."
Everything in my body seemed to shut down. What did Rebekah mean by 'you liked being a vampire'? Past tense? Up until now, I couldn't quite remember what had happened before the darkness came; before I woke up to her snarling face in front of me, but now it was crystal clear. I had come here to put the cure into Klaus, but... No... He wouldn't have... He couldn't...
"And think about this Caroline. Every single day, for the rest of your miserable human life, just remember: I can find you and end it any time I'd like." She gave a smug look at her final words. Rebekah's taunting was almost pointless to me now, as my face was still down, wearing an expression of utter shock. It was I who now had the cure running through my veins. I was human. Again.
The weeks to follow were expectedly hell. I was surrounded by friends, (due to the fact that they were terrified to ever leave me alone again), yet I had never felt so alone... So.. vulnerable. When I turned into a vampire at 17, it was as if this new side of me emerged. A stronger person, not just physically but emotionally. I had a hard time accepting the fact that I had technically 'died', but I eventually grew to love that new found strength in myself. Embraced it. I never liked to admit it, but everyone around me knew; I loved being a vampire. In a way, I believed I was always meant to be one. Being given the chance to be human again should've been a wonderful thing, but instead it felt like an entire part of me had died. Then there was Tyler.
Even though I was upset over everything that had happened, my boyfriend, Tyler, made it easier. Just his presence had always had a way of making me happy when I was down. But I should've known, happiness doesn't last. Not for me and my friends at least. Not with the lives we live, and Tyler soon left me. Granted he had no choice. Klaus had threatened his life. Though it hurt all the same. He came back only for my prom, which was nice. After that, it went back to no word from him. It hurt... It hurt more than I ever thought possible. Tyler was my first love, and I couldn't let that go.
- It was hard to believe that had happened over three weeks ago, as I didn't feel any more comfortable with being human again as I did then. The constant flashbacks to my life as a vampire were all that kept me going sometimes... But this wasn't a dream, this was reality, and reality was that I was trapped in this house, with these predators, ready to pounce on me like a lion on a herd of gazelles. Except there were two lions, and one lonely gazelle. Me.
"Come here, it's okay. We won't hurt you." The taller man's lips were at my ear, taunting me in a whisper as his hands were slowly running their way up my waist. I began to panic. If I wanted out of this situation, I had to do something, quick.
In one instant, I pushed his hands away from my body, and threw the hardest punch I could muster up right into his jaw. It wasn't enough. Before I had time to even think of moving, his eyes were meeting mine; this time with fury.
"You really shouldn't have done that." He snarled, massaging his swollen jaw. Even the apparent pain my punch had caused wasn't enough to stop his advance. Two strong hands were now gripping around me, lifting me into the air upside down. I pleaded, kicking at the man's head and shoulders as hard as I could, but it was no use. He was stronger than me. I knew what was about to happen next, but I couldn't let those thoughts invade my mind. I couldn't give up. I knew I wasn't a vampire anymore, but I could still think as though I was.
I screamed as loud as I could, watching as he carried me into a pitch black room, and left the other man to stand guard in the hallway. I listened as the door locked behind us.
"Please let me go! You don't have to do this!" I screamed. My voice was already giving out. I'd never screamed so loud and so desperately in my life. Suddenly, my entire body hit something soft. The man had thrown me onto a bed. I couldn't see him, but I could feel his body pressed over mine, holding me into the mattress with force. His lips were hot on my neck, smacking against my flesh. I continued to try to make as much noise as possible, even with my mouth covered, not willing to accept that this was happening.
Suddenly, our embrace broke as we heard something large slam into the door behind us.
"What the hell." He exclaimed, moving off of the bed to go investigate. I couldn't see anything in the darkness, but I heard him say "Don't you dare move" as his voice trailed off towards the entrance to the room. About that time, the door to the room that was trapping me inside with this monster, was kicked open by some strong force with a bang, nearly hitting the man standing in front of my eyes could adjust to the light now entering the small room in front of me, I watched as a figure stepped into the room to join us. I couldn't quite tell who it was yet, but I could just make out their extremely slender frame, and long, dark hair. It was a woman.
She stepped forward slightly, and clutched the man tightly by his neck, slamming him into the wall to my left. She whispered something to him that I couldn't hear, and he was on the floor in an instant. Unconscious I presumed. Although I wouldn't feel a tad bit of guilt if he were just dead.
The figure walked over to the front of the room finally, and flicked on the lights. As soon as my eyes adjusted to the new lighting, they widened, and I let out a sigh of relief.
"Elena."
(Thank you in advance to everyone who reads this, and feedback is greatly appreciated, so feel free to let me know what you think of the first chapter!)
