I'm dreaming. Or so I wish I were. I'm running through the trees. The same trees that would usually take me to a place in my head where the world didn't exist and all our problems were perished. Yet now, they seem to be never-ending. Was there always that many?
I can hear shouting and growling and my heart races faster, my breath beginning to run out. Anyone but him, I plead to a silent force that I suddenly believe in, anyone but him.
I can see a blazing light and for a moment I think I'm in the wrong clearing. But I can feel him, an invisible force drawing us together even without our will. I feel my heart sink as I realize the blazing light is a house on fire, a house that is almost a second home to me.
What makes it worse is when I see the creature growling in front of it, being stalked by someone pointing a gun to it.
I run towards them, ignoring the shouts around me to stay back.
"Get away from him! Leave him alone!" I cry out, trying to pull the gun away. Anyone but him, anyone but him.
The growl is so deafening it's all I can hear. It drowns out everything else, turning my world to darkness. I want to scream for him, for myself, for anything - but I can't. All I can feel, all I can see is the darkness.
"Kat, wake up. We're here." I hear my aunt say, shaking me awake. I open my eyes, rubbing the sleep out. I take a step out of the car and look around the home I left 3 years ago. The town I was now returning to. The town that was the root of my dreams as well as my nightmares. The town that still held that invisible force, the force that left me unable to refuse the responsibility left upon me after my grandmother had died.
Beacon Hills is unique town. It is a great tourist attraction; however, what they don't see is the reality of the residents - a mixture of vampires, witches, werewolves and humans. In order to keep us all from destroying each other, Klaus, the original founder of the town and original vampire (long story; trust me) keeps a council. A representative of the witches, the werewolves, the humans and the vampires (himself).
The humans aren't exactly aware that they live with supernatural beings. Some of them are - like the chief of police and the chief of surgery at the hospital. For others, what they don't know won't hurt them. I was now being given the job as town head (according to the humans) as well as the chief of investigation at the police department. What that really meant was that I was now in charge of covering up incidents involving the supernatural beings. Fun, fun, fun!
My grandmother was the representative of humans before she passed. The rep line goes in a unique way - the eldest son's daughter is given priority to take the position. If she refuses, her younger sister resumes it. In that absence, the second son's daughter takes it, and so on. It is a strict rule, and in case no daughters are present, the rep must choose whomever she wills to take her place.
Things take an interesting turn, of course, when the rep is married into a family of werewolf hunters. She can't refuse the responsibility, and so her only option is to beg and plead with the family to leave the werewolves of her town alone.
My grandfather broke all ties with my grandmother when she was given the responsibility. He had a strict duty to his family, and he'd picked that duty over his lover. He'd taken my father and his two brothers away from their mother and had raised them on his own. The boys had been old enough to understand the gravity of the situation, and so they had broken ties with their mother as well. All except my father, who had returned to her. When he'd met my mother, she'd convinced him to go visit my grandmother. He'd gone to see her right after their wedding, and took me there from time to time after I was born.
When I was 10, my mother passed. Her sister took me in after that, as my father was always busy hunting werewolves. I didn't see much of him, nor much of the rest of my family. Though I still had all the education and the basic training of a werewolf hunter, it was something I'd chosen not to pursue, much to my uncles' dismay.
"Come on, let's unpack and settle in. You're meeting with the Town Council at 4," my aunt says, pulling me out of my thoughts.
The town council is held inside the town hall, an old building in the middle of beacon hills reserved strictly for major meetings like these. At the reception is a brunette with short hair and pretty hazel eyes. I know she's a vampire because when she smiles at me, I see fangs shrinking into her gums. She points me towards the main hall, doors that are guarded with another two vampires.
"Katrina Mercure?" one of them asks me, and I nod, absentmindedly cupping my covered neck, a habit I'd developed ever since leaving this town. As he opens the door an invisible force hits me, knocking the breath out of me. His face is the first face I see and 3 years without seeing him feels like a lifetime, suddenly. His eyes meet mine and they flash blue - giving away his true nature to his mate. And for a moment I let myself feel everything I've kept inside. I let myself long to touch him, to be with him, to hold him. Then I force myself with all my power to look away from Derek Hale, grinding my teeth together, fisting my shaking hands.
I smile politely as Klaus rises at the head of the table, opening his arms out in welcome.
"Welcome, Katrina. You're just in time, come have a seat please." He says.
"Thank you, Klaus." I reply, ignoring the eyes I can feel burning into me and taking a seat beside Klaus - which unfortunately makes the task harder.
"It seems the witches cannot keep track of time," Elijah, Klaus's brother mutters from across the table, growing agitated.
Klaus chuckles.
"Patience, brother. My dear, I'm so very sorry that this is the welcome you receive. I hope you'll allow me to through you a welcoming feast; it is done so for every new representative that joins the council. And of course yours is a special case, just like your grandmother's, considering your paternal lineage is one of werewolf hunters.." Klaus speaks. I smile and nod, knowing it is a dangerous move to turn down whatever Klaus offers. The more Klaus likes you, the better. It keeps the vampires in control and off the humans, whom it was now my responsibility to protect.
"She was a lovely woman, your grandmother. We're all very sorry for your loss - it is indeed our loss as well." Elijah speaks, in a tone of remorse. I manage a smile at him, knowing all too well just how fond he'd been of my grandmother - having fallen in love with her the moment he'd seen her.
"Ah! Just in time!" Klaus claps his hands together, grinning wide. I turn my head to see a balding man in a white doctor's robe walk in. He smiles at me and I feel nostalgic, which makes me stiffen. Any feelings I ever felt for this town, I always tried to block them out. But seeing the doctor in person, especially when he comes to me and hugs me, condoling my loss, brings those feelings to the brink, threatening to unravel.
"Now that we're all here, let's take this oath, shall we, Katrina?" Klaus asks, as the doctor takes a seat beside me. I nod, since no words seem to be formulating inside of my mouth. "Very well, Katrina Mercure, daughter of the eldest son of Marie Delacour-Mercure, do you take the responsibility of being the elder, the leader and the representative of the humans of Beacon Hills?"
"I do."
"Alright that's done then, moving on.."
And it seems to drag on for an eternity, intensified by the crackling force inside of me pulling me towards the person across the table from me. It's like an iron grip right around my chest, almost physically painful - just getting tighter and tighter.
A while later, I leave possibly the most uncomfortable meeting I've ever been to in silence. As soon as I'm out the door I take a deep breath - yet it doesn't seem to help. I want to pull out my hair because coming back to this town is only making everything worse. Seeing him again doesn't relieve any sort of pain, it just makes it worse. I'm physically fighting nature and destiny by staying away from him - but it's not my choice. It's his - he was the one who wanted me out of this town. He was the one who didn't want me anymore.