Elena and Stefan were laying on the ground in the middle of the woods with a blanket covering them, the newly-turned vampire looked over at her lover and smiled.
"Hi." She smiled at him as she caressed his chest.
"Hey." He smiled back.
[One hour earlier]
"You're making a big mistake, Stefan." Claire told him as she sat on the desk with her feet up. She was wearing a Bardot Mila Crop Top, Red Skinny Jeans, Stud Back Sueded Heel Booties. Her hair was done in a top bun ring, she had black buttons earrings and she wore red lipstick. (Outfit in the profile)
"No, I'm not. If I can make Elena get used to animal blood right of the gate..." Stefan told her as he packed his bag.
"That is bullshit and you know it." Claire scoffed.
"Maybe she can bypass everything that we went through-"
"You're so delusional." She shook her head in desbelief.
"Maybe she has a shot with this." Stefan suggested.
"No, Stefan. You're doing this all wrong and this is going to bite you back in the ass." Claire told him.
"She won't be able to handle this if she hurts someone, Claire." Stefan huffed. "Her compassion is her frailty and everything is heightened right now."
"Well, let's just hope that she is not a fan of Bambi..." Damon announced as he walked into the room.
[At the woods]
Elena and Stefan were walking through the woods so they could find their first prey for Elena to feed. They spotted a dear and Stefan noticed her hesitation, she didn't want to attack the animal.
"Close your eyes." He told her and she did what he told her to do and he quickly went for the animal.
[Back at the Boarding House]
Claire put her feet back on the floor with a loud thud, as she looked at Stefan with her blazing eyes.
"She needs human blood, Stefan. From the vein." Claire told him firmly.
"She is right, Stefan. And deep down you know it." Damon sat next to his girlfriend.
"Oh come on, you two know very well what is going to happen. You name a vampire who didn't kill at least one person, when they were new." Stefan looked at them.
"You name me one who went on a 'bunny diet' and didn't kill dozens." Claire retorted.
"If she kills someone, she will crumble. How much pain do you think she can take before she turns off her humanity switch?" Stefan crossed his arms over his chest.
"It happens to the best of us, at least once." Damon intervined. "And we get over it, Stefan."
"She can't control the bloodlust if she actually experiences the bloodlust." Claire got up and walked over to him.
"I'm doing this my way, so I really appreciate your opinion but I don't need it." Stefan snapped at her. He went to grab his bag and walk out of the room but Claire grabbed his arm to make him look at her.
"Hey, why are you talking to me like I'm the bad guy here? I'm just trying to help her, Stefan. Believe it or not, I can help people once in a while." Claire replied. "In fact, all I've been doing is helping people. Or did you forget that I nearly killed myself to keep you all safe?" She didn't give him a chance to talk as she stormed out of the room. Stefan realized that he was far too harsh with her and he went to follow her but Damon blocked him.
"I think, you've done enough brother." Damon hissed.
"I need to apologize, Damon. Get out of my way." The younger Salvatore ordered.
"No. You go deal with your girlfriend, I'm going to deal with mine." Damon told him firmly.
"This has nothing to do with you, so why don't you stay out of it?" Stefan snapped.
"Wrong, Stefan. If it envolves Claire, it has everything to do with me." Damon stood face-to-face with his brother. Before any of them could say anything else, Elena walked into the room to see the tension between the two brothers.
"Wow, what is going on here?" She questioned.
"We are just having a little disagreement about stuff, right?" Stefan spoke not taking his eyes off Damon.
"What stuff?" Elena looked at them confused.
"Claire thinks that you should drink human blood and Damon is supporting her." Stefan explained her.
"Because she has a point. And that is the logical reasoning of all vampires. You're a vampire now Elena, so be a vampire." Damon looked at the baby-vamp. Stefan grabbed his bag and walked over to Elena who was a little thoughtful.
"Ready to go?" He asked her and she nodded, when they were about to walk out of the room, Claire appeard in front of them.
"Vampires eat people. It's part of the natural food pyramide." Claire turned to Elena. "Take it from someone who has been here for a very long time." Elena looked at her not knowing what to say and Stefan grabbed her hand and walked out of the room.
Claire walked out of the room too with Damon following behind, when she reached downstairs, she went over to the liquor cabinet and poured two drinks.
"Glad to know that we are agreeing in something for a change." Claire broke the silence, she handed him his drink.
"Any other vampire would agree with you, Stefan obviously had to be the exception." Damon narrowed his eyes.
"Why do you that?" She gritted her teeth.
"Do what?" He cocked an eyebrow.
"You can't even make an effort to fix things." She slammed her glass on the coffee table.
"What do you want me to say? You think if we agree on a couple of things, have a heart-to-heart conversation and having sex will solve everything? Sorry, doll face but it won't, and for what exactly? So you can go behind my back again and do things your way? This is becoming a routine." He snapped.
"Whatever, Damon. You're not worth my energy anyway." She shrugged her shoulders as she walked out of the house. When he heard the door slam, he grabbed his glass and threw it against the fireplace in anger.
Stefan and Elena were in the woods as he teached her how to use her vampire speed to her advantage.
"I can't do it." She giggled as he stood behind her with his hands on her hips.
"It's like a starting line of a race, right? So you have to push off with all of your strenght, ok?" He told her.
"I was a cheerleader, I sucked at track." She moaned as she put herself in a racing position.
"You just have to concentrate, ok?" He put his hands on her hips again.
"I can't, all I can think about is your hands on my body." She smiled and he immediatly took his hands off. "No, no. I didn't say take them off, it feels good."
"Yeah?" He mused. "How does it feel like?"
"It feels like you're touching every nerve on my body." She let out a breath as Stefan ran his fingers across her arm.
"Everything is heightened." He whispered in her ear. "The taste, the smell." As he touched her in her belly. "The sight, the touch..." And he kissed her neck and she closed her eyes in pleasure, she begin to feel something igniate in her body and she quickly turned around and pulled him down for a passionate kiss. Stefan lifted her from the ground and pinned her against a tree, they began to take their clothes off as Elena kissed continued to kiss him passionately, suddenly she pushed him away from her and used her vampire speed to get away from him, she fell on her knees and began to vomit the blood that she had ingested from the animal.
A dark-skinned man entered the small cabin where Pastor Young and the council were before the place blew up. He began searching for traces with his flashlight, then he opened the stove and saw a letter that was directed to a girl named April.
Damon was sitting in his usual spot on the bar, nursing a glass of bourbon when Liz walked over to him.
"That seat is taken." He spoke up without looking at her. She placed a newspaper on the counter for him to read as she moved to another tool.
"Tubing of gas leads to a tragic explosion in the Young's farm." He read the paper, then he looked over at Liz. "Really?"
"Better than 'Town council blow up, police has no suspects'." Liz retorted. "Unless culprit is right next to me."
"Don't look at me, I always take credit when I kill people." He smirked at her, but she continued to look at him not convinced. "Seriously, stop looking at me like that, Liz. If I had killed 10 people, I wouldn't blow them up. I'd have a dinner party."
"The explosion was stimulated from inside, this wasn't an accident." Liz told him.
"You say that like it's a bad thing, the council is dead Liz, I see that as win." He smirked.
"I knew some of the council, since I was a kid. They were my friends." She hissed.
"Well, your friends tried to kill your daughter." Damon retorted, from the corner of his eye he saw a man approaching them. "Who's the new guy?"
"Excuse me, Sheriff. I was wondering if I could speak with you for a minute about the explosion at the Young's farm." The dark-skinned man replied.
"I'm sorry, Mr. ..." She waited for him to introduce himself.
"Oh, Connor Jordan." He extended his hand and she took it.
"Are you the Insurance investigator?" She questioned.
"No, no. I'm more of a independent contractor." He answered her as he looked over at Damon who gave him a fake smile. "Can we speak in private?" He turned to the Sheriff.
"Sure." She nodded as she shared a look with Damon.
"Thanks." Connor replied as he walked away and Liz began to follow him.
"Nice to meet you too, Mr. Busy bodyguy." Damon replied sarcastically.
Matt and Jeremy were putting some boxes in the truck of the car in the school parking lot.
"So, what are these again?" Matt looked at him.
"Paper lanterns." Jeremy answered. "The student council made them for after the memorial. You can light them up in honor of all the dead."
"Don't you think fire would be a little more inapropriate?" Matt questioned.
"I wouldn't make that crack in front of Elena." Jeremy chuckled.
"How is she?" Matt turned serious as he looked at Jeremy.
"I guess, she's fine... Considering." Jeremy trailed off.
"If there is anything I can do, sort of give her a ride, you let me know right?" Matt spoke. "I'm only alive because she told Stefan to save me first. She's a vampire because of me, so I'd like to pay her back or something."
"Yeah." Jeremy nodded as he grabbed another box with the help of Matt.
"Jeremy?" A girl with black hair and grey eyes questioned as she looked at the brown-haired boy. Jeremy stopped and turned to see who was calling him, he tried to recognize the girl but he couldn't point her.
"Picture an emo, with a crop and braces." She smiled at him. Then he realized who she was and walked over to her.
"April?" He questioned. "You look great. Remember April? Elena used to-"
"Babysitt you, yeah I remember." Matt nodded.
"Yeah, before I got sent to Boarding school by my dad." She replied.
"Your dad. Oh my God, I am so sorry about your dad." Jeremy looked at her apologetically.
"Thank you, I guess." Her smile faultered a bit. "I sorta don't know how to answer when people say that."
"Your dad was Pastor Young, right?" Matt turned to her.
"Yeah, the thing about the faulty gas." She nodded. The expression on their faces weren't as playfull as hers. "Sorry. I didn't figure out what to say about that either." She quickly changed the subject. "Wow, I am being a freak... I'm just, you know not much for grief, I guess." Jeremy gave her a small smile.
"I have to go register, I guess." She told them awkwardly as she walked past them.
"Hey, Care. It's me, I'm back. I, uh... Can you call me? I'm having some adjustment issues." Elena left a message for Caroline on the phone as she sat in one of Stefan's chairs in his room. She heard him approaching the room so she quickly hung her phone.
"Hey." She smiled at him.
"Hi." Stefan smiled back as he brought a bottle of champagne with him.
"What is that for?" Elena questioned.
"This is from the year, you were born." He told her as he placed the bottle and the glasses on the table. "I think we should celebrate."
"Celebrate what?" She creased her eyebrows.
"Your first feed." He answered. "I know it was disgusting, tramautic and horrible but you did it anyway." He walked over to her with the bottle. "You survived it."
"Well, uh... I wouldn't say I survived it. Actually it kinda made me sick." Elena told him honestly.
"Listen, I choked down for a month before the stomach could take." He replied. "It gets easier. This in the other hand, will go down like silk." He showed her the bottle.
"You're so cheery." She smiled fondly.
"Yeah, because you're here. And you're alive-ish." Stefan looked at her. "And you're gonna get through this." And she nodded her head. "So, would you like to do the honors?" He gave her the bottle.
"Ok." She nodded, she began to loosen the cork and then it popped out of the bottle. "Oh my gosh." She giggled as he poured champagne for them.
"Cheers." He saluted as he gave her a sweet kiss. They were interrupted by Stefan's phone, he grabbed it and pressed 'Answer'.
"Ah, perfect timing... Damon." He answered. "Yeah, we just got back." Stefan nodded, then his brows began to crease. "What?"
Claire walked into the Grill and spotted Damon sitting at the bar, she quickly walked over to him.
"That seat is taken." He told her without turning around.
"There is no one here." She creased her eyebrows.
"Well, I'm just going to pretend that someone is there. Because the alternative is just too damn depressing." He mused sarcastically. She narrowed her eyes but changed places anyway, so she went to sit on his left.
"So, I got a very interesting call from Stefan." Claire spoke.
"I bet." Damon nodded as he drank his bourbon.
"So, did you caused the explosion that killed the council?" She questioned.
"Am I wearing my 'I-blew-up-the-council' t-shirt? Why is everyone keep asking me that?" Damon huffed.
"I'm not accusing you, I'm just asking." Claire snapped. "Since you thought that I wasn't important enough to tell."
"Don't start, Claire. I'm not in the mood for your tantrums right now." Damon turned to look at her.
"How long are you going to be mad at me?" She hissed. "Who is being the child now?" He didn't answer her as he continued to drink his bourbon.
"You know what? You can be mad all you want, I don't give a single damn anymore." She spat as she got up from her seat and turned to walk away, but then Elena appeard in front of her.
"Hey, I was looking for you." She replied timidly.
"Well, you found me." Claire replied exasperated. "How can I be at your service?"
"If this is a bad time, I can go find-"
"No, no." Claire shook her head as she took a huge breath. "I'm sorry, Elena. I didn't want to take my anger on you, you just happened to be the first person who I came across."
"Is everything ok?" She questioned as she pushed a stray of her hair behind her ear.
"No, everything went to hell. But I don't want to talk about it." Claire sighed. "What did you want?"
"I uh, I think I need your help." She cleared her voice. "I can't keep any of the animal blood down."
"I figured as much." Claire nodded. "Pick your meal. You got Asian fusion, mexican and of course the good old american food."
"No." She shook her head. "No human blood. Stefan's right, I have to at least try to get through this without hurting anyone."
"Well, good luck with that." Claire scoffed. "Fine. Since you're too much of a good-gooder let's try something else." She grabbed her hand and led her to the bathroom. They walked inside and Claire locked the door behind her.
"What are you doing?" Elena questioned confused.
Claire bit her wrist and offered to her to drink, Elena looked at her wrist with a confused face.
"I'm giving what you need. Drink." Claire held her hand to her.
"What?" Elena shook her head.
"You're a new vampire, Elena. And you need warm blood from the vein, maybe this can do the trick." Claire explained her. "Blood sharing between vampires can be very intimate, almost sexually. But for that to happen you have to feel a romantic conection with the other vampire. Obviously with us is different, but we can create a bonding between us."
"What do you mean?" She frowned.
"An understanding. If Stefan wasn't hell bent with the 'bunny diet' methode, he could of thought about this." Claire elaborated. "Now drink." Elena grabbed her hand and began to drink from her wrist, after taking a few gulps Claire pulled away.
"I know it's not like drinking human blood, but at least it can ease the hunger." Claire told her.
"Thank you." Elena nodded and Claire unlocked the door to let her out.
At the Lockwood Mansion, Caroline and Tyler were making out in his bed as the blonde vampire pulled away after a while.
"This is wrong. A bunch of people died, and we're having sex!" Caroline sighed.
"Grief sex, it's healthy." Tyler shrugged like it was no big deal.
"It's selfish." Caroline turned to look at him.
"It's natural." He retorted. "Besides if we stopped having sex, everytime someone died in this town, we would explode!" He didn't let her protest ad he covered her mouth with his.
"We need to be more sensitive, Tyler." Caroline told him.
"Oh come on..." He whined but she shot him a look, he took a deep breath and looked at her. "I love you. How's that for sensitive?"
Caroline propped herself on her elbows and gave him a small smile, "I love you too." They smiled at each other and Tyler bent down to kiss her lips, after a few moments they heard the doorbell.
"Who the hell is that?" He huffed.
Downstairs Carol walked over to the door and opened it to reveal Connor Jordan, the man earlier from the Grill.
"Can I help you?" She questioned politely.
"Good evening. I'm hoping I could help you actually. I've spoken to Sheriff Forbes earlier, my name is Connor Jordan." He extended his hand and she hesitated for a moment before shaking it.
"Carol Locwood. I know you are Connor." She replied a matter-of-factly. "And I believe that the Sheriff made it clear that the tragedy at the farm house was an internal matter."
"That is a way to look at it, I guess. But I prefer the term 'covering up'." He replied snarkly. "Do you mind if I come in?"
"You know, I don't really think that is a good idea." She shook her head but he forced himself into the house anyway. "Excuse me!"
"You're aware that it wasn't an accident. Any colt fireman could've told you that." Connor told her.
"What are you? The press?" Carol scoffed.
"Not exactly." He shook his head. "So, 12 council members are dead. You are the mayor, why weren't you at that meeting?"
"It wasn't an official town business." She answered.
"What was it, then?" He questioned but before she could answer Tyler came running down the stairs.
"Mom?" He called, he turned to see Connor there. "What is going on?" Connor shared a look with Carol who seemed worried about his intentions.
"Can I help you with something?" Tyler asked him.
"Maybe. How are you doing? I'm Connor." He extended his hand and Tyler took it, then his hand began to burn with the contact and immediatly Connor pulled out his gun and shot him on the chest.
"Tyler! Oh my God." Carol gasped as she saw her son being shot.
Caroline heard the screams from downstairs and she quickly began to dress so she could see what was going on.
Connor put bullet in the gun and he pointed to the injured hybrid again as Tyler was lying on the floor inconscious.
"Tyler, run!" Carol yelled and suddenly he opened his eyes and before he could be shot again, he jumped to the window to get away. Connor quickly ran out of the house after him and just then Caroline came downstairs.
At the Salvatore Boarding House, Stefan was taking off the bullets out of Tyler's chest with pliers as he examined the bullets.
"Please, tell me that is the last one." Caroline replied with a small voice.
"These are specially carved, the length, the height..." He looked at the wooden bullet. "If you were a normal vampire, you would be dead."
"This guy knew what he was doing." Tyler breathed. "His gloves must be steamed in vervain... He was looking for a vampire and he didn't hesitate for a second when he found one."
"These sketches..." Stefan mused as he tried to rip ot off but it burned him.
"All the bullets spelled?" Caroline questioned.
"I don't know..." Stefan whispered. "But they are something."
Elena was distributing some papers in the sits of the church as Matt approached her timidly.
"How are you feeling?" Matt questioned. "You look a little... Strained."
"I'm fine." She nodded. "Just my emotions, are all over the place... Everything is heightened, I mean just the sight of all the names of the dead, makes me want to cry for a week."
"You didn't have to volunteer." He told her.
"People died." Elena stated. "People, we have known our whole lifes, so... Yeah, I did." She spotted a dark-haired girl sitting on a bench by herself. "Is that? ..."
"April Young, yeah." Matt nodded. Elena took a huge breath and walked over to her and sat next to her.
"Hey, there." Elena looked at her.
"Hey." April gave her a sad smile. "Long time no see, not since..."
"My parent's funeral." Elena finished for her. She pulled the sad girl for an embrace and rubbed her back.
"Are you gonna survive this?" Elena looked at her worriedly.
"They want me to speak." April replied. "I guess all the kids that lost someone, they can. What am I supposed to say? 'I'm sorry my dad didn't fix the gas line?'" She paused. "But if I don't say anything, I mean what if nobody does? My dad and I didn't always get along but, everyone still deserves to have nice things said about in their own funeral you know? In my mom's funeral everyone said really nice things."
"You say what you want to say." Elena told her. "Or you don't say nothing at all, and don't worry about your dad, everyone in this town loved him."
"Until two days ago." Tears began to form in April's eyes.
"Even still." Elena caressed her hand to give her support, then she began to feel April's blood flowing in her veins and her vampire insticts began to kick in. "I'm sorry, I, I have to go." SHe quickly got up from her seat and ran to the bathroom.
She went over to the toiled and vomited blood there, then she got up and went to the washbasin and vomited more blood.
Bonnie was laying on her couch as Claire was sitting there stroking her head, she knew that the youngest witch needed someone to be there for her. They both heard someone knocking at the door and Stefan began to call Bonnie's name.
"Bonnie?" He knocked the door again. "Bonnie, I know you're in there. I can hear your breathing... Bonnie please is important."
Claire looked at her for confirmation and she nodded her head, she got up from the couch and walked over to the front door.
"Bonnie, isn't really in a good place right now, Stefan." Claire told him.
"I just need to talk to her." He glanced over her shoulder and saw Bonnie standing behind her.
"Can I come in, please?" He looked at her and she nodded her head slowly. Stefan walked inside and pulled her for a hug as she began to cry.
They moved to the living-room and Stefan sat beside Claire on the couch and Bonnie was sitting in front of them.
"My grams, it was like she was dying all over again." She replied. "Just because, I didn't listen to her about not doing black magic."
"You're dealing with the other side, it's not reliable." Stefan informed her. "Witches are probably are mess with your head, trying to teach you a lesson."
"Well, it worked. I tried to make a basic nature spell, just to clear my head... Just brought it all back." Bonnie sighed, then she turned to Claire. "Did the witches blocked your powers?"
"They didn't block per say, I just can't use magic again because I'm not fully recovered from the coma that I was in." Claire told her. "It will only take a few days, I think."
"With all of this, I didn't even ask how you were doing because of the whole coma thing." Stefan looked at Claire.
"I'm fine, Stefan." She nodded. "As fine as I can be, at least physically."
He understood what she was saying, he knew that things between her and his brother were far from great and that she was hurting a lot with the way Damon was treating her now.
"I don't know what I can say about Damon... The only reason why he is acting like this, is because he doesn't like to be not in control and when it concerns you, sometimes he goes to deep edge." Stefan tried to excuse his brother.
"It doesn't matter." She shook her head, the female hybrid turned to Bonnie. "Are you sure, you're going to be fine? You look like you're about to pass out."
"Sorry, I'm a mess, I've been hold up in here avoiding everyone. I completely blown off Jamie." She sighed as she began to form tears in her eyes. "You came here, because you needed it something, right?"
"Yeah, but it can wait." He got up to leave.
"No, come on Stefan. I'm ok." Bonnie assured him. "You're not exactly a drop-off kind of guy. If something is wrong tell me."
"Alright." He nodded as he sat next to Bonnie. "I'm glad that you two are here, so with two witches this may be easier." He pulled out a napkin with something buried inside, he showed them wood bullets. "These burn with a touch, they just can be soaked with vervain... But this writting, have you ever had seen something like this before?"
Bonnie shook her head but Claire continued to stare at the bullets with a thoughtful face.
"I mean, I think that I've seen them before. But I can't really figured where and how..." She mumbled. "It's definitely not magic writting."
"Where did you get these?" Bonnie questioned him. He put back the napkin with bullets back into his jacket pocket.
"I think we have a new vampire hunter in town." Stefan told them.
"It's bad timing." Bonnie noted.
"You mean our typical Thursday, huh?" Claire joked a little and they both cracked a smile. They were interruped by Claire's phone, she pulled out to see a text from Elena.
I need your help. Come meet me at the bathroom of the church, don't tell anyone. Please. -E
"I need to get going." Claire spoke. "Places to be, check if Damon hasn't died of failed liver yet." She got up from the couch. "I'll call you later Bonnie." She looked at the witch then she turned to Stefan. "I'll see you at the Memorial."
They both needed and Claire walked out of Bonnie's house as she texted Elena back.
I'm coming. -C
Claire arrived at the church and quickly went to the ladies room as she knocked at the door twice.
"Elena, it's me." Claire spoke. She was wearing a Warehouse Lace bodice soft midi black dress and black Laboutins. Her hair was done in curls, she wore bloody red lipstick and she had black and gold onyx earrings.
The door opened it to reveal a bloody Elena who was crying her eyes out, Claire looked at her not knowing what to say as she walked into the bathroom.
"I can't keep any of the blood down, Claire." Elena sobbed. "I am so scared, I don't know what to do, I-"
Claire grabbed some papers and cleaned her face and washed her hands. Then, she pulled the newly-turned vampire for a hug.
"You are going to be fine, Elena. I'm going to help you." Claire soothed her.
"Why are you helping me?" Elena looked at her with her doe-eyes.
"Because, I kinda see a bit of you in me... You're basically a small girl who lost her parents too young and had to learn how to survive in her own, I know what are you feeling... When I was turned, I was scared. I didn't know what to do and it took me a while to learn how to survive, and you are strong Elena. And strong people never give up." Claire told her. "I know we had our disagreements but I want to let that in the past and move on, I'm here for you."
"Thank you." She cried. "Thank you for helping me."
"You're welcome but now you need to change." Claire looked down at her dress. "Do you want me to grab a dress from your house?"
"No, no!" She shook her head. "I don't want to be alone. Something may happen and-"
"I understand." Claire nodded. "But you need to change, Elena. Do you want me to ask Stefan?"
"No, not Stefan. I don't want to worry him." She looked at her. "Or Jeremy..."
"Well, then... I can call Damon and ask him but we haven't been really in speaking terms." Claire sighed.
"The last thing that I want is to form even more conflict between you two." The doe-eyed vampire told her.
"I don't think, that's possible." Claire scoffed. "He doesn't forgive me for not telling him that I was going to do a spell that could harm me."
"Is there anything I can do?" She questioned, not knowing what to say in this situtation.
"Nope." She popped the 'p'. "You have to change, so I'm going to call him." She pulled out her phone and dialed his number, after a few momentss he picked it up.
"So, we're talking now, aren't we?" He snapped.
"I didn't call you to fight over the phone, I actually need a favour." She looked over at Elena.
"What's wrong?"
She explained everything to him from the blood-sharing, to the part that Elena had just vomited because she couldn't keep it down.
"Well, I must say that is not really a shock..."
"Damon, now is not the time for your 'I told-you-so' shit." She huffed. "I really need you to go over at Elena's and pick a dress for her."
"Do I look like, I pick dresses?"
Claire was getting annoyed with him and she was about to hang up but she saw Elena's pleading face and she sighed.
"I know that you're still mad at me and all that. But Elena really needs my help, Stefan can't even teach her properly. So, can you please do it for me?"
He paused for a moment, she knew that he would everything that she would ask him for and he couldn't really say no to her.
"Ok." He sighed.
"Thank you." She nodded. "I'll see you later, bye." She hang up, it will really saddens her that they had reached to this point, but she knew that this was just another bump in their relantionship and they would survive like always.
Damon was making his way towards the church, with Elena's outfit in one hand as he spoke on the phone with Claire.
"I'm here." He told her. "Where are you?"
"In the basement bathroom." Claire answered. The two brunettes saw the knob of the door moving and Elena quickly began to freak out.
"Calm down." The female hybrid told her. "Damon, is that you at the door?"
"Not yet." Damon replied.
Then someone knocked at the door and the two of them exchanged a look, Elena turned to the door.
"Sorry, there is someone in here." Elena replied aloud.
"Damon, hurry." Claire told him firmly. The newly-turned vampire began to clean the washbain and the toilet.
Damon arrived outside of the bathroom and saw the man from the Grill who requested to speak to Sheriff Forbes alone.
"Oh, you again." He narrowed his eyes. "You like small town funerals?" When he was about to answer, the door opened to reveal Elena who grabbed the dress from him.
"Thank you, Damon." She smiled gratefully at him, she then turned to the man who was sitting on the couch. "Sorry, I spilled coffee all over my dress."
He got up from the couch and walked over to Damon in a slow pace in a predatory way.
"We have not met. I'm Connor Jordan." He extended his hand to him.
"Damon. Germaphobe." He smiled snarkily as he didn't take Connor's hand, then he turned to the door.
"Everything ok in there?" He questioned.
"Yeah, just a minute." Elena answered.
Damon looked over at Connor who was watching her intenly, almost like he was studying him.
"So, what brings you to Mystic Falls?" Damon questioned. "Bible seller?"
"No, actually. I'm in a Environmental clean-up." Connor answered with a small chuckle. "I've heard about a bit of a pollution problem."
"Uh, well I wasn't aware." Damon shook his head. "I breathe pretty easy." The door opened and Elena walked outside of the bathroom.
"So, sorry it took so long." Elena turned to Connor.
"Where's Claire?" Damon creased his eyebrows.
"She is just trying to clean the stain of blood that she got in her dress." She lied.
"I'm sorry, did you just say Claire?" Connor questioned.
"Why the sudden interest, do you happen to know my girlfriend?" Damon mused.
"She just has the name of someone that I know from a very long time." He spoke.
"Oh. But, I'm certain that it's not my Claire." Damon smirked. "But you enjoy the stay. We love visitors and the scenery is to die for." He mused sarcastically, then he faux-gasped. "Funeral pun. Too soon, sorry."
"I see, you have a good day." Connor looked at Damon as he walked away. Damon waited for him to be completely gone, then he knocked at the door.
"Claire, what is going on? Why aren't you coming out?" He questioned, but she didn't answer.
"Elena, what are you hiding?" Damon hissed.
"Nothing!" She shook her head. "I'm telling you the truth."
Damon looked at her as he was trying to see if she was lying to him and he couldn't really figure out if she was lying or not.
"So, she won't mind if I come in." Damon mused as he opened the door and walked into the bathroom. He saw Claire laying on the floor unconscious and ran over to her.
"Claire, Claire!" He shook her, he put her head on his lap. After a while she shot her eyes open and blinked twice.
"Damon?" She whispered.
"What the hell happened to you? You fainted again." He told her.
"I don't know." She rubbed her temples. "One minute was standing in the next, I blacked out."
"Why did you lied to Elena?" He demanded. "So, I wouldn't know?"
"You would be all dramatic, like now!" She huffed. Then she got up with Damon's help and walked out of the bathroom.
"What happened?" Elena questioned.
"Nothing, I'm fine now." Claire answered as she pulled her arm off Damon's neck and walked away, leaving the two vampires alone.
April was sitting alone on the benchs of the church as she tried to write something in her notebook. Suddenly she turned to see Connor hovering over her and she jolted.
"Sorry. You scared me." She admitted. "I was just practicing my speech." When she was about to walk past him, he shoved a stake into her stomach and then pulled out.
Claire was leaning against a tree looking into space as Damon and Elena approached her.
"I said, I'm fine." Claire snapped. "You can't stop following me."
"Yes, until you faint again and ignore because it's no big deal." Damon replied sarcastically.
"Did you bring a blood bag for Elena?" Claire changed the subject.
"This conversation is still not over." Damon looked at her, then he pulled out a blood bag from the bag and handed to Elena.
"Thank you." Elena looked at Damon, as she opened the bag and began to drink as Damon and Claire were blocking so one could see. But, then Elena vomited the blood again and coughed.
"Elena." Claire sighed.
"No, I can't." Elena shook her head. "It tastes like... What's wrong with me?"
"I don't know." Claire told her. "It could be your doppelganger blood rejecting your transition."
"I'm dying, aren't I?" Elena's lip trembled.
"No, you're not dying." Claire scoffed. "You just need to drink from the vein."
"No, no." Elena protested. "I can't risk kill anyone, Claire... Maybe I'm better off dead."
"Don't think like that." Claire grabbed her shoulders. "You are going to be fine." And Elena nodded her head and put a stray of her hair behind her ear.
"I need to get back inside." She told them and walked away, Claire was about to walk off too but Damon grabbed her arm.
"You're staying." He told her firmly as he pinned her against a tree. "And you're going to tell me, what the hell happened in the bathroom."
She struggled against him but he gripped her hips and pushed her flush against him and she whimpered.
"Tell me, what is going on... I just want to help you." He told her softly. "While you're helping everyone, no one is there to help you, because you don't let them."
"I don't need-"
"What help? Sympathy? Compassion?" He cut her off. "Because you're invicible and you can't break?"
"Now you care?" She spat. "You've been treating me like shit for the past two days and now you're going to pretend to be the worried boyfriend?"
"I don't pretend, when I'm with you." Damon replied. "That's the point, I get to be myself when I'm with you, and that's why I love you."
She looked into his eyes and hot tears began to fall down on her face, she put her hand on her mouth to stop the sobbings as Damon pulled her for an embrace.
"Damon, something is wrong with me." She cried. "I can't do magic, I can't even do a simple spell and this has never happened before to me... And I hate feeling this powerless, it's not me and I just... can't."
"Shhh, it's ok." He soothed her. "Like you said to Elena, nothing is wrong with you. You defied nature and they are trying to punish you, but no one can take away your powers."
"I'm just tired, I want this to be over once and for all. I can't take anymore from this cursed town." Claire hissed. He caressed her face as he ran his fingers through her curls and he wiped off her tears.
"You'll be happy again." He promised her. "You will have the happy eternity that you deserve." She put her hands on his face and leaned in and stopped with her lips only inches apart from his.
"I'm happy as long you stay by my side." She whispered then she captured his lips into a fiery kiss as he opened his mouth so she could put her tongue inside, he grabbed her left leg and wrapped around his waist. She pulled away, leaving him breathing heavily as his eyes were unfocused.
"We need to get back in the church." She mumbled against his lips.
"Tonight, I'm so going to ravish you." He nibbled her ear.
"I look forward to, darling." She teased as she pulled his hand leading him towards the church. They both stopped in their tracks when they saw Stefan glaring at them from distance.
"Uh-oh, brooding forehead at 5 o'clock." Damon cooed.
"Great." Claire huffed. Stefan walked towards them and looked over at the bag that Damon was carrying.
"So, what's in the bag?" He questioned.
"Afternoon snack, church always gets me hungry, because of all that Christ's blood." Damon smirked. But Stefan wasn't having none of it as he crossed his arms over his chest.
"He brought it to Elena, because I asked him to." Claire spoke up.
"You're really intent in doing in your way?" Stefan glared at her.
"It's not my way, Stefan. It's the only way." Claire snapped.
"If she hurts someone, she'll be desperate to turn the guilt off. Maybe she'll be desperate enough to shut off her humanity." Stefan argued.
"And what? She'll become a ripper?" Claire retorted.
"I can't let her be anything like me." Stefan told her firmly.
"Well, God forbid that she could be anything like me... Or Damon." She spat. "That was really what you were thinking, because we're the bad guys here." She paused. "She will be off the rails eventually, Stefan. So the faster we can make it happen, the faster we can put her back in track."
"She's strong." Stefan stated. "If we help her we can make her survive."
"She is starving, Stefan." Damon intervived. "She can't keep the blood down for days."
"What are you talking about? She told me she was fine." Stefan creased his eyebrows.
"She lied." Claire told him. "Your protein shake was a bust. The juice box was a no go, and she couldn't even keep my blood down."
"She drank from you?" Stefan questioned confused.
"Well, she needed warm blood from the vein, if you weren't obsessed in making her drink 'bunny blood', you could've of thought of that." Claire hissed as she turned on her heels and walked away with Damon following behind.
Elena walked into the church and sat next to Matt as she looked a little pale and weak from not drinking blood.
"Are you ok?" Matt questioned worriedly for her friend. And she nodded her head not looking at him.
"Hey, April was looking for you." Jeremy told her. "She needed help with her speech."
"Where is she?" Elena questioned as she looked around the church.
In the church's balcony, April was being held hostage from Connor as she had her hands tied and a gag on her mouth. He grabbed his gun and loaded with some wood bullets steamed in vervain.
Stefan walked into the church and stopped when he saw Tyler sitting with Caroline on the bench.
"What are you doing here, Tyler?" He questioned.
"Being sensitive to the communitie's loss." The hybrid answered.
"With a hunter, out to get you?" Stefan cocked an eyebrow.
"I'm not letting a hunter stop me from where I'm supposed to be." Tyler replied firmly.
"Also, if he shows his face, I'm going to kick his ass." Caroline added. Stefan nodded and he went to sit on a bench.
Carol Lockwood walked over to the podium as she began her speech for the community.
"Before we began the mass, we would like to afford anyone who would like to share a memory about our late friends of the town council." Carol spoke. "I know that April Young would like to say a few words about her dad." She paused. "April? April, are you still here honey?" Everyone looked around the church to see if they could spot April.
"Is there anyone else, who would to share a regalition or a memory about Pastor Young?" Carol questioned.
Connor tried to find a vampire on the crowd as he pointed his gun, and then Elena stood up as everyone looked at her surprised.
"Come on, up here Elena." Carol smiled at her. Just then Damon and Claire walked into the church as they dipped their fingers into the holy water and made the sign of the cross.
Connor pushed his gun out of the way, when he saw them walking into the church. He stared at the brunette with cold eyes, he couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"Claire Muratore. I finally found you." He whispered.
"I don't know why, that always makes me smile." Damon smirked as he pulled Claire closer to her. She just shook her head and let out a small giggle. They both sat next to Stefan as the female hybrid looked over at Elena.
"She doesn't look so good." She whispered to the two brothers.
"Maybe, you should of told me that she was rejecting all the food sources." Stefan replied snarkly.
"You seriously need to pull off that brooding face, brother." Damon smirked.
"Oh, bite me." Stefan hissed.
Elena walked over to the podium and looked at the crowd, "When I talked to April earlier, she was kind nervous to make her speech... I was also kinda nervous and now I'm up here." She paused as she recomposed herself. "The worst day of loving someone, is the day that you loose them." Elena stopped when she heard something dropping and a very familiar smell hit her nostrils.
"Who the hell is trying to bait us?" Claire hissed as she continued neutral. Damon looked over at her and sighed.
"I'm going to take a wild guess and say the new guy." He replied.
"What is the name of this new guy?" She questioned.
"Connor Jordan." Damon answered and he didn't notice that Claire had froze beside him and her eyes widened.
"And you didn't mention this earlier, why?" Claire hissed.
"I didn't know that his name was relevant." Damon creased his eyebrows.
In the other side of the church, Caroline and Tyler were trying to keep a cool posture.
"Do you smell that?" She whispered.
"Blood." He answered.
"Nobody moves, don't turn around. It's a trap." Damon told them firmly. Elena was trying to not loose control as she began to sweat.
"I, hum..." She couldn't form a coherent sentence as the smell of the blood was stronger. When her features began to change, Stefan walked over to her and pulled her off the priest who was celebrating the mass, changed places with Elena.
"Please, turn your page 42, in your songbook." He told them. "Let us join together in this song." And everyone stood up and began to sing.
Elena and Stefan went to sit next to Matt and Jeremy as Elena tried to contain herself.
"The blood, Stefan, the blood. I can smell it, there is so much." She breathed heavily.
"It's ok." He tried to calm her. "Just remember what we talked about, focus. Push back, come on you can do this."
"What's wrong with her?" Matt questioned.
"She's hungry, she hasn't fed." Stefan told him.
"Get her out of here." The human boy replied.
"We can't, there is someone watching us." Stefan shook his head.
"I'm going to rip his head off." Claire announced.
"Not if I get to him, first." Damon spoke.
"You both do that, and you're going to risk exposing all of us." Stefan told them.
"Oh, I think that the risk is going to be me sliding off his head." Damon smirked
"Stefan, I'm loosing it." Elena gritted her teeth.
"You have ten seconds before I go old fashion way on the new guy." Damon informed them.
"Don't do this, Damon. Please." Stefan pleaded him.
"3,2,1. Bye." Damon countered and he was about to walk away but Claire grabbed his arm.
"Don't cause a scene right now, we have to get him discretly." She told him.
"Elena, feed from me." Matt spoke up and everyone looked at him shocked. "It's ok, everyone will think you're sad, just feed from me." Elena looked at Stefan hesitantly but he nodded his head in agreement. She moved from Stefan's arm to Matt.
"It's ok. Everything is ok." Matt soothed her and she grabbed the collar of his jacket and pierced her fangs into his neck. After drinking his blood for a while, she pulled away from his neck.
"Thank you." She whispered. Matt covered his neck with the collar of his shirt as Elena wipped off the blood from her lips.
"But the blood, there is so much." Elena told Stefan. Just then, Tyler got up from his seat and walked over to the podium. "It's got to be April, we've got to help her." Elena replied frantically.
"Elena, we can't risk it." Stefan tried to hold her.
"Then, I'm going to do it." Elena struggled against him but he held her tightly.
"Excuse me?" Tyler spoke into the microphone. "I would like to say a few words about Pastor Young." And everyone sat down to listen to him.
"Back at the first grade. I was a brat that wouldn't bother with sports, didn't care about anything that couldn't affect me. But he was the one who made me understand, how important it is to be part of a team, a community, of giving yourself up for a-" He didn't have the chance to finish his sentence because he was shot in the chest. Everyone in the church began to scream and duck down, as Stefan and the gang began to look around.
Connor grabbed his stuff and ran away from the balcony and Damon quickly ran after the hunter. Claire was about to follow him but suddenly she felt a huge headache and she tried to keep standing.
"Hey are you ok?" Stefan quickly grabbed her before she could hit the floor.
"I'm fine, Stefan." She nodded. "I need to go after Damon, he has no idea who he is dealing with."
"You know this hunter?" The younger Salvatore questioned.
"He is one of the ghosts from my past." Claire told him.
Carol Lockwood quickly ran over to his son, who was laying on the floor injured as Elena, Stefan, Claire and Caroline approached them. The blonde vampire pulled out the stake from Tyler's chest and he immediatly gasped and coughed.
"I'm going to kill that bastard." Tyler rasped.
"Damon is already on it, I'm going after him." Claire spoke as she ran off.
"I'm going to follow her." Stefan told Elena.
"Wait, about April?" Elena grabbed his arm.
"I got it, go." Caroline told him firmly as Stefan ran off after Claire.
"I have to call an ambulance." Carol spoke up.
"No, he's fine!" Caroline assured her.
"The whole town, watched him get shot. I need to call an ambulance." Carol told her as she ran off.
Caroline looked around and didn't see Elena anywhere in sight, "Elena?"
Connor put his bag on the back of his trunk and got into the car and started the ignition. Suddenly the door was ripped off and Damon pulled him off the car. He pinned the hunter to the ground but Connor quickly pulled out his gun and shot the vampire on the chest. But Damon just pulled the gun off his hands, as Connor grabbed him and flipped them over, he grabbed his stake and was about to strike but Damon grabbed his hands.
"Damon?" Claire called as she looked around trying to find him. Connor heard her and he quickly got off the vampire and entered his trunk, driving away.
Stefan and Claire spotted him laying on the floor and they ran over to him. She gave her hand for him to take and he grabbed it, when he was almost standing she kneeled him on the groin. And he fell on the floor again holding his sexual parts.
"What was that for?" He groaned.
"For being a douche and scaring me to death." She hissed as she flipped her hair and walked away.
Back in the church, Elena spotted April on the floor with her hands tied and her mouth covered.
"April." She breathed as she ran over to her but stopped, when she saw her bleeding wound. Her face changed into her vampire's features and when she was about to attack her, Caroline pulled her off.
"She is not dead! But if you feed on her, you will kill her." Caroline told her.
"Let go of me!" Elena wasn't paying any attention to her.
"Look at her! Look at her, Elena. It's April, April Young. She is not a warm body for you to feed on, she's your friend." Caroline looked at her and Elena's face changed to her human form again. "She's an orphan, just like you. And she is scared, just like you were." She bit into her wrist and put on April's mouth.
After drinking, Caroline pulled away and April looked at her with fear in her eyes.
"Please, don't hurt me, please." She begged.
"No one is going to hurt you." Caroline assured her. Then she turned to Elena, "She needs you. You can make her forget all of this."
"Why did he do this?" April sobbed.
"No, I can't, Caroline. You have to do it." Elena shook her head.
"No, the only way that you're going to learn, it's if you do it yourself." Caroline told her.
"No, I can't-"
"Yes, you can." Caroline told her firmly. "You just need to believe what are you telling her." Elena nodded as she walked over to the human girl slowly and knelt down.
"April, listen to me." Elena replied. "Everything is going to be ok, you're going to get through this just like I got through, I'm going to help you. I promise." She compelled her.
"I'm going to be ok." She repeated. "You're going to help me." Elena smiled as she looked over at Caroline who was smiling down at her proudly. She turned to April again. "You watched the funeral from up here, so you can grief alone, and it was a beautiful service. People said really nice things."
Matt and Jeremy were sitting at the Grill to grab some dinner from the kitchen staff.
"That was insane." Matt replied. "How do you think that are going to cover this one?"
"Assassination attempt of the Mayor's son?" Jeremy suggested.
"Acolyte goes posted." Matt spoke.
"Hey." A dark-skinned man called Matt as he watched the bandage on his neck. "What happened in there?"
"Uh... Girlfriend went a little overboard." Matt lied. He nodded his head not really buying his excuse, Matt began to walk away as Jeremy turned to see a huge tattoo on his arm.
"Nice, ink." Jeremy nodded as he turned and walked away to catch up with Matt.
"What ink?" Matt questioned.
"You didn't see his tattoo? It was huge." Jeremy told him.
"He didn't have a tattoo." Matt frowned.
"Yes, he did." Jeremy nodded.
Stefan and Elena were in the Boarding House as Stefan poured a glass of bourbon for Elena. He placed on the coffee table and she took it. She went to drink it but the smell was too intense for her.
"Helps with the cravings." Stefan replied as he took a sip from his drink.
"You're mad." Elena stated.
"Yeah, I'm mad." He nodded. "You lied to me."
"I didn't lie, I just didn't tell you-"
"Come on, Elena. You lied to me." Stefan cut her off.
"You were so happy, that things were going well and..." She trailed off.
"You think, I'm happy?" He scoffed.
"I didn't want to ruin it for you." Elena countered.
"You are in hell, which means that I'm in hell." Stefan told her. "Then, you go to Claire for help."
"Yeah, because I thought that she would understand." Elena's eyes began to form tears.
"You think, I don't?" He cocked an eyebrow.
"Stefan, please..." She begged.
"You went behind my back to ask her help." Stefan hissed. "Do you know how much it hurts to know that you have to lie to me so you can ask Claire for help?" He looked at her. "Claire and I, have different ways of thinking and act. She is a lot like Damon, so the way that she deals with things are dangerous and reckless..."
"I didn't want to hurt your feelings, I'm sorry." Elena's tears began to fall on her face. "Look, I'm really, really sorry... Why am I crying? I'm so sick of crying!" She snapped.
"Your emotions are a bit heightened right now." Stefan replied.
"I feel like, I've been crying since the day that my parents died... And my life it's like a never ending funeral." She paced the room. "We keep burying people, Stefan. You wanna know what is heightened? This grief. I can't stop feeling everyone's grief. All the hurt, I feel like is trying to explode out of me." Stefan grabbed her hand.
"Come on, come with me." He told her.
"Where?" She questioned.
"Something we need to do." He answered.
Damon and Claire got out of his car as they walked over to join the gang who were sitting on the table's of the school property.
"What are we doing here?" Damon questioned.
"I don't know. Ask Stefan." Claire replied.
"Stefan, what are we doing?" He questioned as Stefan grabbed some paper lanters.
"We're finishing the memorial, that we couldn't have earlier." He replied. "We need to start healing Damon, we've all lost so much. Especially recently, and I think we're numb to it... We pushed it away, we make a joke out of it, ignore how we feel. It's time we let ourselves grief." Stefan spoke.
"So, you're letting out lanterns?" Damon mused.
"Yeah, we need to do this." Stefan nodded.
"What we need to do, is find out who this hunter is and find out what he knows about the council. We have more important things to do right now, than this." Damon huffed.
"Not tonight, we don't." Stefan shook his head as Damon scoffed. "This is for my uncle Zach, my friend Lexi, for Alaric." Stefan lit up the lantern and handed to Matt.
"This is for Vicki." Matt replied as he lit up his lantern and gave it to Caroline.
"This is for my dad, and Tyler's." She spoke and lit up her lantern, and Jeremy got up and grabbed the lighter from Caroline.
"This is for our parents, for Vicki, Anna, Jenna and Alaric." Jeremy replied. Claire noticed the look of sadness that Damon had on his face when Jeremy mentioned Alaric's name. He handed it to Claire and she looked down for a moment and then took it.
"This is for my mom, my dad, Rose and Alaric." She lit up her lantern and looked over at Damon and went to give to him.
"No way, I'm not doing this." Damon narrowed his eyes as he walked away. Claire followed him with her eyes and sighed heavily. She turned to Bonnie and handed her the lighter.
"This is for my Grams." Bonnie spoke. Elena got up and grabbed the lighter and began to lit her lantern.
"This is uh, for my mom, my dad, Jenna... Everyone we've all lost, everyone that this town has lost and for me, I guess." She sighed. Then everyone let out their lanterns and watched them fly on the sky.
Damon was sitting on a rock with a bottle of bourbon next to him as he looked over at Alaric's grave.
"They're floatting lanterns in the sky." He spoke. "Can you believe that? Japanese lanterns are a symbol of letting go of the past, well here's a newflash, we're not Japanese!" He drank from the bottle. "You know what they are? Children. Like letting out lanterns is going to make everything ok or saying a prayer. And pretending like Claire is not going to kill herself one day if she continues to push herself to the limit... Stupid delusional, delusional, exasperated children." He scoffed.
"I know what are you going to say, it makes them feel better Damon... So what? For how long? A minute? A day? What difference does it make? Because in the end, when you lose somebody, every candle, every prayer, is not gonna make up for the fact that the only thing you have left is a hole in your life where that somebody that you cared about used to be. And a rock with a birthday carved into it that I m pretty sure is wrong." Damon replied. "So thanks friend, to leave me here to babysitt. I should just get the hell out of this town with Claire so we can be truly happy, she deserves it and I want to give to her. But instead I'm just stuck in here fighting with my brother and girlfriend and taking care of the children. You owe me big." He replied.
What he didn't know was that Claire was hiding behind a tree and listen to everything that he had said, a small smile appeard on her face. This just confirmed that she made the right choice, Damon would always be her great love and she knows that he was the best thing that happened in her undead life.
Damon got up from the rock and left there the bottle of bourbon and walked away.
"I miss you too, budy."
And here it is chapter 2! I only can update in the weekend, because I'm very busy :|, I hope you liked it. And I'm sorry Kluratore fans but there are only going to have a scenes together in this next chapter, since I'm following the show's storyline.
What do you think is really wrong with Claire? But at least she has Damon to take care of her ;), please review and thank you so much for your awesome words, I love you all so much :)
