In her many years of roaming the Earth, Katherine Pierce had come to learn that college campuses were like buffets for vampires. Endless amounts of cuisine from every culture imaginable, humans in all shapes and sizes and colors and flavors, all for the taking. She noted to herself as she passed a group of rambunctious sorority girls, their breasts bouncing up and down and their tight ponytails blowing in the wind, that this southern California campus in particular boasted a nice selection. If she wasn't here on business, Katherine might have even allowed herself to play a little longer. Per usual, her fun would have to be put on hold.
Strolling by street-lamps that were just beginning to turn on as night fell, Katherine let her gaze pass over the few students left milling around outside. She tossed her hair behind her shoulder, a smirk across her face, as she reached a long finger up to play.
"Eeny," her eyes landed on a petite brunette struggling with her bike lock, "meeny," over to a built guy shooting hoops alone (that one looked particularly delicious and Katherine made a mental note to return to him later), "miny," she grimaced at the gangly teacher fumbling with books but smirked, eyes gleaming, as they landed on a perky looking blonde bouncing down the stairs from the library, "moe."
The first time she died, Caroline Forbes had been having a bad week. No that's not true Terrible week would be a more accurate description. Between her usual course load and extracurriculars, she was swamped and it appeared that the old adage about doing something yourself if you wanted it done right was true. She was currently carrying the brunt of her economics group project and now she had to go contend with the guy responsible for printing the campus journal she was a co-editor for.
Neurotic control freak on the loose, better watch out before you're caught in the crossfire, she thought to herself as she tightened the grip on her purse and pushed the heavy door to the library open with her hip, the fresh air hitting her face and reminding her that there actually was a life outside of the dark and dreary abyss of the library basement.
Jogging down the steps, Caroline mentally went through her ever expanding to-do list. So caught up in her thoughts, Caroline barely stopped short of slamming right into a slim brunette.
"I'm sorry," she mumbled quickly, already moving to sidestep the girl without a second glance.
Caroline moved to the right but the stranger followed, preventing her from walking by, a slow grin forming on her flawless face.
"I'm so sorry, but would you mind pointing me in the direction of the dining hall?" The brunette said, still blocking Caroline's path. "I'm famished."
"Yeah," Caroline replied, completely thrown off at first by the purr of the women's voice, "It's just down that way. Make a right and then another right, and you should run right into it."
The girl glanced once in the direction Caroline was pointing before looking back at her. "Actually, I'm the worst with directions. Would you mind showing me?" The look in her eye sent chills down Caroline's neck.
"Um … I really have to get going." Caroline said with a nervous sigh. "But good luck." She stepped purposefully around the woman, her eyes on the ground, but barely made it a few steps before she felt herself being yanked back.
Before she could process just how she'd gotten there, the stranger had pulled her back into the crevice between the library and the neighboring building. Caroline's mouth hardly had a chance to open into a scream when she felt a piercing pain in her neck and her vision went blurry.
And that was how her week went from bad to worse.
There were three things Caroline noticed immediately when she woke up. One, the lights in the room she was in were unusually bright. Two, it smelled terrible, like rotting food left in summer heat. And three, she was thirsty. Unbelievably, distractingly thirsty. Her throat felt dry and scratchy and Caroline lifted a hand to rub her neck as if that would somehow help.
Blinking a few times and squinting against the seemingly bright light, Caroline moved past her thirst and into full blown panic. Whipping her head from side to side, the memories of everything that had happened since leaving the library flooded back. The more she remembered, the more Caroline panicked. She'd been heading to her car, a woman had attacked her. Now she was somewhere unknown, kidnapped. Her chest heaved as a panic attack began to overwhelm her.
Clawing at her throat now, Caroline looked down at the plain white sheets that matched the plain white walls in the plain windowless room. Thirsty, she was so thirsty. When she finally tried to move, Caroline felt just how sore her limbs were. Climbing out of the bed, she rushed to the door and tugged on the handle to no avail. Panic quickly overrode any logic and Caroline gave herself over to hysteria.
"Help!" Her voice came out scratchy and hoarse as she yelled, banging on the door. "Somebody help me! Please!"
Seconds later the door flew open, sending Caroline stumbling back against the edge of the bed. She opened her mouth to scream again but her voice froze in her throat as the brunette from earlier sauntered into the room.
"Glad to see you're finally awake. Took you long enough." The woman said with a sadistic smirk before pushing Caroline back onto the bed, straddling her legs and pinning her hands above her head. "Now the real fun can begin."
Caroline struggled against the assault but was held down effortlessly by one hand as the brunette used the other to pop the top off a jar that contained a thick, red liquid. As soon as the jar was open, Caroline froze as an unfamiliar smell invaded her senses. Before she could register how appetizing it was, and how odd to her that it was appetizing in the first place, her mouth was pried open and the contents spilled out onto Caroline's tongue, pooling at the back of her throat.
For a split second Caroline contemplated spitting whatever it was into the woman's face, but her thirst quickly overrode all other emotions. Before she knew what was happening, Caroline was swallowing the liquid in her mouth and snatching the jar out of her captor's hands, her throat flexing as she gulped it down eagerly. Within seconds, her eyes clenched shut as a pain erupted through her gums.
"Atta girl," the woman said as she climbed off the bed, "drink it up."
By the time the empty jar fell from Caroline's hand, a few red drops trickling out onto the pure white sheets, the woman was gone.
She was still unbelievably thirsty even though whatever that was had helped to curb her cravings. Standing up from the bed, Caroline rushed to the door, banging as hard as she could. She went from yelling to pleading to crying and back again before collapsing in front of the door.
"Please." Her voice was hoarse and defeated as she pounded her fist half-heartedly."Please just let me go." She lost track of time as she sat curled up on the cold floor.
Caroline had never been a believer. When she was younger, her best friend and neighbor had tried valiantly to convince Caroline that her house was haunted by the ghost of the previous owner. In her teen years when she had come down with a nasty case of pneumonia, her cousin tried to convince Caroline that a witch doctor could heal her. But Caroline had never been a believer. Ghost and witches - vampires and werewolves. Those were the stuff of legends, stories parents told to keep their kids home after dark.
Wiping her eyes, Caroline stood from the floor and walked back over to the bed. Sitting down she lifted the discarded jar and brought it to her nose. Metallic yet sweet, Caroline could practically feel the liquid coursing down her throat. She knew what it was now, even if she wasn't ready to admit it to herself. Still the word echoed through her mind. Blood.
She reached her hand down to run over the still wet stains on the sheets, her finger lingering long enough to dye her skin, and a thought began pounding within her as she reached her hand up and sucked her finger dry.
What could be worse at this point? That she had greedily drunk a jar of blood after being kidnapped against her will? Or that she desperately craved more? No, needed more. More than she'd craved anything else in her life.
Caroline wasn't a believer, but she wasn't blind either. The lights were too bright, the smells too strong and the thirst was overwhelming. All signs pointed to a simple but overwhelming truth - one she had no choice but to believe.
Like a king on his throne, Klaus Mikaelson reclined in an overstuffed armchair and watched with an amused grin as his brother Kol dropped a struggling dark haired man in front of him. With his hands bound by ropes, the man wrestled to his knees growling uselessly as Klaus looked down at him.
"Now, now, Kol, help our guest to his feet." Klaus said, gesturing forward at the kneeling man.
His brother just rolled his eyes before reaching down and yanking the man up.
"What do you want?" The bound man growled out, speaking for the first time.
Ignoring the question, Klaus replied "Nathaniel Douglas. It's my understanding you run with a pretty wild pack." He smirked as he stood slowly from his seat.
"What. do. you. want?" The man asked again, slower this time, with desperate purpose.
The notion of anyone demanding anything from him, from him, sent a low growl throughout Klaus' chest and he tightened the grip on his hands behind his back to prevent himself from sending his claws through the man's neck.
The show must go on, Klaus thought to himself in an attempt to calm his raging superiority complex, his lips curving into that slow, sadistic grin.
"Well, I wish to make you a better, more superior, species. I want to change your life," He finally spoke, "But first," Klaus dropped his fangs, biting into his wrist before flashing forward and pressing the leaking veins to the man's mouth as Kol held the writhing man up off the ground, "I have to end it." Klaus pulled his wrist away and quickly snapped the man's neck, the quiet snap of bones breaking dissipating within the sounds of the city. Klaus tilted his head and watched with disinterest as Kol let the man go and he clunked to the floor.
Looking up from the crumpled body, Klaus trained his gaze on Kol. "Bring me the blood."
"No can do brother," Kol replied already striding out of the room, his hands thrown up in defense. "The little bitch loves to put up a struggle and since you've forbade me from hurting her, you're on your own."
Klaus watched his brother leave and with a heavy growl he stepped over the lifeless body and walked out of the living room. Another check found its way onto his mental list of reasons why he should push a sharp dagger through his brother's chest as Klaus made his way down to the cellar, motioning for guards to step aside as he passed. Pulling a worn key from a chain around his neck, Klaus paused in front of the heavy wooden door. Few people were allowed access to this room. A necessary precaution considering what was behind the door. His precious, unique supply of blood. His ticket to the world.
"Hello, sweetheart." Klaus said as he strolled into the room, his eyes immediately going to the lithe brunette girl curled up on the cot in the corner. He pushed the door closed behind him, tucked the key back inside his shirt and withdrew another, his fingers twirling the brass as he walked slowly towards his prize.
"Go to hell." Her voice was limp and lifeless as she laid there - the tone matching the emptiness in her eyes.
"And a good morning to you too." Klaus replied, not the least bit affected by her surly attitude. The cot moved under his weight as he perched next to her and reached his hand down to push the key into the lock of the cabinet that was situated close to her cot. He pulled out a few supplies before turning his impatient gaze back to her. "Come on now, love, you should know the drill by now." When she didn't move, he breathed a quick sigh before lifting her into a sitting position on the bed, quickly hooking her arms up to an IV. She didn't make a sound as the needle was thrust into the pale sensitive skin of her hand causing the vein to burst under her skin from the force and slowly bruise.
The girl watched stoically as the blood was sucked out of her body and into the quickly filling plastic bag. "Why don't you just kill me?" She muttered through cracking lips. She'd been ready to die for weeks now.
"You'd love that wouldn't you?" Klaus replied with a grin, patting her on the leg. Without a moment's hesitation, her other free hand flew onto his and pried it off of her.
"Bonnie's going to find me you know. She's going to find me and kill you." She brought her tired gaze to his again, the emptiness momentarily replaced by a boiling rage.
"Right you are." Klaus said, giving her that same condescending smile, as he ripped his hand from hers and grabbed her by the chin forcing her to look into his dead eyes, "And I look forward to the day."
In retrospect, he should probably have taken the girl's warning seriously. Hindsight is always 20/20.
Instead, Klaus let go of her chin and quickly stood, disconnecting the IV tubes and locking the cabinet before retrieving the bag of blood and strolling out of the room. He didn't spare her a second glance as he grabbed the heavy door to pull it shut.
From her spot on the bed, the girl heard the lock click into place and shut her eyes, falling back into a welcome sleep. Mentally, and physically, drained from the exchange.
Klaus had made enough hybrids by now to know the drill. For one thing, he made it a point to never be around when they woke up. Rage was always the first emotion - rage directed at Klaus. And it was always a waste to have to kill a hybrid that woke up with the explicit intent of attacking him. He learned that one the hard way. The rage would eventually pass and turn into loyalty once the wolves realized the gift he had given them. Until then, Klaus preferred they be kept out of his presence. Which is why he handed over both the limp body and the bag of blood to one of his oldest hybrids with explicit instructions to see the man through the transition.
He'd been heading back towards his studio when the doorbell rang. Not expecting any guests, Klaus sauntered over to the heavy oak double doors and pulled one open to find a thin, lanky man standing there.
"Are you Klaus Mikaelson?" The man asked without pause.
It took Klaus a split second to recognize the dazed look of a man who had been compelled which immediately put his senses on high alert. The situation was made stranger by the pungent odor of gasoline coating the man.
"And you would be?" Klaus asked, curiosity keeping him from shutting the door and going about his day as planned.
"The messenger." The man said, holding out a folded slip of paper that Klaus snatched quickly. "Katherine says hello."
Klaus had barely registered the name when the man pulled out an old zippo lighter, sparked a flame, and dropped it into his pocket. Stepping back, Klaus watched the messenger go up in flames, the heat warming his face from the proximity. The man didn't flinch or move or scream as the fire raced up his clothes and scorched his skin, the compulsion holding him frozen in perpetual inner agony. All the while, Klaus stood there stunned - not a normal occurrence for him. After a few moments, the fire overtook the man and, still burning, he fell to the ground prompting Klaus to break his gaze for the first time. He turned to look at the crowd that had gathered in the foyer, Kol and a few hybrids, and reached a hand up to motion towards the entranceway.
"Someone clean this up." He said to no one in particular, his hand clutching the paper. When no one moved to meet his demand, his eyes turned yellow and he growled with impatience, "NOW!" He stepped away as two hybrids dove towards the door. Klaus turned and headed towards his studio but didn't go without hearing Kol whisper, "Now that was some quality entertainment."
If Klaus wasn't so livid at the moment, he might even be impressed with the show. Sending a burning man to the doorstep of one's enemy? It was a novel idea. Such a shame it'd be the last good idea Katherine ever had.
Gritting his teeth at her audacity in coming to him with such a blatant challenge, Klaus closed the door to his studio and unfolded the slip of paper to find hand-written time and coordinates listed there.
7:00 PM. 41.031261, -87.871064
Klaus wasn't foolish enough to believe it could be anything other than a trap. He was, however, foolish enough to go anyway. Invincibility bred hubris and hubris bred fools.
Nevertheless, Katherine had been a rather troublesome thorn in his side for centuries and since his one lead to her had unceremoniously lit himself on fire, Klaus saw no other alternative. He'd go tonight, but he would not be going alone.
Caroline couldn't be sure how long she'd been trapped in this room, drifting in and out of a fitful sleep. The woman hadn't come back in to check on, or torment, her not even as Caroline slammed on the door begging for more...blood. She shuddered at the thought of her intense desire for something that had once had made her cringe and step back in repulsion. How fast things had changed.
Left alone with nothing but her thoughts, Caroline's emotions raced a mile a minute from terror to defeat to confusion to desperation to rage. Her head was pounding, her gums were aching and the burning in her throat was borderline all consuming. The current bout of fear faded away and was promptly replaced by the return of sadness and, for the umpteenth time in the last however many hours, Caroline cried.
She cried because she would never see her mother again. She cried because she could never see her boyfriend again. Then when she was done crying over the big things - Caroline cried over the little things. She cried because now the journal definitely wouldn't be published on time. She cried because she hadn't stopped to get that latte from her favorite coffee place this morning and now she'd never have it again.
And on the drop of a dime, like the fear before it, the sadness dissipated and was replaced by something else. This time it was rage, a fury unlike anything Caroline had ever experienced before (though all these emotions were unlike anything she had ever experienced). Giving in the uncontrollable rage to break something, Caroline lifted the now crusty jar from earlier and threw it against the wall, watching with glee as it shattered into a few pieces. The sounds of pieces clinking against the floor gave a unique pleasure to her. It was cathartic to see it break and, with a dire need, Caroline looked around for something else to throw. Tragically, the room was empty. Nothing but her and the bed.
Caroline paused for a quick moment before climbing off the bed, a fire in her eyes. She stared down at the stains on the bed for a split second before bending to slide her hands beneath the frame and with one quick lift, she was holding the bed in mid-air. Unbelievably it felt like lifting a stack of textbooks, not particularly heavy but bearing some weight. If there was any doubt left that she was different than she had been yesterday, that eradicated it (though the hankering for blood went a long way toward erasing any doubts). Caroline realized then that if she was strong enough to lift the bed, that maybe she was strong enough to get out of here somehow. Knock down the door, break through a wall, something. Anything.
She'd barely begun to plan in her head when the door swung open for the second time that day. Caroline spun around and a sense of relief washed over her when she saw it wasn't her attacker standing there. A girl who couldn't be any older than Caroline herself stood in the doorway, eyes trained on Caroline.
Rushing forward (at a speed faster than she realized), Caroline came to a stop in front of the girl.
"Help me. Please." The words were barely out in a stuttered gasp before Caroline felt her gums start to ache again. The girl smelled good. Like wild strawberries after a heavy rain. Like raspberries covered in chocolate. She smelled delicious, downright edible.
Without meaning to, Caroline lunged forward but didn't get far as a piercing pain in her arm froze her in her tracks. Looking down, she saw a needle sticking out of her skin and a second later her blood was on fire, a pain worse than the pain in her gums. A pain she had never experienced before. She screamed louder than she felt possible but could barely hear herself over the sudden ringing in her ears and a tearing feeling in her head.
For the second time that day, her world went pitch black.
When she woke up again, Caroline sat up quickly in the bed, again assessing her surroundings. A chair had been pulled up beside the bed and in it sat the same girl from early, watching Caroline with perceptive eyes. Green, penetrating, eyes.
"You shouldn't try to move too much. You took a pretty heavy dose of vervain." The mystery girl said as Caroline backed up slowly against the headboard.
"What did you do to me?"
"Think of it as a tranquilizer." The girl said, giving a half-hearted smile. "A necessary precaution, what with you wanting to eat me and all."
Caroline watched the girl with wary eyes. She still wanted to eat her. In fact, every thirst- driven instinct in her body was telling her to attack. But her limbs still ached from whatever poison the girl had injected in her and that was enough to make Caroline think twice before baring her fangs again.
"Who are you? What do you want with me?" Her brunette kidnapper hadn't been all that interested in providing answers, but this girl was already proving to be more amiable.
"I'm Bonnie. Bonnie Bennett. And I just want to help you."
Caroline stared at the girl, Bonnie, and waited for her to continue.
"You've been turned. You're a vampire."
Caroline narrowed her eyes. "I figured that much out on my own." Though it was strange hearing the word being said out loud.
Vampire. She was a vampire. And to think she'd been a non-believer.
"But I can help you. My friends and I - we can take it away."
Caroline sat up straighter as she took in her words, leaning closer to Bonnie. "How? Please, I just want to go home." And for the first time since she'd been thrown in this room, Caroline felt a spark of hope. However small it was.
"We'll do it tonight." Bonnie said, standing up from the chair, her arms crossed in front of her. "But you'll need to stay here until then."
With that, Caroline shot off the bed, coming to stand in front of Bonnie. "No, you can't leave me here. What about the woman who did this to me?! She'll come back."
"We took care of her." Bonnie said, laying a comforting hand on Caroline's arm. "You're going to be okay, just wait here."
It wasn't as if she had any choice one way or another, Caroline realized as she watched Bonnie give a final look at her before walking out of the room and locking the door with a loud click.
Her shoulders tensed with forced control, Bonnie strode out of the apartment and back into the hallway of the building where she was met by Katherine - leaning back against the poorly wallpapered wall with arms crossed over her chest.
"Are we all set?" Katherine asked with a smirk.
"She thinks we're going to cure her." Bonnie replied, swallowing back the bitter taste in her mouth as she said it.
"Lucky for you, I chose a gullible one."
Bonnie's eyes darkened as she glared at the vampire. "She was a regular girl with her entire life ahead of her. You could show a little remorse."
Katherine uncrossed her arms and held them up in defense. "Hey I just turned her. Let's not forget, you're the one sacrificing her."
"For the greater good!" Bonnie exclaimed, keeping her voice low, her head darting back toward the door, hoping that Caroline hadn't learned about her enhanced hearing. "If we link her immortal life to his, we can kill him. By killing her we fix the balance."
"Like I said – sacrifice." Katherine replied, with a smug look. "Well I've held up my end of the deal," she pushed herself off the wall, standing up straight as she spoke, "so it's time for me to get the hell out of dodge. You know, in case things go south. Send me a postcard if all goes well."
Bonnie didn't get the chance to respond before Katherine disappeared in a blur.
By 7:15, Klaus found himself in the woods of a suburb on the outskirts of Chicago. As he walked closer to the designated coordinates, Klaus could feel the presence of ten of his hybrids, spread out nearby.
"Katerina," Klaus sang in a lilting voice. "Why don't you come out and play, darling?"
His voice bounced off the trees and was met with nothing but silence.
"I received your message. It certainly had flare." Klaus continued to talk loudly as he wove through the trees. His eyes darting back and forth, his ears perked to catch any and every sound.
As Klaus reached the designated spot, he found himself standing in a small clearing.
"You should know patience isn't my strong suit." He called out, a hint of annoyance seeping through his composed facade.
This time he wasn't met with silence. He was met with something else entirely, something unexpected even for him. All around him flames ignited, forming a circle that spanned out about a hundred yards, dancing in the wind.
Growling now, he turned in a circle until his eyes landed on a figure stepping out from the trees.
She's going to find me. She's going to find me and kill you.
"Bonnie Bennett." The name fell from Klaus' lips in a low growl before he schooled his face into one of impassivity. "You know I can't be killed." His lips curled into a mocking smirk. "And getting into bed with Katherine - you should know better, little witch." He said, tsking at the end. "Tell me where she is and I'll consider letting you live."
Bonnie remained silent, holding her head high as more figures stepped out from all corners. More witches.
Klaus' eyes flitted from one witch to the next before he spoke, barely above a whisper. "Kill them. All of them."
In a rush of commotion, Klaus' hybrids dashed in from all corners, sending heads rolling. They were fast, but the witches were faster, and a battle broke out on the outskirts of the flaming circle.
Eyes still locked on Bonnie who stood stockstill, Klaus made a move forward towards her. He'd had enough, he'd kill that particular witch himself. Klaus barely made it two steps forward when he was met with an invisible wall. A vicious growl erupted from his throat as he looked down at the ground to see another, smaller circle enclosing the spot where he stood.
The corner of Bonnie's lip turned up in a dark smile as the air around her swirled faster sending her hair flying. Out of the corner of his eye, Klaus saw one of the witches shove a girl past the flames and into the circle mere seconds before her head was cut from her body. The hybrid responsible fell seconds later, clawing at his head before crumpling into a lifeless heap.
Tearing his gaze away from the fight, Klaus looked at the girl in the circle with him. When his eyes had skimmed over her earlier, he'd assumed she was just another witch but now he could practically smell the fear radiating off of her. Her fingers ran frantically through her blonde curls as she spun around and around, watching the flurry of activity. From his spot a hundred feet away, Klaus could hear her small, little panicked gasps. A newborn vampire, he concluded.
Turning away from her, he fixed his glare back on Bonnie who had begun chanting beneath her breath, head tilted back as she stared up at the stars.
"I cannot be killed!" Klaus yelled as he rushed forward again, banging repeatedly against the invisible wall that was keeping him from ripping the little witch's throat out. "I am immortal."
He was reminding her. Reminding her that when all was said and done, Klaus would still be left standing. And he'd take great pleasure in killing her.
Caroline, on the other hand, was having a panic attack. One moment things had been peaceful. A group of women (she'd already concluded that they were witches) had led her out to this clearing in the woods, Bonnie informing her that they needed ground saturated with power to do the spell that would cure her. Caroline had waited quietly, but anxiously, her suspicions growing the longer they lurked in the shadows. It seemed more than a little odd that twelve witches would go through all this trouble to cure one girl they didn't know. Even odder that they were all hiding in the woods, the tension growing as they waited - for what, Caroline had no clue. No one would look her in the eye and no one would tell her what to expect.
The silence was only broken by the arrival of a man. Caroline suspected she knew he was there before they did, having tapped into her new and improved sense of hearing. He was looking for someone, a Katerina, and Caroline figured they should move the party elsewhere before he happened upon their little séance. But when the man came to a stop not too far from where they stood, Caroline realized he was what the witches had been waiting for.
That was the moment she should have ran. Instead Caroline stood frozen as Bonnie stepped out from behind a tree a few feet away. The man talked to Bonnie but she didn't respond and a moment later all the other women stepped out of the shadows as well, one of them pulling Caroline with her.
And then all Hell broke loose. Complete and utter carnage happening at a rate faster than Caroline could comprehend. She was shocked into a standstill as the two witches on either side of her moved closer, flanking Caroline as if they were protecting her. At least that's what she thought until one of the witches who were, supposedly, trying to protect her shoved her into the ominous looking circle of fire.
One hand clutching her chest and the other pulling at her hair, Caroline decided it was time to jump ship. She tried to run only, she couldn't. Caroline couldn't move more than two steps in any direction without slamming into some invisible barrier. She spun around until her eyes landed on Bonnie whose arms were stretched out wide as she chanted up at the sky. Caroline barely had time to process that sight before something new and equally terrifying happened, a line of fire appeared out of nowhere, stretching from the spot where she stood over to where the unknown man was yelling violently, trying in vain to break out of his own circle. His struggle seemed to reignite Caroline's and she attacked her invisible barrier, punching and kicking with all of her newly acquired strength.
The flames of the fiery line connecting the two small circles shot up higher and Caroline felt a piercing pain in her chest that brought her to her knees. She sucked in deep breaths, the feeling of a fist closing around her heart bringing tears to her eyes. Just as she thought the blood vessels pumping through her heart would actually burst, the pain stopped. Around her, the flames went out, plunging them all into near darkness with nothing but the glow of the flames stretching from her to the man, who she saw was also on his knees. Seconds later that extinguished too, leaving nothing but wisps of smoke in its wake.
Caroline had barely struggled to her feet, her new vampire eyes adjusting to the new darkness, before things proceeded to get worse. One of the last witches left standing, sticky blood coating her face and hands, pulled a wooden stake from the satchel on her hip. In the moment when the woman stood in front of her, stake wielding arm raised high in the air, all Caroline could do was scream.
Her scream mingled with a primal yell that sounded from behind her.
"NO!"
Before the fatal blow could be delivered, the witch dropped to the ground and behind her stood a bloodied man holding a heart that beat one last time before going still. The entire thing happened in the span of a few seconds and Caroline didn't waste another second processing. She did what she should have done before.
She ran.
AN: Well, we hope you enjoyed it. As you can see, it strays off canon pretty far but keeps true to the characters. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask in a review or in our respective tumblrs (Lea: heystrippah and Kristen: sweetklausoline). Thanks for reading and we'd love to hear your thoughts so far on what we've done.