chapter second
dark paradise
Caroline was standing right next to the bar and watching Tyler. It was almost midnight. She couldn't believe they've been here for a good few hours now. For her, it's been like a few seconds. And this was probably what the vampires feel like all the time. Their every day has a meaning of a second. They have so much of them.
'Here you are! I've been trying to get to you all evening', said someone behind Caroline's back. On her lips danced a little smile.
'Stefan. I wouldn't honestly mind you calling to me more often' , she said as she looked at him.
'Well, I didn't feel like it lately. I didn't know how you deal with…', he didn't finish. It was like he suddenly reminded himself of something. 'You know. With everything'
It sounded a little weird but Caroline decided not to seek after the truth.
'So you and Elena. So good that you've finally dissuaded her from that… from Damon'
'Would you mind if I cut in?', asked Tyler as he came to Caroline. 'Sorry, dude. I didn't really have a chance to dance with some avoiding me all evening blonde'
Caroline rolled her eyes and sighed.
'Yeah, um, sure. I should probably go find Elena', Stefan threw in and smiled at Caroline. 'If you ever needed something, call me. Just not like for the past fifteen years, you know. I might finally change my number'
Caroline nodded her head and looked up at Tyler.
'Kind of rude cutting off little talks with old friends'
'Kind of rude flirting with old friends when your boyfriend's watching'
'Well, maybe it's a good time for me to find a new model. You know, the un-jealous, tall and blonde. The type of a guy who would kiss me at midnight at someone else's wedding', continued Caroline with a pensiveness.
'Hey, I don't work that badly', protested Tyler as he let her make a pirouette and then pulled her closer. 'Don't be too fast with that shopping, Care'
'And you better be fast with that kiss', she whispered as he looked him in the eyes. 'Or I'll go shopping right now. You know, I bet there are some shops still open somewhere. I'm thinking, maybe in Rome… Paris… Maybe in Tokyo…'
'I'll take you. Wherever you want. Rome, Paris… Tokyo…?'
Those words crashed in her head, she even thought that she was still looking inside those blue eyes. She looked up at Tyler but he didn't seem to notice the confusion at her face. His lips were almost resting at hers… And then she just pushed him away.
The clock hit midnight.
Hunger. It had to be hunger, there was no other option. She was just hungry and in desperate need of somebody tasty to eat. She ran away from the ballroom full of people hoping that fresh air would sober her up a bit. The fever didn't stop though, it was still burning in her veins, turning her humanity into dust. Caroline has become a living fire.
That was totally new, more intense than anything else. Care has never felt this way before. She ran away from the garden, straight to the woods. The branches were whipping her face, blinding her. After a while she didn't even run anymore. She was crawling.
Caroline never considered herself as a monster. Actually, being an unwelcome effect of the perennial war made her something important. Someone to care about, someone treated very serious. She wasn't a sweet, girly little Care anymore. But she wasn't also bad.
Or maybe she was. Maybe it only took one evening to turn into a monster. One step ahead, one blink of an eye. One shallow breath. And then you loose it all. You loose control.
Loosing control is something beautiful. Regaining it again, that's what is horrible.
Caroline felt someone's touch on her hands. She put them up to watch them and found out that someone was standing right in front of her.
'Hungry?', the stranger whispered, smiling at her.
'Like never before', replied Care. Those words were more quiet than a whisper, they were like a thought. She watched the stranger exposing his neck for her. He grabbed her hand and put it where the blood was pulsing.
'I've never…', she started but she didn't dare to take her hand back.
'Well, I guess there is a first time for everything, isn't it?'
He didn't stop smiling.
'You're a vampire, Caroline', he reminded her. She twitched at the sound of her name. 'It's now stronger than ever, isn't it?'
She felt his heart beating in the rhythm of hers. His blood pulsing under her fingertips. Her breath was faltering, then it paused entirely. The silence stopped as she put her lips on his neck and sank her fangs in his blood.
It was the most intensive experience in her entire life. There was nothing but this. His soft kisses on her neck, the taste of his blood on her tongue… And that feeling of power burning inside of her, like she did have this power on him at some point. Like she was still having control. But she must have been stupid, thinking about him this way. After all, that was what she loved about him the most – that he was totally out of control. He had no conscience, he was able to kill without blinking. Someone else's life meant less than nothing to him, even though he valued his own over anything else. He would sacrifice the whole world in order not to make it stop. He would sacrifice h e r.
She pushed him away rapidly. The blood was streaming down her chin. She opened her mouth with the aim of saying something… And then she noticed that there was no h i m. That vampire she was sharing blood with less than a minute ago? He didn't exist. Perhaps he was dead. Just like the group of people whose bodies were sprawling all around her.
Caroline heard the piercing scream getting through the dark of night. Her own scream.
'Oh, stop shouting'
She turned around but she fell silent obediently.
'Who are you?', she asked with a weak voice, trying to remove the blood from her face.
'It doesn't matter, Caroline. I just had to find you, to check how are you… You know, all this sentimental crap', the unknown girl seemed to be very bored. 'But I see you're doing very well'
'What do you want?'
The blonde girl shrugged her shoulders and she came closer to Caroline. She grabbed her throat with her fingers and she raised her up easily, like she was raising up little kitten.
'You really don't remember anything, do you?'
The girl's cold glance was terrifying. Just like her voice – calm and cool, with some foreign accent.
'What should I remember?', wheezed Caroline. Her eyes lighted up with tears.
'All this truth or dare is making me tired', sighed the stranger as she pushed Care away. When she fell on the ground, the unknown vampire bended down next to her and looked her in the eyes attentively.
'So tell me, darling… Is everything okay with you?', she asked and she smiled softly.
'Nope'
The stranger's face lightened with some new emotion but Caroline couldn't recognize it.
'Something's wrong?'. The unknown girl was clearly seeking after the truth. She was speaking with a hypnotic tone, like she was trying to compel Caroline. And that's exactly how she felt. Compelled.
'The visions. I'm loosing control'
'What do you mean: visions?'
'I see this vampire… I have no idea who he is… At the beginning, there were only dreams, now it's becoming real… Nobody knows about it'
The stranger shook her head.
'That's impossible'
She lifted up and stood there for a while, like she was getting through to something.
'Wait, do you know anything about it?', asked Caroline. Her voice turned into a pure invocation.
'Nik won't be happy', whispered that girl. She was still staring into emptiness.
'Hey, did you say Nik?', Caroline asked as she lifted up rapidly.
But the stranger was gone by then.
Caroline entered home all jittery and in tears. Tyler still wasn't there. She could bet that he was on the wedding, wondering why did she just run away from him.
Well, good luck with that. She couldn't figure herself out and she highly doubted if he would be able to.
Care walked into the bathroom and stood in front of the mirror. She looked horrible. A few unruly wisps fell out of her bun and they were know hanging from her head inertly, glued together with blood. The same blood was clotting on her lips, still warm. Caroline's pink dress was all covered in it. She touched her face. That reflection couldn't be hers.
Her fingertips stroked fleetingly that spot on her neck where she still felt his kisses. She closed her eyes, trying to remind herself that vision, that dream. It's now stronger than ever, isn't it?
It was a nightmare but she didn't want to wake up from it.
She let her eyelids drop and the tears finally streamed down her face. She was holding them inside all night.
She barely heard the door opening.
So here's the next chapter. I want to thank everyone who follows my story, it means a lot. Your reviews make me want to write, write, write and never stop writing (; I don't know what I'll do when the school starts, think I'm going to lock myself in the closet with my laptop and Word and never get out of there.
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