Darkness Stole her Heart
3
Burying Golden
"One day...you're going to hurt."
Katerina Petrova's words rang hauntingly in her ancestor's mind.
"But the difference between you and me, Kat...is that I don't feel human. I don't miss it."
Irina Petrova swung open the gate to the deserted cemetery, pushing past the gloomy graves, the fog swirling around her feet. She took a seat on a headstone and started to wait. The beautiful vampire knew that they would have to bury Caroline Forbes soon; it was only a matter of time. Now Irina would just have to wait them out in order to make an appearance.
The time passed fluidly, incoherent thoughts and memories weaving in and out of her mind.
"What is wrong with you?!"
"I don't feel anything. Nothing is wrong with me."
Her gaze shifted into focus, back to the sight before her; figures all clad in black, a young woman with once golden hair carried among them.
It had started to lightly rain, the moistness a welcome comfort to her skin, the sticky, dark blood from her victims washing away.
She drew up her knees from her place on the tombstone, as she watched, with faint amusement, the group say their last words.
"Caroline...was a friend. More than that, actually. She was my best friend. And...and she's the one who brought my humanity back and-" Elena broke off, dissolving into tears. "And-and I miss her so much!" She sank to her knees slowly, her grief overwhelming her.
Irina smiled. How they, the vampires, standing not too far from her, could still feel as painfully as it was yesterday, she had no idea.
Bonnie Bennett shook her head, dark locks falling softly over her shoulders, as tears streamed down her beautiful caramel skin.
"Where do I even begin...alright, let's start here," she said brokenly. "There's a little girl on the first day of school. She's scared and all alone, and she's been home-schooled by her Grams for a while. She's looking around, fearing there's no one that'll talk to her...she's a bit shy." Bonnie smiles at the memory. "And then, this warm ray of sunshine steps into her way. 'Hey,' she says. 'I'm Caroline. You look lonely, so I came over here to talk to you. Maybe we can be friends! What's your name?' " She broke down, crying, a fisted hand covering her mouth. "Ever since that day...we've been unbreakable. After everything. We're still unbreakable. No matter what."
Stefan Salvatore cleared his throat, his face weary and drawn, eyes melancholy. "Caroline Forbes wasn't just a friend to any of us. She was someone who would always be there, no matter what, and I would try to catch her when she fell." He paused painfully as his voice cracked. "She proved to all of us that she was much more than a 'crazy, neurotic control-freak', as she once put it. She always was much more than that. Being a vampire made her finally realize who she really was. Caroline was kind and compassionate, even though she could go a little overboard at times. But that was only because she cared too much about other people, and whether they were making the right choices or not. And...since Lexi died, I've never had a friend like her...but then Caroline came along." He tried to smile. "She changed all of us. We're going to miss you, Caroline."
"Matt?" Bonnie whispered.
"...I can't. I just can't." His voice trembled with so much pain that no one dared to prod him any further.
All heads turned to Damon. "Are you going to say anything, Damon?" Elena asked softly.
"No," he said simply, almost uncaringly, and he walked away.
Watching him leave with a watchful eye, Irina jumped off the tombstone and walked towards the mourning group.
"Nice day for a funeral," she stated emotionlessly, circling them.
Elena's head snapped up. "She's the one!" she spluttered through her tears. Her black eyeliner had all but flowed into the path of her tears, her lipstick smudged. "She killed Caroline!"
Everyone, alarmed, turned their gaze toward the newcomer. The doppelgänger dove at Irina, but the elder vampire was ready, as always. Spinning her around easily, she held Elena in a vise-like grip with a forearm stretched leisurely across her throat, smiling at the group.
Stefan was snarling in outrage. "Let her go," he said menacingly. He couldn't let anything happen to her. Not after Caroline. He wouldn't let anyone else get hurt.
"I don't think I will." Irina twisted her grip on Elena, her fingernails digging into her throat. The doppelgänger struggled, tears forming in her eyes again.
"Please! What do you want!" Matt spoke up, his face twisted in sadness. His clear blue eyes were clouded and stormy waves were rolling through them. His jaw was clenched as he fought back tears.
Irina tightened her grip, causing Elena to yell out in pain like a defenceless animal whimpering for help.
"No! Kill me!" Stefan said desperately, offering up his hands in surrender, his pale, broad face stark-white. Meanwhile, Bonnie chanted a spell, immersed in deep magic, her brown eyes shut in concentration. As she finished, she sank to the ground hopelessly, nearly collapsing, astonishment evident on her face, peeking through the desperation.
"My magic's not working..." she trailed off in despair.
With a snap, for the second time, Irina twisted Elena's neck, leaving the doppelgänger's body to fall to the floor, the wound on her neck already beginning to heal.
"I'll be seeing all of you," Irina said with a smile, and vanished. Now she just had one more stop to make.
Damon ambled down a beaten-down path, hands in his pockets. So that girl Irina did pose a problem. She'd slaughtered a bar-full of victims and apparently killed Caroline.
Not that the old Damon minded. But the old Damon hadn't shown his face in a while. This was the new Damon, who actually gave a crap about what happened in this small town. The new Damon loved Elena and was on somewhat decent footing with his brother. The new Damon protected Elena's friends. Mostly. Which also meant avenging their deaths. Was this version of him the version before vampirism, an alternation of old Damon, or simply a new side of him?
The questions that tumbled around his mind like the leaves swirling around the trees were as frustrating as hell.
But not quite as much as the girl standing in front of him now.
"You just can't stay away, can you?" he murmured distractedly, torn from the eternal struggle in his mind from right and wrong.
"I figure you'd miss me already." A bitter smile curved Irina's lips.
"Look." he sighed. "Everything's a mess as it is right now. Why don't you tell me what you want right now, I give it to you, and you can leave Mystic Falls for good." His voice was strained and exasperated, uncommon for Damon.
"I don't want or need anything. I never will." Irina's tone was flat and bored, as the old Damon's had been a long time ago.
"Then why did you come here?"
"To have fun." A wicked smile twisted her lips, and she turned to leave.
Damon flashed over to the girl, grasping her wrist tightly before you could leave. He forced her to look back at him and she did so willingly, with an annoyed look on her face; she didn't like to be controlled.
"Don't hurt her."
"Who?" she said mockingly.
"Elena."
Her smile grew wider. "That's not your choice to make. Have fun protecting her; although, you may have failed twice." She was gone in an instant.
Damon cursed under his breath. "And they thought I was trouble back then."
He quickly shrugged off his blazer and discarded his tie, deciding that the extra pieces of clothing would only give him a disadvantage in a fight. He gave her a five-second head-start before rushing after her in full-out vamp-speed, a little of the old Damon returning.
A/N :: Soooooo i've uploaded this chapter on my birthday! :)) want to give me a present? just hit that grey follow/favourite down there and checkmark those little, lonely boxes...:P heheh. what did you think of this chapter? Please be sure to write up a review for me!
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Klaus/Irina/Kol
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