a/n: In honor of Vampire Diaries Thursday and the midnight release of the Hunger Games only a few hours away, here is my next chapter!
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Enjoy!
Chapter 7 The Appeal of Blood
Day Two…
Caroline stood beside Jeremy, Bonnie, and Alaric with a frown on her face.
"And you're sure you have no idea where he would have gone?" Bonnie asked, for like the thousandth time.
"I'm sure," Caroline sighed. She raked her hand through her long blond hair. It was obvious she was worried about him, but she knew he had gone off on his own. There was nothing to suggest a struggle, and even if the rouge vampire had returned, Caroline knew Tyler was strong enough to win that fight. The only real questions were where had Tyler gone, and why had he left.
"If we split up now, Klaus will have to keep track of even more groups," Alaric spoke up. "I think we still need to do this."
The group nodded somberly. Their greatest strength came from numbers, but Caroline knew if they wanted to win this battle, they would have to split up.
Since they had already discussed the new groups they would form, Caroline walked over to Bonnie and embraced her in a tight hug.
"Be careful," Caroline whispered as she looked into Bonnie's deep green eyes.
"You too," she nodded back. Bonnie reached around her neck to unclasp her necklace. "If you need anything, Caroline, just squeeze this necklace and think of me. I will find you."
"Thank you," Caroline smiled. After she brushed her hair out of the way, she hooked the silver chain around her neck.
With only a slight nod, Caroline turned and walked off with Jeremy toward the southeast portion of the battlefield.
They walked for over an hour in absolute silence. It seemed like neither wanted to bring up any talk of what they needed to be discussing. The whole idea of strategizing and coming up with an action plan seemed exhausting to Caroline right now.
But the longer they walked, the more a thought gnawed at the back of her mind. The thought of killing someone seemed impossible in here, especially if that person was someone she was close to. Still, if they wanted to win this ridiculous battle, she knew there was at least one person that she had to kill. That thought alone sickened her to the core.
With those grim thoughts lingering in her mind, Caroline remained silent until darkness arrived.
Katherine glanced back just long enough to make sure Stefan was following her. When she turned back around, her stomach exploded in pain.
At first, she was confused. She stared at the stake that stuck out of her body and wondered how it had gotten there. Then, a vampire appeared in her line of vision, and she knew it was him.
Although she tried to pull out the stake, it took too much time. The vampire grabbed onto her neck and slammed her to the ground. He held her in place as he took out the stake himself. He was about to drive it through her heart when Stefan appeared and threw the vampire off of her.
Katherine blurred, grabbed the fallen stake, and then plunged it through the vampire's heart.
"I'm glad that's over," Katherine huffed as she pushed her hair out of her face. For a moment she lost her composure. Brushing her hair off her shoulders, she eyed Stefan suspiciously.
Reacting on instinct alone, Stefan reached out and examined Katherine's stomach where the dagger had punctured her skin. The wound had already closed, although large amounts of blood remained.
The familiar fire returned to Katherine's body as Stefan's fingertips brushed across her skin. When she had been with Damon all those years ago, things had been absolutely easy. To Katherine, sex was always easy. It gave her some form of control over men and allowed her to distance herself from any feeling besides primal pleasure. With Stefan, however, things had never been that simple. There had always been a web of emotions with him that she wasn't sure she ever wanted to feel. But through all that chaos, at least the difficult wasn't as terribly boring as the simple had been.
"You just saved my life," she finally said. She blinked her big brown eyes in an attempt to lure Stefan in. Her own fingertips brushed across his arm as she closed the distance between them. "How will I ever be able to repay you?"
Without giving him a chance to respond, Katherine leaned in and brushed her lips lightly over his.
Unfortunately, he pushed her away rather harshly.
"Whatever feelings I once had for you, Katherine, they have long since passed," Stefan made clear. "Let's not spend our time in this arena dredging up painful memories. They're in the past for a reason."
"I don't want the old memories," Katherine retorted. Before Stefan could respond, she pushed past him and climbed up the embankment in front of her. After only a moment of hesitation, Stefan moved up beside her.
Together, they stood on top of the hill and eyed the arena before them. It stretched on for miles in all directions, and all the landscape looked eerily similar.
"There has to be an end somewhere," Katherine cursed as her eyes spanned the area.
When Stefan spoke, Katherine jumped.
"Look," he said softly as he pointed to the horizon. "What is that?"
Squinting, Katherine tried to make out the shapes Stefan was pointing at. When she finally realized what they were, she sucked in a deep breath.
"Well," she hummed. "Isn't that interesting?"
Ever since Elena had seen the gruesome, mutilated body parts, she hadn't been able to forget about them. The gore remained plastered in her mind, and she secretly wondered how far Klaus would go to win this sick game of his.
Despite the fact that she knew it would hurt them both, her left hand had remained entwined with his since the incident had occurred. She wanted to be strong enough to separate herself from him, but right now, she just couldn't.
Throughout the course of the day, they hiked through the caves. Occasionally they would stop and rest, but for the most part, they trudged on. As long as she was moving, she didn't have as much time to contemplate all the things she would see in this arena.
To make things worse, the trek drained Damon of his remaining energy. There was no telling how long it had been since he had fed, and Elena knew in her mind that at some point soon they would have to discuss the possibility of her becoming a donor for him. The thought absolutely terrified her, but right now, she didn't see any way around it.
When Damon suddenly stopped walking, she lost her grip on him, and her fingers fell loosely to her side.
"Do you hear that?" he asked, but didn't wait for her response. His head cocked to the side as he tiptoed forward.
Trepidation filled Elena's body as she slowly followed Damon. He turned off the flashlight, and it suddenly became too dark for her to even see. She sucked in a deep breath to steady herself, and hoped that no one else heard it.
A crash echoed through the room. Elena froze as she heard a body impact with the rough sides of the cave walls.
"What are you doing here?" Damon growled.
"Chill-"
"I said what are you doing here?"
"I split away from the rest of the group," Tyler's voice replied. "I couldn't stay with them anymore."
"Right," Damon drawled. "I'd say they forced you away."
"They don't trust me," Tyler finally replied.
"And we don't either," Damon made clear. Another thump echoed through the area, and Elena knew Tyler had been thrown onto the ground. "Get out of here while I'm still giving you that choice."
"It's Tyler, Damon," Elena remarked as she finally found her voice. "We'll be stronger together."
"Assuming he doesn't stab us in the back," Damon retorted. He sighed, and the flashlight came back on again. Elena had never been more grateful for light.
Tyler's frowning face filled the entire beam of light.
"I can behave myself," Tyler reasserted.
Elena could barely hear his words over the pounding of her heart.
"Can we just get out of this cave?" she sighed. "We can talk about this when we get out of here."
"I never said I wanted to stay with you," Tyler made clear. "I actually have other plans." He dusted off his now-dirty clothes. "My goal in here is to keep Caroline safe. And I have to find her to be able to do that. I just needed to find one thing first."
"And what is that?" Damon questioned.
"None of your business," Tyler made clear. He glanced to Elena to offer her an apologetic smile. "You just chose to keep company with the wrong person."
With those words, Tyler pushed past them and walked into the direction they had come from. Part of Elena wanted to warn him of the dismembered body he would meet up ahead, but the other part of her was too tired to even mention it.
"Does this mean we're on the other side of the arena?" Elena finally asked.
"It would appear so," Damon responded curtly. He flashed the beam of light to the area ahead. Something else caught his attention, and he took off at a near-sprint.
Elena raced to keep up with him, and was surprised at how much effort it took her body to simply keep up with Damon at a normal human pace. This entire game had already started affecting her body.
They slowed down and walked for close to twenty minutes before Elena finally saw light filter through at the end of the cave.
Her heart raced as she picked up her pace again and ran the few remaining steps it took to arrive outside. She stood in the bright moonlight, closed her eyes, and breathed in her new freedom.
After a few moments, she opened her eyes and glanced at Damon. His face looked happy, but something in his eyes told her something was wrong.
"How much longer can you go?" Elena found herself asking. "How much longer until you have to feed."
"A while," he responded quietly. "I'll be okay, Elena."
Letting out a deep breath, Elena took off her backpack and set it on the ground. She reached to her side and took out one of the knives that Alaric had given her. She wiped it off on the hem of her shirt to remove any trace of vervain that it still had on it. She had just touched the blade to her arm when Damon grabbed onto the knife and took it from her. He tossed it to the ground far away from them both.
"I feel like I've made myself clear on this," Damon spoke sternly. "I'm not going to hurt you."
"It won't hurt me," Elena replied fiercely. "And you being weak is just putting me in danger."
She knew those last words would achieve what she wanted them too. She watched as Damon's resolve faltered and then turned into a new form of decisiveness.
"Okay," he began slowly. "But we're doing this my way."
His fingertips brushed across her neck as he pushed her hair away from her body. She had expected him to bite her, but instead, he placed one, gentle kiss on her neck.
Despite her apprehensiveness, Elena found herself giving in to the moment. Her eyes fluttered closed as she enjoyed the feeling of his warm lips on her skin.
Then he bit her.
There was a moment of intense pain that faded away into a calmness.
Next, she sank into that realm where nothing seemed to hurt. She could hear her heart beating quickly and loudly, but it seemed distant from her now. She felt a sort of gliding pleasure descend her on her body.
Before long, Damon pulled away, and her peacefulness disappeared.
She stared at him for a few moments; her heart pounding in her chest. Her hands held onto Damon's body as she attempted to steady herself from all that had just happened. He watched her with careful eyes as she leaned in and placed a soft kiss on his lips.
In that kiss, she lost herself.
He kissed her back slowly, almost apprehensively. She longed for him to drop whatever walls he had put up and truly kiss her, but that never came.
Instead, he pushed her away from him and held her back at arm's length.
"I want the next time you kiss me to be because you want it," Damon spoke clearly. "I don't want it to be because of how sharing your blood with me makes you feel."
She wanted to scream at him, tell him that what he had just said was an insult to her, but she kept her mouth tightly shut.
Then, Elena heard a canon blast. As her mind wondered who the casualty had been, Klaus appeared in her line of vision.
"Good evening participants," he smiled wickedly. "I know you are all wondering who is left in this fight, and I actually feel inclined to tell you. The people who died were the vampires you did not know." He truly grinned then. "I believe by now you have discovered why I would reveal this information to you. This means that tomorrow someone must kill one of the remaining competitors or I will step in. I am certain you do not want that."
With those words, Klaus disappeared. Elena was left staring at the space he had been in in complete shock. The game had just changed, and once again, Klaus had proven he was in complete control.
a/n: I deeply enjoyed writing the Katherine/Stefan and Elena/Damon scenes this chapter. They were very similar, but also very different. I hope you enjoyed them as well.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on who Caroline thinks she'll have to kill, what Katherine and Stefan saw, and what Elena and Damon will do next. =)
As always, review!
