A/N- Last chapter I promised flashbacks but I wanted to get this chapter posted asap so that didn't happen. At the end of this chapter there is the Stelena break up, so next chapter will explore some of the aftermath of that.
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"For fifty two years, four months and nine days." Klaus told me as we sat in his art studio on a picnic blanket. "I was tormented in my dreams, by every waking moment. Relentless... never-ending torture. It was the only period of my life when I actually felt time."
"How did you make it stop?" I whispered. I could scarcely imagine such torture.
"He didn't." Alaric's voice whispered in my ear. I kept my eyes trained on Klaus as his own eyes widened, and his skin turned a sickly, deathly pale colour.
"Klaus?" my voice was shaky and uncertain. Then I noticed the stake in his heart. The white coloured stake.
And I saw that my hand was holding it in place.
"Klaus!" I screamed.
Alaric and Gloria chuckled from either side of me.
"Good work, Rayna." Alaric said.
"They deserve to die." Gloria said. "All of them."
"No," I whispered and shook my head frantically, "No, they don't."
"He does."
I watched Klaus' eyes close and whispered. "No... he doesn't."
"RAYNA!"
I've never woken up and climbed out of bed so fast in my life. Running out of my room and down the hall, I found myself racing with my brother down the stairs and towards the kitchen where Elena's screams had come from.
"You're a ghost." Elena said to us. I tilted my head to the side. She wasn't looking at Jeremy and I, but at something closer to her than us.
"Elena," Jeremy began.
"You're a ghost. You're haunting me. You're a ghost. You're haunting me."
She then turned around and made noises as though she thought she was being strangled, before elbowing thin air and spinning around again.
"Elena!" Jeremy yelled.
"She can't hear you." I murmured, before Jeremy and I strode carefully towards our sister as she turned around and walked towards the kitchen counter. "I think she's hallucin-"
My sister turned around, knife in hand.
I backed away quickly, pulling Jeremy with me. "No- Elena-"
"Elena!" Jeremy screamed and pushed me out of the way as Elena stabbed the knife into his neck.
I saw Elena's eyes widen in terror as she dropped the knife. Jeremy fell to the ground. "Jere- no. No-no-no-no-no. Jeremy." she cried. I pushed her out of the way and sighed in relief when I saw that he was wearing the ring, but the sickening feeling remained. "Jeremy!" she shrieked.
"He's wearing the ring." I told her as I moved Jeremy's head so that his neck wouldn't ache when he woke up.
"Oh my God, I- I killed him. I-"
"He's wearing the ring."
"But I killed him! I can't- I was- I-"
"You were hallucinating."
"I-I can't believe that I-"
"Call Stefan. We need to figure out what's wrong with you."
"I just k-killed my own-"
"Elena, will you please get a grip and call Stefan?"
Swallowing, she nodded fervently before going upstairs, presumably in search of her phone.
I watched her leave and looked back at my brother.
"Bet you wish you were back in Denver, right now." I told him, despite the fact that he couldn't hear. "You were safer there without us... maybe you don't think that it's fashionable, or whatever, but..." I took the talisman off from around my neck and admired the blue jewel that had saved my life on the night of the car crash. "I'm not sure how this works, exactly. But if you ever lose that ring, you need a backup." I put the necklace around his neck.
As it turned out, Elena decided to call Damon rather than Stefan. Which meant that I'd had to explain to Elena and Damon why Jeremy was wearing a necklace.
"He's a transvestite." I'd told them.
Elena's eyes widened, her expression could only be described as nonplussed.
"Called it." Damon said.
The both of them had been shocked once I had told them about the whole dying thing the night of the car crash, and I thought they would agree with me that Jeremy should wear the talisman. I was wrong.
"Jeremy has a ring, he doesn't need something else!" Damon snapped. "That's greedy."
"Damon's right." Elena said. "You need to be safe too."
I pouted like a child, and didn't remove the necklace from around Jeremy's neck even as Damon tried to stare me down.
"I can't believe this happened. What am I gonna say to him?" the twin asked, breaking the silence.
"Thanks for not ditching the family ring after it drove Ric crazy."
"Helpful, Damon." I rolled my eyes, folding my arms across my chest.
"You should have called Stefan." Damon told her.
"I don't wanna talk to him. He's been lying to me and hiding things from me. He compelled Jeremy to forget God knows what."
I tried to hide my amused smirk. Stefan hadn't compelled Jeremy to forget about the cure or about Connor's tattoo. Jeremy had simply sworn not to tell Elena or anyone else. "He compelled Jeremy." I gasped dramatically. "What sort of monster would do that?"
Elena gave me a dry look.
"What?" I asked. "You can't not call Stefan for possibly doing something that you've had him and Damon do how many times, now?"
"I don't trust him right now, Rayna." she admitted.
The front door opened and a vampire walked in. "Hey."
"P.S. I called Stefan." Damon said.
"What happened?" Stefan asked Elena. "Why didn't you call me?"
"I just- I need to go upstairs and shower... Clean all the blood off my hands." Elena explained before going upstairs.
Jeremy gasped and sat up suddenly on the sofa.
"Rise and shine." I smiled.
"What happened?" he asked, eyes wide as he looked at the blood on his shirt, and then, "Why the hell am I wearing a necklace?!"
"Long story. Buy the eBook."
"I'm gonna go talk to her." Stefan said.
I watched Stefan walk upstairs to talk to his girlfriend. It was strange to think of them as a couple, and quite... uncomfortable. I put this down as being because of the fact that they'd been having problems lately.
"Where did Jeremy go?" Damon asked as Stefan entered the kitchen. Damon and I had just cleaned Jeremy's blood from the kitchen.
"School. Bonnie had him volunteer for this occult exhibit."
"Or, maybe he didn't want to linger in a house where his sister just jammed a knife in his neck." Damon suggested as Stefan's phone started ringing.
"Actually I think he just doesn't want to spend any more time with you than he has to." I told the blue eyed vampire who simply rolled his eyes and smirked.
"That boy can't get enough of my company. I'm a role model to him."
"And what a fantastic influence you are." I smirked.
"It's Klaus." Stefan said, his phone still ringing.
"Time to face the music. Pay the piper, dance with the devil."
"I'm glad you find this amusing." Stefan told his brother. "If he finds out I told you about the cure he'll kill both of us."
"Then quit avoiding him. You're being shady. Shady people get outed."
Stefan answered his phone, sighing. "I don't wanna talk about it... Well, wouldn't have happened if you hadn't sworn me to secrecy... You're using your calm voice today, who's getting killed?.. What do you know about that?..I'm at her house."
The next thing I heard was a knock at the front door.
"If that's him I'm slamming the door in his face." I told the Salvatores before walking towards the front door, making sure to take my time.
"Wait, Rayna," Stefan began, following me.
I opened the front door and sighed at Klaus who grinned upon seeing me. "Hello love, care to invite me in?"
"No."
The grinvanished from his face and Stefan stepped outside. "You coming?" Stefan asked me.
I looked from him to Klaus, and then back to Stefan, a smug smile on my face. "Nope. You two kids have fun." I said before closing the door in their faces.
"I don't want to do this," I said to myself two hours later. Caroline was rummaging through my wardrobe, muttering various profanities.
"Nothing here will work!" she yelled.
"Maybe if I just tell Damon he can find another way," I said to myself. "That's a good idea. I like that idea. I'm going to go with that idea."
"This!" she yelled, appearing in front of me suddenly, holding a revealing red top in the air like it was a trophy.
"You gave me that three years ago to impress a guy. I didn't wear it then. I'm not wearing it now."
"But you've matured since then. Come on, Rain... This is for Elena."
"Wh- you can't use my sister to-ugh, whatever. I guess I'll just pretend I never even had any dignity anyway." I snapped as I snatched the top from her hands and walked into the bathroom to put it on.
"You won't have to try very hard." Caroline called after me. I didn't have to look back to know that she was wearing a triumphant smile.
I hate doing this to him, I thought as I entered the Grill. I feel dirty and manipulative. I looked down at my revealing shirt, which was far lower than what I would ever normally wear. And naked.
I spotted Klaus sitting at the bar in the Grill, and sucked in a breath before striding towards him, head held high.
"Shouldn't you be torturing someone?"
"Rayna," he said, "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
I walked until I was stood beside him, and he turned his head to face me.
"I want my sister." I told him, pretending not to notice the way his eyes were scanning and lingering over certain parts of my body and refusing to acknowledge the fact that it was sending shivers down my spine and making me think things that I definitely shouldn't. Oh my God. Get a grip.
He cleared his throat. "I'm afraid that I cannot do that."
"Why?"
"She needs my help."
I frowned in thought, remembering something from my dream. Fifty two years, four months and nine days.
"Can I offer you a drink?" he asked me.
"Sure, why not?"
A rare genuine smile appeared on his face and he ordered me a drink.
"Had any visions lately, sweetheart?"
"Actually, yeah. Kinda. Honestly, I don't really know. I mean, I keep on having these weird dreams."
"About what?" he asked.
"You."
My eyes met his, and he said, "Perhaps, it's your subconscious telling you something."
I felt something inside my chest tighten, almost.
What am I doing? I asked myself.
You care about him, the voice in my head which reminded me so much of Caroline said.
I felt my phone buzz and looked down at my phone to see that I had a text from Stefan.
I lost Elena. We need an answer, fast.
I looked back up to Klaus and sighed. "Okay, so, I'm going to level with you here, I didn't actually come here to get you to release my sister."
"You don't say."
"They asked me to distract you while Stefan went to your house and broke her out. And he did. And then he kind of... Lost her." he jumped up from his seat and was about to walk away when I said with a roll of my eyes, "They know how to stop the hallucinations. The method we've chosen actually makes me want to kill Connor for getting killed by Elena, but that's beside the point."
"How?" he asked me.
"Jeremy kills a vampire and becomes a hunter, thus removing the curse from Elena as another hunter is made. And, what they want, is... Well, if you could supply us with a vampire, then that would be very much appreciated. Or, you know, a hybrid. Not Tyler... Because of all the people that we've allowed to die for my sister what's one more added to the pile?" I asked with a shake of my head. "But my sister needs to make it through this." I told him.
"Why should I give you one of my hybrids?"
"Because... you're a good... uh... I got nothing."
He raised an eyebrow, his expression, as usual, completely unreadable. "Come on, love. Convince me."
"Please." I said. "Please, Klaus, this is my sister. My family. You know just as well as I do how important family is... I'll do anything, I'll," I looked around frantically, as though searching for a solution.
And then he gave me one.
As Elena, who was now cured of the curse thanks to Jeremy, was upstairs in her room with Damon, I sat down in the lounge with Stefan.
"What did you do to get Klaus to agree to giving up one of his hybrids?"
"I agreed to go on a date with him... What?" I asked defensively.
"What do you think?" Stefan asked, taking a step towards me. "He's-"
I let out a groan of frustration. "I know he's dangerous! Can everybody stop telling me that he's dangerous? I know. Okay? I'm not completely stupid-"
"You don't even try to stay away from him."
"At least I don't let people walk all over me."
Stefan looked hurt, and I regretted the words immediately after they left my mouth.
"Don't look at me like that," I whispered, my own face clouding with hurt. "You let her walk over you. And you hate it, I know you do. She chose you Stefan but she still goes to him."
"Rayna-"
"No. I'm not going to stop. Stefan, I- I care about you and I can't... You have a choice, Stefan. There is always a choice."
He was silent for a moment, and I became very aware of how close we were standing to each other. His eyes bore into mine with a strange sort of intensity, and he said. "Yeah. There is."
The front door to the house opened and Elena stepped out. I swallowed. "You okay, twinno?"
She nodded and tried to smile, but her eyes flickered to Stefan and I sensed that the two needed to talk.
I walked past her and into the house. The empty house.
I despised being alone in the house, because there were so many memories of so many people that were gone. Sometimes I wished I could just burn it all to the ground.
I honestly didn't know what I was doing anymore. I was out of my league. My sister was a vampire, my brother was a hunter and my own powers were barely even working when I needed them most.
And Ric had been dead for two and a half weeks. Since then, everything had gone to shit.
I felt like a stranger in my own home.
A/N- Rayna and everyone goes through so much in such a short space of time, and at the end of this chapter I wanted to make clear that Rayna is starting to have trouble continuing to adjust to this. She is also struggling to both decipher and accept her own emotions as well as trying to keep her sister alive and her brother on the straight and narrow. I think within the next few chapters she is going to have to decide which one she wants to make her main priority.
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