28; Brave New World | Part One
Marissa snapped her eyes open as she sat up in bed and gasped for breath. She glanced around the dimly lit hospital room with a whimper as she looked for Tyler. He was laying with her when she closed her eyes but now after waking up from that horrible nightmare he was gone or was it a nightmare?
It felt so real, but why would Elena- or actually, an Elena look-alike named Katherine- want to kill her? Why would she need to give Damon and Stefan a message? None of it made any sense to her and she needed Tyler to tell her it was all just a bad dream. She needed him to tell her that everything was okay.
When she heard the toilet flush off to the side where the private bathroom was located, she turned her head and held her breath, wondering who would be coming out of it. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Tyler walk out of the bathroom.
When Tyler saw the look on her face and heard her tearful cry when she called out his name, he rushed to her side, asking her what was wrong.
"Rissa, what's wrong?" he asked again when she began to cry. She tried to explain to him about her dream, but was crying too hard to form complete sentences.
He rested his hands on either side of her face, forcing her to look at him. "Shh, it's okay. Just breathe with me, you're okay."
Marissa looked into his eyes and took a breath when he took one. The two breathed in and out a few times until she was calm enough to speak.
"I-I had this terrible dream. I woke up and you were g-gone but Elena was here, but she said she wasn't Elena and then she-she placed a pillow over my face," she tearfully explained. "Then I woke up and you were gone like in my dream, so I thought- "
"Shh, it's okay. It was only a bad dream," he said when he saw she was about to cry again.
"It was-it was so real," she mumbled.
"But it's not. You're okay," he said, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her toward him. He kissed the top of her head then rested his chin where he just kissed. "You're okay."
Marissa nodded her head, she knew he was right. No matter how real it felt, there was no way that really happened. She laid her head in the crook of his neck and closed her eyes as she felt herself relax.
She took a deep breath then slowly released it. Her eyebrows lowered in confusion when she caught a whiff of something. It smelled like blood, but what was even more confusing was she could feel her mouth watering. It was like her body was craving it, but that made no sense at all.
Without even thinking, she lifted her head a little then leaned forward to press her lips against Tyler's neck. She kissed on his neck a few times, hearing him quietly moan at feeling her lips against his skin. He grabbed her chin to force her to look at him before his lips captured hers for a heated kiss.
The two kissed a few moments longer until she kissed across his jaw and made her way back down to his neck. She nibbled on it a few times and felt the craving for blood again hit her, only this time she felt a pain in her mouth-like something was being pushed out of her gums.
She quickly pulled back and placed a hand over her mouth as she groaned out in pain.
"What's wrong? Are you okay?" Tyler asked in concern when he saw tears fill her eyes.
"My-My gums. They hurt, they hurt so bad, Ty," Marissa cried, then screamed out as the pain intensified.
Tyler jumped up from the bed, worried about her. He had no idea why her mouth would be hurting. "Stay here. I'll go grab a doctor," he said, rushing out of the room to look for help.
Marissa cried out again, then stood up from the bed as she made her way across the room to the small mirror on the wall by the bathroom door. She turned on the small light at the mirror so she could see better, but as soon as the light clicked on, she squeezed her eyes shut and cried out as the bright light began to hurt her eyes.
She felt along the wall to turn the light back off, then opened her eyes again as she leaned toward the mirror and opened her mouth to get a closer look inside, but she couldn't see anything sticking out from her gums.
"Aw, lover boy is so cute. He's running all around the hospital looking for a doctor," she heard someone say. She quickly turned around and was surprised to see Elena. But why was she there? It was just a dream earlier, she shouldn't be there.
"Elena?" Marissa asked surprised.
The curly-haired brunette rolled her eyes. "We've already been through this. I'm Katherine."
"But...wait...what?" Marissa asked confused.
"Please don't tell me you are always this slow," Katherine said, folding her arms across her chest feeling annoyed.
"But, it was only a dream," Marissa mumbled.
"Afraid not," Katherine said back.
"No, it was. I know it was. You said Tyler was out making a call, but he came out of the bathroom when I woke up," Marissa pointed out, trying to poke holes in her story. "When I woke up...meaning it was all a dream," she added, feeling sure about herself.
"Okay, apparently you are always this slow," Katherine said with a sigh. She took a step toward the younger blonde and continued, "Let me explain it to you, but I'm only going to do it once so pay attention.
"After the terrible wreck that almost ended your life, you were fed vampire blood. Now while boyfriend was out making a call, I came in, killed you and while you were passed out boyfriend came back in. He never suspected a thing...I guess he's as slow as you are," Katherine said sarcastically. "Then he went to the bathroom, you woke up and now you're a vampire."
"Or you will be once you drink this," she added as she held out a blood bag.
Marissa looked down at the blood bag, she didn't know how she didn't notice it in her hands earlier, especially since now the smell of it was hitting her, making her want to drink it so badly.
"Go ahead. You know you want it," Katherine teased when she saw the look on the younger girl's face.
Marissa stared at the bag and shook her head to argue. She tried to take a step back but couldn't make herself step away from it. She bit her bottom lip, fighting with herself to not drink it, but no matter what she tried to tell herself, she couldn't stop herself from reaching out and grabbing the bag from Katherine's hand and pouring the blood into her mouth.
As soon as the blood hit her mouth, she felt like she was going to throw up because of the taste, but the weird thing was she also kind of liked it.
She sat down on the edge of the hospital bed and leaned over as she began to gag. Once the sick feeling passed, the craving kicking back in again. She sat back up and began to drink from the bag again, sucking down every drop like she couldn't get enough.
When the bag was empty, she wiped at her mouth, then looked up at Katherine with her fangs out. She reached up and touched her face, surprised at what she felt. It was true, she was a vampire now.
Katherine took the empty bag from her hands, then turned to leave the room before Tyler and a doctor returned. She was almost to the door when Marissa spoke up.
"Why are you doing this?"
"That's for me to know and you to find out when the time is right," Katherine said vaguely. "Don't forget to give the Salvatores my message," she added with an evil smile before turning around and walking out the door. her high heels clicking against the floor as she walked down the hallway.
•••
After assuring Tyler and the doctor that she was okay, Marissa laid back down, saying she needed to rest and tried to send Tyler home.
He couldn't understand why she wanted him to leave. She played it off as he needed to be with his mom, but really she needed him out of there because hearing his blood rush through his veins was driving her crazy. He finally agreed to leave but was still confused on the way she was acting.
Once she was alone, she sat up and looked around the darkish room. The sun was slowly starting to rise and a small stream of sun came through the window right above her head, giving the room a small bit of light. She looked up at it then cautiously reached up to touch the sunlight. She hissed out in pain and quickly dropped her hand when the sun began to burn her skin.
With lightning quick speed she jumped out of bed and rushed to the other side of the room to pull the curtains all the way closed, not allowing in any sun. She glanced around the dark room and took a deep breath as it all hit her at once that this was her life now. Hiding out in dark rooms, staying away from everyone she loves. Her life would never be the same again.
She walked back over to the bed and laid down again, staring up at the ceiling as different emotions hit her at once. Confusion on why this happened to her, angry at what she was now, happiness that she was okay and didn't really die, as well as, many more thoughts, one right after another.
It was like she was going through the five stages of grief all at once. She was hit with confusion again when things she didn't remember happening began to cross her mind; like Stefan attacking her at the Miss Mystic Falls pageant and Damon making her forget it.
She closed her eyes and lowered her eyebrows in confusion as another scene hit her, something that she knew never happened or did it?
"God, I can't believe how close I came to losing you tonight," Jeremy softly said as he placed his other hand on her other cheek. "I never want to lose you, Rissa, I can't ever lose you."
"I never want to lose you either, Jer," Marissa softly said as she rested her forehead against his. "I love you, Jeremy," she whispered out before she could stop herself.
"What?" Jeremy asked her as he raised his head and looked at her in surprise.
"I love you," Marissa repeated. She took a deep breath, before rambling, "It's something that's been on my mind lately, but I didn't want to say anything until I was sure, but after tonight I am sure. I know I'm just your friend and you might not feel the same or maybe you do I don't know. But I just had to tell you, I wanted you to know, I-"
Jeremy suddenly pulled her face closer to his as he pressed his lips against her to stop her from talking. He knew it would feel like heaven to kiss her again, but the kiss was more than he could have ever hoped it to be.
Marissa felt a tingle from her head to her toes as she placed her hand on the back of his neck and twirled his hair around her fingers as he deepened the kiss.
Once the kiss was over, Jeremy pulled back to look at her, his lips inches from her as he softly said, "I love you too, Rissa."
"Really?" Marissa asked with a small smile.
"I have loved you since I kissed you for the first time three years ago," Jeremy admitted.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Marissa asked him.
Marissa heard a knock at the door and could now remember Damon walking in, then he compelled her and Jeremy to forget everything. When she heard another knock she snapped her eyes opened and realized someone was knocking at the hospital door.
Lost somewhere between a memory and now, she saw the door open and almost expected to see Damon again like that night, but instead, it was Jeremy who walked into the room with a smile on his face when he saw her sitting up in the bed.
"Hey, sleepy head. You finally awake?" Jeremy teased as he walked over toward her.
He leaned down to give her a hug and a friendly kiss on the cheek like he normally would, but before he could, she scooted over to get away from him.
"What are you doing?" she questioned as she shot him a look.
"Just saying hey. What's wrong with you?" he asked confused as he sat down in the chair beside the bed.
"N-Nothing, sorry. I-I don't know why I asked that," she stuttered out.
"Did you not sleep well last night?" he asked with a worried look.
"I slept okay," she answered. When she saw the look on his face, she added, "Don't worry so much, Jer, I'm okay."
Jeremy shook his head as he looked down. She might say she was okay, but he could tell she wasn't. There was something bothering her and it was more than just she almost died in a car wreck. It was something else altogether, because yesterday before he left she was fine.
He knew he should have come back to her last night, not only so he could watch over her, but also, because then he wouldn't have been 'killed' by Damon when he snapped his neck last night.
He leaned forward to grab her hand, taking her by surprise when she felt a tingle at his touch. Even her palms began to sweat, which was something that had never happened when he held her hand before and the two have held hands a lot growing up.
"I know you said you're okay, but I know you better than that, Ris. Something is different with you, I don't know what it is yet, but you know no matter what is going on, I'm here for you. I'm always here for you, Rissa," he said, looking into her eyes to let her know how serious he was.
Marissa swallowed hard as she felt her heart skip a beat while he looked at her, which was also something new. Without saying anything, she turned her head to break eye contact and pulled her hand away from his, taking him by surprise. She had never pulled away from him before.
"Okay, seriously, what's going on with you?" he asked her with a shocked look still on his face. "And don't lie to me," he added when she opened her mouth to say 'nothing'.
She sighed, then began to say, "Okay. You're right, Jer, there is something different. I just...I don't know how to explain it. I don't know where to even start."
"Start at the beginning," he suggested.
Marissa opened her mouth to do just that, but before she could say a word there was another knock at the door, followed by a nurse coming in to check on her, interrupting the two teenagers.
Marissa laid her head back against the pillow and closed her eyes as the nurse checked her vitals and checked on the IV in her arm. She could feel Jeremy standing close by and tried to keep her hand from twitching as he softly caressed the back of her hand.
She figured the best thing she could do was pretend she had fallen asleep- which is what she did even after the nurse left, that way she wouldn't have to explain anything or answer any more questions at the moment. She needed time to wrap her head around everything before she can explain it to Jeremy.
In her opinion it was a good plan and it would have worked too, if it wasn't for Caroline rushing inside the room with an excited squeal, causing her to jump and snap her eyes open.
"Oh, my God, you have no idea how good it is to see you," Caroline said happily as she rushed over to the bed and wrapped her arms around her little sister, giving her a big hug.
Marissa chuckled as she blew Caroline's hair away from her mouth. "It's great to see you too, Care."
After the hug, Caroline straightened up then looked around the dark hospital room with a look of disgust on her face. She looked back at Marissa and asked, "Why do you have it so dark in here? Don't you want to let in some warm sun?"
Caroline didn't wait for her to answer as she looked at Jeremy, and said, "Go open the curtains for her. I bet it'll make her feel better."
"No! Don't!" Marissa snapped as she sat straight up in bed. She saw the concern look on both of their faces then added, "I'm okay with no sun right now. I'm enjoying the darkness."
"Are you okay?" Jeremy questioned as he walked back over to her bedside.
"Mm-hm," Marissa answered with a nod.
She looked over at Caroline, seeing that she had her regular clothes on instead of a hospital gown. Wanting to change the subject, she said, "I take it they let you out."
"Yeah I was just released and the first thing I did...well after changing out of that awful gown was come see you," Caroline said, smiling at her sister.
Marissa smiled back, happy to finally see her with her own eyes. Everyone told her she was okay, but it was nice seeing it for herself.
"Any idea when I get to leave?" Marissa questioned.
"The doctor told Mom as long as nothing happens- which he feels like nothing will since you're healing a lot quicker than they thought- which is a good thing..." Caroline rambled. "Anyway, you should be able to leave tomorrow morning."
"Morning?" Marissa asked, starting to panic a little. She couldn't leave in the morning, the sun would kill her before she even made it to the car. "But if the doctor's so happy with the way I'm healing why can't I leave tonight?"
"Why tonight?" Jeremy asked confused on why she wanted to leave so soon. He knew she was never a fan of hospitals but it seemed like more than that, she looked like she was about to go into a full-blown panic about it.
"I think I know what's going on," Caroline said.
"You do?" Marissa asked nervously, scared she had figured it all out. She hated keeping something like being a vampire from her sister. She hated knowing she was a vampire. She was not prepared for this.
She wasn't even use to the idea of being one, how did she expect her sister or anyone else to be okay with it. What if they all turned on her? Or worse- what if one of them drove a stake through her heart and killed her before she even fully had a chance to live. She was too young to die, there was so much she still wanted to do.
Marissa was so lost in her own thoughts she almost didn't hear Caroline when she answered, "You don't want to miss the carnival tonight. That's it, right?"
Marissa took a deep breath and slowly released it, relieved to hear that her secret was still safe. She opened her mouth to tell Caroline she was right, but before she could say a word, the nurse from before rushed back inside the room.
"What's going on in here?" she asked. She walked over to look at the machine that was hooked up to the younger blonde, then added, "Her vitals are all over the place. You two need to leave, she needs to rest and calm down."
Caroline and Jeremy quickly apologized, they didn't mean to upset her. The two gave her a hug as Caroline promised to fill her in on everything that happened at the carnival and Jeremy promising he will visit her again later that night, but most importantly they both told her to calm down. Everything was okay.
Marissa gave them a small smile as she waved goodbye to them. If only they really knew what was going on, they would not be so quick to say everything was okay.
After they were gone, she laid back against the pillow and took several deep breaths to calm herself down. She could hear the nurse checking over her again.
When she leaned over her to take a closer look, Marissa felt her mouth water when she heard the blood rushing through the nurse's veins, causing her to snapped her eyes open and look at the nurse.
"Are you okay?" the nurse questioned. When Marissa nodded her head, she continued, "Are you getting hungry?"
"Starving," Marissa answered as she felt her fangs coming out.
The nurse smiled at her then turned to walk across the room and grab a clipboard to write her vitals down. She kept her back to the bed and said, "Don't worry, sweetie, they should be bringing in breakfast in about ten minutes or so."
Once she was done, she laid the clipboard down then turned around and gasp in surprise when she saw Marissa standing in front of her. Her fangs out and her face transformed into something she had never seen before.
"Unfortunately for you, I can't wait that long," Marissa snarled as she grabbed a handful of the nurse's hair and pulled her head to the side, giving her better access to her neck.
Without a second thought, she leaned forward to bite into her, greedily drinking her blood.
•••
A/N; I'm happy that so many of you are liking the idea of Rissa becoming a vampire instead of Caroline. For the ones who don't, I sincerely apologize but this is something I thought about for a while and I'm very excited to go in this direction. There will be times I will kinda follow the Caroline storyline, but I'm gonna change things up and throw in different things to make it my own.
Thank you to everyone reading and/or adding the story. Also big thanks to xo-WolfGirl-xo, shippolove844, RHatch89, TooChey, Lady Syndra, roses and violets, ForgeandGred4Ever, Mona, Annabeth121, Bronzelove, Mimi81, Alexstarlight18, winxgirl1997, kaylee Adkins loves 1D, IdaRose89, patrishis, Lucy Greenhill, rosa, Marie Katherine, Dream-4-3v3r, Daily Sinner, koipond-tea, BunnyMooMooMonster, BooHooMtDew and all the guest for reviewing.
Happy reading!
xx
