AN: Alright, finally! Rin's a vampire! I'm so glad you guys liked the last part (: Thanks again to VampireJacinta and RealHuntress18. Let's see what happens now that she's woken up!

Part Thirty-eight: Control Freak

It was a loaded moment. Klaus, Kol, and Rebekah could only stare at each other while Rin took a second to gather herself and attempt to wrap her mind around the fact that she'd just been murdered, but she was still alive. Her body was stitching itself back together when Kol spoke.

"You idiot! She'll hate you forever now, surely," he said incredulously. They could hear the painful crack of her bones aligning. Klaus didn't even want to know – she'd probably died in horrible pain.

Slowly, her eyes came into focus, and she found herself staring at the balcony above her. Hadn't someone just been there? It was a man. He'd been ghostly pale, with hair so blonde it looked platinum. Bit by bit, her memories started returning: the window, the sound from the bathroom, her hands held behind her back while he ripped into her throat… Her killer was a vampire. And he'd mercilessly tossed her over the edge of the balcony without a word.

But now, she was alive. How? Maybe her injuries hadn't been as bad as they'd felt. Just thinking about the deafening crack of her arms and hips was making her feel sick. Or was that something else? It was hard to tell, but a deep nausea was forming in the pit of her stomach for whatever reason.

Her hearing was still bleary, but she could tell someone was there, beyond the balcony. Could it be the man who'd killed her? As the voices became more distinct, she realized it was Klaus, Kol, and Rebekah. So the pale man was probably gone. Terrified to move her body or to attempt to push sound out of her recently ripped-open throat, she waited for them to find her. This didn't make any sense. She felt better, but there was no way she could have recovered so quickly from those injuries.

After some inaudible, tense words were exchanged, Klaus rushed back to the balcony. She stared up at him, still frozen in fear.

"Rin." He barely breathed out her name as he kicked his legs over the edge of the balcony and landed gracefully a few feet away from her. Kneeling, he brushed her hair from her face and tried to push away his shock. This was supposed to be a backup plan. He was supposed to be able to protect her. How could a witch have gotten into the manor without anyone noticing? He'd let her down again, and he knew Kol was probably right. She'd never forgive him. "Do you know what's happened?" he asked, taking care to keep his voice quiet. New vampires always felt like their senses were too strong. It took some getting used to.

She tried to figure out if she was dreaming. It was supposed to be over. She'd been murdered.

"I'm supposed to be dead." If it weren't for his own hyper-sensitive hearing, he wouldn't have heard her.

"But you aren't, love." Now was the time for some kind of damage control. Gingerly, so as not to throw her off even more, he scooped her into his arms and held her to his chest, trying to calm her down. "It's alright. You're safe. Let the fear pass," he whispered into her hair. Upstairs, Kol and Rebekah were still staring at each other, grim. They knew what would happen, and it wasn't going to be pretty.

"Let's leave them," said Rebekah quietly, taking care to avoid irritating Rin as well. Kol nodded and the two of them disappeared. For once, neither of them thought it was a good idea to eavesdrop right now. It was a delicate, personal situation, and it suddenly felt wrong to try and be a part of it.

Rin couldn't figure out if she was drunk on the sound of his voice or woozy from the growing discomfort in her belly. When he spoke it helped to fight the overwhelming terror, but she couldn't tell why. It felt natural to be lulled to tranquility, almost like a baby, but in her mind it was wrong. Struggling, she grasped for threads of reason. Klaus had tried to kill her. Klaus had put her in horrible danger, and… that was why she'd been attacked. But she was alive. Did it matter? Really? No, of course it did. This was her life. It mattered quite a bit.

But that didn't change the fact that she felt at home, trying to find her mental footing as he sat there on the floor with her.

"How?" she asked, a little too loudly. Instantly, she squeezed her eyes shut. The word was bouncing off the walls of her skull. It seemed to shake her entire body with its vibration. After several moments, the feeling passed.

"Don't speak too loudly," reminded Klaus. She may not have known she was a vampire now, but she was already feeling the effects of vampirism. Hypersensitivity and fluctuating, inconsistent emotions weren't the worst of it. He knew the thirst would hit her like a ton of bricks soon, and he would have to convince her to feed. There was no way he could let her die again today. If she did, this time it would be for good. "Maya or one of her people must have snuck in. Someone killed you." She turned to look up at him. Confusion and fear were still painfully evident on her face.

"A vampire."

"A vampire?" He frowned. No, vampires didn't work for Maya. There was no way. But she nodded, shaking a little from the horrific memory.

"He bit me."

"That's not possible, love; Maya's a witch. She doesn't have vampire friends," he told her, frowning. She had to have been mistaken. Immediately, she was on her feet. Klaus' heart dropped a little. Here we go, he thought, preparing himself for her inevitable mood swing.

"I know what I saw!" she screamed, and immediately staggered backward, eyes wide. Caught in the vertigo from her own voice, she collapsed onto the wall and clutched her head, willing the vibrations to end. It took much longer than last time. Klaus stood and crept over to her, light on his feet so she wouldn't feel his steps through the floor.

"We can talk about it later," he said, finding it slightly more difficult to stay calm and collected. He remembered now why he hated new vampires – they were like explosive, unstable, bloodthirsty children.

As if she'd read his mind, her lip began to quiver slightly. Within seconds, she was sobbing uncontrollably, curled up against the wall. He rolled his eyes and kneeled next to her, stroking her back. "There, there." He'd never seen her act like such a baby. "Why are you crying, Rin?" She whipped around, makeup streaming down her face.

"Do I need a reason to fucking cry in this house? Aren't I allowed to cry? You wouldn't understand, Klaus, but human beings have hearts. And feelings." Klaus opened his mouth to say something but thought better of it, instead looking away and nodding solemnly. This was going to be difficult.

"Of course you're allowed to cry. You can do whatever you want," he said, trying to appeal to her newfound childishness. She looked at him again, the tears flowing less quickly.

"Whatever I want?" she asked, wide-eyed. Klaus had to stop himself from cringing.

"Whatever you want. What do you want to do?" he asked, offering her as much of a smile as he could muster. He couldn't help but think she'd be horrified when she figured this all out. Instantly, her eyes narrowed.

"I want to know how I survived that fall, Klaus. How did I survive? Huh?" Well, that was abrupt.

He sighed deeply, sitting in front of her.

"Rin, I want you to understand that this was not supposed to happen. This was a backup plan in case someone got to you without me, Kol, or Rebekah noticing. Which is exactly what happened." Shocked that she was still paying attention, he continued. "Do you remember when I made you drink my blood earlier today?" he asked, delving into dangerous territory.

But she only nodded slowly, eyes fixed on him. Her eyes had gotten more demanding, he noticed. It was another side effect. Compelling eyes to eventually use the power of compulsion. Black as ever, it felt like they were staring straight into his head. It was difficult to ignore how much that commanding gaze attracted him, but now was not the time to admire her beauty. He took another deep, cleansing breath, preparing himself for her reaction. "When a human dies with vampire blood in her system, she returns as a vampire."

Klaus was getting sick of tense moments, and this one felt like the tenth one today. Her unwavering blank expression was beginning to make him wonder if she'd even heard him. This did warrant a reaction from the ickle baby vampire, right? The fact that she's no longer human? He blinked, questioning her silently. Suddenly, a tiny smile began playing on her lips. And before long, she was laughing. "I believe I missed the joke," he said. The sound of her laughter didn't bother her ears. That was a good sign. Several moments later, she finally gathered herself, meeting his eyes through a quivering grin.

"You're telling me that the only way to keep me alive was to turn me into a vampire," she said, seemingly no longer concerned about speaking in a whisper. "But that doesn't make sense because vampires are dead!" Once again, she burst into laughter. Klaus only blinked, watching her break down in hysterics. He wasn't sure what he'd been expecting, but that wasn't nearly as funny as he'd thought it would be.

"Do you feel dead?" he asked, raising a brow. This was an argument that came up now and again – if one had to die to become a vampire, didn't that mean all vampires were dead? Some used the word 'undead' to refer to vampires, but that didn't seem right either. Klaus was pretty sure he was alive, and that sometimes dying didn't mean one was really dead. Just… something else.

Rin looked at him thoughtfully, and slowly her gaze drifted up to the ceiling. Klaus watched her as she put what was clearly a great deal of thought into his question.

"No, I don't feel dead," she said, her hand drifting to her heart. "I still have a pulse. I guess I'm alive." Klaus smiled at her, glad that she wasn't taking this as horribly as he'd assumed she would. However, the mood swings would last a while – she might wake up tomorrow hating him. Either way, it would all eventually pass.

"Then you must be living," he said, standing up. "But there's one thing, Rin…" Now came the next hard part. She cocked her head at him expectantly and slowly rose to her feet as well. Suddenly, she realized how much blood had stained her hair, skin and clothing and frowned at herself before turning back to Klaus. "You need to feed. Today. Otherwise you really will die." Her eyes widened.

"What?" Klaus nodded slowly, letting that sink in. Before he could register what had happened, he was thrown into the mahogany footboard of Kol's bed. The sound of a rib or two cracking made him wince. Evidently, she hadn't learned how to moderate her strength yet. Or maybe she had and she just wanted to hurt him that badly. Though she had to admit that blood sounded somewhat appealing right now, there was no way she was letting him get away with this bullshit. She stormed over to him, screaming. "You think you can just waltz into my life and turn me into a vampire? I'm not going to drink human blood! You're a goddamn control freak!" Slowly, he took a deep breath and straightened out, standing up as his ribs joined back together.

"I told you, I didn't want this to happen. It was a backup plan," he said, ignoring the rest of her jibes. Control freak? "But you need to, unless you really do want to die today." She was fuming, and with her hair and clothes covered in her own blood she looked like a raging asylum escapee. "Look, you don't need to drink from the vein right now. We have a great deal of blood stored here—"

"No! God, no!" she screamed. Klaus couldn't help but roll his eyes, knowing she was probably feeling the thirst already. Aside from that, she never lost her temper like this as a human, and he was losing his patience.

"You're going to, whether you like it or not. You can either live forever or die right now and I know for a fact that you do not want to die," he said quickly, grabbing her arm. "Now go clean up and then I can convince you more. When you're less… eruptive." She wrenched her arm away and shoved him backward, sending him once more into the wood of Kol's bed.

"I'll shower, but I'm not drinking anything," she hissed before making her way to the stairwell.

"Yes you are," muttered Klaus under his breath, glaring at her as she walked away. Not even Rin could change his belief that new vampires were absolutely intolerable.