Stood on the cliffside
Screaming, "Give me a reason"
Your faithless love's the only hoax I believe in
Don't want no other shade of blue but you
No other sadness in the world would do

Hoax - Taylor Swift

There was a weird sound next to me. It was a gurgling, sputtering sound. I frowned and turned around. The pipes must be acting up, I thought groggily and tried to ignore it. The wet sound continued and with a particularly violent gurgle I felt something wet splatter on my face.

I froze and my breathing hitched. There weren't any pipes near my bed. My breathing came in short panicked bursts and I slowly opened my eyes.

My breathing stopped completely when I saw Ben's blood covered face staring at me in sheer terror. The moonlight streaming in from the window washed his face to a silver glow, the blood staining it pitch black. Ocean blue eyes washed out to grey…

He whimpered and blood streamed out of the wound on his neck.

I screamed. Long and piercing.

A hand came down and slashed at his throat again cutting off the choking and his eyes went dull.

"NO!" I screamed and reached out to him, my hands fluttering over his body, unsure of what to do. I sobbed and looked up at the person the knife wielding hand was attached to. I sprang up in surprise tripping over my clothes and sheets that still laid on the floor.

"E-Elena…" I stuttered. It was Elena. Her hair was still curled from the parade, a smirk on her face. Blood drops sat like rubies on her face and her hands glinted in the moonlight. Wet with Ben's blood.

"Try again, sweetheart," she said softly and advanced. When I didn't say anything she grunted in annoyance, "Ugh, it's Katherine. The better, sexier doppelganger." The knife dropped to the floor as she carelessly tossed it over her shoulder. I scrambled away from her as she appraised me, her dark eyes glinting with malice.

"Hmm," she tilted her head, continuing her approach. I tried to take another step backward but my back hit the wall, "I wanted to see Damon's little pet for myself," she said thoughtfully as if she was talking to herself more than she was talking to me.

"I am not Damon's pet," I spat out, my voice barely above a whisper.

"Oh, but you are," she said her voice cold, "He even warned you of the big bad vampire in town," her voice was sarcastic. Damon's call from the previous day came back to me.

"What do you want?" I asked, trying to steady my voice. My eyes kept flicking to Ben's motionless, blood covered body. Grief clawed at my chest as I took in the growing stain on the bed. Katherine brought up her hand and licked her fingers. Her eyes closed in pleasure and my body heaved with disgust.

"See, I want Damon and Stefan all to myself," she said, "You are just a silly, killable human. I don't know what Damon sees in you," she sounded bitter.

"You're jealous?" I asked incredulously, my legs shaking as I laughed. What a joke. She's jealous of me when Elena exists, the person both of the brothers would die for, "Sorry to waste your time but Damon feels nothing for me."

"I don't think so," she said, her eyes narrowing, "While you were cuddled up with Mr. Blue Eyes here, he was frantically calling you every second he could." she tilted her head, "Why on earth would he do that if he didn't care?"

I shook my head in denial. My eyes strayed from her to look at Ben's body again. The blood on the bed was black in the moonlight. Tears streamed down my face.

"Aw, sorry about that," she said, not sounding sorry at all. Her high heel clad feet came to a standstill in front of me. "Didn't want any loose ends, you know?"

Something glinted in her hand and I realised she had the knife again. My heart raced in my chest and I glanced around, frantically trying to find a weapon.

"I would tell you this will be quick… but it won't," she snarled and grabbed me by the neck. I heard a faint sizzling sound as her flesh met with the vervain perfume that still clung to my neck. She didn't flinch. I gasped for breath and clawed at her fingers in vain as she dragged me to the middle of the room. As she flung me to the floor my cheek ricocheted off the hardwood and I moaned in pain, stars erupting behind my eyes.

Escape, Laura!

A voice screamed in my head. I started crawling to the door but I knew it was futile when she grabbed my ankle. A desperate grunt escaped my clenched teeth and I grasped the leg of a table, kicking wildly behind me. My hand slipped off the leg and she pulled me effortlessly away from the door.

"Let's start with that pretty face of yours," the vampire growled and pinned me to the floor with her knees. I screamed and struggled, shaking my head back and forth. She easily grasped it and held it still.

A searing hot pain slashed across my face and I saw red.

"That should do it," Katherine murmured, sitting back to appraise her work. I was too shocked to scream. She placed the blade of the knife at the base of my throat and slowly pushed it into my skin dragging it down my chest slicing my abdomen open. A little grin stretched on her face as she did it.

My body convulsed and I saw black spots clouding my vision.

Warmth spilled from my stomach and flowed down my body onto the carpet.

Through my tunneled vision I saw her licking the knife, her fangs scraping the blade.

Tears streamed down my face in ribbons and I watched as she got up and walked to the door, leaving without a backwards glance.

"Ben," I choked and managed to twist my body into a position where I could crawl.

I made slow progress, the blood loss draining my strength. The blood left a thick streak behind me as I painstakingly made my way to his side. My hand stretched out to his, glinting black in the moonlit room. It dropped before I could touch him. A small whimper escaped my blood stained mouth showering the carpet with small droplets of it.

As the darkness pooled around me and blood got into my eyes from the cut on my face I started to hear a faint ringing in my ears.

I turned onto my back and stared at the ceiling as my body twitched and convulsed in agony.

All I could think of was my family. How I would never see them again. The grief of losing them enveloped me in a stifling weight and I gasped for air, clinging dearly to life. Blue eyes shone in the darkness above me and I knew it was Ben, his hand held out to me.

"It's ok Laura," he whispered to me and a small smile settled onto my face. Tears streamed out of my staring eyes, "You'll be ok," his voice was far away but I could see his ocean blue eyes beckoning me.

I closed my eyes and let the crushing weight of death settle on my battered body.

Damon's head was spinning with everything that had happened. Regret and grief threatened to pull him under but he forced it down determined to keep his promise to himself.

Jeremy's limp body hitting the ground was all he could see when he closed his eyes. His ears rung with Elena's piercing screams and he grit his teeth.

A roar of frustration burst from his chest and he flung his glass where it shattered over the fireplace. The broken pieces clattered on the stone floor.

"It's not my fault you snuck up on me," Laura's soft voice came back to him and he had to sit down as he remembered the look on her face when she saw him kissing Elena… Katherine pretending to be Elena.

"You're not human," His eyes clamped shut as tears threatened to spill over. Her blue eyes were so sincere, soft and undeniably human. He couldn't stay away from her. He knew he should. She deserved normalcy.

And then he kissed her without thinking.

Everytime he thought of her lips his dead heart twinged with longing.

Drawing a shaky hand through his hair he wondered if he should call again. To make sure she was all right. He was worried Katherine might have heard his conversation with Laura earlier, warning her against the vampire. The more he thought about it the more he panicked. He decided against calling and sped to his car.

When he arrived at the guest house Laura stayed, he smelled her. Katherine had been here. He hissed and sped to the door stopping to listen for threats. Two heart beats reached his ears. One steady and rhythmic and the other stuttering, frantic, asif trying to preserve the last few moments of life. Panic clawed at his chest and in an instant he was in her room.

The intoxicating smell of blood was overwhelming. His fangs withdrew involuntarily and he took a moment to compose himself as he took in the scene.

A man was in the bed, his throat a mangled piece of flesh glinting with blood. Unmistakably dead. Damon's eyes travelled down to where Laura lay staring at the ceiling. Her face was smeared with blood and tears. On her lips was a small smile. He hurried to her side, his body stilled as he saw her heart twitching halfheartedly. The wound stretched from her collarbone to her navel, her insides protruded grotesquely, her heart exposed underneath the broken sternum.

In a panic, he clenched his teeth down hard on his wrist and held it insistently to her mouth. There was no response, her lips already cold. The tears he had held onto finally spilled and his head hung as he sobbed over her destroyed body. He gently took her upper body and pulled her close to his chest, her head lolling slightly as it came to rest on his shoulder. Placing a cheek on her bloodstained forehead he couldn't help but wish he had never met her. Then she never would have had to die like this.

"It's ok, Laura," he whispered, wishing he hadn't had so much to drink. His voice slurred, "You'll be ok," her body shook as the last struggling breaths escaped her.

"I'm sorry for all of this," he whispered, stroking her hair, "You deserved so much better."

He held her as her last breaths struggled to exit her body. As her heart thudded one last time he cradled her to his chest sobbing silently into her hair. He looked down at her and saw her blue eyes wide and bright in death. A shaky hand gently closed them.