A/N: Hey, hi.
I'm really sorry for the year-long hiatus. Honestly, the year has been hectic. I'm not going to get into details but, to make it short, it was a mix of family issues, loss of time/motivation to write, and a false alarm with my grandmother's health. I am so, so very sorry about the cliffhanger in the last chapter.
Even more when you know that chapter nine has been ready and beta'ed (by WinchesterGurl1967, thank you so much for that, even if I post it just now). Though I'm not sure the end of this chapter is much better… I promise to not disappear again, tho. I've got the next chapter almost ready!
Again, I'm so very sorry. I hope that the chapter will meet your expectations, at the very least.
Ps: I got back in the previous chapters to re-edit because I noticed that I've got a tendency to switch between past and present tense. Oops. Sorry. Don't be afraid to call me on it, English isn't my first language and I take every occasion to learn!
XxxX Miss Dragonish
Chapter 9: You were dead!
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I woke up at the sound of the front door closing abruptly. Blinking at the light in the house, I brought my hand to my head. It was the worst hangover ever. If I had known what three glasses of whiskey could do… I grabbed my pillow and covered my face with it. Wait—I opened one of my eyes, lifting slightly my pillow and looking around me.
I was in my room but I was sure I fell asleep in Caroline's. I closed my eyes again, not supporting the sunlight, even though my curtains were closed. How did I end up in my bed?
"Claire?" Caroline's voice sounded worried.
"I'm fine, Care, don't worry it's just a horrible hangover," I said, reassuring.
"No, you're not," she said, her voice breaking, and I heard her beginning to cry.
I straightened on my bed, looking at her with panic, forgetting all about the pain I was feeling. "Care? What? Why…"
"You were dead!" She screamed, her tears rolling down freely on her face. "I found you dead, Claire."
"What," I whispered helplessly, not moving my eyes from her, as I finally remembered my encounter with Katherine. "Oh fuck."
"I didn't hear you coming back," she said, sobbing. "And when I got downstairs, you were there… Lying on the floor… Dead."
"Care… I'm so sorry you had…" I began, but she cut me before I could continue.
"It's not about me! Claire, you are dead. Don't be sorry for me, think about you a little, please!" She walked to the bed and sat in front of me. "You can't think about me right now, Claire. You have to think about yourself, and what you want to do."
I frowned at her, trying to understand what she was saying. "'What I want to do'? What do you mean?"
"You had— You had blood in your mouth, Claire. I know what that means and I— thought about it. If you want to— to not— not finish the transition, I would understand, Claire," she whispered with more tears in her eyes. "You never said what you thought about—"
"I'm not letting you! Care…" I widened my eyes at her. "As long as you stay with me, I'm not going anywhere."
"I'll always stay with you!" She cried, hugging me.
I hugged her back until her scent reached me, and for half a second, I thought about drinking from her, before shaking my head and breaking our hug. "I'm sorry, it's your— Your scent."
"I'm— I'm so sorry, Claire. That should have been me," she whispered, looking downward guiltily.
"Don't say that, Care. I promised you that it wouldn't happen. The only one responsible is Katerina." And she will pay for that.
I was so stupid— I knew that she was in town, but I wasn't careful enough.
"I got that from the Salvatores'," Caroline said, putting a bag on my bed. I looked up at her with surprise when I saw it was full of blood blags. "Turns out Damon has quite a reserve in his creepy secret dungeon."
"You stole blood bags from Damon Salvatore's personal reserve?!" I didn't hold back my laugh at her proud expression.
"Elena told me the Salvatore brothers were helping her with the Carnival, so I figured they would have some blood bags that they wouldn't miss."
"You're wonderful, Care," I told her and she smiled at me, happy. "Oh crap, I totally forget about the Carnival! You should be there, planning or whatever, no?"
She frowned, "I'm not going to leave you alone, Claire. I told Elena you're sick, she could handle it just fine."
"You can't do that, Care. You're not putting your life on pause because I died."
"Well, if you ask me, I think that it's a very good reason to do so," she crossed her arms in front of her chest. "You need me, Claire."
"I do, Care, you're right. But if you do that, Mom will think that something is up. And I don't know how she would react if she learns that I turned..." I told her with a sad smile.
"Oh…" Her arms fell beside her and she looked down for a minute. "Okay… But I'm not going anywhere before you finalized the transition."
"Yeah, as you wish, princess." I chuckled, grabbed a bag, and looked at it for a full minute. Caroline sat behind me on the bed and I could feel her hand on my shoulder.
I finally drank, surprised by the wonderful taste of the liquid. Not sure, but I might've moaned at some point.
Sudden pain in my mouth made me drop the bag and it fell on the floor. I absently noticed Caroline picking it up before it could stain my bed, though.
"Claire? Are you ok?" She asked with worry in her tone.
I couldn't answer as I whined painfully, pressing my gum to stop the pain. Then it stopped suddenly and I could feel that my fangs were out. I couldn't really be relieved because, as soon as it happened, I felt all the air in my lungs disappear and my throat contracts.
I touched my throat, my eyes widening with panic.
I can't breathe! I can't breathe! Oh fuck, I can't breathe!
I can't BREATHE!
"Claire! Claire! What is happening?" I could hear Caroline, but it was distant.
My brain chose this exact moment to remember a scene from the show; when Elena woke up Elijah in a house where he wasn't invited.
I looked painfully toward the window, even with the curtains closed I could see the sun. I couldn't get out of this house.
I can't breathe.
"Claire! Tell me what is happening!" I felt Caroline grabbing my face, making me look at her.
I was probably feeling the same panic I could see in her eyes, my vision blurring, and I couldn't form any words.
I can't breathe.
I slowly—so slowly—grabbed her hand with mine, trying to attract her attention to it. I felt guilty when I saw tears on her face again. It seemed like I could only make her cry today.
"Claire?!" She screamed, and I focused on my hand again.
I can't breathe.
It took all my power to hit the ground with my index, before showing her the door of my room. She looked puzzled for a second before comprehension filled her face. "Oh my god!" She screamed. "Come in Claire! Come in!"
The pressure finally left my lungs and throat and I could breathe again. "Oh my," I stuttered with relief.
We looked at each other for a good second before I burst into laughter, Caroline not long behind me, hiding her face in my chest.
It was hard, but I finally convinced Care to go full mode despot on the girls, at the Carnival. She was gone for two hours now, and I was lurking around the house, searching for things to do. Because I knew what I had to do, but I didn't want to.
I hated hurting the people I love. And even if it was not what I wanted to do, I knew that it was what was going to happen.
Breathing slowly to gather my courage, I grabbed my laptop and sat on my bed. It turned on quickly, more than ever, and I clicked on Skype, calling Enzo.
I looked at my face reflecting on the screen, my nervousness was obvious.
He finally appeared on my screen, smiling slightly. It took time, but Enzo finally accepted that he and Vicki were safer in London than here. And I was going to throw all that out the window. There was no way I could convince him to stay there after what Katerina did.
I was going to put him in danger, I knew it, but I knew he would never forgive me if I didn't tell him now.
"Hey, Claire. You're not supposed to be at school?" He asked mockingly.
"We… don't really have school today. They are organizing a Carnival," I really wanted to tell him, I did. But the words couldn't get past my mouth. "How is Vicki?" I was stalling, I knew, because I talked to Vicki two days ago.
"She's good, she's slowly acclimating. I didn't think she would be that good, that fast, with all that drug addiction business, but she really surprised me."
"Yeah…" I whispered, trying to force the words out.
"What's up, Claire? You look on edge, I don't like it," he finally said after a short silence.
I couldn't help but laugh at that. I was definitely on edge, that's for sure. And fucking hungry, too.
"Enzo… Something happened yesterday." I began, stalling again.
"What?" He frowned, leaning towards his camera.
"I don't really know how to say it, I'll just show you, okay?" I looked at him for a second, gathering all my courage before closing my eyes and concentrating. When I opened them again, my newly acquired fangs were out.
His eyes widened and he probably dropped his laptop because I was suddenly looking at his floor.
"Claire?" He shouted, getting back on the screen. "How did that happen?! It's Damon, isn't it? I knew I should have been there! Where is Caroline? How is she?!"
"She is fine, don't worry, she is not a vampire. And no, Enzo, it's not Damon. It's actually his ex-girlfriend, Katherine. This bitch is so dead," I muttered, letting my anger out for the first time since… my death.
"I will be there as soon as I find a flight," he said with determination.
"Enzo…" I whispered, knowing it was a vain attempt.
"No, Claire, there is nothing you could say that will change my mind and you know it. I don't know if Vicki will want to come or not, but I'm not staying in London."
"As much as I hate putting you in danger… Thank you, Enzo," I told him with a soft smile.
"You're welcome, Claire," he said, smiling back.
As soon as the sun was down, I got in my car and pulled out my phone to send a message to Caroline.
'Damon and Stefan are at the Carnival?'
She responded almost instantly.
'Yep. Just saw them lurking around Mason Lockwood. You think they know something is up with him?'
'Probably. Or they are just paranoid bastards.'
I sent it and started my car, taking the Salvatore Boarding House's direction.
I was so fucking hungry, I already finished all the blood bags Caroline got me this morning. So I decided to go back there, and steal from them again. It was only justice, I was in this mess because of their psychotic ex-girlfriend, after all.
It wasn't long before I got there, parking my car in front of the door. Honestly, I didn't even care about getting caught anymore.
I walked into the house easily, though. How stupid of them, though. No puppet-human owned the house? Not even Elena? They didn't even lock the door, for fuck's sake.
My thoughts process stopped when I got face to face—well, more face to back—with none other than Jeremy Freaking Gilbert.
"Why the fuck are you here?" I asked, dumbfounded. He turned toward me, as surprised as me, with a whiskey bottle in one hand and a little vial—full of a clear liquid—in the other.
"God, are you spiking the alcohol with vervain? Don't do that!" I grabbed the bottle of whiskey and put it back on the table. "You don't want to be on Damon's bad side, kid."
After what I remembered from our last encounter, there was no need to play stupid with him, I already told him everything he needed to know. He stayed frozen, just looking at me with wide eyes.
"Well, you don't look like you're going to respond any time soon, so I will just carry on with my business."
I turned on my heel and began to search for the creepy secret dungeon's entrance.
"Wait!" He finally said, waking up from his shocked trance. "I have questions for you!"
"I don't know if I want to answer them," I said, looking around.
"What? But what you said, at the mayor's…"
"I was drunk. A shame, because I had only three glasses," I muttered. "Aha!" I exclaimed as I finally found the door—not hidden that well, after all. I took the stairs and could hear Jeremy behind me.
"How did you know about that door? And what you said about Vicki? And Anna? Elena said Vicki was probably dead. And I thought Anna was, too, in the fire…" He was still talking. Did he ever stop?
"Okay, okay. If you swear to not say anything about what I'm about to do, and what I'm about to say, I will tell you everything you want to know. Okay?" I looked at him in the eyes over my shoulder.
"I swear!" He nodded quickly.
I could see he was just a kid, he was only 15 years old, after all. I stopped at the end of the stairs, looking at him.
"Well, I call bullshit on Elena. She probably said Vicki is 'probably' dead because she doesn't want you to search too deep, not after she compelled you to forget her—"
"You know about that, too?" He cut me.
"Yep, I figured it out when we talked, two days after Vicki left. You were repeating some crap about 'the best' or something like that," I shook my head and talked toward the first room of the creepy dungeon.
"Here you are, sweetie!" I muttered when I saw a freezer badly hidden with a rug. I looked around, finding the trash bin I was looking for quickly. Opening my bag, I tossed out all the empty blood bags in it.
"What the hell?" Jeremy said with shock.
"Your sister told you about her psychotic doppelgänger?" I asked, looking sideways at him, and he nodded. "She showed up at my house yesterday and turned me into a vampire. Against my will."
I've no idea why I told him all that, I wasn't even drunk. Maybe I just needed to tell it to someone who wouldn't be as affected by the news as Caroline, Enzo or…
Oh, god, how do I say that to Jenna?!
"She what?!" His eyes were burning holes into me, so wide I was afraid they would fall from their sockets.
"Yeah, that's why I'm stealing from Damon," I said, filling my bag with blood bags. "But don't go snitch on me, I want to see how long it will take them to notice."
"You what?"
"Are you broken or something? Anyway, I got what I was searching for. Do you want the answers to your questions or not? Because I'm not staying here."
He looked at me, probably torn between coming with me and whatever reason he had to come here trying to spike Damon's alcohol. The good stuff, too.
"Ok, lead the way, I'm coming with you."
I was almost disappointed he chose to come, I wasn't looking forward to telling him about his girlfriends and why they fled town.
My conversation with Jeremy was easier than I thought it would be. In the end, I left him shocked but already processing the news. And now, the sun was back and I was blocked again.
I was looking at a ray of sunlight passing through the living room's curtains and, I don't know why, my hand extended, almost independently, toward it.
The pain made me groan.
The door opened slowly behind me and I moved quickly, to be out of the area of the sun. Caroline and Bonnie entered the house before Caroline closed the door behind them.
"Hey…" I smiled slightly at Bonnie, I knew that Caroline already told her about me. If she was here, it was good news, right?
"Claire…" She looked at me with pity.
I hated that. I wanted to tell her, scream at her until my throat bleed, that I didn't need her pity. Yeah, I was beginning to understand that thing about amplified feelings and shits. I breathed, trying to remind myself that I needed her pity.
She walked through the room, grabbed my arm, and suddenly gasped.
"Oh god, Claire, I'm so sorry! I should have told you about Katherine…"
"I was stupid, I thought she was Elena…" I looked at the wall behind her, not telling her how much stupid I was.
"You couldn't have known! They're so similar! You… You need help, Claire. I think Stefan could…"
"No. Look, Bonnie, I know Caroline asked you for a ring…"
"I brought Emily's grimoire, I'm not sure if I can do it, but I'm going to try," she told me with a small smile, taking an old book out of her bag.
"And I'm really grateful, Bonnie, I really am. But I have to tell you now that I will not put on an 'Edward Cullen' act. I don't want to kill innocent people, but I am going to feed with human blood," I said, my tone not letting room for arguments.
"But… You can choose, Claire! You will never have to hurt innocents if you just chose to feed on animals—"
"Feeding on animals is just an accident waiting to happen, Bonnie, and you know it."
She looked down at her book with a frown. "I can't take the risk that you hurt people, Claire. I don't know if I can make you a ring if…"
"Bonnie Sheila Bennett!" Caroline suddenly screamed, attracting our attention to her. "You're talking about my sister! You grew up with her, Bonnie. You know her. Being turned didn't change her, and you know it. In the car, you said the transition probably amplified some of her traits. Tell me, Bonnie, what always defined Claire? Since we're little kids?"
Bonnie looked at her with a frown. Then she looked at me, her eyes scanning my features, and her face suddenly softened.
"How much you care about Caroline. Elena and I used to be jealous of her when we were kids. She was lucky to have such a protective and caring big sister. I think… No, I know the transition can't have changed that."
"It didn't," I said, looking at my little sister with a smile. "I will do anything to keep Care safe."
"Yeah… I will do it. I will make you a ring. But you need to tell Elena about it," she said as she sat on the couch and searched through her book. "She needs to know what her psychotic ancestor did."
"No, it's exactly what Katherine wants me to do, and I'm not doing anything that bitch wants. And I want to see how long it will take for the Salvatores to understand."
"What?" She looked at me with surprise, standing up. "Claire! You can't hide that from them because you want to play—"
"No, Bonnie, I'm not playing. If Katherine wants the Salvatore to know that she turned me, this bitch will have to wait 'til I want them to know, or tell them herself. I'm not a fucking owl, I'm not going to pass on her messages."
"Fucking Harry Potter references," Caroline muttered under her breath.
I turned toward her with a big smile. "Be indulgent, Care, I always wanted to say that!"
She just glared at me and I laughed at her expression.
"I really think you should tell them, Claire," Bonnie said again.
"Okay," I breathed, tired of arguing. "Give me a week. I want a week before I have to tell them, okay?"
She looked at me, probably torn. "Okay…" she finally whispered with a grimace. "A week seems good…" She sat again and took her book back. "I have the spell, but we need a lapis lazuli jewelry. I was going to ask Stefan but… well. And I don't think you can find that in the first sto—"
"I have that," I told her, taking a tiny lapis lazuli out of my pocket.
"That's… not a ring, Claire," she said curiously.
"Nah, obviously not. You just need to spell the rock, right? After I will hide it there," I told her, showing her my necklace. Caroline got it out of my neck when she… found me, and got rid of all the vervain on the metal. "That rock is small enough to fit in the charm, and that's way more discreet than their rings tape-à-l'œil."
"Oh… I can do that," Bonnie said, looking at me with a smile. She placed the rock in the sunlight, grabbed her grimoire, and read something in… Latin? Or something like that. After a minute or so, she stopped, grabbing the rock again, and gave it to me. "Done."
"Already?" Caroline said with surprise. "That's all? No supernatural wind? No flickering of the lights?"
"We're not in a TV Show, Care," Bonnie said—and Care and I shared a smile. "Magic doesn't always do that sort of thing. This was a relatively simple spell, but if you really want to know if that worked, you have to…" she looked at me and nodded toward the sun.
Nodding, I opened the charm of my necklace and put the rock in it before re-closing it. Then, I extended my hand toward the sun. This time, there was no pain. With an excited smile toward Care, I opened the curtains and smiled at the sun.
It was crazy what 24 hours without it can do.
I turned to see Bonnie and Caroline smiling at me with indulgence.
"Hum, Bonnie? Sorry, but can you seal that? Make it that I'm the only one who can open it?"
She raises her eyebrows. "Uh, yes, I think Emily had a spell like that… I will need a drop of your blood, though."
Alaric and Jenna were standing awkwardly, face to face in the doorway when I got to the Gilbert's. He then suddenly got out, followed by Elena and Stefan.
I didn't think that seeing Elena would do something to me, but I was wrong. I wanted to kill her on sight, tore her to pieces. She killed me.
But then, I remembered that it wasn't her, just someone wearing the same face. So, I just smiled. "Hey, Elena. Going somewhere?"
"Claire! Uh, yeah… I'm gonna see some of my biological mom's stuff… you know…" she stuttered, trailing off awkwardly.
"Yeah…" I looked at the three men waiting for her in the car. "And Damon is going with you because…"
"He is going with Ric— Emotional support, you know. Stefan is mine and Damon is Ric's."
"Yeah…" I whispered again, not convinced. Because Damon was such credible emotional support.
She just smiled an even more awkward smile and got in the car, waving goodbye at me.
"Claire, get your ass in there, I already did the tea," Jenna said from the door when I didn't move from my place. Well, finally it wasn't that hard to get an invitation.
"Jen' we have to work on your habits of voicing your invitation," I said when we were installed in the living room. "You need to be careful of vampires, I told you they need a voiced invitation…"
"Don't worry about it," she smiled. "I think I would know it, Claire, if a vampire was at my door."
"You didn't," I whispered, looking down at my cup.
"What?" She asked with a frown. "What do you mean?"
"Something… Something happened, Jenna," I whispered, not able to hold back my tears anymore.
Don't get me wrong, I was happy that Caroline was safe and sound but— My life was suddenly upside down again. I hated that I had to be turned, for Care to be safe. But— I didn't regret being the one who was turned, not if that let Caroline choose.
But Katerina was going to pay for that. Maybe I was wrong before, maybe death was too merciful for her.
"Oh my god, Claire…" Jenna walked around the table, grabbing my shoulder. "Are you a..?" I nodded, still crying, and she took me in her arms. "What happened?"
"Katherine," was the only thing I said.
"That bitch."
I cried in her arms for a while and she just stroked my hair and back, not saying anything. It was what I needed, to be honest.
"What was that awkward scene with Alaric, earlier?" I finally said, trying to change the subject.
"I don't know," she sighed, not commenting on my diversion. "I think he wants to take back on the thing we had but… I wanted him to tell me, you know? That his wife is not as dead as he thought. I mean, he is heading toward her office, that's not like it wasn't the moment!"
"He didn't?" I asked, but I already knew the answer.
"No, he didn't. Elena neither. I want to tell them that I know, but I don't want to put you in the spotlight."
"Don't worry about that, I'm gonna tell them, anyway. I want to see if they notice my turning first, though."
"Really? I want to be there when you do it!"
I laughed at her enthusiasm.
"Yeah, I promise I will wait for you," I said with a smile. "So, how is Elena? Care told me she knows John is her biological father."
Jenna froze. "John is her— What?"
I backed away to look at her, "you didn't… know?"
Oops…
I turned in my bed, woken up by a strange feeling, only to find myself face to face with Elena.
"Elena? What are you…"
She smiled and I understood my mistake instantly. I was standing on the other side of the room the next second.
"Try again, Little Forbes, try again," Katherine said.
