Disclaimer: Refer to the first chapter please :)
Crying Wolf
As Claire poured herself her breakfast glass of blood, she held her phone to her ear and waited as the tone rang, waiting for Elena to pick up on the other end. It took all of three rings, where Claire had managed to pour a full glass of rich red liquid and put the bag she had poured it out of to the side.
"Hello?" Elena answered groggily. Claire was just about to pull the glass from her lips to speak when she could hear Caroline and Bonnie whine from the background, "Elena...!"
Claire smiled. "Late night?"
Elena's response was a bit delayed, but she laughed as much as she could for having been clearly woken up from her slumber. "Yes. But it was worth it. Thanks for this, Claire."
The blonde shrugged. "Don't mention it. How is Caroline doing?"
"She's doing fine. Well, as fine as she can be." Elena let out a deep, heavy sigh that made Claire instantly suspicious. With lips pursed and eyebrows knotted, she took in a sharp inhale.
"And...how are you doing, Elena?"
"Me? Oh, I'm fine...I'm fine..." Claire stayed silent and listened to the sound of Elena's forced breathing before the human groaned and admitted, "Okay. I'm not so fine. I just really could use a break from all this."
Claire downed the blood on her glass and moved to pour some bourbon into it instead. Holding her phone between her shoulder and her ear while getting alcohol for herself, she continued. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"It means that..." Elena swallowed. "It means that last night, one of my vampire best friends almost got killed by a pack of werewolves. It means that for the past few weeks, I've been trying to figure out a way to protect everyone that I love from some evil Original vampire who's going to come to Mystic Falls to kill me in some sacrifice." She paused. "I could use a vacation far...far away from Mystic Falls."
Claire chuckled and grabbed the phone with her hand again. "Right. And this sudden urge to leave town has absolutely nothing to do with dodging John Gilbert?"
"Uh...this has everything to do with that." As she drank her bourbon, Claire smiled to herself and listened to Elena in the phone with a needy tone. "Come on, Claire. You and I could both use a vacation away from Mystic Falls. I mean, I could certainly...deal with some time away from Stefan and you...well, you could use some time away from—"
"Elena, I'm gonna have to call you back. Damon!" Claire snapped as she hung up the phone and saw Damon walk out from the hallway with a woman in front of him—the woman who had been flirting with him the previous day at the Grill before they found out about Caroline. For a moment, she was genuinely surprised that there was another person in the household since Stefan was at Amelia's and Damon was supposed to be alone, for she had heard nothing when she had gotten home the night before. Damon turned to her with disinterested eyes but a loose smile, and the woman looked over at her with confusion. She walked over to the two at the threshold of the foyer and eyed the scarf around the woman's neck. "That's my scarf!"
The woman looked down at it with a huff. "It's a very nice scarf."
Damon smiled at Claire. "Relax, sugar. Couldn't have Andie going back to work with a bunch of holes in her neck, now, could I? After all, she is on the live television."
With a humble look, Andie's eyes moved from the disgusted Claire to the relaxed Damon, where she smiled at him and said, "Okay, well I've got to get to work now."
"Okay." Damon leaned forward and kissed her, unintentionally causing Claire to turn her head and shift awkwardly as Damon walked her to the door. "Have a great day, honey."
Andie walked out onto the porch, where she headed out into the morning sunlight and Damon shut the front door of the boarding house and turned around at Claire, who was waiting. He smiled.
"My new girlfriend," he started. "Andie Starr, 'Action News'."
"Mystic Falls doesn't have an 'Action News', Damon," Claire bit at him. He shrugged. "If it did, it would only be because we didn't cover our tracks and word of a thousand vampire attacks were leaked." Brushing past her, he walked into the foyer to pour himself a drink while Claire turned around at him, confused, "Besides, when did you start having girlfriends?"
"Since...now." Damon scoffed. "And where were you last night?"
She decided it wasn't worth it; there was no point in talking to Damon about his sex life because a) she didn't want to know and b) she was determined to prove everyone wrong—she didn't care who or what Damon Salvatore slept with. Though it killed her not to use that built-up temper inside of her, she brushed past what had just happened and sighed.
"I set up a sleepover for Caroline, Elena, and Bonnie and then I went over to Amelia's so I could help Stefan. What happened in the woods really screwed with his strength," Claire explained. Damon turned around at her with the glass of bourbon in his hands but a more serious look on his face.
"You really think this whole 'Taming of the Stefan' plan of yours is working?" Damon asked, cocking an eyebrow at her. She nodded.
"I think it's...definitely helping."
"And what happens when he feeds on more than what you've allotted him?" the dark-haired Salvatore proposed darkly, stepping forward. Claire didn't flinch. "What happens when he loses his balance on this very...tight rope you're having him walk on? What happens then, huh?"
"I can handle it," she chided. Damon gave her a look of disbelief. Feeling vindictive, she snapped, "Unlike his brother."
Before Damon could get a chance to snap back at her, the bell on the door chimed, and both Damon and Claire were standing in the middle of the foyer in an intense stare down as they waited for someone to break the contest and for someone to be a winner. Eventually, Claire broke the contact and stormed over to the front door of the house, where Alaric was standing on the porch awkwardly, waiting to be invited in. Seeing Claire, he opened his mouth to speak a greeting, but she just gave him a sour smile.
"Damon's in the foyer," she told him and, leaving the front door open, walked out of the house and into the daylight. She could see Alaric's confusion but she didn't pay any mind to it as she moved to the driveway of the boarding house and climbed into her car while dialing Elena's number again. This time, Elena answered on the second ring, less groggy this time.
"Hey, Claire—"
"A vacation sounds pretty good right now," Claire cut her off as she started the car and the bluetooth came on over the speakers. Elena's words were stuttered, but that wasn't a result of the bluetooth.
"R-Really? O...Okay, sure! When can we leave?"
"I can pick you up from your house in an hour."
"So what made you change your mind?" Elena asked as she brought down a bag from upstairs that she packed. Claire, however, decided to go get some new clothes instead of stepping back into the Salvatore house, so in the car that awaited their girl's weekend were a bunch of shopping bags from the mall a little ways out of town. Claire shrugged.
"I'm a big believer in charity," she quipped. Elena laughed.
"Okay, then. We should go before John shows up and pretends to be a concerned father." Right as Claire scoffed and the two of them moved to walk outside of the Gilbert house, Elena's phone buzzed in her pocket, making her stop in the middle of the foyer. Claire watched her expression as Elena read the text message on her phone from Caroline.
Need to talk. Where are you?
Elena quickly typed a response back, at a stand still until she was able to figure out what was wrong.
Headed to lake house w Claire. U ok?
"Please don't tell me there's an apocalypse." Claire groaned. "Because it's not even eleven o'clock in the morning and I could really, really use a day off."
Elena looked up at Claire with a small smile before she felt her phone buzz in her hand and looked down to see that it was Caroline's response.
All good, never mind. Have fun.
"Just Caroline." Elena hurriedly typed a final message as Claire raised her eyebrow, waiting for Elena to tell her what was going on. The brunette shook her head. "Don't worry, she's fine. Let's go before there's an actual apocalypse."
"I wouldn't put it past Mystic Falls," Claire confessed under her breath as she and Elena walked out of the house and to her car.
It took them about an hour to get to Elena's family's lake house, a cabin that was secluded far in the woods away so that no one can disturb them. Claire opened her car door and stepped outside, breathing in the fall air with a smile on her face. She listened as Elena climbed out of the car, but her steps were less enthusiastic as Claire's were. As she and Elena both rounded the hood of the car, Claire noticed Elena's face and asked, "Are you okay?"
"I'm good. I just...haven't been back here since before..." Elena trailed off, staring at the lake house in nostalgia. Claire racked her brain and looked over at the lake house for any indication to what Elena was referring, and then she realized.
"Oh, shit." Claire moved forward to the doppelgänger, who stared at the lake house without a word. "Elena, I didn't even realize. Hey, maybe we should go back. You know, we can drive to Atlantic City or something! I can get us the best room in one of the best hotels, I promise. We don't have to be here."
Elena shook her head and smiled. "No. I've always loved it here. I want it to stay that way, I was just...having a moment."
But Claire was reluctant. "Are you sure? Because I could definitely go for a casino right now."
Elena laughed at her friend and just went to grab her bag from the back of Claire's SUV. She grabbed her one duffel and Claire carried all of her shopping bags in her hands without any effort at all, walking up to the lake house trailing behind Elena as if she were carrying pillows when, truth be told, there was more than just a 'few' outfits in the shopping bags she'd treated herself to. Elena opened the door and set her bag on the counter, but Claire was stuck at the threshold. She sighed and Elena looked back at the door.
"You don't have to wait out there. I'm all good."
"Well, that's great, but I'm..." Claire tried to push her hand against the threshold but she wasn't able to let her fingers cross the opening. Elena turned at her with wide eyes and Claire just chuckled. "It's gonna be a little hard to get to the tequila from all the way out here. I mean, I'm sure we can figure something out, but..."
"Oh, my God," Elena breathed. "You can't...get in."
"Yes, we've established that. Can you invite me inside now?"
"Claire, I can't. My parents left this place to John Gilbert. He's the only one who can invite you in. I-I'm sorry...I completely forgot."
"That bastard ruins all my plans!" Claire groaned, frustrated. By the time she looked back at Elena, a few seconds had passed, and Elena's solemn and apologetic look from before turned into a wide grin. Claire's frustrated look dropped and she knotted her eyebrows. "Oh, my God, you're completely screwing with me, aren't you?"
Elena laughed. "And I'm sure you thought you're the only one here who could screw with people and get away with it. Come in, Claire."
Claire stepped through the threshold and shut the door behind her as Elena couldn't stop laughing. She had to admit that it was funny, and so she laughed a few times before countering, "Well, even if John Gilbert was the only one who could invite me in, I would've had no problem doing shots from a bar on the boardwalk."
"I'm sure you wouldn't have," said Elena through her chuckles. Claire set her bags down by the stairs leading to the second level of the lake house and, with a determined sigh, turned to Elena.
"Okay," she began. "Time to establish 'Girls' Weekend' rules."
The doppelgänger frowned. "There are rules?"
"Fun rules," Claire amended, giving Elena a slick smile before walking to the kitchen, which was around the corner from the front door. The liquor cabinet, it seemed, was less than ten feet away. As she explained to Elena the rules of their fun weekend, she bent and threw the lock on the liquor cabinet away so she could have a free choice. "No talk about Klaus, no talk about Elijah, no talk about Damon—"
"Or Stefan," Elena added pointedly. Claire turned over her shoulder with a cocked eyebrow, but then she remembered.
"Right. Sometimes I forget that my best friend and my sister decided to play house together." Claire rolled her eyes, and the statement, though harmless, made Elena shift uncomfortably from her position on the couch. "So no talk about Salvatore brothers, Klaus, Elijah, my sister..."
"That doesn't leave much topic for conversation," Elena mumbled under her breath. Claire turned around with two bottles of alcohol in each hand and a small smile.
"That's where these babies come in."
It didn't take long for Elena to get drunk over her face; though she moved at half the pace that Claire did with her shots. So by the time Elena was absolutely plastered, Claire was as hammered as she could be for her state of being—and though she knew it would wear off and was particularly aware of what was going on, unlike the human, she just let herself have fun for once. They had only spent two hours at the cabin before they were both outside on the dock, their jeans rolled up and their feet floating around in the water. Between Claire and Elena there were two shot glasses and an extra large bottle of Grey Goose vodka.
Claire tilted her head back, enjoying the warmth of the sun, and Elena looked around for a moment before she blurted out, "You know, Jeremy broke his arm diving off this dock when he was six."
"Klutz," Claire chuckled.
"My dad taught me how to fish right off this edge," Elena mumbled in nostalgia. "So many memories."
Claire nodded to herself, her eyes closed as she basked in the sunlight, but still acutely aware of Elena's words. "Ah...memories. Sometimes I think there will come a day when my head will reach full capacity and I won't be able to remember any more of them."
"What was it like?" Elena asked suddenly, causing Claire to open her eyes at last and stare at her over the setting sun. She then clarified, "When you realized that everything you thought you wanted to be your future had just...changed in one instant?"
Claire straightened, pouring herself and Elena another round. Confused, she asked, "What, you mean, like...when I realized that I would never get to grow old and die?"
"Somewhat like that."
Claire knocked back the shot she had poured and Elena just watched, neglecting the one that Claire had kindly and presumptuously offered to her. When Claire was done downing the alcohol, she let out a sigh and set the shot glass back down on the dock before looking to Elena with narrowed eyes. Her voice dropped to a whisper as she leaned closer to Elena. "You want the truth?"
"No, Claire, I want a lie." Elena laughed, slightly pouting while shaking her head at her own joke. Claire rolled her eyes.
"Clever. But seriously?" She turned and looked out into the open water. "I was relieved." She turned back at Elena, who had just started to swallow the shot she had queued up, but upon hearing the confession, Elena lowered the glass with widened eyes. Claire nodded slowly. "I know, I know. I make such a big deal about that bitch doppelgänger of your ruining my life when...the first thing I thought when I let it sink in that I was going to alive forever was...'thank God'."
Elena swallowed thickly. "Why?"
Claire shrugged. "Since I was a teenager, I was always worried about growing old and dying. Girls like me can't stay beautiful forever." She shot Elena a confident smile, but just moved on by pouring another shot. "When I realized I wouldn't have to grow old...wouldn't have to suffer through the humiliation of being helpless and wrinkled, I was relieved. It's a very vain thing to admit but...it's the truth."
The human sighed. "I don't think it's all that vain. There's nothing wrong with wanting to stay young forever."
Claire nodded slowly. "Yeah...yeah, but once I realized the price that I had to pay, that's when I started to hate Katherine for what she did. And as for my future...well, the future is different every day for me now."
Both girls were quiet for a very long time, listening to the sound of the water on their feet and the birds chirping above them. It stayed that way for a long time until Elena, half-drunk and bothered, decided to break one of the rules.
"I used to think about my future with Stefan all the time."
"I thought we agreed we wouldn't talk about him."
"I lied." Elena knocked back her shot that she hadn't finished and Claire snickered to herself watching the human as she winced at the burn and slammed the glass back down on the wooden dock. Elena wiped her mouth on the back of her hand and continued. "We never really had conversations about it, but I don't know what I ever expected from him. Your future and my future...they're bound to be different. I guess he realized that sooner than I did."
She mumbled the last part sourly, hoping Claire hadn't heard it, but Claire was hardly one to get angry at Elena for something that she could look at objectively. There was only one person in the world that she would get mad at for any reason, but that wasn't Elena.
"Stefan loved you," Claire assured Elena, capturing her attention. "I mean...if I know anything about him, my guess is that he still loves you. There's just...there's just some unfinished business he has with my sister. He feels like he owes it to himself, to her, and to you to see if he truly still feels that way."
Again, things fell silent, this time for a shorter duration than it was before. Elena hesitated her question, but at last, she found the courage to sigh heavily and begin. "Well, we already broke one rule so..."
Claire groaned. "Ugh! Elena, leave it alone!"
"I'm not going to sit here and pretend like I don't know the reason you came on this getaway with me," Elena defended herself, her tone going more high-pitched than usual, a fault of the alcohol she was nursing. Claire tried to look disinterested, but she was forced to listen to Elena. "Why can't you admit that him being with someone else bothered you?"
"Because I don't have a right to be bothered by it," Claire explained with a small shrug as she poured another shot for herself and downed it all in one take. "Damon is free to date whomever he wants whenever he wants. I have no right to say anything about it, even if it does happen to be with Andie Starr."
Elena paused. "Wait, I thought we were talking about Delia."
Claire snorted and rolled her eyes again. "You missed the memo, cupcake. Damon's found himself a new friend with benefits. A human one. Andie Starr, 'Action News'."
"Mystic Falls doesn't have an 'Action News'..."
"Exactly." Elena knotted her eyebrows at Claire's pointed response, but after a while, Claire continued with a small laugh. "You know, I find it extremely weird how you keep trying to fit your way into the middle of this. What did Damon call it before? Going around town with your pom-poms cheering 'Damon and Claire! Damon and Claire!'" Elena rolled her eyes. "Yeah, that sounds about right."
"I just see what you don't," the girl countered, almost condescendingly. Claire tried to ignore her as she poured herself another shot, rendering the bottle empty. "With you, Damon tries to be a better man. He tries to be good so he feels that he deserves you."
The young blonde thought about it for a moment. Maybe Elena was right. Maybe Elena was wrong. But one thing for sure was that she did not drive an three hours out of town so that she could talk about the very person she was trying to get away from.
After swallowing back the shot and standing to her feet, Claire replied, "No one deserves me, Elena. I'm too awesome."
"Sure." Elena scoffed, and for a moment, she was silent looking down at the water, but then she looked up at Claire over the rays of the sun and blurted out, "You know what? I never realized it before but this water is reallyyyyy cold."
"Then get out of it!" Claire snickered, and keeping her movements both graceful and clumsy, Elena pulled her feet out of the water and kicked them free of the cold, numb feeling she had in her legs that somehow she found cause for laughter. Claire helped her up to her feet and laughed as well, but over their good time, there was a voice.
"Claire!"
Elena and Claire both looked up to see Stefan and Amelia paused a few feet away from them at the dock, both of them with furious looks on their faces. Elena huffed, clearly irritated, and Claire let out a heavy exhale.
"And here comes the fun police." She reached down and grabbed the empty bottle of vodka on the deck, but she put it to her mouth and drained every last drop that she could possibly get from the bottom of the container as she watched her sister and her best friend stare at both her and Elena with no limit to their judgements.
"I can't believe you two!" Stefan scolded Claire as he stood before the shameful Elena wrapped in a blanket and the exhausted Claire who were perched on the couch, dreadfully listening to his reprimanding. Stefan looked back and forth, more pointedly towards his best friend. "Especially you, Claire! You know better! Elena has a target on her back and so do you, for that matter! It's not safe out here!"
"The cabin is by invitation only," Claire defended herself, gesturing towards Stefan and Amelia. "I mean...if we wanted to, we could've locked both of you out!"
"Something tells me that Elijah guy has the rest of eternity on his hands to wait you out," Amelia confessed softly as she stood at Stefan's side. Elena groaned.
"Elijah's not the issue here! I made a deal with him and he said he'd honor it." She snorted. "And from what I hear, he did honor it when he had his witches save you all from those werewolves."
"I don't trust Elijah," Stefan continued. His eyes settled on Claire. "And you know that. You didn't even tell anyone you were leaving!"
"Not true," Claire pointed out and gestured towards Elena. "Elena texted Caroline before she left. I figured you would get the information from her somehow. Hopefully, by then, we would've already had as much fun as I wanted to have this weekend."
"Did you?" Amelia asked, genuinely curious. Claire shrugged.
"I mean, I can drink Elena under the table...but that was an obvious given—"
"Claire," Stefan cut her off, causing the blonde to stop mid-sentence. He softened his voice. "You should've told me."
She muttered her reply. "Sorry."
"You know what?" Elena tossed her blanket over her body and angrily stood up. Her heated gaze was pointed towards Stefan as she snapped bitterly, "The fire's dying. I'm going to get some more wood."
Stefan could see the anger in Elena's eyes, and with a sigh, he turned to her and said, "Elena, it's cold outside."
"So I'll get a jacket!" she snapped and stormed off. Amelia and Stefan shared a glance for a moment before Amelia nodded at him assuringly, and Stefan immediately went after Elena in her footsteps, leaving Claire and Amelia alone in the living room. They were quiet for some time before Claire looked up at Amelia with her head in her hand and narrowed her eyes at her sister, who clearly had something on her mind.
"You were offended I didn't ask you to come with us, weren't you?" Claire asked, reading her sister like a book.
Amelia hesitated, but eventually confessed, "Yeah. Pretty much."
"Elena!" Stefan called after the doppelgänger as she walked into her parents' bedroom to grab a jacket. Elena was moving far too briskly, and though Stefan could've cheated with vampire speed, he decided not to. "Elena! Elena, just wait!"
"You have absolutely no right to be storming in here concerned about my safety," Elena mumbled to him over her shoulder. "I can handle myself."
"No," Stefan countered as they came to a slow when she opened her parents' closet and pulled off a jacket from the rack on the door. "Elena, you can't! You're not strong enough."
"But Claire is!" Elena whipped around at him fast, despite the headache she felt from her recovering hangover. Stefan waited for her to finish. "You know Claire can protect me. She can protect herself, too. There was no reason for you to come all the way out here just so that you can yell at us for having some fun!"
"Elena—"
"I don't want to hear it, Stefan."
"Elena, how many times do I have to tell you that no matter the circumstances, I don't want you dead?" He moved closer to her, but Elena stepped back, backing herself into the closet. Stefan inched forward as she shook her head. "Elena...Elena..."
"No. No!" Elena was on the verge of throwing a punch at him in the midst of her drunken fit, but Stefan reached out and grabbed her hand gently and brought it down to her side. No matter how hard Elena pushed at him, he kept a light grip on her wrist and was careful not to hurt her as she backed herself up against the wall of the closet with a loud thud. Feeling trapped, Elena struggled while groaning out protests, but as she did, Stefan could hear something concerning.
"Elena. Elena, stop!" Stefan shouted over her protests. Elena silenced, her fit becoming distant as his hand released hers and she uncomfortably stepped out of the way as Stefan looked at the wall Elena had been pressed against with confusion. He knocked on it, and Elena stared at him with raised eyebrows.
"Stefan, what are you doing?"
"This is hollow inside," he muttered. She watched him as he broke apart the boards to the wall and set them aside, revealing a door hidden inside the wall of her parents' closet. Elena swallowed, realizing something wasn't right.
"What is it?"
"A really good hiding place." He broke the lock on the door and pushed it open, where he stepped inside and switched on the light inside of the closet to see what was inside. Elena peered behind his shoulder and when she looked at what was there, she nearly fainted.
"Oh, my God," Elena mumbled as she observed the dozens of vampire-hunting weapons that hung on the walls in the secret room. Stefan stood, speechless, and Elena pushed past him to walk into the closet that she never knew existed. She hunted around for a moment, surprised at what she was seeing, but she hesitated whens he found a few leather-bound books on one of the shelves to the right of the door. "These must be the other John Gilbert journals. Jeremy had the one, but John said that there were others. His whole life's in here."
Stefan cleared his throat. "You know...I'll...I'll go get the firewood. Let you have a moment."
Elena didn't answer him, but she bent down and grabbed a handful of wooden bullets that were stocked at the bottom of the closet. And as she observed the side of her family that she was unaware of, most of her earlier drunkenness started to fade.
While Stefan was getting the firewood and Elena was having a moment with her past, Amelia and Claire decided to go back out onto the dock to get away from the fighting that they heard from Stefan and Elena in Elena's parents' bedroom, opting not to get into the middle of it. By that time, Claire was over the buzz she felt from the alcohol and was somewhat alert to what she was doing, as opposed to before.
"So..." Amelia began quietly. "You've really been hitting it hard with the drinks, haven't you, Claire?"
Claire grimaced. "Don't you start, Amelia. I'm a vampire, I can't die of liver failure like the Average Joe."
"I know you can't. But that doesn't mean it's not unhealthy that you're getting drunk every time you can." Amelia pulled them both to a stop in the middle of the dock, aware of her sister's annoyed face. "Why?"
"What do you mean 'why'?" Claire shrugged. "I like to drink alcohol. I'm sorry, is it a crime? I know I'm of age. You, however, are underage and you have no problem drinking all that bourbon at the Salvatore house."
"Claire!" Her sister groaned, frustrated at the attempt to try and make Claire listen to her, which was clearly not happening. Amelia decided to come out and plainly ask, "Does this have something to do with Damon?"
"Why does everyone keep asking me that?!"
"Because it makes sense," Amelia countered. Claire buried her head in her hands and let out a tired groan to herself. Amelia waited for Claire to speak, but when she didn't, she tried, "Okay...well if it isn't about D—"
"Don't."
"Then what is it about?" she finished. Claire wanted to respond, but the truth was, there was no one thing that her drinking was limited to. She just hadn't felt like herself of late and it was wearing her down. But how could she even begin to put that into words?
She tried her best to, regardless of how it sounded.
"It started to be about Christopher," she admitted, turning away from Amelia to walk to the edge of the dock. Amelia followed her, but kept a fair distance. "And then...then this whole thing with Elijah happened. Then, Delia came back into my life, intent on making it a living hell. After that, I got trapped in a tomb with my worst enemy who made some valid points that I really don't want to admit are valid but...they are. And on top of everything that's happened, I just...I just can't seem to put all the pieces together. Maybe I don't want to." She glanced up at her sister. "But that's not a bad thing."
Amelia chuckled. "Yeah, unless you end up with a BAC most humans would die from."
"I just want one day," Claire decided firmly. "One day where it isn't all about doom and gloom. Is that too much—?"
Before she could finish asking the question, the universe answered for her. Out of nowhere, Claire and Amelia were both shoved into the water, falling face-first. When they came up for air, the two of them merely were allotted a split second to breathe before two hands came to both of their heads and shoved them underneath the water, holding them down for as long as it took to temporarily kill both vampires.
When Amelia and Claire had finally resurfaced in the water, gasping to life from their temporary drowning, they hadn't a clue how much time had passed; only that there was something deeply wrong. They both climbed out of the cold lake water, dripping wet, and breathed heavily as they stood on the dock.
"You okay?" Claire gasped out to her sister. Amelia nodded and coughed out the water in her throat.
"Yeah." She straightened. "You?"
"Peachy." Claire looked up at the lake house and her eyes widened as she turned back to Amelia. "Shit. Elena."
They made a dash for the lake house, but they were about to go inside when they heard a loud groan from the shed in the back where the wood was. Assuming Elena was in the shed, Claire and Amelia darted for it immediately, but as they came upon the entrance, they found that Stefan was lying inside on the ground, groaning in pain, and Tyler Lockwood was above him with a wooden bullet gun.
"Stefan!" Amelia shouted and flashed to move forward, but Tyler whipped around and fired the wooden bullet gun immediately upon the intrusion. Hit, Amelia was forced on her knees on the floor, where she screamed out in pain from the small wooden weapon. Tyler looked immediately freaked seeing three vampires in his presence, and after shooting Amelia another time, he pointed the gun up at Claire, who held up her hands defensively.
"Tyler! Stop," Claire demanded him. "Why are you doing this?"
"He knows about the curse," Stefan choked out on the floor. Claire widened her eyes at Stefan and then turned back to Tyler, who was still wielding his gun to protect his own neck.
"I can't be like this forever!" Tyler shouted.
"Tyler," Stefan tried from the floor. "I'm just trying to save Elena."
"Elena will be fine!"
"No," Amelia gasped from the floor as she tried to subdue the writhing pain she felt from the wounds in her stomach. "Elena won't be fine."
"What is she talking about?" Tyler asked Claire, his voice loud and heavy. He held the gun more firmly and she gulped down the words before she said them to him.
"Elena won't be fine if the curse is broken," Claire told him. "In order for the curse to be broken, she has to die."
Tyler took a long time to respond, looking as if he'd been betrayed by the people closest to him. Claire had no doubt that he was, for those wolves he had entertained the other night were bad company and couldn't be trusted with the truth. At last, Tyler lowered his weapon and Claire immediately flashed over to Stefan and Amelia, where Amelia began to take the wood out of her skin so that it could heal and Claire helped Stefan get his out as well. Tyler remained still and did not threaten nor help them as Stefan and Amelia both healed from the wounds once all the bullets were out, and when they all stood up, they moved out of the shed to make sure Elena was safe. They could hear the screams and groans from inside of the cabin and realized that it was too late; Brady, Tyler's accomplice, had already commenced his plan. But Stefan, as brave as he was, had Claire and Amelia hang back in the shadows with Tyler as he sensed Elena running right for the door, and just as Brady came to chase her outside, Stefan lunged his hand into the wolf's chest and ripped out his heart faster than he could take a breath.
The heart landed on the floor with a thud and Elena, carrying a bloody knife in her hand, whirled around to face Stefan. He looked at her with a look of relief, as she gave him one as well.
"It's okay. It's okay," Stefan breathed out, still recovering from his own injuries. "You're okay."
She rushed into his arms, and for a moment, the two of them had forgotten that they were separated in the first place. Stefan tried to comfort her, much to Amelia's dismay in the background, to which she did not speak to, but Tyler stepped out of the shadows alongside Claire and Amelia with a sorrowful look on his face. Elena spotted him instantly, confused.
"Tyler?"
She pulled away from Stefan while Tyler explained himself. "I didn't know what they were gonna do to you. I didn't. I just...I didn't want to be like this anymore."
Elena could see the hurt in his eyes, and being the compassionate soul that she was, she stepped forward and pulled him into a reassuring hug. Tyler whispered an apology to her, but she brushed it off and just hugged him to let him know that she forgave him.
And nearly everyone breathed out a sigh of relief, grateful that everyone was okay.
"It was straight from the witch's mouth," Damon told his brother over the phone as he stood in the living room of the Gilbert house. "He was gonna go through with the whole sacrifice. It's a good thing Claire took Elena out of town for a little while. You should probably keep it that way."
"Be careful," Stefan told him. "Try not to get yourself killed."
"Yeah. It's been a day for that."
With nothing more, Damon hung up the phone and Stefan turned around to see Elena joining him as Claire and Amelia sat down on the couch, both freshly showered given their underwater murder by Brady.
"Who was that?" Claire asked Stefan as she pulled a cup of coffee to her lips.
"That was Damon," Stefan replied. He looked over at Elena. "We need to talk."
"What is it?" she asked.
"He learned that Elijah's planning for you to die in the sacrifice ritual," Stefan told her, surprised at Elena's reaction—which was shockingly unsurprised. She looked as if she had been caught, not as if she had been betrayed.
"What?" Amelia asked, looking between Stefan and Elena. "Wait, but isn't that against his deal?"
"I know the deal I made." Elena looked at all three vampires. "Elijah's very careful with his words. He promised to protect my friends—he never said a word about me."
"You mean, you knew that you weren't gonna survive this?" Stefan asked, his voice growing increasingly heated.
Elena looked at him with near tears in her eyes. "If it comes down to the people I love getting killed or me, I know what my choice is gonna be."
"Hold on!" Claire stood up from the couch and turned at Elena angrily. "So you sat out there earlier today talking about your future like you expected to have one when you clearly know that you won't because of this stupid deal you made to keep your friends safe? That's so screwed up!"
"I-I'm sorry, okay?" She looked between Stefan and Claire, the two obviously offended by her decision. "I'm just trying to keep the people that I love safe! I'm trying to keep both of you safe!"
"No." Stefan said coldly as he stepped up to her, a disgusted look in his eyes. "What you're doing is, you're being a martyr!"
"How is that any different from when you say that you'd die to keep me safe?" she countered.
"Because I've already lived!" he snapped. "162 years I have lived, and you've barely begun! Now you want to let yourself get killed?" Elena stared at him blankly as he looked at her angrily. "That's not heroic. That's tragic."
Without saying anything else, Stefan heatedly walked away from Elena, leaving her to remember the two King sisters that she had completely forgotten were with her. Amelia, though slightly confused and slightly bothered by what had happened, left no judgement out of her eyes, and Elena could see that even her friend—Claire, the one person who had rarely looked at her with such judgement—was staring with one of the most judgmental looks that she had seen.
Thanks for reading! Please review!
RHatch89: Thanks :)
Guest: They will eventually. She could definitely use a break right around now and we're getting to it. She's dragging out the situation without giving an explanation because she believes she's a cold-hearted bitch and she doesn't want to be loved or be in love with anyone, which is one of her character flaws. But trust me, eventually, she will straighten out. Thanks for reviewing!
NicoleR85: She reacted...ish. She needed a getaway but honestly Andie doesn't bother her that much. Delia only pissed her off because it was...Delia lol. Thanks for reviewing!
Guest: Thanks! Yes. Set up your countdown because Christopher is returning in 2x18. Three more chapters to go!
SomebodyWhoCares: Pretty much :(
Tvd2014: Caroline and Claire are my favorite. They'll become even closer in later episodes and such. This chapter was so painful to write because it was really boring but I wanted to stop making Claire following Damon around everywhere (even though sometimes it can be hilarious) so she needed a Damon-break for a while. The next chapter is really boring to write too but after that it gets more interesting so it'll be a whole lot quicker. Thanks for reviewing!
grapejuice101: Thanks! Definitely more drama. So much more. Hope this update was soon enough :)
NataliaSalvatore: Thanks! Control your desperateness for a few more episodes :P Damon and Claire are going to be getting some definite action in 2x16 so we're almost there. Yeah they really are clearly in love but unfortunately that might not even be clearly expressed until Season 4, even though it's obviously there. Thanks for reviewing!
beth: Sorry for the wait! Here's the next chapter!
beth: Sorry for the wait! Here's the next chapter!