"I'm going to have a summer wedding!" Is the first phrase to leave her mouth on this ordinary morning.
His ears perk up, he has no idea what she's talking about. "That's lovely darling, but what are you talking about." He states.
Caroline's smile is even brighter than it was before, "For some reason last night, during dinner with James, I felt the need to talk about school. I had a feeling that after we got married he would want children right away, and I was right. I told him that I wanted to finish school before becoming a mom, stating the importance of education. James agreed, which surprised me. We talked some more, and i wanted to talk about maybe pursuing a career, but he glossed over the topic. We pushed the wedding back, and he is encouraging me to get my bachelors degree!" Caroline is beaming, he can tell that she is happy to have support for her dreams.
Her smile dims a little with her next confession, "My parents, my mother especially, weren't to happy about this. I have another year and a half to get my degree, meaning I won't be getting married until the summer after I graduate. My mom's worried he will leave me, and I'll be a little 'old' when I marry. But what's done is done."
He smiles, his secret hidden, "I'm happy for you gorgeous. I do think talking about your future with him is important before committing a lifetime, whether it be a career and a mother or just a mother. But now you have time."
Caroline breathes, "I do."
She suddenly smiles, showing off her perfect teeth, "When did you become a love expert?"
He chuckles, "After seeing all that I have, you learn a bit."
Although his tone is light, his message is dark. Caroline picks up on it, and ever the one who feels the need to help she says, "I'm sorry."
He sighs, "Life, gorgeous, is full of ups and downs. Without pain how can we fully appreciate love?" He pauses for a moment, allowing it to fully sink in before bringing a lighter atmosphere, "I think I've experienced enough downs for a lifetime."
He smiles, showing off his teeth, and gets an immediate response. Caroline's face lights up with the shift and she relaxes.
"Love comes with passion and happiness, the keys to living a fulfilling life. I hope you find those things." He sincerely says.
She smiles, "Thank you."
He stands, "It looks like the day's about to start." Hearing the buzzing just a floor above.
The routine is mundane to say the least. He stands there, waiting for Billy to shoot enough vervain in him to feel something. Then he lays on the ground, waiting for Paul and Billy to put a muzzle on him, like one would do a dog. The march to the room where he is continuously cut open, day after day, doesn't bring the fear it did in that first year, instead it brings a morbid excitement for change. The pain won't be the same, the experiment won't be the same, and that's enough to change up the routine that he feels something.
He sighs, his treacherous soul, reminds him that Caroline is a refreshing change. She is the only being, aside from the ramblings in his head, that he talks to. Her conversations are becoming his favorite part of his day, and he hates that. If he lets her in, more pain will inevitably follow. If he flips his switch, he would silence his stupid soul and not have to worry about the pain Caroline could cause, but it would be like giving up.
He was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't notice they entered the room until the straps were being tightened. Whitmore is ready once Paul and Billy secure him, and he immediately sets off to work. Today all of his limbs stay attached, Whitmore just expertly cuts into his ear. Countless hours are spent with him not being able to hear his own screams as Whitmore maims him.
With his hearing gone, everything else heightens. It takes a few hours, but soon his sense of smell increase tenfold.
He can smell the cigarettes on Paul's breath, the toothpaste he used this morning, what he had for breakfast, the slight smell of brandy, the detergent on his clothes, the smell of gasoline and oil from his car, the dirt on his shoes, and everything else.
He can smell the coffee mixed with whiskey on Billy's breath, his clothes that smell like yesterday, his wife's perfume, his children, his fear.
Whitmore produces a different smell, it's very sterile, but he can also smell his breakfast, his wife's lipstick, his car, everyplace he's been to today, his detergent, and his determination among other things.
He can smell the fear and regret on Caroline among everything else he has come to associate with her.
But what gets to him most, is the smell of there blood. The smell is so strong he is salivating and the monster appears on his face, where it stays for hours. He can only imagine how sweet it tastes.
His sight changes too, everything is more vivid and clear. This only happens when he is on a blood high, something he hasn't been on in decades. The light streaming in from the window, the light that barely misses his skin, is so bright it burns his eyes. The blue of Caroline's eyes is so vivid it's unreal.
The sense of touch becomes so sensitive, he can feel everything in the room. All the slight signals the human's body gives off. The change in their breath. The air in the room feels like a blanket of water moving over him as it circulates. Each cut, though, is a thousand times more excruciating.
But his lack of hearing leaves him empty, there is no noise to chase away the demons in his head, the demons that keep telling him to give up. The demons that tell him there is nothing for him on this planet, that he should just embrace hell now. The memories the demons bring him of being abandoned on his own since he was four. He has always been alone, and always will be.
Not even the smell of blood, his source of life, can save him from the most fatal thing on the planet, hopelessness. Nothing is worse than not having anything to keep going for. Up until this point, his only source of hope was the thought of revenge, but it's starting to crumble. That is the worst torture of all.
His hearing doesn't come back subtlety, it comes back all at once. Dr. Whitmore rings a bell, it sounds like firecrackers going off and bouncing around in his head. The noise is agonizing as he lunges for the source, ready to end it, but he can't move due to the restraints.
"It took him ten minutes to regain hearing, and it appears that he regained it all back at once." Whitmore's voice grates on his ears.
The sound of Caroline's pencil scraping on the paper makes his skin crawl. If he could, he would press his palms into his ears, anything to make the noise stop.
But he can't, instead has to listen to the straps be removed, the door open, the foot steps echoing through the hall, the sound of the restrains being removed, the key in the door of the cell as it is locked, the sound of Caroline sitting, the sound of boots hitting concrete as they leave, the sound of their heartbeat, their breaths, their blood flowing, the sound of everything assaults his ears.
It soon settles down, with the guys standing out side the door and both Whitmore and Caroline taking notes. All the heartbeats are steady, and the blood flow is as well. The noise is still bothering him, but it is taking on a pattern. Every new noise does startle him, though.
Caroline begins to hum a tune in her head, one he can't identify. After recently reuniting with his hearing, her soft voice sounds thunderous, but he lets it calm him as he gets reacquainted with all the sound of his cell. He begins to focus on her voice, and it starts to block out the rest of the noise.
Most of the regular noises in his cell have become background noise that he was able to tune out after years as a vampire, but now everything's new. He doesn't speak to her, and soon she leaves. The lights turn off, bathing him in darkness, and seemingly increasing the noises.
A/N Just a random question, why aren't there any Caroline/Jacob Black stories in the Twilight/Vampire Diaries Crossover section? I periodically look for them, but no one seems to writes any. Does anyone know why?
I hope this chapter wasn't to much, with the descriptions of everything. But I wanted to capture what he was going through. Please let me know how I can improve.
Thank you for reading!
I can't promise when the next chapter will be, it's close to the end of school and projects and tests seem to be more frequent. But I will post at least one more chapter before the year ends.
Loveklaroline: Don't worry about not having an account, it took me a year before I finally committed to having one. I will not reveal any major spoilers, but you are definitely on the right track! I know I probably sound like a broken record by now, but thank you so much for all of your kind reviews! They mean the world to me! You are such an encouraging and wonderful human being, thank you! I was kind of nervous posting about Romeo and Juliet because it's been years since I've read it and it's a classic, so thank you for your comment! As for Kai Salvatore? and Riser the next chapters are half way through the rough draft phase, they should be out soon. I can't say the same for You took my soul and wiped it clean, I'm having some serious writers block with that story. I wasn't going to post this chapter until the weekend, but after reading your kind review I am going to post it early! I can't promise this will ever happen again, especially since the next chapter isn't even finished, but another chapter will be posted before the year ends. Sorry for this super long reply :) Until next time!