CHAPTER THIRTEEN: 'What Are You?'

"KARA!" LENA SHOUTED. The blonde, frozen in fear, braced herself for the impact which never came.

She opened her eyes and she was safely in Lena's arms, on the other side of the road. The truck screeched into a stop as it rammed into an electrical pole, it's hood now smoking.

"Wait here." Lena instructed Kara who was still in shock. Lena opened the truck door and approached the truck driver.

"Are you alright?" Lena asked. The man groaned in pain.

"I—I'm sorry. I don't know what happened. I couldn't stop." Lena felt chills run down her back. He'd been compelled. "I saw you. You were so fast." He mumbled, eyes tightly shut as he clutched onto his arm.

"Open your eyes." Lena looked into his brown eyes intensely, "forget what you saw. If anyone asks, I pushed my friend out of the way just in time."

The man nodded in obligation, before Lena unbuckled his seatbelt. She dug into his pocket and found his wallet. "Okay, Allen. I want you to keep your arm in a ninety degree angle. Can you do that for me?"

The man nodded and adjusted the position of his arm, hissing in pain.

Lena got out of the truck. "Kara, call nine one one." The girl was heaving in shock, and Lena grabbed her shoulders. "Hey, it's okay. You're okay. Breathe with me." Lena placed Kara's hand on her chest, "can you feel my chest rising and falling? Can you match it for me?" Slowly, Kara's short breathes slowly led down evenly. "That's it." Lena murmured.

"What the hell happened!?" Maggie appeared at the scene, presumably being radioed about the incident and being close by, she managed to get here before the rest of her team. "I'm going to need an ambulance at the corner of Oxford." She radioed.

The detective placed a hand on Kara's shoulder. "Check on her, I'm going to the driver." Maggie instructed Lena, as she jogged up to the truck.

"Lena?"

"What is it, Kara?" Lena asked, eyes concerned.

"What are you?"

"Hey, Kara?" Maggie spoke softly from behind Lena. Sirens of the ambulance grew closer until they finally arrived at the scene. "I'm going to need you to come with the ambulance to check on your vitals."

"I'm fine." Kara mumbled.

"It's protocol." Maggie said shortly, and Kara sighed and followed the detective. Lena lingered behind, objecting (compelling) the need for a check up.

Soon after Kara was done, she stood up, ready to leave. "Kara. I need you to go to the hospital to check on any internal or external injuries."

"Maggie, I'm fine."

"You're lucky it's optional." Maggie sighed, already foreseeing Alex's lecture for letting Kara off. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Kara nodded. "Need me to take you home?" Maggie offered.

"Lena will take me home." Kara said, more like a demand.

The vampire blinked twice. "Sure."

"I'm going to have to tell your sister about this, okay? And if you feel any headaches or body pains, go straight to the doctor."

Kara nodded, "I'll see you later Maggie. Thank you."

Maggie gave the girl a small smile, before giving her a kiss on the forehead.

"Text me when you're home, kiddo. And call Alex." Maggie told the blonde, as she walked in the opposite direction with Lena.

The walk was silent. No longer a comfortable silence, but rather filled with tension. And Lena hated every minute of it. Awareness was on high alert whenever a car would zoom by. Lena stayed close to Kara just to be safe, until the next thing the they knew, the pair was standing in Kara's apartment.

Lena stayed by the door, while Kara paced back and forth, Lena practically hearing all her thoughts.

"Thank you." The girl said finally to Lena's surprise.

"What for?"

"For saving my life." Kara explained. "But, how you did it. That was— it's not possible."

Lena evened out her breathing. "Kara, we were right near the curb." She said slowly.

Kara's screwed her eyes shut briefly and held up her hand to stop Lena from her attempted lies. "No." She spoke sternly, her frustration of Alex lying now projected to Lena. "We weren't. We were halfway crossed the road. And, I closed my eyes for a second and we were on the other side."

Lena stayed silent, her green eyes focused on Kara's burning blue ones. "That night at Sam's? You cut your hand and it didn't bleed. You healed in a matter of seconds. The 'magic' thing you did to Snapper and your eyes changing colour. And the— the creepy thing you do when you know Sam's finished showering or that the pizza will arrive."

Kara sighed, "please, Lena please. Don't lie to me like my sister has been." The girl took a step closer to the vampire. "I don't know who to trust anymore." They were standing closer now, just like the night when they were in Sam's kitchen. "Please tell me, what are you?"

Lena exhaled through her nose, her green eyes almost stinging from the tears that threatened to fall.

Kara didn't deserve this. She didn't deserve any of this. She should have never met Kara in the first place. But it seemed like fate, that after three thousand years of running, it led Lena to Kara. That within those years, Kara was left an orphan at the hands of her brother.

And her brother. Lex. He was behind the accident. Lena was sure of it. The vampire knew that Kara knew too much, and with Lex targeting her, it was asking for the girl's death.

So she made a choice.

"You're right." Lena whispered.

Kara took a step back, blinking at the confession as if she thought she was crazy all along and Lena would tell her she was wrong. "What?"

"You're right." Lena repeated herself, louder this time. "I healed within a matter of seconds. I can hear from miles away to know if the pizza guy is coming. I move incredibly fast, it's inhumane."

Lena cascaded her hair around her face. "I've lived three thousand years and counting, I—"

"You what?" Kara asked softly.

"I live off blood." Lena said, looking up to see Kara's reaction.

A slight jump of the heartbeat and gasp was heard. Fear. Lena thought. "And I can compel."

"What—?"

Lena cupped Kara's face with her hands, locking her eyes onto Kara's. She played with the girls blonde locks that she's grown to love and recognise and moved it out of her face. Lena smiled slightly, almost sadly, before she leaned in. The vampire placed a chaste kiss upon the girl's lips.

Kara, slightly surprised, didn't realise how much she actually wanted this. Perhaps the lack of relationships and experience, amounted to Kara's desperation and want. Or perhaps unknown feelings she's felt for Lena are finally being recognised, and this kiss confirmed that theory.

For Lena, every nerve on her body was ignited by the spark that was, Kara. She was warm, and loving and kissing her. A monster. A monster who lied to her, and was acting upon feelings of love and adoration that festered into selfishness in this very moment.

A selfish, loving monster, she was. Lena pulled back abruptly, and feelings of warm love turned into cold betrayal.

"You're going to forget the kiss and everything I just told you." Kara's eyes became hooded in a trance. "Just know that it's for your own protection. You won't remember how I saved you today. I pushed you out of the way just in time." Lena let out a shaky breath. "All you'll remember is that I took you home safely and I left after calming you down. Now call Alex."

Lena left the building in a whoosh, leaving Kara standing alone in her apartment. She blinked as she took in her surroundings before she made a call to her sister.