A Dark, Forbidden Love >> TVD

seventeen

"You look rough," Damon gave me a soft smirk as he took a sip of bourbon from his small glass. I walked in behind Caroline who had such an annoyed look from finding me like she did with Matt. Matt went his separate way home when Care said she had me under control to get back to Elena which for some reason ended up at the Salvatores' and honestly I would rather be at home.

"Care, why didn't you just take me home?" I muttered under my breath as I avoided eye contact with Damon.

"Because where else is your sister going to be?"

"Why not go to my hunter brother?" I emphasized as because a.) I really did want to see Jer and b.) I absolutely did not want to be here right now.

"Elena actually isn't here right now," Damon gave a soft smirk as he came to stand behind the couch to face us.

"Great, that means I can go home, right?" I gave Care a hopeful look behind her back. I could sense the eye roll she was giving Damon before she took a breath.

"Well, what's your plan to cure Cassidy for being a Ripper? Because she needs to be cured and I know you know that, Damon," the attitude in her voice.

"Yeah, I know that, but why take the fun away from her?"

"But why talk about me like I'm not even here," I mocked his tone of voice.

"Oh, we also have another problem," Caroline crossed her arms. "Someone doesn't have their ring."

"Where's it at?"

"Why don't you tell the story of what happened, Cass?" Caroline looked at me just as Stefan made it down the stairs then saw my covered in blood self. He got a look of relief though and came over and hugged me tightly.

"Caroline said she find you hurt but I didn't know it was so bad," he let out a breath of relief as it seemed like his hug got tighter around me. He's such a best friend.

"Stefan, she was about to explain what happened."

Stefan stepped back as Caroline explained that along with Damon giving me a curious look. I could see the concern mixed in with his curiosity but he was trying to hide it. There was something else written on his face that I just couldn't make out.

"Look I fed and then Avery came out if nowhere and she took my ring and staked me in the stomach. It's nothing important," I rolled my eyes as I made my way over to the bar and poured myself a glass of bourbon. "It's not a big deal," I muttered the last part as I stayed facing the wall not wanting to look at any of their faces right now. It felt like Damon had something he needed to say by the unreadable look he has. Stefan was quiet but I knew he wanted to explode on me for getting into danger. Caroline .. well, I never was Caroline's favorite but she did worry about me as if I were her little sister.

"Not a big deal?" Damon got a serious tone in his voice. "How many and how bad this time?"

"About three and just like normal, Damon," I turned around and looked at him like he was an idiot. "Fed until their heads came off."

He suddenly looked taken aback by my statement. Something in my head got triggered because at that point I got lost in my thoughts. My vampire instincts are just letting me feed until there's no more blood. They're people that are being hurt. Innocent people that did nothing wrong to deserve such a short life. These people don't deserve such a harsh way to go. Stefan went to take a step toward me because I'm sure he could sense I was getting lost in my thoughts and that was never good. I stopped him before he could take his first step to me.

"Don't," I stated shakily. I saw all three of their expressions soften slightly. "I'm killing people. Innocent people. People that don't deserve to die," I looked among the three of them. Damon's face grew saddened compared to Stefan and Caroline. He started to take a step toward me this time but just like Stefan I stopped him. "Don't come over to me!" I raised my voice as tears began to fall down my face. "I don't want your comfort or your sympathy. I don't need it and I sure as hell don't deserve it. Killing people isn't something I signed up for! Becoming a vampire is not something I wanted!" I sobbed out as I put either of my hands on my temples. Damon let out a sigh as I picked up my glass and chucked it across the wall and watched it shatter into a million little pieces.

"I want to be human. I want to be a nice person. I don't want to be killing people! It doesn't feel good and it kills me everytime it happens. These people are dying because of me every death that is happening in this god forsaken town is my fault!"

"Cassi .. " Damon trailed as he just walked over to me. He didn't let me protest this time.

"Damon, we have to help her," Stefan said slowly as he was looking over his shoulder somewhere. If I hadn't of known any better I would assume he was looking in the direction of the cells. Caroline looked at Stefan and the direction he was looking before looking back at him.

"It didn't help your mother, Stefan. It never helped you when you were a Ripper."

"Cassi, it's going to get better," Damon put his arms around me.

"I don't want to hurt people," I whisper as I continued to try and catch my breath.

"I know. We don't want you to either and that's why we're going to get you some help," he promised. He then looked back at Stefan.

"Call Elijah."

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