The Vampire Diaries: The Dead Rise

The First Try

The next morning was a rush. Klaus's method of waking me up includes him bursting through the door and opening the blinds, letting the sun in. If I resist, then he dunks me in cold water. Today was one of those days. When we got in his Ford Expedition, my hair was still wet.

"Don't even think about letting your hair drip all over the seats," Klaus warns.

I scuff, "well maybe if someone hadn't dumped water all over me 15 minutes ago, this wouldn't be a problem!"

"I gave you a chance to get up," Klaus says, "you didn't, so I took the next step."

"That next step should be banned from the list of steps to wake someone up," I say quietly. Klaus laughs and starts the car. Today, we were going to meet our new friends. According to Klaus, the werewolf pack is in the Smoky Mountains, which means a six hour drive. I sleep all the way there; there was nothing better for me to do anyway. When we get there, it's already 3:30 and tonight is a full moon. The last full moon I went through, I changed whether I wanted to or not. It surprised both of us because Klaus didn't change. He thinks it's because I haven't learned to control it, but I know better. Elijah's blood may have given me a lot of advantages, but it's also given me the greatest disadvantage. "So what's the plan," I ask him as we get out of the car. I look around; all I see for miles is wilderness.

"We're going to walk in and introduce ourselves," Klaus says, "and then we're going to Turn them."

"What about the full moon," I ask.

Klaus hesitates, "you're going to do your best to control it. If you can't then I'll change with you."

"You can't just leave the pack," I say.

"They'll be going through Transition; I doubt they'll have the strength to fight us off," Klaus says. He starts to walk towards the woods and I follow him. It's mid December and I know the air is cold, but neither of us can feel it. We walk for two hours, over fallen trees and along the river when we finally find the pack. I can smell them before I see them. When we approach the camp, I can see that they're packing up their tents and supplies. When they see us, they all stop what they're doing. Klaus and I stop in front of them so they can see us clearly.

"Who are you," a short woman asks us. She has short brown hair and dark brown eyes.

"Please forgive the intrusion," Klaus tells her, "my name is Klaus and this is Cordelia." All the werewolves start to back away from us.

"You're the hybrids," the woman says, fear in her eyes.

I smile, "you've heard of us, fantastic."

"What do you want," the woman asks.

"It's simple," Klaus says. He moves so fast, I doubt the werewolves registered it, but I know what he's doing. I watch as Klaus bites his arm and forces the woman to drink his blood. She resists him, but I can hear her swallow his blood. Klaus pulls his arm from her and then snaps her neck. She falls to the ground, her body limp.

"You have two choices," I say loudly, "join us or die." I can hear the murmurs throughout the pack, but Klaus presses on.

"If you value your life you'll let us Turn you," Klaus says, "if you resist us, you will not know a greater pain before you die."

"Before we forget," I say to them, "is there anyone here who is human? Your friend here needs human blood to complete her transition to vampire. If she doesn't get it, she will die."

"It doesn't take much," Klaus says, "just a sample." Klaus turns to a tall man with blonde hair and blue eyes. "You," Klaus says as he walks over to him. "Stay calm and do everything Cordelia and I tell you," Klaus says, compelling him. The man stands there as Klaus turns back to me.