It's nearing the end of August. I haven't really left the boarding house, the only time I leave is to get groceries or fabric for new pieces. I've been doing anything and everything I can to keep my mind off of the danger Damon and Elena are putting themselves in as well as the danger Stefan is in. I know that it's not easy for him to get our of his ripper fazes. For almost a month after Klaus' curse was broken, I cried, thinking about Isaac, Stefan, and what I could have done.
Caroline had started to come over and check on me the week after, sometimes with Bonnie. We don't go out typically, if we do, we go in the back yard or the woods. Caroline and Bonnie deserve more credit than they're given. They now come over almost every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. Sometimes they'll help me cut fabric and I'll make some clothing pieces for them, sometimes we just watch movies and chat, and other times we'll go on a picnic.
When Damon is here, he's been making time for me and we've started to pick up something that we used to do for fun when I lost Isaac, sword fighting. We go out to the garden or the woods and practice for hours on end. I think I'm finally in a better place.
I wake up at 5:45, bright and early. I throw on some leggings, a tank top, and my tennis shoes. I grab a hair tie and put my hair in a messy bun before running to Damon's room and knocking on his door. "Rise and shine," I shout. I hear him groan then his footsteps approaching the door. When he opens the door, his hair is tousled and he's in pajamas. "6:00 training?" I remind him.
"Oh," he says, dragging out the word. I walk into his room and sit on his bed as he gets changed. "So what are we doing today? Sword combat? Hand-to-had combat? Archery?"
"Your pick," I respond.
"Okay, then I choose hand-to-hand."
We walk downstairs and out of the house, jogging to an open area in the woods. Setting our water bottles down, we stretch and get in position.
Damon takes the first jab at my neck. I swiftly duck away before aiming for the left side of his face, but he intercepts. He then tries for my nose, but I move his hand away with ease, kneeing him in the groin and punching him square in the face.
He stumbles back but regains composure as he tackles me to the floor, straddling my waist. I roll us over and press my knee into his chest while I avoid the jabs he's throwing. I catch a hold of one of his fists and break his wrist, momentarily catching him off guard. I jump up and back away a few steps while he gets to his feet.
⇢⇢⇢⇢
After about an hour of fighting and small breaks, we decide to head back to the boarding house. We both go to our respective rooms to take showers and get ready for the day.
As I'm stepping out of the shower with a towel wrapped around myself, I hear a knock at my door.
"Come in," I say. Caroline and Bonnie walk in smiling. "Hey, what's up?"
"Okay, so I know you aren't a senior, but tonight is senior prank night and I really want you to come. There'll be a bunch of seniors who no nothing about the supernatural and our group, minus Damon, Stefan, and Alaric," Caroline tells me with a pleading pout.
Bonnie adds, "Please? I want you there. It'll be way more fun. It's also a good way to start getting out more."
"Why the fuck not?" I agree to their plan. "So, how are you two?" I ask, picking out my outfit.
"I'm alright," Bonnie informs.
"Same," Caroline agrees. "How are you?"
"I'm okay." I drop my towel and get dressed in a green dress, a mid-thigh length leather jacket, and my green converse. "What do you think?"
"I love it," Bonnie comments.
"Can I pick out your jewelry and bag?" Caroline asks giddily. I nod and she squeals, running over to my jewelry organizer. She finally decides on a bronze key necklace, my silver heart locket from he-who-shall-not-be-named, three silver bracelets, and silver rings.
I put on what she picked out and do a little twirl. "Are we doing something before prank night?"
"Well..." Caroline trails off.
"We thought we could watch old Molly Ringwald movies," Bonnie suggests.
"Absolutely! Watch downstairs?" I start walking to my door.
"Yup," they say at the same time.
⇢⇢⇢⇢
We see the ending credits start as we finish watching Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Yeah, it wasn't a Molly Ringwald movie, but after we watched Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, and Pretty in Pink, we just wanted to watch it.
"Alright, we should head out for senior prank night. Also, we need to pick up Elena on the way," Caroline notifies us.
"Alright," I acknowledge, "I think I'm gonna go in my car, incase my social battery runs out." They nod and leave. I rush upstairs to grab my bag.
⇢⇢⇢⇢
I pull into the school parking lot and turn off my music, instead plugging my headphones into my phone and pressing shuffle on my playlist. I walk inside after noticing Caroline's car was already in the lot. When I open the entry door, I see Caroline separating people into groups by prank.
"Care," I call. She sees me and runs over, giving me a hug. I hug back while laughing. "Got a job for me?" I ask her.
"Absolutely! Why don't you help Bonnie, Elena, Tyler, and I?" I simply nod and follow him to a classroom a few halls down.
After setting up around eighty mouse traps, Matt comes waltzing in and ruins it. I'm not a huge fan of Matt, not for any particular reason, he just can sometimes lack common sense and overestimate himself.
"Oh, come on! Seriously?" Caroline complains to Matt. "Do you know how long it took for us to set all this up?"
"Forgot about senior prank night, huh?" Tyler asks him.
"Clearly," Matt responds.
"How could you forget?" Caroline asks. "We've only been waiting for this since like freshman year."
"Yeah, Matt. If I'm doing this, you're doing this," Elena says.
Matt shakes his head in disbelief, "I'm kinda surprised any of you are doing this."
"Caroline's making us," Elena says.
"We're about to be seniors," Caroline reasons. "These are the memories that stay with us forever and if we don't-"
Elena finishes her sentence, "If we don't create these memories now, then what's the point of it all?"
"Make fun, I don't care."
"You're all lame. And I've got ten more classrooms to prank," Tyler disses.
Elena stands to leave, turning to me. "Wanna help me superglue Alaric's desk shut? We need to make memories apparently."
I nod and follow her out. "We haven't talked in a bit, how are you?" I ask.
"Honestly, not great," she says.
We're about to turn a corner to go down another corridor. "I'm sorry, maybe we could go do something fun to-"
Klaus appears in front of us and I don't bother trying to resist rolling my eyes. "There's my girl," he says creepily.
"Klaus?" Elena mutters. She then turns to run, I stay put. He speeds in front of Elena and I just lean against the lockers.
"You are supposed to be dead. What are we gonna do about that?" He asks.
"What is up with you Originals and your creepy entrances?" I wonder aloud.
He roughly grabs Elena's arm as well as mine. "You put a rather large kink in my plans, sweetheart. The whole point of breaking the curse and becoming a hybrid was to make more hybrids."
"Ow! Fuck! I'll walk with you just let go of your death grip on me," I complain to him. He loosens the grip. I huff.
He continues with his rant, "I haven't been able to do that. Now my bet is, it has something to do with the fact that you're still breathing."
"If you're going to kill me, just do it!" Elena stumbles as she's pulled along.
"Not until I know I'm right. But I do have ways of making you suffer."
"Yay, torture," I remark sarcastically.
He bursts through the gym door with us in hand. "Attention seniors, you have officially been busted. Prank night is over. Head on home," he says in an American accent.
"Terrible accent," I mutter. I swear a small smirk forms on his lips, but it disappears quickly.
"You two," he says in his regular voice to two students. "I remember you."
"I'm sorry. Who are you?" The girl asks.
"Oh, don't worry, I wasn't in my right head last time we met," he tells them. "Lift your foot up, Dana. If she drops her foot Chad, I want you to beat her to death," he tells them.
"Don't, Klaus. You don't have to hurt anybody," Elena begs.
He turns to her, letting us go. "Oh, come on, love. Of course I do."
While the attention is away from me, I pull out my phone and quickly text Bonnie: "Hey. Funny story, Klaus is holding Elena and I captive and I'd appreciate some help. No rush, it's not like Elena's gonna die... oh wait."
⇢⇢⇢⇢
Dana starts to struggle and I vamp behind her and stabilize her by grabbing her waist.
"Okay, love. You've helped her, let go," Klaus demands. I do as I'm told slowly.
The door suddenly opens and Bonnie and Matt walk in. "Bonnie, out of everyone you could've brought you picked Matt?" I yell.
Klaus speeds behind her. "I was wondering when you would show up. Now we can get started. Ah, Dana, why don't you relax? You and Chad sit tight."
I walk over to Dana and check up on her. I allow her to hug me and hide her face in my chest while I comfort her on the floor.
"I assume you're the reason Elena's still walking around alive?" Klaus questions Bonnie.
"That's right. If you want to blame someone, blame me."
I start clapping and yell, "Yeah, Bonnie!" I quiet down, "Wrong time, right." She shoots me a quick smile. Like I said, Bonnie deserves more credit.
"There's no need for blame, love. Just your witchy interference seems to have caused some undesirable side effects. Since you caused the problem, you're gonna find the fix."
Out of nowhere, Tyler and a very beautiful blonde walk in. "Get off of me," Tyler grunts.
"Hush now," the blonde says.
Klaus motions to the blonde. "I'd like you all to meet my sister Rebekah. Word of warning- she can be quite mean."
"Don't be an ass," Rebekah retorts.
"Too late for that," I tell her. She smirks at me.
"Leave him alone," Elena says as Tyler is shoved to Klaus. When will she realize that she doesn't have a lot of power in these situations?
"I'm going to make this very simple," Klaus starts, "every time I attempt to turn a werewolf into a vampire hybrid, they die during transition. It's quite horrible, actually." He bites into his wrist and forces Tyler to drink his blood. "I want you to find a way to save my hybrids, Bonnie. And for Tyler's sake, you better hurry." Klaus snaps Tyler's neck and he falls unconscious, to the floor.
I hold Dana closer to my chest and allow Chad to also hide his face in my shoulder.
Klaus and Rebekah go sit on the opposite bleachers, telling us to stay put. I run my hand through Dana and Chad's hair.
When I tune back in, I hear Klaus. "If Bonnie's successful, he'll live through his transition. Go on, then. Go and fetch your grimoires and enchantments and what-not. I'll hold on to Elena for safe keeping."
"So this is the latest doppelgänger. The original one was much prettier," Rebekah says.
"Was she as annoying as Katherine and sometimes Elena?" I ask. Okay, it's most times that Elena just pisses me off without reason. Elena shoots me a glare and I simply shrug.
"Trust me, she was," the blonde responds.
"Enough, Rebekah," Klaus warns. "Take the wolf boy elsewhere, would you?" Rebekah walks over Tyler and drags him out of the room.
When Elena walks over to Dana and Chad, I get up and sit on the bleachers. Klaus joins me and I roll my eyes, subconsciously playing with my heart locket.
"You kept it," he says.
"It would be a waste of beautiful jewelry. Also, I had Bonnie double check that it didn't have any magic." I roll the chain of the necklace in my fingers.
"You don't trust my word?" He asks, looking at me.
I look back at him making eye contact. "Trust is earned, not given."
The door abruptly opens and Stefan walks in. "Klaus," he calls.
I vamp to him, giving him a short hug. He hugs back slightly before turning to Klaus.
"Come to save your damsel, mate?" Klaus inquires.
"I came to ask for your forgiveness," he replies. "And pledge my loyalty."
"Well, you broke that pledge once already." I can tell that Klaus is genuinely upset with his betrayal.
"Elena means nothing to me anymore," Stefan promises. I hold in a scoff. "And whatever you ask of me, I will do."
"Fair enough," Klaus agrees.
This isn't gonna end well.
Klaus gets up from the bleachers. "Let's drink on it. Kill them," he points to Dana and Chad.
I vamp to them and whisper, "Hey, I can't do much to stop him, but I can make you not feel the pain and die peacefully if you want. Only with your permission, though."
They both nod and I first turn to Dana. "You will not feel any pain,"
I compel, "you will focus on me and think happy thoughts." I say the same to Chad.
"What are you waiting for? Kill them," Klaus demands.
"Stefan, don't," Elena argues. "He's not going to hurt me. He already said-" she's cut off by a slap to the face from Klaus.
She deserved that if I'm being honest.
Stefan vamps and starts to attempt to fight Klaus. Klaus gets a grip on his neck. "She means nothing to you? Your lies just keep piling up." I know what it's like to be lied to and manipulated, so I can see where he's coming from.
"Let her go! I'll do whatever you want, you have my word," Stefan explains breathily.
"Your word doesn't mean much," Klaus informs him. "I lived by your word all summer, during which time I never had to resort to this-" he makes eye contact with Stefan, obviously compelling him, "stop fighting."
"Don't do this, don't do this," Stefan pleads.
"I didn't want to. All I wanted was your allegiance. Now I'm going to have to take it."
"Don't... don't..." he begs.
"You will do exactly as I say when I say it," Klaus compels. "You will not run. You will not hide. You will simply just obey." He lets go of Stefan and orders him to kill Dana and Chad.
"Think happy thoughts, okay?" I remind them even though they already are.
Stefan bites into them both and I turn away as I hear their lifeless bodies fall to the floor.
⇢⇢⇢⇢
The hot blonde storms in. "Where is it? Where's my necklace?"
"What are you talking about?" Klaus asks his sister.
"She has my necklace," Rebekah says, showing Klaus a picture of Elena's vervain necklace.
"Well, well. More lies," the brother says.
"I don't have it anymore," Elena says warily.
"You're lying!" Rebekah bites into her neck but is pulled off by Klaus.
"As hot as you look when you're angry," I tell her, "she isn't lying. Katherine stole it."
"Katerina," Klaus says. "Of course. Well, that's unfortunate. If we had the necklace it would make things a whole lot easier for your witch. Since we're doing this the hard way, let's put a clock on it, shall we?" He walks over to the control panel for the scoreboard and hits a button, turning on a countdown. "20 minutes. If Bonnie hasn't found a solution by then, I want you to feed again. Only this time, I want you to feed on Elena," he compels. "You know you want to. No one leaves. If she tries to run, fracture her spine. Aspen, you're coming with me."
"As long as you don't do your whole death-grippy thingy, then sure," I say, getting up from the bleachers.
He just lets me chill in the cafeteria while he goes to intimidate others. When he comes back, he hears running and goes to open the door, but instead, Elena bumps into him.
In order to not hurt Elena, Stefan takes a mop and snaps the wooden handle in half before staking his stomach.
"Now this is fascinating. I've never seen this before. The only thing stronger than your craving for blood is your love for this one girl," Klaus says. "Why don't you turn it off?"
"No," he protests.
"Come on," Klaus attempts. "Your humanity is killing you. All the guilt must be exhausting. Turn it off."
"No," he continues to protest.
"Stefan," Elena tries.
Klaus gets up from his seat at a table. "You're strong. But you're not that strong." He rips the makeshift stake from Stefan's stomach. "Turn it off," he yells, compelling him.
I see the humanity drain slowly from his eyes. "What did you do?" Elena whispers.
"I fixed him."