"You did what?" I hissed at Elena as I took a seat. She had invited me over to The Grill to talk, or more like get to know me and my past with the Salvatore brothers. When I arrived, I heard her speak about what she did to Damon when she and him were at Duke. "Why would you do that?"
"I had to get the information from him," she responded with a shrug of her shoulders. "He wouldn't have done it if I didn't lie."
"That was very low of you," I sighed, leaning to her and looking down at the book she had under her arms. "It was... It was very Katherine of you."
"I am not Katherine!" she hissed, slamming her hand on the table. The drink she had next to her spilled. She took a deep breath, and smiled and apologised at the person that came by to quickly clean it up. Then, she looked back at me with a small glare. "I'm not Katherine, Clara; I'm nothing like her, and I never will be."
"I'm just saying that what you did to Damon was what she would have done," I stated, shrugging. "She manipulated him, she... She destroyed the good that was in him by lying."
"How do you know that?" she quickly asked, staring at me. "Did she... Did she tell you?"
I eyed her, slightly closing my eyes. Elena wanted to know whatever she could about me, I could tell by the number of text messages she had sent me. She asked things like what's my full name, when was I born, when did I first meet Stefan and Damon, did I know the Gilbert's back then, who was the person that turned me, and so on. I answered as vaguely as possible.
I let out a breath when I felt the presence besides me. "Damon," I sighed, opening my eyes and glancing to him. "What brings you here? You hungry, or are you just stalking Elena and I?"
"Stalk a backstabber?" Damon smiled, glancing at Elena. "Never. Mostly, I'm stalking you. You know, making sure you behave." I rolled my eyes, crossed my arms, and leaned back to glare at him. Damon looked at Elena. "So, this is where you spend your time when you're not stabbing people in the back?"
"I tricked you into telling me the truth, that's not stabbing you in the back," Elena explained. "It's using your own tactics against you." She began to pack her things.
"Where are you going?" Damon asked, tilting his head to the side.
"I made myself clear, Damon. I want nothing to do with you." She stood and began to walk away.
"Okay," he shrugged, grabbing a fry from the platter in front of me. "See you at Jenna's barbecue."
That stopped Elena and caused her to turn back to us. "How do you know about Jenna's barbecue?"
"It was my idea," Damon said in a matter-of-fact tone. "Jenna went to high school with Mason Lockwood so I figured a social gathering would be a good way to get to know the guy. So I told Rick to tell Jenna and..."
"Does Jenna know that you're going?" I asked him, pushing a fry to my mouth. "She's not exactly a fan of yours from what I've been told."
A woman arrived and handed him a box. Damon smiled at her as he grabbed. "Perfect. Thank you." He looked at us and smiles. "I'm hoping this peach cobbler will pave the way."
"What are you up to?" I asked, laying a ten on the table and following him and Elena.
"I'm gonna put some silver into Mason Lockwood and prove he is a werewolf," he explained. "See you at the barbecue, Elena."
"Are you coming?" She asked right after Damon walked through the doors. "Please, tell me you're coming."
"I wan't invited," I told her as I walked out, shrugging my shoulders. "But, hey, at least you have vervain, right? If he does something, just slap it to his face. That'll shut him up."
"Clara!" she groaned, following behind me. "You need to come, okay? I can't stand being with Damon in a room, even if it's crowded."
"What do you want me to do, Elena?" I groaned, walking to the car. "Do you want me to come along and help you keep him under control? I can't, and I wont. You want to know why? Because I don't trust Mason either, and I think that what Damon's doing is a good idea..."
"Clara!" she whined again, stopping me from getting inside my car. "Please."
"No, Elena," I sternly said, almost as if I were speaking to a child. "You said a werewolf bite was lethal to vampires, right? I don't think it matters whether it's full moon or not for their venom to work. All that tells me to steer away from wolf-boy." I got in the car and turned it on, rolling down the window to look at her. "If something happens, you know my phone number." Without another word from her, I drove away.
My first thought was go to Caroline's and help her, but she didn't want anyone to bother her. So, the next best place to go would be back to the boarding house. I walked in, eyebrows furrowed when I didn't feel a presence. Then, Stefan came up from the basement, hands in his back pockets.
"What were you doing down there?" I asked, crossing my arms.
"Would you believe me if I told you that I was tying up Katherine?" he asked, letting out a sigh.
"No..." I moved around the table and grabbed the glass that was half-filled with blood, and then took a small sip from it. "Okay, yeah, I believe you." I laid the glass down, nodding and making a face. "You don't drink human blood, and that's definitely it." I walked over to him, cleanig my upper lip from any remaining blood. "Now, let's go down to Katherine. I want to welcome the bitch."
He hesitated, but nodded and turned to walk right back down the stairs. I could hear Katherine groaning as we came closer, and the sound of her in pain made me happy. There was a smirk on my lips by the time I walked into the cell, or whatever it was, to see Katherine chained down on a chair. From what I could see, she was drugged up in vervain.
"Katherine," I greeted, leaning against the table with Stefan. "It's so lovely to see you again. How are you? Does it hurt? Oh, what kind of question is that? Of course it does, it's vervain."
"Clara..." she groaned, rolling her eyes. "I thought I would never have to see you again."
I shrugged my shoulders. "Hm, we don't always get what we wish for. Part of, you know, life."
"Now, where were we?" Stefan cut in, crossing his arms. "That's right; you were going to tell me why you came back to Mystic Falls, weren't you?"
Katherine looked at him. "You don't have to do this." It sounded like she was begging.
"Answer the question," he spat.
"I came back for you," she confessed, looking into his eyes.
Stefan was annoyed by her answer, I could tell. He sat up and grabbed the gloves from the small dirt mound behind us. "We're gonna play by my rules now," he threatened. He marched to the plants that were growing on the other side and plucked one out, walking back to us. My brows furrowed as I watched the purple flower sway lightly as he moved. When he came close to me, I took a step away. Vervain was like fire to vampires; you know when you let your hand too close to a flame, and the heat licks your skin like a cat's tongue and the pain is just unbearable? Vervain was like that to vampires.
Stefan stepped closer to Katherine, held her by the neck, and brushed the flower down her cheek. She screamed and tried to pull away. "Answer the question," he hissed close to her face.
"You gonna torture me now?" she teared up.
"I'll do whatever it takes to get you to tell me the truth," he said, letting go of her neck. Stefan threw the plant close to my feet, causing me to jump and land right next to him. He chuckled, but quickly regained his expression as he looked over to Katherine.
"Later that night at the Founder's ball..." she began.
"No," Stefan cut her off. "I don't want to hear any more stories about the past."
"Yes, you do, Stefan," she sternly said, eyeing him. "That's exactly what you want to hear." She proceeded to tell us about George Lockwood, and how she knew his secret. For her to keep his secret, he asked what she wanted.
"What did you want?" I asked, eyeing her.
When she didn't answer, Stefan took a chair and sat on it while he waited for her to speak. "You know, we can be here as long as you want." he told her. "And when you start to dessicate, there's a tomb with your name on it."
"I've been doing all the talking, it's your turn," she countered, glancing from him to me. She then looked back at Stefan, a ghost of a smirk on her lips. "Do you pretend to be a human when you're with Elena? Is that the appeal?"
"Actually, I don't pretend to be anything when I'm with her," he answered. "That's the whole point. I get to just be myself."
"Does she know that you love me?" she smirked.
"I don't." He stood and walked to the door.
"That's where you're wrong, Stefan," she stopped him. "Don't you remember bringing me home that night? Your family had taken me in." She had a small smile around her lips, one that was filled with pain and enjoyment. "Don't you remember telling me that you've never met a woman like me? That I brought fire to your loins, or something along those lines. Don't you remember telling me that you were in love with me?" She then looked at me with a small smirk. "And then Damon was in my room, all pained because he overheard Stefan's confession, and then asked whether his love for me wasn't enough. Wasn"t that the night where you two decided to tell everyone about your engagement? Oops."
Without rage thinking for me, I grabbed the vervain from the floor and pressed it against her cheek. I didn't care about the pain, her words felt worse. There were tears falling down my cheeks, and I pushed them away with my free hand as I continued to push the vervain against her cheek. It came to the point where I could feel the blood pouring from my skin, and that was when I let go. The plant fell besides her feet, her breathing ragged and filled with pain. I took a step back, panting, glaring, hoping that I would heal faster so I could do it once again.
Katherine glared at me, then looked at Stefan. "Go ahead Stefan. Torture me, keep me captive, drain me of my blood until my body turns to dust. It'll never change the truth. I never compelled your love. It was real and so was mine." She proceeded to speak about George Lockwood once again, and how she was the one that got rid of the vampires in Mystic Falls. Which was where she sold out her friends, had them taken the tombs under the church, and then burned.
"I don't remember this," I cut her off, furrowing my brows.
"That's because it happened after I killed you," Katherine rolled her eyes. I was going to speed over to her, but I was stopped when Stefan held me back. "Down there, girl. We don't want to have any more pain, now do we?"
"Shut up!" I hissed, trying to push away from Stefan's hold.
She continued to smirk. "Are you in pain because you know that Damon loved me, or because his feelings for you faded the second he saw me? I had to kill you just so you would stop bothering us."
I felt the veins under my eyes grow, my fangs push through my gums as I hissed at her. The hands holding on to my arms tightened their hold, and it made it even more impossible to get to her. I stopped moving, my chest rising from the anger. Stefan's hand weaved from my arms to wrap around my chest, pulling me close to him as the tears continued to spill down my cheeks. I was still angry, the veins and the fangs were still evident on my face.
"Don't you dare speak!" I hissed at her. "You know nothing of the relationship I had with Damon! Why the hell would you feed me your blood if you didn't want me to bother you, huh? Why turn me in this...this monster! I was never meant to become this!" I thought I had come into terms with what I had become, but my sudden outburst made me realize that I wasn't.
"Clara..." Stefan's soft whisper danced to my ear. "Come on, Clara. Go back upstairs, okay? Ignore her, don't listen to her. Lets go back upstairs."
He pulled me out of the cell, closing the door on a smirking Katherine. The air was thick around me, and I didn't know whether to cry or scream. I didn't know when it happened, but Stefan's hands were on my cheeks. He made me look at him, right into his eyes.
"Take deep breaths," he ordered. "Take deep breaths and calm down."
"I can't," I muttered, shaking my head. My fangs poked my bottom lip as they trembled. "I just want to kill her!"
"Clara!" Stefan said in a louder tone. "You need to calm down or you'll do some very regretful things."
"I already regret so many things!" I hissed, looking at him. There was still anger inside of me. "I regret becoming this, Stefan! I wasn't meant to become this thing... I wasn't-"
"I know!" he cut me off. "But, try! Don't let Katherine get to you; this is what she wants! She wants to get to you, and we can't have that."
I closed my eyes and took in deep breaths, just like he told me. The veins under my eyes disappeared, and the fangs retracted back to my gums. When I felt better, I opened my eyes. Stefan smiled and pulled me in for a hug. "I knew you could do it," he breathed against my ear.
I pulled away from him and marched to the glass of blood that was on the table. It was warm on my hand, but I didn't care and decided to swallow what was left. Stefan eyed me, crossing his arms again.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"No, Stefan, I'm not okay," I said, slamming the glass down on the table. "You think I'm okay after that?"
"That was a stupid question to ask," he mumbled, scratching the back of his head.
"Yeah, it was," I sighed. I picked up my jacket from the sofa and began to head out.
"Where are you going?" he asked, following behind me.
"I can't be under the same roof with her," I said, stopping at the door. "I'm going out."
I spent all night in the middle of the street, laying down on the wet pavement and thinking about how my life was screwed. Somewhere in the middle of that, two people passed by and I drank them to the point where I had to make it look as if it were a car collision instead of me. In the morning, I went back to the boarding house with blood decorating every inch of my skin and clothed. If I didn't look like a murderer, I probably looked like I was in an accident. No, there was too much blood on me to make it seem as if I were in an accident. The one who greeted me was Damon, who had his arms crossed and seemed to be expecting me in the parlour like a father expecting his teenage daughter.
"And just where have you been, young lady?" he sarcastically asked as soon as I walked in. He suddenly stopped speaking when he saw me. "What did you do, Clara?"
"Had a meal," I answered, walking up the stairs. "Isn't it obvious?"
"Did you have a meal or did you kill someone?" Damon asked, following behind me.
I stopped at the top of the stairs and looked at him. "Does it look like I just had a simple meal? Come on, Damon, you should know better than that."
"So... The car crash?" He continued to follow me, even when I took off my clothes and got in the hot shower of my room.
"I faked the crash," I corrected, watching the blood fall from my skin and down the drain. "It was easy; two dead bodies, two cars, an empty road, and a vampire with strength."
"It was on the news," he stated, leaning against the doorway of the bathroom.
"I'll send flowers," I rolled my eyes, washing my hair. "Anything else that you need, Damon?"
"You're coming with me."
"Where?"
"Mystic Falls Historical Society Volunteer Day slash picnic," he said with a sarcastic cheer. "We're historic, practically found the town, so why not volunteer?"
"What if I say no?"
"I won't take no for an answer," he said. "You have ten minutes, or I'm dragging you down myself."
"You'd love that," I uttered, pulling a towel around me and getting out.
"Oh, honey, you have no idea," he smirked and winked, walking away. I rolled my eyes, internally groaned, and proceeded to dress in comfortable clothes. Ten minutes to be exact passed, and that was when Damon came back and pulled me to the car while I was pulling on my shoes.
"So, guess what I did last night while you were out partying?" Damon began, a small smirk around his lips. "I threatened a werewolf."
"So, Mason was the werewolf?" I asked, looking back at him. "Hm, good for you, Damon. Now all of us are probably screwed."
He scoffed. "Highly doubt so. They're only strong during the full moon, otherwise you, Stefan and Blondie would be dead."
"Mm," I nodded, leaning my head back on the seat. Everything that had happened in the last few hours came back to me. Was I sad that I killed the two people last night? Yeah, maybe. Was I going to cry over it? No. It happened, I apologised, maybe I'll send some flowers to their funeral.
The whole town was probably at the picnic, or whatever it was. Stefan was already there, and when we arrived he was talking to Mason Lockwood. As soon as Mason left, Damon and I sped to him.
"What are you doing?" Damon asked, crossing his arms.
"Negotiating peace on your behalf," Stefan answered, turning to us.
"I don't want peace," Damon spat.
"Consider it opposite day," Stefan smiled at him, nodding.
"Stefan, please tell me you don't seriously think a hand shake just solved our problem."
"No, actually I think that the first chance Mason Lockwood gets, he's gonna drive a stake through your heart and then through mine, and then maybe through Clara's, all because you took it upon yourself to try to kill him. So thank you, because we don't have enough problems." Stefan then walked away, arms crossed and a straight face filled with no emotion.
I watched him leave, and then turned to Damon. "You always screw things up, don't you?"
He looked down at me, smiled, then walked away as well. I sighed, and made my way around in hopes of finding someone. I came to find Elena and Caroline painting a veranda. They greeted me with smiles, Elena's being faint. I recalled Damon telling me that she and Stefan broke up because of Katherine.
"Well, I was a bitch which is part of the course with us," Caroline sighed, speaking about her mother. "So, how are things with you and Stefan? Anything?"
"No, not since the fight. He's been pushing me away because he thinks that Katherine might get jealous enough to hurt me. I just don't know how to change his mind," Elena sighed, glancing at Stefan.
"You said that Katherine's dangerous. Maybe he's got a point," Caroline shrugged her shoulders.
"Yeah, I know that she's dangerous and I know that he's just trying to protect me but it feels like giving up and I just..."
"Just what?" I asked, uncrossing my arms.
"I just thought we were stronger than that..." She sighed and looked at Stefan.
"Oh-oh, longing looks are being exchanged," Caroline sighed, glancing between them.
"I'm gonna go talk to him," Elena sighed, standing.
"No, Elena, I think it's a bad idea..." Before she could finish, Elena had already stood and marched to Stefan. That was when Damon arrived. As he spoke to Caroline about her being a bitch to her mother, I listened in to Elena and Stefan's conversation. It was short, but they faught about almost everything: Katherine, Damon, and then I. Apprently, he spent too much time with me.
"You know, I can't... I can't do this anymore, Elena." Stefan finally said, causing me to furrow my brows.
"Fine, Stefan, whatever." And she left.
"Relationships are about communication," Damon said, causing Caroline to scoff and leave. I glared at him and went the other way, where Stefan was. "Aw, come on, Clara!"
"You okay?" I asked Stefan when I arrived, crossing my arms.
"Why wouldn't I be?" he asked, not looking up.
"Right, stupid question," I chuckled, giving him a smile. "Sorry."
He smiled and looked at me as he crossed his arms, and then he suddenly frowned. "I... I, uh, I saw the news this morning."
"So did I," I frowned. "I saw the crash. I heard that one of them was under the influence of alcohol."
"Clara," he sternly said. "Clara, I know what happened. I know it was you."
I rolled my eyes and moved to where Damon was. He finished talking to Mason Lockwood when Stefan and I arrived. "Were you two bonding?" I teased.
"Mhm, we were bonding," he nodded, slightly pursing his lips. "We plan on meeting up for beers tomorrow. So what's up this faux drama in your relationship?" He looked at Stefan.
"What are you talking about?" Stefan asked.
"Oh come on, Stefan. You and Elena don't fight, especially not over me," he stated, rolling his eyes.
"Drop it, Damon" Stefan sighed.
"With pleasure." He turned to see a little girl smiling at him with a cup raised to him.
"Would you like some lemonade?" she asked.
Damon smiled down at her and took the cup. "Thank you, sweetie." He took a drink, but then spat it out and began to pant for air.
"What's wrong?" I asked, walking over to him and laying a hand on his shoulder. He held on to my arm and led himself to the empty picnic table, sitting.
"Vervain," he gasped, holding on to his neck. "Vervain!"
I took the cup from the table and sniffed, making a face. "Someone laced this with vervain," I muttered, looking at Stefan.
Damon growled and stood, walking over to the table and gurgled water from a water bottle. "I'm gonna kill him," he spat. He was stopped by Stefan, who pushed him back.
"Listen to me!" Stefan commanded, grabbing Damon by the neck and sitting him down. "Sit! Sit!"
"I'm not listening to your 'give peace a chance' crap. He's dead!"
"He's right," I agreed. "Mason's making threats. He could expose us. We need to put him down."
Stefan stared at me for a few seconds, then looked back at his brother, and sighed. "Alright," he sighed. "Let's do it."
"Woods," Damon panted, standing. "Trash duty. Come on." I glanced at Stefan and nodded, following behind Damon. When we saw Mason, we decided to split up to have him surrounded. Damon came from the left, Stefan from the right, and me behind. He looked up when he felt our presence, and stared. Damon kept glaring at him, his upper lip slightly curled in anger. "Don't look so surprised," he spat. "You knew this was inevitable."
"Go ahead; run," I teased, licking my lip. "We'll give you a head start." And then I felt it; three shots were fired into my chest. I groaned and fell to my knees, looking down at the oncoming blood from my shirt.
"Clara!" Damon yelled, running over to me. He was stopped when he was shot as well, and then Stefan was taken down. I let out another moan of pain when someone injected me with vervain.
What woke me up was the sound of a gun going off and someone screaming. I felt a hand on mine, their fingers tangled between mine rather tightly. The hand was warm, soothing, almost as if it were holding on to me instead I it.
"This is how it's gonna work," the distinct voice of Sheriff Forbes echoed. "Answer me and you don't get shot, understand? How many of you are there?"
"Liz, please..." Damon groaned. The sound of the gun going off again and him screaming made me squeeze the hand tighter, realizing that it was his.
"How did you fool us? How do you walk in the sun?" Sheriff Forbes continued to question. Damon just groaned and did not answer. And then, I felt a shot in my stomach. I gasped out, squeezing his hand tighter as the pain engulfed every cell in my body. "I will drag this out painfully," Sherrif Forbes threatened.
"But you're my friend..." Damon groaned out.
"Our friendship was a lie," she stated. "Answer me and I'll kill you fast." Damon couldn't answer, he was in too much pain. "He's not gonna tell us anything; kill the three of them. Let's do this. Each with a stake in the heart, then burn them."
I turned my head slowly, looking over at Damon. He was looking down at me, a look of mixture of pain and sadness in his eyes. I tried to get words out of my mouth, but I couldn't. There were tears in my eyes, slowly falling over my nose and onto the dirt below me. His hand on mine felt like it did all those years ago, warm and inviting. Skin on skin, flesh on flesh, it felt as if we were having a moment right before death. His thumb began to slowly rub across my hand, soothing. I came to realize that I still loved him. My heart still beat wildly when he was near, when he ever so gently pressed his skin against mine. Even though more than one hundred years passed, my feelings for him were still there.
"You can't kill them," Elena's voice brought me out of my trance. "I'm not gonna let you!"
I didn't know what had happened, but I heard the sound of a gun going off multiple times and then the heavy breathing of someone. And then, I heard a soft, "Hi, mom."
Some time passed, and I was finally able stand. The first thing I did was move to a deputy and sink my teeth to their neck. I minded no attention to my surroundings, and allowed my self to drown in the sweet liquid that slid down my throat. When I finished, I pulled away and moaned out from the sweetness of the blood. It felt as if it had been years since I last fed when it had only been hours.
"What am I going to do with you?" Damon's voice brought me back from my thoughts. I turned to see him glaring down at Liz Forbes. It turned out that Caroline saved us, and in the process showed herself as a vampire in front of her mother.
"You won't tell anyone, will you?" Caroline asked from the corner, her mouth covered in dried blood. "Mom? Mom? Please... Look, I know that we don't get along and that you hate me but I'm your daughter and you'll do this for me, right? Mom, please. He will kill you."
"Then kill me," Liz finally said, tearing up and staring at Damon.
"No!" Caroline argued.
Liz began to cry. "I can't take this. Kill me now."
Damon moved to her, and slowly leaned close to her face. "But you were gonna drag it out so painfully," he muttered, slightly smirking. Suddenly, he grabbed her.
"No!" Caroline cried. "No, no, no, no, no!"
"Damon, don't!" Stefan yelled.
"Damon, please!" Elena and I chorused.
"Relax, guys," he rolled his eye. "No one is killing anybody." He looked at Liz. "You're my friend." He let her go and looked back at the dead deputies. "We've got to clean this up."
After getting rid of the dead deputies, Damon and I took Liz to the cells under the boarding house. I frowned as I watched Liz tear up; she was in pain and couldn't believe that her only daughter was a vampire. But, it would be better. When the vervain left her system, I would compel her to forget. Damon wanted to do it, but she was family...
"A stomach bug, yeah," Liz said into the phone. "Yeah, it came on fast. I'll definitely be out tomorrow. Or longer. I'll text you. Yeah... Goodnight." She hung up the phone and handed it to Damon. He had made her call work and tell them she wouldn't be there for a few days, all while we waited for the vervain to leave her system.
"Thank you," Damon said as he grabbed the phone. "It's not exactly the Ritz, but it's secure. Brought you a good thread count. And once the vervain is worked out of your system, Clara will compel you, you will forget everything and you will be a free woman."
"Keep Caroline away from me, please," she suddenly said. "I don't want to see her."
"She's your daughter, Liz," I frowned.
"Not anymore," she teared up. "My daughter's gone."
"You have no idea how wrong you are about that," Damon told her, frowning. We walked out, leaving a sad Liz in the cell.
I crossed my arms and walked upstairs, sighing. There were so many things running inside of me that I wished I felt nothing. I hated Damon, i came to terms with that, but at the same time it felt as if my heart would have burst through my chest when he touched me. And then there was Stefan, who was broken because he couldn't be strong in front of Elena. There was Caroline, who was sleeping on the couch and was terrified of going back to her house.
A hand on my arm made me stop. It was a hand I recognized too well. "You okay?" Damon asked.
I turned and looked at him, crossing my arms and nodding. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"I don't know, maybe because we almost died today," he shrugged. "Just a lucky guess."
"But we didn't," I stated. "So, I'm perfectly fine." I began to walk away.
"Clara..." His soft voice stopped me from moving. Why did his voice have this effect on me ever since I was human? "Clara... I... I, uh..."
"No," I breathed, turning and shaking my head. "Don't say anything, Damon. It's not worth it, okay? Because you'll say things you won't mean and then it'll be 1864 all over again. Once was enough, I don't want to go through it again, okay? So, don't say anything, because I know you won't mean a single thing. The moment is over, we're alive; you don't have to pretend that you care, okay?"
"Clara..." His voice quavered, a frown decorating his face.
"I'm going to rest," I said, ignoring every feeling that surged through me. I wanted to run to his arms, to kiss his lips, to smile and look into his eyes and him as if he were the only person in the world, as if he were a work of art. "Goodnight, Damon."