"Ugh!" Caroline's voice echoed from the phone. "I can't believe you're doing this, Clara!" She had called me while going back to school, something about cleaning up last night's dance. Since she didn't want to be alone while driving, she decided to call me. The conversation we were having began an hour back, which made me realise that she had been driving in circled in order to continue our conversation.

   "Well, it's decided, Care," I said, glancing over at the phone on the bed. "I decided weeks ago, I just... I pushed it further back for a while."

   "And now you think it's the perfect time to leave?" she asked, disbelief in her tone. "I can't believe you!"

   I threw a bunch of clothes to the bed and laid my hands on my waist, rolling my eyes as if she could see me through the screen. "When I left with Klaus to Chicago, all I wanted to do was bring Stefan back. I didn't care about surviving, about me coming back, about anything that involved me, but all I wanted was to bring him back home. And I did, in a way, of course, since it was Klaus that brought us back."

   "You can't just leave after all we've been through," she said, her voice lowering. "Clara, we need you here."

   I sighed and moved towards my phone, slowly. "I'm not really needed here, Caroline. You got through so many things without me being here, without knowing that I was even alive; you don't need me, I'm not needed..."

   "You need to stop saying that!" she cut me off. "Clara, stop saying that you're not needed, because you are. You helped all of us, even if it was in a small way, and that makes you needed, because without you helping us in those little things God knows what would have happened."

   "I appreciate you trying to make me better, but that will not stop me from leaving," I told her, letting out a soft chuckle. 

   "Ugh, fine," Caroline said in defeat. "Are you doing to tell Stefan? You did tell him that he would be the first to know if you ever decided to leave."

   "He found out long ago," I said. "Let's keep this one to ourselves."

   She sighed. "You can't just continue to ignore him, Clara. It's not really his fault that he loves both Elena and you."

   "Technically, it is," I chuckled, shaking my head.

   "Uh, no, because you can't control who you fall for."

   "Then, before you plan on leaving for God-knows-where, would you come down to the school and help me clean up last nights mess?"

   "Sorry, I'm not in high school anymore."

   "Clara, please–"

   "Bye!" I pressed the red sign on my phone and let out a breath, glancing around the room I had called mine for almost a year and a half. It was filled with little trinkets from the past and present, filled with nothing but memories, and I felt sad that I was letting those memories go but I also felt liberated. I felt as if I could let go of so any things, but at the same time I felt like I would be worrying about so many things. 

   My phone rang again from the bed, the tune echoing around the room and the empty house. I answered the phone without looking at the caller ID, thinking that it was Caroline calling once again. She was either going to ask me to help her clean, or she thought of something new to tell me so I wouldn't leave. "Care, I told you that nothing you tell me will..."

   "Wrong person," the caller said. "Clara, I need you to meet me at Elena's."

   "Damon?" I glanced down at the phone, reading Damon Salvatore on the screen. "Wait. What? Why?"

   "Clara, just hurry and meet me at Elena's." He ended the call.

   I pushed my phone to the pocket of my sweater and decided that it'd be best to hurry to Elena's house. Instead of taking the car, I used my vampire speed, knowing that it'd be the fastest way. When I arrived in front of Elena's house, Damon was just pulling the car over with someone in the passenger's seat. He stopped the car and got out immediately, opening the passenger's door to reveal a hurt Bonnie. She was still wearing what she was wearing last night, the same silver coloured flapper costume. 

   I hurried towards her, but stopped when I inhaled the scent of blood. "What happened?" I asked, glancing from Bonnie to Damon. 

   "Long story," he answered, glancing down at her. He slowly helped her towards the front door and rang the bell. It surprised me that he didn't barge in like he would have normally done, but I imagined that he wanted to be civil for once. 

   "Are you okay?" I asked Bonnie, glancing at the blood on her neck to her eyes. The smell was overwhelming, but I tried to ignore it as much as possible.

   "No," she answered, her voice hoarse. "I'm in no way okay, Clara."

   "Stupid question," I muttered. "Sorry."

   The door opened to reveal Stefan, who stared at me with surprised. Ever since last night, since we both basically confessed our feelings, we decided that it'd be best to ignore each other. Our feelings were getting in the way of our friendship, and we didn't want that. So, it'd be best to ignore those feelings and have our friendship go back the way it was before they happened. And ignoring those feelings meant ignoring each other.

    Damon let out a breath, breaking the stare between his brother and I, and said, "We have a problem."

   Stefan moved to the side, glancing at the three of us with a confused look. Damon helped Bonnie move slowly to the kitchen, where she immediately sat down on the table and hid her face between her hands. I took a seat besides her, bit my bottom lip, and glanced from her to Damon. "What happened?"

   He hesitated for several seconds. "Alaric turned."

   "What do you mean he turned?" Stefan asked, handing a wet towel to Bonnie. 

   "Don't blame me! Blame Bonnie the Blood Bank, she fed him."

   "I had no idea what was happening," she defended, glancing around to all of us. "Okay, the witches led me there. They wanted him to feed so he'd turn."

   "So, where's the stake now?" asked Stefan.

   "Oh, you mean the white oak one?" Damon cut in, amused, like always. "The one that can kill an Original and wipe out an entire line of vampires?" He leaned over the chair and glared at the witch. "We don't know."

   "If you are so upset with me, why did you feed me your blood to save my life?"

   "Because I do stupid things, Bonnie. I do things, like let my friend die with dignity when I should have just killed him."

   "Damon," I softly said, laying a hand on his arm. He glanced back at me, the anger in his eyes diminishing yet still there. After a few seconds, he pulled his arm away from my hold and turned.

   "Alright," Stefan sighed, "so how do we kill him now?"

   "I've been trying to figure that out," Bonnie said. "A witch can't truly make an immortal creature; there is always a way to undo a spell."

   "So, what's the witchy work around?" 

   Bonnie stared at him for a couple of seconds, then glanced around the room. "That's the problem. I don't know."

   The doorbell then rang, making all of us look at each other in confusion. We were all in the house, with Caroline at the school cleaning up and Matt Donovan working at The Grill, so there was no one else that was coming to the Save Elena Squad meeting. I slowly stood from my seat and peeked from besides the stair as Jeremy Gilbert opened the door, revealing the man we all least wanted to see.

   "What the hell do you want?" Jeremy asked with disgust laced in his voice. 

   "Now, is that any way to treat a guest?" Klaus smirked. 

   I walked up behind Jeremy and crossed my arms as I glared at the hybrid. "What are you doing here, Klaus?"

   "Well, for starters, young Jeremy here could show some manners and invite me inside."

   "Jeremy," Stefan called from behind me, his voice filled with annoyance and disgust. "Why don't you go up to your room?"

   "Now," Damon added.

   "Hmm," Klaus hummed as he watched Jeremy go up the stairs reluctantly, "poor lad. Loses one questionable father figure only to be replaced by the likes of the Salvatore's."

   "Yeah, about that," Damon cut in. "Something happened."

   "Oh, I know all about my mother's invulnerable little creation, and that's why I'm here," Klaus smiled. "I'm leaving town, just need to pick up a few road trip accessories: spare tire, flashlight, doppelgänger." By the end, he had a smirk decorating his lips. 

   "Can't help you there," Damon answered with a tight smile. He grabbed my arm, pulled me back, and shut the door on Klaus. I followed him to the living room as Stefan went up the stairs.

   "He's not gonna stop," I said, shaking my head. "This is Klaus that we're talking about, hybrid dick number one."

   "He's gonna have to," Damon answered, walking back to the stairs. Stefan was coming back down, alone. Damon looked at his brother and raised in his arms in confusion. "Where is she?"

   "She's not here," Stefan replied.

   "What do you mean she's not here?" I broke in. "Where the hell did she go?"

   Bonnie came to the living room with a confused and worried look. "What's going on?"

   Damon marched to the window and looked between the blinds. "Klaus wants in," he said. "We need to keep him out." He took a step back, his eyes widening. "Ah, duck!" He grabbed me and pulled me down just as the window broke. 

   I looked up to see a newspaper laying in front of me, shards of glass stuck to the paper. "Really?" I groaned standing. Pieces of glass dug into my palm, but I ignored them and marched to the kitchen with everyone else following behind me. I crossed my arms and began to pace around, the anger in me rising with each step. Normally, I wouldn't be so angry at something Klaus was doing, but I had no patience that day.

   I didn't pay attention to the words everyone shared, and only came to realise what was happening when a soccer ball almost went through my stomach. I was pulled back by Stefan, who then pushed me down and kept his arm around my shoulders. At the contact of skin against mine, I turned to look at him. His green eyes met mine, and we both stared at each other, saying nothing, allowing every feeling we had wanted to be kept back to travel between that simple glance. I was the first to look away.

   Something else was thrown from the doorway by Klaus. It stuck to the wall, right besides Damon head. It took me several seconds to realise that it was a piece of wood from a picket fence. "Missed me!" Damon hissed, grabbing a piece and throwing it back. Another piece came flying towards him, this time breaking a picture frame. "Missed me again!"

   When a phone began to ring, I turned to look back at Stefan, who was looking back at me. His brows were furrowed, confused as he dug in his pocket for his phone. He looked down at the caller ID, then up at me and behind me, then back down at the phone. With a hard look in his eyes, he answered, "Alaric."

   "I have Elena and Caroline here with me," Alaric said, his voice dripping with amusement. "And I will kill them, unless Klaus turns himself in." Before Stefan could anything, the call had already ended. 

   "So, Elena went to the high school," Damon nodded, crossing his arms. 

   "And Alaric has her," I finished, shaking my head. When I came to realization, my eyes widened and I ran my hands down my face. "Oh my god! I was on the phone with Caroline this morning. She called me in the morning to, uh, to ask me if I wanted to help her clean up. I should have said yes..."

   "It's not your fault, Clara," Stefan said, giving me a small smile. His smile disappeared and he looked at the broken door. "First, let's stop him before he burns the house down."

   I looked at the front door, seeing Klaus marching towards with a newspaper on fire and a small propane tank. Stefan sighed and walked to the doorway with his arms crossed. "Put it out."

   "Come outside and make me," Klaus taunted, glaring.

  Stefan stepped out and looked at Klaus with hard eyes. "Elena's not here," he said. "Alaric has her and Caroline and he's gonna kill them both unless you turn yourself over to him."

   Klaus hesitated for several seconds. He threw the newspaper down and dropped the propane tank to the other side. "Now, I know you're not asking me to walk into a certain death."

   "I really wish we could," Stefan said with a sarcastic smile. "But, unfortunately, if Alaric kills you there's a one in four chances that we die too."

   Damon walked out with the picket over his shoulder. "I'll take those odds."

   I glanced at him and raised a brow. "And a hundred percent chance that Tyler Lockwood dies."

   "I'm good with that too."

   "Why don't we just figure out a way to put Alaric down?" Stefan broke in, rolling his eyes.

   By the end of ten minutes, Klaus and Stefan were pacing on the front parch while Damon leaned on the picket and I leaned against the doorway with my arms crossed. It was silly watching the two of them pace, both thinking deeply of ideas on how to save Elena and Caroline. 

   Klaus stopped. "Okay, how about Damon sneaks in and distracts Alaric, while Stefan and Clara grab Elena and Caroline and carry them to safety?"

   "Huh, that's a great idea," Damon mused. "What's to stop me from getting killed immediately?"

   Klaus smiled and shrugged his shoulders. "Nothing."

   "You're willing to let Clara go in there, too?" Damon continued. "Or did she just reject you too many times?"

   I rolled my eyes. "This really isn't helping that much."

   "I might have an idea," Bonnie broke in, walking out of the house. She had changed from the flapper dress, now looking more rested than before. "My mom used a dessication spell on Mikael that immobilized him for over fifteen years. If I can get it, I might be able to use it on Alaric."

   "If and might?" questioned Klaus. "Your words inspire much confidence."

   "I'll get it," she said, glancing to all of us. "But even with the spell, we'll need a lot of vampire muscle to take him down." She looked at the hybrid. "Including yours."

   Klaus turned and looked away. "Just so we're clear, the sun sets in about eight hours. If we don't succeed before then Elena will dead, I'll be gone, and the rest of you will be left to fend for themselves." He gave us a tight smile and looked at each of us. "So, who will come with me?"

   Damon, Bonnie, and I went back to the boarding house while Stefan went to the high school with Klaus. The three of us waited in the parlour for hours, the clock now signalling that it was close to midday. I sat on one of the sofas, my legs under me while I leaned my head against one of the cushions. Damon sat on the sofa in front of me, leaning back with tiredness in his eyes. Bonnie, on the other hand, was pacing.

   "Well," Damon breathed, "this is promising."

   "Relax," Bonnie said. "Abby will be here."

   "I'm sorry, I forgot about her stellar track record in the dependability department," he said. I gave him a glare, shaking my head. 

   Bonnie stopped and glared at him. "Jaime said she was coming, okay? Give her time." It was then where the bell rang. I could physically see how Bonnie became worried, how her heart skipped a beat, and worry filled her features. She glanced at the two of us, swallowed hard, then made her way to the door.

   "Don't get your hopes up!" Damon called after her. "Might be a Girl Scout." I shot him a look, earning a small smile from him, and he received yet another stern look from me.

    Bonnie opened the door, revealing a woman that resembled her. The woman stared at Bonnie for several seconds before saying a quiet, "Hello, Bonnie."

   "Thanks for coming," Bonnie responded with a soft nod.

   The woman, who I took as Abby, nodded as well. "Jaime's worried about you. He said it was urgent. I just didn't think you'd ever wanna see me again."

   "Like Jaime said," paused Bonnie, looking at her mother up, "it's urgent." She stepped to the side, allowing her mother to walk in. While she walked to take a seat on the sofa Damon was sitting at, Abby decided to stay standing. She kept her arms crossed and looked around.

   "Why didn't I have to be invited in?" she asked after several seconds filled with extreme silence.

   "Only vampires live here," I said, sitting up. 

   Damon entered the parlour, a glass of blood in hand. "We had signed the deed over to Elena, but she died. The seal broke, very long story." He held the glass out to Abby. "Blood?" She stared at the glass, nothing more. "Aw, come on. Think of it as a peace offering." She continued to stare, saying nothing. "Fine. More for me." He turned with a smile, which was immediately replaced with an annoyed look. He took a seat on the coffee table and signalled for Bonnie to start explaining.

   "We called you here because I need help with a spell," she began. She stood and walked over towards her mother. "Esther created a vampire that can't be killed. I want to dessicate him like you did to Mikael."

   Abby looked at her daughter with wide eyes. "Bonnie, it's too dangerous. Your magic comes from the earth—it's pure. This spell asks you to tap into dark places, places of temptation, places you can't handle."

   "You turned your back on me for sixteen years," Bonnie told her. "You have no idea what I can handle." In that moment, I admired the witch more than I've ever had.

   "Gotta say I'm Team Bonnie on this one," Damon broke in. "How hard can it be to parch a vampire?"

   "The spell allows you to stop a vampire heart," Abby informed. "The blood will stop flowing and his body will dessicate."

   Bonnie nodded. "That's exactly what we wanna do."

   "To stop a vampire's heart you need to find a balance among the living," Abby continued. "Can you handle that?"

   "What?" I broke in, straightening myself. "What does that mean?"

   "Bonnie, we don't speak witch," Damon said, just as confused as I was.

   She hesitated for several seconds before quietly, and painfully, saying, "I have to stop a human heart."

    Damon and I stayed quiet, not knowing what to say. What was one supposed to say when someone said that they were supposed to stop a human heart in order to stop the heart of an immortal being? There were absolutely no words you could say, especially since this was something that would only happen to us.

    After Abby gave the information to Bonnie, we made out way to the high school. Jeremy was waiting for us outside, staring down at something in his hand. When he heard us arrive, he turned around. Bonnie lifted up her phone, showing us an application she had downloaded that allowed her to see where her friends were. The phone showed Caroline and Elena inside the school, inside Alaric's classroom. 

    "Digital locator spell," Damon nodded. He then turned to look at the witch. "Why the hell do we need you then?" While Bonnie stared at him with annoyance, I let out a soft chuckle and shook my head. Damon marched up to Jeremy, extending his hand. "Hand it over."

   "I'm not giving you my ring," Jeremy told him. "Let me do this."

   "By my math, you already bit it once," Damon told him, "this will be twice, wearing that ring, and if for some reason Bonnie can't restart your heart and you indeed die, then before you know it, we have another psycho alter ego case on our hands, which is bad, so give me the ring."

   "This is my ring, Elena's my sister. No one's gonna fight harder for her than me."

   I glanced at Damon and nodded. "He's right, you know."

   "Fine. Be stubborn." He made a face and looked at Bonnie. "Try not to kill him, will you?"

   "Look at this: one big, happy family." Klaus's voice broke in. I turned my head to see both him and Stefan coming towards us. While the hybrid sported his signature smirk, Stefan had a bleak expression.

   Bonnie rolled her eyes, then pulled out a vial with red liquid. "Drink this," she told us. "It's my blood. It bridges us all together so that when I stop Jeremy's heart, you'll have the power to stop Alaric's. You need to make a physical connection to his bloodstream: a vein, artery, something connected to his blood."

   Damon took the vial from her hands and looked at it for several seconds. With a shrug, he opened it and took a swig. He handed it to Stefan, who took a quick swig and looked around. "If one of us gets a clean shot, take it, the other three: hold him down." He handed the vial to Klaus.

   "Before we all walk through those doors," he began, "let's get on the same page, shall we? I was the one that created your vampire bloodline, therefore I am responsible for your lives and Tyler's life, Caroline's life, and of course, Abby's life. Should anything go wrong..."

   "Or you're just trying to save your ass," Damon cut in.

   "I'm not lying," Klaus said. "But go ahead, call my bluff, let the teacher kill me. You'll all be soon thereafter." He took a quick swig of the vial then handed it to me.

   I looked at the remainder of the blood and swallowed hard. While staring at it, I felt myself vamp out. I felt the veins under my eyes bulge out, my teeth extend into fangs, and the hunger increase. I took a deep breath and laid the bottle between my lips, threw my head back, and swallowed what was left. I kept my head up, allowing the little droplets that were still in the vial to drop onto my tongue. When nothing came out, I lowered my head and pulled the vial away from my lips. Everyone was staring at me: the three vampires with knowing and the two humans with disgust.

   I swallowed and licked my lips. "Sorry."

   "Let's just get this over with, shall we?" Stefan said as he turned.

   The four of us walked into the school as if there was some kind of badass music playing in the background. There was a big difference between all of us: Klaus came because he didn't want to die and he wanted Elena so he could create more hybrids, Stefan and Damon came to save Elena, and I came because I was called to join. If it wasn't for Damon calling, and me being stupid enough to answer, I would have been on my way to the airport. 

   We all separated when inside, Damon went with Stefan and I was stuck with Klaus. The silence between us, for the first time in a long time, was uncomfortable. It felt as if he were ignoring me, as if he wanted to get in and out as soon as possible. In a way, I couldn't blame him in that part. A psychopathic vampire wanted to kill us all, and we were walking right into his lair.

   In the short distance, we could hear Elena and Alaric. Something broke, which caused Alaric to scream in pain. Seconds later, Caroline was running through the hallways. I grabbed her hand and pulled her back. Before she could scream, Klaus covered her mouth with his hand. "Shh, it's okay," he told her, glancing at me. "It's okay. It's just us." When she saw us, he uncovered her mouth. 

   "It's okay," I whispered to Caroline, giving her a small smile. "You're safe now. We'll get Elena. You go straight home and stay inside, understand?"

   Caroline glanced from me to Klaus, then nodded. "Thank you," she whispered,glancing once again from Klaus to me. 

   I grabbed Klaus hand and rushed away. As I moved, I could hear Elena an Alaric. Elena sounded hurt, angry, while Alaric sounded as if another person were possessing him. There were multiple times where I had to remind myself that Alaric was no longer Alaric anymore; he was another man, possessed by the ghost of Rage. 

   I stood in the corner, hiding behind lockers as I saw Alaric's hand around Elena's neck. He slowly let it fall and took a step back, looking defeated. That was when Stefan and Damon appeared, and held him back by the arms. 

   "Do it now!" Damon groaned out.

   I turned to Klaus. "Give me something pointy."

   "Wasn't I going to do this, Clara? Isn't he your friend?" he mused, yet there was no form of amusement in his face. He pulled out pencil from his pocket, and I stared at it for several seconds before grabbing it.

   "Not anymore," I said. "This isn't the Alaric I knew." I plunged the pencil into my hand, letting out a hiss, then dragged it down to make a long gash. With a hiss, I pulled the pencil away and turned look back at the scene. Alaric broke Stefan's back, killing him, then he broke Damon's neck. It was then when I hurried and pushed my hand to his chest. The strength Alaric had against me mimicked the strength Klaus had, almost identical, but there was a difference.

   Alaric looked at me with his teeth bared, like an animal. He took my hand and began to pull it back, my bones breaking with every pull. I let out as he broke the rest of the bones in my hand. He then threw me back, my back colliding against the lockers. I groaned out and looked up, seeing Klaus fighting against the ex-friend. Just like he did to me, Alaric pulled his hand back and threw him against the lockers. He marched towards the hybrid, picked him up by the back of his shirt, and threw him to the other side of the hallway. Klaus fell to the ground, and groaned. 

   Alaric flipped him over and was about to push the white oak stake to his chest, but Klaus fought back. The struggle ensued with Klaus pushing back and Alaric pulling in. I stood up and ran towards Alaric, trying to pull him away from the hybrid. He suddenly turned and looked at me for several seconds, then broke my neck.

   It was the ringing of a phone that woke me up from my, what has to be, the hundredth time I've been killed. I sat up and groaned, rubbing my neck with my hand as I looked around the hallway. The last thing I remembered was trying to pull Alaric away from Klaus, and then being killed by the same person.

   I felt a hand on my shoulder, it soft hands being soothing. I looked at the owner, becoming stunned. "Stefan?" My voice was hoarse, as if I had woken up from a deep sleep.

   Stefan smiled, softly, and took my hand. "You okay?" he asked. He glanced down at my hand, the one I had cut with the pencil. "Why are you bleeding?"

   "Long story," I said, rubbing my neck with my free hand.

   "Get up." A familiar voice broke. "I said, get up. Klaus is gonna kill Elena."

   "What?" Damon groaned.

   "What are you talking about?" Stefan asked, helping me up. "Klaus needs Elena's blood to make more hybrids. She's the last person he'd kill."

   "The witch bound my life to Elena's," Alaric revealed. "If she dies, I die. Klaus figured that out and now he's taken her. I'm trapped here until the sun goes down, so you three better get going." He looked at the brothers. "You two better do what you do best—saving Elena's life." He walked between Stefan and Damon, knocking them out of the way.

   "What now?" I ask the brothers, rubbing my neck.

   "We save Elena," Damon said, marching down the hallway. Stefan sighed, then followed his brother. I let out a soft groan and decided that it'd be best to follow the brothers and save Elena, one last hurrah for before I left.

   When we walked out of the high school, the brothers decided that it would be best to dessicate Klaus instead of Alaric. They planned on what to do while I stood back and listened with my arms crossed. 

   In Damon's car, I sat in the back and continued to rub my neck while leaning my elbows on my thighs. I had my neck broken too many times to keep count, but this particular time the pain was still there. It was as if I had slept wrong, or I had done something to my neck; it just hurt. It began in the centre of the back of my neck, and slowly made its way down my spine, the pain fading at my hips. I took a deep breath and leaned back on the seat, closing my eyes. The soft roaring sound of the engine did calm me down, but it also made me worry. 

   We arrived at Klaus's mansion in record time, due to Damon's love for driving over the speed limit. The mansion was mostly empty, except for a few boxes and pieces of furniture that were scattered around. It made me realise that Klaus wasn't kidding when he said he was leaving Mystic Falls.

   I could hear the hybrid speaking to Tyler Lockwood, asking about how the boy broke the infamous sire bond. The boy bravely answered by saying that he broke his bones over one hundred times. I listen intently, moving slowly through the hallway and towards them.

   "Goodbye, Tyler," I hear Klaus say. 

   The hybrid tried to grab Tyler's heart from his chest, but the latter twisted his arm around. It was then when Damon and Stefan sped over to the hybrid and held him back. I walked over to the hybrid and dug my hand into his chest. Klaus yelled out, staring into my eyes as I kept my shaking hand on his chest. 

   "Clara!" he yelled, glaring at me.

   "I'm sorry," I whispered. I shut my eyes close and pushed my hand deeper into his chest, his screams echoing around me. 

   I remembered a while back, when Damon and Stefan and Alaric had the twelve white oak stakes, when they decided to kill the Originals. I remembered saying that I wouldn't help them kill any of them. The irony was that it was I that helped Bonnie go through the dessication spell, helping them save Elena against the man that had been with me since 1887.

   Klaus's heartbeat slowed down against the palm of my hand. I slowly opened my eyes, a single tear falling down my cheek. He was staring back at me, his eyes wide. His heartbeat became slower, to the point where it was just Stefan holding him up.

   "I'm sorry," I whispered once again.

   Dark veins crept up his neck, his skin becoming darker. Instead of his normal colour, he came lighter, a pasty grey. When his heart stopped beating, when his eyes closed and he fell back against Stefan, I pulled my hand away. Stefan laid the hybrid down on the floor and came towards me. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me towards him. 

   "You should get her home before the sunset," he said to someone behind me. 

   After a few seconds of silence, after a few seconds of him holding me tightly against his chest, I let out what seemed a whimper. "I did it," I softly said. "I can't believe I..."

   "You didn't kill him," Stefan cut in, pulling away from me. "Clara, it was only dessication; he's not dead."

   "Isn't it basically the same thing?" I asked, glancing at the dissected hybrid on the ground. "I basically killed him."

   It surprised me when Stefan let out a short laugh and shook his head. "Listen to me, okay?" He grabbed my head between his hands and made me look into his eyes. "You didn't kill Klaus. Think of it as making him go to sleep for a long, long time."

   I stared into his eyes, admiring the gentle green in them. It wasn't a harsh green like forests in the spring or freshly watered grass. His eyes reminded me of a child's watercolour painting, how in their haste they add too much water to the green and it comes out a subdued shade. He reminded me of green fields, lush and wild, like a jungle without trees, full of promise and hope. And that simple stare that he had on me made my heart beat profusely and my breath get caught in my throat.

   I pulled away from him and looked around, looked everywhere but him. "You should go with Damon and Elena," I said. "Take her home, you know."

   "Clara?"

   "What are you going to do with Klaus's body?" I asked, ignoring him in the best way that I could. 

   "Clara..."

   "Are you going to drop it in the Atlantic or are you going to bury him?"

   "Clara!" Stefan stepped in front of me and made me look up at him. "Stop."

   "Stop what?"

   "This!" He motioned to himself than to me. "Stop trying to ignore these moments."

   "We kinds decided to ignore them, Stefan," I said, crossing my arms. "Remember? We said that we would ignore these feelings, each other."

   He let out a soft sigh, but smiled. "We both know that won't really work, Clara."

   "Yeah, well, I was hoping that it would," I said, shaking my head. 

   "Why?"

   "Because I can't have these feelings for you." I turned and began to walk out of the mansion. "I can't feel this way towards you, Stefan, just like you can't feel that way towards me."

   Something stopped me from leaving the house, a hand on mine. At first, I thought that it was Klaus, but when I turned my head, I noticed that it was Stefan. I was going to say something, but something stopped me. His lips were on mine. It was sudden, just like the first time he kissed me. It was filled with passion, with warmth, with every bit of emotion being released in that single kiss. 

   His hand was slowly on my cheek, his other pulling me to him from my back. I reached for his neck, pulling him closer to me. His chest was pressed against mine, his mouth moulding against mine in what seemed to be a kiss that would be written down in history.

   Stefan pushed me against the wall, the hand that was on my back slowly moving up. His fingers brushed up my arm, until his hand laid on my neck. Even there, his fingers traced patterns on the back of my neck while his kiss left me breathless.

   I pulled away first, leaving my eyes closed for several seconds. I bit my bottom lip and opened them, staring up at him. "Elena..." I began. "You should–"

   "Clara," he smiled, "shut up, will you?"

   "But..."

   "I decided to stay with you," he said, leaning down. His lips brushed against mine, softly, gently—a ghost of kiss that I desired to deepen. "What do you think that means?"

   "That you're an idiot," I breathed against his lips, glancing from them to his eyes. "You're such an idiot, Stefan."

   "Just this time, let me be the biggest idiot in the world," he whispered. He pushed a strand of hair behind my ear and leaned down. Just like the first, and the second, and the third time he kissed me, I felt the world fade behind me. It was just Stefan and I, his lips against mine, his hands keeping me close to him, and everything else being pushed to the back of my mind.