In just a week, Elena had managed to scare more than half of Mystic Falls. The fire, her killing a woman, and then she fed on a cheerleader while some tournament was going on at the high school. She was reckless, bored, and the only thing to do while one's humanity was off was to feed to actually feel something. I knew from first hand experience. 

   Elena had also managed to drop Caroline doing a stunt, which made everyone in the whole school, and those present during the tournament, to say nasty things about her. After that, Stefan managed to detain her with a vervain dart he carried around ever since she turned off her humanity. After that, she threw a party at the boarding house, and then she attacked Liz when she came to shut it down. It came to the point where she almost killed her. I went after her instead of Caroline, telling her that it'd be best for her to take care of her mother while I tracked down Elena. We had a fight, broke a few trees, and a few harsh words were exchanged. She told me how I was Stefan's rebound for her, how I should be jealous of her and Damon because it was just like those many years ago, when he was with Katherine. Of course, I got angry, snapped a few bones in her body, then broke her neck. I would have pulled her head from her body, but I was stopped when Stefan and Damon arrived. I threw her body to the ground and marched away, leaving the brother's to take care of her. 

   In the morning, I was tempted to ignore the trash that was left around the house, but I just couldn't. So, I decided that after taking a long shower, I would clean the whole mess. As I was taking a shower, three soft knocks on the door made me turn around. Stefan stood by the door, his arms crossed and his body leaning against the doorway. 

   "So, Damon took Elena on a little field-trip to New York," he said, giving me a small smile. I knew that the smile he had was one that said that he didn't approve.

   "That's... That's great?" I ran my hands through my hair, rinsing the shampoo. 

   "And, I also called Klaus to come by," he finished, nodding.

   I stopped moving and turned to him. "Wait. You called Klaus? I thought you wanted nothing to do with him."

   "Well, we have a bigger problem than Klaus in our hands," he sighed. 

   "Right, the one who's stealing all the blood," I nodded. "Rogue vampire."

   "I think Silas is the one stealing the blood from the hospitals," he continued as I turned off the water and got out. "He must have followed us back to Mystic Falls."

   I walked back to the bedroom and began to get dressed, all while hearing his theories of Silas being the only being that could have stolen all of the blood. He told me that it couldn't be Elena, since she was kept under careful watch. I was tempted to say something about her killing someone under their careful watch, but I stayed quiet and nodded. I brushed my fingers through my hair, taking out the knots as I continued to nod at him.

   "Clara," he stopped. "Are you just nodding or are you listening to me?"

   I stopped nodding and widened my eyes, biting both of my lips between my teeth. "Uh... Listening?"

  He looked down and shook his head, a soft smile on his lips. "Yeah, okay."

  "Stefan," I sighed and walked up to him. "I'm sorry, okay? But, I just think you're giving Elena too much of a pass in this. She's not exactly a saint, but you keep giving excuses for her."

   "Neither are we," he said. "We're no saints, Clara."

   "And we admit that," I nodded. "We know how many people we killed and we still live with the guilt, but we don't make excuses." I brushed past him and went to the door of my bedroom, walking down the stairs. 

   Downstairs, I could hear the annoyed tone coming from Caroline. Then, Klaus spoke. I stopped at the last step of the stair and listened, feeling bad at that moment. The last time I saw him, I had my hand to his chest and was slowly killing him. I swallowed hard and continued to move until I saw Klaus standing in front of Caroline. His eyes travelled to me, and they flashed red with anger. I played with my fingers while staring at him, scared, feeling horrible.

   "Klaus," I softly said, almost as if his name was a greeting.

   "Clara," he returned. He brushed past Caroline and took a stand in front of me, his blue eyes glaring right at mine. "How have you been, love? Last time I saw you, you helped the gang dessicated me. Even after I offered you a trip back to Greece."

   "Well, you were trying to kill everyone that I cared about," I sighed, crossing my arms. "I can't believe that you didn't expect something like that to happen."

   "He's still trying to kill a certain person I care about," Caroline muttered as she picked up trash, her face filled with disgust.

   "Not from you, Clara," Klaus said, ignoring the vampire behind him. There was a small hint of sadness in his eyes. It soon disappeared as a small smile spread around his lips. "See, I had a little something for you called trust. Don't worry about that anymore, sweetheart; I no longer trust you."

   "That does put a damper in our relationship," I softly said, trying to make myself laugh. It didn't work. Instead, I stared into the eyes of an old friend, and felt like the coldness in them could freeze me. I looked away and bit my bottom lip, unable to continue to look at him.

   "Klaus," Stefan's voice echoed around the room, even in its softness. "Thanks for coming."

   "When I'm summoned, I do come," he smirked, walking around. 

   I walked to the sofa and took a seat on the arm of the sofa. I would have taken a seat on the actual sofa, but it was covered in cups and sticky with alcohol. Stefan began to tell Klaus what had happened, from Elena turning off her humanity to the blood-robber that we had in our hands. 

   "So, some blood went missing from a few hospitals," Klaus began to muse as he poured himself a drink. "What about Elena? Don't vampires with their humanity off tend to overindulge in human blood, or were you and Clara the exception?" He turned to look at us with amusement.

   I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. "He thinks it wasn't Elena," I say.

   "Well, let's say for a moment that it was Silas," Klaus said. "I'm struggling to see how this affects me."

   "Look," Stefan began, "Silas wants to die and be reunited with his one true love, but he's supernatural, so if he takes the cure and dies, he gets stuck on the Other Side."

   Klaus smirked. "How Shakespearean."

   "But, if he destroys the Other Side altogether, he can take the cure, die, and pass on," Stefan continued. "But, in destroying it, every dead supernatural being will return to our side."

   "That means every werewolf, every witch, every vampire," I spoke up, looking at Klaus. "The many we have personally killed."

   He didn't show remorse, the same smirk still on is lips. "My interest is piqued," he said. "How do we stop him?"

   "Bonnie said Silas needs to complete three massacres to do this spell," Stefan told him. "Before Professor Shane died, he convinced the pastor to blow up the Council, next he had you kill your hybrids, and now he only needs one more massacre. So, if he's here, that's what he's doing."

   "We need to find him," I finished. 

   "Don't you all want your dear friends back?" Klaus mused, standing to serve himself another glass. "The teacher. Little Jeremy Gilbert."

   "We do," Stefan nodded, "but none of us are willing to sacrifice thousands of supernatural beings returning to get the people we love back." He took a small breath and crossed his arms. "I was thinking of going to Professor Shane's office tonight. Maybe there's something that can help us see what Silas is planning next."

   "Roadtrip," Klaus smiled. "Fun."

   "Oh, he's coming?" Caroline groaned, throwing her hands up in annoyance. "Great. I call shotgun." She threw the trash bag she was holding down and stumped out of the house. 

   "Why does she hate you so much?" I asked Klaus, raising a brow. 

   "Oh, it's nothing," he smiled. "I just promised that I would hunt Tyler down."

   "Ah," I nodded. "Of course. Nothing." I turned to Stefan. "If I'm going to sit by him for the trip to the college, at least let me get drunk."

   It was a few hours ride to Whitmore College. We arrived about an hour before classes were done, so we walked around. I kept my hands in my pocket and chewed on a piece of mint gum that Klaus was so nice to offer. During the ride, we sat besides each other but didn't talk so much. There were a few exchange of words, but nothing grand. Normally, he would have teased and smiled and laughed, but his lips were set into a straight line. He was still angry at me. I couldn't blame him, I did dessicate him.

   When night arrived, we all entered Professor Shane's office. It looked the same as when I last visited, with strange artefacts laying all around. I walked to his desk and passed my fingers through the wood, seeing the small bit of dust rise when I pulled my hand away. As I heard shuffling, I began to look around as well.

   "What are we even looking for?" I asked out loud as I picked up a few books and read their titles.

   "Well, if Shane really was working with Silas," Stefan began, "chances are he was helping him plan his next move."

   "Where, on his evil villain to-do list?" Caroline joked. 

   "Steal blood, perform three massacres, pick up dry cleaning," I joined, giving her a grin. 

   "Actually," Klaus interrupted, "not to nit-pick, but we evil villains usually use minions to pick up our dry cleaning, that sort of thing."

   Caroline rolled her eyes and turned to Stefan with a glare. "Why is he necessary again?"

   "Well, we don't know what Silas can do," he told her, "so, if we do have to go head to head with him, an Original hybrid who can't die might come in handy."

   "Besides, we three work well together," Klaus smiled, "or at least we did in the Twenties."

   I pointed at myself and said, "Sort of compelled." I pointed at Stefan. "No humanity. Doesn't count."

   "And that's why you two were more fun," he sighed. "Just as Damon is probably relishing Elena's emotionless company in New York."

   "My brother knows what he's doing."

   "Does he?" Klaus questioned. "Don't underestimate the allure of darkness, Stefan. Even the purest hearts are drawn to it."

   I slowly glanced up from the papers I had in my hand, seeing Klaus' eyes on mine. He was smirking, just like he always did. It was a knowing smirk, one that said that he knew me and my attraction to darkness. I licked my top lip and looked back down at the papers, deciding to move to a stack of books in the corner, far from Klaus' eyes. 

   "Still," the hybrid continued, "I'm sure it'll be fine."

   "I think I found something," I interrupted, passing my hand through the cover of the book. It was a large book. I walked over to the three and read the title. "Symbolic Figures in the Dark Arts. Didn't Bonnie talk about Expression Triangles?" I opened it and pointed at a large, intricate drawing of a triangle. "Here."

   "In some schools of magic such as Expression," Stefan read, "human sacrifices can be used as a focus for power. It is rumoured that the addition of two supernatural sacrifices compound the mystical energy, creating an Expression Triangle."

   I pointed at a symbol in the drawing. "Humans––that was the council fire." I pointed at another symbol. "Demons––Klaus' hybrid failures."

   "Well, I wouldn't exactly call it a failure," Klaus mused, shrugging his shoulders. "What's the third one?"

   I glanced down at the boo, seeing the third symbol. My mouth opened and closed, and I shook my head. I looked up, meeting everyone's eyes for a few seconds. "Witches."

   "Wait," Caroline stopped. She had her hands raised in front of her, a small incredulous smile on her lips. "So, you're saying that Bonnie is going to sacrifice witches?"

   "Okay, um..." I laid the book on the desk and put my fingers to my temple. "Okay, uh, I need a map."

   "A map?" Klaus asked, almost laughing. "This is no time to plan another trip, Clara."

   I rolled my eyes. "A map, Klaus, so we can make a triangle and see where the next sacrifice will take place."

   "I'll do that," Caroline stepped in. "You two call Bonnie."

   Stefan and I walked out of the office, his phone in his hand. He tried to call her cell phone several times, but no one picked up. It wasn't until the eighth call that someone picked up her phone, but it wasn't Bonnie. Mayor Rudy Hopkins answered the phone while panting, his voice scared, asking questions about his daughter. 

   "I don't know where she is," he told Stefan. "She-she just left. She told me to call her mother, something about needing witches, and then she left with that professor."

   "Shane died on the island," I softly said, making sure that Mayor Hopkins didn't hear me.

   "Silas," Stefan whispered, his eyes widening. 

   I nodded. "I'll go tell Caroline and Klaus. Just calm him down, tell him we'll find her," I told him. I turned and rushed back to the professor's office. When I opened the door, Caroline was leaning against the desk with an annoyed look in her in her eyes. She looked up when I walked in.

   "Hey," she sighed, walking around the desk. "What's going on? Did you find Bonnie?"

   "Sort of," I said. "But, Stefan did talk to her dad. I think we found Silas."

   "Well, where is he?" Klaus asked, raising a brow. 

   "He's appearing as Professor Shane," Stefan answered, walking into the room. "Caroline, did you find where the third massacre will be?"

   "Yes!" She circled the desk and stood behind it, pointing down at a spot on the map. "One option is here, and then the other is right here."

   "I'll go with Clara here," Stefan said, pointing at a circle on the map. "You two take the other spot. Whoever finds her, stop her."

   It was in the office that we split up. Stefan drove back to Mystic Falls as fast as he could, ditched the car by the street, and we made our way through the woods. We walked in a human pace, silence enveloping us. The only thing I could hear was the breeze between the trees, the gentle creatures walking and breaking the dead leaves on the ground. It was calming, yet eerie. I could feel power as I walked, a strong sensation that felt like cold. It made me shiver. 

   As we walked, Stefan called Damon to let him know about Silas appearing as Professor Shane. From the other side of the phone call, I heard Damon sigh. "You need me to come?" he asked. 

   "We got it," I spoke up, jumping over a dead trunk. "No need to come. You just continue searching for the cure. By the way, how's that going?"

   "Eh, not great," he answered as Stefan put the phone on speaker. "I mean, it's no massacre in the making, but Rebekah trailed us here. Then, in addition to my buddy being a brilliant thief, he's also a hoarder."

   "What are you trying to find?" asked Stefan.

   "Will had a repeat costumer: 5''7, brunette, said she was a runner."

   "Katherine," I sighed.

   "Turns out I was helping her run from me," Damon sighed. "Ironic. Problem is I'm pretty sure this filing system goes by birthday, but I can't for the life of me remember Katherine's."

   "June 5th, 1473," Stefan answered immediately.

   "Of course you would know that," I muttered, pursing my lips. 

   "Someone's jealous," Damon chuckled. "That's why Stefan's the better boyfriend." There was a pause. "Well, would you look at that? It's all her former addresses, including a couple from the last two months. They're mostly P.O. boxes, but hey, it narrows the search."

   "Well, you're welcome," Stefan said. "So, you headed back now?"

   "Yeah, tomorrow morning," Damon said. "Gotta keep up the rouse fr the terrible twosome outside, pretend like I'm having a good time." He let out a chuckle. "Don't miss me too much, honey." I rolled my eyes and stopped, turning to look at Stefan who had also stopped. 

   He pursed his lips lightly and looked down at the phone. "And you're not having a good time?"

   "I'll see you tomorrow," Damon ended the call.

   "That was a fun conversation," Stefan half-heartedly chuckled. He looked at me, his smile softening. "Can I ask you something?"

   "No," I told him, turning to continue walking. "We need to find Bonnie before the massacre happens. You can ask me after."

   "Fine," he nodded, walking besides me.

   I stopped walking a few paces later, when I heard the distant screaming. It was the distinct voice of Bonnie, her voice sounding pained and in trouble. I glanced at Stefan, who seemed to hearing the same, then sped to the direction where it came from. There was a circle of witches, torches burning bright. Bonnie was in the centre of the circle, a woman standing by her head with her hands hovering a few inches from her ears.

   "Yield to the spirits, Bonnie!" the woman yelled. "You can't fight us!"

   "Stop!" I yelled, running into the centre of the circle. "It's not what you think."

   The woman glared at me. "This is no place for a vampire," she angrily spat. 

   "She's working for Silas," Stefan told her. 

   "Silas?" the woman questioned, surprised. 

   "He brainwashed her to kill you," I told her, shaking my head. Bonnie whimpered on the ground, more blood coming from her nose. The woman suddenly pulled out a dagger. "Wait. What are you doing?"

   "If Silas has her, she's lost," she said. "We can't save her."

   "Wait!" I moved towards Bonnie. The woman flung out her arm towards me and I suddenly felt as if something was puncturing in my head. It felt as if there were thousands of pins and needles continuously pricking my brain. I grabbed at my head and staggered back, groaning as I fell to my knees. 

   "I have the power of twelve witches," the woman hissed. "You don't stand a chance!"

   "Clara!" Stefan grabbed me and sped out of the circle. Once out, I let out a well-needed breath and looked at the circle, seeing a groaning Bonnie right in the centre. The witches chanted in unison, heads to the sky, power swimming around them. The fire burned brighter, hotter.

   "They're linked," Stefan spoke from behind me. "Bonnie's gonna kill them."

   "Not if the witches kill her first," Klaus said. He suddenly slammed Stefan against a tree.

   I stood and marched up to them. "We need to save her," I spat at the hybrid.

   "How?" he asked, quickly glancing at me. "The only way to stop the witches is to kill them, and then Silas gets what he wants."

   I shook my head and glanced back at the circle, where the woman who was in front of Bonnie stared up at the sky. "Spirits," she chanted, "take her soul. Free her from darkness!" The woman raised the dagger and held it over Bonnie's chest as she screamed in pain. Something in me snapped at that moment. I sped over to the circle, behind the witch, and pushed her own dagger into her chest. The woman screamed, her voice echoing around me. Slowly, I looked up. One by one, the witches that formed the circle began to drop dead and the torches' flames began to burn out. I stared at each witch as they fell, breathing hard and shaking my head.

   "No," I softly breathed, shaking my head. "No, no, no! What... What the hell did I do?"

   "Clara," Stefan spoke, walking up to me. He laid his hands on my shoulders and stopped me from shaking. "Clara, stop. Hey!" He laid his hands on my cheeks made me look at him. "Hey, it's okay. It's okay." His arms suddenly went around me, pulling me close to his chest.

   "Bonnie!" Caroline breathed, running to her friend. "Bonnie!"

   "The triangle is complete," Bonnie eerily said. 

   I peeked at her from Stefan's chest. Her eyes were a milky white. It was the kind of milky white after having a bowl of soggy cereal, cold, disgusting, dead. I hid my face back in Stefan's chest, shaking my head. My fists were closed on his shirt, holding on tightly to him as I shook my head and began to cry. I had done what I didn't want to happen. 

   Stefan took me back home after what happened. He left to take Bonnie back to her house and stay with her until she woke up. When he asked me if I would be okay, I waved a hand and walked away. I went directly to the bottle of bourbon that sat behind the sofa in the parlour. Instead of taking a glass, I drank from the bottle. I took a seat on the sofa, pulled my legs up to my chest, and drank as I stared into the fire. The flames burned brightly, hot even from my distance. 

   I had killed before. I had killed many people before, but my humanity was off and I didn't care a bit about who I killed and how. But, as my humanity was on at the moment, I felt the pain that I killed people. I had killed twelve people, all because I wanted to save a witch that wasn't so close to me. It was sudden, and I felt as if I needed to protect her. I needed to save her, and I killed those twelve witches and gave Silas everything that he needed.

   Three bottles of bourbon later, morning arrived and I was still in the same position. Stefan walked in, then, slowly. He took a seat on the table in front of me and leaned slightly closer. His hands were in front of him, held together. I didn't dare to look at his face. 

   "Clara," he softly said. 

   "I killed twelve people," I muttered, shaking my head. "I killed twelve people, Stefan."

   "Hey, hey. hey, no." He moved to take a seat next to me, wrapping an arm around my shoulders and pulling me to him. "No, Clara. You did it to protect Bonnie; you saved her."

   "I gave Silas everything he needed," I muttered, sniffing. "I let the last massacre happen."

   "He has everything but the cure," Stefan softly said, running a hand down my hair. "As long as we stop him from getting it, the last massacre doesn't matter."

   "But I still killed those twelve people!" I stood up and ran my hands through my hair, sniffing to stop myself from crying. "Stefan, those witches didn't deserve to die."

   He stood and laid his hands on my neck, making me look at him. "It's not your fault," he said. "Clara, it's not. Those lives are on Silas."

   "But it was me," I said, finally crying. "It was me who pushed the dagger into that woman's chest. It was me, not Silas. I killed them, Stefan. I-I..." I was sobbing, then, and I didn't know why I was sobbing. I had killed before, many–he knew that. Instead of telling me that their lives were on me, he simple pulled me to his chest and allowed me to sob.

   What surprised was that this murder had affected me more than any of the murders I had done in the past. One of the answers of why was that I was no longer compelled to not care that much for the killings that I had done. The moment Elijah was killed with the dagger, all of his compulsion wore off. He once compelled me to forget about my killings, to push them behind a red door and lock them up so they wouldn't bother me. Since it wore off, every murder I committed felt like I was tearing my skin off. I felt it, I saw it, I did it, and it was horribly painful. 

   After a few minutes of sobbing, I had finally stopped. My face was still pressed to Stefan's chest, my fists closed on his shirt, soft sounds escaping my lips. One of his hands was behind my head, his fingers lightly moving as if they were trying to calm me down. His other hand was on my back. He said nothing, but allowed me to stay in that position.

   "Come on," he finally said a few minutes later. He grabbed my hand and pulled me up the stairs, to the bedroom. He closed the curtains, then walked back to me with a soft smile and grabbed my hands. "Clara, you need sleep."

   I shook my head. "I don't need sleep."

   "Yes, you do," he nodded, pulling me to the bed. "It's been a long night. I know that sleep won't help that much, but maybe it will a little." 

   It didn't feel strange laying on the bed with him besides me. My body was turned to him, eyes colliding with each other. His hand was still on mine, his thumb creating a pattern on top of my hand. I stared into his eyes, admiring the gentle green that calmed me down. 

   "Thank you," I softly said.

   He smiled. "Clara, I will always be here for you. Always."