Just like any good friend would do, I stuck by Damon's side. In his revenge-ridden state of finding Dr. Wes Maxfield, he had managed to go back to his old ways and almost got Jeremy killed. I almost went along with it, but what I did was much worse. Instead of trying to help the young Gilbert, I stood in the corner and let Enzo have his fun. And then Stefan and Elena came to the rescue. The look he gave me was one filled with disappointment and disbelief, something that made my chest ache. I wanted to go up to him, kiss him, forget about the whole ordeal in which I was supposed to be angry at him for kissing Katherine. I didn't want to be angry, because that took too much from me. Then, he told Damon to never bother to return. I got angry once again, and left with Enzo and Damon on their revenge road trip.

   When we arrived at the house where Dr. Wes Maxfield's makeshift lab was, we got trapped in there by some Travelers. The Travelers were nomadic witches, in which services could be bought for the right price. My guess was that Wes had money, hence how he got their services. Their chanting caused us to fall to the floor in pain. Wes injected something into Damon at that moment. We were all confused about what the insane doctor injected him with, until he began to feed on another vampire that was trapped by chains. At that moment, Enzo and I realised that we were in trouble. 

   The strange thing was that I didn't mind turning someone just so Damon could feed. I felt no remorse, no compassion, no mercy—I just needed my friend to stay alive and not attack me. We holed up in a secluded house outside of town, where we waited for a man I just killed to wake up. I sat in the couch with my legs crossed, a hand on my temple as I watched an amused Enzo and a hungry Damon.

   "You think they fell in love milking cows?" Enzo asked as he grabbed a picture that sat on a table.

   "Probably," Damon answered. "Then she became one, so he drank himself into oblivion—she cheated with the pastor." He had blood on the side of his lips, an obvious sign that he had fed. The blood belonged to a person I had killed about eight hours before we arrived at the house.

   "Just because you lost your true love doesn't mean you have to dump on others," mused Enzo, a small smirk around his lips. 

   "There's no love in there," Damon said. "Look at that picture, it's old! The milk maid's nowhere to be found—it's just pathetic ole farmer John."

   "Manners!" Enzo smirked. "It's impolite to speak ill of our host."

   "I doubt he'll mind," Damon said, glancing at the dead body on the floor. 

   "Alright, Cranky," I said as I touched the side button of my phone so it would turn on. "It's been almost eight hours since you last fed. So, I suppose that's about right."

   Damon turned to me with furrowed brows. "Are you timing me?"

   "Well, you feed on vampires now." I stood and pointed at Enzo and I with my index finger. "If you haven't noticed, we're vampires. The only way we can be safe is to know how long you can last until you feed again."

   "Or, you can just leave," he mumbled, giving me a sarcastic smile. 

   "I"m sure neither of us abandon our friends, Damon," Enzo said as he circled towards us. "Besides, if you hadn't come with me to kill Doctor Wes, he wouldn't have stuck you with that nasty virus."

   "So..." I glanced at the English vampire with my arms crossed, a sarcastic smile on my lips. "In all, it's all Enzo's fault." I gave him a sarcastic smile, which he returned with one that was just as sarcastic.

   "No one asked you to come, Sweetheart," he said, taking a step closer to me.

   "I couldn't leave Damon with you," I said. "He's bad, but you might make him worse."

   "And you aren't?" he asked, the cocky smirk forming around his lips once again. "Remind me again, who was the one that drank several people dry and stashed their bodies in the trunk of the car?"

   The smile I had around my lips faded, but I quickly forced it back as I glared at Enzo. A part of me wanted to break his neck, the other part of me wanted to kill him. The dead man on the floor jumped up and took a big gasp of air. He looked around with wide eyes, an obvious sign of confusion and fright.

   "Ahh!" Enzo breathed as he knelt in front of the man. "Just in time. Hello!"

   "What did you do?" the man asked, glancing around at the three of us. "What's happening?"

   "You died," Enzo replied, "but luckily you had my blood in your system, so when you drink this," he lifted a blood bag and smiled, as if he were teasing the man, "you'll feel much better." He pushed the blood bag to the man's mouth, forcing the liquid to fall between his lips.

   After getting a taste of the blood, the man grabbed the bag and squeezed it, chugging as much as he could as if he hadn't had a sip of water for weeks. He pulled the bag away and took a deep breath, glancing at us with wide eyes as he stood. "What was that?" he asked. 

   "That was blood," I responded as I circled him to stand by Damon. "You're a vampire now."

   "Congratulations!" Enzo smiled. 

   "I'm a what?"

   "I know, I know, it's overwhelming," Enzo continued. "Damon will explain more in a bit, but before he does, settle a bet. Your wife, where is she?"

   "Wait, I drink blood now?"

   Enzo rolled his eyes. "Again, we'll explain everything. Where's your wife?"

   "She's gone. She left me years ago."

   "Pastor?" Damon questioned, brows raised and arms spread as he hoped for the answer. "Pastor?" I rolled my eyes, thinking that whatever they had going on was stupid.

   "Pharmacist."

   While Enzo groaned in defeat, Damon made a celebratory gesture with his arm. He glanced at his friend and nodded. "Yes! I will take that as a win for me, not for you."

   "Oh, my God," I groaned, throwing my head back. "I didn't know I would regret it this much to come with you two."

   Damon threw me a wink, then turned back to the man. Just like when we were hungry for human blood, his eyes darkened. Veins bulged from beneath his eyes, his fangs protruded from his gums, and the salivating look decorated his face. I had seen the same face on my own for so long, that it didn't bother me. He sped towards the man and began to feed on him, groaning as the man screamed. I turned my head and looked away, only hearing the sounds of him feeding on the man. When I heard the familiar sound of a snap and then a thump, I turned to look. 

   Damon held the old farmers' head between his hands, his eyes staring at me as his mouth was completely covered in blood. His eyes were dark with the drunkenness of the blood, the veins still there. He licked his fangs, almost as if I would be the next person he would sink his teeth into.

   "Stop trying to scare me, Damon," I said, crossing my arms. "I'm not leaving you."

   "That's right," Enzo joined. "We're the only friends you have left."

  Damon gave us a nod, then dropped the head and turned. He came back a few minutes later with a clean face, and immediately moved towards the farmers' corpse. Out of nowhere, he began to hum as he dragged the corpse of the old farmer to a chair in the living room. He straightened the corpse, fixing his jacket and setting his legs straight. The corpse still had no head, something Damon didn't bother to put back.

   "I didn't realise you like to play with dolls," Enzo said from the doorway with an amused tone.

   "Well, my brother likes to make a big show—set them up, put their heads back on and pretend like it didn't happen," Damon said, setting the beheaded body promptly up. "I, on the other hand, couldn't give a crap."

   "We've got eight hours until you need to feed again," I said as leaned back on the couch. "What do we do now?"

   "I wonder," Enzo hummed, "what's New York like these days."

   "Crowded," Damon answered with a shrug of his shoulders and a small smirk.

   "Perfect," smirked Enzo. "Let's go."

   I grabbed my jacket from besides me and began to pull it on. At that moment, voices began to be heard all around me. It was a chant, loud, in rhythm. I frowned and glanced over at Damon and Enzo. "What's that?"

   "It's the obnoxious theme song of the Travelers," Damon answered with an annoyed tone. He pulled on his jacket and looked back at me, motioning me to go with his head. 

   I pushed myself from the couch and followed, pushing my hands inside my pockets. Damon opened the front door, then suddenly stopped. He let out a groan as he smacked his hand into an invisible barrier. It was then when I also let out a groan and threw my head back in annoyance. I knew enough about magic to know that we were stuck in the house all thanks to a boundary spell. Meanwhile outside, the Travelers continued to chant.

   "This is great," I groaned, smacking my hands to my sides.

   Dr. Wes Maxfield appeared in front of Damon, glaring, maybe hoping that it would kill him. "As a man of science, I always considered magic a cheat," he said. "Turns out, I cheat. How's the appetite?"

   "Funny you should ask," Damon began, "I was just craving a blonde."

   "And I hope it's not me," I mumbled, earning a slight glare from him. In return, I gave him a tight lipped smile.

   "You're my patient zero, Damon," Wes said, a ghost of a smirk around his lips. "I couldn't let you ride off into sunset without a few tests."

   "A few tests..." Enzo spat, knowing the meaning behind his words. I had spent enough time with him to know the horrors this Wes did to him for the past fifty years.

   "Well, one test," Wes said. "Now that you're trapped with only two sources of food, how long can you go before you feed on the only two people that care for you?"

   I sped towards Wes, but was stopped by the invisible barrier. The man took a step back, almost falling. I let a small snare decorate my lips. "I swear, I will kill you myself," I spat. 

   "Come on, Clara," Damon said, pulling me back by the arm. "He'll just inject you with the same thing he put in me."

   "Not if I rip out his throat first!" I hissed, trying to pull away from his hold. Even through I continued to fight, Damon pulled me back to the living room. Enzo closed the front door, let out a sigh, then took a seat on a chair. 

   I pulled myself away from Damon's hold and let out a groan, throwing my head back and pressing my fingers to my forehead. The fact that I was trapped in a house with a vampire that fed on vampires, meanwhile I was one of those creatures, made my stomach knot. No, I wasn't scared, but I was worried. I looked up when I heard the sound of glass breaking. Damon had thrown a chair to the window, breaking the glass. He tried to push his hand through, but the barrier was there as well.

   "Give it up, Mate," Enzo said from the chair he had taken his seat. "Those Travelers sealed this place tight."

   "The spell can't last forever," Damon said, glancing out the window.

   "It doesn't need to," Enzo said, staring at us with a bit of amusement. "Wes only needs it to last eight hours, remember? Then he can come back inside and autopsy either Clara's or mine mangled corpse."

   "You're pretty calm about this," I said, staring at him in annoyance. 

   "Calmer heads will always prevail," he said, then looked over at Damon. "He should remember all of that."

   "Always the soldier," Damon mumbled as he slid down the wall. 

   "But, you do have people we can call." Enzo stood and walked over to him. "Like your brother or your ex. They can find Wes and threaten him, or maim him. Anything that doesn't involve your fangs on my neck."

   "My brother told me to leave and not come back," Damon said, looking away from either of us. "I'm not calling him."

   "So my life is not worth your pride?" Enzo asked, raising a brow. Damon didn't answer, causing the other vampire to lean a bit closer to him. "What about Clara's, hmm?" It was at that moment that Damon's eyes landed on mine. I immediately glanced away and laid a hand under my chin, not wanting to be part of that conversation. Never did I think about dying since last night, all I thought was about helping him.

   "They won't come," Damon finally said, looking away. 

   "Or they will and you might hurt them," Enzo continued. "You don't want to risk them, do you? Us, on the other hand..."

   "I'm not going to feed on you," he sternly answered, staring at Enzo for a couple of seconds. His eyes then landed on mine once again. "I'm not going to feed on either of you. I'll find another way."

    Enzo raised his hands in defeat and walked away. I let out a sigh and moved towards Damon, taking a seat besides him against the wall. I crossed my legs and leaned my head back, staring at the ceiling a couple of seconds. "I don't blame you," I said, turning my head to look at him. "If I were you, I would do the same."

   "That's why you should have left when I told you," he snapped, almost glaring at me. The anger subsided fast, and he sighed. "Clara, you should have left before any of this happened."

   "Well, too bad that I didn't," I said as I shrugged my shoulders. "Damon, I'm not going anywhere. Right now, we only have each other..." A huff came from somewhere around the house, making me roll my eyes. "And Enzo, too." I gave him a small smile, wrapping my arm around his. "I'm not leaving you, Damon, because I know you would do the same if it happened to me."

   He scoffed and rolled his eyes. "I hate this side of you," he said. "This goody-two-shoes side that wants to do the right thing always. You're reckless, Clara."

   "Well, that's why my mother always called me Reckless Clara, remember?" I gave him a grin, hoping that it would lighten the mood around here. "She said that everything I did was reckless, and it would get me seriously hurt if I continued. She was right, you know? I was too reckless and I ended up dead, then with the Originals, almost being burned by John Gilbert and his vampire hunters, killed several times, tortured, killed again, in a coma because I felt every single death of my dopplegängers, and now I'm stuck in a room with my best friend who just happens to feed on vampires." I pushed a big grin and pushed him with my shoulder. "Who knew that I'd still be reckless almost two hundred years later?"

   For the first time since we arrived, he let out a genuine smile. He rolled his eyes and looked to the front, avoiding my eyes. "Actually, you're far more reckless now," he said, quietly.

   "I knew it," I mumbled, making a face.

   He chuckled. "But, you've always been like that, so it would be very strange if you weren't," he finished, finally looking down at me. A small smile appeared on his lips. "Thanks, Clara."

   "For?"

   "Well, for being there for me," he said. "I think you're the only person that cares."

   "No," I smiled as I stood, "I'm not the only person, but I just show it more than others. It's weird how I still care about you after all these years."

   Enzo came back with a bottle of alcohol in one hand and three glasses in the other. "Look what I found," he said with a looped smile. "I guess we don't have to pass these eight hours sober."

   In the following hours, we drank in silence and in little conversations. Enzo spoke about what had happened to him, about being a lab rat for the past fifty years. From his words, I figured out that he was a strong man and could endure countless horrific things due to the experimentation that had been done on him. I continued to ask questions about him, mostly because I didn't want to speak about myself.

   When night fell, Damon's hunger had gotten worse. He pushed himself further away from us as the hunger got to him, pacing back and forth, avoiding conversation with either of us. Each moment I moved closer to him to see if I could calm him down, he pushed himself further away by walking to the other side of the room. Finally, I sighed and leaned against the couch, watching as he stared out the window with his fist tightly closed.

   Enzo came in with chains in his hands, the chains clinking against each other. He pointed at a chair with his chin, signalling Damon to take a seat. "Towing chains," he mused, "farmer's best friend. In about an hour, ours. Take a seat." He tapped the head of the chair with his hands. 

   "They're not gonna let us out of here until I kill one of you," Damon said as he took a seat. "Or you kill me."

   "Don't be dramatic," Enzo said as he tied him in.

   "We'll work something out," I said as I watched. "Don't worry."

   Damon glanced over at me. "There's no cure, Clara," he said, sounding defeat. "Not for this."

   "You've given it all of two days!" Enzo snapped, getting closer to his face. "That's what you do, isn't it? There's a problem, you run. You did it to me, you did it to your girl..."

   "Because when I stay, I destroy things," Damon said, glancing at me before staring back at the fire.

   Enzo stared at his best friend for a couple of seconds, then continued to subdue him. As one last measure, he used a monkey wrench to tighten them up. He finished and leaned closer to Damon. "We're not all as fragile as you think we are." He leaned back and went to the table, grabbing Damon's phone.

   "What are you doing?" Damon asked.

   "Calling for backup," Enzo answered as he searched through the phone.

   "I thought I told you not to call them!"

   Enzo shrugged his shoulders towards me, then looked over at the subdued vampire. "And I told you your pride isn't worth wither of our lives." He walked off as he laid the phone to his ear and walked off.

   Damon immediately began to wrestle with the chains then, trying to get out. When he couldn't, he stared at me. "Clara, stop him," he groaned. "Come on, neither of us want them to come."

   "Maybe it's a good idea," I uttered, shrugging my shoulders. "Damon, we're trapped in here and Enzo or I will be your meal before Wes comes back. They're the only ones that can help..." I hugged my arms and gave him a small smile, hoping he'd know what I feel.

   "You too?" he groaned and continued to try to get out of the chains. 

   "Hello, Stefan," Enzo said on the phone. "How wonderful to hear your beautiful, feminine voice."

   "Enzo," Elena answered from the other side, surprising me. "What the hell do you want?"

   "I'm in a spot of trouble, actually."

   "Where's Damon?"

   "Oh, he's here, salivating, about to chomp into either mine or Clara's neck and feed until one of our heads pop off in a grotesque but slightly comical fashion."

   "Wes infected him?"

   "You know about the virus, good. We could use a hand. Wes enlisted some of those singing witches and trapped us in the house."

   "Do not. Come. Here," Damon spat from the chair he sat on.

   I sighed and walked over to Enzo, grabbing the phone from his hand. "Listen, Elena, he doesn't want to risk feeding from you.. But, knowing you, you'll be absolutely fine."

   "Besides," Enzo said from besides me, shrugging his arms, "if he does feed on you, I have orders to kill him."

   "Okay," Elena answered. "Text me the address to my phone, and we'll be there as soon as we can."

   "Thanks," I breathed.

   Enzo grabbed the phone from my hand, then, pushing it against his ear. "Tick-tock. I managed to restrain him, but you know how persistent Damon can be when he wants something."

   "We'll be there soon," Elena answered before she hung up the phone.

   Enzo laid the phone back on the table and turned to look at Damon. He thrashed violently, trying to break free from the chains. I stared with my fingers to my mouth, hating seeing him like this. There was a part of me that was afraid, but it was a small part that rested in the back of my mind, almost invisible. The other part of me desired nothing more but to help him.

   "It'll be alright, mate," Enzo said. "They'll come and we'll sort something out."

   "Or they'll come and I'll feed on them," Damon spat, glancing over at us with eyes that were nothing but filled with hunger.

   "It won't happen," I said, shaking my head.

   "Those are also options," Enzo said, shrugging his shoulders. "As long as I live I'm good... Joking!" He glanced at me and shrugged his shoulders again. "King of."

   "Those fifty years being locked up must have done something terrible to your sense of humour," I said as I shook my head. "Seriously, did they also mess with your..." Before I could finish my sentence, I felt pain on my shoulder. When I glanced down, I saw blood soaking through my shirt. I looked at Enzo in surprise, then at the front door to see Wes with a gun aimed in my direction. I hissed, the anger in me rising to the point where I vamped out. "You have a terrible aim if you were trying to get my heart," I hissed.

   "I wasn't," he answered as he lowered the gun. "The chains were a good idea. Now I can see exactly how strong he becomes when enraged."

   My eyes slowly moved towards Damon, whose face was filled with nothing but hunger. He tried to fight back the hunger, but it got the best of him. The vines under his eyes began to bulge out, his fangs protruding from his gum as he completely obliterated the chains that bound him to the chair. I took a step back as he marched over to me.

   "Damon, no!" I breathed, shaking my head.

   He charged at me. Out of nowhere, Enzo stood in front of me and threw him across the room. Damon, undeterred, got up and charged again. Once again, Enzo held him back as I tightly held on to my bleeding shoulder in hopes that it would stop as soon as possible. Damon pushed him out of the way, throwing him across the room just like he had done to him. His eyes landed on me, the hunger so clear that it made me stop in my feet. 

   "Damon," I breathed, shaking my head. "Damon, no."

   He licked his lips, the ravenous hunger clear in his eyes. Before I could say anything else, he rushed towards me latched onto my neck. I let out a gasp and grabbed to his arm, the surprise causing me to stumble back against the wall.

   "Damon, stop!" I yelled, trying to push him back. I could hear my skin breaking, his teeth sinking deeper to get more blood to his mouth. "Damon, stop! Stop! STOP! Please, Damon, stop!" My voice began to get louder with each word, until I began to scream. I continued to try and push him back, my hands shaking. For the first time in forever, I was terrified of him. I continued to beg him to stop, and he continued feeding.

   Out of nowhere, Damon began to choke. He pulled back, sunk to the floor, and began to throw up and gasp for air. I stared at him in surprise, in terror, but I still didn't want to leave him alone. My eyes shifted to Wes. "What did you do to him?!"

   "My friends here raised the acidity in your blood," he answered. "There must be some witchy explanation for it, but Damon's basically drinking hydrochloric acid. I suggest the both of you leave before the spell wears off."

   "And go where, with you?" Enzo asked, taking a step besides me.

   Wes' eyes moved towards him. "There's one more thing I need from you," he said. "Then I'll let you go for good. The other option is to stay in here with your cannibal friend and see how long you last."

   "Go!" Damon gasped from the floor. "Enzo, go! Clara, I tried to kill you, I'll do it again."

   "No," I said, shaking my head. "I'm not leaving you."

   "Go, Clara!" he yelled, holding on to his neck.

   "I'm not leaving you!" I said, louder this time. I turned back to Enzo. "Go. I know he won't kill me, but you need to get out of here."

   "No," he said, shaking his head.

   "Go, Enzo!" Damon yelled, his breathing laboured. 

   Enzo paused for a moment, looking down at his best friend. He turned to grab his coat and left with Wes, but not before taking one last look at us. As soon as he left, I turned back to Damon. He glared at me, his lips almost set to a snarl. "Why didn't you leave?" he asked.

   "If this had happened to me, would you have left?" I asked, taking a step closer to him. He looked away from me, and I took that chance to take another step closer to him. "Damon, I'm not leaving you, and that's final."

   "Stay away from me, Clara!" he growled, his eyes once again getting dark with hunger.

   "No!" I sternly said, kneeling in front of him. "Here's the thing, Damon, you need someone and I'm not going to leave you so you can go through this alone, okay? Because, if it happened to me, you would do the same." I glanced away and took a deep breath. "You would take me away from everyone I loved and you would stop me if I tried to kill one of them."

   "I'm not you, Clara," he said, taking a stand and leaning against the wooden pillar.

   "But, you do care," I said, walking up to him. "You care."

   He suddenly sped over to me and grabbed me by the neck, the hunger returning to his eyes. "I could have killed you!" he yelled. "I could have killed you, Clara, and I still can." Slowly, he lowered his hands from my neck and took a few steps back. "You should have gone when you had the chance."

   "Yeah, well, I didn't," I said, smacking my hands to my side. "I'm here, so deal with it. Control your hunger, Damon, because I know you can. If you don't, well..." I shrugged my shoulders and crossed my arms. "If you don't, then you'll kill me."

   He let out a sarcastic laugh. "And you're okay with that?"

   "I've died so many times before," I softly said with a small smile. "I've lived long enough and experienced everything that needs to be experienced. I wouldn't mind being permanently dead this time."

   Damon slowly turned his head, his eyes landing on mine. He pushed himself from the pillar and moved over to me, as if he were stumbling. "See, the problem is that I know you would mind," he muttered in front of me, pointing a finger at my face. "You've lived long enough, yeah, but you've experienced nothing. I know you, and I know that. Staying here with me, it's gonna kill you, and I'm gonna hate myself for it."

   "You'll get over it eventually," I said, smiling, hoping to lighten the mood. I did the exact opposite. 

   Damon glared at me, hard, a snare almost at his lips. He stumbled back, then he moved back to the pillar. He leaned back and closed his eyes, breathing hard. I could tell that he was trying to forget about the blood. To help him, I stood away from him. I had happened to stand in front of a mirror. There was blood decorating my neck and my shirt, an obvious sound that he had fed from me. My eyes were dark, as if i hadn't slept in several days and I was desperately tired. It wasn't that I hadn't slept, but it was because I was weak from when Damon fed from me.

   "Elena..." I heard Damon say. I turned my head to the side to see Elena standing at the door way. Damon still leaned against the pillar, my blood decorating his chin. He shook his head as Elena almost took a step in. "Don't. Do not." She didn't listened and continued to take a step inside. "I said don't!" He stood and glared at the pair. "If you come in here, you ain't coming out."

   "What exactly happened in here?" Stefan asked. At the sound of his voice, I moved closer to Damon to take a look. His eyes landed on mine, widening. "Clara?"

   I smiled, softly. "Hi."

   Stefan's eyes turned back to Damon. "What happened in here?" he asked, his tone more demanding.

   "I wanted revenge," Damon breathed. "I got stuck with a vampire virus, almost killed my last friend. Typical Damon."

   "Enzo texted me the address here," Elena said. "Damon, we're here to help you."

   "You can't help me!" Damon immediately said. "I feed on vampires now, you're both vampires. Do yourselves a favour and leave."

   "Did you feed on Clara?" Stefan asked, almost taking a step inside. 

   I stepped over to the door and shook my head, laying my hands on the invisible wall the boundary spell left. "Don't take another step," I said. "You come in here and you won't be able to get out."

   "You're in there, Clara!" he spat, pointing inside. 

   "And I'm not dead," I breathed, glancing back at Damon. "Stay out there."

   "We'll that's not going to happen," Stefan said, his voice stern.

   Damon sped to the doorway, only being stopped by the boundary spell. I pushed myself against the wall to the side, surprised from the sudden speed. Damon's eyes were red, veins bulging from his cheeks as he glared at his brother. "Stay back!"

   "I'm not afraid of you, Damon," Stefan said, sounding more stern.

   Damon's eyes slowly moved to Elena, where the hunger in his eyes was replaced with something else. He turned his back on them, eyes landing on mine for several seconds, then walked away. It was then when Elena took a step in, not surprising me at all. I knew her long enough to know that she would sacrifice herself for others, especially if it was someone she loved.

   "Neither am I," she said. 

   Damon suddenly turned back to look at her, eyes wide. "No, no, no!" He rushed towards her and tried to force her through the boundary spell. He began to grow desperate and continued to try. "You gotta get out!" He tried harder, but to no avail. "What the hell is wrong with you?!"

   "I'm proving to you that you're not a lost cause, Damon," she said, calmly.

   Stefan also walked in, slowly at first, until he came over to me. He laid his hands on my face and made me look at him, as if he were inspecting every part of me. "Are you okay?" he asked, eyes darting to every corner of me.

   "I'm fine," I breathed. "I'm just weak, nothing more. A couple of blood bags and I'll be good."

   "You didn't answer your phone," he said, frowning. "Clara, I've been calling you since yesterday."

   "It broke," I said. "I may have thrown it against the wall."

   A smile broke around his lips, just small enough to release a bit of the nerves. "I was worried about you," he said, softly and taking a step in. "I thought something happened to you..."

   "I've been through worse than this, Stefan," I said as I laid my hand on his, allowing myself to sink into the warmth it brought me. "This is nothing." At that moment, I felt like should tell him that used to be pregnant, but the moment was not good. I smelled blood, which was a terrible sign. I turned my head towards Damon and Elena, seeing her holding a bloody hand close to Damon's face.

   "There you go," she encouraged. She sounded strange, unlike her. I had known her long enough to know that she wouldn't push someone to their point, just like she was doing with Damon. 

   "Damon," I uttered, shaking my head. "Damon, no!" As soon as those words left my mouth, he had sunk his teeth into Elena's neck. He began to feed on her, the same groans escaping his mouth as when he fed on me. 

   Stefan and I hurried towards him and tried to pull him back, but he was strong. Each time we pulled back, he pushed himself forward to her neck. Elena screamed, also trying to pull him back. She kicked something towards us, her eyes darting from our faces down to it. When I looked down, I saw a wooden stake. Why the hell would she have kicked the stake towards us? Did she want us to kill him?

   I took a step back from Damon and picked up a shard of glass instead of the stake. One deep breath later, I slashed the same spot he had fed from open. "Damon, look over here," I said, staring at him. "Do you smell that? Feed from me, Damon, not her." Slowly, he pulled away from her and looked at me, eyes filled with hunger. I nodded, encouraging to come towards me. "Feed on me, Damon. Feed on me." 

   He stared at me, but his eyes wasn't filled with just hunger. He stared at me with pain, with regret, with hate. It wasn't hate directed at me, but at himself. He stared into my eyes, then slowly moved his mouth to my neck. I felt the scrape of his teeth touch my skin, but then he was thrown off me by Stefan. He had broken his brother's neck, Damon's body falling to our feet.

   I dropped the piece of glass and let out a breath, glancing up towards Elena and Stefan. She held on to her neck, obviously filled with pain. Stefan, on the other hand, stared at me with wide eyes. He rushed towards me and laid a hand on my neck, almost as if he were trying to stop the bleeding.

   "You're not healing," he said, eyes wide.

   "He must have fed too much," I breathed, glancing back down at Damon's body. "I'm sorry." I said, not knowing whether I meant the fight or because I was too stubborn for my own good. Before I knew it, I fell towards him and passed out.

    When I woke up, I was in my bedroom at the boarding house. Stefan sat next to me, his hand on mine. He smiled when he saw that I was awake. "Hey," he said, his thumb running up and down. "How are you feeling?"

   "Like death," I mumbled, sitting up. I rubbed my eyes with the palm of my hands. As I recalled the past events, my hands dropped and I turned to him. "Where's Damon?"

   "In the cellar," Stefan said as he nodded. "Locked up, tied up, safe. He's fine, don't worry."

   I let out a breath of relief and nodded. "Good," I breathed.

   "Why did you go with him?" he suddenly asked, his brows furrowing.

   "Because I was angry," I said, glancing down. "I didn't want to face that anger so I just left with him on his revenge road-trip."

   Stefan nodded, glancing down for several seconds before looking up at me. "Clara, I'm terribly sorry for doing that to you," he said, softly. His hand reached for my neck, just laying there. I let myself sink into his touch, enjoying the warmth it gave me. "I have been hating myself for doing that to you, and Caroline has too. She punched me for breaking your heart, which I deserved. I know you won't forgive me for doing that, but I need you to know that I love you. I've always had, and I will probably always will–"

   I pulled him to me and kissed him. As much as I wanted to hate him, there wasn't a bone of hate in my body. I loved him. I loved Stefan and it would always overshadow everything else. No matter how much I wanted to be angry, no matter how much I wanted to hate him, I couldn't. Goddamn it, I loved him.

   Stefan pulled away from me, smiling. "What was that for?"

   "I missed you," I said, biting my lower lip. I glanced from his lip up to his eyes. "I missed you, in a quite simple desperate human way."

   He laughed, but pulled me back to him and kissed me. He kissed me soft, then hard. Slowly, he pushed me back with him on top of me. I didn't mind anything, because I needed him to kiss me, to touch me. Love isn't soft, like those poets said. Love has teeth which bite and the wounds never close. Maybe that was the love I had for Stefan, a love that had teeth and gave bit bites. But, I didn't mind. Not one bit.