┌───────── ·  ·  ·  · now ─────┐

↳ 013, the end of the affair pt. 2

└──────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ────────┘

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐀𝐑 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐍𝐈𝐂𝐄. It was like every other one Colette had ever gone to but the only difference was that Nik held her hand all the way from the car and up until they sat down at the bar to order drinks.

It was dark out when they arrived, mostly because Nik had to run out and do something before they could go. She'd been left to her own devices for about an hour and half where she snooped through his drawers and closet, finding barely any clothes or personal items besides the ones in the little living room.

Even the fridge was empty, save for a bottle of champagne and an old box of takeout. Even the cabinets in the kitchen were empty. Not even an old box of cereal or granola, not even a saltine cracker.

It was strange, seeing everything so empty as if the things put on display were all for show. She justified this by the fact that he was always on the move for work. There was no point in moving his entire life place to place when he could take what he truly wanted.

It's what she would've done, except she definitely would've brought more clothes and maybe, at least, stocked the fridge better.

The bar though was a different atmosphere than the little apartment meant just for them. This was a public place, something they haven't done since the night they danced. To her, it was a show that she was his and he wanted the people there to know. She hoped that was it and not some show, some political edge to whatever he was trying to accomplish.

Because didn't all men have ulterior motives? At least all the ones she knew did.

"Gloria, two beers please," said Nik when a beautiful older woman came up to greet them. It seemed that Nik was a frequent customer here to know the patron's name.

"Back again so soon?" said Gloria as she bent down to retrieve the two beers from the bridge below. She popped the caps off and set them on the table. "Thought Rebekah would be here by now."

"She will, soon," said Nik with a smile as Colette reached for her beer.

"Who's that?"

Nik gave her a small smile and a near wince. "My sister."

"Oh?" Colette took a long sip of the beer, clutching the cold glass tightly in her hand. "Is that why you had to slip away earlier?"

He nodded. "Some business with her and my partner came up." He waved his hand. "But, none of that matters. Besides, I'm here with you and that's much better than a family reunion."

She nodded, slowly. "Are you excited? To meet with your sister?"

"Somewhat."

She pursed her lips, noticing Gloria watching her from down the bar as she cleaned a glass. Gloria was beautiful, with white short hair and smooth dark skin. But her eyes looked older than she truly was. She had seen things, just like Nik and just like Colette. Even from where she was across the bar, Colette could smell something off about her. Something was wrong with her too.

"How long has it been since you've seen her?" she asked. From down the bar, she could smell the sweet scent of blood coming from an older man's hand as he picked at his fingers. She could smell the blood coming from the bathroom as a boy, obviously too young to be here, stuffed paper in his nose to stop a nosebleed. She could smell everything, even the scent of lust as a woman leaned over to flirt with the man at the neighboring table. But what she couldn't smell was the truth peppering off Nik's skin as he rested an elbow against the bar.

"It's been...years."

"Why see her now? Missed her that much or is it more than that?" she asked before shaking her head with a smile, playing her usually shy, doting role. "Sorry, it's just I'm curious. Everything about you is so interesting and...it's nice to hear about other people's families and friends other than my own."

He gave her a small smile as Gloria continued to stare. "We've had a troubled relationship but the way it ended...lets just say she won't be very pleased with me when she arrives."

The song playing in the bar changed and Colette noticed people beginning to leave, not a lot but enough to catch her eye for a swift moment. She turned, smelling something change in the air. It was a cologne she recognized and a musk she'd smelled once in the woods.

Damon Salvatore was here and so was Stefan, somewhere outside.

She had texted Damon to let him know she would be getting a drink at a bar but she didn't tell him which one because she didn't know herself. How could he have found her? Surely it wasn't a coincidence that she was here and so was Stefan.

"And what about your other siblings?" she asked, slightly distracted as Gloria turned away from them and the room was growing more quiet. Hadn't there just been music playing? "Or even your parents?"

"It's all very complicated," said Nik, taking a long sip from his beer. She watched his throat work, his Adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed. It was so strange for her to look at him and know how he kissed her, how he fucked her, and still, there was a part of her that didn't trust him. "My father and I, we've had a very rocky relationship."

"How rocky?" She raised a brow, downing the rest of her drink. "Rocky as in bad or rocky as in awkward?"

He smiled at that. "Bad." He set his drink down. "Very bad."

"Well, it's a good thing you're only seeing your sister and not him, right?" she mused, looking at him out of the corner of her eye as she set her drink down and Gloria caught her eye and brought her another.

He turned to face her, reaching down and grabbing hold of the bottom of her own chair and with a one smooth pull, she was dragged across the floor and closer to him. She giggled, a sound she wouldn't normally make but it felt right in the moment as he leaned closer, one hand resting against her leg and the other on the back of her chair.

"You swear there isn't anything I can do to make you stay longer?" he asked, his accent thick on his tongue as he leaned in closer. "I missed you and I'll continue to miss you more if you leave."

"The last time we saw each other was a week ago," she said with a smile. "That's not that long, I'm sure we'll find the time."

"Sounds like you like keeping me on my toes," he murmured, leaning even closer, his breath heavy on her cheeks. He smelled like alcohol but she knew he wasn't even tipsy, but the smells coming from him like some thick mist of lust and questioning. "Keeping me wanting more and more."

"I...could be persuaded," she whispered against his lips, reaching to touch his chin because she was a fool and couldn't help herself. She loved the way he felt, the way he was around her, and she was the one who couldn't help but want more and more, even though she knew better.

"Oh, really?" he asked, meeting her eyes as his lips parted her and he spoke against her, too tempted by her. "What must I do to keep you here?"

"I could name a few ideas," she said, her eyes fluttering closed as he kissed her fully.

His lips were soft, as they always were, and the feel of his slight beard against her skin left her aflame. She liked that he could be so gentle but still leave his mark. He parted her lips truly now and she tasted him, his tongue running over her lip in a swift movement that left her lightheaded.

"Good god Colette, what the hell are you doing?" a voice snapped from the doorway and she broke away from Nik quickly, her hand going to her mouth as he saw who was speaking.

"Damon, um," she laughed softly, looking between him and Nik before continuing with a nervous, "well, this is Nik, the guy I told you I was seeing."

"Uh, yeah, I can see that," he said, slowly approaching them.

Colette realized Nik wasn't embarrassed or shocked as he leaned against the bar with a smug look on his face and a growing smirk. She could smell the eagerness emerging from Nik and the strange mix of emotions coming from Damon, a vibration bubbling up underneath her skin, itching her to move, to strike and to defend.

"What are you doing here?" she asked finally as Damon pulled out the chair beside her, taking the beer she was about to begin nursing and took a long drag. He made a face, holding out the beer and looking at the table before looking back at her and murmuring, "Not what I expected you to like, parrot. I pegged you for more of a...fruity drink type of girl."

"I am," she snapped, taking the beer back from him. "It just so happens, Damon, that I can have a taste for more than one thing."

"I can see that," he said, the second time saying the statement as he glared at the man on her other side.

She frowned, sitting back in her hair and noticing the way Nik had his hand on the back of her chair still as if to say this is mine and not yours. "Uh, Nik said you two did some work together a couple months ago?" She looked back at her lover and murmured, "Right?" and he nodded.

"That's what he said?" asked Damon as Gloria brought over a small glass of what Colette assumed was bourbon.

"It's so good to see you, Damon," said Nik, staring at the other man and straight through Colette like she was a window.

"Colette," ground out Damon in a low voice, "can I have a moment alone with my old...friend?"

Colette wanted to say no but she watched Gloria leave the bar and head towards the restrooms and she found herself nodding. Nik grabbed her arm gently before she could rise from her seat, murmuring, "You can stay. There's nothing that can't be said in front of you."

"It's alright," she murmured, looking at him over her shoulder. "I've gotta use the restroom, I'll be back in a minute. You two just..." She stared at both of them, brows furrowed. "Just have your moment, okay?"

Nik nodded, releasing his hold and she stood more quickly than she had anticipated. She wanted to intercept Gloria, she wanted to ask why she kept staring at her and most importantly why she kept watching her as if she was about to jump the bar and kill her.

She gave the boys one last look over her shoulder as she crossed the room, watching the tension in Damon's shoulders never leave and the smug look on Nik's face only growing. Turning away, she kept her ears as alert as she could as she entered the bathroom.

Stepping inside, she was shoved back against the wall. Gloria stared at her, unmoving, but her hands were curled at her side and she was muttering something under her breath. Colette tried to step forward but found herself completely restrained and she grunted against the feeling.

"Who are you, girl?" snapped Gloria, staring at her with narrowed eyes.

Colette struggled against the invisible grip. "Let me go," she hissed, "and I'll let you live."

A smile pulled at Gloria's lips and she cocked her head to the side with a musing grin, "It doesn't look like you'll be getting free anytime soon. Now, tell me who you are?"

Colette took a deep breath, relaxing her body as she smelled the strange off-putting aroma coming from Gloria. It was strong but not as strong as the misty things she could smell from Nik. She gritted her teeth as she forced her hands up, feeling the invisible vice like grip tighten to pain but that didn't stop her. Nothing could hold her down anymore. No person, no thing, no invisible magic can stop her.

With one hard thrust forward, the magic broke and she surged forward, grabbing Gloria by the neck and slamming her back into the wall so hard she heard her head crack. Gloria stared, mouth open either from shock or lack of air as Colette snarled, "Tell me who you really are," she leaned forward, smelling up her neck as she felt her eyes begin to pulse and throb, "I can smell it on you, witch."

"I'm a soothsayer," she grunted out and Colette looked down, happy to find that the invisible force had taken its hold on her limbs now instead of her own. "And, like you've already mentioned, a witch."

"You know the man out there," murmured Colette, still smelling the strange thing coming from her. It was tangy, like something sour.

Gloria nodded. "Old acquaintances. Both of them."

"Then why do you want to know about me?" asked Colette, cocking her head to the side like Gloria had done, inspecting her prey's face. She felt the veins die down in her face and she was glad her fangs hadn't popped out with the rage.

"You're a vampire, honey," the woman said, "and I like to know when a vampire comes into my bar."

Colette leaned forward again, taking in a long sniff before spatting, "How old are you? You smell...different."

"Smell?"

Colette nodded. "Can't you smell the differences in people? Shouldn't witches be powerful like that?"

Gloria gave her a strange look and the invisible force holding her back faded because Colette could see her wiggling her fingers but that only made her tighten her grip on her throat. Gloria reached out, touching Colette's hand wrapped around her neck with a frown. "There's something different with you. You're a vampire but..."

"But what?"

"You're powerful. But this isn't natural."

"Not to sound like a bitch but witches aren't all natural either, honey."

Gloria reached out and Colette flinched back, snarling as the older woman tried to touch her face. After a moment of hesitation, she allowed her to run a cold finger over her cheek. The witch seemed concerned, her own brows furrowing and her eyes moving over her face. Colette saw flashes of red, the same bloody color she'd seen painted on the walls of her home as Gloria broke Colette's thoughts with a question. "How were you born?"

Colette felt a small grin come to her face. "I was born like everyone else," she said, "through violence."

"Against your will?"

Colette nodded.

"Born from violation," Gloria said, her own voice like a whisper on a breeze it was so quiet, "from abuse and anger. I can feel that anger inside of you."

"I guess you could say I haven't gotten over what happened to me," she said with her feral grin. She felt like she could lash out, bury her teeth in the witch's throat and kill her in a swift, gloriously red moment. Colette found that she was always on the verge of violence, the need to kill and bathe in it when she wasn't burning up inside for someone to caress her. Blame it on her vampire instincts but it was beginning to eat her up.

"Do you know those men out there?" asked Gloria as Colette released her neck and took a small step away. She couldn't be shedding blood now, Damon would smell it. "The truth about them?"

"Like what?" asked Colette, hearing a small scuffle begin in the main room but she ignored it. Boys will be boys. "That Damon's a vampire and Nik has done work with him?"

Gloria gave her a pitiful smile. "You know the truth but you just don't want to admit it."

"Admit what?"

"That," she murmured, eyeing the door and Colette frowned, turning away. Gloria grabbed her hand before she could open the door, yanking her back and close as she whispered, "The truth won't set you free, honey, it will only bring you more pain."

Colette yanked her arm free and opened the bathroom door, stalking down the narrow hallway and back into the main room and froze. It wasn't at all what she expected from the slight jostling of chairs and the occasional grunt, she'd assumed they were perhaps playing darts or some other drinking game but the sight before her made that reign on her anger nearly unleash.

Nik had Damon by the throat, the vampire hovering just inches above the ground, the toes of his boots scraping the floor desperately as he struggled. It seemed both men hadn't noticed her because Damon was grunting out, "If you want a partner and crime. Pick me, I'm much more fun."

Nik stabbed Damon with what Colette could tell was a little umbrella toothpick meant for drinks. With one fluid motion, Nik jutted Damon across the room and into the tables closest to Colette and her leash on her rage finally snapped in two as glass broke and tables were splintered.

"You won't be any fun when you're dead," said Nik, bending down and breaking off the end of a chair and into a makeshift stake.

She rushed forward with more speed than she had thought she would be capable of in such a small space and grabbed Nik by the throat and slammed him down into one of the little tables, splitting it in half with jagged pieces of wood jutting out around them. His stake fell from his hand somewhere next to them but that didn't matter. He was lying surrounded by little shards ready for impalement.

"What the fuck are you doing?" she hissed, baring her fangs as she turned to watch Damon slowly sit up, wincing. "Are you alright?" she barked at him and he nodded, giving her an annoyed thumbs up. "Now, someone better tell me what the hell is going on!"

Damon got to his knees. "Your little sweet boyfriend isn't who he says he is."

"What are you talking about?" she snapped, tightening her grip around Nik's neck as her heart sped up to a sickening speed. She could feel it in her throat as well as her head. She looked down at Nik and saw the way he was looking up at her, all smugness gone and an expression of remorse slipping onto his features and through his eyes. "What is he talking about!"

The truth will only bring you pain. The trust will cut and kill and maim.

"Colette, love," murmured Nik in a slow voice as she tightened her grip and he was gasping. There was a slight spark of confusion burrowing in his brows and she hoped it was because of her strength.

"What the fuck is he talking about, Nik?" she said in such a deep voice that it no longer sounded like her own. She wished her fingers would sprout claws and they would dig into his throat and force the words free.

"His name isn't Nik," snapped Damon and her head whipped to face him as he stood, rubbing his side. "Not really, at least."

Colette blinked, feeling wet hot tears dance across her lashes. "W-what?"

"Would you like to tell her or me?" asked Damon, glancing at Nik. When Nik didn't respond and she could feel his eyes still on her like beams of sunlight ready to scorch her down to her very core, Damon spoke again. "That guy, that monster, his name is Klaus, Colette. That's Klaus."

Her grip left his neck and she stumbled back on wobbly legs. The big bad wolf. The devil in the form of a man. A murderer. The man who killed Elena's aunt and nearly killed her too. He was a murderer of the worst cause and the shock slamming into Colette was so much it felt like her head was going to explode.

"Klaus?" she whispered, blinking away the tears as her hands began to tremble. "He's–" She pointed to her beloved. "-you're Klaus?"

It blazed across her, the realizations. The species he was studying weren't for some great scientific research but for his own making. He was creating hybrids and he'd basically told her such and she ignored it, thinking he was just some intelligent man she'd scooped up. She thought she was so lucky.

The way he spoke about his family, his siblings. Rebekah Mikaelson, Elijah, it was all thrown right in her face and she thought he was just from a big family. She was played the fool and he smiled, working her around like she was already his and she was. Oh god, she was, she was, she was.

He sat up, reaching out to her. "I can explain–"

She shook her head, falling back into the bar and she muttered, "No, no, no–" She inhaled with a sharp gasp, bringing her shaking hand to her mouth as she whispered, "I trusted you, I–I gave myself to you and-and–" She shook her head again, touching her lips so gently with her fingers that she nearly recoiled with the touch. She was tainted by him. Ruined. He took her innocence, her virtue she had valued so much before him, before falling so deeply and foolishly into him. "–and you lied."

She looked at Damon with another small gasp because it was mortifying. Hadn't this part of her life, the humiliation, the soft torture only psychologically could hurt the worst, and the pain ended when her human life did? Hadn't she vowed never to be hurt like this again? To feel this type of heartbreak that could only come from being a fool? From being a pushover?

She had vowed to never allow someone else to walk over her and she had. She let her emotions be trampled all her life and she continued even after death. What did that make her besides an idiot? A true, pathetic fool?

"Colette," said Nik, no. Not Nik. Klaus. "Please, just wait a moment. I can explain." He reached out to her and she found the snarl coming up her throat as tears descended down her cheeks.

"Don't you ever touch me," she cried out, feeling the burn of rage bubble up under her skin like the itch she'd felt earlier in the bar. It scratched at her skin, begging to be released but she held back, feeling the old witch's eyes fall on her as she came back from the restroom. She looked at Klaus and all his glory and beauty and hissed, "Don't you ever touch me."

"Colette," said Damon, stepping towards her and holding out his hand, "let's go."

She nodded, muttering, "If I ever see you again I will kill you."

"Love–"

She bore her fangs, biting the air close enough to his face for him to take a protective step back. "And don't you ever call me that again. I am not your love. I am not your darling, your sweetheart, or your baby. You made me your bitch and because of that I will kill you and everything you love." The words fell from her lips like a prayer and for a moment, the air grew chilled around her as her insides still festered and flamed. If someone were to crack her open with a knife, the fires would leap out like a sea of red and orange and yellow and black. It would destroy everything she allowed it to touch.

Klaus let his mouth close as his eyes narrowed, his stare going to Damon as Colette took his hand. It seemed the beast would take this slight more personally than anyone would have thought. As he watched Colette leave with another man on her arm, he found himself even more fascinated by her than before.

She had taken him by the throat more easily than anyone had ever before. He had suspected her of being a vampire, even since seeing her on that mountain and taking her to bed earlier that day but this made it real.

If only she knew what she had cooking up inside her and how much that made him want her more.

Colette sat in the back of Damon's car in a daze. Her heart had been shattered in a way she didn't think it could. It felt like a part of her had been severed, truly taken away. She had felt a connection with Klaus, a strong one that could've faced eternities of sorrow and ruin but that was before she knew the truth behind his cruelty and his smirk.

He was a murderer. A thief. A liar.

He was a tyrant in the body of a god and it made her feel sick from drinking from his golden fountain. She had promptly thrown up outside the bar as Damon went to Elena who stood shocked and upset by the car. Colette had her head between her legs and was horrified to find blood on her lips but how could she be surprised.

Klaus had ripped her insides apart with his truth. Her heart punctured on the stake of what she thought was his love but was actually his manipulation.

The car ride back to her home was quiet but she was thankful for the friendly company. Damon had even gone out of his way to retrieve her bag from Klaus's car, shattering his windows which she very much enjoyed. Something about breaking something of his made her feel triumphant, like she had the upper hand.

Damon, Elena, and Colette spoke very little but from the words voiced, it seemed that Elena's intervention with Stefan hadn't gone as planned. It seemed both girls were having horrible, terrible, ugly nights.

When the car rolled to a stop outside Colette's house, it took her a moment to realize she needed to get out. It felt as if a part of her had truly been violated. She had put so much of herself into Klaus, she had trusted him like a child and allowed herself to fall so deeply into the lies he spun so marvelously that she was sick with herself.

She was ashamed. She was embarrassed.

She would fall apart into true ruination just for a piece of him again and she cursed at herself. The truth was painful. The truth would kill, whom she didn't know but she was afraid it would be herself.

"Colette," whispered Damon from the front seat, turning to look at her with soft eyes. It took her a second to register his voice and she met his eyes, blinking her frozen tears away. "Do you want me to walk you inside?"

She shook her head, pulling at the door and getting out of the car on weak legs. She would collapse when she got to her room but had to make it to the porch first. She didn't bother waving or even saying goodbye as she walked up the front steps and tried her key in the door and found that it was unlocked.

There was a strange smell in the air that she almost could've missed for the fact that her nose was stuffed up.

She turned the light on and she found the source of the smell, the strong coppery stench that took up the entire room like rot and a fresh kill. She knew this was real this time and not just a memory trapped inside her savaged brain. She knew it was real because the smell twisted her stomach and made her hungry, unlike before.

She knew it was real because her mother was gurgling on the floor behind the couch like a clogged fountain. Stella shook, twitching from the agony and Colette could smell it all over her.

The pain, the aching numbness that was beginning to spread, the fear.

She rushed forward, crying out as she looked down at Stella and not knowing where to touch her and if she should even move her. "Mom," she whispered, choking on a sob, "Oh god, oh god, what happened?!" She pushed her hair back from her bloodied face as her lips trembled as if she were trying to speak. "Who did this to you, oh god, mom, who did this?!"

There was something in her eyes that told her exactly who did and it made her sick to her stomach. Colette knew exactly who did this and she couldn't even bring herself to say the name, much less think it as she tried to breathe through her mouth and out her nose, the taste of blood already on her tongue.

"Mom," she said, her voice wobbly as her hands hovered over the mess that was her body. "You've got to try and stay awake, o-kay? You-you've got to stay with me."

Her stomach was torn to shreds and Stella's hands were weakly holding herself together. There was blood creeping into a larger and larger puddle around them and Colette could feel its warmth seeping into the knees of her jeans. Had someone reached inside her gut to pull out all those things precious to her?

Stella's eyes darted to the side and Colette followed her mother's frantic gaze, spotting Adam's legs twisted together in the kitchen. She wanted to race forward but Stella was dying and Colette could sense it in the air, the thick feeling of something ready to reach down and claim her.

Colette brought her wrist to her mouth, cutting into her mouth and bringing it down to Stella but she shook her head, her head falling to the side as her mouth clamped shut.

"Please," sobbed Colette, bending down to rest her head against her mother's still breathing chest as it rose and fell with a wet wheeze. "Let me help you, let me heal you." She could fix her so easily. Just a drop of her blood and it'd be over, she could be okay. Oh god, let her be okay–

Stella shook her head, letting her eyes dart to the side again but Colette tried to force her wrist into her mother's mouth as blood dripped down the sides of her arm and into a puddle in her palm. Stella refused, keeping her mouth shut and kept her eyes on the other side of the house when Colette finally nodded. She stood, racing through the room and into the kitchen, finding Adam laying face down in a pool of his own blood. His back still rose with breath and she worked quickly, flipping him over and gasping.

His neck had been slit but not deep enough to kill. Colette reached up onto the counter, fumbling for the telephone as she called for help but there wasn't a dial tone. There was nothing but silence. She heard the front door bang open hard and she screamed, clamping bloody hands over her mouth to stifle any more sounds.

"Colette?!" yelled Damon and she let out a thankful breath, popping her head to the side and around the counter.

"I'm here, oh god, I'm here–" She pointed to Stella and sobbed, "She won't take my blood, please, Damon, you've got to help her." She pressed her hand to her mouth and nose, sniffling to stop her nose from running as tears fell down her face so fast she felt like she had her head under a faucet.

She turned her attention back to Adam, watching his chest rise and fall more easily than her mother's had. The wound on his neck was puckered and red, like something jagged had cut him instead of something smooth and sleek like a knife. His lip was busted and she reached for his hand, finding his knuckles bloody and bruising too with fresh red angry marks.

He had put up a fight. He had nearly made it to the phone from where she could see the blood spray across the cabinets around him. It looked like someone had flicked a heavy paintbrush through the air like a sword slashing through an enemy.

She reached up to her mouth, baring her fangs once more to tear into herself when she stopped. Her fangs tore into her bottom lip as it shook because she knew what she couldn't do. Stella had made it apparent.

How had Stella known?

"I–I–" She shook her head, hands running through her hair to force her brain and mouth to work at the same time. "I can't heal them, the paramedics will know something is wrong, oh–oh god. Damon, what do I do, what do I–"

"You need to calm down," snapped the older Salvatore, crossing the room and dropping to a knee in front of her. "Elena has called the police and they're sending an ambulance here, for now you need to keep pressure on their wounds."

"But, his throat–"

"I'll take care of him," he said, forcing her to meet her eyes.

She nodded, delirious. Her parents couldn't die and yet, as she raced to be by her mother's side she knew they would. It swelled in the air and around their bodies like black masses of evil. It was as if someone had thrown a misty cloak over them, pushing into their hearts and collapsing around their throats and skulls. She dropped to her knees in the puddle of blood and ignored the way the warmth crept up and around her shins and knees, the red soaking into her shoes and socks and everything she had ever known. It was against the couch, dark and splotchy across the leather, dripping down and plopping into the puddle with a pendulum tick, tick, tick. Colette pressed her hands against Stella's stomach, her fingers squishing against thick blood, gooey like clots and organs.

Her blood and gore were so dark against Colette's hands it was always black. Like the girl had stuck her hands deep into a vat of oil or tar, it was sticky and humid and wrong. All of it was wrong. It spilled out from the wound like a sloshing drink, frothing and bubbling with a squelching sound of something sick. Like the sound a sponge makes when it's full of water and soap. She could feel the waves of heat rising up against her hands, the healthy warmth that should've been kept concealed that was now open and raw and unruly.

"Mama," she whispered as Stella's fluttering eyelids, "you've got to stay awake for me, okay?" Her voice was soft and she had wished she had never left and gone out to be with Klaus today. She wished she had never left her bedroom, that she had slept in and gotten up and had breakfast one last time with both her parents.

She wished, she wished, she wished, and now she was lost.

"Please," she croaked out, feeling the blood spill out from behind her fingers, clinging to her skin as it splayed across her mother's flesh. "You have to fight for me, okay? Please, mom?" Stella's head tilted to the side and Colette choked on the air. "Mom?"

Stella said nothing, her eyes open and drooping to the side as blood trickled out of her mouth.

"Mom?" she cried again, ripping her hands from her stomach to grab her by the shoulders and shake. "Mom? Mommy? Please! Wake up!"

Colette could hear the sirens in the distance growing closer and she wanted to throw up. She bowed her head against her mother's gasping out with such a gut wrenching sob she felt she truly would be sick as she whimpered, "Mommy, pl-please! You can't leave me, you can't leave me!" She couldn't breathe. She couldn't even think but the words kept spilling from her mouth like the blood running down her mother's neck and chin. "You can't leave me here, you can't leave me–"

Colette Copeman woke up with a fevered start in the back seat of Damon Salvatore's car, her hand creeping up to her throat as she heaved deep breaths through her nose.

"Colette?" Damon said from the front seat and her eyes darted to him with a shock. "Do you want me to walk you inside?"

She blinked, feeling the tears that had built up in her sleep spill around her lashes lightly. She looked out the window, finding that he had just arrived at her house, his car parked across the street just like it had in the nightmare.

She cleared her throat and shook her head, getting out of the car slowly. She could smell the blood more clearly now, like a fog had been lifted from her as she walked up the front steps. She didn't bother with the key.

Oh god, how she knew it would be unlocked.

AUTHOR'S NOTE━━uhhhhh rip colette's heart this chap.....she really gonna b going thru it.....

what do you guys think is gonna happen w her parents? also who do u think did it???? ;))

vote/comment and maybe i'll have colette pop off soon FOR REAL for real