Fall

Chapter 47: In The Dark of the Night

I finally find the two of them, outside of Stefan's red car, down the road, in the woods. The light shines through the trees, going down a bit. Amber just stands there as Stefan leans on the side of his car, looking like he's a mess. "I don't hurt people. I don't do that. I'm the good brother."

I'm closer to them, the hem of my dress no doubt getting a little dirty. I don't care so much anymore. "Do you wanna hurt me?" Amber asks him. He turns around to face her, eyes dark and mouth in a cruel smile. 

"I want to kill you. I wanna rip into your skin. And I wanna feed on your blood." His voice is so cold and calculating, so unlike him as he stalks towards her. I get up now, shaking my head at him as I stand next to Amber. 

"Stefan. Not her." 

His face drops, all of him deflates. He turns to Amber now, looking her in her eyes. "Run, forget you ever saw me. Get out of here." He almost growls it out, compelling her, before she turns in the other direction and runs away from us. He runs a hand down his face, looking at me. "Kara, what are you doing here?"

"I was looking for you, the both of you. And now I'm stopping you from making a big mistake, it looks like you need a friend. Come on, let's go for a walk. The parking lot where anyone could see is not the ideal place for you to have a vampire breakdown." I put my hands out placatingly,  walking slowly towards him until he moves away. He walks deeper into the woods and I follow after him, until there's not a car in sight and I have no idea where we are.

He presses his lips into a thin line, tears welling up in his eyes. "I don't want to hurt you, I don't do this. I don't hurt people." He comes up and leans down towards me, almost looking like he's going in for a hug but he doesn't. His dark eyes focus on my neck and he trails a hand down it, gently, making me shiver. "Under your skin. Pulsating, flowing. Your carotid artery right here. If you puncture this just right, you can control the blood flow. It takes practice but it doesn't have to make a mess. You don't have to waste any." His hand strokes up and down my neck, gentle, but he's not even really looking at me anymore. Not even really talking to me. He's looking at my neck, my blood, how enticing it is. It makes me feel sick. 

"So what's stopping you then?" I challenge him, trying to get him to think this through. Trying to get him to look at me as Kara Sommers again, not a carotid artery he can sink his teeth into. 

He clenches his jaw and his hand comes up, cups my face, in my hair. "I don't want to hurt you, Kara. I care about you so much. And if I do this, if I give in, there's no going back."

"Stefan, look at me." I bring my own hand to his face, rubbing his cheek, trying to get him to stop looking down at my neck. "Look at me damn it!" He does look up now for a second, our eyes locked together. "Don't do this. Take a breath, step back. Let me help you."

He looks back down at my neck again, frowning and struggling with whether to open his mouth and bite or to close it. "I just want one taste. That's all I need. Just one taste."

I nod a little. "Fine, one taste. But that's all you get. You need to pull yourself back, Stefan. Find the strength to pull yourself back. Find the will to stop." I try to get him to listen as he descends on my neck, lips on the thin skin there. I wait for the sharp pain, but for a second it doesn't come. I feel his lips touch my neck, gentle, soothing, reverent. I tilt my head to the side unconsciously, as he kisses up and down my neck slowly, each kiss feeling like the prelude to something. Then he opens his mouth and I feel the single point of a fang drag up from my clavicle to the middle of my neck, before I finally feel him bite into me. I wince at it, at the sharp pain and then the strange feeling of him sucking my blood out of me. 

It leaves me a bit panicked, a bit breathless. The sun goes down now, a beautiful sunset as he keeps drinking from me, before it's night. I try to pull him away. "Stefan, that's enough." He doesn't budge, and I start to feel faint. "I said, that's enough, Stefan!" I demand now, trying to push him off of me. But he wraps his arms around my body tightly, too tightly, and keeps draining me. "If you keep going, I'm going to die. So focus on something else, Stefan. Not the hunger, not the blood. What's your most treasured memory? What's your most terrible memory? Focus on something, please." My voice is coming out a bit breathless now, and I feel him stiffen for a moment.