Bound in the Shadows / TVD N.M

🦋~° 22 °~🦋

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Liora

The world was dark, cold, and silent. For what felt like an eternity, I floated in that void, disconnected from everything. There was no pain, no fear, just... nothing.

But then, slowly, warmth began to seep into the darkness. A familiar warmth. Nik's blood.

I gasped, my body jerking back to life, my eyes snapping open as I inhaled sharply, the taste of blood still on my tongue. The world rushed back in a blur of sounds and sensations, and the first thing I saw was Nik. He was there, his hands cradling my face, his eyes locked onto mine with a desperation I had never seen before. His usually calm and controlled demeanor had crumbled, leaving only raw emotion behind.

"You're alright," he breathed, his voice hoarse, thick with relief and something else. "You're alright."

I blinked, disoriented but alive. My body tingled with the aftershock of death, but I was alive. His blood had saved me, just like he'd promised.

For a moment, everything else faded. I looked into his eyes, and I saw something I hadn't expected—his eyes were red, the faint trails of dried tears marking his cheeks. Had he... cried? The mighty Niklaus Mikaelson, the big bad hybrid feared by all, had shed tears for me? My heart swelled with joy, disbelief flooding me.

"You... cried?" I whispered, my voice shaky, still adjusting to being back in my body, in the world.

Nik tensed slightly, his jaw tightening as if he didn't want to acknowledge it, but his eyes softened, betraying his attempt at nonchalance. "Don't be ridiculous," he muttered, but the crack in his voice gave him away. His hand moved from my face to brush a strand of hair away from my forehead, lingering just a second longer than necessary.

I couldn't help it—my heart swelled even more at the sight of his vulnerability, at the fact that he'd allowed himself to feel. My hand, shaky from the rush of emotions and the strange new strength running through me, lifted on its own accord. I reached out to touch his face, my fingers tracing the path the tears had taken. He flinched slightly at the touch, as if he didn't quite know how to handle the tenderness, but he didn't pull away.

As my fingers brushed his skin, I suddenly realized something. Something huge. My hand—my hand was touching his face. My hand wasn't a paw, furred and clawed. I stared at it in disbelief, then back at him, and everything hit me like a tidal wave.

I had died.

Damon Salvatore had snapped my neck. I remembered the sharp crack, the sudden rush of darkness swallowing me whole. My death was quick, but it had been real. I had felt the life leave my body. And yet, here I was, touching Nik's face, feeling his skin, the warmth of it. Alive again.

Because of his blood.

I pulled back for a moment, staring down at my hands, turning them over and over as the realization washed over me. Nik's blood had turned me. I wasn't human anymore. I wasn't even just a wolf anymore. I was something more. I was a hybrid.

The words felt foreign in my mind. A hybrid. Part vampire, part wolf, part human—or something that had once been human. I should have felt... something. Panic, maybe? Horror? But instead, all I felt was an overwhelming sense of power coursing through my veins. I could feel every cell in my body buzzing with energy, stronger and faster than anything I'd ever known before.

"Nik," I whispered, my voice shaking with awe as I looked up at him. "I'm a hybrid. You... you turned me."

He nodded slowly, his eyes never leaving mine. There was no regret in his gaze, no hesitation. "I told you I wouldn't lose you," he said softly, but there was a hint of sadness beneath the relief in his voice. "This was the only way."