All I Need (Vampire Diaries/Captain America Fanfic)

56. Standing In The Shadows

"Don't think about running," Natasha said. "I've been connected to you for a long time, I'll find you no matter where you go. It's time for you to face me."

"I want an explanation," I demanded. "You owe me that much at least."

She rolled her eyes, taking a seat on the couch, as if we were old friends catching up.

"I guess you want to know what I've been doing all this time?" she asked. When I didn't respond, she kept talking. "I was ready to start again," she said. "I lived my life as a witch, died, and knew that I'd get to restart. I'd get a whole new life where I didn't have to worry about being supernatural. When you died, it was my time to live the life that I deserved. I came out from the other side. And then you woke up, and I was stuck. Cursed to roam the Earth in this body that I didn't recognize."

"I'm sorry about that," I told her. "But that's not my fault. I didn't choose to be a vampire."

"Nothing's ever your fault," she scoffed. "Anyway, I was put into this body, and all I wanted was to die. But I couldn't, because I was tied to a vampire. After a few years of suicide attempts and denial, I settled for making your life hell."

I frowned. "What did you do?"

She smiled, like she was proud of herself. "Remember your boyfriend James? Who do you think it was that convinced him not to turn?"

"You?" I asked. "But... how?"

"With your immortality, I also got your compulsion," she informed me. "Him not turning hurt you for years, and I loved it. So I wanted to replicate that. Don't you think it's weird that the second you came to town, Steve came into your life?"

Realization dawned within me. "Steve said that you told him to talk to the first girl he met."

"It wasn't a coincidence," she said. "I wanted you guys to fall in love, before I ripped him away from you. But you kept sending him away. Luckily, making you rip out your friend's heart worked wonders, it drove you right back into his arms."

Harper. She'd made me kill Harper.

"You bitch!" I erupted.

"I'm not finished," she said calmly, holding a hand up. "I was standing in the shadows, watching your every move. Taking a job with the Avengers seemed like a good idea. If I ever needed to destroy you, no one would ever think twice." Her smile became twisted, her face ugly, angry.

"Every bad decision you've made, from killing Harper, to turning Elena, I was there, watching you, forcing your hand."

"You're the one making me feel confused about Klaus," I said. Part of me was relieved. It was her fault, not mine. I didn't really feel anything for him.

"No," she clarified. "Actually, he's the one person that I couldn't manipulate. I can't compel Originals, and that idiot couldn't seem to let you go. Not that he has a choice now. You made the decision to leave him without any help from me!"

I saw her face, giddy with delight, and anger took over me. She'd been trying to destroy my life, and it made her happy to know that, sometimes, she succeeded.

"You're a monster," I told her.

"You made me that way," she countered. "But anyway, now that you know, it's time. I've been living for too long Serena. Once you die, I can be free from this body, like I always should have been. I can die when I'm supposed to, as a human. You've had over 100 years. But Serena, your time is up."

I was shaking. She had taken my life, there was no way I was going to let her decide my death. Once and for all, I had to be free of her. I needed to live my life for me.