Dissipating Darkness [Klaroline]

Chapter 15: No Saving

"Bonnie's going to find a way to stop it, Elena. I promise."

Stefan's love-filled eyes stare into Elena Gilbert's eyes as he grips her shoulders. The annoyance floating off of Damon is tangible.

"Don't fill her head with that empty 'promise', Stefan!"

"Damon!" Elena cries out.

"No. No, Elena. I'm not going to sit here and apologize for telling the truth. Promises mean nothing in our world. I can't believe you don't know that by now! Even if Bonnie wasn't new to this, there's nothing that can stop Caroline from transitioning. Nothing except death. Unless you want Caroline to die, then I suggest you two just suck it the Hell up and realize we have a new vampire on the block."

Elena's sobs rack throughout her body harder as Damon exits the room at vampire speed. Stefan makes eye contact with me; silently pleading with me. I nod once solemnly as I run the path Damon has just been on. I can see Damon standing by an old tree with his shoulders hunched over in defeat.

"He's your best friend." I state.

Damon's face is etched with confusion.

"Well, he's my brother."

"Damon, you know I'm not speaking of Stefan."

Damon sighs.

"I know. I wish you were." He looks down. "You ever wonder why?"

"Why what?" I ask.

"Why they put up with us? Well, with me. I'm sure you just feel the warm, fuzzy feelings everyone gets when I'm around." He smirks as he thumps his hand against the tree trunk.

"Well, I'm not quite sure if you've figured it out yet or not, but you're not the only one here with a troubling past." I respond.

"I get it, Klaus. Believe me I do. We're all big, bad vampires here. Stefan was The Ripper for God's sake. It just seems like I'm the only one who can't escape their past. I'm actually convinced that my past is why my present is so messed up at the moment."

Damon takes my silence as a command to continue.

"I finally found a friend that isn't my brother. A best friend actually. Who would've thought Damon Salvatore would have a best friend? That's a normal human? Oh, that's right! No one. Because the fact that I'm debating in my head whether or not when he wakes up to remove the ring that keeps him alive and break his neck once and for all speaks volumes." Damon looks away from me. "But hey. I got the girl. Or I had the girl. I think it's becoming more obvious to her that she made the wrong choice, and I can't fault her for that."

"Damon, none of this is your fault. I'm sure Elena knows that."

"If it wasn't for me, Caroline wouldn't be in transition right now. I willingly gave Alaric a vial of my blood—"

"Because you wanted Elena to always be protected. You wanted Alaric to be able to always heal her in case anything happened to her. I don't see the bad in that. Alaric is the one who had bad intentions."

The silence between Damon and I is comfortable, but finally Damon breaks it with a subject I do not care to even think about.

"So, Blondie's a vampire."

"Not yet." I coldly respond.

"Don't tell me you're celebrating this ridiculous notion along with my brother that maybe Sabrina the Teenage Witch in there can stop this? I'm not sure how your transition went, but for me, I didn't want blood at first. Believe it or not, Stefan was the one who convinced me to take that first drink. But that soon changed. I could hear pulses. Almost see heartbeats. I could taste the blood on my tongue—"