Bound To You

Chapter 16

Caroline could feel a soft breeze touch her face; her long bangs tickling her eyes. She rolled over, feeling her warm silk sheets rub against her skin. She didn't need to open her eyes to know she was back in her bedroom. She could hear the rain pounding onto the earth outside her open window.

Her throat was dry and scratchy; as if she desperately needed something to drink. When she finally opened her eyes, she could tell that it was late morning. She had no idea how long she had been dead for. It was in that last split second before dying that she remembered Klaus had given her blood to heal her broken bones. So now she was in transition, again.

Caroline couldn't bring herself to sit up, she didn't have the strength. She knew Klaus was dead, after all, she had left him there with Tatia armed with the stake and Mikael ready to take him down. Caroline sighed loudly, she had tried so hard to change the past, so much so that it had consumed her; and in the end, everything that she had been working toward, to save Elena, to save the vampire race, to save him, had been for nothing.

Caroline heard a soft knock on her door, and then it cracked open slowly; her mom poked her head in a moment later.

"Caroline," Her mother said, tapping the door lightly. "If you don't start getting ready soon, we're going to be late."

Caroline frowned at the ceiling.

"Late for what?" Caroline asked, not moving an inch.

"The family tea at the Lockwood house!" Her mom said, barely smiling. "You're the one that insisted we go."

Caroline nodded at this, although of course, she never remembered suggesting such a thing. Then again, she didn't know who she was in the present, for all she knew her old shallow self could still be dating Matt, and Elena could still be dead.

Her mom closed the door after giving her one more warning to hurry up; slowly Caroline sat up. She definitely felt weaker; her arms felt limp and her legs were aching.

She looked at her tired eyes in the mirror, knowing that if she didn't feed soon, she would die. Then, she realized that she would die either way. Klaus was dead, which meant that the vampire race was extinct. The minute she transitioned into a vampire she would surely die an hour later. She would have to willingly face her death; she had no choice.

So she summoned up all of her courage, and stood. Walking over to her closet she slipped on a summer dress and gazed outside, admiring the sun that broke through the clouds, creating a streak of sun light that made its way into her room. She zipped up her dress and put on make-up. She fluffed her hair, and slipped on some flats. She took a hard look at herself in the mirror. She looked exhausted, and defeated; she stepped closer to the mirror looking into her eyes, past the dead gaze and dark circles, she thought she saw a small glimmer of hope.

If Caroline was going to die, she wanted her last few hours to be surrounded by people she cared about. So she walked down the stairs in a haze, pausing as her mom slung her purse over her shoulder, commenting on how pretty Caroline looked and then they were out the door.

T-H-E V-A-M-P-I-R-E D-I-A-R-I-E-S

One of the things that Caroline had grown used to doing every time she re-entered the present, was looking for change, if any change at all; and as her mom and her drove past all the houses, and Mystic park, she realized that the outer appearance hadn't changed but what had, laid beneath, in the crevasses of the town.

They pulled into the Lockwood driveway a moment later, the lawn and interior of the house looked to be full of people.

"Alright," Her mom said a moment later as they parked. "Let's go." She said it as if this was the last thing of earth she wanted to be doing in that moment.