Alpha Male

Chapter 1: Happy Birthday

Dead. That's what I am. A lifeless, yet living corpse. Everyone keeps telling me that I may be dead but I'm still living. I don't want to believe that I'm dead, that I'm stuck in a 17 year old body. A funeral, that's what I want, a chance to let go of the life I used to have and no longer live. 

I walk into my house and set my keys down. "Surprise!" I nearly scream when Elena, Matt, and Bonnie jump out from another room. "Happy birthday." Matt says while Elena laughs. "What are you guys doing here?" I ask. "Well, you blew off school and missed our work of birthday art, so uh..." She states and places a purple and silver birthday crown on my head. Bonnie steps in, "Change into warmer clothes, we're going to the false; s'mores, campfire." "Okay," I say. "Like when we were little." "Except with tequila." Matt states in a singsong voice. "Thanks guys, really, um I'm just not really feeling my birthday this year." I murmur. Bonnie gapes at me. "I'm sorry, what? You've already claimed your birthday as everyone's favorite day of the year!" I nod. "Yeah, now it's just a reminder that technically I'm dead," I say. "Look I didn't even like seventeen and the only point of seventeen was to get to eighteen, it's a filler year. I'm stuck in a filler year." "You're not stuck, Caroline." Elena says. "Yeah, I am, but it's okay. You know, it's all good, I will be fine, but I just need some time to wallow in it." I say, sighing. "Okay, well I think I have another idea." Elena says, smirking.

The old tomb. That was her idea. Not bad, but a little creepy. "This is creepy," Bonnie states, moving the light in her hand. "Even for us." Elena set down a cake in a white box. "No, Caroline was right; technically she's dead." Elena apologized. "Sorry, but you don't need a birthday, you need a funeral. You need to say goodbye to your old life so that you can move on with your new one." I laugh and take off my crown. "Okay," I place the crown on a pillar. "Here lies Caroline Forbes." "Cheerleader," Elena cuts in, placing a candle in the cake. "Miss Mystic Falls, third-grade hopscotch champion." "Friend, daughter," Bonnie smirks. "Overachiever." "Mean girl... sometimes, no offense." Matt says. I laugh. "Huh, none taken." Elena places the rest of the candles on the cake. "She was seventeen and she had a really good life. So rest in peace so that you can move forward." Elena brings the cake over towards me. "That's what you really need, it's what we all really need, amen or cheers or whatever." We all laugh. "Bonnie," Elena says. Bonnie closes her eyes and flames appear on the tip of the candles. I laugh. "Nice," Elena states. "Okay, make a wish." I close my eyes and wish for what I really want; the kind of love every girl wants, the kind of love that is easily given, I wished for someone who wanted me in every way possible from now to eternity. I blew out the candles. 

We were all goofing around and I ended up texting Tyler, telling him where I was. He arrived a little while after that. "Sorry, I didn't mean to crash the party." He said. "So don't." Matt stated, standing up. "No, it's uh, it's okay." I say standing up to face Tyler. Uh, hi." "Can I talk to you for a sec?" Tyler asks. "It's kind of important." I smile and follow him outside. He leads me out into the woods. "I take it all back, everything I said this morning. Klaus can't control me, not when it comes to you. I won't let him." Tyler states. "Tyler, it's okay. Maybe we just weren't meant to be together. Yeah, maybe we just have to accept that and move on." I say. "I'm not moving on from anything." Tyler states. "I love you." I scoffed, that was unexpected. Tyler leans in and kisses me. I smile and let him kiss me again and again and again. He leads kisses down to my neck. Pain sears through my neck and I push him off of me. "What the hell, ow!" I touch my neck and look at my hand which was now covered in blood; he bit me. "What just happened?" Tyler covers his mouth and shakes his head, "No." I gasp. "Did you... did you just bite me?!" Tyler staggered a few steps back. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" I repeated 'Oh my god' over and over again while Tyler said my name. I fell back against a tree. He stepped towards me. "No! Get away from me!" I repeated it until he stepped back again. 

"Caroline!" I heard Matt's voice echo through the trees. "Over here." My voice barely came out in a whisper. He found me anyways. He picked me up and carried me to my house. My mother was already there. They set me down on my bed and pulled the covers up over me. I was prepared to die. I heard the door open, no one came inside, but Matt and my mom went to see who it was. The door closed and footsteps grew louder. I looked up at my doorway only to see Klaus entering. "Are you going to kill me?" I asked faintly. He stared at me like I was crazy. "On your birthday?" He asked. "You already think that low of me?" "Yes." I say. I take shallow breaths as he pulls the covers off of me and reveals the already deadly-looking bite near the crease where my neck meets my shoulder. He gasps. "That looks bad. My apologies, yours known as collateral damage is nothing personal," His facial features soften as he toys with the charm bracelet on my wrist. "I love birthdays." I sniffle. "Yeah, aren't you like a billion or something?" He laughs. "You have to adjust your perception of time when you become a vampire, Caroline. Celebrate the fact that you are no longer bound by trivial human conventions. You're free." "No," I sigh. "I'm dying." He leans down and sits on the edge of my bed. "And I could let you die, if that's what you want; if you really believe your existence has no meaning. I've thought about it myself once or twice over the centuries truth be told, but I'll let you in on a little secret, there's a whole world out there waiting for you. Great cities and art and music, genuine beauty and you can have all of it. You can have a thousand more birthdays, all you have to do is ask." He explained. Tears welled up in my eyes. "I don't want to die." I say, my voice breaking. He pulled his sleeve up and used one arm to sit me upright. "There you go, sweetheart." He said moving his arm in front of me. "Have at it." I bit into his wrist and drank his blood, it was sweet, thick, and about damn near addicting. "Happy birthday, Caroline."