A Dark, Forbidden Love >> TVD

twenty

I leaned over the toilet and sealed my eyes shut as I let the blood I tried to keep down spill from my guts. Stefan held my hair back along with rubbing my back as my body tensed up hard shaking with every gag I made.

"Okay, so clearly the blood bags won't work," he let out a sigh as I went to lean back away from the toilet.

"Which I don't understand. It's human blood .. " I mumbled as I placed the palms of my hands on my forehead. Stefan flushed the toilet for me then helped me up off of the ground. He wiped some blood from the corner of my mouth before giving me a small smile.

"Because you're a Ripper who is craving blood from the vein. Blood bags are human blood, however, it's not the fresh blood you're wanting."

I frowned as I looked down now disliking myself for the way I am. I'm a creature I have never wanted to be in my life, not only that but I'm the worst version of it. If I make one mistake I could lose one of the most important people to me and that's something I'm trying to prevent.

"What?" Stefan tried to look down into my eyes.

"I could .. I .. " I groaned. "I hate the way I am, Stefan. If I literally make the wrong move someone important to me like you or Jeremy or someone could die. I'm hungry, Stefan and all I can think about is .. is .. "

"Ripping someone's head off?" he questioned curiously.

"That's not funny .. "

"But it's true. I know it is because I've gone through the same stuff."

I stayed quiet as I began hearing the buzzing in my ear from the lightbulb above me above the mirror. I looked up at it squinting before I looked back down, bringing my hand to my temple. It progressively got louder as I looked at the ground focussing on anything that wasn't the buzzing.

"I can't be in here."

xXxXx

"Have you found her yet?"

"No, not yet, Stefan. Why didn't you keep better eye on her?"

"She was standing right in front of me and then she said she couldn't be here and whooshed away. I'm afraid she is going to feed and if she does she's going to put herself through so much pain. There's no telling who Avery will try to kill. I've never dealt with anyone like her - Cass."

"What do you mean? She's a Ripper. That's what you are."

"I mean, it's hard to break hers, Care. Just fi - "

The door busting open threw Stefan off from what he was going to say to Caroline. In a matter of seconds, Cassidy was in front of him with uncontrollable breaths escaping her body. Stefan immediately figured out her reasoning of panic when he noticed the blood covering her chin.

"Cassidy .. " he whispered as she fell to her knees with her head in her hands. "Damon .. where's Damon?"

"I don't know. Why are you asking me? Is she with Damon or something?"

"No - Sorry, Caroline, she just got home. I'll talk to you later," he threw his phone onto the couch before going down to the level Cassidy was on. He tried to softly pull her hands from her face so he could look at her or even help clean her mouth off.

"Stop!" she sobbed out.

"Cass, let me help. I can see you fed. I promise everything is going to be okay. I'm here."

"It's not .. it's not .. it's not," she repeated as her voice grew raspy from all of the excessive crying. The door to the house opened again but Stefan wasn't paying any attention to realize that it had.

"So The Grill was out of bourbon which is a newsie for the - " the voice was cut off abruptly as the owner stopped dead (pun unintended) in his tracks at the sight. He whooshed over to the scene, pushing Stefan out of the way as he took either of Cassidy's wrists in his one hand and made her look at him. She looked confused at first before collapsing into his chest, gripping his leather jacket.

"What happened?"

"She fed, Damon .. she's paranoid Avery is going to kill someone since that is what she said when she caught her feeding last time."

Stefan's phone made a noise that sent him to it to see what it could be. He picked it up and noticed there was a message on the front of it. Once he had read it, he got a hurt look on his face then read it aloud.

" 'I gave the warning that once another townsman's body drops, one of her importance must drop. My hint to the lot of you is 'white picket fenced houses with wonderful smells of apple pie are the homes that suggests every thing is at peace' that's all I will say. I'll be happy hunting soon. Every person that tries to stop me that is a vampire will be dead.' "

xXxXx

"Avery, darling, don't you think you're coming about this the wrong way? She can't help the way she is," Elijah tried stopping Avery from getting all of her leathel vampire weapons together. She wouldn't stop or even look at Elijah. She was on a mission that she was promising herself she was going to complete. Once Elijah realized that she was ignoring him, he grabbed her wrist making her twist around to look at him.

"What, Elijah?"

"Don't go hurting the poor girl."

"I'm hurting the people close to her."

"Which in turn hurts her mentally. She can't help the way she is," Elijah tried reasoning with her once more but Avery wasn't buying it however. She thought he was protecting her for other reasons.

"You're protecting her because she is sired to you. That's the only reason you care about her, Elijah. You need to find a way to break that damn sire bond now. Not soon - now."

She snatched her arm away from his grasp then walked out of the house with her duffel bag. She had a promise she was going to fulfill.

xXxXx xXxXx