26th August 2010

"What...what's happening." She whispered in fear. They looked as if gold was being poured into an abyss.

"Black and gold eyes, anger and increased irritability..." Nik listed, still holding her in place. He sighed as she failed to put two and two together - or perhaps she had but couldn't even manage to voice the answer. "Grace, you are a wolf, love."

A moment past as Grace tried to process what was happening.

"I, I can't be...it doesn't make sense." Pushing Nik off her, she turned so that she was facing him. "I'm a werewolf?"

"Everything makes so much more sense now," said Nik grinning, it was a sentimentality Grace did not share.

"No, Nik, it doesn't - in fact, it makes entirely less sense altogether."

"Think about Grace. Would you have really got into a screaming match with people before?"

"Well, maybe if they inferred I was a mere thing, called me a useless child and threatened to snap my neck, then yes, I probably would."

"And when we got near the wolf pack close to the full moon - you hated that, the thought of what was going to happen."

"Well, you were on your way to massacre the lot of them in the hope that they would rise again as hybrids. Death isn't the simplest of occasions, Nik."

"You stood there and watched Stefan tear those two women to pieces, yet you fought to keep Ray alive, a sleazy man you knew nothing about."

"A massive misjudgement of character on my part, but perhaps I was just tired of all the murder." Grace retorted, but even she was beginning to realise a pattern.

"Grace, he was a werewolf. Being around him brought out a part of you that you weren't even aware existed, "Nik explained. "You have alpha instincts in you, little one. Protector of your pack."

"He wasn't my pack - according to you, he wasn't even a good man."

"That's beside the point, you were instinctually protective over him, and he responded to you with trust. Gloria must have truly lost it, that nonsense she was spouting about magic - she must have been making it up, your magic it's no magic it's nothing more than a curse plain and simple." Nik rationalised. "Merely the remnants of whatever the Bennet witch did to you."

Grace and Stefan's eyes couldn't help but be drawn to each other, for they knew otherwise. What had happened to Gloria seemed far more than an uncontrolled curse. It had felt real.

"Bonnie put me in a coma - she didn't imbue with magic or curse me."

"And how would you know that?" Nik retorted. "For all, you know she could have easily hexed you."

"Because the first time this so-called magic," her eyes rolled as she over annunciated each syllable, "reared its head was at her."

"And when would this have been?" Nik asked, arm folded. "As far as I know, Bonnie was dead until she showed up at the ritual. No one told me anything to the contrary."

Grace sighed. It seemed that today the lies were simply hellbent on catching up with her. This one hadn't been on her mind in so long. So much happened since Bonnie Bennet had ambushed her and Katrina, and Grace had done something unexplainable to Bonnie. It seemed she couldn't reason her way out of this one, so instead, she tried telling the truth - perhaps if he heard the answer to this question, he wouldn't press and ask much more dangerous ones.

"She approached Kat and me the day we went shopping."

"You didn't think to tell me this."

"No," she said timidly.

"Am I to assume that this isn't the only thing that you have withheld from me?"

"I think you are just to assume that perhaps you don't know me as well as you thought you did."

"Grace, I know you better than you know yourself." Nik spat; it seemed the revelation of the web of lies hurt him more than it was her.

"Brother, I think you a missing a rather important step in this whole mess." Rebekah chimed in. "To transition into a werewolf, one must first kill, and our little munchkin couldn't harm a fly, so she's no proper werewolf, not yet."

"No," Nik whispered. "The eyes don't change until after the gene is triggered."

"Killing...killing her triggered this? Made me this." Grace spluttered, her eyes widening as she realised what she had said.

"Her who?" Asked Nik. As he stepped forward, she took a step back.

"Nik?" She asked, unsure as his own eyes flashed black and gold.

"There haven't been many opportunities for you to go around knocking off humans, Grace, and would have to of been recently, or you would have already had your first transformation."

"Nik, please." It was a pitiful squeak, she could hardly believe she was begging, but a solitary tear tracked down her cheek as she looked at him with wide eyes.

"Tell me!" He roared, his voice making her jump. Breathing in sharply, he regained himself. "Tell me, Grace."

"Gloria." Grace hiccuped, trying to wipe the tears of fear from her face. "Gloria, I'm so sorry."

"Gloria? You killed her?" Asked Nik, the undertone of anger rising again in his voice. "So she's not gone - she is dead."

"I had to," Grace whispered, not evening trying to rationalise her actions any further. She shouldn't have let that slip - it put both her and Stefan in a precarious place.

"What do you mean you had to." Nik's eyes narrowed. "What did she do?"

"It is my fault," Stefan said, stepping forward.

"Stefan, no," she called out, her eyes begging him to shut up.

"It's alright - it's my fault you are in this situation anyway." He turned to Nik, ready to confess. "Gloria found out where the necklace was, but she needed me to put the pieces together."

"And why would that be?" Rebekah asked; the squabble with Grace paled compared to the knowledge of her necklace and where it might be.

"Because she found out that the necklace was in Mystic Falls." He took a deep breath. He knew he had to continue - be speaking at all. He had opened the flood gates to the entire truth. He could back out now, but Nik would find the truth out sooner or later. He had a choice to make - protect Elena, doing what he had done for so long, or tell the truth and try to protect Grace.

"Go on." Nik motioned for him to continue, his demeanour looked calm, but his face was contorted in anger at Stefan and Grace's betrayal. He couldn't even look at Grace.

Stefan sighed; he had made up his mind - made his choice.

"Elena has the necklace."

Grace didn't even see Nik move toward him - all she saw was Stefan's body drop to the ground as his neck was snapped. The scream left her lips before she could even process what was happening.

She didn't feel the slight pinch in her neck, but as her head got lighter and her eyelids heavier, she spun round to find one of the goons leaning over her, needle in hand.  Nik didn't seem surprised. In fact, the last thing she remembered was him tell the man to catch her on the way down.

***

She could feel the seatbelt digging into her as her head lolled forwards, but someone was there to shove it right back into the headrest. Her eyelids felt so heavy she could barely pry them open. Voices surrounded her, but they were muffled and incoherent. A thick soupy fog had descended on her brain, and she tried to push through it but to no avail.

The fuzzy allure of sleep fell over her once more, and with open arms, she dived right back in - the real world didn't seem to make much sense anyway. For all she knew, this was the dream and reality awaited just on the other side of whatever she was falling in to.

Grace tried hard to find something to focus on, anything to pull her back to some sense of understanding. Something to centre on.

There was nothing.

The next thing she remembered was a song; the lyrics didn't make much sense, but the tune was familiar, she tried to hum, but all that did was create a loud and painful echo that rattled around her skull. Nothing was working as it should. As the drumming continued, it dug deeper and deeper into her mind, the guitar adding a nice addition to her descent into madness.

She had just latched onto the lyrics from the depths of her memory when she realised the song was no longer playing.

When her eyes opened and the light filtered in, the first thing that came to mind was how dry her mouth was. The second was a strange and intense craving for something salty. Neither of those seemed to make much sense. Her eyes tried to focus on something, and the first thing she caught sight of was the headrest in front of her. Breathing in deeply, she looked around. It didn't take her long to realise that she was in a truck. That much was obvious. What made her lurch was where the car was parked. The surroundings were unmistakable.

She was back in Mystic Falls.

"Ahh, she lives."

Grace turned to the source of the voice - her head still hadn't quite adapted, and so her vision took a second to catch up. When it did, she focused on Rebekah. She was standing outside leaning against the truck, inspecting her hand, or perhaps her nails Grace wasn't sure.

"What are we doing here?"

"You know the werewolf part was a revelation to us all." Rebekah drawled, ignoring Grace's question. "I must say, but Nik knew something was up long before Stefan's little confession - my suspicions only helped confirm what he already knew."

Rising her hands above her head, she stretched them, forgetting she was in the cab of a truck. They went straight into the roof of the truck and then continued a little more.

She had managed to dent the roof.

Rebekah gave her a wicked grin. "Increased strength. One of the many new things your body is going to be adapting to. I'm guessing everything is a little loud and overpowering - you've been out for a while, so all of your new abilities will probably be hitting you all in one go like a brick wall. I don't envy you."

"I thought you were a vampire - what do you know about triggering werewolf curses."

"Its a gene, not a curse, and I've been around long enough to pick up a few things."

"By out for a while, I assure you are referring to being knocked out by whatever cocktail Nik had me injected with?"

"It was time to go, and you were neither trustworthy nor cooperative."

"And so he had me drugged and brought back here?"

"You are free to go," she waved, gesturing to Mystic Falls. "I was just here to make sure you woke up."

"How comforting." She looked around, trying to get her bearings. "Where is Stefan - and Nik, where is he?"

"I don't see how that is any of your concern."

"Fine." She snapped, her hand landing on the bags beside her and at her feet. "I assume this is all my stuff?"

"Yep, and your dog is in the trunk."

"Well, thank you for not leaving him in Chicago."

"I know you may think I am a monster, but that was harsh."

"As far as I see it, the last thing I remember was you ripping me a new one and us going at each other's throats."

"That was five days ago, Grace - I am over it. Nik said that your anger came from an uncontrollable rage brought on by the wolf thing. "

"Well, I am glad Nik cleared that up for you."

She flicked the handle to open the door, but it didn't open wide enough - for that, she gave it a well-placed kick.

"You really hurt him, you know."

Ignoring Rebekah, she stormed round to the trunk to get Zeus. As she opened it, his eyes lit up, and he bounded out, showering her in licks and other pups like affections.

"It was nice meeting you, Rebekah."