CHAPTER SIX | SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT

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FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MONTHS, KLARA WOKE IN HER OWN BED. After Stefan fed on Elena, she took her home where the doppelganger assured her that she would be fine. Klara then headed back to the Salvatore Boarding house and explained everything to Damon and in the midst of that, Stefan returned home, too. 

"Woah," Damon called out from Klara's bedroom door when he noticed textbooks in hand and a bag over her shoulder. "What—Where are you off to?"

"Uh. School." The blonde shrugged as if it were obvious where she was heading. "It's the first day of Senior Year, Damon."

"You do realize you're a vampire now, right? I don't think you're attendance is mandatory." Damon mocked with a slight smile as he moved inside the bedroom.

"Elena's heading in. I wanted to make sure she was okay, you know?" Klara tilted her head sympathetically and Damon nodded slowly. "I just— I feel guilty. I could've done more."

"More than attempt to get yourself killed?" Damon stepped closer to the vampire, a pointed look on his face. "You could not have done more than you already did. And, Elena has a martyr complex, so—" He shrugged.

"You're all class, aren't you?"

"Humour is the only thing getting me through my days." Damon gleefully smiled back at his friend, who rolled her eyes and walked down the staircase with him. "You know, it's great to have you back."

"Feels great to be back." Klara shot him a smile.

As the two walked further down the staircase, they heard voices and music blaring through the speakers. Dead bodies of females were spread across the house as they passed the corridor and into the parlor where Stefan was playing Twister with a bunch of compelled girls.

"Uh-oh. Alexandra. Left hand, please." He grinned toward a brunette female who simply offered him her left wrist which he sank his teeth into with ease.

Klara gasped in horror at the state of the room. She had never seen Stefan like that, it was as if she was staring at someone completely unrecognizable.  The stench of the blood filled her nostrils, but she just kept her breathing steady and tried not to focus on it. "You're kidding me, right?"

"Hey, the two brunettes on the staircase owe me a Persian rug," Damon called out which interrupted Stefan who eventually pulled away from the girl's wrist.

"You mean, they owe us a Persian rug?" He corrected whilst he wiped the blood from his lips. "It's my house, too, brother. Oh! Would either of you like a spin?"

"So this is what Klaus had in mind when he compelled you to protect Elena?" Damon asked pointedly as he stepped inside the room.

"These ladies are helping me be all that I can be."

A sudden knock at the door caused the blonde to turn on her heels and raise a brow. She opened the door, only to see Rebekah, who pushed past her and into the house. "Rebekah. What are you, uh—"

"He left me here! My brother actually left me here." Rebekah frantically spoke with her bags in hand. 

"I'm sorry, who is this?" Damon asked, his eyes averted to Klara.

A groan left the blonde's lips once she turned toward Damon, who was clueless about who was now inside their home. "Klaus's sister."

"Rebekah. Pleasure, I'm sure." The Original vampire twirled on her heels and looked Damon up and down before she turned her eyes to Stefan. "Which one's my room?"

A smirk grew on Stefan's face as he shook his head at her. "You're not staying here."

Rebekah looked between the two Salvatore men. "Rude. Both of you." She twirled on her feet and started toward the staircase with a smirk. "I'll see to it myself."

"So, I guess she's staying here."

"I'm late." Klara rolled her eyes again and gave Damon a nod. "Good luck with— that."

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Klara walked down the corridor and opened her locker with a sigh as she shoved her textbooks inside it. Part of her had thought that she would never even return back to Mystic Falls, and yet she had missed the simple action of heading to school like a normal human—even though she was no longer human herself.

As she slammed her locker shut, she began to walk down the corridor with her bag over her shoulder. The blonde instantly stopped in her tracks when her body collided with Stefan's. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Ah. Well, I'm compelled to look out for Elena, figured I ought to be here." The humanity-free Salvatore stared at his best friend. "What? Protecting Elena is a step up from killing her, right?"

"Doesn't mean you have to be a dick about it." Klara rolled her eyes and attempted to step around him, but he blocked her exit. "Move out of my way Stefan."

"Make me." Stefan gave her a threatening smile. He wanted to break her, to make her lose it in front of everyone at school but she wasn't going to play his games. "Unless, of course, you can't."

Disgust ran through her as she stared up at the man that stood before her. He was the shell of her best friend. "You know, it wasn't that long ago that you used to actually care about me."

"I know. Pathetic, right?" The Salvatore shrugged back. "You know, what? Come with me a second." Stefan spoke as if he were giving her an option, but Klara knew that if she didn't comply, he'd probably hurt someone.

Reluctantly, she followed him. They headed into a vacant classroom where Amelia, a girl from their year group, stood in the middle of the room. Klara was confused until Stefan stepped toward the fearful girl who's heart began to race when she saw Klara. "Klara? Klara, I can't move. Why can't I move?"

"Amelia, it's okay. Everything's going to be fine." The blonde breathed out instinctively once her eyes turned to the Salvatore. "Just let her go, Stefan."

"Well, back when you turned, you and I used to feed together. I used to help you control yourself." Stefan explained in a reminiscent tone that made Klara's head spin. "But, I've had a change of heart." Within an instant, Stefan's teeth ripped into Amelia's neck. The female cried out in pain and as soon as Stefan retracted his fangs, blood began to ooze from her wound. "Control is overrated, Klara."

Klara took a deep breath, in through her nose and out through her mouth. She remembered everything Stefan had told her—before he flipped his switch. She had to breathe through the temptation. No matter how badly she wanted to feed, she knew that she couldn't.

"Control is the one thing you don't have, and you hate it." Klara spat back viciously as she watched Stefan smear his fingers against the blood around Amelia's wound. Breathe. "You think that just because you lost control, you can force me to do the same." Breathe, Klara. "It doesn't work like that."

"Maybe you should have a taste. She tastes delicious." Stefan smirked as he stepped toward Klara with a few drops of blood on his fingers. He cupped her face and gently ran his bloody thumb across her bottom lip. "You know you can't resist it, Klara."

Come on, Klara. Just resist. She thought to herself as she clamped her eyes shut. Klara tried desperately to resist the crimson liquid that Stefan had forced onto her lip or the stench of it that filled the air. 

Before Klara could succumb to the blood, Caroline sped into the classroom and snapped Stefan's neck from behind. The Salvatore fell to the floor in a lump, and the Forbes girl immediately grabbed hold of Klara. "Klara, you need to heal her. Okay?"

"Care, I can't—I just..." Klara continued to stammer as the smell of blood intoxicated her. "I don't want to hurt her."

"And you won't, just trust me."

Caroline's encouragement was enough to make Klara believe that she could do it. The vampire bit her wrist and lifted it up toward Amelia's mouth. "Drink, it's okay. Everything's going to be okay." Klara inhaled and exhaled deeply as the veins underneath her eyes slowly began to fade. "You're not going to remember any of this. Now, get to class."

"See." Caroline cheered. "You need to believe in yourself. You are strong enough to see past the blood. You're not controlled by it."

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When Klara explained everything that happened with Stefan and the innocent girl in their year group. They all had agreed that Stefan needed to be locked up just until Mikael came to kill Klaus and the compulsion broke. 

The supernaturals gathered in Alaric's classroom to go over the plan. Elena pressed her hands against Alaric's desk, her eyes on him. "I'll lure Stefan away from the bonfire. Then when he's distracted—"

"—I'll shoot him." Alaric nodded as if it were no big deal. 

Damon, who was sitting on one of the desks, furrowed his brows in confusion. "Can't Bonnie just ju-ju him or something?"

"I'm trying to keep Bonnie out of this." Elena straightened up at the mention of the Bennett witch. "I don't trust that Stefan won't hurt her. Especially after what he did to Klara today."

Klara exhaled deeply as she turned her head to Caroline, who was in charge of preparing the cell for Stefan's arrival. "Care, everything covered?"

"Yes!" Caroline nodded confidently as all eyes averted to her. "I will make sure that the old Forbes jail cell is prepped and ready."

"We're forgetting a key player here— Rebekah?" Damon furrowed his brows. "Wherever Stefan goes, the blonde ponytail tends to follow."

Elena twirled on her heels and set her sights on Damon with a slight grin. "Which is why it's your job to keep her away."

"How?!" Damon asked with widened eyes. He knew that Rebekah was going to be difficult considering she was much older than him. "She's an Original. Last time I checked, we're out of daggers."

Klara shook her head, scoffed, and gave him a small smirk. "Well, occupy her the only way you know how. With that so-called charm that you keep talking about."

Alaric snorted in the blonde's direction. "Might have better luck finding the dagger."

"Are you ever not going to be mad at me, Ric."

"Doubtful."

"Sorry, I'm late." Tyler apologized as he joined the supernaturals in the classroom. "What's going on?"

"Ah, just the newly-transitioned Hybrid we were hoping to catch." Klara smiled toward the boy. "We need you to grab some of that vervain your mom keeps hidden. Enough to keep Stefan down for a while."

Tyler furrowed his brows, his eyes moved from the blonde vampire to the rest of the group. "You can't do that to Stefan."

"Why not?"

"Trust me, Tyler. It's in his best interest." The doppelganger tilted her head with furrowed eyebrows. She couldn't understand why Tyler would disagree with them putting Stefan down—he was out of control.

"But it's not in Klaus's."

"But Klaus is the bad guy, Tyler." Caroline furrowed her brows and stepped toward her boyfriend. "Why are you acting like some freaky, Hybrid, slave minion."

"Uh, oh..." The Salvatore trailed off slowly. Damon lifted himself away from the window ledge and walked toward the group. 

"What?" Alaric spat in his direction.

Tyler let a sigh escape his lips as Caroline moved in front of him. "Klaus made me who I am, Caroline. I owe him everything."

"Oh, boy."

"Okay, can we cool it on the commentary, please?" Caroline twirled around and glared at Damon, who was insistent on making comments time Tyler defended Klaus. 

"Damon? What's going on?" Klara raised an eyebrow. 

"I'm just going to go." Tyler turned to head out of the room, but Damon sped behind him and injected him with a vervain dart which caused him to fall at their feet.

"What are you doing?!" Caroline's voice furiously yelled out once Tyler fell at Damon's feet. The blonde pushed past Damon and kneeled down beside her boyfriend.

Damon shrugged. "He's been sired."

"What?"

"Sired." Damon turned around to Elena, Alaric, and Klara and saw the bewildered looks on their faces. "He feels loyal to Klaus because Klaus's blood created him."

Elena's eyes drifted from Tyler and then to Damon. "Loyal, how?"

"He'll seek acceptance from his master. It's really rare. But maybe not so much in Hybrids." Damon continued to explain with a shrug as Caroline looked up at him.

"So, how do we fix him?" Caroline's eyes were full of hope as she stared up at the vampire who seemed to know so much about sired vampires.

"Get a new boyfriend." Damon bluntly answered.

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The bonfire was in full swing and the plan was in motion. They needed to keep Stefan away from Rebekah so they were able to corner him and lock him up until Mikael came to kill Klaus. Klara was sitting on a small bridge just a short distance away from the party, her legs were dangling off while a bottle of rum sat beside her.

"Wow." Stefan walked over to her, which caused an immediate grunt to leave her lips. Eventually, he ended up beside her on the bridge. "And to think you used to encourage me to have fun. Who's the boring one now, huh?"

"Considering you had to abandon your emotions to have fun, I'd still say it was you." Klara gave him a fake smile as she grabbed the neck of the bottle and took a large swig. "What do you want, anyway?"

"Well, everyone's having fun and I came to see why you're not." He stared down at her and she swore that she could see the real Stefan—not this monster. He smiled for a moment, but then the smile faded. "Kidding! I don't really care. It sure is fun to not really care about your drama though."

"You're a real dick without emotions," Klara grunted again.

"And you're a real bitch." The Salvatore snapped back at her. "Letting Caroline snap my neck like that. I thought we were friends, Klara."

"Friends?" The blonde vampire scoffed as she pushed her hair behind her ear. "Yeah, that's right. We were friends. Right before you turned into this jackass."

Stefan seemed displeased with Klara's response, as he lifted his flask up, he popped the cap off and swirled it around before he took a sip. "Hm. Do you smell that?" Klara's head turned and her eyes clamped onto the flask within his head. Human Blood. "Smells good, right?"

As the stench filled her nostrils, Klara's face slowly began to transform. "Get away from me." She lifted herself up from the bridge, but Stefan stepped closer to her.

"Why? It's only a little blood, right?" He chuckled. "I thought you were so good at controlling your bloodlust, Klara."

She breathed out and her face returned back to normal. "I am." The blonde used her strength to break off a piece of wood from the bridge, and she plunged it straight into Stefan's abdomen. He screamed out in agony on impact. "Leave me the hell alone."

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