[Paris' outfit is still her pajamas from the previous chapter.]

꧁ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴛᴡᴇɴᴛʏ-ғɪᴠᴇ ꧂
ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴜɴʀᴀᴠᴇʟ

❝No, Stefan. You're not listening to me. She's not dead. At least not completely.❞

♠

THIS MAY BE the most quiet everything around him has ever been all his life. His body feels vulnerable. His mind is broken. His heart is shattered. And all it takes for each one to send him over the edge, is the slightest movement. So, he remained still. He thought of nothing. He stared at the wall, as Paris' upper body rests on Damon's lap, her head placed on his arm.

Both his arms embraced Paris loosely. He has been sitting on the floor still for three minutes after breaking down. His tears seemed to have dried out. The light in Damon's eyes that Paris utterly adores have vanished. The calm ocean eyes of his became a dark stormy one. Who can blame him? He was supposed to protect the life of the girl he loves, and yet, he's the very person who took it from her.

Bonnie being able to have heard everything from the call Paris didn't end, she frantically goes to her car while trying to contact Stefan. When he finally answered, it turns out that he's at Elena's house. Knowing that Ric is with Meredith, that means Paris is all alone with Damon.

When Bonnie informed Stefan and Elena about what happened, the two, without a doubt, climbed in the car and drove to the boarding house.

"Paris?" Elena called out.

"Damon?" Bonnie said as she looks around.

As soon as Stefan enters the house, he immediately smelled blood. He cursed under his breath before speeding his way towards where it came from.

When Stefan reached Damon's bedroom, he was greeted by his devastated brother embracing a bloodied body of their friend. His eyes widen at the sight as his jaw drops. "No. No, no, no." Stefan muttered.

He quickly approaches his brother and he crouched down, glancing down at Paris' wide-open eyes. His hand made its way to his forehead as he registered everything.

Running steps could be heard from outside the room. Then finally, Bonnie and Elena reached Damon's bedroom, gasps immediately escaping them as they found Paris' limp body.

"Paris? No, Paris!" Elena said as her eyes glistened. Bonnie couldn't even get a word out as they approached them.

"I'm sorry. I-I didn't know what happened. I blacked out. Then the next thing I knew, s-she's... she's-" Damon explained but he was unable to continue due to his voice shaking and his urge to freak out increasing.

"Shh. It's not your fault. It's not. Camila did this. She spelled you." Stefan told his brother, both his hands placed on his arms.

"I still killed her." Damon whispered before breaking down once again, lifting Paris to embrace her tighter.

Bonnie places her hand over her mouth as she cried as well, the sight of Paris dead and the sight of Damon breaking down shattering her completely. Elena has her eyes fixed on Paris, tears trickling down her face, her lower lip quivering.

Damon's sobs and sniffs are the only things to be heard in the room, the two girls unable to speak because they are also hurt. Stefan, shedding a few tears of his own, focused more on what to do.

Meredith. Her sister. She doesn't know that her sister is dead. Stefan leaves the room and pulls out his phone to dial Ric. He could call Meredith directly, but he doesn't have the courage to tell her that her sister is dead.

"Stefan?" Ric said.

"Ric. You and Meredith need to-uh-go to the boarding house. It's urgent." Stefan told him.

Ric refrained from jumping to conclusions and asked Stefan what happened.

"What's urgent?" He asked.

Stefan pursed his lips, trying to gather up the courage to tell him. He sniffs before he spoke again.

"It's Paris. Something happened to Paris." Stefan told him.

As soon as those words left Stefan's mouth, Alaric practically hung up on him and went to get Meredith to go and see Paris.

Stefan goes back into the room and sees Damon placing Paris on his bed gently, her eyes still open. Damon couldn't bring himself to close them. He didn't want to believe that she's truly gone.

"Does Lucien know?" Damon asked, his eyes not refraining from Paris' face.

"Not yet. I'll tell him." Stefan said. He once again pulls out his phone and dials Lucien's number. It took a few rings before he finally answered.

"Stefan, it's like two in the morning. What could possibly be your problem at two in the morning?" Lucien's voice sounded groggy, like he just woke up.

"Camila spelled Damon with an insanity hex, urging him to go after Paris. We didn't know about this until... she's already gone." Stefan said, pausing for a bit to swallow hard.

Lucien's half-open eyes suddenly opened completely. His upper body shoots upright as he held on to his phone more before he spoke.

"What do you mean she's gone?" Lucien asked with his forehead creased.

Stefan closes his eyes and sighs. "She's dead." He answered.

Lucien's brows furrowed even more, if that's even possible. "No, she's not." He denied.

Stefan actually expected Lucien to react like this. To be in denial. However, that wasn't what Lucien is pointing out.

"She's dead, Lucien. I know it's hard to accept that right no-" Stefan told him but Lucien cuts him off before he could finish.

"No, Stefan. You're not listening to me. She's not dead. At least not completely." Lucien said.

Stefan furrows his eyebrows. Damon's head snaps up from looking at Paris to sharing a gaze with his brother.

"What are you talking about?" Stefan asked.

"Don't you remember? Camila attacked Paris prior to the rescue operation. She was bleeding, and I gave her my blood." Lucien explained.

The Salvatore brothers both widen their eyes. Stefan suddenly remembered what Lucien was talking about.

"You're bleeding." Lucien said. He bites his wrist and offers it to Paris. She takes his wrist and she drinks his blood so that her wound would heal.

Bonnie and Elena notice the glance that the two brothers share and they both approach them with concern and confusion.

"What's going on?" Bonnie asked.

Stefan maintained his eye contact with his brother before he answered Bonnie's question.

"Paris died with Lucien's blood in her system."

♠

A few minutes after finding out that Paris died with vampire blood in her system, Ric and Meredith finally arrived at the boarding house. She practically jumped out of the car and ran inside, panic coursing through her veins.

Stefan encouraged Damon to put a shirt on because he has been shirtless ever since they came. The raven-haired vampire looks at himself in the mirror, washing off the dried blood at the sides of his mouth. He stared at himself, thinking about how he despised himself, that he can't even protect the one he loves, and that maybe it means that he shouldn't be with her.

"Paris?!" Meredith said when her eyes caught Paris with her bloody neck and pajamas.

Her sister ran towards Paris and immediately sat beside her. Tears gathered in her eyes as she caresses the cheeks of her beloved baby sister.

Damon enters the room again and he watches Meredith and Ric being in shock.

"Meredith-" Stefan called out but before he could say anything else, Meredith cuts him off.

"She's gone." Meredith muttered, tears escaping her eyes.

"She's not." Stefan said.

Meredith looks at Stefan in disbelief, and not in a good way.

"What do you mean she's not? She doesn't have a pulse, Stefan. Her throat is ripped open-"

"Look closer." Stefan asked her. Meredith averts her eyes from Stefan and towards Paris. Her neck is covered with blood, fresh and dried ones. She rubs her eyes to get rid of the tears constantly gathering in her eyes to look at her wound clearly, her wound that is slowly but surely healing.

Her eyebrows shot up as she witnessed the wound healing, realizing what it means and what Stefan is trying to say.

"She died with vampire blood in her system." Meredith muttered.

Meredith didn't know how she feels all of this. Is she supposed to be glad that she's sort of alive, or devastated because she lost her chance of having a normal life since she's now a vampire? However it is she should feel, she couldn't decide yet. Not until she knows what choice Paris would make, if she would complete the transition or move on.

A gasp coming from Paris' lips snaps everyone back to reality. Her eyes that have been closed by Bonnie jerked open, revealing her green eyes that they never thought they would see again.

Her eyes wandered around the room, seeing Elena, Bonnie, Lucien, who had just arrived, Stefan, Ric, Meredith, and Damon, standing at the far back. He refused to be near her, not after what he just did. He can't.

"Hey." Meredith whispered. Paris shifts ber gaze towards her sister, where a relieved smile is planted on her lips. Meredith places the loose strands of hair covering Paris' face at the back of her ear.

"How? How did I survive?" Paris asked, remembering the last memory she had before her senses vanished.

Meredith sniffs as she shakes her head. "You didn't, Paris." She said.

Paris' eyebrows shot up in realization. She's dead. More specifically, she's in transition.

"Paris, tell me. Who did this to you?" Meredith asked.

Paris looks between all of them, she could tell that some of them already knew the truth, but what's sure is that nobody had the balls to tell Meredith what happened.

Paris' eyes landed on the raven-haired vampire behind Bonnie. His sad eyes staring right back at hers. She can sense the tremendous guilt that he's feeling, and she doesn't want him to be that way.

"Aurora. S-She attacked me. I didn't know she was in the house." Paris lied.

The look on the other's faces indicated that they knew she was lying.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry I've been out lately." Meredith said.

"It's not your fault." Paris said as she reached for her sister's hand. Her eyes passed through everyone before it stops at Damon. "It's Camila and Aurora's fault." She told them, but she was really pointing out that it's not Damon's fault.

However, Paris could tell by his facial expression that he thinks otherwise.

"I need to pee." Paris bluntly said.

Meredith stands up from the bed to help her get up from the bed. When she stood up, not only her knees got wobbly, but her vision suddenly started to spin, causing her to lose her balance.

Meredith caught her and Ric helped to get her back on her feet but it seems like Paris had no intention of regaining her balance because she was too focused on something.

"You will push her off the cliff, and after that you'll follow her-"

Paris clutches her head with both confusion and horror written all over her face.

"-but as much as you would want to help her, you won't-"

"Oh my God." Paris groaned. Her emotions being heightened meaning that everything is overwhelming her. And right now, the emotions fear, remorse and resentment are swallowing her whole.

"-you won't help her. you won't help yourself. you will simply watch as she drowns."

"I pushed her." Paris whispered, her lip quivering as her whole body felt cold.

"Paris? Paris, what's wrong?" Ric asked, he and Meredith exchanging looks before he turns to the others with a confused expression.

"Once she dies, then you'll swim and you won't remember me or anything that I've told you. You will remember that you and your friends are supposed to have the best weekend of your lives, until one of your friends had a tragic accident."

A series of sobs erupted from Paris' throat as pieces of her stolen memory started coming back. She starts shaking her head, hugging herself and sobbing uncontrollably, unable to take what she found out.

"Paris. Paris, hey. Listen to me. Your emotions are heightened right now. You need to calm down. You're safe here." Stefan told her, but Paris wasn't capable of calming down knowing that what she thought was an accident is actually not.

"He compelled me to kill her." Paris told him. Considering that Lucien and Damon are the others who have vampire hearing, their eyes widened at what she said.

Stefan furrows his eyebrows until realization hits him. She must've been compelled before and now that she's transitioning, it's coming back.

"Who compelled you? What did you do?" Stefan asked.

"Paris." Lucien called out to her.

Her eyes caught Lucien's and a tear escapes her eye.

"You compelled me to kill her."

♠

Thank you so much guys for 13k reads! Anyway, I have a new story out called 'Loved In 1994' and it is a Hope Mikaelson and Tony Stark fanfic! The prologue is out now, you guys should check it out and tell me your feedback.

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