Who: Caroline, Buffy, Katherine, & Lexi What: Caroline turns into a vampire on her birthday When: Morning of October 10th Where: Caroline’s, Katherine’s and Lexi’s condo Ratings/Warnings: PG13 vampirism and blood Status: Complete
When Caroline woke up it took her a second to realize what was going on. How much had she had to drink the previous night? She remembered staying up and talking with three of her friends over a few bottles of wine, but she didn’t think she had drank that much. No she hadn’t. She was saving it for tonight, for her real birthday celebration. So why was everything so damn loud? Seriously did Buffy always breathe this loud? And what the hell was the beating noise?
Caroline rolled over folding the pillow in half to cover her ears. That helped, kind of. But she was hungry. She needed to eat something. “Ugh” Caroline groaned as she sat up in the bed. She turned her attention to Buffy nudging her a bit to wake her up. “How much did I drink last night?” she asked her friend, unaware of the fact that she now had fangs and the veins under her eyes were all red. “Come on I’m starving” she added as the beating noise grew louder, her eyes focused on the vein in her best friend’s neck. Why did that look so appealing all the sudden? She could feel her hunger growing too. “I really think I need to eat something” Caroline muttered more to herself than Buffy, her eyes still focused on her friends neck.
It took few seconds for Buffy to wake up. She’d fallen asleep hugging an empty bottle of merlot and her blonde hair was sticking out in different directions. Sleep caked her eyes and her mouth opened to let a yawn escape. “We drank too much. Need to pee. Bladder about to ‘splode,” she murmured, balling her fists to rub her eyes. She had a little makeshift bed on Caroline’s floor with pillows and blankets, and she turned around to drowsily glance up at her friend.
“I’m thinking eggs and--” That’s when her eyes registered the fangs. The red, bulging veins under her eyes. Instinct kicked in and Buffy jumped to her feet like a cat into a fight-ready stance. “Care. Caroline. Are you--” No, she wouldn’t ask if she was okay. Buffy knew she wasn’t.
At some point, Caroline had died. And she had risen as one of them.
“Lexi! Kat! Blood bag! NOW! HURRY!”
Like most nights, Katherine was fighting to stay awake and like most nights, the brunette was failing miserably. Fully submerged in hangover hell, Katherine found herself nodding off; her head drooped, chin on her chest, and eyes flickered close before she’d remember the dreams, the death, and the smell of blood and shook herself awake all over again. She’d been in the midst of nodding off (again) when Buffy’s voice rang out, breaking the sleeping silence of the apartment. “Lexi! Kat! Blood bag! NOW! HURRY!” It took a moment to register. Who was shouting? Oh, Buffy. About...blood? Blood bag? But she’s not a-Katherine jolted awake, brown eyes snapped open and blinked rapidly against the surrounding darkness. Caroline. It had to be...Caroline! A heavy wave of guilt washed over her remembering Caroline telling her exactly how the blond became a vampire in her dreams. It Katherine hadn’t turned her in her dreams, she wouldn’t be suffering now. She wouldn’t be a vampire. She’d be blissfully human and-Katherine pulled herself from her endless pit of guilt and self-hate. Caroline needed her or rather, she needed blood and fast. No doubt she was starving for it like a thirsty, dying man in the desert. Katherine remembered from her own dreams the burning bloodlust and how, at first, it’d been nearly impossible to control. Oh God...Care.
Katherine tumbled out of her bed, limbs heavy and awkward still from the alcohol bonnazza earlier in the evening-the party before the party for Care’s birthday-and stumbled to the doorway. Out in the hall, it was literally pitch black, but thankfully, they’d forgotten to completely turn out all the lights; a small glow flickered from the living room. Using it as somewhat of a guide, Katherine managed to walk-not straight of course!-to Care’s room and proceed to trip on essentially nothing and fall on the floor. “Care? Buffy?” The brunette pushed herself up and leaned against the wall. In the near inky blackness, she could make out Buffy, the petite blond was on her feet, and her best friend didn’t look really like her best friend anymore. Her skin cracked around her eyes, veins popped on her face, and the fangs-the white was even more gleaming in the darkness. “Care…” She felt a strange rush of emotion flood her system. It’s your fault. Katherine swallowed the rare, rising lump in her throat and blinked away the rarer tears blurring her eyes. No, not right now. Caroline needed blood and fast or she would be chowing down on Katherine and Buffy instead.
Taking a deep breath, Katherine forced her gaze away from the monstrous Care and to Buffy instead. “There’s blood bags in Lexi’s room. We can give her those. Come on…” Keeping her eyes on the newly turned vampire, Katherine edged back towards the door and out into the hall. Thankfully, the apartment wasn’t super massive and Lexi’s room was a few steps away. Falling on the door like the graceful model she was, Katherine started yelling. “Lexi! Wake up! Care-Care’s turning!” She snuck a glance back over her shoulder, but behind the curls, there was no sign of Care...yet. It wouldn’t be long though. Caroline could hear their hearts, their breathing, hell she might be able to hear the blood in their veins! As a novice vampire, Caroline lacked control. If she managed to sink her teeth into any of them, there was a good chance that Caroline wasn’t letting go until-
“Lexi!”
Lexi hadn’t been the first to retire to bed after their night of celebrating Caroline’s birthday, but she had fallen asleep pretty quickly after hitting the pillow and had been in a sound sleep until she heard the yelling. At first she wasn’t aware of where it was coming from or who was doing it, but as she began to wake up further, even through the hangover that assaulted her upon lifting her head, she realized that it was Katherine. Katherine yelling about Caroline turning.
Brown eyes shot open, her hangover forgotten as the words registered and she quickly sat up, tossing the blankets aside and moved, stumbling slightly, towards the mini fridge and grabbed a bag of blood. Reaching the door, she pulled it open, her eyes adjusting to the darkness, “Kat?” She knew the other girl was nearby, but in the darkness of the hall she wasn’t quite sure where she was.
The second Caroline heard the word blood her hunger increased and that was the only thing she could think about. She needed blood and she needed it now. She heard Katherine, but whatever her friend was doing didn’t register. Before Caroline even knew what was happening she lunged at Buffy, sinking her teeth, or fangs, into her best friend’s neck. The second the blood hit her mouth Caroline backed away, quickly. Spitting it out. That tasted horrible. Like poison almost.
Caroline backed all the way up into the hallway where she heard Lexi calling for Katherine. Caroline’s eyes adjusted to the dark easily and she immediately spotted the blood bag in her friends hands. Without even thinking Caroline snatched the bag out of Lexi’s hand and began to drink it. That tasted better, much better. Once she had finished off the bag Caroline felt somewhat better. She was still starving, but she felt a bit more in control now. It was then that she had realized what she had just done.
“Oh my god, Buffy!” Had she really just bitten her best friend? What was wrong with her? Deep down she knew the answer to that, but right now she couldn’t think about that. “I’m so sorry” she called from the hallway not going anywhere near her friend. She didn’t want to bite again. There were tears forming in her eyes from the guilt as well as what was happening to her, but still she had no time to focus on that right now. She still needed to eat and preferably not her friends. Caroline pushed past all her friends running with her vampire speed into Lexi’s room even though it was only a few steps away. The blonde yanked the door off the fridge, breaking it with her vampire strength. She tossed it aside and grabbed another blood bag. Downing that one even quicker than the first.
Buffy had been up and ready for a quick defense - even if it involved throwing Caroline across the room - but once her teeth sunk into her skin, the vervain had done it quicker than her reflexes could hit. It was a quick, intense pain; something that caught her off guard, and something that she’d only experience once before in the dreamworld.
A hand slapped over her puncture wounds to stop any blood flow, and Buffy ran into the hallway to watch Caroline guzzle the blood down like her life depended on it. Because, really, it did...but this entire thing was so goddamn surreal that Buffy wondered if she was asleep and dreaming.
The one thing Buffy feared the most, happen.
Her best friend became a damn vampire.
As soon as the blonde opened the door, everything happened really fast. Caroline lunged at Buffy and before Katherine or Lexi could react, plunged her fangs into the young woman’s neck. “Buffy!” Frantically, Katherine stumbled forward, arms out to grasp her best friend around the waist and tug her free from Buffy’s neck. She wasn’t entirely sure what she would do once her arms were around Caroline’s waist-they were practically the same height and weight-but she had to do something. Even if she’d experienced it only in her dreams, Katherine knew what it was like to kill someone, to take a life, and she was not going to let it become Caroline’s reality. Sometimes, Katherine woke up with the taste of iron in her mouth. Being a vampire in her dreams, Caroline no doubt had experienced the same thing, but it was not going to happen here. Caroline was not going to have to haunted in her waking hours as badly as she was by those stupid dreams. “Carebear, I know you don’t want to hurt anyone. I know you can do this. You’re a million times stronger than me,” she exclaimed, but Katherine was much too slow. By the time she’d managed a hand on the blond, Caroline released Buffy, coughing and sputtering, and backed away down the hall. The sight of the blood staining her friend’s skin, dribbling down the chin, it was all too like her dreams. Like the way she looked when she killed that woman in Trevor’s cabin. Part of her wondered if maybe she was still dreaming...it all felt like a nightmare. Katherine barely contained the urge to retch at the heavy smell of copper filling the hall. Somehow, she swallowed and managed a deep breath, forcing a sense of calm upon herself even if every human fiber in her being was in complete and utter freak out mode.
“Care-” Katherine took a shaky step forward towards the vampire, but Caroline brushed past her and straight for Lexi or rather the blood bag Lexi clenched in her hand. Without hesitation, Caroline ripped into the bag with her canines and drained the entire thing. Katherine was pretty sure it was less than a minute before it was empty. The brunette saw the moment realization struck her best friend. Tears sprang to her blue eyes and Caroline apologized quickly. The guilt audible and heavy in her voice. It was a rare moment when something could tug so hard at Katherine’s rumored hard heart. “Care…” Katherine trailed off, watching the other woman rush past them all and into the impending darkness of Lexi’s bedroom. There was a fumbling, the sound of ripping, plastic maybe? Katherine took a step forward, past Lexi and into the blonde’s room. She heard something that sounded an awful lot like slurping. Oh God, Carebear. The twin brushed her hand along the wall, finding the light and switching it on. The room was instantly illuminated and so was Caroline grasping a blood bag in her pale hands. The room smelled like blood.
Katherine scanned the room, finding a box of tissues amongst the the blur that was her vision still and she slowly approached the young vampire. “Hey...Care…” She trailed off, heart pounding in her ears, blood rushing through her veins, and she tugged a tissue free, offering it to the blond. “Hey. Carebear. It’s okay…”
Lexi hadn’t expected Caroline to come at her like that, but was grateful that it was only the blood bag she was after. As the other blond rushed into the room, Lexi tried to figure out what she was supposed to do now. She knew that both Katherine and Buffy were there and from the sounds of it, someone had been bit. As Katherine moved past her into the bedroom, after Caroline, Lexi decided to go check on Buffy and see if the Slayer needed any help. Buffy had been sleeping in Caroline’s room, but when Lexi moved away from the wall that she’d collided with when Caroline had snatched the bag from her hand, the blond saw the other blond; there were too many blondes here tonight, so she moved towards her, “Are you alright?” As she got closer, she noticed that Buffy was holding her neck and not for the first time, Lexi wished she could heal with her blood like she would be able to do if she were a vampire, “Ya know, this would probably be going better if Elena had stayed over.” Elena was already a vampire and had the whole super strength thing going for her, which none of them did at the moment.
Caroline was just acting on instinct. There was no real thought behind it. There was a moment where she realized she had just bitten one of her best friends, and the guilt had overwhelmed her briefly before her hunger took over. Even with her blood lust, somehow the new vampire knew enough to not bite anyone else and go for the blood bags. After slurping up a few bags, her hunger was finally satisfied. The craving was still there, she had a feeling it would never go away, but she fly better, more in control. She didn’t need to feed anymore. She just wanted to.
Soon enough Katherine was at her side, handing her a tissue. The blonde gingerly took it from her friend’s hand. She could hear Katherine’s pulse and her eyes were drawn to the vein on her neck, but now that Caroline had some blood in her she was able to resist the urge to bite. “Thanks” she said softly wiping the blood of her face. Somehow she managed to retract her fangs, and just like that she looked like Caroline again. Not the vampire that could have killed all of them a few moments ago.
She looked up seeing Buffy and Lexi in the doorway looking at her, Buffy’s hand on her neck. Katherine was still by her side with the box of tissues. Were they scared of her? She would be. Terrified probably. But there Katherine was, by her side. She didn’t even hesitate to approach Caroline. Tears filled her eyes once again as she sat on the floor in Lexi’s room a few empty blood bags scattered around her. She was a vampire. There was no more denying it or hoping it wouldn’t happen. It was real.
Lexi mentioned something about Elena. She was right, Elena would know what to do. She was already a vampire. But how was Caroline suppose to know that today would be the day she turned? On her freaking birthday no less. The tears slid down her face quickly. She just sat there for a few minutes, crying. She knew all eyes were on her, everyone was probably in just as much shock as she was. But Caroline couldn’t continue to sit there and cry about it. She had to fix things.
She grabbed another tissue from Katherine, this time wiping tears off of her face instead of blood. “Thank you” she said again before slowly standing up. “Buffy?” she wasn’t sure if her friend wanted to be near her right now. She didn’t blame her. “I’m so sorry” she said again taking just a step towards her, not wanting to do anything to frighten or upset Buffy. “I didn’t.. I don’t… I’m so so sorry” that was all Caroline could really think to say. Well there was one more thing. “In the Dreams, vampire blood heals. Do you want to try it? I understand if you just want to get as far away from me as possible though. I wouldn’t blame you.” Once again tears filled her eyes. How could she bite someone, let alone her best friend.
“I’m fine,” she mumbled to Lexi quickly. “Just a bite. It was quick. The vervain helped.” Buffy wasn’t worried about Caroline lunging at her again; the vervain had been an excellent deterrent, and the pressure applied to the holes in her neck had helped the bleeding stop some. She wasn’t at full Slayer power yet, but worst case scenario she had some extra strength to help hold Caroline should she need to be held down. It would have been a struggle Caroline would have eventually won, though.
But before her stood what she was supposed to kill; the undead with a hunger for blood. And it was her best friend. And even though Buffy did all she could to mentally prepare herself for the day, it wasn’t as she expected it to be. They’d spoken about it so many times before but this time, it was real.
There was no going back.
“It’s okay,” she forced out weakly with a sheepish smile as Caroline approached her. She’d been watching closely, especially since Katherine got so near to her, just in case she lashed out and decided to test Kat’s blood next. “Slayer power. Extra fast healing. It’ll close up in a couple hours.” There was no way she was about to suck Caroline’s blood for an accelerated healing factor. It’s a different ability these vampires had and the idea wigged her out more than she’d like to admit.
She knew Caroline had humanity in her. She could see it; sense it, from the tears in her eyes to the look of utter guilt on her face. And it was her birthday and Buffy had been that bite of human cake.
Lexi was right; Elena should have been here. Her blood healed, but Katherine’s twin was already a vampire. The super strength might have come in handy to subdue Caroline. Still, things could have gone a lot worse. Thankfully, Buffy had vervain in her system and Caroline was instantly poisoned, weakened, and she pulled away from the other blond. Even if she hadn’t, Buffy was a special sort, wasn’t she? She had the ability to fight vampires or evil or something. She was empowered with super strength. Katherine didn’t doubt that Buffy could have handled herself without the herb that vampires despised or at least, their kind of vampire. Out of all of them, she was the strongest, now next to Caroline, and Katherine knew if Caroline really had lost all control, Buffy could have subdued her easily. Not that Katherine liked that idea anymore than her friend biting Buffy and being poisoned. There was no good way that this could have gone down. Katherine was just grateful that she was surrounded by empty blood bags and not a cold, dead body of one of her friends instead.
Katherine nodded and gave the blond a weak smile. It was hard. Caroline didn’t want to be a vampire so much, as much as Katherine didn’t, and only a few weeks ago they were toasting to no fangs ever. Now, she was watching as Caroline retracted her newest accessory: those fangs. Worst, Katherine was no good at the whole comforting thing. Elena had always been the compassionate sister, the one that offered support when someone was on their knees, the weight of the world too much in that moment. Katherine usually focused only on her own pain; it was accurate to say that where Elena was sympathetic, Katherine was selfish and self-absorbed. Other people’s suffering didn’t matter to her. In fact, if she somehow caused it, all the fucking better in her mind, but Caroline was different. Originally her sister’s best friend, Katherine found herself closer to the college student than anyone else outside of her family. Where she use to mistrust Caroline completely, bent on believing everything she said would somehow end up getting back to her sister, there was trust instead. Katherine lightly touched the other woman’s arm in an attempt at comfort. Right now, she doubted anything she did or said could comfort Caroline. Essentially, she survived on human life now and her own life would never be the same again. Ever.
The brunette pushed herself up. While it was difficult for Katherine to watch her best friend consumed by blood lust, she could only imagine what Buffy was feeling. Again, Buffy was chosen to fight evil and slay vampires, something her best friend now officially was. Maybe they had talked about it, but it was no longer just a possibility as much as it was a reality. Everything had changed for Buffy. Katherine knew others who’d made the change, including her own sister, and while the last thing she wanted was for her best friend to change, it was not nearly as big of a blow. Caroline was essentially Buffy’s enemy and Katherine knew it definitely cued the awkward. Still, they could get past it, right? Katherine held out a tissue to Buffy. “Still, just to stop the bleeding. Maybe we should bandage it too until it heals up in a few hours,” she added. She was pretty sure Caroline was satiated, but removing the temptation would definitely be helpful for her newly turned friend. Caroline was already wallowing in guilt for sinking her teeth into Buffy. She’d be feeling it for a long time too. And fuck it all, it was her birthday and now, everytime she had one, it would never mean a thing. She’d always be this age forever. Ageless. It would have been like Christmas for Katherine, but for Caroline? Maybe she wanted kids in the future or something. Now there was no choice.
Glimpsing the tears in the blond’s blue eyes, Katherine reached out and squeezed Caroline’s arm gently.
As Caroline finally satisfied her hunger, Lexi moved further into the room where Caroline and Katherine were, “Care, you alright?” She knew the answer would likely be no, but she still had to ask. Watching Caroline’s transition freaked Lexi out a little, because she knew that that was in her future. She didn’t know when it was going to happen, but eventually Lexi would be in Caroline’s shoes and she just hoped that she didn’t hurt anyone when the time did come.
She moved slowly and carefully towards her two friends, not wanting to spook Caroline. Once she was close enough, she reached out, cautiously and placed a hand on the blonde's arm and began rubbing lightly to reassure her that she was there for her no matter what.
Caroline had a feeling Buffy wouldn’t want her blood. She didn’t blame her. Just yesterday she would have never thought about drinking blood from anyone. Vampire or human. Even if she was hurt. But still she had to offer. Especially since she was the one that had hurt Buffy. “I’m really sorry” she repeated again. What else was there to say. She had bitten her best friend. And then it really hit her. She was a vampire. The tears kept falling, not just from the guilt, but also from the fact that her life as she knew it was over. She would never be the same again.
Katherine’s words drew her back to reality. “Yeah that’s a good idea. Can someone get her one?” she didn’t want to get close enough to Buffy to give her the bandage. She could smell Buffy’s blood from across the room and she wasn’t sure if she would be able to contain herself. Even though she knew she would back away with in seconds. That vervain really did taste horrible. Still the blonde didn’t want to risk it.
She was grateful for both Katherine and Lexi trying to comfort her, but she was honestly scared to get too close to them right now. She backed away at both their touches. She didn’t want to hurt anyone else. She couldn’t. “Um not really” she replied. She wasn’t going to lie and act like she was okay. She knew it was blatantly obvious that she wasn’t. “I’m sorry about your fridge Lexi” she added feeling guilty for that was well. Not to mention the mess she had made in Lexi’s room. “I’ll buy you a new one” and she would. It was the least she could do. “But I think I need to be alone right now” or not around humans, she said before rushing off to her room locking the door behind her. Not really bothering to wait for a reply from anyone else. She couldn’t.