Clair de Lune - K.M.

c h a p t e r t w e n t y e i g h t

I wake up with a gasp, my entire chest feeling like it's on fire. The sound of Caroline's muffled voice rings through the air but it's drowned out by the haze of pain as I roll onto my side and try to catch my breath. Slowly, as the agony begins to fade, my surroundings start to gradually come into focus.

Screams still fill the air as people run for safety. I'm laying on the old church carpet behind the podium where I stood just a few moments earlier, a rapidly healing wound carved into my chest. Caroline and Tyler are crouched next to me on my right, a large bloodied wooden bullet in the blonde's hand, while Elena, Stefan, and my mom stand on my left. I bring my hand up to touch my blood-soaked dress and a shock rings through me as I realize that if any vampire other than me had been standing here, they'd be dead.

"I'm going to fucking murder that son of a bitch," I growl, attempting to push myself off the ground.

"Damon's already on it," Stefan says as my brother puts his hand on my shoulder to push me back down. "Stay here, I have to help him."

"Wait, bu- what about April?" Elena asks.

"I've got it," Caroline assures her, her eyes flicking over to Stefan. "Go."

"I have to call an ambulance," my mom says in a shaky voice as Stefan takes off through the crowd of people still exiting the church.

"Mom, I'm fine," I groan.

"The whole town just watched you get shot. I'm calling an ambulance."

"Fuck," I sigh as she moves to grab her phone, resting my head back on the ground. I close my eyes and try to breathe but there are too many things to block out. People shouting, my mother's frantic voice, and above all the smell of blood still filling the room. It only continues to grow stronger and as I glance up I can tell that Caroline smells it as well. 

"You alright?" Tyler asks me as Caroline begins to look around with an odd expression on her face.

"I'm pissed off but other than that yeah, I think so," I assure him. "Care-"

"Elena's gone," the vampire says, standing. "I've got to find her."

"Go," Tyler says and Caroline nods before taking off after our friend. I reach my hand out to my brother and he helps to pull me to my feet. I can hear my mom on the phone with the 911 operator just around the corner and I let out a sigh.

"Mom's going to make such a big deal about this."

"Of course she is. You just got shot, Stells."

"I'm a hybrid. It's going to take more than a bullet to kill me."

"Yeah, well, this guy knows that now. What's to stop him from figuring out what it does take?" Tyler asks in a worried voice.

"He won't figure it out because next time he gets close to me I'm going to rip his throat out," I say with finality but Tyler shakes his head.

"I should have taken off after him. I should have hunted him down this morning instead of trying to find you. This wouldn't have- damn it!"

"Ty, relax," I say as my brother begins to fume. Sometimes I forget that I'm not the only one in my family with a werewolf gene that makes me prone to violence. "There's nothing you could have done. And assuming I survive the embarrassment of being transported to the hospital by ambulance for no reason, I'm going to be fine."

He looks like he wants to argue with me but is stopped by my mom returning after getting off the phone. Despite my repeated insistence that I'm completely fine, she continues to fuss over me until the paramedics arrive. Tyler intercepts them as they make their way down the rows of pews and compels them to treat me as if I suffered a gunshot wound to the shoulder and ignore everything else.