I'll Be Your Last

Under pressure

The pain and their voices brought me out of the dark. A gentle hand touched my face.

“Caroline,” he whispered, only it was so different from the way he whispered my name earlier. Now my name was etched in desperation.

“Get her inside,” Klaus demanded of someone.

Gentle hands lifted me up, someone on each side of me. It hurt to walk, my back was blooming with pain, and I cried out with each step.

“Can’t we pick her up?” Haley’s voice came from one side.

The next thing I knew I was being lifted from the ground, thrown over someone’s shoulder to protect my back. It still hurt but since I didn’t have to move now, the pain was a little less.

“Bring them to me!” I heard Klaus yell, his voice filled with rage.

I was carried into the house and then gently lowered until my feet touched the ground.

“Wooden bullets.” It had been Rebekah who had carried me into the house, into the dining room. Her fingers gently traced my back. “Laced with Vervain.”

“Caroline,” Rebekah’s voice was gentle and she kept an arm around my waist as she pulled a wooden chair away from the table. “I’m going to help you into the chair. Sit so that your chest is against the back of it.”

With Rebekah and Haley’s help, I was able to straddle the chair slowly and do just that. Each movement created more pain and I grabbed the back of the ornate wooden chair, dropping my head and closing my eyes. I’d give anything for the pain to go away. The last time I’d felt anything so horrible was torture at the hands of my own father when he discovered I was a vampire. Only this was worse. With his torture, he’d given me moments in between before the pain resumed. There was no relief now and I helplessly cried, tried to stay still.

“We have to get those out,” Haley told Rebekah. “There are so many of them. How are we going to do that?”

“Tweezers?” Rebekah asked. “The bullets are small and I think the tweezers would hurt less than using pliers. I’ll get both just in case.”

The thought of either being used to pull who knew how many bullets out of my back made me cringe.

I felt a breeze as Rebekah used her preternatural speed to go to her room. A minute couldn’t have passed until she was back.

“Got them,” Rebekah said, sounding nervous. I felt her tug at the hem of my ruined shirt, gently pulling it up and ripping the fabric at both arms so I wouldn’t have to move my arms for her to remove it. She threw what was left of it in the floor at my feet, leaving me in my bra and jeans.

“Should I do it?” Haley offered. “Because of the Vervain?”

“No,” I managed to moan.

“Caroline, Haley only wants to help you,” Rebekah explained, still being very kind.

“The baby,” I muttered, swallowing hard. “She shouldn’t.”

“She’s right,” Rebekah said. “We can’t take that risk.”

Rebekah’s sigh filled the room. “Caroline, I’m sorry. This is going to hurt.”

“I know,” I told her, choking on a sob. “Just please… get them out.”

A warm hand clasped mine. I knew from the scent it was Haley, standing next to me. I held on to her hand as Rebekah went to extract the first bullet. Searing pain flared as she began to work it free. They’d gone so deep into my back and my arms. I bit my lip trying not to scream. I wasn’t entirely successful.