sugarandbite | debut | in the forest of the night

Everything hurt.

Her skin felt like it was on fire. It was no use to try to wipe her face off on her jacket. The vervain was still on her clothes, making even the smallest attempts to clean herself off absolute agony.

Everything hurt.

It had become a litany, being repeated over and over again in Caroline’s head. She had to get out of here. She had to make it stop. Gripping the bars of the cage, she panted as tears streamed down her cheeks. Her skin burned, she couldn’t get a breath. Sobs shook her body, choking her, making her wonder if she could escape.

He wanted information, wanted to know how many vampires there were. She could hear the question, but it didn’t make sense. Her brain was a fog of pain, of fire, of agony. A scream escaped her throat, the painful sound tearing out of her as she slid down against the bars. Another squirt of vervain to her face and Caroline clawed at her skin. It wouldn’t get off.

“Why are you doing this to me?” It sounded as bad as she felt, but she had to know. Her throat was raw, her voice was gravelly and broken. There was so much blood and all of it belonged to her. For the first time in months the sight of it didn’t make her hungry. Kicking against the bars of the cage, she was begging as she tried to make him stay away. “Why are you doing this? Why?”

The tears were hot on her cheeks. She crawled backward, curling upon herself against the corner of the cage. A squeal of pain.

“You’re a vampire.” The guy sounded almost happy. It was sick. There was something in his hands and he was pointing it at her. “Why not?”

The dart pierced the skin of her neck. It burned. One hand still gripping the bars, she recoiled as she clawed at her neck. The burning, the pain. It was awful and it made her angry as tears blinded her. Pulling it free she kicked the bars again.

“I’m sorry, what was that?” He was mocking her. At that moment she wanted to be free, wanted to rip out his werewolf throat.

“Let me out!” Shaking the bars, she screamed as if she could break them down through sheer force of will. Her voice was cracking and she couldn’t see. All that could be done was to kick, to fight, to hold onto the bars and try to keep him away as she slumped further down on the floor. “Let me out!”

A howl of pain and another kick as she squeezed her eyes shut. There was a small blast of cool air, a shift in the way that the air smelled but she didn’t notice it right away. “Let me out!”

Exhausted and full of fear, anger and pain Caroline crumpled still half-heartedly kicking at the cage. Why were they doing this to her? It wasn’t fair. Sobs still shaking her body, her hands locked around the bars she tried to recover. Tried to prepare herself for more of the pain that was to come.

“Let me out.” The words came out as a harsh whisper. The warm air blew over her, telling her that her captor must have gone outside. She could hear noise, the voices of people, but she didn’t open her eyes. She just wanted out. She didn’t want to die there. Not again. “Let me...”

Words failed her, confusion seeping in through the pain at how it was both cold and warn, the air strangely sweet. But she didn’t open her eyes, couldn’t allow herself to look. Maybe she was dying, permanently this time. Maybe that wasn’t so bad. She just didn’t know. So she didn’t think about it.

Everything hurt, everything ached, but Caroline did nothing. She just held on tight to what was there and cried.

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Allowing herself to be led, Caroline felt a shiver run down her spine. This place really was different from where she had been before. It wasn't a trailer in the middle of the woods, but rather had more in common with her high school.

Sitting down where she was told, she chewed nervously on her lower lip. Her fingers went to her neck, causing her to wince when they touched the sensitive skin. "Everything hurts. I...I can't remember how long I was there."

Edited 2011-10-10 19:51 (UTC)

"What did they do to you?" Lexie asks, brows furrowing with concern that isn't purely medically related. She's always been like this, a little too invested, and when this has only seemed all the more worrying with the more she hears, she can't really help it. There's nothing immediately eye-catching that calls for her attention; she ought to find out what Caroline can tell her before she does anything anyway. "And where's there?"

"He kept me in a cage." Caroline's voice came out small, her shoulders rolling forward slightly as she tried to both remain seated and to curl in upon herself. It wasn't exactly a bright moment in her life.

"Outside of Mystic Falls, Virginia. He kept me in a cage and he shot me. Then he would wait for me to heal and shoot me again. He would spray me with vervain and it would burn, then he'd shoot me with darts and..."

Her voice broke, a sob escaping her. "I'm sorry."

"No, no, don't be sorry," Lexie says quickly, giving one fervent shake of her head, though she can't mask the concern in her voice. A lot of it makes no sense — waiting for her to heal, and vervain, which sounds vaguely familiar but not anything she can place — but that isn't the point. At least it all makes it seem unlikely that there are any serious injuries she's overlooking. "So you were healing? You're not... shot now?"

Reflexively her hand went to her forehead, rubbing the bloodied spot where there had once been a hole. A slow nod as she winced in pain. Just because there was no gaping wound didn't make it any less painful.

"No, I'm not. I heal, but some things hurts. He was torturing me. For reason other than he could."

She had asked him. Begged to know the reason, but he had kept her there. Even though this woman was nice and she was out of the cage, that didn't make what had happened to her make anymore sense.

Inclined though Lexie is to believe in the persisting goodness of mankind or something like that, there are still moments when she has to wonder why that's so. This is one of them. Some people have just got to be exceptions to a rule, but it's no less awful to hear because of it, making her stomach turn. She's dealt with some awful things before, but this is in a class all its own. For a moment, she wants nothing more than to give Caroline a hug. She doesn't, instead just resting a hand gently on the girl's arm, as reassuring as she can be.

"I'm so sorry," she says, face falling a little. "I don't know why anyone would do that, at all. But we're gonna get you cleaned up, okay? And I can give you something for pain if there's anything that hurts."

Her reaction was to say that she was fine. To downplay the entire thing. Caroline might have been the one to explain exactly what had been happening to her, but she didn't want to make this woman feel worse. She had survived, which was the important thing right?

Then how come she wanted to cry? Another sob, her head bowing as she tried to mask the tears that were rolling down her cheeks. "Okay. Thank you. I just. I don't know what I would do if you hadn't found me."

Lexie can't help herself then. Leaning forward a little, she wraps her arms lightly around the other girl, the embrace brief but heartfelt, and absolutely necessary, as far as she can tell. Whoever would have attacked her in such a way, it's still incomprehensible to her, but it's always been her job to make up for the part that comes after anyway. Sometimes, it can actually help being overly compassionate in her work.

"It's okay now," she promises, utterly serious, eyes wide. "Now, is there anything I can get for you?"

Caroline didn't know this woman. She only knew that her name was Lexie and that she was some sort of doctor. But she let herself be hugged, feeling a bit better at knowing that someone was there even if she had only just met her. It was nice. It made her feel a little less alone.

"Thank you," she said taking a deep breath to try to quell the sobs. "Um. I think I'll need help getting the darts out. And I should probably shower."

"Of course," Lexie says, nodding. "I need to grab a couple things — just to clean the marks with — but then I'll be right back, okay? And I'll show you to where you can shower." All things considered, it should be simple, which is good. Based on what she's seen and been told, it could be a hell of a lot worse, and no matter how much she enjoys her job, there's no pleasure to be found in treating serious injuries, especially under circumstances like Caroline's.

"Okay." Caroline nodded, chewing on her lower lip. Her fingers were knotted in her lap as she waited. She felt scared and small, uncertain about what was going on. Where was she going to go? What was this place? It was almost more than she could take. "I'll just wait here or something."

It takes Lexie only a moment to gather the things she needs, something to clean any wounds with and something to cover them. From the sound of it, she doesn't think they'll be too bad, but it doesn't hurt to be careful, not when the slightest missed thing could have disastrous results. Returning to Caroline's side, she summons up a thin smile. "Alright," she says. "You ready? This is probably going to sting, but I promise it'll be just fine."

Taking a deep breath, Caroline swallowed hard as she steeled herself for what was coming. Whatever it was, it couldn't compare with the agony of the last few hours. The sooner those things were out of her skin, the happier she would be.

"Yeah. I'm ready as I'll ever be."

debut | in the forest of the night

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