CHAPTER THREE
Caroline knew that she was playing a dangerous game, returning to Mystic Falls so often. In the past ninety two years of her life as a vampire she had to have come back at least twenty times, usually brief. Life had seemed to go on monotonously since turning, but Mystic Falls still felt like home. No one significant enough was alive to remember her now anyway. It was a very lonely existence being a creature of the night.
She was sitting down in the grass on her knees, staring at the headstone of her parents. She had tried to reach out to them when she had finally figured out what was happening to her, tried to convince them that they could live with her forever also. They had been horror-stricken and disgusted. It had torn her apart how they had hated her and the hardest choice she had ever had to make was taking away their memories of her entirely. Afterward she would visit them in hiding until only a few decades later they were dead also. They laid here in the back of the cemetery, mortal dust and bone remnants buried beneath the earth. It was a fate that would never befall Caroline, something that gave her no comfort. Not dying had become so terribly overrated.
Katherine had warned her about these nostalgia phases. The constant pain of the past would haunt you, sometimes stronger than others. Caroline knew it to be true now, experiencing it first hand. Unlike older vampires, it was easier for her to slip back into her youth and pretend though. She had compelled Teresa, a woman that looked similar enough to her actual mother, to play the role of guardian while she lived out her modern high school fantasy. It was silly, she knew, and Katherine would tease her for eternity if she knew Caroline had gone to such lengths to pretend to be eighteen again when that wasn't part of the plan.
It had been Katherine Pierce who had found the newly turned Caroline in Chicago. Even though Katherine wasn't always gentle or loving or even loyal really, she had taught Caroline everything she had needed to know about being a vampire. And when they had learned that Mystic Falls had once been a home to both of them, it cemented an odd sort of friendship in them. Katherine had confided most of her past to Caroline in vague information, not describing anyone by name. The brunette had turned herself after being chased by an Original for being the doppelganger.
When Katherine had tracked down one of her descendants, Isobel, and learned the woman had a daughter, she had been considerably interested. She had begged Caroline to go and check it out, even offering to have a witch spell a Daylight ring for her. Caroline agreed immediately despite knowing that if Katherine was having her do something like this it was because their was too much risk to do it herself. And after today, it seemed that Katherine was right. There was another doppelganger alive and well in Mystic Falls. Elena Gilbert.
When Caroline had first caught sight of her standing with Stefan she had been taken aback. There wasn't a single flaw or feature that didn't belong to Katherine, other than an obvious difference in demeanor, style, and attitude. It was especially easy after talking to the girl to see that she bared absolutely no resemblance to Katherine in personality. It was weird and freaky, but over the past ninety two years Caroline had to admit she had seen worse. And then there was Stefan... he was so sad for a popular teenage boy. She could sense the heartache and empathy he kept below the surface and it drew her to him in a way that completely surprised her. She hadn't been infatuated with men in such a long time, learning only how terrible and predictable they were over the years.
A half hour passed before she sensed someone else walking through the graveyard. She could hear the heartbeat first, that ever present rhythm that had such power over her now. She stood up and started walking towards it, eyes searching to find the owner. It hadn't hit her until now, how hungry she was. And then she bumped into the person, her hunger overpowering her senses, and she almost jumped ten feet back when she realized who it was. "Oh- Stefan- hey."
She willed the veins in her face to go back to normal, holding desperately on to her willpower as she focused on breathing. He looked just as shocked as she was at the meeting and his heart rate was certainly elevated as he replied, "I'm sorry, I didn't see you. I was just visiting."
Her heart clenched a little. "Oh, you have family here?"
He nodded awkwardly, and she cursed herself for not being more tactful or sympathetic. "That's not my business, I'm sorry."
"It's okay." He said, shrugging a little. "My mother's been buried here all my life. My Dad- he died four months ago."
Caroline couldn't help but notice how every part of his body tensed as he talked about it, his heart beating a little slower as if in protest. She wanted to hug him, tell him everything was going to be okay, but she didn't. While she could feel the sadness roll off of him in waves, there was something harder in his tone that worried her. Instead she replied, "I could tell something was different about you."
His face fell, and she shook her head, "Not in a bad way. You just seem like you're holding back an apology every time you go to laugh or joke around with your friends."
She could hear his breathing hitch at her words, and she wondered if she had said too much. She had a problem with being blunt and overbearing, but Stefan didn't seem like he was offended. If anything, the way he was staring at her, he seemed vulnerable. He went to open his mouth, but she shook her head quickly. "I'm so sorry, I was kind of born with this defect where I don't think before I speak. Just forget I said anything."
He watched her, a smile forming slowly on his face, and said, "Don't worry. It's kind of refreshing."
She smiled back, the butterflies she was feeling intensifying as she heard his heart rate quicken once more. "Oh. Well I'm glad."
"I'll see you at the party later?" He asked her, and she knew she was in trouble then. He wanted her to go, she could tell. She nodded. "Yeah, see you then."
And as she turned to go, she cursed at herself. You cannot fall for the human boy, Caroline. Don't be an idiot.
