Chapter 4

She cried until she couldn't, then showered. Meanwhile, all the she could think about was her friends. She had to believe he was leading her to them. She couldn't bear the alternative.

Damon still wasn't back by the time she was done. The air conditioner wasn't working too well and her skin started feeling clammy, she pulled her hair back into a makeshift ponytail and switched her shirt for a tank top. Caroline crawled into her bed; the mattress was flimsy and she could feel the springs digging lightly into her back.

She twisted and turned under the scratchy sheets, but couldn't sleep. Exasperated, Caroline sat up and reached for the remote control. She turned on the TV and flipped through a couple of channels absent mindedly, but neither the news, or cop shows held her attention for long. Just like when she'd felt like leaving the house and happened upon that thug.

Just like Charleston…

Caroline closed her eyes. It was cooler by the veranda. The crowd had made it almost unbearably hot inside the house. She sensed someone's eyes on her and turned.

An older, dark-haired woman was watching her…

Caroline opened her eyes, before anything else could surface. She could still taste the fear. Her throat was dry and she reached for the vervain tea. It tasted horrible, but it was better than nothing. She walked over to the window and pushed aside the blinds. It was dark by now, but the lot was more or less well-lit, as far as she could see. There didn't seem to be anyone around, which didn't surprise her at this point. The car was one of two in the lot.

Damon couldn't have gone far. There was nothing around.

She paced around the room, bottle in hand. The sensible thing would be to stay in. Or to wait for Damon. For what? Her mind supplied and Caroline admitted she didn't really know. Habit.

She found herself by the window again, restlessness beating into her bones. She saw one figure at a distance, near the parking lot, small and slight- a kid? But what was a kid doing out alone at night?

She pulled on a pair of sweats and changed to a shirt, and dashed out the door, bottle still in hand.

"Hey!" she called to the boy as she approached. She was close enough to see he was maybe seven or eight with dark hair.

He took a couple of steps back at the sound of her voice.

"It's kind of late for you to be out." Caroline tried keeping her tone light. "Where are your parents?"

"Are you the vampire?"

Caroline froze. "No."

"I'm supposed to wait for the vampire."

She furrowed her brows, stifling the impulse to run back to the room. Her heart had started pounding, hard. "Who told you that?"

"My dad."

Caroline gave a quick look around. "Come with me," she blurted out, reaching for his hand.

The boy moved away, fear stark in his face.

She drew forward and grabbed his arm. The car was closer than the room. If anything, the gun was there.

"It's not safe here."

"Let go!" He tried to squirm out of her grasp, reminding her that she'd never been good with kids anyway. "My dad told me to stay here!"

"Vampires will hurt you," she said, gritting her teeth at the effort of almost dragging the boy. "You shouldn't be outside! I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to keep you safe!"

She ended up pulled the kid's arms back like some screwed up cop show. He was skinny enough that with some effort she managed to keep him from getting away from her. The water bottle she held at the crook of her arm almost fell once or twice, but she got them close to the car, if with several scrapes on her shin and much yelling. She placed the water bottle on the roof of the car, shifting to a quick one-handed hold, readying to get her keys

But then realized she forgot one thing. The keys.

Stupid. Stupid. So stupid.

"What's going on here?" Caroline turned her head to see the man at the reception. Now less, relaxed than he'd seem earlier he was pointing a shotgun in her direction.

"Thank god," she exhaled. The boy had gone utterly still, enough so she could loosen her hold. "It's okay," she squatted down to tell him before addressing the older man. "I'm so glad you're here. This boy, he was out—"

"Hands off, miss."

Something about his tone of voice made warning bells ring in her head. "He said he was supposed to wait—"

"You shouldn't interfere with other people's business."

She laughed nervously and stood. "What are you talking about?"

"Go back to your room, miss. This doesn't concern you."

"I don't un-"

"I'm serious." She swallowed and shook her head. He cocked the gun. "Don't make me—"

"That won't be necessary," a male voice spoke up by her side.

Caroline shut her eyes, knowing by how quickly he'd shown up. Vampire.

"She came with someone."

Caroline opened her eyes and snuck a look at the vampire. He looked older than Damon, shorter. But almost ordinary, decked in t-shirt and jeans. "She's got no marks," he told the man. She brought her hands to her neck self-consciously, finding her neck bare. Shit.

"It'll cost you," the man said, lowering his gun.

She knew it wouldn't work, she knew it was useless, but still cried out. "Wait! Aren't you going to do something?"

"I'm willing to pay," the vampire told the man, ignoring Caroline.

The man didn't look at her. Instead, his eyes sought the kid. "You know what your dad told you," was all he said, before turning away, without addressing Caroline.

"Hey!" she yelled as he ambled between the buildings to where the reception was. "You can't—"

"You're not from around here are you?" The vampire's voice was laced with amusement.

She pulled the kid behind her and turned her attention to the vampire. "Neither are you."

"I stop here from time to time. It's not often that I see humans with no owners."

She gave him a brittle smile, positioning herself between the vampire and the boy. "What makes you think I don't have an owner?" For a second she was back in Mystic falls, Donnie clutching her wrist.

The vampire tilted his head. "It's really…rare to find a human without marks."

She darted a look at the water bottle on the roof of the car. That was something. She approached the vampire against every screaming reflex, every step should keep his eyes on her.

"Funny," she tried keeping her voice even. "I met someone recently – he said he didn't have marks either."

Trying to control her trembling, she reached for the water bottle and took a drink.

"Really?" The vampire advanced. "I think you'll make a tasty appetizer." Two steps and he was before her, close enough to bringing a cold hand up to the underside of her jaw. He hadn't exerted much force, she wrenched from his grasp, look at him. He hadn't expected that.

Much less the mouthful of vervain tea that she spat in his face.

"Run!" she turned to scream at the kid as the vampire brought a hand to his eyes with a cry.

The distraction was brief. He slammed her against the car, pain spreading from her spine out to the small of her back. She lost her hold on the bottle. It fell and rolled away, but she didn't register any more for the blinding throb of her back. The vampire wrapped a hand around her throat, squeezing. She clawed at his arm, gasping for air.

Caroline shut her eyes tightly as he pushed her head to the side. Terror washed over her until she remembered the vervain. It had to be still in her system, she thought with a rush. Caroline readied herself for the bite—

"That's rude."

She opened her eyes to see Damon, hands in his pockets, strolling towards them.

"No respect for other people's property these days. Makes me feel old to say, but it's true"

The pressure keeping her head to the side lessened, there was only the vampire's hand on her neck.

He hissed at Damon. "She's got no marks."

Damon smiled. "You have a lot to learn if you think that's the only serviceable artery. Frankly, all this?" He gestured towards the neck as he neared. "Kind of cliché."

"I don't believe you. There are rules."

"To each his own, I guess," Damon replied cheerily. Caroline fell as the vampire let her go. She collapsed in a heap by the car, coughing. She heard the sounds of a struggle behind her, but dove for the water bottle a few feet from her.

She pulled back just in time to see Damon getting slammed into the car, less than two feet from her.

"Keys," she wheezed as Damon feinted, avoiding the vampire's blows. She thought Damon might have looked at her when she did, but he was diving for the vampire's neck, and they were off struggling a good ten feet away now.

"Caroline," Damon called out, voice level for the effort.

The keys landed in front of her and she pushed out the pain to grab them and duck into the car. Under the seat—the gun was under the seat. She ducked for it, despite her aching back, damning Damon all the while.

She'd gotten her hands on the handle when a shot rang out through the air. Startled, she straightened up, feeling her head collide with something hard that gave. She cried out at it hit the small of her back, before it rolled out of the car, landing on the ground with a crash. Without pausing to check what it was, Caroline ducked again for the gun.

Another shot rang through the air and this time she did scramble out of the car, hands raised, leaving the gun on the driver's seat.

The scene that greeted her once she got out was the man from before with his shotgun, pointing it at her. She saw another figure walk out from between the buildings. It darted back into the shadows after catching sight of the chaos.

The vampire who had attacked lay unmoving several feet away. Damon pulled something from the vampire's body, stake, her mind supplied dizzily wondering how he got it.

Regardless, Damon was at the man's throat in an instant.

"I didn't know she was yours!" the man pleaded. "She had no marks. The boy's blood was sold here fair and square. She had no right to interfe—"

"Damon, no!" she cried out as he twisted the man's head. The man's body crumpled to the ground, shotgun clacking against the pavement beside him. She turned her head, but it was too late, the image was already engraved in her head.

When she opened her eyes, she saw the GPS by her foot, the display shattered. That was what had fallen out of the car, she thought dully.

Damon was rounding the car to the driver's side. "Get in the car."

The boy, she looked around the complex and caught sight of him several feet from her, half-hidden in the shadows from the soda machine.

"Caroline, get in the car."

"There's a little boy—" But it'd be useless to say and she sprinted out towards the kid.

"Caroline!"

"Are you okay?" she asked breathlessly. "You can come out now. It's okay."

The man she'd seen from between the buildings came into her line of vision. A hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Let go of him, I swear to god-"

"He's my son."

"How do I know-"

Damon was beside her. "We don't have time for you to play hero—"

"Give me back my stake," the man demanded.

Damon's eyes flickered dangerously towards him and his hand snaked out to grab him by the throat as he had the man with the shotgun.

"That stake is mine!" The man wheezed out.

"Damon no!" Caroline grabbed his arm.

He let him go and the man collapsed in a flurry of coughs. When he looked up he cried out, "Jeff!"

Damon yanked Caroline back by the wrist. "We. Are. Leaving."

"How could you leave him alone out here?" she asked the man accusingly.

Fury darkened his features. "You have no idea."

"What do you mean by that?" she yelped and pulled, but couldn't keep from being dragged forward. "Damon, please. We can't leave them here."

"I have a hard enough time keeping you alive."

"You can't leave him here. I won't say anything about anything," she begged increasingly frantic. "You can't leave him. Please." She scrambled for anything in her appeal. "We lost the GPS. Maybe they know—"

The man called out. "You just signed our death warrants!"

Damon stopped and Caroline held her breath. "I don't suppose you'd know how to get to Siloh Island?"

"Not since the bridge was blown up. That where you're going?"

"See?" Damon continued dragging her. "Useless."

"I know people at Maften," the man called out again. "That's close enough."

"Where are you headed to exactly?" Damon stopped and turned around.

"Anywhere but here. They'll blame us for this."

"Who's 'they'?" Caroline asked.

"Vamps."

Damon pulled her along. "And that's why we don't get involved."

"But you are now," the man said.

"He's right," Caroline continued pulling against his grip. "You said it's not long - "

"Trips have a way of complicating when it's more than two people. Get in the car."

"I'm not getting in the car. You can't compel me either – I was stupid enough to fall for that earlier, but not now. You can't. There's vervain in my system. We can take them with us and have things easy or this trip will get a lot messier." She gestured for the man and the boy to get in.

Damon brought a hand to rub his forehead. "Caroline." He looked at her meaningfully as they climbed into the car. ""When this goes terribly wrong," he murmured to her below their companions' hearing level. "And it will. I'm going to tell you I told you so."

She rolled her eyes. "Shut up and drive."

"If you have any news about these criminals—"

Caroline let out a disgusted sigh. "Do they have to run these, every five minutes?" she muttered.

Damon looked towards the rearview mirror. "So…"

"Mike," the man supplied helpfully.

"Mike, what's the fastest way back to I-95?"

"Left, about four miles."

Caroline turned in her seat to look at the boy, ignoring the dull hammering of pain at her back. "Are you okay?"

He nodded mutely.

"I'm Caroline. What's your name?"

"Jeff," the dad told her. "His name is Jeff. Where are you from?"

Caroline turned back, still unable to make sense that the man sold his own son off. It was Damon who said, "Not far. You?"

Mike didn't comment on the evasiveness, offering some of his own. "Close enough to hitchhike. I used to have family here. Thought they might be here still and we could stay with them…"

The rest stops they passed looked abandoned, like ghost towns on the side of the road. The highway itself didn't seem any different, the shadows swallowing the illumination from the headlights.

"So we're going to Siloh Island?" Caroline asked softly.

Damon didn't respond.

"You won't find much here," Mike spoke up before Caroline could ask again. "Not at this hour. I'd exit and try for route 17, there might be something there."

Damon grudgingly exited the highway and they traveled along a smaller road for about an hour before coming up a small motel.

"Will it be safe?" Caroline asked when Damon turned off the car.

"For him," Mike said. "A lot of these motels won't take unattached humans."

"Just in case you get one of those impulses-" Damon told Caroline. "Don't. I'll be right back." Damon shut the door.

She looked at him through the rearview mirror. "What's in Siloh Island?"

He shrugged. "Crazies. Shoot first kind of people."

Caroline's brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"About five years back," he gave her an odd look. "They blew up a bridge tore up damn near a half of the coastline. Now and then they're on the news, raids on the bases, warehouses or some such. Like the news says."

Caroline gaped at him. "Military bases?" Her friends were the people on the news?

"They say there's vamps with them." He smiled grimly. "Doesn't make a whole lot of sense - they make a point of staking or flaming as many of them whenever they're here. Whoever the vamps have with them gets the short end of the stick too. The news loves that. You didn't know?" the man asked at her expression.

"No," she said.

He laughed. "Where has your vampire been keeping you? Don't you listen to the ne-?"

"He's not my vampire."

"Then what's he doing keeping you alive?"

Caroline closed her eyes.

"It ain't shameful to be owned," he softened his tone. "I hear there's not one human in the city without a vampire. You never hear any stories about them. Everyone just keeps to themselves."

"You're confused." She turned around to face him. "Damon is not like the others. It doesn't mean he's any better, but he's not my owner."

"Believe what you want miss, but if he weren't," he said, learning forward. "We wouldn't be talking right now. That's just the way it is."

"Why would you take a chance if Damon was like that?"

"It's a hell of a lot better than anything else out there."

Caroline turned back to face the front.

"Why would a vampire want to go to Siloh anyway?"

"My friends are there," she said dully.

The man didn't say anything else.

Damon told them to keep their heads down as they went in. A grandmotherly woman, looked at them curiously at they went up the stairs. He'd probably told her they were his road snacks. The thought chilled her and she dismissed it.

Caroline ducked into the bathroom as soon as she got to the room. There, she peeled the shirt up. The skin was unbroken, but there was a bright red welt at the small of her back, where it had hit the car door.

She pulled the shirt back down, the conversation with Mike vivid in her head. Given how things were, she told herself, it was a good thing her friends ended up with 'shoot first' people.

It meant they were more likely to be alive.

She walked out and sat on the bed with a wince, turning to lie on her stomach. She was annoyed that Damon had left the duffel bag with her toiletries behind. It made her feel silly, thinking about her toothbrush when she'd been lucky enough to get out alive.

"How's the back?" Damon called out from his reclined position on the bed next to hers.

"Fine," she said, voice muffled through the pillow.

"This wouldn't have happened if you hadn't tried the whole hero shtick." He stood up and slid open the drawer of the bedside table between the beds, pulling out the remote control.

She turned her head to face him. "No, I should have let that kid get drained and thrown on a ditch. That's what you would have done. Or maybe you would have helped."

He snorted. "Not my cup of tea. And they usually don't kill them, you know," he said conversationally.

"Doesn't make any of that less messed up."

"Chances are the dad just needed some quick cash and a place to stay. They wouldn't have gotten too far if Mike hadn't made the deal. It's pretty common."

"Jeff's just a kid."

"So? Some consider that gourmet."

Her stomach turned and she looked for some trace of emotion save the nonchalance. "This is normal?"

He shrugged. "Normal is relative. Two days ago normal was you tidying up the house with a nice exercise break at one."

"And providing a nice neck for you to suck on," she muttered.

"Ah." Damon smiled wolfishly. "That was convenient. Bummer."

"So now what? You prowl around like the vampire that almost snacked on Jeff?" She curled her lip in disgust.

"You offend me," he said. "Most of the time, that's where compulsion comes in."

"Most of the time?" She lowered her head. "You're disgusting."

"In my defense I haven't drained one of you in ages."

"Ages?"

"Hyperbole, but the point is it's been a while, which should be give me some points."

Something else was bothering her. Five years was a long time to be cohabiting with someone. "And that's," she stumbled slightly. "That's all you made me do for you…" She felt her face burn.

"Well…there was the time I had this craving for upside down pineapple cake. Of course I had to extra-compel you to clean the kitchen afterwards-"

"Damon."

"If you're asking if we had sex. The answer is no."

She exhaled.

"Are you remembering something yet?"

She sighed. "Pieces."

"About what?"

"Charleston, I think." She slid her hands under the pillow. " There was this woman." She let her voice trail off in the hope that Damon might fill her in. When he didn't, she continued. "Is that why we're going to my friends? Mike told me about them. He said," she managed a humorless laugh. "He said they're not exactly friendly—especially to vampires or to people with them. If we're doing this, then it's got to be because there's something worse here."

Damon's eyes flickered over to her, expression veiled. "You're assuming your friends don't know me."

She blinked, trying to work it out.

They say there's vamps with them.

Caroline's eyes widened. "You're with them?"

"Let's just say my brother is their fearless leader's main squeeze."

"Your brother?" She remembered the photo of the boy with the too-serious face. "So the group in the island is led by…vampires?"

"He's the only one, as far as I know." He stretched. "But I'm not sure. I haven't seen them since they left."

She shifted to her side trying to piece everything together. "Why didn't you go with them?"

He went to turn off the lights, the TV becoming the only light in the room. "Someone had to look for you."

"But why—"

"Can we wrap the Q & A up?" She saw him lay back on his bed.

"You can't expect me not to wonder."

"No, but we're out as soon as the sun goes up and I don't want to be dragging you around. Don't make me compel you to sleep."

"You can't. Vervain."

"Don't make me regret that more than I do already."

"You're such an asshole."

"Sweet dreams, princess."

Five minutes of some chatter from some infomercial and she felt herself begin to drift off.