Stefan and Damon fallowed Matt back to the abandoned house just on the outskirts of the Mystic Falls boarder where Tripp was holding Caroline. When they saw Enzo standing at the edge of the wood line, Stefan got a unsettling feeling in his stomach.
"Welcome back Mate." Enzo said, nodding towards Damon. "Sorry that your home coming is ruined by the mess your little brother has made." He said, glaring over at Stefan.
"Stefan?" Damon asked.
"Oh he's just mad that I staked him and turned him into the vampire hunter." He said, slightly amused.
"Well I'm sure you had a good reason for that." Damon said.
"I think he is jealous of my accent." Enzo smirked. "And I might have killed and turned his girlfriend into a vampire."
"That will do it." Damon nodded. "So how did Blondie get herself into the mix?"
"Again, that one's on Stefan." Enzo stated.
"Guys can you fight about whose fault this mess is later? Caroline still needs help before that psycho does something to her." Matt insisted.
They all nodded in agreement. "How many are we up against?" Damon asked.
"One that I know of, but he has had two other come in since he had me." Enzo stated.
"Well then I guess easiest thing is bust down the door and break her out." Damon said.
The two of them made their way through the woods towards the house, Matt stayed back. Stefan stopped at a window and peaked threw the crack in the boards to see Caroline chained to the floor. He noticed Tripp across the room across from the door and signaled to Damon. Damon nodded in return.
Caroline laid on the floor trying to keep calm. She could feel the venom spread through here body, her skin burning more intense by the second. Her vision was becoming burly and tunnel vision like. She heard the front door be kicked in. Her head rolled to the side as she watched Tripp aim his gun and pull the trigger. What happen next she was sure she hallucinating.
Damon?
Damon caught the wooden stake in mid air and glared across the room at Tripp. "I didn't just come back from the dead to go back so soon." He hissed before throwing the stake at vamp speed back at him, hitting him in the leg.
Tripp screamed as he grabbed his leg, stumbling back against the wall. In a last ditch effort Tripp aimed the gun and shot multiple stakes in the air before making a break for the back door. Both Stefan and Damon were hit in stomach with a stake and instantly pulled it out of themselves.
"Damon help here, I'm going to take care of him." Stefan hissed before following after Tripp out the back door.
"Caroline?" Damon said softly, kneeling down on the ground next to her.
She stared blankly at him. She winced at the pain on her shoulder. "I'm hallucinating, you're not here." She said weakly.
"On different circumstances I might take offense to that." Damon said, giving a small smile. He brushed her hair off her shoulder pushed her jacket back to reveal the wound.
"How-how are you here?" She asked. Before he could answer she let out a scream as the werewolf venom and wound spread farther over her should and up her neck.
"Shhhh." Damon whispered, breaking the chains on her wrists and scooped her up in his arms. "Let's get you out of here." He whispered in her ear before walking out of the house. They made their way back up to where Matt was waiting by his truck. Stefan ran out of the woods.
"Did you get him?" Damon asked.
"He crossed the border before I could catch him. Matt can you find him?" Stefan asked.
"Yeah I can try. Is Care going to be okay?" He asked concerned.
"We are going to do everything we can." Damon said before speeding off into the night.
Elena yawned as she sat up in her bed at the sound of her phone ringing on the night stand next to her. She looked at the clock. 3 am. She sighed and answered the phone.
"Hello?" She said threw another yawn.
"Elena…" she heard Stefan on the other end, his voice sounded desperate. "I'm sorry if I woke you…"
"No Stefan it's okay. What's wrong?" She asked.
"Its-its Caroline. The vampire hunter had her…" He paused.
"Is she okay?" She asked, throwing the covers off her as she leapt from her bed. There was a moment of silence on the other end. "STEFAN? Is she okay?" She said more panicked.
He sighed. "It's not good." His voice cracked. "We are headed over to her house right now. I figured you would want to here there."
"Yes of course I'll be right there." Elena said heading for her door.
"Elena there is something else you should know." He paused again. "Damon's back."
Elena stopped in her tracks. "Wha—What?"
"It's a long story, I'll let him explain later, but I thought you would want some warning. He knows about your compulsion and everything, but right now we need to be here for Caroline." He said.
"Um..yeah. I'm on my way." She said before hanging up.
Damon was back? What about Bonnie?
She shook her head and took a deep breath to try to calm her nerves. The last thing she wanted to do was see Damon. She only remembers the all the bad things he's done. Even though she read the letter she rode to herself before Alaric erased her memories, she still couldn't imagine that she loved him once. But Stefan was right, right now Caroline was the priority and everything else can be sorted out at another time.
Stefan watched from the doorway of Caroline's bedroom as Damon laid her down on the bed. Damon placed a hand on her face, she was burning up. He removed her jacket and shirt leaving her in a tank top. He examined the wound. Dark veins made their way down her arm and back of her shoulder and the wound was the size of a baseball.
"Caroline, can you hear me?" He said softly, gently moving the hair out of her face.
Caroline moaned in pain as tears fell from her eyes.
"Here." Enzo said, pushing past Stefan in the doorway bringing a blood bag over to her. Damon took the blood bag and tore the top off before bringing it to her lips.
"Here honey, you need to try to drink some of this." He said. She opened her eyes and instantly they turned red and the veins under them began to show. "That's it, drink up. We need to keep your strength up."
"How long can we keep her alive?" Enzo whispered to Stefan in the doorway.
Stefan's gaze fell to the floor. "Not long."
Enzo felt a rush of anger take over his body and he reached out and grabbed Stefan by the throat and pushed him against the wall. "If she dies, I will personally make sure you're the next one going to the other side if it's the last thing I do." He said threw a clenched jaw. Stefan didn't even bother to fight back. Enzo squeezed his hand before pushing Stefan harder against the wall then let go and left the room.
Once Caroline was calmed enough Damon left the bedside and walked over to Stefan. "She doesn't have much time. We need to find Klaus; do you know where he is?"
"Last I heard he was still in New Orleans." Stefan said.
"I'm going to make a few phone calls. Keep an eye on her." He said before leaving. Stefan continued to watch her from a distance. How could he have ignored her calls? Her plea for help? Enzo was right it was his fault Caroline ended up at the hands of the vampire hunter. If he hadn't had turned Enzo in to him in the first place or just dropped Ivy off at Caroline's doorstep, none of this would have happened. If she dies, it will kill him. He will never be able to live with himself….it would push him to turn off his humanity again…. or worse.
He slowly made his way over the bed and gently sat down next to her. He gently took her hand in his as the tears threatened to fall from his eyes.
"Caroline..." His voice broke. "I'm so sorry. I should have been here for you." He stroked the back of her hand with his thumb.
Caroline stirred and opened her eyes. Suddenly she got a sharp pain pierce threw her body, causing her to shot right up in the bed. "AHHHHHHH!" She screamed clenching her shoulder.
"Caroline, calm down!" Stefan said, placing both arms around here.
"GET OFF ME!" she hissed, pushing him away.
He grabbed the blood bag off the night stand and held it in front of her. "Here, drink this; it will help take the edge off." He said.
Caroline grabbed the blood bag and threw it again the room.
"Care, let me help you." Stefan pleaded, trying to get her to calm down.
"It's too late for that Stefan! I needed you, and for the last 4 months you ignored me and left town! I fell apart without you and you didn't care. So don't sit here and pretend to give a damn about me now!" She yelled, pushing him away from her.
Elena and Enzo came running into the room when they heard her screaming.
"Caroline, its okay!" Elena said, pushing past Stefan and grabbed both sides of Caroline.
"No it's not Elena!" She yelled, getting up from the bed. "While you have been busy having Alaric compel away your memories and Stefan off pretending a new life is going to make everything go away, I've been here trying to clean up everyone's mess and trying to find away to get our home back! I've been trying to keep it together while everyone else fell apart and I can only take so much! I was hurting too!" Tears fell from her eyes and the shooting pains from the venom started to take over her body.
"But we are here for you now Caroline." Elena said, on the verge of crying herself.
"It's a little too late. In case you didn't notice…" She said pointing to the wound that continued to spread by the minute. "I'm dying! There is nothing anyone can do!"
Stefan picked up the blood bag from the floor and slowly walked towards her. "Caroline…please just drink it will ease some of the pain until we can get the antidote. Let me help you." He said.
"You don't get it! I don't want to ease the pain! I don't want your help! I rather die right now… from werewolf venom, they spend another day with a broken heart because of you!" She hissed.
He could see the anger and hurt in her eyes.
"Caroline! You don't mean that!" Elena said shocked.
Caroline stumbled backwards against the wall and sled down it. She was pouring sweat and her vision was becoming blurry. "God it's so damn hot in here!"
Enzo walked over and helped her stand up. Caroline's continued to fight against him. "Caroline, Stop!" He said, grabbing both sides of her face making her look at him. "It's me."
After a moment her vision cleared enough for her to make out his face before going blurry again. Enzo wrapped his arms around her and began leading her out of the room.
"Where are you taking her?!" Elena demanded.
"She's burning up. I, unlike some people, will not sit by and watch her in pain." He said, pushing past both Elena and Stefan and made his way down the hall to the bathroom, both of them hot on his heels.
He opened the shower door and turned the water on cool and climbed in with Caroline still in his arms, not bothering to remove any clothing. He stood under the water letting it run over both of them, pulling Caroline's hair out of her face and out of the wound.
"Does that feel better, love?" He whispered in her ear. He felt her breathing and heart beat begin to slow and she nodded her head. "Good. It's all going to be alright, I'm not going to let anything happen to you." He promised, looking through the glass shower door at Stefan.
Stefan clenched his fist and made his way downstairs to find Damon just hanging up the phone. "Please tell me you were able to get a hold of Klaus." He said.
"Well he was reluctant to help, until he heard it was Caroline. Good news is that he is in North Carolina." Damon said. "How is she?"
"Not good. She wants nothing to do with me or Elena, Enzo seems to be the only one who can calm her down." He said, sounding slightly defeated.
"Look Stefan, I understand you did what you had to move on after everything, but take a second and stand in her shoes. It's not easy to come to terms that the person you care about, just tries to erase you from their life." He said and Stefan could hear the disappointment in his voice.
"Damon, I'm sor-"
"Don't Stefan. You don't have to apologize to me. Like I said, I understand being on both sides of that line." He said, giving a supportive smile. "Caroline will come around."
"I don't know about that." He sighed. "Besides, I don't think she has much time, it seems to be spreading faster than the last time." He could feel the tears forming.
"Klaus said he will be here within the hour. We won't let anything happen to her Brother." He said, placing a hand on his brother's shoulder.
Stefan nodded. He was so consumed with Caroline he forgot to ask if Damon had seen or talked to Elena.
"Have you talked to Elena?" He asked.
Damon shook his head. "That's not important right now. She made her choice." He said before disappearing into the other room.
Stefan sat in the living room for a few minutes before Elena came down the stairs. "Well she's finally calmed down and resting. Enzo is still with her." She said sitting down across from him.
Stefan simply nodded, pouring two glasses of bourbon and handed her one and went back to watching the fire he had started in the fire place.
"Stefan, Caroline didn't mean any of that, you know that. It's just the venom talking." Elena said, trying to be reassuring.
Stefan shook his head. "she will never forgive me for leaving. I never knew how bad I hurt her until the night of the party, and I continue to hurt her. She called me, I can't tell you how many times tonight before following the hunter. If I had only answered maybe she wouldn't be the one dying right now." He hung his head in shame.
"Stefan you can't do this to yourself right now. You and I know better than anyone that Caroline would have still gone to that place to save Ivy and Enzo." Elena said reaching out and touched his arm.
Stefan stood up so fast from the chair he was sitting in that he sent it flying across the room. Elena jumped.
"Yeah, well maybe if I answered my damn phone she wouldn't have had to go alone and maybe she wouldn't have been injected with werewolf venom." He said, anger building up inside him as he threw his glass of bourbon into the fire place causing the fire to roar.
"If she dies…. It's my fault. I will never be able to live with myself!" He said.
"She's not going to die Stefan! Klaus is on his way, right?" She asked.
"Yeah, but can we ever completely trust him?" He scuffed, beginning to pace the room.
Elena was about to speak when they hear the front door blow open.
"Well, I take offense to that." They heard a voice from behind them.
Stefan turned to see Klaus standing there.
* leave a review and tell me what ya think so far ;) *