A/N: it's Four am and I'm updating for you guys, please be forgiving of the mistakes and enjoy.


Chapter Six

"Come on, up and at 'em!" Caroline heard Brooke's shrill from the doorway. She heard as the brunette stepped inside the room and pushed open the curtains. Caroline shrieked and dove under the covers. "Oh, don't worry Caroline, its night time."

Reluctantly, Caroline pulled herself up in bed and sure enough it was dark outside, the moonlight shinning in through the window. She watched as Brooke stepped forward to the edge of the bed and yanked the covers off of Caroline. "What are you doing?" The blonde moaned as she dropped her head into her hands.

"You've been locked in here for three days, we're going out. You smell, you need to feed and I want to go shopping, so let's go!" Brooke reached out and grabbed her wrist to pull it away from her face. She didn't let go but pulled her off the bed and pushed her into the bathroom. "I expect you downstairs in an hour!" She yelled from the other side of the door.

Caroline leaned against the door and sunk down to the floor, pulling her knees up to her chest. It felt like everything over the past week had caught up to her, everything from her transition, to adjusting to the travelling and to the end of her and Matt. Once they arrived in Lexington, Kentucky, Brooke had secured them a house, telling her they would be staying here for a while.

So as soon as she as settled, Caroline locked herself in one of the bedrooms and refused to come out. She never ate or talked to anyone; instead she stayed in bed and slept. Brooke tried talking to her a few times but left minutes later, unsuccessful. The truth was that Caroline was tired, of being a vampire. She was tired of fighting with herself, to fight for control of her emotions and cravings.

However tired Caroline was she knew she had to fight for control. That if she lost having control over her life she knew it would be over. Her humanity and self-control were the two things holding her together, if she lost them she would lose herself. So as Caroline sat on the cold bathroom floor, she decided she was going to fight with everything she had. She was going to fight to get the old her back, the Caroline she used to know.

Caroline shot up off the floor and jumped into the shower, cleaning off days worth of grime and dirt. Once finished she looked at her reflection in the mirror and smiled because she still looked like the old Caroline, the human Caroline. A small weight was lifted from her chest and relief flooded over her at the sight of familiarity.

When Caroline was dressed with new clothes, courtesy of Brooke, she headed downstairs. She reached the bottom step and saw Brooke already waiting for her at the front door, clad in leather jacket, skinny jeans and heels. One hand was placed on her hip, the other on the door handle, "Come on, we don't have all night."

Caroline followed Brooke out to their awaiting car. The brunette got into the drivers side while Caroline climbed into the passengers. They drove in silence, like always, when out of nowhere Brooke broke the quiet. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine." Caroline grumbled as she continued looking out the front window of the car.

"You don't feel weak, confused, disoriented?" Brooke asked.

Caroline looked over at the other girl who was looking back at her and she saw concern in her eyes. Caroline quickly looked away and decided not to answer the question.

"You have to feed, Caroline. If you keep this up, you'll go crazy and kill everyone in sight out of hunger. You have to understand that you need blood in order to survive."

Caroline didn't bother responding but understood what Brooke was saying. The rest of the car ride was filled with music, neither girl deciding to talk about the elephant in the car.

Brooke led the way while Caroline followed absentmindedly through the shopping mall.

"Come on, Care, I brought you here to cheer you up!" Brooke exclaimed happily from beside Caroline. "You seem like the kind of girl that loves this type of thing."

Caroline smiled remembering that she used to love spending her time with Elena or Bonnie and spend all day shopping at the mall. On special days they would take trips to Richmond and shop and spend all their money. They would return home with hundreds of shopping bags and laugh when they saw their parents disappointed faces.

"I did." She replied.

"Then lots shop till we drop." Brooke said, grabbing Caroline's arm and pulling her into the closest store. "Or until the mall closes." Caroline let out a laugh at Brooke's eagerness and ability to make all her problems seem smaller.

An hour later they were shifting through crop tops and Brooke let out a disgusted grunt. "I know I'm over five hundred years old, but do these tops really need to show so much skin?"

Caroline shrugged, a smile tugging at her lips. "It's the style now a day."

"I don't understand twenty first century style. In my day girls would wear long dresses and it would be a shame to you and your family if you showed any of your ankle!"

"That must have been terrible." The blonde laughed while riffling through racks.

"Oh, honey, it was." Brooke replied.

Caroline was starting to have second thoughts about Brooke. Somehow, she was really starting to warm up to the girl. It seemed like her emotions were all over the place it was hard to decide if she actually liked or despised the older vampire.

"So how come you ran away?" The brunette asked while they walked back to the car, shopping bags in hand.

Once settled and back on the freeway, Caroline finally spoke up. "My friends wanted to kill me, not all but most of them. I also heard my mom's a vampire hunter so there was no way I would be able to survive living at home. I felt so betrayed by them, they kept everything from me, I wasn't thinking straight I just took off. At first I was scared, terrified, I didn't know anything about being a vampire. But on the other hand I felt something, I felt…"

"Freedom." Brooke finished for her and Caroline nodded. "In time you will see that being a vampire will open up doors for you to learn and explore the world. You are immortal, you will never die. Being a vampire is not a burden but a gift. I only ask that you embrace it."

Caroline nodded and gave a small smile to Brooke. She was going to try embrace being a vampire while she tried to get the old her back. There was nothing she wanted more than being the girl she used to be but she also wanted to make the most of her life while she was a vampire. So Caroline was going to do both.

Brooke stopped the car in downtown Lexington and parked it along one of the side roads. It was close to midnight but the streets were still buzzing with people. They were situated in the beer distract, lined with bars and clubs. Caroline could smell the booze and sweat that drifted off the human bodies that littered the street. The pounding of hearts filled her ears.

"You need to feed, Caroline. I'm going to let you take control on this hunt. I think you're ready." Brooke said from beside her.

Caroline nodded and began to walk, she had no destination in mind but let her feet lead the way. Her eyes caught a man who looked to be thirty; he had dark hair and stubble. The man stumbled and fell to the ground, he was clearly drunk. Caroline rushed over to him to help him up, his breath and clothes smelled of alcohol.

"Thank you, dear." He slurred.

"No problem let me help you." Caroline replied, putting his arm over her shoulder and her arm going around his waist to hold him up.

"You sure are real pretty." The man said as he stopped and leaned over to smell Carolines' hair. He moved a piece behind her ear and moved closer to smell her neck.

Caroline felt uncomfortable with his actions and took a step away but he followed and pressed closer to her. This time he grabbed onto her face and tried to kiss her. Out of anger, Caroline grabbed the mans' neck and forced him into the nearby alley. Her fangs were showing along with the veins under her dark eyes.

She didn't bother to hear his protests and attacked his neck. She felt euphoria and relief and pleasure as she drank the blood. She could feel her strength beginning to return to her. Caroline loved every second of what she was doing; it felt so natural and right. She was so involved in her own thoughts and feelings that she didn't even notice that she had drank every last drop from the man.

Caroline took a step backwards, letting go and watched as he dropped to the ground. There was no heartbeat, he was dead.

"Good job, Caroline. I'm impressed." Brooke said from a few feet away. Caroline turned and saw her standing at the entrance to the alleyway.

"What?" She asked, trying to regain all control over her body as she pushed away her vampire features. She pushed away the urge for more blood, to attack another helpless person.

"You killed him without thinking twice; you gave in to your vampire side. To be honest, I didn't think you had it in you."

"No!" Caroline cried as she rushed towards the man but Brooke stood in her way.

"It's alright, Caroline."

"No, it's not okay!" Tears started to fall from her eyes and Caroline felt hatred not only towards herself but towards Brooke. Caroline looked up to see Brooke with a proud smile on her face and she felt disgusted. Without thinking, Caroline ran off away from Brooke using her vampire speed.

When Caroline finally felt she was far enough away from Brooke she stopped. She had unknowingly led herself to a dinner on the outskirts of town. She looked through the windows to see it was practically deserted and walked in, taking a seat in one of the booths in the corner.

A waiter came over and took her order and left seconds later, all she ordered was a coffee. When the coffee was placed in front of her she drank it slowly, taking her time so she wouldn't have to spend much time at home with Brooke.

"Is this seat taken?" Asked a voice from above her, Caroline looked up and saw Brandon.

"Yeah, sure." She replied, gesturing to the seat across from her. The waitress returned and Brandon placed his order with her. "So what are you doing here?"

"Came for some good food and happened to see you here, thought I'd join you." Brandon shrugged. Caroline took in his features, he reminded her of an older Tyler. Although, he had dark green eyes but they had similar features with dark hair and tanned skin.

"I'm sure you did." Caroline joked, rolling her eyes.

"So the last time I saw you were in North Carolina?" Brandon asked and she nodded. "How's everything been since then?"

"Alright, I guess." She replied, shrugging her shoulders.

"What happened between you and Brooke?"

"W-what?" Caroline stuttered.

"You're not with her, far from your house and looks like you've been crying." Brandon pointed out.

"I got mad at her because she didn't stop me from killing someone. I lost control and killed a man and she stood there smiling all happy and proud."

"You don't want to kill people?" he asked in disbelief.

She shook her head no and looked down at her hands which were folded in her lap. "No, but she wants me to. I just feel like the more I feed off people the more I'm losing myself and I don't want that."

"I know I'm not supposed to say this, because I'm a werewolf and all, but you can still feed off people. You just need to practice control, don't let yourself get carried away and don't let yourself get sucked up in Brooke's games." He smiled reassuringly. "I know how Brooke is, she's manipulative and controlling but she really is a good person at heart. Don't let her get to you, stay true to yourself, Caroline."

"Thanks." Caroline said as a plate of food was placed in front of Brandon who only pushed it in front of her.

"Food helps with those cravings and I also heard you haven't been eating anything the past few days. Eat up."

"You are amazing!" She giggled and dug into her food. The two talked about their transitions. Turns out he had transitioned into a werewolf over a year ago and was going through exactly what Caroline was, although he didn't have the hunger of blood. He explained how his temper always flared and he had trouble dealing with it. Then Brandon told her how he met Brooke and she helped him with full moons and eventually his brother fell in love with her.

Caroline talked a little bit about her friends back home but mostly listened to Brandon, finding his stories of travelling to different packs across the country interesting. He explained the werewolf curse and how he activated it and suddenly Caroline felt that she was better off. She wasn't a slave to the full moon, nor did every bone have to break to transition.

Brandon looked at his watch and she saw his forehead crease in worry. "It's getting late, we better get you home."

Caroline followed him out of the diner after he set a few bills down to pay for her meal. They walked quietly back to his car and drove back to her house.


Brooke watched Caroline take off and she decided not to follow her that she probably needed time to herself. She knew that the girl wouldn't be foolish enough to take off that she needed a ring and Brooke was her only way to it. So before she headed home Brooke took the man that Caroline had drained and tossed him in the dumpster that sat at the end of the alley. She was never a fan of cleaning up her messes but she would try for Carolines' sake.

When Brooke returned home there was a familiar car in the driveway and she flashed into the house to see Ben sitting on one of the couches watching the news. The news caster was talking about the twenty missing persons in North Carolina and Ben looked angry as he listened. She hesitantly stepped into the room and Bens' head turned around. He got up off the couch, turning off the television and making his way closer to her.

"Hey, sweetie, what are you doing here?" She asked.

"Well, Brandon and I were being blamed on the missing persons and we were forced to leave." Ben replied angrily.

"I'm sor-"

"You couldn't leave at least one person alive, Brooke? Did you really have to kill all of them? That was my home!" Ben yelled slamming her into the wall, holding her by the neck.

Brooke easily switched positions on him, holding him against the wall. "I said I was sorry, now drop it. You two may come with me and Caroline, we are going to Chicago."

Ben pushed her away, "Fine."

"I really am sorry, Ben. I didn't mean to, you know how I get carried away." She said walking closer to him and gently pinned him against the wall.

"I know, sorry for freaking out on you."

Brooke smiled and then crashed her lips on his, trapping him in a passionate kiss. "Besides, having you on the road with me will be so much more fun." She said when she pulled away.

Ben just nodded and pulled her back towards him and quickly reversed their positions so she was pinned against the wall.

A throat was cleared loudly from the entrance of the room. The two reluctantly pulled away and saw Brandon and Caroline standing there looking down at their feet awkwardly. Brooke watched as Caroline looked up at them then to Brandon and then stalked off towards her room. Brandon shrugged his shoulders and made his way to the couch.

Ben stepped away from Brooke and joined his brother on the couch, turning the station to some comedy show. Brooke took her chance to go talk to Caroline.

Caroline was in her room preparing herself to go to bed, she was pulling the curtains closed when she heard someone enter the room. She turned and saw Brooke was standing in the doorway.

"What do you want?" She snarled at the brunette.

"I'm sorry about earlier." Brooke said but Caroline only brushed it off and busied herself with her new clothes. "I only want the best for you, Caroline. When I look at you, I see a younger me, lost and confused. I was trying to help you out earlier. I want you to embrace your vampire side."

"Why?"

"Because when you embrace it you feel powerful and unstoppable. You feel free. I thought you wanted that? Freedom?" She replied.

"I do, but not like that."

"It's the only way, Caroline. Stop fighting who you are meant to be."

"I will always fight it so I don't end up a monster like you! I don't want to kill people for the fun of it; I don't want to kill anyone to begin with!" Caroline shouted and stood up and began to walk towards Brooke who just stood there shocked. "You are a monster and I never want to end up like you!"

"I am a vampire, just like you. You can try to fight it, Caroline; but you soon will become a monster. It is who we are, don't forget that." Brooke said, the ice in her voice cutting through Caroline.

Brooke turned on her heal and flashed out of Carolines' room and out of the house. She was seething with anger and needed to take her anger out on someone. A plan started forming in her mind. She would make Carolines' life a living hell and soon she would cave in to her vampire side. She can't fight it for much longer. Brooke vowed to destroy that girl, make her nothing but a cold hearted murder, just like she claimed Brooke to be.

She had been too nice to Caroline, it was about time that things changed, starting from that moment on.


"Well hello, Katherine." Stefan drawled as he opened the tomb and saw a frail looking Katherine lying lifelessly on the ground. Her head poked up but soon fell to the ground in exhaustion.

"What did you do to me?" She croaked.

"We had Bonnie speed things up, so your decomposing at a faster rate." Stefan replied, smirking. "But I brought you a present." He crouched down and moved closer to Katherine, making sure he didn't step over the threshold. He opened the bottle and the smell of fresh blood filled the air.

Katherine had enough energy to she moved herself so she was sitting against the wall and reached her hand out. Stefan put the cap back on the bottle and rolled it over towards Katherine. She took no time in scooping the bottle up in downing it all in one shot. The second the bottle was drained and the blood ran down her throat she started coughing and crying out in pain, trying to spit it out.

"Vervain!" She yelled throwing the cup back at Stefan.

"Yes, vervain, Katherine. You see, we know that you ingest it daily and have built up quite a tolerance, but we managed to strengthen the dosage so it is mainly vervain with very little blood." He replied and took out another bottle of blood. "Tell us where Caroline is and I'll give you all of this."

"How do I know it's not a trick?" Katherine asked.

Stefan opened the bottle and took a small sip of the blood. Nothing happened to him, it was untainted blood. He raised an eye brow, "See? Nothing wrong with it, now tell us where Caroline is."

"No." She spat and turned away from him, signalling the conversation was over.

Stefan just pulled out one a gun and took a shot at Katherine, shooting her in the leg with a wooden bullet. She screamed out in pain and Stefan shot her again in the other leg.

"Tell me where Caroline is." He demanded.

"Why do you want to know where little miss perfect is so badly?" Katherine questioned.

"I need to know she's okay and still alive. I need to help her!"

Katherine weakly picked the bullets out of her legs and watched as the wounds tried to heal. "She's much better off where she is than here."

"Just tell me where Caroline is and all this will stop and I will give you fresh blood." He said before shooting her again, this time in the stomach and then one of her hands.

"Stefan, stop!" Elena yelled as she ran down the stairs and towards the tomb. When she saw Katherine laying on the ground bleeding she looked up at him horror stricken. "What did you do?"

"She knows where Caroline is and she won't tell me." Stefan answered honestly.

"So you don't have to shoot her!" She said outraged.

"She has a point you know." Katherine joined in. Stefan shot her a look and she looked away, trying to get the bullets out of her body.

Elena pulled him away from Katherine, "Why are you doing this?" Elena asked.

"We need to find out where Caroline is, I'm worried about her." He replied.

"So you're going to torture the answer out of her?"

"She's not going to tell us if we don't."

"He is right." Katherine yelled from within the tomb.

"I expected this from Damon, but not from you." Elena eyed him and he showed no remorse.

"I'm doing what has to be done to bring Caroline home." Stefan snapped before turning and walking back towards Katherine.

He fired a shot in her right shoulder and then her head. "Where is Caroline?"

"Give me…the…blood first…then I will…tell you." Katherine responded, all previous energy gone as she struggled to take out the remaining bullets and stop the bleeding.

Before Stefan knew what was happening, Elena threw the bottle of fresh blood at Katherine. She in turn squeezed the contents into her open mouth, relishing the feeling of blood trickling down the back of her throat. When finished she threw the empty bottle back at them and smirked as she removed the remaining bullets. "I knew it was animal blood, not quite what I'm used to but it will do."

"Tell us where Caroline is!" Elena demanded.

"Feisty one you have here, Stefan." She said eyeing Elena up and down. "Your dear friend Caroline is in the horse racing capital of America." Katherine smirked and turned, walking farther back into the tomb out of sight.

"We have to find her!" Elena exclaimed, pulling Stefan from his thoughts. He nodded and followed Elena out into the woods.

"Looks like we're going to Kentucky." Stefan muttered.


The following day Caroline was awoken to Brooke jumping onto her bed signing some song. "Wake up, Caroline, we're going out!"

"Out?" She grumbled from under the covers.

"Yes, to a club! So you get your sexiest outfit on and no crop tops please." Brooke replied and exited after turning on the light to her room.

Caroline tried going back to sleep but was disturbed by another voice. "I wouldn't go back to sleep if I were you, don't know how Brooke will wake you up next." Brandon said.

Caroline pulled the covers down to see him standing in the doorway smirking. He walked in and placed a cup of coffee on the side table and walked back out. "Better hurry, we're leaving soon."

Once Caroline was ready and dressed she made her way downstairs to see Brooke, Brandon and Ben all waiting for her. She gave a weak smile and followed them out the door; being located close to the main strip of bars and clubs in Lexington that allowed them to walk to their destination. Brandon walked with Caroline behind Brooke and Ben who were whispering to each other about what they were going to do to each other later on.

When they arrived at the club, Brandon pulled her right onto the dance floor. They alternated between dancing and drinking. She would compel that they were both of age and he would pay. Then they would take their shot, usually tequila, then return to the dance floor for one song before returning back to the bar.

"Drinking also helps with the blood thirst." Brandon said after their fifth shot of the night.

"I've noticed that. When I drink it seems to quiet down the noises, which is a little relieving, especially being in a place as loud as this."

Brandon nodded and pulled her back into the crowd that was situated on the dance floor.


Brooke watched from afar as Brandon and Caroline started dancing again. They were preoccupied staring into each other's eyes and took that as her cue. She made her way to the first girl, on the edge of the dance floor and bit into her neck. She took a chunk out of her so that she would bleed freely and the smell would spread. Brooke repeated that with a few other people, making her way closer to where Caroline was dancing.

Soon enough the air was overpowered by blood. To a human it would be a weak smell, barely smelt above the sweat. But to a vampire, the smell was so powerful that it felt like there was blood all around. Brooke smiled proudly at her work and walked back to her post where Ben was standing, waiting to watch it all unfold.


They were dancing to a Pitbull song when Caroline started to smell blood. It was faint at first but got stronger and was drifting closer to her.

"Do you smell that?" Brandon asked, sniffing the air.

"Yeah." Caroline squeaked. "Blood."

She tried to breathe from her mouth but couldn't. The smell was overpowering all thoughts and soon her throat was burning out of hunger and desire. Her vampire features all showed at once and Caroline couldn't control herself. She found herself walking towards the smell of blood and soon enough she saw a girl with a chunk taken out of her neck, blood flowing out of the wound.

Caroline was about to attack when she felt a strong hand on her arm pulling her back. "Caroline don't. Try to breathe." Brandon said.

His voice brought her back to where she was and she immediately flashed out of the club, finding herself breathing erratically as she tried to breathe in clean air and rein in her vampire features.

"Are you okay?" Asked a man with a British accent.

Caroline looked up, fangs, veins and eyes returning disappeared, and thought the person looked familiar. He had dirty blonde, curly hair and intense blue eyes. She brushed all thoughts of familiarity away and let him lead her to the side of the building where she could catch her breath in private.

"Thank you." She said once she had finally calmed down.

"You're welcome." He smiled down at her.

"Those places can get so crowded, just a little claustrophobic." Caroline tried to explain. She looked up at the man and noticed how attractive he was, especially with a little stubble and smooth skin. "My name's Caroline."

"Nice to meet you, Caroline" He smiled and she felt herself grin in return. "I'm-"

"Shoot! Hide me!" Caroline interrupted as she saw Stefan and Elena walk past the alley. She stepped around him and made her way to the end and looked around the corner and saw that they were gone. She turned back to apologize to the man. "It was really nice to meet you but I got to go!"

She didn't wait for him to reply and took off back into the club. She found Brandon standing with Brooke and Ben along the wall talking amongst each other. Caroline fought against the same overpowering smell of blood that still filled the air of the club.

"We have to go. Now!" She yelled when she approached the trio.

Brooke looked at her confused. "Why?"

"My friends are here, they found me. I really don't want to deal with them so we have to go now!"

"Okay, let's go." Brandon replied and started walking out of the club. Brooke and Ben just stood there looking at Caroline, upset they had to cut the night short.

"Please, Brooke? It's important." Caroline pleaded.

Brooke gave in and followed everyone out of the club and back to the house.

Everyone packed up their things in record time and retreated out of the house to the two awaiting cars. Brooke and Caroline got into their newly acquired SUV while Brandon and Ben got into their truck. Caroline heard that they were going to Columbus, Indiana which was only two and a half hours away.

"Thank you for doing this." Caroline finally said once they were on the highway heading out of Lexington.

"You're lucky I was ready to leave that town. Although, I do know what it's like to be on the run from someone." Brooke replied.

Caroline looked over at Brooke surprised. Then it hit her that a while ago she had mentioned being on the run for over five hundred years. "From who?"

"That's a story for another day." She smiled and continued driving towards Indiana.


A/N: So Brooke is up to no good. Is Brandon playing Caroline too? What's going to happen to Caroline next?

We're getting closer and closer to chicago! I'm making their travelling very slow going because I want to get a lot done before we reach chicago. I also want to gradually bring Klaus in. A few of you did guess the mystery man right! Thank you for all the lovely reviews, favourites, follows and for reading this story. I truly appreciate it! I love to hear your thoughts so please feel free to tell me. Also if you have any suggestions I would love to hear them!

I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

P.s. I have a question about vampires/werewolves for next chapter, if someone could please help me out that'd be great!