CHAPTER EIGHT
Caroline had heard Elena's scream and heard the breath get knocked out of Stefan and she saw the prompt darkening of Damon's eyes as he was killed and put into transition. Katherine looked up at her, smiling as she said, "You're dead if you stay here, Caroline. Even more than him."
And then she was gone and out the door before Caroline could chase after her and she was paralyzed to the spot as she dropped the poker stick to the ground. She was ignored, both Stefan and Elena were crouched over Damon and it wasn't until she attempted to come near that Elena looked up, still sobbing. "Get away from him."
"He'll wake up." She said, quietly. She couldn't pretend that it was a happy thing, that it was really better than the alternative, but she still told it to them. "He died with her blood in his system."
"What?" Stefan asked, looking up at her as tears were also falling down his face. She felt her heart completely break at that and it was all she could do to stand here and explain and not go out in the sun without her ring with how guilty she felt. "What do you mean, he'll wake up? How is that even possible?"
"He- he's in transition. If he drinks blood when he wakes up, he'll stay mostly alive," She said, embarrassing tears falling down her face as well. "If he doesn't, he'll die."
Elena was staring at her now, looking both panicked and relieved as well as heartbroken. "So he'll be fine. He'll drink the blood and then he'll be fine."
Stefan looked at her, then Caroline. "Will he?"
"He'll be a vampire." She answered weakly. Stefan stood up then, seeming to come to terms that Damon was at least not permanently dead, and left Elena to watch over him. He walked over into the next room, keeping a wide distance between him and Caroline as she followed. She tried to not let it affect her or to take it personally.
"If he becomes a vampire, then what? He kills a ton of people and lives off blood and-,"
"You can learn to control it," Caroline interrupted quickly, whether out of Damon's or her defense she didn't know anymore. "You can learn not to hurt anyone like I did, drink blood from hospital bags instead of humans- it doesn't have to be that horrible."
She was trying to comfort him, trying to have hope when there was little to be found. It was something her father had always taught her. Positive thinking created a positive life, or something like that. He looked like he was trying to believe her but she couldn't blame his complete shock and terror after what he had just seen. "I'm so sorry, Stefan. I tried to stop her-,"
"Why are you in Mystic Falls? Why did she follow you? Why the hell does Elena look like her, Caroline?" Stefan asked, each question getting more and more adamant.
"Stefan, you don't understand- this is so much bigger than me or Katherine-," Caroline went on, almost begging him not to ask the questions she knew she had to answer.
"Then explain it to me." He snapped. "Now."
And so she did.
When Stefan returned to the parlor he slowly struggled to lift Damon up and put him on the couch. Elena followed, sitting underneath him so Damon's head rested on her lap, and she stroked his hair silently while wiping away the tears that were still falling. Stefan sat down on the adjacent chair after pouring a strong glass of whiskey, only now seeing that Elena was still injured from being thrown around. "Elena- you're hurt-," He said, putting his glass down.
"It's fine, Stefan." Elena mumbled, but Caroline interrupted, "I found the first aid kit."
She had been lurking in the corner on Stefan's request that she stay to help Damon when he woke up, but trying to stay out of Stefan and Elena's way. He wished that she could leave and give him space, but this wasn't an easy situation. Caroline entered the room slowly, the kit in tow and set it on the coffee table. When Stefan sat back down she frowned, taking out some peroxide and cotton swabs. She paused, silently asking permission before she came near Elena, who despite shaking a little nodded acceptance as blood started to get in her eye from the gash on her forehead. Stefan watched closely, capturing every detail of the blonde as she easily wiped the blood off Elena's forehead gently. She seemed to be such a normal caring human in that moment that Stefan's stomach clenched. He wasn't sure what to believe anymore. Her brown eyes were watching Elena with sympathy as Elena was looking down at Damon, wincing every now and then as Caroline wiped at a new cut. Elena seemed to relax after a moment, finally speaking. "You saved me, at the bar. And you tried this time too. Why?"
"I've been alive since 1902. You don't exactly have a lot of people to make friends with when you're a vampire and I guess you learn to put up with things that normal people wouldn't." Caroline started, and Stefan could tell that she was nervous even though she wasn't looking at him, "It's been a long time since I've been around humans. I forgot who I used to be. That I used to care. Not all vampires are monsters."
She glanced at Stefan then, out of the corner of her eye. In an abstract way, he understood. Wasn't it him that had only awhile ago been telling Caroline he loved giving "human emotion to the obscene"? But that was fiction, it was literature, it wasn't something that was supposed to influence his every day life or leave his brother "dead". Elena had paused, still looking at Caroline, "It was one of you that killed Jeremy, wasn't it?"
Caroline's body tensed, but she still answered slowly, "Yes."
Elena's jaw tensed and Stefan wasn't sure what she was thinking- so many things had to be running through her mind but all the girl asked was a painful, "Why?"
"You're special, Elena. You're a doppelganger and that puts you and your family in danger. There are people- ancient vampires- that are looking for you, just like they did Katherine." Caroline answered, putting a hand on Elena's knee. "I'm sorry."
"But what does that mean? What do they want from me?" Elena asked, her bottom lip trembling.
Caroline hesitated this time, not giving a quick answer. Stefan frowned, leaning forward in his chair. She hadn't told him why they wanted Elena either, and he had been too distraught to ask why either, caught up in the fact that they were after Elena at all. Elena, the girl he had convinced himself he was in love with. The girl that stood up for him when Damon would pick on him. The girl that had sat with both him and Damon all night after their father died, taking care of them in a way no teenage girl should know how. Finally Caroline said, "I don't know much... I really don't-,"
"Please." Elena pleaded, putting a hand on top of Caroline's. "I need to know."
"They need your blood, for the ritual. They need your blood and then you have to die for it to be complete. That's all that Katherine told me."
Before either Elena or Stefan could respond, Damon sat up gasping for air. Elena went to embrace him, but before she could move he had jumped up and grabbed Caroline by the throat. Caroline didn't wince or move, but her eyes grew darker. Damon's face was filled with a hatred that Stefan had never seen as he said, "Give me one good reason I shouldn't stake you right now, Barbie."
"Because you need me if you're going to transition." She snapped, easily prying his hands off her despite his strong grip.
"You think I'm going to become a bloodsucker like you? I'm on the goddamn council, I have vervain growing in my basement. I would rather die-," Damon growled, "than become a vampire."
Caroline's eyes were back to normal but they still looked stony and resolute as she glanced at Elena who had tears in her eyes, and to Stefan who had walked over to her. "You might want to reconsider. For them, at least."
Damon's eyes widened as he turned to see Elena's shattered face. Stefan felt as though he were being broken in two all over again. It was too much- far too much death- and the thought of losing his brother, his only family left, made him completely agree with Elena as she begged, "Please Damon. You can't die. You can't."
His face fell and his eyes had a damaged look. He moved away from Caroline and over to Elena and Stefan as he softly said, "Elena- you don't understand-,"
"I understand that you'll be dead if you don't." She said weakly, her voice breaking as she started crying. Damon moved forward and took her in his arms as she shook.
Damon looked up helplessly over Elena's shoulder to Stefan who was shaking his head also, biting his bottom lip. Stefan couldn't think of the last time he had openly told Damon that he loved him, that they had said the words freely instead of simply assuming it to be true. They both knew it, it was obvious to everyone in Mystic Falls. You rarely could hear a conversation about one Salvatore brother without the other being mentioned soon enough. Damon's jaw was set, and he seemed to be fighting off the emotion just as Stefan. All he asked was, "Brother?"
"I can't lose you." Stefan said simply, ignoring that it was selfish and that he should let his brother choose. "I need you too."
It seemed like an hour before Damon said anything, still holding Elena close as he stroked her hair and watching Stefan with a now unfocused, far off look. "Well, Barbie, I guess we're going to be friends then."
Stefan looked up to find that Caroline had been standing off in the corner, trying her best to give them privacy. She looked almost as sad and distraught as the rest of them, simply sighing. "Well, buddy, let's get you some blood."
A/N: So Damon is selfless and the babysitter once more. Thank you for the reviews and kind words and for all those patient Klaus fans out there... I have a surprise for you next chapter. :)
