Caroline. He had to remind himself it wasn't really her, to push back the swell of emotions he felt as he looked at the lifeless, broken body before him.
"She was called something else, but that name is dead. Forbidden to know or speak on this plane," said a clear voice reverberating all around him – from the ground, from the air, most of all from inside his own head.
He had the distinct feeling the words were alive, slithering around in his brain like snakes.
From behind the shrine, a cloaked figure glided forward from the dark. Qetsiyah approached Stefan. As she neared, Bonnie held tightly to his arm. To reassure him or because she herself was frightened, Stefan didn't know, but he was glad she was there.
Qetsiyah kept the cloak drawn around her, keeping her face from view. But she lifted a single slender arm to Stefan's face. "How you look like him," she said. To Stefan, her skin was glossy and cold, smooth as a river rock polished by the current.
He opened his mouth to speak and found himself slightly embarrassed when a sound more resembling a squeak than actual language emerged.
The voice was in his head again. "You don't have to say the words. I know what you want," she said as she ran the back of her hand against his cheek. Close to her face, Stefan could see the shadowy features of her face – eyes that glowed with the same green flames of the streetlamps, and a mouth sewn shut. She hadn't been speaking with her mouth, he realized. "I'll give it to you. And I'll have him forever." Laughter rang in his ears, a terrifying, cruel sound that rose and rose.
"You two are acting weird, you know that?" This from Damon in the backseat, leaning forward between Caroline and Stefan, his elbows propped on each of their headrests. "I mean, shouldn't you be postulating some pointless peaceful resolution to this Qetsiyah problem while I barge in all homicidal?"
Stefan said nothing.
After Stefan had left the study, he'd gone down to the cellar. He opened the locked armory and began removing every weapon – every knife, stake, rifle, crossbow, and sword he could find. He filled duffle bags with it all and somehow managed to shove them all in place in the tiny trunk of his Porsche. Nothing could slow him – not Damon's questions or Elena's concern. Still, with all his preparation, it was afternoon before they managed to pile into the coupe.
Damon slid back in his seat, next to Elena. At that moment, the car lurched forward. The steering column began to shake beneath Stefan's hands. The engine failed, and the car slowed to a stop.
Under the hood, Stefan saw an oily mess of jumbled parts and tubes. Coolant was leaking from somewhere, and thick steam poured upward into the air.
From behind him, Damon spoke. "Thought you always kept this thing tip-top, brother."
Stefan glared at him. "We have to keep moving," he said.
"Relax," Damon answered. He pointed skyward, to the sun. "That look like the full moon to you? We have plenty of time." He took the duffel bag Stefan shoved in his arms and slung it over his back. Stefan gave Elena and Caroline a bag each and slung two over his own shoulders.
Then, without a word, he took off at speed before Damon rushed to catch him. Damon took his brother by the arm to hold him in place. "You want to run the streets of Mystic Falls at vamp speed in broad daylight?" Damon asked incredulously. "You know how many people here are on to our little 'secret' already?"
Stefan sneered back in answer.
"We have almost four hours before sunset. It's five miles," Damon said. "We're not risking it – we can walk."
"Fine," Stefan said and jerked his arm from Damon's grasp. He turned, not stopping for the others as he continued to travel the road by foot.
Stefan ripped the chain binding the handles of the front doors to the school in a single motion. They walked in, their footsteps echoing through the empty hallways. They made their way to the maintenance hallway, past the signs warning people away from the basement. Damon found the access point to the closed-off underground tunnels in the basement, a manhole cover welded to the ground to keep anyone from going down. He pried it away with ease, and they began to descend the ladder, which creaked and swayed under the stress.
Stefan landed and ventured on, through the black tunnels as the others descended the ladder in the darkness. Damon followed behind him. "Stefan, wait!" he called out. Caroline's feet hit solid ground, and she looked down the tunnel, willing her eyes to adjust to the darkness.
Suddenly, she doubled over, holding her head in pain and crying out. It was as if it was being inflated to the point of bursting. The walls she'd found within it had crumbled, and whatever lay behind them was rushing forth.
"Caroline, are you okay?" Elena placed a hand on Caroline's back. The pain was gone, and Caroline stood, facing another obstacle now. How to tell Elena and Damon the truth – so much that they didn't know. "We should keep moving," Elena said as Caroline righted herself.
"No," Caroline answered in a desperate whisper. "We have to stay back. We have to let him go in alone."
"Caroline, what are you talking about?" Elena said.
"I'll explain, we just have to – where's Damon?"
Damon bounded forward, angry and confused by his brother's reckless frenzy to get to the center of the triangle. He could see in the darkness some, and felt his way along the walls, formed of damp, clotted earth. His hand ran over them, skimming over roots and rocks. Finally, the darkness ceded. There was a light in the distance, candlelight up ahead, at the center of the triangle.
He took a step forward and jumped in his skin when an unexpected hand grabbed him from behind. He swirled around, his hand raised and poised to rip out a heart, but found himself face to face with an old friend.
"Ric?" he said.
Alaric held a finger to his lips, but smiled at Damon.
Elena and Caroline emerged from the tunnel, and the four walked tentatively toward the cavernous opening that was the center of the triangle, stopping at the room's edge. Stefan, already in the epicenter of the room looked around in expectation.
Jeremy emerged from the shadows. "Don't go any farther," he warned the others and pointed to the ground. Looking down, they saw a circle, a crudely drawn chalk outline on the floor. "Vampires go in, they don't come out," Jeremy said.
And Stefan's eyes – Silas' eyes – registered a sudden fearful understanding. He rushed to the edge, and his body met an invisible barrier that flung him backward with an electric cracking of air and a shuddering of the earth.
