Chapter Nine – Speed of Sound
How long before I get in?
Before it starts, before I begin?
How long before you decide?
Before I know what it feels like?
"So where do you think the next one is going to be?" Caroline asked as she took a seat on the large leather couch in the living room of the boarding house. She wasn't sure where Damon was, but if the awkward run in at the Miss Mystic Falls Pageant was any indication, she guessed he was avoiding Stefan. She still hadn't spoken to either Damon or Elena since she had gone behind Damon's back to keep Connor alive without much of an explanation. Neither of them would understand and Caroline had yet to come up with a good excuse for her actions avoiding them seemed like a better option. She wasn't sure that there was one outside of the truth. Bonnie had told her to tell them that she had a problem with killing someone, but Tyler had been quick to accuse her of doing it out of spite. She had seriously considered punching him again, but she kept her composure, exiting the dance as quickly as possible. Hiding out in her house seemed like a better idea than trying to venture out, unfortunately, she and Stefan were supposed to meet her mother and Klaus at the station so they could speak to Connor while he was detained.
"I don't know. That's the point of Bonnie being involved, isn't it? My best guess is somewhere in Europe. There seems to be a pattern to where these guys drop dead," Stefan said, sitting in the chair opposite her. "And here probably isn't the best place to talk about this. Damon isn't here right now, but you never know when he's going to make an appearance."
"Alright, let's talk about what happened at the pageant then?" Caroline said, leaning on the arm of the sofa.
"You mean how you spent the rest of the pageant dancing with Klaus and you drove him home?" Stefan asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I was trying to avoid Damon and Tyler and you two came straight from the airport, I was being nice. You weren't exactly around to take him home. Klaus is like Damon and Tyler repellent," she said.
"He could have walked home. He is a thousand year old hybrid that you hate; you seem to have forgotten that last part."
"I haven't forgotten." She shook her head before looking over at him. "And that's not even what I was referring to. I'm talking about you skating out of there before you even spoke to Elena. You two saw each other and then you left. I know it's weird seeing her dance with Damon, but she told me they were only going as friends so I don't want you-"
"I think now is a great time for us to go meet Klaus and your mother at the station. I would rather listen to Connor talk about how much he hates vampires than think about Elena dancing with my brother," Stefan said, pushing himself up from the chair. There wasn't anger in his voice, but Caroline knew not to push it anymore. Instead, she followed him out of the room, the two of them walking towards the front door as Damon walked through it.
"What are you two doing? Planning Connor's escape? You seem to be so keen on making sure he lives to murder and maim another day, Blondie," Damon commented, looking from Stefan to Caroline.
"She was right to do what she did. You can't just go around killing people in public Damon. We need to know more about this hunter business before we off our only connection to it. Killing him was a bad idea all around," Stefan defended Caroline as he pulled his car keys from the table next to the door. Caroline had never been happier Stefan was back. At least he knew what to say to Damon because she knew whatever she said was going to sound like a lie.
Damon rolled his eyes, "Remind me to avoid the morality police. I don't recall you being such a buzz kill, Caroline. I guess that's what happens when you spent too much time around him." He shrugged his shoulders before walking towards the stairs, "Oh and Stefan, your girlfriend is looking for you."
Caroline watched as Stefan's shoulders tensed. He had read between the lines just as she had and knew that Damon must have just come from seeing Elena. She bit her lip, "Do you want to go find Elena? I'm sure Klaus and I can handle this whole Connor business, it's not like my mom won't be there," she offered as they walked out the front door.
He shook his head, "It's fine. I'll talk to her afterwards. This is important."
The ride over to the police station was tense and silent. Caroline had no interest in talking about what happened at the pageant and she knew Stefan wanted to talk about Elena and Damon even less. She had not considered how this all would affect Stefan. No matter what happened he always seemed to be fine, but the look on his face spoke of worry and concern. His relationship with Elena had been rocky at best since Elena's transition and things seemed to be tanking quickly. Elena was resistant to talk to Caroline or Bonnie about it whenever they asked. She wished her best friend would be a little more forthcoming with the details of her transition. Caroline had already been through the ringer when it came to becoming a well-adjusted vampire; she knew she could help Elena if she would allow her to. She knew Stefan would much prefer Elena coming to Caroline for advice than Damon.
Once they arrived at the police station, Caroline and Stefan climbed out of Stefan's car and headed inside the station. Caroline raised an eyebrow when she saw Klaus standing there talking to her mother. When he saw that they had walked in, he turned towards Caroline and Stefan, meeting her look of disapproval with one of amusement.
"It's high time you two showed up. It's in bad taste to keep a murderer waiting," Klaus spoke, uncrossing his arms.
Liz looked over at the three of them, the disapproval inked all over her face. "I've cleared the officers out of the station for an hour, maybe a little less. It's against several laws to let you in there and another to have only one officer in the station so I hope you find out what you need quickly. He's right back there." She pointed as the two boys began to walk followed by Caroline; Liz stopped her before she got very far. "I don't know if I want you back there Caroline."
"What? I am just as much a part of this as these two," she said, looking at Stefan and Klaus for someone to defend her.
"She has a point, Care," Stefan said, giving her an apologetic look.
"You have yet to be exposed as a vampire, Caroline. It's safer for you to remain human in his eyes," Klaus spoke, genuine concern flashing across his face.
"Seriously?" she huffed before dropping into the chair behind her mother's desk as Klaus and Stefan walked through the back door and into the holding cell area. She looked over at Liz, "Was that really necessary? I'm a vampire, it's not like I can't handle myself."
"That man shot Tyler with a stake in front of an entire church of people. He doesn't care if you are a vampire or if the most powerful vampire in the world cares about you. He would kill you in a second. Now that you are a vampire, I don't get the opportunity to protect you very often, Caroline. Don't take that away from me just because you don't have to listen to me. I'm still your mother, vampire or human," Liz told her, leaning against the desk.
"I think most mothers would let their eternally seventeen year old vampire daughters speak to the psycho vampire hunter actually. You let me take History with Alaric," she quipped back. Liz looked none too amused.
"You aren't as funny as you think you are," Liz said, shaking her head.
"I think I'm hilarious," Caroline added with a smirk.
"You've been spending too much time with Klaus. He's starting to rub off on you," Liz pointed out. Caroline froze at this statement, a horrified look taking over her face.
"I don't know if that's possible. He's not the type of person who rubs off on people." Caroline shook her head, playing with one of the magnetic paper weights resting on the desk.
Liz shook her head, "I have to make some phone calls." She walked away leaving Caroline to her own devices at the desk. She let out a long sigh before using her vampire hearing to try to tune into the conversation. They weren't getting anything out of him. She had heard Klaus threaten him multiples times. Connor seemed unfazed by anything they were saying. Connor did not seem like the type of person who gave up information with simple threats. He also didn't seem to know much, which Caroline suspected was the main problem. The tattoos had simply appeared one day and he didn't know how or why. Unfortunately, Klaus and Stefan didn't seem to be in the mood to give up and Caroline was growing bored. She leaned back in her mother's desk chair, tossing a stress ball up and catching it.
"Let's go," Stefan said, his frustration evident as Caroline snapped up in the chair and looked over at the two boys walked out of the room with her.
"I take it you didn't get anything out of him?" Caroline asked, standing up from the chair.
"He doesn't know anything. The tattoo won't spread unless he kills people and it hasn't completed yet. So unfortunately, we are a bit stuck unless the swords can tell us more," Klaus filled in the blanks calmly.
"Then why are you so upset?" she asked Stefan as he raced towards the door, but once again Klaus beat him to the punch.
"Doppelganger problems," Klaus whispered as he and Caroline followed behind Stefan towards the door.
Stefan turned back to look at the two of them, "Elena asked me to meet her at the boarding house as soon as possible. I don't know what this is about, but I would like to find out sooner rather than later. So Caroline, your car is at my house, let's go." She nodded, wordlessly following him to the car.
Just as the trip to the police station had been, the ride home was silent and tense. Caroline didn't dare disturb it, whatever was running through Stefan's head did not need to be let out. She really just wanted to go home and not think about Connor or the swords or vampires for a while. The sooner they got back to the boarding house, the sooner she could go home and park herself in front of the TV with a bowl of popcorn and a bag of plasma.
Elena was perched on the hood of Caroline's far when they pulled into the driveway and she did not look pleased.
"Hey Elena," Caroline said, sliding out of the car. She was met by an icy greeting, a nod and a stiff hello. She glanced over at Stefan, but he didn't look back. "I think that's my cue to leave. I'll see you two la-"
"Are you two sleeping together?" Elena blurted out.
"What?" Caroline and Stefan both answered back in unison.
"I just want to know the truth. I can handle it, I just want you both to be honest with me."
"Elena, that's not at all what happened at all!" Caroline said, her nose wrinkling in disgust. "No, that's just gross. Absolutely not. I know I was there at one point, but that would be like having sex with my brother. I just, no, I would sooner stake myself then go to bed with Stefan. No offense."
"Thank you, Caroline," Stefan said before shaking his head. "What she's trying to say is we're just friends, you know that, Elena."
"You two have been spending all of this extra time together," Elena said, the bravado she had stood so firm with a few minutes before beginning to crumble as she realized she was wrong.
"Because we've been working control stuff so I can help you better. Caroline is the closest thing I have to a success story-"
"Hey!" Caroline put her hands on her hips.
"You know what I mean." He looked at Caroline before looking back to Elena. "Caroline has just been telling me about the things she does to maintain her control so well so I can help you better, Elena. We're just friends. Caroline is practically my sister. There's nothing going on there."
"Exactly. I'm going to let you two talk," Caroline nodded before walking over to her car. She had to admit she was impressed at how quickly he managed to come up with a convincing lie. Elena seemed to believe it completely, her face turned to one of guilt and if they had not been sneaking around to find the curse, Caroline would have felt guilty. She climbed into her car as she watched Elena and Stefan walk into the house, making her feel better about heading home. She had barely gotten into the house when her phone signaled that she had received a message.
Mom: Connor made bail. He just left the station.
Author's Note: I'm so glad you guys loved the last chapter so much, your response was amazing. Please keep it coming!
