Chapter 10

I'm getting better at hiding my thoughts. Reciting my Miss Mystic speech was a good way to keep my mind off of things. Then again, it probably doesn't matter since Edward already heard everything there was to hear last night.

When Edward and Bella came downstairs, they were engaged. On her left hand was a ring, covered in a hundred little diamonds. Stefan and I congratulated her politely while Alice spun her around excitedly. The way the ring reflected light in all directions reminded me of the Cullens' skin. The wink Edward gave me when I thought that told me that that's what he was going for.

After my talk with Stefan the night before, I had silently removed myself from the living room and slept by myself in Alice's room. Instead of keeping myself up thinking, I had slept right away. It didn't feel great, but I needed the sleep since we wouldn't be sleeping tonight.

We were too busy to waste any more time. Instead of eggs like I had had for the last couple of days, my breakfast was a slice of toast and a bag of blood. We spent the rest of the day making last minute preparations and Angela came over to work on her spells. Jasper and Stefan were sharpening more stakes, Rosalie and Alice put some the vervain we had ordered in little bags for each of us, and Angela showed Bella and I the spells she had deciphered from her ancestors' grimoire.

"I don't really know what this is called, but I figured out how to disable a supernatural," Angela said proudly.

"What do you mean?" I asked her. I wouldn't know what it's called either; there were so many spells the witches had that they were hard to keep track of. She looked at me nervously.

"I'm not really sure how to show you without demonstrating it. I'll just do it on you," she said. I was about to object when I felt my head start to explode. Just like how Bonnie did it, it felt like my blood vessels were popping over and over again. If I was human it definitely would kill me. I yelled in pain and dropped to the floor and Angela quickly put her hand down.

"Caroline!" Bella shouted. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," I mumbled. "That was pretty good, Angela. But just describe it next time." I winced as I stood up.

"I didn't realize that it would hurt you so much," she said sheepishly.

Angela had spent the last couple of days training herself. Because of all the practicing she'd been doing, she declared that she was ready to make more daylight rings for the rest of the Cullens. We were running out of time as Victoria was supposed to arrive tonight but it was now or never. The Cullens sat with Angela in the living room and one by one had rings created for them. But since none of us knew how to get lapis lazuli onto rings or bracelets, and we had simply put a stone inside of Alice's necklace and sewed another into Edward's cuff, we had to make do by having Angela enchant the stones and have the Cullens keep them in their pockets.

I steeped the vervain in some hot water for the Cullens, Bella, and Angela. It wasn't much since none of them could be compelled anyways, but at least now they couldn't be bitten. Though the water occasionally splashed and burned me with the vervain, it was something to distract myself with.

"I heard your conversation with Stefan last night. That was pretty rough," Emmett said as he entered the kitchen.

"What do you mean? It's not a big deal," I said.

"You don't have to lie about it. You can't seriously pretend that you don't care at all about what Stefan said. I mean that whole dollepganger thing is a bummer."

"Doppelgänger. And no, I don't care about what he said."

"Come on, what's not to like about Stefan? He's hot," he grimaced as he realized he was pretty much talking about his brother. "Sort of. I mean he doesn't look like a sparkling snowman like Edward. And he seems really caring, from what I can see. Is the Bella-Elena prophecy the only reason that you're acting like it doesn't matter?"

I sighed. "He left us all in Mystic Falls. It's not like he's completely perfect."

"You still came all the way here to find him."

I stopped stirring the already finished tea. Why did I follow him? "I only came here because Enzo wasn't going to. Someone had to fetch him."

"Okay, no clue who Enzo is. That's an awful name by the way. But you still stayed here after all this. You're still here even after Stefan just said he's not coming back because of Damion."

"It's Damon."

"My point still stands. You care about him."

"So what?" I threw my head back in frustration. "I've cared about a lot of people. You didn't know me back in Mystic Falls. I've dated pretty much every guy in town."

"Including Damion? Oh and what about the guy you were talking to on the phone yesterday? Matt?" he asked. I nodded awkwardly. "Dang. But did you care about them enough that you'd chase him to Washington?" I didn't respond. "Right. So this is different."

"It doesn't matter though," I breathed in sharply and started coughing from the fumes coming out of the vervain tea. Emmett offered me a glass of water and I gulped it down. "He's not meant for me and I'm not meant for him because of that stupid doppelgänger thing." I was starting to despise that word. I'd heard it enough in the last couple of years that I could do with never hearing it again.

"There's no prophecy saying that Rose and I are supposed to be together and I still love her."

"There's no prophecy saying you shouldn't," I pointed out.

"True. What about Elena and Da...mon? She cares about him a lot, right?"

I mumbled, "Their relationship was doomed even before he died. I still don't see why she chose him over Stefan. Stefan's kind and caring and, well, not Damon."

"It doesn't matter if Stefan's a better person. She cares for Damon."

"There's no way she cared for him that much." I was getting annoyed at how unrelated this was.

"She cared enough to erase her memories of him because losing him was just that painful so he has to have some good qualities. Yes, I heard you telling Stefan about that, sorry," he apologized. "But that just proves that the doppelgängers can fall for other people."

I wanted to argue I couldn't think of a response. He was right. "You'll figure it out eventually. I gotta go, Angela finished sun blocking Rosalie so it's my turn." I thanked him quietly and he left the kitchen. As I poured the vervain tea into mugs for the Cullens, the water splashed out of the mug and onto my arm. I hissed and set the pot down. I watched the burn on my forearm fade away and realized that Stefan wasn't by my side. He hadn't been listening. I tried again to pour the tea into the nine mugs and succeeded without much splashing. I called for the rest of the house to come drink and they filed into the kitchen. All of the Cullens seemed to have a hard time stomaching the tea but Angela and Bella seemed to like the taste.

It was eight o'clock when all of us took the cars to where Alice had seen Victoria decide to go. The sun was already starting to set when we arrived. Jasper checked that all of us had stakes on us; we had two each. He told us the plan; Angela and Bella would be in the center of the field where she could protect her, Edward and Jasper would fight Victoria, and the rest of us would fend off the army. Watching the four couples whisper nervously to each other, it suddenly dawned on me the danger the eleven of us were in. Emmett's advice wouldn't have mattered at all if I died tonight.

Thanks again for the reviews (keep em coming XD)! Sorry that I took so long to update but I kept getting sidetracked working ahead on the battle with Victoria (I'm so excited about that!).