Hey everyone! Thanks for reviewing!

I'm happy that you liked it and that some of you put the story on alert! :D

I will think about a psychic Caroline story, I promise. ^^

Here is the next chapter. Hope you enjoy!

Enter the Wicked

Chapter 10: Watcher at the Gates

Somewhere up on the hills a man stood, overlooking Mystic Falls.

"You look as if you might look at something particular in this town, brother." said another man with a deep British accent upon entering the scene.

The first laughed a little and without even turning to him spoke out "I'm not looking. You know, Elijah, I'm more the collecting kind of guy."

And a rich but dark smile graced his features.

Obvious to it all, down at the Grill:

Caroline would never wonder again why she never even attempted to live in small villages… What can a girl do when retail therapy is not an option? She couldn't go to her real home because Katherine counted on her. And she couldn't go to her temporary home because a wet and disgusting dog occupied her space. She already saw herself ordering a cleaning service the next day to get rid of his scent! But for now she did what every girl does in a similar situation would: Put yourself out there and have a drink or two. But remember, a good girl never gets drunk just for the purpose of drinking…

Well, at least for her that meant to not ever spend money on getting booze…

But luckily for her she actually met Matt just a few days ago.

"And a few years ago I got this job here, just being a bartender. And by now I'm the one responsible for this all! Can you believe that?" he told her with big shining eyes and an even bigger enthusiasm.

"Wow…" she replied. But as every girl saying "Wow" she just really meant "I can't believe this is getting worse and worse.
Don't get her wrong. It had been fun at first. He was quite nice and charming and they talked about their lives a little bit. But somehow the whole conversation drifted off to the topic being him and him alone. You know when the guys talk about themselves just to hear their goals being heard and hopefully appreciated?

'If I would leave for New York now…. Would I be faster by car or maybe by plane?'

She was about to dwell on her idea a little bit more and could just imaging herself running down Park Avenue with big shopping bags from D&G, Prada... 'even from Macy's if I have to...' as he Matt said "Has anyone ever told you that you have these beautiful eyes in which one could get lost?" His voice held a dreamy tone and he overall looked at her like he was about to fly up on the next cloud and up he goes to cloud 9.

'And here I always wondered if small town guys were any different than the ones in the city... He had so much potential...' she thought to herself and sighed dramatically.

"And you really wonder why you can't get a girl?" another voice suddenly chimed in and behind Matt Damon suddenly appeared. Upon moving to look at the arrived person his eyes met Damon's and he halted in his tracks.

"If you didn't get the message she is not interested. Get lost. And don't even think twice about it. Wanna know why?"

"Because I won't stand a chance against you…" Matt muttered and left the table.

"And this guy is a football player, can you believe that? No wonder he never became quarterback..." he told her with a grin upon turning to her and looking her in the eyes. "My dear lady, your rescue has arrived." he told her and even bowed down in front of her.

"And to what do I owe the pleasure of you rescuing me?" she asked him with an annoyed tone while taking a sip of her whiskey. She started with Martini but after hearing Matt speaking on and on and on … she decided that whiskey was … more suitable given the circumstances.

"Cause I can't have you finishing off the only bearable bartender within a miles range. Hard to believe, I know. But remember, this is a small town." he told her in all earnest. "… And maybe, and just maybe, you need a ride on the dark side?" he told her cockily while leaning down to her and raising one of his eyebrows.

"'A ride on the dark side'? And you are scolding him for his advances?"

"Well, I didn't remember giving you any reason not to believe that I'm true to my words. And since you didn't complain the last time..."

She sighed. 'How blissful the days where when I still believed his name was Dave…'

"So why try? I'm pretty sure that I will complain this time. Can't we just call it a nice experience back then and leave it at that? Why ruin memories?"

"Well, I'm always up for making new ones. And I always succeed in overtrumping when it concerns expectations..."

"Look, Damon..."

"So you do know my name!" he remarked with a smirk but she choose to ignore this and went on saying "I'm not in the mood so would you mind just leaving me by myself before I begin to remember that I could simply shred you to pieces?"

"Let me think about it. Hmm... Nope, don't think so!" a charming smile displaying itself on his face. "I'm, by far, too handsome to be just ripped to pieces." he explained her and moved to stand right in front of her before continuing.

"Come on, tell uncle Damon what got you in such a mood?"

"Come on, tell aunt Caroline why I should even listen to you?"

"Isn't it obvious? The town doesn't do you any good."

"Is that so?" she asked clearly annoyed while taking another sip of her martini.

"You tell me. Is this your average night? Finding yourself in this despicable excuse of a bar, sipping martini and being watched by misunderstood fat fools because you are the most outworldish thing they ever saw in their lives?"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Well, you are no small town girl at all. And people born here tend to stay here all their lives. The farthest they went away being for getting a degree at Whitmore College."

"Whitmore College? I've never heard about that. And what's wrong with being emotional bound to your home?"

To that Damon laughed and said "And here I thought you weren't a small town girl! Come on really? Living in a place like this, never being too far from home, for the rest of your life? Tell me that the mere thought about it doesn't make you want to run?"

'Okay, he has a point there.'

"So why are you?" she wondered out loud.

"Why what?" Damon looked at her with a questioning look.

"Why are you here?"

"Well... As you know, my brother..." he began.

"And don't give me any dumb lie about looking after your brother or anything lame like that. You don't appear to have that kind of connection. So what is your deal, Damon Salvatore? Why does the " She focused on his face and awaited any sign giving his true intentions away.

"How about I tell you about that elsewhere?"

"And where would this elsewhere be?"

"Come on, don't be like that! Haven't you ever heard about anticipation?You could be surprised as you find yourself liking it."

"Please excuse that I'm not giving you the benefit of doubt. I wouldn't have achieved anything if I would be the kind of girl blindly believing in a guy promising surprises."

"Than you haven't met the right one." he simply gave back while lowering his voice as well as his head to whisper in her ear now.

"Come on. What could go wrong? You could have a nice evening with quite a nice guy and actually enjoy it. Or it won't. And didn't you say that you could shred me to pieces?" he told her with a sinister grin. "So, would you give me the pleasure to lead you out of this place and take you somewhere more suitable?" His voice was being quite endearingly to her by now.
"You won't leave even if I say no, will ya?" she told him bluntly.

"Dare to find out?"

Back at the Salvatore mansion:

He was standing on the porch and looking up at the dark horizon above him. It was a clear and calm night and the sky was lightened by stars. But somehow Stefan found himself interpreting this as the calm before the storm.

"Stefan, is everything alright?" Elena asked him as she saw him yet again spacing out on her. He turned back to her and could see her questioning eyes. He sighed.

They originally planned to stay at his place tonight and have a quiet romantic dinner at the mansion this evening but he couldn't find it in himself to invest himself in this evening. He had barely talked or even looked at her all evening. And he could clearly see this taking a toll on his girlfriend. She became edgy somewhere through dinner and quietly cleared the table why he moved to get some fresh air. He didn't know why but somehow the walls were too narrow and he felt restless while being in the house.

As he moved out of the doors into the night he felt a little bit calmer but only for short. He had no idea why but something was irritating him tonight.

'I feel like something is about to happen. Something big. And dangerous…' he said to himself and began to think back on his last conversation with Damon and his meeting with this Caroline before that. 'And normally I can trust my instincts… But what if…'

"Stefan!" Elena shot at him and successfully brought him out of his line of thoughts.

"What's up with you? You are here but your mind is somewhere else! Is everything okay? You can tell me!" she pleaded with him and he saw worry adding the questioning gaze she had on him.

He moved in front of her and took hold of both her arms with his hands.
"Listen, I'm sorry. I'm sorry the evening turned out like this. It's just… There is a lot on my mind right now."

"What is it? Is there something I can do?" she tried.

"Elena… It's…" he began. 'What shall I tell her? That my former girlfriend came to visit him? That grave danger is following her everywhere? And yeah, by the way, you look exactly like her! You two should meet!' "It's about Damon." he lied.

"Did you two end up in a fight again?" Elena asked. Stefan found no sign visible that she might hadn't bought his explanation.

"Well… Yeah…" he sighed but more out of frustration at himself than anything else. "And I think I got to find him and see what he's up to."

At this Elena took a deep breath and averted her eyes to the ground. After a few moments of silence she looked back up and sent him a sad smile.
"Yeah, you should do that. He is your brother after all."

"Elena…" he began and immediately felt bad about lying to her. But he knew that he had some investigating to do this night and wanted her to be at home, safe, until he found out more about this whole ordeal.

So he took her in his arms and kissed her forehead.
"I'll get my keys and drive you home."

At Katherine's and Caroline's flat:

She could hear Mason rummaging around somewhere in the kitchen while she stood in the bathroom, doing her hair. If you asked her, Caroline was far too dramatic for her taste. Okay, she had a point as her shower gel was far too expensive to scrub it along Mason's backside… And it did no good to overpower his scent for more than a few hours after all.

But after all diamonds are a girl's best friend. And the moonstone was what could be described the most precious rhinestone for her at the moment. She knew that Caroline would have her head if she knew what was about to take place in her absence. But she had to deal with this as fast as possible, even if it meant she would on her own.

"Why does she always turns out to be a stubborn kid after an argument and shut of her cell?" she muttered somewhat angrily to herself.

She and Mason decided that they would move out to get the moonstone later. Mason told her that his brother kept it. His brother died some time ago and therefore the Moonstone wouldn't be watched over and therefore easy for them to reach. Of course Katherine wanted to go there directly.

But after Mason pouted about him being too hungry to even move he was currently making himself dinner...

And after seeing him eating once she had no enthusiasm in repeating this experience. She didn't know if this has something to do with him being a werewolf but to her he was more or less literally ripping something apart!
So she did what she could best. She prepared herself for the night. And as she always preferred dressing appropriate and casual but elegant was the theme for the night she had on her best fitting tight black Adriano Goldsmith jeans completed with a black tube top and later on her favorite leather biker jacket by Alexander McQueen. And as obtaining the moonstone would change her live and turned the tables in her favor from now on her hair had to be perfect. That meaning her curls had to be even more perfect and shinier than ever before.

She was about to check one of her curlers as she caught a scent which got her to stop dead in her tracks abruptly. The hair on her neck stood up and everything in her screamed to run. But somehow fear rose up in her to the point of not being able to move.

And then the bell rang…

End of Chapter 10