Now we get into the story. Enjoy!
Chapter 10: Present
Elena sat on Rebekah's overly large couch, completely stunned. She'd known Damon was capable of feeling that kind of emotion, mostly because he loved Katherine, and he'd shown his love for Elena on more than one occasion, but she'd never imagined he'd had that kind of affections for anyone other than them. He'd never even mentioned this Caroline girl's name, let alone said anything about loving her. He was turned, looking out the window as he recited their story. Their many years spent together, having fun and spending money, and then those last few years, fleeing from a hunter.
"That was the last time I saw her. I searched for her as long as I could, but I meant to keep my promise to her, so after a while, I stopped looking." He said as he turned back to the group. Rebekah was now sitting, perched on the side of a chair. Her face was one Elena had never seen before, it almost looked like the girl was truly happy. Elena couldn't imagine Rebekah loving anyone the way she loved herself, but apparently she held this girl in high esteem.
"So now that we've answered the question of what Caroline has been up to, what is she doing back here?" Stefan asked. Damon shook his head.
"She never came here the whole time we were together, she never even mentioned the place." He said.
"It is her home. She was born here, grew up here, she fell in love here." Rebekah said glaring toward Damon. Elena could not help the smile that crossed her lips, it was clear that Rebekah was not interested in Damon and Caroline rekindling any sort of romance, she was strictly on Team Klaus. A loud knock on the front door echoed through the house. All their heads turned and then they all shared a glance. Usually people just walked in. Rebekah's face lit up and she rushed to the door. But instead of the delighted squeal they expected to hear, a long sigh stretched out and the click of her heels could be heard as she came back to the room. Matt was following her. His face was serious, as usual, as he approached the group.
"We have a problem." He said.
Rebekah, Damon, Stefan, Elena, and Matt stood in front of Bonnie as she paced in front of them.
"What's going on?" Stefan asked.
"Three vampires came through, less than an hour ago." Bonnie said. Stefan turned his eyes to Damon and they both frowned.
"As if we need any more problems." Rebekah said shaking her head.
"We need to find them before they get into trouble." Stefan said.
"Yeah, good plan." Damon rolled his eyes.
"As much as I'd like to stay and help, I have better things to do." Rebekah smiled and then she was gone. The others turned and hurried out the door, something was going on.
Rebekah walked back into her home, a small hum coming from her throat. It was an old song, one she recalled singing to Anna on several occasions. She smiled softly, remembering the small blonde angel that they'd all loved dearly. She turned into the room Klaus used for his paintings and she froze. Caroline was standing in the middle of the room, looking around casually at the paintings. Her long waves of blonde hair ran over her shoulders and down her back, she was wearing a pair of tight jeans, a purple halter blouse, a black leather jacket, and a pair of black boots. Rebekah opened her mouth to speak but Caroline was gone from her sight, then she felt a hard shove at her back and she stumbled forward.
"Getting slow in your old age Rebekah." The high pitched voice said. Rebekah laughed and turned to face the girl that was once her closest friend.
"You're almost as old as me." Rebekah smirked. Caroline wrapped her arms around the girl before she could say another word. Rebekah was temporarily stunned, she couldn't recall the last time she'd had a genuine hug, and Caroline's hugs had always been her favorite. Rebekah hugged her back and when they parted Rebekah held her at arm's length, looking her over.
"You look so different." She said. Caroline chuckled and nodded.
"You do to. It's been a very long time." She said.
"I thought you were dead." Rebekah said. Caroline released her and frowned.
"Why?" she asked
"The house burned down the day after Anna's death." She said. Caroline's eyes widened, and she crossed her arms.
"Nik?" she asked softly. Rebekah had to hold back the smile that wanted to come to her lips.
"He's fine, he's here, in Mystic Falls, we share this house." She said. Caroline froze, she frowned and nodded.
"I need to get going." She turned, but this time Rebekah caught her.
"Caroline please, don't go." she said. Caroline gently pulled her arm away and pursed her lips.
"Look, I didn't come to stay anyway, I was just searching for a girl, she came here last night and I needed to find her." she said. Rebekah offered a small smile, she knew who she was talking about.
"She's dead." Rebekah said. Caroline nodded and crossed her arms.
"I could have guessed, she was very independent, did not need me for anything." Caroline said.
"You turned her?" Rebekah asked. Caroline nodded and her hand clenched slightly.
"Almost a year ago. I needed to find her because something is happening to humans, something in their blood." Caroline said. Rebekah's eyes widened and she stepped closer.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Three weeks ago Jess fled, she didn't like feeding by my rules, she liked the kill, I wouldn't let her. I started searching for her, I came through a town a few states over and I was hungry, but before I could drink I ran into another vampire. He was sick, so sick. He was in an alley, almost looked homeless, he asked me for help but I didn't know how to help him. I asked if he'd been staked or hurt in some way, he just shook his head and said 'It was the blood' and then he died, right there in the ally. I didn't know what he meant, I stood there for a moment and all the veins in his body slowly became visible, bright blue against his pale skin. I turned and ran. After a few more towns I came across this incredibly bad smell, it smelled like dried blood and rotting corpses, so I followed the scent, and I came across three vampire corpses, all looked just like the man in the alley, blue veins standing out." She said. Rebekah listened intently, her mind whirling.
"I didn't have a clue what was going on, so I went to visit a friend, I knew he would know what was happening. But when I arrived at his apartment he was like the man in the alley, sick, coughing up blood, dying slowly. He gave me a better explanation though. He said humans were infected, their blood, unrecognizable to any tests or humans in general, but once a vampire feeds on the person carrying the infection, the vampire is infected and then they slowly die. He died shortly after telling me all that. It spreads fast through the humans, Jess came here to feed because no reports of vampire deaths have come from here. Yet." She said calmly.
"Oh my god." Rebekah said as she dropped down into a chair.
"I have to go now." Caroline said quickly. Rebekah jumped up.
"Wait! You can't just go Caroline." She said hurriedly. Caroline sighed and shrugged.
"Why would I stay here Bekah?" she asked.
"We're all here Caroline, me, Klaus, even Damon is here." she said. Caroline snorted and shook her head.
"How do you know about Damon?" she asked raising her brows. Rebekah shook her head, "He mentioned you two spent some time together." she said waving it off. Caroline was unsure if she'd mentioned anything about Nik to Damon, she really hoped not, but then again, she didn't want to ask. To keep from giving Rebekah false hope.
"I love you Bekah, but I don't feel about either of them the way I used to. I only came after Jess. I didn't even know any of you were here." she said.
"At least speak to Niklaus." She said. Caroline crossed her arms again and Rebekah knew she was feeling pressured.
"Just stay a few more days. You can feed, you said yourself there were no deaths here." she said. Caroline forced a smile and chuckled.
"Fine, I'll stay a few days, but only on one condition." She said.
"What?" Rebekah asked.
"You can't tell Nik I'm here." she said.
"You don't think he'll find out?" Rebekah asked raising her eyebrows.
"I hope not. Just don't tell him, ok?" she said.
"Fine, but what of Damon? He knows you are here." Rebekah rolled her eyes and sighed.
"I can handle Damon." She smirked and turned, "I'll see you before I leave." She said. Rebekah nodded as Caroline walked out the door. Rebekah wanted to tell Caroline everything, what her mother had forced Klaus to do, all of it, just so they could be together, but it wasn't her place, Klaus would find out Caroline was here, and they would talk, and kiss, and fall in love, Rebekah knew it would happen, she still believed in that sort of thing.
Elena wrapped her arms around the girl and held her as tight as she could while Damon and Stefan wrested with the two men.
"We aren't trying to hurt you." Stefan said with a small growl as the man clawed him.
"We just want to know why you're here." Elena said. They slowly stopped struggling and they were slowly released as the two men fell over in a fit of coughs. The girl rushed to them and glanced back at the group.
"They are sick. They drank bad blood." she said running her hands over the pair. Elena and Stefan glanced at each other.
"Bad blood?" Damon asked.
"The humans, there is something spreading in their blood, the males can't drink from them, they die if they do." She said as the men finally stopped coughing, small trickles of blood running from both their mouths. All their eyes were wide, confusion had set in, what the hell was happening.
"What?" Damon asked quickly. The girl turned and glared.
"If they drink blood from a human that carries the infection, they die. There is no stopping it, no cure, no help, they die. It doesn't affect the females, I don't know why, it just doesn't. We came here because we haven't heard of a vampire death from these parts yet. That's all I know, but it looks like we were wrong." she said. The coughs started again, both men hacking up blood and clenching their stomachs. Within moments their heavy breathing ceased and both men lay motionless.
"No, come on baby, Jordan, come on." The girl said shaking both men. Their skin paled quickly and their veins stood out, flashing blue lines all along their skin.
"Holy shit." Damon said slowly. He turned toward Stefan and they shared a long look.
"What the hell is going on?" Damon asked.
"Looks like you have bigger things to worry about, like finding food, because Jordan drank from one of your humans earlier, and now he's dead." The girl said softly.
"It's here." Elena whispered.
Klaus walked into his home and he smiled, it was good to be home, back from New Orleans, getting to sleep in his own bed for at least a little while. He looked around, wondering where Rebekah was. He took a deep breath and dropped his bag. A familiar scent slipped into his nose, one he had not smelled in nearly a thousand years. It couldn't be though, no, he was sure it was not her. He shook it off and walked further into the house.
"Welcome home." Rebekah said as he came into the sitting room.
"How was New Orleans?" she asked.
"The same, loud, musical, and full of drunks." He smirked and sat down. She nodded and looked around. He noticed immediately something was wrong with her. She wasn't her normal self. No questions, no describing her entire day to him.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"Blood, the humans are carrying some infection. It kills vampires, quickly." She said. Klaus sat up quickly and the scent drifted back into his nose, he shook his head quickly, trying to get it out.
"What?" Rebekah asked raising her brows. He frowned, not wanting to tell her that he smelled Caroline, he smelled her everywhere in his house. He had days like this sometimes, he couldn't get her out of his head on occasion. Sometimes he thought he saw her, walking along the road, drinking a glass of wine at a bar, but it was never her. Smelling her was something he'd lived with for years and years, he would never forget the way she'd smelled or the way she'd laughed. But he couldn't deal with that now, according to his sister, something serious was happening.
"Nothing. What are you going on about?" he asked. She sat down across from him and leaned forward.
"Vampires are dying Nik, the blood they are drinking is bad, it spreads fast through humans, some kind of infection. Who knows, but we have to be careful, there are no signs or symptoms from the humans." She said. He sat back and frowned deeply, his mind working fast.
"Well, I guess we'll just have to find a test subject." He smirked.
"A test subject?" she asked.
"Yes, so we can figure out just how this infection works." He said. Rebekah nodded slowly and sat back again. It was killing her not telling him, but she'd made a promise, and she didn't need Nik running after Caroline right now, as much as she wanted them back together, they had bigger things to worry about.