Characters belong to The Vampire Diaries (L.J Smith , Julie Plec ect.) and plot idea belongs to Sarah Blakley-Cartwright and David Leslie Johnson.
Thank you to everyone who reviewed :)
Seeing movement outside, Grams knew the men were coming. She stepped out onto the porch to wait. They soon arrived and looked up to her. Grams climbed down the steps, holding a small, yet bright, candle.
She made her way to Bill.
"I heard about my Bonnie." She didn't explain how. "Promise that you will be careful."
"Don't worry. The Wolf has no interest in me – I'm all gristle." They both smiled slightly.
Grams turned, and ascended back up the stairs. She stood vigilant, watching the group move off, one at a time. Turning her head slightly, she saw a dark figure stalking up to her.
Shuddering, the figure flung back the hood of his cloak and-
It was Caroline.
Grams shook her head, covering up her previous fear with laughter. "Darling, what are you doing?"
Caroline frowned. "Why shouldn't I go with them? She was my sister."
Grams gave a sad smile and took her in her arms. "You're frozen already – I don't think you'll make it."
"Well, no, I suppose not." Caroline gave up, she was still tired and her body felt heavy.
Though she did not say it, Caroline was delighted that Grams had not cast her off because of Bonnie. She had always admired this place, a cottage out in the woods, apart from the village. Caroline loved Grams' way of life, even if it was the topic of ridicule for the villagers. Even if the price Grams paid was that some blamed her for the Wolf's presence in the village.
At some point whist Caroline was thinking, Grams had led her into the small cottage and onto an old, but comfy chair.
"You'll need your sleep." Grams handed Caroline a steaming cup of her sage brew.
Ignoring her tea, Caroline turned her head, seeing the light from the men's torches start to fade into the distance. Feeling her stomach coil, Caroline snapped her head away.
Who will come back? Will any of them? A gush of wind made her jump. Nothing felt right any more. Bonnie was gone and nothing was the same. Even nature didn't seem right any more, as if it could feel the absence.
"I was a sister. I should have been with her," Caroline blurted out, sinking further into the couch, hoping that it could swallow her up and take her away.
"You can't blame yourself." Grams whispered, added some unfamiliar herbs to the tea. "Of course, as my own grandmother used to say, 'All sorrows are-"
"-less with bread'" Caroline finished the line she had been hearing for as long as she could remember.
Grams tried to smile weakly; Caroline didn't bother.
"Are you still cold?"
Caroline nodded, going through the motions.
Wordlessly Grams left the room, soon returning, coming up behind Caroline and draping something over her shoulders.
"How's this?"
Caroline looked down. It was a beautiful, blood red cloak.
"Grams..." Caroline didn't know what to say, she had never seen anything like it before.
"I made it for your wedding."
Caroline looked down at the bracelet.
"The wedding doesn't feel like mine. It is like I am being sold." Klaus words played over in her mind, a harsh grip on her heart.
"There's someone else, isn't there." It wasn't a question.
"There was someone..." Caroline whispered, mainly to herself. "But maybe there isn't now."
Grams nodded, as if she could immediately understand.
"I just can't believe he'd give me up so easily."
"Maybe there is something more to the story." Grams said knowingly. Caroline shook her head in dismissal.
"Perhaps. I hate to think of it in the wake of death."
There was a silence which screamed at them both.
"How I wish you could follow your heart." The older woman said finally.
"There is little chance of that." Caroline's face darkened. "All my mother cares about is money, and my father's too drunk to notice half of anything."
Despite the circumstance, Grams let out a deep chuckle.
"You, Caroline, were never one to mince words."
The silence soaked over them once more.
"When I was young," Grams began, soothing the tension. "the Wolf would attack entire families. Lure them out into the wild."
"How?" Caroline questioned, sitting up, thoughts on the scraps in Bonnie's hand.
"No one knows."
"But the killings stopped when you started sacrificing animals for it," Caroline said, knowing that part of the story. She reached out and picked up the hot cup of tea.
"Yes, but it was after a long period of brutality. It was then that we started the bells – those four tolls. Every month." She looked down. "I thought those days were over."
There was a time when Caroline hadn't truly understood the significance of those church bells. She did now.
Caroline started to drift asleep, but snapped up at every noise. Grams moved forward.
"Drink, darling."
"Bonnie is dead." Caroline said, trying to accept it.
"I know, dear. Drink a bit more."
Caroline felt her eyelids becoming heavy, she couldn't keep her head up.
"The Wolf killed Bonnie..."
She did not finish her thought, though, because sleep had taken her like death.
Bit of a short chapter, but I promise will add a chapter with the men and their hunt tomorrow!
Thanks for reading :)