Dangerous Light Ch. 11 The Second Death of Caroline Forbes
Disclaimer- I own nothing
"Where are you?" Stefan asked his brother through the phone.
"I think the question is actually where are you?" Damon asked back to him.
"I'm in Mystic Falls," Stefan told him. "Why aren't you?"
"I'm on a bit of a vampire hunt." Damon was walking the streets of Chicago. It would figure that as soon as he left Stefan would show up. "It's been four months since you've been gone. Klaus let you go?"
"Not exactly," Stefan admitted. "I need you to come back."
"Hmmm," Damon pretended to think about it. "Give Elena a kiss for me. I'll be back as soon as I can."
"No," Stefan told him darkly. "I need you now."
"Don't get your panties in a bunch." Damon snorted at him. "I'm sorry if you ran out of hair gel. Just go to the store and get some yourself."
"Damon," he could hear Damon glowering on the other side of the phone. "I took Klaus's family."
Damon stopped on the sidewalk. People passed around him but he stood straight listening to what his brother had just said. "What do you mean you took his family?"
"He was storing his family up in Chicago. When we got back to Mystic Falls I might have wondered off with them."
"I'm assuming they're all daggered right?"
"Right, and in coffins. Why did you even leave?"
"I needed to see someone."
"Elena said you were going after Caroline."
"Unfortunately," Damon said.
Stefan was silent on the other end of the line. "Do you think you can actually find her? Nobody else has."
"I know a witch." Damon stopped when he came to the right bar. "Keep Klaus away from his family for as long as possible. I'll be back soon."
Damon hung up the phone and pushed the heavy door open. It was noon so the only patrons at the bar were the real drunks. Stepping through the building he saw the exact person he looking for.
"Gloria," Damon opened his arms up wide using his usual annoying charm. "My favorite witch in the whole wide world."
"Get out," she didn't crack a smile. "I've had too many vampires in my bar recently. I don't want another one."
"Oh come on," Damon stood at the edge of the bar. "I think we're better friends than that."
Gloria looked up at him raising an eyebrow. "Honey, we aren't friends."
"Fine," he conceded. "We aren't. But I still need your help."
"And I said no," Gloria went to serve someone. "Too many people from Mystic Falls. You know your brother was here with Klaus just the other day."
"Figures," Damon said. "Did you help Klaus do some terrible evil?"
No," Gloria said sternly. "Now could you just get out of here already."
"No," Damon slid into a stool. "I need your help."
Gloria let out a breath and relaxed her shoulders. She would help him if it meant he left her bar.
"You helped me track down a vampire in the twenties."
Gloria stared blankly at him as her way of saying get on with the story.
"I hadn't seen this vampire in a hundred years but he owed me a grand from a poker game. With a snap of your fingers you found him in a second. I need you to do that again."
"And I need you to stop gambling." Gloria told him. "I don't have time to stop doing what I'm doing so you can get some poor old soul to pay up."
"It's more important than money this time." Damon's voice got low and serious. The change made the old witch look at him in a new light. "I need to find a girl; she was made into a vampire recently. You're the best tracker I've ever met. Will you help me?"
Gloria wasn't a fool. These past months an awful lot had happened. Something in the air was changing and as an old witch she had spotted it before anybody else. Something was coming. Something big. It took a lot to change or disturb the supernatural world but in her bones she could sense uneasiness. When that blonde haired girl had come walking into her bar Gloria had wanted to outright refuse the girl. But she couldn't ignore the necklace that was placed in front of her. Damon hadn't told her who he was looking for but she knew it was the same girl.
Gloria leaned over the counter close to Damon's face. "I can't help you."
"Yes you can," Damon wouldn't take her refusal. "Just snap your fingers and track her. Easy as pie. I need to find her soon."
"Why is she so important?" Gloria put her hands on her hip.
Damon shrugged. "I don't think she's important. But I guess others do."
Gloria was silent as they stared at each other. She was usually good on her deals but since the girl had come to her bar she couldn't shake the feeling that something big was happening in the near future. Damon tilted his head at her.
"Holy crap," he blurted out. "She's already been here."
"I didn't say that."
"That's why you're refusing to help me." Damon nodded his head in understanding. "How did she even know about you?"
"I don't know what you're talking about." Gloria remained calm. Her poker face was in place.
"Give it up," he told her. "I can tell by how you're acting that she was here."
"Get out of my bar Damon," she warned.
"Not until you tell me what you did." Damon snarled at her. She flicked her hand and he went flying into the back wall. "We've known each other too long to. Tell me."
"Bars closed," she sternly told her guests. "Get out."
Scurrying around the room people left and it became empty except for the two. Damon rolled his head cracking it. He looked up at Gloria who towered over her.
"I told you that you needed to leave."
"I want to know how she knew you could help her."
"No idea," and with those words she admitted that Caroline had been there. She hated that Damon had figured that out but she couldn't do anything about it now. She would still protect the girl.
"You're the reason nobody can find her." Damon stood up stretching. She had been rather forceful when she had thrown him across the room. "Because of you Mystic Falls has been going crazy. Tell me where she is."
"No idea," Gloria said. "She walked out of my bar and that was it."
"Oh don't give me that," Damon let the words roll of his tongue. "You can find her whenever."
"Sorry," she told him. "The girl and I made a deal. She doesn't want to be found."
Damon stared at Gloria. "Why are you protecting her?"
"I said we made a deal." Gloria shouted.
"What kind of deal could a day old vampire give you that would make you go to so many lengths?" Damon took small steps towards her. Before he had been angry that the witch wouldn't tell him anything but now he was interested. It took a lot to hold Gloria.
"That's why everybody says you're stupid Damon Salvatore," Gloria rolled her eyes at him. "You never could see what was in front of you. Whether it was Katherine or somebody else you never have been able to see the truth in front of you. You think you're always ahead of the game but you're not. Mystic Falls is a bad place. And everybody that comes outta that town causes me trouble."
"What the hell are you talking about Gloria?" he continued to edge closer to her. "You've never been a prophet."
"I'm not a prophet," Gloria stated. "I just see what's there."
"And what did you see."
"A vampire that was only two days old that came into my bar and held her own. Have you ever seen a new born who wasn't at their hands and knees for blood. I tell you that girl still hasn't killed anybody. And that's something."
"So she asked you to help her."
"We made a trade," she held out a hand to stop Damon from talking. "And no I won't tell you everything but I'm very wary of vampires who say they're on the run from Klaus and the Salvatore's. You two are peas in a pod when it comes to trouble."
"I mean not really," Damon tried to shake the statement off. They didn't go looking for trouble. At least not always.
"Always," Gloria told him again. "That girl is special Damon. Don't for a second think she's not. You and I have been around a while and seen some things and I'm telling you she's going to be a new force on the scene."
"Gloria," he began. "I get that you're trying to hold up your end of the deal but I still need to find her. Take pity on me. I just want to tell her that her father has passed."
The witch was didn't speak. She could tell he was telling the truth but she didn't want to betray the girl. "Southeast Europe. Didn't hear it from me."
"Thank you," Damon tipped his head to her in gratitude. He had been friends with her for some time and she was one of the people he truly appreciated. He ran out of the bar before she could change her mind and stop him.
The stake hit her heart and she could feel splinters around her veins. It was ripped out of her hands and it landed with a loud drop across the room.
"What the hell?" she looked around and then up in front of her. Damon Salvatore had stopped her from killing herself. She couldn't speak. For once he didn't have anything to say either.
"How the hell did you get here?" her voice was low and lethal.
"Why the hell are you trying to kill yourself?"
"None of your damn business." Caroline's eyes didn't leave his face as she searched it. "How did you find me?"
"You're not the only one that is friends with a witch."
"Did Gloria tell you I was here?" her eyes narrowed until they were slits.
"I forced her to," Damon didn't want anything bad to happen to the witch. "Don't worry with her."
"We had made a deal," Caroline sounded like venom. She was clearly upset that he was there. She tried to run out of the room but he grabbed her by the forearms stopping her from using her vampire speed. She struggled with him and pushed him back. He fell into the wall.
Damon was surprised. It was evident on his face. Gloria had been right when talking about Caroline. He had never seen such a new vampire be in control so much or have such strength. Usually the older you were the stronger. That didn't seem to be the case with her.
"Why are you here?" he found her voice to be whiny. He could sense fear in it.
Damon didn't say anything. Now that he was here he couldn't get any words out. Everybody he knew had tried and failed at finding her and suddenly he was standing in Greece inches away from her. What could he say to her?
"I came because your dad is dead."
Caroline stopped moving. She could hear noises that only came out at night. All at once she looked defeated. "How could that happen?"
Damon moved to sit at the lone chair in her room. She took a seat on the bed and for once they actually had a conversation.
"He was in the hospital. Apparently Dr. Fell feels the need to give her patients vampire blood. We don't know who killed him but he didn't take the transition."
"Of course not," Caroline said weakly. It had been so long since she had seen him last. She refused to cry in front of Damon though. "So you came because you were being nice for once?"
Damon shrugged. He was finding it difficult to talk to her. "Not really. I got pissed off that nobody could find you so I went to Gloria. She's helped me in the past but I had never guessed you had also gone to her."
"I stole Elena's necklace," she admitted to him. In the back of her mind she asked herself why she was bothering to have a heart to heart with Damon Salvatore of all people. "Klaus is looking for it though so don't tell anybody she has it."
He cared enough about the witch that he made up his mind to not tell anybody about what Caroline had done. Not even Elena or Stefan. They didn't need to know where the necklace was. He looked over the girl. She had a new haircut which looked okay to him but in a way it just didn't suit her. She needed to grow it back out. Her body was lean and she carried herself differently. He could still see though that she carried her usual sadness with her.
"Don't tell anybody," Caroline stared in his eyes. "You owe me after feeding off of me. You can't tell anybody where I am."
Damon paused, "Why did you leave?"
"Why do you stick around?" she asked right back to him. "I didn't want to be one more vampire back home. Is it so wrong that I wanted a new life? I didn't want to be judged anymore by people who don't even give a damn about me."
Damon rubbed his temples. "Why are you putting me in this position?"
Caroline smiled at him. She really did have a dazzling grin. "Typical Damon. Not everything is about you." She curled her legs up to her chest. He couldn't believe her short hair. She looked so grown up, so different. She exuded a silent strength. He wondered if she even knew she had it.
"People are worried about you." He told her.
"Let them worry," She said.
"I have to tell them that I found you," he wouldn't say he had failed.
She looked up at him with her wide navy eyes. "Tell them I'm dead then."
Damon watched her. "You can't be serious."
"I'm not coming back." She meant it. She reached out and grabbed a chunk of her own hair. She pulled it out easily. It came down from her head with pieces of her scalp still because she had pulled so hard. "Take it and give it to whomever. As far as Mystic Falls is concerned Caroline Forbes is dead."
Elijah walked into his brother's living room. He stepped over a dead body. It looked like some witch. Her neck had been snapped. Klaus was in a chair only a few feet away from her. He had a sketch book open and he used short strokes with a graphite pencil.
"Klaus," he greeted his brother. "Did you just get back?"
For months he and Stefan had been away. Elijah couldn't keep up with everything that Klaus did but it was clear that Klaus had gone back to his cold ways.
For what felt like seconds he had shown compassion, but when Caroline had left he had put his emotions away. He didn't utter anything unless it was meant to hurt. Elijah knew Klaus's heart had warmed after starting some affair with the girl but he shut down. The armor that Elijah knew so well was back up.
Klaus didn't look up at his brother. "Stefan has stolen all my coffins."
Elijah froze in place. He knew the exact coffins pretty well. They housed his sleeping family. Stefan had gone rouge though and taken them. "I had no knowledge of this."
"Of course not," Klaus remained focused on his drawing.
"And really they only took the boring coffins." A posh voice rang out from the doorway.
Elijah turned with great joy to see his younger sister Rebekah. They pulled each other in a hug.
"When, how?" Elijah started.
"Nik let me out while we were in Chicago. After ninety years," Rebekah raised her voice in her brother's direction.
"Now now," Klaus said. "No need to cry over spilt milk."
"Ninety years Nik," she reinforced. "I wake up to find Stefan in love with a new doppelganger. Who just so happens to still be alive."
"Mother wanted me to believe all these years that I had to kill a doppelganger. She put lies into my ears so I would fail."
"What about our brothers?" Elijah put in.
"Oh that will be simple enough." Klaus finally looked up. "We're going to make a trade. Elena for them."
Elijah turned his head listening in the house. He walked to the room next door. Elena caught his eye as she was tied to a chair.
"I hate the blubbery ones," Rebekah said. "She hasn't shut up all day."
"You have to let her go," Elijah told Klaus.
"Not until I get my items back."
"Please," Elena's voice crackled over the rooms. "Elijah please let me go."
"Elijah has no say in the matter," Klaus spoke loudly in his accent. "I feel our stay here is coming to an end. After I get them back I'm going to drain her. All I really need is her blood."
"You can't just kill her."
"Watch me," Klaus said deadly.
Rebekah smiled at her brothers. She was perfectly fine with killing the girl. She was the reason Stefan wasn't in love with her anymore.
"Klaus," she turned to her brother suddenly. "Who is this Caroline that I keep hearing about? I've been in this insufferable town for five minutes and that's all I hear about. They say you took a fancy to a human."
A shadow passed over the room. Elijah said nothing.
Klaus flipped to a new page in his sketch book. He ignored the matter entirely. "Salvatore's are here."
A knock was heard. Elijah let them in and Klaus finally stood up.
"We have your coffins just give us back Elena," Stefan said calmly.
Klaus stood straight up. He counted the coffins. "I can't do that." He gathered Elena and held her close to him. She was shaking.
"Wait," Elena tried to think of anything she could to save herself. "Damon did you find her?"
"Not now," Damon replied swiftly. This was definitely not the time or place to talk about it.
"Find who?" Rebekah had always loved hearing town gossip.
"Damon found Caroline," Elena said though she didn't know if that was exactly true. They would just have to go with it.
"The Caroline that everybody is talking about?" Rebekah looked at all the faces in the room. "Who is this girl?"
"Klaus just give them Elena," Elijah spoke up from the side of the room. Fear was thick and heavy in the room.
He let go of the girl and she quickly sped away to her boyfriends.
"Somebody answer my bloody question." Rebekah hated to be ignored.
"Did you find her?" Elena had her arms wrapped around Stefan but she moved her head to look at Damon. He was making a face that she had never seen before. Something was wrong with him. He was upset. "Did you?"
Damon had to make a decision quick. He nodded and he could feel everybody take a collective breath of air and what he had just told them.
"She's dead," his words rang out. He felt the lie sink to the bottom of his stomach. Never before had he cared so much about not telling the truth. He had always been a good liar, but after seeing Caroline and Gloria he had started to see things differently.
"What do you mean?" Elena gasped. "She can't be dead."
"She was in Greece," Damon continued. "I found her with a stake in her heart." He slid his hand to his back pocket and grimly took out the nasty piece of hair. He offered it to the group.
"Leave now," Elijah said quickly to his friends. They fled and the room was left with his family only. They stared tensely at Klaus.
He walked to the fire place with his sketch book. Rebekah looked over at Elijah mouthing that she had no clue what the heck was going on. Silently Klaus dropped his artwork sketch by sketch into the fire.
I know a lot of you were really gunning for Klaus to run off and find Care but their relationship just isn't there yet. Klaus has gone back to his mean version. I also want to say that she won't be back in Mystic Falls for a while. This is really her time to grow up and become the person she really is. So bear that in mind as you continue to read the story. Thank you so much for reading. Your reviews are a joy to read and they keep me writing!
