Breaking the Bond
Chapter 11-Campground
Damon waited in the car as Caroline said goodbye to her mother. She'd told her that she'd go away with Damon on some sort of vampire mission and that was the truth. Caroline was glad she could tell her mother the truth now. It made their relationship that extra bit closer. Damon had already picked up the blood bags and some extra clothes and essentials and was waiting for the blonde to make her way out of the car.
Damon looked at his watch before texting her furiously to hurry up. He'd been waiting for 10 minutes and that was 10 minutes enough.
Be patient, Damon! : She replied in a short message, and Damon could see through the blinds that Sherriff Forbes was giving her some stuff in a plastic bag. What the hell was she giving her?
Patient my ass. Get in the car in the next minute or I'm leaving without you, Babyvamp. Damon replied, typing aggressively. He was anxious to get to Atlanta so he could be one step closer to finding Bonnie. Lucy could be a great deal of help. Even if she could just locate what state Bonnie was in, Damon could take it from there.
Seconds later the door opened and Caroline exited the house, Sherriff Forbes on her heels. Damon rolled his eyes internally, wondering what the police officer wanted from him. "Hello, Damon," She said, as Caroline opened the boot of the car and stashed her stuff inside.
"Hey Liz. How are you?"
"I'm fine. Look, Damon. You know how much I trust you but take care of my babygirl, okay?" She asked him, brown eyes wide and full of concern for her vampire daughter.
"You know I will, Liz," He said, honestly because that was the truth. It wasn't as if he'd let Elena and Bonnie's best friend die or something on his arms. The former would kill him the next time she saw him and when he found the latter, she would give him an aneurism to remember.
Caroline smiled at her mom, wrapping her arms tightly around her waist. "See you later, mom," She murmured, getting into the car.
"Stay safe, Carebear," Liz called after her daughter as Damon pulled the Jeep out of the driveway. Caroline settled into her seat next to Damon, fastening her seatbelt even though she didn't even need it. It was true that old habits died hard. Her mom had always forced her to put the belt on and it'd become a force of habit.
"Carebear?" Damon asked, a grin playing on his lips as the car sped onto the road leading to the highway that took them out of Mystic Falls.
"Shut up, Damon," Caroline said, annoyed.
"I could just throw you out on the road if you're going to be sassy,"
"Who said anything about being sassy? I'm not. That's Bonnie," Caroline murmured.
Damon smiled at that. It was as true that the little caramel colored witch was the Queen of Sass just as Michael Jackson was the King of Pop. He remembered how he and Bonnie would bicker on the road and he felt a strange sense of nostalgia for their little harmless spats.
Caroline looked at him with raised eyebrows before her expression melted into an amused one. "You care about Bonnie," She concluded.
"What? I don't…." Damon trailed off then he remembered her beautiful green eyes and wavy brown hair and how she'd let him brush it once when she got out of the shower and he missed her a whole lot more than he ever thought he'd miss the judge-y witch. "Maybe I do…." It dawned on him.
"Told you!" Caroline exclaimed.
"You'd better not say a word about this to anyone or I'll cut your pretty pink mouth off," Damon threatened as he started out of the window. "They'll think I'm going soft for her…"
Caroline grinned but didn't say anything else. She stared out of the window, noticing that they were passing by the school. Her jaw dropped as she saw Tyler right by the school gate… making out with Katherine? The vampire's curly brown hair, devious brown eyes and tight black attire were unmistakable. "Oh my god," Caroline exclaimed, her heart smashing into a million pieces. She felt like she was going to throw up.
"What now, Barbie?" Damon muttered, wondering what she was talking about. He looked out of her window and saw Tyler and Katherine and frowned a little.
"Ouch. Guess your little dog isn't as faithful as you thought he was…" He trailed off, about to add another snide comment when he saw the devastated look on Caroline's face.
"Barbie…..do you want me to go teach him a lesson?" Damon found himself offering.
Caroline shook her head furiously. "No, just keep driving," She ordered.
"Are you sure?"
"KEEP DRIVING," She snapped.
"Fine, you don't have to be all prissy about it," Damon muttered. He obliged but when he saw her burst into tears, he couldn't help but feel terrible for her. He knew what it felt like to go through a terrible heartbreak. He knew what it felt like to trust someone so fully to be your one and only then for them to smash that trust into a million fragile pieces. It'd taken him more than a hundred years to get himself back into shape and when Katherine came back, he wasn't over her still. It was ironic that Katherine was still causing heartbreak wherever she went.
"Caroline?" Damon asked, softly, a few seconds later when she was bawling her eyes out. He passed her the box of Kleenex and she just rolled her eyes at him.
"What, Damon?" She asked, not feeling in the mood to receive a stupid lecture on how she shouldn't fall in love and how falling in love sucked like… anything. She'd fallen for Tyler and his betraying her like this with Katherine of all people made her sick to the bone.
"He isn't worth your tears-," Damon started but Caroline cut him off.
"Shut up, for god's sake, Damon. I know you don't care about me or anything at all so just don't pretend. I know you didn't even want me to come along and annoy you on this trip but I was sick of not doing anything when my best friends are forever put in dangerous ass situations. I know you just let me come because you felt like you owed it to Elena or Bonnie or whatever so just save it, okay? Don't pretend like we're BFF or whatever,"
Damon looked shocked at her outburst, "He's a jerk, Caroline," He went on as if she hadn't spoken.
"You're one to talk. You dump girls every week and leave them to fall down on their asses, pining over you. You don't even care about any of those girls you date; they're just substitutes for Elena until she 'comes to her senses' and sees that you're the eligible Salvatore for her, which by the way I don't even think is ever gonna happen because she's like smitten for Stefan and they're even called Stelena and everything; they're like Bella and Edward from Twilight for god's sake," Caroline blabbered on, wiping her eyes with a scented tissue and Damon remembered when he'd tried to read the last book of that saga in her room about a year ago.
"Your point?" Damon rolled his eyes as he made a turn onto the highway.
"My point is, you, Damon jerk Salvatore shouldn't even speak to me about jerks, okay?" Caroline responded, nodding decisively.
"Okay," Damon looked at her then spoke again, "I'm just saying that a guy who makes out with scum like Katherine Pierce the second you say you're going to be out of town, doesn't deserve you, Barbie. Take my word for it," He murmured.
Caroline sniffed, "But I love him," She complained, her eyes filling with tears once more.
"I know you did. That was the past. Just get over him, Barbie. You have to admit, he wasn't the most perfect boyfriend," Damon concluded, feeling like some sort of therapist. He didn't know what came over him: he just suddenly felt the need to want to make Caroline feel better even though that would just make her chat more instead of crying silently so that move was actually quite masochistic.
"Since when did you become Doctor Phil?" Caroline asked, the hint of a smile on her small pink lips.
"Since you imposed yourself on me and forced me to take you on this road trip," Damon replied, immediately.
"I didn't impose myse… yes, I did. And I did that because…" She sighed, "I just need a break from Mystic Falls. Elena's been driving me crazy for the last week and without Bonnie there to act as a buffer, she's too…." Caroline searched for a word.
"Princessy?" Damon supplied.
"Yes! That's the word," Caroline sniffed and wiped her eyes once more, deciding to deal with the Tyler Lockwood drama later. She'd find Bonnie first then she'd call Tyler murderously angry later. "I just…. I couldn't stand it…but that's weird, I thought you were whipped or something…"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, you called Elena a princess. I thought you were like head over heels for her big brown eyes and gorgeous straight brown hair," Caroline said, sarcastically. She felt better now that she and Damon were talking. It was funny how Damon could be the one to make her feel pleasant after seeing her boyfriend make out with a couple of hundred year old vampire.
"I don't know what I am anymore. I just know that I can't come between Stefan and Elena… that would be like being…."
"Jacob Black," Caroline supplemented with a tiny grin.
"Don't compare me to a dog!" Damon snapped, immediately but he was smiling as well.
"Oh my god, you know who Jacob is…You read Twilight!" Caroline sang, mockingly in a way that made Damon want to strangle her. "The big, macho Damon Salvatore read the Twilight saga,"
"Why on earth would I do that? No, my old girlfriend Andie Starr Action News made me see Eclipse with her…. Before Stefan killed her, I mean." Damon said, breezily, but inside, his heart tugged a little at the memory of the woman he had actually cared about. He knew he could have learned to love her sooner or later.
Caroline was surprised at how casual he was being about the whole Andie dying thing. She decided not to comment though because she knew that Damon liked to bury what he really felt deep down and not let anyone know of it. It surprised her that he'd admitted to caring about Bonnie so easily; he must really like her. Suddenly, the gossip girl inside of Caroline wanted to know all the juicy details about what had happened on their roadtrip. Caroline made a mental note to ask Bonnie when they found her then realized how superficial she was being. "She's not called Andie Starr Action News," was all Caroline said, with a roll of her bright blue scintillating eyes.
"Whatever. I love saying it." Damon responded.
"So how long is this trip going to take?" Caroline asked, curiously, when a few seconds had passed. She had fully stopped crying by now.
"Well, it should take about six hours to Georgia then I don't know how long we're going to be in Atlanta looking for the Bennett witch. We don't exactly know where her abode is," Damon said, biting his lip. He'd been to Atlanta a couple of times before so he knew the city pretty well.
"Hmmm….. Cool," Caroline said, a small grin forming on her lips. She pressed the button to turn the radio on and Damon rolled his eyes as 'What Makes You Beautiful' by 'One Direction' blasted through the car.
Caroline turned it up and sang along loudly. "Everyone else in the room can see it…. Everyone else but you…. Baby, you light up my world like nobody else-,"
Damon signaled for Caroline to stop singing. "I can't concentrate on the road, Babyvamp," He complained, childishly, his voice whiny and high.
"Well, tough luck. I always sing along to the radio when I go through a heartbreaking period with a jerk. I sang along to Rihanna's whole album when I broke up with you…" Caroline admitted before she felt embarrassed about bringing up their not-so-good past.
Damon just rolled his eyes, "Whatever. Try to keep it down though, okay?" He replied though he had to admit, her voice was kind of sweet.
"'Kay. So who do you think is the hottest out of One Direction? For me it's like a tie between Liam Payne and Harry Styles. They are both sooooo hot. Like if they have a concert in the States, I'm definitely gonna go… so who?"
"Caroline, I am not having this conversation with you," Damon responded, stoically.
Caroline rolled her eyes. "Party pooper. You're just jealous cause they're all hotter than you, though I didn't even think that was possible," She extrapolated and Damon didn't even know how to respond to that.
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"So here we are crew at the camp ground where we will spend the day," Klaus announced as we rolled into a space into a crowded parking lot. There were tons of families with laughing children as well as lovesick couples holding hands and heading out into the forest camping ground to place their tents for the night.
"Oh how exciting," I muttered, and Klaus grinned.
"It will be exciting as you put it, yes," He responded as the car came to a stop and he exited the car in lightening speed. Lia got out of her side too and I noticed she was clutching a leather bound book that looked like a grimoire to her chest. Her long red hair cascaded down and her Amber necklace glinted, reflecting off the light of the sunny day. It looked about midday, I thought, as I looked out of the car. I'd become an expert at telling what time it was just from the lighting. Redundant days tended to do that to someone.
I noticed my door being opened and saw Grant standing there a small smile on his face. Klaus glared at him and stood beside him and offered me his hand. I rejected it and stood up on my own, squinting in the dazzling sunlight. I couldn't help but smile because I hadn't been outside and in somewhere so natural for a long time.
"Beautiful day, ay love?" Klaus asked and I felt his arm slip around my shoulder.
I nodded, surprisingly agreeing with him. "Yes," I shrugged his arm off, "What are you going to be doing here and where are we?" I raised my eyebrows as I waited for an answer.
Klaus sighed, "If you must know then I'm meeting a friend of mine to discuss something important and we're somewhere in Wisconsin," He murmured.
I nodded but I was secretly thrilled because that was the farthest I'd ever been from home in Virginia. I watched as Grant carried our stuff and we started into the forest to find a patch for our camping. I wondered why we were camping but decided it didn't matter: it would be nice to sleep somewhere other than in the cramped, uncomfortable car. Lia followed us, her book open and her eyebrows close together as she tried to decipher something. I wondered what she was reading.
I sidled towards her until I was walking by her side. "What are you reading?" I asked.
Lia looked up at me, glared, and gazed back down at her book. "How about….none of your business?" She asked, insolently. I just rolled my eyes at her and watched as she became absorbed in it once more.
"It's a Grimoire, isn't it?" I asked, as I saw the Latin words on the front cover and the patterns similar to ones in my own Grimoire on the pages of it. I longed then for my Grimoire, missed it even, because it made me feel safe and powerful. Sure, I'd memorized some spells but I couldn't remember every single one. The Grimoire was like my Bible: vital to life and giving me faith and strength to go on.
"Yes, Bennett, it is a Grimoire. What's it to you?" She asked me, snappily.
"Can I…. look at it?" I questioned, knowing she would most probably turn my offer down.
Lia looked at me and started laughing. "Why would I let you look at my family Grimoire when you're on the other team? Funny girl," She walked faster to get away from me and I just rolled my eyes. It was worth a try even though I really didn't think witch bitch would have let me look.
I followed her to where Klaus was setting up a dark blue tent and Grant was attempting to set up a similar red one. "Lia," Klaus called the second we arrived. She had her head out of the book in a second, staring at him with a fawning look. Klaus had to be blind if he couldn't see how in love with him the young witch was.
"Yes, my master?" Her voice was light and obedient; nothing like it had been a few moments ago when she was talking to me.
"Let Bonnie look at your stupid spellbook," He ordered in a no-nonsense voice. He finished putting up the tent and went to help Grant with the other one. I was surprised that he actually did ordinary things like set up tents and help his friends; I thought that he spent a good portion of his day bossing people around and killing innocent bystanders.
"But-," Lia looked shocked, her mouth opened into a wide 'o'.
"Are you disobeying me?" Klaus flashed over to her vampire speed and I looked around but thankfully we were concealed in the spot we'd chosen to put our tents: I was sure this was no coincidence.
"I….I…. No, master," She bit her lip and closed her book before handing it over to me. "Of course not," I took it, wrapping my arms around the small book. I felt bad that Klaus had had to force her to give it to me but not enough to give it back to the conniving witch.
"Just know that you're disposable, Lia," Klaus sang in an overly nice voice. "I have a million other witches who would be glad to be here on the winning team,"
"I know that, sir. I will not think of flouting you again," Lia said, bowing her head slightly and looking genuinely contrite.
"That's better," Klaus grinned at her and then at me, "Anything else you need, love?" He asked.
I shook my head, "Don't call me that," I said, as I traced shapes on the Grimoire in my hands. I could feel the power radiating off it, tingling under my fingers and making me feel alive again. I felt home.
"But it's the truth, dearie. Anyway," He looked down at his watch, "I have an appointment so I'd best not be tardy for it…. I shall be back before nightfall," He murmured and then he swooped in and kissed me on the cheek, sending a myriad of emotions spiraling through my body heightened by the damn bond. Before I could react or make a snappy comment, he had disappeared into thin air.
"Damon, I was thinking…. I know this might be a dumb question but did you try calling Bonnie's cell phone?" Caroline asked her blue eyed accomplice a few hours into the road trip. She'd gotten bored of the radio and had gone on her phone's internet for a while before even that had gotten tedious.
Damon's turquoise colored eyes widened and he looked at her like she was Gandhi or something. "I actually didn't try that. That was really stupid of us all. We didn't even try the simplest thing….though I doubt that Klaus let her keep her cell phone," He added, a second later.
Caroline eagerly dialed Bonnie's number, putting the phone to her ear and listening.
"Put it on speakerphone, will you?" Damon asked, wanting to hear Bonnie's voice though he knew that Klaus had probably gotten rid of the phone. If he had kidnapped someone, he reasoned, that would probably be the first thing he would have done, as to assure no contact.
Caroline complied and they both heard the disappointing beep signaling that the phone was turned off. "Urgh," Caroline groaned, "Maybe she needs to charge it?" She asked, hopefully.
"I doubt it. But at least we tried," Damon muttered.
"Yeah, it was worth a try. God, Klaus is evil and smart at the same time," Caroline noted, naively.
"Yep, the makings of a good villain," Damon noted dryly.
Caroline's phone started ringing a moment later. She jumped for it, answering immediately. Maybe Bonnie had been in an area with no signal and was calling her back. She jumped as she heard Tyler's deep voice on the other side.
"Caroline, how are you?"
Caroline's heart broke into a million pieces and the memory of Tyler and Katherine came spiraling through her mind at full speed, bludgeoning into her heart with full velocity. "F-fine," Her voice broke.
Damon glared at her, "Tell him the truth about what you saw," Damon whispered to her.
"So where are you now? I hope that Damon's not being too much of an asshole. I know how much of a jerk he can be," Tyler chuckled and Caroline took extra care not to get super annoyed and smash the phone in her hands. Tyler was seriously pissing her off, accusing someone of being a jerk and an asshole when he was a cheating pig.
"He's actually being a pretty nice guy, nicer than some people," Caroline added, coldly.
"What? What's going on? Is he compelling you again? Is that why you're acting so weird?" Tyler demanded, infuriating Caroline to the core.
Before she could yell at him, the phone was scooped out of her hand and Damon was on it. "Hello Lockwood Dog," He growled into the phone.
"What the heck do you want, you dick? Give me Caroline. I need to know-,"
"Shut up. We saw you with the Petrova slut in front of the school. So it's over between you and Barb- Caroline. Ba-bye and have a nice day," Damon said, about to hang up when Caroline snatched it back.
"Tyler?" She asked, and she heard that he was still there.
"Yes, Caroline. Is it true?"
"Is what true? That I saw you making out with Elena's grandma practically, yeah. I just can't believe that after all we'd been through, you'd do that. I thought you'd changed, Tyler, but you haven't…. you're still the asshole who did drugs and tried to steal Vickie from Jer," She responded, angrily.
"Care, I'm not. You don't understand," Tyler protested.
"Answer one question for me, Tyler. Did you make out with Katherine in front of our school?" She asked, strongly.
"Yes,"
"Goodbye Tyler," Caroline sang, indifferently, though inside, she was being pulled apart. She hung up and placed the phone on the dashboard, feeling the tears come back to her eyes.
The phone rang a couple more times with Tyler's number but neither Caroline nor Damon picked up. Caroline went on weeping for her lost love and Damon could do nothing but pat her on the shoulder as he drove and tell her: "There, there…." He never knew he could be such a comforting person.
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I sat on a log beside the tents flicking through the Grimoire. I noticed that on the second page it said : 'The Lefevre Family Grimoire' so I guessed that Julia was from the LeFevre family or maybe she'd stolen the book. I didn't know much about the LeFevre family except that they were almost as powerful as the Bennetts. Many of the spells in the book were like the ones back in my own Grimoire but there were some other ones as well. I searched for a spell to break a bond between two supernaturals after it had been forged when a particularly draining spell was cast but I couldn't find one. A good deal of the spells in the LeFevre grimoire talked about increasing a witch's potency by a various number of tools, one could be a pendant which I assumed Lia's was.
"Give me my book back now, bitch," Lia said, as I was looking at a spell to locate a missing item. I wondered if I could get my Grimoire but I knew that Klaus wouldn't trust me enough to get it: He might think I was trying to get away or something by using a certain spell.
"Klaus said I could look at it," I told her, without peeling my eyes from the page I was on. I hated to use Klaus as a threat but it was the only thing I had to keep the book; I needed to look through it to remind me of the spells and maybe find some more novel ones. I wondered why Klaus had let me look at the book at all but then thought that he probably knew all the spells in there and none were powerful enough for me to do any serious damage.
"I don't care. He's gone now. I want my Grimoire back," Lia snapped at me, chanting something that made the book spark with electricity. I dropped it immediately but chanted a spell to block the effect of hers: blocking spells had been one of the first types of spells Grams had taught me for self defense. I picked the book back up and Lia glared.
"Seriously, Bennett. I need it," She hissed angrily.
I sent a surge of energy towards her sending her flying. She fell back on the floor and I laughed but turned back to the book on my lap and looked at another spell, one for levitating natural items…
Lia scrambled to her feet and came at me, sending a wave of wind in my direction. My hair blew but I chanted a defense incantation and the air turned back to normal. Lia decided to come at me physically, charging and throwing me towards the ground. I yelped out in pain at the unexpected blow but channeled energy from the earth to help me dispatch her elsewhere.
"Lia, get off her. You know Klaus will kill you harm her," Grant's reasonable voice came from behind her and the vampire with dark brown hair and brown eyes stood, his arms folded across his chest.
"I don't get why she's so special," Lia muttered, getting up and dusting her black dress off. I started to get up but Grant zipped to my side, offering his hand. I took it, surprised at his gentlemanliness, and he helped me to my feet. "I don't get why you all treat her like she's some supernatural princess,"
"Shut up, Lia. If you don't like it, get out of here," Grant responded, a little harshly considering the fact that he was crushing on her. It had been obvious from that day at 'Hallow's Bar and Grill'. But it seemed that his loyalty to Klaus transcended everything by levels.
Lia scoffed, tossing her flaming hair over her shoulder. "You can't get rid of me that easily, Grant," She snarled and then she looked at me with threatening dark eyes. "And you, Bennett, sleep with one eye open. One day nobody will be here to stop me,"
"You wish. I can stop you all by myself, LeFevre," I retorted, crossly. I folded my arms across my chest and glared up at her, making my eyes as ominous as hers were. "I almost killed your precious Klaus once, do you really think I wouldn't be able to kill someone like you?"
A/N: Yeah, so Lia really pissed Bonnie off. Like Bigtime!
I know there were complaints about the last chapter because it kinda had a lot of Elena so I'm not going to talk about her anymore. I know there's a lot of Daroline at the moment but I'm just trying to develop their friendship and stuff. It's gonna be a friendship unless any of you guys want them to take less of a platonic route so review and tell me, k?
I know I said that last time but next time there would be a lot of Klonnie but there wasn't…. next time hopefully there will be… This chapter was getting too long and I didn't want to bore you guys with any more lol.
REVIEW for a preview and I'll try to update soon!
Love,
Lily
Disclaimer: I don't own TVD. Just Lia and Grant.