It never troubles the wolf how many the sheep may be. - Virgil
The Lucian residence was even farther away from town then Aiden's. The trip there was an hour long which Caroline was more than grateful for because the monotony of it helped calmed her down that by the time she arrived at the classically designed house.
Rose Lucian had been an Italian beauty whose family had been in architecture and reconstruction of old Renaissance era buildings. The house's design was made by Mrs. Lucian's brother and she had done some of the staccato work herself.
Caroline had always thought the house to be so beautiful and fascinating. All the hard work put into it with the high ceilings and polished stone walls. The house had always felt warm for anyone who entered it.
And then Rose Lucian died. Suddenly all the warmth was gone and Caroline remembered, that was the day Reina stopped talking.
Caroline knocked on the large doorknob of the front door, the deep and loud banging sound it made felt almost foreboding like she was entering a haunted house. She wondered how Reina felt living in that house all alone with her mother gone and her father missing. She imagined it to be very lonely.
Caroline shivered from the cold as she waited for Reina to answer the door, she didn't really like waiting outside but with such a big house, she wondered how Reina got anywhere without tiring.
Her breaths were cold puffs in the air and she pocketed her bare hands into her coat's pockets, staring the front door to open with pure will alone. The seconds seemed to tick by before it finally opened, revealing the skinny brunette she was waiting for.
Reina had forgone the eyeliner today instead wearing a dark shade of red lip gloss that reminded Caroline of Reina's mother's namesake.
"Hey Reina," Caroline greeted, trying to smile and shiver at the same time.
Reina didn't answer as per usual, only a slight titling of her head served as response as she let Caroline in her home.
Hair wild, loose blue top and dark printed stockings with those sneakers she was never without, Caroline wondered where Reina got her sense of style from. Mrs. Lucian had always worn pretty bright dresses that contrasted nicely with her olive skin and long dark hair.
Caroline couldn't help as her eyes strained to photos on the walls, most of which were of Reina's mother and her when she was younger. Reina had been twelve when her mother passed away, another victim of the town's numerous 'animal attacks', she never did quite recover.
Caroline was led through the various halls of the Lucian residence, remembering a story or two when she was younger and before Reina came. Aunt Rose used to babysit Tyler and her, 'practicing' as she called it and Caroline had spent some of her childhood playing hide and seek in the various rooms and running around the garden playing tag.
She shivered and it wasn't from the cold. The house felt like some kind of tomb now, cold and lifeless. How did Reina stand it? Why didn't she stay with the Lockwoods when Mrs. Lockwood offered her a room to stay in?
Caroline could only fathom why.
Reina stopped right outside one of the numerous dark wood doors, unhesitatingly entering the room and gesturing for Caroline to follow. It wasn't one of the other studies. Caroline knew this was Remus' instantly. It had that vibe of being used quite often with the numerous papers on the desk and the faint smell of tobacco in the air.
Reina made her way across the room to the fireplace, pressing some kind of switch on the hearth that lit a fire up instantly. She made sure that the fire kept going with one of the hot pokers before leaving Caroline to herself.
For the first few minutes, Caroline went about the room, trying to shake off that feeling of trespassing and checking out the few knick knacks Remus kept in his office. Remus had always been a bit more quirky than Mr. Lockwood and there were a few souvenirs from other countries and other odd things Caroline couldn't quite describe or determine where they came from.
She walked the length of the room, eyes taking in everything and feet moving against the carpet and floorboards until she reached the massive bookshelves near the windows. Caroline grabbed one of the many folders and opened it, finding a file on the D'Aousts, one of the many werewolf families in town.
The file told how long they had been living in Mystic Falls, their ranking in the pack, how many members there were in the family, how many were wolves, and who their mates were. There were notes here and there about their first transformations, medical backgrounds, school records….
Caroline closed the file and returned it to the shelf. She started going through the other files, realizing quickly that the files were arranged in alphabetical order. She gave close attention to the medical backgrounds especially the ones with a violent history. Any one of them could be the rogue if Conor's theory was true and all the answers were held in those files.
She stopped when she reached River's folder. She wasn't sure whether it was because she felt that she'd be invading River's privacy as her friend or maybe because she knew that whatever was in the folder would not be very peachy but she decided to forgo reading the file and moved on.
Mr. Lockwood had his own folder too and Caroline read about the symptoms that Richard Lockwood had failed to exhibit at a young age to show he was a werewolf. There were many suspections that he wouldn't be able to turn but it wasn't concrete until his seventeenth birthday came and go and the only thing he received was shame.
A Lockwood that didn't shift, it was thought of to be such a tragedy, especially when his younger brother went through the shift and was considered worthier than him even when the younger Lockwood decided to leave town a week after his high school graduation.
Tyler's folder had been a source of amusement and she laughed at all the small notes Remus had made, detailing Tyler's behavior and pigheadedness. Caroline could imagine the older man, annoyed at his nephew, writing down the little notes whilst cursing the Lockwood brat to hell.
Tyler could never control his mouth.
She briefly read through Reina's folder which was mostly empty since she had yet to shift, it was only school records and the medical notes from when Reina used to get sick all the time when she was small and her diagnosis of dyslexia.
Putting back the file, she was about to read through the Michaud's folders when she noticed the folder wedged between Reina's folder and the Michaud's.
Blinking in surprise, she pulled it out and opened it, her eyebrows furrowing in a frown as she read through it.
Name: Sarah Emily W. Lucian
Age: 18
Father: Remus Arthur Lucian
Mother: Maia Celeste Walsh
Oh my God!
Caroline's jaw dropped in surprise, her eyes widening and her hands shook in surprise, almost dropping the folder had her fingers not been gripping it so tightly.
She couldn't believe what she just read. It had to be some kind of mistake.
Name: Sarah Emily W. Lucian
Age: 18
Father: Remus Arthur Lucian
Mother: Maia Celeste Walsh
It all pointed to the same fact. Her eyes felt like they were being deceived, it was some kind of trick, a joke but the proof was there in her hands, practically screaming at her to believe.
She had the hardest time forming the simplest thought as the shock rocked her off balance, it was all too much like a punch in the a gut and strangely she still felt numb from the surprise, not knowing what to feel about this new acquired information.
Sarah was Remus' daughter and Reina's half-sister.
Suddenly, she remembered the scene from the forest a few weeks ago with Sarah came into mind, her hair wild, dressed in that dirty black slip….
It all started to make sense.
Sarah was a werewolf.
And as Caroline went back to reading the file, what she suspected and even feared was true.
Name: Sarah Emily W. Lucian
Age: 18
Father: Remus Arthur Lucian
Mother: Maia Celeste Walsh
Status: Shifted
Mate: Aiden Gregory Wolfe
I know, what a cliffhanger! But I've been planning this big reveal for weeks and truthfully somebody already figured it out (Lady K 101, you mind-reader, you!) and I'm kinda happy I'm finally at this point. Three more chapters, woo!