Chapter Twenty-Seven

Caroline came out of her house the next morning to go to school only to find Tyler outside waiting for her, his face looking as if it had been set in stone. She couldn't get a read on his emotions. She hoped everything was okay and things weren't going to be awkward because of the kiss they had shared.

"Hey. How's it going?" she asked cautiously.

"We need to talk."

"Yeah. We do," she agreed and stopped in front of him. "Look . . . I've been thinking about it, and I don't wanna overanalyze. It was just one kiss, but Matt's still kind of in the picture. We can't go there, Tyler."

Tyler nodded. "Fine."

"Great. That's settled." Caroline went around him and began walking to her car, which was parked right in front of her house. "Do you want a ride to school?"

She heard Tyler walking behind her, so she assumed that meant he was coming with her.

"What happened to my Uncle Mason?"

"What?" She spun back around. Why would he be asking her that?

"He's dead, and I want you to tell me what happened."

"Uh, Tyler, I don't –"

"Then let me tell you," he said. "Stefan and his brother Damon killed him because Stefan and Damon are vampires. Just like you."

"Who told you that?" she asked.

"Is it true? Did you know he was dead this whole time?"

"Tyler . . . let me explain."

Before Caroline could say another word, Tyler slammed her against her car. She winced from the pain that shot up her back.

"I'm sorry, Tyler. I'm sorry."

His eyes began to change to that of a wolf.

"I trusted you!" he growled.

Tyler let her go and she watched as he stormed off.

How had he known everything about what had happened to Mason? Who had told him?

As Caroline tried to calm her racing heart, she dug her cellphone out and began dialing Stefan's number. She had so many people she needed to call, to let know that Tyler had found out about Mason, but she figured she would start with the one who would be able to stay calm.


At the boardinghouse, Rebecca was in the kitchen making coffee and listening to the news that she had turned on. The report was about the three people that had been killed the night before. There had also been a group of campers and a park ranger who had been found – their bodies had been mutilated so she knew Damon hadn't done it. He didn't really tear people up unless he had to, and even then that was not something he enjoyed doing.

The mayor gave a speech and invited everyone to join together at the Town Square for a memorial service for all the people that had died recently.

Stefan came into the kitchen and gave her a small smile. She half-heartedly returned it.

"I got in touch with Isobel," he told her. "She said she could help, but she's busy right now. She'll come when she can."

"How reliable."

Rebecca didn't want Isobel coming here. Last time she had kidnapped Jeremy and had broken Matt's arm. Not to mention she had thrown Ric for a loop.

"Bonnie's witch friends are working with Elijah," Stefan said.

"Luka and Jonas."

"Yeah. So we have to assume the moonstone was never destroyed. Elena is putting all of her faith into some deal she made with Elijah to keep everyone safe. I mean, do you trust Elijah? I don't trust him. He's an Original. He can't be trusted. It's not like we could just go up and kill him because apparently he can't die!"

Stefan was ranting, almost raving. In fact, he was basically yelling at her. All because she'd said something snarky about him seeking out Isobel.

"Don't yell at me," she said. "I am not the enemy here. For the record, I think you can trust Elijah to keep his word about protecting Elena's friends. And I still don't understand why we must go to Isobel for answers."

"She knew about the sacrifice. She says she knows how to keep Elena safe."

"And? If she's willing to help, why didn't she tell you how over the phone, Stefan? She's probably playing a game with you."

Rebecca was complaining mostly because she felt helpless. Aside from Diana, they had no other way of getting information. Ric only knew what he'd been taught by Isobel, and anyone could bet that Isobel hadn't told Ric everything she knew.

Damon entered the kitchen then with Chelsea in his arms. He immediately tensed, Rebecca noticed, because Stefan was there.

"Hey," she said. "You okay?"

"Hm. Couldn't sleep with all the yelling going on," he said to Stefan.

"Hey. I'm – I'm sorry about Rose."

"Whatever. I knew the woman for . . . five minutes."

"And you cared about her after five minutes," Stefan said. "I wonder what that means."

"It means I care, Stefan," Damon said sincerely. "It means I'm changing and evolving into a man capable of greatness. Better watch your back because I may have to go get a hero hairdo of my own and steal your thunder."

Whatever Stefan had been planning on saying after that, Rebecca never found out because his phone started vibrating and he looked down at it.

"Um . . . I have to go. I'll be back later."

Once Stefan was gone, Rebecca went and kissed Damon on the cheek.

Into his ear, she said . . . "You were always capable of greatness."


"What's wrong?" Stefan asked as soon as Caroline opened the door for him.

"Tyler knows about you and Damon. I didn't say a word. He knows that Damon killed Mason."

"It's that woman, Jules. She had a run-in with Damon."

"Tyler was so upset. The look on his face, he was so betrayed."

"Wow. This is bad."

"You're not gonna tell Damon, are you?" she asked.

"No. He already wants to kill him. He thinks all werewolves should die."

Rose's death by werewolf bite wouldn't have helped Damon get over that prejudice either.

"And he's not wrong to think that, Caroline. I mean, what if Tyler tries to retaliate? He has every right to. He could get himself killed."

"Well, we're not gonna let that happen. We have to get to him and reason with him before he does something stupid. You have to talk to him. Just try to explain. You know, you always know the right things to say. Okay, he and I . . . we're friends. I can't just let him go without a fight."

Stefan wondered if logic would work with Tyler. The problem was that Tyler had Caroline saying and doing one thing while this Jules woman was screaming in his other ear that Caroline had purposefully lied to him just to betray him.

But Stefan would try for Caroline. Nobody else needed to die anytime soon just because of something stupid like an outsider trying to cause problems.


Jules had shown up at the Lockwood Mansion about twenty minutes ago. Tyler had called her right after his confrontation with Caroline. He'd been hurt and he needed someone to talk to. He couldn't believe that Caroline had deceived him the way she had. How had she been able to act so normal around him when she'd known all along that Mason was dead? He'd talked to her about his uncle and she hadn't given even a hint that she'd known anything about his whereabouts.

"I was right, wasn't I? Your little vampire friend, she was lying." Jules shook her head. "I want you to understand that a vampire will never be your friend. It's out nature to be enemies."

"Do you know how stupid that sounds?" Tyler asked. Enemies didn't become enemies for no reason, and it didn't happen by nature.

"You need to leave here. It's not safe."

"I can't just run away with you. I don't even know you. My mom would freak. My life is here."

"Your old life. Your new life is just beginning. You have so much to learn."

"Like what?"

"How to survive. You've triggered the curse, Tyler. It's important you learn what it means to be a lycanthrope. We live by a code of loyalty. We take care of each other. It's my duty and honor to help you. Please let me."

Jules looked so sincere, but Tyler didn't know what to do. He didn't want to just up and leave everything behind because, as he'd told Jules, his whole life was in Mystic Falls. He couldn't leave everything he'd ever known for some woman he'd met only a few days ago.

He didn't want to go through everything alone, though, either.


Stefan had sneaked his way into the Lockwood Mansion and was now in the study, where it seemed that Tyler had set up shop. There was a journal and a laptop on the desk. Tyler's jacket was hanging neatly from the chair behind the desk.

When Tyler came into the room, his eyes widened and he seemed to want to leave. Stefan knew that whatever Jules had been telling him just moments before was probably weighing on his mind. Stefan had arrived in the middle of Tyler's conversation with the she-wolf. Jules was gone now; Tyler had just seen her out.

"I'm not gonna hurt you," Stefan said, moving so he could block the exit. "I just wanna talk."

"Then why did you break in?"

"Would you have let me in otherwise?"

They were interrupted by Ms. Lockwood calling Tyler's name. Stefan shook his head to let Tyler know he shouldn't answer. Tyler listened.

Ms. Lockwood said she was getting ready to leave for the memorial service, and when she didn't get a response back she left.

"What happened to Mason?" Tyler asked.

"Tyler, there's a lot for us to talk about."

Stefan watched as Tyler tried to move around him.

"I wouldn't do that. Without a full moon, you're no match for me."

Tyler went and sat on the desk and gestured for Stefan to take the seat in front of him.

"Caroline told me about what happened this morning. No matter what her flaws are, when push comes to shove, you're gonna want that girl on your side. She's your friend. Stop being a jerk to her."

"I thought vampires hated werewolves."

"That's some sort of leftover idea from another time. It doesn't have to be that way anymore. We go to the same school, we have the same friends, and we keep the same secrets. This can work, Tyler. I mean, it's your home. It's my home, too. I want this to work."

Tyler nodded and Stefan was glad that he seemed to understand the situation better.

Tyler's phone vibrated and kept vibrating, so he looked at the ID screen

"It's Jules. If I don't answer, she'll probably come running back."

"Let her know you're busy, that you'll call her back later."

Tyler nodded and Stefan watched as Tyler brought the phone up to his ear. What came out of Tyler's mouth surprised Stefan and he wasn't able to react quickly enough. Tyler was screaming for help into the phone.

"Tyler," Stefan yelled. "I am trying to save you, can't you see that?"

Stefan grabbed the phone and pressed the end button. He tossed the phone on the table. Stefan didn't know how much damage had just been caused, but he knew there would be consequences for what Tyler had done.


Caroline was in the school parking lot getting ready to leave for the day – she'd gone in late after having talked to Stefan. She knew Stefan would take care of it.

Matt had caught up to her, and she noticed that they were the only two left in the parking lot. Matt had had football practice and she had had cheerleading practice. The school had finally hired a new football coach, and that meant everyone had even more practice to do.

"Hey," he said. "You took off yesterday and we didn't get to talk."

"I'm not avoiding you, I swear," she said quickly.

"You're avoiding me a little," Matt countered.

"Okay. Maybe a little."

Caroline smiled when she realized that Matt wasn't mad – though she didn't know why that surprised her, because Matt didn't get mad easily.

"I just felt . . . confused yesterday," she said. "I mean, we broke up because of how ridiculously jealous I was being and I totally understand that. But then yesterday . . . yesterday you kissed me and I kissed back, and –"

"Can we talk later?" Matt interrupted. "I mean, I have to head to work right now, but maybe after? We'll clear up some of this weirdness."

"Yeah. Yeah, I'd really like that. I'll just swing by when you're closing."

"Sounds good."

Caroline's stomach clenched in a good way when Matt gave her his boyish smile, and she felt her lips respond in kind.

"Okay. Bye."

Caroline watched Matt go to his truck, get in, and drive off. She felt a small excitement fill her at the thought of maybe getting back together with Matt. Caroline had more control now, so maybe she wouldn't hurt him again.

Before Caroline could get in her car a young blond woman came walking up to her.

"Excuse me. You're Caroline Forbes, right?"

"Yeah," Caroline nodded.

Caroline didn't know this woman and wasn't exactly sure how the woman knew her. She didn't look like someone who would work for the Council, and Caroline had never seen the woman at the police station, so she probably didn't work there, either.

"I'm looking for Tyler. You haven't seen him, have you?"

Werewolf, Caroline thought instinctively. Now that she knew, she could almost smell the canine stench that all werewolves carried with them.

"No, not since this morning. Sorry."

Caroline opened her car door and got ready to get in, but stopped when the woman said, "I know you're lying."

Caroline flung her purse into the front seat and then turned back around to face who must've been Jules.

"Really? How? Is that one of your little wolf tricks?"

Jules smiled and tilted her head to the side. "Actually, it is."

Caroline shut the driver side door and stepped forward. "I have a trick too."

Caroline lunged, fangs down and eyes red, but the woman drew up what looked to be a pepper spray bottle and sprayed it in Caroline's face.

It wasn't pepper spray, however. It was vervain, Caroline realized as the liquid began to burn the skin on her face. She covered her face with her hands until the burning sensation went away.

She growled and lunged again, but the woman was gone. In her place was a man. She'd never seen him before, either, so she had no clue who he was. His identity didn't matter, however, because he had a gun and was pointing it at her head.

She heard a loud bang and saw a bright flash of light and then everything went dark.


Caroline gasped awake and began coughing. She sat up, grabbed at her head, and screamed. She had the worst headache known to man.

She remembered what had happened then. She'd been shot. She ran her fingers over her forehead and found the bullet hole with the bullet still lodged inside. Caroline didn't know what to do – she had never been shot before. She remembered, though, that she had been around Stefan and Damon when they had been shot. In order to get the bullets out they had used their fingers.

"Oh, God," she whimpered. "Please, help me!"

She had to do what she had to do, so two minutes later the bullet was out and the wound was healing. She wiped the blood off of her skin and began to focus. She didn't know where she was, but she knew she was in a cage, and it looked like she was in a camper.

Caroline grabbed the bars of the cage and yanked. She yelled in frustration when she couldn't break the lock. She'd lost too much blood and wasn't strong enough.

When the door to the camper opened, Caroline shrank back against the far wall of the cage. The guy who had shot her was there.

"I see you got the bullet out," he said. "I got lots of wooden bullets and other toys."

Caroline bit her lip to keep from crying out, but a small whimper came out anyway. She had never been this afraid before, not even when she'd first turned and hadn't known what was going on.

"It's gonna be a long night, sweet pea," the guy said and held up a gun – probably the same one he'd shot her with earlier.

This time when he shot her he hit her shoulder. The pain was almost unbearable, and she didn't pass out this time.


Stefan was still at the Lockwood mansion with Tyler when his cellphone vibrated, the ID screen showing up as Caroline. He answered it because he realized she was probably wondering what was taking so long.

"Hey. Everything okay?"

"That depends," a female voice that wasn't Caroline's came over the line. "How badly do you wanna keep her alive?"

"Who is this?" Stefan wondered out loud.

"Ask your brother. Where's Tyler?"

Ask my brother? There was a woman asking about Tyler and threatening Caroline . . .

"Jules," Stefan said when he figured it out. "Where's Caroline?"

Tyler looked at him with concern. The boy didn't hate Caroline, Stefan realized. Tyler had been hurt and confused.

"You made a mistake, Stefan," Jules snapped. "I'm gonna give you a chance to fix it."

"Where is she?"

"Right here. Want proof?"

Stefan heard a door open and close and then a muffled, "He needs proof." Then there was a gunshot – or what certainly sounded like it – and he heard Caroline scream.

"Hurt her again and you're dead," Stefan growled into the phone.

"I hurt her again and she's dead. Bring Tyler to me. The clearing by Wickery Falls. You have twenty minutes until she dies."

The line went dead and Stefan had to keep himself from breaking the phone. He needed it to make a phone call of his own.


Rebecca and Damon were playing with Chelsea when Stefan called. Damon had still been in a mood that day and Chelsea seemed to keep him calm. Whatever worked was fine with Rebecca.

Her phone rang and when she saw that it was Stefan calling, her brow crinkled up in confusion. She answered anyway.

"Yes?"

"Hey, is Damon there with you?"

"Yeah, why?"

"We have a werewolf problem."

Rebecca looked at Damon in confusion.

"I thought werewolves were only dangerous on a full moon."

Damon shrugged. "Maybe their bite is only lethal on a full moon."

"Tyler knows about us and about what happened to Mason. He found out from Jules and confronted Caroline this morning. Now Jules has Caroline and wants to trade for Tyler."

"Okay, how long have you known this?" Rebecca asked.

"I've been with Tyler all day."

"Then why are we just finding out about it now?"

"I just found out myself that Jules has Caroline." Rebecca heard Stefan sigh. "She gave me twenty minutes, Rebecca. We're meeting at Wickery Falls."

"A'right. Damon and I will be there. We have to drop Chelsea off at Elena's, but, um . . . other than that we're heading there ourselves. Stall if you can."

She pressed end and looked at Damon. "You up for it?"

"Absolutely."


"So, how many vampires are in this town, anyway?" the guy with the gun asked Caroline.

She had moved to the far right side of the cage and was refusing to move or talk. She wasn't going to betray the people she loved. She'd played spy for Katherine and had felt awful. She wasn't going there again.

Vervain was suddenly being sprayed in her face again and she screamed.

"Why're you doing this to me?" she exclaimed. She kicked at the cage door more out of rage than any real attempt to escape. "Why're you doing this to me?"

"You're a vampire," he said simply. The guy got up and went to a bag that was in a chair in the corner of the trailer. "Why not?"

Caroline saw he had some sort of weapon and he was sticking something in it. It was one of those things that you could blow into and something would come out of the other end.

What came out was wood – small toothpick-sized shards. They stuck deeply into her neck and she screamed again.

She kicked at the door harder than before and yelled, "Let me out!"

This guy was crazy and prejudiced. He was hurting her only because she was a vampire. The only good thing that could come of this was that he was sadistic – he would take his time. Maybe someone could get to her in time to save her.


Rebecca and Damon met up with Stefan where he had told them to at the Falls. He had Tyler with them and he seemed surprised that she was there.

"Can we try not to kill anyone?" Stefan asked. "Let's just trade and get this over with."

Rebecca nodded. "Agreed. Unless Caroline is dead. If Caroline is dead, then Jules is dead."

Damon and Rebecca decided that letting Stefan go first with Tyler would be best. If anything weird happened, Damon and Rebecca could show up and have the element of surprise. Damon and Rebecca were close enough to see but not close enough to be seen.

"Where's Caroline?"

"Locked up tight," came a woman's response.

If Damon's now tense body was anything to go by, this was Jules speaking.

"Let her go and I'll release Tyler. This doesn't have to get any messier than it already has. I'm not your enemy, Jules."

"It's a little late to be waving a white flag, don't you think?"

There was a pause and then Stefan was saying, "You need to leave town. No one else has to get hurt."

"I'm not leaving without Tyler."

"Tyler's free to make his own decisions as soon as you release Caroline."

Rebecca shook her head. Jules wasn't moving and neither was Stefan. They were never getting anywhere this way.

She gestured for Damon to go and then she followed after him.

"My brother the peacemaker," Damon quipped. "Since Stefan got here before me, I'm gonna let him try it his way before I resort to my way, which is a little bloodier. So give us Caroline."

"Let go of Tyler."

"Give us Caroline. Without a full-moon, it's not an even fight and you know it. We will take you."

"I'm not so sure about that, tough guy."

Jules brought her hand up and put two fingers in her mouth, blew, and made a whistling sound. About five other people were there. No, not people. Wolves in human form.

"Let's try this again. Give us Tyler."

Not seeing any other choice, Rebecca sighed and shrugged.

"You heard her," Damon said. "Go. Get over there."

Stefan released Tyler's arm, and the latter went to Jules' side. Rebecca could tell Tyler wasn't really sure that he should be doing that. He probably didn't know who he could trust.

A man came out of the camper that was parked behind Jules and asked, "Which one of you killed Mason?"

"Uh, that'd be me," Damon said, pointing at himself.

"Boys, make sure that one suffers," the guy said, making Rebecca know who she'd be going after.

Damon looked around and said, "We can take 'em."

"I don't know about that," Stefan said honestly.

"Well, then . . ."

Rebecca didn't know what to do. They couldn't leave without Caroline, but with as many wolves as there were, it didn't look like they were getting Caroline back without a fight.

Damon rushed forward toward Jules, but Jules turned around and jumped up, kicked off the side of the camper and did a back flip over Damon's head. Rebecca was impressed when Jules landed neatly on her feet. Her mind was taken off of the move when she felt heat come from beside her. One of the other werewolves had a flame thrower. Stefan flashed behind him and began using the guy to keep the others from touching Rebecca.

Rebecca looked around, trying to figure out what to do. Both Jules and the one Rebecca had wanted to go after for threatening Damon had taken off, but Tyler was still there.

"Go get Caroline," she told him. "If you see an opening, get her out of here."

While she'd been talking to Tyler, Damon had ripped the heart out of one of the werewolves. The guy had tried to attack Damon from above and it hadn't really worked all that well, obviously.

Stefan snapped the neck of the guy with the flame thrower, but then someone with a stake-gun shot one at Stefan, who caught the stake in midair and used it on another werewolf who came after him.

Another stake was shot at him and again Stefan caught it before he could be hurt. This time Stefan threw the stake at the guy who had fired it and hit him in the neck, downing and killing him.

Rebecca saw a problem about to occur but wasn't quick enough to stop it. Someone had rushed up behind Stefan and quickly jabbed a stake into his back, only to pull it out again.

Stefan fell to his knees and groaned in pain. Someone tried to stake Damon, too, but Damon was the better and stronger fighter. He wasn't brought down. Damon ended up body-slamming the guy, and Rebecca realized that the guy Damon was fighting was the one who had threatened him – he had come back.

A shot rang out and Damon fell backwards. He'd been shot in the shoulder. Jules had returned, and she had a gun.

Rebecca wanted to go to Damon, to see if he was okay, but she wanted to get rid of Jules even more. Rebecca began to move, but before she could get two feet away someone grabbed her around the waist and yanked her head to the side none too gently.

The guy Damon had body-slammed got up and picked up a branch that could be used as a stake.

"Wait!" The person behind Rebecca said. "You wanted that one to suffer. Let's kill this one instead."

Both Damon and the other guy looked up. Damon's eyes widened and his canines elongated.

Before any damage could be done, however, everyone became distracted by Caroline and Tyler coming out of the camper. Rebecca used that distraction to grab the man's hand and twist. He screamed as his wrist snapped.

She turned around and kicked him away from her.

What was important now was getting Stefan, Damon, and Caroline out of there. Jules, however, had pointed the gun at Caroline, and the blond was frozen there. Tyler was frozen, too. He was just standing there looking between Caroline and Jules.

Suddenly, all the wolves grabbed their heads and started screaming. It was almost like that aneurism spell Bonnie like to do on Damon, only this was working on more than one person.

Rebecca ran to Damon to help him remove the bullet Jules had shot into him, and saw a black figure start to approach.

Jonas Martin.

She stared at him and he said, "Elijah made a promise to Elena. I'm here to see it's upheld. You need to go."

Damon got to his feet, as did Stefan, so Rebecca went to Caroline, who seemed shaken but not broken. Rebecca brought her hand up to swipe the hair out of Caroline's face and gave her a reassuring smile.

"You're okay now. We can go."

Caroline bit her lip and nodded her head. Tears were forming in her eyes, but weren't falling over. Rebecca grabbed Caroline's hands and gently pulled Caroline along with her until they had made it back to Stefan and Damon.

As the four vampires walked away, Rebecca heard Jonas say, "When your friends awaken, give them a message. They need to get out of this town."


Okay, I feel like there are too many breaks in this chapter, but the episode was kind of breaky too. :) I'll be so glad when all the werewolf stuff is straightened out because I like writing longer sections than this.