Chapter 6

As Stefan woke up with a groan, he sat up and looked around at his surroundings. He was confused for a second, where was he? Then it hit him as he remembered the people around him, he had been caught for Augustine.

Everyone was already up, meaning he was the last one. Caroline and Enzo seemed to be having a disagreement while the others partially joined in.

Enzo grinned at Caroline smugly. "I guess we did get what I wanted Gorgeous, more testosterone", he gloated. Caroline rolled her eyes and crossed her arms in response, clearly agitated.

"Shut up Enzo, us girls clearly do not care", she responded while gesturing to the girls.

Enzo huffed out a laugh. "Sure, looks like you do," he retorted mockingly. Caroline and the rest of the girls looked severely unamused by Enzo's antics. Caroline seemed to be gearing up for a debate when the door clicked, and Mr Sanders hurried in.

He looked slightly off today as his usual white lab coat was creases and his glasses slightly crooked. He said nothing as he unlocked Matt's cell and dragged him out the door. Once the door shut again, everyone was silent for a moment until Damon spoke up.

"That was slightly strange, wasn't it?" he murmured with furrowed eyebrows. "I mean, the guy usually mocks you a little bit."

Bonnie looked like she was contemplating what Damon said as she opened her mouth, closed it and then opened it again. "First of all, don't get me wrong I am not a fan of Damon but he has a point, right?"

A sick feeling started bubbling up in Caroline's stomach, something was very wrong. Mr Sanders didn't just mind his business and get his torturing done. No, there was always some kind of verbal abuse. Stefan picked up on Caroline's distress as she bit her cracked nails. In fact, everyone was starting to look on edge, like panic was spreading through the room.

"Hey, hey everyone. Chill out, I'm sure there's nothing wrong and that Matt will be completely fine", he spoke in what he hoped was a reassuring voice. He stuck his fingers through the bar into Caroline's cell. She seemed to hesitate at first but slowly wrapped her fingers around his. She gulped and took a deep breath.

"Yeah, you're right Stefan everything will be just f- "

All of a sudden Caroline was cut off by a scream and what sounded like… gunshots. Everyone jumped and Caroline hand tightened around Stefan's fingers until it felt like his bones were crushing. Though, he chose to ignore the pain as the urge to protect her, protect all of them, crept up on him. But there was nothing he could do as they all tensely waited for something to happen.

Then what sounded like a body, slammed into the door. And slammed and slammed and slammed. Stefan and Caroline were grabbing onto each other for dear life.

"Hey! What's going on out there?!" Rebekah shouted over the noise, the panic and fear she was feeling was obvious on her face, as her worry for Matt was overwhelming her.

Elena grabbed onto the bars of her cell and said loudly in a panic "Somebody do something!".

Damon gave her an incredulous look as he moved to the front of his cell. "What the hell am I supposed to do while I'm stuck in a cell?!" he questioned loudly. Elena seemed to ignore his retort and focused on watching the door.

The slamming stopped. Everyone held their breaths for a second. Then they heard the sounds of a body slump. Rebekah's face tear-stricken face paled. She seemed unable to talk until she got words out. "No, no please don't be dead. Please, please don't be- ", she broke off with a sob and lowered herself to the cell floor. Enzo, being in the cell closest to her, reached a hand through for comfort.

"Bekah, we don't know for sure what went on, he might be alive, okay?" he spoke gently. "Just have some hope." Rebekah seemed to cry even more at his words and seemed to blubber something that sounded like 'I'll try' though it was hard to be sure.

Caroline was in a daze, but she was snapped out of it when she heard what sounded like a vehicle revving. It sounded very close, so possibly a carpark nearby? Or maybe even…

"Did you guys hear that?" Bonnie asked carefully. Enzo glanced at her and nodded, then continued on consoling Rebekah.

"Yeah, I did. It sounded really close," Caroline responded.

"More than close, more like it was right outside," Stefan supplied. He saw Caroline jump and glance down at their still connected hands. A light blush rose on her cheeks as she tried to remove her hand, but her just grabbed her tightly. He needed this comfort.

"Okay, so great, Matty just died and now there's a car race right outside our personal prison," Damon said bluntly, and raised his hands in a comical gesture. Rebekah flinched at his words and Enzo glared at him as she continued crying some more.

Elena sighed and pinched her nose. "Damon. I don't think now is the time", she uttered.

"Isn't the time for what? The truth? I thought honesty was the best policy," Damon replied sarcastically. Stefan felt just about done with him as everyone else. Caroline glanced up at Stefan and saw the expression on his face at Damon's antics and let out a little laugh. Stefan noticed and glanced down at her with a small smile.

"I have a theory," Bonnie declared, catching everyone's attention. Caroline and Stefan reluctantly let go of each other as they moved to the front of their cells to hear what Bonnie had to say.

"This should be good," Damon just had to say. Bonnie ignored him and took a deep breath.

"Okay so, think of this, what if Matt isn't dead and he was just knocked out or incapacitated somehow and now he's being taken off somewhere?" she let out without taking a single breath.

"Where would they take him?" Elena asked confusedly. "And why?"

They were all lost in their thoughts for a moment until Caroline let out a defeated breath and sank to the bottom of her cell. "I have no clue," she breathed out quietly.

Unknown POV:

"You took the wrong goddamn vampire?!" the voice from the phone basically shouted at me. I winced and moved my ear away from the phone. "I thought you knew her! This is why I sent you."

"Look, I haven't seen her in like 300 years plus that place is dark. I can go back again," I argued. I needed more time to complete my plan.

"Still, she is a woman and you took a man. Yes, they are both blonde but how stupid can you get," the voice mocked me. I could hear the beginnings of that evil laugh again. This call needed to end.

"You're lucky I even found the place K. now just go and tell big boss man that I'll get him what he wants," I said, with annoyance lacing my voice.

"Okay, okay, see you soon bud," then silence.

I glanced at my watch. I did not have time for this, there was places I needed to be and people that needed to be plotted against.

"I am waiting. Tell me we're not buds, that's what you're supposed to do," K continued on. Honestly, why was K like this?

"I'm getting another call," I intercepted. "Bye K!"

"See ya bu- "

I ended the call. Nope, not again. I slipped my phone into my jacket pocket and looked up at the looming building I was standing in front of.

It's time.