Chapter 8:

"I think that I've gotten it figured out," spoke Stefan from behind me, making me jump. I was preparing breakfast again with Edward and Bella.

"Good morning to you too," I mumbled. "Got what figured out?"

"The reason that I attacked Bella in the first place, I'm sorry about that by the way, was that I figured there was no way that there were any remain doppelgangers. That's because the spell required Elena and me to be the last pair of doppelgangers because they needed to kill us for the spell," he explained.

"Then how did they not sense Edward and Bella?" I asked.

"I was getting to that. They didn't just need to kill us, they specifically needed our blood. Edward doesn't even have blood. I mean we say that we are dead but he is literally dead. His heart doesn't even beat."

Edward nodded. "But then what about Bella? As far as I can tell, she's alive." he stared pointedly at her neck.

"Well, I'm just guessing that they can't sense her because no one can," he said.

We all stared at him, trying to take in what he had said. The only one who seemed to understand what he was saying was Edward.

Bella was the first one to speak, "What do you mean?"

"No one can sense you because your mind is immune to magic," he said confidently.

He met Bella's eyes, "Jump." Bella awkwardly set down her plate and jumped while staring at him like he was insane. "I'm trying to prove a point. Don't actually jump. Jump," he repeated. She stood there. Unlike humans on vervain, her eyes didn't even dilate. The attempted controlling seemed to have no effect on her whatsoever.

"You see? She is immune to compulsion as well as mind reading," he explained. "But I'm pretty sure that it only has to do with her thoughts since Alice is still able to see her in her visions and Jasper can manipulate her emotions. So if a witch were to do magic on her, she would be just as vulnerable as the rest of us."

I could sense that the Cullens were starting to feel uncomfortable. This was our fifth day staying with them and we still hadn't made it clear when we would be leaving. While Edward reassured me that they enjoyed our visit, I still felt that we were intruding.

To give our hosts some space, Stefan and I took off to walk around town. Turns out, there's really not much to do in Forks. Because we got bored quickly, we found ourselves wandering out of town to the forest.

Walking through the woods was more fun than I expected. I quickly found myself enjoying the quiet; everything was silent except for the birds and the rushing sound of the river to our left.

"This is pretty unusual," Stefan said, furrowing his brow.

"What is?" I asked nervously, looking around hoping that he hadn't seen something dangerous.

"I've never seen you go this long without talking." He said. I scowled at him.

"I don't have much to say right now. Besides, this is nice."

"What is?"

"We aren't arguing or trying to prove anything. Just walking." He held my hand as I stepped over a log. "Where are we trying to go anyways?"

He shrugged. "I have no idea." The path was getting harder to maneuver so we went downhill to walk alongside the river. When my shoe got caught on one of the rocks, I started falling towards the water. Stefan grabbed me by my waist right before I fell in and pulled me back up. Even for a vampire, his reflexes are incredibly good. I would have let me fall in.

"You good?" he said.

"Yeah. Thanks. I really didn't want to get this outfit wet. Rosalie lent it all to me and she would probably rip me to shreds if I ruined it," I rambled, trying to hide my embarrassment. I rubbed my neck sheepishly. But instead of feeling Rosalie's scarf there, my hand met my bare neck. Fast and full of rocks, the river was carrying it away. Before Stefan could stop me, I rushed to it and leaned over. As I got a grip on the scarf, I lost my balance and fell face first into the water with a splash. It was a good thing that I was a vampire; I wasn't immediately swept away. I panicked when my head went underwater but Stefan grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me out of the river.

"Th-thanks," I whispered, coughing up some water.

"Good job saving Rosalie's outfit," he teased. I looked down at the soaked sweater and facepalmed. It was a particularly thicker sweater so it held a lot of water. I didn't get cold anymore but I was still bothered by being soaked. Stefan noticed my discomfort. "Here, take my shirt," he offered. I hesitated.

"Isn't that kind of…" I faltered, not knowing how to say 'inappropriate' without sounding like a twelve-year-old.

He pulled off his shirt. "I'm wearing a tank top under this, Caroline. Don't get too excited." I rolled my eyes and he handed it to me.

"What a gentleman." I muttered and handed the sweater and scarf to him to hold while I swapped clothes "Don't look." He turned around and I changed into his shirt. It was a couple of sizes too big but it was more comfortable than the soaked sweater.

He turned around once I finished swapping shirts. "Looks good."

"Thanks. I'm glad I don't have to worry about getting my hair wet now. Having my hair this short is nice." He handed the clothes back to me but where he had been holding them against his chest the water had soaked through his shirt making it practically see through.

"Seeing as you've fallen twice now, we'd probably be safer over there." Stefan pointed to the other side where there seemed to be fewer rocks and a clearer path. Easily, he jumped across and then gestured for me to join him. I leaped with all my might but still barely made it. This time, I caught myself before I fell backward. I smiled proudly.

Out of the bushes, a giant black wolf jumped onto Stefan. It roared and sunk its teeth into his shoulder as he struggled underneath it. Somehow, it was so strong that my attempts to pull it off of him didn't do anything; it had to be a werewolf. But when Stefan's blood started to flow from his wound, the wolf jumped back as if he was surprised.

"Sam!" I heard someone yell from the behind us. The kid, who looked about sixteen, threw some clothes at the wolf who snarled and took them in his mouth and headed back into the forest.

"I'm so sorry about that," he said quickly. "Carlisle told me that the two of you were here and I was trying to find Sam to tell him. My name is Seth by the way." We shook hands and Sam returned wearing the clothes that Seth had given him

"The two of them? You mean that's not Edward?" Sam asked. I shook my head.

"Apparently they just look exactly the same," Seth explained. "Carlisle says that they're going to help us fight Victoria. They're a different species of vampires."

"'Going to help us fight Victoria'? Are you crazy? We made a deal with the Cullens that they could stay as long as they didn't cross the treaty line. We can't have other vampires running around," Sam said angrily.

"We weren't doing anything wrong!" I tried to defend myself.

"It doesn't matter. I need to talk to Carlisle but you people weren't part of the agreement."

Stefan and I were sent back across the river and we headed for the Cullen's house. Carlisle talked to Sam, the leader of the Quileute pack, on the phone and came to the decision that we would be allowed to stay temporarily as we didn't cross the border. But because other vampires haven't been allowed here since 1936 when they made the treaty, the pack rescinded their offer to fight along with us against Victoria's army.

While Carlisle continued to reason with him, I pulled Stefan into the living room.

"We have to go to New Orleans," I urged.

"Why? We're supposed to stay here and help them when Victoria comes. Anyways, what's in New Orleans?"

I stared at him. "Klaus is in New Orleans."

"Why do you want to see Klaus?"

"Stefan! Did you not just get bitten by a werewolf?" I yelled, my voice breaking. "We have to get you his blood!" I thought back to when Tyler bit me. The hallucinations were traumatizing and had Klaus not fed me his blood it would have gotten much worse. I didn't want Stefan to go through that and if we didn't head to New Orleans, well, he would die.

He turned around and pulled the strap of his sleeveless shirt down to reveal that the wound had healed completely. "I'm fine. Carlisle said that the werewolves around here are completely different from the ones we've seen. They don't have venom. They don't even phase with the moon."

I sighed in relief and sat down on the couch. "Thank god." He sat down next to me and put his arm around me and ran it down my back to comfort me. "Stefan, can I ask you something?"

"Anything."

"Edward and Bella are such a perfect couple. They're so happy together." I stopped, not knowing how to phrase my question. "Doesn't it bother you that, you know, you aren't with another döppelganger?"

"You mean Elena."

"I guess. You don't miss her?"

"I'm not going to pretend that I didn't love her. But I don't miss her. We were together such a long time ago and I respect her choice to pick Damon," he said. I didn't feel like reminding him that Damon was dead and Elena was single now.

"Maybe you'll find another döppelganger one day. Third time's the charm," I joked. He simply shrugged.

Thank you so much for the kind reviews! And to the French guest reviewer, I'm so glad that you like it! Your English is great! Feel free to review in French if that's easier though because my French-speaking friend loves to translate!

I also posted this fic on AO3 with the same title.