Sorry for not updating in so long! I had a mission trip, among some other things. School starts this Thursday, and I'll be a 10th grader! WOO! I'm going to be sixteen this year and omg, it feels strange to know that I'm slowly getting closer to being the character's age. Anyways, I'm going to try to update again soon, but I might not be able to.

xoxo

Caroline's POV

The next morning, after I left Bonnie's Gran's house, I went home, only to find Stefan, looking distraught on the couch.

"Hey, Stef." I said quietly, my mind spinning at the news that Bonnie was a witch.

He didn't respond to my greeting, only staring down at the floor. "Stef?" I asked again, quietly, sitting next to him and laying a hand on his shoulder. "What happened?"

He looked at me with his green eyes and sighed. "Elena knows that I'm – I'm … what I am. She didn't believe me when I said I didn't drink human blood." he sighed again. "She told me to stay away from her and her friends."

"Does she not know about Alyssa?" I asked uncertainly.

He shook her head. "I guess not. She'll figure it out sooner or later, though." he trailed off. "And probably blame it on me."

I opened my mouth to speak, but it was cut off by a phone ringing. Stefan pulled it out of his pocket and groaned when he saw the name.

"It's Damon." he groaned and answered the phone, putting it on speaker phone for me.

"Hello?" he answered, chewing on his bottom lip.

"I want the ring." Damon demanded, cutting straight to the chase, and skipping over any formalities Stefan tried to place.

"Where are you?" Stefan sighed, glancing at me worriedly.

Damon spoke, and we could hear the smirk in his voice. "I'm at the sizzler." he said sarcastically. "I had the buffet. Where's my ring?" he demanded again.

"I don't have it." Stefan said again, looking again at me. "Where are you? What have you done, Damon?"

Damon laughed emotionlessly. "Nooo, what have you done? You're the one that locked me in the basement and starved me. Whatever I've done, whoever I've sucked dry is on you, buddy."

"He didn't force you to kill anyone, Damon." I snapped, scowling deeply.

Damon chuckled. "I thought I heard a heartbeat, Blondie."

"You're being careless. How many more animal attacks is this town going to believe, huh?"

Damon laughed again. "I know how to cover my tracks, Stef. Where's my ring?"

Stefan blinked and he looked at me for a third time that morning. "I gave it to Alyssa to hide, probably shouldn't have killed her."

Damon was silent for a moment. "No, you didn't did you? There's no way you could have known that I would call out to Alyssa for help...you gave it to Blondie, didn't you?" he paused for a moment. "So, Blondie, where's the ring?"

"I don't know." I said honestly. Stefan had given me the ring, but I had thrown it at the address he had given to me, so I honestly didn't know.

"Don't make me kill anyone, now, Blondie." he threatened and I flinched, as my loved one's faces appeared in my mind.

"We'll get it back, but we need time." Stefan quickly said, chewing on his lip and standing up.

Damon groaned. "What, did she Fed-Ex it to Rome?! Where is it? Don't make me make a stop at Elena's or Bonnie's now."

I winced, but managed to snap back, "Stefan already wants you dead, don't give him another reason to make it happen."

He snorted indignantly. "Don't give me a reason to kill you where you stand, Blondie."

I whirled around at my place on the couch, but smirked. "I'm not standing, dumb ass, anyways, it's daylight, you couldn't survive a minute without burning to pieces."

"So, Damon, are you going to rip someone apart before or after you get your ring back?" Stefan chuckled, before Damon replied. "Just get it."

Stefan hung up immediately after that, and pulled me up off the couch. "Caroline, you have to tell me, where did you put it?"

I blinked and managed to stutter out. "I just threw it at the address in the woods you told me. I literally closed my eyes, spun around and threw it as hard as I could."

He groaned. "Go look for it?" I nodded and he tossed me his keys. "Take my car, it needs to be driven." "I'm going to check on Elena and then meet you there." he continued.

I nodded obediently and went to his car.

As I drove through the back road to the old Salvatore property, I passed a cemetery packed with police cars.

"Sheriff Bennett?" I called out, pulling over to the side and rolling down my window. He glanced up from his place by his car and walked over to me. "What happened?" I asked, scrunching up my nose at the smell.

"Drug deal gone bad." he said nonchalantly, studying me curiously. "What are you doing all the way out here, Caroline?"

I quickly thought of an excuse. "I wanted to go hiking today down at the old Salvatore property. Zach said it was really beautiful."

He nodded, looking only the slightest bit suspicious. "Okay, have fun." he nodded at me and I slowly rolled my window up. I heard another deputy say Vicki's name and I furrowed my brows as I drove away.

Once I arrived at the address, I closed my eyes and repeated my steps as best as I could, throwing a rock in the direction I thought I threw the ring, leaving my eyes open. The rock landed with a thud in a pile of briars and I groaned, walking over to them and carefully digging through them for the shiny lapis lazuli ring. After about twenty minutes of searching in a wide circle, I finally found it hidden behind an old column. I slipped it into my pocket and stretched, only to see Stefan and Elena pull up and get out.

"Caroline?" she looked at me suspiciously. "What are you doing here?" she looked at Stefan. "What are we doing here?"

"I want to show you something." he said slowly and Elena's brows furrowed. "In the middle of nowhere?" she scoffed and headed back for the car when he called out and stopped her. "This...didn't used to be nowhere. This used to be my home."

She furrowed her brows again and looked around the overgrown patch of land. "It looks so..."

"Old?" I offered, and Stefan nodded.

"It's because it is."

"Wait-" she said. "How long have you..."

"I've been 17 since 1864." he said as a matter of factly, avoiding both of our gazes.

"Oh. My god." she murmured, placing a hand on her forehead dramatically.

"You said you wanted to know, and Caroline, you're family, so you deserve to know too. I won't hold anything back." he took a deep breath, and launched into the story. "Half a century before the boarding house was even built, this was my family's home. Damon and I... we were both born here. The Salvatore brothers." he murmured, reminiscing. "Best friends."

He then launched into a story of him and his brother playing football, and how Katherine exited the house and stole the ball, running into the maze of bushes. Katherine reached the end first and proclaimed that she won, and demanded that she deserved a prize. Both boys wanted to escort her to the founders ball, and she didn't make a choice just then, simply walked away, leading both of them on.

We walked around the old estate, Stefan looking at the ruins sadly. "She chose me." he continued. "I escorted her to the ball at the original Lockwood mansion."

Elena nodded uncertainly. "The first founder's party right? Where you signed the registry?"

I looked at Stefan questioningly, and he nodded.

"I didn't care that I had gotten something that my brother wanted. I didn't even care if I hurt him. IO only know that I wanted her."

"So, he was...pissed?" I asked and he nodded, rubbing his temple.

"That's the thing about Damon. He doesn't get mad. He just gets even."

Third Person POV

Meanwhile, at Vicki Donovan's house, while Matt was at work...

Damon and Vicki danced around her bedroom, the lights all off and the blinds shut.

"What did you give me?" she asked, towel drying her hair as she danced around.

"Some blood." Damon shrugged, smirking devilishly. "You loved it."

She rubbed her eyes. "I did?" she blinked uncertainly. "How did we get home? Wasn't I just at the woods with my friends?"

"I ran into you in the woods. You were drunk. I attacked you and killed all your friends, brought you here, gave you some blood. You loved it. And...now we're going to party till the sun goes down." he said, and it was almost impossible to tell if he compelled her. He said it so nonchalantly that Vicki only could respond with a, "Oh...okay. Can I have some more blood?"

He smirked. "Only if I can."

They each pressed their lips to the others wrist and drank.

Caroline's POV

"What Damon wants, Damon usually gets. I didn't know it at the time, but it turns out that night, Katherine was with him, too." Stefan sighed, sitting down on an old stone bench.

"He stole her from you?" Elena asked, raising an eyebrow. "Not the other way around?"

Stefan shrugged. "Turns out, she wasn't ours to steal." he continued, explaining how he found out that she was a vampire, and wanted her to go away, but she compelled him and Damon both.

"She could control both of our minds. She wanted us all to be together, forever, and it didn't work out that way..."

"Damon and you are stuck together, whether you like it or not?" I asked, and Stefan nodded.

"Exactly."

He turned to me. "Caroline, did you find it?" I pulled the ring out from my pocket, nodding.

"Is that his ring?" Elena asked, staring at the object in my hand with unmasked curiosity.

"I took it from him, but we have to give it back, or he'll kill people." Stefan explained and Elena's mouth dropped open. "He'll kill people?"

We both nodded grimly.

"Did you ever do that to me?" Elena asked suddenly, staring Stefan down.

Stefan shook his head. "No. Both you and Caroline have a necklace, with an herb, called vervain. It protects you from being compelled. Neither of you should take that necklace off. You both have always been free to make your own choice."

Third Person POV

The man slipped into the Salvatore boarding house through the back window, and headed up the stairs into the blonde teenager's room. He dug through her drawers, throwing paper everywhere and leaving a mess. After searching in every possible hiding spot, he cursed and headed down for the exit. As he climbed out the window, Caroline's car sat unlocked in the driveway. He looked at it curiously, walking over and climbing into the backseat and searching around. A few minutes later, he found it underneath the passenger seat. Smirking, he climbed out and went to his car, which was parked a few yards away.

Vicki's POV

I blinked my eyes open to an overly bright and loud room, groaning. "What happened?" I asked, seeing Damon lounging on my bed. "We were dancing and then-"

"I killed you." he simply replied, and I gaped at him.

"What?"

TBC!