Gilbert Residence
October 11, 2010
Caroline was beside herself with gnawing apprehension, and the utterly conflicted feeling of mixed relief that Lena was still missing. Or that she wasn't around to witness the tableau of violence going on inside her parents' home. Ironically, Lena would be the first person. To step up and try calming the situation down. Considering she was only mortal, Caroline reflected. As she reflexively darted to the side, narrowly avoiding being struck with broken wooden projectiles from a former coffee table that had been a Gilbert family heirloom.
"Stop it, you two!" Caroline yelled, but the two vampires paid little attention to her plea.
Elena going to be so pissed when she sees what Damon and Stefan. Were still in the midst of destroying, Caroline fretted. She absolutely refused to say or even think about the word 'if' when it even remotely is related to her best friend.
"Do it!" Stefan seethed through clenched teeth, not even resisting as he laid prone in the wreckage of the former coffee table. With Damon perched atop of his brother with a former wooden table leg poised right over his undead heart in a clenched fist.
"Don't fucking tempt me, little brother!" Damon hissed. Caroline winced as she saw Damon apply just enough pressure to draw blood.
"Damon, stop! You'll kill him!" Caroline said, trying her best to channel Elena. She knew it could have been worse if Tyler Lockwood had attended their impromptu meeting. Alaric had suggested to everyone via a text just after school. They needed a semi-secure place to keep Klaus both away and unaware of their topic of discussion. Caroline reflectively rubbed her neck, remembered how last night's events had ultimately unfolded on her would be eighteenth birthday. The beautiful and expensive-looking gold bracelet with diamonds Klaus had left for her was a total surprise after he had come to heal her, after commanding Tyler to bite her. At school today, Tyler had offered an apology and a belated birthday gift of a silver charm bracelet. Both bracelets were still on her desk back home, and she had to decide. Eventually what to do with one or both of them. Right now, she had other more pressing things on her mind.
Caroline took in everyone present other than the two Salvatore brothers presently on the floor Ric was standing nearby. But wasn't intervening in the altercation, either. The look on his face was more than adequate. To express at least to her the anger boiling within his chest. Lean's little brother Jer was no better considering he had a loaded cross bow pointed directly at Stefan's head. Other than Elena or Tyler, the only other people missing had an excuse to be not present for the impromptu show of destruction. Bonnie preoccupied with something magic related. And Matt was putting in a shift at the Grill. Of all of them the two people that tried their best to at least have a normal life were Elena who despite being focal of just about every supernatural crisis. Then there was their friend Matt Donovan who was attending classes, playing as the varsity quarterback, all the while having a stable job at the Grill. Caroline had finally accepted her fated immortal life as newly made vampire courtesy of one Katherine Pierce.
"Well, Stefan, we are all waiting to hear. Why did you try to kill Elena in a power ploy to get Klaus to redraw his hybrids?" Damon questioned.
"Well, for starters, if Klaus had pushed me, Elena would have died, yes. She'd still would have come back as a vampire. She wouldn't be gone then, right?" Stefan said. Caroline and everyone else simply stared at Jeremy, she noted. Probably would have fired his cross bolt by now if Ric hadn't gently eased the pointed weapon at the floorboards.
"That is the last thing she would ever want." Damon snarled.
"How do you think I would feel? If my sister had been turned into a fucking vampire!" Jeremy demanded.
"Frankly Jeremy, I don't really care what or how you'd feel about it." Stefan said, looking pointedly at Lena's brother before shifting his gaze between Damon and her. "Lets face the enviable fact. Its only a matter of time before one of the three of us turns her. Accidentally, or just to keep her alive. When one of us doesn't want to let her go. You all know its true, just admit it to yourself at least." Stefan implored them. In the darkest regions of Caroline's heart, she admitted. She couldn't bear to lose her best friend if she could do something about it, she would. That truth scared her to her very core. She was so lost in self-reflection she missed the opening of the next question Ric had poised this time around.
"I'm sorry, Ric, could you repeat that?" Caroline asked, feeling sheepish. Missing something in his class was one thing here with Mystic Falls Supernatural Crisis Response Team: it was entirely another matter, she mused, trying to lighten her own inner turmoil. This was looking like a rather awful week, and today was just a Monday of all days!
"I said Miss Forbes that if he had Elena all this time then why didn't he tell any of us?" Ric repeated. The look he gave her made Caroline feel like she was still in his AP Histories Class. Stefan didn't respond at first, instead peered down at the wreaked coffee table. And for the briefest of an instant she thought she saw a hint of regret before the century old vampire looked directly at Jeremy.
"Oh… I don't know I know that Damon and I are vervain. Ric and Caroline had both better be on it. So let's see who of us two weeks ago was manipulated to removing the one protection meant specifiably for vampires." Stefan said in an even voice. If Ric hadn't firmly taken the crossbow out of Jer's hands beforehand. Caroline didn't want to guess what he might have tried.
"That's it then Old Messed up Jeremy Gilbert is the weakest link then. OK, fine!" Jer shouted, and stormed out of his own house. Caroline looked about and making a snap decision. She found her purse and followed Jeremy, glancing over her shoulder as she gave everyone still present her best reassuring smile, then exited as well.
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"Jer, wait up for me!" She called as she chased him to his beat-up car.
"Care this is really unnecessary." He smiled awkwardly at her. Caroline had to hide her own smile she distinctly remembered hearing from Lena herself. Hinted that when they were in junior high that her little annoying brother. Once had a sweet boyhood crush on her. But thankfully he did nothing about acting on it, because that would have been totally awkward, she thought. "I'll be fine no thanks to him the hybrid population has been significantly reduced to two and as much as I hate it Lena did what she always does for everyone and at least for now Klaus is going to leave me alone."
Caroline fished out her car keys and smiled at Lena's little brother. "Tell you what, you and I can go to the Grill and my treat. I'll even drive you there and back."
"That's nice Care but-"
"But nothing!" Caroline said stomping her foot the raised eyebrow he gave her was priceless, she thought. "You can help me spend part of my birthday present from my dad. I really had a sucky birthday considering what Tyler did to me." She huffed.
"What did Tyler do?" Jer asked, looking concerned, and it only occurred to her that since he was on the outs with Bon, he might not of heard. Shaking her head, she gives him her best doe eyed look. "We can talk about it when we get there. And if you want. I will even buy you a beer. I promise to compel anyone who witness an underage like your self into forgetting the entire event."
The look he was giving him was too much. And she broke down laughing, and after a brief hesitation, he quickly followed suit. It didn't take too much after that to get them both safely buckled up in her car on their way to the get something to eat while they talk.
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Gilbert Residence
October 11, 2010
Damon glared at his brother and surveyed the damage they had both wrought in Elena's living room. He knew just after he slammed into his brother that he had overreacted, but his little brother had taken a risk with someone they cared about. Well used to care about at least for one of us and it sure the hell isn't me, he thought.
"So are you going to tell us where you have Elena?" Damon finally asked.
"Now why would I do that? All it would take is for Klaus to get a hold of one of us. No offense Ric, and once again Klaus has the advantage." Stefan answered, crossing his arms over his chest.
"You're not the only one that walking abomination has hurt, or did you forget about Jenna!" Ric's voice broke. Damon knew Ric had taken his girlfriend's death hard, but if he was being honest with himself, he didn't really think about death and the loss afterwards that always accompanied it.
"And that is why we or at least I need to keep ahead of anything Klaus is planning." Stefan said, going into kitchen intent on looking for the bottle of Bourbon Elena once had mentioned having. He couldn't recall if she mentioned that it once belonged to her former aunt or to her parents either way he needed a drink.
"How does keeping ahead of Klaus equate to kidnapping and then using her as leverage in any way a good idea?" Damon asked as he and Ric followed Stefan. By the time they were all standing around kitchen island, Stefan had located the bottle and pulled out three glasses. Not needing to ask, he preemptively poured the fiery liquid equally into each glass. Before picking up his glass and draining it before the others had even picked up theirs.
"What are we just moving from one addiction to another?" Damon smirked. Watching his brother pour yet another glass for himself.
"Call it a self-congratulatory drink for successfully removing a potential lethal piece off the board other than one or three dead hybrids." Stefan deadpanned. Making a show of swirling his drink around for added effect.
Ric grimaced after taking a sip from his own glass. It had been Jenna's preferred brand; he had never told her it was his least favorite. "Gentlemen, this isn't getting us anywhere. Stefan, will you at least tell us that Elena is safe wherever she is." Ric said.
"I will say that wherever she is, its safer not being here in Mystic Falls. If she had been here, she would've gone about her own way and given Klaus back his family. Damon you and I both know that Elena's empathy for others isn't what we need right now."
"So what makes you think Elena won't find a way out from whatever rock you've hidden her under and show open when you least expect it?" Damon asked.
"Just think about it." Stefan answered.
"Think about what?" Both Damon and Ric asked in perfect sync. It took a raised eyebrow, aimed specifically at Damon, before his older brother cursed aloud.
"What?!" Ric asked, confused.
"Stefan here most likely compelled Elena to go with him, and chances are she is also been compelled to stay where she is until Stefan gets what he wants." Damon growled.
"And what do you want, Stefan?" Ric demanded, finishing his own drink.
"Is that really a surprise? Ric, I want Klaus out of our town and out our lives."
"At whose expense ours or even Elena's?" Ric demanded.
"Hopefully no one. Still, somebody has to make an attempt or we'll never be free of him. If you need me, Damon, I will be at our family home." Stefan said, putting emphasis on the word 'family' for Damon before placing the now empty glass into the sink, then proceeding towards the front door.
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Mystic Grill
October 11, 2010
"Please Jer, its on me so just order whatever you want. As I was saying on the way over here, I agree with you I needed to get out of there it only reminds me how-" Caroline stopped and looked down. To her surprise, she felt him reach out and give her hand a friendly pat before she looked up into his all familiar face and all she could do is look in his eyes for a hint of his stepsister in his dark brown eyes.
"It's okay Care I miss Lena too and we'll find away somehow to get her back. I just can't believe that Stefan of all people would do that to her." Jeremy spoke reassuringly to his sister's best friend.
"I know it has been a craptastic year so far hasn't it." Caroline huffed, putting down her menu. She did know why she bothered looking in it. She always went with the same thing.
"Do you know what really bothers me the most out of this complete mess?" Jeremy paused long enough for their server to take their orders. "Stefan threated to drive himself and Lena off the Wickery Bridge together. The same bridge our parents died, and Lena too, if Stefan hadn't saved her. I know my sister well enough that she would've been doing everything she could to get away from him. He had to do something. I just can figure out what. Got any good ideas?"
Caroline waited until the server finished delivering their food before picking up his question. "I think you 're right after that I highly doubt that she would've stayed in the same vehicle as him. The easiest answer I can even remotely think of is that he could compel her to stay in the car."
"That's shouldn't be possible she always wears something with vervain or she drinks a cup of tea in the morning and class of it before bed. Hell, after what happened during prank night, we tossed some ideas around and of them concerned getting handcrafted soap made with vervain in it." Jeremy paused, waiting for Caroline to stop coughing on her food. She must have swallowed wrong. "Sorry Care don't worry, its hideously expensive to special order that type of soap. But I'm getting off topic. Ever since Klaus came back and Stefan had his humanity switched off Elena has been doing everything, she can to safeguard herself from training with Ric to vervain."
"But I don't think she was on it or it would have worked its way out of her system. Recall the deal she made with Klaus part of that was a blood donation, but Klaus needs pure unaltered doppelgänger blood." Caroline explained.
"And she wants off of it to make a deal with him because of what had happened with me that morning." Jeremy said with sudden realization of when the pieces started to come together. "So in the end, it was my fault that she is in this predicament. Because of me!" Jeremy said a little louder than he intended, and several people turned to look at him before finally turning back to their food.
"Jer, you can't blame yourself we're dealing with a 1000-year-old vampire who has a lot more experience at manipulating people than even the Salvatore brothers. We will get Lena back." Caroline said, but looked hesitant to continue.
"What is it Care?"
"Look Jer, I have to tell you a few things I recently learned from my mom and for now lets keep it between us." Caroline paused when he gave her a concerned look. "We'll tell the others soon, but if it helps, I too was a collateral victim in Klaus' machinations. I mentioned Tyler did something to me on my birthday?"
"Yeah, I was going to ask you that before we finished here. What did he do to you, it couldn't have been as bad as getting you off vervain? Tyler loves you even I can see that." Jeremy said, but watching her body language he was starting to doubt himself?
"Klaus told Tyler to bite me." Caroline said as gently as she could. She knew Jeremy could get upset easily, and she could taste the anger coming off him. She reached out and placed a reassuring hand across his arm. "I'm fine, Jer. Calm down. Apparently this had been a means of Klaus finding a method of gaining some leverage over my mother. And as you can see, I'm fine so he might be a manipulative bastard, but he kept his promise to cure me."
"This guy is unbelievable!" Jeremy muttered, mostly to himself, but looked up when he heard her laugh at his remark.
"Tell me about it my mom said that he just needed her support when the time came and that he'd be the first person she contacted on any leads on Elena." She said with a sad shake of her head.
"Shit Care! this not good." He said, looking directly at her. "He will never let her go, is he?"
"I hate to say it but I'd really don't think so Jer and with the three-way tug of war going on between Stefan, Damon and now Klaus. I'm afraid for her." Caroline said, trying to hide her angst seeping into her voice. Their food sat temporarily forgotten while they sat in companionable silence as they considered their options. At least with her and Bonnie could fight back, she thought bitterly. Technically Lena was considered supernatural herself with her doppelgänger heritage. She felt herself bristle at the cruel irony that both her friends and herself were all supernatural's, and the only thing Lena had going for her was her blood. But that seemed to draw the attention of every supernatural with in shouting range. One of the perks she loved about since becoming a vampire was her heighten senses, she could feel everyone within the Grill going about their business. She had been getting better of tracking individuals in the crowded room so she had a slight smile on her face when she felt Matt nearby cleaning up a recently vacated table. He had only just gotten off his phone when he noticed her staring and after a sheepish smile back at her before carried his dirty plates into the back. Shaking her head, thinking of their on and off relationship, she returned her attention back to Jeremy, who was still lost in his own thoughts himself.
"I just wish that we could get a message to Lena that we are looking for her and not to give up hope." Caroline sighed and was just about to take another bite of her chicken salad when the hopeful look Jeremy was giving her stopped her mid bite. "Wait, is it Jer?"
"I think we just might have a way but we would need to involve Bonnie in this and considering how things are going on between us." Jeremy said feeling a renewed sense of hope, but after the truth about his continued contact with Anna his burgeoning relationship with the friendly neighborhood witch had recently soured.
"Tell you what let's first finish up here and then we both can go talk to Bonnie together, how does that sound?" Caroline suggested, and once again they resumed their meal actually finding other things to talk about that didn't concern life and death.
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Klaus waited until his informer closed the door to the SUV before saying a word there were too many vampires about who could listen in. Which was why he picked this particular vehicle. Aesthetics aside the noise cancellation feature as well as the heavily tinted windows was the primary reason he'd borrowed it. In the first place.
"So, mister Donovan, you're sure that there wasn't anything else they might have said?" Klaus inquired, looking directly into the eyes of his easily compelled puppet. If he had been human, he would've felt sorry for how trusting the blue-eyed mortal was, but fortunately he wasn't and hadn't been for a very long time. It had been so easy to use his obedient hybrid, Tyler Lockwood, to get both Elena's little brother and Matt Donovan off the vervain without polluting their blood. The young quarterback had been spying for him longer than had little Gilbert been briefly under his compulsion. But considering that both Tyler and Matt played school football together, it had been quite simple to order his hybrid to do his bidding. Initially, it had been a simple test of a hunch that Tyler had a sire bond link with him, Klaus reflected, and so far it was paying out rather nicely. He watched the young mortal, considering his next statement a little more carefully. Yesterday had come as a total surprise to him and he had to give credit for where it was due, but he would tell no one that he thought. But he had been at this sort of game for centuries. The first was with his father and then more recently with Elena Gilbert's friends, when they had tried in vain to stop him from becoming the true hybrid he should have been from the start of his immortal life.
"I was busy doing my job with busing tables, so I only heard what I could without getting caught prying. Caroline can be rather observant of her surroundings, as you'd warned me about. The only thing I can add is speculation on my part from what I did hear." Matt droned on in a semi monotone voice.
"Oh… Do tell?" Klaus deadpanned.
"From the way they were talking about Stefan's threat to drive Lena off the bridge. I can't be sure but if it were me, it would've shaken my trust in Stefan, and they'd are wary of what he might try next." Matt finished. I wonder if I can use that to my advantage, Klaus thought carefully, considering viable avenues of subterfuge he now had available to him. He had been at this game for so long he could write a book if he so desired, but that would be a waste of his talents.
"Very good, mister Donovan, now I want you to forget this conversation and return to work. Continue to keep alert on anything I've asked you to observe for me. If they ask if you're still taking vervain. Do what you can to assure them you are and if one of them tries to compel you to check, do what they say but do not tell them about our little arrangement. If you need anymore of the faux vervain, my witches gave you to take let Alysia know and she will leave a vial in your dead drop location. Now go back inside and finish out the remainder of your shift." Klaus commanded and smiled when the mortal exited his borrowed vehicle before driving off himself.
After finding a decent place to ditch the car, not caring if the owner found it or not, it had served its purpose. He made his way back home. It truly irked him he had to send his hybrids away from him and not only hadn't been able to get his family back. His former friend and would be ally had not only had his family. Stefan had taken the one thing he needed to make more hybrids, and that set his very teeth on edge.
Of the two Salvatore brothers, he'd always suspected that it would've been the older of them to eventually attempt to turn into his doppelgänger. But in Damon's case it would mostly likely been out of love for Elena, not as a means of denying Klaus the ability of making more hybrids. Stefan had truly surprised him when he threated to turn her just to spite him. He knew that he needed to get his family back, and he needed Elena alive and safe. She reminded him of his Tatia and although he would never admit this to anyone. Not even his daggered brother, Elijah. Klaus had conflicting feelings for having to use such a beautiful creature to break his curse. He was privately thankful that Elena's friends had kept her alive. Even now, after all these centuries, it still pained him to know that not only had his own mother used Tatia's blood to turn his family into the Originals Vampires. The witch had scarified her unwittingly in order to seal the curse placed upon him.
"You failed, mother." Klaus spoke aloud, not caring about the odd looks the townsfolk were giving him. As he continued to walk alone.
"Oh, Elena, do you have any idea what hold you have over others even my older brother is besotted with you. Still, only I can truly see to your future happiness. You'll see life in a gilded cage won't be so bad, Elena, you and your decedents will want for nothing. Even if I need to compel you to fall in love with a human and continue the Petrova bloodline." Klaus mused aloud, not concerned others were listening. He honestly didn't care, let them try to stop him, he'd always gotten what he wanted. And what he wanted right now was his family and doppelgänger back.
