Forbes Residence
October 29, 2010
"Mom, I'm home!" Caroline called out as she closed the front door behind her.
"Mom?" she called out again, raising her voice again. She knew her mother was home. She could still hear her mother's familiar heartbeat she'd memorized months ago. But it sounded muffled somehow now, and it took her a second to note the other sounds in their home. Running water? Why was her mother taking a shower at this time of day? It wasn't too unusual, but out of preference since her mother took showers in the morning like she did. Except for her weekends, which were reserved for a long deserved soak in the bath with the various accoutrements she needed for her 'me' time.
Caroline was already looking forward to her weekend. Her previous weekend had been taken up with Bonnie's need to take an impromptu trip to a cemetery of all places in North Carolina. Where, to everyone's surprise, they met up with Stefan and a bunch of Klaus' hybrids. If it hadn't been for Bonnie's long-lost mother Abby showing up and saving them, Caroline shuddered at what could have happened.
She walked to her mother's room and found the door open. She pushed inside and found a clean uniform laid out on the bed with the bathroom door shut. Caroline hesitated before moving deeper into the bedroom. She had fond memories of herself, Bonnie, and Elena trying on her mother's heels and makeup back when her parents were still married. Ever since the divorce, her mother hadn't seen a need to make herself up, and that hurt Caroline. She did feel guilty that afterwards she'd blamed her mother for her father leaving to live with his boyfriend.
Caroline, shaking herself, knocked on the door and spoke in a loud voice, hoping her mother could hear her over the shower.
"Mom I'm home!"
To her relief, her mother must have heard her this time because she heard the shower cutoff abruptly and then the glass door sliding open.
"I'll be right out, Caroline. Can you make a fresh pot of coffee for me?" her mother said. Caroline hid a smile when she realized that her mother hadn't shouted it like she would have in the past. Closed door or not, thanks to her vampire senses, her hearing could pick up literally the sounds of leaves in the trees outside.
"Okay, Mom, I'll see you in the Kitchen then."
Caroline was waiting with a fresh mug of black coffee for herself and had gotten a mug out of the cupboard for her mother waiting on the counter top. She was not surprised to see her mother join her wearing the uniform she'd laid out prior to taking her shower. Her mother sighed with relief when she caught sight of the nearly full pot of coffee she'd asked her daughter to make for her. Liz was like her daughter with regard to needing caffeine. It didn't matter if it was in the morning or late at night, coffee was an addiction for them both. Caroline watched as her mother added sugar and cream before reaching for the small tin of dried vervain flowers.
Before becoming a vampire, she had thought it rather strange that her mother, as well as her father when he still lived there, always added that to their coffee. Now she knew better than to even touch it. She hadn't yet added it to her daily regimen yet, despite Damon's demands she built up a tolerance to it. Having a vampire around who could compel her was troubling. The need to build up a resistance to the vervain was another matter.
"Thanks Caroline. How were your Miss Mystic Falls duties?"
"Good. We are talking about arranging a local blood drive here in Mystic Falls for the hospital in Lynchburg," she was about to explain the reason when she noted her mother's pursed lips before she added in an annoyed tone. "What?"
"Do you think that's wise?" her mother added, and Caroline didn't note the rise in her mother's heartbeat. Forcing herself to calm down, she explained that Lynchburg hospital had a shortfall in the number of blood donors in their recent blood drive and this was something, as their neighboring town, they could help with.
Her mother relaxed a little from her explanation. They'd been slowly rebuilding their relationship considering her being turned into a vampire, thanks to Katherine Pierce.
"What's with the new uniform? I thought you'd be off for the evening," Caroline pouted. They had added watching a movie on Friday nights when her mother's shift rotation allowed it, but since her mother was the sheriff there had been a few too many times, they had to pause the movie when her mother was called to some accident scene or some other scene.
"I need to meet with the Virginia State Police and help coordinate the joint search for Elena."
"Mom, we think that Stefan has her hidden somewhere. Why don't we just try to force him to tell us?"
"Because other than me, no one in my department knows that Stefan and Damon are vampires and I can't risk bringing either of them in without the fact that you're a vampire coming out during interrogation of either of them. Besides, your father and Tyler are using the only secure facility we have to help break his sire bond. Not to mention that Damon is helping with finding Elena herself. I don't think exposing him to the council is worth it in a long scheme of things."
Caroline huffed, feeling annoyed she knew her mother was right, and she really did not know where Stefan was at the moment. They separated on the return trip home from North Carolina and she nor her friends have seen him since. She could only imagine what he was up to now with his vendetta against the Original Hybrid. Of course, she hasn't been forced to abandon her humanity like he had and she wouldn't want to either. Glancing down at the vervain tin, she considered adding a little to her still half-full cup of coffee.
"Why then did you even announce it, let alone bring it to the attention of the state police?"
"It's complicated honey," Liz started to explain when her cell chose at that second to interrupt with a call from one of her deputies at the hospital. The call didn't take very long and thanks to Caroline's vampiric hearing she'd heard as well. The determined look on her daughter matched the same one she wore when she was five years old, when she told her mother she was going to win the Miss Mystic Falls Pageant when she was old enough to take part in.
"I'm coming with you," Caroline stated, not giving her mother an opportunity to rebuff her daughter. Instead, she grabbed her car keys and a mug of coffee. Then, without another word between Mother and Daughter they headed for the door together.
Mystic Falls Hospital
October 29, 2010
Katherine was annoyed but the pleasant yet weary Elena imitation smile she gave the female doctor in the room with her didn't show it. After a far too quick shower and styling her hair more in fashion of her boring Doppelgänger, she'd dressed as well before retrieving the package Klaus had promised was waiting for her.
The sun was already starting to set so there wasn't much sunlight streaming inside the Gilbert house when she swapped out her daylight amulet for the unobtrusive toe ring she'd requested as well as the other toe ring that would hide her vampire nature from both vampires and humans alike. She'd have to watch herself around Elena's witch friend Bonnie Bennett but the Warlock Klaus employed had said it was only precautionary since it would take a witch a concerted effort to break through the glamour he'd charmed into the jewelry.
He'd added a temporary charm that gave her haggard appearance, as if she had been out alone without enough food or water. Once dressed and armed with her new magically infused jewelry, she headed out for the next phase of her plan. As expected, she'd found the hapless hiker she compelled as he climbed out of the driver's seat and rushed to open the passenger door of his car for her.
After climbing in she instructed her compelled human to drive north after finding a secluded spot in the Priest Wilderness park in the Virginia's Blue Ridge. Katherine had set about making her appearance look like she'd been wandering the forest for days, before returning to her compelled driver. She'd picked him specifically for that fact he routinely went hiking alone in the area so for her plan to work she needed a patsy.
Clearing her throat, she looked at the doctor expectantly. When the woman didn't respond, only making notations on her chart, she broke the awkward silence.
"Can I go home now? I really just need to sleep in my own bed and see my little brother," Katherine complained.
"Not until I feel comfortable releasing you. I still want to put another bag of saline into you, besides Sheriff Forbes was most likely informed about your arrival. Knowing her, she is probably talking to the hiker that had found you, right about now," Meredith Fell informed her. Katherine tried not to roll her eyes too much as the Doctor started to change out her bag for a new one. Watching the pick line drip, Katherine was thankful that she'd fed on the way back to Mystic Falls. She could have had the items Klaus had promised her delivered, but there was no way in hell she was going to reveal her private hideaway tucked away in Pennsylvania.
"Look Doctor Fell, I'm feeling better. I don't know what happened. I went down into the caves and the next thing I know I'm wandering around in some wilderness park up north. I don't know how I got there or how long I'd been wandering around up there. The only thing I recall was that hiker finding me curled up by some fallen tree when he stopped to take a break."
"Great, now for the third time you can repeat the story to Sheriff Forbes when she comes to interview you about your ordeal," the doctor explained. If it wasn't for the fact she needed everyone in this stupid town to believe her story, she might have torn the woman's throat out to annoy her. Instead, she waited.
It was ironic that after changing her own clothing for Elena's and what she'd done to make her clothing looked like she'd been wearing it for days, she was now wearing a hospital gown, of all things. If it wasn't for the blanket or the fact of her vampire nature, she'd be freezing from the draft.
"ELENA!"
Before she could react, she was being pulled into Caroline Forbes' arms as Elena's friend greeted her and for a brief moment Katherine wished she would get a similar warm welcome of her own, but just as ruthless she pushed that desire deep within.
"Caroline, you're crushing me," she gasped, hoping that she sounded winded for the younger vampire.
"Oh God! I'm so sorry." Caroline blurted as she stood back, taking in her supposed friend before frowning, but before Katherine could ask what was the problem, she'd turned and started asking pointed questions about her best friend's condition.
"What is a Fugue State, anyway? How could something like this occur?" Caroline demanded after the doctor explained her preliminary prognosis. Just for a moment, Katherine Pierce actually felt pity for the poor doctor Caroline Forbes was a control freak and that had only been amplified when she'd knowingly killed her with Damon's blood still inside her.
Thankfully, the town's sheriff chose that time to knock on the examination room door. What followed went pretty much as she expected. The story she'd compelled the hiker to have matched hers perfectly and after a few additional questions from both Forbes's, she was cleared to go home. Caroline offered to stay with her until she was discharged, but thankfully her own mother suggested that they take it up tomorrow. Caroline needed to spread the news of her return to their friends and her mother had to inform her department, as well as the external authorities, too.
Once again alone with the doctor, she waited till the human removed the IV Catheter from her arm. That is when an unexpected problem arose that Katherine hadn't considered before and she hadn't had to worry about such things for centuries.
"Okay, let me put this bandage-"
Katherine reacted and, with vampire quickness, grabbed the doctor's wrist before she could pull away. Looking into the woman's eyes, she compelled the doctor to ignore what she just witnessed. Katherine frowned when the woman shook her head in disagreement.
"You're on vervain, aren't you?" Katherine asked rhetorically. "Of course you are. Why of all the doctors in this stupid town, would it have to be a Fell?"
"I… I'm not sure why you're posing as Elena Gilbert, but I will not expose you. If we can come to an arrangement, that is."
Curious, Katherine lessened her grip but still held her firmly as she waited. It didn't take long and for once she didn't know what to say other than to agree with the mortal's arrangement between them. It only cost her a bag filled with her own blood given to the doctor and during her stay she could have as much bagged human blood as she desired just so long as she didn't harm anyone in town. A part of Katherine wanted to find someone and kill by draining them dry, just to prove a point that no one dictated to her, but she had a mission if successful. After five centuries, she would be free. So for now, she agreed to their little arrangement between them. She made a mental note to check on how many of Doctors Fell's cases have had strange, almost miraculous recoveries. Even she had to admit that it was quite clever and with her being older than most other vampires around, her blood would heal injuries much faster than Damon's or Stefan's blood.
Charleston, West Virginia
Sarah Whitmore Residence
October 29, 2010
"Honestly, I don't know where my Nephew Aaron is. He normally would be home by now. Would you like some more tea, perhaps?" Sarah asked, proffering the ceramic teapot to her guest.
Damon smiled pleasantly, holding out his matching ceramic cup. "Yes please, Miss Whitmore, but I'm surprised you're using such a priceless set just for me," he added, watching the woman pour the hot brown colored liquid into his cup. Part of him was just making conversation, but another part of him was curious why she'd be using an obviously priceless heirloom.
"This set used to belong to my nephews parents before-" Sarah started and her hands began to tremble. Feigning concern Damon quickly put his cup down and rescued the tea pot before she accidentally dropped it then he set it back on the silver tray she'd brought it on into the parlor roughly a half hour before.
"I understand. I know what it's like to lose loved ones before their time. May I ask what happened?"
"My brother Aaron and his wife Ashley, as well as their son, my nephew, were on a camping trip to the Anna Ruby Campground. Have you ever heard of it or been there?" Sarah asked, trying to calm her nerves. From what even Damon could tell was a painful memory, it almost made him feel guilty for what he had planned, but it was necessary to getting his long-suffering friend out of Augustine's hands. She was just collateral damage and it wasn't like he was going to kill her just yet; he wanted to keep at least one Whitmore alive after all. Isn't that similar to what Klaus is doing to me, Damon? Damon's back stiffened and he looked about as if he would find her sitting with them, but it was just the two of them. Thankfully, his host was too absorbed with her own grief to have noticed his odd behavior.
"Uh… I can't say that I have. Is it a nice place for a camping trip? My brother and I are looking for a place to do just that next spring break," Damon said, covering his startled reaction. He could have sworn that it had been Elena's voice.
"It was, but I can never go back there. When my nephew was five years old, his parents were both fatally mauled by a wild animal. It traumatized Aaron when he was younger. He refused to speak for almost a year and it's still taking a toll on him. He keeps saying that our family is cursed."
"Cursed; how so?"
"It's silly really, but poor Aaron believes that something dark is out to get our family going all the way back to sometime in the late fifties."
"Do you believe that?" Damon asked, letting his curiosity get the better of him.
"I don't know. Aaron was noticeably upset when his cousin died while drinking and driving. But sadly, don't many teenagers with a new driver's license do as well? It's just luck of the draw, isn't it?" Sarah asked, looking into Damon's eyes for reassurance.
"Yes of course… Uh, hope you don't mind, but why don't you have children of your own?"
"Um… I really don't feel comfortable talking about such things."
Damon held up his hands in apology. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to intrude," he paused, making a show of inhaling through his nose, pretending as if he smelled something interesting. "I hope I'm not intruding again, but I have an overdeveloped sense of smell. I swear that I'm picking up a familiar perfume."
"Really?! That's remarkable. What does it smell like if I might ask?" Sarah asked, her own curiosity peaked.
"You might think it silly, but my mother used to have a hand made perfume distilled from vervain plant oils."
"Did you say Vervain?"
"Yes, is that what I smell? Are you perhaps wearing it?"
"Wow! That is amazing. I've never heard of someone's sense of smell being so sensitive. My brother used to get me to use it. Other than family functions like Christmas or Thanksgiving, I never used it. Thankfully, at the time with them living near Whitmore College and me here in Charleston, they never were the wiser."
"Can I ask why you didn't like it, applying it like your sister-in-law?" Damon didn't have to feign interest now he was curious himself. You'd think that after the fatalities he inflicted on the Whitmore family, they'd might know better, Damon thought.
"I have a very rare plant allergy to Vervain. It doesn't matter what form it is, my skin breaks out with painful welts depending on the concentration. I can use it if I take certain precautions, but they are sometimes not enough. Say, if you wouldn't object, could I give you the only bottle of vervain perfume I have? I will never use it, for health and personal reasons."
To say that Damon was stunned would have been an understatement. He didn't believe it would be so easy. He thought he might have to remove it physically from her or resort to more brute force methods, but he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Instead, he smiled appreciatively at his host.
"I will be honored to accept it from you. May I see it?" Damon asked, mentally kicking himself for sounding so Stefan-like, well pre-Klaus Stefan.
"Alright then, it's upstairs here. Wait here while I go fetch it for you."
Damon waited till she reached the top of the grand staircase. When he had charmed his way by gaining an invitation from his host, he marveled at the marble floor and the impressive wood work of the staircase. He toyed with the idea of getting her to climb the stairs. He didn't think it would have been so easy as this. Using his vampire speed, he almost instantly appeared at the top of the stairs in front of Sarah Whitmore, his prey. His sudden arrival hadn't gone unnoticed, but like most humans, she reacted to the gust of wind his body generated moving so quickly and she reacted as he expected when she looked back down the stairs.
"Are you looking for me?"
Startled, Sarah spun on her heels and if it wasn't for Damon, catching hold of her arms with his hands, she might have fallen backwards down the winding staircase. Her heart was threatening to beat out of her chest into her throat, yet she still asked what some of his victims did when he pulled that little trick on them. Now not being an exception other than controlling the events both he and Ric had planned out. Ric hadn't wanted to know what he had planned. Instead, he was focusing on keeping Sarah's nephew at school.
"H… How did you d… do that?" Sarah stammered. Damon ignored her question. instead he peered into her eyes and focused his compulsion on her.
"Don't scream. Well Sarah, as a little test, how about you share the reason you don't have or want kids? Hmm?"
"I have stage four Endometriosis. The scar tissue in or around my ovaries and fallopian tubes is too extensive to conceive a child without serious pelvic pain and medical treatments," Sarah answered in a monotone voice that practically all compelled humans do.
"I'm sorry for that Sarah. I want you to believe that regardless of what happens in the next few minutes, I really mean that," Damon answered as honestly as he could. He might be a monster, but even when he had his humanity turned off, he avoided hurting children. He wondered what emotionless Stefan would say to him right now, but he pushed stray thoughts aside. He still had one more question to ask.
"Now Sarah, in the event of your death or if you are seriously incapacitated, what happens regarding your nephew Aaron Whitmore?"
Still compelled, Sarah answered in the same monotone voice as before. "As determined in my will and agreement we made just earlier this week, Aaron becomes the legal ward to Doctor Wes Maxfield. How are you making me say all this?"
"Patience, Sarah, I'll let you know shortly. Will Aaron need to move in with the Doogie Howser- I mean Doctor Maxfield?"
"Aaron is nineteen and legally an adult, but Doctor Maxfield has been trying to get Aaron to move into the Whitmore house on the Whitmore campus, regardless."
Damon smiled gently and reached up to move a few stray hairs that partly obscured her face. Remarkably, she didn't flinch, and he felt sorry for what he was going to do. Damon, don't do this. You know it's wrong? This time, Damon ignored the familiar voice. He put it to his lack of sleep and overwork trying to find Elena.
"Sarah, I don't want you to mention what happened here, nor that I was ever here, do you understand?"
"Yes, I understand," she responded robotically, but then surprised him again with a question of her own.
"Are you going to tell me how you are doing all this?" Sarah's body was trembling although her conscious mind hadn't made the connection yet. Her sub consciousness recognized an alpha predator.
Damon grinned and took the woman by the shoulders. "Your nephew was right. Something dark has been out to get the Whitmore family."
Her alarm grew tenfold, her mouth opened as if to scream, but before she could register that she couldn't anymore Damon pushed with all of his vampire strength, sending her tumbling down the stairs. The distinct sound of bones breaking was hard to miss. Taking a leisurely pace down the stairs, he moved to remove evidence of his presence. Even going as far as carefully washing his tea cup and placing back in the cupboard with the other matching ceramic tea ware.
He checked her pulse and found it thready. Somehow she'd survived, but he wasn't sure if she would survive for long. Instead, he sent a text to Ric that he was ready for the next phase. Yet still felt dirty for asking her such a personal question about her medical condition.
Charleston, West Virginia
The University of Charleston
October 29, 2010
"Doctor Saltzman, is she texting you again?" Aaron Whitmore asked, curious. He didn't know exactly why, but when he'd been approached by the visiting doctor and how he had so readily he agreed to show him around the campus.
Alaric chuckled as he typed out a quick response and returned his phone back to the jacket pocket before turning his attention back to him.
"No, just another troubled student of mine. He's an overachiever, you see. He's doing some research for a special project of his and I'm doing my best to keep him on track schedule wise. I only agreed to him taking it on only if he finished it before winter break," Alaric sighed.
Aaron could help to laugh. He could only imagine what an overachiever looking to impress a high school history teacher might be attempting. Now he partially understood why the teacher was looking to teach in a higher education setting.
"At least you have a student that wants to learn, from the number of messages you sent to the first student who texted you earlier. She must be really failing your class. Between you and me she sounds desperate to squeak through the semester with a barely passing grade."
"You have no idea," Alaric shook his head in mild amusement before he turned serious. He leaned forward and made eye contact with him for the second time since their accidental meeting in the University's library. Quite frankly it had gone fair easier than Alaric had any right to expect. But here they were and now it was time for the second phase of the plan.
"Aaron Whitmore, If I tell you to do something for me I want you to do it regardless if you want to or not, do you understand?"
"I understand," Aaron repeated.
"Good mate, now an associate of mine by the name of Damon Salvatore is going to ask you to do us a favor for us. I want you to listen to him and do whatever he tells you to do. Do you understand?"
"I understand," Aaron repeated.
"Oh, before I let you go, you're running awfully late and your aunt has been expecting you. Don't repeat our little conversation to my friend, Damon when you meet him. If he asks, we just talked about me teaching here and hint to him that I really annoyed you with my never ending list of questions about your campus even though you repeatedly told me you needed to go home. Do you understand?"
"I understand."
"Good. Now off you go."
Aaron blinked, and his face morphed into a scowl. "As I said before I really need to go, Doctor Saltzman. I can't help you any more than I have already."
Without waiting for a response Aaron turned and stormed off. Klaus/Alaric smiled to himself and reached for his cell again and warned Damon that their patsy into Whitmore House was on his way. Before Damon could respond, he got another text from the Mystic Falls but from the Sheriff this time around, and his smile grew even broader. It was a simple message he'd been expecting and Katerina had for now delivered. Between the pair of them they were going to get his family back one way or another.
EF: Elena has come home and she is at the hospital now getting checked out. I'll let you know more when I get a chance to speak to her alone.
