Chapter Nine Part Three: They're Gone
3rd Person Pov
"Tyler?" Caroline asked as she was outside the hospital.
Matt had called her to tell her about Carol's accident. She wanted to go see her and make sure she's ok. But what she wasn't prepared for was to see Tyler there as well.
"Jules." Caroline turned to see the girl with him.
"I'll give you a few minutes."Jules told him before walking away.
"She's just making sure I'm safe." Tyer told her as he saw the look on Caroline's face.
"So what are you? You two are, like, friends now?" She asked him.
"She's been helping me." Tyler told her. "How are you?" He asked changing the subject.
"I heard about your mom. I just came to check on her." Caroline told him not wanting to answer his question.
"She's banged up, but she'll be okay." Tyler told her.
"And you? Um… how is everything with you?" She asked him.
"I'm hanging in there." Tyler replied.
"Good." Caroline said.
"Yeah." Tyler said. "You look good." He told her.
"Yeah, I finally had them." Caroline told him.
They stared at each other for a moment.
"I should get going. Jules and I need to get on the road." Tyler said before walking away.
"You're leaving again?" She asked turning around to face him.
Tyler stopped walking and turned around to face her.
"I left for a reason, Caroline." He told her.
"Your explanation must have gotten lost in the mail. Along with your goodbye." She told him as she walked towards him.
"Well…" Tyler started.
He didn't know what to say. Caroline looked at him waiting for him to explain.
"Take care of yourself." He told her before turning back around and walking away.
"Tyler…" She called walking towards him before she groaned in pain.
Tyler turned around and saw Caroline grabbing her head as she groaned. Soon he had the same reaction. He grabbed his head as he groaned in pain. Soon everything went black.
"Hey Caroline, it's me. I thought you were coming to meet me. Look, I need to talk to you. It's important." Matt said into his phone, leaving Caroline a message.
Matt then saw Damon enter the grill and go to the bar.
"Thanks." Damon told the bartender.
"I'll have the same." Alaric came and sat by Damon.
"I screwed up." Damon said.
"What do you mean you screwed up?" Alaric asked his friend.
"I kissed Alison."Damon admitted.
"You what? Wow. I didn't think you still had feelings for her." Alaric said.
"I don't know. It just felt right." Damon said.
"Gentlemen." They heard. "Why so glum?" The voice asked.
Alaric had a shock expression on his face. Damon, then, realized who the voice belonged to by the look on Alaric's face.
"Klaus, I presume." He said still not looking at the man beside him.
"In the flesh." Klaus said. "Thanks for the loaner mate." He said to Alaric as Damon stood up and faced him.
"Any reason you stopped by to say hi?" Damon asked.
"Just thought I'd remind you not to try anything you'll regret." Klaus told him.
"Ha." Damon laughed. "Thanks for the advice." He said sarcastically. "I don't suppose I could talk you into a postponement by any chance, huh?" Damon asked.
"You are kidding. He's kidding right?" Klaus asked Alaric.
"No, not really." Alaric replied.
"I mean, come on, what's one week in the grand scheme of things?" Damon asked.
"Let me be clear. I have my vampire. I have my werewolf. I have everything I need. The ritual will happen tonight." Klaus told Damon. "So if you want to live to see tomorrow, don't screw it up." Klaus said before walking away.
Damon turned to face Alaric before sitting down.
"That was fun." Damon sighed.
"You're gonna screw it up, aren't you?" Alaric asked.
"You think if I took his werewolf, my kids won't have to activate their vampirism?" Damon asked.
"I think it won't matter because you'll be dead." Alaric told him.
"But without the werewolf, he can't perform the ritual tonight, which means I would have brought them one month before the next full moon." Damon told him.
"And you'll still be dead." Alaric told them.
"Better me than them." Damon told him. "So, you gonna help me or what?" He asked.
"What do you want me to do?" Alaric asked.
"Look who's dumb enough to come back." Katherine said.
"Well, somebody had to invite him in." Alaric told her.
Katherine was confused by what he meant.
"Damon, would you like to uh come in?" Alaric asked.
"Are you trying to get me killed?" Katherine vamp speed over to Damon as he came in.
Damon vamp speed her against the wall.
"Stefan gave you vervain and I'm here to collect." Damon told her. "I got it from here, Ric." He told him.
"You sure?" Alaric asked.
"Yeah, only one of us needs to get blamed for this. Get back to the house and keep Caroline from handing the kids over." Damon told him.
"Get blamed for what?" Katherine asked as Alaric left.
"I need to know where Klaus is keeping his werewolf." Damon told her.
"Why? What are you gonna do?" Katherine asked.
"A dead werewolf equals no ritual." Damon told her.
"No. You can't interfere, Damon. Klaus will kill you and everyone you've ever met." Katherine told him.
"I just need to delay this thing." Damon told her.
"No. No way." Katherine said walking away from him.
"You should like this. It's gonna buy you another month of your life." Damon turned around.
"Right. Except that I'm not the vampire he's planning on sacrificing." Katherine turned to face him.
"What?" He asked.
"Yeah, he's got Caroline Forbes and Tyler Lockwood. Therefore, I'm in the clear." Katherine told him.
"And where did he get that idea from?" Damon asked before vamp speeding her against the wall.
"Hey, hey I'm just trying to stay alive, long enough to get myself out of here." Katherine told him.
"By sacrificing the mother of my children?" Damon asked.
"Both you and I know Caroline would die for those kids just as much as you are." Katherine told him.
"Where is she, Katherine?" Damon asked. "I swear Katherine, I will kill you myself, right here right now." He threatened her. "Imagine how that would be for Stefan? Just him and Elena." Damon told her.
"The tomb. He's got them in the tomb." Katherine told him.
"Tyler?" Caroline asked as she found herself chained up.
"Are you alright?" Tyler asked.
"Yeah, I think so." Caroline responded. "Unh! Unh." She tried to break the chain.
"I already tried." Tyler told her.
"Those witches vervained me." Caroline said.
"Who were they?" Tyler asked.
"I think they're with Klaus." Caroline responded.
"Who the hell is Klaus?" Tyler asked.
"Tyler. You shouldn't have come back here." Caroline told him.
Damon walked through the forest to get to the tomb. He looked around to see if he could find anyone that may or may not be guarding the tomb. But he didn't see anyone.
"Which one are you trying to save?" A voice asked. 'The blonde or the wolf?" He asked.
Damon turned around to face the unknown witch.
"Did you really think Klaus would leave the unprotected?" He asked.
"Wishful thinking." Damon replied before vamp speeding toward him and knocked him to the ground, choking him.
The witch used his magic to get Damon off of him. Then Damon starts to groan until the aneurism finally stopped. Damon looked up to see Donovan with a rifle, who just shot the witch.
"What are you doing here?" Damon asked him.
"Where's Caroline?" Matt asked, walking towards him.
"Listen man, not a good time to play the hero." Damon told him.
"What is she? What did he do to her?" Matt asked, pointing the rifle at him.
"I'm just here to rescue her okay?" Damon asked him before vamp speeding towards him, grabbing the rifle out of his hand and knocking him out with it.
"The whole sun and the moon curse is fake?" Tyler asked.
"That's what Elijah said. Though Klaus still needs to do the sacrifice but it's just not for that." Caroline told him.
"And you think that's why they grabbed us? For the sacrifice?" Tyler asked.
"Yes." Caroline nodded.
"He's going to kill us?" He asked.
"I think so." Caroline replied.
"This whole time I've been gone, Jules has been helping me come to terms with what I am. How to deal with it. I guess none of it matters anymore." Tyler said.
"Why didn't you say goodbye?" Caroline asked."You just left." She said.
"You wanna talk about this now?" Tyler asked her.
'Well, if we're gonna die, I might as well know the truth.' Caroline told him. "Why did you leave me?" She asked.
"I knew you hated me. I thought you deserve better than having someone like me in your life." Tyler admitted.
"I was hurt. You turned your back on me when I needed you. But I could never hate you, Tyler." Caroline told him.
"Damon is still in my life after everything he'd done to me. But I don't think I could fully hate him." She said. "Trust me, you aren't as bad as Damon." She told him.
Before Tyler could say anything, they both heard something.
"Damon?" Caroline asked.
"Your boyfriend's outside with a rifle, loaded with wooden bullets. You have some explaining to do." Damon told her.
"What? Matt?" Caroline asked him.
"Matt knows about you?"Tyler asked as Damon broke Caroline's chains.
"No, I-" Caroline started.
"Shh. Tomorrow's problem. Why don't we get you out of here?" He asked her as he helped her up.
"Wait, Damon no, I'm not leaving without him." Caroline told him.
"Ugh." Damon groaned. "It's getting dark soon. How fast can you get away from here?" He asked.
"I need to get to my family's cellar. I can lock myself up." Tyler told him.
"I'll help." Caroline told him. "Then I'll be back with the kids." Caroline told Damon.
"Don't make me regret this." Damon told him before breaking Tyler's chain then all three of them excited the tomb.
"There you two are. When I got here, the house was empty." Alaric said as Stefan and Elena came in.
"Where's Damon?" Stefan asked.
"What happened? Is he okay?" Matt asked.
"He better not wolf out on us." Damon said as his phone rang. "Bad time, little bro." He answered.
"What are you doing?" Stefan asked.
"Saving the day." Damon replied. "I figured you'll understand. Just tell Alison to stay put." He told him.
"They're already gone, Damon." Stefan told him.
To Be Continue….
End of Chapter Nine Part Three