The drive back to town was a quiet one. Damon put on one of his favorite songs from the 1940's, and I remained silent as he sang to himself. Damon had always had a great voice for a Salvatore boy. Our father or uncles couldn't carry a tune to save their lives, but Damon had a great voice. I wasn't bad, but I wasn't going to float my own boat. Not today, at least.

When we'd arrived back at the boardinghouse, we'd put away all of the groceries, and told Mrs. Flowers, who was working in her garden, that we'd leave her to her work. Damon was going to the graveyard later, but I took a stalk of flowers and went before him to decorate Miranda's and Katherine's graves quickly.

Miranda's grave was saddening…

Miranda Pierce-Gilbert

Beloved Daughter, Sister, Mother, and Friend

You will be forever missed

July 10, 1980 - June 9, 2012

But Katherine's pulled at my heartstrings…

Katherine Elizabeth Pierce

~Katerina Elizabeta Petrova~

Beloved Daughter, Sister, Beloved, and Friend

You will be forever missed

January 1, 1993 - June 9, 2012

I tried not to make much of it. Katherine was gone and in a better place, and she didn't have to ever hurt again. I'd miss her, but that was what was best for her. At least, that's what I tried to tell myself to justify my feelings for Elena, and why I wasn't broken into tears at the sight of her freshly dug grave. I did miss her though, for my dream proved it.

…

I snuck up behind Caroline at the town's square. She jumped.

"Oh, Stefan!" she smiled in a breathless tone. "You scared me!"

"I'm sorry," I smiled as I pulled a pink rose from behind my back. Damon bought the irises.

"What's this?" she asked as her eyes lit up. "Is it for me?"

"That would be why I'm giving it to you," I laughed as she giggled.

Before she did anything else, she stood up straight and looked at me seriously, "It's just a friendship rose. Besides, pink is a friendship color. I understand. Thank you very much, Stefan."

"You're welcome," I laughed slightly. "Yes, it's just a friendship rose, but I figured pink was the one you'd like best. My brother, Damon, bought a dozen of roses with pink, red, and white in them. He got them half off when he bought irises to decorate Katherine's grave."

"Why didn't you buy them?" she asked as she smelled the rose. "Katherine was your girlfriend, right?"

"Yeah," I sighed, as that was the second time I'd heard that today, "but it was Damon's idea. He cared about her, too. So he bought flowers to decorate. Seeing as how he bought too much, I took some and left a five dollar bill on the table to pay for them."

"That's nice," she laughed as she grabbed my hand. She had a denim sundress and yellow sandals on. Half of her golden hair was pulled up into a ponytail with the rest flowing down her back. "Come on, I have to show you something."

She clutched my hand with her white-tipped nails and led me across the street to her car, "I stumbled upon something when I was…with Tyler."

"With him?" I asked as I caught on to the key word. "You know, I see how he looks at you, Care. If you were with him, you were more than just with him."

"Fine," she blushed deeply. "I admit it. I like the guy. So what? I'm not in love. It's just a fling until Matt's sister, Vicki, comes out of rehab."

"Flings never end well," I replied. I briefly remembered my fling with Katherine. We'd used each other, and then we'd fallen for each other. It wasn't meant like that, but it just happened. Nonetheless, I loved Katherine, and don't regret a thing.

"Whatever you say," she said sarcastically as she turned on her radio and started tapping her fingers on the steering wheel with the beat of the song.

I sighed and looked out the window.

…

"We're here!" she said.

"Which is where, exactly?" I asked as I looked at a huge mansion in front of me.

"This is Tyler's place, but there's a room in here that I caught my interest," she smiled as she got out of her car.

Her sundress swayed in the breeze, and small wisps of her hair flew about her face. I really wished I could've liked Caroline more than I did because she was a beautiful young woman with full lips and curves in all the right places, but I couldn't. It would've made me feel less guilty because she looked nothing like Katherine or Elena, but I still didn't want her in such a way. Her bubbly personality seemed to be the cherry on the sundae when it came to girlfriend material, but I just didn't see her like that.

"Won't Tyler be a bit upset when he finds that you brought me?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No," she smiled, "because we aren't going to the main mansion. We're going to the mayor's office where all of the pictures of the founding families are."

"Tyler's father is the mayor?" I said in a shocked tone. No wonder the dude had money.

"Yup," she said as she grabbed my wrist and led me toward the back of the mansion where the rock driveway turned into a paved office entrance.

"Hello, Mayor Lockwood," Caroline said when she entered the office to see the mayor at his desk working.

"Hello, Caroline," he said with a politician smile. "Who's this you have with you?"

"Stefan Salvatore, sir," I introduced myself. "It's an honor to meet you."

The mayor laughed, "Same to you, young man. I'm Richard Lockwood. Here."

He handed me a card: Reelect Richard Lockwood for Mayor it said in fancy writing.

"Mr. Lockwood," Caroline began. "I was wanting to show Stefan the documents of the founding families, if that was alright."

"Of course, Caroline," he replied. "It closes at seven, so don't get locked in."

With that, Caroline grabbed my forearm and led me to an open room. One wall was just windows looking out over the town from the top of the hill we were on. There was a welcome sign, and there were documents and pictures on every other wall in the small area.

"This is one part of the historical society," she explained as she bent down to pull out a book on the shelf. "Here's a book listing the names of the families that founded this little town back in the 1860's."

She set the dusty book on a table and opened it to a bookmarked page.

"Why were you with Tyler in here?" I asked as I smirked at her.

I saw her blush, "I'd advise you not to sit on the red chair in the lounge area."

I looked to my right, and no doubt, there was a red chair by the window. There was a hand print on the glass, and the chair was suspiciously further away from the others.

"Oh, geez, Caroline," I said. "Aren't there cameras here?"

"They're fake," she said. "If you look closely the lenses are plastic. There's no chord going to a security room, and the camera doesn't even weigh a pound since it's just a hollow plastic box."

"Oh," I said as I directed my attention back to the book. What're the names?"

"Fell, Forbes, Gilbert, Lockwood, and…" she said as she left me to look at the last name.

"Salvatore…" I finished.

"Did you not know that you're from a founding family?" she asked as she looked up at me with big eyes.

"No," I replied as I looked at the scrawled writing that somebody used to list my last name.

"There's a picture here somewhere of them," Caroline started again as her lithe fingers trailed the bindings on the bookcase. "Here!"

She grabbed an old worn picture album and opened the page to the last section.

"Look," she said. "It's a picture of the founding families. There's some guy named Giuseppe, his wife, and two sons. There's a small mentioning of a daughter named Elise who had died as an infant, but the sons' names were Damon and Stefan.

I looked at the picture.

"My God!" I said. "The boys look exactly like me and Damon. What's the wife's name?"

"Marisol," Caroline answered. "Are you named after these two boys?"

"My father's name is Giuseppe," I replied. "My mom's name is Nicole, though. My father mentioned that he, my brother, and I were named after earlier family members, but they never said we looked so much alike."

The only difference was that the Damon Salvatore in this picture had seemingly lighter hair than my brother's, but I couldn't be sure because the picture was in black and white.

"This Stefan looks like you," she smiled, "but his hair is black instead of brown."

It was true, the picture showed him with darker hair than I had, and the Giuseppe in this photo was bald. My father had a receding hairline, but his hair was thicker than anybody else's that I'd ever seen in my life. Other than that, though, they all looked alike.

"There's a section behind it about a plague of sudden animal attacks during this time and throughout time until the year 1982," Caroline explained.

"That would explain the odd files," I whispered to myself. There were so many Katherine Pierces who'd died by an animal attack.

"There were some recent ones lately, but the police can't find the culprit animals that would've done it," Caroline said as she brought me from my trance.

"Yeah," I said quietly, lost in thought.

Caroline picked up the book to put it back, and a picture fell out from the back face down.

"Oops," she said.

"It's alright," I said. "I'll get it.

I quickly picked up the picture and turned it around.

"Oh my God!" I said as I threw the picture to the ground and took a step back.

Caroline looked at me like I was crazy and then looked at the photo herself, "Oh my goodness."

I gained my bearings and approached the table again, "What is the date on that picture?"

"June 1864," she said as she held the picture with shaky hands.

"What is the name in the caption?" I asked.

"Stefan, we both know you saw it," she said quietly.

"Please tell me, though," I said with a blank face.

"But-"

"Please Caroline!" I said harshly.

"Katherine Elizabeth Pierce!"