Which Way to Go
Three:
Buffy: Oh, wow. I- I never hit anybody before.
Merrick: Really? Well, you did it perfectly.
Buffy: I didn't even break a nail.
– Buffy the Vampire Slayer, movie (1992)
Mystic Falls
After the Founder's Party, out in the woods
Two people, a man and woman, stood staring down at the remains of a body, which was only partially covered by leaves and debris, far from the civilisation of Mystic Falls. The sound of leaves crunching under someone's boots made the two look up from their observation; both were tense.
"Just me," the figure said, stepping closer and sweeping their flashlight over the dead body. "Another one?"
"Yes," the man said, idly plucking at the sleeve of his jacket. The motion was subconscious, merely a means to demonstrate that the man was nervous – his tell.
"Are you sure?" the figure asked, and at the sight of the dead body, his face paled and he grimaced at the smell of a decomposing corpse. His eyes quickly raked over the body from head to toe, only pausing at the torn jugular and the copious amount of blood that spilled over the person's lower jaw, neck, and down their front and left shoulder. A bit of torn skin from the neck flapped open, indicating what the cause of death was.
The man who arrived wished he hadn't asked such a rhetorical question, how that he saw the body.
"Five bodies all drained of blood," the woman of the group sighed, placing her hands on her hips. One hand twitched towards her gun holster. "I'm certain."
The other man, with the blazer, grimly thinned his lips. "They've come back."
The three shared an uneasy look, before turning their eyes back to the corpse. They all knew things were going to get far worse before things would ever be better.
Late October, two weeks after the Founder's Party
Gilbert House
Elena stared at her phone, biting her lip and chewing on it periodically as she stared at the lit screen. 12 Missed Calls, it read, and when she opened it, Stefan Salvatore's name appeared repeatedly.
The young woman sighed and tossed the phone onto her bed from her spot at the window seat in her bedroom. She then ran her hands through her straight hair, gripping it tightly at the base and curling her knees closer to her body.
Stefan was a vampire.
Damon was a vampire.
Damon was eating Caroline.
Damon was possibly doing other things to Caroline, which she wouldn't remember because vampires had this neat trick called compelling, or glamour, or hypnosis or whatever the fuck those horror/supernatural writers were calling it nowadays. Maybe oblivate was a good word for it too?
After the Founder's Party, Elena and Bonnie snuck Caroline out without anyone seeing her, or the oozing neck bite, which stained her beautiful white knit cardi and dress a dirty brown from the dried blood. They eased the confused, tearful blonde into the backseat of Bonnie's car, with Elena sitting next to her and applying pressure on the wound.
Bonnie drove like a bat out of hell, getting her to the Forbes' house. Upon entering it, Bonnie made a quick sweep to ensure they were alone, as Elena took Caroline to the bathroom. With careful tenderness – half an apology for how she acted, and half out of the desire not to upset Caroline's state – Elena helped Caroline undress before pushing her into the shower tub and drawing the curtain so she had privacy. Elena, however, did not leave and Bonnie joined her at the sink, both keeping an ear on Caroline and speaking about how beautiful the party was, how nice Caroline's designs were.
When Caroline stepped out of the shower, Elena's eyes grew wide and Bonnie's grew hard – before the young woman reached for a towel Elena held out, the girls saw her side and back, as well as her now clean neck. She was riddled with crescent, white healed marks, and puckered, scabbed over cuts from where she was bitten: neck, collarbone, the tops of the breasts, stomach, hip, thigh, the curve of her bum.
"Caroline," began Elena quietly, "Please think carefully. Have you ever invited Damon into your house?"
Caroline's eyes, which were focused on her reflection in the mirror, slid to Elena's reflection before murmuring, "Yes."
Bonnie swore, loudly and explosively, reaching for her cell phone and leaving the bathroom. The two girls remaining behind heard, "Hello? Grams? Yeah, I need your help..."
"When? When did he come over Caroline?" asked Elena urgently.
Caroline turned her body to face Elena, frowning. "Around my birthday. You know, the one you forgot? What, are you suddenly caring now, Elena?"
Elena closed her eyes and bit her lip; she opened them, and glanced down. "I'm sorry I wasn't a good friend to you, Care. But right now, there is something far more important going on. Did your mother or father ever talk about the Founding Families?"
Caroline looked perplexed, and more than a little annoyed. "Of course not, and I could care less, Elena. Excuse me, I'm really tired right now, and I've got a really itchy neck bite that I need to clean and take care of, and wonder why the hell my boyfriend bit me."
The blonde swept past Elena and out of the bathroom, moving towards her bedroom.
"That's kinda where I'm going with this, Caroline," implored Elena, following her. They could hear Bonnie on her phone at the front of the house, in the living room, but her words were muffled. "Why would Damon bite you? It's a bit strange, isn't it? Kinky?"
Caroline huffed, entered her room, and immediately made her way to her closet where she opened the white-trimmed door, and pulled her black bathrobe from the protruding hook on the back of the door. Elena politely looked away as Caroline dropped the towel and slipped into the terrycloth.
"Are you trying to insult me, Elena?" asked Caroline, stooping to pick up the towel and slinging it into her hamper.
Elena wanted to roll her eyes but withheld; Caroline was not making this easy for her. "No, Caroline. C'mon, think about it! When you were dating Jerry Hampton, did he bite your neck hard enough to draw blood? What about Ethan Fell? Or even your European hookup, Nik? Did he bite you?"
Caroline shot Elena a dirty look, but humoured her and answered, "Of course they didn't."
Elena, seeing an opportunity, moved forward, across the dark hardwood floor and close to the window and where her bookshelf kitty-cornered it. Scanning quickly, Elena found the book she was looking for, plucked it from the shelf, turned, and tossed it at a very surprised Caroline.
The blonde fumbled as she automatically reached out for the book, leaning down before pulling upright again and staring at the cover. Her face twisted into a half-amused, half-terrified expression. "Is this a joke?"
"No," replied Elena quietly. "You know it's true. It all adds up."
Bonnie chose that moment to enter the bedroom, eyeing the book in Caroline's hands, and having overheard Elena. "Well, they don't sparkle, that's for sure," she said sarcastically. "But they can day walk like Blade."
"This isn't funny, Elena," shrilled Caroline, panic rising in her. Her blackouts, the bite marks, the uncontrollable feeling of doing something that she didn't want to and then feeling dirty afterwards – Caroline's hands tightened on the black paperback with a single chess piece on the cover.
"Caroline," began Elena, stepping to her friend and taking the book from her. "I found out about this before college. When I learned I was adopted. Remember when I told you about that?"
Caroline nodded, blinking blankly at Elena. "But – that was nearly four years ago. And you didn't tell me? I'm from a Founding Family, too, Elena!"
Bonnie quickly interjected. "We thought your mom might say something. And then you were gone, to Duke and we barely saw you after that."
"So what, it's my fault?" snapped Caroline, feeling her old insecurities welling up. "I'm not good enough to be in the know? Silly Caroline, not good for anything but a distraction? Brainless blonde? A silly little Barbie?"
"No! No, Care," Elena hastily said, gripping Caroline's shoulders tighter. "It just never came up. It didn't need to – you didn't have to know about this life."
"But Bonnie does?"
At the caustic remark, Bonnie snapped, "Well, I am a witch."
Caroline blinked at Bonnie. "Shut the front door."
"Seriously."
"No, Bon, seriously, shut the front door. We are not in some Anne Rice novel," said Caroline, just as evenly in return.
Bonnie rolled her eyes and a candle Caroline left on the dresser, burst into flame. Caroline felt her knees begin to shake and eased herself from Elena's grasp to sit slowly on her bed.
"Holy shit," she muttered. She looked up at Elena, who was wringing her hands nervously, and Bonnie who had her arms crossed and an eyebrow quirked. "It's all true."
"Yes," said Elena.
"Damon's a vampire."
Bonnie nodded.
"Who else knows?" asked Caroline, slowly coming to grips.
"The Founding Families," replied Elena, moving to sit next to her friend. "I do, Bonnie; Jeremy knows as well. Alaric's a vampire hunter, can you believe it? Jenna doesn't know, though. Bonnie's Grams is a witch so she knows. That's all we know for sure."
Bonnie sat on Caroline's other side. "Are you okay?" she smoothed some of Caroline's wet hair behind her ear and off her shoulder.
Caroline shook her head. "It's a bit much to take in. Vampires and witches are real."
"And werewolves," interjected Elena.
Caroline huffed and rolled her eyes. "Anything else I should be aware of? Fairies? Demons? Is there a hotline number so I can contact Sam and Dean Winchester right now to help me with my creepy undead boyfriend?"
Elena and Bonnie laughed. "Sorry, Care, there isn't," Bonnie said a wry smile on her lips.
Caroline sighed loudly, and then steeled herself, squaring her shoulders and pursing her lips. Elena and Bonnie shared a look behind Caroline's back – that was the Caroline they knew and loved, the planner, the girl who went for something and gave it her all, and succeeded.
"Right," Caroline nodded. "So, what do we do now?"
Elena had, then, listed things Caroline needed to be aware of: the first being that Damon had access to her house from her invitation; second, Caroline needed to obtain vervain and begin drinking it daily to avoid compulsion; thirdly, to never be alone with Damon if she could help it; and fourth, to not say anything to anyone or act like she knew what the Salvatores were.
The worst part was that, despite ingesting vervain, Damon had somehow connected with Caroline while she was supervising the annual Sexy Soap Suds Car Wash and brought her to the Salvatore Boarding House to let him out of the basement jail Stefan had thrown him in the night of the Founding party.
Caroline hadn't blacked out afterwards forgetting the event, but she felt shaky and sick, especially knowing that Damon was released due to her, and their great-great-great-however many times-half-nephew Zach was killed trying to stop and save her. Instead, Caroline immediately jetted to Bonnie's and spent the night.
In the two weeks since then, Elena had also spoken with Alaric and explained the situation. As soon as he found out, Elena had to stop him from racing out of his apartment over the bookstore in town and running straight to the Salvatore Boarding House. Things became worse the first time Alaric met Damon at the Grill, a few days later, and Alaric realised that Damon was the same vampire who killed his wife, and Elena's birth mother.
Dissuading him from staking Damon immediately, damn the town, took some fast thinking and quick action.
Blurting out, "Help us protect ourselves!" was probably, in retrospect, a stupid suggestion, but it did get Ric's mind off of permanently killing Damon, as well as giving Alaric a purpose, like helping his (technically stepdaughter) girlfriend's niece.
When Elena had initially broached the idea of Alaric training them ("He's totally like, a Winchester, you should see his gear, it's totally awesome. He's even got a few stashes at school!"), Caroline was, at first, skeptical. So was Bonnie. In fact, both thought it was a terrible idea, given they were twenty-two year old, barely one hundred and twenty pound women ("I'm sorry, do I look like Buffy to you?" Caroline had snarked.).
Then Elena mentioned they were cheerleaders; their workouts were strenuous and despite not being on a cheer team since high school, all three maintained some sort of college athletic commitment: Caroline with her equestrian team, Bonnie with her hiking, and Elena with her marathon races. They were fit, they could get back into the cheer moves and lifts, and mix those with Alaric's training.
Bonnie and Caroline, with much persuasion, eventually agreed.
This led to Elena, two weeks later, ignoring Stefan's latest phone call (Were they even still dating? Elena wondered. Jenna seemed to think so.) and wondering how she was going to convince Caroline not to go home after work, but to meet at Bonnie's. Alaric was going to meet them, then explain his rules, and how he was going to train them, starting the first week of November.
They wouldn't have much time; Alaric was chaperoning the Mystic Falls High School Halloween party and dance that evening, and Elena had thoughtfully volunteered Bonnie and Caroline as well, in order to keep everyone together.
Bonnie had herbal tea, with vervain mixed in, ready for Elena when she and Alaric arrived. Caroline had previously arrived, and was covering up the healed bite marks Damon left on her with a pretty, black jacket with floral design. Since her moment of vampire enlightenment, Caroline was careful to bare her body and spent the weeks since covered up; she was attempting to come to terms with Damon's abuse.
"Where did you find the vervain?" asked Alaric, taking a sniff and then a gulp of his tea as they sat in Bonnie's kitchen. "There's not a single plant to be found in a hundred miles of Mystic Falls."
Bonnie shot him an incredulous look. "Ric, it's a plant. I called up the nearest Home Depot and asked where I could find one, because it was my grandmother's favourite plant and I wanted to get her some for her garden for her birthday. The sales rep was incredibly helpful; 'so sorry we don't have any,' they said, 'but I checked our system and Greensboro's fully stocked.' So I drove into North Carolina and bought four dozen. They're in my basement. I just hope Caroline's mom doesn't come by anytime soon or else she'll think I'm growing a marijuana crop."
Caroline hid a smile behind her mug. "I don't think that will be a problem, Bon. She's constantly at work and never at home, so these 'animal attacks," Caroline made quote marks, "are probably taking up all her time."
"Right," began Alaric, glancing at Elena before deliberately looking at Bonnie and then Caroline, where his gaze lingered. "Elena's told me what happened at the Founder's party. And that you want to train yourselves to kill vampires?"
Elena nodded, Caroline shifted in her seat, and Bonnie shrugged.
"More like just fight them off so we've got a chance to live," amended Elena slowly.
Alaric shook his head. "It doesn't work like that Elena. They go in for a feed and kill. The likelihood of meeting a vampire who will compel you to forget and heal you is miniscule. They're bloodsuckers and monsters with no thought to human life. If you're going to learn to fight one off, you have to be prepared to kill them."
The girls shared hesitant looks.
"Seriously?" groaned Alaric. "Buffy did it and made it look cool."
"We're not in a Joss Whedon show, Ric," argued Caroline. "Buffy makes saving the world look cool. We're not like that."
"It's not as difficult as you think," laughed Ric. "C'mon."
He stood and gestured for the three friends to do so. He made his way to Bonnie's front hall, which was the most spacious area of the house.
"It's self-defense, really," began Ric, lining the girls up side-by-side. "And vampires are still human with human quirks and traits that they'll never get rid of. The likelihood is that you'll be attacked by a man – because you're young and pretty and that's a delectable treat for a vampire.
"He'll want to see your face, and smell your terror, so he'll come at you from the front." Alaric quickly rushed at Elena, who squeaked and threw her hands up to ward him off. He stopped just short of her, barely an inch between them.
"He'll want you quiet," continued Alaric, reaching out and gripping the back of Elena's neck to hold her in place while the other covered her mouth gently. "Once your eyes are on him, he'll compel you."
"But that won't work," stammered Bonnie, staring at Alaric's towering form over Elena's lithe one. If he were a vampire, he'd have already killed Elena. It was a terrifying thought.
"No, but they don't know that," agreed Alaric. "So Elena, you've got one chance to surprise me and do some damage. What would you do?"
He uncovered her mouth but remained in the same position, gripping her neck and tilting his head down to look at her.
"Umm," began Elena, intelligently.
Alaric gave Elena his best "you can do it" teacher look. She flushed in embarrassment.
"He's a guy, right?" Caroline piped up.
"Yeah..." drawled Bonnie.
"And vampires are the same as humans, right?" continued Caroline, a large, toothy grin stretching across her face.
"Yeah," agreed Alaric, turning his head to look at Caroline, who was now as lit up as a billboard sign.
"Great, I know the first thing I'm going to do when I see Damon!" she chirped.
Elena frowned, wondering what it was so that she could use it. "What's that?"
"I'm gonna kick him in the crotch!"
Alaric winced and turned quickly back at Elena. "Don't do that to me. Seriously. Please. We'll pretend."
Elena laughed and overly motion raising her knee. Alaric made a fake grimace of pain and bent at the waist, sucking in a deep breath of air.
"So what would I do now?" asked Elena.
Bonnie tapped a finger against her chin as she thought, the other arm across her chest. "I guess if you had a stake, you'd be able to hit him with it."
"If he hadn't knocked it away to begin with," argued Caroline, also thinking and mentally cataloguing and listing what she knew about vampires, men, and kick ass women on TV (which wasn't much). She was in planner mode.
"Well, if it's hidden, I can bring it out and use it," said Elena. "Don't you have a hidden wrist holster one, Ric?"
Alaric nodded. "I've got a spare so you can have it, Elena. It's a spring-action trigger release. Similar to a crossbow in the lever, but to activate it, you need to pretty much pretend you're Spiderman shooting out some Spidey-webs. The trigger release as at the bottom of your palm, and with your wrist angled down or up by ninety degrees, the stake will fly right out to wherever you're aiming.
"That's one idea. What's another if you don't have a stake?"
"Always have a vervain dart on hand," suggested Elena.
Alaric nodded. "They're small and compactable."
Caroline frowned, tossing her blonde hair over her shoulder. "You can't out-run them. Or out-fight them. They're too strong and too fast."
"I can knock them down."
Elena, Caroline, and Alaric turned to Bonnie in surprise. Alaric stepped back from Elena, a pensive look on his face as he asked, "How?"
Bonnie flushed at first, ducking her head, but then a wicked grin crept onto her face. "Gram's spell book – it's got a spell in there that pops brain vessels in vampires and werewolves. Depending on how strong I concentrate, depends on how long they are knocked to the floor. Then someone else can stake or vervain them."
"If someone doesn't want to get messy, it's the best plan you three have," admitted Alaric with a small smile. "So, you'd best stick together. We'll practice Saturdays at my apartment staring this weekend. I've got a punching bag and home gym set up, and I'll show you how to attack with stakes as well. The practice and moves are pretty much the same as knife fighting, and they're good skills to have."
He glanced down at his wrist and sighed. "Well, off to chaperone. Need a lift, girls?"
The three enthusiastically responded, climbing into Alaric's SUV and reminiscing over their sophomore Halloween costumes and joking about their fashion choices(Bonnie was ironically a witch before she knew what she was).
Once they pulled up to the school parking, which had several other cars in it from other chaperones; Alaric led them to his classroom, offering them to put their purses in his locked desk drawer. They agreed, quickly handing them over.
Alaric unlocked the drawer, and pulled out a small duffle bag. He placed the purses inside, shut it, and locked the drawer.
"What's in the bag?" asked Elena, peering at it.
Alaric grinned and unzipped it. The three young women leaned forward over the desk to look inside: several expertly carved wooden stakes, a crossbow, and some glass bottles of goldish liquid made up its contents.
"In case we run into any problems tonight," answered Alaric, reaching it and pulling out a homemade crossbow wrist holster. He held it out to Elena, who pulled her right arm out of her jacket sleeve, and watched as he strapped it on. Once she flexed her wrist a bit to get a feel for the weapon, she pulled her arm back into her sleeve.
"Are you two going to be okay with the rest of this?" he asked.
Caroline was greedily looking at the vervain bottles. "Oh, I think I can manage."
Slightly alarmed at the vindictive look in Caroline's eyes, Alaric slowly nodded. "Keep this with you. I'm in the gym, but they have the three of you patrolling outside. Remember, underage drinking is bad, even if you did it yourself. You're adults and can now be hypocritical. I'll see you here at nine thirty."
"Okay Ric," agreed Elena. "Thanks again."
"Yes, thank you, Ric," echoed Bonnie and Caroline.
Alaric waved his goodbyes and the three girls remained in his classroom, debating where to begin their patrol.
"Hallways," said Caroline. "There's always someone trying to smoke up in the boy's toilets outside the science lab."'
The three began walking down the hallway, side-by-side. Bonnie's eyes were darting back and forth every time they crossed a 4-way intersection of hallways; Elena was gripping the duffle bag tightly in her hands and Caroline was growing bored. Instead of jumping at every sound they heard, the girls slowly began to relax as the minutes ticked by.
Soon, an hour had passed and they had explored the majority of the school interior, with only two hallways left: the science corridor and the hall leading to the cafeteria.
By this time, Elena had relinquished her death grip on the bag and Caroline was moodily shuffling her feet behind Bonnie, often becoming distracted by photographs in display cases of their school years when they attended, and calling out "remember when's."
Finally, they took a break near a water fountain and their old lockers.
"What was that?" asked Bonnie, turning her head to the side and looking down a darkened hallway that was off-limits to the students. It led to the gymnasium.
"What was what?" replied Caroline, leaning against a nearby locker and examining her chipped nail polish on her right hand. "God, this is so boring. They totally left out the long wait between hunting vampires down in Buffy and Supernatural. It's always action-action-action with those types of shows and yet we're just puttering along—"
A blur flashed out of the darkened corridor, slamming into Caroline.
Elena and Bonnie screamed in fright.
Vicki Donovan, her clothes dirty and torn, her lower chin covered in blood and her eyes red, had Caroline in a tight grip. Black veins began to expand from her eyes, which darkened into black, and fangs elongated out of her canines. Without warning and within seconds of running out of the hallway, she had her face buried in Caroline's neck.
Caroline screamed. She was so glad she forgot what Damon's vampire face looked like, but seeing Vicki's was traumatising enough for her.
"OHMIGOD!" cried Elena, racing forward and slamming into Vicki in a football move she'd seen Matt perform on the field numerous times.
Vicki barely moved, but it was enough to catch her attention and remove her mouth from Caroline. Dripping blood from her open, scowling mouth, Vicki smirked and shoved Elena away from her, sending the brunette flying and slamming into the lockers across the hall.
Laughter from behind the girls caught Vicki's attention, the voices soft and muted, coming from the gym and party and making their way towards the group.
"Catch me if you can," she remarked darkly with a smirk, and then flashed away.
Caroline clutched her neck tightly with her left hand. She pulled it away to stare down at it in disbelief. Then, leaning against the locker, she pointed in the direction that Vicki took off in down the hall, furiously shouting, "The druggie bitch just bit me! She bit me! Where's the stake? Elena, where's the fucking stake? Give it to me – I'm gonna kill her! This was a two hundred dollar Top Shop jacket import! I'll rip her to shreds with my bare hands!"
Of course, only Caroline would be upset about a ruined jacket and threaten a newly turned vampire because of it, thought Elena darkly, instead of worrying about the fact that she was dripping blood on the hallway floor.
Caroline didn't wait, pulling her bloody hand back from her neck and reaching for the duffle bag Elena clutched in her hands. She immediately began rummaging through it, reaching in and grabbing a sharp, wooden stake.
"Care, she's faster than us," argued Elena. "We can't just run after her without a plan."
"Who the fuck cares? She ruined my Kate Moss jacket!" argued Caroline back, hissily and stomping her foot. "Elena, I realise you haven't been bitten, but take it from someone who has been: blood stains are a bitch to remove once it's soaked into the fabric. And there's no way blood's going to come out of this. I want revenge. Two hundred dollars worth."
Bonnie sighed. "Chill, Shylock. I think I've got the aneurism spell down, so if we can corner her, we can vervain her."
"Vervain? No way. She's dead."
Elena scoffed. "You wanna tell Matt that you killed his little sister, go right ahead, Caroline."
Thinking of the friendly quarterback, Caroline quickly changed her mind. "Fine. I won't kill her. But I'm totally staking her somewhere else. And if I use up all the stakes in the bag, I'm getting a pencil. I'm sure there's loads around here – it's a school, isn't it?"
"Fine," agreed Elena, and they took off in the direction Vicki went. Running and typing a text to Alaric, of course, wasn't easy – but Elena was sure she would master it soon, if they were going to chase after a teenager with super strength and super speed.
The school, however, was empty; there was no noise coming from any of the classrooms, or the supply closets. There was a dull murmur from the crowd of students in the gym and spilling outdoors to the makeshift haunted plywood rooms the school committee made, but Vicki was not inside.
"Now what?" asked Bonnie, breathing heavily from their mad dash all over the school. The three stood at the emergency exit which led to the "stoner's lot" just behind the gym and beside the school bus parking lot.
"If I were a newly turned vampire," began Caroline with a roll of her eyes, "And I was overcome with bloodlust, where would I go?"
The three met each other's eyes, answering together, "Outside."
They scrambled over each other to push through the emergency door, bursting out onto the cement platform and hitting the steel railing, one on top of the other. Muffled curses escaped the girls' lips, some more colourful than others (Caroline's).
"Vicki! What the hell!"
Elena's head popped up at the shout, pushing away from the rail with one hand and the other on Caroline's back.
"Jeremy!" gasped Elena, tripping down the stairs in haste.
Caroline and Bonnie were steps behind her, dashing towards Jeremy's voice and the three, parked yellow school buses. Elena skidded to a halt between two of them, staring at Vicki, with her vampire face leering at Jeremy, who was pushed against a bus. Her hand was around his throat, not squeezing tightly, but enough to warn him not to upset her. She was leaning close to his neck, in a parody of a lover's caress.
Caroline stepped up next to Elena, clutching the stake in her right hand, while Bonnie stood just to the side.
"Vicki, let him go," demanded Elena, her brows tightly furrowed and her voice firm.
"Make me!" snapped Matt's sister petulantly. For an eighteen year old, Vicki acted ridiculously spoiled. She turned to face Elena, hissing in warning and snarled, "You strung my brother along! You broke his heart! I should take yours!"
With that, Vicki let Jeremy go, who fell to the asphalt, coughing and massaging his neck. The baby vampire darted in front of Elena, hands outstretched, and the black veins protruding from around her eyes further as she smelled Caroline's still oozing blood.
Before Vicki could wrap her nails around Elena's throat, or bite her, Bonnie stretched out her hand, a deep look of concentration on her face. Vicki fell to the ground, screaming and clutching her head, crying, "Make it stop, it hurts! Make it stop!"
Bonnie took evenly measured steps forward, keeping her hand extended. However, soon blood was dripping from her nose and her concentration was flagging.
Caroline and Elena, both with stakes and their wrist-holster, hesitated at the mournful cries Vicki emitted, sounding very human.
Their hesitation was a mistake.
Bonnie felt her strength disappear, and brought a hand to her nose to block the bleeding. She felt dizzy and feverish; she couldn't keep up the spell. Immediately, Vicki stood up and flashed towards Elena, intent on killing her.
A mere hand's width from her, Vicki stopped, her face twisting up in pain. Her skin turned from rosy to grey, the black veins around her eyes disappearing and her eyes turned back to brown. Her skin began to flake.
Elena looked down at Vicki's chest and her mouth dropped open in horror at the sight of a piece of wood sticking out of Vicki's chest, directly through her heart. The Donovan girl jerked backwards and collapsed soundlessly to the floor.
Elena raised her eyes from her ex-boyfriends' sister's corpse to meet Stefan's. He stood a few feet behind Vicki's body, his chest heaving up and down in exertion. His eyes were dark and black veins extended from them on his face as well.
Unable to think of anything to say, Elena stared at the other vampire, wondering why he saved them. In those moments, Damon appeared, stopping next to his brother and looking at Vicki's body with distaste.
"You had to stake her, didn't you?" he asked sardonically.
Stefan's face began to revert to normal, and he replied smartly, "You turned her. I'm just cleaning up your mess."
Damon scoffed, and turned his eyes to Elena, who stood shell-shocked next to Caroline, who was still looking at Vicki, almost in regret – although Elena was sure it was regret for not getting a chance to stake the young woman.
"Well, well, well," began Damon with a lilt to his voice. "What do we have here? The witch," his eyes fell on Bonnie, "The Barbie," they turned to Caroline, who sneered, "And the lovely Miss Gilbert. What were you doing out here?"
"I'd like to know the same!" snapped another voice, and everyone turned to see Jeremy rising to his feet. "I didn't mind Vicki trying to feed off me, I was just worried she wouldn't stop."
"She was a vampire, Jer!" argued back Elena, completely forgetting about their audience, who began to swivel their heads back and forth between the arguing siblings.
"Yeah, thanks for the Elena, I totally didn't get the memo!"
"She would have killed you!"
"You think I didn't know that? I've known about vampires over a year now, and while you sat and twiddled your thumbs pretending they didn't exist for four years, I actually did something about it!" argued Jeremy. "I researched Mystic Fall's history! I researched ways to kill and subdue vampires! What have you been doing? Who the hell do you think you are, jumping in like you're freakin' Buffy?"
"Ooh, this is getting good," chuckled Damon, a grin stretched across his face.
"Shut up!" Elena and Jeremy snapped together at the man, not taking their eyes off one another.
Damon pretended to shiver. "Make me."
Caroline didn't wait for an invitation. She dashed forward with a well-aimed knee, hit Damon in the crotch, and brought him to his knees. "That's for biting me while we were dating and treating me as a blood bag!" She brought her booted foot up while he was on his knees and slammed it into his nose, shoving him back. "And that's for compelling me to sleep with you, creep!"
Stefan burst into laughter.
Damon, rolling onto his side on the ground, groaned. "Shud up, Sdefan," he slurred with a heavily nasal tone, unable to speak properly through his bloody nose.
"Oh, grow up," called Caroline, striding to Bonnie's side with a flick of her hair over her bloody shoulder. "You're a vampire; it'll heal in like, two seconds."
Damon slowly rose to his feet, pinching his nose between two fingers and crunching it back into place. He glowered at Caroline. "You'll get those two freebies, Barbie, but don't think I won't kill you if you try it again."
Caroline huffed, tossing her head regally, and quirked a single eyebrow in response. "I bet if I could remember, you weren't even a good lay."
Damon hissed in warning, his eyes darkening. "I've got purpose, Barbie, which is more than what you've got. You're just shallow and useless to everyone – couldn't even stake a vampire tonight."
"Hey!" shouted Elena, turning from her brother. "Leave her alone! You stay away from her and my friends."
Damon sneered at Elena. "Why would I do that, when Barbie has something I want?"
"What?" asked Caroline, surprised. "I don't have anything."
"Where's the crystal? The one I took from the Lockwood house the night of the Founder's party. You have it. Give it to me!"
Caroline shook her head. "I don't know what you're talking about. I don't have a crystal."
"Why do you need it anyway?" asked Elena, stepping closer to Caroline. "It's not like it's yours to begin with."
Stefan, watching from the sidelines quietly, narrowed his eyes at Damon. "Yes, Damon. Please tell us why you need this crystal."
Damon rolled his eyes. "To open the tomb. Release the vampires. Incite and create chaos. Doom Mystic Falls to be overrun with desiccated, hungry vampires. Save Katherine. Be with Katherine. Make your life miserable. Typical Wednesday stuff."
"Tomb?" gapped Bonnie.
"Hungry vampires?" shrieked Caroline.
"Doom Mystic Falls?" cried Elena.
"In a nutshell," replied Damon smugly. "And all I need is the crystal. So, Barbie. Last time: hand it over."
Caroline rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, shifting the majority of her weight to rest on one leg. "And I told you, I don't have it."
"Then who does?" he asked, narrowing his eyes.
"Me," replied Bonnie, her eyes gaze dark as she reached around her neck and withdrew the crystal, attached to a silver necklace. She held the crystal by two fingers in front of her, extending the chain from her neck forward. "This was my ancestors, did you know that?"
Damon eyed Bonnie and the crystal warily. "I knew the witch who made it. Emily Bennett, yes. I promised to protect her bloodline in return for her help releasing Katherine from the tomb." His eyes narrowed. "And since she didn't help me, I guess I've got you, Sabrina."
"In return for what?" bargained Bonnie.
"Bonnie, no!" cried Elena. Bonnie cut her a sharp glance, and then returned her eyes to Damon.
"Damon..." warned Stefan, moving a step forward.
"Oh, relax, brother," chuckled Damon. "In return for the witch's help, I'll leave her and everyone else alone, and I'll even leave once the tomb is open and I'm with Katherine. That's what you want, right?"
"No more draining people, no attacking my friends, and you'll leave with Katherine as soon as the tomb is open and never come back?" confirmed Bonnie, suspiciously.
"Scouts honour," replied Damon, placing a mocking hand over his heart. He ignored Stefan's mutter of "you've never been a boy scout in your life."
"Deal," agreed Bonnie. "When does this happen, then?"
"Next full moon? It was originally during a comet, but I think you're witchy enough, Bonnie Bennett," suggested Damon with a smug grin on his face. "You'll probably need to power up – I know a perfect place where you can channel the power of a hundred witches – and then on the next full moon we'll open the tomb."
"Fine," agreed Bonnie with narrowed eyes. "The deal starts now. No drinking, no draining, no attacking friends and family. Got it?"
"Unless they attack me first," replied Damon easily. His eyes lingered on the three young women for a moment before he flashed away into the night.
"You shouldn't have done that," said Stefan lowly. "There's a reason those vampires are entombed."
Bonnie shrugged. "I didn't say anything about letting them out, did I?"
"Don't play, Bonnie," cautioned Stefan, stepping forward. "Damon's manipulative and he knows how to get what he wants, when he wants it. You won't stand a chance against him."
Bonnie shrugged, again. "I'll deal with it when I deal with it." She turned to Caroline, and asked, "Want to head back in?"
Caroline nodded, turning and walking to Bonnie. Elena remained where she was.
"You guys go, I need to speak with Stefan," she said, offering a smile when the two hesitated. "It'll be okay. Promise."
"Great, then can someone tell me what the hell is going on?!" Jeremy shouted.
Elena rolled her eyes. "Go home, Jer. I'll see you in twenty minutes. Or, go inside to Ric's classroom and wait with Bonnie and Care. We'll go home together."
"Fine," grumbled Jeremy, following the two other girls who were nearly at the emergency door. "But you so owe me, Elena."
Stefan and Elena looked at each other in silence, standing awkwardly with Vicki's body between them.
"I'll... um, I'll take care of Vicki," Stefan began hesitantly.
Elena nodded stiffly. "Thanks. We'd all appreciate that."
They fell into silence again. Then—"So I guess this is why you haven't been returning my calls."
Elena gave a small laugh, one that burst from her mouth without any thought. "Um, yeah. Kind of."
"How long have you known?"
"About vampires or about you and Damon?"
Stefan clarified, "Both."
"I'm from a Founding Family, so I've known about vampires since I was eighteen. Just over four years now; but as for you and Damon?" Elena gave a tiny, tight smile. "The night of the Founding party, when I saw the Heritage Document and read your name, and Damon's on it. And Damon had already mentioned Katherine to me."
"Ah," said Stefan, shuffling awkwardly. Then, he ventured, a hesitant tone to his voice, "Are you then – do you – I mean to say..."
"What?" asked Elena, curiously.
"Do you hate vampires then?" he finally asked. "Do you hate me?"
Elena considered it. Did she really?
"I don't hate you," she began slowly. "I really hate Damon, though. I mean, he used my best friend. That's not cool." She peered at Stefan. "Do you eat humans?"
"No. Not anymore."
"Anymore?"
Stefan flushed slightly in the face. "I ah... I have control issues when I feed off human blood. It's... intoxicating to me. So I don't. Drink from humans, that is. All bunny diet for me."
Elena tried not to stare. "So... you're a vegetarian vampire?"
Stefan looked pleased at the description. "Yeah. I guess I am."
"Huh," answered Elena smartly, a little bewildered. "Do you plan on hurting me or my friends?"
"No," answered Stefan back, firmly.
"Then why are you here?" Elena wondered.
Stefan looked uncomfortable, shifting his weight uneasily, shoving his hands into his jean pockets. "Um... I guess I just wanted to get to know you better. That's it, really."
"Me?" Elena was shocked. "Why me?"
"The night your parents died," began Stefan slowly, and carefully choosing his words, "You were in the car with them."
"Yeah. How'd you know?"
"I was there," replied Stefan, catching Elena's eyes. "When the car went off the bridge, I was there that night. I jumped in the water after it. Your father, he was trying to get to you."
"I remember," breathed Elena, her eyes distant as she remembered waking up, submerged in water and choking on what she had accidently inhaled. Her father, stretching his hand to her over the back of his seat –
"And I wanted to get him out first," continued Stefan, "But he wouldn't let me. He kept pointing at you. He wanted you saved. So I got you out, pulled you to the shore. I went back for him, but..."
"It was too late by then," finished Elena softly. Stefan had saved her life. He had tried to save her father's as well. "But why did you keep quiet then? Or not tell me after the funeral?"
"I didn't want to intrude," responded Stefan, just as quietly. "You were grieving. I didn't want to bring up bad memories."
"And now? You're sticking around just to see how I am handling myself?" questioned Elena, a frown on her face and in her voice. She wrapped her arms around her jacket and shivered.
"No!" Stefan took a quick step forward. "No, not at all, Elena. At first, I kept quiet because – well, I'm a vampire. You shouldn't have to put up with that. But then I wanted to make sure you were okay... and I got to know you. And I like you."
Elena sighed.
"Does this change things?" asked Stefan lowly, his eyes searching her face.
"Yes. No. I mean," Elena sighed again. "I'm not sure."
Stefan nodded slowly, his face visibly falling at her words. "I really do like you, Elena." There was a strange emphasis on 'you.'
Elena, hearing the truth in his voice, gave a smile. "I know. Look, give me some time to sort this out, okay? Vicki tried to eat my brother and kill Caroline and myself tonight. I need to wrap my head around that. And I need to help Caroline with your brother's abuse on her."
"Abuse?" Stefan queried, alarmed. "What did he do?"
Elena's face hardened. "Go ask him that."
Stefan nodded. "I will. Believe me, I will."
Elena took his answer as truth and began to take a few steps backwards, intent on meeting her friends, brother, and Alaric in his classroom and head home for the night. She was exhausted. "Goodnight, Stefan. Thanks for, um..." she nodded at Vicki's body.
"Anytime, Elena," replied Stefan, a glint in his eyes. "Good night."
Elena turned and walked away, her steps even and measured. She could hear Stefan behind her, arranging Vicki's body and grunting as he hefted it in a fireman's lift, ready to speed away and handle the burying or disposing of her body.
"Stefan!" Elena called, turning around, making a quick decision.
Stefan looked up at her voice, an open look on his face.
"Did you want to help me chaperone the fifties dance next month?" the words flew out of her month.
Stefan's face opened with unbridled happiness, and he grinned. "Yeah. I'd like that."
"Great," replied Elena, a more genuine smile on her face. "We'll talk later. Take care."
He then flashed away, and Elena turned once more to enter the school. It was like she first thought – there were bad and good people in the world, just like there were good and bad vampires. The only way to figure out who was which, was to spend time with them. And if it made her happy too, then who was she to complain?
Damon waited until he saw Elena moving around the living room, planning to go upstairs to bed, before making his presence known. He raised his hand and rapped on the front door gently; he didn't want to be too loud that he alerted Jeremy or Jenna of his being there – he knew Jenna didn't like him.
"Damon," Elena said, opening the front door in surprise. "What are you doing here?"
Damon shifted on his feet. "Uh... is Jeremy okay?"
Elena's eyebrows shot up.
"I mean, his girlfriend did get staked in front of him," elaborated Damon, with a tiny shrug. He wasn't altogether sure why he was on her porch, either.
Elena slowly nodded. "He's fine. He's known about vampires for some time now. He knows it had to be done."
Damon stepped forward towards Elena, an intense look on his face.
"Damon...?" she asked warily, leaning back as he got closer. She knew he hadn't been invited in.
Damon's hand reached up and cupped the back of her neck, his blue eyes focused on her face, darting from her brown eyes to her lips, which were parted, and back up.
"I have a reason for everything I do," he murmured, leaning down until he was barely a hair's width from her lips. "But... but I don't have a reason for this."
Then he leaned in and gently brushed his lips against hers. At first, she didn't respond; then, she began kissing him back, hard. Taking the encouragement, Damon deepened the kiss, slanting his mouth against hers and drawing the very breath from her body.
Soon, he pulled back and Elena opened her eyes.
Damon was visibly composing himself. He looked shaken, as if he couldn't believe on one hand what he had just done, and on the other, thoroughly smug. His eyes darted down to Elena's reddened and plump lips, a self-satisfied smile on his face.
"See you around, Elena," he said, turned on his booted heel, and walked down her porch, looking left and right before using his vampire speed to dash away.
"Elena?" asked a voice from behind the girl, in the house.
Elena turned to see Jenna standing with a mug of tea in her hand, wearing pajamas and a confused expression on her face.
"Yeah, Jenna?" asked Elena, the front door still open.
Jenna's brows furrowed. "I thought you were staying with Bonnie and Caroline tonight at Bonnie's house."
"I am," replied Elena with a smile. "I just came back to pick something up that I forgot. I was just on my way out."
"Oh. Okay then," said Jenna with a returning smile. "Have fun! Don't stay up too late, okay? I'll see you tomorrow when you get back."
"Okay. Night, Jenna!" said Elena, stepping out the door and closing it behind her.
It wasn't until Jenna was upstairs, slipping into her bed next to a snoring Alaric that she thought, But Ric drove Elena to Bonnie's after the dance and returned here with Jeremy. How did Elena get here?
She shook the thought off and made a mental note to ask her niece in the morning. Everything would make sense then.
In a large, bright office overlooking a dreary London cityscape, a young man stood facing the windows with his hands clasped behind his back. At first glance, he was unremarkable if not very good looking – but his quiet demeanour hid a much deeper, darker secret.
For the last few months, he had been unable to concentrate on much other than a bright, toothy smile, infectious laughter, mesmerizing green eyes, and shimmering wheat-coloured hair. Flashes of the night he and the young woman spent together kept him awake; at times he ached to have the woman in his arms again.
It was maddening.
He was going insane.
(Or falling in love, either one was an option; although he certainly didn't listen to that voice in his often. It sounded like his elder brother, and that meant it was uptight and moral and disgustingly good at making him feel guilty, which he detested.)
"There's been a sighting," a woman said, walking into the bright room and stopping several metres behind the young man. She was tall, with a dark complexion and vibrantly coiled black hair. Her tone was rather blasé, aiming to ensure her voice didn't waver. The topic she broached was hardly a safe one around the volatile man.
"Where?" he asked, a rising inflection at the end of the word. It made his voice seem merely curious, rather than homicidal.
"After we lost her in Florida, we thought she might go to New York, or somewhere around the East coast," the woman continued nervously. "She was spotted just outside Richmond, Virginia, heading west."
"That leaves a lot of options for you to search, sweetheart," the man chided, still not turning. "Did you not narrow it down?"
The woman swallowed loudly. "No..."
She didn't see the man move. One second he stood serenely by the window, gazing out at One Canada Place and the Thames, the next, he had flashed in front of her, his hand was wrapped around her throat and her feet were off the floor. The woman choked, gasping for air and frantically brought her hands up to the man's hand to claw at his iron grip.
"That's not the answer I was waiting to hear, Greta," the man idly said, his eye crinkling at the corner as he smirked.
"She—She's b-been—to a... a... town there... b-before," gasped Greta.
"And what town is this?" asked the man.
Greta's face was flushed and her eyes were bulging as her air supply diminished quickly and pain blossomed around her neck as the man's grip crushed her throat.
"M-Mystic F-falls."
Immediately the hand retracted and Greta fell to the floor, sucking in deep, greedy breaths. The man had stepped back from her, only two or three large steps, and he was staring at the witch, unseeingly.
His hands clenched at his side, and images of his American one-night but not one-go stand flashed through his mind: pink, watermelon-flavoured lips, smooth thighs, eyelashes fluttering against his cheek. Caroline Forbes; Mystic Falls, Virginia.
The man swallowed heavily and turned from Greta's prone form, striding back to the windows. A fierce, quick stab of pain in his chest made him inhale sharply; what if his target, the woman who eluded him for five hundred years harmed Caroline? Snuffed out her light? Damaged her?
A shuttered, guarded look appeared in his eyes – had anyone been facing him to see the action – and he tightly shoved his thoughts and feelings for the only woman to make him feel like more than he usually considered himself, under lock and key.
Nothing would touch Caroline. He wouldn't allow it.
"Cody?"
A young looking man, pale and with dark hair, stepped from the wall, barely glancing at the woman gasping heavily for air.
"Yes, Klaus?"
"Ready the plane, and send a message to Jonas to meet us. We're leaving for Mystic Falls immediately."
TBC...
Author's Note: I'm cranking these out! Please review. Reviews make me happy, and I had a bad Saturday. :) Also, follow me on Tumblr - I'm having too much fun reblogging things!
