Author's Note: Yes, it's been awhile. After taking a 2 year (?) break from writing TVD fanfic, I'm back. At least to finish this story. After having another existential writing crisis, I had to start from the beginning and I knew I had to finish this fic. It also helped that I came across this awesome piece of artwork someone did for The Nobodies, and it's really freaking cool and I felt the need to finish this fic. Anyway, thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed, favorited, followed, and now made a piece of artwork for The Nobodies, I thank you a lot! You're amazing! Also thank you to whoever is still reading this, which is likely not a lot of people. I haven't watched the show in 3 years, (so I guess I stopped writing TVD ff for 3 years) so you have to bear with me. I just really want to finish this fic, since I still have a lot of people read it and tell me to finish it. So I hope you enjoy it!
Also to Not A Good Title: I'm aware that In the Mouth of the Wolf is a book, it's about a jewish girl pretending to be a Christian girl during the Holocaust, I read it in 8th grade. Thank you for letting me though. I named this story In the Mouth of the Wolf, because it means someone who hides in plain sight. That's self explanatory I think.
Thank you to: Chloebugs, Guest, Joypeacelove, Tamia King, Angel of the Crescent Moon, nicolS29, Guest, not a good title, Guest, Andy (x5!), Guest, Guest, hawaii808, KolMyLove, Guest, Guest, ashliz, MissMysterious13, Guest, Klarolineforever, LonelyAnne, strawberrylover1, Guest, zvc56, Guest, Jeremy Shane, LovetheKlarolone, JuseaPeterson, Serenithy31, Grace5231973, EmLouD, WeAreRoyal, OneOf28, Marina82696, Ellavm18, ferrylis, Aa, Draco-Harry-Lover-1, Cevangelyn, MJTE, ashlytorres24, Baby Ballerina, Mystery Girl3, & jessinicole!
Enjoy!
Chapter 13 Into the Woods
Caroline warily eyed Mr. Lockwood's moonlit face. The look on Mr. Lockwood's face was predatory and Caroline had a twisted feeling that he wasn't there to stop and chat.
"Caroline, I thought that was you." Mr. Lockwood sang his voice ringing out into the silence.
She gulped and tried to ignore her racing heart.
"Mr. Lockwood." She said keeping her eyes on him as she tried to buy herself some time to come up with a plan.
She wasn't sure whether she should attempt to run away further into the woods to escape or if she should wait until Klaus came back.
She was still feeling exhausted from the day's events. She'd almost died twice, once by her brother and the second time by her father. She wasn't going to die a third time, she just had to figure out how to get away from Mr. Lockwood. However weak and defenseless she felt she knew she was smarter than him, she just had to figure out a way to stall him until either Klaus came back or she was able to outrun him.
""What are you doing out here all by your lonesome? Do you need some help? I'd love to be of some assistance to you." Mr. Lockwood taunted slightly.
She heard leaves rustling and she watched in the moonlight as he came closer to her. She glanced down around her to see if there was anything she could use as a weapon, but only saw sticks and dried leaves, neither or which would do her any good.
"What do you want?" She asked glaring at him.
She took a step back as he came to a halt in front of her. She stared at him not knowing how to proceed. There was something off about him, more so than usual. He looked like he was…possessed or something. His eyes seemed to glow even in the pitch darkness of the night, his face rapacious, his body was rigid as if he were ready to pounce.
"I saw you, you know." Tyler announced counting to step toward her until he was a mere few inches away.
"Saw me? I'm not sure what you mean."
"I was there. I saw what happened. I saw all the blood, the townspeople ripped up. Do you know what's going to happen now? Do you know what I've done? Do you know what I'm about to become?"
"Mr. Lockwood, I'm not sure what you're talking about." She said taking a step back. The hairs on the back of her head standing on end. Her intuition was screaming at her to get away, and yet she wasn't sure what way she was going to go.
"You know, I've liked you for some time, Caroline, I wanted you, like I've wanted no other woman. And yet, you run from me. Do you really find me so…unsuitable? I'm a good man, Caroline, we would've been great together."
Caroline stared at him not knowing what to say, "Would've been great?"
Tyler smirked at her, "Caught that, huh? Past tense…I'd continue running from me if I were you, Miss Salvatore."
And then something peculiar happened, she watched in fascination as Tyler dropped to his knees holding his head in agony, the smirk still present on his face, but his eyes began to change until they were a bright yellow. She blinked wondering if it was a trick of the moonlight, but after the last few days she knew that whatever was happening wasn't natural.
She took that opportunity to turn and begin to run through the woods as quickly as the shoes on her feet would allow. She could feel her dress getting caught on the branches and by fallen logs, so she yanked the material whenever she felt herself slowing down. To her relief she saw the outskirts of the forest before her and she picked up her pace. Before she could reach the lining of the trees something grabbed her from behind and she fell forward toward the earth.
She glanced behind her and saw a large brown wolf with her skirts between it's teeth. The wolf's eyes flashed and she wondered briefly if Mr. Lockwood knew what he was doing.
She kicked at the animal with her feet to get her skirt's from his mouth and when she heard the beast cry out she knew she'd made contact. Getting up as fast as she could she continued her way toward the edge of the woods.
Once she was out of the woodland she glanced behind her to see where the wolf went. Due to the blackness surrounding her she was unable to see whether the wolf was still near. She couldn't hear anything, and the blackness swallowed her up. Her heart thudded in her chest and tiny beads of sweat emerged on her temples.
She breathed a sigh of relief after a few minutes of silence. A low growl sounded from her right side and slowly, she turned to face the wolf not knowing what to do.
"Tyler." She breathed not daring to move a muscle.
The wolf lifted it's face up and howled while Caroline watched in fright.
"I know you're in there, Mr. Lockwood, please just…let me go." She whispered taking a small step backward.
The wolf advanced toward her and Caroline wondered yet again how she was going to escape.
When the wolf leaped toward her she launched herself to the side and began to run as quickly as she could, but she wasn't fast enough. She felt a tug on her skirts and she looked down to see the wolf staring up at her with it's big luminous eyes.
She cried out hoping someone would hear the struggle, she prayed that someone would come save her. At least when the wolf was Mr. Lockwood she could outsmart him, but as a wolf…she wasn't sure if she'd live to see daybreak.
Caroline stared down at the wolf as it ripped at her skirts and then with a tremendous tug she was free from the beast.
Taking off back toward the edge of the trees she heard the wolf running behind her. She opened her mouth to scream – momentarily forgetting about the angry mob that her father was in charge of – and let out a loud shriek hoping to alert Klaus or either or her brothers. Hell, she'd even take Rebekah, as long as this wolf wasn't near her.
She heard the wolf's paws thudding against the ground and she strained herself to run faster, but she was growing tired and her legs were hurting.
She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw a light in the distance and she hiked her skirts up higher so she could reach it. As she neared the light she felt a heavy weight thrown onto her back and she fell forward, her body colliding with force into the dirt. She threw her arms in front of her to pull herself up, but the wolf – which she could hear growling in her ear – kept its weight on her back pining her down.
"Help me!" she screamed trying to get the attention of the person with the light.
She saw the light move toward her and she began to tear at the grass, huge fistfuls coming up in her hands.
"Help me!" she cried out just as the wolf pierced its razor sharp teeth into her shoulder. Her cry turned to a scream of agony and then she felt the wolf's incisors sink into her throat tearing the tender flesh and letting her blood flow freely into the grass.
Damon heard the howl in the dark of the night and started off for it.
After Klaus and Caroline had escaped from the angry mob led by his father Damon had fought with the other's to escape. They had all run off in different directions, but with all the blood flowing freely Damon was having a bit of a hard time controlling his hunger.
He zoomed away with the rest and found himself near the Fell mansion they had agreed on was there meeting spot.
He rested against a nearby tree as he stared at the mansion trying to regain his composure. If he was going to be around Caroline, he was going to have to learn to control his blood lust. He'd almost killed some of the townspeople back there, and even though the others weren't being lenient in the violence he wasn't sure how he felt about murdering people he'd known since birth.
Even though he drank a lot and was a continuous fuck up – according to his father – he wasn't ready or prepared to take a human life just for sport. He wasn't even sure how he felt about feeding from a human. Especially because Caroline was still mortal.
He took a deep unnecessary breath and moved toward the mansion just as Klaus, Stefan, and Rebekah emerged looking varying degrees of annoyed.
"…what do you mean left her in the woods?" Stefan snarled.
"We're going to get her." Klaus snapped.
Damon frowned, "you were with her when you two left. How did you lose her?"
Klaus gritted his teeth and turned to glare heavily at Damon who smirked at his annoyance.
"I don't know why you look so amused, Damon, your sister is out there with people hunting us! I don't know why you left her, Nik, she could've just come inside, you know," Rebekah smirked suddenly, "She probably wouldn't have seen your drawings."
Klaus glowered at her in response.
Damon raised an eyebrow, "Drawings? What drawings?"
"We need to find Caroline. We're wasting time. We need to get out of here." Stefan said glancing over at Klaus who nodded still glaring at Rebekah.
Damon glanced over at Stefan as they followed Klaus into the woods to find Caroline.
"Why would you leave her alone?" Damon asked drawing his attention back to Klaus.
Klaus opened his mouth to respond when Rebekah interrupted.
"It's because he didn't want Caroline to see how —" Rebekah halted mid-sentence as a scream pierced the air.
The four glanced at each other and then sped off in the direction of the scream.
"Do you think that's her?" Stefan asked anxiously as the screaming got louder.
And then suddenly it stopped.
They heard a thud and then a distant help me. Running as fast as his legs could take him Damon rushed toward the scream that was now piercing the night.
He saw movement in the distance and as the four of them got closer, the light Stefan had brought along swung in the blackness shining off of blonde hair that was bloodied sprirled in the grass.
He glanced over at the three of them unsure whether he could focus on the bloody body before them, positive that it was Caroline.
"What—?" Damon breathed out.
There was a growl in response and slowly he looked toward the wolf before them.
He scowled at the beast a desire like no other rushing through his veins. An urge to spill blood filled him up and before he knew what he was doing he threw himself at the wolf wanting to tear it limb from limb.
That beast had killed his sister and now he needed to kill the beast. He reached to snap the wolf's head off, but before he could grab it the wolf bit him. Damon ignored the incisors that sank themselves into his wrist. Instead he moved forward and twisted the wolf's head feeling a sense of relief course through him as the animal went limp in his arms.
He heard movement behind him and he rolled off the wolf to see the other three kneeled around Caroline, varying looks of concern on their face.
"Is she…?" Damon whispered.
"Yes." Rebekah responded.
There was a moment of silence as they all let those words sink in.
Caroline was dead.
What would happen now?
"It was fast." Damon commented woodenly his mind conjuring up the last few minutes.
Stefan growled, "that's our sister you're talking about."
Damon frowned, "I'm aware of that."
"She'll be okay." Klaus said quietly.
"Why do you say that, brother?" Rebekah asked softly.
"Because she's had his blood." Stefan answered.
They all looked at Klaus who sighed and nodded.
"I didn't want it to end this way." He said quietly.
Rebekah smiled slightly, "you know this was the only way it could've ended."
Damon scowled, "is this why you left her in the woods? Did you plan this? You knew, she wasn't in much danger because she had your blood in her! This isn't how it's supposed to go! Caroline wasn't supposed to be a vampire!"
There was a heavy silence as everyone took that in. Rebekah stood up and slowly the others did as well.
"Damon, I didn't do this on purpose," Klaus stated.
Damon glared at him choosing not to respond.
"How would Klaus know that some wolf was in the woods?" Stefan asked in exasperation.
"That wasn't a wolf." Klaus said glancing over at Damon's arm.
"Then what was it? A bunny rabbit?" Damon snarked.
"It was a werewolf." Rebekah said.
Damon and Stefan glanced at each other and then back at the brother and sister.
"So…is Caroline going to be a werewolf and a vampire?" Damon asked.
Klaus looked down at her and Damon frowned in annoyance that he couldn't see the Original's facial expression as he contemplated Caroline's lifeless body.
"I'm not sure." He said finally and then with a quickness even Damon couldn't see he picked Caroline up and settled her into his arms nestling her head in the croak of his neck.
Klaus met Damon's eyes daringly and smirked, "you're going to want that bite looked at. Vampires and werewolves don't really play well together."
Damon frowned unsure what he meant, but even as he thought it he felt a sudden dizziness overcome him. The edges of his vision began to blur as he heard Klaus distinctly tell Stefan and Rebekah to carry him.
He felt hands on his body and right before he blacked out totally he made out that Klaus told them that Elijah, Katherine, Kol, and Bonnie were waiting near the carriages. The ones that would take them to New York City.
(A/n: Yes, more will be soon. Please review! I hope you like it.)