Thanks for all the reviews. You made me write another chapter. Sorry it took me over 4 months, I will try to get better, I promise.
In the end, this chapter is not action oriented. But I hope you will have fun anyway.
Characters are not mine and I'm not making any profit from this.
The moment she heard the noise behind her, she knew it was him. She got up and turn around faster than humanly possible just to see him standing at the door with something shiny in his hand. It was the ring, her ring. "That's for me?" She couldn't resist the urge to ask anyway, to make sure.
"Yes." He said without a hint of emotion. His eyes than diverted to the couch. It took Caroline a second to realize it was Elena's diary that caught his attention. "Finished it already?"
Caroline briefly nodded not really sure what to say. Everything felt so distant and meaningless, her life as she knew it was gone. Reading that diary was like looking at her last year in fast forward through eyes of the stranger. And Elena was in fact stranger. She knew almost from the beginning and never said anything, never even tried. But Elena was not in front of her, Damon was. When she had first met him a year ago, she thought he was handsome and cute. But that was another life. Ignorance was truly a bliss. The man standing in front of her was a monster. Perhaps it was not his fault, but it didn't really matter. There was so many things she wanted to say to him, but when she finally spoke it sounded just too weak. "You know, you are not exactly hero of the story."
"How would I know I have never read it, just heard it's quite good." Said Damon like it was not a big deal. Like it never mattered. But it did to her and he knew it. If he was trying to make her angry it worked. She speeded to him just to be few inches away. "The only thing that brings me satisfaction is that you are bound to be miserable for rest of your existence."
If her words had any impact he didn't show it. "Don't exaggerate, it's not like you have to marry me for this." He said handing her the ring.
She snatched it from his hand slightly happy at change of subject. "How do I know it works?" The question clearly amused Damon. "You can find out in a few hours."
The whole thing made her wonder where Damon got the spare ring so fast, it's not like such things were lying at every corner or did they? She made a mental note to question him later.
When her eyes met his again, he was already in hallway. "You are hungry." Said Damon matter-of-factly and Caroline was just hoping that the invitation to drinking didn't have any living person attached.
Upon entering the kitchen she couldn't believe her eyes. "You have blood bank in a fridge?"
He placed several blood packs on the counter in front of her. "It's not the same as the fresh thing you had earlier, but it will give you strength not to kill anybody tomorrow."
If he said anything else Caroline didn't remember, all she knew was that when she came to her senses once again, the packs were empty and her hands and face were covered with blood. He was watching her with both fascination and curiosity, but quickly changed his facial expression to give her more serious look. "There are few things you need to know."
"Like what?" Caroline asked a little bit annoyed. The last thing she needed at the moment was to be lectured.
"First of all, your little witchy friend is able to tell humans and vampires apart with simple touch. Under any circumstance don't let her touch you. Second. Drink a lot of coffee, it will make your body warmer, so your mother won't feel like she's hugging one of her customers. And finally, act as nothing happened, especially in front of your friends."
She kept staring at him not quite sure what to say. "Oh, Anything else?"
At that he gave her his best if-you-piss-me-off-you-are-dead look. "Usually I find women capable of sarcasm attractive, but this is neither place nor time." But he probably quickly realized that he's not being very helpful so he softened a little bit. "Caroline I need you to focus. This is really important."
Caroline was kind of angry at him for underestimating her all the time. "I know, I get it okay? I'm public enemy now. The less people know about me the better for me and... you." He was obviously taken aback by her sudden moment of clarity. "Good. Bathroom is upstairs. Try to clean yourself up. In the meantime I'll try to come up with some idea how to get you invited in your own house." And here it was again. "Don't bother I already managed to do that. Despite what you think of me, I'm not utterly stupid!" And with that she speeded towards bathroom leaving surprised Damon behind.
Before she realized that, she was standing right in front of a large mirror staring at her own reflection which was actually the last thing she wanted to see. Her vampire speed just kept surprising her. Take a breath Caroline, take a breath. She told herself while taking a look around in order to calm down. The bathroom seemed to be bigger than her own room. It was kind of funny, everything in the boarding house was so ridiculously large.
Her train of thoughts was cut short when she found herself staring in the mirror again. The half-dried blood on her face made her twitch. She bend over to take a closer look, to see the black veins that started to form around her eyes and in just a few seconds those eyes were all red and black. As on instinct her mouth was opened revealing two long incisors.
"Holy smoke!" She blurted out and promptly closed her eyes in hope that it would go away. It must have been at least a minute and the only thing she could hear was her own heavy breathing, but when she opened those eyes again she was her own self with no trace vampirism except that fricking blood around her mouth. Caroline, not wanting to spend another minute in the room, quickly turned the water on and began washing it all off.
Her hair was a mess, not that it mattered at moment, but old habits die hard. She had to smile at silliness of her thoughts. She had to go down to deal with Damon and more importantly the rest of the world.
"Ready to leave?" He asked, but before she could reply he went on. "My little brother called me while you were upstairs and asked about you. Told him I hadn't see you all day, but I doubt he believed me. Like I know him he can be here any minute." His face all serious told her he was not joking. Caroline was ready to panic. What was she gonna do? She was not ready for this, but somehow managed to keep herself calm. "So, where are we going?" She asked biting into her bottom lip nervously.
"Back to carnival." Came the least expected reply, definitely not the one she wanted to hear. "You are kidding me right? I can't go back there!" She wanted to tell him to go to hell, but already knew it won't change anything, he already made decision for her. "But you will and you will convince your friends, there's nothing wrong with you." Yep, there it was.
Please review, I promise I will update much sooner this time.