Chapter Thirteen: you keep me on the edge of my seat

"Oh…why am I still alive?" Damon groans because he's truly wondering how in the hell he isn't dead. Somebody definitely hit him in the head with an 18-wheeler and now he's living to tell the tale.

He sits up on his elbows and blinks a few times, his surroundings blurry and faded. Seriously though, what the hell happened?

"Sorry about that," a small voice comes from a few feet away. Elena. She's sitting in the corner of the storage room where they keep all their supplies and her knees are at her chest. She looks like she's been crying.

"What happened?" Damon asks her. "What did you do?"

"I got scared! You scared me. So I hit you!"

He looks at her like he just can't believe it. Her eyes crinkle in the corners and he has this half-smirk half-gape on his face. "You hit me with what? Why?"

Elena purses her lips and looks down at the cement floor. Well, here goes nothing. "Jeremy's baseball bat…" she trails off. "But it was an accident!" she's quick to defend. It was all in good spirits. Nothing says I Love You like a firm bat to the face.

Damon doesn't even know what to say. She hit him…with a baseball bat? Because that makes sense.

"You could've killed me," he says rather nonchalantly. But then the anger comes and there's really nothing worse than an angry Damon. "What the fuck were you thinking? You could've killed me!"

And now the waterworks start again. As if she hasn't already heard enough from Stefan, and now she's trapped in here with Damon while Stefan broods about his stolen vehicle. His.

"Dammit Elena!" Damon yells as he punches a wall and there's a horrible cracking sound followed by a string of swearwords.

Elena covers her ears and hides her face from Damon. Don't look at me. Don't look at my SHAME!

"And I suppose you're going to say that Barbie put you up to this, huh?"

SHAME!

Elijah has this cabin out in the woods. Well, technically it's not his, but the original owners had seemingly committed suicide when he went knocking on the door. It wasn't exactly like he was expecting a warm welcoming of any caliber, but uh…he was hoping for something a little more…alive. Though, that probably would've posed more problems.

After she figures she's all cried out, Rebekah asks Elijah these simple questions. Things they don't talk about are Nik and Kol. She doesn't mention Caroline both because Elijah doesn't know her and she figures the last thing he needs to know about is another death.

"We won't be able to stay here much longer," Elijah tells his sister and she frowns.

She can barely even walk and they have to leave. That isn't fair.

"This place is no longer safe. There are stragglers all around these parts."

"I can barely move, Eli," she protests. "I'm an easy target. How I managed out there without you for however long is nothing short of a miracle."

"What did I promise you last night?"

He'll never let them hurt her. But promises were made to be broken.

"Eli, I trust you, but I'm having a hard time having faith. Kol and Nik are gone. I can't lose you too."

"You have my word, Rebekah. You will never lose me. Not again."

"It'll be fun," she said. "You'll regret it if you don't," she said.

The only thing Nik is regretting is the fact that he believed her.

There's a hill in the cemetery and at the top is what looks like a manor of some type. But it's not a manor. It's a funeral parlor. So she drives up that steep mountain with mumbling some harsh words from the passenger seat, all the while Caroline has this big, goofy grin on her face like she's just hit the jackpot. Oh, this will be great.

"Mind if I do the honor?" she asks him as they stand at the front doors. She has her hands on the handles ready to push open, the same goofy grin on her face.

"Have at it."

Her smile seems to get even wider. She pushes open the door and it opens inwards with a jolt, the wood cracking. It smells like mothballs and formaldehyde. Gross.

Nik narrows his eyes. "I don't think this place has been used in years," he notes.

"Jinkies!" Caroline exclaims. "You think so, Fred?"

"Has anyone ever told you how annoying you are?"

"That's not what you were saying last night," her voice trails off, and she physically trails off as well. She darts off in one direction and her body suddenly blends in with the darkness. Her taunting voice like a whisper; an echo.

Nik doesn't follow her though. He's still kind of embarrassed after she called him out. See, these kinds of things happen when you're basically a reborn virgin after ten years in the slammer. A year had passed since he got out, but for some reason sex wasn't really the first thing on his mind. There were matters that needed to be sorted out. Where he was going to live and just how much money he received from his mother's will after she hung herself eight years prior. Sadly, Finn didn't see her before Rebekah did. Poor child.

But with Caroline, that damn temptress, he figures he lost himself in her. From the moment they met, there was some chemistry. There was this spark there that he tried to suppress, but it didn't work. It came through when he kissed her in that bathroom and where he felt her body shake on that park bench and when he claimed her as his only hours ago.

How did this even happen? Now isn't the time to be developing feelings for someone. Now isn't the time to, dare he think, fall for someone. It's more than just physical attraction; it's mental and emotional. She gets him. She understands him like no one has ever before, and she's not for the bullshit. Caroline can read him like an open book as cryptic and distant as he might be. With those big eyes of hers and that snarky tongue, she wholly understands him and not once has ever judged. That's why he likes her. Why he enjoys her.

Nik goes down the hallway where Caroline dashed off to, but once he gets to one point, there are three possible halls she could've gone down. If he were Caroline, he would choose to go deeper into the house because she's simplistic and going straight is the easiest route.

At the end of the hallway is an embalming room with two caskets on either side. It's white and sterile and Nik is starting to think that maybe it's not so abandoned after all.

He opens up a casket and his stomach nearly explodes. Jesus freaking Christ. He's never seen a truly decaying body before. Like, so decayed that the gases have tried to escape through the skin so there are big, nasty, hideous lesions all over it. He can't even tell if it was originally a man or a woman. Larvae cover the face and the clothes have been bleached a horrible crimson color, so dark it's almost seems black. He abruptly shuts it with a loud creak! and turns around only to let out the loudest scream he's ever done in his life.

Caroline laughs. "Did I scare you?" she teases.

His heart slows back down to a normal rate, but he still can't even speak. If he had a gun, he probably would've shot her in the face. You can't just sneak up on people like that.

"No," he says, his tone bitter.

"Aw," she murmurs as she pouts. "Someone looks like they're about to cry."

"If anyone's about to cry, then it'll be you when I tear out your liver."

She snorts. "We both know you wouldn't do that." She drops her head and looks him firmly in the eye. "You're in love with me."

Now it's Nik's turn to snort. In love? With her? Has she gone mad? Nik doesn't love. That's a foreign idea to a guy like him. Love. Bullshit. He'll say that he likes her. That's about as far as it will go.

"Yes, Caroline," he says, not even caring at this point. If she wants to believe that, then let her. "That's exactly it."

She rolls her eyes. "What were you looking at anyway?" She moves to the casket, but he blocks her way.

"Jeez, lighten up, Grandpa," she jokes.

"Funny."

Oh.

Caroline turns around slowly and sees a man with dark hair and receding hairline pointing a gun right at her.

He pulls the trigger.

"Bang. You're dead."

"Do we have any idea where that bitch went?" Damon yells. You'd think he'd be tired of it by now, but no. It's been about two hours since he woke up and he's been screaming his head off ever since about his might-be-broken hand and Caroline.

"I already told you," Elena says, her voice small. "She wanted to find her other friends."

"She could be anywhere by now," Stefan sighs as he rubs his back. One day he's going to wake up paralyzed and it'll be that blonde doll's entire fault. Damn her.

"She was going to come back," Jeremy adds. "She said she would. Well, she mouthed it, but still. She said she was coming back."

"And you!" Stefan barks. "You had ample time to stop her. Ample!"

"Don't yell at him!" Elena and Bonnie scream simultaneously.

"They're right, brother," Damon says quietly. "We should really be blaming Elena."

Elena's eyes widen and Bonnie clutches her side. "Whoa, whoa, whoa," Bonnie says. "This is no one's fault but Stefan's. If he hadn't been so gullible in the first place, then Caroline would still be here and we wouldn't even be in this mess."

"How about we just stop pointing fingers?" Elena snaps, her voice found. "Is it really going to solve anything if we keep shifting the blame around? We're just wasting even more time! What need to do is go out there and find her! She could be hurt!"

"And how do you expect we do that?" Damon yells. "She took our only source of transportation, Elena! We're stuck here!"

"Then we'll find another way! Since when did we start giving up? Caroline is out there and she could be hurt!"

She feels like she's screaming at a brick wall. Why don't they understand? Why aren't they trying to do something? There's bound to be another vehicle of some sort out there. They're in the middle of freaking Baltimore! There has to be another way! There is another way!

"If you don't want to go find her," Elena says through gritted teeth, "then fine. I will."

Damon rolls his eyes, Stefan just looks at her, and Jeremy is trying to figure whether he wants to agree with her and side with the Salvatores on this one.

"Then I will too," Bonnie says, lacing her arm through her friend's. "You don't want to come, then don't. We were fine without you two years ago, we'll be fine without you now."

Then, just like that, they both walk away...in the complete opposite direction of the exit.

"Honestly, brother," Stefan sighs, "if they want to leave, then so be it. It's her choice. I'm not going to spend the rest of my life keeping tabs on her."

"Well, then you're the biggest idiot of them all," Damon replies as he stalks after the two girls.

"You didn't even flinch," the man says to Caroline as he toys with his gun. Nik pushes Caroline behind his back, blocking her from the man's view.

"We are unarmed and we do not want anything you have," Nik says slowly. "Whatever you want, you have my word we don't have. Just let us go, mate."

The dark-haired man chuckles and continues to twirl the gun on his index finger, the trigger dangerously close to it.

"If I had a dollar for every time I heard that line," he muses, looking straight at Nik. "Why should I believe you?"

Nik swallows. "I'm sure we can reach some sort of compromise. A negotiation…"

"A negotiation or compromise would imply that you actually have something that I would want. Like that nice truck out front…"

Caroline gasps. No. That's not hers. She stole that from her friends. She promised to come back. "You can't!" she yells, peeping out from behind Nik. "That belongs to my friends at another camp. I can't let you just take it."

The man takes a step forward and so does Nik. "You dare so much as breathe on her and I'll—"

"You'll what?" he interrupts. "You're not the one with the gun."

The man steps to the side and Nik sets his jaw. The man has stopped twirling the gun around, but now has it aimed at Nik's chest, right over his heart. Caroline's breath hitches in her chest. He wouldn't. He pulled the trigger while it was pointed her and nothing came out. He just has blanks.

"You're bluffing," Caroline blurts. "There's nothing in that gun."

"Caroline," Nik says quietly.

"Do you believe there's nothing in here?" the man asks as he points it at her head. "Let's try it out again. Maybe you won't be so lucky this time."

"I would think twice about who choose to direct your aim," Nik warns.

The stranger smirks. "Relax, mate. We'll need women to replenish the earth. If anyone is dying here today, then it's you."

He squeezes the trigger and Nik's life flashes before Caroline's eyes. She doesn't think before she darts out and pounces on the man, shoving his hand away so that a bullet flies at the wall behind Nik, nearly touching his head. She uses all her weight and pushes him to the floor, struggling to get the gun from his grasp. Nik hurries over and steps on his throat, cutting off his air supply. Caroline continues to wrestle the gun away from him as he points it every which way, at her and at Nik.

Then it fires again, nearly missing Caroline, but then he stops struggling. He makes these horrible grunting noises as Nik punches him in the face with the tip of shoe still on his throat. Once, twice, again, again. Then, all at once, Nik stops and the man falls limp. His face is this hideous blue color that's covered in blood and his eyes are shot open. Caroline jumps back, startled and disgusted. Is he…dead? Did she just help kill a human?

"Well," Nik sighs as he takes the gun from the man's grasp, "aren't we a pair?"

They find out his name is Frederick. He has a wallet in his left back pocket with an ID and a few photos of his wife and children. He's a salesman at a car dealership and is certified in CPR. Oh, and he's from Mystic Falls. How convenient.

Caroline's still shaken up about the whole thing. That was a person, even if he threatened her multiple times. She's never killed a person. Zombies yes, but people? Where does she draw the line? At what point is humanity lost for good?

"He was a threat to our safety," Nik tells her, holding her face in his hands. She wishes he could make her forget or something.

"I know," she says. "But still."

He brushes his lips over hers slowly and rubs her cheeks with his thumbs and he can taste the fear on her tongue, the apprehension on her lips.

"We should go back." She turns away. "This place is creepy."

"Come." He wraps an arm around her shoulders and leads her out of the room into the stark darkness of the hallway.

"What do you think happened to his family?" she asks as they walk down the hallway.

"I don't know."

"I bet they turned so he went insane," Caroline says. "That's what I would do if it happened to you."

He gulps and stops walking. "That won't happen…"

"You can't say for certain just like I can't say for certain that I won't turn," she snaps, tears burning at her eyes. "It's always a possibility and you know it is. This thing is bigger than you. It's bigger than me. It's bigger than the both of us put together. It's only a matter of time before it happens to us!"

"Stop it." He grips her shoulders tightly and shakes her. "Stop it, Caroline. Just stop it!"

"You know it's true! That's why you're angry!" she cries.

"I'm not angry!"

"Yes you are! Where's Rebekah? Where's Kol? Where is anyone? They're all dead and we're going to end up just like them and you know it!"

Nik lets her go and stumbles backwards. It's like she's just stabbed him straight through the heart with a dagger. He can barely catch his breath. As if he hadn't already known this fact, but hearing it from Caroline was just a harsh reminder of the terrible details. She had no faith. She had no faith in herself and she had no faith in him. She had no faith in humanity as a whole. She has no faith.

"I told you I would keep you safe, Caroline," he chokes out. It's like his throat is so tight. Someone's squeezing all the air out of his lungs. She never believed him.

"I know what you said," she speaks slowly, her lips trembling. "I know what you said, Nik, and I want to believe you. But I can't."

She starts to walk away and for a moment he thinks that maybe he should just let her go. Just let her leave him here and that'll be the end of it. No more Mikaelsons around. They're all extinct.

But he doesn't. He rushes towards her and pulls her back and slams her against the wall, his eyes burning into hers.

"You don't trust me, fine. But I won't lose you just because you don't believe it. What's your problem?"

"I'm being realistic," she says, her mouth barely moving.

"Is that what they're calling it now? Because I call it being stupid. You were never like this before, Caroline. What happened to you?"

"This happened! My mother is dead! And Rebekah is gone! My friends are somewhere unconscious in a different city and I stole their car. And now I'm here and I almost died again! What has my life become, Nik? I don't even recognize myself anymore!"

She's hurting and she's raw and she wishes this were over. Why can't the world just explode? Why can't the sun come colliding to earth and turn them all to ash?

"And then you happened and you're still here," she mumbles. "After all this and you're still here and I don't know why."

He's the only constant. The only thing that's still familiar in this thing she calls a life.

"I don't want you to leave me."

She kisses him and it's filled with desperation and need just like the first time all over again. She feels it in the pit of her stomach, a feeling growing that expands all over her entire body until all she's feels is warmth and gentleness and understanding. There are a thousand words on her tongue, the same one that battles with his so feverishly, that just won't fall off. There are a million sensations on her skin as his fingers move under her shirt, caressing the skin of her back and making her shiver, that explode like little sunbursts all over. There are a billion ways to say I care for you in her eyes, so hooded and full of ecstasy when he kisses her—ways she isn't sure how to enunciate. And if she does, one day maybe, what will he say?

He hooks one of her legs around his waist and presses himself closer to her, steadily grinding against the fabric of her jeans until all he does is ache with the need to feel her around him again, to hear her voice cry his name again over and over like a chant, to expand his hands over her skin and explore every inch of her flesh like he'd never seen it before.

"Nik," she says, her chest rising and falling frantically.

"Caroline," he says, sucking right on her pulse point.

"No, Nik! Nik! Run!" She pushes on his shoulders and gets down on both of her feet and darts in the opposite direction. He looks at her confused. Is this a joke?

"Zombie!" her voice calls from the distance.

Nik turns around slowly and sees Frederick staggering towards him, saliva dribbling from his chin. Nik pulls out Frederick's gun from his waistband and points it at his forehead, ready to take him out. He squeezes the trigger, but nothing comes out.

The zombie looks at him and Nik swears that it smirks.

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A/N: But zombies don't smirk so that's not a plot twist or anything. Just a hallucination kids.

Sorry this is shorter and I took awhile. Sorry, sorry, sorry! Don't hurt me!