After two weeks he's back, on the chair at a calculated distance in the doorway of her bedroom. Her waking up seems to have startled him for the first time because he moves ever so slightly to cover it up. She wanted to smile but her expressions are glued together, because some part of her is relieved to see him come back and another part of her loathes herself ...and him for the feeling of relief.
'New chair?...'
He smiles sardonically caressing the arm of the chair.
Seemed like the only semi neutral question she could throw at him before getting down to berating him for being a crafty son of bitch he was by giving her ample time to cool down and blame herself for the pain he caused her. Problem was when she opened her mouth nothing came out, it seemed like all the anger and pain that has been spewing out of her for days had drained her and softened her up, tired her out and He'd counted on this.
He knew exactly what he was doing, the complete ease he displayed lounging on the chair bristled her nerves far more than she could put into words at the moment. He sensed it somewhat and leaned forward.
'Yes, you can break this one any time... it's not a family heirloom' The effortlessness with which his tone returned to absolutely normal always bothered her but it was something she had expected from him. So she couldn't really complain about it.
'How are you ?...' how very proper of him to ask.
'Peachy, How's the rest of the town and my friends still alive?...' It hurt to know that her half baked theory of him needing her locked away to keep from tearing through the rest of the town was just exactly half baked and involved some calculated amount of violence towards her, blood violence was an inevitable part of the equation.
She's angry... he knows this and is not the least bit disturbed, it's something he probably expected, she hates that she's a predictable excuse of a prisoner to him and how he's so calm about all of it. He only stares back with mutual intensity in response.
Words were tumbling out of her before she could caution herself 'Why didn't you compel me that night, you could have made it easier on me but you didn't...' Yes this was the only legitimate fight she could have with him over his last choice of actions with her.
He was silent for such a long time; she almost thought he hadn't heard her.
'You haven't heard a word I've said before ...my intention is not to mind rape you Caroline...that's not why you're here.' Before becoming trapped here, she has always prided herself on the use of anger as a bullying tactic, suppressing her true nature was easier to do then she thought possible. Was she adapting to the routine he's set up for her? Maybe.
'Really?, it felt like rape...And don't say you're sorry about it because you didn't sound the sorriest that night' She seethed in the dark and he agreed that he hadn't sounded sorry at all while he was latched onto her throat, taming her violently jerking form to his own liking. No he wasn't sorry at all and both of them knew it. The silence continued for a while longer till she told him he was a 'sick, twisted son of a bitch' and he made no move to correct her, instead her lids started getting heavier and she was overcome by a powerful urge to go to sleep.
It's strange how things have a way getting back to normal after a latent tragedy or trauma that rips apart any sense of normality in the first place. Did her parents and friends grieve over her mysterious disappearance? Did the tragic reality of her permanent disappearance stop them from living their lives for the first few days and then implode back to normal after the dull monotone of her not coming back got too much?
Probably.
The trauma of 'him' crushing sharp pointiness into her throat lasted for two weeks in total, after which they fell into the normal pattern of him sharing details of the outside world and her caustic reaction to all things that reminded her of her imprisoned existence. The incident of her trying to runaway and him punishing her for the infraction seemed like a bad shameful dream she wasn't sure whether making a mention of was a good idea or not, because he seemed completely over it.
Some days are darker than most because she breaks down and leans on him of all people for human contact ...and loathes herself deeply for it. He collects these all these dark moments like a scientist with a test tube when her mind shows the slightest hints of unravelling, other times she imagines asking him to end it for her and find someone else, someone stronger. This she never mentions to him for fear he might actually go through with it. She's unsure of which part bothers her the most, the finality of him killing her? Or the guilt of him finding a replacement for her.
Both weigh equally heavy on her mind as she is one night rummaging through the nightclothes she has, and is struck by a strange familiarity at the scent of them all, the shampoo and shower gel are familiar, not brands she uses but very familiar.
It's not until she's almost fallen asleep that she realises why the scent of her nightclothes and some of her toiletries that have changed, are so familiar, they were the ones Elena used.
Caroline almost doesn't make it in time to the bathroom to throw up. A Toilet bowl is an unlikely place to have a painfully obvious epiphany but it finally occurs to her that he sees her as the closest thing next to having Elena trapped in this tower. The Darkness, the different clothes and shampoo all make sense.
The eeriness she feels from the revelation is so cold and deeply afflicting that she hardly notices him suddenly audience to her appalling lack of cheerleader grace, he was holding her in a bear hug trying to soothe her shaking form, only murmuring soft words of comfort and agreement when she begs him to get help for himself because he was a completely psychotic bastard who needed immediate staking.
Later, when she is more subdued and he is ready for her flinging questions at him they are in there normal positions, her under half the covers feeling crazier than usual and him in the damn chair looking resolutely satisfied with the bite sized chink in her mental armour.
'You have to tell me what you want from me Stefan?, no more bullshit!'
Yes she actually said that, the look that comes across her kidnapper is one of quiet endearment; she hates the silent contemplation in his eyes and her desperation for a rational answer, because this was all too damn irrational for her.
A purse of smug lips later he answered 'I told you what I want, you just haven't been listening, you're fear is the one that's costing you you're precious freedom not my physical inference' There was a glass in one of his hands filled with something equally opaque as his answer, he took a leisurely sip of it and she flared her nostrils in silent frustration.
'I don't understand your moody dialogue Stefan, stop confusing me and talk to me in normal English ok? Because I've put up with enough of your psychotic shit! No more!'
She expects the folding of her arms to her chest a clear and firm representation of her resolve, when the glass he's holding explodes against her headboard missing her by less than a inch, her spine melts drastically and her nerves turn to a watery mess , she almost quivers with the bloody fear again.
'Stop-using-my-name, I've told you before ...' He's close to her now, hunching like a wolf ready to pounce. The dark red glow in his eyes make her clutch the bed sheets harder, her voice slightly paler than before... she clumsily apologizes for herself as he glares at her in his volatile, monstrous glory.
'I'm sorry i just want to know what you're thinking?...it's only fair'
Caroline waits for an answer patiently with averted eyes but the moment of truth has come and gone, she's ruffled him more than he can stand of her tonight and it has spurred an early leave. She realises this when she unknowingly falls asleep and wakes up in the morning attributing their angry exchange to a normal nightmare of hers.
The subtle disappearances at night from the chair seem uncharacteristic at first but when he doesn't turn up for three days in a row, deep down inside Caroline feels she might have touched a stray nerve in him. A nerve of conscience?, Sympathy? , Guilt? She wasn't sure but her anger seemed to have spurred him to think about his actions.
It gives her hope that he might come to his senses sooner rather than later...she really hoped so for her own sake.
The Vampire
Before you slip into unconsciousness
I'd like to have another kiss
Another flashing chance at bliss
Another kiss, another kiss
The days are bright and filled with pain
Enclose me in your gentle rain
The time you ran was too insane
We'll meet again, we'll meet again
Crystal Ship –The doors
His mood was sinister again as the darkness settled like a cover deep in the woods.
At first he only came to see her after a hunt, a time when he gets a few hours of privacy from the rest of 'them' to immerse himself in his true nature, indulge in his fantasy to a certain extent and then come back to real life where he has Elena who is meant to be the love of his very unnatural existence. And his brother who he pretends to keep on a leash but secretly the truth was Damon was getting less and less impulsive and the role of unpredictability was at his own exploitation lately. And he managed that as discretely as possible. He always was the better liar.
The challenged persona he managed to hide within was lately feeling like the real him more than the subdued version of him on display most of the time Elena and her friends knew, A smile melted the corners of his mouth.
Somewhere at the back of his mind he knew the different levels of wrong his addiction was taking him to, but it was as if he found a way to dull the reality of it all. He managed to spare a wry smile here and there at his gathering of human friends as they carried on having faith in him to always do right by them.
Still, Keeping Caroline in the tower was unprecedented on his part.
He wasn't sure at what point between Elena's nagging and his brothers bothersome monitoring he decided to imprison Caroline Forbes in his tower, which he'd closed down for all intents and purposes a very long time ago. He'd been thinking of the tower and it's use for a while after his blood addiction had started making him more than just edgy. The night of the Miss Mystic falls when Elena is chosen, he noticed the inherent crumble of Caroline's face but also the control which was tight across her features as her eyes blurred for a few minutes and cleared up in staunch approval of her friend receiving an accolade very clearly coveted by her.
The idea clicked into inevitability when he saw her leaving after the Miss Mystic Falls forlorn and resigned to the worlds injustice against her, he was in the parking lot getting air, the sheer amount of humans and their veins rustling against the various fabrics bothered him more than he let on to Elena. They all looked like sloshing bottles of liquid plasma to him, Damon was watching him squirm with the kind of morbid satisfaction which only made him want to get the hell out of their as quickly as possible.
'She' had been a vision under the dark starry sky in her sea green gown and delicate accessories and he was a mess of sordid addiction, trying to temporarily exhale the invisible strain inside that made him uncontrollably hungry . If she had walked pass him without noticing him he might have let her go, but she stopped and asked him a question with sad eyes begging some form of acceptance.
'Am i real Stefan? Can you see me?'
He stopped the mad pacing and told her he was betting she wasn't just a beautiful hallucination so she must be pretty damn near real.
The smile he got was lopsided and humourless 'Oh, funny i felt invisible...just checking' He didn't press and she didn't elaborate instead, she left him bewildered mentally with a violent struggle of blasé immorality and happenstance. The hunger had come down a few notches as he thought of her intensely lonely existence , the availability in his empty tower and his problem with blood.
Yes, he thinks it was then he started plotting her imprisonment.
A/N: Hello readers, my apologies for taking sooooooooooooooo long to update, it's been a long busy year, but am back and am going to finish this fic. Thankyou for the support, keep reading.
Rela