For some reason, Stefan found himself heading towards Caroline's house. He didn't want to have to face his brother. Not like this. Not yet. He needed time. He needed to learn how to stay in control. He didn't know where Elena was, seeing as the last place he saw her was locked in a cell with him.
So that left Caroline. She was a new vampire. She had just gone through this process. And she was kind. She was patient. She was caring. He wasn't worried about how she might think differently of him like he knew his brother, and maybe even Elena would do.
The sun had finally gone down, giving him some relief from its scorching heat. He knew that if he had tasted human blood, it would have done a lot more damage to his skin then just some bad sunburn, but lucky for him, or maybe just lucky for them, he didn't meet anyone on the way.
He stumbled up the stairs to Caroline's front porch and knocked on the door. Her mother answered. "Stefan?" She noticed his appearance. "Hey Stefan, are you okay?"
He could practically feel the blood being pumped through her veins. He took a deep breath, struggling to get the words out. "Is Caroline here?"
The Sheriff nodded, deciding not to question him anymore on the state of his appearance. "Yeah. She just got back." She leaned her head back and yelled, "Caroline? Your friend Stefan is her."
There was a thud from upstairs and the blond was making her way down the stairs faster than humanly possible. Her mom must not have noticed the strangely fast speed because he nodded at her daughter, and then stepped back, headed back into the house.
Caroline stepped out of the front door, pulling it shut behind her and pulled Stefan over to the side. She shoved him into one of the chairs. "How did you escape? I thought Klaus had you. Are you okay? Did you feed yet?" The questions piled out one after the other.
"Caroline." He said. She stopped. "Yes, Klaus had me. I escaped by shoving some vervain in the guard's eyes."
She nodded slowly, processing the information. "How do you feel?" she asked.
"Dead" Stefan said.
Caroline nodded knowingly. "Wait one sec." She said. She speed away in a moment and was back just a quickly, with a bag of blood in her hand. "Here." She handed it to him.
Stefan took the bag hesitantly, but his hunger was just too strong to resist for long. He ripped into the bag and swallowed as much of its contents as he could as fast as he could. Caroline didn't say anything while he drank. When he was finished he set it down and looked back up at her. "Thank you."
She shrugged. "I've been borrowing them from Lexi's stash at the Salvatore's and occasionally Elena's over at her place.
He nodded. "Wait, how did you know? That I was turned I mean.
"Elena said . . . She said they killed you."
"Wait, you saw Elena?" Stefan said. Despite how much he didn't want her to see him like this, and the fact that at the moment they were taking a break from their relationship, he still missed her. He had assumed that Klaus had just moved her to another cell, not set her free.
Caroline bit her bottom lip. "There's a lot you've missed."
Elena hung up the phone. "That was Caroline." She said to Damon who was sitting with a drink in his hand on one of the couches in his living room. "She said he's okay. He managed to escape Klaus and she's going to get him a ring from Bonnie in the morning."
He nodded and took a sip from the fancy crystal glass in his hand.
"We need to let Mr. Saltzman go." She said. "We can't just keep him locked up forever."
Damon stood up and walked over to Elena. "But it was just so much fun."
She pleaded with him. "I'm serious, Damon. I trust him."
"Why?" Damon asked.
"Because I think he cares about doing the right thing, and I think he knows that killing me or any of my friends, or going blabbing to the council about all of this is not going to help anyway. Plus, we just risked our lives to save his, so I think that helps."
He shrugged, reaching around her to grab the half full pitcher of alcohol sitting on the table directly behind her. "Fine. Do whatever you want. I'm just saying that I think letting the teacher go without even compelling him is a big mistake."
She put a hand on his chest, slowly pushing him away from her, not caring that now he couldn't reach the table to put the pitcher back. He elected to set it on the coffee table behind him instead. "I don't really care what you think." She said.
"Well," he said, drawing it out, "you trusted me with your most prized possession less than twenty four hours ago. That's got to mean something." He held out his glass to her, offering her a drink.
She glared at the glass. He slowly pulled back and took another sip before putting it down next to the pitcher. "Yeah, and in those twenty four hours, you managed to fail to notice that Stefan, my ex-boyfriend, your brother was missing, betrayed my trust by breaking your promise to me and gave an immortal vampire the only thing left standing between him and whatever terrible thing he is planning. So you can see why your opinion doesn't really mean much to me anymore."
He spread out his arms. "What was I supposed to do Elena? Let him keep you locked up? Torture you? Kill you?" He shook his head. "I couldn't let him do that to you."
"Yes!" She said. "That's what you were supposed to do. That's why I gave the moonstone to you. Because you wouldn't try to use it as a bargaining chip."
"If I hadn't, you would still be locked up. " He took a step toward her. "Look Elena, I was only trying to do what was right. At that moment, our biggest problem was the fact that he had you prisoner. So, whatever happens now, whatever he needs the moonstone for, that was a problem for a different day. And it is going to be a problem we will need you to help us solve."
Elena shook her head. "Damon, you don't understand. Whatever he is planning, he has been planning it for centuries. There will be no stopping it now. At least when we had the moonstone, we had a chance."
"No we didn't. Not really." Damon said, taking another step toward her. "If he really is as powerful as you say, he would have gotten the moonstone eventually anyway. Probably over our dead bodies, I might add. Now, whatever happens, at least now you will be here to stop it. Without you, we wouldn't stand a chance."
"Do you really believe that?" He was standing right in front of her now.
"What?"
"That you wouldn't stand a chance against Klaus without me?" Elena stared into his eyes. She could see the gears turning in his head as he considered his answer.
"Yes." He said after a moment. "Lexi's smart, Caroline's strong, and Stefan's caring, but you're the leader. They wouldn't know what to do without you. Heck, we didn't even know what to do with the teacher."
Elena sighed, shaking her head. She was too upset. She just couldn't see the upside to handing over the moonstone. He had bartered away their biggest bargaining chip in exchange for her life. After she had specifically given the ring to him because she was counting on the fact that he wouldn't do exactly that. She decided to change the subject. "I'm letting the teacher go." It wasn't a discussion.
She started to make her way up the stairs to let Mr. Saltzman out, but hesitated, turning back to Damon. "And just so you know, it did mean something. When I gave you the stone. It meant that you had my trust. But now you've lost it forever."
Damon sat in the living room, not saying anything. He could hear Elena unlock the door and explain things as best she could to the teacher. A few moments later they came back down the stairs. Elena stepped right out the door without even throwing Damon a glance, but the teacher stopped. He looked over at Damon and Damon even heard him take in a breath, as if he was going to say something, but he must have decided against it because he followed Elena out the front door without saying a word.
The door clicked shut and Damon stood up. He headed slowly to his room, trying not to think about the fight he had just had. It didn't work. He wasn't sure why it bothered him so much, but he was upset. All he had done was what he thought was best. He was trying to save her and she repaid him for that by getting up set. It was probably the best decision for the long run anyway. He couldn't understand why she had gotten so mad at him.
But the thing that bothered him the most was her last statement to him. It meant that you had my trust. But now you've lost it forever. He couldn't help but play it over and over in his head. They way she looked at him, her eyes filled with sorrow and regret but also the pain of his betrayal. That was not what he wanted to happen. You've lost it forever. Was she telling the truth? Had he really lost her trust forever?
Had he blown his chance? She had trusted him with something and he destroyed any chance of him ever trusting him ever again. Somehow, he always ended up there. No matter what he did, something would happen and he would end up standing alone, wishing for something he could never have.
By the time he made it to his room he had worked himself into a state of rage. He hated her for getting upset that he had tried to save her. He hated himself for destroying her trust. He hated Klaus for putting him in that position in the first place. He grabbed the closest thing he could find, a framed picture of him and his brother, and threw it against the wall with a yell.
"Quite an arm you have there." He spun around to face the doorway he had just come through. There she was, smiling seductively as she leaned against the doorframe. She was beautiful and dark and everything he ever wanted.
It wasn't her. Not really. And he knew that.
But he didn't care.
He let the memories rush back to him as they always did whenever she showed up and said her name. "Katherine."
She grinned and pushed off from the wall, walking right up to him. He studied the features in her face. They were the same and yet so different. She had the same eyes, nose and lips, but hers were here, looking at him like he was the world.
He pulled her into a kiss, not letting her ask him about whatever was on her mind. She let him, kissing him back. They broke apart for a moment and she looked into his eyes. "Do you promise not to tell another soul?"
He didn't have to be told what she was talking about. She was going to let him remember. He nodded. "I promise."
She looked into his eyes, her pupils dilating. "You will remember me. All the nights I have come to see you and you have told me everything I needed to know. You will remember it all."
They were kissing again. He felt freer, now that he knew he would remember this the next day. He was not as truly alone as he thought he had been. His lips found her ear and he breathed two simple words. "Thank you."
She kissed his neck and he ran his hands through her hair and then down her back, finally picking her up and lifting her to the bed. She didn't resist.
Alarick thanked Elena for everything, including the ride to the Grill and watched as she drove away. He pulled out his phone and dialed the number of a Jenna Sommers.
"Hello?" She said when she picked up the phone.
"Hey Jenna, it's Alaric Saltzman."
"Oh, nice move. You call up a girl the day after you stand her up for dinner."
"Look, I'm so sorry. Something came up real sudden. I had to," He quickly tried to think up a credible cover story. "I had urgent family business."
"And you couldn't even call?"
"My phone was dead. And then when I got there I had no cell reception for the whole day."
There was silence on the other end. She seemed to be buying the story. "Okay . . ."
"So I was hoping," It was Alaric's turn to hesitate. How was he supposed to ask her this after standing her up? He couldn't exactly tell her he was kidnapped by an immortal original vampire and then locked up by the Salvatore brothers and their vampire accomplices. "That maybe you could give me another chance? I really do want to give a date with you a chance."
"If I were to say yes, when would it be?"
"Now, at the Grill. I'm there right now."
She paused again, but he had a hunch she was just doing that now to mess with him. He was pretty sure she had already made up her mind. "I'll be there in ten."
He hung up the phone and headed inside, grabbing a booth for the two of them. Ten minutes later she walked into the Mystic Grill, looking more beautiful then he remembered. She walked over to the booth and took a seat across from him.
"I'm willing to give this another try," She said, "as long as you promise no more standing me up."
Alaric nodded and smiled. "Sounds fair."