Chapter 5

A/N A guest reader said I should use "character tags." What are those?

"Are you going to stay in Virginia or go back to New Orleans tonight?" The younger vampire stood up from the park bench.

"I'm too concerned about Elena to leave tonight. I hired a private jet, so it matters not when I leave. I can stay at the hotel here in town." The older vampire stood, too.

"Oh, come on, Elijah! Of course you can stay at my house. Just don't choose Elena's room and don't molest Mrs. Flowers."

"I would not think of it. Thank you for the invitation."

Neither one of them had moved from in front of the bench when Damon added, "Before we go to the house, I have to report Elena's disappearance to the Sheriff's Office. I'm reluctant to do it, but I better. There's no telling what they might find. You never know."

"Probably a wise move," Elijah agreed. He started to move toward the car, but Damon stopped him.

"Let's just go in there first. It's right there beside the Grill." They walked to the ornate old court house building, went up the front steps and entered, going to the sheriff's office just off the lobby. Damon missed Liz Forbes, whom he had trusted, but she had died of brain cancer. Robert Longley had been head deputy and had become interim sheriff. Now he had been elected sheriff, making it official. Damon knew that Longley was aware that there were vampires and witches and werewolves in his county. He was not as sympathetic to the supernatural as Liz had been.

It only took a few minutes for Damon to explain that he had gone to the mausoleum to spend a few minutes with the deceased, had found the door open and the casket empty. He admitted that he went twice a day and had gone earlier this day. When he retuned, he found her body missing and so far he had not found anyone who knew what had happened to it. Longley said he would send a forensic team to check for finger prints and possible other clues. He was a little annoyed that Damon had not reported the crime earlier.

After leaving the court house, Elijah drove Damon home. Stefan's car was in the wide driveway, as were Caroline's and Alaric's.

"Poor Ric," Damon said before he got out of the vehicle. "The guy has had terrible luck with women. His first wife became a vampire and left. He fell in love with Meredith Fell, a lady doctor here. She got into trouble, sold her practice and walked away. He really liked Elena's aunt Jenna, but Klaus killed her. You remember Jenna, I'm sure. And now his bride-to-be Jo is dead. They were expecting a baby," Damon said, shaking his head.

"It appears the Fates do not wish him to be happily married."

"That's the truth. He had an apartment when he first moved to Mystic Falls and kept it even when Klaus moved in, as you recall. Then he moved to Elena's house to be legal guardian to Elena and Jeremy. After Elena burned down part of the house, all three of them moved to my house."

"Alaric is a strong man to bear all that," Elijah judged.

"Yeah, he is. Drinks too much, but I can't blame him for that." Damon opened the door of the SUV and stepped down, heading for the front door, followed by Elijah. They found the group in the study, sitting around, drinking.

"Jeremy wanted to come back," Ric said. "I told him not to." The young man had been in town just days before to say goodbye to his beloved sister.

"Good," Damon said, nodding. He went to the bar and poured himself a drink, plus what he had given Elijah before. He handed the glass to the Original who had taken a seat beside Caroline on the sofa after she had patted the spot, inviting him to sit.

"So, did you guys learn anything?" the blonde asked.

"No," Damon said, sitting on the other chair facing the sofa. Stefan was seated in the one closest to the fireplace. He told then about reporting to the sheriff. "Elijah and I were talking about Mother and Enzo and Aaron Whitmore being possible culprits to this mess."

"You don't know if Aaron is a vampire," Stefan pointed out.

"No, I don't, but if he is …"

"This is such a complicated mess," Caroline complained. "Why can't people stay dead? Oh, I don't mean Elena, but Aaron and your mother and …whoever."

"Yeah, it's complicated," Stefan said. "It always is. Even if we go somewhere else and try to start over, the past catches up with us. Believe me, I know."

"Over and over again," Elijah said, nodding. "Can you phone your mother or Enzo?"

"I can call Enzo," Damon said. He had a lot of phone numbers in his cell phone. "My mother doesn't have a phone. Yet." In fact, he didn't know if she now had one and someone had shown her how to use it. He soon had dialed Enzo's number, if Enzo still had the same number. The man didn't answer, so Damon left a text message.

Mrs. Flowers came to the door to the study and asked how many were staying for the evening meal. It was then agreed that all of them would stay. There would be six of them when Mrs. Flowers joined them at the table.

Damon turned on the television to see if there was any mention of Elena's disappearance. Sure enough, a media truck and reporter had followed the law officers to the cemetery. The reporter and her camera man were at the mausoleum.

"It was discovered today by Mr. Damon Salvatore that the body of his late girlfriend Elena Gilbert has been taken from her casket, which had been placed in the Salvatore mausoleum." The reporter continued to give the facts, most of which were not really known to her beyond what she had already said. In addition, she mentioned that Elena had been one of the people killed when an "explosion" of some sort had occurred at a wedding. One thing she did not know about was that there had been a headless body, Kai's, at the wedding site and that Damon had seen to it that both body and head were gone, buried, but not together. The reporter also did not know that he had saved the critically wounded Bonnie with his blood, and now she was missing.

He changed the television station to a game show and reduced the volume. None of them wanted to hear about their dead or missing friends.

Damon's phone buzzed and he took it from his pocket.

"Enzo, where are you?" he demanded.

"Why the hell should I tell you, mate? And why did you try to get in touch with me?"

"Elena's body is missing from her coffin. Do you know anything about that?"

"I'm not into bodysnatching."

"Did my mother take it?"

"Your mother is only interested in her friends. She's in Charlottesville where they are."

"Is Aaron Whitmore alive?"

Enzo hesitated to answer for a brief second. "I don't know. You broke the kid's neck, as I recall. As a human, he ought to be dead. It's very hard for humans to breath with a severed spinal cord. I don't have to tell you that."

"I have my doubts about you, Enzo. I think you did something to save Aaron. You knew I as going to kill him. Why would you do that?"

"Why, indeed? The Whitmores caused me years of suffering. Don't look to me for the answers to this mystery, mate. Bye, Damon." He hung up.

The others in the room had heard both sides of the conversation because Enzo had been speaking rather forcefully. They were not surprised by Damon's swearing at the silenced phone.

"Do you believe him?" Elijah asked.

"No! I don't trust Enzo an inch. I think he knows something, including that Aaron is alive. And just because Mother is now in Charlottesville, that doesn't mean she was not here earlier."

"But why would she be?" Caroline asked. "As Enzo said, she has nothing to do with Elena."

"It would take a witch to open the mausoleum door. Bonnie or Mother," Stefan reasoned.

"What about Jo's younger sister Liv?" Caroline asked. "The surviving twin?" Of the two sets of twins, Kai had killed two individuals so that he survived as the strongest, except that Damon then beheaded him. The girl barely counted anymore, if she was still alive.

"I don't know where she is now," Stefan admitted. "Not since the disaster at the wedding."

The group drank and talked until Mrs. Flowers had dinner almost ready. Caroline went to the kitchen to help. Then the group gathered at the dining room table. Elijah did not sit until Mrs. Flowers was ready to join them. Like the old-fashioned gentleman that he was, he held her chair for her as she sat and then took his own seat. Caroline, the only other woman there, had already plunked herself down, not thinking about anyone seating her. The gathering then enjoyed the meal as much as they could while worrying about the missing Elena.

"The more I think about Aaron, the more I wonder if he is the one we should be concentrating on," Damon said at one point.

"If he is alive and if he is in the area," Stefan pointed out.

"If he is, where would he be likely to go?" Elijah asked after touching a napkin to his lips and then returning it to his lap.

"The Whitmore mansion is near the Whitmore College. Almost on campus," Damon said. "Believe me, I know that place. At least the basement of it."

"Some of the classes are held in the house now, since no one is actually living there," Caroline said. "There's been talk of using some of the rooms upstairs as dorm rooms, but there's some legal issues."

"I wonder who owns the house now," Damon said.

"It's part of the Whitmore estate and is tied to the college," Alaric said.

"I'll bet the basement is locked up tight," Damon said with a snort. "That's where the cells and lab for experiments are."

Although Damon had initially kept secret the fact that he had been a captive of the "mad" scientists many years past, after his more recent capture and escape – and the reappearance of Enzo, whom he thought had died – the truth had come out to Stefan, Elena, Caroline and a few others.

"Would it not be wise to explore the Whitmore basement?" Elijah asked. "It would make a secure refuge for someone like Aaron, if he is the antagonist in this mystery?"

"It would," Damon agreed. "Not only that, but Dr. Maxfield had a lab right here in Mystic Falls. It's in the basement of the old office Elena's doctor father owned. Turned out Dr. Gilbert had done some experiments, too."

"To find a cure for some diseases," Stefan pointed out. "Using vampire blood."

"Even though your blood couldn't stop your mother's cancer, Caroline, I know of a couple of cases where the blood controlled the cancer, held it in check," Damon said to the blonde girl. "Dr. Gilbert had one of those patients and was convinced that vampire blood held the cure for cancer."

"I know. That girl was roommate to Elena and me. Until she was killed, that is."

"Uh huh. By Enzo," Damon said with a smirk. "Maxfield made him do it."

"I have heard of some successes," Elijah added, nodding. "Control, rather than cure, unless the person chose to become a vampire."

"Alright. After we finish eating, I want to go check out Dr. Gilbert's old office," Damon decided. "Elena could be resting practically under our noses, so to speak."

A/N I hope you all liked this chapter. More to come. Feel free to comment. I love to hear what you think of the story, unless you hate it.