Chapter 12: Families…
That night the dining room of the underused motel in the outskirts of the town was abuzz with noise. Tracy Fell was typing furiously on her laptop whilst chatting with Stephenie and Elliott was near them helping with the "who-what-when" board. Jeffrey Lockwood and Joseph Salvatore were pouring over legal documents when Charlie walked in setting his cell phone and placing the takeout on the table. Everyone reached for the Chinese boxes and sodas
"What did you find out?"
Tracy grinned like the Cheshire cat making everyone put their food down.
"Only that whoever the killer is, has massacred half the city. There are missing person's reports on at least twenty people that were last seen here"
"Nice job"
Jeffrey commented before adding his own findings.
"Also the properties in this town change hands faster than a monopoly round"
he said talking around a bite of burger making the others flinch at his rudeness. Joseph ignored the younger man and finished.
"however most of the deeds in the town belong to dead people thus allowing free entrance to pretty much everyone"
Charlie nodded taking the findings in stride.
"and on the suspect pool?"
Stephenie took a sip of her soda gathering her thoughts before changing the subject.
"I spoke with Alaric Saltzman today. He literally brushed me off but he also made it quite clear that Jeremy isn't allowed back at his house. He was very fidgeting so I made a little research for him and spoke with his previous bosses and landlord. Nothing out of the ordinary but he gives me a bad feeling"
she finished.
"I looked into Aunt Carol. She is squeaky clean besides the fact that she took over as mayor without any sort of voting or election. she was seen having late nights out with a proclaimed writer named Elijah something but he was gone too. until last night when he was driving out of Mystic"
"alright Jeff"
Charlie responded studying the collage on one of the walls where the suspect pool was gathered.
"what about the Salvatore brothers?"
Joseph stood and neared the younger man attaching a picture of Stefan and Damon on the wall.
"according to family lore they're vampires changed back in 1864 during the big sweep. one of them killed their father and soon after they fled. the boarding house and all family property in the states passes from one descendant to the other and a branch of the family tree lives only to keep the property in line for when the brothers return which they do every thirty or forty years. They came back last year and shortly after my son went missing. One of them killed him"
Elliott leaned back in his chair
"I know what officially happened to my brother so I took another look at his body today. the report signed by dr. Fell was correct"
no one missed the disgusted twist on Tracy's lips but she motioned to Elliott to finish
"Bill died by a heart failure, officially. His body agrees with it except we know that he was transitioning to a vampire because he stabbed shortly after dr. fell injected him with vampire blood. Identical findings had both Sarah Franks and her husband Ian Franks. Both died by a stab wound at nearly the same time only they were half the town apart. neither had vampire blood in their system only traces of vervain"
Tracy cleared her throat
"First of all Dr. Fell doesn't exist. Meredith Bramer was grew up in Maryland and married Logan Fell on their first semester of college and divorced only a couple months afterwards. Her degree is one of a nurse, not a doctor"
she finished. Everyone blinked almost at once which was rather comical before the questions started falling like rain.
"Then why does she wear a doctor's nametag?"
"Let's not forget the first victim was allegedly her high school prom date from Mystic High"
"Where does she find the vampire blood?"
next morning Bella found herself glaring at the coffee machine that kept teasing her with the smell of the delicious coffee and yet produced said at snail pace. She had been woken up various times last night usually by a howling wolf. She would have been scared if she wasn't very much aware that the sound was accompanied by moans in the bedroom right next to hers.
"good morning"
bright eyed Caroline entered the kitchen dressed in the same t-shirt Tyler wore the previous day at school. Bella squinted at her glowing cousin.
"aoooo"
she mock-howled at Caroline who immediately became beet red.
"you heard that?"
"along with the rest of the town"
Bella deadpanned. Caroline shuffled her naked feet
"Well.. he's a wolf! its sort of... natural"
Bella raised an eyebrow concealing her smile enjoying the way her cousin was squirming
"I burst laughing the first time it happened!"
at that Bella couldn't help herself and burst laughing leaning against the counter for support as the two girls were laughing together.
"morning everyone"
a sleepy Tyler padded to the kitchen
"Tyler this is my cousin Bella"
Caroline said with a bright smile. a round smiles were used as greetings just as the ancient and huge coffeemaker spluttered the rest coffee. Caroline took the mugs out while Bella poured coffee for everyone. with a raised brow at Tyler Bella motioned to the last blood bottle and Caroline nodded grabbing 3 glasses and filled them with blood.
"I thought you're a wolf"
Bella asked casually feeling her skin harden at the taste of blood.
"Hybrid actually"
he said around a mouthful of blood.
"Klaus changed him"
Caroline's lips formed a grimace around the name. she nodded not wanting the uplifted atmosphere to dampen. When they were done Caroline washed the glasses quickly and made a note to get more blood. as the three supernatural were chatting a fast heartbeat came closer.
"who are you?"
Charlie in pajama pants, white t-shirt and hair all over the place was pointing a gun straight at Tyler. Tyler's eyes became wide as saucers, he didn't know Liz had a boyfriend.
"he's my boyfriend uncle Charlie"
Caroline put all the niceness she could as she approached them. Charlie's lips became a thin line
"boyfriend?"
Caroline and Tyler nodded fast as Bella howled under her breath silently cheering for the fact that Charlie never knew Edward would sneak into her room at nights. Caroline glared at her cousin concealing a smile at the dead-on howl
"what are you doing here boyfriend? In your boxers no less"
Charlie lowered his gun, smirking internally at the silence and panicked looks of both Caroline and Tyler. Finally Bella had enough
"he stayed here dad, obviously"
"I thought I heard... things... last night"
Bella snickered as Caroline blushed. Tyler looked more like a deer caught in the headlights instead of the big bad wolf he was supposed to be.
"Get dressed son. NOW"
Tyler scrambled out of the room.
"what's going on here?"
Liz asked coming inside the room after having seen Tyler sprint to Caroline's room dressed in polka dot boxers.
"Tyler slept over"
Caroline shuffled her feet, feeling like a little girl.
"so?"
Liz wondered what the whole mess was about
"what do u mean 'so'?"
"he is her boyfriend Charlie, breath, relax"
Liz said laughing at her brother's bewildered expression. Bella was cautiously silent. Caroline looked pardoned sitting next to her cousin.
"we got to set some rules around here..."
"What was that howling sound anyways?"
Charlie and Liz conceded at the same time making everyone else in the house laugh their butts off.
