A/N: Thank you all so much for reading. I don't have any witty words before this chapter. Enjoy. :)
If you suppress grief too much, it can well redouble. -Moliere
"I'm going to find her, Liz," Stefan tried to sound reassuring as he looked over at the Sheriff who was standing in the Forbes' kitchen. She usually stood with so much inner strength, a small beacon of stability in the Mystic Falls community. However, after Caroline hadn't returned, finding her daughter's broken cellphone, and Klaus not being any help, she looked haggard and the worry was etched into all of her features. It was there in the way she held her mug, hands shaking ever so slightly. It was in the way her gaze darted to the door at any little sound, hoping it was her daughter walking through the door.
"Maybe she decided to go with Tyler," Liz started, nodding along to herself, unsure whether she should be hopeful or not for that scenario. As long as Caroline was safe, that was all that really mattered.
Stefan knew that wasn't a possibility though, not with what Klaus had threatened if she had done so. Caroline would never have risked her mother's life like that, of that much Stefan was certain. There had to be another explanation and he had a feeling that Klaus knew a hell of a lot more than he had been letting on. That man only ever gave what little truth he needed to if he didn't want to give away some part of his larger game. So he didn't doubt that Klaus hadn't seen Caroline, but that didn't mean that the Hybrid didn't know her location.
He just needed to figure out where the hell Klaus was and then maybe he could be led to where Caroline was at; hopefully without getting his heart torn out in the process.
Liz' cell beeped and she sighed, pulling it out and looking down at the text alert. "I have to get in the office. There's strange activity down by the lake," she told Stefan, setting down her full cup of coffee. "Keep me updated on Caroline."
Stefan nodded, brow furrowing at the lake comment. The others should be there and he had a feeling he should head over that way and let them know about Caroline's disappearance. Maybe Bonnie could use a locator spell to find her. "I'll let you know as soon as I know anything," he promised, offering up another reassuring smile as Liz headed to the door.
He waited until she was at her cruiser before flashing off in the direction of the Gilbert lake house. The smell of smoke and burning wood got stronger the closer he came to it and his eyes widened as he arrived, taking in the house that was nearly engulfed in flames. Matt and Jeremy's vehicles were still in the driveway but he didn't see Damon's or Bonnie's anywhere. He couldn't hear any heartbeats and Stefan didn't know what to think of that.
There was a flash to his right, someone arriving to stand beside him and Stefan swerved, ready to defend himself when he saw Damon. "What the hell happened?" Stefan demanded, motioning toward the house.
"That's not even the worst of it," Damon replied, nodding toward the back before flashing away.
Stefan followed him, nearly stumbling over his own feet as he stopped short of Jeremy's body. He spotted Matt off a few feet to the right and caught the smell of gunshot in the air. "Shot, couple of times," Damon told him before nudging Jeremy's body with his foot. "Even cut off his damn hand."
No hand meant no ring and no ring meant no miracle saves. Not this time. Though a gunshot would have meant death anyway for the young Gilbert. The ring only protected from supernatural deaths and a gunshot was definitely not one of those. "Shane's dead too," Damon continued, looking back at the burning house. "Didn't see him do it but my money is on Klaus for that one." He shook his head. "Should've seen what he did to him. Would have probably made Ripper you proud."
Stefan shot him a glare but didn't bother replying to that. The sound of sirens could be heard in the distance and no doubt the fire department and Sheriff Forbes were on their way. "We need to get them out of here now. Cars too," Damon told him, already hauling Jeremy up. "You get Donovan."
"What are we telling Elena?" Stefan asked, and he watched Damon pause for a moment, saw the tension in his brother's shoulders, could almost feel the despair coming off of him with knowing what that would do to the girl they both loved.
"Just get him into the car," Damon replied before heading off.
Stefan watched him for a moment, before looking back down at Matt's body. He could remember the last time he'd spoken to him at the bar, that easy going laugh that the guy had after a life of hardship. Matt Donovan would never get out of Mystic Falls now, would never know what else the world had to offer him. He was dead and that was a tragedy. Same with Jeremy and while the younger Gilbert had died a few times and been brought back, the fact that there was no second chance again hit Stefan hard. He could only imagine how it would affect Elena.
The nearing sound of sirens spurred him into action to retrieve Matt's body and get him into his truck. Shane was dead, the one who could have led them to the cure. Jeremy was dead, also able to do that with his growing tattoo. Matt…he couldn't think of a reason for the Quarterback to have been killed. There wasn't anything special that the kid could have done. Was it a case of wrong place, wrong time? Or had Klaus done this as well? Guns weren't really the guy's M.O. but Stefan knew he wouldn't have killed Jeremy with his own two hands anyway, not with the consequences that went along with killing a Hunter.
As he placed Matt into the back of his truck, watching Damon drive Jeremy's car away from the lake house, Stefan thought of Caroline. Was she out there dead somewhere? He'd been so sure Klaus wouldn't kill her, but looking at the burning house, at the dead boy in the truck, he wasn't so sure any more.
Backing the truck up and heading away from the house, passing Liz' cruiser and the fire truck that was headed toward the burning building, Stefan let out a heavy sigh, hoping that when he did find Caroline that she was alive. He didn't think he would ever forgive himself if she wasn't.
Bonnie sat on the middle of the bed in one of the rooms of the Salvatore boarding house, legs crossed and eyes closed as she tried to concentrate. Her mind was a mess, clouded by her own thoughts and feelings and she needed to clear it, wanted to try and work on some of the spells Shane had been working on with her. Nothing seemed to help though. Her attention was everywhere and she couldn't even bring the candles in the room to light.
Each passing moment furthered her frustration, building up inside of her until she felt as though she was ready to explode. Hanging around and waiting for Damon to return wasn't helping her any. She needed to get out of the house, needed to do something to carry on what Shane had been teaching her. The goal of finding the cure had only intensified with his death and she wasn't about to sit around and wait for someone else to tell her what to do. Too often she had let others lead her and where had that gotten any of them?
She had relied on the spirits who had all abandoned her when they didn't like what she had done, relied on Shane who had unwittingly done the same, her mother who had left and started a new life without her and couldn't even stick around when given a second chance. It was time to rely on herself and learn what she needed to do in order to help her friends, to fix the chaos that had become their world.
Part of her couldn't help but want to feel her grandmother again, wanted to have her presence there to help guide her, but she was cut off from the woman. The spirits had taken her away, had caused her Grams so much pain, and she had felt it, watched her grandmother be pulled away to endure horrors she didn't even know of.
Because of Klaus.
It always seemed to come back to the vampires.
That alone spurred her into action and she pushed herself off the bed and headed out of the room. She needed to get to Whitmore, needed to find what she could from Shane's office and then head to his apartment and gather information. He had to have kept some kind of record of his travels, something to tell her the next step aside from just getting Jeremy to kill more vampires. Maybe she could get him to start up again with Damon and break Elena from the damn sire bond.
Bonnie headed out of the room and toward the front door, unsurprised when Elena appeared in front of her. "What are you doing?" Elena asked, blocking the doorway. "We're supposed to stay here until Damon gets back."
"I'm done listening to Damon Salvatore," Bonnie replied, narrowing her eyes at the thought. Listening to Damon hadn't ever ended well for her. He was the reason her mother was a vampire.
"He just wants us safe. He's getting rid of the evidence," Elena told her, nodding along as she talked, and Bonnie shook her head, hating that her friend seemed to truly believe that of the vampire.
"Shane is not evidence!" Bonnie yelled, and the lights flickered behind them. She balled her fists at her side, trying to reel in the magic she hadn't been able to tap into earlier.
"The men…they are," Elena told her and Bonnie faltered for a moment, remembering that she had killed the construction workers.
Guilt should have been enveloping her, it should have been bringing her to her knees over what she had done, but she didn't feel any. There was only dissatisfaction that it hadn't worked. Doing so had failed to bring Shane back. She had failed to bring him back. Her mind wrestled with the implications, a small part of her shouting to think of the men's families, of all they had lost, but it was quickly pushed aside and drowned out by the louder part egging her on to do better.
Bonnie stepped toward the door again, but Elena followed, trying to get her to stay. "You can't leave," Elena protested and something about the way her friend said it had Bonnie thinking that Elena might actually try and stop her.
"Yes I can." Bonnie didn't move a muscle, her anger and frustration finally boiling over and seeming to power her newfound magic. She stared hard at her friend, watching Elena's knees buckle as she forced her to the ground. She ignored her friend's gasps, pinning her in place as she walked past her.
"Bonnie, don't go," Elena pleaded as she hissed in pain.
"I'm doing this for you," Bonnie murmured as she opened the door.
"Where are you going?" Elena asked, clawing at her own skin because of the pain that was throbbing through her body.
Bonnie didn't answer, keeping her hold on Elena, pinning her to the ground as she headed toward her car. She could hear her friend calling for her, pleading for her to come back, but she ignored it all, her focus absolute and unwavering. It wasn't until the car was halfway down the drive that she released Elena, listening to her friend scream for her one last time.
She knew Elena wouldn't follow. The sire bond wouldn't let her, and that alone affirmed in Bonnie's mind that what she was going to do was the right thing. Elena would thank her in the end. She was going to get them their lives back.
It was hard to feign disinterest when she was in a city she'd only ever read about or seen in movies and on television, and was now currently being ushered through. She tried to take in bits and pieces of the architecture as she was tugged along, hearing pieces of music creep out of this door and that one, laughter rippling down on alley that led to somewhere that even more music and mirth seemed to lead to.
Caroline tried to sneak a look down it, to take in the vibrant colors, but Kol's grip on her arm was relentless and he pulled her along, quick enough that she didn't see much aside from flashes of color. She waited for someone to notice that they were moving too quickly, but it seemed those they flashed by only noticed a quick breeze, looked over their shoulders for where it might have come from, and then shook it off and continued to walk toward their own destinations.
She had tried to wrench her arm free earlier on but his strength far surpassed her own and it seemed she had been right in her earlier assessment. She wasn't free to leave just yet, even if Klaus had apparently done whatever Kol had wanted. Caroline narrowed her eyes at the back of Kol's head. She was so damn tired of being someone else' pawn.
Her steps faltered as the smell of blood hit her, unable to keep back her fangs after having gone without for nearly two days. Kol stopped flashing them, turning back to her with a curious look that turned into a full blown smile. She didn't like it at all, that mocking quality she didn't think would ever leave him coming into play again.
"Hungry?" he asked, and she narrowed her eyes at him as she forced her body to regain control.
"No," Caroline snapped, gaze flicking to the man across the street who had accidentally sliced open his hand while cutting fruit. A woman was wrapping it up and saying something to him in a language that she didn't know, but she had a feeling from the woman's body language that she was chastising the man.
"Oh come now, darling," Kol urged, nodding toward him. "I think he'd make a marvelous little snack for you."
Caroline yanked at her arm, trying to get out of his grip again. "No? Shall we look for someone else? Are you in the mood for a male or a female today? Any particular preference on age? A hair color you prefer? Some vampires can be so particular in what they pick," Kol mused, and she hated the lilting tone as he started them moving again. "Or are you fonder of a specific blood type? They do taste a little different, don't they?"
Caroline refused to reply, mentally trying to remember all the details for the prom committee. How many chairs? What were the food preferences? Color scheme…what was it again? The little mundane details helped stave off the hunger she knew would become a problem if she didn't satiate it soon. Maybe she could compel herself a rare steak, anything but what Kol was trying to tempt her to do.
They had stopped again and Caroline waited for more taunting, but Kol released his grip on her and nudged her toward the door. "No eating anyone in here, Caroline," he told her as he opened the door, pushing her inside and closing it behind them. "We need them alive."
She didn't really understand why he had been in such a hurry to get to a tourist shop. That was where he had sped them along to, a tiny store situated among others that sold little trinkets for tourists. Tiny shot glasses, t-shirts about the city, Mardi Gras, and various other events and locations that attracted out of towners to enjoy. Not that she could knock any of it. She kind of really wanted a shot glass and a t-shirt to prove the fact that she had stepped foot in the city.
Maybe she could compel herself one…
Caroline watched as an older woman stepped out from the back of the store; head down as she headed into the room with an armful of new shirts to put out on display. "Two for fifteen dollars on shirts or one for ten," she chirped, before finally looking up at them.
Her eyes widened and for a moment Caroline wasn't sure if it was out of fear or astonishment, but the smile that seemed to envelop the woman's body, cheer just erupting out of her as she dropped the shirts, confirmed the latter. "Kol Mikaelson," the woman greeted, shaking her head as she stepped forward, pulling the Original into a hug.
Caroline watched the entire encounter between the two, trying to figure out what was happening, highly interested in the fact that this woman not only seemed to know who Kol was but was also happy to see him. The fact that Kol had been daggered for a century meant…
Witch. She had to be a witch.
"See you got the dagger out of you," the woman continued as she pulled back, finally glancing over at Caroline. She really didn't like the distaste the woman seemed to direct at her as she was looked over. "New groupie?"
"As if," Caroline scoffed, crossing her arms in annoyance. The witch's assessment of her seemed to change in that instance, nodding approvingly.
"Caroline, this is Zelda, an old, powerful friend," Kol introduced as he leaned back against one of the tables. "Zelda, this is Caroline. She's Klaus'."
"Excuse you," Caroline bristled, really not liking that being her definition. "I most certainly am not your brothers." Not now. Not ever.
"Quiet, darling. We can discuss your delusions later," Kol chided, and she balled her fists at her sides, resisting the urge to whack him. "We need to talk." The door opened and a group of tourists entered, pointing animatedly at some trinkets they wanted to purchase. "Privately."
"And here I thought you were visiting because you missed my charm." Zelda arched a brow at him but nodded toward the back of the store. "Let me deal with this group and then we can talk."
Kol reached to grab Caroline's arm again but she deliberately side stepped him, heading around one of the other tables out of his reach. She headed back toward the door Zelda had pointed out to them though. Running still wasn't an option for her. Plus she was kind of curious as to what Kol wanted to talk about with a witch, one powerful enough to keep herself from significantly aging for over a century.
"Not one for cages, are you?" Kol mused as he followed her into the back room that seemed to serve as storage and an office. Caroline noted that there was another door at the back of the room and wondered where it led.
She didn't bother answering Kol's question and hoped Zelda wouldn't take too long to join them. It'd be so damn nice to speak to someone else, to simply hear someone else's voice after being cooped up with Kol for so many hours. "I don't like being ignored," Kol informed her, and she heard tension in his voice, the threat behind his words.
"No, I'm not," Caroline snapped, looking up at him as she sat down on one of the chairs. She had been in a car for freaking ever and forced to wander all over New Orleans with him. Her niceness meter was shot.
Thankfully, he seemed to only be amused by her anger. "Your annoyance is much like my sister's," Kol told her, and Caroline snorted at that, really not in the mood to be compared to the Original girl. "She always enjoys throwing things at me when she's in a mood." All genialness disappeared as he caught her gaze with his own, his expression hardening. "Do you know where she is? She hasn't answered her phone in ages."
Caroline shook her head. She didn't even have to lie this time. She had no clue about Rebekah's whereabouts. "I haven't seen her in a while. She was hanging out with April Young back home. She might know."
Kol nodded and looked away, body still rigidly tense but he leaned against the wall as they waited for Zelda to finish up her own business. Usually Caroline was all for trying to fill up silences, but for once she was happy to let one ride out for as long as possible between her and Kol.
Zelda entered a minute later, ushering the two of them to the other door and into a different room. There were couches set up around the fireplace, a desk off to the side and a bookshelf full of what looked to be very old novels. There were cabinets as well to one side, their doors closed and Caroline idly wondered what was inside of them as she sat down on one of the couches, waiting to see why Kol had wanted to see the witch. Gathering as much information as possible was important because one way or another she was going to get out of the Original's grasp, away from Klaus too if he actually showed up, and head back to her friends. Caroline meant to be able to fill them in on everything important when she did so.
As soon as the door closed, Caroline watched Kol falter, stumbling to the ground. His face contorted in pain, body stiffening as if he was being barraged by some power she couldn't see. She glanced over at the witch, unsure whether or not to be pleased with the current circumstances. She wasn't experiencing any pain herself and that had to be a plus, right?
"No bullshit, Kol. Why the hell are you darkening my doorstep again?" Zelda demanded, and Caroline swallowed hard at the cold look the woman directed her way.
"Oh come now, Zee," Kol started, voice as cheerful as it could get as he winced at the pain, trying to keep from falling further down as he kneeled at the witch's mercy.
Zelda twisted her hand and Kol cried out at the movement, body seeming to bend under an enormous weight. "Answer the question."
"Someone is hell-bent on raising Silas," Kol bit out, and just like that the witch stopped her movements, releasing Kol from the hold she had over him. He was up in a second, grabbing onto the witch and pushing her against the nearest wall. "I do not appreciate the welcome."
Caroline watched as his vampire features appeared, fangs elongating and she could smell the older woman's fear then, the tension in the room heightening tenfold. Kol tapped the witch on the nose, tsking at her before he stepped back, releasing his hold and walked over to join Caroline on the couch, his face smoothing back to normal. "And here I thought we were friends," Kol chided, leaning back and smiling brightly at Zelda who was massaging her neck.
"Tell me about Silas," Zelda replied, ignoring everything else he had said as she headed to the bookshelf, removing a few volumes and spreading them out on the desk.
"Seems people are trying to raise him again. A professor already located where he's being held," Kol informed her, and Caroline watched the woman suck in a breath at that. The tension in the woman's shoulders seemed to heighten as she turned back toward them.
"The Professor located him?" Zelda asked, flipping through one of the books for a moment before peering over at them for a moment. "You're certain?"
"Yes," Kol nodded. "He said he already knew how to get there. Had been there before. He was pretty happy about that."
"Then it's already started," Zelda sighed, closing the volume she had been looking at and leaned heavily against the table. She seemed to have aged significantly in that moment, her appearance growing haggard, exhausted, the vibrancy she'd been showing earlier in the shop disappearing completely.
"What?" Kol snapped, rising from the couch. Caroline tensed at the anger that was radiating off of him. Whatever he'd wanted to hear it definitely hadn't been that. Though, she'd really like it if they would actually start making some sense in what they were saying to one another. Who the hell cared if this Silas guy woke up?! Wasn't the cure the objective?
"He's already waking," Zelda slammed a hand against the desk, her frustration growing and she turned fully to look at them. "Silas has been since that man stepped foot there and made contact. If he hadn't he never would have made it away alive. The magic that surrounds that place would have driven him mad and he'd have wasted away to nothing. Never able to reveal his secrets to anyone else."
"Okay, time out," Caroline interrupted, needing to be brought up to speed before everything got entirely too confusing. "Who the hell is Silas and why does it matter so much if he's woken up? I thought that the whole point was the stupid cure?"
"World's first immortal, darling. Try to keep up," Kol replied, and she scowled at him.
"Yeah, they so don't go around just teaching that at school so if we could roll back a step and actually explain that'd be great," she snapped, her annoyance growing and forgetting that it probably wasn't a good idea to antagonize the monster before her.
Thankfully Kol simply laughed. "I know the whole Qetsiyah and that part because of Bonnie and Shane, but not getting why some myth is such a big deal," Caroline continued.
"You're a myth," Zelda pointed out with a small smile. Caroline didn't like how condescending she found it. "We both are really. I'm a witch who's over one hundred years old and you're a vampire. To most we're fairytales, little stories told to children to entice them, scare them, but we're real. Just as Silas is real."
"Okay, I can accept that but why are you two making it sound like end of the world or something if this guy wakes up?" Caroline asked, leaning forward as she tried to grasp that much.
"Because it will be," Kol replied with a shrug. "End of the world as we know it. He's supposed to end up destroying it if he's awoken and I quite like the world. Would like to destroy it on my own terms. Watch a little of it burn here. Let it regrow while I topple something else and revisit the place I smashed to pieces later on. Can't really do that if it's destroyed completely."
"Nice priorities you have there," Caroline muttered before looking back at Zelda. "So how is he supposed to destroy the world?"
"By waking and destroying the Other Side," Zelda replied as she sat down on one of the chairs. "He thinks doing so will allow him to take the cure, become mortal and pass on to where his true love waits. Unfortunately he's a witch. He'll always be supernatural. There is no getting rid of that from his blood. So even if he destroys the Other Side he won't reunite with her."
Caroline frowned. "Well, why not? Like if there's no Other Side then why wouldn't we just…go elsewhere?" They had to go somewhere didn't they?
"It was destroyed in the making of the Other Side. Qetsiyah didn't quite think that one through," Zelda spat, her eyes narrowing and Caroline had a feeling the other woman wasn't a big fan of the former witch. "We won't ever die. We will forever stay on this world." Zelda leaned forward, locking her gaze with Caroline's. "How long before the human population is demolished? With those who need to feed on them? Those wanting to use their sacrifices to grant them more power? Silas raging at being thwarted from reuniting with his one true love all over again? Everyone who's ever died will come back. A huge upset in the balance of nature. Too many witches, werewolves and vampires roaming around. It'd be pure chaos. And the humans would be collateral. This world would become nothing but a wasteland of chaos and carnage."
Caroline swallowed and leaned back against the couch, the scenario playing over in her mind. She couldn't even contemplate what that would be like. There were some pluses to it, being able to see people like Jenna again. Even Alaric…but would he be the Alaric that she had been able to call friend or the one who had tortured her? What about the wolves who had tortured her and she knew had met grizzly ends, the Hybrids, witches, and other vampires who had died? It would be a giant mess and one that would never end.
What about her mom? Her utterly human mother who had brushed death too many times for Caroline's liking. She had a feeling that would only increase if the Other Side was destroyed.
"I see you're contemplating the severity of such a thing ever coming to pass," Zelda murmured, and Caroline snapped back to reality, looking over at the woman and then at Kol who was also lost in thought.
"We should be alright," Kol started, leaning against the desk. "Klaus disposed of Shane, got someone else to kill the Hunter. We're good to go."
Caroline froze at his words. She'd known Shane was dead but Hunter….that meant… "Oh my god, he killed Jeremy?" But he couldn't have, Klaus wouldn't have because of the curse…but if he'd had someone else to do it…
Kol shrugged, not even sparing her a glance. "Pity, I did find Jeremy to be rather amusing. Would have made a fun companion for a while."
Elena. She needed to talk to Elena and Bonnie. Oh god. Jeremy couldn't be dead. The last person in her best friend's family. Caroline wasn't sure that Elena could handle that, especially not with her emotions being so severely heightened.
"So how do we stop him from rising?" Caroline asked, trying to keep her stomach from churning at the thought of poor Jeremy, of how devastated Elena probably was because of her brother's death.
"You need to find the cult," Zelda surmised, rising and moving back to the bookshelf.
"I killed them all, remember?" Kol reminded, sounding entirely too proud of himself. "Slaughtered the whole lot and their families, distant cousins as well to be on the safe side."
"They'll have started again. You need to find them and blot out their existence," she pulled down another few books, putting them onto the table. "I knew Valerie was up to something."
"Valerie?" Caroline asked, not entirely sure who Zelda was referring to as she murmured to herself.
"A witch I knew. Not all that crafty with spells and suddenly back in 1942 she had a significant spike in power and started dabbling in matters she never should have messed with," Zelda muttered, slamming one book down. "She disappeared a few years back but her daughter is still around—Nandi. She might know her mother's whereabouts."
"I'll be sure to have a chat with her later," Kol replied, and Caroline cringed at the way he said chat.
"You will leave her alive when you're done with her," Zelda told him, and Kol didn't reply, just smiled brightly. From the dark look in his eyes, Caroline didn't think he'd be following that directive.
"You need to find Sanai and her Coven. They know how to destroy Silas once the cure has been jammed down his throat. They'll have the power to take him down," Zelda finished, pulling an old, discolored paper out of one book. "They won't be easy to find and I do not know if they would trust the likes of you anyway. Though, I'm certain they know you did kill the first lot of the cult. That may give you some leeway, but they're not very fond of vampires."
"I knew a Sanai," Kol replied, an almost wistful tone to his voice. "She was from a tiny little place in Africa. Don't know what it's called now. All those changing boundaries and names with all of that conquering."
Zelda shrugged, handing him the paper. "But anyway, find the coven, jam cure down his throat. Sounds doable," Kol continued, opening up the paper and Caroline strained to see it, frowning at the words in a language she didn't know.
"For now," Zelda sighed, sitting down again. "We'll see how long it takes his darkness to filter through the world and place as many obstacles between you and your goal. Did Klaus kill the witch?"
Caroline bit her lip, not liking the question. What witch? Were they talking about back home because there was really only one witch in Mystic Falls and she couldn't handle her friend being dead as well. It wasn't allowed.
"Witch?" Kol asked, motioning for Zelda to continue.
"If he found a Hunter than he'd have needed a powerful witch as well. One who was being tutored in expression," Zelda replied, and Caroline's insides froze at the word. Any hope that the woman hadn't meant Bonnie died with mention of that magic. Wasn't that what Shane had been teaching Bonnie? She knew she hadn't liked that man. "The witch needs to die as well. Did he already do that?"
The door opened and Caroline didn't even need to turn around to know who was standing in the threshold. His presence was like a cloud that seemed to envelope her in darkness whenever he was nearby and this time was no different.
"No, but I can," Klaus stated, stepping into the room.
Caroline didn't even think, her own safety be damned, as she rose from the couch, grabbing onto the tableside lamp next to her. She lunged, wanting nothing more than to hit Klaus with the object, to stop him from fulfilling what he said he'd do. She heard Zelda suck in a breath, the woman's fear becoming more prominent, while Kol laughed, merrily and grating on her nerves, as Caroline tried to strike Klaus. He was too quick, easily catching her arms and relieving her of the lamp while simultaneously smashing her body against him, locking her in place so she couldn't do any damage.
"Lovely to see you too, sweetheart."
Stefan parked Matt's truck behind the other car, watching as Damon got out and headed toward the house. It looked like they weren't worrying about the bodies just yet. He couldn't even remember what had happened to Matt's mom and Jeremy's only family was inside the house, no clue what had happened to her little brother. He leaned forward against the steering wheel, trying to steel himself for what was going to happen, for Elena's reaction to losing Jeremy and Matt in one swoop.
With a heavy sigh, he got out of the car and headed toward the house, not at all surprised when his phone rang. He fished it out of his pocket as he continued toward the house, noting Liz' name on the screen. "I'm guessing you're at the lake house," he started, stopping at the doorway, not quite going past the threshold.
Was he supposed to be there for this moment between Elena and Damon? He wanted to offer her comfort, but considering where things stood between the two of them he wasn't sure Elena would welcome or need it. Though he wasn't all that sure that Damon knew exactly how to offer comfort either.
"What the hell happened here?" Liz asked, and he could hear the voices in the background. Firefighters trying to put out the flames, lookieloos hanging around to see what was happening. "Tell me all of you are safe, Stefan."
He didn't answer right away and heard Liz suck in a breath at that, immediately realizing her greatest fear. "It was Jeremy and Matt. Damon and I got their bodies out of there," he told her, leaning against the door frame as he watched Damon catch Elena who dropped to her knees at the news.
Stefan shut his eyes, each sob tearing at his heart, twisting inside of him like a bullet. "I think it was Klaus," he continued, stepping outside to give Elena and Damon some space.
"Why would he burn down the house?" Liz asked, and he could hear the worry in her voice, that underlying tone wondering about her daughter, the fear really sinking in about Caroline's own whereabouts.
"Maybe to force them outside. They were shot," Stefan told her, closing his eyes as Elena's cries got louder, the words she was shouting, pleading with Damon to tell her that it wasn't true. "Klaus couldn't kill Jeremy with his own hands. Not with what it would do to him now. He'd have needed to get others to do it for him."
"You're telling me that one of the people standing here watching this house go up in flames might have unknowingly killed two teenage boys?" Liz replied, blowing out a long wind of air at the idea of it.
"I'd kind of rather believe it was him for some unknown reason than we've got another crazier guy in our midst," Stefan pointed out. The idea of someone else coming into Mystic Falls to kill the two really didn't sit well with him.
"What if she was…?" Liz started, unable to finish her thought, but he knew she was referring to Caroline.
"I don't know. I don't think she was but I don't know." There was no point in lying about it, in trying to sugarcoat it for the woman. He had no idea what Klaus would or wouldn't do any longer, not with how far they had pushed the Hybrid.
"I need to get back to corralling everyone, but let me know Stefan as soon as you know anything," Liz told him, hanging up after he promised again to do just that.
Stefan turned back to the house, heading inside and braced himself for Elena's breakdown. The closer he got the louder her sobs became and the harder it was to hear them. What was supposed to help her with this? When Jenna had died she'd had Jeremy to hold onto, to live for. Same after Alaric had passed. After her parents. What was there now? He wasn't sure if he or Damon would be enough for her to want to go on living.
"Elena," Damon grabbed onto her shoulders, nudging her to look at him. "Stop crying."
Stefan narrowed his eyes as she did just that, sob catching in her throat and tears stopping as soon as he said it. "You're fine," Damon continued, his voice quieter but still urgent, tone still demanding. "Everything is going to be fine. Just go lay down."
"What the hell are you doing?" Stefan demanded as Elena nodded and got up, heading off to do as Damon had directed.
Damon rose, waving a hand at her retreating form. "Didn't you see her? She's devastated. She's going to drive herself crazy crying like that."
"She's grieving," Stefan yelled, dropping his hands in frustration as he stared disbelievingly at his brother.
"Grieving doesn't help anyone," Damon replied and turned on his heel, leaving Stefan standing alone in the room.
Stefan stared at where the two had been, could hear Elena laying down on a bed, Damon opening up the liquor cabinet. He knew there would be no talking to his brother in that moment and Elena wouldn't listen to reason either, not with the sire bond forcing her to lie down. Her mind had to be a mess, warring with itself over whether to grieve or if everything was perfectly fine as Damon had told her. He wondered what kind of damage that could do to her psyche if it kept up too long.
He pulled out his phone again and dialed Bonnie's number. He needed that locator spell done now, needed to know that Caroline was alright. "I'm busy, Stefan," Bonnie answered, and there was something off about her tone, something in it that just didn't sit right to him but he couldn't' quite place why he felt that way about it.
"Jeremy and Matt are dead, Bonnie," Stefan hastily told her before she could hang up. He heard the sharp intake of breath and knew she was still listening. But there was no crying, no scream of outrage, no emotion to the boy she cared for and a friend being dead. He didn't like it at all. "Caroline's missing and I need—"
"Don't worry," Bonnie told him, her voice eerily calm. "I'm going to fix everything."
Stefan stared down at his phone when he heard her hang up, shaking his head in disbelief. What the hell was going on and what in the world was he supposed to do next?