Chapter Three
Caroline was laying down on the ground in her cell again like she does most days when she is brought back. Waiting for the wounds to heal and for her to be able to sit up and reassure her friends that it wasn't as bad as it sounded. Even though they all know how bad it gets out there she tries to stay strong for them, give them hope that it can get better with time.
"Hey Care, how are you doing?", Elena asked sympathetically. "You didn't have to go again you know, but thanks anyway." Caroline turned her face from the ceiling giving Elena a comforting smile.
"I'm fine, really. I wanted to do it for you guys", Caroline reasoned. Stefan watched the exchange and saw how as soon as Caroline was sure Elena was fine, she turned back to the ceiling and her smile slipped off again. Everyone else sent worried glances her way but chose not to reiterate what Elena had just said. Enzo noticed the shift in the atmosphere and decided to lighten up the mood again.
"Who was next to introduce themselves then?", he urged the group.
"I'll go", Bonnie announced. "My name is Bonnie Bennett, I was turned when I was 18 in 1894. So, I have been a vampire for 115 years and I have been here since 1992."
"Hellooooo Bonbon", Damon drawled out with a wave in her direction. Bonnie rolled her eyes at the nickname which pleased Damon as he loved getting under people's skin. Elena took this as her chance to introduce herself.
"Hey guys", she said warmly to Stefan and Damon. "I'm Elena Gilbert, I have been 18 since 1794 and a vampire for 215 years. I've been in Augustine since 1939, so 70 years."
Stefan's head snapped up at 'Augustine'. "Did you just say Augustine? Is this Augustine?", he asked Elena in a hurry.
"Uhm, yeah. Does that mean something to you", she said in response to Stefan. The others were also interested by his sudden attitude.
This did mean something to Stefan. He remembered speaking to his good friend, Lexi, a few years back and she mentioned that she was investigating something called Augustine.
"My friend, Lexi, actually mentioned something about Augustine when I saw her last", he confessed. "She always said that she thought it was something bad and that a good friend of hers had went missing a while ago and she thought it had something to do with Augustine." Caroline looked up at him in surprise. Is his Lexi the same Lexi that had helped her with her bloodlust all those years ago.
"Lexi? As in Lexi Branson?", Caroline questioned Stefan.
"Yeah, do you know her?", he responded.
"She was a really close friend of mine and she helped me with my bloodlust when I first met her in the 1700s."
Stefan looked surprised at this but he knew it was in Lexi's nature to help vampires in need. As she had helped him with his bloodlust as well. "Definitely sounds like the Lexi I knew, she helped me with my bloodlust too. I'm guessing you were the close friend she was talking about then."
"I must be. She felt like a sister to me and she was one of the best people I knew", she said happily talking about her friend.
Stefan smiled as he thought back to the good times he had experienced with Lexi and was glad he had found someone else who appreciated her as much as he did. "That she was", he agreed.
"That's enough reminiscing about your old friend, Saint Stefan", Damon mused with a roll of his eyes.
Bonnie looked at Stefan with hope in her eyes. "Do you think she might find us?", she asked him.
Stefan quickly glanced at them all, seeing a newfound hope in all their eyes. "I really hope so. It's not like Lexi to back down from a fight, she always gets answers. No matter what it takes", he replied.
Caroline flashed a passionate smile at Stefan, which took his breath away for a second. "No matter what it takes", she remarked. Stefan smiled back at what she had said, giving her slight butterflies in her stomach.
"I hope this Lexi girl has some good contacts because I have no idea how someone could get 8 vampires out of this place", Rebekah commented while gesturing around her. Matt laughed at her matter-of-factness to the situation.
"Well Bex", Matt said with his eyebrows raised. "We do this thing where we believe in someone, ever done it before?"
Rebekah huffed jokingly. "No Matt, I guess I'm not familiar with the art of believing in someone."
"Not even for me?", he said while putting on puppy dog eyes.
"Nope, not even for- "
Rebekah was cut off by the sound of Damon fake gagging. "Please give it a rest, Barbie and Ken", he exclaimed smugly.
Stefan groaned. "Damon- "
"Ah, ah, ah, little brother. I just want to hear Blondie over here introduce herself too", he declared.
Caroline glared at him. "First of all, my name is not blondie. It's Caroline Forbes, thank you very much", she retorted. "I have been 17 since 1616, so a vampire for 393 years. I got brought into here in 1930 and it's been the best 79 years of my life", she finished sarcastically.
"Sounds fun. Blondie", he said smirking again. Does this guy ever not smirk, Caroline thought. Elena on the other hand liked the boyish smirk Damon wore basically all the time.
"You've been in here almost 80 years?", Stefan asked with shock written all over his face. He wondered how she managed to get through that amount of time in this depressing place.
"Yep, it's not how I wanted to spend my life but here we are", she said trying to make a joke out of it. Stefan looked at her sympathetically and felt something in his gut urge him to protect this remarkably strong blonde.
"Caroline was actually the first Augustine vampire", Enzo explained to the two brothers. "I don't think you've noticed yours yet but we all have tattoos given to us when we're brought in." Enzo showed them the back of his right shoulder where he had a tattoo of the numbers '003'. "We all have one on our shoulder which shows the order we were brought here in."
Damon looked slightly offended by this and rushed to look at his shoulder where he discovered the numbers '008' marked in his skin. "Seriously?!", he snapped exasperatedly. "I take pride in my beautifully smooth skin and they do this to me!" Everyone was shocked at this outburst and tried to contain their laughter as he began trying to wipe it off. Elena was the first to burst out laughing at his outrageous behaviour. Damon just stared at her until he couldn't help but laugh too at her infectious laugh.
Elena gave him a cheeky grin. "Truuuust me, your skin looks just fine", she said while looking him up and down, making him smirk at her yet again.
"Well, I've got one too Damon", Stefan said showing the tattoo, '007'. Caroline's eyes weren't drawn to the tattoo though, her eyes were drawn to his muscular back and shoulders. She watched them flex as he tried to see the tattoo himself. Was this guy sculpted by Greek gods, she thought. Stefan then dropped his shirt to turn around and noticed Caroline gawking at him. When he looked at her, she blushed and quickly looked away, embarrassed that he had noticed her checking out his back.
"How come you got 7 and I got 8?", Damon asked with a pout.
"Why? Do you not like 8?", Stefan replied.
"Just, we came in at the same time and I mean, have you seen me? I should have got a tattoo first."
"Well you didn't, I did. I guess I'm just more amazing."
"Please calm it with the petty sibling arguing", Rebekah said butting in.
"It is not petty. This is an important matter", Damon answered, narrowing his eyes at her.
"It's just a tattoo. You'll get over it", Bonnie added.
Damon gasped overdramatically causing Stefan make an embarrassed face at his brothers antics. "Just a tattoo? JUST A TATTOO?", Damon shouted, with a hint of humor in his voice. Elena looked at him with an amused face.
"Wow, you really are something else, aren't you?", she said, quite obviously finding this whole thing hilarious. He winked back at her.
"Only for you baby."
Then suddenly Mr. Sanders came through the door with a tray of what looked like shot glasses. Each of the glasses containing each vampires daily dose of blood.
"Hello, monsters", he said in greeting causing Enzo to actually growl at his use of words.
"You are the only monster here", he spat venomously. Bonnie looked over at Enzo worriedly.
"Hey Enzo. He's not worth your breath", she comfortingly said while giving him a smile and slipping her arm through the bars to place on his tense arm. She felt his arm relax under her touch and he turned to look at her, his expression turning from anger and melting into relief.
"Thanks, love", he muttered to her, his voice void of the rage he had just felt.
Mr. Sanders ignored this exchange and went round the cells sliding the blood through into all the cells, then made a quick exit out the room. Caroline looked down at the minimal amount of blood. She refuses to drink hers in one like all the others, as she hated when it was all done. So, like always she started taking small sips feeling the blood rejuvenate her body, making her feel alive one sip at a time.
Stefan was surprised at the such tiny amounts of blood they get. He watched as most of them poured it down their throats as fast as possible, their instincts urging them to consume it in one. Until he looked at Caroline, who seemed to have a technique going on with the blood. She was taking sips of the blood, roughly about 15 seconds apart each time. He moved closer to her cell, "Why do you stop yourself from drinking it all at once?", he questioned her. She looked back up at him, thinking of an answer.
"I prefer to savour it. Let myself feel it revive my body in small doses I guess", she replied. He was amazed at her way of making herself feel good and strong, even in a situation like this.
"That is definitely a good way to look at it. It's impressive you even manage to control yourself in taking sips unlike most people who wouldn't hesitate to finish it as fast as possible."
"Just takes practice", she uttered with a comforting smile. Something about her smile and the kindness he saw in her eyes after all these years, just reassured him that he would get through this. And he began by taking one small sip of blood.