CHAPTER TWENTY NINE / ACT TWO

Secret Best Kept Buried

Angelina and Damon trudged through the woods in search of Mason Lockwood together, huffing and puffing after every hill they had to walk up. It had been five minutes since they had seen the werewolf enter the woods, except it felt like they had been searching for him forever.

The brunette bit her bottom lip in anticipation, eyeing every inch of the forest. No doubt, she was hesitant to kill Mason Lockwood. Not that she cared about his life, but she worried if killing him would lead her further away from the moonstone. Except to her advantage, at least killing him would send a message to her Katherine. She wasn't on her side, and nothing could change her mind.

She wasn't as weak as Katherine thought she was. Hopefully.

She couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. That she was walking right into something, a trap. That they were being tricked.

"Something's wrong, Damon." Angelina spoke, glancing towards her friends and he glanced back. "I feel like we're being followed."

"Everything's fine, just relax." The vampire replied, brushing off her worries.

"We have to be smart about this, Damon. This could be a trap, I don't think he's working alone." She argued.

"And who else do you think would be working with him?"

"Um, hello? Sheriff Forbes?! Possibly even the entire vampire hunting council?!" Angelina stopped in ber tracks, raising her voice.

Damon stopped and sighed deeply, running a hand down his face. "Just stay calm, okay? We need to focus, not argue. And besides, we are doing exactly what we came here to do."

"But..." The brunette trailed off, unsure of how to respond.

Damon continued walking through the woods and Angelina followed behind. Eventually, the two immediately came to a stop when a certain Lockwood werewolf was seen with a trashbag in his hands, seemingly alone.

"You ready?" Damon whispered into her ear.

Angelina took a deep breath before looking over to him and nodding. "Let's get this over with."

Before Mason could comprehend their presence, Angelina and Damon sped towards him so both of them were surrounding him. The werewolf looked up at them, a surprised expression on his face at their sudden appearance.

"Don't look so surprised, you knew this was inevitable." The raven haired vampire taunted him.

"Try to run Mason," The doppelgänger offered. "But I'm afraid in your regular, weak, human form you're not as fast as us."

"We'll give you a head start."

Just before the doppelgänger was able to attack Mason, a loud gunshot fired through the air and her shirt began to from green to red. A sharp pain inflicted through her back and she let out a loud cry of agony.

She had been shot. With wooden bullets.

"Angelina? What-" Damon's sentance was immediately cut off more gunshots shooting both of the vampires until they were both on their knees. Angelina could only stare up at the sky with wide eyes, trying to take in as much oxygen as possible.

Her eyes wandered to two men with guns surronding them, along with none other than Sherrif Forbes. Mason stood there with a smirk on his face before exchanging a few inaudible words with the Sherrif and left them.

As soon as she heard another gunshot, she felt the bullet grazing against the side of her stomach. Her head dropped forward as her vision faded and blacked out completely.

Caroline searched all over the park in search for her mom, Angelina, or practically anyone. Everything felt off; like someone was wrong. It had only been 10 minutes since Angelina had run off abruptly and now she was nowhere to be found, and now her mother?

"Caroline?" The blonde heard her name called out from behind her, and turned so that her eyes met Stefan's.

"Oh, Stefan.."

"Have you seen Damon? Or Angelina?" he asked worriedly. "I can't find them anywhere."

"No, no I haven't. I saw Ang go to the lunch tables, but that was a while ago.."

A worried expression washed over Stefan's face at the blonde's words. Caroline knew that look well. His concern about his brother and his girlfriend were clear as day, and they had a feeling that it would soon turn into fear.

"Wait.." Caroline placed a hand out to gesture him to remain silent. "I hear something.. I hear them."

"What? What's happening to them? Stefan's voice grew quieter the longer they stood there in silence. The sound of Angelina's cries, along with gunshots ran through her ear; as well as Stefan's.

"Oh my gosh.." She placed a hand over her mouth before giving Stefan a panicked look. They both took off, not caring about their surroundings as they ran towards the sounds of fighting which led them deep into the woods. It took them what seemed like ages to find where they were hiding, but unfortunately the first person they came across was the Lockwood werewolf.

"What are you two doing out here?" He asked as if everything was normal.

"Have you seen Damon and Angelina?" The Salvatore immediately interrogated him.

"Yeah, I've seen em'." He answered, a deviously smirk on his face.

"Well, where are they?" Caroline interjected.

"You don't need me for that." The werewolf stepped closer as they both raised thier guards up. "You can just uh.. sniff em' out, can't you?"

"Does your mother know what you are?" He turned and pointed his finger towards the blonde. "I'm happy to tell her."

Just then, Caroline chaged towards Mason, wrapping her arm around his neck and pushing his body against a nearby tree with his face against the wood and his hands behind his back. "Caroline-" Stefan interjected but was immediately cut off by Caroline.

"Go find them, I'll be fine!" The blonde ordered him.

"But-"

"Go!"

Before he knew it, Stefan had rushed out of the woods leaving Caroline and Mason alone. Once the sound of gunshots became more prominent, the Salvatore made his way further into the woods and ran towards the noise. He stopped once he finally ended up at the stairwell which led down into the Lockwood cellar.

"They're not gonna tell us anything. Kill them both." He could hear from the inside, which he immediately recognized as Sherrif Forbes voice. Immediately, Stefan began to jolt down the stairs, but was put to a halt when he heard footsteps approach.

"Are they down there?!" Caroline's voice could be heard before she eventually came into his eyesight.

"Yeah.. your mom-"

"Wait, my mom's down there?!"

Stefan nodded and urged towards the entrance leading in, but was once again put to a halt when Caroline grabbed him by his forearm.

"Caroline, we have to-"

"No, I can't!" She protested. "Stefan, she's gonna find out about me!"

Stefan let out a deep sigh before nodding and advancing towards the entrance alone. "Stay here, alright?" He said.

Angelina and Damon were found lying in the cellar, both feeble but thankfully still alive and most definitely not unconscious. Both of them were significantly stronger than anyone in the room, except Stefan who was dependent on animal blood.

That's what worried Caroline. Stefan couldn't fight off several hunters at once as he was reliant on animal blood and was, of course, weak. She didn't mean to brag, but he most definitely couldn't survive without her.

The blonde took a deep breath and her arms started to tremble before she gathered confidence to rush into the dank, dusty, dirty cellar.

As she advanced into the darkness, she could hear the voices of two deputies, her mother, and Stefan attempting to reason with them. Caroline dashed into the light where six of them stood, and circled around them multiple times to create a distraction while Stefan rushed over to help Angelina.

She came to a halt behind one of the officers and sunk her fangs into his neck, prompting her mother to open fire, unaware of who she was really shooting at.

The Forbes girl held the officers drained body as a shield against the wooden bullets.

She continued to fight until she had successfully killed both armed cops, and their bodies lay dead on the ground. Sheriff Forbes pointed the gun at her daughter. Caroline stood in the darkness with her blood-smeared lips and crimson stains on her blonde hair

The vampire stepped carefully and slowly into the light, where her mother could see her, and her hands became shaky and her palms began to sweat once more.

"Caroline..?" Liz lowered her weaponed, terror and sorrow in her eyes.

"Hi, mom."

Angelina sat on the couch of the boarding house, a blanket draped over her bag with a warm cup of hot cocoa in her palms while Elena, Stefan, Damon, amd Caroline were all in the cellar with Liz. It had been an hour since they returned to the boarding house and not a ton of words had been exchanged.

The only thing they mutually agreed on was that they would keep, or kidnap, Sheriff Forbes in the cellar downstairs until the vervain left her system. After she found out Caroline was a vampire, she made it clear she wanted nothing to do with her and could barely even look her in the eyes.

But besides Caroline's mommy issues, she had other life threatening problems to focus on. Her sister's little werewolf toy for example.

Not only did she get fooled by the Lockwood, but she failed into finding any clues as to where the moonstone was located; but after today she felt weak.

She needed help. Like Katherine has stated multiple times over, she was smarter than her. Which is why she couldn keep lying to everyone anymore. What she needed right now was security and help which unfortunately involved the Salvatore brothers. What she needed to accept was that Stefan and Damon weren't children, they didn't need to be protected by her; and if she played her cards right, neither of them would ever have to lay their eyes on an original.

The doppelgängers eyes travelled from the marshmallows in her mug to Stefan and Damon entering the living room.

"I'm assuming you're sleeping here tonight, again." The raven haired vampire spoke.

"No, no," She declined, placing her mug on the side table and wrapping herself in the blanket. "It's fine. Jenna's starting to ask questions.. I'll just go home today."

"You sure?" Stefan kindly offered and she nodded, avoiding eye contact as she attempted to find the right way to tell them the truth without seeming like a liar. Which she was; but still.

"I need to tell you guys something." She spoke, which caught both their attention. "It's.. sort of important."

"What is it?" Stefan's eyebrows drew together and his arms crossed.

"It's about Mason.. and my sister." Her throat cleared, the Salvatore's faces shifted from curiosity to concern. "They're working together."

"Katherine and Mason?" The eldest Salvatore's face became concerned. "What? Why?"

"They're looking for an old family heirloom of sorts.. a moonstone." She explained, rising from the couch. "I'm practically 100% sure she's not using it for anything good.. which is why we have to get it first."

"So that's why their in town.." Damon thoughts lingered.

"Why'd you keep this from us?" Stefan's arms crossed.

The doppelgänger stumbled to find the right words, fiddling with the rim of her shirt. "I don't know, I just.." Her eyes met theirs and sighed heavily. "I just thought if I left you out of it then you, Caroline, Elena, and everyone else would be safer. But after today, I'm not incredibly sure anymore."

"You didn't have to lie, Angelina." Stefan spoke as if his tone was forcefully restrained. "We could've handled this."

"I know." She replied, though she didn't mean the words she said. The Salvatore exhaled before stepping closer and setting his palms on her shoulders.

"We'll figure this out, alright?"

She knew the truth had to come out somehow, and she would most definitely prefer it came from her than anyone else. Especially Katherine. Who knew? Maybe the truth being out meant something good, and if she believed at some point they'd be able to handle what comes next, like the Originals, then maybe she'd trust them enough to take care of themselves against him.

Angelina leaned in closer, setting her head on Stefan's chest for comfort. Except this felt different. Normally, his hugs brought her comfort, solidarity, and stability; but this felt like an anxiety that couldn't be settled with a simple hug.

For the first time in 145 years, she was genuinely worried for her and everyone she loved lives.

And after the stunt Mason and Sheriff Forbes pulled today, this most certainly wouldn't be the end of it.

AUTHORS NOTE
why is this chapter so long.

im not gonna sit here and lie, the next two (or one?) chapters are gonna be boring. it really only gets exciting when the masquerade ball bc angelina slaps damon that chapter 😋

also should people call her ang, angie, lina or all of them