CAROLINE WAS ACTUALLY DOING PRETTY WELL. She was definitely struggling, but compared to the other transitions that Eleanor had seen, she was handling it. They were in the woods with Stefan, hunting for animals. The Chetwood girl wanted to teach her how to drink from humans and compel them, but the Salvatore argued that it was better for her to learn this first because she might not be able to control herself around humans.

Bonnie reluctantly made her a daylight ring, and the possible ending of her friendship for something she didn't have control over was just adding to Caroline's stress. Eleanor understood because vampires had taken a lot of Bonnie and her family, but this was Bonnie's best friend. Well, other than Elena.

She was looking around for something to grab, and she asked, "So what I do when I see the rabbit?"

"Chase it, catch it, feed on it," Stefan explained, and the brunette standing off to the side knew that Caroline might have a bigger problem with that than killing humans.

The Forbes girl sighed, making it clear that she didn't like this. "Isn't killing cute defenseless animals the first step in becoming a serial killer?"

"Well, you sort of skipped the serial killer and went straight to vampire," Eleanor told her. "And you don't like killing the animals. You're doing it for survival, like a hunter."
"Caroline, if you're not serious about all of this I think you should tell me," Stefan exhaled, turning to face the blonde girl.

"No, I am. Look, I swear that I am okay? But it's just..." she sighed, "I haven't been in the sun for days and everyone is at the swimming hole having fun and Matt is there! And he finally told me that he loved me but I have been blowing him off and now you want me to eat bunnies and I'm kind of freaking out okay?" After her rant, both Eleanor and Stefan grinned at her. "And now you're laughing at me."

Eleanor took a step toward her, shaking her head. "No, no, we're not laughing. It's just that when someone becomes a vampire, all of their natural behaviors get sort of amplified."

"What do you mean?" the Forbes girl asked.

Stefan jumped in and explained"As a human I cared deeply for people, how they felt. If they were hurting, I felt their pain, and I felt guilty if I was the one who caused it. And as a vampire all of that got...magnified."

"So you're saying that now I'm basically an insecure, neurotic control freak...on crack?" Caroline questioned with a groan, and Eleanor asked, giving her a side hug to calm her down a bit.

"Well, I wasn't gonna say it like that but...hey, listen, let's hunt okay?" Stefan said. "And then after that, we'll go to the swimming hole."

Both of the girls' heads shot up for different reasons. Caroline was excited while Eleanor was shocked that he thought she was controlled enough to be around people, especially Matt. They both exclaimed, "Really?"

"Yeah. Matt is the closest connection that you have to your humanity and I think that being around him is a good thing," Stefan confirmed, but the entire time, he was watching Eleanor, waiting for her to nod along.

She finally did, looking at how happy Caroline was, and she exhaled, "Okay."

《❂》

ELEANOR TRUSTED STEFAN WITH CAROLINE AT THE PARTY. The Salvatore man told her that she was being too protective over Caroline, and her being there would freak them all out. However, that didn't stop her from flying out of her head when there was a knock on her door, and she heard familiar crying.

She had never opened a door faster, and she froze when she saw Caroline standing there with tears in her eyes. She took a deep breath before revealing, "We broke up."

"Oh, Caroline," she exhaled, her shoulders falling. She hated seeing the girl upset, and it filled her with a sort of rage. Unfortunately, she had been seeing a lot of it lately.

She sniffled and wiped her nose with her sleeve before looking back up at her with a hopeful expression. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah, yeah. Of course," the Chetwood girl responded, ushering her inside and closing the door behind her.

"I just couldn't be with him anymore," Caroline explained, and her voice was fast as she freaked out. It was like she was trying to defend her choice, convincing herself she made the right choice. Eleanor led them over to the couch to sit down. "I was too scared I was gonna hurt him."

"I've been there," Eleanor told her, and she smiled slightly when the Forbes girl lied down across the couch, placing her head in the brunette's lap. Almost every vampire had someone that they had to pull away from because of their cravings, usually when they first turned.

Caroline looked up through her tears, suddenly interested. It felt nice to know that she wasn't the only one with that problem. "Really? With who?"

"My twin brother," she revealed. It had been years since she mentioned him to anyone, and she was kind of surprised that she was telling Caroline.

The blonde girl furrowed her eyebrows. "I didn't know you had one."

"I don't anymore," Eleanor replied, and she began to mindlessly stroke Caroline's hair, brushing it back and out of her face. It helped her to focus on something else while she explained because it still felt like the wound was fresh. "Back when I first turned, I was on the run from someone, so I left him behind and cut all ties with him so that he wouldn't be hurt."

"Then what happened?" Caroline asked, but she was pretty sure that it wasn't anything good, considering he wasn't there.

The brunette girl took a deep breath and exhaled, "I messed up. I thought it would be fine if I just sent him a message, but then I got one back from the man chasing me, letting me know that my brother was dead and I would be too soon."

"That's horrible," the Forbes girl muttered, and her eyes went sad again. She bit her lip, trying to stop the tears from flowing down her cheeks.

Eleanor just nodded, because it had been horrible. The letter had arrived on her and Katherine's doorstep, covered in her brother's blood. "I almost considered letting him find me, but Katherine needed me."

"Katherine, the one that turned me?" Caroline questioned in confusion.

"Yes, but that's a long story for another time," the Chetwood told her, shaking her head. That one was way too long and complicated, full of heartbreak and betrayal. It also didn't make her look like a very good person because she wasn't back then. "I promise you you don't want to hear it now."

The Forbes girl nodded, and after a moment, she raised her eyebrows up at her. "What was your brother's name?"

"Laurence," she answered with a small smile, her brother's beaming face popping into her mind. "Laurence Chéreau. My real name is Alienòr Chéreau, but I changed it when I came to America because it was easier to pronounce and easier to hide behind."

"That's a really pretty name," Caroline said absentmindedly, and Eleanor could tell that she really meant it. "Tell me another story," the blonde requested.

Eleanor shook her head. She had so much history, and she was awful at telling it. "I don't want to bore you."

"No, I like them. Please," the blonde pleaded. She was genuinely interested, and it made the brunette girl weirdly happy. "Plus, it'll take my mind off of Matt.

"All right. So, I was born in France..." Eleanor started, and she began telling her about her childhood. After about twenty minutes, Caroline dozed off, falling asleep in the girl's lap.