CHAPTER 24.3: Blondie Strikes Back
WARNINGS: implied/referenced abuse, implied/referenced rape, damon, stefan, blood, fighting, threats
"HONEY, I DON'T KNOW IF GOING tonight is the best plan," Crystal told Caroline gently as the girl stood in the mirror with her plastic bag of everything she had on during the accident. She was pushing earrings into her ears.
"I'm healed and I feel fine. I'm fed. I just want to enjoy the carnival before Athena trains me non-stop," Caroline said, moving to clip her necklace around her neck but hissing in pain when the pendant touched her chest. She threw it to the ground, rubbing the spot as it burned.
Crystal frowned and opened her mouth to say something when the nurse from last night walked in, picking up the necklace. "This is pretty," she said as she set it on the bed.
Caroline looked at her through the mirror. "Thanks. My friend got it for me." The nurse left after that and Caroline went back to getting her things.
"Vervain?" Crystal asked as she picked up the necklace. Caroline nodded. Crystal murmured a couple of words as she closed her hand around the pendant. Then she walked over to Caroline and pushed her hair out of the way, clipping the necklace around her neck. Caroline smiled slightly when it was just cool metal against her skin. "I understand that Athena lied to you about who she was, but you have to understand, her life has been far from easy. She has more money than a normal person could use in a lifetime, she's one of the strongest, most powerful people on the planet. Yet, she's never had a clear shot at life before. Something always gets in the way. Somebody always takes her happiness from her."
Caroline catched Crystal's eyes through the mirror, noting the sadness that was burned deep into the older woman's eyes. Caroline knew that Athena had a hard life, that she's been betrayed over and over again. That her family was fucked up.
"But... I love her. I wouldn't have... have hurt her. I wouldn't have run away," Caroline murmured with a frown, looking down at the hidden blood bag. Crystal had gotten it for her earlier.
Crystal fixed Caroline's hair and squeezed her shoulders. "My daughter said the same thing. And she has probably been the one to hurt Athena the most," she said grimly, disappointment and exhaustion clouding her eyes.
Caroline's frown deepened. "I just don't understand who would want to hurt Athena... she's insane, sure, but when she loves you, she loves you fully. Nothing would stop her from trying to protect you," she said. She sighed, "I don't care what Cassidy did to Athena. She messed up, she hurt her. But I won't. I'll make sure of it."
Crystal smiled at the conviction in Caroline's voice. The determination. She was going to be different. Her and the wolf. They were going to be what Athena needed.
Caroline shook her head and took a sip from the blood bag. She sighed at the taste and Crystal moved to get Caroline's clothes ready. Caroline rolled her neck and then took one last look in the mirror. She froze when she saw the black veins elongating underneath her eyes like she's seen Athena do so many times before. She reached her fingers up to touch them, mesmerized by them.
Then a sharp, unbearable pain came from her mouth. Her whole face scrunched up in pain as she covered her mouth with her hands. She whimpered and tried to stay quiet, but the pain was just too much. She opened her mouth to see what was happening and found her canines sharpening and growing.
Tears burned her eyes and one slipped down her cheek as she cried out. Crystal was by her side at an instant, cradling her as she slowly brought them to the ground. Caroline covered her mouth, crying as Crystal gently soothed her, whispering about her fangs and how they were coming in and how it'll pass.
"What's wrong?" The nurse asked as she rushed in.
Crystal shook her head and gestured for the woman to leave. "She's fine, she's fine," she said then thought for a moment, "actually—" she froze the woman so she couldn't leave. She slowly stood Caroline up after she was sure the girl's fangs were done growing. "Okay, Caroline. We're going to try something. You know that thing Athena does, when she tells someone to do something and they do it?"
Caroline nodded as she wiped her tears, "she—she called it, um, compulsion."
Crystal nodded, smiling. "Very good. I want you to do that on this woman, okay?" Caroline whipped her head toward Crystal in fright. "It's okay, I'll be right here. It's a very easy trick to learn." She made the woman come closer. "When I unfreeze her, you're going to grab her shoulders and look directly in her eyes. Then you're going to tell her what you want her to do." Caroline swallowed shakily and then nodded in determination. Crystal unfroze the woman.
Caroline grabbed her shoulders to keep her from going anywhere and looked her directly in the eye. "You can't tell anyone," she said and the woman's pupils shrunk before returning to normal.
"I can't tell anyone."
Caroline grinned. "Good job," Crystal said, rubbing the place between Caroline's shoulder blades. "Told ya it was easy."
The blonde nodded and pulled back when she felt herself being drawn to the blood flowing through the woman's neck. She grabbed the bag of blood and drank it quickly.
Crystal ushered the woman away and then finished pulling out Caroline's clothes. She got rid of the empty blood bag when it was gone and then told Caroline to get ready.
Caroline bounced over to her clothes and quickly began getting dressed. She was halfway through it when her mind started flashing with memories.
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"DAMON? ATHENA TOLD you to stay away from me," the blonde said as she backed away quickly from the man. She had just been walking to the Mystic Grill to get some food with Elena and Bonnie when he pulled her into an alleyway.
"Well... Athena can't do much, can she? She's locked away and she's too much of a goody-two-shoes to break out," Damon said darkly, stalking towards her slowly. "I'm so sick and tired of Athena getting everything she wants. This way, I can finally take something from her."
Caroline swallowed as she felt fear running down her spine. "Damon, please. Please, don't. I don't want to do anything with you," she felt tears swelling up at the thought of doing anything else with him. She didn't want to, just thinking about it made her skin scrawl. Damon didn't seem phased by her pleading though, continuing to walk toward her with a malicious smirk on his face. "I'll scream. I'll scream, Damon. I'll do it. Stefan will be here and—and—"
Damon appeared in front of her, his hand wrapping around her neck and cutting off her airway. Caroline sobbed silently, clawing at his hand as she thrashed in his grip. She tried to kick him, but he pinned her body to the wall with his.
"My brother doesn't scare me. He wouldn't do anything anyway. He still thinks I can be redeemed," he husked, breathing against her ear. She shivered in disgust. She felt bile rise up her chest. She tried to push him away one more time, but finally just gave in. If she gave in, it was over quicker. Less struggling, the faster she could get away. "There we go. We're going to have so much fun..." His teeth sunk into her neck and a silent scream left her lips.
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CAROLINE WAS ON her way to her car. She was finally heading to her dads after the shitshow that was last night. She unlocked her car and threw her bag into the backseat. She moved to get into her front seat when a hand slammed the door shut. She yelped and jerked her hand back before it could get caught.
She looked at Damon incredulously, "dude! You almost took off my hand," she scolded, holding said hand to her chest. "What are you even doing here?" Now she noticed how bad Damon looked. His eyes seemed sunken in, he had dark bags underneath them, and he looked paler than usual. "Damon? Are you alright?" She moved to touch his cheek, but he slapped it away. "Ow!"
"Athena kept him from me. She knew he was alive. He—he's alive. Why would she do that? Why would she keep him from me?!" He demanded, grabbing Caroline's shoulders roughly.
Her eyes widened in fear at how he was acting. She had no idea what the hell he was talking about. She was barely aware of what had occurred last night between the tomb vampires and the Vultures.
"Damon, I have no idea what you're talking about. Could you please just let me go? We can go talk to Athena. Right now if you want," Caroline said gently, trying not to rattle him up more. She was scared of him like this. He looked deranged. It reminded her of when he would—
"No. No, Athena's going to pay. She had a century and a half to talk," he snarled. Caroline shrunk back, terrified now.
"Damon... think about this, okay?"
"Oh, I have. All I've been doing is thinking. Now, it's time for action," he hissed with a ghost of a smirk on his face. It just made him look insane. Caroline swallowed and backed up further into the car.
She then kicked him and ran. She heard his outraged yell and pushed herself harder. She knew she couldn't outrun him. He was one of the fastest things on the planet, but she just needed to get close enough to the boarding house.
"ATHENA!" She screamed, "ATHENA! PLEASE!"
A body crashed into her from behind and she was pushed against the ground. One hand covered her mouth and another held her down. She thrashed against him, shoving at his hands and chest in terror.
"You bitch," Damon hissed. He yanked off her necklace then he grabbed her jaw roughly and looked her directly in the eye, "you won't remember this encounter. I was never here."
Caroline's pupils shrunk before returning to normal. "You were never here." Damon reattached the necklace and then disappeared. She quickly sat up, her heart racing.
"Babe?!" Athena was suddenly beside Caroline, one hand holding her face gently and another one resting on the blonde's rib. "Honey, what happened? Why are you out here?"
Caroline looked around, leaning into Athena's side as her heart slowly slowed. "I—I don't know. There was something... I got scared."
Athena frowned in confusion and looked down at Caroline's neck. The necklace was still there. "Are you hurt? Do you need me to get you anything?" She asked worriedly.
"Just... just take me to my car?" Caroline replied, looking up at the woman.
Athena kissed her gently and then helped her stand up. "Of course," she whispered, guiding her gently back to her car.
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CAROLINE'S EYES WATERED. She covered her mouth with a shaking hand. She hadn't realized Damon had taken more away from her. Had... Had—She thought they were in a good place, that she didn't have to worry about him anymore. But obviously, she was wrong. If she hadn't stopped him, what would he have done?
Her eyes darkened. She wasn't going to be pushed around anymore. She wasn't going to cry out for Athena every time she needed help. She was independent. She was a vampire. She could protect herself now. And she was going too.
Wiping away her wet eyes, she quickly finished getting dressed. Crystal walked back in with a bag of Cheez-Its from the hospital vending machine. "You're all signed out, love," Crystal said with a smile. Caroline smiled back at the woman.
She had a carnival to go to.
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"ATHENA, I NEED your help," Damon said, grabbing his sister's arm before she walked past him and Stefan. They were watching Tyler and Mason arm wrestle. "I'm trying to figure out what is going on with that family," he said, nudging his head in the direction of the two Lockwoods.
Athena raised an eyebrow as Stefan rolled his eyes at Damon, "that's Tyler's uncle, yeah?" She asked, looking at Mason who was now the champion. Hayley appeared beside her, linking their fingers together.
"Yep," Damon said.
"Alright, he's the champ. Who wants to go next?" Tyler said, looking around as he gestured to his uncle.
"Uh, Hayley wants to go," Damon said, pointing to the brunette on the other side of Athena. The redhead shot him a glare as Hayley grunted. Damon just smirked at the wolf. Stefan shook his head.
Tyler nodded, smirking at Athena with that smug smirk of his. It used to make her want to punch him in the face, still kinda does. Tyler had asked her about Hayley when they were in the hospital and obviously had seen her around Caroline so Athena had just told him that she was somebody they were both interested in.
Hayley glanced up at Athena who gave her an encouraging nod. Hayley shot Damon a sarcastic smile before turning toward the two at the table. "Yeah, sure. I'll... give it a shot," she said as she walked over, wiping her hands on her jeans. It wasn't hard to spot somebody with the qualities of an unwoken werewolf, but Hayley had an inkling that Mason dude wasn't quite unwoken.
She put her elbow on the table and wiggled her fingers in offering. "Go, Hayls," Damon called and Athena reached across Stefan, jamming the side of her hand into his chest. He groaned and hunched over, coughing.
Hayley smirked at the sound of his pain. "My future girlfriend's brother over there thinks I can beat you," she said, nudging her head in the direction Damon was in as Mason curled his hand around hers.
Mason raised his eyebrows and smirked at her, "he's wrong." Hayley raised an eyebrow, smiling. They began and Hayley instantly felt their strength clash. She was stronger, she knew. She had activated her wolf side a long time ago. He seemed... newer. After a couple more seconds of neither of them going anywhere, she let him win.
"Good job," Hayley said as she walked away, sliding underneath Athena's arm.
"You didn't even try," Damon said irritatedly. He knew she wasn't a vampire, but she was something and that something was strong. She could take on three vampires at once during the battle.
"I did, actually," she said, flexing her fingers. She gave Athena a look, silently asking a question and the women gave a sharp nod. Hayley grimaced. Another lone wolf. That's just what they needed.
"Come with me," Damon said, grabbing his siblings and dragging them to another hallway. Hayley groaned in frustration at being deprived from alone time with Athena. Lorelei had just gone to go get some food and resume her position as babysitter. He looked directly at Hayley, "is he—"
"No, no, not a 'V'-word," she said as she leaned into Athena's side. The redhead wrapped an arm around her. "It wasn't that kind of strength. It's more than human, I guess is the best way to explain it."
"What is up with that family?" Damon asked rhetorically, scratching his fingers through his hair before he set his hands on his hips. "If they're not vampires, then what the hell are they?"
Athena raised an eyebrow. If vampires and witches existed, then so did other types of supernatural. Both of them had always been so high in their superiority of their species that neither of them took a second to actually think about what else could be out there. Hayley rolled her eyes at the man.
"Ooh. Uh, maybe they're, uh, Ninja Turtles," Stefan said as he poked Damon's chest lightly.
Damon stared at his brother incredulously. "You're not funny."
"Or, no, no, zombies. Werewolves," Stefan continued.
Damon rolled his eyes, annoyed, "no comedic timing at all." Stefan smiled.
"Both of you are so arrogant," Athena sighed, taking Hayley's hand and guiding her away from her brothers. She didn't want any part of what Damon was up to. She just wanted to hang out with her daughter and get to know Hayley better.
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DAMON WALKED AWAY from Stefan after starting part 1 of his plan. He needed to know what Mason was, what Tyler was. Something was up with that family and he was going to figure it out. With or without his siblings' help.
He walks into a secluded hallway, but pauses when he hears footsteps behind him. He turns, surprised to find Caroline behind him. She looks different. There's eye-shadow around her eyes and she's dressed in black except for her white pleather jacket.
"Oh, hey there, blondie," he said, "good to see you up and moving." He smiles at her and then turns to keep walking because he didn't want to deal with anything at the moment.
"I remember," she says before he can get too far.
He pauses again, sighing. "What do you remember?"
"I remember how you manipulated me. You pushed me around, abused me, erased my memories. I know we talked about it and I said all was forgiven..." she steps closer to him, crossing her arms as he raises his eyebrows in disinterest, "but I thought I knew everything you did. I thought you hadn't done anything else to me. But I know now. I know that no matter how hard you try to be nice or—or my friend, you never will be. I get that you have shit with Athena, that you have some crazy fucking grudge against her, but you do not get to keep using me as a way to get back at her for it."
Damon's face drops when he seems to realize that she remembers everything. She doesn't know how she does, but he can see it in her eyes.
"I'm not some helpless damsel-in-distress anymore. I will fight back now, I can. You come near me, my girlfriends—you try to hurt my family and I will destroy you. And I guarantee, Athena will be right there beside me," she spat.
"That's impossible. You aren't supposed to be able to remember what I made you forget unless you were becoming a..." he stops as he stares at her in realization.
Caroline smirks at him, smug and evil. "I've watched Athena. I've been around her practically everyday since she showed up last year. I can and have been just as crazy as she has been. I will kill you with zero remorse. Especially if you go after Athena, Hayley, Crystal, or Lorelei. Am I understood?" She draws, stepping closer to him.
He narrowed his eyes at her. She wouldn't do any of those things. She was too good. She was just like Stefan. A good vampire. She wouldn't have the guts to do that. "Fine," he spat, "whatever, blondie. But do remember who exactly you're threatening."
Caroline's eyes darken and electricity crackles between her fingertips. "A man-child? A man who, after a century and a half, is still begging for someone to just love him back? A man not worth redeeming? Yeah. I remember," she murmurs. She takes a step back and continues to walk backwards as she smirks at his angered expression. "Oh, and I have a message. From Katherine. She said... 'game on.'" She whispers the last part, smirk widening at his puppied expression. She turns on her heel.
"Wait," he appears behind her, grabbing her arm. She spins around, shoving him at full strength. He goes flying down the hallway, hitting the ground hard. He groans a bit and then moves to get up, but is instantly stopped as he feels his whole body go alight with electricity.
Caroline clenches her hands closed, smirking as smoke comes off her fingers. "You really never learn, do you?" She sighed in mock disappointment as she shook her head. She narrowed her eyes at him as he looked up at her in pain, his body still spasming from the electricity she hit him with. "You suck."
She struts away, going to find the two women she likes and a certain 15-year-old.
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DAMON WALKS OVER to Elena who is sorting through wristbands. She sighs heavily when she sees him, glancing around for Lorelei who had gone back to 'not-hovering' but doesn't see her anywhere. She relaxes a bit.
"What do you want, Damon?" She asked, continuing her task.
"Look, I know you want to be all normal-teenager tonight, but I need you to come with me," he said, glancing around as if the blonde vampire would suddenly appear and electrocute him again.
"Whatever it is, I'm not interested," Elena said seriously as she gave him a look, "besides, Athena put her friend on watch-duty. And said friend isn't particularly fond of you. You need to leave before she comes back."
Ignoring the last part, Damon speaks again, more firmly. "Yeah, I need you to come with me right now, Elena." He gives her a meaningful look. She frowns in confusion and worry and he nudges his head in the direction of a secluded hallway. She grits her teeth and gives the wristbands to another worker before following after her friend.
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TWO HANDS SLIDE around Hayley's waist and she jumps a bit, turning her head right into a kiss. Hayley relaxes when she catches the familiar scent that is just Caroline. "Well, hello," Hayley murmurs against the girl's lips.
"Hi," Caroline beamed, "Crystal and I got me discharged." Athena chuckles as she walks back over from where she was grabbing a drink for Hayley.
"I didn't really think you were going to stay in the hospital anyway," Athena said, handing the wolf her cup before she's being pulled into a kiss by Caroline. Athena startles slightly, but kisses back. "Well, you're in a good mood," she said as they pull away, smiling fondly at the blonde.
"Well, I feel great! And, you know, I feel free. Stronger. More me," Caroline smiles, linking her fingers with Hayley's when she feels the wolf's arm slip across her waist.
"Good," Athena grins, pressing a kiss to Caroline's hairline. She then gestures around them, "besides, now that you're here, we might as well put it to some use. Great way to learn to control your strength. And your hunger. There's a lot of people here so we have to be careful," Athena tells her seriously.
Caroline nods dutifully. "Right. A lot of people means a lot of blood which means I could potentially go blind with hunger." Athena smirks proudly at her while Hayley raises her eyebrows in surprise. Caroline shrugged and wrapped her arm around the wolf's shoulders, "I read Athena's journals." Hayley chuckles and nods. "Now, come on! I want to see how well Elena did without me. Or, not so well."
Athena laughs and guides them to one of the first games they were going to try. The ring toss. She hands the girl at the booth some money and takes the three rings. She hands one to Caroline who hesitantly takes it.
Hayley steps away and plucks the other two rings from Athena to let the redhead guide the blonde. Athena steps up behind Caroline. "Okay, so, your strength is probably 20x that of a humans. You've done well with how you handle Crystal and Hayley other than your little scare this morning. Don't be upset if you don't get it right away, alright? It takes some getting used to." Caroline nods in understanding. "Now, breathe, and use a tiny bit of strength. The smallest amount you can get to right now."
Caroline takes a deep breath and then does as she's told. Hayley snorts as five of the bottles shatter. Caroline grimaces. "Not bad, killer," Hayley compliments, kissing Caroline's cheek and handing her another ring.
"That's actually pretty good compared to what you could do at full strength," Athena says seriously, squeezing Caroline's sides gently. She uses a spell to fix the bottles and then wipes the surrounding people's minds easily. She shifts a little when the familiar nausea surges up her spine. She coughs a bit, "now try again and try to use less."
Caroline takes a deep breath and then tosses it. Only two bottles shatter this time. She smiles a little because it's progress. "Nice," Hayley says, passing her the final ring.
Athena does the same spells again. "Alright, much better. Just do it again, with less strength."
"Got it," Caroline nods and does exactly what she's been doing. She tosses it and it lands on one without any of them shattering.
"Damn, not only did you not break them, but you actually made one," Hayley said, looking very impressed. Caroline smirked and flipped her hair. Athena chuckled at the two of them.
"Come on, let's go see what else we can do," the redhead said.
"And win!" Caroline added, grabbing both of their hands and pulling them along.
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"HOW DID THIS even happen?" Stefan asked as he paced the classroom. Elena was asking the same thing because she's pretty sure nobody fed Caroline any vampire blood. It shouldn't even be possible she's in transition.
"Well, I fed her some of Athena's blood and Katherine obviously killed her. And A plus B equals—"
"Athena and I agreed that we weren't going to feed Caroline blood!" Elena argued, looking at Damon incredulously. "That wasn't your decision to make—"
"But it was yours?" Damon quickly cut in, narrowing his eyes at Elena. He wasn't going to be the only one going down for this. "Or Athena's? No. It wasn't. It was Caroline's, but I did what I had to do and unfortunately, she died with it in her system."
"You didn't have to do anything! We don't even know if Caroline was actually going to die! And I mean, honestly, did you think Athena was just going to let the person she loves die?" Elena shook her head and ran a hand through her hair. This was insane. Caroline was a vampire now. All because Damon couldn't help himself.
"Look, Bonnie told me to do it, so I did. You and Athena don't get to make all the life-saving decisions—"
"Bonnie said you could? Bonnie Bennett, hater of vampires? The witch, Bonnie Bennett?" Elena laughed incredulously. This was getting more and more insane as it went on. Neither of them had the right to intervene like that.
"Look, we'll deal with that part later, right now, let's figure out why Katherine killed Caroline in the first place," Stefan interrupted before they could get into a screaming match.
"Because Katherine is a manipulative nasty little slut," Damon said like it was obvious.
"And she said, 'game on?' I mean, what does that even mean?" Stefan asked, looking confused as he tried to figure it out.
Damon smirked, "it means she's playing dirty. She wants us to know."
"But why Caroline?" Elena said. This was not in the bingo cards for this year. One of her best friends was not supposed to die and become a vampire.
"Caroline must be completely out of her mind. I mean, Athena's here and not with her. She's probably struggling. She needs someone to help guide her..."
"Oh, I think she's doing just fine," Damon said bitterly, "all of my compulsion from the past started wearing off the minute she was in transition."
Stefan sighed, "we have to find her."
"Yep," Damon agreed, "and kill her."
Elena and Stefan both look at him in shock.
"You're not going to kill Caroline," Elena said seriously, staring at him as if he'd grown another head. One, because Athena would probably kill them all if that happened. Two, Caroline was Elena's best friend and Damon's friend. Three, there was actually no reason to kill her.
"Look, she knows who we are. She's officially a liability. She cannot be compelled. We gotta get rid of her," he said as if it were obvious. He needed to get to her before she got to Athena. Plus, no one threatened him and got away with it. He'd make her pay.
"Damon," Stefan leaned forward, shaking his head, "absolutely not."
"Need I remind you of a tragic little story of a girl named Vicki Donovan?" Damon asked, raising his eyebrow. Stefan paused for a second.
Elena's jaw dropped. "Vicki had no idea what vampires were! Caroline knew before I did! There's no reason to kill her. Besides, she'd never put Athena in that type of danger. You are forgetting that they're in love with each other," Elena said, throwing her hands in the air. If this continued, she'd need to go find Lorelei and quickly.
"Caroline, of all people, will not make it as a vampire," Damon said with a shake of his head, "her mother's a vampire hunter. Either I do it now, or Liz will do it later. Either way, we all know how this story ends. So, let's just flip to the last chapter and—"
Elena looks at her boyfriend in shock, wondering when he was going to step in and stop his brother's little rant. When he does nothing but stare at his brother with a little slump in his shoulders, Elena grits her teeth.
"It's not an option, Damon," she spat.
"No?" He looks at Stefan who is still silent, "your silence is deafening, Stefan. Wait, wasn't there a school carnival the night Athena staked Vicki?" Stefan ducks his head while Elena looks between them with tears in her eyes. "Talk about a town where history repeats itself."
Damon is suddenly flung into the wall and Stefan is right after. They both groan in pain. Elena startles a little and spins around to face the door where Lorelei is standing with both palms facing the two vampires.
"Caroline is not going to die," the hunter said with a sarcastic smirk, "and if you try, I will put you down." She holds one hand out to Elena, keeping her eyes on the two men. "Come on, we have to go."
"Wait, wait," Stefan grunts and the two girls look at him, "I—I want to... help." He cries out as Lorelei flexes her fingers, squeezing the invisible force around him. "I don't—want Caroline—dead. I promise," he finishes, giving Lorelei a pleading look.
Lorelei stares him down for a moment, gauging how truthful he's being. Then she drops him. He lands in a heap on the floor, coughing. "Fine," she says, staring down at him as if he was spec of dirt on her boot, "but you step one toe out of line... and I ruin you," she whispers, eyes dark.
He nods in understanding. Elena looks between them before taking Lorelei's still outstretched hand. "We'll split up, and try to find her, okay? We warn her as soon as we can," Elena said as Stefan appeared beside her. The other two nod.
AN: hope you guys enjoyed. leave feedback if you can! thank you for reading.
finished: 08/11/23
wc: 5244
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