Masquerade (Chapter Three)
“We gotta clean this up,” Damon said unsteadily, leaning heavily on the unwilling sheriff.
Seeing that neither Damon nor Stefan were in any state to be making plans, Caroline stepped up and began making plans. She turned to look at the oldest brother, “Okay. Damon, you and Stefan go out into the woods and grab some more blood to tide you over. Elena and I will stay here to watch my mom,” Now Caroline addressed Stefan, “When you come back, you and Elena will take my mom to the Boarding House. Lock her in the basement and we’ll get her off Vervain. In a couple of days, we’ll compel her and send her on her way.” Stefan nodded in agreement at his part in the plan whereas Elena looked at her, surprised by her leadership skills. Caroline turned back to Damon who was staring at her assessingly. Liz looked as shocked as Elena at Caroline’s management, however, unlike Elena, Liz’s stare was mixed with horror, “Damon, when you come back, you are going to take the deputies somewhere far from the clean up and you are going to burn their bodies until they’re ash. We don’t need another Vicky situation,” Damon tilted his head in acquiescence whereas Liz looked even more frightened at the thought that Caroline might have been involved in Vicky’s death.
“What are you going to do?” Damon asked simply, trusting in Caroline’s instructions. He could feel a sense of purpose and steel iron will from her and he knew better than to argue with her once she had a plan in place.
Caroline raised an eyebrow, “I am going to go compel their,” She tilted her head toward the dead bodies, “wives into believing that the two were carrying on a secret love affair and that they ran away together to go get married in Canada.”
The cave was so silent, Caroline swore she could hear the clean up going on a mile away. Damon finally let out a chuckle, “That’s what I love about you, Caroline. You always keep it interesting.”
Stefan snorted in agreement before groaning and reaching to pull the last bullet out of his body. Damon staggered over and helped his brother up as the two limped out. Caroline opened the gate for them and they climbed the stairs toward food.
~~~
“Keep Caroline away from me, please,” Liz requested, sitting on a rickety chair, “I don’t want to see her.”
Damon stared at Liz harshly. He could clearly see the blonde on the other side of the door and he felt her agony at her mother’s words, “She’s your daughter, Liz.”
Liz just shook her head, “Not anymore. My daughter’s gone.”
Damon inwardly flinched as he felt Caroline’s heart break, “You have no idea how wrong you are about that,” he turned his head to meet Caroline’s eyes. Caroline looked sad but expectant. She dropped her mother’s suitcase and left.
Damon made his way to the door, dragging the suitcase inside the cell, watching as Liz realized that Caroline had heard her words. At first it looked like she might say something, but she closed her mouth and looked away. He closed the door and locked it behind him, wordlessly staring at Stefan. They were both remembering their father’s rejection of who they were. Stefan turned around to follow Elena after Caroline.
~~~
Caroline jerked awake suddenly. Her face felt grimy from her dried up tears and runny make up, but that didn’t matter. She smelled blood. Caroline was barely aware of standing up, her face turning in hunger when suddenly Damon was there, his arms wrapped tight around her preventing her movement.
“It’s just Elena,” He whispered in her ear, “She’s healing Stefan.”
The blonde’s face reverted back to normal as she sagged into his arms, “But I thought Stefan would go crazy on human blood.”
Damon nodded and led her to the entry way and away from the scent of blood, “Katherine built up a tolerance to Vervain by drinking a little everyday. Stefan is trying to do the same with blood,” He watched carefully as Caroline nodded in understanding, “We’ll need to keep an eye on him.” Damon stared at the blonde still in his arms for a moment. She was filled with sadness; her whole posture reflected the ache in her heart, “Come on.” Damon commanded, reaching out to snag his car keys from a bowl.
Caroline looked at him in confusion but readily followed him, happy to escape the scent of blood and the presence of her mother. Damon dragged her into the car and they drove in silence for almost a half hour. About twenty minutes in, Caroline reached into her purse and removed a facial wipe which she then used to remove all the makeup, dirt and tears from her face. Damon had never seen her without makeup before. He suddenly realized that to her, it was war paint. Without it, she seemed… young. And sad. And alone. Caroline finally spoke up a few minutes later, “Where are we going?”
“I’m still not at one hundred percent after all of that Vervain and with both Katherine and Mason on the loose that is not a good thing. So we’re heading a couple of hours out where I can grab a fresh meal,” He looked at the blonde significantly.
Caroline knew he was looking for her reaction, but she couldn’t bring herself to give one. She was tired and she didn’t want to fight. She knew how Stefan would react, but she was not him. She didn’t want to kill people, but she didn’t mind taking a quick bite. She did fine on her first meal: that nurse at the hospital. As long as she stayed in control of the hunger, she’d be okay and she knew that Damon needed fresh blood so that he could heal and regain his strength.
Seeing a distinct lack of protest, Damon felt a little satisfied. Maybe Caroline wasn’t so bad after all. He had worried when Stefan tried to put her on his animal diet, but at the same time, Caroline seemed perfectly fine drinking from humans. If he worked on her, he might easily gain an ally on the ‘fresh from the source’ side. And with Stefan contemplating drinking from blood bags, his battle was half way over.
It was another hour before they entered some college town on the edge of the Virginia border. Damon looked around at the picture-esque college scenery and scowled.
“What?” Caroline asked curiously.
“I hate this,” He nodded at the rows of collegiate buildings, “It’s so… boring.”
She looked around in consideration, “I would have loved to go to a college like this: somewhere pretty but with plenty of parties. Last year this would have been exactly where I thought I’d end up.”
Damon looked at her as though she was some sort of fascinating experiment, “And now?”
She looked at him contemplatively, “And now I’m going to be seventeen forever. College doesn’t seem very important anymore.”
He smirked at her approvingly. Damn, when did Caroline become one of his favorite people? “If only Stefan figured that out. He’s been going to college since the ‘70s. I think it’s a form of self-inflicted masochism.”
“Speaking of pain- What are you going to do to Mason Lockwood?” Caroline suddenly asked. Damon let out a loud growl in response, his eyes growing dark, but not vampiric. Caroline felt a sudden shiver down her spine; a feeling she hadn’t really felt since before she was turned. Terror. Pure, unadulterated terror.
Trying to fight the urge to flee, Caroline fell back on what she knew best, “I don’t know why you’re having such a problem with the guy. I mean I kicked his ass and you’re, what? 150 years older than me? Jeez, someone’s losing their touch.” Damon turned glaring hateful eyes to her, warning her to shut up or bad things were going to happen, but once Caroline started she found she couldn’t stop, “I mean you needed me- me- to save you.”
Damon couldn’t stop himself from tackling her to the ground. His fangs were set to rip into her jugular when she easily overturned him. She had him pinned to the ground in seconds. For a moment they stared at each other in shock.
“Okay, wow. We really need to get some blood into you,” Caroline spoke worriedly, blurring as she stood and then bending down to drag Damon up as well. Damon nodded, still surprised that Caroline had beaten him. It wasn’t hard to find a frat party. All they had to do was follow the trail of inebriated co-eds.
“Look! Drunken sorority girls!” She pointed at a nearby building where two girls were giggling loudly. The girls were the perfect target. Separated from the others, no one would notice if they went missing for a couple of minutes. Plus, any side effects they’d feel from the blood loss would be attributed to their heavy drinking. Caroline took a small mouthful of blood but for the most part, saved the drinking for Damon. As soon as he finished with the two girls, Caroline compelled them and sent them on their way.
They were heading back to Damon’s car when a cute college guy walked by giving Caroline the once over. The blonde gave a self-satisfied smirk at the attention she could get even without wearing makeup or the perfect outfit. Damon scowled briefly. Not because he was jealous because hello, he doesn’t get jealous and certainly not over Caroline. But did that guy seriously just look over Blondie when Damon was standing just there?
Feeling malicious, Damon gleefully pointed out some harsh facts to the newly turned vampire, “You know that can never happen, right?” He asked as he got into the car and started the engine.
“Excuse me?” Caroline responded, turning to look at him with an arched eyebrow.
Damon smirked knowingly, “You and a human. It can’t happen.”
“Because I’ll eat him,” She stated easily, rolling her eyes. She was tired of hearing that.
“What do I look like? Stefan?” He scoffed, navigating the streets easily, “What do I care if you eat him? I meant in bed.”
Caroline choked slightly. If she had been human, she was sure her cheeks would have been scarlet, “Excuse me?” She repeated, her tone incredulous.
Damon rolled his eyes, but the smirk stayed on his lips, “Vampire women can’t have sex with human males. Well, they can, but it’s very unsatisfying.” Damon caught her gaping look out of the corner of his eye, “Come on. Don’t tell me you can’t figure it out. Females are capable of multiple orgasms, as long as the man has the stamina. Not a problem for male vampires. However male humans don’t have the necessary energy to keep up with a female vampire. Thus, very unsatisfying,” He teased.
However, Caroline couldn’t think about the humor. Female vampires could never be with human men. So, where did that leave her and Matt? Was it just one more reason they were better off apart?
Seeing that all Damon accomplished was a brooding companion, he sighed and forcefully braked, causing Caroline to jerk forward. Looking around the blonde easily dropped her train of thought in favor of her curiosity, “Where are we?”
Getting out of the car, Damon raised an expectant brow as Caroline followed him, “Where does it look like?”
“Why are we at a hospital?” Caroline asked instead as she walked through the automatic doors and inhaled the hospital scent.
“Well, between you and me drinking, the blood supply was starting to get low and now with Stefan working on the human diet too, we need to stock up. So, we’re making a blood run.”
Caroline looked surprised but then excited. She had never been on a blood run before and as always, she was excited to learn something new that could help her in her vampirism.
“Would you stop that!” Damon scowled, “You look like a child. This is a hospital. No one’s that happy to be here.”
The blonde giggled but toned it down. Damon easily followed the signs (and Caroline took note) until he was right where he needed to be. The duo waited in the adjacent hallway until one of the nurses swiped their card to grab some blood for a patient in the ER. As they left, Damon and Caroline blurred inside the room before the door locked. Grabbing one of the coolers, Damon began loading it up and Caroline followed suit.
As they carried the cooler down the hall Damon finally spoke, “You know, having you along might actually be helpful.” Caroline raised an eyebrow in skeptical pleasure, “Normally I have to compel one of the workers to leave so that I can blur past the automatic doors without anyone seeing. But with you here, you can just leave normally and I can blur past you once the doors are open.” Caroline pouted that her help was so unimportant before shrugging easily. Damon admitted she was helping him; getting any kind of acknowledgment or compliment from him was a miracle all unto itself.
Two hours later, Caroline and Damon finished storing the blood in the fridge and the scent of her mother nearby brought Caroline back into her melancholic mood. They moved upstairs and she slowly drifted over to the couch and began remaking her bed. She was just about to settle into it when Damon sighed and grabbed her hand. He easily dragged her down the hallway and upstairs to his bedroom.
Slightly confused, but too weary to cause a fight, Caroline sat down on Damon’s large bed. She watched him as he began stripping off his clothes and preparing for bed. She was slightly surprised as he slid on a pair of silk bottoms since she knew for a fact that he almost always slept in the nude. “Thank you.” She finally spoke, her eyes looking at him with sad gratitude, “For not killing her.”
Damon paused as he turned down his bed. He stared at her for a moment before speaking honestly, “I meant what I said. I actually like Liz. She’s a friend.”
A small smile tugged on Caroline’s mouth as she kicked off her shoes and got off the bed long enough to remove her shirt and pants, “Friends, huh? First Alaric and now my mom?” She jumped onto the bed bouncing slightly, “Next thing you know, you’ll be claiming to be gasp good.” She smiled playfully, only to receive a pillow in her face for her teasing. Pouting, she threw it back then gasped in shock as he grabbed her ankle and dragged her across to his side of the bed, shrieking in laughter as he began to tickle her.
After a few minutes of the torture, Damon suddenly stopped. Caroline looked up at him, unsure of what happened when she met with his intense blue gaze. He gently tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and leaned down to kiss her. After a few moments, he pulled back, “Thank you... for saving me.” Caroline blinked in astonishment, but he had already turned off his lamp and crawled into bed.
She smiled as she snuggled underneath his warm sheets. She had forgotten how… sweet Damon could be.
Next
Seeing that neither Damon nor Stefan were in any state to be making plans, Caroline stepped up and began making plans. She turned to look at the oldest brother, “Okay. Damon, you and Stefan go out into the woods and grab some more blood to tide you over. Elena and I will stay here to watch my mom,” Now Caroline addressed Stefan, “When you come back, you and Elena will take my mom to the Boarding House. Lock her in the basement and we’ll get her off Vervain. In a couple of days, we’ll compel her and send her on her way.” Stefan nodded in agreement at his part in the plan whereas Elena looked at her, surprised by her leadership skills. Caroline turned back to Damon who was staring at her assessingly. Liz looked as shocked as Elena at Caroline’s management, however, unlike Elena, Liz’s stare was mixed with horror, “Damon, when you come back, you are going to take the deputies somewhere far from the clean up and you are going to burn their bodies until they’re ash. We don’t need another Vicky situation,” Damon tilted his head in acquiescence whereas Liz looked even more frightened at the thought that Caroline might have been involved in Vicky’s death.
“What are you going to do?” Damon asked simply, trusting in Caroline’s instructions. He could feel a sense of purpose and steel iron will from her and he knew better than to argue with her once she had a plan in place.
Caroline raised an eyebrow, “I am going to go compel their,” She tilted her head toward the dead bodies, “wives into believing that the two were carrying on a secret love affair and that they ran away together to go get married in Canada.”
The cave was so silent, Caroline swore she could hear the clean up going on a mile away. Damon finally let out a chuckle, “That’s what I love about you, Caroline. You always keep it interesting.”
Stefan snorted in agreement before groaning and reaching to pull the last bullet out of his body. Damon staggered over and helped his brother up as the two limped out. Caroline opened the gate for them and they climbed the stairs toward food.
~~~
“Keep Caroline away from me, please,” Liz requested, sitting on a rickety chair, “I don’t want to see her.”
Damon stared at Liz harshly. He could clearly see the blonde on the other side of the door and he felt her agony at her mother’s words, “She’s your daughter, Liz.”
Liz just shook her head, “Not anymore. My daughter’s gone.”
Damon inwardly flinched as he felt Caroline’s heart break, “You have no idea how wrong you are about that,” he turned his head to meet Caroline’s eyes. Caroline looked sad but expectant. She dropped her mother’s suitcase and left.
Damon made his way to the door, dragging the suitcase inside the cell, watching as Liz realized that Caroline had heard her words. At first it looked like she might say something, but she closed her mouth and looked away. He closed the door and locked it behind him, wordlessly staring at Stefan. They were both remembering their father’s rejection of who they were. Stefan turned around to follow Elena after Caroline.
~~~
Caroline jerked awake suddenly. Her face felt grimy from her dried up tears and runny make up, but that didn’t matter. She smelled blood. Caroline was barely aware of standing up, her face turning in hunger when suddenly Damon was there, his arms wrapped tight around her preventing her movement.
“It’s just Elena,” He whispered in her ear, “She’s healing Stefan.”
The blonde’s face reverted back to normal as she sagged into his arms, “But I thought Stefan would go crazy on human blood.”
Damon nodded and led her to the entry way and away from the scent of blood, “Katherine built up a tolerance to Vervain by drinking a little everyday. Stefan is trying to do the same with blood,” He watched carefully as Caroline nodded in understanding, “We’ll need to keep an eye on him.” Damon stared at the blonde still in his arms for a moment. She was filled with sadness; her whole posture reflected the ache in her heart, “Come on.” Damon commanded, reaching out to snag his car keys from a bowl.
Caroline looked at him in confusion but readily followed him, happy to escape the scent of blood and the presence of her mother. Damon dragged her into the car and they drove in silence for almost a half hour. About twenty minutes in, Caroline reached into her purse and removed a facial wipe which she then used to remove all the makeup, dirt and tears from her face. Damon had never seen her without makeup before. He suddenly realized that to her, it was war paint. Without it, she seemed… young. And sad. And alone. Caroline finally spoke up a few minutes later, “Where are we going?”
“I’m still not at one hundred percent after all of that Vervain and with both Katherine and Mason on the loose that is not a good thing. So we’re heading a couple of hours out where I can grab a fresh meal,” He looked at the blonde significantly.
Caroline knew he was looking for her reaction, but she couldn’t bring herself to give one. She was tired and she didn’t want to fight. She knew how Stefan would react, but she was not him. She didn’t want to kill people, but she didn’t mind taking a quick bite. She did fine on her first meal: that nurse at the hospital. As long as she stayed in control of the hunger, she’d be okay and she knew that Damon needed fresh blood so that he could heal and regain his strength.
Seeing a distinct lack of protest, Damon felt a little satisfied. Maybe Caroline wasn’t so bad after all. He had worried when Stefan tried to put her on his animal diet, but at the same time, Caroline seemed perfectly fine drinking from humans. If he worked on her, he might easily gain an ally on the ‘fresh from the source’ side. And with Stefan contemplating drinking from blood bags, his battle was half way over.
It was another hour before they entered some college town on the edge of the Virginia border. Damon looked around at the picture-esque college scenery and scowled.
“What?” Caroline asked curiously.
“I hate this,” He nodded at the rows of collegiate buildings, “It’s so… boring.”
She looked around in consideration, “I would have loved to go to a college like this: somewhere pretty but with plenty of parties. Last year this would have been exactly where I thought I’d end up.”
Damon looked at her as though she was some sort of fascinating experiment, “And now?”
She looked at him contemplatively, “And now I’m going to be seventeen forever. College doesn’t seem very important anymore.”
He smirked at her approvingly. Damn, when did Caroline become one of his favorite people? “If only Stefan figured that out. He’s been going to college since the ‘70s. I think it’s a form of self-inflicted masochism.”
“Speaking of pain- What are you going to do to Mason Lockwood?” Caroline suddenly asked. Damon let out a loud growl in response, his eyes growing dark, but not vampiric. Caroline felt a sudden shiver down her spine; a feeling she hadn’t really felt since before she was turned. Terror. Pure, unadulterated terror.
Trying to fight the urge to flee, Caroline fell back on what she knew best, “I don’t know why you’re having such a problem with the guy. I mean I kicked his ass and you’re, what? 150 years older than me? Jeez, someone’s losing their touch.” Damon turned glaring hateful eyes to her, warning her to shut up or bad things were going to happen, but once Caroline started she found she couldn’t stop, “I mean you needed me- me- to save you.”
Damon couldn’t stop himself from tackling her to the ground. His fangs were set to rip into her jugular when she easily overturned him. She had him pinned to the ground in seconds. For a moment they stared at each other in shock.
“Okay, wow. We really need to get some blood into you,” Caroline spoke worriedly, blurring as she stood and then bending down to drag Damon up as well. Damon nodded, still surprised that Caroline had beaten him. It wasn’t hard to find a frat party. All they had to do was follow the trail of inebriated co-eds.
“Look! Drunken sorority girls!” She pointed at a nearby building where two girls were giggling loudly. The girls were the perfect target. Separated from the others, no one would notice if they went missing for a couple of minutes. Plus, any side effects they’d feel from the blood loss would be attributed to their heavy drinking. Caroline took a small mouthful of blood but for the most part, saved the drinking for Damon. As soon as he finished with the two girls, Caroline compelled them and sent them on their way.
They were heading back to Damon’s car when a cute college guy walked by giving Caroline the once over. The blonde gave a self-satisfied smirk at the attention she could get even without wearing makeup or the perfect outfit. Damon scowled briefly. Not because he was jealous because hello, he doesn’t get jealous and certainly not over Caroline. But did that guy seriously just look over Blondie when Damon was standing just there?
Feeling malicious, Damon gleefully pointed out some harsh facts to the newly turned vampire, “You know that can never happen, right?” He asked as he got into the car and started the engine.
“Excuse me?” Caroline responded, turning to look at him with an arched eyebrow.
Damon smirked knowingly, “You and a human. It can’t happen.”
“Because I’ll eat him,” She stated easily, rolling her eyes. She was tired of hearing that.
“What do I look like? Stefan?” He scoffed, navigating the streets easily, “What do I care if you eat him? I meant in bed.”
Caroline choked slightly. If she had been human, she was sure her cheeks would have been scarlet, “Excuse me?” She repeated, her tone incredulous.
Damon rolled his eyes, but the smirk stayed on his lips, “Vampire women can’t have sex with human males. Well, they can, but it’s very unsatisfying.” Damon caught her gaping look out of the corner of his eye, “Come on. Don’t tell me you can’t figure it out. Females are capable of multiple orgasms, as long as the man has the stamina. Not a problem for male vampires. However male humans don’t have the necessary energy to keep up with a female vampire. Thus, very unsatisfying,” He teased.
However, Caroline couldn’t think about the humor. Female vampires could never be with human men. So, where did that leave her and Matt? Was it just one more reason they were better off apart?
Seeing that all Damon accomplished was a brooding companion, he sighed and forcefully braked, causing Caroline to jerk forward. Looking around the blonde easily dropped her train of thought in favor of her curiosity, “Where are we?”
Getting out of the car, Damon raised an expectant brow as Caroline followed him, “Where does it look like?”
“Why are we at a hospital?” Caroline asked instead as she walked through the automatic doors and inhaled the hospital scent.
“Well, between you and me drinking, the blood supply was starting to get low and now with Stefan working on the human diet too, we need to stock up. So, we’re making a blood run.”
Caroline looked surprised but then excited. She had never been on a blood run before and as always, she was excited to learn something new that could help her in her vampirism.
“Would you stop that!” Damon scowled, “You look like a child. This is a hospital. No one’s that happy to be here.”
The blonde giggled but toned it down. Damon easily followed the signs (and Caroline took note) until he was right where he needed to be. The duo waited in the adjacent hallway until one of the nurses swiped their card to grab some blood for a patient in the ER. As they left, Damon and Caroline blurred inside the room before the door locked. Grabbing one of the coolers, Damon began loading it up and Caroline followed suit.
As they carried the cooler down the hall Damon finally spoke, “You know, having you along might actually be helpful.” Caroline raised an eyebrow in skeptical pleasure, “Normally I have to compel one of the workers to leave so that I can blur past the automatic doors without anyone seeing. But with you here, you can just leave normally and I can blur past you once the doors are open.” Caroline pouted that her help was so unimportant before shrugging easily. Damon admitted she was helping him; getting any kind of acknowledgment or compliment from him was a miracle all unto itself.
Two hours later, Caroline and Damon finished storing the blood in the fridge and the scent of her mother nearby brought Caroline back into her melancholic mood. They moved upstairs and she slowly drifted over to the couch and began remaking her bed. She was just about to settle into it when Damon sighed and grabbed her hand. He easily dragged her down the hallway and upstairs to his bedroom.
Slightly confused, but too weary to cause a fight, Caroline sat down on Damon’s large bed. She watched him as he began stripping off his clothes and preparing for bed. She was slightly surprised as he slid on a pair of silk bottoms since she knew for a fact that he almost always slept in the nude. “Thank you.” She finally spoke, her eyes looking at him with sad gratitude, “For not killing her.”
Damon paused as he turned down his bed. He stared at her for a moment before speaking honestly, “I meant what I said. I actually like Liz. She’s a friend.”
A small smile tugged on Caroline’s mouth as she kicked off her shoes and got off the bed long enough to remove her shirt and pants, “Friends, huh? First Alaric and now my mom?” She jumped onto the bed bouncing slightly, “Next thing you know, you’ll be claiming to be gasp good.” She smiled playfully, only to receive a pillow in her face for her teasing. Pouting, she threw it back then gasped in shock as he grabbed her ankle and dragged her across to his side of the bed, shrieking in laughter as he began to tickle her.
After a few minutes of the torture, Damon suddenly stopped. Caroline looked up at him, unsure of what happened when she met with his intense blue gaze. He gently tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and leaned down to kiss her. After a few moments, he pulled back, “Thank you... for saving me.” Caroline blinked in astonishment, but he had already turned off his lamp and crawled into bed.
She smiled as she snuggled underneath his warm sheets. She had forgotten how… sweet Damon could be.
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