I Will Never Leave You

Chapter 28

Chapter Twenty Eight "How do we know for certain that they have returned?" Someone asked. "Two nights ago I found Vicki Donovan's body," Sheriff Forbes answered, "there was a stake through her heart and based on the condition of her body it was obvious she had been a vampire when she died. Someone had to have turned her and who knows how many others." "Well what are we supposed to do about it?" The same person asked. Damon was sure they had been introduced but he didn't remember his name. "Thanks to the store of vervain that has been contributed by the Salvatore's we have enough to put it in the towns water supply. That way we are able to cut off the supply of victims and it may allow us to weed out anyone who has been turned." Mayor Lockwood explained. Everyone throughout the room nodded. Most look scared but there were some who just looked determined. When the sheriff dismissed them they all left in small clumps whispering amongst each other. Before long the only ones that remained were the sheriff, the mayor and his wife, Grayson Gilbert and Damon. "Thank you for the vervain mister Salvatore but it's time for you to leave now," Mayor Lockwood said. Without moving from his seat Damon replied, "I'll leave when you all do." The mayor opened his mouth to argue but before he could get a word out his wife said, "we don't have time for this Richard. He's a Salvatore and is the one supplying us with vervain, we're going to have to start trusting him eventually it may as well be now." "Carol's right," Grayson said. Damon wasn't sure if he actually agreed with Carol or if he was only saying that because he already knew Damon. At the same time he doubted whether or not dating his daughter was the way to get into his good books anyways. Liz nodded, took a deep breath and addressed both Damon and Grayson when she said, "Caroline has been turned into a vampire." Grayson put a hand to his mouth to silence his gasp of shock and his eyes widened sadly. Damon furrowed his brow to appear worried and asked, "Caroline, like your daughter?" She nodded again and continued, "right now we are keeping her in the holding cell but the Lockwood's have a place we can move her. It's on the old property and was built exactly for this purpose. We're going to do it at dawn just as the sun is coming up. The streets will be empty and all the...vampires will be forced to stay inside." "It'll be smarter to do it at night," Grayson pointed out, "it'll only take me an hour to get the compass and if we have vervain and stakes if anyone comes to help her it'll just expose them." "I agree with Grayson," Damon said, "either way eventually we are going to have to figure out a way to draw them out. They probably turned her for a reason and even if they don't care about her personally they might think she will talk. If they value their secret they will want to rescue her, and if we're ready we can catch them off guard. It's simpler than having to figure out another way to find them some other time and this way we can make sure that everyone else in town is safe in their homes." After a brief moment of hesitation Liz nodded and said, "okay I want everyone to meet at the police station in an hour. Grayson bring the compass and any weapons you can, Damon any extra vervain you have and mayor any weapons. I'll have some of the deputies assist us, we don't know how many of them are out there." "What about me?" Carol asked eager to help. The sheriff didn't even have a chance to answer before the mayor told his wife, "you'll stay at home and make sure Tyler doesn't leave either. If something goes wrong there needs to be someone who knows what is going on." When her eyes widened in panic Liz cut in and reassured her, "not that we're expecting anything like that to happen Carol. It's just a precaution that we have to take, we'll all be back just fine in the morning." Carol nodded shakily her face white as a sheet. Without another word their small group disbanded as they all went to work to get ready for what was about to happen. "Does Elena know that you know?" Grayson asked once he and Damon had separated from everyone else. "How would she?" Damon asked, "I wouldn't bring her into this, that's not my place. Besides, who's to say that she wouldn't just dismiss me as being crazy if I did tell her?" Grayson shifted uneasily and told him, "she wouldn't. She would believe you because she already knows. After their mother was killed I told both her and Jeremy everything I knew about vampires and they both accepted it as the truth." "Why was the vampire hunt postponed until now?" Damon asked, "I mean your wife was part of a founding family and she was murdered by a vampire. Shouldn't something have been done then?" "I'm afraid that is partially my fault," Grayson admittedly with a shake of his head, "after Miranda died I was so focused on mourning her and getting Elena and Jeremy through it that I avoided this whole business. It was hard enough to deal with her death without having to deal with vampires as well. I was the one with the compass and the sheriff and mayor were doing everything they could without it. But when no one else was attacked I think we all just hoped they had moved on." "But they didn't," Damon said simply. "No they didn't, and now Vicki is dead and Caroline is a vampire. It's my fault, if I hadn't been so focused on myself and my family I might have been able to stop the rest of this from happening," Grayson said roughly. Damon rested a hand on his shoulder and told him, "you can't blame yourself for this Grayson. Caroline and Vicki may have already been turned before Miranda was attacked, there's no way you can be certain anything you would have done could have helped them. Instead of making yourself feel guilty you have to try and do everything you can to help those that you still can." For the first time Grayson smiled. When he smiled Damon could see where Elena got her smile. Sure he wasn't her biological father but his smile was just like hers. Damon was sure that was just because he raised her to be the person she was, and apparently to smile the way she did. After that they went their separate ways. As soon as Damon was in his car he had Elena on the phone. "You have to gather everyone at the boarding house," Damon told her as he began navigating his way out of the small town, "I only have an hour until I have to be back and we have to come up with a plan." "Okay," Elena said, "are we wanting to fill in everyone?" She put a lot of meaning behind her words and he knew she was questioning whether or not he wanted to include Stefan. So far the only people who knew that Caroline had been captured were her, him and Alaric. They had debated telling Bonnie but had ended up agreeing to tell as few people as possible and that included her. While they had no qualms about including her they still weren't able to trust Stefan completely. Damon thought about the night before at the bar when he and his brother had taken their first steps towards forgiveness and rebuilding the relationship they had once had. It would only be too easy to leave him out of this, they did after all have perfect reason to operate without him. However Damon knew that if they did it would only make them all move backwards rather than forwards and he was tired of being on bad terms with his brother. Besides he now had the memories from the other time line which included the guilt that came with stealing Elena away from Stefan. "Everyone," Damon confirmed before hanging up. He knew Elena would understand besides it was only minutes before he would see her again. In less than five minutes he was standing in the parlour of the boarding house while everyone else was sitting with their eyes trained on him. Elena was perched in one of the armchairs while Bonnie sat on one of the loveseats with Alaric beside her. Sadie had appeared earlier with Jeremy at her side and both of them were sitting on the couch after they had both point blank refused to leave. Stefan had taken his place in another armchair despite looking rather uncomfortable as he did. "How did they figure out that Caroline was a vampire?" Bonnie asked once Damon and finished filling them in on everything that had been happening during the past day. Damon shrugged, "we don't know but right now the only thing that matters is that they know. We need to rescue her while they transport her and while we're at it we need to get the compass as well. As long as they have that it doesn't matter if we manage to rescue her because they'll just track us all down again." "How are we supposed to rescue her if they are all expecting someone to come for her?" Jeremy asked. "Besides," Sadie added, "we can't even count on you for help. You have to make it seem as though you are still on their side otherwise they'll turn on you and figure out that you're a vampire as well." "That and we have to make sure that none of us are recognized," Stefan pointed out. "It's dark," Damon said, "make it chaotic enough and they won't have a hope of recognizing a single one of you." Alaric shook his head and said, "even if we get the compass it's not like our problem is just going to disappear. They will still know that Caroline is a vampire and won't exactly give up just because their first plan went awry." "What are you suggesting?" Elena asked. "That you all leave once you rescue her," Alaric said, "you aren't safe in this town and you never will be."///////\/////\///\//\//\/\/\/\//\//\/\///////\\\/\/\//\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\//\/\/\/////\/\/\/\/\/\///\/\/\/\/\//\//\////\/\/\/\////\/\/\/\//\/\/\/\/ The simplest part of their plan was over. Damon along with Mayor Lockwood had moved Caroline's limp body from her cell and had transferred her into the trunk of the car. Only ten minutes earlier the sheriff had given her a large dose of vervain to knock her out while they moved her. Once she was in the car the sheriff and Grayson climbed in and drove awhile while Damon and the mayor followed behind them. They drove until the road turned from pavement to gravel. The trees grew thicker and thicker until they completely took over the road and they had to stop. This was the tricky part, they would have to go the rest of the way on foot. The deputies that Liz had recruited had driven down with her and Grayson and had each been given two wooden stakes. They all went over the rest of the plan one more time before they set out. Damon and the mayor were once again carrying Caroline's limp body while Grayson and Liz led the group. Liz was shining her flashlight into the trees in front of the and had her gun which was loaded with wooden bullets in her other hand. Grayson had his head bent over an old pocket watch and was just starting to replace the clock face with the compass. Suddenly there was a swooshing sound in front of them that made every single person jump to attention. One the night was once again filled with silence Liz whispered, "hurry Grayson, get the compass working." As soon as the words left her lips they were enveloped in what felt like a small tornado. The previously still night was now full of gusting winds that blew tree branches against their faces and dust into their eyes. "What's happening?" The mayor shouted over the whistling wind. "I don't know," Damon shouted back. Suddenly Damon felt Caroline's body being ripped from his hands. While he let go willingly Mayor Lockwood appeared to be putting up more of a fight. He was clinging to Caroline's feet with great strength that stopped Stefan who had just expected to be able to whisk her away. Upon meeting the unexpected resistance Stefan pulled harder but still the mayor didn't relinquish his hold. "One of them has the body," Mayor Lockwood shouted, "shoot him sheriff, shoot before he can get away." Even in the howling wind his voice was able to make its way to the sheriff. She quickly turned pointed her gun in the direction that the mayor was pointed and pulled the trigger three times. Damon watched at Stefan dropped to the ground but couldn't do anything about it as the group moved towards him without giving his cover away. In his haste to get to Stefan the mayor had finally let go of Caroline's body and left it lying beside Damon. "Where did he go?" He heard the mayor shout, "he was right there. I saw him go down." "He probably dragged himself away," Grayson suggested. "There aren't any drag marks on the ground," Liz pointed out. While they were all staring at the trees in the other direction Jeremy and Alaric appeared from the other. The nodded at Damon as they soundlessly took hold of Caroline's body and disappeared back into the trees. As the wind began to die down Damon cried out and threw himself to the ground. The deputies, sheriff and mayor were all too concerned with where Stefan had disappeared to, to pay him any notice but Grayson turned immediately. He rushed over to Damon's collapsed form and plopped down on the ground beside him. "What happened?" He asked in concern. "Another one of them came," Damon said feigning pain, "they knocked me over and were gone with the body before I could even cry out." "Don't worry about the body," Grayson said pulling Damon to his feet, "at least you're still alive." Damon heard someone creeping up behind Grayson before he saw them. It was Elena, her face was twisted into an expression that was a mix between sadness and anger before she hit her father over the head with a rock she was holding. She was just bending down to grab the compass out of his hand when another shot rang through the night. For a moment there was a look of shock on her face before she dropped to the ground. Damon watched in horror as there was a cry of triumph and the mayor hustled over. Once the sheriff also arrived she turned Elena's body and gasped in horror when she saw her face. "Elena," she said in horror. "Can't believe she crept up and knocked out her own father," Mayor Lockwood said with a slow shake of his head, "wonder what she would've done if we hadn't had time to stop her." "You don't honestly think that she would have killed her own father?" Liz asked. The mayor looked at her as though the answer was obvious before he told her, "she's a vampire Liz. Just like Caroline. She's no longer the Elena we saw grow up, she's a monster now." "Okay," Liz said in a resigned sort of way, "let's get her to the holding cell before she wakes up. They made off with Caroline already and we still need a way of figuring out who the rest of the vampires are. We can question her once she's locked safely in there." "What about Grayson?" Damon asked weakly. "He's been through enough without all of this. We'll come back for him once she's locked away and find a better way of telling him. We need to soften the blow." Liz said sadly. Damon nodded and he and the mayor bent down and picked up Elena's body. Before he grabbed her arms to hoist her up Damon snatched the compass that had flown out of Grayson's hand when he was knocked out. Damon was able to slip it into his pocket before any of the rest of them noticed and then turned his attention back to controlling his expression. It only took them a couple minutes to make it to the cellar and once there they dumped Elena unceremoniously onto the rock ground. Her body was still limp as they locked the cell door and she hadn't moved a little bit once they emerged back up into the forest. Everyone was silent as they headed back to where they had left Grayson. It was hard enough to come to terms with Caroline being a vampire but Elena as well? It was difficult to deal with and posed the question of how many others had been turned. They arrived back at the road by their vehicles quickly now that they weren't carrying a body but found the spot on the ground where they had left Grayson empty. The sheriff immediately raised her gun again and Mayor Lockwood shouted, "Grayson!" into the night. When there was no response they looked at each other uneasily until Damon said, "we shouldn't have left him. One of the vampires must have come back and grabbed him when they figured they couldn't rescue Elena." "But why would they want Grayson?" One of the deputies asked clearly confused. "To question him obviously," Mayor Lockwood spat, "they want to know what we know and they figure if they torture him he will give them the answers that they need. Or maybe they figure they could use him as a hostage to get their friend back." "Either way," Liz said after sighing heavily, "this makes the whole situation a lot more complicated."