The Bourbon Diaries ✢ The Vampire Diaries FanFiction ✢ TVD FanFic ✢ TVDU FanFic

Chapter Eight - Caroline Forbes

Three and a half years ago

Mystic Falls, VA

New Year's Eve, 10:25pm

No time was wasted trying to open the hatch with a key, as Caroline grabbed the handle, ripped off the lock, and pulled the door from its hinges completely, releasing a gust of black smoke that engulfed her and then filtered out into the air. Two voices were heard shouting but, as neither of them were Stefanie, Caroline jumped into the cellar and focused on finding her first.

"Where is she?!" she yelled, her vision obscured by smoke, the only light dancing from the flames surrounding the staircase.

The voice was footsteps away: "Here! They're both here! We need to lift them out!"

A thump came from behind Caroline as Damon landed in the cellar. She hurried towards the unfamiliar voices near the floor, crouched down next to Stef, and picked her up. Her body hung lifelessly in her arms. With desperate yells surrounding her, and a wave of panic hitting her, she focused on hearing Stef's heartbeat. She couldn't hear one. Fear gripped her heart, settling heavily in her stomach. She wouldn't hand her to Damon like this; she needed to hear that heartbeat first.

Beside her, two boys struggled to lift another unconscious teenager from the floor. Caroline immediately barked orders: "Damon, get the others out! I've got Stef!" She carried Stef towards the hatch, sprinting past Damon and evading his demands to hand over his daughter. He wouldn't slow her down by interfering; Caroline was faster and he knew it.

Finally out of the hatch and in the fresh air, Caroline placed Stef on the cold ground outside the bar. Her clothes were gray from smoke, her skin tinged with blue, and the inside of her lips speckled faintly with black residue from the soot in her airway. Caroline felt for a pulse. Nothing. She felt her chest for a heartbeat. Nothing. She leaned close to her mouth, hoping to detect even the faintest breath. She needed any sign of life. But there was still nothing.

This couldn't be happening. Damon and Elena couldn't lose their daughter. She couldn't watch her friends go through another loss like this. Stefanie was too young. The girl she'd watched grow up couldn't be gone.

Caroline drew back the tears forming in her eyes as two teenagers dragged themselves out of the hatch, coughing and panting. Turning, they helped pull the third boy up, and then Damon followed. She couldn't cry in front of him, not yet. She hadn't tried everything.

As soon as Damon was out, his eyes went to Stef, and then to Caroline. He saw her expression. She was already grieving.

"No... " he whispered, frozen in fear.

Seeing his face, Caroline couldn't hold back any longer, and a tear started to fall. But she knew there was one final desperate measure at their fingertips. It was the only hope they had left. With grim determination, she withdrew her fangs and sank her teeth into her wrist.

"No!" Damon cried, charging towards her, and kneeling next to Stef. "You can't, Caroline!"

"We have to try!" Caroline protested.

Damon started chest compressions, leaning over his daughter, putting all his weight on her sternum. "It's not over, I can save her."

"There's an ambulance on the way." Adam, partially risen from the ground, swayed weakly. His eyes fell on Phoenix. "We need to help him."

Caroline backed away from the heartbreaking sight of watching her close friend attempt to revive his daughter. She had to trust he was doing the right thing, doing everything he believed was best for her---mouth-to-mouth, chest compressions, waiting for the ambulance. Whether it was the correct course of action or not, Caroline accepted his decision to refuse her blood. Stef was already too near death; giving her blood in an attempt to heal her could only make things worse.