Stone Cold

Rose

Chapter Twenty-Three: Rose

*~*~*~*

"Hey, Jeremy." Stefan greeted the Gilbert boy the morning after the masquerade party when he saw him in the hall at school.

"Look, Elena's gotta let me know if I'm supposed to cover for her," Jeremy warned the Salvatore. "I mean, Jenna's cool with the two of you, but you guys are pushing it."

"What are you talking about?" Stefan's brows furrowed at the younger boy's words.

"You and Elena," Jeremy shrugged, as though it were obvious. "Look, I'm glad you guys are back together, but if she's gonna sleep over--"

"Wait, wait," Stefan was quick to cut him off with a shake of his head. "Hold on a minute. We're not back together."

"Wait. She didn't-- She didn't stay at your place last night?" Jeremy asked, not fully believing him.

"No," Stefan shook his head once again. "I mean, I saw her at the party, but that was it. She didn't sleep over. I offered to give her a ride home, but she said she was getting one with Brigs. Maybe she stayed the night at her place?"

"Her bed hadn't been slept in, and Mrs. Lockwood said that her car was still in the driveway. Brigs didn't have her car, she rode there with Ric," Jeremy pointed out. "Where is she, then?"

"We can ask--" Stefan began.

"Hey, have either of you seen Brigs?" Alaric cut in as he joined the teens.

"You haven't seen her?" Stefan frowned at the teacher's own clear unease.

"No, we were supposed to get coffee before work but she never showed." Alaric shook his head, keeping his eyes peeled for any sign of his girlfriend in the halls. "What's going on?"

"Elena never got home last night and her car's still at the Lockwoods," Jeremy filled him in. "So where are they?"

*~*~*~*

Dirt flew up in the air as a large SUV sped down the dirt driveway of a long-since abandoned house out in the Virginia countryside a few hours away from Mystic Falls. Not a soul around to complain about the driver's high speeds or sharp break when the vehicle finally came to a stop outside the decaying house.

The driver pulled up as close to the front door as he could get, ensuring his hat, sunglasses, and gloves were all in place to protect him from the blazing sun. With every precaution taken he started the process of unloading the two bodies from the trunk. First he carried the thin frame of a teenager in a blood stained shirt. Only once the girl had been tossed onto a dusty couch in one of the rooms did he return for the second body. This one belonging to an older tanned woman who had an IV carefully placed in her arm, keeping a constant stream of blue liquid entering her bloodstream.

"Please..." The first girl, Elena, whimpered through the pain in her head as she watched the man set her friend, Brigs, in a chair next to the couch. He was gentler with her, making sure not to disturb the IV in her arm as he set her down and bound her arms to the chair with some rope.

The man didn't bother responding to Elena's pitiful plea as he shed his layers. He tossed the hat, glasses, gloves, and jacket to the floor like they were nothing before he took a seat next to her on the couch. Silence filled the room as he untied the rope from around the Gilbert girl's ankles and wrists, giving her some sense of freedom within the confines of the house.

"What do you want?" Elena questioned.

"Shh..." he hushed her.

"Please, I'm hurt. So is my friend," Elena tried to reason with him as she eyed the cut on Brigs' forehead. It had long since stopped bleeding, but she could already see the bruise forming around it.