Enemy • Legacies

030. into the woods

Meanwhile Charlie made a beeline for Caroline as he needed to speak to her. The blonde was surprised by the urgency on her sons face as he approached her. "Mum, we need to talk. Somewhere very private though." The younger Salvatore insisted, as the blonde's expression turned into worry.

"Okay honey. We'll go to my office." Caroline suggested, as Charlie gave a nod before they began to walk to Caroline and Alaric's shared office.

Charlie closed the door behind them before he turned to his mother. "Nobody will be able to hear us here, including other vampires?" He asked Caroline as the older Salvatore nodded.

"Ever since your sisters and Landon overheard Alaric and I fighting over what we should do with the Auclair students after Kiara died, we decided to have the office spelled so that nobody could listen in." Caroline reassured him, with a smile.

"Okay, well you have to promise me that you won't tell Alaric... because what I'm about to tell you is about an Auclair student and he loves to treat us harsher than the other Salvatore students." Charlie rambled on as Caroline nodded. "Char, I promise I won't tell your stepdad."

Charlie gave a nod, though he still seemed reluctant. He didn't want this to backfire in a bad way. Caroline was patient though, and made sure he wasn't feeling rushed to talk.

"It's about Niko." Charlie began. "He's been drinking excessively. I thought it was only mild but I was playing around with my football and it rolled under his bed... so I went to grab it and I found a stash of spirit bottles under there." The Salvatore added.

"I think he needs help. They're not doing well after Laura's death and has been shutting us all out... and now he's drinking a lot." Charlie continued to ramble, clearly concerned for his roommate.

"Okay, thank you for telling me. I'll see what I can do to help them, without Alaric knowing." Caroline decided as Charlie's expression turned relieved. "Thank you Mum."

"Now I have to ask... why are we going camping? You've never taken us camping in our lives." Charlie blurted out, which caused Caroline to laugh. "I know. It was Alaric's idea... and I think it could be a nice way to get everyone to bond, especially with the new kids."

"I guess so. I should go and pack." The vampire decided, though even then he wasn't sure what to pack really.

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The afternoon rolled around and the Salvatore students all lugged their bags to the bus outside the school. Alaric opened the compartments under the bus and started to pack everything inside as each student handed him their luggage one by one. In the unopened compartment were the tents and cooking equipment everyone would use.

"Aphrodite... why does this bag weigh a tonne of bricks?" Alaric asked, as the redhead heretic had just handed over her bag. Aphie shrugged innocently, "I just packed the essentials." She replied as Alaric didn't seem convinced, though he still placed the bag inside the compartment.

"Dad, why the hell are we going camping? It's not the 80's or something." Lizzie complained as Lucas agreed before he added, "Have you not heard of the Backpack murderer, from the movie Wolf Creek— which is based on an actual murderer?" Alaric sighed before he responded to his son, "I have and he was a murderer in Australia, I believe. We live in the United States."