𝐒𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒. ❪ 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗏𝖺𝗆𝗉𝗂𝗋𝖾 𝖽𝗂𝖺𝗋𝗂𝖾𝗌 ❫

𝐱𝐱𝐯𝐢. OUT WITH THE OLD

As long as they stayed out of Caroline's way and don't try to flip her switch, she won't feed, or kill on anyone. Caroline grinned, whispering, "I'm fine."

Elena sighed as Caroline went back to dancing. A shirtless guy suddenly approached Elena and tried to grind up on her, making her roll her eyes in disgust before walking away.

"Hey. There you are," Elena said when she found Stefan. "Did you talk to Liam? Were there any bite marks on him?"

"No, which means she must have given him her blood," he replied, referring to Caroline's incident with Elena's ex.

"And he doesn't remember her feeding on him at all?"

"He remembers them making out — in graphic detail — but that's about it."

Elena was surprised to hear that. "So, that means she's covering her tracks. It's very thorough. It's actually really good."

"No, it's not good," Stefan retorted. "It means that she's gonna use him as a human blood bag every time she gets hungry."

"Or she'll drink from the blood bags in our fridge that she just restocked," Elena informed him.

"Wait a minute. Why are you defending her?" Stefan asked.

"I'm just saying she hasn't actually hurt anyone, and there are no bodies that have shown up at the med center, no students are missing..." she said. "What if she actually has this under control? You know, we give her her year, she's happy, and then —"

"And then what? She magically flips her humanity switch and starts feeling everything that she's been putting off? Caroline is going to snap, and when she does, it's gonna be my fault. Because I am the reason that she did this."

Elena stared at him, sympathy set in her eyes, "Pain is the reason she did this."

"Her mother died, her world was turning upside down, and she asked me one simple question. All I had to do was tell her the truth, and I didn't. Now, look me in the eye and tell me that I couldn't have stopped this."

Just when Elena was about to ask Stefan was his plan was, she was cut off by Bonnie rushing over to them. "Bon, you okay?"

"Yeah," she panted, trying to catch her breath. "And I have good news, but also some bad news."

"Oh, great," Stefan sighed, allowing Bonnie to continue. "Now, what?"

"Well, the good news is I found Caroline."

"Yeah, we know. That's what we were just talking about."

"Right, but the bad news is, I found something else." When Bonnie didn't elaborate on what she meant, Stefan and Elena urged her on to do so.

Without saying another word, Bonnie pointed over to the right. The two followed her gaze and their jaws dropped.

"Oh, my God. Is that —"

"My sister," Stefan confirmed.

Janelle was on top of the bar dancing very provocatively with some other girls. None of which she probably even knew herself. A lot of the guys were cheering her on and whistling as she poured shots of alcohol into their mouths.

Stefan had surely seen his sister drunk before, but this was taking it to a whole new level.

"All right, you go handle Caroline," Elena blocked his view and snapped Stefan out of it. "Bonnie and I will get Janelle."

"I-I..." Stefan stammered, still not getting a hold of what he just witnessed.

"Stefan, go." Elena pushed him. When he got lost in the crowd, Bonnie and Elena rushed to get to Janelle.