Journey To The Past [Sequel to At The Beginning]

Chapter 53

Salvatore Boarding House
Few hours later, Damon, Cassie, Stefan and Elena finished burying the deputies and went back to the house with Liz in tow. Cassie went into the kitchen to make some food and coffee for everyone when the doorbell rang. She had a cup of coffee in her hands but since Stefan and Elena were upstairs; Cassie figured she'd answer it. She opened the door and Caroline was standing there with a suitcase. "Hey, sorry that took forever. I just didn't know how long my mom was gonna be here." Caroline said as she walked into the house. "Damon says it'll take three days tops for the vervain to leave her system. Maybe even sooner." Cassie said to her with a hopeful smile. Stefan comes down with Elena behind him. "Hey! You get some bunny in you?" Caroline asked with a small smile. "Yeah, I'm feeling much better, thank you." Stefan said with a grateful smile. "I'm gonna go check on your mom and bring her this coffee. Excuse me." Cassie said and went downstairs.
In the cellar, Liz was on the phone while Damon was watching her from across the room."A stomach bug. Yeah, it came on fast. I'll definitely be out tomorrow..." She said to whoever was on the phone. Cassie turned the corner and entered the cell she was in. "Tsk, tsk, tsk." Damon said with a head shake. Liz looked at Damon and understood the warning. "...Or longer. I'll text you. Yeah. Good night." Liz said, hung up the phone and gave the phone to Damon. "Thank you. It's not exactly the Ritz, but it's secure. Brought you a good thread count. And once the vervain's worked its way out of your system, I will compel you, you will forget everything and you will be a free woman." Damon explained to her. "I brought you coffee. French vanilla." Cassie said and handed her the mug. Liz gave her a hesitant small smile. "I'm sorry Sheriff but I couldn't let you kill them." Cassie said to her. Liz just nodded in understanding. "How did you do what you did?" Liz asked Cassie. Cassie looked at Damon to know if it was okay to tell her; Damon looked at her and nodded. "Apparently, I'm a doppelganger of Lady Morgana and the powers run through my bloodline." Cassie said in simple terms. "Lady Morgana? As in 'King Arthur'?" Liz asked not understanding. Cassie nodded. "According to some books, that's a true story." Cassie said with a chuckle. Liz was dumbfounded. She took a small sip of coffee. "Thank you Cassie." She said and lifted the mug. Cassie just gave her a smile.
Liz let out a deep sigh. "I need to ask one thing." Liz said to Cassie. "Sure. What is it?" Cassie asked her as Caroline, Stefan and Elena arrived at the cell door. "Can you keep Caroline far away from me please? I don't wanna see her." Liz said as she choked back tears. Caroline stopped short so Liz wouldn't see her. Cassie's heart broke for Caroline and her mouth fell open. She had no words. "She's your daughter, Liz." Damon reminded her. "Not anymore. My daughter's gone." Liz said as if Caroline had done this to herself. "Sheriff, You have no idea how wrong you are about that or what even happened to her." Cassie said angrily and stormed out of the cell; bumping right into a tear faced Caroline. Cassie just wrapped an arm around her shoulder and walked her upstairs.
Elena began to follow them but stopped when she saw Stefan walk over to the fridge and open it. "Stefan, I think that we should..." She walked up next to him, revealing that it was full of blood bags. He took a blood bag in his hand and looked at it. "What are you doing?" She asked him with confusion. "Katherine took a little vervain every day and built up a tolerance to it...I could do the same with blood. I could learn to control myself on it." Stefan explained his idea to her. "But you can't, Stefan. You don't have to." Elena tried to talk him out of it. "I almost died tonight, Elena. Because I was too weak." Stefan told her with distain toward himself. "But the last time that you drank human blood..." She tried to say but Stefan cut her off. "I told you I'll find a way to stop Katherine, didn't I?" He asked her. She nodded. "Well this is it, this is the only way because she's stronger than me. And unless that changes this, I can't protect you." He fully explained himself, hoping she'd understand. Elena tapped her ear, indicating others might overhear. "Can we talk about this later?" She asked him quietly. "He can hear us wherever we are, because he drinks this. This is...this is the only thing that can help me!" Stefan said loudly; getting frustrated with her. "Are you serious? Are you pretending to fight? Because I can't tell if..." She began whispering to him but he silenced her. "No, this is real. No more pretend." Stefan told her with a solemn expression. Elena confused and frightened, ran back upstairs.

Cassie was comforting Caroline in the living room when Elena joined them. "Can I take you home?" Elena asked Caroline with a sad smile. Caroline shook her head frantically. "I can't go home." She said close to tears. Cassie and Elena exchanged puzzled glances. "Why can't you go home?" Cassie asked not understanding. "Because I'm scared." Caroline admitted. "Why are you scared?" Elena asked her. Caroline shook her head again. Cassie grabbed her hand. "Caroline, you can talk to us." She said with sincerity. She'd never seen Caroline like this before and it made her heart break. Caroline let out a deep sigh and sniffled. "Katherine's gonna be there and she's gonna want me to tell her everything that happened today. She told me I had to spy on you and report back to her." Caroline confessed through tears. Elena and Cassie exchanged sad glances. Elena let out the breath she was holding. "I know and I've been so mad at you." Elena admitted to Caroline. Caroline started crying. Elena grabbed her other hand. "But then, I tried to put myself in your position so that I could understand why you would do this to me and to Stefan because he's been such a friend to you." Elena explained to her. "Who did she threaten?" Cassie asked Caroline; knowing Katherine's tricks already. "Matt, she threatened Matt. I'm so scared of her Cassie. I am so scared of her." Caroline said through her tears. Cassie wrapped an arm around her and let her cry on her shoulder. "And you should be, Caroline." Elena said kindly but as a warning. "We all should be." Cassie added. "Why is she doing this? What does she want?" Caroline asked with fear and confusion in her voice. "That's the million dollar question." Cassie said and held Caroline as she cried.