- Brave New World
After Caroline had rushed off, Grace was now walking around the carnival eating some blue cotton candy when her phone rang in her pocket causing her to stop the conversation she was having with her brother. She pulled her phone out of her pocket only for a bright smile to appear on her lips when she saw who it was that was calling her.
Jeremy cleared his throat causing her green eyes to flicker over to her younger brother who raised his brows with an amused smile on his lips, " so that would be the boyfriend, right? The one you met in New York?" Grace sent him an unimpressed look as she shoved him slightly causing him to laugh loudly at the blush that appeared on her cheeks, " shut up! He's probably calling as I've not spoken to him in a couple of days since what had happened with the device and the fact that Caroline got into a car accident"
"It's fine" Jeremy smiled with a shake of his head as his sister handed him her cotton candy and the sweets that she had gotten for aunt Jenna. His eyes lingered on his sister for a moment as he was happy for her as Grace hasn't ever been this happy before even when she was with Tyler as he ended up treating her badly but she stayed with him as she thought that what love was until she met Nik who showed her differently.
"Hey, Nik" Grace spoke into the phone as her fingers twisted around the chain of her necklace that Nik had given her when she visited New York. " Hello, love. How's your night going?" Nik voice came through the other end causing her to bite her lip as she had missed him as he travels a lot so they arrange to meet out of town whenever he's free and not traveling the world.
Grace had never felt this way about anyone before and that scared her; she didn't know what it was but she was drawn to him and no matter how many times she tried to stay away from him she just can't and knew she was falling in love with him, " it's going fine, I guess." She spoke with a shrug of her shoulders, " you remember my friend Caroline. Well, she's been discharged from hospital which is good as she seems fine after the car accident. I'm with my brother at my high school carnival and I bribed Matt to win me another stuffed animal"
"Who's Matt?" Nik curiously questioned in a jealous tone causing the red headed girl to giggle shaking her head in amusement and assured him, " No need to be jealous, Nik. He's just my friend nothing romantically ever happened as he dated my twin sister and that would just be weird and awkward" Nik hummed from the other side of the phone, " I am not jealous..." Grace chuckled not believing a word he was saying, "What's there's to be jealous about? Anyway I'm gonna be in Washington in a couple days. It's gonna be lonely without you. What you say on leaving town for a couple of days to keep me company?"
" I'd love to" Grace beamed but frowned when she noticed Elena, Stefan and Damon making their way towards her, " I have to go, handsome. I have to find my brother who has disappeared with my Cotten candy. I'll call you later, okay?" Nik chucked from the other side end, " Alright, I'll see you soon, love" Grace pulled the phone away from her ear as soon as the call ended with a smile small on her lips as even though she's only been dating him for a couple of months she really did like him as he was everything every girl wanted in a guy, British, charming, smart and the fact the two of them also have a lot in common especially when it comes to art.
There was a little voice in the back of her head that hold her he was too good to be true, but she immediately brushed it off as she had been through a lot lately and doesn't have the best of luck when it comes to guys and she just wanted this to be something good to happen to her for once as she's been let down and disappointed in the past and wanted to believe her relationship with Nik will continue to grow the more she gets to know him.
"Grace!" Elena called out causing Grace to turn around only to see her sister, Damon and Stefan rushing over towards the red headed girl noticing the looks on their faces that something had happened causing her to let out a heavy sigh as she curiously inquired, " what have you three done now?" Elena glanced at Stefan with a pleading expression on her face as she didn't know how to tell her sister something had happened to her best friend, "it's Caroline." Stefan began to explain only for Elena to cut him off and finished, " she's a vampire"
Grace eyes widened in surprise as she loudly yelled out, " What! You have to be kidding me!" Damon quickly appeared behind her covering her mouth with his hand muffling her words as she continued freaking out before she licked his hand causing him to take a step away from her groaning in disgust wiping his hands on his pants shooting her a disbelief look," did you just lick me?"
The red headed girl smirked narrowing her eyes at him in repulsion, " Yes, yes I did. What are you gonna do about it" she shrugged her shoulders noticing the annoyance on the raven haired vampires face before she turned her attention back to Elena and Stefan, " I knew something was going on with her... she was acting weird earlier. What the hell happened?"
Damon grabbed her arm pulling her towards the school, " let's talk about this somewhere more private away from all this" Grace groaned as she ripped her arm out of his grip and hissed, " I swear to god, touch me one more time and see what happens" Damon rolled his eyes as he was used to the youngest Gilbert twin threats leading the three of them towards Alaric's classroom.
"How did this even happen?" Grace questioned as she was sat on one of the desks running her fingers through her hair as Damon glanced over at his brother before he flickered his gaze back over to the red headed girl and sarcastically told her, " Well, I fed her blood and Katherine obviously killed her and A plus b equals..." Grace flicked her wrist, muttering a soft, " silencio" causing the raven haired vampire mouth to vanish causing his eyes to widen with a look of annoyed and irritation on her face glaring over at Grace who smirked sarcastically with an amused look on her face.
Elena who wasn't amused by the two bickering nudged her sister gesturing with her head towards damon silently telling her to stop the spell causing her to pout with a rolling over her waving her hand removing the spell she placed on Damon, " but why?" The human doppelgänger curiously questioned with an confused look on her face. "Because Katherine is a manipulative nasty little slut" Damon bitterly stated with a look of loathing on his face.
"And she said, ' Game on?' What does that even mean?" Stefan curiously inquired as he paced back and forth in Alaric classroom trying to figure out why Katherine turned Caroline into a vampire in the first movie place. "It means she's playing dirty" Grace spoke up clenching her jaw with a determined expression on her face, " she wants us to know. It's no surprise that she would play dirty especially what you've both told us about her but she has no idea who she's messing with and when I get my hands on her she's dead"
Elena frowned as she looked at her twin sister before shifting her gaze towards Stefan and Damon and asked, " but why Caroline?" The red headed girl shrugged her shoulders as she didn't even know why she even went after the Forbes girl in the first place after from trying to get a reaction from both she and her sister, " why you looking at me like that? How am I suppose to know it's Katherine she's unpredictable"
" Caroline must be out of her mind, she has no idea what's happening" Stefan trailed off running his fingers through his hair as Damon scrunched his face up as he recalled his encounter with Caroline that happened not long ago and informed, "Oh I think she does" Grace, Elena and Stefan frowned as they stared at Damon to elaborate making him let out a heavy sigh and continue, "All of my compulsion from the past started wearing off the minute she was in transition"
Grace held a look of concern and worry on her face at the thought of her best friend knowing she was going through the transition on her own and has no idea what is actually going on, " we have to find her" Elena nodded her head in agreement as Damon rolled his eyes shooting his brother a look and bluntly said, " Yep, and kill her" The red headed girl glare deepened as focused her attention on Damon and harshly hissed, " you're not gonna kill Caroline. You lay one hand on her and I'll make you suffer in ways you'll wish I'll kill you. Got it"
"She knows who we are. She's officially a liability, and we've got to get rid of her" Damon shrugged his shoulders with his arm folded across his chest as Grace glare hardened on her face taking a step forward only for Elena to grab her arm knowing exactly what her sister was about to do. "Damon, absolutely not." Stefan added in shaking his head frantically shooting his brother a look to drop the subject.
Damon rolled his eyes as he glanced between the three of them with his brows raised and reminded them, " Need I remind you of a tragic little story of a girl named Vicki Donovan?" Grace frowned as she looked down at the ground in guilt as she remembered what happened the night Vicki had died as Stefan had killed her to protect her, "yeah, Caroline, of all people, won't not make it as a vampire. Her mother is a vampire hunter. Guys come on, we all know how this story's gonna end, just flip to the last chapter and..."
Grace immediately cut Damon off mid-sentence as she shook her head glaring harshly at the vampire and resorted, " it's not an option, Damon. You don't know her like I do, she'll survive this, I know it." Damon raised his brows as he looked at the twins before turning his attention over to his brother, " No?" He questioned causing the red headed girl to avert her eyes over to the youngest Salvatore brother who hasn't said a word, " your silence is deafening, Stefan. Wait, wasn't there a school carnival the night you staked Vicki? Looks like a town where story repeats herself. You know I'm right."
Stefan clenched his jaw as he moved towards his brother pointing his finger at him with a determined expression on his face and warned his brother as he knew if Caroline died Grace would stop at nothing to get revenge and would make their lives a living hell as it wasn't Caroline who was at fault it was Katherine," we're not gonna kill her"
Grace jumped down from the desk she was sat on taking her sisters hand and following after Stefan who walked out of the classroom and out of the school towards where the carnival was, " you agree with Damon, don't you?" Elena questioned sending her boyfriend a look but when he didn't answer her she called out his name with a pleading look on her face, " Stefan?"
Stefan clenched his jaw with a furious expression on his face as he punched the side of one of the stalls before rubbing his fingers through his hair as the youngest twin sister attempted to calm him down as she softly called out, " Stefan. Hey..." Stefan interrupted her as he turned around to face the two sisters letting out a heavy sigh and informed, " Damon's right. Not about what we should do, but about what's going to happen. Katherine all but signed Caroline's death sentence"
" well, we can't let it end that way" Elena commented turning to look at her twin sister as she knew Grace would do anything to protect the people she loves even if it means putting herself in danger but the Forbes girl had been Grace best friend since she could remember and won't give up on her just because Katherine did this to get both Stefan's and Elena's attention.
"Kathrine's doing this because of you guys, isn't she?" Grace questioned causing Stefan to laugh bitterly leaning against the back of one of the stalls, " Yes, she's doing this because of me and won't stop until she gets what she wants" Elena frowned as she glanced around the carnival trying to spot their blonde friend, " where could she be?"
Grace ran her fingers through her hair before her eyes settled on her bracelet around her wrist causing her eyes to lit up as she turned towards the couple, " I can find her" Elena and Stefan both looked at one another in confusion before turning their attention back to Grace who was making her way back towards the school, " where are you going?"
"Where do you think I'm going. I'm gonna get a map and do a locator spell and find Caroline before Damon kills her" Grace called out over her shoulder not looking back at Stefan and Elena who immediately started following after the red headed girl as there best chance to save Caroline is if they get there before Damon as he could not hesitate to kill her just to protect the secret of the supernatural.
❀❀❀❀
After Grace performed a locator spell to find Caroline the trio immediately rushed towards where the newly turned vampire was only to see Damon who was attempting to comfort the blonde raising the stake about to kill her when the red head girl flicked her wrist magically shoving Damon away from her best friend.
Elena rushed to bring Caroline into her arms when she frantically shook her head glaring at Elena as she loudly shouted, " get away from me! You killed me!" Elena frowned with an sympathetic look on her face as she tried to calm her friend down, " No, no, no, no, Caroline, that wasn't me. You know that. That was Katherine" Elena tried to get closer to her once again only for Caroline to shove her back harshly sobbing shaking her head, " No! Then why does she look like you? And why? Why did she do this to me?"
Grace cupped Caroline's face in her hands forcing her best friend to look at her seeing the look that was on Grace's face the blonde girl sobbed even harder as she didn't want Grace to hate her, " Gracie... please don't hate me. I'm a monster" Grace shushed the blonde pushing her hair out of her face as she tried to calm down her friend, " I could never hate you, Care. I promise." She then glanced over at Stefan from over her shoulder and called out, "Stefan, we've got to get her inside"
Stefan shot one last look at his brother before moving forward to grab Caroline and softly said, " it's alright Caroline, come with me" Damon rolled his eyes at the three of them trying to protect the newly vampire and called out, " she will die. It's only a matter of time" Stefan scoffed shaking his head not believing a word he said and resorted, " Yeah, maybe so. But it's not gonna happen tonight"
"Oh, yeah, it is" Damon muttered under his breathe picking up the stake he dropped when Grace magically threw him away from Caroline. He then used his vampire speed to rush over to Caroline only Elena placed herself protectively in front of her friend and sister as Grace pushed Caroline behind her holding her hand in her own.
Elena stayed silent for a couple of moments before looking up into Damon's eyes as she pleaded with the older vampire, " Damon, she's my friend" he then looked over at Grace and Caroline before turning his attention back to Elena backing up as he warned the brunette, "Whatever happens, it's on you" Bonnie who eyes widened in horror at the sight of one of her best friends with blood covered all over her mouth, " Caroline?"
"It's okay. Come on" Grace wrapped her arm around the blonde about to lead her away when bonnie walked up to them placing her hands on Caroline arms using her magic to confirm if the blonde was now a vampire, "No, you're not, you can't... you can't be." Caroline frowned looking down at the ground and softly called out her name, " Bonnie"
Grace grabbed Caroline hand dragging her towards the school bathroom making sure no one was in there before grabbing some paper towels helping the blonde clean up the blood, " it's all right. Everything is going to be okay" caroline shook her head frantically sobbing loudly, " she hates me. Bonnie hates me" Stefan who was stood by the door watched the two best friends as Grace tried to comfort her, " No, she doesn't. She's just in shock. We all are, okay?"
"What about Matt? What am I suppose to do about Matt?" She questioned frantically getting overwhelmed by everything as Grace pushed her hair back and softly replied, " one thing at a time. Let's just get this blood cleaned off" Caroline took a paper towel trying to get the blood off her hands, " I'm a murderer and I'm a monster"
"Don't say that! You're still the same. You're the same Caroline I've known my whole life. The same girl who made me watch every romance novel there is and the same girl who carried me over wickery bridge when i lost my shoe..." Grace chuckled lightly making Caroline smile as Stefan smiled sadly at the two friends as he admired how strong their friendship is and finally commented, " your emotions are heightened right now. It's part of transformation. It's completely normal. I promise you, okay?"
Caroline started breathing heavily noticing the veins appearing under her eyes through the mirror as she slammed her hand on the counter before spinning around, " God! And why does this keep happening to my face? I'm hideous" Stefan took her hands away from her face making her look at him, " Caroline. Look at me. Look at me. Caroline, look at me. Look at me. Look at my face. Look at my face. Look. Look. See it? You see that? Yeah? When you feel the blood rush, tell yourself you're gonna get through it. That you're strong enough. Yes"
Caroline shook her head frantically turning away from him but he stopped her grabbing her arms, " Yes, yes. No matter how good it feels to give yourself over to it you fight it off, you bury it. Watch me. Watch me. That's the only way you're gonna survive this thing. Try. Try" Caroline watched Stefan veins disappear from under his eyes causing her to take a couple of deep breathes and do the same as Grace wrapped her arms around her bringing her into a tight embrace, " you're okay. You're going to be okay"
"Why did Katherine do this to me?" Caroline questioned as she pulled away from Grace looking between her friend and the older vampire with a look of confusion on her face. " I don't know. I wish I did. Hey, hey. I promise you, I will not let anything happen to you" Grace smiled at Stefan as Caroline leaned forward into the red headed girl who ran her fingers through the blonde girl hair comforting her after everything that she has been through tonight.