Return To Mystic Falls

Masquerade Ball

Diana is gone when I wake, her spot on the bed an empty void of sheets and lingering warmth. A note is stuck to the last blood bag in the refrigerator, scribbled out in blue sharpie, Diana's looping handwriting explains that she needed to get away, clear her head. Fear grips my heart; it's cold finger's squeezing tightly. This is how it started last time. Small steps leading up to a complete disappearance. She can't really be doing this again. Diana is a creature of habit, but she seems happier this time. She's involved herself; she can't just walk away, not when Stefan and I need her the most. The choking feeling lingers despite the row of Xs and Os accompanied by a line about being back tonight. This all feels too familiar.

My worried train of thought derails as Caroline blows through the front door. She's shaking, pacing back and forth in the living room as she tugs at her shiny, blonde hair. It takes me a solid thirty minutes to get her calm enough to even start explaining what's sent her into a tizzy. Once the newest member of our vampire clan is settled on the couch, I call Stefan. He needs to hear what blondie has to say.

"Here," I offer Caroline a glass of blood, half of the last bag. We're going to need to restock sooner than later.

Caroline reaches out, taking the cup from me, her eyes fixed on the carpeted floor. "I'm still shaking."

"What happened?" Stefan questions, leaning against the fireplace.

Blondie sighs, lifting the blood glass up to her lips.

"Go ahead," I look to my brother giving him a smile, "you're gonna love this."

"I saw Katherine today," Caroline blurts out.

Stefan raises an eyebrow, "Where?"

"At The Grill. I just stopped to gawk and quasi-stalk Matt," Caroline starts, refusing to look up at Stefan. He wants her to stay away from Donovan, claiming she isn't ready to be that close to another human. "Well, he saw me and asked if I wanted a table, but of course I didn't so I said I just needed to use the bathroom –"

"Skip the teen drama and get to it." I interrupt the girl. She's putting off telling Stefan what she told me.

Caroline glowers at me, but moves on, "Then I had to pretend to use the bathroom even though I didn't have to go 'cause I'm a dufus. She was there. She wanted me to deliver a message."

"What was the message?" My brother questions, keeping his tone soft and even. He's growing impatient with Caroline but doesn't want her to feel pressured. What a softie.

Blondie looks directly at Stefan for the first time since he'd joined us. She swallows hard, frowning, "Tell Damon and Stefan I want the moonstone or I will rip this town apart until it rains blood."

Stefan turns to me, shocked. His mouth hangs slightly open, hands suspended in the air. He can't really be that surprised, can he? This is Katherine we're talking about. I'm surprised she didn't deliver Caroline's head to us on a silver platter. My little brother should be used to Katherine's threats by now.

"Tell him the rest of it," I encourage Caroline. She's nervous, her knee bouncing her now empty glass up and down.

"She said she wants it tonight," Caroline answers in a small voice, "at the masquerade ball."

"She wants to do it in public. Killing Mason Lockwood threw her off guard," the wheels in Stefan's head are thrown into overdrive as he tries to calculate Katherine's angle. The only way of saving the population of Mystic Falls is to stay ahead of the bitch. "Where's Diana? Does she know any of this?"

Shaking my head, I sink into the red armchair in the corner of the room. "No. She was gone when I woke up, left a note saying she needed to be alone. She might be at Elena's trying to patch things up with Jeremy."