𝟐𝟒

a/n: cher's outfit for the chapter is above!

☆═━ 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘-𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑 ━═☆

After breakfast at the Bernard residence, Charlotte carried Cassie in her arms and led the way upstairs, "Where are you taking me?" She asked.

"To see the newest family member," Charlotte stated, stopping in front of Cassie's room before letting her down, "Go on..."

Cassie seemed unsure as she looked from Charlotte to her bedroom. The brunette girl then shrugged to herself before walking inside, keeping the door open. She looked around the room, failing to find the new family member, "I don't see anything."

"Well, be considerate of the small ones," Charlotte smiled, walking inside before she bent down, picking a ginger-haired cat from the floor, it was just a few inches away from Cassie but said girl didn't bother looking down.

"Oh, My God! It's a cat!"

Charlotte nodded, her smile mirroring Cassie's as she petted the cat's head, turning to her niece, "Serena told me you always wanted one, so I went looking and this morning I got a call from an adoption center."

Cassie smiled beamingly as Charlotte handed her the small ginger-haired cat, "What's it named? Is it a he or a she?"

"It's a he," She answered, crossing her arms as she sat down on her knees to match her niece's height, "And you get to name him."

The littlest Bernard grinned happily, settling the cat on her bed as she furrowed her eyebrows in deep thinking, whilst Charlotte watched in amusement, "Can it be Ginger?"

"For his color? Sure, whatever it is you like, honey."

"No, not just his color," Cassie shook her head, turning to Charlotte with a sad smile on her face, "Ginger was Nana Izzie's favorite color...and she loved cats but she had an allergy, that's why we couldn't keep one."

The vampire nodded before taking Cassie in a small reassuring hug, "I am sorry. It will be fine, Cassie. Remember what you first told me about your Dad?"

Cassie used her knuckles to rub the tears off her face before answering, "That he went up to the sky? Like your parents."

"And what did I tell you about that?"

"That when good people do what they are meant to, they get their gift which is peace," She sighed, answering, "But I really miss her..."

"She misses you, too. She loves you and whenever you feel like talking to her, just stand in your window, look at the stars and say what you have to say," Charlotte stated, pointing to Cassie's window, even though it was still morning.

"She can hear me?"

"Of course she can," She insisted, hugging her niece as a stray tear rolled down her cheek but she rubbed it off her face, "Why don't you play with Ginger until I get back, hmm? I won't be gone for long."

✵ ✵ ✵

While Charlotte was helping her youngest niece cope with the death of her great grandmother, Damon, Elena, Alaric, and Stefan had concluded that the only thing the Lockwoods could be is werewolves. They weren't affected by vervain, but they heard the Gilbert invention, just as awfully as the vampires did.

So, Elena, Damon, and Alaric went to Duke to have a look at Isobel's, Elena's birth mother, researches from when she was human and to know a bit about her ancestral relation with Katherine Pierce.

In the meantime, Charlotte and Stefan were left back in Mystic Falls with the responsibility of none other than Caroline Forbes.

They were now sitting with Bonnie in the Mystic Grill, trying to convince her to make Caroline a daylight ring as she sighed, "I don't know how to make a day-walking ring."

"Emily made mine, she made Damon's and Charlotte's necklace, too, instructions must be in the Grimoire," Stefan reasoned, answering.

Bonnie shook her head, "That doesn't mean I can cast the spell."

"Bonnie, you know how to drop vampires with a single look, okay?" Stefan was desperate as he reminded her, "I think you can figure it out."

"Caroline killed someone," The brunette witch looked from Stefan to Charlotte, stating, "I can't make it easier for her to do it again."

Charlotte sighed exasperatedly as Stefan denied, shaking his head, "No, we're not making it easier for her; we're just giving her the chance to survive," He crossed his arms, continuing, "Listen, every day that she's cut off from her old life; from you, from Elena, from Serena, from Matt, it'll make it that much harder for her to hold on to her humanity."

"And how do you know she won't hurt anyone else?"

"We don't—"

"No, we do," Charlotte interjected, sending him a pointed glare before turning back to her, "Bonnie, this is Caroline Forbes, your best friend. She is not a monster and what happened yesterday wasn't her intention. I believe in her and that she can control herself with the right training."

"Deep down, you believe in her, as well."

Bonnie sighed, crossing her arms, "I don't know if I can trust her, not with this."

"Then trust us," Stefan finished as Charlotte ran a hand over her face and leaned back in her chair.

✵ ✵ ✵

Bonnie, Caroline, Charlotte, and Stefan were in Caroline's bedroom, the three vampires watching as Bonnie read through Emily's grimoire in her hands. The blonde vampire had the ring in her hands, asking rhetorically, "So, I don't get to choose the ring I have to wear the rest of my life?"

"Hey, if you don't want it—"

Charlotte cut in, shaking her head, "No, no, she wants it."

"Now what?"

Bonnie sighed, stating, "Now is the part where I explain the rules," She revealed sternly, "The witch who spells the ring has the power to de-spell it so if you ever do anything to hurt anyone...," She trailed off, not bothering to hide the judgment in her tone.

"I'm not gonna hurt anyone," Her friend claimed.

"You are a vampire that means the urge to kill is a part of who you are," The brunette witch threatened, highlighting her every word, "The minute you let it take over, I will stop you."

Caroline looked betrayed as she turned to her, "Bonnie, you're supposed to be my friend."

Bonnie shook her head, saying, "I can't ignore what happened, okay? If you want to be friends, you have to prove that the Caroline I remember isn't gone."

"And she will," Charlotte squeezed Caroline's shoulder in reassurance as she told Bonnie.

"Now put the ring on the bed," Bonnie nodded, asking Caroline.

She placed the ring on her bed, questioning, "Do you really think I meant to kill that guy at the carnival?"

"He's still dead," She chastised before sighing, lastly, "Now, do you want me to cast the spell or not?" Caroline made no move to decline as Bonnie opened a little bit of the curtain and Caroline sat back, holding her legs to her chest. The sun shined on the ring and Bonnie closed her eyes for a few moments before reopening them.

"All done," She threw the ring over to Caroline.

The blonde vampire took the ring and put it on her finger, momentarily admiring it, "So that's it? I mean nothing witchy happened. You know, no flickering lights, no gust of wind?" She paused, asking, "Have you ever done this before?"

"Caroline...," Stefan trailed off, warning.

"What? I just want to make sure that it worked—" Her reasoning was cut off as Bonnie suddenly opened the curtain and Caroline screamed, pausing to see that she didn't turn to ash.

"It worked."

Caroline shouted out, "What if it hadn't Bonnie?!"

Bonnie turned to Stefan and Charlotte, whispering, "She's all yours," She closed her grimoire before turning on her heel and leaving.

Charlotte scratched the back of her head, turning to Caroline with a hopeful smile, "At least we know that daylight spells are not as complicated as I thought?"

✵ ✵ ✵

Caroline, Stefan, and Charlotte were now in the Woods, hunting. Well, Caroline and Stefan were hunting. Charlotte was drinking mango juice and munching on chips, mainly because her presence was for emotional support as she followed them around, dropping m&m's so they won't get lost on the way out, even though Stefan claimed they won't get lost.

"So what I do when I see the rabbit?"

"Pet it's head?" Charlotte suggested, popping an m&m in her mouth before Stefan turned to her, "Sorry, instinct."

He dismissed her statement before turning to the blonde vampire, "Chase it, catch it, feed on it."

Caroline furrowed her eyebrows, inquiring, "Isn't killing cute defenseless animals the first step in becoming a serial killer?"

"That's exactly what I thought," Charlotte chimed in, taking a sip of her juice, "Then Damon introduced the Snatch, eat, erase thing and I thought it was worse."

"Well, she sort of skipped the serial killer and went straight to vampire," Stefan reminded her and Charlotte gave him a pointed glare before throwing an m&m in his face, "Ow?"

"Well, how do you...you know, feed?" Caroline asked curiously, turning to Charlotte.

The Bernard sighed, fixing her backpack on her shoulders before answering, "I have a few drops of blood mixed with any other drink throughout the day and I just keep eating, it helps shut down the cravings."

"Her methods are way more logical," She turned to Stefan, stating.

"Caroline, if you're not serious about all of this I think you should tell me," Stefan sighed, replying.

"No, I am. Look, I swear that I am, okay?" Caroline denied, insisting, "But it's just...I haven't been in the sun for days and everyone is at the swimming hole having fun and Matt is there!" She exclaimed, her eyes twitching from the excitement, "And he finally told me that he loved me but I have been blowing him off and now you want me to eat bunnies and I'm kind of freaking out, okay?!"

Unintentionally, Charlotte and Stefan laughed out, only one of the two bothering to try and hide her laugh but it was to no avail, "And now you two are laughing at me."

Charlotte coughed, choking on her snacks before shaking her head, "No, no, I am not laughing...Okay, I was laughing but now I am not, this is serious," She nodded, insisting as she tried to wipe the smile off her face, epically failing, "Yeah, we are all serious."

"None of this is funny, trust me. It's just that...," Stefan trailed off, looking for a way to put it out.

"What?!"

"When someone becomes a vampire, all of their natural behaviors get sort of amplified," He explained as Caroline furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, "I mean...as a human I cared deeply for people, how they felt. If they were hurting I felt their pain and I felt guilty if I was the one who caused it and as a vampire all of that got...magnified."

"And I was awfully compassionate, that part, sadly, didn't leave me," Charlotte added, popping a chip in her mouth.

"So you're saying that now I'm basically an insecure, neurotic control freak...on crack?" She questioned, looking from Charlotte to Stefan.

"Well, we wouldn't say it like that...," Charlotte trailed off, smiling teasingly.

"What happened to emotional support?"

Charlotte smiled, walking up to her before slinging an arm around Caroline's shoulder, "I sprinkled a bit of sarcasm on the emotional support, just to light up the mood."

Caroline rolled her eyes before Stefan cut in, "Hey, listen, let's hunt okay? And then after that, we'll go to the swimming hole."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Stefan nodded, "Matt is the closest connection that you have to your humanity and I think that being around him is a good thing."

"Okay."

"Fantastique!"

✵ ✵ ✵

"So, you will stay with her?" Charlotte couldn't believe herself as Serena told her she will leave the party at the Swimming Hole and go back home to babysit Cassie, "Just like that?"

"Yeah, she is my sister. Don't sound so surprised."

"It's just that this feels like your scene...and Tyler is here?" Charlotte started, rubbing the back of her neck as she asked.

Serena rolled her eyes, "That's precisely why I should go."

"But I thought you liked him?"

"And it turns out he doesn't like me back, at least not as much as I do, okay?!" She revealed, running a hand over her face as Charlotte unintentionally flinched back, taken by surprise from the loud tone, "I would rather be in hell than here, bye."

Serena shoved past her, getting in her car, "Serena, wait!"

"Charlotte, it's a party. Have fun, please, for me. You deserve it."

"But we have to talk—"

"We will, once you get back from the party and have actual fun, just dance with someone," Serena shrugged her shoulder before igniting the car's engine, "Stop being dull."

Charlotte rolled her eyes, moving out of the way as Serena started the car and drove away. She walked back over to Caroline and Stefan as the Forbes went to open her mouth, she shook her head, "Don't ask."

"Alright, not about Rena...but can I ask something, real quick and neither of you has to answer, really..."

"Shoot," Charlotte crossed her arms, turning to Caroline along with Stefan.

"Did you two ever...?" She raised an eyebrow, looking from Stefan to Charlotte, "There's just this walking on thin ice between you two and it radiated the vibe of ex's."

"Yeah, we dated," Stefan answered shortly.

"And then he sort of cheated on me."

"So, we broke up."

"And now we are here, being undeniably awkward."

Caroline nodded, humming, "Okay...weird."

"You think we are weird?" Charlotte chuckled, asking. In her way, she was trying to tell Caroline, oh, wait till you know about the cheating slash compulsion details and you would freak.

"I mean I was not gonna say it like that but...," She trailed off, mimicking her from earlier and Charlotte laughed, shaking her head, "Ah, this is lame."

"Yep...but you chose to be here so...go get your guy, I guess?" The Bernard raised an eyebrow, looking from Caroline to Stefan, checking, "Is that how they say it?"

"Yes," Caroline responded, pursing her lips in a straight line as her eyes zeroed on some girl flirting with Matt, "Why don't you two loosen up? And get the party mode on? Yeah? Yeah."

"Umm," Charlotte didn't get to reply as Caroline shoved past her and Stefan, making her way to Matt, "Well...that was fun."

"You think she will compel her?"

The brunette vampire claimed, crossing her arms as she sent Stefan another pointed glare, disappointed that he would doubt Caroline like that, "No, Caroline knows well enough that she shouldn't do that or mess with someone's mind—"

Stefan cut her off, "And she is compelling her."

"What?" Charlotte scoffed, looking ahead of her at the scene playing at hand, "Ugh, Caroline..."

They both wait until Matt left, quite mad, before interfering, "Hey, we saw that. You compelled her."

Caroline rolled her eyes with crossed arms, "Yeah, she deserved it."

"Care, nobody deserves to have their mind messed with for shallow reasons," Charlotte grimaced at the thought of Caroline being nonchalant about something like that. She thought that with how Damon treated Caroline, she, of all people, should know how awful it is to mess with someone's mind.

"You know, why is everyone sticking up for Aimee freaking Bradley?"

"I am sticking up for you, Caroline," Charlotte retorted, failing to stay as calm as possible, "You are letting the jealousy get the best of you!"

She scoffed, rolling her eyes, "Oh, so now I have magnified jealousy issues, too," Caroline shook her head at herself, "That's great."

"I told you this wasn't gonna be easy...," Stefan spoke up, trailing off.

Caroline sighed exasperatedly, "Yeah, well, I might as well have stayed dead. My entire personality is killing me."

Stefan and Charlotte exchanged a look, letting what she had said sink in before smiling as Caroline said, "Shut up, both of you."

"You can tell him...I didn't say anything."

"You smiled."

"It's a happy day?"

✵ ✵ ✵

In a while, it was already night. Charlotte was hanging up with Serena, after checking that Cassie had fallen asleep with Ginger curled up beside her. She smiled, imagining how cute they looked as she rejoined Stefan and Caroline.

"You are drinking?" Caroline asked, noting the red cup in Charlotte's hand.

"It's mango juice," Charlotte shrugged, taking a sip, "I got myself a pack from some kid that was trespassing."

"Compulsion?"

The brunette vampire rolled her eyes with a long sigh, "I said please."

Everybody was leaving the swimming hole because Tyler asked them to while Matt was packing his truck, alone, "He's mad at me," Caroline stated.

"Go talk to him," Stefan encouraged as Caroline raised an eyebrow, looking from him to Charlotte.

"We'll wait," Charlotte reassured her, "Just be you, and calm down. He loves you," She patted her shoulder, sending her a small smile. Caroline nodded before walking over to Matt, just as Stefan's phone started ringing.

He answered, revealing it be Elena, "Hey."

"Hi. Is Char with you?" Elena greeted, asking as Stefan placed the phone on the speaker.

"Yeah, I am here, Elena."

"Listen we've learned some stuff here and I know it's gonna sound crazy but I wanted to fill you two in," Elena sighed, starting.

"What's up?" Stefan asked as Charlotte shoved her hands in her jeans' pockets, awaiting the bomb that Elena was about to drop.

Elena shared that werewolves were real for a fact, "I don't know what that means or if we should even believe it but it's a full moon, guys." She paused, trailing off, "After what you saw Mason Lockwood do..."

Stefan turned to Charlotte and she shrugged before he answered, "We'll be careful."

"There's one more thing."

"What is it?" Charlotte asked that once.

"According to the legend, a werewolf bite can kill a vampire," Elena finished, sighing exasperatedly. On alert, Stefan and Charlotte turned around, looking everywhere but they couldn't see Caroline or Matt anywhere.

Charlotte ran a hand over her face as Stefan said goodbye to Elena before hanging up, "We gotta look for her...If this is true—"

Stefan cut her off, placing his hands over her shoulder to calm her down, "Let's not think of the worst, yeah? C'mon. Call her."

Charlotte pulled her phone out, dialing Caroline's number but she paused, finding Caroline's phone in her bag, "No...no. C'mon!"

"Let's look for her, okay? They couldn't have gone that far."

"Yeah...," Charlotte nodded, taking deep breaths, She let Stefan lead the way through the woods as she focused on hearing Caroline's breath or Matt's heartbeat. In a while, and instead of hearing Caroline, Charlotte and Stefan heard an animal growling.

Stefan recognized a car to be Mason's car as he started walking towards it, "Stefan!" Charlotte whispered out, trying to get him to stop, "Stefan! We shouldn't be here, Stefan!"

Stefan turned to her, tilting his head towards the scratch marks on the ground then the chains tied to the tree. Charlotte walked, crossing her fingers for luck as she silently prayed that whoever was there is not here anymore.

She looked into the car and her lips parted, seeing yellow eyes looking out before she could even think of running away, a wolf jumped through the window and on top of her. Remembering how his bite was lethal, Charlotte squeezed her eyes shut and made sure her neck was as far from his canines as possible.

Then, he left. It was a quick flash before Stefan pulled her off the ground, "He didn't bite me, right?"

Stefan was checking her over for injuries before shaking his head, "No, no, thankfully, he didn't."

Charlotte sighed in relief before shaking her head, "Caroline! We have to get to her!"

Stefan nodded and before either could make a move, some masculine muffled scream rung out through the forest and Charlotte bolted, Stefan right after her. Caroline had lost control and ripped through Matt's neck as Charlotte pulled her off of him, trying to slap some sense into her.

"Caroline! Caroline! Stop it! Stop it! Deep breaths? Remember what I told you?" Charlotte called out, continuously shaking her. Part of her freaking out that Caroline lost control and another part dying to get out of there because they could be dead any second.

Caroline closed her eyes, taking a deep breath and as her face turned normal again, she spotted Matt, bleeding out, "Oh my god."

"No, no, no, stop," Stefan shook his head, turning to Caroline as Charlotte failed to calm her down, "Listen to me. We need to get out of these woods now. We need to leave."

Caroline paused, hearing a growl ring through the Woods, "What was that?"

"Matt, stay down. Do not move," Stefan turned to Matt.

They could hear the growls and branches being crushed as they looked around themselves. Stefan turned to them, both, stating, "Listen, we're gonna run. It's going to follow us; we need to lead it away from Matt."

Charlotte nodded as Caroline continued to look around her before Stefan repeated, "You need to run as fast as you can. Do you understand me?" They both nodded quickly before he pushed them ahead of him, "Go, go!"

They kept running through the woods before Caroline stopped at the old ruins, questioning rhetorically, "Wait! What is it?!"

"It's a werewolf!" Stefan answered, calling out, "He will try to kill us and he can!"

After a long pause, Tyler walked out of the Old Ruins, looking them over, "Hey! What are you three doing here?"

"What are you doing?" Stefan shot back but before either could answer, the werewolf rushed into Caroline and she fell on the ground, the werewolf was on top of her as she screamed out.

That once, Charlotte got to push him off of her friend and before he could get back up, Tyler called out, "No!"

The werewolf looked at Tyler before leaving. Charlotte sighed helping Caroline to her feet, she sighed in relief as she embraced Caroline, "God, I thought I had lost you."

✵ ✵ ✵

Charlotte stood aside, tying up her hair as Caroline compelled Matt, "You're not going to remember what I did to you or what you saw me become."

"We were just making out in the woods," Matt said in a monotone voice.

She nodded, continuing, "And then an animal attacked you and bit your neck."

"This is all so much," Charlotte commented, turning to Stefan, "After the tomb vampires, Katherine comes into town, and now, werewolves? This all can't be a coincidence."

Caroline was done compelling Matt before rejoining them with a question, "What are we gonna do about Tyler?"

"I took care of it and I will get Matt on vervain, it'll keep you from being able to compel him and also to keep you from drinking his blood," Stefan said, crossing his arms.

"I can't believe I hurt him..."

"I know that it's not okay but you will get through this, you are already doing so well," Charlotte patted her shoulder with a small squeeze, "It was just a moment of weakness and it passed."

"He is the one person on this entire planet that I never wanted to hurt," Caroline ran a hand over her face, sighing exasperatedly.

Stefan nodded, speaking up, "It's not going to get any easier. You're just gonna have to work that much harder."

"I shouldn't be with him, should I? Because if there is any danger...," She trailed off, awaiting his answer.

He rubbed the back of his neck, "I'm the last person to make that kind of decision for you," Stefan sighed, shrugging his shoulders, "If I had followed my own advice, I would have walked away from Elena a long time ago."

"You ever think you should have?"

"I know I should have, I just can't."

Stab the body and it heals, but injure the heart and the wound lasts a lifetime. That was true, in a cry a river kind of way. Charlotte hated that feeling she felt whenever she was around Stefan and whenever he talked about his undying love for Elena, even though Elena was a close friend of hers now, it wasn't the same. It wasn't the feeling she got when she gave something up for someone else to be happy.

It was just pain, pain, and pain.

✵ ✵ ✵