Devil in Disguise ➳ S. Salvatore [COMPLETED]

➳ 33: no exit

TO play along with the facade, Stefan was lounging on the couch while quizzing Katherine on history from a textbook in his lap. "Roman empire."

"476 A.D. sacked by the goths." Katherine answered knowingly as she sat on the table behind him

"Han Dynasty" He continued on dully, wanting to be anywhere else.

"220 A.D." She answered quickly.

"Holy Roman Empire" He mused, folding his leg over the other.

Katherine gave him a look and leaned back on her seat. "Not really an empire, but 1648."

"There goes your perfect score!" Stefan replied as he closed the book and sat up.

Katherine looked at him incredulously and slid off the table, approaching him. "What? No! That was right."

He shook his head and pointed at the paragraph in the printed text. "No, no, no. The book says it was 1806"

"Okay, well 1806 may technically be right, but it was the Peace of Westphalia that truly ended the empire and that was in 1648, trust me." She pushed defensively and quickly found a way to cover for herself when he gave her a suspicious look. "I may have done a paper on the Holy Roman Empire in high school."

"Well if you want to pass the test I suggest you write down exactly what's in the textbook." Stefan offered with a slow nod of his head just as Efah walked in the room. Upon her arrival, both the vampires looked at her and Stefan leaned forward in his seat with a smirk. "Sweetie, when was the Holy Roman Empire?"

"Depends. Rise or fall?" Efah asked for clarification and threw herself down on the couch across from them.

"Fall." He answered simply, admiring her discreetly.

"Emperor Francis II officially dissolved it in August 6, 1806 after they lost to Napoleon Bonaparte in the Battle of Austerlitz." She answered dully then smirked mischievously and pointed a finger at them. "I know that because I was there." She laughed for a second before frowning unhappily and groaning loudly. "Man, I'm old! Pro tip, don't get old, children."

Stefan grinned at her in amusement then shot Katherine a smug look to which she responded with a bitter smile. Suddenly there was a knock on the door and Stefan stood to his feet. "Oh, Caroline's here, I asked the sheriff to help me track down Damon." He informed the brunettes as he walked toward the front door.

Katherine laughed in frustration, running her tongue across her teeth, and sucked on the air while shooting Stefan a glare behind his back. Efah caught her in the act and chuckled mockingly while sinking further into the leather cushions of the couch. The doppelgänger sneered at her and rolled her eyes.

Caroline walked in the house, handing Stefan a stack of papers on her way through. "You were right. He's off the rails. This is from my mom."

"Let me guess: missing persons and animal attacks?" Stefan asked knowingly without having to even read the reports.

"Check and check, but there's something else." Caroline breathed out and stopped right at the steps to the parlor. "All of the victims were found inside their homes without their head... and their skin was desiccated." She explained causing Stefan paused in place as his blood ran cold.