My Return (Vampire Diaries) (Book Seven)

Hold Me, Kiss Me, Thrill Me, Kill Me

Stefan, Damon, Enzo and I were at the Lockwood mansion, talking about Julian in the study.

"What's the plan?" I asked.

"Julian needs to die today," Stefan told us. "Everything has to appear to be normal. Julian's not an idiot. If he finds out that Lily turned on him, we're all dead."

Enzo was not at all pleased with what he had heard so far. "So, you... embed her with a psychopath? Sounds logical."

"Hey, don't look at me," I told him.

"I voted to drive a stake through her heart and get rid of this Julian-mama drama once and for all," Damon told us. "But, hey, complicated Plan A sounds like a happy compromise."

"It's not complicated," Stefan told him in annoyance. "We get Julian's blood, and then, Nora, Beau, or Mary Louise use it to unlink him from Lily, and we kill the bastard."

"Uh, you glossed over the important bit," Enzo told him skeptically. "Do you really think that Beau, Mary Louise or Nora are going to help?"

~~~~~~~

We continued to plan for the day.

"Julian treats Lily's Heretics like they're his own royal children," Enzo told us. "And they worship him right back. They'll never turn on him."

Damon smirked. "This old stake through the heart's looking like a pretty good alternative right now. Just saying."

"Well, I guess the only way we're gonna be able to pull this off is to deploy the nuclear option," I told them.

Enzo scoffed. "Which is?"

Valerie the Heretic walked in. "Me. I know how to win them over to our side."

Enzo rolled his eyes, looking at Stefan, Damon and me. "Oh, great. Yeah. Last I checked, she was the black sheep of the family." He looked at Valerie. "What are you gonna tell them to make them feel otherwise?"

"The truth," Valerie answered.

Enzo still seemed skeptical about the entire plan.

~~~~~~~

Stefan was the first one to head out the door. "Damon! Nikki! Lily just texted me their location. Let's do this!" He walked outside. "Oh, hi."

Caroline was outside, smiling awkwardly. "Hi."

"I, uh, thought you were studying," Stefan told her.

"I was, but I'm here now," Caroline told him. "Surprise."

Damon and I walked down the stairs toward them.

Damon rolled his eyes. "Ah. Stefan-distraction machine. Please tell me you're not coming."

Caroline frowned in confusion. "Coming where?"

Valerie walked toward us. 

"Nora and Mary Louise's anniversary," I answered.

Caroline seemed overwhelmed with confusion by this point, looking at Valerie. "Great. You're here, too. That's... perfect. Um..."

Caroline trailed off, clearly losing her nerve.

Stefan looked at her in confusion. "Uh, what are... what are you doing here?"

Caroline struggled to find the words to answer the question. "I'm... um..."

"Spit it out, Blondie," Damon told her in annoyance.