Bad Feelings (Zach's Daughter series, Book Five, The Vampire Diaries)

Chapter 2__True Lies

Damon and I stood with Sheriff Forbes at Steven's Quarry as the officials were all searching the water for Stefan. We stood on the cliff above the water.

"Guys, I know I said I'd help you find Stefan, but I can't dredge this entire quarry," Sheriff told us. "It's enormous." 

"We're aware of that," I told her. "I mean, clearly that's why we wanted to dump Silas' body here. Because it's big and deep and no one would find him. Now, say I'm Silas, and I wanna take over my Doppelganger's life. Why wouldn't I dump him in a place that's big and deep, where no one would find him?" 

"Nicola, I already agreed to hold off on telling anyone about the Mayor's death until you figured this all out, but I can't devote those kinds of resources to finding one person who may or may not be down there," Sheriff told me. 

"But it's a place to start," Damon told her. "And if Stefan's down there, that means he's been drowning over and over again all summer, while I've been happily playing house with Elena. Do I need to further elaborate the source of our urgency?" 

"I'll get some deputies on it," Sheriff told us. 

"Thank you, Liz," Damon told her. 

Liz walked away.

My phone rang. I answered it, putting it on speaker since it was Jeremy that was calling. "Please tell me you found her." 

"I didn't . . . but Matt did." 

"Huh," Damon said. "How shockingly . . . useful." 

"She was mid-cat-fight with some lady who maced her. We think Silas might have mind-controlled himself some new friends." 

"How exactly did the Gilbert-Donovan brain trust put all that together?" Damon asked.

I gave him a look. "Never mind, it doesn't matter. Just hide her. If Silas wants her bad enough to sic the whole town on her, that means we want her more. Stay out of sight. You were the last person who Silas saw her with." 

Jeremy hung up.

I hung up, turning around to face the water with a sigh.

"We'll find him, Nikki," Damon told me.

"You know, we could have found him by now if you had just listened to me when I told you that I was worried about Stefan because he hadn't ever gotten back to me," I told him.

"I realize that, Nixs, thank you," Damon told me, turning around and walking away.

I sighed, looking down into the water below. 

Was Stefan really down there? 

~~~~~

Silas had gone after Elena at Whitmore. Damon had left to go find her and Caroline. Elena, under Silas' mind control, had tried to kill him. Jeremy, Matt and Katherine had been running from Silas, to stay hidden. Silas had found them, but they had gotten away.

I was still at the quarry when we finally found the safe.

But the safe hadn't been inside the quarry. It had been in the woods a few miles away.

No one had opened it yet when we knew that Stefan would be hungry and willing to kill anyone who opened the safe, including someone that he knew, like, say, I don't know, me. 

So I called Damon.

"Yeah?" 

"We found something." 

~~~~~

Now, Damon, Elena and I approached the safe.

"We didn't find anything in the quarry, but a Deputy found this a few miles away," I explained. "Didn't open it. If Stefan's been in there for three months, chances are, he's hungy." 

Damon lifted the top of the safe open.

We saw a blood-stained corpse inside.

Elena looked away. "Oh, my God. That's not Stefan." 

"Well, you were right," Damon told me. "He was hungry. I bet he still is."