Hawk's voice was soft.
But—
What he said hit like thunder out of a clear sky.
Gwen's smile vanished. Her eyes went wide as she stared at Hawk. "What?"
Not far away, Caroline—who'd been avoiding his gaze—snapped her head toward him too, shock flooding her face, panic in her eyes.
"How did you—"
"Didn't your cousin just tell you?" Hawk looked straight at Caroline, his eyes deep and unblinking. "If I want to know something, no one can hide it from me—not even you."
Gwen's gaze cut toward Caroline. "You didn't tell me about this."
"I…" Caroline's lips trembled into a bitter smile. "Cuz, it's not exactly the kind of—"
Before she could finish, the warmth in Gwen's eyes evaporated. She turned to Hawk, expression hardening, voice like ice.
"Who was it?"
"Damon Salvatore."
"He's still alive?"
"Yes."
Hawk shrugged and glanced at Gwen, a hint of a smile on his lips. "I almost killed him. You told me to stand down."
"If I'd known this, I wouldn't have."
"I can drag him here right now—if you want."
"I want."
Gwen didn't hesitate.
Hawk's smile brightened. With a thought, his Sixth Sense swept across the town and locked onto Damon, who'd only just been dug out of the rubble by Stefan back in the gorge. Hawk activated Sixth Sense—Psychic Transference. "As you wish, Mrs. Phoenix."
Thud!
Space rippled, and Damon Salvatore dropped onto the lawn at their feet.
Caroline stared and then looked helplessly to Gwen. "Cuz…"
"Quiet." Gwen's rebuke was sharp. She flicked her eyes back to Caroline. "Does Aunt Liz know?"
Caroline opened her mouth. "I—"
"He didn't just compel Caroline," Hawk said evenly, twisting the knife. "He used vamp compulsion to worm his way into the Town Council, too."
He wasn't smearing anyone. He was stating facts.
Damon had compelled Gwen's cousin and used her as a disposable plaything for a time. That was the ugly, simple truth.
Gwen breathed in, slow and deep. Her eyes slid to Damon—pinned in place, limbs locked, jaw sealed by Hawk's invisible force—and then drifted back to Caroline. Her voice went lower, colder.
"He compelled you, assaulted you, and you didn't tell your mother. Worse—you kept him in your circle. Jesus, Caroline, you're the sheriff's daughter."
Silence.
Gwen knew she was considered "reckless" by plenty of people already. Who gets engaged and moves in at twenty because she's sure she's found her future? She did. She gave up her dream school, accepted Hawk's proposal, built a life with him. Let them call it a gamble—she was certain.
But this?
Caroline's choice made Gwen feel like a model of restraint by comparison.
Who gets compelled, assaulted—and then stays "friendly" with the assailant?
And you're the sheriff's kid.
"The victim's silence isn't self-protection. It's a reward for the abuser," Gwen said flatly. "You've heard that before, right?"
"Cuz, no," Caroline said quickly, eyes glassy. "I'm not friends with him. God, I would never—"
"You came here with him to find Hawk, didn't you?"
"I didn't come with Damon—I came with—"
Two blurs sliced the night—shoop, shoop—skidding to a stop at the back lawn.
Stefan, carrying Elena, with Bonnie Bennett right behind.
If they lit a bonfire, it would've looked like a midnight party.
Stefan set Elena gently on her feet. He saw Damon, saw the panic in his brother's eyes, and started forward, alarmed. "Damon!"
Hawk didn't even look his way. Invisible threads snapped tight. Stefan froze mid-stride, locked like a mannequin.
Arms bound. Voice gagged.
Elena gasped and tried to move, but Bonnie caught her arm. The witch stared across the lawn, face gone pale. "Don't," she whispered, voice shaking. "Don't go near him."
Hawk noticed them, but didn't bother to turn. Gwen glanced over, then back to Caroline. "Do they know?"
Caroline shook her head.
Of course she hadn't told them. What was she supposed to say—that the smiling cheer captain had spent weeks as a compelled toy? To outsiders, it had looked like she'd thrown herself at Damon.
"But they're his friends?" Gwen asked, chin tipping toward the newcomers.
"No," Caroline said, a little too fast. "No one actually wants to be Damon's friend. Not Elena, not Bonnie."
"Mm."
Gwen's brow smoothed.
Hawk stepped to her side and murmured in her ear, a quick, neat summary of Elena's messy triangle with the Salvatore brothers.
Gwen listened, face unreadable. She cut a look at Stefan, then at Elena hovering by him. "He knew about what happened to my cousin and didn't stop it?"
"He wanted to," Hawk said with a small shrug. "But Damon feeds on people; Stefan's the little brother and he's 'vegetarian.' He couldn't stop him. And when Caroline turned, Damon wanted to kill her to keep his compulsion from being exposed. Stefan and Elena stopped him."
Gwen's expression shifted—understanding without sympathy.
She'd read the S.H.I.E.L.D. files. Humans have saints and monsters. So do vampires. Some indulge their beast; some fight it and cling to whatever's human in them. Damon and Stefan, exhibit A and B.
Gwen looked back to Caroline. "True?"
Caroline's heart was a mess. After Hawk dragged her worst secret into the open, the urge to flee had been suffocating. But seeing the fury in Gwen's eyes—fury born of love—she knew this wasn't betrayal; it was protection.
She nodded.
"Release him," Gwen said.
Hawk flicked a thought.
Thud.
Stefan stumbled as the invisible grip vanished, dropping to one knee and gulping air. Elena hauled him up, eyes flitting from Stefan to Damon to Caroline, lost. "What happened?"
Stefan said nothing. He looked at his brother's pleading eyes, then at Caroline. The shape of the truth clicked into place.
Bonnie, who'd been trying to melt into the shadows, stared at Damon with undisguised disgust. "Caroline didn't 'fall for him,' Elena," she said, voice cool. "Damon compelled her."
Elena's eyes went wide. She turned to Damon. Then to Caroline.
On the lawn, Gwen's patience was gone.
"Hawk, kill the ra—"
"No!" Caroline blurted, eyes flying to Gwen.
Gwen's laugh had no humor in it. "What, you still have feelings for the man who did this to you?"
"No. Klaus is coming. Damon's a bastard, but he's our strongest fighter. We need him."
"Not anymore."
"What?"
Gwen's voice cut clean. "Hawk, what's the cruelest way for a vampire to die?"
"Sunlight," he said, a small smile touching his mouth.
Vamps caught bare in the sun didn't merely burn. It was torture—ultraviolet slicing into every inch of them like a body dropped into a vat of salt, until they screamed themselves into ash.
Gwen checked her phone. "Dawn in one hour. Perfect. I want him to die screaming under the sunrise."
She was furious—and had every right to be.
Gwen and Caroline were almost the same age. Every visit to Mystic Falls, they'd shared the same bed the first night. Gwen had a little brother back in New York, but no sister. Caroline wasn't just a cousin—she was the closest thing.
Her sister was hurt. Of course she'd burn the world.
Hawk smiled. "As you wish."
Damon's eyes dropped to his hand as the daylight ring slid off his finger, hovered, and drifted to Hawk's palm. Pure fear broke across his face. He tried to struggle, but Hawk's bindings might as well have been the laws of nature.
Hawk set the ring in Gwen's hand. "In one hour, with the first light, he'll be ash. If that's still not enough, next time I visit Mephisto I'll drop his soul into the Underworld. When you can travel there, you can personally review whatever you want done to him."
Gwen closed her fingers around the ring. "You can do that?"
"One word," Hawk said lightly.
If Mephisto was being truthful, the Heaven situation would force his hand anyway. Hawk had all the leverage he needed. No free lunch for a Hell-lord.
A voice called from behind. "Mr. Phoenix…"
"Stefan," Caroline murmured, torn.
She had wanted to hide and forget. But when her cousin, hearing the truth, chose vengeance on her behalf, Caroline felt something else—justice. Relief. Gratitude.
Damon deserved it.
If he'd never compelled her, she'd never have drifted into this little circle of chaos. She would have stayed what she was: cheer captain, pretty and bright, with the Forbes name behind her. The future wide open.
Now she was a vampire.
And there was one thing she would never have again.
Children.
She hated Damon. Let the sun have him.
But Stefan walked forward with Elena, and the apology in his eyes wavered Caroline's resolve.
Gwen saw that look, and heard what Stefan hadn't yet said. She didn't let him start.
"If it were your sister," Gwen said, voice like a blade, "and someone compelled and assaulted her—would you spare him?"
Whatever plea Stefan had loaded died on his tongue.
"I'm sorry," he said hoarsely.
"You should be. If you hadn't come back to town, this wouldn't have followed. My cousin wouldn't have been hurt." Gwen's tone didn't rise; it didn't need to. "You can be grateful I'm reasonable. If I weren't, it wouldn't just be the rapist. It would be everyone connected to him."
Hawk slid her a sideways look. He had the odd feeling that last line might have been aimed at him. Then again, not quite—if it were his own little sister, he wouldn't stop at "everyone connected." Mystic Falls would go the way of Wakanda—erased—and every soul in town would sink into his Eight Hells.
Stefan swallowed. "I'm sorry."
"You can say goodbye," Gwen said after a beat, then glanced at Hawk. "Let him talk."
A thought from Hawk—and Damon's voice came back.
"Please. I was wrong. I'm sorry. I'll make it right—please don't let me die."
"You're not sorry," Gwen said without looking at him. "You're just scared."
She turned away, took Caroline's hand, and led her toward the manor.
Hawk followed.
"Wait," Gwen said suddenly, glancing upstairs. "We won't wake Grandpa, will we?"
Hawk chuckled. "You're thinking of that now?"
He didn't wait for her answer. "Relax. I'm here."
"I know," she said, softer now. She looked up at him, warmth blooming back into her eyes. "Thank you, Hawk."
If she'd come alone, even knowing the truth, there wouldn't be much she could do.
But she wasn't alone.
Hawk's smile was easy. "What's mine is yours, future Mrs. Phoenix."
"I know." Gwen's grin finally returned, bright as ever.
She could be this "unreasonable" because he was here.
She always knew.
(End of Chapter)
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