The Vampire Diaries: A Cage of Burning Light (Kindle Worlds Novella) by L.J. McDonald Page A

have
forgiven Damon for some of the things he’d done to Caroline. Still, Caroline
had.
    “Can we
just go and see? I’m worried about him.”
    Caroline
blinked. “That’s unusual.”
    “You
didn’t see Elena when I found her. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.”
    “All
right,” Caroline said and her voice was softer now. She lifted her head and
scented the air. “I don’t smell anyone in there.”
    Bonnie
started toward the building anyway. “Elena didn’t say she couldn’t smell anyone
inside.”
    “Elena’s
a baby at this,” Caroline replied smugly. “She wouldn’t know what she was
smelling.”
    She had a
point. Bonnie still gave her a fond glare. “Well, what do you smell?”
    Caroline
hesitated, even as she sniffed again. “Blood,” she said.
    Bonnie
felt cold. “Then we’re going in anyway.”
    She went
to the door, Caroline following behind with her hands casually laced behind her
back. Caroline had started out life as one of the most anxious people Bonnie
knew, but being a vampire had been good for her confidence levels. Hopefully
not too much, as she pushed past Bonnie and kicked the warehouse door—which
already looked as if it had been kicked in once already—in. Elena had been hurt
badly by Wilson, and Caroline was so much of a rival to her she could ignore
any danger that might exist for her as well.
    “So much
for subtle,” Bonnie muttered as she stared at the smashed door.
    “Anyone
home?” Caroline yelled as she sauntered inside. “Look at me, I’m a poor feeble
little vampire just looking to be caught! Whee!”
    “Care,”
Bonnie hissed as she followed her. “Knock it off.”
    Her
friend grinned at her. “I’m just having fun. There’s no one here, honest. No
heartbeat, no nothing.”
    “You said
you smelled blood.”
    “Yes, but
it’s not fresh anymore.” The two of them walked across an open storage area
that was littered with garbage and abandoned equipment. “Trust me, there’s a
huge difference between the two. Besides, I’m sorry that Elena got hurt, I
really am, but I just can’t see myself getting too worked up about one nutty
guy with a test tube. It’s not like I’m not ready for him.”
    She was
looking at Bonnie as she spoke, striding carelessly forward, and Bonnie saw the
pit hidden in the shadows before she did. She grabbed Caroline’s arm and yanked
her back right before she could step into it. Caroline gasped and the two women
stood there for a frozen moment, hanging onto each other and staring down into
the big hole dug through the floor. From the look of it, it was an opening into
the building’s basement, and some sadist had set long, sharpened spikes into
it, all pointing up. Even with the dimming light and her ordinary, human eyes,
Bonnie could see the blood that coated them.
    Beside
her, Caroline swallowed. “You said Damon’s missing?”
    Bonnie
nodded, still staring at the spikes. The blood was thick on them and coated
them far down their length.
    “Elena
never mentioned anything about pits, did she?”
    “No. Not
to me. She … she managed to avoid this when she was escaping.”
    Which
left no doubt for either of them as to who hadn’t avoided it. “Oh, Damon,” Caroline breathed, all her bravado and amusement gone,
and Bonnie looked back over her shoulder to the ruined door and the little bit
of road she could see outside. The road that her dearest friend had taken.
Suddenly, she wished that she was the one in her car and not Elena, even if she
had no idea what to do. At least she’d know when to stop chasing after him, and
that was something she knew Elena would never be able to do.
    “I’m
calling my mother,” Caroline decided and headed back outside to get better cell
reception. Bonnie let her and went forward, edging around the pit and giving it
a lot of clearance, just in case the edges weren’t sound. Every step she took
now was cautious and hesitant. If there was one trap, Wilson might have made more.
    If he
did, she