"Not bad at all! You knew I was a carnivore and prepared so many delicious meat dishes," Kevin said, his appetite soaring as he looked at the abundant food on the table.
"I'm just glad you like it," Sarah replied happily, clearly pleased by her employer Kevin's praise.
"Oh, by the way, I might bring someone back tonight, so could you help me prepare an extra portion of food?" Kevin said, thinking of bringing Caroline over to get familiar with his place and maybe give her a key so she could come over whenever she wanted.
"A pretty girl?" Sarah asked, looking at Kevin with a slightly teasing glint in her eye.
"Mmhmm, that's right. A schoolmate. We just made it official yesterday," Kevin admitted frankly.
"Okay, consider it done! Leave it to me," Sarah replied, indicating that tonight's dinner would be absolutely no problem.
Kevin quickly finished his lunch; no time for an afternoon nap today. He took out his phone, contacted Caroline to confirm a meeting spot, and then went out to pick her up.
The young couple spent the entire afternoon together on their date. When Kevin saw it was getting late, he brought Caroline back to his house.
"Sarah, I'm back! This is Caroline, my girlfriend," Kevin announced as he walked in, holding Caroline's hand. He saw Sarah on the living room sofa; dinner was already prepared, the dining table laden with delicious food.
"Caroline, this is Sarah, the live-in housekeeper I hired. She takes care of my meals and keeps the house tidy now," Kevin explained in detail, anticipating Caroline might have questions.
"Sarah!" Caroline clearly recognized her, running over and taking Sarah's hands.
"Caroline, so it was you! I was wondering which little schoolgirl he'd managed to charm," Sarah said, their interaction clearly showing they had a familiar, friendly relationship.
After exchanging pleasantries for a while, they all sat down at the dining table and began to eat. The meal was very enjoyable. Soon, it grew dark. Seeing that Caroline wasn't planning to stay the night, Kevin decided to drive her home.
"Caroline, have you known Sarah for a long time?" Kevin finally asked when they were alone in the car, a question he hadn't felt comfortable asking at the dinner table.
"Yeah, actually, I haven't seen Sarah in many years. This house of yours, it used to be Sarah's family home. It's been so many years, and the exterior has been renovated so much, I didn't even recognize it at first," Caroline explained, reminiscing as she told Kevin about Sarah.
"Sarah's family, like mine and Elena's, are actually old family friends, among the founding families of Mystic Falls. But later on, Sarah's grandfather and parents got mixed up in gambling, and all their various properties were sold off. When her family home was sold a few years ago, Sarah was already living in the university dorms. I'm not even sure if she just graduated from university recently," Caroline said with a hint of wistfulness. After all, Sarah had been like a kind older sister to her, about five or six years her senior, and her family had suffered such a misfortune, leading to them not seeing each other for years. Caroline still felt quite moved by it.
"No wonder she didn't seem like a typical housekeeper when I interviewed her. She probably is fresh out of university," Kevin commented as he drove.
It was a small town, and it wasn't too early or too late, so there wasn't much traffic. They quickly arrived at Caroline's house. After arranging to watch the comet together the next day and giving Caroline a key to his house, Kevin drove straight home.
Regarding Sarah, Kevin felt that regardless of whether this place was originally her home or not, her current situation was that she was his hired live-in housekeeper. There was no need to dwell on her past.
When Kevin got home, Sarah had probably already gone to her room to rest, so he didn't disturb her and went straight upstairs to wash up. After sending Caroline a goodnight message, he went to sleep.
Time quickly passed to the evening of the comet viewing. Caroline had contacted Kevin earlier, saying he didn't need to pick her up; they would just meet directly at the viewing spot. When Kevin arrived, he saw Caroline waiting, holding two candles.
"Thanks, darling," Kevin said, walking right up to Caroline, taking the unlit candle from her, and lighting his from the one in her hand. To be honest, Kevin had no idea what this candle ritual meant, but seeing everyone else doing it, he just followed suit and offered his thanks.
"Sweetheart, you're here!" Caroline said happily, immediately linking her arm through Kevin's. By the looks of it, if she hadn't been holding a candle, she probably would have jumped up to have Kevin carry her.
"Everyone, let me formally introduce you. This is my boyfriend, Kevin Chase," Caroline announced, pulling Kevin by the hand over to the small table where Bonnie, Elena, Matt, and Tyler were, introducing her boyfriend to her friends.
"Hey everyone," Kevin said with a smile, greeting them all.
They had barely exchanged a few words when Jeremy rushed over, looking agitated. "Has anyone seen Vicki?"
"Weren't you with her the whole time? How would you not know?" Tyler retorted, clearly annoyed.
"I can't find her," Jeremy said.
"Maybe she went off with someone else," Matt guessed.
"Looks like someone has taken over the drug dealer's spot," Tyler said sarcastically.
"What do you mean, 'drug dealer'?" Elena asked, a little confused.
"You'll have to ask him," Tyler said, gesturing towards Jeremy.
"Can we not talk about this right now?" Jeremy said, looking somewhat guilty.
"Are you dealing drugs?" Elena pressed Jeremy.
"She'll never like you," Tyler added, stoking the fire.
"We've already done it. Many, many, many times," Jeremy emphasized, his tone heavy.
"Yeah, right," Tyler scoffed.
"You slept with Vicki Donovan? Oh no, wait, Vicki Donovan slept with you?" Caroline exclaimed from the side, clearly enjoying the drama. Kevin, noticing Elena's already dark expression, subtly tugged Caroline's arm under the table.
"That's impossible!" Tyler was clearly starting to panic a little.
"And it was all consensual," Jeremy stressed.
"What the hell is he talking about, Tyler?" Matt had always thought his sister Vicki was with Tyler; now Jeremy was in the picture too.
"Nothing. Don't listen to this loser," Tyler said, still obviously in disbelief.
"All of you, just shut up and help me find my sister!" Matt couldn't listen anymore and just wanted to find Vicki first.
Everyone spread out to look for Vicki. Kevin, with Caroline, followed Matt towards the town square to search.
Kevin noticed that after Matt spoke with Stefan, Stefan headed straight down a particular street. Kevin pulled Caroline along, gesturing for them to follow Stefan. They had just turned off the main street when they saw a man holding Vicki on a rooftop, looking as if he was holding her hostage and about to make her jump. Caroline looked up, saw Vicki, and when she looked back, Stefan was gone. Kevin, however, had seen clearly that Stefan had used his vampire speed to race up to the rooftop.
"You go inform Matt and the others. I'm going up to take a look," Kevin instructed Caroline. With that, Kevin also ran across the street and, once inside the building, used the Rabbit Talisman's speed to get to the rooftop.
"What attacked you that night?" the mysterious man was saying to Vicki.
"I don't know... an animal," Vicki answered, her memory clearly hazy.
"Are you sure? Think again. Think harder. What attacked you?" the mysterious man pressed her.
"A vampire," Vicki said, clearly remembering something and sounding terrified.
"Who did it?" the mysterious man continued.
"It was you," Vicki said, looking like she had remembered everything.
"No. It was Stefan," the mysterious man said, pulling Vicki closer and looking into her eyes. "Stefan Salvatore did it. He's a vampire, a terrifying, murderous demon."
"Seriously? Did neither of you even notice an extra person on the rooftop?" Kevin said, unable to stand by and watch Vicki being coerced and forcibly mind-controlled any longer.
"Stefan, aren't you going to introduce me to this vampire friend of yours?" Kevin asked. Having spent the last few days slowly familiarizing himself with the three active Talismans, he felt increasingly powerful. And ever since he'd learned of the existence of vampires, he had started carrying several items traditionally said to kill them: crosses, holy water, garlic, and a silver dagger.
With the Dog and Horse Talismans, Kevin was virtually invincible. With the Rabbit Talisman, he could escape if he couldn't win, and his opponent wouldn't be able to get away if they couldn't win against him. Plus, he came prepared with weapons. How could Kevin possibly lose?
And so, Kevin stepped forward. After all, a life was on the line; if he didn't intervene, he was afraid she'd be killed.
"My name is Damon Salvatore, Stefan's brother," Damon said, looking at Kevin with disdain. "And who might you be, daring to show yourself even though you know we're vampires?"