Listening to Natasha on the other end of the line, Hawk's brows lifted.
"Are you certain?"
"Mm."
Now back at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, Natasha said, "Every scar on his body matches the paper records from the first time we arrested Merrick."
She glanced through the observation glass at Dr. Merrick, who was inside preparing for more tests, then hesitated.
"Could you actually be mistaken?"
"Impossible."
Hawk chuckled. "There's definitely something off about him."
Same as before:
He couldn't say why this "found" Merrick had a soul, but his sixth sense told him this Merrick was also a clone.
Hearing Hawk's certainty, Natasha didn't press it. "All right. Director Hill wants a telomere-length DNA test run on him."
If something was wrong, that test would show it.
In natural humans, DNA accumulates damage and mutations over time, and telomeres shorten accordingly.
But if this Dr. Merrick was a clone, the test should flag it.
Hawk wasn't an idiot—he was a sophomore at NYU Law, after all.
And his fiancée Gwen studied biology.
So—
When he heard S.H.I.E.L.D. would do the telomere test, he thought for a moment. "Add a bone-age scan."
Dr. Merrick had only been missing for a short while.
If the one they'd caught was a clone, he was almost certainly fast-tracked with hormones based on the real Merrick.
If he was rushed out of a vat, the bones wouldn't lie—same principle as growth rings in trees; real and fake rings can be told apart.
Natasha acknowledged and hung up.
Hawk ended the call as well.
He was ninety percent sure the "recovered" Dr. Merrick was a clone.
What he couldn't parse was where the clone's soul had come from.
Souls were the purview of dimensions that governed life and death. It couldn't be Mephisto… could it?
No way.
With how stingy Mephisto was, Hawk could believe he'd colluded with HYDRA.
But Mephisto handing out a soul for free? Not a chance.
Hawk had nearly kicked off a god-war just to force the old devil to return his sister's soul.
And Alexander Pierce's soul…
Put it this way: unless you had a knife at Mephisto's throat, he wouldn't budge. Ally or not, you weren't walking out with a soul.
Most importantly—
Hawk had been to Hell. If this soul had been a Mephisto "gift," he would have sensed it.
But from this ninety-percent-certain clone of Dr. Merrick, he sensed nothing infernal.
So—
Strange.
Mulling over the faint, pure scent he'd caught from Merrick's soul—something that felt increasingly familiar—Hawk slid his phone into his pocket and headed back into the manor.
Soon,
as he stepped into the main hall and his gaze fell on Gwen's cousin Caroline, who was sitting cross-legged by the fireplace chatting with Gwen, the nagging familiarity finally clicked.
Caroline carried that same trace.
No—
Damon did too.
But unlike Merrick, the trace on Caroline and Damon wasn't intrinsic; it felt like they'd brushed against a soul that bore that scent and picked it up by contact.
Caroline had more of it.
Damon had much less.
That was why he hadn't realized it when he first saw Damon, but the moment he saw Caroline again, it hit him.
So…
Who was the person both Caroline and Damon knew?
Keeping his face neutral, Hawk mentally paged through the main players of The Vampire Diaries as he walked, at Gwen's beckon, toward the sitting area.
He took out the phone and handed it back to Gwen.
Gwen accepted it and looked up at him.
"Back by Christmas Eve."
"No problem."
"It's about yesterday. They called with a preliminary read, but the final results aren't in yet."
Hawk smiled, then shifted the topic to Caroline's college plans. "Caroline, have you decided where you'll go?"
Gwen laughed softly. "I was just asking her that."
"And?"
"She says she hasn't decided."
Gwen shook her head, then turned to her cousin. "Once this year ends, you've only got one semester left. High school isn't the finish line—and college isn't either. It's the starting point. A good university sets your starting line for the future."
Caroline grinned. "Gwen, you sound exactly like my mom."
She didn't look at Hawk.
For some reason, even though it hadn't been two hours since they met, she felt… afraid of him.
Gwen was about to tease her back when the door opened again.
To be precise, two people came in.
A middle-aged woman in a sheriff's uniform—her features somewhat reminiscent of Helen's.
And a young woman about Caroline's age.
The sheriff was Liz Forbes.
Gwen's aunt, Caroline's mother.
And the younger woman—
Elena Gilbert.
As they entered, Gwen and Caroline both turned.
A beat later,
Gwen hopped up with a happy cry and rushed over to hug her aunt. "Aunt Liz!"
Caroline moved to Elena's side, confused. "Elena, what's wrong?"
Seeing Caroline alive and well, Elena finally exhaled.
A few minutes earlier, Damon had shown up covered in blood and scared her and Stefan half to death mid-date.
Damon told them a stranger at Caroline's grandfather's house had done it.
Stefan and Elena immediately thought the werewolves had come back and were ready to rush in to save Caroline.
On their way over, they ran into Sheriff Forbes—Caroline's mom.
Thinking fast, Elena said they were here to see Caroline.
So in they came together.
As for Stefan, he stayed outside to cover them—if there really were werewolves inside, walking in would be walking into a den.
But—
Nothing seemed wrong in here.
Just one unfamiliar face.
Is it him?
Elena's gaze settled on the man who had risen from the sofa and, after Gwen's introduction, was shaking hands with Liz—Hawk.
She knew Gwen—Caroline's cousin from New York.
But this "Hawk"…
Elena glanced at Caroline.
"He's…"
"Hawk. My cousin's fiancé."
"Fiancé?"
Elena lowered her voice, eyes flicking between Hawk and Gwen. "Isn't your cousin only twenty?"
Caroline nodded. "Yeah. She said they met when they were sixteen."
"Oh—childhood sweethearts."
"…Something like that."
Caroline thought about it and went along, though she couldn't shake the feeling that her cousin's tale of how she and Hawk met, connected, and fell in love had been, well, artistically enhanced.
But she had no proof.
"Right—Elena, why are you here…?"
Elena snapped back to the moment.
"Let's talk outside."
"Okay."
The two of them turned and headed out.
Standing beside Gwen, chatting with Aunt Liz, Hawk watched Caroline and Elena leave through the corner of his eye without much concern.
His earlier puzzle was already solved.
Next came finding a way to confirm his hunch.
No rush.
He was here to meet family with Gwen, not to chase his own leads.
Outside the manor—
Stefan, who had been anxiously waiting by the car since Elena went in with Liz, finally relaxed when he saw his girlfriend and Caroline step out.
Only Caroline looked baffled. "What is it? Jules is back?"
"No."
Elena shook her head, then quickly recapped Damon's bloody return and added, "Damon says the guy who nearly killed him walked out of the Forbes place."
Damon was hurt?
Caroline frowned. Strangely, she didn't feel worried—more like schadenfreude.
Damon was a mess of a man.
After turning into a vampire, she'd recovered the memories of being compelled by him and used… as a tool.
But—
"From our manor? That's impossible. The only people there today are my cousin and her fian—"
She stopped mid-sentence, blinking at Elena.
"It was him?"
"…"
(End of Chapter)
[Check Out My P@treon For +20 Extra Chapters On All My Fanfics!!][[email protected]/euridome]
[Thank You For Your Support!]