𝐑𝐄𝐃𝐄𝐌𝐏𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 | 𝐃𝐀𝐌𝐎𝐍 𝐒𝐀𝐋𝐕𝐀𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐄 [𝟐]

𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍

CHAPTER FOURTEEN | STAND BY ME

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

MUCH TO THE DISBELIEF OF EVERYTHING, JEREMY GILBERT WAS DEAD. It turned out that Katherine had been on their trail ever since they left Mystic Falls. She impersonated Elena, fed all of Jeremy's blood to Silas and then disappeared with the cure leaving death and destruction in her wake.

To the surprise of nobody, Elena refused to believe that her little brother was actually dead. Jeremy died wearing the Gilbert ring, the ring that would revive him if his death was caused by a supernatural entity, but since he was supernatural, the ring would no longer work. But, Elena refused to accept that.

Elena was the first person to step foot into her house, and as soon as she did, she saw Caroline scrubbing the floor. "Hey, you're home. I was trying to clean the burn mark out, where Kol—" As she stepped further into the hallway, she noticed Stefan was holding a body covered in a blanket. She looked to the Salvatore and to Riley, who both shook their heads. "—I couldn't get the spot out."

Elena completely disregarded Caroline's voice, and turned her head toward Stefan. "Come on, let's get him upstairs." She motioned him to follow her, leaving Riley and Caroline in the hallway.

"Care." Riley rushed forward and held the blonde within her embrace. The young witch held her eyes closed as she remembered back to the traumatic events on the island.

Stefan then joined the two supernaturals in the kitchen, while Elena insisted that she would wait at Jeremy's beside until the moment he woke.

"How long has she been like that?" Caroline raised an eyebrow toward Stefan, who walked in just as they had parted from their hug.

"Ever since we found his body. She hasn't said anything except that she's waiting for him to wake up." Stefan sighed in response.

"But, he's not going to wake up." Caroline's face fell firm. "She knows that, right?"

"Deep down, maybe but—" Before Riley could speak any further, Stefan held his index finger over his mouth and rushed to the sink to turn the tap on, which would prevent Elena from overhearing their conversation. "This is Elena we're talking about and considering everything she's feeling is now heightened—"

Stefan nodded in agreement with his best friend. "I think her denial is the one thing that's protecting her from letting it all in."

"But, she can't stay like that forever." The Forbes vampire sympathetically shook her head.

"I know, but I don't want to be the one to break her out of it. Not until we know that Bonnie is safe. Not until we get Damon over here to, you know—"

"—Use the sire bond to convince her that everything is okay." Caroline scoffed, clearly irritated by the idea of Damon using the sire bond again.