Chapter 2
I sat in the boarding house sitting room with my head in my hands; Damon was downstairs getting blood. Stefan was dead; it was like my brain couldn't quite compute that knowledge, I would never see his brown eyes twinkle at me, never feel his arms around me, he was gone, really gone.
I thought of what it would feel like if I were crying over Damon right now, while Stefan was just in the other room. Why did that hurt more?
I rubbed my temples; my life was like a constant episode of The Days Of Our Lives. Why couldn't I just have a normal family, a normal best friend and a normal boyfriend? Not that I would trade any of the people in my life for anything but I sometimes just wished that I didn't have to worry about people dying and vampires and werewolves. I was seventeen; sometimes it all got so crazy I could hardly bare it.
The doorbell rang and I jumped, startled by the ordinary sound. I got up and walked into the hall, Damon appeared in front of me.
"Get behind me." He whispered.
Keeping one arm stretched behind him protectively, he opened the door. I thought he was being a little overprotective but I understood why. He didn't want to take any risks, he had lost one person he cared about tonight, and he didn't want to lose another. I felt the same way.
Alaric was standing on the doorstep; he took in Damon's defensive stance in front of me and frowned.
"What's going on?" He asked.
Damon sighed and relaxed. He walked back into the sitting room, gesturing with his head for the teacher to follow. Alaric entered and I closed the door behind him.
Ric glanced between Damon and I suspiciously.
"Where's Stefan?" He asked.
I looked down and Damon kept his face expressionless.
"In the kitchen." He said.
Alaric turned and approached the kitchen cautiously; he opened the door and gasped in shock at what he saw. He whirled around stared at Damon, his eyes flicked to me once and then focused back on him.
"What did you do?" He asked.
Damon rolled his eyes and I scowled.
Alaric came closer, zeroing in on Damon, I was suddenly worried that he might do something stupid and end up staking Damon. I quickly moved between them, my back pressed against Damon's chest. His hands moved to grip my upper arms, ready to move me out of the way.
"It wasn't him." I said stiffly.
Alaric sighed.
"I'm sorry Damon, I guess it's just too heavily ingrained, I see a dead person I think of you." He shrugged.
Damon rolled his eyes.
"Well this time, I'm innocent." He said coldly.
He maneuvered me to the side.
"You need to stop doing that." He whispered.
I was confused.
"Doing what?"
"Using your body as the worlds' weakest shield. I'm a vampire Elena, I can take care of myself."
I glared up at him.
"I lost one of you tonight. I am not going to lose two."
"Oh please, Ric wasn't going to hurt me, we're buddies." He said, with a ghost of his trademark smirk.
Alaric gave me an unreadable look and I turned away, feeling uncomfortable under his scrutiny.
"Does someone want to tell me what the hell happened here?" He said.
Damon sighed, sat down and rubbed his head.
"Jules and her little wolf pack…" Damon started, he glanced up at me.
"They broke in, killed him before I could stop them." He quickly lied.
I turned away from both of them and walked out. I appreciated Damon not telling Alaric about my decision, he wouldn't understand, I still didn't understand. But I couldn't be around them right now, I couldn't listen to them talking about death, planning revenge… whatever it is they needed to do. I just wanted to pretend to be normal.
"Is she OK?"I heard Alaric ask.
"The day I understand what goes on in Elena Gilbert's head will be the day I wear a cape and turn into a bat." Damon replied.
I rolled my eyes and walked up the stairs out of earshot. I paused outside Stefan's door and peaked inside. I had lots of memories in that room, some good and some bad, like the night I found out about my resemblance to Katherine. I closed the door and turned down the hallway. I looked into the next bedroom I reached and smiled at what I saw. It was a beautiful spare room, painted a royal blue with ornate gold gilding.
There was a large four-poster bed in the center; it had blue covers and a gorgeous, carved headboard. I padded over to it and peeled back the bedclothes; I crawled inside and curled up, letting sleep claim me.
I woke a few hours later to find someone shaking me. I opened my eyes to see Damon leaning over me.
"I'm going out for a bit. There's some stuff I need to do…we've come up with an official story for Stefan's death. As his guardian there's a whole lot of paperwork I have to fill out."
I nodded, looking at Damon carefully, he looked reserved, his walls were up; he was blocking out his emotions. I frowned, he couldn't withdraw from me now; I needed him.
"You can stay here if you want, or I can take you home." He continued.
I sighed.
"I should go home, Jenna's going to be wondering where I am." I murmured.
Damon nodded and turned to leave.
"Get your stuff, I'll drive you." He said as he walked out.
Damon stopped the car in front of my house and reached across my lap to open the door. I climbed out and hesitated, he glanced at me.
"I'll come by, later." He said quietly
I nodded and shut the door. He had driven away before I reached the porch.
I realized that tears had begun to creep down my face. I took a shuddering breath and searched my bag for my keys, when I couldn't find them I gave up and rang the doorbell. Jenna answered; she took in my tearstained face and pulled me into a hug.
I wrapped my arms around her and cried, letting it all out; she stroked my hair and murmured soothingly. Eventually I managed to pull myself together and stepped back, giving her an apologetic smile.
She led me into the sitting room and sat me down on the couch.
"Honey, what happened?" She asked gently.
"Stefan, he… he died." I whispered. My voice broke, saying it out loud made it even more real. I swallowed thickly.
"What?" She gasped.
I nodded slowly and she frowned, not understanding.
"What do you mean he died, what happened?"
I looked down, realizing that Damon hadn't told me what the official story was.
"I…I'm not sure, Damon's going to come by later and explain everything." I was glad I hadn't completely lied; I was getting better at these half-truths.
"Oh my god, Elena." She whispered. She wrapped her arm around me and I smiled at the motherly gesture.
"Aunt Jenna, have you seen my phone?" Jeremy called. He walked in and stopped when he saw our devastated faces.
"What happened?" He asked, bracing himself for the worst.
It was Jenna who answered. I was grateful, I wasn't sure I could say it again.
"It's Stefan." She said quietly.
Jeremy frowned.
"Yeah, what about him?"
"He passed away, honey," Jenna whispered.
Jeremy stared at her then glanced at me.
"What do you mean…what happened?"
I got up from the couch and began to walk towards the stairs.
"Talk to Damon, he has answers." I said.
Jeremy looked at me in confusion. Finally he said.
"Elena…Are you alright?"
I nodded.
"Surprisingly… yeah. I'm ok." I answered as I left the room.
