"My sister's dead," the sobbing woman tells the 9-11 dispatcher as the toddlers wail in the background. "There's blood from the kitchen all the way to. … Oh my God, who would do this?"
"Why do you think she'd dead?"
"Her throat's been cut, and I don't know what else, there's blood everywhere. She's so cold. Please I need help."
"Stay on the line mam, the police are on their way, you should hear their sirens momentarily."
"I hear them. I'm going to hang up," Elena lets the phone drop, picks up the toddlers and runs outside to meet the police.
Elena wipes her tears with the butt of her palm. She's watching the uniformed men roaming in and out of her sister's home, carrying paper bags full of evidence. Swallowing thickly at the thought of them going through her personal, private things, unpacking the boxes that Katherine hadn't yet found time for...
And now she never will...
Her hands fist at her sides in a futile attempt to calm herself. She's been told to stand back, she's already given her statement but was asked not to leave. After trying several times, she finally was able to make contact with her brother in law. And now she waits impatiently for him to get home. Her eyes scan the property and then land on Texas Ranger Damon Salvatore who's talking to one of the other detectives. As if sensing he's being observed, he looks up and meets her stare. Even from this distance, she can see how blue they are.
Turning away, she wants to know what's taking so long, what are they all still doing here? Why is he still here? She knows why, they're hoping she can help them do their work - to find whoever did this. In her thoughts, she feels it had to have been a man who pulled the trigger and let the bullet crash into her skull, splashing her blood and brain matter all over the floor that Katherine was so excited about just a few weeks ago.
How could she call the number and invite these men, the heartless bastards into her sister's sanctuary to ruin the remnants of what was once, despite their circumstances a happy place?
Elena's crying, only looking up when she hears the sound of an approaching vehicle. A dark haired man steps out, carrying himself with authority. He asks one of the officers something and when he points at her, Damon gives her a cursory look then approaches the officer who arrived at the house first.
"Elena? What's going on here?" she hears her brother in law's voice and runs over to him. Elena wraps her arms around him and her tears fall yet again. "She's dead, Nik. Katherine's dead."
"No," he shakes his head. Hearing a sudden racket, they look up as her body is being wheeled out on a cart to the awaiting ambulance for transport to the police morgue. The twins, in the care of a female officer start to fuss when they see their dad but he doesn't notice, he runs over to it not wanting to believe that his Katherine is in the body bag.
"Please, she's my wife," he pleads with the officer, his own eyes now glistening with unshed tears.
"Sir, you don't want to see your wife like this," Detective Parker pulls him aside, allowing the body to be put in the vehicle. Nik stands in shock, watching absently as the doors slam shut and it drives away. "We need to ask you a few questions," the cop continues.
"Me? I didn't do this, I've been gone all day."
Damon shares a look with Enzo at his proclamation of innocence.
"I kissed my wife goodbye and I told her we'd watch a movie together this evening with our kids," Niklaus states emphatically.
"It's standard procedure, Mr. Mikaelson. Please?"
"Do I need a lawyer?" Nik asks, in shock and not yet comprehending the violence that's happened here.
"If you would like a lawyer, that's your choice."
"I swear I didn't do this. I love my wife. Oh God, she can't be dead," his face contorts in pain as the officer leads him to the other side of the house and out of her line of sight.
Elena picks up Noah and hugs him close. She's angry that her sister won't get to see her beautiful babies grow up. Dead is permanent. Dead is forever. Dead is when the spark in the eyes is extinguished, like a fire utterly without smoke. She looks over at Nadia who's content playing with a female officer and wonders what will happen to them. Will Nik take them and move away, back to his parents lavish estate? With her mind a million miles away, she doesn't notice Ranger Salvatore's approach.
"Miss Gilbert, can I ask you a few questions?" he asks and she hates the look of pity on his face.
"I already told them everything I know," she considers his crisp looking black suit.
"Is there anyone we can call for you?"
When Noah starts to cry "da", she tries to calm him down. "They're hungry, Katherine probably has bottles made in the refrigerator," she looks at another female officer.
"Alright, I'll asks someone to check, I'm Officer Tulle," she takes Noah and walks over to a plain clothed officer who nods and goes inside, returning with two bottles after getting an okay from the lead detective.
"Miss Gilbert?"
"I'm sorry what did you say?" Elena replies absently.
"Is there anyone I can call for you? Parents?"
"My parents are dead, I have my Aunt Jenna and her husband. They live in Houston. I didn't even think to call her," she pulls her phone out of her pocket. "The battery's dead." she shakes her head, wanting to curl up under her bed covers at how horrible this day has been.
"Here," Damon hands her his phone.
"Thanks," she dials and waits for her aunt to answer but Ric does instead. She figures that's better anyway, knowing her aunt will likely collapse. Jenna was 35 years old when she got custody of the Gilbert girls after their parents died. She and Ric had a ten year old son, Jeremy when suddenly they were saddled with two young girls to raise. Despite the occasional hard times, learning to get used to each other and despite sometimes being tight on funds, they were a happy family.
"Ric, it's Elena," she struggles yet again to keep her tears at bay
"Did you get a new number?"
"No, mine died, I'm using the cop's phone," Elena looks at Damon.
"What's wrong, I can tell by your tone of voice?"
"Ka...K.. Katherine's been murdered. I'm at the house. The police and even a Texas Ranger are here."
"Oh my God!"
There's silence on the other end of the line for a moment.
"Ric?"
"The twins?" he croaks.
"The babies are okay, they're going to take them to the hospital to check them out but they seem okay."
"No, Elena, it can't be true, it can't," Ric's voice sounds like he's had the wind punched out of him. "Do they know anything?"
"Not yet."
"What aren't you telling me?"
"I found her Ric, it was horrible, blood all over," Elena breaks down. "Look I have to go, the ranger needs his phone."
"We'll come to your place, Jenna has a key. Nik's gonna need help with the kids. Where will you be?"
"I'm going with the babies to the hospital, why don't you come there?"
"Sure, I... I don't know what to say, I'm at a loss..."
Elena blows out a breath, "Bye," and clicks off the phone. "Here you go," deeply shaken, she hands it back to Damon.
"Damon," Enzo pulls him aside.
"The killer was sloppy, there are bloody fingerprints, a palm print, a knife, a bullet shell casing. Some of my men are reporting that the neighbors saw a suspicious looking man wearing dark clothes, face shielded by a hoodie near the house this morning."
"So our killer is likely an amateur?" Damon deduces by the amount of evidence left at the scene. "I'm going to talk to Miss Gilbert."
Enzo nods and returns to his men.
"Do you have any idea who would commit such a crime?" Damon steps in beside Elena again, his pen and notepad in hand.
"I don't know who would do this. I'm the only one who knew where she lived, they didn't even want me to tell my aunt and uncle."
"Why is that?" Damon asks, looking into her big brown blood shot eyes.
"Her ex lover, they had a pretty tumultuous breakup. Things really escalated with him so she and Nik packed their things and moved here."
"Do you know anything about him?"
"No, not really. Katherine met him and fell head over heels. She packed her bags and moved to Virginia, she was very secretive about him," Elena shakes her head. "She confided in me once that he was married but he was going to divorce that woman and marry her or at least that's what he led her to believe. The only thing she let slip was a first name."
"And what was that?" Damon asks, his eyes focused squarely on hers.
"Wes..."
We really do try to do our research when we write our stories to keep them as accurate as we can. I can remember how much we put into writing "Tomorrow". And every story. Sometimes though, I don't know the search criteria or the right words to google and end up frustrated. I do not know the criteria for bringing a Texas Ranger into a case but I wanted that to be Damon's career. When I set a story in a certain place, I always research things to do in that place. As you can imagine, a lot of research always goes into our DE historical series. Please forgive my mistakes if any of you know the answer, pm me and I'll try to correct it.
Chapter title: 'Even in Death' by Evanesence.
It's double update day - continue onto chapter 3.