After beating a quick retreat from Elena's place, Damon's sorely tempted to go back to the bar but his little voice inside is screaming that it's not a good idea. He's upset. And angry. Not only with her but also with his dad.

The rational side of him knows that his dad only wanted to help but the emotional side of him feels the sting of betrayal. Angry and needing to blow off some steam, he pulls into the sporting complex, pays the fee and hurries over to the batting cage. He grabs a bat and starts swinging when the pitching machine launches balls at him.

He works up a sweat and swats at ball after ball till his arms and back muscles burn. Having had enough, he returns his equipment and goes back to his car. Sliding beyond the wheel, he leans his head back and closes his eyes for several minutes. Frustration and anger are still his predominate emotions so he ignites the engine and careens out of the parking lot. The drive home takes much less time than it ought, he's lucky he didn't run into any of his brethren in the police department and that he made it home in one piece.

He tosses his car keys on the table, checks his phone and then turns if off. He's in no mood to talk to anyone tonight. The last thing he wants to do is get into it with his dad. He doesn't need him to come to the rescue, he needs time to cool off and get some semblance of control back.

He strips out of his clothes and then hops into the shower, taking his own sweet time to let the steaming hot water wash away some of today's stressors. His mind isn't cooperating though, it refuses to be silenced. It's a given that he's going to crack the seal on the precious bottle of bourbon that Ric surprised him with last Christmas. He promised himself to keep it hidden until it's absolutely necessary.

As soon as he pulls it down from its hiding place, he pours himself a generous amount. Plodding through the kitchen with bare feet, he sets the bottle on the end table and sits down with the delicious amber colored liquid in hand. He leans back against the couch, spreads his legs out and closes his eyes for a few moments in a futile attempt to relax. As soon as he plunges into the darkness behind his eyelids, she's there, her big sad eyes full of reproach. He reluctantly allows himself to go through their conversation and surprisingly, he's not coming out of it as a justly exasperated hero.

He must admit she wasn't wrong when she threw the accusations in his face. How must she feel when they're always sniffing around, picking on her friends and foes, collecting rumors, innuendo and opinions about her, her family, her life? Then they take those fragments, put them in neatly ordered files and claim to know almost everything that's ever crossed her mind.

So what if she hated her brother? Maybe she even thought about him dying. He hates his sister too. Does that make him a bad person? But his sister didn't end up dead.

After finishing the second glass of the smooth expensive bourbon, he starts to relax. What does he really remember about Katherine? He's no fool, he knows Katherine isn't responsible for what their parents did to him. She was just a baby, still a little girl at the time he was abandoned at the orphanage. But does he blame her, really?

He recalls his sinewy arms rearing back, his body reeling with each blow, how the pain seared his skin and ignited terror inside of him. Katherine's father was brutal, sometimes in his nightmares he relives it all over again. He remembers all too well how he tried not to cry until he was alone in his room and even then he'd hide in the back of his closet so no one would hear.

His thoughts return to Katherine again. Why does he blame her when he knows that her only crime was being born?

Because it's damn hard to let go of it.

"You've got to be kidding me...," Kol's hushed tone brings her back to consciousness. He's moving closer without switching the light on, finally reaching the couch she's spread out on. She turns on one side, making a place for him to sit.

"What are you doing here?" her raspy voice signaling that she's still partially captive to her slumber.

"I, happen to be ending my shift, you on the other hand were supposed to go home and settle in for a long winter's nap."

"Didn't want to," she pouts, using her childlike voice and Kol chuckles.

"Come on, I'll take you home."

"No."

"No?"

"I'm staying. Comfortable."

"But you know you'll give Enzo a heart attack when he finds you in the morning? There's no way you will wake up before he arrives." Despite the light tone he uses, he's worried. He called Elena when he noticed Salvatore leaving but she brushed him off, saying she still had some paperwork to finish before going home. He reminded her that there's always tomorrow and ended the call. Only after his shift did he remember that he hadn't seen her leave. That's when he came back to check on her. Her appearance isn't exactly reassuring.

"Probably," she sighs and sits up. Even in the dark he can see her eyes are swollen, trails of long dried tears are on her cheeks. He helps her up, waits till she collects her things and locks the office when she's out of the door.

The way home is silent, both of them lost in their thoughts. This is her life, the one she knows. She should be happy. And yet?

Kol parks the car in front of her house, she was zoned out that she didn't even notice they've arrived.

"Thank you. For everything," she turns to him.

"Do you want some company?"

She knows he's only half joking and she's almost tempted to take him up on the offer. But... no, she needs to chase away the eerie shadows of Detective Salvatore on her own. She shakes her head 'no', thankfully he doesn't seem offended. He knows very well that Elena needs space and time alone. It's who she is.

"Well, you know I'm only a phone call away. If you need anything, Elena, please call me," he gives her his best cocky smile and Elena can't help but chuckle.

"I know, Kol," she pats his shoulder. "I'll keep that in mind." She gets out of the car and waves at him when she reaches the door.

He still sits there several moments after she disappears inside the house, his mind wondering.

Detective Salvatore's crossed a line. And he's not going to let him get away with it.

It's a promise.

She feels the familiar sensation of falling. Strangely though, it's taking forever before she's swallowed up by the ice-cold abyss, immediately feeling the slithery arms and fingers dragging her down. She doesn't fight, she's frozen from shock. When she can feel her limbs, she struggles to push away the things that seem to be getting closer. As valiant as her effort is, she's too tightly enveloped in a deadly, heavy blanket.

"Elena!" Is someone calling her?

"Elena!" It sounds so far away.

She wants to yell back, but no matter how hard she tries, no sound comes out of her mouth. Her chest hurts and burns from lack of air but as hard as she struggles, it's not enough to reach the surface.

Slowly, her muscles give up and her broken body is being tossed and turned up and down like a rag doll. Strangely, there is no pain or even discomfort, the gentle movement's simply lulling her to sleep. Is she still breathing? She doesn't think so.

Maybe she's already dead.

She wakes up slowly, unlike the other times when she's dreamt this dream. She's grateful, more than once she's awakened in stark terror, petrified by her own screams. She takes a deep breath, trying to slow down her heartbeat. It must be pretty late, she can already feel the heat of the day.

Time to get up and get going.

Monday morning, Damon wakes up full of vigor and with a new determination. He's not sure where this new sense of self assuredness is coming from, but it's there. The big cluster-fuck they created needs to be cleaned up and he's damn well going to be the man to do it. Despite the turmoil of yesterday's events among other things, he slept well. For the first time in many nights, there were no nightmares or the usual haunting dreams, well if they were there, at least he doesn't remember. Not wanting to dwell on what he should or shouldn't be doing, he showers, grabs a breakfast sandwich since he skipped most of his meals over the weekend and is on his way to the station within forty minutes.

When he walks in the office his face must be telling because Ric's head snaps up and he whistles rather annoyingly. "Wow, seems the visit with your parents was exactly what you needed!"

Damon chuckles darkly and gives him a knowing look that the good man can hardly decipher. "You could say that."

Luka spins in his chair to look at him too. "Did something happen?" It's out of his mouth before he can think about it.

"Yep it did. I had an epiphany of sorts. We can't keep going about this the way we have, it's time to move things forward."

"Oh thank you very much, captain obvious," Ric's mocking. "And did your epiphany include how we go about doing that?"

Damon rolls his eyes and takes a swallow of coffee.

"Don't roll your eyes at me, buddy. You know I'm right, it's been weeks since we first discussed taking a new approach and yet we have little to nothing to show for it. We still have a murder to solve and his killer to be put behind the bars."

Every road seems to lead back to Elena Gilbert.

He needs to act. No matter what he may feel and what doubts he may have when it comes to his personal brand of kryptonite, it needs to be taken care of once and for all. He will deal with the consequences afterwards.

"Luka." Damon unexpectedly turns to their rookie, who almost falls off of his chair.

"Yes?" he asks carefully.

"Your little girlfriend, she's been dropping hints and making comments that would seem to require our full attention. I don't care when or why or under what conditions she told you those things but I want her in here ASAP for questioning. Do you want to do the honors and escort her here or do I need to pay her a visit?"

"I'll go," Luka nods and after a slight hesitation he grabs the keys and darts out of the room.

"Are we going to step on some toes?" Ric questions from his comfy position on the chair.

"You bet. I want you to get miss Forbes," he raises his palm when he sees Ric's about to protest, "and I'm going to talk to the Mikaelsons."

"What? But Jordan..."

"I know. But we'll never close this case if we don't start pushing some buttons. It's time."

He's going to finish this case or die trying.

Elena considers calling a cab as it was Kol who took her home last night. Fortunately it's not necessary, she's not at all surprised to find Kai waiting for her when she happens to look out of the window. As much as she cares about him, sometimes he can be exasperating the way he invades her privacy when she least expects it.

Shaking her head, she grabs her purse, puts on a collected face and joins him in his car.

"Thanks. Why didn't you honk or come in...? And how did you...?" she tries to start a normal conversation but fails spectacularly even to her own eyes.

"Kol called, said you needed a ride," he ignores the first part of question. Elena can tell he's not in the mood. So she just falls silent, watching the outside world as he speeds down the highway towards downtown Reno.

"Elena what went down between you and Detective Salvatore? I know he's been relentless since Jeremy's disappearance but this goes beyond the investigation..."

"Doesn't matter, Kai, the case is still unsolved and he's like a bad dog without a bone. I can't nor do I want to give him any reassurances so unless and until they find the real culprit, I guess we're stuck with him. We're in an unending game of fucking cat and mouse."

"Doesn't make any sense," Kai disagrees. "There is no game, Elena, not anymore. Jeremy's gone, you're free and detective Salvatore can dig as he deep as he wants to, there's nothing for him to find, nothing that can link you to his murder at all. None of us liked Jeremy but that doesn't mean you killed him."

Elena just shrugs, feigning disinterest. She's well aware of his looks though and after a few minutes she can't take it anymore.

"There's no evidence, Elena..." Or is there?

Frustrated, she digs into her bag, pulls out an Ultra Sunrise and quickly chugs it down, hoping to squelch her rapidly escalating anger.

"What do you know about Detective Salvatore, is he desperate enough to manufacture some?" he looks at her closely.

"What? Look Kai, I'm not a porcelain doll, I'm not going to break. I'm grateful to all of you for keeping an eye on me but I can take care of myself. And to answer your question, detective Salvatore may be a lot of things, many of which I don't like but he's not unethical."

His eyes narrow and Elena has known him long enough to know that despite her reassurances, they'll have no impact on his overprotective nature, let alone his stubbornness. "So? What's on the table for today? I mean besides sitting in your office and brooding over annoying detectives?"

She forgot he knows her just as well.

She breathes a sigh of relief. "I want to work on The Amazon project."

Kai nods and turns the car in the direction of the Harper building.

Damon watches the small brunette with interest. She's not happy to be here, but she's not about to call a lawyer for reinforcements either. If his instincts are right, the course of the investigation's about to change and for the better. He won't let his perplexing feelings about Elena Gilbert get in the way. Funny, he still needs to remind himself of this fact.

"Take a seat Miss Bennett."

Bonnie sits, balancing on the edge of the chair as if she's preparing to run at any given moment. Luka leans against the table ready to aide and abet her should the need arise. Damon feels for him, Bonnie's just as much part of this case as Elena is.

"Miss Bennett. Our investigation has been going on for some time. You were already employed at the club when Jeremy Gilbert disappeared so you know all the main participants. No matter which way we turn, the compass always seems to point to Miss Elena Gilbert. She's the person everything and everyone seems to revolve around. You've brought some interesting facts to your.. ehm friend, Detective Martin's attention. We run into one dead end after another and if we're going to crack this case once and for all, we're going to need your help."

"Okay...?" Bonnie hesitantly agrees.

"Tell us about your friend, please."

During the next hour, Damon gets to sport an unreadable expression, pretending not to be affected by what Miss Bennett has to say about her boss, about the siblings' relationship, about situation at The Jungle. Once overcoming her initial reluctance to speak about these private things, she isn't holding back. It's not pretty and Damon can hardly imagine how tense the situation must have been when Jeremy decided to crash Elena's space.

"It used to be bad sometimes. But the guys, I mean Kol or Kai, Enzo, Elijah occasionally built a wall around her, metaphorically speaking of course but it was effective, Jeremy was scuttled which only made him angrier. When he did succeed, everyone had their hands full to deal with his messes. I don't know if she realized how exhausting the drama was for everyone involved. If I had been in Elena's place I probably would've just paid him off ..."

"So, the circle around Miss Gilbert, what's the deal with them? Was it always this way?"

"I... yes. When I joined six years ago, they were all pretty tight, I mean, I'm not sure what brought them all together. Kol's Elena's age, they were classmates. The Mikaelsons and the Gilberts, both founding families, their parents were friends, it's like they're all related although not by blood. Kai... I just don't know, he doesn't fit in with Elijah's family and he's older than Elena. Enzo told me his parents lived next to the Gilberts so he knew Elena and Jeremy back then too."

"Doesn't she even have any girlfriends?" Both Damon and Bonnie look at Luka who smiling sheepishly.

Damon brushes him off, it's a good question.

"Well yes, there's Rebekah Mikaelson, she comes regularly and I know Elena's planning evenings or even whole days to spend with her. She doesn't work for her though, or rather she doesn't work at all. And she has also Caroline, from the restaurant. And myself, I suppose," she adds looking a little offended.

"Speaking of Miss Forbes," Damon grasps the opportunity, "she mentioned Elena had been afraid of Jeremy. Do you know anything about that?" He holds his breath waiting for her answer.

"She did?" Bonnie looks surprised and after several seconds pass, the lightbulb goes off, "Oh, she probably meant Gibraltar."

"What?" Both Damon and Luka react.

"Gibraltar. He was Elena's Siamese tomcat, beautiful creature. One day she found him dead, hanging on her fence, disemboweled..."

Damon feels a wave of nausea, recalling Elena's face when he asked her about pets. If this isn't a motive...

"There was no doubt it was Jeremy who did it. A few days before it happened, he had to be dragged out of the casino, he was enraged and yelling at her. I can still hear the hatred in his tone. He said something like, there's no place in the world that she could hide, that he'd always find her. He also made some crack about Gibraltar..." she pauses, taking a long pull from her water bottle.

After recapping it and setting it on the edge of the desk, she looks at Damon again. "Kai was with her when she found her poor cat, he told us about it. I've never seen him so angry... I remember Enzo needed to help calm him down, Kai is usually pretty chill so it was out of the ordinary for him to be so filled with rage. After that, he stayed with her for several days."

By the time they're done questioning her, Damon feels exhausted yet the truth of Jeremy Gilbert's death is still proving to be elusive, he just can't quite seem to put the pieces together. He thanks Bonnie and lets Luka leave to take her home. Ric, who watched it all from the other room joins him after they leave.

"Doesn't look good for Miss Gilbert? Every stone we uncover seems to further implicate her. Have you finally decided to go in for the kill?"

Damon, immersed in thought, is in no hurry to answer. "It's time, Ric," he finally responds.

It's time to free Elena from her nightmares.

Huge thanks to all of you, you're all the best and reason we continue to write these stories. Neither of us are ready to let go of DE just yet. I miss them. We can't begin to know how to thank you all.

Lots of love and thanks to you, Eva.

Chapter title: 'Everybody Hurts' by R.E.M.

I did post a part two of "Death Is Just a Feeling". We're diligently working on part 3 so we can wrap it up. Eva is on a short holiday so hopefully we can finish the last several scenes and post the final part next week.

The Elejah, Dalaric story I mentioned one other time written by Eva's friend, it surprisingly turned into a Delena story. Eos Blaze 0402 writes beautifully if any of you are interested, the story is "Only You".

Have a fantastic day and thank you again so very much. We'll see you next time.