I was just waking up when my phone started blaring the Wicked Witch of the West's theme. Years ago, I had set personalized ringers for our friends and family. That way I could decide whether or not to answer without checking the caller ID. Of course, the fact those ringers irritated a chosen few was just a bonus in my opinion. Anyway, Wicked Witch ringer equals Bonnie, so it was a call I had to take. Thankfully, she was just calling to check up on Elena. No new bad news to be delivered. After asking me to tell Elena that she would be over later, Bonnie hung up, leaving me to conduct my Elena assessment in peace.
I shouldn't have been surprised when I rolled over to look at her and found her gorgeous chocolate eyes wide open, focused on me. She looked calm, no sign of tears, just acceptance. After so many losses in her short life, Elena had learned to accept death as if it were a commonplace, everyday occurrence. I guess for a while there, it almost was. This time, however, this time I expected rage to follow the tears. So far, there seemed to be none. Maybe it was lurking under the surface, waiting to break through a crack in her composure. If that happened, we would deal with it just like everything else, together.
Again my phone started blaring, this time Blondie's Call Me. Knowing that I would have to break the news to Caroline, I left our bedroom. Elena didn't need to hear the details again, not yet anyway.
"Hey, Blondie, thanks for finally calling me back. Look, there's something I need to tell you."
"Damon!" she screeched. "Would you just shut up? Elijah is dead! Klaus won't tell me what happened, but it's bad here. He's so out of control. I almost wish I hadn't come."
"Listen, Caroline, that sucks about Elijah, but I need to tell you something. Jeremy is-"
I pulled the phone away from my ear and looked at the screen. Call ended. What the hell? How could she just hang up on me like that? Apparently Klaus and Elijah news trumped Jeremy news these days. Making a note to have Bonnie call Caroline, I went back to our bedroom to check on Elena.
After a quick glance at our empty bed, I saw that she was just stepping into the shower. Opting not to join her, I made our bed before taking our mugs from the previous night down to the kitchen. As I washed and dried the mugs, I debated whether or not to tell Elena about Elijah. I worried that another loss might push her over the edge.
Bonnie arrived just as Elena made her way downstairs. Her eyes were still puffy, calling the half smile on her face a liar, showing the evidence of the many tears she had probably shed since leaving the day before. The girls just stood in the foyer and hugged each other before pulling apart and walking into the parlor.
"I called Matt," Bonnie started. "He'll be over soon. He sounded so devastated. He said he hadn't seen Jeremy in at least six months." She wiped her eyes, trying to hide the tears threatening to fall. "Tyler is on the west coast. He said he would be here in a few days, at most. He's going go to New Orleans first and get Caroline, even if he has to pull her out of Klaus's arms."
And there it was, my opening. Time to tell Elena what Caroline had called to tell me.
"So, here's the thing. Caroline called this morning. Elijah is dead. That's why Klaus wanted her to rush to his side."
The girls just sat there, dumbfounded. Elena shook her head in disbelief.
"What happened? Did Caroline say?" Elena's voice started to take on a frantic tone, so I grabbed her hands in mine, trying to calm her.
"Nope. She didn't, just said that Klaus wouldn't tell her what had happened. Then she hung up on me before I could tell her about Jeremy."
"She did what?" Bonnie was clearly outraged that Caroline again seemed to be putting Klaus ahead of the family. "I'm calling her right now. She needs to know about Jeremy and she needs to come home." Bonnie walked into the kitchen to make her call, leaving Elena and me alone.
"Damon, this feels really weird. First Jeremy, now Elijah. It's like someone is targeting all of us through our brothers." She paused for minute, a worried look crossing her face. "Where's Stefan, Damon? I thought he would be here by now. Did you call him?"
That's when I remembered my last thought from the night before – where's Stefan? I plucked my phone from my pocket, dialing Stefan's number as I started pacing in front of the fireplace.
"Caroline didn't answer," Bonnie said, walking back into the parlor. "I'll try her again later. Who's Damon calling?"
"Damon! Elena! Anyone here?" Matt yelled as he walked in the front door. After spotting Elena, Bonnie and me in the parlor, he joined us there. "Hey guys, this box was sitting on the doorstep."
That's when I realized there was something in his hands. Bonnie and Elena exchanged horrified looks, while I just stood there, numb, feeling a horrible sense of having been through this before.
Bonnie obviously hadn't given Matt any of the details surrounding Jeremy's death, because he didn't immediately pick up on the significance of the box or our reactions to it. Instead, he walked in and plunked it down on the coffee table like it was no big thing. Matt's eyes darted between the three of us, clearly confused.
"Guys, what's going on?" Matt asked. "I didn't know a box could scare two vampires and a witch."
Bonnie took pity on Elena and me, explaining to Matt exactly how we learned of Jeremy's death. When she finished, we all turned our attention to the box. Someone needed to open it, but as long as it remained closed, no one else was dead. Yes, Ric, that was a Schrödinger's cat reference. At that moment, it is was completely true for us. I already had a pretty good idea what we would find in the box. I think Elena did, too. Catching her eyes, I gave her a little nod before squaring my shoulders and ripping open the box. Just as I expected, dreaded, feared, inside the box was a heart. This time, the killer had taken his display a step further. The heart had been ripped open and sitting in one of the chambers was Stefan's daylight ring.
Somewhere through my haze of rage and grief, I heard a feral-sounding growl, not realizing that it came from me. I caught the look of fear in Bonnie's eyes as she backed away from me, not knowing what form my rage would take. I could hear Elena trying to talk to me, felt her hands on my arms, my back, my chest, but I shrugged off every touch. Starting with a lamp that I knocked off a table, I began to throw, smash, destroy anything in my path. By the time I collapsed in an exhausted heap on the floor, all of the furniture in the room had been reduced to kindling and shards. All except for the coffee table which held the box with my brother's heart and ring. Somehow I had managed to leave it intact. Bonnie and Matt were gone, wisely choosing to put some distance between themselves and the (hopefully) temporarily insane vampire.
My Elena was still there, though, sitting on the step that led up to the foyer, elbows on her knees, chin on her hands, tears streaming down her cheeks, waiting. Waiting for me to get it all out. Waiting for me to need her. Waiting for me to be ready to admit that I needed her. Without a word from me, she was across the room, wrapping her whole body around me, holding me together when I couldn't.
She knew it was coming. She could see it in my eyes. But, she let me do it anyway, proving once again that Elena Gilbert is the strongest person I have never known. Because while she was willing to feel every bit of grief and pain over losing her brother, I wasn't willing to do the same for my own. My eyes said everything my lips couldn't – I'm sorry, baby. In that instant, I flipped my switch. Yeah, I could still feel the pain, but I could nudge it aside to embrace the rage, because that was the only way I would be able to get the revenge that I so desperately needed.
A/N - Hang on, dear readers, the ride is only going to get bumpier from here. Please let me know what you thought about the chapter by leaving a review in the little box below. Thanks! ~ craftyjhawk