Elena was in the midst of a nightmare, and she knew it. It was the same nightmare she had almost every night for the past several weeks. She relived the night she and Jeremy killed Kol. She had to watch it every time. She screamed for Jeremy to stop, but he never heard her. She watched as the man she was fairly certain was her father was stabbed with the white oak stake and burst into flames. She listened to him scream until there was nothing lift of him.
Unfortunately, that was never how the nightmare ended. As soon as Kol died, he'd reappear in front of her with a scathing look on his face. "Killing your own father takes a special kind of evil, doesn't it? Even I've never done that one."
"I'm sorry," Elena cried.
"Being sorry won't make me any less dead, will it?" Kol asked coldly.
"I was just trying to protect Jeremy," Elena said.
"And he ended up dying anyway, all because you wouldn't listen," Kol said as he advanced on her.
Elena backed up, as she always did during these nightmares.
"I was right about Silas. He was a threat to this entire world! But you wouldn't listen. You brought me here to murder me. I burned right in front of you, and you didn't even care!" Kol snarled.
"That's not true," Elena said. She did care, but she didn't see any other option. Kol had compelled Damon to kill Jeremy. Yes, Klaus had promised to take care of Kol, but she couldn't put Jeremy's life in Klaus' hand. Since the Gilberts' died, it had always been her job to protect Jeremy.
"I burned because of you. You ought to burn too," he said coldly.
Suddenly, Elena heard Jeremy's voice. "Elena, wake up."
Elena's eyes suddenly popped open, and she bolted up in her bed. She looked around to find herself in her room at the Salvatores. That was where she'd been staying since winter break had started. Jeremy was by her side looking concerned.
"Elena, are you okay? I could hear you crying as I walked by your room," Jeremy said.
"Yeah, I'm okay. It was just a stupid nightmare. I don't even remember what it was about. I'm fine, Jer. You should go to bed. It's probably late," Elena said.
"It's only nine-thirty. You must have been tired. You fell asleep early. Are you sure you're okay?" Jeremy asked.
"Yeah, I'm good. It's okay. You can go," Elena said.
Reluctantly, Jeremy got up and left the room.
Elena laid back down and silently cried. She thought back to her dream. Kol was right. She should burn for what she did to him. She should be the one dead right now.
Xxxxxxxxxxx
Jeremy headed downstairs to find the others. He knew that his sister was not okay. He'd seen the difference in her since she got home. She barely spoke to anybody. She spent most of her time alone in her room. She didn't really drink much blood, and she had nightmares almost every night for the past week. The last time he'd seen her even close to like this was right after his parents died. Unfortunately, he was grieving himself at the time and wasn't equipped to help her with her pain. Now he was, and he intended to.
Jeremy was sure the others knew what was going on. Bonnie did at least. He'd tried to talk to her about Elena, and each time, she'd change the subject. He was sick of being kept in the dark because everyone thought they had to protect him. He was not a child anymore. He might only be sixteen, but he'd seen too much to be handled with kid gloves. He was a hunter. He'd killed people to protect those he loved. He'd died for God's sake. He'd damn well earned the right to be kept in the loop, especially when it came to his sister.
Jeremy walked into the living room and heard Bonnie and Caroline whispering.
"Things are getting worse. She's spiraling. I'm inches away from calling Klaus," Caroline said.
"I don't think that's going to help any," Bonnie said.
"What the hell is going on?" Jeremy demanded to know, making his presence known.
Bonnie turned to face her boyfriend. "Hey, Jeremy. We didn't hear you come in. I thought you'd gone to bed."
"I want to know what's going on! What has happened to my sister because the girl upstairs is a poor imitation of her," Jeremy said.
"Oh, she's just dealing with a lot. College is a lot harder than high school and…" Caroline started.
"Stop it! Stop treating me like a stupid teenager! Take the kid gloves off! Elena is not okay! She's falling apart! I haven't seen her like this since our parents died! What is happening to her! How long has it been happening? Tell me!" Jeremy demanded.
"We can't. Jeremy, she doesn't want you to know," Bonnie said.
"I don't care! I'm tired of being kept in the dark about things that affect my life or Elena's because people feel like they need to protect me! Tell me the truth!" Jeremy practically yelled.
"Tell him," Caroline told Bonnie after a minute. "We're almost at the point where I'm going to have to call Klaus whether Elena wants me to or not. If that happens, he needs to know."
"Why the hell is anyone calling Klaus?" Damon asked as he and Stefan entered the room.
Bonnie looked at Caroline hesitantly. "Are you sure we should do this? Elena made it clear she doesn't want anyone else knowing."
"She's getting worse, Bonnie. Her grades are falling apart, that's when she goes to class at all. She barely feeds; she barely sleeps. When she does sleep, she has horrible nightmares. I am not joking when I say I'm ready to involve Klaus. The only thing that's stopping me is the fact that I'm not sure if it will make things better or worse, but I don't know how much worse it can get," Caroline said.
Bonnie turned back to Jeremy. "This is going to be hard for you to hear. It's going to be devastating."
"I don't care about me right now, Bonnie. My sister is falling apart. Elena has always been one of the strongest people I've ever known, but she is breaking right now. I need to know how to help her," Jeremy said.
"it's about your father. This is going to change the way you think about him," Bonnie said.
Jeremy took her words in and mentally prepared himself for the worst. There wasn't much that could make him think of his father in any kind of negative way, so he knew that what he was about to hear was going to be bad.
Bonnie and Caroline told Jeremy and the Salvatores everything they'd learned about Grayson and what he'd done to Elena. They told them about his journal and how he'd used Elena as a test subject.
Jeremy couldn't even say anything for several minutes. He'd tried to prepare himself for the worst, but this was beyond anything he could've prepared for. He knew his father and uncle hunted vampires, but this was way beyond that. This was the most sadistic thing he could think of for someone to do. "No. What you just described is pure evil."
"And impossible. Vampires can't procreate," Damon said.
"I'm sorry to burst your bubble, that was just proven false. Klaus impregnated a werewolf," Caroline told Damon.
"But Klaus is a hybrid. It's a unique circumstance," Stefan said.
"Or maybe it's just because he's an Original," Caroline said.
"Look, Maxfield is a lunatic! What makes you think you can trust anything he says anyway?" Damon asked.
"It was in Grayson's journal. It was his handwriting," Caroline said.
"I want to see it," Jeremy said in a shaky tone.
"No, you don't. Trust me, Jeremy, you don't. It reads like a horror novel. It's not something you want in your head, not from your own father. It's in Elena's head, and it's killing her," Bonnie said.
"I don't think that's the only thing in her head. I've heard her cry Kol's name in her sleep. I think she thinks it's him," Caroline said.
"Oh, God," Jeremy said as he realized exactly what his sister must be thinking about. They had killed Kol. If she believed he'd fathered her, she was dealing with the belief that she'd murdered her own father. He couldn't begin to imagine how devasting that had to be.
"No, it's not Kol. It's not anybody! Even if Elena's crazy daddy did all of this, it probably doesn't mean anything. She was human before she was turned. John Gilbert fathered her," Damon said. He refused to believe that Elena was an Original's offspring. This was insane.
"Elena told us that Maxfield stabbed her in the heart with a stake," Caroline said.
"Then he missed the heart," Damon said firmly.
"I need to get some air," Jeremy said. He felt like the walls were closing in on him. He could handle this, and he would, but he needed a minute to process it. He couldn't help Elena until he did.
"I'll go with you," Bonnie said.
"No. I need to be alone. I'm not going to do anything stupid. I just need to think," Jeremy said before walking out of the room.
Stefan turned to Caroline. "You said you wanted to call Klaus. Is it really that bad?"
"Yeah. I've almost picked up the phone several times," Caroline said.
"No one is calling Klaus. We just got rid of that psycho. We're not calling him back here. Even if this craziness is true, involving him is the last thing we're going to do," Damon said sharply.
"I hate even saying these words, but I agree with Damon. Bringing Klaus here isn't going to help Elena," Bonnie said.
"Alright. I won't call him now, but if things get any worse, I will make that call, no matt what anyone, including Elena, thinks about it," Caroline said. She didn't know it in that moment, but soon she would come to regret not making that phone call.