Forty-Nine | Gone Too Soon
I made my way out of a room that was once Rebekah's, but she had her own house now. I didn't live in the Mikaelson mansion, but I also didn't really live at the boarding house anymore, so I just claimed it as mine to stay in.
I went downstairs and into the kitchen. I grabbed a mug from the cupboard and started making coffee.
I turned the radio on and a pop song started playing. I poured hot water into the mug of coffee mix and danced over to the fridge. I wiggled my hips and stuck my hand in the air as I started singing loudly into the milk bottle and took it over to my mug.
I poured milk into the mixture and picked the mug up. I turned around before instantly jumping in fright at a figure, making some of the coffee spill out the top of the mug.
"Jesus, Klaus!" I gasped. He was leant against the door frame, grinning in amusement.
I placed the mug down on the surface and rubbed my hand against the patch of coffee that had spilt on my top. I switched the radio off.
"Don't stop dancing on my account." He smirked, "I rather enjoyed it."
"I was, uh, just getting coffee." I said. I tilted my head slightly, intrigued, "So, you like dancing?"
"Oh, you should of seen me in the 20s." He said with a smile.
I lightly smiled and then it dropped, "Look, last night... It felt good but I can't forget what you've done and was going to do, Klaus."
His jaw clenched, "I understand."
"What you did for Tyler was good but you wouldn't have done it unless I told you to. You already killed his mother and all them hybrids, and you were going to kill my friends. And then you would have killed Tyler." I frowned.
"He hurt you and left you for dead." Klaus' eyebrows crushed together, "Of course I would have killed him."
"Maybe we aren't as a like as you thought." I exhaled.
"Well, I already let you in on some of my thoughts, so now it's your turn." He stated.
I ignored him and tried to walked around him, but he grabbed my arm and pulled me towards his body. I turned around, our faces now inches apart. I stared at those pretty, soft lips and wanted to feel them against mine. My eyes flickered up into his and I took my arm from his grasp.
I swallowed hard, "You need to stop doing that."
"Doing what?" He asked, his hot breath hitting my skin.
I stepped back before turning around and finally walking away. I couldn't let myself fall for him, we were the complete opposite and opposites don't attract, right?
▂▂▂▂
I leant against the kitchen counter, watching Caroline constantly scrubbing at the burn marks on the Gilbert's kitchen floor. I handed her another cloth and took the old one from her hand. I threw it in the sink. She kept scrubbing harshly at the black area.
"Caroline, I don't think it's coming out." I sighed. The door opened and Elena walked in, "Hey, you're home."
I moved down the hallway to see Stefan walking in behind her, he was carrying Jeremy's body. I furrowed my brows and turned to Caroline, who stood up.
"I was trying to clean the burn mark where Kol -- " She noticed Stefan carrying Jeremy, "I couldn't get the spot out."
"Come on. Let's get him upstairs." Elena said and she headed straight up the upstairs. Stefan followed. I just stayed in the same spot in shock, what the hell had happened?
It was then I realised that if Jeremy was dead, there was no way he was gonna come back to life, he was supernatural now and the Gilbert ring only worked on humans.
My heart suddenly sunk deep into my chest at the thought. I could hear Elena talking about staying with him until he woke up, she was overly upset.
Stefan came down a few minutes later and told Caroline and I what had happened. They'd found Jeremy on the floor where the cure was suppose to be, but Katherine had stalked and stolen it from right under their noses.
"How long has she been like that?" I asked Stefan, referring to Elena.
"Ever since we found his body. She hasn't said anything except that she's waiting for him to wake up." Stefan replied.
I closed my eyes and exhaled a long breath. I couldn't let myself cry because I had to be strong for Elena, we all did.
"But he's not going to wake up. She knows that, right?" Caroline said. I opened my eyes and shhed her. Stefan turned the tap on to cover the conversation.
"Look. Deep down, I think she has to, but we're talking about Elena here. She feels grief more powerfully than anyone else. I think her denial is the one thing protecting her from letting it all in." Stefan said.
"But she can't stay like that forever." Caroline replied.
"I know, but I don't want to be the one to break her out of it, not until we know that Bonnie is safe, not until we get Damon over here to, you know..."
"Use the sire bond to convince her that everything is okay?" Caroline questioned. Stefan nodded in response.
Elena walked into the kitchen, "I'm not in denial."
She exhaled, "I know that he was supernatural, but did you see? His tattoo is gone. The tattoo had the spell that opened Silas' chamber. Maybe it being gone means that he's fulfilled his supernatural destiny. Maybe he's back to normal. It's possible, right?"
I sighed, "Elena -- "
"It's possible, Cassie. There's a chance. It may be miniscule, but it's hope and I'm gonna hold on to that hope with everything that I've got because there's no way that m -- There's absolutely no way that my brother is dead. I'm not in denial." Elena turned back around and left the kitchen. Stefan and I exchanged sad glances.
▂▂▂▂
I sat on the porch swing trying not to think too in depth about the situation. Just two days ago Kol had died and now this. Jeremy was like my little brother, this couldn't be happening. Stefan walked out, thankfully interupting my thoughts.
"Hey." I said.
He sat down beside me, "Caroline tried to ring Tyler, she doesn't know where he is, do you?"
"As far away from Klaus as he can get." I told him, "I guess he doesn't have time to stop and call home."
"Katherine's been running from Klaus for five-hundred years. It's not easy. It's probably why she stole the cure. She wants to bargain for her freedom." Stefan said.
I sighed, "I just can't believe after all that, she stole it, the cure is gone."
"Yeah. I mean, talk about denial. In my head, I was thinking there was no way Elena was gonna stay a vampire forever. And now without any family."
Caroline came out the house, "Well, we can't think about that right now. We need to make plans, lists. We need a funeral or a cover story, or a funeral and a cover story. I should go tell my mom. I guess she'll know what to do."
"We should get Matt over here." Stefan said.
"You're right. I will do that. I will call Matt, and then I will go tell my mom, and then I will make a list or a casserole or -- I don't know, whatever people are supposed to do or make in these situations."
"What's that smell?" I suddenly asked, looking towards the door. It clung to my nose for a moment before I realised what it was.
"It's his body. He's starting to decompose. Cassie, can you get Dr. Fell over here?" Stefan asked.
I sadly nodded, "Of course."
▂▂▂▂
I had let Meredith go upstairs to see Elena.
I wandered into the living room and plonked myself down on the sofa. I turned my head to the side, where Klaus once stood when he was trapped. He some how managed to pull me into the boundary spell and save my life.
That was a sign that there was some human in him, for some reason he cared. And then later he pressed those luring lips to mine, and I couldn't stop thinking about it. I looked away and listened to the conversation upstairs.
Elena was rambling to stop herself from thinking or crying, "Ric died, like, four times before he lost his mind and Jeremy has died a few times, three, I think, so we're gonna have to -- so we'll have to keep an eye on him because I don't want him to go crazy just like Ric did."
"Elena, it looks like Jeremy died of extreme blood loss. His neck also appears to be broken. The lack of blood explains why there's no lividity, but his muscles have tightened past the point of rigor mortis." Meredith said.
"No." Elena said, her voice breaking.
"If he's left unattended to, soon he'll start to bloat. Within a few hours, his skin will discolor, and -- "
"No. He's -- Stop, okay? Just stop. He's not dead." Elena interupted. I closed my eyes and held my hands over my face, trying to withold my tears.
"I need you to release the body to me. We'll get him to a funeral home and prepare him for a viewing where you and his friends can say goodbye to him." Meredith said. I heard a bang against a wall. I took my hands away and let out a sob.
"He's not dead, okay?" Elena yelled.
"Elena, stop it." Stefan said.
The front door swung open. I pushed myself up as Matt ran through them. His eyes wandered to me.
"They're upstairs." I told him. He nodded and ran up.
"Now you're all about science? Where was your science when you used vampire blood to save my life, huh? There is no science here. It's just magic. We need magic. We have to find Bonnie. Bonnie can fix this. Somebody just get me Bonnie."
"Elena -- " Matt said.
"No. No. No, Matt. It's fine. It's okay. It's okay. Bonnie will be here soon, and she'll fix everything, and it'll be all fine. Everything's gonna be fine. It'll be fine. It'll be fine."
▂▂▂▂
I was standing outside Jeremy's room, I could see his body was covered over with a blanket. I didn't dare walk in or I'd completely break down. Meredith walked out of the room with Stefan.
"I've been alive for almost two centuries now. You'd think with the amount of people that I've seen die, it would hurt less each time. It never does." I said, looking at them both.
"No. No, it never does. I see this every day. Sometimes I think that denial is the worst part for people like us, because we know the truth. We can see they're on a collision course with it, and all we can do is brace ourselves for impact." Meredith replied.
I nodded and then shook my head, a few tears escaping, "He didn't deserve this, he's just a sixteen year old boy. He should be alive, playing video games, annoying his family, being happy, not dea -- " I started breaking and the tears poured out my eyes.
I was so unbelievably sad. I felt a pair of arms wrap around me and I just fell into them. It was Stefan, he held my head and hugged me tightly.
Jeremy just couldn't be dead, he couldn't.
Around ten minutes later I was drinking from the tea Stefan made me. Elena had gone out with Matt for a while, so thankfully she didn't see my break down.
I placed the mug on the side as Stefan walked into the room. He held his phone up, "That was Damon, he found Bonnie. The plane is there waiting for them when they get off the island. They'll be home in a few hours."
"Thank God. Is she okay?" I asked.
"Yeah, he said she's fine." He responded, "Listen, Elena might have been right. There might be something."
"Really? She knows what to do?" I asked.
Stefan sighed, "I guess we'll just see what she says when she gets home."
I nodded, "I really hope she can do something, Jeremy is the only family Elena has left."
"She has you." He said.
"I'm broken, Stefan. The last thing she needs is some insane, messed up one-hundred and sixty-six year old vampire, who can't control her feelings, to be anything like a parental or sibling figure. She's just an eighteen year old girl. She needs her parents. She needs her aunt. She needs her brother."
▂▂▂▂
I walked down the stairs of the Gilbert residence to see Elena, Matt, Bonnie and Caroline all gathered around the dining room table. I headed over to them.
"Oh my God, Bonnie." I exhaled a sigh of relief, "I'm so glad you're okay."
Caroline quickly stood up before Bonnie could say a word, "Damon, uh, he wanted to talk to you outside."
I furrowed my brows, "Oh, okay."
I turned around and walked outside the house, closing the door behind me. Damon was already out there, talking to Stefan, "She's out of her mind, Stefan. The nutty professor's got her totally brainwashed."
"What's going on?" I asked as they faced me.
"It's Bonnie." Stefan said, "She thinks that if she kills twelve people, she can create something called an expression triangle to bring back Jeremy."
I shook my head, "She can't kill twelve people."
"I mean, the whole flight back home, all she could talk about was how she's the one that can drop the veil between this side and the Other Side." Damon said.
"Drop the veil? What does that even mean?" I asked.
"What it means is, the myth about Silas being able to raise the dead is not just one, or some. It's every supernatural being over there." Damon replied. I opened my mouth slightly, unable to form a sentence, "Three massacres, three hot spots, and the witch spell of the century, and every supernatural being over there is back with a vengeance."
"Is she crazy? She can't kill twelve people, and she sure as hell can't invite every monster who has ever died back into this world." I frowned, "We can't let her do it."
▂▂▂▂
"I need to go." I said, standing in the doorway of the living room. Stefan, Caroline and Damon were in there. They all turned their heads to look at me.
"Are you sure now is a good time?" Stefan asked.
"There is never a good time. I can't be here, Jeremy, he's -- he -- I just need to go." I stuttered, holding back tears.
Jeremy was dead, and there was no way we could let Bonnie do the spell. He was gone.
Damon walked up to me and tried to hug me but I moved back, "I'm sorry I'm not as strong as you want me to be for Elena but I can't pretend. I lost my parents at the same age as Elena, now she's lost her aunt, her real parents, her guardian and now her brother and I don't know how she's keeping it together because I'm going insane."
"Cassie..."
"She's treated me like family since I came back to town and now she's lost everything and everyone. And I was close to them all, they were like my family and then I -- Kol died and Elijah left and Tyler's mother and I just can't take this. I just, I can't."
Every emotion I'd been bottling up seemed to flood over the wall inside my brain and I couldn't stop it
I sobbed and ran out of the house. I vamp ran and ran until I reached the only person I felt like I wanted right now. I harshly cried as I ran through the front doors and stopped in the middle of the hallway.
Klaus came running through the doorway, probably at the loud noise I'd been making as I entered, and stopped when he saw me.
I cried and ran into his arms. He instantly wrapped his arms around me and held me close.
I just couldn't stop crying, it felt like every sad thing that had happened hit me all at once. He stroked my hair and gently embraced me. I held onto Klaus, never wanting to let go.
I just needed him.