CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CRUMBLING STATUES

"Come on, Jeremy, we're going to school." I shouted up the stairs to my younger brother. "Walking out the door now." I continued, as Elena and I made our way to the front door.

"You forgot this." A voice said from behind us, causing Elena and I to turn around and see Jenna holding up Elena's spiral notebook with a small smile.

I opened the front door and slightly jumped back at the sight. Great, just what I needed. The person standing on the other side of the threshold makes anyone's fantastic day, turn to shit in the matter of two seconds.

"Elektra, Elena," He greeted happily, a smile forming on his face - more like a sick snarl of a wolf. I pursed my lips at him.

"Uncle John." Elena slapped on a fake smile. "Hi."

John glanced over at me expectantly. I rolled my eyes. "Hi," I muttered.

John nodded in acceptance before looking behind us, "Jenna."

"John, you made it." Jenna said, her tone was holding something pertaining to upset or disappointment.

"I said I'd be in by noon," John replied, stepping into the foyer.

"What you say and what you do are typically two very different things," Jenna retorted with a small glare, you can see that none of us particularly enjoyed Uncle John's visits.

I heard footsteps from the staircase.

"Uncle John, what's up?" Jeremy greeted, making his way down the stairs - finally, now we can leave.

"Hey," John replied, noticing his nephew. "I have some business in town. I thought a visit was in order." He said, looking at Jenna, Elena, and I who were all standing in the doorway, ready to escape.

"How long are you staying?" Elena piped up.

"I don't know yet." John stated.

I rocked back and forth on my heels. "All right," I said, cutting through John's bullshit stories. "Well, we-" I motioned to Elena and I. "-have to go to school, bye."

There was a moment of silence.

"Why is he here?" Elena asked letting out a breath of air.

"That's what I would like to know."

✥ ✥ ✥

"He said his trip is open-ended," I said to Matt, as Elena and I leaned against some lockers while Matt rummaged through his.

"Uncle John, I never really liked that guy." Matt replied with a grin.

I scoffed and rolled my eyes. "Does anyone?"

Elena's head bobbed in agreement, while Matt reached into his locker and grabbing a few more books. "Well, I am here for moral support if you need it." Matt announced.

"Thanks," Elena said. "But I think we'll suffer this one alone, right, Elektra?"

I huffed, "Sadly."

"You've been through enough," Elena continued, sending Matt a sorrowful look.

"Thank you, by the way - both of you." Matt responded, looking between the two of us. "For everything you guys did at Vicki's funeral and her memorial. I couldn't have done it without you two."

"Of course, Matt," I said, with a nod of my head. "So is Caroline still baking for you guys around the clock?"

"She finally went to her dad's, which is a good thing." Matt said, chuckling. "My mom was going to strangle her if she dropped off one more lasagna."

Matt slammed his locker shut, and the three of us began walking down the crowded hallway. I suddenly giggled, causing both Elena and Matt to glance at me questioningly.

I smiled and said: "I can so see Kelly doing that."

✥ ✥ ✥

"Elena, Elektra." Alaric's voice rang through the classroom, "Could you both please stay after the bell today?"

Elena and I exchanged confused looks.
"Sure." I spoke up speaking for the both of us.

Then the bell rang. I remained sitting as Elena and I exchanged glances across the room, we nodded towards his desk to show each other that we should get up. So I did and walked towards Rick's desk.

"I see both of you are very interested in my class." Alaric said sarcastically, with a small reassuring smile showing it was okay.

"Sorry." We both mumbled in response.

"It's okay." Alaric said as he pulled out a packet of papers, "I made a copy of the paper Jeremy wrote for me, I think you should take a look at it."

Alaric handed Jeremy's paper to Elena, who took it slowly in her hands with her eyebrows furrowed. She stared at the front page, her eyes widened.

"Jeremy wrote this?" Elena asked as she handed the paper to me. I looked down to see the title and took in a sharp breath.

Fact of Fiction:
The Truth About Vampires In Mystic Falls

Alaric nodded, "He was very clear that he didn't think it was real."

"I hope you're right." Elena mused, "We've done so much to protect him from all of this." Elena handed the paper back to Alaric.

Alaric sighed, "So how do you two deal with it?"

"What?" I asked confused as I furrowed my brows.

"All the lies, the secrets. You have to lie to everyone who is important to you."

"It's not safe for them to know the truth." Elena stated to Alaric. "So, yes, we keep it from them because we love them."

Alaric looked down for a moment and nodded letting Elena's words sink in before he got up and walked back behind his desk. "I think Stefan's a good guy." Alaric said staring at the pencils on his desk which he suddenly found amusing, "But at the end of the day, he's still a vampire."

"I know it's hard to understand, but Stefan's different." Elena defended her boyfriend.

"He would never do anything to hurt me or Elena." I added.

Alaric stared back at us, and unsure expression on his face.

Later that night, I was sitting idle on my window-bench, mindlessly flipping through a book I'd read a thousand times before. There was absolutely nothing to do, because I certainly wasn't going downstairs any time soon.

Down there, Jenna and Jeremy and John were eating dinner.

BANG!

A loud bang erupted from the wall, which I shared with Elena's bedroom, scaring me out of my thoughts. I instantly sprang to my feet, cautiously surveying the wall.

I swallowed thickly, exiting my bedroom and into the hallway - making my way to my sister's bedroom. Once at the door, I reached out and turned the door knob. As soon as the door was open, I ran into the room taking in the scene before me. Elena was sitting on her bed, an expression of horror on her face as she stared at the corner of her room.

I followed her eyes, seeing a broken lamp and that her bookshelf had been knocked over, and lying next to the mess was Stefan. The purple veins under his eyes were pulsing, fangs were bared, and his pine-green eyes were now red.

"I have to go," Stefan declared, running toward the open window and jumping out, leaving Elena and I in shock.

I heard the doorbell and walked to the door and opened it to reveal Damon. He had his black leather jacket on, and dark jeans. He had a smirk on his lips and his eyes were glistening in the sun, causing me to smile.

"Oh, good. You're here." I said my smile widening as I backed out of the doorway to let him inside.

Damon entered the house, "You ask, I come, I'm easy like that."

I chuckled a little at his flirty response, but then looked down the hall, so I could see into the dining room. Jeremy was sitting at the table eating cereal. I pressed a finger to my lips before pointing at the stairs.

"No, Elektra, I will not go to your bedroom with you." Damon said loudly, just loud enough for Jeremy to hear.

I froze on the second step of the stairs, turning with a glare. I gripped Damon's arm, and drug him upstairs as he chuckled. I faintly saw Jeremy shake his head and roll his eyes at us.

"Ah, just like I remembered," Damon said, glancing around my room.

I quietly shut the door after we both entered. "Stop messing around."

Damon walked over to my bed and plopped down into a lying position, while reaching over and grabbing the stuffed teddy bear, my father had bought me when I was six, and placed it on his chest.

"Did you know that your uncle's been kicking it with the Founder's Council?" Damon asked me.

"Perfect. We'll just add it to the growing list of how everything is falling apart." I rolled my eyes. "Damon." I said walking closer to the bed, "I'm worried about Stefan. He says that everything is okay, but he's clearly struggling. How long before he's back to normal?"

Damon cracked a grin, "A few days, give or take."

"It's been a few days."

"Give, then. I don't know." Damon replied, rolling his eyes. "What's the big deal?"

"He's not himself, Damon."

Damon stood from my bed and handed me my teddy bear. I placed it back on the bed as he walked over to my dresser. "Well, maybe his problem is he's spent too long not being himself. The Stefan you and your sister know was good-behavior Stefan. Rein-it-in Stefan. Fight-against-his-nature-to-an-annoyingly-obsessive-level Stefan. If you and your sister think that there's not another part to this, then you-" Damon paused, moving closer to me and dipping his face dangerously close to mine, "-have not been paying attention."

"He's not you."

"Well, he doesn't want to be me." Damon replied. "But that doesn't mean that deep down that he's not."

I grabbed a picture off of my vanity mirror and stared at it blankly. It was a photo of Jeremy and I when we were kids. My solemn expression quickly pulled down into a frown - this was the right time.

I knocked on his door, walking in at the same time. "Hey."

"What's up?" Jeremy asked, not turning away from his desk to face me.

I sighed and asked: "Do you have some time to talk?"

"Uh, yeah, sure," Jeremy replied, finally turning the chair around to look at me.

I shook my head. "Not here. Come on, let's get out of the house."

Before we left, I quickly texted Elena and told her that I was going to tell Jeremy about the adoption. The two of us left his bedroom and got into my car. I drove to a forest path by the lake and we quickly began walking as I took my time in properly explaining it to him. We were right next to the lake after he processed everything.

"I just can't believe Mom and Dad never told you were adopted." Jeremy admitted. My hands were stuffed in my pockets due to the cold weather as we walked along the leave-strewn path.

"I'm sure they would've eventually."

Jeremy's dark eyebrows furrowed. "Why were you so worried about what I thought?"

"Because, Jer...I don't know, it's weird." I replied. He laughed and then bumped with his shoulder. "Going your whole life thinking you're related by blood to someone."

"Does it bug you that we're not?" Jeremy asked.

"No, Jer, you're my brother. That's all that matters." I said sincerely. Jeremy smiled at my words. "So, Mister Saltzman said you've been doing great in history now." I complement, changing the subject.

"Yeah, yeah. He's really been helping me out." Jeremy said. "He gave me some extra credit and stuff."

"He loved your vampire paper." I cut in nudging him, "What caused you to write about that?"

Jeremy nodded, "He thought I had a clever angle, and I don't know? Boredom? Or maybe I'm just as nuts as the long line of Gilbert crazies."

"The Gilbert's aren't crazy." I protested with a smile.

"Easy for you to say." Jeremy said. "You're not one."

I ceased my walking, placing a hand over my heart. "Ouch."

I hit him with my shoulder and he laughed before he ran off, so I gladly chased after him.

It was time for the Founder's Kick-Off Party. On the inside, I hated these parties. They were always so boring and filled with snobby rich-people, but Elena and I are still - technically - apart of a Founding family.

Earlier, I saw Stefan compel the DJ to change the slow depressing music, to something more upbeat.

I was wearing a simple green silk party dress, and a pair of heels. I made my way over to the dance floor where I began swaying my hips to the music, when suddenly Kelly Donovan twirled me around and I repeated the same process with her. Just as I was spinning, I noticed something that caused me to stop. Instead of spinning, I just swayed my hips while looking in that direction.

Damon was talking Elena.

Damon was smirking has he stared into the dancing crowd, while Elena's face held a somewhat scared expression. I moved closer, still dancing.

"Dance with me," I heard a deep voice say. I looked toward it to see a tipsy Stefan. "I need to get acquainted with the more fun and outgoing Gilbert twin."

"Sure," I said, laughing.

I giggled out of surprise when he quickly twirled me around and pulled me flush against his body and then spun be back out. Stefan placed his hands firmly on my waist, pulling my body as close as it possibly could to his, while we moved to the beat. I felt Stefan's hands slide down and rest against the outward curve of my butt. I ignored it for now.

"Is he going to be okay?" I heard Elena ask Damon.

"Eventually, one way or another."

✥ ✥ ✥

Stefan and I took a break from dancing so he could go and find Elena. I went over to Jenna and we quickly sparked up a conversation. But our talking and laughing ceased when I spotted Alaric.

"History teacher, three o'clock." I mumbled.

"How do I look?" Jenna asked nervously.

I smiled sheepishly. "Beautiful."

"I've been looking for you," Alaric admitted when he reached us.

"Here I am. I haven't seen you in a while." Jenna replied.

Alaric looked at me and hesitated slightly. "Well, uh, things have been a little crazy. But I'm here now. Do you want to get a drink?"

"Sure."

"Okay, great," Alaric smiled. They both stared at me over their shoulders and I shook my head with laughter as they left.

"When did this happen?" Matt asked as he approached me, referring to the sudden change in music.

"DJ had a change of heart." I smiled, looking at the dancing crowd.

"You want to dance?" Matt asked.

"I don't know."

"Yes," Matt grinned, nodding his head.

"Matt," I laughed, as he grabbed my waist and began to dance with me.

After dancing for a few songs, Matt ditched me to go and find Tyler - probably to get another drink, seeing as though Matt was drowning his grief with booze. I turned around, and bumped into Stefan.

"Please dance with your alcoholic vampire best friend." Stefan asked politely.

I nodded, Stefan smiled and grabbed my hand before spinning me until my back slammed against his chest and I gasped. He spun me back out and I bumped into someone nearby.

"Whoa, watch it." the stranger growled.

"I'm sorry. My fault, I'm clumsy." I defended.

"Then get off the dance floor." The man spat.

"Excuse me?" I whispered in disbelief.

Stefan stepped in front of me and came to my defense. "That's no way to talk to a lady."

"Whatever," the man rolled his eyes and turned to leave.

Stefan caught his arm and stared him straight in the eye. "I think you need to apologize." Stefan commanded. He was compelling him.

"I'm sorry," the man said half-assed.

Stefan released his arm and the man turned to walk away, but Stefan reached out and yanked the man's arm again. "Now say it like you mean it."

"I'm really, really sorry."

"Stefan, it's fine," I assured, placing my hand gently on his tensed bicep.

"Now walk away." Stefan shoved the man slightly, before turning to me and placing his hand on the side of my neck affectionately. "Are you all right?"

I nodded. "There's Elena, that's my cue."

When I finally escaped the dance floor, I began to search for Damon, and there he was drink at the bar. My nerves were still on edge after that hostile moment between Stefan and that man I had bumped into. I walked over to the bar and touched his shoulder.

"Have you noticed what your brother's been up to?" I asked, placing a cherry in my mouth.

"No, I've been too preoccupied with yours." Damon replied. I furrowed my brows. "Jeremy's been asking questions about Vicki Donovan's death."

"He knows that her death was ruled an overdose."

"Really?" Damon asked, slumping his shoulders. "'Oh, but, Sheriff, someone buried her. Who would do that?'" Damon asked no one, mimicking what Jeremy said. "I know-" Damon began to raise his hand. "I know-" He raised it higher, "Me," Damon pointed to himself. "I mean, I could compel him, but he's wearing vervain."

I plopped another cherry in my mouth before answering: "No. I don't want you to compel him."

"If he keeps asking questions-"

"Damon, no, I'm serious. I'm going to do that to him again. I'll handle it."

"Okay," Damon sighed, grabbing a single red rose out of the vase next to him. He brought it up to his nose, sniffing it, before offering it to me. "But don't say I didn't warn you."

And with that, he walked away, leaving me to sniff the rose. It was the best smelling rose that I have ever smelled. Not only did I smell the natural perfume of the flower, but the scent of his cologne lingered on its petals.

I was aimlessly searching for Jeremy for about half-an-hour, until I stumbled upon him in the study. He was sitting on the couch, fingers laced together on his lap, staring blankly into the burning embers in the fireplace.

"Jer," I whispered softly; wondering how to start this conversation. At this moment, I wished that Damon had told Elena, and not me. "I-I heard about your conversation with Sheriff Forbes."

Jeremy leaned closer to me. "No one is trying to figure out what happened to her. They're all willing to believe that she OD'd."

"The coroner's office confirmed it. If that's what they said happened-"

"Is that what you believe?" Jeremy abruptly asked, catching me off guard.

I cleared my throat. "What do you think happened?"

"I think somebody killed her and buried her body." Jeremy told me, "And I don't think we should write it off just because it's easy."

"They're just doing what they can to move on." I gave him a sympathetic look.

"The truth is the only thing that's going to help people move on."

"Jer, just let it go, okay?" I snapped.
"Whatever it was, she's gone now."

"Whatever it was?" Jeremy asked. "So you don't think it was an over dose?"

"Yes, I-I do."

"Is there something you're not telling me?"
With that my eyes fell down to the floor; ashamed as I avoided eye-contact.
"Then why aren't you looking at me?"

"Stop it." I murmured. "That doesn't mean anything."

"If there was something else, you would tell me, right?" Jeremy arched a brow.

"Of course I would."

When I was finished talking to Jeremy, I walked out of the study to find Stefan or Elena, but Matt ended up finding me. He grinned at me as he sauntered over to where I was standing.

"Who knew I'd be missing all the fun at the Founder's Parties?" Matt asked, obviously drunk.

I chuckled. "This is rare, believe me."

"Is it bad that I'm enjoying myself?"

I stopped walking so that I could face Matt. "No, it's great that you're enjoying yourself." I patted his chest sympathetically. "Thanks for making me dance."

Matt returned my smiled. "Yeah, no problem," He replied, pulling me into him for a short hug. "Air. Air. I need some air. Come with me?"

I glanced across the room to see Stefan, drinking. I nodded at Matt, pulling on my black dress coat over my silk dress. "Sure."

"You haven't seen my mom, have you?"

"No, not in a while." I said.

"All right," Matt mumbled, following me as I stepped outside the packed and overly warm house.

As soon as I stepped out of the house, I turned to my right and the feeling of shock settled into my body. "Oh, my God." I whispered. Tyler Lockwood and Kelly Donovan were making out in the middle of the courtyard.

"What the hell are you doing, man?" Matt hollered, yanking Tyler away from his mother.

"Matt," Kelly warned.

"Mom," Matt snapped back.

"Whoa, dude, calm down." Tyler said, holding up his hands in defense. Matt reared his arm back before firing his fist into Tyler's nose.

"Matt," his name flew out of my mouth before I had even registered what had happened.

Kelly clamored to pulled Matt off of Tyler, but when Tyler punched Matt, Matt's back collided into his mom and Kelly went tumbling down and atop a nearby table. The sound of glass shattering and metal clamoring against the concrete filled the air.

I moved my attention back to the two men in front of me. Tyler had managed to get Matt on the ground, and started to wailing into Matt's face. Punch after punch after punch.

"Tyler, stop it. You're hurting him!" I shouted a failed and feeble attempt to get them to stop. Tyler growled, and suddenly began to strangle Matt. "Somebody help us!"

Alaric came sprinting passed me, wrapping his arms around Tyler's torso and yanking him off of Matt. "Tyler, stop it." Alaric slammed Tyler roughly against the wall causing Tyler to stop thrashing against his hold. "Hey, stop. All right, stop."

I ran over to Matt, kneeling next to his bloodied form. "Hey, come. Get up. Are you okay?"

Once I got Matt onto his feet, I guided him to a nearby chair and eased him down into it. I began examining Matt's face. He had multiple gashes and cuts on his cheeks and forehead, blood was trickling down his white skin. "Are you okay?"

"Where is she?" Matt asked.

I glanced around briefly. "I don't know. Come on, put your head up." I said, pushing his head back slightly, accessing the damage.

After I dropped Matt off at his house, I went back to the Founder's Kick-Off Party, looking for Elena. When I didn't find her I went into the main area of the house. I was standing in the crowd waiting for Mayor Lockwood to give the speech he gives almost every year, when someone grabbed my hand.

"You need to come with me now." Damon said sternly giving me a look that meant that he was serious. I nodded and let him lead the way until we were standing next to Alaric.

"Thank you all, thank you very much...thank you all for joining us tonight in just a few moments we will officially start the countdown for our upcoming Founder's Day Celebration. And it's a very special one this year the one-hundred and fiftieth birthday of our town." Mayor Lockwood said with a smile as he looked over the crowd while everyone clapped. "And I would like to welcome back one of our town's favorite sons and do the honor of ringing our town's official charter bell. John Gilbert would you please join me up here?"

Everyone clapped again as John walked happily up to the stage.

"One-hundred and fifty years of community, prosperity, family. We take care of each other, look after each other, protect each other." John said staring straight at Damon, "It's good to be home."

And then everyone clapped once again.

"Look at his right hand." Damon whispered to Alaric and I.

I furrowed my brows, "Whose?"

"Town's Favorite Son," Damon said turning to me. "Now look at his ring."

I looked over to John, seeing his hand on the rope that would ring the bell. I focused on the ring on his finger, the ring was identical to Alaric's.

"It's like Alaric's." I said turning to look at him and Damon.

"Yeah, and that would be a big coincidence." Damon said with a bitter look.

"What's the big deal?"

"When I killed Alaric his ring brought him back, and John just came back from the dead five minutes ago." Damon declared. "Where did you get that ring?" Damon asked Alaric.

"Isobel, my wife."

"The one who gave birth to Elektra and Elena, under the medical care of Doctor Grayson Gilbert, John's brother." Damon stated.

I took in a sharp breath, "You don't think?"

"Wait, you think John and Isobel?" Alaric said skeptically.

"I think John knows a lot of things." Damon responded.

Isobel Flemming and Johnathan Gilbert would never be my parents.

Biological or not.

✥ ✥ ✥

not edited.