Chaos (Satisfy Series Book Five, The Vampire Diaries)

Ch. 1: I Know What You Did Last Summer

"Right," Damon said.

Jeremy walked up to us.

Stefan placed a hand on Jeremy's arm. "Hey, Jeremy. Looking good, man." 

"Hey, Stefan," Jeremy told him. "Glad you're back."

"Yeah, yeah," Stefan told him. He looked at Damon and me. "All right, I'll, uh, see you at home."

"Great," Damon told him.

Stefan left.

"Something's wrong," Jeremy told us. "When he touched me, I felt a chill where my tattoo was."

"What are you talking about?" Damon asked.

"Right before I died, Silas grabbed me, and I felt the same thing," Jeremy told us.

"Silas is gone," I told him. "Bonnie turned him into a big piece of rock, remember?" 

"That was Silas," Jeremy told us.

"That's impossible," I told him. 

"I'm a Hunter," Jeremy told us. "Our whole reason for existing is to kill him. I know what I'm feeling, Damon. That--that was Silas." 

"I just watched him walk through a crowd of people that saw Stefan," Damon told him. "There's no way he could fool that many people at once. I mean, he's psychic, but no one's that psychic."

"What did he want?" Jeremy asked.

Damon and I exchanged a look, thinking, looking at Jeremy.

Katherine. 

It really was Silas.

*****

At home, Katherine was running away from Silas, running into us.

Damon handed Katherine off to Jeremy. "Get her out of here. Don't tell me where you're going."

I turned to Silas. "God, you're slow. Guess vamp-speed came with the upgrade."

"Get out of my way and give me Katherine," Silas told us.

"First, drop the Stefan look," I told him. Silas laughed at something ironic. "What?"

*****

Stefan was Silas' Doppelganger.

"If I have to heard the word 'Doppelganger' one more time, I think I'm gonna actually have to learn how to spell it," I told them.

"You say you don't believe me, and yet your minds are spinning at the possibility," Silas told us.

"A, get out of our heads, B, I think we'd know if our brother had an evil twin," I told him.

"Oh, we're not twins," Silas told us. "See, when I became truly immortal, Nature retaliated by creating a version of me that was killable. It's called a 'shadow-self'." 

"Well, whatever you are, your plan didn't work," Damon told him. "The Cure's gone. Now, what do you want with Katherine?" 

"I could tell you, but wouldn't it be so much more fun if it were a surprise?" Silas asked.

"You're not getting her," I told him. 

"Kaylin, how well do you know your brother?" Silas asked. "Do you really think he would leave town for three months without so much as a phone call, so your brother could live happily ever after with the love of his life? No, you didn't. Did you? You thought something was wrong. You had even went as far as to leave town to check on him. But you didn't find him. It'd say that you're the best out of the two of you."

"Where's Stefan?" I asked. 

"He's suffering," Silas told me. "Like I suffered. So, call the Hunter, bring me Katherine, and then I will tell you where your brother is."

I called Jeremy.

"Hey." 

"How far'd you get?" 

"Damon said not to tell you guys." 

"You pick now to listen?" 

"We just passed Old Miller Road." 

"Good. Turn around bring her back."

"What?" Katherine demanded. "No!" 

I hung up.

*****

After a while, Jeremy and Katherine still weren't here. 

I was texting fast on my phone.

Silas watched closely. "Ooh, your thoughts are churning. It's like a . . . spool of pink taffy. It's very messy but very fun to watch."

"Anyone ever tell you that's creepy?" I asked.

"You're worried," Silas told me. "Jeremy's not answering the phone. He should be back by now. You think something's very wrong."

*****

Damon and I found Jeremy next to his crashed car, lying in the middle of the road, bleeding, unconscious and dying.

Damon rushed toward him. "Jeremy!" I got out of the car, watching. Damon bit his wrist, pushing it over Jeremy's mouth and forcing him to drink his blood. "Open your eyes, Jer. You do not get to die on me, you hear me? I'm supposed to be taking care of you, you little punk! Wake up, or I'll kill you myself!" 

After a beat, Jeremy moved, waking up. "Katherine--is gone."

Damon sighed in relief, hugging Jeremy's head close to him. "I don't care." 

I sighed in relief, tilting my head forward.

*****

Damon was on the phone with Elena. "Hey, sorry it took so long to call you back. Car trouble."

"What happened?" 

 "Oh, some idiot broke the window. Based on your voice mail, sounds like your day sucked worse than mine. You all right? You wanna come home?" 

"I can't. And especially if my dad's connected to this somehow . . .I need to know why." 

"Yeah, it's probably for the best. It'll give me more bonding time with your brother."

"I love you, Damon." 

"Good night." 

Damon hung up turning around to Jeremy and me. 

"You didn't tell her Silas was here," Jeremy told him. 

"Nor did I tell her Stefan's missing, Katherine's in town, and you got expelled," Damon told him.

"So you lied," Jeremy told him.

"No I withheld a bit of the truth, so that Elena wouldn't drop everything and come running home to help," Damon told him.

I exhaled. "We'll figure all this out. Together." 

They didn't seem to be in disagreement.