Caroline and Elena were throwing a victory party at Whitmore College tonight. Celebrating the return of Bonnie the ghost, Bonnie the Anchor to the Other Side, and the death of Silas, Tessa and Amara.
I walked into the library, where Stefan was sitting in front of the fireplace with his back turned to me. "So, apparently, we've been invited to a college party." Stefan didn't move or say anything. "Yeah, that was my first reaction, too. Then, Caroline promised a bottomless well of top-shelf alcohol." Stefan still said nothing. I walked around him to see that he was shaking and sweating profusely, and his fingers were digging into the chair's arm rest. He looked lost, stuck in the past. "Stefan . . . You . . .okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," Stefan told me.
I noticed Stefan's tight grip on the chair he was sitting in. "How about my favorite reading chair?"
Stefan loosened his grip on the chair. "Just tell Caroline and Elena thanks, but I'm not really up for a party tonight."
Stefan stood, walking out of the room.
I sighed, watching him leave.
*****
When I got to Whitmore, Caroline told me that her crush named Jesse had been turned into a vampire by Dr. Wes Maxfield, who Damon was in the process of torturing at the moment. We were standing at the punch bowl.
"You been keeping an eye on Jesse?" I asked.
"Yep," Caroline answered. "I've been teaching him the art of sublimating vampire hunger via grain alcohol."
Elena stood next to us. "I sent Damon to question Wes."
"You realize that Damon's going to kill Wes, right?" I asked.
"He's not going to kill him, Kaylin," Elena told me. "He's getting information."
"You realize you're wrong, right?" I asked. "I know that you think that you know both of my brothers better than I do, but you are wrong. On both counts."
I gave her a sweet-but-not-sweet smile.
"Okay, look, I know you're not crazy about what I've done to Damon and Stefan--" Elena started.
"No," I told her. "No. It's fine. I'm fine with you being one of them, as long as you don't string them along anymore, and as long that neither of them die because of you."
"Or you will kill me," Elena finished.
"It's just a warning," I told her. "I will not have one of my brothers be completely destroyed by you again."
Elena looked at me incredulously.
I smiled, turning around and walking away.
*****
Damon called me to tell me that Wes injected Jesse with a virus that turned him into a vampire-feeding Ripper.
"Jesse feeds on vampires?"
"That's what Doogie said, and apparently once he starts, he can't stop."
"The last thing that we need is another Ripper on our hands."
"Right, my thoughts exactly. Which is why I'm gonna kill Wes, and then I'm gonna find Jesse, and then I'm gonna kill him."
I smirked in amusement. "You really wanna do that?"
"Why, Kaylin? Do you know something that I don't?"
"No. Not much. Besides the fact that Caroline and Elena will hate you for it."
"A, Elena will get over it. B, I don't care about Caroline. You want to help me or not?"
"I'm on my way. Kill Wes. We'll see what we can do about Jesse. I don't want him to die. Just because he's turning into a more dangerous version of Stefan doesn't mean he should die."
"Okay."
Damon hung up.
I walked downstairs.
*****
Caroline and I walked into the basement together just in time to see Jesse feeding on Damon and Elena staking Jesse through the back into his heart, killing him.
"No!" Caroline told her. "No!" Elena looked back at Caroline, kind of regreting what she had done. Jesse fell to the floor. Caroline knelt next to Jesse crying silently. "No, Jesse! Jesse, come here. Hold on. Hold on. Just stay with me, please. Jesse, just stay with me, please." Elena went to help Damon. Caroline had Jesse's head on her lap. Jesse's skin desiccated as he died. "No." Caroline, upset, looked up at Elena. "What did you do?"
"He was gonna kill Damon--" Elena told her.
"But we promised that we would help him," Caroline told her.
"She didn't have a choice, all right?" Damon asked. "Once he had the taste of vampire blood, there was nothing stopping him. Go ask Dr. Frankenstein. I'll go deal with him."
Damon let go of Elena, walking back into the lab through the hole in the wall.
Elena turned to Caroline. "Caroline, I'm so sorry. I--"
"Yeah," Caroline said sadly. "Me too."
"The Elena that we used to know would have given Jesse a chance," I told her. "Even I was willing to. But you weren't?"
Elena looked hurt.
I turned around, walking away.
I was going home.