𝐇𝐄𝐍𝐑𝐈𝐊 𝐌𝐈𝐊𝐀𝐄𝐋𝐒𝐎𝐍, 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫

Chapter 15

Jeremy had made his way towards the Grill when he had seen fire. He immediately panicked and parked his car on a side road before jumping out and rushing into the partially burning building, pushing past screaming and panicking civilians. The tables and chairs were ablaze and he coughed heavily as his eyes started to sting. His heart was hammering painfully in his chest as he tried to see who or what the cause of the situation was. This had never happened before and his heart leapt towards his throat in dread.

It was Dr Martin with Bonnie, threatening her. He was turning towards every point in the restaurant, setting things alight by just looking at it. Then he set the bar table on fire and the windows smashed. That was when Jeremy knew that he had to be stopped. The man was grieving, he understood that but he was hurting people in the process and someone could get badly hurt. He took several careful steps towards the man. The fire became hotter, he could feel it against his skin and clothes.

"Give me one reason as to why I shouldn't burn you where you stand?!" his voice boomed over the crackle and flickering of the flames. By now, Jeremy's eyes were burning and blurred with unshed smoke induced tears as he took dangerous steps towards the two. He swallowed audibly before lifting up his voice."You don't have to do this!" he shouted hoarsely over the roar of the flames. He hated how weak he sounded. Bonnie turned towards him with tears in her eyes.

Her expression alone was enough to knock the breath out of him. Regret, sadness, betrayal and the tiniest hint of relief was in her eyes. Jonas whirled around and cursed at him. "Don't defend her! This is your fault too!" he roared, causing the flames to rise higher. The situation was extremely dangerous now. Jeremy shook his head. "Luka's death could have been avoided, I agree.." he whispered hoarsely. "But hurting others in the process isn't the way to go" he tried to explain as he hacked and coughed because of the smoke and flames.

His knees trembled softly as he tried his best to hold himself up. He felt so overwhelmed and he just wanted it to stop. The last thing he saw was Jonas's wild eyes before he saw black, crumpling down on the floor, finally succumbing to the darkness that surrounded him. When he finally opened his eyes, he was on the couch of the Salvatore boarding house. Jeremy groaned. He was here yet again. He made his way to get off but someone whooshed in front of him to pin him back down.

"Oh no you don't, you've caused enough trouble already, Little Gilbert" came the snarky tone of Damon Salvatore. Jeremy scoffed and violently shrugged him off, stepping into his shoes to go home, but someone grabbed him and put him down on the couch once again. "You don't listen, do Jeremy? Just do as we say and sit down" came the exasperated voice of Stefan. Jeremy scowled. "You are in absolutely no position to tell me what to do, Salvatore!" he spat and shot daggers at him with his eyes.

"I'm sick and fucking tired of people thinking that they can just run my life! It's not your choice to make! It's mine! Why can't people just accept that??!" Jeremy growled out and tugged at his hair in frustration. Damon had enough. "You wanna know what happened?! Yeah well, Jonas is dead and so is Luka, whatever his name was!" Jeremy used his magic to throw him against the wall, Damon groaning from the impact that his head made with the wall.

"BECAUSE OF YOU!" he roared out in a rage. He couldn't believe what was happening right now. He had enough of the needless deaths and destruction. He could only take so much. Everything was too much as he started to sob and cough, bitter tears rolling down his cheeks, his body trembling.

"This happened because of you. Everything is your fault because you can't stay out of our lives! Bodies keep on piling up, because of you! How many more people have to suffer?! Huh? Oh my fucking goodness me, when will you come to your senses?!" Jeremy was crying at this point, grabbing his hair in frustration as he paced up and down as he tried to calm himself down. "I can't do this anymore, I can't.." he whispered hoarsely as he crumpled himself on the floor, curling up into a ball as he wept, his body wracking with sobs.

Damon and Stefan had the decency to look somewhat guilty after Jeremy spoke those words. All the deaths that happened so far had stemmed from the Mystic Falls gang. Some of the deaths had been collateral damage, some of the deaths had been directly caused because of them. But they were too proud to admit it. Elena needed to be protected, hence the deaths. Especially since Klaus was hell - bent on breaking the curse, these deaths were needed, as sad as it was.

All of them had been forced to grow up at such a young age to keep up with the supernatural world. Caroline, Elena, Jeremy, Bonnie, even Matt and Tyler. Before, death was something that wasn't spoken about. But ever since the supernatural had entered their lives, they had somewhat been desensitised towards the concept of death. Everyone had lost someone, either a family member or friend at the hands of the supernatural. Ignorance was not bliss and because of this, people needlessly got hurt.

After a few moments of quiet, Stefan spoke up. "You have to understand that your sister needs help. Elena is in danger. Every single day the danger gets closer and closer and we have to protect her from harm. Surely you understand that, right? Klaus is determined to complete the sacrifice and we have to try and stop him. Everyone is on board with this," he tried to explain. Damon looked at him with a raised eyebrow. Even though he agreed with his brother, what he said wasn't really appropriate given the current circumstances.

Stefan just ignored him. He was determined to protect Elena, even if he hurt people, or even himself in the process. Jeremy just laughed. A harsh, bitter and mirthless laugh came from his chest. "The only reason why you are even bothering to protect her is because she looks like Katherine. Tell me Stefan, would you be as determined to protect my sister if she never looked like your ex girlfriend?" he sneered, looking at Stefan's speechless expression.

"Exactly! That's exactly what I thought! You don't give a total fuck, only because she's the doppelganger. If you had just kept away from her, none of this would have happened! Just admit it, all of these horrible things keep on happening, because of you two" he said with disgust dripping from his tone as he stormed out of the Salvatore boarding house and slammed the door so hard that the glass rattled, making the two vampires flinch.

Neither of them said anything. Everything had already been said but they were not going to be admitting the truth anytime soon.