Transition

by aggie24

Elena as a new vampire is struggling to deal with her emotions and decide who she wants to spend her eternity with. Meanwhile a new power in Mystic Falls is watching closely, looking for weakness but mostly just confused by all the drama. Rated M for some bad words and eventual smut. Drama with new characters and eventual Elena/Damon and/or Elena/Stefan

1. Prologue

Prologue

The room was cold, the metal table beneath her was like ice, but that first breath burned. She felt her heart shiver, weak and uncertain, before it began its steady beat again. Air burned its way into her lungs, and her eyes shot open. The pain was crushing as her chest seized and her entire body shook. Then she began to cough. Gentle hands took her and held her safe as she shot up from the table. Her fingers clawed at her throat as she tried to breathe again. Someone was calling her name but the pain was sharper and incessant and all she could focus on. Her body doubled over until she was leaning over the side of the table strong arms all that kept her weak body from falling over the edge. Elena knew what was wrong and she knew what she needed to do. She lifted her hand to her mouth and put her fingers as far back her throat as possible. It seemed to take an age before the pressure released and she was sick.

Oh gods the water. She remembered it again; stuck in that car at the bottom of the lake, watching Matt fade away. The fear and terror replaced by calm when she saw Stefan outside the window. Her lungs had already started to ache but she refused to let him touch her. She was tired of been saved at the cost of everyone around her, tired of been weak. Stefan held her now as she coughed and choked her way back to life. Her body shivered as she took the first deep breath that didn't burn. Her voice was still weak when she spoke, "Matt.."

Stefan pulled her back against his chest and buried his face in her shoulder. He held her so tight for so long that she started to fear the worse. Stefan took a deep unsteady breath. "Matt's fine, Elena. They're all fine."

"Thank god. Stefan, I'm sorry but I couldn't bear it. I couldn't lose anyone else.. not for me. I couldn't be that selfish." She blurted all this out before he could interrupt her, shout at her for been so stupid but he never did.

Stefan held her tight as she rambled, his sobs shaking both their bodies. As the relief of knowing all her friends were safe faded, Elena started to consider her surroundings. She sat on a cold hard metal table, in what was obviously a hospital room. Dour hospital paint on the walls, cold clinical tiles, bare minimal of functional furnishings and... metal instruments shining on the counter.

"Stefan... Where am I? What happened to me?"