Damon had the door open before the bell had even stopped ringing.

"About damn time, witch."

"Damon." Bonnie brushed past him, and went into the living room of the Salvatore Boarding House. Stefan stood in front of the fireplace, staring into it. She addressed herself to his back, holding up a large dusty book. "Not exactly an easy spell to find . . . but it was in here, one of the grimoires the Martins left behind."

"So Elijah was right. It is possible," Damon said, moving to the drinks cart and pouring himself a glass of bourbon.

"Technically? Maybe . . . this grimoire is very, very old. And some of the terminology is unclear. I can't be sure . . . "

"But it is possible," Damon insisted.

Bonnie sighed. "I think so."

Stefan turned around, his face set and determined. "Is it dark magic? Like the spell we used on Klaus?"

"Yes," Bonnie said, looking at him steadily. "And it requires a similar kind of balance."

"Whatever the price is, we will pay it," Damon responded, drinking from his glass and then setting it down.

Bonnie glanced at the staircase. "Is she . . .?"

"Youngest Gilbert is up there with her, swapping stories about Grammy and Grampy, and 'remember when Daddy Dear used to dress up like Santy Claus at Christmas?' "

"Good," said Bonnie. "I definitely do not want her to hear us talk about this. What else did Elijah tell you when you spoke to him?"

Damon came around the drinks cart and sat down on the couch. "Other than the fact that he and Rebekah were on their way to collect Klaus' body from the storage units, nothing."

"You just left him there?"

"What was I supposed to do, Bonnie? I only had room to take one corpse, and I chose to bring home Ric. I wasn't exactly thinking clearly at the time. Elena was dead, I thought I was dying, so I was in a bit of a hurry. So sue me. I even left that damn stake there, so Elijah has that now, too." He took a swig from his glass, set it down, and then said, "Sit down, witch, and tell us - exactly what do we need to do to keep Elena from turning into a vampire?"

Bonnie sat down on the other end of the couch, and said, keeping her voice low, "First we need another vampire."

"Well, that's easy. We have two in this room alone."

"And there's a blood exchange involved."

"Of course. There always is."

"And then -" she hesitated, dropping her eyes to the book.

Stefan interjected, "And then you have to kill the vampire. That's the balance required."

Bonnie looked over at Stefan. "Yes. Then we have to kill the vampire. I have to stop the vampire's heart, and desiccate them. Very similar to how we brought down Klaus. It's a process that we know an Original can ultimately survive."

"But an ordinary vampire probably won't," Stefan concluded, quietly.

"We don't know that. But most likely not."

"Not a problem," Damon said. "It'll take me all of five minutes to go out to the Grill, grab someone, and make ourselves a nice, handy sacrificial vampire."

"Damon, no," Stefan said, firmly.

"Oh, c'mon, Stef! I wasn't going to turn anyone we know. Wasn't going to grab our favorite busboy. And it's not like Rebekah or Elijah are going to show up and volunteer in the last couple of hours that we have left with a human Elena."

"It's not going to happen, Damon," Bonnie said, "You know I won't do that to somebody innocent."

"Fine," Damon said, with a grimace. After a pause, he continued with a hard note in his voice, "Then you can do it to somebody not so innocent. You can do the spell on me."

"Damon -" Stefan began, but Damon cut him off.

"Don't even think about it, brother. You are so hell bent on giving everyone their free will all the damn time," Damon met Stefan's eyes, "Well, this is my choice."

"It's my fault this happened," Stefan said quietly, not breaking eye contact. "If anyone has to sign up for this, it should be me."

"Oh, yes. It is your fault. I haven't forgotten that. Because you saved Matt Fucking Donovan. But if things go wrong, you are also the only one our girlfriend can't seem to live without. So it's not going to be you, brother." Damon turned to Bonnie. "There's not much time left. Let's do this thing."

Bonnie looked at Stefan and hesitated, saying "If you are sure . . ."

Stefan didn't answer. He turned his back on both of them, and continued staring into the the fireplace.

Bonnie picked up the grimoire slowly, and then said to Damon, "Okay, then. But you have to come up with an excuse to get blood from Elena. And to make her drink yours."

"Not a problem. She's off the vervain, so I'll just compel her."

At that, Stefan turned back around. "This isn't right, Damon. She wouldn't want this."

"Well, once again we cut right to the heart of things, Stefan. I don't give a fuck about what she wants." He inclined his head towards the stairs. "C'mon, BonBon, let's get this party started."

Bonnie finished setting candles around the study, where they had decided to do the spell. She closed her eyes for a second, and lit the candles instantly. Stefan entered the room and paused, looking around. "We can't do this, Bonnie. You know we can't."

Without looking at him, Bonnie replied, "What I know is that my best friend is changing into the kind of monster that she never wanted to be. What I know is that I might have found a way to save her, which is something I was not able to do for my mother. Remind to thank Elijah someday for not telling me about this spell when your brother turned Abby."

"Damon is going to die."

She looked up at him from her place on the floor. "And I'm sorry about that." She dropped her eyes. "Well, I'm not actually that sorry."

Damon came into the room, unbuttoning his shirt and taking it off. "Don't you dare let him talk you out of this, Bonnie Bennett. If you start having an attack of conscience, just remember all the crappy things I have done to you, and you'll do just fine."

"Trust me, I'm keeping all of that in mind." She knelt near a spot in the middle of the room. "You can lay down right here. You think you have enough of Elena's blood in your system?"

"Oh, yes." Damon kept his eyes on Stefan as he made himself comfortable on the floor. "It was deeelicious. And after I compelled Elena to go to sleep, I sent Jeremy to go get ice cream. Figured you will all need ice cream to celebrate with when Elena totally fails to become a vampire."

"You know, I didn't really need you to take your shirt off."

"Just thought I give you one last thrill, witch."

"Stop it, Damon. Just stop," Stefan said quietly.

"If this makes you uncomfortable, Stef, you don't have to watch. Go make yourself a sandwich or something. This won't take long."

Bonnie placed her hand on Damon's chest and closed her eyes. She began to chant, "Tis mattos dominex statis . . . "

Stefan came over and crouched beside Damon. "You don't have to, Damon. We can help her through her transition. But if you do this, and it doesn't work . . . she can't lose you either, brother."

"You're messing up the witch's concentration, Stefan. Would you kindly stop talking?"

"Damon," Stefan said. "Please. I don't want to be without my brother."

"She didn't ask for this, Stef," Damon answered him quietly. "Vampires. Of all the stupid things." He gave a short laugh. "She never asked for vampires. She sure as hell doesn't want to be one. We brought this into her life."

"What's going on here?" Elena stood in the doorway, rubbing her eyes, and yawning. "I woke up, but I don't even remember falling asleep. I feel kind of weird. Am I supposed to feel this weird?" She stopped suddenly, taking in the candles, and Damon in the middle with Bonnie and Stefan on either side of him.

"What -" She walked into the room, stepping around the candles. "What is this?" She looked at Bonnie and then at Stefan, who wouldn't meet her eyes. "Damon?"

"Just a little slumber party game, Elena. Nothing to worry about. Haven't you ever played 'light as a feather, stiff as a board' before? Next, we are going to freeze our bras and talk about cute boys."

"Bonnie?" Elena asked, a noted of uncertainty in her voice.

"Damon, you might want to try compelling her again," Bonnie said, very quietly.

Damon sat up, and beckoned. "So, Elena, c'mere here for sec."

Elena backed away from them. "No. I don't know what you guys are up to, but whatever it is, just . . . no."

"Elena," Stefan began, standing up and putting his hand on her arm. "Nobody is going to do anything. Everything is going to be alright."

"Well, everything would have been alright if you had stayed asleep the way you were supposed to. Clearly, I'm losing my touch," Damon grumbled.

"This has to do with my transition, doesn't it? You are all trying to stop it. And if you didn't want me to know . . ." Elena looked down at Damon on the ground, and then up at Stefan in horror. "Why would you let them do this?"

Stefan threw his hands up in defeat. "Elena- "

"No," Elena, said firmly. She came into the room and knelt near Bonnie. There were tears in her eyes, as she said, "I'm so sorry, Bonnie." Before anyone could stop her, Elena bent over Bonnie, grabbed her by the hair, and sank her teeth into Bonnie's neck.

"Elena!" Stefan grabbed her and pulled her from her friend. Elena wiped the blood from her mouth, and pushed away from Stefan.

"There," she said, quietly. "Now we can all stop being ridiculous."

Elena stood up and walked slowly out of the room. Damon and Stefan looked at each other, and then at Bonnie, holding a hand to her bloody neck.

"Well, damn," Damon remarked, looking back towards the doorway. "I guess that's that, then." He turned to Bonnie. "After you stop bleeding, we're going to need you to spell us a new daylight ring."

The front door slammed shut, making Bonnie jump.

"That's probably not good," said Stefan, before he vamp sped outside.

Bonnie rose to follow him, but Damon stopped her.

"Give the lovebirds a second," he said. "You want me to do something about that?" Damon indicated her bleeding neck.

Bonnie recoiled from him. "I think your blood has caused enough trouble in this town. Among my friends, and in my family," she choked out.

"Fine, have it your way, witch. Hope it doesn't smart too bad."

"I'm getting used to the feeling," Bonnie responded. "I just never thought I'd see my best friend -"

"Use you as a blood bag? Yeah, and she probably feels really lousy about it, too. So let's not make things worse, 'kay? Everything is already overwhelming for Elena. She doesn't need your judgey eyes laying on the guilt."

"Don't worry about me. All sunshine and smiles here." Bonnie brushed past him and made her way out of the house. After a pause, Damon followed her, not bothering to put his shirt back on.

Elena stood very still in the front yard, her head tilted up at the sky. Stefan stood a few feet away, every line in his body tense as he watched her.

"So many stars," Elena breathed. "So many." She whirled around to face Damon and Bonnie, but addressed herself to Damon. "You never told me there were so many stars."

"Well, now you know." Damon circled Elena warily. "How you feeling, cupcake?"

"Weird," Elena responded shortly, and then looked back up at the sky. "It's the same sky as yesterday. But it's not. Not really anymore. It's never really going to be the same sky for me again." She sank to her knees in the grass. Her hair had worked its way loose from her ponytail, and was streaming dark down her back. "I'm not even cold. I thought I would feel cold. It's not like anything I thought."

Stefan cautiously moved closer to her, and she smiled up at him. "I'm okay, you know, Stefan. No need to be scared of the vampire girl."

"I know," replied Stefan, his eyes never leaving her face. "I know you are going to be okay. Everything is going to be okay."

"So," said Damon, "while you are admiring the beauties of the night, we might want to address some practical new baby vamp matters."

"I think I know the basics by now, Damon," Elena replied. "I doubt there are too many more surprises for me."

"Good, then I can sum up." He turned to Bonnie, who was keeping her distance a few feet away from the trio of vampires before her. "Firstly, our dear pal Bonnie is going to spell you a daylight ring. But not just one ring, we're going to have her do you a whole line of jewelry. You are going to have the works - bracelet, necklace, anklet, belt buckle . . . heck, even a couple of toe rings."

"Why?" Bonnie asked him.

"It's a trick I learned from Katherine. Always have a backup for your backups and then more backups for that one."

"Emily made several pieces for Katherine. Some were actually just decoys." Stefan added, "She often wore more than one at a time."

"Okay, I can do that," Bonnie agreed.

"I don't need all of that, guys," Elena said. She was staring off into the woods, her head cocked, listening to the noises of the night.

"Have you met you? Yes, you certainly do," Damon said with a snort.

"It'll take me a couple of days to find the right pieces," Bonnie interjected.

"Well, you can start tonight with the lapis ring I have in a box in my bedroom." Damon told her. At Stefan's startled look, he added, "What? I had one made up for Elena some time ago."

"That was presumptuous of you, brother," Stefan said, with a slight growl in his voice.

"Okay, have you met her? Girlfriend has a death wish a mile wide."

Stefan and Bonnie both glared at him, and he said, "Oh, please. Like none of you thought this day was pretty much inevitable. Am I the only who takes any precautions around here? Elena is just lucky I haven't been slipping my blood into her breakfast cereal on a daily basis."

"And secondly," he continued, ignoring their offended looks, "you, my vampire princess, need to feed, Like now."

At the reminder, Elena's face went soft as she looked over at Bonnie. "I'm sorry, Bonnie."

Bonnie smiled at her, and her hand went back to her neck."It's okay, Elena. Really."

"Not for that, Bonnie," Elena said, her hand indicating Bonnie's neck.

Elena went very still, as she cocked her head and met Bonnie's eyes. "For this."

As she began to move towards her friend, Stefan and Damon both went into action, holding her back.

"Nuh uh, not killing Bonnie tonight. She hasn't spelled your ring yet," Damon said, as he gritted his teeth. Elena struggled against both of the brothers. "Damn, you are strong." There was a note of wonder in Damon's voice, as he glanced over at Stefan. Stefan seemed equally surprised.

"Elena . . . Elena stop!" Stefan pleaded.

Elena pulled free of Damon and Stefan, and was at at Bonnie's side in a split second. Damon hurtled towards her, knocking her to the ground.

"Now, Stefan!" He said, struggling to hold her down. Stefan grabbed Bonnie and vamp sped her away into the house. Elena was free of Damon quickly, but instead of going after Bonnie and Stefan, she stopped suddenly. She looked back at Damon, her face distant and drawn . . . and then she turned and disappeared into the trees.

"Well," Damon stayed on his knees looking after her. "There goes our girl."