Little bit of a warning for you guys, Elena is really OOC in the first chapter or so, since she had her switch turned off. Don't worry though; she's not going to stay like that for the whole story! Next, the sentences that are in full italic and seem to be in first person are Elena's thoughts! "Not again." is an example! Also, I listened to 9 Crimes by Damien Rice while writing this chapter. I highly recommend listening to it while reading, it truly does set the mood for the chapter! Lastly, I will have a polyvore collection set up for Elena's outfits in this story. I'll have the link to it in every chapter, so you can go there and look at all of the sets put together! Enjoy!

(www).polyvore (dot com) /elena_faithless_chapter/set?id=157374183

"I do know that for the sympathy of one living being, I would make peace with all. I have love in me the likes of which you can scarcely imagine and rage the likes of which you would not believe. If I cannot satisfy the one, I will indulge the other."

She stared down at the body lying at her feet with a detached curiosity. A small pool of blood covered the ground around it, making her sigh in aggravation. She was getting sloppy.

As if ripping out someone's trachea wasn't messy enough already. She would have to clean this up before she moved along; as fun as it sounds, she would rather not get caught.

Not that a police officer would be able to shoot her down, anyways. Unless they were one of Sheriff Forbes' little minions; then she would have a problem.

With that thought, she dragged the body back into the car she had ripped it from. Deciding to do one of her favorite tricks to keep the Sheriff off of her ass, she used her shiny new supernatural strength to propel the car into a nearby tree.

And to be extra cautious, she removed a small box of matches from her inside pocket. Lighting one up, she opened the latch to the gas tank and threw it inside. Once again using her new supernatural powers, she high tailed it out of there before she became just as crispy as the dead guy inside.

For a moment, she wondered if the man had a family. Children, people who would cry at his funeral. But then she stopped herself; it didn't matter now.

After she was miles from the scene, Elena stopped. Dizziness crashed into her like a wave, forcing her to support herself against a nearby tree. Feeling her stomach churn, the vampire lurched forward and emptied her stomach onto the green grass in front of her.

Not again.

The whole 'throwing up after every meal' thing was getting old, fast.

Elena sat at the bar of the still ever popular Grill She took a small sip from her glass of Bourbon, and savored the slight burning sensation it caused as it went down. She ignored the fact that the burning wasn't only in her throat.

The young vampire glanced over her shoulder, and smirked as she saw the cautious looks from her friends from a past time. Out of the four of them, Caroline was the one to approach her.

She was the only one Elena would have a hard time killing. And from the look on Caroline's face, she already knew that.

"Elena." Caroline showed her that award-winning smile, "How have you been?"

"Same old, same old." Elena smiled politely, "Dropping bodies left and right."

She paused, and leaned closer dramatically, "You know, I've heard that you've been a little bit of a bunny killer lately. Has Stefan finally changed you're horrendous ways?"

Caroline frowned. "Choosing not to kill humans isn't a bad thing, Elena."

"Hmm." Elena took a sip from her glass. "That sounds very Stefan-y."

"Stefan has been very supportive of my decision to not drink human blood."

"Sounds like you two have gotten pretty close since I left. Have you been warming up the right side of his bed?" Elena asked, knowing it would set Caroline off.

Caroline's mouth dropped open, causing Elena to smirk. "What happened to you?"

Elena stopped smirking. "You know what happened to me."

"We can help you, Elena. We know that you've lost your path, but we are here for you. All we want is our friend back." Caroline's eyes shined with sympathy, and Elena hated every second of it.

Elena tossed back her glass, finishing it off. "I don't need your help. If I did, I would have came to you months ago. This is who I am now. Love it, hate it, I don't care. Just stay out of my way and we won't have a problem."

Tossing a few bills onto the counter, she stood up from her seat, and grabbed her leather jacket. Elena was about to push open the door to leave when Caroline spoke, "Damon wouldn't have wanted this for you."

Elena froze. She clenched her jaw, and turned her head slightly toward Caroline. "He isn't here to want anything for me."

And with that, she pushed her way through the doors, but not without Caroline noticing the shine of a lone tear on Elena's cheek.

She was irrational, angry, and drunk. The combination of the first two was frightening enough, but adding alcohol to the mix was just begging for trouble.

But Elena wanted trouble. She was begging for it. All she wanted was to not feel for a while, because she found that even when she flipped the switch on her emotions little cracks appeared over time. The young woman knew she couldn't hide behind her mask forever.

So, she wanted to make the most of the time she had left.

Once again, Elena found herself staring at a bloodless body. She still was hungry. But then again, she never really felt full. She could drain body after body and still have room for one more. Which was most likely due to the fact that after every body she drained, she threw it all back up; and then some.

"Elena?"

She groaned, "Not now, Stefan." She gestured to the body at her feet, "Can't you see I'm busy?"

Stefan glanced down at the woman on the ground. "You killed her."

"Yes, I did."

"Don't you feel any regret?" Stefan looked appalled, but she was used to looks like that by now.

"I turned off my switch, in case you forgot." Elena stared at him, wondering how long it would take before he gave up and left. "Now stop making that face, you look like you just drank from a disease infested rabbit."

He shook his head. "This isn't the Elena I knew."

Elena let out a dry laugh, "Get in line, Stefan. I've heard this speech more times than I can count."

"I don't care, Elena!" He ran his hands through his hair. Elena remembered that there was a time when the action would cause her body to fill with molten lava. "You can't keep doing this to yourself. I know how it feels. I know you don't want to feel. But it's just an illusion! You can't 'switch' it off. It doesn't work! I've tried, and every time, it ends up turning back on and all I'm left with is the guilt. I don't want this for you. No one does."

Elena clenched her jaw. "I can't turn it back on, Stefan. I can't."

He released a short, dry laugh, "I used to say the same thing."

She felt herself fill to the brim with anger. Her lip turned upwards in disgust, "You don't get to compare our stories, Stefan. Your mate didn't abandon you for the conniving bitch they loved as a human. You didn't almost die because you're whole fucking body felt as if was being ripped apart and taken with them. You didn't go through withdrawals from being away from your mate. You don't throw up everything you ingest because your body doesn't want to live without them.Never compare my pain to yours. I would kill every person in this town to only have to deal with the guilt."

Feeling herself getting sick once more, she turned away from Stefan to empty her stomach. She took that time to carefully replace the fragments of her composure. Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she turned towards the vampire in front of her with a small smirk. "See?"

Stefan looked at the ground where she had thrown up, and nodded in defeat. He looked back up, and paused before he spoke, "I talked to Damon."

Elena felt a distant sharpness on her chest. She recognized it as pain. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because he's coming back, Elena."

She thought she was going to black out. Elena sucked in a breath of air. "You're lying. He said he would never come back. He said he didn't want to come back."

Elena felt as if she couldn't breathe. He's coming back.

"I wouldn't lie to you about this." Stefan stated. "He's on his way back now. He should be here in two days."

Two days. Two days. Two days until she would see her- no. Two days until she would see Damon. He isn't hers anymore. He made sure of that before he left her.

She couldn't see him, not yet. Elena didn't know how to handle the fact that he was coming back. She wanted to believe it. She stared at Stefan, shaking her head in disbelief. Slowly backing away, the young vampire felt her composure falling to pieces once again.

"No, no, no." Elena was gasping for air, filling her lungs unnecessarily with oxygen. She felt dizzy, and a black haze began to appear in the corners of her vision.

Her mind was racing, and she felt as if she was going to be sick again.

So she ran.

Trees flew past her at a blinding speed, and everything was a blur of green. Elena didn't know how long she had been running, but she knew that she must have been miles from Mystic Falls.

For a moment, Elena pondered the thought of leaving. She could keep running, and not look back. She could do what Damon did to her.

That stopped her thoughts of running away. She wouldn't do to him what he did to her. No one deserved that pain, not even the inflictor.

Elena stopped running, and leaned her back against a nearby tree. Closing her eyes, she tried to wrap her head around the fact that he was returning.

And she got angry.

Her veins were set ablaze with fire as she thought of him coming back so suddenly. Why now? She needed him months ago and now he wanted to return?

The vampire turned and harshly kicked the tree she had been leaning on, causing it to fall over with a loud crash. She felt as if someone had released liquid fire into her veins. How could he do this to her?

Elena had convinced herself that she was getting better; that day by day the bond her and Damon shared was being weakened. That mating wasn't as permanent as everyone made it seem.

Him coming back would make all of her convincing worth nothing.

And then he would leave once he got what he wanted from her, forcing her to fix herself once again. She couldn't do it. She wouldn't do it. If he left again, Elena would take off her daylight ring in the midday's sun, and let it burn her until she was nothing more than ash on the pavement.

Sitting on the forest floor, the young woman put her head in her hands. She didn't know how she was going to get through this. Two days wasn't enough time to accept this. Two days wasn't enough time to figure out a way to keep herself from falling into his arms the second she saw him.

But if she were being honest with herself, an eternity wouldn't be enough time.

Suddenly, a twig snapped in the distance. Elena shot up, and listened as the snapping continued to get closer and closer. She couldn't tell what direction it was coming from because of her panicked state, and turned around, trying to pin point the noise.

Elena didn't have to.

"Hello, Elena."

The hairs on the back of her neck stood straight. "Damon?"

She heard his chuckle, and felt herself fall apart from the inside out.

I still love him.

He was right behind her, with his cool breath lightly fanning across her neck and shoulders. Elena shivered in delight.

"Someone's happy to see me." She could practically hear his smirk.

"But Stefan said-" Elena started.

"Shhh…" Damon whispered, coming closer so that their bodies were touching slightly, "What matters is that I'm here now."

The young woman almost let her head fall back into him, but stopped herself at the last moment. Wasn't she missing something?

The wind shifted, causing Damon's scent to reach her keen nose. Elena inhaled deeply, feeling as if she could get high off of his scent alone. But something was…off about it.

It was mixed with the scent of the bitch.

Elena growled, and spun away from Damon, barely missing his hand that had been poised to rip her throat out. He had been planning to kill me. My mate, my Damon, was going to kill me in cold blood.

Meeting his cerulean eyes, she crouched down and hissed. "You traitor."

The man narrowed his eyes. "You know nothing, mate."

She paused, standing up straight. He said that word as if it was a joke. As if she was a joke. Elena glared at him with hurt, "How can you say that? You're right Damon, I am your mate. Does that mean nothing to you? Am I really that worthless? I loved you. I gave you everything! And you just…just left! Like I was no more than some quick fuck!"

By the end of her speech, she was close to sobbing uncontrollably. Her face was covered in tears; her switch was broken, and so was she.

Damon stared at her in anger. "I may be mated to you, Elena, but do not mistaken my return for me coming back to you. I don't give a fuck if you gave me everything. You mean nothing to me."

Elena stared at him in shock. Her mind shut down, following her heart. She felt her face harden, and her tears dry. She was dying on the inside, and felt as if she had more blood to throw up. Instead, she laughed bitterly. "And to think I became this monster so that I could be with you forever."

He continued to glare at her, but didn't respond. Elena decided that was her cue to leave. With her switch now firmly in place, and obviously turned off, she began to turn around to leave.

"Where the fuck do you think you're going?" Damon growled, moving closer to her. Elena stepped back.

"I'm leaving. I thought that was what you wanted." Elena stated emotionlessly, staring through him as if he wasn't there at all.

"No, what I want is for you to be gone. And there's only one way to make sure you stay gone." Damon smirked. Her eyes widened in shock.

"You really want to kill me?"

"Now you're getting it!" His smirk turned sinister, before charging at her.

With her lighter weight, she was able to side step him. Elena couldn't believe this was happening. Her mate was trying to kill her, again.

"Why are you doing this?" She yelled, trying to dodge his advances towards her.

Damon stopped so suddenly that it gave Elena a headache, "I saw you, Elena. With Stefan."

"What? What are you talking about?" Elena was staring at him in disbelief.

"Don't act like you don't know, you whore!" Damon shouted, lunging at her once again.

The young woman felt tears form in her eyes. This wasn't her Damon; her Damon would have never of called her that. With that in mind, she knew that as long as she was near him he wouldn't stop until he killed her.

Elena dashed towards the woods, narrowly missing his hands. She sped back towards Mystic Falls, hoping that he wasn't so delusional as to try to attack her in the middle of town.

BANG BANG BANG

"Caroline!" Elena shouted, pounding on the front door once more. She quickly turned around, panting. Somehow she had lost him at the edge of town, but the vampire wasn't going to relax just yet. "Caroline!"

The young woman raised her hand to begin knocking once again, when it flew open. Caroline stared at Elena in angered shock. "What the hell are you doing?! It's two in the morning!"

"Let me in, please." Elena begged, ready to get to her knees if she had to. She quickly turned around, checking the empty street behind her.

Caroline crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at the desperate vampire in front of her. "And why should I? You said I was sleeping with Stefan!"

"Caroline please!" Elena felt like crying. She didn't want to die, not yet anyways. "He's going to kill me!"

"Who is?" The blonde woman checked the street in front of her, seeing nothing. "I don't see anyone."

"I'll explain when I get inside, just please let me in!" Elena begged once again, looking over her shoulder at the still empty street.

Huffing, Caroline moved out of the way. "This better be good."

Elena dashed inside like a bat out of hell, before sitting on the couch and pulling her knees up to her chest. "He's going to kill me."

Caroline sighed, and sat down in the chair across from Elena. "Who's trying to kill you, Elena?"

The young vampire stared ahead, not really seeing the wall in front of her. "Damon. He hates me. He wants to kill me so we don't have to be mated anymore. He accused me of ch-cheating on him."

The blonde vampire's eyes widened. "Wait- Damon's back?"

Elena nodded. "He wasn't supposed to be here for two more days."

"This is so messed up." Caroline sat forward, massaging her temple with her fingers.

"I thought he loved me." Elena stated, feeling her eyes beginning to tear up. "I didn't want to believe that he would really leave me for her."

She paused, before looking Caroline in the eyes. "Maybe I should just let him do it."

The other woman looked at her as if she was insane. "There's no way that is ever going to happen. No one is going to let him kill you, Elena."

Elena sat up on the couch, and leaned forward. "But I don't want to live knowing he hates me! I don't want to watch him be with her when he was made to be with me! I won't do it, Caroline, I won't. So if that means he has to kill me to prevent that, then I will gladly sharpen the stake myself."

Caroline stared at Elena with sad eyes. "He really left a number on you, honey." She looked down at her hands for a moment. "But I don't want to lose my best friend."

"I haven't been that person in a long time." Elena stated.

"No, but she's in there still. I know she is." Caroline stated. "As long as he's alive, then so is she."

"But he's convinced that I cheated on him!" Elena cried, covering her face with her hands. "I don't know how to show him that I would never do that! He's the one who cheated on me!"

Caroline sighed, "I know, but there has to be a way to prove to him that you didn't do that."

"But how-" Elena started.

BANG BANG BANG

"Open up, Caroline!" Damon shouted from outside the front door. "Don't make me tear this fucking door down!"

Caroline's eyes widened drastically, "Is he insane?!"

Elena ignored Caroline in favor of leaping off the couch to back into the corner. Sliding down the wall, she stared at the front door as if the devil himself was behind it. "He's going to kill me. He's going to kill me. He's going to kill me."

The woman's entire body was shaking, and, if possible, she looked even paler than she already was.

Caroline stared at Elena in shock, but her gaze hardened when Damon began banging on the door once again. "I'm not going to let him kill you."

Elena once again ignored the other vampire. Standing, she made her decision. "I'm going to let him do it. I'm not going to let him kill anyone because he's trying to get to me."

"But-"

Elena raised her still shaking hand, and fixated her gaze on the door. "You won't change my decision."

Before Caroline could stop her, Elena dashed to the door and flung it open.

"How heroic of you, Elena. Too bad you'll be dead before you can save anyone else." Damon smirked before grabbing Elena and breaking her neck.