A sensible man will remember that the eyes may be confused in two ways -

by a change from light to darkness or from darkness to light;

and he will recognize that the same thing happens to the soul. ~Plato

She heard a noise coming from the kitchen; the sound of a pot crashing to the floor.

"Uncle John?" she asked. "Is that you?"

She rounded the corner and stopped abruptly, staring at the scene before her. Her uncle was slumped against the kitchen sink, eyes wide and unseeing. Blood covered the front of his button-down shirt, seeping from a jagged hole in the center of his chest. A woman stood over him, dark curls spilling down her back. In her upraised hand she held an enormous carving knife, sharp and menacing, dripping with blood.

As Elena watched, the woman turned around, and it was as though she was looking in a mirror. As she stared transfixed, her own face gazed back at her, but as she watched the face in the mirror broke into a wicked grin.

Elena gulped. "Katherine," she managed to choke out.

"Hello Elena."

Damon walked through the dark, lost in thought. The night seemed to close in around him, growing denser with each step he took. Moonlight trickled down through the trees above, casting shadows at odd angels and throwing everything out of proportion so that the houses on either side of the street loomed out of the darkness. He listened to the sounds of the night; listened to the cicadas chirping, the slight rustle of the trees in the wind, the distant sound of cars on the road up ahead.

On a calm night like tonight, he would usually be out hunting, enjoying himself as he stealthily crept up on some unsuspecting human. But after everything that had happened to him, he just didn't feel up to it. He was so confused; so hurt and angry, yet full to bursting with feeling of love and protectiveness. In all his nearly one hundred and fifty years he had not felt anything so bewildering as this.

Elena…His mind was filled with that one word, consuming his thoughts and filling his soul with rapture. He was in love; he could no longer deny it. But why he did not know. She looked like Katherine, but she was so far from Katherine that the two could not be compared. Elena had been the one to make him change, Elena had believed in him more than anyone else, even his brother. Maybe he was good, as she had said only minutes ago.

But what if he was? Could he handle that? He had been this way for so long, angry and cruel, tormenting everyone around him. He liked it, or that's what he told himself. Being like that gave him control, made him feel safe that nothing unexpected would ever happen to him again, or at least, nothing unexpected that he couldn't deal with. Would he still be the same dashing, humorous, brave Damon if he changed?

He looked down at his feet as they hit the pavement. Right, left, right, left; the monotony of it briefly distracting him from his thoughts and bringing him back to the world around him. He heard a faint crash somewhere, and then all was quiet again. But then he heard something he did not expect. Two names whispered on the wind, names he did not anticipate on a quiet night like tonight. With his keen vampire hearing he was able to pick up a few of the words uttered, and what he heard shocked him. Katherine, he heard. More alert, he turned in the direction the sound had come from, now hearing Hello Elena.

Fear clawed at his stomach. Katherine, it was Katherine, and she was with Elena. He took off, speeding back to Elena's house. But there was no certainty that he would get there in time, for Katherine was a vampire as well, and a much stronger and faster one than he. Arriving at the front yard, he jumped over the fence and flung the door open. He took a moment to look around and listen, but all was quiet. He rounded the corner into the kitchen and came across the body of Jonathan Gilbert, slumped over and covered in blood. A bloody knife lay by his feet.

"Damn you Katherine," Damon muttered under his breath.

With a feeling of dread slowly creeping over him, he began to search the house. First the living room, dining room, first floor. Then he proceeded upstairs to Elena's room. He opened the door slowly, as if delaying the truth would somehow make it unreal. He imagined Elena lying on her bed, writing in her diary like she did every night. But just as he had feared, she wasn't there.

He turned to go back downstairs, but as he did so, something caught his attention. It was the sound of labored breathing coming from Jeremy's room. He opened the door to find Jeremy curled up on his bed, his breathing ragged, hair clinging to his forehead with sweat. As Damon watched, Jeremy slowly opened his eyes to gaze hazily out at him.

"What the hell did you do?" Damon demanded with a mix of incredulity and anger.

Jeremy looked feebly in the direction of the bathroom. Damon rushed in to find the empty vial of Anna's blood on the counter, along with an empty bottle of pills. Damon picked up the bottle, reading the label.

"Shit," Damon said with feeling. He whipped out his phone and started dialing rapidly. He waited tensely for someone to pick up. One ring, two rings, three rings, and finally "911 what's your emergency?"

"I need an ambulance. Someone's had a drug overdose."

Stefan walked into the hospital waiting room, looking around. He had called Elena earlier and arranged to meet her here but she was nowhere to be seen. He spotted Matt across the room and went over to him. He seemed to be in bad shape. Clutching a Styrofoam cup of coffee, he slouched in his chair, staring at the floor. Stefan sat next to him, remaining quiet for a few moments.

"How are you doing?" he finally asked.

Matt looked up at him with worry clear in his eyes. He shrugged his shoulders. "Could be better," he answered, voice coming out scratchy.

Stefan nodded. "Do you know where Elena is? She was supposed to meet me here."

"Naw, man. Haven't seen her," replied Matt.

"I thought Tyler was here with you. Where did he go?"

"He went home to be with his mom. His dad, it turns out…" Matt trailed off, shaking his head. "There was an accident. His father didn't make it."

"I'm so sorry," said Stefan. "This must be so hard on-"

Just then Stefan's words were cut off as a group of people burst through the doors. In the midst of them was a stretcher that they were pushing hurriedly towards the Emergency Room. As Stefan eyed the crowd of people, he spotted Damon at the back, following the stretcher alongside Jenna. Confused and worried, Stefan all but used his vampire powers to speed over to Damon's side. From this vantage point he could see the stretcher clearly, and he now realized that it contained an unconscious Jeremy.

"What happened?" demanded Stefan.

"Our little drug dealer decided to OD after downing an entire vial of vampire blood," Damon whispered, pulling Stefan aside.

"What? I didn't think…" Stefan mumbled incredulously. "You told him about Anna. And you didn't take the blood away from him? Of course he was going to turn himself into a vampire! He was grief stricken and feeling alone and depressed! Damon you should have stopped him." Stefan was angry now. Damon had made another, terrible mistake, and again it was going to hurt Elena. God could he just think of other people for once in his life?

"It wasn't my choice. What was I supposed to do, decide his fate for him? I did it once before, and I wasn't going to force it on him again. I asked him if he wanted my help and he said no. He said no Stefan. So I let him do what he wanted, and this is what he chose."

"Do you have any idea what this'll do to Jenna, to Elena?"

At the mention of Elena Damon flinched slightly.

"What? Is Elena involved in this? Is she okay?" Stefan demanded, grabbing Damon by the collar of his shirt.

Damon looked down at the floor, refusing to meet Stefan's searching gaze.

"Damon, what happened?" Stefan said, this time softer.

Damon finally looked up, his blue eyes brimming with unshed tears. His mask of sarcasm was completely shattered, showing a side of Damon that Stefan hadn't seen in over a hundred years.

"She took her," Damon choked out. "Katherine took her. She's back."

A/N: Review and tell me what you think. What will Katherine do next?