"Elena?" crooned a smooth voice.

"Elena."

Elena shot upward on the stiff uncomfortable red leather couch that she had no recollection of how it had gotten underneath her. Gasping, her head spinning, her eyes wheeled around the dimly lit room that smelled of must and cognac. The boarding house. This was odd, because normally she couldn't pick up on that faint of an aroma. But something seemed to tell her to move on from that revelation.

She felt different. Her thoughts were hazy—shifting back and forth between present-day and visions that seemed like memories. She couldn't quite…understand what kind of memories were coming back to her, such as when, where, and why, but for the most part Elena knew what was happening.

A lean, muscular boy with slick black hair hovered over her limp body, on the left side. His lips were moving, saying her name over and over again. She desperately wanted to put her fingers to that mouth, shut him up, but she felt numb, and didn't dare move an inch.

The world around her faded, blocking her vision. But there was another memory, forming around the edges…

There he was again—Damon—and he was standing before her with all the glory not a thousand men could muster as she flirted with him on the side of the road, in pitch darkness, talking of her argument with Matt, and drawing closer to him with every step.

"I'm sorry. But you just really remind me of someone."

Until…

Darn! She couldn't remember what happened after that.

On her other arm was the stockier boy, with god-like cheekbones and wavy honey hair. His eyes were red and puffy, like he had been crying and he stared down at her through the red film of sadness. Again Elena felt the urge to reach up and wipe his—Stefan—tears but instead she let her head fall back, her eyes close. A groan rumbled in her chest.

"I guess I'm not dead, huh?"

Damon chuckled, cropped and hysterical. "Well, I'm reluctant to say you're not, but …here you are."

"Here I am," she murmured, moving slowly to an upright position. Stefan helped steady her by cupping a hand to her elbow.

With a sweep of confusion, Elena remembered every moment of the last few hours that had led her to this point. Every face, every word, everything. They appeared out of nowhere, bringing with them a realization that left her reeling.

She had been driving home with Matt; they were on their way to Mystic Falls. She had just hung up the phone, letting Damon go with a weakening of her feeble, thudding heartbeat. Then, out of nowhere, Rebekah was standing in the road, right in their path and Matt swerved wildly and then they were airborne for a few short peaceful seconds until the jarring impact of the water rattled their brains and…

And then she had died.

It wasn't nearly as bad as she had expected it would be. She had been holding her breath for so long and it was relieving to just let go. She felt herself being lifted like riding a balloon and it was so peaceful.

But she was dead. No, she was awake, wide-awake. She lifted a trembling hand and wriggled her fingers. She felt everything. But this was so wrong. She was dead.

In the real world, people didn't come back from the dead. They were born, lived, and ultimately died forever. But she never lived in the real world. Elena was in love with two vampires and her best friend was a witch. Her brother saw ghosts and her aunt had had her heart ripped out of her chest, but only after she had been fed vampire blood and was murdered.

Was Elena ever given blood? No, not in the last twenty-four hours at least….

The concussion. Meredith. No. No, no.

This could not be happening. She wasn't a vampire. She never wanted to be a vampire. Her previous calm broke. Tears welled up in her eyes.

"Elena…" Stefan murmured, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze.

"Oh God, no," she whimpered in a higher-pitched voice, "God, NO!"

"Elena, please, you need to calm down—"

She pushed him away with a strength that took her by surprise. She could feel it pulsating in her limbs, vibrating up and down. Each movement was as quick and simple as the strike of a snake. Graceful. Different. Very different.

Stefan fell back under Elena's force and he flew into the dark wooden coffee table, leaving it in shreds. His legs were suddenly dangling up in the air. Taking advantage of his vulnerability, she leaped from the loveseat and crouched beside him.

"You did this to me!"

And she sank her teeth into his throat.

ooo

Caroline slumped lifelessly in the corner of the Lockwood cellar and wiped the black smears from under her eyes with a tissue. The night was hot and humid and her body had perspiration all over.

Okay, so maybe she had been crying, and wailing, and even some fist-pounding all night after she had returned to the underground cove to find Tyler's body missing. Bonnie must have taken care of it so Caroline wouldn't have to see her lover's rotting corpse. Oh, the dear.

How lucky of her, that Bonnie, that her mother lived. How miraculous that with one out of four odds, she survived. And Elena, she got to keep Stefan and Damon for good. She could go on making the two of them miserable as she played them like toy dolls. Oh, and Caroline lived, too, but that was beside the point…

She had recently said that in every constant attempt to save Elena's life, Bonnie was the one who always got hurt. But now the tables had turned and standing here in the battlefield as the dust cleared, she had been cheated out pf everything she cared about.

"Caroline?"

She whirled around at the sound of Tyler's voice from the mouth of the cave.

ooo

Elena was sipping the red, hot liquid that dripped from the tiny puncture wounds. Her first thought was that it didn't exactly pour out like it would if you were simply sipping from a bottle of water. She had to fight for every drop with intense suction. It wasn't as pleasurable as she had expected.

But even so her hands gripped at his hair and held him in place. He didn't fight it. He simply lay there, letting her obstruct him in ways she had never imagined she would have done before.

Slowly, she could feel him grow weaker even in his stillness. She was drawing too much blood from him. She could feel the urgency but now just as the taste had been repulsive moments ago, it was so intoxicatingly delicious that Elena didn't want to ever stop drinking.

"Elena, what are you doing?" shouted Damon.

"You want passion, adventure and even a little danger."

Each time she heard his voice it brought with it another memory, another recollection that confused her and caused her to question her acceptance of the situation.

The memory was wrenched from her brain cruelly and once again she was in the parlor with damp hair, bleeding Stefan dry as Damon rushed forward to tear her away.

With his long arms wrapped around her waist, he pulled with a ferocious strength a hundred times more powerful than her own. She recalled being informed that a vampire gets stronger with age. So of course she would not be as strong as Damon.

"You have to stop, Elena, or you will kill him," he pleaded.

Something about being in is arms was just another sense of déjà vu. She must have kissed this man before. And enjoyed it enough to catalogue the experience…

Surrendering herself to Damon was harder than she would have imagined. But she let him lift her up and prop her against the couch. He touched her hair softly and looked into her eyes.

His eyes were like two oceans.

ooo

Jeremy was pacing back and forth across the foyer, his heart pounding jagged, disjointed rhythms as he waited for the bright headlights to sweep along the window and pull into the drive at exactly 1:52 the next morning.

1:53. The seconds were dragging by and he was getting edgier as the time ticked away, slower than it ever had.

He kept glancing back and forth from the door to the hallway in which Alaric, real, good-buddy, step-in-dad Ric had shown up as a ghost and said his second and final goodbye. And that was when Jeremy realized…

His sister was dead.

But now, stuck without a car, he was waiting for Bonnie to arrive and take him to the hospital to confirm another death.

Tears were streaking down his cheeks. He was done with pride. He didn't care who watched him cry.

1:54.

He hated not knowing what was going on. He gripped his cell phone in his right fist as he paced, hoping for a call, text, anything. Sure, he knew Damon and Stefan would take care of Elena, but he had to be there…

Knock knock.

ooo

Staring into the ocean eyes, Elena found her heartbeat slowing. His fingertips were like a shock of reality that although calmed the skin underneath them, sent a rush of electricity up her veins.

"Damon?" she whispered under her breath.

From over his shoulder, she watched Dr. Fell—who must have been present throughout the entire encounter— awkwardly steady Stefan so that he sat upright. The blood flowed from his neck and soaked into the thin cotton fabric of his sweater.

Elena licked her lips to somewhat clean the mess that was her whole lower face.

"Damon?" she asked again. "I'm cold."

She didn't know why she said that. Sure there was a chill from the air conditioner. Although she felt the goose bumps were probably more because of Damon's stroking hand against her cheek.

But some instinct inside told her that this man with straight dark hair would do anything for her. And to confirm, he shrugged off his black leather jacket and wrapped it around Elena's shoulders.

"Better?"

"It's perfect," she murmured.

From the far side of the room, Meredith produced a small, beefy object into her lab coat and, tucking it into a pot of soil behind her, strode forward before Elena could identify what it was. "Elena, what do you remember from what happened today?"

"What was that?" Elena demanded.

She glanced back. "Nothing."

"No, wait—"

"It's a blood bag, Elena," Damon explained hastily, "AB positive, to be exact."

Elena grimaced.

"It's okay," Stefan panted from the floor, rising to his feet, "But we still need to know what you remember from the night. Just think hard. You don't need to know all of it."

With the weight of Damon's touch as an anchor, she slowly said, "I remember how the car went off the bridge, right?"

"Good," said Stefan.

She went on. "And I remember the party." Confusion swept across the three foreheads. "From the night my parents died. Damon was there, and he thought I was Katherine."

ooo

"Tyler? Is that you?" Caroline asked, shakily.

The beefy, olive-toned boy stepped away from the shadows. "Yeah, Care, it's me.

She felt the shock well on her face along with the new set of tears. "I don't believe it," she breathed.

And then she ran at him.

She ran with an excitement, with a heart-pounding hysteria. And, most importantly, with her inhuman vampire speed. The childish laugh escaped her lips reminded her of when she would visit her dad most summers—it seemed like ages ago, she thought, as she collided with Tyler in an impact that made them both shudder.

He wrapped his thick arms around her waist and breathed in her heady rose scented shampoo. Her tears kept pouring out like someone let loose on the floodgates and soaked into his green cotton t-shirt.

Finally, she pulled away and he held her at arms-length. She spoke between sobs. "But…I don't…understand! It's not…possible!"

He smiled wide. "I honestly don't get it either. I mean, one minute I was puking out my ribs, and then suddenly I was fine."

Without hesitation, she crushed her lips to his. There was something different about the way his fingers brushed her hair, her shoulders but at that moment she didn't question it.

They embraced once more and over her shoulder, Caroline couldn't see Tyler smiling wickedly.

ooo

Bonnie half-sprinted up to the porch steps and rapped twice on the door.

Come on Jeremy, she thought impatiently, her whole body on edge.

Just over the trees to the east, Bonnie watched as just the tips of the yellow-orange sun peeked out over the horizon. Checking her watch she noted it was almost two in the morning.

The door swung open leaving a line of yellow light along the semi-darkened lawn, encasing Bonnie into it and blinding her for a moment.

Jeremy was there and he looked panic stricken. His cheeks were wet, his eyes red and swollen, and his hair was arranged in a messy disarray as if he had ran his fingers through it harshly over and over again.

"Bonnie! How is she? How's Elena? Is she okay—"

"Jeremy," she interrupted, her hoarse whisper a contrast to his frantic cries, "I only know as much as you do. But get in my car. We have to get to the boarding house."

He nodded. "I just have to grab some overnight clothes. Come on in. I'll be quick."

A part of Bonnie demanded to know why he hadn't had those already packed before she had gotten here. The other part was just too worried to care, so she shrugged it off.

She warily stepped through the doorway as Jeremy disappeared up the stairs. Her knees bounced in time to the ticking of the nearby clock as she waited for Jeremy anxiously. After a while, she got out her cell and called Caroline, filling her in what happened while also throwing in an "I'm so sorry" about Tyler and then pretending to be surprised when Caroline joyously announced of Tyler's survival.

A few moments later, Jeremy came bounding down the steps with a green duffel bag in his hand.

"Ready?" she asked.

"Ready," he confirmed in an odd voice.

She whirled around and turned the brass knob on the front door. It wouldn't budge.

"Jeremy? It's locked. I can't get it to open…"

Suddenly, she froze. A chill trickled down her spine as the atmosphere in the room pulled in and threatened to suffocate her. "Jeremy…"

She made a one hundred and eighty degree turn just in time to watch Jeremy plunge a knife into her shoulder.

ooo

"Wait a minute," Stefan mumbled. "Damon wasn't there the night your parents died. He got into town after I did."

Damon pursed his lips and his eyebrows went together. This was something he did when the next words that would come out of his mouth were, "Yeah, about that…"

"Yeah, about that," he started, "I, in fact, was in Mystic Falls when your car went off the bridge. Elena and I had this discussion about—"

"Relationships," she finished. "We talked about what we wanted in relationships, didn't we? And you didn't know what you wanted. After that the evening is a total blank."

"What?" Stefan demanded.

Meredith cleared her throat. "Er, I'm going to go…to the hospital and check on Matt."

"Matt!" Elena gasped. "Oh my god. What happened to him? Is he okay?"

"He's fine Elena," Meredith assured her. "He did inhale a little water but he's alright now."

"But he was unconscious!"

She looked down at her shoes. "Well, he might have hit his head against the glass in the window. Nothing serious."

"Well then I need to see him. Now. Is he awake?"

"No not yet, but Elena, I don't think that's a good idea."

Elena pushed out of Damon's arms and jumped from the plush cushions. Her head spun and she faltered as she landed, going weak in the knees. She was losing energy from lack of blood. It was only a matter of time before…

But Damon caught her and steadied her.

"Thanks," she murmured only to him. Then to Meredith, "No,
I'm seeing him now. Which room is he in?"

The doctor sighed. "Stefan, stay here until you've built up your strength—" Elena winced—"Damon, make sure you keep an eye on Elena and come with me."

He wound his fingers through Elena's gently, though she could see the wariness behind the gesture as they followed Meredith out into the yard and climbed into Meredith's Corolla. A few minutes later they arrived at Mystic Falls Medical, again, and they were led across the lobby to a door labeled Emergency Trauma Room 117. The dark-headed doctor slowly pushed it aside to allow the other two to get in.

Matt had the only bed in the room, propped up all the way so his slumber looked more like tired sitting. His eyelids and lips were deep blue and his complexion was waxy. Clear tubes went all the way up and down both his arms and were taped under his nose. An IV dripped beside him.

Elena towed Damon along with her to Matt's bedside. "Why hasn't he woken up yet?" she demanded.

Meredith was quiet from across the room. "That's completely normal for patients with head injuries."

"I think we've got it from here, Meredith," said Damon, subtly.

She nodded and left the room silently.

He turned to face Elena. "Look I know this doesn't seem that important in light of everything, but we should probably talk about that memory that you had, about me. You're most likely very confused right now and I understand—"

Damon stopped talking. He watched Elena, knowing she hadn't heard a word he had just said. She wasn't listening because she was intently staring at the deep maroon stains of blood that were matted in the blonde boy's hair.

Lightly, with her finger, she began to trace the pattern of veins that went up from his wrist.

Oh god, thought Damon. What was he supposed to do? He had no idea if Elena had been planning to transition or not. And if she were, would she want it to be blood from her friend. If Stefan were here right now, he would probably know exactly what to do. He could just hear his voice, it's her choice, Damon.

Yeah, Damon thought, except her choice always winds up very nearly taking herself away from me forever.

Was he being selfish? Who cares? Maybe that's why Elena had dumped him for his more practical brother.

Elena was completely out of it. Her brown eyes glazed over and she slowly licked her lips. Seductive, Damon noticed. But he had to shake his head of the thought if he was going to be able to deal with her.

"Elena, control it. If you need blood, we'll get you a blood bag…"

Was that the best he could do? She hardly blinked when he spoke.

He steeled himself to grip her forearms and yank her away in one of those flash-lightning movements of his.

He should have known she would resist.

He had been in her position once of course. Scared, with raw power trembling in your muscles and hungry. So hungry you wouldn't care what you had to do, or who you had to kill, to get blood.

She struck him against his throat, closing his breathing pipe for a split second. It knocked the air out of him and he stumbled backward, only to get the perfect view as Elena leaped onto the hospital bed, hovering over the boy, and sank her teeth into his wrist.

She wasn't out of practice with this. Drinking Stefan's blood had given her an idea of what to expect. Instantly the blood flowed directly into her mouth and she gulped it down ferociously.

Damon threw himself at her. He had her pinned on the floor with his hundred-year-old strength and whispered soothing words to her, trying to calm her down.

"Elena. Shh, everything's all right."

Her eyes were wide as she opened her mouth to expose her new set of bloody red fangs.

ooo

The room spun around Bonnie as the blade slid out of her, slicing at tissue and tendons that screamed in fiery pain. The knife came out glinting red.

She watched the stamina fade into Jeremy's eyes as he raised the knife for the second strike. This time she was ready. Only able to lift her left arm halfway, she ducked out of the way as the knife came down on empty air. She crawled behind him and kicked his legs, right in the knee and he yelped before falling to the ground.

The knife cut at her calf.

He scrambled to get back on his feet as she ran through the hallway and into the kitchen, frantically searching for a weapon of her own. When she picked up the cleaver, she had a realization that she had no intention of hurting Jeremy. She put it down and ran for the stairs.

She heard his pursuit behind her and started for Elena's room, limping the whole way. She alone knew there was a way of going out the window that Elena had put up in sophomore year, to sneak out at night when her parents were asleep. But as she slammed the door, she saw his arms protrude from the space between the door and the doorway and block her from shutting it.

The ebony jeweled Gilbert ring glittered on his right ring finger.

Desperately she cried, "Ves montos, incantarta!"
His hands became limp and fell away from the door. She closed it successfully and darted towards the window. She only had moments left before the paralysis wore off.

Leaning out into the cool night, she felt along the side of the house. Finally, she grasped the thick vine that ran all the way down to the ground. She swung one leg over the windowpane, but cried when the cut was scraped along the vegetation. She landed on the floor of the bedroom gasping in pain.

Suddenly, the door was kicked off its hinges and Jeremy stalked toward Bonnie, knife in hand.

She lay, perfectly helpless on the ground, ready to die until she saw the glass of water on the nightstand beside her. With all the energy that was fueled by her fear, she telepathically threw the glass at Jeremy and watched it break against his ear. He screamed as the shards broke skin.

With the water that dripped down his shoulder, she drew flames, bright orange flames that licked at his rugby t-shirt. He swatted desperately at the fire. Bonnie knew this was her only chance. She had one shot.

She stood up feebly, and punched him in the jaw, knocking him out cold.

ooo

I'm a monster; a cruel, worthless monster.

Elena kept telling herself this as she paced across the hospital ward. Stefan and Damon were leaning against the window across the room. Their arms folded simultaneously and Elena wondered if anyone would ever be able to doubt that they were brothers.

Her hands were tied behind her back with ropes soaked in vervain, and the door to the room was padlocked. She had insisted on it. Stefan had suggested they make a run for home, while Damon was all for retrieving her some fresh blood bags, earning him a couple stern gazes.

But Elena found it in herself to refuse both ideas, as much as she wanted otherwise and had them bring her here, where she couldn't hurt anyone else.

Matt had lost too much blood and was taken to the third floor where Meredith gave him some transfusions. This was good. Whatever kept him as far away from her as possible she would allow.

Out of control, reckless and impulsive; a page ripped from a horror novel.

"Elena, please say something," Stefan begged.

"I don't want to talk about it."

He sighed. She never broke the rhythm of her relentless pacing.

"Don't shut us out, Elena," Damon murmured almost patronizingly, using the full force of his eyes on her.

"I told you, I don't want to talk about it. I don't want to talk about how less than twelve hours ago I was re-painting Alaric's room and in all that time I managed to hurt you, Stefan, and hurt Matt and turn into this…this beast and I—I'm just so…" she trailed off.

"Say it," Stefan whispered. "Come on, just say it once."

"I'm so…scared!" she cried out. "I can't do this, not alone. I'm going to live forever alone, alone forever. I have no one."

Damon took a slow step forward. "I think you are severely underestimating yourself, sweetheart."

Stefan evened himself with Damon. "What Damon is trying to say is think of all the people who care about you, Elena. Us, Jeremy, Bonnie, Caroline…

"Remember, all of your natural behaviors are heightened right now. But don't forget that you control your own mind."

"Don't try to calm me down. It won't work." She lowered her voice, "Nothing could make me feel better right now."

Suddenly, the rising sun broke through the tree line and spilled all of its light through the open window and encased all three of them in its yellow glow.

Elena wasn't prepared for the searing pain that would follow.

Every nerve-ending in her body split in the heat and her skin was on fire. Angry red welts rose all over her body and she waned to die, to end the pain that had only lasted a few seconds. With a passion, she wanted to die, needed to die…She was burning from the inside out now.

She screamed in fury and her wrists wrenched apart, tearing the three-inch thick rope that bound her so she could shield her face with her hands. It didn't help much. The fire only intensified as it spread throughout her whole arm.

And then all at once, the pain disappeared and the blissful cool that followed was almost painful it felt so nice.

Damon had flashed right in front of her so fast that it was a blur. He threw his Armani jacket over her head and used his body as a shield. Then instantly they were in the corner of the room, cringing away from the light, just barely within touching distance of its rays.

"Let's just say I've been around for a long time. And I've learned a few things."

Stefan thrust the plastic blinds shut completely. They were cheap and Elena noticed a few lines of yellow peeking through. Once so inviting, they were now beacons of evil, seared into her memory forever.

"Are you all right?" Damon gasped.

She glared at him, her breathing ragged.

"Right, stupid question," he agreed. "You need to be more careful from now on. Lots of things are going to change for you."

"And we need to help her and not make anything difficult for her," Stefan said, sneering at his brother.

He rolled his eyes. "We'll get you a ring as soon as possible."

"You guys really think I can handle this, don't you?" she whispered.

They nodded. "Absolutely."

Things were quiet while Elena's heart thudded unevenly, pumping Matt's blood ferociously. She found she could hear farther out into the hospital. Soft shoes padded around and IV's dripped. Heart monitors beeped and pens scratched. She could smell the soggy cafeteria food and the blood that made her mouth water.

"Why did Rebekah do this to me?" she said to no one. Damon's arms were still around her and she realized that this was true most of the time lately. They had been apart so long; it felt nice to finally be together again.

Was that supposed to be confusing? All Elena felt when Damon touched her was a deep, radiating warmth all over. She smiled.

ooo

Klaus Mikaelson stood shorter than usual, trying to get used to the height difference as best he could. It wasn't usually too hard to be someone else, especially when that someone was one of your sired and then un-sired hybrids.

That would be his excuse of how "Tyler" had survived. Maybe hybrids were the exception to the rule. It was possible.

Caroline continued to hold "Tyler" as tightly as she could and he welcomed it. Her arms were warm and comfortable and different. Kissing her was a whole other subject.

"You mark my words," he had said, "Small town boy, small town life, it won't be enough for you."

He knew she didn't like him saying. Caroline never accepted anyone assuming to know her and her needs. But he could see the reluctance in her eyes, the chink of the wall she built against him faltering. He had made progress.

But seeing her now stare into the eyes of him, he couldn't remember how he had felt so strong that day. It was he whom she loved. It would always be him.

Well that was going to have to change.

ooo

Jeremy woke up with black nylon hiking ropes wrapped tightly around him, wound several dozen times and tied with a complicated looking knot. His head spun and he didn't recall the last three hours. It was as if they never happened.

He remembered Alaric in ghost form appearing in the hallway, and then calling Bonnie to come pick him up. After that, everything was a total blur.

The room was the living room, and Jeremy was lying with his feet up on the couch. The absence of the black-jeweled Gilbert ring was ominous and deafening.

Bonnie stood in the corner of the room with a cracked leather grimoire opened up in front of her. Jeremy remembered that certain one because he had scanned it cover to cover when he and Bonnie searched for clues about him seeing ghosts. Her eyes were intent as she read the faded print.

"Bonnie? What's going on?" he demanded, struggling with the ropes.

She shut the book, raising a cloud of dust, and took a step his way. "I don't know, Jer, why don't you tell me."

His forehead wrinkled in puzzlement.

"Why don't you tell me why you're suddenly going around stabbing people with knives!"

For the first time he saw the crimson blood dried and flaky along her shoulder, soaked into her blouse. On her leg was another line of red.

Then he felt the ache in his lower face, mostly in his mouth and the burning sensation up and down his arm.

"Wait a sec, did you set me on fire?" he asked.

She rolled her eyes and picked up a small round item no bigger than a quarter from off the mantel. His ring.

"Hey, give that back—"

"Jeremy! I can't give this back! Don't you see what's happening to you?"

He shook his head, his eyes still flashing. "What the hell are you talking about, Bonnie?"

"I think the only person who can answer that is you."

ooo

"The lights hurt my eyes," Elena said as Damon and her walked side by side through the hospital. Stefan had gone to retrieve some blood bags from downstairs so Damon suggested they take a walk.

It wasn't as romantic as it should have been, with the almost green fluorescent lights and the coughing and hacking of the residents around her but without her daylight ring, what was she to do? They had left messages to Bonnie but she never answered her phone.

Damon fixed his gaze on a no smoking sign ahead and didn't look away. "Like everything else, that will take some getting used to."

"Lots of changes," she murmured.

"I just need to say it once. You just need to hear it."

"And lots of things you never told me," she continued.

He sighed. "Like the night we met, you mean, the night of the bonfire?"

She shook her head. "Well—yes, but also the night you and Stefan rescued me from Rose and Trevor. Something happened that night, too, right?"

He stopped walking and wheeled around to face her. "You know, Elena? I think the best thing to do right now is forget that okay?"

"What? No, Damon, you don't understand, I was just—"

"You were just being typical Elena. I get it," he said as evenly as he could.

Lines appeared on her forehead. "Typical Elena?" she spat.

He nodded. "Typical you. The Elena that hears everything I say, twists it in your head and makes it sound like I actually care. But the problem is, Elena that you had me fooled. I was starting to think that when I talked to you…you were listening to me."

"How could you say that me?" she demanded.

"Just forget it, okay?"

Their walk had suddenly turned into an argument. She didn't know how it had come on so quickly, but here it was.

Heat rose in her cheeks. "Sorry, but you can't forcibly make me forget anymore, Damon. You just might have to actually face up to your fears this time."

"My fears?" he spat.

"Yes," she ticked them off her fingers, bitingly, "Your fear of emotion, your fear of commitment, your fear of being hurt…did I miss anything?"

"You think I'm afraid of you?" He gave a short, hysterical laugh. "What because I love you?"

"Maybe," she inquired. "But I already knew that."

"So what if I am afraid, Elena? What's so wrong about being afraid? It hurts to feel. I haven't felt anything for a hundred and forty-five years. And you know why? It's because humanity is a weakness. People can take you, and beat you down, and destroy you like that," he snapped his fingers. "And I don't want that."

Her eyes softened. She lowered her voice. "Why didn't you ever tell me that's how you feel?"

He leaned in towards her and put his hands on either side of her face. "Because no matter what I go through, you will always be my reason to feel. To love. I didn't want anything to change."

His lips were so close to hers. She could feel his breath on her face, warm and sultry. Time stopped around her and all she could think of was Damon. He was everywhere. He was on her skin, in her hair, on her tongue; he was the shockwaves rolling up her back as she wrapped her arms around his neck. She released the women inside her that had always felt caged in her heart, the side of her that reminded Damon of Katherine. Their mouths moved in violently together, filling themselves with as much of each other as possible. His hands moved to her back and Elena simply melted.

"I love you, Elena."

"What's going on here?" Stefan's voice broke through the moments and they parted quickly. Damon took an insured step farther back, but his eyes showed no remorse.

Stefan couldn't hide his disgust as he eyed every movement the two of them made. "Meredith snuck us some more blood and I finally got a hold of Bonnie. She said she was on her way."

"Great," said Damon, a little breathlessly, "Shall we?"

ooo

"What? You think I have an alter ego now?" Jeremy asked loudly as Bonnie untied the last of the nylon ropes.

"All the facts are there, Jeremy. You said you don't remember attacking me, right?"

Jeremy didn't answer. She took his silence as a 'yes'.

"And this all happened shortly after I had to stop your heart to desiccate Klaus."

"Even if this has to do with the ring, Alaric died way more times than I have."

Bonnie picked up the grimoire. "I don't know. I couldn't find anything in Emily's spell book about the ring's patterns but I know Samantha Gilbert was quite a bit younger than Alaric when she started killing the founding families. And according to Damon, she only died once."

Jeremy stood up from the couch, intrigued. "So what, you think because Alaric was older, it took more time for his other side to appear?"

"I think that whatever is happening to you, the ring has something to do with it," she said. Then she grabbed her coat from the peg near the door and Jeremy's duffel bag that he didn't remember putting there and walked out into the yard.

She turned. "Coming?"

He hurried out of the house. "'We going to the hospital?"

Bonnie suddenly looked sorrowful. "Jeremy, there's something I need to tell you."

Jeremy didn't like those words.

"Elena is fine. But when the truck went off the bridge, she had vampire blood in her system."

Jeremy's eyes widened as round as dinner plates. "So then she's a…"

"She's a vampire now."

Author's Note: That's the end of part 1! I'm sorry if it was a little slow and if it seemed like nothing really happened but the next part will be better, hopefully! I'm going to add in the problem with the council and another character… It's pretty hard writing Elena as a vampire but I hope I get better once she gets more used to it! Please review!;)