Author's Note: I'm dedicating this chapter to Heidi Mae, whose reviews always perk me up, and who keeps making really accurate guesses about where this story is headed. Finally, some answers!

The lyrics and story title are from the song by Linkin Park.

Rate M for language, sexual content, sensitive matter, and dark themes.

It starts with one thing.
I don't know why it doesn't even matter how hard you try.
Keep that in mind, I designed this rhyme to explain in due time all I know.

It had been almost a full week since Elena had turned, and she wasn't doing any better. In fact, no matter how much blood she consumed, whether it was live or from a blood bag, she was still visibly wasting away.

Everyone had finally agreed that Elena shouldn't be actively involved in the search for Damon, although Elena's agreement was primarily due to the fact that Bonnie refused to give her a daylight ring. Not that much of a search for Damon was possible. Stefan and Alaric had gone back to the crash site to see if they could track the black SUV, but the traces disappeared apparently at random, and they had to return to Mystic Falls empty handed. Bonnie had tried a locator spell, but that hadn't yielded any results either.

Matt had had to return to his fiancée, and Caroline had brought Cole back to school. They had worked together to secure leaves of absence for the vampires, and when Caroline left again, Cole stayed behind.

The boarding house was full of people, yet completely silent. Jeremy, Bonnie and Alaric were doing research, Caroline was sitting with Elena in the parlour, and Stefan had hidden in the bowels of the house, and was literally banging his head into a wall.

A knock on the door roused everyone, and it was, oddly enough given the circumstances, Elena who reached the foyer first, although Stefan wasn't far behind. She opened the door to reveal Francis.

The three of them stood completely still for a moment before a few things happened at once: Stefan made a grab for Elena, while Elena herself attempted to launch herself at Francis, who caught her easily, and placed her back on her shaking legs.

"Impressive," he murmured in a deep voice.

"Francis? You sonofabitch!" Elena hissed at him, and tried to get him again, this time being held back by Stefan.

Caroline had edged out of the parlour, and flew up the stairs to get the others in case backup was needed.

"Are you aware then of what you've become?" the dark-haired vampire asked Elena, tilting his face forward curiously, even though he seemed to know the answer already.

Neither Elena nor Stefan answered, and Francis nodded, stepping past them and letting himself into the parlour. They both followed, and the three sat alone in the room, Elena practically collapsing on the couch, although manoeuvring herself between Stefan and Francis.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I've grown quite fond of you Miss Gilbert," he answered, smiling, "And I am nothing if not direct, so I won't waste time. I have information and the capacity to help you, whatever you decide to do next."

Silence.

"So you can help us find Damon?" whispered Elena.

"I believe that the more pressing issue at the moment would be your continued survival, seeing as Nicolai's plan to kill you didn't quite take." Laughter was reflected in Francis' black eyes.

At this point, Stefan's own eyes widened. "Wait… Are you the one who called me? To tell me to go back for them?"

Elena's head whipped around from Stefan to Francis and the latter sighed, maintaining eye contact with the former. "My original responsibility had been to do something similar to your vehicle, to cause an accident, and drag you back to watch Miss Gilbert die. Instead, I simply sent you back to help. It was the most I could do at the time." He said the last part directly to Elena.

"Now," he continued, "We can discuss the elder Mr. Salvatore's condition later. I can assure you that he is alive, and relatively well. In fact, knowing what I know about him, he is probably enjoying himself to a certain extent. What I would like to cover right now is what you've become Miss Gilbert."

"Aside from a vampire?"

"Well, the transition certainly cemented the change, but this would have started before you died."

"When Katherine died?"

Stefan was frowning, unable to follow the conversation as he had no idea what either Francis or Elena would be referring to. It was then that he realized just how different Elena had become in the past two years, and he wondered if there were any other secrets she was keeping.

Francis steepled his fingers, and placed them under his chin as he leaned closer to Elena. "What do you know about what Katherine was?"

"I know that she worked very hard to become truly immortal, on the condition that she didn't kill anyone of her line. But Emily negated the spell unless she killed someone of her line. But I don't know exactly what all that entailed."

The older vampire smiled. "She never quite became truly immortal, but she did become something other than a regular vampire. She became a succubus, and so she was able to feed off of the sexual energy of others to gain and maintain her power."

There was a pause, and then Elena spoke, her voice shaking. "And what does that mean for me?" She had noticed that Stefan had edged away as Francis was speaking.

"Succubae are generally bred. Typically, one is born a succubus. But Katherine stole succubus powers, and so they were transferable. Although she had never been able to transfer them to another before, because there are criteria: She had to share blood with a female recipient, as well as have sexual relations with them, and that was only the beginning of the transfer."

Elena was looking at the floor, and Stefan's head was in his hands.

"You would have noticed effects after you and Katherine…"

Elena cut Francis off. "Stop. I'm not talking about that anymore. Not about her. There were effects, we all know why, now let's move on. Be clearer. What exactly is happening to me?"

"You were able to manifest some powers as a human, but you weren't complete. When you died, and drank human blood, you completed the transition to vampire. However, you haven't completed the transition to succubus, which you need to do, otherwise…"

Stefan's head snapped up. "Otherwise she'll die?"

Francis nodded.

After a few moments, Elena asked, in a quiet voice, "And how do I complete the transition?"

She already knew the answer, but she needed to hear it. "Sex."