Stefan and Damon waited in the living room for Elena to arrive. Damon had rang her and told her it was urgent.
"Like I said, if that girl wants to kill Elena, it's on your head." Damon claimed, as he repeatedly poured himself glasses of bourbon.
"Nobody said anything about 'killing' Damon, you're just paranoid. And enough with that, you're drinking us dry!" Stefan exclaimed, snatching the bottle of bourbon out of his brother's hand.
"Oh, so you really want to do this do you brother?" Damon remarked, with a scowl upon his face, snatching the bourbon back.
"Oh Damon, Damon, Damon. Always the one who threatens, never the one who follows through…" Stefan began, smirking, clasping his hands together.
"Erm, excuse me, you've just reversed the roles. You're the one who usually threatens and can't follow through little brother." Damon replied, with wide eyes. Amelia entered the room.
"Can I not leave you guys for a second, without you both quarrelling?" Amelia interrupted the tension between the brothers. Stefan looked over at Amelia, who had changed into a floral dress.
"I see you've changed?" Stefan asked, gazing at Amelia with his blue-green eyes.
"Oh, you've noticed. I fancied a new change of clothes, since I am in sunny Mystic Falls. I like the flowers; they remind me of England in the spring. We had a field of flowers and apple trees and…" Amelia began exclaiming happily.
"…Are you kidding me? Stefan stop looking at the girl and let's get back to business, shall we? Any other day I would've said 'yeah, go for it, you see me with Elena all the time, why don't you find somebody new?' But today, no, okay?" Damon interrupted. Amelia was embarrassed but then scowled at Damon and stated:
"Yes, we should. Anyway I was just saying that America is a completely different place to England...Damon, is Elena on her way?" Amelia questioned, looking towards the front door.
"Yes she is. I'm warning you though, if anything happens to…" Damon began, angrily.
"Yes, whatever you say Damon. Like I said, nothing will happen. I'm British; we never go back on our words." Amelia finished, holding her right hand across her chest, in a pledge like manner.
"Now I know you're lying! Do you know how many British liars we've met over the past few years? Promised us things, and then gone back on their words!" Damon shouted, then turned to Stefan, "…we're not letting a Klaus-Elijah moment happen again. Not this time." Damon quietly stated, "…Elena can't be put through that again."
"Wait. Did you say Klaus?" Amelia began. Both Damon and Stefan turned to Amelia, until the door opened, and then entered Elena.
"Damon, what is it you…" Elena started to ask. She noticed Amelia standing in between the two brothers, and walked slowly towards them.
"Elena Gilbert." Amelia whispered.
"Damon, Stefan, what's going on?" Elena asked, confused. She continued to slowly walk over to the three, when she felt a strange feeling run through her veins. "W…who are you?" she continued, shaking off the weird feeling inside of her.
"We've been attempting to ask her the same question. She said she wouldn't tell us until she spoke to you first." Damon answered, looking suspiciously again at Amelia, as if she was about to dagger a stake through her heart. Both Stefan and Damon were on their guard, both did not know whether Amelia was to be trusted or not; they did not know what she was going to do next. Elena stood backwards, and traced Amelia with her eyes.
"Who are you?" Elena repeated, apprehensively.
"…I'm Amelia. I have waited 7 years to meet you. And finally I get to see you in person." Amelia grinned, looking like she had seen her idol. Stefan and Damon both turned to one another, and pulled a 'What the hell?' look.
"Wait, you've waited 7 years to see me? Why?" Elena gasped, staying in the same position, not wanting to move.
"…Because I wasn't allowed. I was told that I must wait till I turned 17 to meet you…" Amelia replied, happily.
"Okay, now you're being creepy…" Damon interrupted.
"Damon, shh, what do you mean 'I was told', told by who?" Elena asked, worried.
"…my dead grandmother." Amelia replied, quietly, bowing her head, as if in disgrace.
"Okay, now you've gone to Looney town. And I actually thought you were going to say something smart. You fooled me." Damon interrupted once again, moving Elena away back from Amelia.
"Damon, don't…" Elena whispered, as she gently pushed Damon off of her arm, "…you see ghosts?" Elena asked.
"Look, all I can say is that my grandmother brought me to you for a reason. She told me few witches are protectors. They have someone who they must always risk their lives to protect. I am your protector…" Amelia began.
"No offence Amelia, but you're a decade too late! Elena needed protection a longgg time ago; I mean her parents died, her aunt died, her brother died a couple times, luckily another witch came to his rescue, she has been in a drowning situation twice, died twice, first time came back a human, second time came back a vampire, so again, no offence, but perhaps you haven't been doing your job properly." Damon interrupted once more, sarcastically smiling widely. Elena looked a little hurt that Damon was bringing up the wounding past. Amelia on the other hand just rolled her eyes and seemed careless of Damon's behaviour.
"Damon. Stop that. Let her speak." Stefan replied, annoyed with Damon's ill-manners.
"Excuse me brother if I don't believe this crap. What? Don't tell me you believe it?" Damon asked, laughing. Amelia turned to face Damon, who then seemed frightened of what she was going to say next.
"I have no reason to lie, Damon Salvatore. I'm not like you, I don't need to lie to get what I want and to cover up the fact that you know that you are a bane in Elena's life, and you are only leading her to her death." Amelia blurted, she turned back towards Elena. "…my role in life is to make sure you are safe, few witches have the privilege…and burden at times, to protect another human…"
"…but I'm not human, I'm a vampire." Elena began.
"Yes and so am I. I'm a hybrid witch. That's why our situation is inimitable!" Amelia exclaimed; Elena looked bewildered.
"Wait you're a hybrid, and a witch. How is that possible?" Elena asked. Stefan looked at Amelia, who had paused suddenly.
"We've asked the same thing, she doesn't know the answer." Stefan replied, and then sighed.
"…I was born into a witching family, but I also had the werewolf gene." Amelia stated, sitting down. By this time, Damon had retreated to his table of bourbon, and Elena was sustained in the same position as she had always been in. Stefan sat opposite Amelia, interested in finding out what she had to say. Elena followed and sat beside Stefan.
"So, how come you had the werewolf gene in the first place?" Stefan asked. Damon looked towards Stefan, and saw that Elena was sitting beside him. This shook him a little.
"The bigger question is how did Klaus manage to turn you, and why did he leave you alive?" Damon stated as he walked over towards the conversation, and sat next to Elena on the edge of the arm of the chair.
"That's two questions. Besides, allow me to answer Stefan's question first." Amelia said, copying Damon's sarcastic smile. "My mother was a witch, I remember her practising magic. When I was younger, around 4 years old, I used to sit and watch her move a feather in the air, or light 20 candles at once. It was magnificent." Amelia claimed, reminiscing.
"What about your dad?" Elena said, smiling at Amelia.
"Hmm. My father, well, from what I can remember he was a physically strong man with brown hair. That's pretty much all I can remember. Oh, I have this though." Amelia touched her neck and revealed a tooth pendant. "…Apparently it's the tooth of my father. When he first turned, he got into a spot of trouble and lost a tooth. He found it the morning after, put it on a chain. And long story short, it was given to me by him." Amelia continued.
"That's disgusting." Damon added.
"Damon!" Elena shrieked, hitting him across the stomach, "…sorry about Damon, he's a bit…"
"…Rude, pretentious, conceited, shallow, pompous, unintelligent, egotistical … and I got that only from our first meeting Damon…however, you are pretty cute, in a scruffy, shaggy dog kind of way." Amelia interrupted, jokingly winking at Damon. Elena laughed, whilst Damon blushed and went back over to his bourbon table. "Stefan on the other hand…" Amelia began, gazing towards Stefan.
"…Errm, so, how did you become a vampire too?" Stefan quickly asked, before Amelia could say anything about him
"…well Stefan. That's a completely different story. I grew up mainly in London with my so-called mother and father…" Amelia claimed.
"Wait, you mean the witch and the werewolf? They were together?" Elena intervened.
"Don't be stupid, of course they weren't. If anyone from the witch family found out about my mother having offspring with a werewolf, she'd probably be stoned to death! And me too!" Amelia shockingly remarked, "…what I mean to say is, that I was sent to England from America when I was 6 years old. I remember it as clear as day. I was living with my mother, step father and my sister until my mother found out my birth father was planning to take me away with him and his pack. Mother never told me the real truth why he wanted to take me away; I mean he never bothered with me before. The only thing he has ever given me is this stupid pendant...anyway, I found out later on in life from my adoptive mother that I was a werewolf and that my father wanted to ensure I broke the curse, and became a proper werewolf…" Amelia told the story, seeming upset.
"Are you telling us, that your own father wanted his 6 year old to break the curse?" Damon exclaimed, confused. He moved back over to the arm of the chair, and sat down.
"Yes." Amelia mumbled, "…he wanted me to kill a person, so that he could take me and teach me how to be a good werewolf, how to kill vampires, like a true hunting werewolf."
"That's… horrible. He sounds like an ass." Elena replied, reaching out for Amelia's hand for reassurance. Amelia held her hand, and became tearful.
"After my mother had found out that information, she sent me to England to live with her witch friend Elise and her husband for 10 years…"Amelia quietly cried.
"Your adoptive parents." Stefan answered quietly.
"Yes. Problem was that Elise detested vampires and werewolves, so I was something she wanted to spell away… but she couldn't, because she had promised my mother she would keep me safe from my father, and would prevent me from breaking the curse." Amelia explained, she then wiped her eyes, and took a deep breath.
"What happened next?" Elena asked, interested.
"Elise promise she'd protect me from my father… but she never said she'd protect me from Klaus…."Amelia began.
"Wait Klaus?" Damon interrupted, "…that's why you repeated his name earlier when I had mentioned him." He finished, sitting upwards.
"Did Klaus turn you into a vampire?" Stefan asked, delicately.
"No Stefan, not at first. Klaus first attempted to befriend me, asked me whether I had broken the curse. Of course I answered no, and walked away believing him to be a psycho. But then… he told me about himself and how he was a werewolf and that he would help be what I was born to be. At first I believed he was talking gibberish, but then he told me his whole story about him being hated by his parents, and being the only child in his family who was different to the rest… I mean, I was a 16 year old girl who had been sent to live with the adopted parents from hell, not allowed to make any contact to the family who had disowned me. I couldn't ask them why they had done what they had done, why couldn't they protect me, why did they have to leave me… these were the questions which ran through my head, every single moment of every single day since I understood what my life meant. Klaus was kind and understanding. He could relate. He was a friend." Amelia exclaimed.
"Yeah, he tends to worm his way through like that." Damon replied, drinking another glass of bourbon. Stefan glanced at Damon angrily, "…what? Look at Caroline…them two in the woods? 'whistle', I mean Klaus killed her ex' mum, but still she went off with him for play time..." Damon snarled, as Elena, Stefan and Amelia gave him a disregarding look, "…Like I said, he worms his way in…sometimes in more ways then one…" Damon finished, chuckling with his filled glass. Elena shook her head in disgust, followed by Amelia sighing loudly as a sign to allow her to continue her story.
"Have you not drunk yourself to sleep yet Damon? Me and Elena are attempting to listen to Amelia's story if you don't mind?" Stefan stated, ushering Damon to remove himself from the room.
"…no chance. I am listening Amelia, don't you worry your little cotton socks." Damon said childishly, smiling at Amelia.
"…As I was saying… I spoke to Klaus for ages at the local park…"
"…how very paedophilic…"Damon interjected, yet again.
"Damon, seriously?" Stefan angrily snarled, getting up off the chair, and facing Damon.
"Damon, stop it now, please?" Elena kindly whined, turning her head away from Damon.
"Fine, I'll leave you guys to listen to all this crap. Goodbye Amelia." Damon smirked, strutting out of the room with his bottle of bourbon and his glass.
"Sorry about that Amelia, please continue." Stefan smiled.
"Okay. Well, Klaus asked me whether I would kill a person; of course I said no, I couldn't do that. But then he began to put these thoughts into my head about Elise, and how she was abusive and that I didn't have to put up with it and that I should attempt to leave her and come and travel with him."
"Did you… were you…in love…?" Elena muttered, nervously.
"Was I in love in with Klaus? No. He just made me happy, like a big brother. For the 8 months I knew him, it felt like I wasn't alone in the world…When you get that feeling that one person can make you feel alive… if you know what I mean." Amelia asked Elena.
"Yeah, I know what you mean." As she said this, she looked at Stefan, who had also turned to look at her. Elena smiled at him, and then Stefan's smile followed. They were remembering the times when they were together and felt safe in each other's arms.
"Anyway, I was all set to leave Elise's, when she found out about it. She shouted at me…"
~"What do you think you're doing?" she bellowed, standing in front of the front door. She wasn't allowing me to leave, so I shouted back, telling her how abusive she was, and that she never showed me care or love.
"Let me leave, NOW!" I screamed as the anger was just boiling up inside, I could feel my fists clenching and my voice box was ready to scream once more. I don't know what came over me, but when she shouted "NO!" I couldn't cope and I went off the rails, I began to smash pots and pans onto the floor from the kitchen, I ran into the lounge and smashed all of the wedding photos of Elise and her husband against the walls, I smashed a wooden table up which was apparently years old, pointed bits were sticking up out of it, I had ruined it completely, I then threw a lamp through the front window, but then suddenly… I turned around to see Elise with a shotgun aimed straight at me. I didn't know what to do, my anger had cooled down, I was ready to just apologise, but she wouldn't back down. All I remember her saying was:
"I mustn't fail." And then she walked closer to me. I told her to calm down, and that she couldn't hurt me but all she replied with was:
"I mustn't fail" Which is when she shot at me! The bullet went straight into my arm, thankfully not into my heart, but my arm felt numb and there was no feeling in it. Until 5 seconds later when I was in so much pain, my arm was continuously pulsing, it was as if I could feel every beat of blood pumping through my veins. I was terrified, especially now because she was coming at me with her fists, attempting to punch me in the head! At one point she did manage to punch me, right in the nose. I wailed loudly, but she wouldn't stop. ~
"I didn't know what to do. What could I have done? The next time she went to punch me, I dodged her and then forcefully pushed her backwards towards the broken table; I just wanted to get her away from me so I could leave. That's all I wanted…she fell straight onto a sharp piece of snapped wood from the broken table. It went straight through her torso." Amelia sniffled, drops falling from her brown eyes; they were glistening now because of the tears.
"Oh. I am so sorry that that happened to you Amelia." Elena quietly cried.
"I'm sorry too. No 16 year old should go through that." Stefan said holding Amelia's hand.
"Anyway…" Amelia said, poising herself, "…so that happened. I cried and held Elise's hand, I didn't move her. She just laid there, arched, with this wooden pole pushed all the way through her, dead. I mean, she was horrible, she didn't care for me, but she didn't deserve that. She gave me a roof over my head and food in my stomach. I should have been more grateful…. Klaus compelled her to attempt to kill me, to make me angry, and he got what he wanted. I turned that very day." Amelia announced.
"You did?" Elena inquisitively asked. Amelia stood up and walked to the window; she sighed and closed her eyes.
"Don't you just love the sunlight, it's so refreshing." Amelia stated. Stefan and Elena looked at each other, confused by the way Amelia was acting.
"So, when did Klaus turn you into a vampire?" Stefan asked her, to move back onto the subject of Amelia.
"…that very same day as well. I turned into a werewolf in the evening after I had ran away to the woods, because I gathered what was happening after the story Elise told me. I knew it was time for me to turn into a wolf. It was the most painful experience I ever had to go through, every bone in my body was so fragile and weak, and they just snapped, one by one. First my wrists, then my ankles, then my ribs…every last bloody bone." Amelia informed, angrily.
"And Klaus had found you?" Elena muttered, seeming rather emotional about Amelia's life story.
"Yes. After I had transformed and was back to myself… he came and found me lying in the middle of the woods, he brought me a blanket and some clothes, and then we found an area of the woods where we could stay the night. Klaus created a fire so I could stay warm and brought some sandwiches for me. Cheese and onion." Amelia finished, turning towards Stefan and Elena now
"Okay, cheese and onion sandwiches…" Stefan laughed.
"You shouldn't laugh, you should always remember the small details… they could be the most important details you'll ever need to know." Amelia answered seriously; she walked back over to the chair, and sat down.
"What next?" Elena asked, intrigued.
"What next? Well, to cut a long story short, Klaus fed me his blood mixed with some doppelganger blood…" Amelia looked at Elena, "…and then broke my neck..." She stopped; Stefan looked at her, with sympathy and went over to sit beside her. He put his arm around her, and she leant on his shoulder. Elena looked at the two, with compassion and smiled; this reminded her of how compassionate Stefan always was.
"… I don't know why I get like this. I've been through it; I need to get over it." Amelia stated, wiping her eyes with her hand.
"It's not easy to get over something like that, especially dying Amelia." Elena empathised, "…I know how you feel."
"I know you do; I've felt every small detail to every large experience you've been put through. I feel every segment of pain, I sense every dying body, I understand each relationship and romance… being a protector is like being a blind you. It's empathising with you; it's sensing and feeling what you go through without seeing it. And you'd think you'd get used to it after having 17 years of it… you know, even as a baby I can remember you falling over and I'd cry too because I feel every last bit of pain you experience Elena. When you drowned, I choked. When you stabbed yourself, I had a hole in my stomach same as you. We are linked." Amelia explained, sitting upwards, releasing her head from Stefan's shoulder. Elena staggered a little.
"Every single bit of pain?" Elena said, with tearful eyes.
"Every single bit." Amelia replied, sighing in the process, "…anyway, I'll continue the story?" she questioned, Elena and Stefan nodding slightly, "…After I had died, I lusted for blood. Klaus brought me a girl to drink blood from. I was hesitant, until I smelt it. I imagined the taste lingering on the edge of my taste buds, and then it happened; I drank the blood. I couldn't stop… I killed her."
"That happens usually doesn't it Stefan, the first taste of blood from the human vein causes a vampire to accidentally kill a person, sometimes, so there was nothing to worry about, right Stefan?" Elena asked Stefan reassuringly.
"Sometimes... what did you do afterwards?" Stefan asked inquisitively.
"I drank the blood of 10 more people… killing them all in the process. I ripped off every single head of my victims… and then I felt guilty, so I put them back together again." Amelia replied, bluntly.
"You're a ripper." Stefan stated, also bluntly. Elena looked at Amelia and Stefan and lowered her head; rippers were deadly, Elena new this all too well. Amelia nodded at Stefan's comment, "…can you control it?" Stefan asked, understandingly.
"On some level, yes, I can't control the lust for human blood though, that's always there. But I drink animal blood, so I don't feel the need to drink human blood. I'm strong. I cope" Amelia replied. Stefan nodded and pulled a small smile.
"When I finished drinking my victims dry… I stopped, and wondered what I was and why Klaus had turned me into the monster that would rip open 11 innocent people's necks…" Amelia said, her eyes streaming-she had not ran out of tears, "…every sense was bigger and stronger, I could literally hear the fly on the wall, breathing! I could see all around me, as if I was looking through a magnified glass. I could feel the air crashing against my cheeks. And then I threw myself onto the floor and burst into tears. I attempted to scrub the innocent humans' blood off of my hands, but it just wouldn't go. My hands were stained with the blood of 12 innocent people, including Elise…." Amelia described, emotionally.
"That's because when you're a vampire, everything is magnified. Your emotions were heightened because you were upset. So when you are upset, you literally feel that you are the worst person in the world, which leads to depression, then suicidal thoughts….It happens to the best of us. It wasn't your fault. Klaus was the one who attempted to create you into a monster, but look at you now, that didn't happen, did it? You're here telling us how you are here to protect Elena…" Stefan stated, and then he held Amelia's face in his palms and said: "You're a good person Amelia. Just believe it." Then he wiped her tears which had begun to drop when she spoke about the innocent people she had killed. Elena smiled sympathetically and passed Amelia a tissue.
"Thank you... After all that had happened, I went to speak to Klaus. He told me how I was amazing, and that I was now a hybrid. He said he'd need me one day, so stay local. I didn't understand him at the time, but I read up about Hybrids..."
"Wait a minute, are you not sired to Klaus?" Stefan asked, confused.
"No, that's what I'm saying! He must have thought that I was just an original hybrid. But he evidently didn't realise that I was a witch aswell, and a witch cannot be sired." Amelia happily stated. Elena scratched her head,
"…so wait. Klaus told you to stay local, as in, in England because he thought that you were sired to him, so you'd always come back to him. But because you're also a witch, you cannot be sired, so you've come to America, where Klaus has just left because he says there's nothing left here for him…" Elena began, her eyes wide,
"Klaus has gone back to England for you Amelia!" Stefan finished, shocked.
Both Elena and Stefan looked at each other, anxiously.
"Which means Klaus we'll be looking for you, and when he finds out you're not in England…" Elena continued,
"…he'll come back to America, your birthplace." Stefan finished once again, more worried than ever.
"Wait I don't understand. Klaus came over here to make more hybrids, why would there be nothing left for him?" Amelia asked, confused.
"…because you're his last Hybrid Amelia." Damon said entering the room.