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Chapter 3 The Point of No Return

But would you leave me,
If I told you what I've done?
And would you leave me,
If I told you what I've become?
-No Light, No Light- Florence + the Machine

After Bonnie had left Elena's house, she had driven to the same place she had been driving to for the past two weeks. She parked her car on the shoulder of the road, locked it, and then glanced at the forest in front of her. The place seemed ominous with its tall trees that led only to shadows. Taking a deep breath, she strolled into the darkness.

Tonight, a sharp wind broke through the landscape and send shivers up her spine. After all that had happened, she thought she would have been used to scary situations by now. Unfortunately, she wasn't. Even with all the power she possessed, this forest still scared her.

After walking for about twenty minutes, she came to a small clearing in the trees. She stopped immediately and surveyed the shadows for the person she knew was there.

"Klaus," she snapped. "There's no reason to delay."

A laughing Tyler stepped from the shadows. As much as Bonnie wanted to think that this was the man who had stolen the heart of her best friend, she knew it wasn't. Currently, he was just a person Bonnie wanted nothing to do with.

"Come on, Bonnie," he smirked. "It's been two weeks. The hostility really should have ended a long time ago."

Bonnie frowned as she crossed her arms over her chest. "You know why I'm here."

"And I'm very glad you came," Klaus retorted. "This is the last night, isn't it? We better make this special."

Rolling her eyes, Bonnie reached into the bag she had brought with her and produced a knife. "All you have to do is drink my blood one more time and you'll regain all the strength you had before. Then, we can start finding a way to get you back into your body."

"No," Klaus shook his head. "I want to stay in this body for a while."

"Then I'll tell everyone the truth," Bonnie responded fiercely. "You don't get to call the shots."

"But don't I?" he mocked. "I'll return and pretend to be Tyler. No one will know that I'm still alive or where I'm at. Your little group will remain safe, and if a problem arises, I will take care of that."

"Why would I agree to that?"

He grinned. "If you don't, I'll tell your friends the truth. And then I'll mercilessly slaughter them all." His grin continued to tug at the corner of his lips. "I may start with Elena, since she is no longer a use to me."

Shaking Bonnie clenched her fists around the hilt of the small knife. None of this seemed fair, but she had known who she had been making a deal with the second she had decided to save Klaus. With her desire to save her friends, had come monumental consequences.

"Can I at least know why?" Bonnie finally found the strength to ask. "Why stay in Tyler's form? You can't accomplish everything you want to while you're still in his body."

Something close to sadness flashed past his eyes. He masked the emotion quickly, however, and only shrugged in response. "We all have our demons, Bonnie. Maybe I just want to escape them for a while."

Although she didn't believe his words, she knew her time to ask questions had passed. Mustering up her remaining courage, she closed the distance between her and Klaus. Then, she swiped the knife across her hand. Making sure to give Klaus a death glare, she offered her hand to him. With a smile on his lips, he took her hand into his own and drunk.

Elena stood in her room and tried to find some form of calm. The rest of the night had been chaotic with Damon trying to figure out how Klaus could still be alive, Caroline wondering why Tyler hadn't returned to her, and Elena staring at Jeremy with a form of hopelessness in her gaze. No matter how many plans they had, they always seemed to be steps behind the enemy. Right now, that just wore her out.

After an hour of the group asking questions that no one seemed to know the answer to, Damon had left to go meet up with Stefan. Stefan's meeting with Elijah and Rebekah had apparently been unhelpful, and Damon wanted to meet up with his brother to tell him the truth and discuss how they would proceed.

To make things worse, Elena wanted to talk to Bonnie about all of this, but knew there would be some consequence the spell produced that would put them all in jeopardy once again. And there was also some reason Bonnie hadn't told the group about the spell. That made Elena nervous as well. It always felt like the second they were free from some enemy, someone new showed up to take their place. Evil never seemed to leave Mystic Falls.

A floorboard creaked behind her, and Elena turned around to see Stefan standing there. She offered him a weak smile that she hoped covered her exhaustion.

"Damon told me about Esther," Stefan began slowly. "It seems like we'll never be free from Klaus."

"But why hasn't he shown up?" Elena asked as she raked a hand through her long brown hair. "It's been two weeks since the night we thought he died. Why hasn't he come back to seek vengeance? How are we still safe?"

"I don't know," he shrugged. He crossed the room toward her, and Elena felt chills race down her spine. She took a step backwards before she could stop herself and watched as pain etched across Stefan's eyes. Despite the fact that she had chosen him before her transformation, they had yet to say anything about that decision since she had actually become a vampire. Because of that she refrained from letting either brother touch her, mostly because she wasn't sure how she would react to either of their touches.

To make things worse, she could remember things now that had been hidden to her before. She remembered Damon standing and talking to her the night she had fought with Matt. He had said she had wanted someone to consume her, and she had agreed. Also, there were fragments of a time when Damon had told her that he had loved her, that his love for her was selfish, and that she had to forget because of that. Whether these moments were actual memories or dreams, she wasn't sure. Part of her wanted to ask Damon about them, but the other part was scared of what she would find out. Stefan's words from when she first woke up still lingered in her mind.

How many moments have you shared with her, Damon, that you've made her forget?

"Do you need anything before I leave?" Stefan asked softly to break the silence that had fallen. His eyes implored her for any sort of invitation to stay, but Elena knew she couldn't ask that of him.

"I think I'll be okay," Elena replied with a thin smile on her lips. Stefan turned to leave, and Elena bit the corner of her lower lip. "Be careful, Stefan," she found herself calling.

Hesitating for only a moment, he shifted enough to glance back into her eyes. "You too, Elena."

After Stefan's footsteps echoed down the stairs, Elena sank onto her bed and let out a deep breath. As much as she wanted to choose a brother and begin her life with him, the idea seemed almost impossible. Now, her decision would change their friendship for all eternity. She would no longer be the girl they loved and watched die as a human. Now, she was a vampire too, and her decision could cause the brothers to never speak again for the rest of eternity. It felt like the entire weight of the universe was pressed down on her shoulders. When she made her decision, she had to make sure it was the right one.

Letting out another deep breath, Elena closed her eyes and just let her thoughts consume her.

Caroline raced into her room and shut the door behind her. The quiet that engulfed her then was deafening. Without really registering what she was doing, she grabbed her purse and moved to exit the room. Elena's car keys lay on an end table in the living room, and since Caroline couldn't be seen driving her own vehicle, she instantly grabbed those. She had just touched the doorknob when she heard a voice behind her.

"So where do you think you're going?" Damon asked as he moved out of the shadows. Caroline offered him a quick shrug in response.

"I need to know what Bonnie did and why Tyler hasn't come back to me. There has to be a reason for it," she replied with crossed arms.

Damon narrowed his eyes at her. "That isn't the whole story. What else is going on?"

"Nothing," Caroline replied simply as she turned to leave. She opened the door, but Damon shut it back quickly.

"Tell me the truth," Damon almost growled at her. His face was only inches from hers and she refused to be intimidated by him.

"That is the truth, Damon," she said sharply. "I loved Tyler, and was even going to leave this town for him. I need to know why he hasn't come back."

Damon's face lit up with both surprise and satisfaction at discovering the answer. "You weren't going to leave with him, were you?" he asked slyly.

"What?"

"You told him you were going to leave with him, but you really weren't going to. Not when it came down to it."

Caroline rolled her eyes. "Elena was in trouble, Damon. As much as I wanted to leave with Tyler, I couldn't. And then I thought he was dying, and I was a little relieved. I was glad that I didn't have to make the decision between leaving with him and helping Elena. Now that he should be alive, I need to find out where he is. I need to make this better."

"Fine," Damon shrugged as he stepped back and released his hold on the door. "Just be prepared for whatever you find. I doubt the answer will be good."

"Thank you," Caroline mouthed before she opened the door and dashed outside.

With as much stealth as she could manage, she jumped into Elena's car and drove away into the night. The reflections of trees and streetlamps reflected across her windshield as she sped by them and created a scene far too serene for the way she felt inside. She had too many questions she needed answers to, and an overwhelming dread engulfed her as she realized she probably wouldn't get any of those answers.

As she pulled into Bonnie's driveway, her trepidation increased. Bonnie's car was nowhere to be found. Trying to calm her quickly beating heart, Caroline pulled out her phone and quickly dialed Bonnie's number.

Her friend picked up on the third ring.

"Hey Caroline, is everything okay?" Bonnie's voice spoke from the other side.

"Yeah," Caroline said dismissively. "I just wanted to make sure you made it home safely."

"Thanks," Bonnie laughed lightly. "I'm actually in my room now studying."

"And your vehicle is alright?"

"It's currently in driveway," Bonnie replied slowly. "Caroline. What's going on?"

"Nothing," Caroline said as she shook her head angrily. "Thanks for answering my questions."

"Of course."

Before Bonnie could say anything else, Caroline disconnected the call. She had come to find answers, and unfortunately, she had found far more than she had intended.

As she pulled out of the driveway, one thought echoed through her mind: She hoped Bonnie had a good reason for lying to them all.

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