Elena's POV

It's been about two days since I last came down to the cells, as my father decided that I could use the break. I've been swamped with school work and I actually screwed up on one of my anatomy tests, so I had to retake it and with my father's help, he managed to convince the professor and let me do it again.

I was a bit ashamed of myself for not handling things that good these days, but my father wasn't judging towards me-I think he was just too busy with his own research and he was still very interested in the new vampire.

I don't know what he was doing to him lately, but I swear to God, that sometimes at night, I could hear the yelling coming from downstairs and it was terrifying me. Our dorms were only inhabited by people who were part of the Augustines, so nobody was bothered by it, except me.

Ever since Stefan came here, I couldn't shake the feeling, that something was just plain wrong. Yet, I was spending my days convincing myself that this was the right thing for me to do and that I should spent even more time helping my father, as I knew far too well that the Whitmore family will help me further with my education and even that of my brother. I had no right to screw up.

So when I wasn't torturing vampires, who had no souls or understanding of what it meant to be human anymore, I spent my time either studying or going to pointless parties with Caroline.

The more I tried to push away the thought of Stefan and the entire Augustine society, however, the more it settled down and I often found myself going through the archive downstairs and checking the folders for peculiar cases like Stefan's.

I read a lot and I actually found it very educating. There was this professor, I think he was Aaron Whitmore's great grandfather, who had numerous notebooks in which he put down his observations. He didn't seem like the rest of the people here-there was something different in the way he spoke about the vampires. It's not that he didn't hurt them like we did-he was actually very cruel and most of the ways we used for torture now, we've adopted from him, but he always wondered whether or not vampires still have souls after they turned. Moreover, he tried to find ways in order to figure out if he was wrong or right.

So I began wondering too. I began questioning my decisions.

All this time, I was blindly following everything my father's ever told me about the vampires and I was convinced, there's no other view on the matter. For some reason Stefan's deep green eyes, were what pushed me to ask myself, if we were right in the first place.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that nothing about him made sense. I've seen vampires before, many of them-they barely talked, they surely didn't bother to fight us as much once we've started experimenting on them and usually at the end they just wanted it all over it, so they welcomed death willingly. They were letting their bloodlust control them and they left all thought behind, if they even had the ability to think straight.

But Stefan…he was different. It's not that he didn't suffer as much as the rest of them, but he seemed…somehow in piece with what was happening. As if he believed he deserved it.

Every time they hit him when I saw it happen, he winced, but gritted his teeth as if he knew it's just something he has to go through, because of who he is. I'm positive that he hated us, that much I was certain of.

And as I walked down the stairs now and held his file, which told me that my father has cut out his liver , smashed his knee with a hammer and then took some of his bone marrow, all less than 24 hours ago, I was certain he would be pissed. I still couldn't wait to see him.

It was one of the worst days of the month and it was my turn to deal with it-every once in a while we had to take all vampires off their cells and check out how they're doing. Those who were simply too weak and who no longer could even heal, we took out and the hunters killed them.

I think it's needless to say that this was Tom and Jake's favorite time of the month. They would often fool around and play with the vampires before killing them. Usually, they let them go in this close place in the backyard or the nearest forest and let them think they're free, then they started shooting wooden bullets at them, later they would set a fire and burn their skins, it was awful. I honestly preferred the torture in my father's lab, instead of this.

"Hey, Matt" I greeted my old friend and he smiled as he opened the heavy metal door leading to the cells. He's been waiting me for a while, but I was late on purpose-I didn't want to get on with this "How are they doing?" I ask as I turn to the left, waiting to see Stefan in the second cell, but he was nowhere to be found

"They're hungry and ignorant to their fate." he smiled "Did you consider my dinner suggestion for tonight or?" he asked optimistically and I gave him an apologetic smile.

Matt's been trying to get me to date him for months, if not a year already and it's not like I've been completely ignoring him, I actually went out a few times with him, it was just that…it somehow didn't feel right for me. Ever since we kissed a few weeks back, I've been trying to come up with various reasons why I can't go out with him anymore and Caroline was scolding me wherever she heard me talking with him over the phone. She considered him a good match for me and I always told her to just shut up.

"I'm sorry, I have a Chemistry test tomorrow morning and I'm still not done studying so" I mumbled nervously under my nose as he picked out the keys for the cells from his back pocket and smiled at me. He knew I was lying, yet he was persistent enough to keep asking me.

"That's fine. I'll be too tired after this most probably" he came up with an argument of his own, just so I wouldn't feel that bad. Poor old Matt.

"Where's 4523?" I asked, desperate to change the topic as I nodded to the empty cell where Stefan should be

"Your father made me lock him in another one last night. He was being too much of a trouble after they brought him back from his lab."

"He yelled too much?" I continued my interrogation as I watched him start unlocking the cells and bring all vampires forward, tying them to the bars with vervain ropes after they were already sedated with shots before that

"Not really. He was trying to find his way out." he announced calmly, but I knew he was surprised, so was I. Usually when we brought the vampires back, they would cry from pain for hours, leaving Matt sleepless and without the possibility of getting any rest. "Kept shaking the bars and made everyone restless too."

"So he's leading a rebellion, that's interesting" I smiled and shook my head. What was it about this vampire that made him so different?

"It wasn't that interesting when the hunters came by to give him a lesson. It was educational for everyone. They tied him in the middle of the hallway and beat the shit out of him in front of everyone. They also forbid me from giving him his blood ration last night."

"It's good they settled things down" I say, even though I don't think it and sit down on the chair he would stay when he's guarding, while he takes all vampires out.

When he's done, I start checking each and every one of them and whoever seems too weak and on the verge of completely breaking down, I make Matt pull them forward. By far they were two of them-weak ones and not really that old.

I don't know if they've managed to live even five years of vampire life. I think Stefan was one of the oldest here now, which is what probably makes him so rebellious and strong. We only had one more who was around 100 years old and she wasn't in her best shape right now. It was awful to see how a creature, which is supposed to be almost invincible can actually collapse in your feet from exhaustion.

When I was younger, I wondered how was it even possible for them to get weaker with time until I realized how serious my father's experiments on them were-they didn't just torture them, they took things from them-body parts, blood cells, even brain and they pumped them up with so much vervain as well as other medications, which modified their ability to heal until at one point, it prevailed and they stopped completely healing, by which time, we wouldn't really need them anymore.

By the time I got to Stefan, I was so tired that I was about to pass by him and just get it over with-he was the last one I had to check, everyone else, Matt was already putting in their cells or taking out for the hunters to play with-the hallway was empty, but Stefan was there, just where Matt left him when he took him out-his hands behind his back and tied to the bars.

He looked terrible-there were scars all over his body, a big cut on his side, which seemed to be starting to heal, but he was barely holding himself on his feet, it was obvious that he's supporting himself on the bars, though what was worse was the big hole on the left side of his head, which was bleeding even now.

"God, who did this to you?" I gasped, without even realizing, that I shouldn't be talking to him like I actually care. I pushed all those thoughts at the back of my mind and reached out to untie him, however he pulled away when I stretched my hand, probably afraid that I'll hurt him, so I raised my hands up and smiled "I won't hurt you" I promised and he just grunted in my direction

"Your people did this to me" he let out angrily as I kneeled down to find the ropes and untie his hands from the bars, which could give him a moment to get away, then again he wasn't so stupid, thankfully, because he didn't attempt anything, and waited patiently as I tied his hands and slowly guided him inside the cell.

I might be fond of him, but I wasn't stupid-he was still a vampire and he could very much hurt me. I locked the cell behind us while he limped to his cot, which was bloody, probably from his wounds

"Well you've been quite disobedient yesterday, they had to give an example" I explained as I settled down on the cot next to him and pulled my medical bag closer. "Let me see this" I caught his head with my hands and pulled him to me, so I could see better-there wasn't enough light here and it was hard to see, but I knew the wound was deep and it wasn't healing at all. He surprisingly pushed away before I've even touched the hurt place and I furrowed my eyebrows

"I don't need your help" he grunted and moved away from me once again, which made me cross my hands and stare down at him angrily

"Stefan, because of your stupidity and stubbornness, they not only beat your ass last night, but didn't give you blood. I'm guessing they won't do so today either, so that pretty big wound which is currently oozing so ugly, won't close and the pain will keep you awake."

"And why do you even care? You watched as they hurt me and you didn't even flinch" he responds even angrier. All the pain has finally taken its toll on him and he was no longer patient.

He hated me-I saw in his eyes, but that was fine, because I hated him too.

"I don't. But I really can't take any of my father's scolding tomorrow, just because I've left his currently favorite vampire to bleed out on the floor and made it impossible for him to experiment on." I explained and he huffed even more annoyed with me "Come on, stop being such a pain in the ass and just let me fix this" I tried convincing him and he finally relaxed and leaned back on the wall, which made me calm down as well. It was intense sometimes, to be in the same cell with another vampire.

I came closer to him and carefully pulled out the bandages, still nervous around him, afraid he'll throw himself at me and bite me any minute now. I knew vervain doesn't exactly work on him like it did on the other vampires, but I was hoping he won't do anything stupid. Even if he did try to escape, there were hundreds of hunters and guards waiting for him outside. He wouldn't make it far even if he wanted to.

"Where did you take all those vampires?" he asked when I started cleaning the wound and felt him tense under me. It was hard to work in this damn cell-it was the worst one of them all, which I'm sure was another punishment for Stefan, it was colder and damper than the rest of them and while he was sitting on the cot, I was up and pushing his head closer to me so I can see what I was doing.

"The hunters are going to kill them" I explained with a sigh and saw him clenching his fists angrily

"Why?" his voice is hoarse and very serious, it almost made me shiver

"Because they are no longer strong enough for us to work with" I almost felt guilty saying that out loud, which is why I was surprised when he laughed bitterly and moved up to look me in the eyes for a short moment

"You know, you people are the monsters here, not us. What is it that they brainwashed you with? That vampires have no souls after they turn? That we are no capable of any human emotion? That we only live to kill and drink blood? Let me tell you this, little girl, you are all wrong-we love and when we do, it can destroy us and when we hate, we hate so much, it is far worse than any knife your father can stab me with." I almost gasped when I heard his words.

I can't say it didn't surprise me to hear him say it, but also deep down, they sounded familiar, because they've been my own thoughts for these past few days. He was answering my questions. I wondered how he knew that the guy who tortured him was my father, but then again he was a smart one, he must've noticed our resemblance.

"You know nothing about us." he added

"Maybe I don't" I respond, quite angry myself, but also surprised by his words "But I've seen things." I patiently put another gauze on his wound, which turns red almost immediately and I silently curse myself for not being able to stop this, yet on the other side, I feel such deep hatred that I want to left him bleeding on the floor-I'm contradicting myself "I know how you bite into people's neck's and tear them apart, I've seen some of you kill innocents just for the blood and the fact that you're being a saint by pretending not to be feeding off people's blood, doesn't change the fact that you're merciless."

"I'm not saying all of us are good" he responds, no longer angry, but still serious "I am no saint for sure, I've killed many and I've done horrible things, especially after I first turned"

"Because you were heartbroken?" I ask, realizing that I might be overstepping here

"No" he shook his head and I steadied it back, because he was ruining my bandage "Because I was young and the bloodlust is just so strong at this point, that you want to revel in and forget everything that happened to you. It's just that easy. It gives you power and freedom and who doesn't want that?" I pressed one of the gauzes and he grunted from the pain

"Hold still, you're making it harder for me." I scold him and he doesn't respond "Pass me that bandage over there" I ask of him and he reaches out. While I wait for him to get it, I stare down at his strong body and notice the tattoo of a rose on his left arm, the one pressed close to me, which makes me wonder how he got it and what does it mean "Now just stop moving" I ordered again and started tightening the bandage around his head

"It's too tight" he mumbled and I froze, almost wishing to slap him in the face

"Oh yeah, cause you know so much about medicine, right, vampire?" I mock him and he clears his throat and gives me a smug smile

"Actually, I was a medic during World War two" he explains "And I know that's too tight. I've bandaged more wounded soldiers than you'll ever see in your lifetime, little princess" he mocks and I almost drop the bandage surprised by his statement

"You were a medic during the war?" I ask surprised and he chuckles "But you're a vampire!"

"See the irony? I was a vampire and I helped your kind and you're a doctor and you're torturing mine. Something to think on, huh, little princess?"

"Stop calling me that!" I punch him in the arm and he squirms underneath me, which makes me want to take it all back-I think I really kind of hurt him, but he manages to get himself together and even raises his hand and grabs mine gently. At first, I jump surprised by this, but he holds me tight and takes my palm in his

"Look, get your index finger like this" he shows and raises my hand back to his head "And put it between the bandage, while moving it a bit to see how tight it is, alright? If you can't move it, then it's too tight, if there's too much space, you need fix it" he explains patiently and though it's a very logical thing to do, it never occurred to me. I put my finger between the last tops of the bandage and realize that he was right all along, but of course I wouldn't admit it. Not to him. "See, you were going to squeeze my brain out of my head."

"It is a very thick head, you can use some space in there" I joked and he laughs "Where did you even learn all this? How were you a soldier during the war?"

"A medic I met there showed me some tricks while we were working together. We were usually in pairs while we were helping the wounded on the battlefield."

"But how did you control yourself?" I was even more curios now, that all seemed impossible to me, but I still wanted to hear it. I couldn't believe he was living during such times, that he witnessed them.

"The same way I'm doing so now." he explained simply "Blood is not everything, despite what you think. We are not so different from you and if you believe, that just because we heal, that somehow justifies all the pain you inflict on us, you're wrong." I remain silent after he says that and start fixing the bandage again, following his advice to check how tight it is, surprisingly this time he doesn't object

"What was it like?" I ask again and he raises his eyebrow confused "During the war?"

"Awful and bloody. Too much death that just cripples you. And that comes for a person, who carries death inside him" he smiles sadly as he grits his teeth "The war is pointless and innocents suffer from it. It was like this during World War II and it's like this when I was younger."

"You saw war when you were young?" I asked as I finally finished the bandage and moved to my bag to throw the rest of the supplies in it. He touched his head and smiled as he gave me a grateful nod for doing this for him

"I can see history wasn't your favorite subject at school?" he jokes and I shrug "The Civil War, little princess."

"Weren't you too young for that one?" I asked surprised, but happy that I can still at least count right even if my history facts were a bit blurry. He nods as he leans back on the cold wall and tiredly stares at me. His bare chest a resemblance of a Greek god, despite the fact that it's so bloody and battered, he looked so beautiful.

"I was sixteen, but my brother was older so he was drafted. I refused to let him go alone, so I went with him, despite his and my father's efforts to stop me. I ran away and joined too. It took me a while to get back to my brother, but I found him. It wasn't untypical for that time. Boys younger than me joined too, believing that they're fighting for some great cause, just like you do today. Many of them died."

"You didn't" I point out and he shrugs as if it's not a big deal "You must've loved your brother very much if you were living to give your life for him."

"I did." he nods and scratches the back of his head as if nervous by all my questions "There was no choice to make back then. I just did what I had to and I did not regret it."

"What happened then?" I ask and he raises his eyebrows in a typical devilish way

"You ask too many questions, little princess" he jokes, but when he sees I'm serious, he decides to answer me "We both got wounded and barely survived. They sent us home and on our way there we were half-dead. I still remember reaching out to grab his hand and wait until he squeezes back, just to be sure, that he's still alive. I think that if he wasn't, I would've died as well and I would've never made it back home." I nod and think carefully on what he just said, wondering how awful it must've been for him to go through war at sixteen and get hurt, just because he loves his brother and would do anything for him

"Now it's my turn to ask questions" he gives me another one of his smirks and I sigh, pretending to be annoyed "Oh, don't be pouty, it's more like a request. I won't interrogate you like you did."

"What is it?" I ask, refusing to acknowledge the fact that I was having a normal conversation with a vampire

"Since I'm not getting out of this cell soon, can you at least describe what's going on outside? I wish I could see the sky right now. Is it evening? Morning? Noon?" he asked and he looked at me like a little kid, begging for some candy.

My heart clenched as I watched him. I couldn't believe he wanted me to tell him this. I thought this would end up being some blackmailing, but here we were-he was asking for my help to imagine what freedom was like-it made me hate myself even more.

"You're serious about this?" I ask again and he nods enthusiastically. He looked so pale and broken, yet I still felt like my dad could reach out and grab his heart, yank it off and he would still be smiling at me in this goofish way and refuse to give, just because there was something inside him-a different kind of spark, that kept him alive. I wondered what would happen when he loses it. Will he one day be a vampire I have to pick out for killing like the once I chose today. "You don't want blood or something else, but this?"

"Well now that you put it like this, I really miss my coffee" he says completely seriously

"But you're a vampire! You don't eat or drink!"

"Doesn't mean I don't enjoy doing so! What, just cause I'm a vampire, I can't be anything like the person I was before? Do you think I don't have sex either, because I'm a monster and all I think about is blooood" he joked on the last few words and spoke them with a girly intonation, clearly mocking me

I stood up abruptly, pretending to leave and I felt his cold hand on my wrist yet again, making me shiver

"Come on, don't be a pouty face, little princess" there was desperation in his voice now "Don't leave a guy hanging."

"You know I'm not supposed to even be talking to you, Stefan" I turn around and cross my hands on my chest angrily. He sighs and leans back on the wall, probably because he's too tired to even keep himself sitting straight

"Yet that somehow doesn't include you drooling all over my hard sexy chest?"

"I am not DROOLING!" I raise my voice significantly when I remember that we're surrounded by other vampires in their cells, who are most probably too sedated to be even listening to us, but still…we were not alone. Matt could come here any minute now. "You self-absorbed ass!"

"It's okay, little princess, it's all fine to want me. Many before you did." he winks and I kick his leg, making him laugh out loud, ignoring all pain I'm putting him through "There's no shame in admitting it."

"For the last time-I AM NOT DROOLING, SALVATORE!" I yell at him, but this just makes him laugh even more.

When I really decide to leave his sorry selfish ass behind and lean down to grab my bag, he grabs my hand again and looks me in the eyes, this time seriously-there's so much pain in there and I hate myself for being part of those who inflict it on him.

"Come on, don't be the monster here" he whispers seriously now "Look at me" he raises his hand to his bloody head and I notice that the bandage was already soaking again "I'm bleeding out and I'll soon lose consciousness. Give the poor man what he wants before the darkness consumes him yet again. "

I sigh, pretending to be hating this, when I sat down on the cold floor, his hand still in mine.

"Close your eyes, smart ass" I asked of him and he smiled gratefully, before obliging. I was so confused by how naïve he was-I could drive a stake through his heart whenever I wanted and he would still trust me when I told him to do something. "Alright I'm not sure how I really should be doing this" I admitted and he squeezed my hand "I guess it should be a late in the morning right now" I lied to him, because in fact, it was a dark cold night out there, yet I didn't know how to describe that, so I just figured I'll pick the day and imagine something, it can't be that hard

"Is it sunny?" he asked and I sighed. Okay, it will be hard

"Kinda"

"Really? That's your best response?" he opened one eye and raised his eyebrow "Kinda? Do you young people not read? Are you so illiterate that you can't describe what's going on around you? Or are you just used to being blind?"

"Alright, alright, grandpa, this isn't exactly easy!" I responded annoyed and tried again "It was pretty cold when I left my room, but the sun was just rising, so I would assume it's already hot like hell outside." he smiles as I talk and leans back on the wall, looking very tired 'There are people, many people, walking around campus or downtown" I wasn't really supposed to give him any details, he didn't know where he was exactly and it had to stay this way "The dogs are lazily sleeping in the shadows or running near the hoses when people decide to clean their cars. There isn't a single damn cloud up in the sky to make you feel at least a bit better and you are once again reminded how small and insignificant you are to the entire world." I added a few more stupid sentences and when I was done he seemed happy. Once he opened his eyes, I swear I could see the tears there.

He made an attempt to move up from the wall, but ended up staggering and I pushed him down the cot. He lied and smiled, starting to lose consciousness-he was tired and I had no idea how bad must've been yesterday, but it looked like he was hurt like hell.

"Thank you, little princess" he mumbled barely audible and I smiled as I watch him close his eyes.

For some reason, I felt so awful for him being in this state, and the more I stared at him, the more I realized, that maybe he was right-not all vampires are monsters.

When I heard Matt coming back, I rushed outside and locked his cell as I glanced one last time at his already sleeping self and promised that I'll bring him some coffee next time.

A/N: I'm sorry for not updating earlier, I'm really busy with college. Thank you for all your reviews and hope you enjoy!