Damon felt his hart swell with joy. His Caroline really was still alive, she even looked okay, apart from that hole in her head. He wanted to hug her, kiss her, tell her how sorry he was, how stupid he was to let her go, to make her jealous.

Stefan looked at her, carefully. What is she going to do? She is supposed to be dead, but now that she isn't, how will she react to that? For now, she looks stunned, surprised. He could see why Damon fell in love with her. He once fell in love, about a year ago. She was the most beautiful girl she had ever seen, but she did not belong to him. She did not belong to anyone yet, but she was the sister of a man you do not want know of your existence. Unfortunately, this man knew about Caroline's. But he will not let Elijah take her, he will do everything to prevent it with his brother by his side.

"Caroline,..." Damon started. What was he going to say to her? Hey, I'm glad you're not dead? That was obviously not an option. But he didn't get much time to think about it. Caroline had twisted her head towards him, and snapped. She launched, reaching for his neck, but Stefan was quick and stopped her before she was within biting distance.

"Don't !" Stefan told her. "It's Damon. You remember him, right?"

Caroline sat there, still breathing heavily, almost growling at both of them. She loosened up a bit after hearing his name. After the first wave of rage had faded away, and she could see clearly again, Damon was indeed sitting in front of her. She wanted to cry and never stop, even though she wanted to kill someone out of rage a few minutes ago. Tears began running down her cheeks, faster and faster.

"Your emotions are highlighted, Caroline. What you're going through is absolutely normal." Stefan began to comfort her with these words, repeating them over and over again, while patting her back.

"What did I do wrong?" Damon said, tormented by guilt. He couldn't figure what he had said or done to make her snap like that.

"It's not your fault. Everyone goes through this. But the sun is almost coming up again, so we need to take her, and me, out of here. God knows what they'll do when they see that she is still alive and I'm not dead."

Stefan helped Caroline on her feet, while Damon tried to figure out a way to help without making Caroline snap. With her arm around his shoulder, Stefan tried to lead her to the nearby woods. But her legs were wobbly, and even though Stefan was holding her, she fell. Damon's reflexes, however, have never been so fast, and he caught her before she could hurt herself.

His arms around her, his warm flesh holding her body, the beating of his veins, the smell of his blood. She didn't know how to act. She wanted to kiss him, never let him go. But she also wanted to rip his throat and taste his blood. She tried to suppress this thought, but she couldn't. The feeling just got stronger and stronger and...

"NO!" She pushed Damon away. She shocked herself. She didn't know she could yell this loud, even though she had been a cheerleader. She also didn't know she had this much strength in her; Damon had landed 20 feet away from her.

"Ugh." Damon groaned. His chest hurt, not to mention his back. Stefan didn't say anything about a sudden superhero strength. Did he? Well, at least he now knows how it feels like to fly through the air and falling straight on your back. He got up, very slowly, and hobbled his way back to Caroline and Stefan, who was trying to hold back his smile. He failed miserably. Damon felt like an old man.

"C'mon, we're almost there." Stefan said.

They reached the woods, so they could speak more freely and louder now. They continued to walk until they thought they were safe.

Caroline sat down against a tree. She felt thirsty. Or is she hungry?

"Caroline, why did you push Damon away?" Stefan asked her.

"His blood... The smell... Why are you still alive?" She wasn't looking at Stefan though. She could only see one thing. Damon. Or better: Damon's neck.

"The same way as to why you are still alive, we're vampires..." He said this very carefully, making sure not to catch her off guard.

"Yeah, I figured that out already. Crazy isn't it?" She was very absent. She kept focusing on Damon's neck more and more. Talking about it made her want it even more. Her face began to chance, her teeth began to grow. It hurt like hell, but she didn't notice.

Stefan saw it coming, and caught her again, as she made her way to Damon's neck for the second time.

"You really have to stop doing that !" She hissed at him, annoyed.

"You have to control yourself first, resist the cravings. After that, you can drink animal blood. It won't taste that good, but it's going to stop the hunger."

"But I thought vampires need human blood to survive?" She was getting confused now. Don't they need blood, did humans just make that up to scare people?

"Yes, you need blood for the transition. After that, you can live of animals. You won't be as strong as you would be on human blood though. But you don't need to be strong, we don't have to fight or hurt anyone."

"What will happen if I don't drink blood to complete the transition?" she asked, even though she already knew the answer.

"You'll die."

"So, if I need human blood to complete the transition, why won't you let me drink his?" The urge to rip his throat was back. But Stefan's grip was too strong on her, and her third attempt to attack Damon failed once again.

"Seriously Caroline, did you not understand the part where I told you to control yourself? If you drink from him now, you won't be able to stop. Luckily for you, I'm prepared for this situation. Damon, I took some rope with me. It's in my left back pocket, can you please take it for me?"

And so did he. Stefan, in the meantime, kept Caroline in lock, but now only with one arm, giving his other arm the freedom to take the bundle of rope from Damon.

Within a few minutes, Caroline was tied to a tree. Even though she was extremely strong now, she couldn't break the rope.

"My witch comes in handy a lot." Stefan smiled proudly.

Elena had waken when it was still dark, but the sun was almost coming up again. Maybe someone would come for them today. Her thoughts immediately went to Damon, but she couldn't see him. He wasn't where he was when she fell asleep. His bag was there, and his sweater, but he himself wasn't.

She looked around to find him, and finally, she saw him where the bus was. Or what was left of it. There was someone with him, but who? It was definitely a male. She watched them, and suddenly a girl showed up from underneath the bus-ashes. She was blond, for as far she could see. Caroline? I don't understand, it's impossible! She should be dead, how can she be alive? She saw her launching for Damon, but not enough to really know why. Was she going to kiss him? But that other guy held her back. They got up and went for the woods, but suddenly she heard a fain "NO" and then Damon was in the air after being pushed by this girl. She still wasn't sure that girl was Caroline. Maybe there's a reason why people say she isn't the smartest, or maybe she just couldn't wrap her brain around it. Damon went back to them and they disappeared in the woods.

I have to follow them. She got up, everyone was still a sleep, so they didn't notice, and made her way to the woods. She heard the distant voices, and followed them. But the voices faded away, as if they know she was following them.

"Sssssssssshhhhhh" Stefan whispered. "Someone's coming. I can hear the footsteps.

Caroline nodded to let him know she heard it too. They stood their silently, and Damon felt as if his heart was going to explode.

Branches broke off under someone's feet, and finally a head appeared, followed by the rest of the body.

"Elena?" Damon said. "What are you doing here? You shouldn't be here!"

Elena didn't hear him though, she could only see the blond girl with the bloodshot eyes and large teeth, tied to a tree.

"Caroline?"