Action-packed chapter, so enjoy! Thank you again to all who have reviewed, favorited, & followed!

Elena glared at the both of them. She came to end the silence that had become her and Damon's relationship for the past two weeks. But when she stepped into the Boarding House, she was greeted by shouting, growls, and the sound of glass, wood, and probably bones breaking. Fearing the worst, she had vamped out and sped to the source of the fighting, only to find the Salvatores close to killing each other. Elena used her new strength to break them apart, shoving them to opposite sides of the room.

"What the hell is wrong with you two?" She bellowed. She frowned at them as she took in their injuries. Stefan had bruising around his left eye and was bleeding from his lip. Damon's head was bleeding down the side of his face. However, Elena was sure there were more wounds she could not see. Damon painfully pulled himself to his feet first. He met Elena's eyes, but they were only filled with anger.

"Oh you know, Elena, just another day in the lives of the Salvatore brothers." And with that, he sped out of the room, to his drink cart in the parlor, if Elena had to take a guess.

She breathed out a sigh of frustration. She then turned to Stefan, who was now struggling to stand up straight. Elena went over to help him, and softly, but firmly demanded,

"What was that all about, Stefan?"

He tiredly looked at her, then moved to sit in the chair that had amazingly survived the epic battle. He explained what Damon had found out about the council's file, and Damon's plan to retrieve it, which didn't include her.

Not surprisingly, Elena replied, "I want to go to the banquet, Stefan. I can't hide out in my house while everyone else risks their lives." Stefan nodded. "But I understand where Damon is coming from. I don't know how well I will handle being around all those people, but I want to try."

"Damon isn't going to be very happy about that."

"Just let me talk to him alone, okay? It'll be fine." Elena whispered. She placed a brief kiss on Stefan's lips and left to find Damon.

Elena was surprised to find the parlor empty. She thought he would be nursing his wounds in front of the fireplace while sipping on a glass of bourbon. But there was no sign of him. While she headed to his room, she heard the front door close. She was grateful to Stefan for understanding her need to be completely alone with Damon. She figured he probably went out to hunt in the woods, which gave her some valuable time with Damon…if she could find him.

When she entered his room, her heart dropped to find him nowhere in sight. But as she ventured further, she discovered him standing shirtless in front of the bathroom mirror, attempting to wash the blood off of his face and chest. Elena abruptly stopped, too distracted by his body to form words. Ever since she had become a vampire, her attraction towards Damon had sky-rocketed, making it difficult to breathe while in the same room with him.

"It's not polite to stare." Damon's voice cut through her squealing, teenage girl thoughts.

She shook her head, attempting to clear it. "Sorry, I was just surprised by the amount of blood."

Damon turned his head to give her a knowing look, positive that wasn't the reason for her sudden loss of etiquette. But he didn't comment on it. "I know, ruined another nice shirt."

Elena noticed a smear of blood he had missed close to his hairline. She closed the distance between them and grabbed the cloth he had forgotten on the sink.

"You missed a spot." She softly remarked. His eyes burned into hers as she reached up and dabbed the blood. When her hand gently made contact with his skin, he briefly closed his eyes at her touch. A memory flashed through his mind of a night when he had tended to her wounds after almost being burned to death.

Elena let her hand rest on his cheek before relinquishing the contact.

"I understand why you don't want me at the banquet." She cautiously began.

Damon turned back to face the mirror, not wanting to fight with her.

"But I refuse to watch from the sidelines, Damon, especially now that I can be useful, and not be the damsel in distress."

He softly chuckled. "With the way you attract trouble, I have a feeling you'll always become a damsel in distress, whether you mean to or not."

"Even though that may be true, I need to be part of this, Damon. You guys might actually need me."

He wearily sighed and faced Elena once more. "I don't want you to think that I don't believe you're strong enough. I just don't want you to underestimate the power of bloodlust. Even if you don't want to hurt someone, the instinct for blood could take over if the temptation is overwhelming."

She nodded. "I get what you're saying, but I need to learn sometime, right?"

Damon walked passed her to find a shirt to wear.

"I just wish you didn't want to learn at an event attended by the entire anti-vampire council."

Elena followed him and kept some distance between them while he buttoned his shirt.

"It's not like I'll be alone. I'll have you and Stefan, and Bonnie and Jeremy to keep me in check. And if it turns out to be too much for me to handle, then I'll leave."

Damon seemed to have a battle with his thoughts, but he finally settled on a grimace.

"Promise?"

Elena sighed with relief and crossed the room to stand directly in front of him.

"I promise, Damon"

He tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "I'm sorry you had to see mine and Stefan's fight."

She grabbed his hand before it fell back to his side. "I just wish you two wouldn't break again. You were finally back to being brothers, you shouldn't let what happened to me destroy that." Elena pleaded.

Damon pulled his hand out of her grasp. "One request at a time, Elena." He sadly said.

She glanced at the ground, she had pushed too far, and ruined the moment. Damon needed time, but Elena refused to give up on mending the Salvatore's broken brotherhood. She would try again when they weren't planning on entering the house of the enemy to steal their secrets.

Elena caught Damon's blue eyes with her brown ones. She gently smiled. "Everything will be fine."

Elena really wished she hadn't told Damon everything would be fine. When was anything ever fine? Up until this moment, she had actually believed that they would pull this plan off without a hitch. Everything had gone according to plan. They had all arrived to a dazzling, elegant banquet at the Lockwood Mansion. Elena remained on Stefan's arm, with Damon always nearby. And although every room was packed and her senses picked up on every noise and smell, she was pleasantly surprised to find remaining in control rather simple.

The speeches had begun a half an hour ago, and while Stefan stood at the podium discussing the town's immense impact on his upbringing, Damon had wordlessly taken Elena's arm in his. She smiled graciously at him. This was the only moment they had to themselves since they had arrived. The moment was fleeting though. Jeremy's speech was next, which was Damon and Stefan's cue to head to the library upstairs and meet Tyler, who had climbed through his bedroom window undetected. It was now Elena's turn to remain on high alert. She surveyed the room, looking for anyone suspicious or trying to ascend the stairs. It was while she was scanning the doorway that she saw the first glitch in their plans. The blur of blonde hair instantly prompted Elena to change her position.

When Elena reached the vacant hallway, she saw Caroline standing in the shadows. She grabbed her by the arm and pulled her into a corner.

She hurriedly whispered, "Caroline, what are you doing here? It's way too dangerous for you to even show your face in town."

Caroline had her usual smile in place. "Relax, 'Lena. No one has seen me. But did you really think I would let Tyler come back here alone?"

Elena looked at her with confusion. "He was supposed to tell you he was going out for a drink with Matt."

"Oh, he did. But I have been able to tell when that boy is lying since we were in third grade. He seemed uneasy anyways, so I followed him."

"What do you mean uneasy?" Elena grew even more worried.

"I don't know, like he was unsure of himself. It was probably just 'cause he hates lying to me."

Elena didn't know what to think about that piece of information, but she knew Caroline had to leave, now.

"Look, Caroline, why don't you go back and wait at my house until we're done with everything? I'll bring Tyler and we'll tell you anything you want to know." She added a desperate "Please?" to make Caroline understand how serious this was.

"Ugh, fine. But you better all be ready to answer why no one fills me in on anything anymore."

Elena smiled, relieved. She made her way back to the main room, but waited in the doorway to make sure Caroline got out the back okay. She spared a glance at Jeremy, to find him still gushing about the town's attractions. When she looked back down the hallway, she was horrified to find Caroline being dragged out the back door by two figures.

This was the moment Elena knew everything wouldn't be fine. She didn't have much time to debate what to do. She tried to find Bonnie in the crowd, but there was no sign of her. Glitch number three. There was no time to go upstairs to alert the boys, and they had to focus on finding the file for all their sakes. Caroline was in trouble now, and Elena was her only hope.

Elena sped out the back doors to see three figures standing near the lake on the edge of the Lockwood property. From what she could tell, Caroline wasn't struggling. Which meant one of two things: she had been vervained, or staked. Elena prayed for the first option. As she approached carefully, remaining hidden behind the trees, she recognized the two men as Ted Fell and the mysterious stranger Damon believed to be a vampire hunter. Caroline lay on the ground, thankfully just weakened by a vervain dart. Elena was close enough now to hear the men's hushed conversation.

"What should we do with her? We can't just kill her right here." Ted Fell frantically stated.

"That's exactly what we need to do. She needs to be made an example for all her vampire friends here." The man's cold, heartless voice sent shivers up Elena's spine.

Ted's eyes widened. "Well you're the vampire hunter. You deal with her while I alert the other council members."

The man stopped Ted from moving towards the house. "You and your council members brought me here to not only kill the vampires, but to teach you people how to deal with them. Lucky for you, you're going to be my first student." Ted shook with fear as the man pulled a stake from inside his jacket. He began pointing to Caroline's body, directly above her heart.

Elena had to stop this now. Maybe she could provide a distraction long enough for Damon and Stefan to come to their rescue. After all, they wouldn't dare kill Caroline in front of a witness.

"I don't want to do this Connor!" Ted yelled. Elena waited to see if he could change Connor's mind. But then Connor was shoving the stake into Ted's hand and violently grasping his shoulder.

"You will do this. For your town, for your family, for your friends. You will be a man and you will kill this disgusting creature. And not because you're scared of me, but because you want to. So I'm going to take a little stroll, and when I get back, I hope to see that you did what was expected of you." And with that, Connor headed back to the mansion. Ted was left with a stake in his hand, hovering above Caroline's body. He slightly pulled back, and Elena believed for a second that he wasn't going to go through with it. But then Ted started menacingly repeating,

"I have to do this. For the sake of this town. You need to die. You need to die." He drew the stake above his head with both arms and began to bring it down towards Caroline's heart. That was when Elena saw red and let instinct take over.

She lunged for Ted and sank her teeth into the soft flesh of his neck. He cried out in pain and dropped the stake. Something in Elena told her to stop, that she had done what she set out to accomplish, and that Ted was no longer a threat. But her adrenaline seemed to be on overdrive and the taste of fear in Ted's blood kept her from removing her teeth. She drank his blood while he continued to thrash in her hold on him. He had to die, he was going to kill her best friend, and he was a threat to them all.

"ELENA!" She heard a man scream. Not just any man. Somewhere in her frenzy and haze she recognized that voice. Damon.

She dropped the now dead Ted Fell onto the cold forest ground. When she looked up to observe her surroundings, she was stunned to see Damon and Stefan both staring at her. When had they arrived?

Stefan's face was one of shock and horror. Damon also seemed shocked, but held concern and empathy in his eyes. Elena reached up to touch the warm liquid that was running down her chin. Her hand came back ruby red. She looked down at Ted Fell's corpse, as if she was just realizing what had happened.

"Oh, God." She choked out before falling to her knees. The damn broke and her tears came uncontrollably, wracking her whole body. In the background, she faintly heard Caroline call Stefan's name, which meant the arms currently wrapping her in a strong embrace belonged to Damon.

His voice in her ear tried to reach through her hysteria. "Shhh, Elena. Elena! We need to get you out of here. Please, you need to come with me."

She made no move to go with him. Damon shot a look at Stefan who was checking on Caroline's current state. Stefan nodded and simply said, "Go."

That was all Damon needed and he scooped the bloodied Elena up into his arms, like he had done countless times before, and sped out of sight.

Little did they all know, that Connor had witnessed the whole thing.

More reviews, good or bad, will help me update sooner. If I dont receive any more, I'm not sure I will continue.

PS. I got the idea of a vampire hunter named Connor from a recent spoiler that said there will be a new character named Connor in the show for Season 4.