Thank you, smallstripes for editing this chapter for me.

Chapter 4

Elena's eyes opened wide with terror as she watched Jeremy's body fall and hit the ground.

"Jeremy!" she screamed and ran to him; she put his head on her lap and caressed his hair. Tears streamed down on her face as she looked at Vicky with disgust.

Vicky looked proud of herself.

"Elena, we have to go, come on." Stefan reached out his hand to her.

"We can't leave him," Elena objected.

"We won't. We'll bring him to my house." Stefan grabbed Jeremy, "Let's go."

Elena was shaking, she was so scared. What would happen now? How would Jeremy adapt to a life as a vampire? First Vicky, now Jeremy, and who was going to be next? She felt overwhelmed by it all.

"Whoa, what have happened?" Damon asked.

Stefan quickly explained the situation to Damon.

"I see you're learning pretty fast, I'm proud of you." Damon grinned at Vicky who looked back smugly.

Elena wanted to say something, but she realized that there was no point. Damon was not going to change. She just wanted this day to finish or turn out to be some kind of nightmare, at best. On the contrary, this day seemed to get longer and longer.

"Elena," Matt called "Oh my god? What happened?" Matt stared at Jeremy's body hanging in Stefan's arms.

Why do they have to run into Matt and Tyler right now?

"Nothing, Matty. Jeremy just passed out, he had too much to drink," Vicky explained.

Elena hid her tears from Matt and Tyler.

"Do you need any help?" Matt offered.

"No, thank you, we'll be fine," Stefan responded.

"I'll see you later Matty."

"Again, this weird smell." Tyler wrinkled his nose.

Elena noticed the worried look on Stefan's face. "Did something happen?"

"No, nothing," Stefan answered.

However, Elena couldn't help but notice Stefan and Damon exchanging glances.

After they got back to the boarding house, Stefan put Jeremy down on the sofa.

"I'll get him some blood, he should be awake any minute," Stefan said.

Elena took Jeremy's hand in hers and felt his fingers moving, she stepped back and watched as her brother woke up, gasping for air.

"What happened?" he asked, confused. Jeremy looked around before his eyes met Vicky's.

"You… you fed me your blood and then you knocked me out."

"Actually, she killed you," Damon correct him.

Elena felt very anxious, her hands were shaking, her brother was about to become a vampire, what would happen if he couldn't deal with it? "Do you have to be so blunt, Damon?!" Clearly, Jeremy didn't realize what had happened.

"What the hell are you talking about, and where am I?" Jeremy asked.

Elena knelt next to her brother. "Jeremy, listen, I know all of this is very confusing for you, but I promise you, everything will be all right, you will be all right."

"Basically, Vicky turned you into a vampire," Damon said.

Jeremy burst out laughing. "What drugs are you taking?"

"It's true, Jeremy, vampires do exist and," she took a deep breath, "and you're one of them now."

Jeremy was no longer laughing. "No, that's impossible."

"It is, Jeremy." Vicky's face changed as if she was ready to feed.

Jeremy's eyes widened as he moved back.

Stefan approached him, holding a glass of blood. "Here, you need to drink it to complete the transition."

"Otherwise, you're dead," Damon added.

Jeremy's hands shook as he took the glass. He looked at it for a moment before he shifted his eyes to scan others. "How is this possible, how can vampires exist?"

"Hmm, good question, I'll answer it if I ever get an answer, now drink it." Damon urged him.

He slowly put the glass to his mouth and took a big gulp, he immediately grimaced and spat it out.

"Stefan, I know you're a big fan of forest animals, but he has to drink human's blood, oh," he turned to Jeremy, "and thank you for not getting the blood on the sofa."

"I gave him the human's blood, I don't understand." Stefan took the empty glass from Jeremy's hands.

Damon walked up to Jeremy and looked straight into his eyes. "Unbelievable, you're still human, but how?"

"What do you mean he's still human? I turned him exactly the same way you turned me." Vicky snapped.

Damon grabbed Jeremy's hand and looked at his ring. "It's the ring from your father, isn't it?" Jeremy tried in vain to take his hand back.

"So, Jeremy, can you tell us the history behind this ring? I mean there is a history, right?" Damon asked.

"Why should I tell you," Jeremy grunted.

"Well, maybe, because it's this ring that stopped you from becoming a vampire," Damon explained.

"How is that possible?" Elena looked puzzled. She knew this ring was inherited from their father and that it had a twin ring, which their uncle John currently owned. But what could a ring have to do with it?

"I remember how Johnathan Gilbert had the same ring, he used to brag about it, before I went back to fight in the Civil War, he said it protected him from the demons of the night," Damon said, clearly intrigued.

"I see; this ring must pass down through generations." Stefan looked at the ring, curiosity in his eyes.

"I guess you need to take this ring off so I can turn you into a vampire, this time for real," Vicky said.

"No!" Elena objected. "Jeremy, we're going home, now!"

"First, tell me about the vampires, and how our parents knew about them." Jeremy demanded.

"I promise you, I will answer all of your questions, but please, let's just go home."

Elena pleaded. She feared that Vicky could turn Jeremy into a vampire. There were Stefan and Damon who could stop her, even though Damon probably wouldn't move his finger to prevent it, and Vicky with her vampire speed could take Jeremy out of the room, before anyone could notice.

"You can answer me here," Jeremy demanded.

"Fine." Damon rolled his eyes. "I'll tell you the bed-time story about vampires."

Elena's mum and dad used tell her and Jeremy, all the stories about vampires. Who would have thought that vampires would turn out to be real?

Damon in short explained about vampires and their abilities. He also mentioned about the town council and its members.

"Wait our founding families: The Fell's, Forbes' and Lockwood's, they all hunt for vampires?" Jeremy asked with disbelief.

"Yeah, they should find a better hobby, don't you think?"

He ignored Damon and turned towards Vicky and asked her, "Who turned you?"

"That would be me," Damon smirked.

"Alright, Jeremy, you got your answers, now we really need to go." Elena's anxiety was increasing with every minute.

"But-"

"No buts, let's go." She ordered.

"Fine." He got up from the sofa, clearly not ready to leave,and followed Elena to the door. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow, by the way, does Matt know you're a vampire?"

"No." Vicky looked away.

The whole car ride home was silent, neither Jeremy nor Elena spoke.

When the car stopped in the driveway, Jeremy got up without a word and slammed the car door shut behind him.

Elena tried to talk to him, she waited patiently by his door for him to calm down, but there was no calming down for him, not yet, he was too angry about the secrets: about Vicky, the vampires, and his parents.

He understood why she kept those secrets, however, he wasn't ready to talk to her.

Jeremy didn't say a word to Elena on their way back, and he slammed his door in front of her, after they came back home. She tried to talk to him, in vain. He was still angry at her for keeping the truth about the vampires and Vicky.

Eventually, Elena gave up and went back to her room.

Jeremy sat down on his bed and sighed. He should be scared, he was just killed and revived by a magical ring, and there were vampires lurking around the town. Instead, he felt excited and he had so many questions. Did Tyler know? Maybe Tyler's parents had told him; he seemed off, maybe that was the reason.

Maybe Jeremy's parents had planned to tell him about the vampires and giving him this ring was the first step to it. His father's boxes were in the basement, maybe there was something about the vampires in them. He decided to look through them tomorrow, he felt too tired now.

He thought about what Vicky had said about turning him into a vampire. If he had to be honest with himself, he didn't feel like he wanted to become one. It just didn't seem right, especially since his father had left him a ring to protect him from them. With these thoughts, Jeremy fell asleep.

"Seriously? I told you I'd get you blood." The mysterious, brown-haired woman spoke to Logan as he fed on some woman.

"I was hungry, alright. I can't walk during the day because of that bloody sun," Logan complained as he dropped the dead body, "speaking of which, tell me how can I walk in a sun; you seem have no problem with it."

"First, you need to complete the task that I gave you," the woman said in a serious tone.

"Oh, you mean capturing Elena. I think I'll pass. You see, I kind of like her aunt, and kidnapping her niece would leave me in her bad books. Besides, why do you need me to capture Elena? If you want to kill her, you can do it by yourself without any effort; I already saw your strength."

She smiled slightly. "You're right, I could kill Elena without any effort. However, contrary to what you're thinking, Elena will stay alive and safe."

"Safe? I don't think she'll be safe with you, and what will you gain from having Elena, anyway?"

"I think the question you should ask is what you will gain from Elena." The woman smirked as Logan observed her, intrigued.