(Chapter four)

What in the hell is going on? That woman said she knew Stefan Salvatore and met him in 1953 but Stefan Salvatore was only seventeen years old. Elena was so confused and her mind was racing trying to figure out what was going on. All she knew was that she had to talk to Stefan and figure out what was up! Elena raced to the bathroom where she knew Stefan was and as soon as she opened the door to call his name he was about to walk out. She pushed him back inside and started pacing the bathroom trying to figure out what to say to him first.

"Stefan, what is going on...? That lady said she knew Stefan Salvatore and met him in 1953 along with his uncle Gabe. You are Stefan and you are seventeen years old. You also have an uncle named Zach. What the hell is going on?" she said.

"Elena, she just made a mistake. Let it go." he said.

"No Stefan, I want answers and I want them now. Stop keeping secrets from me!" she yelled and was up in his face.

"Elena..." he said, "everything I'm about to tell you may frighten you and all your feelings for me are bound to change but I can't lie to you anymore...are you sure you want to know? Can you handle it?"

"...Yes Stefan, tell me." she said with confusion on her face.
Elena was worried and she was not prepared for the answer Stefan was about to give her.

"I'm a...a vampire Elena." he whispered.
Her heart dropped and she felt...deathly afraid. She started to back up slowly towards the bathroom door.

"I shouldn't have told you, I have to go." he said.

"No Stefan, don't come close to me but we need to talk..." she said in a scared tone but Stefan was gone.

Elena couldn't believe what Stefan had just told her. He was a...vampire? Those kind of things only exists in movies and books, or so she thought. Her heart was racing, her legs began to feel weak, and her head was pounding but she had to talk to Stefan no matter how terrified she was. Stefan had driven her to the school but she knew the boardinghouse wasn't too far so she walked. All the way there she felt like she was going to be sick and once she got there she pounded on the door screaming Stefan's name. She pounded and pounded and was about to give up until the door opened. She didn't care that the door had opened on it's own, the fact that her boyfriend was a vampire scared her more than a ghost door. She bolted inside the house, up the stairs, and into Stefan's room but he wasn't there. Elena began to search the room for him. She passed by a desk and being nosy, she glanced at it. Sitting upon a copy of The Great Gatsby, Elena saw a picture that looked like her but...it wasn't her. Underneath the picture she saw the name Katherine printed in fine cursive writing and next to that the date read 1864. Oh my god, this girl...this girl that looked identical to her was Katherine? This could not be happening, first she finds out her boyfriend is a vampire and now she finds his ex girlfriend to look just like her? How was that even possible? Elena was panicking but she picked up the picture and ran across the hall to Damon's room. "Please be in there" she thought. She turned the door knob and there she saw Damon Salvatore sitting with a smile on his face.

"Why hello Elena. Had to come back to get some more of me huh?" he said smirking.

"Damon, what the hell is this?" she said holding up the picture of Katherine and Damon's face dropped.

"Where the hell did you get that?" he said grabbing the picture. "How did you find this?"

"Why does she look like me?" Elena sounded mad but on the inside she was about to cry.

"I...I don't know Elena. You two aren't even related. She is a Pierce and you're a Gilbert." he said holding the picture and staring into Katherine's face.

"Where is Stefan? I have to find him Damon. Where is he?" she was yelling now.

"He hasn't been here since he left for your house around six. Come one, we'll go look for him. My brother has some serious explaining to do..." Damon was angry.

Damon took off down the stairs and Elena was right behind him. Damon opened the door to his blue mustang for Elena and then hopped inside himself. They took off in search of Stefan and not a single word was shared between them. As Elena watched out the window, she felt tears falling down her face. This was the most shocking night of her life and she was hurt. Stefan had been lying to her. After hours of searching they found no sign of Stefan and Damon pulled the car off the side of the road into the entrance of the woods.

"Damon, what are we doing here? These woods are dangerous, haven't you been watching the news? All those animal attacks...this isn't the safest place to be." she said in a scared tone.

"Stop crying Elena. My brother is an idiot, you shouldn't waist tears over him. And ha, good one. These woods don't scare me, animal attacks my ass." he said staring out the window.

"...The attacks weren't an animal? Oh my god Damon, was it Stefan?" her voice was alarmed and her eyes started to burn as she felt the tears coming.

"What are you...wait, Stefan told you didn't he?" his eyes were locked on hers and he slowly reached up to wipe a single tear that was falling down her rosy cheek.

"You know? But how...unless...Damon, are you a vampire too?" she felt herself reaching for the door handle to run out of the car.

"Elena, get your hand off the handle." he said, "I'm not going to hurt you okay? I could never hurt you but yes, Stefan and I are both vampires."
Elena had lost it, tears we flowing down her face. Her head ached.

"Stefan took off before I could ask him questions. I was scared Damon and I still am but, tell me the story." she sobbed.

"It was 1864. Stefan and I were inseparable. We spent everyday together and we loved each other. We got along perfectly until this...this bitch showed up. Her name was Katherine as I'm sure you already know. We both wanted her and we fought for her love and the fact that we both wanted her made us hate each other. One thing we didn't know was that Katherine was a vampire. We didn't figure it out until she bit us and then compelled us to drink her blood. Compulsion is this thing where you can control people's minds and make them do things. Well she compelled us to not tell the other about what she was or that she had been sharing blood with both of us. Well our father found out what Katherine was and had her taken away to be burned in the church and Stefan and I tried to save her but we were shot by our own father and died but since we had Katherine's blood in our system it brought us back and we went to save her from the church but it was already burnt to the ground with her inside. So to complete the process of becoming a vampire you have to drink human blood. I wanted to die because I couldn't live a life without her but Stefan forced me to drink and once that happened I promised him a life of eternal misery and that's it. I've been a vampire since 1864 and yes, I'm 146 years old." he said.

Elena couldn't believe what she had just heard. First off she was scared that they were both vampires but what made her sick was two things Damon had said. One, Katherine had been giving each brother blood which was sick and twisted and two, Stefan was the one who forced Damon into a life of eternal misery and the guy didn't even want it to begin with unless Katherine was in the picture.

"You're telling me that you didn't want this life?" Elena asked.

"Correct you are." he said.

"I'm sorry but Damon...have you been using compulsion on me...?" she was horrified.

"No Elena, that stupid necklace you're wearing is filled with vervain and it keeps me from being able to use compulsion on you. The fact that you have kissed me twice was all you Mrs. Gilbert, no compulsion used. No one can resist my charm." he winked at her.

"Damon, take me home." her tone was bitter.

"As you wish madame." he said and then they were driving again.

The blue mustang pulled into Elena's driveway and without so much as a goodbye she slammed the door of the car and stormed inside. She needed time to think and time to cry but as she entered her room she found Stefan sitting on her bed and his eyes were full of pain.