She turned around and surveyed the kitchen in dismay. Trust her to be in the only shadowed spot surrounded completely by sunlight.
"No." she moaned irritably. She had no choice but to walk across the patches of light and get burned by a million tiny daggers slicing through her skin.
She sighed and gritted her teeth, vamp speeding across the sunlit patches.
"Fuck." she moaned as her skin burned, hissing in pain as they began to heal.
Damon was at her side in seconds, concern covering his face. "Elena?" he said questioningly.
She sighed and pointed to the kitchen. "See the little dark patch right there? Surrounded by light? That's where I happened to be standing several painfully seconds ago."
Damon kept his composure for only a few seconds before a smile cracked his face.
"Don't laugh!" she said indignantly, her own smile appearing.
"Come on, Elena!" he chuckled. "You managed to trap yourself!" he spluttered, his eyes alight with humour.
She smacked him indignantly. "Well Bonnie hasn't been around to get me a ring!" she said laughing, making a mental note to find Bonnie and convince her she was still Elena and not evil or anything.
Damon sobered instantly, looking almost shy. "I-" he stopped looking awkward. "I actually got you a ring." he shifted his weight form one foot to the other, looking adorable. "If you wanted."
She looked up, her mouth open slightly. "You did? When?"
He smirked. "After I fed you my blood before you went running off to Klaus to let yourself die."
She glared at him, "I never really got a chance to hate you for that."
"Because I was dying." he said softly.
"I know. I couldn't hate you after that. You had tried to save me and I was ready to hate you for the rest of eternity, or at least let you grovel for several years but then Tyler bit you-" she broke off and looked at the floor.
The memories and feelings came rushing back. If she'd lost him that night, if Katherine hadn't made it in time, she would have lost herself too.
"If you'd died-" she started shakily.
"But I didn't." he cut her off swiftly, moving closer to her.
She looked at him. "If, Damon. If." she insisted.
"Elena." he said incredulously.
"Don't Damon. You brought this up! It's your fault! It just brought up those memories from that night." she said softly, her eyes wild. She had held him in her arms as he was dying from the bite of an ally.
"It's in the past, Elena." he said soothingly, his face tight.
"It's not the point, Damon. I was ready to hate you forever, if I hadn't found out would you even have told me? Or would you have lain in that bed alone?" she whispered into the silent house.
"Elena. I, being the eternal optimist-" She cut him off with a snort of disbelief. He looked at her, melting her with his eyes. "I had to believe you would forgive me in time. I couldn't stand the idea of you hating me forever." he said quietly.
She looked down at the floor, memories cascading around her. "I'm sorry."
He scoffed and cupped her face in his hands. "Don't be sorry. Never be sorry for me."
She looked at him, fighting everything in her not to press her lips against his and lose herself in him. She pressed her palm against his hand, pressing it closer to his cheek.
"I'm glad he bit me." he said softly into the quiet air, "because if he hadn't I wouldn't be siting here with you, like this, fighting ever urge I have to not kiss you right now."
She met his eyes for a second before wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him close. He hesitantly wound his arms around her slim frame and hugged her back, ever so softly.
"Even if he hadn't bitten you, Stefan would have left." she said.
Damon's head shot up, shock clouding his eyes.
"Klaus wanted him, Klaus would have gotten him. And we would still be here, and you would still be fighting."
"And I wouldn't have the guilt." he whispered regretfully. "Not the same guilt anyway."
"I know." was all she said in reply. In those two words she tried to convert everything she was feeling. Her guilt, her desires, her thoughts, her feelings, her emotions. Every ounce of love she could carry inside of her.
She pulled back regretfully, putting distance between them, both of them missing the contact.
"I need to do something." she said, her voice steady.
He nodded once before flashing away, returning before her mind could even wander much further than staring after him.
He smirked at her and held out a black box to her, reminding her of her birthday party all those months ago.
"Happy forever, Elena." he said, winking cheekily at her, flipping open the box to reveal her ring.
It wasn't gaudy or overdone, it was for lack of a better word, beautiful, although that couldn't even begin to describe it.
It was a white gold band intertwined with a few others to make an intricate pattern. Across the design were four royal blue stones with the largest, the size of pea, one one side descending to the smallest, which was only tiny. Lapis Lazuli stones.
She breathed out in awe as she took in the glittering piece of jewellery. She smiled gently and looked imploringly at him.
"Would you?" she asked sweetly.
He smirked at her and lifted the ring out of it's box and slid it onto the first finger of her left hand.
"I'll bump it along a couple fingers one day." he said jokingly, although she could see the seriousness in his eyes along with a glimmer of longing hidden just under a deep, heart-wrenching sadness.
She laughed musically and stepped away from him. "It's beautiful. Thank you." she said as she stepped out of the door into the morning sun.
She gritted her teeth and knocked on the familiar door of her childhood home.
Her breath caught in her throat as her brother answered the door. He was a mess. His eyes were gaunt and empty, his whole face displaying to the world that he had lost everyone.
"What do you want, Katherine?" he said in a flat voice.
She smiled weakly. "To seen my baby brother smile again."
His jaw dropped and his eyes widened so much he looked abnormal. Really abnormal.
"What-" he spluttered in shock. "How?"
She chuckled, still sore from the hurt displayed on her brother's face. "When you found me collapsed on the floor, it wasn't just a concussion. I would have died if Meredith hadn't fed me vampire blood." she summarised quickly, trying to ignore the hot wet blood pumping through his veins.
She took a deep, calming breath. This wasn't some door-to-door salesman – this was her brother. She closed her eyes, focussing on her own breathing until the urges passed.
"You're a vampire." he said in awe, his face pale.
She nodded a confirmation, smiling weakly.
Jeremy stared at her silently for a while when suddenly, out of nowhere he broke into loud laughter.
"What's so funny?" she asked with a smile on her face. It was nice to see her brother laugh again.
"Sorry, Ric was behind you pretending to rip your throat out and stake you." he said snickering.
"You can see him?" she asked incredulously, an unimaginable wave of happiness washing over her. He was gone, but he was still here. Jeremy was so lucky to be blessed enough to see those on the other side.
"Yeah." he said grinning. "So if I start cracking jokes about killer Ric, it's 'cause I've had him around cracking the jokes to start with."
"I miss you." she whispered into the air.
"He misses you too" Jeremy smiled sadly, "and he wants you to tell Damon that his good bourbon is hidden in the cheap bottles in his loft."
Elena laughed brightly. "You're sneaky Ric! I'll tell him."
Jeremy smiled. "Can I invite you in?" he asked hesitantly. "Are you gonna go all crazy and rip my throat out?" he asked, only semi-joking.
She breathed out as she felt the vampire instincts build up inside her. "Don't. Not yet."
Jeremy nodded, looking sad. "I love you, 'Lena." he whispered.
"Love you too, baby bro." she smiled back, her heart aching for him. "Bye, Jer." she said walking down the porch steps softly adding, "Bye Ric."
She pulled up outside her second stop, one which would be considerably more painful if Bonnie was in a vicious mood.
Again, she gritted her teeth and knocked on the door.
Bonnie swung the door open, her eyes full of anger.
"Leave Katherine." she ordered, closing her eyes as a thousand tiny needles attacked her mind, sending pain right through her as she crumpled to the floor clutching her head.
She let out a cry of pain as she felt firsthand the pain Bonnie had inflicted on so many people.
"Bonnie!" she managed to gasp out. "It's Elena!" she screamed as another wave of agony rolled over her.
The attack ceased for a moment, giving her only a few seconds of relief before it was back, tripled in strength.
"Bonnie!" she screamed. "Please!"
Bonnie stopped and stared at her, her eyes wary.
Elena lay on the floor, gasping for breath as she tried to recover. She was barely recovered for a minute before the mind-numbing pain was back, attacking every inch of her consciousness.
She screamed in pain, writhing on the floor as she endured long seconds of torture.
"Prove it." she said in a voice like ice, her eyes closed ready to resume the mental attack.
She couldn't focused through the pain, her mind refused to picture a single moment only she would have witnessed. She cried out as her mind was invaded over and over again.
"Feathers!" she suddenly yelled out. "You showed me your magic with feathers." she whimpered softly.
The attack stopped, leaving her weak and drained on the porch, gasping for air that she didn't need.
"God, Elena. You died." she whispered.
"Vampire blood." she said, barely audible to Bonnie's ears.
Bonnie placed a shaking hand over her mouth and shrunk back against the door frame. "I'm so sorry. I gave you almost five times as much as I gave Damon" she said softly, her voice shaking. "because Katherine is older. God, Elena I'm so sorry. That could have killed you." she gasped.
Elena lay on the porch, refusing to say another word as she attempted to recover. Damon had been over one hundred and fifty years old, and had had five times less than that forced into his mind. She was younger, barely a week as a vampire. It was logical. Use more pain on older vampires. Witches have an awesome sense of humour. Giving people the power to create aneurysms. How fun.
She sat up, feelings unnaturally weak. "It's fine." she whispered hoarsely.
"I'll take you back-" Bonnie began.
"Don't." she managed to force out. "I could hurt you." She forced herself to stand up shaking. "Come over to the Boarding house later?" she asked weakly.
Bonnie nodded, her face still shocked with her eyes full of tears. "I will."
She forced herself to walk towards the car and start the engine, wanting nothing more than to drain a person, or several dry.