Klaus was furious. It was one thing for Stefan to decide to deal with his brother on his own. Sure, why not! A little sibling rivalry never hurt anybody.

No, apparently it gets you killed. Klaus glared into the backseat of his car where Stefan lay, heartless and dead. What could he have possibly done to piss of Damon so much? He knew the other Salvatore brother was impulsive, but this; this was madness!

Klaus pulled into the driveway he had been searching for and got out of the car, walking up the pathway to the front door. He knocked on the glass, waiting for an answer. Finally, a woman, who appeared to be in her early thirties, opened the inside door. She glared when she saw who was on the other side of the glass, "What do you want?"

Klaus smiled brilliantly, "Eliza! How's my favorite witch been over the last few decades? Sorry; I would have dropped in, but I've been a bit busy."

"So I've heard," Eliza said, opening the door with her dark hand and swishing her long, black hair over her shoulder. "I'll say it again," she said, "What do you want?"

"Well, you see, my friend ran into a bit of a… family crisis down in Mystic Falls."

"Mystic Falls," Eliza grinned, "That the town that's been gettin' all them animal attacks?"

Klaus grinned and nodded, "That would be the one. You see, I would have left him where I found him, but it so happens I'm not finished with him yet."

He gestured Eliza outside and she followed him over to the car, where she glanced at Stefan through the backseat window. She frowned, "What's wrong with him?"

Klaus opened the door and pulled Stefan's lifeless corpse out, ripping the front of his shirt open. Eliza whistled in appreciation at Damon's handiwork, "Your friend here musta done somethin' real bad to deserve that."

"Yes, that's another problem; I don't know what that is. All I know is he's dead, and I can't have that."

"So you want me to bring him back."

Klaus nodded, "Surely someone as gifted as you could do it."

She laughed, "No need to butter me up, sugarcakes; I've had over 150 years of butterin', and it aint getting' you nowhere. However, he seems like a pretty little thing, so I'll… lend you a hand."

Klaus grinned; it just so happened that Eliza was an ancient practice of the darkest of magics, having casted spells to keep herself at a beautiful, but not suspicious age for nearly two centuries, and having aided Klaus in his devious plans during most of them. She had done everything from babysitting his damn coffins for a few years, to bringing his minions back from the dead.

Yes, she could bring back a dead vampire.

"Bring him inside and I'll see what I can do."

Eliza frowned as Klaus dropped Stefan onto her couch, "It's gonna be harder than usual; what with his heart being gone and all. I'll need some sort of substitute."

"A substitute for a heart?" Klaus asked skeptically.

"Hm… I've got it." Eliza smiled and walked over to her smouldering fireplace and picked up a rather large lump of coal. "A dark heart to serve the darkest of masters," she said, grinning at Klaus as she, with no hesitation at all, plunged her coal filled hand into Stefan's chest, lodging the rock where his heart should be. "Cicatricem vulneribus suis," she said, and, to Klaus' astonishment that never seemed to cease when it came to Eliza's work, the gaping hole Damon had created quickly disappeared, not even leaving a scar.

"Light me a few candles," Eliza said, and Klaus did so.

Four hours later, the door to Eliza's house flew open yet again, and Klaus walked out into the afternoon sunshine.

Followed closely behind by a very dark, glowering Stefan.

VvvvV

"Stop it!"

There was a peal of giggles coming from Damon's bedroom. "Damon, stop…!"

Elena squealed as he chased her around the bedroom, which they had failed to leave in close to 24 hours. She giggled when he finally grabbed her around the waist, proceeding to kiss his way up her neck and to her temple, down her cheek and finally reaching her lips. Elena giggled again under his lips, and Damon grinned. "You know," he said, "Eventually we're going to have to leave this room."

"Ooh…" Elena purred, turning her body so she was facing him and wrapping her arms around his neck, "You want to take this somewhere else? Maybe one of the cells…" she grinned at him, "Kinky."

Damon rolled his eyes, grinning, "I meant we're going to have to face the real world eventually. As much as I would love to keep you up here in my bed forever… you're going to have to feed eventually."

Elena's smile slipped completely and she shook her head, moving out of his embrace and walking over to the window, quickly recoiling and screeching when the sunlight burned her skin. Damon's eyes widened and he ran to her side, "Are you okay?"

She shook her head, tears in her eyes, "I can't even leave the house!"

Damon tucked her hair behind her ear, "We'll get Bonnie to make you a daylight ring…"

"No," Elena whimpered, walking over to sit on Damon's bed again, clad in one of his button downs and a pair of his black boxers, "I don't want Bonnie to know… what I am."

Damon frowned in concern and walked over to sit beside her, "You'll have to tell them eventually, Elena. They're going to want answers when they find out that you killed Alaric."

"No," Elena shook her head again, burying her face in her knees. Her voice was muffled as she replied, "Tell them it was Katherine."

Damon pulled her over into his lap, placing soothing kisses to her cheek. "They'll find out on their own anyway, Elena. Wouldn't you rather tell them the truth?"

Her feelings from last night were returning, "No, I wouldn't! I don't want this, Damon!"

"Well, no one is going to believe it was Katherine, anyway," he said, biting his lip. Her head shot up, "What? Why not…?"

"I… sort of told Caroline about your… situation."

"You…did… what?"

She tore out of his arms and half way across the room, glaring, "How could you do that…?"

"She was still here when I came home, Elena! She wanted to know what had happened to you…"
"You should have told her I was dead!"

Damon recoiled at her words, shocked, "Elena… you would rather your friends all think you were dead rather than have them know the truth?"

She nodded, hugging herself, "Bonnie won't understand. Matt will feel abandoned… I'm not sure about Caroline. Damon… I don't want them to all see me like this. Like a monster that can't even stop herself from k-killing Alaric…!"

Damon stood up, frowning, "You aren't a monster, Elena…"

"I'm a vampire, Damon! How can you say I'm not a monster?"

"Is that what you see me as?" he snapped, frowning, "A monster?"

Elena's eyes widened at his reaction, and she quickly shook her head. "No," she whispered, "Of course I don't!"

"Then why are you so convinced that you're one?"

She sniffled, "I'm afraid, if they all find out what I am, they'll come here. I could hurt Matt…"
Damon grinned a little bit, "Bonnie could help with that, too."

Elena looked at him in confusion, "How?"

Damon pointed to his head, "A tiny vampire aneurism and she'll put you in line."

Elena recoiled at the idea, "Oh, no…"

"Come here," Damon muttered, pulling her into his arms, "You don't have to do anything until you're ready, alright?"

She nodded against his chest.

He rubbed her back and kissed her hair, "I told you that this wasn't going to be easy. But we're going to get through it, okay? The first little while is the hardest… but it gets easier."

Elena nodded silently again, relishing in his comforting words.

"You don't have to see anyone until you want to…"

His comforting words were interrupted by the front door flying open downstairs.

"Damon!" Caroline's voice shrieked, "Come quick; Elena killed Alaric!"

VvvvV

"So… are you ready to tell me why Damon killed you?"

Stefan didn't respond. He simply sat in the passenger seat and glared straight ahead. Klaus sighed, "A heart of coal makes for one boring road trip partner…"
Stefan slowly turned his glare toward Klaus, "Hurry up and finish whatever business it is we need to do."

Klaus' eyes widened as he glanced at Stefan, "Why should I do that?"

"Because," Stefan said, staring straight ahead again, "As soon as we're done, we're going back to Mystic Falls."

"Are we, now? Why would that be?"

"I'm going to kill my brother."

I know, I know; you hate me. Cliffhanger! So, what do you think? Badass Stefan is back, and badder than ever! So, what do you think will happen next? Will Stefan kill Damon? What will Elena do when she discovers he's alive? More importantly, what will Stefan do when he discovers Elena slept with his brother the night that he died? Prepare for all of this and more in the next chapter of "18 Years until Death"!