Alaric frowned as he stalked through the Salvatore hallways. He moved slowly, carefully. His brown eyes scanned every detail of the house.
"Elena?" He called out. He got no reply and felt his hands sweat and his stomach fill with fear. This was the third time he tried her name, the second minute that passed without a sound from her, the sixth time he felt cold eyes on him, even though there was no one there. Alaric closed his eyes and took a deep breath, contemplating on leaving the house. After all, it didn't seem safe anymore. He opened his eyes and gasped.
There she was.
But it wasn't her. It wasn't brown, doe-eyed Elena, with the light brunette hair and the kind, sweet smile. Taking her place was a monster. A monster with deadly amber eyes and tangled locks of dark hair and a set of the sharpest teeth he'd ever laid eyes on. His eyes trailed a bit lower and he noticed the sharp knife clenched in her fist. She was holding onto it with a death grip. He put his hands up as a sign of peace and backed away.
"Elena…it's just me. It's Alaric." He reasoned. She growled low and soft, the noise coming out rather animalistic. It didn't sound human. She didn't look human. Alaric swallowed the lump in his throat and took another step back. Apparently she didn't like this, because the next thing he realized, she had him pinned to the floor, raising the knife above her head. "Elena!" He cried, pushing on her shoulder with as much force as he could muster. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough. Elena grabbed his hand fast before ripping it off and throwing it across the room. With a taunting snicker, she raised the knife high above her head; ignoring his protests and easily pinning him down with her other arm, and plunged the knife down. He closed his eyes and waited for the pain.
It never came.
He reopened his eyes slowly, and, realizing her weight was now gone, sat up. From across the room he could see Damon straddle Elena and try to pin her down without much success. Her frantic movements made it difficult, and even Damon himself was surprised at the strength of the tiny girl below him.
"Elena! Calm down! It's just me, It's Damon!" He spoke loudly yet gently, hoping the soothing voice would bring her out of the dangerous trance she was in. Elena just screamed and with one quick movement, threw him off of her, sending him into the bookshelf across the room. Damon landed with a grunt on the hard floor, and when he looked up, she was gone. And the front door was open.
"Well, this is great." Damon exclaimed, slightly breathless from the events that just took place. Alaric rolled his eyes and quickly located his ring before pushing it onto his finger.
"This isn't funny, we have to find her." Alaric said harshly. Damon looked at him sarcastically.
"Of course we have to find her! What'd you think I was gonna do, put up flyers and just let the police deal with it?" He hissed. Damon quickly grabbed his leather jacket, which was on the floor and slipped it on before stalking out of the door, with an annoyed Alaric behind him.
…
Elena stumbled for the tenth time, quickly regaining her balance and keeping herself from falling onto the black asphalt. Her head was spinning, and her stomach churned. She felt as if she was going to throw up all over herself, and the only think keeping her from doing so was knowing that she probably wouldn't be able to handle the smell, considering her senses were ten times heightened. Half of her couldn't remember her name, or what she was even doing. But the other half, the stronger half, knew exactly what she was doing, where she was going. Knew exactly what she was supposed to be doing…killing someone. Elena took a step forward, towards the Lockwood family mansion where there was currently some cocktail party going on. Despite herself, she was starting to feel scared and small. And more than ever, she wanted Damon.
But that all went away with one click of her brain as she witnessed somebody walked out of the large house and drive away in their car. She licked her lips and tightened her grip on the knife she forgot she was holding. Elena broke out in a sloppy sprint, tripping here and there, and with strength she didn't know she even possessed, she climbed up the side of the house and into one of the abandoned bedrooms on the third floor.
She listened closely as she stepped into the hall, her boot-clad feet clicking lightly on the hardware floor. Her head started throbbing more than ever, and she resisted the urge to scream as the wound on her midsection started to burn. While passing a door on the left side of the hallway, she heard a soft voice.
"Jason…c'mon, we have to stop. No! My mom's gonna go apeshit when she realizes we aren't at the party!" A young girl giggled, clearly not hating what "Jason" was doing to her. With a swift movement, Elena busted open the door and walked in. The girl, who Elena knew as Valerie, suddenly sat up from where her and Jason were tangled in bed. "Elena! What are you doing here? Why-" She cut herself off and stared at Elena with wide eyes. "Why do you have blood on you?"
But nothing mattered to Elena anymore. All she could feel was pain. All she could hear was a ringing in her ears. And all she could see was an opening, a way to get rid of the dread. She stepped closer to Valerie with cold eyes and pulled her teeth up in a snarl. Jason backed up against the closest wall, his eyes horror-struck and his mouth open in a silent scream. Valerie noticed the crazed look in Elena's eyes and the knife in her hand, and before she could even let out a shriek, Elena had her pinned against the wall. The young redhead whimpered and let tears fall out of her eyes. Elena just smirked. Raising the knife up again, she gave one last low growl before plunging it down into the girl's abdomen. She did it again. And again. And again. Blood splattered onto Elena's face and dripped down onto her shirt. Slowly, the pain in her midsection became less and less prominent, before fading away altogether. She felt Valerie slump into her arms, dead and lifeless. And just in that second, the door swung open. There was Damon.
Her eyes swung up to meet his, and her heart nearly broke. Most of Elena's senses were coming back at this point. She felt almost normal. Almost. She could see the pain and frustration (which was not aimed at her) in those ocean eyes. Damon took a step forward and opened his mouth to speak, but quickly closed it. There was nothing to say.
Just then, Alaric took that moment to stumble up the stair and run into the room. His eyes widened and fixed on Valerie before looking to Elena, whose breathing was frantic and eyes were wild. Elena dropped Valerie to the floor, the dead body making a loud thud noise when it came in contact with the hard surface. She also dropped the knife, and by looking at the two men's reactions, finally became aware of what she did.
"Oh my god." She whispered. She brought her hand up to her cheek and attempted to wipe the sticky blood off before realizing that it was counterproductive and she just ended up smearing it. Elena let out a dry sob and dropped to her knees in front of the lifeless body. "I did this…I killed her…oh god." Tears leaked from her eyes and she started sobbing helplessly, covering her face with her hands. Damon swallowed the lump in his throat and stepped around Elena to Jason, who was still slumped against the wall in fear. He quickly compelled the boy to leave and forget about what happened. After Jason walked out of the room chipper as if nothing happened, he turned to Elena.
She was crying so hard that he actually worried if she was even breathing. Crouching down to her level, Damon took her hands away from her face. His breathing hitched because she still managed to look beautiful, even with tears and blood and the most tangled hair he'd ever seen. He took both of her wrists in one of his hands in a firm yet gentle grip and used his other hand to cup her chin, forcing her to look at him.
"Elena. Elena, look at me. That's it. Look at me." He spoke softly. She swung her gaze up to meet his, never stopping her sobs. He frowned and stroked the side of her face. "C'mon, I'm gonna take you home, alright?" He didn't wait for an answer as he stood back up and turned to Alaric. "I need you to take care of the body." He said. Damon ignored the shocked look on the teachers face as he turned back around and scooped Elena up into his arms as gently as possible, allowing her to move her face into his shoulder and cry. He whispered soft assurances and gave Alaric one look of understanding before leaving the house.
Alaric stood, staring at the body for god knows how long, before taking a deep breath and getting to work. He crossed the room, picked up the knife from the floor and turned it around in his hands with just one thought.
Elena was never going to be the same.