I will fight ONE more fight
Don't break down in front of me
I will fight, will you fight?
I am not the enemy

They say home is where the heart is and that's a line Elena never argued with, she had never felt so much at home in her short lifetime and that's precisely what it is, short, after surviving the mission to obtain Elijah's family, all they had done is spend time at home, she felt locked inside - trapped - by the four walls she wakes up to every morning, Elijah does not wish to make her feel prisoner, he was only protecting her but humans need space, they have to be able to breathe a different air.

But everytime they left the house, danger followed and that is what they both feared the most.

Elena was fragile, a mere human, breakable but it was far too soon to even consider becoming a vampire. Was it?

After dating a vampire for over a year, questions such as these had never came to mind but after recent ordeals, it may be necessary, she cannot die so young but she cannot abandon her humanity so easily either.

Or should she? To be with Elijah forever, she would have too, to stay safe and alive, a vampiric nature would be necessary.

"What's on your mind?" Elijah interrupted her train of thought, she tried so hard to not reveal her true thoughts but they wanted out, badly.

"Nothing much, just planning a trip to Mystic Falls, I miss everyone." Why couldn't she say it? Ì want to be a vampire, In her mind, it's the easiest thing to say but to vocally say it, possible.

"When?"

"Tonight."

Elijah was astounded by her last minute planning and recklessness, because that's precisely what it is was. Reckless. To just walk into Mystic Falls after months of staying clear of it... No, anything could have occurred there, danger was Mystic Falls best friend but he didn't want to say no, how could he? They had stayed in the house for weeks, only leaving to go shopping, that wasn't something he had intended on doing. Plus, he would never keep her from her loved ones.

"Of course, I'll prepare for our departure, my love."

"Thank you."

They both smiled, before Elijah exited the living room, Elena heard h upstairs, walking around the bedrooms angrily, the thud in his footsteps made it more than clear that he didn't want to go but Elena didn't care, her stubbornness would get in the way of his wishes, she wanted to see her family, even if it was just a spare of the moment plan that masked her true desire.

-w-

Come nightfall, everything was prepared, bags packed, car filled up with petrol and they had set out, the journey tended to last a few hours, they where a fair distance away from Mystic Falls, which saddened Elena slightly, she was so far away from her loved ones but she made her decision a long time ago, she was never going to leave h. Elijah.

"Elena, you look... Troubled." Elijah spoke, he kept his gaze fixated on the road but concern was apparent in his voice.

"I'm not, I'm fine." She smiled re-assuringly at h, before placing her hand on his, her fingers trailing across his skin. "Don't worry." She rested her head on his shoulder, Elijah managed to drive with one hand whilst he wrapped his arm around her, and she was ready to fall asleep.

-w-

"Elena, wake up, we have arrived." Elena's eyes fluttered open, the first blaze of light to hit her eyes was the light emerging from the Salvatore's living room, by this time, Elijah had exited the car and held Elena's door open, a quick yawn escaped her lips as she slid out, closing the door behind her whilst Elijah collected the suitcases from the trunk.

Elena rapidly walked to the front door, she pounded her fist against the wood several times, Elijah was now stood close behind her, it wasn't long before Damon had opened the door and swooped her into his arms, Elena responded by wrapping her arms around his neck just as tight, her feet now bent at the knee and lifted off the floor. He even spun her slightly. Who was this? Definitely couldn't be Damon but it was, she'd know Damon if she was blind and 3 miles away from h.

"What do you want?" Damon paused mid-sentence, to return her to her feet, a puzzled expression on her face. "Well, you must want something otherwise you wouldn't be here, Gilbert."

"Good to see you too, Salvatore." She chuckled and Damon smirked. Nothing changed.

"Oh my god, Elena." She heard Caroline call out to her, before she knew it, both of her best friends had caught her and pulled her into a tight embrace, she missed everyone so much, and she could barely prevent herself from crying.

"Where's Jeremy?"

"I'm here, sis." She looked up to the doorway to see her brother standing just inside, Elena smiled kindly before jogging towards h, the two of them shared a long hug, it was much needed, Elijah had already said his greetings, he even shook Damon's hand, everyone seemed to be getting along just great, this made Elena happy.

They had all relocated to the living room, Elijah was sat on one of the chairs, Elena on his lap whilst the others just scattered, Damon and Jeremy remained stood up, whilst the girls sat on the couch, they all engaged in random conversation for a while, they where updating Elena and Elijah on recent activity, apparently Caroline's mother had got married to a man who Elena had never met, Bonnie and Jeremy where still going strong and Damon was happy... Without a partner.

"It's actually a good thing you came home, Elena, I was going to call you tomorrow night." Damon spoke; Elena could feel something was wrong.

"What is it?" She asked, straight to the point.

"Well, we have an evil-supernatural-creature related problem." A quick sigh escaped Elena's lips at his words, she was hoping for a quiet visit, all about family.

"And when you say 'evil-supernatural-creature related problem', you don't mean vampires?" She tilted her head slightly, catching Elijah's gaze, worry was clear in their eyes.

"No... Demons."

"Demons?"

"Yep, a couple of powerful demons opened up a gateway to hell beneath Fells church, apparently since the vampires where in there for so long due to magic, they felt the power and found it to be a weak spot between dimensions, thus meaning a gateway is easier to open there. We've all been trying our best to kill them as they arrive but some of them got away."

Elena barely had time to process any of this; he was talking as if it had been occurring for weeks... And by the look on their faces, they had been. "Why didn't you call me sooner?"

"We didn't want to disturb you because we thought we could handle it."

"What changed?" Elena asked.

"More and more where managing to escape into this world and the only thing we can do is seal the gateway, and we think that's where you might be able to come in. If bonnie can find the right spell; we could use your blood to seal it properly." Damon explained.

Great! More rituals, the last thing she ever wanted, she turned to look at Elijah, who looked skeptical about the idea. "Using Elena's blood? But not killing her, correct?"

"Correct, lover boy." Elena rolled her eyes and Elijah snarled at Damon's comment.

Elena just sat in complete silence, she hated how sacred her blood was, all because it had mystical properties, she contemplated her decision, if she didn't do it, then the 'demons' would have easy access to earth for all eternity if she did do it, then they would be rid of them forever but it also meant prolonging the inevitable. Her transition.

"I'll do it." Elijah gripped her hand tighter, mainly out of concern, had she chosen the wrong answer? She didn't think so, she slowly turned to look at him, and he was giving her the 'we'll talk about this later' look. Oh joy, she was so looking forward to that.

"I'll go try and find a spell." Bonnie interjected, before standing to her feet, Jeremy following her.

"I'll help." So the two of them left the Boarding House, leaving only Damon, Elijah, Caroline and Elena, the silence was excruciating, she'd rather a demon attack now just to end the awkwardness.

"And we're going demon hunting." Damon randomly spoke, Caroline had sprung to her feet, and she was excited, she enjoyed killing things; it made up for the lack of humans she murdered, which was a good thing after all.

"Elena, stay here." Elijah spoke.

"I don't think so." Elena uncrossed her legs and hopped onto her feet, leaving Elijah's comfortable lap, he used his vampire speed to stand up and stand close to her, leaving barely any space between them, Damon and Caroline just stared at each other before creeping out. Wise move.

"I'm not staying here whilst you three go face a bunch of demons and possibly get killed." She spoke, stubbornly.

"I'm not going to put your life at risk, I've faced a demon before, and they're not to be passed so easily."

"I don't care." She slowly wrapped her arms around h soothingly, mainly because he could never say no to her when she held h.

"I'll be safe; I have 3 vampires on my side." He pulled her in so tightly she thought she would stop breathing at any moment.

"Just be careful." He gave in; there was no way he was going to win this argument. He uses to have a reputation... Now that was tainted, he didn't care, he was still feared.

"Thank you." They both released each other and it was at that moment Damon and Caroline walked back in.

"Done with the lover's argument now?" Damon commented.

"It wasn't an argument, just a minor disagreement." Elena responded with wittily.

"Yeah, whatever. Here, take these, both of you." Damon held out two knives in front of them, Elena placed two of her fingers on the tip and Damon released it, she caught the handle and grasped it. "Bonnie spelled them, so they can kill demons, just slash and stab."

"Got it."

"Let's move out." Damon spoke and they all nodded their heads, before exiting the boarding house and walking quietly towards the woods. It was darker within the tree's than outside it, the air was fresher but the chill in the air made the atmosphere that much scarier, Elena feared it.

If I was a vampire, I wouldn't be scared. She thought to herself.

"Be aware." Damon spoke, the others seemed to be prepared but Elena was shaking, she felt so powerless and weak, especially compared to the others, and she could be broken so easily, her neck could be broken in 2 seconds flat. What was I thinking? Coming out here. She thought to herself. That's right, protecting my vampire friends that don't really need protecting, especially by a fragile human.

"Damon, look out." Caroline yelled, and before she knew it, she saw a man standing between two trees, throwing a blade towards h, thankfully, Caroline seen him just in time to warn Damon and use her vampire speed to appear behind him, plunging the knife into his back. The demon fell and his body turned to dust.

That was a first.

Elena could only gasp, she held the knife out in front of her whilst she spun around slowly, they were slowly starting to gather in numbers, as they walked nearer to them, more emerged from behind the trees, forming a neat circle around them. The four of them all had their backs pressed together, waiting for a move.

"Remember, slash and stab." Damon spoke before jolting towards a few of the demons, he adjusting the knife so it made it easier to slash at their necks quickly; three of them fell and turned to dust.

Elena froze, there was at least another 20 of them, Caroline seemed to be handling herself fine, she was quicker than Elena had thought and Elijah was killing them by the second, but more just kept re-appearing.

"Hello, sweetheart, don't you look tasty." Elena's eyes widened when she heard a voice behind her, she slowly turned, only to see a male demon standing before her, quite close too, she gripped the handle of the knife tighter, and pressed the tip on his stomach.

"That's what everyone says." She plunged the knife into his stomach, his face look mortified before he turned to dust. Elena felt the adrenaline rush through her body, she was pumped, so she decided to join in, killing any demon that crossed her path, she wouldn't go out of her way to kill one unless it was about ready to harm one of her friends or him. Elijah.

-w-

It had been just under an hour, it had taken that long to terminate all the demons, they all just stood around the dust, Elijah had immediately gone to Elena's side, he had one arm wrapped around her shoulders, and Elena's arm around his back, she just slumped against him, the adrenaline had gone and know she was exhausted, the others seemed to be ready for another fight, like they wanted to just kill kill kill.

"Oh no." She heard Damon's voice, she lifted her head from Elijah's chest and saw a couple dozen more demons walk towards them, apparently they weren't too happy about them killing their friends, Elena remained close to Elijah, as they all took a few steps back. "This isn't going to end well."

That's when Elena heard footsteps behind her, running towards them.

"Duck!" She turned around to see Alaric running towards them, a grenade in his hand, Elena's eyes widened as he went to launch it towards the demons; Elijah had pulled Elena to the ground, using his body to shield her from anything that may happen, his head rested on her back to cover his eyes. Caroline and Damon were now on the knees.

The demons tried to escape but it too late, the grenade hit the space behind them and it exploded, sparks emerged around them, an orange light radiated brightly, the demons shrieked before they all turned to dust, they all felt the impact of the blast, Damon was the closest so he was flung backwards, past Alaric and he hit the ground with a thud.

Damon only laughed. "Ric, my friend, I love you."

"Thanks Damon but the feeling isn't mutual." They both continued to laugh whilst Alaric gave him hand up.

Elijah lifted his head, the demons where gone so he started to stand up, he had his hands placed on Elena's hips, his hands seemed to fit perfectly into her curves and he pulled her up as he stood, they just held each other for a few long moments.

"It's almost dusk, we won't be seeing anymore of them tonight." Alaric re-assured them all, and Elena definitely felt much better now.

"Lets head back to the house."

"I'm gonna head home, my mom is probably wondering what I'm doing, she's gonna freak when I tell her I helped destroyed a demon army." She was chipper about the thought of it, which made Elena grin amusingly.

"See you later." They all said to Caroline before she jolted off, the others just talk a slow walk back to the boarding house.

-w-

They were all sat in the living room once again, Elena on Elijah's lap, and Damon and Alaric on the couch, the three men had whiskeys and Elena was far too exhausted to even contemplate a drink.

"That was a handy little device, Bonnie spell it?" Damon asked Alaric, who nodded his head for a response. "Has she found the spell yet?"

"No but I think she's getting close to it, she's looking through the grimoires that previous witches had, who had encountered demons in the past."

"Right, well I'm going to bed, leave you men to your drinks." Elena weakly returned to her feet, Elijah went to stand but Elena put her hand on his chest and gently pushed him back onto the chair. "You stay here; have fun with these two, then come to bed later."

Elijah simply nodded his head. "Goodnight, lover."

He pressed his lips on hers for a long moment, she returned his kiss and Damon and Alaric had turned their heads, which was considerate of them.

"Goodnight." They finally released each other and she made her way up to the guest bedroom, the stairs where too much for her to handle so she climbed them slowly, once she finally reached the room, she just fell onto the bed, she was too tired to change into a pair of pajamas so she just lay on top of the covers fully dressed.

She closed her eyes and started to drift off, she could still here the three men chatting and laughing every now and then which didn't help her much at all, so she turned on her side, using the pillow to block one of her ears, helped a bit but not much, she was far too restless.

But she managed to fall asleep eventually.