Chapter ten

And I will try to fix you

Elizabeth

Humanity, Georgia

1909

That name of that town was so ironic it made me laugh. That cold, humorless laugh that was now a part of me.

It was night, the air so still that it felt suffocating. I stood stock still, staring up into the pitch black sky. Poppy and I had been occupying this very small town for a few days. At first it was boring- I loathed small towns, there was nothing to do- but then Poppy told me of her plan for this town. The best thing about Humanity, was that it was in the middle of nowhere, not another town or house or person for miles.

No help for miles.

I waited quietly for the signal. Poppy made it very clear that we had to execute this plan perfectly for everything to work out. If the townspeople found out too early, they could cause us extra trouble.

Suddenly, I heard a long scream pierce the silent air, and I smirked. Show time.

A terrified girl sprinted towards me, tears streaming down her face. I didn't feel her pain, I didn't care that she had just discovered her parents dead. All I did was let loose the hunger within me.

I stalked towards the girl, my eyes red and my fangs protruding from my mouth. She fell backwards, shaking in fear. She let out a low whimper as I stopped inches from her.

"Please," she whimpered, a southern drawl just audible. "Why are you doing this?"

I sighed; humans were never original with their last words. Just once, I would like to hear something else besides, "Why are you doing this?"

"Because it's fun." I smirked, as I yanked her roughly up towards me.

Then I ripped her throat out with my teeth.

Soon, the screams started, as more and more townspeople discovered the bodies of their families- courtesy of Poppy- and ran for help. Unknowingly, they ran straight for me.

I was so busy ripping out throats and draining bodies dry, I barely had time to enjoy it. Poppy just watched as I killed every last person in the small town of Humanity. All because Poppy and I were bored.

I breathed heavily, blood coating my face and dress. I stared at the dead bodies all around me, and something deep down twitched slightly. My humanity. I easily blocked out the guilt I felt, choosing to bask in the feeling of power drinking all that fresh blood brought me instead.

I had just killed an entire town almost completely by myself. I had never done that before, and it was a new low for my almost nonexistent humanity to hit.

I saw a nearby barn go up in flames as Poppy set the town on fire, to burn up the evidence. I sighed, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. I needed to bathe and rid my body of the blood that covered it.

I turned to run to the nearby stream, when I suddenly saw a body hanging from a tree that shouldn't of been there.

Lily's.

I gasped loudly, and fell backwards. This didn't happen here. My best friend was still alive-

Suddenly, my brothers were spread eagle on the ground, dead. They wore the same clothes they had when I found them dead in 1864, bullet wounds and all. Suddenly, they morphed into present day Stefan and Damon, with stakes in their hearts.

"No," I sobbed, "Not again…"

I sat up straight, gasping for air. I panted, and looked around my pitch black room. I was alone, yet I felt like someone was watching me.

I pushed my sweaty black hair out of my face, then got out of bed. I needed somebody, anybody. I needed to know that my brothers were alive and safe.

I pushed my door open, and looked around the house. It was dark and silent- it had to be almost two A.M. I padded next door, and eased Lily's door open. I saw through the darkness, a lump on the bed, and Lily's long black hair sticking out.

I could hear her heavy breathing, and deemed her safe. I closed her bedroom door, then went across the hall to Stefan's room. Pushing the door open quietly, I saw both Stefan and Elena in Stefan's bed. Elena was snuggled into Stefan's chest, and they were both alive and sleeping soundly.

I closed their door, then went to the end of the hall to check on Damon. I kept feeling eyes on me, as my heart continued to pound in my chest. My nightmare felt so real- the pictures of my brothers' dead bodies would be forever burned into my mind.

I pushed Damon's door open, and though the room was dark, Damon stood in front of me, very awake. His hair was a mess, and he was shirtless, as if he just woke up.

"What are you doing up?" he asked, as I put my hair into a high bun, out of my face.

"Just making sure everyone was alive." I whispered nonchalantly, walking towards the stairs. Damon followed me.

"Oh, well that's fine. Everyone gets up two-thirty in the morning to make sure that their families weren't murdered in their sleep." Damon said sarcastically, as we walked into the kitchen together.

"I had a nightmare," I explained. "And it seemed really real. So I just made sure that it wasn't."

Damon poured each a glass of blood, and I took a huge gulp of mine. It calmed down my nerves.

"What was it about?" Damon asked curiously, as I hopped up on the counter.

"It- it started out as a flashback. A small, dead-end town in Georgia, 1909. Humanity, Georgia. I remember perfectly what happened there." I said darkly.

"That was when you were in your ripper phase." Damon noted, and I still had a hard time meeting his eyes when we talked about my past.

"I wasn't a ripper, Damon." I muttered, sipping my blood.

"Well, until you come up with a new term to describe what you were, I'm going to refer to you as a ripper, okay Lizzie?" he said dryly, and I rolled my eyes.

"Whatever, but yes that was when I… wasn't the best version of myself." I said, setting down my empty glass.

"Do you remember all of the towns you massacred?" Damon asked, and I tried not to flinch when he used the word 'massacre.' That's what I did, but it still bugged me how my brothers didn't treat me like the blood-thirsty monster I was. I was still that monster, but I had that part of me under control and locked down tight.

"No, but I remember that one, because I literally destroyed that town. If you look it up now, it doesn't even exist. It's a local legend now, switches from wild animals to murders when people talk about why the town was destroyed, and no one lives there. But in reality, it was me and Poppy- but mostly me. that small town in Georgia was the only town I took off the map- it was worse than Mississippi." I muttered. But before Damon could ask what happened in Mississippi, I continued on with my story.

"It started off as the flashback, everything happened the way I remember it. But then, at the end there was suddenly Lily- and she was dead. And then you and Stefan were there, dead," I felt a pang in my heart, just remembering it. Damon watched me, emotionless. "It felt so real, not like a dream at all." I continued.

"you sound like you don't believe your subconscious came up with it by itself." Damon mused, as I poured us more blood.

"Because- because I don't." I said, my eyes widening slightly, as I realized exactly what happened.

"I know exactly who did it. Exactly the person who thought to pair up one of my worst memories with my worst fears." I sighed, pushing my bangs out of my face.

"I think I know who you mean," Damon said, and I opened my eyes.

Looking straight at my oldest brother, I said, "Poppy's coming, and she wants me to know it."

~LG~

I was exhausted, as Stefan drove me to school. All I wanted was sleep, but if I went to sleep, Poppy would probably give me another horrific memory with a side of dead loved ones. God knows that she knows all of my bad memories of the past- because she was a part of most of them, egging me on.

"I think that you should get on vervain." Stefan said randomly, as we pulled up to Elena's house.

I raised an eyebrow. "That sounds like fun." I said sarcastically.

"other vampires won't be able to get inside your head- dreams, compulsion… Damon and I are on it." Stefan said, then his eyes widened as if he realized that he told me too much.

"Why would we need to prevent compulsion?" I asked suspiciously. Red warning flags went off in my head.

"Please don't tell me that you and Damon got involved with originals." I groaned, closing my eyes. were my brothers prone to getting involved with vampires that could and would tear their hearts out?

"Lizzie, it's a very long- wait, how do you know about originals?" Stefan asked curiously.

My blue eyes popped open. "Everyone knows about the original vampires, Stef, they're the first of our kind." I said evasively, staring out the window.

"But most assume that they're just stories, or dead." Stefan pressed, and I shrugged.

"I'm not most Stefan. I'm a believer." I smiled forcefully at him, wanting to get off of this topic.

As if hearing my prayers, Elena came out of her house, and headed straight for the car. I sighed in relief, knowing Stefan would want to finish our conversation in private. Hopefully, he would forget all about it so that we wouldn't have to.

~LG~

I wasn't in the best mood, as I walked into biology. I ignored Jeremy as I sat down next to him. He seemed just as happy as I was, and ignored me too.

"Today, we will be dissecting frogs. So please everyone get goggles and gloves…" Mr. Kelp said, and I made a face. I hated dissecting. even though I've seen plenty of horrific sights in my life- hell, I've caused some- I still got nauseous at picking apart dead animals.

Silently, Jeremy got us our frog, while I put on the stupid safety glasses that left marks on your face, and the cheap, throw away rubber gloves. I had a disgusted frown on my face, as Jeremy brought back our frog.

"Okay class, first one person must make an incision right here-" the teacher showed us where to cut using his own frog.

I grimaced, then stepped away from the poor dead frog. "Go crazy, Gilbert." I said, my stomach feeling queasy.

"Actually, Salvatore, I'm gonna let you take the lead on this one." Jeremy said, stepping away from the frog as well.

"Well that's really nice of you Jer-bear, but I insist." I smirked up at him, and he frowned down at me.

"Don't ever call me Jer-bear again, Lizziekins." He retorted, and I gagged slightly.

"Okay, truce." I muttered, and he smiled slightly. Then he realized what he had done, and instantly glowered at our dead frog. But it was too late.

I gasped exaggeratedly. "Did I just make Jeremy Gilbert smile? Someone alert the media." I said sarcastically, as Mr. Kelp walked towards us.

"You're pretty annoying, do you know that?" Jeremy said, pushing his hair out of his eyes.

"And you're an ass- glad we got that settled." I returned his smirk, as Mr. Kelp glared at us, stopping a few feet away from our table.

"Have you two done any work?" he asked, looking at our frog that was still in one piece.

"Obviously not." Jeremy and I both retorted at the same time. He frowned while I grinned.

Mr. Kelp sighed. "Office, both of you." He said in a resigned voice.

Glad to get away from cutting up a frog, I rushed out of the room. Jeremy was behind me, and didn't look half as annoyed with me as he had when class first started.

"You're a really weird person, Elizabeth." He stated bluntly, as I flattened down my hair.

"What, is this Insult Elizabeth Salvatore Day?" I asked, frowning.

"That wasn't an insult, it was a statement." He said, grinning.

I raised an eyebrow while smirking. "Two smiles in a day- must be a miracle." I muttered.

Jeremy rolled his eyebrows, but his grin didn't go away. In fact, it grew bigger. I didn't realize it then, but slowly, very slowly, I was in fact, fixing Jeremy Gilbert.

~LG~

A/N: I haven't updated in forever, I know, and I apologize. I made up the town Humanity, in case you were wondering. As far as I know, there was or is no town in Georgia by that name.

Thank you to: bloody alanna for reviewing! As always, reviews inspire me to write.

~Abby