AN: Happy Update Sunday! Thanks for the reviews on the last chapter. I think I might have lost some avid readers since I took such a long hiatus with this story and not to mention school has started back up for some of you. Make sure to check back every Sunday for updates. This is the only time I update for this story and my other fanfics if you were wondering. Thanks for reading and leave a review.

Chapter 13.

It went like this.

Every second dragged out in motion and she surrendered herself to the unthinkable. Her mouth opened ready to speak was silenced with the quick strides made by her other half. He never saw it coming. Two hands were placed on either side of his head. The energy vibrated and she could nearly feel it generating in her palms. With what was happening she shouldn't have felt this way. No one should feel pride in being so cruel and even though she didn't want to, she couldn't fight it.

A swift turn of his neck followed by the sound of something snapping loudly brought upon two very different emotions. The first was horror knowing what it meant and the second was pleasure radiating from her veins. A swirl of uncertainty mixed with certainty left her faltering on a fine line of sanity.

The life from his eyes diminished and rolled back into his sockets. She was towering over him unlike before as she curled up in the fetal position sulking like a coward. He didn't move nor say anything. The job was done. The high she sought once she was in this cryptic state of mind was achieved. Her cheeks were rising and her lips were moving upward. A smile should have not been plastered on her face, but it was.

"That wasn't so bad now, was it?" Her voice spoke, but not from her own lips.

Katherine was inches away portraying a similar smirk and looking pleased. Between them laid Damon dead and broken. She looked down at him and she felt a tear fall down her cheek.

"You barely knew him." Katherine said rolling her eyes. "Don't act all remorseful. We don't do remorseful."

As satisfied as she felt from killing, a part of her still found sadness in the matter. For every life she took meant someone somewhere would mourn that life. Only knowing Damon for such a short time she had grown attached and a fondness for him. It was only natural for her to find it in her heart to still care.

"Seriously, knock it off." She barked. Elena continued to weep. "Fine, don't want to listen to me, maybe you will listen to someone else."

Wiping a tear away from her eye, the image of Katherine evaporated into thin air. She was gone or was she really? Since she had appeared after her trial and error with the hypnosis her alter ego had not left her side. Now, she was nowhere to be found. Elena shuddered at the eerie feeling that came over her.

"Maybe you'll listen to me." A low, unfamiliar voice came from over her shoulder.

Almost tripping over Damon's body, she saw him. Bloodstains from where she as Katherine had stabbed and slashed him were still visible. Dark circles sunk his eyes into the sockets and made him look like he had just been awakened from the grave. Elena gasped and clung to the sink counter.

"Remember me, Elena?" He said.

"Conner." She uttered.

"So you do." Conner replied.

"I…I…I'm so sorry." Elena stumbled over her words. What do you say to the ghost of the man you killed? She had reached a whole new level of crazy if she was indeed seeing ghosts. This was beyond insane.

Conner stepped toward her. He bellowed, "No you're not. You killed me. You have no remorse." His voice echoed through her ears and the hollowness in her bones.

"That wasn't me. I didn't kill you. It was…" Her attempts to save her past actions were failing. No matter what she would say or claim would not convince him otherwise.

"YOU KILLED ME!" Conner shouted.

"No." Elena whispered.

"You're a monster." He spoke close to her face.

She whimpered. "I don't want to be." Her gaze fell down to the lifeless Damon.

"Then you know what you have to do." Conner growled. She shook her head unsure of what he meant. "You're a monster and monsters deserve to die."

It didn't make much more for her to understand what he meant by his statement. Fearful and sickened by the thought, she pushed past him and into her bedroom. She flung herself on her bed and searched for her journal. It didn't make any sense why she wanted to write during a time like this, but all she knew was she needed to. Her hands furiously felt around through the blankets and under the pillows.

"Looking for this." Katherine appeared at the end of her bed with her journal in her hands.

"Give it to me." Elena demanded.

"Okay." She shrugged her shoulders and tossed it on her bed.

Frantic Elena flipped the pages. Instead of her daily entries from before all she found written on every single page was, killer. Dark red ink wrote the word in big, bold uppercase letters. Not one page was left blank. Angered by the message, Elena began to tear the pages from her journal throwing them around into a clutter all over her room.

"Elena! Elena! Stop!" Damon's voice called out.

"No! No! No!" She crawled backwards on her bed.

Healthy and alive Damon stood in the doorway of the bathroom. It wasn't possible. He was dead. No way was he walking around like nothing had just happened. However, with the scene of events that just unfolded anything was possible in her state of mind.

"Elena, please calm down." He asked her. His hands were out in front of him as he was approaching her slowly and cautiously.

"I killed you." Elena hysterically cried. "I killed you."

"No you didn't. I'm fine. See." Damon waved his hand in front of his body. "What you thought you did or whatever you were seeing is a psychotic break. None of it was real."

"How can I be sure? I don't know…I don't know." She uttered in terror.

Was this really a psychotic break or was this her mental state playing a trick on her? Elena couldn't decipher between what was reality and what was made up. She was losing her mind. Every thing that just happened seemed way too real for it not to be. Her emotions were stronger than ever.

With her eyes closed trying to refocus back on some sort of sanity warmth wrapped around her. Folding under the pressure, she welcomed it. An aroma faintly smelling of cologne filled her nostrils and a steady beating heart could be heard. Slowly opening her eyes she realized she was in Damon's arms. He was hugging her, but not in an intimate way. The way he held her was if he was holding on for dear life. The force of his arms squeezing her was lifting the weight off her chest and the erasing the cloud that filled her mind. She couldn't believe it, but his touch, his hold was doing something to her she couldn't explain.

Continuing to raise her eyes, she Katherine standing and loathing the sight before her.

"It may have not been real, but one day it will be." She explained. "You have no idea what you are capable of. You will kill again. It will change you and it will keep changing you."

Without saying a word, Elena spoke through her thoughts. This was Katherine's fault. All the terrible images she was seeing and reliving were because of her. It gave her enough burst of energy to fight back and by the look on Katherine's face she knew she wasn't pleased.

"You're going to be okay. You're going to get through this." Damon whispered in her ear. "I won't let you lose this battle. I promise."

Pressing her cheek on his shoulder, she didn't respond. In his embrace she felt secure, something she hadn't felt in ages. If she could stay like this she would forever. It was like he was shield deflecting Katherine and she knew it as well. She was pissed and as much as she loved to see her like this, it scared her at the same time.

"You're not as powerful as you think." Katherine's snarky tone rang in her ears. "Only one of us can come out of this alive. May the best one win."

Game on, Elena inwardly thought and projected her message. Game on.