AN: Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! We got to the goal of 125 reviews and passed it! Thanks for all your reviewing the last couple chapters, my goal for every story is to try and get 100 reviews and I was afraid I wouldn't get that htis time. But you all have proved me wrong with your lovely reviews!

Thank you to the Guest reviews and I'm sorry I couldn't respond or send you all a sneak peak of this chapter but I do thank you for taking the time to review.

This is the second last chapter of this story and I need all of you imput on something. Should I make an epilogue or no? Tell me what you think in a review!

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or Vampire Diaries; they both belong to their respective owners and creators.

Enjoy!

Ch.23 – Let the Sparks Fly

Let me take you into the light,
There's nowhere to hide,
There's nothing but darkness left here
Shake it up and let's take a ride
'cause heaven's not far away
And I'm not gonna leave you here

Let the Sparks Fly – Thousand Foot Krutch

Damon Salvatore POV

I shake my head back and forth in denial. "No, no, no!" I chant, my volume rising with each word until I'm shouting. I put two fingers to Bella's throat to feel her pulse but the lack of a pulse confirms what my ears are telling me. I can hear two strong heartbeats but they are inside the witches' house and they don't belong to Bella.

My eyes rake over Bella's still form from head to toe. She looks like she's asleep and even though I want to believe it with all my heart, I can't. Bella's face is free of stress and worry lines and looks like she's peaceful but how can she be at peace when she's gone? She couldn't have known that everything would be perfectly fine at the sacrifice. If Elijah didn't kill his brother then Bella's sacrifice would've been for nothing and she still would've been gone.

I pull Bella's body in to my lap and rock her as I beg, "Please, please don't leave me. Come back Bella, come back. You promised you'd be safe, you promised." My words register in my mind and I glare down at her. She promised me that she would be safe and what did she do? She went directly behind me and practically killed herself. How could she do that knowing that she had friends and her whole life ahead of her? Charlie will be heartbroken and Elena will be too. Elena never wanted Bella to take her place, she even told Bella that.

And what about Bella and I? I just admitted how much I liked her a few days ago and she told me that she liked me too. It's the first time that someone has actually liked me for myself and not just to manipulate me or others like Katherine did. How could she do this? Did she think that she just had nothing to live for? I swear if I ever get the chance to talk to her I'll chew her out.

My glare softens as I continue to look at her, my eyes filling to the brim with tears and then overflowing. I can never hate her, but I can hate the decisions she took and I can regret not admitting to both myself and her of my growing feelings. Now I won't ever have the chance to tell her how I really feel and it punches a whole straight through my gut. The emptiness suddenly takes my breath away as I think of my eternity without Bella with me. I only knew Bella for a few years, that is not enough, it is never enough. My fingers brush gently across her cheek and down her jaw bone to her chin. My finger tips dance over lips luscious lips, closed eyes and then brush back a lock of hair.

I won't ever be able to see her expressive brown eyes light up in excitement or anger. I won't be able to feel her warm touch anymore, even if it is just a hug. I won't hear her sweet voice that gives out such good advice for only being on this earth for eighteen years compared to my a hundred and seventy-one.

Someone walks across the back porch and down the stairs and begins to head towards me and Bella's body. I quickly wipe my cheeks to get rid of the tears and hold the rest back by shear will. Then I glance up to see John who is looking at Bella with regret but pride. Suddenly my anger comes back full force and I carefully put Bella on the ground before blurring to John.

I grab him by the collar of his jacket and pull him off the ground, "What's going on?" I roar.

John looks at me with wide eyes and sputters, "S-s-she was already used in the spell by the time that I got here, I couldn't have done anything to change it."

"What did she do?" I roar and shake him forcefully.

John takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly, "She was the one who was really connected in the spell that brought Elena back to life. She just had me cover for her until the end because if you knew before she died you would've tried to stop her."

"Of course I would've, but the real question is why you didn't? You're her father so why didn't you stop her?" I ask as I toss him to the ground. "Did you ever really care for Bella or was it fake and you just loved Elena?"

John glares at me and scrambles to his feet and pushes against my chest, "I care for both of my daughters equally. It's just that everyone has to make hard choices in their lives and this was Bella's."

I grab one of John's arms and twist it behind his back until it is just at its breaking point. "You don't want to mess with me right now." I say and hold him there for a few more seconds before letting him go and turning back to Bella, scooping her into my arms. I don't give John another glance as I blur away from him and back to my house. He doesn't deserve it.

I keep my face blank of emotions and make sure that they are shoved back into the deepest corners of my heart. Telling Elena will be hard enough without my own emotions crowding in. Carefully I set Bella down on one of the couches in the living room. I would've taken her up to my room but it is still destroyed from my fight with Stefan's. "You guys better come down here." I say up the stairs to Elena and Stefan who are talking with Alaric and Jenna.

They stop their talking and come downstairs slowly and into the living room. Elena notices Bella first and she gasps when she sees the blood on her chin then Jenna and Alaric notice her. Stefan's eyes dart to Bella too and then back to mine when he realizes that she doesn't have a heartbeat.

Elena and Jenna run to Bella and Elena puts her hands on her shoulders and shakes her. "Bella, Bella, please wake up."

Stefan comes up behind Elena and puts one hand gently on her shoulder and whispers in her ear, "She's not gonna wake up Elena, she's gone."

Elena gapes at Stefan for a moment as her eyes fill with tears before shaking her head, "No, no, she can't be dead. She was fine yesterday."

Alaric walks to stand next to Jenna and wraps an arm around her waist as Jenna starts crying. Both couples turn and look at me for the answer and I say blankly, "The reason why you are alive Elena is that Bonnie found a spell that connects someone's life force to another's. We all thought that John was going to be in the spell so that when you died, you would come back to life human as his life force was drained into your body. He would then die but you would live."

Elena starts shaking her head back and forth as then tears spill over and she starts to sob, "No, she wouldn't. She promised." Stefan pulls her into his arms and she cries into his shoulder.

I continue even though Elena seems to not be listening but I know that Stefan is still listening. Same with Alaric and Jenna, Jenna may not be listening but Alaric is and both men will tell their women later. "From what John told me a few minutes ago, Bella was already in the spell when he got to the witch house."

Elena starts to cry harder into Stefan and Stefan murmurs to her softly. I look away and head down into the basement for some blood. I open up the fridge, grab a bag and freeze in thought.

Someone starts to walk downstairs as I just stand there, trying to think some things out. Bella was talking about using the elixir to save herself if she took Elena's spot in the sacrifice, so why couldn't she have still used it. I'll have to find the box, but there is a pretty good chance that she drank the elixir.

Stefan walks into the tiny room and leans against the one wall. "I know you're holding in your feelings."

I shake my head and look at him, "I'm actually thinking right now, isn't that a first?"

Stefan doesn't react to my bad attempt to change the conversation. "You don't need to hold in your feelings Damon, you can let them out. We all cared about Bella and this will hurt for a long time but it will hurt even longer if you lock up your feelings. Let them out Damon."

"No," I mutter.

"Why not?" Stefan asks.

I take the blood bag and throw it against the wall to let out some of my anger as my emotions slip. It backfires though. It seems that I grabbed Bella's same blood type and just the slightly similar smell of the blood bag to Bella's blood makes me cringe. "If I let go, I might not be able to reel them back in."

"Why's that bad?" Stefan asks, his voice hopeful now that I'm actually talking to him. Usually I'd never talk about deep things with Stefan but it feels like if I don't explain what I'll say next to someone, I'll explode. Even if it is St. Stefan.

"If Bella is really gone forever then I'll live through that pain for eternity." I start to pace and Stefan walks to me and puts his hand on my shoulder but I shrug it off.

Stefan sighs, "I can't tell you that it will get better Damon, but you will be able to deal with it better later."

Stefan's sympathizing voice gets to me and I finally snap, "Why are you helping me when you can be comforting your girlfriend? I don't need your help and I certainly don't need you giving me advice. I don't need any of you."

Stefan doesn't get angry, he just smiles sadly at me and I glare at him. "You may not need us but you needed Bella just like she needed you. You both may not have realized it but you balanced each other out. Any time you needed advice or help, you would go to Bella and she would come to you."

"Yeah and now she's gone. You worried I'm going to do something bad, brother? Maybe I'll start killing townspeople again." I ask sarcastically.

Stefan shakes his head, "No, I know you won't because Bella won't have wanted you too. If she was still alive and heard you even suggest that, she'd rip you a new one and you know that. You wouldn't want to make her angry even if she is gone."

My eyes start to well up again but I shut my eyes tight against the tears and mutter, "I should've seen her choice coming and stopped her. All the signs of what she was planning on doing were right there I just didn't pick up on them." I shake my head, open my eyes and stare at the ceiling, "Or maybe if I had gotten to her sooner, she would've told me and I could've fed her my blood."

"Damon," Stefan says and I reluctantly look at him, "it's not your fault and you can't change anything now so don't think about the what if's, they'll only drive you insane."

We stand in silence, me reluctantly thinking over his words and him trying to pick up on my thoughts. After a few minutes Stefan gives up, "We should go back upstairs."

I nod and blur up the stairs ahead of Stefan. Jenna is sitting across from Bella on the other couch with Alaric next to her, comforting her as she cries. I start to head for Bella only to remember the elixir and head to the one bookcase where Elijah put the box that holds the elixir. I quickly find the box and open it and see the weirdly shaped bottle. My hopes start to drop but there is a chance that she took the elixir and just put the bottle back. So I shake the bottle and hear the contents of it slosh. My heart drops to my stomach and I push back the pain that comes with my shattered hopes.

I should've known to not get my hopes up because whenever you get your hopes up and they come crashing down, it hurts. I slowly but the elixir back in its box and put the box back on the book shelf and turn and blur back to Bella. I quickly look her over but she still is as dead as she was when I left a few minutes ago, if not more. I pick her up and sit on the couch and put her on my lap. Elena comes back down the stairs with a bowl filled with water and a wash cloth, probably to wash the dried blood of Bella's chin and mouth.

As Elena starts to wash the blood away, Bella's right hand drops off the edge of the couch. Elena steps back slightly so I can reach Bella's hand and I pull it back onto the couch. As I do so, my fingers brush against something on Bella's finger. My eyes glance curiously at it as my fingers brush back and forth over the cool band of a ring. I flip her hand palm up for my eyes widen and I gasp as I recognize the ring. It's the same ring that John and Jeremy wear on their hand to prevent them from dying a supernatural death.

"Stefan," I call and my voice sounds chocked even to my ears.

Elena looks at what I'm seeing but can only see the band of the ring from where she is standing, "What?"

Stefan shows up and stands beside Elena, "What Damon?" Alaric then stands up and pulls Jenna with him as he stands on Stefan's other side.

I don't say anything, just turn Bella's hand so that the front of the ring is facing them. They all gasp and look at me with wide eyes. "Is it possible?" I ask quietly, hope filling my voice even though I try to fight it. Hope leads to the thoughts that Bella may be alive and if that hope crashes, it will hurt even more, just like it did when I found the full bottle of elixir.

Stefan blinks rapidly and pulls out his phone, "Maybe." He dials a number and Bonnie answers, "Bonnie, Damon found Bella just as she died but how could you have let her do it if you knew what was going to happen too her?"

"I'm sorry Stefan but Bella knew what she was going to do and it was the only way to keep Elena human." Bonnie says.

My leg starts bouncing in anticipation and I motion for Stefan to hurry up. Stefan nods and says, "Yes, we know but if Bella died with a Gilbert ring on, would she come back to life?"

There is silence over the line and then Bonnie starts stuttering, "I-I never thought of that."

"Bonnie," Stefan says again and she seems to shake herself out of her shock.

"Um, yes, yes technically since Bella is human and has died with a Gilbert ring on she should come back to life. But Stefan I'm not making any guarantees."

I sigh in relief and relax into the couch and pull Bella's body into mine and just hug her in relief.

"I know. You should get John and Jeremy and come over to our house." Stefan says and then hangs up.

Elena, who didn't hear Bonnie's side of the conversation, is practically vibrating in spot. "Is she going to be okay?"

Stefan slowly nods and Elena sighs in relief, "Hopefully but Bonnie can't give any guarantees, all we really can do is wait."

Alaric crouches down up close to Bella's hand and looks intently at the ring. He reaches for it but I pull back her hand and glare at him. He raises his hands in mock surrender and he goes back to looking at the ring.

"I think that's Jeremy's ring." Ric states and I look at him in confusion. How can he tell the difference between two identical rings? "Well, John would've noticed if he's missing his ring by now but Jeremy might not."

"How did Bella get Jeremy's ring off of him then?" Elena asks and Alaric shrugs.

"Knowing Jeremy, he probably wasn't going to let Bonnie go to the sacrifice so she knocked him out. Bella might have grabbed his ring then or even earlier but I don't know."

"We'll ask her," I say simply and Stefan gives me another sympathetic look. I'm starting to hate that look.

"Damon, she might not–"

I cut Stefan off with a shake of me head as I hold Bella even closer to me, trying to keep her safe from anymore harm. "We'll ask her when she wakes up." I say firmly because Bella will wake up.

AN: How'd you all like that little twist? You will see what happens in the next chapter, which is also the final chapter.

Remember to tell me your thoughts of an epilogue in a review please! Anyone who reviews will get a sneak peak of the next chapter!