A sharp gasp for breath brings her back.

Everyone in the room jumps to attention.

Emily's chest burns as it refills itself with air. Her vision and hearing are blurry and muffled. She sees faces around her, and feels she is moving, or being moved, to sit up.

Something is hovering from side to side opposite her, and when her eyes adjust, she sees it's a hand. She blinks, and looks to her left, acknowledging Damon's face, who then smiles lightly at her. "Welcome back to the world of the living," he smirks. She can barely process what he'd said, but his presence puts her at ease.

She sees Stefan, cross-armed and standing at the edge of the bed, and she turns at the voice to her right. "How are you feeling?" it asked. She recognizes the voice as her sister's, which causes her heart to jump in wariness as she looks to see it was in fact Elena.

Elena continued to eye her in extreme concern, something that beckoned Emily to speak up. "I…feel fine…" she says.

And besides confused, she realized she actually felt fine.

She faces Damon again, who looked uncomfortable. "Did it work?" she asks. Hearing the question, Damon smirks again.

"Well, either that, or you're un-killable," he says.

Taking this in, Emily inhales a shaky breath, before pushing herself to get up. Damon gets off the chair and to his feet, taking her arm as she rose. She spots a spacious bathroom, she approaches it. Everyone follows after her, and Damon releases her, as she seemed able to walk.

She faces the wide mirror atop the double-sink. She stared back at her paler self, and placed her hands on the ceramic counter as she neared the glass, uncertain what she was looking for. Damon appears at her side, and Elena on the other. Stefan remains at the bathroom's threshold. "If you're expecting a cute little pair of fangs," Damon says as Emily faces him, "it's not happening till you feed." Elena grows tense at that, so does Stefan, who refrains from asking how she intends to do so.

There's a muffled, drum-like, beating sound that grasps her attention. She looks to her side, to find Elena.

The sound was coming from Elena.

She could hear her heart racing.

Could hear her…blood flow…like a river behind glass…

Then she grew hungry.

Her stomach pinched with such a hunger, she panicked, and quickly faced the other side, walking and bumping into Damon. "I…" she breathes shakily as he put an arm around her. His embrace is quickly effective, calming her nerves as his scent consumed her, and she could hear his heart instead. Understanding her state, Damon faced Elena.

"Yeah. Walking hot-dog," he calls. Elena, who grew more concerned for Emily, noted Damon was speaking to her. "You need to leave." Elena furrows her brows at him. Stefan steps in calmly.

"Elena. Come on," he said, guiding her out the room. "Let's go downstairs."

When he hears the door shut, and feels Emily ease in his arms, he pulls back, and studies her for a moment. "What is she doing here?" Emily asks, eyes fixed behind Damon.

"I think you're pillow dummy wasn't very convincing. She had Stefan looking for you, then we got caught red-handed," Damon glares playfully at her. Emily sighs tiredly.

"Shit," she muttered.

"Hey, come on," he nodded at the bed and walked her back to it. She sat back down, and Damon, who was headed to get her the blood bag he had for her in the drawer, pauses, and sits opposite her instead. She eyes him expectantly as he seemed reluctant to speak, but eventually did. "While you were out and letting me handle our dear younger siblings. All by myself," he smirked sarcastically, causing Emily to bite her lip apologetically, "It was two against one with you joining into Stefan's squirrel diet-"

"Damon, I said I wouldn't do that. Cause it makes him weaker than all the other vampires, and this isn't why I tu-"

"I know. Just needed to confirm that, before…" he rises, and heads for that drawer.

"This," he said, closing the drawer, and facing her,

with a blood bag…

Her expression grows blank as she stared at the crimson liquid

as though enchanted.

He re-approaches her, and watches first hand as her face changed at the sight of the blood.

His face grows grim as he sits opposite her.

He could see dark veins shifting beneath her reddened eyes, watched her mouth part, heard her heart race.

There was no more regretting. No more thinking. No more looking back.

It was done.

This is the result, and he had to face it.

Hardening his features,

Damon pops open the small plastic lid, and hands her the bag.

Her hands reach out before she wills them to, and the moldable bag is in then within her grasp.

She hesitates, and looks at Damon as if for permission.

He gives her a firm nod…

…She brings the tip to her lips.

The scent hits her nose like the most delicious thing she'd ever smelled, urging her to ascend it to her mouth.

She does…

She takes a sip, and the minute the blood seeps through,

it feels as though

life itself

was being poured into her.

She inhaled deeply, and her eyes squeezed shut to savor the taste, squeezing the bag and sucking in as much as she could at once.

Damon couldn't bring himself to watch, and found his gaze persistently faltered as though he was refusing to look at a mistake he made and acknowledge it.

…Was it a mistake?...

XXX

Emily and Damon climb down to deal with Elena and Stefan's untimed discovery of their plan. Damon had already explained most of everything to them when she was out, but it is evident they needed to hear the situation from her for confirmation.

Stefan and Elena rise from the couch adjacent to the fireplace upon Damon and Emily's entry. The latter pair approach them, and reside on the sofa opposite them. Damon rests his arm against the back, behind Emily, who leaned forward with elbows on knees. Stefan and Elena re-seat as well, neither certain how to start or what to say, and are both visually disturbed.

She speaks first, with as much sincerity as she could muster. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. Both of you." Damon refrains from smirking at the fact that she wasn't close to sorry, and that it was her idea not to tell them. "But this was something I had to do, and something I knew you wouldn't approve of." Stefan cuts her off.

"It's…already happened," he says in dismiss. "…Now we just have to deal with the outcome."

"Exactly," Damon agrees as though in relief. Elena shakes her head in displeased confusion. Apparently, the 'moving on' wasn't happening just yet, to Damon's great distaste.

"I just…wish you'd have talked to me about how you were feeling…We could have figured this out together," she said. Emily frowned.

"I…can't quite explain, why talking about it, wouldn't have helped." Elena cuts her off at that.

"You think I don't understand what it's like to feel powerless?" she asks in rejection.

"Elen-"

"That's what I feel, all the time, Emily. But I didn't…" Elena doesn't even know how to put it in words. Damon eyes her irritably, and Stefan is uncomfortable with the whole situation.

Despite feeling a throbbing headache and the inability to go through with a heavy discussion at the moment, Emily composes her thoughts, and speaks calmly. "I know it doesn't seem like it right now, but this is exactly why I did this, so you don't feel the way you feel."

"And how do you think I feel now?!" Elena exclaims, shutting the Gilbert up. Emily inhales from tension, and Damon notices.

"Okay, looking past the whys and crap, lets discuss how you can be useful to your dear sister, who turned vampire to keep your ungrateful butt safe and sound," he said. Emily and Stefan both turn to Damon in scolding as Elena's face grows red with a misplaced sense of guilt. He ignores them, eyes fixed on the younger Gilbert as though in mock, but she refuses to take this from him again.

"I didn't ask her to!"

"Elena," Emily interrupts. "This is in no way your fault. This was my choice," she strictly clarifies.

"Yes. So. As we discussed, as soon as your witch friend comes back into town, you need to make sure the first thing she does, is make that daylight ring," Damon re-states. Elena reluctantly process his words. Still upset with the situation, she falls back into the couch.

"Yeah…Okay…" she uttered tiredly.

A moment of silence passes, no one sure what else to say to detangle the tension. Emily then notices that Elena was in her pjs, with a rain coat atop, and recalls how late the time must be. "Look. You should head home," she says, rising to her feet. "It's late. I'll call you in morning, okay?" she puts a hand out to her sibling. Elena reluctantly takes it and gets up, hesitant about leaving. They make it to the front door, and the brothers stand and observe from the parlor side to side.

Emily pauses at the door and faces Elena again, determined to ease her concerns before she left, if only to assist her with sleep that often fled with the presence of trouble.

Elena's gaze was set off in thought. Emily places her palms on her face, grasping her attention. "Everything's gonna be fine," she told confidently, ironically believing it herself in that moment. Elena furrows her thin brows at her.

"How can you say that?" she tilts her head.

"Elena," Emily rests her hands on her shoulder. "Have I ever let you down?" she asked, smiling lightly. Elena's features somewhat relax. She slowly shakes her head, setting her gaze low as though in shame. "Come here," Emily habitually pulls her into a hug, something they both needed.

But then Emily starts to hear the blood, smell it,

again.

She started to panic.

The boys seem aware that an embrace was currently unwise, for Stefan warily attempts to approach them, when Damon puts an arm out to stop him just as Emily pulls back and hides her anxiousness with a smile. Then she breaks eye-contact with Elena, and pulls the door open.

Elena heads out, and waves goodbye at her older sibling. Emily retorts it as Elena makes way to Jenna's car that she'd discreetly borrowed.

When she thought she could no longer see her, Emily's expression fell to dismay, and she leaned back in and shut the door. Her hand still placed against its hard, wooden surface, Emily breathed out in an attempt to calm her fears and racing heart. Her mind continued to ask what in the world she'd done, as well as contradict itself with the fact that it knew this would happen, and that she would have to fight it.

Noting her posture, Damon approaches her, a troubled look on his face as he observed her struggle. "You okay?" he softly asked. She turned to face him, a deep frown set on her face before she brushed it off with the shake of her head and said:

"Yeah…Just…Think I need some rest." Damon nods, knowing better than to push her to talk, honestly not wanting to hear any regrets himself,

because it was too late.

"Come on. I'll show you to fancy guest room," he smirks in an attempt to lighten her mood. She doesn't acknowledge the humor as he guides her up the stairs again.

XXX

On the second floor, Damon showed her to her room, and pointed out that it was right next to his.

Upon entry of the room, there is a short hallway with a tall drawer cabinet to the right, wood-made as most of the furniture was in the house. The walls were a Victorian wooden paneling, as well as the floors and ceiling. Further inside, to the right, was a fireplace, and in the front was a large, king-sized bed with end-tables and table-lamps atop them. There were two wide windows on either sides of the bed with closed, heavy, decorative red curtains. To the left window, was a green arm-chair, a small table to its right, and a floor-lamp to its left. Against the left wall was a dressing table and another floor-lamp to its left, near the door to the bathroom. Amidst the room itself was a large, circular carpet, and opposite it and the bed was a wide antique wardrobe.

Despite the beauty the room withheld, it had a cold feel to it, and did nothing to ease Emily's tension when the idea of not sleeping in her own bed set in. Still, the idea of sleep in general felt somewhat welcoming, as she had barely gained much rest the past few days. "The bed sheets are clean, so don't worry about that," Damon states as she took a look around. "You might wanna keep the curtains closed till we get that ring. The fireplace is stoked, and you've got hot-water running in the bathroom." Emily faced him then.

"Thank you, Damon. Seriously…For everything," she said, approaching him with a hint of sorrow in her floor-set eyes. Damon doesn't acknowledge her gratitude, as he is too focused on her almost fearful expression.

"Hey," he softly called, tilting her chin up to meet her reluctant eyes. "We both knew they weren't gonna make it easy," he smirked. She smiled lightly.

"Yeah. I know. I just…When I'm near her, I…" she takes a shaky breath, looking away. Damon moves his head to catch her gaze, them only a foot apart.

"First time. Gotta happen. We'll deal with it, okay?" he said, tone firmly assuring. She looked up at him, somewhat reassured. She nodded ethically.

"Yeah," she uttered.

"Good. Now get some sleep. You come find me or Stefan if you need anything," he said, walking back towards the door.

Emily gets the sudden urge to stop him for a hug of all things, and opens her mouth to call his name, but refrains, thinking what she wanted to be stupid and ridiculous. He walked out and shut the door behind him. She sighed tiredly, and turned, approaching her bag and backpack at the foot of the bed.

XXX

Exiting, Damon notices Stefan stood in the hallway, staring back at him. He ignores him and enters his room, knowing he would follow. Stefan steps in after him. "Damon, she needs to feed," he says.

"She already has," Damon replies, picking up the chair he had at the side of his bed with one hand and moving to put it back in place.

"You fed her human blood?!" Stefan lowly exclaims. Damon doesn't reply, knowing what was coming. "Damon, we agreed that-"

"We didn't agree on anything. You wanna keep her on animal diet so she doesn't hurt anyone, and by anyone," Damon faces him, "you meant Elena, but you didn't say that, so as not to freak her out, but she should be freaked out, because her sister wants to make a meal of her, and secretly, so does her boyfriend." Stefan glares angrily at Damon's words. "But just like you have a way to resist that, so do I, and I'm gonna teach Emily my way, because your way sucks and makes you weak, which I won't say again. If you don't wanna hear it from me, ask her yourself, but careful…she's stubborn as stone," Damon last gives, before walking past Stefan, to his bed.

XXXXX