Elena, Jenna and I were sitting on the ground with Jenna clutching her head.
"Oh, my head. What's wrong with me?" Jenna asked us.
"Do you remember what happened?" I asked her.
"You called me. You were so scared. Oh, ah, I should have realized that it wasn't you. The second I walked out of the house, someone grabbed me. A vampire." she told us.
"Wait you know about the vampires?" I asked her but they ignored me.
"Klaus. It was Klaus." Elena told her.
"He made me drink his blood. And I don't... I don't remember anything after that." Jenna told us looking around anxiously. "Where are we? What happened?" I took one of Jenna's hand in my own while Elena took the other.
"We're at the quarry. He brought us here." I told her.
"Why don't I remember anything?" Jenna asked me.
"Jenna, do you remember... When I told you how someone becomes a vampire?" Elena asked her.
"Yeah, if you die with vampire blood in your system, it's..." Jenna stopped talking and shock poured into her face. "Oh, god. He killed me."
"Jenna, listen to me. Listen to me; everything's going to be ok. I'm going to get you out of here." I told her.
"I'm a vampire?" she asked us.
"And I bet you're hungry." Greta said walking up to us. Elena ran and tried to grab a sharp rock, but, with a wave of her hand, Greta sent Elena flying backwards.
"Elena!" I ran to her and a circle of fire appeared around us. Elena and I stood up and ran to Jenna but they just grew when we got close to them.
"Don't bother trying to get through. I spelled the circle. You're trapped. No matter what you do." Greta said with a smile on her face.
"Greta... Please, just- just let her go." I begged her. Greta picked up the sharp rock Elena had been running for and sliced her wrist open. Jenna looked at the blood dripping from the wound hungrily.
"Klaus chose her. Just like he chose you." she told me with a nasty look on her face.
"No." I told her. Greta lowered her wrist toward Jenna.
"Drink it." Greta ordered her.
"Jenna, don't!" Elena yelled at her.
"I can't." Jenna told us staring at the blood.
"Let her go. Hey!" Elena ordered Greta. Jenna gave in and sunk her teeth into Greta's wrist.
"No! No." Elena and I called out. Jenna closed her eyes as the blood entered her mouth and Greta lowered herself down, holding Jenna close to her.
"Leave her alone!" I demanded. Greta pulled her wrist our of Jenna's grip making Jenna fall to the ground.
"That's enough." Greta told her standing up.
"Jenna. It's going to be ok." I told her crying. Greta flicked her wrist and another circle of fire surrounded Jenna. Jenna retreated from the flames terrified of burning.
"Look at me. Hey, look at me." Elena told her. Jenna turned her head to us, blood still running down her chin. "It's gonna be ok. It's gonna be ok." Jenna mouthed no to us as the dark veins of hunger crept towards her eyes turning them red.
I was sitting in our circle of fire as Elena paced.
"How are you feeling?" Elena asked Jenna.
"I feel like myself... Only not. Everything is brighter. The fire's hotter. Part of me is terrified, but there's another part of me that doesn't want to feel anything." she told us.
"Vampires can turn off the part that's human. That's the part that hurts." Elena told her.
"I'm gonna die, aren't I?" Jenna asked tears welling up in her eyes.
"No! Jenna, I'm not going to let that happen. I don't care what I have to do." I told her. I heard the sound of twigs snapping and someone groaning in the distance.
"Who's that?" Jenna asked us.
"That must be the werewolf." I told her. Greta pushed a woman down to the ground and she clutched her stomach, groaning in pain.
"What's happening to me?" the werewolf asked the witch.
"I cast a spell to slow down your transformation. Your insides are trying to tear themselves free." Greta said moving away from her and summoned a ring of fire around her.
"Greta, witches are supposed to maintain the balance in nature. It's your duty to them to keep this curse sealed." Elena told her trying to convince her to stop the ritual.
"My duty is to Klaus! The new order." Greta told her.
"Glad to know I still have a dance partner." Nik said. I looked to him and saw a woman next to him. She was beautiful with long flowing blond hair and cold dead blue eyes. "Hello, my lovelies. Are we ready?" he asked us.
"Why is she here?" Nik asked looking from Jenna to Greta.
"I thought you brought her here." Greta told him and he rushed over to her.
"Would I be asking if I brought her here?" he asked her venomously.
"No." she said plainly. Nik looked to us before removing the moonstone from his pocket and looking back at Greta.
"I've got the moonstone. I spent 500 years looking for this. I hate to part with it." He told her. "You better be able to do your part without screwing up again." he said handing the moonstone to her.
"The moon has passed its apex. Remember everything you need to do?" she asked him.
"I remember." he told her. She dropped the moonstone into the stone bowl filled with flames. Sparks flew as the moonstone was destroyed. Greta began chanting a spell in Latin and Nik approached us. The werewolf looked to Elena and I.
"Everything I did... I was just trying to help Tyler." she told us.
"Are you Jules?" Elena asked her.
"I didn't want him to be alone!" she told us as Nik looked down at her.
"Shall we?" he asked. The ring of fire around Jules dispersed and Jules attacked him. Nik got the upper hand and pinned Jules to the ground, plunging his hand into her chest and ripping out her heart. Jules took a final breath, tears streaming down her face and died. Nik breathed heavily as he held the bloody heart in his hands. He took the heart to the bowl as Greta continued chanting the spell. He held it over the bowl and squeezed the blood into the flames. "Does that mean it's working?" he asked her.
"It's working." the young witch told her.
"The day that the lawyers called to tell me that I was going to become your guardian, you know what my first thought was?" Elena shook her head at Jenna. "Isn't there someone else who can do this?"
"Jenna, there was no one else who could have gotten me and Jeremy through all of that." Elena told her.
"It's just the thought that I almost passed up taking care of you." Jenna said looking down to the ground.
"But you didn't." Elena told her kneeling down. "You put your entire life on hold to help us."
"Look around, Elena. I failed you." Jenna told her.
"No. You didn't. We failed you. I'm so sorry. Listen. Being a vampire, it intensifies your guilt. But it also makes you stronger and faster. You can fight back. We're gonna get through this. We'll be ok. I need you to believe that. Promise me, when you get the chance..." I placed a finger to my lips and whispered the next word to her. "Run." After he squeezed all the blood out of the heart he came to the ring of fire around Jenna.
"Hello, Jenna." he said smiling at her. We all got up and look at Nik.
"Let her go. We understand that one of us have to die, but she doesn't!" I begged him walking closer to him but the flames flared up again and I backed away.
"Careful." Nik told me.
"Nikky, don't." Jenna told me.
"No, Jenna! We followed your rules; We did everything that you asked. We didn't run. Please." Elena begged him.
"Please Nik, I'm begging you. Don't kill her." I begged him.
"Well, well." Nik said suddenly. He looked up to the top of the quarry. "I don't recall you being on the guest list." I followed his gaze and heard Elena gasp at seeing Stefan. "Very well, then." Nik looked to us briefly then sped up to the top of the cliff and walked towards Stefan. We watched the boys talk on the cliff top trying to understand what was happening.
"What's going on?" Jenna asked us.
"I-I don't know." Elena said before turning to Jenna. "You can hear them. You can hear anything. Jus - Just focus on them." Elena told her.
"What are they saying?" I asked her.
"I can't-I can't make it out." Jenna told me.
"You can do this. Just relax. Focus." I told her.
"I can hear him. I hear Stefan." Jenna told us.
"What are they saying?" Elena asked her.
"Oh, my god." Jenna said.
"What is it?" Elena asked her.
"He wants to take my place." Jenna told us. I looked up at them and couldn't help but question everything. Why would he use Jenna in the sacrifice? Will he take up Stefan's offer? Who was the woman he brought with him? I glanced at the mystery woman to see her standing in the same spot she'd been standing in when she got here.
"Elena..." Jenna started saying but she couldn't find the words she wanted.
"I have to do something. This can't happen. None of it." I told them. The boys finally came down from the cliff top and approached us.
"Quite the predicament. You know, it's funny, all this talk about preserving family, and here's Stefan, granting your wish." Nik told us.
"Stefan…" Elena said sadly.
"It's okay." Stefan told her.
"Well." he pointed a stake between Jenna and Stefan and looked to Elena. "Who's it going to be, Elena?"
"No." I told him.
"Oh, don't worry. There's actually no choice." he told me. He used his speed to go around Stefan and stake him in the back. Stefan screamed in pain before crumbling to the ground.
"No! Stefan! No!" Elena yelled out. Nik ripped the stake out of Stefan's back, leaving a sizable chunk of wood in his back.
"I have other plans for your boyfriend. I want him alive. But for now..." Nik snapped Stefan's neck causing him to fall to the ground. He walked over to the woman he brought with him and led her to the alter. "I was never going to sacrifice you aunt, Nikky. I hope you can forgive me for bringing her here." he told me. "Greta." Greta chanted the next part of the spell
"Thank you." I said smiling at him.
"Your turn." Nik told the blond, smirking at her. Nik staked the blond in her heart and Greta began chanting the next part of the spell with Nik by her side. Stefan woke up and felt the piece of wood in his back and tried to reach it but there was no way he'd be able to. Stefan looked to us and then to the alter, confusion all over his face. Greta poured Jenna's blood into the ceremonial bowl.
"I'm so sorry." Stefan told us.
"She's alive Stefan. He isn't going to kill her." I told him.
"Are they going to kill him?" I heard Elena whisper to him and I looked at them in shock.
"Yes." he whispered to us. Nik walked up to us and looked at Elena.
"It's time." Nik told us. The circle of fire disappeared from around Elena and I. Nik extended his hand toward us and Elena got up from the ground and walked past Nik, ignoring him. The circle of fire came up around me once more as they made their way to the altar. Nik grabbed Elena's face in his hand as Stefan struggled to get up from the ground.
"Thank you, Elena." Nik said to her.
"Go to hell." Elena told him. Stefan continued to struggle but he fell back to the ground, too week to move. Elena stared out, blankly, as Nik sank his fangs into her neck and drained her. I turned away from them, unable to watch my sister die. I heard her body his the alter and I turned to see her laying lifeless and I began to cry. Nik breathed heavily and walked down the stone steps.
"I can feel it. It's happening." Nik said looking up at the full moon. Suddenly, his bones began to crack and he started to transform, his eyes yellow. "Yes, yes!" Suddenly he was thrown through the air and the bowl sprouted flames, startling Greta. I turned to see Bonnie coming down the hillside, chanting a spell. I looked at her thankful yet confused. I heard a neck snap and turned to see Damon where Greta had once been. The fire around Jenna and I sank into the ground and Damon brought Elena to us. "No! You were dead!" Nik said as Bonnie continued to chant her spell. Nik's body contorts into painful shapes as he screamed. I walked with Jenna behind me to Damon as he put Elena's body down next to Stefan.
"Elena." Stefan said sadness in his voice. Damon knelt down and ripped the remainder of the stake out of Stefan's back and he grunted in pain. Damon grabbed Stefan's shoulder to help him up but Stefan turned and looked up at him, grabbing a hold of his jacket. "I need you to get them out of here!" Stefan told Damon.
"What about you?" Damon asked him.
"I'm not leaving until he's dead. Go!" Stefan told him and Damon picked up Elena's body and Jenna held onto me and they carried us away.
Damon and Jenna took us to a house in the middle of nowhere.
"Take me back, please." I begged them and Jenna gave me a confused look on her face.
"Why would you want to go back to the man that nearly killed us?" she asked me and I gave her a look.
"Oh, my god." she said as Jer and Ric ran from another room.
"How is she?" Jer asked Damon hugging Jenna.
"I don't know yet." Damon told her.
"Thank god, you're okay Jenna." Ric said to her.
"He said he never intended to kill me. So who turned me?" she asked me.
"I wish I knew." I told her as we watched Damon with Elena. Suddenly, Elena gasped and air and I looked at them confused.
"Elena!" Damon and I said happily.
"What happened?" she asked us.
"How do you feel?" Damon asked her.
"I feel fine." she told him and we all breathed a sigh of relief. I looked behind me to see someone outside of the house laying on the ground.
"Who is that?" I asked them before running to see who it was. "John? What are you doing out here? John?" I felt for a pulse. Nothing. "John!"
I was in my room preparing for John's funeral. I heard someone come to my door and I looked up to see Jenna.
"I'm almost ready." I told her.
"You know, if I saw someone I loved being tortured and I couldn't do anything about it I'd be feeling pretty bad." she told me.
"Thank you?" I asked her.
"I just meant that you must be worried out of you mind about him." she told me and I smiled at her.
"More than you know." I told her looking into the mirror on my vanity.
"Jeremy wanted me to give you this." she said handing me a letter. "He said it was from John." I took the letter and placed it on my vanity, before smiling at her.
"Jenna. I'm so sorry that you were turned into a vampire.
"This isn't your fault. Don't blame yourself for this Nikky." she told me and I cried. For the first time in a long time, I cried holding onto her for dear life. After I was done crying she left and I opened the letter she'd given me.
Nicole, it's no easy task being an ordinary parent to an extraordinary child. I failed in that task, twice.
Stefan, Elena, Damon, Bonnie, Caroline, Alaric, Jeremy, Jenna and I walked across the graveyard to the graves of my parents.
And because of my prejudices, I failed you and your sister. I'm haunted by how things might have played out differently. If I'd only been more willing to hear your side of things. If I'd managed to stay in town after Katherine had come into town, maybe things could have been different.
Elena has three roses clutched in her hands just as I did. We knelt down and placed one rose on John's grave plot.
For me, it's the end. For you, a chance to grow old and someday do better with you and your sister's children than I did with mine. It's for those children that I give you and Elena my ring.
I approached my parent's graves and looked down at the tombstone, knelt, and placed the remaining two roses on their graves.
I don't ask for your forgiveness or for you to forget. I ask only that you believe this. I love you all the same as I've always loved you, and always will. John. Your father.
Elena openly cried out for those we'd lost and I saw Damon walk away from our group. Ric wrapped his arm around Jenna and tucked her into his side as she cried and Jer held my hand tightly.
