Review responses:

Bornkiller9: Thanks for the support! Hopefully this chapter will be even better, and it follows on from some of the things you enjoyed in the last chapter.

Thereas5155: I wished they'd saved her too! But you'll just have to wait and see what happens. Sorry!

The final three episodes! This is so unreal suddenly. But it's so cool to have gotten this far and still be going, thank you all! So many moments in this chapter which I hope you enjoy, and it's only going to get better...or worse, depending on how you want to look at things. Although worse probably sounds about right from the characters position... Yeah, it's not looking to good for them. Yikes!

Chapter 40: Stake Through the Heart

It was the day of the full moon, and on that morning Sarah found herself sat in the study with Stefan and Elena, as Elijah and Amelia went over everything with them. For tonight, Klaus would break the curse placed upon himself, sacrifice Elena, and preform the ritual he'd been waiting centuries for. This would in turn, allow him to become something even worse than an Original vampire. He'd become the Original Hybrid.

Damon wasn't present with them for this however. He was still up in his room, and hadn't even come down for breakfast. He'd been hold up ever since what happened with Andie, when he'd also locked his sister out of his room. Jenna was another absentee. Figuring she'd need her rest, Elena and Sarah had agreed it best to leave her when they went to check on her and found her still asleep. Elena did bring her up something to eat, leaving it on a tray by her bedside. As far as Sarah could tell, her friend still hadn't awoken.

They'd had a good chat last night, though it had turned more into a lesson for Jenna on the supernatural. But it had been an effective and grateful distraction from everything else going on that night.

Shortly after breakfast, the two Originals returned to the house. The pair dressed in a familiar suit and raincoat, after having spent the night in their own dwelling – despite the offer to stay at the Salvatore house. Though those that made the offer could hardly blame the Originals for their refusal, especially since those that lived in the house had been primarily responsible for daggering them both.

"Tonight is the full moon," announced Elijah, stood before the fire place in the study while his sister sat in a nearby armchair. Her legs folded at the knee, and hands resting elegantly on her lap. Across from the two of them, Sarah sat in the other armchair while Elena and Stefan took the couch. "We should assume that Klaus is prepared to break the curse."

"Elena told us that the Sun and the Moon curse is fake. That it's actually just a curse placed on Klaus?" Stefan asked, leaning ever so slightly forward with his fingers interlocked.

"Klaus is a vampire born of a werewolf bloodline. The curse has kept his werewolf aspect from manifesting. But if he breaks it…he'll be a true hybrid," Elijah explained warningly.

"Then why are we letting him break the curse?" objected Damon, making his way into the room from behind Stefan and Elena. With an irritated gaze that swept over everyone in the room, Damon made his way towards the fireplace, joining Elijah in standing before the assembled group. "We can kill him today. With Bonnie," he said pointedly to Elena, though it was Amelia who replied promptly.

"Yes. But in so doing, would cause the witch to die from the amount of power necessary to kill Klaus outside of his transition phase," Amelia put out naturally as Damon's narrowed gaze swung over to her. Still talking, Amelia kept up her emotionless mask as she proceeded, "Now, if that is the plan you wish to use then I personally have no objects. But as I understand it, that's not what Elena wants." She then turned on cue to the doppelgänger, as did Damon.

"I'm not letting Bonnie die when we can avoid it," Elena stated firmly.

"I'll write her a great eulogy," protested Damon as if that would be enough to sway Elena's stance.

"It's not an option, Damon."

Before the argument could go any further, Stefan quickly stepped in and asked the two Originals, "How do we break this curse?"

With a quick look between those he and his sister had decided to alley themselves with, Elijah then said, "Well, the ritual itself is relatively straightforward. The ingredients, so to speak, you already know."

"The moonstone," chipped in Stefan.

"A witch is then needed to channel the power of the full moon. Using this power, said witch would then be able to release the spell that's bound within the stone," explained Elijah before Amelia took over.

"After that, Klaus, being both werewolf and vampire, will sacrifice one of each. After that, you come into play, Elena," she said with a pointed look to the doppelgänger. Elijah, meanwhile, made his way over to one of the bookcases and brought out the wooden box he'd brought with him.

Placing it on a table and opening, he said while doing, "Klaus must drink the blood of the doppelgänger…to the point of your death."

Sarah rolled her lips inward. She'd known it wasn't exactly going to be a drop of blood. The word sacrifice didn't imply anything that low key. But just hearing it made the whole thing that much more real. Before, the sacrifice and the ritual had been just words used to describe an event that might have never come to pass. But it was happening now, and now that those events were being explained to them, what they would involve and what would happen as a result of them… It made it all real and very scary.

From next to her, Stefan ran a desperate and worried hand over this face, taking Elena's hand as she gave him a comforting squeeze. It was safe to say she was taking this all in a bit better than he was. But then, she wouldn't be the one left feeling broken if this all failed. She'd just be dead. A fact which was easy enough to remember with Damon's critical glare on Elena, again trying to will her to his way of thinking. Though Elena was ignoring him, more interested in what Elijah was taking out of his wooden box.

"This is an elixir that I acquired some five hundred years ago for Katerina. It possesses mystical properties of resuscitation," he quickly said, trying to stop his mind from drifting back to all those centuries ago. He looked up from the bottle he'd taken out with something more friendly in his eyes. Almost hopeful. Or maybe reminiscent, judging by what he said next. "Believe me, this took some effort to obtain." He said it as if to validate the legitimacy of what he was holding, since something with this kind of power should be rare and verging on impossible to make.

"So I'll be dead?" Elena said slowly, eyeing the fancy shaped glass bottle in Elijah's hand.

"And then you won't," Elijah said as if it were that simple.

"That's your plan?" scoffed Damon.

"Damon…" Sarah warned, but her voice went unheard by her brother as he powered on.

"A magic witch potion with no expiration date?" He turned to Elena, trying to barter with her. "You want to come back to life, what about John's ring?"

"Damon, that ring only works for humans," Sarah pointed out, already tired of the brick wall that was her brother's stubborn nature.

"She is human!"

"No, she's a doppelgänger," Sarah corrected with a pointed look, and from Damon's reluctantly lowered gaze, she knew she'd made her point. The ring was just too risky to try when the evidence suggested it wouldn't work in their favour. The elixir provided by Elijah, while uncertain, at least had a more likely chance of success than that of the Gilbert ring.

"Perhaps an explanation of the elixir's process will put your mind at ease, Damon," offered Amelia, continuing on in spite of the glare from Damon. "Think of it like vampire blood. When a human drinks it, they die and come back as a vampire. This elixir works along those same lines. After Elena drinks, if she dies with it still in her system, then she'll come back to life – only not as a vampire, but as she was."

"And you just happen to have this all magical cure to everything in your back pocket this whole time," accused Damon.

"The elixir was designed for the purposes of the ritual. For it to be used in another way would leave it useless. So say Elena throws herself in front of a bus after consuming this, it would do her no good. This will only work, if drank before she is used in the ritual," explained Elijah carefully.

"So why hold onto it after Katherine?" asked Damon, searching for some hole he could exploit in his desperate attempts to change Elena's mind.

"Bitter sweet memories perhaps," Elijah offered up, face remaining perfectly still in the face of Damon's scowl.

"You can't seriously be okay with this," Damon said, suddenly turning back to Elena as Sarah and Stefan sighed. "What if this doesn't work?"

"Then I guess I'll just be dead," Elena said plainly as she met Damon's gaze. His jaw dropped, outrage and protest flying through his blue eyes as he looked to his siblings for back up. But Sarah and Stefan merely shrugged. This was what Elena wanted after all, and while it most certainly wasn't ideal or necessarily welcomed, it was what they would be doing because it was what she wanted. She was happy to put her own life at risk, but not anyone else's. And this was something, that for personal reasons, Damon just couldn't seem to grasp.

With one last scowl sent to those around the room, Damon once again stormed out of the study, apparently deciding now was a good time for him to get some breakfast. Once he was out of the room and those remaining had a chance to sigh, Elena asked, "Do we know if Klaus has everything he needs to do this? Does he have a werewolf?"

At that question Sarah's mind went to Scarlett, the only werewolf in Mystic Falls. Luckily though she was well hidden with Bonnie and Jeremy, safely out of Klaus' reach…or so she hoped. After this she'd give her a call and make sure she was okay.

"Klaus has been waiting to break this curse for over a thousand years. If he doesn't already have a werewolf, my guess is by tonight, he will," Elijah assured them all.

"Tyler, honey. It's your mother," said Carol Lockwood into the phone as she climbed up the stairs of her house. "I don't know where you are but I need you. I've had an accident and I'm in the hospital." At the top of the stairs she came to a stop, turning to face a smiling Leia and grinning Maddox. "Please, Tyler, come home," Carol Lockwood said, with Leiah and Maddox mouthing words along with her. After all, it was what Leiah had compelled Carol to say.

She then hung up the phone, nervously looking to the Original and her witch, knowing very well that she was being compelled. "That was excellent, Carol," Leiah congratulated her as she pulled out her own phone. "Now, I just need you to do one more thing for me."

"Yes?" asked an obedient and fearful Carol Lockwood.

"Smile," Leiah ordered, to which Carol did, all trace of her fear briefly vanishing as she posed for the photo at the top of the stairs.

Taking the photo, Leiah admired it for a second before going to take another. "We'll call that the before one," Leiah said, before Maddox lifted his hand and flicked his wrist. Suddenly Carol flipped through the air, flying over the banister of the stairs, and crashed down on the hard tiled floor below.

During the whole thing, Leiah had managed to take several quick shots of Carol's descent in mid fight. She was grinning at the results as she and Maddox approached the railing.

"And now, the after one," Leiah said, leaning over as she snapped one last picture, of Carol Lockwood face down on the floor after her nasty accident. The concussion from the fall would be enough to erase her memory of Leiah and Maddox, but the photo would be a nice reminder to Leiah personally.

"You do know how to show a girl a good time, Maddox," Leiah said, smiling a flirty smile to the witch as he grinned back. However, rather than proceed to kiss him, she instead called her brother as previously instructed. "Nik, I've got you your werewolf on an express delivery for Mystic Falls."

"You know, we could bypass all this bother if you'd just bring me that little crush of yours," pointed out Klaus in his usual cruel and teasing manner.

Leiah made a screwed up face at the air in front of her, imagining it was her brother instead. "I asked you to leave her alone unless absolutely necessary. You don't see me playing with your toys," she protested.

"Your so selfish, little sister," chuckled Klaus from down the line while Leiah continued to glare at the air ahead. Not realising Klaus' jab a hit closer to a nerve than she thought.

"Yeah, I am," agreed Leiah spiteful, as a smile formed. "Now excuse me while I go and bang your witch in every bedroom in this house before returning him to you." She hung up before he could get his reply in.

"Every bedroom?" asked Maddox with a raised brow.

Leiah thought it over for a moment. "Did you already call the ambulance?"

"Yeah," Maddox nodded.

"Maybe just the one then," Leiah said disappointedly. "I doubt Nik would appreciate me delaying his precious plans by having the paramedics join in with us." She glanced over the banister once more, taking another look at the unconscious Carol Lockwood. "You think it'd be too far if we chose her bedroom?"

"Possibly," answered Maddox, watching as Leiah smiled happily.

"Good," she said before grabbing him by the shirt and vamp speeding them into the master bedroom.

Stefan had gone outside to talk to Damon, who was current having a breakfast consisting of bourbon, and more bourbon. But considering the day and very long night that would be ahead of them, Sarah couldn't completely blame him. So while Stefan was trying to calm their brother down, Sarah remained behind in the study with Elena and the two Originals.

"I'm sorry about, Damon…again," Sarah said as she got out of the armchair.

"It's quite all right," reassured Amelia, remaining in her own seat. "Just so long as he doesn't do anything to ruin our joint plans, we shan't have a problem with him or his attitude. To be honest I can relate to your position." She glanced towards Elijah who was storing the elixir in the wooden box once more.

"You'd think he'd understand why I'm willing to do this," grumbled Elena from the couch, her arms folded.

"He does know why you're doing it," answered Sarah as she came in front of Elena with a sympathetic smile. "And he probably can understand it too. He's just not willing to accept it." She had been about to say more on the matter, keying Elena in on how Damon really saw her, but Elijah spoke up with his own question for Elena.

"Why are you so eager to do it? Sacrifice yourself in place of your friend?" It came out more curious than confused. Like he could understand the answer but not quite how Elena had gotten to it.

Looking down as if ashamed of it, Elena said, "I'm the key to breaking the curse." She then looked up at all those staring back at her from various spots around the room. "Klaus is only here because of me. If I don't give him what he wants, then he's going to hurt people, people I care about. That's it," she said shrugging so casually at the crappy hand she'd been dealt. "My choice. Easiest I've ever made," she added with a sigh, looking down at her hands as they nervously played with one another.

"I feel it only right to warn you, Elena, there is a chance this elixir might not work," Amelia cautioned.

"We wouldn't want you going through with this without knowing all the facts," added Elijah.

"I know the chance I'm taking," Elena replied, looking up once more, before a bang from the front door caught everyone's attention. At first Sarah had presumed it was just Damon coming inside after Stefan's talk with him, the bang explained by the simple fact that he was still pissed off. But they heard Jenna shouting.

"Get out!"

"Jenna, Jenna!" came the voice of Alaric, and Sarah was into the hallway like a shot. She came to a stop next to Jenna, mildly surprised by the crossbow in her hands before she followed its aim to Alaric, both his hands up. Shortly the others began filing in from either end of the hallway. Elena coming in behind Sarah and Jenna while Stefan and Damon were on the other side.

"Jenna, put the crossbow down, okay, it's me," said Alaric.

"Stay away from me," Jenna snapped, tightening her hold on the crossbow.

"Easy, Jenna," Sarah said as she placed her hand on top of the crossbow. She didn't lower it but was ready in case Jenna fired off an accidental shot. From the way he was acting it seemed like Alaric. But then again, she'd thought the same during the whole day of the Sixties decade dance, and that had been Klaus posing as him.

"What's going on?" Elena asked, stepping closer to Sarah and Jenna.

"It's me, Elena, I swear, okay? He let me go. Klaus let me go," he insisted.

"Prove it," Damon said quickly. He looked more relaxed than everyone else, but was still eyeing his friend with an awful lot of suspicion.

"Okay, uh…" Alaric said as he thought, looking around as everyone watched him. "First night you and I spent together," Alaric then settled on as he looked to Jenna. "Jeremy walked in right when I was about to…"

"Okay!" Jenna cut him off, dropping the crossbow. "It's him," she said, cheeks reddening.

"I think we should hear the rest of that story, just to be sure," Sarah offered, before Jenna punched her in the shoulder.

"Ow!"

"Oh, you're vampire for crying out loud. You can take it," scoffed Jenna unsympathetically.

Stilling rubbing her arm, Sarah looked to the others as she said, "Maybe telling Jenna wasn't such a good idea after all." However, Sarah's act broke the second she looked back to Jenna, breaking into a smile as her amber blonde friend smiled back. It was almost like Jenna had always known Sarah was a vampire. At least for those few seconds before they got back to business.

"Why did he let you go?" Stefan asked, still not entirely convinced. After all, he could have been compelled.

"He wanted me to deliver a message," Alaric replied before his gaze moved specifically to Elena. The one the message was for. "The sacrifice happens tonight." And as everyone turned to look at her, for the first time since agreeing to go through with the sacrifice, Sarah saw genuine fear in Elena's eyes. She might be brave, but even the bravest of people got scared before they took a leap.

"Why don't we go through," Stefan suggested, trying give Elena some space so she could gather herself.

Nodding in agreement, Sarah lead everyone through into the living room, motioning for people to sit wherever. She herself took the couch on the right of the fireplace, smiling softly when Jenna sat down next to her. Alaric took the couch opposite, siting alone as the two Originals filed in with Elena and Stefan. They remained by Elena when she sat in an armchair by the fire – her impromptu bodyguards while Stefan proceeded to ask Alaric questions.

"So, do you remember anything that happened?"

"No," Alaric shook his head, still looking rather dazed. "It's like I blacked out and woke up three days later." There was a pause as his eyes met Jenna's. Sarah looked to her friend but could tell she was now having trouble distinguishing Alaric from Klaus, who'd threatened her in her own home yesterday. It was all part of the learning curve, though Sarah couldn't help but feel bad for the couple as Jenna stared at Alaric uneasily.

"Katherine was there," Alaric then said breaking his gaze from Jenna to look at Stefan. If this had been the first they were hearing of this, then Sarah would have been clenching up. But Damon had filled them in yesterday, that while Sarah and Stefan had been saving Jenna, he'd been snooping around Alaric's and fond Katherine trapped inside, by means of compulsion.

"She's been compelled by Leiah," Stefan explained, glancing over to the Originals who tensed at the mention of their sister. But other than the rising of their shoulders, their expressions remained as steel like as ever. "Damon snuck her some vervain when he found her yesterday, but she can't leave until Klaus or Leiah tell her she can."

"Where is Damon?" Elena then asked. Suddenly noticing his absence, Sarah looked around to find her other brother missing once more.

"I saw him go upstairs," Jenna answered, to which Sarah sighed. She really didn't like were all this was going. She'd hoped Stefan might be able to calm him down but the odds for that had never been great. Which meant now she was going to have to give it a crack, and if that didn't work then she'd be sticking by his side for the rest of the day, making sure he didn't ruin everything for Elena.

"I'll go and talk to him," Sarah said with a look to Stefan. Standing up before she felt a hand on her shoulder, turning to find Elena also on her feet.

"Let me give it a try," she offered with an optimistic, if small, smile. "It's me has the problem with after all."

Sarah thought about it for a moment, lips rolling inward before she finally settled on an answer. "All right. Just be careful not to push him too hard." Elena nodded then made her way past Sarah and towards the staircase as Sarah sat back down next to Jenna.

"Can I ask something?" Jenna then said lifting a nervous hand into the air.

"Of course, Jenna. What is it?" Stefan asked.

"Why would Katherine be drinking vervain? I thought that was poisonous to you guys?"

"It is," Sarah said, smiling as she nodded to Jenna. "But you remember the part about it preventing compulsion?"

"Yeah, while it's inside me or I'm wearing it I can't be compelled."

"Well, that works for us vampires too," explained Stefan. "So even though it's irritating, if we take just a little, it's enough to prevent an Original vampires from compelling us."

"Original vampires like…" Jenna trialed off, as she looked over to the two Originals who smiled back at her. The ones she'd thought were just a couple of authors doing research who were in fact over hundreds of years old. "Okay…" Jenna said as she turned away, letting out a shaky breath and shudder.

"It's okay, Jenna. You're safe here," Sarah said reassuringly as she rubbed Jenna's shoulder comfortingly.

"Yeah…I know… It's just–just a lot to take in is all," Jenna said in between a few deep breaths as she tried to calm herself.

"Well, you're doing very well," Stefan said with a supportive grin. "And don't worry about it for now, you'll get the hang of it all soon enough."

"Eh, not to interrupt," Alaric spoke up sheepishly. "But could you guys perhaps tell me what else Klaus did when he was…me?"

"Well, you came into my home and threatened to takeover my body – I mean Klaus did," Jenna answered first.

"You tried to kill Bonnie at the Sixties decade dance," added Stefan.

"And you allowed Klaus to learn almost everything about us that he wouldn't have already known," concluded Sarah.

As his head dropped forward in shame, Alaric sighed out, "Great."

The three opposite gave varying looks of sympathy, before a door slamming from upstairs caught their attention. They all waited for something else to follow, but then nothing did. Jenna asked what it was, but Sarah and Stefan were already listening in with their heightened hearing. But by then, all they could hear was someone mumbling, and it wasn't until a few seconds later that they realised what was going on.

"Oh, dear," Amelia sighed regrettably, catching on half a second before Sarah and Stefan did.

"No!" Stefan gasped, before racing from the room at vamp speed with Sarah right behind them. He got to Damon's room first, kicking open the door to find Damon with his wrist pressed to Elena's mouth. Her big brown eyes wide with terror and tears as he forced his blood down her throat, sealing her fate.

Before Sarah could get in, Stefan was on Damon, shoving him away from Elena and taking up a stance between them, as Sarah rushed in to catch the collapsing Elena in her arms. Carefully lowering her down, she took Elena's chin and turned her head for a better look, but those teary eyes were enough to tell her it was too late. The blood smeared all over her mouth wasn't a good sigh either, nor was the fact that she spat out so much when she coughed. If they'd gotten to her right away, as Damon had pressed his open wrist to her then maybe. But the fact was, judging by the time and the amount of blood that would have passed through his wrist, with nowhere for it to go but down Elena's throat, there was no way around it. Elena had vampire blood in her system. Enough so that when she died tonight in the sacrifice, she would return as a vampire, not a human.

"I'm sorry," Sarah whispered, the memory of her own transition flashing before her eyes. How Katherine had secretly feed her and her brothers her blood, how Stefan had then forced her and Damon to feed after they'd resided themselves to death instead. She couldn't believe Damon would do this.

As Elena clung to Sarah, still coughing from the thick, disgusting, liquid that had been forced down her throat, Stefan shouted at Damon. "What did you do?! What did you do?!"

"I saved her life," he spat back, shooting up to his feet with a burst of vampire speed. "You're so bent on dying, at least this way I know you'll come back," he said right to Elena who was in tears now.

"As a vampire! She'll come back a vampire!" shouted Stefan.

"It's better than nothing else," Damon shot back defensively.

"Damon!" snarled Sarah from Elena's side, still holding the girl as her nightmares came to life before her. It had never been said explicitly, but that had always been the obvious way out of the sacrifice, for Elena to drink vampire blood. But since she'd never asked for it, everyone had rightfully assumed Elena hadn't wanted it. And now, because of Damon, she was going to be forced into becoming a vampire, the one thing she'd never wanted for herself.

"After what happened to you and I, how could you do this to her? You know she never wanted this."

"Go ahead," said Damon flippantly to Elena. "Wish me an eternity of misery. Believe me, you'll get over it."

Elena glared daggers back at him, but only succeeded in distracting him as Stefan charged, ramming straight into Damon and sending him into the wall. In his flight, Damon knocked over a lamp and landed behind his dresser as Stefan roared angrily at him.

"Stefan!" Sarah cried out, only for Damon to come flying back over the dresser, the remains of the lamp in hand. It'd had a wooden frame, now broken at the head and bottom, which provided Damon with a long sharp piece of splintered wood for him to use as a weapon. He held out the long pole of wood, charging at Stefan and catching him. Stefan managed to get his hands on the pole, but was no match for Damon's momentum as he ran him into a wall, holding him in place thanks to the pole between them now.

"Stop it, both of you!" shouted Sarah as she stood up, feeling Elena clinging to her leg as she too cried for them to stop.

"Admit it," Damon snarled at Stefan, both too angry to listen to their sister. "You just wish you had the balls to do it yourself!"

With another roar of anger, Stefan's vampire features came out as he tapped into all of his strength and swung from the right, putting all his weight on the pole until Damon could no longer hold it. He gave way to the superior force as Stefan landed his punch. The wooden pole now discarded to the floor across the room.

Stefan then got a hold of Damon, punching and punching until Sarah pushed him back, getting between her brothers as history once again flashed before her eyes. What she'd never wanted to see happen was in fact happening right before her eyes. Her brothers fighting over that face, over who should decide her fate, who should have her. Only it wasn't Elena's fault, it all went back to Katherine, her manipulation, her darkness that had infected them all and turned them into this. This mess of a family.

"Stefan, please–" Sarah didn't get the rest out, as Stefan shoved her aside consumed by his anger as he lunged at Damon again. They locked arms, holding onto each other just as they had before, only this time Stefan landed a swift headbutt to Damon, disorientating him as he back peddled across the room.

Stefan went to follow, but Sarah grabbed him from behind, trying to hold me back. "This isn't going to–" He swung back, catching Sarah in the face and sending her to the floor before he continued on for the still recovering Damon. Elena was crying out his name now but he didn't notice, his bloodlust too high. But not for human blood, no, he wanted the blood of his brother.

He grabbed Damon by the shirt once more, pulling him into his oncoming fist. Again pummelling him with punch after punch until a final one sent him flying to the ground. Still not done, Stefan roared once more, going to slam his fist into Damon again as he tried to get back up. But he didn't see what Sarah did, the long pole like stake back in Damon's hands, rising with him. She moved, from the floor, running over and shoving Stefan aside as Damon turned to stab.

"I SAID STO–" Her voice left her. A quiet gasp following.

She felt her whole body quake, her knees buckling as she looked down. She heard Elena and Stefan scream out her name, but they were so far away all of a sudden. As she looked down, she so the long thick stake penetrating her heart.

Slowly, carefully, she lifted her head up for what might be the last time. So much more strength required than ever before as she sniffed, feeling instantaneous tears suddenly fall from her painful green eyes. She was on her knees now, Elena and Stefan rushing towards her. But the second before they got to her, she saw right into Damon's eyes. His sorry, horrified, baby blue eyes. He'd had no idea what he was doing, acting on the same protective anger as Stefan had. He hadn't even realised what he'd done to his little sister until he looked down, confirming the stake was in fact in his hands.

He let go the split second before he was shoved back by Elena. "Get away from her!" she cried out, falling to her knees beside Sarah as Stefan slid next to her on the other side, quickly inspecting the wound with his own shocked expression.

But Sarah's eyes remained on Damon, watching him tremble as he climbed back up to his feet and backed away. On the verge of tears himself for what he'd done. Shock the only thing holding them back at this point. "Sarah…" he got out in a ghostly whisper, right before Alaric and Jenna came running in.

"What the hell is going on?" Alaric got out before he and Jenna saw.

"Oh, my God," Jenna gasped, seeing the stake through Sarah's chest. During their chat last night, one thing that had been confirmed to her about the vampire myth. The stake through the heart part was real.

"Sarah, I'm…" Damon tried to get out again, in the same quite shameful voice before Elena shout over him.

"Get out of here!"

With tears falling from his eyes, Damon gave one last sorry look to Sarah. Her own eyes begging him not to run as she reached out a weak hand towards him. "Damon…" But he was already gone in a blur. Leaving her on the floor of his bedroom to die. Like a coward.

And it hurt Sarah. More than the stake as she gasped out a hollow cry, before a more audible groan of unbearable pain followed. Her hand shot to the stake inside her, teeth clenched to hold back the screams of pain. Even the slightest touch or movement sent pains unlike any other radiating through her body. She was honestly amazed she wasn't dead yet.

"Did it go through her heart! Stefan, is she going to be okay?! Stefan?!" Elena was shouting from one side, while Stefan carefully examined the impact of the stake through Sarah's chest from the other.

"I–I–I–I think so," he finally managed to say much to Sarah's surprise. "But it's touching her heart so we're going to have to remove it slowly."

"Get this thing out of me!" groaned Sarah, hunching over until Stefan forced her to sit back up.

"Sarah, listen to me, you have to stay still from now on. Even the slightest move could puncture your heart and then you'll be dead," Stefan stressed.

"How are we supposed to get this out without hurting her then?" demanded Elena frantically.

"We can't," Stefan replied with a serious look to his girlfriend. "I'm going to have to hold her steady while you pull it out."

"Stefan, I…I can't do that. If I pull to fast or–or in the wrong way I'll–"

"You won't," cut int Sarah, breathing heavily as she bit down, the tears of pain still flowing. "You won't, Elena," she promised, closing her eyes to hide the fear of death from her loved ones. "But you have to do what Stefan says."

"But–But you–" Elena said looking to Stefan.

"I'm the only on that can hold her down," Stefan said shaking his head at the unsaid question by Elena.

Still squirming frantically, Elena madly began brushing her hair back, before running her hands over her face only to be reminded of the blood still around her mouth.

Then suddenly Sarah was holding her hand, and Elena's fearful eyes found Sarah's tranquil green. "You can do this," she said in a quiet voice that was almost drowned out by the tension in the room. So slow compared to everything else that was moving so fast, as if only she and Elena could hear what she was saying while everyone else panicked. "I know you can. All you have to do…is breath…"

And when Elena did that, suddenly everything became that much clearer. She could do this, a determination surging through her. She could – would, save Sarah's life.

"Okay," Elena said to herself before speaking up for everyone to here, a new confidence and control arising from inside of her. "Jenna, I need blood bags for Sarah. They're in the basement, in a freezer. Go! Now!" Her aunt was gone by the time she looked to Alaric. "I need you behind me to help keep the weight from distracting me," she instructed as she nodded to the length of the pole that was stretched out beyond her.

Nodding Alaric took up his position behind Elena, lifting the pole as she did, with care as Sarah cried out in more pain. Stefan was behind his sister now, arms wrapped under Sarah's as to keep her from moving too much when Elena started to pull. "Ready?" asked Elena. Stefan nodded back. "All right, Sarah. Three…two…one!" She pulled, slowly and Sarah screamed out.

Forced to block out the cries of her best friend, Elena grimaced as she focused on the task at had. Edging the wooden pole out another inch as Sarah's anguishing screams hit a new high. One last soft pull and Elena felt the stake move away from the vital organ that would spell death for Sarah. With it now clear, she gave an all might tug, yanking the stake the rest of the way as Sarah let out one last scream of pain before collapsing into Elena's arms as Stefan realised her.

"It's okay!" Elena gasped in relief as she clung to Sarah, although for a different reason than she had nearly a minute ago. "It's okay, we got it out, you're alive."

"No," Sarah said, already trying to push away. Elena frowned, releasing Sarah as she saw the vampire try to get to her feet, ignoring the gaping hole in her chest surrounded by a bloody stain on her t-shirt. "I've…I've got to…" she fell back to the floor, another groan of pain as she landed on her still healing wound. Quickly Elena and Stefan helped her back up before Stefan picked her up in his arms.

He then lead them out of Damon's room, meeting Jenna in the hallway before they entered Sarah's room, laying her down on her own bed. Stefan then stepped back as Jenna came forward with the three blood bags she had cradled in her arms, offering them to Sarah.

The first Sarah snatched, gulping the whole thing down in one go before she got out a thank you to Jenna. She then took the other two and proceeded to do the same, squeezing every last drop out only to find she still hand't healed after three bags of blood. The bleeding wasn't a bad, a sign she was healing but there was still a large and uncomfortable hole inside of her. And right next to her heart too.

In spite of that thought, Sarah still tried to get up before a knife of pain shot through her chest, forcing her to fall back against the bed. Before she could make a second attempt to get up, Stefan was stood over her shaking his head. "No, no, no. Hey, no. You're not moving from this bed until your healed. You need to stay put and rest," her brother told her.

"I haven't got time for rest," groaned Sarah impatiently, trying to sit up only for a hiss of pain to follow. "I've…I've got to find Damon." She went to move but Stefan's hand against her shoulder was enough to push her back down, as she moaned in defeat. If she couldn't get up off the bed, never mind past Stefan, then there wasn't much chance of her getting to Damon. But then again, when it came to her family, Sarah could be as stubborn as her brothers.

"Why would you want to find him anyway?" Elena asked spitefully, glaring at the air since Damon himself wasn't there. "He's the one that did this to you."

It struck Sarah as odd, that Elena was more infuriated with Damon over the stabbing of his sister, rather than the fact that he'd forced vampire blood down her own throat. Still, it wasn't exactly high on the list of priorities today. What was, was the reason for Damon's behaviour and actions, which was what Sarah needed to explain to Elena right now.

"Elena," groaned Sarah, struggling to speak through the continuing waves of pain. "You…You have to know why Damon did what he did."

"There's no excuse for him almost killing you like that," snapped Elena.

"No. I'm talking about him feeding you vampire blood." The shock on Elena's face might have suggested that she'd actually forgotten about that minor detail, in amongst everything else. "Listen…he does care about you. He does love you. But not in the way he thinks.

"He loves you because of what you mean to him." At this Elena frowned, along with the others in the room. "To him, your…symbolic of when everything started to turn around for him. Of when he started caring again." Sarah grimaced for a short moment before continuing. "So to lose you means losing everything he's gained over the past few months since he came back here. He'd lose me. Stefan. Alaric and the sheriff… He thinks that if he loses you, he'll lose all his friends and family – because you came into his life when he started getting all that back," insisted Sarah before another shot of pain had her shut up.

"Well then he's an idiot," said Elena angrily, not willing to give Damon an out just because of his messed up feelings that he couldn't understand.

"Not going to argue with you on that one," agreed Sarah, once again going to sit up. "But I've got to help him realise that before he makes things worse."

"Worse than feeding her vampire blood?" asked Jenna.

"Trust me, with Damon, he can always make things worse. Especially when he's trying to make–" She fell back against the bed, frustration and agony coming out in a sharp scream as Stefan moved to hold her down. Not that it took to much of his strength.

"All right, look, regardless of Damon, you're not leaving this bed any time soon."

"But–"

"No, Sarah," Stefan cut in firmly. His inner big brother coming out. "You have to listen, and stay in that bed until you're healed, completely."

"I'll go and track Damon down," offered Alaric. "Talk to him and see if I can get him to come back here and listen to you."

"There, see. Alaric can deal with Damon while you recover." He then thought for a moment, looking back to a shivering Elena, before saying, "I'm going to take Elena somewhere for the day."

"What?" said Elena, though Stefan remained focused on his sister for the moment.

"Will you be okay?"

"Sure," grunted Sarah. "I'll get a lot further without you pushing me back into this bed." Her stubbornness wasn't showing any sigh of subsiding. He should have known that. But he didn't have time to waste baby-sitting his sister until she recovered, he had to help Elena through this day, possibly the last of her human life.

His eyes found Jenna. "Could you stay with her? Make sure she stays in bed until she's healed?"

"Sure," Jenna nodded.

"Oh, like she's going to be able to–" Sarah began to protest, getting up an inch before Jenna pushed her back down. "–Okay she can hold me," grumbled Sarah as she closed her eyes in defeat. Realising she wasn't going to be leaving any time soon.

"I'll go and grab some more blood bags before I go," Alaric offered.

"Don't bother," Sarah spoke up as she pointed. "Panel in the wall. Open it and you'll find a fridge with blood."

"You're as bad as me in college," Jenna teased lightly, making her way across to the wooden panel that blended in with the others. It took her a second to find out how to open it, but once she did, she returned to Sarah with a fresh blood bag in hand. Handing it over, Sarah began to suck at it like a hungry child.

"I've got this," Jenna said comfortable, sat on the edge of Sarah's bed. "You guys go and do what you need to do."

"Thanks," Stefan said with a soft smile to Jenna, before leaning over and kissing his sister on the forehead. "Be safe," he said, before taking Elena's hand and leading her out. Although Elena managed to linger for just a moment, as she looked back at the weak Sarah, wondering if she was right to leave with Stefan when Sarah was so ill.

She never got a chance to protest though, as Stefan whisked her away. Alaric then followed them out, leaving Jenna as she turned back towards the pale vampire, still sucking at the blood bag.

"Any chance of you letting me go?" asked Sarah hopefully, as she pulled the blood bag from her lips.

Jenna smiled at her, but shook her head in response.

He was hyperventilating. The world swaying around him.

What had he done…? What had he done…?

He found himself in the Mystic Grill, collapsing agains the bar as if he'd already had one too many. He hadn't even started yet, but by the end he'd feel better. He had to. If he didn't the only other option was to flip it all off.

Waving down the bartender who gave him a skeptical look, Damon ordered his bourbon. The bartender proceeded to question him if he was okay, Damon snapped at him to get his damn order, before the guy scurried off.

Then he was alone, bracing himself against the bar. Staring down into the wood as the scene replied in his head. Stefan beating the crap out of him, knocking him all over the place for what he'd done to Elena. He'd blocked her from leaving when she'd tried. Biting his wrist and putting it to her lips. He'd held her against his wrist, forced her to drink his blood no matter the protest and horror in her eyes. She'd struggled as he knew she would, but she would be safe, alive, and everything would be okay.

Or it would have been until Damon lifted that broken lamp. Using the wooden remains to stab his sister through the heart.

His breathing quickened, panic flooding through him, as he saw his sister's shocked expression flash before him. He grabbed the sides of his head, shaking as he tried to end the flashback. It played on, her collapsing to her knees, begging for him to stay with her during her final moments before he then ran out. Abandoning her, and not for the first time.

He couldn't have killed her. Not Sarah. Not his sister. He told himself, but it felt hollow. He'd see it himself. His hands on the stake he'd stabbed without a second thought.

In trying to save Elena and everything else, all Damon had succeeded in doing was burning it all down.

"Damon?" At the hand on his shoulder, he swung around, blue eyes terrified as he found Alaric who he shoved back. "Take it easy!" exclaimed the history teacher, before Damon was on him in two steps, grabbing him by his jacket and pulling him in. His wide crazy eyes enough to terrify Ric as he felt Damon's panicked breaths on his face.

"Tell me she's all right, Ric," begged Damon. "Please, please, tell me I didn't kill her."

Carefully, Alaric put his hands on Damon's shoulder, doing his best to comfort him as he said slowly, "You didn't kill her." And for the first time since seeing his sister's agonising face with the tearful green eyes, Damon's heart slowed in its beat. "You hurt her pretty badly, but she's alive."

Letting his hands go lax, and fall from Alaric, Damon turned back to the bar and collapsed onto its surface as he exhaled in relief. She was alive. He repeated to himself. He hadn't completely burnt everything yet. But even so, he couldn't stop himself from saying aloud, "I screwed up."

"Yeah, no kidding," agreed Alaric critically, as he joined Damon at the bar. "But she's alive, Damon. You can make it up to her."

"Yeah," Damon agreed, nodding to himself. He just hoped the same could be said for Elena.

"Trouble, gentlemen?" came a new mysterious voice from Damon's other side. Rather than look to the source however, he turned to Alaric who was staring past him with wide eyes. Damon followed them to the person now on his left side, standing at the bar with a face he did know. Leiah.

He groaned, face contorting. Today was just not his day. "Klaus, I presume."

"In the flesh," said Klaus in his smooth accent, grinning along with his younger, shorter, sister stood next to him at the bar. Looking far too cheerful and happy for Damon's liking. Maybe he should introduced her to Caroline. He thought bitterly, eyes flicking over to see where the barman was with his drink.

"Thanks for the loaner, mate," Klaus added cheerful towards Alaric, who plastered on a smile as Damon stood up to his full height. Scowling at the two Originals.

"What's got you so grumpy?" taunted Leiah, leaning on the bar with folded arms, as her blue eyes came alight with mischief.

"None of your damn business," snapped Damon.

"He's quite right, Leiah. Nothing for us to concern ourselves with." However, his light heartlessness took a turn, as his gazed moved from his sister and back towards Damon. "That is unless it has something to do with my doppelgänger?" he asked with a hint of warning to his tone.

At Damon's grimace, Leiah laughed. "Oh, this does not look for good for you."

"Don't worry, nothing's happened to Elena that will effect your little coming out ceremony," Damon said flippantly as he looked back to Alaric with an awkward smile. His awkwardness then continued as he frowned curiously at Klaus, before asking, "I don't suppose I could talk you into postponement, by any chance, huh?"

Klaus turned back to Leiah, the two looking at each other in amusement before turning back to Damon with grins. "You are kidding?" he asked, but when he saw Damon's eyes he looked over to Alaric for a second opinion. "He is kidding right?"

"No, not really," Alaric sighed regrettably.

"I mean, come on, what's one month in the whole grand scheme of things?" Damon continued with his pitch, adding a lazy smile.

Another laugh from Leiah. "You have no idea who you're dealing with do you."

She'd propped her head against her hand now, elbow resting on the bar as she looked to her older brother. The one now glaring not so nicely at Damon. "Let me be clear," he said in a low voice as stepped towards Damon. "I have my vampire. I have my werewolf. I have everything I need. The ritual will happen tonight."

"I really wouldn't challenge him, Damon," warned Leiah with a smirk that suggested she really didn't care if he listened to her or not. "He's offaly touchy about this curse business, and if you get in his way, you'll probably end up dead." Damon's eyes remained matched with Klaus' until he heard what Leiah said next. "And we both know how sad Sarah would be if you were to turn up dead."

His glare intensifying, Damon strode past Klaus – who glided aside with an entertained smirk – marching his way up to Leiah. He was a good size taller than her, looming over her small figure as she leaned against the bar – bearing down on her with his fiery blue eyes. But she didn't flinch at his advance, instead looking up with those amused blue eyes. Damon had had enough.

"All right, just who the hell are you?" snarled Damon.

"Is this a family thing were you all just can't remember names?" Damon's hand shot out to grab her by the throat, but Leiah was faster and grabbed the attacking hand by the wrist before forcing it down to the bar and throwing Damon off balance for a second. Holding is arm in place, her smile grew with his snarl. "Gonna have to be quicker that I'm afraid."

"What's your game with Sarah?" Damon snarled, proceeding with his questions since brute force was no longer an option. At least not without attracting sizeable attention. "You show up at our house wanting to talk to her when she has no idea who you are, and yet you keep implying you know her."

"I do know her, Damon," Leiah said, leaning in as Damon caught something protective in those passionate blue eyes. But then it was gone, replaced by something smug as she squeezed Damon's wrist hard and made him squirm, bitting back a scream. "But I'm not giving you the answer as to how I know her. It's between me and Sarah." She then released Damon's arm, stepping away from the bar to join Klaus, her perky attitude back up to max. "Tell her to give me a call when this is all over. And remind her to stay out of my brother's way. I wouldn't want her trying to be something she's not."

"That'll be all then," Klaus then said, eyebrows lifting as he smiled. "Ta ta!" he said in goodbye, before he and Leiah sauntered out of the restaurant.

"Well, that was fun," grumbled Damon, turning around to Alaric as he rubbed his bruised wrist.

"You're going to try and screw this up, aren't you?" Alaric asked, knowing Damon far too well by this point.

"You think if I took his werewolf out of the equation, Elena might…get over the fact that I tried to turn her into a vampire?" Damon asked, thinking fast as he looked to Alaric, hoping for his agreement.

"I think there's a number of problems with that plan," criticised Alaric before lifting his fingers to count. "One; you'll be dead."

"Yeah, but if I do this it buys Elena another month before the next full moon," protested Damon, still seeking agreement.

"Which brings us on to two; Sarah will hate you for dying," Alaric reminded, him to which Damon closed his eyes to silently groan.

Sarah, the sister he'd just stabbed. Alaric was right, he had to make it up to her too, but dying would only break her and her dream for their family. "And three; you can only make one of those two happy. Either you stay alive to make it up to your sister and let Elena become a vampire. Or, you kill Klaus' werewolf so Elena can have another month, but you'll die in the process and break Sarah's heart." Alaric said putting it out there simply to be heard.

Damon thought on it for a long moment before deciding, "I think I'll go with the dying option. At least I won't have to see Sarah after my death."

"So your chickening out in other words," said Alaric with a critical glare that Damon had to snarl at. He hated being wrong.

"And if you're going with that option, there's something else you should consider," added Alaric.

"Yeah, what?" snapped Damon, just about as sick as he could get of Alaric's advice at this point.

"What if when you kill Klaus' werewolf, he just grabs another."

"Like who?"

"Like Scarlett!" snapped Alaric as the obvious answer slapped Damon in the face.

He screwed up his face again in frustration. "Damn it, Scrappy."

"And before you think of keeping her out of Klaus' reach, what if she already is the werewolf he intends to sacrifice?"

"All right, I get your point, I get your point," sighed Damon as he waved him off, going silent for a moment.

"So are you going to help me or what?" Damon then asked quietly as he looked to Alaric, seeing no other way out of this mess other than playing the martyr.

Sighing reluctantly, Alaric replied, "What do you want me to do?"