**A/N** Hope you enjoyed the last chapter, even though it was a bit of a profile and introduction to the story as a whole, also hope the whole concept of my Vampire Diaries AU is not confusing…basically, if an important event that happened in seasons 1-3 of the TV show isn't mentioned, for example, Klaus being put into Tyler's body etc. then in my AU, it hasn't happened.

CHAPTER 02 - Transition

I felt guilty, probably the guiltiest I think I've ever felt, but I hadn't heard from Caroline or Klaus in hours and my skin was on fire. So, I went ahead and found a sleazy looking bar, which I hung around outside until the early hours when people who partied came out utterly oblivious to their surroundings and company. Then, I approached and as if I were already a vampire, I preyed on the innocent girl who was unfortunate enough to come out of the bar alone, drunk, clearly high and in tears. If I had been feeling my normal human self, this show of vulnerability would have resulted in my help, but in transition, the only feelings I had was that my skin was alight, my teeth about to be pushed out of my skull, my eyes turning pitch black, the agony of my lust for blood consuming every thought…

Just as Caroline had predicted, with my drug habit, I hadn't been able to stop once I felt the beautiful, unrelenting pull of her blood and she now lay still as daybreak, but not tranquil, not at peace, her eyes, her eyes were open with all the terror and pain that had defined her last moments alive. All I could do now was stare at her corpse in horror, but satisfied now that my hunger had been quelled.

Was this really what Stefan did and relished as a ripper? Was this the kind of behaviour that Klaus used to encourage and order? Being new vampire was not all I thought it would be – how glad I was then that when I drank Anna's blood before that the process failed…

I was brought back to the present by the sound of my phone ringing, glancing at the caller ID, I was surprised by the name.

"Stefan?"

"Jeremy, where are you? Elena's worried about you and so am I. Are you safe? Is Caroline there?"

I didn't want to tell Stefan about what just happened. I just wanted to go back to being Jeremy Gilbert, stoner dude.

With a broken voice, I said, "Stefan, I did it."

"Did what? Jeremy, what's happened? What did you do?"

"I became like you,"

I could tell the implication of those words hit him like a ton of bricks. He took a moment to respond.

"Jeremy, just tell me where you are," he said calmly.

"Outside The Albany bar, in the alley…there's so much blood, Stefan," I was determined to tell him the truth now that he knew where I was, "Stefan, hurry, I can't control it, I need more…blood,"

"Hold on,"

With that, he hung up and I returned to looking at my first victim, now with black, cold and hungry eyes. There was still blood in her…I hadn't drunk it all, I could take more, now that she was dead, nothing was stopping me – shame to waste it.

"No, Jeremy, resist it, don't do it, just wait for Stefan, just hold on, hold on, hold on,"

As I chanted the last words Stefan spoke to me, I could feel my hunger and bloodlust waning slightly, but I knew if Stefan was much longer, my self-control would not be enough to keep me from feeding again.

Minutes on minutes passed and still no Stefan. I wondered if he had stopped to fetch Caroline and Klaus for help. Elena! There must have been a problem with Elena and Stefan had to go to her, for a problem that could probably wait hours, if not days, but because it was Elena, the hunger that was all-consuming and threatening to overwhelm me completely was going to go unchecked and I would kill more helpless people…

My suspicions were spinning wildly out of control and as they rested on the subject of Elena, my anger and hate began to conquer the little remaining power I had over my own actions. At once, I sprang from a hunting crouch back to the crumpled body of the dead girl whose blood now was within me, newly formed fangs now bared ready for the plunge into the flesh and the accommodating vein.

Suddenly, I was flung back into the wet alley wall away from my target. Once the initial anger passed, I saw Stefan, also black-eyed and fangs bared, ready to protect the girl's corpse from further mutilation at my hands. The shock knocked the hunger out of me and my eyes returned to a human colour.

Immediately, Stefan disengaged and looked me over with more concern in his eyes than any other emotion that I had expected, like disappointment or anger. He flashed over to where I lay and helped me up.

"Oh my God, Jeremy, are you all right? Why the hell wasn't Caroline or Klaus here? I thought they were meant to be looking out for you," he cursed angrily.

"It wasn't their fault. Caroline said I should wait cos they were busy but they were going to come with me this morning, all I had to do was wait through tonight, but…I couldn't," I cradled my head in my hands.

Stefan let out a long sigh, "Okay, okay, well…it's done now," he glanced at the girl, "I have to sort this. We can't have people finding vampire victims around town, even when we're almost out of Mystic Falls. I think Sheriff Forbes still operates here. I'll get rid of this mess, but I want you, Jeremy, to call Caroline and tell her what happened, then you need to get in contact with Elijah,"

As he mentioned the name of my maker, I cringed, recalling the way I was turned and how it came about. "Why?" I asked callously.

Stefan let out another burdened sigh, "Because he needs to know that you are now a vampire and have completed the transition and that he has a responsibility here, no matter how much he chooses to delegate it to his brother and Caroline!" Stefan paused for air, then continued with as much gusto, "Jeremy, whether you like it or not, you are now part of Elijah's bloodline, as I am part of Klaus' and in the end, he is responsible for you and he is tied to you and you are tied to him,"

"All right! I'll call him!"

I headed off in the direction of downtown Mystic Falls when Stefan cautiously called out to me, "Jeremy, where are you going to stay now that you're a vampire?"

I instantly checked my steps, "What do you mean?"

He looked at me woefully, "Well…now that you have to be invited in to buildings and houses where you want to go and now that you have what seems to be a big problem with your hunger, do you think you ought to be in the same house as Elena?"

Elena! Elena again…

I longed to just scream at him, why Elena now? Has she just murdered someone? Has she just become a vampire? Has she died recently because a ring that was supposed to keep her alive didn't work? NO! So just leave Elena out of my life, for once!

I took a deep, yet now unnecessary breath, and said, "I'll go to Caroline and Klaus' for tonight and go over to ours in the afternoon to get my stuff then I'll move away, which is what everyone wants anyway, then you can be with Elena, just like you always wanted. At Caroline's at least I'll be able to get in and I won't be a danger to anybody and they might actually notice when I'm in trouble and need a bit of help!"

The anger just poured out of me as venom directly aimed at Stefan. I knew it wasn't really his fault, it was Elena's, but he asked for it by more or less telling me not to go home – to the home that should have been rightly mine, had I not been the victim of one of Damon's stupid plans, which had gone drastically awry.

I didn't want to get to Caroline's in too much of a hurry, so having said my piece; I left Stefan to his morbid business and just walked back. I remembered the day which changed my life, which changed my death…

The day when Ric got killed, Damon had concocted a plan to stop him and his ultimate vampire hunting mojo with the rings that he and I both had. He made fake doubles that wouldn't bring you back were you killed by a supernatural entity. The problem, as with all plans that either of the Salvatores devise, was Elena. We all assumed that because she was the Petrova doppelganger that she kind of qualified as a supernatural being that would not be protected from death by the ring. It seems though, that doppelgangers are not magical enough to be rendered safe by the rings, they are just a freak of nature. Elijah suggested that he give me and Elena some of his blood, in case either the ring that had been taken from Alaric or my ring failed to resurrect us. Elena having chosen Damon over Stefan had also decided she was prepared to become a vampire to spend eternity with him. So Damon kept the rings safe until it was time for the plan to be put into place, then Elena got the ring that I normally wore and I was given the one that Alaric wore. Hers – or mine – activated and brought her back to life still alive and breathing, but Alaric's having been so extensively used did not work for me as we had hoped it would, so I was unintentionally turned into a vampire from the blood of Elijah.

In short, the plan was an unmitigated disaster. And now, I'm stuck with the consequences of it.

By the time I reached the end of my own death story in my head, I had arrived at Caroline's door. I couldn't be bothered to call Elijah and tell him the obvious, besides Klaus would probably mention it to him at some point in the future. I rang their old fashioned doorbell at the Mikaelson mansion, where they lived along with Rebekah and Elijah when they were in town, which was almost never, so there were lots of spare rooms going and it was much nicer than the Salvatore boarding house, which also unfortunately had the Salvatores living there. Not to mention that Elena had stayed over at the Salvatore boarding house almost each night since she had finally made her choice leaving me either to crash at Caroline's or to just make do in the empty Gilbert house, no longer home, but I had chosen not to ask too many questions about what Elena spent her nights doing at the Salvatore place…

I heard heavy footsteps approaching the ornate, heavy door, so I guessed it was Klaus.

"Ah, good evening, Jeremy," he said in his lilting English accent as he smiled opening the door.

I frowned at his dishevelled, unusual unkempt appearance, not at all glad that shown by his untidiness I had interrupted their good time, "No, Klaus, it's not…"

He examined me closely and I saw his blue expressive and perceptive eyes widen with the realisation of the night's events.

He tilted his head backwards, "Caroline! We have company…interesting company!" He added, knowingly smiling, in that irritating obnoxious way that had always bugged me, oddly more now that when it meant that he had found another way to plan our demise.

She suddenly appeared clad in nothing more than red silk – and revealing – lingerie, having seen who was at the door, wrapping her matching satin robe around herself. "Wha-"

Obviously understanding what I was doing at her door so early and unexpectedly and figuring out why on earth Klaus would have ever said my company was interesting, she looked at me sympathetically and invited me in, ushering me through the door into the safety of the Mikaelson home – yes, home – without hesitation.