Thank you all SO MUCH for your great responses! I've already started chapter 5 out of motivation. Chapter 5 is as far as my thinking process has led me to, so it might take me a little longer to update after that. To encourage reviews, I'm going to leave two things in the end author's note, and you tell me what you prefer. And while you're at it, let me know what you think of the story! Hope you like this chapter!


Chapter 3

Bonnie and Stefan stared at Elena.

"Absolutely not, Elena," Stefan asserted

"Why not, Stefan? Do you want your brother to die?" she quipped.

"He told you not to do anything stupid. Last time I checked, this qualified as stupid!"

Elena turned her attention to Bonnie.

"Will it save Damon?"

The witch hesitated. Nowhere in the text did it specifically say it would save the offending vampire, but by putting two and two together, one could almost be sure it would.

"Well, it doesn't specifically say so, but-"

"Bonnie," Elena said, causing her best friend to meet her eyes, determined and desperate. "Will it save Damon?"

The witch nodded.

"That settles it, then," Elena decided. She saw Stefan begin to protest again, and cut him off. "Stefan, I'm not letting any more people get hurt because of me. I have a chance to undo what's happened to Bonnie's mom, and I'm not letting an innocent stranger get hurt because I'm too scared," Elena argued.

"It has to be done within the first 24 hours of the beginning of a transition, so we really don't have time to debate this," Bonnie pressed, looking up from the Grimoire.

Stefan opened his mouth to protest yet again, but Elena cut him off.

"I'm doing this, Stefan. With or without your help."

Stefan looked at the brunette girl before him. Her shoulders were squared at him, her look determined and defiant. He knew there was no talking her out of this, and frankly, he didn't know if there was even an alternative solution. He knew Damon would hate him for allowing her to go through with this, but Stefan would be damned if he lost his brother. He heaved a deep sigh and looked at Bonnie.

"Can you and Caroline bring Abby over in an hour?" he asked, not looking at Elena. Bonnie nodded.

"Then I guess it's settled," he adjourned, storming out of the room, leaving Bonnie and Elena to stare after him. Bonnie was the first to break the silence.

"Are you sure about this, Elena?" she asked the girl. She was nervous about the outcome, and hoped she could perform the spell under the pressure that the lives of two people she cared deeply about would be on the line. Elena nodded.

"It's what's right, Bonnie. So many people have died; so many people have been put in the way of danger because of me. If I can do this, maybe that will stop. I'm tired of hurting the people I care about."

"What about Stefan and Damon?" Bonnie asked, trying to lighten the serious mood. She watched as her friend's face crumpled into defeat.

"I don't know, Bonnie. I don't really want to talk about it," Elena sighed.

Bonnie, horrified that her plan to lighten the mood had backfired, nodded and hugged her friend. "I'm going to get Caroline and Abby. I'll be back," she said, fighting back the tears that threatened to form at the thought of what was to happen. She embraced the brunette before getting up and walking out of the door.

Elena waited to make sure Bonnie was gone for the hour before the brunette girl allowed her brave front to crumble.

She curled up on the sofa, trying to quiet the sobs that were wracking through her body. She never wanted this. She didn't want to become a vampire, but she was tired of everyone getting hurt to protect her. She was terrified of what was going to happen, and the only person whose comfort she needed was unconscious at the current moment.

She knew she had to suck it up. One sign of weakness and Stefan would pull the plug on this whole thing, and she couldn't let him do that. They both needed Damon, whether they would admit it or not. She would have time to mope about her transformation after the fact. Hell, she would have eternity to mope about it.

Elena sat up and wiped her eyes, trying to reduce the redness and swelling. She was going through with this and no one was stopping her.

She had seen Stefan storm off towards the cellars, so she made her way to where Damon was resting. She looked at him, weak and helpless, and was reminded of the night when he told her he loved her, the night they were both sure he was going to die. She wanted to curl up next to him, like she had done that night, and have him comfort her, like she needed.

Instead, she sat on the edge of the bed, taking his hand and making the familiar circle patterns with her thumb, biting back her tears. She let out a shaky sigh.

"It's the last hour I'm going to be a human, and you don't get to enjoy it with me," she joked. "You're going to be furious when you wake up, Damon," she laughed, trying to make herself feel better. Her demeanor changed as she thought of her future.

"I don't want to do this, Damon," she admitted. "But I'm not going to let you die." Elena curled up next to Damon, not caring about when he would start screaming again. Even unconscious, he was a better comfort to her than Stefan. She let a few tears trickle down from her eyes as she thought of everything she'd miss out on and everything she was giving up.

She didn't know how long she'd been there with Damon when Stefan appeared in the doorway, his mask of uncaring back on his face.

"Bonnie's pulling up in the driveway," Stefan announced. "Come on."

Elena nodded, wiping her eyes once Stefan turned around. She squeezed Damon's hand before leaving, trying to savor every last moment of humanity she could.

She got back to the living room to find Bonnie and Caroline standing and conferencing with Stefan while Abby was unconscious on the couch. Elena's three friends looked in her direction as she entered the room, and Caroline was the first to rush over and hug her.

"Oh Elena!" was all she had to say. Caroline had not chosen this life for herself, and she still hated it sometimes. Elena hugged the blonde back.

"Has Bonnie told you anything about the spell?" The brunette asked, still embracing her friend.

"You have to have vampire blood in your system, die, and then she can start working her magic."

Elena nodded. Regardless if the spell worked or not, she would be a vampire by the end of the day. This brought more unwelcomed tears, which she fought to hold back. Caroline must have noticed, because she tried to cheer her friend up.

"Hey, look at it this way: we really will be best friends forever!" she tried, though as soon as she said it, she knew what Elena would be thinking about, because it was the same thing she saw in her mind: Elena and Caroline, hundreds of years in the future, without Bonnie.

Elena pulled back and gave her a weak smile, thanking her for trying. She took a deep breath.

"Caroline, I want it to be your blood," Elena said to the blonde, who looked shocked. The thought of turning with Stefan's blood just seemed so…unfair to Damon. And besides, Caroline was one of her best friends, so why not?

The blonde nodded, feeling honored that Elena would ask that of her. She brought her wrist to her mouth, making a sound of pain as she bit into the flesh with her fangs. She held out her arm uncertainly to Elena, who looked up at Caroline, over at Bonnie and Stefan, and then back down to the wrist before her. She slowly lowered her head down and began to drink the blood from Caroline's wrist, hating everything about the liquid that would soon be the only way for her to survive.

Once she felt she drank enough, she wiped her mouth, her stomach turning. Bonnie stepped forward, grabbing her friend's hands.

"Elena, are you sure about this?" she asked one last time.

In a split second of hesitation, Elena thought about backing out. She thought about being able to continue living her life like a normal human. She thought about all the people that could be killed trying to save her. She thought about Damon.

"Yes."

At Elena's confirmation, Bonnie looked to the younger Salvatore. He walked forward to meet Elena in the middle of the room, dreading what he had to do. His eyes took in every inch of her body, as if ingraining it to his memory.

Stefan looked into the brown eyes of the girl he loved, human for the last time. A tear fell as he mustered up all his strength, and snapped her neck.


You hate me. I know you do. I'm so sorry you guys. It just seemed like the perfect place to end the chapter. You all better review...cause some intense stuff just happened in those last two sentences. Also, here's the question:

Coke or Pepsi?

Thanks for reading!