It felt like every nerve in my body was on fire.
My hand flew to my chest. I couldn't feel my heart beat. Instantly, anxiety and panic washed over my body. Logically, I knew what was happening to me. I was becoming a vampire. I was becoming a creature of the night, a predator of humans. I was becoming the very thing I never wanted to be. But mentally and emotionally, I had no idea. It felt like every instinct in my body, every emotion, and every memory was suddenly rushing to the surface. I literally felt as if I had bottled every emotion I'd ever had, and if someone looked at me the wrong way I could rip their head off.
I had heard Stefan, Damon and Caroline talk to me about the feelings and emotions and what it did to your body – but it was a whole new experience feeling it firsthand. I felt like my body had become something entirely different from me. My mind was racing a thousand miles a minute, considering all the possibilities.
Suddenly, my mind landed on the events that led me to this impossible feeling.
"I can't hear a heartbeat…" Damon announced quietly, turning to Emily for an explanation.
"She's in transition…" Emily said with clarity, her eyes never leaving me the entire time she spoke.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Emily opened her mouth to speak but Damon kept talking, now walking viciously back and forth across the length of two feet in front of me. It was obvious that even in his state of anger and confusion; I was still the one thing he was set on protecting. My eyes fell on a barely conscious Stefan who was struggling to lift himself off the ground; Alaric reacted by poisoning him with another vervain dart, just enough to allow Stefan to remain limp on the ground.
"Do you wanna know how much blood I've fed Elena since the Klaus debacle? Zero. Zip. Zilch! So unless she sneaks down to the freezer in the middle of the night," Damon briefly turned on his heels to face me "which I'm assuming you haven't because you're human and you'd take chocolate over blood any day," he turned to Emily to continue. "And if you're insinuating that someone has compelled her to drink blood, not only would I have been able to smell it inside of her, but she wears a vervain necklace that not so Sainty Stefan gave to her so you –" Damon pointed his index finger at Emily "have got your facts mixed up!" he huffed.
"It is written that the blood of your true love can bring you back, no matter how small the amount…" Emily spoke, raising her head again. Damon rolled his eyes and growled.
"What does that even mean? Did you not hear my big speech on how I didn't give Elena any of my blood?" he asked.
"Stefan repeatedly stabbed you with the stake before he accidentally pierced Elena's heart." Emily explained. Both Damon and I were silent but we exchanged a glance, and his look mirrored one of the many things I was feeling. Complete and utter confusion.
"That wasn't even…that was like… pen ink…" Damon mumbled, eyeing the stake by the pool of my blood still on the floor. In the back of my mind I was wondering why I didn't want to mop up the floor with my tongue, but I suppose it was because I was too preoccupied with being damned with eternity to feel anything other than confusion.
"Damon – you have yet again underestimated the power of love…" Emily spoke quietly with a small smirk on her lips. She raised her eyebrows incredulously before speaking again. "Elena – you have 23 hours to make the choice before your body starts to decay, and if you have not chosen by the 24th hour – your body will be nothing but a pile of dust," she told me with absolutely no emotion. She snapped her fingers and just like that – she was gone.
Alaric had stayed silent throughout the entire conversation and he now let out a small cough, both of confusion and awkwardness. Stefan's eyelids were starting to open slightly, causing me to stumble backwards. If Damon hadn't caught me, I probably would've slipped on the blood that laced the floor.
"Get him out of here…" Damon ordered to Alaric. He looked at Damon absolutely puzzled and then eyed the body that was Stefan's…
"Sure, it's not like I'm human or get back problems or anything…" Alaric mumbled, grabbing Stefan's wrists and pulling him towards the door leading downstairs. Suddenly, four people stumbled in through the door – smiles and laughter echoing from their mouths until they took in the sight before them.
"Oh –"Jeremy said.
"My – "Bonnie continued.
"Gosh –"Caroline finished. Tyler was the only one that remained calm and decided not to comment, but instead lifted Stefan's feet and assisted Alaric in bringing Stefan downstairs. Jeremy rushed towards Elena and wrapped her up in a tight hug before noticing the blood on her chest.
"What the hell happened?" he asked, his eyes darting between the blood on the floor, a confused Damon and a dazed Elena.
"I…I…excuse me…" Caroline said, filing out the front door to get some air. I frowned slightly, wondering if I was going to be like that. Bonnie hesitantly shuffled forward before placing her hand on my forearm. I had seen her do this once before, with Caroline and I saw firsthand how cold and distant Bonnie had become with Caroline. I don't know what I would do if my relationship with Bonnie ended like that.
"What are you doing that for?" Jeremy asked, confused – clearly not in his right mind to put the pieces together.
"You're…you're still human…but not really…"Bonnie said, stumbling over her own words. "Someone tell me what is going on…now…" Bonnie ordered, looking at Damon. Her normally wide, warm brown eyes were now cold and in slits as she watched Damon struggle with an explanation.
"Stefan was torturing Damon, I tried using reverse psychology, it didn't work. Stefan was about to kill Damon and I…" I began but somehow I couldn't put the words together.
"Elena jumped in front of me…Stefan didn't have time to retract the stake…" Damon finished, placing his hand lightly on my shoulder.
Suddenly, the room around me began to get hazy. The once clear conversation was now distant, almost like an echo.
"Elena?" I heard Jeremy ask with alarm in his voice. "Elena!" he said again, panic taking over. I struggled with my eyes to keep them open – but the darkness won as I sank to the floor and letting the darkness consume me.
"Elena?" Damon whispered quietly, stroking my forehead with his hand. Despite the transition, my body still shuddered at his touch. Without thinking, I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him closer to me, placing a kiss on his jaw line. I could feel him relax in my arms and the instant comfort his body brought to mine was amazing. "Elena…" he repeated, this time with more relief and understanding.
It was almost as if I was afraid to open my mouth…afraid to move or even breathe. I didn't want to cause any arm to anyone – and I didn't even know how far into the transition I was. It took me a moment to take in my surroundings, and it wasn't until I realized I was on Damon's bed that I spoke.
"What happened?" I croaked out, my hand flying to my throat in confusion at the sound of my shaky voice. Damon gently took my hand and looked at me with his blue eyes showing such intensity; I thought I could feel my heart melt.
"You were an idiot, that's what happened…" Damon muttered. It was obvious that he was angry at me, and I immediately felt guilty. "You shouldn't have jumped in front of me, Elena."
I gave my head a light shake and then I looked at Damon to make sure I wasn't dreaming. Did I hear him just right? Is he actually angry at me for letting him live?
"Are we actually gonna do this right now?" I asked him, letting my inner thoughts be heard.
"You're becoming a vampire and you have nobody to blame but yourself!" he told me with gritted teeth. His eyebrows were furrowed together as he paced back and forth across the room, occasionally rubbing the back of his neck out of frustration.
"He would have killed you…" I reminded him.
"Yes, I'm aware of that but I've already lived…and you…you never wanted this!" he shouted at me. Even with my emotions running high, I somehow cowered into the pillows out of fear and anger.
"He. would. have. killed. you!" I shouted back at him.
"So why didn't you let him? After the way I screw things up left right and center, it probably would have been in the best interests of everybody to just let me die so you can get your happily-ever-after with Saint Stefan!" Damon ranted, throwing his hands up in the air.
"Why didn't I let him kill you?" I repeated, absolutely flabbergasted. It pained me to see how low of an opinion Damon must've had about himself to think that I would rather let him die than become a vampire.
"Yeah – oh that's right because you're a do-gooder who does nothing but sacrifice herself left right and centre!" he rambled, wearing a hole in the floor.
"No you asshole – it's because I love you!" I said suddenly. He stopped in his tracks to look at me. We didn't speak for a few minutes before I broke the silence with a new subject topic.
"What am I?" I asked suddenly. I watched from across the room as Damon's eyes widened. I would have laughed at how quickly he went from angry to concerned but I didn't have room to feel anything other than fear.
"You're almost a vampire…" Damon answered simply, folding his arms across his chest.
"Almost?" I asked. He nodded his head toward the nightstand where a blood bag lay with a bow around the top of it. I eyed him questioningly and he shrugged lightly.
"Caroline added the bow…" he mumbled. I nodded in acknowledgment and my insides suddenly felt a little bit warmer, knowing that Caroline still cares. I hesitantly picked up the blood bag with shaky hands and eyed it. I could feel the burn in my throat intensify as I shook the bag up and down, watching the red liquid go from one end of the plastic to the other. I swallowed back the hunger and forced myself to look at the blue eyes I knew were studying me.
"Sit down," I ordered patting the spot on the bed beside me. He looked at me questioningly before hesitantly sitting beside me on the bed. I took his hand but noticed that he did not relax at my touch like he normally did. "Before I do anything, I want to tell you why I came here tonight…" I began. Damon didn't say anything; he just nodded slightly and let me continue. "I came here to tell you that I forgive you," I whispered, bringing my hand up to touch his cheek. I could feel the strength it took to do that, my body obviously getting weaker.
"Drink it…" he ordered suddenly.
"What?" I asked, confused and slightly annoyed that he didn't let me finish.
"Drink it…" he ordered again, this time his voice layered with conviction. He literally shoved the bag into my hands and put his hand on my forehead before leaning it back to stroke my hair away from my face (that had begun to grow sticky with sweat). "Don't forgive me just yet…" Damon muttered. "I'm gonna beg and grovel and the whole nine yards – and I can't do that unless you drink the blood…" he gestured towards the bag.
"The whole nine yards huh?" I croaked. "If I do this – I'm yours forever and I'm a pain in the ass…ask Jeremy…" I continued, placing the bag on my lips.
"Oh believe me, I know…" Damon said with a smile. I tilted the bag and let the red liquid soothe my aching throat. I could feel my gums get pierced with fangs whilst I could feel the skin underneath my eyes transform.
But most of all – I felt myself coming out of my human shell and into my new life.
I had a major, major, MAJOR, brain fart for this chapter. I'm sure Damon and Elena seem a little bit OOC, but that's only because I had to make my own spin on Elena becoming a vampire. Sorry it took so long to update, but like I said – brain fart (writer's block)…anyways, please read and review and please review my other story "Hanging by a Moment". I would like at least 200 reviews on this before I continue and at least 25 reviews on "Hanging by a Moment" before continuing. Thank you, I love you all!