Disclaimer: Come on, people, we've been over this already… I own nothing. *Le sigh*

Previously on The Vampire Diaries…

"Alright Stefan. I'll bite." I waited, arms crossed.

"Tonight, eight thirty, at the boarding house."

"You have a boarding house? No, wait, don't answer that." I turned to leave again, "See you at eight thirty." Inside I was fuming. I couldn't decide which emotion was stronger; anger or fear. I was angry because Stefan was controlling the situation. I was angry because the girl, Elena, looked like Katherine. I was angry that she wasn't Katherine. I was angry because Katherine was still breathing. I was afraid of Katherine. I was afraid of what I didn't know. I was afraid of how Damon would react when I saw them tonight. I was afraid of myself, of what I was becoming…

Now…

I sat in my horrible black rental car, going over the ways that I would kill Silas when I tracked him down. Silas stole my car; he had to die… In an instant, my momentary distraction was gone and I was silently wishing that I could melt into the leather seats and disappear forever. I wanted to make this quick, but I knew that neither Salvatore brother would let me escape this 'conversation' unscathed. I took a deep breath, hitting the steering wheel once in frustration before giving in and finally getting out of the car.

I'd been parked in the driveway for the last two minutes and thirty-six seconds, putting off going inside. I knew that they knew that I was outside, but neither Damon nor Stefan exited the house. I slammed the door shut and the car rocked unsteadily with the aftermath of my unintended strength. This situation so much mirrored what had happened after I'd died, it was eerie.

Then...

Cold. I was so cold. I couldn't see anything. My whole body ached. I reached out in the darkness, desperate to feel anything. What I felt was more unnerving than not knowing where I was. Wooden walls framed me and left no more than a foot of room on each side and above me. I gasped for air that wasn't there. Then, the scraping of metal against dirt shocked me out of my panic. The sound was muffled and coming from above me. "Help!" I screamed, "Please help me!" The noise continued for at least an hour before there was a solid 'thump' on the wooden roof above me. "Help me, please!" I hit my wooden prison for all I was worth.

Metal nails screamed as the top of the box was lifted to reveal a young woman with dark skin standing above me. She had a kind face and was holding a shovel. "Hello," She helped me out of the box, which left me standing in a six feet deep hole, "My name is Emily. I'm here to help you, but I cannot explain now. Take this," She shoved a note at me, "meet me there when the moon crests tonight. Speak to no one." With that, Emily disappeared; literally disappeared, leaving me completely alone with the night.

Later that night, I met Emily at what I later learned was her brother's home along the lake and she explained what had happened to me. "You are in transition." She said, as if that explained everything. "I saw Katherine's obsession with the Salvatore brothers and knew that she would stop at nothing to get you out of the way. I gave you her blood in the tea that Mrs. Gilbert gave you yesterday afternoon. Now you have a choice." Emily took a blade and made a shallow cut on her wrist, "If you drink, you will become a vampire; if you choose not to drink, you will die."

It was so much to take in… "I don't want to die."

She smiled in a strange, unemotional way, "You're already dead."

Now…

I waited impatiently for someone to answer the door for the few moments after I knocked. Footsteps were followed by the quiet click of the deadbolt before the door opened to slowly reveal my former husband. "Come in, Beth." If it were even possible, I would say that his voice was more monotonous than mine. Keeping my eyes averted from Damon's face, I stepped over the threshold. The gargantuan boarding house was as beautiful inside as it was out. I admit, I was surprised, but then again, the Salvatore family had never been a stranger to money.

"Hello, Beth." Stefan said, leaning on the wall beside the doorway into another room. "Are you ready to talk?"

"I wasn't aware that I had much of a choice, Stefan." I smiled politely, but it was more of a bearing of teeth. "Where's the doppelganger?" I asked curiously, peering around the rooms as I followed Damon.

"At home; Katherine attacked her uncle and Elena is getting his things together." Stefan answered.

"Katherine was at Elena's house?" I was barely able to keep the glee from my voice; if Katherine had been at Elena's, I would be able to use something she'd touched to get a read off of her. You don't have to be a witch to do magic; you just have to have the will to stop yourself. I looked around the parlor as we passed by. There were a few broken objects littering the floor… "Katherine was here too." I said, turning away from the parlor and into the library. I flopped down ungracefully on the couch furthest from the fire, "Let's make this quick, boys."

Stefan sat down across from me while Damon lounged on the arm of the sofa. The younger Salvatore spoke first. "I'm sorry."

"I know." I grew serious, "I really don't blame either one of you; my mouth seems to operate without permission of my brain most of the time." I chuckled humorlessly, "Emily did the spell almost immediately after I turned. She explained to me what would happen afterwards and gave me the choice to either stay and start over, or leave. I chose to leave." I glanced over at Damon, "I may not have been thinking clearly, but I saw what this town did when vampires revealed themselves, so I ran."

"Beth—" Damon began.

"Let me finish, Damon. I know it's a bit, erm, fuzzy for the both of you right now, but I can remember everything clear as day. I made my choice and paid for it; still am, actually. For the last century and a half I've had one goal: to kill Katherine. Honestly, until I saw you in the forest, I had no idea you were alive." I paused to think, "And no, I don't know if I would've come back here if I'd known before."

There was a pregnant silence before Damon spoke softly, "For me it's as if that afternoon at Melinda and Jesse's happened yesterday…very Back to the Future Part III." Damon made a very strange expression with his eyebrows that made me raise my own. Maybe this wouldn't be as difficult as I'd thought… Both brothers seemed relatively agreeable, but it was me I was worried about. The sudden proximity with my former husband had me reeling. I covered it with sarcasm.

I smirked, "Finally; someone that can compete with me in the 'Enigmatic One-Liners' category." There was another awkward moment of silence before I said, "So, good talk boys." I winked at Damon and Stefan as I rose to leave, anxious to get out of the boarding house, "I've got some work to do…" I exited the room, calling out as I left, "Curiosity killed the Kat and all…"

R&R please. Reviews are like Jalapeño Cheetos. They're highly addictive and they make me happy.