Chapter 3

I couldn't handle it. Knowing my friends were sitting there with judgement in their eyes. I knew what they were actually thinking.

You're despicable. You're a heartless monster. What would your parents think of you now?

"No. Let me go." I cried suddenly, pushing Stefan away. "Don't hug me. I don't want to be hugged. I want to be human." Stefan was looking at me with overwhelming pity. Pity that I didn't want. Pity that I didn't deserve. With speed only a vampire can move at, I shot out the door and down the hall. I needed to be alone. Just myself.

"Dammit, Stefan!" Bonnie cried as Elena disappeared out the door in a blur. "She can't be allowed to wander around like this. Who else might get killed?" She looked panicked.

"I know, Bonnie. I know." Replied Stefan tersely. "What can I do? She's going off the rails. If we're not careful she'll switch off her humanity."

"Looks a bit late for that, Stefan. She just killed a man." Stefan had never seen Bonnie so angry or upset.

"No, she's still Elena. She's just struggling with the hunger. We all went through the same thing."

"You mean all you vampires?" Bonnie replied accusingly.

"Yes. Trust me, if she'd flipped the switch, regret would be her last reaction to killing someone. Right now we have another more pressing issue."

"More pressing than a rogue vampire?"

"Exactly. Why the hell was a half dead janitor lying outside Elena's room? You don't find it the tiniest bit suspicious?"

"Are you sure it wasn't just Elena?"

"Meredith wouldn't lie to me. Another vampire put him there hoping Elena would find him and finish the transition."

"Looked like the plan worked."

"Bonnie, I know this is hard, but Elena needs our support now, not anger and accusations." There were tears leaking from Bonnie's eyes as she replied.

"I...know Stefan, I know. But...But my best friend is a vampire. She's exactly what we've been protecting her against. Everything that's happened has been to keep her human. My Grams is dead, Stefan, dead. And she died for my friend, who is now a monster."

"Bonnie, I'm sorry." Stefan gently hugged her. Bonnie felt the familiar deathly sensation at the touch of a vampire, but amid her grief, it wasn't important right now.

"We'll help her, Bonnie." Stefan said reassuringly. "I promise."

"That seat's taken." Damon said to a man about to sit down next to him.

"I'm sorry?"

"Taken, that seat belongs to someone else. Leave." He didn't even bother compelling the fool, but the man left nonetheless, walking to another part of the Grill. Damon stared into the depths of his glass, thinking about everything that had happened.

She chose Stefan. She chose him over me.

He remembered her words on the phone as he lay next to the burnt remains of Klaus.

"Perhaps if we'd met first, Damon."

He managed a sad smile at the irony of her statement. She was never meant to remember all the things he'd compelled her to forget. He'd given up everything to keep her human. Now he'd failed, and she'd begin to realise just how hard he'd tried.

Will she send me away?

The question was bothering him more than he'd thought it would. What would he do if she did? Go? Pick up the pieces of the makeshift life he'd built in Mystic Falls and move on? Did he actually want to stay here if she didn't want to see him?

Of course you do, you hopeless fool. He told himself. After all, he'd done just that for more than a year when Elena was still very much committed to Stefan.

And how selfish would staying be?

It had been a while since Damon had done anything really selfish. Maybe it was due of him. Maybe he was allowed slip-ups.

What am I thinking? Of course I'll do it for her. I can't be selfish. Not when it comes to her.

If he stayed against her wishes, Stefan would kill him. Or try to. A war between the two of them was more or less guaranteed to ruin Elena's life.

She might not be human anymore, but I can still save her humanity. By leaving.

"Damon." A voice snapped him back to reality.

"Stefan? Shouldn't you be playing the part of the supportive boyfriend?"

"Don't be glib, Damon. Did you kill that man and leave him outside Elena's room?"

"What?" Damon almost choked on his bourbon. "No! What the hell happened Stefan?"

"Don't play games with me, did you do it?" Damon gritted his teeth and replied angrily.

"I'm telling you Stefan, this is news to me."

"We both know you'd have done anything to make sure Elena completed her transition, Damon."

"She completed her transition? Stefan, listen to me. I didn't do this. I've been here since I left the hospital." Stefan continued to stare at him coldly for a moment before cursing under his breathe and sitting down next to Damon.

"Someone ripped a janitors throat out and left him bleeding outside Elena's room. She...she fed. Meredith witnessed the whole thing. She would have been killed too if Bonnie hadn't intervened."

"This is bad, Stefan." Damon said clutching his glass tightly. "Where's she now?"

"She...ran off. She couldn't handle it. She killed a man, Damon. Her guilt could destroy her. What if she switches it off?"

"That's not going to happen, brother." Damon said firmly. "We need to find her."

"There's something else."

"What?"

"A vampire put the janitor there intentionally. Someone wanted Elena to turn."

"And you assumed it was me?"

"The list of vampires in Mystic Falls isn't that big. Nevertheless, we have to find this person."

"Fine, how about I handle that, and you go find Elena. You do the hugging, I'll go rip some heads off?" Stefan nodded and began walking away, but paused suddenly and said.

"Damon?"

"Yes?"

"Step easy around Bonnie. She's...a bit unstable towards vampires at the moment. And you know how dangerous she can be."

"I'll be careful Stefan."

The hospital was eerily quiet as Damon walked in, looking for Dr Fell. He found her in her office, with her head in her hands.

"Meredith?" Damon had never seen the woman so emotional. Something had shaken her severely.

Someone, to be precise.

"Damon?" When Meredith saw him she was on her feet instantly. She backed away with her hands in front of her until her back reached the wall. Her eyes were panicked almost to the point of madness.

"Whoa," Damon said, raising his own hands to try show he wasn't here to hurt her. "Relax, Meredith. I'm not here to-"

"You killed Henry."

Nope. Elena did that.

"No. I already told Stefan. It wasn't me. I've been at the Grill."

"You didn't? Then who?"

"That's why I'm here." Meredith visibly relaxed, and sat down again.

"I'm...I'm sorry Damon. This whole thing has me a bit on edge."

"You and me both." Damon said good-naturedly. She eyed him with a hint of apprehension again until he said, "But don't worry. I'm safe to be around. I've had a bit more practice at this than Elena."

"Oh...right."

"Can you tell me how this Henry character got there? Or why all his blood wasn't where it was meant to be?"

"I...No. I saw him lying there bleeding before Elena came out. Someone put him there."

"But how did a janitor get his throat ripped out in the middle of a hospital without this mystery vampire being seen?"

"Compulsion? Speed? I don't know Damon."

"What have you done about the body?"

"Stefan compelled some cleaners to get rid of it. The official story is that he...slipped."

"Ah, a classic." Damon smirked.

"Shut up, Damon."

"Fine, relax a bit, Meredith. Do you mind if I ask a few of your staff some questions?"

"Sure, whatever."

"One more thing..."

"Hmm?"

"Whose blood did you give Elena before she died?"

"Stefan also wanted to know. To be honest, I don't know. The bottle wasn't labled."
"Getting sloppy with your organisational skills?"

"No, I always lable them. I don't know what could have happened. There wasn't much time though. Elena needed help. I grabbed the first I saw and used it."

"Could I see this bottle?"

"Sorry Damon," She shrugged. "I'm very meticulous with getting rid of them after they're empty." Damon swore softly, but smiled and said,

"Thank you for your time, Dr Fell. I feel much better. Should I be back Monday?"

"Just go, Damon."

Damon walked out the office and grabbed the first staff-member he saw.

"Tell me about anything unusual you saw this morning before that janitor...slipped." He said, staring into the confused looking man's eyes. They glazed over, and he began speaking in a monotone.

"Nothing. Everything was normal. Guests visiting patients, patients asking for more food. Nothing strange."

"Did you see anyone suspicious?"

"Suspicious? No. I hardly notice most of the people who walked through here. Too busy." Damon gritted his teeth. This might prove more difficult that he'd thought.

"Point me to someone who works on the second floor, and forget this conversation." The man raised a finger towards another man nearby, and calmly walked away. Damon pinched his brow for a second before going to business.

It took four more questionings before Damon hit gold.

"Anything at all that made you pause?" He asked the woman.

"Just the usual. Annoying visitors nagging to see patients. Patients trying to leave without permission. I had to point one confused girl back to her room after I found her in the reception." Damon sighed.

"Anyone suspi-" He paused for a second. "Wait. Tell me about this girl in the reception."

"That one who went off the bridge. She's been confused a lot. Caught her downstairs wearing casual clothes. Had to send her back to her room. She couldn't even remember where it was."

"You sure it was her?"

"She'd put on different clothes and her hair was a bit more curly, but it was definitely her."

Damon didn't even bother lowering his voice when he swore this time.

Katherine.