**Chapter sixty three**

Love is a bitch and so are you

*Hailey*

A week later, I was sitting in the Mystic Grill, finishing off my nachos and nursing a glass of bourbon. The fact that it was over was hard to immediately accept. It seemed too good to be true, that I didn't have to be on my guard all the time. It was nice, though.

There was still that woman out there, mystery boss number four. She knew me and Elena, and wanted both of us dead, but we would cross that bridge when we came to it. Zane and Julia left town yesterday, and I was sad to see them go. Julia and I were friends, and Zane was growing on me.

As I paid my bill, I thought about my and Damon's plans for our future. We hadn't exactly set a date, but I knew that it would be coming up soon, since everything was over now. I was excited to be a vampire, to be with Damon, but it was impossible not to be a little afraid.

I finished my bourbon, and then pulled out my phone to call Damon to give me a ride home. But then I saw Elena a few tables away, and put my phone away. "Elena!" I shouted, waving her over.

Elena's eyes snapped over to me, and I got a good look at her. She didn't look like the usual Elena. Her hair was curly, and she was in dark skinny jeans, leather boots, and a leather jacket. Not the like Elena at all, but I liked it.

She walked over to me, and I saw something shift in her eyes as she took me in. "Hey Hailey," she said, as I stood up.

"Are you leaving soon? I need a ride home," I said, putting on my jacket.

"Yeah, we can go now," she told me in an unusually cool voice, and she walked towards the door.

We walked to her car, and I got into the passenger seat while she started it. I noticed a new ring on her finger and said, "That's pretty, when did you get it?"

"I dug it out of my closet," she replied, moving her hand away.

I furrowed my eyebrows as she drove towards the boarding house, and played with the radio dial. "So, how are you and Damon?" she asked, and I raised an eyebrow. Elena never really asked about us, unless I talked about it first.

"Amazing," I said with a slight smile. "We'll probably do the change sometime soon."

"What change?" Elena asked, and I raised an eyebrow.

"Into a vampire? Remember Elena?" I asked, wondering why she was acting so weird.

"Oh, right," she said through gritted teeth. I was still confused, but I didn't say anything as my phone vibrated. It was a text message…

…from Elena.

Hey, want to hang out today? I'm at the boarding house.

I quickly texted her back, not knowing how to process what was happening. Elena?

I shot glances at "Elena," who raised an eyebrow at me.

"Who're you texting?" she asked casually.

"Just Caroline- Matt troubles," I lied, as my phone vibrated again.

Who else?

My stomach dropped. And I bit my lip. I'm in the car with you. Right now.

It didn't take long for her to respond. Hailey, get out of the car right now. Damon's on his way. That's not me, its-

I didn't have to read the entire text message to know that I was in the car with Katherine.

*Damon*

Damon walked down the stairs and into the living room. He was waiting for Hailey to get home. They really had to talk about her becoming a vampire. Damon had no cold feet about changing her, but thought that she might. Damon didn't want to force her.

He saw Stefan and Elena in the living room, as he walked into the kitchen for some blood. "Oh my god," Elena said suddenly.

"What?" Stefan asked.

"Hailey says that she's in the car with me," Elena explained with wide eyes.

Damon froze, but then suddenly appeared next to his brother. "Katherine's back, about damn time," he said, scared for his Hailey.

"What do you mean?" Stefan asked, looking just as worried for Hailey as Damon did.

"I figured that she might show up soon- she might even be mystery boss number four," he said, trying thinking up a quick plan.

"Tell Hailey to get out of that car at all costs. I'm going to go get her before Katherine can lay a slutty little claw on her," he told Elena, before disappearing from the house.

*Hailey*

I tried to think up an escape plan, but then Katherine pulled to the side of the road. "It seems that you figured out who I am, Hailey. Too bad, we didn't even get to have any real fun." She pouted.

Suddenly, Katherine was at my door, and she yanked me out of the car by my hair. I yelped as she dragged me into the forest. Once we were deep enough in, she pushed me into a tree, hard, and I had the wind knocked out of me.

"Do you want me to explain ever thing to you, Hailey?" she smirked.

I gasped for air. "I already know it all, Katherine. You're the mastermind behind the whole tomb vamp plot."

"Mastermind might be a little too kind- they had the plan, I just organized." She smirked.

"With the condition that Elena, Damon, Stefan, and I were on their hit list," I said, leaning against the tree.

"Partly true- you and Elena needed to die, I wanted the Salvatores alive," she clarified.

My eyebrows furrowed. "Why?"

"Don't you get it, Hailey? It was always supposed to be us. Certain things got in the way of that, but I'm a jealous person, you see."

"You still love them?" I whispered, it all coming together.

"Correct, Hailey. You're smarter than people give you credit for." She smirked.

"Thing is, Kat, you're too busy loving yourself to love anyone else." I smirked back.

Katherine glared, before slamming me against a tree. "You know, I know that Stefan's in love with my doppelganger- that speaks for itself- but I always figured that Damon would remain loyal. Then you come around, and I just figured that he wanted a new toy, and you're a tasty one. But then I hear that he's changing you- I can't let that happen, Hailey. I find you interesting, but I don't share."

Her hands wrapped themselves around my neck, and I braced myself to hear the crack that would kill me. But then I heard the sweetest voice ever.

"Katherine?"

She let go of me, and turned around to face Damon, who was just watching us. I bit my lip, breathing heavily as Damon glanced at me, but then focused on Katherine. "You know, you don't have to kill her. It was never a hard choice, Katherine. It's always been you."

Katherine smirked victoriously as my heart broke into pieces. How could he say that? After everything? As Damon walked towards Katherine, he mouthed, "Run," to me, before I saw his hand strike like lightning.

But Katherine threw him across the woods before he could stake her. I jumped into action, realizing now that his earlier words were just an act. I threw all my energy at Katherine, and she flew away from me, as Damon returned.

"Run!" he hissed at me.

Looking into his eyes, I realized that this was one time not to argue with Damon. I took off running back the way we came, just as Katherine lunged herself at Damon. I heard them fight as I ran. I didn't want to leave Damon, but I knew that Stefan would be there soon to help him.

"Don't. Move."

Suddenly, I stopped sprinting, to turn around and face my mother. My heart skipped a beat, and my eyes widened. She was pointing a gun straight at me. I raised my hands in surrender, and slowly backed away from her.

"I cannot believe that my own daughter is a vampire!" she screeched, as my heart started pounding away in my chest. The hands holding the gun pointed at me weren't even shaking.

"Mom-" I started to say, but she cut me off with a hate-filled glare.

"Enough, Hailey. I'm going to end our family's disgrace right now," she told me, her gray eyes absolutely cold.

I heard the shot before I felt it. It was a loud boom that hurt my ears. And then there was a burning in my chest. The pain was unimaginable, I've never felt anything so bad in my life. I fell to the floor, my hand covering the hole in my chest.

My mother stared down at me, no remorse in her eyes. I stared up at her, tears in my eyes. How could she do this to me? To her own daughter? I started coughing up my blood, as I moaned out in pain.

I lay out across the ground, not bothering to look up to see if my mother was still there. I needed
Damon. He needed to turn me now, so that we could be together forever. It couldn't end like this. I couldn't die.

"D-Damon," I whispered out hoarsely, my blood leaking out between my fingers. I was going to bleed out soon. And I slowly started to realize that I was going to die.

"I love you so much..." I whispered, before closing my eyes.

*Damon*

He managed to hold back Katherine from gouging out his eyes, just as he heard a loud noise, like a gunshot. Katherine smirked victoriously at him, before suddenly disappearing. Damon frowned, bemused. What was going on?

Damon made his way towards where he heard the gunshot, concern growing into outright fear. He ran faster, but he wasn't fast enough. He smelled the blood at the same time he saw Holly Ellis walking towards him, a gun in her hand.

It didn't take a rocket scientist to put two and two together.

"No," he growled, his eyes widening. She wouldn't. Hailey was her daughter.

Before Holly could even blink, Damon snapped her neck. Then he ran as fast as he could towards the blood. There was so much blood. And right in the middle of all that sweet smelling blood was Hailey.

"No, no, no," he repeated, unwilling to believe it.

Damon hurried to Hailey's side, and he pulled her into his arms. There was no heartbeat, and her green eyes stare blankly up at the sky. "No, goddammit," Damon growled. He bit his wrist, and put it to Hailey's mouth. Even if it wouldn't heal her, he could turn her.

But Hailey didn't swallow it. It was too late.

Damon shook his head fiercely, and pulled Hailey into his arms. He refused to believe it. She couldn't be dead. She couldn't leave him. "Come on, Hailey," he gritted his teeth, trying to get her to drink his blood.

Tears ran down Damon's cheeks, as the truth finally sunk in. he couldn't deny it. He couldn't save Hailey. Not this time.

"Hailey, no…" he whispered, his heart breaking. He clutched her to him, willing her to come back to life. To wake up and say that it was just a sick joke.

But she wouldn't. Damon closed his eyes against his tears, and placed a soft kiss against her cold, bloody lips. God, he loved her. He never told her that enough. And he loved her so damn much.

Finally, Damon opened his eyes, and forced himself to face the cold, heartbreaking, terrible news.

Hailey Ellis was dead.

~LMF~

A/N: oh, god. I cried while writing this. I hope you cried. One more chapter left.

Thank you to: Lady Syndra, Samantha meyers, vdemily, KimmyWSmith, and Kelsey for reviewing.

~Abby :'(