Authors's Note: I've changed a bit of the story because of a review that gave me some constructive criticism. Thank you to that person and please continue to review.

Chapter 5

Elena's Point Of View

An entire year has passed since Damon's death. And what an eventful year indeed. Stefan, my friends and I met Klaus's sister, Rebekah. She caused havoc in Mystic Falls and with her came Michael, her vampire hunter father. We managed to kill him but after that we had to deal with Ester. She was the original witch and the reason that Alaric died. Well, she was the reason that the old Alaric died. The one who was kind, protective and a father figure to Jeremy and I. She turned Alaric into this unstoppable vampire hunter who could kill Originals. She also tied his life to mine in the process. We learnt that when you kill an Original, everyone they ever turned from their bloodline would die with them. That was shocking news and we had to protect the originals from Alaric now. Of course, that would be a problem since Alaric could not be killed unless I died. When Alaric set Klaus on fire, Rebekah was outraged and so full of grief. I was driving home to Stefan with Matt when Rebekah caused us to lose control of the truck and to drive off Wickery Bridge. When Stefan showed up, I convinced him to save Matt first instead of me, he agreed.

And that was the biggest thing to happen to me in that whole year. I turned into a vampire. I had suffered a brain hemorrhage the previous night but Meredith had downplayed it to Jeremy and fed me vampire blood without telling me. So, when I died, I had vampire blood in my system. When I woke up, I was in my room with Stefan and I was in transition. Everyone tried to find a way out of this for me because I did not want to become a vampire but we were unsuccessful. Then, Pastor Young got involved. He captured Rebekah, Stefan and I and kept us in cells. I almost died that night but Stefan and Rebekah worked together to kill one of our guards and allowed me to drink and turn completely.

After that, we had the period of time when I could not keep any blood down except when it was straight from the vein. That was the time that I missed Damon the most. I knew that if he were here, I would not be going through this. He always knew how to drink from the vein but not kill the person. I knew he would teach me to do that if he were still here. I could not ask Stefan because he refused to teach me. He believed strongly that the animal diet was best and that I would end up killing someone if I fed from the vein. It was Matt who offered his blood to me and he was the only reason that I had not starved to death yet.

I decided that the best thing right now was to not tell Stefan about Matt and I. He would get so angry at me if he knew that I could not keep down any blood and that I was not telling him. And anyway, Stefan was the happiest I had ever seen him now. He loved that I was a vampire too and everything was going well. I could not damper that for him.

However, everything went sour with the arrival of the vampire hunter, Conner. With his arrival, secrets started to be kept. Stefan was working with Klaus and he lied to me and kept it from me. This started many fights. we argued all the time and about everything. My very first kill was Conner and with his death, it unleashed a whole new set of horrors.

I was hallucinating now. It turned out that Conner was one of the special five vampire hunters that were spelled by a witch. If they were killed, the person would start to experience horrifying hallucinations. I was seeing Conner's ghost, Katherine and even my mother. They were telling me to take my life because I was a monster and I was starting to believe them.

That night, I walked and walked and the next thing I knew, I was dropping my daylight ring over the side of Wickery Bridge with the sun just starting to rise.

Damon's Point Of View

I don't know what made me decide to go back to Mystic Falls. I knew Stefan would not let me stay there but I missed my life there so much. Most of all I missed Elena. I missed her so much and I just wanted to see her again. I decided to go back and see her. I would not let her see me of course but I just needed to make sure she was okay. It had been a whole year since my 'death' and I wanted to make sure that my leaving had been worth something.

I was driving back and I had just entered Mystic Falls when I saw her. She was standing at the edge of Wickery Bridge and she had just thrown something into the water below. I stopped the car and stared at her in confusion. She was talking to herself. She was staring at the sunrise with her eyes closed. What the hell? I slowly got out of the car and walked closer until I could see her clearly but she could not see me. She was still talking to herself and I caught a few snips of what she was saying.

"I am a monster...I deserve to die...I'm sorry..."

Oh God...was a she a vampire? How the hell did that happen? How could Stefan let that happen?! And then the pieces clicked into place. Elena was a vampire. She must have thrown her ring into the water. She was going to let herself burn. She was going to commit suicide. I had to intervene of course. To hell if she saw me. I did not care about that right now. And anyway, where was Stefan when she needed him the most? I approached her cautiously.

"Elena?"

"Damon?"

"Hey. It's me. What are you doing?" I asked. She did not seem very surprised to see me. How odd.

"Don't worry. I'm going to die now. I will not hurt anyone anymore. I will be a ghost that helps Jeremy. Not a monster who hurts him. It will be okay."

Her voice was so calm. It was so dull. That's what scared me the most. What was happening to her?

"Elena? Listen to me. I need to you to come with me. You're going to be okay. I just need to get you inside and then we can talk about this okay?"

"Damon, the sun is almost up. I'm coming. I'll come with you. But the sun needs to rise first." She whispered. Her eyes remained closed.

I was getting even more afraid for her and I snapped. "Dammit Elena!" I raced forward and tried to grab her but she ducked under me and we ended up on opposite sides again.

"You've always been so impatient Damon. I can't come with you till the sun is up silly." She smiled a little at that.

Why on the hell did she think I was dead? What had Stefan told her?

The sun was almost up. I had about a minute to save her. "Elena! Listen to me! I'm not dead! I don't know why you think that I am but Stefan lied. I'm alive. You can't kill yourself because I'm not going to be there. Please. Just please come with me." My voice was saturated with urgency.

And then, all of a sudden, it was like something left her. She opened her eyes and she looked around confused. She looked stunned at where she was. The she looked at me. She had that wary look in her eye. She had barely noticed me when she jerked her head to the horizon, the sun was peeking through and her skin started to burn. She looked at me in fear.

"Damon?" She asked with a shaky voice.

I had to think fast. I quickly grabbed her around the waist and jumped over Wickery Bridge into the water with her in my arms.

Keeping one arm around her, I searched the water for her ring. I quickly found it nestled between weeds and shoved it onto her finger. Then, I swam to the surface and ran with her back home. She was half unconscious as I gently put her into her bed. I tucked her blanket around her and then kissed her on the cheek. I needed to know what had happened to make her want to commit suicide. I needed to know why Stefan had told her I'd died. I jumped out her window and went to find answers.

Stefan's Point Of View

Jeremy and I had just killed Chris. Chris was one of Klaus's hybrids and we found out that Jeremy had to kill a vampire to stop Elena's hallucinations. I had followed him for protection and then watched as he chopped Chris's head off without thinking.

Now, we had to find Elena. I had lost track of her earlier and now I could only pray that she was okay and had not hurt herself. Jeremy, Caroline and I spread out to find her. Jeremy went home, I went to Wickery Bridge and Caroline went to my house.

I got a call from Jeremy to tell me that Elena was at home and safe so I called Caroline and went back to Elena's house. I was surprised to find her asleep in bed. She was tucked in and she looked perfect. She looked nothing like the girl who had a attacked me and who had been suffering from horrifying hallucinations just half an hour ago. What had happened? I sat down at the edge of her bed and waited for her to wake up to get some answers

Caroline's Point Of View

Stefan, Jeremy and I had spread out to look for Elena and I was told to go to Stefan's house to look for her. When I got there, I did not find Elena but someone else. I saw Damon. When I saw him, I screamed. He was dead. Damon was supposed to be dead!

"Caroline. Caroline, calm down please." He begged.

"Are you a...ghost..." My voice was trembling.

"No. It's me. In the flesh."

"But how? You died. I was there. Oh my God. This is not possible. No it's not. Oh God..." I was so scion fused and shocked.

"Caroline. I need you to calm down. Please."

"Don't tell me to calm down! You died! Tyler bit you and you died! And suddenly you show up and tell me to freakin' calm down?!" I screeched.

"Okay, I didn't die. Stefan lied to get me out of town. I left because Stefan wanted to have a proper relationship with Elena. It's screwed up. I know. But Stefan had the cure for he bite and he refused to give it to me unless I promised to leave Mystic Falls. I just wanted to come back to make sure she was okay. I didn't mean for anyone to see me. But then, on my way in, I saw Elena on Wickery Bridge about to commit suicide. I had to save her and I did. Now I just want to see Stefan so I can know what the hell he was thinking when he allowed her to become a vampire and why in the hell she was trying to commit suicide." Just then, my phone started to ring. "You can't tell anyone. Please. Please Caroline. I beg you."

I was so confused and still terrified of him. I didn't know what to think. Certainly it explained Stefan's shady behaviors after Damon's 'death' but I was still so confused. Was this possible? Was this true? Without taking my eyes off of Damon, I reached into my pocket, pulled out my phone and answered it.

"Hello? Okay Stefan... That's great... Yeah I'm okay...yes...got it. Okay Bye."

"Caroline?" He asked.

"Okay. I'll keep quiet about you being here. But you should know that Elena cried for weeks after you supposedly died. She still cries every now and then. We held a memorial service. We mourned you!" I was starting to get angry. Everything we all felt after he 'died' was real and horrible. And now he walks in here and it almost seems like a joke.

"I have to go now. I have to be there for Elena." I told him.

"Okay. And thank you."

I wanted to tell Elena so badly. I wanted so much to tell her so that she could stop being so sad. But I made a promise to Damon I could not break that.