A/N: Just a short, mid-week chapter so we can move on to the better stuff on Friday. Sorry, no Delena in here, but a glimpse into Damon's past, and a lot of Caroline. But I promise the next chapter will make up for it ;)

ELENA

By the afternoon, Caroline finally woke up. She was a bit disoriented at first, and ravenously thirsty. Well, actually, she was hungry, but that was a fact she was still blissfully unaware of – as unaware as of the content of the juices Alys kept refilling her mug with. It wasn't until she had downed three or four of them that she was responsive.

"Where am I?" she asked, looking around with a puzzled expression. "What happened?"

"What's the last thing you remember?" I asked, a bit fearfully.

"You – or rather, sort of you." A small frown appeared on Caroline's face as she tried to recall the most recent happenings. "She looked like you, but she wasn't like you at all... She said she needed to talk to me in private. When I realized that it wasn't you, I told her so straight to her face, and she smiled and said she was a relative and shared a blood-bond with you." Her face suddenly lit up, as if something had dawned on her. Surely not the truth, or she wouldn't be smiling. "Oh my God – you have a twin-sister you never heard of before! Was she abducted at birth or switched or something and has only now found her way back home?"

I merely shook my head. Seriously? But then, the story we were going to tell her wasn't much more likely, either. Caroline paused briefly, wrinkling her forehead again. "All the better, because honestly, I didn't like her very much. I bet she was the one who talked to Matt and got him all upset, right?"

"Yes, that was her, too. Her name is Katherine. She's evil, and mean and manipulative. And she's not my twin-sister. She's my ... she's really a distant relative of mine. I just found out recently that I have more relatives than I thought I had..."

"How come she suddenly popped up here? Where did she come from? And why does she look exactly like you?"

"I'll be getting to that. Just what do you remember happened after talking to her?"

"Not much." Caroline frowned, trying to concentrate. "She – Katherine – I think she might have knocked me unconscious. This is weird. Why would she do that? Did I have a concussion or something? Because I do feel kind of funny. And I remember being in horrible pain..."

"And how are you feeling now?"

"Splendid," Caroline said after a moment of consideration, sounding pleasantly surprised. "Energetic and definitely healthy. Ready to tear out some trees." She looked at the empty mug, and her expression suddenly turned suspicious. "Just what was the stuff Alys just gave me to drink? That was awesome... you're not giving me drugs or anything, right? Because honestly, things are feeling a bit – funny."

Oh my. This was going to be a lot of work. At least she was in a good mood. "Consider it a medicine you'll have to take from now on. Because Katherine did more to you than just knock you out. She really hurt you badly. She injected you with something... a virus that caused a lot of changes to your body. That's why you were in so much pain."

"A virus?" Caroline's frown deepened. "Like in 'Mission Impossible'? Am I going to die?"

"No, definitely not. In fact, you're going to live much longer than you normally would. You might notice other differences..."

"Wait – it's weird, but is it possible that I'm hearing frogs?"

"There is a pond somewhere on the premises," Alys put in. "You get used to the noise after a while and just block it out."

"These super sensitive senses – better hearing, better vision, better reflexes are side effects of the changes triggered by the virus. There are some others, though. Some, you might like..."

I took the mirror from above the dressing table off the wall and held it in front of her. Caroline gazed at herself in awe. She had been attractive even before her change, but now she was just stunningly gorgeous. Her one flaw, a slightly crooked front tooth, was now even. Her skin had a creamy complexion without a hint of blemishes. Her hair was fuller and even more vivid in color. Still, I wondered if eternal beauty was an adequate pay-off for becoming what she now was.

"There are downsides, too," I reluctantly told her. "You're going to be much more sensitive to sunlight. You shouldn't be eating anything that has onions or garlic in it. And from now on, no silver jewelry anymore, because that will give you a bad rash..."

Caroline might be slow sometimes, but she wasn't stupid. And she had read all the Twilight novels. Her face took on a stern expression as she fixated me with her gaze. "Let me see if I've got this straight: A mean bitch attacked me and somehow did something that changed my body. I now have super hearing, super eyesight and probably, I'm a lot stronger than I used to be. I'm healthy and will live a very long life. I happen to look gorgeous, but I can't wear silver anymore and will not get a tan. I can't eat garlic anymore, but have to keep drinking a weird concoction that looks a bit like grape juice, but doesn't actually taste like it..." Her eyes narrowed a bit more. "How come I don't sparkle in the sun?"

"Because you're a real-life vampire now, not a character in a novel or on a movie," Alys said softly. "As I am. And Damon. And Stefan."

And then came the long process of explaining.

*'**'*'*

Much as it had been the case with me, Caroline's questions kept coming over time. For a while, she was unusually quiet, letting us do all the talking and taking it in without even blinking. After what seemed like calm acceptance came a break-down, with a lot of crying and desperately asking why, freaking out in worry about what would be. The fact that Matt knew and had accepted the fact helped a lot to put her back at ease. By the afternoon, when she finally came down and saw Damon, there was a spontaneous episode of furious bitching – she even slapped him, twice.

I guess I should have been prepared for something like that. Damon had warned me that with the change, all the memories that had been suppressed and hidden from her mind would resurface. Thus, Caroline was now able to remember everything Damon had ever compelled her to forget. No wonder she was furious.

Fearing for his reaction, I quickly stepped closer and put a soothing hand on his arm. I caught his gaze and silently begged him to go gentle with her. His fingers closed around mine and gave a brief, reassuring squeeze. Then his flashing eyes turned on Caroline. "I'm gonna let this go for now," he said, his voice deceptively calm, "because I was raised to not ever hit a woman. Or a baby vampire, for that matter. And maybe even a liiittle because I deserved that. But watch your temper, Blondie, because next time you do that, you might not like my reaction."

Caroline frowned. Her eyes darted back and forth between Damon and me and suddenly grew wide. Her radar for detecting emotional undercurrents had always been uncanny, all the more so because she was sometimes a bit slow on catching the more obvious stuff. Now I saw the oddly observant and yet incredibly insensitive gossip girl coming through when her hands flew to her mouth and she gasped: "Oh my God – the two of you have actually had sex!"

Alys and I could only stare at her in disbelief, she probably dumbfounded, I with a mixture of embarrassment, guilt and irritation. Damon only smiled. "Yes," he said, looking like the cat that ate the canary, "and it was hot!" With a wink at me, he picked up his bottle of bourbon and a glass and retreated to his study.

At least that awkward moment got Caroline's mind back on familiar territory and her main area of interest: other people's love lives. After getting over her initial shock, she demanded to know all the juicy details, and was much more forgiving and relaxed when she learned that I had only very recently discovered the depths of my feelings for Damon.

"Seriously, Elena – Damon? I mean, I get it: He's hot and sexy, and he can be really charming and seductive. And that vampire sex is really something from another planet..."

"Okay, I'm so out of this discussion..." Alys muttered, heading for the door. "Otherwise I might never get the pictures out of my head."

"Well, there is this thing Damon does with his tongue..." Caroline couldn't resist calling after her before I quickly grabbed an apple out of the fruit bowl and threw it at her head to shut her up. Of course, she caught it easily without even blinking. Here eyes lit up and her smile widened. "This is really awesome. And you know what? I'm just realizing that apart from my stunning reflexes, I'm going to have a lot of hot and steamy vampire sex in the future... Looks like we both are..."

"Caroline!"

"What? It's something to be happy about, Elena! It's still weird, 'cause I never pictured you for a girl that could fall for someone like Damon. I mean – you're Elena, not superficial, shallow me. You've always been the good girl, the one who's always so deep, responsible and mature..."

"... and boring, I understand." I sighed. "I don't really know how this happened. Damon – he got under my skin, and I wasn't able to shake him off."

"Well, good for you!"

I gave her an astonished glance. "Seriously? You mean that?"

"Absolutely. You could really use someone's bad influence in your life. Live a little more." She gave me a playful shove, which sent me flying. Fortunately, I was caught by the sofa. "Oops! Sorry, I guess I've yet to get used to my new strength..." She was at my side in a flash, pulling me back onto my feet as fast as I had fallen over. "Are you okay?"

I nodded, and her worried glance was once again taken over by an expression of dreamy satisfaction. "This is really amazing! I'll be so kicking asses now!"

It looked like we were in for some surprises. I briefly wondered how her new abilities would shape Caroline's character. They'd surely give her a boost of self-confidence, something Caroline had always been lacking. Maybe it would really do her good.

Caroline's thoughts were still on Damon and me. "You know, it's really funny in a way: The good girl has fallen for the truly evil vampire, whereas I, the slutty girl, now vampire, is in love with the really good human guy... Who would have guessed?"

"Considering that Alys is into my step-brother, while I was into Alys's step-brother, until I found out that he's actually my brother, and given that I'm now into Alys's real brother, I guess we need not even discuss funny."

Caroline looked at me mouth agape, and then we both started giggling about the surprisingly complex development of our romantic entanglements. Before we knew it, we were almost rolling on the floor in laughter, without really knowing why.

"Must be the hormones," Caroline finally said, breathless. "I guess I just jumped from baby-vampire to teen-vamp in puberty."

"Hell, no! You going through puberty once again? Sorry, I can't stand by and watch that for a second time!"

Caroline, of course, protested, and so we ended up reminiscing on our teen years and all the silly pranks we pulled. Until my rebellious fun phase had ended rather abruptly in premature adulthood. This sobered me, and I looked at Caroline in earnest. "I'm sorry that this happened to you. I feel guilty about it. But I guess Katherine might have done it no matter what. She despises me."

"Of course she does. You stole her man. And she obviously is a heartless bitch. If I see her, I'll scratch her eyes out. My nails are awesome – I could probably let them grow by at least three inches without breaking them..." Caroline looked at her hands admiringly. "Do you think it'd be highly unfair if I still participated in the Miss Mystic Falls Beauty Pageant that will be coming up? I already registered – and they never explicitly said it's humans only..."

*'*'*'*'*'*

Caroline seemed to get better every day, with only few episodes of anger and throwing dishes or heart wracking crying in between. "It's not unusual," Alys shrugged when she cleaned the kitchen floor of the mayhem Caroline had left in her wake this afternoon.

"All emotions are heightened, and it's difficult to deal with in the beginning. Like Damon said: Characteristics you had before are amplified in a vampire. Caroline was always a bit volatile and emotional. But she was also bright and positive about everything, and that will be coming through more and more, you'll see."

I helped her to pick up the shards of porcelain and threw them in the waste bin. "How was Damon before he was turned?" I asked, having wondered about this for some time.

Alys gave a little smile. "Very protective. Proud and sometimes pretty stubborn. But always loyal and honest to the point of being brutal."

"That's still exactly who he is now," I pointed out carefully, not sure why Alys always insisted that Damon was no longer the brother she had known. Maybe it wasn't he who had changed.

"I know." Alys gave a wistful sigh and put away the dustpan. "Maybe I just have to finally forgive... It isn't easy."

I sat down at the kitchen bar, watching her as she washed her hands and poured herself a cup of coffee. Whatever had caused the rift between Alys and Damon, I knew it had to do with the circumstances of Alys's turning into a vampire. None of them had ever given me details. Yet I had the feeling that it was crucial to understand their damaged relationship that desperately called to be mended. "What happened?" I probed compassionately, softening my tone.

Alys put a second mug in front of me and took the seat beside me. "You want to hear the entire story?"

"If you're okay sharing it with me..." Alys's pain was palpable, but I knew that Damon was suffering, too. I had seen the hurt in his eyes at times, whenever he wasn't fast enough to hide it. Maybe – hopefully – there was a small chance that I could help them reconcile.

"Well, for me, it all started – and ended – in 1866. Damon had been a vampire for about two years. When he first told me what Katherine had done to him, I was shocked, appalled, and I failed to understand why. For a long time, I thought that Katherine was to blame for it – that she had seduced him, making him actually believe he had done it for love. But maybe he had just asked to be turned so as not to feel inadequate and powerless anymore."

"Inadequate and powerless?" I echoed mystified. If I had to come up with the most unfitting words to describe Damon, those two would make it high on my list.

"Believe it or not, the human Damon didn't have a lot of self esteem – mainly because my father just couldn't accept him as he was. He had clear expectations from his only son. Frankly, he wanted him to be just like him. But Damon had always had his own mind, and the two of them disagreed on almost everything. In Katherine, Damon not only found someone he admired, but a person who seemed to love him for all the very reasons my father didn't."

I had figured as much from all the bits and pieces I had picked up. Apparently, it always came down to the same thing – people's need to be loved and accepted. Even the most ferocious acts were ultimately born out of that desire. "Do you think she really loved him?"

Alys shrugged. "I'm not sure if she was ever capable of love. But then, I've made assumptions like that before and was proved wrong, so who knows?" Her tone darkened. "What I do know is that she changed him – not only by turning him. He got ruthless, arrogant, and rebellious – and acted like he could do whatever he wanted and be accountable to no one."

I supposed being almost omnipotent and indestructible could make you inclined to think that. Especially if Katherine had instilled these ideas in him, which she doubtlessly had. At least, it was exactly what she seemed to believe herself.

"Katherine's betrayal sent him into a state I can only describe as partial insanity," Alys continued. "We never got to see the worst of it, though, as with the war going on, we only saw Damon twice in that time. When the war was over and Damon finally returned home, everything that had been bad before got even worse: His temper, his attitude, his and my father's fights. Damon was having troubles adjusting to his new life. He soon left Fells Church again, and would probably not have returned for a long while – if death hadn't called him home."

"Whose death?"

"Our mother's." Her expression subtly changed. I could still see the sadness and the grief the memory brought back. So much for 'time heals all wounds'. Some wounds just never really close. "She had caught some kind of infection and succumbed to it within only three weeks. Damon was convinced that he could have saved her by turning her if he'd been there, and blamed himself. He didn't even consider that she might not have wanted it. I guess her death made him realize that, without Katherine, he was facing an eternity of loneliness, and it scared the shit out of him. That's when he first begged me to let him turn me. He couldn't understand that I didn't want this life for myself. I knew what he was struggling with – the thirst for blood, the killing, the guilt. I wanted to stay human. For a while, Damon accepted this, reluctantly though. But his fear of losing me, too, one day, and his desire to take precautions against my death became all-consuming, an obsession. After our father died, he just didn't take 'no' for an answer anymore."

"So he turned you against your will?" I had always known that it hadn't been exactly voluntary, but I had always suspected that Alys had fallen ill, and that Damon had turned her as means to so save her. But her face clearly indicated otherwise.

"He turned me although I begged him not to," she whispered. "I pleaded, I cried and tried to fight him, but..."

"... he did it anyway," I concluded her sentence as her voice broke off, and understanding dawned on me. Turning her by force and putting her through this hell without her consent – no wonder she was having a hard time forgiving him for that. It was a severe break of trust, like being violated by your own husband, and it had made her lose all faith in him. Most likely, it had been easier to blame it on the vampire he had become than to blame the brother she had loved. Small wonder Damon was so swallowed up in guilt. What a terrible burden to carry, for both of them. "What happened then?" I softly urged her to go on, after she had regained composure.

"Things between me and Damon got – intolerable. By turning me, Damon had destroyed the last piece of his humanity that had survived Katherine and his own transition: the love and the trust we had still shared. I couldn't stand to be around him anymore, although I guess that he would have moved the world for me, trying to make up for what he had done. But he couldn't give me back what he had taken from me – and from us. So finally, he found another experienced vampire who took me under her wing. This is when we parted company."

"For over a century?" Even when considering that time passes differently for immortals – that seemed a bit extreme.

"We saw each other sporadically over the decades. It was always Damon who sought me out. But each time we met, it was only to find that we had grown even further apart. My way of coping with my vampire existence didn't meet with Damon's approval. Well, you know how he is." Alys gave a little laugh, but it was bitter. "Ironically, we suddenly were exactly like Damon and our father had been – two people who wanted nothing but the other's love and respect, but only ever got disappointment, disagreement and disapproval."

"But it doesn't have to stay that way. .." I said, feeling immensely sorry for both of them. I wished I knew what to do or to say to help mend all this hurt. I knew for sure that human life was too short to hold grudges, and that one day you'd bitterly regret every harsh word, every mistake and every bad act that remained unexcused and unexplained. But obviously, that was not a convincing argument for a vampire. "We all make mistakes and act selfishly sometimes. I know this doesn't excuse what he did, but I know that Damon still loves you, even if he sucks at showing it. The brother you think you lost is still there."

"You always see so much more in him than anybody else does..." Alys said, pensive. "Just like I did – back then."

"My view of him is just not tainted by memories and grievances. With me, he could start with a clean slate."

"No, it's more than that," Alys disagreed. "It's because that's how you look at people – without judgement. It's a rare capacity."

"Oh, believe me, I'm prejudiced, too." Otherwise I'd be much more open towards this whole biting business, which still filled me with dread.

"But you always get over it, eventually," Alys said, unaware of how gypsy her statement sounded in context with my line of thoughts.

If only it was that easy to be open and unprejudiced, despite hurtful memories. But then, compared to what I had asked Alys to overcome, it probably was.

A/N: Well, I guess you get an idea where this is heading ;)