((HOLY COW! I don't know WHERE this chapter came from! It sort of just wrote itself. The feelings are all over the place on this one. I'm sorry. I couldn't control it. I'll try to be a little calmer next chapter. Until then, just enjoy and take a Xanax when you're done and if you can find the words, tell me what you think.))

Bonnie sighed as she closed the hall closet door and turned on her heel, tossing her hair behind her ears as she climbed the main staircase to the second floor of the Gilbert house.

"Jeremy?" she called as she reached the top landing, wrapping her sweater tighter around herself with one hand, while rubbing the back of her neck with the other, closing her eyes wearily.

"I'm in here!" Jeremy called back and Bonnie opened her eyes, recognizing the direction the voice was coming from.

Lowering her hand, she walked down the hallway toward Elena's bedroom and opened the half-closed door, stepping through the threshold.

"Well, the family history stuff in the hall closet was a dead end. Elena didn't put the journals back in there …" Bonnie started, then stopped, her eyes widening as she suddenly beheld the sight of Elena's disheveled room and Jeremy standing at the center of it, "Holy..."

"Uh…yeah…I guess I got a little carried away," Jeremy lamented, running a hand through his hair as he turned toward her, then turned in a circle as his eyes still scanned the room, "I've been trying to get into the mind of a teenage girl—"

"And where she would hide something several people have tried to find before?" Bonnie finished with a raised eyebrow

"And I've come to the conclusion that because of what you just said, she's become really good at hiding things," Jeremy said with a defeated sigh, taking a seat on the end of Elena's bed as Bonnie smirked and came to his side, taking a seat next to him.

They sat in silence for a few moments before Jeremy turned on his side and Bonnie watched him pull his cell phone out of his jean pocket.

"I think it's time to throw in the towel and call Elena-" he started

"No!" Bonnie interjected sternly, quickly snatching the phone from Jeremy's hand and holding it across her body and out of his reach, "Caroline made it very clear we that were not to call Elena. And she wouldn't ask us to do that unless the situation was serious. We should trust her."

"Well, we've looked everywhere I can think of, Bonnie," Jeremy replied, exasperated, "The attic, the cellar, the closet, my parent's safe, my room, her room…and we've got nada…zilch. Let's face it, if we really want to find the journals and help the others, we need to call Elena."

"Or maybe there is someone else who can help," Bonnie said in a low voice, narrowing her eyes in thought before absentmindedly handing Jeremy back his phone and standing up.

"Who?" Jeremy asked in a confused tone, following Bonnie with his eyes as she moved to the center of the room

"Those journals have had hundreds of people touch them over the centuries, surely someone's essence is still tied to them. Maybe, just maybe... if we are lucky, I can channel a spirit and they can help lead us to the journals," Bonnie said, closing her eyes in concentration and rubbing her hands together to spark her magical energies

"I don't know if this is such a good idea, Bonnie," Jeremy interjected in a weary voice, "After your encounter with Esther, you're still weak—"

Suddenly, there was a pulsing sensation that practically shook the house and Jeremy quickly jumped up from where he sat on the bed, regaining his footing as he looked around the room, his eyes instantly widening in awe as he took in Elena's room now immaculately clean as if he had never rummaged around in it.

"Okay…." He mused with a small smile, "Maybe not."

Jeremy quickly moved to Bonnie's side, her eyes still closed as she now raised her hands, palms forward, and began whispering an incantation.

After a few moments, Bonnie fell quiet and lowered her hands as Jeremy quickly scanned the room, looking for any evidence that the spell had done what it was supposed to.

"I—I don't think it worked…" Jeremy said softly, now looking down to Bonnie as the witch slowly opened her eyes, then took in a staggered breath and stepped back in shock.

"No…" she whispered, her eyes suddenly filling with a mixture of tears and stunned awe, "It did. But—it's—well, it's just not who I was expecting..."

Jeremy followed Bonnie's gaze quickly to the area near Elena's bedroom window seat.

"But, I don't see anyone," Jeremy said, his eyes still searching as he wrapped a protective arm around the witch's shoulders, "And I'm usually the guy that can see dead people around here."

"Believe me. He's here…" Bonnie whispered, wiping her eyes, her voice trembling as she now stepped forward out of Jeremy's grasp and looked through the veil at what she suddenly realized only she could see…

It was the apparition of Stefan Salvatore, dressed in a gray t-shirt and black dress pants, standing a few feet in front of Elena's window seat. He was studying her with a soft gaze and a sad smile before his eyes darted quickly to the floorboards beneath his feet.

Still stunned, her mind racing with a thousand questions as to how Stefan could have crossed over without them knowing about it, Bonnie quickly focused her energies and nodded appreciatively toward the vampire, before turning back to Jeremy and the task at hand.

"And he knows where the journals are."

# # # # # #

"Ah!" Elena cried out as she hit the trunk of one of the cedar trees head on at vampire speed and fell backwards, somersaulting a few yards before finding herself up on her feet in seconds, with the aide of her new reflexes.

She took in a deep breath and moaned, rolling her sore neck and shoulders as she brought her hand up to fix her disheveled hair, wincing when her fingers brushed a fresh bruise on the side of her forehead.

After all those years of playing video games with Jeremy, she would have thought that dodging trees as she practiced honing her vampire speed and agility in a wooded area would be no problem…well, epic fail.

Soon, there was a swift breeze and Elijah appeared in front of her.

"Are you alright?" he asked, his dark eyes filled with concern as he stepped forward and took the side of her face gently in his hand, igniting the spark between their skin as he studied her face.

She held his gaze for a few moments, lost in the feeling, before his hand brushed over the bruise and she quickly pulled her head out of his grasp, hissing at the pain.

"Yeah…" she said, closing her eyes with a small smirk, shaking her head at her clumsiness, "It was an accident, I just—"

"You just didn't check your rear and side vampire mirrors and smacked into a gigantic cedar tree," he finished, chuckling as he looked over his shoulder at the tree in question.

"Ha…Ha…" Elena deadpanned, immediately opening her eyes and focusing on the original as Elijah turned back to face her

"Hey," he chided with a smile, raising his hands defensively, "I'm not the one who wanted to continue your 'vampire lessons' in an effort to keep our minds off the drama unfolding in Mystic Falls...which is clearly not working, by the way."

Elena scoffed, rubbing her forehead, "Elijah, it's nothing. Now lets get back to—"

"Elena, I have a two hundred year old tree standing behind me that just lost all of its bark in an altercation with a vampire that begs to differ…" Elijah interjected, then pointed toward her head, "and you're hurt…it's not 'nothing'. You don't have the focus or the concentration to do this right now. This was a bad idea. We should get you back to the house and—"

"And what? Brood? Eat more pie? Stare at each other?" Elena scoffed, now taking in a shallow breaths, her eyes suddenly veining out, her senses going crazy as she immediately felt herself turning into a mad woman, "Stefan and Damon haven't returned my calls since this morning, we haven't heard from Katherine or your siblings and for all we know, they could all be dead! The Salvatore Mansion could be one big vampire tomb!"

Elena felt herself reeling...

What was happening? Was it worry? Frustration? Maybe. Maybe not. But, soon she felt waves of disorientation and confusion wash over her and something close by smelled like blood…but, not just any blood...like the most delicious blood she could possibly put in her mouth.

"Elena…" Elijah said sternly, immediately stepping forward and taking hold of her face, resting his forehead against hers to calm her and whispering in a soothing voice, "You're letting your emotions control you…Breathe…Just breathe…"

"I can't..." Elena choked, pulling back out of reflex, but Elijah held her firmly in his grasp, "What's happening?"

"Yes, you can…" Elijah encouraged

"No. I can't!" Elena said, finally, casting her eyes toward his right hand resting on her jaw, suddenly realizing where the blood smell was coming from, "Because you're hurt too and I can smell the blood…that's what's making me act...oh, God…"

"Have you fed today?" Elijah asked suddenly, confused as he pulled back to face her, then following her gaze to the back side of his palm, realized that he must have grazed one of the trees and cut himself during their run.

Elena didn't answer. She just closed her eyes and concentrated on fighting back the urge to drink from him as she continued to struggle in his grasp.

"Elena," Elijah said, trying to bring her focus to him, but failing as she kept pulling against him, "Elena!"

Elena took in a deep breath, letting out a small animalistic growl as her eyes opened and she finally forced herself to look at him, the veins beneath them appearing and disappearing as she fought her hunger, trying actively not to look at the inside of his hand.

"Just drink from me…" Elijah said in a resolute voice, loosening his grip as he pulled his injured hand from the side of her face and held it out toward her, "If it will make you feel better...drink."

"What?" Elena whimpered, confused, her lip trembling as her eyes darted from his hand to his face, "Can—can I do that? I mean, can vampires drink from other vampires?"

"Technically, it's not always… ideal," Elijah said in a nervous tone with a raised eyebrow, unsure in his own mind of what could transpire between them if she did feed from him and how it might change their already complicated relationship, "But if it's what you need, then do it. But, it's your decision."

"What will happen if do?" she whispered, her eyes meeting his steadily, "Because I really, really want to…" then looked back to his hand, swallowing back the burning in her throat and fighting the surge of feelings now rushing through her body as she took in small gasps, " When I smelled it, something inside me just clicked...I don't know what happened...it's not like wanting to feed from humans…the hunger…it feels… different..." Elijah's breath hitched as Elena tore her eyes from his now healing hand and met his gaze again, "every inch of my body wants it…so much it hurts."

"Then make… it… stop…" Elijah said softly, calling her bluff and keeping his eyes locked with hers as he brought his offered hand back up to his face, willing his vampire features forward and biting into his wrist.

"Elijah…" Elena whispered with uncertainty in her voice, her eyes dilating as she watched his features fade as he now offered her his bleeding wrist

"If you don't want it," Elijah said, his voice genuine, but still holding out his wrist, "then listen my voice, use your touchstone, calm down and we'll go home."

"I…" Elena started, then closed her eyes in pain, the veins underneath them not willing themselves away

"Elena?" Elijah asked, moving closing, pulling back his wrist as he moved forward to comfort her

"I'm really starting to think that it's not that kind of hunger, Elijah..." Elena whispered absentmindedly, opening her eyes, " And I don't need a touchstone... I just need you."

Then, before Elijah could react, Elena moved with vampire speed, closing the distance between them and pulling Elijah's wrist to her mouth with both hands, hungrily biting into it and taking in mouthfuls of his blood.

Elijah nearly lost his balance, but quickly recovered as a moan escaped the back of Elena's throat and she moved closer and enfolded herself in his arms, her head falling against his chest.

Out of reflex, he cradled her head as she fed, still latched like a vice onto his arm.

Elijah's mind instantly raced, telling him that what they were doing was wrong...

That Elena didn't know what she was doing...

That he would be taking advantage of her...

Then, suddenly, he felt a succession of electric jolts through his body—not painful jolts—pleasurable ones…like their connection magnified by a thousand.

"Elena…" he groaned as his eyes rolled back into his head and she moaned in reply, leaning closer into his body.

And as she kept drinking, the fire grew, spreading from Elijah's head to the tips of his toes, igniting pure, undiluted passion and need—two things he hadn't felt in a very long time.

Not since he was human and Liliya was alive and they had...

Elena suddenly let out another moan and Elijah willed his eyes to open as he gasped, looking down to her as he stroked her hair lovingly, quickly finding his heart ruling over his head as he found himself silently wishing that she would never let go of his wrist.

Hell, if it were up to his heart and his body at that moment, she could drain him dry and he wouldn't complain.

Minutes later, Elena growled, and still holding his wrist to her mouth with one hand, brought her free hand to his chest and pushed him, with vampire speed, hard up against the cedar tree she had run into earlier.

The pain of hitting the tree combined with Elena drinking from him made Elijah moan in ecstasy and, though he was older and stronger, he didn't even think about fighting her for dominance as she pinned him there.

After a few more moments of sheer bliss, Elijah's nerve endings were burning to the quick, his breath shortening to gasps.

Always the generous lover, he didn't want to be a spoil sport and take all the pleasure for himself.

So he waited...

And when Elena, in the throws of her own pleasure, suddenly gave a guttural moan and, having finally drank her fill, reluctantly released her hold on his shirt and pulled back slowly from his wrist, Elijah used the space between them as leverage to reverse their places, pushing her hard up against the tree on her back.

Suddenly, back to his senses, reason reared it's ugly head, again.

Could he really do this?

What was he saying? They were doing this...

Correction-they are doing this...

And Elena certainly didn't look like the unwilling victim...

She gave a small smile through half-open eyelids, still drunk from her feeding as Elijah studied her face, taking her in.

It was as if they communicated silently, both instantly knowing what the other needed, before Elena nodded quickly and braced herself against the tree with one hand while she shrugged her other side out of her jean jacket and revealed the left side of her bare neck to Elijah.

"Do it," she whispered in a wanton voice, "Please…"

At her words, Elijah's gaze softened, his heart and body taking control once more as his eyes roamed over what she offered him for just a moment, before he willed his vampire features forward and leaned in, slowly sinking his fangs into the olive skin above her jugular.

All Elena could do was give a passionate moan and hang onto his shoulders for dear life as he drank, sending her to new heights.