His First Hybrid
Elena first realized something was off with her the first night after the ritual. No, that wasn't entirely accurate. She knew something was strange the moment she opened her eyes that morning, maybe even in the moments leading to her death by Klaus' hand. Something just didn't feel right inside of her. But she ignored it. She chalked up to dying or losing Jenna. Then she went home that night, and she knew something was wrong. She felt an extreme amount of hunger, and it wasn't simply any hunger. She didn't crave food. She didn't crave meat or sweets or vegetables. She craved blood. She could feel it pumping in her little brother and in Alaric, and it took every ounce of willpower inside of her not to attack them. Instead, she bolted out the door and started running as fast as she could, and she could run fast.
Elena was out of mystic falls before she stopped running. Well, she didn't exactly stop running. It was more like she ran into someone. She'd practically body slammed a man who looked to be in his late twenties to early thirties.
"Ah!" the man yelled out as he hit the ground. "Where did you come from?"
Elena didn't answer. Her focus was on the cut the man had on his leg, and the overpowering aroma of blood. She knew she should run away now, but hunger was extreme, and the blood was intoxicating. "I'm sorry."
"It's fine. I think I'll be okay," he said.
"I'm sorry," Elena said again before lunging at him. He screamed but Elena was too far gone to care. She bit into his neck and fed until there was nothing left.
Xxxxxxxxxxx
About an hour or so later, Elena found herself at Caroline's door. After she'd killed that man, she'd spent a great deal of time crying over his corpse. She hated that she took his life. She never wanted that. She never wanted any of this. Vampirism was the last thing she wanted, but even if she were to accept that, she didn't want to hurt anyone. Yet she had. She had taken a life tonight. That was something she would have to live with.
After pulling herself up, she'd gotten rid of the body. She knew what to do. She'd spent enough time around Damon to know how to destroy a body. She'd burned it. She watched it burn for the longest time, even when the flames mostly died out. She just couldn't move. She didn't know where to go. She'd just killed a stranger. She didn't want to think about what she could do to Ric or her little brother. She needed help.
Elena's first thought was to go to the Salvatore's, but she didn't think she could handle that. Stefan would just look at her with pity in his eyes. He would try not to, but it would be evident on his face, and once she told him she'd killed someone, he'd never look at her the same way again. And she didn't even want to look at Damon right now. She could only guess this was happening to her because of the blood he'd forced down her throat. Apparently the spell Bonnie had used hadn't stopped her from transitioning. John died for nothing. If Damon had just let her take Elijah's elixir, everything would be different.
Bonnie was also out as someone to go to. Bonnie would judge her, especially when she found out she killed someone. She had judged Caroline the same way. It didn't matter that she didn't know what was happening or that she couldn't stop herself.
That all led to Elena standing on Caroline's front doorstep. Caroline was the one person she knew wouldn't judge her and wouldn't look at her as if she was broken. She was the one person Elena could count on to understand.
Elena rang the doorbell and waited. It was opened moments later by Caroline's mother, who stared at her in horror. Elena couldn't exactly blame her. She was covered in someone else's blood.
"Oh my God. Caroline!"
Caroline came out moments later. "Mom, what's Wr…"
"I don't think Bonnie's spell worked," Elena said in a shaky tone.
"Mom, invite her in!" Caroline said urgently.
"Uh, come in, Elena," Liz said somewhat hesitantly.
Caroline grabbed Elena's hand before she could even take a step inside and rushed her upstairs. She brought her to the bathroom. "Wait here."
Elena watched as Caroline left the room and came back a few minutes later with a pair of clothes. "Put these on."
Elena changed out of her bloody clothes and put on the ones Caroline provided. She did so almost in a trance.
Caroline grabbed a cloth and wet it in the sink before she began cleaning the blood off of her friend's face. "Can you tell me what happened?"
"I…I didn't know what happening at first. I felt weird from the moment I came back, and I just keep feeling weirder and weirder all day. And then I could feel Jeremy's and Ric's blood. I was starving," Elena told her shakily.
"Oh, God! Elena, please tell me you didn't…"
"No! It's not their blood. I ran before I could hurt one of them. But I ran into someone in the woods. I knocked him down and he cut his leg," Elena cried.
Caroline closed her eyes sadly and hugged her friend. She could guess what happened next. She'd been there.
"I didn't mean to," Elena sobbed.
"I know," Caroline said as she hugged her. After a few minutes, she pulled away and took Elena's hand. "Come with me."
Elena let her friend lead her to her bedroom. They both sat down on the bed.
"How did this happen? Bonnie did the spell to save you," Caroline said.
"I don't know. It must have failed. Or maybe the presence of Damon's blood in my system screwed with it. I don't know," Elena said.
"What do you want to do? Do you want me to call Stefan?" Caroline asked. She would do whatever her friend asked. She wanted to help her through this. She knew how hard it was, especially with the knowledge that she just took a life.
Elena shook her head wildly. "I can't face him right now. I just killed someone."
"No one would understand better than Stefan. You couldn't help it," Caroline said.
"Elena, you can't keep this a secret from everyone. At the very least, Bonnie needs to know. You need a daylight ring. Alaric and Jeremy will have to know too. Since you've transitioned, you'll need Jeremy to let you into your house," Caroline said.
"Bonnie will definitely not understand. She'll blame me for killing that man, and maybe she should, but I don't think I can stand to see it. You know she will too," Elena said.
Caroline wished she could tell Elena she was wrong, but she couldn't. Bonnie had been very cold to her after she transitioned. She'd even threatened her if she killed someone else. They got past it, but the fact was that Bonnie was very judgmental when it came to vampires. "She doesn't need to know that you killed anyone. We'll tell her that you figured it out in time and came to me. You transitioned with a blood bag. I'll talk to my mom. She'll back us up."
"You'd lie for me?" Elena asked.
Caroline nodded. "I know what you're going through. I know what it's like to be judged for something you can't control. I won't let that happen to you."
"Caroline, did you ever feel like I judged you for being a vampire or taking a life?" Elena asked.
"No. You were the one person I knew did not judge me. That's why I'm going to stand by your side no matter what. I'll help you get through this," she promised.
"What am I supposed to do now. I can't go home. What if I hurt Jeremy or Ric. I could never forgive myself," Elena cried.
"It's okay. You can stay here tonight. We'll figure the rest out tomorrow," Caroline promised.
"Are you sure? What about your mom? What if I…?"
"It's okay. I won't let anything happen. Just lay down, okay? I'm going to get you some more blood. You should feed more," Caroline said before standing up.
Elena nodded and laid down on the bed. She curled up into a ball and laid there. She was still shaking, and she couldn't get that man's face out of her head. She would be okay though, she had to be. What happened tonight was horrible. She never wanted this. She never wanted to be a vampire, and she never wanted to hurt anyone, but she could get through it. Hopefully, the worst was behind her.
Little did Elena know how wrong she was. The worst was far from over. It was going to get much worse before it got better, especially when a certain hybrid got wind of what happened to her.