Months passed since Elena transformed. Unfortunately, she was able to confirm that Caroline was right about her being a hybrid, not that it was a surprise to her. She transformed exactly one time, during the full moon a month after the sacrifice. It was the most painful thing she'd ever experienced, and that included having all of her blood drained during the sacrifice. The good part was that she only had to live through it once. Since then, she hadn't turned during the full moon. It seemed that as a hybrid, she could turn at will, other than that first full moon.

Only Caroline and Tyler knew that she was a hybrid. They all believed it was better that way. The fewer that knew, the less likely it would be that Klaus would ever find out. Of course, Elena knew deep down that she couldn't keep it from him forever. Eternity was an awfully long time.

One thing Elena had noticed was that her temperament had changed dramatically. That anger she'd felt after that first night had not really gone way. She was a little better at controlling it, but it still didn't take much to set her off. After talking to Tyler, she'd realized that it wasn't just the heightened emotions from being a vampire. It was also the fact that she was a new werewolf. She was cursed with a horrible temper because of it. It didn't help that she had a lot to be angry about, like whatever was happening to Stefan.

A part of Elena had wanted to go look for Stefan. She wanted to find him and bring him home, but she couldn't. She couldn't risk Klaus finding out about her. She probably would if she thought it would make a difference for him, but it wouldn't. Even if she offered herself up in exchange for Stefan, it wouldn't work. They'd just both be stuck in an awful situation, and Stefan would likely be used against her. It was better for him that she stay out of it and let Damon do whatever he was doing, even though she trusted Damon as little as ever. He'd tried a couple of times to make up with her, but she wasn't interested.

Instead, Elena tried to get back to normal life, as normal as possible anyway. She was back at home, although it was still a challenge to be around humans, which was why she was very reluctant to be where she was now. She was in the school with her friends and a few other classmates setting up senior pranks. To her, it was a horrible idea. She was trying to avoid human interaction as much as possible.

"This is a seriously stupid idea," Elena said as she, Bonnie, Caroline, and Tyler trashed one of the classrooms.

"Come on, Elena, it's tradition. Besides, you need to let loose and have fun for one night," Caroline said.

"Care, I'm a vampire with severe anger issues and murderous impulses. I think the last thing I need to do is let loose," Elena said.

Tyler laughed. "She's got a point."

"Elena, you've never hurt anyone. You'll be fine," Bonnie said.

Elena bit her lip. Bonnie still didn't know about the man she killed to complete her transition. Hopefully, she wouldn't have to find out.

"Besides, school is going to start up soon. You need practice in being around other people," Caroline said.

Elena sighed before going back to what she was doing. She decided it wasn't worth it to keep arguing. They were soon joined by Matt, who was about as enthused as she was to do this, but decided to contribute anyway.

They all ended up going their separate ways soon. Elena planned to spend the evening locked in Alaric's classroom where there was less of a chance of her accidentally hurting someone. She was mostly okay with a few humans around, but there were several of her classmates here tonight, and if even one of them spilt a drop of blood, she wasn't sure she could stop herself from hurting them.

After Elena left the classroom, it didn't take her long for her to hear someone else. That wasn't unusual given that there were a lot of people there, but something she couldn't put her finger on gave her cause for concern. She ducked into an empty classroom.

She peered out in time to see Klaus enter the spot she'd just left. Her heartbeat immediately quickened. She couldn't help it. This man would make her life a living hell if he found out about her. He would do worse than kill her. He would make her his possession. She'd rather die.

Klaus chuckled in the empty corridor. "I can hear your heartbeat, love. I know you're there."

Elena scowled. She beat the smirk she could hear off his damned face, and now she could probably do a decent job at it.

"Come on out. For every minute you make me wait, I'll kill one of your little friends," Klaus warned. He could go get her. He could tell exactly where she was, but where was the fun in that.

Elena took a deep breath. She knew this man did not make empty threats. He'd kill everyone in the school. Although, he might just do that anyway. It didn't matter though. She was not going to sit there and hide. If this was the end, if it was her last day of freedom, she was going to live it with her head held high.

Elena stepped out of the room. Klaus' back was to her. "Do you not have anything better to do with your time than terrorize a bunch of high school kids? It's a little pathetic, don't you think?"

Klaus turned and raised an eyebrow. He was a bit surprised by her boldness. "Actually, as it turns out, I do have better things to do, but your continued existence seems to have caused me some trouble with that. How is it that you are not dead?"

Elena noted that Klaus didn't seem to know she wasn't still human. She wasn't too surprised by that. Vampires often couldn't tell a human from a vampire. Damon had mistaken her for Katherine before. Elijah was able to tell that she was human when they met, but he had to get into her personal space and smell her blood for it. Elena could tell by their blood as well, but she was fairly certain that that was because she was new and had very little control of her bloodlust. "This is Mystic Falls. There's at least a fifty-fifty shot that if you kill someone, they're not going to stay that way."

Klaus chuckled. "I must say, doppelganger, you surprised me. It's not an easy thing to accomplish. I wasn't expecting such boldness or stupidity."

"Oh, I know you what you were expecting. You expected me to run. Well, I'm not going to run. I'm not going to cower. I'm not afraid of you," Elena said. That wasn't completely true. She wasn't afraid of him physically hurting her. He could, she knew, but she might just be able to give him a run for his money now. She knew he wouldn't kill her. She was afraid of what he could turn her into though. She was afraid of what he could take from her.

"Now, there's no need to lie, love. Of course, you're afraid. I can hear your rapid heartbeat. It's nothing to be ashamed of. You should be afraid," Klaus said.

Elena glared and took a step forward. "I'm not afraid of you. Do your worst."

"If you insist," Klaus said with a smirk before reaching out and grabbing her arm. He dragged her away towards the gym. She let him.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Elena was sitting on the bleachers in the gym while Klaus dealt with Stefan, who had shown up not long ago. She wanted to go to him and see if he was okay, but she couldn't. She would appear weak if she did that. She couldn't afford weakness, not in front of Klaus. She just sat back and watched.

Things had escalated pretty quickly after Klaus grabbed her. His sister brought Tyler in, and Klaus force fed him blood before breaking his neck to make bonnie find out why he couldn't make hybrids. He thought Elena being alive was the cause. That was pretty ironic considering.

Elena knew she was going to have to intervene soon. There was no way around it, but she needed to make sure no one else would get hurt by her doing so. She had too human classmates in the room. One wrong move, and they could end up dead. And the fact that she was getting hungry was not helping matters.

Elena was pulled out of her thoughts when things began to escalate between Klaus and Stefan. Klaus got mad at Stefan for his supposed betrayal and ordered him to kill the two humans. When Stefan tried to argue against it and get him to let Elena go, Klaus compelled him to do whatever he told him to do.

Elena got up as Stefan turned to do as Klaus ordered. Now was the time, Elena had to make a move. If she didn't, Stefan was going to kill one of her classmates. She mentioned one because the second one of them started bleeding, Elena would likely end up killing the other herself.

"Stefan, don't do it. Control yourself," Elena said. She wanted to give Stefan a chance to fight it off, but she knew it would be useless. He had clearly been feeding on humans lately, and Klaus had compelled him. He stood no chance.

Klaus laughed at her. "Oh, but he can't, love. He has no choice but to obey."

"Maybe he doesn't, but I do," Elena said. She charged at vampire speed just as Stefan went to grab Chad. She got in between them and pushed him back. He slid against the gym floor.

Stefan looked up at her in shock, but he wasn't really able to register what had happened because he was still compelled to kill the humans. He got up and made another attempt at Chad.

Elena grabbed him by the shirt as he approached. "Don't make me hurt you, Stefan."

Stefan growled at her and grabbed her by the throat.

Unfortunately for Stefan, Elena was a hybrid. She learned fairly quickly that she was stronger than normal vampires. She and Caroline had spared a few times. She won every time. She was easily able to remove Stefan's hand from her neck. She crushed his wrist within moments.

Stefan screamed, but it didn't deter him. He punched her, which caused her to fall to the ground…

Elena recovered quickly and lunged at her boyfriend once more. She grabbed him by the neck and twisted until she heard a sickening crack. She wasn't sure she'd be able to do it. She'd never broken anyone's neck before, and she never thought her lover would be the first she'd do it to.

"Well, this is certainly an interesting development," Klaus said as he grinned from ear to ear.

Elena turned to him and saw the glee in his eyes. She didn't need to mirror to tell her that her eyes had turned yellow. Klaus' face was all the confirmation she needed. He knew the truth now, and her life was about to take a dramatic turn for the worse.