Elena was utterly horrified as she laid strapped to a bench in her father's old office as Wes Maxfield experimented on. It wasn't merely what had been done to her or what was about to be done to her that horrified her. It was everything Dr. Maxfield had told her about her father. She wanted to believe he was lying, that her father would never treat people like lab rats, whether they were vampires or not, but she had memories about this place that fit with Dr. Maxfield's statements. Her father experimented on people the way she was being experimented on now.

"You know, it's a shame we won't have more time together," Wes said as he continued to mess with the tubes coming from Elena's body. "You are an enigma that I would love to study further. But perhaps there will be time at a later date. One can only hope."

"An enigma. I'm just another vampire," Elena said as she continued to fight against the bonds holding her. She was so weak though. Her blood had been drained, and who knew what else had been done to her.

Wes chuckled. "Not exactly. You still don't know, do you?"

"Know what?" Elena asked.

"You know, the Augustine Society has existed for a long time, even before your boyfriend became a member. Probably around a hundred years ago, one of our now deceased members came across a unique vampire. He wasn't like the others. He was stronger, faster, more lethal. This was a vampire that couldn't die in the sun, couldn't be staked with a normal wooden stake. In all appearances, he couldn't be killed at all," Wes explained.

"An Original. You captured an Original vampire?" Elena asked in disbelief. She found that hard to believe. She'd met every single one of them, and none of them could've been captured by a human, no matter how well versed they were in the supernatural world.

"Not exactly. My predecessors weren't stupid. They knew that capturing them would be impossible. It would be a death sentence to try. But that didn't mean they couldn't still study the vampire. One of the more attractive nurses at the time got close to him. She managed to get some samples. Blood, sperm. Augustine studied those samples. They studied the blood to see the differences between Original blood and that of a regular vampire. The sperm was put on ice. Do you know that an Original vampire's sperm can still be viable after a hundred years?"

"What would you people even want it for?" Elena asked.

"I'm glad you asked," Wes said before going over to Grayson's journal and flipping through the pages. "Your father eventually asked a very interesting question. What if a vampire could be born instead of turned?"

"That's impossible," Elena said. Then again, she did recall Caroline telling her that Klaus had recently impregnated a werewolf. But that was different. He was a hybrid, and it didn't happen until after he broke his curse. Even if the Original Mr. Maxfield was talking about was Klaus, it would've had to have happened before his curse was broken.

"Everything's impossible until science proves otherwise," Wes said as he continued to flip through the pages until he found what he was looking for. "Here we go. 'The specimen's sample has been successfully implanted. We used John's girlfriend as the test subject.'

Elena's hands began to shake as she listened to him read her father's words.

Wes smirked as he looked up at her. "John. His brother, I believe. Isn't that the man you believed your biological father to be."

"No," Elena whispered in a shaky tone. She wasn't answering his question. She was denying the insanity he was trying to sell her. Even if this was possible, her father couldn't possibly be this evil. He wouldn't do something like that. He wouldn't make her a science experiment.

Wes flipped to another page and began reading aloud again. "'The pregnancy has taken. Once the child is born, testing can begin.'"

Elena fought violently against her restraints. "No, you're lying! He wouldn't do that! He loved me!"

Wes chuckled. "His words are right here. For what it's worth, it was nothing personal. It was just in the name of science. He needed a test subject, one that he could condition from birth. Unfortunately, it didn't work out. It appears that even though you were born with vampire blood, that side of you would stay dormant until your death. I imagine it would've only been a matter of time before he ended your life himself."

Elena shook her head. She wouldn't accept this. It was too unbelievable and too evil. Her biological parents were John and Isobel. Grayson didn't create her in some lab. He was her father. He loved her. "You're lying!"

Wes sighed dramatically before picking up a wooden stake that was sitting on the tray with the rest of his instruments. He brought it over to her. "Well, if you're right, this will kill you."

Elena didn't even have time to react before the stake made its way into her chest. That was all she knew.

Wes watched her body lose all color before continuing his work as he waited for her to regain consciousness. He hooked her up to more tubes and removed other ones. It took several moments, but eventually, he heard the young vampire gasp for air as she returned to the living. "Welcome back."

Elena looked around frantically. "You…You staked me."

"I did, and you've returned to the land of the living," he said.

"You missed my heart," Elena tried to say. Deep down though, she knew he hadn't. She'd felt the life leave her, but now she was back. He staked her, and she came back.

"I'm afraid now. Come now, Elena. It's time to end the denial phase. Just accept it. You were born a vampire. You just needed to die for it to be activated," Wes said.

Elena said nothing. She just laid there in horror at what she'd been told. She was still trying to figure out some way to make it a lie, but deep down, she knew he was telling the truth, and now her life would never be the same.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Elena sat on her bed later that night with her father's medical journal sprawled out in front of her. She'd been in a haze since Stefan saved her. She didn't even really react to Damon breaking up with her. Her mind was elsewhere. It was on everything Maxfield had said to her. It was all confirmed in this book. She couldn't even pretend that the information was forged because it was her father's handwriting. Then again, he wasn't her father. He was the mad scientist who used her to further his research.

Elena remembered what it was like to find out she was adopted. It had sent her reeling. Not even finding out about vampires had been that shocking. It had taken her a while to get past it, but she managed because she knew her parents were still her parents and still loved her as their daughter. But they didn't, or at least her father… Grayson didn't. He saw her as nothing more than a subject to experiment on. He mentioned her in his journal so many times, and he never even used her name. He called her 'the subject' or 'it'. He didn't even talk about her like she was a person. Everything she thought he felt for her was a lie.

"Oh, God!" Elena cried before curling up on the bed and sobbing. Out of all the traumas she'd suffered over the years, this was the worst, and she didn't know how or even if she would survive it. That would be the first of many nights she cried herself to sleep, and pain would only get worse.