Written by: Peter
Disclaimer: The Vampire Diaries are the property of L.J. Smith and the CW Network. I’m just writing about them for the fun of it.
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Post-season 3 finale.
Pairing: Stefan/Elena
For the rest of my life, I'll have to live in secret
I'll hide in the shadows...alone in the world.
Alone with him.
I should have left home. I know the risk.
But I have to live my life!
I am a vampire—this is my story.
-Elena Gilbert
Mystic Falls City Hall, two days ago...
To say that the town council had seen better days was something of an understatement. Two of their most prominent members were revealed as vampire sympathizers. Their acting chairman was a vampire himself. Alaric Saltzman was currently missing—most likely dead. To top it off, the police had just issued a protest to any and all council activities.
“How could this have happened?”
“You tried to kill a teenaged boy,” one of the other members reminded him.
“He was a sympathizer!”
“He was sixteen years old—not to mention Grayson's son!” the woman to his left pointed out. “You shot at him, the vampire saved him—and then let you go unharmed. How do you think that looks?”
That was the part that confused him the most. The vampire let him off with a warning. They were supposed to be merciless killers, but—these ones were somehow different.
“This vampire was different,” he admitted. “He showed mercy. He could be reasoned with—he even claimed to want to protect the town.”
“More likely keep it exclusively for their little coven,” another member scoffed. “Two Salvatores, a Forbes, a Lockwood, and now a Gilbert—all founding family members. They undoubtedly think Mystic Falls belongs to them.”
“Maybe we can use that to our advantage?” he suggested. “Damon has killed quite a few vampires. We've seen the bodies. We can use them to keep the less reasonable ones away. Perhaps that's what the Sheriff and the Mayor were trying to accomplish?”
“We can't trust these creatures!” the woman spoke up. “They'll work with us, but only until we're no longer of any use. We need to find some way of controlling them.”
“Couldn't we force them to leave?” another suggests. “Didn't you say they were trying to run away? I say that's a good compromise.”
“We have to kill them before they kill us!”
The entire council started talking all at once, each member having their own ideas of what should be done. It was chaos. There was no structure to it at all. They were all scared—of course they were. Everything they had ever believed about the existence of vampires had just been thrown into question, and all the council's figureheads were apparently traitors.
“Gentlemen?”
The attention turned to a tall man in a suit who had just entered the room. His cold, stoic eyes glanced at them, as if sizing up their very souls.
“Allow me to introduce myself, for those of us uninformed,” he stated. “My name is Elijah Mikaelson. Klaus, the man you conspired to kill, was my brother.”
There was a vampire in the council room?!?
Quickly, one of the members reached under the desk for a gun. As he opened the secret compartment and reached inside, he felt the door slam back on his hand.
The vampire had moved across the room in the blink of an eye.
“That was rude,” Elijah sighed. “Next time, you lose the hand altogether. Don't let there be a next time.”
The man nodded, terrified.
“Alaric Saltzman is dead,” Elijah explained to them. “He murdered my brother, and has paid with his life. I don't bear you any malice for this—opposing his commands would have been suicide. However, it has been brought to my attention that he revealed some highly sensitive information to you.”
Elijah walked around the room, memorizing each of their faces.
“I am an original,” he explains. “The oldest living vampire on the planet. Unlike normal vampires, I cannot be killed—not by anything you possesses, at least. Not by stakes, not by vervain, not by sunlight. Attacking me will only serve to make me angry. You can't kill me—but I can very easily kill you.”
Everyone's heart skipped a beat. Elijah smiled. Good—they were afraid.
“This is what's going to happen,” he explains to them. “You are going to reinstate Carol Lockwood and Elizabeth Forbes to their former duties. You are not going to go after the Salvatore brothers or their associates again, unless provoked. Any attempt on their lives will be met with immediate retaliation. Meaning, if I may be so blunt—I will personally make the streets of Mystic Falls run red. Do we have an understanding?”
Several of the council members nod.
“I would suggest you contact Stefan Salvatore as soon as possible to tell him he has nothing to fear,” Elijah spoke, before heading towards the door. “I look forward to seeing you all at the next fundraiser. Hopefully it will be under better circumstances.”
With that, Elijah takes his leave, and everyone breathes a sigh of relief.
“Somebody get me the damn phone!”
*****
Liz Forbes almost jumped out of her skin as a knock came on the door. Things had been quiet for a few hours now—did her former deputies decide to take a different approach? Maybe try and convince her to just hand Caroline over to them?
That would never happen.
“Stay away from the door,” Liz whispered, knowing Caroline could hear her from the living room.
Caroline, for her part, didn't seem to be moving. She was curled up in a ball on the couch, still grieving.
Liz knew they couldn't just stay there. Caroline needed to leave, even if Liz had to pack her in the car and run away with her. It wasn't as though there was anything left for her here, right? She was as much of a fugitive as Caroline now.
“Who's there?” Liz called out.
No answer.
Carefully, Liz peaked out the window, and what she saw there made her gasp.
“Caroline?” she called to her daughter. “I think you'd better come and see this...”
Reluctantly, Caroline headed towards the door, just as Liz opened it. She froze, as a familiar person stepped inside.
“Hi,” Tyler Lockwood greeted her. “Miss me?”
Caroline's face lit up, as she tackled Tyler to the ground at super-speed.
“You're alive!” she squeals. “You're alive! Why? How?”
“Does it matter?” Tyler asked her, teasingly.
“Nope!” she replies, before hugging him. “I don't care—all that matters is you're okay. You're okay...don't you ever do that to me again, understand?”
“Not to worry,” he promises. “I don't have any intention of dying ever again. I'm here to stay.”
If Caroline hadn't been so overcome with joy over Tyler's miraculous survival, she may have noticed something a little—malicious--in Tyler's tone of voice.
The Gilbert House, present day...
A pair of eyes open to the darkened bedroom. The blinds were shut now, with only a slim ray of sunlight shining towards the far corner of the room.
Elena missed the sun. She missed a lot of things.
She sat up in bed, beginning to write in her journal...
It's been two days now. Two days since I died the exact same way my parents did. Two days since I woke up on a table in the morgue, feeling like a stranger in my own skin. Two days since my life ended.
I'm dead. No matter how many times I say the words, I still have a hard time believing it. I drowned. My lungs filled with water, my heart stopped beating, and I felt myself slip away. Now—now I just feel so lost. So cold. So alone.
My own reflection terrifies me. When I look in the mirror, that—thing--that stares back at me...I just want it to go away. Yet I know it ever will. It's a part of me now. Trapped inside this broken shell of a girl, just waiting for its chance to escape—its chance to kill.
But that's not the part that scares me. No, the part that scares me most isn't that someone might die at my hands—but that, when it happens...I'll enjoy it.
Dear Diary,
Climbing out of bed, Elena moved over to the closet in the blink of an eye. She was dressed in a third the time it used to take. Time felt so different to her now. Everything around her moved so slowly, and yet—she knew that for everyone else it was too fast.
Elena looked at her reflection in the mirror, as she brushed her hair. On the surface, she didn't look any different than she had three days ago. She still looked like the same Elena—the same hair, the same face. But on the outside she felt different.
She hated it.
Her eyes moved to the side of the mirror, where several photographs were taped. One of her with Caroline, Bonnie, and Matt outside the Mystic Grill. Another of her with an uncomfortable-looking Jeremy. And then—her and Stefan.
It was taken a year ago, before everything had happened. They were at the spring fair. She was holding that stuffed koala that was even now resting on her bed. Stefan had spent over twenty dollars trying to win that thing for her. He could have done it easily with his strength, but he wanted to play fair. Because he had promised her a normal evening.
Stefan...
Walking over to the bed for a moment, Elena picked up the koala and hugged it—trying to hold onto all it represented. A normal life. A life with Stefan. Why did the two have to be mutually exclusive?
She was the same as him now. As horrible as she felt—as devastating as the thought of being this was to her—at least she had that. All those reasons for her and Stefan not to be together were no longer a factor. She wasn't the human girl in love with a vampire anymore. She was a vampire girl in love with another vampire. It was the most natural thing in the world for them to be together.
That thought made Elena smile. Nothing would ever be able to separate them again.
That would be what kept her going.
*****
The boarding house...
Stefan Salvatore sat down at his desk, writing in his journal. Every so often, he would look over at the small box at the edge of the desk.
It's been two days now, and I've given up trying to convince myself it's all some horrible nightmare. That all of this is simply a fantasy my subconscious has fabricated to help me deal with the guilt of the past several months. That I'll just wake up, locked up in the basement after going through detox. That I'll open my eyes to find Elena smiling at me, telling me I'm going to recover.
God, I love her so much.
She doesn't deserve this. She doesn't deserve to be trapped in this nightmare for the rest of her life—for time without ending. Lifetime after lifetime of watching the world around you grow and change, while you never do. Having to walk through life completely alone.
No, Elena won't be alone. She'll never be alone. I'll be with her every step of the way. I won't let what happened to me happen to her. This is my fault. I have to make it right—somehow.
I just wish the nightmare of being a vampire was the only thing I had to protect her from. There's still one factor I have no idea how to handle. One I wish I knew how to handle.
Damon. That's one thing that's never going to change. Somehow, in some way, all my struggles always lead back to Damon.
Dear Diary,
“This is what you call helping Elena?” Damon scoffed from the doorway. “I'm sure she's fine by herself. That evil magic ring Jeremy's wearing kinda makes him an all-out-can-eat buffet.”
Stefan ignores the insinuation.
“Do you ever get tired of writing in that thing?” Damon questioned him.
“Would you rather I pester you with my innermost thoughts?”
“God no!” Damon groaned.
“I'm giving Elena her space,” Stefan explained. “I'm extremely worried about her, but I know better than to hover. She just needs time to adjust.”
“Couldn't come fast enough, if you ask me,” Damon commented. “She needs to see the fun side of being a vampire. I could show her.”
“You mean like you showed Vicki Donovan?” Stefan reminded him.
That caused Damon to flinch. It was twisted—the fact that Stefan knew exactly how to get to him, yet wished with all his heart that it was something other than the woman he loved. Damon, for his part, wasn't going to risk a repeat of the Vicki incident. While he knew in his heart that Stefan would never harm her, that didn't mean someone else wouldn't. Particularly with the council suddenly backing off without an explanation.
Elena going on a feeding spree would be just the thing to push them back into assault-mode. Which means he'd let Stefan play things his way—for now.
“Have you heard back from the council?” Stefan questioned him.
“Nope,” Damon answered. “Don't trust them.”
“Good—me neither!”
Damon raised an eyebrow.
“We need to find out why they suddenly had a change of heart,” Stefan remarked. “Maybe I should go over there—see if I can find out anything?”
“All you need to do is focus on Elena!” Damon practically ordered him. “You're the one she wants around—so you'd better give her all your attention.”
“Damon...” Stefan sighs.
“Let me worry about keeping the hunters off our backs,” Damon suggested. “I'll keep us alive, you make sure Elena's happy—we'll both do the jobs we're good at?”
Damon left. Stefan wished, not for the first time, that there was some way he could fix all this. But when the one thing your brother wants is the one thing you yourself can't live without, finding a solution is pretty much an impossibility.
So he would do what Damon suggested. He would focus his attention on helping Elena, in whatever way he could.
Picking the box up off the side of the table, he headed out the door.
*****
The Bennett house...
“Dad?” Bonnie called out, as she entered the kitchen. “You almost...”
However, no one is there. Bonnie sighed, as she saw the note on the table:
“Of course you did,” Bonnie commented, pouring herself a bowl of cereal. “You're always working. Guess that's something we have in common.”
Suddenly, there's a knock on the door.
“A minute...” she called, holding the bowl with one hand.
A moment later, she opened the front door to find Stefan Salvatore standing on the other side. His expression was solemn—repressed. He looked almost ashamed of himself.
As he should—this was her house. Bonnie's sanctuary from the madness that plagued the rest of her life. How dare he show up here?
“What do you want?” she asked, coldly.
“I'm sorry,” he said. “I would have called, but I—I really didn't want to say this over the phone. May I come in?”
Instead, Bonnie stepped outside.
“Whatever it is, make it quick,” she warned him. “I'm in the middle of breakfast.”
“You don't trust me,” Stefan concluded.
“Do you blame me?”
Stefan shook his head.
“Not in the slightest,” he admitted. “But right now, I need your help...”
Bonnie laughed.
“Of course you do,” she sighed in frustration. “Why else would you come here. I guess I should be grateful you didn't drag me to some remote location in the middle of the woods.”
Stefan flinched. If there was any doubt left in her that the human part of Stefan was in control again, that extinguished it. Bonnie felt a momentary sympathy for him, but it passed—maybe he hadn't been in control of his actions, but it was still him. Who knew how long it would be before the other Stefan took control again? She couldn't afford to trust him, no matter how good his intentions were at the moment.
“Listen...” Stefan began to say, but Bonnie cut him off.
“No, you listen!” she warned him. “I am done being pushed around, Stefan. By you, by Damon—by anyone. I'm not your secret weapon anymore. Whatever you need from me, you'll have to earn it!”
“It's not for me,” Stefan told her. “It's for Elena.”
“Then she can come ask me herself!”
“She can't!” she argued. “She won't.”
“What's that supposed to mean?” Bonnie asked. “For that matter, why haven't I heard from Elena since that night? I just found out Matt was in the hospital! You'd better start giving me some answers, Stefan, or so help me...”
“Elena's been turned!!!!”
The volume of Stefan's proclamation, the sound of her bowl shattering as it hit the front porch, the feel of her heart nearly stopping—none of this shocked Bonnie more than the words themselves had. Her hands went to cover her mouth, trying to stop the scream from escaping it. At first she felt sick—nauseous, even. Then she wanted to cry. Then she wanted to scream. Then she wanted to accuse Stefan of lying to her—trying to scare her into doing whatever it was he wanted her to do.
But the expression on Stefan's face couldn't be faked. He wasn't sad, or angry, or even worried—he was devastated. He looked dead inside. Funny, because that's exactly how she felt.
“No...” Bonnie whispered, speaking finally.
“Bonnie...” he tried to say, but Bonnie backed away from him in horror.
“No...” she repeated, shaking her head. “NO! Elena can't be...”
Stefan nodded sadly, confirming it.
“How?” she asked, almost dreading the answer. “Damn it, Stefan—tell me!”
“When Elena was in the hospital,” Stefan began, his voice breaking. “Her condition was more serious than we thought. She had a cerebral hemorrhage in her brain. Doctor Fell—she had to give her vampire blood to heal her.”
Bonnie tried to hold back her tears, as Stefan continued.
“After Klaus died, Rebekah went after her—because of her tie to Alaric,” he explained. “She attacked her and Matt--forced them off the Wickery bridge. I tried to—Bonnie, I swear, I tried to save them. Elena, she—she wouldn't let me. Not until I saved Matt first. But...”
Stefan closed his eyes, a defeated look on his face.
“When I got back, it was too late—she was gone.”
Bonnie sat down on the front steps, feeling all the energy draining from her. After everything—all they'd sacrificed to save Elena—for it to end like this?
“Did I make the wrong choice?”
It took a minute for Bonnie to realize Stefan was talking to her.
“You've made a lot of wrong choices lately, Stefan,” she told him, her voice monotone. “But this isn't one of them. If you're asking me if I'd rather one of my best friends be dead or another of my best friends be one of you...I don't think I could have made that choice.”
Stefan sat down next to her.
“Is she ok?” Bonnie asks him.
“No.”
“I know what you want me to do,” she says. “I'll do it on two conditions.”
Stefan nodded, waiting for her to continue.
“First, I'm doing this alone,” she explains. “Just me and Elena—no one else. I need to see her for myself without anyone influencing the conversation.”
“Ok,” Stefan agrees. “And the other condition?”
“You owe me,” Bonnie tells him. “I'm through doing things for free. You want my magic, you're going to have to earn it. I'm calling the shots. Understand?”
“I don't think I can get Damon to agree to that,” Stefan sighed.
“I'm not asking Damon, I'm asking you!” she clarified. “Don't worry—I won't make you kill him or stay away from Elena or anything like that. But you will owe me a favour, whatever I ask—whenever I ask it. Do we have a deal?”
Stefan nods, reaching into his pocket.
“I owe you,” he says, handing her a small box. “Help her, and I swear—I'll do whatever you want.”
“I'll hold you to that,” Bonnie says, taking the box.
*****
Mystic Falls police station.
“I'm not completely sure what happened,” Liz Forbes explained. “One moment I'm in the middle of a standoff in my own home—the next they call a ceasefire. I just assumed you had something to do with it.”
Damon shook his head.
“They just called off the hunt,” he told her. “No idea why. Maybe the council just realized they were fighting a losing battle?”
“Whatever's going on, no one's telling me anything,” Liz sighed. “I may have my job back, but I've been kicked off the council.”
“Who needs them?” Damon scoffed.
“I would just feel a lot better if I knew for sure they weren't just biding their time to come up with a better plan to assassinate Caroline, you, your brother, and Tyler.”
“And Elena...” Damon muttered.
“You really think the council would try to kill someone just for being a sympathizer?” Liz asked him.
“One, my old man didn't seem to have a problem with it,” Damon told her. “Two, they already tried to shoot Jeremy. And three—Elena's not exactly human anymore.”
Liz's eyes went wide. She quickly shut the door to her office, turning to face Damon.
“Excuse me?!?” she gasped. “Do you want to explain that sentence?”
“She's a vampire now,” Damon explained, with a mock-smirk. “Surprise.”
“When?” Liz demanded, taken aback by the revelation. “How?”
“It wasn't me, before you go getting ideas,” he said defensively. “When she was in the hospital, our favourite psycho doctor decided vampire blood was the cure for what ailed her. Then her car went over the bridge—again. A plus B equals...”
Liz sat down at her desk, in shock.
“That poor girl...”
“She'll be fine,” Damon scoffed. “Ok, that's a lie—she's inconsolable. But she'll get over it.”
“Will she?” Liz asked him. “Or is that what you're telling yourself to keep sane?”
“I tried to turn her before!” Damon exclaimed, sounding defensive. “Twice! I'm not upset about this—I'm annoyed she's upset about it, yeah, but this is no big deal for me. I think you're confusing me with Stefan.”
“If you were upset, you would tell me, right?” Liz asked. “The old lies notwithstanding, I'm still your friend, Damon.”
“Ric was my friend too, you know?” Damon said bitterly. “Look where that got him!”
Damon storms out of the office, not wanting to see the sympathetic look he knew Liz would have at his parting words. He needed something to do, otherwise he would start caring about what she thought of him. He couldn't do that. Caring about people meant you could lose them, and he wasn't about to risk that again.
He needed a distraction.
That's when something Liz had said caught him completely off guard. He darted back inside the office—eyes wild.
“Did you say TYLER?!?”
*****
She could do this...
Bonnie had been going to the Gilbert house her entire life. Miranda Gilbert and her mother had been best friends, and so there wasn't a moment in her entire memory where this place hadn't been like a second home to her. So why did it suddenly seem so foreboding?
Why was she so scared to see Elena face-to-face?
It wasn't because she was a vampire. No—vampires didn't scare her. Not anymore. What did scare her, though, was the thought that she had to look in her best friend's eyes, knowing she had failed her.
Bonnie wished she had asked Stefan what he meant when he said Elena wasn't ok.
“Here goes,” Bonnie said aloud, taking a deep breath, before knocking on the door.
A moment later, Jeremy answered. He looked very surprised to see her.
“Bonnie, hey!” he greeted her. “I, uh—didn't expect—what's up?”
“How are you doing?” she asks.
Jeremy shrugs.
“No bad,” he says. “I'm dealing, you know? How about you? Your mom...”
“We're communicating,” Bonnie reveals. “Text messages, mostly—but it's a start.”
“I'm glad to hear it,” he tells her, smiling.
“Can I come in?” she asks. “I need to talk to Elena.”
“This is kinda a bad time,” Jeremy replied, cringing slightly. “She's going through this—this rough time, you know? She's been locked up in her room, but I'm sure...”
“Jeremy,” Bonnie interrupted him. “I know. Stefan showed up at my house. He told me everything.”
Jeremy's face falls.
“Come on,” Jeremy sighed, motioning her inside. “Just—go easy on her, ok?
Bonnie follows him inside.
“How is she?” Bonnie asks.
“It's—hard to explain,” Jeremy admits. “I guess how anybody would be after doing something they hated for the right reasons. She's not angry or lashing out or blaming anyone. She's just—sad.”
“But she's still herself?”
“She hasn't flipped the switch, if that's what you're worried about,” Jeremy scoffed. “If anything, I'd say it's the reverse. Elena's acting a bit too emotional.”
“Are you sure it's safe for the two of you to be here on your own?” Bonnie questioned him, still a little worried despite his assurances.
“There haven't been any accidents,” he replied. “I'm wearing my ring, just in case. But it's been two days now, and nothing's happened yet.”
“I'd like to talk to her,” Bonnie told him. “Alone, if you don't mind?”
Jeremy appeared reluctant.
“I promise, I just want to talk.”
*****
Upstairs...
Bonnie entered Elena's room, where everything was pitch-black. It didn't really surprise her. Of course they couldn't let any sun in. But still, it felt foreboding.
Bonnie felt something move across the far end of the room, sending a chill up her spine.
“Elena?” she called out.
“Come to see if I'm a danger?”
Bonnie gasped, turning around to see Elena standing right near the door, blocking her escape.
“I'm sorry, that was mean,” she apologized. “You look good. I meant to call, but—uh--I've been a little distracted.”
Bonnie didn't say anything. She just stared at Elena. Something was definitely different about her friend. She was more reserved in her movements. More careful.
“I talked to Stefan,” Bonnie told her.
“I know,” she said with a nod. “I heard. From all the way upstairs. I can hear a lot of things now—it's so strange.”
“I needed to see for myself.”
Experimentally, Bonnie reached out and touched Elena's arm. Immediately, she felt the familiar tingling sensation. The mixture of power, death, life, and pure unnatural existence that she felt when in contact with any vampire. Bonnie recoiled in an instant—it was true.
“Oh god,” she gasped. “Elena, I'm—I'm sorry. I should have been there. I should have...”
“Hey, listen to me!” Elena cut her off, grabbing Bonnie by the shoulders—but this time, Bonnie didn't even try to move away. “There was nothing you could have done, okay? Don't blame yourself for something you had nothing to do with.”
“I can do all these things,” she said, choking back a sob. “I can make things float, I can set fires with my brain—I could probably control the weather if I wanted to. What's the point of having all this power if I can't even help my friends?”
The look Elena gave her was a sad one, but also filled with sympathy and understanding. It was such an 'Elena' look, but with an intensity Bonnie had never seen in her before.
“How much did Stefan tell you?” Elena asked. “Did he mention Matt?”
Bonnie nodded.
“He, uh—he said you made him save Matt first instead of you,” she sniffs.
“Then, as far as I'm concerned, it was worth it,” Elena concluded.
“It shouldn't have happened at all!” Bonnie insisted, becoming angry.
“It's not Stefan's fault, either,” Elena said, defensively.
“That's not the way he tells it,” Bonnie scoffs.
“He's blaming himself for everything,” Elena sighs. “Please—don't encourage it.”
“Yeah, I know it's not his fault,” Bonnie admits. “But it's nice to see someone around here taking responsibility, even if it's in error. It's just—it's not fair. This shouldn't have happened. He shouldn't have been put in that position—there shouldn't have been a choice to make! You shouldn't have to suffer like this.”
“Bonnie, I'm fine.”
Bonnie raises an eyebrow.
“Excuse me?”
“Really, it's not so bad,” she says, cheerfully. “Yeah, I was depressed about it at first, but now that the initial shock has passed, I feel great. The strength, the senses—I never realized how different everything was to them.”
Something seemed off to Bonnie. She could practically feel despair coming off of Elena when she had entered the room, but now—now she was acting upbeat all of a sudden.
“You can talk about it to me, you know?” Bonnie assures her. “I'm not going to make the same mistake I did with Caroline when she—when this happened to her.”
“Really, I'm fine Bonnie!” Elena laughed. “I mean, come on—Klaus is dead, right? The last white oak stake's been destroyed, the council's backing off—our friends are safe now, and my blood's useless just in case anyone comes looking for the doppelganger. Stefan's himself again. We won. No one else had to die.”
'Except you,' Bonnie thought, but didn't say aloud.
“The worst is over now,” Elena said quietly. “All I want to do is—you know, move on.”
“Maybe this will help?” Bonnie suggested, reaching out her hand.
“Is that what I think it is?” Elena asked, hopefully.
“You don't want to be stuck inside the house twelve hours a day, do you?”
Elena held out her hand, as Bonnie gave her a small object—a ring with a blue lapis lazuli gemstone in the centre. On the stone was a familiar crest, which Elena stares at in fascination.
“This is the same symbol that's on Stefan and Damon's rings,” she remarked. “Where did you get this?”
“Stefan,” Bonnie explained. “He kind of insisted I use it for your sunlight protection. Would you prefer something else, or...?”
Elena shook her head.
“No, it's...” she replied, getting emotional. “It's perfect. I just—I don't think I've earned this yet. Controlling myself around Jeremy is one thing, but what if I can't when I'm out there among perfect strangers?”
“You can do this, Elena,” Bonnie promised her. “If Caroline can manage, I'm sure you can. I'll handcuff the two of you together if that's what it takes.”
Elena nods.
“Now place the ring on the bed.”
She complies. Bonnie closes her eyes a moment, focusing her power. The curtains suddenly open a crack, causing light to shine into the room. Elena takes a step back away from the harmful rays, as they envelop the ring.
“When Esther created this curse, she used the sun itself,” Bonnie recalled. “People call vampires creatures of the night, but really it's the other way around. The sun is the source of your power. Ironic, since it's also one of the few things that can kill you.”
A moment later, the ring floats above the bed, before moving in front of Elena. She stares at it in awe.
“One more thing, before you put that on,” Bonnie warns her. “You're my best friend Elena, but I need to think about the safety of normal people too. The witch who spells the ring also has the power to deactivate it. If you ever lose control, I will do everything I can to protect people from you.”
“Thank you,” Elena whispers. “I wouldn't have it any other way.”
It was the truth, too. It made Elena feel a little more at ease, knowing that someone she trusted like a sister was going to be keeping an eye on her—making sure she wouldn't do anything that her former self would have been appalled by.
“With that out of the way—why don't you try it on?”
Elena snatched the ring out of mid-air, placing it on her finger. She examined it—it almost looked like a smaller version of what the Salvatores wore. Did Stefan have this made himself? Or was it something he always had? If so, why didn't they give it to Caroline?
Elena's train of thought was interrupted by the curtains opening the rest of the way. The light blinded her for a moment, but when her eyes adjusted themselves she felt fine.
No, more than fine—she felt great. It was the sun—she was in the sun again, and it didn't hurt her. She closed her eyes, basking in the warmth of the sunlight on her face for the first time in two days.
“Come on,” she told Bonnie with a smile. “Let's take this ring for a test run.”