"What number does that make this?" I look at Damon with a devious smile.
He runs his tongue across his pointy teeth as if he is thinking of a witty comment to make, but instead he turns to me and says; "I think that puts us at 9, how are you feeling?"
I smile as I look up at the sky, I feel incredible. More alive than ever, even when I was human. I nod in satisfaction.
"Maybe we should move onto number 10." I look up at him batting my eyelashes at him. He laughs a little. "Elena, we need to be careful, I know I'm the last one to clean up a mess and/or a trail of bodies, but with all the chaos in the quarter we need to be smart about this. We can't make ourselves a target or cause people to start raising questions. I also think we should keep this our secret, nobody needs to know what happened out in the woods. It was our day together, our precious timeless day. I have to say it was one of the best experiences I've ever had in my long existence."
I smile, although I want more. I want more human blood. I don't want to stop, I want to rip open each person and drain them of every single drop of blood that runs through their veins. My hunger is deep, and I wonder if Damon has ever had a hunger this deep. Something is off about me, this isn't how it should be. I'm not a ripper, so why is it that I feel like I can't get enough? We continue walking, headed towards the house as I feel a chill run up my back. My steps become heavy as if a huge weight is preventing me from taking another step. I start coughing uncontrollably . Blood starts to pour from my mouth as I grab my throat trying to gain some relief. Damon turns to me and looks like he has seen a ghost. He runs up to me and pulls me towards him. "Elena?! Elena?!" He shouts, but to me he sounds as if he is in a tunnel. My ears start ringing and I can't catch my breath. I fall to the ground unable to walk anymore while blood keeps pouring from my mouth.
Just then, Stefan appears running up to us. He must have heard from the house. "What's wrong?" He asks. Damon shrugs, panicked.
Stefan comes over to me looking into my eyes, almost as if he is staring into the very depth of my soul. I look back at him scared; not sure of what's happening. He calls out "Rebekah!"
As I gasp for as little air as I can I wonder why in the hell he's calling for her. She has no business being here in the first place. She suddenly appears almost from nowhere and runs up to him sliding on the ground kicking up dirt creating a fog. She looks at Stefan then back at me. "We need to get her inside, we need to drain her of all this blood."
Damon looks at her shaking his head, "woah, woah, woah, why? What the hell is going on?!"
Rebekah turns to scowl at him as if he is the worst person in the world...........
"She has practically overdosed on human blood, she hasn't consumed high volumes of it up until this point and her body is violently reacting to it."
They get me into the house and lay me down patting me down with cold washcloths.
Rebekah continues, "it's a very rare side affect, I've only seen it happen to one other person..." She trails off, as if she doesn't want to go into detail. She looks at me with such sincerity, "Elena, I know I'm the last person you want around you right now, but all of that blood is creating a euphoric addictive feeling. We have to get the majority out of your system or things can start to go seriously wrong."
The coughing has quit and I can finally take short breaths. My voice comes out hoarse as I try to speak. "I want more. That's all that I want, why won't anyone understand? Stefan, how do you not understand? I mean, you were a ripper. You of all people know how this is." My throat feels incredibly dry, I take a sip of water that is sitting on the table next to me although I wish it were crimson red, smoothly going down my throat. The veins appear under my eyes by just the thought of it.
Stefan cuts through my thoughts. "How do you think I became a ripper, Elena? It didn't just happen over night. I started to get these urges, minor at first, but then they got stronger as time went by. I gave into those urges.. I kept going, kept feeding. Crazy amounts, killed many people. I couldn't get enough, until my body started rejecting it, but I kept going. That's how I became the monster I was."
It all made sense. I never knew how it happened, or what caused it. Suddenly everything about me and my blood lust started to fit together like a puzzle. I laid there for a moment encompassed by this reality. Unable to respond, we all knew the truth. I was a ripper in the making.......
The room was foggy as my eyes parted, I sat up noticing my quiet surroundings. Nobody was in here with me. I got up and looked through the crack of my bedroom door to see Damon, Stefan, and Rebekah sitting on the couch in the living room. My attention then skipped to what Rebekah was holding, a bucket, she had blood on her hands and then I realized what the bucket was.... The blood I had consumed, from all those helpless people. I grabbed my chest backing away from the door... Backing into the wall a sigh came from the back of my throat, I slid down the wall hugging myself, and feeling warm tears falling from my eyes..... "What have I done..........?!"
