Humanity 4 "The Rivalry"

Chapter 1

This is the fourth book in the Humanity series so if you haven't read the first three, do that first so that it makes sense!

***

ASHLEY'S POV

My eyelids slowly flutter open and my vision is a little blurry. I look around and realize that I'm in my bedroom. My eyes lock on the figure in the corner, staring out the window.

"Damon?" I ask softly and his neck snaps around.

"Hey. I'm right here." He says, rushing over to me and sitting down on my bed. "You've been out for awhile. Are you okay?"

"What...what happened?" My voice is hoarse.

"You were in an accident." He says gently and my mind flashes back to last night.

"Oh my god. Matt..." I trail of, remembering him being unconscious underwater.

"He's alive." Damon says quietly.

"What about Elena?" I ask, sitting up slightly.

"She's..."

"What Damon?" I raise my voice.

"She's alive." He says with a nod and I feel relief wash through me. "Stefan got there in time. He was able to pull you and Matt out of the water, but..."

"But what?" I ask. Why can't he just spit out whatever he's trying to say? "I thought you said Elena was alive."

"Listen, Ashley." He takes my hands in his. "When you and Jeremy brought Elena to the hospital before this all happened, her injuries were worse than anyone knew. Meredith Fell made a choice...she used my blood to heal Elena...and when Rebekah ran Matt's truck off the road, she had vampire blood in her system, Ashley."

This all processes through my head and I start to panic. "Oh my god." I whisper. Elena's a vampire. She died, while I was rescued and on top of all that, Rebekah was the person in the road. She was trying to kill me to kill Alaric.

"Ashley..." Damon tries to calm me down as I stand from my bed. "You should rest."

"I need to see her, Damon." I state firmly and he nods.

***

We get to Elena's house and I rush up the steps and into her room. When I see her lying bed, tears are running down her face. She gives me a weak smile, but I know it's not real.

"This wasn't supposed to happen." I whisper, feeling like this is all my fault. Why did Stefan save me first?

"Maybe it doesn't have to." Stefan speaks as he stands up from the bed. "I talked to Bonnie, she says that she's stronger than ever. There might be something that she can do to help."

"No, the only thing that's going to help is for her to feed and complete the transition." Damon says bitterly from behind me.

"We have all day before she has to feed, Damon." Stefan snaps. "That's a day to exhaust every possible way out of this."

"There is no way out of it. We all know the drill. You feed or you die. There is no door number three." Damon scoffs and I sigh because he's right.

"I was ready to die." Elena says quietly as she chokes back the tears. I walk over and sit on the bed next to her. "I was supposed to die. I don't...I don't want to be...I can't be a vampire. If there's something Bonnie can do, we have to try." She sobs and I take her into my arms.

"We will. We'll try everything." I whisper as she continues to cry.

DAMON'S POV

I can't take anymore of this false hope crap. I walk out of the room and head down to the kitchen. Thankfully, there's still some of Ric's bourbon in the cabinet. I pour myself a drink as Stefan enters the kitchen.