While I've Been Sleeping

My eyes opened and I saw myself laying on a bed in a hotel room. I tried to get up but my wrists and ankles were chained down to the bed. I started to panic as I pulled my hands as hard as I could from these chains.

How did I get here? The last thing that happened was Katherine grabbed me. Oh, my god. Katherine jumped inside of me.

I heard my phone ring and I wrapped the chains up and pulled on them a few more times before one wrist broke free. I pulled the rest off before rushing to my phone.

I picked up the phone and the ringing stopped. Then, someone sped up behind and me grabbed my phone from my hands.

"Hello, Ellie." Katherine's daughter, Nadia, said.

"You. You put Katherine inside of me instead of you."

She said the phrase in Czech before everything went black again.

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After trying to push myself through, my eyes opened again and I was back. I looked around and recognized that I'm under the old church, the tomb where Katherine was suppose to be. I saw the traveler that took Stefan and me was standing above Katherine's body.

I tried to keep calm to not let Nadia know it's me. I turned around and tried to figure out a plan.

"So, um, what's happening now?" I asked.

"Katherine, if you want to say goodbye to Ellie forever, I need silence." Mia said.

I felt my heart drop and Nadia came up to me.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

I took a deep breath to keep natural, "save your daughter my concern. I'm fine."

Mia kept on chanting and I need to do something fast.

"You never told me where you wanted to go." Nadia said.

"Where I wanted to go?" I asked.

"Once we complete the spell. Where should we start our world tour?"

"Let me finish. Just a few more seconds, and then I'm done." Mia interrupted.

I shook my head and pushed Mia to the wall, knocking her out.

"Ellie."

Nadia started to come towards me. She was about to say something but I stabbed her in the stomach before running off.

I sped off into the woods and turned around to see if they were following me. I grabbed my phone and typed in my old password, but it didn't work.

"You have got me kidding me."

I sped off again before stopping due to a pain in my head. I heard a scream and a baby crying. I saw a vision of Katherine giving birth.

"No, no." I cried before running off again.

"Katerina, may I introduce to you the Lord Niklaus." I heard Elijah said and I saw a vision of them.

I gripped onto my head as I felt pangs.

"Come on. Kiss me, Damon, or kill me." Katherine said as I saw a flashback of her and Damon.

"Katherine, get out of my head!" I cried as another pain in my head happened.

I continued to run, trying to ignore more flashbacks of Katherine, and ended up at Tyler's house, where there was a party.

"Damon!" I shouted as I saw him. I ran into his arms and felt safe, "Damon, thank god."

Then everything went black again.

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My eyes opened and I saw the familiar ceiling of my dorm room. I sat up and I was in my bed in an empty room. I got out of bed and felt cold. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion, since I have never gotten cold since I became a vampire.

I grabbed my cardigan and walked out of my room. It was dead silent. I walked further into the hall and noticed that no one was here.

"Hello?" I called out.

"Hey. You're awake." I heard someone say from behind me.

I turned around, "Stefan. What are you doing here?" I asked, "where is everyone?"

"Everyone's gone. The whole school cleared out for Spring Break. You've been in and out since you first woke up." He explained.

"Oh. Yea, that makes sense. I thought I was going crazy."

I walked closer to Stefan but got stuck by a seal a few inches in front of him. I tried to get my hand through, but it was blocked.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"We had to seal you into the building." I gave him a confused look, "we have a lot of catching up to do."

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Stefan explained to me that Wes injected Damon with a virus that makes him feed on other vampires. He also said that before they killed Katherine, she injected the same virus into me.

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"The last thing I remember, I was running through the woods, and my head felt like it was being attacked by Katherine's whole life. Then I saw Damon, I threw my arms around him, and... then nothing." I explained to Stefan.

"Yea, that was about three weeks ago."

"Three weeks ago?" I repeated in shock, "wow." I turned around and started pacing, "and yet, it took just one second for Katherine to infect me with some virus that makes me want to kill all my friends."

"Well, you know Katherine. She's not about to go out without a grand finale."

"Do you really think this whole lockdown is necessary? I mean— I feel fine." I told him.

"Look, we shouldn't take any chances. If Damon taught us anything, It's that the virus makes you want to attack at the mere scent of vampire blood."

"How did you put up the seal?" I asked.

"Liv." He answered.

"Liv?" I asked, not knowing who that is.

"She's a new witch. Bonnie's been teaching her some spells." I looked down, realizing how much I've missed, "Look, I know that this is a lot to process, but just know that Caroline is out looking for an antidote, and in the meantime, we've figured out a way to ration blood to keep you satiated. We're gonna figure this out, okay?"

I nodded then looked up at him, "I need to talk to Damon, but Katherine put a passcode on my phone."

"Okay, I'll go get you one." He smiled then walked out.

I took a deep breath and started to walk back to my room. Across the hall, I saw a payphone. I grabbed some change then dialed Damon's number. It rang for a few times before it picked up.

"Damon's phone." Jeremy answered. 

"Jeremy?" I asked.

"Ellie. Hey. How are you feeling?" He asked.

"Confused but good." I answered, "I miss you."

"Same here."

"I killed you once before, Gilbert. I'll kill you again." I heard Damon say in the background.

"Someone wants to speak to you." Jeremy said.

I sat down underneath the payphone, waiting for Damon to say something.

"Hey, you." I heard him say.

I smiled, "hey, you."

"So, eat anyone yet?" He asked.

"Nope. So far, I'm symptom-free. Although Stefan still has me on the 'Damon diet' just in case."

"Oh, yea, it sucks. You're gonna be craving carbs constantly. But, hey. There's a plus side. You get to keep your girlish figure." He joked and I laughed.

"I'm calling you on a payphone." I told him.

"Well, how retro of you. Does that mean you've memorized my phone number?" He asked.

"Possibly. Katherine our a passcode on my phone, so, I can't use it."

"Ohh," He dragged out, "that would explain all those crazy instagram pics you've been uploading lately."

"What?" I asked, scared.

"Kidding, kidding."

I sighed in relief, "Damon, that's not funny. I don't know what I've been doing for the last three weeks."

"I know. I'm sorry."

There was a few seconds of silence.

"So, fill me in. What else did I miss?" I asked.

"What was the last thing you remember?" He asked.

"Running into your arms. Feeling safe."

"Well, it was all downhill from there."

"I wanted to fight for you. I still do."

"Oh, Ellie, the second we're cured of this and we don't want to rip each other's heads off, I am going to hunt you down and give you the most mind blowing night of your life." I heard him whisper.

"I think that would work." I smiled, "one question: How exactly do we cure this?" I asked.

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A few minutes passed and Damon and I have been talking nonstop.

"Can we talk about the irony of Katherine Pierce sitting through a college lecture?" He laughed causing me to laugh.

"Oh, no, I'm failing, aren't I?"

"No way. If anything, there's some sucker probably compelled to spend his entire Spring Break doing your homework."

"Yea, you're probably right. I have to add that to the list of things I need to fix, starting with Aaron."

"Aaron? What the hell does he have to do with anything?" Damon asked.

"I haven't seen or talked to him since he found out that I was a vampire and thought I wanted to kill him."

"Well, uh... you probably won't find him."

"Why?" I asked.

"No reason."

"Ellie?" I heard Stefan call.

"Stefan just got here. He bought me a new phone. I'll call you back." I stood up and placed the phone back.

I started to walk towards Stefan when I got light headed and had to grab onto the stairs railing for support.

"You okay?" Stefan asked.

"Um, not feeling so good all of a sudden." I carefully walked towards Stefan.

"It's because you're starving."

I nodded.

"Here, I got you four ounces of my blood. You don't be scaling any buildings, but it'll curb the cravings." He slid the bottle of blood through the seal, along with my phone.

"Thank you."

I grabbed the bottle and started to drink it. Within seconds, It was empty, but I was still craving blood.

"I need more." I told Stefan.

"I'm sorry."

"I feel fine, Stefan. I just need a little more."

"You're not fine, Ellie."

I threw the bottle to the floor in anger, "please, I can handle this."

"Think so?" He asked.

"Yea."

He bit into his wrist and showed my his blood.

Without hesitating, veins grew from under my eyes and my fangs came out. I charged towards Stefan but the seal blocked me.

"You're not fine, Ellie."

Stefan put his wrist away and I backed up.

"She's turned me into a monster." I started to pace and breathe heavily, "I'm a ripper, aren't I?"

"You'll feed until you kill, yea." Stefan's phone rang and he answered, "hey."

"Please tell me that's some good news." I said trying to calm myself.

"Bad news. It's not the same virus." I heard Caroline say over the phone.

"What is it?" Stefan asked.

"Dr. Creepenstein was working on the next phase of his virus. When Nadia was sick, He was experimenting on her blood and then he figured out a way to extract werewolf venom from her blood and put it into the virus." Caroline explained.

"What do you mean werewolf venom. That means it's fatal."

"Oh, my god." I whispered.

"Hello? You do think I would just drop this on you without a silver lining? There's an antidote. It just requires you to come meet me. I'll text you the address." Caroline said.

"Or you can just bring it." 

"No, you have to go there, and don't ask me why because I can't tell you."

"Caroline, that doesn't make any sense. Just tell me exactly—"

"If I could tell you, don't you think I would be there right now to help Ellie? I'll text you the address."

"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what's going on." Stefan fought.

"The travelers don't want anyone to know what they're up to. And by anyone I mean newbie emo witch types with bad attitudes. Just there fast, okay?" She hung up.

"I'll see you soon." He said and started to walk away.

"Stefan." I called out, stopping him, "why did she stay?"

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"Katherine. Why didn't she run like she normally does? Why did she stay?"

"Oh. You know Katherine. Staying alive wasn't enough. She... she wanted it all."

"Like you?" I asked, "she wanted you."

He silently nodded.

"Did we ever—"

"Actually, we... we kissed."

There was an awkward silence.

"Oh, okay. And then..."

"And then I pulled away. Then I put it together. She wasn't you." Stefan and I stared at each other for a few seconds, "I gotta go." He said then walked out.

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"Hey, it's Aaron. Leave me a message, or don't. Whatever." Then there was a beep.

"Hey, Aaron, It's Ellie. I hope that you're of on some private island somewhere enjoying your spring break. Look, a lot has happened... and I'd really like to talk about it. If you're still willing to talk to me. So, call me back, okay? Bye." I hung up the phone and sat on my bed.

I felt something under the sheets and grabbed it. It was my moms journal with a pen inside of it. I opened the journal up to where the pen was and started reading.

"Dear Diary,
I love my life. Seriously. Becoming Ellie Thompson is the best thing that has ever happened to me."

Katherine. I can't believe she wrote this is my moms journal. I flipped through a lot of pages.

"Spent the day on the road with Stefan, although the highlight was our little pit stop at the hotel. I had to wash up after 'accidentally' getting grease on my shirt."

My vision started to become blurry then I saw Stefan and I walk into the hotel room.

"Oh, well. I didn't like this shirt anyway." I pulled my shirt off, leaving me in my tank top. I pulled the strap down and Stefan stopped me.

"Warning next time?" He asked looking away, "there's a bathroom less than ten feet away." He turned around.

"You know, that's what I like about you, Stefan. Always a gentleman." I started to walk up to him, "you don't have to turn away, you know. There's nothing stopping us. We're both single now. And we're alone."

He turned around and I wrapped my arms around his neck. I started to lean and and placed my lips onto his. After a few seconds, he pushed me off. We looked into each other's eyes then kissed again.

He threw everything that was on top of the table to the ground before lifting me on top of the table. He started to kiss my neck.

Then it hit me. What am I doing?

"Stefan, it's not me. It's Katherine, Stefan."

He continued to kiss my neck.

"She's seducing you. Stop." I pushed him off.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"This isn't me, Stefan. Can't you tell? After everything we've been through, I would lead you on like that."

I got off the table and grabbed my shirt before opening the door to leave. Damon was standing outside.

"Damon?"

"Stefan, Stefan, Stefan." Damon walked in, closing the door behind him, "'I have grease on my shirt. I need to wash up'? Come on, man, that's the oldest trick in the book."

"It's not like you saw through her."

"I wasn't the one making out with her." Damon fought.

"Stop it, both of you." I told them, this is what she wants. Even dead, she is ruining our lives."

"Oh, you think this is bad? You have no idea, do you?" Stefan asked folding his arms.

"About what?" I asked, but he didn't answer, "about what Stefan?"

I felt something drop down from my nose, which took me out of the vision. I looked down and saw a drops of blood on the paper. I brought my hand up to my nose and felt the liquid. I grabbed tissue and looked into the mirror and cleaned it up.

What the hell is happening to me?

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"What do you mean werewolf venom?" Damon asked over the phone after I told him about my virus.

"I mean, I'm deteriorating slowly. I seem to be hallucinating all my worst fears. So, that's been fun."

"I should come over there."

"You can't. We would tear each other apart, remember? Besides, I look gross."

"Oh, yea. Well, never mind. That would be awful."
He joked.

"Distract me."

"Alright. What are you wearing?" He asked, I could tell he was smirking.

"Damon, come on. Tell me. What else have I missed?"

"Okay, okay. Let's see. Um... it's been unseasonably cold. Jeremy bought a bunch of new x-box games that are ridiculously loud and obnoxious. Tyler had a party. It was lame. ohh, ohh. Did you hear the gossip?"

"What gossip?"

"Caroline and an original hybrid sitting in a tree."

My eyes widened, "no." I said in shock.

"Yup."

"Are you serious? Caroline and Klaus? Well, we've all had our fair share in originals."

"Funny." Damon commented.

"Wait, does Tyler know about this?"

"Yup, and guess who told him."

"Katherine?" I asked, "Katherine is such a bitch."

"That she is."

I started to cough. I set my phone down to grab a tissue and coughed into it.

"Sorry—" I stopped talking when I saw blood in the tissue.

"You okay?" Damon asked.

"Um... I just don't understand why Stefan's off at some mystery location. Why don't we hunt down Wes and force him to make us an antidote?" I asked changing the subject.

"That's easier said than done. Wes is dead. I killed him."

"What?!"

"Please don't act like he didn't deserve it."

"What about Aaron, Damon? He didn't deserve that. Wes was pretty much the closest thing that Aaron had to a family."

I heard the cellar door open through the phone.

"Soup time." Matt said.

"The highlight of my day. I will check on you later, okay?"

He hung up.

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I was walking down the hall when I noticed a room door open. I saw Aaron in the doorframe.

"Hey, there." He greeted.

"I thought you were on spring break." I slowly walked up to him due to me being nauseous.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"I'm sick. It's a long story. Look, I really wanted to talk to you about everything, because the last couple weeks, I haven't been myself. Literally."

"That would explain a lot." He told me.

"Why? Did I do something?"

My eyes wondered into his dorm room and noticed the bed without sheets and everything moved out.

"Why is none of your stuff here?" I passed him and walked into the room.

"Because I'm not actually here."

"What do you mean?"

He didn't answer.

"Are you another hallucination?" I asked. I squeezed my eyes shut, knowing the answer. I opened my eyes and saw Aaron with his neck covered in blood, "did I do this to you?"

He didn't answer.

My eyes started to water as I realized that I killed Aaron. I walked up to him, "Aaron, tell me that I didn't kill you." I kept repeating in shock.

"Ellie." I heard someone say my name. My vision was blurry and the person called my name again.

My vision was clear and there was a man with blonde hair and blue eyes squatting down in front of me. I was sitting on the floor in the hallway.

"Wow, Ellie Thompson. Get up, you lush." He dropped his bag and helped me up.

I felt my head start to spin and felt me losing my balance. The man caught me and held me up.

"I see someone started her spring break early."

"How did you get in here?" I asked, "I thought the door was closed."

"David dumped my ass— at Senor Frog's, of all horrifying places. He thought I was cheating on him. So, I took the first flight out of Cancun and here I am." He explained.

"Do I know you?"

"I'm Luke. We met at the Bitter Ball?" I shook my head not recalling, "you're very drunk. Alright, let me shower off this airplane stench and we can drown our sorrows in rum runners."

"That doesn't sound like a good idea." I replied.

"Oh, do not tell me you and Stefan hooked up while I was gone."

My eyes focused on his neck and how hungry I am.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm just so thirst." I replied, not taking my eyes off his neck.

"Okay, I'll get you some water." He places his hand on my arm.

"Don't touch me." I snapped.

"You need help."

"No, what I need is to feed. Don't move." I compelled, "I need vampire blood."

I bit into my wrist and attached it to his mouth. After a few seconds, I took my wrist away and wrapped my hands around his head, ready to snap. I noticed bite marks on his neck. I took my hands off and moved his shirt to get a better look.

"What is that?" I asked.

"My paranoid boyfriend thought they were hickies. But it obviously is some kind of disgusting rash or something."

"Or your friend Ellie was feeding on you. Listen to me. Forget this conversation," I started to compel, "go find Bonnie Bennett. Tell her to come here and bring the witch. I need to get out of here right now."

Luke started to walk away and I pulled my phone out to call Damon. I dialed his number and he answered.

"I don't know what's happening to me, Damon"

"I know. Look, you're sick. So, just try to relax."

"Try to relax?" I repeated getting upset, "I feel like no one is telling me the truth. I cant tell what's real anymore."

"Stefan will be there really soon."

I started to panic, "I did it, didn't I? I killed him."

"What?"

"Aaron. That's what you're so afraid to tell me. Aaron. I killed him." I cried.

"Listen, Ellie, I will tell you everything, but right now is not the time."

"Now is not the time, Damon? I'm dying. I almost turned a student today that Katherine apparently befriended. Just so that I could feed on him. When would a good time be, huh?" I argued.

"Listen, Ellie. Calm down. Listen to my voice. You will get through this. I will help you." He said calmly.

"No, no, no. You're lying. You're lying to me, Damon!"

"Ellie, calm down, please."

"Why is everyone lying to me? You're lying to me. Why is everyone lying to me?!" I threw my phone to the ground and it broke into pieces.

I ran into my room and started to put all my things into a box. My sheets, some clothes, toiletries— everything Katherine has touched. She ruined my life. I noticed a few tear drops fall onto the box. I killed Aaron.

I picked up the box then headed into the hall way and to the lounge area. I slide a match across the mantle then threw it into the fireplace.

One by one, I started to throw everything in the box into the fire.

"Ellie, what are you doing?" I heard Bonnie say.

I turned around and saw Bonnie with a girl who had blonde curly hair.

"I'm cleansing myself of anything that Katherine touched," I threw another item into the fire, "toothbrush. My clothes. My sheets."

"Ellie, stop. You're not yourself."

"That's ironic, because I wasn't myself for weeks, and yet nobody noticed." I said annoyed.

"She's losing it." I heard an unfamiliar voice say.

I set the item I had in my had down, upset, then sped towards them.

"Are you Liv? I'm sorry if we've met before, but I'm really gonna need you to drop this seal and let me out right now." I argued.

"It's too dangerous for you to be out in public when you're sick." Bonnie told me.

I laughed, "you think that's dangerous, Bonnie? If you don't drop this deal right now, I will kill you." I shouted.

"Ellie, stop. This is the virus. It's in your head. Katherine wanted to destroy you, and it's working. You have go fight it."

"You're right." I replied, calming down, "you're right, Bonnie. I'm letting her win. I can't let her win." I repeated, breathing heavily.

I started pacing and noticed a box filled with sports equipment. I grabbed hockey stick and snapped it in half, then threw it into Liv's stomach.

She groaned in pain and Bonnie helped her.

"You will die if I don't give you my blood to heal you, so, you're gonna have to drop the seal. Otherwise, you're gonna bleed to death. So, hurry. It's your choice."

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After Liv dropped the seal, I sped out of the building and started walking. I stopped walking and started to cough up more blood.

"Ellie?" I heard someone call my name.

I looked up and saw Aaron walking towards me.

"Aaron? Are you alive?" He came closer to me and I sighed in relief.

"You don't look so hot."  He told me.

"No. No, I'm good. I'm good now. I thought I killed you. I didn't lol you. You're right here." I looked down to his feet then back up and jumped back when I saw Damon.

"Ellie, it's me. It's Damon. You're hallucinating."

I shook my head in disbelief.

"Drink this. It's Stefan's blood."

He handed me a bottle and I grabbed it and quickly drank it.

"She won. Katherine won."

"Don't say that."

"Look at me, Damon," I cried, "look at me. The plague of Katherine Pierce lives on. She's turning me into something that I'm not. Look at me. I'm a monster. Live, the witch, I almost killed her. And my friends, I mean, I want to kill my friends. I think about killing my friends."

Damon wrapped his arms around me, "come here. It's okay."

I pushed him away, "no, it's not okay! It's not okay, Damon. I killed Aaron Whitmore."

"No..."

"I keep seeing him. He keeps following me everywhere. I'm hallucinating that Aaron's around here."

Damon gripped onto my arms, making me look at him, "you did not kill Aaron Whitmore. I did."

I felt my heart drop, "what? why?" I backed up from him, "was it because of the virus? Did you need to turn him?"

"It was before I was infected."

I didn't say anything.

"Listen, if you want specifics, it was the night I thought that you broke up with me. I killed him to convince myself that you were right. That I was the type of person who could kill in cold blood, and I was never gonna change. That's why." Damon explained. I saw the pain in his eyes, but I couldn't look or say anything.

"I need you to say something please."

I looked back at him and saw someone behind him.

"Why is Enzo here?" I asked.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I have the antidote. Although from the looks of it, you'd both rather be dead."

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After Enzo gabe Damon and me the cure, I headed back to my dorm room. I opened the door and signed when I noticed the mess I made earlier. I walked in and started to pick some things up.

"Woah, what happened in here?" I heard Damon say from the door.

I ignored him and continued to clean up. After a few seconds, I realized that Damon wasn't going to leave. I huffed and turned towards him.

"You should've noticed." I broke the silence.

"What?"

"That I was Katherine. That Katherine was me. You should've been the one that noticed."

"You don't think I know that?" He asked upset.

"If only you'd seen through her, Damon... there would be no vampire virus. Aaron would still be alive."

"Katherine didn't do this. I did." He walked closer to me, "I thought you broke my heart so I ripped open Aaron's neck. That is how much control you have over me!" He fought.

"And I'm still here. That's how much control you have over me!" I fought back.

"Listen to us. This is toxic. We are in a toxic relationship, Ellie. I just killed your friend and you find someone else to blame."

"You want me to blame you? Easy. Done. You screwed up, Damon. Again."

"Thank you." He said angrily.

"You put me in a position where I have to defend you. Again. Where I have to bend my morals. Again. Where I have to go against every single thing that I believe in. Again. Because I love you!"

"Then stop loving me!"

"I can't!" I shouted.

"Well, that's the problem. We don't work!"

"I know."

"Then we agree. This has to end."

My heart broke when I heard him say that, but it has to happen, "it just did. It's over. We're over."

We looked into each other's eyes for a few seconds then he walked out of my dorm. When the door shut, I felt my heart break again and I started to cry.

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