Having no humanity made me see Mystic Falls in a completely new light. No longer was it the place that held fond memories. Now it felt like an empty space, a place where I was obliged to be. I couldn't work out why any vampire, or any person for that matter, would choose to stay in this quaint town when they could get out and actually see the world.
As I got closer to the house, I could make out their voices without even going inside. I sat on the doorstep with my head resting on the door, waiting for an opportune moment to make my grand entrance.
"Why are you coming to us with this?" Damon asked someone. "You made this mess – clean it up."
"And what would you like me to do?" Klaus asked, his voice calm.
"Why do we have to do anything?" Damon responded. "As long as she's not in any danger, let her do the no-humanity thing until she gets bored and turns it back on."
"Yeah, you got a couple hundred years?" Caroline asked sarcastically.
"If that's what it takes," Damon responded.
"Can't you just compel her to turn it back on?" Stefan asked. Hearing his voice should have ignited something in me. Love for him, anger at being betrayed by him. Instead, I felt nothing.
"I have better things to do with my time than to force your sister to act against her will," Klaus said.
"So why did you do it the first time?" Bonnie asked dryly. I could imagine her with a raised eyebrow, staring Klaus down. Bennett witches were the most sassy women I'd ever known.
"He's pretending not to care," Stefan said to her.
"Well he's not doing a very good job," Caroline said.
"I'm not going to apologize for doing what I thought was right," Klaus said. "She felt betrayed, abandoned, controlled... if I left her feeling that way, we don't know what she would have done."
Caroline sighed. "Look, if we can work out where she is, we can work out what to do. Finding her is the main thing."
"Why?" Damon asked. "Even if we find her, we can't force her to turn it back on."
"You don't have to force her to turn it back on," Klaus said. "You have to give her a reason to want to."
"Why are you even here Klaus?" Stefan asked. "What did she do that was so bad that even you couldn't handle it?"
Klaus didn't say anything, probably because he didn't know if my brothers knew about my history with Katherine.
"Wait a second!" Caroline exclaimed. "Why didn't I think of this before? What about Steve?" I froze. I hadn't thought about him since I'd left.
"What about him?" Stefan asked warily.
"What if he's the key to her turning her humanity back on?" Caroline asked.
"No," Klaus said defiantly. "He's not the key to anything. After what he did, she won't want to see him."
"We have to try everything," Caroline said. "You're an Original Hybrid who doesn't care about anyone or anything. If you're worried about her, we should be too."
"And you are worried about her," Bonnie cut in. It wasn't a question. "Otherwise you wouldn't be here."
"Then why don't we just vervain her and starve her of blood?" Damon asked. "I mean, if you guys are that worried about her, let's take action."
"Would that make you turn your humanity on?" Bonnie asked Damon. "Because if I had a magical switch that could stop me feeling pain, why would I turn it on?"
"To feel love," Caroline answered. Always the hopeless romantic that one. I would have admired her optimism if it wasn't about me.
"Or anger," Stefan said. "Or anything."
"Let's just find her, before she does something that we can't undo," Klaus said.
"You guys really need to calm down," I said, walking into the room and taking them all by surprise.
"Serena, you're here!" Caroline said, stating the obvious.
"I'm not staying," I informed them. "Just came back to see why my supposed 'best friend' is selling me out to my older brothers."
"I'm not selling you out," Klaus said.
"I know, you're 'worried' about me," I rolled my eyes. "Get a grip Klaus. Be a Mikaelson for once in your life. God, Marcel's a dick but at least he's consistent."
"Sis, you've made your point," Damon said. "So why don't you just turn your humanity back on and everything can go back to normal?"
"Hmm," I pretended to think about it. "I don't think so."
"So what, you're just never gonna go back to your old self?" Caroline asked.
"What old self?" I asked. "The old self that was being controlled by a demon for the last 100+ years, or the innocent 17 year old who was killed by her brother in 1864?"
"We care about you," Bonnie said.
"That's nice. I don't really care about any of you though, so why don't you do me a favor and leave me the hell alone?"
Stefan walked towards me hesitantly, as if he expected me to run away at any second.
"Do you remember when I turned my humanity off?" he asked me slowly.
"How could I forget the Ripper of Monterey?" I asked with a smirk. Nothing could ever come close to the way that Stefan acted when he flew off the handle. I was tame compared to him.
"Do you remember what you said to me?" he continued.
"Who cares what I said to you?" I asked.
"You never gave up on me," he said. "Even at my worst."
"I was an idiot," I spat. "I guess all of us Salvatore's have that problem."
"I'm not giving up on you," Stefan said. "No matter where you go, no matter how deep you get, I'll be here to bring you back. I owe you that."
Stefan was a good guy. I hated that even with no humanity, that was the one thing that shone through.
"Fine, you've pushed me," I said, walking towards the door. "Now you'll have to deal with the consequences."
A miniscule amount of anger was beginning to peak through. Not only were they going to try and force me to change, but I had no plan of action. I had no way to make them pay. I had no idea what I could do to make them see that I'd gone too far, that I wasn't coming back.
Until I bumped into Katherine.
"Serena!" she exclaimed, pulling me into a hug.
"Elena!" I said, forcing a smile as I mentally corrected myself. A plan was forming.
"You're back. Is everything... OK now?" she asked.
"You're asking if I turned my humanity back on?"
"Well... yeah," she said. "Stefan's worried about you. Everyone is."
"Right, of course they are," I said, smiling at her. "Elena, I need you to give everyone a message for me," I said.
"Of course, what is it?"
"The Serena they knew is gone. And she's never coming back."
I bit my wrist and force-fed Elena my blood. Before I could think about the consequences, I broke her neck and left her for dead on the ground. The slightest tug of guilt hit me, pulling at my heart, but I pushed it away. Vampires didn't care about the frailty of human life. And that's all Elena was – a human whose life meant nothing.
She'd asked me to turn her before, now she was getting her wish.
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Is Serena too far gone? Or can they get her back?
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