"Elijah can't be trusted," Julie whispered. She chuckled at her own stupidity. She didn't know why she felt disappointed. She had been worn many times. What did she expect? He had killed Trevor like he would've stepped on a bug. She had still many things to learn. He was a killer. He has been for a thousand years, now. He didn't care about human life, he didn't care about Elena's life; something she should have known, his main goal had been clear; he wanted to kill Klaus.

"Are you okay?" Bonnie asked her new friend.

"Yes," she nodded. "I should've listened to you," she said before she got up from the floor.

"I should bring Luka back before he wakes up," Caroline sighed.

"I'll clean this up," Bonnie told her.

"I'll help you," Julie said.

There were no trace of them ever being in Caroline's living room once they were done. Julie was putting the candles back where Caroline found them when she overheard an interesting conversation that was taking place in the hallway.

"So, will Luka remember anything?" Jeremy asked Bonnie.

"No," she answered. "He'll know he lost consciousness, that's all."

"Should we wait for Caroline?"

"She was just gonna drop Luka back at the Grill. Said to lock the door on our way out."

"Yeah, well I hope she drops him hard."

"Wait," Bonnie said. There was a small silence before she spoke up again. "You're Elena's little brother, I've know you forever. You're that punk kid. I remember your awkward phase and then your emo phase and your druggie phase and...overnight, you turned into this hot guy who's really sweet and..."

"You think I'm hot?" Jeremy cut her off. Bonnie didn't answer right away.

"With everything that's going on, you know, the curses and sacrifice..."

Julie took a look when she couldn't hear any of them speak anymore. She smiled at what she saw; Jeremy and Bonnie kissing. She cleared her throat to let them know they weren't alone.

"Sorry," she smiled. "We really should go before Sheriff Forbes comes back."

"Yeah," Jeremy sighed, both embarrassed and annoyed.

"Let's go," Bonnie said, looking up at Jeremy.

Julie got into her car and watched them leave. She didn't start the car right away. She thought about Elena and how scared she must be. Because Julie was scared. She saw Bonnie practice magic tonight and that was screwed up. Caroline was a vampire, she was dead and she was still smiling, nice and happy.

Julie shook her head and took a deep breath. She had to stop thinking like that. She started the car and drove home. She was surprised but relieved to see her stepfather's car wasn't there. She took an apple from the kitchen and then took a quick shower. She got into bed afraid to fall asleep. She tried to think about something, anything, to chase Elijah, Klaus and all the drama out of her thoughts. She kept tossing and turning in her bed. She heard her stepfather coming home around 3AM, drunk. He turned on the TV and probably fell asleep on the couch. Julie thought about a lot of things. Silly things, really. Mostly, theories about why she couldn't be compelled. Maybe she was a witch or a werewolf and just didn't know it. Or maybe fairies did exist. Or maybe there was just something wrong with her. She fell asleep around 5AM but a nightmare woke her up at 7.

She was standing in the middle of the dusty room where she met Elijah for the first time. She was surrounded by the lifeless bodies of Trevor, Rose and Elena. Two other vampires were there, too. One of them was Elijah and the other she didn't recognize because he had no face. He was inches from her, ready to kill her. She jumped awake crying, trembling and panting. She quickly got out of bed and almost fell but she managed to find her balance and stay on her feet. She walked in the bathroom and looked at her reflection in the mirror. She looked awful. She wiped the tears off her cheeks and got into the shower where she kept crying under the cold water. She took deep breaths, trying to calm herself down. She leaned her back against the wall and closed her eyes, focusing on the water falling on her body.

She stayed about half an hour in the shower and when she got out she was feeling sick. She wrapped a towel around her wet body and sat on the cold floor of the bathroom next to the toilet. She brought her knees to her chest and took her head in her hands. She was feeling nauseous and a minute later she was throwing up. She didn't know why nor what she was throwing up as all she was eating lately was an apple for each meal. She sighed and wiped the tear that was falling down her cheek before she got up and walked towards the sink. She splashed water over her face and then brushed her teeth. Then, she put her pajamas back on and went back to bed.

She was terrified. She was terrified of everything. She didn't want to leave her house but then she thought she wasn't safe here because vampires could enter anyway as her dead mother was still the legal owner of the house. She was afraid of Bonnie, because she was a witch. She was afraid of Caroline, because she was a vampire. She was afraid of Tyler, because he was a werewolf. And all that fear was making her sick. She was planning on staying in bed all day. And she did.

But when night came, her phone started ringing. She didn't pick up, at first, but whoever wanted to talk to her kept calling.

"Hello?" she said with a weak voice.

"Julie? It's Jeremy!" he sounded panicked.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"It's Bonnie! Luka's father just took her magic from her!"

"What?" Julie quickly sat up and her head started spinning. She put a hand on her temple.

"Can you come? I can't reach Caroline and Elena's still at the lake house!"

"Oh...Jeremy I don't know, I'm sick..."

"Please!" he cut her off. "I don't know what to do..."

Julie sighed. "Okay...I'm on my way."

"Thank you," he sighed, relieved before she hung up.

Julie stayed on her bed for a few minutes and then finally decided to move. She got dressed very quickly and lost her balance when she put her jeans on and almost fell. Luckily she managed to use her desk to hold herself up. She painfully walked down the stairs and her head started spinning again. She stopped in front of the door and took a deep breath and waited for her vision to come back to normal before she opened it and walked, not without difficulty, to her car.

She tried to stay focus on the road and she was almost at the Gilbert's house when her headache got worse and everything started spinning. The wheel slipped out of her hands and she lost consciousness and the car drove off the road and crashed into a tree.

When she regained consciousness, she was outside the car, sitting on the ground. She slowly and painfully opened her eyes. She wasn't alone, now that she started to be aware of what was around her she knew she was in somebody's arms. She was confused at first, she didn't know where she was or what had happened to her. But then she felt the hot liquid that was flowing down her throat and she started to panic. She quickly placed her hands on the wrist that was over her mouth and she tried to get away from the stranger.

"You were in a car accident," she recognized Elijah's voice. "You lost a lot of blood," he said.

Julie's cries were smothered by his wrist and she kept trying to get away from him so he let her go. She moved away, fast, and turned to face him. She was still on the ground, she had her hands in the dirt and her vision was blur. She started to sob and kept moving away from him.

"You need to calm down," he told her. He had his back against the crashed car.

"What did you do to me?" she cried, wiping off the blood from her lips with the back of her left hand.

"I healed you with my blood," he explained. "But you need more," he said. She saw him move so she backed away a little more. She was scared and confused and hurt. "Please calm down."

"Get away from me," she breathed out, crying.

"I will not hurt you," he said with a calm voice. "Please, you need to calm down, you're hurt."

At his words, the pain only grew stronger. Like he had reminded her that she was hurt. The pain that had made her sick all day, the one that made her lose consciousness at the wheel and the pain from the car crash. She let out a cry and brought a hand to her bleeding head. She started to sob loudly and Elijah slowly got up, he didn't want to scare her more.

"Please, stay away from me," she cried, scared. He didn't listen and slowly approached her and squatted down in front of her. He carefully watched her, he already knew where she was hurt but he didn't understand why she was scared of him. She was so eager to know about him last time they saw each other, she had so many questions for him. But now, she was terrified and he didn't understand why.

"I will not harm you," he repeated. He slowly approached his hand to her face and stroke her cheek with his thumb to calm her down. She watched his hand getting closer with fear and then moved her eyes to look at him. She watched him with big wet eyes. "I can take you to the hospital," he said. "Or I could heal you with my blood," he gave her a choice but she didn't answer. "Can you get up?" he asked. Julie closed her eyes and a tear fell down her cheek. Elijah wiped it up with his thumb.

"I don't know," she whispered. "It hurts," she cried.

"Where?" he asked, worried. Julie looked down and sobbed. She placed her right hand on her chest, where it was the most painful.

"I don't know," she cried. Her head hurt, she couldn't see or think clearly and she had trouble breathing. She was confused; she didn't know if she should run away from him and even if she wanted to, she couldn't, which was terrifying her. She needed help and she knew it but the only person that could help her now was Elijah. "I'm so tired," she cried.

"Is that why you crashed the car?" he asked. "You fell asleep?"

"No," she shook her head and sniffed. "I don't know what's wrong with me," she sobbed. "Make it stop," she begged him. Elijah nodded and he slipped his left arm under her knees and she wrapped her arm around his shoulders. He brought her to his chest and lifted her off the ground.

He looked down at her. She removed her arm from his neck and rested her head on his chest. "Close your eyes," he told her. She looked up at him, she didn't understand at first but did it anyway. Her hands fisted his jacket and she buried her head against his chest. She felt the wind on her face as he went, vampire speed, to her house. She opened her eyes a few minutes later, when she felt he had stopped moving. She recognized her bedroom and he lied her down on her bed. She let go of his shirt and leaned her back against the pillows and the headboard and she watched him sat next to her.

"How did you find me?" she asked with a weak voice.

"I was going to Elena's house, just like you were I suppose," he answered. "What happened?"

"It was stupid to take the car," she told him. "I have been sick all day and I passed out."

"You're still hurt," he said. He approached his hand to the wound on her forehead. "I can help you."

"Why would you help me?" she asked with a weak voice. He looked at her in silence but then his eyes moved away from her and he sighed.

"I don't know," he merely said. He got up and placed his hands on her waist, which surprised her. She put her hands over his and she gasped when he lifted her off the bed. He took her place and rested his back on the headboard and he brought her to him, her back against his chest. He bit his wrist and brought it to her mouth. "It'll heal you," he said. She took his wrist with both her hands and closed her eyes as his blood flowed down her throat. His free arm was wrapped around her waist and he rested his chin on the top of her head. "Are you feeling better?" he asked after he removed his wrist.

"A little," she said. "Thank you," she shyly looked up at him. He smiled at her and nodded.

"You were scared of me earlier," he said. "Why?" He locked his eyes in hers, waiting for an answer.

"Because I know you're planning on sacrificing Elena," she answered and he seemed surprised. "Because you're a vampire," she whispered and looked down.

"You weren't scared the other day, at the Grill," he said. "Why now?"

She looked up at him and he saw there were tears in her eyes. "I don't know," she shrugged. "I guess I just realized it..." she looked down.

"Realized what?" he asked, confused. She sniffed and wiped the tears off her cheeks.

"That it was true," she said. "Vampires, witches, werewolves... they're all real and... and it's terrifying me," she admitted.

He didn't know what to say and stayed silent for a few minutes. "Are you afraid of me?" he finally asked and she looked up. "Do you want me to leave?" She didn't answer right away. She kept looking into his eyes, maybe she'll find an answer in them.

"I'm afraid of you," she answered in a barely audible whisper. He closed his eyes, sighed and nodded. "But I don't want you to leave," she added. He opened his eyes and frowned. He looked into her eyes to see if she was telling the truth. She looked down and leaned into his chest. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "Why were you going to Elena's house?" she asked.

"The deal I made with her has been broken," he answered. She looked up at him.

"What? Why?" He sighed.

"Alaric Saltzman killed me tonight," he said. Julie had a confused look on her face.

"There is dagger that can kill me," he told her. "But they didn't leave the dagger in my heart so I didn't stay dead," he explained.

Julie moved away from him and quickly looked at his chest before she looked up at him again. "Wh...? Are you okay?" she asked.

Elijah chuckled and nodded. "I told you, I can't be killed."

"Why were you going to Elena's house?" she asked again, concerned about his intentions.

He sighed again. "I needed to inform her the deal was broken."

"That's it?" she frowned, doubtful.

"I wasn't going to harm her," he said. Julie sighed, shook her head with disappointment and looked down.

"Because you need her for the sacrifice."

"Yes." She didn't think he would answer, she didn't need an answer. But he clearly wasn't ashamed of his plan to kill Elena.

"That's why I'm afraid you," she said, low.

He stayed silent for a minute. "Because I want to kill Elena?"

"No," she looked up at him. "Because you kill people."

He remembered he had killed Trevor in front of her. "I'm a vampire," he told her.

"And I'm not afraid of Caroline," she said.

"If I want to kill Klaus, I need to do the sacrifice."

"There must be another way," she said. He looked at her in silence and saw hope in her eyes.

"Maybe..." he said.

"Really?" she asked, hopeful. But he didn't answer. He tucked a lock of hair behind her right ear without moving his eyes from hers and then placed his hand on her cheek.

"What are you?" he asked, he seemed distracted, and she was confused again.

"What do you mean?"

His face slowly approached hers and she didn't move, his eyes fell on her lips but then moved back up on her eyes. He wanted to see if she was scared. He could hear her heart was beating faster. She hadn't moved her eyes from his and she put her hand over his. Their nose touched and finally her gaze moved to his lips. She couldn't think clearly, she was only away of his face inches from her and of his arm around her waist, she couldn't think about anything else. His lips was grazing hers and she closed her eyes but didn't move. He put his lips on hers, finally kissing her. It was a short, innocent and chaste kiss. Her first kiss, if you had to know. She opened her eyes when he moved away, trying to find his gaze. He stroke her left cheek with his knuckles, his left hand was still on her other cheek.

"You need to rest," he said.

"Are you staying?" she asked. He smiled and nodded. She leaned into his chest and he lied down on the bed. She put her head and her right hand on his chest. He had one hand on her waist and his other hand on her shoulder. "Can you save Elena?" she asked. She looked up at him and he was looking at the ceiling. "Please?" He sighed and looked down at her.

"I'll try," he promised. She smiled and laid her head back on his chest. She fell asleep in his arms and she slept better than she had in a while, even better than with Bonnie's magical herbs.

Daylight woke her up early. It took her a while to realize something was wrong. She propped herself up with her elbows and looked around the room but she was alone. Elijah was gone.

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