01. Growing Pains

Aria gasped and opened her eyes in shock, she sat up and realised she was in her and Caroline's shared bedroom, Damon was sitting infront of her, and Kol was by the window.

"Damon?" Aria whispered confused, she didn't know what was happening to, she didn't know why she felt so weird.

"Hey, it's okay Ria, you're okay" Damon said, holding Aria's hand.

"What happened?" Aria asked confused.

"You and Jeremy were in an accident" Damon replied.

"Oh my god, Jer" Aria whispered, suddenly remembering the accident, "Is he--is he okay?".

"His fine Ri" Kol assured, "He wasn't as hurt as you, just a small concussion and few scratches here and there".

"What do you mean he wasn't as hurt as me?" Aria asked confused, "And why do I feel so weird?".

"Ria, you need to relax and just listen to me carefully, just don't panic" Damon said.

"Something happened, didn't it?" Aria asked, seeing the worried faces of Damon and Kol.

Damon sighed, "When you collapsed, Jeremy took you to the hospital, you remember that?", Aria nodded, "Turns out, your injures were much worse then Meredith let on, and without telling anyone she used my blood to heal you".

"And when you and Jeremy got into the accident, you died on the spot as the truck had hit your side, but you had vampire blood in your system, which is why you came back" Kol explained.

"As a vampire" Aria whispered shocked, "I came back as a vampire".

"There's something else Ria" Damon said.

"Do we really have to tell her that now?" Kol snapped, knowing what Damon was about to say, "She's already going through so much".

"The sooner we tell her, the sooner we can ignore it" Damon retorted.

"What else happend?" Aria asked confused.

"Meredith didn't just give you my blood, she also gave Elena my blood" Damon replied, "And Rebekah decided she didn't want to run from Alaric for the rest of her life, and she knew if you or Elena died, Ric would die to, so when Matt and Elena were coming back to town, she drove their truck off the bridge, Stefan manged to save Matt but not Elena".

"Basically, you're not the only person whose in transition" Kol said, "Turns out the doppelganger refuses to stay dead".

"I-I don't know what to say" Aria whispered, feeling extremely overwhelmed.

"Look Ria, we will deal with everything else later, but right now you need to feed and complete your transition" Damon said.

"My magic" Aria whispered, tears welling in her eyes, "I'm going to lose my magic, aren't I?".

Kol sighed, "Yeah, you are".

"There maybe another way" Stefan said, entering the room with Elena, who looked like she had gone through hell and back.

"Who the bloody hell let them in?" Kol snapped.

"I tried to keep them out but they just barged in" Caroline said, entering the room, she froze seeing Aria awake, "You're awake".

"Care" Aria whispered.

"How are you feeling?" Caroline asked.

"I-I don't know" Aria replied honestly, "I knew one day I was going be a vampire, but I didn't want lose my magic this soon".

"You might not have to" Stefan interrupted, "I talked to Bonnie, she's stronger than ever, she said she might be able to figure out a way to keep you and Elena human".

"Are you nuts?" Kol snapped, "I am not putting Ri's life on a witch who has no idea what she does half the time".

"What Ria needs, what both of them need, is to feed Stefan" Damon snapped.

"We have all day before they have to feed" Stefan retorted, "That's a day to exhaust every possible way out".

"There is no way out of it" Damon said, glaring at his brother, "We all know the drill, you feed or you die, there is no door number three, now you may be down to risk Elena's life, but under no circumstances am I risking Ria's life, specially not on Bonnie's word".

"I was ready to die" Elena cried, "I was supposed to die, I don't want to be--I can't be a vampire, if there's something Bonnie can do, we have to try".

"We will, we'll try everything" Stefan assured a hysterical Elena.

"Aria?" Caroline said, breaking Aria's chain of thoughts, "What do you want to do?".

Aria looked at Caroline then at Damon, "Remember when Stefan fed me his blood, right before the sacrifice, I told you that one day I wanted to be a vampire, so we can be together forever, do you remember that?".

Damon nodded, "Of course I do".

"Look's like our forever came a bit earlier then I anticipated" Aria said, letting out a small laugh.

Stefan frowned hearing Aria, "What are you saying Aria?"

"I'm saying, that I'm never fully going to be ready to be a vampire, I'm never going to be ready to give up my magic, but you know what I am ready for, I am ready for mine and Damon's forever" Aria replied, "I'm ready to transition into a vampire".

Damon gave Aria a small smile, he felt guilty that to be with him forever Aria had to sacrifice something so close to her, "Here's what we are going to do, I will talk to Bonnie once, and if I see that yeah she does have a solution, then we will go with it, then you can turn into vampire after you graduate collage, just like you had planned".

"And if Bonnie doesn't have a proper solution?" Kol asked.

"Then you three need to promise me, that you will make sure I don't kill innocent people" Aria replied.

Caroline, Damon and Kol nodded at Aria, "We promise" they said simultaneously.

"You seriously have no problem being a vampire?" Elena asked Aria.

"No Elena, I don't" Aria replied, "And fairly speaking, if you really loved Stefan, and you saw a future with him, then neither should you".

"Well clearly she doesn't love Stefan as much as you love Damon" Caroline taunted.

Elena and Stefan both frowned hearing Caroline, they then looked at Damon and Aria, who were now hugging each other, jealousy shown clearly in both their eyes.

***

After everyone had left, Aria stood infront of her mirror and stared at her reflection, her head was pounding and even the smallest of noise were adding to that headache, her gums were hurting, and even the small light from her lamp was becoming too much for her.

"Aria".

Aria looked towards the door to see Jeremy standing there, looking at the younger Gilbert boy a small smile came on Aria's face, she ran over to him and pulled him into a tight hug.

"I'm so sorry" Jeremy whispered into the hug, "I'm so sorry you have to go through this because of me".

"Don't say that Jer" Aria said, breaking the hug, "This wasn't your fault, accidents happen all the time, just like ours did, you have nothing to be sorry about".

"You know, a part of me was so angry at Meredith for giving you vampire blood, but the other part of me is so thankful to her, because of her you came back to us, I don't know what I would have done if I had lost you" Jeremy said.

"Didn't I tell you Jer, it isn't going to be that easy to get rid of me" Aria said.

Jeremy let out a small laugh, "How are you feeling by the way? I watched Vicki go through this, she was a mess, her emotions were all over the place, all these old memories were flooding back", Aria winced hearing the light bulb, causing Jeremy to frown, "What's wrong Aria?".

"The light" Aria whispered, "I can hear it buzzing, it's giving me a headache, but don't worry Jeremy, I will fine, I'm not Vicki".

"No, you're not, you're you, you act like everything's okay so no one worries about you" Jeremy said, turning the light off so it no longer annoys Aria, "But you need help".

Aria sighed, "Jer, if I need help, I'll ask for it, I promise, okay? Anyways, Damon told me you were talking to Bonnie, what happened?".

"She said that when I was shot, she made some pleading to the witch spirits to bring me back" Jeremy replied, "And they listened".

"But when you came you could see ghosts" Aria pointed, "Every dark spell has a equally dark consequence Jer, and I would rather turn into a vampire then go through some even worse punishment".

Jeremy sighed, "Look Aria, I don't care if you decide to be a vampire or something else, just promise me, whatever happens you won't die on me, I need my best friend".

Aria gave Jeremy a small smile, "I promise, I still have a lot of games I need to beat you in".

Jeremy laughed, "Next time we have a game night, I'm winning every game".

Aria lightly pushed Jeremy, "You wish".

***

Aria and Damon sat in the kitchen, Damon having made Aria her favorite sandwich.

Aria took a bite of the sandwich and immediately she wanted to puke.

"It's disgusting, right?" Damon asked, looking at Aria in amusement.

"Stop enjoying this so much" Aria complained, placing the sandwich back on to her plate.

"I'm sorry Ria, but you got to admit, it's kind of funny seeing a foodie like you not like her favorite sandwich" Damon said.

"I know right" Aria said, "I used to live on this sandwich, this sandwich and me go way back, and now it's infront of me but all I can think of is blood, why can't stop I stop thinking about blood Damon?".

Damon sighed, "It's part of the transition, your body wants you to feed, Ria, if Bonnie doesn't figure out a way to help you, are you sure your ready to lose your magic?".

Aria sighed, "I don't think I would ever be ready for that Damon, but I can't do anything about it, I can't think about the what ifs, I can't keep living in the past otherwise I won't be able to enjoy the future".

Damon smiled at Aria, he walked over to her and pulled her into a hug, "So your ready for our forever?".

"I've been ready since they day I first met you" Aria mumbled into the hug, tears welling in her eyes, "Why is that making me cry?".

Damon chuckled, "That will be your emotions being heightened".

"What so now I'm a cry baby?" Aria said, sniffing and trying not burst into tears.

"For a little while yeah, but don't worry, you will get better" Damon promised.

"Good, cause I don't want to be a cry baby" Aria complained, making Damon laugh.

"If it's any consolation, cry baby Aria is pretty adorable" Damon said.

"Shut up" Aria mumbled, making Damon chuckle, Aria wrapped her arms around Damon's waist and placed her head on his chest, "I love you".

Damon placed a quick kiss on Aria's head, "I love you too".

***

After spending a bit more time with Aria, Damon finally left to go and talk to Bonnie, leaving Aria alone in the house, but only after Aria assured him multiple times that she will be fine and will call him every ten minutes to let him know she's fine.

Aria sighed and went back into her room, but she frowned seeing Stefan standing there.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Aria asked, but Stefan didn't look at her, almost like he didn't hear her, Aria was about to speak again, when she heard her voice, "Stefan? What are you doing here?".

Aria froze seeing her and Stefan, it didn't take her long to realise that she was remembering something Stefan had compelled her to forget.

"You dropped this at the old house" Stefan said, showing Aria the bracelet Damon gave her.

"Oh, my god" Aria said, looking at the bracelet in Stefan's hand in happiness, "I thought lost it, thank you so much for getting it back for me".

Aria blinked and suddenly her and Stefan were gone, Aria looked at her room in confusion, she was so confused as to what was happening, suddenly she heard Stefan's voice again.

"What I'm about to say is very selfish of me, I know that, but you once told me that you will always listen to me without any judgements, and I'm hoping you will do that today" Stefan said.

"Of course I will Stefan" Aria said, "Tell me, what's on your mind?".

"I love Elena" Stefan said, "I really do, but I don't love her as much as I love you".

Aria looked at Stefan wide eyed, this was not what she was excepting, "Stefan--".

"I know you love Damon" Stefan interrupted, "But I needed to get this off my chest, otherwise I will lose my mind, Damon keeps asking me if I love you and every time I make an excuse or just avoid his question because I don't have the guts to admit that I'm in love with my brother's girl, and who in their right mind wouldn't love you, you're beautiful, kind, compassionate, and you never give up on people, when Elena gave up on me, you stayed by my side, you knew I could have hurt you, but still you stayed, you know what scares me, today Damon was telling me that he would let Elena die if it means you would be safe, and then I started to think who would I choose, and it scared me that my heart said you, I don't deserve you Aria, but my brother does, you bring out his humanity, something that I haven't seen in decades, I can never snatch that from him, when it comes to you I can't be selfish, which is why I can't let you remember this", Stefan stepped forward and placed a light kiss on Aria's forehead, who was looking at him with tears in her eyes, Stefan then looked right into Aria's eyes, "I wish you didn't have to forget this, but you do".

Aria gasped and opened her eyes, and saw no sign of herself or Stefan anywhere.

"What the hell?" Aria whispered.

***

Aria sat in her bed trying to process what she just remembered when she suddenly heard a bang coming from the living room.

"Damon?" Aria called out, "Are you home?".

Aria entered the living room and immediately froze seeing multiple police men and Pastor Young standing there, with all their guns pointing at her.

"You need to come with us" Pastor Young told Aria.

***

Klaus, who Aria had put in Tyler's body to keep safe from Alaric, sat on top of his coffin, waiting for Bonnie to come and place him back in his body.

Klaus knew what happened to Aria, and all he wanted to do was run to his best friend but he didn't want to meet her in this body, so he kidnapped Bonnie, who was shocked learning what Aria had manged to do, he threatened to kill Tyler if Bonnie didn't find a way to put him back into his body, but Bonnie was finding it hard as the spell Aria did was extremely difficult to do.

Klaus pulled out Tyler's phone and realised his mother was calling him, "Ah, you incessant woman", finally Klaus answered the phone and pretending to be Tyler, "Hey, Mom, what's up?".

"Tyler, thank god, are you okay?" Carol asked.

"Fine, why?" Klaus asked, "What's going on?".

"Pastor Young had me arrested this morning" Carol replied, "The Council grilled me on your whereabouts, Tyler don't tell me where you are, the less I know the better".

"Mom, I'm okay, relax" Klaus assured.

"You didn't answer your phone, I was scared you were with Caroline" Caroline said.

Klaus frowned, "Why? What happened to Caroline?".

Carol sighed, "The Council took her".

"What do you mean they took her?" Klaus snapped, worried about the girl his starting to care for so much.

***

Rebekah groaned and slowly opened her eyes, she realised she was in a police van being taken to god knows where, she tried to free herself from the ropes, but couldn't.

"Vervain ropes" Caroline informed, making Rebekah look at her in shock, "Looks like Alaric outed us all to the Council".

"The Council?" Rebekah asked confused, "What exactly do they think they can do to me?".

Before Caroline could reply, the van they were riding in suddenly crashed into something.

"What the hell happened?" Rebekah groaned.

Suddenly the doors of the van were ripped open and Caroline and Rebekah saw Tyler, who both of them knew was actually Klaus.

"Nik", "Klaus" Rebekah and Caroline whispered happily.

"I'm harder to kill then you both think" Klaus said, removing the ropes from Caroline, and helping her out, he then turned to get Rebekah out as well.

"No, you need to go Nik" Rebekah said, seeing the other police car speeding towards them, "Take Caroline and run, I'll be fine".

Klaus sighed but nonetheless nodded, "Be careful, little sister".

Rebekah blinked in assurance, "Take care of Caroline".

Klaus nodded, just as the police car came over to the crashed van, Klaus grabbed Caroline and speeded them away from the accident site.

***

"She's gone" Damon told Liz and Kol, as they entered the Forbes residence, "Aria's gone, so is Rebekah".

"I went to the doppelganger's house, her and Stefan are gone to" Kol revealed.

"Please tell me you have something, anything" Damon said, as Meredith entered the living room.

"I can't, the Council locked Carol and me out of our offices, files, computers, everything" Liz replied.

"So the mayor and the sheriff never contemplated a back up plan, Liz?" Damon asked, very much on edge when he realised that time was running out and Aria still hadn't fed.

"Damon, relax" Meredith said, "Liz, when Caroline called to tell you that Klaus rescued her, did she know where they were planning to take her?".

"No, just that she was in some van in the middle of nowhere and managed to escape with Klaus" Liz replied.

"Great, we've narrowed it down to bloody nowhere" Kol snapped.

"Hey, is Elena here?" Matt asked, entering the Forbes household, "I tried her house but she wasn't there, I thought to check here".

"Why in the bloody hell will she be here?" Kol asked, glaring at Matt.

***

Aria and Elena both sat in Pastor Young's kitchen, both the girls were on extreme edge, even the smallest of noise caused both of them to flinch.

"You both still wanna be writers?" Young asked.

"Elena never wanted to be a writer, that was me, Elena wanted to be a doctor" Aria snapped, glaring at the man infront of her.

"That's right, you know Aria, I remember how'd you read your stories to my daughter when you and Elena would babysit her" Young said, not realising Aria's anger, "She still loves writing because of you".

"Why did you bring us here?" Elena asked.

"My deputies can watch out for us here, no vampires have been invited in" Young replied, causing Aria scoff.

"You think your deputies are going to be able to keep away the vampires, you have no idea how wrong you are" Aria said.

Aria stared at the clock infront of her as Pastor Young started talking, the ticking of the clock making her head hurt, "Aria, Elena, I know it sounds crazy, but years ago it was the Gilberts who were advocating having an emergency plan like this, never thought we'd actually have to use it, Aria?" Pastor asked, seeing Aria flinch from the light, "Aria, are you okay?".

"Where's Rebekah?" Aria asked.

"Where she can't hurt you".

"She will never hurt me" Aria snapped, "You don't have any idea about what you're talking about, or even as to what you're doing, they are going to come for you, Damon and Kol, they are coming, and they are going to kill you".

"See, I hope that's the case, I hope Damon Salvatore and Kol Mikaelson will come for you, then I can capture them as well" Young said.

Aria chuckled, "Yeah, good luck with that".

The Pastor sighed and turned to his fridge, not wanting to argue with Aria anymore, "You both hungry?".

"No" Elena answered.

"So we'll hold you until Damon and Kol come searching for you" Pastor told Aria, "Then we'll use Rebekah to lure the rest of her siblings back into town, you'll give us the white oak stake, and then we will exterminate the entire vampire race for good".

"Do you even realise who you're talking about?" Aria snapped, "They are the bloody Mikaelsons, and his Damon Salvatore, if you think you can capture them, you have no idea how wrong you are, and about the white oak stake, your never getting that, I will rather die then give it to you".

The Pastor ignored everything Aria said and instead placed some steak infront of the two girls.

Aria stared at the meat and her breathing suddenly started getting heavy, "Something wrong? Girls, you okay?".

"Yeah" Elena whispered, staring at the Pastor's neck.

"I need to go" Aria breathed, the sound of the kettle hitting her head, "I need to get out of here".

Both Elena and Aria stood up and ran out of the Pastor's house, shocking him.

"Get them!" Pastor Young yelled.

Aria and Elena tried running as fast as they could but the sun on their faces caused them to slow down, making it easier for the deputies to knock the two girls out.

***

"With your vervain and Alaric's weapons, they could be anywhere" Liz told Damon.

"Come on, guys, think" Damon urged, "It takes a lot to hold a vampire, reinforced steel, iron doors".

"The pastor has a cattle ranch" Matt informed, "Those pens could easily be modified".

"It's remote, it's secluded" Meredith listed.

"Well would you look at that busboy, for once in your miserable life you are actually useful" Kol taunted.

"Let's go" Damon ordered, as he, Matt and Kol left to go to the Pastor's cattle ranch.

***

Aria groaned and slowly opened her eyes, the sounds of people coughing were heard all around her, she slowly sat up and was confused seeing herself locked in a cell, Rebekah was in the cell next to her, and Elena and Stefan were across from her.

"Aria" Rebekah breathed out, "You okay?".

Aria groaned, her head was pounding, "What happened?".

"Pastor Young's deputy knocked you out" Rebekah replied, looking at her best friend in worry, she knew she hadn't fed, and that worried her as slowly but surely they were running out of time.

"If I survive this, remind me to break the Pastor's nose" Aria said, having trouble speaking.

Rebekah let out a small chuckle, "I don't think you will get the chance, if Damon and Kol get to him first, his dead".

Before Aria could reply to Rebekah, both the girl's attention was drawn towards the cell Elena was being kept in, as the doppelganger slowly woke up and just like Aria, she was also confused with her surroundings.

"I thought I killed you" Rebekah said, glaring at the doppelganger.

"Where am I?" Elena asked confused.

"They thought you and Aria were vampires so they stuck you in here with us" Rebekah replied.

"Bloody dickheads" Aria coughed out.

"Where's Stefan?" Elena asked confused.

"Elena, I'm right here, are you okay?" Stefan asked, letting his presence known to the two confused girls.

"Stefan--", Elena tried to stand up but failed, "I didn't feed".

"Ah" Rebekah realised, "I see what's going on here, it wasn't just Aria who died with vampire blood in her system, you did also, and now both of you haven't fed, and you're both locked up in here without a drop of human blood in sight, that is a problem, though I don't really care about you, I genuinely hope you don't get any blood".

"Just ignore her" Stefan told Elena, who was glaring at the blonde Original.

"Has anyone done the math or shall I?" Rebekah asked, "I'd say you've got less than three hours before me and Aria get to watch you die all over again, my day just got a whole lot better".

"If I don't have time, then neither does Aria" Elena spat.

"See that's where your wrong, Aria is much stronger than you, like right now you're wasting your energy like the idiot you are, she's saving it, when all this ends, she's going to be an amazing vampire, because she isn't as winey as you, which in the end is going to help her become much stronger then you and your pathetic boyfriend" Rebekah taunted, "You, on the other hand, are going to be an awful vampire, your judgy and winey attitude is going be a pain, honestly you should just die and save us all the trouble".

"Say it louder" Aria mumbled, as Elena pushed against the locked gate.

***

"Beks" Aria whispered, leaning against the wall.

"Yeah?" Rebekah asked.

"I'm not going to make it" Aria said, "I can feel my life draining".

"No" Rebekah said, slowly standing up, "I'm not going to let you die", Rebekah walked over to the bars, "Hello! Someone listen to me! Come here you bloody wankers!".

Suddenly the door to the ranch was open, and in came one of the deputies, "You want more vervain?" He asked Rebekah, "Keep it down".

"You need to listen to me" Rebekah said, "Aria isn't a vampire, she's just really sick, please you need to let her out of here otherwise she's going to die".

"And Elena" Stefan interjected.

"Screw Elena!" Rebekah yelled, "Please, just save Aria, please".

The deputy looked between Aria and Elena, "Sorry, not my problem".

"She's innocent, Aria never harmed anyone in her life, she doesn't deserve to die here, let her out!" Rebekah yelled, her anger rising, the deputy ignored Rebekah and walked out the ranch, "No! Don't go, please! Let her out! You need to let her out!", but it was too late as the deputy had already walked out.

"It's okay Beks, it's going to be okay" Aria whispered, her eyes slowly closing.

"No" Rebekah cried, "Not again Aria, I can't lose you again".

***

"Aria?" A worried Rebekah called out, "Aria, say something please".

"I'm not dead yet Beks, don't worry" Aria whispered, "I'm okay".

"No you're not" Rebekah cried, "Your breathing shows that you're dying, you should have fed the moment you waked up".

"I wanted to" Aria said, "But Stefan said that Bonnie had a way in which I can save my magic".

Rebekah glared at the younger Salvatore, who looked extremely guilty, "I hope your happy with yourself, because of you, the girl you claimed to love is dying".

"I admit, Kol and Damon were right" Stefan whispered, looking at Aria in worry, "You should have fed this morning Aria, I'm so sorry".

"Must be hard admitting that they were right" Aria taunted.

"Don't be sorry" Elena said, frowning seeing Stefan and Aria's interaction, "You had hope, that's all I ever wanted you to have, and you had it".

"Beks" Aria whispered, "Tell Damon, tell him that I love him".

"You're going to tell him that yourself Aria, just hold on, just hold on a little longer please" Rebekah pleaded.

"Do you know, before I died in the accident, the last thought on my mind was that me and Damon aren't going to get our forever" Aria whispered, tears streaming down her face, "But then I woke up, yeah I was transition, but I felt like life gave me a second chance but turns out my life can never be that simple, hey on the bright side, I might see my parents again".

"Stop looking at the bright side of death Aria" Rebekah snapped, "If you die, you don't know what's going to happen, everyone will go off rails, everyone will lose it Aria, you need to survive, please survive".

"I'm trying" Aria whispered.

***

Kol, Damon and Matt arrived at Pastor Young's ranch.

"So, what, we just storm the place with zero weapons?" Matt asked.

"Nah, we don't need weapons" Damon replied, him and Kol smirking, both the vampires having the same idea.

"We just need bait" Kol said, before speeding over to Matt and biting him on his neck.

"Yoo-hoo" Damon called, as Kol pushed Matt to the ground, "Anybody home? There's two big, bad vampires out here".

Pastor Young opened his front door, but didn't step out, he was shocked seeing a injured Matt on the floor, "Let him go, the boy's innocent".

"Well, that's the point" Damon said.

"Give us Aria and Rebekah and this busboy is all yours" Kol said, "Pinky promise".

"Come on, pastor, you know I'll kill him" Damon said, grabbing Matt by the collar and making him stand up, "Kol over there has been dying to kill him since he helped kill his brother".

"His not lying" Kol said.

"Go away" Pastor said, "Both of you are not invited in, and I'm not coming out".

Suddenly two gun shots were heard and Damon and Kol fell to the ground.

***

As the deputies came in and put more vervain in the air vents, Rebekah suddenly came up with an idea to save Aria's life.

"I got this, bring the other one in" One of the deputies told the other.

"Excuse me? Hello, sir?" Rebekah called out, coughing because of the vervain in the air.

"Thought I told you to shut up".

"Here's the thing, my family, we have money" Rebekah offered, "Castles, apartments, jewelry, just name your price and let me and Aria out, you can keep those two over there".

The deputy walked closer to Rebekah's cell, "I'd much rather watch you die".

Rebekah glared at the deputy, before he could realise what was happening, Rebekah speeded over to him and grabbed his neck, and smashed his head into the bars multiple times until the deputy was officially dead, she then threw his body infront of Aria and Elena's cells.

"Aria" Rebekah called out, "Aria, come on, feed".

Aria opened her eyes and saw blood pooling infront of her cell, she reached out and tried to touch it, but it was proving really hard.

Aria gave her self one last push and once again tried to reach the blood, this time finally succeeding, Aria then bought her fingers up to her mouth, officially completing her transition to a vampire, not realising that Elena Gilbert had done the same.

***

Two deputies made their way over to a unconscious Damon and Kol, they used their feet to move the two vampires, when getting no response, they looked at each other, both wondering if they were dead, when suddenly both the vampires stood up, Damon snapped one of the deputies neck, while Kol ripped the other's heart out.

Kol walked over to an injured Matt and kicked him.

"Go ahead and kill me" Matt spat, holding on to his bleeding neck, "I just did what I had to do to protect my friends".

"What friends?" Kol asked, putting his foot on Matt's neck, "Wasn't Ri your friend? Yet you went ahead and helped kill one of her family members, you should die for that!".

Suddenly Kol was thrown off of Matt, by a furious Elena, "Leave him alone!" She yelled, showing Kol her vampire face.

Aria, who was right behind Elena, saw all red seeing Elena hurt another person she cared about, without even realising what she was doing, she put her hands out infront of her and yelled, "Don't touch him!", and suddenly Elena was thrown away from Kol.

Kol and Damon looked towards Aria in shock, who was equally as shocked as what she had just done.

"Ria--".

"I still have my magic" Aria whispered, looking at the two infront of her in shock, "I'm a vampire, who still has her magic".

***

"He was going to kill him Aria" Elena snapped.

"Not right now Elena, for the love of god, leave me alone I don't have it in me to deal with your stupidity, I'm tired" Aria said, walking away from the doppelganger.

"No!" Elena yelled, grabbing Aria's arm and stopping her from walking away, "You don't get to walk away this time Aria, every time you defend those monsters, every time they do something wrong you go and defend them instead of going off at them, why?!".

Aria glared at Elena, being a vampire Aria's anger towards Elena had definitely heightened, so she pushed Elena away from, she grabbed a branch from the ground and stuck it in Elena's stomach.

"Kol was hurting someone who helped kill his brother Elena, his damn brother!" Aria yelled, pushing Elena on to the floor, "If someone killed Jeremy, would you not go after his killers?! His not a monster Elena, none of them are, being a vampire doesn't make you a monster, it's your actions, yours and Stefan's actions have made you into monsters, you guys are the real monsters!".

Aria walked away from a furious Elena, who removed the branch Aria impaled her with and glared in the direction the newly turned vampire had gone in.

***

"You okay?" Damon asked, walking over to Aria, who was leaning against his car.

"I just impaled Elena with a branch" Aria replied, "In that moment I felt so much anger, I've never felt that much anger in my life, for a second there, I thought I was going to kill her".

"Your emotions are heightened Ria, you were already angry at Elena, and now that your turned into a vampire--".

"My anger towards Elena has amplified by hundred, great" Aria said.

"Hey" Damon said, cupping Aria's face, "You're going to be fine Aria, if anyone is getting through this then it's going to be you".

"I remember" Aria whispered, confusing Damon.

"What?" Damon asked.

"We met on the night of the accident, you called me Natalie, and then you said that maybe I knew all along that me and Jeremy weren't meant to be, you said that I want a love that--".

"A love that consumes you, you want passion and adventure and even a little danger" Damon repeated.

"You know, if you change that little danger, to a lot of danger, you basically described us" Aria said, making Damon chuckle.

"I did, didn't I?" Damon said.

"Why'd you make me forget Damon?" Aria asked, the question bothering her since she got her memory back.

Damon sighed, "To keep you safe Ria, when I first came into this town, I only had one thing in mind, to kill Katherine, involving a innocent human into this life was never my plan, I knew I was going to meet you again, I just didn't want you to ever get involve in this".

"But I did" Aria pointed, "Do you ever regret telling me, about you being a vampire?".

"In my long, painful life, I've made a lot of mistakes Ria, but knowing you, telling you the truth about me, about us, about Natalie, that was one thing I did right, I could never regret that" Damon said, nudging his nose along with Aria's.

"Thank god" Aria said, wrapping her arms around Damon's neck, "So, Mr. Salvatore, are you ready for our forever?".

Damon smiled hearing Aria, "I've been ready the day I laid my eyes on you Ria".

Aria smiled and pulled Damon into a kiss, both were so happy in each other's presence that they didn't see the doppelganger looking at them, with a jealous look on her face.

Damon broke the kiss, "I bought you something".

"A gift for me?" Aria asked.

"When you left with Klaus, you missed your birthday, but I still bought you a gift, when you came back I planned to give it to you, but with everything going on never had a chance" Damon explained, pulling out a ring from his pocket, "It's a promise ring, that one day, I will replace this with a wedding ring".

Damon showed Aria the ring he had bought her, it was a rose gold ring, that had a infinity symbol carved in it, previously the infinity symbols had diamonds carved in it, but now the diamonds were replaced with small pieces of lapis lazuli.

"I had to modify it a bit, I had to replace the diamonds with lapis so Bonnie could make this into a daylight ring" Damon explained, nervous of Aria's reaction.

"Bonnie made this a daylight ring?" Aria asked, slightly sceptical.

"Yeah, after Kol nearly ripped her boyfriend in half" Damon replied, making Aria laugh.

"Now that sounds right" Aria said.

"So, you like it?" Damon asked.

"Like it?" Aria asked, "Damon, this is beautiful, I love it, help me wear it?".

Damon smiled, "Of course", he held Aria's right hand and slid the ring into her ring finger.

"So does this mean we are engaged to be engaged?" Aria teased, admiring the ring.

"Obviously" Damon said, playing along.

Aria smiled at Damon, "I love you Damon Salvatore".

"And I love you Aria Connor" Damon whispered, pulling Aria into a kiss.

***

Presenting 4x01 of The Vampire Diaries . . .

How was this chapter?

Thoughts on Aria accepting the fact she's becoming a vampire?

Thoughts on Rebekah helping Aria transition?

Thoughts on Aria still having her magic after being turned into a vampire?

Thoughts on Damon finally giving Aria the promise ring?