At home the next day, I was outside on the patio, sitting in the driver's seat of my car, the door open, listening to music. 

Damon opened the front door, leaning against the doorframe.

I looked at Damon. "Good day for a midlife crisis. 172 years, I'd say you're due. Where are you going?" 

"That hunter jacked Tyler Lockwood of his werewolf venom last night, so basically, he's got vampire poison in a bottle," Damon told me. "And I'm gonna find him, and I'm gonna eat him." 

"I'll go with you," I told him.

"Oh, but Nikki, aren't you supposed to start going back to school today?" Damon asked tauntingly. I gave him a sarcastic look, looking away. "Yep, that's right. Can't use being sick with a tumor on your cartoid as an excuse to stay home anymore." I tilted my head toward him. "I just want to kill this guy and get the hell out of town." I looked at him in confusion. "Wasn't that the deal? Whoever Elena doesn't choose, leaves." 

"That was before she turned," I told him. 

"And I stayed to help," Damon told me. "If I take Stefan punching me as the first clue, I'm not wanted here anymore." 

"Listen, you blood shared with his girlfriend and he punched you in the face," I told him. "You deserved it. Why don't you stop being dramatic?"

"No, Nixs, dramatic would be leaving before I kill this hunter," Damon told me, walking away, leaving.

I looked after him, shaking my head. 

~~~~

At school, Stefan, Elena and I sat in history class, none of us speaking.

Elena stared at the front of the room, looking as if she was about to cry.

Stefan looked to the front, sighing, realizing what she must have been saddened by. "It’s the first time we’ve been back in Alaric’s classroom."

"First period and I'm ready to bawl my eyes out," Elena told us. 

Rebekah walked into the classroom with flyers. "Morning, everyone." 

"Morning, Bekah," a student told her.

I sat back in my desk in annoyance. "Just like that, I'm no longer feeling sentimental." 

"So, I'm throwing a little anti-curfew party at my new house," Rebekah told us. "Starts at the fifth period and goes till whenever. Spread the word." She passed out the flyers. "You're welcome to join, Elena, if you'd like to bury the hatchet."

Elena took the flyer. "It's a pretty enormous hatchet." 

Rebekah looked at me. "Oh, Nicola, I didn't realize you were well enough to come back to school. Perhaps you'd like to celebrate your survival by coming to the party." 

"The last time I saw you, you threw me into a wall hard enough to make me start bleeding out and left me for dead," I told her. "And now you want me to come to some lame-ass party?" 

"Well, I'm feeling generous of spirit," Rebekah told us, handing me a flyer.

I took the flyer, looking at it. "New house, huh? Did your brother finally kick you out?"

"He didn't kick me out, I left," Rebekah told us. 

"So, you left the only person on earth that actually likes you?" Elena asked.

Rebekah looked down, retaliating by looking at Stefan, using their past against her. "Well, your boyfriend liked me once." Stefan looked up. Rebekah looked at Elena, smirking. "Actually, a lot more than once." 

Elena looked furious. 

"Why are you still in town, Rebekah?" Stefan asked. "Don't you have anywhere else to go" 

"Well, history's my favorite class," Rebekah told us. "Actually, where is Mr. Saltzman . . .?" Elena grew angrier. "Oh, that's right. I killed him."

Elena threw her pencil toward Rebekah's face. Rebekah caught it before it impaled her, turning it around and throwing it into Elena's shoulder. 

They both glared at each other.

Elena took the pencil out of her shoulder, standing, walking out of the room, leaving.

Stefan followed her.

Rebekah looked at me, smirking. "You're still welcome to join, Nicola. But uninvite Elena for me." 

"Go to hell, Rebekah," I told her. 

Rebekah smirked, walking away to sit down.

~~~~

At home, I opened the front door, walking inside, closing the door behind me, pulling my bag off my shoulder and tossing it to the floor, sitting in a chair.

"I'm guessing you're not going to Rebekah's party," Elena told me as she walked in.

"Not a chance in hell," I told her. "But she did tell me to uninvite you. I'd take that as an even better invitation, just to piss her off." Elena smiled. "What are you doing here?" 

"I'm looking for the white oak stake," Elena told me. "Damon told me that you were the one that had it." 

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't," I told her. "Why do you want it?" Elena tilted her head. I stood slowly, pointing at her. "You want to kill Rebekah." 

Elena nodded. "Yeah." 

I walked toward the drink table, pouring myself a drink. "Well, I know that I shouldn't give it to you, but since the bitch tried to kill me . . ." I felt underneath the edge of the table, feeling the hidden compartment, hitting the button for it to slide open, pulling the stake out and hitting the button to close the door, turning to face Elena and holding it up for her to see. "I just might be willing to give it to you." Elena walked closer, smirking, reaching for the stake. I pulled it out of her reach. "Just tell me one thing. Are you killing her because she killed you or tried to kill several of the people that you care about, or are you doing it because she's being a mean girl bitch?" 

"Can I say both?" Elena asked.

I tilted my head. "Yes." I held the stake toward her. "Just don't get yourself killed." 

Elena took the stake, smiling a small smile. "Thanks, Nicola." 

I raised my eyebrows.

Elena walked toward the door, opening it and leaving, closing it behind her.

I took a sip of my drink.

~~~~

Later, after Elena and Stefan had come home, I heard Elena scream. "No!" 

I heard someone or something hit a wall from upstairs in Stefan's room. 

I walked upstairs into Stefan's room. "What the hell was that?" 

"I don't know," Stefan told me. 

Elena pulled her sleeve up, revealing veins crawling up her arm. "What's wrong with me?" 

Elena pulled up her other sleeve. 

I walked closer. "Damon said the hunter had werewolf venom."

Elena looked up in worry. "Oh, my God."

~~~~

Elena was lying in Stefan's bed, looking incredibly ill. 

I sat next to her, looking at Stefan. 

Stefan was on his phone, leaving another message. "Come on Klaus, where the hell are you?"

Stefan hung up. 

I turned to Elena, handing her a blood bag. "Here, drink this." 

Elena started to take it, but stopped. "Why am I thinking about you?" 

Klaus walked into the room.

Stefan walked toward him. "You came." 

"I did," Klaus told him. "And for future reference, one voicemail is just as effective as nine." He looked at me. "Well, look who was strong enough to survive. I knew there was something I liked about you." I gave him a sarcastic look, standing, backing away from the bed. Elena moaned in pain from the movement. Klaus looked at her. "What's wrong, love?" 

"She has werewolf venom in her system," I told him.

"You know you're the only one that can heal her, Klaus, please," Stefan told him. 

"And what would you have done if I were no longer here?" Klaus asked. "Hm? If you and your friends had succeeded in ridding the world of me? Let's play that game for a moment, shall we?" 

Stefan stepped toward him angrily. "Whatever you want from me  . .. " 

"I don't want anything from you," Klaus told him, looking at Elena. "Her, on the other hand . . . If you had told me a few hours ago, I wouldn't have cared a lick about her dying. But, as it turns out . . . You may be of use to me after all."

"Then why don't you skip the dramatics and just heal her?" I asked.

Klaus stepped toward me as if he was going to hurt me.

I looked at him, unafraid, bored. 

Klaus bit his wrist, turning to Elena, sitting next to her, placing his wrist in her mouth and letting her drink his blood. "Yes. There we go." 

Why would Klaus care if she died or not? 

Elena was a vampire now. He couldn't use her blood to create hybrids anymore.

So why did he save her life?