Daylight was filling Julie's entire room. She was sitting on her bed, barely awake and alone. She rubbed her eyes even though she was feeling tired. She had a very good night of sleep. She didn't have any nightmare and she was feeling relaxed. But something was wrong. She didn't know what but her heart felt like it was being compressed. She took a deep breath and the pain was gone.

She looked down at herself and noticed the blood on her clothes. She remembered taking her car last night after Jeremy called her and told her Bonnie had lost her magic. She remembered not feeling well and she had no memory of seeing any of them last night. But then, she remembered passing out at the wheel and everything came back to her in a second.

Elijah.

Elijah was there. He got her out of the car and brought her home. He healed her and then...he kissed her.

And she didn't push him away. Julie would've sworn she had dreamt it all but she could still feel his lips on hers. She brought her fingers to her lips and smiled at the memory. But then she wondered why she was alone. He told her he would stay. She sighed. Why did she let him kiss her? Did she like him? Did he like her? She stayed in bed, wondering if she was deluding herself. He wanted to kill Elena, to sacrifice her so he could kill Klaus. Maybe she was just stupid. Stupid enough to believe anything he would say. He was probably playing with her. Why would he be interested in her? He was a thousand years old Original vampire and she was...she didn't even know what she was.

She jumped, suddenly, as her phone started to ring.

"Damn it," she sighed. She took her phone and got up. She had tones of missed calls and messages from Jeremy and Bonnie. But that didn't worry her. What worried her was the time.

"Damn it!"

Julie rushed in the bathroom. She was still wearing the clothes she put on last night when she left for Elena's house. When she crashed her car in a tree... Which meant she didn't have a car anymore.

"Damn it," she sighed.

She removed her bloody clothes and took a quick shower. She found out that cleaning blood took time. She washed the blood off her hair and then quickly brushed her teeth and got dressed. She went outside and saw the final proof. Her car wasn't there. She did crash her car last night. Elijah did save her life. And he did kiss her.

She felt so hot, suddenly. She let out a cry as she felt like her skin was on fire.

"What the hell?!" she gasped. She cried out of pain as the heat was burning her. But the pain stopped after a few minutes as fast as it arrived. She took a deep breath and tried to catch her breath. What had just happened? This had never happened before and she had no idea what might have caused it.

She shook her head, trying to shake the feeling away and went back inside. She wasn't physically hurt. She had no burning mark at all on her skin. She entered the garage and removed the car-cover from her mother's old car. She hoped it would start. She was going to have to bring her own car to a mechanic and she hoped it wouldn't get too long to fix it. She didn't like her mother's car; it reminded her of other times.

The car worked fine. Julie arrived at school on time. She rushed inside with her books in her arms. She wasn't looking where she was going and she bumped into someone.

"I'm sorry!" she apologized quickly before she realized it was Stefan.

"Julie!" he seemed surprised and relieved to see her which confused her. "Where have you been? Bonnie's been trying to reach for hours! We found your car crashed in a tree! Are you okay?"

"Uh...Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," she nodded.

"What happened to you?" he asked.

She sighed. "I told Jeremy I was sick," she said. "I shouldn't have taken the car, I passed out at the wheel."

"Are you okay?" he asked again, worried.

"Yes, I'm fine, now."

Stefan frowned. "What do you mean, now?" he asked. "Were you hurt?"

"I was," she nodded. "Pretty bad," she remembered the wound on her forehead and the blood on her clothes. She saw Stefan was confused and waited for an explanation. She took a deep breath before she spoke up again. "Elijah found me," she said and he immediately tensed up. "He healed me and brought me home."

"He did?" he looked suspicious.

"Yeah," she nodded and gave him a reassuring smile. But then she remembered why she took the car last night in the first place. "How's Bonnie?"

"She's worried about you," Stefan said. "And her magic's gone."

"I know. Jeremy told me," Julie sighed. "Is there any way to get it back?"

"Luka's father is the one who took it from her. He's the only one who can give it back." Julie understood and nodded.

"Have you seen Elijah?" Julie asked. She thought he might have left to tell them about the deal. Stefan looked down and sighed. "He said he wanted to tell Elena the deal's off."

"Elijah's gone, Julie," he said and Julie didn't understand.

"What do you mean, gone?"

"He couldn't be trusted. He planned on killing Elena," he said. "We needed him to go." Julie shook her head, trying to understand.

"So...what? What did you do?" she asked. Stefan noticed her angry tone.

"We stopped him," he answered and he saw that wasn't good enough for her. "Elijah's dead, Julie."

He's dead. Stefan's words echoed in her mind. She couldn't believe it. She was terribly confused.

"Elijah can't be killed," she reminded him.

Stefan sighed. "There's this weapon John Gilbert gave Damon." Julie remembered the dagger but decided it would be smarter not to let Stefan know about what she knew. "We used it to stop him. He's not dead, dead. But..."

"I can't believe you killed him," Julie breathed out. She didn't know how to feel. Should she feel angry? Sad? Relieved? Happy?

"He was dangerous, Julie. He had to be stopped."

Julie stared at Stefan without a word. Elijah was gone. He left her house last night to go the lake house and got killed. "Did you kill him?" she asked and Stefan frowned.

"No. Elena did. Vampires can't use the dagger or they'll die," he explained.

"Elena killed Elijah?" she repeated, a little loud, dumbfounded.

"Julie," Stefan sighed and took one step towards her. "It's a good thing," he said, locking his eyes in hers to make her understand he was right.

"Why?" she asked. She couldn't think clearly. "What...where is he?"

Stefan sighed. "In my basement. Damon's trying to find a way to get rid of him definitively."

Get rid of him definitively.

They were interrupted by the bell which reminded both of them they were late for class.

"I have to go," Julie said with a trembling voice. There it was again. The pain in her chest. The feeling of being alone. All that was completely gone when she was in his arms. A tear fell down her cheek and she wiped it off quickly, rushing to her classroom. Fun! Everybody she knew was guilty of murder.

She didn't pay attention in any of her classes. She tried to avoid Bonnie and Caroline but as fast as she got out of school to reach her car, it wasn't fast enough.

"Julie!" Bonnie called her name. She didn't want to talk to any of them. Her first instinct had been right. She was better on her own.

"What?"

Both Bonnie and Caroline frowned at her angry tone.

"Are you okay?" Bonnie asked.

"Stefan told us what happened last night," Caroline said.

"I'm fine," Julie answered, turning her back to them to open her car door.

"I'm sorry," Bonnie apologized. "It was my fault you took your car last night."

Julie closed her eyes and sighed. As angry as she was, Bonnie was hurt. And maybe, she shouldn't be angry. Maybe Stefan was right; Elijah had to be stopped.

"It wasn't your fault," Julie told her but she still wasn't looking at them.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Bonnie asked.

"Yeah," Caroline said. "It must have been a scary night, with the car accident and Elijah..."

"I'm fine," Julie mumbled. She shivered at the mention of his name. She didn't like that.

"Well...We're having a girls' night tonight," Caroline said. "Wanna come?"

Julie frowned and finally turned towards them.

"You're having a party?" she asked with an angry tone, shocked. "You just killed a man, and you're having a party? What's wrong with you?" Julie spat at them. They looked startled by her reaction.

"Julie..." Bonnie started to say.

"Elijah..."

"Yeah, I know," Julie cut the blonde off. "Elijah had to go. He's dangerous. He can't be trusted," she repeated everything they kept telling her about the vampire. "But who's going to protect Elena now?"

"Elijah didn't want to protect Elena!" Bonnie answered. "He wanted to sacrifice her."

"He said he might have a way to save her," Julie told her and they looked surprised. "But you put a dagger in his heart so fast I guess he didn't have the time to tell you!"

"How do you know this?" Bonnie asked.

Julie didn't answer. She sighed, angry and got into her car and left them there. Killing someone, even an Original vampire, even a murderer, that wasn't right. She didn't know how they could be okay with this. How they could just kill someone and let him rot in their basement. Julie really wanted to help Elijah, to get him out of there. But how was she supposed to do it? This house belonged to two vampires. There was no way she could get inside and just free Elijah without anyone noticing.

Julie drove home angry and confused. How could she let herself be involved in such a mess? Should she be worried about Elijah? Even though he was immortal, Stefan did say there were looking for a way to get rid of him permanently. What if they find a way? They would kill him. Kill him for good. Now the question Julie was asking herself was, why did she want to help Elijah? Of course, it was the right thing to do; killing someone, anyone, was wrong. But maybe there was another reason.

Julie cleaned her house all afternoon. She didn't want to think about anything, she wanted to clear her head so she focused on that. Around 5PM she took a shower and settled at her desk and started to do her homework. But she was interrupted by knocks on her front door. She rolled her eyes and sighed, guessing it was Bonnie again. But she had guessed wrong.

"Elena?" Julie frowned, surprised to see the doppelganger at her door. The murderous doppelganger as it turned out. "What do you want?"

"Bonnie told me what happened earlier," she said. "Are you okay?"

Julie sighed, annoyed. "Please, stop asking me that!" she told her. "I'm fine, I told you Elijah healed me."

"Yeah, I..." Elena shook her head. "I'm not talking about your accident." Julie raised an eyebrow, confused. "I mean, of course I'm glad you're fine," she quickly added. "But...Bonnie said you seemed upset...about Elijah." She looked at Julie with big questioning eyes.

"I'm upset because you killed someone," Julie replied.

"Julie," Elena sighed like she was trying to explain for the thousand times something to a child. "Elijah is dangerous. It's safer this way."

"You made a deal with him," Julie remained her. "He trusted you and you killed him. You're the one that can't be trusted, not him!"

Julie's reaction disconcerted her. Did she even feel bad for killing Elijah?

"Julie," Elena started to say, "I'm sorry. But I'm fighting for my life here."

"So what? Better him than you?"

Elena was taken aback by her words. Like she had heard them before. Better you than me.

"You're right," Elena said. "Killing Elijah was wrong. But what else was I supposed to do?"

"You made a deal with him, Elena," Julie repeated. "You were supposed to keep your word."

"He wanted to kill me," Elena said.

"I know that. And you knew that too."

Elena sighed. "You're right. But Bonnie said you thought Elijah had a way to protect me."

"He said he might know a way," Julie said. "But he's dead now so who knows?"

"How do you know this?" Elena asked, confused.

"He told me."

"When? Last night?"

"Yes."

"Well...what else did he say?"

Julie looked at Elena in silence for a few seconds before she sighed and answered. "He promised he'd try to find a way to save you."

"He promised you?" Elena looked confused and a little suspicious. Julie admitted it might be naïve to believe anything Elijah had told her. But she couldn't help but feel he had been honest with her.

"Go away, Elena. I don't want to be caught in your mess. Stay away from me," she said before she slammed the door.

She turned her back against the door and took a deep breath. It had been nice having friends for a few days. She sighed and got back to her room and chose to focus on her homework. When she was done, she looked at the time and saw it was late. She should eat something but she wasn't feeling hungry. She was feeling sick again. But then again, out of the sudden, just like earlier in the day, her whole body felt like it was on fire. She cried out of pain and rushed under the shower and stayed under the cold water until the heat was gone. The pain left just like it came. She was soaking wet and panting, on her hands and knees in the shower. She tried to catch her breath, wondering what the hell was happening to her.