Summary: After Klaus leaves town with Stefan, Elena starts having cryptic dreams that lead her to leave Mystic Falls. When she finds the Winchesters and becomes involved in their world, she discovers more about herself than she knew before and becomes particularly attached to Dean, a charismatic hunter with as haunted a past as hers. Dean/Elena

STORY TITLE – from the song Hells Bells by AC/DC

A few things:

1. This is a reboot of my series. I'm changing a few things, so hopefully it will be a little fresh. I hope to make it more well-written and fleshed out so that it doesn't end up frustrating me halfway through like it has in previous attempts. I hope that you'll go on this journey with me, as I would love to hear your thoughts and comments.

2. The premise is basically the same, with a few differences that are easily noticeable.

3. Elena's outfits and such are on my profile, as always.

4. Thank you for reading!

Elena's eyes opened and she sat up in her bed, taking a deep breath. She slipped out from beneath the blankets, finding her feet before standing to walk into the bathroom. When she flipped on the light, Elena winced at the brightness before looking in the mirror. There were dark circles beneath her eyes and her face was pale. She looked generally unkempt, something that didn't settle well with her. When she saw something on her neck, hidden by her long hair, she frowned and brushed the dark locks aside. Her eyes widened when she saw blood on her skin.

She reached up, wincing when she touched her fingers to the sticky substance. Elena turned her head while still watching, gasping when she saw a bite there. It wasn't possible. It had been months since the ritual and no vampire was around except for Damon and Caroline. Why would she have a bite? As she tried to figure it out, Elena heard a distant shout.

"Somebody help me!"

She turned her head to the door, frowning as she strained her ears.

"Hello?" she said, walking out of the bathroom.

"Help! Sam!"

Elena's heart pounded in her chest as she walked out of her bedroom and to the stairs.

"No! Somebody help!"

She padded downstairs silently, hearing the shouting coming from outside. She reached for the front door, taking a deep breath before opening it. It was not her porch that she stepped onto, but rather a cavernous space filled with chains. There was no floor beneath her feet, but somehow she did not fall. Her eyes strained to see ahead of her as she felt cold dread settling in her chest. The air was dry and filled with smoke, as if there was a fire burning somewhere. She choked and coughed on the thick smoke. Something was very wrong with this place.

"Help!"

The voice was even louder, echoing around her as she walked forward somehow. Elena ducked through the chains, stepping over them when she could. Finally, she found the source of the shouting. She let out a cry of shock, seeing the man who was shouting for help. Hooks dug into his flesh where the chains held him up. Blood covered his form and leaked out of his mouth. His bloodshot eyes were rolling in his head as he screamed.

"Help me!"

Suddenly, Elena began falling. She let out one long scream, hurtling into darkness.

Elena collapsed onto the couch, breathing heavily as she drank from a bottle of water.

"Can I ask you something?" Alaric asked, sitting nearby.

She simply nodded, unable to find the breath to answering him verbally.

"Why are you doing this?"

It was obvious what he was referring to. Ever since Stefan disappeared with Klaus, Elena demanded that he teach her how to defend herself. It was a good thing and she picked it up quickly, though it was an exhausting pastime. She was proud to see that her muscles were becoming more defined in her arms and abdomen. She had only been waiting for Alaric to ask her why. It took him almost four months to finally voice the question.

"Because this is something that I can control," she answered.

He looked confused at her words. Elena pressed her lips together, wondering exactly how much she should tell him. She wasn't exactly being open with anyone else about the dreams that she had every night. If anyone should know, it was Alaric. He understood about everything, including her desire to learn how to fight.

"Damon has forbidden me from helping with the search for Stefan. Caroline is the only one allowed to help Tyler. Jeremy is besties with Matt now and they're always off doing shit together. Come September, almost all of my friends are going off to college and I'm staying here because I can't even imagine going to school with everything that has happened recently. And every night, my mind decides to take me on an acid trip through hell. I can't control any of that but learning how to defend myself, how to fight, that I can control."

Alaric stared at her with wide eyes.

"Why didn't you tell me? About the dreams, I mean."

Elena huffed out a sigh.

"What can you do? It's been happening ever since the ritual. Bonnie told me that it was probably a side effect of the spell," she brushed off.

She knew better than that, but she hadn't voiced her thoughts about that either.

"What are the dreams like?" Ric questioned.

Elena stared at him for a moment, seeing true concern in his eyes. That's what pushed her to tell him the truth about the man she saw being tortured each night by what she could only describe as the devil, horns and tail included.

"It changed about two weeks ago," she said, playing with the label on the bottle of water. "Instead of the same man being tortured…he was the one doing the torturing. And very night, I have a front row seat to the show. It sounds crazy but I think…I think that it's really happening. I think that this guy is in a lot of trouble."

Alaric did not look dismissive of her concerns.

"Do you know what the man looks like?" he questioned.

Elena read the serious tone in his voice and felt relief that he wasn't just brushing it off. He was taking her seriously.

"Green eyes, light brown hair," she said, shrugging. "He has a creepy satanic-looking tattoo on his chest."

He held a piece of paper and a pencil out to her.

"Draw it."

Elena didn't argue, quickly drawing the pentagram surrounded by flames before handing it back over.

"He shouts for someone named Sam a lot," she said, giving him the only other detail that might have mattered.

"I'll look this up, see if it leads to any answers," Alaric said, turning to leave the room.

She looked after him with surprise.

"Ric," Elena called, stopping him in place.

He glanced over his shoulder questioningly.

"Thank you…for believing me."

He nodded with a smile.

"I'll always believe you," Alaric assured her.

She smiled back at him just before he hurried out of the room. Elena decided to take a shower, hoping that Alaric might have answers for her soon. When she came down to meet him so that they could head to the Mystic Grill, he was standing in the entry way and holding a leather-bound book as he frowned down at the pages.

"Did you find something?" Elena asked eagerly.

"Not quite," he said, shaking his head. "I found a lot of variations of the average pentagram but nothing that looks quite like this."

She felt disappointed, any hope that he might find something dying in her chest.

"But I may know a way to figure it out. Let's go get some dinner and we'll talk about it," Alaric continued.

Elena sighed with relief, following him out quickly. They took his car, arriving at the restaurant and taking a seat in their normal booth. Just like always, they managed to show up right when Jeremy's thirty-minute long break started. Her brother slid into the booth next to her, messing with her hair as she elbowed him in the side.

"What are we talking about?" Jeremy questioned.

"A possible satanic cult," Elena answered, crossing her arms on the table.

His eyebrows rose as he looked between her and Alaric.

"That seems healthy," Jeremy commented.

"Elena's been having strange dreams. We're trying to figure out if there's anything behind them or if they're just nightmares," Alaric said, looking amused as he flipped through the book once more.

"Since when?" Jeremy asked.

"The ritual," Elena answered distractedly, noticing that Alaric's book was an address book.

Her brother looked at her with wide eyes.

"And you just now told someone?" Jeremy demanded.

She sighed, looking over at him.

"Honestly? I thought that everyone would think I was crazy. Hell, I was starting to think that I was crazy," Elena said, admitting the last part in a quieter voice.

"I'm almost certain that you're not crazy," Alaric said, looking up at them.

Elena frowned at him.

"Almost?" she said.

He shrugged, thinking about it for a moment.

"I'm eighty-five percent sure that you're not crazy," Alaric said, a smirk forming on his face.

Jeremy choked out his laughter as she threw a balled up straw wrapper in Ric's direction. He laughed as well before pushing the book towards her.

"When I started hunting, I met another guy who had been in the business for a while. He gave me a list of contacts if I ever needed it but I've only really used one of them," he said, pointing at one particular address.

"Bobby Singer?" Elena and Jeremy said at once.

Alaric nodded in confirmation.

"He's the best damn researcher there is. Anything you need, he can find. He's kind of how I figured out what was going on in Mystic Falls. If anyone can find out what this symbol is," he said, holding up Elena's drawing. "It's Bobby Singer."

"Great, how do I get a hold of him?" Elena wondered.

Alaric hesitated before answering.

"That's the hard thing. I've tried his phones and none of them are working. I talked to someone else and they mentioned that he's become even more of a recluse than he already was. My guess is that the only way you're going to get anything out of him is face to face."

Elena and Jeremy exchanged a look before their eyes returned to him.

"He lives in South Dakota," she said in reminder.

"Yeah, I know. It'll be a bit of a road trip," Alaric nodded.

Elena weighed the options in her mind. She could either keep suffering through the nightmares or she could figure out what the hell was going on with them.

"Absolutely not."

She sighed heavily, shaking her head. They had all been expecting this reaction.

"I'm not really asking for your permission here, Damon. In case you didn't notice, I'm my own person. I do have free will to decide and this is my choice," Elena reminded the vampire.

He shook his head, pacing back and forth. They were all gathered at the Salvatore mansion, minus Bonnie who was still out of town with her dad. Caroline had her on a video chat on the computer so that she could see and hear what was going on.

"This is stupid, Elena," Damon said simply, glowering around at everyone else as if demanding to know why they weren't speaking up as well. "If Klaus were to find you, he'd kill you without a second thought."

"He's already killed me once, Damon. I'm pretty sure I know that," Elena said, frowning up at him. "Besides, Bonnie and I have already worked that out."

The witch nodded on the computer screen.

"I just sent a necklace to Elena's house. The locket is charmed and filled with herbs so that she can't be found by magic, which is what Klaus relies upon most of the time." Bonnie informed them all.

"Plus, Alaric is already packing up a basic weapons bag for me, including stakes, vervain darts, and a gun with wooden bullets just in case I am found," Elena added.

Damon still did not look convinced.

"I'm not going to let you do this, Elena. It's stupid and reckless," he said, shaking his head.

She looked at Alaric for help to see that he wore a frustrated expression as well. Jeremy's hands were tightened into fists on his lap.

"Elena isn't yours to control, Damon," Caroline said, more than a hint of anger in her voice.

He threw his hands in the air, letting out a furious noise.

"How do the rest of you think that this is all right?" Damon demanded. "She's going off to get herself killed!"

"You're being dramatic, Damon," Elena said, glowering in his direction. "I'm going to visit a hunter. If anything, that's a safer place to be than Mystic Falls."

He scoffed, shaking his head.

"Then I'm coming with you," Damon decided, sitting down in a chair with a glass of scotch.

She shook her head as well.

"This guy won't say anything to me if I bring a vampire to his property. He'll probably try to kill you," Elena said simply.

"I dare him to try," Damon grumbled.

She leapt up, standing in front of him with her hands on her hips.

"This was not meant to be a debate, Damon," Elena said in an annoyed voice. "I am going to South Dakota whether you like it or not. I am going along, whether you like it or not. I just wanted to let everyone know what the plan is."

She turned to walk off, ready to leave the house so that she did not have to deal with him anymore.

"If you try to go anywhere alone, I'll tie you down in my cellar," Damon threatened.

Elena turned her head, shooting daggers at him with her eyes.

"If you so much as try, I'll shoot you so full of wooden bullets that you'll be spitting out splinters for weeks," she replied simply.

Before she could make it to the door, a sudden rush of pain filled her head. Elena let out a shout, crumpling to her knees as she clutched at her head. She heard footsteps approaching but she did not pay attention, squeezing her eyes shut as bright light flooded her vision. Images flooded her mind, the same man that was in her dreams was standing in the horrible place. Only something was different. The bright light surrounded him, tendrils wrapping around him to lift him into the air as he kicked and screamed. Elena felt comforted by the light, as if it was reaching out and soothing her pain. Then they were all shooting upwards and she knew that they were leaving, just as she knew that she would never have to see that horrible place again.

When she opened her eyes, Elena collapsed backwards as she gasped for air. Alaric and Jeremy were on either side of her and Caroline was in front of her, all three looking concerned. The pain disappeared as quickly as it had come and she was left with just the images playing in her mind again and again. Somehow, she knew that it hadn't happened yet. But it would happen soon. She had to get on the road before it did. It was so important for a reason that she did not yet know.

"What happened?" Caroline demanded.

Elena glanced around to see that Damon was hovering nearby with a blank expression on his face.

"Take me home and I'll tell you," she decided, still furious with him.

Jeremy and Alaric helped her out. By the time they got to her house, the sun was setting. She sat at the dining room table sipping at a cup of water.

"Has that ever happened before?" Alaric questioned.

Elena shook her head, trying to figure out exactly what that was.

"It's going to change. I have to get to Sioux Falls before it does," she said quietly.

The others all exchanged wary looks but nodded in agreement.

"Are you sure you're all right?" Jeremy questioned.

Elena reassured him that she was just fine and that she only wanted answers.

Elena watched as Jeremy and Alaric loaded her things into the back of her red Mini Cooper. She had to leave in the middle of the night, hoping that Damon wouldn't be as alert while Andie distracted him at the Grill.

"I wish that you would let someone go with you," Caroline said with a frown.

"It's better this way, Care," she sighed, turning to her friend. "Besides, from what Alaric says, this guy wouldn't be too happy if I led a witch and a vampire to his front door."

The blonde did not look any happier at her words.

"Then why can't you at least take Alaric?"

"He has to get ready for school to start. And you and Bonnie both have your first year of college in a few weeks," Elena reminded her.

Caroline looked frustrated by her words. Elena decided not to pursue college quite yet when Stefan disappeared. There was too much going on and she couldn't commit to school. Right now, she was grateful for that decision.

"I still don't like it," Caroline said, shaking her head.

"I'm going to see a hunter, just like Alaric. Bonnie gave me this thing," she said, holding up the locket that was tucked into her shirt.

Just as it would keep Klaus from finding her, it would also prevent Damon from forcing Bonnie into finding her so that he could drag her back home.

"I will be perfectly safe," Elena assured them.

Caroline let out a heavy sigh and she reached out, embracing her. It was already sad, knowing that she was leaving both of her best friends. Elena hoped that it wouldn't be for long but she couldn't be sure. She was going to do whatever it took to figure out what these dreams meant. When she drew away, she smiled.

"I'll see you soon," she said, hoping that her words were true.

Caroline nodded, still looking worried as she slipped past her. Elena hugged Alaric tightly, feeling overwhelming gratitude towards him.

"Thank you," she breathed.

"For what?" he questioned as they pulled away.

"For believing me and helping me figure out a way to get answers. Not everyone would do that," Elena shrugged.

He smiled, patting her cheek gently.

"Take care of yourself and come back to us soon," Alaric said.

She nodded in agreement.

"Take care of my brother," Elena said conditionally.

"I will do my very best," he agreed.

She smiled at him before moving away to embrace Jeremy last. They held on for several minutes, both thinking the same thing.

"You're the only family I have left, Elena," Jeremy said in a quiet voice, pulling away to look into her eyes. "You have to take care of yourself."

"I will, Jer," she assured him, leaning up to kiss his cheek. "Take care of yourself too."

He nodded, pressing his lips together. Elena waved goodbye to them all before climbing into her car. She started it with a sigh, glancing out of the window at them. She smiled as best she could, waving once more before pulling away. As she drove out of Mystic Falls, her tears overflowed and she cried openly, having a sinking feeling that it would be a while before she returned.

Please let me know what you think!