TheAwakening:

Elena Gilbert is the most beautiful and popular girlin all of Robert E. Lee High School. She is driven by a desire to be the bestat everything, and takes a significant interest in a handsome and mysteriousnew student named Stefan Salvatore, who repeatedly avoids her. Stefaneventually rescues Elena from Tyler Lockwood on the night of the HomecomingDance. After wards, the two gradually bond, leading him to reciprocate heraffections. As the two fall in love, their town of Fell's Church is beingterrorized by inexplicable, horrifying 'animal attacks', with Stefan becoming asuspect. When Elena tries to confront Stefan, she discovers his terriblesecret. Stefan is a vampire, born in the Italian Renaissance during the latefifteenth century. But Stefan isn't the one who has been committing themurders; the perpetrator is Stefan's malevolent, diabolical older brother,Damon Salvatore, who lives to wreak havoc and misery on Stefan's life. The twobrothers were turned into vampires by the coquettish German Lady Katherine vonSwartzchild, with whom both brothers fell in love. Katherine was sent to staywith Stefan and Damon's family to recover from an 'illness'. When Stefan andDamon had an argument over Katherine and asked her to choose between them, sherefused to do so and she got upset and ran off. The next morning, her dress wasfound with a pile of ashes and her ring under a tree. The two brothers had afight to the death, during which they both killed each other. They woke up dayslater inside their tomb. The reason why Stefan initially avoided Elena wasbecause Elena is a doppelganger of Katherine and her resemblance to Katherinebrought back memories of his life with his former vampire girlfriend. For thissame reason, Damon also chooses to pursue Elena, following her around in themagical disguise of a crow and he invades her dreams. Despite the duress, Elenarejects Damon's advances and remains stoically loyal to Stefan. Elena'srejection angers Damon. In a fit of rage, he provokes Stefan to fight. In theaftermath, Stefan disappears. The townspeople of Fell's Church believe Stefan'sdisappearance cements the truth that Stefan is behind the attacks. However, Elena'ssure she doesn't know what had really happened. She thinks that Damon isresponsible for Stefan's disappearance, and she knows that Stefan is in gravedanger.

The Struggle

Picking up where The Awakening left off, Elenaconfronts Damon about Stefan's disappearance. But when Elena stands firm on herrejection of Damon's romantic advances, Damon refuses to help her find Stefan.Elena must turn to her best friends, Bonnie McCullough and Meredith Sulez, forhelp. Bonnie, who is believed to have psychic powers, uses magic to track downStefan. The girls discover Stefan trapped in the bottom of a well, close todeath. After Stefan's rescue, Elena offers him her blood to recover. Because ofthe belief that he perpetrated the horrific 'animal' attacks, Stefan stillfaces hostility in the town. And as the town's monumental anniversary,'Founder's Day' approaches, Elena reaches breaking point. Elena's adversary,Caroline Forbes, has stolen Elena's diary. Elena confesses all her secrets toher diary, and its contents can be read as evidence that Stefan is a violentcriminal. Worried about Stefan's mental and physical wellbeing, Elena enliststhe help of her friends to retrieve the diary. Bonnie, Meredith and Elena tryto break into Caroline's house to find the diary but have no success. In a madattempt to escape, she discovers Damon lurking in the shadows of the Forbeshouse. Damon offers to help Elena's cause - if Elena gives him blood in return.Elena refuses. Damon gives her a terrifying ultimatum: she must choose betweenDamon feeding from her, or her baby sister, Margaret. Elena decides tosacrifice herself. Damon mind-compels Elena into a blood exchange. Soon after,Elena tells Stefan about the diary. Stefan tells Elena that even if Carolinereveals the contents of Elena's diary to the whole town, because of his lovefor Elena, Stefan will stay. On Founder's Day, Elena and her friends try theirbest to steal Elena's diary, but their attempts are futile. However, whenCaroline tries to read the diary, it is discovered that the diaries have beenswitched by Damon. Damon smugly accepts Elena's thanks, but his satisfactionquickly turns to anger when he hears about Elena's engagement to Stefan. Notonly does Elena endure dissatisfaction from Damon, but her Aunt Judith is alsodispleased. Frustrated by their reactions, Elena storms off. Elena angrilydrives to Stefan's residence. But when she finally gets there, Stefan isn'thome, and there is something malevolent about the weather. It is vicious andbrutal, and it wants Elena dead. She feels there is something lurking in thedark. She jumps into the car and tries to cross running water, as she thinksthis will keep her safe. The bridge then breaks and she drives into the water.She then drowns in the car, dies, and becomes a vampire.

TheFury

This book begins with thenewly "turned" Elena watching Damon and Stefan engaged in a fight tothe death. Initially, she does not recognize the brothers due to her confusedstate, having recently died and risen as a vampire, but soon a flicker ofmemory causes her to realize the one she loves is hurt and needs her help. Thereader is led to believe she is referring to Stefan. But instead Elena attackshim, and fully intends to kill him for hurting Damon. Stefan, upon recognizingElena, doesn't fight back and allows her to bite him. Damon eventually commandsher to stop and takes her in search of human blood. Stefan intervenes, notwanting Elena to kill someone, and instead makes her drink Matt's blood. Afterwards, Damon hides her in Alaric Saltzman's attic and once she has rested, herdisorientation begins to lift. Elena is deeply bothered and upset about the wayshe attacked Stefan. While wandering, trying to process all the newinformation, Elena stumbles upon her own memorial service where Stefan andDamon find her. Stefan is relieved when Elena remembers their love and Damon isenraged, but the three are distracted by the strange behavior of a large packof the town's pet dogs who are attacking their owners. More strange events leadthe three vampires - with the help of Bonnie, Meredith, Matt and Alaric - toconclude that the same Power which forced Elena off of the bridge is stillstalking the town. It transpires that Katherine - the vampire who turned Damonand Stefan - faked her own death 500 years before in a vain attempt to bringthe brothers closer. Her plan failed, and the brothers killed each other andthey rose as vampires instead. Katherine was infuriated by the brother'scontinuing feud, so she fled to Klaus - the one who had turned her into avampire on her death bed. Under his teaching, Katherine became more powerful andquite unstable. She eventually has Damon, Stefan and Elena tied up in anunderground crypt where she plans to torture and dispose of them all. It ishere, when Katherine confesses that she has always loved Stefan more thanDamon. During the struggle, Elena manages to free herself, forcing Katherineinto a shaft of sunlight and tearing off her protective lapis lazuli necklace.Elena is badly burned herself as Katherine had already removed the protectivering from Elena's hand. Stefan pulls Elena back into the shadows but it is toolate; Elena has died in Stefan's arms after she made him promise to take goodcare of Damon.

Dark Reunion

As a psychic, Bonnie has dreams of Elena in the OtherWorld. But the dreams quickly become frightening, then causing the death of oneof their friends. A source of power has infiltrated Fell's Church, putting itsinhabitants in danger. Not knowing what to do, Meredith, Matt, and Bonnie use asummoning spell to call for Stefan and Damon — but whose side is Damon on? Thisnovel greatly expands Bonnie and Meredith as characters. Bonnie takes theleading role as she writes in the diary. She also finds a possible romance withMatt Honeycutt. After some research in the library Stefan realizes TylerSmallwood is a werewolf. They concoct a plan and lure Tyler into the graveyard.After threatening him, Tyler reveals startling information about the killer.They find out Klaus - the vampire who turned Katherine - is the killer, and hascaptured Caroline. The four find out from Meredith's mad grandfather that theonly thing that can weaken Klaus is White Ash wood. Klaus makes a deal withStefan, "Come alone or the girl dies." Bonnie, Meredith and Matt tryto persuade Stefan to take some of their blood to make him stronger but herefuses and warns them not to follow. They ignore his threat and follow. Theysee Stefan with a branch of White Ash wood and Bonnie realizes it's a trap andcries out to Stefan before he gets hurt. There is a fight at the old Francherplace deep in the Old Wood. They are losing the fight and Stefan is on thebrink of death. Damon appears out of nowhere and proves his loyalty as hestakes Klaus. However, Klaus isn't hurt badly, and he attacks Damon. Bonniescreams for Elena. She appears as a glowing mist along with the spirits ofCivil War soldiers that had fought and died in Fell's Church. They charge Klausand carry him away. The ending is the most surprising yet for Elena's friendsas she almost leaves forever and then is granted another chance to come back tolife, which she accepts.

The Return: Nightfall

One week after Elena Gilbert has come back from thedead, she is in a childlike state, unable to read and almost completely unableto speak. Her understanding is impaired but not completely absent. DamonSalvatore watches outside Caroline’s window as Caroline talks to an independentimage of herself. Damon believes the mirror-Caroline to be a supernatural evilforce that is playing some sort of trick on Caroline. He feels a sharp punctureon his neck while he watches. After the mirror-Caroline goes away, Damonpersuades Caroline to let him into her bedroom. Stefan allows Elena’s friendsto visit her, including Caroline. When the four humans show up at Stefan’s roomin the boarding house Elena does not recognize any of them. She kissesCaroline, Bonnie, Matt and Meredith so she can recognize them. Because ofCaroline's bad behaviour, she gets kicked out. As Bonnie, Meredith, and Mattdrive home from the boarding house, they are surrounded and attacked byambulatory trees, which poison the three humans with their sap. Bonnie uses herpsychic powers to call to Damon for help. He decides to save the nearly-deadBonnie. Returning to the boarding house with her, he nearly runs into Stefan,who volunteers to save Meredith and Matt, while Damon cares for Bonnie. Damonrescues Bonnie by floating her in a bath of warm water, and then feeding herhis blood. Later, Stefan returns with Matt and Meredith, who were saved byElena's kiss. The next morning, Elena wakes up able to speak. She and Stefanthen go for a celebration picnic with Bonnie, Meredith, and Matt. During thepicnic, Matt tells them that the fifteen-year-old Tami Bryce is behaving verystrange.The others agree that a malach, which is a thing that makes people dountypically things. Meanwhile, Shinichi, now identified as an evil kitsune("Werefox"), and Damon are watching unseen. Damon says that hedoesn’t want Bonnie and Elena hurt. Shinichi puts Damon in a trance andencourages the malach inside Damon to grow larger and stronger. Damon tellsStefan that there is a website referring to an organization, the Shi no Shi,that can turn vampires into humans. Stefan is suspicious but agrees to visitDamon in the woods to learn more about it. He leaves a note on the computer forElena and sneaks off while she sleeps. Damon changes the note to read thatStefan has decided to leave Elena for her own good. Elena wakes and believesthat she has been abandoned by Stefan. Devastated and upset by Stefan'sabandonment of her, Elena decides to find Stefan with the help of her friendsBonnie, Meredith and Matt. Meanwhile, Matt is attacked by malachs on the wayback from the boarding house. The next day, Matt returns to the boarding house,where Mrs. Flowers reveals herself to be a Witch and binds Matt’s wounds.Meredith and Bonnie set out to visit Caroline to see if she is malach-infested.Caroline is scuttling on the ceiling of her living room like a lizard, and she runsunder the bed in her mother’s room. The possessed Caroline, or some otherforce, grabs their ankles. Bonnie calls Damon to help. Damon arrives and freesthem. Matt and Elena visit Tami, who has super-glued a homemade stripper outfitonto herself. Bonnie and Meredith head to the house of a friend Isobel Saitou.Isobel has mutilated herself, and Dr. Alpert thinks she should go to thehospital. All set out, but Meredith and Bonnie leave to find Mrs. Flowers. Inthe Old Wood, Matt and Elena encounter Damon -influenced by the malach - whoorders them to kiss while he films them with a video camera. Elena at firsttries to cooperate, but Matt objects and is tortured by Damon. She attempts torescue Matt by persuading Damon to drive away. However, she leaps out of thespeeding car, hoping to make her way on foot to a nearby house. She is badlyinjured by her jump. Damon suddenly comes to himself with vague memories ofhurting Elena. He finds Shinichi and threatens to torture him. Shinichi revealsElena’s location and he leaves Damon with a kitsune key that will magicallyopen any door. Damon creates a door to whatever room he finds necessary to healElena. Damon confesses to her that he and Shinichi kidnapped Stefan and thatShinichi and his twin sister, Misao, are evil kitsunes who plan to destroyFell’s Church. The kitsunes are the ones behind the malach, the ambulatorytrees, and the self-mutilating girls. Damon’s possession returns, however, andhe attacks Elena, who flees with the key through a series of doors. At last,she directs the key to open a door taking her to someplace the kitsune can’tsee. Damon realizes that he has been possessed by Shinichi and that he’d beenplaying the villain, and he calls himself an abomination, and vows to be herslave. She has Damon lie face-down on her lap and pulls the malach out of hisspine. The malach had originally entered via the puncture in Damon’s neck.Damon kills the malach. Damon and Elena then concoct a plan to defeat Shinichiand Misao. First, however, Elena makes a sidetrip to visit Stefan, who isimprisoned in a dungeon in a hell dimension. Meanwhile, Matt has woken up.Tracking Elena, he ends up at the house she was trying to reach. There anothergirl, Kristen Dunstan,is possessed by a malach. He continues into the woods andfinally encounters Meredith, Bonnie, and Mrs. Flowers. The four then meetIsobel and Dr. Alpert. They reach the boarding house, but other possessed girlsattack. Damon appears, and then two of the group are revealed to be Shinichiand Misao, who have been playing with them all along. Damon, Shinichi, andMisao take Dr. Alpert, Mrs. Flowers, Matt, Meredith, and Bonnie prisoner. Elenawatches hidden from the trees and wonders if Damon has betrayed her. Bonnie istied to an altar by the ambulatory trees, and another walking tree approachesher. Elena develops a pair of golden wings - a gift given to her when she cameback from the dead - that enable her to fly. She seizes Misao and the scissors,and flies upward. She starts to cut Misao’s tails off to diminish her power.Damon cuts Bonnie free. Misao begs for mercy and finally gives Elena clueswhere to find the magic key that will release Stefan. Shinichi agrees to giveDamon a psychic map if Damon surrenders his memories of the last few days to him.Damon agrees even though losing his memories involves losing his redemption.The good guys then let Shinichi and Misao go, but not before Misao admits topretending to be Shinichi pretending to be the mirror-Caroline. The next day,Caroline informs her family and the sheriff that she is pregnant and Matt isresponsible. A judge signs an order for Matt’s arrest. Matt thus joins Elenaand Damon in their quest to find and rescue Stefan.

The Return: Shadow Souls

A penitent Damon, along with Elena and Matt, followsStefan into the darkest dimension in an attempt to set him free from the prisonhe has been trapped in, instead of the salvation he was seeking. When Matt seesElena and Damon getting too close he turns back and sends Bonnie and Meredithto inform Elena what's happening back home. Bonnie and Meredith join Elena asall three are forced to enter as slaves; the chained and leashed property of avampire – Damon. Elena Gilbert is once again at the center of magic and dangerbeyond her imagination. And once more, Stefan isn't there to help. Elena isforced to entrust her life to Damon, the handsome but deadly vampire who wantsElena, both her body and soul. They must journey to the slums of the DarkDimension - a world where vampires and demons roam free - but humans must liveas slaves of their supernatural masters. During this time, Elena becomes closerto Damon. She gives the love she would give to Stefan to Damon. She and Damonexchange blood many times throughout the book and in turn, finds that she hasfeelings for him, adding another confusing decision to be made in her alreadymixed-up life: which brother does she really want? Stefan is imprisoned here,and only Elena can free him by finding the two hidden halves of the kitsune keyto unlock his cell. Damon, Elena, Bonnie, and Meredith must all fit into theworld of the Dark Dimension and venture into its deadly high society. Only bythese means may they be able to find Stefan's keys to release him and thenElena will be able to reunite with her soulmate. While this is going on, backhome Matt is hiding from the law and trying to fight the evil kitsune who aredestroying the very core of their community. Matt enlists the help of the localdoctor and her nephew, the boarding house owner, and Isobel's grandmother, whowas once a priestess, to keep their home together until Elena, Stefan, andDamon return. Elena later finds out the gift she got from the Kitsune is aflower that can turn a vampire into human. When getting back to the boardinghouse Damon's curiosity gets the better of him and the flower turns him humanwith one smell. The flower was from a kitsune Stefan met in the Dark Dimension,and was supposed to be for Stefan, who is now stuck as a vampire, and is tryingto make a better relationship for him and Elena. Damon, on the other hand,wants absolutely nothing to do with humanity, hates being a mortal and is nowstuck as a human. Stefan is furious with Damon for opening something thatwasn't his. Stefan and Damon both now wish that they could switch places witheach other.

The Return: Midnight

In Midnight, golden girl Elena Gilbert is back fromthe Dark Dimension, having successfully freed her vampire boyfriend, StefanSalvatore, from imprisonment. Saving Stefan had an unlikely consequence: his vampirebrother Damon Salvatore has become a mortal. While the trio reels from thislatest twist, they must still deal with the demons that have taken over Elena’shometown, Fell’s Church. As in every L.J. Smith novel, no matter how dark thenight, there is always a happy ending. MIDNIGHT takes Elena, Stefan, and Damonto their darkest moments yet.