A/N: Hope you guys enjoy the chapter! Thanks for all of your reviews and support! :) This chapter was inspired by We Must Be Killers by Mikky Ekko.
Chapter Twenty Eight - We Must Be Killers
Sitting in the passenger seat of Kol's car, I fidgeted nervously. "I'm not going to be able to do it," I fretted. "I can't do much, to be honest. Jeremy and Matt and April are all going to die. I'm going to get everyone killed."
Kol glanced at me from the corner of his eyes, before turning his intent gaze back to the road. "Have some confidence, darling."
I chewed on my lower lip anxiously, and fixed the hem of my black jacket. "How can I have confidence when I know I'm as good as useless?"
"Useless is a harsh word to use."
We passed through the center of Mystic Falls, cars and blurred faces whipping by us. It was nearing noon, the sun almost at its peak in the sky. Soon, we arrived at the apartment complex across the street from the Grill; Alaric's old place. The building brought back memories that I would have rather kept buried.
Damon and Elena were above in the apartment; I wasn't too keen with being close to my sister, trying to avoid unnecessary conflict. Stefan was muttering to Klaus on his phone, pacing up and down the bare road, outside of the Grill. I couldn't make out what he was saying, other than a few keywords along the lines of "plan", "Madeleine", and "cure".
He glanced at me, and I looked away. My boots scuffed against the pavement as we made our way to the entrance.
"Where's Rebekah?" I asked Kol quietly.
"That is a good question." His mood, which was already dark, seemed to become more so. "My brother Klaus has been keeping many things from me."
I glimpsed back over to Stefan. All I could see was his back, his body tense with frustration. He muttered angrily into the receiver of the phone, his patience running dry.
"They're up to something," Kol said observantly.
Stefan hung up his phone. My lips parted, as if I were going to say something, but no words came out.
"You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"
My wide eyes found his expectant ones. "I don't know."
Kol looked down, stepping closer to me. He touched a small spot on my chest, directly above my heart. "Did you hear that? Your heartbeat fluttered. You're lying to me."
Before I could utter anything else, Stefan intervened. "Caroline called. Bonnie's not coming."
"Great," I said. "So what's the plan?"
"Klaus wants to send in one of his hybrids first, while we figure something out." He eyed Kol distrustfully, and then turned to me. "We're going to go in through the sewers beneath. There's a series on tunnels that lead to the kitchen in the back of the Grill. The hunter is out by the bar with Jeremy."
"Does Klaus not trust me to resolve the situation?" Kol asked tautly.
Stefan raised his brow. "He would be stupid to."
A chill ran down my spine, bringing goosebumps to my skin. So much was riding on chance. The thought of losing Jeremy, after everyone else I'd lost, drove me mad. If he died, he would be the last remnant of my human life to go. And if Jeremy died, I didn't think that I'd be able to soldier through it.
If my little brother died, there was going to be absolute hell to pay.
I thought about Matt, and a wave of distraught wove through me. Matt, who had no connection to the supernatural realm except through us, his life was on the line. It made me angry that he had gotten the short end of the stick, out of all of this. And then there was April, who'd just recently become an orphan.
None of them deserved it.
"Klaus needs him to be alive," Stefan said, his voice void of emotion. His jaw was tense, his gaze severe and serious. "Make it your second top priority, after getting the hostages out."
Kol said, "Well, Mr. Salvatore, what do you want us to do?"
"Madeleine, all you have to do is distract him while we work on getting him out of there. Can you do that?"
"I think so."
"Piece of cake." Kol's voice oozed with arrogance. "Let's go make a mess of it."
"The place is surely rigged with plenty of booby traps," Stefan warned us. "Just watch your step."
I questioned, lowering my voice and looking at him intensely, "What about Damon and Elena?"
He sighed, licking his lower lip subconsciously. "I'm going to go take care of them."
I nodded, averting my eyes.
An explosion above us took me by surprise, vibrating the earth beneath us. I let out a strangled noise, pressing into the grimy brick wall for support. Shallowly, I took a light breath as the chaos died down, listening for the familiar heart beat that I had often heard through the thin walls of our home: Jeremy's.
I could hear a collection of five hearts, their erratic beating meshing together and creating an orchestra of unsteady, spasmodic beats. I perked my head to the side with distraught.
Through the darkness, I could see the silhouettes of both Stefan and Kol ahead of me. They too were still, listening to the catastrophe above.
Trying to piece together what might have caused the abrupt explosion, I decided that the hybrid Klaus had sent, Dean, must have walked into a trap, despite our urgent warnings. When I met Stefan's eye, I knew he was thinking the same.
Lifting my chin slightly, I could smell the coppery aroma of freshly spilled blood. I curled my lip in disgust, moving away from the tunnel's wall, wiping my hands on my jeans.
There was a loud gun shot. Then, there were only four heart beats.
I took a few steps toward Stefan and Kol, looking at both of them with a crucial and pressing gaze. "Jeremy?" I mouthed worriedly, unable to differentiate between the wildly thumping hearts.
Kol's head turned slightly, and he nodded after a brief second, reaffirming the fact that my brother was still alive.
My head was spinning. Could I do what they were asking me to do? I thought of all the things I could have done to prepare myself before entering the tunnels, and chastised myself for not doing them. But there was nothing I could do now except pray to any god that would listen.
As long as Jeremy, Matt, and April got out alive, I would consider it a successful mission.
We did outnumber Connor, though, and quite unfairly too. That alone should have given me confidence. It was the three of us against only him; how hard could it really be?
Damon and Elena were still in Alaric's apartment, across the street. Stefan had taken Damon's daylight ring, which would keep him locked up there for the entire duration of the mission. By the time we got back, he would be ready to kill Stefan, but I couldn't be concerned about that at the moment. I hoped Elena would stay with him; I feared that if she showed up, she would mess up the plan, and Connor might not make it out alive.
Then we would have the wrath of Klaus to face, and the cure would be out of our reach.
There was a noise at the end of the tunnel. Flexing my fingers anxiously, I watched as Matt and April appeared before us, his eyes steely and her expression terrified. April had been crying; her eyes were puffy, and she sniffled as she wiped away the wet trails tears had left on her cheeks.
"Stefan," Matt breathed, relieved. "Madeleine." He eyed Kol, but didn't say anything. "He's still got Jeremy. Listen: he's armed. Got the whole place rigged with bombs. If you go in there, he's going to kill Jeremy."
Someone let out a sharp breath. I realized that it was me.
Prying his phone from his pocket, he handed it to Matt. "Here, follow this map out of here. Take April to Caroline so she can, you know."
April, who had been lightly sobbing behind Matt, peeked over his shoulder in confusion. Her entire form was rigid; she was anxious to get away, as far from the Grill as possible. Her appearance was disheveled, as if she'd been thrown around.
"No one is going to get killed," Stefan muttered darkly, lightly urging Matt out of the way. "Go, now."
Up above, it had gone quiet. Deathly quiet. There was no doubt in my mind that Dean was now dead. I felt a pang of sadness for him. As one of Klaus' sired hybrids, he'd had no choice in coming to the Grill. Klaus had signed his deaths sentence, and Dean had been forced to let him.
A small voice in the back of my head whispered to me, "At least it wasn't someone you knew."
I pondered that for a second, and decided that it was, indeed, better that Dean had died, rather than one I had loved. I wasn't sure if that made me a terrible person or not.
Stefan hoisted himself through a small space at the end of the tunnel, and into the Grill's kitchen in a blur, making absolutely no sound. I mirrored his actions, Kol following behind me. Stefan glanced back at the two of us, listening for Connor and Jeremy. Then, he rounded the corner to where the bar was positioned.
A gun shot went off. Stefan dove behind the bar, the hunter shooting at him relentlessly. Bottles broke, glass exploded everywhere. The bullets ricocheted off of the hard surfaces, flying everywhere.
"Stop!" Stefan yelled. "No one has to die!"
Connor had his back to us. I looked up at Kol, who was perched beside me. His lips were pursed. "Is this how he likes to resolve all of his conflicts? Well, if there was ever a time to pull that rabbit from the top hat, it's now."
Screwing my eyes shut, I tuned out Stefan and Connor's shouts. I tried to herd all of my thoughts together, focusing solely on collecting myself. I calmed my erratic heart, extending my arms.
When I became focused, I let myself become angry.
I forgot that I was scared for Jeremy's life. I let myself forget. I threw away any thoughts devoted to finding the cure and saving Connor's life. I even forgot about Kol, who stood right beside me, watching me curiously.
Red. I saw red, and I began to remember everything that would get a rise out of me. Klaus. My parents' deaths. Jenna. Ric. Katherine's endless mind games. Damon's cocky demeanor. How Elena tore my throat out, and it was all my fault.
Connor, and how he was out to kill the ones I loved.
My eyes opened, and I was filled with a sense of power that I could feel but not understand. I felt solid, for the first time. Bulletproof. It rushed behind the skin of my palms, ready to be released at my will. My fingertips were static, electric. My insides tightened.
I stepped out from behind the corner, directly in Connor's field of vision and range of shot.
Kol made to stop me, but then he realized something. That it wasn't really me. It was another me. Because I was still behind the wall, hidden away from the hunter.
The girl who had stepped out was an illusion. She looked like me, an exact copy. But she wasn't real.
"Madeleine, what are you doing?" Jeremy yelled fearfully.
Connor pointed the gun at her.
"Please, don't hurt him!" the illusion cried, putting her hands up.
Energy poured out of me and into this girl. I was like a puppeteer, and she was like my doll. When I pulled her string, she did what I wanted her to.
"I expected you to make an appearance," he sneered, lifting the pistol towards her head.
He fired the gun. The bullet shot directly through the girl's forehead. I half-expected her to fall to the ground, dead, but she continued to stand there, expression frantic. She flickered, and I felt the energy inside of me lessen a little. I took a harsh breath, flexing my hands, and the illusion strengthened to its full form again.
"Wait a minute..." Connor's lips frowned in confusion.
Then, there was another girl. They were identical in every way, down to the hairs on their heads. Two of me now stood beside each other, in front of Connor, wearing the same exact visage.
"Please, don't hurt him!" they both cried at the same time, in perfect unison. It was almost haunting, in a way. They repeated it again, moving in exact accordance, and then again, as if they were a video on a loop.
I exerted myself as much as I could, pushing everything I had into these images. I felt something warm trickle from my nose; blood. Using the power was taxing, and I was pushing myself too far.
Connor pulled his gun away from them, looking around wildly. "Stop playing mind tricks!" he roared, pointing the gun at Jeremy's temple. I watched as he shoved my brother onto a pad, and a monotonous beating broke the tense air. "Come out, or I'll kill him!"
I hesitated, but the power circulating inside of me stayed strong. I was pushing myself, but there was enough to take him. Blood continued to drip from my nose, and I felt lightheaded. I was running out. I just needed to stay strong for a little longer.
Shutting my eyes, I remembered the meeting I'd had with my father, and how I'd made him feel as if he were on fire. I tried to recreate the mirage, building up a coercion inside of me. For the first time, I wasn't unsure. I knew we could beat him.
Then, I became distracted.
As soon as I lost my train of thought, I felt the power seep through my fingers. Fear struck me immediately; I felt deflated, wrung dry of every last drop of whatever force had been fueling me.
Someone burst through the doors of the Grill. "Jeremy!" she cried.
Elena.
No. She would ruin everything. My stomach sank and my pupils dilated. My body tensed.
"Please," she pleaded. "Don't hurt him."
"Come any closer, and he's dead."
Stefan's eyes found mine, his face crestfallen.
He knew it, too.
"He's the only family I have left!" she tried to explain, her voice desperate.
"Madeleine," Kol hissed. "Now!"
"I can't," I breathed shakily, throat tight. "I lost it, I can't!"
"You hear that?" Connor shouted to Stefan. "Your girl's watching. Your sister, Madeleine. I will shoot him! One, two..."
Instinctively, I threw myself out from behind the corner and in front of my brother.
I didn't even hear the gun go off. I felt a wooden bullet pierce my skin, driving itself deep into my throat. Blood dripped from the corners of my mouth and I collapsed onto the ground.
Everything became a blur. My vision faded, and all I could see were shapes. My hearing faded in and out; around me there was a violent commotion. Jeremy, standing beside me on the pad, yelled to me, but I couldn't hear what he was saying.
My hands found my neck. When I lifted them, they were covered in a warm, sticky crimson.
I tried to speak, but I found myself choking on my own blood.
Someone knelt beside me. I couldn't make out who it was, but I heard his heart and somehow I knew it was Kol. He encased me and took me to the far corner of the restaurant.
There was another explosion.
In the back of my mind, I knew that I should be worried about someone, but for the life of me I couldn't remember. I started to forget where I was. Pain flared in my throat and my hips buckled, my body convulsing. I tried to make it stop, but I didn't know how to.
The corners of my vision started to go black. It closed in, and shortly, I was completely submerged in darkness.
Blood. There's blood everywhere. Why am I in so much pain?
The moment air filled my lungs, I began to cough violently. I bolted up, immediately reaching for my throat. The tips of my fingers ran over where the bullet had gone into me. Where it used to be puckered and torn was replaced with soft, healed skin.
"Don't worry darling, you're alright."
I recognized where I was. I was in the boarding house, in the room where I'd been sleeping for the past couple days. I found Kol standing beneath the door frame, arms folded, eyes scanning me.
"Jeremy?" I croaked.
"Don't worry, no one is dead." His nose wrinkled. "Except that nuisance of a hunter, Connor. Niklaus will not be pleased."
My gaze averted to the window, opposite of Kol. Connor was dead, and, as Kol had put it, Klaus would not be pleased. Concern filled me and I asked, my voice weak, "Who did it?"
"Your sister," Kol said without emotion.
"Does that mean she's cursed?" I whispered.
His silence was enough of an answer for me.
Overwhelmed, I curled onto my side, ignoring the aching pains that creaked my body. Despite the warm blankets that covered me, I felt cold. I was angry at myself, for not being strong enough to stop Connor. Instead, I got shot in the throat and I became a problem instead of a help. My sister was cursed with God knew what, and the only thing Klaus wanted out of all of this was dead. Meanwhile, Elena was spiraling into a depression and the only thing that might help her was gone from my reach.
Suddenly, Kol's fingers lightly touched my cheek. Hovering over me, he pushed a lock of hair behind my ear. Something wet dripped down my face and I shifted away from him, wiping the tear away.
"I'm sorry," I said shamefully. It didn't stop more from welling in my eyes.
"Never apologize," he chided, reminding me of the night we had first met. It felt like centuries ago.
I pressed the heels of my hands into my eyes, almost too harshly. Stars enlightened the darkness. My stomach clutched; I felt weightless and heavy at the same time.
Kol's hand lingered above me a moment, unsure of what to do. He started to pull away, as if he was going to leave. I reached out, my fingers brushing his softly, enough to get his attention. He froze, looking back down at me uncertainly. I gripped his hand tighter, reeling him towards me. I whispered to him.
"Stay."
His gaze was calculating. I could see a war plaguing inside of him, behind his eyes. He fought against the impulse he had succumbed to for a thousand years: to never show sentiment. To never grow attached. Love is a vampire's greatest weakness. I knew that he was torn between following his instinct and following his heart. A battle waged within him.
Then, he straightened himself, seeming to have resolved the conflict. Kol turned his back on me. "Not today."
And then he was gone.
Feeling empty, I rested against the pillow. Hot tears dripped on the linen pillow cover, staining it. It was as if my chest were hollow, like someone had taken a shovel and scooped everything inside of me out.
I felt like a glass doll that had been dropped on the floor and shattered, discarded, useless.
He swallowed the bourbon angrily, inviting the harsh burn that followed it. He sat at the bar, gripping his glass tightly, listening to the wailing of sirens as a firetruck flew down the city streets. People around him conversed, and he remained unrecognized, unseen by the humans surrounding him.
Kol toyed with the daylight ring on his finger, twisting it forcefully. He asked the bartender to get him another drink, and he knocked back the entire glass in one sip, trying to erase the pang of guilt he felt for leaving Madeleine alone when she had asked him to stay. It was small, yet just big just enough to get under his skin.
Every once in a while, Kol felt something that reminded him of his humanity. It seldom happened; sometimes he liked to believe that he no longer had any humanity left inside of him. He was lying to himself, though. It was buried inside of him, under decades of rot and ruin. It was stained with the blood of many victims, tainted by his dark, twisted soul.
But it was there.
His humanity made him feel vulnerable, and there was nothing Kol hated more than feeling vulnerable.
Curling his fist, he insisted that the bartender just give him the entire bottle. Taking a large gulp, the alcohol scorched his throat.
"Rough day?" came a voice from next to him.
He turned and found the face of a pretty blonde next to him. She was pretty, he couldn't deny it. Her hair was wavy and her cheekbones high. She batted her eyelashes at him and gave him a smile that was sure to make other men swoon. He didn't bother to answer her as she clumsily climbed onto the empty stool beside him. Kol could tell she was drunk by the way she slurred her words and reeked of tequila.
It wasn't even a little bit hard to get her to invite him back to her apartment.
He teased her for a while, making idle small chat with her as the rode up the elevator together. When they reached her door, she jumbled with her keys but managed to unlock it. She pushed the door open and murmured seductively, "My bed's this way." She let out an intoxicated giggle.
Kol let her lead him through the apartment and into her room. He eyed her frame up and down, reaching out and pulling her into him. He kissed her lips, and her cheek, and her neck, trailing down slowly.
Her hands wandered, trying desperately to remove his clothes.
He grinned deviously into the crevice of her neck, before his fangs slide out from beneath his gums and his bit into her throat.
The woman let out a gurgled scream, thrashing and trying to pull away from him. He felt elated at the taste of her blood, yet he realized with disappointment that it was nothing compared to Madeleine's.
The comparison made him angrier. Pulling away, he looked into her eyes and said lowly, in almost a growl, "Don't make too much noise." He released the woman from his grasp, letting her fall ungracefully to the ground, fear clouding her expression.
He was too angry to just drain her. He stalked away from her as she touched her neck, blood staining her fingers. Swaggering out of the room, he wandered into another dark room: a small child's. A picture hung on the wall, revealing a young, little league baseball team. The bed was empty; the child wasn't home.
In the corner of the room lay a pile of equipment. A helmet, a baseball mitt, and an aluminum bat.
A devilish smirk twisted his mouth.
Returning to the woman's bedroom with the bat in his hands, he eyed her dresser, where she had discarded her things. He pried open her wallet and studied her license. Her name was Heather Whitaker. She was thirty one years old. An organ donor. How sweet.
"Well Heather," he said tauntingly. "Look's like we've got a night full of fun planned for the two of us."
"You're crazy," she whispered, voice shaking, eyes full of tears.
"We all go a little mad sometimes." He played with the bat in his hands. "First inning, I'm up to bat."
She started praying fervently, folding her hands together desperately.
"I wouldn't even bother, my dear. Not even God can help you now."
Nothing drove his humanity away like a brutal murder.
He stepped towards her. She looked up at him with wet eyes. He hesitated for a moment; they were brown. The same color as Madeleine's, nearly identical. He wondered what Madeleine would think if she knew what he was doing at the moment.
Kol convinced himself that he didn't care.
"Please don't scream," he said, playing with her. "We wouldn't want to wake the neighbors now, would we?"
