Incendia

Alex stood under the shade of one of the large trees in the cemetery. After breaking Mikael's chains, she had stepped outside to take a moment before she updated Renee. There would be a possibility that the Council wouldn't approve of Alex's decision to release Mikael, he may be a hunter, but he was first and foremost a vampire. An original one at that.

Flipping the phone in her hand, she looked around at the graves that surrounded her. Last time she had been in a cemetery for this long, it had been her parents funeral. Alex remembered receiving a call from Jenna in the middle of the night. Her training under Renee was exhausting and gruelling, and it had been so late Alex had almost ignored it. Answering the call had caused her whole world to crash down.

Jenna had tried to be gentle, but telling someone that their parents had drowned after driving off a bridge wasn't an easy thing to explain. Hearing that Elena had somehow survived and was okay but in the hospital had sent her spiralling down a dark hole.

Alex had taken off that same night. She didn't wake Renee or James, she had grabbed a bag, cash and headed to the airport. By the time Alex had arrived in Mystic Falls, her phone was full of missed calls from Renee, James, Jenna and even Jeremy. She ignored them all as she had raced to the hospital in hopes of seeing Elena.

It had been hard. Holding herself together so that her siblings could mourn was more excruciating than any sort of training that Renee forced upon her. Alex spent two days hovering around the hospital until Elena was released. Three days after that, they buried their parents. Alex had remained standing at their graves until every single person had left. James had found her barely holding it together, and for the first time since Jenna had called her, Alex let herself cry.

Alex had spent one final night with her siblings before slipping out the next morning. She left a letter on the kitchen counter and had tried to stay away. It had taken months to heal enough to stop crying almost every night. And it had taken her longer to climb back out of the hole she had fallen in. Keeping her emotions separate from her job helped, but sometimes she had to remind herself that her feelings were what made her different from the monsters she hunted.

Alex knelt down on the soft grass and took in a deep breath. She needed to calm herself down before she worked herself up.

"I hope I am not the cause of your distress."

Alex turned to look at Mikael. The colour in his skin had returned and he had dusted off his clothes. "I'm not afraid of you if that is what you think."

"No," said Mikael. "Fear is the one thing I don't see in your eyes." Mikael walked around her and leant on the tombstone. "What are your concerns then?"

"My concerns are what the outcome of all of this will be." Alex stood. "You have hunted your children for a thousand years but have never succeeded in killing them. The reason I found you and have let you out is to kill Klaus before he kills my sister. With your track record, forgive me if my confidence in your victory isn't tenfold."

Mikael smiled. "I will admit, my children are far more slippery than I had ever truly considered. There have been moments when I have looked upon them and wished that I could spare them and it has given them time to slip through my fingers. Niklaus, however, will die. I give you my word."

"Your word means nothing to me," said Alex. "Hunter or not, you are a vampire."

"Do you not travel with a vampire?"

"Not willingly."

Mikael frowned. "Why not dispose of him then?"

Alex was tempted. Removing Stefan would mean one less vampire to deal within all of this. But what would Elena do? Alex had only been able to observe them for a short period, but Elena's eyes had shone with love when she had seen Stefan. No matter how much Alex hated vampires, could she hurt her sister like that? "That would only cause issues at the moment."

Mikael shrugged. "Fine. I will have to meet you in Mystic Falls."

"Why?" questioned Alex.

"If you want me to kill Niklaus, then I will need to collect my weapon."

"The white oak stake?" James appeared beside Alex.

Mikael nodded. "Yes."

"I'm surprised you don't keep it on you," said Stefan. He had stepped out of the tomb with Katherine holding onto his shoulder. She had woken up but looked pale and weak.

"Carrying around a stake that can not just kill my children, but myself as well could be hazardous. I only collect it when I know for sure that Niklaus will be vulnerable."

Alex sighed. "Fine. Purchase a cell phone and once you have the stake, ring me." Alex opened her bag and pulled out a pen and notebook. She wrote down her number and handed the paper to him. "We can work out our next steps from there."

Mikael nodded. "I will see you soon." He disappeared with a flash, leaving them there.

"I can't believe you fed me to him," complained Katherine.

Alex smirked. "Aww, poor baby."

James chuckled. "Let's head back to Mystic Falls."

Alex nodded. "I'll meet you at the car, need to make a phone call first."

James nodded and direct Stefan to lead Katherine away. Alex pulled out her phone and dialled Renee.

"Tell me some good news," said Renee.

"Mikael is awake and is going to help us kill Niklaus," said Alex.

"Fantastic. And Katherine?" she asked.

"Barely alive. Mikael almost drained her dry."

"Pity he didn't. The Council stated that Katherine was only to remain alive as long as she remained useful. If she doesn't slip away, which the Council understand is a possibility and won't hold it against you, kill her."

Alex smiled. Receiving the kill order for Katherine Pierce had her feeling better about everything. "My pleasure." Alex ended the call and walked back through the cemetery to the car park.

She found James sitting in the front seat, Katherine was leaning against the side of the car, and Stefan stood away from them on the phone. Katherine glared and said, "Were you always going to feed me to him?"

Alex smiled. "Not originally. However, you pissed me off enough that watching him drain you was a bonus to finding him."

Katherine sneered and pushed away from the car. "Well, our deal is complete, I'll be on my way."

"Not so fast," said Alex.

Katherine attempted to flee but Alex shot up her hand and brought Katherine crumbling to the ground, she cried out in pain and reached out for Stefan.

Stefan hung up his phone and yelled out, "What are you doing?"

"What I always do." Alex focused her magic on Katherine and smiled. "Enjoy the afterlife, Katherine! Incendia!" Flames engulfed Katherine's body, and her screams grew louder.

"Stop!" yelled Stefan. He looked between Alex and Katherine and charged towards Alex to stop her. Before he reached her, he fell to the ground and gasped out in pain.

James stepped around Alex and said, "Don't interfere vampire, or you will be next."

Katherine's screamed slowly died and what was once Katherine Pierce was nothing by a charred body. She was dead, finally. Alex looked around and realised that they were standing in a public place, any mortal could have come upon them. She shrugged her shoulders and said, "Let's get rid of the body and get back to Elena."

James nodded and released Stefan.

"Why?" Stefan asked.

"It's what I do, Stefan," said Alex. "I kill vampires. And the only reason I haven't killed you is because of Elena. And don't tell me your not happy that she is dead."

"Katherine may have been a lot of things but she didn't deserve to die like that." Stefan pushed himself up to stand.

Alex stared at him and shook her head. "Katherine used you and your brother, fed off you, turned you against one another. Got you both killed and over a hundred years later she was still fucking with you. Katherine Pierce should have died five hundred years ago. I did what needed to be done, and I'm not sorry about that."

"Well, it appears Katherine was holding onto some secrets. Look what I have."

Alex turned to James. He was knelt beside Katherine's charred corpse holding up a white stone. The moonstone. Alex had forgotten entirely that Katherine had had it in the tomb with her.

"This will slow Klaus does, no moonstone, no breaking that pesky curse." James smiled and slipped it into his coat.