A recap of the last chapter since it's been so long:

Klaus killed Charlotte in hopes she could find out how to break the Hunter's curse. She goes to an afterlife plane and when she comes back she has a theory on how to do it. Klaus and Caroline pair off and go on a road trip to get a felon on death row to turn for Jeremy to kill, so he doesn't have to kill an innocent person. At school, Jeremy and Charlotte meet Shane who substitutes for their history class and warns them about completing the Hunter's mark.

Chapter 57: Terrors Don't Prey on Innocent Victims

Kol's hair was windswept in a disheveled way when Charlotte and Jeremy visited him after school. His right hand had bits of white powder clinging to it and there were numerous holes in the walls. Elijah was right, he was getting worse. At least he wouldn't be suffering for long.

"I'm not sure I'm up for an audience today," he said, wiping his hand against his pants, the powder leaving a white smear across his jeans.

"I think you'll reconsider when you hear what we've come to tell you," Charlotte said, tossing him the blood bag she'd grabbed from the kitchen fridge on the way.

"If it has to do with your sister and my brother, I might not be able to keep the blood down," he said, taking a swig from the bag.

"It's about the curse," Jeremy said, a smile spreading over his face. "Turns out, all I have to do is kill a vampire to break it."

Kols fist tightened on the bag and blood exploded from it, splattering across the floor.

"No," Kol said in little more than a harsh whisper. Closing the distance between them in a blink of an eye, he gripped Jeremy's shoulders in a bruising grip. "You can't do that."

"Kol, you're hurting him," Charlotte said in a forcefully calm voice. Her gaze flicked between Jeremy and him. When Kol didn't move, she stoked the warmth from her center to her extremities before ordering sharply, "let go!"

Pushing her hand against Kol's chest, she sent him stumbling back a step.

"You can't do it," Kol continued louder, not at all phased by her interruption. His eyes were wide, wild. "It will ruin everything."

Caroline drove with one hand on the wheel, the other stuck out the window, feeling the warmth of the sun and the spring breeze against her skin. Sunglasses on, she'd been studiously ignoring Klaus, feigning concentration on the road.

"Come on, Love. Let it all out. You'll feel better after," Klaus said when her cold silence stretched longer than even he felt comfortable with.

"That's what you're starting with," she said, her eyes narrowing beneath her tinted glasses. "Not 'I'm sorry for murdering your sister, several times, last night'?"

"Charlotte and I came to an agreement on how to help Kol," he said. "It was her idea."

"And you just decided it would be perfectly fine to go along with it?"

"She was rather convincing. And there was no real risk since I'm a hybrid and she can't die at the hands of a supernatural."

"That's not the point—" her grip tightened on the wheel—"the point is you didn't even hesitate. You saw it as a means to an end."

"That's not true," he breathed out. Clenching his jaw he turned to look out the passenger window.

"You didn't care what happened to Charlotte, as long as it helped you and your family," she harped on.

"Is your opinion of me really so low?" He'd hoped he'd shown he was more than what the Salvatore's and the doppelganger said of him.

"You've hurt others to get what you want before." She wouldn't let him hurt Charlotte and get away with it.

"Yes, but those people didn't matter," he snapped, turning towards Caroline. "Charlotte is your sister. She's Kol and Rebekah's friend. She's even managed to get underneath Elijah's cool, collected, distant exterior. If you think it was easy looking into her innocent blue eyes and snapping her neck, you're bloody wrong."

And he hated it. He hated the betraying feeling of remorse that came with each crack of her neck. He didn't want to care about her. He didn't want to care about anyone. Caring was a weakness, and he already cared too much. For his family and for Caroline. Why should it extend to this inconsequential girl who should only be a tool for him to claim more power?

"You expect me to believe that you, the Hybrid, who owes no one his loyalty but himself, felt anything when he broke the neck of someone he doesn't even like?"

"I never said I didn't like her." Charlotte was annoyingly hard to dislike. The whole of Caroline's family was rather like-able. "You Forbes women don't seem to know your effect on us Mikaelsons."

Jeremy wasn't near as shaken about Kol's reaction as Charlotte. When Elijah let them out of the room, he went straight to Rebekah and asked her for help training. He wanted to be prepared whenever Klaus and Caroline returned. It was also a form of distraction. The anniversary of his parent's death had crept up on him unknowingly, what with everything that'd been going on, but now that it was days away, it was all he could think about. Instead of dwelling on the mixed emotions it brought up, he threw himself into daily training.

Jeremy circled Rebekah, twirling a wooden stake in his right hand and wiping sweat from his brow with his left. She'd agreed to help him practice the whole staking a vampire thing. It was harder than he remembered. Probably because when he'd staked Anna, she'd been debilitated by the Gilbert device, and because Rebekah was an Original. An Original who was probably going easy on him.

"He's persistent, I'll give him that," Elijah commented, coming to stand beside Charlotte. "And he's keeping up with Rebekah surprisingly well for a human."

"He's not fully human anymore," Charlotte said, not taking her eyes off him or Rebekah.

"You're not helping him, are you?" He asked, glancing down at her. She sent him an offended look. "I'm just surprised with how well he's doing."

"I'm not diminishing Rebekah's abilities," she said.

"Are you amplifying his?" He asked, studying her closely.

"I don't even know how to do that." She'd only just figured out how to diminish supernatural powers. She hadn't even tried to amplify them. "Are you sure she's not going easy on him?"

"Trust me, that's not in Rebekah's nature," Elijah smiled. "She may be refraining from landing a killing blow, but she's not letting down on her defense. He's keeping up with her on his own merits."

In a flash, Rebekah had Jeremy pinned to the ground, fangs exposed. Tapping out of the hold, she let him up, and they began again.

"How's Kol doing today?" She hadn't seen him in days. Elijah insisted it was best to limit his contact with her and Jeremy after his reaction to the news.

"The same." Elijah's answer was curt enough she knew he was lying to spare her.

"Is he still against the plan?" she asked, recalling the manic look in his eyes when he insisted Jeremy couldn't kill a vampire to complete his transition to Hunter.

"I'm not even sure if Kol is aware of what he's saying at this point," he sighed. His brother was becoming more unhinged by the day. "I'm sure it's just the curse messing with his mind, trying to prevent his torture from ending prematurely."

"I hope you're right." She wanted to end Kol's suffering. She wouldn't have suffered four broken necks if she didn't. But she also didn't want Jeremy to endure any ill-consequences. She didn't want to transfer the suffering from Kol to Jeremy.

The visitor's lot was small and pretty much empty when Caroline parked three spaces from the entrance. Klaus already had his hand on the door handle when she put it in park, ready to go in without even discussing their plan.

"Wait, what's our plan?" Caroline asked. Plans were kind of important, especially when breaking into a high security prison.

"I was going to go with compulsion," he said, stepping out of the car.

"What if they're on vervain, or immune to compulsion?" She pressed, following him out of the car.

"Killing tends to work just as well." He continued towards the door, not bothered by her growing agitation.

"I'm not killing innocent guards." She rounded in front of him forcing him to stop.

"I don't recall asking you to."

"I'm not letting you kill innocent guards either." They were already going to be ending one life today, albeit a murderer's life, but still a life nonetheless.

"I'd love to see how you plan on stopping me."

"I'm serious, Klaus. No killing."

"Then you better hope compulsion works," he said.

She scurried after him, only slowing when he held the door to the prison open for her. Her heeled boots clacked against the linoleum floor, only slightly louder than her heart pounding away in her chest as they approached the first guard station.

"Visiting hours are over," the guard said without looking up from his phone.

"Clearly they've got the finest security has to offer," Klaus scoffed sarcastically at the guard, making Caroline elbow him.

"Visiting hours don't apply to lawyers," she said, pulling out what little judicial information she'd retained from her mom's lectures. It got the guard to look up.

"You ain't no lawyer lady," he said, looking her up and down. Even with botox a lawyer couldn't pass as a teenager.

"Rude," Caroline huffed. She could totally be a lawyer if she wanted to.

"Right, now we've got your attention," Klaus said, his eyes dilating. "You're going to let us in, full access, and delete all records of security tapes from today."

Caroline shifted, her gaze darting around, before settling back on the guard. If this didn't work, she had a feeling Klaus was about to make things bloody regardless of her protests. She tensed when his hand went towards his utility belt, but instead of grabbing his walkie-talkie radio, he grabbed his key card and slid it through the small hole in the partition. It worked. Thank God.

Klaus took the lead through the multiple gates, compelling any guards they came across along the way. When they reached the final gate leading to the prisoners they'd come for, Caroline stopped him.

"You have to make sure whoever you turn is guilty," she said.

"It's death row, Love. I'm fairly certain the judicial system already determined that." He turned to walk through the gate, but she reached out to him.

"I've seen Green Mile. Innocent men can be convicted. I'm just asking you make sure whoever you take is actually guilty."

He shook his head.

"Bleeding hearts. Both you and your sister," he muttered.

Shane poured over maps he hadn't touched for years. Not since the last time he'd come across a Hunter. That Hunter had failed in his attempt to reach Silas. His mark hadn't completed. Shane could get them to the island hiding Silas, but the spell to open his tomb wouldn't work if the mark was incomplete. Jeremy's mark wasn't complete yet, but that was only temporary. The Bennett witch had confirmed Charlotte could not die at the hand of anything supernatural. Not only that, but Charlotte seemed to have mastered the ability to diminish supernatural powers. From his studies, that was the harder part of Amplifier's powers. The more natural one being to amplify supernatural powers. If she could diminish, she had the potential to amplify. Both were good news when it came to moving his plan into place. Jeremy's success would rely heavily on her. And if he did succeed, Shane would have the perfect bargaining chip for Silas: an Amplifier in exchange for his family.

A message from Bonnie, whom he'd instructed to keep him informed after their last session, for their safety of course, had him running a hand through his hair.

Klaus and Caroline are out of town. Tomorrow is the anniversary of Jeremy's parent's death. Charlotte and Jeremy always visit their graves.

Exiting out of the message, he went to his recent calls and hit the number he'd gotten from one of his colleagues in the occult studies field. It was just about to transfer to voicemail when there was a click as someone answered the line. There was no hello. There hadn't been before either.

"The timeline has moved up. Tomorrow. Mystic Falls. The cemetery."

A grunt was the only affirmation he got before the line went dead. His colleague had always been reliable in the past. Shane was confident it would all work out.

The morning of the anniversary of Jeremy's parent's death started with a light drizzle and progressed to a dreary afternoon. As much as Charlotte insisted he could stay home, that she'd bring him whatever work he missed at school, Jeremy insisted on going. He needed the distraction. He also needed to be with Lottie. So, they drudged through the day together, skipping the classes they didn't share. The hours after school were spent reliving memories around town, until they stopped by the florist and headed to the first of the two places that held the worst memories for Jeremy.

"I really hate this bridge," he said as they peered over the side of Wickery Bridge to the murky water below.

"Me too," she said, stepping closer to his side. She hated thinking of his parents, who had always been second parents to her, trapped under there. She couldn't imagine how it made him feel.

Plucking one of the bluebells from the bouquet, his mother's favorite, he tossed them over the railing. Slowly they drifted down until they caused gentle ripples across the water where they landed, floating downstream.

"Come on, we have one more stop on this memorial tour," Jeremy said, turning to leave. He couldn't stand to be anywhere near the site of the crash any longer.

Gray clouds darkened overhead as Jeremy and Charlotte stood outside the entrance of the cemetery. Her left hand entwined with his right, they took the first step together, her pink rubber rain boots squeaking. The sky opened up with that first step, soaking through his tee and trailing drops down her bare legs. The sun had almost disappeared behind one of the old mausoleums, and the temperature drop had fog forming around their legs. Charlotte's boots squished in the muddy grass when they stepped off the paved path and moved farther into the cemetery.

She squeezed his hand when they stopped in front of his parents' graves. The rain made it impossible to tell if he was crying. He probably appreciated that. It provided a sense of privacy to his mourning. Still, she was prepared to give him a moment alone, but he gripped her hand tighter when she started to pull away. Instead, she knelt with him when he laid the bouquet he'd brought in front of the gravestone, his hand tracing over his parents' names. Leaning her head against his shoulder, she let him have his silent moment with his parents' memories, staying there until her knees were numb. The sun had officially set and the chill in the air had her shivering.

"We can stay longer," she said when he started to rise. She didn't want him to rush on her behalf.

"It's okay. I'm ready to go," he said, helping her up.

Turning from the grave, they paused when they realized they weren't alone. Five shadow covered figures blocked the dirt path that led back to the front of the cemetery. The lamps that lined the main paved road barely illuminated the path, and weren't enough to identify the figures. Pulling her phone from her pocket, Charlotte turned on the flashlight mode and held it out with shaky hands.

Black veins pushed against the first one's skin, just below the eyes, and her stomach sank. Jeremy tensed beside her, his hand slipping from hers. He dropped to one knee, pulling a stake from the holster he'd gotten from Alaric's stash. Neither of them were fast enough to outrun even one vampire. The only chance either of them had was to fight their way out. And even that wasn't very promising.

"How do you want to do this?" she asked, stuffing her phone back in her pocket and pulling the wooden stake she'd stuck through her bun like the hair chopsticks Caroline got her for her thirteenth birthday.

"I'll take the three on the right. You take the two on the left. And maybe try to diminish their powers."

She didn't have time to question the arrangement of him taking on more of them before he lunged towards the three on the right. Following his lead, she approached the two on the left: a man and a woman both with tangled shoulder length hair. Her rubber boots slowed her down, but she managed to avoid their first two attacks. Fanning the warmth that started in her center until it started expanding stole too much of her focus from the fight. Moving away from the vampires, her boot stuck in the mud, tripping her up. One of their hands snapped towards her neck, their long dirty nails slicing through her skin. Her blood was thick and warm against her throat. Seconds later her vision blurred, and she crashed to the ground. When she sat back up, she was in the middle of a garden that reminded her very much of Mulan.

Caroline turned up the car's stereo to drown out the steady pounding coming from the trunk. Now she could pretend it was the bass instead of the serial killer they'd broken out of a high security prison.

"Now you know how all your victims felt," she muttered, leaning back in the passenger seat. Klaus glanced at her out of the corner of his eye with a smile.

"Eyes on the road. The last thing we need is to be pulled over," she said, failing to hide her returning smile.

"I think I can manage getting us out of any traffic tickets." He was a lot more carefree than he'd been on the drive down. He even had the audacity to wink at her.

"I'm more concerned about getting arrested for human trafficking." She wasn't a rule breaker, and they'd just broken multiple laws that could send them to prison for life.

"He's in transition, so he's technically not human anymore."

"Try explaining that to the authorities." She highly doubted any state troopers believed in the supernatural. "You could have at least compelled him to be quiet."

She gripped the side of the car as he hit a pothole, shaking the car. She had a feeling he did that on purpose for their passenger.

"Where's the fun in that?"

"Where indeed," she gave in to his cheery attitude. They'd successfully broken out an inmate who, based on his confessions when Klaus compelled him, truly did deserve to die for his crimes.

"No, no. I can't be dead. Not now," Charlotte muttered to herself. Jeremy needed her. She couldn't spend hours on whatever afterlife plane she had fallen into upon her death.

Problem was, she didn't know what it was that sent her back. It varied and she'd never had any control over it before. She'd never actively tried to go back. Maybe if she laid back down like she'd arrived she'd magically go back to her body. Curling in on herself, she laid on her side in the grass and…nothing. Abandoning that approach, she sat up.

Sometimes when she did the freaky merge thing with someone it'd lead to her leaving. She'd never come to an afterlife void of others. There had to be someone in this godforsaken garden. She just needed to find them. Making a random turn down a path, she picked up her pace, stumbling over some loose stones as her gaze frantically scanned every crevice of garden she passed looking for someone, anyone. Her heart pounded and she wrung her hands after making several random turns, somehow ending up in the spot where she'd started. There seemed to be not another living soul in the garden and every minute she wasted searching meant another minute Jeremy had to fight off five vampires, alone. Assuming that time worked the same on this afterlife plane as it did back home. She really wasn't sure how any of it worked, and it had her feeling helpless.

Her breaths huffed out, shallow even though she wasn't winded or overexerting herself. She was panicking, and panicking wouldn't help her come up with a viable solution. In an attempt to slow her racing heart, she closed her eyes, forcing her breath to slow as she inhaled through her nose and exhaled out her mouth. A warm wind swirled the scent of cherry blossoms around her. Taking another slow, deep breath, the warm wind was replaced with cold raindrops.

Blinking her eyes open she was back in the cemetery. She had no idea how, but she didn't care. She needed to help Jeremy. Her eyes took a moment to reacclimate to the dark. When they did, a chunk of ice formed in her stomach. Jeremy was ten feet away, blood dripping from his mouth, one of his eyes swollen, and mud caking his body. He desperately lashed out at the tangle of vampires surrounding him, overpowering him. One of the vampire's arms reached out, gripping Jeremy's neck like it had hers.

Kicking off her rainboots and grabbing her stake from the ground beside her, Charlotte sprinted towards him. With a guttural scream she felt the ball of ice in her stomach expand until her fingers and toes were practically numb from the cold. The vampires turned to her, wide eyes startled at her rising from the dead. In that moment of distraction, Jeremy forced the hand around his neck away as easily as picking lint from a sweater. In a flash, he drove the stake through the closest vampire's heart and before its limp body hit the ground, he'd done the same to two of the others.

He took the last two out in fast succession, almost too quick for her to follow, tossing the stake from his right to his left hand to finish the last one off. Blood dripped from the stake, staining his fingertips red until the rain washed it away. When he realized the threats were gone, he turned towards her. He still gripped the stake tightly as he rushed to her.

"Lottie, are you okay?" he asked. His thumb brushed across the blood on her throat, smearing it.

"You killed all five of them in less than a minute," she said, her eyes darting to the dead vampires behind him. When she'd returned he'd been overpowered by them. "How is that possible?"

"I don't know. I just felt a surge of energy. Like I was invincible. Like I could do anything." Reaching out for her hand, he immediately cupped it in both of his. "Your hands are like ice."

Her eyes focused back on him. On his bleeding lip, his swollen eye.

"Are you okay?" Pulling her hand out from his, she pressed lightly on the skin by his eye.

"I'm great. But I think we need to get you out of the rain before you go into hypothermic shock." He took her other hand in his, glancing down at her chilled fingers, her eyes widened when she saw black ink curling from his right hand up to the edge of his sleeve.

"I can see your mark," she said, pulling his hand up to eye level. "And it's grown. A lot."

"You can see it?" She definitely wasn't a potential Hunter, so why could she suddenly see it?

A shiver wracked her body, and how she could see the mark no longer mattered. What mattered was getting her warm. Wrapping his arm around her shoulder, he led them out of the cemetery.

Kol was exhausted. His mind was clouded all the time and it was harder to tell reality from hallucinations; he was tired of trying.

"You never could keep it together for very long," Rebekah said, perching on the arm of the ripped-up couch. "Why do you think you spent most of your vampire life daggered? You would lose it and we'd have to clean up the mess."

"Well, I've lost it now. And there's no dagger," Kol said, waving his hands down his body. "Turns out you lot don't care if I lose it as long as I'm contained when doing so."

"We're tired of the temporary solution. Now we're just trying to find a white oak stake to permanently remove your troubles from our lives."

"You think you're strong enough to kill me?" He was an Original, just like them.

"We were strong enough to dagger you. Not much of a difference between the two, really." She shrugged.

"And you'd really kill your little brother? What about 'Always and Forever?'"

"You were never really a part of that, Kol," she chastised.

Kol's fists clenched at the same time his eyes stung with unshed tears upon hearing what he'd always suspected, what he'd always known. His family did not want him. They never had.

"How could anyone truly want you? It's better this way, for everyone."

A tear escaped, rolling down his cheek, when he realized she was right. His head fell, making the tear fall to the ground. His muddled thoughts, reality tangling with fantasy, pushed him to accept the inevitability of his death. Then, just like a strong wind clearing dark storm clouds from the sky, his mind was clear, with no voices echoing around it. Glancing up, he found the disarrayed room empty save for him and he fell to his knees. It was over. He was free. His relief was only momentary when he realized what that meant.

Rising to his feet, he crossed the room to the door, banging his fist against it. His hand was bruised with a few cuts that would heal as soon as he got some blood by the time Elijah opened it.

"Where are Jeremy and Charlotte?" Kol demanded. He needed to make sure they were safe. That Jeremy killing a vampire had been carefully controlled, not unpredictably in a rush to defend him or Charlotte.

Elijah was about to write off Kol's outburst as part of the curse until he looked into his eyes. They were clear for the first time since he'd killed the Hunter and evoked the curse.

"You're cured?" How was that possible. Klaus and Caroline had yet to return with the vampire they intended for Jeremy to kill.

"Where are they?" Kol asked again.

"I don't know," Elijah admitted. "They've been gone for hours."

"I need to find them," Kol insisted. "They could be in danger."

"Until we find out if the curse is truly lifted, I cannot let you out. I gave Niklaus my word," Elijah sighed. Kol might seem lucid, but it could be a trick of the curse. Or a momentary lucidness that could rescind as soon as he let him free.

"Elijah, please," Kol said, though he knew it was useless. Elijah always kept his word.

"I will find them," Elijah promised, stepping out of the room and closing the door abruptly before Kol could rush him. "I'm sorry."

Charlotte's rubber boots squeaked loudly against the marble floors in the foyer of the Original's mansion, announcing their homecoming. Jeremy's trepidation when they crossed the threshold only increased when Rebekah and Elijah whooshed into the room from wherever they'd been.

"There you two are. We were getting worried," Rebekah said, her brows furrowing as she took in their disheveled appearance and her nose wrinkled when she smelt a familiar coppery scent. "Is that blood?"

Jeremy's left hand clenched tighter around the bloody stake and he tugged Charlotte a step behind him with his other hand, their fingers still entwined.

"I don't think we require Niklaus to bring us a vampire anymore," Elijah said, his gaze darting to the stake Jeremy held. "It appears Jeremy has completed his transition to Hunter."

"Are you two alright," Rebekah asked, stepping towards them. Elijah held out an arm to stop her, noticing the way Jeremy's muscles tensed at the movement. Charlotte noticed it as well, her eyes trained on Jeremy.

"We're fine, but I think we better get cleaned up," Charlotte said, tugging on Jeremy's hand to get him to move towards the staircase.

"Come Rebekah," Elijah said, noticing Jeremy's reluctance to turn his back on them.

Jeremy didn't move until they were gone. Though he'd much prefer to leave the house, he followed Charlotte upstairs, but he refused to leave her alone when she tried to part ways at the bedroom she shared with the female Original.

"I'm just going to shower. I'll meet you in your room when I'm done. I'll be fine," she said, not understanding Jeremy's aversion to leaving her alone. It wasn't like there was any danger that could reach her with Elijah and Rebekah in the house.

"How can you promise that when you share a room with an Original?" He didn't like the idea of any vampire getting anywhere near her, let alone an Original.

"Rebekah won't hurt me."

"She's a vampire," he spat out, his eyes narrowing. "All they do is hurt people."

"Okay," she relented. She didn't understand his newfound animosity, but they both needed to get cleaned up. The dried blood was starting to itch. They could unpack his new aversion to vampires after they were clean. "Let me just grab a fresh pair of clothes at least."

Slipping into her shared room, she quickly dug through her duffle, grabbing fresh underwear and a clean pair of shorts and tee. Jeremy was right outside the door when she opened it, standing like a sentry, his gaze darting up and down the hall. As soon as she stepped out, he ushered her down the hall to his room, locking the door behind them. Not that it would do much to hold back vampires.

"You're being paranoid, Jer. Nothings going to attack us in here." The vampires in the cemetery were all dead. Their appearance there seemed more than a coincidence but that didn't mean they were currently in any danger.

"You can shower first," he said. He still wasn't sure how he was going to shower himself and keep her safe.

With a sigh she moved past him into the lavish bathroom. The clawfoot tub in the corner looked inviting, but she needed to wash the blood from the ends of her hair. Instead, she opted for a steaming shower that relaxed her muscles and washed away the blood. It took some reassurance and prodding for Jeremy to take his own shower.

Jeremy rushed through his shower, slathering soap as quickly as he could. His attention wasn't in the mundane act, instead listening for any signs of trouble from the bedroom. In a matter of minutes, he'd finished. Slipping on shorts, he didn't bother with a shirt as he stepped back into the bedroom. He breathed a sigh of relief to find Lottie sitting on his bed, her wet hair sticking to her shoulders.

Charlotte's attention moved to Jeremy when he emerged shirtless from the bathroom. Her cheeks warmed as he approached her, and it took her a second to realize his mark hadn't just spread up his arm, but across his shoulder and chest as well.

"I still don't understand how I can see it," she said when he sat beside her.

He watched her intensely as she reached out for him, her fingers brushing against the mark on his arm. Her skin was warm against his, and her light touch tracing the mark up his arm had shivers running down his spine. Her blue eyes followed her fingers, captivating him just as much as her touch.

Charlotte's fingers moved up Jeremy's arm, following the lines of his mark. At his collarbone she traced the lines depicting a woman with a halo crown until his hand moved to still hers. Her gaze darted up from the mark, meeting his, and the heat she found there had her pulse thudding wildly. She hadn't realized how close they were sitting, but somehow it wasn't close enough. His heated look pulled her closer still, and she only broke eye contact when she pressed her lips to his.

His lips were warm and unrelenting as he kissed her back without restraint. With his hand cradling the back of her neck, his fingers tangled in her wet hair just like his tongue with hers. He lowered her back onto the bed, following her down. Slowing down their kiss, he savored the feeling of her, her taste, the scent of roses, stronger after her shower. He let it all overpower him, relishing getting lost in her. For a brief moment, he forgot everything outside of the two of them. Until a knock on the door permeated the blissful moment.

Pulled back to reality, Jeremy straightened up, pulling out the stake Charlotte didn't know he had tucked in the back waistband of his jeans. His back muscles tensed as the lock clicked and the door swung open.

"Kol," Charlotte said, slipping off the bed. A slow smile spread over her face. For him to be out of the room Klaus locked him in it meant it worked. The Hunter's curse was broken.

"Don't take another step," Jeremy said, twirling the stake in his hand. It wouldn't do any permanent damage, but it would temporarily debilitate the Original and give them enough time to get out.

Kol stilled, his sad gaze flicking from Jeremy to Charlotte.

"I told you it would ruin everything, Little Dove," he said in a forlorn voice.

Eoghan paced the dark alley, antsy and annoyed at being summoned like a dog. After failing so spectacularly at getting the girl to the boss, barely escaping the whole disaster with his life, he could only hope the boss was in a forgiving mood.

"You came, good," the boss said from behind him, making him turn on his heel.

"I didn't have much of a choice," he muttered. The mark worked both ways. It helped him keep tabs on those branded with it, but it also forced him to come when activated. "Not that I had much of one before."

"Mind your tone. I'm not pleased you failed with the girl." They'd had one simple job, to keep the young amplifier captive until he could verify if the whispers about her being the High Priestess were true.

"She had help. The Originals are on her side." How she'd managed that, he didn't know. Vampires were leeches in this world. How an Amplifier could befriend any, let alone the Original family, notorious for only caring about their own, was beyond him.

"That was unforeseeable," the boss admitted. "If we're to get to the girl, we need to cut her off from everyone around her who cares about her and who she cares about."

"And how are we to do that with vampires who cannot be killed?" Eoghan asked. "Are you suggesting another kidnapping?"

It was highly unlikely they'd be remotely successful a second time. Not with the girl more aware of her powers.

"No. No, I think it's time to try a new tactic. Use honey instead of tar." And if that didn't work, orchestrated betrayal worked just as well as death to separate her from those she cared for.

"And how are we going to accomplish that alone? Celeste and Gregory are dead," Eoghan reminded him when the boss turned to leave.

"Gregory can be replaced, and Celeste's death won't last long." She never stayed dead for long. "But for this to work, we need more than witches or Hunters."

"You can't be thinking of including the vampires." They were the lowest of low when it came to supernatural creatures. Even lower than werewolves.

"Of course not," he scoffed, his eyes narrowing in displeasure. What he had to do wasn't much better than asking the vampires for help. "I'm going to talk to the council."


A/N This took forever. I've been exhausted lately and had no energy to do anything let alone write. I also had so many things I wanted to cover in this chapter, but it always came out disjointed. It still feels disjointed, but I'm not sure how to fix it. So I'm posting it as is. I hope you enjoyed it. I'm excited to progress the story. I have so many videos I've made but they have to wait to be shared until I get further in the story otherwise it might spoil some things. Thanks to anyone who is still reading this. I really appreciate your patience.

Now onto guest review responses

Starlight: Yeah Shane is not good. At all. Bonnie did snitch, but Shane had some voodoo way of getting her to let her guard down. I'm glad you liked the flashbacks. They will definitely be reoccurring. Haha Glad you liked who I picked as William on my Instagram. I really hope you continue to enjoy the story!

Rach

xoxo