So, please don't hate me for how short this chapter is. Not only does it explain a lot, there's a shit ton of hints. Pay attention ;)


Pain throbbed across her forehead, a dull ache in some areas but an unbearable tearing sensation in the very front. She groaned, lifting one hand to press against it. What the hell happened?

As she shifted, Val felt something rough scrape against her skin. No, not something, the whole ground. Whatever she was laying on was hard. And it hurt. She shifted again, this time with her other hand. Pain flared up her forearm, and she winced.

Wait, where was her crucifix?

"Val! Oh my gosh, Val!"

Small, cold hands were on her shoulders, pushing her into a sitting position. The movement sent nausea rushing through her, and she groaned, swallowing the vomit that threatened to soak the only clothes she was wearing.

I'm so concerned for permanent brain damage. This has to be my fourth concussion.

"Val, please wake up! Here, sit up, it's ok!"

That was Elena's voice. As Val struggled to fully sit up, her eyes opened, amber orbs sweeping over the dark stone room they were in.

"Lena?" She muttered, moving to stand, but grunted when her legs gave out and she hit the floor again. She barely managed to avoid landing on her throbbing wrist, and a soft cry left her lips before she forced her pain down, struggling to speak. "What- what happened?"

"I don't know! How did you end up here? Rick says he brought you here, what the hell happened to you?"

"Rick…" Val muttered, and her eyes widened a fraction as she remembered. "He- he came to the house… we fought, he-" she coughed, body shaking, "he beat the shit out of me. What's going on?" She shifted again, groaning at the dizzy feeling that swept across her head. "I can barely move."

"It's a simple weakening spell." The voice, a woman's with a British accent, interrupted them. She was standing in the doorway next to Rick, short blonde hair curled with a smart black coat and boots. She made every other Karen in the world look like a puppy.

"Esther." Val muttered darkly, and the woman smiled.

"It's wonderful to meet you, Valentina. You'll forgive me for the spell, but I'm afraid I can't have any of your interference tonight. This ritual must be completed."

"Another spell to off your kids, huh?" Val asked weakly, pushing herself further into a sitting position. "You know, I thought my mother and I had serious issues, but I'll admit. You kind of take the trophy for world's worst parent."

"I'm not here to talk about my children. We are here to talk about Alaric."

"Where the hell is my crucifix?"

"Safe. It will be preserved, but I cannot allow it to destroy my progress here tonight." She nodded at Rick. "He removed it for me and has hidden it well."

Val's glare moved to her currently psychotic best friend. "So, you're the one who put him up to throwing me around. I didn't peg you as the type to put up with abuse."

"He did what needed to be done. I was simply explaining to Elena that Rick will pick up where my husband left off. The vampire to end all vampires, the ultimate hunter. He will finish what Mikael could not."

Val snorted. "'The ultimate hunter'. Well, what are you waiting for? You wanted me to witness the ceremony for tradition? Or you thought it would help make him more evil by making his best friend watch the whole thing?"

"It's actually something quite simple. Rick must be the only hunter on the planet. There cannot be any who oppose him, none who can match his power and protect the vampires he seeks to kill."

"Well, I know you're not talking about Mikael, and I'm too damn dizzy to deal with riddles. So, tell me the ending."

"It's you, Valentina. You already are the ultimate hunter."

Val narrowed her eyes at the woman, shifting against the rough stone wall. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"It's only happened once before. A failed experiment, from what I understand. Your ancestor, Victor Rodriguez, took my husband's blood in an attempt to kill both Niklaus and Kol. It affected him as it affected you; made him faster, stronger, better in every way. With the combination of the spelled crucifix, he was at the level of the Originals. A vampire without the bloodlust or the weakness to wood and sun, a warrior without the monstrosity underneath. My husband thought he had created the first of a whole new race, one that would eradicate vampires from existence."

Esther paused, then shook her head, frowning. "But nature would not allow such power without weakness. The witches on the other side would not let such a powerful creature to exist. The spelled blood of the crucifix began attacking the blood in Victor's body. It tore at him, turned him rabid, ate him up and eventually caused him to murder his own wife before turning his blade on himself."

"And you're saying that's what I'm in for?" Val asked, voice still hoarse as she struggled to push past the weakness in her limbs. "To be just like him?"

"I'm actually saying quite the opposite." Esther turned to her, head cocking to the side. "When Mikael died, did you or did you not feel the pain in your chest? The burning in your skin? The agony so intense, you thought for certain that this must be what death feels like?"

Val didn't want to answer, mostly because Esther was right. She settled for staring at the woman, knowing she would continue. And she did.

"And when you went to drive the white oak stake through Niklaus's heart, did you feel that intense hatred? The loathing, the desperation to kill the creature in front of you, to wipe it out of existence?"

"You know, if you have a point, you should get there." Val reminded her weakly.

"I'm already at my point, Valentina. When my husband died, a piece of his essence, his very soul, split. Instead of moving on, like it should have, it searched for Mikael. And it went where it sensed him. Because of this, his blood in your veins did not pass from your body. It stayed, attached to his essence, and both attached to you."

A cold feeling started in Val's stomach, growing like poison through her bloodstream and making her skin feel like ice.

Alaric was watching the whole thing, the same darkly enthralled expression tattooed to his face. As Esther continued, it only seemed to grow more pronounced.

"You are the ultimate huntress, Valentina, because my husband unwittingly chose you as his successor. By implementing a piece of his very being into your blood and your existence, you would be the ideal candidate to follow in his footsteps."

Elena shuffled closer to Val, face white like snow. She placed a hand on the girl's shoulder, staring at Esther in horror, but Val's lips were pressed into a thin line. She glared at the woman in front of her, breathing picking up.

"And you just don't like me enough, is that it?"

"No. I'm afraid Mikael chose you with some limited knowledge. You cannot be trusted to carry out the deed of killing my children. There will come a time when you will not be able to complete the task."

"My loyalty does not lie with the fucking Mikaelsons." Val hissed, a little offended that the old witch would even suggest such a thing. But again, and to Val's increasing anger, Esther shook her head.

"Not right now, it doesn't. But I've seen my children's choices, and the consequences that have followed. You know one of them, too, and it's much closer than you think. It would keep you from completing the task, and that, I'm afraid, is why you must die." She turned to Rick. "When your transition is complete, she will be your second kill. Only after my son is dead."

Val barely had time to register the words before Rick bent down and grabbed her, yanking her to her feet. She stumbled, unable to stand properly as he dragged her to the large stone bowl in the center of the tomb. Roughly grabbing her uninjured wrist, he held it over the bowl and dragged a blade across it, the sharp pain making Val bit her lip. Blood rushed from the wound, bleeding into the bowl and mixing with the blood already present. Elena's.

Once both had decided it was enough, Rick shoved her back. Her body hit the ground with a thud, and Elena rushed forward to drag the girl back. The world seemed to swim in and out of focus, and she struggled to push past the black sea of unconscious that threatened to envelop her as Esther spoke again.

"Drink, and let it be done."

Helplessness and anger clawed at Val's chest as her best friend grabbed the bowl, holding it delicately in his hands.

"No, Rick, please don't!" Elena begged, but the man ignored her. His eyes flickered to Val, and for the smallest second, she could have sworn she saw awareness in them.

"Rick…" she croaked, shifting on the floor. "Rick, please. You're my best friend, the last one I have. Don't do this, you don't have to do this…"

The flicker was gone, and in its place a hard expression overtook it. He glowered at her and spoke, voice laced with venom that nearly stung.

"If you had just protected Jenna like you swore you would, none of this would be happening. Every drop of blood shed from here on out is on you, Val."

And then he raised the bowl to his lips and drank it all.

Val felt her heart shatter. Defeat rushed over her like a wave, her limbs going slack under the loss. Rick finished gulping down the blood and dropped the bowl, pausing. When nothing happened, he raised his eyes to Esther.

"Is it finished?"

"Not just yet."

And then she stabbed him through the heart.

"No!" Val cried, a sob breaking past her lips as Rick collapsed. She fought against the weakness and crawled towards him, pressing her hands against the wound. "Rick, Rick please!"

He was completely still, eyes glassy and staring at the ceiling. Val felt a tear slide down her face, and Elena joined her at Rick's side.

"Rick," Val murmured weakly, raising a bloody hand to his cheek. "Rick, please don't go."

But he didn't move. Reaching forward, she wrapped her hand around the stake and pulled it from his chest, whimpering as the movement made her body throb in agony. She threw it to the side; it felt like it burned her skin. She never wanted to see it ever again.

"He may wake for a short time before his transition is complete. If that is the case, then you can say your last good-bye's."

"You said you wanted to do the evil you created, but this-"Elena snarled tearfully at Esther, pointing to Rick as she cradled his head, "this is just as evil!"

"Alaric will never be what my children became." Esther told the girl calmly. Val didn't bother to weigh in. She felt like just speaking too loudly would drain what little energy she had left, and she didn't have much. The world felt like it was going gray around her, slowly drowning her in the waves of grief. All she could think when she stared at Rick's body was, I'm so sorry, Jenna. I'm so sorry.

"I have granted him enough power to complete his task," Esther continued, "then, when the time is right, he will die."

"How? If he's immortal-"

"All you need to know is that we will have rid the Earth of vampires once and for all." Esther interrupted Elena's protest solemnly.

"Yeah," Elena gingerly set Rick's head down on the ground and pulled herself to her feet, "but you'll be killing the good along with the bad. You're not better than Klaus!"

"Am I not? I desire a world where you and your loved ones will not suffer at the hands of vampires, like your aunt Jenna did."

"Don't." Val snarled, looking up from Rick's body. "Don't ever mention her again."

"Don't you dare use Jenna as an excuse for what you did." Elena added.

"You may draw comfort from knowing that Jenna was not in the same place as I was." Her words gave Val pause, and she turned to look at Esther's face. The woman stared at her somberly. "She doesn't know the torment of the other side. Thought made a vampire, she remained pure. And she knows peace. Which is all any of us can hope for."

A twig snapped outside, and all three of them looked at the door where the sound originated from. Esther turned and walked outside slowly, Elena following. Not too long after, Val heard the distinct sound of a rifle being cocked.

She recognized Jeremy and Matt's voices, but she couldn't move. She just sat there, sobbing as she clung to Rick's body. The guilt and shame and grief inside of her felt like it would surely rip a hole in her chest.

And then it was rage.

It boiled in her gut, ripping across her skin through her veins and making her vision go hazy. The weakness in her muscles began to lift, and her fingers curled into the fabric of Rick's shirt, knuckles going white. She looked up from his chest, jaw setting, body beginning to shake in fury. Her eyes fell on the bloody stake off to the side, and she was suddenly moving forward. Her fingers wrapped around it, and she turned on her heel, stalking outside.

Matt and Jeremy were standing across from each other, Matt pointing a rifle at Jeremy and Jeremy pointing a crossbow at Matt. They were both shaking, faces pale with fear.

"Matt, drop your gun!" Jeremy cried, but Matt shook his head.

"I can't, I'm not controlling it-!"

SCHLICK!

All three teens stopped, turning to Esther. Their eyes widened in horror to see the end of a wooden stake sticking out of her neck. The woman herself began to choke, blood gurgling up in her mouth. She turned slowly, body swaying to see Val behind her.

The huntress stared at the woman in front of her with her jaw set, fingers steady as she reached up and grabbed the end of the stake.

"Enjoy the other side, Esther."

And then she ripped it out violently, blood spraying across her face. Esther's body dropped with finality to the ground, and then it was silent.

The teens all stared at Val, Elena moving to approach the girl hesitantly. But before she could speak, a new voice interrupted the deafening silence.

"Val? Elena?"

All four turned to see Rick staggering out of the tomb, looking horribly confused. The stake slipped from Val's hand and she bolted forward, grabbing onto the man and holding him close. Rick stared at her, then at Elena, Jeremy and Matt.

"Where's my ring?" He asked, hesitation and fear creeping into his voice. Val didn't say anything, simply continuing to hug him.


Meredith gave Val one final, tearful smile before she packed her medical supplies away and left. She had just finished administering a sedative to Rick, telling them he would simply fall asleep, and then go comfortably. He had repeatedly tried to get Val to leave, but she didn't. She stayed planted by her best friend's side, head on his shoulder, keeping him company. Her crucifix sat on her neck, nestled comfortably on top of her breasts. She clung to it, trying to draw comfort from the jewelry.

They didn't speak, and it was silent aside from the occasional sniffles that left Val. She couldn't remember the last time she cried this much, and she hated it. But she couldn't physically do anything else. She was losing another person she loved, and all there was to do was sit there and mourn them as they left her.

"Val," Rick said softly, "what I said about Jenna, I-I didn't mean it. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

"It's ok." She shushed him. "I forgive you, Rick." She looked up at him, shifting a little to the side so she could push some hair off his head. "Just rest, now. We're all safe, you can rest now."

He nodded, his eyelids drooping, and leaned his head back against the stone wall. Footsteps made Val look over to the door, meeting Damon's intense blue gaze. His eyes flickered to Rick and then back to her, and she nodded tearfully.

It was almost time.

With a sigh, Damon slid down on Rick's other side. They all sat there, the three muskateers. Staring at the wall in front of them. For just one second, Val recalled their first mission as a threesome to that house, to find out more about John. The thought made her chest ache worse, and she close her eyes as the tears began to fall again.

Please let me go back. Let me go back and tell you how much you mean to me, let me tell you how you were the older brother I never had.

Please let me go back.

"Is this the part where you give me a dream? Rainbows and rolling green hills." Rick murmured to Damon, and the vampire rolled his eyes.

"I was drunk when I told you that."

They both chuckled, and Rick nodded. "Yeah, but I told you I'd use it against you."

"Damn you." Damon cursed quietly, popping open his bottle and taking a swig. "Sorry I killed you. Twice."

Rick laughed breathily, eyes still closed. "So, I actually have to die to get a real apology out of you." He mused quietly, and Val sniffled. Rick's hand found hers, squeezing it weakly. Damon held the bottle towards Rick.

"Drink?"

"Actually, I've been thinking about cutting back."

Damon took another swig, "This stuff will kill you." He handed it over to Rick, who took a strong swallow.

"You gotta look after Val." Rick whispered, and both of his friends looked at him as he turned to Damon. "She's crazy, Damon. You need to make sure she's safe."

"Oh, fuck you guys." Val whispered, voice cracking as she shook her head. "I'm sitting right here."

The three of them chuckled tearfully, now crying earnestly. Rick settled back against the wall, eyes closing again.

"I can't think of a better way to go." He whispered, sounding tired, but happy. "I can't wait to see Jenna."

Val met Damon's eyes, and they both slid closer to their friend, offering their comfort.

It couldn't have been more than three minutes after when they heard Rick's breath catch. He twitched slightly, and then his head fell to the side.

He was gone.

A fresh wave of sobs pulled from Val's chest as she sat up, grabbing her best friends face and turning him towards her. She could feel him already starting to grow cold, and she felt her body slump forward. She pressed her face into his chest, and began to cry.

"Val." Damon's voice was right behind her, cracking in pain. "Val, we need to go now."

"Get away." She told him, "Get away from me."

A pair of strong arms grabbed her, yanking her to her feet, but she whirled around and shoved him as hard as she could. He flew back and hit a stone wall, grunting.

"I SAID GET AWAY!" She shrieked, eyes blazing. "Stay the fuck away from me!" She turned back to Rick's body, sobbing. "He's gone, he's dead. He's dead and it's all my fault…"

Damon stood, his own tears rolling down his face as he grabbed her again. She moved to fight him off, but was crying to hard for her movements to be anyway coordinated. He pulled her against his chest and held her there tightly.

"I hate you!" She cried, hitting his chest, "I hate you!"

"I know." He told her, voice thick with tears. "I know."

She continued to beat against his chest, screaming and crying, until finally, she slumped against him. "He's gone, Damon." She wailed, "He's gone, I've lost him and Jenna and now I failed…"

"It's ok, Val." He hugged her tightly, letting her cry.

"It's ok."


A few minutes later, they both staggered out of the tomb. Val's eyes were on the ground, her face tight and uncomfortable with tears. Snapping twigs caused the two of them to look up, eyes narrowing in confusion.

"Bonnie?" Val murmured, but the girl didn't respond. She moved forward, barefoot and still in her twenties costume, towards the tomb. "Bonnie, what are you doing here?"

She stopped, just next to them, and turned around. Raising her hand, she slowly curled her fingers into a fist.

Damon grunted, then grabbed his head, crying out. Val's eyes widened, and she started forward.

"No, Bon-"

The witches other hand came up, twisting. Val felt her head jerk violently, and then it was black.


Just so no one comes after me for how much Val cried: I get Val is this super strong girl, but she's lost a lot of people. She lost her father, her best friend, her siblings (twice) and now one of her best friends. Her world is slowly falling apart, and she's dangerously close to breaking.

And trust me, things will get very ugly when she does.