The day after Nik and Bekah left for Italy Nikolas and I were with April, who was a woman on a mission. She just couldn't believe that Bekah left with her brother. We walked into a closed Grill to see Matt alone getting ready to open.
"Uh… Matt?" April called to him as we walked up to him.
"Uh, hey, April, Nikky. We don't open until eleven." Matt told us.
"Oh, sorry, I wasn't like trying to scare you or stalk you or whatever. I just – I came to ask if you've seen Rebekah." She asked him.
"Why would I have seen Rebekah?" Matt asked looking back at me.
"Oh, I just assumed… I mean, aren't you guys kind of like a thing?" April asked him.
"Rebekah and I are not a thing." Matt scoffed at her.
"April I told you that Bekah went to Italy with Nik on business." I reminded her.
"Well, I – I mean I'm worried about her. She said she'd help me find stuff out about the fire that killed my dad and then she just – disappeared." April explained. We suddenly heard a noise behind us and turned to see Connor holding Jeremy with a knife to his throat. Matt immediately ran in front of April, Nikolas and I as Connor pushed Jeremy up to us.
"Trust me, that's the least of your problems." Connor told us. "Sit down! SIT DOWN!" he ordered us and we slowly backed up and sat down, me holding Nikolas closer to me. He was a curious child looking at everyone and everything while not knowing what was going on. Connor pushed Jeremy down into a chair next to me and I scooted closer to him in the chair and he wrapped his arm around my shoulders in comfort.
"Gilberts, give me your cell phone." Conner said holding his hand out to us.
"At least let April go. She doesn't have anything to do with this." Jeremy said as he and I grabbed our phones from our pockets.
"She has everything to do with this." Connor told him as we handed him our phones. "Her and her father. Plus, she and I have history."
"What are you talking about? I've never seen you before in my life." April told him.
"Wow, you kids need to get some vervain. And don't just wear it as a bracelet where anybody can just take it off." Connor said pointing to Jeremy's bracelet and my lockets. "Maybe then you'd remember our conversation at the hybrid's yesterday." Connor then started texting someone on our phones and moved away from us.
"Our conversation? Are you saying someone compelled me?!" Jeremy asked looking at me angrily.
"I swear Jer, I don't know anything. I didn't even know he was alive until today." I told him and he looked back at Connor.
"Would someone please tell me what he's talking about?!" April shouted getting annoyed.
"Compulsion, secrets, vampires." Connor listed off.
"If you know so much, then you know our friends are going to come for us." Matt told him.
"Oh, yeah, I'm counting on it. Every vampire that comes for you is another one I get to kill. Now, who should I text first? Hm?" Connor asked looking through our phones. "Damon Salvatore, his brother Stefan, Tyler Lockwood, your boyfriend Niklaus Mikaelson, his sister Rebekahl? Nah, all of the above." He sent off the messages before stabbing our phones with his knife. We spent the next few moments watching as he set up his traps, pouring something into a glass jar with nails and other things in it.
"He's clearly delusional. I mean, right? All this – all this talk about vampires, but I mean, he mentioned my dad." April cried.
"Hey, this guy's a nut job, okay? Don't let him get in your head." Matt told her.
"What if he knows something? Jeremy, did he say anything to you about why he's doing this?" April asked him.
"I don't know. Maybe. Maybe I just can't remember." Jer said before he got up.
"Jer no!" I begged grabbing his hand in worry.
"Let it go. Jeremy!" Matt told him. Jeremy pulled his hand out of mine and moved to Connor and Nikolas started crying.
"Shh sweetheart. It's okay." I whispered to him as Jer and Connor talked.
"He okay?" Matt asked me and I shrugged my shoulders.
"I think he's kinda sensing what's happening around him and knows that we're upset and worried." I told him.
"Smart baby." Matt said and I nodded with a small smile on my face.
"Yes, he is. He is Nik's son." I said bouncing Nikolas slightly which calmed him down.
"No, he's your son." Matt told me and I smiled at him.
"Hey! We're gonna have visitors soon, you three get in the back. Get up! MOVE!" Connor called to us. April got up, crying, and we all moved to the back area of the Grill. "Before you think about any other exits, I got every door rigged. Got it?" he called after us.
We sat in the backroom for a few moments before Matt got up and looked through the window into the Grill at Jer and Connor. He quickly moved to a shelf with a tool chest and opened it.
"When I was a kid, my dad used to tell me these scary stories about vampires." April told us holding Nikolas to her tightly. Holding him seemed to calm her down so she held them and kept them both calm.
"They're just stories." Matt told her as he grabbed some tools and moving to another shelf before moving it away from the wall.
"Not to that man out there. There's something so familiar about him." April told us.
"April, that man is insane. Anything he says can be chocked up to him being off his meds." I told her.
"Look, this is a messed up situation, but the last thing you want to do is buy into that guy's craziness." Matt told her. "You're gonna be fine. We're getting out of here."
"What is that?" April asked him as we joined him looking down at something.
"There used to be an exit to the old wine cellar." He told us looking inside the hidden room. There were bricks over an old enterence. "They bricked it over."
"So, that's it then? We're screwed." April asked him.
"No, we're not screwed." He told us. He grabbed a nail and placed it against the brick floor before grabbing a towel and placing it over the nail then hammering away at the nail. We were startled by a loud noise and we stared at the door to the main restaurant area.
"That sounded like a bomb." I said.
"Oh my God." Matt said. April started to back away from us before turning and gasping causing us to turn and look at Stefan covering her mouth. He place his finger to his lips, telling us to be quiet before handing Matt a phone with a map on it.
"Follow this map, get out of here, take her to Caroline so she can…" Stefan said motioning to April.
"Okay." Matt agreed taking April's hand in his and started walking away before turning to Stefan again. "Stefan, that guy is armed. If you go out there, he's gonna kill Jeremy."
"I'm coming with you." I told him.
"What about Nikolas?" Matt asked me.
"Call Tyler. Tell him to take him home." I said and Stefan tried to push me away from him.
"You're staying here. You have your son to look after." He told me and I gave him a look.
"Some compelled both my brother and myself and I plan on finding out away." I told him as April and Matt went through the panel in the wall and we walked slowly and quietly out of the back room. We must have made some sort of noise cause Connor grabbed Jeremy and pointed his gun at us. Stefan grabbed me and used his speed around the Grill as Connor shot the gun multiple times at us. Stefan ducked down and we hid behind the bar.
"Connor, you don't have to do this!" Stefan called to him.
"Stefan!" Jeremy called out. Stefan and I listened for a moment and we heard a bomb ticking. I gasped and held my hands over my mouth and held myself back from going to him.
"Connor, we can end this right now! Just put down the gun and come with me!" Stefan called to him and I gave him a curious look.
"Sure. Come out, I'll hand the gun over." Connor called to us.
"Think about this. No one has to die. I'll tell you everything you need to know!" Stefan told him.
"I don't make deals with vampires!" Connor told him.
"Listen to me, if you die right now, then your whole life, all that killing; it'll all be for nothing." Stefan told him. "I can give you the truth. Just put down the gun and let Jeremy go!"
"Please!" I heard Elena call out and my eyes widened.
"Elena! Get out of here!" I shouted at her.
"Nicole?!" Elena called to me. "Don't hurt them." She begged Connor.
"You come any closer, he's dead." Connor told her.
"Elena, Nicole, get out of here!" Jeremy called to us.
"We're not leaving you Jer!" I told him.
"He's the only family that we have left. Just – just let him go." Elena begged.
"You hear that? Your girl is watching. I will shoot the boy right in front of her!" Connor called to Stefan.
"No!" I shouted coming out with my hands up. "Please?" Connor pointed the gun at me.
"I'll shoot them both! Then not only will your girl lose her siblings a child will lose his mother. On the count of three! One! Two!" Stefan chose that moment to come out of hiding with his hands up in surrender. Connor pointed the gun at him instead of either me or Jeremy and Elena rushed at Connor using her vampire speed. Connor shot his gun hitting Jeremy in the stomach which caused him to lose balance on the mat he was standing on. I held onto Jeremy and noticed the bomb was about to go off but in that moment I didn't care. My brother was shot and possibly bleeding to death. Suddenly we were grabbed and thrown over a table just as the bomb exploded.
"Jeremy?! Nicole?!" Elena called to us.
"We're okay!" I called to her. "Elena, he's bleeding badly." I called to her. I heard her and Connor fighting before Stefan rushed to help her and she rushed to us. She bit into her wrist and fed him her blood to heal him. She touched his face and smiled at him before her face started transforming. She quickly turned away from us.
"I'm sorry – I…." she said.
"Hey, it's okay. You don't have to hide it. We know you're not going to hurt us." Jeremy told her as I grabbed her hand.
"How did this happen, Jer? Why did Connor come after you?" Elena asked him.
"He said I was like him, because I could see his tattoo." Jer told her and we looked at him confused.
"His what?" Elena asked confused.
"His hunter's mark. It's invisible to everyone but me. Stefan and Damon didn't tell you about it?" he asked us.
"No." Elena told him.
"Who else knows about this?" I asked him.
"Well, that's the thing, I don't even know. Apparently, I was with Connor all day yesterday, but I can't remember. Someone compelled me and Nicole." Jeremy told her. Elena stood up furious.
"I think I know who." Elena told us.
"Jeremy you go ahead and get out of here. I'm going to try and help." I told him before running back to the tunnel. I figured they would go there to keep out of sight from the general public. I got there just in time to see Elena snap Connor's neck. I stared at her wide eyed and she just stared back at me. I walked to her and gave her a hug as she started crying over what she had done.
Later Elena and I were in the woods digging a grave for Connor as she continued crying, Connor's blood still staining her face. She looked behind me and I saw Stefan and Damon walk up to us. Stefan had a bloody hole in his shirt over his heart. I stopped digging as they walked up to us and looked him over.
"What happened?" I asked him quietly.
"Connor almost staked me. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for Damon." Stefan told me and the size of the hole and the look on Damon's face told another story. "Elena." Elena continued to dig as Stefan approached us and looked down at Connor's lifeless body.
"I need to bury him. I killed him, I should – I should bury him." Elena said. Stefan and Damon shared a look before Stefan walked up to her and held her gently. Elena just pushed him away from her and looked at him angrily.
"Hey, hey, come on." Stefan tried talking to her.
"Don't! I heard you talking to him. Making some secret deal with Klaus? You said you were going to protect Jeremy! Keep me from this. You said that I could trust you, Stefan." Elena reminded him and he looked down ashamed.
"Elena, it's complicated." Damon told her and I gave him a look. What would he know about it?
"No, it's not complicated, Damon! You want to know why? Because - because he's dead now. You told me to kill him, so I did." Elena told him as she started to cry again and he just looked at her helpless. "I –I killed someone. I – I killed someone." She cried harder and I gave her a hug to comfort her as she cried into my shoulder.
