Apocalypse
Chapter 4: The Hybrid- Final Part
Smoky Mountains
In the camp, Ray is shaking, and his eyes are still bleeding. Klaus is pacing and Stefan is leaning on a tree.
"You said it was gonna feel better. Why doesn't it feel better?" Ray demanded.
"Some master race," Stefan snorted.
"Lose the attitude," Klaus snapped as the first woman wakes.
"Derek, come feed your girlfriend," Klaus orders the human. Derek gets up. Ray then begins snarling and makes a few jumps and leaves. Klaus looks at Stefan.
"Go get him," Klaus gestures in the direction that Ray just took off in the forest. Stefan rolls his eyes and speeds after Ray. He jumps on Ray and pushes him on the ground. Ray bites him and leaves. Stefan is about to go after him, but he hears Damon and Elena's voice.
"How you doing?" His brother asks Elena.
"Fine," Elena answers him.
"You know, I could help you," Damon suggests.
"No, thanks," she turns him down.
"Just one little fwoosh," Damon keeps on talking. Surely he knows how stubborn she is.
"Yeah, with my luck, you'd drop me," Elena snarked.
"Luck has nothing to do with it," Damon said.
"What are you guys, twelve?" Alaric questions. Stefan sees them walking from a distance. Not again, he thinks. I killed Andie to deter those two. They need to stay away. He hears someone's approaching behind him. Oh, the tyrant he answers himself. Stefan starts walking in Klaus's direction so Klaus won't see Elena, Damon, or Alaric.
Lockwood Mansion
"So, it is done then? You have it under control," Carol Lockwood speaks into her cell phone. "Good, I will call if I get more news. Be careful." Then she hangs up her phone and puts it away.
Tyler joins his mother in his dad's office. He takes a seat across from where she sits at the desk.
"You put vervain in my coffee this morning," Tyler states then asks, "Why?"
"Vervain? What are you talking about?" Carol is surprised.
"Let's skip the part where we pretend we don't know about the vampires in this town. You were testing me to see if I was a vampire. I want to know why."
"You've been spending so much time with Caroline. I had to know for sure."
"What does Caroline have to do with it?"
"Let's skip the part where we pretend she's not one of them." Carol mocks her son's earlier comment.
"Did you do something to her?"
"Tyler, I don't want you to be with her."
"Where is she, mom?"
"I can't let you be together."
"What did you do to her? Where is she?"
"You can't be with her. She's a monster."
"You don't know about me, do you?"
"Know what? Know what, Tyler?"
Smoky Mountains
"Where did he go?" Klaus questions.
"He, uh...he got away. Forget him. Let's go," Stefan brushes past him. Klaus sees his arm and grabs it.
"A fatal werewolf bite. Ouch."
"Yeah. I'm gonna need your blood to heal me."
"Well, I tell you what. You find Ray, and then I'll heal you."
"You can't be serious."
"Better hurry, 'cause that bite looks nasty," Klaus says and goes back to the campsite and sees the others are waking up. All of their eyes are bleeding. Great, Klaus thinks.
Hotel
It was another long day of teary goodbyes. The burial was difficult for everyone to spent time with Andie's parents before they had dinner with Renee and Phil. Then they drove them to the airport where Renee made a spectacle before departing.
After those two left, Bella and Charlie had a quick dinner before separating. Charlie went to the police station to get the details of Andie's death and Bella explored the tiny town.
Father and daughter were both exhausted by the time they came back to their hotel room. Bella just came out of the tiny hotel bathroom and sat on her queen mattress. She began braiding her hair for bed when the lamp next to her father's bed turned on. She turned to him as he sat up and looked lost in thought.
"Is everything okay dad?" She asked him and swung her legs to face his bed.
"Not really Bells. You're eighteen now and you have graduated already. I believe you need to know the truth." He said.
"What truth dad?" Bella asked concerned.
"The world is so much bigger than we truly know. I want you to be safe. The animal attacks that we've had in Forks and the animal attacks around here are not actually animal attacks." He began. Bella gasped.
"What are you talking about dad?" Surely he didn't know.
"Bella, the supernatural is real," he said and looked straight into my eyes.
"How do you know?" Was the only thing Bella could think of to ask him.
"What do you mean how do I know? How do you know?"
"The Cullens were vampires."
"The Cullens were what?"
Smoky Mountains
The sun is setting. Damon, Elena and Alaric are still walking.
"We got about a mile left," Alaric spoke into the tension thick silence.
"The sun's about to set," Damon pointed out.
"I can see that, Damon," Elena retorted.
"I'm just saying," Damon shrugged.
"The moon doesn't reach its apex for a while. We have time," Elena informed. Then they hear some twigs snapping. Ray staggers out from the brush. Alaric points his crossbow at him.
"Stay where you are!" Alaric orders. Ray gives him and Elena a blank stare before roving his eyes to the third member of their hiking party.
"Vampire," Ray mutters and then rushes over to Damon and they fight. He pushes Damon against a tree. He tries to bite him. Damon is holding Ray back barely. Alaric shoots an arrow at him but Ray is still trying to bite Damon. Elena takes the wolfsbane grenade from her bag and pulls the pin from it.
"Damon!" She yells and throws it to him. He makes it explode on Ray's face. Ray screams and his face burns. Damon kicks him in the stomach. Finally, Ray loses consciousness.
"Let me guess. Hybrid," Alaric said coming to look at the bloody mess.
Donovan Residence
Matt and Jeremy enter a room full of boxes.
"So this is all her stuff. We were supposed to donate it, but, uh, you know," Matt said.
"Well, everything I read said that personal items help build a stronger connection," Jeremy let his friend know. They look into a box. Jeremy takes one of her shirts and Matt takes a pipe from it.
"Does her pipe count?" He questions, half seriously. He takes a photo from when they were kids.
"I don't know why I let you talk me into this, man," Matt said as he looked at the picture of his sister.
"It's because she's your sister and you have a chance to help her," Jeremy said while clapping Matt's shoulder. Matt puts the picture on a table face-down.
"I can't do this. You gotta go."
"Matt, please."
"Nah, man. I can't do this, all right? You gotta go," Matt says with more conviction behind his tone which makes Jeremy leave. Matt then hears a noise. He turns around and sees that the picture is now upright. But how?
Hotel
"So, you mean to tell me all this time that Edwin was a vampire and so was his family? Why did you ever get involved?" Charlie asked her after finishing his own explanation of traditional vampires.
"He was different dad," Bella confessed about her interest in him and getting to know WHAT he was. She explained all about what defined a Cold One to her father."
"And you still dated him? He used his supernatural powers to dazzle you into complacency and pulled you from me and the few friends you had made. Why would he tear your bonds apart and alienate you from your loved ones? Did he plan to turn you?"
"No, Edward made that perfectly clear. He never wanted me to be like him. He believed in protecting human life at all costs. Their family didn't feed like others. The Cullens only hunted animals. They didn't hurt anyone."
"But they do hurt the environment if they feed on local wildlife. They cause some of the younger animals to die because they chose the mother. The predators they chose are supposed to regulate the herbivores but when too many are taken out it disturbs the natural forest."
"Oh, I never saw it like that," Bella admitted.
"And if you love someone, why wouldn't you want them to spend eternity with you? Bella. I may not have been around your entire life. But you became a different person with him, the person he wanted you to be. I should have spoken up sooner and was glad to see them move away. He displayed the classic abusive warning signs," Charlie said earnestly and moved to grab a bottled water for himself and Bella. He tossed one to her which slipped out of her fingers and landed on the bed. He gave a low chuckle at that.
"What warning signs did you notice dad?" Bella asked after her father had taken a drink.
"Number one, he distanced you from your friends, like Jake.
Number two, he criticized a lot of what you did. It was simple and small like what you ate or the clothes he had his sister buy you. But given the opportunity he would've moved on to more aspects of your life, like college and career. Your future.
Number three, he didn't trust you. Like taking you to a baseball game. If he loved you he would know that it would be something that you didn't enjoy. So, why did he make you go?
Number four, he always talked about protecting you in an obsessive way. Bells, you may be uncoordinated but no one is that unlucky that they need a protector 24/7. And you are not that uncoordinated. Sure you miss a few throws and fall sometimes, but never to the degree that you did when he or his family were around.
Number five, he was gaslighting you."
"What do you mean that he was gaslighting me?"
"I know about his many late night visits. Hell, I welcomed seeing you act like a rebellious teenager. But when I saw what was going on, I was disturbed. It is not normal to be okay with someone just watching you sleep. He gaslighted you into believing that this behavior was okay."
"I never saw it that way, how could I have been so stupid." Bella murmured and covered her face with her hands.
"Bells," Charlie said softly and grabbed her wrists. He tugged them away from her face gently. "I promised myself that if he ever let you out of his clutches that I was not going to hold back. And I'm not. It is not your fault."
"How can you say or believe that it wasn't my fault?" Bella questioned, angry at herself.
"That whole family worked together to lure you in. I'm just worried about your health now after learning all of this. You said that your blood called to his monster, then that makes me believe he was taking more than your personality. I think he was taking some of your blood from you without your consent as well."
Smoky Mountains
Damon and Alaric are tying Ray to the tree.
"These ropes aren't gonna hold him much longer. What else do we have?" Damon asks. Elena is spraying a rope with something.
"Ric, here. Take these," Elena says and hands over the ropes. Damon touches it instead of Alaric but his skin burns on immediate contact.
"Aah! Ow!" Damon yells.
"I said Ric." Elena points out. Alaric takes it and puts it around Ray.
"All right, that's the last of the vervain. We don't have enough stuff to hold him. I don't think we're gonna make that Ridge before the full moon," Alaric states.
"If we can get him to talk, we don't have to," Elena says. Elena reaches out her hand to touch Ray's face, but just before her hand touches, Ray wakes up and screams. The transformation begins and bones can be heard snapping from inside of Ray.
"Is he turning?" Damon questions.
"It's impossible. It's still daylight." Elena says panicked.
"Tell him that," Alaric says while Damon gets closer to Ray and holds his shoulders.
"There aren't supposed to be werewolves out here until the moon is full," Elena says.
"You know, those ropes aren't gonna hold the wolf," Alaric says. Then Ray screams and snarls as his bones shift more.
"Damon, we've got to get out of here. We gotta get out of these mountains now! Damon, now!" Elena says and They run.
Old Lockwood Cellar
Tyler is leading Carol into the cellar.
"Tyler, what is it? Just...just tell me.:
"You need to see for yourself," he says and takes the chains.
"What are you doing?"
"You think Caroline's a monster? I'm the monster, mom."
"What?" Carol questions as Tyler grunts in pain. "Tyler, what's happening?" He pushes her into the cellar and closes the door.
"Tyler, what are you doing?"
"Me, Uncle Mason, it's in our blood. It's our family curse."
"What curse?" His transformation begins. "Tyler, what's happening?! What's happening?" His fangs are out and his eyes are yellow. She screams, "Oh, my God! Ohh! No! Ohh!"
Smoky Mountains
It's nighttime at the camp and a campfire is burning. Klaus is sitting with Derek.
"Bad news, my friend. End of the road for you," Klaus tells the human. Derek offers no resistance as Klaus kills him by drinking his blood. The woman then rushes in front of him, angry.
"Careful, love. There's only one Alpha here," he tells her and looks around. All the werewolves are staggering around the camp, their eyes bleeding. They look like zombies. "Bloody hell."
Gilbert Residence
Someone knocks at the front door. Jeremy opens the door to see Matt.
"I'm sorry about earlier," he tells Jeremy.
"Hey, don't worry about it, man. You know, it's, uh...It's a lot to ask," Jeremy tell Matt with no hard feelings. Then he spots the 6-pack of beer in Matt's hand, "Heh. Come on in."
"I spent the day going through her stuff. It was weird, you know, all the memories. I realize that most people didn't really get Vic. You know, they saw her as trouble and let it go at that. But you really got her. You know, you...you got her better than I did most of the time so...I don't know what we're gonna do with all this, but...here," Matt gives Jeremy a backpack. Jeremy opens it and takes Vicki's shirt out of it.
"You know, I don't remember her dying. I don't know if Caroline told you that when she told you everything."
"Nah, she didn't."
"Elena made them take that memory away from me, thought I couldn't handle it. So whatever my last moment was with her, I don't have it."
"I don't either. I don't remember the last moment I had with Vicki before she was a vampire...when she was still my sister." Matt says sadly. Then Jeremy turns around. Vicki's there, looking at Matt.
"Matty?" Vicki says even though Matt doesn't see her.
"Do you see something? Is she here?" Matt asks and Jeremy is still looking at Vicki.
"You said you needed help. Tell me how I can help you please," Jeremy begs Vicki.
"I can come back. Help me come back," Vicki says.
"What is she saying? Tell me," Matt demands. Jeremy turns around to talk to Matt when a window breaks in the patio door. He looks at Matt and then hears Anna's voice behind him. He turns around and sees Anna before him.
"Jeremy. Don't trust Vicki, Anna says.
Smoky Mountains
Damon, Elena and Alaric are running. Elena trips. Alaric and Damon stop and look back at her but freeze where they are.
"Don't move," Damon whispers. Elena raises her head. She's face to face with a werewolf. "Here, doggie, doggie," He shouts at the werewolf and runs. The werewolf runs after him.
"Come on. Let's keep moving," Alaric tells Elena and holds out a hand.
"We can't leave Damon," she says as she take the offered hand and gets up.
"He can handle himself. Let's move."
"No. If he gets bit, he'll be dead. I'm the reason he's out here."
"I am the reason he's out here. I told him where we were, and I'm telling you to keep moving. Let's go. Elena, now!"
Hotel
Bella needed to think. She didn't want to venture the streets. Her dad just had to attend the funeral of one relative, let's not kill two birds with one stone. She walked down to one of the empty conference rooms. This hotel had three that were lined up together and connected. The walls were paper thin, but Bella didn't mind. No one else is down here. It's what 8, 9 o'clock. Everyone is either home or at a bar.
Bella sank into one of the cushioned chairs and put her head into her hands. When did she become this person? This pushover, this Mary Sue character? She is not completely useless and definitely doesn't need a man, vampire or otherwise to solve her problems. Bella grabs one of the hotel notepads off the table and begins to write her list of resolutions. She will become someone that she is happy to look at in the mirror again. No one will tell her what to do and maybe she can help others with this new life change. Charlie probably wouldn't mind training her. They could even bond that way. Yes, that is what she will do. First thing on the list, fix relationships and learn some self-defense.
Bella folded the note and put it in her pocket. She moved to the door when she heard a loud slam from the conference room beside her. It actually knocked the connecting door open a little. She saw a tall man, about 6;2 with brown hair and blue eyes. He began pacing while talking on the phone. He seemed pretty agitated.
"Yes Carol. I did what I have to do. I locked her up for now. You just worry on getting me more names." He paused to listen to whoever was on the other line.
"Don't worry woman. I know what I am doing. I gave Caroline a good heavy dose in that syringe and she has the specialized ropes binding her limbs. She won't be escaping anytime soon. No. don't worry, if I need to I will shove the wood through her collarbone myself." Bella's blood turns to ice. What has she stumbled on? At that point she decides to carefully slip towards the exit.
"Yes, it is under control. Updates would be helpful." Bella was passing the last chair by the door when he robe caught on it and it came crashing down with an echoing thud. Her heart stopped and so did she.
"Goodbye Carol. I need to take care of something," the man said looking straight into her brown eyes. Bella then turned and clumsily ran out the door.
Smoky Mountains
Damon is walking warily and hears a sound. Ray rushes toward him in human form and they struggle and fight. Stefan appears behind Ray and rips his heart out through his back.
"Fancy meeting you here," Damon said with a smirk.
"What part of "don't follow me anymore" got lost in translation, Damon? I killed all of those innocents. I killed Andie. What more do I have to do?" Stefan asked.
"Might want to take it up with your girlfriend. You don't want her chasing you, I'd stop with the late-night phone calls." Damon tsked.
"I didn't call her," Stefan denied.
"Sure you did. She's not gonna give up on you."
"She has to. Because I'm never coming back. Why don't you get her home? See if you could keep her there this time." Stefan mocks and zips off.
Hotel
Bella decided that using the elevator up to her fourth-floor room would be the safest option between the stairs and the streets. She watched as the lights signaled they were passing the ground and the first floor. Then the elevator came to a stop at the second floor. The door slid open slowly to reveal the man from the conference room.
"My my my. Didn't anyone tell you that eves dropping is very rude? What am I going to do with you?"
"I didn't hear anything." Bella protested and looked away, afraid he could tell that she was lying.
"And lying to boot. Tsk tsk," he said. "Now let's try some honesty." He stepped into the elevator and locked the doors. He moved close to Bella and grabbed her chin forcing her eyes to meet his. "Who are you?"
"I am Bella Swan, Andie Starr's cousin."
"Good to know." He said before throwing her head back making is smash on the elevator wall, knocking the younger girl unconscious. Then the man turned and hit the rooftop button. "Bella Swan you will help me tremendously."
Smoky Mountains.
Elena and Alaric are back in the car.
"Stefan's out there somewhere and now Damon, and we're just sitting in this car?" Elena states clearly aggravated and worried.
"Let the vampires fight the hybrid zombie mountain man. I'll take care of keeping the humans safe." Alaric tells her.
"I thought you were checked out of taking care of people."
"I know what you're doing. Don't. There doesn't need to be a lesson here."
"You're better at it than you think, you know?"
"Oh, boy, are you a sucker for a lost cause or what?"
"You're not a lost cause, Ric. You're just lost. But so is Jeremy, and so am I. Our family is gone. We don't have anybody. I'm sorry, but you don't have anybody either, so...We're kind of good for each other."
"I'm keeping the ring, then," Alaric tells Elena. Damon walks toward the car from out of the woods.
"Damon?" Elena says eager to see him and gets out of the car. "Are you okay? Did you...?"
"Fine, bite-free. Get back in the car, please." Damon rattles off.
"Can you just give me a minute to appreciate that you're not dead?" She asks of him.
"I'll give you 10 seconds. 9, 8..." Damon says then he grabs her by the shoulders and marches her toward the car. "Hey, Ric, did you happen to see where I parked my car?"
"Damon, stop being such a caveman," Elena complains. They all get in the car and start back towards Mystic Falls. Stefan watches them go in the car from afar. Elena looks through the window but Stefan's gone.
Stefan walks back to camp back with Ray over his shoulders. The rest of the pack are lying on the ground dead. Klaus is there. Stefan drops Ray on the ground.
"They went rabid. Some of them, I killed. The others just...Bled out. In the end...They're all dead, " Klaus yells and throws the bottle of beer in his hand. He screams at the sky. "I did everything I was told!" Then he takes a breath. "I should be able to turn them. I broke the curse. I killed a werewolf. I killed a vampire. I killed the doppelgänger." Klaus looks over at Stefan who seems uncomfortable. "You look like hell."
"Last I checked, I'm dying...and you don't want to heal me," he explains and notices Klaus looking down at Ray's body. "I had to take him out. I didn't have a choice. I failed you. I'm sorry. Do what you have to do."
"It should have worked." Klaus then turns around and takes an empty bottle of beer. He bites his hand, makes a fist, puts the blood draining from it in the bottle and holds the bottle out to Stefan. "Bottoms up. We're leaving." Stefan takes the bottle. "It appears you're the only comrade I have left." Stefan drinks the blood from the bottle and throws it aside.
Gilbert Residence
Elena enters her bedroom from the bathroom and sees Damon by the window.
"Seriously?" She asks.
"I was wrong," he tells her.
"Are you drunk?"
"No. I thought Stefan was gone, but I was wrong."
"You saw him out there? Damon, is he okay?"
"No, he's not okay, Elena. He's an insufferable martyr that needs his ass kicked...But he can be saved."
"What happened out there? What changed your mind?"
"I changed my mind because even in his darkest place, my brother still can't let me die. So I figure I owe him the same in return. I'll help you bring him back."
"Thank you."
"But before I do, I need you to answer one question. What made you change your mind?"
"What do you mean?"
"You were so hellbent on staying on that mountain, then you just gave up. So what changed your mind?"
"We were under attack, Damon."
"You had a bag full of weapons and a teacher with an eternity ring. You could have kept going."
"It was too dangerous."
"It was too dangerous going out there to begin with, so what was it?"
"Why are you being like this?"
"What changed your mind, Elena?"
"I didn't want to see you get hurt, okay? I was...I was worried about you."
"Thanks." He's about to leave.
"Yes, I worry about you. Why do you even have to hear me say it?" He gets closer to her and touches her face.
"Because when I drag my brother from the edge and deliver him back to you, I want you to remember the things you felt while he was gone. Good night, Elena." He touches her hair and leaves the room. Alaric is at the top of the stairs with his luggage. "How's it going, Ric?" He asks Alaric rhetorically before letting himself out. Alaric looks at Elena. He's carrying a bag in each hand.
"Know what you're doing there?" Alaric asks Elena with his eyebrow raised.
"No, I don't," she admits.
Old Lockwood Cellar
Tyler wakes up and he's naked. He looks at Carol to see that she has witnessed everything.
"I'll take care of it. I'll make sure nothing happens to her," Carol tells her son.
"Thank you."
Lockwood Mansion
Carol goes to the office and pulls out her cell phone. She dials Bill's number. She needs to call the whole thing off.
"I think we made a mistake," she immediately says when he answers.
"Carol, you called me in to take care of this problem. Why the sudden change of heart?" He asks her.
"Maybe a guilty conscience."
"Don't feel guilty. They're not human. They're monsters."
"What if we're wrong?"
"My family's been committed to this fight for almost 150 years, Carol. You married into it, so maybe you don't understand, but I do. I know what my obligations are," he then hangs up. Carol looks at the phone then speaks into it but it's too late,
"Bill! Wait!"
Cellar
Caroline is tied to a chair. She is facing the door of her cell which has a barred window in it.
"Hello! Mrs. Lockwood?! Somebody!" Caroline calls as she hears someone coming. "Who's that? Mrs. Lockwood?! Please."
Bill opens the door and enters with Bella tied at the wrists and ankles over his shoulder.
"Hello, Caroline," he states without excitement and dumps Bella into a second chair in the room. Bella moans upon contact with the metal chair.
"Daddy?" Caroline's voice is small.
Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Twilight Our The Vampire Diaries.
I own the plot twists and shifts.
I hope you have enjoyed this longer chapter. This will most likely be the longest chapter you will ever receive. I was in the writing groove today. More will be coming soon. Bella will be more involved from this point on. Get ready.
Forever And For Always,
LHNT