xli. Hunting Expedition
BLOODLINE
xli. hunting expedition
NO MATTER HOW LONG Erin spent in their presence, she knew wholeheartedly that she would never get used to living with boys. The mere twelve hours alone in her home with just Jeremy and Matt paled in comparison to the few days spent at the lake house.
Add a sulking vampire, and the strangeness grew even more.
Since Elena and Bonnie left them, Erin had to deal with the three boys on her own. The loud shouts that accompanied their attempts at training, the horrid stench that followed them when the activities concluded, and not to mention their obsession with pizza. Frozen or delivery. It began to drive her insane.
But the one thing that pushed her to the brink came with their lack of cleanliness. They owned a dishwasher for a reason, and they failed to even use it. Erin guessed they thought dropping everything in the sink was good enough.
Erin stood at the kitchen counter, cringing as she lifted a cup from the quickly growing pile of dishes. Her nose scrunched, setting the thing into the top rack of the dishwasher.
"Hey," Matt voiced, entering the room from the backdoor. His shirt was drenched in sweat, having accumulated after he sparred with Jeremy and then ran the length of the lake, twice.
Matt came up to the lake house shortly after Elena and Bonnie left. Erin and her sister thought Jeremy needed someone to keep him company and to push him when it came to training. Someone who wasn't a vampire.
Although his vampire killing subconscious had been suppressed, Jeremy and Damon never did have the best relationship. It was complicated at best. Erin didn't really blame her brother for it. After all, Damon did snap his neck once.
Erin loaded more cups and plates into the washer as she voiced, "pizza's on the table."
Matt moved further into the room and headed for the refrigerator. "Thanks, but if I eat right now, it's not gonna be pretty," he quipped in return, popping the door open to grab a water bottle.
"Well, you guys better savor it this time, cause I am so sick of pizza," Erin retorted, raising the door of the dishwasher closed. She pressed the right cycle button and then start. The appliance roared to life.
Matt huffed, after he took a king swig of his water. "Let me guess, paying off the delivery girl wasn't just Damon's doing." He quirked a brow.
Erin shrugged with a light grin. "I might've given him the idea," she confessed, causing Matt to chuckle. "But if you guys don't start cleaning up after yourselves, I'm cutting off the pizza pipeline indefinitely."
Matt gave her a pointed look. "You wouldn't."
"You know I would, Donovan," Erin shot back, before she turned to the window above the sink. She peered out to where Jeremy stood near their picnic table with Damon. A variety of weapons were placed on the surface for her brother to become familiar with. She certainly didn't miss that part of training with Alaric.
Movement near the edge of the back lawn caught her attention. Erin leaned over the sink to get a better look. Her blood boiled when she realized what it was. More so, who.
How dare Klaus show up to her family's lake house, especially after what he did. After he killed Carol Lockwood.
Erin whirled from the sink and looked at Matt. "Stay here," she demanded, before she spun toward the backdoor.
"What is it?" Matt questioned after her.
"Just stay inside," Erin warned him, hurting out into the deck to reach his intended destination. Jeremy and Damon.
"I'm sorry, did I interrupt play time," Klaus called out, forcing them to snap in his direction.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Jeremy exclaimed when he spotted the hybrid.
Klaus strode toward them and gestured to the space around him. "I'm simply appreciating the sights and smells of nature, neither of which presently include rotting vampire flesh. So, I'm a bit concerned." He came to a stop a few feet away and set his gaze on Damon. "How many vampires has he killed?"
Erin hurried down the steps of the deck and across the lawn. "He's not ready," she spoke, bringing all eyes her way.
Jeremy could barely fight off Damon. How did Klaus expect him to go around killing vampires who were potentially older and stronger than the eldest Salvatore? Erin wasn't about to rush her brother's life for some cure that may or may not exist.
Damon leaned off the picnic table and added, "if we throw Jeremy out into the real world, right now, he's chum."
Klaus glanced toward Erin and then settled his gaze on Damon. "Yeah, see, that's not a number." He moved closer, bringing Jeremy to step out of the way and toward Erin as he stopped near the vampire. "Twelve. That's a number. That's how many of my hybrids I slaughtered with my sword."
Erin heard about that. Apparently, after all of Klaus's hybrids broke their sire-bond, they planned to get rid of him once and for all. As Caroline explained it over the phone, a witch supplied by the werewolf girl, Hayley, was supposed to place Klaus's consciousness into Tyler and he would then be sealed away.
Somehow, it changed to Rebekah and a whole mess about stealing away the Brotherhood of the Five's sword ensued. Erin kind of became lost at that point.
But in the end, Klaus learned of what they planned. He found them at their meeting place and killed them all. And when he couldn't find Tyler to do the same, Carol Lockwood became his target in retaliation.
"Three," Klaus continued on. "That's how many days it took to quell the urge to kill your brother after he knowingly watched as I walked into a death trap. One. That's the number of purposes you serve. You are here to grow Jeremy's mark, so I'll ask again. How many vampires has he killed since he's been here?"
Damon's expression hardened as he answered, "zero."
Klaus smiled tightly and hummed. "That's a pity." He turned, stepping away when he said, "I'm going to need that cure sooner rather than later. Hybrid shortage and all that." He paused and glanced toward Erin. "Unless the lovely Erin would care to make a donation. Half your blood volume should be enough for two or three."
Erin's stare narrowed, while her arms crossed over her chest. "I'm afraid not."
Klaus pressed his lips together, before he turned back to Damon with a grin. "In that case, how can I help speed this along?"
Damon reached across the table and picked up a gun, placing wooden bullets into the clip. "You know, now that you mention it. Jeremy - watch and learn."
Erin trailed Damon's motions, watching him shine the clip back into the gun and then raise it high. He aimed for Klaus and squeezed the trigger before anyone could blink.
Two shots went off, sending the wooden bullets soaring into Klaus's chest. The hybrid stumbled, leaning against a nearby tree as they tore through his skin.
Damon lowered the gun with a flat look. "That's for Carol Lockwood."
Erin simply smirked at Klaus's enraged glare sent the vampire's way.
__________
To their surprise, Klaus chose to not retaliate for the wooden bullets to the chest. An action that caused Erin to worry. The hybrid had never been the forgive and forget type. Any slight move against him usually ended in blood. She fakes to believe he began to evolve after a thousand years of the same mentality.
Despite that knowledge, Erin made the decision to ignore it. For the time being. She claimed an armchair one the second floor of the home, having swiped a book from the shelves along the back wall. They were filled from floor to ceiling with additions from herself and her parents. Elena and Jeremy weren't the reading type, so the three of them were the ones to take advantage of the selection.
Erin thought about taking many of the books home with her when they eventually left, but she liked knowing that they were always there, waiting for her when she visited.
Her chosen book was open and set across her thighs as she lounged in the chair sideways. A childhood favorite that she just had to read again, Because of Winn-Dixie. In the past, the story made her a little envious. They never had a pet as she and her siblings grew up, and she tried to live vicariously through Opal. It was the closest thing she would ever get to owning a dog herself.
Some time into the book, Matt climbed the stairs and entered the smaller living room. "You still reading?" he questioned, moving toward a side table where his phone sat on the charger.
Erin looked over at him and said, "nothing better to do." She watched him pick it up, detaching it from the end. "Hope you're not trying to order another pizza."
Matt chuckled. "Speaking off, the delivery girl's downstairs. Ran out of gas and needs to use a phone," he relayed, raising his phone to indicate just that.
Erin's lips pursed at that. "Well, by all means, go be her shining knight," she quipped with a teasing smile.
Matt scoffed, but his one smile formed. He turned to pave until another voice joined them.
"Did you find your phone?"
Erin snapped to where the blonde delivery girl from earlier stood at the entrance of the room. In a blur, she rushed toward Matt and tackled him to the floor.
"Matt!" Erin shouted, tossing her book aside to jump to her feet. She paused when she noticed the girl held Matt down and lunged for his neck. Fangs visible between her parted lips. A vampire.
Erin looked around for something to use against her. The closest thing happened to be a lamp. She snatched it from the table and rushed for them, rearing back as if it were a bat. With one sharp swing, the base slammed into the girl's head and knocked her off Matt with a thud.
Before the girl could even manage to push up from the hardwood, Jeremy ran into the room with a stake in hand. He headed toward the girl, grabbing her by the arm to hold her down as he drove the sharped point into her heart. Her sky faded into an ashen grey and dark veins crawled over her body. She was dead.
Erin huffed, lowering the lamp to her side. Her gaze shifted to where Damon entered the room, glancing between them and then to the body in the floor. Surprise all over his features. At least the suddenly turned delivery girl wasn't his doing.
So, that only left one suspect unaccounted for. Klaus.
__________
Stupid. That was the only word that rolled through Erin's mind as she trudged toward Zanadew Lounge, a bar in the neighboring town a few miles away from the lake house. Klaus's stupid idea to kickstart Jeremy's vampire killing spree to complete the Hunter's Mark. She always knew the man was crazy, but she didn't think he had downright lost his mind.
Klaus wanted to turn people closeby for Jeremy to kill. Convenient and well timed. A dozen or so vampires would cause the mark to grow large enough, or so he hoped.
Erin cursed the fact she didn't see it coming. Of course Klaus would think to do something so heinous. He did just kill twelve of his hybrids. What were a dozen more nameless people who were no more than pawns to him?
Damon claimed that he would find a way to talk Klaus out of his ridiculous plan, but Erin grew skeptical as they approached the bar's front entrance. She knew Damon, and she knew he wanted to get to that cure as fast as possible for Elena. He wouldn't care how they got there.
As they entered the bar, Erin froze at what greeted them. Bodies were sprawled out across the room, laying in odd ways that confirmed their fate. Death. Some were left slumped against tables, others were scattered over the floor, while a select few had been deposited onto a couple of pool tables. All of them limp and lifeless. And if Erin was right, in transition.
"I was beginning to worry you four wouldn't find this place," Klaus voiced, sitting at the bar with a drink in his hand. More bodies rested in the stools near him, but he didn't appear bothered in the slightest.
It made Erin sneer.
"What the hell?" Jeremy uttered at the sight around them.
Matt gaped at the bodies and exclaimed toward the hybrid, "did you kill all these people?"
"Not exactly," Klaus replied and stood from his stop to face them. "They're in transition. Killing them is your job." His stare fell to Jeremy.
Erin scoffed, drawing the hybrid's eyes to her. She glared in return. "You're insane," she shot back.
Klaus simply grinned.
Jeremy snapped to Damon. "You said you were going to convince Klaus to do this another way!"
Damon pressed his lips together and glanced around at the multitude of bodies. "Well, I thought about it, and then I realized - his idea was better," he replied.
Erin's eyes flared as she whirled toward him. "You said you were gonna help Jeremy," she nearly shouted in response. "You said you were gonna keep him safe. This isn't safe!" She gestured to the carnage, oblivious to the way many bodies began to twitch and shift.
Damon turned to her and retorted, "we need that cure like yesterday, Erin."
"No, we don't need it. You just want it," Erin argued as her heart rate rose. "And we can still get it. In a couple of weeks or longer. It doesn't have to be today, not at the expense of my brother."
"Uh, Erin."
Jeremy's voice caused Erin to look his way. She found his stare aimed toward the bodies around them. Her eyes followed his line of sight, seeing many of them lift their heads and push up from the floor. They were waking up.
"I'm not doing this," Jeremy stated, glancing from Klaus to Damon.
"What makes you think you have a choice?" Klaus quipped in response, bringing Erin to glare his way.
Damon looked at Jeremy and said, "you have to kill vampires to complete the Hunter's Mark. Mark equals cure. You're in a bar full of almost vampires, so get your hunt on."
Jeremy's stare hardened. "Screw you. You said I wouldn't have to kill innocent people."
"Exactly," Erin interjected and drew the vampire's gaze to her. "You were supposed to hunt down other vampires, or in a pinch, pay the county jail a visit. Not turn a bunch of people whose only offense was getting drunk."
Damon flicked his eyes between them. "Guys, they're not people."
"Enough," Klaus called out and captured their attention. His stare set on Jeremey. "Have at it, or else."
Jeremy glared. "I don't take orders from you, dick." He tossed the stake in his hand onto the floor at the hybrid's feet. "Hunters can't be compelled."
A handy ability Jeremy learned soon after he triggered that side of himself. Erin, on the other hand, had to kept a close eye on her vervain filled charm bracelet and necklace, considering the Council's failed coup of the town destroyed their storage of it.
Klaus chuckled lowly and stepped forward until he and Jeremy were face-to-face.
Erin made a move to intervene, but Damon's hand clamped down onto her arm and prevented her from moving.
"You're right. I can't compel you." Klaus backed away and returned to his original spot. "But if your conscience is getting in the way, then allow me to make this easy for you. Because I can compel them."
Erin took in the people spread out across the bar. Many, if not all, started to rise from wherever Klaus dropped their dead bodies. A girl walked around, offering her arm for them to drink her blood. For them to complete the transition.
"I'm going to give you a two minute head start," Klaus declared. "Then I'm gonna send every vampire in here after you. You kill them, or they kill your friend - Matt."
Matt's eyes went wide. "Wait a second!" he exclaimed.
Damon shook his head and shifted his gaze to the hybrid. "No, no. You turn them, he kills them. That was the deal, Klaus."
"I'm taking artistic license," Klaus retorted.
"Artistic license..." Erin breathed out, gaping at him in disbelief. "Do you think this is a game? Jeremey can't kill a dozen vampires at once."
Klaus turned to her as he pointed toward the Salvatore vampire. "With Damon as his coach, he'll be fine. It's Matt I'm worried about," he replied and gave the human boy a glance.
Erin huffed and went to argue, but Damon's next words caused her anger to flare in his direction.
"Jeremy - go get the weapons out of the car. I'll be right behind you."
Jeremy simply gave Erin a parting look, before he turned in his heel and rushed for the exit.
Damon turned to Matt and said, "both of you."
Matt didn't have to be told twice. He bolted after Jeremy, fleeing the bar mere seconds before the new vampires that were more than eager to chase them without compulsion.
Damon sighed and set his attention back to Klaus. "If I'm gonna do this, you make sure she doesn't follow until sunrise," he pointed at Erin, before he pivoted on his heel and headed after the boys.
Erin's eyes widened. "What? Damon, no!" she shouted after him and went to follow, but a tight grip on her arm held her in place. She whirled around to find Klaus's hand latched around her wrist. "Let go of me!" Her attempts to yank free were in vain as his grip never faltered.
"Sorry, love, but Damon happens to be right. Can't have you being caught in the middle. My brother wouldn't appreciate the reckless endangerment," Klaus voiced, causing Erin to pause in his hold. He smirked at her reaction. "Yes, I'm quite aware of Elijah's newfound fondness for you. I do still speak with him, you know."
Erin scoffed, ignoring the light flutter that erupted in her stomach. "Oh, I'm sure you called. I'm just surprised he answered," she shot back and tried to pull away again. He didn't budge.
Klaus rolled his eyes, before they settled on her. "You can either stop fighting and wait for sunrise, or I can compel you to. Don't think something as simple as a charm or a locket will stop me."
Erin glared, but she didn't have much of a choice. Klaus wouldn't let her leave, and she wasn't even strong or fast enough to break out of his hold. Damon would keep Jeremy and Matt alive. She knew he would. He had to, or she and Elena would kill him themselves.
With a sigh, Erin's heated stare met his amused one. "Fine. Now, let go," she grumbled out.
Klaus released her wrist, and Erin turned away and stomped over to the bar. It was about to be a long night.
__________
As soon as the sky began to develop a pinkish hue, Erin ran for Damon's abandoned car and peeled out of the parking lot for the lake house. She didn't give Klaus a chance to stop her, or perhaps he failed to care. Either way, she left the bar without resistance in time for a wave of new vampires to swarm the place.
Lack of daylight rings and a rising sun were never a good combination.
Erin pulled the car up the house, slamming it to a stop in the gravel driveway. The engine barely ceased before she jumped out and ran for the front door. She shoved it open and rushed inside. Her gaze swept over the main room, finding it empty. "Jer! Matt!" she shouted.
"Up here!" Jeremy's voice called out from upstairs.
Erin hurried toward the staircase, taking them as fast as she could without tripping. She rounded the corner and found Jeremy near the window, peering outside with a shotgun in his hand. Matt sat on the couch with Elena in front of him, wiping a wash cloth across his neck.
"What're you doing here? I thought you were at home?" Erin questioned at the sight of her sister.
Elena snapped toward her, pulling the cloth from Matt to set it aside as she stood. "I came to check on you guys, and I found Jer and Matt being attacked by vampires and you nowhere to be found. Where were you?"
Erin sighed, moving further into the room. "Damon offered me up as Klaus's hostage until the sun came up," she replied, glancing between the two boys. "You guys okay?"
Matt grabbed the forgotten cloth and raised it back to his neck. "Will be," he grumbled, settling against the couch.
"What do you mean Klaus's hostage?" Elena asked as she stepped away from where she sat on the coffee table.
Erin heard footsteps on the stairs and glanced back to where Damon appeared in the doorway. She set him a glare and retorted, "ask your boyfriend."
Elena snapped to him and stomped toward him. "What the hell were you thinking? All Erin and I wanted you to do was to teach him how to fight."
Damon moved over to the small makeshift bar behind the couch, grabbing a bottle of bourbon to pour into a glass. "He's not the best student in the world," he stated.
Jeremy's brows creased as he turned to face the vampire with the shotgun no longer in his grasp. "Wait, now this is my fault?"
Damon gave him a flat look. "Stop talking."
"Hey," Erin exclaimed and drew his eyes to her. "Don't be an ass to him. This is your fault, not his."
Damon shot her a glare, before he set his attention on Elena. "Look, I know you're angry, but my way was the easiest, fastest, and safest way to complete his mark to get you the cure," he explained and took a sip of his drink.
"I don't care about the cure, Damon," Elena countered in return. "Not if it means putting the people that I love in danger." She pointed toward Jeremy and then to Erin.
"Hey, there would have been no danger if he hadn't gone all bleeding heart," Damon nearly hissed, pointing in his direction.
Erin rolled her eyes. Damon just didn't want to admit that his plan would have never worked. There were too many unknowns, especially when it came to turning a bunch of people into vampires.
Not to mention, Jeremy wasn't a mindless Hunter who wanted to kill every vampire he came across. They made sure of that. He wouldn't just go around and stake every person that Damon turned. Innocent people didn't deserve to be treated like objects, ones who would end up losing their lives for some cure that might not even be real.
"He killed someone," Elena stressed as she stepped forward. "These were innocent people."
Damon met her gaze and said, "the mark grew, didn't it?"
Elena appeared as though she wanted to speak, but then she changed her mind and sighed, reaching up to tuck her hair behind her ears. "Okay, look, we need a plan. There's a group of compelled vampires out there, and as soon as the sun goes down, they're gonna come after Matt. So, we have to find a way to protect him," she eventually said.
"Yes, I know," Damon voiced, stepping around her to approach Jeremy. "But there will be no problem when Big Jer and I here go on a hunting expedition." He reached out with his free hand and clapped their brother on the shoulder.
Jeremy gave him an annoyed look.
Erin's stare narrowed on him. "You just want us to - what? Leave him here with you to kill a bunch of vampires? Like the last few hours have gone swimmingly," she countered.
Damon looked at her with an unbothered expression. "I know, it's tragic. I get it, but we all also agree that he had to kill them. Now, we have added incentive. So, you guys take the least most valuable player home. Jeremy and I will finish this."
Elena shook her head. "I don't like this," she replied.
Damon released a short breath, dropping his arm from Jeremy toward her. "Trust me. I will keep him safe, okay?" he reassured her as he lightly touched her arm.
Elena met his eyes for a moment, before she gave in and nodded.
Erin simply blinked and internally cursed that stupid sire-bond.
__________
As of late, the Mikaelson family seemed to be the source for many of their problems. No, not seemed. They were the source. The epicenter for issues that could have otherwise been avoided, or better yet, never created in the first place. Erin wanted to say she hoped the frequency of their chaos would dull after a while, but she knew that probably would never happen. It had already been well over a year since they arrived into their lives, and their meddling failed to slow.
So when Erin heard Kol had inserted himself into Jeremy and Damon's game of cat-and-mouse with the new vampires, she wasn't entirely surprised. Rebekah already wanted her shot at the cure, having been awoken by April Young days earlier when she somehow learned the truth of the supernatural. Klaus put his interest in it long ago, so why not add another Original to the mix?
Maybe Elijah would want to join soon, only for the fact that he would need to keep his siblings from murdering everyone or each other to get it.
Oh, how Erin could relate. It seemed she would always have to pick up after her siblings and fix the messes they made. More so, the ones that found themselves dragged into.
That mentality led to where she sat at that moment, on a couch in Klaus's parlor. Kol wanted to stop them all from finding the cure, or more importantly Silas, so he went after Jeremy. He luckily escaped, but Damon was left behind. And because they couldn't very well fight off an Original on their own, they needed help. Who better than the man's older brother.
"A bit ironic, you coming to me for help. Weren't your friends just trying to bury me in a cement tomb?" Klaus voiced from where he claimed an armchair across from her.
Erin rested against the leather cushions with a flat stare. "You're the one who compelled those vampires and made them go after Matt," she replied.
Klaus sighed a bit. "And now my little brat of a brother has gone and made things worse. Well, he never did like Damon. I suppose I should do something, shouldn't I?" he quipped and tapped the armrest.
Erin's eyes narrowed. "Call Kol off, Klaus."
Klaus's expression mirrored her own. "You're in no position to make demands, love. Whilst I'd like to cure your sister to make more hybrids, I do have other reasons for finding the cure, not the least of which is destroying it so you lot can't use it against me."
Erin understood that. Of course he would want to get rid of something that could potentially endanger his life. But where he thought the treat would cause her to falter, it didn't. Because despite how bad it sounded, she didn't care about the cure. She only went along with the ridiculous search to appease her family and friends.
It wasn't that Erin didn't want to find the cure. If it made those she loved happy, she was all for it. But when it came to what they were, it didn't really matter if they were vampires or not. She would still love them and treat how she always had.
And so far, their search for the cure had only caused more problems. In her mind, it was more work than what it was worth. But she wasn't a vampire, so she didn't really have a say.
Erin didn't waver as she met the hybrid's gaze unflinching. "And that's exactly why you need to talk Kol down. We all want the same thing. He's gonna jeopardize that and you know it," she countered.
Klaus appeared to contemplate her words, before he reached into his jean pocket and pulled out his phone. After a few taps, he held the phone out before him as the dial-tone filled the air.
Speakerphone. How thoughtful.
When it ended, Klaus spoke with a grin, "little brother. Just two days home, and I'm told you've already gone and made a mess."
"Come on, Nik. I was only having some fun," Kol answered through the call.
"Those vampires were for my Hunter," Klaus stated with a tinge of annoyance to his voice.
Erin resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Jeremy wasn't his anything.
"I'll make some more," Kol told him in return. "There's no shortage of people."
Klaus seemed to grow bored of the back and forth and asked, "where's Damon Salvatore?"
Kol paused for a moment and then said, "I gave him a good and proper beating just for old time's sake."
Erin guessed that was better than him being dead.
"Yes. Well, you've had your fun. Now, let him go and come home. Avoid any more trouble, or you'll find yourself back in a box."
"Hey, no need to be nasty about it."
"On the contrary, I find nastiness to be essential whenever my siblings try to sabotage me." Klaus's stare met Erin's as he declared, "listen closely, Kol. Stay away from the Gilbert boy. You understand?"
Kol released a long breath. "Fine. I won't touch him. You have my word."
__________
"Jeremy, it's over. You can put all this away," Elena voiced, gesturing to the kitchen table where a dozen or more weapons were spread across the surface.
When she returned home from a surprisingly successful visit with Klaus, Erin found her brother in the process of dragging out each and every weapon they owned. She didn't get the chance to ask why, before Elena tried to talk him down.
Jeremy turned from the closet under the stairs with a bag in hand. He moved toward the table to set it on the last available space. He grabbed a gun, sliding the wooden bullet filled clip into place. "Klaus still wants me to finish the mark. He's not gonna stop," he replied.
"Yeah, but he can wait," Erin countered, drawing his eyes to her. "We're not gonna let you get yourself killed over this cure."
Elena nodded from where she gripped onto the back of kitchen chairs. "Damon's gonna be back soon and then we can figure something out."
Jermey's brows furrowed toward her. "Seriously? You still trust Damon?" he questioned in slight disbelief.
A valid thought. After the stunt Damon pulled, Erin wouldn't be inclined to trust him with anything that involved Jeremy for a long while.
"He saved your life," Elena reminded him, moving around the table and approached him.
Jeremy gave her a flat look. "He saved the map to the cure. He couldn't care less about me."
"I care about you," Elena told him, before she glanced toward Erin. "We care about you." She turned back to him and reached out to touch his arm.
At that, Jeremy swatted her arm away. "Don't," he snapped. "Whatever's inside of me that makes me want to hunt, right now, is on overdrive."
Erin paused when she noticed Jeremy's hand move for the table. His fingers enclosed around a wooden stake, holding it tightly in his palm. "Jer," she called out and hurried for them.
Jeremy looked at her with his gaze still narrowed, before he followed her line of sight to the stake in his hand. He immediately dropped it back to the table and jolted back from Elena. "I'm sorry," he rushed out with wide eyes.
"Hey, it's okay," Erin reassured him, but she didn't make a move to touch him. She knew it would only make matters worse.
Jeremy met her gaze and took a deep breath, before he turned back to Elena. "I know what I have to do, Elena. I really wanna get that cure for you, but - I just - I don't know how I'm gonna do this."
A sting erupted throughout Erin's chest at his words. Jeremy didn't want to be a Hunter. He didn't want to have to fight the urge to kill their sister at every moment. He didn't want to slaughter vampires by the dozen just for a chance to find a mythical cure. He didn't want a supernatural life.
Jeremy deserved better. They all did.
__________
The universe had a diabolical sense of humor. Erin was sure it got its kicks out of providing an ounce of hope just to rip it away.
Peace had lasted for all of an hour before a phone call shattered it to pieces. Kol's surrender had been a sham. He released Damon, but not in his right mind. Compulsion drove him to seek out Jeremy and kill him, getting rid of their only connection to the cure.
Thankfully, Damon failed in his forced endeavor. A simple neck snap from Stefan put him out of commission before he could fulfill his task. He now resided in the cellar of the Boarding House until they could break Kol's compulsion.
When a knock sounded on the front door, Erin debated on whether or not to answer. She wanted at least a few hours of calm until the next crisis made itself known. Maybe she could get some kind of sleep.
But knowing the people in her life, they wouldn't just leave if no one opened the door.
Erin headed for the door with Elena and Jeremy on her heels. She stopped in the foyer, reaching out to twist the knob and reveal who stood on their porch. Her annoyance rose when she recognized them.
"Good evening, Gilbert clan," Klaus greeted them with a light grin and his hands held behind his back.
Erin sighed, shifting on her feet as she let go of the door. "Why are you here, Klaus?" she asked him in a huff.
"I've come to fetch my Hunter," Klaus stated, glancing between them. "Seeing as how my brother's become a liability. Jeremy will be safer with me."
Jeremy's expression remained place when the hybrid's stare fell to him. "I think I'll pass. I've killed enough people for you today," he replied.
Klaus pressed his lips together and glanced over the entryway of their home. "You think you're safer here?" He hummed, returning his attention to them. "Clearly you don't know Kol. He'll stop at nothing to get what he wants. So strange as it might be. I'm your best bet."
Elena stepped closer to Erin and said flatly, "sorry, but I think we'd rather take our chances."
Klaus's demeanor fell into a steely calm as he stepped toward the threshold. Erin's didn't move an inch. "Fine. But when Kol does come, and he will come, be sure to let me know. Preferably before he burns your nice little home to the ground." He gave front of the home a quick look, before his gaze fell to Jeremy." And as for you, Hunter. There's no shortage of people to turn, or loved ones to threaten, so sleep well. We'll plan on finishing our work tomorrow."
Erin simply stared after him as he turned in his heel and strode down the porch steps to leave. Once he reached the sidewalk, she shut the door and turned to her siblings. "He's always so delightful," she quipped with a roll of her eyes.
"This is never gonna end," Jeremy exclaimed, turning to head back toward the kitchen table. "If Kol doesn't kill me first, then Klaus is just gonna force me to kill more innocent people." He paused and faced Erin and Elena when they followed. "How many is it gonna take? Ten? A hundred?"
The faraway gaze in Elena's eyes captured Erin's attention. She knew that look. She had an idea.
"What're you thinking?" Erin questioned, stopping next to her sister.
Elena lifted her stare to shift between her and Jeremy. "If you kill one Original vampire, their entire sireline will die with them. That's thousands, maybe tens of thousands of vampires. Kol compelled Damon to kill you," she reminded their brother.
Elena's next words made Erin's stomach drop so hard and so fast she had to force herself to withhold what remained of her dinner.
"You're gonna kill Kol instead."
<May 27, 2022>
We're in the thick of it now!
Any guesses as to how the next chapter is gonna play out? I doubt many of you will see it coming.
Don't forget to vote and comment.
- Jordan
P.S. Unedited chapter.
Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: AzTruyen.Top