05. The Killer

Lily was out on a jog, with her earphones plugged in and music blasting through her ears when suddenly her music session was interrupted when she received a call, taking her phone out of her joggers, Lily answered the call after seeing that Klaus was calling her.

"Reached Italy?" Lily asked, Klaus having told her that Rebekah finally revealed to him where she buried her former lover but not that he daggered her.

"Yes I did" Klaus informed, "Lily, you need to get to the mansion, now".

Lily frowned hearing the urgency in Klaus's voice, "What happened?".

"Connor escaped" Klaus informed, shocking Lily.

***

Stefan kneeled by the body of the hybrid Connor had killed to escape, "How the hell did Connor escape?" he asked Klaus after grabbing Lily's phone from her hand, the phone on speaker.

"I blame my numbing incompetence" Klaus replied, "But pointing fingers isn't gonna help me, you're gonna help".

"You do realise this hunter could be anywhere in the world right now, right?" Lily asked her boyfriend.

"Think, little luna" Klaus said, "He took the hybrid's head, which means he wants werewolf toxin".

"Which means he plans to stay in Mystic Falls to kill vampires" Stefan realised.

"Which is a pity, as I'm half the world away digging up a dead hunter, you'll have no access to my blood and therefore the antidote" Klaus pointed out, "Nevertheless, his tattoo is our only map to the cure so your task is quite simple, find him, catch him, and above all, keep him alive, he's no good to us dead, but most of all, keep Lily safe".

"I can keep myself safe" Lily retorted.

"I know you can, think of this as me taking extra precaution, love" Klaus defended.

"Damon's been looking for him, if they cross paths--".

"You need to keep Damon in check" Klaus interrupted Stefan.

"You'll have better luck with trying to get pigs to fly" Lily commented.

"It'd be a lot easier if I could just tell the truth" Stefan stated.

"You trust Damon with the cure?" Klaus asked, "I imagine he prefers Elena the way she is".

"Nice try Klaus, but I trust Damon a hell lot more than I trust you" Stefan said.

"And I trust no one except my little luna standing next you" Klaus stated, making Stefan look at Lily who gave him a small wave in return, "The more who find out about the cure, the more who will go after it, nations have gone to war over less, you mark my words, tell one soul and I'll throw the hunter's sword in the Mediterranean and we can end this quest right now, am I understood?".

An annoyed Stefan hanged up on Klaus and turned to his best friend, "I don't suppose you will convince Klaus to let me tell Damon, will you?" he asked, knowing Klaus will do anything Lily asks of him.

"Absolutely not" Lily said, "Look Stefan, I get that you're his brother and you trust him but I don't, in fact I hate him, I can't ask Klaus to believe in Damon when I can never do that myself, I'm sorry".

***

"So we each take a different entrance, hit him at the same time" Stefan and Lily heard Damon tell Tyler and Elena as they entered the Lockwood's living room, Elena having called Stefan to inform him about Connor taking Jeremy hostage at the grill.

"Stefan" Elena said, breathing out a sigh of relief seeing her boyfriend, she quickly stood up from the couch and walked into his arms.

"Where the hell have you been?" an annoyed Damon asked his brother, trying to get in touch with him since the morning but Stefan not answering any of his calls or texts.

"Coming up with a plan" Stefan informed.

"Yeah, we have a plan" Damon retorted, "Plan is I'm going rip Connor's heart out and I'm gonna feed it to him".

"That's the stupidest plan I've ever heard" Lily stated.

"Luckily I didn't ask for your opinion" Damon snapped.

"Are you stupid?" Lily asked, glaring at the oldest Salvatore, "Connor has Jeremy and god knows how many more hostages, we have to be careful with how we approach this".

"Hence the open heart surgery" Damon stated.

"Damon's right" Elena said, "Connor's strong but he's not gonna be able to take all of us".

"I called in the hybrids to help too" Tyler informed.

Caroline entered the room, "My mom put squad cars blocking the streets, they're saying it's a faulty gas main" she informed, "We're good to go".

"Good, great" Damon said, "No cops, no witnesses, no reason to wait around".

"Alright hold on, you're not all going" Stefan protested.

"He shot me like nine times" Tyler reminded, "If we're killing him, I want in".

"He's got Jeremy, I'm going" Elena added.

"Listen, nobody's going anywhere until me and Lily figure out what we're walking into" Stefan stated.

"Until you two figure it out?" Damon asked glancing between the two best friends, wondering what the hell were they up to, "Is that where you've been all morning, out buying bossy pants?".

"You are seriously thick in the head" Lily snapped, "Have you forgotten that this guy is known for setting deadly traps? If we go into the grill without being prepared we will be idiots, especially if he has werewolf venom with him".

"Does he?" a worried Elena asked.

Lily threw her hands up in frustration, "I don't know Elena!" she yelled, getting really frustrated and wondering why did Klaus think she can work well with these people, "But he has had it before, hasn't he?".

"Fine" an annoyed Damon said, realising Lily had a point, "Fine, you two wanna take some time to do recon? You get one hour, but we're gonna need extra help, so where the hell is the wicked witch of the west?".

"She can't do magic" Caroline informed.

"Really?" Damon asked, "Well, call her, tell her Jeremy's life is in danger, maybe that will bring her out of retirement".

***

"You expect me to care about bloody hostages?" an annoyed Klaus asked Stefan, as the youngest Salvatore and Lily walked down the empty streets of Mystic Falls and towards the grill, while on a call with Klaus, the phone on speaker while being held by Stefan.

"Well, you should" Stefan stated, "Damon does, so does Caroline, Tyler, Elena, if any of them get to Connor, then you just wasted a trip to Italy, I can buy us some time, but Damon's getting antsy, so if you want Connor alive, you'd better get your hybrids onboard with my plan".

"And before you say that Stefan's plan is shit, right now, it's the only plan we have that will ensure Connor's safety" Lily said.

Klaus let out an annoyed sigh, "Fine, I'll get my hybrids onboard, be safe little luna".

"Aren't I always?" Lily teased, before hanging up on Klaus.

***

After gathering enough information, Lily and Stefan stood in the town square and Lily dialed Elena, who was currently at Alaric's apartment with Damon.

"What did you two find out?" Elena asked Lily.

"Not much honestly, we could only make out the voices" Lily informed, putting her phone on speaker so Stefan can hear and speak as well.

"How many hostages?" a curious Damon asked.

"Three" Stefan informed, "But Elena, it's Matt and April Young".

"What?" a shocked Elena asked.

Damon let out an annoyed sigh, "Those two idiots are like danger magnets".

"We have to get them out of there" a worried Elena stated.

"Yeah we just need a little more time" Stefan said.

"The clock's ticking, brother" Damon reminded.

"Don't you think he knows that?" an annoyed Lily asked, "For once in your life Damon, only speak when you have something useful to say, otherwise stop opening your damn mouth, it's getting really annoying now".

Before Damon could argue with Lily, the Forbes werewolf hanged up the phone.

***

Stefan and Lily entered Alaric's apartment together, "Did you find the tunnel map?" Stefan asked his brother.

"Got it" Damon informed, showing Stefan his phone before placing it in his leather jacket, "It was in his weapons drawer with seven stakes, some weird MacGyver crossbow and the last remaining vervain in Mystic Falls, so how about we get this party started?".

"Not yet" Stefan stated, as Lily slowly walked over to Elena, making sure she didn't look suspicious, "Klaus is sending one of his men, he'll take the front, you, me, and Lily can take the tunnels".

"Since when do we team up with Klaus and the lollipop guild?" a confused Damon asked.

"Since they are your best bet in defeating Connor" Lily retorted, "Remind me again, how many times have you tried to take down Connor and how many times have you failed? Plus, Connor has werewolf venom and the hybrids are immune to that, letting them take the front is the best bet".

"Well how are you sure he even has werewolf venom?" Damon asked Lily, before turning to his brother, "Why is Klaus and his girl involved, Stefan?".

"Stop being paranoid, Damon" Stefan warned, turning around and secretly grabbing a vervain dart.

"Start telling the truth, Stefan" Damon snapped, "Why are Klaus and Lily involved? Did Klaus compel you?".

"First of all, Lily isn't involved because of Klaus, she's involved because she's my best friend and she is usually involved in whatever I'm involved in" an annoyed Stefan snapped, making Lily nod her head in agreement, "And second of all, I am telling you the truth, this is the best way to get everyone out".

"Okay, what is with you two?" an annoyed Elena asked the two brothers, "We're wasting time".

"You know what? She's right" Damon said, "Screw your plan, I'll kill Connor myself".

Damon tried to walk past his brother, but before he could, Stefan ended up sticking him with the vervain dart and before Elena could react, Lily used her hands to snap her neck.

"Was knocking her out really necessary?" Stefan asked Lily, as both the best friends let Elena and Damon's bodies fall to the ground.

"You really think she would have let you hurt her precious Damon?" Lily asked, walking over to Damon, she took his daylight off and threw it over to Stefan, before starting to search his jacket for his phone.

"What's with that tone?" a confused Stefan.

"I am not going to say anything because then I will become the bad guy, but I will say, it's not too late to open your eyes Stefan, you can still stop yourself from getting hurt" Lily said, grabbing Damon's phone and sending the picture he took of the map of the tunnels to both herself and Stefan, "By the way, for the first time in his life your brother had the right idea with the tunnels, must feel weird realising that he does have brain just choose not to use it".

Stefan let out an amused chuckle, "Your hatred for Damon is the best thing ever".

Lily smiled at Stefan, "Thank you" she said, "Now, you ready?".

Stefan nodded his head, "Ready" he said, before following Lily out of Alaric's apartment.

***

Stefan and Lily walked in the woods together, Lily took her phone out of her pocket and dialed the grill, hoping to talk some sense into Connor before it got messy.

"We're closed" Connor said, the moment he answered the phone.

"Well reopen and release the freaking hostages" Lily demanded.

"I'll free them as soon as you give me what I want" Connor promised, "You and everyone like you dead".

"You're a vampire hunter Connor, not a werewolf hunter, killing me isn't going to help grow your hunter's mark" Lily said, shocking Connor, as he wondered how Lily knew that his mark grew with each kill, "Yeah that's right buddy, I know all about your little tattoo, I know what it means and I know what you are, so I'm going to offer you a one time deal, you free the hostages and I will tell you everything I know about your kind".

Connor scoffed, "That's a weak move, you must be desperate".

"I'm desperate?" an amused Lily asked, "Honey, I'm not the one who took hostages in, that seems more like a desperate move then mine, doesn't it?".

A furious Connor grabbed the phone and smashed it, no longer wanting to hear Lily, after Connor hanged up Lily looked towards Stefan and shook her head, Stefan nodded his head in understanding, he then grabbed a shovel from the ground and together both him and Lily walked down the Lockwood cellar where the tunnels started.

Stefan and Lily started walking in the tunnels, trying to find the entrance to the grill when suddenly a hammering sound reached both their super hearings, after exchanging a confused look among them, the two best friends quickly rushed towards the sound, wondering who was making the noise and why.

***

One of Klaus's hybrids walked towards the grill while on the phone with Klaus, "There's no sign of anyone" he informed the original hybrid.

"Stefan and Lily are coming at him from the other side" Klaus informed, "They'll free the hostages, your job is to get Connor out alive but above all keep Lily safe, and use caution mate, Connor favors booby traps and ambushes".

"Understood".

***

The sound of the hammering had led both Stefan and Lily right towards the blocked off entrance of the storage room at the Grill that Matt was trying to break, the two best friends quickly used their super strength to destroy the bricks and clear the opening for Matt and April to use to get out.

"Follow this map, get out of here" Stefan told Matt, showing him the map of the tunnels on his phone, "Take her to Caroline's so she can--".

"Okay" Matt said, understanding what Stefan was trying to say, he quickly grabbed April and started dragging her away, "Stefan, Lily, that guy's armed, if you two go out there he's gonna kill Jeremy".

"Relax, we're not rookies" Lily said, "No one is going to die, hopefully".

"Go" Stefan told Matt.

"Come on" Matt told April, taking her towards the exist while Stefan and Lily sneaked into the grill.

Inside the grill, a fascinated Jeremy watched as Connor took off his jacket and his hunter's tattoo grew after he killed the hybrid Klaus had assigned to capture Connor and protect Lilly, suddenly Connor's eyes landed on the two best friends trying to sneak around the bar, immediately causing him to grab Jeremy as a shield and start shooting at Stefan and Lily, but before any of the bullets could hit either of them, Stefan grabbed Lily and speeded both of them behind the bar.

"Connor, you don't have to do this!" Stefan called out, as Connor shoved Jeremy and walked away from the Gilbert boy, his gun still pointing towards the bar.

"Stefan?" a panicked Jeremy called out.

Lily peeked through the bar and let out a curse seeing Jeremy's foot on a pressure plate, the moment he lifted his foot up, he will blow up into pieces.

***

"Don't be an idiot Connor!" Lily yelled, "This doesn't have to get anymore messy then it already has, put your freaking gun down and come with us".

"Sure, you and your friend come out, I'll hand the gun over" Connor said.

"Think about this, no one has to die, I'll tell you everything you need to know" Stefan promised.

"I don't make deals with vampires!" a frustrated Connor yelled.

"Well guess what dickhead? You currently have no freaking choice!" Lily yelled back, "You have no idea what you are and why you have this urge to kill vampires, if you die tonight, you'll die for nothing Connor, your whole life will mean nothing, if you want to know the truth about your kind, put the damn gun down and let us help Jeremy".

"Please" Elena pleaded, suddenly barging into grill, immediately causing Connor to point his gun at her, "Please don't hurt him".

Connor pointed his gun at Jeremy, "You come any closer, he's dead".

"Elena, get out of here" a worried Jeremy told his sister.

"He's the only family that I have left" Elena said, "Just--just let him go".

"You hear that? Your girl's watching" Connor told Stefan, "I will shoot the boy right in front of her, on the count of three! One! Two!".

"Oh I'm so going to regret this" Lily mumbled, Stefan looked at her in confusion wondering what she was on about, but Lily ignored his look and instead took a deep breath before standing up and jumping over the bar and leaping over to Connor, who tried to shoot her but Lily quickly managed to move his gun to the side, causing the bullet to instead hit Jeremy, who started stumbling backwards, but before he could fall Stefan grabbed him and quickly speeded him away just as the bomb exploded.

On the other hand, Lily punched Connor, she then headbutted him and kicked him in the chest, before grabbing him by his throat and pulling him to the floor, "Game over, Connor" she said, her grip on Connor's throat tightening.

Suddenly Stefan speeded over to Lily and Connor, seeing the youngest Salvatore, Lily let go of Connor but not before smashing his head to the floor one last time, once Lily had cleared the way, Stefan grabbed Connor and speeded him away, completely ignoring the confused looks his girlfriend was sending his way.

"What the hell is going on, Lily?" Elena asked the Forbes werewolf.

"I have no idea" Lily said shrugging her shoulders before rushing after Stefan and Connor.

***

"Good work, brother" Damon said, suddenly appearing infront of Stefan as he was trying to use the tunnels to get Connor out.

"It's over Damon, I have him" Stefan stated.

"Not after what I just went through" Damon retorted, "I had to punch through a boiler-room basement into a skeptic tank to get into this stupid tunnel", Damon glared at Connor, "But it'll be worth it".

"I'm taking him with me" Stefan informed.

"That's the thing, you're not, I don't know what you're up to or what Klaus has over you but even if I have to go through you, I'm gonna kill him" Damon stated.

"Better back off, Damon" Stefan warned as Damon took a step towards him and Connor.

"Why? Because Klaus wants him alive?" Damon asked.

"This has nothing to do with Klaus, you're just gonna have to trust me on that" Stefan clarified.

"Don't want to, don't have to, not gonna" Damon said, with each word, walking close to the hunter and his brother, "Now give him to me brother".

Stefan glared at his brother before he turned to Connor, "Run as fast as you can" he said, shoving Connor in the opposite direction of his brother, once Connor had run away, Stefan held Damon by his collars and slammed him to the wall, "You're not gonna kill him".

Damon shoved Stefan into a wall, he stormed over to his brother and held him by his collars, "Why are you protecting him? Tell me!", Damon tried to shove his hand into Stefan's chest, but before he could, Lily appeared behind and shoved a stake through his chest, right below his heart, immediately causing the oldest Salvatore to yell in pain and let go of his brother.

Lily then kicked the back of Damon's knee causing Damon to kneel to the ground, "You wanna know why keeping Connor alive is so important?" she asked, making sure the stake stayed in Damon's chest.

"Lily, don't!" Stefan said, "Klaus will kill anyone who knows".

"I can deal with Klaus" Lily stated, "But I'm not going to let this secret isolate you from everyone you care about", Lily turned back to Damon, "You wanna know why Connor is so important to keep alive? It's because his tattoo is the only way you and Stefan can get the cure".

"Cure for what?" a confused Damon asked, yelling in pain as Lily ripped the stake out of his chest and threw it to the floor.

"For her, for Elena" Stefan informed.

Damon stood up and looked at his brother in shock, "Klaus told you there's a cure for vampirism?".

"Yeap" Lily confirmed, "But there is no cure if there is no Connor, his tattoo is the map to the cure".

"I know it's crazy Damon, but it's hope" Stefan said, "Do you understand me? It's her only hope".

***

After looking for Connor everywhere in the tunnels but finding him nowhere, Stefan, Lily and Damon existed the tunnels through the woods, where they came across Elena digging up a hole to bury a dead Connor who she had killed.

"Elena" Stefan called, startling an extremely emotional Elena.

"I need to bury him, I killed him" Elena rambled, her mouth full of Connor's blood, "I should--I should bury him", Elena went back to digging Connor's grave.

Damon and Lily looked at each other, an awkward expression on both their faces, neither knowing what to do in this situation.

"Hey" Stefan whispered, walking over to Elena and trying to stop her from digging, "Hey, come on--".

Elena shoved Stefan away from her, "Don't!" she yelled, "I heard you and Lily talking to him, making some secret deal with Klaus? You said you were gonna protect Jeremy, keep me from this", Elena gestured towards Connor's dead body, "You said that I could trust you Stefan".

"Elena, it's complicated" Damon said, while Lily decided to stay quiet, she had a lot she wanted to say to Elena but she knew right now was not the time and she also knew nothing she says will effect Elena.

"No, it's not complicated, Damon" Elena snapped, "You wanna know why? Because he's dead now, you told me to kill him, so I did".

Lily shook her head hearing Elena, immediately she took a step towards her but Damon quickly grabbed her wrist and shook his head, making Lily give him an are you serious look.

"Keep your mouth shut" Damon whispered.

"Unbelievable" Lily mumbled, she was about to defend a man who didn't even want to be defended.

"Oh, I--I killed someone" Elena sobbed, "I killed some--", Elena couldn't complete her sentence, just started crying loudly, the guilt of killing Connor eating at her, and though there was a few things she said that Lily didn't agree with, Lily still felt bad seeing Elena's condition, it reminded her of the time she made her first kill.

***

Lily rushed into the Mikaelson's living room and immediately she breathed a sigh of relief seeing the person she was been craving to see all day.

"Never leave me alone in this dreaded town again" Lily said, before rushing into Klaus arms, her arms going around his neck.

Klaus immediately wrapped his arms around Lily's waist and he hid his face in her neck, "Trust me, I've learnt my lesson, today was way too hard, never again".

Lily smiled into the hug, but then she remembered what happened today, immediately causing the smile to leave her face, she broke the hug and looked at Klaus with a guilty expression forming on her face, "Klaus, I'm so sorry, I failed today".

"You didn't fail, Stefan failed" Klaus retorted, "You could never fail".

"I was helping Stefan" Lily reminded.

"But it was his plan" Klaus retorted, "And honestly, Stefan's failed plan is the least of my worries, right now we should all be worried about poor little Elena".

"Elena?" a confused Lily asked, "Why should we be worried about Elena?".

"You told me she killed the hunter right?" Klaus asked, Lily nodded her head in confirmation, "Well, when a vampire kills a member of the brotherhood of the five, let's just say there's a consequence to it".

"What kind of consequence?" a suddenly worried Lily asked.

"A very bad consequence" Klaus informed.

***

Presenting 3x05 of Fire & Flame!

How was the chapter?

Thoughts on Lily and Stefan teaming up to find the escaped Connor?

Thoughts on Lily warning Stefan about Damon and Elena?

Thoughts on Lily deciding to tell Damon about the cure?

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