CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Nycole and the witch bitch, Greta, make it to a clearing by Stevens​ Quarry, and she lights some fires that illuminate a path. The teenager is instantly annoyed with the witch.

"You couldn't have done that be—" Nyx stops in her tracks when she sees someone laying in the dirt a few feet away from them. "Jenna?"

The teenager quickly runs over and kneels down beside her aunt. She checks her neck for a pulse, but Jenna doesn't have one. She's​ dead.

Nyx turns back to face Greta then. "I did everything that he asked of me. Why did he do this to her?" She questions.

Jenna suddenly gasps and sits up. Nyx's jaw drops as she looks back at her aunt, realizing what's really happening. "She's not dead, she's in transition." Greta tells her.

"Why?"

"Not my problem." She says and then walks away.

Jenna groans in pain. "My head. What's wrong with me?" She asks Nycole.

"Jenna, do you remember what happened?" Nyx asks.

"You called me. You were so scared." She says, and her niece sighs. "I should've realized that it wasn't you. The second I walked out of the house, someone grabbed me. A vampire."

"It was Klaus." Nycole tells her.

"He made me drink his blood. And I don't... I don't remember anything after that." She shakes her head. "Where are we? What happened?"

"We're at the quarry. He brought us here."

"Why don't I remember anything?"

"Jenna, did Elena... Did Elena explain to you how a person becomes a vampire?" She asks her.

"Yeah, she said if you die with vampire blood in your system, it's..." She looks back at her. "Oh, God. He killed me."

"Jenna, listen to me, okay? Everything is going to be okay. We're gonna get you out of here." She tells her.

"I'm a vampire?" Jenna asks.

"And I bet you're hungry." Greta says as she walks over to them.

"Stay away from her." Nyx stands up, and she uses magic to throw her backward.

A ring of fire goes up around Nycole, and she looks at the flames. It isn't much higher than the night Bonnie tried to kill Damon at the carnival. She gets up and tries to jump over it like Elena had, but she can't.

"Don't bother trying to get through. I spelled the circle — you're trapped. No matter what you do." Greta tells her.

"Please, let her​ go. She has no part in this." Nyx begs. "This has nothing to do with her. I did everything that Klaus said."

Greta cuts her wrist with a rock and looks back at Nycole. "Klaus chose her."

"Please."

"Drink." She says as she puts her wrist out toward Jenna.

"Jenna, no. Don't."

"I can't." Jenna says.

"Let her go!" Nyx yells.

Jenna bites her wrist and starts drinking her blood. She takes some, and then Greta pulls her arm away from her and walks away from them.

"Jenna, it's gonna be okay." Nyx says as a ring of fire goes up around her aunt too.

Jenna looks at her and the whites of her eyes are now red, and she has veins under them like any other vampires whenever they're around blood. She has blood on her lips. Jenna sits in the center of her circle with her arms wrapped around her knees. Nyx's pacing back and forth, trying to think of a way to save Jenna.

"Hey... H-How do you feel?" The brunette asks her aunt as she moves closer to the edge of her circle.

"I feel like myself... Only not." Jenna says as she sits there. "Everything is brighter. The fire's hotter. Part of me is terrified, but there's another part that doesn't want to feel anything."

Nyx nods. "Vampires can turn off the part that's​ human. The part that hurts." She explains.

"I'm gonna die, aren't I?"

"No." She shakes her head. "I'm not gonna let that happen. I don't care what I have to do. I won't let you die."

They hear something in the trees and then there's a woman groaning in pain.

"Who's that?" Jenna asks.

"It must be the werewolf." Nyx tells her.

"What's happening to me?" The woman demands as Greta drops her beside the others.

"I cast a spell to slow down your transformation. Your insides are trying to tear themselves free." Greta tells her.

A fire goes up around the werewolf, and Nyx looks back at Greta. "I thought that witches were supposed to maintain the balance in nature. How is lifting this curse maintaining​ balance?" She questions.

"I don't care about the balance of nature. I want the new order." She says. "With Klaus."

"Glad to know I still have a dance partner." Klaus says as he walks over to them. "Hello, my lovelies. Are we ready?"

"I've been out of town, I'm a little out of the loop." Nyx says, and he looks over at her. "Can you explain to me why you care so much about lifting this damn curse that you're going to kill three people just to get what you want?"

"After I lift this curse, I'll be able to access my werewolf side." He tells her.

"Werewolf?"

"I'm an original vampire born of a werewolf bloodline. This curse was placed on me to suppress my true nature. Your sacrifice will lift it."

"An evil unlike anything that we've ever seen before." She whispers to herself, remembering Missouri's​ warning in Lawrence. "A hybrid."

"I'm flattered, love." He says with​ a smile.

"They're not my words." She tells him.

The werewolf screams out in pain, and he walks over to Greta. He gives her the moonstone and she starts her spell.

"Everything I did..." The werewolf starts, and Nyx looks over at her. "I was just trying to help Tyler." She tells her.

"Tyler?" Nyx asks, confused. "Oh my God. You're Jules."

"I didn't want him to be alone." She says and she groans as she holds her stomach.

"Shall we?" Klaus asks as he walks over to the werewolf who's in excruciating pain.

The flames surrounding Jules disappear as quickly as they had roared to life, and she tries to attack Klaus. They land a few feet away from the others, and he puts his hand in her chest. She screams, and he pulls her heart out.

Nyx gasps as she puts her hand over her mouth. She quickly turns away because she can't watch whatever​ he does next. Nyx looks at Jenna at the same time that she turns to her niece.

"The day the lawyers called to tell me that I was going to become your guardian, you know what my first thought was?" She asks, and Nyx shakes her head. "Isn't there anyone else who can do this?" She tells her.

"Jenna, there was no one else who could've gotten Elena and Jeremy through all that." Nycole says. "You helped me even though I was hardly ever around."

"Just the thought that I almost passed up taking care of you." She shakes her head.

"But you didn't. You put your entire life on hold to help us."

"Look around, Nyx. I failed you."

"No." She shakes her head. "If either of us failed, it was me. I should've been here more, I shouldn't have spent so much time running. And I am so sorry for that."

"Elena explained to me what you do, she told me what happened when she went to see you when Dean was in the hospital." Jenna tells her. "I'm proud of you. It scares the hell out of me, but I am so proud of you." She says.

"Being a vampire — it intensifies your emotions. I need you to know that you have nothing to feel guilty for." Nyx tells her, and she nods. "It also makes you stronger and faster. You can fight back. I'm gonna get you through this. It's all gonna be okay. Please believe that."

She nods.

"Promise me," She whispers. "When you get the chance..." She takes a deep breath as she glances at Klaus. "Run." She mouths, and Jenna nods again.

Klaus walks over to them then and he looks at Nycole. "I do apologize for how much of your family I'm ending." He says. "Watching​ your aunt die must be bad enough, I can't imagine the pain of losing your unborn children as well."

"You're pregnant?" Jenna asks as she looks at Nyx, and she watches the color drain from her niece's face.

"How far along are you?" Klaus asks.

"Wha..." Nyx feels like she can't breathe as she puts her hand on her stomach. "I'm what?" She questions as she looks down.

"You didn't know?" He seems surprised.

"I..." She looks back up at him, her eyes glassy with tears.

"I can hear their heartbeats." He tells her. "Two of them. I take it their father has no idea either then. Perhaps it's​ for the best."

Nyx shakes her head. She can't think about that now. It's too late. "Let Jenna go. You need me, fine, but please let her live. My sister and my brother... They can't lose us both. Please." She begs Klaus, trying not to cry. "I did what you asked, I didn't run today. Please."

"Well, well. I don't recall you being on the guest list." He says suddenly and turns around. Nyx looks up above the quarry and sees Stefan.

"What's going on?" Jenna asks after Klaus goes to talk to him.

"I don't know." She shakes her head, trying to calm her mind. "Wait, you can hear them. Just focus on them, try to hear what they're saying."

It takes a little bit, but she gets it. "I can hear him. I can hear Stefan."

"What's he saying?" Nyx asks.

"Oh my God." She turns to her niece. "He wants to take my place." She says.

Nyx starts pacing back and forth as she tries to think of something. Anything.

"Nycole." Jenna calls, and she looks back at her.

"This can't happen. Either you or him, that's not right." She shakes her head frantically. "And now..." She rubs her hand over her stomach.

"Quite the predicament." Klaus says as he shows up next to them again, this time with Stefan's with him. "You know, it's funny, all this talk about preserving family, and here's Stefan, granting your​ wish."

Nyx looks at him. "Stefan..." She shakes her head.

"It's okay." He says as he looks at her.

"Who's it gonna be, Nycole?" Klaus asks, and she looks at him.

"What? No."

"Don't worry." He says. "There's actually no choice."

He stabs Stefan in the back with a stake, and he groans in pain. "No!" She yells as she steps forward and he falls to his knees.

"I have other plans for your friend. I want him alive." Klaus says. "But for now..." He snaps his neck.

"You son of a bitch!" Nyx yells as Stefan hits the ground.

"You really did pick up your boyfriend's knack for using foul language, didn't​ you?" He asks as he looks back at her with a smile, and she tries to keep from getting even angrier. "Whenever you're ready, Greta."

The fire surrounding Jenna disappears then, and Nyx's eyes snap back to her aunt. "No." She mutters and tears spill down her cheeks. "No, Jenna!" She yells. She tries to run toward her, desperately trying to do something to stop this, but the fire around her flares up and she steps back again.

"It's okay, Nycole." Jenna says as she looks back at her. "I know what I have to do." She suddenly runs at Greta and bites her neck, but Klaus gets there before she can kill her.

He pulls Jenna away from the witch and throws her on the ground. She lands on her stomach and she looks over at Nyx as tears run down her face.

"Turn it off." Nyx tells her. "Jenna, turn it off. You won't be afraid anymore."

Klaus then forces her to roll onto her back, and he drives a stake through her heart. Jenna gasps as the color drains from her body, leaving her that sickly gray color. And then the veins rise up.

"Jenna!" Nyx yells. "No." She wipes tears from her cheeks as she watches her aunt die.

Stefan wakes up not long after and he tries to get the stake from his back, but he can't reach it. He looks at Nycole and he sees how upset she is. She's sobbing on her knees with one hand in the grass in front of her, and the other over her stomach. He then turns his upper body as best he can, and he looks​ over at Klaus, then he sees Jenna's​ body.

"No." Stefan mutters as he looks back at the teenager. "I'm so sorry." He says, and she just looks over at him.

"Are they going to kill him?" Nyx mouths.

"Yes."

Klaus starts walking over to Nyx, and she looks back up at him. Slowly, she rises to her feet. "I happen to know for a fact that hell exists. And I also believe in hell on Earth." She tells him. "Whatever your hell is, I hope it cripples you. I hope it makes you wish you could die."

"That's poetic." He says as the fire around her disappears. "Shall we?"

Nyx walks past him and makes her way over to where Greta's doing her spell again. She looks down at Jenna and grits her teeth when she sees that she's grey.

Klaus forces her to look at him. "Thank you, Nycole." He says.

"I hope you rot in hell." She says, and he moves her hair away from her neck.

He goes to stand behind her and his teeth sink into her neck. She feels her blood leaving her body as she slowly grows weaker and weaker, until eventually there's nothing.

Her whole world goes dark as her hand falls away from her stomach.