𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐊𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐑
she was special. she combined a mean angel and a kind devil

IT WAS THE next day when Victoria finally arrived in Mysic Falls. She had called Damon on the way there for any updates, and apparently the hunter had taken a liking to Jeremy.

Before going to her childhood home, she decided to stop by the Grill to check on Matt, fully knowing that he was probably staying behind to clean.

And once she walked in, her brown eyes landed on Matt who was placing the chairs up on the tables. She grinned and ran up to him, jumping onto his back which made him shout out in surprise. "Hello, Matty blue eyes!" She exclaimed before jumping off his back, smiling widely.

"Vivi!" Matt exclaimed and pulled her into a bone-crushing hug.

"Victoria?" A girl's voice questioned and they turned to a dark haired, blue eyed girl who was smiling at her. "Hey, uh... it's me April—"

"Oh, my god!" Tori exclaimed before pulling the younger girl into a hug. "It's been so long since I last saw you, and you're even more beautiful."

April blushed heavily and opened her mouth, ready to say something when Jeremy was pushed into the room. Followed behind him was a black man who had a hard expression. Immediately, Tori realized that it must've been Connor, the hunter.

"Jer!!" Tori exclaimed, her eyes wide, and she went to step towards him when Connor roughly grabbed him.

"Sit down," the hunter ordered as he glared at them, his hold tightening on Jeremy. "Sit down!" He shouted and walked forward. 

April and Matt backed up and sat down with wide eyes, but Tori hesitated for a second before sitting down, as well.

"And stay quiet," he ordered as he shoved Jeremy down in a seat beside her.

Tori reached forward, gripping her little brother's hand. "Everything will be alright." In her mind, she prayed that Eric will come through that door and rescue them.

"Gilbert, give me your cell phone," Connor ordered, glaring at the youngest person in the room. 

"At least let April go. She doesn't have anything to do with this," Jeremy negotiated with a glare on his face. He glanced at his sister who simply gave him a look. He knew he could rely on her to get everyone out safely if something went sideways. 

"She has everything to do with this," Connor sneered and Jeremy handed him his phone. "Her and her father. Plus, she and I have history."  

April looked over at him, more terrified than confused. "What are you talking about? I've never seen you before in my life."  

"Well, you kids need to get some vervain," Connor commented with a scowl. "And don't just wear it as a bracelet where anybody can just take it off." He pointed at Jeremy's vervain bracelet causing the boy to look up at him. "Maybe then you'd remember our conversation at the hybrid's yesterday."  

"Our conversation?" Jeremy questioned in confusion. "Are you saying someone compelled me?!" 

"You were at Klaus'?!" Tori asked, speaking up for the first time in a couple of minutes. "And he compelled you?"

"Would someone please tell me what he's talking about?!" April yelled out to no one in particular causing them all to turn to her. 

"Compulsion, secrets, vampires," Connor vaguely responded.  

Matt glared at him at tried to be brave for once in his life. "If you know so much, then you know our friends are going to come for us."  

Connor smirked and nodded. "Oh, yeah, I'm counting on it. Every vampire that comes for you is another one I get to kill. Now, who should I text first? Hm?" He questioned looking through Jeremy's phone. "Damon Salvatore, his brother Stefan, Tyler Lockwood? Nah, all of the above."

He then sent a text to Tyler, Stefan, and Damon which read "Hunter at Mystic Grill with hostages. They all die at sundown." He placed Jeremy's phone down and stabbed it with his hunting knife.  

Victoria gulped and stared up at Connor, trying to be brave even though she knew that if she made a wrong move, someone would end up hurt. "Why are you doing this? Matt and April are innocent in this. And you don't even know me." She stood up slowly. "I know you have some sort of bonding with Jeremy, but that doesn't give you the right to—"

"Sit down and shut your pretty little mouth or i'll stab your brother," Connor threatened as he held up a knife to Jeremy's throat.

Tori took in a shaky breath before doing as told. "What you're doing is wrong and you know it."

Connor ignored her and began pouring werewolf toxin into a glass jar to rig up a bomb.

Jeremy released a breath and gave his sister a look before walking over to Connor. Victoria went to stop him, but then realized that he could take care of himself. But, if Connor did one wrong move, she would put up a fight. She wasn't going to allow some person to hurt those she loves.

"You said we had a conversation yesterday," Jeremy stated with confusion. Conner didn't look at him, and continued to build bombs against vampires. But, he hummed while nodding.  "About what?" 

The hunter finally looked at him. "We'll get into that. First, take a look at my handy work. Pick up some tips from the hunter's trade."  

Jeremy studied the Jar in confusion, his dark brows pulling together. "What is all that?"  

"The fluid is derived from werewolf toxin. Trip the wire, bomb goes off, nails deliver a lethal dose into the bloodstream," Connor explained with a smirk which made Tori disgusted.

She screwed up her face and shook her head. "And what's the point? What do you get out of all this?" 

"You know, I used to think that there was no 'get'; that I was just supposed to do. Kill vampires," Connor explained, briefly glancing to Tori who was staring at him in disgust. "That was until I realized that the mark held the answer to why I'm the way I am. The more I kill, the more it grows and once it's complete, I'll know my story and – and all of this will have meant something."  

"I can't believe you'll do something like this for something you don't even know about. You don't know what that leads to or if it'll actually do anything useful. You're stupid and a terrible person. Vampires and werewolves are just like us, just different. They deserve to live, too."

Connor stared at her for a second before looking over at Matt and April. "We're gonna have visitors soon, you two get in the back. Get up!" They didn't move, so he began shouting, "Move!" April slowly stood up while sobbing and Matt grabbed her shoulder to try and calm her. "Before you think about any other exits, I got every door rigged. Got it?" He snarled as Matt led April to the back of the Grill.  

Tori swallowed heavily. "You're worse than them, you know? You come into town thinking you own it and us. You hurt the people I care about and threaten my family." She thought about Eric who was for sure feeling her fear and disgust. "I have powerful people on my side that will not hesitate to take you down. Before it comes down to that, you should leave this town and never come back."

The phone began ringing loudly and Jeremy slowly walked towards it, and as soon as his hand touched it, Connor grabbed his wrist harshly. Jeremy pulled his hand away and Connor answered the phone instead, "We're closed." Seeing as they couldn't hear both sides of the conversation, they could only settle with his. "I'll free them as soon as you give me what I want. You and everyone like you dead."

When he scoffed, Tori knew that whatever they were trying to do wasn't going to do the trick.  "That's a weak move. You must be desperate," he told whoever was on the other end of the phone. And whatever they said must've angered him, because he slammed the phone down on the receiver, and then flung it down on the floor angrily. He then walked away, and the siblings glanced at one another. 

Jeremy saw a stake and moved towards it, but Connor sensed it and said, "You may be a potential hunter, but if you make one move, I'll break all twenty seven bones in your hand." 

"They're not all bad, you know," Tori commented, trying to get him to see that he didn't have to do this. "Some of them, they're my friends."  

"Your friends, huh?" Connor looked over at her with a scoff. "Yeah, I had a friend like that once. She got turned by this vampire I was hunting. He thought it would be ironic."  

"What happened to her?" 

"I didn't want to hurt her. She promised that she would keep it under control, but... a vampire's like a loaded gun," he explained with a distant look on his eyes. "Eventually it's gonna go off." He then showed Jeremy his tattoo. "That's why I got this." 

Jeremy turned to Connor with angered eyes. "So, you killed your own friend?!"  

"Listen, if you're gonna be like me, you need to understand. Vampires kill humans, hunters kill vampires!" Connor shouted at Jeremy, but he simply rolled his eyes. Suddenly, they all heard a noise near the front. "We've got company."  Connor turned off the lights and turned on the music very loud. 

He grabbed Jeremy and then pulled Echo over the counter, and then to the floor. She groaned as her shin hit something before she was crouching down.

A hybrid — Dean —  opened the front door and carefully inspected the doorway. He looked down and saw a tripwire before looking right and seeing a loaded bomb. He carefully stepped over the wire and onto the mat. Suddenly, a light went off under the mat and the bomb had been activated.  

Tori's eyes widened and she stood up quickly. "Go before he kills you!"

His mouth fell open when he saw her and went to go towards her, but the bomb went off, and he went flying through the air due to the force of the explosion. 

"No!" Tori screamed, feeling her heart plummet. "That was my fault," she whispered to herself, covering her mouth with her hand as tears fell from her eyes. She noticed that the hybrid had many glass share in his body, but he was starting to stand up. 

Connor came out from behind the counter with a huge gun and approached the hybrid who lifted his hands up in surrender. He showed no mercy and shot the hybrid in the heart, and it was so powerful that his head got flung out of his chest. So, now all that is left is a gigantic hole in his chest. 

"You're terrible!" Tori shouted as she stood up fully and made her way around the counter, holding her bleeding arm. "He was surrendering! He wasn't even going to hurt anyone..." She looked down at the hybrid's body. He looked younger than twenty five, so he didn't live much of a life.

"Oh, he was," Connor retorted before Stefan slowly and quietly came out from the back. He quickly grabbed Jeremy and pointed his gun at Stefan who then sped across the Grill behind the bar and Connor shot the gun at him multiple times, but missed.  

Stefan ducked down and hid behind the bar. Connor groaned in aggravation and shoved Jeremy aside, causing him to step on another mat with a switch that activated another bomb.  

"Jeremy!" Tori shouted and she took a small step towards him, but then stopped as she saw the red light under the mat. "You're putting innocents at risk!" She shouted towards Connor in anger. "If you don't lower that gun, I will have no choice but to fight you."

"You don't understand what's happening, you're just a stupid kid!" Connor snapped back at her and her bottom lip trembled slightly before she clenched her hands.

"Connor, you don't have to do this!" Stefan attempted to reason with him.  

"Tori!" Jeremy yelled out and she took another step closer to her brother. She could hear the bomb ticking, and her eyes glanced to the bombs that were near him which would be triggered if he took one step off the mat. 

Taking in a shaky breath, she held up her hand towards him, her eyes wide, full of fear. "Just don't move, Jer. I'll get you out of this." He looked at her completely terrified and nodded very slowly.  

"Connor, we can end this right now! Just put down the gun and come with me!" Stefan attempted to reason again.  

"Sure. Come out, I'll hand the gun over," Connor said sarcastically as he glanced over at Tori who was searching around for a way to save Jeremy.

"Think about this. No one has to die. I'll tell you everything you need to know!" Stefan yelled out to him.  

"I don't make deals with vampires!!!" Connor shouted angrily.  

"Listen to me, if you die right now, then your whole life, all that killing; it'll all be for nothing," the youngest Salvatore informed him, trying to diffuse the chaotic situation. "I can give you the truth. Just put down the gun and let Jeremy and Victoria go!"  

Just then, Elena opened the front door and entered the Grill. Connor, who was still holding the gun towards where Stefan was hiding, turned his head and saw her.  

"Elena!" Tori shouted, more fear in her eyes now. Not only was Jeremy in danger, but so was Elena once Connor finds out about her being a vampire. 

Elena glanced at her sister and brother before turning to Connor. "Please!" But he then pointed his gun towards her. "Don't hurt them." She analyzed the area like Alaric has taught her so many times before. She was trying to come up with a plan. 

When Connor pointed the gun at Jeremy, Tori quickly grabbed a shard of glass. And threw it at him. It hit him in the shoulder, and stayed there. "Stop!" She shouted, her voice cracking. Her mind was working on overdrive on how to get both Jeremy and Elena out safely. She didn't want anyone to end up dead.

"Elena, get out of here!" Jeremy shouted, gulping as the mat moved a little. 

"They're the only family that I have left. Just – just let them go," Elena said, glancing at Tori who was about to have a mental breakdown.

"You hear that? Your girl is watching. I will shoot the boy right in front of her! On the count of three! One! Two!" Connor yelled to Stefan, who stood up and raised his hands in surrender. 

Connor pointed the gun at him instead, and on instinct, wanting to save everyone, Elena rushed at him. He shot his gun and the bullet hit Jeremy. 

"No!" Tori shouted and ran towards Connor as well, ready to kill him with her bare hands. 

Stefan noticed that the bomb was about to go off and he rushed towards Jeremy. He grabbed him and threw himself and Jeremy over a table just in time for the bomb to explode. Tori wasn't too far from the explosion, so she was flung forward, landing on a table, rolling off of it with a loud thump and groan.

"Ugh!" She shouted in pain, but pushed herself up even though her whole body was aching, and her ears were ringing.

Elena looked up in fear from the sound in the middle of her fight with Connor. "Jer?! Tori?!"

In her moment of panic, Connor managed to rip her hand off his throat and tossed her to the side. He rolled on top of her and grabbed her by the hair. He went to stake her, but Elena grabbed his wrist and fought back harshly. 

"No!" Tori shouted and launched herself at Connor, pulling him off of Elena by yanking him back by his neck. He stumbled backwards, and she didn't allow him to recover before kicking him in the head harshly.

He groaned loudly and flung backwards, his head landing on a broken bottle that was up right. So, when his head landed on it, the glass broke through his skin. He choked, blood pouring out of his mouth and neck. With his thrashing, he pushed down on the glass even more, and soon, the broken bottle could be seen peaking out of his neck.

"Oh, my God!" Tori exclaimed as she watched the life drain from the hunter before he stopped thrashing, and blood began to pool around him. "I killed him!" She shouted in shock, her hands shaking by her side. "I killed him," she said as if she was talking to someone, but in reality, she was trying to wrap her head around the fact she killed someone. "I killed him," she murmured before falling to her knees. "I—"

Elena was by her side, pulling her into her chest, running her fingers through her long brown hair. "It's okay, it's okay. Just don't look..." She tried to tell her it was okay, but Tori wouldn't take her eyes off of Connor's lifeless body.

"I killed him," Tori whispered before sobbing loudly in Elena's arms.