CHAPTER TWENTY . . . !
↳ 𝖐𝖎𝖑𝖑𝖊𝖗

                     IT WAS A normal morning in the Montess house, where Adrian had overslept once more and their mother was hurrying out of the house for her shift at the hospital.

Violet was just about to call Elena when she got a message from Jeremy's number saying, "Hunter at Mystic Grill with hostages. They all die at sundown."

The dark haired girl immediately panicked and called Damon, he told her to meet him and the other's at the Lookwood mansion, where Tyler and Ethan were still under observation from Klaus's hybrids.

"So we each take a different entrance, hit him at the same time", Damon stated confidently while they all exchanged agreeing looks with each other.

Elena suddenly stood up from the couch she had sat on when Stefan entered the room, a worried expression plastered on his face, "Stefan-"

Damon gave Stefan a curious look, his eyebrows furrowed at his brother, "Where the hell have you been?"

"Coming up with a plan", Stefan simply answered him, avoiding to explain any more to him. Damon immediately rolled with his eyes in annoyance, "We have a plan- the plan is I'm gonna rip Connor's heart out and feed it to him."

Stefan gave him a pointed look while he sighed deeply, "That's not a plan. We need to be careful. Connor has Jeremy and who knows how many hostages."

"Hence the open heart surgery", Damon sarcastically remarked.

Violet was surprised that she was agreeing with Damon, but his plan made sense to her. They didn't have much time, "Damons right- Connor's strong but he's not gonna be able to take all of us."

Tyler ended the call he was making and spoke, "I called in the hybrids to help too."

Suddenly Caroline also entered the room, "My mom put squad cars blocking the street. They're saying it's a faulty gas main. We're good to go."

Damon gave them an enthusiastic thumbs up, "Good- Great- no cops, no witnesses, no reason to wait around."

Stefan immediately stopped him, "Alright, hold on! You're not all going."

Tyler gave the brunette man a serious look, "He shot me like nine times. If we're going to kill him, I want in."

Elena immediately started arguing as well, "He's got Jeremy. I'm going."

"Listen nobody is going anywhere until I figure out what we're walking into", Stefan emphasized to them.

Damon frowned at him once more, "Until you figure it out ? Is that where you've been all morning, out buying bossy pants?"

Stefan was desperate to convince them to not take any sudden actions, "This guy is known for traps. We'd be dumb to walk into one especially if he has werewolf venom."

"Does he?", Elena gave him a questioning look, her voice suddenly worried. Stefan shrugged at her, but his face also showed worry. "He's had it before."

Damon suddenly held his hands up into the air and spoke, "Fine- fine- you wanna take some time to do recon? You get one hour. But we're gonna need some extra help, so where the hell is the wicked witch of the west?"

"She can't do magic." Caroline reminded them and Damon raised his eyebrows at the blond. "Really? Well, call her. Tell her Jeremy's life is in danger. Maybe that will bring her out of her retirement", Damon stated simply before he pushed past Stefan and bumped his shoulder with his.

When they were later in Alaric's flat, they had a perfect view on the grill.

Elena was watching Stefan, who was standing on tow square through the window. The brunette frowned at the men while she questioned, "Who's he calling?"

Damon was searching through Alaric's drawers while he answered, "Bonnie, hopefully. Maybe she decided to make herself useful again." After a moment he was successful in his search and pulled out a map.

Damon then walked over to the table and spread out the map for them to look at. "What is that?", Violet questioned him curiously.

Damons eyes remain trained on the map, "It's our way in- courtesy of Alaric's interest in the Mystic Falls underground railroad."

Elena's eyes also scanned over the map, "The tunnels. Like the ones in the Lookwood cellar."

"Yep." Damon stated while he took a picture of the map. Suddenly Elena's phone rang and she picked up, placing it on the table. "What did you find out?"

"I could only make out the voices", Stefan answered her. Elena exchanged a look with the other's before Damon questioned, "How many hostages?

Stefan answered them while he watched the grill, "Three- but Elena, it's Matt and April Young."

"What?"

Damon sighed heavily before spoke, "Those two idiots. They're like danger magnets."

"We have to get them out of there!" Stefan agreed with Elena, "Yeah, I just need a little more time." Damon immediately gave his brother a warning, "The clocks ticking, brother.

"You know, I could do without the color commentary", Stefan snapped back at him before he hung up the phone.

"I'm going on these tunnels." Elena stated determined while she stared at the map.

Damon shook his head at her, "No, you're not. This guy doesn't know you're a vampire. Let's keep it that way.

The brunette gave him a look, "Well maybe that's it. I can offer to trade myself in exchange for the hostage."

Damon seemed not convinced by her idea, "No best case scenario is, now you're the hostage - worst case scenario is, he figures you out and kills you on the spot."

"Stop treating me like I can't handle myself. Alaric trained me. And I've been practicing with Stefan", Elena immediately shot at him, her voice unmasking her annoyance.

The man raised an sceptical eyebrow at her, "So what? Now you're gonna take on a professional killer?"

Damon vamp speeded over to the cross bow that laid on the bed and pretended to shoot at Elena's head, "Bang you're dead. Now what?"

The brunette turned around and immediately vamp speeded towards Damon and grabbed the crossbow from his hands and pushed him onto the bed besides him before she pointed the wooden stake at his heart, "Head shots no good, it has to be the heart. So now you're dead."

Elena then threw the stake to the ground, "My brother is the only thing that's holding me together right now, Damon. If anything happens to him-"

Violet placed a hand on Elena's shoulder and gave her a squeeze, "Well get him out. I promise. Even if I have to kill him myself."

Damon scoffd before he got up from the bed, "But remember when you do this, get as close as possible and then kill him."

Violet nodded at him in silence and after that the three went back to waiting for Stefan in silence. More than twenty minutes passed by before Damon suddenly spoke again.

"Stefan is on his way. This'll be over soon", he assured Elena, who was looking out the window and watched the grill.

Elena turned around to Damon, and unnerved look on her face, "Will it? I mean haven't we already been here before with Jeremy? Isn't this why we sent him to Denver?"

"We'll get him out of this and compel him to the Bahamas. Maybe he'll find an island girl." Damon gave her a small amused smile before the door suddenly opened and Stefan entered the flat.

He has a questioning look on his face, "Did you find the tunnel map?"

Damon held the map up while he approached his brother, "Got it. 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?"

Stefan shook his head, "Not yet- Klaus is sending one of his men. He'll takes the front. You and I, the tunnels."

Damon frowned deeply at his brother, not understanding where he was coming from, "Since when do we team up with Klaus and the Lollipop guild?"

Stefan grew annoyed by Damon, "Well I already told you Connor has werewolf venom and we need someone to draw his fire. The Hybrids are immune, they're our best bet."

"Well how are you sure he even has werewolf venom? Why is Klaus involved, Stefan?", Damon raised his eyebrows at his brother.

Stefan shook his head at the man, "Stop being paranoid, Damon." Damon gave him a pointed glare, "Start telling the truth, Stefan. Why is Klaus involved? Did he compel you?"

Stefan raised his voice slightly, "I am telling you the trust! This is the best way to get everyone out!"

Suddenly Elena started shouting because she was annoyed by them, "Okay, what is with you two? We're waisting time!"

"You know what? She's right. Screw your plan. I'll kill Connor myself", Damon shot at Stefan while he gave him a determined look.

Damon walked past Stefan and the brunette man immediately grabbed his brother, hit a vervain syringe into his back and knocked him out.

Violet and Elena were shocked while they watched him drag the unconscious Damon over to the couch. "Stefan! Why are you doing this?"

"Damon had the right idea with the tunnels. But I'm not gonna go in there if I can't count on him to do it my way", Stefan told them while he pulled out Damon's phone out of his pocket and searched for the picture of the map.

"If you can't count on him? You just vervained him", Violet questioned Stefan with furrowed eyebrows.

Stefan immediately gave her a questioning look, "You think he cares about April and Matt? He'll get Jeremy out but then he'll go right after Connor no matter who gets hurt."

"Then I'm coming with you", Elena quickly told him. But Stefan shook his head at her, "You're not."

"You need help", Elena begged her boyfriend but he turned her down. He grabbed her face softly with his hands and looked deeply into her eyes, "What if Connor attacks and you have to defend yourself. What if you kill him? The guilt will wreck you."

Elena gave him a questioning look, "You don't think that I'm afraid of that? Of course I am Stefan. I'm barely holding it together. If Jeremy gets hurt-"

"I'll get Jeremy out, okay? I promise you. Listen to me- this is the most important thing that I have ever asked you to do. I just need you to trust me, please." Elena slowly nodded and Stefan then pressed a soft kiss onto her lips before he suddenly vanished from the room.

The two women remained with the still unconscious Damon for quiet some time until a explosion suddenly went off at the grill.

Elena immediately grabbed her phone and dialed Stefan's number. Apparently there was no one picking up.

"Stefan, call me! There was an explosion at the grill. I need to know what's happening!", Elena was screaming into the phone while she was pacing through the room.

Damon was groaning and Violet and Elena immediately joined his side. "Damon, hey. Can you get up?"

"Where is Stefan? I'm gonna kill him." The man was still groaning and when his finger was hit by the sunlight it started burning.

Damon let out a scream before he quickly retreated back into the shadows. "He took your ring? Why would he do that?"

"Because he's playing us! All this stalling, getting hybrids, taking my ring. Add it up! He's either made a deal with Klaus or he's compelled."

"Then I need to get on there." Elena immediately stated confidently.

Damon disagreed with her, "No, Elena. This guy is dangerous!" The brunette spun around to him, a serious look on her face, "So am I, Damon!"

Damon nodded his head at her in silent acknowledgement, "Then you have to be smart about it. He doesn't know your a vampire." The two exchanged a look before Elena quickly exited the flat.

After a couple of minutes they could hear shot and Violet then immediately looked over to Damon, "I can't just sit here. I'll have to help her."

She then immediately got up and vamp speeded out of the flat and right infront of the grill.

The girl then carefully entered the restaurant and spotted Elena and Jeremy, who were sitting on the ground, no trace of Connor.

Violet made her way into the tunnel and listened for footsteps.

She could hear Damon and Stefan arguing in the distance, but there were a couple of other footsteps and she immediately speeded into their direction.

The dark haired girl immediately sunk her teeth into Connor's neck as soon as she spotted him.

The man sunk to the ground when she let go of him, but still managed to shove a sharp knife into her lower chest.

The blood was dripping from Violet's mouth while she looked down on him grunting in pain. "You missed." She the grabbed his head and snapped his neck, making his body go limp. The man then fell to the ground, dead.

The girl stood there for a long moment. After it had sunk in what she had just did, Violet started sobbing uncontrollably. She immediately grabbed Connor's body and dragged it out of the tunnel and when they had reached daylight she sat down besides his lifeless body.

The dark haired girl was still sobbing while she sat there on the grass between the trees. Her head in her hands while the tears ran down her face.

Suddenly there were Damon and Stefan, both looks of pity on their face while they watched her.

Violet glanced up and her eyes met Damon's while she spoke, "You told me to kill him- so I did." Her body was trembling while she continued sobbing.

"I killed someone. I killed somo-I killed someone." The woman started hyperventilating, the sobbs shaking her whole body.