Book: Cry Wolf
Chapter 72 (4x06)
Word Count: 3554
November 25, 2010
Killing the hunter was more than just a bad idea. It had started affecting Elena terribly. She was seeing things... things that weren't really there. In the middle of the night, she thought that Jeremy was Connor and stabbed him, but luckily, Jeremy was wearing his Gilbert ring.
Elena was being driven mad with the Hunter hallucinations.
---
Hayley was being poured a shot by another hybrid, Chris. Rosalie and Tyler walked into the room.
"You're still going?" Rosalie scoffed, rolling her eyes. "I drank enough last night and then I slept, which is what you guys should have done."
"We're just paying our respects to Dean." Chris shrugged.
"That's great, Chris, but could you pay them at a bar instead?" Tyler spoke.
"Don't be mad." Hayley stood up. "We're celebrating our fallen hybrid friend." She walked over to Tyler and poured her shot in his mouth. She wiped her thumb across his bottom lip and stuck her thumb in her mouth. Klaus entered the room.
"Well, don't let me interrupt."
"Great, just what we need." Rosalie rolled her eyes.
"Hello to you, too, love." Klaus smirked.
"I didn't know you were here." Tyler muttered, causing Klaus to glance at him.
"Clearly." Klaus took a large gulp from a bottle of alcohol he brought with him. "I just popped round to celebrate Dean's successful retrieval of the vampire hunter. Yet when I arrived, I learnt that not only was Dean unsuccessful, but that Elena killed the hunter."
"Well, maybe if you had let Dean use force on Connor instead of sending him in on a suicide mission!" Rosalie exclaimed. "What do you care if Connor's dead anyway?"
"I have my reasons." Klaus responded. "They've ceased to matter. Cheers." He raised the bottle of alcohol and took amother large gulp.
---
Juliet was cleaning Jeremy's blood off of the floor of the Gilbert house while Elena was upstairs, showering. All three Salvatore siblings were also there, conversing.
"Where did Jeremy go?" Cassandra wondered.
"School." Stefan answered. "Bonnie has him volunteering for some occult exhibit."
"Or maybe he didn't want to linger in a house where his sister just jammed a knife in his neck." Damon commented, just as Cassandra's phone rang.
"It's Klaus."
"Oooh, time to face the music. Pay the piper, dance with the devil." Damon smirked.
"Shut up, Damon." Juliet rolled her eyes.
"You know, I'm glad you find this amusing. If he finds out Stefan and I told you about the cure, he'll kill all of us." Cassandra told the others.
"Quit avoiding him, that means shady." Damon shrugged. "Shady people get outed."
Cassandra answered the phone.
"I don't want to talk about it."
"Well, I can't imagine why, what with you ruining all my plans for a hybrid filled future."
"Well, it wouldn't have happened, if you hadn't sworn me and Stefan to secrecy."
"Well, life's full of ifs, Cassandra. But let's accentuate the positives, shall we? The hunter was one of five; we'll find another. It may take centuries, but we've got nothing but time, right?"
"You're using your calm voice today. Who's getting killed?"
"Not you, if that's what you're worried about. But I am concerned about your beloved. Have the hallucinations started yet?"
"What do you know about that?"
"I'll tell you. Where are you?"
"I'm at her house."
"How convenient, so am I." There was a knock on the door. Cassandra hung up the phone. She went to walk outside but Juliet stopped him.
"He's my brother. I need to face him at some point, and I already know about the cure so he won't think you told me. I'll go." With that, Juliet walked to the front door, opened it, and stepped inside to come face-to-face with her younger half-brother.
"Juliet." Klaus scoffed. "Come to finally meet your fate?"
"What fate is that, Nik?" Juliet rolled her eyes. "You gonna stuff me back in a box just because I chose the winning team?"
"How dare you?" Klaus glared at her. "You betrayed me."
"I never betrayed you!" Juliet exclaimed. "You are still my family! I just thought for once in my entire life, my own family would allow me to make my own friends! Friends that you didn't have to approve first."
"Very well." Klaus sighed. "We'll see how it works out for you."
"Yeah, I guess we will." Juliet shot back. "I know about the Hunter. I should, considering one of the Original ones daggered me all those years ago, and of course Bekah mentioned the cure. What do you know?"
"I killed the original five hunters, remember? When one kills a hunter, there's a bit of a consequence." Klaus informed, causing Juliet to frown, confused.
"What kind of consequence?"
"The hunters were spelled by witches to kill vampires; if you prevent one from fulfilling his destiny then he'll take you down with him."
"What do you mean? Connor's dead." Juliet reminded her brother.
"I mean, Connor's death won't prevent him from making Elena his final vampire kill." Klaus smirked. "She'll need to come with me now. I'll lock her up, keep her away from any sharp wooden objects."
"She's not going anywhere with you." Juliet snapped. She'd grown rather protective over Elena, viewing her as a little sister.
"Well, if we leave her alone, she'll take her own life before the day is out."
"She's stronger than that."
"Is she?" Klaus chuckled. "Believe me, it's for her own good."
They heard the front door open and Elena ran onto the porch, but stopped when she saw Klaus. Klaus vamp-sped towards her, grabbed her, and left. The three Salvatore siblings came running out, looking around, worried.
"For fuck's sake, Nik..." Juliet muttered to herself.
---
At school, Jeremy was looking down at the tattoo on his hand. Elizabeth walked over to him.
"Hey, Jer!" She grinned, leaning up to kiss his cheek.
"Hey, El. Do you see anything on my hand?" Jeremy wondered. Elizabeth looked at his hand and shook her head. "What if I told you I saw the beginning of a mark like Connor's?"
"Are you serious?" Elizabeth's eyes widened.
"It showed up after he died." Jeremy informed. "He told me that I was a potential. That that's why I could see his mark."
"So what does that make you?" Elizabeth wondered. "Like, the next chosen one or something?"
April and Professor Shane walked up to them, carrying artifacts.
"Hey guys." April smiled.
"Well, don't let her do the heavy lifting. I found her wandering the hallways with this." Professor Shane held up a giant rock. "Just teasing, I'm the guy who wrangles all the freaky stuff. Atticus Shane, please call me Shane, I beg you. Thank you guys for helping, I really appreciate it. You all get free admission to my free exhibit."
Shane walked away.
"Why does he look so familiar?" April muttered.
"No idea." Jeremy shrugged.
"Hey, um, have you guys seen Rebekah?" April asked the couple. "She said she was gonna help me look into what caused the explosion at my dad's farm and then she just disappeared."
"I don't know. Sorry, April." Elizabeth responded. She picked up a box and walked off.
---
Bonnie, Cassandra, Stefan, Juliet, and Damon were in the Gilbert residence's kitchen together.
"You lost her?" Bonnie exclaimed.
"Well, 'lost' is a very strong word, we just technically don't know where she is." Damon replied.
"I'm more worried about what Nik said about this hunter's curse." Juliet mentioned.
"How does Klaus even know about this?" Bonnie asked.
"How does Klaus know anything?" Damon scoffed. "Guy's like a billion years old."
"Hey! I'm older than Nik is!" Juliet glared at Damon. "But he said it was a witch's curse."
"You know if I could do anything to help, I would. The spirits won't let me do the magic I'd need to break the curse." Bonnie stated. "Maybe Tiana can help! She's gone to visit our mom for a few days but I'm sure I can get her back here if it's urgent."
"Yeah, you do that." Cassandra instantly nodded. Bonnie left to go and call Tiana. "While Bonnie does that, I'm gonna try and find another way to get Elena back." She left the room.
---
Caroline, Rosalie, and Tyler were talking to Cassandra in the living room.
"Hayley is the one that helped me break the sire bond. She showed me what to do, how to help. When she showed up here, I thought it was just coincidence, but it turns out she's been helping one of them, her friend Chris. And she came to help us get the rest of them out from under Klaus." Tyler explained.
"So... are you telling me that Chris isn't sired anymore?" Cassandra raised her eyebrows in surprise.
"That's exactly what he's telling you." Rosalie smiled. "It's true, Cassie. I'm not sired anymore either. I'm free now. Tyler and Hayley helped me."
---
Professor Shane was giving a lecture on some artifacts at his exhibit. There was a white rock on a pedestal. Copies of its photo had been hung up behind him with the label 'Silas'.
"You're looking at what people believed to be the world's first tombstone. This item was donated to Whitmore College last month." Professor Shane began explaining. "It belonged to a very powerful witch, a witch so powerful in fact that Silas, that was his name, created a spell that would grant him immortality. Now legend says that Silas did the spell with the help of a lady witch who loved him, a woman named Qetsiyah. Sadly for Qetsiyah, Silas wanted to give immortality to another woman, so Qetsiyah killed her and buried Silas alive, leaving him powerless, immortal, and alone. This might actually be the origin story of 'Hell hath no fury like a woman's scorn'. Now, it's said that Silas wants to rise again. Regain his power, wreak havoc on the world. Maybe we should be afraid. Or maybe it's all a bunch of crap and this is just an old rock. All right, listen, enjoy exploring the exhibit. I'll be around to answer any questions. Thank you for coming."
---
It was nighttime. Juliet and Damon were in Alaric's classroom. Damon opened up a drawer in the desk and found a bottle of bourbon. He took it out with a smile and propped his feet up on the desk.
"Nope, I don't think so." Juliet snatched the bottle of bourbon away from him. "Save it for later. Now is not the time to be drinking."
"Buzzkill." Damon complained.
Bonnie, Tiana, and Professor Shane entered the room.
"Shane, these are our friends, Damon and Juliet." Bonnie informed.
"I audited your class. Very enlightening." Damon spoke.
"What's your specialty?" Shane asked him.
"The origin of a species."
"Ah, I think Darwin would arm wrestle you for that distinction." Shane chuckled.
"He's not talking about that species." Juliet pointed out.
"You're into the monster stuff." Shane realised. "All right, awesome."
"We were kind of hoping you might have stumbled upon this at some point, maybe." Juliet pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to Shane. Shane took it, unfolded it and looked at it.
"This is the hunter's mark. Where did you get this?"
"That's not important." Juliet responded. "Do you know anything about the hunter's curse?"
"Why, you got a dead hunter in the trunk of your car or something?" Shane chuckled.
"Metaphorically speaking." Damon shrugged.
"Legend says that if a hunter is killed by that which it hunts, then that person will be cursed to walk the Earth in torment until..." Shane trailed off.
"Until?" Tiana frowned, urging Shane to continue.
"Until the new hunter is awakened and their legacy is passed on. They're called potentials. Listen, I have a bunch of research on it. Why don't I go grab it for you?"
"That'd be great." Juliet nodded. "Thank you."
Shane left the classroom.
"How are we supposed to find a potential hunter?" Tiana sighed.
"Yeah, about that." Damon quickly dialled a number on his phone and raised the phone to his ear. "Little Gilbert, your services are needed."
---
Tyler, Cassandra, and another hybrid, Chris, all walked into the parlor room.
"Thanks for meeting us." Tyler told Chris.
"Yeah, but make it fast." Chris said. "Klaus will be back soon."
"No, he won't." Cassandra shrugged.
---
Klaus was sitting at the bar at the Grill, drinking a glass of red wine. Rosalie approached him.
"Place looks pretty good considering your hybrid got blown up in it."
"Rosalie." Klaus instantly smiled at the sight of her. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"I want you to give Elena back." Rosalie shrugged. "It's not that big of a request, is it?"
"Ah, they sent you to sweet talk me." Klaus chuckled. "Well, good form, but I'm afraid I can't do it."
"Why not?"
"She needs my help."
Rosalie scoffed and rolled her eyes.
"Look, I'm not gonna burden you with the gory details." Klaus muttered. "Can I at least offer you a drink?"
Rosalie hesitated.
"Yeah. Thanks."
Klaus smiled.
---
Outside of the room that Elena was being kept in, Chris approached the two hybrids standing guard at Elena's room.
"Klaus said you two have to go to Tyler."
"Why?" One of the hybrids wondered, confused.
"Something about Rosalie." Chris replied. "I'll take over here."
The two hybrids looked at each other and walked off. Chris watched them leave. Cassandra turned around the corner and walked towards Chris. Chris handed her the keys. Cassandra unlocked the door to Elena's room and entered. Elena was sitting on the floor with her arms wrapped around her legs. She gasped and turned to look at the door.
"Elena. Hey." Cassandra walked into the room slowly. Elena started to back away. "Hey, it's okay. It's me."
"No, no." Elena scrambled off the floor and continued to back away. "Stay... Stay away from me."
"Let me help you." Cassandra frowned.
Elena rushed towards the bed and grabbed a lead pipe that was underneath it. She rushed at Stefan. Stefan grabbed her by the wrist, preventing the doppelgänger from harming her.
"Elena, stop!"
Elena threw Cassandra against the wall and rushed at her. She stabbed the Salvatore girl in the stomach with the lead pipe and rushed out of the room. Cassandra fell to the floor.
---
Damon, Juliet, Bonnie, and Tiana were standing in the hallway by the artifacts when Jeremy hurried into the room.
"Is everything okay? Is it Elena?"
"We figured out how to help her." Tiana informed. "You need to kill a vampire."
"Great, give me a stake, I'll kill Damon right now." Jeremy said with no hesitation. Juliet looked down to suppress a grin, trying not to laugh.
"I like this guy."
"Easy, Van Helsing. We'll get you one. Don't worry." Damon rolled his eyes, just as his phone rang. It was Cassandra, so Damon answered it. "You can rest easy, sister. We figured out how to solve our little Elena problem."
"Yeah, well, now we have a bigger one. I lost her."
"What? Again?"
"She's in bad shape. I tried to help her but she attacked me. I think I know where she might be, though. I'm going to try there. I'll let you know if I find her. Just... you've got to end this." Cassandra then hung up.
---
Rosalie was looking at her phone. She received three messages from Cassandra.
Cassandra
I lost Elena.
Cassandra
I need a vampire to kill. I'll turn someone if I have to.
Cassandra
Get an answer. Fast.
She looked at Klaus.
"So, here's the thing, I didn't just come here to try to get you to release Elena."
"You don't say." Klaus smiled.
"I came here to distract you so that Cassie could go to your house and break her out, which she did. But then Cassie lost her..."
Klaus angrily stood up.
"Klaus, wait--"
Klaus turned and looked at her.
"Rosalie, you know that I think you're beautiful, and I admit that my feelings for you grow by the day, but you need to stop talking right now, love." Klaus turned around and walked off.
"They figured out how to stop the hallucinations!" Rosalie yelled after him. Klaus stopped and turned around towards her again.
"Okay, you have ten seconds to tell me."
---
November 26, 2010
Elena was stood on Wickery Bridge, staring out over the edge of the bridge, when Cassandra approached her.
"Elena."
Elena turned and looked at her.
"Cassie? How did you find me?"
"Didn't take a genius to figure it out." Cassandra sighed. "Almost everything that happens in this town seems to lead back to this bridge."
"Vampires kill people, Cassie." Elena frowned. "I can't live with myself."
"Let's just go talk about this before you do something stupid, okay?" Cassandra muttered.
Elena stayed silent, looking back out at the water. The sun was slowly starting to rise. She looked down. Cassandra looked at Elena's hand.
"Where's your ring?" But Elena didn't answer. "Where's your ring, Elena?"
---
"You're doing a good thing, Chris." Tyler commented.
"Yeah, well, let's see how fast a good thing can get me out of town." Chris chuckled. Hayley hugged him tightly.
"Call me when you're safe, okay?"
"Yeah." Chris picked up his stuff and opened the front door. Klaus entered the house, followed by Rosalie.
"Going somewhere?" Klaus grabbed Chris by the throat and vamp-sped him into the staircase. "When I said don't let her out of your sight, what did you think I meant?"
"It's not his fault, it's mine. I was distracting you. It's my fault she got away!" Tyler exclaimed.
"Then maybe you should be the one to die for it!" Klaus snapped.
"No one has to die!" Hayley chimed in, causing Klaus to rush at her. "Mind your business!"
"Tyler's covering for me." Hayley informed. "I'm the one that let her go."
"Hayley--"
"No." Hayley cut Tyler off before glaring at Klaus. "You want someone dead, go ahead. Kill me. I'd rather die anyway than end up as one of your sired little bitches."
"Don't tempt me, little wolf." Klaus retorted before turning around to face Chris. "Your existence is to serve me. To please me. Do you understand?"
"I'm sorry, I won't fail you again." Chris muttered almost pleadingly.
"No, you won't." Klaus moved aside to allow Chris to walk past him. "Get out of here."
Chris quickly walked to the front door. Stefan came through the door and stabbed the hybrid with a stake. Chris fell to the ground.
"No!" Rosalie cried out, covering her mouth in shock. She turned to Klaus, glaring at him. "This wasn't a part of the plan!"
Jeremy walked into the house with a cleaver in his hands.
"Jeremy?" Tyler frowned, surprised.
---
"We need to get you inside." Cassandra spoke. "What you're going through is a curse. We know how to break it, but we just have to get you inside."
Elena stayed silent.
Cassandra looked over at the mountains and saw the sun had inched its way farther up in the sky.
"Damn it, Elena." Cassandra rushed at Elena and tried to grab her, but Elena rushed around her and stayed a good distance away.
---
"What the hell, man?!" Tyler yelled.
"I'm sorry." Stefan muttered. Jeremy chopped Chris' head off with the cleaver. Hayley screamed and hid her face, while Rosalie just stared on in shock.
"I said a vampire, Klaus! Find me a vampire!" Rosalie screamed at the Original. "Not a hybrid! Not my friend!"
"It's effective either way. This way was easier." Klaus shrugged. Rosalie glared at him.
---
Elena felt the side effects of the curse lift off.
---
Jeremy looked down at his hand. The tattoo started to grow across his arm.
---
Elena breathed heavily. She opened her eyes.
"He's gone..."
"It's okay." Cassandra whispered.
The two girls started to hear a sizzling noise. Elena looked down. Her flesh was burning. Cassandra looked over and saw the sun had started to rise. She looked back at Elena. Her face was burning now as well.
"Cassie?"
Cassandra rushed at Elena, grabbed her, and threw herself and Elena over the bridge and into the water.
---
Elena woke up in her bed. She looked at her hand and saw she had her daylight ring back on. She slowly started to sit up.
"Found the ring in the river." Cassandra was sat by Elena's bedroom window. "How are you feeling?"
"My head's clear." Elena responded. "I can remember everything, but not like I lived it, like it was a really bad dream. You saved me. Thank you."
"Well, it was either that or letting you go all suicide mission on me." Cassandra chuckled. "You're welcome." She got up and went to sit beside Elena on the bed.
"I just can't believe that I almost--"
"You weren't yourself." Cassandra pointed out. "Um, Elena, I need to tell you something. I know that you think I've been lying to you. Which, yeah, I have, but it's not what you think. Everything that I've been doing, I've been doing for you. To help you. There may be a way out of this for you, Elena."
Elena looks at Cassandra, confused, so the Salvatore girl continued.
"There may be a cure."