"How wonderful," Ragna mused, "The woods. I hate the woods, reminds me off the past."
Klaus wanted to speak but couldn't afraid of what Stefan may think. "You okay? Is Ray getting to heavy?" Klaus asked sarcastically.
"I'm fine," Stefan grunted."You sure about that?" Klaus asked, "You know, we've been walking for quite some time now. If you need some water or a little sit-down..."Stefan sighed, "You know, I get that we're, uh...we're stuck together, but if we could maybe just skip the chitchat, it'd be great."
"So much brooding," Klaus noted, "Your self-loathing is suffocating you, my friend."
"He wasn't always like this," Ragna remarked, "He was once fun."
"Maybe it's 'cause I'm a little tired of hunting werewolves. We've been at it all summer," Stefan said, not hearing Ragna.
"Thanks to our pal Ray, we found ourselves a pack," Klaus said stopping, "There." He said as he pointed to a clearing.
The trio stopped and looked on to the pack's camp.
"How cute," Ragna smiled, "Too bad it will soon be raining blood."
Stefan was the first to enter the camp, gaining attention from everyone. He threw Ray onto the groud and a women rushed over to the unconscious werewolf.
" Ray! Oh, my God!" the women exclaimed, "What's going on? Who are you?"
Klaus walked up next to Stefan as Ragna stayed back.
"The important question is who am I," Klaus said, "Please forgive the intrusion. My name is Klaus."The women tensed, "You're the hybrid."
Klaus smiled maliciously, "You've heard of me. Fantastic."
••••
"It's fascinating, actually...A werewolf who isn't beholden to the moon, a vampire who doesn't burn in the sun," Klaus said fashioning himself a seat, "A true hybrid."
Suddenly Ray woke with a large gasp of air.
"Excellent timing, Ray," Klaus smiled "Very dramatic."
"What's happening to me?" Ray feeling around his body.
"Stefan?" Klaus called.
"Are any of you human?" Stefan asked on the onlooking crowd, "Your friend here needs human blood to complete his transition to vampire. If he doesn't get it, he will die."
"Doesn't take much, just a sip," Klaus added on, "Anyone? A boyfriend, a girlfriend, along for the ride?"
"What about that one?" Ragna asked pointing to man cowering in the crowd.
Klaus smirked, "You!" He rushed over and bit into his forearm. Stefan grabbed him, throwing him in front of Ray. A women began to walk over in protest but Klaus reached around her throat, strangling the girl.
"If you don't drink it, Ray, I will," Stefan said, "Problem is I don't know how to stop."
Klaus looked at the girl, "It's the new order, sweetheart. You join us, or you die."
The women glared at Klaus, "I'd rather die than be a vampire."
Klaus sighed, "Wrong choice." He gave her his blood as Ray drank from the man.
Klaus smirked, "She'll thank me for that later." With a swift movement he twisted her neck, killing her.
"Okay, who's next?" Klaus asked, his eyes yellow and fangs out.
••••
"You cant let him die, you need to make sure he lives for the rest of them," Ragna told Klaus, brushing past him slightly, sending chills up Klaus' spine.
Klaus bit into his worst and fed his blood to the human, "There. Good as new. Now you relax, okay, mate? We're gonna need you when the rest of them wake up."
Ray sat on the rock shivering in fear, "They're dead. They're all dead."
Klaus smiled, "Ah, he's through his transition. He should be feeling better soon."
"So is this your master plan?" Stefan asked, "Build an army of hybrid slaves?"
"No, not slaves. Soldiers, comrades."
"For what war, might I ask?" Stefan asked.
"Oh, you don't arm yourself after war has been declared, Stefan. You build your army so big that no one ever dares pick a fight," Klaus said matter of factly.
"What makes you so sure that they'll be loyal?" Stefan asked.
"Well, it's not difficult to be loyal when you're on the winning team," Klaus said "That's something you'll learn once you shake that horribly depressive chip off your shoulder."
Stefan laughed, "That's why you're, uh...you're keeping me around? To witness my attitude adjustment?"
"You'll know why I'm keeping you around when I've decided that I want you to know," Klaus said examining Ray's bleeding eyes."That's not right," Ragna commented, "Something is wrong."
"You don't say," Klaus mumbled to her.
••••
"You said it was gonna feel better. Why doesn't it feel better?" Ray asked, tears forming."Some master race." Stefan mused
"Lose the attitude," Klaus mumbled.
Suddenly the women woke up and looked right at Ragna. She looked scared, as if death was right around the corner.
"Derek, come feed your girlfriend," Kluas commanded.
"The angel," the girl mumbled.
"What?" Klaus asked.
"There is an angel," the women said pointing at Ragna.
Klaus followed her pointing figure right to Ragna.
"There's nothing there," Klaus told her.
"She's beautiful," the women said amazed, "She has beautiful blonde hair and blue eyes the color of the sky. But why is she wearing black? I don't understand."
Klaus glared at the girl and looked to Stefan, "Go get him."
Stefan jumped on Ray, pushing him to the ground, but Ray got the upper hand. He bit Stefan and left. Stefan chased into the woods after the missing hybrid.
"She saw me Klaus," Ragna sighed.
"Yes she did, which is not a good thing," Klaus told her.
"Why is that?"
"Because only dying people see you."
"You are an angel of sort," a new voice came into the conversation, causing Ragna to turn on her heel. Hlín stood there, looking the same exact thing, "But you haven't been acting like it."
"Who the bloody hell is that?" Klaus asked, looking at the oder woman.
"Hlín," Ragna answered, "Another protector."
"Just what I need, another imaginary friend," Klaus muttered to himself.
Hlín ignored his comment, "Ragna, why are you allowing this to happen?"
"What do you mean?" Ragna asked, "I'm protecting him."
"She's doing an amazing job at it too," Klaus added, "Maybe you can have people see her now, so I don't look like a loon."
"That's not how it works," Hlín said, "You must practice, love forgiveness, patience, and virtue. Or maybe another will think you are ready and come to you."
"All a bunch of rubbish," Kaus muttered, "It get's you nowhere."
"But without it," Hlín said, "It will get Ragna nowhere."
"What do you mean?" Ragna asked.
"Keep a wary eye out Ragna," Hiln said, "You don't want that outfit black forever."
Hlín gave Ragna a last smile before leaving both of them with a very vague message.
"What was that?"
••••
Klaus and Ragna walked through the woods, both thinking of the words of Hlín but not discussing them. Stefan appeared from the treeline, looking horrible.
"Where did he go?" Klaus asked.
"He, uh...he got away," Stefan said, "Forget him. Let's go."
Klaus glanced down at his arm, grabbing it, "A fatal werewolf bite. Ouch."
"Yeah," Stefan said, "I'm gonna need your blood to heal me."
"Well, I tell you what. You find Ray, and then I'll heal you,"Klaus said.
"Can't be serious."
Klaus smirked, "You better hurry, 'cause that bite looks nasty."
Klaus and Ragna made there way back to the camp to see all the wolves, bleeding from there eyes. "That is not a good thing," Ragna mumbled.
••••
The werewolves went wild. They attacked Klaus, hungry as ever, but the blood never fixed their hunger. They all went after Ragna, pleading for forgiveness, they all saw her. I shook her up, she didn't know how to deal with all of them at once. They pleaded for their lives, something Ragna couldn't help with.
She was a protector and couldn't protect. She couldn't even protect Klaus, he wanted this army and couldn't get it, so Ragna failed him.
Stefan walked back to the camp with Ray over his shoulder.
"They went rabid. Some of them, I killed," Klaus said, "The others just...Bled out. In the end...They're all dead."
Klaus yelled and threw his bottle of beer onto the ground causing Ragna and Stefan to jump."I did everything I was told!" Klaus regained his composure, "I should be able to turn them. I broke the curse. I killed a werewolf. I killed a vampire. I killed the doppelgänger."
Ragna could tell Stefan felt uncomfortable about that subject, but wondered why.
"You look like hell." Klaus commented to Stefan.
"Last I checked, I'm dying...and you don't want to heal me." Stefan saw that Klaus was looking down at Ray's body, "I had to take him out. I didn't have a choice. I failed you. I'm sorry. Do what you have to do."
"It should have worked," Klaus said before turning around to take an empty bottle of beer. He bit his hand, and a fist, and put the blood draining from him into the bottle and held it out to Stefan.
"Bottoms up. We're leaving," Klaus said.
Stefan took the bottle and drank from it, as Kaus walked away with Ragna.
"It looks like your the only comrade I have left," Klaus said to Ragna.