I woke up in the middle of the woods, in the same place where I had fell unconscious after Rayna had killed herself. I looked around the dark woods, noticing that the shaman, Rayna's body and the fire were all still here. I sat up, looking around.
Stefan and Damon walked closer worriedly.
"Nikki?" Damon asked worriedly. "Hey. Nikki."
I looked around, trying to gather my bearings.
"Nice and slow," Stefan told me. "Hey. How you feeling?"
"I don't know," I told them. "Just feel different."
"Considering that Rayna killed herself and the shaman cursed you to be the next Huntress, that's probably a bad thing," Damon told me.
Stefan and Damon helped me stand.
"Okay, here's how I'm feeling," I told them. "Starving. Famished. Like I can tear this entire town to shreds until it rains blood."
I walked past them.
Damon looked at Stefan. "Yeah, definitely not a good thing."
I saw the shaman, rushing toward him, biting him on the neck from behind, feeding on him until he died.
Stefan pulled me away from the shaman. "All right, that's enough. He's dead."
I turned to face Stefan, snapping his neck, pushing his body into the bonfire, watching him burn.
"Nikki, no!" Damon told me.
I pulled my sword from the rock nearby, spinning it around, slashing it through Damon's neck, decapitating him, killing him, watching the body fall.
I felt oddly empowered, walking through the woods.
~~~~~~~
I knew that it wasn't real. I knew that none of this was real, because it was a repeating cycle.
And I did not want to wake up, because if I woke up, then it would come into a reality.
But it was so hard.
Every horrible memory of vampires I ever had turned even worse. Like whatever Rayna and the shaman did was twisting and corrupting my already disastrous memories.
I was in a Duke college campus class, sitting in a row, looking around in confusion.
Sarah was the teacher's TA, giving a lecture. "Now for our favorite subject. Anyone? Anyone? Vampires. Real or myth? Nicola?"
I smirked. "Myth."
"Wrong," Sarah told us. I looked at her in confusion. "Vampires are as common today as mosquitoes. They can walk in the daylight, kill from the shadows. Hell, some of your best friends might be vampires. So, what do we do when we meet a vampire? Anyone?"
We heard a girl's voice. "Invite them to the party."
Students laughed.
I looked over my shoulder toward the girl.
The girl was bleeding from the mouth, a bite mark on her neck.
I looked away uncomfortably.
Sarah chuckled sarcastically. "Very funny." I looked behind me, seeing a vampire feeding on a classmate. "Anyone else?" I looked around, seeing more vampires feeding on more people, horrified. Sarah walked toward me. "How about you, Nicola? What would you do, huh? Would you sit there, or would you run?" She pinned me against my seat. "Or would you fight back? Show me how to kill a vampire, Nikki."
Sarah's face transformed as if like a vampire.
I pushed Sarah off of me, standing. "This isn't real."
Everyone in the class was a vampire now, standing, coming toward me.
I backed away, rushing out of the classroom, down the hallway, into Sarah's dorm room, closing the door behind me, leaning against it to keep it closed against the struggling vampires.
Everything stopped.
Caroline appeared in front of me. "My God. This is what you've been going through?"
"Get away from me," I told her. "You're not real."
"Well, you're half right," Caroline told me. "I'm in your head. Your body is safe in your bedroom at the Boarding House. This isn't real. Bonnie tried waking you up with a spell, but since the Huntress inside you is activated, magic doesn't work on you anymore. Which means Bonnie can't wake you up. You have to wake up yourself. And you just need to stay focused on me, Nicola." She stepped closer. "I know that you and I were never that close, not until I forced you into turning of your humanity to save your sister, but I'm still your friend."
I looked at her hopefully. "Caroline?" Caroline nodded. I sighed in relief, standing. "Something's messing with my head. All my memories are being twisted into these freakish nightmares."
"It's your brain rewiring itself to hate vampires, to become the Hunter," Caroline told me. "You have to resist."
"I'm trying," I told her. "I don't want to hurt you."
I paced around Caroline.
Caroline turned to face me. "You just have to concentrate on who I am, you know, not what I am. I have kids now, Nicola, and a family. You should see the girls. They are just getting so big. You have to fight the voices in your head. Open your eyes and just come and have dinner with us. We miss you so much."
I smirked coldly, stepping past her. "Do your kids know that you're a vampire?"
"Uh, no, we haven't had that talk with them yet," Caroline answered. "Kind of waiting for the birds and the bees first."
"And when you tuck them in at night, and you brush the hair off their pretty necks, admire it a little?" I asked.
Caroline turned to give me a look. "Nicola, that's gross. This is your lizard brain talking. Fight it."
Blood started to seep in from underneath the door.
I looked at Caroline coldly. "I can't help it. All I see is you losing control." Caroline looked at the blood on the floor hungrily. "Hurting those little girls."
Caroline shook her head. "No, that's not me. You know that's not me."
"And you have the nerve to call them your kids," I told her. "What would 'your kids' think of their mommy, the girl who kidnapped my sister before I even knew she was alive, and made me turn of my humanity to save her life so that I would become full Ripper when I had the hex?"
"Nikki, you know that wasn't me," Caroline told me.
"Really?" I asked. "Because it sure sounded like you. It sure acted like you."
"'It'?" Caroline repeated.
I broke off the wooden door handle from the door, stabbing Caroline in the chest with it, sending her the hell out of my head and marking her in the process.
~~~~~~~
I was at Mystic Falls High, walking out of the school, into the Stoner Pit, toward my dad's car.
Dad was standing by the car, smiling.
I smiled, waving.
There were two stoners in a nearby van.
Guy 1 whistled at me. "Hey, you want to join us?"
"Uh, I don't think so," I answered, starting to walk toward my dad's car.
Guy 1 rushed to stand in my way, transforming into a vampire. "What about now?" I grabbed Guy 1 by his head, slamming it against the hood of the van, picking up a broken piece of wood, turning to stake Guy 2 in the heart, killing him. "I--I'm sorry. Let me go."
I tilted my head. "Like I said, I don't think so."
I grabbed Guy 1, lifting him off the ground, pushing him into the van, transforming, biting into his neck, feeding ravenously, ripping out his heart, letting him fall dead.
Dad walked closer, clapping. "Guess it's true what they say. Public school system in the States really has gone to rot."
I walked closer. "Dad?"
Dad smiled, walking closer. "Hi, Nikki."
I walked closer, wrapping my arms around him in relief, tears in my eyes. Dad returned the embrace.
~~~~~~~
Dad and I walked into the Salvatore Boarding House.
"How are you here right now?" I asked. "Why is everything in my mind so calm all of the sudden?"
"Because you want it to be," Dad answered. "Because you don't want to do the things what your subconscious wants you to do. That's why you're still sleeping, right? You don't want to wake up, because in doing so, you know that you have to kill everyone you love."
"Yeah, well, 'everyone I love' has it coming," I told him.
Dad turned to face me. "You don't mean that. I know what you're trying to do. You're trying to find something to hold onto. A time before vampires were a part of your life. But vampires were always apart of your life, Nicola. This isn't who you are."
"You know those stoners?" I asked. "Chad Carpenter used to annoy me after school every day, but he was a jerk. Not a vampire. It's like the spell is overriding who I was. Who I am."
"Maybe you've just been looking in the wrong place," Dad told me. "You're trying to remember your life without vampires. But Stefan and Damon have been in and out of your life ever since you were a baby. That's why this is so hard. Because there wasn't a time in your life that you didn't have vampires."
"So, what do I do?" I asked.
"Remember the good things," Dad answered. "Remember... when you were in danger, they would save you. When you were lost, they would bring you back. Find your favorite memory of us and hold onto it. Make it your life support."
I looked at 'Dad' suspiciously. "'Us', huh?" I walked past him. Dad closed his eyes, sighing. "You're not my dad."
'Dad' turned to face me, morphing into Stefan. "No. I'm not."
"Clever strategy," I told him. "Really. Using my dad to get me through this like you used him to get me to turn my humanity back on. Just one teeny, tiny problem. All those times I was in danger? It was because of you. Because of Damon. And when I was lost, like with the hex, with my humanity, also because of the two o you. Every bad thing that has ever happened to me is because of the two of you."
"I know, Nikki," Stefan told me. "I know. And I know that's why this is so hard for you. Because you've been through so much, and it's all because of us. But think about the good times. When you kept us together as a family. When..."
"When what?" I asked. "That's all you got, huh?" Stefan didn't answer. "Yeah. Me, too. The only memorable, happy moments I have ever since you and Damon returned to Mystic Falls six years ago is when I was with Tyler. And he left me because of you. All of my happiness is gone... because of you."
I noticed my sword on the wall, picking it up, stabbing Stefan in the heart with it, marking him, sending him out of my head.
~~~~~~~
It was after dark in my head.
I was walking along the Salvatore premises.
I heard a car pull up, knowing who it would be, unimpressed. "Damon."
"You sound disappointed," Damon told me. "Hoping for someone else?"
I turned to face him. "Leave me alone. You're literally the last person I want to see."
"Well, good, because I am the last person on the Nikki tour," Damon told me. "You're really not gonna wake up, are you?"
"Not if I can help it," I told him. "I don't want to hurt you. I don't want to hurt any of you. But the Huntress inside me does."
"So, what, you're just gonna slip away?" Damon asked.
"I'm taking a page out of your book," I told him. "I'm gonna give desiccation a try."
"And you weren't even gonna say goodbye?" Damon asked.
"Nope," I answered. "Also a page out of your book."
"Ouch," Damon told me. "Hurtful."
"Doesn't come close to the things you've done to me," I told him, turning away.
"You want to hear me say it?" Damon asked. "Fine. I'll say it. I'm sorry, Nikki. I'm sorry for every wrong deed that I've ever done to you. I'm sorry for killing your father. I'm sorry for trying to kill you, repeatedly. I'm sorry that you were a target for the people that were coming after me because they knew hurting you is far more damage than they can do to me." I was getting angrier with everything he said. "I'm sorry that you got sick with the same cancer that killed your mother because of me and Stefan." I turned to face him angrily. "I'm sorry that I turned you into a vampire thinking that it would save you from turning into a machine that made you want to kill everyone you care about. I'm sorry for lying to you all your life about killing the mother of your unborn sister, without knowing that Sarah had survived. I'm sorry about the hex that Kai put on you as revenge against me for leaving him in the prison world. I'm sorry for abandoning you. I'm sorry for everything that has ever happened to you because of me. What do you say to that?"
"Not good enough," I answered. "Never has been. Never will be."
I turned around, starting to walk away.
Damon rushed to stand in my way. "So, nothing, not one thing is forgiven? You've forgiven me for all of these things before."
"That was before Rayna activated the Hunter inside me as revenge against who again?" I asked.
"Me and Stefan," Damon answered.
"Exactly," I told him.
"All right," Damon told me. "I couldn't reach your good side. I can sure as hell reach your bad side. No more Stefan-ing this situation. I got to be me."
"And who are you, Damon?" I asked. "You're a monster."
"Sure am," Damon agreed. "But I usually get my way."
"Nothing stays buried here, Damon," I told him. "It just comes rising up from the grave where I thought your terrible deeds laid. Now they're driving me insane."
"Oh, come on," Damon told me. "You've always been a little cuckoo. I mean, when you first forgave me for killing Zach Salvatore, your father, you were a little unhinged. When you were still fighting to save Stefan and me from the Originals when you were sick with the same disease that killed your mother, you were crazy. When you forgave me and Enzo for locking you in the cellar and bleeding you dry, while the entire time I was tormenting you with visions of your father and your mother in an attempt to make you hate me so you would let me go, you were insane. No, no, no, but here's my favorite. I killed the mother of your unborn sister, and I didn't know that she survived. Stefan was able to save her and send her away from this family, and compelled your father to forget that she even existed. And we kept this a secret from you your entire life until you found out three years ago. And Kai with the hex and Caroline with making her turn off your humanity... you still forgave us. You were more than crazy then. You were certifiable."
"Screw you, Damon," I told him angrily.
"Oh, I screwed up your life all right," Damon told me. "But you're the one that kept letting me back in to screw it up all over again. At some point, it stops being my fault, and it starts being your fault."
I lost my temper completely, furiously punching my hand into Damon's chest, ripping out his heart, marking him, sending him the hell out of my head.
~~~~~~~
I finally woke up in the real world, in my bed at my house, gasping, sitting up. I saw Stefan and Damon standing by the door, glaring at them in rage.
"Sorry, Nikki," Stefan told me. "We had to get you to wake up somehow."
Damon smirked, raising his eyebrows. "Catch us if you can."
Damon and Stefan rushed out of the house, leaving.
~~~~~~~
I didn't want to hurt Caroline. Not when she had Ric and the kids to worry about. I called her, able to see her outside an airport, where Bonnie was trying to convince her to go on the run, through the psychic link that I started when I stabbed her in my head. I called her.
"Nicola?"
"Caroline, I can see you. I can feel you. You're marked, and I know exactly where you are."
"It's okay. You're okay."
"No, it's not okay. I'm not in control. I'm gonna come for you. Please, don't let it come to that."
I hung up.
~~~~~~~
I was getting stuff ready from my old arsenal in the house, on the phone with Stefan and Damon.
"How does it feel to be awake, new and approved Huntress?" Damon asked.
"I don't think there's a word to describe the depths of hatred I feel towards you right now."
"On the bright side, I think this new you makes the old you seem like sane as a kitten," Damon told me.
"Jokes. Dead man's last comfort."
"Come on, Nikki," Stefan told me. "You know everything he said was just a ploy to make you wake up, right?"
"Really? Is that why you two are running through the woods, scared?"
"You can see us?" Stefan asked.
"Not only can I see you, but I can sense what you're feeling, which is how I know deep down, there's a part of you that meant what you said to me, Damon. I know that you're sorry. Both of you. You're sorry about everything. But you also can't believe that I still had faith in you after everything that happened. And you both thought I was crazy for it. Well, I was."
"Yeah, and this is crazier," Stefan told me.
"Oh, on the contrary, Stefan. I think this is what makes me see things clearer again. I'm coming for you. And I won't be forgiving this time." I hung up, walking out of the house with my weapons. Matt was waiting outside, standing in front of my car. "Out of my way, Matt."
"Not until you hear what I have to say," Matt told me. "I couldn't get in your head, so I've been waiting out here to do it the normal way."
"You're too late," I told him. "I'm not the person you used to know."
"Well, in case you haven't noticed, I'm not the person you used to know, either," Matt told me. "That guy died two years ago with Penny."
"Then come with me," I told him. "You helped Rayna Cruz before. You made a deal with her to kill Stefan if you handed me over to her. So help me now."
"I came here to talk you out of murdering our friends, not lend a hand, because I do know you, Nicola," Matt told me. "I've known you since we were little kids, but we never really got close because you didn't like being close to anybody. But after everything started happening six years ago, we all came together. And I refuse to believe that the girl who risked screwing up her recovery from her surgery to take the tumor out of her neck by giving me CPR enough to save my life after Rebekah ran my truck off the road is gone for good. Tyler still loves you, Nicola, and Tyler's my best friend. I don't care if you're a vampire vampire Huntress now. I'm not gonna let my best friend lose the girl that he loves to the same thing that he knew was gonna happen."
I thought for a moment. "Then help me not do this. Keep me connected to my human side. I don't know if fighting this will work, but I'll try if you will."
Matt nodded. "I'm in. Now, get in the truck, and we'll drive somewhere safe."
Matt turned to get in his truck.
I grabbed his arm to stop him. "There is one condition."
Matt looked at me warily. "What's that?"
"I need to kill Stefan and Damon first," I told him. "Stefan and Damon Salvatore. The vampires who have ruined my life in more ways than I can count. Who have brought nothing but pain and suffering to our friends, and will continue to do it as long as they're alive. Damon turned your sister into a vampire because he was bored, and Stefan killed her. Stefan's also the reason that you killed your fiance, right? If he hadn't come back to Mystic Falls two years ago, Penny would still be alive. Help me take Stefan and Damon down."
"Like I said," Matt told me. "I'm in."
Matt got into his car.
I smirked, turning to the passenger seat.
~~~~~~~
I found Stefan and Damon in the woods.
It was thundering.
I walked closer with the bag of weapons over my shoulder. "It would've been smarter to split up."
Stefan and Damon turned to face me.
"Actually, you're stronger than you were before, Nik," Stefan told me. "You're stronger than us. So, no. The smart way is 2 vs. 1 way."
Damon looked over the weapons. "Whoa. Did you raid a cosplay convention or something?"
"Oh, they're real," I told them. "Courtesy of Matt, who is also setting up a perimeter around the forest as we speak."
"I'm not so sure you want to do that," Stefan told me. "You know, given Matt's track record, I'd say you've got about a 60% chance of taking on some friendly fire."
"I guess it's a good thing none of us are human," I told them, throwing a knife toward Damon's head.
Damon ducked a little, barely making me miss by embedding the knife into the tree behind him. He looked at me, impressed. "Nice toss, Nikki. This Hunter thing might be your best look yet."
I took out another knife, throwing one into Stefan's stomach.
Stefan groaned in pain, pulling the knife out of his stomach.
Damon rushed to stand behind me so they were on either side of me.
"Trust is, we don't have to run from you," Stefan told me.
I tilted my head. "Why is that?"
Stefan shook his head. "'Cause you're not gonna kill us, Nikki."
I took my sword out of the sheath on my back. "You're right." I glared at them furiously. "I'm gonna dismember you. I'm gonna set you on fire, then I'm gonna carve out your hearts. You are living, breathing reminders of everything that I've lost. Everything I've sacrificed. You ruined my life! Now I'm gonna tear yours apart."
I slashed my sword toward Damon. Damon ducked. I spun to slash toward Stefan. Stefan ducked. I kicked Stefan back into the tree behind him, turning to slash Damon in the neck. Damon raised his arm to block the move, receiving the blade in his arm. I took the blade out of his arm, raising the sword to decapitate him.
Stefan rushed toward me, tackling me away from Damon, making me fall to the ground and drop the sword.
I rushed to stand, looking around.
Stefan and Damon were gone.
I could see them stop several miles away through the woods through the links, picking up my sword, heading off in that direction.
~~~~~~~
I walked through the woods toward Stefan and Damon. I fired at shotgun toward them.
Stefan and Damon ducked into hiding.
I rushed closer, grabbing Damon from the ground, turning around, throwing him into a nearby tree, making him fall to the ground. Stefan stood, trying to punch me. I ducked, grabbing him by his shoulders, kneeing him in the stomach, headbutting, making him back away, kicking him into the tree behind him, making him fall. I still had one shotgun in hand, drawing another, shooting Stefan and Damon both in the face, making them scream in pain.
Stefan and Damon breathed heavily, trying to catch their breath, rushing away off into the woods.
I rushed after them. "Oh. Giving up so soon?"
"On the contrary," Stefan told me. "You're actually walking into our carefully laid trap."
Stefan gestured to the crypt next to them.
I looked up at the family name above the door. "The Salvatore family mausoleum. Oh, no."
"Where your father is buried," Stefan told me. "Where I took you when you made your first human kill after you became a vampire, the man you killed to make sure that Tyler didn't become a werewolf on Halloween, four years ago. When Damon came back from the prison world, and we were a family again."
"Before Kai, before I learned about Sarah and your deepest betrayals," I told them. "What is this supposed to prove?"
"That you're a survivor," Damon answered. "That you will get through this."
I smirked. "I'm not the one that needs to be worried about that." I rushed toward Stefan and Damon, flipping them to the ground. Damon rushed to his knees, restraining me from behind. "I'm gonna kill you. I'm gonna kill both of you!"
Stefan knelt in front of me, trying to get through to me. "No, you're not. You know why we brought you to the family mausoleum? Huh? Because if we have to die, we wanted it to be here, Nikki. We're Salvatores. We should be here. With you. With Zach."
I only became angrier when he mentioned my dad. "Stop doing this. I hate you."
"I get it," Damon told me. "We get it. The Nicola that we knew yesterday is gone, and she may never come back. But we're talking to you, crazy bitch Nikki in all her glory. We still care about you."
I glared at them. "Stop."
I became furious, grabbing Damon by his arms, flipping him over my head, making him hit Stefan and making them both fall to the ground, rushing to stand. I kicked Damon in the face, making him fall, stepping over him to jump up to punch Stefan in the face enough hard to make him fall. Damon tried to grab me. I caught his arm, twisting him away, pushing him against the ground, drawing one sword from my back, stabbing it down into Damon's stomach with all the strength I had, pinning him to the ground. Stefan tried to restrain me. I back flipped out of his grasp, landing on the ground behind him, grabbing him, flipping him to the ground, drawing my other sword, driving it into his stomach, pinning him to the ground.
I knelt between Damon and Stefan on the ground, punching either of my hands into their chests, gripping their hearts, making them gasp for breath in pain.
"Look, Nikki," Stefan told me. "Look at the mausoleum, Nicola. I remember putting your dad's body in there." I gripped Stefan's heart more tighter angrily, making him gasp in pain. "I remember you going there when you thought that we didn't know where you were."
"You've been so many things, Nik," Damon told me. "Sick with cancer, under a hex, a human, a Potential, a vampire. Now you're a Huntress. And now, the woman who's gonna kill us. And every time, you come back stronger. Everything you go through, you get through it better. Do you know how incredible that is, Nikki? Do you know how much I envy you? Hell, some days I can't even handle just being myself."
I felt such burning hatred for them that everything inside of me was telling me to kill them, but I was fighting so hard... the pressure inside of me was overwhelming, deafening. I was trying so hard not to kill them, so angry and emotional, tears in my eyes. "Stop talking."
Stefan shook his head. "No. Because if this is our last moment with you, Nicola Salvatore, we need you to hear this. We admire you. We believe in you. And no matter how crazy, messed up and dysfunctional our family is, we love you. Just like Zach loved you. Just like Monica loved you. Just like Sarah still loves you." I started to cry silently at my dad, my mom, and my sister's names. "Your unconditional love and compassionate for your family is what makes you who you are, Nicola. Don't let the Huntress inside you change that. Don't let her change you."
"If you kill us right now, it's not your fault," Damon told me. "We did this to you. We did this to us. But please forgive us before you do what you have to do."
I was trying so hard to let go of their hearts and let them live, but everything inside me was telling me otherwise. I looked down, crying without a sound, closing my eyes, about to let go to what everything inside me wanted to do, my body automatically preparing to rip their hearts out without my telling it to.
I felt vervain darts shoot into my back, gasping in pain, opening my eyes in surprise. The vervain seeping through my body making me let go of Stefan and Damon's heart. I fell to the ground, unconscious.
~~~~~~~
I woke up in the back of Matt's sheriff's car, furious.
It was storming outside.
Matt was driving.
I sat up, wrapping the chains he had restrained around my wrists around his throat from behind, strangling him, making him stop the car.
Matt gasped for breath. "Nicola! Nicola, I can help you!"
I pulled Matt into the backseat by the chains, still strangling him until he passed out. I broke free from the chains, climbing into the front seat, sitting down in the driver's seat, turning the car around to head back into Mystic Falls.
I wasn't done yet.