•|•
The compelled human stayed in the car with Rose while Isabel, Nik, and Stefan walked up the Smoky Mountains.
Isabel would have liked to hold her daughter but it wasn't really a place her child needed to be. She couldn't guarantee her child's safety. She also wanted to stay but Nik insisted she come. She didn't know why she had to come because Nik kept it to himself that he needed her to keep the wolves in order. He thought her presence could persuade them to his side.
Stefan carried Ray his back -who was unconscious- over his back while Klaus was in the front and Isabel was in between the two.
"You okay? Is Ray getting heavy?" Klaus teased the vampire while smirking.
Stefan scoffs. "I'm fine."
Klaus laughs lightly. "You sure about that? You know, we've been walking for quite some time now. If you need some water or a little sit-down..."
"I could use some water." Isabel takes a strap of her backpack off her shoulder and stops then takes the bag off and sets it on the ground. She begins to dig around in it in search of some water while the boys stop and talk.
"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."
"Yes! Found it." She stands up and puts her backpack back on as they all start walking again.
"So much brooding. Your self-loathing is suffocating you, my friend." Klaus states.
"Maybe it's 'cause I'm a little tired of hunting werewolves. We've been at it all summer." Stefan points out.
Klaus ignores him and says, "Thanks to our pal Ray, we found ourselves a pack. There."
They all stop when they see they have found the pack's camp. People walked around setting things up and as Stefan enters the camp first, everyone looked at him. When he got all their attention and he was closer to all of them he plopped Ray down on the ground.
A woman with short hair and a tank top on rushed over, seeing her friends body. "Ray! Oh, my God." A man came to her side to look at Ray. "What's going on?" She breathes out before looking up at Stefan, fears evident in her eyes. "Who are you?" Klaus takes Isabel's hand and joins Stefan.
"The important question is who am I." Everyone turns to them and they -like many others- know who she is and bow their head slightly. Isabel -confused- hides behind Klaus not liking having all the attention on her. "Please forgive the intrusion. My name is Klaus and this is Bel." he gestures behind him.
The woman stares at him horrified as she realizes how much trouble they're in if he has their Queen. "You're the hybrid." She asks as she slowly gets up from leaning over Ray.
Klaus smiles. "You've heard of me. Fantastic."
≪≫•≪≫•≪≫
Isabel, Klaus, and Stefan are sitting on a round rock surface as everyone stands still, looking at Klaus and listening.
"It's fascinating, actually... A werewolf who isn't beholden to the moon, a vampire who doesn't burn in the sun. A true hybrid." Just then, Ray wakes up with a startles gasp catching everyone's attention. "Excellent timing, Ray. Very dramatic," Klaus says.
"What's happening to me?" Ray asks as he pants.
"Bel?" Isabel stands up and looks around at her people.
"Are any of you human? Your friend here needs human blood to complete his transition to vampire. If he doesn't get it, he will die." She warns but in a kind tone. Deep down her wolf side wanted to make sure that they survived what Klaus was wanting to put them through.
"Doesn't take much, just a sip. Anyone?" Klaus asks as he and Stefan stand up. "A boyfriend, a girlfriend, along for the ride?" Klaus chips in. The woman with short hair subtly glanced at her friend but Klaus catches it and says, "You."
He rushes over to him and bites his forearm. He quickly threw him to Stefan as he grabs the man and pins him to the ground, his arms outstretched near Rays face.
The woman protests but Klaus grabs her neck tightly.
"Klaus," Isabel growls and he only slightly lets up on her throat.
"If you don't drink it, Ray, I will. Problem is I don't know how to stop." Stefan informs him.
"It's the new order, sweetheart," Klaus says looking at the short-haired woman. "You join us, or you die," Klaus informs the woman who looks to Isabel as if begging her to help. Isabel looks toward the ground not wanting to look her in the eyes.
"I'd rather die than be a vampire," the woman grits out.
Klaus shakes his head as his hybrid face appears. "Wrong choice." He bites into his wrist and gives her his blood as Ray drinks the blood from the human. Once Klaus decided she had enough he let her fall into his arms. "She'll thank me for that later. Heh." He twists her head and kills her.
Once she drops he licks his finger while looking at everyone. "Okay, who's next?" His eyes are yellow and his fangs are out.
≪≫•≪≫•≪≫
Klaus gives his blood to the human and compels him. "There. Good as new. Now you relax, okay, mate? We're gonna need you when the rest of them wake up."
Ray is sitting the rock nearby, grabbing his body and shivering.
"They're dead. They're all dead." Ray mumbles sadly looking at his dead pack. Isabel sits next to him and rubs his back trying to calm him down. But she had no idea what she was doing. She never had to deal with this before and it was all new to her.
Klaus looks at the two as he takes a few steps forward. "Ah, he's through his transition. He should be feeling better soon."
"So is this your master plan? Build an army of hybrid slaves?" Stefan asks as he leans against a tree in front of Klaus.
"No, not slaves. Soldiers, comrades." Klaus informs him.
Stefan narrows his eyes in disbelief. "For what war, might I ask?"
"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 smiles.
"What makes you so sure that they'll be loyal?" Stefan shrugs lightly.
Klaus grins. "Well, it's not difficult to be loyal when you're on the winning team. That's something you'll learn once you shake that horribly depressive chip off your shoulder."
Stefan laughs. "That's why you're, uh..." Stefan moves away from the tree. "You're keeping me around? To witness my attitude adjustment?"
Izzy looks over Ray and notices his eyes are bleeding.
"You'll know why I'm keeping you around when I've decided that I want you to know," Klaus tells him.
Izzy panics. "Guys, something's wrong." She looks from Ray to Klaus and Stefan.
"That shouldn't be happening, should it?" Stefan asks Klaus as Klaus looked over Ray's face.
"Well, obviously," Klaus states with a slight glare.
≪≫•≪≫•≪≫
A while later Ray is shaking and his eyes are still bleeding. Isabel stood up seeing as she had no idea how to comfort him.
"You said it was gonna feel better. Why doesn't it feel better?" Ray asks in pain as he shakes more then he did before.
Klaus crossed his arms while going into deep thought.
"Some master race," Stefan comments as he looks at Klaus from his position of leaning against the tree.
"Lose the attitude," Klaus demands. Suddenly the woman gasps, waking up. "Derek, come feed your girlfriend," Klaus orders the human. He gets up and does as told. Klaus holds Derek's arms out but stops when they hear Ray snarl. They watch him make a few jumps as he leaves. Klaus looks at Stefan annoyed. "Go get him."
Stefan rushes off to find Ray while Klaus continues to get Derek to feed the werewolves waking up.
≪≫•≪≫•≪≫
It's nighttime at the camp and a campfire is burning. Izzy bends down and puts her hands out trying to get some more warmth as Nik turns Derek to face him.
"Bad news, my friend," Klaus said before putting his hand on the human's shoulder and turning him around to face him. "End of the road for you."
Derek doesn't resist as Klaus' face vamped out and he bites into his neck drinking up his blood.
Klaus looks at the short-haired woman who is slowly walking to him. "Careful, love. There's only one Alpha here."
He looks at the other transitioning werewolves to see they're walking around like zombies, bleeding from their eyes.
"Bloody hell." Isabel heard Klaus say with a mix of shock and anger on his face.
"What- oh holy crap." Her eyes widen as she sees the state they're in. "That's- that's not normal." She stands up and moves closer to Klaus and clutches his arm.
≪≫•≪≫•≪≫
The werewolves start to go rabid and fight Isabel and Klaus. Isabel just tried to hide herself behind trees but it doesn't last long as she sees a few of them running off and two humans headed in the direction of her baby angrily.
She ran after them in hopes of seeing what they were up to. When she finally caught up to the female human she grabbed her and shoved her to the ground, putting her foot on her neck and a foot to the wrist. The male that was in front stopped and turned fast.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"You destroyed my family you bitch!" The girl cursed while trying to get up from the ground. "Get that baby Joe!"
Quickly thinking Isabel pushed her head into the dirt before lifting her leg and stomping back down before then stomping on her chest to make sure she died. She looked up and ran for the male who was getting closer to the car. She was in mother mode with her Queen instincts kicked to the side because all she could think about was Rose's safety.
Isabel just barely caught the man as he got to the car door and pulled him back roughly. She then twisted his arms behind his back so it breaks, then slammed his head repeatedly on to the ground till he bled out. She took in big gulps of air and just went for his heart not caring about their deaths.
She stood up and stared at her arms covered in blood, eyes blazing with anger. Isabel couldn't exactly grasp that she killed two people which activated her curse, she was to busy worrying about her baby and seeing the blood all over her.
She looks through the window at her baby and sees her reflection. Her eyes had changed a different color before she feels a crack in her leg and she falls to the ground. Her back and arms bend as her bones align to make her new form.
"Nik!" She yells out in pain. Within a second he shows up looking worried although she couldn't see that through her tears. He sees the dead werewolves and knew what was coming.
"Don't fight it. You're gonna be okay, love." He bends down and lifts her head seeing her vibrant blue werewolf eyes. "Calm down and let it happen." She stops resisting but still screams in pain feeling her bones break and shift.
Soon enough a big golden brown werewolf stood as she snarled and bared her teeth at the dead bodies. Before Klaus could stop her she took off in her newfound werewolf speed.
She could see clearly now and her hearing was much better. Soon enough a black werewolf the same height as her joined her side.
Nik had changed into his wolf form to keep her company.
≪≫•≪≫•≪≫
When the golden brown and black wolf were done feeding the female wolf laid down to rest since she was tired out. Nik laid in front of her his head on the ground. She bumped her nose into his playfully as he just watched her.
He oddly enjoyed the fact she was a werewolf now. He knew she wouldn't be alone during full moons and he would have someone to run with on full moons.
And Isabel. Isabel felt free, like a part of her life was given back to her. She finally felt whole.
After a while when Nik noticed where the moon was, he nudged her to follow him. Together they ran through the trees and back to the car for both their clothes.
Klaus turned around as she got some sweatpants on. She didn't care if he saw her in a bra so she allowed him to turn around as she searched for a loose shirt in the back. The human who was tending to Rose didn't turn around and only focused on the little babe she was compelled to protect with her life.
"How do you feel?" He asked. He let his eyes roam her body before stopping at her chest. He quickly looked away not wanting to be caught.
"Free. Enhanced. Hungry. Horny." She paused before blushing and felt her face heat up. Klaus smirked as she threw on a shirt and avoided his gaze. "Probably didn't need or want to hear that." She mumbled even though she knew he could hear. She closed the back and sighed while turning around to face the hybrid. Speaking a little louder than before she said, "I feel wonderful."
"Welcome to being a werewolf sweetheart," he said before taking the bodies back to the camp.
≪≫•≪≫•≪≫
It's lighter out as Stefan walks back to camp back with Ray over his shoulders. He drops Ray while holding onto his forearm.
"They went rabid." Nik started while he stared down at the ground with an arm draped around Isabel's shoulder as she stared blankly ahead. "Some of them, I killed. Two, Bel killed." Stefan knew right then that she activated the curse and felt bad she was stuck with that curse. She would never want to be a hybrid and by the way, Nik acts around her he could tell he wouldn't force her to become one.
"The others just... Bled out." Stefan looks around at all the dead werewolves laying on the ground still holding his arm. Klaus gets up and walks closer leaving Isabel where she was. "In the end... They're all dead."
He yells and throws the bottle of beer in his hand. He screams at the sky. "I did everything I was told!" Isabel jumped out of her trance when she heard him scream and immediately stood up to calm him down.
She placed a hand on his arm and rubbed circles with her thumb. She hoped it would help and she was right when she felt him relax. She then slid her arm around his waist and leaned her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. Letting out a quiet breath he says, "I should be able to turn them. I broke the curse. I killed a werewolf. I killed a vampire. I killed the doppelgänger." He stays in Isabel's arms for a while longer before he raises his head up to look at Stefan.
Stefan who immediately started to look uncomfortable at the mention of the doppelgänger looked frightened that Klaus had figured everything out. Klaus settles his face and examines Stefan.
"You look like hell," Klaus states.
"Last I checked, I'm dying..." Stefan says as he shows the hybrid his arm. "And you don't want to heal me." Stefan then notices Klaus looking down at Ray's body. "I had to take him out. I didn't have a choice. I failed you. I'm sorry." Stefan walks closer. "Do what you have to do."
"It should have worked," Klaus said sadly before he reluctantly gets out of Isabel's arms and turns around to grab an empty bottle of beer. He bites his hand, makes a fist, putting the blood draining from it in the bottle and holds the bottle out for Stefan to take.
"Bottoms up." Stefan hesitantly takes the bottle. "We're leaving." Klaus goes to walk away but slowly turns around to look at the dead wolves then the two people he's been with for a few months. "It appears you're the only comrades I have left."
Stefan drinks the blood from the bottle and throws it aside as Isabel sighs.
Slowly, Isabel ran to stand by Nik's side and gave him a side hug. Nik was surprised and froze slightly before slowly hugging the blonde back. The newly turned werewolf felt bad for him. No matter how much she shouldn't it was in her DNA to care for him.
"I'm sorry about your hybrids, Nik. I can tell how much they mean to you," she said softly.
Klaus reluctantly let go as she pulled away from his embrace. She started to walk ahead of him and he couldn't help but stare at her.
"Thanks, my little wolf." He whispered so quietly that only he heard. And that's the way he wanted it. But at least he said it out loud even when no one heard it.
Dedicated to JuLy-is-Life for loving Kol.
How was it? Who is excited for Kol and the rest of them? I am.