―❅―
𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐈𝐂𝐄
[ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴛʜɪʀᴛʏ-ɴɪɴᴇ - 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳]
"much less brave than i admit,
much more scared than they all think"
✧✦✧✦✧
The next morning, Thea decided to go on a run, wanting to escape her house that was full of hybrids and Hayley and having nothing better to do. She'd have gone to see her friends, except Rebekah wasn't answering her calls, Klaus was in Italy and Damon was still hung up over Elena and frankly, she didn't want to deal with the doppelganger at this moment in time.
Thea ran down the street towards the Grill, panting as her cheeks became flushed. She had left in such a rush this morning that she had forgotten to pick up her water bottle. Rookie mistake, but Hayley was still lounging about at the Lockwood mansion and Thea couldn't put up with her any longer. Coming to a stop outside the Grill, Thea opened the door before entering.
She knew they weren't open yet but Matt always allowed Thea in when he was working the morning shift, knowing that her forgetting her bottle when going on a run was a regular occurrence. "Forget your water again?" the human smirked as he looked up to face the brunette who was currently leant against the bar attempting to catch her breath.
Thea looked up at him as she puffed her red cheeks, nodding at him with an embarrassed smile causing Matt to laugh as he bent to grab a glass under the bench before pouring her a glass of water. The wolf thanked him, downing the drink before placing the empty glass back down on the counter and looking expectantly up at Matt with a grin.
The human boy sighed before pouring her another glass, "to say you go running most of the time, you really are lousy at remembering to pick up your water bottle," Matt laughed causing the Lockwood girl to scowl as she pulled her messy hair free of her bobble before retying it much neater. "It wasn't even my fault this time," she defended as she took a drink from the glass, "that wolf bitch is still at the house and won't leave," the brunette whined.
Matt sighed, looking at the girl in amusement. Before he had the chance to reply however, another voice interrupted their conversation, "uh, Matt? Thea?" April called out as the two shifted their gazes to find her stood hesitantly at the entrance. "Uh, hey, April. We don't open until eleven," Matt told her awkwardly as Thea smiled at her warmly, causing April to look to the ground in embarrassment.
"Oh, sorry. I wasn't like trying to scare you or stalk you or whatever. I just- I came to ask if either of you had seen Rebekah," the brunette asked causing Thea to frown, concern arising within her as she thought about her friend being in danger. "Not since yesterday," the wolf replied at the same time Matt spat, "why would I have seen Rebekah?" with a defensive look on his face.
Thea rolled her eyes at his boyish remark as April blushed awkwardly, "oh, I just assumed... I mean, aren't you guys kind of like a thing?" the brunette asked causing Matt to scoff. "Rebekah and I are not a thing," he muttered as he turned around to dry more glasses on the bar. April walked closer to them, stopping just in front of Thea with a worried smile, "well- i-I mean I'm worried about her. She said she'd help me find stuff out about the fire that killed my dad and then she just, disappeared," the brunette stuttered causing Thea to frown in concern. Where had Rebekah gone?
Before she had the chance to reply, a loud noise sounded from behind them, capturing the teens' attention. Shifting her gaze, Thea's brown eyes found Connor holding Jeremy with a knife to his throat causing the brunette to gasp before she pushed herself protectively in front of April. "Trust me, that's the least of your problems," the hunter snarled as his eyes narrowed at them across the room.
"Sit down!" Connor shouted as he held Jeremy in a headlock and began to walk forward, "sit down," he repeated causing Thea, Matt and April to both sit at one of their tables apprehensively. Connor walks towards them pushing Jeremy into a chair next to them before narrowing his eyes at the boy, "Gilbert, give me your cell phone," he demanded.
"At least let April go. She doesn't have anything to do with this," Thea pleaded as she looked up at the hunter whilst holding on to April's hand protectively. Connor turned to face her with a snarl, "she has everything to do with this," he snapped as he snatched Jeremy's phone from his hand, "her and her father. Plus, she and I have history," he retorted causing April to frown in confusion.
"What are you talking about? I've never seen you before in my life," the brunette snapped in exasperation as she looked at the hunter. Connor smirked at her response, "well, you kids need to get some vervain. And don't just wear it as a bracelet where anybody can just take it off," he said as he points at Jeremy's vervain bracelet looking the teen in the eyes, "maybe then you'd remember our conversation at the hybrid's yesterday."
Jeremy frowned at him as Thea looked down at the table in guilt, "our conversation? Are you saying someone compelled me?" the teen fumed causing Connor's smirk to widen, his eyes flickering to the wolfs for a second. "Would someone please tell me what he's talking about?" April demanded in incredulity as she stared between Matt, Thea and Jeremy searching for an answer.
"Compulsion, secrets, vampires," the hunter mused as the young girl began to frown, "werewolves," he stated wickedly as he looked at Thea causing the brunette to scowl at him. "If you know so much, then you know our friends are going to come for us," she snapped with narrowed eyes earning a smirk from the hunter in response.
"Oh, yeah. I'm counting on it. Every vampire that comes for you is another one I get to kill. Now, who should I text first? Hm?" he taunted them as he scrolled through Jeremy's phone, "Damon Salvatore, his brother Stefan, Tyler Lockwood? Nah, all of the above," he mocked causing Thea's blood to run cold in worry. Connor smirked as he typed out the message before hitting send and placing Jeremy's phone back on the table before stabbing his hunting knife through it.
"Hunter at Mystic Grill with hostages. They all die at sundown."
✧✦✧✦✧
Damon, Elena and Tyler are all stood in the parlour in the Lockwood mansion, trying to come up with a plan. "So, we each take a different entrance; hit them at the same time," Damon told them his eyes fluttering around the room for a missing brunette, "where's baby T? Wouldn't she wanna be involved in this?" the vampire asked as he looked back at Tyler.
The elder Lockwood sighed, "she went out for a run this morning and hasn't been back since. I've been trying her phone but it keeps going straight to voicemail," the hybrid told him causing Damon to scowl. "Connor must have her that bastard," he snarled just as Stefan walked into the room. "Stefan!" Elena breathed happily as she got up from the couch and embraces him in a hug.
Damon turned his scowl towards his brother, "where the hell have you been?" he demanded with narrowed eyes, now more desperate than ever to kill Connor after finding out he'd taken Thea. "Coming up with a plan," the younger Salvatore shrugged calmly, "yeah, we have a plan. The plan is I'm gonna rip Connor's heart out and I'm going to feed it to him," Damon retorted with a sarcastic smile.
"That's not the plan. We need to be careful. Connor has Jeremy and Thea and who knows how many other hostages," Stefan frowned at the elder vampire, causing him to smirk, "hence the open heart surgery," Damon replied casually. "Damon's right. Connor's strong, but he's not going to be able to take all of us," Elena agreed, earning a thankful smile from the elder vampire.
"I called in the hybrids to help too," Tyler spoke up as he crossed his arms over his chest just as Caroline walked back into the room, "my mom put squad cars blocking the streets. They're saying it's a faulty gas main. We're good to go," she told them with a smile causing Damon to nod, "good, great. No cops, no witnesses, no reason to wait around."
"Alright, hold on, you're not all going," Stefan spoke up, looking specifically at Caroline and Elena as he stopped everyone from moving. "He has my sister and shot me like nine times. If we're killing him, I want in," Tyler told him firmly, his eyes narrowed on the vampire as if challenging him to stop him. Elena nodded her head in agreement, "he's got Jeremy. I'm going."
"Listen, nobody is going anywhere until I figure out what we're walking into," Stefan halted them once again causing Damon to scoff, "until you figure it out? Is that we're you've been all morning? Out buying bossy pants?" the elder vampire remarked sarcastically. Stefan rolled his eyes in annoyance, "this guy is known for setting traps, right? We'd be pretty dumb to walk into one, especially if he has werewolf venom."
"Does he?" Elena asked with a raised eyebrow causing Stefan to shrug, "he's had it before, and now he has Thea," he replied causing Damon and Tyler's anger to heighten. "Fine. Fine, if you want to take some time to do recon, you get one hour. But we're gonna need some extra help. So, where the hell's the Wicked Witch of the West?" Damon asked as he looked at the group in agitation.
"She can't do magic," Caroline told him with a frown causing the elder vampire to scoff, "really? Well, call her, tell her Jeremy's life is in danger; maybe that will bring her out of retirement," Damon snapped before walking out of the room, purposefully hitting his shoulder against Stefan's on the way out.
✧✦✧✦✧
Stefan walked across the town square, his phone up to his ear as he spoke to Klaus, "Connor's at the Grill and he has hostages. I'm gonna need your hybrids to help," the vampire spoke causing Klaus to scoff on the other end. "You expect me to care about bloody hostages?" the hybrid questioned in incredulity causing Stefan to scowl.
"Well, you should. Damon does. So does Caroline, Tyler, Elena. Oh, and did I forget to mention that Thea was one of them?" the vampire said with clear annoyance in his tone, his words causing Klaus' blood to run cold. Thea was in danger, and instead of being there to help her he was off gallivanting around Italy for some sword.
"If any of them get to Connor, then you just wasted a trip to Italy. I can buy us some time, but Damon's getting antsy. So, if you want Connor alive, you better get your hybrids on board with my plan," the Salvatore vampire finished as Klaus gritted his teeth in a mixture of frustration and worry. "I'll call them. But trust me Stefan, if a single hair on Thea's head is harmed, you're going to wish you never came back to this town," Klaus threatened before hanging up the phone.
Stefan sighed, walking further away from the Grill as he dialled Elena's number. "What did you find out?" the doppelganger asked as she answered the phone and put it on speaker so Damon could hear too. "I can only make out the voices," the younger vampire replied as he continued walking down the street, "how many hostages?" Damon pushed causing Stefan to sigh.
"Four. But Elena, it's Matt and April Young," he answered hesitantly causing Elena's face to drop, "what?!" she spat out as her face contorted into worry. "Those two idiots, they're like danger magnets," Damon scoffed as he shook his head in frustration, "we have to get them out of there," Elena stated urgently as she looked up at Damon.
Stefan sighed through the phone, "I just need a little more time," he replied causing Damon to scoff once again, "well, the clock's ticking brother." The younger Salvatore rolled his eyes, "you know, I could do without the coloured commentary," he spat before hanging up the phone, waiting for Klaus to message him about the hybrids.
✧✦✧✦✧
April, Jeremy, Matt and Thea all sat at the table, the latter rubbing her sore gums as they watched Connor pour werewolf toxin into a glass jar, rigging up a bomb. Earlier, he had forced Thea into the backroom of the Grill before using a mixture of some kind to trigger her shift. The mixture only forced her to half shift, causing her eyes to turn a golden yellow and her teeth to extract into sharp canines so that the hunter could extract more toxin from her gums.
The wolf had never felt pain like it. Usually the shift didn't bother her, but because the mixture didn't allow her to fully turn, it meant that all her bones repeatedly broke and put themselves back together all whilst Connor stabbed her in the gums with a syringe. "He's clearly delusional. I mean, right? All this- all this talk about vampires, but I mean, he mentioned my dad," April cried causing Thea to grab her hand in comfort, smiling at her as best as she could.
"Hey, this guy's a nut job, okay? Don't let him get in your head," Matt soothed her, attempting to calm her down but April just shook her head in response, "what if he knows something? Jeremy, did he say anything to you about why he's doing this?" Jeremy looked across at Connor with a frown, "I don't know. Maybe. Maybe I just can't remember," he muttered before standing from his chair.
"Let it go. Jeremy!" Thea scolded as the teenager ignored her, walking over to Connor with a determined look on his face, "you said we had a conversation yesterday," he spoke. The hunter nodded, "mm hmm," he murmured as he continued to work on the bomb, not paying much attention to the teen. "About what?" Jeremy demanded causing Connor to stand up and look at him.
"We'll get into that. First, take a look at my handy work. Pick up some tips from the hunter's trade," Connor told him with a smile earning a confused look from Jeremy as he stared down at the bomb, "what is all that?" he frowned. "The fluid is derived from werewolf toxin. Trip the wire, the bomb goes off, nails deliver a lethal dose into the bloodstream," the hunter smirked.
"And what's the point? What do you get out of all this?" Jeremy asked in exasperation causing Connor to stare at him blankly, "you know, I used to think that there was no 'get'; that I was just supposed to do. Kill vampires. That was until I realised that the mark held the answer to why I'm the way I am. The more I kill the more it grows and once it's complete, I'll know my story- and all of this will have meant something."
Connor looked over to the table where Thea, Matt and April were still sat, "hey! We're gonna have visitors soon, you three get in the back," he demanded causing Thea to glare at him. "Get up! Move!" he shouted causing April to start crying again as she stood from her chair. Matt stood, wrapping his arm around April's shoulders gently as he began to lead them out of the room.
"Before you think about any other exits, I got every door rigged. Got it?" Connor warned them causing Thea to stick her finger up at him before following after Matt and April. She'd have usually come up with a witty remark, but all her energy was completely zapped and all she truly wanted was her bed. And Klaus. But mainly her bed.
✧✦✧✦✧
Matt, April and Thea are in the backroom of the Grill, the former looking out the window in despair before moving to a shelf and taking down a tool chest. "When I was a kid, my dad used to tell me these scary storied about vampires," April muttered as she looked at the floor in fear causing Thea to reach for her hand, "they're just stories," the brunette attempted to comfort her as Matt pulled out some tools before walking to another shelf on the other side of the room.
"Not that man out there. There's something familiar about him," April denied causing Matt to sigh, "look, this is a messed up situation, but the last thing you want to do is buy into that guy's craziness," he told her as he pulled off a panel on the wall. "You're gonna be fine. We're getting out of here," the human smiled at the two brunettes causing Thea to beam back at him as April frowned in confusion.
"What is that?" she questioned as she tried to get a better look at it, "there used to be an exit to the old wine cellar," Matt explained as he looked inside the hidden room, staring at the bricks that covered the old entrance, "they bricked it over." Thea frowned in defeat, "so that's it then? We're screwed?" she asked causing Matt to shake his head.
"No, we're not screwed," he told her as he stood up and grabbed a nail from one of the shelves before placing it against the brick floor. Placing a towel over it, the human started to hammer away at the nail as the two brunette's watched in apprehension. Matt continued to hammer at the bricks, watching as the hole began to get bigger when a large explosion sounded throughout the Grill.
"Oh my god," Matt gasped as April and Thea began to back up, the former running into a hard body. Turning around April gasps as she finds Stefan who put his hand over the brunette's mouth, urging her to be quiet. "I have never been happier to see you Steffie," Thea smiled as she turned and hugged the vampire tightly, Stefan's arms wrapping around her just as tight.
"Follow this map, get out of here, and take her to Caroline so she can..." the younger Salvatore told them as he handed Thea Damon's phone with the map on it. The wolf nodded as Matt grabbed a hold of April's hand and began to lead her away before turning to face Stefan once again. "Stefan, that guy is armed. If you go out there, he's gonna kill Jeremy," the human warned.
"No one's killing anyone. Go," Stefan urged causing Matt to nod once again before leading April through the panel in the wall. Stefan looked at the wolf with raised eyebrows when she didn't follow them, "he extracted more werewolf toxin from me, Stef. Please be careful," she warned him with a look of desperation and worry on her face, causing the vampire to smile.
"I will, T. Now get out of here, Klaus would kill me if he found out I didn't save you first," the vampire told her causing the brunette to roll her eyes. "Be safe," she pleaded, smiling at him once more before following after Matt and April.
✧✦✧✦✧
Thea was sat in the kitchen in the Lockwood mansion, holding a bag of frozen peas to her mouth to sooth her gums. Matt and April had just left after Caroline compared the human girl to forget everything that happened. The wolf didn't agree with it fully, believing that no-one should mess with anyone's memories but the brunette knew it was for the better. April was safer this way.
The wolf groaned as Hayley walked into the kitchen, "oh yay, you're still here," Thea whined as she moved the frozen peas to the other side of her mouth. Hayley stared at the girl as if she'd grown another head, "you know you're supposed to cook them first, right?" she said, gesturing to the peas causing Thea to scowl in annoyance. "Why are you still here wolf girl?" the brunette asked with narrowed eyes as she slammed the bag of peas onto the counter.
"I needed a place to crash, Ty's a buddy, he was kind enough to offer," Hayley replied with a shrug causing the brunette to scowl, "mmm hmm, how about we try that again with less bullshit?" Thea mocked with raised eyebrows causing Hayley to roll her eyes. "Yeah, I don't do teen drama," the brunette remarked with a sigh, "well, nobody's forcing you to stay," Thea sassed with a smirk as she stared at the wolf.
"What is your problem with me?" Hayley demanded as she narrowed her eyes, fed up with how Thea was treating her, for absolutely no reason. Thea was about to make another witty remark when her face paled, sickness rising through her throat. Rushing out of the room, the brunette managed to make it to the downstairs bathroom before she threw up.
"Are you okay?" Hayley asked in concern as she leant against the bathroom door causing Thea to nod, flushing the toilet before moving to lean against the wall, the cold cooling her hot skin down. "I'm fine, thank you. It's probably just because I haven't eaten all day," the wolf replied as she looked up at the brunette gratefully. Hayley nodded, though the look on her face said that she didn't believe her at all.