The Fallen Slayer {1}

Tearing The Last Thread

With her old chalk set from Elijah resting on her lap, Buffy continued to outline the image of the cave that had been haunting her dreams lately. A cave that seemed impossibly large, filled with what seemed like an army of millions of demon-type creatures.

They kind of looked like vampires but not at the same time.

Their faces were more distorted and crinkled, their teeth sharper, and their claws terrifyingly long.

They were creepy.

What was creepier though were The Bringers she kept drawing, positioning them right in front of the army.

Bringers that she had only seen in one of her fake memories from Klaus.

But then again, Mary had said that the memories given to her were supposed to be the path her life actually took before her fate was messed with. Did that mean that every fake memory was layered with the truth?

Even the memories which didn't include her friends around her?

Did that mean The First and The Bringers were real?


Letting out a small frustrated growl, Buffy placed the sketch pad down before laying back on the couch. Her focus was Silas for the time being, she could panic about the possibility of The First Evil later.

One apocalypse at a time was all she could handle right now.

Listening out, Buffy couldn't help but roll her eyes as she heard Klaus making fun of Damon's current predicament. Of course, he was making fun of Damon.

Klaus and Damon were both little shit-stirrers, it was incredibly annoying.

Unable to get comfortable, Buffy turned onto her side, cuddling the soft pillow as she allowed her mind to focus on the little girl that was kicking her bladder again.

The thought of her upcoming attempt at motherhood sent her mind drifting back to her own mom. Liz mentioning her today had been a sweet thing, but it just reminded Buffy how much she wished her mom was here.

Would her daughter get her natural straight blonde hair or her mother's crazy curls?

Would she be more of a strawberry blonde like Jenna?

Or would she have dark hair like a lot of the Mikaelson family seemed to inherit?

Truthfully, Buffy kind of hoped Joy got her namesake's crazy curls.

While she had people like Liz and Sandra here to help prepare her for motherhood, offering her advice, it didn't stop Buffy from wishing her own mother was here to contribute to the conversation.

To know her granddaughter.

Her depressing thoughts were quickly stripped away as her phone started ringing, offering her a momentary distraction from her pointless desire to see her mother again.

Her mom was dead and she had been human.

Her mom was at peace.

Spotting her old Watcher's name she smiled "This is Louise. Darling." She screeched into the phone.

"Oh dear lord, Buffy."

"I'll be coming round the dinner singing songs."

"I see pregnancy has not matured your state of language."

"Not even a little." Buffy laughed, slightly relieved that Giles finally knew about her pregnancy. Once Xander had found out, everyone who had been left in the dark from the scoobies had found out. Making all of the work Willow and Tara had done to keep the secret pretty much pointless.

According to Willow, when she called Giles, he promptly fainted the second the words, Buffy is pregnant left her mouth.

Another notch for the Giles knock-out counter.

"What's up Watcher man?"

"I spoke to a contact of mine. He may have an idea of this Caleb. He seems to believe Caleb was a defrocked priest and serial killer responsible for the deaths of at least two girls."

Buffy winced at that, this guy was more psycho than she had thought. Sitting up, she grabbed her shoes struggling to slip them on as she continued to listen to Giles explain who this contact was and what he might possibly have on Caleb.

Once she knew more about what he wanted other than to keep Shane breathing, which was not okay with her, it might make defeating him easier.

"Cool, where am I meeting him?"

"He is at Whitmore, with the dance cancelled due to flooding, most of the students have left for the half term. He will meet you at the library."

"KLAUS, I'm leaving, going to Whitmore, Bex and Stefan are will be there!" Just because the dance had been cancelled didn't mean that the party had to stop "Can't stop me you have to babysit. BYE!"

The door upstairs slammed shut not a second later.

Letting out a small frustrated growl, Klaus pushed up from his seat pacing back and forth. Buffy was an incredible woman she was, but she drove him bloody mental.

He had a strong sense that their daughter was going to be worse.

Buffy had been a troublemaker as a teenager and if their child took after her mother, keeping Joyce under lock and key was going to become incredibly difficult.

Kol's tauntings about not being able to ground a witch just meant he would have to get creative to ensure his daughter didn't get into trouble.


Damon snorted as he listened to the tires of Buffy's jeep screech out of the driveway "She couldn't get away from your soon enough." 

Klaus rolled his eyes at the obvious attempt to rial him up "She is going to Whitmore to speak to a friend of her Watcher's."

Rebekah would be there, so Buffy would at least have Mikaelson protection nearby.

He had no reason to worry.

Right?

"Hmm, sure nothing to do with you at all." Damon mocked, his voice dripping with a smug amount of sarcasm which had Klaus itching to rip his head off.

Retaking his seat, Klaus focused on Damon.

If Damon of all people thought he could lecture him on the current state of his relationship with Buffy, it was absurd. Even if things between them had been a little tenser since Carol, it didn't change the fact that they were having this child together. After Carol, Buffy could have done a complete 180 and declared she wanted nothing to do with him, yet she hadn't.

Yes, Buffy was not the type to forgive and forget.

She remembered everything and while she moved past things, she didn't pretend that history no longer exsisted.

It was why, to this day, if it came down it, Klaus had no doubt she would kill Damon.

"Given she threatened to kill you the other night, not exactly interest in your advice, mate."

Damon rolled his eyes "Bubbles, wouldn't kill me."

"Debateable." Klaus retorted strongly with a smug smirk "What is it she said? Klaus will kill you, and I'll let him."

Clenching his jaw tightly, Damon bit the inside of his cheek before staring up at the ceiling "If this is your way of trying to rub in the fact that during a mental breakdown she willingly slept with you...I'm all good."

He had long come to terms with no matter how much he loved Buffy, she would never see him in that way. Yes, it sucked, but he enjoyed having her as a friend. It beat not having her in his life, which would have happened if he had kept trying to get in between her and Stefan. She had threatened to walk away from both of them if it put their brotherly bond at risk and he knew that she had meant every word of it.

Klaus smirked at his words.

Yes, he did enjoy rubbing that fact in whenever he could. It was an entertaining way to rile up the Salvatore brothers and make them skirm.

"It's funny that you are still so convinced she had lost her mind." Mutiple people in this town, refused to acknowledge the fact that his and Buffy's relationship hadn't come out of nowhere. It had been building for months before the evening she stormed into the mansion.

"Well, I know one thing for certain." Damon hissed, not wanting to hear another argument about the summer of sin that just thinking about made him want to scoop out his own brain and wash it in bleach "She will never...never love you."

Buffy was still in love with Stefan, even if she was refusing to acknowledge it.

It was beyond obvious.

If it had been anyone else who had done what Stefan did by forcing Jeremy to kill vampires, she would have killed them on the spot, but with Stefan, she had cried and begged him to remember who he was at his core. Tearfully begged him not to put her in a position where she would end up having to kill him.

Even when Buffy and Stefan were at their worst, there were still feelings there.

They could all see it.

It was gross.

God, he hated it when Buffy and Stefan babbled nervously around each other, it was beyond sickening.


Klaus tensed up at the blunt statement.

His blood boiling as he glared back at Damon who just grinned smugly at him, knowing that he had ticked off the right nerve. 

"And you know it." Damon taunted, enjoying the way Klaus's face was turning a furious red, his knuckles turning white as they tightened around the chair "So enjoy that eternity. Just because you are having a kid together doesn't mean you own her. She is going to fall in love again and you will get to watch. Because maybe you're right, Buffy would kill me, but she can't you."

Buffy would never kill an Original, not only because she liked them, but because of the sire line.

"But we both know, Buffy doesn't forget. She would never let herself love you. So I will die happily knowing you are miserable."

If it wasn't Stefan, it would be someone else. It was inevitable, Buffy would fall in love again, and given her very fertile existence, she could end up having more kids. All while Klaus was stuck watching, replaying all of the reasons that she would never go there with him.

Jenna, Carol, and a million other different reasons.

Sleeping together and falling in love were too very different things.

As he listened intently to Damon's words, Klaus could do nothing but replay that tearful confession she made to him the night she told him what she wanted their daughter's middle name to be. How, the prospect of falling in love with him, of giving into him that way, would make her hate herself for the rest of eternity.


"That tether between you may make you drawn to each other, but it's not a real connection. She knows that and you know Bubbles, not so big on fate controlling her life. This tether just makes her all the more determined not to let you in."


Klaus forced himself to remain silent at the statement.

None of what Damon believed to be true was factual.

That wasn't how the tether worked, it never had been. The tether itself could not affect emotions and even it did, magic couldn't make you love someone. It could make you think you did, but it would never be real.

Yet, if Buffy ever found out that any feelings she had for him had developed organically, it would destroy her. Crushing her with a weight of self-hatred and leaving her constantly questioning everything that had happened between them.

She wasn't ready to learn the truth, Klaus knew that.


"The things I have done, you've done just as bad if not worse to people she cares for." Klaus hissed, quickly swerving the subject.

Damon couldn't help but groan as he continued to toss the small ball at the concrete ceiling, which was more entertaining than having to chat with Klaus.

How Buffy could sleep with Klaus and not him he had no idea.

Honestly, it was a little insulting.

"Debatable. See, I don't mind being the bad guy, because somebody has to fill that role and get things done. You do bad things for no reason. You do them to be a dick."

"Debatable." Klaus retorted.

Ironically, they both did horrible things for the same reasons, their lists of people they cared about were just drastically different.

With one blonde exception.

Damon groaned as his words were thrown back at him before he looked at Klaus seriously "Buffy may be knocked up with your kid. But if you don't have a purpose for being bad. Then you're not worth forgiving. And Buffy will put that kid first. If she thinks you're bad for her...I'll help her get your daughter away from you myself." He hissed out, dead seriously.

Honestly, he had thought about it a lot since finding out Buffy intended to keep Klaus in her daughter's life.

A decision he still couldn't quite understand.

Because he didn't know a thing about Klaus other than the surface level.

He had spent the past few weeks, wondering what would happen if Klaus went full-on evil. While he had been a bit freaked out by the prospect of Buffy having Klaus's kid, and he was not the biggest fan of babies, she was his friend at the end of the day.

Damon had a back-up plan for when Klaus inevitably pushed her too far.

Take Buffy and the baby and run. Find a small town, compel all the townsfolk, and there they would remain, safe as buttons for little Summers to grow up.

Far away from Mikaelsons reach.

**

Abby Bennett was in Mystic Falls.

It had been a complete shock to Jeremy's system when he and Bonnie had arrived at her house only for her vampire mother to be standing in the living room with her father.

Jeremy had promptly been kicked out.

Hence why he was driving out of Mystic Falls toward the demon bar where he knew Buffy's old go-to snitch still was. With Kol in Mystic Falls, lurking in the shadows it seemed like a safer option, plus he so did not want to be locked in a house with Elena anymore. 

It was suffocating.

Also, by going to see Buffy's old snitch, he might be able to not only get some intel on Silas, but he might also be able to take out his itching hunger to start slaughtering vampires on a couple of drunk demons. Killing demons wouldn't push him over the edge, it would be like a short burst to help settle his intense desire to slaughter ever vampire in Mystic Falls.


Just as he started approaching the town sign, his phone rang loudly causing him to sigh in annoyance as he spotted the name.


Xander.


If he was going to try and play mediator again between him and Elena, Jeremy was going to loose his damn mind.

"I'm not coming back unless she agrees to stop trying to get me to murder thousands of people." He stated bluntly, not even giving Xander a second to play Elena's advocate. He had warned Elena that the next time she tried to control him, he was done.

He had been serious.

"Okay, don't be mad."

The panicked tone of Xander's voice had Jeremy tensing up, his fingers tightening around the steering wheel as his stomach turned. He had a very strong feeling that he was about to get really pissed off.

"Elena is speaking to Kol right now, she invited him in."

Jeremy had been right.

He was furious!

"She did what!!!!" He snipped as he quickly turned the steering wheel, the car almost swerving off the road as he turned back toward Mystic Falls.


"I know! I'm an idiot, she convinced me with her pretty face and her soft lips!"

Jeremy shivered in horror at that "Ew." He groaned before slamming down on the accelerator. He was going to kill Elena! Not only was she blatantly ignoring his wishes, but she had just invited Kol into their home!

Was her brain capable of functioning in a way that didn't put them all in danger?!

"Should I call Buffy?"

"My almost 7 months pregnant sister who would do anything to protect me? No, Dammit! Call Stefan and tell him we need the dagger now!" With that, he hung up and started dialing Bonnie's number only to get voicemail.

Elena had just completely screwed them all.

All he could hope right now was that Kol hadn't bought the white oak stake to the house, because if Jeremy walked into Kol attacking Elena, he would lose it.

And if the white oak stake was within reach...he wasn't going to be able to control himself.


"I'm gonna kill Elena."



**

WHITMORE, VIRGINIA

For the first time in weeks, Buffy was walking through campus.

Given that the dance had been cancelled due to flooding thanks to an idiot sophomore clogging the sinks in the communial dorm bathroom the next floor up, the campus was practically a ghost town.

Everyone had taken off for spring break.

It was weird being back here. Once she had started showing, she switched to online full-time; Elena, Bonnie, and Caroline had been picking up and dropping off all of her assignments for months.

Glancing down at her messages from Rebekah, she couldn't help but laugh as she spotted the photo of her posing in the leather outfit right in front of the red balloons that were filling the common room. Clearly, just because the dance was canceled didn't mean that Rebekah was going to let all of the decorations and music go to waste.

Apparently, Stefan was mixing in a bit of the 80s too, trying to teach her how to do the Risky Business slide.


Tucking her phone back into her pocket, Buffy finally walked into the library.

Despite the fact she had never spent a lot of time in here, just moving around the empty library was sending her right back to Sunnydale High.

Spotting the round table in the middle of the room she couldn't help but smile fondly.

With this place empty of all students it was giving her major flashbacks to her first two years in Sunnydale before her mom had died.

Her scooby gang.

"Okay, what's the sitch? You heard about the dead guy right the dead guy in the locker?"

"Yes."

"We're a team! Aren't we a team?"

"You're the Slayer and we're like the Slayerettes."

It had been so simple back then.

It felt like a completely different life now. Like an alternate reality moving in parallel with how her life had actually gone. Those times in the Sunnydale High Library with her small group of trusted friends felt like almost a million years ago now.

But to be fair, it was a whole other life. 

Literally another life.

She had been so different, so young. She had been the Slayer for a little over a year at that point but thought she knew everything.

Shaking away the slight bittersweet memories, Buffy pushed forward to the back office where this old drinking buddy of Giles's should be waiting for her with the intel on this Caleb guy.


The second she pushed open the door, the smell hit her like a freight train.

Blood.

The older man she had been supposed to meet was dead on the ground surrounded by a pool of his own blood.

Very bad sign.

Her spidey sense was starting to go haywire.

 "Oh, now, look."


Buffy jumped, terror rushing down her spine as she spun around, her eyes quickly landing on Caleb who grinned at her.

No good.

"No waterworks? For the man, you got killed? Very selfish if you ask me. Ain't that just like a woman."

**

MYSTIC FALLS, VIRGINIA

Climbing out of his car, Jeremy clocked his gun and stormed up to the house, his body vibrating with rage. He was so done with this, the second he revoked Kol's invitation to the house he was packing his things and moving out.

If he couldn't crash with Bonnie or Matt, he would suck it up and take Klaus up on his offer of protection. At least that way he would be around Buffy and could help with keeping her safe through the rest of her pregnancy.

Pushing open the front door, he raised his gun ready to fire, and sighed in slight relief as he spotted Elena and Xander standing in the hall, the one-eyed human examining his sort-of-girlfriend for any signs of injury.

No Kol in sight.

"I'm sorry." Elena sighed in frustration as she turned to Jeremy "He left. I mean, I tried to stall as long as I could."

Her words cued Jeremy to narrow his gaze, had she just completely forgotten the part where he had told her he didn't want to do this?!

"What the hell were you thinking?!" He snapped, his voice getting louder and more ferocious with every word "I told you I didn't want to do this!"

Elena gulped taking a slight step back "I just-"

Jeremy didn't give her the chance to try and defend herself "For someone who screams about choice, you are a hypocrite! I told you no and you tried to trick me into killing Kol! What the hell is wrong with you!"

He had never been so furious with Elena in his entire life. Not when he found out she had gotten Damon to compel him, not when she had suggested it in Sunnydale, and not when she had again tried to get Damon to compel him last year.

This outmatched every thing she had ever done.

By a longshot.

Compelling him was one thing, but trying to trick him into murdering someone by forcing his hand was a whole nother level of messed up. Elena knew he didn't want to hurt innocent people, she knew he was struggling with his hunter urges, yet she hadn't cared. She had just assumed he would do it and would get over it.

Unable to even look at her any longer, he scoffed and started making his way to the staircase "Do one thing right Elena, and put the forcefield back up. I am revoking Kol's invitation then I am out of here."

He would always love Elena, and he would protect her, but he was done with this.

Done being manipulated and tricked.

He had given her another chance...and she had wasted it.

He was done.


Elena's eyes widened at his words "Out of here? What? Jeremy!"

"NO!" He growled out "I gave you another chance Elena!"

"Guys maybe we should take a beat-" Xander tried only for Jeremy to shoot him a vicious glare.

"Back off, Xander."


The echo of the doorbell ringing cut through the tension like a knife, momentarily putting the screaming and harsh words on pause.


Elena tensed up, her ears starting to ring as screams started rushing through her head in a panicked rush.

DANGER.

DEATH.

PAIN.

"Cover your ears." She whispered to the boys, her entire body tensing up as she continued to stare at the front door.

The voices were getting louder.

Clutching onto his gun tightly, dread started to form in Jeremy's gut as one half of his mind started jumping with excitement. His hunter side urging him to answer the door and kill the person on the other side of the door.


To complete the mark.

Xander gulped as he watched Elena's fingers twitch, her eyes still glued to the front door in a sort of trance. Without hesitation, he reached into Buffy's weapon's case and grabbed one of Alaric's old shotguns "Pretty sure that's not a my friend is here face thing." He whispered as he clocked the gun aiming it right at the door before tossing Jeremy another pair of ear plugs.


Things were about to get loud.

"No...it's a banshee thing." Elena hissed before screaming loudly just as Kol kicked down the door only to collapse in agony on the porch as the sonic scream started bursting his ear drums. 

As Xander rushed to grab Jeremy and started pushing him upstairs, Elena kept her focus on Kol, barely noticing the way her arms started to move on their own.

Just as Kol forced himself onto his feet and yanked down one of the charms from the porch, crushing it with his palm to ensure the circuit of the forcefield couldn't be completed, a sonic wave was directed straight at him from Elena. Sending him flying off the porch and down the street.

Elena gasped, staring down at her hands in shock.

She had never been able to do that before.

It was like she had directed the scream, turning it more into a weapon rather than just a defense mechanism to slow down an enemy.

It was kind of cool.

For the first time since becoming a banshee, she wasn't scared or worried. She had felt powerful, completely intuned with her own body.

Like this was who she was meant to be.

Before she had a chance to process that though, Xander reappeared and slammed the front door shut before grabbing her arm and yanking her up the stairs. While what she had done had been badass, it wouldn't be enough to stop a determined Original for long. 

Now that Kol not only had an invitation into the house but had destroyed their only way of getting the forcefield up, they needed to load up so they didn't get their spines ripped out and have their hearts torn from their chests.

As they started rushing into Jeremy's room where most of the upstairs weapons were now stored, Jeremy loaded up a vervain bomb before glaring over at his sister "Well done Elena!"

"This is my fault?!" She yelled as she quickly moved over to the window, her eyes landing on Kol who was storming back down the street.

Headed right for them.

Jeremy stared at her completely flabbergasted "YES!"

**

WHITMORE, VIRGINIA

"Get out of here." Buffy hissed, her entire body tense as she continued to glare at Caleb, refusing to move her eyes from him for even a second. 

Caleb merely shook his head in disappointment at her harsh tone "Now, now, little girl, manners. I do imagine that firebrand tongue of yours has inflamed many a man weak as they are."

As he took a step toward her, Buffy took one back, already trying to dial Rebekah's number without taking her eyes off Caleb. If she gave him even an inch, she was screwed.

She needed help.

Her back hit the glass windows looking into the silent corridors.

"This here is a public college ain't it?" Caleb asked curiously as he looked around the library soaking it all in "Kind of deserted. Only just, I suppose. Folks work so hard at keepin' the lord out, look what happens in return. He abandons you."

Reaching for the blade she kept tucked into her back pocket for emergencies, Buffy could do nothing but pray that she hit the right keys on her phone.

She could hear the ringing, but Rebekah hadn't answered yet.

"Now that he could do you much good now, anyway." Calbel continued before tutting as he spotted the slight movement of her hand as she presumingly reached for a weapon "Uh-uh-uh. Wouldn't do that, were I you, sweet pea."

Knowing she had been caught, Buffy took in a shaky breath and lowered her arm back to her side not having much of a choice right now. Honestly, she was terrified right now. This man or demon or whatever the hell he was had almost killed her the last time she faced him. He had knocked her down with one hit, been immune to a banshee's wail, and had plunged her best friend's eye out.

"Fighting back didn't do you much good last time did it?" He mocked playfully as he took another taunting step forward, amusement filling his dark eyes as he spotted the way her hand quickly moved protectively in front of her stomach.

As he grinned at her, Buffy clenched her jaw, shivers of darkness rushing down her spine the longer he stared at her. This man radiated insanity and pure evil.

The worst part was that he was taunting her, trying to make her feel small as he reminded her just how easy it would be for him to destroy her.

He was playing her and as much as she hated to admit it, she was falling right for it.

"How is poor, sweet Xander?" Her fists tightened at the teasing lighthearted tone in his voice " Let him know he's in my prayers. And any time he's willing, I'm ready to—" Pausing Caleb made a sputtering noise before smirking "...finish the job."


She wanted to rip his spine out for that.

Buffy clenched her jaw, familiar veins sparking under the skin of her finger tips as image after image of killing Caleb in different painful ways started to consume her every thought "Go near Xander again and I will end you."

She would rip him limb from limb until he was nothing but a quivering mess at her feet for his comment about Xander.

She wanted to plunge out both of his eyes like he did her friend.

At her words, Caleb's smile vanished and he picked up the table between them as if it were nothing and launched it out of his way so he could invade the terrified uber-slayer's personal space "Mind your manners. I do believe I did warn you once. I may need that little bastard of yours but I will not hesitate in ripping the damn thing out of you right here and now." He warned his hand hovering over her stomach for a second before he wrapped one hand around her throat, the other making contact with her stomach causing Buffy to squirm in panic "You see she's a big part of it. We would rather her be grown."

"I don't think she's okay with this." Buffy hissed, letting her rage fuel her as she pushed him away from her and sucker-punched him across the face.

The second he stumbled, Buffy moved to run like hell only to let out a scream as Caleb grabbed her by the back of the throat and without hesitation, launched her out of the window right into the empty hall.

Buffy let out a small painful grunt as her back connected with the concrete wall, leaving a massive dent in the plaster before she hit the ground next. Her head pounded into the floor with such force it left her seeing black spots, struggling to keep her eyes open as darkness tried to consume her.

She couldn't pass out...

She had to stay awake...

Everything was spinning, the darkness swallowing the fluorescent lights in her vision as her strength vanished and her eyes finally fluttered shut.

Caleb walked out of the library and looked down at the pregnant Slayer curiously. Blood was covering her back, and glass was lodged in multiple spots in her body, except for her stomach.

It had been interesting to see glass literally bounce off her stomach, not able to slice through the skin.

The child's magic was indeed powerful.


"I'll be seeing you soon girl."

**

MYSTIC FALLS, VIRGINIA

Threatening to take his daughter from him was a dangerous move for Damon to make.

A stupid fatal move.

"You see Damon..." Klaus warned, his eyes flashing dangerously as he moved to crouch down in front of Damon "Buffy and I have a connection. One that cannot be simplified to what you assume would be a lifetime of wallowing, watching from the sidelines never to get the girl. I am not you." The mocking tone cued Damon to narrow his gaze, visibly shifting at the very accurate dig.

Somehow, with just one sentence, Klaus had turned the tables.

Now Damon was the one with all of his buttons getting pressed, all of those insecurities being clawed open and stamped on.

Grinning at the reaction, Klaus smugly leaned back in his chair "Love comes and goes Damon. Just ask my sister, she quite spectacularly dropped you didn't she?"  

Bringing up Mary was a low blow and it had Damon ready to launch himself at Klaus, which would probably only result in getting his head torn off.

Klaus just laughed at the way Damon's left eye started twitching at the mere mention of Marianna.

The first love always did cut the deepest.

"You do realize that you reminded her of her husband? I mean I quite liked Erik, he was a good man. I never saw how she connected the pair of you." According to Mary, human Damon had been a lot like Erik, it was what she had gotten attached to him back then; Klaus just couldn't see it "But then vampire you really turned her off. Hmm, how sad."

"Shut up."

While Damon wouldn't admit it, what had happened with Mary would always haunt him. She had been his first love, yet the second she had seen him as a vampire, she had turned away, ignoring him for almost two centuries. She had only gotten close to him because he had reminded her of her long-dead husband.

It hurt.

And he hated that it still hurt.

First loves always left the deepest scars on our hearts.

"Buffy came to me when she was resurrected." Klaus continued, his smug grin getting wider second by second "She sought comfort in me, not because of love."

Love being a vampire's greatest weakness still haunted his every thought. The more he fell for Buffy, the more that little voice in the back of Klaus's head screamed that loving her would make him appear weak to his enemies.

"Because of an understanding. We are the only ones of our kind. Alone in the world, except for each other. That is a connection. One not so easily broken as love. Our child will just further connect us. Contrary to what your undeveloped mind seems to think, Buffy has had plenty of chances to run with this child. But she hasn't."

She never would.

"Deep down, Buffy and I are the same. Just a thousand years apart."

 

Luckily for Damon, the monologue that had him simultaneously ready to stake himself and break down was brought to a brief halt by the echo of Klaus's phone ring.

Damon sighed in relief as the hybrid moved to answer the call.

He couldnt take much more of Klaus psychoanalyzing him, while he was chained up and forced to do nothing but listen and get his own mental blocks knocked down with a verbal metaphorical sledgehammer.

Spotting his brother's name on the screen, Klaus frowned in confusion "Well if it isn't the happy homicidal manic."

"Do you know that your darling former blood bag and her brother are trying to kill me? Well, technically speaking she is trying to get her brother to lose control and kill me. Alas, you see my fury."

"What?" Klaus hissed.


"Don't pretend you're not in on it. Your obsession to find the cure clearly trumps any sibling loyalty you once felt."

Not at all true.

At the end of the day, despite how he treated them and how many times he daggered his siblings, Klaus loved his family.

Always and forever.

"I don't know what you are talking about." Klaus repeated, desperately trying to make his brother understand that he had no idea what the Gilbert siblings had planned.

He would not plot to murder his own flesh and blood siblings.

Never.

Kol clearly didn't buy a word of it "As a favor to Buffy, I'm just going to rip off Jeremy's arm though I will be killing Elena for sport. But then brother...then I'm coming for you."

The line went dead.


Kol had hung up, leaving his promise and threats hanging in the air.


Slowly, Klaus's body started to vibrate, utter rage and fury vibrating off his skin as his eyes glowed a bright vibrant yellow. In less than a second, the furious hybrid had Damon up against the wall by the throat "What the hell is going on?!" 

Damon grunted as Klaus continued to hold onto his throat, cutting off his air supply "I don't know." He coughed out, his voice coming out sounding like more of a dying cat than anything else.

Klaus didn't believe him.

"What is Elena planning?" He roared.

"I don't know!" Damon repeated before having to point out the obvious to the hybrid "I've been stuck in the penalty box with you since yesterday. Stefan is Team Buffy, Jeremy, and Kol when it comes to the apocalypse so won't talk to me. And Elena? Not exactly my biggest fan!"

**

"Anything?" Elena breathed as she rushed after Xander and Jeremy who were now rushing into Buffy's old room, panic rushing through her.

They needed Bonnie.

Why the hell wasn't she answering?

"Her phone is going straight to voicemail." Xander whispered while Jeremy ripped open Buffy's little couch by the window seal revealing even more weapons.

"That's my Buffster." Xander breathed, however, suddenly his eye widened, dread filling him as he heard the emergency booby trap vervain bomb go off downstairs, followed by Kol's loud scream.

Kol was officially back in the house.

They were screwed!

"We got 15 seconds let's move!" Xander ordered, some of his old military knowledge slipping in through the cracks "Load up." He told the siblings before he ran out of the room coming to a stop at the top of the stairs.

Without hesitation, the human who had fought the supernatural for most of his life now fired a round right into Kol's chest sending the vampire crashing to the floor.

Not willing to give Kol even a second, Xander pulled out the final vervain bomb from his back pocket and launched it right at Kol's feet.

As it exploded spraying Kol in even more vervain, Xander took the opportunity to bolt back to Buffy's room where Jeremy and Elena were now both loaded up with weapons.


"He has the white oak stake." Elena told Jeremy as she loaded her gun "We need to get it off him."

"I'm not killing him." Jeremy gritted out as his hands continued to shake around his weapons. Just mentioning that the stake was within reaching distance had his control on the verge of snapping. 

NO!

He was not wiping out an entire sire line.

NO!

"Jeremy he is going to kill us!" Elena argued just as Kol's boots started stumping up the stairs, getting louder and louder the closer he got to them.

"You're the one that invited him in!" Jeremy snapped "Stefan is getting a dagger. I am not doing this so shut up."

They were in this predicament because Elena had decided to ignore everyone, declaring that she knew best and it might be about to get them all fucking killed!

He just needed to knock Kol out, that was all he needed to do. He could knock Kol out and bolt before he even caught sight of the white oak stake. The second he did it was over and the sire line was dead...or he, Elena, and Xander were all dead.


As Kol kicked through the door Jeremy fired a stake through the air only for Kol to catch it with ease, a small smirk grazing his lips "Missed."

Elena fired next and once again Kol managed to catch the stake with his other hand allowing Xander to fire a shot straight into his chest before reloading again "Go!" He screamed at Elena and Jeremy as he continued to fire round after round into Kol's chest. 

He felt so much like Sarah Connor right now.

Well, maybe more Kyle Reece but that level of badass.

"Xander!"

"Elena go!" Xander yelled, not leaving any room for argument as he fired another shot into Kol's chest while Jeremy dragged Elena away forcing her out of the room despite her trying to get to the man she loved.

They did not have time to argue if they wanted to live!

As he fired again, Xander couldn't help the wave of deja-bu. This felt so much like being in Sunnydale right now, it was starting to feel like he hadn't even left California with all the supernatural hijinks he was dealing with.

 "Suck it douche vamp!" He yelled only to immediately let out a scream as Kol ripped one of the wooden stakes he had been shot with launching it right at Xander's leg.

Instantly, the gun fell from his hands, and Xander hit the ground, blood pouring down his leg at a rapid pace. That wasn't what had him panicked though...

Kol was gone.

This guy was fast, no doubt about it.

**

"Guys! He's coming!"

Xander's voice boomed through the house, cueing Elena and Jeremy to panic as they rushed down into the basement where the main bulk of their weapons were.

"Jeremy!" Elena yelled as she tossed her brother another gun while she grabbed more arrows for her crossbow.

Reloading, Jeremy clenched his jaw tightly as he focused on his sister "We knock him out. End of story."

All they had to do was stab Kol in the heart with a regular stake to knock him out and it would buy time for Stefan to final show or at least for Bonnie to show and trap Kol in the house until they could figure out what to do next.

"We need to break Damon's compulsion, he is still compelled to kill you."

"Screw Damon." Jeremy snarled "He can rot for all I care."

He had never been a Damon fan and that was not going to change anytime soon. Plus, Damon was a vampire! He wasn't going to grow old in that cell, a few decades in the cellar would barely faze him.

Without sparing Elena another word, Jeremy slowly started making his way up the stairs only for his eyes to widen as Kol appeared at the top of the staircase. Without hesitation, Kol backhanded him across the face and grabbed him by the throat before launching him into the living room.


An arrow hit him in the chest.

Staring down at the bolt in his chest, Kol rolled his eyes as he yanked it out of his flesh before narrowing his gaze at Elena. Twirling the bolt between his fingertips he smirked slightly as his red eyes flickered in and out.

He was going to enjoy this.

Before Elena could even blink, he was in front of her stabbing the arrow right into her stomach, twisting it violently as she screamed in agony. Shoving her down the remaining stairs, Kol licked the blood from his fingers watching as her body rolled down the steps before she hit the basement floor, whimpering as she lay in a puddle of her own blood.

Knowing she wouldn't be moving anytime soon, he walked back out of the basement purposely barricading the door. He would handle the arm then go back to his plan to rip Elena to shreds. He wanted her to sit with the terror that she was going to die for a few minutes. It would make the fear in her eyes as he finally ended her miserable existence all the more amusing.

Pushing the bookcase in front of the door, Kol clapped his hands together and focused back on Jeremy "Now...about that arm."

**

WHITMORE, VIRGINIA

"Go ahead. Take it." Rebekah finally relented she forced herself to hand over the dagger so that Klaus could dagger Kol. Stefan's speech about the apocalypse and his own desire for the cure had unfortunately gotten to her.

Damn him!

For a moment, Stefan could do nothing but stare down at the dagger in shock. She had just handed him the one thing other than the white oak stake that could kill her.

It was a massive sign of trust.

She was trusting him to keep his word, to keep his promise that even if they can't get The Cure now, they would find a way one day. 

This whole breaking into the college and taking advantage of the canceled dance which was still all step up, had paid off. 

"You're right." She told him "I do care. I want stupid Koala corsages and a prom. I want to have kids with someone who loves me enough to stand outside my window with a stupid boombox. Why do you think I care so much about Buffy and this baby? Cause Buffy is having a baby and while yes it's not perfect, that little girl is my niece. And I would love to give my niece cousins and friends to play with as she grows up. I want to be human. But I can't have that if the world ends."

Kol had been right, but while Rebekah was willing to take things slow, she wasn't willing to let him completely strip away the chance by killing The Hunter.

The echo of her phone ringing cued Rebekah's eyes to widen and quickly speed over to where she had left it.

Buffy was calling her.

"B?"

 "Mind your manners. I do believe I did warn you once. I may need that little bastard of yours but I will not hesitate in ripping the damn thing out of you right here and now. You see she's a big part of it. We would rather her be grown."

Rebekah's blood ran cold at the familiar voice.

No, no, no, no!

Caleb.

"I don't think she's okay with this." 

There was a loud scuffle followed by a scream and glass shattering in the background. Glancing over at Stefan who looked ready to scream much like herself the two bolted out of the common room.

 "Where was she meeting this guy?!" Stefan breathed in panic as he and Rebekah rushed down the halls, desperate to try and get to Buffy.

"The library." 

Turning the next corner, Rebekah came to an abrupt halt her eyes widening with horror as she spotted the unconscious figure laying on the floor just outside of the library.

Covered in blood and glass was Buffy.

"Oh my god." 

"Buffy!" Stefan exclaimed as he rushed over, quickly pulling her out of the pool of glass and blood as he started tapping her cheek with his hand softly, trying to wake her. 


Light slowly flickered in and out followed by an overwhelming wave of pure pain, everything hurt and there was a sharp stabbing sensation pushing into her spine "There's glass..." Buffy whimpered her voice wavering weakly "In my back...I can't...reach..."

Rebekah quickly kneeled down beside Buffy, wincing as she spotted the large piece of glass digging right into her spine. Carefully wrapping her fingers around the 10-inch shard she flinched as Buffy let out a small scream, latching onto Stefan's arm.

Tossing the blood-soaked shard away, Rebekah quickly placed her hands on Buffy's stomach, focusing on the baby's heartbeat.


Miraculously, Buffy's stomach was the only spot left unharmed by the thousands of shards of glass that had left the majority of her body covered in blood and still slowly healing cuts.

"Is she okay?" Buffy whispered as Stefan helped sit her up slightly so that she was leaning against him. She could barely keep her eyes open and everything hurt like hell. Since she had turned she had never felt this weak. But Caleb's power, his strength, took it out of her and being pregnant made it harder to take a hit.

The sooner she had this baby the better.

All of the magic inside of her messing with her powers was putting her in a very dangerous position.

"She's okay. Strong like her mother." Rebekah promised squeezing Buffy's hand reassuringly before turning to Stefan "Let's get her home."

Without hesitation, Stefan hooked his arm under Buffy's legs lifting her weak form into his arms. As her head drooped to the side collapsing against his chest, her eyes too heavy to remain open any longer he couldn't help but squeeze her tightly.

His arms automatically wrapped around her protectively.

Every time he witnessed Buffy hurt, it sent him right back to the one time where she hadn't gotten back up.

Something he never wanted to witness again.

It was safe to say, he still held some PTSD from Sunnydale, from having her un-beating heart ringing in his ears when she hit the ground next to him, her body cold and empty.

He didn't care what he had to do, that was never happening again.

He would never have to hold Buffy's dead body in his arms, he wouldn't let it happen.

Never.

But alas, Stefan couldn't control everything.

Sooner rather than later, he would find himself in that exact same position.


Holding Buffy Summers's dead body in his arms.

**

MYSTIC FALLS, VIRGINIA

Xander groaned as he yanked the broken piece of wood out of his leg, quickly closing his eyes as he started wrapping up.

Do not look at the blood.

NOPE.

If he looked at the amount of blood he might end up passing out.

Typing his belt around his leg as tightly as he could to try and slow the bleeding, Xander gritted his teeth and finally forced himself up. Limping forward, he grabbed his gun and tried to focus on how cool he probably looked rather than the throbbing in his leg or how sticky the blood was.

He had to be Kyle Reece.

Kyle Reece would keep going to get to his Sarah Connor.

Though, he was for sure going to cry like a baby the minute this was all over. And he so needed to get someone here to document how badass he was being because there was no way anyone in Sunnydale was ever going to believe him.


Running down the stairs, or more accurately stumbling down the stairs, Xander rushed around the corner only for his eyes to widen in horror.

Jeremy was laid out on the dining room table, his left arm pinned up, which Kol was about to cut off with a butcher's blade.

SHIT!!

Firing the gun, the wooden state went right into Kol's hand cueing the vampire to drop the blade.

"Bloody hell." Kol grumbled in annoyance "As you can see, I am in the middle of something here."

Xander fired again.

"Xander stop!" Jeremy snapped just as another shot was fired cueing Kol to narrow his gaze and start storming toward the one-eyed human ready to rip his head off. Jeremy let out a curse quickly yanking at the straps around his wrist.


Dammit!


Before Jeremy could even utter a word though, all of the windows in the house exploded...for the fourth time this month.

A loud scream echoed through the house, causing all three men to quickly cover their ears just as the bookcase pressed up against the door to the basement went flying across the room.

The door slammed open and outstepped a blood-soaked Elena, with Buffy's old flame thrower in her blood-drenched hands.

Hands that would soon be dripping with the blood of thousands.

"Get down!" She screamed at Xander who quickly ducked allowing Elena to light up Kol. The second Kol started screaming and stumbling back into the kitchen Xander stood up, rapidly firing into his chest again and again until Kol collapsed back against the sink.


Jeremy finally yanked the last strap free from his wrist.


"Shoot the tap!" Elena told Xander.

Without hesitation, Xander nodded and using his eye aimed only to let out a grunt as to his surprise and shock he was tackled to the ground.


By Jeremy.


As Kol started tapping down the flames, his skin healing, Jeremy pinned Xander down "Enough!"

Xander just stared up at him in shock, why was he the one getting body slammed by a linebacker? "He was trying to cut off your arm!"

"I know! I was the one that told him which one to cut!"

Before Xander could even process that, his eye widened in horror and pure panic as he spotted where Kol's furious murderous intent had just landed. He was focused on the girl that had straight-up plotted his murder.

Elena.

Despite the fact he had repeatedly told Elena that he wouldn't be killing Jeremy, just simply removing his arm to ensure the idiots of this town didn't keep trying to push for The Cure, she was actively trying to get her brother to kill him. Spotting her about to use that annoying banshee wail again, Kol promptly wrapped a hand around her throat and yanked her off her feet.

Draining the life out of her with each second as his grip grew harsher.


Jeremy's blood ran cold "KOL, STOP!"


"Given this one is determined to end the world, I think not. Deals off mate." By agreeing to not fight back and let Kol cut his arm off, in exchange Jeremy had begged for Elena and Xander to be spared.

It was kind of sad.

Even after everything, Elena Gilbert had done, her siblings no matter how rightfully angry, still tried to keep her safe. Putting their own lives and limbs on the line to clean up the mess she left in her wake.


Elena clawed violently at the hand in her throat before her eyes widened as she spotted it again. The White Oak Stake had fallen from his jacket and was now on the floor of the kitchen, surrounded by the glass shards of the now broken windows.

"Jeremy please-" She gasped out.


Jeremy's entire body was shaking in panic: he couldn't move, he couldn't breathe as he watched Kol prepare to finally end his sister's life. He had to do something, he couldn't just let Elena die, no, he couldn't let his sister die.

No matter how much her actions made him furious and want nothing to do with her...

She was still his big sister.

Spotting Xander toss him something, Jeremy quickly caught it fully intent on knocking Kol out so he could save Elena only to tense up.

It wasn't just any stake Xander had tossed him...it was the White Oak Stake.

Immediately, his body latched tightly onto the weapon, his hunter instinct going into overdrive, screaming in the back of his head that it was his duty to end all the vampires.

To rid the earth of these beasts.

NO!

He was in control. He was in control.

Elena or thousands of people?

Vampires.

He was in control.


Before he could even blink or process what was happening...it was too late.

His natural instincts had completely taken over, it felt like he hadn't even been the one moving. Like he was trapped on the sidelines forced to watch as the one thing he didn't want to do...he finally did.

His control had completely vanished for a brief second, it almost felt like he blacked out as his subconscious instinct to kill vampires took over.

The second he drove the stake into Kol's back, Jeremy's eyes widened in horror stumbling back as he was forced to watch the nightmare come to life.


Kol screamed in agony as the white oak stake pierced his heart.

In an instant, he dropped Elena who coughed violently leaning into Xander as he crawled over to her, just as Kol's body went up into flames and he hit the ground.

Kol Mikaelson was dead.


Kol's horrific screams were haunting Jeremy's mind, it was all he could hear. He couldn't hear his sister or Xander trying to speak to him, he couldn't hear anything but the screaming.

The screams that signaled not only had he just killed Kol...but he had just activated the shutdown of an entire sire line. He had just signed the death sentence of thousands possibly tens of thousands of people.

Jeremy couldn't breathe.

Collapsing to his knees as the stake clattered to the ground, completely forgotten, he could do nothing but stare at Kol's burnt corpse.

What the hell did he just do?


"No, no, no...I didn't mean to..." He stuttered as thousands of faces flashed before his eyes, his mind picturing all of the people he had just slaughtered. The second he had caught the stake, he had lost control...for one second, but one second was all it had taken.

One second and he had just murdered thousands of people.

"I didn't mean it."

They would be dropping dead, one by one all across the world.

"I--I didn't want this...I couldn't--"

Their loved ones would be forced to watch in horror and confusion as the person they cared for collapsed and died without warning.


"What did I do? All of the people-- What did I do?"

With Jeremy completely catatonic rocking back and forth and mumbling to himself, Elena and Xander could nothing but watch on. They had tried to get his attention yet he had still yet to look away from Kol's body.

The creak of wood on the porch finally drew their attention away from the still muttering, guilt-ridden Jeremy.

The couple froze.


There on the porch having just witnessed his baby brother's murder, trapped behind the threshold unable to do a thing...was Klaus.


Water brimmed Klaus's eyes as he stared down at his brother's body before slowly he forced himself to focus on Elena's face, his eyes flashing dangerously "What did you do?" He hissed, fury dripping from his voice as all of the horrible ways he was going to rip them all apart started flashing through his mind.

His brother was dead!

His brother had died in front of him and now all he wanted was to tear them all limb from limb until they were screaming and filled with so much terror and agony that they begged for the sweet relief of death.

He was going to slaughter them all.


Instantly, Elena's face paled and she couldn't help but gulp as she latched onto Xander, both of them moving in front of Jeremy who still hadn't glanced up from Kol's body.

It was like he was frozen, trapped in his own mind unable to do anything.

Just like Buffy had been trapped in her own mind after the stress of Glory had finally been too overpowering for her.

Jeremy Gilbert had broken down.


Given that Klaus looked ready to tear all of them apart, Elena quickly tried to think of how to make sure they all survived "We didn't have a choice." She lied, she had to think of something because from that look in Klaus's eyes...it was clear they didn't have long  "He was trying to cut off Jeremy's arm!"

With tears dripping down his cheek, Klaus couldn't help but scoff in disgust.

He had heard everything.

He knew exactly how things had gone down.

"Lies." He growled "He never would've gotten inside if you hadn't set a trap for him."

"You said you were gonna put him down too!" Elena exclaimed.

"I was gonna make him suffer on my terms!" Klaus screamed at the top of his lungs as more tears spilled down his cheek before he let out a heavy sigh. He was done arguing with Elena Gilbert, done listening to her try and defend the fact that his little brother's dead body was currently on her kitchen floor.

 "Buffy will not be pleased. But...alas I'm going to burn this house to the ground, and then when you try to flee for your lives I'll kill you all without blinking."

Given that Jeremy had still yet to move a muscle, Xander pulled Elena behind him, using his body as a shield as he stared back at the hybrid, his body shaking with terror he was trying desperately to ignore "You kill us, you'll never get to The Cure. All that hybrid cannon fodder to protect your kid will be lost."

That was clearly not the argument to make.

If anything, Xander's words just seemed to piss Klaus off more.

Not good.

For a moment, Klaus could do nothing but stare at the humans flabbergasted.

Just how stupid were these people?

They had just murdered his brother!

They didn't get to demand anything let alone try and convince him to let them live!
 
"You really think I care for an instant about my bloody hybrids? I want the cure so I can destroy it. I don't need you. I keep you all around to tolerate the mother of my child." If it hadn't been for Buffy, he would have killed them all years ago "But burning your house down...I can make look like an accident."

Suddenly in the midst of his threats, Klaus dropped to his knees screaming out in agony, as the most unbearable pain he had ever felt spread through every nerve in his body. It felt like all of his bones were crushing in on one another again and again.


A furious Bonnie Bennett stormed into the house, glaring heavily at Elena "Invite him in." She snapped, her hands shaking violently at her sides.

Spotting Elena hesitate, Bonnie narrowed her gaze "Elena fucking do it!"

Flinching back, Elena let out a shaky breath before focusing on the still-wailing Klaus "Come in."

The second the invitation was granted, Klaus collapsed forward, trying to launch himself at Elena, but Bonnie's magic was too strong. She was controlling every movement he made like he was nothing more than a puppet on strings.

Strings she currently controlled.

"Living room. Go!" Bonnie snapped as she led them through the living room, the three of them heading into the kitchen only for Klaus to slam into an invisible barrier as he tried to follow.

Elena lets out a small breath, he was trapped in their living room.

He couldn't escape.

"Witch you can't do this to me." Klaus hissed as he slammed his fist against the barrier keeping him from seeking his vengeance.

Bonnie flinched slightly as she allowed her eyes to drift to the distraught Jeremy and the body on the floor.

This never should have happened.

"This shouldn't have happened..." Bonnie whispered as she finally focused back on Klaus, holding his furious gaze with one of her own "But I can't let you kill my friends."

The fact that she was protecting the people who had just slaughtered his brother had Klaus ready to rip her throat out and strangle her with her own vocal cords.

"We had a deal!"

"One I have kept!" Bonnie yelled back before letting out a frustrated huff. This whole plan had completely screwed them all.

Elena's plan had ruined everything!

"I told you I would do anything to protect Buffy and that baby. I protect the people I love!" Even if she was fucking furious with Elena right now and heartbroken for Jeremy, it didn't change the fact that at her core, she would love and protect her friends no matter the cost to herself.

It was a trait she shared with Buffy.

"I will keep Buffy and your daughter safe! Even if it means keeping them the hell away from you while you slaughter everything in sight! You have no idea what I can do."

That one promise had Klaus once again banging at the barrier.

His rage grew more intense by the second.

He was going to tear them apart!

"You threaten to take my child from me!" Klaus screamed in her face, wishing so much that he could grab her and rip her throat out where she stood right in front of her friends.

For protecting these people, he wanted her to suffer.

For threatening to take his child, he wanted to burn her to a crisp.

"I don't threaten." Bonnie hissed glaring up at him "I promise. If you kill them, she will never forgive you and you know it! She will run and I will help her! You will never see Buffy or that baby girl again!"

With that, Bonnie turned her back on him and moved over to Jeremy wrapping an arm around him, letting him lean into her as she led his still-frozen form out of the house, Xander and Elena limping after them.


Klaus screamed as he watched them all go, leaving him alone trapped in the house with his brother's dead body staring back at him, the smell of his burnt flesh sending him into a rageful fit.

 

"I will hunt you all to the end of the earth do you hear me!"

**

Kol Mikaelson was dead.

Another sire line had just been wiped out leaving thousands of people around the globe dead.

A quarter of the vampire species had just been eradicated from the earth. 

And according to Willow, the number was still growing. There was now a massive void of supernatural energy in the world and most of the witches who were intuned with nature had felt the shift.

9,000 people were dead and that was just in the US. The final number of just how many people had died because of Elena's decision to trick Jeremy into killing Kol had still not been declared. It just kept growing and growing, every second another person dropped dead out of nowhere.


Perched on her bed, Buffy couldn't help but sputter as she glanced over at Stefan who was sitting in the chair across from the bed, his head buried in his hands.

When he had gotten the call, everything had gone to hell.

Buffy had started calling Willow and Rebekah was in the midst of a complete breakdown. Not that either of them could blame her, they both had brothers, just the idea of finding out your brother had been murdered in cold blood was the most terrifying thing imaginable.

"They killed Kol. Bonnie and I...we told her no but she invited him in and then-" Stefan couldn't even finish the sentence, that number that Willow had given him kept spinning through his mind on a loop.


9,000 people had just dropped dead.


"I don't believe you." Rebekah cried, tears streaming down her face as she finally stopped pacing and focused back on him "Kol is not dead. He can't be."

Her brother was not dead!

It wasn't possible.

"Listen, Rebekah. They didn't have a choice." Stefan truly wanted to believe that Elena hadn't tricked Jeremy into snapping.

There was no way she would have actually manipulated her baby brother into committing mass murder. 

Right?

"Rebekah gave you the dagger!" Buffy screamed at the top of her lungs. She was not going to sit here and listen to someone try and pretend that Elena hadn't majorly fucked up.

That she hadn't planned everything and tricked Jeremy.

No chance in hell.

Actions had consequences!

"My brother is catatonic because she tricked him!" She screamed as she struggled up to her feet "She does not get to play innocent princess here! She orchestrated the death of a quarter of a species. Do not defend her in front of the sister of the guy she just killed!"

Jeremy wasn't completely innocent here either, neither was anyone who knew Elena had been considering this plan. It had been proven time and time again, that once Elena convinced herself that her way was the only way, her brain became too thick to understand reason.

They should have brought it up!

They should have told her so she could stop Elena or hell they should have knocked Elena unconscious and locked her up in the cellar with Damon.

Inhaling tightly, Buffy focused over on Rebekah, tears filling her eyes as she spotted the utter devastation on her friend's face.

"You should go." She whispered to Stefan.

Right now, if Stefan said the wrong thing or tried to defend Kol's murder, Rebekah would kill him.

And, Buffy wouldn't stop her.

"Buffy-"

She didn't let him finish "Her brother is dead. She has lost two brothers in the space of a year. She needs to mourn, what she doesn't need is people defending Elena's choice."

Buffy had officially made her choice.

Mikaelson or Gilbert?


MIKAELSON.

Stefan sighed before glancing at Rebekah once more "I'm sorry." He whispered before leaving the room.

The second the door shut behind him, a loud sob escaped Rebekah's chest and she crumbled to her knees, clutching onto Buffy tightly as she mourned the death of another brother.

**

29,653.

The final figure had finally come through from Willow and Buffy had promptly thrown up at the sight of it.

Almost 30,000 people were now dead.

While yes, they were vampires, it didn't change the fact that they knew nothing about these people. Some could have been turned as recently as yesterday, they could be teenagers turned against their will, or they could be vampires like Lexi who had never done anything to anyone.

Yes, maybe some were on a bad scale but they had no way of knowing!


Once she had tucked Rebekah into bed, Buffy finally allowed the disgust and rage to bubble over.


Kicking open the door to the boarding house, Buffy's narrowed gaze zeroed in on Elena. Given that Jeremy was crouched down by the fireplace, just staring into the flames as Bonnie tried to get him to even utter a word, it just made Buffy's anger skyrocket.

Elena had done this.

She had destroyed Jeremy's control and was just standing there placing waiting for his tattoo to grow.


Buffy wanted to kill her.

Ignoring the now-free Damon as he approached her, Buffy shoved him out of her way, and before anyone could blink she had Elena pinned up against the wall, her forearm pressing into the banshee's throat.

Crushing her larynx.

Elena cried out in pain, her eyes widening in panic as she clawed desperately at the grip "Buffy! Stop! Get off me!"

Damon and Stefan quickly yanked Buffy back only to both be sent flying across the room as she tossed them aside without care.


Spotting Caroline move to say something, Bonnie shook her head "Don't. Let it happen." While she would stop Buffy from murdering her own sister in a rageful fit, something she knew would leave Buffy hating herself for eternity, it didn't change the fact that this blowout had been building for a long time.

Kol had just been the final shove Buffy needed to final crack.

Buffy needed this.

She needed to get it all out.


Elena sputtered as she rubbed her throat before staring at Buffy in horror "What the hell is your problem?"

"You!" Buffy screamed as everything around her faded away. Everyone else in the room who was unable to do anything but watch faded from existence.

It was just Buffy and Elena.

A massive land in the sand between drawn between them.

"You are a hypocrite!"

Elena clenched her jaw tightly before letting out a small scoff "Don't let the fact that you are having a kid with Klaus mess with your head Buffy-"

Everyone gasped as Elena hit the floor with a thud.

Buffy had punched her in the face.

Ignoring Xander who was now struggling against Caroline, desperate to get in between the two girls, Buffy glared down at Elena in utter revulsion. Just looking at her made her feel sick to her stomach "You just committed genocide, Elena!"

Somehow, Elena Gilbert now had a higher kill count than anyone in this room.

Hell, she had a higher kill count than every Original!

Whimpering as she wiped the blood from her broken nose, Elena could do nothing but stare up at Buffy with wide horrified eyes.

Buffy had hit her.

At one point Buffy would have done anything for her, she had literally sacrificed her memories, her mind, her life, and her soul, yet the divide between them was growing tenfold.

Forcing up to her feet, Elena started shaking her head, refusing to acknowledge the truth in Buffy's words "This is different."

Buffy scoffed "It always is when it's you right?" She snipped, her eyes narrowing dangerously.

Elena didn't just get to pretend that she was a good person after this. She had known that an entire sire line would be wiped out and she hadn't cared! Yet, if it had been one of them suggesting this, she would have dived into some lecture about how many people would die.

Because Elena thought she was better than them!

Her morals were adjustable; her rules about humanity and death never applied to her own decisions.

Buffy was done with it.

After today...after she kept her promise to Kol to make sure Silas didn't rise...she fully intended never to see Elena again.

People may say that love had no limits, that the love she and Elena held for each other was unbreakable...but Buffy had reached her limit.

"Well, newsflash Elena not everything is about you!"

Elena visibly flinched at the harshness in Buffy's voice. Was this really what Buffy actually thought of her? All of the things that she had been keeping buried for years?

"I know that!"

Buffy seriously doubted that "You know...I have dedicated my life to keeping you safe."

"I didn't ask for that."

Oh, Buffy wanted to punch her again.

She really wanted to punch Elena again.

Letting out a harsh laugh, Buffy shook her head in amusement, it was like Elena couldn't see how her actions affected other people. She was just living in some bubble where everything worked out.

But, things worked out because everyone else did the work to clean up her mess!

She could live in that bubble because Buffy and Bonnie put themselves through hell so Elena could have options, could have choices, and could have some semblance of happiness in her life.

They weren't teenagers anymore and Elena had been around the supernatural world long enough that she should know better.

"Really?!" She challenged as she took a step closer to Elena, her eyes drilling into Elena's "All the times you screwed up and expected me to clean up your mess. Get kidnapped and leave me and Bonnie saving your ass? I have sacrificed so much for you! I gave up my memories for you! I died for you! I took your shit and your judgment, I taught you how to fight and I stayed in this hell of a town because of you."

Furious tears were streaming down Buffy's face but she didn't notice, nor did she care. She wanted Elena to see just how much years of her bullshit had broken her. 

Sure enough, Elena chose to focus on only one part of her heartfelt statement "Mystic Falls is your home."

Buffy let out a scream, talking to Elena was so infuriating, whenever you tried to point out something that she had done wrong, she either ignored it, pretending not to hear it, or just completely turned into a brick wall.

Blocking out all negativity.

It was pissing Buffy off.

"Mystic Falls is not my home! I hate this town! Yet every time I think about leaving you butt in." Wiping at her tears, Buffy took in a shaky breath before stepping back and shrugging her shoulders in exhaustion "You just made everything crystal clear for me. This..." She waved her hand between them "It's not worth it. I'm done."


Whatever sisterhood they did have, Buffy didn't feel it anymore.

It was gone. 

As far as Buffy was concerned, the sister she had loved...died the same day she did on that tower.


The completely defeated look and absolute exhaustion on Buffy's face, caused panic to start spreading through Elena's veins "What?" She whispered, water brimming her eyes as she stared back at Buffy.


Ignoring Elena, Buffy turned her back on her cousin, glaring up at the ceiling as the reality of what would soon happen started to weigh down on her. Mary, Elijah, Rebekah, and Klaus were going to tear Elena apart...and for the first time, Buffy had no intention of putting her whole life at risk to save Elena.

Elena had made her bed, she had to lie in it.


Even if it meant spending the rest of her life on the run, like Katherine.


"They are going to come for you..." If Elena thought she could hide behind her, she was dead wrong "You killed two of their brothers."

"It's not the same, you can keep us safe...Klaus won't-"

If Elena thought she knew a damn thing about Klaus and what he was willing to do she was an idiot.

Letting out a small laugh, Buffy finally glanced back at her, Elena still wasn't registering the fact that she had killed someone's brother. If someone killed Jeremy, Buffy would tear everything apart no matter how much someone she cared for begged her to spare the killer.

"You murdered Klaus's baby brother." She stated bluntly before snorting "I get you don't think you did anything wrong, but a little reality check Elena." Clapping her hands together, Buffy focused on Caroline first who was now staring at her in confusion.

Everyone was confused.

What was Buffy doing now?

"Caroline, how many people have you killed?"

Gulping nervously under the intensity and slight madness in Buffy's eyes, Caroline rubbed the back of her neck before forcing herself to answer the question "Two." She whispered, guilt and shame evident in her voice.

"Damon?"

Given he quite enjoyed it when Buffy and Elena fought, Damon just shrugged and raised his glass of bourbon to his lips "Lost count after 900."

"Stefan?"

Stefan shifted awkwardly, promptly staring down at his feet "More than that."

Finally, Buffy turned back to the now very confused Elena, who was trying to figure out what point she trying to get at her. A point Buffy was about to make crystal clear "I know for a fact Rebekah has only ever killed around 1000 people. Less than both of them."

If Elena tried to use the one of us excuse, Buffy was going to tear apart her argument with math!

It made her feel icky, but Willow had told her statistics couldn't be argued with, you couldn't pretend they weren't there.


As expected, Elena glanced over at Stefan and Damon in horror before focusing back on Buffy, her mind too focused on all of the pain that followed every time a Mikaelson had gotten involved in their lives.

"She is a Mikaelson."

Buffy rolled her eyes "I wasn't finished. So shut up or I'll make you."

"You wouldn't."

The certaintly in Elena's voice cued Buffy to get into her face, her eyes flashing between green and black "Yeah, I would." She hissed without a sliver of hesitation or doubt "Because right now, you have the biggest kill count in this town."

That certaintly got Elena's attention.

But, Buffy was not going to let her even try and pretend that it didn't count, that it was different. It wasn't. Elena had organized mass murder.

End of story.

"You are the only person directly involved in two Originals' deaths. When you wipe out a sire line there is a surge of power. Willow sent me the number. Do you wanna know how many people you killed? How many people are now grieving because of you."

Water started to appear in Elena's eyes and she frantically started shaking her head, she didn't want to hear this "Stop."

"The number is big Lena wow, actually almost double Klaus's speculated number." Buffy mocked with a cheerful peppy tone like she was some over-excited cheerleader ready to burst into song "I guess by your logic, I should kill you now."

As tears started to fall down Elena's cheeks, the reality of what she had done slowly starting to settle in she let out a shaky breath.

The voices were back.

Screams of endless death followed by thousands of faces crying over their now-dead loved ones.

Clutching her head, Elena collapsed to her knees, desperately trying to sway the images away, to get the scream to quiet down.

So much death.

So much pain.


Not willing to let Elena's tears affect her, given that every time she did, it didn't make a damn difference, Buffy purposely pointed over to where Jeremy was still staring into the fire. His hands shaking violently, hands that were now drenched in blood.

Because of Elena.

"You feel so great about, look at Jeremy right now."

Elena couldn't.  

Instead, she focused on Buffy, glaring up at her through her tears "Shut up. Just stop trying to make me feel bad about it! Kol was a Mikaelson he hurt so many people. He would have killed us all."

"Because you led him to his slaughter!" Buffy growled "Kol was trying to stop your idiot brain from waking Silas! You decided he had to die because it was convenient for you!"

Taking in a deep breath, Buffy tried to calm her rage for a moment so she didn't completely lose it and rip Elena's head off. Something she was about five seconds away from doing right now.

"Give me the white oak stake." She ordered as she yanked Elena off the floor, forcing her to stand on her feet.

Elena did not get to have a pity party right now.

Instantly, Elena shoved Buffy's hand off her before narrowing her eyes. If Klaus told his siblings and they came for her, she needed the stake to protect herself. There was no way in hell she was handing over. It was literally her only bargaining tool right now.

"No."

Buffy slammed her up against the wall by the throat, she wasn't asking, she was not giving Elena a choice here. One way or another she was getting that stake away from her.

No more Originals were dying!

"You give it to me or... I kill you."

"You couldn't."

Right now, Buffy most definitely kill Elena.

Didn't want to and couldn't were two very different things "Maybe, but I could announce to the world just who is responsible for the death of Kol's entire sire line. I wonder how many loved ones will come looking for revenge. Consequences Elena, you have earned the rage and hate of every single person who has lost someone today. I wish you luck when they come."


The realization that Buffy was admitting between the lines had Elena's eyes widening in shock.

Buffy was basically declaring that she was on her own.

That she wouldn't protect her from the angry faces that would come for her.

Buffy wouldn't just abandon her, right?

No.

This was not real.

"How could you compare me to them?" She whispered, though given that Buffy's hand was still wrapped tightly around her throat, it came out more like a screech "We didn't have a choice plus we broke the compulsion-"

Buffy rolled her eyes, that argument was not enough to justify wiping out the lives of 30 thousand people "Damon is a vampire. He can survive a few decades in a cellar till Jeremy dies of old age!"


The vampire in question, sputtered in offense "Hey!"


"Shut it!" Buffy snarled before shoving back from Elena and watching her closely "Do you even want The Cure Elena?"


Elena froze and it cued Buffy to scoff.

She could see it in Elena's eyes, tonight had shown her that despite the voices...she liked being powerful. 

Somehow it made this whole thing all the more worse.

"Tell me you didn't like feeling powerful when you did your little scream and sent Kol flying. I mean I bet it felt good since all you do is scream and cry. Klaus was right, you flail around like a helpless leaf, despite the fact you now have high-level superpowers! You just can't be asked to save yourself if someone else can do it for you. Well, get used to it Elena, take The Cure so you can go back to being a damsel, and when all vampires, demons, witches ecteria, who are now mourning because of you, we will see how quickly you regret it. Because I won't be there."


Elena let out a small sob at that "Buffy-"


"You disgust me, dying for you wasn't worth it."


With that final harsh sentence, the line in the sand was completed. Sides had been chosen leaving the once close sisters on two very different sides.

Klaus had been wrong last year.


A bond, even one as strong as Buffy and Elena's could be broken. Completely ripped apart, with no hope of ever remolding.

Snatching Elena's bag from the floor before the brunette could stop her, Buffy grabbed the white oak stake before tossing the bag back into Elena's face.

Tucking the stake into her jacket, without another word, she turned her back on Elena and made her way right over to Jeremy, her heart cracking as she spotted the dried tears on his cheeks. Cupping his face in her hands, she used her thumbs to softly wipe away the water still streaming down his cheeks "Little Bear..." She whispered, her voice cracking as she spotted the completely broken look in his eyes.

The guilt was consuming him.

Unlike Elena who was too busy pretending, Jeremy couldn't stop thinking about all of the people that were dead.

All of the mourning faces he had caused.

"Buffy...I didn't mean to." He whimpered causing her to sigh and pull him to her, hugging him tightly as he latched onto her, much like he would do when he was little and would get scared at night.

"I know Jer. I know." She whispered as she ran a soothing hand through his hair, before finally drifting her gaze over to Bonnie who looked ready to burst into tears after witnessing the complete breakdown of the two Summers girls.

Bonnie was almost certain there would be no coming back for Elena and Buffy's relationship.

"Where is Klaus?" Buffy whispered as she continued to let Jeremy sob into her chest.

Bonnie gulped slightly "Locked in the Gilbert living room. I drew on the new moon to bind the spell."

Buffy groaned at that, rubbing her forehead in exhaustion. She seriously needed a damn vacation.

"Bon-Bon's spell means we have three days max to shove the cure down his throat otherwise we should probably join Katherine on the run." Damon snarked only to jump as a blade was launched at his head by Buffy.

She was not letting anyone shove the cure down Klaus's throat, no chance in hell.

"Let me make myself clear. You all need me to find the cure." Her baby was still the apparent magical compass that would be able to locate exactly where the tomb was "If it risks raising Silas, I am destroying it." Slowly she allowed her eyes to focus on every face in the room, her eyes filled with danger "And I will kill anyone who tries to stop me."

Buffy's threat hung in the air, slicing through everyone's thoughts like a knife.

She was deadly serious right now and the intensity in her gaze was a little scary.

Jeremy screamed.

As he started writhing in her arms desperately pushing himself away, Buffy jumped up to her feet, her eyes widening in horror as it clicked what was happening.


His tattoo was growing.

"It's happening." Jeremy gasped out as the mark began spreading all the way up his shoulder before moving along his chest at a rapid speed.

"Oh, my god." Elena breathed as the group all turned making Buffy's eyes widen as it clicked.

Everyone could see the tattoo now, which meant it was complete.

Damon smirked "Here we go."

However, before anyone could say another word, Stefan quickly grabbed Buffy, speeding her out of the way just as a body comes flying into the room slamming right into the wall.

Buffy gasped only for suddenly Elena to scream loudly, tears filling her eyes as she stared at the dead guy.


Pulling out of Stefan's arms, Buffy took a step forward only for her entire body to tense up as she spotted the pink-wrapped box next to the body.

The wrapping paper was familiar.

As dread started to bubble inside of her, her fingers starting to twitch in panic, Damon picked up the box, his eyes quickly landing on the card.

A card that was stained with blood.

"To my future granddaughter." He read before turning it, gulping as he spotted what had been written over the original message in blood "From Caleb." 

Laid out in the middle of the Boarding House floor, his eyes missing, his throat slit and his intestines hanging out of his stomach was the one and only... 

Hank Summers.

Caleb had ripped him apart and delivered him like a Christmas gift for the mother-to-be.

A loud sob escaped Buffy's chest, tears streaming down her face as her eyes finally landed on her father's face. Stumbling back, Buffy forgot how to breathe as she pressed herself against the bookshelves, her eyes not once leaving her father's scarred, ripped apart dissected face.


Her dad was dead.


The dad she had gone no-contact with, had shown up in town with a baby gift only to end up getting tortured and murdered by Caleb as a way to make a point.

Today was just a day of endless death.

Pointless stupid death.

She couldn't handle this.

She couldn't breathe.

Spotting her friends trying to approach her, Buffy just let out a loud sob before running like hell. She couldn't be in that house, she couldn't have the smell of her father's corpse haunting her as his eyeless face continued to stare into her soul, threatening to consume her whole.


As Buffy rushed out of the house before any of them could stop her, Stefan finally focused on Jeremy who looked conflicted as he stared down at the body.

Unable to decipher how he was supposed to feel about the man's death.

"Jeremy who this?" He whispered a horrible pit starting to form in his stomach.

Jeremy blinked back tears as he bent down next to the body, covering it with a sheet "Uncle Hank."

**

Walking up the steps of the Gilbert house, Buffy wiped at her tears as she pushed open the front door. The smell hit her almost immediately causing her to groan, gagging as she tried to force the bile from rushing up her throat.

The whole house smelt like rotting flesh and burnt skin.

A day of nothing but death.

Hearing movement behind her, Buffy let out a shaky breath, clenching her eyes shut as the tears threatened to keep coming.

"I am so sorry." She whispered as she turned to face Klaus.

He was sat on the floor of the living room, his back pressed up against the wall, cheeks stained with water as he was forced to sit across from his brother's rotting body.

Without hesitation, she held her breath and quickly moved to cover Kol with a sheet before moving to sit on the floor against the wall just outside of the barrier, so that she was positioned right across from Klaus.

Looking up from the floor, Klaus froze as he spotted the look on her face and the tears covering her cheeks "You've been crying."

"My father is dead. Caleb just delivered his torn-apart body to me."

Everything about today was just so twisted.

That certaintly shook Klaus from his own grief for a moment and he couldn't help but stare at Buffy completely bewildered. While he knew how bad things were when it came to the relationship she had with her father, having his corpse delivered to her in that manner had to be soul-crushing.

He had still been her father at the end of the day.

No matter how furious she was, and how much she no longer trusted him, he knew Buffy still loved Hank.

Now he was dead.

"Buffy-"

She just raised her hand as more tears started spilling down her cheeks "Don't apologize to me please." She begged tearfully as she focused on his own grief-filled face "My brother and Elena just murdered your baby brother. God...I...I am so sorry."

Everything was so fucked up.

As her voice cracked, Klaus inhaled tightly clenching his eyes shut as he tried to force the image of watching his brother's body going up in flames from his mind.

Hearing movement, Klaus froze as Buffy crawled over the boundary, and sat right next to him, resting her head against his shoulder.

For a moment, the two just sat there.

Both of them let the mournful silence echo through the air.

Reaching into her jacket, without hesitation, Buffy handed Klaus the white oak stake "I stole it back for you."

Staring down at the weapon, Klaus clenched his jaw tightly his fingers twitching as he finally wrapped his fingers around it. If this weapon could be destroyed he would toss it into the fireplace, watching on as the flames turned the weapon that had taken his brother from this earth into nothing but dust.


"What Bonnie said won't happen." Buffy whispered suddenly cueing him to look down at her while she just stared ahead, her eyes focused on the only photo of her father left in this house.

The photo from the day she was born.

"You suck, for what you did to Carol. Tyler has every right to hate you, just like our kid would hate someone who took either me or you from them."

The sudden shift in conversation caused him to frown in confusion "Where are you going with this?"

Buffy let out a shaky breath "When Tyler comes by the taunt you, I want you to remember he is someone's kid. Carol was a parent, like we are going to be and you took that from him...but...I can't let him kill you. Because then one day our child would want to kill him and selfishly..."

Even now, consumed in her own grief, she was trying to protect her friends, trying to save them despite all the pain she was in.

"Hmm..." Klaus pushed.

Pulling back slightly, Buffy stared up at him, green forest eyes meeting ocean blue "I need you." She admitted, ironically repeating the phrase he had said to her almost a year ago when they had teamed up to take down Alaric.

The first time the pair of them had worked as a unit.

"The universe deemed the pair of us two parts of the battle. The most powerful warriors on different scales. This child is the balance, there are going to be things only I can teach her and things I won't be able to do, things that only you could do. She is the balance because she can't exist without both of us."

Truthfully, Buffy didn't want to raise this baby without Klaus.

Somehow, despite all of the horrible things in their twisted complicated past, he had become her one constant. The one person that she could actually rely on to listen to her, to trust her judgment...and to save her when she needed it.

She trusted Klaus.

She couldn't do this without him.

Leaning his forehead against her, Klaus inhaled sharply as their breathing synched up. Truthfully, he needed her just as much as she needed him.

Two halves of the same coin.

The light and the dark.

The sun and the moon.

"And Elena and Jeremy, will you stand in my way when I try to kill them for Kol?"

Buffy inhaled sharply, yet she didn't pull away "Jeremy yes. He did not plan this but Elena? She did and unlike Jer, she has no guilt about it. So if you do...I never want to hear about it. I never want her name mentioned to me again."

She couldn't blame Klaus for wanting Elena dead no matter how much it broke her heart.

If the situation was reversed, she would have already torn apart the person who killed her brother.

"Whatever happens, I'm not running with her." She whispered softly, knowing for a fact that Bonnie's threat on top of everything could not be helping with his desire to start slaughtering everything "Everyone seems to forget that this is our kid. Mine and yours. My friends will have no say in who is in our daughter's life. You told me I might have to pick a side. I choose yours."

**




"How is our best girl?"  The noncorporeal power queried as she stepped forward, familiar blonde hair running past her shoulders as she moved to sit on the edge of the boat which was moving softly against the waves.

Caleb merely smiled as he leaned back in his seat, looking out at the waters in front of them, just waiting for the Island to become visible. He was in such a good mood after dropping Buffy's father's body off at the Salvatore home.

It had been just such luck finding Hank on his way to give his daughter the brand-new baby book for his future granddaughter.

"They always think they should put up a fight." Caleb told his master with a smile "I'm sure that gift will make her question her decisions."

She smirked playing with her blonde hair "Is she ready? For what we have planned?"

"Yes...that child will be delivered upon Silas's awakening and then the seal will be broken."

A small smile grazed her lips before she eyed her second curiously "And did you find it?"

The hint of dread in her voice, caused him to offer her a reassuring look "My men are digging it up now. It was in a cave in the center of the Island. Rest assured no matter how much that child of her leads her towards it, she won't get it."

"Good. But if she does...you have it?"

Their Plan B.

Caleb nodded before pulling out a small syringe and tapping the needle slightly grinning at the orange liquid inside "If it comes to it...this will stop her. She won't be going anywhere with this in her system. It will demobilize her. So to speak."

Everything was falling into place.


"Excellent."