[4x05; The Killer]
There were only a couple of things in Stefan's life that ever went right. They weren't very important things; his favorite coffee was easy to make, The Great Gatsby was an easy read, and small things like that. His relationship with Lucy was going great but even that had started out on a rough patch with the whole love-square thing and now he was keeping lies from her.
Which led him to the thing that was currently going wrong in his life.
Stefan had woken up with Lucy and everything was fine. They made out a little and it was going to go further but, like always, they were interrupted. It was Jeremy this time, asking Lucy if they could get breakfast before he went to work at ten because he missed her at the house. Lucy absolutely melted over it and practically kicked Stefan out of the loft once she got dressed so she could pick up her little brother.
He wasn't really bothered about that, though. He went home, took a cold shower, and called Elena to tell her about the cure. She was understandably excited about it and simultaneously disappointed that they had to work with Klaus and keep it a secret from everyone but she promised she would anyway. It was toward the end of the call that things started to go wrong. First, he got a text message from Klaus telling him that they had a problem. Second, when he went to Klaus' house to see what was wrong, he found the headless body of the hybrid that was supposed to be watching Connor.
And Connor was gone.
"How the fuck did Connor escape?" Stefan asked Klaus—who was still in Italy—as he rubbed his forehead, looking down at the dead hybrid.
"I blame mind-numbing incompetence but pointing fingers isn't going to help me," Klaus replied among the numerous sounds of construction equipment. "You're going to help me."
Stefan sighed and lowered his hand, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Well, he could be anywhere by now."
"Think, Stefan," Klaus prompted him. "He took the hybrid's head which means he wants werewolf toxin."
"Which means he plans to stay in Mystic Falls to kill vampires," Stefan realized.
"Which is a pity since I'm on the other side of the world, digging up a dead hunter. You'll have no access to my blood and therefore the antidote," Klaus pointed out needlessly. "Nevertheless, his tattoo is our only map to the cure so your task is quite simple. Find him, catch him, and above all, keep him alive. He's no good to us dead."
"Damon's been looking everywhere for him. If they cross paths..."
"You need to keep Damon in check."
"It would be a lot easier if I could tell him the truth."
"You trust Damon with the cure?" Klaus said flatly. "I imagine he prefers Elena the way she is."
Stefan rolled his eyes. "Nice try, Klaus, but I trust Damon a hell of a lot more than I trust you."
"And I trust no one," Klaus countered tensely. "Which is why one of my sisters is lying daggered in a box. The more who find out about the cure, the more who will go after it. Nations have gone to war over less. You mark my words; tell another soul and I will throw the hunter's sword into the Mediterranean and we can end this quest right now. Am I understood?"
Stefan held back the many profanities he was tempted to throw at the Original hybrid. "Crystal."
He hung up the phone without another word and slipped his phone into his jeans. He had to tell Elena what was going on; she was his only ally in this at the moment and as much as he hated to admit it, he needed her help.
-
Lucy tapped her thumb on her steering wheel to the beat of the music playing through the speakers. It was some song by The Fray that Caroline recommended to her, so Lucy downloaded it. It was actually pretty good but most of the band's music was good so she wasn't that surprised.
After eating breakfast sandwiches with Jeremy in the McDonald's parking lot, she had dropped him off at work. She was halfway to Caroline's house to pick her up so they could go shopping for dresses when she realized that Jeremy's phone was still in the passenger seat. She made an illegal U-turn—after checking if there were any police cars around—and headed back to the Grill to give it to him. Like any other teenager, including herself, the boy couldn't survive without his phone.
She parked in the small parking lot off the alleyway next to the Grill and locked her car before walking into the restaurant. They still hadn't opened yet, so Matt and April were the only ones in the dining area.
"Hey, guys," Lucy greeted them with a smile, walking over to them.
"Hey, Luce," Matt grinned at her. "Where's Jeremy? He's late."
"I dropped him off a couple of minutes ago so he should be here," Lucy shook her head in confusion and looked over at April. "Do you work here, now, April?"
"Um, no, actually, I was just asking Matt about Rebekah," April told her. "Hey, you're friends with Rebekah. Do you know where she is?"
Lucy furrowed her eyebrows. "No, I haven't talked to her yet today. Why?"
"I'm worried about her," April admitted. "She said she'd help me find stuff out about the fire that killed my dad and then she just disappeared."
Before Lucy could even start to worry about her oldest sister, there was a commotion by the kitchen doors. Connor, the hunter, roughly pushed Jeremy into the dining area. His arm was wrapped around his neck with a sharp knife pressed against his throat.
"Trust me, that's the least of your problems," Connor told April.
Lucy inhaled sharply and reached for her necklace but Connor was already shaking his head at her.
"If you make another move toward that necklace, I'll slit your brother's throat."
Lucy shakily dropped her hand, knowing that Connor would be too quick for her to do anything. He walked toward them, pushed Jeremy away from him, and ripped the necklace off of Lucy's necklace in three swift moves. Lucy gasped angrily and caught Jeremy as he stumbled, glaring at the hunter.
"Sit down!" Connor yelled at them, pulling a gun from his pants to point it at them. "Sit down!"
Lucy exchanged a nod with Matt; while she pulled Jeremy over to a table, Matt grabbed April. They sat at the table together, looking at Connor anxiously. Poor April was absolutely terrified, not knowing the whole story like Matt, Jeremy, and Lucy did.
"Gilbert, give me your cell phone," Connor demanded.
"I don't have it," Jeremy said sourly.
"Don't lie to me!"
"I have it!" Lucy spoke up nervously. "I have his phone in pocket."
Connor pressed his lips together. "Give it to me," he ordered. "Give me yours, too."
Lucy nodded and pulled the phones out of her jean pockets. "Look, can you just let April go?" she requested, her hands shaking as she handed the phones over to the hunter. "She has nothing to do with this."
"She has everything to do with this. Her and her father," Connor disagreed as he brought the phones over to another table; Lucy's lips twisted in confusion. "Plus, she and I have history."
"What are you talking about?" April asked indignantly, her voice wavering. "I've never seen you before in my life!"
Connor sighed. "You kids need to get some vervain and don't just wear it as a bracelet where anybody can just take it off," he gave Jeremy's wrist a pointed look. "Maybe then you'd remember our conversation at the hybrid's yesterday."
Lucy looked over at Jeremy, wondering why he was at Klaus' house. Jeremy just shook his head at him and asked, "Our conversation? Are you saying someone compelled me?"
"Will someone please just tell me what he's talking about?" April spoke up loudly.
"Compulsion," Connor said, exasperated. "Secrets. Vampires, witches, siphoners, reincarnations."
Lucy jerked back in shock. "How do you know that?"
The fact that she was a reincarnation wasn't widely known. The siphoner part of her was easy to pick up on but other than her friends, Katherine, and her original siblings, no one else knew about the fact that this was her third life—that she knew of, anyway.
"I know a lot of things."
"If you know so much, then you know our friends are going to come for us," Matt spat at the hunter, his face turning red from anger.
"Oh, yeah, I'm counting on it. Every vampire that comes for you is another one I get to kill," Connor nodded and picked up Lucy's phone. "Now, who should I text first, hmm? Damon or Stefan Salvatore? Caroline Forbes? Tyler Lockwood? Joel Gilbert? How about the whole Original family?"
Lucy clenched her jaw. Every person that Connor listed would come for them. If they weren't careful, every person on that list would die in the process.
Connor smirked at them. "How about all of the above."
Once he messaged every vampire—and hybrid—in Lucy's contacts, he smashed her phone to pieces. He did the same to Jeremy's when he was finished. If Matt or April didn't have their phones with them, they were screwed. Everyone was screwed.
-
Stefan took large strides through the Lockwood mansion, hurrying toward Damon's voice. He knew that the others had gotten the message from Lucy's phone, too, by the way his brother was concocting a plan.
"So, we each take a different entrance and hit him at the same time," Damon finished his plan as Stefan walked into the living room where Damon, Elena, Tyler, and Joel were gathered.
"Stefan," Elena breathed in relief when she saw him, giving him a smile.
Damon glared at him. "Where the fuck have you been?"
"Coming up with a plan," Stefan answered swiftly.
"Yeah, we have a plan," Damon stated. "The plan is I'm going to rip Connor's heart out and I'm going to feed it to him."
"That's not a plan," Stefan protested, his voice hardening. "We need to be careful. Connor has Lucy and who knows how many other hostages."
There wasn't time to fuck around. The cure and, more importantly, Lucy's life were on the line, here. Stefan didn't have time to argue with his brother about Connor's life. They needed to keep the hunter alive and keep Lucy and whatever other hostages safe.
"Hence the open-heart surgery."
"Damon's right," Joel agreed. "Connor's strong but he's not going to be able to take all of us."
"I called in the hybrids to help, too," Tyler spoke up just as Caroline walked into the living room.
"My mom put squad cars blocking the streets," she informed them. "They're saying it's a faulty gas line. We're good to go."
"Good," Damon nodded. "No cops, no witnesses, no reason to wait around."
"All right, hold on," Stefan stopped everyone. "You're all not going."
"He shot me, like, nine times," Tyler scoffed. "If we're killing him, I want in."
"He's got Lucy and if Jeremy got to work on time, he's there, too," Joel added. "I'm going."
"Me too," Elena volunteered.
Stefan inhaled deeply, anger starting to brew in his chest. "Listen, nobody is going anywhere until I figure out what we're walking into."
"Until you figure it out?" Damon asked in disbelief. "Is that where you've been all morning, out buying bossy pants?"
Like Damon could talk. He was always being bossy.
"This guy's known for setting traps, right?" Stefan pointed out, trying not to lose his patience. "We'd be pretty dumb to walk into one, especially if he has werewolf venom."
Joel looked at him in alarm. "Does he?"
"Well, he's had it before," Elena came to Stefan's rescue when he faltered.
"Fine," Damon sighed, looking to Stefan. "You want to take some time to do recon, you get one hour. But we're going to need some extra help so where the fuck is the wicked witch of the west?"
"She can't do magic," Caroline reminded him.
"Really?" Damon rolled his eyes. "Well, call her and tell her Lucy and Jeremy are in danger. Maybe that will bring her out of retirement."
Their group split up; Damon, Elena, and Joel were going to Lucy's apartment—after calling Liz for permission for the former two to enter—Caroline was calling Bonnie, Tyler was going to Klaus' house for the hybrids, and Stefan was going to town square to stake out the Grill.
Stefan called Klaus once he got to the square. He explained the situation that was going on, even though Klaus had informed him early on that he got the message from Lucy's phone, too.
"Just get Luciana and Connor out of there," Klaus finally cut Stefan off, exasperated. "Am I supposed to bloody care about the rest of them?"
"Well, you should," Stefan replied. "Damon does. So does Caroline, Tyler, Elena, and Joel. 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 onboard with my plan."
He ended the call and shoved his phone in his jeans as he walked toward the Grill. Still in the street, he stopped to listen to what was going on inside. There were five heartbeats and five voices, all of them arguing about something.
He recognized Lucy's voice first and even though he already knew that she was in there with the hunter, it still made his heart ache and his stomach twist with nerves. He had to get her the fuck out of there before she was hurt.
Then he heard Jeremy's voice and then Matt's and then April Young's.
Stefan called Joel once he made sure there was no one else in the restaurant.
"What'd you find out?" Joel answered.
"I could only make out the voices," he told him.
"How many hostages?" Damon asked; clearly he was on speaker.
"Four; Jeremy and Lucy," Stefan informed them. "Matt's there, too, with April Young."
"What?" Elena exclaimed.
"Those two idiots," Damon cursed. "They're like danger magnets."
"We have to get them out of there," Joel declared.
"Yeah, I just need a little more time," Stefan stated.
"The clock's ticking, brother."
Stefan rolled his eyes at Damon even though he couldn't see. "You know, I could do without the color commentary."
He hung up the phone and started making his way to Lucy's loft. When he arrived at her door, he could hear Damon, Elena, and Joel worrying about Lucy and Jeremy.
"Stefan's on his way," Damon assured the two oldest Gilbert siblings. "This will be over soon."
"Will it?" Elena asked. "I mean, haven't we already been here before with Jeremy? Isn't this why we sent him to Denver?"
"Well, we'll get him out of this and we'll compel him down to the Bahamas. Maybe he'll find an island girl," Damon tried to placate her. "Stefan can convince Lucy to leave town."
Stefan took the opportunity to enter the apartment.
"Did you find the tunnel map?" he asked his brother.
"Got it," Damon held up his phone. "Apparently Twitch hid Ric's old weapons in her closet. It was with seven stakes, a weird MacGyver crossbow, and the last remaining vervain in Mystic Falls. So, how about we get this party started?"
"Not yet," Stefan shook his head and looked down at the weapons on the kitchen island. "Klaus is sending one of his men. He'll take the front and you and I can take the tunnels."
Damon furrowed his eyebrows. "Since when do we team up with Klaus and the lollipop guild?"
"I already told you, Connor has werewolf venom. We need someone to draw his fire; the hybrids are immune to it so they're out best bet."
Joel shrugged. "It sounds like a good idea."
"Wait," Damon waved him off so he could question Stefan. "How are you sure he even has werewolf venom? Why is Klaus involved, Stefan?"
Stefan rolled his eyes and turned his back on his brother, picking up one of the vervain darts they had found in Lucy's closet. "Oh, stop being paranoid, Damon. Klaus is involved because Lucy is involved."
"You're lying," Damon declared. "Why is Klaus involved. Did he compel you?"
Stefan clenched his jaw and turned back to his brother. "I am telling you the truth," he said firmly. "This is the best way to get everyone out."
"Okay," Elena stepped forward to interrupt their argument. "What is with you two? We're wasting time!"
"You know, what, she's right," Damon narrowed his eyes at Stefan. "Fuck your plan. I'll kill Connor myself."
Damon went to pass Stefan but Stefan quickly grabbed his shoulders, stabbing him in the back with the vervain dart.
"Stefan, what the fuck are you doing?" Elena shouted at him, eyes wide with shock.
As Damon fell completely unconscious, Stefan dragged him over to the couch by the window. He took his phone from his jacket and slid his daylight ring off his finger so he wouldn't be able to leave the loft.
"Okay, why did you do that?" Joel wondered, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Damon had the right idea with the tunnels," Stefan sent the picture of the tunnel system to his phone and threw Damon's back to him; it landed on his stomach with a thud. "but I'm not going to go in there if I can't count of him to do it my way."
"If you can't count on him?" Elena asked in disbelief, temporarily forgetting about what was at stake when her boyfriend was passed out on the couch with vervain in his system. "You just vervained him!"
Stefan rolled his eyes; he didn't have time to listen to Elena complain. He needed to get to Lucy and make sure that Connor stayed alive. "Do you think he cares about April or Matt?" he demanded, raising his voice at her. "He'll get Jeremy and Lucy out for you but then he'll go right after Connor, no matter who gets hurt."
Elena scoffed. "Then I'm coming with you."
"You're not coming with me, Elena!" Stefan shook his head as he started toward the door; he couldn't babysit her while trying to keep everyone safe and alive.
"You need my help!"
"Joel's coming with," he looked at Joel, who nodded at him in confirmation. "besides, what if Connor attacks you and you have to defend yourself? What if you kill him?"
Elena deflated at his pointed reminder; she remembered what he had told her that morning. If Connor died, then so did the map to the cure. She wanted to be human again; she couldn't risk the map disappearing.
"Fine."
"Fine," Stefan grunted back as he stormed out of the apartment, Joel on his trail.
-
Lucy fiddled with her bracelet, her knee rapidly bouncing under the table as she stared at Connor. He was making some kind of bomb and if she had to guess, there was werewolf venom added to whatever he was making it out of.
It had already been two hours since he took them hostage and no one had stepped foot into the Grill for them. Lucy was glad; if anyone she cared about walked through that door, they'd die. She had no doubts; with the bombs and the werewolf venom it was almost a guarantee. Still, she wished this whole situation was over. She didn't want to die at the hands of an arrogant hunter and she sure as hell didn't want Jeremy, Matt, and April to die, either.
"He's clearly delusional, right?" April stammered quietly, growing more nervous with each hour that went by. "I mean, all this—all this talk about vampires? I mean, he mentioned my dad..."
"Hey, this guy's a nut job, okay?" Matt tried to comfort her without revealing that everything was true. "Don't let him get in your head."
"What if he knows something?" she asked and spared Jeremy a questioning look. "Jeremy, did he say anything to you about why he's doing this?"
"I don't know, maybe," Jeremy's tone was passive aggressive. "Maybe I just can't remember."
As he got up to walk over to Connor, Matt hissed at him, "Let it go, Jeremy!"
"Jeremy!" Lucy quickly stood up and followed him, reaching for his hand to pull him back. He was much stronger than she was, though; he overpowered her and dragged her along to talk to Connor.
"You said we had a conversation yesterday."
Connor nodded as he continued making bombs. "Mmhm."
"About what?"
Admittedly, Lucy wanted to know the answer, too. Who had compelled Jeremy? Was it Klaus? Was that why he was at his house yesterday?
"We'll get into that. First, take a look at my handiwork," Connor gestured to his bombs boastfully. "I picked up some tips from the hunter's trade."
Lucy bit her lip. "What is that?" she asked nervously, hoping she was wrong about the ingredients. "Werewolf venom?"
Connor nodded. "The fluid is derived from werewolf toxin," he informed them. "Trip the wire, bomb goes off, nails deliver a lethal dose into the bloodstream."
Lucy inhaled deeply at the thought of any of her loved ones meeting that fate.
"What's the point?" Jeremy asked, disgusted. "What do you get out of all of this?"
Connor turned to them; his expression almost thoughtful. "You know, I used to think that there was no get. That I was just supposed to do—kill vampires. That was until I realized that the mark held the answer to why the way I am. The more I kill, the more it grows, and once it's complete, I'll learn my story and all this will have meant something."
"What are you talking about?" Lucy was absolutely confused. "What mark?"
"It's a tattoo," Jeremy told her. "I can see it but I guess it's invisible to everyone else."
"An invisible tattoo?" she asked in disbelief, her eyes flickering back to Connor.
"Don't worry about it," Connor snapped at her before looking to Matt and April. "Hey, we're going to have visitors soon. You two get in the back. Get up! Move!" he yelled when they hesitated; they immediately jumped to their feet. "And before you think about any other exits, I got every door rigged, got it?"
Matt nodded and hurried out of the dining area, dragging April into the kitchen with him. Lucy held onto Jeremy's arm tightly, trying to make sure he'd stay by her side and stay safe. Her nerves were in overdrive and her chest ached but she was more worried about her little brother than anything Connor would do to her.
The Grill's phone rang only minutes after Matt and April disappeared into the kitchen. Connor answered it.
"We're closed," he barked into the receiver and then huffed at whoever was speaking to him. "I'll free them as soon as you give me what I want...you and everyone like you dead."
He paused, his face falling as the person replied. "Yeah," he scoffed as he tried to act like whatever was said didn't affect him. "that's a weak move. You must be desperate."
The person spoke again and whatever they said made Connor furious. He slammed the phone back down on the hook and threw it across the room.
He made Lucy and Jeremy take a step back from the bombs he made and continued to work of them, making sure that everything was rigged to go off. It was unnerving to see the way he fiddled with them; he was so concentrated, so sure about his moves. He was a professional.
Whoever walked through those doors was going to die.
Jeremy inched toward the weapons, forcefully peeling Lucy's fingers from his arm.
Connor stopped him, not even looking away from the bomb. "You may be a potential hunter but you make one move and I will break all twenty-seven bones in your hand."
What did he even mean by that? Jeremy could see this so-called invisible tattoo and all of a sudden he was on a fast track to becoming a lethal vampire hunter with a heart of stone? What the hell was going on? There had to be more to this than killing random vampires.
"They're not all bad, you know," Jeremy informed Connor, defending their friends and siblings. "Some of them are my friends."
"Friends, huh?" Connor scoffed. "Yeah, I had a friend like that once. She got turned by this vampire I was hunting. He thought it'd be ironic."
Lucy gulped harshly. "What happened to her?"
"I didn't want to hurt her," Connor confessed as he stopped messing with the bomb and picked up a gun, loading it with wooden bullets. "She promised that she would keep it under control, but...A vampire's a loaded gun. Eventually, it's going to go off," he pulled up his sleeve and pointed to a spot on his forearm. "That's when I got this."
Lucy didn't see anything but it looked like Jeremy did. His eyes widened in shock, darting up and down the expanse of Connor's arm. "So, you killed your own friend?"
"Listen, if you're gonna be like me, you need to understand," Connor raised his voice; Lucy flinched and grabbed Jeremy's arm, pulling him back to her side. "Vampires kill humans. Hunters kill vampires—"
He cut himself off as they all heard the sound of the outermost doors opening.
"We got company," Connor picked up the stereo remote and pressed play. As loud rock music blared throughout the restaurant, he ducked to the floor and pulled Jeremy and Lucy down with him.
It was only seconds but it felt like hours as someone opened the door and stepped into the dining area. Lucy heard a rapid beeping and then there was an explosion. It was so loud it felt like her eardrums were going to burst. She pulled Jeremy closer to her, her breathing speeding up.
From beside them, Connor stood up and grabbed a large rifle. Lucy didn't look but she could hear everything. There was the crunching of glass as whoever set off the bomb stood up, the cocking of the gun, the loud gunshot as Connor shot it, and then the wet thud of a body.
Lucy suppressed the sob that threatened to come out and clenched her eyes shut, wishing that this day had never happened.
Jeremy stood up, pulling Lucy with him, and walked over to Connor. The hunter was taking off his button-up shirt, leaving him in just a gray undershirt. He held out his arm and looked down at it expectantly, waiting for something. Lucy didn't see what happened but Jeremy gasped. She guessed it must have been the tattoo.
And then Connor looked up from his arm, pulled Jeremy and Lucy so they blocked his body, and aimed his gun at the wall near the kitchen entrance. Lucy saw a blur as the person ran away from the bullet Connor shot at them. Lucy could just make out that familiar hero-hair.
"Oh, my God," she breathed nervously as he sped across the bar. Connor's shots followed him, breaking most of the glass bottles behind the counter.
Connor roughly pushed her away from him; she landed on one of the little rugs that was rigged with a bomb. It started beeping rapidly; if she moved, the bomb would go off and she would die.
Holy shit, she was gonna die.
"Connor," Stefan called as Jeremy stared at Lucy in horror. "You don't have to do this."
"Stefan!" Lucy couldn't help but cry out. She was scared. She was so scared. The only thing that made her feel a little bit better was the fact that it wasn't Jeremy in her position.
"Fuck," Stefan cursed softly before raising his voice. "Connor, we can end this right now. Just put down the gun and come with me."
"Sure," Connor had no intention of handing himself over to him. "Come out and I'll hand the gun over."
"Think about this," Stefan pleaded. "No one has to die. I'll tell you everything you need to know."
"I don't make deals with vampires!" Connor shouted over the beeping of the bomb.
"Listen to me, if you die right now then your whole life, all that killing? It will be for nothing," Stefan tried to get through to him. "I can give you the truth. Put down the gun and let Lucy and Jeremy go."
The door behind them opened; Connor spun around and pointed the gun at the door. Lucy didn't dare move but she saw another blur come out of the kitchen; it had to be Joel or Damon.
"Please!" it was Elena at the door behind her. "Don't hurt them!"
Connor pointed the gun at Lucy's head; she squeezed her eyes shut, tears streaking down her cheeks. "Come any closer and she's dead."
"Elena, get out of here!" Jeremy yelled at his oldest sister, his eyes darting from Lucy's still form to her.
"She's my sister," Elena continued to beg Connor. "and he's my brother. Just—just let them go."
"You hear that?" Connor called to Stefan; he had no idea that Joel or Damon had joined him. "The girl's gonna watch your girlfriend die right in front of her," he threatened. "On the count of three—one, two..."
Connor didn't get to three; Stefan stood up from his hiding place, hands in the air, while Joel and Elena rushed toward Jeremy and Connor. While Joel pushed Jeremy to safety, Elena tackled Connor to the floor, his gun going off in the process.
Lucy gasped at the gunshot and opened her eyes in shock. It was then that she felt the white-hot pain spread through her stomach. She inhaled sharply, grunting in pain, and pressed her hand against the wound on her stomach.
Blood spilled over her hand and her stomach heaved, making the pain worse. Her eyesight was going blurry but she reminded herself that she was still on the sensor. If she moved, if she faltered, the bomb would go off and Joel and Jeremy, who were closest to the bomb—other than her—would get the full blast.
"Joel, move!" she heard Stefan shout, though it sounded like she was underwater.
She felt herself being picked up and sped through the room. Stefan only had time to kick a table up behind them as the bomb went off, protecting them from the blast.
"LUCY?"
That was Elena's voice, Lucy realized. Good...that was good. She'd be able to say goodbye to her Gilbert siblings before she died. She just needed Caroline, Katherine, and her original siblings, too, then. Maybe Stefan would tell them goodbye for her.
She could feel familiar hands on her cheeks as more commotion went on the other side of the restaurant. Even with her eyes closed she could tell that it was Stefan's hands holding her face.
"Broody," she whispered and tried to open her eyes. She succeeded but she couldn't see him through the blur of her tears. "Hey."
"Hey, Goofy," Stefan's voice was shaky. "Hey, Joel! Get over here!"
"Stefan," Lucy tried to get his attention as Joel called back to him. "You have to tell—"
"Don't you do that," he looked down at her with serious eyes. "Don't you say goodbye. You're not dying, you hear me? You're not dying."
Lucy wanted to tell him he was in denial. She was in so much pain that she didn't remember that he was a vampire. A vampire with blood that would heal her.
"Lucy, oh, my God," Joel's face appeared above her and then Jeremy's and then Elena's.
"Give her your blood. I'm going after Connor," Stefan told Joel before looking down at Lucy. "You're gonna be okay, Luce. I love you."
Lucy didn't get to answer him as he sped off. She eyes fell shut as Joel bit into his wrist and pressed it against her lips. She grimaced as she choked down the blood but the relief was almost instant.
"The bullet went through," Elena assured her as the wound in her stomach started healing. Her eyes started turning red and her vamp-veins rippled into view as she looked at the blood soaking her shirt. "Sorry—I—"
"It's okay," Lucy gave her a small smile, already feeling better. "I know you're not going to hurt me."
Joel sighed in relief and brushed his fingers through Lucy's hair before turning to Jeremy. "How did this happen, Jere? Why did Connor come after you guys?"
Jeremy's sad eyes went to Lucy; she gave him a comforting smile as he answered, "He came after me," he corrected Joel. "He said I was like him because I could see his tattoo."
Joel furrowed his eyebrows while a look of realization warped Elena's expression. "His what?"
"His hunter mark," Jeremy informed him. "It's invisible to everyone but me. They didn't tell you about it?"
"No," Joel's gaze hardened as he looked over to a guilty Elena. "Who else knows about this?"
"Stefan, Damon, and Elena know, but other than that I don't know," Jeremy shrugged. "And, apparently, I was with Connor all day yesterday but I can't remember. Someone compelled me."
"I have to go," Elena suddenly declared, standing up. "I'm gonna go help Stefan."
Lucy watched her sister speed away from them and tried to piece together what was going on. Connor had said Jeremy was with him yesterday but Jeremy didn't remember. Stefan was trying to convince Connor to come with him so he could explain what the mark was and who the Brotherhood of the Five—whatever that was—were. Elena's face has been so guilty before she ran away...
Stefan and Elena were up to something and it involved Connor. Something was going on and they were lying about it.
She glared in the direction Elena left in. "I think I know who."