Chapter 17: 𝟐.𝟐

It had already been a couple of hours since Caroline was supposed to reunite with the group but she hadn't and wasn't answering her phone, so naturally Arielle was nervous and wanted to look for her.

But Klaus had dragged her along to the Smoky Mountains.

So now she was stuck behind Klaus and Stefan, the latter was carrying Ray on his back. Arielle felt that they had been walking for ages, she hated hikes.

"How much further?" she groaned.

"Not any closer than the last time you asked, which was 2 minutes ago." Stefan told her, a little to harshly.

"Talk to me like that again, and I'll cut off your dick." she threatned.

Klaus chuckled at their arguing before speaking, "You okay? Is Ray getting heavy?" he asked in fake concern.

"I'm fine." he replied coldly.

"You sure about that? You know, we've been walking for quite some time now. If you need water or a little sit-down-"

"Oh, you ask an immortal vampire if he needs rest but not a mortal girl." she scoffed, "Great thinking, Mr. Big Bad Hybrid."

"You've made us stop dozens of times already." he argued.

"And?" she questioned, failing to see his point, "I'm me, and I need to rest."

"So rest, don't let us stop you."

Arielle scoffed and stopped walking at his words, "Fuck you, asshole." she yelled out as the pair kept walking.

She then decided turning would help her get there faster. So she started the process, she groaned in pain when her bones broke one after the other.

It was usually like this, the minutes of agonizing pain, that felt like hours, the woods she had a love-hate relationship with, the reassuring words in her head trying to distract her from the pain.

And then finally, the euphoric feeling that came after everything. The wind in her fur as she sped through the woods. The dirt against her paws.

To her, her wolf side was one of her favorite parts about herself. She always felt free when in her wolf form, she always felt better.

She then remembered why she was in her wolf form and sped away to look for Klaus and Stefan.

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After an hour, Klaus and Stefan had finally arrived at the campsite. Stefan dropped Ray's body making everyone stand on gaurd.

"Ray! Oh, my God. What's going on? Who are you?" a blonde women asked frantically.

"The important question is.." Klaus said coming up from behind Stefan, "...Who am I." he said with a smirk, "Please forgive the intrusion, my name is Klaus."

"You're the hybrid." the women acknowledged.

Klaus's smirk grew bigger, "You've heard of me. Fantastic."

"It's fascinating actually....a werewolf who isn't beholden to the moon and a vampire who doesn't burn in the sun." he paused smiling at his own words, "A true hybrid."

Ray shoots up from his place on the ground, "Excellent timing, Ray." he said, "Very dramatic." he commented.

"What's happening to me?" he asked, shaking in fear.

Klaus looked back at the younger vampire, "Stefan?"

Stefan got up from his seat, "Are any of you human?" he asked, "Your friend here needs human blood to complete his transition to vampire." he was speaking as if he was an announcer and the pack was his audience.

Noticing their hesitance he added something else, "If he doesn't get it, he 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 die." the pack were all still rooted in their place, some were sweating in fear and others were slightly shaking fear.

Before anyone could say anything else, a white wolf appeared and pushed down a blonde man, Stefan and Klaus looked at eachother in confusion but it the look was wiped of when Arielle transitioned back into her human form, fully clothed, thanks to her magic abilities.

"That one's human." she said casually. Stefan's face was filled with confusion, while Klaus smirked proudly.

Arielle grabbed the blonde man's body and pulled him up, "A little help here?" she said towards the vampires.

Klaus rushed over to the body pulling him away from Arielle and then bit him in the wrist. Then he threw him over to Stefan, who caught him and dragged him down to Ray.

"If you don't drink it Ray, I will....problem is, I don't know how to stop.

Klaus looked at a woman who was screaming in protest, "It's the new order, sweetheart, you join us, or you die."

"I'd rather die than be a vampire." she spat with tears streaming down her face.

"Wrong choice." he then force fed her his blood as Ray drank from the man. In one movement he snapped her neck, "She'll thank me for that later."

"I don't think so." Arielle called out.

Klaus rolled his eyes at her before turning his attention to the pack, "Okay, who's next?" he had a wicked smile on his face as he bared his sharp teeth and golden eyes.

Arielle looked at him and thought he looked hot. The blood dripping down his chin, the golden eyes. She them realized who she was talking about and snapped out of it, '𝘕𝘰𝘱𝘦, 𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘬, 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵.' she thought to herself.

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After Klaus had finished force-feeding his blood and killing Ray's pack he had compelled the human to sit still.

"They're dead, they're all dead." Ray exclaimed, shaking in fear. Arielle also noticed his bloodshot eyes.

"He's through his transition. He should be feeling better soon."

"So this is your master plan? Build an army of hybrid slaves?" Stefan asked.

"No, not slaves." he denied, "Soldiers, comrades." he clarified.

"For what war, might I ask?"

"You don't arm yourself after war has been declared, Stefan." Arielle looked towards him at the familiar phrase, "You build an army so big, that no one ever dares to pick a fight." both wolves finished at the same time.

Elijah had taught her that phrase when she was doing a project on World War II, he also told her it had been a long time since he had said or even heard the phrase he'd learn from an old friend. Which now she guessed was Klaus.

Klaus looked towards her in confusion, and Stefan looked disturbed, "What makes you so sure they'll be loyal?" Stefan asked again.

"Can you stop acting like George the Curious for two damn minutes?" Arielle snapped.

Klaus smiled at her attitude, glad it was directed towards Stefan and not him, as it was the entire summer, "Well, it's not difficult to be loyal when you're on the winning team." he answered Stefan's previous question, "That's something you'll learn once you shake that horribly depressive chip off your shoulder."

Stefan laughed humorlessly, "That's why you're keeping me around? To witness my attitude adjustment?"

Arielle ignored the rest of their conversation and looked over at Ray, whose eyes were bleeding, "Hey, Klaus, I think somethings wrong."

Klaus looked to where Arielle was and noticed Ray's condition, "Something's wrong." he moved closer to Ray and started examining him.

"That shouldn't be happening be happening, should it?"

"Well, obviously." Klaus snapped.

He got up and started pacing until he noticed Ray starting to shake and his eyes bleeding more, "You said it would feel better. Why doesn't it feel better?" he cried.

"Some master race." Stefan muttered.

Arielle giggled at his comment, "Lose the attitude." Klaus snapped again.

Then the women Arielle had named 'Kaylee' woke up, "Derek, come feed your girlfriend." he beckoned over the compelled man, who, obviously, complied.

As Derek walked over, Ray suddenly stood up and ran away. Klaus looked at Stefan, who was just standing there, "Go get him." he demanded. Stefan followed the direction Ray was heading towards.

"I'm going after him." she informed him, following Stefan's direction.

~~~

Arielle walked up to the clearing to where Stefan was and saw him concentrated on something, "What are you-" Stefan signalled for her to shut up and pointed towards his ear, which Arielle guessed it meant he was listening to something.

"Where did he go?" Klaus voice spoke, making his presense known.

Stefan turned to him, "He uh....he got away." he spoke quickly, as if he was hiding something.

"Forget him, let's go." Arielle jumped in, trying to take the attention off Stefan.

Klaus grabbed his arm and examined the bite, "A fatal werewolf bite. Ouch." Arielle could tell he was only pretending to care, so she rolled her eyes.

"Yeah. I'm gonna need your blood to heal me."

"Tell you what. You find Ray, and 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 I'll heal you." he said.

"What!?" , "You cam't be serious."

Both Arielle and Stefan exclaimed at the same time, "You better hurry, 'cause that bite looks nasty."

Stefan scoffed and yanked his hand away before walking off to find Ray. Arielle turned to the hybrid with an annoyed expression.

"Real dickhead move."

"Don't start, love." he walked away heading back to the campsite. Arielle groaned and started walking after him.

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It was now nightime and they were still waiting for one of the turned wolves to wake up so Derek could feed him.

"I'll look for Stefan, he's taking too long." he informed the girl, "I've already compelled Derek to comply once she wakes up."

"Yeah, yeah, can you like leave now? I don't need to be read instructions like a five year old." she waved him off.

The man rolled his eyes and turned away from her, walking away. Arielle sighed in relief, finally being in peace and quiet, sort of, atleast.

The silence was short-lived when the women woke up and Derek went over to feed her, and after he staked himself in the neck.

"What a dick." she mumbled, knowing Klaus probably compelled him to do that.

Then Arielle felt someone dig their nails into her feet. She hissed in pain and looked down to see one of the hybrids, "Get off me, you dog." she got away and examined her wound, which was slowly healing already.

She looked up and saw all the hybrids in a zombie-like state, "Fuck." she breathed out, she grabbed a nearby branch to use as a weapon.

As one of the hybrids got closer to her she used the branch and stabbed it into his stomach, she felt his blood splatter on her face, but she just kept going.

She moved forward and snapped the branch in half, she dug the branch into two heads, she kept moving forward, ripping out hearts and snapping necks, until she felt someone biting her neck.

She yelled in pain before she mustered up some strength and flipped him over. Now he was on the floor and she was on top of him. She bared her claws and used them to dig into his face making him yell.

Then 'Kaylee' ripped her off the man and threw her against a tree. She felt a branch digging into her stomach but she tried her best ignoring it as she pushed herself off the tree and joining the fight once again.

She bashed Kaylee in the head with a nearby log and then she started turning into a wolf. Maybe with her injuries that wasn't the best idea, but she didn't really care.

Everything felt blurry as she ripped everyone to shreds, even the ones who were already dead, she just kept going until her white fur was a dark red.

She went to attack someone she sensed behind her but when she pushed him down, she stood down, the man seemed familiar to her.

"That's a nice way to be greeted." Klaus said sarcastically, standing up. Then he saw the dead bodies ripped apart, his attention turned to the wolf, that's when he saw her fur covered in red, "You've been busy." he said, half-proud and half-angered she killed his hybrids.

The wolf disappeared as Arielle's human form came into view, "You're fucking crazy hybrids just tried to kill me." she screeched.

"Seems like you beat them to the job."

"Don't joke about this, psycho." she yelled, "I am covered in blood and I feel disgusting, I can't even get ahold of my sister, you daggered my best friend, I haven't felt calm in a really long time, and I just murdered a whole pack of wolves." she snapped.

Arielle wasn't snapping at him, partially yes, but not totally, she had been bottling up emotions for momths now and she was bound to snap at any moment, and that moment was now.

Klaus' eyes seemed to show guilt for a minute, but it was quickly replaced with his usual neutral expression, "So all of this is my fault?"

"Wait." she told him grabbing her stomach, "We can talk about this later."

Klaus scoffed, "No, you blame me because you're a killer, I think we should talk about this now."

Arielle's eyes held tears but they didn't get a chance to spill. She fell, unconscious, before she hit the ground Klaus caught her, and now his eyes held tears, "Love, wake up." he urged.

He knew she wasn't dead, her faint heartbeat was a sign, "Arielle!." he bit into his wrist and put it to her mouth, "Drink, love, you have to drink." he ushered.

His body filled with tension and he relaxed only when he felt her starting to drink from his wrist. He held her a bit closer to his chest as she kept drinking, "That's it, drink up, love." he whispered.

In all honesty, Klaus had grown to care about Arielle the past two months, he had even grown to care about Caroline, but mostly about Arielle. Why? He didn't know, but he knew that something about her kept drawing him in.

Klaus ignored it at first but with everyday passing it got harder to ignore. He hadn't remembered the last time he felt this way about someone, actually he did, but he preferred to keep that someone in the back of his head. And the way he felt about Arielle, didn't compare to anything he'd felt before.

But he kept trying to convince himself that he was simply bored and this was a way for him to entertain himself, but when he heard Arielle saying all those things to him, he felt guilty, guilty because he was the cause for all her hurt, guilty because he knew he had done those things.

And then when he saw Arielle fall unconscious, something inside him clicked, like he lost something valuable to him. He could feel his feelings towards the girl grow everyday, and it scared him because he had no idea how far they would get, or if she even felt the same way.

So maybe that's why he called her a killer when he knew she wasn't one, or why he had dragged her along today instead of letting her go look for her sister. And maybe that's why he acts as if he doesn't care.

But he knows his feelings grow everyday.

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𝐊𝐋𝐀𝐔𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐀𝐑𝐈 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏>>>>>

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