on her open, spilling wound. "I'm sorry, Aurelia—" Through her wide eyes and her pants at how quickly he'd gained the upper hand, she began to realize why he'd pulled the branch out.

She was only proven right when she felt her chest tear wide open with the serrated bits of the makeshift stake, and could do nothing but croak in defeat when she felt her body begin to dry and shrivel up, the stake in her heart draining it of its life.

Jeremy, puffing and panting himself, stood up and waited a moment for her to die entirely. He didn't feel sorry for protecting his family, but felt sorry for their friendship—which likely evaporated as quickly as he took her life. She'd likely come right for his throat when her infamous ring brought her back.

He shook the thought away as he pulled the stake out of her and pushed her body underneath a nearby car, hidden from passing by strangers that would scream in horror at the desiccated vampire. He'd handle her later. His sister mattered more now.

And he continued the long run, praying that Kol would be there in the twenty or so minutes he'd take to reach.

WHEN HE'D REACHED, HIS HAND REACHED THE GUN in his back pocket, and he switched off the safety, wooden bullets readied to shoot at any ambushing Original Vampire in his out. When Elena appeared, panicked and disappointed, instead, his composure relaxed at the sight of her safe and sound. "I'm sorry—he left." Elena placed a hand on her forehead. "I—I tried to stall as long as I could—" A knock on the closed front door behind Jeremy made him spin around, slightly worried about a murderous Aurelia standing on the other side.

However, he calmed down quickly, figuring that the ring would take more time to revive the supernatural being. "That must be Bonnie. She was right behind me." Elena nodded quickly, walking past him to open the door.

Panic set in once again immediately at the sight of Kol Mikaelson, standing with his head tilted, a smirk dancing on his countenance.

"I've considered your request for a truce." The way he spat out the final word unsettled Elena deeply, and her grip on the door tightened as her anxiety only grew.

His eyes fell upon Jeremy, and the siblings could've sworn there was almost a sparkle there—something sadistic was churning in his mind.

"Request denied." And Elena slammed close the door—not caring if it hit him—she was only focused on yelling at her brother to run for his life, to stall for as long as possible until Bonnie got here.

Kol only laughed with menace.

"I'm sorry!" He shouted, foot planting itself firmly on the barrier of wood to kick it wide open yet again. "I've already been invited in!" His insane grin reduced to a snarl when he saw nothing where the siblings had just been. "Hide and Seek?!" He cackled yet again, stepping into the house. "Fine by me."

THE FIRST THING THAT AURELIA DID when she awoke once again, was gasp like the powers above had stabbed her with the sword of life—and then hit her head when she lifted it. She groaned groggily, rubbing her forehead while she rolled out from underneath the car, furiously muttering swear words under her breath.

The next thing she did was pull out her phone and dial Kol—an incredibly difficult thing to do at her running pace. She'd checked the time, and it had only been about forty minutes since she'd last checked, meaning at least a half hour since she'd died. She had absolutely no idea what had transpired in that half out, and only began to stress out as her fingers failed to swipe on his contact to call him.

When they did, she was immediately greeted by, "The person you are currently trying to reach is on another call.", further agitating her.

"Damn it, Kol!"

"WELL," KLAUS WAS LIGHTHEARTED IN HIS GREETING. "If it isn't the happy homicidal maniac. I'm glad you finally had the sane mind to call me." Kol, who had grown infinitesimally furious and impatient as he searched the entire first floor for the dead siblings, only growled in response.

"Did you know that your darling former blood bag and her brother are trying to kill me?!" He could only yell frustratedly—he was confident he'd get what he wanted, that Hunter's arm severed; he was only an impatient man, and didn't like when his prey ran from him in a situation of this sort.

"...what?" Klaus sounded surprised, but Kol didn't buy it.

"Don't pretend like you're not in on it." He hissed. "Your obsession to find the cure clearly trumps any sibling loyalty you once felt." The venom in his voice only made his victims, who'd been listening to the call from a temporarily safe place, shake slightly in nervousness.

"I don't know what you're talking about—kill you? I haven't orchestrated anything of the sort!"

"I'm going to rip of Jeremy's arm," He increased the volume in his voice, ensuring that the Gilberts, wherever they were, would hear him. "And kill Elena just for sport. Then, I'm coming for you." As he circled back to the front of the house, where a staircase had been sitting, he cut the call and almost instantly made eye contact with the brunette Elena, who stood at the very top with a crossbow in hand.

She didn't hesitate to shoot it at his leg in an attempt to slow him down, and he groaned quietly at the flinching pain, left leg buckling slightly under the impact.

When he'd pulled out the wooden arrow from his shin, he looked back up at the staircase—she was gone again, but his search was narrowed to the top floor of the house now. For the last few minutes, he'd combed through every corner of the first floor like a storm, flipping over chairs and tables to catch any hiding prey.

It didn't take long for him to find her upstairs, bedroom door slamming shut—he laughed at that.

As if that would stop him.

"Elena Gilbert!" His voice cracked through the air like a whip. "You're going to die either way! And the more you delay it, the angrier I get! Who knows," He kicked at the bedroom door, which seemed to be supported by a heavy piece of furniture on her end. "I might even compel you to do what I want to your brother!" With another kick, there was a loud tumble, and the door opened easily.

She wasn't there either, and his rage was reaching its very peak.

The bathroom was his next stop, and it was locked. He only grinned with malice, shoving his fist right through the weak wooden material, allowing it to splinter apart. She wasn't there either; he could see through the large hole he'd created.

Taking a quick glance at her room to ensure she wasn't hiding there, he figured she'd gone running to protect her helpless little brother. When he'd opened the door and walked into the bathroom, there was another on the opposite side. Likely leading into another bedroom.

Without hesitation, he'd stormed right through it, kicking it open, and he could, he really could feel himself light up at the sight of not one, but both of his victims standing there on guard, as if the stake gun they wielded was of any match to him.

And when Jeremy shot at him, he proved that right, effortlessly catching the stake in the palm of his hand.

"Missed!" He taunted loudly, and caught another stake in his right hand just as easily, forcing Jeremy and Elena to run as quickly, the woman shouting for her brother to save himself. His eyes only stalked them as they made their way back into the common hallway.

Pfft. That'll do something.

His sarcastic thoughts were interrupted by a—many gunshots, and piercing stings throughout his chest, which pulled back by the sheer force of the bullets digging into his flesh with hot pain. Pain that, of course, barely did anything but piss him off more.

Looking straight at the brunette that held the gun in his direction, Kol only smiled for a second, and decided that was enough.

He sent the stake flying right towards Elena, making her cry out in agony as the little weapon impaled her thigh—likely her femur, too—rather painfully. She fell straight to her knees, unable to stand her ground in the face of such a weapon.

Once she pulled it out, she looked upwards, and he'd disappeared. "Shit." She mumbled, scrambling to pull the stake out to attend to her brother, who was running down the hallway to leave the house as quickly as he could. Their plan seemed to be faltering in the face of such a ferocious Original, who seemed more stubborn-minded and ruthless than his siblings.

Kol appeared quickly in front of the Gilbert boy, fist swinging in a right hook that the Hunter hadn't expected, not with its sheer force and brutality, that sent him reeling and coiling in shock and pain.

Before he could react with a counterstrike, Kol swiftly held onto his clothes and swung his body in the direction of the staircase—he thumped on each little platform, further bruising and breaking his body with each impact.

Elena, who'd caught up with the pair, had no choice but to attack Kol before her brother was injured even further—and she jumped right on his back, though with helplessness and futility. He readily grasped onto her arm, which had been around his throat, and threw her against a wall, shattering her shoulder plate. She shook from the shock for only a moment, but that was all he needed to pull out one of the railing posts and push it right through her abdomen, causing her to gasp, choke and cough loudly as her stomach tore to shreds under the post's splinters. She was immobilized, helpless, unable to do anything but scream and protest as the Original pulled up her little brother again.

Kol, however, allowed himself to indulge in his sadistic thoughts as he looked at the Hunter. "Now... about that arm."

"COME ON, COME ON, COME ON!" AURELIA PUSHED herself to the absolute limits of her vampiric speed, trying to find Elena's house from the unfamiliar direction in the maze of residential buildings and gardens.

"NOW, LIKE I SAID," KOL, FOR THE FIRST TIME, WAS calm and peaceful with the way he spoke. He felt like he was doing an arts and crafts project in school—what, with the tape and rope tying down the bound-up Jeremy Gilbert on the kitchen island. He cracked a small laugh as he watched the young boy struggle unsuccessfully against his restraints. "I don't fancy the Hunter's Curse, so I'm just going to chop off your arm—" He spoke as if he was talking about an ingredient to put in a recipe, so casual and certain. "But don't your worry, darling. I'll heal you right up with a little bit of blood after."

And he grinned, pulling out a cleaver from the cute little knife block decorating one side of the sink.

"Sorry about the sting, though." Absolutely unapologetic in his tone, Kol feigned a look of pity, using his free hand to hold the shaking boy down. The brown-haired vampire took a small pause and let his gaze switch between both of his arms, a quick look of confusion passing his features.

Of course, he couldn't see the Hunter's Mark.

"It's situations like this where you'd need dearest Aurelia." He drawled, tossing the cleaver up and down with his right hand. "At least then, I'd know which arm to cut off."

Jeremy only closed his eyes in defeat, bracing for the impact.

"No worries," The Original raised his handy little weapon in the air, preparing to use all his force to bring it straight down at the very top of Jeremy's upper arm. "I'll chop off both, just to be safe."

It was exactly then, it had to be exactly then, when pesky Elena Gilbert had figured out how to get out of her immobilized state upstairs—Kol, much to his displeasure, discovered his as he was suddenly pushed back against another counter by her, eyes red and fangs bared in fury over her little brother.

Jeremy, by then, took his chance and ripped out of one of his bonds, easily loosing the other to let his left arm free, and practically jumped out of the counter—sprinting towards the sink.

As he'd discovered from an unfortunate incident in the morning with Elena, the mayor had ordered that vervain be dumped into the water supply of Mystic Falls.

So, he grabbed onto the spray hose and pulled with all his might, facing it in the direction of Kol, who only a few feet away, looked like he would tear Elena's head off. "Elena, move!"

And Elena speedily obliged, allowing Jeremy to spray the Original in the face and neck with a pressurized stream of the laced water, causing his flesh to turn raw and red, the pain searing through his exposed, mangled nerves. Kol could only cry out; his eyes were hit too.

He'd barely noticed that Elena had taken out the white oak stake he'd hidden—rather badly—in his jacket, and thrown it to her younger brother. "Jeremy, NOW!" She shouted, moving out of the way once again to give her brother a steady path.

And before he knew it, the vervain's effect disappeared in front of the white oak stake, that was plunged straight into his chest without mercy. Kol screamed, his voice ripping through all the walls, all the windows, all the hallways in the house, as he came face-to-face with the Grim Reaper, coming to collect his ransom.

And that was it—he burst right into flames, body burning and searing yet again with a different kind of pain—reflected in his eyes.

The pain of knowing he was going to die.

He could only shout and shriek more, body thudding against the counters as he stumbled forward to escape from death's clutches with futility. He'd hoped, truly hoped, that this was all some sort of dream.

He could barely make it out of the kitchen before he fell right to his knees, where the kitchen met the foyer leading to the front door.

And he looked up, meeting the eyes of a horrified Aurelia standing in the open doorway.

He couldn't bring himself to say anything—he couldn't in his sheer agony and distress.

"KOL!" He could hear her scream pierce through his eardrums painfully, her scream of shock, her scream of grief. It cracked through the hallway in what would've been an echo—if his screams had stopped. "KOL, OH DEAR GOD!"

And they did, turning to groans, muffled moans, and eventually croaks as his chest hit the floor. As he felt his fingers begin to weaken, fall out of his domain of dexterity and control, and turn grey, he felt his body become increasingly numb.

In the real world, it would've been mere seconds—in his emotional conscious, his fear of death turned those seconds into hours. In those hours, he felt a distant touch, a distant grasp on his body, lifting him up into someone's lap. He heard a distant cry, a distraught cry, a cry of complete and utter anguish—of his name, of something he'd claimed for his millennium of life.

But it felt as though everything he'd claimed was slipping through his desiccating fingers, and he was too helpless to hold onto it.

His life was his everything, and it was slipping away.

"Aurelia!" Elena was screaming, too, for Aurelia to get away from his burning body, begging for her to avoid scorching herself from his death.

In his last breaths, he could no longer feel the flames, but he could still hear Aurelia's grief-stricken sobs, her loud cries, and her heart tearing itself apart as she began to lose the man she held so close to her soul. "KOL, GOD, PLEASE!" Aurelia, who was practically hyperventilating from the sight on her lap cast spells to try and dissipate the flames in her moment of insanity, struggled and scoured her mind to think of some way, any way she could stop this. He didn't think he'd heard her call for the man in the sky this much before, and he was sure her cries were much more than he could register, the world around him fading fast and turning to black. "THIS IS NOT HOW YOU DIE, DAMN IT, KOL!"

He forced himself to look up at her, to move, to reach for her countenance in his numbness—he'd tried, so desperately, to beg the Grim Reaper for another moment, just another moment to do what he wanted to do—to fight his imminent and everlasting sleep for just another moment.

And Aurelia paused a mere second, her cheeks covered in tear streaks, her mouth open in horror, her lip quivering in grief, as she felt Kol's quickly greying hand place itself on her cheek lovingly—but his face was losing its life all too quickly. "No, no, no, no, no, NO! NO!"

She could only cry and sob and beg for him to stay, even as he weakly smiled at her before he closed his eyes to the cold embrace of death.

"KOL!" She howled, feeling her tears spill faster and with more magnitude, pulling his body up to hug it, entirely ignoring the reduced, smaller flames that she'd failed to get rid of.

She couldn't care if she burned.

"PLEASE, KOL! PLEASE!" She wailed, her soul pouring out in her voice. "COME BACK, OH GOD!" And she sobbed, choked on her tears, squeezing her eyes shut—she couldn't bear it all, the suddenness of his passing away. "PLEASE! COME BACK TO ME!"

God, why didn't she run faster? Why?

"NO! NO, NO, NO, NO!" Aurelia couldn't take it all, the overwhelming feeling forcing itself down her throat, clogging up her lungs, as she cried and hiccupped, arms clutching his body close to her chest in despair, in denial. "PLEASE! DON'T DO THIS TO ME!"

Elena and Jeremy only watched with pitiful expressions and sorrowful postures, backed away onto the kitchen island—but when Elena heard, through Aurelia's begs and shrieks, a set of footsteps stumble and stop at the door, she looked up—as did Jeremy.

WHEN KLAUS MIKAELSON WALKED THE PATH OF THE lawn leading up to the Gilbert House, furious and on a mission, he'd heard it first. Aurelia's howls of complete and utter grief.

He'd initially ignored why she was there—her scream brought out his fight-or-flight response. He was there for Kol and the apparent conspiracy to murder him, but when he'd heard her, he lost all sense and bolted straight for the door.

At first, he'd thought they'd done something to her, further fueling his blind rage—and he found himself at the barrier of their open doorway in an instant, seething and snarling at whomever dared to hurt the woman he'd taken in and cared for so deeply.

But he looked on, with wide eyes, as Aurelia sat on her knees at the other end of the hallway next to the stairs, screaming for the cold body she held in her embrace helplessly. He couldn't remember when he last saw her like that.

Or if he ever had.

And when he realized, not even a second later, that it was Kol, he saw red, and his narrow eyes darted towards the Gilbert siblings, who were standing there. "What did you do?" He asked in a low voice, almost like that of a growl, one that only told them he had murder on his mind.

"We d—didn't have a choice!" Elena stepped ahead of her brother, shielding him in a way—although Klaus couldn't have gotten in without his permission. "He was trying to cut of Jeremy's arm! A—And you said you were going to put him down, too!"

"LIES!" The Original Hybrid's animalistic thunder silenced everyone but the distraught Aurelia, who'd already been becoming quieter and quieter. "He never would've gotten inside if you hadn't set a trap for