thirty-one

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Monster

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THEY HAD LOST another member of their little group. Damon. Athena really didn't care but it seemed wrong to ignore the warning that each and every one of them would be picked off. Caroline had updated them on the events going on in Mystic Falls and they updated her on their events. Klaus was still trapped in the Gilbert house which relieved them. If Klaus got out, he would come to the island and would no doubt try to beat them to the cure. And there was a chance that he would.

Athena hadn't forgotten what he had said to her, so the pain it caused was still there. But over the past few weeks, observing the others, she had learned how to cover it up. Rebekah was awfully good at it, as was Stefan. She didn't want to have to cover all of her pain and sadness for long. Maybe when she found him, she wouldn't have to. That would be amazing.

Unfortunately, Athena was forced to work with Elena as they worked to find the cure without the rest of their crew. Rebekah had been trying to receive cell service for the past ten minutes with no progress. Stefan and Elena sat nearby, talking. She didn't bother listening, but Athena knew her sister was.

It didn't take much time to realize that Rebekah still had feelings for Stefan. The only question was: how far would those feelings go? Athena didn't want her sister to get hurt, and that seemed like the only result at this point. With Elena in the picture still, Rebekah could never be with him. No matter what the Salvatore brother said, he wouldn't be over Elena in a long time.

What pushed her past her limits was when Athena glanced over to see Elena smiling at Stefan, holding his hand. Rebekah looked pained and so she took the moment to grabbed her hand, drawing her attention. A smile crossed Athena's face and Rebekah sighed, doing the same.

Suddenly, Athena's phone rang which shocked her. Pulling out her phone, she saw it was Caroline. "Caroline?"

"Athena! We have the translation of the tattoo. We're emailing you pictures of the map and instructions right now."

Rebekah looked surprised as well and Athena checked her phone to see a notification. She nodded even though Caroline couldn't see it. "Email received. Thank you, Caroline."

"Actually, it was me," someone called out through the phone.

Both sisters rolled their eyes when they heard Klaus's voice. Athena scoffed. "You? You helped?"

"You sound so surprised, little sister."

Athena made a face and began to walk along the shoreline, Rebekah following. Rebekah spoke up, "Shouldn't we be? I mean, you don't want me to be human, and you don't want Athena to find her true love. Why would you help us find the cure?"

"Maybe I finally realized the longer I stand in the way of what you both want, the longer the two of you will continue to hate me. Perhaps I want my sisters to finally know happiness."

They exchanged another surprised look. Klaus was being genuine, at least he sounded so. Athena believed him. Klaus so rarely lied, although recently that was put to the test. Perhaps it was because they both desperately wanted to be happy and wouldn't question it if he gave them the opportunity. "You better not be lying, Nik."

"No more fooling. No more games. Rebekah, I hope you get to live and die, as you wish. Athena, I hope you get to find your soulmate and live happily with your wolves." Neither of them said anything, still not sure if he was tricking them or not. Or maybe he just had another motive.  "There is one more thing. There is only one dose of the cure. You need to find it first and take it. It's the only way you'll-"

Both of them stood shell-shocked as someone ended the call. Rebekah began to panic and Athena quickly stuffed her phone back in her pocket. "Calm down. If anyone finds out, we're screwed even more than we already are."

She nodded in response and then took a deep breath. Within an hour, they had begun to make the trip to find the cure once more. They were working their way up a cliff when Elena spoke up. "What did Caroline say?"

It was directed towards Athena. She shrugged. "I'm not too sure. The signal dropped before she could tell me much of anything. The map says it should be this way."

They stopped at the edge of a cliff, looking down. Athena peered back down at her phone. "Alright, all we have to do is jump down, and then work our way across."

Elena looked over at them. "Wait, wait. Um...maybe you should leave the map behind. In case you fall, you don't want anything to happen to the phone."

An eye roll was earned by the Mikaelson sisters. Rebekah shook her head in disbelief. "Are we doing this again? I thought we were a team?"

"Guys, we don't have time for this," Stefan interrupted. "Elena, you go first. We'll be right behind you."

The doppelganger seemed suspicious of them which wasn't good. But Elena ended up taking the heap off the edge, landing at the bottom. She looked back up just when Stefan was about to jump. Athena stopped him and sighed. "There's something you should know about the cure."

"Klaus told us there was only one dose," Rebekah revealed.

Stefan's eyebrows knitted. It was the right thing to do because Stefan deserved to know. He deserved to take the only dose of the cure, not Elena. Rebekah was willing to give it up for him if he wanted it for himself. "So you're sure that Klaus is telling the truth? That there's only one dose of the cure?" The two nodded. "Well, I guess that's what happens when you're dumb enough to hold out hope."

"There's still hope for one of us," Rebekah pointed out. "But even if I felt pity for you, if I wanted to ease your pain so I gave you the cure to take for yourself, you'd give it to Elena, wouldn't you?"

When there was no response, Athena could feel her sister's sadness and hurt rolling off in waves. She put a comforting hand on her shoulder and spoke to Stefan. "I'm sorry it had to come to this, Stefan."

He was clearly confused and Athena snapped his neck, letting his body fall to the floor. Without sparing another second, to two went flashing to the caves where the map said the cure was. Rebekah looked upset still and Athena attempted to cheer her up. "Look, Bex, if he is going to risk his life for Elena, then let him. It's his fault if he dies."

Rebekah nodded and then they entered the cave to see an unfamiliar guy with Damon tied up, blood coating his neck. He smiled at them. "You don't know my friends." The two looked over at the guy. "Or my enemies."

The guy pointed a gun at them cautiously. Damon looked unimpressed. "Are we gonna dance or are we gonna play?"

"He can't hurt us, Damon," Athena reminded. "Not unless he has the white oak stake, which he doesn't."

"Oh, he doesn't, but he's got other toys," the guy replied.

He shot Rebekah 3 times, one bullet hitting her heart which temporarily killed her. Athena flashed to him and grabbed his throat, pushing him to the side of the cave. The next move he made was unexpected. He stuck a grenade to her chest that had wooden spike protruding from it. Athena looked down at it and was about to attack him when he pulled the fuse. All of the wooden spikes pierced her body and she temporarily died, falling to the ground.

Time had passed and after Damon was released from Stefan, he made his way over to the Mikaelson girls. He pulled the wooden spike out of Athena. Once the last one was pulled, she gasped and began to wake up. Athena let out a painful sigh and rolled to her back to look up at him.

"Damon? How are alive?"

He shrugged. "The Savior saved me."

She closed her eyes for a moment and then opened then back up. "You didn't go with them. Why?"

"Needed a siesta."

Lie. Athena pressed a hand to her forehead. "You gave up."

Damon groaned painfully and then sat up. "I didn't give up. I just realized...you can't control everything...no matter how hard you try. Let's just say I made peace with that fact."

Athena held her back with one hand as it healed slowly and then set up. Rebekah still lied nearby, the bullet still in her heart. "You do know that if Elena becomes human, her feelings for you might vanish. That isn't peace."

"Life sucks. Get a helmet."

To his surprise, she smiled and laughed slightly. "Now that's the Damon that I used to know. Selfless. I would say you're on the road to becoming a halfway decent person. Don't screw it up."

Damon didn't say anything back and her laugh died out, her smile falling. She looked away from him and then went over to Rebekah. Athena pulled out the bullet and then waited for her sister to wake up. How stupid was she to think that Damon wouldn't hate her anymore? It didn't matter to her though, but that didn't mean that it didn't hurt. She had become a monster and she had to learn to deal with that.

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We're so close to the end of this book, I'm so excited! :)

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