Gilbert Twins [1 - Twins Series]

21 - Promised Land

Book: Gilbert Twins
Chapter 21: Promised Land
Word Count: 2372

No one's POV

Markos and the other travelers had Ariana chained up to the wall. Her wrists were bleeding badly. Buckets caught the blood as it fell. Stefan, Elena, and Nathan were all kept elsewhere in the compound, in separate rooms.

Suddenly, Markos entered the room Ariana was being held in with a glass of blood in hand. He tipped it up to her lips and she took a drink of the crimson liquid.

"You have enough." She choked out weakly, her voice very unsteady, before speaking again in a more steady and firm tone. "Let me go!" Markos took a knife and slit Ariana's wrist right down the middle, causing her to scream out.

"I'll have enough when you can no longer speak." Markos then turned and left, closing the door behind him.

---

In Ariana's room, the door opened once again. She saw a figure, who she assumed to be Markos, and she started trembling in fear. Finally, her vision focused, and she was surprised to see Stefan, Elena, and Nathan all stood in front of her.

"Guys..."

"A..." Elena whispered in a worried tone, before the room suddenly grew dark for Ariana.

---

After escaping from the traveler's camp, Stefan, Ariana, Nathan, and Elena were walking along a desolate road, trying to make their way back to Mystic Falls. They saw an eighteen wheeler pass by. They tried to get the driver to pick them up, but they failed.

"God. I feel like an idiot!" Elena exclaimed.

"Ditto." Nathan agreed.

"Do that thing again; the vamp thing." Ariana grinned, turning to Stefan.

"No. I don't want to do that, come on. You know it's embarrassing." Stefan muttered.

"Come on!" Ariana pleaded. "Please?"

"Sure." Stefan tried to speed off using his vampire abilities, but he hardly got a few feet before his ability stopped working. Ariana pouted and crossed her arms, looking unimpressed.

"It was funnier the first time."

"Yeah, well... you were delirious the first time." Stefan chuckled.

"How many, uh, you know... are we suppose to have before we get our strength back?" Elena wondered, the 'you know' meaning animals.

"More than we've had, that's for sure. Let me know if you see a damn buffalo." Stefan responded. Yes, to bring their strength up until they got back home, they were all doing the bunny diet for the day.

"This is depressing." Elena commented.

"Yeah. More depressing than walking for miles and not knowing where the hell you're going?" Stefan murmured.

"No... probably not more depressing than that."

"Damon is in full-hero mode today." Nathan changed the subject.

"I'm sure he was thrilled about that." Ariana chuckled.

"I don't know... he had the whole 'savior of the universe' voice going on." Nathan shrugged.

"I like that voice." Ariana found herself smiling, and the four of them continued strolling down the road, throwing in small talk every now and then.

---

Stefan, Ariana, Nathan, and Elena continued their trek back to Mystic Falls.

"I think I just hallucinated a unicorn." Elena mentioned.