My Return (Vampire Diaries) (Book Seven)

Kill 'Em All

I was in the woods, on the phone with Stefan and Damon. 

"How's it going?" Damon asked.

"Ric and I finished off the ones in Huntsville and Birmingham."

"Oh, good," Stefan told me. "Overachiever."

"Someone taking out their aggression because the werewolf left the vampire because her crazy family?" Damon asked. 

I rolled my eyes. "Of course Ric told you. Well, my crazy family is the authority on being hated. So why don't you tell me how to deal with the situation?"

"Still mad, huh?" Stefan asked.

"Would hanging up on you two be answer enough? Who's next on my hit-list?"

"You don't get another name on your hit-list, Nikki, because you're not longer working with Ric, which means that you would have to kill the vampires yourself, and to kill the vampires yourself, you would turn into the Huntress," Stefan told me. "I'm going after a bloodsucker from the Age of Enlightenment. Ended up in a MMA fighter. Dropping bodies all through the Palmetto State."

"Doesn't sound very enlightened."

"That's why I'm partnering Stef up with Donovan," Damon told me.

"Matt?" Stefan asked. "He wants me dead. He released Rayna to kill me."

"You never did explain that, by the way."

"Yeah, because it's a long story," Stefan told us.

"I don't have time for a short story, Stefan," Damon told him. "Listen, you two figure out your differences while killing this MMA fighter."

"Oh, I guess I don't really have much of a choice, do I?" Stefan asked.

"Nicola, answering your question about how to deal with being hated, three little words," Damon told me. "Just don't care."

"It's funny coming from a guy working so hard to save his friend's life. If you won't give me the next name on the list, what the hell am I supposed to do?"

"Why don't you go check on Bonnie and Rayna at Enzo's cabin?" Stefan asked. "Pretty sure they're overdue for some visiting time."

"Oh, so now I gotta go see the Huntress that wants to make me into her twin?"

"Nikki..." Stefan trailed off.

I sighed. "Fine. But you owe me. Big time."

I hung up, getting into my car, driving away.

               ~~~~~~~ 

I walked into Enzo's cabin.

Rayna was sitting in front of the fireplace, wrinkling up a piece of paper, throwing it into the fire. "Goodbye, Desmond."

I closed the door.

Rayna looked at me in surprise.

"See the crazy train has moved topside," I told her.

"Considering I'm giving up my life, I figured it qualified me for an upgrade from the storm cellar," Rayna told me.

"Personally, I would've negotiated for the penthouse suite in Paris and dinner at the best restaurant in town where I would've ordered one of everything and had the most expensive bottle of wine and champagne," I told her.