Hunted

prologue

I remember that night as clear as day. Almost as if it was five minutes ago, instead of five months. I doubted that the void in my soul will ever be filled again. The day I lost the last of my family was the day I just gave up on life. I couldn't eat or sleep for weeks on end, but now slowly but surely the gaping hole in my chest- where my heart is supposed to be- grew smaller and smaller, it was just a dull ache now. In it's place was vengeance, anger coursed through my veins and I wouldn't be satisfied until the monster that killed my brother was dead.

His death still haunts me. Every time I close my eyes, the pain and horror consumes me. It was just supposed to be a normal hunt, a rogue vamp had been eating their way through Maine. It was supposed to be a clean kill- my first kill. It's my fault he's dead.

"Thunderstruck, yeah yeah yeah, thunderst- hey don't turn it off, I was listening to that!" I chastised as the radio -and my singing- was rudely cut off by my brother, Michael. Glaring at him, I turned it back on and continued with my amazing air guitaring.

"You're seventeen, Lex. Don't normal girls your age listen to One Direction or something." He joked, turning the radio down.

"Since when have I ever been normal, Mike." I said a little mockingly and turned up the radio once more. "Besides, I know you love my singing."

"Said by nobody ever, Lex. You sound like a dying cat."

"Hey!" I said, putting my hand over my heart in feign hurt. Quickly snapping out of it, I laughed and cheekily retorted, "A lovable dying cat."

"Yeah, yeah. Now quiet, we're almost there. Listen, don't be reckless, you've trained your entire life for this. Its your first time out in the field so I'll be there to back you up. It's one vamp, I'm sure you'll be fine." It always amazed me how Michael, although my step brother, snapped into big brother mode so quickly.

"I know Mike, I'll kick it's ass."

Mere minutes later, Mike parked the Mustang on the side of the road near a dilapidated warehouse. Five minutes later, we were geared up with wooden stakes and guns with wooden bullets, laced with werewolf toxin. Either way, the vamp wouldn't survive.

The moon had just peeked out from the horizon and the air was crisp, biting into my exposed cheeks as we walked towards the eery building. The door creaked as I opened it and the the only sounds filling the air were those of our footsteps.

The room we had entered had a hallway branching out to the left, doors lined both sides of it's walls. I moved swiftly and quietly, Michael right behind me, opening each door to be greeted with nothing. We had spent weeks on this case and we were certain that the bloodsucker was in here.

"Dammit!" I shouted as I stormed off to the room we first came into. "I was so certain he was here!"

"Relax, we'll find him and you'll kill your vampire. Just be patient." My back was turned away from him as I ran my hands through my hair. Before I could reply, another voice rang out from behind me.

It mockingly said, "Patience? You'll need a lot more than patience to kill me."

As I turned I heard a strangled cry escape from my brother's mouth and came face to face with a blond haired vampire, with dark veins beneath its eyes, attatching it's fangs to Michael's neck. I stood there, in shock, reading about monsters was a hell lot less scarier than seeing them. Quickly I snapped out of my trance and grabbed my stake. The vamp was too occupied with sucking my brother's blood and didn't notice me sneak up behind him. I drove the stake through his heart, just as Mikey taught me, but nothing happened. I drove it deeper into his back but nothing happened. He continued to drain the life from my brother until his body slumped forward onto the floor.

Tears streaked down my face as I realised, my entire family had been slaughtered by the supernatural. I couldn't save them. I couldn't even kill a single vampire. I couldn't kill the thought that it was all my fault. I couldn't kill that thought because in a way, it was.

"Stupid bloodsucker!" I screamed and charged at him, only to be stopped and thrown against one of the concrete walls.

"Well you're certainly human, definitely aren't Katherine, and there's no way that you're Elena. Who are you?" Queried the vampire as he came closer to me. I shot off my gun, aiming between the eyes but even that didn't stop him. His hand closed around my neck and he held me against the wall, his eyes a gleaming gold and inky veins branching out beneath them. His head tilted towards my chest, hearing my heartbeat beating at an alarming rate.

"My, my, another doppelganger." His English accent was thick and intrigued about something but I had no clue as to what. He looked me straight in the eyes, trying to compel me as his irises grew and shrunk repetitively. "A hunter even. Now tell me who you are and why you're here?"

I ingested vervain so it wouldn't work on me but I decided to play along in hopes that he wouldn't kill me.

"My name is Alexia Jameson. My brother and I came here on a vamp hunt." I answered what he had asked honestly, he hadn't told me to be quiet so I pushed my luck and asked, "Who are you?"

He obviously found this amusing and decided to humor me, "My name is Elijah." He smirked at me as he loosened his hold around my neck, "A stupid bloodsucker."

Before I could reply he looked me in the eyes and said coldly, "You will forget everything that happened here today. Your brother was killed by a rogue vampire that ran away. You couldn't stop it, it wasn't your fault" he stood there for a moment, inspecting my face before mumbling, "Two doppelgangers in a year, impossible." and speeding off.

For weeks, I was crippled with my brothers death. Now, I was stronger, indifferent to the world. All I wanted was to kill that stupid vamp that killed my brother, and find out what the fuck he meant by me being a doppelganger, who Elena and Katherine are and where to find them. So for the last four months, three week and six days, I have been doing research on this Elijah. On the legends of unkillable vampires, and doppelgangers. I found almost nothing. All that I discovered was a town, that was supposedly filled to the brim with vampires. Maybe they could help. So here I was, on the road again, heading towards Beacon Hills.