Unstoppable | The Vampire Diaries

56. Blood Runner

Matt and Riley ran through the woods. It was quiet, tranquil. The only thing that made it absolutely terrifying was the fact that they were being followed by hordes of newbie vampires who were trying to kill them. Klaus's idea was that this would spark some hunter instincts in Jeremy.

Matt stopped and hid behind a tree, pulling Riley alongside him. When he turned around, a vampire appeared, sinking their teeth into his neck.

"Matt!" Riley screamed in shock. Suddenly, the vampire's body went completely still, before it fell over, revealing Jeremy standing behind him with a crossbow. Matt clutched his neck, sinking to the ground.

"Are you OK?" Jeremy asked worriedly.

"Yeah," Matt lied. "I just need a second." A twig snapped a few feet away and Riley almost gave herself whiplash as she turned quickly towards the source of the noise.

"We don't have a second," Jeremy reminded them. "They can smell your blood."

There was a noise behind Jeremy. Quickly he grabbed his crossbow and aimed it towards the vampire. Fortunately, said vampire was Damon.

"Don't hesitate!" he reminded Jeremy. "You're lucky it was me, otherwise you'd all be dead. Now you have two seconds to get ready to fight."

"This is idiotic," Riley said. "Even if Jeremy could take out more than one vampire at a time -which he can't! – there are still another 10 out here that have been compelled to kill me and Matt!"

"The lake house," Jeremy blurted. "If we can get there, they won't be able to get inside."

Damon turned to Jeremy with an annoyed look. "Wait, you want to run?"

"They're going to kill Matt and Riley," Jeremy repeated, knowing that there was no other choice. Even with his new hunter strength and his abundance of weapons, he couldn't kill all the vampires and he refused to be responsible for his friends' deaths.

Damon hesitated, looking at the fear in Riley's eyes and the blood dripping from Matt's neck. "Fine. Get out of here. I'll slow them down."

Riley helped Matt up from the ground. As they were about to run, Damon grabbed Riley's arm.

"Be careful."

She looked him in the eyes and nodded. "You too."

Then they ran, splitting up in the process. Riley didn't allow herself to look around for the guys, running as fast as she could until she could see the lake house in the distance. But as she got closer, she tripped and fell, faceplanting the ground underneath. A vampire grabbed her and flipped her over, clinging onto her foot and dragging her closer to him. When he leaned down to bite her, Riley positioned her feet onto the vamp's chest, using her hands to cover her face and neck.

All of a sudden, there was a cracking sound. Cautiously, Riley removed her hands from her face to see Elena standing above her.

"Elena?"

"Are you OK?" Elena asked, helping her up from the ground. Before Riley could answer, Matt and Jeremy came running over from further in the woods. "Oh my God," Elena said under her breath when she saw the blood on Matt's neck.

"Get to the house!" Jeremy shouted. "Hurry!"

They all followed him without hesitation, escaping into the sanctuary of the lake house, where no uninvited vampire could enter.

***

"Sun's up," Jeremy announced the next morning. Elena was cleaning Matt's neck wound and Riley was practically asleep on the sofa. "They're long gone."