( outfit for
chapter above )

𝔱𝔞𝔩𝔩𝔶 𝔪𝔞𝔯𝔨𝔰
six. — wolf packs!

"Oh God!" Sweat dripped down Letha's back as she panted loudly. She glared at Nik, her breath still coming out in short gasps, "Could you slow down a bit?"

He turned to look at her with a mischievous smirk. Stefan looking as knackered as she was with Ray slung over his shoulder, "I thought dancers were suppose to have good stamina?"

"Not when it included hiking up a mountain, in the peak of summer," she pointed at her nose, a small pout on her lips, "my nose is sunburnt!"

"It's a cute sunburn." Nik raised his hands up in surrender when he noticed the exasperated look on her face.

"Kill me now."

Letha smiled widely at Stefan's remark as she twisted the ring on her finger — used to how snarky he had become over the summer — to be fair she preferred how he was now than how he was before.

"Are most werewolves like the ones in fanfiction?" Letha wondered out loud as she chewed on some sugary strawberry laces — casting a distasteful look in Ray's direction, "You know, like six-foot-five, absolutely ripped, hot as hell."

Both Nik and Stefan turned to her with raised eyebrows, the girl staring off into space dreamily. Klaus shook his head at her antics before turning to Stefan, "You okay? Is Ray getting heavy?"

"I'm fine."

"You sure about that? You know, we've been walking for quite some time now. If you need some water or a little sit-down..." Letha waved her hands about in the air, he'd ignored her pleas for a break. But, no if the vampire needs a rest he gets it.

Stefan stared she'd defiantly, "You know, I get that we're, uh...we're stuck together, but if we could maybe just skip the chitchat, it'd be great."

"So much brooding. Your self-loathing is suffocating you, my friend." Letha didn't mean to but she let out a loud boisterous laugh that startled the two men, she had a distinctly quiet voice and laugh. It was strange to see her laugh so loudly, even she looked surprised.

"Maybe it's 'cause I'm a little tired of hunting werewolves. We've been at it all summer."

"Thanks to our pal Ray, we found ourselves a pack. There." The three finally stopped as they stared at the camp ahead of them.

Letha placed her hands on her knees as she panted, "Oh thank god, it's over."

The entire camps attention shifted focus as Stefan dumped Ray's body on the ground with no care, a woman immediately rushing over, "Ray! Oh, my God. What's going on? Who are you?"

"The important question is who am I." Slightly self obsessed, "Please forgive the intrusion. My name is Klaus."

"You're the hybrid." His wicked grin seemed to grow even wider if that were even possible

"You've heard of me. Fantastic."

—————

Letha was sitting on a rock reading a book and minding her own business as Nik raved on about his plans for global domination. She'd tried to convince him that perhaps if he challenged their alpha for the position in a fight and won with honour, that his hybrids would see him as their true leader and want to become hybrids — no longer beholden to the moon.

But nobody listens to the human.

Nik and Stefan were sat on either side of her in case any of the wolves tried to attack, the wolves all staring at them in fear, "It's fascinating, actually...A werewolf who isn't beholden to the moon, a vampire who doesn't burn in the sun. A true hybrid."

Ray suddenly shot up for air, Letha falling of the log she was on in shock, "Excellent timing, Ray. Very dramatic."

"What's happening to me?" Letha frowned as she bit her nails anxiously, he didn't understand what was happening to him, she knew that feeling all to well.

"Stefan?"

Stefan shot up, his gaze running over the terrified faces, "Are any of you human? Your friend here needs human blood to complete his transition to vampire. If he doesn't get it, he will die."

"Doesn't take much, just a sip. Anyone? A boyfriend, a girlfriend, along for the ride?"

The woman who had ran over to Ray, suddenly stepped forward as she stared Letha down, "What about her?"

"Try it and you'll find your head detached from your body faster than you can blink," the woman blanched in shock at the hybrids reply, his lips forming a grin as he focused in on a man, "You!"

He sped over to him and bit into his forearm. Stefan grabbing him, and throwing him to the ground in front of Ray. The woman started to protest but Klaus strangled her — his eyes still enraged.

"If you don't drink it, Ray, I will. Problem is I don't know how to stop."

Letha placed her earphones in her ears to block out the soon to be sound of screams, the Mamma Mia sound track immediately blasting out. She kept her eyes on her book ignoring the boys and their activities, glancing up for only a second to see Nik; his eyes a vibrant yellow, fangs out, and blood dripping from his mouth.

She hated herself for thinking he looked so hot.

—————

Letha woke up, her earphones still planted in her ears, she was glad that she'd slept in the shade under a tree. She looked around only for her eyes to widen at the sight of Nik's hybrids wandering around aimlessly like zombies with blood dripping from their eyes.

"Nik," she called out hesitantly as they all seemed to focus in on her, and her friends were nowhere nearby, "Stefan?"

Nik suddenly sped in front of her as the two of them watched the hybrids continue to wander about aimlessly, "Bloody hell!"

"I agreed to come with you under the pretences that you were making hybrids, not zombies!" She scowled at him, clinging onto his arm, "I hate zombies."

"They're not zombies."

Suddenly one of the hybrids got a bit to close to them, the woman sniffing the air around them before zeroing in on Letha who Nik pushed behind him, "Careful, love. There's only one Alpha here." The woman suddenly zoomed towards them with a newfound sense of purpose — food — Nik was quick to intercept, shoving his hand through her chest and ripping her heart out, "Stay behind me, sweetheart."

"No arguments here."

The zombie-like hybrids all turned their attention towards the two, Letha gulping in fear as they started towards them. Nik cracked his neck from side to side as he prepared for the fight. She watched on in half horror half awe as he fought. He didn't pause for a second, didn't tire, just continued to take out his own failed creations like they were nothing more than an irritating bit of dirt on the bottom of his shoe. A hybrid threw the original a few feet away from her, the man up again in a second, his eyes shining a brilliant yellow.

A blur ran towards her, an excruciating pain ran through her neck — and then she was in absolute darkness.

Letha Gilbert was dead.

—————

Stefan walked back into the camp, his entire body aching as he carried the dead hybrid over his shoulder. The bite mark on his arm had grown worse and he was almost positive the hallucinations had kicked in when he saw the state of the camp. Dead failed hybrids were strewn about, most having died a violent death, ripped out hearts and torn off heads.

The original hybrid sat in the centre of it all, a body cradled in his arms. Stefan promptly dropped the body he had healed over his shoulder when he noticed the peaceful face of Letha. Her throat had obviously been torn into judging by the amount of blood that covered it, Klaus had obviously tried to feed her his blood as it was smeared around her mouth.

But it was too late.

"They went rabid. Some of them, I killed. The others just...Bled out. In the end...They're all dead." He ran a gentle finger down the side of Letha's face, and could have sworn he felt warmness in her skin, "They killed her. I promised to protect her, and they killed her." He screamed throwing the bottle of beer away from him.

"I did everything I was told!" He regained his composure slightly, hyper focusing on his hybrid problem, as to try and distract himself from the dead girl in his arms, "I should be able to turn them. I broke the curse. I killed a werewolf. I killed a vampire. I killed the doppelgänger." He scoffed as he looked at the young Salvatore, "You look like hell."

"Last I checked, I'm dying...and you don't want to heal me." Klaus simply went back to staring at Letha's face, "I need to take her home — her family — or what's left of it deserve to know and grieve."

Klaus ignored his words, "It should have worked." He took an empty bottle of beer from beside him, biting into his hand and letting his blood drip into the bottle, "Bottoms up. We're leaving." Stefan took the bottle from his outstretched hand, draining it quickly as he tried to avoid looking at the body of his friend, "It appears you're the only comrade I have left."

He gazed sadly at the body in his arms. The little human had managed to worm her way into his life within a few short months. She was a bright light in his dark world, and now she was just gone. As all fragile mortals go.

A sharp breath knocked both men out of their dazes, Letha sitting up frantically gasping in Nik's arms. Grasping at her throat desperately, "Oh my god!"

"Sweetheart, you're okay," Nik pulled her to his chest, running gently fingers through her hair as she slowly stopped thrashing from confusion, "you're okay."

"Am I—," the words got stuck in her throat, "—am I dead?"

"No," surprisingly Stefan was the one to answer, his tone hesitant as he stared down at the large ring on her finger, "where did you get that?"

"Jeremy gave it to me," she stared at it, it was a gaudy ring, but he'd told her that it was important she never took it off, "why?"

Stefan breathed a sigh of relief, "That ring just saved your life."

Letha ran a finger through her extremely knotted hair, wrinkling her nose at the amount of dirt that covered her body, "Well I'm really glad I wore that ring today."

"Me too, love. Me too."

AUTHORS NOTE!
I have been waiting to write this chapter for so long, was so excited for it! What did you guys think?

I'm on fire with updating and my school closed today so expect more. If you're enjoying this story feel free to go check out my new TVD fic 'Descendants' please!

Remember to vote, comment and or share my lovelies! Stay safe!

Unedited
-summer