Humanity 4 "The Rivalry"

Chapter 18

ASHLEY’S POV

“Pull over.” Elena tells me as we drive down the street of a small town.

I’m mad at Damon and I know that he’s probably mad at me too after I tricked him and stole his car. But he should be happy that I didn’t let Elena or Rebekah drive it. They would have probably tried to crash it on purpose.

Unfortunately, it ran out of gas and we had to leave it on the side of some road. I did park it carefully and make sure it was all good before leaving it behind.

I’m not too crazy about driving around in a stolen car. But is it really stolen if Rebekah compelled someone to let us have it?

“Why are we stopping?” Rebekah asks Elena.

“We’ve searched 3 cities in the last 24 hours. I’m sick of top 40 radio, and I smell like leather.” Elena answers rudely as I pull off to the side of the road and put the car in park.

“And that’s my fault? Ashley’s the one who stole the list of Katherine’s possible whereabouts.” Rebekah says angrily, turning to face me. “Did you ever think that Damon had bad information?”

“Have I mentioned I can’t stand the sound of your voice?” I ask her rudely. Being with these two is really starting to piss me off. All they do is bicker and it’s starting to rub off on me.

“Too bad. We’re not done. Next town.” Rebekah orders me as Elena opens the door and gets out of the car.

“Not yet. I’m hungry.” Elena says, walking towards a girl putting stuff into her car.

“We’re not here for a pub crawl, Elena.” I say, getting out of the car and following her. I’d really rather her not make a scene.

“I want the cure, Katherine has it. We don’t stop until we find it.” Rebekah adds as the two of us walk over to Elena.

The girl that Elena is watching, finishes putting a bag into her car and then turns to see Elena standing right behind her. She jumps a little bit but smiles.

“Oh my god. You startled me.” She says softly.

“Did I?” Elena asks. Before anyone can react, Elena vamps out and goes for the girl’s neck.

“Katherine, what are you doing?” The girl asks and my neck snaps up. Katherine?

“You know me?” Elena asks, pulling away from her.

“Of course. And I know most people around here prefer you to feed from the neck, but I asked you to drink from my wrist, remember?” The girls says obliviously.

The girl pulls her sleeve back to reveal two bite marks on her wrist. Katherine is somewhere in this town.

“Oh my god.” I whisper.

“The conniving little bitch compelled the whole town.” Rebekah says, laughing to herself.

“I think we just found Katherine.” Elena says, looking over at me and Rebekah with a smile. I nod and Elena turns back to the girl. “What’s my full name?”

“Katherine Pierce.” The girl answers.

“How do you know Katherine?” Rebekah asks, walking closer to her.

“How do I know who?” She asks.

“Me. How do you know me?” Elena asks.

“Small town, everybody knows everybody.” The girl answers, looking at Elena.

“So everyone here knows Katherine?” Rebekah tries again.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know who you’re talking about.” The girl responds.