Beauty and A Beast (ON HOLD)

Prologue

 The blood moon was almost at its peak. Five minutes from then, she would arrive. They had to get it right. If one thing went wrong, they would all end up dead. 

Everything was in place; the stake in the middle of the pentagram in the middle of the clearing in the forest. Herbs mixed with the blood of the original vampires were splayed about the area as the supernatural residents of Mystic Falls waited in the shadows. 

A twig snapped in the distance; the silence amplifying the sound around them. Bonnie squeezed Jeremy’s hand in fear, knowing that each minute brought her closer to doing the most unspeakable thing she had ever done. She couldn’t understand how the Mikaelson’s were keeping so calm. They, like all of them there, had been the girl’s friends, some even more so. Yet there they were, waiting like predators for their prey. 

A small gust of wind blew through the clearing, causing everyone to tense as their panicked eyes scanned the area. They waited as the leaves in the trees around them settled, like they had never been disturbed. 

Bonnie looked around each of the points where the others were stationed; Elena and Damon, Caroline and Tyler, Stephan and Elijah, Kol and Klaus, all at points around the edge of the forest forming a pentagram to trap her. It would be then, when she had entered the clearing, that the Originals would hold her whilst the rest strapped her to the stake, only to burn her to the pits of hell from whence she came. But despite the eventful year they had all been through, despite every little situation, it still didn’t feel right to be doing this to her. To their friend. Though Bonnie knew that she was no longer their friend and that, in order to save her, they had to kill her. 

‘Alright. I’ve played your little game of ‘treasure hunt’ and have even made it to the end, where ‘pentagram marks the spot’.’ Her words shook Bonnie out of her daydream. She quickly checked her watch to see it was one minute to midnight. She was too early. 

The girl walked about the clearing in a confident yet bored manner, checking her fingernails with close attention as she jumped over the lines of salt that marked the pentagram. Despite her change, she still kept her black leather jacket and converses, like she was trying to show everyone that she was still the girl whom they had grown to love and care about, even though inside, her heart was darker than Klaus' when he didn't get what he wanted. 

‘So, despite enduring your little childish game, I don’t quite think I could tolerate a game of ‘hide and seek’’. She grinned, her teeth glistening despite the darkness. Bonnie checked her watch again. Only 30 seconds left till they could make their move. But even then, she was getting agitated. They had to stall otherwise they would lose their opportunity forever. 

‘Why not, love?’ came a calm voice from the other side of the clearing. Kol sauntered out of his hiding place as he came to stop not a few feet from the girl. ‘We always had such fun playing that game,’ he said, giving her a sad smile as he did. 15 seconds. 

‘Indeed we did,’ replied the girl, slowly crossing her arms over her chest. ‘Though as I recall, you always cheated.’ 

‘But of course,’ he replied with one of his signature smirks, like he was himself again despite being 10 seconds away from burning the love of his life to death. ‘But isn’t that what life is?’ he asked, slowly walking towards her. Jeremy touched Bonnie’s arm, alerting her that it was almost time. ‘Just one con after another to cheat death?’ 

She laughed quietly; her eyes fixated on Kol. ‘We should both know the answer to that.’ 

Everything that happened next was a blur. Klaus and Elijah had her by the arms, holding her with such force that I was sure both her arms would be pulled off due to her futile attempts of getting free. Bonnie and Caroline were chanting as the Gilbert's and the Salvatore’s readied the ropes. The Originals dragged the girl over to the stake where the Salvatore’s and Kol helped to bind her; Tyler standing far away as he lit a makeshift torch on fire. Once everyone had stepped away from her writhing body, Bonnie and Caroline continued to chant, keeping her there as Tyler passed on the torch to Kol. 

They all stood there, starting at her with painful expressions as they were seconds away from burning their friend. 

‘So this is where it all ends? The infamous tale of the Originals, the hybrids, the vampires, the witch, the hunter and the doppleganger, all destroying the evil of the world. Can’t help but see this as slightly ironic as I’m the most natural being here,’ she laughed as she glared at each one of the people standing before her; her eyes on Kol’s a little longer than the others. 

‘Now, that’s not entirely true, is it, love?’ Klaus replied as he walked over to where Kol stood. ‘You’re as much as a burden on the human race as any of us. 

‘We have to do it now, Kol. Otherwise our window will close!’ hurried Bonnie as she took a breath to stop from chanting yet the girl made no attempt to move. She knew of her fate the moment the sun rose that morning yet, she had no idea why she had come. She had no soul to make her feel guilty for doing all the things she did, so why did she come? Perhaps she had always known that her time was coming to a close. Or perhaps she wanted to die at the hands of the one man she truly loved. 

Kol took a step forward, staring into her eyes as the flame flickered in his hand. ‘I’d rather you didn’t make an emotional speech. Save me the pain and just burn me,’ she said, grinning slightly for she knew that he would allow her to have the upper hand till she died. 

He simply smiled before leaning in close to her ear, already thinking that the plan would never work. ‘As you wish, darling,’ he whispered before setting the dry grass at the bottom of the stake on fire. 

The girl’s grin never faltered from then on, even when the flames began to lick at her body. She simply grinned as she embraced the thing she had thought so trivial of for the past thousand years. Finally, her time was up. She could live in peace on the other side knowing that, her final moments on earth as the flames bit and tore at her flesh, was spent looking into the eyes of the one whom had her heart from the moment her tempted her with his smirk.