The Apprentice (The Originals/The Vampire Diaries)

Chapter Four

 They got off when the train stopped in Paris.

 "Where do we start looking for vampires?" Annette asked.

 "You have to keep your eyes open," Mikael said. "Look for anyone who seems suspicious, out of place."

 Annette followed Mikael through lit and unlit streets for what felt like hours. 

 "Mikael," she said, "I don't think we're going to find any-"

 "Yes, we will. We must."

 Annette couldn't understand why he was so hell-bent on finding a vampire that very night, but she kept on following him anyway. 

 They turned down a dimly-lit street, and Mikael suddenly stopped.

 "Annette, there's someone here," he whispered. "Be ready." He walked further down the street at a normal pace, Annette following closely behind him. Then he suddenly ran down a side street.

 "Mikael, wait!" Annette ran after him as quickly as she could. Luckily she was an exceptionally fast runner. She ran down the side street and found Mikael pinning another man to the ground.

 "Use the stake, Annette," he said. "Do it. Kill him."

 Annette walked forward, stake in hand. She thought about what vampires had done to her, what they'd taken, how they'd kill the people she'd loved. She ran the stake through the vampire's heart as hard she could and watched it die.

 She sat down on the ground and turned away from the body. "I did it, Mikael. I killed a vampire. What you taught me worked." She scoffed. "This must be strange for you, having someone to teach. You clearly never thought you would."

 She expected to hear a reply, but Mikael said nothing. She turned back to look back at him. He was bent over the body of the vampire, drinking its blood.

 "You drink vampire blood!" she cried.

 Mikael looked up at her, blood staining his lips. "I wondered if you would ever realize it. Yes, I only drink the blood of other vampires. It's keeps me alive, and it is better than draining human lives." He stood and held out his hand for her to take. "We should return to the farmhouse now."

 "What about the body?"

 "What about it? Someone will find it eventually. Just a moment." He took a small vial out of his pocket and held it to the wound in the vampire's body. "For strength. I may need it." 

~~~~~~~~~

 "There." Mikael stepped back from the tree. "Imagine that the middle of the target is the heart. That is where you will aim."

 Annette held up the pistol he had taught her how to use. She took aim and fired at the target Mikael had carved into the tree. Of her three shots, they all hit very near the middle, but not exactly in it.

 "Well, it hasn't been very long," Mikael said. "Keep practicing."

 It had been three days since their excursion back to Paris. After they had returned, Annette asked Mikael if she might go with him to hunt down Niklaus.

 "Not yet," Mikael had said.

 "Why not?"

 "Because I said we aren't."

 Since they had begun staying at the farmhouse together, the only thing Mikael seemed interested in was training Annette to kill vampires. She thought that perhaps he thought it would be best that she be fully trained before they went looking for Niklaus together.

 After her training session was over, she went back to the house to rest up. Mikael went out to the nearby town, and returned with a basket of food.

 "You don't have to keep using compulsion to get me food," she said.

 "I paid for it this time. With the amount of money I have, compulsion is necessary at times, even though I would prefer not to use it."

 After dinner, Annette sat outside and watched the rest of the sunset. It was May now, and wasn't cold once nighttime settled in. Mikael stood nearby, practicing throwing daggers at the target in the tree. His aim wasn't as good as he seemed to have hoped.
 
 "You haven't been at it for very long," Annette said. "Keep practicing."

 Mikael looked over at her with a hint of a smile, which surprised her; she hadn't seen him smile once since she'd met him.

 "I believe you've become restless," she remarked.

 "I suppose I have. I am never been in for one place for long. My way of life requires constant movement."

 The sun had set, and now the moon was visible.

 "It's a full moon tonight," Mikael said, looking up at the sky.

 Annette began, rather suddenly, to feel strange. She stared up at the moon as she began to feel the pain. She collapsed on the ground and cried out from it. She squirmed on the ground as her bones began to bend and change.

 "It can't be."

 Mikael was standing over her now, staring at her in shock.

 "What is this?" she demanded. "What is happening?"
 
 "Nothing I can stop." Mikael scooped her up and carried her into the old barn.
 
 "I'm sorry, Annette," he said as he set her down. "There isn't anything I can do. It will be over soon, I promise." 
 
 "What? No! No, you can't just leave me in here! Mikael!" 
 
 Mikael barricaded the doors with whatever he could find, then climbed out a small window near the roof. He stood outside and listened to Annette's screams, knowing there was nothing he could do for her, not this time.

 His new student was a werewolf.