Potential (Book Four, The Vampire Diaries)

Chapter 15__Stand By Me

At home, still alone in the house, I was walking through the hall toward the library, down the steps, toward the couch, sitting in front of the fire that I had started earlier, staring into the flames, lost in thought. 

My phone ringing snapped me out of it, blinking, pulling it out, looking at the Caller I.D.

Stefan.

I answered. "About time one of you finally contacted me."

"Where are you?" 

"Home. Why?" 

"Look, do you feel any different than you have before? Stronger, having dreams about killing vampires?" 

"What's up with the Q&A?" 

"Just answer the questions, Nicola." 

"Are you asking if I think that I'm turning into a Hunter? 'Cause the only way for that to happen is . . ." I leaned forward in realization. "Please tell me that nothing happened to Jeremy." I got no response. "Please tell me that I'm not gonna lose my mind, Stefan!" 

"Look, I don't know. The mark on Jeremy's body was gone. When Connor died, the mark appeared on him. Did the mark appear on you?" 

I looked at my bare hand, no marks at all. "No. None. Stefan, what happened?" 

"Katherine killed Jeremy. I need you to come to Elena's. Okay?" 

"Okay, I'm on my way." 

I stood, getting my jacket, hanging up and walking out of the house to go to Elena's. 

~~~~

At Elena's, I stood downstairs with Stefan. 

"So you just found him?" I asked. "Dead, broken neck, blood drained?"

"Yeah," Stefan answered. "Nicola, he's supernatural. The ring's not gonna bring him back. And I really need to know if you're okay." 

"Look, the Hunters were only created to find the Silas, feed him the Cure and kill him, right?" I asked. Stefan nodded. "Right, and even if I did somehow get the gene now that Jeremy's dead, I still have to kill a vampire to activate it, and I haven't done that. I don't feel any different, and nothing's been happening to me. I don't think that it happened like it was supposed to, the way that it's been happening for who knows how long." 

"And why is that?" Stefan asked. 

"Because the mark's gone," I answered. "If I was going to become a Hunter, wouldn't I have the mark?" 

Stefan nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, I guess so." 

"Right, and since that it's gone, I don't think that I have to worry about it," I told her. "So, I can kill vampires without worrying about what will happen to me. Right?" 

"That's just a theory, Nikki," Stefan told me. "I wouldn't be so keen on testing it out. And we could always do what we did to Jeremy by creating the side-step, but the only guy who knew how to do that just died out on the island." 

"Oh, don't pretend that you care about Shane," I told him. "He was a psychopath that wanted to raise a billion year old witch, and with the empty chambers, probably did raise him." I sat down on the stairs, shaking my head. "I can't believe he's dead." 

"Yeah, I know," Stefan told me, sitting down next to me. "I've been alive for almost two centuries now. You'd think with the amount of people that I've seen die, it would hurt less each time. Never does."