CHAPTER 72: DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE

The Island

Natalie felt drained, confused and weak when she finally woke up, her hands traveled up to her neck, finding dried blood all over it, or just around one point which you could easily see was from a needle. Someone had taken her blood. It wasn't that she was surprised by this fact. Her blood was valuable in the search for the cure, and she could only imagine who had taken it for their own goal and left her alone to bleed. Who was she kidding, it was Shane. He was the only one who didn't really care for her or anything but her blood.

She pushed herself up against a tree, and scanned her surroundings. Trees, trees and even more trees. What a surprise. She sighed as she lifted her shirt to look for more injuries, in case she had missed anything, which she hoped she didn't.

Thankfully, she didn't. She was completely, 100% fine other than the point where the needle had once been, but it didn't hurt and it had stopped bleeding. She was about to get up when she saw a familiar brunette doppelganger walked into the bare patch that was surrounded by trees as she fiddled with her long and straight hair. "Natalie, are you okay?"

Natalie smiled slightly as she caught sight of her sister walking towards her and holding out her hand for her to take, the reincarnation grabbed her hand and allowed herself to be pulled up. "Yeah, I'm okay. Where's everyone else?"

"They went looking for the cure. I was the only one who stayed behind to find you." she shrugged, making Natalie look down, because she was slightly sad at the fact, but she wasn't surprised, everyone wanted that cure and even the fact that one person stayed behind made her feel special.

The huntress tilted her head to the side and bit the inside of her lip for a moment. "Oh. So, have you heard anything? Wait, why did you stay behind if you planned to take it? I'd guess you'd just shove it down your own throat the moment you saw it."

The vampire doppelganger then rolled her eyes, her gaze becoming colder as her posture became less stiff. "God, I hate how nosy you are."

And before she could realize what happened, the vampire sped and broke off a very pointy stick off a tree and with all her strength she shoved it through her stomach, a smirk on her face as she pulled it out, allowing the girl to stumble back and have a tree support her. "Bye, bye, Nat. See you in hell."

And with that she sped off, and Natalie realized that it was none other than Katherine Pierce who just signed her death sentence. Now she expected to die all alone, in the middle of the woods where nobody could find her and nobody would even know if she was really dead. Or, at least that's what she expected. She didn't know that another person had stayed to search for her, and once he heard her voice, he started walking in her direction, but when he heard what Katherine had said and he started smelling blood, then he ran like hell.

"Natalie!" He was just in time to catch her as she started falling down, sliding away from the tree, taking short and shallow breaths as he shook his head rapidly, not wanting to believe that this was happening. But then he remembered that he was a vampire, he had magically healing blood and took a deep breath as he bit into his wrist and pushed it towards her mouth, but she wouldn't drink it, the only thing it did was stain her lips with blood. "Just drink, Natalie, please! I'm not leaving you here in pain."

"But it doesn't hurt." she spoke in a fragile fashion, staring straight in his face as he seemed to realize that this was real. He was going to lose her and he couldn't do anything about it. Not a thing.

"No, Natalie, don't." he begged, his face scrunching up as he tried to fight the tears that so desperately wanted to show how he was not okay with this, he'd die himself a million times if it meant that he never had to see her lying there and staring up at him blankly, dying.

"It's okay. It's okay," she tried to assure him, a tear falling down from the corner of her eye as she so desperately wanted to convince him that she was okay with this. That she wasn't scared out of her mind and wanting nothing more than to heal and be alright, but she couldn't show that to him. "It's perfect."

"No, it's not. No, it's not." he kept repeating shaking his head as he sobbed at her lying there in his arms, her hand lying over he wound as he put his over hers, wanting to hold her hand one more time.

"I'm in the- in the arms of the one person that was able to help me through everything and even when you left, you never really did. I'm in the arms of the one person that was able to convince me that love could be this strong. I- I love you. I love you, Stefan. Stefan Salvatore."

He let out a sob, refusing to believe that this would be the last time he'd ever talk to her, ever hear her voice, ever see her look at him, ever hear her say that she loved him. It couldn't be. He wouldn't allow it to be. "Don't, please, don't. Natalie don't, please."

Another tear went down the side of Natalie's face as she let out short breaths and tried to keep herself alive long enough to get a real goodbye with him, even when she was so scared and she didn't want to go. But then she suddenly remembered who did this to her, and she knew that they had to be warned, especially her sister who could easily end up dead too. "You have to tell Elena. You- you have to tell Elena... you..." she tried to tell him but it just wouldn't come out as a complete sentence.

And then it was too late, shallow breaths turned into no breaths and her heart then stopped beating. Stefan let go of her hand, putting it on the side of her face as he tried to convince himself that she wasn't dead, she was just sleeping. Her now free hand fell off her stomach and hit the ground softly.

Stefan sobbed, and cried and he leaned downwards and pressed his lips to her forehead as the last sign of affection he was so sure he could ever give her. He kissed her forehead for longer than he should have, but he just couldn't pull away and look at her being there, dead.

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He didn't know how long he stayed and just cried over her dead body, maybe they were seconds, maybe minutes, maybe even hours but all he knew was that Natalie Katerina Saltzman was now dead.

Someone who had helped bring him out of his emotionless stage, someone who didn't leave his side even when he left hers, someone who he tried so hard not to fall in love with but her being her still drew him in and in and in until he was completely hooked.

She was a warrior, a friend, a daughter, a sister, a reincarnation, a huntress and a lover. But for him, she was something completely special and it could never be repeated. For him, she was the love of his life, even when he didn't want her to be.

But then again, imagine his surprise when Natalie's eyes bursted open as she woke up with a gasp.

Only, not as human.

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A/N: The end.

Just kidding.

Not really.

This is the end of "Angel With A Shotgun", but it's not the end of Natalie's story. This book was about the love triangle between Elena, Stefan and Natalie and her life as a huntress and, of course, a reincarnation. The sequel will be very different, when it comes to Natalie's character, experiences and, no question, her relationship with Stefan.

It's out and please check it out, it's called "Monster".

The first chapter will probably be out in a few weeks, since I'm going to Italy and stuff.

And, for the last time this book:
Votes and comments are greatly appreciated.