ALL I FELT WAS pain and numbness. My body ached and screamed out from the pain it was getting. It hurt so much that my body felt numb and I couldn't control it anymore. I felt like I was dying.

My wrists ached the most, the pain striking down from there. It felt like there was little time before my wrists was cut off and my hands would be disconnected from my body. Just the thought has me cringing.

Sweat was dripping down my forehead, my body pale and tired. My gums ached like someone had shoved a sharp object into it.

Finally gaining conscious, my eyes fluttered open and I instantly groaned in pain. My eyes blinked twice to adjust the bright light that I was met by.

I attempt to move but I hiss when a pain shoots down from both of my wrists. My eyes instantly latch onto my wrists and I frown.

Metal chains wrapped around my wrists, their claws digging into my flesh. Blood dripped down my pale sweaty arms, falling down the curve of my armpit and dropping down to the floor. I was still in my dress from last night, my heels taken off and my hair messy.

Except I wasn't on the floor. I was on a bar counter, my arms chained to the ceiling while I stood on my knees. My eyes roamed my surroundings and I instantly recognized the place as Mystic Grill.

Subconsciously, my eyes landed on three figures sitting on a table, their eyes trained on my tortured state. I recognized them as Matt, Jeremy, and April.

April is Pastor Young's daughter. Elena used to babysit her when she was little and last I saw her was before my parent's passed away.

Another familiar figure stood in my line of vision and my eyes focused on him. He stood smirking at me with his arms behind his back. I instantly glared at him as my jaw clenched.

"For a second there, I thought you were dead." Connor said.

"What do you want from me?" I spat.

"I'm using you as bait to lure every vampire in town to come here. And then I get to kill each and every one of them." he answered.

"Aren't they enough bait?" I asked, nodding my head towards three kids that sat on the table behind him.

"Oh no." he shook his head, "They're not baits. I'm just holding them hostage because they caught me dragging you in here."

"If — when I get out of these chains, I will rip you apart."

"Is that a threat?"

"That's a promise."

He laughed to himself, nodding.

"They warned me about you." he told me, "They said you'd be a little bit....difficult, manipulative, feisty, impulsive, and a little bit over yourself."

"Couldn't you use someone else as bait?" I fired at him, my eyes shooting daggers at him.

"Ahhh, no. No, I couldn't." he shook his head, "Y'know, that's what actually makes you so special. Have you ever wondered why you're the one who's always getting kidnapped and used as bait?"

I sneered.

"It's because every vampire in this town cares about you." he snorted, "I don't know why but they care about you. Damon Salvatore, Stefan Salvatore, Klaus Mikaelson, Caroline Forbes, and Tyler Lockwood. Am I forgetting someone?"

"I will shove your eyeballs up your ass."

"Cute." he chuckled, "You see, Emilia, you're the key to killing every vampire this town has—"

"—I will choke you with your dick."

"Just use you as bait and then bam! All the vampires are trying to save you—"

"—I will rip your tongue out."

"And then they're all dead."

"I will bury you dead, Connor, and that's a fucking promise."

Connor shook his head in laughter, "I texted your boyfriend and then smashed your phone. Sorry."

"Oh hell no!" I gasped, "You messed with my phone? You're fucking dead, you fucking piece of disgrace."

"You needed a new phone anyways." he shrugged, "Oh wait! You're going to die."

"I was told the only way to kill a vampire-werewolf is to either rip their heart out or take their head off." he continued.

"We have a name, idiot." I muttered, "Hybrids."

"You hybrids are hard to kill but you're easy to kidnap."

"I was drunk."

"That's no excuse. You're just weak."

"Okay seriously dude, if there's one thing you should know about my sister it's that she hates it when somebody calls her weak." Jeremy said.

"Yeah well, I'm not afraid of your sister." Connor replied, looking down at Jeremy.

"Yeah well, change your mind before she literally buries you dead." my brother responded, sending him a tight sarcastic smile.

Connor laughs, "Standing by my statement."

"Yeah well, enjoy your legs before I fucking kill you." I spat.

"Can't wait to make you watch your friends die one by one right before your eyes." Connor said, chuckling humorlessly.

"Oh and what makes you think I care?"

"Oh right, you turned your humanity off." he said - more to himself - as he clicked his tongue. "How does that work, by the way?"

"Oh you haven't heard the story of how I, Emilia Gilbert, turned my humanity off?"

"No."

"Oh. That's weird." I mumbled, "It's fucking legendary."

"Enlighten me."

"Well," I drawled, "I skinned a man alive with a cheese grater." I added, "And if you don't shut up, the same might happen to you."

"You think I'm scared of you, Gilbert?" he asked, stepping forward. "Well, I'm not."

"Well, you should be."

"But I'm not because you can't do anything." he smirked, "Because I have you chained up from the ceiling. Something tells me that I got a point for that."

"Hmm, it's adorable how you think you're stronger than me." I chuckled humorlessly, "I'm a blood sucking vampire, dude, and I'm not afraid to drink every last bit of you."

"Not before I kill you, you're not."

"I will rip your skull out and beat the fuck out of you with it."

"Threats. So many threats." he crossed his arms, smirking widely. "Yet they mean nothing, gurl."

"I could think of a million ways to end you, gurl, and I'm not afraid to use hundreds of them."

"Is that how you waltz your way out of a problem?" he asked, "Just throw threats till your peanut brain realizes that there's no way out of this?"

"Speaking of peanuts. I'm hungry." I replied, dodging his stupid reply.

"Sorry. Can't help you with that." he smiled sarcastically.

"I want food! So give me food!"

"I'm trying to torture you, woman."

"Food! Food! Food! Food!" I exclaimed, "Now!"

"No one mentioned she acted like a five year old." he muttered under his breath, sighing.

"Give me food, you fucking piece of shit, or I will strangle you with your intestine."

"Seriously, stop with the threats."

"Not until you give me food, I'm not."

"Fine then. No food for you."

"Has no one ever told you to not mess with a hungry woman?" Matt asked, frowning at Connor.

"Yeah. Especially a vampire." Jeremy added, scoffing.

"She could starve to death for all I care." Connor said.

I scoff, "I will—"

"You talk too much." Connor mutters as he grabs a stake from the counter. I watch as he walks towards me with his hand wrapped around it.

"I swear to—" I was cut off by my own groan of pain when Connor literally forces the stake in my stomach.

—

A shaky breath escapes my lips as I swallow down my screams of pain. I look up at my fingers and try moving them with every power I could muster. My fingers just shake in numbness and I clench my fists to stop the shaking.

I gulp as I blink my eyes, clearing my blurry vision. I lost too much blood that I started getting dizzy. My mouth is dry and sweat drips down my pale face. My knees limply stand on the counter as they shook repeatedly. Blood runs down my body from my wrists, covering the previous dry blood. A dark patch of blood surrounds the hole in my black dress where I was staked. My hair sticks to my face from the damp sweat. My lips are chapped and dry.

It felt like my soul is being sucked out of my body.

Matt and April were no longer in Mystic Grill. Connor and Jeremy stood at the end of the bar as they spoke while Connor worked on a trap.

When a sound creaks from the front, Connor turns off the lights and turns on the music very loud. I hiss at the loud sound and clench my jaw just as someone walks through the front door.

I recognize him as Dean, one of Klaus's hybrids. He slowly opens the door and his eyes latch on me.

"I'll save you." he mouthes.

I roll my eyes and watch as he spots the tripwire. He carefully steps over the wire and onto the mat. A red light goes off under the mat and the bomb is activated. Dean doesn't realize that and he closes the door carefully. Just as he lifts his foot from the mat, the bomb goes off.

I instantly snap my neck to side to avoid the glass flying towards me. Fortunately, the glass pieces miss me and I turned around to spot Dean on the floor, nails and shards of glass covering him.

"Idiot." I mumble, sighing.

Dean slowly starts to get up with his body covered in blood. Connor steps out from behind the counter and approaches him with a gun. Dean instantly raises his hand in surrender but Connor shoots the gun and blows a hole clean out of Dean's chest. Dean falls to the ground, dead.

"Cool." I mutter, "You killed him. Can I go now?"

Connor turns to me and sends me a glare. He then turns back around and takes off his jacket. I frown in confusion as I watch him study his arm like something is happened to it.

"Psycho."

From the corner of my eye, I catch Stefan quietly coming out from the back. Connor spots him and instantly grabs Jeremy, pointing his gun at Stefan. Stefan superspeeds across the Grill and behind the bar.

Connor shoots the gun at him multiple times but misses. Yet he still manages to shoot me with one of those bullets. I groaned, leaning forward in pain as the bullet shifted in me.

"You son of a bitch!" I growled.

Connor ignores me, keeping his gun pointed to where Stefan is from behind the bar and pushes Jeremy aside. Jeremy steps on another mat with a switch that activates another bomb.

"Connor, you don't have to do this!" Stefan calls out from behind the bar.

"Stefan!" Jeremy exclaims as the bomb ticks.

"Connor, we can end this right now! Just put down the gun and come with me!" Stefan says, noticing the trigger that Jeremy stood on.

"Sure." Connor replied, "Come out, I'll hand the gun over."

"Think about this. No one has to die. I'll tell you everything you need to know!" Stefan calls back.

"Will someone just get me out of these chains?" I exclaim, looking furiously around the room.

"I don't make deals with vampires!" Connor shouts.

"Listen to me, if you die right now, then your whole life, all that killing; it'll all be for nothing." Stefan says, "I can give you the truth. Just put down the gun and let Jeremy and Emilia go!"

"Yeah! Listen to the idiot." I exclaimed, glaring at Connor. "Let me go!"

Suddenly, Elena opens the front door and enters.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me." I mutter, blowing out an irritated sigh.

"Please!" Elena cried out, holding her hand up in fake innocence. Connor points the gun towards her and she adds, "Don't hurt him."

"You come any closer, he's dead." Connor says, pointing the gun towards Jeremy.

"Elena, get out of here!" Jeremy says, looking at his sister.

"Just – just let him go." Elena pleads.

"You hear that? Your girl is watching. I will shoot the boy right in front of her! On the count of three!" Connor shouts to Stefan, "One! Two!"

Stefan stands up and raises his hands in surrender. Connor points the gun at him instead before Elena rushes at him. Connor shoots his gun and hits Jeremy in the stomach with a bullet. Elena throws Connor to the ground and straddles him, wrapping her hands around his neck and choking him. Stefan rushes at a wounded Jeremy, grabs him, and throws himself and Jeremy over a table just before the bomb explodes.

"Someone get me out of here." I grunt, pulling at the chains but hiss when they dig deeper into my flesh.

Elena is distracted by the bomb and Connor takes his chance to tossing her to the side. He rolls on top of her and grabs her hair, raising a stake and getting ready to stake her. Elena pushes his hand away and manages to fight back until Stefan rushes at Connor and knocks him off Elena. He kneels down next to Connor, grabs him, and rushes off.

"Emilia!" Elena exclaims, getting up on her feet.

Her steps halt as her eyes spot someone in the corner. I follow her line of vision and spot Damon, his eyes roaming the Grill with a concerned look etched on his face. When his eyes land on me, he breathes out a sigh of relief and a small smile appears on his face.

"Oh, thank god." he sighs in relief as he walks long strides towards me.

Damon jumps on the bar counter and wraps one arm around my waist, the other one pulling the chains from the ceiling. My arm falls limply to my side when the chain is disconnected from the ceiling. Damon steadies me and moves to the other chain and pulls it forcefully off. My other arm falls limply and Damon instantly sits down on the bar counter, pulling me against his chest.

I open my mouth to tell him that I need blood but Damon had already offered me his wrist. I instantly grasped his wrist and brought it to my lips. My fangs slid out and I bit onto his wrist, groaning in delight as I drank from his vein. Damon placed his other hand on my hand and ran it down my hair, pulling me closer to his chest.

I didn't feel like complaining and pushing him away. I just needed blood.

Damon groans as I continue drinking from his wrist, my hand wrapped around tightly like I didn't want to let it go. It felt like my soul was slowly coming back to me as I drank his blood. I pulled his wrist away from my mouth and I lazily wiped the blood off my mouth using the back of my hand. I tiredly leaned onto Damon's chest, closing my eyes as a deep sigh escaped me.

Remembering the jerk face vampire hunter, I pulled myself away from Damon and slipped down from the counter.

"Where are you going?" Damon asked, jumping down from the counter. "You're injured."

"I'm going to kill that hunter and then I'm going to bury him." I sneered, pulling my wrist out of Damon's grasp.

I sped to the back of the Grill and into the small hole that would lead to the underground tunnel, where I could hear Stefan and Connor's hearts beating.

I jumped down and stood swiftly on my feet before I sped down the tunnel to where Stefan and Connor were. Spotting them, I crashed harshly into Connor, pushing him away from Stefan's grip.

Before I could attack Connor, Stefan pulls me back and slams me against the wall.

"Let me go!" I growl, trying to push Stefan off me but he wouldn't budge.

"Run as fast as you can!" Stefan exclaims warningly to Connor.

Connor instantly takes off and runs down the tunnel, disappearing around the corner. I growl angrily, pushing Stefan harshly away from me causing him to fall back. I instantly speed down Connor's trail, the last thing I heard being Stefan's exclaims.

I spotted Connor a few steps ahead of me as he ran like his life depended on it, which it did. I purposely crashed into him and pushed him harshly on the floor.

I stood over him and growled loudly, shifting right before his eyes. I bent down and grabbed him by his neck, holding him up high and off his feet before I slammed him harshly against the tunnel wall.

"Please, don't do this. I'll do anything you want." he pleaded through his own gasps of breaths as he tried prying my hand off of his neck.

"Guess they forgot to mention to never mess with me." I growled, shifting my claws as I forced my hand into his chest.

I was ready to pull his heart out but someone crashed into me and pushed me off him. I fell to the floor with a grunt and I opened my eyes just to catch Elena biting onto his neck. Connor screams as she continues torturing his neck.

I slowly stand up, amused by the show that was being played in front of me.

"Stay the hell away from my brother!" she sneered, looking him dead in the eye.

Elena lets go of Connor and he falls in front of her on his knees.

"Look at you. So worried about your brother. You're the biggest monster he'll ever meet." Connor said, looking up at her.

He attempts to stake her but he misses and Elena smirks down at him.

"You missed." she snorted right before she snapped his neck.

Connor falls to the ground, dead. My sister breathes heavily as she stares down at the first person she's killed.

I clapped - slowly and dramatic - as I smirked at her. She looked up at me and met my eyes, her own eyes somewhat guilty and angry. Blood dripped down her chin as her chest rose up in down along with her breaths.

"Good job, Elena." I mused, "Now all we gotta do is bury him."

—

Ramming the shovel into the dirt, I pull dig out the dirk and throw it aside. Connor's lifeless body lies beside me on the dirt as Elena and I dig up a grave for him.

Speaking of Elena, she stands beside me crying as she digs. Her sobs are silent and hurting as she forces herself to dig up the grave.

"God, stop crying." I groaned, "You're a vampire for god's sake. You're supposed to kill."

Elena paused and turned to me, tears staining her cheeks and blood staining her chin. Her bottom lip trembled as she looked at me.

"I've killed forty-seven innocent humans, Elena, and it felt good." I told her, "I even have a list of their names."

My comment just made Elena cry harder and she turned away from me, digging once again. I groaned and looked up at the sky, praying silently that the lord would shut her up.

"Elena." A familiar voice says.

Both Elena and I look over to Stefan and Damon who stood beside us. Stefan approached Elena and I rolled my eyes, returning to the dirt as I went back to digging.

"I need to bury him. I killed him, I should – I should bury him." she says, her voice trembling as she continues to dig.

Stefan grabs Elena's arm gently but she pushes him away.

"Hey, hey, come on." Stefan cooes, frowning.

"Don't!" Elena exclaimed, "I heard you talking to him. Making some secret deal with Klaus You said you were going to protect Jeremy! Keep me from this. You said that I could trust you, Stefan."

"You made a secret deal with the devil?" I snorted, "There's something seriously wrong with you, Stefan."

"Elena, it's complicated." Damon says.

"No, it's not complicated, Damon! You want to know why? Because - because he's dead now. You told me to kill him, so I did." she shouted, tears starting to run down her cheeks once again.

"I –I killed someone. I – I killed someone." Elena sobs, the shovel slipped from her fingers.

"Okay let's not get melodramatic now, okay?" I piped up, sending Elena a tight sarcastic smile.

Elena ignores me and cries harder, her body shaking from her sobs. Everyone stays silent as we watch Elena cry silently.

"Okay, I've had enough Keeping Up with the Kardashians: Vampire Edition." I muttered, throwing the shovel on the dirt. "Salvatore, you're driving me home." I told Damon before I walked away from all of them, Damon following.

Damon's blue Camaro stood parked outside the woods. I walked over to it and opened the passenger seat door, sliding inside. Damon stepped inside and sat on the driver's seat as he brought the car to life.

Fifth chapter bitches!!!!

#Q: What do you think about Emilia so far?

Also it would mean the world to me if you voted. You're not obliged to comment but I'd be happy to read your feedbacks.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed 'Tortured Soul'

Love u guys!

xoxo babez