One thing worked to his advantage. Jeremy Gilbert had been a hunter for over a decade now. He’d started in at an early age having been trained by Alaric Saltzman in the beginning. HIs surrogate father had made sure that despite the fact that Jeremy had inherited the call as one of The Five, he could still be able to channel it in a positive way. He had to admit that even Damon Salvatore had given him some direction when it came to vampire hunting in particular. He was a kid at the time, so Jeremy had a lot of pent up anger especially after everything that had happened to him even before he hit the age of 18.

With his nose to the grindstone in a manner of speaking, Jeremy found out that the legend of Klaus Mikaelson was spreading through the Salvatore School. The lore books that had previously been under the watchful eye of Dorian Williams were now in free circulation at the school. It was no secret that Hope was different. The first and only tribrid was the offspring of a liaison between Klaus Mikaelson and Hayley Marshall. This made her a unique supernatural being from the beginning. No child asked to be conceived or born and that could never be held against them. Try telling that to a group of chatty teenage witches and vampires themselves. Werewolves tended not to care about things like that, not even the teenage wolves. Teenage wolves were still wrapped up in the fact that they’d done something that triggered their curse in the first place. Jeremy had some work to do.

Jeremy was behind the wheel of his own car when his burner phone went off. He tapped the screen and held it to his ear. “Yeah.” The voice on the other end was a contact of his down in New Orleans. There was no sign of Hope down around the Mikaelson Family Compound still owned and maintained by Hope’s aunt Freya Mikaelson. The Mikaelson Witch did maintain close contact with the Salvatore School to serve as Hope’s legal guardian. Considering that this uptic in the knowledge about Klaus was spreading amongst the kids of the school, Jeremy thought that the chances of her showing up in New Orleans were slim. It was a lead he had to follow regardless. Satisfied that his contacts didn’t spy her back in her hometown, Jeremy tapped the screen on the phone. He dropped it in his pocket.

The Hunter was outside the Fell Family Crypt in Mystic Falls Cemetery. He had spent far too much time here when he was a stoner kid at Mystic Falls High. That punk kid would never have realized just how important this place would become to him as he got older. He was following some strange men dressed in all black as they were starting to spread through the town. They all had a particular symbol on their armbands that Jeremy was familiar with unfortunately. He was watching them sure that they were actually on the trail of one of the kids of the Salvatore School. Logic dictated to him they were after Hope. He pulled a quiver of arrows over his shoulder and readied his crossbow. A group of five of the guys were on the move. He began to follow them.

~*~

“FAN OUT!” The man who led the small squad was barking orders as they began to invade the outside of the forest in Mystic Falls. They had used Mystic Falls Cemetery as the basis for their mission. The best way to get to the Salvatore School was through this back entrance. They were armed with tazers and tranquilizer darts because the orders came that the target had to be brought back to base alive. She was to remain unharmed. She was one kid with the powers of three monsters in one. She was the only one of her kind. Danger was who and what she was. They were covering more ground in their opinion by splitting up in this particular pattern. They didn’t realize they were being followed.

Jeremy reached the outermost operative and fired a crossbow bolt that struck the man in the back. He fell to the ground unconscious. He pulled the man aside by his arm and left him in a bush. The Hunter knew that man wasn’t dead, at least not right now. Stealth was at his disposal and well within his means granted by the magic of The Travelers. His hunt continued.

The sun was starting to dip lower in the sky over Mystic Falls. Darkness would set in giving away to the supernatural creatures who frequented these woods. Honestly Jeremy wouldn’t be too upset if one of Malivore’s monsters would decide to have a snack right about now. Just head was the next operative dressed in the gear of this business that meant trouble especially to the kids at the School. The swift sound of the crossbow bolt whizzing through the air was soon followed by the sound of it striking flesh. The man’s body fell. Jeremy pulled this man aside as he had the other.

By the looks of his surroundings, he was closer to the school now than he had before. Stamina was something that was not an issue for him. He heard a voice calling out that he knew very well. He was silent at first, but listened again to her calling out to him.

“I’m giving out one more warning. If you don’t come out, I will drag you out myself,” she warns. She waits for a moment, “Okay, you asked for it…”

Jeremy stepped out of the shadows and held up his hands. “Take it easy Hope. It’s me. We’ve got company in the woods.” He pulled a man with a crossbow bolt in his shoulder toward Hope and dropped him at the feet of the young Tribrid. The logo on the man’s sleeve was prominent at this point. “Looks like Triad Industries is back in business and they are after you.” Jeremy inhaled sharply. “There are at least three more out there. You up for a little hunt?” He asked with a sly grin.