Being back in Mystic Falls for a respite was unusual for him. He was glad that his sister allowed him to crash in his old room that she’d had restored when she rebuilt their family home. He would have normally just hit a safe house so that way he’d keep any antsy vamps or nasty monsters away from those whom he loved the most. Elena was trying to live a normal life even if Jeremy couldn’t. His calling as a Hunter put him in a position to protect those he loved as much as putting them in harm’s way. He bounded down the back stairs after Elena had left for the day leaving him home alone. He was ravaging in the refrigerator when he heard a knock not at the front door but the back. He closed the door slowly moving toward that back door.

Jeremy pulled out a smaller gun that fired wooden bullets. It was something that Alaric had designed years ago and had passed it to Jeremy to use in his new found career as a member of the Five. Of course, Jeremy had improved on it as time went on, so it became quite a handy little tool for him in his war against the supernatural. With a gun in his hand, he opened the door rapidly. Standing there was the love of his life, Anna Zhu. Anns had been revived as a challenge to Jeremy by the goddess Artemis, goddess of the hunt. “BABE! You scared me!” He stepped outside the house and put away his gun. Yes, the Hunter was in love with a vampire.

Anna’s smaller frame molded into his. She nuzzled into him happily smothering him with kisses. “There’s a problem Jer. You need to come. We can get to all this later, but you need to come now.” The young looking vampire who was actually well over five centuries old was pulling on the arm of her boyfriend. “I know you’re trying to take a break, but this can’t wait.”

“Take it easy Anna.” He leaned in and kissed her on the lips lovingly. “Surely it can’t be that bad.” He had a look on his face that didn’t want to believe that anything bad was happening right about now. He was on vacation, but then again did he ever catch a break.

While Anna loved to kiss him, this was something very serious that needed to be addressed right now. “Jeremy PLEASE, listen to me. There is a vampire killing teenagers and a hunter is about to take him out.” Her voice was pleading and urgent. She didn’t always pull at him like this, so he had a feeling of dread come over him. “Jeremy, please!”

Jeremy felt his anxiety levels rise. “Why should I be concerned with a hunter taking out a vampire? It’s what we do after all, even those who aren’t a part of the Five.” He didn’t want to believe that anything bad was happening, but he was starting to believe that he was very very wrong. “What’s going on Babe?” He asked.

“The vampire in the park is Enzo St. John. I know you don’t like him Jer, but you can’t let a hunter take him out because I know you don’t want to hurt Bonnie.” Anna was practically in tears right about now. Granted she never met Enzo while on this plane of existence before, but Jeremy did fill her in on what had happened in the time that she’d been gone.

Jeremy’s expression changed immediately. He had no love lost for Enzo but he was everything to Bonnie. Bonnie was Bonnie. He wasn’t about to let anything happen to anyone that Bonnie loved. Damn him and his weaknesses. He was going to have to kill another hunter and he hated it. “Take me to him Anna.” He had that gun in his pocket and a few other tricks up his sleeve.

Anna nodded when Jeremy gave her permission. She took Jeremy by the arm and zipped away into the heart of Mystic Falls.

~*~

The hunter had Enzo square in his sights. He was lowering his crossbow to take that shot that would end up wiping out another one of those damn bloodsuckers. It hurt him that he was too late to save the other kid, but this kid wasn’t going to die. This monster was about to be taken down. He started to pull the trigger on his crossbow.

The action was stopped short when a bright red spot formed on the man’s chest. The angle of the shot had come from directly behind the hunter. The man’s eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed dead to the ground. Jeremy Gilbert stood there with a pistol aiming it straight ahead. The barrel was still smoking. “Enzo, you have exactly five seconds to start talking. What the HELL is going on and why are you killing kids in my town?”

Jeremy was angry. His brow was furrowed and his jaw was twitching with the wrath bubbling below the surface. He hated to kill hunters to save monsters. The things that he did for people he cared about. “More importantly, does Bonnie know what the hell you’re doing?” He demanded.

While Jeremy had Enzo’s attention, Anna swept in and saved the kid that Enzo was stalking. She’d even compelled the British Vampire’s potential dinner to forget everything that had just happened. She crept back toward where Jeremy was facing off against Enzo and stayed just off to Jeremy’s left.