Chapter Three| Little Hunter
“THE BATTLE OF WILLOW CREEK TOOK PLACE AT THE END OF THE WAR IN OUR VERY OWN MYSTIC FALLS. How many casualties resulted in this battle?.... Miss Bennett?" The history teacher says, boring the class to death.
It was Friday, and Athena couldn’t be happier. She didn’t care about the party and didn’t want to go but a certain blonde was forcing the girl to go. But, the way she saw it, was that it was an easy way to get free booze.
"Um… A lot? I'm not sure. But, like, a whole lot." Bonnie says, nodding, hoping it would please the man. Athena chuckles, looking down at her sketchbook. Today the girl wore a pink lace top - that Caroline got her -, black cargo pants with a belt buckle, a cropped jean jacket, and black tennis shoes. She was having a bad hair day, so the girl also had on a black bucket hat - one that she stole from her brother.
"Cute becomes dumb in an instant, Miss Bennett.”
Athena scoffed at the man. No one particularly liked the man, especially when he was an asshole to anyone and everyone. Including the quiet kids. “Mister Donovan. Would you like to take this opportunity to overcome your jock stereotype?" The man says, turning to a laughing Matt.
"It's okay, Mr.Tanner. I'm cool with it." Matt says, getting laughs from the class.
"Athena? Surely, you can enlighten us about one of the town's most historical events, And not just the fictional greek gods and goddesses." Tanner says turning, to the girl that was still drawing in her sketchbook. "Gods and Goddesses history, I know. But this History is a bore, sorry." Athena says shrugging, carelessly.
"I was willing to be lenient last year for obvious reasons, Athena. But the personal excuses ended with summer break." Tanner says, making everyone go silent. The girl looks up from her book with a glare on her face. "Well-"
"There were three hundred and forty-six casualties, unless you're counting the local civilians." Stefan says, cutting the girl off making her friends sigh in relief. "That's correct, Mr...?" Tanner says, turning to the boy.
"Salvatore." Stefan says, nodding to the man. "Salvatore. Any relation to the original settlers here at Mystic Falls?" The man asks, curiously.
"Distant." Stefan says, almost hesitantly. The youngest female Gilbert picked up on it, and tilted her head at the boy. There was no reason to be hesitant, but the boy was. It was as if he was choosing his words wisely.
"Well, very good. Except, of course, there were no civilian casualties in this battle."
"Actually, there were twenty-seven, sir. Confederate soldiers fired on the church, believing it to be housing weapons. And they were wrong. It was a night of great loss. The founder's archives are in Civil Hall if you'd like to brush up on your facts Mr.Tanner." Stefan says, smartly. "Did Mr.Tanner just get Tannered?" Athena says laughing, as soon as those words left her mouth everyone seems to break and laugh along with the girl.
The moment Caroline and Athena parked, the blonde ditched the Gilbert girl and spoke to other people. Athena wasn’t too mad about it, since she didn’t feel like socializing at the moment. Instead the girl began looking around for the good booze.
"Where is all the good liquor when you need it." Athena says groaning to herself, straightening the jean jacket. She’d been wandering around looking in coolers, and no luck it was all beer. Not even the good kind, it was a cheap liquor.
"’Thena, hey." Tyler says, walking up to the girl. "Hey, Ty." Athena says, absentmindedly as she continued opening the group of coolers in front of her
"What are you up to?" Tyler says, looking down at the girl. Athena sighs standing up straight, and looks at the boy unamused. "Is that your way of asking if I'm okay?"
"A way is which I hope you won't bite my head off like everyone else?" Tyler says, hesitantly. "I won't if you point me to the good stuff," Athena says, smirking.
"This way my lady," Tyler says, walking her over to the coolers where Vicki is standing. "Hey, lady Donovan." Athena says, smirking at the girl.
"Hey, How-" Vicki starts.
"Don't start Vics. I actually like you. Don't make me want to rip your head off, too." Athena says, seeing vodka and other juices. The girl sees strawberry lemonade and sprite, and mixes the two and adds a larger portion of vodka. Athena hums, taking a sip from the solo cup, and nods to the two teens watching her. "I'm going to leave you, two. Don't do something I wouldn't do."
Athena didn’t feel like walking around the drunk teens, and decided to walk into the woods. Tyler and Vicki watch the girl’s body disappear into the darkness. The boy makes a mental note to tell Elena where the girl was.
"She's a lot off work." Tyler says, turning back to the female Donovan. "But you gotta love her."
The Gilbert girl let her feet guide her to the same spot she was earlier that week. The spot her father brought her two countless times. The same spot she met a stranger. Athena took a seat on a large rock, and drank what was in her cup in silence.
That silence was soon broken by a snap of a branch. Athena jumps up, spilling the contents of her cup on the ground from the shock. “Who’s there?”
Athena knew how stupid she sounded, like a white girl from a horror movie. But she couldn’t help it. Her question was somewhat answered, as the man from earlier that week walked into the moonlight. “Hello, stranger.” A man says, smirking at the green eyed girl.
“Oh, it’s the creep.” Athena says, rolling her eyes at the man, as she still had a cautious stance. “Scaring girls in the middle of the woods seems to be a normal thing for you.”
"Only the gorgeous, green eyed ones.” The man asks, looking the girl up and down. A smile grows on his lips hearing the girl scoff. “You know I never got your name.”
"You scream 'Stranger Danger' so I'm not gonna tell you." She says smiling, sarcastically at the man. "Will it help if I tell you mine?" The man asks, with a tilt of his head.
"How do I know you're not using a fake name?" She asks, making him laugh. "I'm Damon. Damon Salvatore." The man says smirking, holding his hand out for the girl to shake.
"Okay, now James Bond." Athena says rolling her eyes, downing what is left in her cup. "I said my name. I'd like yours." Damon says, stepping closer to the girl.
The girl sighs, and nods at the blue eyed man. "Athena Gilbert… You happen to be related to Stefan Salvatore?"
"Yes. My brother actually." Damon says, with a sigh of displeasure. "Nice, he apparently likes my sister and I need something on him." Athena says, straightening her jean jacket.
The man shakes his head chuckling, but nods nonetheless."Alright. Ask-"
"Jeremy!" They hear a yell. The voice sounded like Elena which worried and confused Athena.
"Uh.. I have to go." Athena says, turning to Damon. The man grabs onto the girl’s arms, stopping her from leaving. He looks into the girl’s angry, green eyes.
Athena frowns, and looks at the man confused as he spoke. "You never saw me. You came to look at the view, nothing else."
The girl pushed the man away from her. “What the hell, asshole!”
Damon looks at the girl in confusion, and is shocked that the compulsion didn’t work. The girl scoffs, rolling her eyes at the man. “You really shouldn’t go around manhandling girls like that. That’s a one way street to having a girl kick your ass.”
Athena doesn’t say anything else, and runs in the direction of the yell. The girl ran, jumping over fallen branches, and moved branches out of her way. She sees Elena following their brother as he walks away from her. "Jeremy, where the hell are you going?" Elena says, looking down to not trip over anything.
"I don't wanna hear it." Jeremy yells angrily, looking back at the eldest Gilbert. The moment of distraction caused the boy to trip over a log and onto the ground. Athena runs faster, and stops abruptly beside her brother and sees a bleeding Vicki Donovan.
"Vicki? No." Jeremy says, looking down at the body below him. "Oh, my God, Vicki." Athena says with wide eyes.
Athena pushes her shock away, and jumps to help the girl. "Let's go. Jeremy pick her up, we need to help her."
"Somebody help!" Elena yells, as the three Gilberts break through the forest trees. Everyone turns to the three, and Matt Donovan runs towards them confused with Tyler right behind him. "Vicki? Vicki, what the hell?"
"What happened?" Matt asks, looking at the three Gilbert’s. "Someone, call an ambulance!" Athena yells, to no one in particular.
"Everybody back up. Give her space." Tyler says, pushing people away. "It's her neck. Something bit her. She's losing a lot of blood." Elena explains holding the girl's neck.
"Vicki, come on, open your eyes. Look at me." Matt says, to the girl. "They're on their way." Bonnie says, with her phone in her hand.
The minutes before the ambulance went by as a blur for Athena. Once the ambulance came the two youngest Gilberts sat on a bench in silence with Elena standing in front of them. Only breaking when Bonnie walked up to them. "Hey, we're gonna go get coffee and wait for news."
"I gotta take Jeremy and Athena home." Elena says, motioning to the two that sat on a bench.
"I'm right here." Athena says, throwing a rock at the girl’s feet. It went ignored, making the girl groan and her brother to laugh at her childish antics. The boy had his headphones in and was blasting music not wanting to hear anyone's voice at the moment, and when his sister moved sharkly it broke him from his thoughts.
Athena ignored the conversation going on between her sister and their best friend. She rested her head on her brother’s shoulder, and kicked her feet on the rocks below her feet.
"You okay? I called Jenna. She's on her way." Elena says, looking at her phone as Bonnie left. Athena ripped the headphone out of Jeremy’s ears, gaining his attention. “Bitch.” Jeremy says, hitting the girl’s thigh.
“Jerk.” Athena says, hitting the back of her brother’s head. The two began hitting each other, making their sister groan as she tried to stop the two from hurting each other. “Hey, stop it!”
The younger sibling sighs and takes a drink of the beer they grabbed in unison.
"Those people in uniforms? Last time I checked, they're the police.” Elena says, jokingly. She sighs watching her sibling ignore and down the beers, tossing the bottles into the metal barrels behind them.
“People are gonna stop giving you breaks, Jer. They just don't care anymore. They don't remember that our parents are dead. They've got their own lives to deal with. The rest of the world has moved on. You should try, too. And being a smartass and getting angry isn’t going to solve your problems, Athena."
"Says the girl who sits in the cemetery writing in her diary." Athena says sarcastically, looking at her sister with bored eyes. "Is that supposed to be you moving on?" Jeremy adds.
"Mom and Dad wouldn't have wanted this." Elena says, looking at the two. "Don't be so hypocritical, ‘Lena." Athena says, rolling her eyes.
The three made it home, Athena went straight to her room with Sirius. While she changed into sweatpants and a t-shirt, Sirius jumped onto the girl’s bed getting comfortable. Seeing the dog sleeping Athena opened her window and climbed out to the roof to look at the full moon above. "Elena says we need to move on… I hate it."
“You hate everything, little hunter." She says mocking, her father's deep voice. The girl then sighs, tiredly. "Yeah well I hate you the most. Leaving me in the place we call earth, more like hell."
"I feel like I'm dying more and more each day. I want to feel alive." Athena says, softly. She plays with her necklace trying to stop herself from getting angry. "I've lost you. I can't lose myself, either. But tonight feels different, I feel like I actually have hope. I... Just don't know what for."
Athena’s mind was racing, but she couldn’t concentrate on one thing. So, she sighed and looked down at her hands seeing the chipping black nail polish. She focuses on the thought of her mom painting her nails every weekend, and now she had to do it herself.
The girl sighs, and looks at the moon thinking of her father. "I love you… from our first war to our last."
