The Hunters: Destiny Rising is a novel of the Vampire Diaries book series, it is the tenth book of the series, and the third book of the season/chapter The Hunters series. The main protagonists are: Elena Gilbert, Stefan Salvatore, Meredith Sulez, Damon (sometimes), Bonnie McCullough and Matt Honeycutt and the Original Pack. The main antagonists are: Klaus, Damon Salvatore (sometimes), Katherine von Swartzchild (antagonist turned good later on), and the Vitale Society. In the book, Klaus has been revived by the Vitale Society, a vampiric society on the campus of Dalcrest College, with a spell that uses the power of the Equinox.
Plot[]
The story is set after the events of The Hunters: Moonsong, where Ethan – the leader of a vampiric society – is planning to revive Klaus the Old One with the blood of his turned vampire descendants. Ethan has created new vampires, he is killed by Meredith and, after they foil Ethan’s plans, the newly turned flee off to feed on human blood. In the Epilogue Ethan is revealed to be alive and Meredith has missed when striking at his heart. He has a vial of Stefan’s and Damon’s blood. Klaus will rise again. Elena and her boyfriend are hunting the rogue new and turned vampires. Elena is struggling with the idea that her parents would’ve given her away to the Celestial Court when she turned twelve to become a Guardian. She is afraid to be one of the Guardians who were very cold and intent on order, neither good nor evil, just balance. Meanwhile, Damon is feeding on a human, something he has not done in a long time because Elena had been an influence of goodness in his life. But now that Elena has chosen Stefan, he feels he has no reason to care, and he is angry and hurt. In his wrath, he overfeeds on the victim and when her heartbeat slows, he drops her and runs away in recognition. After patrolling campus to find the newly turned vampires, Bonnie, Meredith, Matt and Zander find a vampire who was a friend to Matt when he was on the Vitale Society before he knew how evil they were and their intentions for turning him and the other new comers into vampires and raising Klaus, Beth, who is feeding on an innocent member of the College.
Zander reveals that he has powers of persuasion, forcing Beth to reveal if she is worth keeping alive by asking her if she wants to hurt anyone.
Beth replies by laughing and stating that she doesn’t want to hurt anyone, she wants to kill and that she has never felt more alive before Meredith gracefully kills her. For the time being, Elena and Stefan are patrolling together. Elena tells Stefan that she knows it is selfish with everything going on, but she doesn’t know how much time they might have left should Ethan raise Klaus and that she wants nothing more than to be alone with Stefan. Stefan is then consumed with passion and kisses her softly at first then more passionately after Elena tells him telepathically that he can. Elena ends up with her back to on a nearby tree in the woods and kisses Stefan with fierce passion, hunger and desire. During this exchange of sexual love and passion, Elena thinks about how their lives will be if she were to drink the water from the Fountain of Eternal Youth and Life. She would stay eighteen for eternity, she feels she is not ready for that yet, but to think of growing old, dying and leaving Stefan behind gives her longing and she kisses Stefan with more determination. Then she remembers that she hasn’t told him about her Guardian history and tells Stefan the secret she was told by James. Stefan comforts her and tells her that he’ll be by her side no matter what she chooses. He then senses a presence nearby and the two find a girl who is severely drained of blood by a vampire. Elena guesses it is the rogue newly turned ones, but Stefan sees that it is actually an attack by Damon. Elena refuses to believe it at first, but soon accepts it. They agree to keep it a secret from their friends, mainly Meredith who would literally kill Damon if she found out. Later, after they all meet up as a group. Elena explains to her friends about her birth and how she is meant to be a Guardian. Bonnie and Meredith support her and comfort her, too. They tell her that they’ll be with her all the way. Elena then refocuses on the task at hand. Meredith and the rest of the protagonists make a plan to stop Ethan and kill all his fledgling vampires. After the meeting Stefan heads off to Damon’s house near campus. Damon looks sickly to Stefan and has bags under his eyes. Stefan tells him the situation at hand, but the older brother tells him that he doesn’t care and that he is done meddling in the lives of Stefan’s pet humans. Stefan tells him that should Klaus return, he will hunt him, too. Damon responds by saying that he doesn’t think that he will be at the top of Klaus’s revenge list, implying that it would be Elena (who actually killed Klaus with the power of the spirits). Stefan tries to tell him that it is Elena who needs him, but Damon tells him that it is his responsibility now and that he is truly done. James (a teacher who was friends with Elena’s parents) has called another Earthly Guardian, Andrés, who is from Costa Rica who can teach Elena to awaken her Powers.