———
Yesterday was hectic.
Not for me because I was driving to Chicago with Nik when we were informed of the days events.
Pastor young had blown himself and the members of the council up in his home.
Naturally, a funeral was held.
Basically anything that could've went wrong, went wrong.
Elena couldn't drink blood from anything except from the vein. Not to mention there was now a vampire hunter on the loose. The hunter shot Tyler at the funeral, but fortunately he survived.
Which is why I was currently standing with Nik in the Lockwood mansion, waiting for the hybrid to arrive.
"Who the hell are you two?" I hear Tyler question some people from the other room.
"Tyler, it's okay. They're here for your protection." Caroline calms him.
"More deputies?" Tyler scoffs.
"Not exactly." Nik says as we walk into the room.
"They're hybrids." Tyler states with a sigh.
"We were halfway to Chicago when I heard you were attacked. I had hoped to leave Mystic Falls for good, but duty calls." Nik says.
"Nice to know you care." Tyler mumbles sarcastically.
"I don't. I should have killed you for the little stunt you and your friends pulled. Stopping my heart, leaving me in a coffin to rot." Nik responds.
"Yeah, well you used my body as an escape hatch, then kissed my girlfriend." Tyler grumbles.
"Okay, first of all, she kissed Nik, and second, I'd like to forget that whole ordeal. So if we could just not bring that up..." I interject.
"Whatever, I say we're even." Tyler speaks to Nik.
"Not even close. But, you hybrids are a dying breed. I can't make more of you, and I won't have anyone taking liberties with the ones I have left." Nik replies.
"Consider them your new bodyguards." Nik adds as he starts to walk off.
"Wait, where are you going?" I call after him.
He spins around with a soft smile as he walks back to me.
"Off to handle some vampire business. I'd take you with me but I don't want you getting hurt."
"You're leaving me here?" I whisper shout.
"I'll be back as soon as I can, but for now, here with my hybrids is the safest place to be." He explains.
"I better get ice cream for this." I grumble.
"You have my word."
"That's Elijah's thing! You can't steal his bit, he's so proud of it." I giggle.
"Fine, then I promise I'll get you ice cream. How's that?"
"Perfect. Be safe." I smile, pulling him into a quick kiss.
After Nik had left the room my eyes rested on Tyler who looked amused and a little grossed out.
"You guys are nasty. But it is really funny seeing him take orders from someone half his height." He snorts.
"I am not that short!" I protest.
"Sure." He chuckles.
———
I sat with Tyler on the couch. A comfortable silence blanketing the room as he tossed a football in and out of his hands.
My attention turns to the door behind us as I hear a random girl walking in.
"So, this is where you've been hiding, huh?" She questions.
Tyler snaps his head around to see where the voice came from. "Hayley?!" He asks in surprise.
"Hey, Lockwolf!" She greets, pulling him into a hug. She pulls back and looks over at me.
"And who might this be?" She asks.
"That's Ivy. Klaus's girlfriend." Tyler explains.
"Huh...when Tyler said Klaus had a girlfriend I kind of imagined this really scary looking chick, but you look so...not scary." She admits.
"Oh she's not. She doesn't need to be because if anyone so much as gives her a paper cut, Klaus goes berserk." Tyler responds before me.
"He's very protective." I shrug with a shy smile.
"Right, that reminds me. You ass! I thought Klaus killed you." Hayley turns to Tyler, shoving his chest.
"I should have called." Tyler admits sheepishly.
"From your trailer park in Florida? You liar!" She laughs out the accusation. "You're totally loaded!" She adds as she takes a seat on the edge of a desk.
Tyler gives a light shrug in response.
"I chained you up all over the Appalachians. I talked you through every turn. I helped you break the sire bond. You could have told me your real story." Hayley says.
"I didn't want anybody to follow me back." Tyler replies.
Hayley frowns at him in confusion.
"Werewolves weren't safe around Klaus, and you shouldn't be here, either. His hybrids are all over this house, and so is he." Tyler's explains.
Hayley stands to face him.
"I know. One of his hybrids is with a pack I ran with. He called me and told me that he was coming to protect a guy named Tyler, and I thought, tsk, what are the chances?"
They stare at each other for a moment without saying anything.
"I can ask Nik not to mess with Hayley if you want." I offer to Tyler.
"Would you mind?" He asks.
"I'll try my best." I say.
"You look really familiar...do I know you somehow?" Hayley asks as she stares at me.
"I don't think we've met before." I answer.
"Guess you just have one of those faces." She shrugs, still looking at me as if she could figure it out.
"Guess so." I nod.
"Well, the least you could do is pour me some fancy, rich people scotch." Hayley turns her attention back to Tyler.
"Sure! Absolutely." Tyler agrees.
I giggle as Hayley playfully falls down onto the couch beside me.
———
After a while, Caroline had returned to the Lockwood mansion and Tyler had gone downstairs to greet her.
That left me alone with Hayley, who just kept staring at the side of my face as I sat there awkwardly.
"I don't mean to sound rude, but can you please stop staring at me like that." I request politely.
"Sorry, it's just you look really familiar. It's driving me nuts."
"You kind of look familiar too if I'm being honest." I admit.
"Oh thank god! I thought I was going insane."
"There's a chance we could be going insane at the same time." I joke.
"I guess we'll just wait and find out." She chuckles.
Our attention diverts to the door as I hear my soulmate's voice. "You're a new face." Nik states, looking at Hayley.
"And I take it from your accent you're an old one. Klaus." Hayley says.
"My reputation precedes me. Hopefully not all bad." He smiles.
"A little bad. Mostly repulsive." Hayley replies.
I get up from my seat on the couch and pull Nik into a warm hug. "I missed you." I whisper into his neck.
"I missed you too." He responds.
He pulls back gently, looking into my eyes.
"Everyone behave themselves? I can beat somebody up if you'd like." He offers with a playful smile, though I know if I did accept, he'd waste no time in beating somebody to a pulp.
"No need. Everyone's been nice." I reply.
"Tyler's right, you guys are gross." Hayley chuckles.
I blush and look away as Nik sends a light glare her way.
"So, you're a friend of Tyler's? That's strange, he's never mentioned you." He speaks.
He goes silent for a moment, his face morphing into one of concentration as he appears to be listening to something I can't hear.
"And I think I know why." He adds as he looks at Hayley with a taunting smirk.
———
I sat, very bored, on Nik's lap as he propped his feat up of the desk while sitting in the matching chair.
The back of my head rested comfortably on Nik's shoulder as his arms wrapped around my middle.
Hayley had left soon after her conversation with Nik.
I pleaded with him to tell me what he thought was going on, but he said he'd let me know when he had the confirmation he needed.
Eventually, Tyler walked into the study, pausing for a second as he saw Nik.
"She's quite fetching, that Hayley." Nik smirks at him.
"Where is she?" Tyler asks, unamused.
"Oh, she had to run, but don't worry, I had her take the back door so Caroline wouldn't see." Nik answers.
I look at him in confusion but he simply taps his fingers against my thigh, signaling me to stand up.
I obey and he walks closer to Tyler.
"Whatever you think you know..." Tyler begins to defend himself.
"I don't know anything, but I've put together a pretty convincing picture." Nik pauses as he smiles smugly at Tyler. "Why don't you tell me where my imagination deviates from reality?"
Nik pauses again as he paces around Tyler.
"You went off to the Appalachians to break my sire-bond. There, you met a pack of werewolves, begged them for help. Among them was a girl. She was gorgeous, with the same animal instincts as you. Emotions ran high, inhibitions ran low-"
"-Stop it!" Tyler interrupts.
"-Then, in a moment of weakness, the thick sexual tension became something much more real." Nik finishes his guess.
"I said stop!" Tyler shouts.
"And Caroline has no idea." Nik adds.
I stare at Tyler with wide eyes. "Did you really cheat on Caroline!?" I question sharply.
Tyler doesn't get the chance to answer as his phone started ringing.
"Hello, Damon." Nik answers, having grabbed the phone before Tyler could.
"Klaus? Where's Tyler?" I hear Damon ask through the phone.
"Tyler's otherwise occupied, making big decisionsabout honesty and what not. Is there anything I can do?"
"I'm going after the vampire hunter, so if he'd like to join...?"
"He wouldn't. I, however..."
———
Nik was walking out of the Lockwood mansion, but I managed to catch up with him.
I gently held onto his forearm, spinning him around to face me. "Can I come with you. Pretty please?" I ask hopefully.
"It's dangerous, little angel."
"Well that's why you'd be there to protect me." I reason.
"You are safe here with my hybrids that are quite literally devoted to keeping you out of harms way. The sire bond is a wonderful tool is it not?"
"I'm sure it's great, but it's so boring here. Please let me come. There's no safer place to be then by your side." I beg, flashing him a hopeful grin.
"Fine. But you have to promise not to leave my side." He begrudgingly agrees.
"I wouldn't have left your side anyway. But thank you!" I reply, hugging him tightly.
———
I watch from our hiding spot as the hunter, Conner, walks into our particular room in the hospital.
"Is a hospital really the best place for a germaphobe?" Connor questions.
I watch soundlessly as Damon walks out from behind a rack of medical supplies.
"Did I say that I was a germaphobe? Pft, sorry, I meant vampire."
Connor pulls out a gun to shoot Damon, but is struck by an arrow. He drops his gun and bends down to pick it up. When he does so, he's shot by another arrow. He looks at both the arrows and sees they are attached to claymore bombs.
"Stings, doesn't it?" Damon taunts.
Conner attempts to pick his gun up again, but Nik walks us over and kicks it way from his hand.
"Hello, mate."
———
The three of us watch as Conner tries to pull the arrows from his flesh.
"Keep it up, buddy. We'll be scraping you off the ceiling." Damon says.
"You two are gonna kill me anyway." Connorstates, looking at the supernaturals in the room.
"Well, let's not be too hasty. I feel like we're just getting to know each other!" Nik speaks.
"Let's start with the basics. Where are you from? What do you know? Maybe you can cue me in on this "greater evil," because I've fought this guy" Damon pauses, pointing at Nik. "and there's nothing more evil than that."
"Yeah, truth be told, I'm as evil as it gets." Nik smiles in amusement.
"You're such a liar. He's a real softy when you get to know him." I interject with a giggle.
"Angel, not while I'm trying to be threatening okay?" Nik ducks down to whisper in my ear.
My mouth forms an "o" shape.
"Sorry." I whisper back.
"I'm not telling you anything. And if you think if you kill me, it's gonna be over, there's another waiting to take my place." Connor says.
"See, this is what I like to hear; vague threats, ominous prophecies, disappearing tattoos." Damon says.
Nik looks down at Connor and stops smirking.
"What do you mean, tattoos?" Nik questions.
I furrow my eyebrows at his sudden shift in attitude.
"Don't bother, you can't see the damn thing." Damon grumbles.
Nik kneels down next to Connor. "There's more to you than meets the eye, isn't there?" He questions.
Connor looks at him. He attempts to stake Nik, but Nik is too quick and catches his arm
"Nice try, but I'm faster than your average vampire." He taunts.
Nik twists his arm and grabs the stake out of his hand. He pauses seeing a mark carved into the wood.
"You're one of the Five." Nik states in awe.
"The what?" Damon questions.
"And I'm faster than your average hunter." Connor spits out.
Suddenly, I feel Nik's arms wrap around my waist as he vamp-speeds us out of the room, successfully avoiding any damage from the bomb Connor had just detonated.
That night I was safely returned home without a single scratch.
———
Just want to say how much I love you guys. Thank you all so much for reading and supporting this story 💖