𝐇𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲
Bonnie knew. About the feeding. About the blood. About the bar. She'd seen him, caught him red-handed (or red-mouthed so to speak) and now she knew. Which meant that by sunrise so would Elena. His relationship was doomed.
Not if I see her first. Not if I explain.
He hadn't really fallen off the wagon. He had things under control.
No. I can't go there. Not yet. Not until I have what I need.
If he was going to prove to Bonnie, to Elena, to everyone that he had things under control then he was going to need something to hold him over. Just to take the edge off. A few bags to store in the cellar for when the thirst was too much.
It's too much now.
Stefan could still feel the last meal's pulse slowing at his lips as that hot liquid had filled his mouth and poured down his throat in all of it's salty goodness. He shivered excitedly, licking his extended fangs. God, he'd forgotten how much better it tasted from the vein!
Just one more drink and I'll be fine.
He made his way through the streets, empty at this time of night. Mystic Falls wasn't that big a town. Most people went to bed at decent hours. Or at least home anyway. Hunting wouldn't be as productive if he went about it this way. No, he would need a more reliable method of acquiring blood in the long haul. Perhaps he could keep a few bodies in the cellar.
If I compel them to be quiet maybe Damon wouldn't notice.
Who was he kidding? Of course Damon would notice extra heartbeats in the cellar! His brother wasn't completely oblivious.
Then I'll just have to hunt them myself. Hide them in another location. Damon doesn't have to know.
He could compel someone to let him store the living bodies at their home. Keep them there fresh and fed and visit when he was hungry. And compel the others to clean the mess when he was done. Until it was their turn to be the mess.
Yes that sounded like a plan.
Wait, no. He couldn't. That was the exact opposite of what he should be doing. Feeding, killing (because he knew he couldn't feed without killing) and lying to everyone he cared about. He had to control himself. To reign in his thirst.
But the thirst, it was too real.
He wanted blood. Rich blood. Warm blood. Hot blood spurting from hard pumping veins as its owner panicked in a near death hysteria. Stefan fell to his knees, overcome. He needed more. MORE MORE MORE!
His ears strained, listening for anything with a pulse. Any animals nearby had already fled upon his approach. They needn't have bothered; he had a taste for something a little more sophisticated. Unfortunately all of the bars and late night libation joints had closed down for the night. No one was around.
But the highway wasn't far. The highway would have cars, trucks, travelers. Even at this hour someone was always traveling, right? Maybe a truckdriver. Or a family on their way to a vacation further south. Ah yes, a family. Like the many he'd taken in Monterey, their fear for each other spicing the blood so perfectly!
Stefan fully vamped, ready to quench his desperate thirst when he heard the heartbeat. A loner. Not too far from the shoulder by the highway. Had to be a hitchhiker. Without a hint of hesitation he sped toward that heartbeat and the hot, delicious meal awaiting his parched mouth.
—————
Bonnie screamed out loud as Klaus bit into the mating mark upon his climax. It was like the first time, the way his body twitched as he unloaded inside her, his growl vibrating into her flesh. She'd already released all over him and was shivering through the after effects when he finished. Her entire body was weak with exertion.
"My love for you has no bounds, Bonnie Bennett," he whispered through lidded eyes.
"My precious mate."
Bonnie tried to catch her breath after the intense session.
"...love you... too," she could barely manage.
The two stared into each other's eyes for another moment or so before the chill night air brought her back to reality.
"You really have to work on your timing," she tried to scold him, still panting.
Klaus merely groaned, jerking once more as he continued to release inside her. Bonnie reached up to stroke the damp hair at the back of his head and she saw his eyes flutter appreciatively. This was the man she'd fallen in love with. The man who looked at her as he did right now. With so much love and emotion in his glowing eyes.
"Any time is the right time to be one with you, Love."
Words so sweet from a mouth so wicked.
"Maybe. But first we have to go find Stefan and clean up the mess you made."
Klaus released an exasperated breath at that before starting to pull out. Feeling a twinge in her back, Bonnie shifted just a little on the hood and he grunted hard.
"Don't mov-" but his hips snapped back into her and Klaus was groaning again.
Freaking phasing wolf ejaculations!
Once his body was sated, her mate offered an apologetic smile.
"This heat," he began but she responded with a gentle kiss to his lips in understanding.
Truth be told, were they not in such a dire mess at the moment she'd have loved to continue. Watching the Original come undone was more than a little hot. Bonnie made a mental note to play on this phenomenon later on when things settled down.
After straightening up and pulling out, Klaus helped her off of the car. She moved to close her robe when she noticed the rips.
"Damnit Klaus!"
Her Grams had helped her pick out that robe! Before she could say as much, his shirt was over his head and he was placing it on her. Bonnie tried to glare as she allowed him to pull her arms through the sleeves but the tenderness in his eyes zapped any anger she was feeling at the moment.
"I suppose I can use the bottom as a skirt for now," she murmured, "but thanks to you I'm out of a robe."
He leaned forward to kiss her forehead.
"I'll buy you the finest robes this world has to offer, Love. I'll even have them imported, pure silk. You'll never have to want for a robe again."
Why was he so damn extra?
"Or you could just stop tearing my clothes."
He flashed a mischievous smirk as reply. She'd seen that smirk before.
"Klaus, I mean it."
The Original readjusted himself back into his pants without a word.
"Klaus!"
"We should get started on finding Stefan. I track better on foot but you can follow me in the car if you like," he changed the subject.
Dirty wolf!
This wasn't over. But as she'd said earlier, now was not the time for petty squabbles. She'd have to sort out her claw-happy mate at a later time. For now they needed to focus on Stefan.
"I'm fine. Besides, now that I think of it, the car may warn him off. He'll hear it long before I can get close."
She locked her door and sighed. This was not how she'd expected to spend their first night as a mated pair. Technically their wedding night. They should be in bed right now, Klaus holding her against his freakishly hot hybrid body. Fast asleep and dead to the world. But instead they were here hunting her best friend's boyfriend.
"He went this way," Klaus started east.
"I could smell the blood a mile away."
Back toward the highway.
If he causes an accident...
She shook it off and followed after her mate.
———-
Tyler found the Ripper on the shoulder of the highway, fresh blood rich in the air. He was hunched over a still corpse, the head lying severed only a few feet away. From the rags on his feet the unfortunate victim was most likely a homeless person or hitchhiker. Tyler swallowed hard to prevent himself from gagging.
"Stefan?"
Black eyes turned to him, veins lining his face in vampiric form. The blood was spread all over his mouth, still wet from the kill. He looked every bit the hideous monster the Ripper was reputed to be.
"Still thirsty," Stefan whispered, voice harsh with desperation.
Tyler blinked. He'd never seen him this far gone before.
"So thirsty..."
He was licking at the corpse's neck, trying to steal the last little droplet of blood inside. He looked worse than a wild animal.
My God.
"This is what that bastard turned you into," Tyler couldn't help the disgust in his tone.
Stefan dropped the body but remained on his knees.
"Turned me into?" he laughed bitterly.
"Klaus isn't the one that turned me into a ripper."
His amusement was making the young wolf's hairs stand on end.
"This is who I always was."
Blood stained lips curved into a smile.
I hardly recognize him like this. He's even creepier than Damon right now.
This wasn't who Tyler had seen at the school yesterday. This wasn't who'd offered to help him with his urges.
"A part of you maybe," he conceded, "But you're stronger than this, Stefan. You beat it before, remember?"
He needed him to beat it again.
"This isn't something you beat, Tyler. You suppress it. You deny it. You bury it inside but you don't beat it. Not when it's a part of you. It's always there. Scratching to get back to the surface. To take it's rightful place at the forefront of your mind. To take control."
Stefan licked his bloody fingers for emphasis.
"A vampire can't stop being a vampire. And a ripper can't stop being a ripper."
"Except you did though! How many years were you clean before Klaus showed up?" Tyler pointed out.
"You had a method. Techniques, I don't know. But whatever you were doing was working. You weren't tearing people's heads off. You had it under control."
Stefan cocked his head to the side thoughtfully. As if considering.
"Techniques, huh?"
His lip quirked.
"You had it under control," Tyler repeated.
The Ripper watched him silently, head still cocked. His undead eyes narrowed with another smirk and Tyler found himself even more on guard. He didn't much like the way Stefan was staring.
"If you think you can intimidate me with that stare you're kidding yourself," he snapped when the vampire didn't speak again.
"I'm a werewolf. I can end you with one bite."
If Klaus didn't heal him first. Which he would do most likely. Seeing as he'd reactivated the Ripper, he must want the Ripper around for a reason. But the threat still stood.
"You didn't come all the way out here to bite me," Stefan remarked.
"Doesn't mean I won't," Tyler replied.
The vampire was unfazed. He continued his gaze for a while longer before asking;
"Why did you come looking for me?"
Kind of a dumb question but okay.
"To stop you from killing people. Duh."
Black eyes didn't let up.
"All alone? No back up? Bonnie was at the bar too. She saw me. Why didn't you bring her? Surely a witch of her caliber could put me down without even getting close. That aneurysm thing she does? It's pretty painful. And effective."
"I don't need Bonnie to stop you."
Stefan raised to one knee. Tyler's wolf bristled beneath the surface, feeling something ominous from the vampire.
"You're referring to earlier when you snapped my neck."
In the woods. Before the cave and...
"That was my heat," Tyler admitted, "but now I'm in my right mind. Which is where I'm trying to get you to be too."
He didn't want to fight Stefan. He wanted his help.
"I get it. You're caught up by the thirst right? The urge to drink? Well I may not have that exact urge but I know something about primal urges too. Remember, we talked about it after school?"
When Stefan had reached out to him, tried to help. Tyler had pridefully rejected the offer then. Now he knew better.
"You're comparing your heat phase to my bloodthirst?"
The young wolf shrugged.
"Hey you did it first. I'm just returning the favor."
That stare was growing creepier. Like he was staring into him.
"Maybe we can help each other," Tyler suggested, trying to push past that look.
"Like sponsors or something."
It was the best he could come up with. God knew they both needed it.
"I can't help you to stop wanting to fuck Bonnie."
He flinched at the blunt remark.
"I never said-"
"And you can't help me to stop wanting to suck blood. It's in the both of our natures. Wolves will always want witches. Vampires will always want blood. You've smelled a powerful Earth witch at her most potent time; so as long as your wolf heart beats in your wolf chest, your wolf instinct will be to procreate with that. Even if it's dear ol' Bonnie. Especially if it's dear ol' Bonnie. She's pretty strong isn't she?"
Tyler shook his head in denial.
"No, that's not what you said before. You said you could help me control the impulses."
Stefan was on his feet in such a smooth motion that the young wolf barely registered his movement.
"Is that what this is really about? You wanting my help to control your wolfy hormones?"
He took a step closer and Tyler's wolf snarled defensively.
"Hey you're the one that offered first! I just figured I can return the favor and help you too."
Stefan was his last hope. The only one who seemed to know anything about anything. And until now the only one that seemed to understand.
"How could you possibly help a vampire's urges, Tyler? You couldn't fathom how exhilarating it is to take a running target, tear into their throat and taste that first drop of blood on your tongue. To feel their pulse racing until it can't anymore because you've drained the last bit of life from it. To taste their fear," his fangs were extended as he spoke, "and let it intoxicate you. To feel the rush of the kill!"
His eyes were glittering now, just the mention of a kill had him excited. It was far too disturbing.
"You don't think I want to tear people's throats out sometimes?" Tyler shot back.
It was something he'd never admitted to anyone before. Not even to Caroline. Some things you just never mentioned to girls. Not even vampire ones.
"I'm a werewolf, Stefan. WereWOLF. Sometimes I'm so pissed I just want to bite people's faces off! Hell once a month I would if I'm not properly restrained. So don't talk to me like I don't understand violent urges. Everyday I'm fighting the urge to maul my classmates or beat them into oblivion thanks to this thing inside me!"
He must have caught the vampire by surprise because Stefan was quiet for a moment.
"I'm not the person you need to be talking to about werewolf impulses," he finally said.
Tyler felt his chest cave. So Stefan was turning him down? He wouldn't help him?
"I don't know much more than you do," the vampire continued.
"But there's one person in town who has a thousand years worth of research on the matter."
Oh Hell no!
"I can't go to him!" Tyler growled.
He'd sooner skinny dip in wolfsbane than ask that bastard for anything!
"All of those years trying to break the curse, Klaus read up on his ancestry," Stefan remarked, "I know because-well he's Klaus. Totally obsessive. When he wants something he obsesses over it until he gets his way. He might be new to being a werewolf but nobody is going to know more about werewolves than him."
Tyler cursed out loud, the truth bitter like acid in his chest. What Stefan said made perfect sense. Klaus had been around a long time. The fact that he knew to break his curse signified that he knew a thing or two about wolves.
Damnit!
"Fine, if you won't help me then I'll track down Jules's pack. They'll remember my uncle Mason. They'll remember me. And they'll tell me everything I need to know!"
He wouldn't go to Klaus though. He'd never give that narcissistic hybrid the satisfaction!
"If you were really going to do that then you'd have gone to them already, am I right?"
Stefan folded his arms.
"But you never went back did you, Tyler? Not after Klaus killed her. Why is that? Is it because you're afraid? Maybe you feel they won't accept you after you got their alpha killed?"
Tyler felt his wolf surge.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
He hadn't gotten Jules killed. That had been Klaus in his twisted ritual!
"That was Klaus!" he growled.
"Breaking that stupid curse!"
"We all know that you and Caroline were meant to be the sacrifices," Stefan shrugged. "But Klaus would have never gotten a hold of you if you hadn't come back to town. If you'd just stayed down there with her pack, Klaus would have been forced to find another wolf. But you came back and she followed you. Because she cared about you. Elena was there when it happened, you know. When Jules was sacrificed. She told me what Jules said before she died. You want to know what that was? She said she didn't want you to be alone. She came back to Mystic Falls because she didn't want poor little orphan wolf Tyler to be alone. And when Damon rescued you, Klaus took her in your place."
Tyler felt a sudden nausea at his words.
"So you see, had you not come back to Mystic Falls, Jules would be alive. Her pack would be thriving and they'd be teaching you all you need to know about being a werewolf. Even the hormonal heat stuff."
No it was Klaus. It was...
A heavy lump formed in the teen wolf's throat as he tried to counter the accusation.
"No, it wasn't my fault. It wasn't!"
He'd never meant for her to get caught up in his vampire mess. Certainly not for her to die. She'd been there for him, when Mason had disappeared, when he'd learned that his uncle had been killed.
"No, that hybrid bastard killed her!" he screamed, suddenly furious at the influx of pain.
At the reminder of his loss. Of his guilt. Had he indirectly caused her death? Surely if she'd never met him, Jules would be alive right now.
"It's wasn't my fault!" he repeated, feeling himself wolf out.
He wasn't even sure who he was trying to convince now. Stefan or himself. Unnerved by the realization, he did what he always did when he was upset. He lashed out. Snarling with emotion he lunged for the vampire, ready to tear into him. Not yet registering the self-satisfied look on Stefan's face until he felt a cold hand at the back of his neck, the other one holding his chin.
"I've been wanting to do this all day."
Then a sharp pain in his neck and nothing.