Title: Broken Twigs and Loaded Threats
Author: Ditzgirl123
Rating: Pg-13 for mild violence
Summery: The littlest Gilbert is on a mission to find out what Katherine is still doing in town. Spoilers through 2x22.
Disclaimer: I own the TVD box set...and that's it. None of these characters are mine, I'm just playing with them.
The youngest Gilbert (the only remaining Gilbert male, really) stalked silently along the side of the boarding house. This was the second week in a row that he'd been on self-imposed Katherine duty. No one seemed to care what she was up to anymore or what her next step would be. They were too busy being relieved that Klaus had left while simultaneously mourning their losses. He got it, he did. But the way they all just seemed to ignore that fact that Katherine had failed to leave town...it pissed him off.
If he'd learned anything from this entire ordeal it was that the second you let your guard down around vampires, you were dead. He'd heard Katherine say once that she liked her loose ends all tied up. He knew it was only a matter of time before she set this town on fire to erase her mark on it.
The Gilbert journals that Elena had found at the lake house had gone straight to him and he'd devoured each one. Each book had told of the plight the men in his family had undertaken to keep their families, their town, safe. He may not have had much family left, but he had their legacy and it was the least he could do, to honor it and them.
So here he was, one of the few remaining normal humans, trying to keep tabs on a 500 year old killing machine. It'd been easy enough to follow her around town the first week. He'd sneak from store to store, watching her through the windows as she shopped and lunched. She'd continued to dress as Elena and was often stopped by her schoolmates. His hand would grip the vervain dart that was permanently in his pocket, waiting for her to turn on them. She never did, though he thought he saw her compel some of them a few times along the way. She would smile brightly every time and chat before sauntering off in that predatory way of hers.
He didn't understand what game she was playing or what her angle was and it was terrifying that no one ever noticed she wasn't actually Elena.
Tonight was the first time he had followed her home. He was creeping around trying to find an open window to see what she was up to. A twig snapped behind him. Before Jeremy had a chance to react, his body was slammed against the side of the house and a hand was wrapped around his throat. His shocked eyes met cool brown ones that were laced with amusement.
Fuck.
It was Katherine, and she'd just caught him creeping around the outside of the boarding house. He noticed that he had to look down at her though, and it was eerie that someone so small, so petite could throw him around like a doll. Her manicured nails dug a little tighter into his skin and pulled his attention back to the situation at hand.
"Care to tell me why you're looking through windows?" Katherine asked, her voice dangerously calm. "Didn't your parents teach you that was rude?" Her hand was cutting off his air supply and not allowing him to reply. He could feel the pain making him want to panic but he refused to show any fear and he curled his hands into fists, the feel of his ring a small comfort. She could hurt him, possibly kill him, but he'd come back. It would suck, but he'd be okay.
"What are you doing out here?" Katherine repeated, apparently losing patience with the game. Her hand loosened slightly and he gasped in order to take in a breath, choking slightly when the air burned its way down his throat. He debated telling her the truth, that he couldn't stand to be around anyone at this point; that he had learned to pass the time keeping track of her whereabouts since he knew it was only a matter of time until she wrecked havoc once more.
He passed aside the option of telling the truth and instead went straight for his arsenal of teenage sarcasm. "Is this not the library? I must of taken a wrong turn somewhere…" His breath was cut off once more by her clever fingers. He wasn't sure why he had thought this was a great idea, At least following her around town he could always duck into a store to get away from her. Here, in the middle of the isolated woods he was pretty much on his own.
"Don't," she snarled, the expression seeming nightmarish on Elena's features. "I am not a Salvatore, willing to play with humans." Veins surrounded her eyes and her face contorted into the vampire visage he'd grown used to seeing. "You're following me around town and where ever I go. Don't think I haven't noticed. You will stop." Her eyes dilated slightly and he could tell she was attempting to compel him. When she didn't see the complacency come through his face, she snarled disgustedly. "Of course you're on vervain." She tossed him to the ground.
He coughed violently, trying to catch his breath, trying to figure out his next move. He heard her mutter, "Why must Gilberts always complicate things for me?" and her tone was just so Elena, that he had to close his eyes for a moment to focus. He had the vervain bombs in his back pocket and as long as he hadn't crushed them in the fall, he could hopefully stun Katherine with them and make a quick exit. He'd heard Damon say that she had built her tolerance back up, but it should still distract her long enough.
He turned onto his knees, exaggerating his coughing in an attempt to distract her. It worked, she rolled her eyes in annoyance and turned away for a moment. His hand shot to his pocket and he had both glass jars in his hands, ready to toss at the vampires head. He had one arm cocked back before she was once again on him, this time holding his arms at his side. He took a moment to be mortified at the fact a girl who looked one hundred pounds soaking wet could pin him so quickly.
"You're starting to become a little more than annoying, Jeremy." Katherine said calmly, perched atop him like they were casual friends. She'd been wearing Elena's clothing around town and even now had on a blue Henley his mother had bought her a few years ago. Elena had outgrown it last year, but apparently the tightness of it didn't seem to bother Katherine. He wanted to make a snarky comment about her decline in fashion sense lately, but realized the situation was already bad enough.
She snatched the glass bombs away from him and tossed them at a tree in the distance. He heard them shatter and realized that his best hope at escaping, would probably be screaming and hoping Damon or Caroline heard. His pride wouldn't let him open his mouth, though, and he tried to pry his hands away from her, but Katherine's grip on his wrist was too tight and he stopped his struggles mere moments later.
He knew how this would go. He knew how strong she was. Even when she'd been trapped in the tomb for days, she'd still been able to overpower him.
She had apparently been reliving the same moments in her head because her eyes took on a familiar gleam. She lifted his hand to idly stare at his ring. "You know Jeremy, maybe I've been looking at this the wrong way." She smiled at him and he resisted the urge to shudder. "I haven't been able to go feed properly because you've been following me around, but… maybe I'm just supposed to feed from you, since you're always around." She twisted the ring around his finger playfully, quirking an eyebrow. "That fact that you'll just keep coming back to life will be so damn useful."
Jeremy pushed against her harder now, fighting to get free. "I drink vervain everyday, there's no way that wouldn't hurt you!" he shouted. He remembered how it felt when she had fed off him before. It had hurt like hell and there had been a fleeting feeling of something else underneath the pain that he had refused to acknowledge at the time. It wasn't anything like the times Anna had fed off him, but it was close enough. He'd be damned if he'd let her feed willingly.
"Oh, I can work around that," she said, managing to hold both his flailing arms over his head with one hand and trailing her nail down his neck with the other. "It takes just 5 minutes to bleed someone out when it's done properly, you know." Her nail stopped right above his carotid artery and he felt a chill run through his body. "It shouldn't take long for you to come back after that, right?" Jeremy fought as hard as he could to get the upper hand but she wasn't budging.
"Maybe this will teach you that it's not polite to follow ladies around." Katherine lowered herself down fully, her curves pressing against him and he stopped fighting. This was too weird, too uncomfortable, she looked just like his sister and she was just too close to him. Panic began to finally bloom in his chest as his mind frantically searched for a way out.
Her fangs scraped teasingly over his neck but he refused to plead for anything this time. He knew from experience that nothing he could say would stop her. He tried to tune out what was going on, focusing on the fact that his ring would bring him back.
The very last thing he expected to hear was Damon shouting out. Katherine was flung off of him and he sat up quickly, clutching his neck, searching for bite wounds that weren't there.
"What the hell, Katherine?" Damon demanded, stepping between Jeremy and the vampire. "Elena's brother?"
"Oh, please." Katherine stood and dusted crushed leaves off herself, acting every bit the dainty girl she looked to be. "He started it." She shrugged her shoulders innocently.
"Jeremy, what are you even doing here?" Damon asked, turning to look at the boy.
"Looking for Elena," Jeremy lied. Katherine tilted her head to the side, her eyes curious but didn't say anything. "She didn't come home after school, I thought she might be here." He tried to avoid thinking about the fact it was after 10 pm and he hadn't been home for five hours himself. If Damon knew that he was following Katherine around, he'd tell Elena. He didn't want to deal with her flipping out too.
"She's at Bonnie's. You should go." The oldest vampire clipped out, turning once more to stare down Katherine. "It's not safe for you to be here by yourself."
"Right," Jeremy ground out angrily. He was sick of being told what he was allowed to do. Between Elena guilting him into things and Bonnie magically securing him in houses, he didn't have much a choice in his own actions anymore. No one seemed to trust that he could take care of himself at this point. He turned to walk back towards the road he was parked on.
Damon caught Jeremy's angry tone and turned towards him once more. His eyes scanned the boy, looking for bite marks. "You okay, Jer?" It was as much concern as Jeremy had ever heard coming from the older vampire and it just served to piss him off more.
"I'm fine. Great." He continued stomping away towards his car. He made it less than a hundred feet before Katherine was in front of him, a hand on his chest.
"I don't know what you're playing at little boy, but stay away from me." Her voice was threatening.
He bristled. "And if I don't?"
She studied him for a moment, taking in his racing heart and the adrenaline that was just pouring off of him. "It's a dangerous game you're playing. Make sure you can handle the consequences." She lowered her gaze to his throat before making eye contact again, the threat clear as day. With that, she sauntered off and all he could do was stand there, unable to help himself from staring at her retreating form.
It was a challenge if he'd ever heard one. The only question was, what game was she trying to play...and win? Her innocent act around town wasn't fooling him but no one else was stepping up to the plate to figure it out.
He could do this. He would continue to follow her around, as he had been planning on doing anyways, and eventually she would slip up. It was inevitable. She was just too cocky, and though he kind of admired that about her, arrogance could bring anyone down.
This game of hers...he could learn the rules. He could beat her. This is what Gilbert men did, he reasoned; this was his family's legacy, to keep the town safe from vampires. He refused to be afraid of her and he certainly wasn't afraid of whatever it was that she seemed to provoke in him. True, she was older than him, and stronger, and probably far more experienced at deception than he had ever thought of being.
But he was pretty sure that she wouldn't see him coming.