Hello all! I haven't given up on this story, I've just taken time to revise it so I can finish it. I fixed all spelling errors and other mistakes I've made, so if you're still reading this story I would suggest reading it from the beginning. Enjoy!
Warnings: Minor language.
Disclaimer: Don't own.
Caroline snarled at Klaus as she stood in between him and the object of his affections. "For the last time Klaus, he's not interested so fuck off!"
Klaus laughed. She was a feisty one. Definitely reminded him of Rebekah.
"No need for hostility love, I just want to speak to Mr. Gilbert and last I checked, it was a free country," he grinned mischievously at the low growl she let out. He loved to get under her skin.
"It's alright Caroline, I can handle him," Jeremy eyed Klaus wearily. He was the last person he wanted to deal with at the moment. He was tired, hungry and he just wanted to forget about vampires and everything supernatural and sleep for a month. Or at least until Tyler came back from wherever the hell he was.
Caroline shot Jeremy an incredulous look, "Elena is going to kill me if I leave you alone with him! And he's completely obsessed with you Jeremy! Why would you even want to be alone with him?"
"He'll make it happen one way or another Caroline. I might as well get it over with now."
Klaus rolled his eyes at them. This routine they went through every day was starting to get dry. Every day, Jeremy would be escorted by Stefan or Elena or that insufferable witch for his 'protection' and they would become so self-righteous and offended whenever he approached Jeremy and asked to speak with him alone, as if he would murder the boy in front of the school. These scenarios were always predictable and he wondered when they would change them up.
"If it makes you feel any better, I won't be killing him anytime soon. That wouldn't do for my intentions," he looked at his fingers as he spoke.
"Your intentions with him? More like your obsession with him," Caroline scoffed.
"Obsession is such an ugly word, Caroline. I prefer the term infatuation."
"And I would prefer if you just disappeared!"
"We all can't get what we want now can we love?"
"Can we just get this over with?" Jeremy interrupted, exasperated. He bypassed the gaping Caroline and glared at Klaus, "You said you wanted to talk, so let's go."
He turned to lead the way. Klaus winked at Caroline before turning on his heel and following him to the huge tree in front of Mystic Falls High School. Jeremy stopped and turned to face his admirer.
"What do you want now Klaus?"
Klaus' grin turned into a soft smile, "You know what I want love, and I'm more than prepared to wait for the answer I want."
"And I've told you already, my answer is no," Jeremy snapped.
"You make things so much harder than they need to be. I have all of eternity to wait for you and I will wait. Sooner or later, you'll be mine."
"My answer isn't going to change. You'll get bored and find someone else to harass. My answer is and will always be no. Tyler is my mate and that isn't changing. Ever," Jeremy said with finality and a level glare. Klaus lost his amused expression and one of annoyance quickly replaced it.
"Tyler abandoned you! He ran off like a coward because he knows that I would win in a battle for your affections. Even if you are his mate, I will always come first. You deserve someone who will always put you first, love."
"He left to protect me from himself. He didn't want you to make him hurt me again," Jeremy muttered bitterly. "One day he'll break free of your hold on him Klaus. You can't control him forever."
"Oh I think I could. He owes me for saving him from that awful curse," Klaus said with a laugh. "If he's looking for a way to 'break free' as you put it he's wasting his ti—well hello, Stefan, Damon, I was wondering when Blondie would call you."
Klaus drawled to the two vampires that were now blocking Jeremy from his view. Elena had also rushed over to her brother stepping subtly in front of him as well.
"Why are you still here Klaus? I thought we told you that you had no business with Jeremy?" Stefan's voice was sharp enough to cut steel. His fists were clenching and unclenching by his side wanting nothing more than one good excuse to rip the hybrid apart for screwing with their lives.
"And as I've told you Stefan, my business with Jeremy is none of yours, so back off," he countered.
"How desperate are you that we have to go through this same routine every day?"
"You should give yourself at least two days in between each rejection, make it a little less humiliating," Damon spat sardonically. Klaus sneered at him. Out of all the vampires he had to encounter in this town, he loathed dealing with Damon.
"This coming from the vampire that's in love with his brother's girlfriend even after she repeatedly chose him over you. You, the definition of pathetic, have no right to judge me."
Damon's eyebrow twitched and Stefan quickly intervened.
"Leave Jeremy alone, Klaus. He's not interested. You need to back off."
"Or find another town to impose on, since I'm pretty sure no woman or man in this one would come within ten feet of you."
Klaus ignored Damon and gazed coldly at his brother, "Ever the peacemaker Stefan but I don't think that's going to work out. See, I always get what I want no matter how long it takes me, and if I have to kill Tyler in order to get Jeremy to see who he really belongs to then so be it."
He smirked as he sensed Jeremy tense at his threat. He could very well kill his hybrid. He loathed the idea of killing one of his own but if they were in the way of his desires, then he didn't mind so much.
Klaus gave them all one last smirk before disappearing as quickly as he came. Elena breathed a sigh of relief and looked back at Jeremy, concern written all over her face, "You okay, Jer?"
"Yeah, I'm not some damsel in distress. I was handling it on my own. You guys don't always have to be around when Klaus is. He obviously wants me alive."
"Until he gets angry that you keep rejecting him. Then he'll make you his mate by force and we can all guess where that'll go," the sardonic tone never left Damon's voice. Jeremy blanched and Elena shot a glare at Damon.
"Was that necessary?"
Damon put his hands up, "Hey, I'm just telling it like it is. He says he'll wait forever, but we all know how short of a fuse Klaus has when he doesn't get his way sooner rather than later."
Stefan shook his head slowly, "I don't think we need to worry about that right now. He's giving him time to come to him since Tyler is gone. We just need to keep Klaus at bay until Tyler comes back."
Jeremy rolled his eyes. They loved talking about him like he wasn't there, even when discussing his well-being.
"I think we should talk about this at home, when Klaus isn't nearby," Elena took hold of Jeremy's arm and walked to the car. Stefan started following them when Damon grabbed his arm, holding him back.
"We need to do something about this now, Stefan. You and I know how Klaus gets with his…obsessions."
Stefan nodded his head in agreement. He hadn't wanted to say anything in front of Elena to make her worry any more but he knew that Klaus had as much patience as an angry bear. It was only a matter of time before he made Jeremy submit
"We'll need think of a plan. One that doesn't involve Elena or her brother. The last thing we need is a pissed off Tyler Lockwood hybrid hunting us down because we let something happen to his mate. I still don't understand how that even happened," Damon snorted. The relationship between Elena's younger brother and the ill-tempered hybrid confused the hell out of him, but he supposed that was why Tyler sought Jeremy out for so many fights in school.
With a sigh he took of for the Gilbert clan's house. He wouldn't put it past Elena to want to start strategizing her own plan on how to keep Klaus away from her little brother.
Later that night, Jeremy was trying to focus on his homework but he was continuously distracted by his thoughts. As much as this whole Klaus situation annoyed him—the hybrid was a persistent bastard—it also worried him. What if Klaus did lose his patience with his constant rejections? He could tell he was beginning to, so what would happen when he finally lost all patience. Could he really force him to be his mate, even if he was already spoken for?
He shivered unpleasantly at the thought of being that close to Klaus in any way. He threw his pencil into the crease of his geometry text book and sighed in frustration. Thinking about it wasn't helping at all. He wondered how the hell he managed to attract people that all wound up dead, or turned into hybrids or were completely psychotic. And his family was downstairs with two vampires and a vampire hunter deciding what they should do to keep him safe, not even worrying about what Klaus might do to them should they piss him off.
Fucking perfect.
The loud buzz of his phone brought him out of his bitter thoughts and he picked it up. He grinned at the name that flashed across the screen, and immediately answered.
"Hey."
"Hey yourself," Tyler's voice always sounded so husky and dirty over the phone. It made his mind go a little blank. "I heard about today. You okay?"
Jeremy groaned inwardly. Caroline would call Tyler.
"I'm fine Ty. He asks me the same question everyday and I give him the same answer. Nothing new," he could feel more than hear Tyler's angry growl over the phone. It turned him on more than annoyed him.
"He needs to get the fucking hint that you're already taken. When I get back, I'll be more than happy to let him know. No one fucks with my mate and gets away with it, even if you are over 1,000 years old."
Jeremy chuckled as he rolled onto his stomach and stretched his left arm out in front of him, holding the phone to his right ear.
"Of course you will babe. When you get back you can kick his ass," he sighed. "When are you coming home? I miss you so much…every day gets harder and harder when you're not here."
"I know Jer, I feel it too. Leaving you wasn't easy but I had to do this. He could've told me to kill you at any time and I would have no matter how much I resisted it. I couldn't endanger you like that, not after what I did to Caroline."
Chills went down Jeremy's spine as he remembered how shocked they all were, including Tyler, when he followed Klaus' orders and bit Caroline. He was thankful that Caroline had a huge heart and forgave him. He was sure Tyler wouldn't be able to handle losing her friendship after everything they went through together. Letting Tyler go was one of the hardest things he had ever done but he knew that Tyler needed to become his own person again, away from the influence of his sire.
"Is…is it working? All the transforming?" Jeremy asked earnestly. The thought of Tyler in that much pain made his stomach twist into violent knots.
"…it's helping."
Tyler's voice was hesitant, trying to hide the obvious pain that transforming brought him but he really couldn't hide anything from Jeremy. "It hurts and I get sick every time I do it but I'm getting used to the pain. Marshall says it's because my body is resisting the change but he said I should stop soon. I'm starting to feel like myself a little bit."
Marshall was the leader of the hybrid clan that Tyler had stumbled upon in search of answers to his problem. He told Jeremy that they were friends of Jules that Klaus found when he was hell-bent on turning every werewolf he came across into a hybrid creature. Even though Jules was dead, Marshall was more than willing to help Tyler with his bond, especially because the reason Jules was dead was Klaus.
Jeremy and Tyler stayed on the phone for another good hour and a half, just like they did every night. It was the one thing that Jeremy looked forward to. Knowing that he would hear Tyler's voice brought him peace. Even dealing with Klaus couldn't bring him down so long as he heard his mate's voice at night.
Jeremy had just gotten off the phone when there was a tap on the door, followed by Elena's voice.
"Jeremy, are you busy?"
He sighed, "Come in Elena."
She entered the dimly lit room, wearing black sweatpants that scrunched around her shins and a grey tank-top. Her hair was up and she looked like she just went on a run. She sat on the bed, gazing at Jeremy with her kind brown eyes.
"I know you get tired of me asking you this but I just want to make sure you're okay. This whole thing with Klaus is…a lot and I just want to let you know that you can talk to me if you need to."
Jeremy lifted his head to look at her and he smiled softly, "I'm fine, Elena, really. The whole thing freaks me out a little bit but I'm…dealing with it."
He didn't want to worry her any more than she already was. She was always worried about everyone else but herself and she was always the one who ended up in the most danger because of it. Elena had to be the kindest sister anyone could have asked for. Even after finding out they were really cousins it didn't change the amount she loved or worried about him and he would always be grateful for that.
"Don't worry about me so much," he reassured. "I have a very pissed-off hybrid mate that's gonna kick Klaus' ass when he gets back. Everything's going to be fine."
She giggled at mention of Tyler.
"I hope so Jer. I just don't want you or Tyler to get hurt. Does he really think he can take down Klaus on his own?" a small hint of worry laced her voice at the thought of her childhood friend attempting to take on an Original Vampire.
"I don't know…I hope not, for his sake. Just because he's a hybrid doesn't mean he's completely invincible," replied Jeremy. "Even if he wanted to fight Klaus himself, Stefan and Damon will want to help. And Caroline."
"Especially Caroline," they both said at the same time, smiling at each other. Caroline was protective of Tyler, having witnessed his transformations firsthand and getting him through his first times, something that Jeremy was thankful for. He hadn't realized his feelings for Tyler yet and was happy the werewolf wasn't completely alone when it first happened.
Elena yawned and said she was going to bed, kissing Jeremy on the top of the head and saying goodnight before she left to her room. Jeremy bet that Stefan was waiting for her in there, like he was most nights. He couldn't really say anything though. Tyler did the same for him.
He changed into silk boxers and slipped out of his shirt. He turned off his lamps and looked out the window to make sure no one or anything was watching him before shutting the blinds pitching the room in complete darkness. He'd picked this habit up pretty quickly when Klaus made his obsession with him known.
He got under his blankets, breathing a sigh of relief at the warmth they brought. He slid his hand underneath his unoccupied pillow and grabbed an old T-shirt of Tyler's that Tyler had left over after he made a hasty getaway when Jenna nearly walked in on them. Tyler had wanted him to keep it, probably suspecting that Jeremy liked to cuddle with items that had his scent on it, even if he would never admit it out loud. He closed his eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep, his mind wandering to the next time he would see his mate.
Klaus stood outside the Gilbert residence contemplating if he should knock on Jeremy's window but he decided to leave another token of his affection instead, which was yet another picture of his beloved. His patience was beginning to wear thin however. Nobody had ever refused him so many times as Jeremy had, which was probably part of the reason he wanted him so badly. He did love a good chase.
He could hear the doppelganger and Stefan in her bedroom—Stefan's romanticism made him sick—and he could the vampire hunter and the other Lady Gilbert trying to do their business quietly. As his eyes settled on Jeremy's bedroom window once more, he sensed another presence before hearing the tap of heels behind him. He could feel her stop in back of him, glaring at the bedroom window of the girl who, literally, stabbed her in the back. She longed for revenge, he could tell. Too bad he needed her alive or he would gladly give his sister the girl and watch the Salvatore brothers suffer.
"How long are you planning to wait this out? We both know he won't come to you willingly," Rebekah's voice was haughty.
"Don't worry sister, when the time is right he will be mine. He'll bend to my every will," Klaus said with a smirk. He had a plan, things were coming together.
All he had to do was wait.