Us, Servants to the Moon – Chapter 9

Author's Note: Finally, I managed to finish the latest chapter of this fic. It's actually the longest of this story so far, so please enjoy! The next chapter is going to be the story's finale!


On days like these, time always seemed to run slower than usual. On days like these, when it felt just like one of those magical, everlasting summer days, on which you could hear the chirr of the crickets all the way from when the sun reaches its zenith and starts to move down again till the middle of the night, when it is still warm enough to spend the night underneath the twinkling starlit sky. Days like these seemed to last forever.

And even though today was long past summer, the unusual warm temperature reminded them of exactly that feeling.

Jeremy playfully let his legs dangle in the water, looking ever the glittering blue surface of the lake as far as he could. On the other side, the tall firs and spruces were swaying slightly in the gentle wind.

"Here you go." Tyler sat down on the rocks next to him, handing him one of the popsicles they had brought along. "Be careful, it's already melting."

"Yes, mom, I'll try to be careful." With a wink he took a bite. "'licious."

"Hey, I was just trying to be nice," Tyler defended in a playful way. "We wouldn't want you to spill your clothes. Otherwise you would have to take a bath. In the lake."

Jeremy raised his eyebrows, smirking. "Well, I just might, if you join me."

"Aw, tempting," Tyler replied, leaning forward to steal a kiss, until he felt his own popsicle dripping on his hand. "Oh well…," he grinned, "I should be worried more about myself."

"You should." For a moment Jeremy just sat there and enjoyed the perfectness of the moment. It was true. Days like these seemed to last forever.

Still, when he thought back to last night, it was a little miracle that they were now sitting here together, enjoying the day. When he thought of it, his mind became a little darker, a little more troubled. Maybe it was just pretense, the way they sat here by the lake, maybe it was nothing more than sheer denial.

But then, on the other hand, it was just as Tyler had told him: If this entire shit is really going to happen to me once a month, then at least I wanna enjoy the parts in between.

It was his right. And Jeremy would do anything to make it possible.


"Going home?"

He met Damon on the stairs that led up from the cellar. For a moment he looked at him, then he silently passed him, without giving a reply.

"Hey, Jeremy."

"What." The look in his eyes said but one thing: I'm done with you.

"Stop acting like that. It won't help." For once, Damon seemed all serious. No sarcasm, no wit.

"Yeah, thanks," Jeremy snorted. "Excuse me, I just wanna get outta here, before you start torturing your prisoner or whatever you're planning to do."

"Oh, don't give me any ideas." And there he was again. Back to his usual self. "No, stupid," he replied, "I'm here to let your puppy go." As if to stress his words, he took out a key, waving it around before Jeremy's face.

"Ts, nice try."

"Well, if you don't believe me, then don't."

Jeremy sighed, putting his hands on his hips. "A few hours ago you told me you would keep him locked up in your cellar like… forever."

"I would," Damon replied, totally honest. Then he frowned, leaning forward to Jeremy, as if he was about to tell him a secret. "You can thank your sister for that."


Right now, he was still wondering what Damon had meant by those words, but in the end, it didn't really matter. The vampire had kept his word and freed Tyler from his imprisonment, before the boy had even awakened from his blackout. So technically, he didn't even know what Elena and her friends had been planning on doing to him, and Jeremy glad for it. No questions – no answers.

"Ow, dark, gloomy face…" Tyler was looking at him from the side. "Come on, it's such a beautiful day."

"Yeah, I know," Jeremy replied, trying to look cheerful again. Tyler was probably assuming that Jeremy was troubled by the whole werewolf stuff and the transformation, when he was actually musing about what kind of threat Elena and her friends posed to Tyler. But he couldn't tell him, of course not.

"Look, Jeremy, I already told you," Tyler stretched, looking up at the sky, sighing, "what happened last night was… horrible. And I don't even wanna think about it. So let's not. It is what it is and it can't be changed. The next full moon will come, but until then, there'll be twenty seven other days and I wanna enjoy them at least, okay?"

"Yeah, sure, I'm sorry." Jeremy cracked a bittersweet smile. "That wasn't what I've been thinking about."

"Then what?"

"Ah, it's nothing," Jeremy shook his head. "Just something about my sister."

"About Elena?" Tyler became worried. "What about her? You can tell me."

"Seriously, it's nothing. Just some trivial bother-sister-quarrel. You don't have siblings, so you wouldn't know."

"Hm." Tyler looked back at the lake. "I've always been wondering what it's like to have a sister, though. Being an only child isn't always easy either."

Jeremy snorted. He was glad that the conversation was now heading in a different direction, so he replied gladly. "Well, a sister is kind of annoying most of the time, but then again, if she's a big sister, then she brings home lots of pretty friends."

"Wait, you were into Elena's friends?" Tyler laughed. "Seriously?"

Jeremy just shrugged, a bit embarrassed. "Well, I guess all brothers are into their sister's friends at some time…"

"Like who?"

Jeremy looked back at Tyler. "What do you mean, who?"

Tyler seemed amused, almost excited to know. "Who were you into?"

Jeremy scratched his head, shyly. "Geez, what kind of questions is that?"

"I'm serious!"

"I dunno…," he murmured quietly. "I kind of always liked Bonnie."

"Bonnie Bennett?" Tyler yelled, as if he had just found out Jeremy's biggest, unexpected secret.

"What?" Jeremy frowned. "She's not that bad."

"I didn't say that."

"Then why are you laughing?"

Tyler shook his head, brushing a tear from his eye. "Man, I don't know… It's just… Bonnie, she's not very similar to Vicky."

"Yeah, well," Jeremy snapped back, "you're not very similar to Vicky either."

"But I'm not a girl," he snorted. "And I'm not many of the other things that she was."

"Oh, come on!" Jeremy turned to him, indignantly. "Stop talking about her like that."

"Stop defending her all the time, Jeremy," Tyler replied. "Don't you see that she was just playing with you? With both of us? And not just us."

Jeremy breathed out sharply. "I don't think so." He really didn't want to have a fight, not today, but the way Tyler was talking about Vicky… Almost as if he never truly had been in love with her. Well, maybe Tyler hadn't been, but Jeremy knew he, himself, had been very well. He had always known.

And Tyler didn't drop the discussion. "Vicky's been around the block back and forth, believe me."

"Stop it. That's not true."

"Yeah, it is. I know what I'm talking about, Jeremy, okay?" Then he shook his head and sighed. "I just wonder if there'll ever be day for us to be together without either of us mentioning her name…"

Jeremy didn't reply. Instead, he just stared back at Tyler. The look on his face told him that the next thing he was about to say, would hurt.

"You know, if we're being honest, we have nothing in common. Nothing at all. And less so, now that I'm a werewolf. How could you understand?" Tyler shook his head apologetically, "well maybe we're with each other because of Vicky in the first place. Maybe she is the one thing that keeps us together after all."

Jeremy nodded, disappointed. "Yeah, well, if you really think that, after all of this," he breathed in, "after all the effort I put into finding a solution that would make you better, after all my desperate struggle to make up for what I did to you, after all it cost me – again and again – to accept that I wanna be with you…" He stood up, looking down at Tyler. "I actually don't think Vicky is what keeps us together. She is what keeps us apart." He took one last look at Tyler, then he turned around, grabbed his bag and got onto his bike.


When Jeremy rode back home, through the woods and down the hills, he had this feeling several times that Tyler would coming after him to apologize. He heard a rustle here and there, as if someone had been following him. But Tyler didn't appear.

The further away from the lake Jeremy got, the more stupid he felt about his unnecessary fight with Tyler. He had overacted. It had just been some unimportant conversation after all. That wasn't worth it, to throw everything they had away. Besides, they had so much graver problems than Vicky and who she was or whatever she was. Jeremy knew, and still, he couldn't stand it whenever Vicky was wronged.

Maybe it wasn't Tyler's fault for seeing the bad in everything and everyone, though. This entire ordeal he had to go through last full moon must have taken his faith in all goodness away. And Jeremy still knew that it was his fault, that he had been the one to bring Tyler into this situation, for a selfish and silly reason.

A wolf cannot be on his own. Jeremy knew that now. And soon, Tyler wouldn't have to be anymore. That was the least that Jeremy could do to make amends for what he had done to Tyler. While riding his bike further down towards Mystic Falls, he took out his mobile phone from his pocket and switched on the display. Just now, there was a new text from Jules. The letters glowed on the display. "Meet me at the Grill tonight."

He hesitated for a moment and wanted to put the phone away again, when suddenly something appeared on the road right in his way and he had to brake hard. The wheel of his bike slid away in the mud, he couldn't hold his balance anymore and fell down to the ground with the bike's pedal scratching his leg. "Aw…" he squinted his eyes in pain, then he tried to get back on his feet.

Only a few seconds later, when he turned around, he realized what was lying on the road right in front of him. It was a person, cuddled up and breathing only faintly. Then he noticed all the blood.

Jeremy held his breath in shock. "Oh my God!" he screamed, falling on his knees beside the injured girl. He placed his hand on her shoulder and slowly turned her around. When he saw her face, he stared at her, appalled. He recognized her face immediately. It was Zelda, the girl he and Tyler had met at school.


It had already gotten dark when Jeremy arrived at the hospital. It felt weird being there, because somewhere deep inside his mind he was feeling responsible for what had happened to Zelda. Sure, Jules must have been around even before he called her, but instead of making it worse, instead of begging her to come back, he should have chased her away, he should have gotten rid of her the first time he had met her. Get her away from his friends, from his life. And also from Tyler. Whatever he had hoped she could be to Tyler, whatever he had wished, all his hopes had been shattered by this one moment today in the woods, when he had found Zelda almost bitten to death, dying in her own blood. He now knew more certain than ever that she was not the solution to Tyler's ordeals, she was, on the contrary, an even bigger threat. He must have been out of his mind to call her, to ask her for help, her, a cold blooded murderer. She had nothing to teach Tyler.

Jeremy asked for Zelda's room. Then he took the elevator to the third flood. It was a small room at the end of the hallway. Visiting hours would be over soon, he noticed.

Slowly he knocked on the door and after a while, a girl's voice called back.

He opened the door and entered with a heavy heart.

There were two beds next to each other in the small room. The one closer to the door was empty. Zelda was lying in the one next to the window. Her chest and shoulders were covered in bandages, that much could be seen through the white hospital gown they had dressed her in. Two tiny pipes led from a medical device next to the bed into her nose. The air smelled of hospital. She wasn't conscious.

A black haired girl sitting on a chair next to the bed looked over to Jeremy and waved at him to come closer. She seemed to be about the same age as Zelda, however her make-up was much more dramatic than he remembered Zelda's, and that made her look somehow more adult. "You must be Jeremy Gilbert, right? I'm Kyle, her girlfriend."

"Nice to meet you, Kyle," Jeremy replied, shaking her hand. "How come you know me?"

"Zelda showed you to me once during lunch break. She told me about you and Tyler Lockwood at one point. You're together with her on book duty at school, right?"

"Yeah, that's right." Jeremy took another chair and dragged it next to Kyle's. "How is she?"

"Could be worse," Kyle replied quietly. "The doctors say she might get better soon, and if we're lucky, there might be little permanent damage."

"I'm so sorry about what happened to her," Jeremy replied with a guileful sigh.

"Thanks, but it's not your fault. Quite the contrary." Kyle looked at him with her dark eyes. "If you hadn't found her, then she might have bled to death. You saved her, Jeremy."

"It was just a coincidence," Jeremy replied. "But I'm glad I didn't come too late."

"We all are." She looked back at Zelda. "I told her not to go into the woods on her own anymore, you know, after the thing that happened to Mary Farlane on the Foundation Festival. But it was her usual jogging hike and she assured me it was safe." Kyle made a pause. "God, it gives me the chills to think she could now be as dead as Mary."

For a while, Jeremy stared at the injured girl in silence. Then he turned to back to Kyle. "How long have the two of you been together?"

"Almost two years now," Kyle explained. Then she looked at him from the side. "And what about you and Tyler?" There was a knowing spark in Kyle's eyes.

"What?" Jeremy stared back at her in shock. "No! No... We're just friends."

"Are you sure? When Zelda showed me who you were, you were on the school yard talking to him. You know, I have a sense for stuff like that."

Jeremy sighed, staring at the floor. "Is it that obvious?" He swallowed. Now, for the first time, someone else knew the truth. Someone knew who he really was. It felt sickening.

"Not at all!" Kyle reassured him quickly. "It takes one to know one, you know."

"I see..."

"And no worries, my lips are sealed." The heartwarming smile she gave him made him relax. Maybe this was a good thing after all?

"So how long have the two of you been together?"

"About a month, I guess," Jeremy replied.

"Ah, so it's a rather fresh romance then, huh? How exciting."

"Yeah, but it's also hard and sometimes annoying. Not to be able to go out on a real date, always being careful not to be seen... Sometimes I think it would be best if everyone just knew. But then again, I'm not sure if I could stand the looks they would give us. What they would think of us, no offense."

"None taken," Kyle replied, then she stretched her arms. "Well, if I were you, I wouldn't do anything rash right now. You shouldn't come out from one day to the next. Things like that take time. Don't do anything you're not comfortable with. Don't tell anyone you don't want to tell. That's what I learned from my own story. But someday you'll find the courage to tell your family, your friends. And then, one day, you'll realize that you've already told everyone you want to." She gave him an excusing shrug. "I know, not much of a plan, sorry."

"No, not at all, it was great to hear your opinion."

"But hey, I got another idea. If you want to keep it to yourself for now, then why don't we all go on a double date sometime? As soon as Zelda's better, I mean. You, her, Tyler and me."

"You would do that?" Jeremy liked the idea. "That would be awesome, seriously."

"Great," Kyle replied with a smile. "Then it's a date." She turned around to look at Zelda. "You hear that? You have to get better soon. Everyone's waiting."


When Jeremy left the hospital, it was half past nine and it had started drizzling. Dark clouds were covering the still almost full moon, and when Jeremy looked up, cold raindrops dripped into his eyes.

The yellow sign of the bus stop glowed pulsating in the dark. He could just go there and wait. The next bus would arrive in seven minutes, pick him up and bring him home safely. He could. But he didn't.

With narrowed eyes he looked up at the hospital room Zelda was in. The lights were still on and there was a silhouette standing in front of the window. Kyle.

"Aren't you coming, too?" Jeremy had asked her when he had grabbed his bag.

"Not yet," she had replied. "I'm going to wait until her parents arrive. They're both on late shift."

They would suffer, too, her parents, Jeremy thought and turned his head away from the hospital. And all because of him. He had called Jules, a monster, and begged her to come back. He had originated Zelda's tragedy. But then again, he just had done it to help someone else, to help Tyler get better. His intentions had been good, but that didn't change that it had been the wrong thing to do.

Jeremy walked past the bus stop through the rain. The cool raindrops felt good somehow, comforting. He started wandering around aimlessly.

Yeah, he had done it for Tyler. Tyler. The one whose suffering he had also originated. A devilish chain that almost made him feel dizzy.

It didn't matter now. When he thought of Jules, nothing else seemed to matter anymore. She made him think of the killed girl in the woods, of Zelda lying in her own blood, of Kyle and her parents standing next to her bed, helpless. Jules was a monster, nothing more, and all Jeremy knew now was that he should keep her away from Mystic Falls, away from his family, away from his friends. And away from Tyler.

Especially from Tyler. Just the thought of her coming near him made his skin crawl. She would turn him into a monster like herself. She would make him a ruthless killer. But Tyler wasn't like that. Tyler was good and honest – the thought of him being destined to kill someone to invoke the curse had preyed on his mind like crazy. He mustn't be sullied by someone as horrible as Jules.

Jeremy crossed the street, running, uneasy, and turned round the corner, until he was standing in the middle of the road that led across the bridge. The bridge where his parents had died in this horrible accident years ago. It still hurt being here, but at the same time he couldn't think of any better place to be.

He knew what he had to do. He knew the solution to the entire mess. It was right in his head. Had been all the time. He just hadn't dared to think it.

"There you are," Tyler suddenly said, grabbing Jeremy's arm. His voice revealed that he was caught between relief and accusation. "I've been looking for you everywhere." The rain fell down on both of them, almost gently, spraying. "I feel horrible about earlier." He held onto Jeremy's arm, as if he never wanted to let him go again. "I don't want anything to keep us apart."

Jeremy was holding onto the rail of the bridge, clutching it so tight that his knuckles showed white.

For a moment Tyler thought Jeremy was considering to jump.

But instead, he looked at Tyler over his shoulder. "This place holds a special significance to me," he began. "Two years ago, our parents died here in a car accident."

"I know," Tyler said, his grip tightening further. Just tight enough to hold him back – in case. "Everyone knows that tragic story."

Jeremy took in a deep breath, staring down at the pitch black water running underneath them. "On that day, right here in this place, my life changed forever. Drastically. And it changed for the worse."

Tyler breathed unevenly. The rain became heavier. "I'm sorry."

"Tyler," Jeremy said, suddenly turning to face him. "I'm going to change it again, right here, right now. And this time for the better."

There was a look in Jeremy's eyes that Tyler couldn't read. HIs usual excitement was gone, so was his sometimes almost childlike enthusiasm. There was sincerity in his eyes, a look, as if he was aware of all the consequences, of all the obstacles, and willing to take whatever was necessary. Tyler hadn't seen that look before. It scared him, but he also couldn't help admiring Jeremy for being the way he was.

The moonlight fell through the pouring rain down on the trees beyond the bridge, drawing glittering patterns on the dusty asphalt.

"Tyler," Jeremy said, reaching for Tyler's shoulder, to turn him around to face him. Then he looked him in the eyes and he knew that it had been the right choice. "If you will be my family, then I will be yours." He paused. "Make me – make me a werewolf."


The moon waned and waxed again, days passing with almost endless slowness. Jeremy spent most of the time sitting at his desk, flipping through the book from the library, taking notes, typing something into his computer. There had to be a way for a normal human being to become a werewolf, even for someone who wasn't a descendant of the Lockwood bloodline. There just had to be! How else could the werewolf curse have spread in the first place anyway? How could it have started in the very beginning if there wasn't a way?

At the same time he had to keep Tyler busy, spend time with him to make sure Jules didn't get a chance to contact him. If he was in the way all the time, maybe one day Jules would simply give up.

Being with Tyler was more difficult the closer the next full moon came. Day by day he seemed to get more troubled, quieter, less lively. Whenever Jeremy asked him what was wrong, Tyler would just reply with a troubled smile and assure him "Nothing". But Jeremy knew, of course, that he was scared of the approaching and inevitable transformation, the pain and the suffering it would bring again. So Jeremy would lay his hand on Tyler's shoulder and speak to him encouragingly. "This time, we'll go through it together." On this, Tyler simply nodded, but in his eyes Jeremy could see that Tyler didn't really believe that Jeremy would find a way to make his promise reality. And of course, he didn't know how to, for real, but what he did know was that he would find a way.

It was Wednesday night, October 22th, only two days before the moon was full again, that the solution to becoming a werewolf stroke him like a flash of lightning. Suddenly it was there, right and bright before his eyes. Once a person committed a sin so grave that they would pale when faced with the God of the Night, their blood would be cursed always and forevermore, forced to be passed on from generation to generation to all people who shared the same blood and the same impure soul. This wasn't a warning. It was an instruction. The same blood and the same impure soul.

Two requirements, two necessary conditions that had to be fulfilled, if one wanted to draw the curse to oneself. Of course, usually, all people had to care about was second requirement, because the same blood was being passed on naturally if they were a member of the Lockwood bloodline. For an ordinary human being, however, both conditions had to be met. He thought about it carefully, but to him, it suddenly made so much sense.

He grabbed his phone and dialed Tyler's number. His voice was trembling of excitement. "I hope you're free tomorrow night."


"So, tell me what's so important," Tyler said the following night, when Jeremy came to his house, and opened the door. "You don't have to be that mysterious about it. Does it have something to do with tomorrow night?"

Jeremy just put his finger over his lips, pointing along the corridor, where Mrs. Lockwood was probably working in her study, the door ajar.

"Yeah, she's home," Tyler shrugged. "Hope you didn't expect too much of tonight."

"No, I've found something out," Jeremy whispered back. "I'll tell you upstairs." He slid out of his shoes and followed Tyler up the stairs and into his room. He closed the door.

"So?" Tyler asked, offering Jeremy to sit on his bed, while Tyler sat down on his desk chair. There was a look in Tyler's eyes that told Jeremy he wasn't in the mood for games.

Quietly, Jeremy told his friend what he had found out. When Tyler didn't react after he had finished, Jeremy reached into his pocket and pulled out a little plastic bag. Inside, there was a small syringe.

Tyler opened his eyes wide. "You're kidding!" he hissed, shaking his head.

"No, I guarantee you, it's gonna work," Jeremy defended his obvious plan. "All I need are a few drops of your cursed blood in my own system, and tomorrow night I'll be howling at the full moon right next to you."

"No, this is crazy!" Tyler stood up and started pacing around his room. "You're mad! Tell me you don't actually intent to inject yourself with my blood."

"Well," Jeremy tried to look composed, "if you don't believe that it's going to work, then what's wrong with giving it a shot, pun intended." He grinned encouragingly.

Tyler, however, was still looking back at him warily. "But you can't just transfer someone's blood to someone else. There are risks and who knows what it's gonna do, medical-wise."

"Well, there only are risks if you've got some kind of illness. Which I guess you don't have."

Tyler shook his head. "At least none that I know of. But still."

"Fine," Jeremy replied. "And it's not gonna change my DNA or something. The blood just gets recognized as a foreign substance and is broken down by the immune system over time." He looked at Tyler intensely, telling him this is the right way, I know what I'm doing. "It doesn't matter if your blood will be gone again after a week. The thing that matters is that it's in my system on the full moon night, then the requirements for the transformation will be fulfilled. It doesn't matter if it's permanent or not. Once invoked, always invoked. The book I read was clear about that."

Tyler sat down again, and sighed. "Jeremy, seriously. I don't know."

"Please," Jeremy insisted. "At least let me try it. It's the way I want it. There's no risk in it for you."

The other boy glanced at the syringe. "And that?"

"That's just an ordinary syringe. I used to have millions of them, back when I was… well, you know." He shrugged. "But don't worry, I'm clean and this one's sealed and brand new." He stood up and came towards Tyler, touching his shoulder with his right hand. There was this look in Jeremy's eyes, the irresistible puppy look. "Please."

Tyler looked back at him. For a minute he just wished he could stay like this, without having to make a decision. Just stand here with Jeremy's eyes on his and the warmth of his touch against his shoulder. But that was a daydream, not reality. Tyler snorted and shook his head. "First I need a drink," he hissed, turned away from Jeremy and left the room for the stairs.

Jeremy yelled after him, "that is a yes, right?"


Tyler rushed down the stairs to the kitchen. His mind felt completely blank. There was only one question: had he somehow pushed Jeremy to do something like that? Was it his fault that he was so obsessed with becoming a werewolf?

He grabbed two glasses and a bottle of vodka, no, two bottles. He might need them. Then he went back up the stairs.

To his surprise, he unexpectedly caught Jeremy closing the door to his father's study. "Huh?" he said with a frown. "What were you doing in there?"

"Nothing," Jeremy immediately replied with apparent honesty. "I was just looking for the bathroom." He snorted. "Sorry, there're so many doors up here, I'll never get it."

"That one," Tyler replied, still a bit wary, but when Jeremy thanked him and went over to said door, he wrote it off and went back to his room.

A short while after, Jeremy returned as well and shut the door. Tyler had already filled their glasses.

Jeremy sat down at the table, opposite Tyler.

Tyler downed the entire glass in one. "Alright," he said, rolling up his sleeve and putting his arm on the table. "Help yourself."

Jeremy looked into his eyes while he removed the syringe's plastic cover blindly. His look was so determined, so fearless, that Jeremy himself started to feel like a hesitant coward just by the intensity of his glance. Those dark eyes, fixed on him challengingly…

Jeremy looked away while he stuck the needle through Tyler's skin. The other boy didn't wince in the slightest. Instead he kept his eyes fixed on Jeremy.

Jeremy's eyes flickered. Dark red blood gushed into the barrel, slowly but steady. He could feel the vacuum of the plunger as he drew up more and more liquid. Then he met Tyler's eyes again. They captured him, hypnotized him, made him feel small and weak. He wanted to be near him and that made him want all of this even more. This would tear down the final wall that was keeping them apart. Because it was the full moon that made Tyler feel this way, not Jeremy's eyes. He knew that, but still, he couldn't stop gazing. Just a few drops would make him shine brighter than the full moon ever could.

"No, let me do it," Tyler suddenly said and Jeremy blinked. He held down Jeremy's hand with his left hand and took the syringe from him with his other one. Jeremy hadn't even noticed that it was already filled to the brim.

"Okay," he whispered, and this time, it was him who couldn't turn his eyes away. His heartbeat sped up, he couldn't help it. A few drops might seal his destiny.

Tyler was very careful putting the needle into the crook of Jeremy's arm.

Jeremy inhaled. It was almost as if he could feel the werewolf blood rushing into his veins, a hot prickling sensation that seemed to spread along his arm and down his entire body. From now on, he would never be the same again. Before Tyler could pull the syringe out again, Jeremy covered his hand with his own. He looked him into the eyes with an earnest expression. "Thank you."


Later that night, Tyler was sitting on the sofa in front of the TV. There was a flamboyant chef preparing some vegetarian Spaghetti, but Tyler hadn't even noticed Criminal Minds had ended. His head was leaning on his right arm, his left arm wrapped around Jeremy's chest, who was lying on the sofa next to him, leaning against Tyler's side and playing on his PSP. The mechanic sound of the handheld mixed with the pseudo-italian voice of the cook. A surreal background noise, reaching only partly through to Tyler's mind.

It must have been minutes since the last time he blinked. Oh God, he felt so exhausted! Not tired, just empty somehow, burnt-out. He was so sick of all these choices, of constantly worrying if this or that had been the right decision or not, always considering consequences and risks.

He was sick of all that. To be honest, he didn't want to think about the consequences that Jeremy's decision might have. Was he letting this boy ruin his life blindly? Wasn't it his responsibility to stop Jeremy before it was too late? He, of all people, should warn him about the grave and painful consequences the curse harbored for the cursed ones. He of all people should be the one to talk sense into Jeremy.

Invoking the curse had been his mistake and he was paying for it so dearly. A wrong decision, a stupidity, done out of a whim. It would stay with him for the rest of his life.

Now, he had the chance to stop Jeremy from repeating his mistake, he had the chance to make him turn around and walk away, and live his life in peace and happiness.

He should stop him, for Jeremy's sake. He should stop him, if he loved him!

He should, but he couldn't. Because at the bottom of his heart, he was wishing for this so badly.


Twenty five hours later, the full moon had risen up on the starlit sky. A cold night, frost covering the leaves of the trees.

Down in the secret complex of the old, abandoned Lockwood estate ruins, Tyler and Jeremy were cowering somewhere in the darkness, their heads both lowered in silence, waiting, holding out. A cold breeze came down the ramshackle stairs that led to the woods and made them both shiver. It could happen any moment now. Just a few seconds left, and the full moon would have reached its zenith.

The only thing that was easing the anxiousness a little bit was the touch of each other's hands they held so tightly.

"Tyler," Jeremy said, almost whispering, "whatever happens, please… I'm just trying-"

Before Jeremy could finish, Tyler felt a sudden pain tightening his chest. "It's starting!" he gasped, squirming on his knees. The pain was there immediately, as if being turned on by a light switch. He coughed, struggling for air, when he felt the first bones break. It was as painful as the first time, but still, this time he knew what to except. The pain at his neck, at his spine was actually the worst, he bit his lips, suppressing a scream. Then he looked up at Jeremy.

Jeremy was standing right in front of him, looking down at his suffering friend, calm, quiet and… fine. He was fine.

Tyler couldn't understand. Jeremy wasn't turning! Their plan hadn't worked! He should have known, but still, Jeremy had made him believe… Now he had to go through this pain once again all by himself, and that sudden realization made him gasp in agony. It was a curse! And tonight it would be him, once again, paining the price! "Jeremy…," he hissed, struggling to focus, reaching for his friend. "Jeremy… It didn't work…"

"I know," Jeremy suddenly replied with a whisper. He seemed so strange, so unexpectedly collected, taking a step back away from Tyler.

Tyler's vision started to blur, he realized something was odd, something was wrong! But apparently Jeremy wasn't surprised. He knew. He had known all along.

"It wasn't supposed to work from the very beginning – not yet," Jeremy said, appearing as nothing more than a blurred shadow to Tyler. He had trouble catching his words. Wait, was that a gun in Jeremy's hands? A metallic, dark object, glittering in the faint moonlight.

A scene crossed Tyler's shaken mind. What were you doing in there? – Just looking for the bathroom.

"Jeremy…" Tyler moaned, his face all tense. "What is this about…?"

"The blood from the cursed bloodline is just one of two requirements for triggering the werewolf curse, you know that!" Jeremy's voice sounded pleading, troubled. "The other one…" The grip around the gun tightened. "I'm sorry. It needs to be done in order to invoke the curse. Just like you had to before me."

Tyler stared at the gun in Jeremy's hands. "Don't do this, Jeremy… You wouldn't want to live with it!"

"I'm sorry, Tyler. I've considered this thoroughly."

"Why didn't you tell me… that you were planning this all along!"

"Because you would have tried to keep me from doing it."

"Very right, I would have!" Tyler roared at him, his body and his mind already mixing with the one of a furious animal. His voice was fearsome, deep and full. "Jeremy!" It was an order, a threat. "I would have never done it myself if it hadn't been for that ring you have! Killing another person is going to make you miserable for the rest of your life!"

"No, I think, it might be the opposite." A flicker in his eyes. "Just don't hate me," Jeremy replied quietly, his head lowered. The beast was raging, but he was entirely calm.

"You will stay here!" the creature screamed, his growl pulsating throughout the cellar. "Jeremy! If you walk out of that door, I will never forgive you!"

Jeremy looked at him one last time, knowing, regretting, but also determined. "I'm sorry, Tyler. But this is the path I chose. A long time ago, before I even knew. On a special night with a special person." A fond smile curved his lips for a second, then he tightened his grip around the gun and turned away.

The beast raged in despair and pain. Jeremy closed the door behind him and walked outside into the bright moonlight.


To be continued…