After hopping into her hired car and driving Matt back over to the Grill, they were now sat at a table tucking into a burger and fries, Payton trying to keep her nerves and grief at ease to be back in public with the risk of threats walking through the door, as well as the constant reminder of her loss.
Matt on the other hand was just pleased to have some company and hang out with Payton, things had been a bit weird for him lately with Sarah's death, his friend's drama and Caroline, he needed someone he could just be sane around and that happened to be Payton, someone he believed to be out of the drama.
But maybe he was beginning to learn she had a lot of her own hanging on her shoulders.
"I can't believe you've got back to town as a single woman."
Payton flashed him a small smile, not liking how that statement sounded since she enjoyed being a relationship and it seemed a lot better to her to have someone by her side, than to be single and lonely like she had been her whole teen years growing up home schooling from country to country.
"How does it feel?" He asked her next, knowing the answer to that already, but also knowing she couldn't reveal how she really felt to him.
"I don't know," Payton shrugged, biting in her burger and avoiding eye contact with him, "I guess strange. We were together for over a year, so it's been a while since I've lived the single life."
"I can relate," Matt smirked over at her, "Elena and I had been together for ages, so when she broke my heart, I was left all alone with no idea how to live."
Payton knew that feeling all too well. She really didn't know how to live without Mason, however silly that sounded, because he was all she really had left back home in FlorIda.
But Payton knew she couldn't appear too sad to Matt because it would cause more questions from the teen, that she would rather he not question her and get the truth out of her. She needed to keep Mason's real fate under wraps.
"You and Elena dated?" Payton asked with raised brows, the first she had heard of this, but somehow it seemed to make sense with how he reacted around her.
"Yep," Matt nodded, grabbing his drink and taking a sip from the straw, "childhood sweethearts."
"I wish I had one of those." She sulked, grabbing her own drink and drinking some of the liquid.
"You make it out like growing up was so hard for you." He commented mischievously.
Payton shook her head amused, knowing it was far from hard, it was pretty easy going, but she just felt like she had missed out on a lot that others had gone through growing up.
"It wasn't," Payton responded, laying her glass back down, "it was easy. But I never had the typical lifestyle like most kids had, so I feel like I missed out on a lot. But when I got to college, that sure as hell changed."
"I don't even want to go to college." Matt informed her.
"Really?" Payton asked surprised, most kids wanted to go to college, not to learn, but just for the experience, like she had mainly wanted to, "It's not all what it's cracked up to be trust me. You're looking at a drop out."
"You dropped out?" Matt looked at her with wide eyes, "Bet your Dad wasn't happy."
"Nope," She rubbed her lips together, feeling sad about Alaric and how they still hadn't spoken since that night when Jenna got stabbed, "and he only found out about that when I first got to town."
"Oh," Matt gave her a small smile, finishing off his meal, before he lent forward, "So what are your plans now?"
"I don't know really," Payton admitted, she felt lost and her dreams seemed like a universe away from her reach right now, "I have ambitions to run my own business, but right now all I know is that I need money and I need it fast."
"You're not the only one," Matt sighed sadly, "I'm the only bread winner in my house, the money I make here just about covers the bills and what I have left goes toward's my car."
"That sucks," Payton honestly felt sorry for the guy, he didn't deserve to have such a struggle, but somehow she felt like she could relate to him so much, she was struggling, but if Matt could get by, then surely she could too, "Hey, do you know of any job's going here at The Grill?"
"I'm not too sure," Matt told her, looking around and then back on her, "I could have a word with my boss, but I know that we're currently not looking."
"Well if you ever are looking and he needs someone, I'm the girl for the job," Payton grinned at him, "I have experience. I use to work at bar in Florida and I have all this ambition to run my own restaurant and bar just like this place."
Smiling back at her, Matt nodded, happy to have her back and to just have a normal conversation with someone without mentioning all the drama, "I missed you."
Laughing lightly at how sweet he was, Payton went to tell him that she missed him too, when the door of The Grill opened up and in walked someone Payton had never imagined would have shown up here tonight.
But of course he would have. He still lived here and liked drinking, so where else would he have come to? She really did have to stop being so naive about things and not act so surprised to see him here.
Their eyes met from across the building, their original straight face somehow altered to a shocked expression to also see her there out for dinner with Matt, but as he came more toward's her it returned back to it's original gaze.
Upon seeing Payton transfixed on something, Matt turned his head around to look in the direction she was so focused on and found himself frowning a little when he saw Alaric coming past them.
The teacher nodded his head at Matt, signalling a quick hello and didn't even matter an eyelid at his daughter who was sat across the table from his student, causing a confused expression to fall on the boys face as to what was going on between them.
Once Alaric had gone past them and headed over to the bar to order himself a drink, Matt looked back at Payton with curiosity, "What's going on with the two of you?"
Payton swallowed harshly, knowing she was going to have to be honest with Matt, but not the full story, because she wasn't ready to confess to the boy yet about how her vampire hunter Dad had found out she was a vampire. Plus Matt didn't even know about the supernatural yet and she wasn't going to be the one to break the news to him.
"He also didn't know about Mason," Payton informed him, before looking over her shoulder at her Dad and then slowly getting up, knowing she had to sort this out now or never, "excuse me."
The nerves began to grow in the bottom of her stomach as she began what felt like the longest walk over to her Dad. Alaric was sat up the bar on a stool, a whiskey glass sitting in front of him and he had been trying to distract himself from thinking about Payton by reading through the drinks menu, unaware his daughter was now approaching him wanting to talk about everything.
She didn't even know if it was the right time or how he even felt after a few days of letting it sink in. But she knew that if she didn't do it now, would she ever get another chance to just sit down and talk to him? If she reached out in a call in a few days time, would he even pick up her calls?
Coming to a stop at the bar stool beside him, Payton gradually hopped up onto it and turned to face her Dad, ignoring Matt's watchful stare from across the other side of the Grill, wondering how this was going to go down between the two, just like Payton had been worrying about the same thing.
"Hi," Payton breathed, her voice somewhat shaky and quiet, when Alaric didn't mutter anything back to her or even give her a glance, she found herself continuing on her rambles, "I didn't expect to see you here tonight. But of course you would be here, you live here and you like a drink, so of course you would come here tonight."
Alaric laid the drinks menu down, hearing every word his nervous daughter was saying to him, but he didn't even know what to say back to her or even if he could look at her the same way anymore. Images of her killing and hurting innocent people in her vampire form flooded his mind every type he thought about his little girl.
Chewing her bottom lip anxiously, Payton glanced around for a moment, before she turned her head back on him, irritated that this was actually happening right now and he wasn't even bothering with her when she was trying to reach out to him.
"Dad," Payton sighed, laying her arm down onto the bar side, "please just let me explain to you about Mason, about Damon, about all of it, please..."
"Payton," Her Dad finally snapped, pushing the menu away from himself and shutting his eyes for a moment, "I don't want to hear it right now."
"Please," Payton felt like she was begging him now, she hated how desperate she sounded, but seeing him here made her realise how much she was missing him and wanted her Dad to take away the hurt she was feeling, "I am sorry."
"Payton, I'm not mad," He began to tell her about how he really felt, still not having the courage to look at her, "I'm just disappointed and hurt more than anything."
Payton could hear the pain in his voice and she knew that everything she had done to him had really effected him. She knew there was no turning back from this, not now anyway and she knew she couldn't be around to hurt him more. He was right to act this way towards her after what she had done.
"I get it," Payton nodded slowly, "I'll give you more space."
Giving him one last look, Payton swivelled her body round on the stool and jumped off it, before she began to make her way back over to her table where Matt was still sitting waiting for her.
As she was wondering back, Alaric gradually turned himself round to watch his daughter head off, a guilty feeling coming over him that he was acting so harsh towards her, but he knew selfishly he couldn't forgive her just yet for lying to him, as well as how she even ended up this way.
When Payton got back to the table, she grabbed her drink and took a large gulp of it, trying to hide how sad she was feeling, however Matt picked up on it as soon as she began her journey back over to him.
"I take it things didn't go too well..."
"Nope." Payton huffed, laying her drink back down and folding her arms over her chest.
Looking back at her, he felt an increasing guilt build up inside of him, knowing how it felt to be all alone and not have anywhere there, "Do you have anywhere to stay?"
"I was just going to find a cheap motel to stay in..."
"Come stay with me."
"What?" Payton stared back at him confused, "No..."
"Why not?" Matt asked, just as puzzled as to why she wouldn't, he was somewhat offended, "I live alone. My sister's dead and my Mum's gone. It's just me."
Payton felt reluctant. It was a considerate idea and would suit her fine. But she wouldn't anyone else to get an impression of her staying with Matt, people like Caroline who were close with those who were a threat to Payton. If Caroline didn't like the idea of Matt staying with Payton, then no doubt people would get involved to stop it from happening.
Plus there was the risks of her losing control of her vamperism and risking her identity in front of an oblivious Matt. But the past few days she had been trying to ease away from the human blood, using alcohol to soothe her cravings, but she doubted Matt would enjoy returning home from school to a drunk Payton.
But he was so sweet and kind. He was all alone. He needed someone just as much as her. She trusted him. She got on well with him. He was like the best guy friend that she never had growing up. She wouldn't have to pay to stay anywhere for the night, she could help round the house and cook him dinner every night. It could work.
Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea.
"Fine," Payton found herself slowly smiling at him, unfolding her arms and laying her hand over his from across the table, "you've got yourself a deal, roomie."
Payton had officially spent one full day in Mystic Falls without being hunted down and killed by the likes of Damon. Thankfully, she had managed to spend most of her time with Matt at his house, hanging out, cooking food together, sleeping and going on her own animal blood hunts to stop her cravings.
Today she was off around town looking for a temporary job whilst she was in town to help Tyler with tonight's full moon, as well as trying to resolve things with her Dad. She was adamant she wasn't going to leave until things had been made right and they were on ok terms again.
Payton really needed a job. She needed the money to pay for the Beach House, the hire of the car, to continue with everyday life and to fund her dreams. But so far, every business she had entered that morning seemed to turn her down, due to a lack of positions or the fact she wasn't planning on sticking round for long.
Just as she stepped back out onto the street after walking out of a hair salon, Payton felt her phone vibrate in her pocket and her text tone ring play out. Confusion registered over her face when she retrieved the device, not knowing why anyone would be contacting her, but it was only to be replaced with surprise.
It was from Alaric. Her Dad. He had got in touch. But not for the reason she was hoping for.
It read panic and a lot of it. Payton could feel her own panic creeping up at what the text included. She felt dread. She knew that this wasn't good and surely wouldn't end well. But for her Dad's sake, she knew she had to go help out and prove to him she was on his side.
He was at the Grill.
Thankfully it was only across the street, so hurrying her pace, she began to jog toward's the restaurant, hoping that she had enough courage within her to handle this situation well and cover the tracks the way her Dad wanted to. Plus she didn't want to have to admit the truth either, not to likes of the person she was going to have to deal with.
In her eyes, she didn't owe them anything with the crap she has put up from them over the past year or so.
They had never got on. From the moment Mason had introduced the two of them, they had never seen eye to eye. Payton had tried, but they weren't having any of it, so instead it left her with nothing else to do than let them hate her for no reason other than that she was with Mason.
They didn't like the age difference between Mason and Payton, much like Payton's mother didn't also and probably Alaric didn't like the idea either. Payton was twenty one and Mason was twenty seven. Six years difference. It wasn't a huge gap. But it was big enough for their to be judgemental comments thrown their way.
Payton too young and immature for Mason. Mason too old for Payton and should be settling down with someone more his age. To them age never mattered. It never did and if he was still here today, it still wouldn't have affected their relationship.
Plus they hated that Mason acted like a puppy dog around Payton, he would do anything and everything to make sure she was happy, he would spoil he rotten not with money or gifts, but instead with love and protection. His was crazy obsessed with her, but in a good way, a way that made him know that she was the one for him.
This meant the two of them had been so attached to one another. Wherever Payton went, Mason would not be too far behind, not in a creepy stalker way, but more of a I can't bare to be apart from you. The same applied with Payton. She was always wanting to be with Mason every second of the day. That was why they had moved in together so quickly. They hated being apart.
But the thing that really intensified the hate toward's Payton from this particular someone was when she turned into a vampire. The day Mason brought her over to see them and it grew increasingly worse from there. They had wanted to put her down, put her out of their misery and close off the risk that Mason had by being with her.
Payton had always stuck her ground, defending herself and not allowing herself to drop to their levels of maturity. She had fired some comments back sometimes, others she like to keep her mouth shut and not give them the satisfaction. But whatever they said to her, it never doubted her confidence, because at the end of the day she was the real winner here.
She had Mason. But Mason still didn't like it.
How they behaved irritated Mason and sent him over the edge. He had had enough of the constant judgement, the accusations, the negative and harsh comments thrown around by his friends. He was done with them. If they couldn't accept Payton or their relationship, then he was sure as hell not going to be around them anymore.
That was the last time he had seen them.
Arriving in front of the Grill, Payton checked her phone over for any signs of response from her Dad, when she saw that there was none, her panic grew increasingly, afraid that something bad had already occurred before she had even had the chance to get there.
Crashing through The Grill doors, Payton came face to face with the person she had least had hoped would turn up in Mystic Falls looking for Mason. But of course, here they were, suddenly so concerned for their friend who had been done with them for weeks, but they couldn't stay away and find out what had been going on.
Stopping in front of the woman, Payton adjusted her bag strap on her shoulder and stared off with them, ignoring her Dad's and unfortunately Damon's watchful eyes from across the room on them.
"Now this is a surprise," Jules, the woman, the person Alaric had texted Payton about, smirked at the sight of Payton stood there in town, in the Grill, looking fine and dandy, "I seriously didn't think you'd still be here but you are. So this makes my life a hell lot easier."
"Jules," Payton shone her a tight lipped smile, "It's good to see you too."
"Since you're a face I'm familiar with, maybe you can tell me what is going on in this town." Jules raised her brows up at Payton curiously, looking for any signs of discomfort from the younger woman.
"What do you want to know?" Payton asked, crossing her arms over her chest smartly.
"I don't know," Jules glanced around for a moment, then back onto Payton, "maybe where the hell Mason is. Tyler, his little nephew, he say's he isn't returning his calls and they've sent out a missing person's report."
Payton pretended to act confused about this, even if she was somewhat shocked to hear that they had filed a missing person's report for her boyfriend, who had been dead for nearly two week's now and it had took them this long to realise he had been actually missing.
Maybe she shouldn't have come back to town on her own. Maybe it was too obvious that something clearly wasn't right there.
But she knew as much as it was all just one big painful reminder constantly, she had to hold it together and not let Jules suspect a thing about it. She couldn't break down and cry, confessing he was murdered in front of her very eyes and that she has been grieving his loss ever since.
"Oh my god, I had no idea," Payton faked a frown, trying to act confused about this news, "Mason and I broke up a couple of weeks back."
Jules was the one to look back at her shocked now, only hers was more of an amused expression to hear this news, but she wasn't so convinced it was true because it just didn't seem right, that the couple would suddenly just break up the minute they got out of town.
"Why would the two of you break up when you were stuck together like glue," Jules speculated with a light laugh, "Mason was obsessed with you."
Payton shone her a sad smile, trying to put on the act, which was hardly difficult when she was feeling so hurt inside, "Thing's got too much, too tense, we had a disagreement and broke up," Payton tried to explain a false story to the woman she despised, "he told me he was getting out of town, going back home, but when I got back, he wasn't there and I just presumed he took off to go travelling as some of his stuff was gone. I haven't heard from him since the day we broke up."
"I don't believe you." Jules shook her head, giving Payton a nasty glare, "I can't."
Hadn't she been convincing enough?
No wonder her lies got unrevealed. She sucked at it.
Trailing her eyes over to Alaric and Damon in the background, it was like she was looking to them for some form of help in this situation. Damon with his vampire hearing would have been able to hear every word Payton had churned out to Jules, so surely with the help of her Dad, they could come help her somehow.
Jules caught onto this, she had noticed Payton look over to them. But the good thing for her and the bad thing for Payton was that Jules had already encountered Damon and Alaric minutes before Payton walked in. She knew their game. She knew Damon was a vampire just like Payton was.
Now by the looks she was giving them, Jules also understood that they knew each other and one of them had also probably called Payton to come help them out down at the Grill.
Smirking in realisation, Jules turned her head back to look at Payton, "You know what, I think you know more than you're letting on. I think you know what's happened to Mason. I think you had something to do with it," Payton gave her a hard look, shocked that she would accuse her of hurting her own boyfriend, that was a real low blow from the woman, "you know, two vampires against one wolf."
Feeling hurt and pissed off with the woman, Payton tried to hold in the tears that were coming into her eyes and the choking sensation that was coming up her throat, "You're so wrong about that."
Shoving past her, Payton headed off toward's the direction of the ladies restroom, trying to hold back the tears until she was alone in a cubicle and could let out the pain she was feeling emotionally from everything that was going on right now.
How dare Jules accuse her of hurting and killing Mason? Did she really think that low of Payton?
When she stepped back out from the ladies room, after a few tears had fallen from her eyes and a few sobs escaped her lips, as well as she had been trying to calm herself down so she didn't vamp out, there was no sign of Jules.
Thank god because Payton would have probably given the woman a piece of her mind and lost control of her inner monster in front of everyone in the Grill.
But what most shocked her was the person stood outside the ladies room, waiting for her with a concerned expression on her face and part of her felt relieved to see him stood there.
"Hey," Alaric greeted his daughter, after seeing her run off like that after her conversation with Jules, he could see that she was clearly upset, he needed to know she was ok, he couldn't leave her emotionally distressed again, "are you ok?"
"I'm fine." She lied, fixing her hair and avoiding too much eye contact with him.
Knowing that she clearly wasn't and it probably wasn't best to press her, he decided to try a different approach to try understand, "How do you know Jules?"
"Jules has hated me ever since Mason introduced the two of us," Payton explained to him, "that woman can be vicious when she wants to be, I've had the back hand of that plenty of times, but like everyone she has her weak spot,"
Alaric sent her a small smile, still finding it difficult to hear that she had been with Mason Lockwood all this time behind his back, as well as that she had so much happen to her without him even knowing. It was like she had been living a whole different life to the one he knew about.
"Yet she won't stop until she get's what she wants," Payton continued on, sighing slightly before she spoke, "and that's Mason's where about's."
Nodding his head, Alaric made a suggestion to her, "is there anyway you could maybe pin point her somewhere else other than town?"
"There's no telling Jules," Payton shrugged, unsure if that would even work and to be honest, she didn't even want to speak to the woman ever again, "she doesn't trust me and never has done, even more so now I'm a vampire."
Hearing the words again was like another stab to his chest, he had to try his hardest to hold it together and not react to that statement by his daughter He knew he couldn't keep away from her forever and hate her for what she was. By the sound's of it, she had no control over the matter and there was more to the story than she was letting on.
Maybe he was ready to find out, understand and try make things work. He didn't want to leave her alone anymore with how vulnerable, frightened and broken she was appearing.
"Would you like to meet for some lunch tomorrow? My treat," Alaric proposed the idea to her, hoping she would say yes and wouldn't not come because of how he had been acting towards her, "we can talk about things."
A surprised expression fell on her face at her Dad's idea, the corners of her lip turning up into a smile, she felt happy and somewhat nervous that he wanted to meet up to talk to her properly. But hopefully it would go well and she would get her Dad back however long it would take.
Later that evening, after running into Jules at the Grill, talking to her Dad, heading back home to wait for Matt to get in, hang out with him for a bit, then Payton left to head out an hour earlier than intended to take care of a few things before meeting Caroline and Tyler at the Lockwood cellar.
Tonight was the night of the full moon. Tensions were high. Payton was definitely feeling it. The last full moon had been a disaster and Payton was hoping that this one would be different. She hoped it would all work out. But this was Mystic Falls.
Payton prayed ever so hard that Jules would keep her own anger at bay and wouldn't come after her, Alaric or even Damon for that matter (however much she hated him for what he did to Mason, she still didn't want Jules to be responsible for his death). But they were all marked. Jules had marked their scents. She would come for them if they weren't careful.
Tyler on the other hand, Payton hoped he would be alright and be able to get through his first transformation. It was going to be so hard for him and Payton knew with the help of Caroline they had to help him as much as they possibly could. This wasn't going to be easy. But if they could at least somehow ease the situation, then it would be better than doing nothing.
Payton had just finished up doing some hunting in the woods, trying to calm her blood thirst and ease off her nerves for the night ahead. She was now trecking through the forest, heading her way towards the cellar like she had managed to remember from when Mason had taken her the other week, the last full moon.
She felt numb tonight regarding the Mason situation. The stuff with Jules earlier, when she had wrongly accused her of having something to do with Mason's MIA, all Payton could feel was anger and worthlessness that someone believed she would be capable of such a thing.
She didn't want to feel anything aside from the nervousness about how the night was going to end. Payton was blocking out all the pain, the damage and the guilt that was circling her until another day. No doubt when she got back to Matt's tonight, she would climb into bed and cry herself to sleep.
For now she had to be strong for Tyler's sake, like she said before, she owed it to Mason to be there for his nephew.
Once Payton got to the cellar, she made her way down the steps, through the gate and over to where Caroline and Tyler had already began setting up for the night. Tyler was dressed in only a pair of underwear, the rest of his body bare and Payton knew he had followed in Mason's footsteps regarding this attire.
When they realised she was now with them, they turned their heads to look at her, Caroline giving her a small smile, whilst Tyler gave her a nod, unsure if he had the courage to speak up when he was so rocked with panic.
"Hey," Payton greeted them, deciding to break the ice between them, before she glanced down at Tyler, "How are you feeling?"
"Terrified." He admitted shakily, keeping himself busy with installing the chains into the floor, the ones on the wall already chained up.
"You'll be alright," Payton tried to reassure him, slipping off her bag from her shoulder and laying it down on the floor, just as Tyler gave her an unsure look, "you will be."
"How can you be so sure?" He asked, glancing between Caroline and Payton.
"We don't know, Tyler," Caroline admitted shyly, looking at Payton, "but we're going to be here for you."
"She's right," Payton added, coming to stand beside Caroline, "you'll get through this."
Looking back up at the two girl's with him, he found himself lost for words, knowing they were only trying to help in this awful situation, but neither of them knew how this was going to go and if he could cope with it.
None of them knew.
Noticing a small speck of blood on the side of Payton's mouth, Tyler looked slightly closer before asking, "What's that on your mouth? Are you bleeding?"
Caroline quickly turned toward's the woman beside her, looking over her face, just as Payton reached her finger up and wiped it over her mouth, a drop of blood now appearing on her finger, panic registering on both Caroline's and Payton's faces.
"U-uh god yeah," Payton quickly went over to her bag, bringing out a tissue from it and wiping away the blood off her finger, before she suddenly lost control of herself, "I scratched myself on the way over here. Silly me. I'm so clumsy."
The older girl's eyes rolled over to Caroline for assistance in this mess up, Payton thought she had cleared herself up from her hunt, but clearly she had missed a part and was now paying for the mistake with Tyler's suspicious looks on her.
"Oh don't worry," Caroline began to help, awkwardly laughing, "I do that all the time with my nails. Girl problems and all."
Payton awkwardly chuckled back, sending both the teenagers a small smile, trying so hard to cover her tracks and block out the lingering smell of blood that was coming from the tissue she had now stuffed back inside her bag.
Instead, she pulled out the wolfs bane cocktail that she had kindly got from her father earlier on that day after he had waited for her outside the restroom and offered to have lunch with her tomorrow, she had requested he helped her with something, just like she had tried to help earlier with the Jules situation.
Upon seeing her get it out of her bag, Tyler slowly rose to his feet and came to meet Payton in the middle to take it from the girl, "Is that what I think it is?"
"Yep," Payton rubbed her lips together, handing it over to him and once he took it she confirmed it more, "wolfs bane."
"How did you find it?" He asked her interested, looking at the liquid in the beaker with a disgusted look.
"Doesn't matter," Payton didn't want to have to tell him her Dad know's all about this supernatural crap too, "but at least it's going to help you not feel the pain as much."
Looking back at her, Tyler began to slowly unscrewed the lid and then brought the bottle up to his lips, the smell hitting him instantly and he resisted the urge to pull a face at the scent now wafting up his nose.
Payton slowly began to back away from him, wanting to give him some time and space to deal with this himself, not wanting to put pressure on him or anything to get it over with, but it seemed like this was the approach the boy was taking.
Quickly he began to try down as much of the liquid as he can, before he pulled the bottle away from him, spinning round on his feet, where he instantly fell to the ground, trying so hard not to bring up the burning liquid that happened to be poisonous to him.
Horrified, Caroline went to step forward and go over to him, "Tyler..."
"No!" Tyler yelled back, as Payton laid her arm out in front of Caroline urging her to stop, "Don't!"
Stepping back to her original spot, Caroline looked away sadly, not liking seeing her friend this way and Payton understood how hard it was. She was grateful she hadn't been around those times Mason transformed. She couldn't watch the man she loved and cared about go through such a traumatic thing.
Now she knew why he hated seeing her the way she was and had been so eager to get that moonstone to change her back to her old self. It must have been horrible to find her in the way she was when she made her first kill and turned into the monster she had become.
A couple of hours later, Tyler had been sitting on the floor, his breathing heavy, his skin was beginning to sweat, the room was thick with tension and curiousity as to when the actual transformation was going to happen.
It could have been minutes or hours. They could be sat here all night. Or it could happen and be over with before midnight hit. But everyone was feeling the strain of waiting. Tyler's anger inflicted by the full moon was causing him to become irritated, he was pulling on the chains, trying to get himself to stand up and move.
Caroline was sitting there nervously, staring at Tyler and trying to ease her own control, just like Payton was beside her. As selfish as it was, all she could think about was Mason, how he dealt with this everytime and how much of a help he would be to Tyler if he was still here.
"Tyler..." Caroline muttered upon seeing him pull on his chains.
"I'm burning up," Tyler shrieked, "It burns!"
"I know," Caroline sighed, "Just breathe, ok?"
"I'm trying," Tyler groaned, before the pain level began to rocket, he couldn't' stand this and didn't want them to see anymore, "You two should go. You should leave."
"Not yet." Payton assured him, knowing they couldn't walk away and just leave him to go through this alone like Mason had.
Suddenly, the sound of Tyler's bone's beginning to break filled the quiet cellar, causing Both Payton and Caroline to rise to their feet, backing away slightly from the sight of Tyler's body giving up on him and transitioning into the wolf for the first time.
He began to cry in horror, Caroline found herself latching onto Payton's arm for comfort, in which Payton held her back, picturing Mason in Tyler's shoes and knowing he had to go through this so many times, while she just sat at home in comfort thinking it wasn't even that bad.
But this was truly terrifying.
"It hurts," Tyler screamed, every bone in his body now breaking over and over again, "it hurt's!"
Flying down onto the ground, Tyler began to cry in horror at how he was feeling and the dread that things were only going to get worse, Caroline was beginning to shake beside Payton and the tears were present in her eyes at the sight of Tyler.
"I want to help him," Caroline expressed, looking at Payton briefly, "But I don't know what to do. What can we do?"
"There's nothing you can do." Payton tried to tell her sadly.
There really wasn't. All Tyler could do was sit through it.
Slowly Tyler began to try pull himself up, trying to fight the pain and gain back control, but as he stood on his two feet, his bones and spine began to snap in half, causing him to fall back down with a loud scream, causing Caroline to burst into tears.
"Get out!" Tyler roared at them.
He didn't want them to see this anymore. He couldn't even stand himself.
"No." Caroline yelled back.
She didn't want to give up on him.
"Get out!" Tyler repeated more irritated this time, "I don't want to hurt you."
"No," Caroline shook her head, "you won't! Will he?"
Payton glanced at Caroline, uncertain of how to answer that, since Tyler could do damage to both of them and at some point they would have to leave him to it for a few hours until it was safe to come back.
Upon seeing him this way now and how worse he was getting, it was like she was having flashbacks of Mason in the woods that night, how he had nearly killed Caroline because he lost it. They had to reminded themselves that Tyler could do the exact same to them, especially when he was new to all of this.
Caroline was forgetting that a bite from a werewolf could kill a vampire. There happened to be two vampires in the room right now with a changing wolf. It really was best for them to get out of there.
Breaking away from Payton, Caroline rushed over to Tyler and began to embrace him, not wanting to leave his side through any of this and let him go through this alone.
"Caroline." Payton grunted, seeing the girl go over to him and sit with him, she was seriously risking herself now by being that close to him.
"What?" Caroline snapped at the girl through her tears, "He'll fight it. It's ok. You got that, Tyler?"
"Leave."
"No."
Tyler wasn't having any of it.
"Just go, please!" Tyler demanded, he couldn't deal with this anymore, he turned to look over at Payton, "get her out of here."
"No," Caroline shook her head, "not yet!"
"Caroline," Payton sighed, stepping over to the two of them, to try pull Caroline away from Tyler, "c'mon."
"Just go!"
"I'm right here and I'm not going anywhere."
Instantly a loud piercing scream erupted from Tyler, his bones continued to break more and more, the transformation getting worse and worse, his eyes were now beginning to flash into their wolf yellow and Payton could see his fangs forming inside his mouth.
They really had to get out of there now.
Hurrying to her feet, Caroline came over to Payton, just as the girl hooked her bag on her shoulder and they began to run towards the exit of the cellar. Once they were up the steps, they quickly shut the door by boarding it up and making sure it was dead bolted so Tyler wouldn't get out.
In just a matter of seconds, Tyler had transformed into his wolf form and was already clawing at the other side of the door, trying to get through and attack them. The chains he had tied on himself earlier clearly hadn't been strong enough to hold him, just like Mason's hadn't been either, but they thought for a younger and newer wolf he would have been able to stay there.
Clearly not though by how Tyler was acting and was very eager to break the door open to get them. The two girl's glanced at each other, knowing that if Tyler kept going at it like this, then he would break it open and they would be attacked by him instantly.
Nodding their heads at one another, they quickly made a dash for it out of the cellar and back into the woods, making their way far away from the area, so that if Tyler did come out he wouldn't come across them as easily.
It was safer for them to get out of there, then stick around like Caroline wanted and Payton owed, because reality was the bite could kill them.
They couldn't risk that.
Author note: So sorry it's been a few weeks since I last updated! I will try make the parts more regular :)
I really hope you enjoyed this part and you're all enjoying the story so far!
Special thanks to RHatch89, Adela, HPuni101 & FizzWizz2011 for reviewing the last part! Your reviews are always so lovely and so encouraging so thanks.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this part!
Many thanks,
guiltypleasurexo