Us, Servants to the Moon – Chapter 5
Author's Note: Whew, finally finished this chapter! It's a bit different from the previous ones, but I hope you'll like it anyway! I was trying to shift the focus a bit away from the werewolf issue, so that Jeremy and Tyler could bond over something else (and something less negative), but the werewolf curse will definitely be main theme in chapter 6! So until then, I hope you'll enjoy this one :)
The festival ground was lit by hundreds of lampions. It was a cold night and Tyler Lockwood was sitting on a box slightly apart from the celebrating crowd. Tonight was the annual festival in memory of the foundation of Mystic Fall's famous church, a holiday Tyler had usually been looking forward to.
This year, however, he was concerned with other matters. Much more important matters. Still, being a member of the town's Founding Families, he had had no other choice than to take part anyway.
The lampions' unsteady light threw flickering shadows over his face. Tyler clutched the bottle in his hands; he didn't take a nip though. All he did was staring at the dancing crowd.
Two days had passed since he had woken up in Jeremy Gilbert's bedroom, cold, naked and confused. Thinking of it hurt so much. He wanted to understand why it was him, why it was Jeremy, but no matter how much he struggled for an answer somewhere in his subconscious, he didn't manage to find one.
Quietly, Tyler sighed. He didn't want to feel this affectionate feeling in his heart whenever he thought of Jeremy, he couldn't allow himself to. There was so much depending on him, so many expectations weighing on his shoulders. One day, he might become mayor of this town himself. And then? He couldn't be in a relationship with a guy when the entire town should be looking up to him, respecting him… There was no way he could be living together with his gay boyfriend. Never. Oh look, the people would say behind his back, here he comes, our gay mayor. No, he couldn't bear it. Never. Whatever it was he was feeling towards Jeremy Gilbert, he had to suppress it. At all cost.
They hadn't met since that fateful Sunday morning, when they had been surprised by the unexpected return of Jeremy's sister and his aunt, not even at school by chance. Tyler was glad for it actually, because he honestly couldn't tell right now how he would behave towards Jeremy if they suddenly met again. He needed to be on his own for a while, until he had come to terms with this new revelation that had been bugging him for days now.
He had fallen in love with Jeremy Gilbert.
In love, yes. It was out, at least in his mind. A true fact, he knew it. But trying to accept it seemed like fighting for the impossible.
"Hey, attention everyone." A guy wearing a blue shirt and a matching pair of glasses had grabbed the microphone. Tyler knew him from school. "In a few minutes we'll start with this year's foundation treasure hunt."
Not that again, Tyler thought half-heartedly. They were indeed planning on playing their kindergarten games again. All he wanted was to sit here, alone, in silence, with his unspeakable secret and that one sacred bottle in his hand that helped him clear his mind so well. But his wish wouldn't be granted.
"For our first-time visitors, I'll quickly explain the rules," the boy continued. "You will all be divided into teams of two people. Each team will then receive a unique treasure map which requires them to solve a mystery regarding our church's foundation. As a reward, they will find one of the foundation stones we have hidden all over town. The one team which returns first carrying their foundation stone will be the winners. The prize this year is dinner for two at Venice restaurant."
"I have this feeling that you'll be doing the treasure hunt with Stefan this year, Elena," Bonnie said with a smile on her lips. She was standing next to the stage under the lampions together with Elena and her brother Jeremy.
Elena shook her head, giggling slightly. "That would be too much of a coincidence."
"Just wait and see," Bonnie said as if she was telling Elena's fortune.
"Bonnie's right," Jeremy said without looking at the girls. He seemed busy searching the crowd for someone. "Weird coincidences happen all the time." Especially if you don't want them to happen.
"Well, who do you want to do the treasure hunt with?" Bonnie asked after a while.
"Me?" Jeremy sighed and turned to her. "Honestly, I'd rather not take part at all."
A girl Jeremy didn't know climbed onto the stage. A few seconds later she started drawing lots in order to match the teams randomly. Somehow, inside his heart, Jeremy knew that he would be drawn to do the treasure hunt together with Tyler Lockwood. There was simply no other way. Especially because he didn't want to.
In his head he already started thinking of what he would say to Tyler when they were chosen to do the treasure hunt together. Actually he had lost count of how many hours he had already spent on that very question. He had managed to talk himself into believing he was over this whole issue, but that didn't mean that he was actually thrilled to meet Tyler again.
Maybe it would be best to act as if nothing bad had ever happened.
He winced as the girl on the stage suddenly announced his name. "We have Jeremy Gilbert."
Jeremy held his breath, as she drew another lot. The seconds until she said the name seemed like years. Tyler Lockwood, Jeremy heard her say. Tyler Lockwood. Then she opened her mouth. "And Matt Donovan."
Matt Donovan? Jeremy couldn't believe his ears. So there was a God after all. He was safe, he was free, he was so glad.
Tyler started to relax as soon as he heard that Jeremy would have to do the treasure hunt with Matt Donovan. It was such a relief. For a second he had already thought to hear his name, but it seemed that for once, luck was smiling down at him.
"Caroline Forbes", the announcer continued. "And Tyler Lockwood."
Caroline! Tyler didn't notice that he was actually grinning in relief. The blonde girl had already spotted him and came walking towards him.
He wasn't really friends with Caroline. For a long time she had been nothing more to him than his best friend Matt's girlfriend. But Matt and Caroline were kinda over now and Caroline was a pretty girl, the prettiest girl in town, actually. So who else would be better fit to take his mind off Jeremy than her? All that was necessary was to remind himself how nice it was to be with a girl and all his problems would vanish into thin air.
"Hey, Tyler," Caroline said and she smiled at him. "We've got to do the treasure hunt together."
"Yeah, I heard it," Tyler said and stood up, smiling back at her. "We better get going then."
"They gave me a pair of flashlights and this map," she said and showed him a folded sheet of paper that had apparently been designed to look like an ancient map. Quickly, she unfolded it.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you wanna win this dinner." Tyler looked at her with a teasing glance.
"Of course I do," Caroline replied without even hesitating for a second. "Winning lies in my family's genes."
Tyler lifted his eyebrows acknowledging, then he took a look at the map. Route #4: Matthew McLane was written at the top in some ancient looking Microsoft Word font.
"As far as I can see, this yellow line shows the way we need to go. And this has to be the festival ground over here." She pointed at a highlighted area.
"The line leads into the woods," Tyler noticed. "See these two trees next to the lake? I know that place. It's near the ancient Lockwood estate."
"It's the destination they want us to go to." Caroline nodded. "Alright, let's go. That was an easy one."
"Yeah." Tyler turned around to follow the blonde girl into the woods. "We make a good team, you and me."
Following Tyler's lead, he and Caroline arrived at their destination, marked with a blatantly red X on the treasure map.
At one of the lower braches of a tree, there was a ribbon with a yellow envelope.
Tyler took it down and turned to Caroline. "I guess that-"
"Hush!" Caroline said, placing her finger on her lips. "Someone's coming!"
"I don't hear anything," Tyler replied. Then there it was. Footsteps. Quiet voices.
A flashlight was pointed at them, blinding them.
"Hey!" Tyler yelled, shielding his eyes with his palm. "What the hell!"
"Car, Ty!" It was Matt who put the flashlight down. Jeremy stopped next to him.
Unbelieving, Tyler stared at Jeremy with his eyes wide open. He had just been starting to enjoy this silly game. Being alone with a girl allowed him to imagine things to be differently, but now, with Jeremy standing right in front of him, all doubts and fears came flooding back into his consciousness.
Jeremy looked back at him as if he was staring at ghost, his face suddenly pale.
Strangely though, Matt and Caroline seemed to have a similar exchange of looks.
"What are you doing here, Matt?" Caroline said, and even though she had been so confident and bold with Tyler until now, her voice suddenly seemed to waver.
"Car, about earlier…" Matt stammered, looking at her. "I'm sorry about that."
"Just go, Matt. I don't wanna talk about it."
He didn't give in. "But I-"
"Don't you get it?" Caroline was trembling. "Just leave me alone!" Angry, and without any further explanation, Caroline grabbed her flashlight and ran off into the woods.
"Caroline!" Matt yelled. "Wait!" It took him only a few seconds until he ran after her.
Their footsteps disappeared in the distance and silence returned. Only the quiet cries of a distant owl could be heard.
"Yeah, right," Jeremy cleared his throat after a while. "We could have expected that."
Tyler and Jeremy were standing there, next to each other, alone somewhere in the woods. And there it was, eventually, that one moment when they had to face each other for the first time since Sunday.
Jeremy turned to the other boy. Act as if nothing had happened, he remembered. "Oh, you already found an envelope. Great."
"Yeah," Tyler replied, obviously unsure, what to do.
Embarrassing silence returned and none of the boys could think of something to say.
Then Tyler remembered the envelope in his hands. That's it! It was prefect; it was something to focus on. "Anyway, let's see what this stupid letter is about," Tyler said, wiping away all other thoughts, and opened the envelope. "Here we go."
Jeremy shook his head, grateful for the distraction Tyler was offering him. "What does it say?"
"Mystic Falls, February, 2nd, 1866. My dear cousin," Tyler read, "yesterday I arrived safely here in Mystic Falls. That long, strenuous journey is finally over now. However I'm devastated to tell you that Marlene, my beloved wife, passed away last night. The journey's ordeal was too hard for her fragile body and I find no words telling you how I feel in this dark hour." Tyler put the letter down. "Great, we got the chick flick route."
Jeremy shrugged. "They intended this one for Caroline and you, so…"
Tyler threw a sharp glance at him, then he finished reading the letter, "There is one thing for sure, I will never love someone ever again. With ever again printed in bold. Singed, Matthew McLane."
"Okay, so what does that tell us?"
"I have no idea. We talked about this briefly in our history classes last year, but I don't remember much. I think after Fell's Church was destroyed during the Battle of Willow Creek, the townspeople decided to build a new church, our current one." What the hell am I talking about? He didn't care about this stupid game, he didn't want to find any clues, he just wanted… A look at Jeremy's face, however, reminded him that playing this game was better than having to deal with… other stuff. So he went on, "McLane was one of the six or seven guys who donated the money for it."
"And that had something to do with the death of his wife? Or why did they print the ever again in bold?"
"Because I think that he remarried after all," Tyler replied. "But I don't know who it was. Her name was something like… Abernathy I think…"
"Abernathy?" Jeremy frowned. "I know that name. At the bakery in Oak Street, there is this small memorial kind of thing… I pass it every day on my way to school…"
"Bakery, that's possible… Yeah, I think I remember something like that. So I guess that would be the place for us to go."
"Whoa, wait… You don't really plan on playing this treasure hunt game, do you?"
"What else do you suggest?" Tyler asked back. "Go look for Matt and Caroline, if you want to, or just go home, Jeremy. I don't mind." Without waiting for an answer, Tyler put the letter in his pocket and started walking back to the town.
"I'm not into those treasure hunts much." Jeremy caught up with him. He was surprised to find out that acting as if nothing had happened was easier than he had expected. He was over this whole mess, he reminded himself. There was nothing to fear. "But sneaking around in the woods at night, it's kind of exciting, don't you think? Us, walking around with flashlights, it's like in one of those teen horror movies, right?"
Tyler kept walking on, without even showing the slightest reaction.
"It's so quiet… You'd think that there's danger lurking behind every tree…" Jeremy continued almost enthusiastic. "And the pale light of the moon… Oh, hey, by the way, I haven't had the chance to ask you about the transformation. What was it like?"
The other boy sped up his pace, but Jeremy managed to keep up with him with ease.
"I mean, was it exciting? What did you feel, being a wolf?"
Suddenly, Tyler stopped and Jeremy almost ran into him. He looked at Tyler's eyes and saw the other boy staring back at him with annoyance in his face. "Why do you keep doing this?"
"Doing what?" Jeremy asked back, confused.
"This," Tyler hissed. "Acting, as if there wasn't this huge elephant standing right the middle of our room."
"Well," Jeremy shrugged. "I don't know about your room, but as far as my-"
Tyler grabbed his collar and pushed him back.
"Hey, are you crazy? What is your problem?"
"What is your problem?" Tyler snapped back.
"No, you're obviously the one having a problem." Jeremy's face became serious. "If this is about Sunday morning, then I'm sorry, but I'm over it. It was a mistake, but it happened in the heat of the moment. I was relieved that I was alive, you were happy that you transformed without being a murderer. There was so much danger and tension and then it was suddenly gone and it just happened. I accepted that, that's why I'm over it." He paused. "But honestly, the way you're acting, it wouldn't seem that you're too."
Jeremy was right. He wasn't. He wasn't in the slightest… Quite the contrary actually… Since Sunday he was in this much too deep and obviously very much unlike Jeremy, who really seemed to have gotten over it… But Tyler realised now, the way he was acting, he was actually giving Jeremy the impression that Sunday had meant more to him than it had to Jeremy, and that would be a fatal mistake.
So he bit his lips and replied almost politely, "It felt quite amazing."
"Hm?"
"The transformation. You asked me. It was very exciting; it felt so natural and light being a wolf."
Jeremy hesitated. Tyler's sudden change of attitude confused him, but then he decided to let it go. "Oh, okay. And were you conscious all the time?"
"Well, sort of. I was partially conscious, I'd say, which means, I realized where I was going and memorized what I was doing, but as a wolf, you are so much more sensitive to noise and scents, they're everywhere. So I just followed them by instinct, rather than at will."
"Sounds awesome."
"Does it?" Tyler felt that he was slowly starting to cool down. Talking about the transformation actually helped to get his mind off the other big event that happened on Sunday. Becoming a werewolf affected him just as much, but until now, he hadn't had the chance to talk to somebody about it and Jeremy's interest in his story actually made him talk about it almost excitedly.
"And did it hurt?" Jeremy continued asking as they slowly walked on.
"What? The transformation? What makes you think that? Of course not."
"That's good."
"Why?"
"Because I read in my ancestor's diary that apparently the transformation caused quite a lot of pain."
Tyler stopped for a moment, as if he felt a dark shadow laying over his future. "Didn't happen to me," he shrugged and put that matter aside for now.
"Well, I wish I could be a werewolf, too. You're so lucky, Tyler."
"Yeah, but wearing a ring that makes you immortal is kinda cool, too. By the way, you promised me a report as well. So how was it, being shot?"
Jeremy was looking back at him as if he was wondering if Tyler was actually being serious or not. "That actually hurt," he said after a while.
"Really? I always thought you were dead before you could feel any pain."
"Yeah well, you're dead quite fast, that's right, but the last thing you feel before everything just… stops… well, it's like you hit your head against a sharp edge."
"Ouch," Tyler frowned. "Doesn't sound like much fun." He glanced at the boy walking next to him. "Hey, by the way, I haven't said thanks for taking all that risk just to make me become a werewolf."
Jeremy grinned and shook his head. "Don't mention it."
Tyler's gaze came to rest on him. The moonlight was lightening up his face, soft silver light reflected in his eyes and making them shine like they did on that full moon...
For a second, Tyler could hear his breath again, feel those warm, trembling kisses at his neck...
Heat ran through his veins and up his head.
He didn't want to allow himself to feel like that for another guy and he didn't want to give Jeremy any more reason to think that this night had affected him more than it had affected Jeremy, but right now, at this very moment, he knew that no one could see what was inside his head. No one would ever find out, so just for this one forbidden moment, he let himself indulge in that memory.
Jeremy was surprised that they didn't run into any of the other teams participating in the treasure hunt. Someone obviously put quite a lot of effort in separating the routes from each other.
A few minutes later, they were standing in front of a closed, dark bakery.
"Here it is," Jeremy pointed at a small tile on the front side of the building. "In memory of Mystic Fall's beloved daughter, Elizabeth McClane, née Abernathy, 1834 – 1900. See, that's her, I told you."
"Yeah, I can see that, but that doesn't really help us. I mean, where's the clue in here? It's just her name and the dates." Tyler shrugged. "This is a dead end."
"Hey, I don't think so," Jeremy said and picked up a small envelope from the ground. "I think we're right on track." He opened it and threw a triumphing glance at Tyler, who couldn't help but smile back.
"Mystic Falls, May, 22nd, 1878. My dear Abbey," he started reading. "Thank you so much for your congratulations on our marriage. I am aware that most people of this town are disapproving of our decision, but the joy I feel in my heart right now makes me know for certain, that the Lord Himself bound our hearts together. Love, your sister Elizabeth. With the Lord Himself bound our hearts together printed in bold." He put the letter down. "Any ideas?"
"Okay, so our teacher talked about this marriage thing they had going on back then…" Tyler tried to remember. "McClane's first wife died, but then he met Elizabeth Abernathy and wanted to marry her. But back then, people weren't allowed to remarry, so he and Elizabeth were kind of despised by the other people, because they did anyway. Still, they are said to have been very happy with each other and that's why McClane decided to become one of the church's founders, because he wanted to thank God for allowing him to be happy, even though they had broken a divine commandment by remarrying."
"You know an awful lot about this," Jeremy commented. "I didn't think of you as the kind of guy who pays attention during history classes."
"Ah well…" Tyler rolled his eyes. "Local history is not as bad as…" he shrugged, "the other history."
"Yeah," Jeremy grinned, "I think so, too."
They looked at each for a moment.
"Okay," Tyler changed the subject. "That's all I know about this story, but I still don't get where they want us to go next."
Jeremy read the letter once again. "The bold section is about God uniting their hearts. That could mean the day of their illegal marriage. Do you know where they married? Since it was illegal, I guess they didn't marry in the church."
"Wait, no, actually they did!" Tyler remembered. "They married a few years after the church was built, and since McClane had put so much money into this, the priest was kind of bias and wed them in secret."
"Wow, okay, so our destination would be the church?" Jeremy lifted his eyebrows.
"Yeah, that could be," Tyler shrugged and they went on towards the church.
"Hey, you know, we make a good team on this treasure hunt stuff," Jeremy remarked after a few steps. "Okay, admittedly, you're doing most of the work, but still. I kind of get the impression that we could actually win this."
"Ts," Tyler snorted with a grin. "As if we cared about winning this childish game."
They looked at each other for a second.
"Okay," Tyler said, "Let's hurry!"
The interior of the church was dark and cold. The large hall seemed to extend endlessly above them, every step they took resounded with frightening echo.
Tyler noticed the candles ahead on the altar, their flickering light hardly managing to fight back against darkness.
"I don't think we're actually allowed in here," Jeremy whispered into the silence, leaning just a little bit closer to the other boy.
It was a gloomy atmosphere and Tyler looked at Jeremy's face. He didn't know why, but right here, right at this moment, he felt so drawn to him that he couldn't wish for anyone else to be with him.
If Jeremy only were a girl... It would make things so much easier. If he were a girl, Tyler wouldn't hesitate to charm him, to show off maybe a little bit and try out one flirt or another. He would have the experience of years on his side; he would feel safe and eventually succeed. But Jeremy was far from being a girl... And that was Tyler's great dilemma. He didn't know how to behave towards a boy he had feelings for. There was no already existing and approved template for this situation in his head. Let alone, of course, that he wasn't actually allowed to ever give in to what he felt for Jeremy.
They walked towards the altar, stiff and uncomfortable, and Tyler suddenly realized the parallel between McClane and his wife and Jeremy and him. Their relationship as well had been disapproved by most other people and still they had been happy with each other. And this was not a fairy-tale, it was a real, historic event. He glanced at Jeremy and swallowed, then he turned his eyes back on the floor.
There was a golden brick lying on the candle lit altar.
"Wow, I guess we got it," Jeremy took it into his hands and turned it around a few times.
"Is it real?" Tyler asked quickly.
"Nope, just gold foil." He had already torn off a small piece of the foil. Regular red brick appeared underneath it.
Jeremy's goofy behaviour made Tyler feel comfortable again. "Okay, just don't break it. I don't want them to think that we just grabbed some brick from the building site."
"Don't worry," Jeremy replied with a grin, putting the foil back into its place. "No one will suspect anything."
"So, that treasure hunt was easy," Jeremy boasted on their way back to the festival ground. "It was far beneath our capabilities."
Tyler grinned. "Yeah, you're right.
The moon shone down at them, and while they were joking around friendly, their spirits boosted from their achievement, the awkwardness and their troubles went away. Tonight, they had been a team. They had been friends.
"Wow, look at us," Tyler pointed at the board in front of the stage, when they arrived at the festival ground. "We finished second last. I guess no dinner for us."
"Yeah, it's good to know that there's at least one team worse than us, though."
Strangely, the festival place was empty. No one except them was around anymore.
"So, where is everyone, anyway?" Tyler looked around him. "We're the only ones here."
"Maybe they've already gone home, because it took us too long to finish."
They were just about to leave, when a blonde girl came running past them.
"Hey," Jeremy stopped her. "Just where exactly is everyone?"
The girl seemed scared. "Haven't you heart?" she cried. "They found a body in the woods."
"A body?" Tyler and Jeremy asked back.
The girl nodded. "It's Mary Farlane from the 11th grade. They say she was killed by a wolf."
Tyler held his breath and looked at her. The words had cut deeply into his heart.
To be continued…