Us, Servants to the Moon – Chapter 8
Author's Note: Once again, I'm sorry for the slow update! But here we finally go with the 8th chapter! We're heading towards the climax of the story, only two chapters left after this one! Really hope you'll enjoy this chapter!
Sharing a secret with someone else is a thrilling thing. Especially if playing with the risk of someone finding out becomes a dangerous habit like playing with fire. You get addicted to it so easily and still, you know it would be better for you if you just stopped.
One glance across the school yard could be enough, enough to make them both smile on the inside, looking like strangers on the outside. There were a lot of these glances nowadays, stealthy, quick looks, nothing more than the twitch of an eyebrow. And no matter how far they were apart, no matter how many students were standing in their way, their eyes always seemed to find each other so naturally, drawn to one another like magnets. And if someone was trying to find out who they were looking at, as soon as that curious person turned around, there was nothing there except an empty spot on the school yard.
Whenever it was possible, they tried to cross each other's ways, like accidentally standing next to each other in the cafeteria. Tyler especially was very attentive to occasions like that, so when he looked across the football field where Jeremy's class was practicing soccer, and he spotted him leave for the sports equipment shed, he couldn't help excusing himself to grab some water. Fortunately his teacher was okay with it, so Tyler ran across the field, heading for the school building, just to change his direction as soon as he was out of sight, until he reached the door of the sports shed.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're stalking me, Lockwood," Jeremy said with that defying smile that fit him so well. He turned around, just to be caught in Tyler's arms, who pushed him to the wall.
"I am," Tyler confessed, "I've been waiting for a chance to be alone with you all day." He hugged the other boy passionately, laying his head against Jeremy's shoulder.
"I've been thinking," Jeremy said, kissing his hair, "we should really spend some time alone together, soon. And I mean, really alone. It's been almost three weeks now since that night, you know."
"I know. I wish we could," Tyler replied, "but I have no idea how and where. You said we couldn't meet at your place because your sister's room is just next to yours and she could hear us. But we can't meet at my place either, because my mom just loves to bust into my room and I certainly can't lock myself up in there with another guy. I could as well be hanging a rainbow flag from my window."
"Yeah, I get that," Jeremy replied, feeling as disappointed as he thought he'd be. "It's just a bit frustrating."
"I know, Jeremy," Tyler whispered, "but it'll happen again soon, I promise."
"Then, at least, let's meet in the woods tonight. The usual spot. Six o'clock."
"Ah, well… Sorry, I can't," Tyler replied, letting go of Jeremy. "I already got plans for tonight."
Jeremy looked at him. "Okay? And that can't wait?"
Tyler sat down on the floor, leaning against the wall. "I wanted to tell you about this anyway. You remember my uncle Mason?"
Jeremy sat down next to him. "Yeah, of course. Why?"
"I've been thinking a lot about the things Jules said to me. That it was a painful ordeal for werewolves to turn. Well," he shrugged, "to be honest, I'm kind of scared that this might actually be the truth. And the next full moon is less than a week away."
Jeremy kept silent when Tyler looked at him. "So, my uncle must have had some place where he could turn on full moons, and I suspect it to be the ruins of the old Lockwood estate in the woods. I thought maybe I could find something there."
"You wanna go there? Tonight?" Jeremy didn't manage to suppress his excitement. "And you wanted to go there without me? Shame on you!"
Tyler grinned. "I was hoping you'd say that."
"Alright, then it's decided. Six o'clock at the ruins. I'm gonna bring some flashlights."
"You seem so excited."
Jeremy grinned back at him. "Of course, I am. I always wanted to be part of the action, you know that."
"So you're not sad anymore that we won't be able to… you know… anytime soon?"
"No, because I'm more interested in adventures than I am interested in you," Jeremy replied bluntly with a playful grin. "I'm just using you to get what I want."
"Ouch," Tyler replied, also grinning, "you're no good for me." With a suggestive smile he leaned forward to kiss him.
Later this afternoon, there was book duty again at school, as the students called it. The mold that had infected the cellar and parts of the library still hadn't been brought under control, so the school continued to have the students take shifts in order to save the schoolbooks from infection.
Even though it hadn't been planned like this, Jeremy and Tyler got lucky, having their shifts together.
"There is so much work to do this time," Jeremy moaned as he looked at the endless lines of boxes containing books that needed to be sorted out and categorized. "I'm not sure we'll be finished any time soon. Maybe our expedition has to wait until tomorrow."
"Yeah, maybe," Tyler replied, but on the inside, he was feeling disappointed. The approaching full moon burdened him more than he would ever admit. It wouldn't make sense for Jules to lie about the pain just to scare him. He wanted to find out the truth, better today than tomorrow. He needed to find hints telling him that he would be fine, telling him that it hadn't been the biggest mistake of his life to invoke the curse and that he wouldn't have to live with it until the day he died.
"Hey, are you going to help me, or what?" Jeremy suddenly brought him back to reality, trying to lift a heavy box by himself.
"Yeah, of course, sorry," Tyler replied, lending him a hand.
"Hey," a girl's voice said and when Jeremy looked up, he could see a blonde girl standing in the doorframe. "You're on book duty today, right?" she asked and entered. "I'm here to help."
"Oh, okay…" Tyler and Jeremy exchanged glances. "As far as I know, book duty is always done by two people, not three. So why…"
"Mrs. Hill sent me," the girl confessed and suddenly everything became clear.
"Oh right!" Tyler rolled his eyes. "She's scared that we might bash each other's head down here."
"Aw, maybe later…" Jeremy suggested, but then added, as the girl started to pale, "that was a joke, don't worry. We're trying not to let things get rough on school property." He lifted his eyebrow towards Tyler, who winked back at him.
"So what's your name?" Tyler asked, as he turned back to the books. "I'm Tyler and this is Jeremy."
"Zelda", the girl said.
"Zelda?" Jeremy repeated. "Like, in the Legend of Zelda?"
"That's such an old joke!" Zelda complained, then however blushed slightly as Tyler commented, "You really look like a pretty princess, though."
That comment earned him a warning glance from Jeremy, but otherwise they accepted her quickly and showed her how she could help.
"It's great, I think we'll finish in no time, like that," Tyler said with a smile. "That means it'll still be light when we get outta here."
"Oh, no! I don't think so," Zelda replied with her head lowered. "It's because we're three people now, that Mrs. Hill told us to help out an extra hour."
"Seriously?" Jeremy turned around. "Not today!"
"You had plans?" Zelda asked.
Jeremy shrugged. "Sort of."
"Me too," Tyler added quickly. "I've got an appointment at 6 o'clock…"
Zelda sighed. "Well, actually I'm planning to go on a date with Kyle next week, so maybe I could stay and finish alone today, and next week the both of you will cover for me instead? How's that?"
Tyler and Jeremy looked at each other. "Yeah, sure, that would be great! Thanks!"
"No problem," Zelda grinned. "I'm happy that way, too."
"So, Kyle's your boyfriend?" Tyler asked, ignoring a weird glance from Jeremy. After all, he was known for hitting on girls, so there was no way he would draw others' suspicion on him.
"Actually, she's my girlfriend," Zelda chuckled.
An uncomfortable silence suddenly filled the room. Jeremy swallowed, unable to look up, focusing on the books he was sorting out.
Tyler, on the other hand, stared at Zelda, eyes wide open.
The girl just shrugged and smiled. "I'm not making a big deal out of it. It's just the way it is."
"I see," Tyler replied, clearing his throat. "So where exactly is the box with the grammar books?"
"I'll take care of that," Zelda announced. "You should leave, we decided on that, right? Just don't forget to help me out next Thursday, okay?"
"Yeah, sure," Jeremy replied, suddenly very keen on getting out of here. "We'll see you on Thursday, then, and thanks again."
Zelda nodded. "Great. Till next week."
It started to get dark when Tyler and Jeremy reached the ruins of the ancient Lockwood mansion.
There was debris everywhere, the remains of what used to be thick stone walls leading the way to the center. It was hard to imagine that all this once used to be a real house, a nice place to live. Now, even the small stairway leading down into the ground looked all but welcoming.
Jeremy handed Tyler one of the flashlights he had brought along.
"We should have done this while the sun was still shining," Tyler growled, as he took the first step down into the darkness.
Jeremy switched on his flashlight, following his friend, careful not to trip up on the crumbly stone steps. "It's pitch black down there, anyway, so I don't think that would have made a lot of difference."
The first cellar room they reached had been vandalized, graffiti covering the walls, empty liquor bottles on the floor.
"It's a popular place for kids to come here, especially if there's a party close by in the woods," Tyler explained. "I guess there's a lot of weird stuff going on down here sometimes."
"I can imagine," Jeremy replied. "Maybe we should try this place too, if we want some alone time."
"I doubt that would be very comfortable," Tyler suggested, then pointed at a grille door across the room. "This is where the fun ends," he said. "This one's locked, so the kids can't get any further." He pulled out a key ring, using one of them to unlock the door. "Come on."
A corridor led them further into the darkness, the air getting even cooler and more humid.
"That girl, Zelda," Jeremy started after a while, "she sure caught us by surprise, didn't she?"
"Oh, come on, let's not talk about her right now," Tyler replied. "She's a girl and that Kyle girl is a girl, too, and there are different standards for girls and guys." He entered an empty room to the left, followed by another seemingly endless corridor. "I mean, let's just look at the facts. Two girls making out – that's so hot. On the other hand, two dudes… man, that's kind of icky."
"Alright…" Jeremy snorted. "So you find us icky."
"Well," Tyler grinned over his shoulder, "I don't have to watch us."
Jeremy sighed after a while. "I just wish it would be as easy for us as it is for her. I mean, just standing there, saying 'I don't make a big deal out of it'."
"Yeah, I know," Tyler said with a serious voice. "It would be nice, but I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon." He pointed the flashlight at a grille at the end of the corridor. "We're there."
This room was indeed different from any other room they've seen down here. Sure, the entire place was run down and rotting, but the destruction inside this one room was extraordinary. Entire parts of the walls had been smashed down, various wood slats were torn to shreds. And on the walls, everywhere around them, were massive claw marks.
"My God," Jeremy said breathlessly as he took a closer look at them. "I'm pretty sure you were right about this place."
"This is insane! Look at that!" Tyler pointed his flashlight to the ground. There were chains lying around – thick, strong metal chains connected to the walls. On one side of the room, there was something like a giant cage, some of the bars, however, had been bent.
Tyler started getting nervous. Something was odd about this place. It literally screamed of pain and suffering. No, whatever he had hoped to find down here, this was not it. The longer he stared at the chains and the cage, the harder it became for him to breathe. "Let's get out of here," he gasped. "I've seen enough."
"Maybe not." Jeremy turned around, holding a small item in his hand. "Found this over there."
"What's that?" Tyler wanted to know, leaning against the wall for support.
"A flash drive, apparently. Someone must have put it here. Maybe it was your – Tyler? What's wrong? You look so pale."
"I'm fine." Tyler swallowed. "I just need some fresh air. Let's get out of here."
"Are you feeling better now?" Jeremy said, sitting down on the bed of Tyler's room.
"Yeah, thanks," Tyler replied. "I don't know what's gotten into me. Maybe it was the bad air down there."
"Let's take a look at the flash drive, shall we?"
"Sure. I'll just get us something to drink, okay? Are you alright with coke?"
"Yeah, sure," Jeremy replied and moved over to Tyler's desk, starting the pc, while Tyler left the room to fetch the drinks. He started playing with the flash drive in his hand waiting for the notebook to finish booting. Then his eyes unwillingly started to look around. The desk wasn't exactly what you could call tidy, school books and magazines had been piled up, along with random sketches and scribbles. Jeremy looked closer at a few of them. Some of them were early versions of a portrait of Mrs. Lockwood. Jeremy smiled. Tyler was obviously trying hard to imitate Jeremy's drawing style.
Then suddenly he noticed a small note covered by ragged school books. He didn't know why exactly that one piece of paper caught his attention, but then again, it was so suspicious, half hidden there under the books, Jeremy couldn't help but pull it out. There was a number on it, a cell phone number. Then he read the name that had been written above it with hasty handwriting. Jules.
Tyler kicked the door open, balancing a tray in his hands, and Jeremy startled, hastily putting the note into his pocket.
"What's wrong?" Tyler asked playfully. "Did I scare you?"
"No," Jeremy replied, a little startled, "I was just –"
"You were just about to browse through my files, weren't you?" Tyler guessed with a wink.
"Yeah, right, you caught me there." Jeremy was grateful to play along with the joke. "But damn, you were so fast."
"Sorry to disappoint you. Maybe you'll be luckier next time."
"Hopefully. Oh, thanks." He accepted the coke Tyler was handing him and put it on the desk. Then, with Tyler sitting down on the chair next to him, he plugged the drive into the computer.
Anxiously they stared at the screen, until finally a folder popped up, containing nothing but a simple video file.
"Should I start it?" Jeremy asked, grabbing the mouse.
"Yeah, please."
He clicked on the file, the video player initializing. Then the playback started.
"It's almost time," a male voice whispered from somewhere while the camera was shaken around wildly, until it was placed on some ledge, from where it was able to show a rather wide angle of the room. Suddenly a man walked across the screen, wearing nothing except for a pair of black shorts. He turned around to look at the camera.
"It's uncle Mason," Tyler immediately whispered. "So I was right after all."
"You think he recorded his transformation?" Jeremy looked at him. "Why would he do that?"
"I have no idea," Tyler replied, too fascinated by the video to look away.
Mason walked around the room in a haze for a few couple of minutes, seemingly carrying around some heavy objects, but the recording was too dark to recognize what exactly it was. Then, after a while, he sat down on the ground and something around his wrist reflected the dim light barely illuminating the scene. Something that looked like a metal wristband.
"Did he just chain himself up?" Jeremy asked unbelievingly. "This is sick!"
A cough overmodulated the audio recording, then suddenly Mason fell to the ground, breathing heavily. He groaned, suddenly squirming with pain, twitching unnaturally, until he started screaming and yelling in pain. Something changed with his body, but it was too dark to see.
Jeremy shook his head, speechless. "This is nothing like your transformation! I mean, I didn't actually watch, because I was – well – dead. But still…"
"It's horrible," Tyler hissed, suddenly closing the notebook. "You know, before she left, Jules told me that it would be like this… Painful, unbearable. But this – this is a thousand times worse than I'd feared." The look in Tyler's eyes had gone blank. "What have we done?" he whispered.
"But you didn't have any pain the last time! It doesn't make any sense! Maybe for some werewolves it's painful, for others it isn't?" Jeremy looked at him. He was desperately trying to find an explanation.
"I don't think so, Jeremy," Tyler said with a sigh. "I think it's more likely it didn't hurt the first time, because the transformation started so close to sunrise. It's the slow, lengthy process that makes it an ordeal. Last time it happened so fast. I didn't get the chance to feel anything. But this time, the transformation will begin after sunset, so plenty of time to make me suffer."
Jeremy hung his head. "I'm so sorry. If I had known about this, I would have never talked you into this whole werewolf thing."
"I could have said no, but I didn't," Tyler replied, "so it's not your fault. It can't be helped now. I'll have to get through this, there is no other way. I just wished that video would have shown something else. Something a little more relieving."
Jeremy put his hand on Tyler's arm. "I know I can't do much, but I promise you I'll think of something. I'll do anything I can to help you get through this night."
Tyler looked up at Jeremy, a faint, tormented smile on his lips. "Thanks." Then he stood up, turned around and walked out of the room.
Jeremy looked after him, sadness and remorse weighing heavy on him. He didn't want to hurt Tyler, to make him suffer, but without knowing it, he already had. For a while he stared back at the flash drive still plugged into the notebook, then out of the window. The moon broke through the clouds.
The next few days, Jeremy skipped school. For hours and hours he was sitting in his room, in front of his computer, searching the internet for any clues he could get. But most of the information he found was based on fiction and stories, only very little seemed to be related to the actual werewolf curse that ran through the Lockwood bloodline.
A few times his cellphone started ringing, Tyler's number appearing on the display, but Jeremy didn't have the guts to answer. The next time he talked to Tyler, he wanted to be able to present him a solution, a great and simple way of suppressing the transformation or changing it into a painless process. From the bottom of his heart – he felt that he owed it to Tyler.
On Friday afternoon he went to the local library, searching for a more reliable source on the Lockwood family curse. A book, maybe, an ancient family chronicle. Most of the books, however, kept silent about the dark secret Jeremy was looking for, instead stressing the noble legacy of the Lockwoods as one of Mystic Fall's founding families, whose history ran back to the Vikings and several other Scandinavian tribes. Maybe some interesting facts for a genealogist, but of no use for Jeremy. Disappointed and tired, Jeremy was about to go home again, when this new insight gave him an idea. One last try, he promised himself, and instead of searching for werewolf or curse associated with the Lockwood family, he tried searching for ancient curses of the Viking mythology. And indeed, there was a book on that.
Jeremy couldn't believe his success for a few moments. If there was anything on werewolf curses at all, it had to be covered by this one book. He took it from the shelf, flipping through the pages quickly, until he went back to the counter in order to borrow it for four weeks.
At home, he lay down on his bed, hesitatingly opening the book. If it didn't contain the answers he was looking for, all his hopes would be destroyed in a just a few minutes. So he swallowed, prepared to take that chance, and started reading.
The pages were old, worn, telling various tales about gods, spirits and ghosts. Mythical stories, just as Jeremy had expected. He quickly read over them, learning that the moon actually played an important role in many of the myths. About halfway through the book, he found a chapter that told the story of an unknown evil that befell sinners walking through the night when the moonlight was bright enough to expose the real nature of their souls.
Jeremy held his breath. He had found it! The text was talking about the werewolf curse! So it did exist back then, he had been right about it. With rising anxiety he read over the words, line by line, page by page. It said, that 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. The punishment for this terrible sin was to endure the unbearable pain of becoming what they really were in their deepest soul, when exposed to the moon's revealing light.
That pain, the story stated, was the very purpose of that curse. Nothing could be done to ease it, let alone prevent it.
Jeremy stared on the words that shattered his hopes so explicitly.
The full moon would come and Tyler would suffer.
September, 20th, was the night of the full moon. It was a warm and sunny day, the weather not matching the way Tyler felt at all.
In fact, he was miserable from the moment he woke up in the morning. Tonight would be the night, he thought like an animal led to the slaughter. During class, he sat there apathetically, waiting for each single minute to finally go by.
Jeremy came by his place after school, trying to cheer him up a little bit, even though he looked stressed and uneasy himself. He really wanted to make Tyler feel better somehow, but he had no idea what to say to make it easier.
At half past six they took the car to drive to the ruins in the woods. Tyler didn't say a word as they went down to the room with the chains and the cage. Slowly he started to tie himself up, just like Mason had done, too, in order to make sure he wouldn't be able to hurt anyone during that night. Anyone except himself.
When Jeremy looked down at him sitting on the cold ground, with his hands and legs tied to the chains – with his head lowered and his expression so miserable – he couldn't help feeling sad and guilty about putting Tyler in such a horrible position. It was his fault and he regretted it so much.
"Here," Jeremy said, sitting down next to his friend, "take these."
"What are these?" Tyler wanted to know. "Drugs?"
"Hell, no!" Jeremy replied. "They're just ordinary painkillers. You gotta give me more credit."
"I do," Tyler snorted. "I once swore to myself: never take any pills from Jeremy Gilbert! What better time to break that vow than now?" A bitter grin crossed his face as he swallowed the pill, Jeremy returning that same sad smile for a moment. "You know, I think you should leave now. The sun's about to set."
Jeremy, however, shook his head. "I'm staying with you. I brought you into this position in the first place. I'm not leaving now. I'm staying with you."
"Don't be stupid," Tyler replied. "This is no game. You could get killed."
A smug smile appeared on Jeremy's face, as he lifted his left hand. "No, actually I couldn't."
The ring! Tyler had forgotten about it, but there it was! He couldn't say why, but the sight of the ring made him feel relieved somehow, or maybe it was the prospect of Jeremy staying?
"Alright," Tyler whispered, "but in that case..." He grabbed the role of tape from behind, taking Jeremy's left hand with his right one. Then he fixed the tape to the ring, wrapping it around Jeremy's ring finger multiple times. It looked weird, almost like a tiny cast, but it would be safe.
"Wow, romantic," Jeremy commented. "Yes, I do."
"Shut up! It's so that you don't accidentally lose it. Because..." he looked at Jeremy, stroking his head, "I couldn't bear to be without you."
Jeremy looked back at him, but instead of replying, he simply leaned forward, catching Tyler's lips in a gentle, heartfelt kiss. They hugged tightly, holding each other as the last sunbeams disappeared behind the horizon.
The room became visibly darker than before and Jeremy noticed that Tyler had stopped breathing. Scared, he looked at his friend, patting his cheek, calling his name.
Then everything happened faster than Jeremy could react. A hand grabbed his shoulder, stronger, bigger than Tyler's hand had been before, pushing him away with inhuman force.
At the same moment Tyler fell to his knees, screaming, suffering. Like a wounded animal, he curled and squirmed on the ground. His body started transforming, gradually losing any trace of human appearance, turning into something bigger, something wilder, something more dangerous.
Jeremy stumbled back on his feet, watching the awful sight from afar.
"Leave!" It was merely a roar that reached Jeremy's ears.
What? What had he done? He had created a monster, a beast, that was hurting someone he cared about, and now trying to break free, to cut off the chains, to escape – all in order to satisfy its thirst for blood.
A dangerously loud bang resounded throughout the room, Jeremy running for the grille. He needed to get out of here, fast, the creature already snatching at him with its deadly claws. Then he could hear the chains break, the raging beast rushing across the room.
Panic made Jeremy run faster, along the corridors, slamming doors and stumbling across debris, the roaring creatures merely inches away from him. He felt his heart beating so hard that it resounded inside his ears, his breath so fast and cold that it hurt his lungs.
Then there they were, the stairs, the path that lead him out of this dungeon, out of this grave. He took the first steps at once, suddenly falling down, a claw rasping his leg. He had to go on, crawling up the stairs almost as if he was a wolf himself, then he felt the bright moonlight against his skin. He fell down into the soft, moist grass, as the beast leaped over him, growling.
He didn't see it, but he heard it. A gunshot, coming from somewhere nearby. He lifted his head, as he saw the wolf falling injured to the ground, next to him. He stared into the animal's eyes, unfamiliar and alien, but he recognized the color. The color of Tyler's eyes.
"That's it," Damon said, putting the gun away. "That threat is eliminated."
The first beams of sunlight softly fell through the basement window of the Salvatore mansion. A quiet, beautiful morning.
Elena silently wrapped the bandage around Jeremy's bleeding leg. "There you go," she said, after a while. "That should do it, until we got you to a doctor."
The door to the small room was opened and Stefan and Damon entered.
Immediately, Jeremy was back on his feet. "Are you crazy?" he yelled at the brothers, pointing at Tyler, who was – back in his human form – lying unconscious on a plank in the cell of the Salvatores' cellar. Chains were linking his arms and legs to the wall. "You can't do this to him! You shot him!"
"It was just a tranquilizer shot. He would have killed innocent people if we hadn't caught him, Jeremy," Stefan explained. "He's a dangerous threat to all of Mystic Falls."
"And the fact that he ignored our agreement just makes it worse," Damon added, strict. "You should thank us for suspecting something like that. I wonder what you would have done if we hadn't been around, waiting for something like that to happen."
"What agreement?" Jeremy hissed back. "To send a boy away from his home, his family, on his own? Is that what you want?"
"Jeremy", Elena tried to calm him down, but Jeremy started at her, angry.
"How can you do this to another person? Just look at him! You've chained him up as if he was some kind of wild animal."
"Actually, he is," Stefan reminded him.
Damon rolled his eyes. "Alright, I think we should stop questioning your sanity and start questioning your loyalty."
"Just let him go!" Jeremy demanded. "The full moon is over!"
"There'll be another," Damon said as the three of them left the cellar and went up the stairs back into the living room.
"Wait!" Jeremy ran after them. "You're not saying you're gonna keep him locked up like this forever?"
"We'll decide what to do with him later," Stefan replied.
Even Elena seemed to agree. She looked back at her younger brother. "It's for the best, Jeremy, believe me."
"Yeah, right," Jeremy hissed back. "And where are you going, anyway?"
"We'll be out on a dog hunt," Damon replied quickly. "Catching that female of his."
"Jules?" Jeremy stopped. "She's not around anymore!"
"Oh yeah, she is around," Damon turned to him. "She said so herself: A werewolf can never be on his own." Then he looked back at Elena and Stefan. "We'll get her, before she runs."
"Just stay here, Jeremy," Elena ordered. "We'll talk about this later."
"Let's go," Stefan said and left for the door, Elena and Damon following.
The door closed behind them and Jeremy was on his own, dumped like a little kid. It made him even angrier, but the thing that bothered him the most was the way these guys acted – so aloof, like they were the only ones who had the brains to decide what was right or wrong. They were planning on hurting Tyler, even more than Jeremy had hurt him already. "Shit!" he hissed, angry at himself, angry at the world, frustrated. He kicked a chair with his injured leg.
Minutes later, he went back down to the cellar with a gloomy look on his face. The door to the cell had been left unlocked, because the chains tied to Tyler's arms and legs were strong enough to keep him right where they wanted him to stay.
When Jeremy looked down at him – his eyes closed peacefully as if he was asleep – he realized what he had done to him. He had been reckless enough to think it would be fun to create a werewolf, selfish enough to ignore all the pain and suffering it would cause to someone else. Someone he liked.
Crestfallen, he sat down on the plank where Tyler lay, taking his head on his lap, staring into the darkness of the cell. Casually, his fingers started tracing through Tyler's damp, black hair, twirling random strands between his fingers. Slow, monotone movements, as the cell got darker and darker. Like this, he sat there for what seemed like forever.
Outside, Elena turned her head away from the door crack, staring at the stone floor of the cellar for a moment. Little by little, she came to realize. Without making a noise, she went up the stairs, hurrying after Stefan and Damon.
Half an hour later, Jeremy had come to a decision. Hesitatingly he took out his cellphone and dialed a number he had kept in his pocket for days with trembling fingers. "Hello?" he said with a sore voice, "this is Jeremy Gilbert."
To be continued…