Us, Servants to the Moon – Chapter 10

Author's Note: So this is the final chapter of the Servants to the Moon story! Thanks so much for reading and I hope you will enjoy the ending :)

Thunder resounded throughout the halls of the ruins when Jeremy barred the entrance. Under no circumstances should the wolf be able to leave its prison. Not this time.

He had stuck the gun into his waistband, but took it out again as soon as he had made sure the door would withstand any force from the inside.

The gun's metal started shimmering in the moonlight as Jeremy hurried through the woods. Even though he was not a werewolf yet, he could feel the Lockwood blood in his veins pulsating.

Tonight, everything would change.

The place where he had to go was entirely clear to him. He had hurried along that very path a thousand times inside his mind. Now it was different, though. Now his hands were trembling, his legs faltering from time to time. Now, the night was cold around him, the moonlight chasing him with icy beams, while on the inside he was burning – boiling blood pumped through his body by a wavering heart. He was breathing fire.

The gun was burning, too, getting heavier and heavier with every step he took. It felt unfamiliar, even wrong in his hands. But he knew it was the same gun that Tyler had clutched when they had started something new, and now, he would do the same using it – he would set something right.

Someone grabbed his shoulder and he spun round, brandishing the gun. The assault had happened so fast. Now thinking time was over. His fingers twitched around the trigger.

"Jeremy!"

The scare's haziness was gone and he could see clearly again. His sister Elena was staring at him, horror in her eyes. He could hear his own blood pounding in his ears.

"Elena!" he hissed, quickly maneuvering the barrel away from her. He bit his tongue at the thought he could have shot her if she had been just one single step closer. He could have killed the person he did and always would love most in this world – his own sister. That thought paralyzed him for a moment.

"Jeremy!" Elena was staring at him with wild eyes. "What are you doing?!" Her voice broke, her face red and damp, as if she had been outside in the rain. "What?!"

"What are you doing here?" He was so angry at her, he wanted to grab her arm and shake her. "Do you know what night it is? And do you remember what happened on that very night last month? The month before that? People were attacked and one of them was even killed. Are you mad being out here?!"

"Are you mad being out here?" Elena was the one who did grab his arm. "I died of worry when I realized you weren't in your room." It was so much more than an accusation. It was the simple fact that she had checked on him against her usual behavior that frightened Jeremy.

"I don't remember promising anyone that I would be in my room." He felt so angry at her. She was ruining everything! This night was his only chance, but now he would have to give up on it to get her to safety. The pain it would cause Tyler killed him. But he prayed that he would understand. He just couldn't help it. "I'll take you home," he said and his voice was heavy with regret.

"I'll take you home, Jeremy," Elena swallowed, her voice just as low as his. "Because whatever this is about, whatever you're planning with that gun… it's over."

Jeremy looked back at her, but for a moment he said nothing. "I'll take you home," he repeated.

Elena broke away and turned around to face him. "Is it because of Tyler?" The rising wind played with her long brown hair.

"Tyler?!" Jeremy made a sound as if it was an absurd idea. "What makes you think of Tyler?"

"Because I know about it, Jer," Elena replied, serious. Her face seemed petrified. "I know about you."

"About what?" The grin on Jeremy's face started to freeze. A shiver crawled up his spine and he felt himself blush, even though he fought so hard against it. "You're crazy. We have to get out of here."

"No, I've seen you. A month ago. Stefan, Damon and I, we caught Tyler in his werewolf form and locked him up in the cellar. You were there with him."

Jeremy felt the heat in his cheeks. He knew what she was talking about. He had been shattered that night, and when he'd assumed that Elena and the vampire brothers had left, he had taken Tyler's head on his lap and stroked the unconscious boy's hair. It had been a gesture of affection, of guilt and regret and so many other things, and now it was becoming his doom. He would be okay with anyone on this planet knowing – anyone! But not Elena. Of all people, not her. He felt so embarrassed.

"It's okay," Elena said, touching her brother's arms. "Calm down." She could see how shaken he was about learning she knew.

He looked up at her. "And what do you think of me now?" he asked, scared of what she might reply. He realized that he even wished for her to despise him. Then, at least, he wouldn't have to face the fact that she might accept it and go on living with him as if nothing had changed, even though he would always keep suspecting something had. In every little thing she'd do, every little thing she'd say, he would see or hear something disparaging.

"Stop it," Elena said with an honest face. "All I want is for you to be safe, so let's go home. It's suicide to be out here. Let's go to the car."

"Can't…" Jeremy whispered, suddenly surprised to feel that her knowing didn't break his determination. No, it was the other way around. Her knowing relit his determination.

"What?" Elena stared at him. "Please, Jeremy… People died around here. We have to go…" She grabbed his arm and tried to drag him with her, but he didn't move.

"I'm sorry, I can't," he insisted. "You have to go without me."

"Why not?" Elena begged him. "Is it because of Tyler?"

Jeremy closed his eyes and hissed the word through his teeth. "Yes."

"Oh, Jeremy…" she shook her head and came towards him as if to put her arms around him when suddenly the full moon took its toll.

Elena screamed when she stumbled past him. At first, Jeremy couldn't understand what had happened, then he saw the shadow at her back, the giant black creature whose fur shimmered in the moonlight. He could see the sharp teeth glistening and Elena's blood mixing with the tearing sound of her scream.

He wasn't thinking anymore when he grabbed the creature with bare hands, pushing it away as far as he could.

The creature spun round, the eerie moonlight illuminating its face. It was a werewolf. It was Jules. He stopped breathing. It was the most disturbing sight he had ever seen as it looked back at him with glistening eyes. Jules was in transition. Already far from being human, but not yet a beast.

He was so distraught at that sight that he dropped the gun to the ground. He was paralyzed.

The creature came running towards him, jaws – no, mouth – opened wide, fangs still dripping with his sister's blood. It tore him to ground and he grabbed its head to keep the raging monster away from him. It was strong, he struggled with his arms trembling.

Elena stumbled on her feet, her hand pressed on her bleeding shoulder. Jeremy, was all she could think about. She spun round, her eyes wide open in panic. There had to be something, anything she could use as a weapon… Jeremy…

Jeremy's arms gave in. The monster growled, fangs snapping for his neck. He rolled away.

At that moment, a mighty tree branch hit the creature against its side, tossing it away from him. He looked up and for one second he met Elena's eyes, full of terror, as she held onto the branch.

Then the creature whirled back at her, just one blow against her head and she fell to the ground.

Jeremy grabbed the gun and got back on his feet. He was panting heavily. "I was looking for you," he said. "And there you are."

"You don't seem too happy about it." To his horror, the creature was still able to speak as if it was human. The voice, a mixture of Jules' soft tone and the growl of a beast, sent shivers down his spine. He trembled, but his grip around the gun was firm.

"You're so eager for blood, you can't even wait until the transformation is complete… You don't even feel pain anymore…" He held his breath when he realized the meaning of this. "Oh, God, now I get it! How could I be so blind? The pain isn't the curse's punishment… It's the reminder of your human soul. Geez, I was such an idiot. The pain is necessary. Not feeling any pain is the deviancy."

"Doesn't matter anymore. Even Tyler can't escape this fate," the creature was grinning, the mixture of human and beast making this a creepy gesture. "One day he'll lose the pain and people will start to die again. One victim each month."

"So it was you, after all!" Jeremy hissed, his eyes forcefully narrowed. "How could you? She was just an innocent girl, like the one you killed before her and God knows how many more!"

"It's the way of the werewolves, Jeremy," Jules replied. She seemed so calm, almost content with herself. There was pity in her voice, pity for a stupid boy who couldn't understand. "That's just the way we are. Controlled by moon, drawn to it. We serve the moon. It's our nature."

Jeremy felt his hands tense. He hated himself for bringing that woman back, he hated himself for causing Zelda's misery. And now she would take Tyler away from him, too, just as he himself had begged her to. She would take him and turn him into a mirror image of herself… a monster. "No," Jeremy said, "I was wrong. Tyler isn't like you and he'll never be. He'll be with me and that makes you nothing but a threat."

Jules snorted, the disdain in her eyes becoming even more blatant than before. "Silly boy, you still haven't got it? You can never be there for Tyler the way I can. A werewolf – as you should know by now – needs another werewolf." He noticed her transformation continuing. Now, she had almost entirely become a wolf.

He could see the uncertainty in her eyes, just a second, as his lips twitched with a smile of superiority. But as soon as she realized, it was already too late. "That's exactly my point."

It was for Zelda, for all the other victims. It was for his own conscience. And moreover – it was for Tyler.

The forest became quiet again, after the shot had faded away.

Jeremy fell to the ground, right next to the beast's bleeding body – the light of the moon shining down on him.

He looked at it and all he could see was an animal.

Then he could feel it. A prickle that grew into a burning heat. He wanted to get away from the moonlight and started to crawl towards the trees, towards the leaves that could cover him, when a massive force took control over his soul. There was something there, awakening, inside him, making his blood glow and boil with fire. He screamed, but his voice didn't seem to obey his will anymore. He struggled on the ground, his moan a demonic growl resounding throughout the woods. He realized he was crying, as his bones were crushed by the merciless force of the curse.

Then he lay still all of a sudden, the soft soil cool underneath his body. The moonlight didn't hurt him anymore.

Blood dripped to the ground as the wolf threw his weight against the bars once again. The metal creaked and clattered, the noise mixing with the wolf's growls and barks into an eerie sound that could be heard throughout the nightly woods. The wolf kept attacking the door, claws and fangs snapping at the bars again and again, thick red blood running down the metal and to the ground.

Something had made him furious, more than there already was in a werewolf's nature, something that had carried over from his human form to his wolfish conscience. He couldn't remember what exactly it had been, but the feeling of rage and fury made him go wild.

Suddenly, the metal cracked and the door swung open. The wolf was free – once again – and no chains could hold him back. He jumped up the stairs and bright moonlight fell on his brown fur. The fury drove him further, but there was also something else, like an invisibly glowing path right before his eyes, a path that drew him farther into the woods, straight towards a destination he couldn't remember, but he knew that being there meant the world.

All of a sudden, however, a feeling made him freeze. His ears twitched as he listened into the cool night air. He eyed his surroundings with wary alertness, then he picked up a scent that he didn't know. He had smelled something like it once before, but never again since that moment. It smelled almost like himself. It was the scent of another wolf.

He felt the soil vibrating underneath his paws and he looked up.

And there he was – a wolf, just like him, with gray fur reflecting the moonlight, looking back at him.

The brown wolf's breathing calmed. As soon as he saw his own kind, the rage that had dominated him died away. It almost seemed as if an occurrence like this was all he had been waiting for.

He stood there and waited as the gray wolf came closer. His eyes, however, stayed wary and didn't leave the other beast for a second. He was ready to run, ready to attack should anything happen. But the other wolf didn't seem hostile. There was more about him – something like a feeling of familiarity, as if they were members of the same pack. The gray wolf stopped in safe distance and smelled him. He did the same, taking up the other's scent with small, even breaths. Then, after a while, he decided that his smell was okay. He didn't seem to pose a threat. More than that, he almost seemed like a friend.

Apparently, the other wolf came to similar conclusion, because he suddenly started playfully jumping around, as if he was actually happy to see another wolf that felt so much like him.

The brown wolf joined in on what seemed like a happy dance, as they began running around each other, whimpering friendly.

The gray wolf then headed deeper into the woods, the brown one following him as if they were merrily playing tag. They were two souls that had found each other.

For the first time his mind wasn't clouded by this oppressing feeling of rage and hatred, and he was able to experience his surroundings in a way he'd never done before. He ran as if he was a part of the wind itself, his paws merely touching the ground, a lightness he'd never known before. His surroundings seemed alien and unnatural, still it was nature he had returned to. His vision was as sharp as his mind. The speed made trees, rocks, bushes look like bizarre threats; animals, hidden somewhere in the undergrowth, crunching, sniffling, rustling – all those little noises suddenly seemed so close, so loud, so attractive. He was part of something bigger, something alive – a wolf having returned to the place he truly belonged.

The chase led them over underbrush and under brambles – no matter where they were, each other's presence always seemed like a beacon light in the blackness of the forest. Their way led them up to a sharp rock, and then there they were, above the treetops, all bathed in the full moon's salvific, shimmering light.

They both stopped and stood there for a while, until the howling of wolves could be heard resounding from the woods.

The sunbeams started to light the world, a different world than before.

Jeremy and Tyler were lying somewhere on a meadow, dew droplets on the grass blades waving in the breeze around them. The sky was painted in pastel shades.

Jeremy reached for Tyler's hand and held it firmly. Then he turned his head to the side, gazing into the other's eyes. His amazing, deep, human eyes.

"Jeremy," Tyler whispered after a while.

"What is it?" Jeremy whispered back. "Didn't you like it?"

Tyler sighed helplessly. "How could I not like it?" There was a bittersweet smile on his face. "It was the most amazing thing I've ever experienced. And it was because of you. It was because I wasn't on my own."

Jeremy blinked and smiled.

Tyler, however, looked sad, his face suddenly so worried, it made Jeremy's heart hurt. "I might just not like what you had to do for it. What you chose to sacrifice for this. What you had to become for this."

"I've done nothing that I regret," Jeremy assured him. "What I killed to invoke the curse – it hadn't even been human anymore."

"Jules?" Tyler looked into his eyes. He could see that he was right. "She was the one who could have taught us how to stay human."

"There was nothing she could have taught us, Tyler," Jeremy touched his cheek. "Throughout all those years she had lost her humanity and she had become a monster herself. She would have turned us into her kind. But," he sat up to look down at him, "now it's up to us. It's you and me now. We're with each other and we can stay human together. We don't have to be servants to the moon. We can overcome it, we can conquer it. We can become strong together, so that you can protect your mother and I can protect my sister. We can protect each other and stay human at our hearts."

Tyler touched Jeremy's cheek with his fingers. He wanted to believe. And he knew that somehow, at this moment, at this sunrise – but also way back on a cold night that seemed like a lifetime ago –, he had become enchanted by this person.

Five months have passed since that day, Jeremy keeps telling himself, even though, right now, it already seems like forever. He looks up at bright light of the moon, so large and perfect and almost full – a deep orange tonight, like a glowing golden coin up in the sky –, and thinks back to that night, and he realizes that he likes the kind of person he's become on that very moment. He likes every part of himself, the part that has fallen in love with a boy as well as the part that's objectively not human anymore. In fact, those two are some of the best things in his life. He smiles at the moon and concludes he is at peace.

He hears Tyler climbing up the stairs, but doesn't turn around. He just waits, until Tyler sits down on the window ledge next to him, letting his legs dangle down.

"You're already home," Tyler says, not without surprise.

"I've been waiting for you," Jeremy replies with fondness in his smile.

An abandoned hunters' hut has become their home for the past months, small, but offering everything they need. A small room downstairs with a table and a few chairs and an oven that keeps them warm. A creaky ladder that leads up to a second room, with a bed right under a large window. They've promised to stay here until they can control it. Until they're strong enough to turn the curse into a blessing that would protect the ones they love and also each other. And Jeremy knows this time is not far away anymore. Soon he will be able to reply to Elena's texts with a Yes, I'll see you soon.

Tyler just knows what Jeremy is thinking about and agrees with a smile. "I can't wait to see them all again. Maybe in a few weeks… we'll be ready to return home." He then nods at Jeremy's arm. "How's the injury?"

"Fine," Jeremy replies and puts a hand over the bandage wrapped around his left wrist. "It's healed up pretty well. And at least, I've learned my lesson. I'm gonna keep away from everything that looks like a trap." On the last full moon, Jeremy has accidentally got stuck in a hunter's trap that had been put down on the ground. Fortunately, the mechanism had been broken, so his injury isn't grave.

It's not the only injury they've received during the past full moon nights, not the only pain they've had to suffer through. But all of this has helped them to learn, to grow. Now, they're almost fully able to stay conscious during the transformation, to keep their human memories and their human identities. The pain, however, will never go away. They know that and they accept it. That's why they're not trying to suppress it. They're trying to embrace it. And as they say, a sorrow shared is a sorrow halved.

Tyler sighs quietly as he looks up to the moon.

"It's so beautiful, don't you think?" Jeremy says after a few minutes. "So bright... So intoxicating... All those years I've never looked at it like that before. But it's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. So perfect. I know I could spend my entire life just gazing at it and I would not be missing a thing."

Tyler grins as he puts his arm around Jeremy's shoulder. "I never thought that anyone would ever understand the way I feel." He keeps his eyes on the moon. "I know it's a wrong thing to say, because of everything we lost and the stupid mistakes we made – but I'm glad that all of it led us here, to this place and this moment – together."

Jeremy lays his head against Tyler's. "You know," he says after a while with a smile on his face, while stretching his arms. "The only thing I miss around here sometimes is that fireplace at your house. I really liked that." He winks.

Tyler grins at that. "Oh yeah, I remember you did. But honestly," he smirks and puts his fingers on Jeremy's chin, "we don't need no fireplace no more, do we?" He kisses him and they fall back from the ledge to the bed standing underneath it.

Far up in the starlit sky a radiant moon sends its light down to Earth. It's not our master anymore – it is our friend.

THE END