(A/N): Welcome to one of my favorite chapters, with the (re)introduction of one of my favorite characters- Jerremyah. You will see why I enjoy him so much. Also, if you're noticing that there's three more chapter listed than when I uploaded the last chapter, but they aren't at the end of the story, it's because when going back through and editing the old chapters, I made some changes to chapters 191 (A Battle of Wills) and 193 (No Doubt It's Magic) which made me feel the need to write two entirely new chapters to fit in between chapter 195 (The Rules for a Pre-Bound Relationship) and what used to be chapter 200 (The Clock Struck Midnight).

So the new chapters are actually the chapters that are now called chapter 196 (The Light of Day), and chapter 200 (Make It Through The Night). You will need to reread 191 and 193 again in order to really understand. You could probably skip 192, but it is mentioned directly in 200 (Make It Through The Night). It's the aftermath of the full moon where Remus's wolf attacks Leo.

Leo

The speed with which Jerremyah had responded to Lisbet's letter both concerned me, and intrigued me. It concerned me, because the last time I had met Jerremyah, he hadn't exactly seemed very fond of me- or like a very nice person in general. On the other hand, it intrigued me, because I still wasn't sure whether Jerremyah was Lisbet's sire, or an ex romantic partner. Her confidence that he would hear us out, and leave without issue if he didn't want to join our clan made me think sire, but the fact she felt the need to repeatedly and emphatically insist throughout the letter that she wasn't propositioning him for sex, made me lean towards ex.

Of course, I was also starting to think that the answer of 'both' was not a rare one amongst vampires.

After helping Lisbet go through her entire wardrobe to find an outfit that was nice, but not too nice- Jo was much more help than I was- we settled into the front study off the entrance hall, to wait for Jerremyah to show up. Herc had agreed to play the part of backup/hired muscle/mediator, and we had even managed to persuade Shari to come out of her- my father's- room, and join us so we presented a united front. I tried to convince myself that it was because she was getting better, and not just that Herc had been one of the people to ask her. I still hadn't had the chance to speak to her about Herc's offer, but I wanted to do it in private- or, as private as I could get, living with a group of eternally nosy vampires- so it would have to wait until some other time.

As it was, Shari was the only person sitting, her legs drawn up under the rest of her body in one of the armchairs at the edge of the room, hunched over. Her gaze was vacant as she stared down into her lap, and I briefly worried about how she would handle this confrontation. There was inevitably going to be a lot of talk about my father, his death, and the future of the clan now that he was gone, and according to Jo, the few times they had tried to talk to Shari about my fathers untimely demise, she hadn't exactly taken it well. Then again, considering everything I'd done in the months since my father's passing, maybe it was a bit hypocritical of me to question Shari's coping methods, or lack thereof. At least she wasn't hurting herself.

Unless she was... No, there was no way the others, especially Lisbet, wouldn't have noticed the reek of blood on her, even if she had managed to hide the actual act from them, and she certainly wasn't feeding enough to heal herself, given how much weight she had clearly lost. I thought for a second about whether they would hide something like Shari hurting herself from me, to try to protect me from such a thing, but decided that, ultimately, Lisbet wouldn't have been able to keep something like that under wraps for very long. She had, of course, blabbed several of my- previously hard kept- secrets in the past, including telling Lily about my veela heritage. Then again, maybe she just enjoyed making my life harder.

With the charms we had given the Folley's to alert us to any trouble, we felt they were secure enough for us to all be here, but Danniel had volunteered to be the one 'on call' as it were, should something happen. I guess he was itching to do something about it should a threat arise, considering he had been forced to sit idly by when Elaine's father had showed up the last time. I knew it hadn't sat well with him, even if I had passed along Elaine's gratitude, and he had heard what I'd said about him- and Jo- to Ms Folley- Audrey.

He hadn't brought that up afterwards, which I was thankful for, but he almost seemed to be holding himself differently- like a weight had been removed. I wasn't exactly sure what had caused this change, but chalked it up to him having assumed I was mad at him for failing to keep Tarea away from the Folley's. I did snap at him when he had told us about it afterward, and sent Lisbet to replace him, but I hadn't actually been mad at him. In fact, I was mostly mad at myself, for not realising I needed a plan sooner, and subsequently leaving the Folley's in danger. If Elaine had been home, Tarea would have had the full-family meeting he had wanted, and though we didn't quite know what he was planning to 'talk' to them about- and I say 'talk', because Tarea Hugar didn't seem like the sort of person who ever just stopped at talking- we knew it couldn't possibly be good.

Racing footsteps brought us all to attention, and I reached over to squeeze Lisbet's hand.

"It'll be fine." She didn't look convinced, but I could tell she was nervous, not afraid, so I released her hand and stepped away. We already knew Jerremyah was only here because Lisbet asked him to be, and if we were going to ask him to join the same clan as a half-breed- I remembered him spitting on the floor of this very room as he called me just that- this was going to have to be all about Lisbet. Said woman wiped her sweaty hands on the front of her jeans as we heard the front door open, and when Jerremyah leaned against the door frame to the study, I thought maybe Lisbet hadn't insisted quite strongly enough that this wasn't, in fact, about sex.

Whereas Lisbet had, with our help- well, let's be honest, mostly Jo's- settled on a pair of flared jeans and a fitted but still modest black turtleneck, Jerremyah was clad in a pair of body hugging black leather trousers, and a grey muscle shirt that was not only form fitting, but showed off the tattoos on his arms. Huh. I hadn't known full vampires could get tattoos. Hercules had a few, I had caught glimpses of some of them numerous times over the past few days, but I had figured that, being only half-vampire, it was only possible because of his human side. Seeing as Jerremyah was running out of space to put his ink, I guess I was wrong. This was very different to the jeans and t-shirt I had seen him in the last time I had met him- but then again, this time he had known Lisbet was going to be here- and apparently he'd chosen an outfit that showcased his intentions just as much as she had.

"Lisbet." His tone was teasing, light even, but he hadn't taken his eyes off of her since she'd entered his eye line, and even I could feel the veritable electricity bouncing between them.

"Jerremyah." Uh oh. Her voice was hoarse like I had never heard it, and I saw Jo send her a look that was clearly something along the lines of 'keep it together, girl!' But Lisbet most certainly did not seem to be keeping it together.

"I thought you said you never wanted to speak to me again." Uh? It would've been nice for her to tell us that beforehand.

"And I meant it." She didn't look like she meant it now, and he didn't look the slightest bit put out by her saying it.

"And yet here we are," He said, practically purred even, smirking in a way I knew Lisbet would have a hard time ignoring. "Talking." He made it sound like they were doing something much, much more intimate than just talking.

"I've determined an arrangement that would be mutually beneficial for all of us." Jerremyah merely raised an eyebrow, but I doubt a gunshot could have affected Lisbet more.

"If I remember correctly, our arrangements have always been mutually beneficial." I didn't miss the innuendo, and clearly Lisbet didn't either, because she flushed a shade of pink I hadn't thought she was capable of, and swallowed thickly.

"Jerremyah, I trust you remember Leo from your last visit." Jerremyah finally looked slightly put out, and the second his eyes tore themselves away from Lisbet, his whole demeanor changed. His gaze landed on me, and while the tension didn't disappear from the room, it had definitely changed its tone.

"I remember Leonides, yes." He didn't seem pleased to see me, to say the least, but I couldn't tell if it was because of who I was, or if it was because the change of subject meant he could no longer stare Lisbet down with the intensity of a man dying of thirst, staring at the last glass of water in the desert.

"Leo." She corrected him, and while I appreciated the sentiment, I didn't think now was the time to try his patience. "I assume you've heard about what happened to Nicholai." Jerremyah shifted, and I wasn't sure if it was because of the subject change, or because of how she had corrected him.

"I heard bits and pieces." I could tell something was off about this statement. I don't know how I knew, or what it was, considering he didn't seem to be lying exactly, but something was off. I shot Lisbet a look, but I don't know if she even saw it, let alone understood it.

"Nicholai's brother, Jonothan, attacked with a group of five other vampires- while I was out hunting-" She had actually been guarding Elaine's house, but we weren't going to tell him that, just in case this didn't work out the way we hoped it would. "-and during the attack, Jonothan staked Nicholai." Shari flinched, and I saw Danniel lean closer to her chair, bumping his leg into her knee. "Jonothan had said he was there to kill Leo and Nicholai, and anyone who got in their way- but after he killed Nicholai, he fled." I hadn't thought about that part of the night before.

I had assumed that Jonothan had fled because he got what he wanted, but he had, indeed, labelled my death as being the reason he was there- why would he just leave after only having killed one of us? We were out numbered to begin with, not to mention that two of our members were the young and mostly un-battle-seasoned Twins, and we had just lost another member. If Jonothan had wanted to kill me, he certainly could've gotten past the already distracted Jo and Danniel, past the grief stricken Shari, and killed me while I was still in shock after watching my father die in front of me.

Instead, I hadn't even seen Jonothan after my father had fallen- and he hadn't returned since then to finish the job.

"My condolences." Jerremyah said to the room at large, but no one seemed particularly eager to accept said condolences from him, so he turned his attention to me. "I can't imagine how hard it must have been-" I cut him off, scowling.

"Don't try to play nice with me to impress your girlfriend." Calling her his girlfriend was fitting revenge for all the times she'd teased me about Elaine- or Brooke, for that matter. "I haven't forgotten you calling me a half breed the last time you were here, or spitting on the floor in disgust as you explained what I was to the Twins." Jerremyah didn't even have time to take a breath to defend himself before Lisbet's growl cut through the room. Surprised by her sudden change in attitude, I looked at her, afraid I was about to get scolded for being rude to our guest, before I realised she wasn't even looking at me.

"He- did- what?" Jerremyah didn't look scared per se, but he did look worried. Was that worried she'd attack him, or worried she'd never sleep with him again?

"I didn't know you were that close-" If anything, his attempt at an excuse only made Lisbet more furious.

"So if Leo and I weren't close, you'd still be treating him like shit?" Oof, maybe I shouldn't have brought it up. Then again, Jerremyah did deserve the chewing out he was getting, and at least if she was angry at him, Lisbet's mind wasn't clouded by her clear desire for him. "Tell me, Jerremyah, you were friendly with Jonothan, weren't you?" Excuse me, what?

"You know I'm friendly with his sire, not him- only met the bloke once or twice-" Jerremyah was trying to backpedal as fast as he could, but Lisbet was moving in the other direction too fast for him to truly gain any ground.

"You knew I lived here, you knew I was part of this clan, even if Nicholai didn't tell you outright, you came here, you would have smelt my scent here, stronger than if I had just passed through- you knew, at the very least, that Leo was my clan mate, and my housemate- and yet you still felt the need to insult him. Demean him. Spit on the goddamn floor at his feet-"

"It was from across the room-" Lisbet held up a hand to silence me, and I decided maybe it wasn't worth trying to get between her and Jerremyah at that moment.

"Thanks, kid." I couldn't tell if that was sarcastic or not, but coming from Jerremyah, I thought it probably was.

"Don't you talk to him! You don't deserve to even- why did I let them talk me into this? Fuck, I should've kept my promise to never talk to you again!" A split second of pain crossed Jerremyah's face before it disappeared, and I knew then that whatever uncaring act he was trying to pull was just that- an act.

"If that's what you want, then I'll do my best-" I cut him off.

"Shut up! Both of you, shut up for a second!" A flash of anger in Jerremyah's eyes, but Lisbet just looked confused. "Lisbet, you said you had an arrangement that was mutually beneficial to all parties. I know the benefit on our end is gaining a strong- and loyal-" I shot Jerremyah a pointed look. "Clan member to boost our members back up. What is the benefit for Jerremyah?" Lisbet looked outraged.

"If you think I'm going to even consider letting him join the clan after-" I cut her off again.

"That's not really up to you, is it?" Lisbet gawped at me for a second, shocked, before her jaw snapped shut so hard I was worried about her teeth breaking, and a muscle in her jaw twitched. "Answer me." She looked like she was going to have a conniption.

"If you think I'm going to say 'no sir' you've got another thing coming." My eyebrows furrowed as I tried to figure out what the hell she was talking about- and then I rolled my eyes, exasperated.

"I meant answer the question about what Jerremyah gets out of the deal, Lisbet. Christ..." She looked vaguely embarrassed, but at least now she looked relieved to be able to talk to Jerremyah instead of me.

"It's simple really. Jerremyah gets a teacher." I'm sure Jerremyah and I wore similar expressions of confusion.

"Excuse me?"

"He's supposed to teach me? He's a kid, what does he know?" Lisbet shot me a look, and smirked at Jerremyah.

"Leo's a master of self-control."

(A/N): Jerremyah: *breathes*

Lisbet: *is down bad*

Everyone else: 'Lisbet, please, control yourself.'

Edit 2/1/23: Also I meant to say when I first uploaded this chapter, I originally wanted to say that Lisbet made it very clear to Jerremyah in her letter that this wasn't a booty call, but I looked it up and the term 'booty call' wasn't invented until at least the 1980's, which is probably to be expected. So instead, I went with 'propositioning him for sex'.

This chapter has had minor edits made to it on 1/4/23 - Had to edit this, because I messed up and listed the two new chapters as 195 and 196, when they're actually 196 and 200. This is because I wrote the authors note for this chapter before I realised that there were references to chapter 197 in the second new chapter (Make It Through The Night), which meant it had to take place after that one, and subsequently the one after it. I also put it after the next chapter after that, which made it chapter 200, but honestly there's no reason for it has to be after that one, and in the original authors note of that chapter (which I am about to edit), I SAID that it was BEFORE it, which is really weird.

This chapter has had minor edits made to it on 14/5/23 - Just some formatting stuff, and adding that Lisbet knows that Jerremyah was friendly with Jonothan's sire, instead of him, because later chapters make it clear that she does know that, and I originally just said it like it was something she may not have been aware of, but she is.

30/12/24 - Oof, okay, rereading this (Jerremyah's first appearance) after later chapters is quite painful, since I (and subsequently you guys) understand his motivations in this moment a bit better now. Jerremyah showed up like this because he had no hope (Lisbet took that with her when she left, intentionally or otherwise), and this was his last ditch attempt to find out if she was still interested in him. He came dressed to entice her into sex because, as he mentions in 365, he wasn't sure at this point (where he sees her again for the first time in years) whether she's still interested in him, even just for sex. This was his Hail Mary of, 'well, if this doesn't work, nothing will... and I have nothing to live for without Lisbet/the possibility of Lisbet', which makes this... exceptionally sad, given how attached I (and hopefully you guys) have gotten to this particular character. He's being distant because the last time they saw each other he was obsessively overprotective and he was basically trying to swing in the complete other direction, and his original encounter with Leo (tainted by his poor relationship with Nicholai and his permanent bad mood from losing Lisbet) comes back to bite him in the worst way possible. Literally all he had to say to Leo was a genuine, 'I'm sorry, I was wrong', but he's not in the headspace for that right now, and Lisbet can't tolerate anything less. Of course, his perspective changes over the next few chapters, but this first chapter... ooh, boy. To make it clear, he probably did have a date with Mr Pointy on the books if this went poorly for him- at least in the back of his mind- so, yeah. Definitely glad things are working out for him.