"Tyler, breakfast is ready," his mother's voice called.
Tyler smiled, angled his mouth away from the pillow, and said, "I will come down in a minute."
He turned, looking at the ceiling, a slight smile playing on his face.
He was young, handsome, and powerful. A new day, a new Tyler.
Before coming home he had to clean up the remains. Thankfully, it was only blood, and the wolf had left nothing else of the victim so his mind was at ease.
He got up, put on a gray sleeveless shirt and shorts, put on his watch, and went downstairs.
Tyler had plans: have a hearty meal, start to test his new constitution, and make a plan to optimize himself as much as possible.
…
"Uh, uh, hu, hu, uh." His breathing pushed past his previous limits during ten minutes of sprinting.
While he ran on the sidewalk of the bridge, a car drew level with him, and a quick glance revealed it was a cop car. Focusing slightly, he saw a blonde he hadn't seen for the last few weeks.
"You are moving pretty fast. Are you on steroids or something?"
Caroline couldn't have made a better entry. "Thank you for the compliment."
He then focused on Liz Forbes in the driver's seat. "Hi, Sheriff."
"Hello, Tyler." Liz Forbes had a doubtful look on her face. She didn't think he was a vampire or something, right? He tried to remember if she knew about werewolves before the plot, but even if she did, it wouldn't matter. There was no way to figure him out unless she saw him on a full moon and was lucky enough to survive. They had no wolfsbane from what he remembered.
He looked at his watch and said, "I have more running to do. Caroline, why not meet around two?"
Her thin eyebrow rose. "You finally dumped the junkie, huh? Good for you, Tyler. As for a date, hard pass. I don't do rebounds."
He gave her a look. Her eyes were honest when she said that.
"Something tells me I will see you in Mystic Grill at 1:59 p.m., sitting at your favorite spot, with your gaze on the doors waiting for me."
She regarded him for a moment before saying, "We'll see."
She turned to her mom, who had a helpless look while staring at the road, and said, "Mom, go faster or you might find me jumping at him. I don't think you're ready to see your baby girl doing that."
After Liz said goodbye, he was eventually left behind.
He had a wide smile as he continued to run. That date? He got it.
After finishing up the run, he went home to take a bath. Afterward, he went out to his balcony, took his laptop, and started recording his data.
Sprint BPM: 90 bpm for the first 3 minutes; ~150+ after that.
That was better than his past life considering his speed and length of the track.
But it didn't give him much data other than that ~150 bpm isn't enough to draw extra power from his curse. He needed more, or a smarter way. He can't rely on running every time he needs power even if it worked.
That left him with weight lifting, breathing techniques, and using emotions to become stronger. Emotions were a guaranteed way to access the wolf's power on days without full moon, as it was noted in the lore. But he couldn't force feelings.
He really needed a witch. A strong and experienced one. He wasn't sure if Sheila had inherited any useful spells but he was sure she couldn't do much. He needed to use unconventional methods.
Rituals. She just needed to redirect a power source to allow him to get strength in the way he wanted. There were vampires that would work as the material. And Mystic Falls had a lot of them under the church.
At least that's what he would try asking Sheila. How much of it can be delivered depends on her. He didn't remember any particular enmity against werewolves from her, maybe because she didn't live much longer. His and Bonnie's relationship was also amicable.
Now, though, he should prepare for the date.
…
"Matt," Tyler caught him when he was throwing the trash outside the Mystic Grill.
Matt's upset face with those eyes of his definitely raised sympathy points, he had to give him that.
"And look who is here? Tyler Lockwood, the lady killer who goes after his best friend's sister. If that isn't enough, he doesn't even return their phone calls."
Tyler patted him on the shoulder. "Matt. I've been dealing with a few things. Let's forget about it for now. I have a date, but we can grab a drink after."
Matt shook his head. "Sure, man, whatever."
Tyler patted him again. It was rare to find friends for those like him who had constant anger issues. If it was anyone else, Tyler didn't know if he could put up with that himself.
He checked his black shirt's reflection in the glass before opening the doors of the bar.
She wasn't to the right as he looked. He knew that. He did it to relax himself. He wanted it to go well. He slowly searched the tables towards the left, expectations making his heart race.
When his gaze reached the tables they usually sat in, just like he described, she was sitting and looking directly towards the door where he was.
She flashed a smile. His gaze swept to the clock for a second and it was exactly 2pm.
He strode in and reached beside her.
She wore a sleeveless yellow dress whose tones highlighted her beautiful skin.
And those green eyes. He leaned in, gave her a kiss on the cheek, and walked back to sit opposite her.
"What was that for? Since when did Tyler become…" She failed to articulate words for him.
"More charming, handsome, or along those lines?"
"Yeah. I was wrong. You are still a j-"
"Okay, okay." He didn't want things to go that way. "I can't help but be at my best for a certain blonde."
"Is that so?" She took a sip of water without taking her eyes off him.
That was a good reaction. Things were going well.
He lifted his hand to signal a server, then asked, "A drink, or a meal?"
Caroline replied with a smile. "Let's have both."
…
Tyler gripped those thighs under the table. They were silky smooth with a good amount of flesh. His mind stilled for a moment, but he slapped down the rising thoughts of the wolf. It was for touch, not bite. At least not a predatory bite.
He had long moved to her side of the table. A little touch of hands and knees led to this. She didn't seem to mind, but he wasn't going to be bolder. Being bolder than this meant, 'I want to fuck you, and everything else I did was for that goal.' He was interested in her.
He knew Caroline. She would be fine with it. Probably. But after that? Can a woman who gave herself on the first date continue to see the same guy like nothing ever happened? Especially someone like Caroline. The moment he went ahead, she would start preparing for ending it after having enough fun, if not stopping everything altogether before anything could happen.
After Caroline slurped the last of her meal, she started asking questions, "So, what's your plans with your hands?"
"Have it stay that way as much as possible," he said, his fingers trying different patterns. He made sure to apply enough pressure so that it wasn't an itching caress.
"Come on, Tyler," Caroline said. "We have known each other for ages. Save those words to other girls. I am not like them."
"And what are you like?"
It was happening…
"Oh, I am all kinds of things. But wording them myself would just take away the fun."
Their eyes were locked in a dare. And the thing about the dare was that if it was for a kiss, he would gladly lose.
He angled his face a little and caught her lips. He just held it like that and waited. Not much. Just a few seconds. When her lips trembled for an upcoming move, he eased his hold just enough to let her wrap hers around his.
He got even more excited. So much so that the Wolf thumped against its cages to let it all out as they kissed.
He embraced her, creating as much skin-to-skin contact as possible. A quiver of his lips sent a ripple across hers, and when it reached its peak they both opened their mouths and sent tongues to meet each other, then slowly closing their mouths while pulling the clashing tongues away. Sometimes he would be the impatient one to send first, and sometimes her. It repeated more and more, each time their breath spilled out of each other. The moment her hand wrapped around his neck was the breaking point for him, forcing himself to slow down.
He pulled himself back, their eyes opening from their closed state. Their eyes were locked onto their lips, assessing whether to continue or do even more reckless stuff.
But… yeah, not a chance he was gonna give up more of this for a quick fuck. So he eased back to the seat, his back making full contact.
"So, how about we go for a walk tomorrow night. You know. Look at the stars in my balcony and all that?"
"Oh. A second date." She considered him for a moment. "I like the sound of that."
"And maybe," Tyler downed his drink, and said, "if you were to jump on me, your mother will be spared seeing the things we might do."
She just looked at him, not hinting at anything. "Maybe."
…
It was around 4pm when they separated. He looked for Matt to have a talk, but he was already gone.
Tyler took a deep breath. He was going to a gym. Now that he knew tapping into the curse would be harder, he decided to focus everything on maximizing his physical power. After all, the physical parts were easier to access than trying to figure out how a curse works.
He could lift more than many could. 500lbs was the last he tried in a compound excercise a few months ago. He felt he could do more, but he was a little scared back then. It wasn't normal. And sports didn't tolerate such an anomaly, so he paused it.
Not the current him, though, with the knowledge of him being a werewolf. In the last week he peaked around 800lbs. If he gave himself a few years of strict training, he would have definitely reached 1000lbs without even triggering the curse.
That was fucking a lot. But now he wanted to maximize the gains.
He didn't fear looking bulky because he was supernatural. If strength depended on muscle size, Klaus would be a walking tank. So he believed that magic logic would apply here and cap at certain size, preferably one that's not too much. He had gained a pound in mass in a week, but his strength gain was so much more than what a pound of muscle could provide.
…
After bench pressing 1200lbs, he couldn't believe it for a second and decided to focus on other body parts.
Now, he was doing squats, with the bar bending around his frame as he did the 20th rep and racked it.
1200lbs, all the bar could hold…
"LIGHTWEIGHT!"
He shook his head to get his mind off the power trip as he went to the changing room. After taking his stuff, he exited the underground gym and paid 100 dollars for just 1 hour of exclusivity in the gym.
He could see that his strength could reach so much more. His veins were pumped, feeling like they could transfer liters of more blood.
And it made him hungry again; he was craving meat. He also had to ask his mom to renovate the gym in the house for better and more diverse equipment with a high weight threshold.
Then there was the footage of his transformation. He was indecisive about how and when he should show it to her. She was always there even when he had a rough day, and also a smoothing factor regarding his relationship with his dad. A part of him wanted the same response from her as in the TV Series.
And the earlier it was, the better. He could handle his dad, but she was the one who could curb his aggression. No one had become close enough to have such an effect on him.
Tyler didn't know if he ever would have someone like that in his life… as he checked out a woman with light brown hair getting into a car.
She was the hot aunt of Elena.
She caught him staring, but neither of them spoke as they passed by, and then he made a call.
"Mom. Can we go to dinner tonight? Only the two of us. Yeah, everything is okay. Just wanted to talk about something. Don't worry. I will leave the reservation to you."
…
It was around 10pm when they were going back home.
"We should do it more. I wish your father was here too but he's busy with the council stuff. You said you were going to tell me something?"
"Yeah, more like show you. Can we move to a park or something?"
She drove for longer than he expected and pulled close to their home.
"Is he cheating on me?" She asked.
"What?" Seeing her dodgy gaze, he clarified instantly. "No, no, it's not related to dad." He didn't say not entirely, fearing she would misunderstand.
She touched her chest in relief and took a deep breath. "Then what is it?"
"It's better if I show you." Tyler opened the screen of the digital camera, pulled up last night's footage, and cued it to the moment he woke up in pain.
He angled so that she could see, and a look revealed her pupil shrank. "What's this?"
"Mom. It's better if you watch. And not stop until it's over."
He hit play and the scream of a teenage boy suffering inhuman pain resounded.
A tear slipped from his mother's eye.
He waited while his cheek twitched at how much he had screamed. It was definitely better than the TV show, but not to a point where it was mild.
When she saw the gobbling up of the corpse by the wolf, she closed the camera in a shaking mess.
Her face was messed up with mascara. Yeah, he couldn't imagine her feelings as a mother.
"What are you? A werewolf?"
"Not just me, mom. Dad too, just not activated on him. Our whole Lockwood family, actually. It just needs to be triggered." He didn't wait for her to ask. "With a kill."
She took a shaky breath. "No one can know about this, Tyler. No one. Otherwise, our whole family would get massacred. They wouldn't listen to reason. To them, it wouldn't matter if you're a vampire or something else."
"I am relieved. Here, take this." He gave her the camera. "You can do the honors. Something tells me I shouldn't see dad's reaction to this."
"Oh, Tyler. You are his child. Never doubt his love for you," Carol said, offering reassurance with a squeeze to his arm.
Mothers… They were a different breed entirely.
He smiled forcefully. "Also, Mom, you guys must not contact uncle Mason. Just promise me that."