Moonbound | Tyler Lockwood ¹

XV. Vampirism

2x12
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RAINA FELT A HAND CLOSE AROUND HER ARM WHEN SHE ENTERED THE GRILL. Instinctively she let out a hiss, twisting the other person's arm and slamming them into the wall. She paused for a moment when she saw who it was and released Estelle. "Sorry, reflex" she gave her a half smile. The huntress looked unconvinced of the excuse provided but didn't push it "It's fine. I just wanted to thank you" she said. Raina tilted her head "Thank me?" She echoed "For what? This is our first real conversation"

"I know, but I wanted to thank you for helping Tyler with his transition... By the time I found out he triggered his curse it was too late" Estelle said. Raina nodded, she was about to walk away when the huntress grabbed her arm again. "Whatever you do, keep him out of the supernatural drama. Please. He's still getting used to being a wolf and he doesn't doesn't need anything else on his plate" The original nodded again "I had no intention of letting him know about our original vampire situation" and she didn't, the more in the dark Tyler remained, the easier it would be for her.

Estelle offered her small smile though it was a little forced. "I'll see you around then" she said as she exited the Grill. Raina didn't bother to come up with a response, the huntress had already left. She took a seat on the chair opposite to Tyler, their table was near the end of Grill where they could potentially discuss the supernatural. "So, how are you doing?" She asked, skipping past the greetings. Tyler nodded  "I'm okay, still sore, every muscle aches"

"You'd think that by now that was to be expected. Being a werewolf is a curse for a reason. But if it helps, the curse gets easier to bear as time goes on" Raina said. "I want to know more about you vampires" Tyler said, catching the original off guard but she played it off with a nonchalant shrug and a smile. "What's there to tell? Immortality, drinking blood, sun bad, fire bad, vervain bad, wooden stakes bad, getting decapitated or having your heart ripped out bad"

She didn't mind listing out a vampire's weaknesses, if Tyler used the information it would hurt or kill the others but only mildly inconvenience her. "Oh and werewolf bites too" she added offhandedly. "Werewolf bites?" Tyler asked. "Yeah, a bite from a werewolf is toxic to a vampire. It would make us very sick, then we'd hallucinate and turn rabid and then we die a painful death" Raina summed up the time one of her siblings had gotten bit. They'd come back to life anyway so it didn't matter much. "Then why did you help me turn?" The werewolf asked.

Raina shrugged "It didn't matter, you were new and weakened by wolfsbane. I'm over nine hundred. I could take you if I wanted to" she said. "How do you become a vampire?" Tyler asked, catching her by surprise again. "Why? You want to become one?" Raina asked. She hadn't meant it but seeing the look on his face... "You do, don't you? You want to turn?" She realized. "What I want, is to not go through the transition every month" Tyler said. Raina leaned back in her chair "If that's what you want I can tell you now, you'll just be trading one curse for another"

"Is it worse than the transition?" Tyler asked. "In terms of physical pain? No, not really but vampirism hurts more in other ways" Raina said "Imagine dying and waking up again with the animalistic urge to feed and to kill. Imagine staying the same, never aging while the world around you changes. The people you care about eventually die, you can never stay in one place for more than a few years or face the consequence of discovery and in some cases, death"

Usually if somebody asked her to turn them Raina would and then leave them to deal with the consequences. But Tyler was the only werewolf, she needed to convince him to get the thought of vampirism out of his head. "But you manage it, I mean, you've been a vampire for over nine hundred years right? And not once did you have to turn" Tyler reasoned. "Yeah and it took me five hundred just to learn to stop ripping people limb from limb when I feed" Raina responded.

"You're a werewolf, you know what that means? It means that if you die with vampire blood in your system you'll have a high chance of never waking up again. Witches and humans it's guaranteed they'll turn but werewolves? The entire purpose of the creation of the vampire species was for humans to stand a chance against werewolves" Raina said. "Are you really willing to risk your life for a curse that will slowly become easier to bear over time? And if you live, do you really want to take a bet on which curse is worse?" She asked.

Tyler looked hesitant. Raina sighed "Okay how about I make you a deal? Vampirism can be plan B but you need to give me time" She had absolutely no intention of ever going through with plan B. "In that time you will forget about plan B while I search for other ways, better ways. That sound good to you?" She asked. "Deal" Tyler said. Raina smiled, taking his hand and squeezing it lightly "Good, just give me enough time and I promise you will have your freedom" Because you will be dead "And I always make good on my promises"

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[Edited?: Yes]

[Author's note: This chapter is late. Sorry]
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