Control

Do you still feel it?"

Caroline glanced up at the full moon before hunching down on the edge of the rooftop, swinging her legs over the side. It was becoming routine. Derek may have owned the entire building, but there were still a lot of them that came and went and lived in the loft and the other floors, not to mention that almost all of them had enhanced hearing. Jackson was angry and antsy and constantly arguing. Damon had even threatened to compel him to silence, among other things. Isaac was quiet, but the fear and tension vibrating off of him in waves was enough to soak their supernatural senses. Then there was that thick sort of - something - that always seeped into any room that Stefan and Damon shared. It could get to be a little much at times. Caroline had started staying with Lydia on and off to get away from it all. And because the group had agreed that it wasn't smart for any of them, especially the more breakable humans, to be alone. It helped that the girls got along, bonding over designer handbags and swapping supernatural, and boy, stories. Lydia had a lot less to share in the supernatural department, but she had been combing through the past year and picking apart different strange situations she had been involved in.

Still, Caroline couldn't hide away in Lydia's closet and hot tub forever, and made daily visits to Derek's. She usually found him on the roof by the time she arrived in the late morning, the Alpha seemingly already fed up and needing a break from the others. They never mentioned it, but it became habit, starting and ending her days there like that. It was dusk now and Lydia and Jackson were close to finishing their movie date downstairs, Lydia armed with a spray bottle of distilled wolfsbane and a whistle, just in case the romcom triggered the handcuffed and chained werewolf's tenuous control over his wolf. Scott and Isaac were on another floor, playing video games on an old television and Scott's PlayStation. Stefan had taken off just as the sun started to set to patrol the town, something Derek would usually have joined him for had he not had to watch over his pack tonight. And Damon, well, Damon was off being Damon, probably with Jeremy there to babysit.

Derek hummed at her question, glancing at the vampire and then back at the moon.

"Every time."

"And yet - no chains? No losing control? None of you?"

"I've had to work with every member of my pack to not lose themselves during the full moon, but it can still happen. Jackson's having the most trouble. That's why Lydia's here. Isaac gained control awhile ago, but he doesn't always keep it. And Scott's had more full moons than them. He'd stop Isaac if he had to."

"And Erica and Boyd?" Caroline whispered after a long moment.

"They - have control," Derek frowned.

"I don't understand," Erica curled her knees to her chest. "I've been counting the days as best I can. Tonight - or today - whenever - should be the full moon."

"And?"

"I don't feel anything."

The creases in Tyler's brow flattened.

"I assumed you'd just had learned to control it. But - I don't feel it either."

"And you didn't notice?"

"The full moon is like a dull ache for me, now. I guess I wasn't paying attention."

"Well, it's more than that for me. My last full moon - I almost killed Derek. What's your anchor?"

"Anchor?"

"You know? The thing or person you hold onto. What keeps you human. Isaac found one. Boyd started reciting his cadet creed. Scott's got Allison and Jackson's is Lydia. I have nothing. No one."

Tyler watched her for a long moment. Her words didn't invite pity or platitudes.

"I think we're different. At least, that's what I've heard. Our lines were both created by witches, like vampires, but by different witches. Different witches, so different curse. I've only met a couple werewolves like you before. When we - when I turned - I became a full wolf. It was hours of agony, my body and bones breaking, then I turned into this animal, with no control. I almost killed my friends."

Erica rubbed her arms and sighed.

"What changed?"

"Becoming a hybrid. I didn't have to change on a full moon anymore."

"I thought you said becoming a hybrid ruined your life. Sounds nice."

"It wasn't nice! I was sired to the monster that created me. Mind-controlled by a psychotic killer who was trying to murder the people I cared about."

Erica stiffened at the rage, and revelation.

"Are you still - you know - controlled by this psychotic killer?"

Tyler fell silent. The sire bond was broken but Klaus still was in control. Whether he was running for his life from the Original or chasing the monster that murdered his mother. Sure, he was helping packs now, but the thought, the bloodlust, was always there. Somewhere in his mind he had already started his plan of revenge once he had finished helping these packs.

"I was hoping for a pretty quick and solid 'no'," Erica narrowed her brow.

"No," Tyler shook his head. "He doesn't control me anymore."

If she heard the lie in his heartbeat, she didn't say anything.

"It doesn't matter," Erica ground her teeth. "Full moon or not, I can't take it in here anymore. Not knowing. Not having any control. Next time one of them opens that door, I'm killing whoever's there."

Tyler glanced around, as if their captors could hear her.

"Are you crazy? Do you want to get yourself killed?"

"I don't care anymore," Erica shook her head. "They're gonna kill us anyway probably. And maybe I am going crazy! I've been locked up with only you and these four same walls to look at! Going out fighting sounds a lot better than whatever they have planned. At least, this way, it's my choice. This way, I control what happens to me."

"There's another way. You can make a different choice."

"Oh yeah, and what's that?" Erica rolled her head back against the wall.

"To fight, but not that way. To live. To live long enough for our friends to find us. Then, we can fight. Without them, we're dead. But with them, we can get out of here."

"And when they don't find us?"

"They will," Tyler nodded. "They will."

Another week had passed and there were no further attacks, but there also weren't any leads. Scott and the vampires were free to come and go from the loft as they pleased, and they did so regularly, to pick up supplies, sweep the town, and Scott even started going to work again. He had been determined to get his bank account, and his grades, both up this summer. He wasn't exactly needed by the pack 24/7, especially with the lack of any sort of progress happening. Even Derek encouraged the kid to get out and live his life.

Stefan accompanied the werewolf to work now and then. The vampire liked the teenager, and it kept him away from both his brother and the constant bickering between Jackson and, well, everybody. He even tagged along to the kid's house a few times because what else was there to do and maybe Scott was growing on him and maybe he didn't want to lose another teenage werewolf and then later because he found Melissa to be an amazing woman who made amazing dinners - even if he didn't need to eat food.

And he was helping Scott with the whole higher grades resolution, too. Stefan had mentioned that Scott should go to Derek sometime for this kind of thing - he had noticed a few of the titles, in multiple languages, the Alpha had laying around his apartment - but dropped it after the second time Scott turned the idea down. There was some sort of tension between the beta and Alpha, and Stefan knew better than to try to pry or fix things. That was more Caroline's area and she was busy with phone calls to her mother, making Pinterest pages for her dorm room in the fall, shopping with Lydia, playing peacekeeper between Derek and his pack, and being on Damon-duty.

Keeping an Elena-less Damon from spiraling into his frustration and anger until he was ripping into the necks of Beacon Hills civilians, were Jeremy and Caroline's full-time jobs now. Caroline offered backup on the bad nights while sticking to the daytime shifts when Jeremy trained, but it was mostly Jeremy who held down a barstool next to the vampire every evening.

Including the night when a skinny, definitely underage kid slipped onto the seat on the other side of the vampire and ordered a whiskey - straight.

"You're kidding, right?" The bartender leaned with one elbow on the counter. "I don't serve to minors in here, and I definitely don't serve to minors who happen to be the sheriff's kid."

"What about minors who happen to be the sheriff's kid and therefore have a police scanner in their jeep and an app on their phone? I know for a fact that my dad is stuck at the station, neck deep in a pile of paperwork, otherwise I wouldn't have been let out of the house. And the deputy who patrols the street outside this fine establishment only swings by every hour, in between making sexy-time phone calls to his boyfriend."

"Hmm. Nope."

"What about minors who happen to be the sheriff's kid and therefore know that you got picked up two weeks ago on a DUI, ten minutes after your shift ended. Your boss know you're drinking on the job? Or, more accurately, drunk on the job?"

"You're bluffing." The bartender tossed his towel over his shoulder and turned to walk away. "Still ain't happening."

The dark haired man next to Stiles tugged on the bartender's arm just then, drawing his attention.

"Just give him the drink."

Without another remark, or even grunt, the bartender complied, sliding the filled glass under Stiles' nose.

"Uh, thanks?" Stiles tilted his head toward the man.

"Don't mention it," the stranger smiled. "I like your style. And your drink choice. Plus, I'm semi-interested in seeing if you can actually handle it."

Stiles cocked an eyebrow, staring down the man as he threw back the amber liquid, barely blinking.

"Impressive." His supplier turned to the bartender. "Another."

"Damon, we're not here to get the local high school kids drunk." A voice spoke up from the other side of the stranger.

"No, Jer'. We're here to save my girlfriend, and since I can't do that, and since I have you playing babysitter, I also can't do anything else that's actually fun to take my mind off my complete and absolute anger - and hunger - so this? This is all I can do."

"My life is so weird," Stiles shook his head. "A vampire just got me a drink."

"What did you just say?" Damon spun toward him faster than Stiles could swallow.

"You're Damon. Not exactly a common name. Plus, this is a small town and I am the sheriff's son, so I know everybody. Oh, and you just said you're here to save your girlfriend. Elena, right? That would make you, " Stiles stabbed a finger at him to punctuate his point, " Jeremy, her brother."

"Who the hell are you and how do you know all this?" Damon leaned in toward the kid.

"Whoa." Stiles leaned back and put his hands up. "Are you trying to mind-control me right now? That is so cool. Your eyes totally went all intense and I'm pretty sure your pupils dilated a little."

Damon squinted at the kid and then glanced down at the boy's arm, gripping his wrist, and the bracelet dangling on it.