Calm

(A/N: Additional chapters are on patreon.com/TheGreatestHunter. Also, leave that review! *Thumbsup*)

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The ride was short. Evident by his original intention to walk in the first place, which would not have been short, nor long.

And though it was short, it was still long enough for Vicki to give him a look time and again out of the corner of her eye. Him not needing to guess nor speculate what the girl was thinking.

By now, he knew he looked older.

And handsome.

And knew so many ways to make a woman interested that he hardly needed to try.

So, he wasn't exactly surprised to catch the looks of interest that she threw at him...not that it did anything for him, mentally.

The bitch had to pay. No matter how hypocritical it was, seeing as how if he woke up to find a dead dude laid out in the woods, he would 100% erase all traces of himself, set a forest fire, and body flicker out of there before the first spark even lit and never mention it again.

But, despite that, he accepted the hypocrite in himself and gave Vicki a small smile that conveyed the depths of his kindness, as his tongue ran along his canine behind his closed lips, imagining what he would do to her if he were a vamp. The first of which would no doubt be a compulsion to overdose on drugs and not to move as she felt herself dying before he fed her his blood and healed her up, only to do it over and over again...but he wasn't a vamp, so his options would be limited...kinda.

He had a different direction he could take and a wholly more satisfying way to express his hypocriticalness to the fullest.

But for now, he had another focus, as he directed Vicki to pull up across the road to his target, as they sat there for a minute in a silence that was quickly broken by the impatient girl.

(MC P.O.V)

"What are we doing here?" She asked.

I ignored. Keeping my brown eyes on the beautiful architecture that was the Salvatore house. Scanning every inch to see if there were any signs of any kind that would indicate that there was more than just Zach in the house.

I could spot none.

No open windows in multiple locations. No additional cars in the driveway. Closed blinds in every window in view, which could mean multiple things.

It didn't take long for me to realized just how little prep work I did before coming here, and had to acknowledge of how sloppy I was being. Realizing that, despite my ability to think concisely, my mind was still not functioning in the way that it was previously programmed in my past life.

Wait. Program.

'Of course,' I thought with a sudden realization. My mind was no longer programmed. No longer operating by habit nor procedure, but in a way that left openings in my actions. Ways that left blind spots. Ways that made me operate like and reason like an imprecise civilian, instead of like the individual who automatically thought at least five steps ahead before I even walked out the door to go to the car in my driveway.

I couldn't help but smile to myself and once again chalk it up to something that could only be solved with time.

Time that would form habit.

Habit that would save my life and the lives of those I valued.

But, until then, I would have to do something I could not remember ever having to do. Something that originally came natural to me.

Which was to force my mind to think critically.

Luckily, I could feel that my mind was faster than ever. More powerful than ever. And able to retain information like never before, which was probably why it was taking me time to make it align with my will. To bend it to my will. Whatever changed after I merged with this body, made my mind strong. Strong, fast, and untrained.

Inefficient.

"I was going to ask Zach to borrow something I heard he had. But, on second thought, knowing how much of a dick he is, he'll probably say no. So, let's go." I decided. Deciding that I would come back later, alone, and with a bit of chloroform, a gun loaded with wooden bullets, and a way to erase my scent. I never saw the vamps use their noses to track others, but it would only make sense for them to do so...right.

I watched as Vicki's hand reached for the gear shift, only to quickly place my hand on top of hers, stopping her from switching gears, because at that moment, the front door to the Salvatore house opened, and Zach walked out, and I remembered an important detail of the first episode.

The detail that, it wasn't until Stefan showed up saying that Damon was in town that Zach knew his ancestor's had returned, which means, if my current world followed plot, they should be keeping their distance at the moment, if they're in town.

Which also meant...

I watched Zach getting into his car. My mind running through ways to track where he was going, only coming up empty with the tools I had on hand, and then deciding that I was no where near prepared enough, nor funded enough to acquire the tools I needed to establish a flawless operation with no loose ends.

Therefore, I said fuck it and grabbed Vicki's head and turned her face towards mine as I brought our heads within inches of one another. My eyes locked on her widening ones, as I heard the car that was being blocked by her head pull off and go down the road. Knowing that my face was not seen by the nephew of the vamps that really should have done more to prepare himself for his annoying relatives.

Remembering how afraid of them the man seemed, only to do nothing about it.

Definitely not a potential ally. Also, way too old, meaning he likely wouldn't follow my lead. And also and most importantly, way too stupid based on what he's shown, so far.

I broke eye contact with Vicki and scanned my surroundings. Taking in all the details I could see and noting no cars approaching or leather jacket wearing infidels zooming into the house now that Zach was gone.

'It's go time.'

I looked back at Vicki who was still held firmly by my hand that was gripping her hair by the back. Her breaths just north of elevated and quick.

I gave her a small smirk that promised danger.

"Want to have some fun," I asked, as I swiveled my eyes to the Salvatore house. Her eyes following and widening slightly when she realized what I meant.

"What do you want to do?" The hot mess asked me. Her ability to make self-harming decisions in full effect, to my benefit.

"There's something in there that I want. I'm going to go get it. The problem is," I loosened my grip on her hair as I fluffed it out and began to fix the strands that ran down the side of her face, casually touching her like it was something ordinary. "Zach could come back at any moment. I need to know when. Can you help me with this, Vicki?" I asked, my eyes holding her own, as I asked her. My voice firm. Serious. And low.

With slightly flushed cheeks, and a rapidly beating heart that I could feel from where my thumb was brushing against her neck, she answered, "sure, yeah, I can do that." She stated, her tongue slipping out of her mouth and wetting her lips. Her eyes dancing with mischievousness.

"Good. I'm going to talk to you the entire time I'm in there. All you have to do is tell me stories of your life, while I do a little pilfering. If at any point you get nervous or anxious, just remember, I'm very good at this."

"You are?" She asked, the interest in her eyes growing by the second as the bad girl learned more about the boy she once thought to be very cute, but innocent. "Since when? I didn't know Jeremy Gilbert broke the law. We had to practically peer pressure you into taking your first drag the other night." She said, the light dancing in her eyes, without knowing that she just reminded me of something that I was definitely going to punish her for later.

"We'll do me later. For now, we focus on you." I said, pulling the phone out of my pocket as I pressed a button and we heard hers ring. "Pick it up. I've always wanted to know you, Vicki. I think now is a great time." He gave her a patented Gilbert smile showing his shiny teeth, shiny teeth.

Which, she returned with a very pretty smile of her own. Only lacking in what it could be due to the bags under her eyes and just how pallid she looked. I knew if I wanted to keep her full attention on the matter at hand, I would need to keep her talking, active, attentive, which is what I would do. That is, if I wanted an effective look out.

She raised her phone to her ear as she pressed the talk button that existed on the early 2009 models, and said, "hello."

(Line Break)

Getting in was easy.

The lack of a good earpiece, blue tooth headphone, or any other way to talk handsfree was an inconvenience, no matter how necessary the conversation was.

And the pretty girl who was talking into the phone that was held to my ear as I made my way into the back door was, welcome. She had one of those voices that would fit any professional phone sex operator and I enjoyed it, a lot. (A/N: Just picture her actress, since she was sexy as fuck and with a voice to match. The kind of dirty sexy that just made you want to bite her lip until she looked at you with those bedroom eyes.....look at me being all romantic).

"How about we start from the beginning," I spoke as I took in every detail beyond the door, constantly noting the lack of security around the house and mentally shaking my head at Zach's stupidity. I could excuse Elena, Caroline, Bonnie, because they were young, inexperienced, and mostly ignorant to the dangers of the world in the beginning. Zach was not. He had ample opportunity, time, and resources to prepare himself for his relatives. But he simply got his neck snapped and that's it. No. Not a good ally.

The layout of the house was easily discernable. Only requiring me a few minutes to note the entire layout of the ground floor and find the door that led to the stairs that led to the cellar. Another thirty seconds to pick the large lock, with a shaved down bump key. And another two minutes to carefully check for traps, make my way in, pack a rather large amount into the pack I prepared before hand. Only taking as long as I did due to my need to be careful with the roots.

And then, I was out.

Scuffling the dirt to make it look like I didn't pick the plants out of irregular spots, roots and all, and checking where I stepped to see if there were any discernable signs of dust or dirt tracked or misplaced.

After that, the door was closed, locking automatically due to the bump key never actually unlocking it, only dislodging it while it was inserted, and I was back on the main floor, walking through the house, seeing if there was anything else of interest or use to me. Never even considering stepping upstairs, since not only would it take some energy to come down fast enough to be out by the time Zach made it from the driveway to the inside of the house. But, I truthfully just didn't want to work my body out more than I needed to at the moment.

So, I stuck to the ground floor. Not finding anything of note, but greatly enjoying the one-sided conversation I was having with my druggie soon-to-be friend...as soon as I helped her get rid of her guilt over my "death"...and exact my muted hypocritical revenge.

"So, she just left. Just like that, no word nor phone call to say bye or I'll be back one day?" I asked the girl through the phone as she rattled on and on. Taking note that she clearly had not been able to vent to anyone if evident by the way she was pouring literally everything out to me in a way that screamed it was long overdue.

"Yeah, Matt does seem like the suffer in silence type, but that doesn't mean he's the only one suffering, you know. You're hurting just as much. Only, you found a way to numb your pain. But it hasn't gone away." I told her, devoting about half of my attention to the conversation, becoming more and more certain that I would definitely be making her one of my people, eventually. The girl clearly needed someone to lean on. And unlike Elena, she didn't run towards her pain and then run away, relying on others. No, she just ran away. Straight into the arms of drugs. Now, I just needed to replace drugs with something healthier. Better. And more fulfilling.

Like me.

It wasn't until around ten minutes later, and Vicki was telling me about the first time she smoked weed that I heard a car pulling up in the driveway, and decided that it was definitely time to go.

Besides, I acquired far more than I originally planned, I thought, as I closed the safe behind the cliché painting on the wall in the office-like room off to the side of the living room, that was frequently shown in the show, and quickly made my way out of the room as I took note of every single spot that I stepped, touched, and passed, and noting nothing that pointed to anyone trespassing in the house, just as Vicki spoke over the phone, stopping monologue mid-sentence.

"But it wasn't like I didn't try to figure it ou..Oh, shit, there's a car in the driveway, you've got to get out of there!" She practically yelled, and I could hear the way she was frantically moving, just from the bumps that were sounding through the phone as she flopped in her seat.

"Calm down, Vicki," I told her firmly. "Panicking does nothing. Now, breathe." I said, my voice as calm and reassuring as I could make it, while still conveying a command, which she accepted, as she shut her mouth and stopped talking, but also not really taking my advice fully, since I could still hear her bouncing in the seat. "Vicki." I said harshly. "You need to stop moving. Zach may be a bit of dick around town, but he's not stupid. You were parked there when he left, and even if you're not directly in front of the house, he can still see you if he looks. And if you're bouncing around, looking in his direction, he's going to know something's up. So. Calm. Down." I practically growled at her. Letting the dominance, that I only used in the past with my very special partners, leak into my voice

And based on the way I could hear her calming down and finally breathing steadily, as I closed the back door, just as I heard the front door unlocking, I knew that I still had it and also was glad to see that Zach didn't make his way to her car, which likely means he didn't notice her freaking her ass out a little down the road from his house. I've seen the way Zach looks at Vicki in passing, like she's a low-class druggie, and knows that he wouldn't hesitate to approach and question her if he did catch sight of her.

So, that meant that I likely didn't need to make a move on Zach, which, as I made my way back to Vicki's car, taking a very long way around, through the woods in the backyard, just in case Zach decided to look out any window and see me leaving from the back, I was beginning to think that I wanted to.

Wanted to make a move on Zach,, that is. And somewhere inside of me, deep down inside, wanted to be caught, just so I would either have a reason...or maybe..just to say a screw you to the man, as he learned I stole something from him.

I quickly scanned my memories, wondering where that intent came from, and found a few instances of Zach and I crossing paths that seemed to be influencing my actions in a way so subtle that it had to be called subconscious. Lingering middle-fingers sent to a guy who looked down on the original Jeremy, as he tried to prove some kind of point to the older man who looked down on him. His eyes saying you're a loser who can't live up to expectations.

As my thoughts went in that direction, I decided to say a quick fuck no, and noted it, and moved past it. Already tired of finding new ways that my body and remnant personality and mind were influencing me in small ways. Sticking to my decision to just give it time...not that I had another choice.

Maybe meditation? Doubtful.

This clearly wasn't natural. And the more I thought about it, the more certain I became that something wasn't right with myself. Something was out of sync and making it so that my body, mind, and soul, were not flawlessly becoming one...and now that I was thinking along those lines, I began to wonder if it was also effecting me in more overt ways...like making my body feel like it was falling a part, perhaps.

'This might take a little bit more than a few drops of vampire blood to reconcile.' I thought, and quickly accepted the notion. "I'll focus on it when I have more information," I said out loud, as I got in the car and gently placed the bag on the floor between my feet, only to turn to an overly excited Vicki that was practically blinding me with her big ass grin.

'If I didn't know any better, I would think that she got off on danger.' I thought, a smile of my own beginning to form on my face that definitely should be patented.