notes: hopefully new year equals more consistent updates for me lol or maybe I shouldn't jinx it. Just something about this story keeps me coming back, as I writer I'm really drawn to it. anyway I won't give away too much, hope you enjoy this chapter!

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the sinking man

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seven: wake me up inside

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The girl in the mirror has yellow eyes and fangs for teeth. Her claws are sharper, her hair wilder, and that strange anxiety…that fear…of not being able to control the wolf in her, is suddenly gone. She'd felt it all her life, like a dark, ominous, shadow looming over her, like a ghost. But, ever since she became a hybrid, she feels so much lighter.

Like, for once in her life, she's in control.

Pretty girl, she hears as a body sneaks up behind her.

After the ritual, she needs to feed…on him. And, knowing Klaus, he'd made the entire thing an overdramatic ordeal. There were candles, and roses, and all sorts of toys on the bed. She saw him pick up the crop, and noticed how sweetly he smiled when he softly began to tease her with it.

You can be kind, when you want to be, she says, feeling the light leather flicks against her ass. He grabs her, working the hem of her skirt and quickly bushing up the fabric. He's going to make her regret those words, he swears it. He is anything but kind.

They're the same now though. Monsters made flesh and carved to look like something beautiful. Or maybe, that's who she was from the beginning. Perhaps, being a hybrid, only increased that.

"Hand me the ropes," he orders, his voice is cold and husky in her ear. Making her knees shake.

She nods, bending over to reach for them, which was her first mistake. Because, by then, he had completely pushed her skirt up and pushed her wet panties to the side. She releases a soft moan, feeling the tease of his fingers, wide smooth pads rubbing against her sensitive little nub.

"Klaus," she bites, looking over her shoulder to meet his gaze. "Here," she says, shakily, throwing him the ropes.

He catches them with his free hand, the other still playing with her clit, her folds, then slowly slipping two digits inside her soaking wet pussy. All the while, she's panting like a wild dog in heat, waiting, anticipating. It kills her, makes her even wetter than she thought possible.

Then, just as he's getting a rhythm going, he pulls his fingers out, using both hands to grab her wrists. He looks her in the eye and she nods in consent. He takes her hands, tying them up behind her back and pushing her into the bed.

Her face goes straight for the pillow, teeth biting down on it as he spanks her, hard.

She thinks she's enjoying this far too much.

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Sex as a hybrid is different, she finds.

At every level, whether it's just kissing, or full on fucking…it's all so intense. She's had sex with vampires before, but nothing compares to this. She can't even find the words to describe it all. Just the way he even looks at her feels different now, as if she is both the hunter and the hunted.

Love – he calls her. And it feels like sin.

(Afterwards, she's in his arms, lying on his chest with his heartbeat ringing in her ears.

She swears that this is the closest she's ever felt to someone).

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The next morning, Klaus is gone.

Hayley wakes up to a pair of eyes staring at her and the body of a familiar, yet unfamiliar man looming over her.

She gathers the sheets around her nude frame, doesn't even have the time to process her thoughts. Klaus is free to come and go as he pleases, really. He has no allegiance to her, or to anyone for that matter. And that thought alone should scare her. Except, it doesn't. Because she's been alone her entire life. So Klaus' absence wasn't surprising at all.

(She's used to being abandoned).

"Tyler?" Hayley finally registers, "What the hell are you doing here?" she asks, bunching the silky sheets closer to her chest.

Tyler quirks his head to one side, ears tweaking in realization. He hadn't seen her, in what felt like, years. And yet, it had only been a few months and already, Hayley had grown so different, so much…darker.

"I guess Klaus never told you about the deal we made," he shrugs, hands in his pockets, motioning towards the side of the bed where her clothes were neatly folded in to a small pile.

Hayley looks at it and wonders who came by in the morning to do the clean up. It could've been Klaus, he's quite clean about his own place. But, then again, she can't imagine the all powerful original hybrid ever picking up after her. So, that only leaves one other possible option, he had a minion.

And possibly, that minion was Tyler.

"You're lying, Klaus would never make a deal with someone like you," she accuses instead, with a million things racing through her head.

"Someone…like me?" he repeats, sounding confused.

It takes him a bit to put two and two together. Hayley never pegged him for the brightest person anyway. Still, she remembers the first time she met him. Back when she was captured and brought to the Lockwoods as cattle, as something that could be bought.

Tyler looks at her for a long time. "Look, I told you long ago that I wasn't the one who took you and forced you to work alright? My dad was insane, he only cared about money and power and…now that he's dead I – " he trails off, stopping himself before revealing too much.

He still has mixed feelings about the whole ordeal, whether he should be relieved or still be in mourning. It's all so fucked really.

"When did that happen?" Hayley questions, sounding concerned and yet curious.

His face shifts after that, he grows suspicious of her motives, wondering if, whether or not, he should tell her everything. After all, the she-wolf had always been a selfish little thing, filled with her own agenda for things, and he could never be to cautious around Klaus' woman.

"Soon after you left," Tyler reveals. "Casualty during the war and what not, so I took that as my chance to run," he mumbles quietly.

Something about this has Klaus' name written all over it. Hayley knows she hasn't been with him for long, but from what she can tell, he is extremely protective of those who are close to him. And somehow, someway, she had become his kin.

And he'd go to the ends of the Earth for the sake of family.

She breathes in deeply before speaking again. "I can't say I'm sad about his passing," she offers, motionlessly. "Still, you haven't answered my question," she goes on to say, redirecting the conversation. "What's your deal with Klaus?"

"He needed wolves, and we needed to be able to control our ability to shift," Tyler replies. "It was an easy move," he lets her know.

The answer is simple enough, she supposes.

"So then, your entire pack is here?" Hayley concludes.

"I wouldn't leave without them," Tyler so easily says, leaning back against the white wall. He looks confident, a lot more comfortable than all the times she'd seen him before today. And maybe it's because he no longer has his father's expectations breathing down his neck. Or maybe, being a hybrid just changes everyone. "They're the only family I've ever known," he whispers.

It makes her realize she doesn't know who to call family. There was Jackson and his pack, but she didn't know them well enough for that. And she's gotten more and more estranged from the idea of finding her birth parents. Klaus couldn't be it…she couldn't believe that he was the only one she could call her own.

It'd be quite the sad little story, a lonely lost girl and a tragic boy obsessed with power.

She doesn't think she likes the sound of that.

"I guess I should introduce you to everyone," Tyler breaks her train of thought.

And she's grateful he does because she was going down a dark dark path. "I suppose," Hayley sighs, "I hope you know though, this doesn't mean we're friends…or anything," she reintegrates, waving a finger at him.

"Of course not," he jerks, frowning. "Now come along," he orders and she rolls her eyes, motioning him out of the room because she wasn't dressed yet.

Tyler turns around, Klaus had told him that she was difficult so he definitely wasn't expecting any less.

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notes: so first off, just wanna get this out of the way lol Tyler isn't going to be a love interest for Hayley in this story. The importance of his character will be revealed later on, rest assured. And as for Klaus' disappearance, all will be revealed in the next chapter! So leave me a review and tell me what you think :)