『Chapter Forty-Five』
『original protection』

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   Bodie knew that there was a chance that he'd get a call from someone in hopes to be someone's protection, but the last thing that he expected was Carol calling him up and asking to be Tyler's protection. He knew that the only reason why Carol would've called him would be because he was the better option out of everyone, but even still, the last thing that he wanted to do was watching Tyler like he was grounded. The only reason as to why he even agreed to do such a thing was simply because both Henry and Leo basically begged him to do such a thing.

   Of course, this was how Bodie ended up sitting within the Lockwood mansion, though, it'd taken both Leo and Henry a while to fully convince him before Henry had to go to school. And of course, after Henry left, Leo continued to annoy the fuck out of Bodie until he agreed to go. Which of course, led to Bodie laying across the table. The table of which was the first thing that one would see as soon as they entered the home.

   The one thing that he hadn't expected to see is the fact that there were other hybrids that were here, which made Bodie more aware over the fact that someone contacted Klaus in order to help with the entire protection as well. Though it made Bodie wonder whether or not this was before or after they contacted Bodie. He wondered whether or not Klaus would step in as well, which made Bodie aware that all of this was going to get a lot more awkward than anything else.

   Which didn't help given the fact that Bodie brought Leo with him, knowing that it would be useful to have another hybrid by his side. He knew that he could've just used Tyler but given that he knew that no one would be happy if Bodie relied on Tyler to help him just in case. Bodie wondered whether or not what he was doing was something useful, whoever this hunter was clearly was someone that was strong, but at the same time, Bodie wondered whether or not finding this hunter and killing them would be good.

   The last thing that he wanted was another hunter running around. Alaric managed to just disappear, and that was something that Bodie loved more than anything. And then this new hunter just appears and Bodie hated it more than anything. He didn't want to live in a little state of worry on whether or not a hunter might try and kill him, granted he knew that he'd be hard to kill, but even still. It doesn't help that the Mikaelson's would want him dead as well, so knowing that there were multiple people that would want to kill him wasn't comforting.

   Bodie wasn't sure how long he was laying on that table for, but eventually, both Carol and Tyler came back home. He only had the decency to lean up on one arm and look at them with his hand holding his head. He waved at the pair of them as they entered, though Tyler's attention went to the hybrids that were behind him.

   "Who the hell are you two?" Tyler asked as soon as he entered.

   "They're not mine." Bodie muttered. He knew that Tyler heard him given the small look.

   Carol shifted as she looked towards her son. "Tyler, it's okay. They're here for your protection."

   "So am I." Bodie told with a smile.

   Tyler looked back towards the other two hybrids. "More deputies?"

   It was then that a voice spoke and Bodie wanted to choke on a concoction of both vervain and wolfsbane. "Not exactly." Klaus said as he walked out of the room he was hiding in.

   Tyler didn't look pleased at all. He took in a deep breath then. "They're hybrids."

   "I was about to leave town when I heard you were attacked." Klaus told as he came closer to where Bodie was laying. Bodie found himself moving, knowing that the last thing that he wanted was to be anywhere near Klaus at the moment. "I had hoped to leave Mystic Falls for good, but duty calls."

   "It's nice to know you still care." Tyler stated, if not a little sarcastic. Bodie found himself laughing slightly at that. Not because it was funny but because he felt as if Tyler was somewhat mocking him.

   "I don't." Klaus told. He shifted then, moving slightly towards Tyler then. "I should've killed you for the little stunt you and your friends pulled." Klaus was at the table that Bodie was previously laying on. "Stopping my heart, leaving me in a coffin to rot."

   "Wish they left you there a little longer." Bodie muttered to Leo who grinned then.

   Klaus gave Bodie a look and for a moment, Bodie wondered whether or not he was going to enjoy this. He knew that there was a chance that Klaus wouldn't do anything while they were here, knowing that they had a focus to protect Tyler. However, he knew that the pair of them could piss each other off as much as possible to the point where they wanted to attack one another.

   "Yeah, well, you used my body as an escape hatch, then you kissed my girlfriend. Maybe we're even." Tyler stated. Bodie found himself sharing a surprised look with Leo as if this were the best thing that they could ever experience.

   "Not even close." Klaus stated. "But you hybrids are a dying breed. I can't make more of you, and I won't have anyone taking liberties with the ones I have left." Klaus took a few steps back and pointed towards the hybrids that were behind him. "Consider them your new bodyguards."

   Klaus then walked away, the same way that he came out of. Bodie found himself slinging his arm around Tyler, as if they were friends. Of course, that simple action made Tyler glare at him as if he were the worst person to ever exist, but at least Bodie hadn't really done anything to fully target Tyler—at least he hoped not.

   "Look, Tyler." Boide began. "I know that I'm the one that you probably don't want around here, but, you're stuck with me. Meaning, I have little to nothing to do with myself while in town. And, I suppose, you could say that I've brought you a friend." Bodie looked over to Leo. "And yes, he's a hybrid now."

   That seemed to catch Tyler's attention more than what Bodie intended it to. "Leo's a hybrid?"

   Bodie looked surprised by Tyler's reaction, though he supposed that given everything that's going on, Tyler might not have been able to catch up on anything that was going on as a whole. "Well, yeah."

   For a moment, Bodie wondered whether or not Tyler was going to have some form of negative reaction towards the news but when Tyler didn't, there was a small part of him that was glad. At least he didn't have to worry about anything of the sort. "I guess you intend to stay here to protect me?"

   Bodie tilted his head slightly. "Well, yeah. It's either stay here and protect you, or mope around my own home not knowing what to do with myself."

   Leo then came over towards both Tyler and Bodie with some form of smile. "Plus, this gives me the chance to annoy you the same way that I used to annoy you when we were younger."

   Tyler widened his eyes at that. Any hatred that he once had when talking to Klaus seemed to go then. "Oh please, no. You and Elliot always managed to piss me off as if it were the only thing that mattered."

   Leo grinned then. For a moment, Bodie had forgotten the fact that Leo was once close with the friend group. Though, now that he leaned back and watch, there was a small part of Bodie that felt as if he was watching how the Mikaelson's used to act around one another. Which, of course, made Bodie smile in some way, and then he realised that he'd never see them like that again, which somewhat hurt his heart.

   Bodie shook his head slightly, knowing that the last thing that he wanted was to overthink and get into a mood, knowing that it wouldn't help anyone. It took Bodie a moment to realise that both Tyler and Leo had disappeared though, he heard them upstairs talking and laughing as if two old friends were finally reunited. There was a small part of Bodie that felt oddly warm as if the thought of Tyler and Leo being all friendly felt as if they weren't part of a supernatural world.

   Bodie noticed the way that Carol shifted beside him, as if there was something that she wanted to say or ask him. He waited a moment, wanting to see if there truly was something that she wanted to say. He'd watched as she gave him a look, opening her mouth before closing it once more. "From my understanding. . .Mr Erikson, you and Klaus have history? As well as his family?" She seemed as if she was struggling to get her words out. "It's come to my understanding that you are all on bad terms, I want to say that if anyone in this town gets hurt by this new feud, as Mayor, I advise that you all leave."

   Bodie sighed. "My apologise Mayor Lockwood, but I was born and raised in Mystic Falls before it because the town you know. As for the new feud between myself and the Mikaelson's, I don't intend to allow anyone to get hurt, but anyone who steps in either mine or the Mikaelson's way during any fight that we might have, they will die. And I don't want it to be Tyler or Leo or even Elliot to get hurt."

   Carol looked as if she wanted else to say something else, but she didn't. Bodie just smiled and moved into another room. He tried to listen out for wherever Klaus might be, knowing that the last thing that he wanted was to come face to face with Klaus once more. After their fight the other day, he was sure that Klaus hated him more than anything, more so with his threat towards Klaus. He knew that he at least wanted a few days where he didn't have to fight someone, all that he wanted at the moment, between all of this chaos was some form of peace.

   Bodie wandered around for a moment, being careful not to disturb Tyler and Leo—he was sure that he could hear a woman's voice talking to Tyler about breaking his sire bond—as well as not wanting to disturb Klaus and the other hybrids. He found a small quiet room that was enough for him to sit inside, dropping his bag onto the floor and getting a book out to read.

   The one thing that he'd realised over the past god knows how long, was the fact that he'd barely had time to read. If anything, reading was one of the few things that that showed him the joys of humanity, that even with all the disasters that happen across the planet, there are few that use art as a form of expression. He used to love watching as Klaus drew anything that came to mind, he used to love watching as Elijah played the piano, he even loved it when Will used to come to him to talk about a book that he was planning out. He loved the way that people used art and shared it, as if it were some form of look into their mind.

   Over the years, Bodie tried to learn to draw, though, no matter how much time and effort and even patience, it was something that he couldn't grasp. The only thing that he could fully grasp was being able to play the violin and it was one of the few things that he wished that he had time for, knowing that despite everything, it brought him a sense of calmness.

   Now that he thought about it, he wondered where he'd put the violin that he used to practice on. He was sure that he'd left New Orleans with it, but he then realised that the likelihood of him managing to grab anything after what Mikael did, was very unlikely. He pouted then, he'd either need to visit New Orleans to grab it or get another one. Though, the violin that he used to have was somewhat sentimental to him, knowing that it was a gift from Kol, who gave it to him as a peace offering after a small disagreement with each other.

   The pair had a small disagreement with one another over something that Bodie could no longer remember, but the one thing that he could remember was the fact that Kol just gave him the violin without saying anything. It was one of the few times that Bodie didn't care if he got an apology, knowing that the gift alone was something that meant a lot to him more than anything.

   He tried to shake the thought off the violin and Kol, knowing that the longer that he thought about such things, it would only hurt him more given the state of his relationship with the Mikaelson's as a whole. Out of all of the Mikaelson's the one that he was more worried about was Kol, knowing that the last thing that he wanted to deal with was the sneakiness of Kol. Kol was the one that—despite knowing him for basically all of his life—felt most unpredictable.

   Bodie sighed to himself, flicking through the pages of the book he was half-way through. He lacked the actual motivation to even continue with said book, knowing that there were other things for him to focus on. He wondered whether or not Klaus planned to do anything while he was here, though now that he thought about Klaus, he wondered where Klaus was planning to run off to, a part of him wondered whether or not it was because of what Bodie did, but realistically, he knew that Klaus would rather kill him and then leave.

   He shook his head once more, knowing that the last thing that he wanted was to overthink everything that was going on. He needed to relax. He wanted to relax. He'd hoped that Leo felt somewhat normal given everything and there was a small part of Bodie that wanted to ask Tyler how he managed to break the sire bond, knowing that Leo didn't deserve being sired to him. As much as Bodie wanted loyalty to some degree, he knew that this wasn't the way, and if losing the sire line with Leo might give him that loyalty, then so be it.

   He leaned forward then, leaning his head against the table he sat at. As much as he knew that he came here in hopes that it would allow him to distract himself as much as possible, he realised that no matter where he was, he was always bound to overthink. The very small annoying part of his brain told him that he should find Klaus and piss him off more than anything, but he knew that for the sake of his own sanity—and the sake of everyone else—it would be best if he didn't do such a thing.

   He wondered whether or not he could annoy any of the hybrids, but he knew that it wouldn't bring him the same joy if it was someone that he knew well. He wondered whether or not he could annoy William, but he knew that Will didn't want to be disturbed, knowing that Will basically befriended Damon and was probably hanging out with him. Of course, Bodie had the idea of wanting to annoy Henry, knowing that it was getting close to the end of the school day, but he knew that it would be something that Henry wouldn't approve of.

   He thought about checking in on both Tyler and Leo, but he didn't want to be too much of a bother to either of them if they were having a good time with one another. It was as if he realised that he was rather lonely, knowing that the people that he actually hung around with had other priorities other than being his friend. Not saying that he expects them to just hang around him, but he realised that he needed more friends that he could annoy.

   After what felt like forever, Bodie found himself wandering around the Lockwood Mansion, he'd been inside a few times, but there was a small need to take in the details of the house as if it were all that mattered to him. As he walked throughout the house, he heard the voice of both Caroline and Tyler's, as well as that woman's voice he heard earlier with Tyler and Leo talking to Klaus.

   He found himself ignoring it, knowing that the last thing that he wanted to do was overhear any conversation that might be something he wouldn't want to overhear. He wondered whether or not there was even a chance that he could annoy someone here, more so when he heard the front door close. A small part of him wondered whether or not Caroline left, and another part wondered whether he could annoy Tyler enough to bait him into a fight.

   Of course, he knew that the last thing that he wanted was a fight but at the same time, he wanted that rush of fighting someone. He could always fight Klaus, but he knew that fighting Klaus would be the worst thing that he could do at all. Now, he wondered what it would be like to fight Tyler, but at the same time he didn't want to find out just how Tyler fights.

   He shook his head slightly, knowing that he shouldn't be thinking about fighting someone, but he was just so bored. He knew that he brought things that could entertain him, but he found that he lacked interest in anything that he did bring. He wondered what he could actually do with his time that would be good, though the more that he thought about it, the more that he wondered why he agreed to do any of this, knowing that he didn't care all that much though he'd agreed to do such a thing for Henry.

   Bodie found himself coming up on Leo who seemed to jump at the sound of Bodie coming up to him. For a moment, Bodie wondered what Leo could be hiding, though it wasn't until he noticed a brunette girl—or woman—walking away from the home that Bodie felt like he knew. He chose not to mention it, knowing that it wasn't his place to mention anything of the sort, however, Bodie found himself wrapping an arm over Leo's shoulders.

   "Hey, you." Bodie grinned.

   Leo looked at him with this expression that Bodie couldn't quite read. "Where have you been?"

   Bodie shrugged. "Being bored out of my mind, trying to find something to do."

   Leo somewhat grinned slightly. "You know, I'm grateful that you decided to protect Tyler."

   Bodie rose an eyebrow at that. "Well, given that both you and Henry wanted me to do such a thing, I thought, might as well."

   "I'm glad that you did." Leo stated. "Thank you."

   "It's okay." Bodie muttered. Bodie found himself smiling slightly, a part of him wanted to lean into Leo and kiss him, but he knew that the last thing that he wanted to do was to make Leo uncomfortable. "I suppose that the only good thing that I could do is help those that both you and Henry are friends with."

   "I suppose that not all Originals are as bad as everyone fears them to be." Leo said with a small smile.

   "Depends on who you ask." Bodie said with a shrug. He knew that if that was something that any of the Mikaelson's heard, they'd have a few strong words to argue against that. Though, Bodie found himself leaning his head against Leo's shoulder, he knew that there was a chance that Leo wouldn't like the action, but Bodie didn't care much.

   He felt the way that Leo seemed somewhat surprised by the action, but Bodie didn't mind as too much. Bodie felt the way that Leo wrapped an arm around him. A part of Bodie wanted to kiss him but the last thing that he wanted to do was take advantage of Leo in any way, he felt with the sire line between them, he wouldn't want to do anything that might take anything away from Leo.

   "Hey." Leo whispered. "Is everything okay? Is it about the fight between you, Rebekah, and Klaus?"

   Bodie shrugged. "I'm good, just in the need to hug someone."

   He wasn't lying, though he just wanted to be close to someone. Given that any time that he would normally feel like this, he'd seek out Klaus, but given everything going on, Bodie didn't fancy getting his ass handed to him once more. He wondered whether or not there was ever going to be a chance where the Mikaelson's would forgive him, but Bodie knew better, he knew that the likelihood that they'd forgive him or even trust him would be very unlikely.

   "Is that all that you need?" Leo asked.

   Bodie paused for a moment. "Yes. It is."

   Leo looked a little disappointed. "Oh."

   "Look, Leo," Bodie sighed. "Given that I could ask you to do literally anything, and you would do it, I don't want to take advantage of that mistakenly because of my interest in you. If whatever relationship that we had before this could continue, it can only happen after that sire bond is broken. I don't want to take advantage of either the sire bond or you."

   Leo nodded then. "No, I get it. It's just with everything heightened like ten times worse than what it previously was, it's really annoying me, and I feel as if I need some form of outlet for all of it."

   Bodie somewhat smiled then. "I understand that."

   "And," Leo continued, "there's this girl, Hayley, who helped Tyler break his sire bond to Klaus, so I was thinking that if I could do the same thing, then we wouldn't have to worry about the sire bond."

   Bodie looked at Leo with some form of surprise. So, that was the other voice that he heard. He found himself smiling, knowing on how willing Leo seemed to be breaking the sire bond between them. There was a small part of Bodie that wanted to command Leo to do anything that it took in order to break the bond between them, but he wanted it to be his choice once more.

   "And it'll work?" Bodie asked.

   Leo nodded. "It worked with Tyler. I'm sure that if I get Elliot or someone to help bind me to one location for the protection of everyone and I'll use the same tactic to break our sire bond. It doesn't seem that hard."

   Bodie straightened slightly then. "You'll have to shift so many times to break it. That's going to hurt a lot."

   Leo just gave him a look as if he were somewhat judging Bodie for everything. "It's not like I know how much it hurts to be forced to change into a werewolf because of the full moon. I'll be fine, and when I manage to break the sire bond between us, then we don't have to worry about it being weird between us."

   There was a small part of Bodie that didn't want Leo to do such a thing, knowing how painful turning used to be for himself, the last thing that he wanted was for Leo to be in so much pain in order to break this bond between them. He knew that Leo wouldn't have to do this if it weren't for the fact that Bodie turned him, but even still, knowing that Leo would have to break his bones hundreds of times to do such a thing was the one thing that he had an issue with.

   He'd never liked the pain of shifting into a werewolf before he'd gotten used to the pain. Of course, he knew that if this were the way that Leo could break the sire bond between them both, then so be it. He'd do anything to make sure that the sire bond between them was something that could be broken so that it released that small worry of mistakenly abusing it to some degree.

   "Okay." Bodie agreed. "Once things have settled to some degree, I'll make sure to send you off somewhere safe so that you can break this sire bond between us."

   Leo nodded. For a moment, neither of them spoke again. The quiet and peace between them both was something that comforting to some degree. Bodie felt rather weird about all of it, knowing that normally, Bodie found it rather difficult most of the time to fall in love with someone that wasn't Klaus. Klaus was his type and to fall for someone that was the complete opposite and brought him that same peace that Klaus did at times, was what felt weird as a whole.

   Bodie found himself smiling slightly. As much as his feelings for Leo was somewhat new and everything, he found himself more worried about fully committing to such things, knowing that anyone that was close to him was at risk to some degree of dying by the hands of the family that he once loved. The last thing that Bodie wanted was for Leo to die because of him.

   After a while, Tyler managed to find the pair of them. There was this look on Tyler's face as if he were annoyed about something, which was enough for Bodie to know that Klaus must have said something to Tyler in order to get a reaction out of him. He knew that they were in for a little ramble about how much of a shitty person Klaus is and how annoying Klaus can be over some situations.

   "Klaus left." Tyler stated.

   Bodie pulled himself away and found himself shifting to give Tyler a look. "What do you mean he left?"

   "Damon wanted help with killing that vampire hunter that tried to kill me." Tyler explained.

   "Ah." Bodie said. "I was going to ask you about that. You see, people haven't been fully keeping me in the loop about what's going on."

   Tyler just shrugged. "I don't know, man. All that I know is some creepy guy shot me with wooden bullets and then tried to assassinate me."

   "Jeremy mentioned something about an invisible tattoo." Leo added in. "Elliot's been telling me everything that I need to know just in case someone comes for you while I'm with you."

   Bodie made a small face at that then. He felt like he recognised or remembered something about an invisible tattoo, he'd known of people that had such a tattoo, but he couldn't be sure. He wasn't sure if this was the time that he wasn't talking to the Mikaelson's or not during that time, though the more that he thought about it, the more that he realised that there was a chance that he was.

   He didn't want to believe that there was a chance that what he thought this was, was in fact, true, but at the same time there's a small part of Bodie that felt as if it would make sense as a whole. Bodie didn't want to jump to conclusion, but if this was true, then there's a chance that he'd have to talk to Klaus about it, just to get conformation about all of it. If his thoughts were correct then Bodie would have to make sure that those that he cared about wouldn't go through with killing that hunter.

   "Bodie, are you okay, man?" Tyler asked.

   Bodie snapped back into reality as if the sound of someone's voice was all that he needed to hear. He nodded then. "Yeah. I'm good."

   "You sure?" Leo asked. "You looked as if you had a panic thought over what we just mentioned."

   Bodie didn't know how he was going to explain it to either of them. "It's just something that I remembered about what you mentioned, though I might need to talk to Klaus to make sure that it's correct."

   "Why would you need to talk to Klaus about it?" Leo asked.

   "Because I'm not sure if I'm right." Bodie stated. He'd given Leo a look which caused him to look away. Bodie then sighed. "Tyler, Leo mentioned how you broke the sire bond between you and Klaus. Was there anything else that you had to do in order to break that sire bond?"

   Tyler, who seemed uncomfortable about what just happened in front of him, shook his head. "No. It's just turning into a werewolf a good hundred or so times until the shift becomes easier and painless."

   Bodie nodded slightly then. "Sounds good." He then looked towards Leo then. "How willing are you with helping Leo break our sire bond?"

   Tyler shifted slightly as if this was a talk that he didn't want to have. "I guess so. Once all of this hunter stuff is all done, then yeah."

   Bodie smiled slightly then. "Good."

   He then detached himself from Leo's side and for a moment, Bodie considered whether or not he should leave, knowing that Tyler would be fine with Leo here. Though, there was a small part of Bodie that felt as if he needed to stay given the fact that there was still a chance that the vampire hunter might find a way to beat Damon and Klaus—which was unlikely, but if Klaus figured it out, he knew that there was a chance that the vampire hunter would be protected.

   He sighed slightly and looked between the two. "Leo, stay here and look out for Tyler. Tyler, don't be a prick and try and fight against being protected."

   "Where are you going?" Leo asked.

   "I need to talk to Henry or Will." Bodie stated. "I need to go back to my house, see if any of my journals have anything about what I might think this vampire hunter might be."

   Leo looked as if there was something that he wanted to say, but Bodie gave him a look to which managed to shut Leo up.

   With that, Bodie turned on his heels and almost ran out of the Lockwood Mansion, not caring that he was asked to stay here for as long as possible.