It was a modest house in a different section of Mystic Falls. Jeremy Gilbert and his vampire girlfriend Anna Zhu usually tried to keep out of the limelight. It looked like they were just a regular couple who lived together, but as Jeremy got older, Anna didn’t. She’d warned him about those looks they’d eventually get, but he didn’t care. All that mattered to him was that she was in his life. She made his heart sing when nothing else could. He loved her more than life itself.

The invite to the ball that was left on their doorstep had not gone without notice even though Jeremy had wanted to just leave it there. He hated putting on a monkey suit and cleaning up for any given situation. His hunter’s instinct ingrained in him by the Travelers' Magic made him want to kill things. He had to train himself not to want to kill his own girlfriend because of what she was or even Caroline because of what she was. It wasn’t easy to do that, but given that Anna was the love of his life and Caroline was his sister’s best friend he found a way to overcome that conditioning. Anna and Elena meant everything to him.

Anna had been floating around the house like she was on a cloud. His five hundred year old vampire girlfriend was used to balls and dancing in large crowds. He was used to beer and pizza at the Mystic Grill. They came from two totally different eras in time, but that didn’t matter. Love made all the difference in the world. There wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do for Anna. He muttered unintelligible groans as he put on the tuxedo and did things just to make Anna happy. If the school really was in need of money, then Jeremy was going to do what he could to help it stay afloat. “So I get to be a trained monkey for a night.” He whispered to himself. Essentially wasn’t he already a trained monkey because of his status as a member of the Five. He shrugged it off when Anna came out dressed like a queen. He did a double take and smiled at his gorgeous girlfriend. Maybe tonight wasn’t going to be a total wash after all?

~*~

Jeremy could have sworn that Anna was bouncing on his arm as they entered the ball. There was already quite a crowd assembled. Several people he recognized of course including Tyler Lockwood. Tyler looked like how Jeremy felt. Tyler didn’t have a girlfriend that he had to hide his emotions from while coming to this little get together. He nodded in the direction of his friend and occasional hunting buddy. Tyler as a werewolf was someone else that he had to train himself not to want to rip his throat out in a moment’s notice. Damn the Travelers and what they did to him.

The sheer numbers of people who were arriving was starting to get to him. Jeremy was happy to notice more humans arriving. The overload of his senses with all the supernaturals in the room was starting to get to him. He gripped a little tighter to Anna’s arm to let her know that he wasn’t feeling very comfortable at the moment. The tray that had champagne on it came by Jeremy after having left Tyler. He snatched his own flute, tipping it back in one complete gulp. He had to have some sort of distraction. He was an experienced member of The Five now, but he usually kept out of the limelight for the most part. He did come along to the school to retrieve wayward students like he had with Landon and Rafael. It was better that Anna served on the staff there alongside other supernaturals teaching the kids how to coexist and even protect the humans of Mystic Falls. Jeremy was always the one that they would have to fear if they didn’t follow the rules.

He took a moment to visually scan the floor. The congregants were a mixture of human and supernatural. He didn’t have to know the person to be able to discern that they weren’t human. Exactly what they were, now that was something else entirely. He knew certain other individuals other than the obvious and what they were like Hope Mikaelson, the Saltzman Twins and of course Bonnie Bennett. None of them had anything to worry about from him. He started to loosen his tie. He had beads of perspiration start to form on his head. “I think I need some air.” He told Anna. He separated from her momentarily and headed toward the nearest set of doors. He didn’t want to keep Anna from enjoying herself at the ball, but he needed to regain his composure.

The doors he stepped into actually lead to the kitchen. The wait staff were being addressed by the caterers about how Caroline wanted everything to go off without a hitch. Jeremy ignored the general conversation and took a step toward the back door. He finally reached them, tossing them open with a single push. He was a supernatural creature too if one actually had to think about it. Witch magic made the others into what they were. It was totally unrelated to what he was in every sense of the word. It was his job to kill them. He didn’t want to engage in wholesale slaughter, so he had to take this breather. Once free of the constraints of the constant element of people being around him he started to take in several deep cleansing breaths.

It was almost like being in the Pit back in high school. He could have used a joint right about then, but he didn’t do it. He’d promised both Anna and Elena that he wasn’t going to engage in anything like that anymore. His days of being an addict were being him. Times like this however were what brought him to the brink of jumping off the wagon. He took another extended walk around the fresh air trying to regain the focus. The Hunter needed to loosen his constantly at the ready senses. He inhaled sharply and exhaled again. He ran his hands through his ebony strands that were decorated with occasional flecks of grey. Interlocked fingers rested on the top of his head. He’d go back in, but he needed a few minutes.