31 Until

(A/N: Additional chapters are... you know this already!)

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'Options, options,' Jeremy thought to himself as he drove down the road contemplating which route he wanted to take to acquire some human blood to feed to Enzo. A part of him was tempted to just find some young master and feed him to the vampire, but he knew that would mean cleaning up a body,, and despite how easy the show made it seem, that was tedious work. 'It's way easier to clean up a blood bag than it is to clean up a body.'

With that thought, he knew where he wanted to go.

The drive to the hospital was short, and upon entering and glancing at the map of the building conveniently placed on the wall near the entrance, he had his destination.

He moved with confidence. Walked like he knew exactly where he was going, never really looking anyone in the eye long enough to be noticeable, but enough to reassure them of his presence as he walked through the halls that were obviously restricted.

He came upon the locker room and slipped inside, walking past the few people who were in the room and swiped a coat.

It was all clockwork and very easy, but that didn't mean that he, no matter how it looked from the outside, didn't keep his eyes scanning everything and everyone he passed...which is why, when he passed an adjacent hallway to the one he was walking down and he caught sight of a beautiful woman with auburn hair and a height of 5 ft 7 inches, he was able to immediately catch every detail of her face.

'Meredith Fell,' he noted as he kept walking past the hall and decided to put a little pep in his step, since he was certain that, while unlikely, there was a genuine possibility that someone on the town council would know the only son of the Gilbert family. 'I wasn't expecting her to already be working here. I wonder if she's already using vampire blood to heal these scrubs.' He saw that he needed a key card to into the area leading to the blood storage, so he decided to slow down a little and let the footsteps behind him catch up, as he looked down at his phone.

'Even if she has seen me in the past, it's unlikely she'll be able to recognize me, being that I definitely look older than a teenager should. Jeremy is 15, but I know for certain I can pass for 18 casually, just like Matt, Tyler, and Stefan, so it's unlikely she'll recognize me. The problem is, I currently have no id attached to my coat like pretty much everyone else, being that magnetic strip has never been used on this portion of a hospital. Is it due to influence of the town council trying to make it difficult for vampires to get access to the blood storage?'

He heard the steps get to be within three feet of him and with that, he casually looked up from his phone and turned around like a guy who just realized he needed to be somewhere else, allowing him to briefly brush incredibly close to the beautiful Fell woman and catch a hint of her scent as they passed each other. 'Hm, ordinary. No hints of vervain. Just the sweet scent that is most likely natural to her, since wearing perfume on the job is a no no.'

"Oh, excuse me," he said with a friendly, light smile, as he got a close up look at her face and noted every single detail. 'Weariness around the eyes. Tension around the eyebrows. And a slightly strained smile with a hard set jaw. Possibly just lost or is about to lose a patient. Meaning this would be a good opportunity to check if she is already using vampire blood...but that's no longer necessary, since I have my own vamp on standby.'

"No, excuse me," She replied, as they went past each other, only to stop when he called out to her.

"You're Meredith, right?" She turned back and this time, actually took a look at his face, and he could see her trying to place him, but failing.

"Yes, that's right. I'm sorry, but have we met?" She asked, giving him a polite and professional smile that clearly indicated she was in work mode.

"Yes, literally one second ago." He reached out his hand and watched as she automatically held out hers in return out of habit. 'Soft skin, but slightly dry, more than likely from excessive washing, but no indication of having calluses from repeated weapon use of any kind.'

"But, I'm pretty sure this is our first actual conversation," *Patented Gilbert genuine smile THAT SHOWS TEETH*. "However, your skill and intelligence precede you, making you someone I would definitely like to study under, if possible." He told her as he released her hand after holding it for only slightly longer than was appropriate.

"Though, I can see you're currently in work mode, so perhaps we can talk some time in the near future." He stated the question rather than asked as he took a small step back to trick her mind into thinking along the lines of he was fine whether she took his invitation or not, which has always been shown to draw people in without them even knowing why. 'There's a reason bad boys get a.t.hs (all the hoes). Humans are more likely to be pulled in by someone who is likely to push them away, even though it rarely works long term.'

"Hmmm, I don't know," she replies, this time her smile a little more natural than before. 'Compliments and flirty banter are always conversation starters.' He thought.

"It depends on what you're trying to learn, Mr...." He held out his hand again, since it's only proper and had nothing to do with how soft the beautiful woman's hands were.

"You can call me Jeremy, since I'm pretty sure we're going to be fast friends." He told her, her hand once more in his.

"Oh, really," she said with a slight laugh and some playful challenge in her voice. "And what makes you think that?" She asked with a slightly raised eyebrow.

"Well," he spoke a little lower and took a small step forward, like he was telling her a secret, but still kept his eyes on hers, knowing it was way too soon to do a glance at her lips. "I happen to think that anybody that can make you smile as quickly as I did, can only be called a future fast friend." His confident smirk now matching her own, as he felt her grip holding firm, despite his loosening. 'That's a good sign.'

*Tsk* she clicked her tongue. "I don't know if I can argue with that, but like you said, that's something we'll have have to see in the future."

'Haha, you wanna play hard to get with me? You're already within my range.'

His smile shifted from the cocky confident one that they both had and turned slightly more Patented Gilbert predatory smirk as he said, "Then I guess I can only look forward to it, Meredith." He let go of her hand and started to back away.

"Until we meet again." Then, he was gone, with her only reply being, "until then".

'That was nice and all, but I still need to get my hands on some human blood, and I know for certain this town has absolutely no other open sources for blood, which is probably another result of the council limiting access to blood sources in the town.'

*Sigh*

'Looks like I'll be cleaning up after a grown man. What even is my life? There should be special teams to handle clean ups like in my old world. Vampires are such a fucking disorganized bunch.' He thought to himself as he got into his borrowed car and took a drive to visit one of his new friends who decided it was a good idea to leave his ass in the woods to be munched on by animals. 'Such a fucking hassle.'