Tiberius Salvatore: The eldest brother

31

"Alright, class. I'm back. I had some family issues to deal with but I'm back to being your art teacher." Rio said to his class of seniors. Rebekah walked in late.
"Hi I'm Rebekah. I'm new."
"And late. I thought you left town with your brother?"
"I decided to stay." She said, offering no more in her explanation.
"Okay. Well, take a seat. It says here you guys started painting under the theme 'Chains and Shackles' so I guess for this lesson you'll be continuing that. Rebekah get a blank canvass from the back of the class. But of course, first there's roll call."

After classes the kids had a free study. Elena was in track apparently, which meant Stefan would be there so Rio decided to go there. He saw Stefan jog up to Elena and ran to them.
"Look at you being all fit. Hey, you going to the bonfire tonight? Sounds like fun, right?" Stefan asked.
"Seriously, Stefan, leave me alone." Elena tried to run in the opposite direction but Stefan just jogged backwards.
"You think I'm annoying now? Wait till homecoming. Hey, who you bringing, by the way? I don't want to be weird."
"It'll be weird, brother. Because I'm going to interrupt you every time you try to have fun." Rio said once he caught up over the field. A guy bumped in to Elena.
"I'm sorry." Stefan pushed the kid so hard he fell on his back.
"Watch it dick." Rio pushed his brother away keeping a tight grip on his throat.
"No, you watch it. Watch your language and watch yourself. Do anything, and I mean anything wrong, and I will make sure you regret it." Rio threatened. "I don't care if you have your humanity off. Stop acting like a dick."
"Who are you?" Elena asked softly, obviously hurt.
"I'm the guy who's been assigned to protect a human blood bag. I mean, no offense or anything." Elena walked off.
"What?" Stefan asked confused.
"The fact that you're a dick might be what. Do yourself a favour. Stop referring to her as a human blood bag. It just makes her more determined to turn you back into her Stefan."

"Why are you being nice to me?" Elena asked Rio.
"I'm not." He replied.
"Yes you are. You stood up to Klaus when he was being a dick. Whenever Stefan gets too rude you seem to be there to help."
"None of that is for you, Elena. I stood up to Klaus because he was out of line. I would have done it for anybody. Actually I didn't do it for anybody. I did it because it was what I believed was right. As for Stefan, he's my brother. The less things he does now, the less he has to feel guilty about."
"Have you ever switched off your humanity?"
"Once Elena, I was deeply upset and I didn't want to feel."
"So you have killed someone." She furrowed her brows. "I thought you'd never killed before."
"No. I was still thinking logically. I didn't care about anything but I had no desire to destroy anything."
"I'm not sure if that makes you a good vampire or a really bad vampire. You're good at heart but bad at being a vampire." Rio rolled his eyes.
"I got to go." He said and jogged off.

Later that night, at the school, the Mystic Falls Save Elena Squad called for a meeting. Rio having gotten bored with watching Titanic, Mean Girls and Think like a man on repeat decided to see what was up. By the time he had arrived, everyone was there.
"We're forgetting a key player here. Rebekah? Wherever Stefan goes, the blonde ponytail tends to follow." Damon said.
"Which is why it's your job to keep her away."
"How?! She's an original. Last time I checked, we're out of daggers."
"So then preoccupy her with her charm."
"Might have better luck finding the dagger."
"Are you ever not going to be mad at me for a day?" Damon asked Alaric.
"Doubtful."
"Wait, time out guys. What's going on?"
"We're gonna lock Stefan up, get him to turn on his humanity. The usual."
"Wait, you wanna torture our brother to get him back to normal?" Damon nodded. "No. Absolutely not."
"Why not?"
"I'm not going to help you torture our little brother. There's got to be another way."
"There isn't. Rio he's gone. Lights out. Charlie said you turned off your humanity once. You should understand."
"Yeah, I turned my emotions back on but I wasn't tortured. Let me try. He didn't know I was alive for over a century. That might have some effect."
"It won't. Stefan's way back is through pain. Once we get him to feel that or even anger, we'll be able to appeal to his better side. It is the only way."
"Is it?" Rio stared his brother down. "Let me try."
"Sorry brother, but I can't take the chance."
"He is our brother."
"Exactly. Ours. And trust me when I tell you this is what's best for him."
"It's torture Damon. You don't torture your little brother. No matter what. I'm sure I taught you that if nothing else."
"Sorry I'm late. What's going on?" Tyler Lockwood walked in late.
"We need you to raid your mom's vervain supply. Enough to keep Stefan down for a while."
"No you don't." Rio argued.
"Yeah, you can't do that to Stefan." Tyler said.
"Why not?"Caroline furrowed her brows
"Trust me, Tyler, it's in his best interest."
"No it's not. Come on wolfkid. Back me up here."
"Whether or not it's in his best interest, it's not in Klaus's."
"Actually don't back me up. Please don't."
"But Klaus is the bad guy, Tyler. You know, why are you acting like some freaky, hybrid, slave minion."
"Uh-oh." Damon said catching onto Rio's thinking.
"Exactly."
"What?" Alaric asked, wondering what was going through their minds.
"Klaus made me who I am, Caroline. I owe him everything."
"Oh boy." Damon said.
"Okay, can we cool it on the commentary, please?" Caroline snapped.
"What is going on?" Elena wanted to know.
"I'm just going to go." Tyler said turning around. Damon rushed behind him and stabbed him in the neck. Rio hadn't even seen him pick up a vervain dart.
"What are you doing?!" Caroline screeched at Damon.
"Okay, Damon there was another way to handle it. Why do you always go for the violent stuff? See- we could have told him what was going on."
"He's been sired." Damon replied simply.
"What?" Alaric asked, severely confused for the second time that night.
"Sired. He feels loyal to Klaus because Klaus's blood created him."
"Loyal how?" Elena inquired.
"He'll seek acceptance from his master. It's really rare. But maybe not so much in hybrids."
"Well it's not really super rare. I mean not really."
"So how do I fix him?"
"Get a new boyfriend."
"Shut up. Seriously, Damon. Tyler feels like Klaus saved him right now. The only way unsire him is to prove he didn't. We need to know more. Or it might be different because he's wolf. Damon- leave Stefan alone. I mean it. Let me try first, he's our brother. Let that mean something." Rio said fiercely. "I'm going to take this kid home, see if we can help him out."
"I'll come with you." Caroline said, worried about her boyfriend.