Tyler's eyes widened in horror as he stared at Klaus, and became fully aware that only his refusal of entry was the only thing protecting him from his creator. Klaus' expression was calm but his eyes promised much pain and a slow death.

"Hello—Ty? You still there?"

"I…I'll call you…back," his eyes never left Klaus' as he pushed end and his arm fell to his side heavily.

"How the hell did you recover so fast?" he breathed.

"I got lucky when a pair of hikers wondered by. They were tasty but I still find myself…hungry," he snarled when he tried to move forward and was blocked. "Invite me in."

"No," Tyler narrowed his eyes as he shook his head slowly, hand gripping the door tightly.

"Invite me in or your house will end up like the Gilbert's," he snarled threateningly. "I would hate to destroy such lovely architecture."

"Tyler?" a voice called from behind him. He turned quickly to see his mom coming behind him, stopping cold when she saw Klaus.

"I thought you said he was in the forest?" she cried.

"And now I'm here," he glared at her. "If you want to keep your house and your head you'll invite me inside now! Or better, send Jeremy down and we'll be on our way."

Tyler swallowed as he frantically tried to come up with an explanation and a way to get away from Klaus without losing his life. Klaus frowned and snarled when he tried to move and he suddenly couldn't. Tyler stared as the hybrid was thrown across off the porch and onto the front lawn before the door was slammed. Tyler hopped back a couple feet before reaching for the door handle, hissing when it burned him and pulling away.

"Vervain?" he whispered in confusion.

"Tyler?" she asked with wide eyes as she turned to him. "What's going on?"

"I need to find Jeremy," he muttered, stuffing his phone in his pocket. "I have to find him before he does."

He started making his way towards the back door, his mother hot on his heels, "Wait, you can't go out there! He'll kill you!"

"I have to find Jeremy! I can't lose him again!" he turned back to her and hugged her hard. "Pack a bag and get to Aunt Hailey's. He'll be too distracted with me to worry about you."

She whimpered into his hair but nodded. "Please be careful. I don't want to lose you too."

"You won't, I promise," he kissed her hard on the cheek before ushering her out to the garage. He opened the door cautiously, heart pounding as his mother gripped his arm tightly and he quickly brought her to the car, making sure she locked all the doors before he opened the garage door. He expected to see Klaus waiting for them but was relieved as well as confused when he didn't see him.

"If you see him on the road don't stop, just take a detour and keep going," he instructed. She nodded fretfully before she started backing out. The moment she was out of sight Tyler sighed with relief. Until he felt someone ram into his side and he went crashing into the side of the house. He quickly recovered and crouched low, prepared for a fight as he bared his fangs and his eyes turned yellow. He heard noise above him and quickly moved in time as Klaus came down, his own fangs bared and snarling as he approached Tyler menacingly.

Suddenly Klaus howled in pain and his hands flew to his eyes as he tried to rub them. Tyler stood and frowned in confusion as the wounded hybrid fell onto his side still writhing in pain with his eyes squeezed shut. It looked as if the area around his eyes were burned with vervain but there was none around for miles.

A gust of wind blew past him suddenly and he turned in the direction from which it came but saw nothing there. His cell phone ringing made him jump and he only just remembered that Klaus was still writhing in pain on his front lawn. He pulled it out and saw Caroline's name across his screen.

"Tyler what's going on? We can't find anyone at The Grill—"

"Klaus is here. He just showed up at my front door," Tyler interrupted as he ran back into his house through the garage and shut it quickly before locking the door.

"What? How?" she cried.

"I don't know but I need to find Jeremy," he ran through the house, turning off all the lights before slipping through the back door and running into the woods. "Get everyone you can find."

He hung up and found Damon's number quickly, running without any direction.

"What?" Damon snapped. Tyler ignored his tone.

"He's here. Klaus is in Mystic Falls."

"What do you mean he's here?" Damon retorted. "He had an entire tree stuck in him when we left!"

"Well he clearly needed more than that because he just showed up at my front door looking for Jeremy!" Tyler ran a hand over his hair. "You guys haven't seen him?"

"No. And Elena's gone too," Damon sighed. "Something weird is going on. I bet it has to do with the ghosts your boyfriend can see."

Shit. He had completely forgotten about that.

"Is Bonnie with you? Maybe she can track him or something."

"She has no magic Tyler. Get to The Grill and we'll figure it out."

"I can't. I have to find Jeremy. Klaus is going to take him again."

"No, he won't. He needs Elena too. He won't take him until he has her so get your ass over here!"

"Not until I find Jeremy."

He hung up in the middle of Damon's reply and continued deeper into the forest.

Jeremy was thankful he was neither scared of the dark nor claustrophobic because this could have been going a lot worse. After an hour of screaming for help he gave up, convinced that someone would have heard his hoarse voice by now. His hands still stung from beating against the wooden door so much, now he settled for grabbing onto the bars that made up the window and staring at the bright moon over the trees. He remembered when he and Tyler would have to come down here on nights like these for his transformation. It was near torture for them both when he would have to chain him to the wall and force wolfsbane down Tyler's throat, knowing that all that they were doing was prolonging the inevitable pain that came with his transformations. When he had been turned into a hybrid and he no longer had to change, a part of Jeremy was relieved that at least something good came out of being an immortal werewolf for his mate.

God Ty where are you?

He believed that Esther didn't want to hurt his mate but he didn't trust her not to. She could easily change her mind and not do the spell and then they would all die. He didn't know how much Esther valued a human life, but if she was anything like the rest of her family he didn't think she did. Why the hell couldn't they just be left alone?

He shivered when a sudden gust of wind came past him and the old, dusty candle holders in the corners of the room were suddenly alight with fire. Jeremy looked around in alarm for anyone other than himself but found no one.

"Hello?"

"Jer?"

"Wha—who was that?" he whipped around but saw no one. "Who's that?"

The voice didn't respond again. He frowned, wondering if he was hearing things before he remembered who he could now see.

"Anna, are you in here?"

"Yes!" he turned around again and sure enough, she was standing in front of his with a smile. Without thinking he ran to throw his arms around her but stumbled when they went through her. He turned to look at her and she gave him a sad smile.

"I'm on the Other Side. There's a barrier between us," she murmured. He blinked in confusion before he reached out a hand to touch her. All he could feel was air.

"So I can see you and hear you but I can't touch you?"

"Yeah. Sucks doesn't it?" she smiled again. "But I can get you out."

"How? The door doesn't have a handle."

"I'm a vampire Jer," she giggled. "It'll open for me."

"But if I can't touch you how can you touch the door?"

"We can't touch people but we can touch things."

"How is that even—?"

"Objects aren't alive, like us," Anna explained. "Just watch."

She walked to the door and placed her hands on it, shoving it hard. Sure enough the door flew open and biting cold air immediately flooded the cell. Jeremy gaped at her in shock, slowly walking to the entrance and was met with the sight of the dark, dense woods.

"Wow," was all he could manage. Anna laughed at his expression.

"Yeah."

"Is there…any way you could…you know…" he trailed off but she understood what he was trying to say. "It's just…I miss you."

"I miss you too Jer," she said softly, grabbing his hand. "But I don't belong on that side anymore. It was my time to go."

"No it wasn't! My uncle had no right to decide that!" Jeremy snapped. "You didn't deserve that Anna."

"It's okay Jer," she whispered, reaching on her tiptoes to press a kiss to his cheek. Jeremy couldn't feel her lips but he knew what she meant. "You need to get out of here. She'll be coming back soon."

"Where is she?"

"I don't know. The last time I saw her she was with your sister."

Jeremy's eyes widened in alarm, "Where?"

"In one of the other cellars—wait!" she cried when Jeremy started running in the direction she pointed. "Don't go back there! That vampire is still out there!"

"I have to get my sister!"

"Jeremy you can't defeat him! He's too strong! It's going to take more than a stake to kill him! He's more powerful than all the Original vampires because magic created him. Only magic is going to be able to kill him!"

Jeremy looked in the direction of the woods where the cellar was and back at Anna.

"I have to save Elena. I can't lose her too."

He just caught sight of Anna's anguished face before taking off for the woods again. He knew that she would understand why he went no matter how much she wanted to save him.

"Does someone want to explain what is going on?" Caroline huffed impatiently as she and Matt walked into the boarding house. Bonnie and Damon were sitting by the fire, both their heads bent over a book and Stefan was pacing with a drink in his hand and his brow creased with worry.

"Tyler said Klaus was back—"

"Jeremy and Elena are missing," Stefan sighed. "Bonnie tried to locate them but she doesn't have enough strength."

"There have to be alternative ways to locate them. Herbal spells that don't require as much magic or none at all," Bonnie muttered as she flipped the page.

"So what are we going to do about Klaus?" the blonde said slowly. "If he's here he's going to kill all of us. Or did you guys forget that part?"

"No one's forgotten," Damon quipped, eyes never leaving the book. "He's not a priority right now."

"Don't you think he should be our first priority?" she exclaimed. "Shouldn't we be, I don't know, getting as far away from here as possible? What happened to—?"

"If you want to leave go ahead. No one's stopping you," Damon snapped. "But we're not leaving until we find Elena and Jeremy."

"And Tyler—he's still out there," Stefan said quietly. "Unless Klaus got to him."

"He didn't. He completely ignored me and went to find Jeremy himself. He's going to get himself killed one day. Jeremy too," Damon grumbled. Bonnie smacked his arm.

"Don't say that! He just doesn't want to lose Jeremy again."

"If he listened to me he wouldn't lose him! Klaus came here looking for Jeremy who was taken back by Tyler so out of all of us he's the one that's going to die first!

"Then we need to find him!" Caroline cried. "We don't have time to find alternative ways for Bonnie to drain more of her magic!"

Damon rolled his eyes; Caroline's screeching was giving him a migraine. He opened his mouth to retort something but his reply was abruptly cut off by the front door being thrown open, hitting the wall with a loud bang. Suddenly Matt was flying in the air and he hit the wall hard, crumpling to the ground unconscious and Caroline screamed in agony when an arm wrapped around her neck and the wooden handle broken off an axe was stabbed through her back and out her stomach. Blood poured from her mouth down her chin and shirt, her eyes darting between Bonnie, Stefan and Damon who looked tense. Her hands flew to the handle to pull it out but it was only shoved in further and she screamed again.

"Hush darling. You'll disturb the whole neighborhood," Klaus whispered maliciously in her ear. Stefan's eyes narrowed and he moved towards her.

"Let her go."

"Take another step," he twisted the handle, making the blonde scream louder, "and this will end rather tragically."

Damon had pulled Bonnie to her feet and was standing in front of her protectively, his heart pounding in his ears but he didn't let his fear show. Instead he growled lowly and crouched behind his brother, ready to strike.

"Listen carefully," he buried his hand in Caroline's hair and yanked her head back, making her yelp, "You're going to tell me where you're hiding the doppelganger and my mate and I won't kill everyone in this pathetic town. If you give me Tyler I'll spare your witch and your pathetic human you keep around," he nodded towards Matt's crumpled form. "If you don't tell me where any of them are you best prepare for a bloody massacre because I'm done with these games."

He drove the handle even further through Caroline's back and she sobbed in pain. The brothers snarled but didn't dare move.

"We don't know where they are!" Bonnie shrieked in fear. "We're trying to find them too!"

"Don't lie to me witch," he snarled as he tried to glare at her through Damon, "there's no point in protecting them. Your life is already forfeit."

"She's telling the truth," Stefan inched towards Klaus slowly. "We're looking for them like you. So let's find them together."

"You must think I'm a fool," Klaus laughed harshly. "I can find them just as easily on my own."

"If that were true you wouldn't have come here," Stefan's voice was nearly pleading. "Klaus, we want to find them just as much as you do—"

"I'm sure," he smirked. "If you don't tell me where they are this town will be gone by morning and your little family will be down to you and Damon again, I promise you that. If you don't want everyone in this bloody town to die you'll tell me where they are now!"

"They're in the forest," Damon spat quickly. "By the old Lockwood property where Tyler would do his transformations."

Klaus looked at him suspiciously. "You lie."

"Why would I? You just threatened to annihilate the entire town. Three people aren't worth all that."

"You mean you would rather save yourself and your beloved witch," Klaus smirked. "I knew that would motivate you Damon. So predictable."

"He told you where they were. Let Caroline go," Stefan pleaded, his eyes locked with Caroline's scared baby blues. Klaus laughed and pulled Caroline closer to him, bringing the handle deeper into her body and she whimpered in pain.

"If Damon is right and that's where they are, she'll live. If he's wrong…" he trailed off with a wicked smirk. "Lead the way, Salvatore."

Stefan and Damon shared a wary look before he walked slowly to the entrance of the boarding house; Bonnie tugged at his arm frantically, her eyes brimming with scared tears.

"Don't!" she pleaded. He kissed her forehead.

"It's okay," he reassured with a tight smile. "I know what I'm doing."

"Damon," she whispered. He shook his head and kissed her forehead.

"I know," he murmured. They stared at each other for a moment, saying silently what they couldn't out loud. She let go, pressing her lips together to hold in her emotions as she watched the man she loved walk out the door followed by Klaus dragging an unwilling Caroline with him. When they were gone Stefan moved to check on Matt, picking him up off the floor and throwing him over his shoulder.

"We need to get to your house. Damon bought us some time but not much. Klaus can't get to either of you there," he muttered. She nodded and allowed Stefan to lift her in his other arm before taking off for her house.

Jeremy sighed in frustration as he looked around the dark forest once more, feeling as if he'd been going in circles for hours. It was hard to tell how many times he'd pass by the same cellars with only the light of the half-moon to guide him

"Shit," he swore softly as he leaned against a tree to catch his breath. The wind started picking up again, causing the leaves to brush against each other frantically and it sent shivers up Jeremy's spine. He pushed off the tree and took off again, this time going left instead of right as his desperation to find Elena increased with every step.

"Elena!" he called before cringing. The leaves sped up their movements against each other in response and he forced himself to keep running. After another twenty minutes he came to a half of a stone building that looked slightly different than all the other ones he'd seen. It was dark but he was still able to recognize the stone basin standing in the middle of the pathway.

"Elena! Are you here?" he cried as he ran inside. His heart sank when he didn't see anyone. Sighing heavily he turned around and ran back outside but his path was suddenly blocked by Alaric. He cried out in fear and tried to go around him but Alaric merely grabbed his arm and swung him into the wall of stone. His head throbbed from where it had hit the stone and he dropped to his knees, Alaric still gripping his arm tightly.

"Where do you think you're going?" he smiled wickedly. Jeremy groaned and looked to his side as Esther appeared, looking grim and scary in the minimal light.

"Where's your…other vampire?" Jeremy rasped in pain. Esther's frown deepened.

"He understood that sacrifices had to be made. He rests in peace now."

"You're…heartless," Jeremy glared at her. She returned it before turning her back to him.

"It's time to bring Niklaus out."

She walked towards the deeper part of the forest. Alaric forced Jeremy to his feet and dragged him along as well. He felt disoriented from hitting his head so hard and he stumbled multiple times through the dark woods, wondering what was going to happen if Klaus showed up. He wondered if Tyler or anyone else knew that he and his sister were missing but maybe Elena managed to escape and now they were all out here looking for him.

Esther stopped in the middle of a clearing that was clearly illuminated by the moonlight. The trees looked like they formed a perfect circle and there were three, medium sized rocks that seemed to be randomly placed but on closer inspection, they looked like they formed a loose circle. She looked ethereal in a solid green dress that flowed at her feet, her strawberry blonde hair resting elegantly on her shoulders and a permanent frown on her ghostly face.

"Niklaus!" she suddenly screamed, making Jeremy jump. "Come out Niklaus! We have what you want!"

The only noise that filled the clearing was the wind that was picking up faster than before and the leaves brushing against each other in their frantic dance. Esther was quiet for a few more moments, listening intently for any sign of movement before her head snapped to the left. She seemed frozen to the spot and Jeremy wondered what she was looking at. He tried to look at it too before fear gripped his heart.

There was more rustling and Jeremy realized the noise as fast-paced footsteps. Someone emerged from the forest at near-lightning speed. Esther held out her hand and suddenly the figure went flying backwards into a tree. There was snarling and cursing as they tried to break away. Jeremy's heart leapt as he realized who it was.

"Tyler!"

"Where is Nikalus?" she asked coldly as she approached him, her hand staying in the same position and forcing more invisible pressure on his chest, crushing him. "You are his hybrid—you know where he is."

"He's at…my house!" Tyler forced out past the pressure on his chest. "He was…trying to kill me!"

"Why?" her voice boomed around the silent forest. "You are one of his."

"No…I'm…not," Tyler gripped the tree as the pressure started on his undead heart. He gritted his teeth and tried to move off the tree but the invisible pressure held him in place.

"Stop it!" Jeremy cried, running towards him and was yanked back harshly as Alaric pulled him backwards. "He's not with Klaus! He's with me!"

Esther watched Tyler struggled to breathe for a few more moments before she lifted the curse and allowed Tyler to drop to the ground. He gasped harshly, getting to his hands and knees. Esther had moved back to the center of the clearing, looking towards the moonlight before she turned to Alaric.

"I believe it's time for a demonstration," she gave him a wry smile. He smirked back and he dragged Jeremy two feet before throwing him in front of Esther. In the next second he was holding Tyler against the tree once more, not enough to cause him pain unless he struggled against him.

"What the hell Alaric?" Tyler snarled as he pushed against the hardened vampire. Alaric merely smirked.

"This is your last chance Niklaus!" Esther called again. "Come out!"

Jeremy had gotten to his feet and he started running for Tyler again. Esther held out her hand and he stopped immediately. She clenched her hand and he went flying backwards, landing on his back at her feet once more. She held her hand over his neck and raised it in the air slowly; his body followed it's every move until he was hovering a good five feet above the ground. Jeremy clawed at his neck as he panicked in mid-air.

"Very well Niklaus," she murmured before she slowly started to close her hand. Jeremy let out a gasp as the pressure around his throat started to tighten and he grabbed at his neck with both hands to try and stop the force from strangling him.

"Jeremy!" Tyler screamed as he thrashed against the hunter. "Leave him alone!"

Esther ignored him and continued to close her hand. Jeremy had started wheezing for breath, the pressure around his throat nearly closing off his air supply. He tried to stare into her eyes but she was looking beyond him. She wasn't seeing him as a person, as a werewolf's mate. She wasn't thinking about the fact that whatever pain he could feel, Tyler could most likely feel too. Her fingers started to curl in towards her palm and the last of his circulation was cut off, depriving him of air and leaving him choking midair. His hands rubbed up and down his neck frantically to relieve the pressure. He could hear Tyler screaming his name as he started to get light-headed.

His hands started slowing against his neck as her hand slowly formed into a fist until finally he went limp. Esther dropped her hand and Jeremy fell to the ground with a thump. Tyler sighed in relief when he heard his mate starting to breathe again.

"He dies next time," Esther said coldly. "Bring Niklaus out here now."

"I don't know where he is!" Tyler cried. "Don't hurt him! Jeremy's got nothing to do with this!"

"This boy has everything to do with my son!" she snarled furiously. "If you do not bring him to me I will kill him slowly and you and Niklaus can watch it all."

"Go to hell you sadistic bitch!" Tyler snarled back. Esther's eyes narrowed before she muttered a spell under her breath. Suddenly Jeremy was curled into a ball and clutching his head while he screamed in pure agony. Tyler pushed against Alaric once more, this time doubling his efforts.

"Stop it! God please stop it!" Tyler begged as Alaric held him steady to the tree.

"Where is Niklaus?" she screamed, the fury in her voice showing on her face. Jeremy's screams seemed to increase as her anger did.

"I don't know!" Tyler screamed back desperately. "Just stop it please! Jeremy!"

Jeremy's screams became near-deafening and it made tears of desperation and fear spring into his eyes as he fought against Alaric with everything in him. Esther murmured something under her breath and Jeremy's screams stopped, the sound echoing around the clearing and the forest. He went limp and Tyler could smell the blood that had started dripping from his nose and his right ear that was now rolling down his cheek and his neck. If he hadn't heard the slightly slowed beating of his mate's heart he would have believed him dead.

Esther crouched down and took Jeremy's face in one hand, sprawling the rest of his body out on the grass as she shook him slightly.

"Is he not worth dying for?" Esther bellowed in a terrible voice. "Is your precious mate not worth you coming to face your mother Niklaus? You are a disgrace to every creature, both vampire and werewolf that you would let him die for you!"

"Please," Tyler begged. "Just let him go! I'll find Klaus, I'll fucking kill him for you, I'll do anything!"

"You can do nothing for me," she hissed.

Suddenly she had moved away from Jeremy and to the other side of the clearing, hissing in pain from the scratch on her shoulder that had torn her dress open. She glared and a whole new fury took her as she watched her son crouching next to Jeremy's unconscious body, checking to see if he was still alive before standing and turning towards her. She could feel the anger rolling off of him in waves and she smirked as he came closer until she could finally see his furious yellow eyes and his lips pulled back, baring his teeth with a loud, threatening snarl as he crouched down low.

"Welcome home Niklaus," she taunted coldly. "We have waited so long for your arrival."

Klaus growled low in his throat, the moonlight making him look more threatening as he leapt for his mother, his every instinct telling him not to stop until he had her heart in his hand and her dead body was lying at his feet.

I'm sorry this took so long to upload, but between school and work I haven't found much time to myself lately. Thank you for all the reviews and if anyone is still reading this saga, please leave a review to let me know what you think. I will try to update more often but I'm not making any promises. Thanks again :)