Chapter 33 – Appearances Are Deceiving

Bonnie rapidly flipped through the book in front of her, for three days she hadn't left the library. And she still had no idea what Esther had wanted when she took Henrik away. She ignored the footsteps that she heard approaching her, assuming it was just Kol coming to tell her that she needed rest.

"Bonnie, can I talk to you?" Elena's voice asked, causing Bonnie to jump with surprise.

Bonnie slowly raised her eyes to look at her best friend, "I really don't have the time to be yelled at right now. I still haven't figured out what spell Esther could have cast." She replied and looked back down at her book.

Elena didn't leave, she sat down in the chair across from the table that Bonnie was hunched over, "I came to apologize Bon."

"You don't need to Elena, you didn't say anything that was untrue." Bonnie said, stopping her reading but not looking up from the table top.

"That doesn't mean I should have said it. You have done so much for me and my children, it wasn't fair of me to put all of the blame on you." Elena started to explain, feeling her emotions bubble to the surface, "We have been friends all of our lives, nothing can give me an excuse to treat you like that."

"Your son was missing Elena, you had every…." She started to say.

"Bonnie, I want you stop trying to appease me. I was a whiny, ungrateful bitch, and you were nothing but humble." Elena interrupted, "I think we were wrong to put so much pressure on you. Elijah is trying to contact some other witches he knows, hoping that they will be more helpful than the ones Katherine and Damon have come across. You need some help."

"I don't want you to think I am useless." Bonnie protested, but could feel the grateful tears fill her eyes as she looked up at her friend. She really could use some help, and wished she had asked for some earlier.

"We could never think that about you Bon. You are easily the most useful person in this house." Elena assured her friend, reaching across the table and squeezing one of Bonnie's hands.

Bonnie smiled at Elena, glad to have her friend back, even if she had only been without her a few days, "I will do my best to not fail again Elena. I could never forgive myself if something happened to you, your children, or anyone else in this family."

"I never had any doubt in your feelings Bonnie. Esther is older and more powerful than any of us. We underestimated her, but we won't do it again." Elena told her and rose to her feet, "I should let you get back to work. Just remember to take care of yourself okay?"

"I will, I promise." Bonnie told her friend, smiling as she watched the beautiful brunette walk away, and just put her nose back in her book.

Caroline tapped her fingers impatiently on the table in front of her as she waited for her mother to arrive so they could have lunch. It had been almost two weeks since Esther had stolen Henrik, only to return him, and they still had no clue as to why she done it. She looked over to a booth on the other side of the restaurant and smiled at the couple sitting there, her body guards Kim and Adrian. Klaus had only agreed to let her leave the mansion without him on the condition that two hybrids were with her, for protection. Caroline had agreed to it, mostly because she was actually worried about what Esther would do to her if she got her hands on her.

A figure suddenly clouded her sight and it was male. She looked up and let out a surprised gasp, "Tyler! You are back." She jumped to her feet and went for hug, but stopped herself, not knowing how Tyler would react to such a reaction.

"Hello Caroline." He said, avoiding eye contact with her, "I was wondering if we could chat?"

"Of course, sit down." Caroline said and slid back into her chair as Tyler took the other seat, "Where have you been?"

"Around, I just really needed to clear my head after everything. I didn't stay in one place for too long." He explained, still not looking directly at her, and then quickly picked up her left hand, "What is this?"

Caroline snatched back her hand, "Exactly what it looks like." She replied, her voice cold. She noticed Kim and Adrian jump to their feet, but she shook her head, silently telling them both to sit back down. They did as she said, only at a table much closer.

She noticed Tyler's eyes move to them, they nodded at him, and he returned it before looking back to Caroline, this time in the eye, "How can you marry that monster?"

Caroline felt like there was something off with the way that Tyler was speaking, and his mannerisms weren't right either, but she shrugged it off, and said, "He isn't what you think he is Tyler. Nik…Klaus is a very different man now, he isn't the vicious killer that you knew."

"A year doesn't change a person that severely." Tyler rebutted, glancing quickly at the two hybrids before looking back at her.

"Loving me as a human and then being able to remember it, can change a person to that extreme. Would the Klaus you think you know have ever proposed marriage, to anyone?" Caroline countered, still not liking the almost evil quality she sensed with Tyler. There was only one person that had ever made her feel this way, but that was a long time ago.

"No, I don't think I could have ever imagined such a thing. I definitely didn't think it would come from a meddling little whore like you." Tyler spat at her before turning on the approaching hybrids, "Sit back down and do not utter a word to anyone, in any way unless I tell you otherwise!" He compelled them both and Caroline watched in shock as they did what he said.

"Mikael." Caroline whispered, and felt her undead heart start to race from fear, she had stopped taking vervain a long time ago. Thinking there was nothing more she had to worry about in the compulsion department. Plus it tainted her blood and made the whole blood sharing thing harder to do, "How is this possible?"

"Funny little things about magic, there are so many loopholes to death. The soul can be brought back from the other side with the right spell and the right blood." He commented, keeping a careful eye on the two hybrids at the table next to them.

"That is why Esther took Henrik. She needed blood from a direct descendant to bring back your soul." Caroline caught on, none of their theories had come even close to the truth.

"Nice to see you aren't a complete fool." Tyler/Mikael sneered at her, "But it will not matter, you are going to die either way."

"Then can we get it over with, or you just going to sit there and talk all day?" Caroline asked, trying to buy herself some time, she noticed her mom enter and wave at her. Caroline just stared and looked back down, turned her engagement ring a few times and looked back up. Liz was looking at her strangely but nodded and pulled out her phone before leaving the restaurant.

"So willing to die my dear?" Mikael asked, smiling at her completely, not paying much attention to his surroundings.

"I'd rather not die at all, but seeing as your whole purpose in life is to kill Niklaus, I don't see me being able to avoid the option." She replied, feeling her fire return with the possibility of making out of this alive, "You know that you can't kill him as long as you are Tyler's body, because Tyler will die once Klaus does."

"I have been made aware. I do have three other children I can get rid of first. It will probably be better that way, Niklaus is my ultimate prize and watching his siblings die will cause him a lot of pain. Especially if it happens at the hands of his beloved." He said the last word with such venom that Caroline almost felt burned, like the word was an insult.

"You can't compel me to kill them." Caroline said, knowing that her voice was not as confident as she wanted it to be.

"Should we test that theory?" He smirked and reached for her hand, she pulled as far away from him as her chair would manage, "I didn't think so."

"Caroline! I am so sorry I am late." Her mother said, coming up to the table, "Hello Tyler, I didn't know you were back."

"I haven't been back very long." Tyler/Mikael told the Sheriff, and glared at the young vampire in front of him, "Caroline didn't tell me she was meeting with you."

"You got me all distracted." Caroline said sweetly, but her face held a smirk that told a different story, "How about we talk later? I have a lot to discuss with my mom."

"I think I have a different idea." He said and got to his feet, "Why don't I join the two of you for lunch?" He gestured for Liz to take his chair, and she didn't see that she had much of choice.

"So, Tyler what made you decide to come back?" Liz asked, keeping her eyes fully on Caroline.

"I just missed home and my friends." He answered simply, "Are we expecting anymore company?"

"They are. I thought I told you to not come back mate?" Klaus's voice said suddenly appearing next to their table, his eyes glanced briefly to his two unmoving hybrids before resting again on Tyler.

"I don't have to do as you say remember?" Mikael said, playing along as he stood up to stand face to face with him.

Klaus carefully cast his eyes around the restaurant and decided it was too crowded for any act of violence, "Why don't we discuss this outside?"

"Or not." He said, and noticed that Kol was sitting at the bar, watching their interaction closely, "I really must be leaving now."

Caroline had watched all this in silence, not sure what would happen if she spoke up about who he truly was, but she knew that the odds were on their side, so said, "Not so confident now, are we Mikael."

Klaus tensed and Kol took a place behind Mikael, trying to cut off any chance he had of escape. Caroline watched as his eyes flitted in all directions as he tried to figure out a way out of this. His eyes stopped on Klaus' hybrids, still in their chairs and he smirked. "Attack the girl." He told them and spun around quickly, stabbing something into Kol's chest as he ran.

Caroline screamed as she felt the arms of the two hybrids wrap around her, she was able to shake off Kim but Adrian got a firm bite on her forearm. Klaus snapped their necks within seconds, it just wasn't fast enough. Kol's grey body was lying on the floor, Klaus removed the stake from his chest, relieved that it was just a regular wooden stake, and not made of white oak.

"I need to get Caroline somewhere more private." Klaus said, turning his attention back to Caroline and carefully carried her into the bathroom. Leaving it to Liz to clean up the mess they had just made in the middle of a crowded restaurant.

Klaus set Caroline on the counter, and pulled up her sleeve to see the bite on her arm, "I am so sorry love."

"It isn't your fault and it isn't Adrian's either. Mikael compelled him, just lock him and Kim up until we can kill him." Caroline explained, not wanting to the two hybrids to suffer because of her.

"I won't punish them." Klaus assured her and brought his wrist up to her lips, "You should drink before the pain starts."

"It is strange. When Tyler bit me the first time, I felt the venom start to affect me almost instantly, I can't barely feel any of it right now." Caroline informed before biting into his wrist, savoring the feeling of his warm blood going down her throat.

"Maybe you still have some of my blood in your system from last night, it could be dulling the effects." Klaus said as her fangs retracted from his wrist.

"I guess that makes sense. I will need to go back on vervain, with Mikael wondering around it is too much of risk for me to not still take it." Caroline told him, bringing her hand up to cup his cheek, "We need to go back out and help clean up this mess."

"I will do that. You call everyone and tell them that Tyler is not Tyler. You will need to explain that more to me later, but I think I understand it." Klaus informed her, giving her a long, lingering kiss.

"I promise I will." She said as he pulled away. She hopped off the counter and cleaned the blood off of her lips and her arm before pulling out her phone and calling Stefan.

Stefan looked away from his brother and Katherine to answer his phone, leaving them and Rebekah to have a glaring match, "Hey Care."

"We have a serious problem Stefan." Caroline said, not bothering with a situation like this, "I am not sure how, but Esther was somehow able to put Mikael in Tyler's body. So, if you see him, don't trust him."

"Are you sure?" Stefan said, turning around to look at Rebekah as she came to stand next to him. Rebekah's eyes were fearful and angry at the same time.

"Yes, and he retained his ability to compel too. I hope you are still on vervain, and if you aren't, start again right now." Caroline said, "Tell Damon. I need to call Elijah and Bonnie."

"I am with Damon, so he now knows. What do you want me to do?" Stefan asked, turning away from Rebekah briefly.

"Bring all the vervain you guys have at the house to the mansion. We need to give it to the hybrids, Mikael was already able to get to two of them."

"We will get started on it right away. See you little bit Care, be careful." Stefan insisted, his voice stressing the last word.

"You too Stefan." She said before hanging up.

"This isn't good Stefan." Rebekah commented, pointing out the obvious.

"I know but…." He gasped as a needle entered his skin. His eyes were out of focus but he could see Rebekah's skin start to grey as she fell to the ground in front of his drifting eyes.

Damon and Katherine huffed as they carried Stefan's body to the basement, throwing him not too gently. Hoping that they could keep his involvement hidden from Mikael, his compulsion was not completely free of loopholes. They heard the door slam open, causing both them to quickly race back up the stairs.

Mikael turned to look at the couple, his brown eyes boring into them, "Well, where is she?"

"In there." Damon gestured with his hand before placing it on the small of Katherine's back.

Tyler's body walked into the main sitting room, and looked at the grey body of his daughter, the wooden stake still firmly lodged in his chest, "Was she alone or was your bother here as well?" He asked, turning to look directly at Damon.

Damon fought the compulsion to lie to the man in front of him, but it was stronger than he was, "Stefan was here, he is knocked out in the basement."

"Were you going to tell me that if I hadn't of asked?" Mikael said, his voice threatening.

"No." Damon answered shortly, his voice angry.

Mikael let out a maniacal chuckle that just didn't sound right coming from Tyler's throat, "I feel like you don't trust me Damon."

"Well, you are trying to kill me." Damon snarked, wondering if he was going to die now that he had delivered an Original.

"Niklaus is being saved for last. The two of you have nothing to worry about, at least not from me, until then." He told them, "Put both of them into my car."

Katherine spoke up, "Why do you need Stefan? Surely Rebekah is enough ammunition for your attack on your children."

Mikael glared at the woman, "I do not to explain myself to the likes of the two of you. Now do as I say, and do not speak another word until I tell you otherwise."

Damon and Katherine had no choice but to obey. They had run into Tyler/Mikael last week while looking for a witch in Atlanta. It didn't take them long to realize that something was off with the Lockwood boy, but it was still too little too late. He had them knocked out before either could make a move to defend themselves. He had brought them back to his secret lair with Esther and had been bleed of the vervain from their systems before compelling them to do whatever he said without speaking a word to anyone about it.

Damon finally understood why Caroline had been so angry with him for compelling her when they first met, it sucked to have your actions controlled by someone else. If they both managed to survive this, he was going to apologize to her with a sincere heart.

Katherine for her part was also feeling guilt for her actions, wishing she had stayed out of these affairs. She didn't owe Klaus or anyone else anything but she still felt bad for betraying them like this. Katherine hated being used, even if she loved using others, and she especially hated it when it would cause her own death. She looked at the man next to her as they carried Rebekah's body to the car and regretted wasting the last hundred and fifty years denying him, and vowed to tell him that if they survived this, which she doubted they would.

AN:Thanks again for the wonderful reviews, you guys really are the best.

As to the Mikael being able to compel vampires with Tyler's body, I thought it would work that way because Klaus was able to compel Katherine when he was in Alaric's body. And it is basically the same thing, at least I am saying it is.

Don't forget to continue sharing your thoughts by leaving me some more of those reviews.

Have a Happy New Year everyone!