I checked at his home first, and luckily that's where I found him, shouting out to try and find his mom and packing up some emergency things into a duffle. "Tyler!" I yelled, letting myself into the house and sensing him somewhere in the house. "Tyler get your ass down here and explain to me what the hell is going on!" Hearing a thud from upstairs, Tyler then came rushing down to appear before me. "What did you do Tyler?"
"What had to be done, but it…it didn't work. Haley lied, she lied and now everyone is dead." I blinked, having no clue what he was on about.
"Who the hell is Haley? Who's dead? Tyler you have to tell me everything right now otherwise I might not be able to protect you. Klaus is on the warpath and he almost killed your mother, he-"
"He what?!" Yelling back at him to calm down, I had Tyler explain to me from the beginning what had been going on, as I hadn't been paying attention to him or the hybrids when searching for clues to the future. He told me about how he'd been helping the other hybrids break their sire bond by forcing themselves to change a hundred times over so that they no longer feel grateful to Klaus for changing them, and the plan was to put Klaus into someone else's body and bury them in concrete, but then Haley lied about there being a witch to do the spell and told Klaus the plan so he'd gone and killed everyone. I stared at him, mouth gaping.
"And now, the only one that remains is you, Tyler." Both of us looked around in alarm to find Klaus himself standing at the doorway, sinister and bloodied as he pointedly took a step over the threshold.
"Klaus…" Tyler backed off a little behind me as I stayed rooted to the spot, Klaus's rage fuelling every step he took closer to us. I had no idea what to do, feeling conflicted now that I'd heard the whole story so I turned around in order to face Tyler, just wanting to make sure I'd got everything tight. "So you're telling me that this entire time, you've been planning a way to kill Klaus without actually killing him?"
"He's a murderer, Lia, he was going to keep the hybrids slaves their entire lives. We had to get away from him!"
"Don't call me Lia, you don't get that privilege." I snapped at him, steadily growing pissed off at everything. Snapping my fingers, a white line shot across the floor and a barrier was thrown up between us and Klaus, keeping him back as he'd started prowling closer and I could hear him growl in irritation at my back but I ignored him. "So your natural response to having a tyrant overlord is to kill him. Do I have to remind you that some of your friends, even your girlfriend are murderers too? They've killed plenty of people before, and they'll kill others in the future. You couldn't just break your little sire bonds and run away like freaking normal people?!"
"There's no way he would have let us go! We'd be running for the rest of our lives!"
"Don't you think now was the perfect time to run away since he's a little busy working on finding the cure for Elena to make other hybrids that he wouldn't care about a dozen of his minions running off into the wild? God Tyler, you're such an idiot! What is wrong with you people? Why do you guys always have to end something by killing someone off? You're all freaking monsters!" Clenching my fist, I threw it at Tyler and punched him in the face as I yelled. "Your mom almost died tonight because you screwed up, I had to pull this nutcase off of her and get her away before he could finish the job! I bet you had no consideration for what was going to happen if you guys failed, people could die now because you've pissed him off!"
"But you…you could stop him, you…" Massaging his jaw, I was practically enflamed with fury as I glowered at him, Klaus still standing behind us but he'd since stopped trying to hammer his way through the barrier and instead was just listening now.
"Oh sure, leave it to the druid to clean up after your mess. You're damn well lucky I prefer this town clean and tidy instead of plastered in blood, otherwise I'd have no inclination to stop Klaus from his revenge rampage." Grabbing my face and rubbing the stress that was straining at every single muscle there, I tried to figure out what to do. Looking behind me, Klaus levelled his eyes at me and I knew there was no way he was going to let Tyler go, but I didn't want to be forced to fight him on this.
"It's either him or the town, love. Either way, tonight's bloodshed will end." Tyler you moron, this is what happens when you piss him off.
"Klaus please, can we talk about this?" I asked him, turning him around with my hand snatching at Tyler's collar to anchor him down so that he wouldn't escape and leave me to deal with the aftermath.
"I'm not in the mood for talking." He growled, now focused on Tyler who swallowed back a nervous lump in his throat. Carol had entrusted me with the life of her son, and I didn't have the guts to go back to her and tell her I'd failed. That kind of grief would shatter someone, and I wasn't so totally heartless that I'd let someone go through that. I had to get Tyler off the hook somehow, I just didn't know yet how to do that.
"What if he left town and never came back? Just exile him or something, nobody has to die here." The look on his face told me that Klaus wasn't exactly on board for that idea. Still desperately trying to think, it was then that I noticed a magical energy hanging around Klaus's neck, my own magic. It made me stop and stare at the spot where it hung over his sternum, making my head tilt to study it until I was certain of what it was. "You found the gift box I dropped?" To be honest, I'd completely forgotten about it until now.
This caused Klaus's blood thirst to waver slightly, refocusing onto the pendant that hung from around his neck as he glanced down then pulled aside the shirt he'd since unbuttoned to reveal it. A crescent moon pendant of sterling silver with a round moonstone hanging from the moon's tip, enchanted by me for Klaus as a Christmas gift. I had intended to hand it over to him and just walk off, so I'd written a note and tucked it inside explaining what it was and the enchantment, as well as wishing Klaus happy holidays. The pendant allowed Klaus to shift into a werewolf without feeling the pain of the transformation. It was a numbing spell, and I'd thought of it because I remembered once Klaus telling me about the first time he'd shifted whilst I was sleeping and how enthralling it was to explore such new senses, but the drawback of the pain meant that he'd yet to do it again since then.
"Nik, you remember what I said about love and bonds and all that crap I spouted off earlier?" I began, hoping that something might have gotten through to him. "It's not a gift, but an exchange. I've given you a gift, so if you want for it to mean anything, you have to give something back." Looking at him imploringly, I was even ready to throw away my pride and beg on my knees, I just wanted tonight to end as peacefully as possible. "Please let Tyler go. Just this once, show mercy and I promise I'll make sure you won't regret it. No more killing, or bloodshed, or maiming or torture, just…just let him go. He's just a kid. A very, very stupid kid who made some very bad decisions today."
"If I let him go, others may begin to think that they can take liberties with me." He warned, now looking at me intently as the two of us faced down. "My name will lose it's reputation, they will think me soft."
"No they won't, being merciful isn't being soft, Nik." I sighed, rubbing my neck tiredly. "If anything it'll do your reputation some good. You can tell them how much I begged you, that I made a deal with you or anything you like, but in the end you allowed one survivor to leave. Send it as a message, if you want, that this is what happens to people who try and go against you, say whatever the hell you like." Deciding to take a chance, I stretched out my hand then erased the barrier line, allowing Klaus to cross over.
He hesitated a brief moment before suddenly rushing forwards, moving so fast my eyes couldn't follow as he grabbed hold of Tyler by his neck and pinned him against the wall, everything happen so fast I had barely even started to turn. Then Klaus went still, like he was pausing to see what I would do. I didn't even lift a finger to help Tyler, not even a breath of magic coming from me as Klaus turned his head so that his ear could listen to my movements. When nothing then happened, he turned further, looking my way as Tyler struggled to breathe against Klaus holding his throat and threatening to rip off his head.
I felt pulses of worry and concern coursing through me, not knowing how this gamble was going to pay off. It seemed like forever that Klaus stood there, holding Tyler off the ground by his throat so that he gagged and struggled, unable to break free whilst Klaus deliberated over holding his life in his hands. Then finally, he lowered Tyler back to the ground so that he could stand, loosening his grip slightly so that he could breathe as Klaus leaned in to murmur in a deadly tone of warning. "If I ever see your face again, I will not extend the same mercy twice." Oh thank god, I almost wept for relief. All this stress is not good for me.
Releasing Tyler with a harsh push of his hand, he stumbled back then stared, looking at Klaus first and then me, so I mouthed for him to get out of here. What the hell was he waiting for, an invitation? He needs to run before Klaus changes his mind. Still looking hesitant and wary, Tyler gradually slid around Klaus, never once turning his back on him before grabbing his duffle bag, then all at once vanishing into the night. It was then I finally allowed myself to drop, exhausted.
Sliding down against something solid, a cabinet I think, I gripped my head in my hands and felt like I could just sleep for another month. After a few moments I heard Klaus's slow footsteps approaching me, then felt the jolt of the cabinet as his weight sank against it, coming to sit down on the floor beside me. He was still covered in blood so as I turned to look at him, I tugged on the sleeve of my sweater and reached up in order to try and rub some of it away. It was everywhere, and I didn't want to think about the level of carnage that would equal that much blood. Seeing that it was hopeless, I just left it alone after that, though before I knew it I was wrapping my arms around his and leaning against his shoulder in order to rest my head. He should terrify me. The extreme lack of self control and his violent impulses should send me running in the opposite direction, but I didn't. We sat there together in silence, Klaus remaining stiff and rigid from anger until gradually it began to fade, like I was leeching it from him through my touch until eventually, his hand came up to rest over mine, the slight tilt of his head towards me indicating that he was at least less angry than he had been.
It was well into the small hours now, and I just couldn't be bothered to move anymore, my eyes dragging themselves shut of their own accord until I was asleep, leaving myself completely to the mercy of Klaus, which in hindsight was probably not my wisest decisions of all time, but I knew he wouldn't do anything to me as of now, so I felt comfortable falling asleep against him, and I was right to, because I woke up the next morning still whole and complete and very much alive.