Chapter 51: For Whom the Bell Tolls

It was Caroline who suggested that they do a memorial for their fallen friend. They met the following morning in the woods, surrounding a tree stump. The wolves had agreed to come, hanging back beyond the edge of the clearing. Even Stiles, Lydia and Allison were keeping watch in Stiles' Jeep up on the road. They might have been mostly strangers apart from a few months of shared enemies and survival, but loss was something they all understood too well. There were still too many threats looming over their heads for the grieving and distracted vampires and humans to be left alone in the woods.

Jeremy was the first to move forward, resting the photograph of Bonnie that he always carried with him in his wallet atop the stump. It was the two of them, one in a series of photo booth snapshots. Jeremy had sneezed and Bonnie was mid-post-sneeze-laugh while Jeremy was still holding back a smile. Caroline approached next with black and red cheerleading pom poms. They weren't hers or Bonnie's or even from their school. Rebekah had stolen them for Caroline from a neighboring city's high school a few hours earlier. Matt followed her, pulling the lifeguard whistle out of his pocket. It represented a simpler time for all of them. He carried it with him to remind himself of the good, even amid the bad. And Bonnie was definitely part of that good. Elena and Matt clasped hands briefly as they walked past each other. Standing beside the tree trunk, Elena scattered white feathers while something akin to a smile played against her lips. The girls had spent the night listening to Caroline and Elena tell stories of Bonnie and their friendship. When Lydia had heard how Bonnie originally showed Elena her magic for the first time, Lydia had disappeared into her bedroom. Moments later she had re-appeared in the sitting room with an armful of pillows and scissors.

Before leaving the McCall house, Jeremy had reached into his bag and pulled out Bonnie's spell book, handing it to Damon.

"I can't hang onto it anymore," he had said soberly, "It just reminds me of why she's gone."

Damon placed the book next to the pom poms and stepped back, wrapping his girlfriend's hand in his own. Stefan moved then, a long-stemmed rose in his hand. He didn't have anything of personal value to offer, but commented on how Bonnie was like the flower, beautiful, but dangerous. Delicate, but strong. As he turned, he watched sadly as Elena and Caroline clung to one another, Matt being pulled close by Elena's free hand.

"It's okay," Bonnie spoke, appearing beside Jeremy. "They need this."

"We're here to honor Bonnie," Jeremy cleared his throat, "in remembrance for her. I – uh – I'm not sure what else to say."

"Say that I'm not going anywhere. Say that even though they couldn't see me, I've been there the whole time."

Jeremy repeated her words with a growing lump in his throat.

"And I saw you happy," Bonnie spoke as she walked among her friends, "and I know you think now that you can't have a normal life -"

" - that you have to be there for everyone, but you don't."

"Everyone will find their way," Bonnie approached Elena. "You're going to make it back home and you're going to go to college, and you're gonna live it up. Damon will take care of Jeremy, even if I have to haunt him to make sure."

She moved to Matt.

"You didn't do anything wrong. You know I would've sent you 100 emails back if I could. I miss you."

"Caroline, you're gonna decorate that dorm room like your life depends on it. And I know you feel like something's missing, but – Tyler -"

Everyone turned, watching as the hybrid made a slow progression through the trees and into the clearing. The wolves had been crouching, ready to attack, until they caught the scent of his grief and saw the way Jeremy looked at him in the distance. All the wolves, of course, except Erica. Her hand was on her mouth as she resisted the urge to leap from the trees and -

Caroline ran toward the werewolf and they wrapped arms around one another, and Erica stilled.

"You're alive?" Caroline must have started crying again because Tyler only pulled her tighter, despite the grimace that painted his face when he did so. "How are you alive?"

"I'll explain later." He pulled back only slightly with arms still around her and leaning heavily to one side. "I was coming to find you - when I heard - this." He stared past Caroline and to the memorial. "I - I can't believe it."

Once separated, Tyler made his way toward the stump, placing a humble selection of wildflowers atop it. Jeremy patted him on the back before Elena offered him her embrace.

"This is good, " Bonnie remarked with a genuine smile to Jeremy. "This is all I wanted. I'll be okay. We'll all be okay."

Bonnie slipped her hand into Jeremy's. Across the clearing, Damon encased Elena in his arms while Tyler held Caroline loosely. Beside them, Rebekah leaned her head on Matt's shoulder, but her eyes were connected with Stefan, providing her old friend and lover what little comfort she had to offer.


"Tyler," Caroline broke the somber silence that had settled once the group had made the quiet journey over to the Hale house. "What happened?"

"The girl?" Tyler seemed to be scanning the house, as if waiting for someone to step outside. "Did she make it?"

"Girl?" Caroline squinted. "Oh, Erica? She -"

"Tyler!"

The vampires and humans turned and watched as the werewolves stepped out of the trees, one particular werewolf breaking into a run. Tyler jogged to meet her halfway and the pair collided.

"I thought you were dead!" Erica squealed. "How did you survive?"

"Hybrid, remember?" Tyler pulled back and grinned. "I'm tougher to kill than I look."

"Debatable," Damon rolled his eyes as the two walked together back to the house. "But glad you're not worm food, for what it's worth."

"Uh, thanks?"

"Where have you been?" Stefan crossed his arms.

"Erica told me that it takes them longer to heal from an Alpha's wounds. I think that's why it took me so long too."

"So you were hurt?" Caroline seemed to search his body for signs.

"Yeah," Tyler nodded, rubbing at a phantom pain along his side. "Right after I told Jackson to run. Deucalion and I fought. He caught me by surprise and I ended up with a handful very sharp claws in my side, and the other set of five knuckle-deep in my gut."

"We found the blood," Caroline swallowed. "Jackson took us to where you last were, and there was so much blood. We tried to track the scent. To track you."

"I ran. I was faster, but losing strength. There was still wolfsbane in my system. I could feel it burning in my legs with every breath. I tried to throw him off. Zig-zagged. Left blood trails in the wrong direction."

"Just like Ric taught us," Elena smiled softly.

"You did good," Stefan nodded. "Threw us off."

"Yeah," Tyler sighed, "but Deucalion was smart. He got ahead of me. Cut me off. Said he was gonna take me back. By then, I'd figured there was only one reason why he'd go to such trouble to still keep me alive after all of that." He side-eyed Rebekah. "Klaus."

"Yeah," Jeremy shook his head. "We got that news yesterday."

"I'd rather die than let Klaus get to me, or anyone use me in any way to deal or work with him, whatever the plan was. He cornered me at the edge of the Preserve."

Derek lifted his brow.

"You jumped."

"Jumped?" Caroline repeated.

"Off a cliff," Tyler confirmed, "and all the way down into a very cold river. I think the shock gave me the adrenaline boost to keep going, swimming as long and as far as I could. The longer I could douse my scent, the better. When I couldn't move anymore, I climbed up onto shore." He paused, swallowing. "I was barely alive. I couldn't even take down a deer. I stayed in the woods. Let myself heal. Covered my tracks and my scent, taking a lot of dips back in that river. Fed on squirrels and rabbits to try to help my healing, which, by the way Stefan, does actually suck and I kind of respect you a lot more because, damn , disgusting." Tyler glanced around. "Any of you wouldn't happen to have a blood bag on you? I can barely stand."

Tyler tipped and Caroline moved to help, but Erica was already there, slipping an arm underneath the hybrid's shoulders. Both girls glanced at each other, and then worked together to help Tyler up the steps.

"Let's get him inside," Derek nodded at the house.

"Should we take him to Deaton?" Scott asked as they climbed the stairs.

"I just need blood and I'll be okay." Tyler shook his head.

"Yeah," Isaac rubbed the back of his neck, "I'm still so not going to get used to that."

"Klaus is coming," Elena summarized suddenly, watching as the hybrid's jaw clenched, eyes hardening, but something in his lips twitched upward.

"So that is why they wanted me," Tyler grimaced after a moment.

"And the Alphas are still after us," Erica shivered, stilling as Tyler reached over and took her hand.

"I want to help."

"I hope you know what you're signing up for," Derek warned, not unkindly.

"I do," Tyler nodded, a determined set to his jaw. "Bonnie was always protecting us. Protecting everyone. She never would've let innocent people get hurt or die if she could do something about it. I'm staying. For Bonnie. For my mom. And for all the other packs I've found after Klaus ripped his way through them. I swore I'd kill him after he murdered my mom. I didn't spend all this time looking for him, just to run now that's it's harder."

"He's right," Elena moved away from Damon. "Just because this isn't our town, doesn't mean it doesn't deserve our protection."

"This is a stupendously stupid decision," Damon rolled his eyes, "but hey, who wants to have a boring first year of college, huh?"

"I'll take any shot I can get to put Klaus in his place," Jeremy added.

"Here, here," Damon agreed sarcastically, raising an invisible glass. "No offense, Rebekah. Speaking of, well, you, been meaning to ask - you're not going to pull an Elijah on us and stab us in the back during the final showdown against big bad brother, are you?"

"I won't take part in hurting him," she straightened, "but I'm done protecting him from himself. I don't want him dead and I won't let anyone kill him, but I won't try and stop you from stopping him. I can, however, be helpful against these foolish Alphas. If I know Nik, and I do, he'll use them as soldiers for himself. He'll send the pawns first, werewolves and vampires, then the Alphas and hybrids. He's learned his lesson. He won't get his hands dirty unless he has to. Them, I won't have any qualms about ripping to pieces."

"I'm guessing there's not really a 'no killing' plan here," Scott sighed, shaking his head.

"Here we go," Jackson scoffed. "Scott's 'let's be friends with everyone who wants to kill us' policy."

"In case you forgot," Scott whirled around, "pretty much everyone wanted to kill you when you were the Kanima! The Argents, Derek – I fought to save you!"

"This is different, Scott," Isaac shifted uncomfortably.

"We don't kill people!"

"I don't like killing if I don't have to either," Stefan interjected, approaching the young werewolf, "but they're right. The people that are coming here won't hesitate to kill you and everyone you care about. This isn't murder. This is protecting your home, your family, friends."

"Inspiring, bro, really," Damon clapped Stefan on the back.

"I know it's been a long night and morning for you," Derek approached Jeremy, "but I am actually interested in what you were taught by the hunter. It doesn't have to be today but -"

"No," Jeremy shook his head. "It's cool. I could use the distraction."

"Having a vampire around would be good too," Derek added, "so you could show us your skills and we could see how they fight."

"I can stay," Rebekah volunteered. "I am an Original so I'm the strongest and it'd show you what my brother is capable of. Plus, I'm getting bored."

"Nope."

The vampire turned to face the human girl with a look of confusion etched across her brow.

"Last night was only part one of girl time," Lydia reminded them.

"There are unkillable creatures coming to kill us," Jackson admonished his girlfriend. "Do you really think now is the time for girl time?"

"One," Lydia lifted a finger, " you were unkillable once and we stopped you. Two, girl time is needed now more than ever," she spoke, glancing over at Caroline and Elena.

"It's okay, Jackson," Derek cut in. "I only want a few of you here for this anyway. It's better if we work in a small group and then train everyone else once we have a better understanding of how we all fight. It will be faster and more effective."

"You too, sweetheart," Lydia motioned for Cora.

"Uh, no offense, but I don't know any of you," she gestured at the girls, "and I didn't just spend three months in a vault to get out and go shopping. I'm staying."

"You're not healed," Derek crossed his arms. "It hasn't even been two full days."

"Boy Hunter Wonder filled me in on everything," she shrugged. "Have one of the vamps give me some of their blood and I'll be good as new."

"Cora, stop -"

"No, Derek! You don't get to tell me what to do. The last time I saw you, I was eleven. I survived the fire. I survived being completely alone for years until I found a pack to take me in. I survived the Alphas' little game. I'm not some kid sister you need to protect. Now, I'm staying."

There was a long moment of tense silence until Derek sighed and backed away, shaking his head.

"We'll pick you up a few things," Lydia grinned.

"You don't need to do that," Cora eyed the girl with something between annoyance and confusion.

"Oh, sweetie," Lydia tilted her head and looked the werewolf up and down, "I do."

"Seeing how my key battling strategy involves a baseball bat," Stiles stood and clapped his hands together, breaking the last of the tension, "I think I can skip this part of boot camp then." The boy swallowed once, twice, then cleared his throat. "Scott, buddy, Call of Duty challenge. You in?"

Scott swung his head around at that. Sure, the pair had been working together the past few days now, but all their conversations had been about mission plans or dead bodies by pools. The werewolf could hardly remember Stiles' looking him in the eye.

"Everyone that can should take it easy today," Stefan agreed, saving Scott from having to articulate a response. "Have fun. It's about to get rough."

"See?" Stiles slapped a hand against his old best friend's back, either not noticing or ignoring the way Scott flinched. "Video game showdown at my place. My dad's working all day. But you guys can buy food because I do want to be able to afford college one day."

"I'll stay," Damon sauntered to Jeremy's side. "Got to keep Little Gilbert here out of trouble."

"Keep yourself out of trouble," Elena warned fondly, pecking his lips.

"You too," Derek pointed at Tyler and waved him over. "You guys say Klaus will have hybrids with him." He kept his tone neutral, even as the teenager stood with one arm wrapped casually around Caroline's torso.

"He just got back," Caroline shook her head. "He's not up to -"

"Some blood and I'll be perfectly fine," Tyler squeezed her hand, "I promise. I want to get Klaus more than anything."

"It's a party," Damon sing-songed. "A sergeant general werewolf, a lovesick hybrid, a gorgeous vampire, vampire hunter junior -"

"And me."

Allison stepped forward.

"Uh, hello? Allison," Lydia tapped her heel. "It's called 'Girl Time' for a reason. You can't bail too."

"You have a vampire hunter," she ignored her friend. "You need a werewolf hunter. Jeremy and I will have to teach the humans so I might as well be here too. I know how to strategize. I can help come up with a plan."

"You?" Damon eyed Allison from toes to hairline. "You look more harmless than Barbie did before her vampire upgrade."

"Don't count on it," Isaac said sourly.

"You're human," Damon clucked. "And a girl. At least Jer's got the Gilbert anti-death ring."

Allison bit back a retort, fingers twitching for her bow to teach the vampire a lesson.

"Allison's part of Scott's pack," Derek interrupted with a tone of finality. "And she's a highly skilled hunter from a line of the first werewolf hunters to have existed. If she says she wants to stay," he reluctantly glanced over at the girl, "she stays."

Allison offered the Alpha a look of surprise and gratitude.

"What about you, Stefan," Damon wagged his eyebrows at his brother. "Care to join us?"

"I'm not hanging with Dumb and Dumber playing video games," Jackson interrupted, rolling his eyes. "I have this year's lacrosse season to practice for."

"It's a Sunday," Stiles threw his hands up, "and besides, hello, you're a werewolf now," he swung his head back. "You don't really need practice."

"Yeah, but it's fun. More fun than sitting around your place with you two," Jackson scoffed.

"I'm down for that," Boyd moved next to Jackson. "I could use it after being cooped up for so long."

"Go easy," Derek warned. "You're still healing too."

"Sounds fun," Matt sighed, "but I think the breakable human should stay away from the not so breakable werewolves."

"No," Derek shook his head. "You can go if you want. They need to learn control. Scott and Isaac put too many players in the hospital last year."

"That means you too, Stiles," Scott chuckled at his friend's long-suffering groan.

"As if I had no chance of playing first line before," Stiles grumbled, "now I have to compete with more werewolves. Great."

"Hey," Jackson shrugged, "maybe if you manage to not actually annoy the crap out of the entire team this year, we'll break a couple legs so you can play a game."

"Gee, thanks," Stiles begrudgingly followed the boys out the doors. "I almost think that was you saying something nice to me. Maybe being a murderous lizard monster has made you a better person. Maybe you -"

Everyone inside heard the yelp, followed by Stiles cursing Jackson quite colorfully. Isaac and Boyd were laughing as Scott shot a playful insult at his co-captain, which made Matt give a hoot.

Derek watched them go, brow bent. The younger werewolf hadn't mentioned anything about Stiles. Sure, the kid had come back around to help and Scott hadn't sent him away, yet. But he was pretty positive they hadn't mended anything. He had had some time to see their friendship, their brotherhood bond first hand. He had known that it would survive the fight, survive the summer. But this? Stiles suddenly was acting as if nothing had happened at all. Either he was putting on a show and pretending for some reason, or just bottling it up. Either possibility didn't exactly end well.

The girls, save Allison, left then as well and Derek couldn't think long on it. Lydia was dragging Elena by the wrist, who, in turn, was clutching Caroline in a 'I'm not suffering this alone' desperate sort of way. Still, despite the recent news, Lydia's prattling about designer shoes was successfully distracting the grieving girls. By the time they reached Lydia's car, there was a round of giggling.

Back in the house, Derek wanted to smile. His and Scott's packs had come together for something other than saving their own hides. Allison would help in training and battle plans, despite his reservations about her and her family. The boys would get in some training while allowing Stefan and Matt to blow off some steam. And Lydia would keep the girls from letting themselves be swallowed by sadness.

"Okay," Damon ran his hand along the wall as he walked. "Before we start this little pow wow, we have a problem."

"Which is?" Derek crossed his arms.

"I walked through your door."

"Is that supposed to be some really bad threat or something?" Allison placed her hands against her hips, fingers conveniently close to the hilt of the knife in her belt.

"Get your finger off the trigger, Buffy, and allow me to demonstrate."

Damon sauntered over to the front door, skipping back and forth over the threshold.

"Ta-da," he finished with a flourish of his hands. "Not just me. We all crossed right over. Of course, we were a little distracted at the time to notice it. I did, obviously, months back when I first came. I'm surprised. You've had to invite us in, everywhere else, but never noticed it here."

"How is that possible?" Jeremy glanced at Derek. "Tyler could still keep you guys out of his house when he was just a werewolf."

"It's possible," Damon moved back over by them, "because you, " he jabbed a thumb toward Derek, "don't own this house, do you? You said it used to be your family's. You do have the whole Stefan-guilt-broody-live-in-squalor-as-punishment-for-my-sins vibe going on, but hey, you upgraded to a swanky loft. Not long before we got here, too. Furniture there was all new. But why the apartment? Because you had to move, didn't you?"

"The city took it over," Derek grunted, grinding his teeth at just how much fun the vampire seemed to be getting out of this.

"So, lesson numero uno for our werewolf huntress here, Jeremy. What does that mean?"

Jeremy gave Damon a long-suffering glare, but spoke regardless.

"Vampires can't come into a house until they've been invited in. Unless the owner is dead or the house is vacant."

"Yeah, Lydia explained that to me when I got back into town," Allison furrowed her brow, "but I guess none of us thought about it."

"And, therein, young grasshopper, lies our problem. We're going to need a place to operate our little suicide mission out of. We can train here. It is secluded so we won't be disturbed by any pesky humans. But, we need somewhere for the more breakable members of our respective Scoobie gang to be when the real fighting starts, besides the loft since they know we've been there all summer."

"No way am I hiding when my friends are in danger," Allison straightened.

"I'm not sitting this one out Damon," Jeremy spoke at the same time.

"Do you remember what happened last time you got involved?" Damon advanced on Jeremy. "You got yourself killed. Elena barely survived that. I am done having this conversation every single time. Did you forget about Anna? Ric? Jenna? Bonnie?"

Even Damon didn't see the fist coming before it was too late. Rubbing his jaw, the vampire calmed himself.

"I agree," Derek split the silence.

" Finally," Damon threw his head back, "someone with a brain."

"With them," Derek finished.

"Are you crazy? Look, I know Robina Hood over there tried to kill your pack and you don't know Jeremy -"

"I'm not agreeing with them to get them killed," Derek snapped, fists clenching. "I don't like it. I don't like any of them being involved, but this isn't about playing it safe. It's about playing it smart. We'll waste time and energy trying to convince them to stay out of it. Any other situation, I'd just lock them up to keep them out of the way. But, and I hate saying this, we're going to need them."

"No, I like locking them up. Let's go with that. Or would you rather be distracted by having to protect them?"

"You won't need to protect us," Allison's eyes met Derek's in understanding. "Because we're going to split up."

"What? Is this Crazy Town? Is everyone here suicidal?"

"No," Jeremy nodded. "It makes sense."

"What does?" Cora glanced from one human to the other.

"Vampires can't come inside if they're not invited in," Jeremy explained, "but that won't stop werewolves."

"You want to use yourselves as bait ?" Damon yelled to the ceiling.

"They'd come after us anyway," Allison argued. "We're with you. Whether we meet them on the battlefield or hide, if they know the Alphas, then they know who we are and whose side we're on. They might even target us. Try to use us as leverage to make you surrender. We're not safer hiding. And whatever locked door you put us behind, they can get through it. Unless you use mountain ash, and there's no guarantee it will work on these other werewolves or hybrids if they bring them as back up."

"And if they can't get in, they'll just burn the place down," Jeremy added.

"So, we divide and conquer," Allison finished.

"It's not that simple, cupcake," Damon shook his head.

"What the heck is mountain ash?"

Everyone's heads turned as Tyler spoke for the first time.

"It's like a powder," Derek responded. "Only a human can use it. It can create a barrier so werewolves can't get in or out."

"Like one of Bonnie's spells," Jeremy explained.

"Well, you wanted me here to learn about hybrids," Tyler turned to the Alpha. "Try it on me and we'll see if I can get out. Do you have some?"

"No, not here," Derek nodded, "but I know someone who does."

A/N: You'll notice that this chapter is longer than the others. So far, they've ranged to be about 1-2k words/ each. This one is over 4k words. I had wanted to get chapters up fast and was dividing them up for pacing, but I really want to push myself to do longer chapters for ya'll. Especially since I'm concurrently working on my "actual" novel. Novel chapters are usually 3-5k words, so I'm trying to practice my pacing for that word count. I hope this is okay with everyone. It's still the same amount of content, just not as split up.