A/N: Wow, I bet you weren't expecting another update for another million years? Heh. I've been procrastinating on most other things I have to get done in favour of writing this fic. My priorities are a little muddled at the moment. It's about half the size of the past couple of chapters, but I figured you would appreciate it nonetheless. Originally I had intended to write another long chapter, but I decided to split it up so I could post a little something early. Shorter chapters are also easier to edit.
This chapter is sort of a filler chapter, but I hope you enjoy it anyways. There's a bit of "Tyler" (Klaus) and Caroline at the beginning!
In response to amelia, an unregistered reviewer (and for anyone else's curiosity), I have yet to decide how long the rest of the fic will be. I know where I intend to go with the story at its end, with general and specific ideas of how to get there, but I'm really writing as I go along. I'd say there are more than a few chapters left.
Again, thanks for all the reviews and support. I'm happy to know that you're all so loyal to this story even though I have trouble updating frequently. I admire the authors on this site who can post chapters quickly and consistently without compromising the quality of their work.
Please forgive any spelling and grammatical errors and be sure to send your thoughts my way via review when you're finished reading!
He woke up to the feeling of the warm sun hitting his face and an equally warm body pressed up against him.
As his eyes adjusted to the light, he was better able to make sense of his surroundings.
Without moving, he scanned the room and quickly concluded that indeed, he was in Caroline's room. In fact, he was lying in her bed next to her; something she was completely oblivious to.
He couldn't recall the last time he had slept beside someone like this. He never shared a bed with any of his past intimate encounters, and it had been decades since he and Elijah had inadvertently occupied the same bed after a blood and alcohol fuelled evening.
It was a strange feeling; to have someone nestled beside him; his mere presence facilitating her slumber. Tyler's presence - he had to remind himself.
Sure, he had watched her sleep before - the first night they were together - but only long enough to drink in her flawless features and make note of them on a scrap piece of paper. He had never slept beside her, until now; and even still he wasn't even sure last night counted since he was in Tyler's body and not his own.
He stared down at her sleeping form. Even in sleep she was enthralling to him. Her beauty both inspired and frustrated him.
Frustrated him because he couldn't get over how she had hypnotized him; frustrated him because he wanted nothing more than to touch her; but as Tyler he found the prospect revolting.
She seemed so peaceful. He could only wonder what she was dreaming about.
He did not remember his own dreams from the night previous. Despite everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours and the fact Caroline had monopolized all of the blankets, last night was the first night in a long while that he achieved decent sleep.
The sparkle of the bracelet on the nightstand caught his eye once more. She had obviously been at his house at some point following his desiccation. He still couldn't figure out how she had managed to find the piece of jewellery though. Once he was back in his own body he would make a point of asking her.
He shrugged off the thought for a few moments as he stared up at the ceiling as he inhaled the lavender and vanilla scents of her room
He still could not get over the close calls he had experienced last evening; how close he had come to the end; how close he had come to never seeing her again.
It was not a position he wanted to be in again. With that in mind, he considered leaving the room to call Bonnie, but as Caroline began to stir, he relaxed his – Tyler's – body, and waited for her to wake.
Her eyes fluttered open hesitantly as she too adjusted to the bright morning sun cascading into the room through her curtains.
She still seemed surprised to see him.
He readied himself to play the role of Tyler Lockwood.
"Good morning sleepy head," he greeted her playfully, hoping it would pass for something Tyler might say.
She smiled faintly.
"Morning," she replied. "How did you sleep?" she asked, looking up at him.
"Excellent next to you," he admitted freely.
He was allowed to say that as Tyler.
She blushed as she nodded and turned on her back like he was.
"Do you feel okay?" she asked, glancing at him cautiously. "What happened after I left you in the cellar?" she wondered.
He shrugged.
"I feel fine. I don't really know what happened. I started transitioning into a werewolf and then I blacked out," he claimed convincingly.
He could tell by the look on her face that her mind was in overdrive searching for an explanation.
"Maybe it was a lingering effect of the sire bond? Maybe when Klaus was killed I felt his pain?" he proposed.
Her face twisted into one of bemusement.
"But if Klaus dies, you die..." she reminded him.
"Well maybe it's all bullshit," he said hurriedly. "Maybe the bloodline and descendent stuff is a lie," he suggested.
"But what about Finn, Sage, and Troy?" she countered pointedly.
He paused for a brief moment to appreciating the way her forehead contorted as she fell deeper into thought.
"There could be a link we're missing," he proposed. "Either way, Klaus is dead and that what matters," he declared in an effort to gauge her reaction.
She looked at him blankly and nodded hesitantly before turning away.
Staring distantly out the window she released a drawn out sigh.
"What is it?" he asked.
His question brought her out of her thoughtful trance.
"Hmm?" she murmured, returning her attention onto him.
"Is something wrong?" he questioned as he propped himself up on his shoulder.
She smiled meekly at him before climbing out of bed.
"I'm fine," she assured him. "Washroom," she said, before he could ask where she was going.
He sighed in defeat and fell back against the mattress, admiring her cute choice of pyjamas as she scurried out of the room.
Judging by her reaction towards his mention of Klaus...or him, it seemed his "death" had impacted her more than he thought.
While she was gone, he decided to take the opportunity to reach into his pants pocket for his – Tyler's – cell phone. The time on the phone revealed that it was almost noon. He couldn't believe he had slept so late. He should have been back in his body already. Bonnie had left no new message, so he sent her what she would hopefully interpret as an eager message about returning to his body as soon as possible.
A few minutes later he could hear the sound of Caroline's bare feet stepping down the hall back towards her room.
He set his phone down beside the bracelet as the door creaked open.
She re-entered the room looking slightly more dishevelled than she had when she woke; he noted the faint but fresh tear stains on her cheeks.
He frowned slightly, but said nothing, opting not to put her on the spot yet.
She regarded him with an obviously fake cheerful expression as his senses perked up at the sight of the glass of red liquid in her hand.
"Breakfast in bed," she announced brightly.
Although he knew something was troubling her, he couldn't help but smirk at her efforts as she sat back on the bed and handed him the glass.
No one, aside from hired servants and compelled victims had ever offered him prepared meals in bed.
"You should eat; your body is probably weak from last night," she explained.
Although he felt a little strange in Tyler's body, he was far from weak, but he wasn't about to bring that up nor was he about to refuse blood that was handed to him. He didn't want to waste time hunting for blood today when his top priority was reclaiming his body.
He sipped from the glass appreciatively, only stopping half way when he realized that she did not have a glass of her own.
"You're not feeding?" he asked curiously.
She bit her lip.
"I'm not really hungry right now," she replied.
He regarded her with a look of concern.
It was unusual for a vampire to lose their appetite, but, from his own experience, it was most frequently triggered by nagging guilt or despair.
"Caroline, you need to eat," he urged, handing her his half full glass of blood. "Not feeding will make you weak, and with the Council aware of what we are, we need to have our strength at all times," he lectured her.
She gave no response, so he pushed the glass in front of her.
"Drink," he demanded.
She rolled her eyes at him as she took the glass and drank reluctantly.
"I keep forgetting about the Council," she groaned. "Everything going on with Elena has preoccupied me," she confessed.
Elena? What was going on with Elena that had Caroline so distracted?
"What about Elena?" he asked, hoping that whatever it was it wasn't something Tyler was already supposed to know.
She looked at him with a seemingly shocked expression.
"That's right, you wouldn't have known. We didn't talk last night," she concluded.
"What is it?" he pressed anxiously.
She set the glass on the nightstand beside her.
"Last night Matt was driving Elena out of town to get her away from all of this mess. When we found out that Klaus died, Matt and Elena decided to head back to Mystic Falls so they'd have a chance to say goodbye to everyone they thought might die as a result of Klaus dying – me, Stefan, Tyler. Anyways..." she started shakily. "...anyways, Rebekah ran them off of Wickery Bridge to kill Alaric."
"What did she do?" he said angrily and surprised as he began to piece together where Caroline's story was headed.
His overdramatic response as Tyler prompted a suspicious glance from her.
He pushed himself to relax.
"What happened?" he asked, hoping he sounded more concerned and upset than enraged.
"Stefan didn't get there in time," she continued. "Elena was still conscious when he found Matt's truck submerged, but she told him to save Matt instead. He did what she asked."
The recently consumed blood in his system was bubbling and he wanted nothing more than to lash out in response to this latest development, but he was in Tyler's body. How could Stefan be so stupid? He was beginning to reassess his conclusion that Stefan had been Elena's better option. The doppelganger was dead. She was gone, along with her magical blood which was the key to creating his hybrids. All his efforts had been wasted. He gritted his teeth as he thought about what he would do next. Surely destroying his baby sister would be first on his to do list. He needed his body back more than ever.
"When Elena hit her head at Klaus's the injury had been more severe than Dr. Fell let on. She gave Elena vampire blood," Caroline added.
"She's in transition..." he breathed, connecting the dots.
He cursed to himself. Doppelganger vampire blood was of no use to him. He loathed the thought of another vampire Petrova out in the world taunting and torturing him with her immortality and the possibility of what could have been.
"When I saw Stefan last night he said he was going to see if Bonnie could find a way to slow or reverse the transitioning process...but if that doesn't work Elena is either going to die or become a vampire," she informed him.
Shifting on the bed so he was facing away from Caroline, he uttered a few expletives under his breath and frantically searched for a legitimate excuse to leave. He needed to find Bonnie immediately.
His thoughts were drowned out by the sound of Caroline crying lightly behind him. He hated that sound. It put him on edge.
He turned back around to find her face littered with fresh tears.
"Hey," he whispered. "Don't cry."
She looked at him and then looked up at the ceiling in hopes of containing her tears as she scoffed.
"I'm sorry," she apologized. "I know I should be happy you're alive...but now Elena's becoming a vampire and the Council probably still wants us dead," she explained. "I'm upset and I'm scared," she confessed before wiping her eyes.
He held her chin to direct her focus.
"You have nothing to be sorry for lo...Caroline," he assured her, quickly catching his almost slip of the tongue. "A lot has happened. You have every right to be upset."
He searched for more to say to calm her down. He wasn't exactly skilled in the art of consoling another.
"Everything will be okay. Elena will be fine if she becomes a vampire. She'll have you to show her the ropes," he told her.
"But what if she doesn't complete the transition?" she asked worriedly. "She's my best friend; I don't want to lose her."
He sighed, knowing that question was coming.
"We'll have to respect her choice, like you did with your father," he reminded her.
She nodded as she sniffled.
"I know," she responded.
He combed his hands through her hair tucking the lose strands behind her ears.
"As for the Council, while you're looking out for Elena, I'll be looking out for you. I won't let anything happen to you," he promised, unsure if it was Tyler or him speaking those words.
Caught up in the moment and completely forgetful of the fact that he was still in Tyler's body, he kissed her lips lightly. They still tasted of the delicious coppery blood he had just pushed her to consume.
Kissing her again was practically all he could think about while he laid paralyzed by desiccation.
Using Tyler's lips to achieve his desire was not ideal, but given how fragile his life apparently was, he couldn't help himself.
He could only hope that upon returning to his own body that she would freely kiss him again.
As he deepened the kiss, he could feel her tense and hesitate.
She pulled back, her face lingering in front of his.
Her eyes were closed, but he could see tears threatening to break through as she attempted to steady her breathing.
"Tyler don't," she said. "It's not true what you said about me having nothing to be sorry for," she elaborated.
He eyed her curiously as she avoided eye contact with him.
"I have a lot to be sorry for," she admitted, pausing for a few moments. "We need to finish talking about Klaus," she told him, staring directly at him.
He could have sworn in that moment she saw right through him, but he knew he was only being paranoid.
She needed to finish talking about him to Tyler? What did that mean? What had she told him? What did Tyler know? What didn't he know?
"When I thought you died last night, my biggest regret was that I never got the chance to be honest with you. You deserve my honesty and an apology. I need to do it now while I have you here," she said anxiously.
He sat there bewildered.
"I can't tell you what you want to hear," she mumbled as long strings of tears draped her face. "...I can't tell you what you want to hear about Klaus."
As he listened to her he realized he was probably more nervous than she was. He had no clue what was going on, or what she was about to tell him. He didn't want to say anything stupid prematurely that would give him away.
He desperately needed an out.
And as though someone was listening to his pleas his cell phone began to buzz loudly behind him.
Caroline frowned but sighed in a way that signalled relief.
He apologized with his eyes and turned for his phone.
Bonnie had finally texted him.
"Meet me at the witch burial ground," it read.
He stood up from the bed and grabbed for his pants on the floor.
"Where are you going? Is something wrong?" Caroline asked worriedly.
He shook his head.
"Can we talk later? It was my mom. I should probably check in on her. Maybe she has some news about the Council," he lied.
She looked disappointed but agreed nonetheless.
Once at the witch burial ground he entered the old plantation style mansion cautiously, knowing the meeting Bonnie had arranged could very easily be a trap. He was ready for anything at this point.
The parlour of the house was surrounded by candles. Bonnie was in the centre searching almost frantically through one of her grimoires.
She didn't turn to acknowledge him when he entered the room.
"You look sleep deprived," he observed. "I don't suppose that would have anything to do with Elena's new predicament," he thought.
Glaring at him, she nodded.
"Caroline told you," she concluded.
He nodded back.
"My only question is why you didn't bother to tell me," he said bitterly as he began to pace in front of the window. "Seeing as we've grown so close."
"Stefan didn't get a hold of me until after our meeting in the Lockwood cellar," she reasoned.
"A text message would have sufficed," he complained.
She ignored his grovelling.
"Did Caroline suspect anything?" Bonnie asked curiously.
He shook his head.
"Not a thing. In fact, she welcomed me eagerly into her bed with open... um, arms," he grinned.
Bonnie shot him a scornful look and he held his hands up in defensive.
"Don't worry Bonnie, it was completely innocent, I swear on my mother's grave," he smirked.
She rolled her eyes and returned her attention to the grimoire, flipping the pages incessantly.
"And has your tireless search for a spell been fruitful?" he asked hopefully.
As much as he wanted his body back, he wanted Elena's body to remain human almost just as much. Elena's problem was under a time constraint and was thus more pressing than his.
She rolled his eyes at him, knowing exactly why he seemed so concerned.
"If it was, I wouldn't be here searching through this grimoire," she replied sarcastically.
"Touché," he responded. "So then I assume that since you spent all night trying to track down a spell to reverse Elena's transition you've also spent all of your energy; meaning that putting me back in my body is on hold?" he wondered casually, knowing even before she could answer him that he wouldn't like what she had to say.
"It doesn't matter anyways," she said cryptically.
"What do you mean it doesn't matter?" he asked sharply.
"Your body isn't here," she revealed.
His entire body tensed and he suddenly felt sick. Impulsively, he grabbed her by her arms and pulled her up from the floor.
"What did you say!?" he interrogated.
"Your body isn't here," she repeated simply.
He tightened his grip on her arms.
"Well if my body isn't here, then where is it?" he implored.
"The Council has it," she answered.
As if the day wasn't getting any worse. He knew he should have forced Bonnie to place him back in his own body last night. He knew something like this was going to happen.
"If only I could kill you now," he growled, his hands gripping the skin around her neck.
She uttered some witch talk and an invisible force pushed him coercively to the other side of the room.
"It wasn't me who gave your body up to the Council," she said sarcastically.
"Then who did?" he hissed.
"It was Damon," she confessed.
"I should have known. Damon does come up with some brilliant plans, doesn't he?" he mused. "And just why would Damon give me up to the Council?" he asked.
"Caroline's mom asked him to and he agreed before I could meet him," she answered. "She and Damon led the Council to believe that Caroline and Tyler killed you; your body is proof; a peace offering. The Council agreed to take that as a sign of their loyalty. They agreed to leave Caroline and Tyler be so long as there are no more vampire attacks," she explained.
"How do they know my body is in the coffin if you sealed it shut?" he wondered.
She bit her lip and eyed him nervously.
"I unsealed it so they could see your body," she admitted.
He growled and lunged towards her, a spell instantly stopping him in his tracks.
"Calm down," she urged. "I sealed it shut again after Damon opened the coffin to show them," she reassured him.
"If you had time to do all that without being detected, then why didn't you conduct some spell to bring my body here?" he complained.
"Sealing a coffin is simpler," she said plainly. "I had to act fast."
He leaned against the old mantel above the fireplace and threw his arms up in the air in defeat.
"Well you're lucky I made those coffins virtually indestructible, or there would be nothing stopping them from setting it aflame instantly or hacking it into tiny pieces," he revealed.
"Luckily, they decided to store the coffin at the Founder's Hall for safe-keeping. They didn't want to take a chance by burying it. You can thank Damon for that suggestion," she told him. "It seems like the fact that your body didn't turn to dust like your brother Finn's when he was staked has risen more than a few red flags for him," she added.
"Wonderful," he chided.
"It's probably better this way anyways. Your body was badly charred, it needs some time to heal itself before I can put you back in it," she pointed out.
He groaned.
"Then I suppose all we need now is a way into the Founder's Hall," he concluded.
Bonnie nodded.
"Not until I help Elena," she said, sitting down on the floor and attending to the grimoire once more.
He laughed at her efforts, even though a part of him desperately hoped she would find something.
"You won't find anything in that rubbish," he told her.
She looked up at him questioningly; hopeful that he had an answer to give her. He had nothing.
"My mother – the original witch – created vampires. Even she could not undo the magic she created. She had to resort to killing my siblings and I to be rid of us. If she couldn't undo vampirism, you surely won't be able to reverse the transition phase for Elena," he decided.
"I have to try," she said sounding more than determined. "You of all people should want that," she remarked.
He shrugged.
"I was already prepared to kill Elena myself prior to my desiccation. I had come to terms then with the fact that the number of hybrids I could create would be limited by how much blood I could drain from Elena's body," he answered.
She scoffed at his comments.
"If you're not going to help me, then leave," she commanded.
"No need to be rude, witch," he chastised her. "I think a stiff drink is in order after these latest developments. Rest assured that I'll be in touch with you soon about my body," he finished.
He stopped by the Lockwood mansion to shower and dress into some of Tyler's jock inspired clothing he abhorred. Luckily Tyler's mother had not been there to harass him with twenty questions that he had no desire to make up answers for.
However, his phone had been blowing up with texts from both Tyler's mother and Caroline. They both wanted to know his whereabouts. Both claimed to have news of Klaus and the Council. He snickered. Caroline's texts contained added messages about needing to finish their conversation from earlier. He balked at the texts and refused to reply. He didn't know how to respond and he didn't want another confrontation. Perhaps pretending to be Tyler would be more difficult than he imagined. Of course, it would have been simple had he only had to pretend for a few hours. Now that it seemed he wouldn't be getting his body back for at least another day, being Tyler would prove to be more of a challenge.
Rather than raid the Lockwood's liquor supply, he decided going out to the Grill would be more appropriate. As Tyler he knew he needed to keep up appearances. He also knew that he could avoid any confrontations in public.
On his way into town he slowed in front of his mansion and debated whether or not to go inside to secure some of his personal effects. Surely the Council would help themselves to his residence believing him to be deceased.
However, when a car appeared coming down the drive, he decided against going inside and pulled his car off to the side of the road.
He waited for the car to pass. To his surprise and intrigue, Elijah and Rebekah were in the front seats of the black SUV.
Perhaps Caroline had crossed paths with one of his siblings the night previous and that's how she obtained the bracelet?
Once his siblings were at a safe distance down the road, he pulled back onto the road himself and headed for the Grill. He couldn't deal with his siblings until he was back in his own body.
When he arrived at the grill he headed straight for the bar. The perky bartender he had been seducing prior to Caroline's interruption that one evening was working once more. He chuckled at the memory and took a seat.
He looked at the clock and noted that it was late afternoon; an appropriate time to begin his drinking binge.
The waitress stopped in front of him as he flashed a smile.
"Afternoon, love," he flirted. "I'll have whatever scotch you're serving...neat," he ordered.
Her face contorted into one of surprise, confusion, and amusement.
"Tyler, you're underage. I'll be fired if I serve you," she laughed. "You're mom's right over there," she pointed across the room.
His face went hot with embarrassment as he realized the mistake he had made. He was Tyler not Klaus, he scolded himself.
He turned to see Tyler's mother setting up something on stage with the help of a few girls and guys Tyler's age.
Turning back to the waitress he smiled and apologized before catching her eyes with his compulsion.
"Make it a whiskey and Coke then, and please be discreet about it," he requested.
She nodded and giggled as she prepped his drink under the cover of the bar.
"Oh, and I'll have an order of nachos too. Wouldn't want mom getting suspicious," he grinned at her.
She set his drink on the bar top and headed off for the kitchen.
"Tyler, there you are," he heard Tyler's mom squeal from behind him.
His brows furrowed and he complained with an exhale as he turned around on the chair.
"Mom," he said innocently.
She hugged him before he could even offer up an explanation.
"I've been trying to get a hold of you. Liz told me you stayed over at Caroline's last night, but I expected that you'd come and see me sometime today. I'm your mother after all. I'm so happy to see you," she beamed, pulling away from the uncomfortable embrace.
He forced a smile and nodded in agreement.
"Sorry, I had some stuff to do. I went by the house but you weren't there," he offered.
"I've been here most of the afternoon setting up for the Miss Mystic nomination party," she informed him. "Speaking of which, have you seen Caroline? I saw her earlier. She's supposed to be here tonight to help me host," she told him.
He shrugged.
"I haven't seen her," he answered.
"Well text her for me will you?" she asked as she kissed him on the forehead.
"I will," he replied.
She smiled and turned back for the stage.
"Oh wait, did Caroline or Liz happen to tell you about the Council?" she said quietly, approaching him once more.
He nodded.
"It's wonderful news. Now you both can stay in Mystic Falls," she exclaimed happily.
She kissed his cheek much to his distaste before leaving him alone at the bar.
Finally, he was able to indulge in his drink. It wasn't his preference, but he could taste the alcohol nonetheless. That's what mattered most at this point.
For the time being there was nothing he could do about the fact he was in Tyler's body. He would have to wait a bit longer until Bonnie was done with Elena and had regained her strength. He'd also have to wait for his body to heal itself. He hated the thought of his body in the Council's possession, but at least he knew where it was. He considered going to the Founder's Hall on his own to retrieve the coffin, but it was of no use to him until Bonnie could work her magic. Besides, he'd likely need her magic to get the coffin out of there in the first place. Only a bit longer, he kept telling himself. Repeating that fact did nothing to quell his nerves.
The alcohol helped, but only a little.
He had just finished off his first drink when he heard another pair of heels click across the floor towards him. He knew it was her before he even turned around. The familiar intoxicating flowery scent gave her away.
"Tyler, where have you been?" she demanded.
A/N: So I hope that chapter was mildly interesting. I know it was kind of a filler chapter, so yeah.
With respect to my reference to Miss Mystic, (whether you believe me or not) I had intended to incorporate events surrounding Miss Mystic long before real TVD spoilers revealed that we would be revisiting that event in season 4. I have no intention (as of right now) of completely repeating the Miss Mystic Pageant ceremony, but I do intend to have Miss Mystic events leading up to the actual ceremony serve as the backdrop for some of my chapters.
Also, I know I'll probably get a lot of heat for keeping Klaus in Tyler's body a little longer. While it may seem like a long time because it takes me awhile to update. I can assure you that Klaus will not be in Tyler's body for more than a few days in the timeline of my story. This will probably translate to one or two more chapters. Please hold tight! I think it will be worth it. As a token of my gratitude for your understanding, know that Caroline is about to discover the truth about Klaus being in Tyler's body very soon. By that, I mean she'll likely find out in the next chapter.