I apologize for the lateness. Midterms really kicked my ass, but here's an update. Also, I'm doing Nanowrimo so I'm working on something original which can be read at .com if any of you are interested. If you are, I only (very politely) ask that you leave feedback on it because that's kinda the whole point of me posting it.

Thanks for reading!

Hybrid Theory

Tyler stood with Bonnie for awhile longer. He didn't move until Bonnie did when she took in a deep breath and turned to face him. "Thanks for calling him," she said. There were wet glimmers in her eyes that he knew were tears, but he pretended not to notice because she was swiping them away so ardently he knew she didn't want him to mention them.

"Yeah," Tyler said. "No problem. I'll keep you posted on what he's up to. If you want."

"I don't know if I want that," Bonnie said, casting a sidelong glance to the tank. "It might be harder that way."

"Well if you do," he said. "I'll tell you whatever you want to know. If you want me to ask him something even, I'll do it."

Jeremy said he was fine, that his phone call the other night was just a one-time deal, a dark moment that had since passed. Tyler wasn't sure if he believed him, but maybe Tyler offering him the house, giving him someone to make conversation with, would help him more than living in the Salvatore boarding house with the vampire who'd once killed him. It wouldn't be as good as knowing Bonnie was alive and well, but it was all Tyler could offer him.

That's not totally true, he thought. He could have told Jeremy that Bonnie was just fine and right next to him, alive and mostly well. Sure she was exercising some shaky judgment and working for Klaus, but she was definitely alive.

Bonnie smiled weakly and nodded. "Thanks," she said again. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, looking for something else to say.

Tyler spoke first. "Are you okay?"

She seemed to be thinking about it. It took her awhile to answer. "I don't know," she said. "I thought...I don't know what I would have done if it wasn't okay. If he'd...you know."

"I don't know what I would have done either," Tyler admitted. "But we don't need to think about it because he's fine."

Hopefully things would stay that way. Tyler didn't want to think about what they'd need to do if Jeremy wasn't fine after all, and he didn't want to have that conversation with Bonnie. Go back? Stay here? If things got really bad, would she go, just to make sure Jeremy was okay? At the moment he thought for sure she'd refuse. It conflicted so completely with her plans of detachment, but she was shaky on it, so shaky she'd almost caved when Tyler let her listen to that message.

"Yeah," Bonnie agreed with another unconvincing smile. "I should go. I can't be gone too long."

"Because of Klaus?"

"Yeah," she said. "Because of Klaus. And Marcel," she added.

"And Marcel," Tyler agreed. "If you need help-"

Bonnie cut him off. "I don't need Marcel's help." To Tyler that sounded very synonymous with "I don't need anyone's help", but he wasn't about to tell her that. It was the kind of thing that would probably set her off, and they were already walking a difficult line.

"You're right," he said. "You don't need Marcel's help, but you can take mine. Marcel doesn't have to know about it. It'll just be between me and you."

Bonnie looked warily at him, and it was the first time Tyler wondered if Bonnie doubted whether or not she could trust him, like he had wondered with her. Glancing down to her hands, she wrung out her fingers and

"A few days ago you weren't even speaking to me," Bonnie reminded him.

"I remember," Tyler assured her. "I haven't forgiven you for Lydia, but I understand why you felt like you had to do it. I guess I get it."

It was probably exhausting trying to do this thing and be this new person, this better Bonnie who couldn't be swayed from her mission to protect herself.

Bonnie nodded down to her hands. "I'm still sorry." She took a step toward him then another one back, maybe because she thought she'd stepped too close. "I'm doing the best I can, okay? I'm just trying to make this all work. I know it doesn't seem like it right now, but this was the best option I could come up with when I decided to leave home. It was going pretty well until I saw you again."

"Sorry," Tyler said.

Bonnie shook her head. "That's not what I meant, the way I said that. I just meant..."

"I know. I'm not offended."

"I hope you live forever, Tyler," she said. "I really do because when I died...the permanence of it didn't even hit me until Bonnie 2.0 was there and she was biting my head off about..." She shook her head and let the thought flounder. "I know you technically did die once, but-"

"I know what you mean," Tyler said.

"Good," Bonnie said, "because I just didn't want that to happen again. I still don't. I don't know how I let things get so bad back home. I didn't even see it happening. Everyone needed things from me, and I just gave them because I thought that was what I was supposed to do. Then I got in this cycle of doing things until it literally killed me. And Klaus was...He gave me a fresh start. No questions asked, money, a place to stay. And he's let me draw lines, and he's let me do whatever I want really as long as it doesn't conflict with what he wants. And that's worked. Now it's all about to come apart, and it's not even my fault. It's not even because of me. It's because of Marcel."

Tyler lowered his gaze to the floor where he dragged his foot in circles, feeling awkward because he was the one who had backed Marcel. "So what are you going to do?" he asked.

"If it doesn't turn around?"

Tyler nodded.

"Leave."

Like it was that easy, and Tyler supposed it probably was, even easier for her than it had been for him back when he'd opted for fleeing.

"I can hide from Klaus," Bonnie went on, like she was talking more to herself than him. "He'll be so occupied with Marcel he probably won't even bother with me right away. I just can't die again. I won't."

Tyler searched for something to add. He didn't know if he should encourage her or not, tell her not to run. He didn't even know what she wanted him to say. But she didn't wait for him to say anything.

"Now that I think about it," Bonnie said, "I don't want to know what Jeremy's doing. I'm not strong enough for that yet."

Tyler nodded his understanding. "Okay."

Bonnie smiled weakly. "I'll see you," she said before she disappeared down the corridor, fading into the blue-tinged darkness and leaving Tyler alone.

Tyler returned to the house in the Garden District, moving fast through the streets. He hadn't had any trouble on the way over, but he couldn't be too safe about it. He let himself in through the front door and made for the stairs, only stopped by Marcel's voice calling to him from the living room.

"Where have you been?" Marcel asked as Tyler backtracked and turned into the room. Marcel sat on the sofa with one leg crossed over the other, holding a glass of liquor in his hand, waving it around lazily. He took a sip as Tyler joined him.

"I just wanted to take a walk," Tyler said. "I stayed close, don't worry."

Marcel smiled down into his glass. "A walk," he repeated. "To the aquarium?" Tyler opened his mouth, but he didn't know what was going to come out. Marcel spoke before anything did. "You don't have to lie," he said. "I'm not angry with you."

Tyler folded his arms across his chest and narrowed his eyes at the back of Marcel's head. "Why do you think I'm lying?"

"Ronan followed you," Marcel answered simply. "You were meeting Bonnie. You don't have to lie about that either," he added. "That's her favorite spot in town."

"How do you know that?"

"Because Ronan's followed her, too," Marcel said. He looked over his shoulder at Tyler and grinned. "He's got a good walk. Real quiet. I figured you'd talk to her," Marcel went on. "After what happened the other night, why wouldn't you? It's in your nature. You're a good guy. It works for you." He stood up, placing his glass on the coffee table. "I told you. I'm not mad. This is exactly what I needed. If you and Bonnie are getting back on your friendship kick then that works very well for us."

With a smile he brushed past Tyler and headed for the door. He had a hand on the knob and was turning it before Tyler stopped him.

"I told you I didn't want to hurt Bonnie," Tyler said. "Remember that?"

Marcel rolled his eyes in that familiar Oh, Tyler way. "I'm not-"

"You are," Tyler said, mounting the stairs. "You think you're not, but you are. If you want Bonnie on your side, stop pushing. You're just pushing her further way. She'd sooner leave town all together than help you so just stop. If your whole plan is to have Bonnie want to help me, then okay. That might work if she's in a rough spot that day, but if all you're gonna do is get her killed, I'll tell her to go."

She already had one foot over the state line. It wouldn't take much to push her over completely. Then she'd really disappear, and it was unlikely she and Tyler would bump into each other at some random club for a second time. If this thing with Klaus went south, it was unlikely Tyler would be bumping into anyone anywhere ever again.

"I don't want Bonnie to help us because it's the only choice she has," Tyler said. "I don't want her to feel like...If she's going to help us, she should want to do it, not feel forced. You and me, we know what we're doing, and we know the risk. We could die, and we're fine with that because it's worth it, and we think we've got a good shot."

If it worked with Adam, then they'd have a great shot.

"But Bonnie's not fighting for us, and she's not fighting for Klaus. She's fighting for her, so you need to switch up your strategy, and by that I mean drop it." He started up the stairs but paused at the top surprised to see that Marcel hadn't made any move to leave just yet. "And if you want me to do something you can just ask me. I'm already on your side. You don't need to manipulate me."

Marcel slipped his hands into his pockets and looked at him thoughtfully then he smiled. "Okay," he said with a lift of his shoulders. "I hear you. Night."

Then

"You."

Tyler wasn't sure he was the one being summoned until the voice came again, even louder. He turned around unsure of where to put his gaze until he saw a woman motioning to him. She was an older woman with dark brown skin and curly hair, smiling kindly and motioning for him to join her at her tiny round table. She was one of many trying to make a sell out here with a deck of cards neatly stacked in front of her, an umbrella mounted to shade her and her table from the sun. The lane was packed with fortune tellers and artists trying to sell their wares. Tourists were common here, and today it was especially packed so Tyler slipped easily into obscurity amongst the many.

"I don't have any cash," Tyler said apologetically. "Sorry."

The woman waved it off carelessly and motioned again to the chair across from her. "It's on me. Take a seat, Tyler."

Squinting his eyes in part amusement and part worry, Tyler claimed the seat across from her. "How do you know my name?" he asked as the woman shuffled her cards.

"I'm a witch," Marian answered simply.

"What's your name?" Tyler asked.

"Marian," she replied. She spread out her cards in front of him. "Draw six. Lie them face down."

Tyler obliged, and Marian dropped her neat stack back down onto the table to watch him. Once they were all laid out, she reached for the first. A man standing between seven wands, stuck into the ground and forming a circle around him.

"The Seven of Wands," she said. "One against many enemies with no safe haven. All appears lost." She looked at him as if she expected him to confirm or deny, but Tyler kept his mouth shut. "The cards want you to stand your ground. Keep fighting. All isn't lost yet."

"Yet?" Tyler repeated which made Marian smile.

"Perhaps you'll never lose anything else again," she suggested. With that she turned her attention back to the cards, her fingers hovering over the second one. "The King of Pentacles," she said, with a hint of surprise. She gazed down at the card, and Tyler almost thought she was...impressed. The King was swathed in rich robes, sitting in an ornate throne with a sack of gold coins in his lap, staring directly ahead with a cool, penetrating stare.

"He may represent a real figure in your life," Marian said. "One who demands loyalty and returns it himself. He's in a position of power, and he's looking to stay that way. You won't agree with everything he does, but you'll respect him. He'll help you."

"How?"

Marian lifted her shoulders in a shrug. "However you need it. The third card," she went on, flipping over the next. It showed two people, a man and a woman with their hands clasped and backs to him. "The Lovers. A strong union between you and another. Divinely blessed."

"Divinely blessed, huh?" Tyler said. "With who?" He thought of Caroline, how he may never see her again, how by the time he did she'd have moved on to something - someone - else. That couldn't qualify was a divine blessing, could it? With everything that had happened to Tyler, how did anything qualify as divinely blessed?

Maybe cursed was the more accurate term.

"The cards aren't known for their specificity," Marian said with a knowing smile. "But I suspect you know her already."

Maybe it was Caroline after all.

"Your fourth card," Marian said, "is the Moon." She said it before she flipped it over where she revealed the card's front with a giant, full-moon, white and glowing. At the bottom howled two wolves as they stood in the middle of a river, the water splashing over their paws.

"It can bring madness," Marian said as Tyler pulled his eyes from the card and up to her face. She was looking intently at him, and Tyler wondered if she knew what he was, what he used to be. "But it can also bring great creativity, great innovation," she added. "The moon may bring times of emotional and mental stress, but it is also brings intuitiveness. You don't trust yourself, but you can. The moon may be brash, perhaps insane, but it is pure instinct. Strong and accurate. Trust in that.

"The fifth," she said, "is Temperance." A woman stood alongside a river, eyes downcast and holding a golden cup from which she poured liquid that blended seamlessly with the pool. "Achieving harmony and synthesis. Not too much of one thing, and not too much of another. You must find a common ground.

"The last," Marian said as she flipped over his final card. Tyler leaned closer to see it. A woman with long flowing hair and dark skin, naked and hovering in the middle of an oval with her arms extended. "The World. Everything's going to come full circle. It's a card of success and wholeness. You'll be right where you're supposed to be."

"But where is that?" Tyler asked.

"I don't know," Marian said. "But whatever it is, it is right."

"So if it's something terrible I just have to live with it?" Tyler said which made Marian smile. Or more likely, he wouldn't be living with anything. He'd probably be dead. So much of what his life was now was choosing life and death. It was what he was always coming back to. Living or dying. Staying, fighting, maybe dying. Or running, hiding and living.

"Thank you," Tyler said when it became clear Marian wasn't going to provide any extra information, "for the reading."

Marian nodded her head kindly as Tyler stood up. He was about to go when she called him back. "Keep them," she said, holding the cards out to him. They stared up at him with their glossy fronts, carefully painted and shining beneath the sun's beams.

"Don't you need a full deck?" Tyler asked.

Marian's smile widened. "Keep them," she repeated. "For inspiration." She held them out further, and Tyler look them from her. They felt warm, electric beneath his fingers.

Now

"How long is it supposed to take?" Mia asked.

"He'll wake up soon," Tyler said.

"If he's going to wake up at all," Mia reminded him, continuing her circuit around the room. She stopped by the window and peeked through the curtains. Kate wasn't there. She'd taken off with Adam and Mia's younger brother, leaving Tyler alone with Adam and Mia. Mia had turned up just for this occasion, called there by Adam. She hadn't been as happy to see Tyler again as Adam had been, maybe because of the risk Tyler had brought to their door, one that Adam was very willing to take.

"Yeah," Tyler agreed, looking toward Adam again, where he remained just as still and dead as he'd looked half an hour ago.

When Tyler had arrived, he thought maybe Adam would have changed his mind, but he was still adamant about it when he let Tyler into the house and showed him to the living room which was full of sunlight with the nice wicker furniture in pleasant pastels. It didn't look the kind of room in which someone would ingest Tyler's blood and let him snap their neck. It didn't look like the kind of room that should be seeing death at all. Alas, here it was with a dead werewolf sprawled across the carpet, another pacing the room around his body, and a hybrid perched on the yellow sofa praying to every deity he'd ever heard of that this worked.

Klaus had never doubted that his hybrids would wake up after he killed them, They always did. It was after that. Then it was a problem, the uncertainty of the blood they drank for the first time. And Tyler was the opposite.

Katherine's blood was foolproof, but Tyler's held the question mark. He stared down at his watch, watching the seconds tick by and hoping he hadn't made a terrible mistake, that the woman with Bonnie's face hadn't steered him in the wrong direction.

Please, please wake up, Tyler thought as Mia sat down in the chair nearest Adam's prone body then stood up again to pace some more. She leaned against the wall, looked out the window some more, checked her cell phone, stared at Adam.

No change.

I need this to work.

Something had to go right. Things had been going wrong for so long. This one time, they should go right. He deserved that rightness. Adam deserved to wake up again, to live a life without the agony of the change. Tyler so badly wanted to give that to him, wanted to really free him from it.

Klaus had never considered that when he turned Tyler. He was just a pawn, just a way to make his friends come up with a way to give Klaus what he wanted. Just a way to make...Bonnie give him what he wanted.

Tyler remembered her face in the gym, horrified and startled alongside Matt's. He'd only heard of the mad dash to come up with something - anything - from Caroline later, but he could see it. A frantic Bonnie, a frantic Matt, an impatient Klaus.

Tyler wondered what Bonnie was doing right now, if she was sorting things out with Klaus, if things with Klaus could even be sorted out. Maybe she was only growing more and more certain of what she'd have to do. Leave New Orleans

It had all happened so much faster for Tyler. Right now Adam may not even be aware of what was happening. He was lost to the darkness of death, floating in the ether somewhere, maybe he was going to come back as something else, something new and hybrid, or maybe he wasn't.

"Relax," Bonnie 2.0 said, appearing at Tyler's side. She perched on the arm of the sofa to stare at Adam curiously. "I wouldn't steer you wrong. Have some confidence," she added.

Tyler wanted to tell her to shut up because now really wasn't the time, but Mia would definitely take notice if he started talking to the invisible woman next to him.

"Any second now," Bonnie 2.0 said. "Three...two...one."

Adam sucked down a breath he didn't even need to take anymore, sitting up instantly. His eyes were wide, and Tyler realized not even Adam had been totally sold on the whole idea. Mia was at his side right away, questioning him about how he felt, and Adam began to reassure her.

They were both too distracted to see Tyler turning his head toward Bonnie 2.0 who remained primly seated. She was already looking at him with a coy smile on her face. "Congratulations," she said. "You just became an Alpha. Again."