Curiosity

Tyler didn't want to eavesdrop - well, he did but he figured that would be rude - so he went out to the courtyard to wait for Bonnie. He pulled a chair over to sit in and tilted his head back to the sky where stars dotted the dark expanse in twinkling, miniature orbs. He didn't hear any movement from downstairs for a while. Whatever Bonnie and Qetsiyah were talking about, they were taking their time with it.

When Bonnie finally came back down, she called his name.

"Out here!"

She came out, her arms wrapped around herself against the chill. "What happened?" Tyler asked.

"Can you call Jeremy?"

"Why?"

"Qetsiyah says Silas is awake again," Bonnie explained, "and terrorizing Mystic Falls. Can you just...?" She waved her hand tiredly.

"I'll grab my phone," Tyler said. When he sped upstairs, he met Qetsiyah on the stairs. She only smiled at him before slipping past and down the staircase. She went out the door without a word.

Tyler rejoined Bonnie outside and dialed Jeremy. "Speaker?" he asked.

Bonnie shook her head.

It was late, and he wondered if Jeremy would simply let the phone ring, but he eventually answered. "Tyler?"

"Hey," Tyler said. "Sorry for calling so late, but there's something I have to ask you about."

"Okay," Jeremy said groggily. Sheets rustled on the other end. "What?"

"Is something happening there? With Silas?"

Jeremy was quiet, like he was considering whether or not to say anything about it. Finally he said, "How do you know about it?"

Tyler locked eyes with Bonnie who sunk down in the chair Tyler had been occupying earlier, tilting her head back to the sky and blinking upward.

"How long has this been going on?" Tyler asked, not answering Jeremy's question.

"Since school started up again," Jeremy answered. "Silas isn't...He's Stefan. Or Stefan's his doppelganger or something. It's...stupid, but he's doing his thing."

"What's his thing?" Tyler demanded. "What's he after?"

"I'm not sure," Jeremy said. "I'm trying to keep my distance, you know? Elena and everyone else are taking it pretty seriously though. Silas hasn't bothered me yet so I'm not gonna bother him. I'm not trying to tempt fate. I'm just trying to get through this year. But why are you asking? How'd you find out? Where are you?"

Tyler sighed and skipped over the part asking him where he was. Telling the truth wasn't an option, but he didn't want to lie. "I just heard some talk about it," he said, "and I wanted to know if it was true."

"Talk from where?" Jeremy asked.

"From around," Tyler said, hoping he didn't sound too impatient.

"Well, Caroline's fine if that's what you're worried about," Jeremy said. "Right now, we all are."

Yeah, right now they were all fine. But what about later?

"You should have told me," Tyler said.

"What for?" Jeremy said. He didn't sound angry or even annoyed when he said it, just tired. "What are you going to do? You're wherever the hell you are which isn't here so it's not like you could do anything about it. Besides, you're probably safer where you are anyway."

That was debatable.

"So don't come here or anything," Jeremy said. "Don't."

"I won't," Tyler assured him. "Be careful, okay? How's everything else?"

"Everything else is fine," Jeremy said. "I'm dealing."

"Are you still getting high?" Tyler asked.

"I smoke sometimes," Jeremy said. He must have been able to sense Tyler's disapproval because he sighed heavily. "I'm fine. I'm not messing with any pills. I'm good. I promise."

"Okay," Tyler said, casting a sidelong look in Bonnie's direction. She was still looking up at the sky, her foot jiggling along to a beat Tyler couldn't hear. "I'll call you later."

"Wait," Jeremy said. "How are you?"

"I'm good," Tyler said.

"I heard Caroline talking to Elena once. She said you don't return her calls," Jeremy said. The question of why was implied even if Jeremy didn't voice it, and when Tyler didn't make any moves to answer, Jeremy dropped it. "Are you going to tell me where you are?" he asked. "What you're doing?"

"I'm taking care of things," Tyler answered. "But I can't tell you where yet."

"Are you ever coming back?"

"I don't know," Tyler said. "Maybe."

"Well...you're not by yourself are you? Do you have, like, friends or something?"

When Tyler looked at Bonnie again, she was staring directly at him with her hands folded in her lap. Waiting. "Sort of," Tyler said. "I have to go, but call me if anything changes with Silas."

Jeremy promised he would before they hung up. Once Tyler had pocketed his phone, Bonnie sighed and stood. "So it's true?"

Tyler nodded. "So now what?" If Silas was tormenting Mystic Falls and all the people in it, they couldn't just let it happen.

"Qetsiyah has a plan to kill him. For real this time."

"How?"

"By killing herself."

"What?" Tyler said. "That's-" Stupid.

"She wants me to bring her back," Bonnie said. "Like she did with me."

"Are you gonna do it?" Tyler asked.

"I guess so," Bonnie said. It's only fair, right? She saved my life, and now I'm returning the favor. I'm just not sure if I can do it." She did a circuit around the courtyard, taking slow, even steps.

"Qetsiyah thinks you can," Tyler said, turning in a circle to follow her walk.

"Qetsiyah thinks very highly of me," Bonnie said, but she didn't elaborate on what that meant. "But we both know what happened the last time I resurrected someone."

Well, she had a point there. But Qetsiyah wouldn't ask Bonnie to bring her back if it would kill her. Would she? It would be kind of redundant. If Qetsiyah had managed to bring Bonnie back without any fatal consequences, Bonnie should be able to find a way around those, too.

"So what happened up there?" Tyler asked, nodding to the attic windows above them which were just as dark as they always were, never indicating that someone was living up there.

"We talked," Bonnie said, as it that was the illuminating an answer Tyler had requested. "I have to get home," she said, as if she'd just remembered that she'd been summoned here in the middle of the night.

"Well, do you want to talk about it first?"

"About Qetsiyah?"

"No, about the weather," Tyler said. "Of course Qetsiyah."

Bonnie was neither annoyed nor amused by him. "I'm still kind of...processing. I'll see you later." She became still, probably to do her little dematerialization trick. "Thanks for telling me," she said suddenly.

Tyler smiled. "No problem."

Bonnie raised her hand in a small wave before she disappeared.

It was about an hour later when Marcel returned to the house, looking around to see if Bonnie was still there. "She's gone," Tyler assured him. "So's Qetsiyah. I thought she might be with you."

"Nah," Marcel said, waving his hand dismissively and dropping next to Tyler where he sat on the sofa. "She likes to do her own thing. And what are you doing?"

"Thinking."

"About?"

"You and Qetsiyah."

Marcel let out a heavy breath and leaned against the sofa's cushions, propping his feet up on the coffee table. "What about us?"

"You're kind of an odd couple, don't you think?"

"We're not a couple. I'll tell you about me and Qetsiyah," he said, sounding just slightly overdramatic. "She found me after Klaus left and offered to help me make this city my own. I was alone, and I was struggling so I accepted it. To this day, it's still the best decision I've ever made."

"How'd you get her to agree to the witches?" Tyler asked. "Controlling them?"

"She suggested it," Marcel said. "I hadn't thought it was possible. I was thinking up other ways, diplomacy, negotiations and things like that. Qetsiyah thought a bit bigger. She decided that we'd assert control over the witches and monitor their magic, punish them when they stepped out of line. She knew better than I did how witches could ruin my plans so she offered to handle them. I handled the vampires."

"Do the others know? Sloane? Veronica? Thierry?"

"No one knows about Qetsiyah but me," Marcel said. "And now you and Bonnie. It's the way it's always been. She's my best kept secret."

"So I saw," Tyler said. "If you and Qetsiyah have been in this together for this entire time, why do you keep trying to get Bonnie? You don't need her if you have Qetsiyah."

"Well, two super powerful witches are better than one," Marcel said. "But you're right. I don't need Bonnie, but Qetsiyah does."

"What do you mean?"

"Qetsiyah told me Bonnie was coming here with Klaus, and she told me that it was paramount that we get Bonnie on our side because if Bonnie was allied with Klaus, that would put her and Qetsiyah at odds. And Qetsiyah does not want to be at odds with her doppelganger. She likes her too damn much."

"So you've been making plays for Bonnie because Qetsiyah asked you to?"

"You'd be surprised how many things I've done in my immortal life because Qetsiyah asked me to," Marcel said. "So yeah, I wanted to get Bonnie on our side. Plus, Qetsiyah wouldn't help me crush Klaus if it also meant crushing Bonnie, and I couldn't lose my biggest ally right when I was about to go to war. Then there's Qetsiyah's Silas drama, and she said Bonnie could help her end that asshole for good."

Marcel sighed wistfully. "The only time Qetsiyah and I ever argued was when Lydia died."

"When Bonnie killed her?"

"Qetsiyah told me to let it go, and I did. Eventually. Sort of. But I wanted nothing to do with Bonnie, and neither did anyone else. But Qetsiyah persisted." He shrugged his shoulders and knocked the toes of his feet together. "So here we are."

"It's like you're married," Tyler said.

Marcel laughed. "Something like that."

"What did Qetsiyah say when she found out about you and Bonnie?" Tyler asked.

Marcel folded his lips, and Tyler could tell he was trying not to laugh. "She was so mad," he said. "If you ask her about it now, she'll say she was just annoyed, but she was...furious. But I thought it might be a good way to entice Bonnie into joining Team Marcel. Qetsiyah didn't appreciate my methods."

"Well they didn't really work, did they?" Tyler said.

"No," Marcel admitted, still laughing.

Tyler laughed with him. "So what's the plan now?"

"Same as always," Marcel said. "Once Qetsiyah and Bonnie are done with Silas, which shouldn't take that long, we're back on Klaus. Maybe now Bonnie will be along for the ride. I'm leaving that to you and Qetsiyah now. As you said, I haven't been very successful."

That was an understatement. Bonnie didn't even like Marcel. But... "What do you expect me to do?" Qetsiyah would probably have better luck, being Bonnie's ancestor and all. If anyone could draw Bonnie over to their team, it was her.

"Don't be dense, Tyler," Marcel said. "It's not attractive. She's your friend. She likes you. You know want friends want for their friends? Success."

The next night Tyler and Marcel met Adam, Mia and a few of their recruits in the Quarter. Marcel shut down the bar for the occasion and poured drinks for everyone while he watched Tyler talk to them, explaining the risks and rewards and all that. Adam and Mia had brought four werewolves with them. There was a middle-aged woman named Iulia who'd been followed by her son, a teenage boy named Matei. The two others couldn't be more than twenty-five, both rugged looking men named Christian and Felix.

When Tyler got done with the spiel, everyone was still onboard so they proceeded. An hour later, all four were brand new hybrids. After Tyler allowed them some of Katherine's bagged blood, he switched them over to Marcel's other supply. Katherine's blood was in limited quantity, and he wanted to keep as much as possible.

"It's a slow start," Mia said, "but it's a start. But with the others we should be able to get more people for you."

"It's a great start," Tyler said. "Good work. Take them home with you, and tomorrow I'll start teaching them how to feed."

"I can help," Mia put in.

"You just learned how yourself," Tyler reminded her.

"But I'm good at it," Mia said. "I can help. Even Adam can. We worked on it today, and he did great. Sucked blood out of a guy like a pro, patched him up and sent him on his way with no memories of it. I was proud."

"I can tell," Tyler said. "Head home, and let me or Marcel know if anything happens, okay?"

"Got it," Mia said. "See you tomorrow."

Adam and Mia took the new newbies out and left Marcel and Tyler alone. "Well, I'm pleasantly surprised by our progress," Marcel remarked as he poured Tyler a drink.

"Six hybrids," Tyler said. "How many do you want?"

"As many as we can get," Marcel said. "Klaus has been recruiting himself. There are vampires in the city who will back him when the time comes. We need to be able to match them."

"We'll get there," Tyler assured him. "I-" He stopped short as Qetsiyah materialized at Marcel's side. At first he mistook her for Bonnie, recognizing that particular magic trick, but it was definitely Qetsiyah with her longer mane of her hair twisted up into a particular un-Bonnie kind of style.

"Hello, boys," she said as she mounted one of the stools. "A drink, please?"

"Your usual?" Marcel said.

"Yes, bartender." Marcel rolled his eyes but proceeded to mix a drink for her. "I don't know what's taking Bonnie so long. She was right behind me."

Sure enough, almost as soon as Qetsiyah got the words out, Bonnie appeared beside the bar. She smiled without showing her teeth and took the seat next to Tyler. "What are you doing here?" he asked. He hadn't seen Bonnie down here since the first time Tyler had come here, but here she was, sliding onto the stool next to him and reaching behind the bar to grab a glass. She took a bottle of vodka from behind the bar as well.

"We're drinking to our plans," Qetsiyah announced. "Tomorrow night I'll die and be resurrected again."

The raise of Bonnie's eyebrows as she downed her drink was her confirmation.

"So soon?" Marcel said, pushing Qetsiyah's finished drink toward her.

"Sooner rather than later with Silas doing his...whatever he's doing," Bonnie said. She poured herself another drink. Maybe it was just Tyler, but Bonnie seemed far less enthused than Qetsiyah did about the whole idea.

"Marcel?" Qetsiyah said, nodding her head toward Marcel's office. Without another word, she slid off her stool and went inside, taking her drink with her. Marcel followed without sparing Bonnie and Tyler another glance.

Once they were gone, Tyler swiveled on his stool to face Bonnie. "What's wrong?"

"I finished processing," she answered.

"You don't want to do it anymore?"

"No, I do," Bonnie said. "I'm gonna do it. Qetsiyah went through it with me today and talked me through how to avoid killing myself. I'm not worried about the spell. I just thought I was done fighting for that place. I feel like I'm going backwards."

Tyler was quiet, trying to find the right thing to say. When he finally had it, he cleared his throat. "Don't think of it as fighting for Mystic Falls. You're not doing this for anyone there. You're doing this for Qetsiyah. She's the one who wants to stop Silas, and you're just helping her. You're not going backward, Bonnie."

If Bonnie ever went backward, that would be an event.

She didn't look very convinced, but she smiled anyway. "Thanks."

Marcel and Qetsiyah stayed in the office for a long time. Tyler tried to listen to what they were saying, but Qetsiyah must have spelled the room because he couldn't hear them. Bonnie and Tyler did just fine without them, keeping each other's glasses topped off.

"Elijah wants me to meet him at Klaus' place later," she said with a roll of her eyes and a sigh.

"What for?"

"Didn't say," Bonnie said, "but he wants me there so I guess it's kind of important. Ish. Or it's Elijah being an asshole again. He's been in a mood ever since Katherine ditched him."

Tyler wasn't surprised to hear that. Wherever Katherine was now, she couldn't have been in much of a hurry to rectify her situation with her former boyfriend. Maybe in a couple hundred years, assuming Elijah was still around, they'd reunite and do the whole thing over again.

"Did Jeremy sound okay?" Bonnie asked. "When you talked to him?"

Tyler nodded. "He said he's doing better." He was very prepared to give her specifics, but Bonnie didn't ask for them, apparently content with the small slice of information she'd been given.

"I had a dream about you," Bonnie said as she filled her glass again. Tyler didn't remember her having such a high tolerance for alcohol, but she didn't seem to be the slightest bit drunk even though this drink was her fourth.

Tyler swung his head toward her, a curious smile playing at his lips. "Really?"

Bonnie seemed charmed by his interest, ducking her head to laugh into her glass. "Mmhm."

"What was I doing in this dream?"

Bonnie looked down at the liquid pooled in her glass in silence.

"Well?" Tyler prompted.

"You were kissing me."

Tyler shifted on the stool, cocking his head to the side. He didn't know what he'd expected, something like he was singing the national anthem while riding a kangaroo. But not kissing. "Why was I doing that?" he asked, not realizing how stupid that sounded until he'd already said it.

"I assume because you wanted to," Bonnie answered.

"Were you kissing me back?"

"Yes."

"Well, are you going to tell me how it was?"

"It was nice," she said.

Tyler was very proud of his dream alter ego, but he didn't get to tell Bonnie that because Qetsiyah and Marcel finally returned and reclaimed their spots at the bar with no reference to whatever it was they'd been discussing.

"I have to go," Bonnie said an hour or so later, looking at the screen of her cell phone and hopping off her bar stool. "I have to meet Elijah soon."

Qetsiyah stood to touch Bonnie's shoulders, gripping them gently. "I'll see you tomorrow," she said. "Don't be nervous."

"I'm not nervous," Bonnie assured her.

"Then good."

Tyler slid off his stool to walk Bonnie to the door where she lingered. "Not going to do your little poof thing?" he asked.

"I could use the walk," Bonnie said. "To sober up some, and the longer it takes me to get to Klaus' apartment, the better." She narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest, smiling at him. "You're looking at my mouth," she observed.

"I know," Tyler said. He had in fact been staring at her lips and dropped his gaze to the floor and laughing. "Sorry. It's because you brought up kissing." He leaned against the wall and forced himself to look directly at the tip of Bonnie's nose. "I just...I haven't kissed anyone in forever. And it used to be my favorite thing. After sex, of course."

"Of course."

"You know how water tastes after you haven't had anything to drink all day? Or food when you haven't eaten? Sex when you haven't been having any? That's what it's gonna feel like when I finally kiss somebody."

Bonnie cocked her head to the side. "Is this your way of asking me to kiss you?"

"The last time we talked about this, you were adamant that we weren't going to be kissing."

"I'll kiss you."

Tyler laughed up at the ceiling.

"What?" Bonnie said. "You don't think I will?" She cut her eyes to where Qetsiyah and Marcel were still sitting, deep in conversation. Neither looked like they were terribly interested in Bonnie and Tyler, but Bonnie stepped into an alcove where Marcel and Qetsiyah couldn't see, and when she motioned for Tyler to join her, he did.

"Ready?" Bonnie said, setting her bag on the floor.

"I guess."

Bonnie bridged the gap between them and slid her arms around his neck, and he wondered if she really was as comfortable as she seemed. At the moment, his hands might have been shaking a little as he pressed them against her spine which felt especially warm for some reason. The cotton of her shirt was particularly smooth. Her perfume wafted upward, smelling of apples and orchids. He could see the mascara on her eyelashes.

Bonnie had to lift herself onto her toes lean her lips toward his. They were just about to touch his when Tyler leaned back some. "This is weird."

Bonnie let herself fall back onto the soles of her feet. "What's weird about it?"

"We're about to make out," Tyler said, "and we've never done that before. And this is all very sudden," he added jokingly.

"We're not going to make out," Bonnie corrected. "We're just going to kiss a little bit, but if you don't want to-"

"I didn't say I didn't want to," Tyler said. "I'm just observing that this is a very...different thing we're about to do. And you don't have to do it if you don't want to. Don't do me any favors."

It just felt so silly. Not a bad silly, but a normal kind of silly. A teenage kind of silly. The kind of silly that had rushed out of his life as air did a balloon. One minute it was there, and the next he was a werewolf, and it was gone. The old, human Tyler wouldn't have hesitated to kiss a pretty girl who wanted to kiss him. Even if it didn't mean anything, even if they were just friends who hadn't kissed anyone in a while, he would have done it.

"Okay," Bonnie said. "Nevermind." She moved to step away, but Tyler kept his hands on her back, keeping her in place.

"Do you want to?" he asked.

She shrugged. "I'm curious."

"About kissing me?"

Bonnie nodded.

"That must have been an excellent dream."

"It was okay," she said, "but I'd like to know how the real thing measures up. You were curious about kissing me once."

"I was not," Tyler said though he remembered that he had been a little curious.

"You were," Bonnie insisted. "And still are." She raised her eyebrows in an obvious dare. "Now's your chance, Lockwood. Who knows when you'll get another one."

"I might have forgotten how to do it," Tyler warned, suddenly thinking of the logistics of kissing, wondering how Bonnie did it, if their methods were going to clash, gauging how awkward it could end up being.

"It's like riding a bike," she said.

"Might have forgotten how to do that, too." He couldn't remember the last time he'd touched a bike.

"Tyler," Bonnie said, looking at him pointedly. "Do you not want to?"

"No, I do," he said. "I just-"

"Then shut up," Bonnie said definitively, leaning toward him again. Tyler watched her eyes close, and just before her lips touched his, he closed his eyes, too.

It felt like...relief.

He hadn't kissed anybody in so long. He'd always known he'd liked it, but he'd forgotten just how much.

Bonnie's lips were careful and warm on his, slow, timid and feeling him out. She let him take the lead, maybe concerned that he really had forgotten. But she was right. It was like riding a bike.

His hands became more purposeful on her back, feeling the ridges of her spine beneath his fingertips and drawing her closer. She leaned onto him to keep her balance steady, as she was still on her toes. He hadn't realized how small she was until she was right up against him and kissing him like she meant it.

Tyler kissed her harder, his tongue sliding along her bottom lip. He thought she might laugh and chastise him for trying to slip her the tongue, but she opened her mouth instead to let his tongue tangle with hers. She made the quietest of humming sounds.

Bonnie pulled away first, but she kept her arms around his neck. Lifting her eyebrows, she laughed. "Well?"

"That was...good," he said. "Really good. Thank you." It sounded stupid but he couldn't think of a better response. And it had been really good. And he was grateful.

Bonnie laughed again as she detangled herself from him and picked up her bag. "You're welcome. So I'll see you tomorrow?"

Maybe Marcel was right. Maybe they were friends.

"Yeah," Tyler said. "See you tomorrow."

Bonnie was out the door before Tyler remembered that he wanted to ask Bonnie what she'd thought of his kissing.

Qetsiyah sent Tyler home later. If she and Marcel knew of his and Bonnie's kiss, they didn't say anything. He decided they must not have been paying attention or else Marcel would have started with the teasing right away.

With not even a wave of Qetsiyah's hand (just a bored looking blink of her eyes), Tyler was in the house and standing at the base of the stairs. He was halfway up when he heard knocking on the door.

Tyler went back down the stairs and reached for the knob. His hand lingered, and he decided that if anyone was outside who should be there, they wouldn't be knocking. There was a sharp tugging at his gut that told him not to answer. He fished his phone from his jacket pocket to call Marcel instead and ask if he was expecting anyone.

He hadn't even pressed SEND when the door came off its hinges with a loud crash. It broke apart immediately, bits and pieces smacking him in the face and sending him to the floor more out of surprise than any injury. Once he was sure that there were no more doors flying at him, Tyler peeked through his raised arms in time to someone crossing the threshold.

An undoubtedly expensive suit, an equally costly haircut and polished shoes.

Elijah stooped down next to Tyler and fastened a hand around his neck, pushing hard enough to not only keep Tyler on the floor but crush his throat if he wanted. "It's funny meeting you here," he said.

Tyler's fingers groped for his phone. He'd dropped it, but it couldn't have gone far. All he had to was press a button, and Marcel and Qetsiyah would be here. But he couldn't find it, and Elijah did just as Tyler feared. He heard the cracking of the bone as Elijah pushed down hard enough to grind Tyler's windpipe to dust.

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