Dead Zone

"I didn't know you were here," Tyler said. After saying goodbye to his growing pack after another day of training, he'd followed the voices (or rather, one voice spoken by two people) to the attic. Qetsiyah and Bonnie were there, standing on either side of a table where a gold apparition was formed.

Bonnie looked over her shoulder but didn't turn her body from the table. "You were with the wolfpack, didn't want to bother you."

"What's that?" Tyler asked, nodding to the table where the glittering shapes pulsed and moved.

"New Orleans," Qetsiyah announced, gesturing as if presenting a prize for an audience.

He wasn't sure what it was until he got closer, then he could make out the buildings and streets, the transparent, gold-tinted shape of the river. He made out the Riverwalk, the aquarium, the line of casinos, the historic cemeteries, the flea market and the Garden District. There were small little orbs, as insignificant of embers from a flame that fluttered around in slowly moving clusters.

It was New Orleans, all miniature and aglow.

"I made it myself," Qetsiyah said proudly. "It's how I keep tabs. I was just explaining it to Bonnie. I use this to channel, to see. It can be very specific depending on the energy I can draw."

"What do you draw energy from?"

"Everything," Bonnie answered, to a small smile from Qetsiyah. "People, the river, the sun, the moon, the weather. Whatever's there."

"New Orleans is a singular city," Qetsiyah said. "There's so much to pull. All I need is one big something, a large gathering, a happy day. Throw in a hot sun or a full moon, and it's almost perfect. Mardi Gras is my favorite time. All those people, thrilled by their own inebriation and just getting happier. What they feel makes the city pulse, and I draw on that. These," she pointed to the twinkling lights, "are people. The brighter the light the stronger the energy. The brightest are supernatural. And the brightest of the brightest are witches."

They all looked the same to Tyler, but what did he know?

Qetsiyah sighed breathily. "Excuse me, Marcel needs my help." She hadn't even taken a step away from the table yet before Marcel's voice traveled up the stairs, calling for her.

"Nice trick," Tyler commented.

"No trick," Qetsiyah said. "Barely even magic. He's just predictable." She disappeared through the door and down the stairs.

"So," Bonnie said, leaning forward to rest her elbows on the edge of the table. "How's it been going with your pack?" She fixed her gaze on what looked like Bourbon Street where lights bounced and traveled together in thin lines.

"Good," Tyler said. "They're taking to it really well. Better than I expected."

"They like you?"

Tyler smiled. "I hope so. I'm the Alpha, but I don't really...feel like the Alpha. It's not like it felt before with..." His voice trailed off as he remembered Kim and the bodies of the hybrids he'd convinced to trust him littering the ground in various positions, the only common denominator being they were all dead.

"It'll be different this time," Bonnie said reassuringly. "It won't go that way again."

"I'm leading them into a fight against Klaus," Tyler said, "so it might not be that different."

"It will," she said. "They didn't have a chance before. They have one now."

"Not so sure Klaus will win anymore?"

Bonnie sighed. "I was before I knew Qetsiyah was here. Would you bet against her?"

"I wouldn't bet against you so I'd really never bet against Qetsiyah," Tyler assured her. "So...does that mean you're gonna-"

"I don't know," Bonnie said quickly. "I'm just trying to focus on what's happening now rather than what's going to happen later. So it's Silas, Katherine, Qetsiyah's little toy here." She waved a hand through the glowing replica which flickered with the intrusion of her fingers. "I tried another locater spell to find Katherine, but I couldn't get a lock. She's blocked."

"A witch?"

"If she found a witch then she's not in New Orleans," Bonnie said. "Qetsiyah said there's been no magical activity within the city limits besides her and me."

"Does Klaus suspect anything?" Tyler asked.

Bonnie shook her head. "He's distracted, I think. He's fighting with Rebekah so hopefully that'll-"

"How bad's the fight?" Marcel asked appearing in the door and looking at them with inquisitive eyes and a cocked head.

"Bad enough," Bonnie answered with thinly veiled annoyance. "Why?"

Marcel shrugged. "I could always use an Original vampire."

Bonnie scoffed. "You want to recruit Rebekah?"

"Recruit, no," Marcel said. "Seduce perhaps."

Bonnie and Tyler made nearly identical pained faces, but Marcel only noticed Bonnie's. "Jealous?"

Bonnie rolled her eyes and ignored Marcel to look at Tyler. "That's my cue to leave," she said.

"Not yet," Qetsiyah said, pushing her way past Marcel. "I know where Katherine is."

Bonnie spoke first. "Where?"

"In the bayou," Qetsiyah answered, stepping further into the room. She crossed the room to the table, and the four of them circled it curiously, pressing in together to watch Qetisyah work. With a wave of her hand New Orleans faded from sight to be replaced by something else, another glowing golden creation of intertwined wildlife and murky water. "It's a dead zone," Qetsiyah said.

"A dead zone?" Tyler said.

"Magic doesn't work there," Qetsiyah explained. "And it doesn't reach. That's why our tracking spells don't take. I forgot all about them."

"We haven't used them in years," Marcel chimed.

"What did you use them for?" Tyler questioned.

"Witches who broke the rules," Qetsiyah said. "It was a temporary punishment to remind them of what was at stake."

"Then we decided just killing them emphasized things much better," Marcel added.

"So it's like you taking their powers," Bonnie said.

"Yes," Qetsiyah said. "Except you and I aren't immune to dead zones. I didn't create them. They're naturally occurring so I have no control over who they do or do not effect. Once you're there, there's no magic. But of course, vampires and werewolves and the various others are perfectly fine."

"You're sure she's here?" Bonnie said skeptically, examining the map, her green eyes flitting from one section to another. There were no clusters there, no signs of life at all.

"This is the closest one to the city," Qetsiyah said. "There are others, so we can check there if this one proves to be uninhabited, but this is where I'd guess she is. It's the closest to the city. I can't get a read on what's there or not. This is as close magic can get to it without being cut off."

Bonnie nodded her head. "I'll go."

"No," Qetsiyah and Tyler said in unison.

"Someone's got to," Bonnie said in annoyance.

"Your magic won't work," Qetsiyah reminded her, as if Bonnie had misunderstood that part.

"I've been without magic before," Bonnie said. "I can handle it. I can still use other things, herbs and all that."

Qetsiyah's expression didn't change.

"I can go," Tyler said. He shot Marcel a glance hoping he knew he could jump in at anytime. "I can handle Katherine. I'm older, I'm a hybrid. Let me do it."

"If Katherine's not coming somewhat willingly, she'll shake you off," Bonnie said certainly. "There's no way she'll come quietly with you. As soon as she sees you, she knows something happened to Elijah, and she goes into escape mode."

"Go together," Marcel said with a sigh. "I'll send Ronan with you. Bring her back, dead or alive, I don't care."

"I care," Qetsiyah said, shooting him an annoyed look, probably because he hadn't backed her up about keeping Bonnie here. Tyler was sure Marcel noticed it, but he was obviously pretending otherwise. "I want her dead."

Then

Back when Tyler had considered college, New Orleans was nowhere near his radar. He'd looked at Whitmore because it was practically a required consideration for Mystic Falls High seniors, he'd looked at the University of Virginia, and he'd even considered Duke for awhile. But Tulane University had never occurred to him until he was passing near it one day. The beginning of the semester yielded freshmen who milled about trying to pretend they knew exactly where they were headed with heavy backpacks, and Tyler found himself joining them, walking nowhere in particular.

He fell in behind a guy with a pair of bright blue sunglasses and khaki shorts, and he followed him along the stone paths into a building and into a lecture hall. Tyler sat in the back while Blue Sunglasses continued down the stairs to unite with a beaming, dark haired girl who passed him a paper cup of coffee.

The class began to gradually fill. It wasn't a large lecture hall, there were maybe a hundred of people there total, talking quietly and waiting.

It was ten minutes before a professor showed up, a man in a tweed jacket and wire-rimmed frames. "Good morning," he said. He had an accent, just a little bit Southern. "This is English 2100: Werewolves and Vampires in Literature and Pop Culture. Hope you're all in the right place."

Tyler barely stifled his laugh.

Now

Tyler hadn't done much sightseeing since he'd been in New Orleans, but he'd passed a multitude of signs for swamp tours that had sounded interesting enough if someone was into that sort of thing. He'd imagined this was what it would look like. Granted, he wasn't seeing very much from where he was situated on the bottom of the boat while Bonnie sat above him, her legs stretched over him while she watched, expressionless, as the boat cut through the murky waters. He couldn't see her eyes behind the black lenses of her sunglasses that only reflected the trees and the moss that hung from their branches like ropes.

Tyler poked her ankle. "Almost there?" he asked when she turned her face down to him.

"Almost," she said. She looked over her shoulder at Ronan who was steering the boat. Tyler wouldn't have minded having Duke as well, but since he'd been the one to show up the last time they'd seen the Katherine, they didn't want him tipping her off about their intentions. "There's a shack coming up."

"A shack," Tyler said. "Nice."

Bonnie's lips gave an amused twitch. "When we get there, you stay down," she said.

"I know, I know," Tyler said. They'd gone over this already. Ronan and Bonnie would handle it until they couldn't, and then - and only then - would Tyler make an appearance. The longer he waited, the better to keep Katherine unsuspicious long enough for Ronan and Bonnie to get a stake into her. Tyler wondered if either of them expected him to be any use. Bonnie had a bag slung across her body filled with herbs Tyler could smell from here. They weren't overbearing, just smelling a bit like some sort of natural perfume she was trying. Qetsiyah had added to the stash with mysteriously colored liquids with equally unknowable effects that she was confident would get Bonnie out of any tight spots.

Bonnie peered over the side of the boat. She lifted up her sunglasses, hummed, and dropped them back down again.

"What?"

"Alligator."

Tyler moved as if to get up. He'd never actually seen an alligator up close before, besides the one at the aquarium that didn't do anything but sit there and watch as people gathered outside his tank in amusement. But Bonnie put her foot against his chest to keep him down, hard enough to let him know she meant business, but gentle enough to let him know that she didn't mean it that much.

"Stay down," she said, and Tyler let out a heavy sigh but obliged.

"I wrestled an alligator once," Ronan said conversationally.

Bonnie and Tyler looked at him with the same dubiously impressed looks. "Did you win?" Tyler asked.

Ronan grinned. "I've never lost."

Tyler imagined he could see Bonnie rolling her eyes behind her sunglasses. Ridiculousness aside, it was probably better to have Ronan here than elsewhere if Katherine was going to try anything.

"We're coming up," Ronan announced, and Tyler felt the boat slowing down, the motor's loud roar devolving into a sputtering grind.

Ronan got out of the boat first, and Bonnie followed. "Be careful," Tyler whispered.

"I will," Bonnie said, not looking back at him. She disappeared from sight, but Tyler heard her footsteps along the wood panels of the dock, moving into the shack.

As Bonnie stepped away, Ronan climbed back into the boat where he took her spot and pretended Tyler wasn't there. Or at least he did until he spoke. "You trust her?" he said, as he leaned back and tilted his head up to the sun.

"...Yes," Tyler said. "You don't?"

Ronan clucked his tongue. "She killed a friend of mine."

"Mine, too," Tyler said. He and Bonnie hadn't mentioned Lydia anymore, not since the last time they talked about her at the aquarium, and Tyler wasn't in a hurry to bring it up again. The peace he and Bonnie had established felt flimsy enough, accompanied by Klaus and Marcel and Elijah and Katherine that he didn't want to consider what Bonnie had done, who she'd been, before they'd met each other again.

Ronan sighed, sounding unconvinced but resigned. "I'm going to find Katherine's boat, sink it. Don't move."

Tyler nodded grimly and watched him go. His footsteps on the wood of the deck faded away, and Tyler didn't try to hang onto them, focusing instead on the sound of Bonnie's own footfalls within the shack. She was pacing, but not nervously. It was a calm stroll from one end of the room to the other, one foot in front of the other, each breath drawn in coolly. He imagined her looking annoyed and impatient rather than anxious.

More footsteps joined Bonnie's.

"I heard you were dead," Katherine said. There had to be at least the entire length of the room in between them. Katherine would be in no hurry to bridge the gap, not until she was sure she could trust Bonnie.

"I was," Bonnie said. "Briefly."

"And what are you doing here?" Katherine asked with a lilt of suspicion to her voice.

"Elijah sent me to get you," Bonnie said. Her heartbeat betrayed nothing, and her voice was as steady and clear as that of any honest person. "He wants you in the city."

"I already told him that's not an option," Katherine said. "Klaus would never let me be that close without ripping me apart."

"He's had multiple chances to rip you apart," Bonnie said shortly. "He hasn't taken them yet so it's safe to say he gets off on your running, but he's willing to offer you relief in the city if you agree to fight on his side in his war against Marcel. Now that Tyler's been taken care of, Klaus is feeling generous. You fight for him, and you live."

It was a believable offer, so believable that Tyler wondered if this was how things would have gone if Elijah had managed to offer Tyler up on a platter like he'd planned. That, and Tyler would either be dead right now or rotting in some hole waiting for Klaus to get done playing with him and just rip his heart out.

"That desperate, huh?" Katherine said.

"Yes," Bonnie said. "We recently lost all of our...magical assistance so vampires will have to do. The more we get, the better. Klaus will take what he can. Even you. It's a win/win. You and Elijah get to do your thing, and Klaus gets another soldier."

"And when Klaus decides he's bored with civility?"

"I suppose you'll have to run again," Bonnie said, sounding unconcerned.

Katherine walked. She didn't move any closer to Bonnie, her voice still several feet away. "I can't believe you're Klaus' errand girl now. I thought you'd be content with being Elena's forever."

Bonnie made her annoyance plain in her long sigh. "Are you coming back with me or not?" she asked. "Choose quickly, I don't have all day."

Katherine was quiet. Then, "Why didn't Elijah come himself?"

"You'll have to ask him," Bonnie said with an impatient sigh. "I'm just following orders."

Katherine being suspicious was a detail they'd all known was coming. Tyler had expected it, and her knew Bonnie must have as well, but it still made him nervous. He'd feel better about it if they weren't in the middle of a magical dead zone surrounded by alligator-infested waters. And it would help if he wasn't on his back at the bottom of a boat waiting to hear everything go wrong before taking action. And it would help if he could hear Ronan, wherever he was, but he got nothing. He just hoped he was ready if Bonnie needed help. The extra milliseconds to get out of this stupid boat could cost Bonnie, so Ronan would have to cover her. Remembering Ronan saying he didn't trust her, Tyler clenched his fists and adjusted his position slightly, hoping that would put him in a position to reach her faster.

"What did Klaus do to Tyler?" Katherine asked.

"He's still alive, if that's what you're asking," Bonnie said.

"Klaus hasn't killed him yet?"

"Wants to play with him first I assume," Bonnie said. "Why? Feel bad for selling him out?"

"Hardly," Katherine said. "I'm just interested in knowing what he planned on doing with my blood. Elijah told you Tyler offered me this in exchange for my blood, right?"

"Right," Bonnie said. "The why's still a little fuzzy."

"Elijah didn't share his theory with you?"

"You'd be surprised how little Elijah and Klaus share with me."

For a moment it was painfully quiet in there, outside of the controlled beating of Bonnie's heart. Then the silence was breached was the sounds of feet shuffling along wooden floors, a pained grunt and someone falling, their body hitting the floor with a loud thud. Tyler heard the tinkling of glass as he pulled himself out of the boat, then glass breaking and Katherine screaming.

Tyler was at the door in time to see Bonnie disappearing through a door on the other side of the space, leaving behind glass shards and small puddles. He followed her footsteps back outside to the other side of the dock where the wood was even more worn. He saw a boat tied, one side of it sunk ominously into the water and the rest of it going slowly but certainly under with it. Following the sounds of Bonnie's footsteps, he rounded the corner to see Bonnie flinging another vial in Katherine's direction where she struggled with Ronan. Katherine twisted just enough to put Ronan in its path where the vial broke against his back, drawing out an anguished cry and a smoking wound.

Tyler was on Katherine as Ronan stumbled, holding himself up against the side of the building. He gripped her arm hard enough to break it, and Katherine's vein-streaked face and red eyes glared at him before she lunged at him with a stake. He recognized it as Ronan's as it sunk into his chest, missing his heart by a millimeter. He let her go before he could remind himself not to, and she tore away from him, speeding out of sight. Tyler yanked the stake free and gave chase. Her boat may be out of commission, but theirs wasn't.

Katherine was climbing into the boat by the time Tyler reached her, turning the key and turning over the engine. She turned as Tyler joined her, moving in time to avoid the pointed end of the stake as it came down on her back. A swing of some kind of bar, he didn't even know where she'd gotten it sent the stake flying from his hand and into the water where it landed with a splash.

"Well," Tyler said, "I can still take your heart out," Tyler said.

"Yeah," Katherine agreed, dark eyes not moving from his. He could see the wheels turning as she anticipated an escape route, evaluated his weaknesses. "You can."

Before Tyler could fully register what she was doing, Katherine turned and flung herself into the water, disappearing beneath the green-tinged surface in a small splash. Tyler moved to jump in after her, but a hand closed around his wrist. "Don't even think about it," Bonnie said.

"We have to catch her," Tyler said, stating the obvious.

"Let's just hope the gators take care of her," Ronan suggested. He was panting, clutching his chest and still leaning against the building for support, but he was on his feet, and neither he nor Bonnie seemed terribly concerned about what was going to happen to him so Tyler wasn't either.

"She wouldn't have jumped in there if she wasn't sure she could make it out," Tyler said. He could picture Katherine cutting through the water, evading alligator after alligator, shaking off the one or two that snapped at her on her way to the shore. He could go after her. He was the strongest, fastest one here.

Ronan hobbled to the boat, extending a hand so Tyler could pull him into it. "Don't underestimate the bayou gators."

"We don't," Bonnie said, following Ronan and reclaiming her earlier seat. "We just don't underestimate Katherine either." She reached up to tug on Tyler's hand, pulling him down next to her. She kept a tight hold on him as they went, as if to keep him from diving in anyway.

"So we're screwed," Marcel said casually as he poured glasses of liquor for all of them.

"I'm screwed," Bonnie corrected. "Out of all of us, I think I'm the one who has the most to worry about, don't you?" She snatched the glass Marcel offered her, spilling some of the gold liquid onto the floor before magicking it away with a sweep of her hand. She took a long drink. "I don't think Katherine will go to Klaus, not right away. She'll weigh her options first. Klaus is still a threat to her, but eventually I think she will go to him. He's her only chance, and she's good at dealing her way out of tight spots. If she offers us up, Klaus may cut her some slack."

"We have to find her before that happens," Qetsiyah said. "If she knows about the other dead zones, she'll go there. She's got nowhere else to hide if that's the case."

"She could be en route now," Bonnie said. "You could catch her while she's in between."

"I'll do a locator spell," Qetsiyah said, rising to her feet and disappearing around the corner. Tyler heard her banging around in the kitchen.

"When that fails," Marcel said, "we'll need something else." He downed his drink in a couple of gulps and left the room without venturing a suggestion of what that something else should be.

Bonnie shook her head at his back. "I should get back," she said. "I've been gone long enough."

"You can't," Tyler said. "I mean, we're kind of screwed right now, right? Why would you go back there? Katherine could tell Klaus everything any minute."

"We have time," Bonnie insisted.

That time wasn't going to last forever. Even if Bonnie slipped under Klaus' radar for the night, that wouldn't be the case a few nights from now. And then what would she do? "Don't go back," Tyler said. "Stay here. There's plenty of rooms in this place so you can have your pick. I'm here, Qetsiyah's here. You'll be safe. You don't have to go back."

Bonnie looked up at him slowly. She smiled some, but she didn't say anything. That she didn't say no immediately was encouraging.

"If you're still on this thing about picking sides, I've gotta be honest with you: you've already chosen. You set Elijah on fire last night, and you're here with me right now. You're not on their side anymore. This is your side so you should be here with us." He smiled, trying to make this whole thing less serious than it was. Even now he worried that if he pushed too hard Bonnie would go running in the other direction, like she had one foot out the door at all times. Even when he told her differently, that he knew she was on his side even if she didn't know it herself, he worried he could be wrong.

Bonnie didn't leave. There wasn't even any annoyance in her voice. "It's not as simple as that," she said. "It's more than sides. It's...me."

"What about you?"

"I came here for a reason," she said. "There are things I came here promising myself I would do and ways that I promised I would be."

"You can still be those things," Tyler said. "You don't have to be with Klaus to be who you want to be."

"It's the only method I've found that works."

"Just because it's the only method you've tried doesn't mean it's the only one that works."

"I could leave, I guess," Bonnie said. "That's what I said I would do if Klaus lost, remember?"

"Yeah, but that was when Klaus losing meant you would also lose," Tyler said. "If Klaus loses, you still win."

Bonnie sighed down at her hands. "I have a habit of sacrificing things for people. And this isn't news to you, I know, but I don't think I can explain to you just how bad it was or how much better it got when I came here. I don't regret anything I've done for you since you found me, but don't ask me to stay, okay? If I stay, if I go, it has to be my choice. It is my choice, not yours, and I don't want to be tempted to stay just because you want me to because that's not...It shouldn't be a good enough reason."

Tyler withheld the sigh he wanted to let out. Around and around he and Bonnie went, and every time he thought they got closer to where they were supposed to be, she tried to go somewhere else. It wasn't a solution, and he wanted to tell her that. What would leaving do? Was she going to be alone for the rest of her life, only associating with people she didn't like and wouldn't fight for? What kind of life could that be? But even though the words were on his tongue and already playing themselves in his mind he said none of them because he didn't want to push her away.

"Can I say one last thing?" Tyler asked hopefully. "Then I won't say anything else, I promise."

Bonnie nodded as she raised her glass to her lips again.

"If you stayed, I wouldn't let it get as bad as it did," Tyler said. "I wouldn't let you sacrifice anything, especially not your life. I'd help you. So just think about that when you're deciding if you want to stay or if you want to go."

Tyler watched Bonnie down the rest of her drink and admire the glass as if she was considering pouring herself another. She decided against it and placed the glass on top of the bar before stepping toward him. "Maybe," she said.

"Making this a regular thing now, huh?" Tyler said as she stood on tiptoe to press her lips to his cheek.

"Maybe," she said again, a hint of a smile pulling at her lips. "Night."

"Night."

She turned her back and faded away.

No I have not completely abandoned this. School/work/everything has just been a pain, but now the semester's nearly over and summer will be here so I'll have a significantly lighter load that I'll be trying to take advantage of in updating this and getting it finished (hopefully before the summer's over!). Thanks for sticking with me, and thank you to those of you who take time to leave reviews. I know a lot of times people don't care to leave them because they feel like they don't have anything to say, but anything is always nice, and I always, always appreciate them.