CHAPTER ONE
June 2013
Mystic Falls
The night of Jo's wedding, Bonnie woke up to smoke and fire and screams.
And black magic.
It was thick in the air, thick enough to choke on. And it fed greedily on the fear and panic that surrounded her.
For a few seconds, she just lay on the floor, tired, so tired. Through the ground, she could still hear the screaming, the sounds of running feet, of distant explosions.
This was happening. This was really happening.
She had raced against time to get here and warn them. Yet despite all their plans, despite all their precautions, despite all her prayers and sacrifices… she was too late.
She was tired. Maybe she should just stay down, wait for it to be over.
Wait for them to come and kill her.
Then a familiar face flew into her vision and all thoughts of rolling over and dying fled from her.
"Kai!" she screamed, panicked, and her hand flew out instinctively.
He caught the motus with reflexes that would have impressed her from anyone else and sent it harmlessly into the air. Before she could incant again, his hands were wrapped around her shoulders, dragging her to her feet and immobilizing her magic. She knew that it only took the slightest pressure and her magic would be ripped out of her painfully.
You only got one chance against Kai Parker and she had used up hers.
"What did you do?" she shouted into his face.
A trickle of blood ran from his temple to his chin, and his formerly impeccable suit was stained with more blood and soot. His grey eyes narrowed at her, looking as furious as she felt.
"What did I do?" he shouted back. "Do you think I did this?"
Before she could respond, there was a whistling sound beside them. He whispered something and they slid three meters across the floor. A second later, the grand piano landed on the space they had been standing in.
Bonnie jumped and his grip on her tightened, painfully.
"Let me go…"
"KAI!"
Both turned to see Joshua Parker rushing towards them, his suit and beard covered with soot, magic pouring out of his hands.
"We need you! They're trying to breach the Southern Portal! If one of the anti-cloaking barriers come down…"
Bonnie gaped at him, then gaped even harder at Kai when he said, "OK" and while she was still trying to understand what the Hell was going on, Kai was shoving her at his father.
"Get her out." He said to the older man.
"I don't have time to-"
Kai grabbed his father's sleeve. "I need her to not be here."
Joshua frowned, about to speak, then must have seen something in Kai's face that silenced him. "I will."
Kai gave her one last look, his eyes full of things she couldn't begin to decipher, then he was gone.
Joshua Parker's hand was wrapped around her elbow and she was being dragged along beside him as he cut a path through the chaos of twisted furniture – and broken bones. Both littered the once-beautiful wedding hall. She could make out figures in the crowd: witches and warlocks in their once-beautiful wedding clothes, hands outstretched and chanting, their magic curling through the air like white smoke. A flash of blonde curls caught her gaze and she stared, barely recognizing Liv Tyler in a black dress, twirling like a ballerina as sparks of power poured out from her eyes and finger-tips. Around her a werewolf prowled, its teeth bared and stained with blood.
Then in the far distance, towards the south, red hooded silhouettes with black auras pouring from their beings.
"There's a portal on the Eastern side. We're sending the younger children and the mundanes through that one. Come on," he shouted at Bonnie who had dug her heels half-way across the floor.
"Not until someone tells me what is going on!" she shouted, standing her ground.
"I don't have time-"
"Tell me!"
There was a small explosion to their right. Joshua raised his hand in time to deflect the debris from them.
The older warlock glared at her. "The heretics attacked."
Too late… Too late… The phrase echoed in Bonnie's head.
"Elena?" Caroline… Damon… Stefan…?
"The doppelganger? She and the vampires left us to deal with this on our own."
And left her behind, Bonnie thought then mentally shook it away. They hadn't even realized she was here. She had got here seconds after all hell broke loose.
"What about Jo? Is she-"
"Safe. Kai was right beside her. Made a path for her and Alaric to get away."
Instinctively, her head turned, searching for him in the melee. She couldn't see him, but she could feel his magic, bursts of him sending shockwaves through the hall, under her skin.
Had she been wrong?
Joshua was still speaking. "The coven is taking heavy losses and I need to get you out of here. Come on, girl. I have to get back to the fight!"
Bonnie, turned back to him and shook her head. "I can fight."
"I know you have magic, but leave this for the witches trained in combat."
Bonnie would have laughed if she wasn't in a life and death situation. "I have seen combat. And I am a Bennett."
Joshua Parker turned at her, his face registering shock. "What?"
Above them, there was a creaking sound. They moved just in time to dodge the chandelier that fell with a shatter of glass and wires on the floor. Joshua raised his hand but Bonnie was faster.
The shards of glass stayed up, suspended in mid-air. Then they swirled into a cluster in the shape of an arrow and went spinning towards the south side of the hall.
A high-pitched shriek filled the air. Bonnie waved her hand and then it stopped.
She looked at Joshua Parker's frozen face. "I'm Bonnie Bennett," she repeated. "I'm Sheila's grand-daughter. I can help you."
"My son asked me to get you to safety," Joshua said uncertainly.
Bonnie twisted out of his grip. "I'm not a Gemini. I don't take orders from you or your son."
The old man's lips twitched. Then he nodded. "Try to get to the stage. That's the best vantage." His lips twitched again. "Stay away from the south side. The coven leader is probably there."
Then he left her, his arm already rising up to shoot a spell from his index finger.
Bonnie stared up at stage. She could make out two young witches, standing back to back, working magic and shooting it up at the sky. A red-robed figure was bearing down on them, mouth snarling with curses.
She started running.
June 2014
Portland, Oregon
The landing rocked her awake. She jolted forward, and almost slipped off her seat during the forward throw. She scrambled back into place.
Damon watched throughout; the only thing on his face that was not actually laughing was his mouth. Bonnie shot him a dirty look. "Thanks a lot, jerk."
"You're welcome," he crowed.
"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. We have reached Portland Airport. Please stay in your seats until the plane has come to a complete stop, the engines switched off and the Seatbelt Sign has turned off."
"Had a nice nap?" Damon asked, his eyes still dancing with laughter.
Bonnie scowled. "Let's just get this over with."
Alaric was waiting for them at the airport. He and Damon exchanged bro-hugs and, to Bonnie's surprise, Alaric bypassed her outstretched hand and lifted her from the ground in a huge bear-hug.
"Hey!" she said, laughing. Alaric Saltzman had gone from being her favourite professor in high school to someone whose death she mourned to someone who she barely spoke to. Even though it had been a year since they last saw each other, she hadn't expected this kind of welcome.
"It's so great to see you, guys," Alaric said, his face wreathed with smiles as they walked to his car. "Jo will be over the moon."
"You're just saying that because you need someone to take over diaper duty," Damon drawled, his tone not quite disguising the broad smile on his face.
"That, too!" Alaric said with a laugh.
He looked great, Bonnie noted, half-enviously. A year out of Mystic Falls, with his brand-new family, a comfortable job at the local high school, and in the heart of one of the most powerful covens in the world –
Who considered his children their heirs
– had done wonders for the gloomy, half-broken man he used to be.
Of course, none of that would have even been possible if he hadn't come back to life in the first place.
Bonnie pushed back the thought. She had long moved past that bitterness.
The car drove through the warm streets of Portland. Bonnie, riding in the back, kept turning her head to take in the sights and sounds. The last time she was here was both at once a year and nineteen years ago. Then the streets were empty and she had been driving fast enough to kill herself. She hadn't had time to stop and smell the roses.
Literally. The city was littered with them.
Back in Mystic Falls, the streets were littered with vervain.
"This is not a social call, drinking bud," Damon said bluntly somewhere after an hour of catching up as they turned into a street.
Alaric shrugged. "Whatever. I'm just glad to have you guys here."
She and Damon shared a loaded glance through his side mirror.
They hoped Alaric would still think so when he heard what they had to say.
"Talking about drinking," Alaric said now. "Remember what I told you?"
Damon heaved a long-suffering sigh. "No blood. No fangs. No fun. Relax, Ric. I'll be on my best behaviour."
"You're not exactly going to have a choice," Alaric said sheepishly. "Coven put in a few spells in the house."
"Let me guess: a few vampire-proofing spells?"
Alaric shrugged again. "The girls are their heirs. I'm just the baby-daddy."
"The word you're looking for is sperm donor." Damon said snidely and looked like he was ready to say more about this but at that moment, Alaric took the car off the road and into a gated estate straight from a suburbia catalogue.
He drove past the fence, up his driveway and parked the car.
Then he waited the few seconds it took Damon to stop laughing.
More like few minutes.
Five minutes later, Damon was still laughing as they pulled their luggage behind them: Damon carrying his knapsack, Bonnie swinging her satchel and Alaric struggling with the three pieces of luggage that she had managed to squeeze a week's worth of essentials into.
"A white picket fence? Really? A white picket fence?" Damon asked when he finally caught his breath. Then he burst into laughter again.
"Oh shut up," Alaric said finally, the walk between the car and his door apparently too much for him and his burden and he stopped halfway. "Come here and give me some help."
"Why should I help? That's Bonnie's stuff not mine."
"Because you pretend to be a gentleman?" she asked, smoothly.
"What happened to equal rights?" he retorted.
"What the heck is equal about vampire strength?"
Their bickering was – thankfully – cut short by the front door opening and the spectacle of Liv Parker standing before them, a crying baby on her hip.
"Oh thank god!" she said by way of greeting and dropped the baby in Bonnie's arms.
"W-what?" Bonnie said in horror, just barely holding onto cloth and blanket and staring into a face that had apparently, been shocked into silence at the sight of her.
Liv was already walking across the lawn. "I need to get out of this house. You said an hour, Alaric!" she said, as she passed him.
"There was traffic. Where's Jo?" he yelled, after her back.
"Sleeping. Don't you wake her!" Liv yelled back, not turning her head.
The baby, having studied Bonnie's face and come to its own conclusions, opened its mouth into a high-pitched wail.
"Welcome to my home!" Alaric said cheerfully, as he followed Damon with the last of Bonnie's boxes to the front door.
Jo didn't wake up until almost three hours later and when she did, she scooped up the wailing baby with one hand, and it shushed the moment it disappeared into her blouse. Everyone was too relieved to be embarrassed – although Damon started opening his mouth and closed it without comment under Bonnie's and Alaric's combined icy glares.
"I love your hair," Jo raved, eyeing Bonnie's almost waist length braid with approval as she led her upstairs, to the nursery. "You look amazing. Very continental," she added with a wink, clearly referring to Bonnie's summer of Europe, the previous year. She had left a few weeks before the Saltzmans themselves had moved out of Virginia for good.
"You look incredible," Bonnie countered honestly. She couldn't stop sneaking glances at the older woman as they bent over the side of the double crib to coo at the sleeping baby, also a girl. Apparently, a year away from Mystic Falls translated to ten years away from one's age. The doctor looked closer to Bonnie's age than her own, black hair radiant, her skin glowing and her whole demeanour brighter and happier than Bonnie had ever seen. Not even on Jo's wedding day.
Bonnie swallowed, dark emotions lurking somewhere near, never far from her heart, whenever the memory of that day entered in her thoughts.
The two women – and a half, counting the baby in Jo's arms – left the nursery and made themselves comfortable in Jo's bedroom while Alaric and Damon made themselves useful cooking lunch.
"Sorry, it's all hands on deck here," Jo said with a laugh as she kicked up her feet on the small stool while Bonnie – in a fit of spontaneity she was fast regretting – tried to make sense of the clutter of baby clothes that were thrown on the bed.
"No matching sets?" she asked, holding up one green short-sleeved onesie and a yellow sleeveless one.
Jo shuddered. "I've had enough of matching twin sets to last a lifetime. Kai and I wore colour-coded clothes until we were twelve and Luke and Liv had to do the same. We even still got matching sweaters for the holidays." She rolled her eyes. "I'm going to give my girls some individuality or die trying."
Bonnie was silent, concentrating hard on folding the clothes correctly.
Jo sighed. "Sorry. I didn't mean to just throw him at your face. I know you guys –"
Bonnie gave her a sharp look. "You know we what?"
Jo bit her lip and fell silent.
"What?" Bonnie asked, trying and failing to keep the aggression from her voice.
"I know you guys have things to work out," Jo said finally.
Bonnie felt her heart stutter. "What did he tell you?"
Jo rolled her eyes. "Bonnie, he didn't have to. Look, I'm not going to have this conversation with you if you don't want to. But… you didn't come here just to coo over my babies. You're going to see Kai soon and you'd better know what you want from him when you do."
"We need his help with the situation at Mystic Falls," Bonnie said at once. "The heretics that returned. That's all I'm here for."
Jo shrugged.
That little gesture infuriated Bonnie and she wasn't able to censor her next words. "Since when did you two get so close anyway? Why are you so OK with him?"
Jo stared at her. "He's my brother, my twin."
"Who murdered half of your siblings."
Jo's face fell and Bonnie felt like kicking herself. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't."
"No, you- you have a right to hear this." The doctor was silent for a moment, and tapped the baby at her breast. It looked like if she had fallen asleep, and Jo was trying to get her to keep feeding. "After the merge with Luke, Kai changed. That's what happens after a Gemini twin merge ceremony. One twin physically lives on but within that body, the souls of both twins combine to form an entirely new person. It's not just a transference of power – it's a mergence. The Kai that is alive now … he's more like the brother I remember growing up with, the brother that I loved than the monster that destroyed our family. I can't hate him anymore than I can hate Luke who died saving my life."
Bonnie was shaking her head. "I'm sorry. I've heard this before and I don't… I don't accept it."
"It's not up to you to accept or not," Jo said quietly. "It's the truth. I've made my peace with it, with Kai. So has Liv, my father, the rest of the coven. If Kai was still the same man he was over a year ago, my father won't be alive today and the same goes for half, if not more of our coven. He saved my life and countless others. He's saved yours, too." Bonnie opened her mouth to retort and Jo raised her hand. "Yes, I know. After he put you in danger in the first place, I know. But he still did it, Bonnie. That must have – it must have counted for something, right?"
Bonnie said nothing.
"He's … he's a good man. I'd never have imagined a year ago that I would be the one to say this. But it's the truth."
"I can't accept that."
"Can't or won't?"
Bonnie was silent.
"If you came here to harm Kai, I'm not going to let you."
Bonnie started at the sudden hardness in the other woman's voice. "I didn't come here for that," Bonnie said vehemently. "We need his help. I've worked with people I've hated before in the past. I can keep my personal feelings out of it."
Jo stared at her searchingly, and Bonnie stared back. Then the doctor nodded, apparently satisfied.
"OK, then. Help me get this little one to bed then we'll go and take a look at all the lovely presents you brought from Whitmore."
Liv Parker showed up just as the dinner places were being set. It was a good meal. Bonnie was so hungry that anything would have tasted good at that point in time but she had to admit that Alaric and Damon really outdid themselves. It was also a bit disorganized, between the conversations that kept starting and stopping and going over each other as everyone tried to keep up to date on a year's worth of stories. Occasionally, the baby monitor would beep and Alaric – it was always Alaric, never Jo – would jump to his feet and check in the nursery. When he came back after the third false alarm, Jo shook her head and told him to save his energy for the night-time feedings.
Everything was so peaceful, Bonnie found herself thinking sometime after her second glass of wine. So peaceful and so normal. While back at home, life had come to a petrified halt.
Finally, dinner was over. The twins were still sleeping and Liv took Bonnie upstairs. She didn't seem any more enthusiastic towards Bonnie and Damon than she was a few hours ago but she did show Bonnie the room they would be sharing and even offered to switch beds with her if Bonnie liked.
"No, but thanks," Bonnie replied, a little surprised at Liv's friendliness – her version of it, of course. "You know, Damon and I could have just booked a hotel."
"Wow, hooking up already? I thought it'd take him at least a couple of years post-Doppelganger to get into your pants."
Bonnie gaped. "What? Er… no. Also, ugh. I meant separate rooms; Damon and I aren't in a relationship." As a matter of fact, last month was the first time Bonnie had seen him in ages but that was hardly Liv's business.
"You don't need to be in a relationship to hook up," Liv said wryly.
"Trust me, I do." Bonnie retorted. Then she fell silent and turned to the box she was unpacking, fighting the urge to check her nose to see if it was growing. What happened in Europe, stayed in Europe, she reminded herself. And as for what happened before.
That didn't count. Not in the least.
"Well, I'm certain Damon will still go for you someday. I think if he wasn't so hung up on the Doppelganger, he'd have gone for you years ago. Didn't he have the whole Protector of the Bennett line going on for a century? That's a long time to stand guard over a bloodline and not get some compensation."
"OK first of all, gross. Secondly, I've done plenty for Damon over the years. I think I've more than compensated him. And finally, Protector of the Bennett line? Don't make me laugh. I hope he's not going about telling people that because he's not going to get a reference from me."
Liv hummed, looking contemplative. "So the doppelganger's gone for good and Damon's single? Why do I find that hard to believe? You sure she's really gone? She didn't have him swear some kind of fidelity blood-oath until she returned? No, that won't work; Damon would have died by now… No, she's probably already flown back in from Europe and is hiding somewhere in that huge house of theirs so her girlfriends won't shame her. Yeah, that sounds about right."
"It sounds to me like you're weirdly interested in what's going on in Damon's pants."
"Yuck." Liv shuddered. "OK, so if you're not hooking up with Damon, then who's it? Did you and Jeremy get back together?"
"No." Bonnie gave Liv a look. "Why? You want him? I can give you his number."
Liv made a face. "No, thanks. I don't do younger men. That's more your thing," she said sweetly.
"Can't wait to meet the dude you're currently doing then," Bonnie retorted with equal sugar as she looked for her sleepwear with a little more agitation than necessary. "Hope I don't end up making a play for him. Oh wait, that's more your thing, isn't it?" Not exactly the best comeback, and heaven knows she wasn't in the least bit interested in Liv's boyfriends, hook-ups or otherwise. But if Bonnie had picked up anything from Damon Salvatore, it was that a good offensive was the best kind of defence.
Liv didn't answer right away, so Bonnie looked up, and was surprised. From the frozen look on Liv's face, Bonnie's weak barb had drawn blood.
"Er… Liv?"
Liv's face shifted back into its default stone-cold bitch glare. "You can try. But any guy I date would eat a sweet little thing like you for breakfast."
"Or maybe the guys you date are just lousy in bed and that's why you're always such a bitch?"
Liv flipped her outrageous curls. "Being a bitch is better than being a doormat. Have you finally grown a spine now that the doppelganger has left-"
"Her name is Elena," Bonnie said tersely.
"Or do you roll over and die for Forbes now? I'm guessing there's no need to ask if you still do that for the Salvatores. Ow!"
A tiny – well, maybe not so tiny – zing had zipped out of Bonnie and hit the other woman square on the cheek.
"Oops, my bad," Bonnie purred.
"Did you just give me a zit?" Liv yelled, rushing to the mirror.
Bonnie shrugged.
Liv glared at her through the glass, her own fingers curling into a hex pattern. Bonnie braced herself, ready to throw it back at her.
Then Liv's hand dropped to her side and she smiled ruefully. "I guess I had that coming."
"You think?"
"So not a doormat, anymore, Bonnie. Looks like your time-out with my brother really brought out your inner bitch."
Quickly, Bonnie turned back to her box, her hands balled into fists. She managed – barely – to rein herself in.
"Whatever, Liv. Are we going to get along or do I really need to book that hotel?"
"Relax, miyagi," Liv said, surprising Bonnie by mentioning the nickname she had given her when she – Bonnie – had foolishly thought that she was training Liv.
What a joke.
"I wanted to know who I was dealing with," Liv continued. "Now I know."
"Know what?"
Liv smiled. "I know we're going to get along just fine." She threw herself on her bed. "I'm taking you to the Great Coven Leader, tomorrow by the way. So make sure you bring your A-game."
Bonnie was silent, as she gathered her bathroom things. On the tip of her tongue were the same questions she had thrown earlier at Jo – why Liv was also so normal about the brother she once hated, the brother that had killed the twin she loved so much.
Then Bonnie decided that it was none of her business. None of the Parkers were, really. She was only here because she had to be and once she got the help she needed, she was leaving and hopefully, never looking back.
She did hesitate at the bathroom door, and when she looked back she caught Liv's sober face, staring at her.
"Tyler and Matt are doing great at the academy," Bonnie said, softly. "Matt and I get together once in a while, and sometimes Tyler drops by. I don't think he's dating anyone serious, either."
Liv's raccoon-shadowed eyes brightened up a little. Then she made a face quickly to hide it. "You and Matt, huh? Is he the one that you're hooking up – sorry, I mean, that you're in a relationship with then?"
"Oh shut up, Liv!" Bonnie snapped, shaking her head and closing the door behind her.
July 2013
Whitmore
When Bonnie turned the corner as she walked from the showers to her dorm room, she spotted a familiar dark-blue suited figure walking away from her on the corridor.
Her heart stuttered, the beginning of panic rising. Without thinking, she dashed the few yards to him, her flip-flops slapping on the floor. He was about to turn the corner when she grabbed his wrist, spinning him around.
"Hey!" yelped the...
…completely unfamiliar person staring down at her as if she was crazy.
Bonnie dropped his wrist quickly. "I... I'm sorry. I thought you were someone else." Embarrassment burned through her as she realized just how ridiculous she seemed, standing in her bathrobe, waylaying a complete stranger.
Too late, she noticed the clipboard in his other hand. Of course. A building inspector.
Sometime during the past school year, Whitmore College had been sold. Aaron Whitmore's death had marked the extinction of the Whitmore dynasty and the college and the rest of their legacy had been sold off in parts or as a whole to either a consortium of investors or another wealthy dynasty, depending on which rumour you believed. No one quite seemed to know much about the new owners of the university beside the facts that they had chosen to keep the old name and they planned several massive improvements to the campus real estate. Extensive construction work had been scheduled for the summer; flyers and emails were being sent around to residents in affected dormitories, including Bonnie's own.
So this was not the first time that Bonnie had seen an inspector prowling around the dormitory.
It was the first time she had accosted one, though.
The man gave her an uncertain nod, still staring at her warily. She took a step back, tried for a placating smile. In turn, she got a "lady, you're crazy" look, and the stranger turned on his heel and walked off briskly.
It was an honest mistake, Bonnie told herself, as she plodded back to her room. After all, how many men over six feet wore a navy suit in the middle of July? It was quite funny, really.
But she couldn't muster any humour for the next unexpected encounter that was waiting for her.
This time it was in the form of two tickets lying beside the pyjamas she had spread on her bed.
She picked up the first one and stared at it, her eyebrows climbing higher and higher in her face.
"What is this?" she asked, whirling to the girl that was sitting at her desk, textbooks spread in front of her.
Elena turned to give her a bored look. "A choice. Europe or Portland. Pick one."
"Here's a thought," Bonnie muttered, crumpling the hard paper in her fist. "How about neither?"
Elena didn't blink. "There are more copies where that came from. If you want me to choose for you, I'd be happy to."
Bonnie took a deep breath, counted back from ten, and reminded herself that her childhood friend could no longer survive an aneurysm. "I've taking summer courses."
"Defer them. With all the construction that'll be happening, you're spending half your time looking for your class, and the other half getting there. Besides, if anyone has earned an extra year or two in college, it's you. What you haven't earned is the right to carry all that baggage inside you for three more months. So this is what I've come up with: We can have an all-expenses paid Eurotrip to fix us – or you have an all-expenses solo trip to Portland, where you can visit breweries, smell the roses, and fix whatever is going on between you and Kai Parker-"
"There's nothing going on between me and Kai Parker!" Bonnie hissed, hands balled into fists.
The fire place – which had been cold and dead all day – came to life, flames rising with a roar, and spitting embers.
Elena's chair scraped, as she shifted hastily away, and Bonnie took another deep shuddering breath.
The flames went down.
"Obviously," Elena deadpanned.
Bonnie sat down abruptly.
For a moment, the room was silent while Bonnie felt her head bow under the weight of her friend's – former friend's?- gaze.
"Europe, it is then," Elena said softly, and she turned back to her desk. "Chicks before dicks. I like it."
Bonnie laughed in disbelief. "You can't make me go anywhere, you know."
"Wanna bet?" Elena murmured.
Bonnie glared at the other girl's serene face, at her brown eyes dancing with mischief. Then Bonnie turned to her bed and picked up the second ticket. "Company of three?"
"You, me, Caroline. We all need the therapy. Plus, I think it's embarrassing that all three of us hit twenty without ever leaving this country, don't you?"
"Just us three? No… Salvatore in company?" For the first time, Bonnie was intrigued.
"Nope."
"And what does your boyfriend think about that?"
Elena laughed loudly. "Chicks before dicks. Also… who effing cares?"
Bonnie turned her face so that Elena won't see the smile that was threatening to form.
Instead, she muttered, "I'll think about it."
She ignored the triumphant look on Elena's face and put on her pyjamas. She was hanging up her bathrobe, when she remembered her earlier encounter.
"Did someone come in here while I was in the shower?"
When Elena didn't answer right away, Bonnie turned to her friend. "Elena?"
Elena raised her head from the books she had apparently already retreated into. "Sorry. What, Bonnie?"
"I thought I saw…" When Elena kept looking at her blankly, Bonnie shook her head. "Never mind. It was nothing."
Elena shrugged, her head already bowing back over her books.
Bonnie sat down on the bed and stared fluffing her pillow when her gaze caught that first ticket – the crumpled paper with PDX peeking through the wrinkles.
Under Bonnie's gaze, it levitated into the air and burst into flames.
She caught Elena's gaze as the ashes fell to the ground – a gaze filled with pity and worry – and Bonnie lay back on the bed abruptly, turning her back to her friend, staring unseeingly at the wall in front of her.
June 2014
Portland, Oregon
The time difference between Virginia and Oregon caught up with Bonnie sometime in the early hours of the morning; she woke up abruptly and so decidedly that she knew there was no point trying to go back to sleep soon.
She stared up at the ceiling and thought of all the events that had led her to now – in Portland, in his sister's home, as she counted down the hours before she would see him again for the first time in a year.
When she had returned to Mystic Falls last month – after almost a year away from her hometown – their makeshift crew of town defenders had been divided about reaching out to Portland for help. Bonnie had been the one to finally shut down that idea.
Yes, she had admitted, the Gemini had fought and won against the heretics in the past. But, she reminded them, their gang of seven – Bonnie, Damon, Stefan, Caroline, Tyler, Matt and Enzo – had fought and won over worse than a pair of vampire-witch freaks over the years, hadn't they? They didn't need the unpredictable Gemini, she had insisted. And the others had mostly believed her.
But weeks had passed and the bodies kept piling up. And maybe, at the back of Bonnie's mind, was the hope that the Gemini – that he – would reach out to them first. But it never happened.
Then they had suffered a loss of one of their own and Bonnie knew it was time to swallow her pride. This was the only option left to them.
Although there was one option open to Bonnie. She could pack her bags, move out of Virginia and leave Mystic Falls, Whitmore, and whatever other territory the heretics chose to claim, to the mercy of fate. After all, she had done it before, sort of. And in the past year, the two towns had survived through a rampage of nomadic werewolves, and an inexplicable visitation from a dragon of all things – all without her. Surely, Mystic Falls-Whitmore could weather a pair of misplaced heretics.
But Bonnie knew, deep down, that this time around, she wouldn't do it – couldn't. This was one battle that she won't be able to walk away from.
The days leading up to this trip had seen her emotions run the gamut from dread to anticipation. It changed with every passing day, every passing hour. The only constant thought in her head was –
Get it over with.
And in the next twenty-four hours, regardless of the outcome, she would.
From the corner of her eye, she caught the flash of her phone's alert light. She picked it up and saw a message from Matt. Heart beating, she tapped it open and then heaved a relieved sigh.
The town was quiet today. No deaths. No incidents. No news was the best news.
She tapped a response back. "I'm getting help. Keep your fingers crossed."
He buzzed back immediately. "Take care of yourself there, OK?" That brought a smile to her face.
There was an older message from Caroline that must have come in during dinnertime, asking how things were. Bonnie decided to take the chance and call back. It was probably breaking dawn in Whitmore and Caroline was usually an early riser.
"Hey," Caroline's voice sounded sleepy.
OK, she was usually an early riser.
"Hey. Sorry to wake you."
"No. No problem. How're you doing? How was your trip? How're Alaric and Jo and the kids? Hope Damon is behaving himself."
"OK. Fine. Great. He doesn't have a choice." She grinned. "Did I miss anything?"
Caroline laughed softly. "Nice one. So… have you seen him?"
Bonnie snuck a glance across the room, where she could make out Liv's sleeping form in the dark. "I'll see him tomorrow."
Care sighed. "Bonnie, I know-"
"I think Jo's at the door. Talk to you later?"
"Sure, Bon. 'Night."
"'Night, Care."
She stayed up for an hour after that, thoughts like ghosts chasing through her head. When she finally did sleep back, she dreamt of red-cloaked, redheaded heretics, the vengeful face of Lily Salvatore, winged stars falling in flames from the sky, and a warlock with grey eyes and a streak of white shooting out of his dark hair.
A/N: So this is my new multi-chaptered fic, Long Shadows. Hopefully despite the name, it won't be too long and should be wrapped up in 8-10 chapters. I am still working on Yibbum, don't worry. I just need to untangle a Mereneese knot for the next 5-6 chapters before I started posting again. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have writing it. And please if you read this, I'd really love to hear what you think. Be it good or bad, I appreciate getting feedback and reviews.
Keep the BonKai flag flying!
A/N #2 (1/24/16): Dear Readers, I am currently re-writing this story for plot and characterization reasons. The problems in continuity were frankly speaking, driving me batty. Hopefully, it will be a better tale when it's done. I'm sorry that it's going to take a bit longer to get to its end now. But I strongly believe the story will be all the more better for it. If you're a new reader, thanks for dropping by. If you're an old reader, please take the time to re-read the chapters. There's some brand new content, and also a lot of modified content with important clues that I didn't put the first time around.
And finally, thanks to my beta thenameismaynard a.k.a. keenan24 who has betad both versions of this story.
