HUNTED
Occult Studies
Elena told her she needed to take a few deep breaths and try to get back to normal, then she laughed at the word and rolled her eyes, "I mean in between, escaping death daily, time traveling and being weekend hostesses to a house full of 18th century vampires and roomies with the new Caroline," she added, stuffing a biology book in her messenger bag. "Oh, and dodging a deranged psychopath who killed his siblings over daddy issues and has a schoolboy crush on you." Bonnie toyed with the prospect of cloaking her. Elena's biology professor was notorious for making students walk the plank if they were a millisecond late, and she'd probably be guillotined for an absence. But Bonnie was too tired to even be thinking about magic, especially stupid spells that reminded her of even stupider boys. Unaware of her bestfriend's plotting, Elena grabbed a heart printed thermos out of the mini-fridge. "I took the liberty of making a schedule for you," she threw over her shoulder in pursuit of the door. "Get dressed. You have occult studies at 10:00." The door slammed behind her and opened again two swear words later.
"I thought she'd never leave," Caroline moaned, yanking a disheveled Stefan by his leather jacket. Somehow they went from two vampires to one - a mess of bloodstained clothes, chattering fangs and bulging veins . . . and other . . . bulges.
When they rolled by her bed like a bundle of tumbleweed, Bonnie cleared her throat. "I'm still here."
"You can leave," Caroline managed to breath out as Stefan kissed her neck.
"Or she can join us," he said. "I've always wondered what it'd be like to-"
"Okay! This was actually better than coffee," she sprang out of bed and grabbed the nearest bag that remotely looked like hers. "But it was worse than Whitmore's cafeteria food because now i'm nauseous." Watching her bestfriends grope each other in dirty clothes with no humanity wasn't the morning she was looking forward to.
"Your loss. Stefan is excellent at-"
Luckily she thrust herself into the hallway before catching that last part.
x
It was gorgeous outside: blue skies spread over lush trees and warmth. For a moment it reminded her of the summer before sophomore year when they'd spend all day at the Gilbert house, torturing Jeremy and doing things that seemed foreign to her now - like running through the sprinklers and sprawling across the lawn to share secrets until their skin turned toasty. She missed those days. She didn't have to worry about art school bound ex boyfriends who didn't return her calls, emotionless vampires who'd try to kill her on a whim and a stalker she couldn't take down because then she'd kill the whole coven. . . and of course her new mother hen, Damon. He was starting to spend so much time on campus that she told him he needed to just pick a major and room with them, to which he responded with a snooty "I'm more of an off-campus kind of guy."
Bonnie had just enough time to grab a proper pick me up from the cafe before heading to her Ancient and Medieval Magics class. Coffee in hand, and the confidence that this wasn't going to be a total disaster, like French class senior year, she walked over the threshold with her chest poked out. She'd made originals cry, she took down an immortal warlock, she'd studied ancient magical texts like most of her peers studied Twitter and she could turn a vampire inside out with just a glare and a sexy chant. She'd own this class.
"Good to know I have a slacker partner in crime," Kai said, appearing beside her. "Late on the first day, Bon? I'm shocked."
"I'm not late," she forced a semi-civil tone and kept her eyes fixed on anything but him. "I thought I told you to stop following me."
"And I thought I told you that I had something important to tell you. It's like really important, but you don't answer my calls or my texts."
"You know rejection is the same in the twenty-first century as it was in the twentieth," she rolled her eyes. It was the only acceptable outlet for her own chaotic emotions. "Maybe I can't kill you, but I can maim you and I will if you don't stop harassing me."
"I'm not harassing you. I just need you to give me a second to intrude on your little 'i'm a normal college girl and nothing screwed up is going on in my life' to tell you that something screwed up is going on."
"I don't care," she told him. "In fact the only thing I care about right now is," she glanced at the schedule in her hand. "Ancient and Medieval Magics, Modern Occult Practices, and History of Salem Witches. Funny, I don't see Malachai Parker or his lies anywhere on this schedule."
"Keep ignoring me," he growled and for a moment she forgot that he was a witch and not a werewolf. "When you're back in that crappy little cemetery, don't say I didn't try to warn you." And just like that he was gone, leaving a shiver to crawl down her spine.
Aside from her run-in with the cuffed jeans wearing weasel, her day turned out to be pleasantly normal. Granted, occult studies was more history than Harry Potter, she enjoyed it. It reminded her of Grams. One of her professors gave an assignment. She'd have to write everything she knew about the Salem witch trials without searching the internet or using a textbook. The only thing she knew about Salem was that her descendants fled after the witch trials, but she'd sound like a nutcase if she said that, and she couldn't cheat because that'd take the fun out of everything, but she didn't want to make something up, she'd sound like a moron.
She smiled to herself.
This was her biggest problem right now.
Homework.
She could get used to this.
x
Damon pulled the blanket off of her and tossed it on to Elena's bed. It was then that she realized she'd fallen asleep on her notebook. "Get dressed, Sleeping Beauty. We're going out for dinner."
"Where's Elena?" Bonnie asked, wiping her eyes and mentally smacking Damon for barging in the way he did.
He kneeled beside her bed.
"Turns out she had a late night at the hospital, and I have reservations for two," he said, and when she didn't look like she wanted to do somersaults, he continued with a wag of his dark brows "It'll be fun. We can do that Lady and the Tramp bit with a plate of spaghetti."
"Eww," she turned over on her other side.
"Come on. You know you want to," he told the back of her head.
" I'm sure if you call Elena and ask her again she can compel someone to let her leave her shift early or something."
"Fine," he rose to his full height. "You stay here. In this cold dorm room . . . with Miss Cuddles . . . and homework . . . we'll talk later."
"Wait," she called. "Before you go, what do you know about the Salem witches?"
"Come with me and i'll tell you everything you need to know."
He smirked like he was so smart, and she glared at him because he was.
"Fine. I'll meet you outside in 15."
When did all the guys in her life get so annoying?
x
When she was trapped in the prison world with him for all those months, he was the only option. She couldn't tell if she genuinely kind of liked his company or if she was just desperate. Aside from her threatening to jab a fork through his hand if he ordered spaghetti, dinner was . . . nice.
Damon spent about five minutes filling her in on the Salem witch trials and at least two of those minutes consisted of him saying "blah-blah-blah". When she told him what Kai said to her before class, he looked wary, but quickly brushed it off with a "Weren't you the one that told me anyone who believed him was an idiot or something like that?" he followed his words with a sip of bourbon and must've had second thoughts about the cavalier approach because before she could respond he said. "I'll take care of Kai."
She tilted her head. "Damon-"
"-I won't kill him. I'll just hurt him a tiny little bit," he smiled and looked so sickeningly innocent that she thought about jabbing that fork in his hand again.
x
The new Caroline wasn't much different from the old Caroline when you thought about it. Still control-freaky and chatty, only now they had to worry about her snapping their necks when they weren't looking or ordering someone to cut out a major organ. She also turned out to be Kai repellent. When ever she was with Caroline he was no where to be found. She guessed the runt wasn't as reckless as she thought.
She needed help picking out an outfit for another audition, and according to her, Bonnie was her last resort. Otherwise, she would've asked someone with better fashion-sense. "Thanks, Caroline."
" You have to know your style is sucky," she elaborated, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "You're my advice guru. Not my fashion guru, but you better help me pick out something good or else i'll compel all of your professors to give you failing grades, then i'll kill them once the semester is over."
"Got it," she said, unfazed by her threats. She didn't want it to come to a dark place with Caroline, so she'd keep her sass to a minimum, but she was more than capable of turning her into a vampire shiskabob. "You start over here, i'll start there and we'll meet in the middle."
They left the boutique with two dresses. A short red one for her date with Stefan and a yellow ruffled one for her audition, which she made Bonnie promise to attend or she'd bite the first person she made eye contact with.
Later she met Elena back at the dorms.
There was a freshman movie night with free pizza and beer.
It was the normal thing to do so they went.
They ate until they were stuffed. Drank until they were tipsy. And ended up talking about hot guys in their classes. Handfuls for Elena, none compared to Damon of course and only two for Bonnie, because occult studies wasn't exactly a magnet for hot guys. They went from talking about stranger guys to the strange guys they knew.
"Damon is worried about me. With Stefan roaming around without his humanity - I think he spends time here to keep an eye on me."
"He loves you. It's sweet."
"Jer, loves you too," she assured. "Just give it time. You two will figure it out."
Bonnie nodded in agreement, but this was the first time in a while that she wasn't thinking about her relationship with Jeremy. He was happy. Safe. And miles away from Mystic Falls.
She was running late for class and slightly hung over.
Not the best start, but certainly not the worst.
The worst was when she saw Kai. Front and center. In her class. Wearing a Whitmore sweatshirt and looking more like an ordinary college boy than a knife wielding psychopath. It took her the strength of heaven and earth to go to her seat without setting him on fire.
She wouldn't fall for his mind games.
No.
She'd pretend he didn't bother her.
Like he was just another student.
A student who hadn't stolen pieces of her magic, stabbed her, shot her with an arrow, drugged her then stuffed her in a trunk and abandoned her.
Nope.
She'd pretend he was just another nameless face in her class.
She sat as far away from him as the room would permit and she didn't look at him once, not even when he took every opportunity he could to ask or answer a question.
Her Salem Witch trials professor asked to speak with her after class and she had to admit, it freaked her out. He stared at her for most of the class period, like he'd seen her picture on a wanted list on their day off or something. When she was on her way out he stopped her with a "You're Sheila's granddaughter. Sheila Bennett."
"Yeah," she nodded, mustering up a knotted expression that was meant to be a smile. "I am."
"I followed her teachings since I was a kid. She's the one who made me into to the man I am today. I went into occult studies because of her."
There were a few seconds of silence before she found her social graces.
"I'm sure she'd be happy to hear that," she finally said, feeling at ease enough to unfold her arms.
"I have something to show you," he said. "I've been having it for years and I think you'd like to see it. Would you meet me in my office around 5:00?" If her eyes were closed, she might've agreed instantly. His tone was smooth and sweet like molasses, but his eyes were unnaturally pale. She'd looked into the eyes of some real creeps over the years, and none of them had eyes that immediately made her feel like their prey. If eyes were truly the windows to souls, his were stained glass.
"Uh, I-"
"It'll only take a minute."
"Bonnie," Kai breezed into the almost empty classroom. "There you are, babe. I've been looking everywhere for you." He sounded rehearsed. Like he'd repeated those lines a million times on his way over and was still paranoid about messing up one word. It all threw her off guard. She just stood there with a dumbstruck look on her face, her mossy eyes searching his for an answer to his crazy. It didn't take long for him to hover over her. "Uh, it's Caroline. She's, um, she needs you. Right now."
She was afraid to imagine what Caroline had gotten into. Did she gouge out someone's eyes for not praising her audition? Did she get mad at the world because every strand of her hair wouldn't stay in place and decided to go on a rampage? Was she feeding on students in the open while Stefan tore heads off in the background? She managed to say that she had to go in one breath before she rushed out of the class. Her flats hammered against the linoleum, cement, grass then finally the hardwood. She shoved the door open expecting to see something that resembled an Anne Rice novel, like a group of debutantes in ballgowns bleeding out into champagne glasses - but no one was there.
And she just stood there for a moment, watching the fire grow just as enraged as she was, listened to it crackling across the room, with Kai at her back.
She turn around so fast that her hair whipped her in the face and before anything could come out of that mouth of his, her rounded knuckles made a clean path until they scraped against his teeth and he stumbled back. A sharp pain jolted up her hand. "Porem Motus," she chanted and the spell flicked his body against a door across the hall.
Kai fell into a pile on the floor and groaned.
She looked at her fist. Bright liquid filled the lines of her new scrapes. She opened her palms, closed them, then opened them again. Not broken. Even if it were it would've been worth it.
He scooted until his back was flat against the door. Bonnie stood over him with eyes so narrowed that or her pupil and a splash of green was visible. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"Trying to keep a witch hunter from making you his mantel piece." He lifted his head to look at her and threw a smarmy "Now I just may beat him to the punch" her way.
Bonnie's eyebrows met for a convention in the middle of her head, where they agreed that Kai was full of it. "A witch hunter?"
"Yeah, you know. Cult of crazies that hunt witches for sport."
"I know what a witch hunter is, Kai" she spat out. "And I also know what a pathological liar is. And a stalker. Why did you sign up for that class? No, better yet, why are you still here? "
"Because I enjoy this back and forth with you. It's kind of kinky."
A bystander walked by and gave her a weird look - like she was the bad guy.
"Why are you still here?" she asked with more gruff than before.
"I told you," he coughed, undoubtedly trying to gain her sympathy.
"If this was the 1600s, i'd probably believe you, but since it isn't," she looked both ways. "Marmus-"
"I'm telling the truth!" he yelled. "They're here. A crap load of them. What better way to weed out witchy wooers than to infiltrate occult studies?"
A part of her brain started to actually believe him. She'd have to close that section off for renovation.
After clearing the dryness from her throat she said, "I don't believe you. Even if I did, I can take care of myself."
And she left him out in the hall.
With his bloody, lying mouth.
x
Caroline got the role. Bonnie wasn't sure if it was because she wore the short red dress or her talent alone.
Either way, she got the part and it'd be a welcomed distraction . . . for all of them.
If she was in rehearsals, she couldn't get into trouble - much trouble- she couldn't get into much trouble.