Okay, this one's a bit different in tone. Quite different actually. You'll be the judges of that, though. Enjoy.
A nerve in the back of her head started pulsating dangerously, telling her, begging her to look away for a moment and let her mind rest for a while. She was beginning to see the bloody vessels in her bloodshot eyes reflected on the age-old parchments. And there was also a twitch in her fingers.
But she was being fed by a power beyond herself, an energy stemming from within and without. To normal people it might have been hunger or curiosity, but she knew better.
Gloria's Grimoire was stunning. Probably the greatest read since she had discovered Emily's own little nefarious book. Maybe even more compelling than that since the fabric was so new and untravelled.
It was quite obvious she was in raptures because she had not lifted her eyes from the book for an hour straight and it was beginning to show.
Her legs had gone stiff from holding them underneath her and her neck made the most unpleasant pop when she tried for a moment to bend it.
Still, she kept reading as if her life depended on it. For some unknown reason, she felt this would be the only chance she ever got with such a precious object in her hands and that she had to make full use of her short time before someone came and snatched it away.
This paranoia was a bit uncanny.
Fifty minutes into Bonnie's intense studying, Stefan had looked up from his own files, meaning to ask Bonnie if she wanted something to drink, because he was getting rather thirsty himself. Sure, she might not want or need blood, but he would offer her anything else in the house. He didn't want to be completely uncivil to the witch that was helping him.
It seemed a bit suspicious to him, knowing her, how easily she managed to slip into this objectivity of hers, where only her friends and family mattered and their complete protection, for which she was prepared to do anything and go to any lengths, no matter who was asking. It was rather reckless. Then again, despite her clear-cut work ethics, she was incredibly naive to assume that other people would do the same; that is, put everything off for her.
Unless this constant habit of hers of being used for everyone else's sake was just what it appeared to be; pure selflessness. But this was Bonnie, he argued, she wouldn't let herself be walked on, would she?
Another misleading habit of hers was her behaviour towards him, which both proved and inferred his theories. She might be trying to disarm him, or she was just that neutral to the entire ordeal, but despite his best defences, it was rather hard playing the detached man with her because she treated him as if he were plain ol' Stefan, the kind and self-controlled, wise vampire.
Lost in these ruminations upon her character, he found himself gazing at her for some time before he even voiced his offer.
As he watched her expression change almost unnoticeably from deep thought to awe to frustration to joy, his attention was arrested by a sudden deep and feral spark in her eyes. He had guessed she would be thrilled to be handed another Grimoire, belonging to Klaus' witch, of all people, but he hadn't expected quite this much enjoyment on her part.
He had rarely seen this side of Bonnie, if ever, because her excitement was always shadowed by the constant need to fixate on something, to think and process and check for any traps or foul playing.
It wasn't anything special at first because all pretty girls looked even prettier when they were happy, but it became a kind of vibration shaking her frame, making the air quiver now and then. The small space she occupied extended and enlarged into a sort of suffocating bubble, enveloping the chamber in whispers and frantic breaths. Her skin was not glowing, but it was shimmering in soft pools of dark and light, travelling up and down her arms, raising the hairs here and there, outlining her collarbones like two ships coming out of the water, contouring her lips so precisely that whenever she muttered something, her mouth seemed like a deep, hollow black precipice, punctuated only by vicious sharp fangs.
When had her teeth become fangs? No, it was just an illusion.
It wasn't the fact that she was beautiful, or sensual, or in any was provoking. She was normally good-looking, normally familiar, extraordinarily gifted, powerful and angry, but comfortably boring and dependable, a pole, an arched tree, a clear spring morning, no smudges, no blurred lines, complex, but no complexities, made of one substance, but not multiple colours.
She was like a matted light or a muted sound. Both a real and supernatural creature, she was nothing in between, no irregular shades. Either this or that. You knew the limitations right away and you never resented her for not being able to become both, because you needed her to be that way.
So then, what was this? What was this new and undiscovered territory? What was this foreign land?
Was it the result of paying more attention? Well, no, he'd never been one to miss details.
Was it the hours they had spent in each other's company? Well, it could hardly be called company. They'd been working straight for some days.
Was it having a common goal, a common enemy? Well, not even Klaus and a mysterious coffin could elicit this much...confusion.
Was it a bond, a growing familiarity? No, he would not be uncomfortable, as he was now.
Was it...was it him then? Was he losing his grip on his desires and needs? Was he becoming lonely? Increasingly lonely? Was it a niche in his biological system telling him he needed to get some release? He hadn't done anything in quite a while, but not for lack of opportunity. He'd been so busy, so focused, so alert, so watchful and careful, he hadn't even let himself rest properly, much less care for other trivial matters.
Maybe this was his body taking vengeance. Maybe it was just being cooped up in a room with her for days, and now, for over an hour. Maybe he needed some blood.
Or, you know, he was that pathetic that he was going to fixate on Bonnie, the only girl with him at the moment.
Well, no, he reasoned, why would he be pathetic? That was absurd. She was by no means short of brilliant in her own way and his begrudging respect for her courage and abilities proved just that. So if he had to fixate on her, it would probably be to acknowledge that she was a presence to be taken into consideration.
Yes, yes, this was all very reasonable and well, but why, oh why was she suddenly enticing?
Sense was carefully slipping away from him.
He'd been staring for ten minutes. The hour was up and she was still hunched over the book in hungry perusal.
He meant to cough to get her attention, but it ended up somewhere between a sharp whimper and a faint growl.
Bonnie blinked in a daze and felt little stars behind her eyelids before her muscles tore themselves away from stillness and she looked up, feeling dizzy. Her neck popped, just as she thought it would.
The thread that fed the spell didn't weaken however.
The same feral look was now staring squarely into his eyes. Sure, she was half-satiated, half-ecstatic, but it still felt volatile and dangerous; a thinly veiled intent was digging its way to the surface and even if it had nothing to do with him, even if it was about her need for knowledge, for power, for more, it rippled through him like the pulsation she felt in the back of her head.
What was that gold and black under her eyelashes?
"Did you find something?" she asked hoarsely.
Stefan shook his head, everything he had meant to say forgotten or misplaced. For some reason, all he could think of right now was...
"I just...I just remembered something. About Emily," he blurted out, his throat dry.
Bonnie instantly perched up in curiosity, her chin defiantly raised in demand, as she stabbed him again right in the pit of his stomach with that unapologetic look.
It was a memory he thought he had buried a long time ago. It was a very inappropriate one too. One that had been waiting for the right moment to be unleashed again and here it was, picking up one hundred and fifty years afterwards like it had been yesterday just because it fit so very well with the savage, obscure image lying before him.
He probably shouldn't even be telling her about it.
Of course he shouldn't. It was a long time ago.
"Oh?" she asked when he kept silent for too long.
"It's just something I recalled, a meeting we had," he began, despite himself. "Well...I don't think she was aware I was watching her, though in all probability, she was always watching everyone. Katherine had gone to town. Emily had sent me the message. It was an autumn afternoon, quite cold for that time. I decided to follow her. I don't know why. She went to the pond in the little meadow by the birches. I'd noticed she had a habit of going there from time to time, but I never bothered to find out why. That day I was particularly bored, so I told myself "why not?" It was bound to be interesting."
By now he held Bonnie's attention completely.
"What was she doing there?" she asked in a small voice.
Stefan chuckled. "That's the best part. I was and am a gentleman through and through, so if she had decided to take a bath I would have turned around without another look back. But this was Emily, and she was never truly exposed."
Bonnie tried to stir her legs from underneath her and she gasped lightly when the pain shot through her.
"No. She stood on the bank for a while. Maybe she was summoning someone, maybe she was talking to herself. I couldn't tell. Then, just like that, she stepped into the water fully-clothed and started walking towards the other bank as if she was just taking a stroll. The water must have been really cold, she was shivering slightly. She continued nonetheless. And she kept walking, I remember, until the water reached her chest, her chin, her forehead...and then she just disappeared. She was swallowed by the depths; those green, murky waters that never revealed anything."
Bonnie arched forward in eagerness.
"And I thought – of course I thought she'd drown and die, so I knew I had to come out of my hiding place to jump in and save her. I knew how much she was valued. And I liked her well enough. When I hovered over the surface, however, I felt this soft, warm breeze on my face. I extended one finger. The water was boiling. Boiling. It was so warm that I couldn't let my hand stay in for too long. Then I heard these strange sharp sounds. At first I thought they were her muffled screams, but it was...it was something quite different. I couldn't see anything, the water had become darker in texture. And the sounds now were more perceptible."
Stefan was staring absent-mindedly at the place where her ear and neck met in a graceful, blue line.
"She was laughing," he revealed, his voice hollow and wanting.
Bonnie's lips parted as she blew out a breath of astonishment and...something else.
"Why ...have you never told me before?" she asked, her voice strained.
"I had forgotten about it."
"You only remembered now?"
"Yes. I suppose something must have...triggered it," he replied in a trance, staring fixedly at her outstretched legs that were still numb and warm and vibrating.
Bonnie lowered her eyes until she was watching him from below, a maddening glint in her eyes, something like a spiral, something like a flame.
"Got any more memories about her then?" she asked, trying to hide what had already come out.
A devious smile crawled across his lips, almost unbeknownst to him. The pulsation was deafening.
"With the right incentive."