A Lick Here A Bite There

by J S Arnold

A darkness has come to Fell's Church, and with it monsters of myth and legend, but can Damon protect Bonnie from it? Can Bonnie fight the dark when it comes, or is the evil too great for them both? Combined the chapters :-)

A

Lick

Here

...

A

Bite

There

...

1

...

Elena took her hand and tugged her down the path to the front door of the house, her hands gripping Bonnie's as if she were pulling her to shore instead of to a part, and Bonnie found herself unable to put much thought in anything other than maintaining her balance and pretending she was happy to be here. The only reason she was going to this party at all was because Meredith had to take care of her grandfather, and she knew Elena wouldn't have invited her otherwise. Sometimes it sucked to feel like the third wheel in their group, but tonight was not one of those nights – hopefully there would be an excuse to leave early without hurting Elena's feelings - hopefully it would be soon, like before they entered the Lockwood's mansion.

"Elena, are you sure..." a small voice asked, sounding reproachful and sombre all at the same time.

She let out a protracted sigh, as if she had heard this question a million times instead of the fifth, "Yes, I'm sure, Bonnie! You need to chill out or you're going to be in no mood to dance!" And with that exclamation she darted forwards towards the open door to the inside of the grand house, leaving Bonnie to slowly follow behind her. Elena's exuberance made her the social butterfly that she was, but it only served to make Bonnie feel even more like an outsider. She wouldn't be here even if she had been properly invited, and she knew that no one expected her to be here tonight. What if something terrible happened, and because she was invisible, it went unnoticed?

Something valuable smashed from inside the entrace hall and a group of drunken teenagers stumbled out and onto the pristine porch, each looking as if they would soon make the wooden flooring a different shade. Music boomed from a large speaker somewhere amoungst the mingling bodies and the blast almost knocked both the girls off their feet. "Stop being such a baby – the louder the music the better, right?" Elena told her, having to shout to be heard over the pounding beat that surrounded her as she entered the house and Bonnie followed reluctantly. No, she would definately not be here if she had a choice – if eEena hadn't insisted she come with her.

"Eleennaa!" Tyler appeared, pushing past people as he came to greet them, and his voice was already slurred from too much alcohol. He did not even spare Bonnie a glance, his eyes were all for Elena, and she doubted that he could even see her through his drunken haze. He took Elena in his arms and spun around, gripping her tightly so she could not escape. Elena laughed and replied in kind, her voice breathy and full of simmering laughter, and mild suprise. She must get this alot, Bonnie thought, but she could not know for certain since she'd never been to this kind of party before. Her breath caught when two arms wrapped like vines around her chest almost painfully.

Elena smiled at whoever was behind, her eyes glinting in a predatory way, but Bonnie noticed that she drew closer to Tyler as if she needed protection. "Caleb," she said at last, "hi, how you doing?"

Bonnie could feel each word vibrating in his chest as he replied, but that was only because she was pressed close to his chest. His voice was like that from a telephone, tinny sounding and without any percievable emotion. "Hi Elena, Bonnie." She saw Tyler's eyes flash with something other as he seemed to glare at Caleb, and at once she felt afraid. What if that rage she sensed simmering beneath Tyler's skin exploded and she was stuck in the middle? She knew the type of damage Tyler was able to inflict given the right motivation, and what better motivation than a grudge? She wondered if the boy at her back always felt this hot, or it was because she was so used to being around vampires that she noticed the difference immeadiately. Whatever the reason, the scoulding feel of his skin made her struggle against him.

"What's the matter, Bonnie?" Tyler asked laughingly, his grin revealing that he had no intention of stopping whatever Caleb was wanting to do to her.

"Stop it guy's," Elena drawled, smiling in a way that suggested she was in on whatever joke Celeb was playing, but she did not move to intercept him. Was this just a joke? Should Bonnie just play along and laugh about it? She wasn't sure, and the last thing she felt like doing was laughing. She squirmed in his grip and tied to remove his arms from around her with no success. If Caleb was a werewolf, there was only one choice, and that was to just play along with whatever they had planned.

"How about we go up to the lake, just us four? What do you say? Do I hear a yes?" Tyler almost shouted, all the drinking he had been doing finally catching up. He leered at Elena as she clung to his side like a monkey, but his eyes were filled with something to lucid to ever be influenced by alcohol. It wasn't evil she saw there, not exactly, but there was definately lust and plenty of it. For a fleeting moment she wondered if she should say anything to Elena, but one look in the other girl's eyes told her that it would be no good – she was already too far gone.

Caleb swept Bonnie off her feet before her mind could even register that his arms had tightened even more. It was only afterwards that she felt her bones ache, and she began to panic. There was no way that she would go down to the lake with an intoxicated Elena and two boys she did not trust, or at least that is what she told herself as she was carried into a truck that sat cold and still on the edge of the pavement. Surly they could not really mean it when they said that was where they were going. Elena was still giggling as she got into the front passenger seat next to Tyler and Caleb forced Bonnie into the back.

...

2

...

When Caleb pushed her into the car, he used more strength than he needed to, and Bonnie went sprawling head-first onto the seat. They were made of a sort of twead and her first coherant thought was of how this vehicle probably was stolen – no Smallwood would be driving anything that didn't atleast have leather seats. Who owned this piece of junk on wheels? Was it against captor-hostage etiquete to ask? His hand was roaming her skin as if on an adventure, exploring every curve of her body in hopes of finding – what? What could his goal be, what did he want from her? Was anyone going to do anything to stop him from doing whatever he liked?

Bonnie closed her eyes and tried to concentrate on her other sense; It was difficult, nearly impossible, to focus on anything but the loud chattering of the two in front, Caleb's caloused hands on her thigh and waist, and the growl of the engine. Who could help her, she asked herself, Who would be strong enough to take on two werewolves, Who was ruthless enough to do what needed to be done? She thought about Stefan, how strong he was, and then about Damon, how he was so much stronger. Did she dare call on him? She desperately hoped that he wouldn't be angry with her if she took him away from doing something important.

"So, where we going, Tyler?" Elena asked from the front passenger seat, only curiosity in her voice. She leant over and placed her hand between Tyler's legs, "Not that I mind much..." Bonnie could see Tyler's grin widen in the mirror and another wave of insecurity, stronger even than the one she was already feeling, made her heart pound in her chest. She atleast Caleb could hear the change because his arms tightened even more and he put his lips to her neck as a means to comfort her. As if, she thought, though it was more the idea of Caleb that disgusted her – and wasn't that something to ponder at the next opportunity? Was it hypercritical to hate the touch of one monster, and yet crave contact with another?

"The Lockwood's have known about this place for generations," Tyler told them proudly, as if reading from a script, as if it was important that they knew he was letting them in on a secret, "hardly anyone knows it exists outside the family." Elena made an oooing soundand clapped her hands in delight, she'd always loved secrets. The car slowed to a stop and Tyler yanked the keys from the ignition as if he planned to make this place, wherever it was, his new home. The windows were so tinted black that the only thing Bonnie could see out of them was the faint shards of sunlight as it penetrated through leaves. Where were they? If she had to guess, she would say they were somewhere with plenty of trees.

Bonnie had a terrible feeling in her stomach about what this could mean for her. It was bad enough being held by Caleb in the back of this van, but it would be far worse being stuck with him in the middle of a forest where no one could hear her scream. No one can hear you scream, wasn't that like meant to be reserved for movies? Weren't werewolves and Vampires? A voice inside her asked. Even if she somehow managed to escape, who would believe her if she told them? Most human's were oblivious to other things that were around them; they wouldn't believe her if she told them the truth, that she has been taken hostage by two werewolves, two creatures that shouldn't exist. There was only two creatures she could count on, but with no way to make contact there might as well have been none. The only choice she had was whether she wanted to live or die, but with what she suspected the two boy's had planned for her she knew the choice would be easy; who would want to live after what she suspected they had planned?

"C'mon Bonnie, daylight's burning." Tyler said from by the vast pool of water, sounding like a little boy having too much fun at a carnival. Caleb got out before her but he did not offer her a hand to help her out. He stood there, poised to slam shut the door, his wry smile seeming to say that he didn't give a damn whether she decided to join him outside or not – he would not wait much longer. She knew he was not bluffing and so, Stiffley, Bonnie stood and exited the car with legs that were weak and about to collapse.

"Yeah," Caleb sneered laughingly, "What's up, little red-bird?"

Bonnie froze and felt her eyes fill again with tears. There was no way he could know about the nickname Damon had for her, she thought, unable to keep thoughts of him out any longer. She couldn't be sure if he would be able to sense her thinking his name from this distance, but it had happened before. Damon, she thought, Damon, Damon, Damon... I need you... Damon... And then the tears fell at last. She dropped to a crouching position on the sodden ground, hardly noticing the sharp pain that radiated from her knees. It might have been the hundreth time she'd called to him in this way, but never before had she needed him so sinsierly.

He pulled her to her feet and forced her to stumble forwards with knees that felt as though they were on fire with how much blood leaked out. Elena had stopped laughing, the sound of pouring rain and feet on the stoney ground all that was left to hear. Maybe now she was realising how helpless they were – alone, deep in a forest that was the same as every other in the country.

...

3

...

Damon couldn't concentrate on anything today, not even on the blood he was greedily sucking from the little packet held in his clenched fist. This bagged blood really was disgusting, he thought as he tried not to gag, but he knew he could not turn it down—again. He hadn't felt so anxious in centuries and he could not understand why he was feeling it now; everything was fine – wasn't it? His instincts had never failed him before, it was true, but for once everything seemed right, and by right he meant boring. He half wished that something decently bad-ass would come out of the wood-work, so to speak, to give him something to do. Anything would be better than being stuck in this house with no one to do. Bonnie's face appeared in his mind like a vision and her voice echoed through his head.

Stefan entered the cellar and wasted no time in confrounting Damon. For some reason, he seemed to be under the impression that he could blunder in to any situation... no wonder he and Elena got on so well. Elena, what could she have done now, he wondered? Not that it mattered, not that anything mattered... except her – his little princess... Bonnie, she mattered a lot, maybe too much. He shook himself, but the nervous tention refused to let him relax. "Where is Elena?" Stefan asked, biting out each word as if it were extra chewy, as if Damon kept tabs on her. As if, he thought irritably, he had better things to do... like drink or sleep.

He licked his lips clean of crimson and sent the empty blood-packet flying into a barrel in the corner that he used as a bin, "I have no idea, brother." he replied. It annoyed him to no end that Stefan couldn't accept the fact that he didn't give a rats-ass for Elena. If Bonnie was here right now, he would take her right in front of them just to shut them up. That thought brought a smile to his lips – what would he do to be able to show Bonnie his true feelings for her? He would do anything. "Where's Bonnie?" Stefan asked next, as if he could somehow sense the direction of his thoughts, though his brother would never be strong enough to manifest that sort of power while he still drank the blood of doves and other stupid things. Maybe Stefan just wanted to have something that he couldn't – who knew? He had heard more ridiculous things.

"Do you think she's with Elena – wherever that is?"

"I don't know where she is either, so my guess is yes," Damon's voice was thick with emotion and he had had to swollow twice before he could keep it from showing in his voice. He was not weak, not empathtic or the kind to go to extremes emotionally, like Stefan, but he was worried that something terrible had happened to Bonnie. And something probably had if she was with Elena. Elena, just her name brought the dark fury simmering within him close to the surface. If she could disappear from his life things would be how they were supposed to be. "I think she's in danger," he confessed, his body reacting to something he brain could not quite understand.

"Is there any trace of her nearby?" Stefan asked, hating having to high-light his weakness in front of his brother. The meaning behind the question, can you sense where they might have gone because I'm too weak, would have been clear to anyone, even if they had no supernatural power to call on. Damon must have understood the real meaning, he shook his head and winced, but he did not make any of his usual snide remarks. "Damon—" he began, but there was a snarl and suddenly Damon was in his face.

"Do not pity me, Stefan," he growled, his face morphing into that of the vampire. There was a moment of silence between them before he continued coldly, "That would be a mistake. I will find her, and I will destroy anyone or anything that's stupid enough to get in my way, understood?" He meant that he would find Bonnie and take her back with him, whether Elena came as well or not. If his stupid little brother wanted his girlfriend back so bad, he would have to get her himself, because there was no way Damon would risk himself for her again any time soon, but for Bonnie he would risk everything he had – she was worth it.

4

...

Tyler shoved Bonnie forwards and she fell face first into the 10 foot deep dark pit he had prepared earlier. His initial idea had been to bury her, make the vampire Damon search for her, but there was no fun in that. If he, and Caleb, were doing the dirty work, shouldn't they get some privileges at least? Like, to her body for instance, couldn't they have some fun with that, would anyone know? There would be no way that she could escape from the hole in the soil – so she wasn't gong to run screaming to anyone. He couldn't have planned it better; even if she screamed, which she probably would, who would there be to hear her? That's right. No one. He could sense that Caleb was hesitant to approach the pit, probably still scared that one of her vampire buddies would swoop in and spoil the party, but he wasn't disappointed. He jumped in beside her with the grace of a big cat, taking the impact easily on the soft dirt of the bottom.

She pressed her whole body against the crumbling dirt wall at her back and tried unsuccessfully to find a foot-hold she could use to propel herself upwards. Her foot could not find anything to grip on to; Instead, all she managed to do was dislodge a giant rock and receive a painful knock to the place above her ankle. Falling to her knees, she stared up into the grinning, vicious, wolfish face. It had only taken a moment or two, but in that space of time his whole presence had shifted. He appeared only slightly changed on the outside, but she could tell from the carnal glint in his eyes that his mind was all animal, and her heart was almost still with fright. Damon, she tried again out of desperation, you're to only one...

"Little Miss Riding Hood," Tyler chuckled, transformed enough that his voice was a growl and his words came from his lips strangely, "lost in the woods..." he snapped his jaws so close to her face that a few strands of her hair were caught between his teeth. He made a show of ingesting the hair, "with the big-bad-wolf..." and, throwing his head back, he let out a howl that echoed through the trees over and over again. It was too bad that the full-moon was still half a month away – he would have loved to murder this pet of the Damon's without any of his humanity getting in the way, but his humanity was sealed tight. This vampire-sympathiser chose to be with Vampires, so she was far from batting with the human team.

"We should kill her before that vampire comes to take her away, right Tyler?" There was challenge in the way he said this that made Bonnie suspect that he doubted Tyler's ability to carry out his threat to kill her, and it was obvious that Tyler heard it too. Caleb seemed to regret his words as soon as he said them, but he did not take them back. He stood, resigned to whatever Tyler hurled at him, and he watched as Tyler took a wary look around him, scanning between the trees and in every shadow.

"You're right," he said at last once he was satisfied that they were still safe from them, "We should kill her now, before the leeches sniff her out." He forced Bonnie to her knees and told her sternly to stay down and stay silent – not just quiet, he told her he wanted her to make no noises at all. Before he jumped out of the pit, he punched Bonnie in the side of the head with enough force to immobilise and knock her out stone-cold. He left the hole in the ground in one giant leap and took hold of the shovel in both hands. He gave Caleb a penetrating look and nodded to another shovel leant up against a tree. He did not watch as Caleb retrieved the other tool, he was too busy shovelling soil back into the trench they had just created.

Damon saw Mrs Smallwood in their front yard, watering plants that were both brilliantly vibrant and lusciously green, and wanted to try a different line of enquiry. He had been at the graveyard before this, wondering if whatever had stolen her from him had taken her there. But no luck, it seemed as if she had disappeared from Fells-Church, though he doubted that anything so powerful could have come unnoticed by him into this town. No, he thought, the perpetrator must be local. She did not look up at the sound of his approach, but when his dark shadow passed over her she straightened while fiddling with her shirt. Damon was too distracted to notice that she tugged her shirt down just a bit to reveal some of her cleavage.

"Hello... Damon... What can I do for you?"

"I thought you might know where Bonnie McCullough might be?" He smiled his sweetest, most persuasive smile, hoping that for once his charming good looks could get him what he actually needed. He watched as her cheeks grew rosy but he kept silent – he only needed one thing from her.

"I think..." she seemed to have trouble getting her words out, her fingers still fluttering on her chest, an attempt to draw his attention that was wasted on him. "I think Tyler said he and a friend were going to ask her to join them on a walk in the forest..."

"Which forest?" Damon asked, interrupting her mid sentence, his voice as harsh as a slap on the face.

"Oh, why the one on the Lockwood property of course." She said happily, preening a little, but her little show was for nothing because when she blinked then opened her eyes Damon Salvatore had disappeared as if into smoke – though she saw none lingering in the air where he had once stood.

5

...

Bonnie huddled in the corner of the pit and watched as soil fell all round her like dark brown snow. If she were not so terrified, she might have conjured a bubble of protection around herself to protect at least her face from the flying dirt, but she was frozen with shock. When she had awoken that day, safe in her bed in her bedroom in her house, she would never have imagined the day ending like this or that it would be here last morning alive. She had, perhaps foolishly, imagined that she would see Damon again and she'd feel that wonderful joy blooming inside her again, but that morning she had thought Elena was her friend. Even if they both somehow managed to survive this, Bonnie knew that she could never trust that Elena had her best interests in mind again. Perhaps Meredith would still be her friend even when Elena was not: she could only hope.

Tyler's muscles rippled as he handled the shovel like a weapon, using it to add more soil to her grave. He didn't need to even pause for breath it seemed, and in less than a minute Bonnie had to sheild her eyes as everything else was covered. She could feel him watching her slowly get swollowed up in the dirt, and thought that he was less human than he pretended – because he did pretend, he was no more human than Stefan or Damon. Damon. Perhaps she was wrong and he could not hear silent cries, that thought sent a dagger into her heart. All this time had he been lying to her? Had he never really cared for her at all? Maybe she had just been kidding herself when she had thought he could ever get over Elena. Even if he discovered Elena's role in her demise, would his feelings of displeasure be enough for him to actually do something about it?

Caleb turned and watched Elena closely as she sat in the shadows of a small tree just beyond the place where her "friend" was being burried alive. Her face was impassive as she gazed unseeingly at something in the distance. He knew better than to think that her thoughts were on Bonnie and what was happening, but he could not put his finger on just what that was – What could she be thinking of to make her look that way? She was not focused on the present, he guessed from her expression, but still there was a scheming look in her eyes. He wandered over to her casually, taking a seat beside her on the shadowed grass, and waited to get any reaction from her at all. When there was none, he decided to begin talking. "Y'know," he began conversationally, "you're actually doing what's best for her." He put a large, tanned hand on her shoulder, "We're doing her a favour..." At last she turned to him, but what he saw was not what he had expected.

"I didn't want... this..." she told him sharply, her voice only slightly thicker than normal. "I wanted..." she turned from him, but the shame in her face was explicit enough,

"You wanted him," he said blandly, though there was a hint of a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. He paused for effect, but he did not have to think, "You want him because he doesn't want you."

She wanted to slap him – but not because what he said was a lie. It wasn't a lie, it was the truth. All this time that she had seen the love Damon had for his... what did he call her?... his little red bird grow. She had had to watch as the man who had loved her for hundreds of years, in a way, fell out of that love and into another. She missed his constant tries for her, if she were to be completely honest, but she hated to be jealous of anyone. Especially Bonnie, the insidious voice inside her whispered, you never thought that you would be jealous of her...

It was hot and humid below the ground, as if she were in a spa. She tried to ignore the strong stench of rotting plant matter as it surrounded her. Although she had only seen it a few minutes ago, she could not recall the colour of the sky; everything she saw, could imagine seeing, was as black as pitch and unending. There was no point in asking the darkness if anyone was there, like she would have in any other blacked-out stutuation, because anything that responded would probably only want to eat her; even the worms would eat her body when she died. When she died.

6

...

Damon stopped Stefan with a firm hand on his shoulder, power rippling off him in waves, his strength bringing them both to a sudden stop. He had warned him that it would probably be best if he did not follow him to the cemetry, but he hadn't listened, as usual. Despite what Stefan thought, he did not want him to be there when he beat the seven shades of hell out of his despicable girlfriend. He only had to imagine their roles reversed, and what he would be feeling if it was sweet little Bonnie that had to be punished to save Elena; he would never be so cruel, a second time.

"Stefan, this is where I leave you," he held up a quelling hand to stop the arguements that were seconds from being spoken, "We will not argue about this. Your part in this is over – go home, get away from here." He knew that the reprocussions of just that one order would probably linger for the rest of their lives. When Stefan just stood there, with no indication that he was going to do as he was told, Damon sighed long and hard. "Please?" he added, the word tasting bitter in his mouth, even when he meant it truthfully and hoped that Stefan did too.

"I don't believe you." Stefan told him, as if that settled the matter. There was a pause, one filled by unspoken questions, before he continued in a voice so dead, devoid of life, that it might have just as easily blown away the moment it left his lips. "Elena would never do this, she's not Katherine." And he wanted to believe that more than he wanted to believe that they were not too late to save Bonnie. He wanted to believe that this time things would be different. "Elena's not a monster." he added desperately, as if that alone could relax the tension in his belly. So much of the past had already come to repeat itself that even he could not deny the possibility with certainty; he knew that Elena always got what she wanted, but did she want his brother so much? He didn't want to believe that his brother was going to steal his girl again, because he had stolen Katherine from him.

He could not deal with his stupid younger brother right now; he was still without an idea of where Bonnie could be and he knew deep within his soul that time was running short. There must be something he missed, he thought, probnably something really obvious – but what could it be? He had already run mentally through the places where she might have been more than once, but she hadn't been at any of her usual haunts. If only Elena could stand to be mature about this he could ask her if she had any idea. She was missing too, but her disappearance did not cause the same ache within him that Bonnie's had. It was not so much that he did not care what happened to Elena, part of him still cared if she lived, but she got herself into trouble so often that she should be used to it. Bonnie was her friend, true, a close friend even, but she was sweet and innocent. How could he just stand there and imagine her in danger and not feel this pain inside?

His mobile phone began to buzz in the holster at his side and chirped a loud, annoying, tune. Damon growled in fustration when he saw the name that had appeared on the Caller-I.D. "Carol Smallwood," he said into the phone, meeting Stefan's eyes with cool-indifference, "What can I do for you Mrs–?" And then he was silent for a moment or two as he listened. "Thankyou," he said at last, "I'll keep that in mind."

In the foyer of the Smallwood's grand house, Carol Smallwood replaced the phone reciever in its cradle and takes a weary step back. She knows that she should have confirmed her suspisions about her son before relaying them to Damon Salvatore, of all people, but she had had to say something. When she had seen Tyler and Caleb taking a bound Bonnie into the forest she had known that something was happening. It had taken her a while to summon to courage to make the call, but she had seen him when he was enraged and she wanted more than anything to direct that anger as far away from herself as possible. But already she was feeling the beginnings of remorse. Tyler was her son, after all, and she might have just orchastrated a hit on him.

"F*cking hell," Damon growled, crushing the expensive phone in his too strong grip, "The dogs have her."His face was that of the vampire as he exhaled hard, his nostrils flating like a bull about to charge. He clenched his fists with fury over this last bit of information. Why had Carol told him where to find her son if she knew what Damon would do to him? That was a question that would have to be answered later, after he had Bonnie back safe in his arms. The only thing he could afford to think about was what kind of retribution would best suit the level of his anger.

This time, Stefan didn't follow him when he ran in the other direction, sensing the new wave of hostility that burst from him as he listened to the voice on the other end. Only a tiny part of him felt any kind of sympathy for the werewolf who was about to experience the rath of his brother – something he himself would avoid at all costs. He could only imagine what Damon had in mind, but even that made him shudder.

Damon made a mental note to remember to thank Mrs Lockwood for her assistance at some other time.

7

...

Damon entered into the forested area on the Smallwood's estate and felt his eyes water obscenly at what met him as soon as he was surrounded by trees. His senses were over-come with the strong musk of werewolf, though it reminded him more of wet dog, and neither of which he found pleasant. He would have to bathe Bonnie as soon as they got back to the mansion, and he would scrub every last inch of her skin and wash her hair atleast five times before he would be satisfied that nothing of this ordeal lingered, if she would let him see her naked of course; Damon Salvatore was nothing if not a gentleman. It smelt like Tyler had scent-marked every damn tree in this forest, just like the son-of-a-bitch that he was... he had to stop that train of thought before it could get any further; after all, Carol had helped him in a significant way, probably saving Bonnie's life, and so she deserved a little respect, he supposed... he sniffed.

A familiar, tantlizing scent caught his attention and held it in a vice-like grip. He knew what it was at once, but how could he not? It was as familiar and comforting to him as the stuff he drank on a daily basis. He smelt life and he knew that it was crimson. Where did it come from? His eyes scanned the trees all around him until at last he found the sourse of the aroma. He knew where he would find it, he had never doubted that, but he was almost afraid to approach it. He was frightened that he would find Bonnie's pale form, discarded like a wrapper from a candy bar or a broken doll. The smell of torn flesh, with it's own distinctive aroma, was more alluring to a vampire than anything a human could ever compare it to. Suddenly, all the blood he had drank before coming to this place seemed to be swollowed up by the hunger-pain that changed even his sight. There was no point in being stealthy, he knew, so when he approached he focused on getting to the hollow of the tree quickly and not silently; any prey with ears would have heard him approach from much farther off.

He pounced on the ground above the quivering form and grasped the body so tightly that his fingers broke through the skin. He felt bone among the flesh at his finger-tips and it was slick with all the bodies juices. He lowed his face to the cooling flesh and opened his jaws to bite, but something inside him told him not to do it. Maybe it was his trusty instinct, or maybe is lust filled eyes finally began to see again, but he knew on some leveln that to drink this blood would be wrong somehow. He drew his fangs back into their hiding place and reluctantly lowed the body to the floor. It was a small, white, fluffy rabbit with red eyes that stared unblinkingly at him, as if not quite believing that this predator did not mean to kill it. Damon cut his thumb on one charp tooth and held it to the otherwise fatal gash in the rabbit's stomach, feeling the skin sow back together immeadiately. He hoped that no one else ever found out about this, or his bad-boy image would be irrevocably ruined, but he had done it because Bonnie would have wanted him to. Bonnie, even in his head he thought that the sound of her name was magic.

Straightening, Damon made his body go completely still, his eyes not even blinking, and listened. The wind hadn't been strong or fast for months, the lazy summer breeze remaining gentle, and everything around him was still and silent. He listened as far as he could, a mile or so into the gloom he estimated, but still there was nothing. He took a step forwards and felt the quality of the air shift with something more potent than the wolf's stench. He had never felt anything like it before and it was unsettling for him not to know what he was venturing into – not that his slight squeamishness meant anything. He had come here to find his favourite human and he would turn back until he had her safe in his arms.

If he ignored the smell of pine which permiated the air, not a mean feat, he could still smell her on his jacket. He brought the black leather to his nose and inhaled deeply. A ripple of pleasure that had nothing to do with Vampiric desire washed over him like a tidal wave. He stood swaying for a moment or two and leant one arm against the rough trunk of a nearby oak, her scent even now enough to send his body into overdrive. Suddenly, his senses were more acute, his heart pounding with an almost intollerable slowness: bah-boom...bah...boom...bah-boom, as if he needed reminding why he was here. As if pulled by an invisible thread, his face jerked to the left with such speed it would have given him whip-lash – if he were human. There. To the west of him were the sounds of shovels falling to the ground and laughter. He recognised the louder of the two voices immeadately and knew he had come to the right place.

"Ready to die?" he asked, his tone filled with challenge and scorn. He said this in a normal voice but he knew that if it was Tyler just ahead of him he would have been loud enough.

What were the chances of the two people, he could hear more than one heart-beat, not being Tyler and Caleb? Pretty slim, he thought, but he hesitated before moving any closer to the sound. The boy was a werewolf, he remembered, and one of the few ways Damon could die - one bite from him would be all that was needed, one bite and Damon would never be able to save his fair maiden. Was he willing to risk it? He knew he had no choice, and so, with determination pushing him forwards, he disappeared into the shadows with the kind of speed that rendered him invisible to anyone that could have been watching.

TBC

8

...

Tyler was smart enough to know he was best as away from where he and Caleb had buried Bonnie as possible. It was only a matter of moments before Damon caught wind of what they had done, and despite all his brovado, he knew that neither he or Caleb would stand much of a chance against him in a fight to the death. Her vampire boyfriend probably had a few centuries on him, atleast, and had probably slain more than his fair share of beings much more powerful than two adolescent werewolves. Already, the small hairs on the back of his neck were beginning to rise – his legs told him that they had to move, both his natural and supernatural survival insincts telling him that it was imperitive that he flee.

"Do you feel that?" Caleb asked, clutching himself tightly and rubbing his arms as if he were suddenly freezing. "Do you hear that—that buzzing? What the hell—I can feel it crawling all over my skin like ants!" He did a little dance on the spot, trying to shake off the thousands of creeping prickles that suddenly seemed to be everywhere. No matter how much he brushed at his skin, not matter how fast, the sensation persisted and only grew stronger – like pins and needles in his foot, but it was everywhere. He could smell the sweat on Tyler's skin and knew that his cousin was uneasy without having to ask why his jaw was clenched tight. "What is it?" He asked, because he did not recognise this pattern of energy; he'd felt a vampire's presence before and should have been able to recognise it again, but the explosion was so strong that it was unpresidented. Whatever was approaching them, faster than he would have thought possible, hadn't been human for a long time.

"I feel it, I hear it – I smell it too." Tyler replied, choosing to answer all his questions in as short a time as possible, already searching among the tall trees for the fastest route out of here. All his cockiness was gone and his face was unusually pale in contrast with his dark hair. He glanced at the fresh patch of dirt just a few metres away and wondered if he should dig her out – no harm, no burried Bonnie, no foul. He dismissed that thought with a shake of his head; There was a reason for this show of power, after all, and he wanted to see the vampire sweat. Maybe he would even watch for a bit as Damon tried to find her, maybe he would laugh and sit back for the show – or maybe he would run as far and as fast as he could in the other direction. Concentrating, he brought the wolf close enough to the surface to be used as a weapon, his pride making it impossible to run while he still had a chance of getting away. He braced himself against a large oak tree and pushed.

"What you doing?" Caleb asked, his body twitching with the mounting tension in his muscles, aware that Tyler could hear something that he could not. He tugged at Tyler's arm but the other boy would not budge even a single bit. It was as if Tyler was frozen while his insides worked at full speed. He watched with appreciation as the tree began to quiver and groan, even as the big vein at Tyler's temple bulged with how much strain he was putting on his body and still with meager results. Tyler was sweating buckets by the time he won his fight with the tree's roots and brought it to the ground, right over the place where Bonnir was trapped.

The smell of dog was almost over-powering by the time Damon reached the darkest of the shadows, the place where predators waited to pounce on unsuspecting prey, and he made his body as still as it could be; He was more like a sculpture of a man than a vampire. Even the slightest ruffling off his clothes would be enough to give himself away. He knew that he would have to make sure Bonnie was safe before even thinking about them, but he also knew that they would not wait to attack him. It was a dilema.

There was an explosion of sound from above her as something extremely heavy collapsed onto the tentative cieling above her. Her eyes blinked but all she saw was an unfathomable darkness that was filled with all sorts of insects that were waiting for her body to decompose. She could not speak to find out if her voice echoed because of the dirt that she would drown in if she allowed her lips to part. For once, she found that tears would not come, and because she could not imagine anything like this happening outside of the movies. Would there be a hero to save her, too, or was that where reality began? She could only hope that this scene did not end with her death.

The sight that met him the moment he came out of the shadows and into the light made his breath catch in his throat and his fists clench at his sides. He had expected to see them, but in a way he hadn't. Tyler should know by now not to mess with him or his things. He should know, but the dog seemed unable to learn new tricks or behaviors. As for Caleb... he didn't know what to think about him. She was nowhere to be seen but he could hear, and the sound of her quickened pulse sent competing emotions through him. Neither he nor Tyler knew what he was going to do until Damon's teeth found the artery at his jugular and he tore at it rabidly – so much for subtlty, he mused, but Damon had never been one to pussy-foot around.

9

...

Dark blood spilled down his chin even as he gulped litres of it down, revelling in the taste and heat of the blood, and he dropped Tyler's lifeless body to the ground as if he were an empty packet of blood from the refrigerator. Tyler's skin was grey and his eyes were closed tightly as if he believed he were invisible that way. His neck was bitten right down to the bone – but he was healing pretty quickly, which only meant that Damon would have to bite him again, not that he minded being as engorged as a tick. Blood was what made him stronger, after all, so the more the better he figured. He kicked the body and said simply, "You're lucky I don't have to ask you where she is – who knows what state you'd be in then."

Damon could feel, more than see or hear, the other one sprinting out of the clearing and trying to escape. He could have waited a full minute before following, giving the boy a taste of hope, and still have caught him before he was out of the cluster of trees, but the desire for retribution was strong enough that he did not want to play games; it only took him seconds to catch up with Caleb and bring him to the ground, and when he fell there was only terror on his face. Damon sniffed, taking in the boy's scent and storing it in his infallible memory should he need to find him again later for further questions or torture.

"Don't kill me!" he screamed, looking as if he would wet himself at any moment with how scared he was. His eyes turned down and away and he collapsed fully to the ground at Damon's feet beseechingly, "Please, I had to do it!"

Bonnie flinched at Elena's touch on her shoulder, but could not turn to face her. She knew that their friendship would never recover from such a devastating blow as the one just dealt, and in a way she had seen it coming. Maybe her classmates had been right – they were a mismatched three-some, after all. She had always been in the shadow of Elena, who was so much more pretty, and of Meredith, whose intelligence always left her feeling as if she were missing something. She would not mind Meredith being her only friend, but she could not rely on the assumption that she would not prefer Elena's popularity over Bonnie's lack of.

"You have to stop him!" Elena demanded of Bonnie, her eyes on the brawl just ahead.

She pulled away but said nothing in reply; even if she could influence him, which she doubted in this situation, she had told herself that she would never listen to Elena again. For some reason, Elena wanted Caleb alive and for once she was not going to get what she wanted. Bonnie turned, her eyes losing that childish glint and turning deadening. "Don't you get it, Elena? Don't you see what you've done? Your inability to grasp what's right in front of you will be your downfall, but it won't be mine. Stay away from me, Elena – I mean it."

"Why shouldn't I kill you?" Damon asked, snarling down at him without pity and itching to kick the brat again. "I don't care if you had to do it or not – you knew what you were doing – you knew the consequences if I ever found out. Why would I not kill you?"

"I can tell you who wants her dead!" Caleb stuttered. "I can help!"

"Convince me and I might let you live," he said in a voice that was just short of a growl, trying to relax his face so the anger boiling could be masked. His clawed fingers dug into the soft flesh at Caleb's shoulders with each second that the boy chose to waste on being silent.

"Get off of me and I'll tell you!" he whimpered, feeling the blood blossom beneath his clothing. Damon's nails were digging deeper into his flesh with every second it seemed. "A vampire! A vampire—some chick vamp—wants her gone!"

"A name, what does she look like?" Damon asked.

"Like—like your friend over there! Bonnie!"

"Mary – but she's not a vampire..."

Bonnie's whole body froze and Elena tackled her to the ground.

10

...

She knew she should been feeling something more than this. "What?" Bonnie managed to wheeze, however incoherently, unable to believe what she had not guessed before. Of course she believed it now, the evidence had been blatantly obvious, but she did not want to. Sometimes, at night and just before she closed her eyes, she would see him watching over her from the corner of her eye. She had never once asked how he had gotten into the house, or what he did in her sleeping hours, but that was because she trusted him, or she had trusted. If Mary was a vampire now, if Damon was her sire, how had he done it, and why? Did he get hungry one night as he watched over her, Did he prowl the house for a midnight snack just as Mary came downstairs for a drink of water?

She hadn't seen her sister in almost a week, but Bonnie knew already that Mary would be working the night shift at the hospital and would need to get her sleep during the day. Nothing had seemed strange, which was surreal because it most certainly had been. If she had gone to check up on her, she wondered, would she have known about this sooner? Bonnie's first impulse to scream at him, to ask him why, was cooled by the heart-breaking expression on his face. She had never been able to know what he was thinking, not even in the throws of passion when all his defences were down, but the emotion was so raw that it felt palpable.

Even as Elena clawed at her face, her manicured nails not sharp enough to do more than leave shallow scratches, Bonnie felt numb. She was aware, and so she knew that she ought to be be feeling something, anything, of the attack, but the only suffering she felt was emotional. How could Damon have kept something like this from her, something that was so personal, when he said he loved her? What was the meaning of being in love with someone when that someone lied about something this important? Where would it end – or was everything about him a deception? He was a vampire after all, and vampires were notorious for being wrapped up in mystery.

Had Mary ever drunk blood while she was around? She knew the answer instantly: of course she had. Being a vampire must make you extra sneaky, she summarised, because Mary had probably stolen some blood from the hospital and there had been no empty sachets in the trash – she must have hidden them somewhere in her room where no one would see. She was numb to everything but the pain of knowing that her sister had kept something this life-changing a secret, and that Damon had lied to her about not having any secrets. How could she trust him to be honest with her now, knowing that he could lie about lying so easily?

She was tempted to tell Elena she could have Damon if that was what she wanted, to stop her from scratching her face off, but she did not want to hurt Damon like he had hurt her because, if anything, it would only cause her more pain. She did not hate him, despite his betrayal; she loved him still and she knew she always would. She could think clearly, at least until the pain resurfaced, and knew that what she felt was the truth – no vampire-glamour could ever feel so strong. She knew that he would not have hurt her like this unless he had no other choice, but it was difficult to comprehend why he would do this, if he had done it because he loved her.

"Bonnie..." Damon had released the boy and was kneeling on the ground, knowing that Caleb wouldn't be moving again for at least a couple more minutes, all his attention on Bonnie. "Allow me to explain..."

But Bonnie just shook her head, backing away as fast as she could while not turning her back to him, as if she were suddenly wary that this man was a predator and had been for most of his life. She stumbled and fell, landing hard on her back-side with a barely audible humph. It did not matter to her if she progressed slowly, it only mattered that she escaped, and she would be able to run once she could no longer see him watching her. She scolded herself for being so easy to manipulate and deceive. Never again, she promised herself, I won't give myself to anyone again.

Bonnie, she turned at the sound of her name even though it had been in her head. She listened, heard nothing more, and continued her trek through the fallen trees and rotting leaves. She knew that she would be hearing his voice in her head for at least a couple of days yet so she had better learn to not react. Bonnie... Bonnie... Bonnie... But she did not turn around at the echo of her name, she turned at the crunch of twigs and the sound of boots scuffing the dirt.

"Hello?" She began to ask, but a black gloved hand snaked around her to cover her mouth.

"Hush, my dear... hush..." an indulgent voice urged her softly, sharp teeth glinting just above her ear. Something cool ran across the skin of her neck and something warm soaked into her top. "There's no need for this to be unpleasant..."

"Elijah?" she asked, her confusion growing even more, "Why—How are you here? I thought you were dead!"

"Not dead, dear Bonnie, Staked. We of the original family cannot die, or did you miss that part?" He breathed onto her face as he spoke, and his breath was as sweet as sugar. "I personally have no grudge against you, but I do have a little problem with Elena. I could have killed your lover, Damon, but I know I can double the pain by killing you. Two birds with one stone, you could say."

11

...

Elijah crept forwards at the same speed that Bonnie backed up, playing with her. It had taken him too long to realise that she was the one that he wanted, not Elena. So distracted had he been in the uncanny resemblance to the foolish girl Katherine that he had been blind to what was before him all that time. She might be a doppelgänger, but she was not truly powerful, and she had lost her appeal. Bonnie, however – she was different; she was something new to focus on, and her power was so much more real. He could draw on it to make himself strong enough to kill the Salvatore brothers once and for all.

Bonnie stumbled back until something cold and rough pressed against her back and there was nowhere else to go to but forwards. But to go forwards would be to go into his arms, and that was probably what he wanted. His fangs were invisible to her now, but she knew that they hid just behind his lips and were sharp enough, big enough, to rip her throbbing artery from her neck. She tried to look away from him but it was impossible; his eyes were electric, the fine angles of his face beautiful, his skin glowed, and there was something about him that her body said was safe. Her brain refused to believe that she was safe from him, though, and raced. "Don't kill me!" she shouted, maybe too loud, but she didn't care if people came to investigate – that was what she wanted after all.

"You won't scream," the ancient vampire told her casually, caressing the side of her face so gently she hardly felt it, "I will not hurt you, love. You're relaxed and it is all you can do to stand there – relaxed in the knowledge that nothing I do will hurt you." He stared intently at her until she nodded dreamily and smiled invitingly. He found himself smiling back at her despite himself, the guilt rising in him quickly strangled by the clenched fist of resolve. He thought that the last vampire-witch hybrid to ever exist had been his mother; if anyone knew what pain Bonnie would be feeling soon it will be her.

He bit her hard enough to drive his fangs deep inside her flesh but was inside her only long enough for his venom to enter her blood stream and begin the change. He had decided even before he had stolen her away that he would not leave her alone as she changed, in pain and unable to do or see anything for hours on end, and just laying on the ground for some human to find her and report her to the human authorities. The last thing the vampire world needed was attention and with the latest influx of teen vampire movie currently showing at theatres around world someone would recognise her for what she was. He got to his feet easily, even with the burden of her weight in his arms and sprinted at all his supernatural speed to the car he had left quietly humming on the side of the road.

She did not stir even when he snarled, fangs bared, at a curious stranger admiring his car and trying to see into it through the heavily tinted window and sent him scampering for his own vehicle.

Damon shook himself free of the dank mist that had wormed it's way inside his head and tried to recall something, anything at all, about what he had been doing in a forest – alone. He knew that he hadn't come here by himself, that at least he could remember. It was instinctual, the dread he felt building inside of him, the knowledge that Bonnie should be here too. He spun on the spot, his vampire eyes able to register everything about the 360 degree view, searching for any sign that he had not simply imagined her being here with him. It had happened before, many times when he'd thought about her, but he had always been able to rely on his instincts to tell him the truth. The trees were devoid of birds or squirrels, lifeless and eerily quiet, as if something powerful and dark had passed through here recently – yet more evidence of something about this moment was amiss.

Taking out his mobile, scrolling quickly through the contacts listed in alphabetical order, he pressed the call button and pressed the handset to his ear, waiting for the ring-ring to stop and his little brother to answer. He removed the phone from his ear the moment he heard Stefan's obnoxious voice saying how sorry he was about missing his call, but before he could press End-Call there was a distinctive change in the pattern of the words – he had listened the the answer-phone message enough times to know how his voice should sound. "Hello? Damon? What's wrong?" Stefan asked wearily.

"I've lost Bonnie—I mean –I don't know where the hell she's gone..." His voice might have been muffled, he had his knuckles pressed hard against his lips, "I think... I think..."

Stefan's voice sounded curious but not worried, "Wait... where are you? Are you sure she was with you? Elena said that she was going to see Bonnie... she left a few minutes ago..."

"Bonnie?" he called into the surrounding trees, following the faint trail of her scent deeper into the forest, hearing the rustling of her clothes moving away from him at a speed that only a vampire could manage. The moment that he thought vampire he felt the same static electricity raise the hairs on his arms even under his jacket. Stefan was still asking him where he was, over and over like a broken record, but Damon knew that there would be no use in telling him where he was currently because he would be long gone by the time that Stefan caught up with him. He was going to follow the scent until he could no longer, and then... he'd think about that later.

12

...

Bonnie awoke in a bed that seemed bigger than her whole room at home. It was also decorated with the finest fabrics; Silk, egyptian cotton, and the actual furniture itself was made from an expensive-looking wood that she could not name. She could almost believe that all that had happened before had been just a really convincing dream, but her neck still hurt when she gingerly touched it. Could it have been just a coincidence that the pain in her neck lingered, or was this evidence that what she remembered was not a nightmare at all, not a dream, but reality?

Where was she? The room she was in was dimly lit, she could tell by the faintness of the shadows reaching across the floor from the window, even when what she saw out of the window was the brightest of skies. She noticed, as she glanced around the room that she'd never seen a room as beautiful and detailed before in her life, and she wonderd again where on earth she could be now and how. From what she could see, this place seemed like something from Stefan and Damon's youth in Italy, not at all something you would find anywhere near Mystic falls. There was a small window high up in the wall. She held her arm to her face to shield herself but the pain behind her eyes did not lessen at all. Only when she closed them did she feel any better, and by then she had a raging headache that spread to make even her knees ache. If only she could stand to look out of the window she would have some idea where she was. Tugging on the curtains hanging from left side the canopy of her bed, the curtain fell easily and surround her in darkness. She turned to do the same to the right side and froze, staring at what had been laying on the bed beside her without her knowing it. She stared at the man as if she had seen a ghost.

"Klaus." She murmured, her lips numb but her throat raw with her sharp intake of breath. She was confused and afraid by this turn of events, yet more sure than ever that she would die, and soon. She watched as he smiled, and the sight sent shivers down her spine. Elijah might be dangerous, she thought, but Klaus was a monster – the most frightening being she had ever come across.

"Bonnie," he replied in a growl, anything that had been aloof about him evaporating like rain on a hot day, "my sweet little witch, I am in need of your sevices."He leant close into her and she stiffened, preparing for a bite she could only prepare for. She knew that she would not be able to stop him if he wanted to take blood from her, but the thought of him using her like a magically-charged blood-bag still made her squirm; she was sure he meant sweet as in it is what she would taste like when he drank from her.

"What are you going to do to me?" she asked in a small voice, not knowing if she really wanted to find out.

"Niklaus?" Elijah's voice came from what sounded like another room near-by.

"Stay," he commanded her, reaching out and grasping her arm in a movement so fast that it was practically invisible. The vampire might have thought he was handling her gently, humanely, but she knew that even her bones would be bruised from his tender grip. He let go of her just as suddenly, but his eyes lingered for a fraction of a second longer.

"What is it, brother? Couldn't you see I was in the middle of something?" he asked, only annoyance showing in his tone. He had everything else in place – only thing to do now was to make the witch do her part, and do it well. He was not a complete fool (How could he be after living so long?) and he knew that making her willing to do as he wanted would take more than words. Unlike Elijah, he would have no qualms about beating the information out of her if she refused to co-operate when he asked her, nicely.

Damon stopped in his tracks, trying to find the trail again after losing it for what felt like the hundredth time. Stefan was so weak it was really a wonder that he had chosen to come, since he would be more than useless in a fight when there was one. He knew that his little brother could not smell the trail as he could because it took Damon's hand slapping hard on his chest to make him stop. The good news was that they were heading in the right direction and that Elijah had seemed to have stopped somewhere. The bad news? He had had enough foresight to know that he should not tell Stefan the bad part, that he could sense not one but two originals with Bonnie. They barely stood a chance against one, and he knew that entering a fight with two would be suicide. He could not rely on Bonnie and her mysterious powers to win them this fight, but she was the only chance they had against two of the most powerful creatures on the planet.

Bonnie felt her heart-beat quicken as a warmth inside her built. She knew then that she had no simply been imagining it when she sometimes felt as though she and Damon shared a connection; his power and presence always left her feeling electrified inside and with every moment that she held her breath and waited the sensation grew stronger. He was close and she wondered if that was what Klaus knew too. That was what had been in Elijah's tone when he had asked for him, she realised with a sudden burst of hope, and her magic gathered inside her as if her body knew to prepare for an inimate fight. Klaus felt her doing it seemed not to know why – all the better.

13

...

Damon stopped and looked around him, trying and failing to find the scent trail that had disipated just as suddenly as it had appeared, and he wanted to howl in fustration. His urgency had grown ten-fold with the knowlege that it might not be just Elijah tormenting her, but Klaus too. He could admit to himself, if not to anyone else, that the hopelessness of this upcoming fight had made him consider if this was a mistake – and that, small, petty, part of him told him over and over that Bonnie might as well be dead to him now. But he loves her, truly loves her, and even if his chances were non-existant he would not shy from the fight. What kind of man would that make him if he turned away now? He had waited over five centuries for his one-true-love and he doubted that there would be another if he was alive for a thousand more. He was quite sure that he could smell the sweet strawberry shampoo she used.

"Can you feel that?" Stefan asked suddenly, rubbing his arms as if to ward of a chill. If vampires ever felt the cold he would have ignored the sensation, but he hadn't felt anything like it in a long, long time. Damon did not say a word, but he did become incredibly still and silent. Stefan had seen him like this before, stripped down to his most primal insincts, a predator, but only once. The last time he had seen this was after Katherine's death, when even he could not understand what kind of state his brother was in. Maybe he ought to remind Damon that there was still hope, that she might still be alive, but he felt too weary to take another step closer.

"It's Bonnie," Damon confirmed briskly, "she's not far. We have to hurry." And with that, he took off in a northerly direction, barely disturbing the ground that his feet trod upon. Stefan was amazed at the speed that Damon ran and his own lightening fast movements felt incredibly slow and sluggish. It was times like these that he wished of being as strong as Damon, if it did not come at such a heavy price for the human population, even when the odd human and animal blood was enough to surfice. If Elena ever went missing he knew he would want to be as powerful as he could be, no matter the cost to his morals.

"Get away from me!" she shouted, clutching her neck even when there was no wound to touch – not anymore. She could not believe that she had thought things couldn't get worse, or that Elijah was less than the monster he was. She could admit to herself that she had almost begun to like him a little bit, but that truth was painful to consider now. He had acted suave, but really he was just as much an animal as his brother. She felt betrayed but her mind could not understand why, even when she felt sucker-punched. What a fool she had been to believe that there might be someone to save her.

Klaus grabbed hold of her arm and pulled it straight so that the underside showed with it's blue viens bulging. Elijah had told him that it was time, that she was vampire now, and if he was ever going to preform the ceremony to unlock the power of the heavens he would have to do it now. The last time he had handled something with so much potential, it had been Katherine in his arms, slowly being drained. His memory of how she had been before the change was still pin-sharp even after so long a time, and he hoped that Bonnie would remain subservient where Katherine had acted against him. He would not allow himself to regret killing her though.

She screamed at the first touch of the blade to the newly-born vampiric flesh and Klaus slapped her hard enough that her head swum. She moaned as the blade drew down the inside of her arm, leaving a cut that would have been leathal to her before the change, but only stung like crazy now that she was dead.

Damon stopped running and allowed his eyes to take in the sight before him. He stood in front of a large stone building that would have been invisible to anyone not standing right before it. The minature castle stood beneath the thickest canopy of leaves that Damon had ever seen, and it must have been a perfect vampire hide-out if there ever was one. He turned to Stefan and put his finger against his lips, signalling that any sound at all, no matter how quiet, would be enough to give their positions away.

Elijah held his hand over her mouth and Klaus squeezed to help the blood flow from her arm and into the pueter goblet he held beneath it. His mouth watered at it's aroma but he did not relent to the burning desire to drink, yet, because it was too soon. Both of the vampire's faces had changed, the shadows over flowing from where their eyes should be and veins like tear-tracks running from their eyes. Bonnie felt her conciousness slipping away from her with every second that her blood was allowed to pour out.

"That's a good girl," Klaus cooed when she leant into him, her body too heavy and her head unable to support itself any longer. Her heart was racing in her chest even as her body grew weaker and weaker. She had always thought that she would have more time to be with Damon, time to say all the things she wanted to say, but it seemed as if her little bit of heaven was only a prelude to the real thing. She hoped that in whatever afterlife awaited the undead she would find her way back to him.

"Please," she whispered to the powers that be, a prayer that she hoped an angel would hear in time to save her. She heard something beautiful before the darkness finally took her, something she hadn't believed she would hear again, something magical: her name from his lips.

14

...

Damon shouted her name, called it, but stopped so suddenly that if anyone else but his brother was watching there might be laughter. As it was, they were both too tense to even breathe, and they stood like statues, waiting. They waited for something to pounce on them but nothing stirred from the shadowy arch that served as a front door. As a predator himself, he knew that they could be walking into a snare and that it would probably be a mistake to presume that just because they could not see anything dangerous that it was not lurking just around the corner. Signalling with hand-gestures, Damon hefted an obscenely large boulder with one hand and tossed it through the opening and took a step backwards. Just as he had expected, something from just inside detonated and an entire side of the marble building exploded in a shower of stone and dust.

There was a pained grunt from his right, he turned just in time to see Stefan fall to his knees on the dirt, clutching a scraped hand to his forehead while blood leaked from behind his fingers and his skin turned distinctly grey. With his eyes shut tightly closed and his lips parted as if in surprise, Damon knew that to go any further would be suicide, for Stefan at least. From this point forwards he would be saving Bonnie alone, and the thought of standing against not one but two Originals alone made him queasy; he was just a regular vampire after all, even as strong as he was, so what chance did he have to come out of this alive if he went into this without back-up? "Stay here," he said grimly, "I don't want you killed in some attempt to prove yourself."

"Damon..." Stefan began to say, his tone softening somewhat, even when he knew that empathy would not be appreciated. He would have followed his brother if he could have, but every time he moved even the tiniest bit his head felt as if it were going to explode or something as equally dramatic. He was in a bad enough state as it was, and he knew Elena would no doubt scold him for volunteering to assist Damon anyway. It was why he loved her so much, why she was so different to Katherine – she cared about him, and only him.

Klaus was trying to make Bonnie drink some bagged blood he had initially kept for emergencies when he heard the explosion from above. He stopped supporting Bonnie and dropped the blood-bag to the floor. "Elijah?" he snarled, his lips pulling back to reveal teeth as sharp as razors and as plentiful as a knife drawer in a professional kitchen. He waited until the other one emerged before he barked an order in a tongue Bonnie did not recognise, but could tell was not anything pleasant She felt herself recoil when his monstrous face swung back to her and saw the cruelty in his eyes. His eyes never left her as he said, "Kill the other one, but bring Damon alive – I've got something that he would be interested in seeing."

Elijah appeared before him in a flash, his speed so great that even vampire eyes hadn't seen him coming until he stood in Damon's face. The original did not look happy to see him, but really that was only to be expected – he was not so happy to see him either. "Where's Bonnie!" he demanded at once, uncaring if the other man was stronger, taking him by the throat, feeling every rigid muscle that lay beneath his flesh and not caring. He wanted answers, and not necessarily the kind that required violence.

Elijah brushed him off with humiliating ease and self-consciously straightened his now dishevelled collar. There was silence as he did this, but afterwards he spoke, "I've been ordered the kill you." he told Stefan in an off-hand tone, barely glancing in his direction even as he admitted to this. He felt Damon grow still beside him.

"What of me?" he asked, "Have you come to kill me too?"

"No," Elijah replied, sounding as if he were bemused, which seemed wrong somehow, "you will be brought to my brother as a witness..." he paused, suddenly smiling so widely that even Damon was disturbed, "to the slaying of the witch."

"What does that mean!" Damon snarled, grasping him again and trying to shake the answers from him. The fear that had been liquid and bitter before now as solid as granite and as cold as the sea a thousand metres down. The slaying of the witch? But he could understand the words, of course, could picture what he was talking about in his mind. To slay was just too ugly a word in conjunction with her name, and he knew it was something he could not allow.

"I think you know what it means, Damon, you're not that innocent."

Bonnie felt excess blood dribble out of the corner of her mouth and she automatically swiped at it with the back of her hand, forgetting for a moment that she should be more disgusted and instead tasting the best thing she had ever tasted in her life; it really was amazing how everything else paled in comparison now that she had lost her humanity. Klaus reached for her and she froze, but all he did was wipe the rest of the blood away. His touch was so gentle that for a moment or so she was struck dumb by it. She didn't know what to make of his sudden, gentle, contact with her and she found that she could not look at him both because she was embarrassed and confused.

"You trust me not to hurt you, don't you sweet-heart?" Klaus asked, watching with satisfaction as she nodded and smiled contentedly, her will no longer her own.

15

...

"Go, Damon," Elijah urged, as if he were dealing with an stubborn child not a fully grown vampire, his voice flat, gesturing in the opposite direction to the building, "Run while you still can." His face was sombre and resigned, but in his tone there was an urgency that Damon recognised all too easily. It did not matter to him that his chances of succeeding in this quest were slim, because he would work with any odds if it meant that there was chance he could save her. Elijah's face was unreadable, but the lack if an expression was sometimes just as explicit as a smile of a frown.

"Thank you," he said over his shoulder, but too late it seemed, because Elijah had disappeared, which was probably just as well. Damon had exceeded his quota for doing or saying nice things for the day. "but running isn't my style." Damon said, as if to the old-one, simply, blatantly ignoring the suggestion that he should get the hell out of there and leave his sweet Bonnie to suffer at the hands of someone even more desperate than himself; Klaus must need something so badly from her that he would provoke the ruthless side of Damon, the Damon that always got what it wanted no matter the cost.

Although Damon was surprised that Elijah hadn't killed him on the spot when he could safely run and not seem cowardly, he ran with a speed that was impressive even to him. His heart was beating slow and heavy in his chest and his legs felt numb beneath him – something he refused to acknowledge; he knew how it worked: the moment he focused on his legs they would fail him. He couldn't afford to feel anything that might slow him down or be a weakness; he was a predator and had been for half a millennia, but it was only now that he would discover the limits of what he was capable of.

"Bonnie!" He shouted the words almost without meaning to say them so loudly, "I'm coming!"

Klaus felt the air around him thicken with magical energy as he mixed the herbs into the blood and murmured the required words. He was excited about the deluge of power that he could already feel seeping into his body through his skin, and also because he was sure that soon the brothers Damon and Stefan would be no longer. A lot of things lately had failed thanks to them, but this time there was nothing anyone could do. He took his eyes from the varied ingredients he was grinding together to make sure the girl was still breathing, and found that she was even if her breaths were shallow. Yes, he thought, it would be a shame to loose her now.

He stopped and bent down to where she lay, unsure what he should do but knowing that he had to something. At this rate, even her vampiric healing abilities would not be enough to prevent her from dying. He embraced her tightly, her small frame so insubstantial against his broad chest that she felt like a doll, and recklessly he punctured the biggest of the blue veins on the inside of his wrist. The blood swelled from the wound instantly and dripped uselessly onto her parched lips. He held himself so still as he waited for her to respond in any way at all.

Damon stopped himself at one of the arched door-ways that lined the hall, his nostrils flaring in red-hot desire and cold fury, and knew that he was already too late. It was her blood that he could smell, could taste in the air, but it was mixed with another's. Had she put up a fight? He almost smiled at the image of her being vicious, but reality refused to let him see this as a sign that she would be alive when he got to her. He turned his head but kept his body as still as it could be, and not because he needed to be stealthy.

Klaus smiled before he slapped her, which made the sting even greater. He had been almost nice until now, but his patience obviously could only go so far. She had done everything else required to make the spell work, but the verse refused to be spoken, or she refused to speak it. He was so close to being rid of them, and he was sure her inability to speak the words was intentional. Even when she cried out from the pain of the blow he could only look upon her with contempt. A vampire-witch had to be the one to cast the spell, it was the only way, or else he would have gotten Elijah to be the sacrifice. He felt himself smirk as he thought this – figuring that his brother probably had no clue about his alternative plan. "If you don't want me to hit you again, Bonnie, then I suggest you do as you're told."

"Bonnie!" Damon shouted from the arched doorway, taking a few moments to see the rest of what was before him. He was so happy to see her alive that everything else around him had been unimportant. He felt his world grow even smaller when she turned her face towards him and he saw the thick crimson substance coating her mouth and neck, his attention focused all on her. "Bonnie?" he repeated, more tentatively this time.

Klaus smiled in greeting, all jovial and inviting, "Damon, how nice it is that you joined us."

"What have you done to–" he began.

"To Bonnie?" Klaus arched an eyebrow as if he had no clue why Damon looked murderous. "Think of it as a gift – now you two can be together for eternity!" His smile grew broader until all his shining, pointed, teeth shone in the light.

"Watch out!" Bonnie screamed and an arrow flew through the air and landed squarely in Damon's chest, the feathered end still quivering in his back even as Damon fell face first to the floor. She crawled over to him as fast as she could and knelt at his side as he coughed and wheezed. There was no question of if she would save him if she could, not after he had risked himself for her many times over, but did she have anything to offer him?

"Bonnie." Klaus said stiffly, standing over her as she knelt on the floor beside Damon's body, "we are leaving so don't make me wait."

Instead of adhering to his wishes, she braced herself and bit deeply into her wrist, drawing blood instantly. She held it to Damon's slack mouth and prayed that he would swallow. Klaus took hold of her and tried to yank her from the grey skinned body but her strength surprised him. She resisted him without showing any kind of strain, as if it meant nothing that his strength had had many centuries to grow and she was newly born into this world of darkness.

16

...

She rolled Damon onto his side and gasped at the sight of the arrow-tip dripping with his blood and bits of his flesh. As a human-witch she hadn't experienced much of life beyond that which Elena had shown her, but now her horizons were fathomless. Her mind could not comprehend what her life could hold for her now that it would never end – what would she be like in one or two hundred years if she did not have him there as company – why would she choose to live that way when dying would hurt so much less? What would be the point in going on with life if every moment that she knew she'd lost him was torture?

"Damon?" Bonnie asked him, she was desperate to hear his voice and know that he was still alive. If he was not, what kind of cruel game was fate playing in giving her a life that would never end? Her blood did not seem to be doing anything and his skin was still that ghastly grey colour of death. She tried to remember the steps to CPR, kicking herself mentally for not paying more attention when they had learned it in class. She knelt beside his chest and felt over his ribs for the place where they met in the middle, and locked the fingers of one hand with the fingers of the other. She paused as she thought of what she had to do next.

Klaus smiled wickedly and took her shoulder again, but this time he had the strength to tug her away from the withered body. She did not fight him but she did not stand when he urged her either, her body like a rock, unresponsive and cold. He would have thought of doing this earlier if he had known it would make her as easy to work with as wet clay – it would have saved him a whole lot of bother. And now that Damon was dead, maybe she would adore him instead like he wanted her to since first learning of her what felt like an eternity before. "He's gone." he whispered in her ear as he bent down to her level, "He's never coming back, so I would forget him if I were you."

Her breath caught in her throat at his words and she found herself unable to draw in another breath. Her heart felt as if it were being crushed between two clamps and her lungs felt as though they were now ten times smaller than they had been just a minute before. What frightened her more than being unable to breathe, more than the idea that there was no hope for Damon, was the thought of there being no hope for her. She knew that going with Klaus to wherever he spent his time when he wasn't trying to kill everyone would be worse than death by miles. She was not a fool, she knew that there would be conditions he expected her to meet, but she wished that she were. If she could just not imagine all the things he would want her to do for one moment... just one... maybe she would be able to remember...

Leaning all her weight into Damon she pressed hard into his chest and released, only to do the same thing in the next moment and the next. In class the adult instructing them had always warned that anyone doing this could accidentally break the victims ribs with the force of each push into them, but Bonnie felt pretty sure that this did not apply to Vampires. Their bones were far too strong to be fractured so easily – at least that was what she told herself when she felt something inside him shift. While her urgency grew stronger with each second that there was no visible change, her strength lessened at a rate that made her a little embarrassed. If only she were not so weak. Klaus was silent behind her, but she could feel his energy and knew he was still there.

"I know you don't particularly get on well together, but I could really use..." she said quietly, unable to say what she really meant. What she meant to say was that if Klaus felt any sort of decent emotion towards her he would help her restore life to Damon. She fished in the pocket of Damon's jeans and pulled out a folded piece of paper, trying not to feel the hollowness of his backside through the fabric. Even though she loved him more than she loved anything else, she harboured no good feeling towards his corpse. "I need your blood."

Klaus only paused a moment before complying, "Do you need anything else?" he asked, cutting his thumb on a sharp canine tooth.

"Your blood is strong enough for what the spell needs," she managed a weak smile at him, "Thanks, Klaus, for this."

He leant back and stared up into the ceiling, his expression sardonic and self-mocking, "All you have to do is ask, Bonnie. You know I would do anything for you, my love." His voice was sad as he said this, almost as if he were helping her against his will.

She began murmuring the spell, trying her best to get the my love out of her head. The last thing she needed was to be thinking of Klaus; this spell required a lot of concentration and she had to be repeating Damon in her mind to ensure the incantation did what it was supposed to. Who knew what trouble she could get herself in if she did even the smallest thing different to what was written? She could feel the energy buzzing in the air around her intensifying with each repetition of the written verse. Soon she would see if she were not too late.

First his fingers began to twitch, startling her into stumbling over the line she was reading, and then his eyeballs began to move beneath his lids. She wanted to tell him that everything was going to be fine, that they would be back together soon, but she could not stop speaking even for a second and she did not know if he could hear anything yet.

17

...

Trying to ignore the movements she could see from the corner of her eye, she focused on pronouncing the words correctly. Although this spell, at least, was in a Latin script each word had many letters that could be pronounced a number of different ways. If she had known for certain which country it originated from, she would know how it was supposed to sound. Klaus was watching her, scrutinizing her it felt like, and his utter immobility was just as distracting as the animation of the corpse. She wanted to ask him to leave, to stop staring, but again that seemed impossible and she doubted he would listen to her.

It was during her twelfth and final repetition of the verse that she became increasingly aware that Klaus had moved; She didn't need sight to know this – she could feel it like a cold chill raising the hairs on the back of her neck. It was a creepy feeling and she finished the last few lines with her eyes closed and her back straight with awareness and tension. She tried to ignore the lust coming from him, but before the final word could be spoken his hands were pressed hard against either side of her hips and his mouth was so close that she could feel his cool breath against the thin skin of her neck. Whether he knew she had completed the spell or not, this sort of contact was outside what she had ever considered having with him.

"Klaus? What are you doing? I never meant..." Bonnie wished she could continue but his lips were grazing her shoulders now and were travelling downwards with every second. She didn't know whether it was just because he was an Original vampire but his attentions, as they became more intimate, made concentrating on anything else impossible. She turned in his arms to face him, feeling his arms around her tightening even as she did this, and instantly wished that she hadn't. The moment she looked into his eyes she felt the defences she had built around herself begin to crumble, leaving her defenceless against the onslaught of his compulsion. She knew she didn't want him, but her body did not. She felt herself melting into him even as her mind screamed to separate from him right now. Her mind was not fooled by his tricks but her senses were overwhelmed by need.

"You don't need him," he said smoothly, planting a lingering kiss on her lush red mouth, drinking her in as if she were his favourite kind of blood-bag, "you only need me." His hands moved roughly over her and his fingers pinched her skin, and she was thankful that she no longer bruised like she would have before. He wasn't treating gently like he had before, as if that were only an act, and the knot in her stomach seemed to confirm this. He is an Original, her mind relentlessly reminded her, and a master of deception. While she felt a little stung by his trick on her, at least he had allowed her to finish the spell before jumping her.

Which reminded her... She turned, expecting to see Damon, still dead, but the space was empty as if he hadn't been laying there last time she looked. A strange fear began to rise in her throat even when she knew that he would never hurt her – or maybe not know, but felt pretty sure. He was a vampire after all, and while he might be civilised he was not known for his self control. When she turned back to Klaus she saw that he was smiling devilishly as if he were in on a joke. She did not like it when he smiled like that, because it made any good feeling she had had towards him dissolve.

Her expression must have been enough of a question because a indistinct figure emerged from a hidden place amongst the shadows. It was a woman, that much she could tell from the outline of her chest, and she held a bow close to her chest. Was this Damon's shooter?

"What have you done to Damon?" Bonnie asked, nothing of the quiver left in her voice. She turned to the mystery figure in the shadow, almost able to distinguish her features even when they were so thoroughly swallowed by darkness, "What would you have to gain by killing him?"

"My sister," she said in answer, and just the sound of her voice replaced the shadowy mask upon her face with features that Bonnie recognised. "If I killed him, Klaus would make sure you were never tricked again." Mary stepped into the light and dropped the weapon to the ground. She glanced at Klaus and then back to her younger sister, "Klaus promised to keep you safe and away from vampires... he's a hunter of vampires like this one." She nudged Damon with the toe of her boot distastefully, as if he were trash on the side of the road.

Bonnie could hardly believe what she was hearing and feeling. She had never been angry at anyone who simply did not understand, but how could Mary be so stupid? Klaus was a vampire hunter? "He's the vampire of vampires, you idiot!" She added the last with a touch of amusement; it was what Meredith always called her when she was missing something that was obvious to the rest of them. She had known that this was the worst thing she could have said even before Klaus took the bow and skewered Mary in the chest without blinking. She tried to scream but nothing came out of her mouth, only a strangled No!

"Why!" she cried.

"Because I could–" But before he could finish what she knew would be a long-winded spiel about how he did it because he could, he stilled and went silent. Time seemed to hang suspended, freezing everything into perfect stillness, until his face mouth twitched once she he fell forwards to the earth. Bonnie's legs narrowly missed becoming a cushion for his head as his whole body crashed to the earth, as lifeless and eerily beautiful as an angel figurine at Christmas. He did not stay pretty for long though, and even as she watched she could see his skin turning a ghostly purple-green. She almost touched his face just to make sure, but even vampire-Bonnie could not face the idea of touching a dead body.

"Bonnie?" a voice, as warm as melted honey, said from behind her. His voice was like a bolt of lightening; it shocked and delighted her with equal measure. She turned and saw her vampire striding from the gloom. He hadn't changed his clothes, which were a little blood-stained, and she did not want to know how he had gotten the weapon, but she still clutched him tightly, burying her face into his chest, when she ran into his arms.

"You're alive!" she screamed against him.

"Thanks to you," he breathed, his voice so quiet and gentle, "You complain that it is always me saving you, but you have saved me an eternity of being alone and despised. You are my life, Bonnie, it is you that brings me to life each and every day." He kissed her lips at first tenderly, but when she responded with just as much heat he used his tongue to part her lips and taste her sweetness.

THE END

Epilogue

Stefan sighed as the phone call went to voice-mail yet again, worry creeping into his thoughts and germinating into dread. He and Elena shared a look of anxiety; Bonnie and Damon had been missing for almost a week and so far they had no clue whether Bonnie, Damon, either of them were still alive. Elena had made up excuses for Bonnie's absence at school, but she actually knew nothing about where they were or what they were doing. Not that it mattered. Not that she cared.