Title: The Host
Synopsis: Earth has been colonized by the Heretics, vampire-witch hybrids that have the ability to wipe out the minds of humans and vampires, turning their bodies into hosts for deceased heretic souls. Most of mankind has been eradicated, but some, like Bonnie and her friends, have survived and are hiding. When they find a stranger in the outskirts of their compound, they don't know if he is friend or foe until Bonnie discovers that this stranger has been implanted with her husband's soul. The problem is the stranger refuses to relinquish control of his body and his own memories to Damon. It's tricky and complicated, compounded by the fact that the host is now falling in love with the soul's wife, Bonnie.
A/N: A few tropes have been borrowed from Saoirse's movies e.g. City of Ember and the Host. I think Saoirse Ronan is an amazing actress and how ghastly am I that I shipped her with Colin Farrell in The Way back. He's thirty-nine and she's twenty two but hey they're both Irish LOL and Colin is as sexy AF. Now back to the beautiful Miss Bonnie Bennett.
Pairings: Kai/ Bonnie/ Damon
.
.
For the briefest of moments, she feels safe.
Nothing can hurt her now, not while she is cradled in his arms. She feels warm and content with her head resting against Damon's chest. The brush of his breath on her hair, the rise and fall of his chest as his fingers graze her spine, these are things she misses the most at night when the city goes to sleep.
When she jolts up from the bed she smells the distinct smell of sweet grass that's been freshly mowed. The scent thrusts her back to her childhood in Mystic Falls with her grams. It pulls her back to a time before the heretics, before the virus. She shuts her eyes and drifts away to a place where there are fields of green grass. The scent cloys her nostrils and she stays there, basking under the bluest of skies before she hears the groan of her bedroom walls as a train passes by overhead. She's grown accustomed to the vibrations and is slowly adapting to the screams from her downstairs neighbor's newborn baby. There are no blue skies here, no fields of sweet green grass and no sunlight scattering across her floor boards because she is buried beneath the city. She lives in a city beneath a city and it's called Ember.
She touches her wedding band, traces her fingers over its gleaming silver metal. It's cold against her warm skin but pulses under her fingertips as if it were a live thing. She feels tears welling up in her eyes and blinks them away. She misses Damon and hates the virus for destroying her happiness, their future. With tears still clinging to her lashes, she scrambles to her feet and leaves the confines of the bed with its rumpled gray sheets. The wood creaks under her bare feet, the soft vibration from the light bulb downstairs shooting up through the soles of her feet to the tips of her fingers.
The clock tells her its morning even though there is no way of really knowing because there is no sunrise. She treks to her bathroom, takes a cold shower and eases into a pair of gray slouched sweatpants with tapered legs and a gray tank top with a cowl hoodie. She doesn't have time to eat a proper breakfast because she's already late for her first class at the gym where she works but she picks up a piece of bread and dips it into a bowl of bean soup on her way out.
.
.
There's always gridlock on the way to the square on Monday Mornings because that's the day the government workers pass out the food parcels. The crowds circle the tower while someone from the mayor's office addresses them. Their clothes are simple, gray and functional. They go about their day in a seamless effort, following the guidelines set for them by the government. Everyone is happy, everyone is content. Bonnie looks around the crowd as she steps out of the train and offers a mother with a child on her back a warm smile. There was a time when she was content too but she hasn't truly been happy for a while.
Vampires and witches working together to protect humans against the heretics had seemed like such a good idea. Humans chose the lesser evil or what they had perceived to be the lesser evil because heretics were an abomination to nature. They feared what they didn't know and so unlikely foes banded together to form an alliance. Then came the virus, a disease meant to weaken the heretics who fed on humans in order to regain the numbers on their side. It had seemed like a good idea until someone had the bright idea to contaminate the synthetic blood the vampires used as a food source.
Now it was everyman for himself, no alliances and no bonds of friendship.
Except for this place.
This is home, at least the only home some of them will ever know. Bonnie picks up her parcel of food and quietly checks its contents before putting it inside her backpack. She zips it up and swings it onto her back, keeping her right hand on the thick strap. Casting her green eyes up toward the blinking lights, she bites the corner of her lower lip and sucks in a deep breath. She can feel another power outage looming and wonders how long this one will last because they have been growing longer with the failing generator.
"I hear rumours from the surface that the president is annihilating the heretics and the vampires."
Bonnie whips around to face Matt Donovan, dropping her gaze to the police badge on his gray uniform. She squints up at his twinkling blue eyes and the blinking yellow lights above him.
"There are reports of death camps where they burn the abominations alive." He continues and the overhead lights above his head flicker, shattering the glass.
"Magic?" he asks, stiffening but quirking a blonde eyebrow at her.
"Its generator problems, the whole place is falling apart, "she shrugs and begins to move across the courtyard with Matt on her trail.
"I wish you'd stop talking about vampires like they were animals. If I remember correctly you used to date a certain blonde school teacher who just so happens to be a vampire." She tells him as they weave between the lines of people waiting for their food parcels. The clerks check the identity documents to verify that they are indeed registered citizens and non-vampires before handing them their rations.
"That was a long time ago, besides I thought this would make you happy. Whose side are you on?" he elbows her arm lightly and Bonnie shoots a glance at a line of vampires waiting for their blood bags.
"My best friends are vampires, my husband was a vampire. If they start burning vampires now, how long will it be until they start burning witches at the stake?" she snaps back at him, tearing her eyes away from the vampires. Before Matt can attempt to defend himself, she brushes past him and crosses the street littered with rick-shaws, making her way to the gymnasium.
.
.
Stefan's pale skin gleams from the light of the lamp on the table. There's been another power failure and as the group gathers around the kitchen island, they all silently count the minutes wondering how long then power outage will last.
"Happy birthday" he announces, fishing out a small jar of peanut butter from the drawer in front of him.
A smile creeps into her face as she snatches the gift from him, "You remembered."
"We remembered." Elena smiles, rising from her chair to retrieve a wine opener from another drawer. Bonnie glances down at the painted seams up the back of her legs. In the dim light of the room, it looks like she is wearing pantyhose, a luxury item down in this place.
"You know what this means right?" Stefan slouches back in his chair, probing the scalloped edge of the plastic table cloth with his finger.
"That I'm becoming an old maid?" Bonnie teases, kicking his leg under the table with her foot.
He leans forward, his green eyes looking at her with great intensity, "No, it means that it's February and from what the books tell us it must be winter on the surface."
"The blood supplies are dwindling." Elena observes as she hands Stefan a wine glass filled with fresh blood.
"The rations are already minute" Stefan nods, accepting the glass. He swirls its contents, his jaw tightening before lifting it to his lips.
"Maybe they should send a few people to the surface, get more food supplies. More food supplies for the humans mean more blood supplies for us." Elena deliberates and gives Bonnie her glass of wine. She drops her gaze to the glass and regards the wine then takes a hearty sip. Closing her eyes, she allows the wine to sooth her and relax her nerves. She does'nt want to dwell on the failing infrastructure and the food shortages in Ember tonight. She wants the wine to lull her to sleep so that she can go to bed and dream about Damon.
As if reading her thoughts, Elena hooks her with her brown eyes and says "We have another small gift for you"
She scrambles around her purse and pulls out a small glossy ticket on black laminated paper. Stepping forward, she hands the ticket to Bonnie who is beside herself with excitement.
"What's this?" she asks, ripping it from Elena's hand.
With a chuckle, Stefan's eyes dart from Elena to Bonnie and he responds, "It's a coupon for Total Recall"
"Guys, I can't. This must have cost you a small fortune and-"
"You're taking it. Didn't you say how much you missed the smell of the ocean?" Stefan argues and Bonnie's trembling fingers hoover over the gold lettering on the ticket.
"I know what you're thinking" Elena remarks, breaking her from her trance and Bonnie swings a glance at her friend.
"You want to live through the memories you experienced with Damon. I know it's not fair to say this to you but it's been over a year. I think it's time to move on, Bon."
Clearing his throat, Stefan looks between the two of them and waits for Bonnie to respond.
"And you reckon I should use technology to wipe my husband's memories from my mind?" Bonnie furrows her eyebrows, big wet eyes glaring up at Elena.
"Technology or magic, whatever works." She shrugs lightly and takes a seat next to her husband. They're so young, Bonnie thinks looking at the two of them. They're barely twenty two but they look like they're carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders. She wonders if she looks the same.
"I'm not going to erase Damon" she declares, leaving no room for debate on the matter. A burst of light startles all of them as the lights come back on and before they can snuff out the lamp, Jeremy barrels through the front door, gasping for air.
"They found someone, a man" he pants, slouching against the door, his hands on his knees, "He seems to be from the surface" he adds, pointing to the ceiling.