A/N: Ok same deal as last time. This is the same story just continuing on from last time. So if you're just starting this, click on my profile and read Homecoming first, then Homecoming: Continued. (I figured it's easier to tell you than link it here) Then this story is right after that, no change in plot time difference, etc. And I still don't own any characters, etc. All rights to LJ Smith and CW I suppose, lol. Enjoy!
Elena felt Caroline's grip tighten as she came to. Smiling at Bonnie in pride, Elena grabbed Caroline and brought her in for a hug.
"Oh my god, Caroline. I'm so glad you're ok," she said with relief. "Bonnie. You're a genius!"
Bonnie smiled in triumph and went over to join in checking on Caroline when everything fell apart.
Without warning, Caroline's head snapped back and she sunk her teeth into Elena's neck. Elena screamed out in surprise, but Caroline wasn't on her long before Stefan and Isobel were tearing her away—her eyes furious and her fangs bared.
Stefan and Isobel were still struggling with her when Elena got up, holding her neck, and scrambled over to Bonnie. "What happened, Bonnie? I don't understand…"
But Bonnie just shook her head in horror, watching Caroline flail around trying to get out of Stefan and Isobel's firm grip. "I don't know…" she whispered.
Seconds later, Alaric stepped in with a dart and jabbed it into Caroline's back. Her response was immediate: a loud shriek and convulsions, followed by a drop to the ground.
Once she was down, Stefan rushed over to Elena.
"I'm fine," she said absently, but she stepped back at the weird look on his face. Before she knew it, Isobel was between her and Stefan. "What the hell…" she murmured.
"Go clean that up. He's got that look in his eyes," Isobel said in reponse, though with some sympathy tinged in her voice. "I know you care about her lover boy, but you look like you're struggling yourself."
"I got it under control,"he snarled at her as he stepped around her to check on Elena.
Elena shook her head and patted Stefan's arm. "It's nothing. I'll clean it off. Take care of Caroline," she said miserably as she left the room to head upstairs.
Once she was gone, Stefan relaxed just a hint but looked both worried and guilty. He angrily turned to Bonnie with an accusatory stare. "I thought you were sure it would work," he said stonily.
"I did everything by the book," Bonnie said shakily, unable to take her eyes off of Caroline's body on the floor. "I don't understand how she turned….everything was working like it was supposed to…"
"Should have listened to me," Isobel said with a told you so face. "You wanna burn that book now?"
"You're not helping, Isobel," Alaric said with a stern look. "Maybe it just never worked to begin with and once she had the human blood in her system, she obviously transitioned."
"It worked," Bonnie said firmly. "Something went wrong, but it was working…"
Out of nowhere, Isobel began laughing. "Oh…this is precious, I think I know what went wrong. I'm just surprised now that you didn't think of it ahead of time…"
"What are you talking about?" Stefan asked in confusion.
"Didn't you and Damon save Elena from sudden death not too long ago?" she asked with arched brows.
"Yes...but I don't see where you're going with that?" Stefan responded.
"Think about it…what did Bonnie's spell need to work; all the ingredients it called for. She needed vampire blood, vervain, and human blood," Isobel started.
"We did all that," Bonnie responded impatiently.
"What kind of blood did Caroline need to the heart?" Isobel asked like a teacher asking a student. "Human."
"That's why she used Elena's blood," Alaric said in confusion. "It couldn't be Bonnie's either because of her witch heritage. So it had to me or Elena, and her blood is human."
"But Elena was fed vampire blood…" Stefan began with sudden realization. "Her blood would have been tainted with it for at least 48 hours…"
"So long story short, Elena pumped Caroline full of basically half vampire blood, half her blood. Hence the spell didn't work and the human blood was enough to make her transition," Isobel said. "You guys don't think about these things before jumping into it do you?"
"You knew it wouldn't work…." Bonnie hissed. "You thought of Elena's blood before we began and you didn't say a word."
"Think what you want. I don't care. Just know I was opposed to this from the start. I'm gonna go now," she said lazily. "Have fun with that," she said with a point to Caroline.
"You don't get to just walk away," Bonnie said angrily, slamming the doors to the room shut and staring angrily at Isobel.
"While you're trying pathetically to scare me, may I remind you that you're on a deadline with that book," Isobel said nonchalantly. "You know how Katherine hates to wait. Tick tock."
Bonnie was shaking in anger at that point, but Alaric stepped in between them. "Isobel, did you really know it wouldn't work?"
"No Rick, I didn't," she said still staring angrily at Bonnie. "Sorry that I'm just smart enough to have been the first to figure it out."
Rick sighed and pinched his nose in frustration. "Let her go for now, Bonnie. There's nothing more to do here."
But Bonnie was still standing her ground. "I don't believe you."
"Believe what you want, princess. Fact of the matter is that you're just a witch playing with fire. You're going to get burned if you don't understand what you're doing," Isobel said sternly. "Now the doors…"
Bonnie sighed out in frustration and opened the doors. "This isn't over," she hissed.
"Never is, is it?" Isobel said as she walked out.
"I'm going to put Caroline in the basement," Stefan said seriously. "She's a danger to everyone right now. And I don't know if you're attempted spell did anything else to her, so I'm not taking any chances."
"I'll help you," Rick said slowly.
"Are you taking the book to Katherine?" Stefan asked in suspicion.
"I have to," Bonnie said, swallowing hard. "But I will keep my word and talk to you about it later. Tell Elena I'll be back as soon as I can."
"Shouldn't we go with her?" Alaric asked suddenly.
"No. She'd flip. I'm safe. Promise," Bonnie said, still in shock over Caroline.
"Whatever Katherine is holding over you, know that it's nothing we can't handle, Bonnie. Don't feel obligated to save the town or play hero by yourself," Stefan said seriously. "Katherine wants to tear everyone apart. Don't help her…You're better than that."
Bonnie nodded and headed out the door, letting the tears she was holding back fall as she thought about the mistakes she had made.
Damon paused in his typing and reading on the computer when he heard Elena cry out in surprise downstairs. Moments later he heard footsteps on the staircase heading toward the bathroom.
Scrunching his brows together in curiosity, Damon got up to investigate. He made his way to the bathroom and saw Elena taking a wet towel to her neck and pressing at it, small pink streaks making her way down her shirt.
"Didn't you just shower too?" Damon asked as he walked in the room. "You're so messy."
"Can you go check on Stefan and see if he needs help with Caroline," Elena muttered as she held pressure on her neck.
"So blondie decided to go for it. Go figure," Damon said shaking his head. "Is there a reason you let her go for your blood or were you just more convenient."
"Damon. Just go help him, ok," Elena said angrily, holding back tears as she thought about what went wrong. "I don't want to explain things right now." At that, she turned back to the mirror still holding down her towel.
"Let me see that first to make sure Caroline didn't get crazy," Damon said reaching for the towel.
Elena swatted him away, but Damon persisted. Elena sighed and let go of the towel so he could look at it. As soon as he took the towel away to look at it, a small spurt of blood hit him in the cheek.
Elena gasped and firmly clamped the towel back down, nervous about how Damon would react. But thanfully, he just wiped it off and raised his eyes at her. "Hate when that happens," he said looking at Elena seriously. "You need to stop with the free samples, Elena."
She let out a small chuckle and held the towel firmer. "I keep telling Bonnie I have a sign on my back that says eat me or something…It must say all you can eat buffet by now."
Damon sarcastically turned her around to check her back and nodded his head. "You've got neon lights now and that can't be good." Then getting more serious he looked at her in concern. "Caroline must have nicked your artery since she didn't know what she was doing. It's not the major on or anything, but that's why it popped out to say hello…Just keep it wrapped and you'll be good."
"Thanks,"Eelena said with a small smile. "Now can you go help…"
"I'm sure Stefan is more than capable of dealing with her right now. Hear that? Now angry growly noises. So what really did happen?" he asked curiously.
"Bonnie found a spell that would reverse the transition process but it backfired and Caroline changed somehow, so she attacked right after she woke up," Elena said, closing her eyes. "I don't know what went wrong, but all I know is that Caroline is a vampire now whether she wanted to be or not."
"What went wrong is that you all think Bonnie is some great witch because she has power. She's not trained, Elena. The sooner everyone understands that, the less you will be disappointed," he said sternly. "Where did Bonnie come up with a spell like that anyway? It sounds fishy."
Elena sighed and sat down on the toilet seat lid. "She got the book from Katherine, but she knew it wasn't tampered with or anything. She's supposed to explain everything when she gets back."
"What do you mean gets back?" Damon asked in confusion.
"She has to return it to her within the hour I guess. She's going to tell us everything after and I trust her," Elena said defensively.
"But I don't," Damon said leaving the room.
"Where are you going?" she said, shooting up out of her seat.
"I've got a witch to trace apparently. If Katherine's looking for some magical assistance, we have a problem," he said quickly as he rushed down the stairs and out the door.
"Damon!" Elena yelled, but it was too late. Frustrated, she rushed to the door and ran outside to stop him. She didn't know if Bonnie would get in any trouble if Damon was around. Hell, she didn't know the situation at all, but if she knew one thing it was that Katherine didn't like surprises.
She looked around and noticed that Bonnie's car was gone and Damon was nowhere to be seen.
"Figures," she muttered as squinted in the distance to see if she spotted anyone.
"Elena…funny meeting you here…and with your neck all bloody again. Do you make that a habit?" Klaus said approaching her from the woods.
Katherine paced the yard impatiently, waiting for Bonnie. There were 2 minutes left until her time was up, and Katherine wasn't planning on being too lenient if she waited even a minute more. But not even 30 seconds had passed until a car came driving up.
Looking flustered, Bonnie shut the car off and got out holding the book in her arms. She was glaring at Katherine the whole time.
"I half expected you to not show up," Katherine said, cocking her head to the side.
"I told you I would be back. Unlike you, I keep my promises," Bonnie said angrily.
"So did you find what you were looking for?" Katherine asked curiously, ignoring Bonnie's comment.
"It wasn't what I was expecting….the spells in here are really specific," Bonnie said slowly. "I think you should let me hold onto the book and look over the spell for tomorrow so that I don't mess it up. Two hours wasn't long enough to look."
"Are you saying you're incompetent or that you think the spell book itself is faulty," Katherine asked curiously.
"I'm saying that you can't expect me to rush into magic. If I do, everything could fall apart," Bonnie said testily. "I want to hold onto it."
"What happened with Caroline?" Katherine suddenly asked. "Don't act so surprised. I assumed you would look for something in there to help her. Did it help?"
"No," Bonnie answered honestly. "And Caroline, thanks to you, is a vampire."
"Ahh, but you see I gave her a choice. She would have died regardless. It's not my fault she transitioned…I love how you're trying to push your guilt of failed attempts on me. It's amusing,if not pathetic" Katherine said with a chuckle. "I know what's in that book, Bonnie Bennett, just as I know you would have attempted to reverse her transition."
"How did you know?" Bonnie whispered.
"Because you're predictable. You wanted the book after finding Caroline, and you got it. You had it for 2 hours which is more than enough time to find that spell. I'm just curious as to why it failed," Katherine said curiously.
"I don't know. Maybe the spell was wrong. Maybe they aren't real at all," Bonnie said stonily. "Maybe my ancestor knew it would go into the wrong hands and never recorded it right."
"Or maybe you're a liar," Katherine said with a smirk. "You lie to yourselfwhen the fault lies on your shoulder for failure…Long story short, Bonnie, I keep the book. You see it tomorrow."
"Why is it so important that you have it?" Bonnie asked curiously.
"Insurance," Katherine said impatiently, putting her hand out. "After you complete the spell tomorrow night you can keep the thing as I promised. Unless you don't want to do the spell. But oh wait, you know what happens if you break your oath?"
"I would love to hear what happens if she breaks her oath?" Damon said coming from nowhere.
I have some vampire diaries to catch up on hardcore. I've seen only the first and second episode, so I'm dying to know what happened while I was gone. Ahhh! Anyways, thanks again for sticking with. Enjoy and review. Title is by Dashboard Confessional. Cheers.