Many of you will be pissed that this is not an update of Adverse Effect, especially since you've been waiting forever for the next chapter. I'm pissed that this isn't an update of AE. I had absolutely no intention of writing this, but the idea possessed me this morning and I couldn't focus on anything else, so I did what I shouldn't have done and I wrote it. I hope you can forgive me. Lately I've become obsessed with this pairing - to the point where if I had to choose which I like more: Bamon or Baus (as I like to call them) it would actually be a difficult decision.
On a happy note, my life should be less busy soon so I should be getting time to work on AE again! I'll try to make the next chapter extra amazing to make up for the absurdly long wait. But for now, I hope you guys enjoy this. I had a lot of fun writing it.
Much Ado About a Cavity
The Original: the oldest, most powerful vampire hybrid in the history of time was driving her to the dentist's office. When had Bonnie's life become such a freak show?
Klaus drummed an impatient rhythm on the steering wheel as he waited for the light to change and Bonnie shifted on the passenger side of the little cabby of the truck. No matter how much she fidgeted she knew she would never get comfortable as long as she was in Klaus' presence, but she couldn't seem to sit still.
Pulling down on the seatbelt to stop it from cutting into her neck, Bonnie spoke, "You're going to want to make a right at the next light. There'll be a parking lot on your left. You can park there."
He gave a slight nod in affirmation and began to pull forward when a blue Volkswagen made an illegal right turn in front of him. He slammed on the brakes, his hand connecting with the horn with violent precision as Bonnie jerked forward.
"Bloody idiot! Where'd he learn how to drive?"
From the way Klaus was glaring after the car, she got the distinct impression he was memorizing the licence plate number for later, but she wisely chose not to comment. She'd deal with that hurdle when she came to it; for now, she had a dentist appointment to get to.
The cars behind them started to honk and Klaus' glare shifted from the Volkswagen to the rear-view mirror. "Oh, fuck you, buddy! You're lucky I don't come out there and rip your jugular."
It seemed everyone fell victim to road rage, all powerful supernatural beings included.
"Fifteen minutes." Bonnie reminded gently from the passenger seat. That was the amount of time they had until her appointment. He shot her a sharp look that said he was thinking of ripping out her jugular as well, but pressed on the gas without comment.
Bonnie had experienced a record number of surreal moments over the past year and a half: finding out she was a witch, being possessed by her however-many greats grandmother, being bitten by Damon, coming face to face with Katherine for the first time, Caroline becoming a vampire – the list went on. But walking into her dentist's office with the vampire hybrid from hell by her side took the surrealism cake.
What had lead to this moment?
It had all started with the awakening of Michael. Biggest. Mistake. Ever.
You would think a vampire running around killing other vampires would be a good thing, but there was a reason he had been locked away by witches. He had no remorse, no discretion. He killed anything he viewed as a possible threat, which encompassed pretty much anything supernatural. He didn't seem to grasp the concept of good and evil, only dead and deader.
The first thing he had done when he opened his eyes was kill Katherine. No hesitation – hand through the chest and out with the heart. That wasn't such a bad thing considering what a vindictive bitch Katherine was, but then he had gone after Jeremy. He stopped himself just short of snapping his neck, realizing Jeremy was nothing more than human. And with that he had disappeared into the night to pick up on a long cold trail left by Klaus decades ago.
They hadn't seen hide or tail of him since, but there were rumours. The supernatural world was in a tizzy. Vampires were turning up dead left and centre, and they weren't the only ones... witches were high on his list as well. Apparently he held a grudge.
As the days dragged on the tension in their little rag-tag group grew. It felt like Michael was breathing down their necks and it was sending them all on edge. In this case the enemy of their enemy was most definitely not their friend.
Then one day Bonnie had opened her front door to find Klaus and Rebekah standing on her porch.
"Hello, Bonnie. I was hoping you would be in." He greeted politely. His lips pulled up in that small smile that made him look like a charming school boy who wanted to do really naughty things to you.
She froze.
Lately, Bonnie had felt she was becoming a fairly brave person, but being around Klaus made her certain she wasn't – and that pissed her off. When she was around him she felt as scared as she had when she was being stalked by Damon and just discovering her powers. She had come so far since then; she wasn't that scared little girl anymore. So why did he make her feel like she was?
The amount of power that radiated off of him made her knees want to buckle. It took effort to meet his eyes, it took effort to find her voice and speak. She hated feeling this vulnerable. She had promised herself after the whole incident with Damon and Emily that she would never allow herself to feel this way again. Or at least never allow the other person to know.
She could stand with her head held high, her back ramrod straight and look Klaus dead in the eye, but she couldn't do anything about her pounding heart. She was very aware of the fact that both vampires could hear it racing. Regardless, she would go through the motions – if only to save her pride.
"What are you doing here?"
"I have a proposition for you." She lifted an eyebrow and he elaborated, "The enemy of my enemy..."
"Michael is not my enemy."
"Oh? Tell that to your cousin, Lucy. Or have you not heard?"
Bonnie felt her stomach drop. "Lucy?"
"I have her obituary if you'd like to read." Rebekah offered helpfully. Bonnie shook her head thoughtlessly, unable to process the information.
"Bekah, please." Klaus reprimanded.
"I'm bored." she explained flatly. "Is she going to invite us in or not?"
"Not." Bonnie managed to respond despite her split awareness.
"Go sit in the truck. You can listen to the radio." Klaus directed while holding out the keys to Rebekah.
"Oh joy." She pouted, but took the keys and trotted off.
"You'll have to forgive my sister." Klaus began, turning back to Bonnie. "She was born under the sign of the Bitch, so I'm afraid she can't help it."
"I heard that!" Rebekah's voice drifted from the driveway. He ignored it.
His eyes scanned her frame appreciatively and she shivered. "You have so much potential, Bonnie. I can feel it simmering away under your skin. Under the right tutelage you could be the most powerful witch since the Original. You and I together would be unstoppable – Michael wouldn't stand a chance."
His eyes glazed and he bounced slightly on the balls of his feet as he got lost in some imagined future.
Bonnie frowned, mind still reeling. "I see how you benefit, but how does this help me? Michael killing you was the point of waking him up, if you don't remember."
He focused on her again, gaze sharp while his expression remained vaguely amused. "And what do you suppose would happen if he succeeded? He'd go on his merry way and wish you all long lives and future happiness, tra-la-la-la-la. You're a witch – a Bennett witch, no less – you'd be the first to die; and then the Salvatore brothers, no doubt... Tyler, my little hybrid and of course, Caroline... and precious, little Elena."
With each name he had inched closer until he loomed over her, his power licking at her like the flames of a candle. That combined with the dread squeezing her heart as he listed off her friends was making her tremble and she struggled to not let him see the effect he was having.
"He wouldn't hurt Elena. She's human." she said, sounding much stronger than she felt.
His eyes lit up. "Ah, that's where you're wrong, love. She's a doppelganger and therefore very much not human. He'd kill her just to tie up loose ends and, of course, to ensure nothing of this sort ever occurs again."
Bonnie worried her bottom lip as Klaus continued to hover patiently – waiting. She had a big decision to make. Should she throw in with the devil she knew or the devil she didn't? Klaus did make a very strong argument. This guy was threatening everything she held dear, but then again, so was Klaus.
Her head was spinning; the warmth from him was overwhelming. He was standing much too close. She took deep breath to steady herself.
The only real factor swaying her was the simple fact that Klaus was scared. If the most powerful creature on the planet was afraid of this guy then her and her friends were well and truly fucked.
Sighing deeply, Bonnie could feel a weight settle on her shoulders. "What are you proposing?"
"You come with me, we get you the expedited training on proper magic use, we hunt done Michael before he can find us and then we kill him."
And then I kill you, Bonnie added silently, knowing from the smile on his face that he was thinking something along the same lines.
"If we do this, I have some rules."
His smile broadened in amusement but he inclined his head for her to continue.
"I won't do dark magic –" His sudden groan made her jump and her heart speed up again, just when it was slowing down.
"Do you honestly think you'll be able to kill him without learning any dark magic?"
"I'll find a way." She insisted.
He rolled his eyes, clearly unconvinced. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."
He hadn't agreed but it was as close as she would probably get to an agreement on that subject so she didn't argue. Like he said, they would cross that bridge when they came to it. So she continued.
"You cannot, under any circumstances, use compulsion on me."
His lips turned down and his brow furrowed. "You're no fun at all."
He paused a moment, thinking it over, then shrugged. "Very well. Anything else, your Highness?" She shot him a look and he added, "Well you're being so very demanding."
That's rich, coming from you, she caught herself just before saying. If it had been anyone else, she wouldn't have hesitated. Instead she tried for confident nonchalance. "No, that's it. But I reserve the right to add rules at a moment's notice."
He smirked. "And I reserve the right to veto them."
There was a long pause in which they sized each other up or, more honestly, Klaus studied her and Bonnie tried not to squirm. When finally she felt she might explode Klaus averted his gaze to the door beyond her right shoulder.
"Say goodbye to your friends. We leave first thing tomorrow morning." Without hesitating he turned and started his way toward the truck.
Oh. "I can't." She managed to call after him, feeling herself flush with embarrassment even before the words left her mouth. "I have a dentist appointment."
He swung around to face her, confusion written plainly across his features. "What?"
"A dentist appoint –"
"Cancel it." His face scrunched up as if surprised he had to even speak the words.
"I'd rather not." The words slipped out before she could stop them and her pulse spiked as she waited for him to snap. His eyes narrowed and his lips thinned in irritation but he said nothing, so she continued, "It's just that, it's less than twenty-four hours notice so I'd have to pay a fine and honestly, I've had this cavity for a while now and it's starting to hurt like a bitch. I want this filling."
"You're putting a cavity above the survival of you and your loved ones."
Was he trying to guilt her into giving up her appointment? She studied him, titling her head. "Do vampires get cavities?"
"No." He seemed disgusted by the very notion.
"Then you wouldn't understand!" She snapped irritably, surprising both of them.
"Fine," he growled, "I'll take you to your stupid appointment. Rebekah!"
"I can take myself. I have my own car." Why she felt the need to prove this by taking out her keys to show him was beyond her.
"Rebekah!" He called again, turning as she appeared on the porch beside them. "Bonnie and I will have to make a small detour before setting out tomorrow. You can go on ahead of us."
He snatched Bonnie's keys out of her hand and had them in Rebekah's before Bonnie could blink. Rebekah grinned widely and spun to look at the Prius. "This should be fun. I haven't driven in decades."
Bonnie's stomach flipped. "Why can't I drive myself?"
Klaus spoke as if she were an exceptionally slow child, "Because I don't trust you. When's your appointment?"
"Eight."
She had scheduled it so that she wouldn't miss any of school. Oh God, school. And her dad! What was she going to tell them?
"Be ready for 7:30 – and when I say ready, I mean packed. We're leaving Mystic Falls right after the dentist."
He said the last word with such disdain that Bonnie felt the corner of her lips curl up despite herself. It felt like a small victory.