It started innocently enough. Well, as innocent as anything you can associate with Damon Salvatore.
He would find himself in the woods, not really caring where the urge to go tramping around the forest in the afternoon came from. He would sense her power first before anything else. A quiet surge that belied the untapped strength underneath. Then he'd get a whiff of cinnamon that felt like a very worn security blanket you'd never let go.
It was a curious feeling, foreign. It was akin to how he felt around Elena, yet still so different. With Elena, the rise of passion and want bloomed in the chest and tingled just at the surface of his skin. With Bonnie, it was a calming storm that filled his being with curiosity, amusement, and surprising need. It coursed deep in him, spreading through him.
Damon frowned when he heard crackling and thumping sounds in succession. He vamp sped to the source and came to an abrupt halt at seeing Bonnie throwing branches against a tree. That sounded dull if it wasn't quite awesome to watch. She would raise her hand and curl it as she summoned a branch from a random tree. She'd twist her hand and the branch would turn as directed, then she would flick her delicate fingers towards a big tree that served as her target. The branch would shoot straight at the bark, sticking out against it in three separate pieces.
He watched her do it a couple more times before he made his presence known.
"Oh that poor, poor tr -"
One stick went flying past, over her shoulder, and shot through his right one. He staggered back against the impact and fell flat on his ass.
"What the hell, Bonnie!" he shouted as he tried to get up. Then his body pitched forward and his hand shot out to keep his face from hitting the floor as the makeshift stake was pulled from his body. "Shit."
"Serves you right for sneaking up on me."
By the time Damon was upright, Bonnie was walking back towards the tree. He watched her inspect the stakes, testing how deep they went through the bark. It was pretty deep. Impressive.
"Watcha doing witch?"
Bonnie exhaled, annoyed. "What do you think I'm doing, Damon?" It's not like he hasn't barged in her practice sessions.
Damon grinned then suddenly barreled towards her. Bonnie didn't waste a second and had her right hand up which resulted to the vampire crashing against a barrier. He boomeranged back and split a small boulder when he crashed on it.
The witch was getting better with her reflexes. He grunted as he straightened and watched the tiny woman walk casually away, not even sparing him another glance. Naturally, he followed.
'Ugh.' Bonnie felt a breeze behind her then heard boots crunching over ankle high grass beside her and knew Damon was now matching her pace. She should be used to it by now, him popping up everywhere. She should feel familiar at least with this weird...thing (she really didn't know how else to describe it) since he's been following her around for the past month now. It was disconcerting to say the least as she really didn't know what Damon was up to. Where was dear old Elena who could bat her doe eyes to help distract him? Because she wasn't really enjoying these 'encounters.' She was pretty sure the arrogant prick was up to something that would result to her risking her life for Elena or something to his benefit alone. Right now she's not in the mood since Mystic Falls has been relatively supernatural drama-free at the moment.
She was glad that it took a while before Damon showed up. He would usually discover her right in the middle or near the beginning of her 'practice sessions.' She didn't know how he somehow finds her and she really didn't care to know. She'd rather stay ignorant than learn how she's going to be the means to his Elena end. She reveled in the fact that there was no need for her to tolerate his presence for an extended period so she continued to ignore him.
Unfortunately, the vampire walked with self-assuredness and nonchalance, already used to Bonnie's indifferent facade. He's been around her enough that he's figured out the little nuances and moods of the resident witch. Bonnie Bennett was not in a playing mood today which was absolutely fine. He's always up for the challenge anyway.
The sigh of relief when Bonnie got into her car stopped mid-exhale when she heard the passenger door close. Sure enough, Damon was already seated beside her, looking far too comfortable in her snug Prius.
It took everything in her not to growl in annoyance. "What do you want, Damon?" she asked, leaving the doors unlocked. She didn't want any hindrances when she kicks him out of her car.
"A ride." he answered, wagging his eyes. The winning smile he topped it off would've charmed any other girl in the planet and that lucky girl would've driven him to the nearest available bed. Bonnie, of course, has always been the exception. For a second, she imagined driving her car to a ditch while she dove out of the window and rolled away to safety. The fantasy was shattered when she remembered that the idiot was a vampire and he would've gotten out before her. Most likely, he would've secured her seatbelt on before he left the car. She stopped her mini-nightmare before the broken windshield hit her face.
The teenage witch braced for the oncoming headache and it was difficult to Zen this out when the one that kept triggering insanity was an arm's length away.
"Damon, you don't need a ride. You can go to anywhere in Mystic falls faster than my car."
"Sure. But it won't be as fun as judging your girlie car and annoying you."
Bonnie felt like she was the yarn and he was the starving, blood-sucking, stray kitten. "I'm not here for your amusement, asshole."
"But I'm so ridiculously amused anyway."
He leaned forward and Bonnie leaned back, keeping what distance can be achieved in the confines of her car. Damon smirked at the look of utter disdain on her face. Call him a masochist but he loved the immediate reaction he had on her. Her muddy green eyes glittering with hate, her cupid's bow turned down in disgust, and the magic that was simmering just under her skin, ready to put him in his place. He never felt so important.
Bonnie had a frown so severe, Damon had the sudden urge to kiss it away like a parent would to a child. As soon as that thought crossed over, he reacted and immediately thought of something worse.
"What the hell are you doing?" Bonnie asked, her eyes narrowed. Then they widened when Damon lowered his eyes to her mouth.
It was such a rush, feeling the frame of the car door graze painfully against his sides as he went through it and flying through the air. He groaned at the impact after he plowed into a tree with such force that he heard it crack against his spine. He chuckled as he tried to regroup, his brain barely registering a car door slam shut and the squeal of tires scrambling to get away from him. He didn't really care. He loved the chase.
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She was making fireflies.
That sounded utterly ridiculous. Yet to Bonnie's mind, it was just so astoundingly fantastical, she would stick to that phrasing if anyone asked. She was on a bench in her backyard facing the forest, creating fingertip balls of fire light. She would point her finger to a space in the air and leave small touches of light around her. She didn't know if this was of any use for a witch but she wanted to try it when she came across the spell in her grimoire. It may just be some parlor trick but the illusion made her tingle nonetheless.
It was simple. It was cool. It was magic.
There may not be a point, only that it can be done. That she can.
At present, there were about ten tiny fireballs in front of her, like subdued roman candles floating in mid-air. Bonnie cocked her head and then waved her hand in between the lights, weaving around them, making them move like paper boats on still water.
"You're going to be a 'great' magician."
The fireflies dropped like someone sprayed them with insecticide. The condescending voice that came out of nowhere certainly grated her like someone sprayed her with one intentionally. Up her nose.
She wanted to heave a heavy sigh but she knew that would still be reason enough for Damon to think that he affected her. She's internally debating between telling him to get the fuck off her property or just get herself inside the house before she resorted to pyrotechnics.
Unfortunately, Damon decided for her when he parked his vampire ass right beside her, plopping unceremoniously like he belonged there. In reflex, Bonnie flicked her wrist and Damon's body slid a foot farther away. Bonnie gritted her teeth when he just looked her in the eye and grinned.
"How are parlor tricks going to help you?" Damon was like a dog with a human bone. He turned his body towards her and unfolded his right leg behind her back, casually trapping her between his limbs. She was glad that they were in her backyard where no one could witness it because she knew their position would look quite intimate from across the street. It made Bonnie cringe.
"How do you know it's a useless spell?" she asked back.
"What? You're going to dazzle your enemies to death?" He punctuated the question with jazz hands.
"Were you dazzled?"
With Damon popping up unexpectedly almost every other day, Bonnie has gotten familiar with his mannerisms - his cocky attitude, his vanity, his delight in miserable company. So Bonnie watched curiously when his expression hardened at her question and she didn't know why. She may have hit on something and she wanted to know what it was. Anything she can exploit and give her the upper hand against the jerk.
"I'm not your enemy."
And an elegant eyebrow went high up as green eyes bored into ice blue ones. Well, she wasn't expecting that.
"Just because you don't like me doesn't make me your enemy." he added, his expression not changing.
"Way to use an understatement, vampire. Feel free to use loathe, hate, despise anytime."
"I prefer fond, adore, care..."
"When did we segue to your feelings for Elena?" That earned her a glare and she gave herself a pat on the back.
"Something you also feel for her."
Bonnie tried not to roll her eyes. If they were going to digress to confirming their undying love and loyalty to Elena, she seriously had a lot more interesting things to do with her time. Like making fireflies.
"Obviously, since she's my best friend."
"So it's not unusual among friends."
The witch gave an unladylike snort. "Sure. Because friends hit on their brother's girl all the time."
"Jealous?" And the leer that appeared on the handsome vampire was no less creepy than on the average dirty old human.
"Right. Because I would be attracted to an almost 200 year old asshole, trying too hard to best his brother."
"Don't compare me to my brother." Bonnie flinched at how loud the bitter words came out of his mouth. He may have accompanied it with a hard slap against the steps they sat on but his booming voice and angry expression was enough to have an impact.
If she were the same person before her grandmother died, she probably would've cowered. But that girl grew up way too fast, immediately lost her rose-colored glasses, had to single-handedly figure out her magic, and practically take care of herself. And the first thing she learned to do is refusing to be swayed by a bully.
"I won't once you don't." she said evenly, staring Damon straight in his cold, blue eyes.
She wanted to say more, rub it further in, and pour rock salt on his now visible wound. How she would relish on picking on his ugly scab, let the pus form, and let the arrogant vampire suffer through the infection. The words were right at the tip of her tongue when her conscience made a sudden unwanted appearance. Understanding seeped through the cracks of petty one-upmanship. Losing momentum, she looked away.
She hated her innate sense of moral compass.
"You can't realize your self-worth if it's dependent on what you think people see in Stefan."
Damon watched her closely and found the shift intriguing. It was no less fascinating to see the bite of the words that he expected to hear be swallowed by her sense of right. The same measure she adheres to which is most likely keeping her from maiming him whenever he made himself known to her.
He didn't understand why she would even care enough to share such wisdom. It was intriguing that she even bothered to say meaningful things to him. As far as she's concerned, Damon was the bane of her existence.
His eyes grew darker, his view adjusting at her slight profile. Fine hair prickled at the magic that surrounded them, ready to be summoned by the novice witch. The feeling was electric and Damon won't be Damon if he didn't poke and prod it for a reaction.
"Is that what you tell yourself to feel better? Try not to compare yourself with Elena or Caroline?"
Bonnie stiffened. She loved her friends but she was a teenager who had the same insecurities as the next girl.
"Always the friend, never the girlfriend?" Damon knew he was deflecting but he didn't care. There was a spike in the air and he loved any type of reaction from her.
"You're a dick." she said, moving to stand. She berated herself for allowing just enough time for him to get to her. And he always did. It irritated her to no end knowing that this was probably the point of it all, of him bothering her.
Damon was up in an instant, blocking her way. "What? You can't take what you dish out?"
She didn't step back, not giving in while the taller vampire towered over her. "It was unsolicited advice. I wasn't being intentionally being mean." she stressed, her finger poking his chest. "Unlike you, I don't get much satisfaction bickering with you."
"Oh I don't know. You seem to take pleasure in putting me in my place." Damon grabbed her finger and held firm when Bonnie tried to free it. "Maybe.." his larger hand moved from one finger to envelope her entire fist. "...I can gratify you some other way." He had the audacity to smirk at that.
For a millisecond, he felt the thick rise of magic around them, knowing something was about to happen, just before he howled in pain and released his grip from her. His palm sizzled in burning pain and he cursed in three different languages. Bonnie moved swiftly to the safety of her house but turned to him before closing her door.
"Like I would let that to ever happen. Unlike the girls you're used to, I have standards. Homicidal bullies with sibling insecurities don't make the cut."
By the time Damon's hand healed, he was left with one thought in mind.
Challenge accepted.
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I'm sorry, I know. I shouldn't be starting a new fic when I haven't finished the other. This has been on my head about the same time Not Elena was conceived so I just needed to get this off my chest. Like it, love it, or hate it, I'll probably continue this anyway.
