AN: You guys are amazing! Those positive reactions really made me upload faster :) Thank you so much! I hope you like this one :)
Disclaimer: I don't own The Vampire Diaries, LJ Smith does.
Bonnie POV
Bonnie wandered around the house, looking for something to do. It was summer break, and it was the first time her parents went on vacation without her. Her sister had moved out a month ago, so she was used to being home alone by now, but right now she was bored. She'd watched TV, called Elena and Meredith who were both on vacation – staying home without her parents had sounded great until she heard that her best friends would be gone, too –, tidied up her room and practised some witchcraft. She was getting better at it and she was proud of herself. She'd just plopped down on the coach when she heard something. She held still for a minute, trying to find out where it came from. She heard it again, a quiet knocking, and this time it was clear that it came from the kitchen. There was a backdoor in the kitchen, friends and family always used it instead of the front door.
Bonnie tried to think of someone who would stop by this late, and then knock on the backdoor instead of just entering. She entered the kitchen curiously, trying to see through the glass window of the door. All she saw was darkness. Night had fallen and the bright light shining in the kitchen made it impossible to see who was outside. She opened the door a little bit, she'd never been very brave, and squinted into the night.
"Hello?" She couldn't see anyone, though she would've sworn she'd heard knocking on the backdoor. She was startled to hear someone groan, low to the ground. She opened the door further, lighting up the backyard. She looked and saw someone sprawled across the terrace, hands reaching out to knock on the door. The figure reached up his head and looked at her.
"Help me." He whispered.
"Damon!" Bonnie exclaimed, and she knelt down in front of him, taking his hands. "What happened?"
He didn't answer and rested his cheek on the floor, closing his eyes. She squeezed his hand but got no reaction. Then she noticed something glistening at the base of his neck. She lifted the collar of his shirt and saw blood smeared out across his skin. She jerked her hand back. When she took a closer look, she noticed that his shirt was soaked and ripped open in gashes. She refused to think about how that happened and what his back looked like underneath that shirt. Her eyebrows pulled together in confusion. Why did this bother him? He was a vampire, he should've been able to walk around no matter how hurt he was. He should have healed while he made his way to her house. She remembered seeing Stefan like this, but that was because he fed on animals. She decided to find out what happened later, and to get him inside first.
It was harder then she expected, she was too small. Pulling at his arms didn't move him an inch further into the house. She shook his arm, trying to make him listen.
"Damon, Come on! Work with me, I can't do this by myself!"
He seemed to have heard her, because he mumbled something and then dragged himself over the terrace, into the house. Bonnie wondered about where he could stay. Upstairs was not an option, since it had been very hard to just get him inside. She decided to spread out an old quilt in the living room, there was enough space behind the couch because her sister's desk used to stand there. After a lot of pulling, yelling and shoving, she managed to get him on the quilt. She could see that he was exhausted, and it worried her. When he realized there would be no more yelling and pulling, he closed his eyes again and lost consciousness.
Bonnie sat down next to him and sighed. She had no idea about what to do with him and at least a thousand questions. She pushed her hair behind her ears and turned to look at him. His clothes were dirty and dried blood stuck to the cuts in his shirt. She reached out and lifted it a little, so she could see what was underneath. She bit her lip, it wasn't pretty. Long cuts ran across his back in every direction, mostly three or four of them next to each other. Someone scratched him, Bonnie thought, her fingers following one of the patterns. There were other cuts, too, and she could see at least three bites that had torn open his skin. She looked away and tried to collect her thoughts. What did she know? First, Damon had been attacked. Second, he wasn't healing like he should. Third, he'd come to her for help. Fourth, she had no idea about how to do that.
She might not know exactly how to help him, she could at least try. So she looked him over again and decided to wash his back. She didn't know much about healing people, but she did know that wounds should always be cleansed. She ran upstairs and got a washcloth and a soft towel. Then she filled a bowl with tepid water and placed it next to Damon on the quilt. She worried about how to take his shirt off, but then got scissors and just cut it off him, it was already ruined anyway. She soaked the washcloth and carefully wiped his back clean. He stirred when she touched a cut or bite, but didn't wake up. When he was reasonably clean, she dabbed him dry with the towel. Bonnie was still worried, the sight had only changed from terrible to awful, and she wondered about his chest. She tried to lift his side up and managed to see his stomach. There were a lot of small cuts, not at all as bad as the ones on his back, and only one that looked deep, so she decided to leave those for later, when he could turn around himself.
Bonnie found herself staring at Damon and quickly looked away, though there was no one around to see her. There wasn't anything she could do now, so she settled down next to him with her spell book. Maybe something had disturbed his healing powers or maybe there would be something in it about healing in general. She glanced at him every now and then, worry flooded her every time she saw him grimace or frown and that confused her. When had she begun to care so much about Damon?
Dyllis POV
Dyllis could hold herself together until she reached the edge of the clearing. Then she screamed and sank down against a tree. Her fists hit the ground furiously and she bit back tears.
She hated him!
Sitting down had smudged her dress with brown streaks. The dress she'd put on for him! She looked down at the thin, silvery dress and wanted to rip it apart. In the moonlight, it was the exact same colour as her hair. He hadn't even noticed.
She closed her fist around the black pendant hanging around her neck and squeezed. She hadn't taken it of for over a hundred years. It was the only thing that had made it possible for her to live until now, she wouldn't last long without it. Damon had been surprised to see her alive, she could tell. He hadn't thought it was possible for a witch to live for over two centuries.
And she'd done it for him. Everything she'd ever done had been for him. Finding a way to stay young so she could find him, taking Power from others so he wouldn't laugh at her weakness, finding Dana to get him in a threatening situation… That last one was the only thing that hadn't gone as planned. She'd looked for Dana, knowing that Damon had destroyed her life, and Dana had been enthusiastic about Dyllis' plan immediately. They'd been preparing for years, they knew that Damon wasn't easy to take down. But then the spell Dyllis found changed everything. Dana was delighted: she wouldn't have to fight him. If she could stab him with the dagger Dyllis had cast a spell on, he wouldn't heal. She would be able to hurt him without getting hurt herself.
But Dyllis had her own little agenda. She would let Dana hurt him, and she wouldn't do anything herself. He wouldn't ask for help at first, he was too proud to do that. But she knew how much Dana hated him, and he wouldn't heal, so after a while, he had to ask her for help. Didn't he? He would beg for his life. And she would save him, and he would see that she wasn't the frail little girl she used to be. The girl he hurt and laughed at.
But in the clearing, something had gone wrong. He was still laughing at her, even though he could see that she was powerful. She wouldn't have any of that! She would show him! He liked strong women didn't he? She'd shocked him. Only a little, and he'd been surprised. She'd been glad, everything was going as it should. But then Dana kept hurting him, and he kept ignoring her. She stood there the entire time, she saw him become weaker and close his eyes. He became so weak that she could read his mind, and he thought he was going to die. He thought they would kill him, and he still didn't ask for help. Was he that proud? Did he rather die than ask for someone's help? She became mad at him, wasn't it obvious that she wanted to help him? She hadn't touched him, the small shock couldn't have hurt, she'd even warned him to keep still when he struggled! She'd spoken to him with her mind! Didn't he know that she would just speak out loud if she wanted to say something?
It had driven her mad with frustration, and she wasn't sure why she did what she did next. He was trying to escape, but he wouldn't have gotten far. She took all his Power from him, turning his muscles into jelly. She didn't really regret it –she had reason enough to be mad at him –but it didn't make her feel good either. She hadn't been able to stand it any longer, so she'd told him what was on her mind and left.
Dyllis's head was hurting, all of her thoughts bounced against the insides of her skull and she wanted to just shut it off. But she couldn't. She was mad and in love and devastated and everything at once. She hated Damon, she really did. But didn't people say that there was a thin line between love and hate? She crossed it every minute. Right now she couldn't think about how much she wanted him to be miserable, she needed to see what he was going to do. He wouldn't die, of course not, but he wouldn't be comfortable for a long time if he stayed in the woods. Did he have a house around here somewhere? Maybe she could help him, maybe he would ask for her help if he was weakened and hurt. She followed the trace of blood and Power he left, and tried to make out what she felt about him. She'd been thinking about that ever since he left her all that time ago, and she hadn't been able to find the answer.
She caught up with him when he dragged himself over someone's backyard, heading for the backdoor on the terrace. She stayed hidden behind the trees and watched.
A girl opened the door. Dyllis felt as if someone stabbed her in her stomach. The girl was small and looked around 17 years old. Just like she had been when Damon found her. She knew what would happen. The girl would fall in love with Damon, he would be sweet and caring, she would trust him completely, and he would use her. Dyllis swallowed.
Anger flared up again when she heard him whisper Help me –the Power she'd taken from him was strengthening her senses. He would ask that girl, practically beg her to help him, while she had been in the clearing the whole time, ready to do whatever he asked. But he never asked. He'd ignored her and that hurt more than anything.
Now she would focus on the girl. She heard him call her Bonnie, annoyed because she kept pulling at him to get him to the living room. The curtains hung a few inches apart, and she could see Bonnie run through the house, looking for ways to help Damon. She wanted to be in Bonnie's place. But Bonnie was in her place, being played with and being used. Damon would use her as his own blood bank, not caring about how much he took and laughing when she became pale and weak. Bonnie took care of Damon for a while and then settled down next to him, Dyllis could only see her knee and shoulder. She got bored of watching and settled against a tree. She didn't really have a place to go, so why not stick around a bit and see what happened next?
AN: Thanks so much for reading Chapter two! Did you like it? Tell me what you think about Dyllis, I never invented a character before, so how did I do? Damon will wake up next Chapter, so please stick around :).
Reviews make my day!
