A/N: Hi Everyone. I must say WOW and THANK YOU to the responses this story generated! I really wasn't expecting that when I uploaded. So because of your demand for more I've mapped out an outline so expect weekly updates for this fic. Thank you so much guys for the support. Now here is the continuation from Chapter 1.
Disclaimer: These characters belong to LJ Smith and The CW. No copyright infringement is intended.
Bonnie sat perched on the hood of her car. Her head played ping pong as she looked between each Damon unknowingly cataloging them. Physically they were twins, symmetrical, identical. However the notable difference between them came down to eye color.
She couldn't help it. She was two steps away from hysteria and it bubbled up and manifested into giggles. Unfathomable, uncanny, unfuckingbelievable there were two Damon Salvatore's who walked the earth.
The Damon she knew glared at her. "What the hell is so funny, Judgey?"
"Oh, nothing," Bonnie cackled and wiped a faux tear away. "I just knew I shouldn't have eaten that mushroom pizza last night. This is all some weird hallucination, I know it is."
"I'm sorry to disappoint, maiden, and I wish it were true, but this is very much real. And not a laughing matter—period," dark-eyed Damon spoke through clenched teeth.
Bonnie forced herself to look at him. "How did you get here?"
Dark-eyed Damon folded his arms over his chest, a look of reflection on his face as he tried to remember what exactly happened. He remembered being buried under a ton of ash. Prior to that, he recalled with hauntingly acute clarity being lanced through the heart by a tree branch that began to oscillate throughout his entire body. How he survived was a mystery he had every intention on figuring out. His first priority, however, had been trudging through thick mud and goo. When he made it to a door, he spoke the name of the place where he wanted to be.
Something obviously didn't go right. Maybe he said the wrong name. Maybe the guardians dumped him here—wherever here was—on purpose. Damon didn't know.
"I don't know how I came to be here," he looked more fascinated rather than perplexed.
"All right so where were you before?" the other Damon inquired acidly.
The two Damon's faced each other. Damon—the one with the light eyes—didn't like anyone infringing on his territory even if the person doing the infringing was him. He wasn't sure if the imposter standing adjacent to him was his doppelganger or he was his—didn't matter. He wanted him gone, IMMEDIATELY.
"I was in a city called Fell's Church, Virginia," Damon responded. "Is this that place?"
"No," Bonnie answered. "You're in Virginia but the town is Mystic Falls. Does that sound familiar at all?"
He shook his head and approached her. Bonnie tensed. His eyes were just so black it was unbelievable.
"And your name is Bonnie Bennett?" his Italian accent made it seemed he had requested an intimate detail from her she hadn't told anyone else.
Bonnie lost her tongue for a second and could do nothing more than nod her head.
"I know a Bonnie, but she has red hair and dark brown eyes and her last name is McCullough. She's friends with a girl named Elena Gilbert."
The other Damon snorted derisively. "Of course she is," he muttered under his breath.
Bonnie and Dark-Eyed Damon ignored him. "She's also friends with a girl named Meredith Sulez, and on occasion she's close with Caroline Forbes."
"I'm friends with Elena and Caroline, but no Meredith."
"Hmm," Damon contemplated. "Very interesting."
Impatient Damon Salvatore approached. "This is all well and good but it doesn't explain how you got here and how to send you back. So can we stay on task, please?"
"Why are you in such a rush to get rid of me? Intimidated?" the darker Salvatore flashed his canines.
Damon snorted. "Hell no," he looked his "twin" up and down with disdain. "You don't belong here."
"I'll agree with you on that," dark-eyes turned back to Bonnie. She squirmed a bit under his scrutiny. "However I think I can find a reason to stay."
Bonnie took that as her cue to hop off her car. "Well we can't stay here in the middle of the road trying to talk this out. We should take this to the boardinghouse. If he's here for some reason, the others will need to know. We can't have you walking around with people thinking you're," she pointed at light-eyes, "him."
Light-eyes adopted a smug visage, "He could never be me."
"Whatever, Damon. I'll meet you there," Bonnie muttered.
She didn't get far when the newcomer grabbed her gently by the elbow. "Are you sure you're fit to drive? You have a gash on your head, remember?"
Bonnie looked up as if she could see what he was talking about. Honestly the pain of her wound disappeared long ago. Besides, she had been more banged up in the past.
"I'll be fine." No more words were said. She climbed into her car and sped away.
It would be interesting to see how long it would take for the two Damon's to decide who would drive.
Half an hour later, Bonnie was sitting in the Salvatore living room, gaze frolicking between the vaulted ceilings and the designs in the Persian rug waiting for everyone to arrive. Stefan wasn't home when she got there which was unfortunate. It would have been nice to have his calm rationalism around so she wouldn't do something rash like you know, kill two birds with one stone by burning the boardinghouse to the ground. Needless to say she was stuck with the two Damon's again.
No one said a word to each other.
The front door swung open and Bonnie finally released the breath she had been holding.
"Now what's so important that you had me end my date with El-," Stefan skidded to a stop.
The younger Salvatore saw one Damon sitting on a leather couch, while another stood in front of the fireplace. He brought his quizzical brow to Bonnie clearly awaiting an explanation, but all she could do was shrug her shoulders.
"What the hell is going on?" Stefan questioned heatedly.
Damon, with the cerulean irises who was standing in front of the fireplace, held out a hand blindly in the direction of the Damon perched on the sofa with his legs crossed.
"Stefan meet Damon," he shook his head at the irony.
"Sweet Jesus in Heaven there's two of you?" Stefan lamented as he tentatively entered the living room and crossed over to stand next to Bonnie.
"Apparently so," dark-eyed Damon replied. He assessed Stefan. "Well you look nothing like my little brother so that's a relief," he chuckled darkly.
Stefan shook his head and looked at Bonnie. His mouth opened and closed several times but nothing could come out yet Bonnie knew exactly what he wanted to ask.
"No, I don't know how this happened and neither does he," she informed.
The door opened once more. In walked Caroline Forbes. "All right I'm here, where's the fire?" her eyes ballooned when she saw both Damon's.
"Whoa, freaky. Okay I need a drink," she rambled and made a beeline for the Salvatore liquor.
"Are you Elena?" Damon asked Caroline.
Caroline nearly swallowed her sip of vodka down the wrong pipe. She coughed to clear her throat.
"No, I'm the extraordinary Caroline Forbes. And this is weird."
"You have no idea," the Damon she slept with so many moons ago agreed.
Caroline sidled up to Bonnie and began to whisper fiercely. "Where did you find him?"
"He was standing in the middle of the road."
Caroline went for humor to ease some of the tension quickly filling the room. "Is he from another planet?"
"Try another dimension," dark-eyed Damon interceded.
Both girls merely blinked at him.
Again, the front door opened and the last members of their secret squad entered the premises. Elena, Jeremy, and Alaric nearly ran into the back of each other when they saw the reason why they had been summoned.
Several people began speaking simultaneously and it was nothing more than a jumble of noise in Bonnie's head. She slid off the desk she had been sitting on and joined Caroline at the bar. She wasn't really into drinking but for this conversation she'd need a couple of stiff ones in her to keep her brain functioning. Drinking was probably the last thing she should do, but she wanted something else to occupy her thoughts.
She did listen when Alaric asked Midnight-Eyed Damon how he came to be here.
"In my dimension one can travel between worlds with the use of a specially made key or from the power contained in a star ball. They're very rare indeed," he paused for a moment as his mind flashed to dying while looking for the largest star ball that could be used to save Fell's Church. It was not a pleasant memory. One that made him feel hollow on the inside like a very important piece of him was missing.
Damon had never been mortally afraid of anything in his life, but knowing he was going to die, experiencing death for the second—or third time—and knowing it would be final, he had never been more terrified.
Several people in the room wondered why he stopped speaking abruptly.
Damon resumed his conversation after it became glaringly silent in the room. "All I need do is find another key or star ball and I'll be able to return to my time. No harm no foul. However, I do find all of this peculiar. The similarities between this dimension and the one I'm from," he rose from the table and made his way over to Elena.
Here it comes, Bonnie thought and wondered how long it would take alien-Damon to fall under Elena's spell. Bonnie so wasn't in the mood for this crap. She had better things to do like finish that bag of cheese curls that was waiting for her on the kitchen table at her house.
The doppelganger straightened her spine, refusing to be intimidated. Regrettably she was since this was taking her back to her early days in being around light-eyed Damon Salvatore who didn't understand the meaning of personal space, and not staring at someone like he wanted to eat them. At the time she hadn't known the reason for it had everything to do with him being a vampire.
"The Elena of my world," dark-eyed Damon was saying, "she's light where you're dark and one of the most powerful beings I've ever encountered. Yet you are an agreeable alternative," he stepped back and turned almost like a military soldier leaving a semi-flustered Elena behind.
Stefan didn't like it and neither did his brother.
Dark-eyes began a confident gait over to Bonnie. His voice lowered when he confessed, "I have a personal preference for girls with green eyes," he winked at her and picked up a glass and filled it with brandy.
Bonnie dropped her glass back to the table and strode away.
"So, what's the game plan?" Elena opened up the floor for discussion, not wanting to dwell on the other Damon's comment to Bonnie. "Is he going to stay here with you guys?"
Blue-eyed Damon scoffed. "I don't trust him anywhere near me. He might try to kill me in my sleep and take over my life or make me into a pod person."
Dark-eyed Damon grimaced. "I assure you after living for over five-hundred years, your life would be the last life I'd ever want to live."
The room fell silent.
Bonnie blinked. "You're over five-hundred years old?"
Damon swung his head in her direction. "And counting," his grin was nothing short of wolfish.
"Wow," Bonnie breathed.
Damon smirked approvingly. "Wow indeed."
"So are you really from Italy?" Bonnie continued her inquisition.
He inclined his head. "Sixteenth century Florence to be exact. In my realm, I guess you can argue I usually go there twice a year. Once for Carnival and the other for All Soul's Day."
Bonnie felt like she was being swept up into a trance. She loved history. It was one of her favorite subjects until she had that horrid Mr. Tanner, but he was gone now and her love for past civilizations and ancient cultures returned. The Damon standing before her was a well of information and she was thirsty for a drink.
"The things you must have seen and lived through," Bonnie was awe-struck.
Light-eyed Damon snapped his fingers, rupturing the spell. "We have more important things to discuss than what his old ass has seen. He's not staying here. He can go sleep in the ground for all I care. Alaric and I will figure out a way to send him packing, and in the mean time, someone is going to have to baby sit him."
Damon, the one who had been talking, hadn't expected to find his back making a dent in the wall while his double wrapped a meaty hand around his neck, squeezing it for dear life. It was a good thing he didn't need oxygen to survive or otherwise this would be extremely uncomfortable, but it still hurt.
Dark-eyes bored into surprised celestial orbs. The aggressor of the two added just a tenth more pressure before saying, "I've put up with your insolence long enough, boy, I can dispatch you at any time I like. Remember that."
Stefan easily strolled up behind the other Damon ready to intervene on his brother's behalf, but it gave him a little thrill to see someone else manhandle and bring his brother down a peg or two.
Bonnie merely observed and it wasn't until Caroline elbowed her that she realized she had been smiling.
Damon released Damon. "No one will decide what I do with my time except for me," his voice boomed with authority as he pointedly made eye contact with everyone in the room. "I am not a child who needs supervision or to be chastised. I am your elder in every sense of the word, and I don't follow rules or order, but my own. Is that at all unclear?"
Caroline gulped. "No, sir."
Mystic Falls Damon thought to himself, I was just punked by myself in my home, this is ridiculous.
It was quiet for a moment before Alaric resumed the conversation. "We're going to have to figure out a story to tell people because you don't strike me as the homebody type and you'll want to go out."
Fell's Church Damon ran his hand over his black t-shirt. "I'll just say I'm a distant cousin from Italy. Will that work for you? Great, now I'm famished."
Elena spoke up. "I can go get you a blood bag from downstairs."
Dark-eyed Damon balked. You would have thought she just told him to go lick a toilet seat. "That won't be necessary. I can my find my own dinner." And he promptly made his way toward the exit.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Damon stopped his forward progress to the front door and turned around to face Bonnie. "Out," he replied simply.
"To hunt a human? I'm sorry but I can't let you do that. There's a strict no feeding on humans policy around this place."
Damon stared at her blankly before laughing. "You're serious? What am I supposed to eat, road kill? I think not."
"There're plenty of blood bags downstairs. Help yourself. I'm sure Damon and Stefan won't mind."
Light-eyed Damon merely looked ready to spit nails. He had always considered himself one-of-a-kind, an original of sorts when it came to vampirism. Yet to discover there was another version of him and one that was older with a slightly better haircut and manners, why kick a man when he's already down?
And he did discern the way each female responded to his double. Caroline was curious like she wanted to poke him with a finger just to make sure he's real. Elena was cautious yet he could tell she had a bunch of questions she wanted to ask him but mainly about the other Elena. And Bonnie…
He smirked sardonically. Bonnie was two feet away from being smitten. Where was all that judgmental brimstone now?
When Damon returned his full attention back to the scene, his copy was standing before Bonnie, his nearness meant to frighten, yet Bonnie merely tilted up her chin and stared him defiantly. Dark-eyes was impressed. The Bonnie he knew would have been as red as a tomato and two seconds from passing out. The Bonnie before him had valor, wit, strength, and there was some electrical buzz coming off her skin. She was powerful yet had barely scratched the surface of it.
Being near her made his gums throb.
"And if I disobey you, little girl, what are you going to do to stop me?"
Her eyes narrowed and soon there were minute explosions taking place inside his cranium. Damon gripped his temple and tried to remain on his knees. He had never felt anything like this, like someone was repeatedly stabbing him with a rusty nail over and over again while setting his brain on fire.
His knees buckled.
After a minute passed, the attack stopped. Bonnie peered down at him before stepping around him. He didn't miss her arrogant smirk.
"You were saying?" she said saucily.
Bonnie looked at the amused faces of the group and suddenly felt tired. Damon was strong so it took more energy to drop a five hundred year old vampire to his knees. When she gave Stefan an aneurysm barely any effort was involved.
Her vision blurred for a moment and the world tilted, but Bonnie inhaled a deep breath and found her equilibrium again. She would not attempt to do that again tonight.
"What are you?" Damon asked the minute he collected himself.
Bonnie glared at him over her shoulder. "More than you can handle," she turned back to face everyone else. "I'm outta here guys. Good night."
Dark-eyed Damon began to follow her, but Stefan got in his way. "Where are you going?"
"Move, imp before I swat you like a fly."
Stefan could only shake his head before bracing a hand on Damon's shoulder. This was just too unsettling. He looked exactly like his brother apart from his irises.
Damon growled and pushed Stefan off of him. "Do any of you males care nothing for her safety? It's dark and dangerous things are out there." Once those words spilled from his lips, Damon checked himself. Who was this Bonnie girl to him? She wasn't his little redbird and she made it more than clear she could handle herself. Perhaps it was just an old habit of protecting a maiden resurfacing, but he would make sure it wouldn't happen again.
Besides, he planned to eat her, and while he would need her to remain alive for that, Damon was positive she'd make it home without incident. Just to be sure, he'd follow her. Unfortunately he noticed that everyone was gawking at him and the blonde one was speaking.
"Yeah, like you," Caroline retorted. "Bonnie, wait up."
With two of the three females gone, Elena suddenly felt like she was swimming in a shark tank. She sauntered over to Stefan who reached for her hand. Dark-Eyed Damon studied them for a moment before he brought his attention to his doppelganger. Clearly the vampire looked uncomfortable and was trying to hide that behind a veneer of indifference. He held very little sympathy for the man because he felt his affections were being wasted.
Damon had always been attracted to power and had combed the world over looking for his princess of darkness. He thought he had found that in blonde-haired Elena Gilbert but like Katherine she had already fallen in love with Stefan. So it would seem that no matter the time continuum or dimension, the Damon Salvatore's of the world were doomed to come in as second best and love a woman from afar.
Yet…there were always options.
"I can get a room ready if it's okay for him to stay here," Elena attempted to speak as quietly as she could to Stefan which was pretty much useless.
Light-eyed Damon scoffed and shuffled up to his room. No matter what he said, when Elena made a decision it was hardly ever vetoed. Stefan was weak when it came to saying 'no' to her.
Stefan wasn't sure if he wanted to be under the same roof with two Damon's, yet he saw it as the least he could do. The other Damon didn't ask to be here anymore than they asked him to join them.
"You're welcome to stay here if you like," Stefan offered.
Damon inclined his head. "Thanks, but I'll find my own lodgings." And no sooner than the words were out of his mouth, he was gone from the room.
"Gravity" by John Mayer was playing on Bonnie's iPod system as she padded barefoot through her room, brushing her hair.
The day had started off ordinarily enough with going to the parade and being there to support her two best friends. And naturally everything had to go downhill when Damon thanked her for saving his life. But the truth of the matter was—she reluctantly saved him because in her humble opinion there was nothing redeemable about him. She would have been doing the world a favor by letting him die, but then Bonnie realized that wasn't her call to make.
Since he came here Damon had done nothing but torment Stefan, destroyed Caroline's self-esteem and self-worth, and ruined countless lives. Bonnie had hoped to get rid of him for good by giving him the one thing he came back to Mystic Falls to claim, but ha-ha Katherine wasn't in the tomb and her Grams died for nothing.
Bonnie switched her thoughts. She didn't want to think about her grandmother. The wound was still too fresh.
Moreover, the universe had decided to muck up her life even further by implanting another Damon.
However, as she stared at herself in the mirror, even she could see he was a complete one-eighty from the Mystic Falls Damon.
He talked with such a seductive elegance that she was sure when he said something snarky or assholish it still sounded amazing. And those eyes, she couldn't forget those eyes of his that reminded her of a sunless world. Additionally, he hadn't done anything to hurt her. In fact, he saved her life within the first five minutes of knowing her.
She cleared her throat. Do not let your resolve down. He is still a vampire. And vampires are no friends to witches.
"Bonnie."
The girl in question snapped her gaze to her bedroom window. Now she was hearing things. Bonnie looked away.
"Bonnie."
She heard her name called again just as plain as day. Reluctantly she sauntered over to the window and pushed the curtains aside. She saw nothing except the emptiness of her backyard.
The young witch snapped the curtains closed, took a single step away, and heard her name being whispered again.
"Bonnie."
Growling, Bonnie slapped her feet into her sneakers and went downstairs and exited the house through the kitchen. Standing in her backyard she eyed the darkness that surrounded her. Instinctively Bonnie knew she should head back into the safety of her home, lock the doors and windows, and go to sleep. However, her curiosity reared its demanding head that she locate the source of the voice calling out to her.
Damon, hidden amongst the shadows gazed at Bonnie as she searched around her backyard.
She carefully made her way to the far part of the yard which led straight to the woods. She was following his bread crumbs.
"Bonnie."
She kept walking even when her insides screamed for her to turn around. The moon cast odd shades around and she thought she was seeing movement, but she heard nothing other than that voice calling her name.
"Okay this was a super, dumb, bad idea," Bonnie chided and then heard a twig break behind her. She spun around, saw nothing, and when she turned back around she found herself staring into those dark eyes.
"Hello, Bonnie."
Her gut reaction was to scream, so she opened her mouth ready to let out a big one, but a cold hand clamped over her lips.
"Shush," Damon bent his knees to look her straight in the eye. "You wouldn't want to wake your neighbors," he flashed a here-and-gone smile but Bonnie still managed to see his fangs.
She frowned and pulled his hand away. Her heart knocked fiercely against her ribcage. She struck his chest. "What are you doing here? Did you follow me?"
The blow didn't move him. "I wanted to talk to you."
Bonnie suddenly became aware of what she was wearing. A practically see-through camisole top and thin pajama bottoms. She folded her arms over her chest.
"I have nothing to say to you."
Damon visually roamed her pretty face. "You can be a little more hospitable than that can't you? I did save your life, after all."
She scoffed. "And now what are you looking for? My endless gratitude? Don't hold your breath."
He grinned. "Can we take this inside your place?"
"Absolutely not!"
Damon laughed. "Fine, have it your way," he began to circle her. Bonnie felt like she was on an auction block. "Not many women would have stood up to me the way you did. I sense a great deal of power in you, Bonnie, so I've come to my own conclusion about what you are."
Bonnie planted a hand on her hip. "That's what you wanted to talk to me about? I'm gone."
Damon naturally got in her way. "The Bonnie I know is a strong telepath and something of a witch, but you far surpass her. What are you?"
She tilted her chin up again, never breaking eye contact with him. "None of your business."
Damon infiltrated her personal space, looming over her. "Tell me what you are," he whispered lowering his head down until his lips hovered teasingly over hers.
Bonnie's eyes blinked so rapidly you'd think she was having a seizure. There was some delicious scent coming off his skin.
"I'm…"
Damon tensed, growled, and crouched into a defensive pose. Bonnie startled, didn't exactly know what to do. One minute she was about to spill her secret and the next she found herself being pushed behind Damon.
"We have company," he snarled.
"Vampire?" Bonnie licked her lips nervously.
"Yes," he deadpanned. "And he's not alone."
To be continued...
A/N: Is it instant attraction between Bonnie/Book Damon? And if you've read Midnight, that's where I'm kind of picking up from to explain Damon's arrival in Mystic Falls. If you haven't read it sorry for the spoilers. Canonical speaking I know Caroline didn't learn about the existence of vampires until she became one, but in this story she knows the 411 way before then, okey-dokey. But thanks for giving this story a shot and I look forward to hearing your thoughts. Love you guys!