Title: Lapse

Rating: M

Genre: AU/AH

Pairing(s): Bonnie/Klaus, Kol/Lucy, Elijah/Abby, Stefan/Meredith, Bonnie/Damon (One-sided), Caroline/Tyler, Matt/Katherine, Marcel/Rebekah, mentions of past Bonnie/Jeremy etc.

Summary: "Taking advantage of the situation will be easy," Klaus said, "We can turn her into anything we want. The real beauty of it all is as long we keep her happy; meaning fed, fucked, acknowledged, and oblivious to anything involving Elena Gilbert, all the things that she was deprived of while in the company of the Salvatore, even if she begins to remember she won't think of asking any questions." An accident leaves Bonnie with no memories and the Originals use the fact to turn her into someone that no one is prepared to handle, least of all them. Guilt pushes the Salvatore to help Bonnie get her memories back; but along the way their motivations change. Whose side will Bonnie be on when she remembers, the Originals, the Salvatore, or her own? Post 3x18.

Warnings: Non-Canon, Dark!Bonnie, Character Death, Violence, Graphic Torture, Dark Magic, etc.

PART TWO: SURGE

"Power is the great aphrodisiac."

~Henry A. Kissinger

The first thing that Damon Salvatore noticed was the acrid smell of belladonna. He walked hesitantly through the grave yard, belladonna growing like vines on the headstones. Bennett witches, all of them. All of them he had known, and all he had seen perish. The darkness around him was consuming as he treaded hesitantly past the graves.

He stopped when the headstones ended. There was a sudden burst of flame that ignited the darkness. He frowned as Emily Bennett appeared in the charred spot on the ground. Another burst of flame, this time Sheila Bennett appearing in the center of the blackened patch of earth. Yet another burst of flame, leaving Abby Bennett-Wilson in its wake. All three women looked at him with accusing eyes.

"You were supposed to protect her," Emily said, her tone grave.

Damon rolled his eyes, knowing who she was referring to. "She's still alive isn't she," he said, "Besides, our little deal is null and void now in case you've forgotten."

None of the women before him looked impressed but it was Sheila who spoke. "You keep her alive to serve you and your purposes not out of any sense of loyalty," she said, "Our family has been good to you prior to this and you never returned the favor. You only know how to take and not give and with Bonnie it was no different. You took her for granted and now it is finally time for all of you to pay the consequences. The spirits have seen her path; and before this it lead to her suffering and her death, and now it leads to yours."

Damon raised a brow. "Okay," he said blinking, "How do I stop it?"

"Funny, that now that it has something to do with you and your pain you want to take action," Abby smirked, a darkly amused look in her eyes. Damon opened his mouth to speak, but she held up her hand. "It cannot be stopped," she stated, "This is of your making and this time you cannot avoid the outcome."

"Then why come to me?" Damon asked, clearly angry and annoyed.

"It is simple, Damon," Emily, smiled sweetly, "We would like to show you exactly what you helped create."

Before Damon could ask, Emily pointed her finger behind him. Hesitantly, Damon turned around. He watched as her bare feet hit the ground as she walked toward him, the grass catching fire with each step that she took. His eyes moved upward, lingering slightly on her smooth bare legs; past the skirt of the black dress that she was wearing, and then the odd talisman dangling around her neck and falling to nestle between her breasts. Upward still, stopping again at the strange tattoo on her neck, a pentagram with a crescent moon on each side, he knew the symbol, had seen it before in many a mythology book, it was the sign of a goddess. His gaze moved on, taking in her wild hair, and the half smirk her lips were twisted into. When he finally locked eyes with her he was surprised at the look in them, it was the look of someone who knew they had power and knew exactly how to use it, there was none of the insecurity and the uncertainty that the witch had tried to hide before but that Damon could still see beneath the surface.

"Bonnie?" Damon asked, because he could not quite believe that it was her.

"You will not call me by my name," she said her voice cool, "You have no right to do so." She was eyeing him as if he were a pile of dung, and it made him squirm. "You are beneath me," she said, "You will refer to me accordingly."

Damon laughed, though the sound was hollow. "Then what should I call you then, witchy?" He asked, trying to sound unimpressed, but only managing to pull off confused and angry.

Suddenly he heard her voice in his head telling him to bow, and then a moment later he found himself on his knees. "Call me what I am," her voice said in his head, "What you have always known me to be but refused to acknowledge."

The words left Damon's lips before he could stop them, slipping out in his native tongue. He had not spoken Italian in years but it was what she wanted. "Mia bella dea," he whispered, head bowed.

She closed her eyes and for a moment she looked ethereal as black veins began to pulse through her body. She opened her eyes and they were consumed in white both the irises and the sclerae. "If you do not worship," Bonnie said, "Then you will burn."

Then everything around them went up in flames.

Damon's eyes opened and he was in his own room, in his own bed. But the dream still haunted him, as sweat covered his body and his arms flapped and he patted at himself in order to stop the invisible flames. He stilled as someone's hands gripped his shoulders. His eyes came into focus as Stefan's face appeared in front of him.

"You're fine now," Stefan said, squeezing his shoulders, "You're home. You're safe."

Damon wasn't listening however, the dream had scared the shit out of him but it had done something else as well. Frowning, and trying to catch his breath he reached to the side of him and grabbed a pillow, trying to hide his humiliation as he used it to cover his arousal. Damon shook his head, running a hand over his face. He had no idea what the fuck was going on and he was sure that despite Stefan's words, Rebekah was still in his fucking head somehow, manipulating his thoughts and dictating his actions. "How long have I been out?" he asked.

"Most of last night," Stefan said, "A few hours this morning. You seemed to have been abandon by your captors. When we came to get you last night, no one was there to stop us."

"How did you know where I was?" Damon asked. He could still remember the look on Bonnie's face when she had seen him hanging there. Even after everything he had done to her she still pitied him, he could see that. She had left him in the end and though he could not blame her, he knew that it was unlike her. The resolute expression she had worn when she had told Klaus to get her out of his home, it reminded him so much of the Bonnie that had been in that dream that he had just woken from. Just a few words from Klaus; that was all that it had taken coupled with everything that the witch had been through and she had left him there to die.

"Bonnie called Elena," Stefan said, "Told us where you were."

Damon frowned. He really didn't understand the witch. Why leave him only to call for help? He may not have been her biggest fan but he knew that she had had every right to walk away from him even if a part of him did have some sort of resentment toward her because of it. "Well," he said, "Where's the wicked witch of the west now?"

Stefan shrugged. "At home I would assume," he said, "She had a rough night."

"She had a rough night?" Damon laughed. Stefan gave him a look and Damon sighed. "Whatever," he said, "Now that my pleasant night is over; when are we going to go after the Originals? I'm itching to kill those son of a bitches now more than ever."

Stefan shook his head as he eyed his brother. He had been worried but he kept his concern veiled. "Not only did Rebekah manage to kidnap you," he said, "But Klaus managed to virtually hold Bonnie hostage from what Elena told me. We need to be careful about this. How about we go by the manor and take a look at the situation."

"Fine," Damon said as he got out of bed, "Let's go now. The sooner we get rid of them the better."

Stefan grabbed Damon's arm as his brother made his way toward the restroom. "Are you sure you're up to this?" Stefan asked.

Damon's dream flashed through his head and it affected him more so than the physical and mental damage that Rebekah had caused. He shook his head. It had just been a dream and as far he knew Rebekah could have still been fucking with his head. "It's me you're talking to, little brother," Damon shrugged and then smirked before he disappeared into the bathroom.

"That's exactly why I'm worried," Stefan said as the door shut behind him.

:::

Klaus Mikaelson had spent majority of the night watching Bonnie Bennett sleep. He had been thinking on how easy things were now that she had no memory of him. She was screaming for him to take her and remake her. She was in his bed and all the night as she had slept, he had fought the urge to join her.

He could admit it to himself, now at least. He had always desired her. In some ways she was like a caged animal waiting to be set free. She had always been wound so tight, but in those instances when her emotion and her anger got the better of her or when she came after him directly he had seen what she had been capable of becoming. It wasn't just her power, it was the confidence, the way she moved, the control that she took. Those rare occasions where she stopped being a girl and became a force, were the moments that Klaus lived for. That was why he loved to provoke her, to challenge her, to torment her. But he had always wanted to reach her in other ways, the way he had done with so many. Even if in the past his words and his games were mostly bullshit. But he could always see the appeal of a witch. And Bonnie…he had seen the appeal of her as a person as well and that had angered him.

She had traits that he wanted the people near him to possess. Bravery. Loyalty. Intelligence. Beauty. He could list them in his head even if he would never say them out loud in front of others. But even in knowing all she had to offer, he knew that she would never offer it up to him. There was never a way that he could figure out that he could obtain it. If he had tried his usual tactics then she would have seen through him.

He had tried force and using her loved ones as leverage, but though that had gotten him to his desired results sometimes in accessing her power, it had not gotten him what he truly wanted and it had put him in the same category as the ones she let use her because she called them friends.

But now she was a blank slate. She knew nothing outside of what he told her about not just herself but him and the rest of the world. Having that power over her was seductive but he didn't just want to change her perception of the world or him. He wanted to make her new. He wanted to make her see how powerful she was. How beautiful. He wanted to awaken darkness within her.

Bonnie shifted in her sleep, the sheets falling from her sleeping form. Klaus' eyes roamed her frame, his shirt that she was still wearing had ridden up giving him a nice view of her flat stomach.

Klaus stood from the armchair that he had pulled up next to the bed. After discovering what he was and what she was he had thought her sleep would be restless but she was sleeping soundly. Even with the bedside lamp left on her sleep went undisturbed. He wondered if that had been so before when she remembered the things that she most wanted to forget. Klaus reached for the comforter that had settled at her hips. He gripped it and pulled it up, his knuckles brushing against her bare skin as he did so. When he reached the top of her body, his face level with hers he was surprised to find her eyes open.

"Don't you sleep?" Bonnie asked, blinking up at him groggily.

Klaus smiled down at her. "Restlessly," he whispered. He had only been joking, mostly, but she still frowned. Though, she tried to hide her concern he could see it.

"Because I stole your bed?" Bonnie asked, her tone teasing but her green eyes guilty.

"I put you there remember?" Klaus asked. Bonnie sat up and he sat down on the edge of the bed, his elbows resting on his knees. "There are other things," he said, softly, "Worse things that keep me up at night, love."

"Like those people you told me about?" Bonnie asked, her tone leading, "The ones that were after you?"

"While they wish that they had the power to make me lose sleep they do not," Klaus laughed, "If I lose sleep it's usually over things that are of my own doing."

Bonnie noted the tension in his frame and shifted on the bed as he looked ahead at something that couldn't be seen. Something propelled her forward. She didn't feel sympathy for him, but she could remember the ghost of a feeling of being haunted by things and regretting others. It was the connection that she didn't remember "What kinds of things?" she whispered.

"Things that never seem to get me what I want," Klaus said, knowing that she would not judge him, "Things that cause me to lose people that matter."

Bonnie knelt behind him on the bed and placed her hands on his shoulders. "Things like my accident?" She asked carefully. He stilled under her touch and she swallowed. Of course he wouldn't want a reminder of why she could no longer remember him, they had been friends he said. "Don't answer that," Bonnie sighed, running her hands down his back hoping to calm him.

He turned abruptly causing Bonnie to fall back onto the bed. He loomed over her in seconds, the speed causing her to blink. His hands were on either side of her, his body practically on top of hers as she propped herself up on her elbows. He leaned forward, even closer to her as he placed a kiss on her forehead.

Bonnie let her eyes fall shut, his closeness causing her pulse to thrum faster. "Don't fret over things that you have no control over," he said, "My pain does not have to be your pain. My regret is not your regret. You will have enough of both when your memory returns. You shouldn't have to deal with the consequences of things that others have done." She was doing so now and in a way he was sorry for it, and yet, he could not, would not allow her to leave until he absolutely had no choice in the matter. She looked at him as if she understood him, it was not something he was willing to part with.

Bonnie nodded. She felt as if she might cry. She didn't understand any of her emotions anymore but for some reason his last words touched her. When he moved to get up, she found herself wrapping her arms around his neck in order to stop him. "What if we shared the bed?" she said quickly, her face slightly flushed with embarrassment, "You said that we were friends. Did it help being near me before? Was I a comfort to you?"

In a way she was because she was constant and unchanging in her attitude toward him before, he could count on Bonnie Bennett to be Bonnie Bennett when the day was over. But even like this she was a comfort to him. Her nonjudgmental sate, her willingness to be near him, to touch him. Her want to comfort him when he could not even ask as much of his own siblings. "Yes, sweetheart," he said, "Even when I was bothering you, you were a comfort. Always."

"Then stay," she commanded.

"Is that what you want?" It was a strange image. Her asking him to stay and share her bed. He had played such a scene in his head more than once. But every time he had she was begging to be fucked, not offering him comfort.

Bonnie nodded again. He nodded in return but got out of the bed causing Bonnie to look at him perplexed. Her unasked question was answered when he kicked off his shoes. Bonnie was surprised when the disrobing didn't stop there and he pulled his shirt off as well. She gave him a once over, unable to stop herself from staring until she met his blue eyes. Klaus seemed unbothered, as if he was used to her eyeing him, or maybe it was other women he was used to. Either way Bonnie looked away.

Klaus watched as Bonnie crawled back under the covers, pulling them up to her chin and staring at the ceiling. He grinned, walking around the bed and climbing in on the other side. He thought about trying his luck and seeing what she would allow him to get away with but it wasn't the time for it. He had to make sure he really had her trust first. Still he couldn't resist leaning over her purposely to turn off the lamp sitting on the nightstand.

As the room fell into darkness Bonnie tried to think about anything other than Klaus lying next to her. She now regretted her offer. She couldn't bring herself to comfort him when she was already hyperaware of his presence. "Those people," she said, trying to turn her mind off of thoughts of him, "Will they come for us soon?"

Her plan backfired when she found herself wrapped in his arms. Still she laid her head on his chest, her eyes falling shut. "Go to sleep," he said, calmly, "I told you not to worry, so don't. Just stay with me where it's safe." Bonnie remained stiff and he ran a hand down her back. "I promise if the boogeyman comes I will protect you," he teased.

Bonnie's face scrunched and her eyebrows knitted together. She had no idea what he was talking about. "Who's the boogeyman?"

As Klaus chuckled she felt his movements underneath her. "Go back to sleep, love," he said instead of answering her question.

Bonnie shrugged and then closed her eyes without protest. If he said that she was safe then she would believe him.

:::

Elijah Mikaelson looked up from where he was preparing breakfast for the witch still asleep upstairs, as Sage walked into the kitchen.

"I never figured you for the domestic type," she commented as she took a seat at the island. She didn't bother hiding her amusement at his expense.

"I'm not," Elijah stated, frowning, "I simply enjoy the practice of cooking. Besides we need to keep Miss Bennett in good spirits if we want to make use of her powers."

"Is she really worth all of this?" Sage asked, waving her hand over the food preparations, "Does she have as much power as your brother claims? Because if she does not then I will have no choice but to strike out on my own and avenge Finn by myself. This is not joke to me."

"Do you believe it is a joke to us?" Elijah asked, as he turned around and began to prepare a plate. "I can assure you that if you do strike out on your own you will not be missed by me or my siblings," he continued, "So if you have the desire to go then by all means do it. We loved Finn more than you could have ever loved him. Your relationship was not some pure eternal romance like you seemed to have convinced yourself. Yet, and still we allow you to stay because we might be able to make use of your grief and train you into a proper ally. However, while you are hell bent on revenge remember that none of us will get it if we do not survive. If those imbeciles managed to find a way to kill Finn, no matter how weak at heart our brother was, then they can and will kill you."

"Are they imbeciles?" Sage asked. She didn't seem offended by his words as she knew that she didn't want to be there any more than they wanted her there. The alliance was a means to an end.

"Most of them yes," Elijah said, "But we have been complacent which is worse. They once had a reason to fear us, because we gave them one. We should have killed them a long time ago."

Much to his dismay he felt that even Elena had no place amongst the land of the living. Any fondness that he had had for the girl had disappeared upon his brother's death. He was able to see her more clearly, and he did not like what he saw. He had been blind because he had attributed all the things he had once loved about those before her to her because she was still human. She was still of flesh and bone and so he had seen her as he had seen Katerina when she had been mortal, and as he had seen Tatia when she had been alive. Klaus may have been foolish enough to chase after the Forbes girl because he saw some ghost of the challenge that he really wanted and aspired to change her because the one he really wanted to change was not so malleable, but at least he had seen past the other Petrova women. Elijah had been the one to let himself be ruled by them, while chasing his own ghosts.

But his brother had gotten what he wanted in the end, the Bennett witch was a blank slate, ready to be formed into whatever his brother wanted her to be. Still, Elijah was no idiot, he knew that once the witch remembered they would be her first target. He was aware of her powers, they could all feel them. If she wanted them dead she could have her wish in seconds with the right spell. They would have to speed things along. Get rid of the others before she remembered who she was now aligning herself with and then kill her before she had the chance to strike.

"You said that some of them were imbeciles," Sage said, "Who is the exception?"

"The exception is upstairs in Niklaus' bed," Elijah answered, "She was blindly loyal and complacent in her own right, but she was smarter than the lot of them. She has power and potential, which is why my brother desires her. The only stupid things she has done to my knowledge are following the orders of a bunch of idiots and not realizing her own power."

"And how much power does she have?"

Elijah's face grew serious as he turned to face Sage once more. "Enough to bring us all to our knees," he stated, "That is why our actions must be swift and concise. All it takes is one thing to trigger a memory or set her off and then the meek little vampire hunters that couldn't that reside in Mystic Falls will be the least of our problems."

:::

Damon Salvatore sat in the passenger's seat of his brother's car looking out of the window. His mind was on the many Bennett witches he had seen perish. Their deaths flashed before his eyes, one by one, like a macabre movie playing in his mind. He had failed to protect them, he had always known that. None of them had received the protection that he had pledged to Emily and yet he had been almost surprised when she had backed out of the deal, almost. But there was no deal by then, he had backed out of it first.

There was no witch he had failed as much as Bonnie Bennett however, starting with the night that he had attacked her when Emily had possessed her and ending with the night that he had changed her mother. They had flipped a coin, a fucking coin. It would have made more sense to turn Abby Bennett and see her as collateral damage on principle based on the fact that she was a stranger and Bonnie had been by that time loyal to them. But Bonnie had been collateral damage too. Another sacrifice at the altar of Elena that he and Stefan had erected in their minds.

But the sad thing was, even if it had landed on Bonnie, they would have killed her mother anyway. Not just because Bonnie's death would have hurt Elena, but also because Bonnie was more powerful and more willing to clean up their messes. Stefan played the good brother and Damon played the wounded one with the dark past, but at the end of the day they were monsters.

It wasn't until Bonnie had left him to be tortured that he realized how much of the witch that they had changed. They had morphed a young girl who had been light and bubbly (for he had witnessed it even before the return that changed everything), into something skewed, empty, weak, self-sacrificing, and yet without self. They had come to see her pain and grief as something to be expected, she was the disposable, the machine that they used that could be replaced if she died. The more they treated her that way, the more she began to believe it. There were no longer any comebacks when they asked for help, no longer any challenge in her eyes. They had stripped her of her humanity and doused out the fire that had once burned within her.

Damon wished for a moment that Rebekah had killed him. He wouldn't be plagued with these thoughts if she had. He wouldn't have to keep seeing the look on her face as Klaus led her away from him. He had not seen her as something human, something breakable until that moment.

Perhaps the ghost of his years in the Confederacy had kept him from it, or perhaps he was just an asshole. The others could do nothing for them, had not saved them again and again, and yet he could manage to get along with Caroline and sometimes Jeremy, and Stefan could manage to feel all of their pain. Stefan could be their friends. But the witch had always been at a distance, isolated. They blamed her dislike of them for it, but that wasn't it. A part of them had done it one purpose. A part of them knew that the more isolated she became, the more alone she would feel, and the more desperate she would be for their approval.

"She should have left me there," Damon said, still staring out the window, "She shouldn't have called you. She should have stayed and watched. She should have finished the job." But what she had done was far worse, she had made him think, like her words usually did. She had left him there, but she had called him help. She had still been the one to save him. Again and again she had saved him. He had never saved her, not even when his promise to Emily was intact. He had done the opposite and every time he looked at her now he would see that.

"I know you think that she hates you but she doesn't," Stefan said, "She should. She should hate both of us. But she's better than that. We're the ones that aren't."

Damon was about to reply when something on the side of the road caught his attention. "Stop the car," he said. Stefan just looked at him quizzically. "I said," he spat, "Stop the fucking car."

Stefan hit the brakes and stopped the car in the middle of the road. Before he could put the car in park, Damon got out of it and sped over the opposite side of the street. Sighing and wondering what the hell Damon was doing, Stefan turned the car off, got out and then followed him. It was then that Stefan saw it, Bonnie Bennett's car wrapped around a tree. He could smell her blood as he watched Damon circle the car.

When Damon stopped at the driver's side door and stood frozen, Stefan followed him around the car and stopped where he stood. There was blood and broken glass everywhere inside the interior. There was no way the Bonnie could have survived.

"We have to find her," Damon said.

"Damon," Stefan said, his tone calm even though the grief and guilt was beginning to weigh on him, "There's no way she could have survived this. Look at all of this blood, the car looks like an accordion."

Stefan stopped as he found himself slammed against a nearby tree. "Then where the hell is her body, huh?" Damon asked. His eyes looked crazed and his grip on Stefan was so tight that Stefan could hear his bones breaking. "She got out," he said, more to himself than to Stefan, "She's in the woods somewhere maybe. She could have been out there all night. She blacked out and she couldn't call for help. We could look for her. Make the idiots of this town useful and organize a search party."

"The door has been ripped of the car Damon," Stefan said sadly, "We're not far from Klaus' manor. He likely found her and if he did I doubt he left her alive."

"Then where's her body?" Damon repeated, "He would have dropped it on our doorstep just to make a fucking point. It isn't here so as far as I'm concerned the little witch is still out there."

Stefan thought about what he knew of Klaus. There had been Gloria in Chicago. There had been Greta Martin. Rebekah had told him of others when they had been a thing in the twenties. Stefan had offered to find Nik a dame on more than one occasion and every time he had refused. Rebekah had told him that Klaus had very "particular tastes". She had made a joke of it, naming off witches, counting on by on her fingers and starting over when she had used up both hands. "You know what they say," she had said, "Power is the great aphrodisiac."

Stefan shook his head, even as Damon began to shake and his grip on him tightened. But there had been Katherine, but he had been using her. Tatia? But Elijah had been the one who had truly loved her hadn't he? Caroline. But even as he thought about it Stefan found holes in the idea. Caroline had been a tool to keep Tyler in line, or maybe Klaus had wanted to change her into something else. He never really saw Caroline when he looked at her, and his words to her, the things he did, were silly and unlike him.

Katherine had once told Stefan that Klaus seduced women in the way that they wanted to be seduced when he was insincere, and was incapable of being anything but himself when he was being sincere. He was always the Nik that Stefan had remembered around Gloria, and though he had not seen him interact with Greta long if he had told her about the sacrifice and his aim, even if he had lied about other things (which he did with everyone, even those he most cared about to protect himself), he had shown himself to her in other ways. Even when he was trying to manipulate Stefan he had been unable to be completely invulnerable around him. Stefan blinked as a realization hit him.

There was someone else that Klaus was always himself around. Even in threatening her, he had always invaded her space, been close enough to touch as if teasing himself. The way he looked at her. The respect Stefan could tell he had for her power. He had done the same thing with Gloria when she had rejected him. Made snide remarks to her like a child when she wouldn't give into him. "We always want what we cannot have, Stefan," Klaus had said, so many times.

"Shit," Stefan said shutting his eyes tightly, his head falling back against the tree, "He has her."

"What?" Damon asked. His eyes seemed full of hope and apprehension all at once.

"Klaus," Stefan said, "I know him Damon. We were…we were friends once. He always had this thing…this thing about…witches. I never really thought about it…I guess I assumed he got over it or forgot. But…the way he looked at her Damon. We have to get her back. She's probably weak and injured and if he'll try to manipulate her and it won't just be to use her powers."

"What else could that sociopath want?" Damon asked. He let Stefan go and his brother sagged limply against the tree, his body beginning to heal itself from Damon's unintended assault. Even if Bonnie was with Klaus, at least if Stefan was right then there was a good chance that she was alive.

"What do you mean what else could he want Damon?" Stefan asked, incredulously, "He might be a monster but he's still a man and Bonnie might be a witch but she's still a woman. If I am not shoved so far up Elena's ass that I can still see that her friends are attractive then surely you've thought about it."

"So you eyed up Elena's friends in your Ripper days recently," Damon shrugged, "What does you losing your saint card have to do with Klaus?"

"Is it really that hard to believe that Klaus would want her?" Stefan asked, "Even if he didn't he would likely still try and fuck her just because he'd see it as a way of sticking it to us. You know bedding the Salvatore's witch."

"Shit," Damon winced. While he doubted that the witch would go for Klaus on any other occasion, it was clear to him last night that she wasn't herself and if she was injured then she'd had no choice but to listen to Klaus' bullshit until she was strong enough to escape.

"Yeah," Stefan said, "Look, let's just go and look around the manor and see if we can find any clues. And if Klaus is there then we can confront him."

"What if she...is really gone?" Damon asked. He didn't want to think about it. As many times as he said that he didn't give a shit about her and that he would throw her under the bus for Elena's sake, everyone seemed to know what his words were empty at best anyway.

"You were right," Stefan said, "Until we find her alive or….we find her body, we have to keep looking."

:::

Klaus awoke to the smell of fire. He sat up quickly once he realized that the sheets on his bed were in flames. His first thought was that Bonnie had remembered and was in the process of exacting her revenge. But things hadn't gotten far enough with them for that and he was sure that were she to remember at this stage she would likely run and attempt to get back to Virginia.

He glanced over at Bonnie and wasn't surprised to find her tossing and turning in her sleep. Her power surged and the flames grew higher. Klaus cursed, before he turned to her and gently began to shake her awake. "Come on, love," he said, "Wake up." When her eyes opened and she caught sight of the flames she let out a scream. She sat up quickly her legs kicking at the sheets. "Calm down sweetheart," he coaxed, "Calm down and they'll go out."

Bonnie tried to calm herself, taking a deep breath. It was hard when she was so afraid. Eventually she managed it and the flames subsided. Bonnie took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "I'm sorry," she said, "I was dreaming about the accident. I didn't…mean to…"

"It doesn't matter," Klaus shrugged.

Bonnie looked over to at him clearly surprised. He was sitting with his back against the headboard, his elbows propped on his knees, an odd expression on his face. The soft sheets were in singed black and it was clear they'd have to be replaced. "I just ruined your sheets and I loss control of my powers," she said, "What do you mean it doesn't matter?"

He looked over at her finally. "I can replaced the sheets. I can also help you gain control," he said, "As for the flames…" Bonnie waited, but he didn't say anything, just stared at her with the same unreadable expression. "Come here," he ordered after a moment.

Bonnie raised a brow at him clearly confused. When she made no move to do as he said, he grabbed her wrist and gently tugged her forward. Sighing, Bonnie complied, pushing down her embarrassment and her fear of what she had just done had caused, as she allowed herself to be pulled into his lap. She became self-conscious for another reason all together as she was suddenly straddling him, his hands on her hips. She placed her hands on his chest to act as a barrier as she looked at the spot just above his shoulder. She doubted that what they were doing was proper friend etiquette, but then again, she was beginning to doubt that friends was the proper word for whatever it was they had been.

He could have been acting out of character, but it wasn't as if she would know it. His behavior seemed to be natural to him, not at all hesitant, so she could only assume that he had touched her this way all the time before. Something made her think that she hadn't been affected by it in the same way as she was in that moment, however.

"Look at me," Klaus said. She hesitated but eventually her eyes rose to meet his. He was convinced more than ever that she had untapped power, and that maybe something was stopping her from accessing it. He remembered their first fight, the way her nose had bled. He had thought then it was because of the power she had gained from the other witches, but even after she had lost it, her powers seemed to come with consequences that Klaus had never seen a witch suffer. That could mean only one of two things, the spirits were policing her power or someone else was, and if either case was true then that meant that Bonnie was more powerful than even he believed.

"I could have killed us," Bonnie said quietly. Or maybe she could have killed herself and injured him. She doubted very much that he could die by fire.

"We're fine," Klaus smiled, "It wouldn't have gotten that far." She didn't seem to be convinced. He wasn't either, not entirely. They would need to get a handle on her powers. They would have to find a way to unleash them and control them all at once. "Listen to me," Klaus said knowing that he would have to calm her for them to move forward, "You could burn down the world and I would do nothing but kneel at your feet and worship you as we watched it turn to ashes." Bonnie laughed, looking away again, but he kept his tone serious. "I will never be afraid of what you are," he declared, "Even if you were to one day be able to kill me. I respect you and what you're capable of too much for that. So don't fear yourself, or your power. Embrace, respect it, and when you can wield it properly I won't be the only one willing to kneel. Understand?"

Bonnie nodded. She suddenly felt strong, invincible. He was the first of his kind, he had said. An original, and the first hybrid. If he could respect her power she would do as he said and learn to master it. Something told her that she had not had much experience with being respected. A little tic in the back of her mind made her feel the need to demand it. Her face hardened with resolve. "I understand," she nodded.

Klaus leaned forward far enough to rest his forehead against hers. "Good," he whispered. Yesterday, his brother had died and he had discovered that his enemies had the means in which to kill him. Today, he and his siblings were safe and in the same place, and he had who was perhaps the most powerful woman he had ever met in his lap hanging on his every word. Yes, things were definitely beginning to work out in his favor.

:::

Rebekah Mikaelson raised an eyebrow as she walked into the kitchen. While Klaus had managed to pull himself away from the witch, long enough to go looking through his witch reserves so that he could find anything that could help things along and replace the sheets that the witch had burned in her sleep, it seemed that the witch was not hard up for attention. She was sitting at the island, being served breakfast by Elijah, while Kol poured her coffee. Rebekah rolled her eyes, she didn't think that they would take the whole playing nice thing so seriously. Still, having such a powerful ally was never a bad idea, even if for a short time, which was why she was going to play nice herself.

Bonnie's eyes widened as Elijah placed the plate in front of her. It seemed a bit excessive, poached eggs on top of toasted English muffins, covered in Hollandaise sauce, with Canadian bacon and jalapeño cheddar grits on the side. The idea of vampires cooking didn't marry well in her head. She almost wanted to laugh but she wasn't sure how he would react and so she just gave him a bemused sort of smile instead.

Still it looked good, even if she confused by the domesticity of the scene that Klaus' brother cooking made. But perhaps he cooked for her all the time. It wasn't as if she remembered.

"Is something wrong?" Elijah asked, "Do you not like poached eggs?"

Bonnie bit her lip as she played with her fork. "I don't remember," she said quietly. She heard a giggled come from behind her and turned to see who had to be Klaus' sister entering the kitchen. She rolled her eyes in the blonde's direction, and the girl gave her an apologetic smile.

"It's alright, Bonnie," Kol said, from his seat next to her, regaining her attention, "How about you try it and if you don't like it then we'll make you something else. I could feed you if you like."

Rebekah made scoffing noise as she sat down on the other side of Bonnie. Bonnie leaned slightly away from him. "That's alright," she said, "I think I can manage but thanks for being so…attentive." There was an edge of sarcasm to her tone that caused Elijah and Rebekah to smirk and Kol to deflate.

Bonnie hesitantly tried the food and found that she liked it. "It's very good," she said, in between bites, "My complements to the chef."

Elijah tipped his head to her before turning to clean up the kitchen.

"Can I ask you something?" Bonnie asked, looking around at the Original siblings as she continued to eat.

They all nodded, though they weren't sure which of them she was speaking to. Rebekah watched as the witch swallowed her food and bit her lip. She didn't notice the nervous gesture before but it kind of made the witch look like a little girl. It made Rebekah remember that Bonnie was just a teenage girl. While Rebekah had a teenaged girl's body, she had been alive for hundreds of years and had had enough experience to learn from her mistakes and still she hadn't learned a thing in many ways, and still she wasn't as strong as the witch sitting next to her even if Bonnie didn't remember. A part of Rebekah had resented her for that. Even if the Salvatores didn't say so out loud they had respected the witch. Rebekah didn't know any woman who really had their respect, not even their precious Elena, as much as Stefan claimed otherwise.

"Were Klaus and I really friends?" Bonnie asked.

They all shared a look and Rebekah was the one that spoke first. "You and Nik? Of course you were," she said, "The best of friends." Rebekah didn't even think she had sounded convincing.

"Please just be honest with me," Bonnie said, looking over at her, "I know this is a delicate situation because my memory is…but he keeps touching me like he's comfortable touching me and…he doesn't look at me like someone looks at a friend."

"Oh that," Rebekah laughed. They all let out a collective sigh of relief. The witch had caught on quicker than Rebekah thought she would as she had never noticed the looks her brother would give her before. But she supposed that Klaus wasn't trying to hide them now. He was all about taking advantage of the situation so it shouldn't have surprised her that he hadn't wasted any time in pursuing her. "Well," she said, stealing a piece of bacon off of Bonnie's plate, "Power is the great aphrodisiac and you do have it in spades."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Bonnie asked, swatting Rebekah's hand away.

Kol swiped a piece as well, causing Bonnie to glare at him. "It means that he wanted to bed you but you kept him in the friend zone because you had a huge crush on yours truly," Kol grinned.

Bonnie nudged him non-to-gently in the side. It was too early in the morning for her to deal with his flirting and even though it might have been a regular thing between them before as far as she was concerned they had just met, "Can someone give me a real answer?" She pled, her eyes on Elijah.

"You weren't lovers," Elijah said, as he replaced her pilfered food, "But you weren't quite friends either." Neither sentiment was a lie but she would take it in the way that she wanted to take it, regardless of his meaning. "So now that you have the information, Miss Bennett," he said, "What will you do with it?"

Bonnie shrugged looking down at her plate and beginning to eat once more. However, Elijah noticed the witch was smiling, and that was a good sign, for Niklaus at least. Still he wondered if his brother seducing the witch would be profitable in the long run. Then he thought that in the end, a lover would have much more pull over her than a mere friend.

:::

While Nik had insisted on the witch staying indoors, it was clear to Rebekah that she needed clothes. Not that Rebekah minded sharing but any girl would rather have something suited to their own tastes. Besides that Rebekah felt that no matter the outcome of their little scheme, they should at least make Bonnie as comfortable as possible while they were still in her good graces.

A little trip a nearby boutique and a little compulsion to the store owner had solved the problem. Now there were workers from the same boutique in their living room showing Rebekah and Bonnie the latest fashions.

The witch's excitement was contagious. Rebekah had not had a lot of female friends in the entirety of existence and the few that she had had, she had been in competition with. Nik was taking advantage of the situation so she didn't see why she couldn't take advantage of it as well.

Rebekah watched as Bonnie spun around in a raspberry colored lace dress, trimmed with a chain of flowers around the bust and layered at the bottom. It was an odd thing that though the witch didn't remember anything, her taste in clothes was pretty much the same. "It looks great," Rebekah smiled, "You should definitely wear your hair up when you wear it."

Bonnie nodded, going through the hair accessories that the boutique employees had bought and using a black hair dagger to put up her hair. Bonnie turned to Rebekah looking at the blonde in search of approval. "How's this?" She asked.

"Perfect," Rebekah nodded. She began to sift through the racks of clothes for a dress to try on for herself when she heard footsteps.

She knew it was Nik before she saw him, because she could hear the faint growl that escaped before he spoke. "What is all of this?" He asked as he entered the living room, "We're supposed to be laying low."

"Bonnie needed clothes," Rebekah said without looking at him, "Besides they've all been compelled. They won't even remember being here and you don't have to pay for a thing."

Bonnie noticed the lethal expression on Klaus' face and thought that she should intervene. "I know it would please you to have me walk around here naked," she said, "But she's right I needed clothes." She walked over to him and stopped in front of him. "Now stop glaring at your sister and tell me how good I look," she said.

Klaus looked down at her and raised an eyebrow. His blue eyes narrowed but still sparkled with mischief. He couldn't fight the grin for long as she looked up at him expectantly. "You look exquisite," he said, "Now are you ready to start working a little magic."

Bonnie shook her head. "We haven't even started trying on shoes yet," she said, "I suggest you come back in a few hours."

Klaus laughed but nodded. "Very well," he said, "Just make sure you find me when you're done."

:::

Bonnie found that she liked doing magic. She liked the feel of the power as it buzzed through her body. She liked the feeling of accomplishment when she did a spell correctly. Most of all she liked it when Klaus looked at her with awe and approval when she did something unexpected, or that neither of them knew she was capable of.

She felt Klaus' hands on her hips as he stood behind her. They were in his room, the sheets having been replaced since that morning. She stood surrounded by spell books and grimiores. Talismans and artifacts. But her attention was mostly on Klaus' hands, his grip firm but gentle as he leaned forward and whispered in her ear. "You make it look so easy, love," he complemented.

Bonnie closed her eyes and sighed. He seemed to like being close to her, touching her. "I'd like to try another," Bonnie said. Her throat was dry but she was determined to keep going. Still he was handsome, and dark, and dangerous; and it wasn't just her body that responded to him but her power as well.

"Go on then," he said. Even as Bonnie leaned forward and began to flip through the grimoires that he had given her his hands stayed put, his back flush against her. He liked the fact that he could touch her without complaint. She didn't cringe or flinch or turn away from him in disgust. Every part of her responded to him and he could feel it, he reveled in it. It was something that he had never experience, it was addicting.

She smelled like lavender and honey, and her power gave him goosebumps. He couldn't help but hum in approval as she began to chant. She stopped just as quickly much to his dismay. "Klaus," she said, putting down the book, "Rebekah said that power was the great aphrodisiac. Do you think that's true?"

His hands didn't leave her as she turned around to face him. He saw want in her eyes, something that he thought that he would never see. "I am starting to believe that, you, are the great aphrodisiac Miss Bennett."

Bonnie smiled. "Then," she said, "Will you kiss me? I really want to remember what it feels like."

"You know that you've been kissed before?" Klaus asked.

"I know that you wanted to kiss me before," Bonnie responded. She reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck.

Klaus leaned forward. He watched as her eyes fell shut and she licked her lips. He kissed her hard, his tongue invading her mouth before her tongue could reenter it. His hands fisted in the material of her dress. He hadn't thought it would be this easy, but he knew that he wouldn't stop. If the Salvatores did manage to kill him, Klaus knew that while he had committed many a sin, if he were to go to hell then the witch in his arms would be the reason.