Chapter 2

Damon hadn't meant to tell her. All he had really wanted was to keep her company, to find out how well she was really coping with this whole vampire thing. He wondered if she realised that the bottle of bourbon they had been drinking used to be the only one she could stomach drinking with him. But now it was ruined.

When she had asked him like she did, he found he couldn't lie to her. Partly because he was too tired to come with a lie decent enough to convince but also because it had become a habit of his, in recent years, to always tell Bonnie the truth. Maybe it was because Bonnie knew him so well at this point that she could nearly always tell when he was lying anyway, maybe he had just gotten used to telling her everything. It didn't matter, the result was the same. He was incapable of lying to her, even when he thought she was better off not knowing the truth.

"How could this of happened? No-one but us should have been able to get into her tomb, my spell should have made sure of that" Bonnie questioned, as she paced up and down the room

Her voice was high pitched and full of panic and like a punch to Damon's gut. He responded with a sigh "I don't know Bonnie. There wasn't any sign of a struggle down there so we're assuming that she was either taken before she could wake up or...she woke up and left on her own"

"Do you really think she would do that?" Bonnie asked pain clearly visible on her face "Just leave without talking to us first? Without saying goodbye?"

"I don't know. Who knows what went through her head when she woke up."

"We still have to find her, Damon" Damon recognized that tone of voice, one that meant she was not to be argued with

"I know. But we can't do anything about it tonight. You should get some sleep" He was about to leave and let her do just that, when her stricken expression made him stop short "Will figure this out bonnie, it's going to be fi-"

"It's not just that...entirely…" Bonnie wasn't looking him in the eye but was instead was staring intently at her shoes

"Then what is it?" She was scaring him now, with her downcast expression and her small quiet voice. He was sure that whatever it was she was about to say would just be the icing on the crap cake that had been everyone's week so far.

Bonnie looked up from her shoes to answer him "When i was attacked, i was asleep. I felt it happen in my dreams, i felt the knife slide into my stomach, and I felt myself running and running and never getting anywhere...the feeling of someone watching me. I'm just scared about what might happen if i go asleep again. If they could get inside my head once…"

"I could sleep here with you, if that would make feel any better"

Bonnie's eyes widened at his response "Damon, i couldn't ask you do that. Where would you even sleep? I was just saying that I-"

"The couch in here is just fine. I'll go get some blankets"

Bonnie did dream that night. In this dream she found herself in the same place she found herself two nights ago, and just like two nights ago she could not remember how she got there or why she was there. All she could do was keeping moving forward, the sick feeling in her stomach increasing with every step.

Then she felt it, the feeling that someone was watching her, waiting for her, just out of sight. She knew whoever or whatever it was that was watching her, it did not wish her well.

Summoning up all the courage she could muster, she shouted "Come out and face me! Stop hiding!"

She did not truly expect a response, but she got one "But Bonnie, I'm not hiding, can't you seem me? I am all around you. I am the ground you're walking on, the trees you see all around you and the air you breathe…"

"Who are you?" Bonnie's nausea increased with every word the voice spoke. The voice felt like it came from nowhere and everywhere. "What do you want from me?"

"Who i am is unimportant and you have already given me what i want"

Bonnie wanted to cry with frustration "Then why am i here"

"Maybe i just want to punish you"

And with that, Bonnie woke up screaming.

When she woke up Damon was at her side. "Bonnie, it's alright you're awake, it was just a dream"

"They said they wanted to punish me, I don't know anyone alive who would hate me that much"

Damon pulled her close and held her tight, rubbing slow, reassuring circles on her back. She felt insanely comforted by the feel of his arms around his hands at her back. She took deep breaths to calm herself down, breathing in the scent of bourbon and cologne that always seemed to cling around Damon.

It was when she calmed down that she noticed two things. The first thing was that Damon legs were under the covers. The second thing was that Damon was shirtless.

Bonnie took one more calming breath before she spoke "Damon weren't you supposed to be sleeping on the couch?"

"The couch ended up not being as comfortable as i thought i would be" Damon shrugged

Bonnie raised an eyebrow "So you decided to sleep in my bed?"

"It's a pretty big bed; i didn't think you'd mind." He was right. The Salvatore boarding house had some pretty large rooms, which meant some suitably large furnishings to match. Like the king size bed they were currently sitting on. "Besides aren't you glad i was here?"

Bonnie didn't know how to answer that question, so she didn't she got up instead.