Author: Thank you so much for your enthusiastic response! To my reviewers, thank you for your encouraging words. Hope everyone enjoys the new chapter.

Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing. No copyright infringement is intended.

2

THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS

16 hours earlier

She was running.

Her footfalls echoed loudly against the walls of the empty hallway, pounding against the checked marble floor.

The first door to her left and then down the second staircase. Another left when she reached the bottom.

Past the blue drawing room.

Then turn right at the end of the corridor. She was almost there. Just a little further and she would reach the front door.

She would be free.

Her hand grasped the door knob. It turned. It wasn't locked.

Almost there.

The door opened and...

NO!

She was back where she started!

Bonnie sank to her knees, digging her fingernails into the rich fabric of the Persian rug beneath her. Her chest tightened painfully as that glimmer of hope grew fainter with each failed attempt.

That had been her tenth try.

Every time she tried to leave, every time she thought she had found another route, she wound up back in that hideous bedroom on the upper level of the house. She had even tried jumping off the roof, only to find she had landed on her back, in the middle of a large four poster bed, back in the room.

Bonnie wasn't an idiot. She knew there was something adjusting this reality. That she must be under some sort of illusion. But whatever rabbit hole she had been shoved down, she knew there had to be a way out.

So she kept trying.

The young witch inhaled sharply and glared at the bedroom door that was always left slightly ajar, each time she landed back here. Taunting her. But she wasn't going to give in.

Again, she tried to use her magic, furiously chanting the spell of revelation as she looked for a weakness in the illusion. Some way to break it. Her emerald eyes flashed gold with the force of the magic she was trying to use.

Bang!

Bonnie jumped as, one by one, all the lights in the room suddenly burst.

Crack!

The window shattered. Had the spell worked?

Bonnie! Bonnie, come away!

There was a disembodied voice drifting in the air and the young witch screamed as she felt herself yanked violently back.

Light erupted on all sides, dispelling the image of that room; that isolated palace. Blinking a few times to gain focus, her mind worked rapidly to help her realize where she was and how she had gotten there. Only then did her eyes widen as she suddenly became aware of her surroundings.

She was lying on a narrow bed in a dingy motel room, the worn comforter rough against the bare skin of her arms. The room itself was a complete shambles, like the scene of a particularly violent domestic dispute. Vastra, the witch who had taken her, was significantly absent. Two men lay unconscious on the floor and from the way their heads lolled she realized their necks had been snapped.

Bonnie swallowed hard against the bile that started to burn in her throat. This was certainly not the first time she had been around a dead body, but she didn't find it any less unsettling.

Turning away, Bonnie realised she had failed to notice the third occupant of the room. Standing at the foot of the bed was a young man. He didn't look more than twenty eight, his blonde curls giving him an almost boyish appearance. But his eyes, sea-coloured wells of knowledge, looked ancient. And they were fixed on her, drinking her in. She reached out with her senses, trying to get a read on his energy signature to confirm what she already suspected.

He was something supernatural.

"Are you alright?" He spoke softly into the charged silence. He had an English accent.

"I..." She hesitated. "Did you kill those men?" Bonnie asked boldly.

"Yes," He answered bluntly, without any remorse.

"Are you going to kill me?" Her voice shook slightly, but she fought to keep her expression neutral.

The stranger frowned at her words.

"Never," He responded and Bonnie was surprised by the earnestness in his voice.

"I know you must have questions," He continued. "And I will gladly answer them. But right now, we need to move."

"Why would I go anywhere with you?" Bonnie asked. She was immediately on her guard.

"Because I mean you no harm. I went after those men because they were holding you hostage. But I would never hurt you. I'm here to help you."

Seeing her hesitation, he moved towards her. Bonnie instinctively recoiled, pressing herself against the head board to maintain some distance between them.

Raising his hands to show he meant no harm, the stranger crouched down next to the bed so that they were level.

Very slowly, he dropped a small revolver on the bed. Bonnie's eyes widened.

"Do you know how to use one of these?" He asked gesturing to the gun.

She nodded. Matt had taken her out on the shooting range a few times. When his dad had still been in the picture, he and Matt used to go hunting.

"Good. Bonnie you're feeling confused and uncertain about all this. That's understandable. I know you have no reason to believe anything I've said. But I really need you to come with me. Keep that with you," He nodded towards the gun, "and the minute you don't trust me, you shoot me. Alright?"

Still watching him warily, Bonnie agreed. Whatever her reservations, she knew she didn't have much choice in this situation. She had no idea where she was, no money to speak of, and she was missing her cell phone. As much as she didn't like it, this stranger was her best shot.

That was if he didn't chop her up and leave her in pieces on the highway first.

But then why would he give her a loaded gun to defend herself against him? The energy surrounding him was strong and powerful. But Bonnie didn't detect any intent to kill directed towards her. Still, she felt a little better for having the gun now in her hand.

Getting off the bed, she was a little unsteady on her feet. This didn't go unnoticed by her rescuer.

"Are you alright to walk?"

"I'm fine," She dismissed his concern. "I'm tougher than I look," She added, with a stubborn tilt to her chin.

"I do not doubt it," And Bonnie could have sworn she saw a spark of amusement in his blue-green eyes before he turned away, leaving her to follow him out into the night.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

She was standing at the edge of a vast field.

Trails of blood, like tiny rivers, made a path across scorched earth to the funeral pyres that were burning. The smoke morphed into dark, faceless shapes, moaning and weeping as they reached out to him with ghostly fingers. Their pitiful wailing grew louder as they drew near, crying out in lamentation.

"Save us! Save us, we beg you!"

She backed away from them. The light shone behind her, but she could not turn. She was powerless against the howling voices of the dead and the darkness that closed in around her...

Bonnie jolted awake!

She was breathing hard after her dream, her heart pounding. The young witch squeezed her eyes tightly shut until all she could see beneath her lids was white, willing the images from her nightmare to disappear.

She was taking slow, measured breaths, trying to calm herself, when the driver's side door opened and her saviour slid back into his seat. That was when Bonnie realised that it was light out and they were parked at a gas station.

"Breakfast," He handed her a brown paper bag. Coffee and a blueberry muffin, Bonnie mused.

"It's not much but..."

She shook her head.

"Thank you," She said sincerely. A glance at the clock on the dashboard told her it was eight in the morning. When she met his gaze, he was looking at her strangely.

"Are you alright? You seem a little flustered."

A flash of images from her dream assaulted her once more, but she pushed them back. She had enough to worry about, without having to deal with her nightmares right this minute. It would keep for another day.

"I'm fine," She said quickly, "just starving," Bonnie made a show of taking a large bite of the muffin, and then sipped her coffee leisurely so he wouldn't press her. "Where are we anyway?"

He arched an eyebrow at this, but if he was suspicious about her deflection tactics then he didn't let on.

"Somewhere off the Interstate, just past Charlottesville. It's another three hours till we get to Mystic Falls," He told her.

Bonnie's eyes widened.

"Did you drive straight through?"

He nodded. "You fell asleep about twenty minutes on the road. You were knackered, love. Hardly surprising considering what the witch put you through."

The young witch frowned thoughtfully as she sipped her coffee.

"What was that anyway?" She wondered, remembering her continual efforts to find the exit out of Narnia.

"An illusionary technique," He explained. "Very complicated, very advanced magic. You control the flow of energy in your victim's cerebral nervous system to mess with the senses. The body follows the brain's lead. So you can create false images and cause severe physical trauma because the brain thinks its experiencing pain. The illusionary technique is very powerful. And often a very effective method for torture and interrogation," He smirked slightly at that. "But only a handful of witches are strong enough and skilled enough to pull it off. The witch that had you hostage used it to trap you in a mental prison."

Bonnie snorted. "She didn't do a very good job. I knew it wasn't real. If it had worked correctly, I'm guessing I shouldn't have been able to tell."

"Like I said, it's advanced magic and it takes an extraordinarily high level of magic control that very few witches ever master."

"How did you break me out of it?"

"Vastra's concentration was split between keeping you locked in your head, and fighting me off. A stronger sorceress may have been able to put me under the technique as well while we duelled."

"So the victim isn't always necessarily unconscious?"

"Not at all. It can be very useful in a battle, because you can trick your opponent into making the wrong move."

Bonnie put the coffee down.

"You know for a werewolf, you sure do know a lot about magic." She couldn't help but smile at his surprised expression. "I could sense in your energy signature that you're something...not exactly human. But you have a pulse and you're walking out in the sun without a daylight ring so that rules out vampire. However the gun you gave me is loaded with silver bullets. Werewolf looks like a pretty safe bet. Am I wrong?"

He shook his head, admittedly impressed by her powers of deduction.

"You're a smart woman Miss Bennett."

"Obviously not that smart, since I'm driving around Virginia with a strange werewolf; whose name I don't even know," She said pointedly.

He smirked.

"It's Niklaus. But you can call me Klaus."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

They were back on the road shortly after that conversation. Bonnie used his, Klaus's, cell phone to call her Grams and let her know that she was alright. Sheila was obviously worried and wouldn't be happy until she saw her granddaughter for herself. But Bonnie promised she would explain everything as soon as she was home.

She and Klaus had then settled into a relatively comfortable silence. Bonnie sipped her coffee and nibbled on her muffin. But she couldn't help stealing glances at the handsome werewolf.

This whole situation was so very strange. And in the past week and a half of dealing with some very strange things, that was saying something.

"Alright, out with it," Klaus broke the silence. "You look like you're about to burst. Obviously, you have questions. So ask."

Bonnie worried her bottom lip between her teeth. She had not expected him to be quite so blunt.

"How did you find me?" She said eventually.

"I found out from an old acquaintance that you were in trouble."

"Who?" Bonnie wondered who could possibly know that. And how.

She had only been taken last night, and the only people she had been with were Damon and Matt. Damon hadn't been around when they were attacked, and Matt certainly wouldn't have any connection to Klaus. So how did someone know she was in trouble?

"Just a contact. Someone who trades in information, you might say. Anyway, they told me about the warlock who was planning to come after you."

"Not Vastra and the other two?"

"I'm afraid they were just the foot soldiers, love. Not the commander general."

"But you know who he is?"

"I have a name. Tristan du Bois. He's powerful and dangerous, but not much else is known about him. The man knows how to blend in. But all the witches in his employ seem to bear the same peculiar mark."

That got Bonnie's attention.

"A thin yellow coil inside a black spiral?" She hedged.

"You've seen it before," It wasn't a question. Klaus narrowed his eyes at her continued silence. "Bonnie?"

She waved him off. "You were still answering my question," She argued, ignoring Klaus's small – there was no other word for it – growl of irritation. "So this mysterious contact of yours told you a warlock was targeting me. That still doesn't explain how you knew where to find me."

"Smart and suspicious," He chuckled slightly.

"I am smart," Bonnie retorted. "So don't patronise me. Because people have died and now you tell me I've got a target on my back. So I'm not happy."

Klaus looked appropriately chastised.

"I apologise, Bonnie. Believe me, it is not my intention to be patronising. And I did agree to answer your questions. But would it be alright if you answered some things for me, afterwards?"

"I suppose that's fair."

"Thank you. Now, you were asking how I managed to find you?" At her nod, he continued. "It wasn't easy. I asked an old friend to do a summoning spell. Obviously, it wouldn't work since you were being held captive. But because she's also a Seer, my friend was able to summon a pretty accurate vision of where you were being held, even though we couldn't physically summon you."

Bonnie nodded in acceptance of this explanation. She knew from her studies with Grams that some witches, who had the gift of foresight, could use a spell - like the summoning spell - in this way.

"I've never known a werewolf to be quite so friendly with witches before," She noted.

"As a matter of fact, my mother was a witch," Klaus told her. His expression clouded for a moment, and as he watched the road ahead, he seemed to stare at things only he could see. "But that is a story for another time," He said finally. "Suffice to say, you may find yourself losing those assumptions, about the simple nature of things supernatural. I know I did."

Bonnie looked at him curiously then. Klaus spoke with an odd sort of melancholy, the recollection of his revelations clearly bittersweet.

"Though for all that, I am surprised by how evenly you've taken the revelation, of my true nature as a werewolf. So, Miss Bennett. Have I passed?"

The young witch couldn't help the smile that tilted her lips.

"Just about. You haven't given me any reason not to believe you."

"Good. Then you would be comfortable telling me what you know about this mark of du Bois's?"

Bonnie nodded and sighed loudly.

"It started with Sheriff Forbes approaching a..." She hesitated, not sure how to categorise her relation to Damon, "...a sort of friend of mine about a supernatural incident. Last week, a member of the Town Council, Philip Ward, well apparently his daughter had been kidnapped by some vampire. Cut a long story short, we checked it out, tracked the vampire down. But it turned out the whole thing was a trap. The girl and the vamp were in on it, and we got ambushed by four warlocks for our trouble."

"And they all had that same tattoo," Klaus surmised.

"Afterwards, when it was all over, Sheriff Forbes confronted Mr. Ward. But he had no recollection of ever going to her; he didn't recall any of it! And when she asked to see the picture of his daughter again, it was a different girl."

"Tristan set you up."

"No kidding! What I want to know is why? That's the other thing. Last weekend, those four warlocks could have easily killed me. But they didn't. It was like they were toying with me."

"Not toying," Klaus said thoughtfully, his eyes on the road. "Tristan was testing you. That's why his first team of flying monkeys didn't kill you. They were studying you; learning the strengths and weaknesses of your magic. Then he sent the other witch to capture you."

"That's a lot of trouble to go to, just to kill me." Bonnie vaguely realised she should have been more disturbed by the idea of someone wanting her dead. But after the past year, she was used to people being out for her blood, sometimes literally. It was sad, but true.

"But that's just it, Bonnie. I don't think he means to kill you."

A chill ran down Bonnie's spine at those words. If it wasn't her death he wanted, then what? He meant to turn her into one of his drones? Brand her with his mark as though she were his property and force her into bondage? That would be worse than death!

Klaus must have sensed her distress.

"Bonnie, listen to me. We are going to get to the bottom of this. I promise you. With my life or death, I will protect you."

Bonnie looked at Klaus then, really looked at him.

He was a werewolf. She had known him only a few short hours. Trusted him when he told her to. And now he was promising to defend her from some rogue wizard. It was a situation she had never expected to be in, couldn't have even imagined. But the strangest part was that she believed him. She had nothing to go on but the last eight hours, most of which she'd been passed out in the front seat. But intuitively, she knew that he would do just what he said.

"Why?" She blurted out and then blushed when she realised she had spoken out loud. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to sound ungrateful. It's just...why do you want to help me? You don't even know me," A sudden thought occurred to Bonnie then. "Or do you?" Her eyes narrowed dangerously. "Have we met before?"

"Always so suspicious," Klaus chuckled. "You inherited that trait from your mother."

Bonnie gasped. Her eyes widened and her breath caught in her throat.

"You knew my mother?"

For a moment Klaus turned to look at her; meeting her gaze squarely before he replied.

"I knew your mother very well."

TBC

AN 2: So the plot thickens! I'm not too sure how I did with this chapter. It's predominantly two characters in a car, dialogue heavy, and I'm still getting used to writing Klaus. His back story, which you'll learn more about later, will be slightly different than it is on the actual show.

He's a werewolf in this story, not a hybrid. This too will be explained at a later stage. I wanted to have a strong werewolf character because they tend to be treated as inferior on TVD. And you got your first glimpse, kind of, of my original character, Tristan.

Finally, the illusionary technique described in this chapter is actually the Genjutsu technique used in the Naruto manga. I'll be drawing on ninja techniques used in the Naruto manga for Bonnie's magic. No copyright intended. When it comes to that stuff, Masashi Kishimoto is just way better at coming up with cool abilities!

As always, thanks for reading! Feedback is most welcome.