A/N:

Due to popular demand, I'm going to be updating this as regularly as I can alongside 'Intuition, Twice Shy'. ;) Love you guys so much, thank you for the reviews, and I'm so glad you're as excited about this story as I am!

Shoney – yes Elena and Caroline are vampires!

FYI: you'll find that I introduce a lot of really minor characters from old seasons of TVD and The Originals as well (like various witches, werewolves, etc) just to keep everyone within the TVD universe. You don't need to know or remember them, though. :)

Also: for the purposes of this story, Katherine and Elena look alike but not identical.

Sorry if this chapter is a little boring. It's meant to set things up. xxx

Chapter 2

"Holy smokes. You're the Bennett witch! This is so cool. I'm so excited! I can't believe I finally get to meet a Bennett witch..." The girl across from me trilled endlessly on and on.

Mary-Alice from the general office had gotten her to show me to my dorm room.

Apparently we were rooming together.

"I'm Bonnie," I said, partly to shut her up and partly so people would stop referring to me as 'the Bennett witch'.

It sounded ominous, and I was far from ominous. Unless you counted my ability to accidentally-on-purpose set people on fire.

I mean, it had been accidental, but... it also had to have come out of some pocket of repressed desires in my subconscious mind, right?

"Bonnie! That is such a cute name. Bonnie Bennett. So perfect!"

Seriously? What was this obsession with me? And what was so special about being a Bennett witch?

I sighed. "And you are...?"

"Oh, where are my manners? I'm Cassie, one of the Harvest witches."

I threw her a stealthy side-glance as we turned a corner after the general office and strolled down a dusty dirt path lined with identical wooden mini-houses.

She had ebony hair cropped into a pixie-cut, and equally pixie-like features. She wasn't much taller than me either.

A Harvest witch, I mused internally, a coven within a coven. Now that was a much bigger deal than being a Bennett witch, I felt.

Harvest witches were a part of the French Quarter coven in New Orleans. They only came about every 300 years or so, when they were methodically selected as sacrifices to their ancestral spirits, in a cult ritual that was said to renew the lease of magic granted to all French Quarter witches.

Harvest witches were killed for the ritual, but resurrected once it was over, in a ceremony known as the Reaping.

It was all basically creepy as hell.

"You're a long way from home, Cassie," I said, hoping that she might explain what she was doing at a camp for delinquents.

She shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm guessing you've heard of the Harvest ritual. The Elders feel that getting resurrected from the dead potentially drives people bat-crazy. And the Mikaelsons are... efficient. So they've sent all of us here."

Delinquent school, miles from home, as a precautionary measure? Harsh.

I didn't say anything. What could I have said that wouldn't have been awkward or rude? So, what's it like to be tricked into have your throat slit and then magically come back to life?

As it turned out, I needn't have bothered about keeping the conversation going because Cassie managed that all by herself. "Davina would love to meet you. She's so fascinated by the Bennett line. But who isn't, really? There's just so much magical history behind it, and it's the one line that has collaborated on huge spells with almost all other covens, you know?"

No, I didn't know. But I really wanted to!

Dad had hidden the Bennett grimoire from me after Grams' death, and I'd never had a chance to look through it. Sucked for him now, though, because I'd stolen it right before coming to camp.

Served him right for sentencing me to magical juvie all summer.

We stopped in front of one of the wooden mini-houses, and walked up the few front steps leading to the door.

"It's not much," said Cassie, gesturing to the house in general, "but it's cozy. And there's a rumour going around that one of the camp activities involves us repainting these! I was thinking something bright and cheerful, like orange or pink."

I hid my grimace.

Cassie reached into her pocket for a key, and unlocked the door.

I took a wary step inside.

It was dimly lit and cramped. A short, wooden staircase cut through the middle of the room, leading up to a loft secured by sturdy railings. There were two beds on each level, one on either side of the stairway.

"You kind of arrived a little late, so... The other girls have already picked their beds. You can switch with me if you want, though!" Cassie offered apologetically.

"Well, which one's empty?"

She pointed to a bed up on the loft, left of the stairway. Then she pointed to the other bed on the loft. "That one's mine. I volunteered to go up there because if you aren't short enough, then you'd keep bumping your head on the ceiling. The other girls are taller than us."

I was certainly short enough. "It's fine."

We ascended the stairs. I dragged my feet over to my bed, dumping my bag on the ground next to it and collapsing atop the standard light blue sheets.

I tilted my head to the side. There was a nightstand and a tiny chest of drawers next to the bed.

Somehow, that depressed me – like it had really begun to sink in, just how long I'd be stuck here. All summer. Long enough that I'd have to take stuff out of my bag and pack them into drawers.

Voices drifted in from outside.

I forced myself upright and peered through the window next to my bed.

There were two girls loitering around the back of our dorm house. One had straight, black hair, and the other... was Liv.

"Stay out of it!" I heard Liv yell at the first girl, before she stormed off.

The other girl stared at the ground for a while, shaking her head slightly then leaving.

"That's Jo and Liv," said Cassie, coming to stand behind me. "They're sisters and they fight all the time."

I mulled it over thoughtfully. "What do you know about Liv?"

"Liv fancies herself a bit of a rebel. Davina doesn't like her, so neither do the rest of us."

"You don't like her because Davina doesn't like her?" I asked skeptically.

Just who was this Davina girl?

"Davina's really smart," gushed Cassie. "She always knows what's up, and she's been on the outs with Liv since forever. Trust me, you don't really want to get caught up with Liv. She's bad news."

What was that saying, again? You know, the one where you'd be more inclined to do something if someone told you not to do it?

"What coven is she in?" I asked. Maybe I'd get a straight answer this time.

"Gemini."

I frowned.

I'd only ever vaguely heard of the Gemini coven. All I knew was that there were multiple pairs of twins in each of their families, and the eldest twins had to 'merge' when they were of age. I didn't know what that meant though.

A loud, clanging noise echoed throughout the entire camp, interrupting my thoughts.

"Come on," said Cassie. "That's the lunch bell. I'll show you to the canteen."

The canteen was an open, airy space scattered with numerous picnic benches. There was a line near the front, where people slid their trays down a long countertop and lunch-ladies piled food on them.

Today's lunch was lasagna, a salad and sparkly apple-juice.

Once we were armed with trays, Cassie began to walk me somewhere. "Davina's over there. You can sit with us!"

I glanced over to see a tanned girl with chocolate locks waving us over. There were a couple of girls seated around her.

And then someone stepped into my line of vision.

"Tyler!" I exclaimed, relieved to see a somewhat familiar face.

"Hey, Bonnie," said Tyler, looking surprised and happy. "What are you doing here?"

"It's a long story," I replied, noting how Cassie now stood off to the side, fidgeting nervously.

"Hey, why don't you come sit with me? It'd be great to catch up," Tyler offered.

I leaped at the opportunity to escape an awkward and unwanted clique induction with Davina and her girls. "Sorry, Cassie," I said to her. "Tyler's my friend from high school and I haven't seen him in so long. I'll sit with you next time, maybe?"

"Yeah sure," said Cassie, nodding her head disappointedly.

I turned to follow Tyler, weaving through more people until we reached a table.

I assumed immediately that they were all werewolves, judging from the bulk of the bodies on the guys, and the aggravated expression on the only girl's face.

"Mason, Jackson, Hayley," Tyler introduced each of them to me. "This is Bonnie Bennett."

I winced. I wished he hadn't said my last name. I was getting tired of it already.

"Hi," said Mason cheerfully. "I think I've seen you before."

Mason Lockwood was Tyler's cousin. I guess I had met him back in Mystic Falls, though I couldn't really remember what he'd looked like.

"Oh, you must be my new roommate," said Hayley disinterestedly.

"Really?" I asked. "With Cassie too?"

"Yeah, and the vampire bitch. God, don't tell me you're already BFFs with Cassie." Hayley looked annoyed.

So our final roommate was a vampire. What a variety.

I stuck a fork into my lasagna. "Why?"

"Because she's annoying. As is the rest of her girl band. And their petty rivalry with Liv. I'm guessing you've met Liv? She likes to introduce herself to all the new witches like she's marking her territory and asserting her alpha-ness or something. How wolf-like."

"She's a witch, though," I said.

"Oh, yeah," said Hayley, "she's a witch, alright."

I was sensing a whole lot of unnecessary witchy enmity in this stupid camp and I didn't want to be a part of it.

So I made a note to stay away from Cassie and Davina, and Liv.

I happened to glance past Hayley then, and accidentally made eye contact with someone.

Awkward.

I looked down quickly, picking at my salad.

But when I looked up, he was still staring at me.

He was incredibly attractive, with dark hair and blue eyes. But it was an evil kind of attractive, with the defined jawline and the dark, angled eyebrows, and the sinister lift of the edge of his lips.

It struck me that he was sitting alone at his picnic bench, and looking completely at ease with it. I mean, you'd expect someone sitting alone to be focused on their food, hiding behind a book, or plugged into some music.

He sat straight, with his chin held high, glancing away only to regard his surroundings with a conceited, imperial expression.

And then his eyes flickered abruptly back to mine.

I stifled a flinch and leaned in subtly to whisper to Tyler. "Ty. Who's that guy?"

Tyler glanced over extremely obviously. "The big guy over there?"

I poked him. "Be discreet! And no, the one in front of him. The skinny kid, sitting alone."

"Oh. Oh." He turned back to me almost gravely. "Kai."

"Kai who?" I asked.

"He's not actually that skinny, Bon. Wait till he stands up," Tyler prattled obliviously.

"Kai who?" I repeated.

"Nothing. Just Kai. Trust me, you don't want to call him anything else," said Tyler.

I didn't push him any further on that particular issue. "What is he?"

"What do you mean?" asked Tyler.

"You know what I mean," I said, exasperated. "Witch, vampire, werewolf...?"

"Oh. I guess you could say he's a witch."

"What do you mean, you guess? He's either a witch or he's not!" I said.

Tyler shrugged.

Was I going to get nothing from him? "What coven is he in?" I pressed.

"He's kind of... between covens right now."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"Look, just forget about him, alright?" said Tyler.

I recognized his reluctance to pursue the topic any further, and decided to drop it for now.

It seemed there were a lot of shady characters lurking within the camp.

I looked back over to Kai discreetly.

He smirked handsomely at me, as if he'd been able to hear every word of my conversation with Tyler.

It creeped me out.

Then he stood up, taking his empty tray with him to clear it, and leaving the canteen.

Tyler was right. He wasn't that skinny.

I slunk back to my dorm house after lunch, turning down Tyler's offer to hang out with the wolves by the lake, and hoping I'd be able to avoid Cassie and the Davina-girls.

From what I'd gathered, the first week was mostly free and easy, with several icebreaker activities strewn here and there. Tonight, for example, was Bonfire Night, like I'd seen in the poster back at the general office.

Well, I thought grumpily, at least I can't set fire on fire.

I slipped into the room.

And came face-to-face with a girl.

She had long, wavy brown hair and an olive complexion. She looked a lot like Elena, back in Mystic Falls, except... more conniving.

"You have got to be kidding me," she protested.

"Excuse me?" I asked, startled.

"You have got to be kidding me!" She repeated.

Jeez. What was her deal?

"I just got transferred from the switch subdivision and they put me up with a human roommate?" She said.

Oh. This must have been the 'vampire bitch' Hayley had mentioned earlier.

"What's the switch subdivision?" I questioned curiously.

"The place where vampires who have turned off their humanity go." She turned around to saunter back to her bed, sitting on it and crossing her legs demurely. It was ironic.

"But you've turned it back on, right?" I asked nervously, staying where I was, right in front of the door. Just in case I needed to bolt.

"Bitch, please. I never turned it off in the first place. Katherine Pierce faces her problems head on."

I assumed that was her name.

She fanned herself with her hand. "I heard it's always hot during the day and freezing at night. How crappy does that sound?"

"But then why were you there? At the switch place," I pressed, ignoring her remark on the weather.

She rolled her eyes. "I think they thought I'd might as well have turned off my humanity, judging from the things I'd been doing."

I gulped. Great, just great. I was rooming with a raving lunatic. Who had the bloodlust of a humanity-less vampire.

"So, what are you in for?" She asked casually, like we were discussing music preferences.

"I'm sorry?" I said.

"What. Are. You. In. For," she repeated, like I was stupid.

I scowled. "I'm not a criminal, you know."

"You must have done something," she replied.

"Well, what exactly did you do?"

"I drained a couple of guys, no big deal." She waved her hand uncaringly.

"Why?"

She looked at me sharply then. "Because I trusted them, and they tried to rape me."

I sucked in a shallow breath, then walked over to her and sat next to her, not caring that I wasn't invited to. "Wow. I'm sorry."

It didn't make what she'd done right. But morality was a fine line sometimes.

She laughed shortly. "I'm over it. So what are you in for?"

I shrugged. "I set my best friend's boyfriend on fire."

"Nice," she whistled. "Is he dead?"

I shot her an incredulous frown. "I'm not trying to murder anyone. It was an accident. Besides, he's a vampire."

"Remind me to stay far away from you in future, then," she drawled.

I laughed. "I'm Bonnie."

"Katherine," she replied.

"Yeah, I think I figured that one out."

Katherine was pretty cool, as it turned out – vicious, sharp-tongued and with questionable morals, but still pretty cool.

I felt like there was a chance we could be great friends.

We wandered around the camp together for the rest of the day, killing time until Bonfire Night.

And when Bonfire Night came around, we layered up with pullovers – because it really did get much colder at night – and set off for the massive fire-pit by the woods.

By the time we turned up, most people were either standing around avidly socializing, or settled upon chunky wooden logs near the roaring fire-pit, sipping idly from red cups.

"They serve alcohol?" I asked.

"You wish." Katherine snorted. "Freya, the blonde tweety-bird over there, she calls them Sober Sallies. God knows what she puts in them."

I got myself a cup and had a taste. "It's not so bad."

"I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of me not being drunk enough to tolerate this stupid camp," snipped Katherine.

I laughed. "Who's Freya, anyway?"

"One of the Mikaelsons. The eldest sibling. She's always in charge of the icebreakers."

We traced the edge of the party and sat on wooden logs by the sidelines, close to the fire-pit but far enough from everyone else. We weren't all too interested in making new friends.

"So what's the deal with this whole camp, then? Everywhere I go, I feel like people hate each other or something weird is going on," I said.

"This place is beyond weird. And something creepy is definitely going on somewhere. But keep your head down and go about your days and you'll be out soon enough," replied Katherine.

"You don't seem the type who 'keeps her head down'."

"How do you think I got out of Switch? I faked it till I made it." She grinned and tossed back her hair. "Honestly, though? The Mikaelsons are a creepy, psycho, dysfunctional family that rivals even the Gemini," she murmured.

My ears perked at that. "The Gemini? What's so creepy about them?"

"Besides the merge?" She looked at me ludicrously.

"What is the merge?"

"Um, Twin One eats Twin Two," she said.

"Wait, like literally?" I exclaimed.

"No, not literally. Look, I don't know much about witchy politics, alright? God knows enough of that goes on around here. All I know is that they pretty much have to merge and it involves them sucking each other's magical energy or something. One survives by sort of consuming the other. And then the other dies."

I was stunned. I hadn't seen that coming. "That's messed up."

"Yup. Even for me," she agreed.

"How many Gemini are here?" I asked.

"Like all of them," she said.

"Why?"

She shrugged. "No idea."

I thought about it curiously as I drained the rest of my drink.

"I'm going to get more punch," I said, standing up. "You want any?"

She snorted. "No. I'll save our seats."

I meandered over to where Freya was standing, proudly ladling out her Sober Sallies.

And then he stepped into my path so abruptly that I started with a shock.

Kai.

I thought he hadn't meant to intercept me, so I attempted to sidestep him, but he matched me, step for step, blocking any means of escape.

I looked up at him.

He smiled arrogantly, like he'd just achieved something. "Hi, my name is Kai."

"Bonnie," I replied, crossing my arms and lifting my eyebrows.

I had a feeling he was up to no good.

"Bonnie Bennett," he drawled, checking me out unsubtly. "It's an honour."

I frowned. "I don't know, is it?"

He chuckled, and seemed about to say something, until someone tugged me aside violently.

"Gotta go, bye!" Cassie called to Kai in an unnaturally high-pitched voice as she dragged me away.

"Cassie," I gasped, pulling my arm away once Kai was out of sight. "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" She turned on me nearly hysterically. "What's wrong is that witches do not associate with Kai Parker."

So his last name was Parker.

"Well, why not?" I asked, utterly baffled.

"Because it's dangerous," she hissed in a low tone, looking around nervously.

I sighed exasperatedly, knowing she wouldn't tell me anything further. "Alright, alright."

She drew back then, looking slightly relieved. "Ok." She nodded.

"I'm gonna go, ok?" I said.

She nodded again, and let me slip away from her.

I paced determinedly back to Katherine, with no drink in hand.

"Sober Sally not doing it for you anymore?" Katherine asked.

"I want to know about Kai Parker," I said.

She raised an eyebrow at me. "He's Gemini. Or he was, anyway. There's some abracadabra politics going on there. I don't know about that. But I do know he's the eldest Gemini son. And he's a twin. So he's rightfully due to merge in a few years."

"But why is everyone so against him?" I probed.

"It's not so much everyone else as it is the witches," Katherine replied. "He has... a magical curse. Or gift. Depends on how you see it."

"Which is...?"

"He doesn't have his own magic, but he can siphon it from other witches," she said.

My jaw dropped. I'd never heard of such a thing before. "How is that possible?" I breathed.

She shrugged. "Beats me. They call him a freak of nature."

I didn't ask her any more questions after that.

The rest of the party was comparatively uneventful.

I spoke to Tyler and his crew for a little while, and met a few other vampires, while managing to avoid both Cassie and Kai all through the night.

Katherine left early, while I was talking to Tyler, and so, around midnight, I began the long trek back to my dorm house alone.

I was eyeing the crescent moon as I strolled under it, lost in my thoughts, when someone closed a hand over my mouth, wrapped an arm around my midriff, and yanked me just behind the walls of the canteen.