ii. six months

Damon has to do a double and triple-take when Bonnie descends the stairs of the Salvatore Boarding house. The witch is wearing a jewel green evening strapless evening gown. It cups and lifts her breasts, allowing a teasing hint of cleavage to spill out and then hugs her curves all the way down to flare of the waist and hips. Each step shows a length of toned leg peeking from the slit of the dress.

The vampire isn't the sort to be caught speechless by a beautiful woman. He prides himself on being able to play down those things. He's forever sauve and can turn a phrase, always the charming and elegant one. For a few moments though, something freezes his tongue and he can only watch Bonnie's descent.

Damon isn't blind. He's always been aware of how attractive Bonnie is, even if his attention was always focused on Elena. He briefly debated between she and Caroline when he was trying to have his blood bag and get close to Elena, but deciding that Caroline with her boy crazy madness and need to compete with Elena was the easier target. Once he wondered why Bonnie settled for Jeremy Gilbert until he realized that it was because unlike her longtime best friends, she didn't have a line of boys beating down her door. He never understood that, but so involved in Elena that he never spent too much time reflecting on it.

He recalls teasing her about Kai's interest, which he later chalked up to the psychopath just wanting hands on Bonnie's magic. In hindsight, Damon can accept that maybe the long dead asshole had a dual interest in the little witch.

"Hello, but I say, you look absolutely ravishing," Enzo drawls in a slow, low voice. He enters from the great room, carrying a glass of Damon's prized bourbon. He lifts the glass in a toast to Bonnie. "I'd say that I'm impressed but behind all that fire and snarling, I knew there was a jewel hidden in there."

The saccharine, over-the-top and far too smarmy complement makes Damon roll his eyes in a mixture of annoyance and disgust, but it's the lilting smile that slowly turns up the corners of Bonnie's mouth that makes Damon want to vomit.

"Thank you, Enzo," Bonnie's voice is gracious and somewhat soft. The green of her eyes is set off by the brilliance of the dress and somehow those seem slightly brighter, a little bit lighter in the face of Enzo's far too obvious attempt to suck up and garner favor. He is, after all, not one hundred percent happy with Lily at the moment. Otherwise, he'd be at the Mikaelson manor, hanging off Damon's mother's arm and not darkening the halls of the boarding house, drinking Damon's good bourbon and flirting in the most nauseating manner with Damon's best friend.

"You look quite handsome as well, Enzo," Bonnie continues, reaching the last step. She dips her head a bit, a loose coil of hair curling against her neck. "I thought you would be attending with Lily's 'family.' " As lovely as Bonnie looks and as sweet as her voice is, there is still a faint note of disdain when she says the word 'family.'

"Then I would have missed the opportunity to see you first," Enzo finishes the glass of bourbon and sets the empty to the sideboard table. Tugging down the sleeves of his tuxedo jacket, he moves to step toward the staircase.

Damon beats him there, flashing to Bonnie's side before Enzo can cross the distance. Offering his arm, he flashes Bonnie his trademark charming smile, one that has melted many hearts and spread many legs. "You do look lovely this evening, Miss Bennett. You clean up quite nicely."

Bonnie's lips twitch in an effort not to laugh, but she can't hide the smile or the way her eyes twinkle in amusement. "You clean up pretty well, yourself, Mr. Salvatore."

Still, Damon doesn't miss the not so secretive look that passes between Bonnie and Enzo, as the witch looks past Damon for a brief moment. She takes his arm, stepping down to the landing.

"A creature as lovely as you deserves two escorts tonight," Enzo steps up to Bonnie's other side and offers his arm as well.

"Couldn't get your own date, Enzo?" Damon challenges. He snorts. "Too bad. This one is taken."

It's not petty jealousy born of a fear that Damon will lose one of his best friends, as Ric has accused him in his more sober moments (which are more and more frequent these days). Damon is not jealous of whatever silly flirtations Bonnie and Enzo wish to engage in, nor is he worried that Enzo will win Bonnie over and steal away with her heart, leaving Damon to wait for her to toss him scraps of her time.

What fuels Damon is a lack of full trust toward Enzo. His friend still maintains his neutral stance, when it is clear that he will do anything for Lily. For reasons that Damon pretends not to understand, the other is beholden to his mother and will follow her into the fires of hell if she pretends that she will toss him her table scraps. He says that he will never make a harmful move against Damon and his group, but Damon knows how powerful blind love and devotion can be. If it comes down to a choice of protecting those he cares about or putting down Enzo, Damon knows what choice he will make.

"I think it should be the lady's choice, mate." Enzo gives Bonnie a wink, standing easily and comfortably in her space.

Bonnie twitters. She doesn't giggle, which would be bad enough. She twitters like a little chirpy teenager with a crush. It makes Damon's eyes narrow at Enzo because Bonnie Bennett doesn't twitter. Bonnie is a bad ass witch with the power to hold off heretics at her fingertips. She's not a twittering schoolgirl.

"Who am I to say no to two handsome men escorting me tonight?" There is something in Bonnie's voice that makes Damon mentally stand at attention. Something in the smile she passes to Enzo, so different than the ones she shares with Damon. That smile and tone of voice have that familiar invitation and yearning in it, the sort that Damon has many times seen offered his way by a multitude of women; never has he seen Bonnie grace anyone with it.

"Although . . . I could draw this out. I've never been fought over before." This time she giggles. It's a cute little airy sound that Damon thinks should never come from Bonnie Bennett. Most especially if it's directed at Enzo like she's some air-headed co-ed. It makes him throw up a little in his mouth.

"I find that hard to believe," Enzo smiles, tucking her hand into his other arm. He glances over at Damon, and then laughs knowingly. "On the other hand, lass, considering the sorts of gents you surround yourself with, it's not so surprising. There is no accounting for taste - "

"Please spare us both the platitudes. Don't use Bonnie to fill a void just because Lily isn't showing you favor." Damon's voice is light, fitting the moment, but the words are cold and cutting. His eyes flash darkly, smug in victory and knowing he's scored a point against the other vampire. "What did you do to piss off Mommie Dearest?"

The temperature in the room drops by about ten degrees. Damon's smugness lasts all of five seconds before Bonnie sets a glacial glare to him and frees herself from his arm. Sweeping ahead of both of them, head held high and shoulders pushed back, she strides to the door.

"We should go," Bonnie calls out frostily, crossing out into the cold Virginia night unaccompanied.

It's Enzo who impedes Damon's path, not backing down or moving aside when the other makes a low growling sound deep in his chest. Enzo sets his fingers to Damon's chest, unfazed by the darkness in Damon's eyes. "I know that she's just another one of your drinking buddies, but she's also a woman and sometimes women like to be treated like so. But you wouldn't get that, would you, mate?"

Damon harshly shoves Enzo's hand away and for added emphasis, gives his friend a shove as well. "What's that supposed to mean, mate?"

"Figure it out," Enzo says simply, turning on his heel to follow in Bonnie's wake.

Damon frowns, knowing that he's missed something but unable to piece together what exactly it is.

#

"If you glare hard enough, you might just manage to burn a hole in Enzo's head." Caroline's voice at his side makes Damon groan with annoyance. He gives a quick glance at the blonde vampire, then casts his eyes around for his brother. It's seldom that Stefan leaves Caroline's side, or vice-versa when in the presence of Lily and her mean girls. Of course his brother has chosen this moment to be nowhere in sight, leaving Damon at the mercy of Caroline.

Instead of giving her the courtesy of a reply, Damon snorts and turns his attention back to watching Enzo lead Bonnie around the ballroom dance floor. Gracefully, Damon will grudgingly admit. They're smiling at one another, lips moving in flirtatious prattle that Damon stopped listening to two dances ago. Every now and then, Enzo will lean close to Bonnie's ear and say something, earning him a bright smile or open laughter from the witch. And every time Damon has to resist the urge to march out there and claim his date, with a reminder that they're not here to have fun. They are supposed to be snooping on Lily. He doesn't, not because he knows it will probably piss them both off - that would provide immense satisfaction - but because Enzo doesn't know that the plan is to sneak off and do some snooping while 'the family' is otherwise engaged.

The man who sits the fence and is harboring a constant half-hard-on for Damon's mother does not get in on the good guys' plan.

"Since when did they get so chummy anyway?" Caroline asks, obviously not deterred by Damon's silence. "Since when is anyone so chummy with Enzo? Isn't he still sniffing around Lily's skirts?"

Damon turns a cool gaze to her, missing the days when it would make her flinch away or back down. She's gotten too cocky and sure of herself. He blames Stefan. "Since when did you turn into a hypocrite? It wasn't so long ago that you and Enzo were besties." He takes a sip from the glass of champagne he's been holding for Bonnie. It makes him bristle a bit. Damon Salvatore isn't the man who stands on the sidelines and holds champagne glasses while someone else whiles away the time with his date. Even if said date is platonic and it's not so much a 'date' as fact-finding.

"We weren't besties," Caroline snorts. Damon can hear her eyes roll without looking at her. "We were conveniently - "

"Don't care." Downing Bonnie's glass of champagne, he hands the empty off to Caroline. "And they're not chummy. It's reconnaissance. Something you and Stefan should get a leg up on." With that, he's striding out across the dance floor, and sidling up to the 'couple' as Enzo twirls Bonnie out for a spin.

The elder vampire expertly steps in, catching the witch in mid-twirl and twisting back around to shoot Enzo a grin. "Mind if I cut in?"

Bonnie gasps, her eyes narrowing at Damon. Enzo opens his mouth to speak, but closes it at a look from Bonnie and the slight shake of her head.

"It's been a pleasure, Bonnie," Enzo inclines his head and delivers a polite bow.

With a roll of his eyes, Damon whisks Bonnie off in the other direction before she can reply. He doesn't even miss a step in the dance when she slaps him hard against the shoulder.

"That was rude, even for you," Bonnie points out. The smiles from earlier have been replaced with a scowl and her eyes flash the dangerous Bennett fire.

Damon grins. He likes this Bonnie. He knows this Bonnie. "You were distracted. I am getting you back on task. Or have you forgotten the real reason that we're here tonight?"

"I was not distracted. I was feeling out Enzo." Lowering her voice, the witch dances closer to Damon, an arm wrapped around his shoulder as she whispers her words into his ear. "He's unhappy with Lily, and now is the best time to get to him while his guard is down. He lives in this house. He hears things, Damon. He knows things." Drawing back, Bonnie fixes her friend with an intense stare. "Did you really think I could be that easily swayed by a hot guy paying attention to me?"

The vampire knows that he takes far too long to answer, even though it's only a few seconds before he laughs it off with a weak, "Pssh. No. Not Bonnie Bennett."

"You did." Bonnie stares at him. Stops dancing and gives him that look that makes him feel like he's five years old and got his hand caught in the sweets jar. It makes him want to apologize or go sulk in a corner, and it's annoying as hell that a tiny little spitfire of a witch does that to him when no one else can.

Damon nudges her to get her moving again. Best not to attract attention to themselves. "He is not hot. You really are desperate if you're going to start thinking of Lorenzo as hot. Especially compared to me." When in fault, deflect and redirect.

Bonnie is quiet for a few seconds, lips pursed, green eyes still fixed entirely too intensely on him. Then her gaze softens a bit, the corners of her mouth curl up and she favors Damon with a sly little teasing smile that's all Bonnie and all his. "I don't know about that. I think he might wear a tux better than you."

"Oh, really, Bon-Bon?" Damon snorts and twirls her out, bringing her back in and sweeping her in a slow dip. "Obviously someone has had too much champagne." There's the familiar laughter as she's brought upright and swung to his other side, and the world realigns for Damon.

This is how it should be.

#

Slipping away from the lavishness and revelry is far too easy. The way Damon sees it, they're either being spied upon and one of Lily's heretics - probably the mute - will jump out at any time and toss them out of the party. Or, Lily is satisfied that they're as complacent as the rest of the town and has underestimated them. He truly hopes it's the latter. He doesn't want to get blood on his tux.

Damon follows behind Bonnie watching her work. He knows that he's not much more than backup muscle until she finds what she's looking for. If she finds what she's looking for. She wanders the long hall, opening doors and whispering a spell softly on the threshold.

"Can't you just do your witchy woo and summon everything you need?" Damon posed the question in the first room they peeked in.

"Only if I want to alert the heretics," Bonnie responds easily enough. Away from the dance floor, the music and the pretty bodies swaying, she's all business. The air of seriousness seems a contrast to the flowing dress she's wearing. "They siphon magic so they're very sensitive to it. I don't want them to know what we're up to."

"Don't you mean what you're up to?" Damon prods.

Bonnie just gives him an eye roll from over her shoulder.

The cloak and dagger slow investigation is getting boring for Damon when the witch stays planted on the threshold after casting her spell.

"In here," Bonnie hisses at Damon, ducking into the room.

It's telling that he doesn't think twice about following her.

"What are we looking for, Glinda?" Damon looks up and down the hall before closing the door behind them. Turning, he sees that they're standing in a bedroom, sectioned off to a sitting room and bedroom area.

"I don't know yet." Bonnie moves immediately to the antique desk and begins rifling through. "But there's a lot of strong magic lingering here. Something is hidden here, or was."

"Well given that it's a party downstairs, and knowing Mother so well, I'm going to say that it's still here," Damon goes to the bookcase. He begins lifting books and rifling through. "Think she found the Phoenix stone?"

"I don't know. She found something."

Bonnie's voice has a distracted tone that makes Damon turn to look at her. The witch stands by the desk, holding a journal open. Zooming to her side, Damon peeks over her shoulder, "What did you find?"

"I'm not sure," Bonnie admits. The journal is large, nearly the size of an art sketchbook. It's leather bound and pages yellowed with age. Slanting words written in a precision script fill the page, ink fading to brown around the edges and the sloping loops. Resting the bottom edge against the shelf of her breasts, the witch reads from the journal. "The Phoenix Stone lives in magic and craves blood to awaken its ancient power. Forged of the earth, it requires the magic of life to restore that which has been sealed in time suspended. Only the sacrifice of life's elixir can draw forth the link and crack the seal of time - "

"Blah blah blah, " Damon interrupts. "What the hell is all that supposed to mean? If it's witch speak, translate."

"Blood," Bonnie says. She skims the passage and looks back up to meet Damon's gaze. "I would have thought that as a vampire, you might have figured that out. The stone requires blood to do its work. Whatever it's work is."

"Nothing like the pricking of a few fingers," Damon notes. "Did you happen to read where it is? What it is? What it looks like? Maybe the reason that Mother Gothel wants it so badly?"

"It's not a crystal ball with magic answers, Damon." Bonnie gives him that look that she reserves for when she feels he's being particularly obtuse. She looks back down at the journal and then, quite abruptly, her head jerks up again. Green eyes peer at him with a mixture of surprise and curiosity. "How do you know who Mother Gothel is?

Damon lifts his shoulders in a shrug. "Even I get bored and have to find something else to watch." Before she can make a remark, Damon moves his finger in a spinning fashion to indicate the room. "I should keep looking. You should keep reading."

Stepping away, Damon has only taken two steps when a series of blood-curling panicked screams ring out in the distant downstairs of the house. He's peripherally aware of Bonnie giving a little leap, clutching the journal to her chest.

"That can't be good." Damon's eyes rivet to the door, and then do a quick circuit of the room. In the blinking of an eye, he's cataloguing vantage points, items to be used as weapons and possible escape routes. Plenty of the former, of the latter, there's only the french doors that lead onto the balcony. It will be a long way down, but he can carry Bonnie.

If they can get there and she doesn't go off and get herself killed first.

Even as he has the thought, Damon makes his move. He doesn't consciously realize that he's moving, or even that he's already figured out the witch's next move. Not until he's in front of her, his body wedged between her and the closed door.

"Where do you think you're going?" Damon hisses at her in a low voice. "We need to get out of here!"

"There is something wrong down there!" Bonnie growls in return, that familiar witch fire flashing in her eyes and underscoring her voice. There is a time and a place to be all ferocious and filled with girl power. Damon is going to say that this is neither that time nor that place.

As though to punctuate her words, there is another scream and the sounds of chaos. Those are the sounds that Damon hears with his supernatural hearing, but he knows that Bonnie can't hear. The pounding of feet, the slamming of hands against doors, the racing of human hearts in panic. The smell and taste of copper, wrapped in urine and feces and the thickness of fear. Damon knows those sounds. He's been responsible for those sounds and those scents that only he can detect.

Those are the sounds and scents of a massacre. With sudden clarity, he no longer wonders if his mother has the Phoenix stone in her possession. The words that Bonnie read, ring in his head and it all becomes clear. Too little, too late, however and he can't do anything to save the party goers downstairs. He can't even worry about or look for his brother and Caroline.

Right now, the only person he can afford to worry about is Bonnie.

"So you want to charge in there and what? Hope to save the day?"

"We can't just stay up here and do nothing, Damon! People could be dying down there." Bonnie clenches her fist, but she doesn't try to move past him. That's telling. She could push past him with magic. She could remove him from her path with a few well placed words.

"News flash, Bonnie. We can't help them, but -" The vampire takes her by the upper arm and begins leading her toward the French doors. " - We're not staying here, either."

"Maybe it's all right for you to leave people to die, but you know that's not how I work. Whatever Lily is up to, we can't let her get away with it." Damon recalls days when Bonnie's counter-argument would have annoyed him to his core. That was back before her argument became just empty air as she allows him to lead her along. Years ago when he wouldn't have been considering how quickly he can render her unconscious if she protests too fiercely or tries to fight back.

"If you think that I'm going to let you go down there and take a stand against her witch-pires, think again, Princess." Damon uses one hand to flick the latch and swing open the balcony doors, the other occupied with keeping a firm grip on the arm of his witch lest she does decide that she's the all powerful not-so-wicked witch and head off into danger.

Giving her another tug, a bit more roughly than he intends and earning him a protest of pain for his effort, Damon steps onto the balcony and bounces right back into the bedroom. "The hell?"

Behind him, he hears the bedroom door swing open and before he has a chance to take the offensive, he's on his knees choking. His attention immediately shoots to Bonnie, and while he can see just the flare of a spark from her fingers, she suddenly gasps. The witch works her mouth, no sound coming forth. Her green eyes go wide with panic and she turns to Damon, but doesn't move toward him. Two attempts to get to her tell him why: he can't move. He doubts she can either.

It's only a few split microseconds to take all that in before his attention turns to his assailant.

Correction, assailants.

The heretic, Valerie has a hand outstretched, eyes gleaming as she focuses her power on them. At her shoulder -

Damon swears he will kill Enzo.

"Let them go." The whip of wind and the door closes. Stefan stand beside Valerie and Enzo and Caroline has made her way over to Bonnie. "Relax, Damon. They're on our side."

Just like that the pressure is gone and Damon is able to breathe again. It would be a merciful relief if he actually needed to breathe. Still, after over one hundred and fifty years, his body reacts on auto pilot and he gulps a breath of air. Then he whips his attention to Bonnie, using his vampire speed to get to her side as quickly as possible. She meets him en route, though she only manages one step to his many.

"You okay?" Damon catches her by her arms beneath her elbows. He listens to her heartbeat and her breathing. He does his own physical inspection of her. The damage is only superficial. Blood rising to the surface of her skin out of flustered panic, the pulse of her heartbeat fluttering at her throat in time to the rhythmic thudding he can hear in her chest. The faint hint of perspiration surrounds her, a tightness to her muscles as a testament to the adrenaline build up, however brief. Aside from that, she is fine. Which is a good thing for Enzo and Valerie, no matter what madness is currently falling from Stefan's tongue.

"Yeah," Bonnie nods her head. Always stoic, her voice is firm though Damon can read the lines of tension in her young face and the set of her shoulders. "Just surprised." Her gaze slips past Damon to the other vampires in the room. "Maybe a little annoyed."

"Me too." The corners of his mouth twitch just a hair, and hers do the same in response.

Yes, Damon decides, she's all right. Which means . . .

"You want to explain yourself, Enzo? Siccing your heretic puppy on us like that?" Damon demands.

"We had to be certain that you wouldn't attack until we explained ourselves." Enzo is far too calm for a man who might be narrowly missing having his heart ripped out. Of course, he doesn't know that he's that man and that may be the why of it.

"Explain. I'm listening."

"There isn't any time," Valerie snarls. "Lily will only be distracted by her ritual for so long. You all need to leave. Now. Before she revives Julian. She is willing to allow you to live. He will not be so generous. I was barely able to cloak Stefan and Caroline to get them this far. The longer you stay, the more danger you will all be in."

"You're saying a lot of words, but all I'm hearing is - "

"Ritual?" Bonnie steps in front of Damon cutting him off. Another time and he'd be happy that the witch is recovering from their faux attack so soon. Right now, he just wants answers from Enzo and his new friend. "She has the Phoenix stone." It's not a question.

"She has the Phoenix stone which needs a sacrifice . . . all those people downstairs - "

"Not all of them," Enzo says as though that will make a difference to Bonnie.

"That makes a difference how?"

"It's horrible yes, but your time is running out. You need to go!" Valerie snaps loudly, her voice echoing in the room. "We put up a spell around the house. It holds everyone here." With a flourish of her wrist she holds her hand out to Bonnie, and shows her a stone, roughly the size of a small rubber ball in the center. It's a cloudy white and reminds Damon a bit of the moonstone, except that it's glowing faintly at the center.

"It's a touchstone," Valerie explains. "It will amplify your abilities. I'll help you create an opening in the barrier. It won't last long, just long enough for you to get out."

Bonnie reaches for the stone, then hesitates.

"If I wanted to kill you or siphon your magic, it would be done by now," Valerie gives her hand a shake. "Take. It."

Damon snatches it before Bonnie does. He hefts it, and when it doesn't explode he hands it to the witch.

"You know, if it was geared toward my magic, it wouldn't affect you," Bonnie points out quietly as she again reaches for the stone. She startles a bit when her fingers touch it, and Damon sees the spark of magic jumping from the stone to her hand.

"It has an affinity for natural witches, like the Bennett line," Valerie explains. "It recognizes you."

Closing her hand around it, Bonnie nods. Her free hand sets to Damon's arm and gives it a squeeze. "It's fine. I can feel the magic."

"Come with me. Repeat what I say." Valerie is demanding, and is on the balcony with one hand held to the barrier and the other to the tear drop stone she wears around her neck.

Damon has a million objections and a million reasons to not trust Valerie. He's about to blurt them all out, but Bonnie does so first. In just one, quiet word as she comes to stand beside Valerie.

"Why?"

"Because Julian is pure evil, and I know if anyone can put him down, you lot will find a way."

After that it's chanting, and then Valerie signaling that the barrier is down.

"I can see it," Bonnie tells them. "Right in front of me." She steps forward, and whether it's to peer over the balcony or try to climb down, Damon doesn't know. Nor does he try and find out. He's there in a flash, scooping her up in his arms in a bridal carry.

"Let me guess, your plan was to scale the wall?"

The witch doesn't get to answer as Damon makes the leap from the balcony to the ground. He hears her yelp of surprise before her face is buried in his shoulder, her fingers digging into the jacket of his tux. When she lifts her face to look at him, Damon slides her his trademark smirk. "Vampire, remember?"

"You could have warned me."

"Then I wouldn't have gotten to hear you scream like a baby."

"Princess?" Bonnie arches an eyebrow at him.

"You know. Because you're so - " Damon frowns and shoves the explanation off. "Hold on tight, Bewitchy. We're headed home."

#

Dear Elena,

I'm not one to say 'I told you so,' but we were right not to trust Lily. She had the Phoenix stone and the wonderful ball was a cover for her to commit a massacre. The Phoenix stone is an old, old artifact that was created before the Other Side. It was a place meant to imprison vampires upon their death, to punish them for all eternity. Not all vampires, just the very worst of the breed. According to the lore, there used to be numerous of these stones, but now just one is left. They were carried by vampire hunters, a different breed than what Jeremy became. Upon finding and staking a vampire, their soul would be captured in the stone. Which brings us to why Lily wanted it: she wanted to bring back her one true love, a man named Julian. Now, at this point, I don't even know what sorts of evil Julian committed, but if it was bad enough that some ancient vampire hunter wanted to punish him, then he's probably not the best choice for Damon and Stefan's step-father.

We managed to escape the massacre at the ball. Thirteen dead, because every ritual to revive evil long dead vampires requires a magical number, right? Everyone else . . . well, when they work together the heretics have some pretty impressive magic. Everyone at the ball remembers it as some sort of vendetta against Lily and her family gone wrong. It's just lucky that Lily and the others were there to save as many as they did. That's not me, that's the media spin and rhetoric. They've become golden now, and everyone is either thoroughly compelled or just doesn't realize that all of the dead were the members of the Founder's Council. Except Damon and Ric. For once, Ric chose a damn good night to crawl into a bottle and feel sorry for himself. Not that it matters. The Founder's Council is essentially no more.

I don't know that we would have made it out without Enzo and Valerie. Valerie is . . . a long story. She was Stefan's first love, but she wasn't a vampire then. Just a witch who couldn't cast magic. There's an entire romantic tragedy there which I'm sure Caroline and Stefan will probably tell you all about. If they don't, make sure that they fill in the blanks, all right?

Valerie has a personal vendetta against Julian. I don't know what it is, or why it is, and believe it or not, I don't care. Damon can't leave it alone. He wants the answers because he knows that people like her don't do things out of the goodness of their heart. The only answers I want are about this magical rock she gave me. It's called a touchstone and I can't even put into words how it complements my magic. It amplifies everything, and I can do so much more with it. I don't even start to feel weakened or tired, and yes, I'm smart enough to realize that something that powerful can't be all good. I'm careful with it, but as another weapon in our arsenal? I'll take it.

Where does that leave us now? I don't know. None of us do. Waiting for the other shoe to drop. It's quiet again, too quiet. Lily has been seen in town with Julian. He's good looking, actually, you know if you go for the psychotic killing type. From a distance, he doesn't seem all that threatening, but I've learned that looks can be deceiving. Even Caroline doesn't seem that threatening and we know that could be dangerous long before she was turned.

My goal, for now, is to keep Damon from doing something stupid. He doesn't like the status quo, and you know what happens when Damon gets an idea in his head. I see plenty of nights of drinking and a bad movies, just to keep his focus elsewhere.

Wish me luck.

Bonnie

#

Dear Elena,

Yes, shocker of all shockers, it's me. Writing to you. If we had to take a bet on it, I'm guessing that I'm way more surprised by this turn of events than you are. I have to be honest though. It wasn't my idea. Bonnie felt that I should write to you. I think her words were something about it being cathartic and healthier than drinking outside of the Salvatore vault. Jury is still out.

I'm not going to pen sonnets about how much I miss you because I am not Stefan. I'm a man of action and not a man of words. Unless those words have to do with how badly I intend to torture and kill someone. I have so many words for the sorts of things I would love to do to certain people. Now, don't go getting upset. I don't mean real people. I mean Mommie Dearest and her new family.

I'm sure Bonnie's told you, so I'm not going to sweat the details, but Mother doesn't play well with others. I wasn't a fan of the Founder's Council and the new mayor? Douchebag asshole. Worse than Richard Lockwood. But, all the same, I may be willing to admit that the way he met his demise wasn't of the best. I'm not going to grieve for him, but if everyone had listened to me, we would already have had a heretic free town and a douchebag dick mayor still running things. I use the term running loosely.

Enough about that. I don't see any reason to spend all my time recapping for you a play-by-play when I'm certain that between Bonnie, Caroline and Stefan, you have details of the past few weeks in full technicolor.

I wish you were here. Not only because I miss you, and I do, but if you were here, you could talk some sense into Bonnie. I suspect - I know that she hasn't told you about Enzo. Yes, I may have snooped at her little journal here and there, but it was only to get a little inspiration of what to write to you. I should take the lack of Enzo as a good omen, but I fear your friend may have brain damage that she is afraid to write to you about.

Now that Julian is back in Lily's arms (and I disagree wholeheartedly that he's good looking, no matter what Bonnie thinks), Enzo has been coming around far too much for my liking. Not only does he drink my good bourbon, but he flirts shamelessly with Bonnie. Worse? She turns into some frightening Vampire Barbie clone and flirts back. I want to throw up just thinking about it. Our best witch shows up one night in a beautiful dress, being positively stunning (and thankfully, she will never read these words, so I don't have to deny saying them) and he's decided she's worth pursuing.

Don't fret. I will keep them apart. Our Bon-Bon deserves far better than being second choice. Even though, she's miles ahead of my mother and it shouldn't even be a contest. You know me, I'm nothing if not persistent when it comes to getting what I want.

Damon

#

"Hell no." Damon clenches the glass of bourbon in his hand so hard that a crack appears, spidering its way from his hand. "Tell my mother and Julian to take their 'proposal' and go fuck themselves with it."

"Repare," Bonnie whispers, sweeping her hand over the glass as she leans closer to Damon. Her hand rests on his arm, small but strong fingers encircling his wrist to stop him from throwing the glass. She knows Damon well enough to know that will be his next move.

"You say that as though you're going to have a choice." Valerie sits calmly on the sofa, an untouched glass of bourbon between her hands. The heretic is more subdued since the last time Bonnie saw her, and she feels a pang of sympathy for the woman. It's easy to see that life with Lily and Julian has not been easy on her, and that she's fallen even further from favor than Enzo. Though the latter is questionable. "It's just a gesture. Lily and Julian will do what they want, and get what they want. No matter who they have to hurt to do so."

"Yeah, well, Damon Salvatore gets what he wants too," Damon points out. "I don't kowtow to anyone."

"Maybe it's not such a terrible idea mate," Enzo suggests. "To keep the peace."

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but Enzo's right." Caroline sighs from where she sits. "A sign of good faith. That we'll stay away from them and they'll stay away from us. It's just a house, Damon."

Bonnie flinches and winces when the glass hits the fireplace though she saw it coming before Damon even tossed it.

"Just a house?" Damon snarls. He's in Caroline's face before Bonnie can stop him. "It's my fucking house, Blondie! Don't you see what this is? She's manipulating everything. Showing that she has power, and she's going to use it. It's a symbol and I'm not going to give her the satisfaction."

"What happens when she comes to take it?" Stefan challenges. He slips protectively in front of his girlfriend, placing himself between Caroline and Damon. His gaze slips, ever so briefly and ever so subtly toward Bonnie. Silently asking her to do what no one else can do and get Damon under control. "Are you going to die for a house? Are you going to let our friends die for a house?"

Bonnie sighs and trails over to the standoff between the vampires. She sets a hand to Damon's shoulder. "I understand. The last thing we want to do is give Lily any ground. I wouldn't give up Gram's house either."

"Bonnie, you're encouraging him?" Matt's been quiet, trying to stay on the fringe and out of the conversation as much as possible. But his mouth gapes, and blue eyes go wide in disbelief as he stares at Bonnie. "We know what they're capable of, and they're not subtly threatening another massacre if they don't get what - "

"I know that," Bonnie cuts Matt off smoothly. "I'm not ignoring that. But I know what Damon feels. If we give in to this, then what's next? How many times do we back down and look away before we give them power over our whole town?" She looks around the room at each and every person, her gaze lingering the longest on Valerie and Enzo. "You've so much as told us that we've only been at peace because Julian is feeding into Lily's whims. Neither one of you is really here is an emissary. You're here as a warning."

"Then heed it!" Enzo growls. "Give Lily the damn house. As much as each and every one of you might think otherwise, I think of at least a few of you friends. I don't make friends easily and I don't want lose any of them." Though he's speaking to the room at large, his gaze lands on Bonnie and stays there.

Bonnie thinks that the crackle and snap of tension between them should be suffocating to everyone. She keeps her distance from Enzo despite the shared mutual attraction that's only grown since the night of the ball massacre. He makes her feel like a woman, not just a beer buddy and the resident witch. He makes her face heat and her palms sweat, and it's frightening for her to think about how easy it would be to surrender to what Enzo makes her feel. If only she could trust that she's not a substitute for the woman he can't have. She has no intentions of ever being anyone's second choice.

"And you won't," Bonnie reassures Enzo. "But we won't back down."

The argument goes on and around, and it's circular and never ending. In the end, Enzo storms out with Valerie, Damon breaks an entire bottle of bourbon and after cleaning up the mess, Bonnie finds Damon in his wine cellar.

"I was saving this for a special occasion," Damon says, holding up the dusty bottle of wine. "Since everyone, including my brother, is against us, I thought this was as good a time as any."

Bonnie places her hand atop Damon's, stopping him from opening the bottle. "Don't break into your secret stash just yet. I might not have a bloodless way to keep Lily out of the boarding house, but I might have a way to make sure she keeps her word about not harming another person in Mystic Falls."

Pale blue eyes study the witch intently, and Damon tilts his head, reminding Bonnie a little too much of a predator studying prey. It's one of those uncanny reminders that Damon isn't human, he just does a very good job of passing as such. "Do tell. What's going on in that head of yours, B?"

Bonnie purses her lips and then frowns. "No."

"Not feeling 'B'?" Damon asks. It's the first time since Enzo and Valerie arrived that she's seen his mouth twitch a bit.

"Definitely not." Bonnie clinks a nail against the side of the bottle. "I've been working with the touchstone Valerie gave me. I've researched it, and what it can do. And what I can do with it. Remember the Traveller's spell?"

"Kind of hard to forget," Damon takes another look at the bottle, then slides it back in place. "Wait . . . you can put back up the Traveller's spell?"

"Not quite that big scale, but I can build a barrier to keep Julian, Lily and all the heretics right where they want to be so badly. Here." Bonnie indicates the boarding house by tapping her hand against the nearest wall. "Forever."

"And you couldn't do this somewhere else? Like where they're living now?" Damon inquires.

"Not as easily. I know the boarding house. It's familiar. My magic is familiar to it and I'm attuned to it." Bonnie pulls a bottle of wine randomly out of the rack and brushes the dust off the label. "Besides, we're already here. I can start setting up the foundation of the spell."

"They can't just siphon the magic away?"

"Not if I tie it to the earth and the touchstone." Bonnie reaches out and takes his hand. "I know it's not perfect, but - "

"Entombing my mother and her heretics for the next few centuries? I think it's damn near perfect. Outside of killing them, of course."

Bonnie laughs. "Of course." She smiles up at Damon. "So, we have a plan?"

"Full steam ahead, you scary bad ass witch," Damon laughs.

Bonnie flips the bottle around toward him. "Let's drink to it. 1992. I hear it was an excellent year. Some of the best things came out of 1992."