Fear not, what is not clear and characteristic my lovelies. I have plans.

Chapter 4 BF

Bonnie sighed in frustration and threw her grimoire onto her bed. She'd been trying for the past two days to do even the simplest of spells and nothing was working. What was going on? She sat down on the edge of the bed and looked at her reflection in the mirror. She didn't even feel like herself lately. Maybe it was just all the stress of dealing with Elena, Klaus still being alive and a danger to them amongst other things. Her dad's sudden interest in her life as a witch was a very unwelcome addition to her problems too.

She rubbed her eyes and lay back flat, looking up at the ceiling.

"Grams I wish you were here. I feel so lost." She whispered to the air.

She missed her grams terribly, especially now that she was on her own in terms of her powers. There was so much she didn't know or understand and although all of her friends supported her, they didn't understand. How could they? No one could possible understand what it was like to be the only witch in a town full of supernatural people who always seemed to attract danger. They didn't see how hard her struggles were to be the balance that nature dictated of witches. Witches were the servants of nature and balance and it was her duty to ensure that the balance was maintained. So far, she'd failed – despite her friendships with Caroline and Stefan, they were still abominations – they weren't supposed to be. They were dead and unnatural and protecting them went against her role as a witch. She should protect the interests of the living breathing people of this town, not those who should be in their graves, no matter how much she loved them. Her grams understood that. Everything had seemed so much simpler when she'd been here.

God, how she missed having someone to talk to. Anyone to share her feelings and fears with, who understood. Elena and Caroline tried, but their conversations weren't filled with the simplistic topics of the everyday battles of three normal teenage girls anymore. Long gone were the days of talking about boys and movies, where to go shopping and what they would wear to prom. Now their conversations were filled with death, danger and a war with an un-killable hybrid that could never be beaten.

Tears filled her eyes as she felt the weight of what had happened that day she'd almost had him. If only Elijah hadn't broken his word to them and saved Klaus, he would have been dead and so many things would have been different.

Her cell wrang and she sat up, wiping her eyes as she reached for it. She looked at the screen and paused, her heart pounding loudly.

Grams home

"What the..?" She whispered as the phone continued to buzz in her hands, calling from a number that should have been disconnected almost a year ago.

Her breath caught in her throat and she pressed the answer function.

"Hello?" She said shakily, listening.

Nothing. There was nothing.

"Grams?" She asked, gripping the cell tight, listening desperately for anything, any breath or indication that there was someone on the other end of the line.

The line went dead and she held it to her face for a few seconds in shock as she listened to the drone of the dial tone in her ear. She lowered it and stared at it numbly. What the hell had that been?

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The fight was over and Damon suitably appalled by his behaviour enough for Stefan to forgive him. They awoke together, buried under the blankets and kissed sweetly. Stefan's stomach rumbled noisily and Damon chuckled as they rubbed their noses together and offered him his throat. Stefan smiled and bit down to drink.

No sex right now.

Stefan channelled and Damon stroked his back as he sighed into the feeding.

Ok little blood machine.

As he fed, Damon closed his eyes and tried to search Stefan's thoughts for his hunger impulse. He could feel that he wanted more, like he had the other day, so he sent permission for him to stop when he was full. As with before, Damon didn't feel hungry or drained at all as Stefan curled his fingers in Damon's hair and gyrated against him slightly as he enjoyed the feeding. Whatever the reason, it wasn't having a detrimental effect on Damon's body that Stefan needed more, so why worry about it?

Stefan drank at least four pints this time and rolled over, separating them as he panted and closed his eyes.

"Full?" Damon whispered, licking his shoulder and nuzzling Stefan's neck.

"Hmmn." Stefan hummed and licked his lips.

"Are you sleepy again?"

"Just give me five minutes." Stefan gave a weak smile and then dozed off like before.

A big meal would do that to you sometimes – if you were human. Generally vampires were more energized by feeding, but they weren't normal vampires anymore he supposed. Whatever the hell that made them. He scented Stefan's neck and throat for a few minutes, before he heard a knock at the front door. He lifted his head in surprise and tried to clear his brain of the need to scent Stefan's body.

He climbed out from under the blankets, throwing on a robe and blurring to the door to answer it. A woman stood before him, looking embarrassed at his state of undress and he pulled his robe tighter as he took in the sight of the stranger.

"Mr Salvatore?" She asked and he nodded, suspiciously. "My name is Charisma Gerard." She extended her hand out towards him and he eyed her for a few seconds before he shook it.

"Damon Salvatore." He introduced.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, I was under the impression that this was a Boarding House?"

"It used to be, now it's just a private residence."

"Ah, well, your Sherriff mentioned that there were some of the founding families with larger properties who sometimes help out hosting events for the town council and I was hoping you might be able to help me accommodate some of the guests arriving for the conference this week?" She gave a professional smile and he raised his eyebrows in surprise and licked his lips.

He took a sniff of her scent, smelling human and he relaxed.

"You want me to open my home as a Boarding House to your guests?" He asked and she nodded.

"We would pay you for the trouble of course, it's just that there is very little accommodation available in the town and…"

"Yeah, strange choice for a conference venue." He pointed out and she stopped, blushing. "You should fire whoever is in charge of your events management."

"Yes, well, that might just happen." She smiled politely with strain and looked at her watch nervously. "I can see that this perhaps isn't the most convenient time for you. This is my card. If you discuss it with your husband and call me today, I'd be very grateful." She handed him a card and he took it from her.

She knew he was married to another man? Had Liz told her that? He chewed his lip as he read her name and Title – Professor of Genealogy, Whitmore College.

"Thanks for your time." She shook his hand again and turned to leave.

"Um, when does this conference start?"

"It starts tomorrow, so we have the last guests arriving throughout this evening. As you can appreciate, I'm trying to find accommodation rather urgently." She said and he nodded. "Call me and let me know."

She jumped into a fancy convertible and drove away as he watched her go. He scratched his head and moved to close the door when he caught sight of the name plaque. Of course. Stefan had put it up for their anniversary. That's how she'd known.

Residence of Stefan & Damon Salvatore

He smiled and shook his head. The fact that they were romantically connected, rather than simple housemates was established by the '&' rather than having their initials, their surnames and a common between them. Strange how Damon had never noticed how different a picture it painted to have it with an '&' sign – Stefan & Damon Salvatore, rather than S. Salvatore, D. Salvatore. That woman must have had a sharp eye. He closed the door and put her card down on a side table as he yawned and started a fire burning in the hearth.

Should they let strangers into their home, especially with their special nature now? At least it meant that there would be no danger of anyone being fed from anymore. They didn't need the money or intrusion though. Saying that, the Boarding House was large enough to accommodate at least 12 people in the outer building – which was connected to the main house but not so near that their privacy would be encroached upon. He hummed as he thought it through. If these wolves really had wandered here, unsure of why, then something bigger was happening and usually that meant badness for everyone in Mystic Falls. If they were being lured here for something, perhaps the best thing to do was to keep them under close eye. Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer, as the saying goes.

He sat down and poured himself a bourbon as he thought it through. If some of these guests she was referring to, should happen to include the werewolves, he could make it out that he was happy to give them shelter as an act of peace. They couldn't afford to get bitten, because the only cure to a werewolf bite was Klaus's blood and he was the last person they needed around – despite how badly Damon would like him to see the damage he was doing to Elena in order to get him to stop taking as much of her blood as regularly. He must have enough to have made thousands of hybrids by now. Mind you, he had to find wolf packs first, so perhaps he didn't have that big an army as yet. That gave Damon a sense of satisfaction. If he couldn't find any werewolves, he couldn't change them with her blood, so perhaps if he hadn't found any more he could just store her blood and then realise he wouldn't need much more because he had a frozen supply.

Ironic that there should be three wolves here right now, under his nose. Damon's eyes widened suddenly. Wait. Klaus was old and smart. He was part wolf too – the original hybrid. If these other wolves were finding themselves here, was there a chance that Klaus would be drawn here too? If there was a chance maybe the best form of defence was to shelter these other wolves. If they believed he was trying to hide them from the Hybrid then they'd have a kind of alliance against him. It could work.

He stood up and returned upstairs, hearing Stefan wake and channel to him. He went back into their bedroom and kissed him as he sat up and came out of their fort, yawning.

"Was there someone at the door before?"

"Yeah."

He quickly channelled the memory to him and Stefan nodded as he silently agreed with Damon's plan. They should open up the Boarding House to guests and keep an eye on the situation. Damon held out a couple of bottles of his blood to him and Stefan gratefully accepted them meekly.

"I figured you'd still be hungry." He shrugged, trying to seem un-phased by it.

"Thanks." Stefan smiled and proceeded to drink both bottles as though he was starving.

"I'll call her and let her know we can have people stay in the guest house – that way they stay out of the main house." Damon advised as he sat down on the bed and wiped the corners of Stefan's mouth with his thumb.

"Ok." Stefan nodded in agreement.

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Caroline laughed as they fell onto their backs exhausted. That had been the most exuberant sex of their lives and they couldn't help but laugh afterwards.

"That was amazing!" She giggled, panting and he nodded in agreement grinning. "You were so…so…"

"I know! I just couldn't stop. You just looked too delicious." He grinned and pulled her into his side as they kissed and held each other.

He snuggled into her neck, sniffing her and extending his tongue to lick her neck. She squirmed and giggled.

"Ooow! What are you doing?" She giggled and he gave a chuckle and looked at her.

"I don't know, just thought it'd feel nice." He admitted, licking her throat.

"Yuck! I don't want your saliva on my face!" She jested and he huffed a little disappointed.

"But you don't mind when my mouth is in other places." He pointed out and she blushed scarlet and shrugged. "Your loss."

She pushed his shoulder playfully and got out of bed, grabbing her clothes as he watched.

"When are you going to stay the whole night? My mom knows we're sleeping together, it's hardly a secret."

"You haven't earned the over-nighter yet." She teased, winking and he groaned dramatically. "Besides, I'm on Elena duty tonight. We are watching movies and doing teenage girl stuff."

"So crappy rom-coms and popcorn?" He smirked and she gave him a fake glare. "Have fun."

"Call you later." She smiled as she slipped out of his room and headed out.

He lay on his back for a while, replaying their amazing sex and he smiled to himself. He'd never been able to do it four times in a row before. He must be getting stronger. Klaus sent him addresses of places where he could go to feed on willing donors with instructions to make sure that he fed on them to make him strong. It was hard to keep it all from Caroline though. He was technically fraternizing with the enemy but Klaus had promised that he could stay here and live out his life with his friends and girlfriend and actually help protect them all, as long as he ensured that nothing happened to Elena that would make her blood unviable. It had been he who had sewn the seed that giving Elena vampire blood might affect her donations and therefore anger Klaus. It wasn't a complete lie and it meant that as friends they'd all pulled together to take care of her and protect her rather than relying on the blood to keep her alive. Still, if he hadn't been tailing her home when she'd crashed her car last week, she could've died and then all hell would have fallen on him and everyone he cared about.

Klaus had minced no words when he'd told him exactly how bad he could make his immortal life, if anything happened to what belonged to him i.e. human Elena Gilbert. He'd had to call Diego, one of Klaus's newer hybrids and tell him that Elena needed a week off of the donations because of the accident. Klaus had been angry but had allowed it and he'd breathed a sigh of relief about that. Klaus was insistent but he wasn't stupid. A young human body could only be pushed so far.

He climbed out of bed and into the shower. Since the girls were doing their thing, he might as well go down to the Grill and see what Matt was up to. When he got down there he bumped into a few of the guys from the football team and he sat with them and had a few drinks. It felt nice and normal, until he sensed the other wolves. Two guys – one he'd spoken to before called Mike. Mike had been the one who hadn't quite been sure what had brought him here – the one that gave them all cause for concern. Mike seemed a nice enough guy, bit of a stoner though. He was small for a wolf – dark hair and eyes with a slim build. He looked barely old enough to be out of high school because of his slight appearance. Definitely not alpha material at all and perhaps that was why Tyler didn't feel threatened by him.

As Mike went to the bar the other wolf eyed him suspiciously. It wasn't unusual for wolves from different packs to be wary of one another. Where was Mike's pack? Where was this other guy's pack? Tyler stood as he saw the other approach the bar too. Now this wolf was a different story – he had a strange way about him. Physically he screamed alpha – he was tall, muscular with blonde hair. He could easily challenge Tyler here and yet there was almost a beta nature to him. He didn't seem to want to throw his pheromones around like an alpha would. Time to have a conversation about peace.

Tyler was alpha here – being the single werewolf resident. This was his town and he wanted it safe and protected. If there was to be any trouble here, it might draw Klaus here to discover them and not only didn't he want that for their sakes, he didn't want Klaus anywhere near his friends and family again.

He positioned himself casually between them both and they both looked to him, sussing him out.

"Hey Tyler." Mike said amicably.

"Hey. Found some place to stay yet?" Tyler smiled and Mike shrugged.

"Spent the night with a girl last night but no real place yet. I don't suppose you live in one of those big mansions do you?" He joked and Tyler made an uncomfortable chuckle.

"Uh, I'm sure you'll find something." Tyler said then casually looked to the other wolf on his other side. "You here for the conference too? Haven't seen you around. Tyler Lockwood." He offered his hand to shake and the guy gave him his and squeezed.

"Nathan Bloom. Yeah, I thought I'd check out this whole family tree thing. I met the professor in charge at Whitmore last year and she's kept in touch since."

"Huh. Weird not to just have the conference there." Tyler pointed out and Nathan nodded as though he'd never thought of that before.

"Well, at least it's a good time of year for it – especially if you're wandering around looking for accommodation."

Nathan raised his eyebrows enquiringly.

"No moon for a few weeks." Tyler said casually and took a sip of his beer as he felt both of them bristle on either side of him.

"What's that got to do with anything?" Nathan said and Tyler smiled and looked at him, raising his eyebrows and tilting his head.

"Just saying. It could have been inconvenient for some people."

"People like you?" Mike said and Tyler looked to him.

"Yeah and you too right?" He said and Mike looked to Nathan nervously.

"So you…" Nathan said and Tyler looked to him.

"Yeah and this is my town. My pack."

"Is that a threat?" Nathan stood a little taller and Tyler shook his head.

Oh yeah, there was a little alpha in this guy somewhere.

"No man, it's a welcome. I just want us all to understand each other. This town is my family and I don't want any trouble." Tyler was calm and in return so were they as they looked at each other. "We cool?"

They nodded and he smiled and ordered drinks for them, noticing as he gestured to Matt, that Stefan had just entered with Rick and took a seat. Nathan turned and looked towards Stefan and Tyler noticed.

"He's no threat to you. He's a friend." Tyler said and Nathan looked to him in surprise.

"Huh?"

"You won't have to worry about him. He won't try anything with you."

"Why would he?" Nathan frowned and Tyler raised his eyebrows.

"We have a few vamps that live here permanently and we have a truce. Stefan's a good guy anyway. Doesn't feed on people, just animals."

"He's a vampire?" Nathan said in amazement and Tyler nodded as though it was a stupid question.

"Yeah. Can't you smell him?" Tyler chuckled in surprise and Mike looked around them to eye Stefan too.

"Doesn't smell like a vampire to me." Mike mumbled and Tyler frowned.

"No, he smells sweet. So he's a vamp huh? But a wolf-friendly one?" He asked and Tyler nodded. "I wonder how friendly."

"What?" Tyler chuckled feeling uncomfortable.

"His boyfriend, how long have they been going out?" Nathan turned fully to him, his eyes wide with interest and Tyler searched his face.

"His husband Damon?" Tyler asked and Nathan sighed, disappointedly.

"Husband ay? That's a pity." Nathan swigged some of his beer and Mike chuckled.

"Better luck next time."

"Yeah, guess so." Nathan turned to watch as Stefan laughed with Rick and relaxed into his chair, completely oblivious.

Charisma wandered inside and took a seat, before spotting the history teacher who was helping collate for the conference. It was nice to see a friendly human face.

"Mr Saltzman, good to see you relaxed and not hunched over your notes for a change." She joked and he smiled to her and offered her a seat with them.

"This is my ex-student Stefan Salvatore." He introduced and she shook Stefan's hand.

"Salvatore? God you're younger than I expected. I met your husband Damon this morning. I was hoping he'd have called." She sat down and Stefan perked up.

"Oh yeah he mentioned that. I'm sorry, he's been trying to organise if we have enough linens for the beds and stuff."

"So you can help us with accommodations then?"

"Absolutely. We'd be happy to help." He smiled politely and she sighed in thanks.

"Thank you, I was at my wits end." She chuckled and he nodded.

"So everything ready for the conference starting tomorrow on your end?" Rick asked and she nodded.

"Yip, just getting everyone into beds tonight was my last worry and thankfully the Salvatore's have come to my rescue."

Rick smiled and raised his eyebrows at Stefan for a fraction and Stefan studied her. She sat and chatted with them briefly before deciding to take her food away with her and eat at her hotel room instead to prepare. She made her excuses and took her food boxed up and left. She pulled her cell out of her pocket and dialled the numbers of the wolves, leaving them the number to call to make their arrangements personally. This was going to work.