A/N: Thank you for the reviews, alerts, and favorites. Enjoy.


Hunt

Dusk had finally reached the edge of the woods. The air was cool to the point of burning. Bonnie inhaled. She had to kill tonight. There was no turning back. She moved over stones and roots, fallen trees and uneven ground to Fell's Church. She stood above the yawning hole in the ground.

Her foot kicked a soft small body. The moon broke from behind the clouds. Her eyes widened in disgust. Dead forest animals littered the floor around the tomb entrance. The vampires had left. She knew they would not return. The house housing the vampires that kidnapped Stefan was empty. Bonnie stood in the doorway, a map and a flashlight in her hands. The next possible shelter was a few miles north. Bonnie sighed and tucked the map and flashlight into her pockets. It was going to be a long night.

It was thirty minutes into her trek when there was a prick at the base of her neck. The trees rustled, a stream of whispers echoed through the leaves. Grams told her the first instinct usually led to the best outcome. Bonnie's first instinct was to leap over the hole and run in the opposite direction of the voices.

Moonlight lit her jagged path as she ran. Up head the trees thinned. A clearing. She passed between two trees and into the clearing. A cloud passed over the moon and the silver light turned blue. Ice water flushed her veins and she turned, hand outstretched.

The creature was caught in mid-air. It fell to the earth screaming, covered in flames.

She snapped her fingers and the tree in front of her was lit. There were seven of them. They formed a loose circle around her, shuffling and snarling at the edge of the light cast by the burning tree.

"A witch," one of them said.

"Derek is dead," said another.

"She'll make a better meal than these campers," another snarled.

Bonnie kept the burning tree at her back as she looked at each one. Five men, two women. All smelled of rot, all were changed. This was more than she expected.

"I made a mistake," she said.

One of the female vampires stepped into the light. Her face reverted to its human countenance and her beauty startled Bonnie. Her hair curled in long auburn waves. Her face was creamy and pale. Her eyes were big and sleepy brown. She had a long lithe figure and her lips curved in a warm, full smile. Bonnie noticed the bloodless lips before she noted the smile.

"We all make mistakes, don't we Bonnie?"

Bonnie started.

"We have heard whispers of you. A witch. A Bennett witch. Bonnie," the redhead said.

She stepped closer. "I had a sister named Bonnie. She was small, like you, and curious, like you."

A branch fell a few feet from the woman, cinders flying up like fireflies against the dark. She didn't flinch.

"She was seven when they put me in the tomb. I was waiting for her to grow up before I turned her. I miss her terribly. I miss my sister."

The woman stopped a few feet from her. "I know how lonely you are Bonnie. Your grandmother died. Your father is negligent of your existence. Your best friends are happy with other people. But you don't have to be lonely, Bonnie."

She held out a hand. "I can be your family. I can protect you. I will never die like Grams. I will never hurt you like Elena. Be my sister, Bonnie."

Tears wavered in her flat, round green eyes.

"Do you mean that?" Bonnie whispered.

The woman nodded. Bonnie reached out, entranced. At the very moment Bonnie was about to take the woman's hand, she flicked her wrist to the fallen branch and sent it straight into the woman's chest.

"I'd rather be miserable for the rest of my human life," Bonnie said as the woman shriveled and fell to the ground.

The vampires stood in shock as Bonnie gazed at them. More branches fell but they didn't hit the ground. They hovered in the air, smoking stakes.

Bonnie grinned. "Anyone else like to try that psychoanalysis crap?"


Oh, yes.

Not five minutes in the woods and the whiff of a campfire and two hot and heavy twenty-somethings float by. Damon grinned. All that blood rushing, flowing, beating. He shivered. Post-coital food was delicious. And since he wasn't getting any, he would have to live vicariously through two idiots who should have taken some time to watch the five o'clock news.

Live vicariously. The excitement of a guaranteed decent meal dimmed. The only reason he was out slumming was to escape the nausea-inducing make-out sessions of Stefan and Elena. Seriously, why was Elena over almost every night? And why wasn't Jenna storming the Salvatore manor, threatening and wringing her hands and frowning in the Gilbert way?

Damon picked up a stone and chucked it at a nearby tree, splintering it. It was exhausting, being in the shadows, being a good fucking sport, being an animal, being whatever people needed him to be. It was his curse to always live in the past, and to always want what he could never have.

Fuck it, this moping was for Stefan. Damon sniffed the air. A forest fire somewhere to the south, a hunter doing some illegal hunting (food first, fun later), and…

"Mmm, la petite mort."


The moon shone full and bright. Bonnie let the power drain from her. Her shoulders sagged. Shriveled bodies littered the ground around her. She thought of the first vampire she killed. All that was left was a scattering of charred bodies.

Bonnie held out her hands. "Incendia," she began.

A hearty clap rang out. Bonnie whirled around.

"Oh, that was good. That was really good."

Bonnie searched the wood but saw nothing.

"You are a special one. An ordinary witch could fend off maybe three. But a whole seven?" A low whistle cut through the air.

A shadow darted at the edge of her vision.

"Where are you?" Bonnie yelled.

"Behind you," a low voice said.

Bonnie turned to see more darkness. Laughter skittered throughout the woods.

"Bonnie Bennett. I am intrigued. Let us make this a real fight, hmmm?"

"Who are you?"

A strange stillness entered the atmosphere. Bonnie balled her fists. Incantations and spells whirred through her brain.

"You're going to pay to find out."

A forceful shove into her stomach sent her flying. Bile tickled the back of her throat as air rushed out her mouth. The clear sense of fear and falling wiped out all other knowledge. She crashed to the forest floor, tumbling through underbrush until her ribs jarred against a rock. For a moment she couldn't move. Then she heard a chuckle and she was up, running blindly past trees. She had to think, there had to be—

Something slammed into her back. Dirt entered her mouth and nose. A rough hand flipped her over. There was an audible pop and pain ripped through her but she didn't scream. Not until she saw gleaming white fangs inches from her face.


The bodies of the happy couple were nowhere to be seen. Damon lounged on their sleeping bag, humming as the fire spit and crackled. The woods. The safety of darkness and a controlled burn. He opened one eye to the fire. The heat warmed the soles of his feet. With all the blood running through him, he could live as a human for the next week or so. Warmth was a quality he missed. He liked the toasty feeling, the pleasant burn of the sun on his face, the even pleasanter burn of whiskey pooling in his belly. That was what the evening lacked, a bottle of Jim Beam. His eye closed. Sleep began to drift over his mind.

A scream shook Damon out of his sated state. He leapt up and doused the fire. The scream rang in his brain like a bell in his ear. Familiar. Moonlight glinted off his darkened eyes as they scanned the outlying area. It was dark and quiet, no movements out of the ordinary. There was nothing out there yet he remained in true form, unable to shake the feeling that he wasn't looking in the right place, that there was something…weird going on.

An explosion of sound sent him cringing to the ground. Damon sprang up. He could taste the fear in the air. The scream vibrated in his head, shifting through his memories. He saw a ring of fire, felt anger so clean and pure it startled him into action. Bonnie. He remembered and like a veil lifting he saw her running through the trees.

The blood. It was intoxicating. Every drop that hit the floor was ripe with adrenaline, with power. And then just as overwhelming was the stench of his kind. Its hunger was putrid. This was an old vampire. A dangerous vampire.

Damon snarled. It was a good thing he fed well. He had a witch to throttle.

Bonnie ran. She didn't think about what came out of her hand or that her arm was limp or that her leg started to cramp or that she was gasping for breath. She ran.

A road emerged through the trees and she nearly collapsed from joy. She was close. She was so close.

"Tsk, tsk."

Bonnie saw sky and the tops of trees and then the world fell on her, pressing her body into the dirt. A hand clasped around her throat. Pure black eyes filled her vision.

A leathery tongue licked the bulging artery of her neck. "You should feel your heart beating…like a stuck little bird."

She gagged and struggled while it chuckled. "That's it, pump your blood, make it thick with your anger and your fear. God, you're a fighter aren't you?" She dug her fingernails into its cheek. Her fingers became slippery. The hand around her throat squeezed harder but she didn't stop. She made a fist and punched.

The vampire flew off her and into the trunk of a tree. She rolled over and dug her hand into the dirt to pull herself to her knees but couldn't get to her feet. She crawled to the nearest trunk and sat against it. Her arm was numb, her lungs burned, her throat ached.

A dark figure approached. "That hurt Bonnie," it said as it stood over her. It nudged her boot and laughed. "I think the bird is spent. Maybe I'll take a piece as a prize, hm?" It bent closer to her, blocking out the moon and the air.

Bonnie cried out as she turned her face.

"All this speeching. Is that a villain thing?"

The vampire turned.

"Damon Salvatore, as I live and breathe," the vampire said.

"Jean-Luc Quartier. I thought you bit the wood a hundred years ago."

Jean-Luc shrugged. "I came to this damned place for a visit and ended up missing a century locked in a tomb. You know how that is."

Damon nodded towards Bonnie. "Looks like you're having a little trouble getting the food to your mouth."

Jean-Luc looked back at her with a patient smile. "No trouble. Just tenderizing the meat."

Damon sped forward, grabbed Jean-Luc by the throat and lifted him into the air. It was obvious he had been snacking on deer and rabbits.

"The witch is off limits."

Jean-Luc grinned. "She was off her leash. I think that makes her free for consumption."

Damon smiled tightly. "Yes, my mistake. Can't go for a quickie without any problems with that one. But she's mine. And I'm not through with her yet."

"I will look elsewhere then," Jean-Luc said. Damon set him down. Jean-Luc rubbed his neck.

Damon stepped to Bonnie. Blood rushed to her face and she gritted her teeth in aggravation.

"Bonnie, did I ever talk to you about breaking off more than your pretty little mouth can chew?"

Bonnie tried to stand but slid to the ground with a hiss of pain. "Give me a minute," she gasped when Damon came closer.

"Look, I'm all for empowerment, but it's pretty flimsy when it's all that's standing between a very old, extremely hungry vampire and his very clueless prey," he said. He bent down and locked eyes with Bonnie. Moonlight fell on half her face and shifted like shadows. Her green eyes were wide and bright and that damn warmth appeared. Not the toasty kind. The slick skin, hot mouth, uncomfortable as hell kind.

"Stop it," he said.

"Stop what?"

"Whatever shit you're pulling. I'm trying to save you and—"

Before she even opened her mouth he saw her eyes shift beyond him. He tensed and began to turn—

"Damon!"

—and got a kick square to the jaw. It cracked before he was conscious the action occurred. He landed far from Bonnie. Jean-Luc had him up in two seconds.

"Did you really believe it would be that easy?"

Damon growled. Jean-Luc laughed. "A hearty meal and a good kill. A top night, won't you agree?"

Jean-Luc delivered a staggering blow straight to Damon's heart and threw him into Bonnie's tree. He dropped in front of her, body in shock.

Bonnie dragged herself to him. "Damon. Damon, get up. He's going to kill us."

"Are you sure? Cause with all this foreplay I thought we might get some," he coughed.

Jean-Luc sped over Damon, grabbed Bonnie by the neck and pinned her to the ground yards away. Damon sprang up and pounced on Jean-Luc. The two vampires tussled as Bonnie pulled herself closer to the road. A hand grabbed her ankle and yanked her back. She screamed.

Jean-Luc crawled up her legs, his face twisted and dark with hunger. A clawed hand ripped through her sweater and blood fragranced the air. Jean-Luc forgot her neck and lolled his tongue over the marks on her side. Bonnie frantically searched the forest floor for something, anything to strike him with. Her hand grasped something solid and moveable.

Not enough blood escaped from her wound. Jean-Luc sank his teeth into her side and Bonnie yelped. She raised the object and saw Damon at Jean-Luc's back.

"Damon," she said. Jean-Luc raised his head in an agonized gasp as a stake went through his heart. Damon gave it a vicious twist. Jean-Luc withered in seconds. He tossed the carcass aside and knelt before Bonnie. His face was drawn.

His eyes fixed on the blood streaming from her abdomen. The fragrance of it forced his head lower.

A trembling hand covered the wound and Damon remembered. He slipped an arm under her back and knees and picked Bonnie up in one smooth movement.

"Put me down…I can walk," she protested.

"No," Damon said and jostled her a bit.

Bonnie sucked in air as dizziness overwhelmed her.

"I think…I think I did too much," she said before passing out.

Damon reached the road and looked down at her scratched and dirty face. "Just wait until you regain consciousness. Idiot."


Stefan looked at his cell and grimaced. He set it aside as he reached for Elena's laptop.

"Who is it?" Elena asked, tugging it away from his hands.

"No one as important as this paper about the Cuban missile crisis," he said. Elena narrowed an eye and gave him the laptop. She grabbed the phone.

"Damon?" she answered.

Stefan sighed as Elena turned away from him.

"Hold on, I'll get him," she said. She pressed the cell into her shoulder. Stefan shook his head. "Take it," she mouthed and then yelled, "Stefan!"

"Hang up," he mouthed back but the phone was at his ear. Elena glared at him.

"What?"

"I hope I didn't drag you away from boring Elena," Damon said.

"On the contrary, she's boring me," Stefan said. Elena smiled and went back to the table.

"Oh, how perfect. Anyway, I have a situation that needs your attention. Come home. Now," Damon said and hung up. Stefan heard the command in his brother's voice, as he had many times before, but it took the jangle of his keys for him to realize he was actually going to obey.

"Is everything okay?" Elena asked as she followed him to the front door. Stefan shrugged on his jacket and gave her a quick kiss.

"It's Damon so no. I'll call you when I know more," he said.

As soon as he stepped outside he paused as a whiff of blood entered his consciousness. This blood was familiar.

"Stefan?"

Elena stood on the porch. From here he read the immediate worry in her eyes. He went to her, gave her another kiss, and was in his car in five seconds. For her benefit he revved the engine and sped away. He didn't see it, but he knew she shook her head with an irritated smile as she went inside. He liked that he could erase that worry.

It didn't take him long to pull up to the house. He didn't see Damon's car nor did he see any lights on, but he felt his brother's presence, that and another. He got out of the car and was in the foyer in two steps.

"In here," Damon called.

Here was the kitchen. Stefan blinked when the bright lights hit his eyes, and then blinked for a different reason. Bonnie was on the wooden kitchen block and Damon stood over her.

He couldn't recognize Bonnie's blood even though it dripped like a leaking faucet from a horrible bite wound in her side. He couldn't even recognize her scent—everything was tinged with a kaleidoscope of blood types.

Stefan noticed her arm hanging at an awkward angle. He looked to Damon with darkened eyes. "What happened?"

Damon bit his wrist and put it to Bonnie's mouth. "Red Riding Hood got her ass kicked."

It wasn't until Stefan came closer that he got a full look at Damon. He was pale and the skin around his eyes were sunken in and black. His lips were chapped. His clothes hung off in black shreds.

Stefan grabbed Damon's other wrist and held it up. It hadn't healed. He saw muscle and tissue beneath the continuous bleeding. "What the hell is happening?"

"Obviously I'm not healing. And neither is she," Damon shook off Stefan's grasp, "I need more blood. Fresh blood."

About fifty bags of blood lay scattered around their feet. "Why isn't this working?" Stefan asked.

"I don't know Stefan. Maybe it's the regurgitated blood, maybe the moon isn't high enough, who the fuck cares about why. I need fresh blood. She needs to stop bleeding."

They stared at each other. Fresh blood for Damon meant some unsuspecting human. Stefan chafed under what he knew Damon needed. He couldn't hunt a human for blood. The thought made him physically ill.

"We should take her to a hospital," Stefan suggested. Damon grabbed Stefan by the neck. For all the blood loss, Damon had lost little of his strength.

"I'm not in the mood to spell out how stupid that would be," Damon forced Stefan's head down to hear Bonnie's shallow breath. "I need that blood. I don't care from what. Whatever eases your precious conscience. Just get it and come back."

Stefan shot back a couple feet the moment he was released. Damon fixed his eyes on him and for the first time in ages he felt like a little brother, inexperienced and at the mercy of his elder's knowledge. Stefan disappeared from the kitchen and took a deep breath of cool night air.

He touched the cell in his pocket. Elena…no, Damon made it clear Elena wasn't to be involved by not mentioning her. He'll call her when Bonnie was out of danger.

The soft step of a deer had him moving across the lawn and into the woods as silent as a shadow.

Damon heard the front door click shut and slumped against the table. He withdrew his wrist and put his head in his hands. Damn Stefan. He thought he had enough strength to maybe sneak out and tap a human source but playing enforcer sapped what was left of it.

He looked at Bonnie. Stefan hadn't noticed that she was practically naked on the table. Under different, less bloody circumstances he would love to sit back and admire the functional black cotton bra that runneth over coupled with the ridiculous lace pink panties with small pink bows. She had a great body. Smooth and tight all over. A tendril of that telltale heat curled within him and he straightened.

Her mouth parted and through bloodied teeth he heard her wheezing. It would be his luck that she had internal injuries. Humans were so fragile. His eyes swept over her body once more before settling on her face.

If she didn't sound like an asthmatic he would have thought she were dead. A mixed bubble of emotion turned his eyes from her gray face to her arm. The least he could do was set it.

"I really wish you could feel this," Damon whispered before popping the bone back into the socket. He went to her swollen ankle and prodded it. A sprain. The dull thud of her heartbeat quickened by a fraction.

"Bonnie?"

That tendril of heat broadened. He ran a finger along the sole of her good foot. To the undead eye, the toes moved as if shocked. He touched her recently set arm and she moaned. The wheezing deepened. He watched her eyelids move then crack open.

"Damon."

Stefan stood behind him. Damon could smell the warm blood in him. His mouth watered.

Stefan moved to bite his wrist but Damon jerked his head. "No. If she feeds, it's from me."

Stefan retracted his teeth and gave Damon an odd look. "It's a little too late to start staking claims, Damon."

"Pun intended?" Damon asked and Stefan shook his head.

"There is a fawn out back."

Damon was gone before Stefan said another word. The room became less tense with his absence and he saw Bonnie as if for the first time. She only had on underwear. He immediately averted his eyes to find hers open.

Stefan swam before her, dissolving and reforming every time she blinked. Tears tickled the side of her face when she saw his concern. She tried to speak but the effort made her dizzy.

"Bonnie, it's okay. You're going to be okay," Stefan said. His voice sounded so far away. She blinked and saw Jean-Luc, his face hideous and teeth dripping with blood. Her blood. Panic rose and she started to gag. Stefan placed his hands on her shoulders as she began to move. The effect was like dropping her into an ice bath. She gagged in earnest. Bonnie shook; her eyes were huge and her nails clawed at the table.

Stefan vanished as she was pulled up. Her breath came out in shortened puffs and her shaking softened. Blue eyes stood out clear from the hazy image of a kitchen. Their electricity shot right through to her bones and she inhaled despite the enormous pain.

"Alright trouble, down the hatch like a good little witch."

Soft flesh made contact with her lips and liquid ran down her throat. She was too startled to do anything but swallow. It was warm and tasted sweet, tasted clean.

There was a rushing in her ears. The blue eyes crackled and sparked. A face formed around them. Dark hair fell into them, dark eyebrows rose above them and lips smirked below them.

Her eyelids drooped as her mind began shutting down. She looked at that face for as long as consciousness allowed, sure that if she stopped she would be sucked back into a painful void.

"Go to sleep, Bonnie. Go to sleep."

The voice wrapped around her brain and Bonnie floated into a smooth, silky dark.


Stefan watched Elena pace. She was talking but the long strides and the swing of her heavy hair distracted him from her rant about Damon.

"I can't believe him! What was he thinking? What was Bonnie thinking? I mean, what were they doing together, out in the woods? They hate each other," Elena stopped pacing and turned to Stefan, "don't they hate each other?"

Stefan nodded and Elena continued. "Damon must have compelled her."

"Witches can't be compelled."

"Oh, glad that you're listening," Elena replied and sat down in a huff.

They leaned back into the leather couch. "I know you don't trust Damon—"

"No, I do," Elena interrupted, "that's the problem."

Stefan frowned. "I'm not following."

"Damon wouldn't put Bonnie in danger because…" Elena toyed with a button on his shirt, "because I care about her. And like you, he wouldn't put someone I love in danger."

He understood. It was one thing if Damon loved Elena solely based on her appearance, but a different thing entirely if he loved Elena for the same reason Stefan loved her—because she was nothing like Katherine. She was what Katherine should have been; she was what they thought she was.

Stefan rubbed Elena's back and she relaxed into his side, resting her head on his shoulder. His eyes drifted over to the rays falling onto the stack of books Damon left in a corner. There was no 'if'. He did love her. Isobel put it out there and it appeared in Damon's antagonism towards anyone not Elena.

"History won't repeat itself," Stefan murmured. Elena kissed the side of his mouth.

"No, it won't."

Stefan smiled. "I'm that easy to read?"

"I've had a lot of time to look at you," Elena said and gave him another kiss, this time slow and deep. She pulled back with a sigh and stood up.

"I should check on Bonnie."

Stefan drew her back down. "Nothing has changed from half an hour ago. She's fine. And Damon is with her."

Elena raised an eyebrow. "Not very reassuring, babe."