Alright, so this chapter is a bit of a long one. But not only did I feel it was time to reveal a tidbit of Ariana's plan, the whole situation sort of needed to be set out in a way that was easy to grasp. Let me know if you think I should change it, or if you're enjoying how I'm setting out the story. I'm hoping to make it as long as i can without dragging it out, but i'll add more information in the story soon. Thanks guys! :)

Disclaimer: I do not own anything


One week later

Damon looked over at Bonnie who was seated in the passenger seat of his Camaro. They were driving to Pennsylvania. They finally had a breakthrough in the investigation last week, and they were on their way to talk with a witch they thought had information about Ariana. He had gotten the information from Liz Forbes, who told him there had been strange attacks on young women in the surrounding states recently. The officials couldn't figure out what was going on; the victims had all been left in a comatose state, and one of the victims had even passed away from the attack. They had no leads.

There was a reason the police weren't getting anywhere. Liz had done a little digging and found that the victims were not random; they had all been witches, and the attacks had started only a month ago. After Bonnie was kidnapped, Damon thought to himself. Obviously Ariana was targeting other young witches besides Bonnie.

He could tell she was feeling guilty about the attacks; they hadn't started until she'd arrived back in town and she somehow felt responsible for what happened to those girls. He didn't believe it of course; she had nothing to do with the attacks, it was all Ariana. Every time he saw her brooding this past week he would scoff at her and tell her to stop channeling her inner Stefan for once, or try and distract her with some kind of research errand. He found himself trying to lift her mood almost every day, trying to make her feel just a tiny bit better. He would flirt with her, mock her and bicker with her. They had strengthened their relationship enough in the past six weeks for him to call her a friend, and he hated it when his friends were hurting. Hopefully when they talked to this witch she would get a little peace of mind; understand this was not her doing.

The witch they were going to see claimed she was a distant relative of Sheila's- Bonnie's late grandmother. Her younger sister was one of the witches who had been attacked and was currently in the hospital, so that was where they were meeting her. She said she might be able to tell them what Ariana was after. Damon was skeptical; he didn't know how this witch could possibly help but he agreed to meet her at Bonnie's insistence. She said any information would help, so here they were, crossing the boundaries into the Keystone State.

Besides, Damon was hoping they would find answers to why Ariana was attacking other witches as well as Bonnie. Something had been nagging at him ever since he found the information on the attacks. From what he gathered, all the other witches had been attacked in random places at random times and left there. Bonnie on the other hand had been trapped inside her own house and then held captive for two and a half days. Her abduction had been planned for what seemed like months in advance, whereas the others had simply taken place in what looked like the heat of the moment.

What does she want with Bonnie, Damon wondered. And why leave her alone and go after other witches when she went to so much trouble to get to her in the first place? Why give up so easily?

The attacks overseas, trapping and kidnapping Bonnie, and holding her hostage only to leave her alone and attack other witches; he was missing something. The behaviour didn't add up. Maybe she was biding her time, waiting for another opening. That won't be happening; Bonnie isn't leaving my sight. And hopefully this trip won't be for nothing.


Damon and Bonnie inquired about the room they were looking for once the got to the hospital and found it in a matter of minutes. They both looked through the door.

A young woman lay in a hospital bed, her brain activity being monitored by machines. She was about the same age as Bonnie, if not a couple of years older, with long black hair and olive skin. But her hair looked lifeless; her skin pale. Damon could only assume the other woman who was sitting with her back to the door was her older sister, with the same black hair and olive skin.

She turned as they slipped through the door and immediately grew wary of Damon. He forgot that not all witches were comfortable around vampires; no amount of charm would help him here.

"I don't associate with your kind," the woman said firmly. "I won't speak to him about this kind of business."

Damon was about to say something sarcastic that would no doubt offend her but Bonnie spoke before he could. "He's harmless, don't worry. But he's not here to stay, are you, Damon?"

He glared at her. She glared back and he started to feel a headache coming on. This was the most fiery he'd seen her all week, so he decided he could let her talk to the other witch alone if it meant she got the information she needed. So he simply said, "I'll be right outside if you need me, sweetie," kissed her cheek and walked out of the room with a grin on his face. He'll pay for that later.

He assumed she knew he would be listening in. He sat down on a chair not far away from the room and tuned his hearing into the conversation.

"Interesting company you keep," the woman said to Bonnie. "I've never seen a witch so… comfortable around their kind."

Bonnie laughed nervously. "What? No, no, it's not what you think. It's not like that at all. We're allies I guess you could say. Or friends, I suppose. Nothing more though," she added quickly.

The woman laughed. "Oh I'm not judging. Personally I have no problems with vampires, as long as they don't prey on innocents. It's a shame though; he's really quite handsome. If he were human…" She sighed. Damon smirked. It's like I don't even need to try anymore.

"Um… So, I didn't catch your name when I called," Bonnie said. "And you said you knew my grams?"

The woman laughed again. "How rude of me, my name is Jamie. This is my baby sister Sarah." Damon could only assume she was gesturing toward the girl in the bed. "And yes, I did know Sheila, though not too well. We met once, a long time ago. She was not only a powerful witch but a good, good person. That's how I knew I could trust you, Bonnie."

Bonnie didn't say anything for a few seconds. He knew how hard it was for her to talk about her grams; but she didn't let her feelings distract her.

"I want to know everything you know about Ariana, the witch who kidnapped me and hurt your sister," Bonnie said.

Jamie hesitated. Damon could hear her heartbeat speed up. "The night my sister was attacked she was on her way to visit me. In fact she was right outside my house; I could see everything," she said softly.

"What did you see?" Bonnie asked quietly.

"A woman. One of us. She was strong too; much stronger than I am which meant my sister was no match. I heard the woman- Ariana- chanting a spell and I went to run outside but it was like I was trapped. And I couldn't use any magic. Then the next thing I know she'd disappeared and my sister was on the ground outside shaking… I tried to help her. I really did. But she was losing consciousness so quickly and I didn't want to leave her," Jamie said. "By the time she arrived at the hospital, there was no brain activity to be found."

Bonnie remained silent after Jamie explained what had happened to her sister. Damon could almost hear the gears grinding in her head, trying to come up with some explanation as to why Ariana was attacking witches, her own kind, in the first place. "I realised something as we were going to the hospital," Jamie added as Damon sat there contemplating the situation. He directed his attention back towards the conversation in the hospital room.

"What was that?" Bonnie asked.

"It was gone… Her magic." Jamie replied. Damon's mind went into hyper drive.

"It was gone? What do you mean?" Bonnie demanded.

"I don't know; it was just something I picked up on. Don't you feel it when you're around other witches? It's like their essence. You can sense when another witch is around, especially a sibling, someone you're close with… but with Sarah… There was nothing. It was as if she wasn't there."

Damon could hear Bonnie's heart rate increasing. They were so close to putting the pieces together, so close to finding out what Ariana was planning.

Bonnie spoke after a few more seconds. "But maybe her magic just disappeared when she…. lost consciousness?" Damon waited for what he knew was about to come. He should have seen that something along these lines was happening. He knew it wasn't impossible. After all, he'd seen something like this happen before, only not with such destructive consequences... to none other than Bonnie herself.

"Your magic can't just fade; it's a part of who you are," Jamie replied. "Even after death it remains with you, inside you. My sister's magic didn't just disappear; it was taken from her. All of it. It was like she'd never even had it."


Okay, at this point in the story I've revealed a part of the bigger picture - Ariana is able to take a witch's powers, just like Luka's dad did to Bonnie back in season 2. This will be explained more in the next chapter. What she wants with Bonnie is a little more complicated, but you'll find out what she's up to soon enough. Read and review away, and again thank you all so much :)