Chapter 7
It was just after 9:00pm when Bonnie and Caroline arrived back at the Salvatore Boarding House. Enzo and Stefan were waiting for them in the living room. That disconcerting spark of attraction hit both Bonnie and Enzo when they made eye contact as the girls entered the room, but they tried to ignore it. They had more important matters to discuss.
Caroline sat next to Stefan who put his arm around her and asked her if she was ok. Bonnie sat opposite Enzo nearer to the fire. She looked at him expectantly, silently waiting for any news on her mother.
Enzo looked at Bonnie reassuringly. "She's ok," he told her.
"Are you sure?" Bonnie asked not 100% convinced.
"Under the circumstances. Yes. They seem to be taking care of her in their own way. They want to keep her alive," he assured her.
Some of the tension left Bonnie's body and Enzo felt relieved for her.
"Any idea how we can get her out of there safely?" Bonnie queried.
"Not yet," he answered.
Bonnie let out a sigh of frustration.
"Can't we just kick some ass and vamp speed her out of there?" Caroline suggested.
"It's not that easy. Abby's under low level surveillance right now, but the Armory microchips its... subjects. As soon as she leaves an authorised area they're alerted and they can track her. Plus the place is a bloody maze and has other security measures in place," he advised.
"So we can't sneak her out of there and we can't just bust her out of there? What are our other options?" Stefan said.
All this we business was alien to Bonnie's ears since she'd always worked alone in the past. But where her mother was concerned she wasn't complaining.
"We should probably just blow the place up," Bonnie said partly joking. All those dreams about explosions were messing with her head.
"What do you mean?" Stefan asked considering that it could be a real option.
"I don't think she's serious Stefan," Caroline said looking at him as if he'd lost the plot.
"Actually, it could work. I'm not saying we blow up the whole building, just do enough damage to create a diversion and get Abby out of there," Stefan elaborated.
"And what if Abby gets hurt in the process or we can't get to her in time?" Caroline asked him.
"Hold on a minute," Enzo intercepted. "You're willing to injure a hundred or so Armory employees to rescue one woman?"
"That one woman is my mother, Enzo," Bonnie said sternly.
"I'm not arguing against the idea. I'm just shocked that Stefan's willing to let innocent people get hurt," Enzo explained.
"I'm sure Stefan wouldn't do it in a way where innocent people would get seriously hurt and neither would I. But considering what goes on in that place their innocence is questionable," Bonnie emphasized.
Enzo looked at Bonnie with an expression that said she had a point.
"Enzo, would you really be on board with something like this? I mean the Armory is to do with your family right?" Caroline asked.
"Family..." Enzo sniggered, thinking about what he had to show for being reconnected with his 'family' over the last several months.
Half the time he felt like blowing the place up himself out of frustration. An explosion at the Armory could help to deter them from their hunt for Lily. At least temporarily. Better yet just incinerate the lot, then they definitely can't get to Lily, he thought. Bonnie would never forgive him if Abby got hurt. And, although he didn't understand why, especially after knowing her for barely 24 hours, he didn't want to hurt Bonnie. It was a major conflict for him where Lily was concerned because he didn't want Bonnie to get to her either, yet he was providing her with information that would put Lily in danger if Bonnie was bullshitting him about backing off.
With regard to the Armory being his legacy and finding out about his past he'd gotten nothing so far. What did he have to lose if they did decided to blow it up?
"If it's the only way..." Enzo said coolly with a shrug.
"Well, if it is the only way we're gonna need to look into it properly and come up with a solid plan," Bonnie told everyone wearily.
"Agreed," Caroline said in support of her friend.
"What else did you find out about my Mom, Enzo?" Bonnie questioned.
"She was captured during a hunt. She was after the same deviant vampire as the Armory and by chance they got her," he informed her.
"How? She should have been able to fight back, escape..." Bonnie said with disbelief.
"The same way that they caught the other Huntresses. Fire enough tranquilizers at them to take down a few dozen horses while they're busy trying to kill their vampire target," Enzo clarified.
"So what, the Armory just walks around with a shit load of tranquilizers everywhere they go?" Stefan asked.
"I don't think so. But my theory is that they've come across a Huntress at least once before while tracking a vampire and decided to be prepared to try and capture a Huntress in the future to satisfy their curiosity," he said.
"I thought the Armory didn't pursue Huntresses," Caroline interjected.
"Not as a rule, but they wouldn't want to miss out on an opportunity if it presented itself. So now they probably do carry human tranquilizers during vampire hunts, just in case," Enzo told her. "Speaking of opportunists, that's why you need to stay away from Jeremy Gilbert, Bonnie."
"What do you mean?"
"The Armory and the Hunters have been tipping each other off," he informed her.
"Why am I not surprised?" Bonnie scoffed.
"Has he tried to call you again today?" Enzo asked with that hint of jealousy he just couldn't seem to shake when he thought of Bonnie and Jeremy having anything to do with each other.
"Yeah. But I ignored him," Bonnie assured him. "Did you find out how the other Huntresses died?"
"The first one they captured before your Mum. She died from an overdose of tranquilizers. Looks like they couldn't figure out how much to use to knock her out and keep her unconscious."
Bonnie shook her head disturbed by the loss of a woman killed fulfilling her duty. "Drugs work differently on us. We need much higher doses for them to take effect." Bonnie revealed. "What happened to the other one?"
"They captured her a few weeks ago. She killed one of the Heretics and was bitten by another. The Armory figured out that a Huntresses blood weakens Heretics," Enzo informed her.
"They only just figured this out?" Bonnie asked Enzo surprised, as she didn't know that her blood could have that affect on Heretics.
"Looks that way," he told her. "But they pushed their luck thinking they could take as much blood from her as they wanted and her body would recover quickly. Combine that with high doses of sedatives and tranquilizers and you end up with organ failure."
"Aren't they scientists? Wouldn't they know that it would kill her?" Caroline asked.
"Sounds like they didn't care," Bonnie said. "All they cared about was what they could do with that blood."
"Maybe not. A Huntress is a valuable resource. The two deaths were accidents due to their lack of knowledge. After the first one they were more careful with Abby, but they got overzealous with the last Huntress. They definitely want to keep Abby alive," Enzo told Bonnie.
"But they still experimented on her right?" Bonnie asked Enzo.
He nodded regretfully.
"What did they do?" Bonnie continued.
"Bonnie... you don't need to know this..." Caroline said to her.
"Enzo...?" she said ignoring Caroline and wanting some answers.
He paused for a long time, looking away. When he turned back to her he could see the anger and sadness in her eyes and he wanted to comfort her.
"They did a lot of blood tests. Injected her blood into vampires, injected their blood into her... They tested her fighting abilities... how strong her immune system is... her healing abilities..." Enzo revealed.
"They injured her on purpose?" Bonnie questioned.
"Yes," Enzo said nodding.
Bonnie felt like she literally wanted to blow the doors off the place, get Abby, then nuke the building and everyone inside it right now. Why not? She thought to herself. Because the role of a Huntress wasn't to go rogue and take out just anyone to achieve her goal. She was supposed to focus on specific targets. But, if there had to be some minor collateral damage for her to rescue her Mom then so be it.
Bonnie looked at Caroline, who was staring at her as if she wanted to give her a big hug to comfort her, but was unsure how her friend would react as she now had a tougher exterior than her 18 year old self. Stefan looked at Bonnie with concern while Enzo watched her with sympathy, but at the same time it was as if he was willing her to stay focused and stay strong. There was a long silence as she tried to process what Enzo had told her.
"What else did you find out about the Heretics?" Bonnie asked changing the subject.
She wouldn't allow herself to break down in front of anybody. But after 5 years of being her on her own when it came to emotional support, having people around her who cared about how she felt again was a massive relief. For now though, instead of dwelling on that thought and getting all emotional, Bonnie focused on the sound of Enzo's voice as he shared what he knew about her current targets.
#
She felt sand beneath her feet. Bonnie looked around and saw that she was on a beach. She loved the beach. The feel of the sand, the sound of the waves... She walked along until a private beach house came into view. Lights illuminated the building and she could just about hear the muffled sound of music.
As she got closer Bonnie saw that there was a beach party outside the house. People were dancing, eating, drinking and enjoying themselves.
Suddenly some of the party-goers began running away from the beach house and more began to follow. But they only got so far before theywere stopped in their tracks by an invisible force. They tried to run in other directions but they were trapped insidean invisible prison.
Bonnie sensed their fear as people began to fall to the ground. The Heretics were here.
Bonnie wanted to help thembut she couldn't move. This night had already happened.
All she could do was watch as the Heretics rapidlytore through the throats of their victims staining the sand with blood.
One of the Heretics, a man she hadn't seen before, fell to the ground and turned grey. He'd been staked. Bonnie looked around for his assassin but they were nowhere to be seen. Another of the Heretics was impaled with a stake but it missed herheart by inches as sheran. Chaos and panic filled the atmosphere from both the Heretics and their victims.
Bonnie looked up at the third floor balcony of the beach house and saw a woman with short red hair. She was a Huntress.
One of the Heretics, a very young looking dark-haired woman that Bonnie hadn't seen before,saw the Huntress and although she couldn't hear her Bonnie knew that she was chanting. Within seconds she appeared next to the Huntress. The Heretic had performed a teleportation incantation.
In the blink of an eye Bonnie was up on the roof watching from above as theHuntress sensed the Heretic's presence quickly enough to maneuver her to the ground face down, holding the stake gun across the back of her neckto restrain her head while she straddled her back. The Heretic bit into the Huntresses hand with her fangs. The Huntress pulled a kukri machete from a strap at her leg, but before she could use it she collapsed over the Heretic.
Bonnie looked back down onto the beach, drifting down onto the sand as wooden stakes and vervain tranquilizer darts flew through the air towards the Heretics. They were running and eventually they all disappeared using teleportation incantations. Wherewere their attackers?
Bonnie turned around and found herself now outside of the Lockwood Mansion. She took a step forward and in a split second she was inside the building as if she had used vamp speed. She watched 7 of the Heretics in the dining room, and again it was if she was watching a silent movie, until she heard the words "get Terina".
Bonnie felt a hand slide into hers. She knew who it was. She turned her head sideways to look at Enzo watching her intently.Hepulled her towards the stairs and led her up them. Before she knew it they were in one of the bathrooms.
Enzoturned on the shower, still watching Bonnie. Hepulled her into the cubicle with him, both fully clothed. Bonnie looked down and found that they were now both in their underwear as the water from the shower rained down on them.
The water flowing down into thedrain began to turn red with blood. Bonnie realized that the blood was hers. She had little cuts along the length of her legs. Before her eyes they healed and the water was clear again. She looked up at Enzo. He wrapped one arm around her waist and pulled her tight against him so that they were chest to chest and her belly was pressed up against his. He used his free hand to cup the back of Bonnie's head then leaned down to kiss her. It felt so real... she could taste him and feel the vibrationsfrom the contact between their skin. He teased her lips with his and she brought her hands up around his back to hold on tightly.
The vibrations got stronger and she felt them move upwards from her feet throughout her body. As they got even more powerfulBonnie realized something wasn't right. The shower cubicle began to shake. She pulled away from Enzo's kiss. He looked at her mouth and brushed her lips with his thumb. Bonnie looked around the bathroom as the whole room began to shake so much that she felt as if she was going to fall. She held onto Enzo even more tightly before the sound of a massive explosion rang in her ears. And once more, the sound brought her out of her dream.
