Chapter 7

Bonnie watched as Luca trailed off from their table at the Mystic grill to the far corner where the restrooms were located. She glanced down at her wrist watch and wasn't shocked to see two hours had flown amongst them as they jumped from one topic of conversation to the next.

It started at magic and her explaining what had happened in the tomb with Damon and Katherine. It then switched to his father, school, and friends. Bonnie was surprised to learn that Luca didn't miss any friends from back home cause he didn't really have any to begin with. He was a "loner" as he put it. He explained to her that his life wasn't made to have friends. That it would get hard explaining the wounds inflicted on him from the monsters of the night, the absent days from school, or why his parents shadowed his every move.

In the end, Luca felt it better to be alone cause he didn't have to tell lies and then there'd be no chance for anyone he got close with to get caught at the wrong place at the wrong time to meet their death like so many of his parents' friends had.

Bonnie couldn't help but ach for Luca and all he had to deal with from such an early age. It made Bonnie reflect on her Grams decision to tell her about herself at a later stage in life. She hadn't realized it in the beginning, but her Grams had spared her.

Bonnie had gotten a childhood she could fondly look back on with normal memories with no monsters to frighten her. She couldn't say the same for Luca.

"Hey, where did your mind wonder off to" Luca asked while taking his seat again by her side.

"To you" Bonnie replied simply as she moved her chair back, so she was facing Luca head on as she grabbed his hand that was on the table. "I can't help but feeling like…frankly…a brat, compared to you."

"What!" Luca exclaimed at Bonnie in disbelief.

"Maybe brat isn't the right word, but I've been so self involved, angry, and cursed a few people in my head for being who I am and the predicaments I've been in thus far." Bonnie stated as she tried to get across at how amazed she was by him.

"It just seems so silly compared to what you've lost, sacrificed and had to deal with. I've had a childhood, I have friends that I can turn to, and I have a father who gives me freedom even though I can see the doubt and hesitation in his eyes when I leave the front door."

"Bonnie…." Luca started to say as he took a hold of her chair by the leg and dragged her closer, so their knees grazed along each other. He took a second gathering his thoughts as he reached out to entangle her hands with his and said "I knew you were special when I bumped into you that first time, but hearing you say all these things just makes you a rare gem in my books Bonnie Bennett."

Luca looked down at their joined hands as he took a shaky breath before continuing to speak, "When…when we channeled each other in the tomb….I… I went beyond the chant we were doing for the spell and I probed inside you. I truly am sorry….it's not one of my finest moments…I … I know I shouldn't have invaded your privacy like that.

Bonnie was taken aback at Luca' confession and her hands in his slightly started to move away from his, but stopped on their own accord when Luca's eyes drifted up towards her own. She saw regret for his actions but she also saw amazement in them too, which she couldn't ignore.

"What did you see Luca?" Bonnie bluntly asked.

"It's not what I saw, it's what I felt. There is so much compassion and warmth inside you that I wouldn't mind making you my vacation destination." Luca smilingly said as he saw a flash of humor light up Bonnie's eyes.

"Joking aside, I've been spilling my guts to you for the past hour or so because I feel guilty for taking the shortcut into getting a sense of who you are, but I'm really glad I did cause….BonnieI felt the power that's stored inside of you and it's beyond even what I'm capable of." Luca stated excitedly as he took one of his hands and brought it to trace along her smooth jaw where his thumb settled against her chin and his fingers draped leisurely down the column of her neck.

"I want to help you harness that power that's waiting to bust out of you Bonnie. I want to be there the day you come into your own as the legacy of your last name entails. I knew you were something special but what I felt had me awake for hours….you have completely captured my attention and focus Bonnie." Luca finished saying

Bonnie was so caught up in the lazy, almost enchanting way Luca spoke his words that she didn't even realize she had leaned closer into Luca' personal space. Not until Luca's thumb caressed her bottom lip before he brought his mouth to skim so gently against her own- stunning her still. He took his time in coercing her mouth to comply with his own with his steady and supple lips working at an agonizing slow pace that had her responding out of sheer impatience that he had built up inside of her.

It wasn't lightening and thunder at first contact, but she never had liked those two anyways. Luca took his time as he took her bottom lip and teased it. Bonnie felt the insides of her turn to liquid as she earnestly gave into the kiss.

As her lungs burned from the lack of oxygen, Bonnie abruptly pulled away from Luca as her hands came to rest on his chest to put some distance between them. They both looked at each other for a couple of seconds, just staring and catching their breath.

Luca was the first one to interrupt the silence as he brought his hand to rest at the back of his neck while a nervous look crossed over his features. "I….I…didn't exactly mean for that to happen….I mean I've been thinking about it since the moment I met you, but I thought it would be at least on our first date"

Bonnie couldn't help but arch her brow at his words in surprise. "You want to take me out on a date?"

Luca just laughed slightly as his hands reached out for Bonnie's again. "If you haven't noticed already…I really like Bonnie and that's hard for me to say because I don't like to make connections, but staring at you and kissing you jut now- I can't help but invest in you….I definitely want to date you."

She couldn't help a smile forming onto her lips at his declaration, but it didn't last long as she thought of his father. "But what about your dad….I'm pretty sure he's not going to like you dating me if he warned you to stay away"

"He might be a problem, but let me handle my dad. I'm just at a point right now where I've stumbled on someone worth butting heads with my father for. I can't just walk away, especially not after I got a taste of you" Luca said softly.

"I might not be worth the hassle" Bonnie replied seriously, she didn't want to cause trouble between Luca and his father.

"Somehow…I doubt that Bonnie" Luca said with a mysterious air about him.

Luca looked down at his watch and rushed into getting his things together as he realized he was late to meet his father. "Sorry to dash like this, but my father expects me to be home at a certain time and I rather ignore the lecture if you know what I mean."

"Don't worry about it" Bonnie said reassuringly as she stood as well and started to walk Luca out of the Mystic Grill. Once they reached outside, they stopped on the sidewalk and Luca turned to face her before leaving her as he asked "So if I call and ask you out- I won't have any boyfriend or jealous guy after me, will I?"

"Mmmm…what if there was? That going to stop you from calling?" Bonnie asked playfully even though Luca had nothing to worry about in that department.

"Not one bit….just asking cause I feel sorry for the guy" Luca said with a smile

"Why?" Bonnie asked curiously

"Cause once you go magic, he'll pale in comparison to yours truly" Luca said

Bonnie couldn't help laughing at Luca's corny line. "I think you better go before you lose all you're mystique about you with lines like that coming out of your mouth"

"So you like guys with a little edge?" Luca questioned

"I might be filled with warmth and compassion, but every girl likes a dark knight once in awhile" Bonnie said suggestively, loving how carefree and normal she felt, flirting with a guy.

"That's good to know" Luca said as he brushed the bangs from her eyes before walking away from her.

Bonnie couldn't get the smile off her face as she watched Luca walk away.

Deciding that she better go in before he caught her staring at him, Bonnie turned around to go back inside to the Mystic grill but her eyes caught a flash of color. So Bonnie directed her gaze to the midnight blue scarf that a gentleman was using to shine his shoe across the street on the bench.

Once done, he slipped the scarf into his black overcoat and straightened up. Bonnie couldn't help staring at the man. She hadn't seen him before in town, his movements were so precise. He had dark brown hair that parted in the middle and strands that hung down against his forehead.

The man took out coins from his pocket and started to count them before stopping suddenly to look directly at her.

Caught staring- Bonnie looked away, but couldn't help looking back across the street almost immediately.

Instead of finding the man still there, her eyes rested on an empty bench. Bonnie scanned the area, but didn't see any signs of the man she had been observing.

Frowning slightly at the odd feeling she had at the pit of her stomach. Bonnie turned around to go inside to the Mystic grill, but found the door was already wide open for her, with Damon acting as doorman.

Bonnie was taken aback at Damon's sudden appearance out of nowhere, but that didn't stop her from saying "The Salvatore fortune running a little low these days? After the many decades you've lived, I would've thought you would have acquired more skills then just opening doors?"

Damon's lazy smile turned into a snarl as he went into the Grill and let the door shut behind him as a reply.

"I was just joking" Bonnie said as she pried open the door and spied Damon at the bar ordering a drink. She had a feeling he wanted to speak with her, so instead of following him, she returned to the table she'd been sitting at with Luca earlier.

This was the first encounter she had with Damon since freeing him from the tomb. When she had asked Stefan how Damon was handling his new found freedom, Stefan simply had shrugged his shoulders to indicate- he didn't know. However, he did tell her that Damon hadn't returned home.

When Bonnie first heard about Damon's absence- it surprised her. Bonnie automatically had pictured him in front of the fireplace with a drink in his hands brooding or even plotting against the new werewolves in town.

However, as Bonnie watched Damon chat up a few of the other people at the bar, he seemed untroubled, with no worry or any hang-ups from being stuck in a tomb with an old flame. Of course outer appearances could be deceiving.

Bonnie saw him grab his drink and she busied herself with her phone, which she took out of her jacket, so it didn't look like she'd been watching him. Bonnie didn't have to wait long before hearing the screeching of the chair against the wooden floor and a drink placed in front of her as Damon took a seat across the table.

She looked at the drink and then him pointedly "You being friendly now?"

"I wasn't the one throwing an insult when someone was trying to do something nice for them?" Damon countered back, while taking a swing of his own drink.

"That was a joke back there" Bonnie said as she dropped the phone on the table and accepted the drink as she fiddled around with the straw.

"Funny…Aside from not being an actress, you can count out professional comedian too" Damon said with the slightest smile gracing his lips before disappearing behind his glass.

"So what was Luca doing here?" Damon asked

Bonnie lifted her gaze from her drink to Damon as she asked surprised "How did you know I was with Luca?"

"I didn't officially, but by your response- now I do. I saw him when I parked my car and then I saw you standing on the side walk…I put two and two together, aren't you proud of me? I think I should get a prize" Damon said lightheartedly as his eyes cruised along her face, to her neck, her chest and back again to her eyes as humor danced within his own.

"You're in a good mood, considering being locked up with Katherine for a couple of days, I wasn't expecting that" Bonnie said as she tried to diffuse where his thoughts were heading.

"That's old news, lets not talk about that" Damon stated

"It's-" Bonnie tried to say, but was caught off by Damon as a hard edge was woven into his voice as he repeated "Let's not talk about that"

Sensing rough waters ahead if she pursued this line of conversation, Bonnie switched gears to another topic that she was curious about. "So where ah….did you go last night?"

"Seems like little brother has been blabbering" Damon said as he rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"I asked, he didn't lie" Bonnie said in defensive of Stefan

Damon leaned into the table as his elbows rested on the wooden surface while he said "I don't think your virgin ears should hear about my exploits with lady luck in the next town over"

Bringing her virginity into the conversation was just a ploy to make her feel uncomfortable, but she wasn't falling for his tricks. "I'm not three, I might not be a blushing virgin as you think"

Damon just leveled Bonnie a look that screamed give me a break. "I've been around the block as you mentioned earlier and if there's one think I know and have learned in my experience…is when a girl has been untouched in the most private of places, it's one of my skills actually"

Bonnie felt she was losing ground and if she wanted to avoid an all out blush that she felt coming on, Bonnie sipped on her drink as she avoided Damon's intense gaze.

"It's nothing to be ashamed about, as a society right now people want instant gratification, pleasure, and want without the work….it's commendable that you'd still be a virgin, unlike your friend Caroline which I know for a fact wouldn't be a blushing bride on her wedding day." Damon replied with his sarcastic smile on display

She whipped him with her green dark gaze at his flippant comments regarding Caroline.

"What! I'm telling the truth" Damon exclaimed in fake protest. "But we're getting off topic, Luca was on the table before we got into your sexual status."

Bonnie rolled her eyes, he was completely goading her but she didn't take the bait, instead she answered his unspoken question. "Luca and I just talked and nothing else"

"Something's off with that kid, I can feel it. Have you figured out what he's up to?" Damon asked seriously.

"Yeah I do. He's ah….he ah…." Bonnie started to stumble with her words on purpose to prolong the teasing as she watched Damon waiting anxiously, "He's ah…normal human teenager boy from earth" Bonnie said.

Damon was the one to roll his eyes now at her "You know more then your telling Bennett"

"There's nothing there Damon, just drop it" Bonnie earnestly tried to get across. She didn't want Damon of all people to complicate Luca's life.

"Keep your secrets, but I always have a way to pry them out" Damon replied ominously

"Your ways won't work with me, try anything and I'll have your old ass on the floor in two seconds flat" Bonnie said enchantingly as she sipped on her drink.

Damon just narrowed his gaze at her while she continued to sip. Her phone beeped breaking the silent war, alerting her she had received a text.

Code RED...Tyler knows everything. I ended up spilling everything to him… what happened and who was involved when he confronted me…please don't hate me!

Caroline

Bonnie read the text from Caroline and she felt her heart literally drop. This wasn't good.

"Oh my god" Bonnie said with dread

"What?" Damon questioned. Bonnie couldn't speak. She handed her phone to Damon so he could read for himself.

Bonnie saw Damon's eyes scan across the message quickly as his eyes narrowed at the end and was followed by a curse under his breath.

"Blondie needs to learn how to keep her mouth shut" Damon said as irritation vibrated in his voice

"I'm sure she was pushed to her limit, it says Tyler confronted her…I'm pretty sure it wasn't easy for her" Bonnie said as she thought of the close friendship Caroline had created with Tyler over the weeks.

"Well there's only one thing to do….kill him" Damon replied as he swiftly got up from his chair.

Bonnie was jarred of her thoughts as she saw Damon quickly stalk out of the grill. Quickly getting her wits together, she grabbed her phone and stuffed it in her jacket as she literally ran out of the place and toward the parking lot where she saw Damon walking towards his car.

She grabbed him by the elbow just as he reached for his car door and tugged on it. "You can't kill him!"

"Can you scream that louder, I don't think the people over in the next building heard" Damon said sarcastically at Bonnie as he swung around to face her in anger.

Bonnie looked around cautiously and was glad there was no one in the vicinity to hear them. She lowered her voice as she fought with his fuming gaze with one of her own as she spoke. "You can't kill him Damon, Tyler's mom would go ballistic. She's barley holding on after her husband's death, losing her son would have her on a rampage."

"Don't worry, I'll make her feel better" Damon replied

"I'm serious" Bonnie adamantly stressed, trying to dissuade Damon from his killing train of thoughts.

"So am I, I'm sure she'll thank me for putting down her son, She's on the council to rid all things supernatural, I'm sure she'll be freaking out if she ever found out she mothered a hairy little wolf. I'm sparing her the grief of ever having to finding out" Damon replied as he yanked his arm out of Bonnie's grasp and opened his car door to get in.

With seconds slipping by and hearing the roar of Damon's car engine coming to life, Bonnie forgot about thinking and just acted on impulse. She hurried to the passenger side of Damon's car, opened the door and slid in just as Damon pressed his foot on the gas pedal.

"What are you doing?" Damon asked as he sliced his eyes quickly away from the road to glance her way before driving out of the Mystic Grill parking lot.

"Making sure you don't do anything stupid" Bonnie said as she adjusted herself in the car seat while Damon sped in and out of traffic.

Damon just raised his brow considering, while narrowing his eyes a second later. Another second later, he just shrugged his shoulders and focused fully onto the road ahead.

"Where exactly are we going?" Bonnie said as she clipped the seatbelt into place while she nervously watched the speed dial rise.

"To Tyler's house, it seems he's looking for a fight and I'm willing to provide it for him" Damon answered.

"Killing him is going to accomplish nothing Damon, it just might give Jules and her friends incentive to cause more mayhem in this town" Bonnie tried to urgently reason as they got closer to Tyler's house.

"They won't have time to blink cause I'm taking caring of them after I'm don with Tyler" Damon stated as he rounded a corner with to much speed that had Bonne closing her eyes, out of fright.

"Can you please slow down, Tyler isn't going anywhere" Bonnie exclaimed as she slowly opened her eyes while they travelled on a straight road again.

"No" Damon replied defiantly. "I didn't ask for you to come, so you follow my rules"

Bonnie whipped her head towards Damon's side profile and saw the clenched jaw. She saw him running on pure raw emotions of hatred shimmering off of him in spades. It might have been sparked by Tyler, but Bonnie knew all this pent up loathing couldn't be for him.

Being stuck in the tomb with Katherine had done a number on Damon even if he wasn't willing to admit to it. That's when Bonnie decided she needed to stop this right now, because if they made it to Tyler's house, it would really be too late.

Grabbing a hold of the dashboard of the car, Bonnie closed her eyes as she tried to focus her mind into controlling the car. Her heart was racing and her mind was cluttered with unfinished thoughts, overwhelming emotion, and honest to god fear.

Taking a deep breath, Bonnie pushed past her own mental blocks and got to a zone where she almost felt detached from the circumstance of Damon at her side, the emotions running through the both of them, and the car itself. Taking another clearing breath, Bonnie willed the car to stop.

She wasn't ready for the impact of her command because as the car screeched to a dead stop. Bonnie felt a slight constriction and a loss of breath as the seat belt dug into her where it connected across her chest and waist and the pressure was only eased once she was propelled back into her seat again.

"What the hell just happened?" Damon exclaimed as he straightened himself out. He was about to adjust the gear but realized it was still in drive. So he pressed down on the gas pedal and the car didn't move, not an inch- even though the engine was still running.

Bonnie saw Damon cursing as he pressed down on the gas pedal as she unclipped the seatbelt so she was free from being confined. And while she observed Damon she knew the exact moment when he realized that there was nothing wrong with the car, but that she was the one responsible for their sudden predicament.

Unclenching the steering wheel, Damon angled his body so it faced Bonnie, which in turn had her shifting so that her back was pressed up against the passenger door. You could hear a pin drop, that's how still and tense the atmosphere in the car was.

"Bonnie" Damon said gravelly. "Undo what you just did"

Looking into his steel gaze sent a shiver of trepidation down her spine. "NO"

Damon's lips turned into a thin line as visible specks of anger became visible, she didn't need to sense it from him- she saw it in the crazed glint in his eyes at her rebellious answer.

"Right now is not the time to play games or to test my patience Bonnie…make… this car… mobile again." Damon quietly replied with threats clearly unspoken if she didn't comply.

"Look I'm not doing this out of spite. I'm doing this because you're not in the right frame of mind right now. Tyler isn't a threat and killing him would accomplish nothing. Let me call Stefan and we all will figure something else out" Bonnie said as she began to slowly reach for her phone in her jacket but was halted as Damon said "You touch your cell and I will make you regret it"

Saying she wasn't scared, would have been a lie, but Bonnie couldn't let him go through with the insane plan of killing Tyler.

"Tyler is just sacred and he's freaking out and probably lashing out on people because he doesn't know what's going on. I'm pretty sure Jules probably filled his head and he confronted Caroline. That's all he's done so far Damon…that doesn't warrant him to die. Try to look at it from his side" Bonnie tried to reason as she tied to bring some perspective to the situation.

"I don't need to be in his shoes, he's a werewolf and I'm a vampire…we're meant to be mortal enemies" Damon stated swiftly, dismissing her points.

"I didn't want to bring this up, but the only reason you're acting so insanely impulsive is because of Kather- "Bonnie tried to say but was interrupted by Damon who promptly injected with "Don't say her name"

Bonnie stared at Damon for a beat before she made up her mind and said "You wouldn't be so filled with anger and vengeances if you hadn't been locked up in the tomb with Katherine"

In a blink of an eye, Damon was almost on top of her in vamp mode as he pressed his hands onto her shoulder and neck while he slid her down the passenger door, he towered over her menacingly.

Damon's actions kicked started her heart into a whole new level of beating. Bonnie knew that using her mind trick on Damon would be smart, but it wouldn't diffuse the situation, it would only heighten the hostility within Damon even more.

"I told you not to bring her name up, what I'm feeling inside has nothing to do with her. She has no power over me. I'm no one's puppet!" Damon exclaimed as the pupils of his eye dilated and the veins snaked around the outer ridges of his eyes. "And you are going to find that out right now"

Bonnie saw Damon's teeth as he opened his mouth and angled his head towards her neck. Bonnie let out an inaudible gasp as alarm took a hold of her body as the last experience of being bitten by Damon flashed into her mind, with images of fangs piercing her skin.

She was expecting the sting, but it didn't come instead she felt Damon move back slightly and scream out in agony as he clutched his head. She realized what was happening and reeled in her magic, making the pain go away and immediately braced herself against him with her hands on his chest as the pain eased. Her magic had protected her. Bonnie saw his eyes turn back to ice blue as pale smooth skin appeared and the veins disappeared from view.

Bonnie's heart raced as she talked fast. "Before you try to dig into me again, there is more where that came from and I just want to point out- we're not that far away from Tyler's place, you could have easily gotten out of the car and done your speed vampire thing and been there already"

Bonnie watched as Damon focused his gaze on her as the words she had just spoken registered into his mind.

Damon looked up onto the winding road that was a block from where he was so driven to go, Tyler's house. He looked down at Bonnie with no rage in his eyes, but confusion.

"You were so full of thoughts of torment that you didn't even realize we so close to Tyler's house, all you had to do was open the care door and speed off, it's not like I would have been able to catch you" Bonnie said while Damon eased away from her as she spoke. Her hands dropped to her lap and she slowly eased herself up again when

Damon resumed his position in front of the steering wheel, not looking at her.

"I agree we need to do something, but we need the others and we need a plan" Bonnie said

Damon slammed his fist against the steering wheel in anger, which startled Bonnie in her seat. She knew his outburst wasn't due to her, but with himself.

"Fine- we do it your way" Damon said resigned. "Now can you undo your little trick with my car"

Bonnie touched the dash and said a few words under her breath. When she was finished she reached for her belt, deciding she would follow his lead and just not talk about what occurred only a few minutes ago.

He didn't want to talk about it and she wasn't sure her nerves could handle it, so she didn't push it.

Damon did a quick U-turn and they were driving away from Tyler's house. They dove in silence each in their own thoughts for a few moments before Damon said "Not one word to Stefan about what happened back there Bonnie"

It wasn't a threat, it was more like a question, even though it was said like a statement.

"I won't….but you have to promise your not going go rogue again. You'll call someone first….Promise me that and I won't say a thing" Bonnie replied softly as her mind wrapped itself on what could have happened as she couldn't help touching her neck where she had felt his hot breath against her skin.

"I'll think about it" Damon replied

"Promise Damon"

She heard an aggravated sigh as she looked through the passenger side window while she pulled her hand away from her neck and looked down to see her finger covered in the faintest smear of blood. She touched her neck again as she faced Damon and said accusingly "You bit me"

"I didn't bite you, I just nicked your skin….there is a difference" Damon replied in defense.

Bonnie pulled down the sun visor on her side to find a mirror there and she tried to get a good angle so she could see how much of a scratch it really was. She fiddled with the mirror and tried adjusting it to get the best view, she really couldn't see much of anything, maybe just a faint scratch, barely even visible.

"I promise"

Bonnie stilled at hearing Damon and couldn't deny his words brought relief, she flipped the sun visor back flat against the ceiling of the car.

She chanced a quick glance at Damon before turning around to face the passing woodsy scenery along the path. "Good"

Just before Bonnie got lost in her thoughts, she saw Damon's reflection in the window as he turned his head away from the road to look at her staring- out at the landscape they passed.

It was a private moment she wasn't meant to catch but she did. Bonnie saw his troubled eyes and furrowed brows come together in an expression that let her know- he was trying to figure something out, but he didn't have the slightest clue where to start in finding the answers and after a shake of his head, he turned back to staring at the road ahead.

Maybe she was a mystery after all Bonnie thought as a genuine smile graced her lips at the thought of having Damon pondering over her actions. Bonnie was sure she had surprised him by agreeing to keep quiet about Damon's intentions today.

If she was honest, it didn't even cross her mind to tell anyone about what happened just moments ago. It was odd, but she herself was uncomfortable in experiencing the amount of disturbed hurt emotions Damon was holding in when it came to Katherine. If she had learned anything at all today, it would be- Damon Salvatore was actually capable of being hurt.

Author's Note:

Hey everyone….I know it's been awhile. My computer actually got a virus which had a hand in delaying this posting.

Wanted to say a HUGE THANKYOU to all my consistent reviewers, it means so much. I love hearing the feedback and it's great to see that you are still reading this fic and are still along for the ride. THANK YOU :)

Also, many thanks go out to the new readers, I appreciate the time you took to comment….I hope you'll do it again.

I'm anxiously waiting for your replies and I hope you take the time to comment on this chapter. I personally don't know how I feel right now…I can't look at it objectively….maybe in time…..but if I had to wait to feel sure about this one…..you guys would have to wait two more moths for this to be posted….and I don't want to do that and I'm pretty sure you don't want to wait that long…..

Many Thanks….in advance :)