A/N: Thank you to all the beautiful people who reviewed, added to your lists, and is still obsessed with this story. It really does mean the world to me. Enjoy the latest!

Disclaimer: These characters (aside from my OC's) are the creative property of LJ Smith/CW. No copyright infringement is intended.

Mystic Falls

Arms folded, fingers tapping a beat on her bicep, Caroline shifted her weight from one foot to the other as she looked between her former history teacher and her best friend's little brother.

She had arrived in a whirlwind with wild hair and not a shred of makeup since she hastily left Scotland to make it back stateside. She had dumped her luggage unceremoniously on Alaric's hardwood floor, and fired off questions that didn't provide any satisfactory answers.

"Why didn't you follow Damon after it became glaringly obvious he ditched the two of you?" Caroline switched her gaze from one to the other. "The man hasn't been alive or whatever for a week and you let him slip through your fingers? Unbelievable!"

Jeremy and Alaric exchanged glances. The younger man was too upset to speak. More to the matter he was too busy inwardly kicking himself for not predicting Damon's behavior. The vampire had a history of only allowing someone to lend assistance to a certain degree before he took over. The only person, besides Stefan, Damon ever saw a plan from its infancy inception to completion was with Bonnie. Jeremy should have known he would be ditched at some point, and should have been more vigilant to stop it from happening.

Over a year and a half ago he had been the one Bonnie depended on. Even if that dependency had been built on the back of unfortunate circumstances. He had been the only person Bonnie could communicate with. The only person she could—metaphorically speaking, lean on. And instead of doing what he could to bring her back, Jeremy had carried out her wishes to deceive her friends and dad into believing she was alive, traveling the world with her mom.

Damon had been the one to come up with a strategy, work out the logistics that eventually led to Bonnie's resurrection. It had been the vampire Bonnie liked the least who had given her hope, and not the young man she brought back because she loved him.

Back then, Jeremy could admit his preoccupation had more to do with being able to touch Bonnie. His eagerness in disclosing how he truly felt about her. Regardless, he should have been the one to do everything in his power to bring her back.

Now the woman he still loved was lost and once again it would be Damon who would save the day.

Jeremy wouldn't deny he was thankful that Bonnie at least had Damon. Grudgingly thankful. Thankful she didn't have to face the end alone. Too many times in the past Bonnie had suffered through tragedy, but had no one to bear her soul to. No one to dry her tears because while her life imploded there was always drama happening elsewhere.

Once he saw her again, got her back, Jeremy was determined never to let her go. To never have her doubt his sincerity in wanting to be her support.

"We did follow him," Alaric defended. "I was able to track his scent to a nearby gas station. But by then Damon had stolen some guy's car which was found an hour later off of Route 220. I saw enough of the satellite images before Damon pocketed them, and recalled Bonnie's coordinates along with the time she was captured on film, so to speak.

"I took what I had to Dr. Desai, an astrologer and physicist who plugged that info into some kind of formula. He narrowed down where Bonnie may have landed based on her trajectory."

"And it took you a day to get that information?" Caroline pressed.

Alaric pinched his lips together. "Believe it or not things don't happen as quickly in real life as they do on TV. Tracking down Dr. Desai took more leg work than I thought possible," he spread out a map of the southern United States.

Caroline approached and eyed the map noting six red dots highlighted between Texas and Louisiana. She sighed dejectedly. She had hoped for a narrower search.

As if reading her mind, Alaric asserted, "He got it as precise as he could get it so we have six possibilities. Two cities in eastern Texas and the rest in southwest Louisiana. Tyler and Elena are headed to Tyler, Texas go figure."

Caroline swallowed. A pang went through her at hearing Tyler and Elena would be traveling together. Sure, she may have moved on from Tyler, but some days she really missed what they had. Their relationship had been her longest to date. However, their love had been punctured to death by wedges. Wedges in the form of one Original hybrid.

She slapped her hands on her thighs. "Well I've racked up a shitload of frequent flyer miles so I can head to…Shreveport. Think Eric Northman is real and he'll be able to tell me if he came across Bonnie?"

Alaric snorted.

"What about Enzo and Stefan?" Jeremy questioned. "Matt said he'd try to reach out to a couple of guys from the football team who go to school in Texas to keep an eye out. I don't think that's going to pan out."

Caroline informed, "I called Enzo and let him know what happened. He said he was going to find Stefan and drag him back kicking and screaming if he had to."

Alaric inclined his head toward the blonde. "Before all this happened…did you learn anything useful in Scotland?"

"Mostly theories, myths and speculations. I was so focused on finding Bonnie I didn't even think to ask if there might be a way to get rid of the magic-less bubble over Mystic Falls."

"One problem at a time," the former teacher smiled crookedly. "Mystic Falls can wait. Finding Bonnie and Damon—can't. Let's get to work."

The threesome dispersed. Jeremy fell in step to Alaric as they left the older man's apartment.

"Hey," Jeremy began tentatively, "did Damon seem different to you?"

At first Alaric was going to retort 'no' but then he thought about seeing Damon physically growing larger in size, but there was something else about the vampire Alaric couldn't quite put his finger on. "I'm sure whatever he and Bonnie have been through has had significant changes on them both."

"I wonder where they've been."

"Maybe Bonnie will be the more forthcoming one once we find her," Alaric studied the young man walking beside him. He could see something was on Jeremy's mind, something he did and didn't want to talk about. "I'm sure things will fall back into place, Jer."

"Yeah, we'll see."

Day Two, Year One

The water that lapped at the coastline, Bonnie could only speculate was responsible for the sands blue color, while the sand farther back from the roaring ocean was its typical beige hue. She had no idea if it were safe to swim or not—having never seen this kind of phenomenon before, and she certainly wasn't going to risk her toes or any other body part to find out.

This was her second day here and the first had been…well it had been memorable filled with embarrassing and intrusive trappings. She never had to sit in front of an inquisitorial board before and she hoped to never have to do so again.

She couldn't figure out or really understand why she and…Damon by extension had been dumped here. Wherever here was, but Bonnie had never felt so homesick until now.

Her eyes lifted toward the kaleidoscope sky. Was that a planet or a moon drifting lazily across her field of vision? Her heart quickened. It was about one third the size of what she'd expect Neptune to look like. This place was scary. A grandmaster art of science fiction and she didn't belong here.

Someone was approaching. Her ears could pick up the sensitive sound of feet sinking into sand. Bonnie shifted a little and saw a tall, willowy woman with dark mahogany skin, long black hair that nearly came to her cinched waistline, and large onyx eyes.

"How are you today, Bonnie?"

"No better than I was yesterday," she answered plaintively.

The woman nodded but Bonnie really doubted she understood. She had been thoroughly examined from her gums to her cervix. Blood and tissue samples taken, quarantined, locked into a room where she was blasted with skin scorching heat and then doused with icy cold water and scrubbed within an inch of her life.

She could only imagine what they subjected Damon to.

Bonnie's thoughts drifted back to sitting on that stone chair facing fourteen people: seven men and seven women who all appeared human but most definitely were not human. They sat on marble daises in an arc while she had been the lone subject of scrutiny. Each judiciary had been outfitted with a breastplate while uniquely designed gilded crowns sat on their heads.

"You are descendant from the homo sapiens Magnus species are you not?"

"Um, what?" Bonnie blinked in confusion. The only part of that she understood was homo sapien. "I don't kn—,"

"Have you replicated your DNA or comingled your DNA with another of your kind?" another Seniore had questioned.

"The lamia who traveled with you, have you had relations…"

"Look," Bonnie cut them off. "I have no idea what you're asking me or what exactly you want to know. All I do know is that maybe twenty-fours ago I was the anchor to the Other Side, a purgatory of sorts for supernatural beings. I was dying…or coming close to it and then…I was here. I was a witch before that but died using three different kinds of magic to bring someone back from the dead. My Grams…she said…she made sure I would have peace and so far this is a long fucking way from peace. Who are you people, why am I here, and where is that vampire I came here with?"

The assembly stared back at Bonnie in unnerving silence.

"We ask the questions, madam," one woman averred who reminded the former anchor of her Calculus teacher. A lady who should have retired thirty-five years ago because she looked like she was pushing a hundred.

A door to Bonnie's right opened and two men dragged a bound and gagged Damon Salvatore into the privy chamber. They dropped him to his knees and unstrapped a muzzle like contraption off his face.

The minute he could freely move his mouth, Damon didn't waste a second ripping everyone his irate eyes landed on a new asshole.

"You motherfucking gotdamn bas…"

"Control him!" one of the Seniores ordered.

Damon had gotten to his feet but was hit with a dart and landed face first with a wince inducing thud on the marble floor. If he weren't immortal that blow to his head probably would have killed him, or at the very least crackled his skull.

Under much different circumstances Bonnie probably would have laughed. But considering Damon was the only person she knew in this strange place, this was no laughing matter.

Bonnie fought against her instinct to rush over and make sure he was okay. She certainly couldn't risk being taken out with a dart if she so much as coughed. She watched helplessly as a small pool of blood circled Damon's head.

"He's hurt," she whispered.

"And I'm sure he'll survive. We cannot allow him to remain here."

Bonnie snapped her head back to the Seniores. "What?"

"Concessions were made for you to be among us," a bald-headed man with russet skin informed. "You are…a descendant of the House of Aziza."

Bonnie had no earthly idea what this man was talking about. She knew her family history—partially. She was the however many great-granddaughter of Emily Bennett and her family lineage went all the way back to a supposed goddess. A jilted goddess who wasted her life trying to extract revenge and be reunited with a man who didn't want her. That's what Bonnie knew about the Bennett's. So what was this House of Aziza business?

She rose to her feet and the tension that already permeated the room thickened, intensified. "If he's not welcomed here…then neither am I. He," Bonnie pointed at Damon, "he was entrusted to watch after me."

The Seniores tossed speculative and suspicious glances at one another.

The bald-headed man spoke once more, "He is your praeco?"

"Ah…yeah?" Bonnie's response sounded too much like a question.

Of course her proclamation wasn't bought and Bonnie had been caught in a lie. The smile the bald-headed Seniore gifted her with chilled Bonnie's bones.

"As tradition states praecos are put through rigorous tests to prove their worth. We will not expunge him. Not yet. If he has been sanctioned to protect you it is only fair he is allowed to do his job until he is found defunct. Take him away."

"Where are you taking him?"

Her question had never been answered, and thus Bonnie had been led away to her own chambers where she had been locked inside. She was released at the first sign of sunlight.

Now she stood on this beach facing a woman whose name she didn't remember though they had been briefly introduced once her quarantine ended.

"My people," the woman began, "we're used to dealing in absolutes. They're very straightforward, but I would hope that one day you may come to think of this place as home."

"What is this place exactly? No one has told me anything no matter how many times I ask. Where's my…friend?"

The woman cleared the distance between them. "Your friend is safe."

"How safe are we talking?" Bonnie lifted her chin.

"Safe in that he's being properly treated and fed. To answer your first question, this place is called Hedera."

Bonnie tried to absorb that. "This isn't Earth?"

"No, this is another realm of existence entirely located many light years away from whence you came."

The confused and scared young woman nodded, not feeling any more relaxed about her present situation. "Is there any way for me to go back home?"

That question was met with a wall of silence.

Bonnie sucked in a breath, "Am I…am I really dead?"

The woman offered Bonnie a genteel smile and stretched out a hand for her to take. "No, you're not dead. In fact, you've never been more alive, Bonnie. Let me show you."

Naturally this made Bonnie hesitate. She was not used to strangers being nice to her. She was used to some kind of subterfuge because most people she came into contact with only wanted to use her magic for exploitative reasons. They wanted something from her, Bonnie was sure of it. And there was no guarantee that Damon would help her because more than likely he would expect her to figure out some way to get them back home.

Mentally Bonnie hadn't allowed herself to go there. Go back to Mystic Falls before Traveler magic made it impossible for her to step foot in the place where she grew up. If she thought about never seeing her friends or Jeremy again, or eating patio side at The Grill during the spring or summer, the parties, actually enjoying the college experience, making love she would crumble and lose her shit.

"I promise, Bonnie, you're here for a purpose and that purpose is good. Nothing here will hurt you nor anyone. It is against the law for us to quarrel with one another."

"But I don't belong here and neither does Damon."

"Be that as it may, you are here. You were chosen for this."

"Chosen?" Bonnie questioned. "My grandmother said she made a sacrifice so that I could find peace. I don't think I was chosen for this so much as I'm here by someone putting in a good word for me."

The woman smiled, and winked as one iris became purple, "Grace, favor, good word all synonymous with being chosen, Bonnie. Please allow me to show you around your new home."

Stubbornly Bonnie didn't move. She stared at the woman's hand prior to glaring her right in the eyes. "What's your name again?"

"Kirisi Djet Ahaneith, pleasure to meet you Bonnie Sheila Bennett."

It wasn't until then that Bonnie resigned herself to her fate and took Kirisi by the hand.

She was led from the beach back to the bustling city where the compacted cobblestone streets reminded her of ancient Persia. Every single building they passed was ornate in design with gold crown molding on beige stone.

In this quadrant was the marketplace Kirisi explained amid the haggling over brightly colored beads, sandals, and yards of silk, chiffon, and other shimmering fabric Bonnie had never seen.

Those who watched them pass, Bonnie noticed, bowed reverently in front of Kirisi as if she were royalty. They gawked at the newcomer curiously, which made Bonnie self-conscious. But she was thankful her skin tight jeans, halter top and jacket had been exchanged for a flowing gown of gossamer dark purple silk so she fit in with the masses better.

"They are survivors of war," Kirisi explained. "They've been given sanctuary here because their worlds, their homes, everything was destroyed by enmity or world breakers."

Bonnie's steps slowed when she saw a horse only it was as tall as an African Bush elephant. If there ever were a visual of the Trojan horse, this creature was it. It stood stoically. Its sleek black coat glinted in the sunlight. Her eyes were in danger of popping out of their sockets and nearly catapulted out of her skull when Bonnie saw a woman moving through the horde who skittered out of the way or lest be crushed. The woman, if Bonnie had to guess may have stood anywhere between fifteen to nineteen feet in height.

"Ohmygod," Bonnie breathed.

Kirisi turned to face her. She smirked.

The giant woman headed over to the horse and ran a hand along the animal's spine before patting its rump. There was no saddle on the horse, but the woman tossed a leather scabbard over its shoulders and mounted her steed.

"Good morrow, Kirisi," the woman greeted.

In return, Kirisi bowed her head. "Zephaniah. How are the boarders today?"

"Safe and sound, my lady. Who is she?"

Kirisi gestured to a stunned Bonnie. "An heir."

Zephaniah's head tilted to the side as she took Bonnie's measure. "She does remind me of the old Empress. Welcome," she addressed Bonnie. "Well, I'm off," the woman said and kicked the horse into gear that reared, charged down the street, and disappeared completely from sight.

Bonnie, bewildered searched all around trying to locate where the woman and horse had gone and saw no sign of them. "What the hell did I just see?"

"A Dominion on patrol," Kirsi filled in.

"She's naturally that tall or?"

"She can manipulate her height and density to fit specific needs. Come."

"Wait," Bonnie waved her hands back and forth in the air.

"I know you're confused and you will have every last one of your questions answered, but not here," Kirisi covertly looked around.

Kirisi began walking again and Bonnie fell in step behind her muttering to herself, "Grams what have you gotten me into?"

Westwego, LA

"What are you going to do?" Elijah surveyed the scene carefully. Hayley's condition seemed to have deteriorated in the last twenty-four hours.

"Draw energy out of her," Bonnie replied. "I'm thinking she absorbed some of my power when I went nuclear. That's why she's kind of in a coma state."

Damon interjected clinically, "Right now it's systematically overwhelming this chick's organs. Her body has only been able to hold on for this long since she's supernatural. If she were human…she would have died instantly. The heat from Bonnie's power alone would have cooked her from the inside out."

The enormity of that sunk into Elijah's brain.

"Whatever you have to do just get on with it," Rebekah inserted.

Bonnie stilled and tilted her head to the side as she regarded the blonde Original.

There was something in that look—a warning Rebekah's intuition picked up on which caused her to gulp and straighten her spine. She had already been blindsided with the revelation that not only was Bonnie alive but so was Damon. For a second, fear prickled along Rebekah's skin because she wondered if her mother and father had come back from the dead as well.

"Rebekah," Elijah shook his head back and forth at his sister. "Let her handle this."

Bonnie was facing the weight of the dilemma right this very second. She stared down at the ashen female lying motionless in the middle of a hospital bed. Since coming back to Earth Bonnie had done belief-defying things, but she had done those things on an unconscious level under duress. Now here she stood knowing she could help this woman but had no clue on where to start.

She was not a witch, a saint, a healer, but a warrior. Her abilities came and went like shifting tides, but her power was ever present. How was she going to undo what she did?

"Something the matter, Bons?" Damon muttered knowingly.

"No," she quickly refuted.

"You sure?"

Bonnie didn't need to see Damon's face to know he had one eyebrow raised to his hairline, face full of cunning.

"Yes," Bonnie sat down on the edge of the bed and grabbed Hayley's hand. It was ice cold and limp.

Elijah shuffled closer for a better view. Damon kept his attention on him pondering what he was thinking, who he was more concerned about.

Bonnie closed her eyes. Kept them closed and tightened her grasp on Hayley's hand. Trying to make some kind of internal form of contact. Latch on to a flicker of the woman's life force. Nothing happened. Nothing was happening.

She sighed. "I thought…it's not working."

"Try again," Elijah prompted encouragingly. "You were once a powerful witch and I believe that part of you is still within. Just buried. Try to find it."

"Go back to the source, Bonnie. Listen to the sound of your breathing…hers…make a connection," Damon coached.

Elijah pulled his lips back from his teeth. Certainly didn't appreciate his advice being superseded.

The last time he shared space with Bonnie and Damon had been the night of the ritual where Klaus broke his curse. He had paid their interaction little to no mind since his mind had been fixed on that triumphant moment of ending his brother. Damon and Bonnie had been a team working against time. This go around there was symmetry between them Elijah could admit was off-putting. They were damn near finishing each other's sentences.

Rebekah interjected, "How bout the both of you shut up and let her concentrate."

Elijah sunk his hands deeper into his trouser pockets. "Believe me sister, I have no interest in quarreling with a rodent."

Damon pushed away from the wall he had been holding up. "Rodent?" he now stood in Elijah's face. "Do you know what I can do to you, homeboy?"

"What exactly did you have in mind, Damon? Please refresh my memory since I recall my hand being wrapped around your throat with my pen protruding from your neck not two hours ago."

"Ah…" Rebekah stuttered but her attention was locked on Bonnie.

She had tuned out of their bickering to start siphoning her cosmic energy out of Hayley. Sweat dotted Bonnie's hairline; a fat vein lacerated the middle of her forehead.

A confident smile graced Damon's features. "Don't go getting too big for your britches, Eli. I'd hate to have to hurt your feelings and tell you I threw the fight to spare you further embarrassment. You don't know what I'm capable of and if you're lucky or smart you won't ever have to find out," without looking away from the fuming individual in front of him, Damon said, "Bonnie. Happy place. Go there. Now."

No response.

"Bonnie?"

She stared blankly at the wall behind the hospital bed. Wobbled and began to fall sideways off the bed. A thin line of blood trickled from her nose.

Elijah and Damon both dove for her at the same time and ended up head butting one another, stunning the other for a second.

"I have her," Damon grunted.

"No, I have her," Elijah reached for Bonnie's arm.

Rebekah tossed both hands in the air. "You two are absolutely ridiculous! She's not a fucking toy."

The Original and Herald stopped their squabbling long enough to throw displeased glares at Rebekah. "I know that," they voiced unilaterally.

Snorting, Rebekah tightened her arms over her chest. "Great. Now we have another unconscious woman on our hands. Who's going to fix Bonnie so that she can fix Hayley and I can get on with my life?"

"She needs her rest," Damon asserted and wrestled Bonnie away from Elijah and hoisted her up bridal style. "She's been exhausting herself so therefore she won't be fixing any gotdamn body because I'm taking her home. Back to Virginia," he carefully enunciated in case the millennials were hard of hearing.

As soon as Damon turned for the door of the small medical clinic Elijah was there barring the way.

"Don't make me kick you in the nuts, man," Damon glowered.

"Bonnie promised she would do all she could to reverse what she did to Hayley. I know her well enough to know she'd never agree to leaving without trying once more. You know that about her as well, Damon. But if you wish to feel her wrath," Elijah slid out of the way, "then you're free to go."

Damon's nostrils flared. He looked at Bonnie passed out in his arms. The shit she got him into.

Wide awake Bonnie sat up and gripped the side of her neck. She swung her legs over the edge of the bed, and peered through the slates in the wooden blinds at the flickers of sunlight.

She felt like crap. The excitement from last night and trying to help Hayley drained her and left her lethargic. Bonnie stumbled her way to the connecting bathroom where she relieved her bladder and washed the horrid taste of cotton from her mouth.

Vaguely she was aware of the fact she was back at Elijah's with little to no memory on how she made it there. She didn't have the brain capacity to question the logistics of it, nor how she came to be dressed in a tank top and shorts. For once she was just going to go with the flow. More than likely Damon was probably responsible for her wardrobe change.

Damon! The thought of him jolted her but then Bonnie was exhausted once more. He was safe. They were safe.

Bonnie tripped downstairs. Her body needed glucose and lots of it and water as well.

She expected to find an empty kitchen but received a second jolt this morning.

Elijah stood with his back to her—his naked back, wearing a pair of dark denim jeans. She could tell he was fresh out of the shower, his wet and spiky hair being an indication of that. Bonnie couldn't help where her eyes landed. On his sinewy muscles that moved with feline grace each time he reached for something. On that sleek line coursing down the center of his back that tapered off to the two dimples right above the cusp of his ass.

Unconsciously, Bonnie gouged her lip with her teeth.

He turned around once sensing her presence. A five o'clock shadow christened his face, and those chestnut eyes of his were assessing her delicately. Shrewdly.

"Good morning, Bonnie."

"Good morning, Elijah. Where's…"

"Upstairs," Elijah listened intently. "Humming in the shower."

Bonnie nodded and ushered in awkwardness with welcome arms. A beep sounded and she looked toward the source of the noise mostly as a distraction.

Elijah removed a black mug from the microwave and sipped from it generously. Bonnie resisted by the skin of her teeth not to wrinkle her nose. She didn't think he was drinking tea or coffee.

"I'm sorry," she cleared the frog out of her throat. "I'm sorry I wasn't much help to Hayley last night. I don't know what went wrong."

The Original nodded but made no comment.

Bonnie fidgeted on her bare feet and hated she was being so self-conscious right now. She marched forward in spite of her discomfort, and strolled to the center island.

"I haven't gotten the chance to thank you for looking out for me these last couple of days."

Elijah sat the piping hot mug down on the granite surface of the island. "No thanks are needed. You've done more for my family than what any of us deserved."

Of course that admission prompted a confused expression from Bonnie. "What do you mean?"

"We don't need to get into that right now. Plus I'm sure your herald will fill in any missing blanks with some colorful additives as well." Pause. "I must apologize for my coarse behavior with you last night. I was directing my anger at the wrong person."

"Apology accepted."

"You trust him? Damon?"

"Without question."

"I would love nothing more than to sully Damon's character, but I've seen the change in him. I can only attribute that change to whatever the two of you have gone through. He didn't want to take sanctuary here and I don't blame him for it."

"So why are we here?"

"I insisted as a show of good faith. But mainly to thwart off any attacks by overzealous supes who want to prove they are formidable enough to join my family's organization; by taking you and Damon out had you found lodgings in the quarter."

Bonnie nodded. "Thank you, Elijah."

He flashed a here and gone smile. "My reason for wanting you to remain under my roof, under my care…they aren't a hundred percent…innocent."

The two major arteries in the Dominion's neck began to pound while her already exceedingly dry throat became ash.

"No?" Bonnie croaked.

"No," Elijah parroted and then backed off. "Don't be a stranger. Help yourself to whatever you need," he waved a hand around the kitchen.

Bonnie's head spun for a moment at the abrupt change in conversation. She had detected a different kind of hunger from Elijah that wasn't dissimilar from the hunger for food. Bonnie trotted over to the fridge and pulled out staples she was familiar with.

They moved about the kitchen avoiding any inopportune collisions. Never sharing the same space for longer than mere seconds. Bonnie found a colander and tossed strawberries, cranberries, and grapes inside. Sticking it under the faucet, she turned it on and washed off any lingering dirt or insecticides.

Elijah feigned reading the paper and said, "Have you ever been on a riverboat?"

The question made Bonnie blink. "No, have you?"

Smiling, Elijah nodded in the affirmative. "I actually lived on one for a few months back in the late 1800's. They're floating casinos really and it just occurred to me that I need to make an impromptu visit to one I have co-ownership of."

Bonnie didn't make a sound or inquiry. Was Elijah in a roundabout way trying to ask her if she wanted to go, or was he simply trying to fill the slightly uncomfortable silence with chitchat? He didn't seem like the kind to hold idle conversations. She peered at him over her shoulder. His back was to her so she couldn't see his face—had no idea what he was thinking.

He had to be aware of the fact her time in New Orleans was running out. Bonnie would try to stall. Damon wouldn't be happy about postponing their evacuation. But if returning to Virginia was that important to him, he could very well head back there on his own. Bonnie still wasn't sold on the idea that heading there was the right step to take.

Bonnie shut off the water and then turned around to face Elijah. "Are you trying to ask me out on a date?"

Elijah looked up from the paper and pivoted toward Bonnie. Though her face was blank the Original could see mirth dancing in her eyes.

"Maybe," he hedged and started a slow, calculated gait toward Bonnie. "Maybe I want a do over from last night."

Excitement with a dash of apprehension pinched Bonnie's nerves. Elijah now crowded her space and she dug her backside into the edge of the counter for some added room.

"Our…night had been interrupted," Bonnie swallowed, "if it hadn't…how would it have ended?"

Elijah was so glad she asked that question. It had been a constant rumination on his mind as he undressed for bed last night feeling…uncharacteristically lonely. He had guests under his roof—one he rather just destroy while the other if circumstances were different would have invited back to his bed. Elijah braced both hands on the lip of the counter, boxing Bonnie in. He stared directly into her irises, noting the spindles of different shades of green infused with gold and hazel around her dilating pupils.

Bonnie couldn't remember the last time anyone stood so close to her and stared at her with such heat. Bells sounded which she ignored in favor of seeing where this particular road would lead. Something told her she never really took risks when it came to male-female relations.

"I would have escorted you upstairs," Elijah launched into describing his fail proof seduction technique. "I would have listened to your heart speed as its doing now."—Bonnie blushed profusely and lowered her gaze to Elijah's chest which was not the right place to look at a time like this—"And I would have told you what an honor it was to have one of the most stunningly beautiful women to keep me company for the night."

Bonnie stared up at Elijah once more. "What else?"

A corner of his lips curved upward. "I, of course, would have leaned in like this," and Elijah demonstrated by inching closer to where every time Bonnie breathed her breath fanned against his chest. "And I'd put my lips where I wanted them to be all night."

Elijah cupped Bonnie's cheek, titled her head up while lowering his and dropped a kiss to her chin. Purposely missing his intended target. She giggled nervously, but the sound was soon cut off when another kiss was planted right under her jawline on top of her fluttering pulse. His lips were cool and his blunt teeth lightly scraped across her skin.

Bonnie's palms began to burn but she didn't know what to do with them. They remained stiff at her sides.

The Original drew back to gauge Bonnie's response to his ministrations. She appeared dazed and drowsy. He had her right where he wanted her. So when he made the decision to slant his mouth over hers, and Bonnie closed her eyes in anticipation, every nerve ending preparing to shout Hallelujah…

Elijah teased her, ghosting his bottom lip across her top but not connecting their mouths.

Bonnie's hands clasped the waistline of his jeans, "Stop it," she whispered. "Stop playing…"

Her protestation that he cease messing with her was cut off when Elijah flicked the tip his tongue right under the hood of Bonnie's lower lip.

Elijah figured it was the right time to put them both out of their curiosity, but then he caught movement to his left.

Like a vacuum, all the air left the kitchen.

Damon stood in the threshold—shirtless and wearing a pair of black jeans that hung low. "Oh, am I cockblocking? Good."

Bonnie, startled lightly pushed Elijah away—cheeks heating up while his back molars ground on top of one another.

Damon held up both hands as he sauntered into the kitchen, "Please, don't stop on my account."

Thoroughly embarrassed Bonnie maneuvered around Elijah and headed for the exit, avoiding eye contact with Damon. She could smell his disapproval from a mile away.

"I'm going to take a shower," she muttered.

"Make sure it's a cold one," Damon advised.

The older vampire didn't speak until he was assured Bonnie was upstairs. "Tell me something, Damon, when you return to Mystic Falls will you be attached to Bonnie's hip as you are now? Or do you have plans to resume the sad little life you had been living fighting your brother over a woman's love?"

Damon's only reply was pivoting in his boots, "Don't play games with my charge, Elijah. Bonnie is not here to stay."

Another world…

"I've searched the whole of the city and found no trace of her, my lord. It would appear they aren't purposely being dishonest on her whereabouts. But they have been grossly negligent in allowing her to fall."

Gannicus studied the miniature painting in his hand. "She was from Earth," he said almost distractedly. "I believe that's a good place for us to commence our next search for her."

"But you know the law, my lord…what will happen if any of us were to leave this realm. We would cease being who we are. Even if she is found…what will she be? Her powers are too strong for a weak galaxy like the one she's from to sustain her."

"And that is exactly why she needs to be recovered!" Gannicus roared and the Parthenon rumbled. He took a breath and lowered his voice. "There is a loophole…are we need to do is find it. Gaius..." the world breaker traipsed over his younger brother who was just as large as he was and braced his hands on his shoulders. "The Prime Creator has not made a world breaker in over sixty-five hundred years. We're a dying breed. With Bonnie…we can turn things back into our favor. She does not belong with Dominions.

"I saw it in her. A fury that cannot simply be satisfied by breaking up skirmishes between dark things who know their place is under our boots. Avitus agreed to it and he has no choice but to live up to his words. Besides, he never wanted her there because he saw the truth of it in her eyes."

"The truth of what?"

Gannicus grinned and said no more. Why spoil the mystery?

Chapter end.

A/N: I'm sure you have lots of questions like: what is this House of Aziza thing, why couldn't Bonnie reverse Hayley's condition, what did Gannicus and Avitus see in Bonnie, how much longer will Bamon remain in Nawlins? Answers are sure to follow. Thanks for reading and leaving your thoughts behind. Love you!