A/N: You didn't think I was gone did you?

Silly rabbit.

Chapter Ten: Summon

Somehow I'd ended right back at square one. I wasn't talking to my best friends, I didn't want to talk to them, and I wasn't sure I trusted them emotionally. For the past two days, I did nothing but avoid them the best way I could, but it was hard considering we had two classes together. I didn't eat lunch at school, I didn't go to the junior hangout during my free period.. I stared off into space and actually caught myself doing it. I was slow to respond to people and quick to lose my touch with reality. I barely listened, I only stared.

I shouldn't have come to school today.

Falling back into a rut shouldn't have been as comfortable as it was. Without the distraction of having to pretend everything was fine, I could actually focus on the things I wanted. I had more time for spells, I had more time to think, and I just had more time in general. I'd be lying if I said it wasn't peaceful. The only thing that sucked about the whole situation was the disruption of normalcy. That feeling in my stomach whenever I saw Caroline or Elena in the hallway, or the tense feeling whenever we sat in our seats in class.

I ignored the text messages from Stefan asking me what had happened. If he wanted to find out, Elena would tell him sooner or later. If not her, then definitely Caroline. It started to irritate me that I couldn't even have a fight with my best friends anymore without a vampire having to question it. It irritated me even more that he was the source of our argument and didn't even know it.

The feeling of being disconnected with the rest of my friends was starting to set in again. It wasn't something that I initially welcomed, but the familiarity of it made things easier. We all considered ourselves close, but lately I felt like it had more to do with life or death experiences than anything else. On some level, I knew the whole thing had been super dramatic. Real thoughts and feelings became magnified and blurted without any cautionary thought, but the fact still remained that it had been real. What hurt even more was that the only person who'd really been upfront with me the entire time was the one person I couldn't stand.

I sat on the bleachers outside of the gym and took my bad grade for not dressing out. I watched the girls in my class struggle with volleyball. I saw Caroline and Elena run around the track and ignored their gazes by pretending to read The Catcher In The Rye again. I blinked away the burning in my eyes and tried to ignore my own thoughts. I couldn't shake the feeling that maybe that wasn't all that had been said about me. I couldn't stop thinking that, for some reason, maybe I'd been a better friend to the both of them than they'd ever been to me. Thinking like that hurt more than I could handle and the sky began to gray with my mood.

Jeremy was beside me. "You know, maybe if you try hard enough, you could give Mystic Falls its first tornado."

I shook my head. "It'd be the third. The first one happened back in the fifties. The second one happened in the seventies."

"I'm not surprised you know that." He smiled.

I shrugged. "Someone has to."

He took his bag off and put it between his legs. "I haven't seen you in a while."

"I haven't wanted to be seen."

He nodded. "Want to talk about it?"

"No thanks." I said.

"Sucks for you." He said, snatching my book out of my hands.

"Jer, seriously?"

"Please," He flipped through the pages. "You've read this book at least a million times."

I folded my arms. "I'm not in the mood."

He put his feet up and leaned back. "And I've got an entire free period."

I felt my annoyance rising. "I want to be alone."

"You've been alone for days now." He said. "It doesn't look like things have gotten any better."

"Maybe I'm doing it wrong." I told him.

"No, you've pretty much avoided all contact with your friends, but unlike the rest of them I'm sick of the shit and want Bonnie back."

" Can I have my book back?"

"You know, I remember when Vikki died." He went on. "I hated everything. I didn't go to parties because I knew she wouldn't be there. I went to our secret stash, got all the weed and pills I could find and tried to off myself. Turns out I couldn't even do that right. I ended up passing out in the woods and waking up pissed off all over again."

"But then there was this really short girl with flowers on her shirts that wouldn't let me do it. She never made me feel like what I was feeling was stupid. She never judged me for any of the things I told her about me and the girl I liked. She sat there, she listened, and she didn't let me sit around and mope all the time."

"She sounds stuck between awesome and annoying." I said.

"Sometimes, but she was there for me when I needed her to be. Even when I didn't want to admit it to myself."

I shook my head. "Maybe I should've encouraged it."

"Whoa. Where did that come from?"

"I don't know." I said, suddenly tired of the conversation. "Can I have-"

"Ask me for this book again and it goes in my pants." Jeremy said in a serious tone.

I sighed. "I know what you're trying to do, but it's not helping."

"I don't want it to help. I want you to talk. How long did you think I was going to let you walk around like a robot?"

"I wasn't aware you were letting me do anything."

"Shows how much you pay attention." He said. "I'm not stupid. I know something happened between you, Elena, and Caroline. What was it?"

I looked at him. "Are you really not going to let this go?"

"Would you?"

Jeremy was patient as I tried to find the words. "Am I judgmental?"

"Highly." He said.

Ouch. "Good to know. Conversation over."

"Hear me out." He said. "It's not a bad thing."

"That's not what I've heard."

"Have you ever noticed that you aren't being judgmental until the other person gets offended?" he asked.

"Not really."

"From what I've seen, the word gets used wrong. Judging means that you're just stating what you think, critical or otherwise. It's where you stand on something, you know? People get paid to judge, people go to school for it. I don't see that as being a bad thing."

"Condemning, now that's when you're an asshole." Jeremy smiled. "No one gets paid for that. There's no school you can go to and make a career out of it. There's a difference Bonnie, a big one. Maybe you can be too direct sometimes and maybe some people aren't always ready for it, but usually you have a good reason. Anyone who says otherwise doesn't know you."

I nodded. "Do you think I don't live?"

"You look pretty alive to me." Jeremy said.

"You know what I mean."

"I can't answer that. No one can, but you."

I gave him a small smile. "When'd you get so wise?"

Jeremy rolled his eyes. "I'm not that young, Bonnie. I've seen things."

I laughed. "That sounds so ominous. 'I've seen things'."

"Well it's true." He defended himself. "And it's good to see you smile again."

I looked down. "You make it seem like it never happens."

"It's rare these days."

The bell rang.

"Walk you to class?" Jeremy asked.

"You'd be late for your own, wouldn't you?" I stood, gathering my things.

"It's art." He waved it off.

"You like art." I said as we headed down the bleachers.

"Which is why I can skip it every now and then. I'm already ahead of everybody, showing up every day would make me a douche bag."

"Make?" I raised my eyebrows.

"And the sense of humor comes back full force, I see."

When we got to the bottom, Jeremy reached out a hand to help me down and I took it even though I didn't need it. I also didn't take my hand away when he decided to hold on to it. It felt nice to have had someone who knew me just enough to tell me what I needed to hear, but was removed enough from the situation to not be biased.

By the time we reached my Chemistry class, I was actually kind of bummed out to see Jeremy go. The entire way to class, he'd filled me in on the update with the Green Lantern and DC Comics' decision to make him gay. When I asked if it was canon or not, he told me nothing ever was in comics. A part of me figured that, if I wanted to, I could always just skip class with him, but I decided against it. He'd gotten me back to fully functional, I needed to keep myself there.

Before we separated though, he squeezed my hand and looked down. "I have something to ask you."

"Could you look at me when you do?" I joked.

His eyes shot up to mine and the tips of his ears went red. "Would it be weird if we hung out sometime? You know, just us?"

My wall went up out of habit. "You don't have to supervise me, Jer. I'm okay."

"No, no." He shook his head. "I just meant that…well, it was really cool just talking to you and being with you. I wanted to do it again."

I blinked. Twice.

"You know, it's okay." Jeremy dropped my hand. "Forget I said anything."

I was still staring when he nodded. I was blinking when he turned around. Jeremy had asked me out, sort of. I mean, it wasn't like I didn't know what dating was or when someone wanted to do it with me, I wasn't that far under a rock. I didn't think.

"Yes!" I semi blurted.

Jeremy was back in front of me in two strides.

"I mean, yeah. Sure we can hang out." I clarified. I didn't know if my defenses were ready for the actual word "date", especially with Jeremy, but I could hang out. I was good at that.

He smiled. "Cool."

"Yeah."

Damn this was awkward.

The late bell rang and I went into my Chemistry class. It didn't occur to me until after I sat down that neither of us had said when was a good time for us to do anything. Then I let it go. Jeremy had asked, so I was assuming he'd text me whenever. I fought hard to keep the smile off my face and I like to think I won.

Thirty minutes into class and my phone vibrated.

The Woods. After school.

Damon. The message was from Damon. I hadn't seen, heard from, or even thought about him since that night when we…I didn't want to think about it. Even though I hadn't been able to get the events of that night out of my mind, everything about that whole day kept me from over analyzing it too much. The both of us had been drinking and were emotional. The kiss happened because he was out of control and I wanted to lose it. It wasn't the worst thing to happen when Damon got emotional.

I stared at the text message for ten seconds before finally deciding to ignore it. Practicing magic could wait. The weird discussion about what happened and what it didn't mean could wait too. I was still pretty annoyed with Damon for ignoring me after the last time we'd been in the woods and I was more than pissed off about the things he'd said to me in the boarding house. Kiss or not, it didn't excuse his actions. Whatever he had to teach me could wait until I was ready.

It was raining by the time I got home. The inside of my house was warm and inviting and smelled like the incense I'd been burning lately. My dad had sent me a text message during lunch telling me he would be gone for another week, something about failed deliveries and unsigned documents, but that he hoped I was having a good time at Caroline's. It took me a second to catch it, but then I realized Caroline had covered for me and somehow convinced my father that I was staying with her. I told him I loved him and I'd see him when he got back.

After I changed my clothes, I got the spell book and sat back down on the kitchen floor. Since the incident with Caroline, I'd decided to actually read the spells and make my own notes about them before I actually tried them. Turns out the spell for sunlight I'd done would only work in the presence of a vampire. While it didn't explain why it worked despite her wearing a daylight ring, I kept it in my notes anyway.

There were symbols in the book as well, ancient ones that would work in case I could speak an incantation. The one for light looked like an exploding star. The one for sunlight looked like a sun. There were protection symbols that could ward a house from vampires completely, where they couldn't even come to the doorstep, though the design of the symbol was intricate. I shrugged to myself. If I couldn't do it, maybe Jeremy could while I chanted the incantation.

I smiled when I thought about him again. Even though I was still sketchy about his past with Anna, I was still kind of glad that he'd asked me out. I couldn't exactly remember when the dynamic between us had shifted into something more…complicated, but it wasn't a bad thing at all. As a matter of fact, it was pretty comforting that it was happening with someone I already knew. I could be myself without having to worry about what to keep and what to show. Jeremy and I had a lot of the same interests, even though his bordered more on the aesthetics aspect. I knew he and I could talk about anything if I wanted to, and I knew he wouldn't be distracted by the thought of getting in my pants that he'd actually listen.

Someone was at my door.

No sooner than I'd thought it, my doorbell rang. I hadn't been expecting anybody, but it wasn't unlike people to just drop by. I tried to get a sense of who it was through my magic, but something was blocking it. The only thing I was really certain of was that the person at the door was human. Undeniably human. As a matter of fact, the word undeniably actually went through my head as I opened the door.

He was tall and dark blonde with shoulders that could put Tyler to shame. His eyes were a flashing green as he looked me over, a smile played on his lips. I found myself smiling back.

"Hey, I'm having some car trouble." He said, pointing to the silver car behind him. "Do you have a phone I can use?"

A voice in my head told me not to let him in, but the voice got smaller and smaller the more I stared at him. "Sure, it's just over here."

He stepped inside of my house and immediately something felt off. A rush of power came with him that was so strong I turned around so he wouldn't see me struggle to catch my breath. I pointed to the phone in the hallway and followed him as he walked to it.

He shivered as he looked at the water he was trailing. "I'm sorry about that. I can clean it up."

"It's fine," I said. Too eager to help. "I'll go get a towel."

I got one of the guest towels out of the closet in the hall and put it on the floor where he stood. He picked up the phone and dialed a number, waiting patiently as it rang.

He looked around. "You have a nice house."

I nodded and cleared my throat. "Thanks."

Something was going on, but I couldn't figure it out. It was like a disruption, no an infection. It was that feeling you got right before you got sick with the flu the next day. My chest had a weird feeling it, my throat felt tighter.

"You know my grandfather had a clock like that." He said. "It's from the seventies right?"

I folded my arms and leaned against the wall. "Umm, yeah. Nineteen seventy two, I think."

He smiled and nodded. "I thought so."

There was something about him that was off, but I couldn't place it. My magic was shifting inside of me, fighting something I couldn't see. Whenever I started to question why I let this random guy in my house, a warm calm feeling would come out of nowhere. As soon as I forgot my mistrustfulness, I could feel my magic come back full force. It was like flashing between hot and cold and it was wearing me out. I knew not to take my eyes off the guy though, that part I was certain of.

He picked up the phone and looked at me. "Hey are you alright?"

"I'm fine." I said waving it off. "You should hurry. Mystic Falls isn't where you want to have car trouble."

He smiled. "It looks pretty nice here. Like one of those towns where nothing ever happens."

"Looks can be deceiving." I said.

"Yeah," the veins traveled up his eyes and forehead. "I know."

And then he was on me, knocking me backwards and throwing me into my front door. I tried to get to my feet, but the rush of power swept at me again, and I was back on the floor.

"A Bennett witch." He said, cocking his head and coming closer. "I've heard such great things about you."

A vampire. I'd invited a vampire into my home.

Thinking was starting to feel like walking through quicksand. The more I tried to focus on him, the hazier everything got. A pulsing started in my temples as whatever power he was wielding kept me rooted to the floor. Power? Vampires didn't have magic the last time I checked. Witches lost their magic when they became vampires, it was the law of nature. You couldn't possess something that required life and be dead. It just didn't work.

"They said you'd be powerful," he said. "Not easily fooled. As a matter of fact, I'd been warned when I signed up for this little mission."

I tried calling the vase from the living room to hit him over the head, but I only heard it wobble on the table. I narrowed my eyes to try inflicting pain on him like I did Damon, but that didn't work either. Something about him was dulling my magic and keeping me from using it. It was like the harder I tried, the more I couldn't use it and the weaker I became. I was breathing harder and sweat formed on my forehead. What the hell was happening to me?

"H-how are you-"

"How am I what?" He cut me off. "Keeping you from using some of that famous magic? My blood is spelled. The more magic you use on me, the weaker you become. Kind of ironic, don't you think?"

The vampire grabbed my leg and pulled me under him, laughing at my struggles and turning me onto my back.

"Rebekah told me not to bite you unless it was absolutely necessary." The vampire said. "I think I can come up with something don't you?"

The closer he got to me, the farther I wished I could move, but nothing happened. I lay there, powerless and motionless against a vampire who'd somehow tricked me into letting him in my house. I felt stupid beyond measure, and weaker beyond that. I cringed as the vampire sank his fangs into my neck. Damon was somewhere shaking his head and rolling his eyes…

Damon.

I clung to the thought of him and pushed my magic at him. A road was coming into view in my mind, somewhere close by. He was driving, making a left turn not too far from my house. I focused my magic on him, I calmed my mind as best as I could given the circumstances, and focused on Damon.

Help me.

He snapped out of whatever thought he'd been in and looked around. "Bennett?"

Vampire. My house.

Damon whipped his car around and sped in the direction towards my house. His speed was dictated by the urgency of my magic, his mind was telling me to stay calm and stay with him. All I could think about was what it really felt like to be fed on. I felt like a Capri Sun in the summer, having the life sucked out of me as the vampire lapped at my blood. In my mind I saw Damon park at a house about a block down. I saw him rip a piece of wood off a fence in the house's yard. The world around me turned into a blur as he began to run. Closer, closer, closer.

I heard a shift in the air, a whooshing sound, and saw the vampire fly off of me in two seconds.

As soon as he was off of me, I began to scoot backwards. The closer I got to the door, the better. Damon was there on my porch waiting for me, his eyes never leaving the vampire in the hall. When I got close enough Damon helped me stand against the door and put his hand on my neck.

It was all I needed.

Suddenly my magic flared to life and I was thinking clearly. My neck stung, but the rage I felt after having been attacked dimmed it. I narrowed my eyes at the vampire who had a piece of fence sticking out of his shoulder and threw as much pain as I could at him. His back arched with his screams and his nose streamed blood. I moved my hand up and placed it on top of Damon's, feeling my magic amplify at the coolness of his palm.

"Invite me in." Damon said.

I shook my head. My neck hated me. "No."

"You have to." He said in a soft voice. "Or are you going to kill him with the door open?"

It wasn't until he said it, that I realized he was right. The vampire in the hall was screaming too loud. He'd draw out my neighbors.

"Come in." I said.

It was like the air sighed around Damon as he stepped into my home. I expected him to say something sarcastic, but he didn't. He closed the door behind him.

"Get him up." He told me.

I put my arm out towards the vampire and raised it slowly. He rose off the floor, torso bent backwards, and hung suspended in the air like a doll. When I clenched my fist, his back snapped forward and a sick crunching sound filled the air. He coughed blood onto the hardwood floor.

Damon folded his arms. "What's your name?"

The vampire spit in his face. "Fuck you!"

Damon used his middle finger and wiped the corner of his eye. "Bonnie, get the nice vampire's name."

I twisted my fist in one hard jerk. The vampire screamed again.

"Colin!" He wailed. "My name is Colin!"

"Rebekah sent him." I said, voice shaky.

"Ah," Damon said. "My least favorite Original. Tell me, why did she send you?"

"She'll kill me if I tell you." Colin said.

"And I'm going to kill you regardless. Fast or slow, it's your choice."

Colin looked at me, eyes glossy. "I'm supposed to bring her to Klaus."

"Why?" Damon beat me to it.

"I don't know." Colin said.

"I don't know if I believe you Colin. I mean you attacked a witch and don't know why? You can't be that stupid."

"They don't tell us anything!" Colin said. "Klaus said something about a Bennett witch and he told Rebekah to handle it. That's where I came in."

Damon nodded. "We're getting warmer. Tell me. Where are Rebekah and Klaus?"

The vampire struggled. "I can't tell you."

"Can't or won't?" I hissed, twisting my fist again.

Damon grabbed Colin by his hair and jerked his head backwards. "He's compelled. He can't tell us anything."

I looked at Damon. "What do you want to do with him?"

Damon smirked. "It's not what I want to do, it's what you're going to do."

He stepped behind Colin and grabbed his arms. His other hand yanked the piece of fence out of Colin's shoulder and tossed it on the floor towards me.

"Stake him." Damon's voice was cool and direct.

I looked at the piece of wood on the floor, covered in blood, and suddenly I felt weird. I'd never staked a vampire before and I'd never had the option to do so. Usually that was everyone else's expertise, while man was magic.

Damon nodded at me. "You can do this, Bonnie. Focus."

I took a deep breath and focused on the piece of wood. It floated like I thought it would and I twisted it on its side, point aimed. I could see the fear in Colin's eyes as he saw his impending death. I could feel the magic inside of him that fought against everything.

One last thing. "You said your blood was spelled. Who spelled it?"

"What?" Colin asked.

"The witch who spelled your blood. Who was it?"

"Jonas." He said. "Jonas Martin."

My body ran cold.

I saw Damon move and then his fist shot through the left side of Colin's chest. Colin's face went ashen as veins blossomed over it, then Damon pulled his hand out. He tossed the heart on the floor.

"Jonas Martin. Stefan killed him."

I thought so too. I'd heard his neck snap, just before he returned my magic. I remembered his last words in my ear. How was he alive? Moreover, how was he alive and had magic. That defied every law imaginable.

Damon stepped around the body, flinging blood off his hand. "I thought witches couldn't come back from the dead."

Again, I'd thought that too. Once a witch died, nature took the body and used the energies to keep balance. It was what Grams had taught me. It was what I read in all the books.

"You summoned me." Damon said as he got closer. "I didn't know you could do that."

Neither had I. I'd just wanted to him to come and help me, I hadn't expected it to be that intense. It was like the connection between what I wanted and what he did was so intense he couldn't deny it. I knew it because I'd felt it.

Damon put his hands on my shoulders. "Bonnie, snap out of it."

I wanted to, but there was so much going through my head. I wasn't as powerful as I thought, was the first thing. A vampire had tricked me and come into my home. While yeah, he'd had magical assistance, I still should've picked up on something sooner. The wards on my house were powerful enough to detect vampires, but not witches and other magic. The second thing was that I'd summoned a century old vampire. I'd called he'd come. The third thing was that there was a witch more powerful than I would ever be working with a vampire that was powerful than all the ones here and, for some reason or another, wanted us dead.

And Damon now had access to my house.

I stepped away from him and ran my fingers through my hair. Way too much was going down at one time. I could feel myself pacing, but Damon stopped me.

"Calm down." He said.

"Calm down?" I whirled on him. "What the fuck do you mean, calm down?"

"There's my word again." He smirked.

"Damon!"

"Look, what is getting riled up going to do?" He asked. "You've got a vampire who wants to kill your best friend, a witch who could potentially want to help kill you, and a dead vampire in your hall. You can either lose your shit now, or you can find something for me to wrap his body in. Your choice."

I stood there glaring at him, but he wasn't phased. Actually he looked bored. That was what kicked me back into gear.

"There's an old rug upstairs, it was my mom's. My dad hates it."

"That'll work."

A/N: *Taps Mic* Hi you guys. Sooo does this count as a filler? I feel like it does. Anyway, Sorry it took me so long to update but a lot has gone down since I last wrote you guys. I moved, I worked, I went out of town, I visited friends and their kids, it was just a lot going on. Also, I was blocked. Majorly. And so I figured rather than just submit complete shit to you guys (hopefully you all don't think this is shit *sad face*) I just took a break. Did some living. Also, I dug up one of my favorite characters, Jonas. I'm sorry, but he's hot. Really hot. Sue me. All will be explained in time, yadda, yadda, yadda. OH! And Jeremy! Idk, I like Jeremy. He's cute and adorable and likes Bonnie. Sorry for those who thought that Damon and Bonnie were going to get to it. I tried writing it like that, I really did, but it didn't feel real and it didn't work out. They're getting closer though, they totally double teamed a vampire together. Also, we're getting closer to why Bonnie can summon Damon and he can feel her use magic. I have a really good reason for that, I swear. AND due to the love for Damon's POV, I've decided that that will be chapter Nine. Anyway, thank you guys so much for sticking with the story (if you did. I really haven't been gone that long.) and thanks to all the new readers! Read and Review!