I'm really sorry I haven't updated sooner, but I've got a lot of uni assignments due and then I have exams coming up, so I might not be able to update for a while. I've written the next chapter and will put it up as well though, and i'll start on the chapter after that soon :)

Thank you everybody for being patient, I appreciate the support! xx

Disclaimer: I do not own anything.

Bonnie watched Damon's back as he walked out of her room, and she swore she could feel her heart skip a beat. He'd come to regard her as a friend, and she was happy about that. But she wasn't as happy about their friendship as she was about the fact that she had just kissed Damon… and he had kissed her back. She felt lightheaded. She wanted to do it again. Well, she actually wanted to do more than kiss him, that was for sure. She had never felt drawn this way toward another guy since Jeremy, and she was glad, albeit a little sad, that she had finally moved on from his ghost. Of course, who better to become attracted to than Damon Salvatore?

And that's all it is, she tried to convince herself. It's simple physical attraction.

Yes, they had indeed grown close these past few months, and yes they were comfortable around each other; she felt safe around him, she loved being around him, loved having his attention focused on her. But they saw each other in different lights. He looked at her in a way a brother would look at his sister, whereas when Bonnie looked at Damon she wanted to rip his clothes off, spend all her time wrapped around him and not want to share him. Her reaction to him was because of his appeal, she figured. She didn't have feelings for him, per se- it was more like a high school crush; infatuation with a hot, unattainable guy. She could admit that much.

But that is as far as it goes, Bonnie thought to herself. It's just a fixation, a temporary obsession. It will pass eventually, it's nothing more serious; it's not like I'm in love with him. It's impossible for me to have deeper feelings like that for someone like Damon. And he definitely doesn't have those kinds of feelings for me.

Damon had no romantic interest in her, so that would make it easier. After all, he did say their kiss was just her seeking comfort from a friend. That's all he thought of it as, her being in a vulnerable place. And she would make sure that's the only thing he thought toward that kiss-she wouldn't let him find out how much that kiss actually meant to her. Even though she wanted him-wanted to be around him-more than she'd like to admit, she would make sure everything went back to the way it was. He would never find out how much she felt for him.

Even if it is just a crush, she reminded herself, because that's all it is-a crush. It'll be gone in no time.

Bonnie smiled. It really was an incredible kiss… he was incredible. Unfortunately, she wouldn't be experiencing it again, because everything was going to go back to normal…

As if that kiss had never even happened.

One week later

Something was definitely different.

She gave him props for being so subtle; she never would've discovered he was trying to actively avoid her if she hadn't brushed her hand against his one morning this week. They had been looking over some information in one of the spell books and she couldn't help herself-she wanted to touch him, wanted to feel him. He had been so close she'd decided to risk it. He pretty much jumped ten feet in the air. He'd recovered quickly of course; he'd given her his trademark smirk, told her they had more important things to worry about and they could flirt later, and got back to business. But she noticed he'd put at least a foot between them when they got back to looking over the books. Since then she had barely seen him. And she realised she'd hardly seen him the past week-ever since she kissed him.

He must know I have a stupid schoolgirl crush on him, Bonnie thought.

However, even as she was thinking that to herself, she knew she was downplaying her feelings for him. It was definitely more than a simple crush. She had developed real feelings for Damon. She wouldn't admit it aloud-that would just make it all the more real. So, for now she simply denied how much she felt toward Damon for fear that he found out, and worse, didn't feel the same way… actually, she knew pretty well how he felt about her; that was made clear by the way he flinched at her touch. He wasn't interested.

So, for the last week she had continued to harness her magic and learn some more effective spells alone. And they had begun to actually start working. Ever since Damon had talked with her-before that kiss-Bonnie had felt like a big part of her magic was now available to her.

However, there had been recent side effects. By using so much magic, learning such dark spells, Bonnie had begun to feel… not herself. She had begun to focus solely on the spell book focused on dark magic-the spells were much stronger. But sometimes when she practiced using the darker spells, channelling her power, she would begin to lose control of her magic-it would overpower her. Or she would successfully perform a spell and it would feel like she needed more magic to use up, needed to feel stronger and let out more power. At one point she made the lamp beside her bed explode-she told Damon she threw a spell book toward the bed and didn't have very good aim. At this moment she was just getting to the last chapter in the spell book when she came across something very, very interesting.

It was the spell Ariana used to take magic from another witch… and it showed how to learn the ability to give it back to the witch it was taken from. It involved a lot of magic, much more so than all the other spells, which were hard enough.

This is a lot of dark magic, Bonnie thought. But if there's a chance I can give all those witches their powers back, maybe they'll recover. I can help them. I will help them.

Bonnie decided then and there that she would do whatever it took to help the other witches whose magic had been so selfishly taken. She read through the spell. In order for the spell to work, the witch needed to be weakened, their own magic drained, and their blood needed to be spilled at their own feet. Finally, when Ariana was at her weakest point, Bonnie would be able to finish her; the magic would then be returned to whomever it was taken from. This was the price for performing such dark magic on another. There was also a bit of chanting involved, but that would be the easy part.

She always knew she would have to take down Ariana, but as she read the spell again and again, she knew it wasn't only about her personal safety anymore. Ariana was harnessing the power of others using dark magic and this was the only way she could be stopped. Fight fire with fire.

The spell was very thorough; it explained that powerful witches, given the right circumstances, could harness the right elemental magic needed to take away a witch's power; of course, it only worked when the situation was explainable. Otherwise, if being taken for selfish purposes, it was necessary to have to harness a lot more, darker, magic.

So I guess me abusing my power was a necessary situation, Bonnie mused as she remembered her powers being temporarily 'revoked'.

Bonnie needed to show this to Damon. He might be avoiding her and she might be embarrassed to face him after assuming he knew how she felt about him, but this was no time to behave like a child. She hurried downstairs and found Damon sitting in the lounge on his cell phone and swirling a tumbler full of his favourite bourbon.

"Okay okay, I'll let her know. Bye, Elena," Damon said warmly as Bonnie walked over to the couch, the spell book in her hand. She found herself automatically smiling as she got closer to him.

"That was Elena?" Bonnie asked, although she already knew the answer.

Damon looked at her for a moment before deciding to answer. "Uh, yeah. She wanted me to let you know that she, Stefan and Blondie are going to be coming home soon. Their semester is almost finished so they want to come back and play high school reunion. She asked me to invite you to dinner."

Bonnie frowned. "Why didn't she just ask me herself?" Damon shrugged. "I told her you were coming over to visit so I offered to do it for her." Bonnie and Damon had decided when she first moved in that it would be easier if everyone else didn't know she had been staying at the boarding house.

Bonnie smiled. He was so sweet. Then she remembered why she came down to see him. "Oh, look what I found. You know those witches whose magic Ariana took? It turns out there's a way to reverse it. I can get their powers back for them." She handed Damon the book, and he skimmed over the spell information. He was silent for a while before he looked up at her and said, "Are you sure you can do this, Bonnie?"

She paused. "Sure I can do what? Kill Ariana? Yeah, I'm sure. I need to do this. Besides, you're the one who told me I could do it." Damon frowned. "Well, yeah, it sounded good in theory. And what I said was true; I know you'd be able to beat her. But you're taking the life of another witch, I hope you realise the impact that could have on you. And this looks like it requires an insane amount of energy to perform."

Bonnie stared at him. "I can help those witches. There's no doubt in my mind-I will kill her. Or I'll die trying." Bonnie started to feel magic building up inside and she became dizzy for a second. She stumbled slightly. Damon noticed and stood up. "Bonnie?" He hesitantly put a hand on her shoulder. "You okay? You looked like you were about to faint."

Bonnie regained her balance and said, "Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Just a bit tired I guess. I'm going upstairs for a nap. I'll see you later."

She quickly grabbed the spell book from Damon's hand and walked swiftly upstairs. Once she got to her room she locked her door and threw the spell book down on the bed. She needed to perform more magic, needed to feel more power.

She thought of a spell from the book and immediately performed it without trouble. In one second she had changed form. She had become a small hawk, a bird of prey floating in mid-air. She didn't know why she hadn't learned this before; it was amazing to feel your body morph, feel it change into something completely different and have all this power circulating within you. Then she concentrated on something different and her small body began to dissolve into a hundred small, dark purple butterflies. This lasted for about a minute before she began to lose energy, and came crashing down on the floor in one piece. She could barely stand up, but she managed to drag herself on to her bed and lie down. She smiled. That was the first time she had succeeded in changing form like Ariana had. But she needed more power.

She wanted it. And she wanted to get it fast.

I'll put up the other chapter and then that will probably be it for a couple of weeks. But don't worry, once this semester is over I'll be back to continue writing. Again, thank you so much everybody. Read and review away! xx