A/N: im glad everyone enjoyed the D/E moment last chapter ;) this one picks up right where we left off...

Too much, Elena thought frantically, her head falling back against the wall as Damon's lips grazed along her jawline before tracing a path to her throat. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she dimly registered that maybe they should stop—but then his lips covered hers again and every thought she had left disappeared. She might have whispered- or moaned- his name as she desperately sucked in a mouthful of air, because she distinctly heard him chuckle before muttering against her skin, "Less talking." Tingles spread through her body, and she instinctively arched under his touch—

"Ahem."

Damon whirled around, his hands sliding off her hips. Elena's eyes flew open to see Katherine and Bonnie standing by the kitchen door, their expressions ranging from amusement to wide-eyed shock. "Impeccable timing," she heard Damon say dryly, and Katherine smirked in response.

"I'm—water," Elena managed to say, avoiding meeting Bonnie's inquisitive gaze. In her haste to get out of the room, she accidently brushed by Damon and her shoulder burned from the renewed contact. "Sorry," she muttered, hurrying into the kitchen. She opened one of the cabinets with jittery fingers, her hand fumbling for a glass.

"Elena?"

Startled, she jumped, and the glass tipped forward off the shelf. Elena winced, shutting her eyes—but the expected sound of glass shattering onto the floor never happened. She slowly reopened her eyes and looked up. Damon stood next to her, his expression unfathomable. Her gaze dropped down to his hand, which was holding the glass. "Th-thanks," Elena stammered, and Damon wordlessly handed it over.

It didn't escape her notice that he deliberately moved his fingers to avoid touching her.

The silence in the kitchen grew to an uncomfortable tension as Elena needlessly focused on filling the glass with ice cubes and water. Her entire body felt like it was on fire, and she gulped down the contents in an effort to cool down. She made the mistake of surreptitiously peering over the rim of the glass—to see Damon watching her carefully through narrowed eyes. "Feel better?" he questioned when she put the empty glass down on the table.

"Fine," Elena responded immediately, "I'm fine." She gestured weakly behind her, "We should probably get back in there before they come looking for us."

"Wait," Damon reached out as if to grab her wrist, but then seemed to think better of it. "Back there..." he trailed off, seeming almost wary of her reaction.

Elena opened her mouth, but couldn't think of anything to say. "Intense," she finally offered, her gaze flicking up to meet Damon's. "It was intense."

"Sorry to interrupt," Katherine said, appearing at the door and not sounding apologetic at all. "But Bonnie wants to get this spell done…you do still want to find Stefan?" she shot at Elena pointedly.

Elena flushed, and she rubbed her arms subconsciously. "Yes, of course," she said quickly, ignoring the glare that Damon sent in Katherine's direction. "Whose blood are we going to use?"

"Mine," Katherine announced, leading the way back into the living room. Bonnie was sitting within the circle of candles again, holding a vial of blood in her hands. She looked up when the three of them entered the room, and her gaze flickered with judgement when Damon sat down next to Elena.

"Alright, I don't know if this will work or not since Klaus is an Original and I would suspect that he can't be found using a simple locator spell..." Bonnie shrugged, "But we'll try it and see what happens." Turning away from them, she closed her eyes and raised her hands above the silver bowl in front of her.

The candles around her immediately flared to life, throwing long shadows around the room. With practiced hands, Bonnie used a dropper to suck in the blood from the vial, all the while murmuring words under breath. "Ostendo mihi qua Exemplar Klaus exuviae!" Bonnie whispered finally, letting a drop of blood fall onto the globe.

The droplet seemed to fall in slow motion, and it hovered in the air as the globe began spinning of its own volition. Damon leaned forward in spite of himself, keeping his eye on the blood. "Look," Elena clenched his arm, "The globe stopped turning!"

"But the blood didn't fall yet," Katherine hissed back, getting to her feet silently. "Why isn't..." she trailed off when there was a sudden pop! and the drop of blood disappeared in mid-air.

"Damn it," Damon growled, running his fingers through his hair in frustration. "The blood properties of an Original must somehow protect the owner from being found by a witch," he mused darkly, "It would explain why Klaus has managed to hide for all these centuries..."

Bonnie heaved a sigh, looking weary. "I'm sorry guys," she said tiredly, turning to look at Elena. "I did my best...I don't think this locator spell is going to work."

Elena tried to smile, "It's not your fault. If only Klaus wasn't impossible to find..."

Katherine, who had been pacing across the room, suddenly stopped and pointed to the pile of Stefan's belongings that Damon had gathered earlier. "What are those for?"

"I thought that once we found out where Stefan was, we could use his DNA to send him a message," Bonnie explained, staring at the items unseeingly. "To tell him that help was coming...like when I sent Elena that note to tell her that Damon and Stefan were on the way to save her from Rose and Trevor."

"But you don't have to know where he is to send a message, right?" Katherine asked, looking at Bonnie expectantly. "Because the note will automatically appear wherever he is...?"

"And what good would that do?" Damon snapped, "Oh look Stefan, we're sending you this note to let you know that we have no idea where you are because Klaus isn't leaving a trail of dead bodies, could you maybe try convince him to do something drastic? Oh and by the way, thanks for sacrificing your life for mine, I know that must've sucked—"

"The sarcasm isn't helping anybody," Katherine interrupted coldly, "At least I'm thinking of ways to..." she abruptly trailed off, her eyes suddenly lighting up.

"Oh God, I know that look," Damon said moodily, narrowing his eyes at Katherine. "You've just come up with some sort of plan that will most likely end up with getting us all killed, haven't you?"

"You underestimate me, Damon," Katherine pouted, turning her attention onto Bonnie. "Emily once told me about a spell that allows you to...establish an open connection with another person," she bit her lip pensively, "Have you heard of it?"

"An open connection?" Bonnie repeated slowly, "I've read about it...but I've never done one before." She looked hesitant, "It's a fairly advanced spell."

"Oh come on," Katherine wheedled, "You've used a lot of power before; this one shouldn't be too different."

Elena frowned, "Wait, what exactly is an open connection? Is it...dangerous?"

"It would require Bonnie to connect her mind to Stefan's," Katherine explained. "If it works right, then we can open up a two-way communication channel."

"We can talk to him and he can talk to us," Elena surmised, eyeing Katherine dubiously. "What are the risks?"

"Like I said, it takes a good amount of power," Katherine repeated, "But the result would be worth it."

"Just hold on a second," Damon cautioned, kneeling down next to Bonnie. "Look," he lowered his voice, "You know that Stefan is on human blood again."

"Yes."

Damon glanced up at Elena before continuing, "You know that his mind might not exactly be a pretty place right now."

Bonnie hesitated but nodded, "That thought had occurred to me, yes."

"If he flipped the switch," Damon began, but then stopped uncertainly. "He might...I mean, the humanity in his mind might be unreachable to your powers," Damon met Bonnie's gaze squarely. "Are you sure you can handle it?"

Bonnie swallowed, but she looked determined, "Yes."

Elena, who had been watching this exchange silently, also knelt down. "Bonnie, I don't want you to do something that you're not comfortable with...we don't have to do this. We can think of something else..."

Katherine scoffed, "You know we're out of ideas, Elena."

Elena gritted her teeth, but Bonnie placed a hand on her arm complacently. "She's right," Bonnie said quietly, "Stefan's already been gone for more than a week, and we've run into dead ends on every other idea we've had. I can do this, trust me."

"Okay," Elena stepped back, even though she still didn't agree with the plan. "What do you need?"

"I just have to...find...the spell," Bonnie frowned as Katherine handed her the grimmoire that had been lying open on the floor. "You found it?" she asked disbelievingly, "That was fast."

"Emily showed me the page before," Katherine shrugged, tucking her legs underneath her body as she sank down onto the sofa. "You don't need any other ingredients; just an item that belongs to Stefan, which we already have."

Bonnie bent over the book, reading the spell intently. After a few minutes, she glanced up at Katherine. "Did Emily ever attempt the spell?"

"Not that I know of," Katherine replied delicately, "Why?"

"No reason," Bonnie shifted the book off her lap and settled herself in the center of the candles. She methodically folded the grey shirt and placed the comb and toothbrush on top of it, before raising her hands above the small pile. "Fides meus mens per unus alius," she began in a steady voice. Almost instantly, a soft glow of light appeared from her fingertips and spread in a circle around Stefan's belongings.

"Is est a sanctus fides quod," Bonnie continued, letting out an involuntary gasp as Power shot through her body and seemed to clench around her heart. Her head fell forward as she grappled desperately for air. In the background, she could vaguely hear Elena calling out her name in concern, but Bonnie couldn't find the strength to answer her. Taking in a deep breath, Bonnie haltingly kept moving forward with the spell, fighting against the drain of energy.

"V-volo annecto per Stefan Salvatore!" she cried out finally, and the Power slammed into her with full force. Holding on for dear life, Bonnie shut her eyes tightly, letting the spell carry the bond of two minds. She could feel the Power searching for Stefan, until -with a sudden click!- it all seemed to fall into place. The Power settled, and Bonnie apprehensively called out in her mind. "Stefan?"

There was no answer.

"Stefan?" she tried again, "Can you hear me?" All was dark and silent for a few moments, until she felt something shift in her mind. "Stefan? Is that you?"

Elena was crouching in front of Bonnie worriedly. She glanced back at Damon, "Do you think she's okay?"

Damon's arms were crossed as he studied Bonnie closely, "It looks like she's in some sort of trance."

"That means that the spell worked and their minds are connected," Katherine said promptly, "They must be communicating now..."

"You sure know a lot about it," Damon shot at her suspiciously, "Are you certain Emily never tried it out?"

Katherine opened her mouth to answer when suddenly a terrible scream filled the room. "Bonnie!" Elena shouted, scrambling to her feet. "Bonnie, what's happening?"

Bonnie screamed again, her eyes rolling to the back of her head. Blood streaked down her face, and unexpectedly her entire body began convulsing. Katherine was on her feet, looking shocked. "The circle! Get her out!"

Damon didn't even think twice before leaping forward to remove Bonnie—unfortunately, the flames on the candles shot to the ceiling the second he neared her and he roared in pain as the Power blasted him backwards. "Damon!" Elena cried out in horror. She began moving towards him, but stopped and sent a frantic look back at Bonnie.

Katherine waved her off, "I'll try to get her out. Go ahead."

At that moment Damon groaned loudly, and Elena's indecision won out as she rushed over and dropped to her knees beside him. "My god, are you okay?"

"Fine," he muttered, stumbling to his feet as Elena helped him up. "I'm starting to get the feeling that Bonnie's Power really doesn't like me..."

"Are you sure?" Elena asked again, her voice shaking slightly. Damon was about to brush off her concern when he noticed that both of her fists were clenching onto his arms in an unbreakable grip.

"Come here," he muttered, pulling her into a hug. "I'm okay," he repeated in a softer voice, before murmuring into her hair, "You can't get rid of me that easily."

Elena let out what sounded like a strangled laugh before tugging him in for a tighter hug, "Good."

They had just pulled apart when all the candles suddenly went dead, throwing the room in complete darkness.

Bonnie slumped to the floor.