A/N: Here is the long overdue chapter of 'Night Crawlers' thank you all for reading this story and hugs to those who sent me msgs, reviewed and are still favouriting even though I haven't update forever. Are you ready for more Bamon?

Chapter Ten – Chasing Pavements

"I'm worried about Bonnie, I don't think her spending so much time with Damon is a good idea," Elena said, entwining her fingers with Stefan's as they walked the school hall.

"I know, it's not ideal," Stefan sighed. "But Damon's on his best behaviour,"

"Damon and best behaviour shouldn't even go in the same sentence," Elena said, with biting sarcasm. "Uri's gone; it's been a little while now, so maybe he's not coming back,"

"Elena,"

"St Clair's nowhere to be seen, maybe he was never even here in the first place, everyone has disappeared so why is she still there with him, Stefan?"

"I don't know, but it was her choice to continue practicing with Damon and we have to respect that," Stefan stopped to face Elena, cupping her small face with both hands. "Listen, I won't let anything happen to Bonnie,"

Elena let out a breath. "I know, I just need her to be okay,"

"She's okay," Stefan assured. "I need you both protected and this is the only way I know how to do that, every day that Bonnie is with him she's getting stronger, Elena." He paused, a frown setting on his features as he felt a cold air take off in the small hairs at the back of his neck, Stefan turned around and found nothing there.

"Stefan, what is it?"

"I…I thought I felt something,"

"They can't walk in the sun," Elena placed a hand on his shoulder, moving it up to touch his face when he didn't respond. He'd been a little distant since Uri left. "Stefan, they can't walk in the sun,"

"I know that, Elena," The half ways could.

"Whoa," Elena stepped back as he snapped. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Stefan sighed as she raised her brow at him. "I'm just a little on edge, I practically held the door open for Uri to come in and take Laila. He could come back at any time and try to snatch Bonnie,"

"I know you and Damon won't let that happen,"

"I should've known, you know. The guy's older, getting the drop on him…it should've clicked, it was too easy,"

"Uri's had who knows how many decades to plan this one attack on Mystic Falls, he wants his sister back…like Damon wanted Katherine." Elena cupped his face. "That wasn't your fault and neither is this,"

Stefan turned his head but Elena stood in front of him. "Elena,"

"I love you, Stefan,"

"But I…"

"I said, I love you," Elena smiled.

Stefan buried his chin into her shoulder as she wrapped her arms around his neck, holding him close to her warm body, in turn warming his too. He held her tightly to him, going over Elena's words over again about none of it being his fault and although there was an element of truth about Uri, Stefan wasn't willing to let up on himself when it came to Damon.

"His sister," Stefan muttered into Elena's shoulder before breaking away.

"What?"

Bonnie reached out slowly as Damon stopped drinking, brushing her thumb across his lower lip as their eyes transfixed on each other.

"…Thanks," Damon said almost inaudibly, sitting back, he curled his lips over his fangs.

"Don't," Bonnie blurted. "I mean, you don't have to…hide it,"

"What are you doing?" He asked, incredulously. He and Bonnie were nothing more than an agreement, letting himself believe otherwise was a fool's game, she didn't really care, hell, if he was her he wouldn't so why should she? He frowned when she scooted closer and gently rubbed her thumb across his forehead. "What are you doing?" Damon enunciated.

"You have this pained expression on your face, I was just," Bonnie shrugged, chuckling nervously. "I just…"

"How cute," Damon interrupted her awkward babble.

Silence fell between them and Damon had never been comfortable with silence, especially with someone like Bonnie who had proved impossible to read from one minute to the next. Her eyes wandered around the room and he realized that he'd made her uncomfortable but he wasn't good at being whatever they were.

He nudged her. "I get it, if I were you; I'd find me irresistible too,"

Bonnie rolled her eyes, smiling in spite of herself. "Get over yourself, Damon."

"Get under me, Bonnie."

Bonnie froze, eyes widening at his cheeky smile. "You're disgusting," She argued, hoping Damon wouldn't see how bad a liar she really was, after all, it was him she spent most nights trying not to have sex with in her dreams. Soon realizing once she was awake that the thought of them being physical ran rampant in her thoughts whether she was asleep or not.

"Bonnie Bennett," Damon's smile grew wide with mischief as he pointed a finger at her. "You want me,"

"No, no I don't," Bonnie defended.

"You wanna kiss older sexy danger guy, don't you?"

Bonnie's cheeks flushed. "I, how'd…"

"Caroline talks, A LOT,"

"I don't wanna kiss you," Bonnie got up from the bed, a sharp intake of breath jolting her back a step as Damon appeared in front of her.

Damon's smile melted away. "No?" He closed the gap between them, tilting his head sideways so that his lips were by her ear. "So if I kissed you right now, you'd push me away?"

Bonnie's eyes fell shut as his breath tickled her skin, the truth was she hadn't been able to think about anything else, Damon was consuming her thoughts and she was terrified of something happening between them but she wanted it anyway.

Damon leaned dangerously closer and Bonnie hummed in response to his lips gently pressing against her shoulder while sliding his hand down her arm to grip her waist. "Damon," She whispered as his other hand cupped her face.

"Yes?" He dragged, leaving a warm trail of kisses along her jawline as her hands fell to her sides, he liked to played to with his food first. Damon slowly moved back, lips hovering so close to hers that they were breathing on each other. "Last chance to stop me,"

"I…" I Can't.

Damon smiled and went in to kiss her when his phone rang; he opened his eyes and found Bonnie's big green eyes staring back him, she shook her head and stepped away. "You should get that,"

"You gotta be kidding' me?" He asked, rhetorically.

"Might be Stefan," Bonnie speculated, burying her neck in her shoulders.

And just like that the moment was dead, unfortunately the same couldn't be said for Damon's partner in crime, feeding on Bonnie aroused him beyond the average piece of meat in a skirt, until he had to have her but he'd been fighting it until now. It was sex and then blood or it was blood during sex, when was sex not part of a vampire's thing? When he'd made a deal with a certain Witch.

Damon made a mental note to thank Stefan for his impeccable timing.

He pulled his phone from his pocket, answering it with hesitance and rolled his eyes as Bonnie pulled her cardigan together. "This better top what I had in mind," Damon said with his back to the Bonnie. Giving it a second thought, Damon snarled. "Who am I kidding? What do you want?"

Bonnie looked on, ignoring the hot waves coursing through her body every time Damon looked at her.

"You have five seconds to get to the point," Damon said deadpan, stepping outside of the room.

Bonnie waited for him to leave and began pacing the room. She ran her trembling hand through loose curls trying to school herself before he came back but the tingling sensation that travelled through her entire body was winning over any argument she tussled with.

"He's a vampire," She whispered. "He's a vampire, you're a witch…Damon's a…"

"What is that? Some kind of witchy mantra,"

Bonnie spun around. "Uh, no it's…" Shifting weight from her left to right leg, Bonnie crossed her arms. "What'd Stefan say?"

"Where were we?" Damon smirked, moving closer as he narrowed his eyes on her petite frame.

"We were…" The witch swallowed. "You were telling me what Stefan wanted,"

Damon's smiled faded a little and his eyes flashed wide. "I need you to locate someone for me,"

"Who are we looking for?" She sighed, relief coursing through her body when Damon allowed her to change the subject.

"Lily."

Bonnie took a deep breath, gently rubbing her fingers across the old sepia colored picture that Stefan had found of Uri with Lily and closed her eyes.

"Do you see anything?" Damon asked.

Bonnie rolled her eyes. "Give me a minute,"

Bonnie took slow steady breathes, circling her thumb over their faces until the images vibrated in her hand, moving away from the laminated paper to form in front of her like a projection, a full image, like they were right in front of her in real time.

Damon frowned, looking beside Bonnie to see what she was looking at yet he couldn't see anything but her reaction to it. "What do you see?"

Bonnie opened her mouth to speak but the words were lodged in her throat, she reached out to hold on to something so she wouldn't fall. It was Damon's hand but the petite witch couldn't tear her eyes away from the home video now set up in the old vampire's room.

Uri and Lily held each other around the neck for the picture that their Latina friend was going to take and then they froze and went backwards, uncurling their arms from each other to run like they were on rewind into a busy market while looking behind them.

They dropped the camera to the floor and began walking backwards into the crowds but as things sped up again, this time forward; Bonnie felt her heart speed up with it. Uri, Lily and their friend walked back towards the camera and picked it up, that was when a middle aged, poorly dressed, dirty shoeless man saw and started to chase them.

They ran until they were tired, leaving Bonnie exhausted before the images sped up again barely giving the youngest Bennett witch time to catch her breath.

Uri slept on the cold wooded floor of an abandoned brothel house with a jacket over him for warmth, and Bonnie watched as his sister sat at an old table writing a note. She couldn't make out the words but Lily's tears soaked the paper and ran through the ink, leaving a trail.

Leaving the note on the bed she picked up her stuff, all she owned was the grubby white dress she wore, her journal and the picture her friend had taken of her and Uri.

VD***********************************VD

Damon shook Bonnie gently by her shoulders but her focus was stolen, he could feel her shaking beneath his touch, feel the vibration of heat radiating from her as her eyes rolled to the back of her head. "Bonnie," He called, shaking her harder.

"It's the only way he'll be safe," Bonnie said.

"Who?" Damon asked, brows drawing together in question.

"I must leave before dawn,"

"What are you talking about?"

Bonnie felt the energy draining from her body slowly as Lily ran, but she wasn't just running, she was almost flying because of how fast she was, constantly looking behind her back. The images came fast and furious, almost too fast for Bonnie to work out the era; it was Lily's change in style that hinted to the time periods she lived through, always running.

Finally, her mind began to rest as Lily slowed down, settling in American, in a small town that looked like Bonnie's hometown, only different, there were horses with their carriages instead of cars and bikes and old buildings instead of the ones the young girl was so used to.

Lily was in Mystic Falls. But, who was she running from?

The tall beauty held the picture in her hand, tears trailing down her porcelain face as she said goodbye to the only thing that connected Bonnie to her and then placed it against a tombstone near the church.

Bonnie was seeing a time that she never thought possible, vampires being captured and locked away by the townspeople of Mystic Falls but Lily deliberately put herself in harm's way, it didn't make sense, surely she knew what would happen to her.

"Lily!"

Lily didn't turn to face the voice that called, she already knew all too well who it belonged to, instead she ran in the middle of a round up and bared her teeth for all to see, lurching forward as though to attack. Panic escaped the people and then she was stabbed in the back with a shot of vervain and went down, her eyes darted forward to see the owner of the voice that called out but he was gone.

Lily sighed, a smile gracing her lips, she was free. Lily closed her eyes.

And so did Bonnie.

Damon caught Bonnie in his arms as she fell backward and lifted her against his chest with ease, he placed her on the bed and stepped back to look at her for a minute, before fetching some water to place at his bedside for when she woke up.

Panic would've set in if it hadn't felt a strong pulse moments before but he had seen it once with Emily when Katherine had her do a spell but it was much bigger than a locator spell, Bonnie just needed to rest and then he could feel guilty about making her wear herself out. For now, he'd just watch her sleep.

Damon sat on the bed, reaching out to move the hair away from her face and found he couldn't pull away, grazing his cold fingers down her smooth cheek. Damon smiled in spite of himself.

"All of the boys you could have," Damon grazed his thumb gently across her lips. He stood as Bonnie stirred awake and watched as she sprung forward.

"What!" Bonnie cried out, her eyes wide and questioning.

Damon sat her back. "Hey,"

"What happened?"

"Hmm, well I've been waiting," Damon looked at the time on his cell. "About two minutes to find that out,"

Bonnie took a long shaky breath, grateful when Damon nodded towards the water behind her. "Thank you," she whispered, grasping the glass tight to gulp the water down greedily. "So thirsty,"

"Now you know how I feel," Damon said, with an insolent smile ever so bright.

"My sides are splitting," she muttered.

Damon rolled his eyes. "So what do we know, birdie?"

Bonnie raised a brow at that. "Don't call me that,"

"Fair enough, witch." He flashed a grin, feeling static in his groin when she ground her teeth, jaw tight and eyes burning with fire because of him. "Alright…Bonnie,"

Bonnie waited a few moments, she'd learned a couple lessons about Damon Salvatore since they'd started hanging out, one of them was that silence made the vampire squirm; it was so small, so delicate that you wouldn't see it unless you looked for it. Bonnie always looked for it, because monsters didn't squirm, they couldn't and every little emotion that slipped through Damon's perfectly hidden cracks consoled her grieving heart.

"The picture Uri left behind, it…took me somewhere,"

"Where?"

"I saw where Uri and his sister came from. Lily was running to protect him,"

"From who?" Damon asked, his eyes wide with incredulity.

"I don't know," Bonnie's caught the eye roll and sensed his frustration. "Why do you want to know where Lily is?"

"Uri finds Lily, we find him," Damon replied. "And kill him,"

Bonnie felt her heart sink. "But he's gone, why look for him just to kill him?"

"He's a threat,"

Her skin went cold as he snarled at her. "He hasn't actually hurt anyone,"

"He threatened to hurt you, that's all I need,"

"Okay," Bonnie interrupted. "I'm sorry, you're just looking out for me and,"

"I'm looking out for Elena and you as a favour to her, because you're her best friend," What Damon wasn't saying is that he kind of wanted her to be his best something, just a little bit. He'd take anything at this point, as long she was his.

Instead, he did what anyone would expect of Damon, he flipped the switch.

Bonnie felt her breath leave her and had to gasp to get it back, Damon's words bit sharply at her skin, and for a moment he was that vampire she'd drop without a thought if it wasn't for Elena and Stefan. "I find it hard to believe you've always been this guy, this ass,"

"Well believe it,"

After a moment, when the nausea passed, Bonnie broke the silence. "I don't know where Lily is, but she was in the tomb,"

"You're kidding?"

"She knew what would happen and she purposely exposed herself, Damon she was here in 1864 and I think she's still here now, somewhere,"

Damon sighed. "Stefan was right,"

"Where are you going?" Bonnie asked, eyes following Damon as he moved towards the door.

"To meet Stefan, you stay here and get your strength back,"

"Oh, no, I'm coming."

Bonnie tried to get off the bed but found Damon's strength to be overpowering as he pushed her back down, she was weaker than anticipated by the spell, which gave Damon the upper hand, but Bonnie would be damned if she let that happen. "Fine, I'll lie here on one condition,"

Damon's face twisted, as though the word 'condition' was alien to him. "I don't negotiate,"

"With me, you do," Bonnie said, eyes fixed on his, challenging him and herself.

Damon contemplated fighting her on it, proving that he was the terrifying vampire and she was just a feeble witch but she was contradicting what he first thought of 'd witnessed something fierce and powerful emerge from someone so delicate and gentle, and he was beginning to think that just maybe he was the reason for that.

"What?"

"Stay,"

After a moment of silence, Damon sighed and got on to his phone. "Texted him, but you have to find a way to keep me entertained,"

"I wanna know about Katherine," Bonnie whispered.

"Not exactly my idea of fun," Damon frowned. "I thought Elena already filled you in,"

Bonnie sat up slowly, leaning against the headboard. "Elena didn't know, Katherine,"

It turned out that neither did Damon, and every time he was forced to remember that, his gums would itch and his blood would boil. "It's the shortest story in history. I loved her, my father didn't so he tossed her vampire ass in the church to burn…turned out she was never in there, end of story." He gave a curt smile.

"I can't imagine how that felt," Bonnie mused, her heart involuntarily clenching for him.

"Really?" Damon smiled. "How'd I feel, hmm, like buying a puppy,"

"If you're scared to talk about Katherine, or too hurt, we don't have to,"

"What is that, reverse Psychology? Precious I'm not much younger than the guy who created the Psycho- babble so spare me,"

"Okay, ask me something you really want to know and I'll tell you,"

The left side of Damon's mouth quirked up, so smug. "Tell me something you'd never even dream of telling anyone, something not even Elena knows,"

Bonnie swallowed, there wasn't a secret in the world she wouldn't tell Elena or Caroline, except maybe one thing. "Fine, and then you tell me something," she patted beside her.

"This is a bad idea," Damon's eyes fell from her enticing eyes, a tick setting in his jaw. He slowly moved up the bed to sit next to her and crossed his arms. "You first, chuckles."

VD**********************************VD

"I was worried about my first kiss, and I was stressing and he…" She smiled reminiscently. "Calmed me down, tried to reassure me that it wasn't a big deal, and before I knew it, he'd kissed me. And, then he said 'now you've had your first kiss,"

There was a minute of silence, and then a burst of laughter, Damon was finding complete hilarity in everything she said, it was proving hard to impress a vampire as old as him.

On the other hand, Bonnie learned of a time that she couldn't imagine living in, all Damon's stories fascinated her and though he skirted over his life with Stefan and time with Katherine, she could hear the pain in his voice and the way it deepened, words falling forcefully from his lips.

With Damon living as long as he had, she had no doubt how much history lingered but it had become clear that he hadn't dealt with most of it, kind of how she hadn't dealt with her father's distance and her mother's absence. Some things were too hard to face, especially when you didn't know how to.

A comfortable silence fell lightly between them like a freshly laundered sheet floating to the bed, without really trying, Damon had shared better times of his life with her and without really saying anything, shared the harder times too. All humorous of course, and Bonnie expected nothing less.

Bonnie's stories weren't half as entertaining, considering the fact that she hadn't actually been alive very long but her attempts were enough to get a cheeky smile out of Damon more than once.

He turned to Bonnie, staring at her elongated neck as she rested her head back against the headboard, thebig vein in her neck, bulging and full of blood. The mere thought of it intoxicating him, that is until her tongue swiped across her lower lip drawing his icy blue eyes to the succulent bounce of her mouth instead.

Distracting, perpetually, distracting and annoyingly alluring.

Things that were beyond Damon's control didn't sit well with him, and well, his growing interest in Bonnie belonging to him was beyond his control. His hand wandered between them, purposely resting it next to her leg. "What kind of secret is that anyway?" he argued. "Kissing pretty boy, next door doesn't count,"

Bonnie's eyes grew, she thought it was horrifying to kiss your friend, soon to be best friend's guy, but apparently Damon didn't agree. "I kissed Matt,

"The brooding male model hadn't got with your BFF until after you're incredibly boring five second lip lock,"

"Still," Bonnie defended, smiling at his comment. "We all knew it would happen,"

"High school dribble," Damon said, rolling his eyes.

"I'm so sorry my life bores you…" Bonnie chuckled.

He rolled his head toward Bonnie, eyes meeting hers. "I want something real,"

Bonnie swallowed and she wasn't so sure he didn't hear that along with her heart pounding. Her fingers fiddled with the velvety sheets. "Grams," she whispered.

Oh. Damon grimaced, and her pain dug a hole in the pit of his stomach.

"She was the only real thing in my life," Bonnie's eyes never strayed from pattern around her sleeve. "My dad refuses to acknowledge me for who I am, what I am. I catch him staring at me sometimes, like I'm…the plague,"

"He's a dick," Damon said, with a sharpness in his tone that sobered them both up for several long moments. He wasn't only angry at Bonnie's dad, he was still bitterly struggling to accept and understand the disappointment he always saw in his own father's eyes.

"I don't know, what we are, isn't exactly normal, Damon."

"Don't be that girl, it's a turn off,"

"What girl?" Bonnie looked at him, eyes trailing the outline of his profile as he sat with his eyes closed.

"Don't be that girl with the tragic story. How many Witches do you know?" Their eyes met, and he caught her startle at the sound of his voice. "Since when was being different a bad thing?"

When Bonnie smiled and it lit up the room, a warm feeling travelled through his body, a fleeting moment of happiness, it was gone before he could be annoyed or uncomfortable about it, but it had lingered just long enough to make him crave it one more time, secretly, like happiness even in spurts was dirty.

Bonnie put her head down, a shy smile hidden behind her long locks.

Damon leaned in, pulling her face to his and a whirlwind of emotions tussled inside of him when her eyes lifted to his gaze, he knew they weren't only his emotions, they were hers too and it set his skin on fire.

Bonnie let Damon guide her mouth to his and closed her eyes when the heat of his lips enveloped her, waiting for him to kiss her.

"Never took you for a voyeur, Stefan,"

Damon's voice cut into Bonnie's romanticized thoughts, her eyes darted to the door where Stefan stood, his concerned stare burning a hole into her.

Thing was, Stefan was just one of her problems because not only did she almost fall into a lip lock with a vampire, in his room, Bonnie had seen more than she'd let on to Damon in her failed locator/successful vision spell. She had not only seen Lily's life, she'd seen Uri's too. He'd found the picture, he'd been in Mystic Falls in 1864 and he'd been in the Salvatore boarding house with Giuseppe Salvatore.

What was the connection, how she going to tell Damon that after what she'd seen, she didn't want him to kill Uri and where was Lily?

Matt stumbled through the door a little after ten having worked the late shift. He was exhausted and he couldn't remember the last time he got any school work done, but the bills needed paying and having a roof over his head took precedence over school assignments.

He placed his grocery bags down on the counter and began unpacking his dinner, but once again he had too much food for one person and it forced him to think of Vicki. He still thought of her every time he shopped, cooked or brought home extras, like she used to do for him but she wasn't around anymore and he'd only remember once he was home again, on his own.

Matt sat on his couch as the microwave hummed and flicked through the channels, but there was never anything to watch and the loneliness was slowly creeping in, like it did every night. But, instead of going to bed, Matt picked up his phone.

"Uh, hey, it's me. I got too much again," Matt laughed. "I'm gonna fix you a plate and before you ask, Caroline's not here, she's got this thing with her mom." A smile spread across his face. "Okay, I'll see you in a minute,"

Matt pushed off the sofa to set another plate and put it in the microwave, burning himself on his scorching plate as he quickly set it down on the counter. "Damn it," His head snapped to the door as he heard laughter.

"Men, all the same no matter the century,"

"Whatever," Matt chuckled, putting his hand under the cold tap.

"Come here, let me see,"

Matt closed the tap and faced her. "Nah, I'm cool. You go sit, put something on. You know where all the DVDs are,"

"That I do,"

"Hey, Lily,"

"Yes," Lily spun on her heel, her long black hair whipping behind her with an innocent glow in her eyes.

"Thanks for hanging out tonight, you're a good friend,"

"I should be thanking you," Lily walked over to Matt, pupils growing eerily wide. "Remember, you cannot tell anyone about me, it is our little secret."

"I know," Matt said, handing her a plate.

Lily smiled, taking her plate to the living room and kicking off her shoes as she snuggled into the couch. Matt sat down beside her with his dinner, a cheeky grin tugging at his lips. "No more subtitled movies, my eyes are done,"

Lily giggled, eyes outlining the vein in his neck until a rush of blood travelled to her face and had her squeezing her eyes shut until the urge passed. "I don't know about you, but I'm starving," Lily smiled curtly. "Eat up,"

~Finished

I hope the writing isn't as small as it looked when I was editing it in the preview window. 3