A/N: Hey there people. So this is the 3rd installment of the Hard Limits/Subtext drabbles. Because Subtext is freakishly long, I'll re-jog your memory of what happened so you won't have to re-read it.
Bonnie and Matt conspired together to take Enzo down because of his plans for Sarah, and before that she overheard Dustlena's conversation where Damon was like 'blah, blah, blah only you Elena, blah," which has prompted Bonnie to leave casa de Salvatore. This picks up where things left off. Enjoy. Another long one ahead.
Blood stained Damon Salvatore's hands. The literal and figurative kind. It made his fingers stick together, was packed underneath his nails, imbedded in the minute cracks and crevices of his pale skin. He walked slowly from the place where he buried years of some of his most horrible memories, but the emptiness, hollowness inside didn't make him feel any better about what he had done.
Three years ago he killed without hardly a fuck given, but after meeting Elena, Liz Forbes, Carol Lockwood, Rose…Bonnie in their own ways their influence rubbed off on him. He wouldn't haul off and say he had reformed into the Damon he used to be early on in his immortality where he still felt human. But he began to take into account that every solution didn't equate death for whatever opposition stood in the way, and when others lost because of him, remorse made it just a tad bit harder to fall asleep at night.
The rain followed him as Damon made the lonely trek back to the boardinghouse. Several lights were on and he knew the occupants waiting inside were impatient for news. He wasn't in a bragging state of mind. In fact, his mind was stuck on the squishy feel of a vampire heart being compressed in his fist. His reason for removing it may have been honorable in someone's eyes, but it left an awful taste in Damon's mouth.
Friendship, even a one-sided one was, at times, hard to let go, Damon reasoned.
His steps slowed as a figure emerged from the house and stood waiting for him on the large patio. The long hair was a dead giveaway to the person's identity, which just so happened to be the last person Damon actually wanted to see or talk to. She'd want to analyze what happened to death, and Damon had played that card too well tonight.
"Damon…"
Her curious and timid rasp reached his ears even while being half a football field length away from the house.
"Go back inside, Elena."
"Are you okay?"
"I'll be…fine."
"Everyone's still here."
Yeah, he hadn't expected anyone to go anywhere.
"Do you want me to ask Matt and Bonnie to leave?"
Damon's response was automatic. "No." Well, that wasn't true for Matt, but the dark-haired vampire already knew his stubborn ass wouldn't budge. Bonnie, the thought of her alone made him want to break something. He was so furious with her!
Elena didn't follow that up with anything, but Damon heard her indrawn breath, a sign of her resignation. "Okay, I'll let them know you're coming."
It was Damon's turn to become mute.
Before…
Several questions flitted through Damon's beavered mind. Mainly and undoubtedly what the hell was going on? He could very well see from Bonnie and Matt's harried but well-coordinated movements that this hadn't been a trap of opportunity to ensnare Enzo, but one of careful planning. Right now, the bullet that pierced the vampire's skull split it wide open. Okay, maybe not wide open, but the fact of the matter remained blood and brains were oozing out on his carpet.
Damon grimaced in annoyance. Another antique rug to bite the dust.
Bonnie had not consulted him. Bonnie had gone to Matt or maybe the human had been the one to petition Bonnie, Damon couldn't say, but it was clear they were on the same murderous page. Overall this scene was too familiar for comfort.
Matt clicked the safety on the gun before tucking it in the waistband of his jeans and disappearing out the door. During his absence Bonnie had wandered over to Enzo, one arm horizontally slung across her waist while she tapped her chin with the other in thought. Her military style boots hardly made a sound as they drew closer to the incapacitated vampire. She pushed Enzo with her foot until he rolled on his back.
"Bonnie…let me go!" Damon demanded. She snubbed him. "Hello!"
Matt returned with a rolled tarp slung over his shoulder and a black duffel bag. He deposited the bag on a table positioned near one of the couches, and dropped the tarp on the floor. Together he and Bonnie unfurled it and that instantaneously triggered Damon's memory.
"Here, grab that corner."
"Why are we doing this?"
"I don't want to stain the carpet."
"I knew you'd say something like that."
"You're judging again."
It may have been morbid but that had been their thing. Getting the jump on a common enemy to which Damon later sharpened his knives (fire poker) on their ribs. Nevertheless, the blue-eyed vampire watched with glittering dark eyes as Matt propped Enzo up while Bonnie moved one of the old, high back chairs dead center on the tarp.
"BONNIE!" Damon tried again, his patience officially obsolete.
"How is Sarah?" Bonnie calculatingly ignored Damon and addressed Matt.
"She's fine. She's headed out of town with friends."
"Were you able to convince her to accept your gift?"
Damon's eyes narrowed as he watched the human's cheeks redden slightly.
"She accepted but there's no guarantee she'll actually use it."
"Well, regardless she has it. That's the most important thing."
What the fuck are they talking about, Damon's head was expanding with unanswered questions and was on its way to blowing.
Matt dumped Enzo's body on the chair, but straightened the bloodsucker until he was seated properly, and laid his arms along the arm rests. He stepped back to admire his handiwork as the gray shirt Enzo wore darkened with his blood. Matt fought valiantly not to smile.
"How much longer will he be out?" he conferred with Bonnie.
"He'll be up when I'm ready for him to be up," she swung her gaze toward her co-conspirator. "You sure you're ready for this?"
"I've taken out an Original and didn't lose a wink of sleep over it. Granted that Original didn't do a thing to me. Enzo…trust me I won't be crying any tears over him. Bye Felicia."
Bonnie chuckled. Damon rolled his eyes.
"Excuse me Bonnie and Clyde Junior…but the only person who has the right to actually kill Enzo is me. Now Bonnie let me go before I go fucking mental."
"Too late for that," Matt said under his breath.
Bonnie didn't look up from Enzo but waved her hand carelessly through the air. Damon shot up from the seat and flashed to her side only marginally surprised he didn't bounce off the barrier she had erected earlier.
Unthinkingly, Damon grabbed Bonnie by the wrist and yanked her over to the alcove. The sunlight reflected in his orbs threw out twenty different shades of fury.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Damon hissed through his teeth. Every nerve ending he possessed was flaring brightly telling him to do one unforgiveable act or another to knock some sense into Bonnie's head.
He waited for worry to wrinkle her brow with uncertainty about the course she decided to go down dragging Matt right along with her. On an average day, Damon could give a damn what Mutt did in his free time, or if he opened up his baby blues to the dawn of a new morning. But what he did care about was Bonnie entangling herself in something that really was none of her business, and needlessly coming to the rescue while putting herself in danger.
She blindsided him with the revelation that the baby he thought he killed by proxy was in fact very much alive. His niece was thriving, gorgeous, and had been precariously close to having her life ended prematurely. If what Bonnie revealed to him was the truth. Yet he knew her well enough to know she'd never fabricate a story to justify killing someone—unlike Enzo who had a penchant for being a loose cannon.
"You know…" Bonnie began, "you've been manhandling me a lot lately," she pried Damon's fingers off her person one digit at a time. "That doesn't get me all wet and gooey."
Damon repressed the urge to throttle her. He shook it off and tried to steer the conversation back to its point. "I understand why you're doing this for Sarah, Bonnie but what I don't understand is…why do you feel you need to?"
She didn't reply, merely shifted her weight on her feet. Now wasn't the time for them to get into this. She had a vampire to eviscerate and packing to do.
"What does it matter why I'm doing this?" Bonnie challenged. "I want Enzo dead. If this is going to be a problem for you, then you can walk."
Bonnie turned to leave, but reactively Damon made another go to detain her and pulled back a burned hand for his efforts. The vampire hissed and drew his injured limb to his chest. Bonnie murderously glared at him.
"You are simply hard of hearing, Damon," she retraced her steps and stood before the incensed immortal once more. "You want to know my answer that badly? I'll tell you. I've never met Sarah Salvatore and I may never meet her and that's fine, but she and I have things in common. Those commonalities totaling the death of our biological parents, three of them by your hands. The both of us are connected to you. Sarah is literally your blood however diluted it may be she's still your kin.
"Enzo who could be literally doing anything else in the world right now, would rather end an innocent girl's life over some petty bullshit…no," Bonnie moved closer, her chest almost coming into contact with Damon's who was breathing deeper because of her proximity and from the intensity in her speech. "You've killed people for less, but your family is on the line. So again, if you have a problem with what's about to go down, you can leave. Matt and I will make sure the place is spotless once we're done."
Matt looked up from what he was doing. He had unearthed heavy duty chains he picked up from a hardware store to bind the vampire to the last chair he'd ever sit in. Matt did his best not to eavesdrop on Bonnie and Damon's discussion, but couldn't help it.
They were standing impossibly close together, breathing in rhythm seemingly unaware. Damon's head was tilted downward while the rest of his body remained poised in one erect line whereas Bonnie's head was tilted nearly all the way back, shoulders straight.
Matt didn't know if they were going to bite one another's face off or kiss. He surreptitiously eyed Enzo to make sure he was still incapacitated.
"I'm not leaving," Damon insisted. "And I'm not going to let you be the one to kill Enzo. I'll do it."
Bonnie waved her hand magnanimously for Damon to proceed before her. "But you're not going to be here when it happens."
Bonnie blinked. "Excuse me?"
"You heard me," Damon snapped. "Things are going to go down on my terms, and one of those terms is you not being anywhere near the scene when it happens."
"You think I can't stomach it?"
"I know you can," and that unnerves me, Damon held back in saying. "Killing isn't your thing, Bonnie. If it were…Kai would be maggot food…me right along with him and you know that. So you're not sticking around for what I have in mind for Enzo and that's final."
Damon ended his spiel with veins protruding along his neck, fattened with rage about this whole thing.
Currently…
The door shut quietly after Damon's entrance. He trekked water through the house all the way to the living room where the two people who set this whole sorry business in motion immediately got to their feet upon seeing him. Damon's throat burned with acidic words he fought back in spewing in a venom-filled tirade.
He pinched his lips together and accepted the dampened towel Elena handed him. Warmth and a sliver of apprehension shown through her compassionate face, but it wasn't of any help to Damon. He didn't want her understanding. He wiped the blood off his hands as best he could and tossed the soiled rag into the lit fireplace.
"Is it done?" Matt opened up the floor for discussion.
"Yeah, it's done," Damon replied in a dull voice he had to clear so that his next words would be projected strongly. "Enzo might be dead, the threat against my niece neutralized, but it doesn't change the fact the two of you had no business getting involved in the first fucking place."
Bonnie stepped forward, "Damon…"
"IT WASN'T YOUR PLACE!"
Elena jumped at his raised voice, color flew up Matt's neck—a sign he was angry whereas Bonnie's chest heaved. She blinked a few times whether it was to stave off tears, or control the need to retaliate by throwing pain at him, Damon couldn't say.
"Sarah is my friend, Damon," Matt argued.
He scoffed. "She's not your friend, Donovan. You were forced to befriend her. You lied to her because Enzo was doing what he does best. So don't stand there in your self-righteousness like my niece actually means something to you."
"Oh yeah and what does she mean to you?" Matt stood toe-to-toe with Damon. "You just learned about her existence today! And I doubt she'd be thrilled to know her vampire uncle killed both of her parents. Sure, I may have only started talking to her because Enzo threatened me, but I've learned more about her than you ever will."
Elena intervened, "All right, Matt that's enough. Too much has happened and emotions are…
"Shut up, Elena," Matt ordered. "You might be pissed off because you had to kill Enzo, which lets be real you didn't give a shit about. But I'm not going to walk around pretending I'm miserable over his death because you knew he was going to become too much of a problem one of these days. You can lie to yourself all you want, Damon, but you know I'm right. And I'll take a human over a vampire any day of the week when it comes to who lives and who dies. Now, I'm finished."
Being finished, that was something Damon knew all too well.
Then…
He woke up with a splitting headache and when he opened his eyes a derisive snort escaped. His wrists and ankles bound by chains were burning, but Enzo didn't smell the noxious aroma of vervain. So what was causing this uncomfortable sting?
He looked from one arm to the other, "I'm assuming there is an explanation for this?" he croaked.
"Don't pretend you don't know, Enzo."
The vamp in question heard the witch's voice, disembodied though it was hitting his ears like surround sound. Enzo lifted his blood-stained head taking in the sight of the people surrounding him. He grinned then groaned.
Just then the front door opened and in walked Elena. There were inward groans all around punctuated with an audible one.
"Hey," she frowned, "what's going on?"
No one answered. Matt and Bonnie shared an exasperated look.
The doppelganger strolled into the living room, absorbed the scene with nothing less than confusion and worry. "What's going on? Why is Enzo tied up?"
The vampire in question swung his head in her direction, "Because I've been a bad boy, and they wanna punish me."
"Elena," Bonnie spoke, "this isn't your concern. You should go."
"Isn't my concern? Can I at least know why?"
"Well of course they want you out of the loop," Enzo cajoled. "Protect the doppelganger's sensibilities at all times."
"That's not what this is about," Matt attested and addressed one of his oldest friends, "Seriously, Elena you need to go."
Of course she stayed and looked at, "Damon? Will you at least tell me what's going on?"
"Yes, Damon," Enzo practically growled. "Why don't you tell your girlfriend or whatever you're calling her this week what this tribunal is all about. I'm sure she'd love to hear the story of how you killed your nephew Zach's girlfriend who was…"
Damon punched him in the throat. That stunned Enzo but he managed to croak out:
"…heavily pregnant at the time you drained her."
Cue Elena's horrified expression. Damon's nostrils flared and his entire body went rigid. Bonnie and Matt…the unpleasant knowledge was not news to them, but neither relished in hearing it again.
"You killed a pregnant woman?" Elena swallowed with difficulty.
The expression of sinister joy beamed from Enzo's entire being. "Isn't he a treasure? The man you love…was so heartless once upon a time he killed a pregnant woman remorselessly. And not just some random pregnant woman, but the love of his nephew's life. Where's the loyalty, Damon? You never had any and you never will."
Those words struck a chord with several occupants in the room. The one they affected the most, Damon felt himself shutting down. He didn't blink, became eerily still.
"It's…it's not true is it…Damon?" Elena stuttered.
Quietly, he said, "It is."
"He's a peach, ain't he? And now he wants to kill me when he's guilty of doing some of the most foul and horrible shit to people, and barely got a slap on the wrist for it. All of you," Enzo looked at each individual, "he's hurt you all but you want to condemn me? Fuck. You."
A flicker of doubt coursed through Bonnie and even Matt. They could hate Enzo, but in this moment he couldn't be convicted of lying. He had a point.
As expected nothing went the way it should have. Enzo baited Damon until he reacted and…
He broke free, attacked Matt while telling everyone he had gotten to Sarah Salvatore figuring something was up and compelled her to get into an accident. He jumped through a window. Damon instantly went in pursuit with Elena fast on his heels.
Bonnie whipped out her cell phone, called Stefan, and expeditiously clued him in on what was happening. She made a subsequent phone call to someone else. Her call was answered after the second ring, and Bonnie put the right amount of anxiety in her voice.
"Kai! Kai I need your help! Enzo is trying to kill me," she fought off a wicked smile. "How fast can you get to the boardinghouse?" Pause. "Hurry. I don't know how…" and she deliberately hung up.
Turning, Bonnie eyed Matt who was passed out on the couch, his head wound mending after Elena fed him her blood. Walking over to her friend, Bonnie leaned over and lightly kissed his forehead, shielding him with her magic, literally forming a protective bubble over the human in the event Enzo doubled back to the house. He wouldn't be able to touch, lay a finger on Matt.
Her eyes darted to the unopened duffel bag. Bonnie reached for it, and rifled around looking for one thing in particular. She found it.
She headed out the front door and walked down to the edge of the driveway, folding her arms tightly over her torso. It was bitingly cold and the scent of another snowstorm was heavy on the air. Bonnie's thoughts trailed off as they often did, bouncing from one subject to the next, searching for that perfect algorithm. She thought of Sarah, the accident, the ensuing fight. Her ruminations changed trajectory to the things about her small little town she would miss, but couldn't wait to get the hell away from.
She perked up once hearing the purr of an engine. A black Dodge Challenger rolled onto the Salvatore property, the driver was Kai. He emerged studying Bonnie cautiously and openly.
"You called me here. You don't seem to be in any trouble," he remarked.
"You'd be wrong. Damon and Elena are holding Enzo off, but he's after me."
"So what are you hoping I'll be able to do?" Kai began to approach. "If Elena and Damon can't take care of one of their own…oh never mind," he smiled. "I figured it out. Those two can't tie each other's shoes without putting their lives at risk."
"We gotta hurry, Kai," Bonnie pressed urgently.
He couldn't read the Bennett witch. Her face was completely flaccid, closed off. There wasn't even a frightened spark in her eye, nor a mischievous one warming him of walking into a trap. A sliver of uneasiness did coil in Kai's stomach, but he shrugged it off.
The two of them fell in step as they headed back to the house.
Kai cast a sidelong glance at Bonnie wondering exactly what was going on. Ever since breaking out of prison and being around other people, he had gotten used to noise. So the silence stretching painfully between them was bewildering.
"I haven't thanked you enough for giving me a gotdamn conscience," he burst. "On of the way over, I actually held the door open for a little old lady. Well, she wasn't old, at least forty but anyways you get the point. And I so didn't laugh at the guy who tripped down the stairs and ended up breaking his leg. I told someone in passing to call Tyrone…I meant 911. Sorry, I've been listening to Erykah Badu all day."
Bonnie said nothing, but gave him a withering look to which Kai immediately zipped his lips.
Leader of the Gemini's noticed they bypassed the house altogether walking around it, heading to the backyard. He did manage to see a broken window indicative a fight of some sort had taken place.
They crossed into the woods. Kai looked around, listened, made up a million and one questions he wanted to ask Bonnie. "Do you have any weapons handy?"
"No, I don't."
"Don't you think we should have loaded up in the off chance our magic fails?"
"Are you nervous?" Bonnie taunted.
His lips flattened into an unamused line. "No, I'm not nervous, but you haven't given me much to go on and you're leading me out into the middle of the forest. You know our history when it comes to the forest, Bon."
She stopped walking, and pushed him back against a tree with her magic. Kai grunted. Tree bark dug painfully into his back.
"If I were you I wouldn't bring up what you did to me in 1994, and I'd be inclined to forget why I called for your help."
"Noted," he wheezed.
Bonnie released him and Kai nearly toppled to his knees. She continued down the skinny path carved out by previously travelers, swatting branches out of the way, side-stepping fallen trees, and hopping over muddy puddles.
Bonnie stilled when she heard a shrill scream. Kai paused right behind her making Bonnie's flesh crawl. Carefully she began to head toward where the scream originated doing her best to look through the dense foliage that made everything look the same.
They had reached the edge of the cemetery, the wrought iron fence and lamp posts coming into view.
A body flew over their heads causing them both to dive out of the way. Bonnie flipped over to see who it was but the person was up and moving at vampire speed before she could discover if it had been Enzo, Elena, or Damon.
Elena was on the ground approximately ten meters from them holding her arm. It was broken, the bone poking out of the sleeve of her jacket.
"Go help Elena," Bonnie ordered Kai who rolled his eyes and made his way to the pointless doppelganger vampire.
Grunts, snarls, and curses bombarded the area, but Bonnie couldn't physically see where the two combating vampires were. They just seemed to be moving at the speed of teleportation.
Elena pressed her back up against the tree as Kai neared. She had been seconds from pressing her own bone back into her skin and letting her vampire healing take care of the rest of it. She certainly didn't want him touching her, didn't want him anywhere near her.
Kai saw that reflected on her pain stricken face and held his hands up in classic surrender format. He lowered himself to his haunches.
"Believe it or not I'm not here to hurt you. I'm here to help. You can blame Bonnie for that."
"I don't want your help," Elena spat maliciously.
"Guess what," he yanked her broken arm causing her to scream to high heaven, "I really don't give a shit," and in the next second he was on his feet bringing a reluctant Elena with him. He put her in front of him, holding her securely and yelled, "Damon! If you want your girlfriend's head to remain on her shoulders I suggest you either stop getting your ass kicked by Enzo or stop kicking his!"
Bonnie snapped to glare at him but kept her objections in his method to get those two's attention to herself.
Damon materialized in front of his family crypt, shirt ripped and torn, nose and lip bleeding, hair disheveled. He was holding Enzo who was in an even worse condition, by the scruff of his neck.
The unhinged look in Damon's eye made him look feral. He opened his mouth to speak, but Kai beat him to the quick.
"Before you say, 'Let her go'," he did a near perfect imitation of Damon's serious voice, "Let's go ahead and nix that. You know I'm not going to let Elena go until I know you're calm."
"And I won't be calm until you let her go."
"I wanna do the right thing but…" Kai licked his lips feeling the familiar tingle of insanity wanting to burst out of its forced confinement. "But I also can't seem to fight my nature to see what would happen if I were to magic Elena's heart out of her chest."
Damon pivoted around to face Bonnie, his full vampire face broadcasting his hatred, "YOU BROUGHT HIS ASS HERE? CONTROL HIM!"
"Shush," Kai chastised. "Not so loud. This is a cemetery."
Damon moved forward but he wasn't letting go of Enzo, not while he had the upper hand. He had managed to snap his neck but he wouldn't be out for long. If Bonnie brought this sonofabitch into things…Damon couldn't make up his mind who he wanted to tear into pieces more. Kai, Enzo, or Bonnie.
"If you hurt her," Damon carefully enunciated, "if you spill as much as one drop of her blood, I will crucify you."
Kai looked almost flattered. "I'm not going to hurt Elena…but maybe you should be worried about what I'm prepared to do to reverse whatever Bonnie did to me. Death is how some bonds are broken are they not, Damon?"
The implication had been thrown with the subtly of a mace to the foot. The heat of unmitigated fury turned into icy coldness. Damon waited to see if Bonnie would jump in and defend herself by unleashing a spell that would turn Kai into a turnip. When nothing of the sort happened, Damon let go of Enzo and launched himself forward.
He expected with drooling anticipation his hands wrapping around the fucker's pencil neck and strangling him to death, but he was caught in a lasso, held aloft in the air, wrenched backwards, and crashed into the ground. His head bounced off dead grass and broken sticks, and Damon blinked questionably.
What happened?
Angling his neck his eyes met with a pair of combat boots. Bonnie happened.
"Don't open your mouth again," she told him and left Damon sprawled out.
Kai smiled enjoying Bonnie's fire, her indifference. Bad was a garment not many could wear properly, but Bonnie's had been custom made and he liked to think of himself as the tailor.
"Let Elena go, Kai. Thank you for your assistance."
Defiantly he held on to the simpering doppelganger for a few seconds more before abruptly pushing her forward. Elena stumbled but quickly ran over to Damon and helped him up.
Only feet away, Enzo was slowly awakening. Again. If he were human and based on the blows his kidneys and liver received from Damon's fists he'd be peeing blood for a week. As it stood, he was thoroughly pulverized and slow to heal. His movement along the ground caught Kai's attention.
"I think your suspect is waking up."
Bonnie didn't look away from the warlock, merely extended her arm out toward Enzo and sent pain his way.
"Does this mean the fun's over?" Kai pouted playfully.
"Oh, no it's just beginning," Bonnie said and strolled over to Enzo beginning her oration about how easy it was for her to do a spell using modern day words.
Bonnie kneeled in front of the vampire who was curled up on the ground, inky black hair matted to his bloody forehead. He stared up at her through his dense eyelashes.
"…what do you have to say for yourself, asshole?"
"Just…kill me."
Cocking her chin to the side, with a flick of her hand Bonnie snapped Enzo's neck.
"Bonnie?" Damon barked.
"Didn't I tell you not to open your mouth?" she sighed and shook her head but got to her feet. Bonnie made her way over to Damon, reached inside her coat and pulled out a metal device.
"What is that?" Damon mouthed.
Bonnie didn't answer.
"Bonnie…there's something I need to tell you," Kai began.
"What?"
"I never got around to…apologizing…for anything I've done that I know hurt you. I'm sorry."
She faced the self-proclaimed heir apparent of the Gemini Coven. Kai appeared contrite, but at the end of the day Bonnie wasn't fooled. Any empathy or remorse he felt didn't originate from him but from Luke, and for anyone to buy into his surrogate compassion would make them out to be a fool.
Facetiously Bonnie replied, "Thanks."
"Does this mean I can go now?" he waggled his eyebrows.
Finally a smile streaked across Bonnie's face. "Not exactly."
"What now?" Kai attempted to walk only to find his feet glued to the ground. "What the fuck are you doing? Let me go! I helped you."
Bonnie ignored his words and held the small metal device in the palm of her hand.
"What…what is that?" Kai asked nervously.
"Another ascendant."
"What do you mean another ascendant?" Kai began struggling to free himself in tangent now.
Damon and Elena exchanged glances.
Bonnie stared at Kai, the ascendant, and then finally up toward the sky.
Kai laughed bitterly, "You can't use that. There's no eclipse."
"Ah, I don't need an eclipse for this. I'm using something else."
"Doesn't matter," he shrugged nonchalantly. "I'll remember the spell, I'll find another source of magic, I'll free myself and I'll definitely repay your kindness, Bonnie. Think about what you're doing."
"I have been and like I said to Enzo I can weave a spell without uttering traditional words to get it to work," a piece of the ascendant shifted. "You want to apologize, Kai? Start fresh? I'll give you time to think about everything you did to me," the final piece of the ascendant clicked into place. "As I've had nothing but time to think about it," the ground shook. "Day after day," the wind began to pick up in velocity, "month after month," lightening flashed. "Alone. Bruised, broken, and utterly alone," thunder boomed. "So take your apology, Kai, and stick it up your ass!"
The crystal in the middle of the ascendant glowed at the same time light shot up from cracks in the ground. Blood surged from those cracks, soaking the earth. Her magic became a spile, tapping into an area rife with supernatural energy—a ley line which she could then use to do what she needed.
"Ohmygod," Elena cried, picking up her feet.
"Jesus," Damon looked around in slight mortification.
The wind blew Bonnie's hair across her face skewering her image from Kai who was reciting counter spell after counter spell with no success.
Pale blue light burned Kai's retinas. He felt like he was disintegrating into pieces, into molecules, into atoms. He stared in horror at his hand as it was stripped down to the fat, then muscle, skeleton, disappearing until there was nothing at all.
"STOP BONNIE DON'T DO THIS!" Kai's words ran together
"I can't. I won't."
Gaelic rolled off her tongue effortlessly as Kai's essence, his physical body was sucked into the instrument in her hand where he'd stay…forever.
His screams were deafened by the roar of the winds, and like a house losing power he merely blinked out of existence.
Bonnie didn't have much time to break the connection between her and the ley line before it became a portal sucking everything else into it like a black hole. She switched to Latin ordering the doors of the ley line to bolt and shut. They resisted, reveling in the fact they were opened and exposed and drinking in the organic and thermal energies of this plane.
She dropped the ascendant and held both palms up. Blood began trickling from her ears and nose. Her fingertips stung.
"Maro sum, Bennett ego sum tu magistra et claudere!"
Unfortunately Bonnie was being pulled toward the portal. But she ground herself as much as she could. She needed an anchor, and it came in the form of Damon latching on to her waist. That distracted her for a second but she shouted:
"Dixi claudere portas tuas!"
The door to the ley line slammed shut and the ricochet was so jarring it sent Bonnie and Damon hurtling backwards. He cushioned her taking the brunt of crashing to the ground, and having the wind knocked out of him.
Elena rushed over to them. Bonnie climbed off Damon awkwardly and didn't look at him despite his attempts to get her attention.
"Where did you send him?" the doppelganger questioned. "Back to 1994?"
"No," Bonnie brushed off the back of her jeans but grimaced the next second in realizing her palm was covered in blood. "He's in that," she pointed weakly at the ascendant.
Elena was impressed. Damon shared in her astonishment if not warily. To do something of that magnitude took an inexplicable amount of power. He listened, pointedly, to Bonnie's heart making sure it wasn't slowing down. It beat rapidly which was equally concerning, but as long as it still carried a beat…he'd continue to monitor her.
He was drawn to the dried blood coating her nostrils, and the line of blood that curved along her jaw from her ear.
"How are you feeling?" Damon asked.
"I'm fine," the green-eyed girl brushed him off. "Call Stefan. See if he was able to find Sarah."
Bonnie took two steps and collapsed.
"Bonnie!" Damon caught her and carefully lowered her to the ground. "Bonnie?" he placed his ear on her heart, heard it beating.
"Is she okay?" Elena tucked strands of hair behind her ear. Sniffled.
"I don't know. Get her back to the house. Take the ascendant and put it in my room. I'll find a safe place for it."
"Enzo?" Elena motioned to him with her head.
"I'll…take care of Enzo."
Presently…
"D-do you want to talk about it?" Elena slipped in front of him, sinking her fingers between his.
"There's nothing that needs to be said that hasn't already been said a million times before, Elena."
"I know but a lot went down today. A lot could have gone wrong. You're upset and I think you should talk about it. If not today, someday soon. I wanna be here for you, Damon and not just for the fun parts."
He was barely listening, gaze focused elsewhere.
Bonnie and Matt had walked to the foyer where the two of them exchanged quiet words. He inquired if Bonnie were okay and she reassured the former jock outside of sporadic dizziness she was fine, told him Elena had given her some blood. The former football player leaned down and hugged Bonnie, held her, murmuring softly he was glad she was all right. Damon was riveted to the scene unconsciously tightening his grip on Elena's hands.
She winced at the pain, and stared at him with a quizzical brow. "Damon?" He didn't respond since he seemed to be too wrapped up in whatever was taking place between Matt and Bonnie. Elena shot them a look over her shoulder.
Bonnie broke away, wiped her eyes, and made her way to the staircase.
"Excuse me," Damon dropped his girlfriend's hands, skirted around her, and followed the witch upstairs.
He caught Bonnie by the arm—she gasped—and Damon yanked her towards his bedroom. He pushed her inside and slammed the door after him.
"That was a ballsy thing you did today," Damon scowled.
"I know."
"Everything could have gone to shit."
"It could have."
He stood in front of her. "You could have died."
"I didn't."
"But you could have, Bonnie!" Pause. "Why didn't you tell me what you were doing?"
"Would the outcome change if you had known what I had planned?"
Damon didn't believe so and really that wasn't the point or the principle. "You still should have informed me."
"Why?"
"Why?" Damon fired back incredulous. "What do you mean 'why'? You dragged that simple human boy into something that could have gotten him killed—"
"—Matt knew the risks, and since when you do care about someone dying?"
"That's not the point, Bonnie. Enzo was not your run-of-the-mill vampire, and to get Kai involved? I thought your days of offering yourself up as a sacrifice were over?"
"They are!" Bonnie poked him in the chest. "I did what I had to do which was put me first and eliminate my biggest threat. You think the conscience thing was going to last forever with Kai? Sooner or later he was going to get back at me. Probably by doing something degrading like linking my life with Elena's leaving you with the choice of saving one or condemning the other to death. So I took matters into my own hands and I'm not apologizing for that."
Bonnie bolted for the door, Damon quick on her heels.
"Hey!" he yelled after her.
She didn't stop or slow down but burst inside her bedroom. Damon was right behind her.
"Get out!"
Damon planted his hands on his hips, glowering. "You know me better than that. We're going to settle this."
"It's settled."
"Far from it," he watched as Bonnie began to pile her entire wardrobe on the bed. "You're still going through with it?"
Bonnie didn't answer.
Vexed she wasn't answering him, Damon's sore jaw tightened and he planted his fists on his hips. "Bonnie, you're still leaving."
"Is that a question or an observation?"
"Fuck this," Damon stomped over to her and caught her wrist forcing her to look at him. "You don't have to leave."
"Yes, I do."
Lines of distress crowded on Damon's forehead and between his eyebrows. "Why?"
"On account I almost got your niece killed today."
He wouldn't disagree. "Regardless of what happened there's no reason for you to leave."
"Yeah, there is."
"What? Talk to me," the blue-eyed vampire implored softly.
Bonnie hesitated, "I can't because it's not going to change anything."
"Bonnie, you won't know that until you open your mouth and spit out whatever's bothering you."
"You are!" she yelled finally losing her patience.
Damon felt like he had been slapped. "Me?"
Bonnie chuckled tiredly. "Ever since I came back nothing has felt right, my emotions, I don't feel like myself. And before you say anything, I know I'm not the same on account of what's happened to me. But there was one thing I thought I could rely on and that was you, Damon."
"I…"
"You shoved Kai into my face when you knew I didn't want to see him again."
Damon wanted to flinch at the sheer hatred he heard in Bonnie's tone. He lifted his head and saw the unshed tears lining the bottom of her eyes. Damon took another step closer to Bonnie who backed away.
"And you only started to hang out with me more because Elena told you to. But you know what," Bonnie stopped to take a breath, "it doesn't matter anymore. I'm done. It's over. It's finished."
He didn't like the sound of that. "What's finished?"
"Everything."
His brows lifted, and panic punched Damon deep in the gut. "Our friendship? You're finished with our friendship?"
Once again she was putting miles between them without leaving the room.
"What do you mean, Bonnie?"
"I don't want it to be but maybe…it's for the best."
"NO!" Damon wagged his head. "I don't accept that. I know I can stand to be a bit more sensitive and bit less self-absorbed at times, but Bonnie don't do this."
"Out there in the woods you looked at me like you were going to kill me if Kai hurt Elena. Do you have any idea what that feels like? No, because for you she's more important than anything. I understand. I shared your philosophy but I don't anymore."
"Look, I was pissed, okay because I didn't understand why you would rely on Kai of all assholes to help you. You know I didn't mean it the way it came out."
Bonnie smiled miserably. "When does it ever? I am tired of this shit."
Damon was at a loss for words but he wouldn't give up, "Stay…let's…we can talk about this."
"Why would I stay? I have to love myself because those in my life have proven that they've given everything they are to other people and have none left to give…to me," her throat collapsed as she finally permitted a lone tear to run down her cheek.
He wasn't sure, but Damon was pretty certain the floor fell out from under his feet. His ears began ringing. Black dots formed in front of his eyes, and a sharp pain pierced him somewhere above his heart.
"If you're wondering if I overheard your ninety-nine thousandth love confession to Elena…I did."
"Bon…I didn't…look…all right," he stuttered horribly. "I know what I said how it could be misconstrued that I don't…"
"Just stop," Bonnie deadpanned. "I know you well enough to know when you're being absolutely sincere. You had been…in that moment. You meant every word you said to her and I can't…I can't be upset with you because of how you feel about Elena. I just hate you had to throw me under the bus."
"Bon that's not what I meant. I wasn't trying to pit you two against each other…"
"She doesn't deserve you!"
The unlit logs in the traditional fireplace ignited into angry, red-orange flames.
"What?"
Every breath Bonnie inhaled pulled at her chest. "You fell in love with a girl who couldn't make up her mind if she had feelings for you until a sire bond came along, and finally made the decision easy. But what did she say to you once it was broken?"
"This may be the worst decision of my life…" Damon remembered those prophetic words loud and clear.
"You should never settle for a person who wants half of you, Damon and that's what you're doing. And if I continue on in our friendship I'll be doing the exact same thing. So excuse me if I don't want to stick around to watch or participate in mediocrity."
Damon's eyes were blazing turquoise and narrowed dangerously. "Then stay and make things better. Stand and fight for what you want, Bonnie. Running isn't going to change things."
She snorted. "I am fighting. For me. For the first time ever I'm fighting for myself. Not for a bitch who doesn't know who you are and never did. Not for her brother who didn't love me half as much as I loved him. I'm leaving for me. If I stay…I'll end up dead or worse. You really want that for me?"
No, he didn't but Damon didn't want Bonnie to leave either. Not while she lived under a belief that her life mattered less to him than Elena's when it was far from the truth. That he didn't have any respect for her as a person or their friendship. He stared, unwaveringly as she stared right back.
But if he tried to make her stay would it be selfish? Would truly being Bonnie's friend be about her or him trying to prove something? Should he honor her wishes of being let go so she could have a bullshit free life, and finally get to do the things she lost sight of?
The answer was easy but no less difficult.
He fought to control his face. It couldn't decide if it wanted to vamp out, scrunch in fury, or crumble into wretchedness. His heart was breaking as was Bonnie's and they didn't know how to stop it.
Damon moved closer in increments, and when he had nowhere else to go, his hands trembled a bit as they framed Bonnie's face. His eyes became red-rimmed, a lump formed in his throat, but he coaxed her forward, his lips crashing right below her hairline. For her part, Bonnie couldn't breathe. It was too hard. Tears accumulated on her eyelashes before rolling down inflamed cheeks.
"I'll miss you, Bonnie Bennett."
He quickly let her go.
Her chest constricted as Bonnie watched Damon leave. And like she did on the Gilbert porch after discovering she had been left behind, she dropped to her knees and sobbed miserably.
Damon sat in front of the fire tapping a crystal tumbler next to his temple. The flames danced but he hardly saw them. Instead his thoughts were centered on a particular bedroom on the second floor of his house. Around this time, Bonnie would typically be snuggled under the covers reading or playing a game on her phone. Unconsciously he'd listen until she fell asleep before going out or moving restlessly around the manor.
Tonight his ears were met with dead silence. Bonnie had taken everything a part from the curtains erasing any sign of her having been a resident of this hundred year old house.
Elena had heard every bit of their exchange and left in a flutter of tears and eyelashes. Damon hadn't been inclined to follow her because he had no words of comfort to dispense; hell he didn't know what to say period. Bonnie had done an effective job of excavating all of their dirty laundry that no amount of Tide or bleach would be able to remove the stains.
He hadn't known how much his friendship had come to mean to her. Or vice versa. Without it…Damon constantly checked his chest for a gaping wound because that's what it felt like…Bonnie's absence.
Damon took a sip of his drink. He didn't want to be seen as anyone's pillar because he knew eventually he'd just disappoint that person.
The summer of his life with Elena had been tainted with his murderous revenge against Whitmore descendants. He fucked her and concealed, made love to her and hid, made her come and lied for three months with hardly a guilty conscience.
Yet with Bonnie, for all intents and purposes, they had a common law marriage. He snorted and took another sip of bourbon. He made her pancakes, played board games, wasted hours having nonsensical and sometimes—most times—heated debates that always secretly pleased him because he could rarely talk circles around her.
Now she was gone and he hadn't known what to say to get her to stay, to hear his side of things. His confession to Elena, in retrospect did sound as if he was incapable of loving anyone else, mainly Bonnie.
Damon accidentally shattered his tumbler. The bourbon wet the sleeve of his shirt, dripped to the floor, and glass sliced into his palm.
Cursing and shaking out his hand, Damon wiped the remnants of broken glass off on his pants.
"You know you are a complete and total idiot, right?" Stefan entered the parlor. He had gotten back a few hours ago, finding his niece was unharmed for the most part.
"I'm not in the mood, Stefan."
"Don't care," the younger Salvatore made himself comfortable on the arm of a nearby chair and eyed the mess his brother created.
Damon snarled half-heartedly, "Guess you heard my exchange with Bonnie."
"More like verbal assassination, but yeah I did. What are you going to do?"
"What can I do? She won't see or talk to me. She doesn't want our friendship anymore, and maybe...it's for the best."
Stefan chortled. "You know that's bullshit. You two need each other."
"Bonnie needs something I'm not able to give because I'm lugging around too much fucked up baggage. She deserves a life, Stefan. Any association with me…no she deserves better."
"Well, I can't fight you when you're actually making sense. However, days ago I saw a side of my brother I haven't seen since we were human," Stefan continued. "You were smiling, laughing, rolling around in the snow. It was the most carefree I've ever seen you, Damon. For once you didn't look like you were carrying around the weight of trying to prove yourself. You were just in the moment. You were living. You weren't following a script. What made it even more astonishing…knowing the person you were creating that moment with was someone you've gotten to know intimately well," he rose to his feet then. "You made several references to loving strong women…that not all love is real love…maybe you need to start asking yourself why you spoke those words, Damon, and how they can help you get your best friend back."
Dropping the proverbial mike, Stefan left. Damon sighed heavily. His personal life was a mess. His long-thought dead niece was alive and okay. His old friend was gone. The psychotic asshole who tortured his best friend was caput. His girl probably hated his guts. Yep, life was amazing.
"Bonnie loves you."
Damon winced at the sound of the voice. "I don't need any more lectures, Donovan. What the hell are you still doing here anyways?"
Matt approached the vampire until he stood in front of him; he continued his earlier train of thought. "And in your own messed up way you love her, too. I don't know why she loves you, but if you don't go after her it'll be the biggest regret of your life, and you know it, Damon."
"She left me…us…here remember," the incensed vampire tripped over his words. "Bonnie wants her freedom and I'm honoring her wishes."
"Bonnie may want that but she wants a gesture. After everything, all the times we've collectively let her down, the least we can do is stop showing her by our actions what she doesn't means to us, stop giving her lip service, and be to her what she's been to us. You can wallow in your man-pain some other time."
Damon shot up from his seat fast and furious. He grinned at Matt's startled expression. "Fuck you and go to hell."
He left the human to go stew elsewhere. Reentering his room, Damon slammed the door, placed his hands on his hips. Grudgingly, deep down he admired Matt for sticking up for Bonnie, but that didn't make him any less irritated with the boy's persistent existence. But…Donovan was right.
Locating his cell phone, Damon called Bonnie. As expected it went straight to voicemail. "I don't care if you don't want to hear my voice right now, but I want you to know, Bonnie that no matter how long it takes, you and I will be friends again. Enjoy your reprieve while it lasts."
TBC
A/N: Thank you so much for reading. Please, please, PLEASE review.
Special A/N: I understand this is a long chapter and A LOT went down, but it would be so awesome if I could get the kind of feedback that reflects readership. I've really had to make too many statements like this in the past, and its disheartening. After reading crummy comments by a particular executive producer who won't get off DE's ass and give us what we've now been waiting 7 years for, when you get what you need and want through fanfiction, please I urge you to let the writer know. Let me know something, please it only takes a few minutes. Thank you.