Disclaimer: I don't own the Vampire Diaries nor am I making any profit from this. Characters, etc. all belong to their respective owners.
A/N: Thanks so much to everyone who's been reading, reviewing, etc. I really appreciate it!
Enjoy!
"Scrying is a lot harder when you're looking for an object instead of using blood to scry for a person," Bonnie explains as she spreads a map out on the table. "It takes a lot more energy and I'm a bit rusty, but if I focus enough, I should be able to do it." Instead of using blood as a conduit to point her in the right direction, she'd be using water.
Taking a deep breath, she closes her eyes and begins to murmur the incantation. Even though she wouldn't admit it, a part of her was worried that her magic maybe hadn't come back, but then she begins to feel the power coursing through her and for once something is actually going right.
When she opens her eyes, she feels exhausted, but she sees that the little water droplets had conglomerated on New York City.
"Well, I suppose that's a start," Kol says with a raised eyebrow. "We can pinpoint the exact location once we're there. You should be at full strength by then."
Bonnie nods in agreement. Dropping everything to head to New York isn't the most appealing idea and she's not sure how she'll explain it to her dad, but it was necessary.
"Wait," Matt interjects. "You aren't seriously going to head off to New York just like that, are you?"
"I kinda have to, Matt. I mean, I'm not thrilled by it, but Silas wants the cure for God knows what. We need to get ahold of it before he does."
"Well, then me and Caroline will come with you."
She ignores Kol's scoff in the background.
"I appreciate that, really, I do. But…I think you and Caroline should stay here to help out with Elena. Stefan and Damon are probably screwing things up even more as we speak."
What she doesn't say is that if Silas was possibly in New York after the cure as well, then things would get really messy really fast. She doesn't think she'd survive it if something happened to Matt or Caroline; not after everything she's been through.
"I know you don't trust them," Bonnie says to Matt, referring to Henri and Kol. "But I do. Right now, we have the same goal and that's enough."
"All right," Matt says reluctantly. "I'll trust your judgment…but just know that Caroline will have my head for this."
Bonnie lets out a small chuckle.
"Well, now that's all settled," Kol cuts in dryly. "I'll go and make arrangements."
"Okay," Bonnie replies with a nod. "I'll go pack some things and be back here in about an hour."
She's so lame. She really is.
Once she coaxed Matt into leaving, she had written a not for her father:
Dad,
I'm sorry to do this to you again, but trust me when I say that what I'm doing is for everyone's good. With luck, I should be back soon.
-Bonnie
It was horribly cryptic and she knows it's going to make her dad freak, but what was she supposed to say? That she accidentally woke up a powerful immortal being that was unkillable and wanted a cure for vampirism to do who the hell knows what and that she needed to get to it first?
She had a feeling that that would go over even worse than her crappy little note.
After haphazardly throwing some clothes into a duffle bag along with her grimoire, she finds herself on a plane with Kol and Henri, headed towards New York.
It's not a long flight, but she's exhausted from everything that's been happening and she finds herself dozing off. It's not a restful nap, though.
Henri wakes her when they land. She quickly grabs a map of New York before they leave the airport so that she could scry for the exact location of the cure. As they make their way out of the airport, Kol explains that he owns a penthouse in the city.
"You seem to have a place pretty much everywhere," Bonnie comments.
"It certainly comes in handy," Kol says with a grin.
The penthouse is large and beautiful and has an amazing view of the city. Part of her wonders, though, if it's too conspicuous, especially when compared to the little studio apartment just outside of Mystic Falls. However, Kol has always had a method to his madness.
Just as Kol pointed her in the direction of a room, her phone began to ring insistently. A look at the screen told her it was Caroline. As much as a part of her would like to, there's definitely no avoiding this one.
With a sigh, she throws her duffle bag onto the bed before hitting the answer button on the screen.
"Have you lost your friggin' mind?!" Caroline screeches, barely letting Bonnie get a hello out. "How you could you just up and leave—with Kol, no less—after everything that's happened?"
"I'm sorry," Bonnie says. "I'm working on our Silas problem. I won't get into the details because, trust me, the less people that know, the better."
"With Kol?"
"I know, I know. I owe you a huge explanation…about everything," Bonnie replies with a sigh. "But for now, please trust me?"
She hears Caroline sigh on the other end of the line. "Well, I can't make any promises that I won't head out to New York and track you down, but I'll try." Pause. "Your dad called me earlier today to ask about you. He's really worried."
"I know," Bonnie answers softly, her heart sinking a bit. "Honestly, though? I'm a bit conflicted…I mean on the one hand, he's never had a problem taking off on business trips whenever he felt like it, so…"
"Well," Caroline says carefully. "For whatever it's worth, he really seems to be trying now…and no one is better off without their parents."
"So, how's Elena?" Bonnie asks, quickly changing the subject.
"Don't think I'm not catching onto you're little subject-changing, Bonnie Bennett," Caroline shoots back. Then she sighs. "Elena is a fucking nightmare, to be honest. She's been a bitch to everyone, has been feeding on anyone she feels like, and even threw a huge party at the Salvatore's. Then, when my mom came to shut it down, Elena attacked her. So, me and Stefan had to chase her down in the middle of the friggin' woods—because who the fuck know what Damon was even doing?—and she tried to kill both me and Stefan."
"Oh. Uh, wow. That is really bad," Bonnie replies dumbly, not sure what else to say. She knows that vampire without their humanity could be horrible, but the thought of Elena…
"We really need to get Damon to reverse it," Bonnie says.
"Yeah, but without luck, that wouldn't work." Pause. "I'm sorry. I know you've already got about a billion issues on your plate and I really don't mean to worry you more," Caroline tells her apologetically.
"No. I need to know these things," Bonnie says. She begins to hear Kol and Henri talking outside her room, which was a signal to her that she should probably wrap up the conversation and begin looking for the cure.
"I'm sorry, Caroline, but I should go now. I promise I'll call you soon, though, okay?"
"Okay," Caroline says, obviously reluctant to let her go. "Just be careful, okay?"
After she finishes saying her goodbyes to Caroline, she steps out of the room and goes to rejoin Henri and Kol.
"Alright, let's pinpoint exactly where this cure is," she says.
Henri had already spread the map out on the glass living room coffee table and there was already a small dish of water waiting for her.
She dips her fingers in the water and holds them over the map, letting the drop drip onto the paper before beginning the spell. When she finishes, the water had converged in Manhattan.
"Well, whoever has it," Bonnie tells them, "That's where they are."
"Let's get going, then," Kol replies, already heading towards the door.
"Are you strong enough for this?" Henri asks Bonnie, clearly concerned.
"Well, I'm definitely not at full strength, but with you and Kol there, hopefully that won't be a problem.
"Since your ancestor made this cure, you should be able to sense the magic," Kol explains to Bonnie as they walk down the streets of Manhattan. "Just clear your mind and concentrate on it."
Bonnie's never tried it before, but as she does her best to focus on the cure and the cure alone, she finds that he's right. It's strange; she didn't know what to expect, what it would feel like. It reminds her of when she had first touched her cousin, Lucy. It was warm…and kindred, for lack of a better word.
As she leads them in the direction of where she's sensing the power (an alleyway, much to her displeasure), Bonnie's heart plummets.
"Katherine," Bonnie says.
It shouldn't surprise her, really. Katherine had always been an opportunist that showed up at the precise moment that she could really screw everyone over.
Still, though, the real question (well, questions, actually) were: What the hell did she want with the cure and how the hell did she get it?
When Katherine spins around the face them, her eyes widen in surprise a bit, but she quickly regains her composure.
"Bon Bon…I certainly wasn't expecting you here."
"You have the cure," Kol interjects, cutting to the chase. "So why don't you just hand it over before I do Nik a favor and rip you apart here and now?"
"Kol."
That voice didn't come from Katherine. It came from—
"Elijah? What're you—" Kol stops himself, glancing back at Katherine and then at Elijah again. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me." He actually laughs. "Still have learned in all these five hundred years?"
"That's enough, Kol," Elijah says evenly.
"So, tell me something," Kol continues, ignoring his elder brother's warnings. "While you've been up here having fun with your little doppelganger, did you ever give any mind to all the messages I left you? Or did you even bother to listen to them?"
"I listened to them."
Bonnie's pretty sure that's the only time she's ever actually seen Elijah physically falter.
She can also see the bitterness and anger in Kol's face and hear it in his voice. She even finds herself commiserating with him; she's all too familiar with the feeling one gets when their own family can't be bothered to give them the time of day.
"No matter," Kol says, quickly moving on. "She has the cure and we came all for it, so…"
"Do not take one step towards her," Elijah warns.
Kol's eyes narrowed. "Have you even asked yourself why she has the cure, what she plans to do with it? There's really only one plausible explanation. She plans on using it on Nike so she'd be able to kill him." Pause. "I know you didn't really give a damn about Finn and that you don't give a damn about me, but you certainly wouldn't let your dear Niklaus die, would you?"
"Elijah…" Katherine was actually getting a bit nervous now.
"Is this true?" Elijah asks Katherine, even though he's sure he already knows the answer.
"I've been on the run from him for five hundred years, Elijah. He slaughtered my entire family and he'll have no problem killing me the next time he sees me," Katherine says, steeling herself.
"I told you I would protect you."
"Like you did five hundred years ago?"
"Well, as truly enlightening as all of this has been, I need what we came here for," Kol interrupts.
"Stop, Kol," Elijah replies adamantly. "I will deal with this myself."
"I don't trust you to."
The two brothers started at each other ominously, neither making a move just yet.
This is really bad, Bonnie thinks, tensing up. This is going to get really messy really fast.
"Look," Bonnie says, moving in front of Kol. "There is a very old, very powerful immortal on the loose that wants this cure for reasons unknown. We need to make sure he doesn't get it and if he comes after Katherine or you, it won't be pretty."
Elijah looks at her and then looks at Kol.
"Trust me. I wouldn't be here with him," she gestures in Kol's general direction, "If it wasn't actually that dire."
Elijah doesn't respond at first, twisting his daylight ring thoughtfully instead.
"We will meet tomorrow morning to discuss this further. I will send you the address," Elijah tells Kol. "Katerina and I have quite a bit to discuss now."
"That's not—" Kol begins angrily, moving towards Elijah.
"Fine," Bonnie interrupts, placing a hand on Kol's chest to prevent him from advancing any further (although, everyone knew he could easily brush her off if he wanted to).
She's not thrilled about leaving in the cure with either Elijah or Katherine, but getting into a fight in the middle of a city in broad daylight certainly wouldn't solve any problems either.
"But, Elijah?" Bonnie says.
The vampire in questions raises his eyebrows.
"You've screwed me over multiple times before. Do this time and I'll be finding plenty of unpleasant ways to make you regret.
And upon seeing the steely expression on the Bennett witch's face, Elijah has no doubt that she would do just that.
A/N: So, originally, I was going to avoid that whole Kalijah storyline because I actually really hate that pairing, but sometimes things just work out a certain way. And, needless to say, Kol has a lot of issues with Elijah (as does Bonnie) that we'll be getting to dig into.
The next chapter should hopefully be out soon since I've already started writing it *knocks on wood*. It starts off with (what I like to think is) a pretty great Kennett moment that I'm really excited for you guys to be reading.
Thanks for reading and, as always, reviews are very much appreciated!