About a hundred feet away, Ross leans against a tree to get some rest. He hasn't been running at all. His fatigue is declining and it's going faster and faster. He clutches the duffle bag in his hand and looks around. He sees Bonnie and Damon talking to each other so he rushes over to them. He collides into them, knocking them onto the ground. Everything in his duffle bag falls out.
"Ross?!" Bonnie says as she looks at him and then at the scrapbook that fell out of his duffle bag.
"What the hell are you doing?" says Damon. Ross clears his throat and apologizes.
"I couldn't stop myself. I guess while my vampiric abilities deteriorate— enhanced hearing, smelling, and strength," Ross takes a deep breath— not able to speak more than ten words without having to catch his breath. "They're like spazzing out or something. I can't seem to gain control over them."
Bonnie picks up the scrapbook and looks at Ross' other things scattered on the ground: a notebook with 'Reduction' written on it, some jewelry, clothes, and an old radio.
"What is all this?" Bonnie asks, intrigued.
"Just a few memories I kept from… when everything went to shit! Vampires were persecuted and exiled from the city…" Ross swallows. He starts to talk in a desperate, stray voice. His eyes thinned slightly as he looked up into the gloomy air. He remembers everything and wants to tell them, Bonnie and Damon, everything.
"It was terrible. Horrible. The witches they started this uprising because of a few stray vampires wreaking havoc on the city. Because see, the antagonism between the two factions was already there. It was very discreet, very…" He looks at Bonnie.
"Very calculated and ominous. You know, the few vampire friends I had, we all knew something big was approaching. But it wasn't until these vampires, these jaded degenerates decide to kill, maim, maul, suck, and rip the life out of humans and witches alike. That included babies and children. Innocent families that didn't even know about what was going on…" His eyes drift to the ground, slowly. They begin to look like vast caves. Bonnie looks, not sure of what's hiding behind them.
"But that's what did it. That was the spark to the flame, the—the penultimate tribulation… that decided all vampires' fates. MY own BROTHERS SEALED my FATE!"
Ross can feel himself growing angry as he relives the torturous experiences in his head. He calms himself down. Damon averts his eyes at him.
"So…?" Damon asks in his own impatiently curious way. "…What happened then?"
"The witches began their uprising. It started with small, trivial but annoying laws against vampires. Protests. Then it became… oppressive when this new leader, this new, twisted witch instills these values and ideas of controlling and manipulating vampires to all the witches. Even the humans! So, the witches, and you have to understand that here—" Ross points to the ground, tapping downward against the air, anxiously.
"Here, witches are the most powerful beings. Plus, they're immortal," Ross says. Damon looks at Bonnie and she looks away from him.
"So, they have the police department do these mass arrests of vampires. They put us in these camps to 'reinvent' or 'assimilate' us. But all they did was tear us apart and rip our humanity from us. And after they played operation us, the witches perform this mass spell. They conjure up every ounce of power they have, sacrificing some of their own, to reverse our rings in the perimeter of the city. And, like that, they stop working. And we start burning. We run from the camps, from hiding spots, from our families who LOVED us…"
Ross looks at Bonnie and shutters, his eyes feeling with water. He tries to hold back tears and he convulses a bit, fighting it. Bonnie places a hand on his and he bites his lip. Damon stares at him, intrigued by the story.
"It's okay. It's just us," Damon tells him attempting to console him. "Go on…"
"Some of us even ran from people we thought loved us… who participated in the uprising. In the massacre and extermination of an entire group of GOOD vampires…" Ross says.
"Where I'm from, vampires can be pretty nasty," Bonnie begins to say to him, "I'm guessing that's not the case here."
"No, we can get nasty. We're a violent, predatory species— but we evolved. We changed here because people wanted us to. Because they wanted us to. But the blurred hate from each faction became too clear… crystal clear and this is what it led to."
Ross looks around at the forest. Bonnie and Damon do also.
"The Land of the Forgotten… where vampires slowly lose their minds, their sanity... where we have to starve or feed on each other." Ross says.
Ross' eyes fill with water again as he stares down at his side. Bonnie takes a deep breath.
"Ross, I'm so, so sorry for everything… You're a good guy, from helping Damon to helping me help Damon. Thank you. ," Bonnie says, she turns to see Damon nodding in agreement with her. She crawls over to Ross and hugs him, closing her eyes. He rubs his nose from her neck and down to her shoulders, still trying not to cry. He smells her undeniably sweet blood. It doesn't affect him though.
Bonnie pulls away, smiling. She looks at Ross' things again.
"I'm going to check on Arabess. I'll be back," Damon says. He stands up and walks back to the cabin.
"Yeah, Bonnie," Ross begins to say, "I got lucky. My humanity wasn't stripped from me. It's why I can still communicate and think rationally… even in my last moments."
"I'm sorry if this is too soon, but you mentioned a city? How can we get there?" Bonnie asks.
"You're a good witch, Bonnie. Can't say the same about Luca but— if you go into that city… who's to say they won't brainwash you with false and bias information about what happen?" Ross says.
"Nobody is going to brainwash me…" Bonnie says, thinking about her short relationship with the magic of expression. Creating the triangle, admissibly wanting to murder innocents... She was manipulated. She was brainwashed and consequently, way too powerful. In the end, it killed her. Bonnie isn't that stupid to let any kind of manipulation happen to her again.
"We have Arabess and Damon… in his condition? We can't stay out here forever. We need something better." Bonnie tells him. Ross sighs, licking his lips.
"It doesn't matter anyway because I don't remember where the city is. I wouldn't even know which way to go! I could lead you to death—"
"Or you could lead us to salvation." Bonnie replies.
"No. I care too fondly of you guys to put you in any serious danger."
Ross' voice begins to tremble. He starts picking up his things and throwing them in the bag. He stands up.
"I'm leaving," He says, beginning to walk away.
"Where are you going?" Bonnie asks him.
"I'll be back!" He zooms into the forest and Bonnie sees no trace of him. She walks back into the cabin.
Damon is sifting through the bookshelf when she walks in. He turns around and glances at her.
"Seems Ross survived some sort of holocaust," Damon says to her, picking out books and handing them to Arabess. He didn't notice but she is stacking them on top of each other.
"Apparently so…" replies Bonnie in a soft tone. She lays down on the sofa, staring up at the brown, unappealing ceiling. She angles her head in Damon's direction, opening her mouth to say something. She pauses and furrows her brow.
"I feel so bad and so sorry for him." She shakes her head, angling it back to the ceiling.
"Pfft," Damon forces out, studying the back of a book he's holding. "I feel sorry for us." He tosses another book over his shoulder and Arabess catches it, adding it on top of her already precarious tower of books. He turns around and sees what she's doing.
"Hey! You are supposed to be reading those!" He says to her. She laughs and he bends down to tickle her.
Later that night, the trio plus Luca sit around a fire, watching the raccoon cook slowly. Arabess' green eyes glimmer from the flames. Damon, sitting next to her, rubs her back to see if she's okay. She turns and smiles at him, then turns her gaze back to the flaming raccoon meat.
Luca, swallowing, reaches at the contraption they made to cook the raccoon. The job was done amateurish at best, with the branch of a tree going through the raccoon meat. The branch is held up by two short logs. They had to make sure the flimsy branch, with more than enough weight it can hold on it, wouldn't roll off. Luca turns the branch, so the other side of the meat can cook.
"A city, huh? Luca mentions as his eyes avert from the grilling meat to Bonnie's endangered eyes. The captivating aura of the incandescent fire pulls her in, the sparks reaching their highest peaks from the flames and descending to the ground while evaporating in thin air. She whips her head in Luca's direction, her bottom lip curving.
"Yeah," Bonnie says, giving him a moderate smile. She stares back at the fire— feeling a passionate connection to it. It's a convulse of her mental state she feels as a fiery brilliance, something good. Intoxicating. Unlike the deafening madness her mind has endured the past few days. This is different. She sucks in the warmth the fire creates through her nose, shutting her eyes.
"Are we thinking about going?" Luca asks, eager to know. Damon cuts his eyes at him.
We? Damon thought as he places his hand close to the fire. He tilts his head up at the sky, the air feeling like midnight.
"We?" Damon says in an incredulous, undeserving tone. He tilts his head back down, seeing Bonnie's face through the flames.
"Damon, if we go, and WE will— everyone is coming. I'm not leaving anyone behind."
Damon rolls his eyes. He pulls his hand away from the fire, rubbing it against his other palm. He's cold… he's always been cold. It's his nature, but this is different. He rubs his right arm and nods at Bonnie.
"This almost done?" He asks her. She leans up to look at it, squinting.
"I'm not real sure," Bonnie says, looking to Luca. And before she could say anything, he's checking the meat to see if it's good. He rips open a piece with his fingers and leans in to it very closely. His head swims around it, back and forth as he examines the meat.
"It's good. Let us eat!" Luca rubs his hands together in delight as he says that. A smile surprises Bonnie, on her own face. She didn't think she'd ever be excited to eat a raccoon.
Luca tears a piece of meat off. The others watched him while he ate it. He chewed slowly and patiently, focusing on identifying a taste.
"Hm…" Luca hums, swallowing the meat. "It could use some seasoning…"
Arabess grabs some and eats it. She smacks while chewing.
Luca hands a piece to Bonnie. She opens her mouth a bit, her bottom lip shifting to the side. Her teeth clench as her nerves exfoliate from her tense body. She takes the meat from Luca and bites into it. Its flesh thick, she can feel the juice ooze from the meat onto her lip and down her chin.
She swallows. Damon watches her like a person's enveloping fascination with the spontaneity of the starry sky. She meets his curious, nervous eye and nods her head profusely.
"It's not too bad," Bonnie says, sighing with a chuckle. Damon's cheek twitches a smile when he sees her laugh. Bonnie takes another chunk off the meat with her teeth.
"But Luca's right… could use some seasoning!" She laughs again after she says that.
Ross stumbles onto a tree with his duffle bag held close to his chest. He puts his back against the tree, uncontrollably, and leans his head against the back.
Five years, maybe. It's what it felt like to him. Five to eight years out here… but vivid images painted in his mind tell a different story. With that notion, the phrase 'a picture is worth a thousand words' illuminated like fireflies, floating through his mind, ever since the banishment of vampires from the city. Five to eight years of irreverent solitude, makeshift torment from self and from his brothers… his fellow vampire colleagues.
Ross stares up at the night sky, a blurry violet surpassing over it. There were no clouds. He tilted his head back down to his earth-shattering reality. The clouds have descended, and the fog is one of Ross' worst nightmares.
He sniffles. The smell of old, burnt iron moving him away from the tree. He sniffs around again, walking in the dizzying black of his eyes.
"Ah!" Ross screams as he topples over a body. He picks up his duffle bag and looks back at the ground. The degenerating body of a vampire lay there. His lips quivered with little intention; the rest of his body immobile. Ross bent lower. From what he could see, the vampire is need of blood.
Stage 5… Perish. Ross thinks as his eyes widen. He throws his duffle bag on top of the groaning vampire; his voice barely heard. He pulls out the notebook titled 'Reduction' and flips through the pages frantically. He stops on a page and searches his bag for a pencil.
He finds one and starts scribbling notes into the book, saying "Eye's dilated, bones beginning to protrude…" He stops, almost fainting on top of the body. Then he continues, "Lips thinning like rubber bands, the color violet. Entire body motionless…"
Ross drops the notebook and pencil, staring at the decaying body. "Emotionless…" He whispers to himself. He sniffles, his mind a drift. He bounces back to reality and puts his things back into his duffle bag and struggles to stand up. When he does, he groans and screams, trying to calm the pain.
Ross continues walking through the thick fog, unable to see what is right in front of him. His voice begins to wheeze as he switches his head in many different directions to remember which way he is supposed to go. He panics and panics and can feel himself going insane. So, he runs. He zooms through the forest until the fog is no more, but before he could stop he trips over a tree stump. He tumbles over and feels himself rolling down a hill. Dirt and grime stuck to his sweaty body as he rolled.
His body hits a wall. He groans, holding his back. He rolls over and sees nothing but black. He crawls to a wall and picks himself up, feeling around. He reaches up and feels nothing. He can't figure out where he is. It's so dark and with his vampire abilities declining at an accelerating rate, he won't know, until daylight falls through
Back at the cabin, Bonnie walks into the room Damon destroyed and shakes her head. She places her palm out, thinking about igniting a small fire within it to lighten her surroundings… but for some reason, she didn't need it. It's like she's become a friend to the nocturnal. She could see things, almost clearly. She puts her hand at her side and looks around for the mattress. She sees one side of it Damon tore in two and picks it up. She walks it to the center of the floor and places it down, plopping down it.
It is uncomfortable and lopsided. A lot of the fluffy cushion is scattered across the floor or inside the other mattress. She turns and looks at the other mattress, reaching for it even though it's nowhere near her reach. She's just too lazy to get up.
Damon knocks, then walks in.
"What the hell are you doing?" He asks, standing over her.
"Trying to get some sleep on a comfy surface," she replies, putting her hands behind her head. Damon grabs the other mattress and lays it parallel to Bonnie's, but not too close to her.
"So, you stealing my ideas now?" Bonnie says, turning on her side to face him.
"Please, Bennett. You know we think alike."
"Not entirely true."
Arabess walks in and stands in between them. Her head shifting from Bonnie to Damon and back to Bonnie.
"Arabess?" Damon asks her. Arabess looks back at Damon and then climbs onto the mattress with him. She snuggles up next to him, shutting her eyes. In shock, Damon mouth's the words: "What do I do?" to Bonnie.
She rolls her eyes in annoyance, and turns over. Sleeping herself. Damon sighs and looks down at Arabess. He catches a peculiar scent: rainforest. He leans a little closer to sniff her, feeling like a creep, but he wanted to make sure.
Yeah. Rain. Waterfalls. Trees and shrubs. And a slight trace of raspberry. He names the things he smells in his head as they pass through his nose. He wonders why the little girl has a scent so broad and distinguished.
He just turns over and lays on his back, staring at the ceiling. Arabess' head rests on his left arm. He looks down at her again, seeing her chest jump. Her head jerks forward and Damon sits up, alarmed. He is whispering Bonnie's name. She's sound asleep.
Arabess' jerks again and again. Damon calls for Bonnie's name while pulling Arabess' body onto him. He sees her chest jump again and tries to think of what to do.
"Bonnie!" He yells and Arabess' eyes open in shock. She pukes up blood all over Damon's face. He pushes the girl off of him, trying to find something to wipe the blood off of him. While Arabess hacks in pain, Bonnie turns over awakening from what felt like a long and terrible sleep. When she sees Arabess she runs over to her, holding her.
"Arabess!" Bonnie yells. Arabess stops hacking and choking, but there is blood all over the floor and their mattress. Bonnie sighs and searches the room for a shirt or something to clean her up with. She finds a shirt and wipes Arabess' mouth.
Bonnie sees Arabess going on another guilt-trip, maybe even that cold place she usually reverts to. Bonnie shakes her head. She will not let that happen again. Ever.
"Hey, this isn't your fault. And everything is okay. We just needed to clean you up," Bonnie tells her. She holds up the bloody shirt to show Arabess. "See, you're all clean now."
Bonnie touches Arabess' face with her thumb. Arabess looks back at Damon. He's cleaning his face with a pair of pants. He turns and sees Arabess staring at him.
He sighs and kneels in front of her. "Bonnie's right, Arabess. Nothing to be scared about." Damon switches his eyes to Bonnie. "She's always right."
Bonnie picks Arabess up and walks her to where she was sleeping.
"Get some sleep," Bonnie says. Arabess stares at the floor, laying on her side, until she couldn't fight the sleep anymore. Bonnie didn't leave her until she closed her eyes. Damon walked up behind Bonnie, watching also.
"You want to come outside with me?" Damon asks. Bonnie waits a moment before standing up and following him. Luca is fast asleep on the sofa as they walk pass him and outside the cabin. Bonnie paces down the front of the house, then paces back. Damon observes her, his hands in his pocket. He looks away when she turns back around. The creepy situation that just unfolded in front of them is pounding in their minds like a drum. In a nonstop, agitating way. Bonnie shakes her hands out. A paranoia compromises her, feeding into her. She swallows as she paces back to Damon. He stops.
"What are you thinking about?" Damon asks.
Bonnie stares at him, his injured face still a fresh thing to her. She sees his healed eye look away from her, then back.
"Damon, is that going to happen to me?" Bonnie asks a fear rising in her voice that Damon felt the second she opened her mouth. "And what if she's not okay?"
Damon puts his hands on her shoulders, trying to calm her. "Bonnie, I really don't know. But you have got to keep your cool… don't let this small incident cloud your judgment."
Bonnie takes a deep breath in an attempt to soothe her fears. She nods.
"But Arabess, she must've had a horrible reaction to the meat… what if Luca didn't clean it right?"
"Yeah, I doubt it. He wouldn't dare put you in danger."
Bonnie sighs. Damon was right. She knew Luca was attracted to her in a way she couldn't reciprocate. He wouldn't do anything to hurt her.
"Plus, we don't know that much about that little girl… what she's capable of? We just have to really look out for her." Damon tells her.
"Where am I going to sleep?" Bonnie asks, stressed.
Damon sits down, against the cabin and takes his jacket off. He hands it out to Bonnie. She looks confused.
"You can sleep on my shoulder," Damon says. Bonnie waits for a smirk, a chuckle, or even the slightest semblance of a sarcastic tone… but he is serious. He lifts his head at her. "I'm serious, take it."
"Damon, I'm not sleeping on you," Bonnie says, visualizing it in her head.
"It's… not like that, Bonnie. You just need rest. When's the last time you got a full night's sleep?" Damon asks. Her eyes look up as she realizes she's been up for days. The food eased her lightheadedness, but she knew it was only going to come back. And if Damon wanted Bonnie to use him as a pillow, then why not?
"Alrighty, then." Bonnie clasps her hands together nervously and walks over to him. She grabs his jacket and puts it on, bending down next to him. Bonnie looks awkwardly at him as she inches towards him on her knees. She looks at the ground when he looks at her, but he noticed her looking at the last minute—feeling the uncomfortable aura the two create between each other.
Bonnie scoots closer to him, angling her head hesitantly. She, unknowingly, clutches his thigh to do it and she rests her head upon his shoulders.
"I'm sorry!" She hurriedly says.
"You are making this way more difficult than this has to be!" Damon says, chuckling.
"Where are you going to sleep?" Bonnie asks, staring down his chest.
"Vampires don't sleep," Damon replies, "Plus, Elena would want me to."
Bonnie lifts her head from his shoulder and glares at him.
"So, you're doing this for Elena? Being my pillow?" She asks.
"Yeah. And why are you looking at me like that! Why do you care?"
"Because I think it's idiotic how you can't do one rational, good thing…" She starts telling him in a tone relative to disdain, "even if it's as trivial as this…without it being because of Elena." She says.
Damon sighs and tries to think of something to say.
"Like why can't you just be a decent guy because you want to be?" She says, then starts to mock her in a voice exaggeratedly like his: "'I'll do it for Elena, I'm doing it for Elena'. It's so annoying and says a whole lot about the type of person you are."
There is a pause. Damon itches his head. Bonnie regrets saying what she did, thinking it a bit harsh. She begins to speak when Damon says this:
"Do note whose shoulder you are resting on." Bonnie shrugs. "And I do not sound that whiny!"
"You actually do."
"Whatever! Go to sleep!" Damon tells her. She doesn't say anything back, though he was hoping she would.
Damon puts his arm around Bonnie, bringing her in closer to him. He looks up, keeping watch while Bonnie slept in tranquility, her chest rising up and down giving life to a man who feels like he's lost it all.
The next day, Bonnie and Damon are at the beach, standing almost forty feet away from each other. They are facing each other and Bonnie is moving nervously, stretching and jumping around.
"Is all that really necessary?" Damon asks laughing at her. Damon agreed to help her explore her powers. She'd woken up early this morning, right when the cold night air blew westward.
"Yes," She replies, her stomach feeling like it's dropping to her knees. She fed Damon some more blood this morning, and though she's nervous, she has hope her blood will start to make a difference on his face.
"Okay. Give me something," Damon says, holding out his hands and motioning his fingers towards himself, basically signaling Bonnie to bring it.
Bonnie calms herself and closes her eyes, raising her arms in Damon's directions. His eye's narrow in anticipation. Any kind of movement Bonnie does, he'll be cautious of it. He exhales with a macho exterior, preparing himself for the inevitable.
Shiiiiiiit. He's thinking about how much powerful Bonnie could have gotten, and also wondering why he agreed to be a witches' punching bag. That's when he begin to hear a whistle in the wind. He looked around and saw small pebbles rising from the sand, going in circles around Damon. He stares at Bonnie, a little scared.
"Bonnie, what're you doing?" He asks her through his grinding teeth.
Bonnie opens her eyes and pushes her palms in Damon's direction. "You're my target," She says, lowering her chin and glaring at him. The pebbles rise higher around him, still in a circular fashion. One pebbles grazes his arm and it burns him. His grabs his arm and gives Bonnie an incriminating look.
"Bonnie!" He yells. She gasps and holds onto her heart, looking up at Damon with a smile. He shakes his head his face glazed with skepticism. "That kind of hurt."
"Damon, did you see that?" Bonnie says ignoring his recent sentiment. "And the feeling… Oh my god."
"So, you knew what you were doing that entire time?" Damon asks unsure of what to make of this last spell.
"Yeah. I had full control." That hit Damon like a train. The way she said it, with such poise and no regret— it kind of freaked him out. During the spell, she shot a look at him. A dangerous one.
"You know what you're doing?" Damon asks in curiosity. He knows this is only her second time meddling with her magic, but he doesn't want to die from it. And he doesn't want her to die.
"Yeah…" Bonnie says, blinking. She looks out at the ocean. Its limitless possibilities drawing her in. Then she looks back at Damon, cocking her head. "Why? Are you afraid?"
Damon shakes his head. "No. As a matter of fact, let's ask the judges!" Damon bends down and draws his name into the sand and then hers underneath. Bonnie sees and folds her arms, sighing.
"What are you doing?" She asks not in the mood to hear it, really. She just wants to practice again, to experience that feeling of unlimited dominance. It's her desideratum.
"The judges say," Damon says while he writes a '1' next to his name, "Damon wins!" He jumps in celebration, throwing both of his arms in the air. He stops suddenly, fatigue consuming him. He bends over and rests his hands on his knees, recuperating himself. He sees Bonnie's look— striking him with worry and grief. He hollers again. He's not trying to make this about him. About his pain. He won't.
He heaves through his breath and smirks at Bonnie, saying in a low voice: "Damon wins."
Bonnie glares at him, her eyes narrowing in confidence. "On what grounds?"
"The grounds that that spell of yours with the steaming hot gravel and floating and stuff?" He says while gesturing with his hands. Bonnie puts her hand up to her mouth, chuckling. "All that? That sucked." Damon tries to keep himself from laughing.
"Okay. Then that was round one," Bonnie says. "Here's round two."
Damon braces himself, cutting his eyes to the forest and back to her. Bonnie, this time, raises one hand at Damon. She feels multiple warm pulses in her arm; the feeling beginning at her shoulder and pulsating down to her palm. A black bubble emerges from her palm and grows to the size of a basketball. It floats towards Damon and he moves out of its path.
"Nuh uh! Get back there!" Bonnie demands.
"I will not die by the hands of Bonnie Bennett."
"It's not going to kill you… ass," Bonnie says. He sucks in his pride and stands back into the path. "At least I hope it won't," Bonnie says to herself. The slow, floating and mortifying bubble moves towards him. It doesn't float like usual bubbles. Its outer layer moves irregularly, like something is on the inside of it, boiling. And there is a faint yellow outline that can be seen if reflected at a good angle off the sun.
As it approaches Damon, his hands ball into fists and he stares at it, menacingly. He just reminds himself its Luca. Makes it easier to face it. The bubble touches Damon's chest and he screams in pain, falling to his knees. Bonnie sprints to him, placing her palm over the bubble. It retracts back into her palm.
"Damon, are you okay?!" Bonnie says. She starts apologizing over and over again and Damon stares at the sandy beach, a curled look on his face. He starts laughing. Bonnie stops talking when she hears him, wondering what he's doing. His laugh gets louder and he looks up at her.
"You should have seen your face!" He says through his hysterical laughs. Bonnie nods, smiling sarcastically, then angrily puts her foot into his chest. He slams back into the ground, his limbs spread out. Bonnie's angry face turns into shock. She had no idea how she did that.
Damon catches her off guard and uses his vampire speed to stand before her. He throws her to the ground. She opens her mouth in disgust.
He pounces on her but she puts one of her legs up and his stomach lands on it. She grabs his shoulders and puts her other foot into his stomach while simultaneously rolling back and kicking him away. He flips and lands on his side, quickly standing up. Bonnie runs at him, her fists in front of her.
"Oh, so were playing like this now?" Damon asks, surprised to see her wanting to spar.
"It's two to zero and I am not letting your ass win!" She throws a punch at him, but he catches it. She tries again, but he catches that one too. He smirks, chuckling with a hum.
Bonnie jumps up, her fists still in Damon's grasp, tucking in her legs and flipping. She throws her legs over Damon's shoulders. In a quick motion, she twists her legs and snaps his neck. She falls on her head as he falls onto the ground also. Bonnie covers her mouth in shock when she sees what she did.
What the hell did I do? She thinks as she runs over to him, picking his head up and laying it on her lap. She checks his neck for any visible injuries, but sees nothing.
Moments later, Damon comes to. Bonnie clutches her heart and sighs, relieved.
"What the hell, BONNIE?" Damon asks in aggravation.
"I am so sorry… I don't even know how I did it," Bonnie tells him, still in shock herself. She's freaked out. She doesn't even know what she is anymore. A witch? Or… something more?
"You were… amazing," Damon says, looking at her like she's a butterfly fluttering along in an empty meadow. "Truly."
"Luca said that witches are different here, but… what's happening to me?" She asks Damon, her voice breaking from worry. She looks over and sees the panther cub again, moving its body in sordid sophistication. It charges for Damon. Bonnie jumps up and stands in front of Damon.
"No!" Bonnie yells at the panther. It's docile to her. The panther cub sits, its head rising to her and then bowing. She furrows her brow and looks back at Damon. He shrugs.
Bonnie didn't want to move. She'd gotten rid of it once, but this time it's different. The panther nudged her knee with its nose, looking up playfully at her. Her mouth begets a discreet smile, unseen by the passing eye. She swallows as it touches her again, getting closer.
Bonnie kneels down and Damon whispers to her, sitting up cautiously: "Bonnie, we need to go. I am going to—" She puts her hand up at him and he shuts up. Bonnie pets the panther and it rubs its head all around her hand and arm. Then it gets closer to her, rubbing its head on the side of her face and placing its paws on her shoulder.
"It likes me," Bonnie says, still petting it. She feels the whiskers on her face and laughs. Damon watches in complete disagreement. He's scared the wild thing will turn on her at any minute.
Moments pass and Bonnie and Damon stand up, staring at the panther. It circles Damon, sniffing him. Damon wanted to kick it away, but he knew Bonnie wouldn't want that. Bonnie bends down and pets the panther before they head back to the cabin. The panther cub sits, stoic and proud, as Bonnie and Damon walk back into the forest.
"I know this sounds crazy Damon, but I felt this connection to that panther. I didn't want to stop petting it…" Bonnie says as they walk through the forest. "It's like it was a long lost pet or something that I'd just reunited with... Badge."
"Who the hell is Badge?" Damon asks.
"My pet rabbit I had when I was younger. My Dad ran it over in the driveway."
Bonnie and Damon arrive back to the cabin and hear loud noises coming from within. They run in to see Luca pushing Ross against the wall with his magic while Ross bites and roars at him. He's trying to tackle him but can't get through the invisible force Luca has over him.
Arabess is in the corner by the bookshelf with her head in between her knees, covering her head. Damon runs over to console her. Bonnie screams at them to stop. They didn't listen. Damon, fed up, stands up and rushes over to Ross, pinning him up against a wall. And Bonnie forces Luca on the other side of the wall, with her magic.
"I don't want to hurt you, Bonnie!" Luca says, unable to move.
"Give up!" Bonnie says, holding her palm out towards him.
Ross is moving like a rabid animal in Damon's grasp, something in him stirring… whether it's the smell of Luca's blood or the Land of the Forgotten finally getting to him.
"Hey, hey, hey, hey!" Damon says in a calm voice. "Hey, hey! It's me." Ross looks Damon in the eyes and calms down, his eyes go back to human form and his fangs retract. Damon lets him go and meets with Bonnie, at the center of it all. They exchange looks.
"Now what the hell is—" Damon begins to say, but is interrupted by a stray man, showing up at the front door. He looks tired, restless, and drained… like a vampire.
"Ross?" The man says.
Ross looks towards the door and is speechless. His mouth drops. Water rushes into his eyes and his trembling hand covers his mouth. He turns around in disbelief.
"Oh my god," Ross says to himself. He turns back around and sees the man walking towards him. Each step the man took made Ross feel more vulnerable. The closer he got, the more susceptible he felt.
Damon touches Bonnie's shoulder and walks back to be with Arabess. Bonnie watches the interaction between Ross and this mystery man. Luca picks himself up and walks to Bonnie.
"Who is that?" He asks.
"I don't know," Bonnie replies, "But honestly, I wouldn't doubt if they were dating or something."
The man walks up to Ross and tries caressing his cheek, but Ross punches him in the face and he flies back, sliding across the floor.
"NO!" Ross exclaims. "YOU don't get to do that!" Ross screams through tears and a runny nose. The man looks over and sees Ross' duffle bag sitting on the table. He stands up and opens it. Ross tries to stop him, but the man already grabbed the scrapbook before Ross got to him.
"Ross, who is this?" Bonnie asks. Damon sits on the sofa with Arabess, waiting for Ross to answer.
"My ex. Thad," Ross says in a grim voice. He hates Thad. He hates him with every ounce of mobility left in his body, which is good. It gives him a rush and the horrible effects of his vampire abilities declining seem to not be anymore.
Thad holds the scrapbook like it's newfound treasure. He sits on the ground and opens it, looking at the photos of him and Ross, reminiscing.
"I remember when we created this," Thad says, his eyes a glowing texture. He looks up at Ross for an answer, but all he gets is a mean mug. "We were so young in our relationship…"
Bonnie turns around and walks to the sofa to sit. She pats Arabess on the lap.
"Are we watching Days of Our Lives or?" Damon says while he observes Ross and Thad. Luca sits on the arm rest next to Damon.
"He looks like he wants to kill him," Luca says. Damon looks at him, wondering if he was talking to him or Bonnie. He opens his mouth.
"Yeah…" Damon says.
"I was going to burn it," Ross says burning his eyes into Thad. Thad is hefty and big, but in a muscular way. He was one of those people that probably played football in high school. Thad points at a picture, smiling. It's him and Ross. Ross is wearing glasses and a waiter's outfit, holding a platter. Thad is standing inches away from him with a tuxedo on.
"You were so cute that day with your red dress shirt. It matched your red hair so…" Thad searches for a word, but instead just looks passionately dispersed in his own reality.
"I remember that day. I was your charity case! You didn't even look me in the eye."
"How was I supposed to? It was my parent's dinner after they renewed their vows!"
"You never cared about me, Thad!" Ross says, kicking the scrap book out of his way as he walks over to Thad. "After I became vampire your vilification of me only got harsher around your friends and family! Just because you're a witch!"
"Wait, you're a witch?" Bonnie asks. Thad looks down in shame.
"Yeah, he's a witch! And he was so gutless only to want me when it was convenient for him!" Ross is ready to attack him. But he contains his anger and walks away, picking up his scrap book and tossing it in the duffle bag. He turns back around to look at Thad.
"You need to leave. I don't know why you came all the way out here… but it's too late." Ross says, waiting impatiently for Thad to move. Thad just slowly stands up, putting his hands out in front of him to show Ross he means no harm.
"Ross… I need you." Thad says.
"And I needed you!" Ross pushes him towards the door. "So get out!"
Thad takes a deep breath, standing his ground. Ross pushes him again and again, until Thad is almost out of the door.
"ROSS!" Thad screams. Ross flinches and Damon stands up, walking towards Thad.
"He said leave," Damon tells him. "So leave…"
Damon glares at Thad, angling his head at him. Thad turns his gaze back to Ross.
Bonnie stands up and walks to the door also, standing next to Damon and Ross. She raises an eyebrow at Thad. Luca walks up to.
Thad chuckles. "I'm not a witch anymore, Ross. I was turned…" Thad says. Ross' lips part and he almost fell right into Thad's trap. He shakes his head.
"So?" Ross says.
"So, a witch took my humanity and she started the process immediately…" Thad tells him, fear ripping through his voice. Bonnie and Damon look at each other, remembering the heroic and sacrificial deal Damon did with Kaya in order for him to save Bonnie: giving his humanity up.
"I need your help to fight it…" Thad looks at Ross like he's ready to break. And Ross looks back, his sharp look and reluctant posture easing up.
