Chapter 11

Bonnie couldn't help laughing as she watched Caroline trying to get Stefan to dance near the front of the stage. He obviously wasn't the biggest fan of dancing, well, at least not to modern music, but that didn't stop Caroline from trying to get him moving.

Damon came to stand next to Bonnie nearer to the side of the stage.

"I see Stefan's being tortured again," Damon commented.

"Yeah, she's been trying to get him to dance for the last 10 minutes. I think he's starting to give up the fight," Bonnie responded. She looked around Damon. "Where's Enzo?"

"Probably brooding somewhere over you and Bill Gates 2.0," Damon said referring to Bonnie's introduction to Kai Parker.

Bonnie raised an eyebrow and gave him a why do you have to go there? look.

"If Caroline asks I've gone for a walk," she told Damon.

He probably thought she was going to look for Enzo, which she wasn't, but frankly Bonnie didn't care. She just needed some space and to get away from the noise for a little while.

Bonnie walked through the park until there were no people around and the music was a distant sound. She noticed a stone bridge over a big pond and made her way over to it. It was dark now, but the bridge had rows of lights. It was a feature that hadn't been in the park when Bonnie lived in Mystic Falls but it was a beautiful addition to the peaceful surroundings.

Bonnie had to watch her step as she approached the bridge because the ground leading up to it was uneven. As she made it onto the bridge she saw a man standing in the middle at it's highest point. As she got closer she realized who the man was.

Enzo. She wasn't really in the mood to talk to him after their experience of mutual jealousy and she was contemplating backing up and getting out of there, but then he saw her and looked at her with recognition as if he was expecting her to come over and talk to him.

Bonnie decided there was no point in being childish and made her way over to him. With the increased lighting Bonnie could see that the pond was surrounded by rocks and greenery. At one side there was a mini waterfall and the pond was covered with water lilies.

Enzo stood with his arms resting on the wall of the bridge. Bonnie stood next to him copying his stance.

"It's really beautiful," she observed.

"Yeah," Enzo responded looking down at the water.

The sound of the mini waterfall was soothing and for a second Bonnie felt like she didn't have a care in the world.

"I see you were busy making new friends," Enzo said to her referring to Kai.

"Ditto," she replied with regard to his brunette admirer. "But I have too much going on to spend time hanging out with new people," she told him.

They turned to look at each other.

"Same here," Enzo told her.

A sense of relief washed over them from knowing that neither one of them was interested in getting involved with other people, even if they had no business getting involved with each other. The tension between them eased and they spent a few moments absorbing the scenery.

Bonnie scanned the area before speaking, but even if someone was spying on them she wouldn't really be able to see them anyway. "So you're really gonna wait until tomorrow to tell me what you found out about the Heretics?"

"I wanted you to have a break and just enjoy the night before getting back to 'work'," he told her.

She appreciated the gesture but she was eager to know. She looked at him expectantly.

"There's not that much to tell," he said facing her. "Lily's here for Terina. A Heretic."

"Ok," Bonnie had guessed that's what Terina was. The dark haired young woman who bit the Huntress.

"She's in a cell at the Armory," Enzo added.

"Really?" Bonnie said.

Enzo nodded. "Terina's classed as high risk, so the security is much tighter for her than your Mum. I'm trying to figure out how to get down there and see her. See if she'll tell me anything."

"I doubt she'll talk," Bonnie told him.

"You never know. Anyway, they've been keeping her sedated with Huntress blood. That's why she hasn't escaped and the Heretics haven't found her yet."

Bonnie nodded. "Anything else?" she asked.

"That's all at the present. I didn't get the opportunity to look into security yet, so..."

"I get it," Bonnie said disappointed. "I still can't believe she's alive," she said referring to Abby.

"You really don't remember anything about her?" Enzo said looking at Bonnie as she gazed at the mini waterfall.

"Not really. But Grams told me that she was insanely happy when I was born," Bonnie said with a smile. "After she disappeared I saw less and less of my Dad. He was always working. I thought he didn't wanna spend time with me because he didn't love me, but Grams told me it was because I reminded him of my Mom too much... and he missed her like crazy. He's never gotten over her. So he uses work as a distraction." Bonnie turned to look at him. "What happened with your family?"

"They left me at a workhouse when I was a child," he said.

"A workhouse... like in Oliver Twist?" Bonnie asked with disbelief.

"Kind of," Enzo looked at the water lilies floating on the pond. "I still have no idea why they left me."

Bonnie watched him sympathetically.

"I was kicked out of the workhouse when I was 17."

"Why?" Bonnie asked shocked.

"Because I was a healthy young adult and they decided I needed to go out into the world and fend for myself." Enzo noticed the shocked expression on her face. "They did it to a lot of the boys my age. I was homeless for a few years and I had to do some unsavoury things to survive, but eventually I managed to get work."

What an absolutely shitty way to grow up! Bonnie thought. She felt guilty for thinking that she had it rough due to losing her Mom, having a workaholic dad and being a Huntress, but Enzo started out with nothing and noone and continued to suffer.

"Everything I ever had in life I had to earn by myself. On my own," he said looking at her with sadness but also strong determination. "Being 'turned' by Lily was a blessing. That's when I had real freedom. Until Augustine. But before that I was able to travel, educate myself... I wasn't hungry or homeless. I was still on my own but it was better than my human life."

He's still lonely. Bonnie sensed it. At least she had Grams for 17 years of her life. And she had her friends. From what she knew Enzo had experienced what? A few months of kindness from a woman who was now a psychotic killer.

"I'm sorry you had such a difficult life," Bonnie said sincerely.

"I'm a survivor," Enzo said looking at her with a weak smile.

A warm breeze drifted over them and blew Bonnie's hair into her eyes. Enzo turned towards her and lifted his hand to gently stroke the hair away from her face.

Not again... Bonnie thought, as Enzo looked at her as if she was the answer to all of his problems.

"Wanna go back to the party?" Bonnie asked softly breaking the moment.

"Yeah," Enzo said coming out of his daze and they walked together along the bridge.

#

As they walked through deserted areas of the park they talked some more about their lives, sharing bits of information. They approached an empty children's play area and saw a young couple making out against a wall.

Something feels off. Bonnie realized. She ran towards the couple and Enzo followed.

It wasn't a couple making out. The guy was a vampire feeding on a young woman.

Bonnie dragged the guy off of his victim in one powerful move and threw him behind her, he crashed into the slide and bounced off the ground.

"Help her," Bonnie said to Enzo.

Enzo gave the girl some of his blood to heal her and compelled her to go home while Bonnie dealt with the vampire. She usually didn't have to deal with random vampire attacks, but if she was around when one happened she'd do what she had to do.

She ran towards the vampire who grabbed her by the throat and smashed her against the side of the slide. Enzo was about to help her when she sent the vampire flying with an almighty kick. He stood back up as Bonnie approached him. He ripped out one of the seats from the swing and tried to hit her with it but she blocked his attack with her arms and pushed him down to the ground with his own improvised weapon.

She needed something to kill him with. With some effort she could probably rip out his heart with her bare hands, but truth be told, she wasn't a fan of wearing vampire innards on her hands and arms and tended to save that method of execution for extreme situations. She was a little OCD that way.

She threw away the seat of the swing and punched the vamp in the face several times. Then she picked him up and threw him across the play area again. She knew he would probably try to use vamp speed to escape so she made sure she got to him in time.

He managed to punch her in the jaw a few times before she kicked him hard in the chest and managed to twist him around to get him in a headlock.

All Enzo could do was watch her in awe. Clearly she didn't need his help.

Bonnie released the vampire's from the headlock just long enough to smash his face into the roundabout. While he was face down and dazed she began to rip one of the metal panels out of the roundabout. The vamp tried to get up but Bonnie stomped on his neck to keep him down. When she'd freed the metal panel from the frame she lifted it high up into to the air then brought it down quickly and powerfully to decapitate the vampire.

She breathed heavily checking that the vampire was in fact dead.

"You ok, love?" Enzo said with an amused grin on his face. He was impressed. A little scared. And a little turned on too.

Bonnie looked down checking herself for injuries.

Bonnie huffed, "Son of a bitch... You got blood on my new jacket, asshole!" she said to the dead vampire.

#

Bonnie let Enzo help her dispose of the corpse. They burnt the body in a forest-like area of the park with the help of a couple of bottles of bourbon Damon had left in Enzo's car. Sure, Damon would be pissed when he found out that his bourbon was gone, but desperate times called for expensive liquor. If Bonnie had to deal with the loss of her new favourite jacket, which she'd thrown into the boot of Enzo's car, then Damon could deal with a small dent in his never ending supply of booze.

For whatever reason Enzo carried a shovel in his car so he was using that to dig a hole to bury whatever was left of the vampire's remains while Bonnie used a piece of wood to help move some of the dirt.

"We're gonna need something to wash the blood off the play area. The kids don't need to see that when they come back here," Bonnie said.

"Well there's no more bourbon, but I'm sure Caroline can get us some water," Enzo said."

"Good idea," Bonnie replied.

They shared another of their secret smiles as they worked side by side. Check us out bonding over burnt vampire corpses, Bonnie contemplated amused by the bizarreness of the situation.

#

Caroline came through with the water and they managed to make themselves and the children's play area presentable, although they couldn't fix the broken swing or the roundabout. That would be a problem that Caroline would have to compel her way out of since it would look like vandalism had occurred during her event.

Enzo was driving Bonnie home to change their clothes and promised Caroline that they'd return to the park since it was barely 10pm and the party was expected to go on 'til after midnight.

During the drive they passed by the grounds of the Lockwood Mansion. Bonnie started to look around restlessly.

"What's wrong?" Enzo asked noticing the change in her behaviour.

"Stop the car," she requested.

This isn't right, Bonnie told herself as Enzo pulled over at the side of the road. I'm not supposed to be here. But she was drawn to the place. She hadn't told anyone that the Heretics had been inside the Lockwood Mansion in her dreams yet and she knew she was asking for trouble by being anywhere near the place, but she couldn't stop herself.

She got out of the car.

"Where are you going?" Enzo called to her, getting out of the car too.

"You need to leave," she answered in response.

"You're acting really weird... I'm not going anywhere," Enzo said to her.

"Please. Go," she said.

"No chance," Enzo told her stubbornly.

She looked at him and sighed, shaking her head, then walked towards the high gate and started to climb up it.

"What the...!" Enzo exclaimed. But he wasn't about to leave her, so he followed.

#

They got closer to the house but kept enough distance that the occupants would not see them as the lights were on in the mansion.

"Tyler's in New York right?" Bonnie asked Enzo quietly.

"As far as I know," he answered.

"Does he rent the place out?" she queried.

"I'm not sure. But I don't think so," Enzo said.

Bonnie needed to get closer, she knew she shouldn't but...

"Bonnie, don't-" Enzo began just as the force of a huge explosion threw them into the air and away from the house before they hit the ground hard.

Bonnie's ears were ringing. Enzo sat her up by the shoulders and she could just about make out that he was saying, "Are you alright?". She nodded and turned to look towards the house as they still sat on the ground.

The doorway, windows and walls at each side of the door were blown out. People ran out of the house. They were Heretics.

A dozen or so men ran towards them firing wooden stakes and what looked like tranquilizer darts but it had little effect on the Heretics as they used their magic to throw the men around like they were rag dolls.

Jeremy. Bonnie was able to recognize him and knew that these men were Hunters. Obviously they hadn't been clued in about using Huntresses blood to tranquilize the Heretics since their weapons were useless against them.

Bonnie needed to help the Hunters.

Before she was able to get up a black van came from around the back of the mansion and about 20 people ran out. They too had weapons. They started firing and few of the Heretics fell to the ground. The Heretics started chanting and Enzo used vamp speed to get Bonnie back to the gate and away from the house. He helped her to climb over the gate and get into the car as quickly as they could. The tyres screeched as they sped away.

"What the hell just happened?!" Bonnie asked him.

"The Armory," he told her before returning his attention to the road to get them home.