Chapter 13
Author's Note: I think I've replied to everyone who has reviewed! (Yay!) :) Thank you all so much for your continued support and encouragement! I'm really happy that you're enjoying this story! :)
The last person Elena ever expected to see enter the Salvatore house was Bonnie. And yet in she walked in front of Damon, looking displeased.
"Bonnie," Elena greeted, stunned. She rose from her place on the floor at Jeremy's side, feeling Stefan rise from the seat behind her. "What are you—"
"Damon told me Anna's back," Bonnie interrupted flatly, sounding cold. "That she's a monster because some spell brought her back wrong."
Elena hesitantly looked down at Jeremy, thinking of the howling, animalistic girl in the cellar below the house. Reluctantly, she nodded. "She's not herself—"
"I'll fix her." Bonnie shifted a bag on her shoulder, her face set in stone. She turned to Damon. "I need a room with a large floor where I can draw."
Damon gestured her down the hall.
"Bonnie—" Elena started, heading down the hall with them.
Bonnie turned back sharply, holding up a hand. "Save it, Elena," Bonnie ordered quietly. "Damon told me everything. I'm only here so that there's not a monster who can't think straight loose on the streets of Mystic Falls."
Elena felt her shoulders slump, but her gratitude toward Damon and Bonnie made her want to explode. "Thank you, Bonnie," she said softly.
Bonnie gave her a hard look, then turned away without another word. Elena looked up at Damon, who met her eyes for only a second before continuing down the hall with Bonnie.
Elena slowly made her way back to the living room, kneeling down beside Jeremy, who struggled to sit up, his eyes wide with disbelief and hope. "Is she really going to…?" Jeremy asked, looking like he could barely contain his joy.
Elena smiled down at him. "I think so, Jer," she agreed.
"I want to go be with her. I want to see her—" Jeremy started, trying to get off of the couch.
Elena held him down. "She'll come to you as soon as she's okay," Elena argued. "You're still not okay to be walking around, Jer."
"But, Elena—"
"She'll come," Elena reassured him confidently, smoothing his hair back away from his face. "Bonnie will make her herself again, Jer."
Jeremy flashed a wide grin at her that was infectious. Elena looked back at Stefan, who was smiling slightly. She reached down and picked the cup of blood back up, bringing it to Jeremy's mouth. "You'll need your strength back sooner if you want to see Anna again," Elena reminded.
Jeremy grinned again and drank eagerly.
It felt like an eternity before they heard the sound of running footsteps along the hallway floor. Elena looked up, her heart skipping at the sight of the wild-looking girl in the entryway. Her long black hair was ratted and in desperate need of a shower, knotted with twigs and leaves and other dried grass. Her clothes were ripped and torn and barely hanging on her. Her face was covered with dried blood.
But her eyes were human.
"Jeremy," the girl sobbed, suddenly at Elena's side, leaning down and hugging Jeremy fiercely. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry!"
"Anna," Jeremy sighed, sounding like he was barely containing his tears himself. "Anna, it's really… you…"
Anna pulled back and looked at him, tears sliding down her cheeks. "I… look what I did to you… Jeremy… I…"
"Anna, it's okay," Jeremy reassured her lightly. "Damon says they'll come back. They're already starting." He flashed a weak smile, cringing slightly. "I'd show you, but it's pretty gross."
Anna stared at him in a mixture of confusion and relief. "Come back?" she repeated. "You're…" She leaned back, studied him, her eyes widening in disbelief as she regarded him. Her hand suddenly shot out, her fingers against his neck. Her face flooded with shock. "Jeremy…" she whispered.
"I had your blood," Jeremy explained rapidly. "And I took Elena's pills, and then in the hospital, I died…"
Elena watched as the shock on Anna's face switched rapidly to joy, then to sorrow, to horror, and finally to ecstasy. The girl threw her arms around him tightly, hugging him close.
Elena took Stefan's hand as they left the two in the room, meeting up with Bonnie and Damon in the hallway. Elena watched, confused, as Damon handed Bonnie a tiny vial of what looked like blood, which she slid into her bag.
Stefan bristled. Elena looked up at him, bewildered, then over at Damon and Bonnie. "Bonnie, thank you," Elena said, watching her friend's dark eyes stare at her darkly. She hesitated, caught off-guard by the look in the girl's eyes. "Jeremy is… really happy…"
Bonnie nodded curtly at her, then looked back up at Damon. "Don't forget," she warned evenly.
"Like I could," Damon smirked back. Elena stared at him, confused.
"Forget what?" Elena asked, frowning.
When they both just looked at her, Stefan quietly replied, "Damon made a blood pact with Bonnie. Didn't you, Damon?"
Damon arched an eyebrow. "Hmm? No. I thought I'd give it to her in case she ever wanted to go vamp." He gave Bonnie a flirtatious look.
Bonnie looked back at him in disgust, looking up at Stefan. "Will you take me home?" she asked evenly. "I refuse to spend one more minute with him, and I hear Katherine is running around."
Stefan nodded, stepping forward instantly. "What's a blood pact?" Elena asked, frowning up at all of them.
Bonnie regarded her coolly. "It's when a vampire gives a witch his blood in exchange for a service. The blood of a vampire has certain… powers… in it that can be useful for witches spells."
"And it makes it incredibly easy for her to cast all sorts of spells on him," Stefan finished.
Elena gaped up at Damon, who looked away, and then down at Bonnie, who just stared back at her. "Bonnie," she said slowly, stunned. "You can't just…"
Bonnie gave her a piercing look, but said nothing. It was Damon who spoke, sounding irritated. "Just don't turn me into a frog, okay? The idea of chomping on bugs doesn't sound like a lot of fun."
Bonnie didn't say another word as she headed toward the door. "Bonnie!" Elena objected, horrified. She turned back, her eyes cold. "You can't do this. You can't mean to… cast spells on Damon. He was just trying to help Jeremy!"
Bonnie looked back at her, her eyes dark. "I'm going to do what I have to do," she answered flatly. With a deliberate look at Damon, who made a face at her, Bonnie strode to the door and walked out of it.
Stefan gave Elena a weak, apologetic smile, and hurried after her.
Elena stared at the closed door for several seconds before slowly looking up at Damon, who was carefully avoiding looking at her. "I'll talk to Bonnie. I'll get it back from her, somehow, Damon—"
"Don't bother." Shocked, she watched as he started up the stairs to his room. "Her conditions were pretty simple."
Elena hurried up after him. "Don't do that," she argued, frowning as she followed him into his room. "Don't act like you didn't just set yourself up for anything just for Jeremy." She crossed the distance between them, placing a hand on his arm. "Damon… What you did… It was incredible. Jeremy is really happy. And I just… want to thank you." She had to look away from his intense gaze, so close to her own, and stepped away, turning her back to him. "I'm going to talk to Bonnie. I'll get your blood back from her."
"I don't need your help, Elena."
At his empty, flat words, she turned back, hurt and astonished. Damon dropped down onto his bed, stretching out on it and placing his hands behind his head, closing his eyes.
She felt her anger spike. "What is wrong with you?" she demanded, watching his eyes open and slide to her. "You've been acting weird for days now. What?"
He rolled his eyes. "Go talk to my brother if you want to discuss your feelings, Elena. Come find me when you're in the mood to be fun again."
She started to tell him off and storm out of his room, but at the last moment she turned back, finding his eyes on her. "Damon," she requested softly. "Is it Katherine?"
She watched the shock on his face shift quickly into confusion and anger, and then shake out, replaced with cold dispassion. "Why don't you go downstairs and wait for my brother to return so you two can cry in each other's arms about how emotional and hormonal you are?" he suggested, half-sneering at her.
Rage flew through her so quickly she didn't even know she was moving until she had finished slamming his bedroom door shut and was sliding onto his bed with him, glaring down into his blank face, carefully concealing his surprise.
"I don't get you, Damon. You say you want to be my friend, and you do all these incredibly nice things and make these huge gestures, but then you're a complete jerk about it. I thought I understood you, but I guess I was wrong. So explain it to me. What's going on in your head?"
He let out a groan. "Is this sharing time, now? If so, can I nap through it?"
She felt her anger melt into hurt. "Damon," she pleaded. "We both know this isn't like you. What's going on?"
He was up so quickly she stiffened, trying not to gasp in surprise. "This is exactly like me, Elena," he corrected quietly, staring at her from only inches away. "Sorry to burst the romantic little image you were building of me. But this is what you get with Damon Salvatore. Now go find my brother before I decide to make a little snack of you."
A little… snack… of her?
But Damon… He had sworn to never drink her blood… He had been dying and she'd had to force it into him.
Elena steeled her nerves, lifted her hair, and exposed her neck.
She could feel his shock. Her heart raced as she waited, giddily wondering if the vein on her neck was pulsing… If he was eyeing it hungrily.
Would Damon really bite her?
Her hair was suddenly yanked back, exposing her throat painfully. She looked up into dark blue eyes, fear suddenly striking her heart as she stared up at him.
"Leave," he ordered lowly, his voice cold.
Disbelief flooded through her. He released her roughly, practically throwing her away from him. She stared back at him, not moving off of the bed even as he resumed his reclining position on the bed, his expression cold as he glared back at her.
"Damon," she whispered. "Whatever it is, if you just tell me—"
"Go use that garbage on my brother, Elena," Damon warned sharply. "Get out of my room." He sat up, his eyes venomous. "Or I'll tell him all about where those almost-invisible scars on your shoulders are from." He gave her a dark, malicious smile. "And what you sound like when you moan in pleasure."
She felt her cheeks burn. She stared at him in horror, wanting to hit him, wanting to scream at him, and wanting to… cry.
Because Damon was hurting. For whatever reason, Damon was hurting. And she couldn't get him to help her make it better.
"You're cruel," she said softly.
"You're just figuring that out now?" he returned evenly. His expression darkened. "Get out, Elena. Now. I won't tell you again."
Her heart ached as she slowly lifted herself from his bed, going to his door. She paused with her hand on his doorknob, his dark eyes watching her every move.
And then she turned and walked out of his room.