Note: Hello again everybody! I hope your festivities were smashing and I hope you're all as excited as I am. Once again, you are all incredible and I cherish every single one of you. Enjoy XO

"These violent delights

Have violent ends

And in their triumph die

Like fire and powder

Which, as they kiss, consume."

-William Shakespeare

Bonnie was well aware that there were eight pairs of eyes on her and Damon.

She was also aware that his hands were digging into her skin, keeping her against him as they kissed.

She was also aware of how incredible it was to be kissing him.

Also how the fizzing of his skin had stopped.

How his breathing was now hitching for a different reason.

But her mouth couldn't stop moving against his.

He was alive.

He was okay.

And he was kissing the shit out of her.

Yes he was.

Someone cleared their throat and Bonnie flew clear across the room, reality finally slamming into her. She didn't need to catch her breath really, but with one hand on her chest she tried to anyway. Damon's hands fell to his sides and he groaned as he eased himself up, his eyes locking in on Bonnie as she stood a good few feet away from him. Despite himself he managed a lopsided smirk in her direction before moving to stand on his feet. Bonnie twitched a little, wanting to move forward and stop him, tell him to take it easy but she already felt like she'd broken so many rules in the last five minutes that she should just call it a day. Stefan was the one to sit him back down with a stern expression to which Damon rolled his eyes. Sitting down Damon waved Bonnie over and, after rocking on her heels once or twice she flashed to his side but avoided his eyes. Instead she looked to Fahada and Amelia.

"You said they were 'Superior Hunters'… there's more to that isn't there?" Bonnie ignored Damon's hand reaching for hers, weaving their fingers together as she spoke. Fahada nodded. Stefan paled once more.

"We think that a hit was put on someone in this room." Fahada said evenly.

"Who else was almost hit with the arrows?" Stefan asked.

"Bonnie." Caroline said, a frown overruling her expression. There was an edge in her voice, an anger, at the utter predictability of the situation; could they not have a moment's peace?

"So the two hybrids were attacked." Imran said, "We can understand the motive, but who would have had the time to seek them out, how, why and when?" Fahada shook head.

"Supernaturals have keen senses, they could have been spotted the day you all went sight-seeing. Did anything unusual happen?" The grey-eyed girl looked around the room at each of them. Lucy frowned, trying to recall anything suspicious but she was drawing a blank. "Anyone you met?"

"No…" Lucy said her voice dazed, "But there were three girls, American I think, but it was literally nothing." Fahada became curious. She leaned into Amelia's space and whispered something lowly to her before she looked to them once more. Amelia left without another word.

"Who else remembers them?" Fahada asked and everyone but Elena, Stefan and Imran raised their hands. Fahada tensed then; Stefan and Elena hadn't been there, but Imran had and he couldn't remember. Someone had tagged her brother and they would pay. Noticing her posture he dropped his gaze, disappointed in himself and Fahada would have soothed him, reassured him, if they weren't pressed for time. "Okay," she said when Amelia returned with a pencil and a pad of paper, "Who can tell me what they look like?"

"I lost her." Jeremy said as he sat in Alaric's apartment, staring unseeingly at the wall in front of him. Alaric sighed as he flopped down onto the couch next to the boy, handing him a glass of water. Jeremy looked at the glass, took a sip, pulled a face and set it down on the table. "I don't know what to do."

"Jer, you're a kid. Hearts heal." Alaric said, ignoring when the boy snorted derisively. "Remember who you're talking to," the older man went on, "I've lost my fair share of women as well and it didn't feel like it for a long time, and then I died, but now… I feel better, and that comes with time. Don't let your misery define you, it's unhealthy and depressing, and frankly, I don't know how much more sympathy you can wean out of the bottles you've replaced your friends with." Jeremy stared at the man openly.

"I want to be better." The boy said after a few moments and Alaric smiled, that assured fatherly smile of his.

"Then you will be, trust me."

Bonnie was torn. Looking at Damon, knowing that he was fine brought an indescribable relief along with it…but that was quickly falling away and being taken over by something far more feral. Something far more vampire-fuelled. She was finally coming to understand why Damon had these sudden bursts of anger, why Stefan went off the rails after holding it all in. She could barely keep it together even though Damon was right in front of her, talking, blinking, moving, and whole. She wanted to break something, shoot an arrow at someone's shoulder – their chest, show them that it wasn't okay to hurt the people she loved. She was torn between all this…and the fact that the people behind it were witches. Her people. Bonnie had had her fair share of run-ins with other witches but (and thanks to Caroline all those years ago) she'd never killed one herself. The very thought felt like a betrayal, a sacrilege, a defiance against the very core of who she'd always been. Damon squeezed her hand and her vision focused. He was staring at her. When had everyone left?

"Have you been listening at all?" He asked, standing up, his naked torso stretching and calling to her attention, but all she could think about was that for the longest moment she'd considered it…she'd considered killing three witches. Blinking rapidly she looked up at him.

"How are you?" She asked, ignoring whatever it was that he'd said and she quirked a brow at him when he frowned at her. "…What?"

"You, I want to know if you're okay." He said and she wanted to laugh at him, and she might have, had he not looked as serious as he did in that moment. "Bonnie, this is all still so fresh for you –"

"Don't coddle me." She snapped catching them both off-guard, she winced, "I'm sorry, I just…Damon, you didn't see what you looked like, I just…I can't –"

"Hey, hey, hey," he said, pulling her into his arms and Bonnie was glad that they were alone in that moment, "Ssh, I'm okay…okay?" She pressed her cheek to his cool skin and breathed him in. He smelled like … she pulled away from him suddenly and he frowned.

"I kissed you," she said, "I kissed you and –"

"I kissed you back –"

"You healed," she went on, "I thought of one thing and one thing only in that moment when I kissed you, I wanted you to be safe and okay…and then you were," she looked up at him as she wrapped her arms around her torso like she could keep the words that she so badly wanted to say inside of her, for just a moment longer, "And then when you were I got mad, I got so mad Damon –" she sucked in a breath and flashed until she was right in his face, "I wanted to kill them," she whispered, ashamed, her eyes shimmering, "I think I still do." He held her gaze and began to nod, slowly.

"It's normal –"

"No." Bonnie cut him off, "Not for me."

"Bonnie, there's more to you now, there are parts that are going to amplified, your trademark want to avenge every slight against the people you care about is obviously one of them," He was making sense… but he was also wrong. He was wrong because that wasn't why she was losing her mind; she was losing her mind because of what he'd said to her, as they stood next to the painting of that werewolf…it felt like a lifetime ago. It was also the look in his eye in that moment when he'd confessed to loving her, so full of fear and vulnerability – like he was now with added gentleness and determination. It broke her undead heart. She wanted him in that moment, more than she'd ever wanted anything before in her life.

"I wanted to kill them, I want to kill them…" she pressed on, her eyes downcast as she sucked in a sharp breath before looking at him again, "And it's because I love you Damon, it's because I'm in love with you." He stared at her for the longest while before a smile moved his mouth, slowly at first but then it was a bright, brilliant grin as he looked at her. So happy and so beautiful. He pulled her to him then, his mouth over hers before her eyes had the chance to flutter closed. She was assaulted with his scent once more; it washed over her, waves of fresh water, soap, blood and traces of fire. She could feel it in him, his magic, melding with hers as their bodies pressed together, mouths breathing each other in, their lips swelling as a by-product of the pressure they used to nibble and suck and pull with their teeth. Bonnie was aware that Elena was somewhere in the same building as them but so was Stefan, Caroline and Enzo…Lucy was probably rolling her eyes with the knowledge of what they were doing together, alone on the third floor. Bonnie was unsurprised when she found herself lifted up and deposited onto the gurney Damon had been heaving on not half an hour ago, his hands tearing at her top, her own hands flinging the tattered material aside before tracing her fingers over his sinful torso. Using her newfound force she pulled him closer between her legs by his hips, the height of the operating table working to their advantage. She whimpered as he sucked on her bottom lip, his hands on her thighs, wedging himself further into the space between her legs, every angle of his body seeking her out, craving friction of any kind. They both still had their jeans on and Bonnie would have liked to think they were keeping it PG but she knew she was running out of time before even she threw caution to the wind. Especially when she felt his fingers ghosting over her bra as they moved against one another.

"Damon." She breathed in between kisses and he moaned at the husky notes in her voice, "Other…vampires, in the house…listening in –" he cut her off with a quick thrust between her legs and she sucked in a breath, her eyes darkening as he pulled away to trail his hands down the sides of her face.

"I want you." He said, running his fingers down to her neck, leaving lines of fire in their wake. Bonnie almost went cross-eyed at the lust she saw in his eyes, at the need vibrating in his voice. She swallowed and drew in a breath.

"I want you," she replied, because she did, she really did, "But we need to figure out who wants us dead first." His hands were at her waist now, digging into the dip there. She watched his face as his eyes trailed over her body, like he couldn't quite fathom it. His head snapped up then and they met each other's gaze. Green and blue, green and blue.

"Killing of Hybrid-Haters first," he said and pressed his forehead to hers, "Then you." Despite herself she laughed.

"Your to-do-list?" She asked, with a cheeky grin and he winked.

"Yes ma'am." He said with a smug smile, "Come on, let's get you into bed before I change my mind." Nodding she pressed one more hard kiss to his mouth before she hopped off the table and took his hand in hers.

"Isn't this weird?" Caroline hissed as she watched Enzo crane his neck and look upward, listening into the lack of conversation that was taking place on the third floor of the house. "This is weird." She said, more so to herself as she flopped down onto the bed in his room and he looked over at her…up at the ceiling, then his eyes flashed over to her again. She was lying there, innocently inspecting her nails as she tried to ignore the sound of someone's shirt being torn apart. Enzo's chest tightened at the sight of her. She'd become so comfortable in his space of late; he was sure it started when he stopped openly flirting with her – rather employing normal conversation to break down the walls she was so quick to pull up around herself. She looked up at him then and tisked.

"Bored already?" She asked and he smiled. He wanted to make a biting comment, or, say anything really…but for some reason the sight of her in that moment…with the moonlight giving her that angelic glow he saw follow her around during the day anyway he –

"You're beautiful, you know that right?" He burst out. She narrowed her eyes at him then.

"Please don't tell me that you're suddenly in the 'mood' after eavesdropping on Damon and Bonnie because I don't think I'm ready for that –" he was in front of her in a flash.

"No, not them, just you." He said his dark eyes boring into her blue ones, "It's been there the whole time, you know it too, bubbling consistently in the background." Caroline searched his face.

"I'm not kissing you." She said, with assured finality. He couldn't blame her; neither of them had the best history with relationships.

"I only told you you were beautiful, I have no intention of pushing my luck…not yet anyway." He winked. "Now scoot over, you look like you could use a cuddle," he settled on the mattress next to her, making a show of putting his hands safely behind his head, "And if you play nice I'll let you tell me what's been bothering you," he narrowed his eyes when she opened her mouth to deny it, "And don't deny it either. I might be an asshole but I'm no idiot." She smiled then, moved to lie comfortably on her back and sighed.

"You're not that bad." She said after a while and his face was the picture of success.

Note: The Superior Plot-line starts to unfold from the next chapter and I'm so excited to see what you guys think! Stay excellent