A/N: Hiya. My apologizes for having you guys wait a month for this. Trying to weave together my new plot while still infusing parts from the original plot of this story is getting a little trickier because I want everything to flow right. I also wanted to dig back into the roots of this story and why I wrote it in the first place…hot Bamon moments, but as the story develops it's getting difficult to include that element in every single update where it doesn't seem out of place. But this chapter has lots of it *winks*. Enjoy! Strong sexual content ahead.
Disclaimer: These characters are the creative property of LJ Smith and The CW. No copyright infringement is intended.
The windows were fogged up. The sounds of panting, heavy breathing, cicadas, crickets, frogs, owls, and other nocturnal creatures filled the air. Tepid hands passed over hot, soft skin eliciting sighs, groans, yelps, and giggles.
Bonnie's back was adhered to the leather seat but that was the least of her worries. With her legs up in the air, panties abandoned on the front seat, and Damon pressed firmly between her thighs, Bonnie arched her neck giving him better access to lay kisses against that swan-like column. His bare chest bore down on hers, the weight comfortable, and made heat flush through her and goose bumps to ripple over her skin.
With Damon feverishly giving her a hickie no amount of makeup would ever cover, Bonnie's idle hands traveled down his back, slid inside his jeans, where she cupped his ass. Damon nipped her with his teeth before pulling away slightly to take possession of her lips—hungrily.
As each day passed he was finding it more and more difficult to abstain from certain acts. And Bonnie certainly didn't make it easy by walking around looking edible and delectable all the fucking time.
He had surprised her with another impromptu romp while she was at school the other day. Dropping bread crumbs in the form of text messages, he had led Bonnie to a utility closet where he braced her up against the door, mauled her mouth with his own, and wished they had gotten to the sex part of their relationship.
Hours after he had ravished her, he tasted nothing but her gooey sweetness on his tongue. And though she had slept in her own bed that night, Damon nearly had to chain himself to his to make sure he didn't coax his way between her thighs.
Damon was not an idiot. He knew Bonnie held certain traditions close to her heart, and if he wanted to take things to the next level, there were certain steps involved first.
Dating was really not his thing and a waste of his time, to be honest. Damon had no qualms bar hopping and going to the occasional club, but he didn't want to do the norm when it came to his version of courting with Bonnie. However, Damon wasn't the sappy type either. He didn't do flowers, candy, little tokens of affection. He could but then Damon felt he would be traveling backwards through time. Nevertheless, he decided to give it a go, you know, just to see what would happen.
He had hidden himself pretty good and watched as Bonnie entered her bedroom. Lying on the bed was a handkerchief with his and her initials sewn into the fabric, and an excerpt from his favorite poem. To his delight Bonnie had smiled like a loon just seconds before calling him an old geezer.
This might have been his first time in a long time that Damon wanted to spoil someone rotten, wanted to give Bonnie the best of everything. But she wasn't materialistic, and from the way she grinned goofily at him after receiving his gift, he learned it was indeed the small things that mattered to her.
But he never had this before. Intimacy. True intimacy. All of his prior conquests Damon had resorted to using mild or, depending on the woman, heavy compulsion. Mindless dolls they all were, compliant playthings that he easily grew tired of, and none of them had been able to sate his wanderlust, his wandering eye, his impulses.
Until Bonnie.
Damon had to constantly remind himself their time to consummate their relationship would come. With each conversation they learned something revealing about each other. With each outing it brought them closer, and usually ended with his tongue in her mouth or on one of her body parts, but hey she didn't complain. She had reduced him to feeling like he was in high school and not a hundred and seventy year old vampire who had lived on three different continents, visited more countries and seen more sights than he could possibly remember. He was universal yet also simple, but Bonnie made him feel like he was discovering things for the very first time.
Okay, dude it might be time to lower the height of that pedestal you're trying to put her on, Damon admonished himself.
Getting back into the moment, in his opinion they were wearing far too many clothes. Damon had told Bonnie to wear a dress or a skirt, something that would give him easy access for their little journey. She had side-eyed him when he came strolling into her room after getting liquored up. His eyes were wild, but they had always been wild and it didn't prompt Bonnie to come up with several viable excuses for why it was too late for her to go on a joy ride. There was school to consider—she had already missed half her senior year, and plus she knew only one thing would happen once they were alone.
Yet it was the thrill of breaking the rules that made Bonnie shoot off the bed like a rocket, stuff her feet in her sandals, and take Damon by the hand.
He had driven them out a secluded spot in the woods. Bonnie had heard about the area, the legendary make out spot. All small and even large towns had them. Up until this point, Bonnie had never been. She tried not to think about that when Damon had cut the engine to his car and then motioned for her to get a little closer.
Now they were in the backseat, fogging up the windows, making one another all hot and bothered.
Damon's hand distracted her from her thoughts. Using only his fingertips he trailed them from the curve of her shoulder, over the hill of her breast, over her ribs, down to her hip, past her thigh before stopping at her knee where it made its trek back north. Now his fingers were operating in reverse, but this time gliding up the inside of her thigh. Bonnie was so responsive to him. Sometimes Damon didn't even have to touch her. He could make her squirm, blush, or wet just with a single look.
Her heady perfume blanketed the air in the car and he sucked up as much of her aroma as he could possibly get. Damon was convinced there was nothing sweeter on this planet next to the nectarine that spilled out of Bonnie's pussy whenever he got near it. His hands loved her, his tongue couldn't get enough of her, and his dick, well it definitely wanted to be more acquainted.
He pulled away from her lips, a line of spit from his bottom lip attached to hers. He smirked down at Bonnie as his fingers trailed closer to her epicenter. The heat radiating from her was intoxicating and Damon had to shift his weight because he was putting too much pressure on his erect phallus. It was slightly painful, a tolerable kind of pain but painful nonetheless.
He might have to start investing in jogging pants or basketball shorts.
Bonnie held her breath although her lungs were screaming because she was waiting for the inevitable penetration of Damon's fingers.
When he smirked, Bonnie narrowed her eyes. She knew he wasn't going to give her what she wanted although she had been subtly thrusting her hips upward seeking out the touch of his fingers.
"Wait for it," Damon chided.
Bonnie glared at him. "I've been waiting all night."
That sentiment earned her a hard kiss that pushed her lips against her teeth—hard. She moaned when Damon broke the kiss. His azure eyes burned her as they fixed on Bonnie's mint green orbs.
"Oil on satin that's what your pussy feels like."
Bonnie gulped and panted. If anything she probably got wetter, and Damon wasn't even touching her!
The dark-haired vampire toyed with her opening. Bonnie's breath hitched as she clutched Damon even tighter between her legs. Her nails dug into his biceps.
"Fuck, you're sopping wet," Damon groaned.
"Kind of happens when you're around."
The seductive vampire smirked and swooped in to lick her clavicle. And as he was doing that, Damon slipped his index finger inside of Bonnie.
"…shit…" the witch choked.
"This right here," he pulled his finger out to which Bonnie pouted, but her pout turned into a hiss when he flicked her clit. "This is what I like to think of as your fuse box. I can turn it on and turn it off based on how much pressure I use with my fingers." Damon showed her by pinching that rigid flap of skin between his fingers.
Bonnie grabbed his hand. "Please…"
"Please what?"
Bonnie didn't know. She just wanted to feel that internalized pressure building inside before it spilled over like boiling water.
"Play with me…" Bonnie whimpered.
Damon sunk his finger back into her and added another. Slowly he worked his digits at a leisurely pace. He couldn't keep this up forever because one very demanding part of him was feeling highly neglected.
He had been hesitant to ask Bonnie this. Damon had no problems with going down and eating, but he wondered how Bonnie felt about giving head. He really didn't see her as the type to service a guy orally, but he wasn't so quick to write it off, either. Bonnie had given him several pleasure-filled hand jobs, but now he wanted her mouth on him.
Admittedly getting blown wasn't that high on his list of priorities, but in his mind it would be like establishing a sacred trust between them. Damon had shunned other women for Bonnie, let go of whatever ties were left that bound him to Elena. He was free to be with Bonnie in any and every way, but he was unsure if that was something she was comfortable with.
So he concentrated on getting her off, of making her high.
Bonnie had her eyes screwed so tight she was already seeing stars while Damon manipulated his fingers. She was completely and totally drenched. Her breath hitched until she felt light-headed as Damon piston his fingers in and out of her core while his thumb traced circles on her clit.
Her crescendo built to climatic levels and then Bonnie was free falling back to earth. Letting out an ear-piercing and guttural scream, Bonnie's back arched off the car seat while her hand tightened painfully in Damon's hair. Her body jerked as if electrocuted and for one second Bonnie could have sworn that her heart felt bloated with love.
The dark vampire watched in somewhat jealously as Bonnie came down from her euphoria. She blinked her eyes rapidly and stared up at Damon who looked flushed if that were possible. He had never been more beautiful to her than he looked right now.
Cupping his cheek, Bonnie leaned up and kissed him, and then tried to get her thoughts together. Something else wanted to fall off her tongue but instead she murmured, "If I said 'thank you' would you feel insulted?" she nibbled a corner of her lip.
"No," Damon snorted. "I would feel insulted if you hadn't enjoyed yourself. That would mean I've fallen off my game."
Smiling, Bonnie lovingly curled her fingers in the hair on the nape of Damon's neck, unconsciously massaging away the sting of her earlier hair pulling actions. They were quiet for a while and Damon utilized that time to pepper her plump cheek with kisses.
"You didn't…" Bonnie started to speak and stopped.
"What?"
Bonnie stared at Damon guiltily. He always made her feel good but she hadn't done the same for him. She touched him, she kissed him, but that had been the extent of it. Bonnie thought back to her dreams and the thing she did to Damon in this very car after he had picked her up from some random party. That definitely sparked some inspiration.
Quickly sitting up, which was a mistake because the blood had yet to return to her head causing her brain to swim, Bonnie climbed into the front seat.
"Let's go."
Damon glared at her. "Go where? Home? I'm not cheap you know. I just don't finger anybody, and you didn't even buy me dinner."
Bonnie returned Damon's glare with a droll stare. "Seriously, are you really going to sit back there and mope? Come on, Salvatore," Bonnie offered up a saucy little smile. "I'll make it worth your while."
Groaning, Damon clamored behind the wheel and started the engine as if he were being put out. But he was burning with curiosity.
Things were quiet once they hit the highway. Bonnie stared at Damon askance before sliding closer to him. For his part, Damon kept his eyes on the road but that didn't mean he wasn't aware of Bonnie. He shifted in his seat and tightened his grip on the wheel.
Dropping her hand on his thigh, Bonnie squeezed and noted he was nothing but hard muscle underneath his jeans. Leisurely Bonnie trailed her hand up until she brushed over his noticeable bulge.
Damon cleared his throat and kept driving. Unbeknownst to him he was smirking.
Bonnie's deft little fingers popped the button and, keeping her eyes on his profile, she lowered the zipper. Damon Jr. sprang free, glistening with precum waiting to be devoured. Tucking stands of hair behind her ears, Bonnie positioned herself as best she could and then took Damon in her mouth.
He nearly ran off the road.
Was she a mind reader now?
Damon didn't know what the hell to do. Keep driving? Pull over so he could experience his very first blow job compliments of his stunning girlfriend? He wasn't given much time to make a decision as the feeling of Bonnie's hot mouth moving up and down his engorged shaft monopolized his thoughts.
Her tongue swirled around the head; Damon blew through a red light. Her hand worked up and down to cover the part of him she couldn't gobble, Damon ended up driving on the shoulder. She flicked her tongue like a whip against his skin, he almost ran into the back of a Wonder Bread truck.
That was it, he pulled over about a mile away from the boardinghouse, cut the engine, killed the lights, and reclined back to give Bonnie better access.
The sounds her lips and tongue were making as they smacked against that hardened muscle was erotic enough to cause Damon to shoot off a creamy load into the back of her throat. He didn't have to guide her on what to do because it seemed she came equipped with a manual that told her what he liked.
Several times his eyes rolled into the back of his head and when he felt his toes curling in his boots, Damon was just seconds away from blasting off into space—the final frontier.
Chest heaving up and down, Damon pounded the canvas roof of his drop top almost punching a hole through it.
He grunted, came hard and felt his reserves shooting off like fireworks until there was nothing left.
Bonnie sat up and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. Damon could hardly lift his eyelids, but he managed and looked at Bonnie who was openly appraising him and waiting.
"You are the devil," he panted. "And you're here to ruin me."
"No, I'm not the devil, Damon. I'm an angel of mercy."
And diving back down to start all over again, Bonnie just proved she was the exact opposite of what she just said she was.
"I did what I thought was the right thing to do. If I felt he wouldn't be able to keep his mouth shut then I never would have agreed to meet with them in the woods and reveal my secret. You have to believe me, Bonnie."
The young witch stared down at her friend like an imperial monarch—contemplating. She loved Caroline knowing her heart was too big for her own good sometimes, and Bonnie also knew that Caroline oftentimes revealed things to others that should have been kept secret. In her own way of thinking Caroline thought she was being helpful, but more often than not she made a situation a hundred times worse.
In this case, Bonnie was on the fence if Caroline had done the right thing in divulging the truth about herself and Mystic Falls to Aleksander or whatever the heck his name was. Scratching the palm of her hand, Bonnie moved away from her friend, but she felt eyes on her and briefly looked at Damon who stood like a club bouncer with his arms folded across his tight black T-shirt and no-nonsense expression on his face.
She averted her eyes as memories of what they did last night rushed to the front of her mind.
"I do believe you, Caroline," Bonnie said after a while. Damon snapped furious eyes at her believing she was being way too easy on the dumb blond.
Remembering their discussion the other night, Damon diplomatically kept his mouth shut by the skin of his teeth. Although he was sure his anger was radiating off him like steam.
Caroline looked up at Bonnie feeling hopeful. Her earlier trepidation about being summoned to the Salvatore boardinghouse was abating. She knew she wasn't out of the woods yet and would have to tread very carefully. It didn't escape her that Damon looked like he was pulling the chain of his leash and was ready to rip her to shreds. But she also noticed something else.
Any time Bonnie moved, Damon's eyes were on her. And he wasn't looking at Bonnie as if he were searching for a weakness, but more like…
Nah, Caroline inwardly shook her head and laughed gaily at her own ridiculousness. Damon would never idolize, fall for, or obsess over anyone who wasn't Elena Gilbert.
But…that little devil sitting on Caroline's right shoulder began to whisper in her ear and told her to think back to the time Bonnie awoke out of her coma. She knew through Elena that Bonnie and Damon slept in the same bed, and they had been disappearing for hours at a time for several weeks. Add in the fact Damon called her out of the blue and told her to invite Bonnie to have dinner at the Grill and neither one showed up, something fishy was going on.
Caroline had caught Bonnie several times in Biology smiling for no damn reason and constantly checking her phone and texting someone. And the blond vampire couldn't exactly remember the last time she observed Damon drooling all over Elena. In fact, the few times she saw them interacting it were as if Damon were rebuffing her.
However, Caroline still wanted to believe that Bonnie would never fall for Damon. Not that she believed they ever hated one another, but they had their own dynamic where they literally doled out punches. She would even go so far as to say they were under each others skin but for different reasons. Damon liked to control things like a puppeteer. Bonnie was a leader in her own right yet even Caroline couldn't deny that when they worked together, their plans always came to fruition.
A respect had grown between them, and when Caroline thought long and hard about it…Bonnie was the only person Damon actually respected—consistently she should say.
And the way he was staring at her best friend now like a man besotted, like a man in heat, Caroline had to struggle to remain in her seat and not snatch Bonnie away.
Damon had a reputation for destroying anything he got his grubby little hands on. Bonnie was that one untouchable thing that Damon hadn't marred although he came close to succeeding. Bonnie had blamed him and Stefan for Sheila's untimely passing, but as time wore on Bonnie put her grandmother's death aside, became a team player in keeping Elena Gilbert alive, but she never went out of her way to try to befriend either Salvatore.
Now, everything was different. There was a camaraderie between Stefan and Bonnie that hadn't been in place before her coma. They were like two peas in a pod. And Caroline could only imagine the ways Damon tried to capitalize on having a witch living under his roof.
"Caroline?"
The girl in question shook her head when she heard her name being called. She looked up at Bonnie who was staring at her quizzically.
"What?" she asked and tapped her feet on the floor. That's how badly she wanted to jump up and point some fingers.
"Look," Jeremy intervened. "I know we probably should have asked permission," the boy said snidely, "before telling Aleksander the truth, but really what's he going to do? You two are just trying to make a big deal out of nothing."
"I wouldn't consider it nothing that the same day you two clowns decide to reveal secrets that I just so happened to get shot three times," Damon widened his eyes.
"You were shot?" Elena asked, brow furrowed. Typically when something like that happened either she was a witness to it or she was the first to find out. Here it was a brand new day and she was just learning the truth. But Elena checked herself. She didn't share that kind of relationship with Damon anymore.
"Good," Jeremy deadpanned and rolled his eyes.
Damon pushed away from the desk, but a tiny hand on the center of his chest prevented him from taking another step. He glanced down at Bonnie who merely lifted a brow in silent reproach.
Everyone watched the two of them having their silent discussion. Damon backed down.
"Who shot you?" Elena asked willfully ignoring what just took place between her best friend and Damon.
"I don't know," Damon answered emotionlessly. "But I will find out and return the favor. With interest," he flashed a here-and-gone smile.
Bonnie dropped her hand from Damon's chest and turned to face the others who had assembled. They, with the exception of Stefan who had been styling his hair in a mirror, stared back at her like she was a three-legged horse.
"There's a hunter in town that coats his bullets in vervain," Bonnie pointedly stared at Caroline who infinitesimally nodded her head. "Moving forward just be mindful of who you talk to and what you talk about. I'm sure that Damon being shot has nothing to do with your heart-to-heart with Aleksander, but we've been burned by people we thought we could be trusted in the past. All right?"
Jeremy looked bored but shrugged. "Whatever. Are we done? I have things to do."
"Yeah, we're done," Bonnie said and not a minute later Jeremy grabbed his bag but he didn't leave right away.
"Again," Caroline said in her defense and stood up from the couch. "I thought I was being helpful."
Bonnie offered her friend a smile and then checked her cell. "I have to go."
"Where are you going?" Damon questioned.
"I'm meeting with Aleksander. I promised I'd talk to him."
"Umm…didn't you just finish giving me the third degree about talking to strangers and now you're off to do the very same thing?" Caroline folded her arms tightly across her chest.
"Well, he knows what you are and the truth about Mystic Falls, no need to be tight-lipped about anything now," Bonnie slipped into her denim jacket and flipped her long hair behind her shoulders.
Damon approached her. "Why do you have to be the one to talk to him? I don't trust him and I sure as hell don't trust you to be alone with him."
Bonnie pursed her lips as she stared into her boyfriend's concerned blue gaze. "I think you know better than anyone that I can take care of myself."
Wordlessly Damon reached for his leather jacket. "I'm coming with you."
"No, you're not."
"Yes the hell I am."
"No, the hell you're not, Damon. For all intents and purposes you're supposed to be dead. Just lay low here for a while. I'll be back before the street lights come on," Bonnie playfully rolled her eyes and tossed him a saucy smile.
The whole time the two of them went back and forth Elena, Caroline, and Jeremy watched each one with a different emotion brewing on their faces.
"What the hell is going on between you two?" Jeremy asked as he gripped the strap to his book bag tightly. So tightly that his knuckles changed color.
Stefan snickered from his corner knowing this was going to be good.
Instead of answering, Bonnie gripped Damon by the back of the neck, pulled him forward and kissed him.
A collective gasp went up in the air and Stefan had to stifle his need to clap. But he did say:
"Finally! My OTP is canon!"
Three pairs of eyes snapped in Stefan's direction—outraged, before snapping their attention to the couple sucking each others face off.
"What the fuck!" Jeremy was furious. "Bonnie what the hell are you doing?"
"It looks like she's kissing Damon," Stefan materialized next to Jeremy who jumped a little at his sudden appearance.
Elena's mouth opened and closed and she couldn't grab on to a single word to describe what she was witnessing with her two eyes. Her stomach bottom out and the world tilted dangerously on its axis. This couldn't be happening.
Caroline pretty much accepted what she was seeing now that her earlier speculations had just been confirmed. But still…she didn't like it.
Jeremy looked ready to kill. Bonnie hated Damon and she had been no fan of his either. So when, why, where, and how did they get to a point they thought it was perfectly fine and normal to kiss one another?
By the time Bonnie and Damon came up for air that's when Bonnie noticed the silence and tension in the room. Sparing everyone a look over her shoulder, she pecked Damon's lips once more before stepping away.
"I'll let you explain that," she pinched his cheek, grabbed her purse, and was out the door before anyone could yell Bingo!
Nero turned at the sound of a car pulling up behind his. He watched with hunter green eyes as Bonnie stepped out of her car. She had agreed to meet with him in the square although he had wanted to speak with her somewhere more private.
"Hi," Bonnie said softly.
Nero inclined his head. As weary as he was of her, this town, he still remembered his manners and upbringing. There was some part of him urging him not to trust Bonnie but as he stared at her it wasn't just a beautiful young woman he was looking at but something more. He didn't know what that more was and as much as he detested having access to a person's private thoughts, when he deliberately tried to read her mind, Nero found himself incapable of doing so.
"Thank you for meeting me," he spoke graciously. The two of them headed on foot over to the grassy knoll in downtown Mystic Falls. They found an empty bench and sat down.
Things were quiet and tense for a moment, each teen looking at the people who were peppered throughout the lawn. Some were reading, some played soccer, others just sat in clusters talking and laughing. This town looked so normal but was anything but, Nero had just discovered.
He turned slightly to face Bonnie. "I guess I should start with my name. My name isn't Aleskander. It's Nero Stathopoulos…a mouthful I know," he smiled a bit ruefully. "I'm the second born son of Johannes and Diana Stathopoulos. My father was a real estate mogul. My mother was a retired concert pianist. I lived a simple but privileged life and then one day my entire family was killed. But by some miracle I made it out.
"A man Misha Cristova gave me a new identify and told me to come here, to this place," Nero looked around. "I'm just trying to figure out the reason why."
Bonnie sat and listened as Nero told her about his upbringing, about his parents, and how he came to be in Mystic Falls. By the time he was finished she felt her heart go out to Nero. He was an orphan that had been transplanted to a country where he knew no one. But most importantly, he had no idea as to why his family was murdered. There was a reason for it rather than it being a random act of violence, yet Bonnie guessed it might have had something to do with his protection ring. Experience taught her it was a place to start.
"Nero… was your father a collector by any chance?" Bonnie asked carefully.
Frowning, Nero thought back to the private holdings his father had. Paintings, rare pieces of sheet music, artifacts from forgotten worlds, weapons.
Lots and lots of weapons, some of them dating back to the first century.
"He was. Anything that was rare my father wanted it; practically hoarded it. But his pride and joy were his crossbows. He must have had dozens of them. I used to make fun of him and accuse him of wanting to be a gladiator or something. Why do you ask?"
"I'm not sure, but it may be possible that your dad…he may have been a hunter."
Incredulity flew on Nero's face. "No," he vehemently shook his head. "My father may have been eccentric but he was no Van Heilsing if that's what you're suggesting."
Bonnie licked her lips and pressed on. "Did he ever get missing for long periods of time? Come home looking exhausted or worse for wear, and was vague on his whereabouts? Did he ever make you drink or keep an herb called vervain close to you?"
Nero's eyes widened. He remembered that everyday after school his mother would make him and his siblings drink tea. He hated tea but drank it anyways. One of his sisters had asked about the special ingredient his mom would add to their tea and she only replied saying:
"It helps keep your mind as your own."
Nero never understood what she meant by that. And when his younger brother Ivan wanted to know the name of the herb, his mother finally told them.
"She did," Nero stared at Bonnie excitedly for a minute. "But my father…he wasn't exactly…he was robust! If he was a hunter and that's a huge if…then he might have been when he was my age until…" Nero trailed off. He had no idea when his father might have stopped hunting if he hunted at all.
"We'll figure this out," Bonnie said. "Vervain is poison to vampires but harmless to humans. It makes you impervious to mind compulsion something they use to get you to comply with their wishes. Coupled with your ring you'll be safe."
"I don't understand this, Bonnie. How is any of this possible?" Nero twisted his protection ring on his finger before sliding it off. "How can this simple piece of jewelry protect my life?"
"Witchcraft," Bonnie said lowly. "A witch can enchant anything with a protection spell."
Nero shook his head furiously. "I don't believe in witchcraft. I don't believe in any of this stuff," the confused teenager slipped his ring back on. "My father gave me this ring when I turned fifteen. He said it had been in our family for generations dating back to the late fifteen century. I had family who lived in Transylvania back then," Nero scoffed. "Don't tell me they were fighting Count Dracula."
"It's possible," Bonnie shrugged. "You probably come from a family of hunters and I'm sure your father would have told you the truth…"
"Had he not died."
Bonnie nodded solemnly.
Turning the brilliance of his eyes on Bonnie, Nero stared at her. "Why would Misha Cristova tell me to contact you?"
Bonnie wondered the same thing, but then again her family was pretty famous in the occult world. Still, Damon would kill her if she spilled her secret but it was hers to tell and Nero…if anyone caught a whiff of what he might potentially be his life was going to get a lot more complicated.
"He probably told you…" Bonnie hesitated. "He probably told you because I'm…a witch."
The screams of children filled the dead air between Nero and Bonnie. He blinked. "Right. Of course you are. Is this Oz and no one has told me?"
Bonnie smirked briefly. "Yeah, just call me Glinda the good witch."
The house was empty which it took longer for that to be achieved than Damon would have liked. Bonnie literally hung him out to dry to deal with her ass backwards friends. Each of them had an opinion that was more ridiculous than the last which they didn't hesitate to share, but Jeremy fucking Gilbert was the one who snatched the cake, the plate, the silverware, and the table cloth.
"She still loves me and I know she does. She's only using you to make me jealous."
Damon had laughed boisterously before grabbing Jeremy roughly by the neck and hauled his ass out. Elena and Caroline he promptly kicked them out of his abode as well. Their rants had fallen on deaf ears because Damon never tailored his wants and desires for anyone and he sure as hell wasn't about to start now. He and Bonnie were together and they had better get used it.
As for Bonnie, he'd deal with the missus once she returned, and Damon had the perfect punishment in mind for her.
Smirking to himself he went back to searching the stacks in the library. His interest was piqued on the engravings on the wood bullets so Damon figured now was as good a time as any to blow the dust off his inner researcher and try to find some answers.
Being grounded was for the birds but Bonnie had a slight point in telling him to lay low. Until he somehow, someway found the culprit responsible for mistaking him for a stag, Damon had to bury his head in the sand. He didn't enjoy sitting on the sidelines because Damon was a mover and a shaker but you couldn't move and shake shit up when your ass couldn't leave the house.
Sensing he wasn't alone, Damon slowly turned to face the entrance of the library.
Blocking the doorway was none other than Elijah Mikaelson looking as GQ as ever. Damon watched as the Original looked around the library familiarizing himself with the décor since the last time he stepped foot here had been just a day before the infamous sacrifice.
Slipping a hand in his pocket, Elijah coolly turned his attention to Damon. "How can I be of service, Damon? Your fifteen phone calls said it was urgent," Elijah said humorlessly.
If there was one thing about Elijah that annoyed Damon—other than his supposed nobility—it was probably his unflappability. Nothing seemed to get under the Original's skin and if it did, well, you wouldn't know until your head was on the floor. Perhaps it was envy Damon felt whenever he dealt with Elijah. Whereas he was reactionary to everything that oftentimes put him in more shit than he was currently in, Elijah was so damn composed it was unnerving.
Damon picked up one of the bullets and held it up. "What can you tell me about this?"
The veil never fell from Elijah's face, but Damon could tell he was surprised. Within seconds Elijah was standing in front of him and plucked the little deadly object out of his hand.
"Where did you come across this?"
"Me and two of its friends became very acquainted two nights ago."
Elijah lifted a brow in understanding. "I'm assuming you didn't see the shooter."
Damon placed a sanguine smile on his face. "If I had you and I wouldn't be talking. Or at the very least we'd be having a much different conversation."
"And if that's so," Elijah took his eyes off the bullet to stare at Damon, "what do you I think I'd be able to tell you?"
"Everything you know about that marking. I know it's the mark of a hunter. Your little brother was kind enough to share that info with Bonnie. What I want to know, Your Grace," Damon mocked. Elijah pulled his lips back from his teeth. "What kind of hunter are we dealing with?"
DBDBDBD
"The last time I had the misfortune of seeing that mark was the winter of 1123. I was in Italy as were Niklaus and Rebekah who had caught the eye of a man called Alexander…"
Connor Jordan sat behind the wheel of his pickup slicing into a green apple. He had been parked outside of Sheriff Forbes' house for the better part of the morning waiting for her lovely teenaged daughter to come home.
"Alexander was going from village to village warning people about the existence of blood drinkers. He told them of ways to protect themselves. Showed them how to fashion tools from the very trees which sheltered them as a way of defense."
Placing the apple slice in his mouth, Connor checked the time on his watch. Doing surveillance was a necessary evil but time consuming. He would give Caroline another ten minutes before he moved on to his next target. He wasn't sure, but he had been positive that the rounds he fired into Damon Salvatore should have ended him. He didn't exactly stick around like he was trained to do, but if Damon were still alive then that was all the proof Connor would need to move about the next phase of his plan.
This town had secrets and there were those who were well aware of those secrets. He was going to expose them all or at least die trying.
"It didn't take long for Rebekah to catch his eye. She invited him to dine with us and he said that he knew there were an original species of vampire and he had been tasked by a witch to hunt them all down…destroy them. There were four others like him and they called themselves The Brotherhood of the Five."
Just as he was finished with his apple, Caroline's black Ford Fiesta pulled up alongside the curb. Connor watched as she exited her vehicle and walked towards the front door. Quickly slipping out of his truck, Connor jogged across the street.
"He carried with him a special sword. Alexander said the sword was a map, a map to his destiny, he believed, and once he had killed enough vampires he'd know what his next course would be. The markings on this bullet are the same markings that were on his sword."
"Excuse me," Connor said once he was in reaching distance of Caroline.
Turning around, blonde hair flying, Caroline stared at the man approaching her. "Yes?"
"Sorry to bother you but is your mom home?"
"I'm not sure. I can check but I don't think so."
"Oh, I just remembered…she's at the station. I had an appointment with her," Connor stretched out his hand. "I'm Connor by the way."
"At some point Rebekah had fallen in love with Alexander despite knowing what a danger he posed to our kind. She had hoped to show him that not all vampires were evil. That there are some of us capable of love, of trust. They were even engaged to be married. But Alexander deceived her. He knew her secret all along and stabbed her through the heart with a dagger. A dagger covered with white oak ash."
Caroline extended her hand and the minute her skin came into contact with Connor's leather glove, it started to burn. Instantly Caroline snatched her hand away and when she brought her eyes up to Connor's she noticed that they had turned flat, soulless.
Run away Caroline, her brain gave her feet the order and she blurred away like a phantom only she didn't get far before her hip exploded, then her shoulder, and finally the back of her neck—cerebellum to be more precise. She landed unconscious on the sidewalk in a pool of blood.
"Klaus slaughtered Alexander and his small retinue of followers. He went on a quest to hunt down and find the others. He learned these hunters were different. They were human—yes but were inhumanly strong, fast, difficult to eliminate. Compulsion is useless against them."
Connor stood over Caroline and briefly looked around her neighborhood. Kicking her over until she lied on her back, he tucked a piece of paper in her jean pocket, picked her up and then broke into her house. He laid her out on the couch, and then disappeared like mist.
DBDBDBDB
Damon's eyes trailed Elijah as he paced around the library. "So in other words you're saying we're fucked?"
Elijah snorted at Damon's crassness. "Perhaps…perhaps not. The Brotherhood of the Five is a shadow organization. I haven't had much trouble with them since the twelfth century but I haven't exactly gone out of my way to look for them, either. Now it would appear they have found their way back home."
Perplexed, Damon cocked his head to the side. "Home?"
"Why yes. They originated here. And if they've come out of hiding it means they know of my family but more to the matter…"
"They know about the hybrids," Damon finished. He sighed audibly. "What is your brother doing about this?"
Elijah paused in running an immaculate finger down the spine of a book. "He's handling it in the best and only way he knows how. He's taken care of the vampire blood thief who has no connection with The Five. But unfortunately said blood thief isn't the one responsible for the murders that have befallen the town."
"Of course not," Damon muttered flatly. Them being able to kill two birds with one stone was virtually unheard of.
Elijah stepped to Damon for the final time that afternoon. "As much as I would love to let you off your leash so you can have your way with the hunter should you come across him or her first…I feel I should warn you."
Why?" Damon asked.
"You un-daggered me and in your own way reunited me with my family. I owe you." Pause. "If a vampire kills a hunter, then that unlucky fool is riddled with suicidal hallucinations leaving only a single option—death to escape such torment. You think suffering with a werewolf bite is bad…this, I promise you is a thousand times worse."
"And you know this how?"
"I had to watch my brother suffer for half a century," Elijah raised an eyebrow. "This is serious business, Damon. Watch yourself."
Elijah was gone before Damon could reply with something caustic. Once again the ante had just been upped.
Bonnie stared at her cell phone and wondered where Caroline was. She had called her hours ago and hadn't heard anything. She hadn't heard from Elena either which was shocking because Bonnie had expected to get an earful from her. Trying not to worry, Bonnie told herself that her friends were probably busy with school stuff so she went back to fighting with the zipper of her dress.
Bonnie lowered her arms and blew her bangs out of her eyes only for them to fall right back into place. She stared at her reflection in the floor length mirror, admiring the way the silk fabric of the dress hugged her curves. Apparently it was doing too good of a job hugging her because she couldn't get the zipper all the way up.
"I don't understand," she planted her hands on her hips. "This zipped just fine in the store when I tried it on last week."
She turned to the side and her eyes ballooned as she saw how much bigger her ass had gotten. It looked like she stuffed her underwear with a soccer ball.
"Need some help?"
Bonnie turned around and smiled at the figure looming in the doorway to her room. "Please."
Damon pushed away from the threshold, strolled up to Bonnie and dropped a kiss to her exposed shoulder before his nimble fingers reached for the zipper. One sharp tug was all it took and she was vacuumed in her dress.
"Can you breathe?" he asked, humor dancing in his eyes.
"Who needs breath to look fabulous?" she said. "Do you like it?"
Damon ran his eyes over her, loving the way the dark rich color of the dress complimented her caramel skin tone. Bonnie looked excellent in whatever she decided to wear, but it was something about tailored designer threads that did something unexplainable to her. She exuded an animal confidence he'd associate with a female wolf or a lioness. She was commanding, powerful, sexy, and he felt an interesting stirring taking place in his trousers.
"Mm-hmm. Are we going somewhere special?" he wrapped his pale white arms around her and squeezed. Damon began to sway their bodies.
Bonnie reached up and entwined her fingers through his hair. "No. I just wanted to try this on again."
He couldn't resist not putting his mouth on her, so he kissed her temple. "Is there something you want to ask me?"
Bonnie frowned. "Ask you what?"
He rolled his eyes. "Come on. Don't make me into a desperate thirteen year old. There's some event coming up at your school. An event in which the girls ask the guys."
Realization dawned on Bonnie. "The Honoria Fell dance. Yeah. We're not going to that."
Now it was Damon's turn to frown as he quickly spun Bonnie around so she could face him. "What do you mean we're not going that that? I thought girls lived for that crap?"
"We do, yes. But I have other plans for us that night."
He wiggled his eyebrows at her and then lowered his head to take her lips in a desperately needed kiss. Once her lips touched his it was as if the problems of the day ceased to exist and it was just the two of them living in their own personalized oyster. And since Damon made his relationship with Bonnie official it seemed that he was splitting his time between getting shot, dealing with Originals, and trying to find a killer. He just wanted to spend his time with Bonnie but it seemed the world and everyone in it had other plans for them.
Bonnie kissed him back with equal fervor, and squealed when Damon fell backwards on her bed taking her with him. She broke the kiss and proceeded to trace his lips with her fingers.
"How was the rest of your day?" Bonnie wondered and rubbed the tip of her nose along his jaw line.
Damon stared up at the ceiling. "It could have gone a lot better. Elijah told me some story about a group of super hunters called The Brotherhood of the Five. It seems they've resurfaced to clean house."
Bonnie frowned. "Sounds serious."
"It is," Damon muttered gravely. "But not to worry…I'll deal with them, it, whoever." He wouldn't tell her what would happen to him if he succeed in killing the hunter or hunters. No need for Bonnie to fly off into hysterics. Yet.
Bonnie refrained from commenting. She knew Damon needed something to do or otherwise he was liable to cause mayhem simply to alleviate his boredom.
"Enough with the doom and gloom," Damon sat up and rested his weight on his elbow allowing him the opportunity to stare down at Bonnie. "How did your talk go with that kid?"
Bonnie filled Damon in on what she learned about Aleksander aka Nero. And Damon certainly wasn't pleased that Bonnie divulged her secret. Now this punk was just another person to be added to the long list of people he was going to have to keep an eye on.
"Everyone knows about us now…does this change anything?" Bonnie played with Damon's fingers.
"No, it doesn't change anything. You want to know what I learned…you can't please everyone. And not everyone is going to be happy for you."
Bonnie nodded. "But how did Elena and Caroline take it?"
The elder Salvatore sighed and rolled his eyes. "Neither one were happy. But they can jump off a bridge for all I care. The only person I'm worried about keeping happy is you," Damon squeezed her fingers affectionately.
"I get that," Bonnie said tentatively. "But I need you to think back to how you treated them both and how that might influence their…attitude about us."
Damon clenched his jaws together and glared up at the ceiling. Why was everyone so damn intent on making him remember the pest he used to be? He wasn't that Damon Salvatore anymore and if they couldn't accept it well boo-boo for them.
"Are you expecting me to apologize?"
It was hard to miss the edge to his voice. "It wouldn't hurt but only if you're truly sorry for what you did."
Damon gently pushed Bonnie off of him and rose to a sitting position on the bed. Bonnie did the same. Already she could feel a wedge forming between them.
"So if I don't say sorry to Vampire Barbie and the doppelganger does that mean you're going to withhold special privileges until I do?"
Bonnie wrapped her arm around Damon's and rested her chin on his shoulder. "I'm not going to condition you like that, Damon. You're a grown man and you know when you've done wrong. They're my best friends. I'd hate to lose them because they feel some kind of way about the man I've chosen to be with. But at the same time, I'm not going to let that dictate our relationship."
"You mean that?" Damon said with a sudden urgency as he faced Bonnie.
When Bonnie smiled he felt a dark part of him fill with something that scorched him from the inside.
Bonnie was everything someone with his background and past didn't deserve in a mate. But she wanted to be with him which told Damon he was worthy of love. She was willing and able and…if it meant he could have free access to her heart by simply apologizing to her stupid friends, he'd do it.
In time.
He wasn't completely whipped after all.
Bonnie stared into his azure eyes and found herself standing on a precipice. Damon was everything a sensible girl should stay away from, but she stopped being sensible long ago, or more to the matter allocated her sensibility into a more practical field. The thought alone of letting Damon walk out of her life for any reason made a physical ache lance through her.
"Yes," she finally answered. "I mean that. You are my choice and I don't regret it."
He pulled her forward and captured her lips again. "My purpose is to make sure you don't," he mumbled almost inaudibly but Bonnie heard him anyways. Their lips fused together like magnets once more.
However their interlude didn't last long before Damon's cell phone started buzzing. Pulling it out of his pocket he saw that it was Liz calling.
"Business," he told Bonnie who pouted and then stood up from the bed and twisted and turned in front of the mirror. She distracted Damon as he held the phone up to his ear. "Liz…what's shaking?"
Holding two fingers up in the air to signal the bartender, Connor hefted his weight into a bar stool.
"Hey…nice tattoo."
Swiveling his head in the direction of the voice, Connor kept his face blank as he stared at Jeremy Gilbert.
"Thanks," Connor said then watched the boy as he grabbed two glasses of Coke and headed over to the pool tables. His eyes then fell to his right hand, his unblemished right hand. No one could see his tattoo but him…until now.
In the far corner of the restaurant a pair of blood red lips smiled until dimples appeared. He may have just found his man.
Chapter end.
A/N: What exactly happened to Caroline? Hmm. I am keeping some aspects of the hunter's story that happened in the show to a certain degree, but I haven't exactly fleshed out what the symbols may lead to if they lead to anything at all. I want to create a nice balance of Bamon relationship stuff so if the hunter's arc gets missing for a chapter or two I hope that's all right. I certainly don't want it to overshadow Bamon but if it does and it might, let me apologize for that in advance. I know most people read stories because they're only interested in reading the fluff, angst, lemons of the pairing, but I always try to infuse a decent secondary plot behind all of that, so I just ask you bear with me on that front.
And to Kiara…Keiko, Stefan's girl will be making an appearance soon. I just need to flesh out some other characters first. Well, I hoped you guys enjoyed this, and I apologize again for the long wait for an update. My muse operates on her own schedule. Until next time, love you!