CASTLE OF THE ROSE
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT | TAKE
Damon provided Logan with three vervain grenades when she left the Salvatore Boarding House. This was all well and good, except she had no clue where the hell she was going to put them. Logan finally had to set them aside on her dresser while she tried to decide what the heck she was going to wear.
Logan was not a fan of dressing the way they did in the sixties. In the end she wore a short sleeveless navy floral dress with a white peter pan collar. She left her hair down and curly, but pinned the back of it to the side, so it was in a makeshift kind of low side-ponytail.
It was while Logan was in the middle of trying to find a place to hold the grenades that she received a phone call from Matt. "What is it now?" Logan groused upon answering her cell phone.
"She's going to know," Matt said immediately. "I can't act. I'm—I'm such a bad actor."
"I can tell," said Logan dryly. Matt kind of laughed in disbelief. "Matt, it's Caroline. She worked really hard on this dance, and probably her outfit. Go with it."
Matt sighed, aggrieved. "Fine," he muttered. "I'll see you there."
"Good luck," said Logan. Matt mumbled a thanks before hanging up. Logan shook her head to herself and tossed her phone back onto her bed. She really wished Matt would come to terms with vampirism already—it wasn't exactly a difficult concept to grasp. She figured maybe it was harder when your sister had been killed by one.
Logan ended up having to wear her brown leather jacket over her dress, so she could hold two grenades inside the jacket. She also provided herself with a few wooden pencils in case Klaus had an army of vampires ready to attack. She double-checked her lipstick before grabbing her purse—which was where she stored the last grenade—and her phone, and galloping off downstairs.
Of course she had to escape the tangle of photos in front of the mantle before managing to get out of there. It didn't help that Kelly kept asking why Logan wasn't going with Owen. Logan was pretty sure Owen had a math conference that weekend and provided this explanation. For her mother's sake she pretended to be a little disappointed.
It really, of course, wasn't disappointing at all. Whenever Logan went somewhere with a date, something always, without fail, went wrong. Usually there was more drama than she could handle if her entire group had dates for a dance or a party. It had been much, much easier back when they'd all gone stag together.
Tonight was going to be slightly more difficult to navigate. Bonnie was going with Jeremy, Caroline was going with Matt, and, of course, Elena was going with Stefan. Logan didn't exactly have anybody waiting in the wings. And anyway, Tyler was still gone and Logan wasn't quite at the friendship level with any other guys where they could attend a dance and remain platonic.
Logan parked on her own and walked up toward the dance. She spotted a flock of underclassmen girls giggling and trotting in the direction of the gymnasium, where the dance was being held. All of them were in frighteningly short, tight dresses. Logan raised her eyebrows at that and shook her head. Kids these days.
She spotted Elena, Bonnie, Stefan, and Jeremy about halfway across the parking lot. "Hey!" Logan called. All of them turned to look back at her, and she lengthened her stride to reach them faster. "Are you guys ready for this?"
"Ready as we'll ever be," said Elena bracingly. She smiled and stepped forward to give Logan a hug. "Do you have them?"
"You bet I do," said Logan, as Elena stepped back. Logan turned to nod at Bonnie. "I got your back like a sweater."
That made Elena and Stefan both snort. Jeremy just rolled his eyes and Bonnie smiled, shaking her head. "Let's go in," Bonnie said. She threaded one of her arms through Logan's and the other through Jeremy's.
Logan was not intent on being a third wheel tonight and excused herself from the couples once they had all entered the gym. And the gym was quite the strange place indeed tonight—there were cut-out flowers and bright streamers everywhere, plus an actual painted van. Just standing there Logan felt as if she'd suddenly become a hippie. She imagined she might like to go and hug a tree after this, if they all survived.
At first Logan wandered around the outskirts of the crowd, partly looking for anyone suspicious and partly looking for anyone from the volleyball team. Once she spotted Kelsey Parker, but Kelsey and her two best friends—all of them on the team—were never exactly fun to spend time with. Logan decided to pass and continued searching.
During a slow song, Logan wandered off to the edge of the dance again, where she found Caitlin from Physics leaning against the wall. "Hey," said Logan as she joined her. "Where's your date?"
Caitlin rolled her eyes dramatically. "Being an ass," she said with a heavy sigh. "What about you? You here with Owen?" She elbowed Logan in the ribs.
"I am not, thank you very much," Logan retorted. "I am single and ready to…" She turned to glance back out at the crowd. "Never mind, I'm not ready to mingle."
Caitlin snickered. Then she seemed to spot someone coming from over Logan's shoulder. "Ah, damn," she said. She straightened up and patted Logan's head. "Best of luck to you. I gotta run."
Before Logan could do more than say "Thanks," Caitlin had turned and darted back onto the dance floor. Logan looked after her for a second, torn between amused and alarmed. She turned around to see what Caitlin had seen and found Davis Alcott, one of Matt's jock friends, walking up. "Hey, Logan," said Davis. Logan waved. "Was Caitlin just standing over here?"
"Nope," said Logan. Davis furrowed his eyebrows and Logan pointed. "I think I saw her over there though."
Davis thanked her and wandered off again, opposite from where Caitlin had gone. Logan shook her head to herself and pulled her phone out to check it. She had no texts from anyone, which she guessed was probably a good sign.
Logan decided to resume her search once the next slow song had passed; however it was during this slow song that Dana Mercer trotted up onto the stage, set up across the gym from the double-doors. Logan watched with mild interest as Dana took hold of the microphone beside the DJ. "Thanks for being here, everybody!" called Dana.
This was met with applause and cheers. Logan clapped a couple of times and then gave the gym another cursory look. "We have a special shout-out tonight," Dana continued onstage. "This is for Elena."
Logan's head snapped back toward the stage right as Dana added, "From Klaus."
More people cheered; Logan scoffed to herself and turned to scan the crowd, trying to see if anyone looked either suspiciously innocent or totally canny. She spotted Mr. Saltzman a few yards away smirking, and she saw a couple of jocks nodding and grinning. There was no way for her to tell.
She thought about Pretty Little Liars, and how nobody on that show ever found A by looking around like idiots. Instead A tended to be on the outskirts if anywhere—or, Logan realized, A hired other people to do their dirty work. Dana had probably been compelled again, Logan thought. Or Klaus had compelled her to do this originally. Should they follow Dana around to see if Klaus approached her again?
Argh! Logan thought, stamping her foot. This was getting them nowhere. She glanced around and began to walk again as the music resumed. She didn't know what the hell to look for. She wished Elijah had answered his stupid phone—he would've known what to look for.
Logan circled all the way around the gym twice, and stopped to politely chat with Kelsey once before extricating herself, before she realized that she couldn't see anyone. She couldn't locate Bonnie, Jeremy, Damon, Stefan, or Elena. She felt increasingly concerned as she went longer and longer without being able to find any of them. Had they gone somewhere? Was Klaus attacking?
She hurried along the wall to the nearest exit, and then headed out into the main hallway to look around. She could hear voices and music echoing around the corridor thanks to the dance in the gym, but there wasn't anyone out of the ordinary in the hall—just a few people laughing together, and a couple heading outside. None of the people Logan was looking for were here.
Logan frowned to herself and started to walk down the hallway. When she reached the front doors she stepped outside briefly into the cool evening air, and wandered down to the edge of the parking lot. There wasn't anyone out here, either.
She turned around to face the building, and as she did, she pulled her phone out. She had no texts from anyone. Logan walked back into the school, the epitome of confused, and called Elena as she went; she didn't pick up.
Logan continued to walk down the main hallway and then took another hallway off of it; there didn't seem to be any option other than just wandering around to see if she found anyone. Bonnie didn't answer her phone and Stefan didn't answer his. Logan growled in irritation to herself and turned down another hallway, the one attached to the back stairwell.
She paused halfway down it and wondered if she should bother checking the other floors. It was as she was considering this that she heard footsteps approaching from behind her. Logan turned around to see who had wandered this far away from the dance and found Ben Jamison and Austin Dressler, both football boys.
Since she'd managed to make eye contact with both of them, and it was a little odd that both of them were wandering around out here, Logan lifted her phone to wave a little. "Hey," she said politely.
Neither boy had slowed down in their approach. Logan eyed both of them and took a small step back—they were both staring at her with a weird amount of concentration. "Klaus says congratulations," said Ben as they continued walking toward her. "But you won't get to use any grenades tonight."
"Ah, fuck," Logan blurted, just as both of them started to charge at her.
For a split second she panicked: then she dodged, turning to the side at the last possible moment, and she stuck out her foot to try and trip Ben and Austin. She managed to trip Austin, who went crashing to the floor, but Ben smashed right into her instead and they both went down—
Logan hit the ground hard, smacking her jaw. Immediately she tasted metallic blood in her mouth and she turned her head to spit out a mouthful of it as she struggled to straighten up—a few feet away Austin was already standing—Logan panicked and flailed, thrashing around, and somehow managed to knee Ben in the balls, making him roll off her—
She scrambled to her feet as quickly as possible, backing up to the lockers as she did, and Austin turned and charged. Logan jumped out of the way and Austin slammed into the lockers himself. Ben, still on the floor, grabbed her ankle and yanked her off-balance, bringing her back down and making her smack her head on the floor—
Logan immediately smashed her heel into Ben's face, and he let go of her ankle, and then brought both of his hands to his face to clutch his bleeding nose; but before Logan could do anything else Austin had grabbed her arm to yank her back up to her feet, and he brought his curled fist back and punched her hard in the ribs—
"Fuck," Logan spit out—she'd had her own fist back and was prepared to hit him but he'd gotten her first—still, she went to hit him, and Austin just caught her fist in his other hand. Logan hesitated a split second before leaning all of her weight down on Austin's hands and then launching her feet from the floor right into Austin's chest—
Austin let go of her and stumbled back from the hit, and Logan crashed back to the floor, this time smacking her elbow particularly hard against it. She didn't give herself a second to try and breathe: she turned and brought her foot out to kick Ben, who was trying to climb up off the floor, and then she struggled to sit up as Austin came back and dove for her—
Logan rolled out of the way at the last second and Austin landed on Ben. While both of them were down Logan leapt to her feet and took two running steps in the direction of the nearest fire extinguisher by the back stairwell. She almost tripped over Austin's feet but somehow maintained her balance and in a few seconds she reached the fire extinguisher—
She didn't even hesitate before smashing the glass case with her fist. She sliced her hand open on the glass but ignored the instant stinging as she yanked the fire extinguisher out of the case—then Logan turned around, hefting the extinguisher up as she did, and took a couple of cautious steps back toward where both boys were struggling to get up—
Austin turned and barreled toward her first. Logan prepared herself, wielding the extinguisher like a bat, and she dodged out of the way right as he reached her. This time he was a little smarter and he grabbed her waist as he went down, but Logan bashed him in the head with the fire extinguisher and his grip instantly loosened as he tumbled to the floor.
The second he was down Logan redirected her attention to Ben, who was standing there panting and cupping his bloody nose with one hand. "Well?" Logan yelled at him. "You gonna try it too?!"
"I can't stop until the job is done," Ben shouted back. Then he dropped his hand and sprinted at her, head down, like he was charging someone on the football field—
Logan didn't even bother trying to dodge him: she hurled the extinguisher at his stomach and he tried to smack it out of the way. While he was busy with that she tripped him and he crashed to the floor. Logan immediately threw herself on top of him—Ben rolled over and she had to scramble to grab his arm, but she finally got a good hold of it—
She twisted his arm back and struggled to move out of the way, in order to sit up near his head. Logan threw her leg over him and pressed it down against his throat in a choke-hold—
Ben struggled weakly, but the more he moved the more difficult it was for him to breathe. Logan spat a mouthful of blood on him this time, even though she knew he'd been compelled. "What does Klaus look like?" Logan snarled.
"I don't know!" Ben yelped back.
Shit—Klaus had covered his bases. Logan needed to get out of there and find the others, but she didn't want to stand up and give Ben an opportunity to knock her down again. She had no choice: she briefly prayed to God she wouldn't kill him before pressing down harder on his throat. She watched him closely, waiting for his eyes to roll back in his head—
The second he lost consciousness Logan released him. She struggled to stand up, arms windmilling; once she'd regained her balance she paused and waited, staring expectantly at both boys on the floor. Adrenaline was still buzzing through her and she felt like she couldn't slow down her breathing to normal because one of them was bound to jump up again—
But a couple of minutes passed, and neither of them did. She couldn't even hear anyone else coming down the hallway. Logan grimaced to herself and reached up to gingerly touch her jaw, which was already starting to hurt. So did her head, which was pounding, and her elbow, which was throbbing. And from what she could tell her ribs hurt too, not to mention her bloody hand—
She couldn't focus on this now. Logan turned and half-stumbled over to where she'd dropped her phone. She bent over to snatch it up from the ground, holding her elbow as she did. "Ah, shit," Logan groaned upon straightening up. There was now a skinny little crack across her phone's screen. She clicked it on to make sure it still worked. It did, it just had the stupid crack now.
Logan growled to herself in irritation and turned to take a couple of steps backward down the hallway. She paused then to glare at Ben and Austin, both still unconscious on the floor. "Hey, you know what?" Logan told both of them. "Fuck you guys." She gave both of them the finger before turning around and heading back up the hall.
As she went she quickly tried to call Elena again, followed by Bonnie, and again neither of them answered. Logan swore under her breath. She paused when she reached a bathroom and decided to go in for two seconds to make sure she didn't look suspiciously hellish—if she saw anyone from the dance they'd wonder what the fuck was going on.
Logan fairly ran in and right to the two sinks. Great, she thought upon glancing herself over in the mirror. Now she really looked hot. That wickedly messy hair was just great. A++, Logan. Well, she reasoned as she attempted to sort of fix her hair, at least it wasn't like Elijah was going to see her look like a walking disaster area.
The thought of him irritated her and she shoved him back out of her head. Logan managed to half-fix her hair—and tried to wrap her bleeding hand in paper towels—before she turned and hurried back out of the bathroom. Still nobody answered their phones, and Logan had no choice but to continue wandering the halls, quickening her pace as she did, feeling increasingly panicky. Finally—finally—she rounded one corner and found Jeremy. "Hey!" Logan called.
Jeremy turned around. "Hey," he called back. He jogged to reach her. "Do you know what the hell's going on?" Then he gave her a brief once-over. "Uh, what happened to you?"
"Klaus compelled some idiots," said Logan dismissively. She frowned at Jeremy, who also looked distinctly ruffled. "You too?"
"Yeah," said Jeremy. He glanced past Logan. "You didn't see anyone that way?" Logan shook her head. "Same everywhere else," Jeremy muttered. "I don't know where the hell anyone—"
His phone beeped. Jeremy pulled it out of his pocket to check it and furrowed his eyebrows. "What, what is it?" asked Logan, already feeling panicky again.
"I dunno, it's Damon," said Jeremy. He turned and began to walk back down the hall, and Logan had to take a few running steps to catch up with him. "He just said to meet him behind the school."
After a second of quick walking both of them sped up until they were running. Jeremy pulled a little ahead as they went and Logan prayed that everyone was okay, that Damon wasn't the only one left alive and that was why he was texting—
Soon they had reached the outdoors. It was already colder out here than it had been not long ago. Jeremy turned and led the way back around the school, and in a few seconds both of them had located Damon with his blue Mustang out back. "Damon!" yelled Jeremy. He slowed down as he reached him, and in a couple of seconds Logan did, too. "Hey, I got your message, I can't find anyone! Where's Elena, where's Bonnie?"
"And what the hell happened?" demanded Logan.
Damon surveyed both of them for a second. Logan watched him with increasing apprehension—his facial expression certainly didn't help: he looked like he was trying to figure out how to say something. Logan had never once known Damon to not know what to say. "Wait," said Logan slowly.
"We need to have a little talk," said Damon at the same time.
"What does that mean?" asked Jeremy. "They're not—she's not—"
Damon raised his hands a little. "Elena's fine," he said with a nod. Then he added with a grimace, "Bonnie, not so much."
Logan's breath caught in her throat. "Where is she," said Jeremy, voice low. "Damon, where is she?"
"Is she dead?" asked Logan. Her voice cracked.
"Yes," said Damon.
Logan couldn't breathe. She could already feel a pinch behind her eyes. "No," she said, shaking her head. "No no no. There's no fucking way—"
"He was in Alaric's body," said Damon, looking from Logan to Jeremy and back again. "There was no way she could beat him."
"Well, where did he go?" demanded Logan. She started to move already, stepping around Jeremy and looking back toward the building. "Did you see where he went? I'll find him and kill him myself—"
Right as Logan walked around Jeremy, though, Damon snagged her shoulder, and pulled her back. Logan shoved his hand off as she saw Jeremy lean back against the Mustang in her peripheral vision, covering his face with one hand. "I don't think so," Damon said. "If Bonnie can't beat him, you can't beat him."
"Stop," said Jeremy, his voice already raw. "Stop saying her name."
Instead of replying Damon just lifted his hands again, as if in surrender, his face infuriatingly blank. Logan could feel her eyes welling up. There was no goddamn way Bonnie was dead. No way. No way, no way, no way, no way
She couldn't see anything anymore and she still couldn't breathe—Logan took a stumbling step backward and caught herself on the side of the Mustang, too, and then she covered her face with her other hand and did her best to breathe, even though it was Bonnie this fucking time and it wasn't just some random victim—
Her phone buzzed at the same time as Jeremy's. Logan, desperate for something, anything else to focus on, fumbled to take her phone out, her hands shaking and her vision blurred. She scrubbed at her eyes with her badly-bandaged hand as she clicked her phone screen on.
"Dude, what the—" Logan started to demand, already enraged—because Damon had just texted her. Damon lightly smacked her upper arm and she looked at him, both surprised and indignant. Damon gestured with his head at her phone and she looked back down to read the text he'd just sent her.
He'd written Bonnie's fine, faking her death for Klaus. Had to sell it, don't know where he went
Logan stared at her phone. She sniffed, and wiped the tears out of her eyes as the text sank in. "Dude," said Jeremy, sounding tired. "What the fuck, man."
Damon hissed—probably annoyed that Jeremy had said anything. "You're a dick," Jeremy added quietly. When Logan glanced toward him he'd dropped his head down and had begun to rub his temples with one hand.
"Before you both tell me how much you hate me," Damon whispered, stepping toward them, "let's get out of here, alright? Alright." He shot glares at Logan and Jeremy, somehow mad that they were having this reaction to being told such a lie, and then held up his phone again a little to wave it. The following conversation commenced:
DAMON: IM TAKING HER TO THE WITCH HOUSE THEN IM GOING BACK TO TELL STEFAN & ELENA
LOGAN: U TOLD THEM SHE WAS DEAD?!
DAMON: HAD TO SELL IT
At that Logan turned and smacked Damon's arm, hard. He frowned at her and rubbed the spot where she'd hit him, and Logan glared back.
JEREMY: I'LL GO TO THE HOUSE WITH HER
DAMON: SHES GONNA HAVE TO STAY THERE FOR A WHILE, STOP BY YOUR HOUSE FOR SUPPLIES FIRST
When Logan glanced up, Jeremy was already nodding and straightening up. "I'll just," he said, his voice shaky, "I just—I need to be alone." He nodded at both of them, looking remarkably like a despaired and kicked puppy, before turning around and walking away across the back parking lot. Logan reflected that he'd done a pretty damn good job of selling it.
Then she turned back toward Damon and cleared her throat. "Can I go with you?" she asked. "To see Elena? I just want to make sure she's okay."
"Sure," said Damon, releasing a breath. "It'll take me a little while to get there though."
Logan nodded. "I'll, uh, meet you there."
With that said she turned and began to walk away again, back across the parking lot. Damon didn't say anything else to her as she left, and as Logan went she tried to draw in deep, calming breaths. She decided a few steps into this that she hated Damon Salvatore. There had been no need to tell them that. All he'd had to do earlier was text them that Bonnie had faked her death and they needed to pretend.
Jeremy was right; Damon was a dick. Logan reached up to pinch the bridge of her nose as she continued to walk. She still felt sniffly, even though there wasn't a reason to be anymore, and she was ninety-nine percent sure she needed to recheck her eyeliner.
Logan avoided the main entrance to the school. She swallowed hard as she went. That had been too close: way too close. Logan thought about how she'd told Elijah that he shouldn't kill his own brother and wondered if she'd been wrong. Because what if Klaus actually had killed Bonnie? What then?
Don't think like that, Logan told herself sternly, as she wended her way through cars in order to reach hers. She couldn't think like that. She'd actually cry and she hated crying. Besides, there wasn't any point, because Bonnie was alive and well and she was fine, she was fine, she was fine—
Logan unlocked her car and climbed into the driver's seat. Once there she threw her purse at the passenger's seat and paused for a moment to thank the Good Lord above that Bonnie really was still alive. Then she breathed in slowly and turned her car on.
Before she left, though, Logan leaned over to rummage around in the back, seeking the Ace bandages she'd had in here from twisting her ankle last semester during the volleyball season. It took her a few minutes to locate them, and it took her a few more to acceptably wrap her hand, which wasn't bleeding nearly as much anymore.
Then Logan went through the motions of backing out of her spot and then made her way around to the exit of the parking lot. Once there she waited for a minute longer than she needed to—nobody was driving past the school—before she pulled out onto the road.
Logan realized that it was true: if Klaus had been in Alaric's body and nobody knew where he went, it hadn't been safe to tell her and Jeremy that Bonnie was actually alive. She still hated Damon for saying such an awful thing, but she bitterly supposed she did understand why he'd said it.
As she drove in the direction of the Salvatore Boarding House Logan leaned over to dig her phone back out. She did her best to continue to drive while dialing Elena's number. Please pick up, please pick up, Logan prayed. Elena needed to know that Bonnie wasn't dead.
When Elena didn't answer even after four tries, Logan called Stefan, but he didn't answer, either. Logan growled in irritation and tossed her phone back into the passenger's seat. "Dammit," she muttered. Because neither of them would answer their stupid phones Elena was going to think Bonnie was dead for much longer than necessary—
Except honestly there wasn't a necessary period of time in which Elena should have thought that Bonnie was dead. Logan shook her head and then reached up to wipe her eyes again. She was gonna kill Damon. Actually, Stefan probably would. Nope, Elena.
On her way to the Boarding House Logan had no choice but to stop at a gas station for a few minutes in order to fill her car's tank back up, as the gas light flicked on while she was driving. She'd rather have to fill the tank than get stranded on some dark back road. Still, she waited impatiently for it to finish—she needed to get to the house sooner rather than later in order to tell Elena that one of her best friends was still alive. Logan could only imagine how Elena was feeling and she couldn't think about it for longer than a couple of seconds because she'd start to tear up again.
At long last Logan pulled up in front of the Salvatore Boarding House and parked at the curb. Damon's Mustang was nowhere in sight. Logan jumped out of the driver's seat and reached back in to grab her phone, and then she slammed her door shut and jogged up toward the house. In a few seconds she was letting herself in.
"Hey," Logan yelled upon entering the house. "Where are—" She then stopped and jumped, because Stefan had fairly appeared out of nowhere in front of her. "Hey, listen," Logan said, resuming walking up the front hall. "Bonnie—"
"Logan," Stefan started to say, his face sad, shaking his head.
"Bonnie's not dead," Logan snapped. She stopped when she reached him.
Both of them stared at each other for a second, Stefan's eyes widening. "What?"
"Bonnie's not dead," Logan repeated. "Where's Elena?" She didn't wait for Stefan to respond before she walked around him and entered the main hallway of the house. And a second later she spotted Elena on the couch in the nearest fancy living room—
Shit, thought Logan, because Elena looked like hell. She was sitting there at the end of the couch with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders, staring into space, her face streaked with tears. "Elena, Bonnie's alive," Logan said, immediately upon entering the living room.
Elena's head snapped toward Logan. "She—what? But—Logan, no. We—we saw her—"
"I don't know what you saw, but Bonnie is alive," Logan reiterated. "She just faked her death. She couldn't defeat Klaus and she had to trick him into thinking she died. Damon just took her to the old witch house, she's fine, Jeremy's meeting them there."
It was at this point that the front door swung open again. Everyone, including Stefan, who was standing at the edge of the living room, turned to look: fortunately it was Damon who had entered. Logan hoped he could clear this up better than she had—
Elena jumped to her feet. "What's going on?" she demanded, walking over to stand by Logan.
Damon already looked beyond done. "Will you please calm her down?" he said somewhat flatly—whether this was meant for Stefan or Logan was not clear. Either way this was still pretty rude.
"Dude," said Logan disparagingly.
"Don't talk like I'm not standing right in front of you!" Elena exclaimed, voice shaking badly. "Logan just said—"
Damon took a couple of steps closer to both Logan and Elena. Logan, after side-glancing toward Elena, stepped to the side a little to move out of her way. In this state Logan wouldn't put straight-up slapping Damon out of the question, and Logan was quite prepared to allow Elena to do so. "Please—calm—down," Damon said, pausing after each word.
"You knew," Elena accused. "Didn't you? You knew that if she harnessed all that power she would die, didn't you?"
"Yes," said Damon. "Yes, I knew."
Elena let out a shriek of irritation and slapped Damon straight in the face. Logan covered her mouth with one hand but she couldn't keep a snort from escaping. "You need to listen to me," Damon said, ignoring Logan, "and prepare for what I'm about to say.
"Bonnie had to die. Klaus using Alaric's body was a total surprise. She wasn't prepared for that. And he wasn't going to stop, and we weren't gonna be able to stop him until he knew she was dead. He had to believe it."
"Exactly," said Logan, dropping her hand.
Damon spared her a half-glance before looking back at Elena. "She cast a spell," he said. "Bonnie's okay."
With that said Damon cast all of them a cursory glance before turning around and leaving the living room, walking back up into the hallway. Stefan and Elena looked at each other for a second: and then Stefan hurried after Damon. Logan turned toward Elena. "See?" she said, rather relieved Damon had been there just in time to help explain. "Bonnie's fine."
Elena still looked like she was bound to start crying again. "I'm sorry I didn't believe you," she said, moving to hug Logan. Logan hugged her back despite the immediate stinging of her ribs. "I can't believe she's alive."
"She's alive," Logan replied, rubbing Elena's back. "She's alive."
AUTHOR'S NOTE | How about it, y'all?! An upload! :D I rewrote this several times. Mad props to one of my best friends for reading every version of this chapter I sent her. Check her out at i-kill-characters-for-fun-lol on Tumblr :) I'mma upload the next chapter next weekend, and if I don't you can blow up my inbox. But I'm sure I will. I am soooo excited about next chapter~ And it's gonna be one of the longest ones yet!
Thanks so much for reading! I hope you have wonderful weeks :3 And I wish you the best of luck if you're going back to school!
DISCLAIMER | I don't own The Vampire Diaries.
