AN: I don't own The Vampire Diaries, any of the characters or the plot, that belongs to Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson. I solely own Dana and Veronica. All rights go to their original owners.
With her heart pounding loudly within her chest, Veronica slowly approached the room that Anna had told her to head to, just hoping that she had gotten here in time. The young witch raised her hand and knocked on the door, with it not taking long for the door to be violently yanked open, revealing a dark haired young man that she recognised to be Ben, Bonnie's date from last night. Before Veronica had a chance to react in any way other than her brown eyes noticeably widening, Ben harshly grasped hold of her and pulled her into the room, pushing her down on the floor as he soon turned his attention towards locking the door once more with the sound of a series of clicks informing her that the room was now well and truly inescapable.
Shakily, the witch rose to her feet, knowing that she had probably scuffed her knees from how violently Ben had shoved her small and fragile form down on the floor, her fearful expression softening as she caught sight of two very familiar people sat on the two small beds directly in front of her. To her left was Elena, with the Gilbert girl's doe eyes giving a clear look of confusion to Veronica, apparently not understanding what she was doing here, and to her right was the person that she had desperately wanted to see all day. Bonnie. Before Ben could say anything or instruct her to do anything, Veronica stumbled quickly over to her sister, noticing the clear fear that was held within her older twin's eyes as she did so. As an attempt to reassure both herself and her sister, Veronica threw her arms around Bonnie, tightly clinging to her as though it was the last thing she would ever do. Bonnie almost instantly returned the hug, apparently just as desperate for comfort and safety as Veronica herself was, with the twins just staying like that for a few moments in silence. They didn't need to speak, the comfort that the pair were giving each other from holding each other tightly more than enough in those moments to give the both of them some form of reassurance that everything would be okay and they would make it out of this situation safely.
"Thank God you're okay." Veronica's soft voice eventually shattered the silence that had fallen between them, hesitantly pulling away from the hug slightly so that Bonnie would be able to breathe. However, her brown eyes stayed on her elder sister as she pulled away, the distress once again appearing in Bonnie's own dark green eyes as her eyes met those of her sister. "I've been looking for you all day, I was worried that something horrible had happened to you."
"Why are you here, Ron?" Elena questioned, leaning across from her place on the opposite bed so that she was slightly closer to the two witches, causing Veronica to look over at her. She gave her a weak smile in response, relieved to see that Elena also appeared to be okay, other than looking slightly shaken.
"They were going to kill you and Jeremy. I… I couldn't let anyone be hurt because of me." Veronica answered softly but before Elena had a chance to respond, the slightly younger Bennett witch felt someone, presumably Ben, grasp hold of her long dark hair and forcefully yank her away from Bonnie and Elena. A loud cry of pain fell from Veronica's lips as she was forced back onto her feet, her wide brown eyes looking back to see that she had indeed been correct in her assumption and that it was Ben that had pulled her back.
"Otherwise known as, she's a stupid martyr who we knew would give in the mere moment that we threatened to harm someone that she cares about." Ben's voice spoke coldly, the aggressiveness of his voice causing the witch's entire form to tense, not liking where this conversation seemed to be going. "Now, Bonnie, Veronica's here to help you to open the tomb. After all, the last thing that we want is to find out that you're not strong enough to open it by yourself and we've wasted our time." Ben explained directly to the elder witch on the bed, violently tugging at Veronica's hair once more, earning a large yelp of pain from the witch. She would try to struggle or use magic to fight her way free from the vampire's grasp but she knew that he was far stronger than she was physically and that using any form of magic to get herself free may result in Bonnie or Elena paying the price and thus, she merely stood there, silently taking what the vampire was doing her with tears threatening to form in her eyes as a result of the radiating pain that was running through her body.
"Please stop hurting her!" Elena cried out in defence of her friend causing Ben to roll his eyes, soon doing what the Gilbert girl pleaded, throwing Veronica's small form down into the gap between the two beds. Her body landed on the dirty carpet with a soft thud, but Veronica refused to let out another whimper of pain, fearing that doing so might result in him deciding to try and hurt her once more.
"Fine." Ben conceded, turning on his heel and walking forwards slightly, lingering an uncomfortable distance away from the girls. His emotionless dark coloured eyes looked at the three girls before him, with his attention focusing on Veronica temporarily as the witch tried to move, wanting to sit with her sister and continue to comfort her. "If you don't want me to kill her in front of you," Ben began, giving a small head gesture in the direction of Elena as he spoke, "Then you'll stay right there." A lump formed in Veronica's throat as a result of Ben's threat, with her soon meekly nodding in response to show that she understood. She stayed completely still, her body virtually paralysed with fear about what might happen to one of her closest friends if she moved too much, her chocolate coloured eyes looking directly at Ben as the male allowed a look of satisfaction to form on his expression upon seeing the witch obey his orders. "Wow, you really are just as pathetic as Anna said you were." Veronica's heart sank within her chest as a result of his words, taking the words to heart with ease.
She knew that she wasn't likely to be as insanely powerful as her Grams seemed to be convinced her and Bonnie had the potential to be. Bonnie could be like that, Veronica knew that. Her sister was brave, Veronica had always looked up to her when she was a child for that exact reason, and she truly believed that she could manage to achieve great things with a little bit of magic practice and some time. Although Veronica wasn't planning on completely staying away from magic, she knew that even with a lot of work, she'd never be able to achieve what Bonnie had the potential to do. Besides, she was quite happy to just dedicate her time to helping her sister and making sure that she and the others that she cared about were safe within this supernatural world that they had been thrust into.
She was soon brought out of her thoughts upon hearing Ben's voice begin to speak, with it not taking long for her to realise that he was speaking to her and Bonnie. "Witches don't have eternal life, right?" He questioned, with Veronica's entire body tensing as he took a few steps closer to Bonnie. She knew that he couldn't kill her because they needed the pair of them to open the tomb, but that didn't mean that he wouldn't hurt her. "So, you guys can die." Weakly, Veronica gave a small nod in response to his question, staying completely silent, whereas Bonnie gave a verbal response. Her green eyes looked up at Ben, with Veronica being slightly surprised by the seemingly fearless look that was held in her expression as she soon answered,
"Yep. We can die." Ben nodded at her answer, an oddly amused look on his expression as he slowly began to walk away from Bonnie, a sigh of relief falling from Veronica's lips once he was a safe distance away from the three of them.
"Ah." Ben commented. "That sucks." The younger Bennett sibling's brown eyes lingered on the young man as he stood there for a few moments, with her noticeably jumping as the door was suddenly flung open, bright sunlight flooding into the room. Ben let out a loud scream as the light hit his skin, the light burning at his unprotected skin, with Veronica feeling a smile pull at her lips as she saw Stefan and Dana stood in the doorway.
Alaric had apparently done what she'd asked.
Quickly, Dana used her vampire speed to dash forwards, soon appearing in front of Veronica as she slowly helped the young witch onto her feet, holding her up for a few moments as the witch's legs nervously trembled underneath her. The vampire's blue eyes filled with what resembled concern as the young witch slowly regained her balance and strength returned to her body, with her soon asking, "You okay? We don't need you collapsing on us, Ronnie." Veronica weakly nodded in response to Dana's question, her hands lightly grasping hold of the faded blue bag strap that she wore over her chest, almost as if she was clinging to it in search of comfort. Dana also responded with a small nod as the room filled with even more piercing sunlight, Ben soon crawling into the dark abyss that was the space between the two beds, apparently aiming to heal himself and stay safe from the light that sought to set him aflame.
"Stefan!" Elena's breathless voice soon filled the room as her large brown eyes lingered on the male vampire that had been flinging open the curtains in order to force Ben into a corner. Dana raised an eyebrow at the female's response, her blue eyes looking back at the Gilbert girl who was beginning to quickly get onto her feet so that she could escape.
"Wow, gee, thanks, Elena. I helped with this rescue mission too, you know." Dana commented dryly, with Veronica soon feeling Bonnie grasp hold of her sister's hands loosely, beginning to pull her towards the wide open doorway and freedom and away from Dana.
"Let's get outside." Stefan instructed in a calm manner, just as the three girls reached the doorway. Veronica glanced back for a few moments, watching as Dana grasped hold of Ben's jacket and soon tugged him back up so that part of him was in the sun, the noise of burning and Ben's horrific screams of agony causing fear to run through Veronica. The witch nervously stumbled back for a few moments, unable to pull her eyes away from the scene before her for a while, before she forced herself to look away as Stefan approached the vampire. The Bennett girl soon turned on her heel and fled after her sister and Elena to Stefan's car, presuming that would be their mode of escape, with her heart pounding loudly in her chest in a combination of fear and relief about the fact that they had been able to escape before anyone was badly hurt.
Although Veronica could just tell that this was not going to be the last that they heard of Anna's plan to open the tomb.
And she was right.
Veronica winced slightly as she rested against the counter in her grandmother's house, the back of her head still lightly throbbing as a result of Ben's violent hair pulling mere moments ago. She knew that she would probably end up with a headache as a result of that, but that wasn't what mattered now. Coming out of her thoughts, the young woman took a small sip from her glass of water, turning back to face her grandmother and her sister as the pair began to talk. Thankfully, their voices were soft and not aggravating to the youngest Bennett witch's slowly growing headache. "How did you know where to find us?" Bonnie asked their grandmother, clearly being slightly in awe about how quickly they had been located, causing a small smile to pull at the lips of their grandmother. Her kind dark eyes looked over in Veronica's direction, giving a small gesture of her head whilst Veronica took another sip from her glass of water.
"Well, upon realising that you were missing this morning, your sister was understandably incredibly worried about what had happened to you. Ignoring my own foolish warning to leave it for a little while, she went to Mr Saltzman and gave him the completed tracking spell that she had done, allowing her Bennett witch instincts to guide her as I should have done. He came here to give it to me, told me what was going on, and I then promptly called Stefan." Sheila explained, as Veronica proceeded to timidly smile at her sister, not really believing that she deserved the praise for the rescue. As Veronica took a few tablets in an attempt to make the throbbing pain in her head recede slightly, their grandmother began to speak once more. "I admittedly was not expecting Dana to come along too, as I wasn't even aware that someone like her was capable of caring about the well-being of anyone except herself, but she did. She's the one who told Mr Saltzman to go home, and that they would handle the situation, otherwise, he would have come to the motel with Stefan and Dana to get you. He seemed to be truly concerned about what had happened to all of you." She commented, causing Bonnie to raise an eyebrow in intrigue but that faded mere moments later, whilst the effects of that statement on Veronica lasted slightly longer with a sensation of slight flattery ran through her and a tiny smile pulled at her lips.
"I'm sorry." Bonnie's voice brought the young witch out of her thoughts, as Veronica looked down at her sister who was sat at the small wooden table a few feet ahead of her. She watched as her sister quickly glanced between her grandmother and Veronica, a clear look of sincerity held in her eyes. "About all of this." Bonnie added on, causing Veronica to softly shake her head, placing down her half full glass of water next to the sink before she approached her elder sister. She softly wrapped her arms around her in attempted reassurance, with this hug being far softer than the one that she had given her back in the motel room.
"I'm just glad that you're okay." Veronica spoke softly to her sister as Bonnie slowly returned the gesture. Veronica allowed herself to just hold her sister in her arms for a few moments, truly grateful that her plan had worked and that Stefan and Dana had gotten there quickly enough before anything too bad had happened to any of them.
Gradually, the younger Bennett twin pulled away from the hug a short while later, giving her elder sister a small smile before her grandmother spoke once more. "Not as sorry as they're going to be." The elder woman mused with a mischievous smirk held on her expression, her dark coloured eyes staying on her grandchildren.
"Finished being sentimental and insulting me now?" Dana's dry and sarcastic tone inquired, causing the Bennett witch to turn back to face the vampire that was stood in the kitchen doorway, noticing that Elena and Stefan weren't far behind her. "Yes?" Dana prompted once more, taking a few steps into the room, her harsh, confident steps causing a noticeable noise to fill the room with every step that she took. Bonnie and Veronica's grandmother rolled her eyes in a frustrated manner, not even dignifying the vampire with a response, something that didn't seem to bother Dana in the slightest. The piercing blue eyes of the female met Veronica's brown eyes, with her eyes temporarily filling with what Veronica could have almost sworn was relief, before she abruptly looked back in the direction of Bonnie's grandmother.
Thankfully, before Dana had a chance to make any form of comment about the elderly woman once more, Elena decided to speak up as her and Stefan fully entered the room. "So what do we do now?" She inquired softly, looking at the three witches and her boyfriend, causing Dana to lightly scoff.
"Well, for now, you need to stay here. All of you. Dana can stay with you to make sure that Anna doesn't come back." Stefan answered, looking at Bonnie, Veronica, Sheila and Elena in turn, earning a distinct facial response from all of them. Bonnie looked mildly confused, Veronica wore an understanding expression as she completely understood why Stefan wanted them all to stay here, their grandmother looked incredibly unamused and Elena's expression seemed to suggest that she didn't agree with Stefan's idea of staying in the Bennett house.
"Oh, goody. You could have told me that I'd be babysitting." Dana spoke coldly, a sarcastic comment that earned her a small look from Stefan, but before either of them had a chance to say anything, Sheila spoke up.
"A prisoner, in my own home? I don't think so." She questioned in a sarcastic tone that was actually incredibly similar to the one that Dana had used mere moments ago, earning a small sigh from Stefan in response to her defiance of his plan.
"I can't protect any of you if you leave the house." Stefan almost immediately began to talk, clearly not wanting any of the Bennett witches or Elena to be harmed, something that Veronica truly appreciated. At least someone else seemed to share her undying desire to keep all of her friends and family safe.
"We'll protect ourselves." Her grandmother stated boldly, clearly very confident in her own abilities and those of her granddaughters. "We're all perfectly capable of doing that."
"We need to let him have Katherine back. He's not going to stop until he gets her. If we help him, maybe that ends it." Elena cut off Veronica's line of thought about what she might possibly do if Anna came after her once more, causing Dana to look over at her with a clear look of exaggerated bewilderment worn on her expression.
"Oh, yeah, because promising to help him get Katherine back worked so well the last time." Dana sarcastically retorted. "He's not an idiot, he won't fall for that twice."
Elena gave a small look in Dana's direction upon hearing her discouraging words, her eyes slightly narrowing in bemusement, but before she spoke, Bonnie's voice filled the room. "Besides, he doesn't deserve to get what he wants." At Bonnie's words, a pang hit Veronica's chest, with the words about Damon reminding her of Alaric and his situation. Sure, Veronica knew for certain that Damon was a bad person who had undoubtedly done some horrible things in his past that he would need to pay and make up for, but Veronica wasn't entirely sure that he was completely evil. There had to be something that was still human within him, something that desperately wanted to be happy with Katherine.
"There's even no guarantee that he'd actually help us to get the tomb open. I get that he'd want Katherine out, but he doesn't seem to trust anyone who isn't himself to get that job done." Veronica commented softly in an attempt to add something to the conversation, knowing that expressing any form of sympathy for Damon and any potential humanity that he had left within him would only make the situation worse as no one was likely to agree with her. Everyone in this room, with the exception of perhaps Elena and Dana, seemed to believe that Damon was truly evil and beyond any form of help.
"I don't think that we have any other choice in this situation." Elena mused, as her eyes went to Stefan, with him having not expressed his opinion on asking Damon to help them with this. A small sigh of minor frustration soon fell from his lips, with the younger Salvatore sibling soon lightly massaging his forehead, showing his clear stress.
"Witches being pulled down by vampire problems. As much as we tried to do to stay out of it. You just seem to be unable to leave us out of all this." Sheila's voice filled the room, causing Veronica to glance back at her grandmother, her brown eyes lingering on the elder woman for a few moments. She gave an annoyed exhale of breath. "I'll open the tomb. You get your brother's girl and destroy the rest with fire. Then this will be all over." She concluded, with Veronica being unable to ignore the uneasy feeling that once again settled in her stomach as a result of her grandmother's words. This spell was likely to be incredibly powerful. She didn't want her grandmother to be hurt or experiencing something far worse than that just for a spell. She would volunteer to do it herself, but she knew that it would be far beyond her level of casting.
"We still have to get Damon to agree." Stefan argued in response to Sheila's words, looking down at Elena.
"He already agreed once." Elena responded almost immediately.
"Yeah, and then we double crossed him. So now he's angry." Stefan pointed out in response to her comments, earning a slightly amused noise from Dana in response.
"And homicidal. Although, I don't think that's any different to normal Damon." Dana mused to herself in a dry tone, earning her another discouraging glance from Stefan in response, before his dark green eyes returned to Elena a short while later. He apparently didn't even want to bother telling Dana to save her sarcastic comments for a less serious moment.
Elena's large brown eyes looked up at her noticeably taller boyfriend, her expression softening as their eyes met. "He's hurt. There's a difference. I think I know what I have to do." Elena commented softly, causing Veronica's head to tilt slightly. She knew that opening the tomb that Emily had closed all those years was probably incredibly dangerous, and she didn't want her Grams, Elena or anyone else that was involved in this plan to be hurt as a result of it. They were about to set a lot of vampires free into the world, hungry vampires that had been kept underground and starving for centuries. If Stefan wasn't able to deal with them through the fire method, a lot of people were going to die.
It was in these moments, that Veronica came to a conclusion.
She knew that the spell was powerful and probably far beyond her abilities, but she was going to help with it in any way that she could possibly do so. She didn't care about it hurting her. She just wanted to make sure that no harm would come to her family, and didn't care about what the consequences of doing a spell far out of her power range would be.
She had no idea just how badly the events of that evening were going to affect her- both physically and emotionally.
AN: And I'm going to end it there! Thank you for reading! I hope that you enjoyed! Please let me know what you thought and I'll see you on Monday for the next update!