We really don't need to discuss what transpired in Thursday's episode. It will have no bearing here and the pain is still fresh. Please accept my perpetual thanks for reading and reviewing!

Interview With A Vampire (And A Witch)

Bonnie is tied to a chair. The ropes dig into her skin, knotted expertly and tightly. Getting out of them without magic is impossible.

Magic is also impossible.

It's strange - strange and infuriating - to be powerless again, after all this time. With her head down, she can see Qetsiyah's pendant hanging around her neck and she wonders if Qetsiyah was ever powerless. Was Emily? Was Ayanna? Was Grams? Probably not.

"A hybrid, a witch and a hunter," Stefan says, circling her like a vulture over a meal. "Tyler. You. Jeremy. All three of you together and conspiring to kill."

Bonnie doesn't speak. He still hasn't explained how he knew, besides throwing those herbs in her face.

How long has she been gone? It took about fifteen minutes to get to the boarding house. And she had to be sitting with Stefan for at least another fifteen, maybe twenty, when he drugged her. Or at least that's what she thinks. But time has taken on new meaning now that she's just beginning to see straight again. Stefan must have mixed those herbs with a sedative.

How long until Tyler and Jeremy worry?

Jeremy's off walking and not speaking to either of them. It could be hours before he realizes something's going on. Tyler might notice but what if he takes Bonnie's silence as her just not wanting to talk to him because of their kiss?

Stefan's timing is impeccable. He should receive an award for picking the most opportune time for striking. When all three of them are off their game and avoiding each other.

Fantastic.

"Did you really call Elena?" she asks. Her voice is a dull rasp.

If Elena comes, she will help her. Or at least Bonnie hopes she will. She may be in shock at first after learning about Bonnie's extracurricular activities but she won't let Stefan keep her tied to this chair.

"No," Stefan says. "I just wanted to make sure you'd come without being nervous. I do wonder how she'll react to all this."

So does Bonnie but there's also a part that doesn't care as much as it used to. And what will she say to Elena anyway? She won't apologize - can't apologize. She wasn't sorry when they started planning and wasn't sorry once Damon died. She's not even sorry now, when Stefan could snap her neck or drain her blood in a second. She's only sorry Stefan's still alive and she wasn't paying enough attention to see herself walking straight into this trap.

Stefan sits down across from her in a chair. The way he moves now, it's the Ripper in him. She remembers the terror she felt when she touched him once, the first time they met. It felt like death back then and now that she knows how accurate that was, now that the Ripper is staring at her with dark eyes, coiled and ready to strike, she wishes she'd realized what Stefan was a long time ago. She wishes Tyler had come up with this idea sooner, that she'd tried months ago.

If only Stefan had died already.

If she could, she'd kill him right now.

"I started having strange little flashes," he says. "You remember the party at Tyler's house? I'm sure you do since that's the night you tried to kill me."

How could she forget?

"Like I said, these little flashes began and they seemed like memories but I didn't actually...remember them," he says. "A witch helped. She restored my memories. We were actually worried you might have realized the spell was being tampered with. She said the magic was strong. She thought you might have felt it."

The chanting.

Memoria. Something about memories. I think it was summoning lost ones.

Stefan's lost memories. Well, not so much lost as stolen. Memories she took away and another witch - nameless, faceless and in New Orleans - returned.

I did feel it, she thinks. I just didn't know what it was. Stupid.

"You killed Katherine," he says. Bonnie's mouth twitches into a slight smile. "The spell you did to find her," he says. "It did work."

"Not the way you intended," she says. "But yeah, I guess it did."

"The witch I found was able to sense where you left her. Well, her ashes anyway," Stefan says. "I'd thank you for that if you hadn't killed Damon, too."

Katherine and Damon, their greatest hits.

"Explain it to me, Bonnie," he says, crossing one leg over the other. "Tyler I understand. Damon killed Hayley and we've never had much of a relationship either."

"It didn't help that you got his entire pack killed."

"Only after you all killed my brother," Stefan hisses. "And knowing what I know now, I'm regretting my decision to save Carol Lockwood's life."

"Join the club," Bonnie snaps. "I've been regretting my decisions to save yours and Damon's lives for a while now."

Stefan lets out a huff of breath. "And Jeremy's a hunter now. He can't control himself..."

Bonnie smiles at that. "You think Jeremy wants to kill you because he's a hunter? He can't possibly have any other reasons? Do you remember when you killed Vicki Donovan?" It's quite possible Stefan forgot. What's one more victim added to a list of hundreds, possibly thousands? "Jeremy has perfect control. He wants to kill you because you deserve it, not because he has no choice."

Stefan tilts his head to the side. "It's hard to believe he'd do this to his own sister. I can't even wrap my mind around you doing this to her. Didn't you once consider her a sister, too?"

Welcome to Mystic Falls, where what everyone needs is a lesson on morality from Stefan Salvatore.

"You've done much worse," Bonnie says, "to Elena and to everyone else. I haven't lost any sleep over this, Stefan and I won't lose any. Damon was a monster. He terrorized this town, killed Jeremy, almost killed me, would have killed Tyler. I know you can't have forgotten what he did to Caroline. Or maybe you have. You've always been good at ignoring the things Damon does to other people and somehow you can also ignore the things he did to you. And you? You're the Ripper. You're no hero."

Stefan narrows his eyes.

"I can make a list," Bonnie says, "of all the reasons I have to kill you and Damon. At the top of said list is my Grams who died solving your problems. She's right next to my mom. Would you have preferred we flipped a coin? One of you could die and the other could live. Would that have been better?"

Stefan stares at her, his head tilted to the side and his hands clasped in front of him. "Abby's still alive," he says. "Damon isn't."

Life means something different to witches. Stefan will never understand that Abby is dead without the magic. It's all she ever knew and now it's been replaced by blood.

"Good," she hisses. "He lived long enough. Too long if you ask me."

"I didn't ask you."

"You did actually," she snaps. "You asked me why and I told you. Damon got what he deserved."

Bonnie thinks Stefan may hit her. Torture may not be what he had planned for tonight but he could switch it up at any moment if he wanted. She holds his gaze defiantly and tries to set him on fire with her mind.

She fails.

Tyler can't remember ever being this alone in Bonnie's house before. It's not the first time he has been, but it's the first time he's not sure who's coming back. Bonnie surely will, it's her house, but Jeremy could be talking to Elena and reclaiming his bedroom at this very moment. For all he knows, he'll be asked to leave, too.

Tyler sends a text to Bonnie. How's it going?

He doesn't know if she'll respond after earlier. First they were kissing and now they're not speaking. But she'll respond eventually, right? She'll do it if only to make sure he doesn't worry. And how much time is she going to spend at the boarding house with Elena and Stefan? Unless she'd prefer that to spending her time with him and Jeremy. Maybe she's looking for a distraction and Stefan is providing one. Perhaps she'd rather spend the next few hours lying to Stefan's face instead of dealing with Tyler and Jeremy and their crumbling situation.

Tyler checks his phone even though it's only been a couple minutes since he sent that text. There's nothing there.

Bonnie thinks the herbs are wearing off but she tries not to look any perkier to Stefan. He'll force more tea down her throat if he suspects anything. She's tapping her foot on the floor, trying to get it to stop tingling, when Stefan tosses something into her lap. It takes her a moment to recognize the burned, black square as what remains of his journal.

"Was it Jeremy who came for it?" Stefan asks, settling back into his seat across from her. "Had to be. Tyler would be dead, wouldn't he? But Jeremy can just keep coming back. It's a good thing he didn't lose his mind after that one. That would have created some questions."

Bonnie stares down at the book. It's a better sight than Stefan is but it reminds her of the day Jeremy died again, burned to death at Stefan's hand. A knot forms and twists in her stomach. She moves her legs just enough so the book slides off and falls with a thump to the floor.

"When I realized the truth," Stefan says, unfazed by her silence or her discarding of the journal, "it all started making sense. You offering to help me find who killed Damon, revoking my invitation to your house, saving Tyler's life."

"I would have saved Tyler's life anyway," she says.

"I'm sure you would have," he says, "but how did you know he would need you?"

The dream Bonnie had of Tyler, if only her dream of Stefan had been half as enlightening. She could have prepared for this. She bends her fingers behind her back, feels the gentle cracking of her bones.

God, she really wants her magic.

"Bonnie," Stefan says, easing closer to her. His knees brush against hers and she twitches away from her, drawing back her legs as far as she can. He notices her recoil and the corner of his mouth lifts into a smile.

"How long have you hated us?" he asks. "When did it start? When did you reach the point of committing murder?"

Bonnie's not sure if she ever hated them. It seemed pointless to hate them when they were necessary to Elena and to Caroline and sometimes, to getting the job done. It all shifted when Tyler found her, with the idea to rid the world of them forever. Then she started hating them, when she could do something about it.

Murder.

She doesn't like that word, not in reference to them at least. "Murder," she says, "implies that you're innocent. You and Damon are not innocent."

"Maybe not," Stefan admits, "but I wonder if Elena and Caroline will believe we deserve to die."

They won't.

"What about the people you killed?" Bonnie asks. "Did they deserve to die? Did my Grams? Vicki? Hayley? The pack? Did my mom deserve be turned into a vampire?"

"That was necessary," Stefan says, his teeth clenched together. "Elijah forced our hand. If we hadn't, Elena-"

"Fuck Elena!"

Tyler would have been proud of her. It'd be nice if he was there to see. After he was done applauding, he could get her out of this chair and help her kill Stefan.

He folds his arms and leans back in his chair. "And that's how you feel about your best friend."

"If you had actually tried we would have found another way to help her," she says, "but you didn't try. You did the easy thing and sacrificed me and my mother. That's always been easy for you, Stefan. No one's ever mattered but you and Damon and Elena."

"Then why not kill her, too?"

Just because she wants to kill both of Elena's boyfriends, he assumes Elena's name is on their hit list somewhere. "Because I am her best friend," she says. "And maybe one day, without you here, she'll be mine."

"She won't be," Stefan says, "not after this. Sired or not, she loved Damon. You killed him right in front of her, in cold blood, and you've been lying to her face this whole time. "

"Yes," Bonnie says. "I decided it was worth it. If you've been justified in all the horrible things you've done, then why aren't we? Why are we the bad guys after all you've done? Tell everyone we killed Damon, Stefan. Tell this whole town and see the party they throw. The only people broken up about Damon dying were you and Elena. And when you're dead - because you'll die, too - who will care? Elena? Yes. Caroline? Maybe. Klaus? I'm sure he'll throw quite the hissy fit. Rebekah's still rotting in that coffin. But who else? Who loves you, Stefan? No one."

That's where Bonnie and Stefan are different. She has Caroline, Elena, Jeremy, Tyler, Matt, her father when he's around. Maybe even Lucy. Maybe Abby, too, if she ever sees her again. There are people on her side. If people can overlook Damon and Stefan and all they did, they can overlook Bonnie, Tyler and Jeremy killing them.

"But what do you care?" Bonnie sighs. "As long as Elena cries over you, you're happy. That's all you need. As long as Elena still loves you, nothing else matters."

Stefan shakes his head. "You're a piece of work, Bonnie Bennett." He pushes himself up from his chair and turns to face the fire. He's thinking.

Bonnie closes her eyes and imagines leaving. She envisions her kitchen, the table with Tyler's book sitting on the end. She imagines being there with him and Jeremy, laughing over something stupid. She remembers Tyler kissing her there, his mouth forceful on hers and his hands clutching her legs. She thinks of her bedroom, her back sinking into the mattress as Jeremy covers her mouth with his. She thinks of that plant on her windowsill and her Spice Girls poster and the stack of grimoires in her bedroom.

Home, she tells herself. Home.

She doesn't get home.

She does, however, get outside.

Jeremy wanders as the sun dips lower and lower in the sky, transforming the sky into an orange and purple haze. He stops at the park and sits on one of the benches. Town is quiet today.

I kissed Bonnie.

Fuck this. Fuck that.

I kissed Bonnie.

Jeremy really wants to stop picturing it but he can't. He's all too familiar with Bonnie's lips, moving gently across his own, her hands on his shoulders, her tongue sliding effortlessly against his.

And now Tyler is, too.

When did this happen?

He remembers what Matt said, all the questions about sharing a house with Tyler while him and Bonnie are doing whatever it is they're doing. Maybe this was what he meant. And if so, why is Jeremy the last to know? He should have noticed something. He reminds himself he and Bonnie weren't officially back together anyway even though the kisses, more common and less sexually saturated, had given him a little hope for something more than an occasional rendezvous in the shower.

Bonnie is entitled to kissing whoever she wants. He just didn't think it would be Tyler.

Jeremy pulls out his phone and stares at the screen. No missed calls. No texts. His finger hovers over Bonnie's name in his contacts and then Tyler's. He goes back to Bonnie's and sends her a text, just to make sure she's doing okay with Stefan.

Bonnie's at the side of the house. It's a part she isn't familiar with but then again, she's never had cause to examine the layout of the property before. There are trees to every side. Gravel crunches beneath her boots and the wind tugs at her hair as she rounds the house. She clings to the side, willing her footfalls to be silent. She could run for her car but without the keys she's got no chance. And even if she did, Stefan would have an easy time of running her off the road.

Escaping a vampire would be easy if her powers were at full strength. Maybe the herbs are working their way out of her system but how capable is she of anything? She may be able to hold Stefan off with an aneurysm at least for a little while. Maybe she'll be able to reach the road on foot and hope someone comes along but what if Stefan doesn't care about involving any random passerby? He might just kill anyone who tried to help her.

"Bonnie!"

Stefan's voice slices through the air. He's outside, at the front door maybe.

She presses herself more completely against the wall, as if that will do anything. He'll be able to hear her heart pounding and seek her out that way.

The trees, already looking black even as dusk falls, is a certain deathtrap. She'll be loud in there, she knows, falling over branches and slipping and sliding through mud and dirt and leaves. He'll find her instantly.

"Come on, Bonnie! You can't have gone far! Those herbs are world class!"

They certainly weren't bad. Before she could get herself to the Grill and now she can only get herself a few yards out of Stefan's living room. But she'll take it.

His voice is getting further away. He's walking in the opposite direction.

Bonnie walks toward his voice and peeks around the wall just in time to see Stefan's dark outline rounding the corner of the house. The front door is still open. She can go in and get her phone while he's out here looking. She can hide in the house, text Tyler and Jeremy, and hopefully Stefan will assume she's out in the woods, attempting to escape. When the boys get there, they can finish this.

No more time to think about it.

Bonnie runs through the door and leaves it open as she goes to the living room. Her bag is right where Stefan left it several feet from the chair she was bound to. The ropes now hang limp, binding nothing. She drops down to sift through the bag and her fingers close around the cool metal of her phone.

Thank God.

There are messages waiting for her but she doesn't bother looking yet. Time to hide. She stands, turning to head for the staircase that will lead her to the cellar.

Stefan is standing behind her.

"Don't go yet, Bonnie."

Bonnie concentrates. The aneurysm isn't the strongest she's ever done but Stefan still winces, reaching for his head. She grabs for her keys. She'll take her chances with the car.

She runs past him and is at the still open door. She can see her car and it's like some kind of beacon, her only chance of getting out of here in one piece.

But Stefan is on her, pushing the door shut. Before she can turn around to try to give him another aneurysm he grips the back of her neck with icy fingers and slams her head into the door.

Bonnie crumples to the floor, squeezing her eyes shut against the pain. Though her head is spinning, she sees Stefan as he crouches down next to her. "Now you have a little idea of what that feels like." She starts slipping into unconsciousness as Stefan throws her over his shoulder and carries her back to that chair.

Jeremy doesn't realize he's walked to his house until he hears Elena calling out to him.

"Hey," she says. She comes down the path toward him, her hair pulled back into a ponytail. She looks nice, in a purple dress and heels. She might even be wearing some makeup. "What are you doing?"

"I'm just taking a walk," Jeremy answers. "What are you doing?"

"I'm waiting for April," Elena answers. "We're going to that new restaurant, us and Caroline. The Italian one. I'm still trying to get Caroline to tell me what's going on with her and Bonnie but she won't. Do you know?"

Jeremy blinks at her. He sees another image of Tyler and Bonnie kissing. He has an idea. "No," he says instead.

But...

"Aren't you meeting Bonnie?" he asks.

He specifically recalls her words.

He wants me and Elena to meet him at the boarding house.

Elena arches her eyebrows and looks at him, confused. "No?"

Jeremy reaches for his phone and holds it. He was angry when he left Bonnie and Tyler but he wasn't so angry he imagined everything she'd said. Stefan is back. "Have you talked to Stefan at all?"

Elena frowns and shakes her head. "Not since he left. You know that." She shakes her head slightly. "Whatever. I'm not thinking about Stefan tonight."

He got back earlier today.

"Do you want to come with us?"

Wants me and Elena to meet him.

But Elena's going out with April and Caroline.

"Jeremy," Elena says, waving a hand in front of his face. "Do you want to come with us?"

Stefan called Bonnie. If he wanted to meet with her, why did he have to mention Elena? If he didn't call Elena, why did he say he did?

"I can't," he says absentmindedly, remembering Elena asked a question. Twice. "I've got a paper to write but next time. I'll see you around."

Elena looks disappointed but says a quiet goodbye. Jeremy starts walking and when he glances back in her direction, she's walking back into the house.

Why would Stefan lie?

Unless...

How could Stefan have found out about them and their plans? He's been gone for a while, doing what they don't know. How would he have learned anything without someone telling him? And who would have told him? No one knew. Lucy did but she never would have talked and Stefan would have been easy for her to handle. Or at least that's what he hopes. He waits until he's put a comfortable distance between himself, Elena, and his house before calling Tyler. He practically runs down the street.

"Jeremy?"

"Are you still at Bonnie's?" Jeremy asks.

"Yeah," Tyler says. "Where are you?"

"Meet me at the boarding house and bring my stuff," he says. "Bonnie's in trouble. I think Stefan knows."

Stefan's going to kill her. He gripped her throat as he raised another cup of tea to her lips. She'd spat it up and coughed but enough went down that she's back to feeling woozy and powerless. And she's tied to that chair again. He can't keep her subdued like that for long. Eventually he'll run out of herbs and there's no way he's going to let her leave.

He's going to kill her.

Her head is throbbing, her foot went to sleep again, and Stefan is going to kill her.

Bonnie thinks of Tyler and Jeremy.

They can handle Stefan. They'll realize what happened, when she doesn't come back, when she mysteriously disappears and turns up dead in a week or so. Even if Stefan knows they're a threat, a hunter and a hybrid won't have a problem taking him on alone, not if they know what they're dealing with. She just hopes they're able to do it before Stefan enlists any more help, help that could tip the balance and send Tyler and Jeremy following after her into the afterlife.

Even if she dies, Tyler and Jeremy can still finish this.

Stefan paces back and forth in front of the fire. He's considering something but she doesn't know what. Where to stash her body, perhaps?

She wishes he'd just get it over with.

Time to speed up this timetable.

"Do you want to know what we did after? After we killed Damon?"

That night, with those stupid Christmas songs and Jeremy and Tyler with her, throwing back shots.

"We went to a bar a couple towns over. We drank and danced and celebrated. It was one of the best nights of my life and I'd do it again. When Tyler and Jeremy kill you I hope they drink over your corpse."

Stefan's face transforms. She glimpses his pointed teeth as a snarl rips its way from his throat. Here we go.

It's been a long time since Damon bit her and Bonnie forgot what it felt like to have fangs piercing her skin.

But now she remembers.