If you guys are missing ELKAT, I'm sorry for their absence, but they're resting. They will both be back next update :) For now I thought you guys could use some banter.
P.S. Why didn't anyone tell me that there was colossal typos in the first three parts? Yikes, they're mostly fixed now, My sincerest apologies! hehe
Part 55
Bonnie scratched at her arm. The heat of the candles she'd lit was making her skin sweat. But they helped her concentrate, so she left them be. She turned another page and leaned closer to the words. The pages were starting to look the same. Bonnie rubbed at her eyes and stretched her neck. She closed the book that she'd just finished and set it aside, adding it to the pile.
Damon walked into the sitting room. It was otherwise deserted, with one exception. "Don't you ever stop?" Damon asked Bonnie as he watched her flipping pages. Bonnie turned another page. She didn't even look in his direction.
"There's only four days left," is her only reply. Damon nods in understanding. "Where's your boy toy?" he asks her, walking across the room.
"Jeremy…" she corrects him. "He's with Anna." Damon turns his head and looks over his shoulder at her. He watches her wrinkle her brow. She wiggles her nose and Damon spies the bit of sweat that glides down the bridge. Her arms are sweating too as she uses the candles to read by. They're all around her, at every end of the table. The flames light her face as her brow creases in concentration. Damon shrugs, it really had nothing to do with him. He watches a bead of sweat fall down her shoulder before he crosses to his fridge.
The glasses clink as Damon moves a few around. Bonnie looks up, having heard the twinkle. Damon notices her attention and inclines a glass towards her. "You want one Judgey?"
Bonnie gives him a weird look. "It's almost midnight" she replies.
Damon is unaffected by her answer. "More for me," he reasons.
Bonnie hears the clinking resume and she returns her attention to her work. She was letting him distract her and she couldn't let that happen, not now. She was so close. Just another page, she repeated to herself. It had been her mantra all day. Her instincts had not failed her yet. They told her she was almost there. When the clinking stopped Bonnie couldn't help but look up. She was glad that she did because she was just in time to see a water bottle sailing towards her.
She catches it and glances at Damon, "You're too kind," she says begrudgingly.
Damon smirks, "Don't mention it." "Seriously…ever!"
Bonnie smirks. "Your reputation?" she asks disgusted, and obviously sarcastic. "It'll be ruined?" she continues. Damon takes a drink in response. "We wouldn't want that," she says. Damon stops drinking for a moment. She wonders if he's thinking about something other than what she meant, but she dismisses the notion. Reminding herself that she doesn't care.
Damon doesn't even ask permission as he sits down next to Bonnie, very effectively invading her space. He breaks her concentration as he props his feet up, setting his glass in his lap. Bonnie frowns, leaning forward and scooting over, away from him. Damon smirks but notes that she didn't elect to move all the way to the other side of the couch.
"What-cha readin?" he asks. Damon leans over the space between them to peer at the page. Bonnie groans and scoots forwards again. This time she moves to the other arm of the couch. Damon's frown deepens and Bonnie doesn't notice, or she chooses to ignore his reaction. But she does answer him after a moment.
"This spell…" "I'm trying to see if I can make it work.." "I think I could," she shares with him. Damon lets a small smile show. He takes a drink and continues to watch her, thinking she may continue what she was saying.
Bonnie finishes the page that she's on and sets the book she is currently reading aside. She grabs another one and flips to a previously marked page. Before she lays both grimoirs beside each other, comparing the two. Her finger follows the words she is scanning and her head swivels from side to side.
Damon eyed her another moment before he realized that she was oblivious to his presence. Bonnie was completely focused on what she was studying. It was kind of cute. In an annoying sort of way. She moved one of the grimoirs into her lap and reached for another. The water that he'd just given her was tipped over in the process and rolled off the table, hitting the floor. Damon took a drink from his glass and raised his eye brows at the witch.
Damon leaned back into the couch cushion and peered under the table. The bottle of water rolled along the carpet until it hit a leg of the table. "Hmm," Damon comments, swallowing the alcohol in his mouth. "You need some help?" She continued reading. Maybe she hadn't heard him. "Do you need some help?" he asked louder this time.
Bonnie looked at him, her hand went to her hip and she eyed him suspiciously. "You're gonna help me?" she asked him, unsure.
"I guess I could…" Damon teased, he leaned back and put his hands behind his head, smirking.
"Okay…"Bonnie grinned. Damon smirked, thinking that he may have finally gained some head-way with her. He should have known that something was amiss. She never smiled like that at him. He watched as Bonnie moved off the couch and kneeled in front of the coffee table. She picked through her pile of grimoirs. When she turned around she threw the one she'd selected into Damon's lap. The smile was wiped off his face and replaced with a "oomph" as it landed on his abdomen.
"Thanks," Bonnie said innocently.
"Uh hugh," Damon responds, rubbing his shirt. This was a very old book, complete with dust galore. Bonnie smirked as she watched Damon cleaning off his shirt before she turned back to her book. It was the first real expression besides concentration that she'd shown since he'd sauntered in.
"You're looking for any passage that mentions retrieval of the warlock's amulet." "He had a necklace he always wore, a lot like Emily's." Bonnie looked up and instantly noticed that Damon was staring at her. It was a touchy subject for them both. Bonnie looked away. His gaze made her uncomfortable. "Anyways…" she continued slowly. "There's mention of the necklace going missing during a battle, and I haven't been able to come up with any explanation of where or how he found it." " It just skips around." "And the next thing you read he has it again, and all is well." "I need to know how he got it back."
"Uh hugh," Damon said, flipping through his book. He wasn't convinced that he wanted to go digging around just yet. "And why do we need to know how to find witchy accessories?" he asked her.
Bonnie shook her head, "It won't matter if we can't find out…just let me know if anything looks noteworthy."
"Here's something!" Damon observed. Bonnie looked at him, expectantly. "An all-in-one guide to hexing your favorite vampire." "Step-by-step.." he encouraged.
Bonnie glared at him. "Don't tempt me," she warned.
"Does that mean I'm your favorite vampire?" he asked. Bonnie stopped for a minute. She looked confused about what she'd just said and Damon smirked. Bonnie's confusion turned to a frown and he thought for a moment that she might give him an aneurism. Her own personal hex for him. But she didn't and Damon recognized that the conversation was over when Bonnie gave him her "just do it" look. Was she too tired to let him antagonize her? Regardless, he was familiar with "said look."
It only took her a moment to shut him back out and return to her reading. An entirely too short amount of time as far as he was concerned. Damon watched her back for a moment. Her head moved back and forth as she devoured the words in front of her. He sighed and then opened his own book. It really was so boring around here when he had no one to play with.
The sun came through the window, spanning the floor and lighting the boarding house rooms. It painted the many piles of books with it's brilliance. Somewhere along the way the occupants of the home had just stopped cleaning them up. You finished a grimoir and you added it to the nearest "done" pile. It was the newest house cycle. The sunlight continued to stretch it's reach until it touched the toe of a young woman, She had her feet tucked under her. Bonnie is sitting in front of the coffee table. Damon sits on the couch. His glass is empty on the table in front of him. A book is open in his lap and his head is bent back over the cushion behind him.
The sun reaches his cheek and Damon squints. He wrinkles his nose and throws his hand over his eyes, cursing the sun. The sleeve of his shirt begins to heat and Damon finally moves his arm again. He rubs at his eyes and shifts his hips. When he stretches his arms above his head he feels movement in his lap. As he looks down he notices the book that he'd not finished that morning open on his knees. The pages crinkle as he stretches his arms further over his head. His arms good and flexed, Damon closes the book and tosses it behind him. It would be easy enough to find later. He wipes his eyes in frustration. What time is it, he thought.
The sun touches his fingers as they massage his eye lids and he looks towards the window. It was morning. Another day gone. Now there was only three days left. Damon gritted his teeth and groaned. As with every other morning he knew that if he concentrated hard enough he could pick up the sounds of Katherine's pain.
Damon frowned and pulled his feet down from the table. He leaned forward reaching for the glass that he'd set beside his foot. He had every intention of getting a refill. But something else caught his attention. His gaze followed the strand of hair laying by his glass. His eyes focused on Bonnie. A very asleep Bonnie. Damon smirked, who would have thought, he questioned as he observed her. She was leaned over the table. Her arms crossed under her and her head resting on an open grimoir. Her hair is fanned out on the open pages, falling off the side of the table.
Damon observes how tired she looks. There are bags under her closed eyes. He listens and can tell that she is sleeping soundly. Her gentle breaths flow over the pages underneath her. She looks youthful and relaxed. It wasn't often that she'd ever looked so at ease. Damon scanned her face and noted that there was no small smile upon it. What was she thinking, he wondered. Was she dreaming? She was a mystery that was so difficult to figure out. So much of what she did baffled him. Even more so, so much of what he did in response to what she did baffled him more. She was the only one he could honestly say had lived through setting him on fire. And even more on top of that. She challenged him like no one had, and he let her get away with it.
Damon cringes as he remembers how closely her fire had seared his skin. As if in response to his own thoughts the sun comes upon them both. It travels to the edge of the table and just barely lights Bonnie's face, putting a glow on her skin. He can more clearly see the exhaustion on her features now. Damon watches a moment longer before he shrinks back into the remaining darkness in the room. The sun had not fully risen yet and Damon was thankful for the concealment. He had no doubt that if she woke she would give him an aneurism worse than he'd ever gotten. It was not something that he wanted to experience. Still, for a moment he considered waking her. If only to see the look on her face when she realized she had fallen asleep, with him in the room, of all people. If she knew how he'd seen her so vulnerable, she would not like it. No, she would not like it at all. The idea was appealing and Damon grinned.
It was a nice thought. And he was more than tempted. But when he reached towards the table he reached for his glass. He did not touch the witch. Instead he stood slowly, and even tiptoed around her legs when he moved away from the table. He was soon well clear of her limbs but the piles of books around her had tried his patience. He brushed off his sleeve. Seems that he had not gotten all the dust off him. In response to that thought he threw a glare at Bonnie, but she still wasn't awake to see it.
Damon set his glass down on the counter in front of his liquor line-up. He very seriously considered downing a few more glasses before he decided against it. One would be enough to get him through the day. He filled his glass to the top. If he was only going to have one, then he might as well make the most of it. Heat nipped at the back of his heels as he took his first gulp. The liquid sloshed about in his mouth as the light traveled from his feet, up to the back of his knees. When he turned around the whole sitting room was in full light. The sun had risen and it was the start of a brand new day.
Damon walked over the end table, kicking a pile of books. He hated the damn things. After this was over if he never saw them again it would be fine by him. They were useless. This whole time, and none of them had found anything among any of their thousands of pages that could help Katherine. "Damn books," Damon complained as he kicked one by his heel for good measure. A thought struck him and he could almost hear Bonnie scolding him for kicking an "antique." As he thought about how the scenario would play out he glanced over at the sleeping form beside him. She stirred only a little as his foot brushed her thigh when he reached over her for the switch to turn off the lamp. It was unneeded now. Actually, with all the candles it had never been needed. The flames were simmering low and almost all had burned themselves out at this point. The only one still lit flickered in front of Bonnie's face.
She still wasn't awake. Damon had to wonder how she could still be sleeping when he turned towards the window. The sun assaulted his eyes, violently. They had stayed up all night and most of the morning. Of course she would be asleep. He thought for a moment and wondered whether or not he had seen her sleep anytime recently. Had she even left the boarding house? Didn't Bonnie have a home that she could be in? Preferably away from his home. Must she always be here? Damon fingered the ring on his finger when the only answer to his question was the brightening sun. It really wasn't any kind of help.
Darn the wretched sun, he thought as he moved to the window. He stood in front of it now. The light outlined his body. He could almost feel the burn on his skin. It was a bright day. Hopefully this one would end better than the previous ones before it. Damon had no real way of knowing. But if the days continued to pass as they had then he would soon be forced to watch one part of his world darken. How could he say goodbye to her?
Damon eyes found Bonnie over his shoulder. He expected her to wake up any minute and start yelling at him. If she woke up she would see his private thoughts. He could see her, but she could not see him. She would be too busy scolding him. He preferred it that way, most of the time. Damon smiled as he grabbed the drapes and pulled them closed. Darkness immediately fell on most of the room. A light orange tint danced along the floor to the area were Bonnie was. She was mostly in shadows now. Damon could see the piles of books on either side of her head, lined in the shadows. He tipped his glass back and finished the last of his drink before he turned and headed to his room, leaving the darkened room behind him. Damon stretched his arms to the ceiling and cracked his neck. He set the glass down on the desk as he passed it. After all, it really wouldn't kill the witch to get some sleep.
