Foreclosure of a Dream
Set after Bonnie and Damon return from the other side. This will feature some cannon, but it is mostly A/U.
I do not own any characters of The Vampire Diaries. The characters are all owned by L.J Smith, Julie Plec and the CW. I am not making any money on this, so don't sue me for copyright infringement.
Title of this story comes from the song by Megadeth-1992.
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Mystic Falls: The center of town.
There is a loud whoosh and a crack of what sounds like lightning. I feel the rush of adrenaline and suddenly I'm free falling at an alarming speed. It's only seconds, but it feels like forever before I hit the ground—hard. I bounce like a super ball, once—twice, before I land again with a thud. Every inch of my body hurts and I let out a deep groan as I struggle to hold on to consciousness. Lethargically, I blink open my eyes and struggle to focus on my surroundings. It's so dark at first I can't see anything, but then my vision sharpens as my senses take over and I realize I'm lying in the middle of the town square of Mystic Falls. My eyes take in the familiar buildings, amazed at seeing them again before they land on the burnt out shell that used to be The Grill.
Elena and I drove my car right into that bitch and broke the Travelers hold on the town. I remember it like it was yesterday. Maybe it was, but it seems so much longer than that…and then I notice the repairs on the building and realize it must be much longer than yesterday. They've started a major overhaul on the place that looks like months of work, not days.
"What the hell?" I mutter softly, slowly rising to my hands and knees.
"Fuck…" I hiss, everything seems to hurt all at once.
My arm gives out and I see it bent at an odd shape. Great, I've somehow broken my arm. And then I smell blood. It's strong and my fangs drop. I glance down and I'm stunned to realize my hands are covered in it and it's mine.
Why are my fangs dropping at the smell of my own blood? I haven't done that since I was newly turned and still excited at the smell of blood—any blood, even my own.
I don't have too much time to ponder the weirdness of my actions, because I hear a soft and definitely painful moan to my right and notice Bonnie face first on the asphalt a few feet away from me. She looks like a broken doll, her body twisted in ways it shouldn't be; like a marionette with its strings cut, lying in a heap, crumpled and broken.
This is all wrong and I wrack my brain as I try and remember what the hell happened to us?
I'm drawing a complete blank and I don't like it. The last thing I remember is having to say good-bye to Elena and then me and witchy-poo standing in the light—holding hands of all things, and then…nothing.
I slowly manage to crawl across the space between me and Bonnie. My arm is hurting like a bitch and she's whimpering, obviously in pain. I feel the overwhelming urge to heal her and make her well again. I chalk it up to not wanting Elena to blame me for her BFFs' death—once again. Her eyes flicker open when I lean over her and to my surprise, there's a tenderness in her green gaze that I've never seen before.
I almost balk when she places her palm against my cheek. "Damon…" she says softly and then she smiles. I mean smiles at me as if I'm her knight in shining freaking armor! Okay, I'm officially a little freaked out, because Bonnie-freakin-Bennet just looked at me like I'm her end all be all.
Maybe we've landed in an alternate universe after all!
Except it sure as hell looks like Mystic Falls to me, so instead of letting her know how bad she just tripped me out, I smirk at her. "Judgy," I say in reply.
Again the witch stuns me when her eyes cloud over and-holy crap!—is that pain I see?
And by pain, I don't mean from her injuries. This is like I just stomped on her favorite puppy pain or broke her heart pain.
Okay, seriously, what the hell is up with her?
I decide to ignore Bonnie's bizarre reaction to me and focus totally on her injuries. Her legs are broken and so is her back—if I'm any judge. And since I've done my fair share of damage to the human body—I'm saying I am a judge.
Broomhilda needs some of my blood, or she and Stephen Hawking will be Masters of their Universe in matching wheelchairs!
Without thinking any more on it, I bite my wrist, holding it to her mouth. She doesn't fight me, but she's not really drinking either. "C'mon," I say, "drink." She opens her mouth a bit, but not enough to get any of my blood and all too soon my wrist heals. Shit! I pull her closer and I hear her cry out in pain as I lift her up; she's practically in my lap now and I'm not giving up on her. "You're not dying on me, dammit," I command and bite into my wrist again.
This time when I place my wrist at her lips, she responds. She starts to drink and her limbs immediately begin to heal, but that's expected. What isn't expected is the vigor with which Bonnie starts to drink; it isn't like she just sips at my blood. No. To my utter shock, the girl grasps my wrist in both hands and starts in on me like I'm an 'All You Can Eat Damon Buffet' and she's starving!
As her body knits itself all back together, she finds the strength to turn and straddle me. Normally if a girl just jumped me, I'd simply push her off, but I'm honestly too stunned to move, because really? Since when are me and witchy on lap-dance status?
"Bonnie…" I start, but then her hips start to move and before I know it, she's got her legs wrapped around my waist and she's grinding on me, drinking my blood and—fuck me running backwards! To add to my confusion, I'm hard in seconds flat. And the worst thing is, I don't know if I'm more pissed at her for reacting like this, or me because my body's betraying me and my love for Elena!
Bonnie licks at me, holds me tight and suddenly she's moaning and groaning and—holy shit! She shudders, her whole body stiffening and then her eyes flutter closed and she goes totally limp on top of me.
I sit there dumbfounded, stunned speechless—for the first time in like forever. Did she just…? I sniff the air, and yep, the scent is unmistakable; it confirms my suspicions.
I see she's passed out and that's probably for the best, because I'm not sure I could be held responsible for all the wild shit that wants to fly from my mouth right now. As freaking strange as it sounds, Bonnie Bennett just had an orgasm while drinking my blood! And normally, I'd laugh my ass off and never let her live it down, except I can't. That was so not normal and I feel like I just walked right out of Outer Limits and into the fucking Twilight Zone!
"What. The. Fuck!" I mutter, because as pleased as I am to see she is totally healed, I'm just as equally freaked out.
Something has obviously changed between Bonnie and me and I haven't a clue when, where or why it happened. All I know, is there is no way in hell, Little Ms. Judgy Pants would have ever drank my blood, much less enjoyed it to the point of no return, so I better find the answers to this situation and pronto.
Maybe it's a spell that came back with us from the other side? But why would anyone cast a spell for Bonnie to want me? Makes no sense. Well, unless the person wanted to play the worst cosmic joke of all time on the Universe, that is. I sigh as I go over and over scenarios until my head hurts. After far too much thinking, I realize my body has healed from my injuries and I get to my feet and stretch. Physically I feel great, while my brain feels like it just went through one of Bonnie's aneurisms. I take another long look around. The square is empty, but its pitch black and I have no idea what time it is. I can see lights off in the distance…and I shake my head at the mundaneness of the families' in those houses. Suburbia in its finest, living their normal little lives, chugging away to make the mortgage payment, while totally ignorant of the seriously insane crap this town has gone through.
I'm suddenly tired as hell and dammit! I need to see Elena. I miss her so bad my chest aches with the thought of her. I need a drink too. Hell, at this point, I could probably use the drink *before* I see Elena. Get my head straight before I tell the love of my life I'm back from the dead. With that thought in mind, I heft Bonnie over my shoulder and head for the Boarding House, my mind going through all the cheesy opening lines I can use on baby bro to announce my arrival.
I can't wait to see his face and yeah, not all of that is sarcasm…
Bonnie lets out a sound of distress and I readjust her to a more comfortable position in my arms. I look down into her face and stare with more than a bit of morbid curiosity. She looks peaceful—yeah too damn peaceful. That freaks me out all over again as I remember her coming apart on my lap! I sigh again. I have no idea what is up with her and I don't like not knowing. Especially when it comes to witches. Bonnie has always been a pain in my ass, but this time she's thrown me for a freaking loop!
On a more positive note, at least this time I can honestly tell Elena I didn't kill her friend; I saved her. And that should make me feel good, right? Except, with my lack of memory of everything after I died…why am I thinking this might be only the beginning of my worries?
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I enter the Boarding House a little while later and a lot longer than it would normally take me to get there at vamp speed. I'm not up to par, but I guess that's to be expected—after all, I *did* just return from the freaking dead!
It's quiet and dark. There's a low fire burning in the fireplace in the parlor and I try and listen, but can't detect any other voices in the house.
Not the welcome I was expecting. Where the hell is everyone?
I set Bonnie down on one of the couches and immediately head to my wet bar. I sigh in pleasure when I spot my bottle of Evan Williams 23. This particular bottle normally costs three hundred and fifty bucks—of course, I got it with nothing more than a bit of compulsion, but my taste buds don't care how I got it. They appreciate the flavor of the twenty three year old Kentucky bourbon, no matter the cost to my wallet.
I pour myself a generous three fingers full and do not do the brew justice as I gulp it down in one shot. I sigh as it burns so good on the way down.
"Yes," I moan and pour another glass.
Now that my craving is somewhat satisfied, I manage to make this one last three swallows, before I'm pouring my third tumbler. This one I sip as I make my way over to the fireplace. The embers are burning low, but being here—at home, it just feels…right, somehow. I turn and look at Bonnie, who is still passed out and I frown as my head begins to go over what happened earlier. I'm pulled away from that drama by the sound of a squeal coming from upstairs. My brow shoots up as I realize someone is here after all. My vamp prowess must be really off since I didn't hear anything before that awful squawk, which (and I'm hoping I'm wrong here) sounded a lot like Blondie.
Not exactly the person I want to welcome me home. However, I head for the stairs just the same, following her (obnoxious) giggles all the way to (what the fuck?) my brother's room. I open the door and wish I hadn't, because there is vampire Barbie and my baby bro playing tonsil hockey on his bed and fuck me, but I hope we have bleach because I'm going to need it to wash that vision off my retinas!
"Now I know I've landed in an alternate universe if you two are together," I mutter.
Barbie lets out a scream that may have busted my eardrums and leaps off my brother as if he's suddenly developed a bad case of the clap and my bro—God bless him is staring at me like he's seeing a ghost. And, well, I guess I can understand that, because in a way he is I suppose.
"Honey, I'm home…and you have some splainin' to do," I quip, motioning with my hand at him and Caroline.
"Oh. My. God. Damon!" Caroline screams again, hurting my ears with the vehemence and volume of her voice.
"A simple Damon would do—God sounds so pretentious," I say, smirking at her.
Stefan is still just staring at me and I'm beginning to think seeing me returned from the other side has fried whatever wits he had left, which obviously isn't many if he's dating Blondie now…but still. Don't want baby bro to be a vegetable and all that.
"Stef, it's me. I'm not a ghost."
"Damon?" he breathes, his voice hoarse and guttural.
"Yep," I confirm, popping the 'P'. "In the flesh."
"Damon…?"
I nod. "Last time I checked."
"Is it really you?"
"C'mon Stef, even you couldn't have regressed this quickly," I tell him frowning. "It's me. Who else is this irresistible?" I flash a teasing grin, hoping to get him worked up so that whatever neurons he has left will start firing on all eight cylinders again.
In a flash Stefan is in front of me, eyes wide, almost teary and glassy. "I can't believe it's really you," he says, his eyes roaming over my form quickly as if to reassure himself that it's really me. I start to reply, most likely with something snarky, but before I can, he grabs me up in a hug that very nearly snaps my spinal cord and possibly ruptures my spleen to boot. I grunt, but manage give him a squeeze back, despite the pain his embrace brings to my newly healed body and the whole new level of awkward I'm feeling at his overwhelming show of affection.
"Damon…I…I just can't believe it. I tried…but then…I couldn't and it seemed so hopeless…"
He's rambling now, muttering nonsense about trying to get me back and then trying to start over and not being able to and truthfully it's kind of creepy the way he just keeps on hugging me (way past the point of a friendly clap on the back) and talking to himself while keeping his death grip on me.
Hey I was just as happy to see my brother as he was to see me, but when we passed creepy and headed into a disturbingly affectionate hug, I finally manage to grab him by his shoulders and push him off me, putting a more comfortable arms distance between us. "Okay…um Stef, I just got back and I get that you missed me. Missed you too, bro, but can you manage not to squeeze the newfound life out of me just yet. I'd like to live long enough to see Elena thank you very much."
I ease my words with a half-smile and it works like a charm. He immediately steps back, but I'm not sure if it's me, or what, but Stefan and Caroline both look away almost guiltily, and I swear it seems like the awkward dial just jacked up a notch (or a hundred) at the mention of my girlfriend's name. Now why the hell would that be?
"Stefan, please tell me you didn't let anything happen to her while I was gone?"
Caroline saves him from answering by interrupting whatever he was about to say. "Damon, if you're back, where's Bonnie?"
I can feel the tension radiating off her, but I keep my eyes on my brother because there's something in his eyes I'm not liking. "She's downstairs," I say and this time I'm prepared for the screech that leaves Blondie's mouth, and just like I'd hoped, she flashes out of the room, heading downstairs for a much awaited reunion with her bestie.
Good, because Steffie has a story to tell me and something tells me I'm not going to like it. Dammit, can't I even come back from the dead without drama?!
"Damon…about Elena…" he hedges, sitting on his bed and hanging his head.
Apparently not.
Every nerve ending in my body goes on red alert because if something happened to Elena—again—under his watch, well, I don't know what I'll do. And I have to remind myself that killing my brother on my first night back would be in really bad form.
"Brother, what have you done?"
"Not me," he says softly. "Elena."
"Elena what?" I ask, my body so tense I'm surprised my teeth aren't cracking I'm gritting them so hard.
"She…"
He stops, takes a breath and shakes his head and my patience is seriously at its end.
"She fucking what, Stefan?!" I jump to the worst case scenario, and in a soft deadly voice I ask the question I dread most in this world. "Is she dead?"
Stefan's eyes go wide. "No! No, I swear, Damon, nothing like that."
"Then what?" He's silent for another moment and that's it. I pretty much snap. I've never been known for my calm demeanor and after the freaky night I have already had—I need to know Elena is okay and Stefan is seriously beginning to piss me off. "What the fuck happened to Elena?" I snarl, grabbing him by his shirt and hauling him to his feet so we were nose to nose, eye to eye. "Tell me!"
"She had Alaric erase her memories of you—of you and her in love," he blurts out.
My hands go numb and slack, dropping by my side as if led weights are tied to my wrists.
Did he just say what I thought he did?
"What did you say?" I rasp, needing confirmation, but desperately hoping for anything but.
Stefan looks like he's going to cry and that's when I know. He's not playing or messing with me in some twisted little game. He's as serious as a heart attack and suddenly I feel as if I'm having one. My head is spinning too and I think I might actually throw up as well.
"I'm sorry, Damon," Stefan explains. "She was in so much pain and she…" He shakes his head again as if trying to find the right words to crush my heart. "She just couldn't take it. She had Alaric change her memories." He winces so I know my face must be showing the pain I'm feeling. "I'm sorry."
I simply stare at my brother, too stunned for words as my world crashes and burns and starts to bleed into a crimson wave of agony of despair. Elena doesn't love me anymore and by her own choice. It hurts like nothing I've ever known and I think that maybe—just maybe, I'm in hell after all…
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Okay that is the first chapter… Okay so this story (at first) is not really a Delena or Bamon story. It's really Damon's story. It will be about how he deals with what Elena has done. (Grr-that really pissed me off in the show!) Elena chose to go back to a time when she hated Damon and he will be forced to witness it. Will he even want her back? Or should he move on with Bonnie who he has gotten much closer too—closer than he even realizes and before you ask—yes, (spoiler alert) Damon will get his memory back and Bonnie and his relationship on the 'other side' will be revealed. I am a huge Delena fan, but I am so irritated with what Elena did that I think she should have to fight for Damon now. He's fought long and hard for her—right? Well, in this she will, but will it be enough? I have several chapters of this story completed with him leaning towards both of them—you guys can review and let me know which way you'd like to see it go, because honestly, at this point, I'm not sure who I want him with. Bamon is kind of hot…But, I will always love Delena.
Anyhow, hope you liked this first part. Click that little button there and let me know what you think. Reviews are love and feed the muse.
Hugs… :)