Bonnie exhaled a steady stream of air through pursed lips as she stood within the closed doors of the great hall. Once those doors open she was expected to lead the procession of high priestesses, high priests, the seer, and Queen Aslaug to where the sacrifices would be held. She had no idea this would be the case seeing no one said anything about a rehearsal. How in the hell was she supposed to know which way to walk or what to do when she got there? No one had bothered to prep her. Caroline would have a fucking duck!
Queen Aslaug eased next to her. "When the doors open follow the path of flowers. It'll guide you to the harbor, where you'll turn left and we'll go right at which time we'll begin the sacrifice," she said, reaching up to squeeze her arm. "Worry not, you'll do well."
"From your lips to the Goddess' sense of pity," she muttered to herself before the doors swung open.
Queen Aslaug gave her a small smile and a reassuring nod. She returned the nod, and then executed a strut down the flowered path that would've made Naomi give her a standing O. The people who lined the path called out to her. Most she recognized, others she believed to be traveling traders merely curious over the happenings.
Once they reached the point the Queen warned of, she veered left towards an elevated platform. A bald priest whose entire head and face that was painted white, assisted her up the steps to the waiting throne. After he seated her a little girl broke away from the horde lining the pathway and bounded up the steps to her. She recognized her from the feast Queen Aslaug had in Lagertha's honor. She was one of Guthrum's friends. The priest attempted to intercept her, but Bonnie waved him off.
When she made it to Bonnie she leaned forward and took the little girl's hands in hers. Immediately, she sensed the potent sorcery radiating off the girl. She would be a powerful witch one day. "Hey, Super Girl! What's your name?"
"Ingrid," she smiled up at Bonnie revealing two missing front teeth. Reaching up, she touched the white petals in Bonnie's hair. "You wore them!"
Surprise coerced a smile from her lips as her head tilted slightly to the side. "Are you the one who's been leaving those beautiful wild flowers among my offerings?"
Ingrid's cheeks dimpled as her smile grew. Her head bobbed up and down. "Will you make me a trusted like Guthrum?"
Bonnie's brows traveled north. She glanced around for Ingrid's parents. No one appeared to have a look of expectation while they watched them. She looked back down at the little girl who did look at her with expectation dancing in her eyes. Resolve dropped her shoulders as she waved over the priest.
"Supreme?" He bent into a full bow.
"Will you bring me a ceremonial bowl and dagger?" She requested as Guthrum and Hali came racing up.
He paused for a moment to study them before inclining his head and disappearing into the crowd. She leaned down to hug and kiss the boys, before placing Ingrid on her lap. Hali gave her an offended look and she ruffled his hair.
"Where's your parents, Ingrid?" She questioned the little girl.
Ingrid craned her neck to look up at her. "Helping to ready the animals for sacrifice."
"Here are the items you requested, Supreme," The priest said reappearing with a bowl, dagger, and a sprinkler.
She picked up the dagger and sliced open her wrist. The priest's breath caught. She allowed the metallic candy apple red and gold blood to gush from the wound into the bowl. When the bottom of the ceremonial vessel was covered she healed her wound. She then allowed her mystical energy to seep from her palm into the bowl, binding blessings, prosperity, and protection into the components of her blood. By the time she completed the spell, the priest's hands shook, and he was practically foaming at the mouth.
Bonnie dipped her thumb in the bowl, and then swiped the pad over Ingrid's right brow. After placing her back on her feet, she then took the ceremonial vessel from the priest's reluctant hands and gave it to Guthrum. Removing the sprinkler from the bowl, she spritzed all three of the children's faces, while marking them as hers and off limits for any form of possession. When finished, she spelled the contents of the bowl to disintegrate if misused.
"Guthrum and Hali, will you assist Ingrid in blessing the other children of Kattegat?" Bonnie asked, handing the sprinkler to the little girl.
The priest spoke up. "Supreme, there's no need to burden the children. I'll bless-,"
"It's fine, the babes can manage," Bonnie said, cutting her eyes to the priest. "Besides, I'm sure I'll need your help once offerings begin."
Elation lit his face up like a Vegas slot machine. "Of course."
The kids shuffled off careful not to spill the contents in the bowl. For the next hour Bonnie watched the sacrificial ritual. Everyone appeared to be in a daze as they smeared themselves in blood. Some even went as far as to drink the life sustaining fluid. When she saw this, she knew the time to go had drawn near. Not wanting to wait any longer, she sent out a blast of Mystical Energy to her trusted.
Within minutes Sigurd dropped to his knees before her. He stared up at her with glazed eyes as he slipped the dagger from his trousers. Without looking he cut a jagged line down his wrist and held it up to her. Taking hold of his wrist, she trailed the tip of her tongue up the length of the wound. His breathing hitched. A moan resonated from her chest. The first tastes of him rocked her body. Shudders assaulted her from bone to gristle. Grunts vibrated from his throat as she latched on. She answered his grunts with a long drawn out groan. Her senses heightened. Ancient sorcery exploded from her and clung to the air. A golden mist swirled about Kattegat, thickening the atmosphere. Intoxicating and seducing those who were far from innocent in nature.
"You have to stop, Valkyrie, or we'll go too far," he rasped, clawing at the small of her back through her dress.
He was right. She was damn near climbing his body already. Tearing her mouth from his wound, she healed the jagged tear. She then used her sorcery to call for a jeweled dagger from Klaus' ancient Egyptian collection. Gasps, shrieks and praises went through the crowd. She paid none of it any mind. Her enforcer/confessor had her in a zone they normally kept between them.
She sliced open her wrist, "Drink!"
Not one to be told twice, he slurped and gulped her down. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head as visions assaulted her third eye. Visions of Sigurd when he was younger sitting at the harbor searching the horizon for Ragnar's boat. Flares of the first time he realized Ragnar would never return. Flickers of the initial moment he'd saw her at Bjorn's. The pounding of his heart when she first kissed him. She even experienced the exact twinkling he knew he'd love her forever. Tears brimmed her eyes as each breath became harder to catch than the last.
"S-Sigurd," she stammered, attempting to maintain her composure. "I c-can't feel the ground. Y-you're overwhelming m-me."
He let go of her wrist to capture her mouth. The taste of her blood and the unique flavor of his tongue once again pulled her under. Her magic poured from her into him, strengthening him and the soul ties they shared. His arms slithered around her waist and lifted her up until he had better access to her lips. The solid bulge in his trousers pressed into the tops of her thighs in search of what was nestled in between. Gasp fell from her lips every time he managed to even graze the mons of her good girl. When his hands moved to the zipper of her dress, a pair of soft but firm hands pulled her out of Sigurd's arms.
Not for the fuckery, Sigurd drew his sword and placed it to the violator's throat. The stunned priest released a muffled shriek. The crowd yelled there protest. Queen Aslaug's objections floated among the rest. The hordes turn up snapped Bonnie back into focus. Her gaze locked with Sigurd's. Vacant solid gold irises peered back at her. His mind dwelled in the land of zero fucks. The priest and crowd needed to back the hell down. Inciting him would not serve them well. Especially the priest. Sigurd would split the poor man from throat to groin and not dedicate a single thought to the deed in the after math. Taking a deep breath to get the situation together, she placed her hand on his wrist which held the sword.
"Sigurd, you dishonor the gods!" Queen Aslaug said, from somewhere behind her.
Slowly, Bonnie guided the point of the sword from the priest's throat. "It's okay, Queen Aslaug. Sigurd's my Enforcer/Confessor. Anyone who attempts to interfere with our connection while we're giving to each other, places themselves in danger."
"Your Enforcer/Confessor?" The queen's bottom lip dropped. "I didn't see that. To choose him for such a position would mean his devotion is rivaled by no other and you trust no other more than you trust him. I just assumed Ivar…" her voice trailed off as her gaze collided with a long procession of people waiting to make an offering to Bonnie. "Surely, all here wasn't chosen to bleed for you."
Bonnie lifted her hand and silently instructed her sorcery to reveal the mark of her trusted. A shimmering metallic red swipe dusted in what appeared to be 24k glittering gold flared into existence over their right brow. Queen Aslaug nodded to her, before stepping to the priest and whispering something to him.
"I need to slake my lust, or I'll have you before you give yourself to Boneless," Sigurd said, staring off into the horde of people for any willing servant girl or unattached woman.
Bonnie tried to play it off with a scoff. "I'm not saving myself for Ivar. And what do I look like saving myself anyway? I've had sex before, so it's really not a big deal losing my virginity a second time."
"Of course," Sigurd said, distractedly before pecking her on the temple and hurrying away toward a group of young women closer to the harbor.
"The Most High's trusted, step forward and kneel," the priest demanded, in a tone brimming with authority.
The people gathered in the already formed line studied the other. Those who bore the mark of her trusted stepped forward and kneeled as instructed. Queen Aslaug guided her back to the throne, and she took her seat. Once seated Ubbe was led over to her. His glazed gaze greedily devoured every inch of her. When he stood before her the entitlement which wafted off of him almost overcame her. He truly felt she was his right.
"Kneel," she said. No sooner had the words left her mouth he took a knee. "Ubbe Lothbrok, is it still your mind to offer me the life which runs through your veins?"
"Yes," he said with so much bass in his voice she would've sworn he had an 808 strapped to his chest.
She opened her hand palm up, and the bejeweled dagger appeared. "Then let's create a covenant between you and I."
He took the dagger from her and used it to tear open his wrist. The priest attempted to give him a chalice to allow his blood to drain in, and she waved him off. Instead, she took hold of the spurting wrist and latched on.
Ubbe sensed the moment his blood coursed through Bonnie's system. Visions raced towards his mind like the surge of towering waves accompanied with a raging storm. He saw sparks of Bonnie in a strange land. In different stages of her life. One flash presented her as a little girl all of eight summers. A man of her hue in color spoke of her mother never coming home again.
Another flicker found a much older Bonnie alone speaking into a strange small box. "Don't worry, dad, I'm good. I'll have other birthdays. If that kid doesn't get this heart today he won't live to see his next."
"But it's your sixteenth birthday, Bonnie B! And Sheila's out of town and you're all alone-," The voice coming from the box began.
"Dad, I promise I'm fine. Besides, Care, Elena, and me are probably just gonna chill at the grill."
An image of Bonnie and a dark haired warrior shimmered into focus. Tears flooded her eyes, but one had yet to fall. "You lied to me! I asked if coming back had affected you in any way and you lied to my damn face, Jeremy! And for what? So you could continue seeing her?!" A tear finally dropped. She shook her head. Disbelief present on her face. "All this time you've been seeing not only Vicki behind my back, but also Ana? They're fucking ghosts! Do you have any idea how that makes me feel?"
"I'm sorry, Bonnie. I love you, but…," The young warrior's voice trailed off.
Ubbe's chest tightened. He too had uttered those words to Bonnie after she'd discovered his indiscretion with Margrethe. Before he could deliberate further on his transgressions, a different vision discarded the one before. In this one Bonnie stood speaking with another young warrior whose hair appeared to known the likes of a great storm or a brutal battle.
"We had to find a way to sever Esther's connection to your family's line," The warrior stated. Reluctance tainted his tone even as shame plagued the depths of his eyes.
Bonnie's stare narrowed as she took a step towards him. "What're you saying, Stefan? Where's Abby, what's…" Her voice fractured. "What's happened to my mother?"
"We had no choice. They were going to kill Elena," The coward of a warrior couldn't even look her in the eyes. "They forced us to decide…,"
"Stefan!" Bonnie yelled. The very air around them shook with her rage.
"Damon turned her," he finally admitted.
Her knees buckled and Ubbe reached to steady her, but she slipped through his fingers. "H-he killed my mother?"
"I'm sorry, Bonnie, but…,"
Once more those same words convicted him. Then the setting changed to yet another warrior. This one gazed upon Bonnie in the same way of his eldest brother. He could tell the man loved her deeply and would give his life in the place of hers if the opportunity ever came to past.
"Are you sure, Enzo? Once you take this, there's no going back. You sure you wanna give up an immortal life to live a boring human existence with me?" Bonnie questioned, hope and doubt present in her tone.
The warrior rested his hands on the entry way of the keep she stood in. "The only tomorrows I care about are the ones we'll spend together. Bonnie I can't wait to have a boring human existence with you. I look forward to you choosing me before all the people who thought you never would." Tears welled in her eyes as she reached up to place a palm to his cheek. "My heart quickens when I think of the family we'll one day have together. I'm going to cherish every nightly change, feeding, or cantankerous moment we experience with each of our seven children."
"Wait," Bonnie laughed. "Seven, Enzo?"
"Yes, bloody seven," He leaned down to kiss her lips, "Honestly, I don't care how many children we have as long as I'm able to spend the remainder of my life loving you."
"How about the remainder of the next thirty seconds?"
Suddenly, the warrior's face contorted into a grimace. His skin turned as white as ash. He fell into Bonnie's arms, clearly he no longer dwelled among the living. She sank to the ground with him.
"Enzo?" The ache in Bonnie's voice nearly undid him.
The warrior whose hair appeared to have just escaped a wind storm stood in the open door way. His face, that of a demon's. He tossed her lover's heart down next her, and then snatched her from the keep by the hair with unnatural strength. For the next several moments Bonnie fought the evil being with great honor until he held her by the throat. Ubbe was sure she was a mere step away from the gates of Valhalla.
"Why do you care about Elena anyway?" The creature tilted his head as he studied her. "You're gonna be dead in a minute."
"No," Instead of begging for her life as many women would, Bonnie laughed. She laughed a laugh he'd only heard from her once before. "You're gonna be human." Swifter than he believed anyone capable, she jabbed something into his side.
Immediately, the demon folded in on himself and dropped her. No longer concerned about her own safety she ran to her now dead lover. He could tell by the look on her face she still held hope he'd somehow survived. Yet, the state of his body pilfered away such a child's notion.
"Enzo," she whispered, "please…" she begged.
Pressing a kiss to his lips, she pleaded and bargained for a moment longer before awareness dawned that the gods had no intention of bending to her will. Rage saturated the air and heightened in intensity until it all felt unbearable. Bonnie's eyes burned solid gold. Heat radiated from her as she threw her head back and released a scream that tore through existence and created an entire new reality. The blow knocked his mindfulness back to vigilance.
Bonnie scrutinized Ubbe's expression. He looked as if he'd just had a spin around the dance floor with the Christian devil. She removed the dagger from his dead man's grip and sliced open her wrist. He took a few sips, before ripping his mouth away.
"Ubbe?" She questioned her tone calm. "What'd you see?"
He shook his head, stood and hurried away. Before she could call out to him the priest approached with Halfdan. She exhaled her resolve to speak with Ubbe later. Halfdan knelt before her without being told to do so.
"Halfdan the Black," Bonnie came to perch on the edge of her seat. "You've volunteered to bleed for me. Yet you don't know me. I sense that though your energy is wild and at times violent, it not only trusts me, but it's also loyal to me."
"Yes," he said gazing straight into her eyes.
Her head slightly tilted as her eyes narrowed. "Why?"
"Because I love you," he said with so much conviction she almost believed him, but how many times had she heard those words spoken. "And even as I look upon you now, I know without having the gift of second sight I'll never know what it is to love another."
"Show me," she challenged.
He leaned forward, holding himself within her reach. She placed her palms on either side of his head. Instantly, a flood of endorphins rocked her brain harder than a heroine shot ever could. Visions of her at the cove assaulted her third eye. Whereas everything around her was drab and painted in faded colors, she glistened brighter than the blazing sun. Every image of her shone more exaggerated than the last, while coupled with an overwhelming emotion which made it difficult for her to breathe. She pulled her hands from his head, confused.
"I don't understand," she said, while searching his face.
"From every saga I've heard in its honor isn't that the way of love?" His whiskey browns stare seared into her. "Always feeling it, yet never understanding it."
"Halfdan, I-," she said, not even knowing where to begin to let him down.
Halfdan withdrew a dagger from his trousers and gouged the point into his wrist. He raised the bloody extremity to her. "Will you accept my offer?"
She released a sigh and left her perch on the throne to kneel in front of him. More gasps left the crowd over her familiarity, but as always her fucks to give remained at zero. She took his wrist and placed it to her mouth. The first drop of him put her on notice. Everything she sensed about his energy translated to the precise flavor of him. Visions of him from boyhood to man bled into her consciousness. Though he viewed the world around him in a state of perpetual dreariness, every act he committed or task he performed he did so with a passion known only to those with an insatiable lust for life.
Not wanting to take too much from him, she pulled her mouth from his wrist. She called for her dagger. When it met her palm, she sliced open her forearm. "Drink, Half-,"
Before the words could completely cross her lips, his tongue probed her wound.
The sound of Bonnie's voice met Halfdan's ears, before a vision of her and a dark haired girl filled his mind. "I predict this year is going to be kick ass, and I predict all the sad and dark times are over. And you are going to be beyond happy."
More flashes of Bonnie raced pass him. She wore her hair just so, and her dresses in a different fashion. The land in which she dwelled appeared strange. Then another voice spoke. This voice sounded as if it had seen more summers than Bonnie. When the woman finally appeared with Bonnie in the images, he could see the likeness between them. "Our family fled Salem in 1692 and relocated here. Our ancestors lived in secrecy for over a hundred years."
Then that vision faded only to be replaced by one of Bonnie sitting on a bed with the same dark haired girl from the earlier vision, while feathers floated around them. "Everything my Grams told me is true. I'm a witch."
A vision of Bonnie and a dark hair man flickered in to existence. "You may have everyone fooled like Elena, the town, and the Sherriff, but not me. One wrong move and I'm gonna take you out."
Demons with red veins burrowing through their face to their eyes forced itself to the forefront, blotting away the last image. The same dark haired man, named himself Vampire. He spoke of enjoying the hunt, feed and the kill. He said when the guilt overcame them they turned it off and reveled in it. Different voices continued to filter through as a flash of Bonnie putting a forest to flames battled to be witnessed.
"Incendia!"
"She's being pulled down by vampire problems."
A desperate Bonnie appeared before him, her big green eyes searched his. "How do I stay out of it?"
"Unlike me you're one of the good ones. The middle of it is exactly where you need to be," another voice answered.
His surroundings erupted in a flash. When the light dimmed Bonnie stood in an overly pigmented gown as sparks of fire rained down on her. Blood ran from her nose as she looked over her shoulder at the door. The dark haired girl he believed to be her friend stood outside the transparent barrier. She banged on the barricade for entrance.
"And we both exhausted ourselves." Bonnie cried somewhere outside his field of vision. "Her more than me."
Bonnie appeared before him. She sobbed over the body of a woman who'd seen more than her share of summers. Then a laughing Bonnie in a strange head dress and robe obliterated that vision.
"All this drama! The burden of always having to protect everyone," a man's voice spoke.
"We need magic, we have to find Bonnie! Bonnie can fix this, somebody just get me Bonnie!" Her friend screamed for her.
The elder woman appeared once again. "You stay away from this kind of darkness."
"I'm okay! Elena needs me," Bonnie answered.
"I'm just going to continue to hurt the people you love until you do the spell," A voice more sinister than the rest stated.
Visions began coming swifter. Images of Bonnie screaming over a man with his throat torn out manifested. Then a flicker of Bonnie being killed by dark serpent like parasites under her skin replace the one before it.
"She sacrificed everything for us over and over again, and then we were supposed to be there for her," Vampire said. His tone towards Bonnie changing greatly. The more visions Vampire filled the more in love he appeared to be with Bonnie. This surprised him. He would've believed Vampire to hate Bonnie.
"He doesn't hate her, I actually think he kind of loves her," That raspy voice friend of hers said as if she was speaking to him.
"You're the anchor now," A woman's voice said.
A vision of Bonnie in unimaginable pain as the dead crossed over to the other side flittered by. One after the other they went until their version of Valhalla was destroyed. The images to follow those were of Bonnie being trapped in some type of prison world, is what Vampire called it. There they were ensnared together until Vampire escaped and left her with a berserker who found amusement in hunting her
"You, Bonnie Bennett, are an amazing woman," Vampire's voice echoed throughout a vision of her emerging from a burning house holding the hands of two young girls. "You're my best friend. If anything ever happens to you, I will lose my mind."
"I'm tired of people leaving," An older Bonnie appeared before him. Older than she even now appeared to be. A burning keep flickered into existence and a dark haired man stood before her. Indifference laid claim to his face as he stared down at Bonnie. "I'm not leaving until you turn your humanity back on. I'd rather burn alive than be without you." Soon after she collapsed from the smoke. The mask of indifference worn by the man shattered. He lifted Bonnie into his arms and hurried out at an unnatural speed.
"Enzo has been there for me, every single time protecting me," Visions of her and this Enzo filter through his mind. The way she looked at him set his heart to flames. How could she possibly love another the way he loved only her?
"I will be by your side…," Enzo's voice echoed through the visions. Even as images of another demon snatching his heart from his back glinted into focus. Halfdan watch as Bonnie's scream ripped existence in half for the retribution of her dead lover.
"You know I'm happy that you're happy, I am," Bonnie's voice greeted his ears as an image of her with the same young girls as before spun. She wore one of her beautiful gowns and carried a bundle of flowers. "But when I see everything you have, your home, your boyfriend, your kids, your life, it makes me feel so alone. That I wanna die."
Halfdan clutched at his chest. Her words literally pained his heart. For everything she envied of her friend's life it would gladden him to give her.
"You're not alone, Bonnie," a woman's voice assured her. "Your happiness is a part of my happiness, always."
Another vision discovered her in the forest with her cursed friend. Which could only mean she was on the brink of death. Her friend seemed happy to be reunited with her until she realized the meaning of such a reunion. Bonnie, however, appeared relieved.
"You can't die! Not yet, you have to live and grow old and have children," Her friend's head shook as she spoke.
Bonnie smiled a smile which was reassuring in nature. "I'm okay, I get to be with Enzo now."
Her friend grabbed her. "No, this is wrong."
"I'm ready." A tear trickled down Bonnie's face.
"Well I'm not," the voice he'd begun to hate stated. Bonnie turned and there stood Enzo. The man he wanted to cut down like no other. She placed her hand in his. "Sorry, Love, but it's not your time."
More visions of Bonnie blinked in and out around him. Visions of her in impossible situations that she always managed to triumph over. He witnessed her and her familial line push back the very fires of Helheim. Halfdan had no doubt Bonnie's will alone, would win wars.
"Nobody knows how to fight, longer, harder, or better than you," Another voice echoed into existence.
She even managed to find a way to wake her friend without triggering the curse the berserker placed on her.
"I'm determined to keep my promise to Enzo. I'm going to live this life to the fullest." Bonnie's voice herald the changing of the vision. In her hands, she held strange parchment with even stranger symbols on them. The visions faded to blackness.
Halfdan released her forearm. He stared up at her with a matching pair of golden irises. His expression had grown even more impassioned than before. Her gaze narrowed as she healed the wound on her arm. The mystical energy swirling between them felt unstable. As if they were two seconds from a magical implosion. Everything in that moment felt like they'd been collision course approved. Something told her, she and he would collide no matter what trail they tracked or turn they made.
She opened her mouth to speak and his crashed down on hers. At first she attempted to pull away, but then she began to respond to the force she knew to be his nature. Again, she found herself swept away by another's lips. Yet, this kiss felt a little less supernatural and a lot more like first date bliss, relationship goals, marriage, closing on a dream house, filling it with kids, building a life, growing old and transitioning from this life to the after.
Halfdan severed the kiss with a series of lingering pecks. "You'll never be alone again. That is my vow to you, Bonnie Bennett," he whispered to her, before releasing her and helping her to stand.
Once she was steady on her feet, he bowed to her, turned and then disappeared into the crowd. She placed her fingers to her lips attempting to order her thoughts. Attempting to figure out exactly what the hell had just happened.
"Supreme?" The priest called to her.
She gave her head a little shake, before turning to look at the high priest. He watched her with an expression of practiced patience as Hvitserk stood next to him looking unsure of himself as usual. "Kneel." Without waiting to see if he did, she turned and walked back to her throne.
Once she sat, she wasn't surprised to find Hvitserk on his knees waiting for her next demand. She mentally shook her head. What the hell was wrong with him? Hvits was supposed to be the law. The strength of his words should rival that of granite. No one should have the authority or balls to question him, not even Ivar. Yet, every time she attempted to get next to him. To try and guide him towards the rightful path in her life things often went left. Hvitserk allowed Ubbe to throw road blocks between them. Maybe him sailing to the Mediterranean with them would be a good thing.
"Hvitserk Lothbrok, you've agreed to bleed for me," she stared down at him slightly irritated by the mere presence of him. "Are you still willing to open a vein for me?"
He glanced from left to right before, nodding once. Her eyes rolled at his lack of verbal response. She waved a hand for him to get on with it. Clumsily, he tugged the dagger from his trousers and cut a gash into his wrist. Without quite meeting her eyes, he offered up his bleeding arm. She swiped the open wound with her tongue, meaning to leave it at just a graze, but something about Hvitserk's blood was a little more potent than his brothers'. Unable to show any self-restraint, she latched on.
Visions attacked her foresight. Instead of images of the past, she saw the twenty-first century. A pretentious foreign car pulled up in a circular driveway of a massive mansion which looked as if it housed royalty. The door to the sports car opened. A black spike red bottom sneaker stepped out. Hvitserk slid from the car, and then immediately started tapping something into his phone. He wore all black with his hair pulled up in a man bond. The double doors to the house burst open and two school age kids, a boy and a girl, came running out. When he saw them, he stuffed the phone in his back pocket so he could pick them both up.
"Fader, tell Elena that when I turn eight I'll be a man," the little boy demanded with a set of wide serious aqua eyes. Eyes which clashed beautifully with his golden brown complexion.
The little girl watched Hvitserk with the same eyes as her brother. "But, Fader, mama said eight is too young to be considered a man. Bjorn is not even taller than me."
"Bjorn's right, Lena," Hvitserk said, nuzzling her face. "It's never too soon for a man to begin to know his own mind."
"Look who's talking." Bonnie nearly fell off her thrown when she saw herself come strutting from the mansion.
"Wife!" Lust shimmered within Hvitserk's gaze. "Is it not your mind to come properly greet your husband?"
Bonnie tore her mouth from Hvitserk's wrist and dropped back on her throne. What the out of time hell was that?
"W-what w-was that?" Hvitserk sputtered. He grabbed her hands. "Was that you and I in that strange land? Those kids…will they be our babe-,"
Instead of answering him she sliced her wrist open and slapped it to his mouth. He gazed up at her with wide questioning eyes like that of their children. Their children? What was she thinking?
"How's he been?" Hvitserk questioned as she reclined in his arms in a large marble tub.
Her eyes rolled. "Moody as hell, you know how he gets. He worries for the children. That he won't be able to keep them safe."
"We will keep them safe. Don't lend his fears the power to make you doubt yourself," he kissed her shoulder, while his hands moved to cup her breast. "We've had over a thousand years to plot and plan that bitch's demise. She will fall. This I swear to you, Hjarta. When will you approach the Mikaelson's?"
A smile hitched the corner of her mouth. "As soon as my past meets her future."
Bonnie snatched her wrist away from Hvitserk's mouth. They both sucked in huge gulps of air as they watched each other with unblinking stares. Hvitserk's solid gold eyes held a possessive glint. As if the vision had somehow empowered him. He stood from his kneel. His tongue and teeth licked and nibbled at the remnants of her blood which still stained his lips. With an unrefined bow of the head, he mumbled something she didn't quite catch and shuffled off into the horde of intoxicated fanatics.
Bonnie looked up to see the high priest waiting with Torvi. She smiled and stood. "Torvi, come," she said, waving her over.
Torvi's offering went almost identical as the ones who'd come before her. Once the exchange was complete she stared at Bonnie with such awe it bordered on worship. What the hell were they seeing? After Torvi, came Frode whom she learned was a seer, Blida, and Hilda. Then others until Lagertha was next.
When the high priest led her over, she attempted to kneel, but Bonnie raised a hand. "You're a queen, Lagertha. You kneel to no one." Bonnie stood. "You've agreed to bleed for me, why?"
"I would like for us to be of one accord, and it is my belief that through my blood you'll know the right of me," she said, maintaining eye contact the entire time she spoke.
"Very well," Bonnie inclined her head as she raised her hand. Her bejeweled ceremonial dagger appeared in the center of her palm. "Offer me that which sustains your life."
Lagertha took the dagger from her palm, slicing a gash into her wrist. She then placed the oozing extremity to Bonnie's lips. A spicy sweet cinnamon flavor overpowered her tongue. Visions of Lagertha's life in its entirety zipped pass her third eye. The once shieldmaiden was even more magnificent than she'd first believed. Once satisfied with what she saw, she removed her mouth.
"Thank you for your offering," she said, with even more respect than she had before. "Will you accept my favor?"
"Yes, Most High," her voice left her mouth in a breathless rasp. "I'm grateful to be bestowed with such an honor."
Bonnie healed her wound, before inflicting one upon herself. She then lifted her wrist. Lagertha latched on. Once done she stared at Bonnie with the same awestruck eyes. "You're a warrior."
Bonnie shrugged. "When I need to be."
"The wars you've waged, the demons you've fought, the losses you've suffered," The Earl shook her head. "Yet, your triumphs are ones for the sagas. Now I understand why you were chosen."
Without further explanation she withdrew her sword and dropped to her knee. "I pledge my allegiance and fealty to you. I do not relish time of war, but I do look forward to fighting at your side, Supreme."
"I accept your allegiance and fealty, Lagertha," she said, thinking of the many battles on the horizon. Mere scrimmages compared to what's to come.
She held out a hand to help her stand. "Thank you."
Bonnie watched her go, and then turned to find Ivar staring up at her. A small smile took possession of her mouth. She went to her knees and sat on her haunches in front of him.
"Ivar Lothbrok, will you give life to me by bleeding for me?" She asked him in a lowered tone meant for only them.
"Yes," He watched her with a steady gaze. "Are you prepared to do the same?"
"I'm prepared to die for you so that you may live for me," Bonnie said placing the blade of her dagger to her carotid.
Ivar placed his hand on the handle of the dagger. He tugged the weapon from her grasp. "No, My Love." He ran the blade down his forearm, before placing his offering to her lips.
The first drop of him fucked her dry. She could actually feel her pupils dilate. Minute electrical pulses attacked her face and neck. Her heart felt as if it would explode. Her magic whipped throughout her body. Inflicting slash after slash upon her veins and arteries in a desperate search for a means of escape.
A voice floated far off from the distance. "I'm a witch."
"Giving up so soon?" Bonnie's amused voice met Ivar's ears. "I'm embarrassed for you."
The scenery around him changed. Instead of kneeling in front of Bonnie at Kattegat's harbor, he stood in a forest. Shock nearly crippled him once more. He was standing! He glanced down at his legs. They looked as normal as Hvitserk's or Ubbe's. How? A whimper from a few paces away snatched his attention. He cast a glance at his surroundings. The ground was covered in snow. Bonnie crouched over a dark haired man who lay on his back. She a had a knife poised over his chest.
"Now it's your turn." She plunged the blade down, her aim true and the coward disappeared.
Once again the setting changed, next he watched her running, chant things in strange languages, and then stand in the middle of the woods while fire rained upon her.
. "Bonnie?" A man's voice called.
"The one and only," Bonnie's voice replied.
Ivar spun to locate her voice.
"I lost someone I loved and I'd do anything to take it back but I can't." She uttered at his back. "Whatever time I have left I wanna spend it with you so just come home."
"All of that fire, passion, and loyalty, you deserve much, much, better." Ivar turned again to see a dark haired man standing in a burning keep. "You love me, more than anyone. I'm sorry, Bonnie. The one thing I can't do is leave you."
Ivar's gaze narrowed on the oddly dressed man with slickened hair. Bonnie belonged to him. A gift bestowed upon him by fate.
"I have always wanted to be loved by someone in the way that you loved me," Bonnie's voice sounded just to the left of him.
"When it comes to you, love, I will never stop fighting, I will brave the oceans and sail pass the sirens to find my way back to you." The man's voice sounded from the right. "I fell in love with a human who makes me feel alive."
"I fell in love with a vampire who makes me feel alive." A Bonnie who'd known more summers than she should appeared before him. Tears filled her eyes, and she wore the face of a broken woman. "I love him so much and I'm terrified of losing him."
"Bonnie, Bonnie, if anyone can pull me back from the precipice it's you. You're strong enough to do anything you put your mind to," The Enzo man stood behind her staring at her as if she were the only woman he ever wanted to see. He more than understood this Enzo's affections, for he shared them.
"I'm not leaving you, I'd rather burn alive than abandon you," This time Bonnie's voice drifted from behind him.
"I never knew what it was like to wanna be with someone forever until I fell in love with you," she appeared before him as stunning as she always was, but again older than he knew her to be.
Before he could commit the details of the elder Bonnie's face to memory she disappeared. He was left standing in the center of a field. Stones with strange markings littered the open space. Bonnie walked among the stones. She slowed to take a moment to study each. Then his surroundings started to bleed into different places at a quickened pace. Each vision revealed Bonnie to be as powerful as he suspected. If not more. She was a force even nature couldn't dominate. Water to fire? How was that possible?
"Live your life Bonnie Bennett. All of it, promise me!" Enzo's voice echoed throughout the ever changing surroundings.
"Promise, I love you." Bonnie shimmered into focus in front of him, a fire goddess standing amongst her flames.
"I love you!" The man's voice answered.
"You've given your heart to another." His electric blue gaze scoured her face for even a hint of an answer. "Who is Enzo?"
Her mouth opened, and then closed. What the hell did he see? Why would her sorcery show Ivar visions of she and Enzo? He wasn't part of this! He was hers! The one perfect being in her entire life besides her grandmother who consistently put her first. All he ever wanted was to love her and be loved in return. Thanks to Stefan such an exchange between them would never grow or bear fruit.
Not speaking, she sliced open her wrist. "Drink, Ivar."
He slapped her arm away from his mouth. "I'll not drink, not until you speak to me of this man." His glare narrowed as they held the other's gaze. After a moment of her staring and him glaring, his expression turned accusing. "You love him…more than any other."
"It's not the same," she whispered, pleading with her eyes and words for him to understand. "He was my first true love, the love of my life. Enzo was my salvation."
"As you're mine, and I believed myself to be yours," The ache in Ivar's tone, and the hurt within the depth of his blazing eyes dusted her heart. Without another word, he turned and slithered away.
"Be at ease, Bonnie," Queen Aslaug wrapped an arm around her shoulders, "Soon my son will learn there are many different loves given throughout a lifetime. There are loves meant to change, sustain, nurture and enlighten. He'll encounter one or perhaps two of these loves with other women. Yet, with you he'll experience them all. Only then will he understand the emotions you have for this other warrior."