A/N: Had to change the rating after this chapter.

11

Dark Knight

Stefan's drove the red sportscar fast, far faster than Bonnie felt comfortable with. But nothing in this scenario was intended for Bonnie's comfort.

Caroline rode shotgun. She had tried to sit next to Bonnie at the backseat but when Bonnie tried to literally bite her, she moved to the front, having the audacity to look hurt.

That left Damon, who gave her a fangy grin as he entered the car. "Go ahead, witchling. Just remember I bite back."

The back-seat was roomy, but you couldn't tell from the way he pushed against her, all but squeezing her into a corner.

"Damon, stop," Stefan said, glaring at them from his mirror.

"What?" Damon retorted, not taking his eyes off Bonnie as he wrapped a finger through a curl of her hair.

"Stop it, Damon," Caroline said weakly. She feared the older Salvatore as much as she hated him.

Or Bonnie thought she did. At this moment, she wasn't sure of anything where her ex-friend was concerned.

As Bonnie turned her face to the glass, so that she won't have to look at Damon's leering face, she caught Caroline's guilty gaze and gave her friend a look of pure hate.

"Or what, Blondie?" Damon snorted, shifting even closer to Bonnie.

"Or I won't help you with whatever you have planned," Bonnie hissed, still not looking at him.

"Oh, you will," Damon insisted, "because not knowing the truth about your father will eat you alive."

Bonnie whirled on him, not minding that they were almost nose to nose. "What do you know?"

He leered. "That would be telling, won't it? Information isn't free."

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, opened them. "What do you want?"

"Now, we're talking."

But he didn't say anything, just kept smiling and inching closer to her.

"Well?" she snapped, wishing with everything in her that she could use her magic to burn off his face.

"All in good time." He played with her hair some more. "Let's get to our apartment. Get you more comfortable…"

"Stop it, Damon!" Caroline snapped. "I mean it."

"You shut up," Bonnie hissed. "You traitor."

"Bonnie," Caroline said weakly.

"I can't believe you. I can't believe you!"

"You'll understand soon, OK? Once you hear the whole story, you'll…"

"In your dreams. We're finished, Care. Do you understand me? We're done."

Caroline burst into tears. Stefan shot Bonnie an angry glare. "Don't be unreasonable, Bonnie."

"You're just lucky you're on witchbane. I'd kill you second, right after my ex-friend in the front."

Caroline sobbed harder. Stefan growled under his breath.

"Oh shut your yakking!" Damon groused. "Or let's stop and get you girls some mud so that this'll really be interesting."

Bonnie snarled at him and he just laughed. "Oooh, who knew that Little Miss Perfect Witch had so much fire?" he leaned even nearer. She was pressed so tightly against the door that she was worried it might give under her weight.

"What's that?" Stefan asked suddenly.

The mounting tension in the car paused as everyone's attention turned to the windscreen. Bonnie wasn't sure, but it looked like there was something on the road.

"Is that a person lying there?" Stefan asked.

"Oh my god," Caroline sniffled. "I think it's an accident. See the car in front?"

"Or some copy-cat borrowing our own 'wait on the road for suckers' technique," Damon said darkly. "Drive over it, Stefan." When Stefan slowed down instead. He pushed away from Bonnie to put his head between the front seats. "Drive over it, I say!"

"Shut up, Damon," Stefan snapped as he deliberately pulled the car onto the shoulder and stopped. He unstrapped his seatbelt and got out.

Damon growled under his breath. In the front, Caroline was still sniffling.

Bonnie ignored both of them, as she looked around her, wondering if she'd have a chance if she used magic to open her seat door then made a break for it. The stretch of road passed through the woods. She could head into the heart of it. The witchbane that made the vampires immune to her - also impaired their magical powers. They didn't super-speed or strength, and their lapus lazuli daylight rings would have no effect on them. Indeed, ingesting too much witchbane - or ingesting it too frequently - would prove fatal to all magical creatures eventually.

If she moved fast, she might just get away.

But did she want to? As much as she hated this whole situation, Damon had a point - she needed to know what happened to her father and if this was the only way…

Her eyes glanced despairingly at the road, idly following Stefan's form as he approached the figure on the granite. She frowned, staring at it. It looked oddly familiar. So did the car up front. In fact, she realized, as she scanned her surroundings again, this whole stretch of road seemed oddly familiar…

"Where is this place?" she asked.

"Someroad, Virginia," Damon drawled.

"No, I mean it. Where is this place?"

Caroline sniffed, looked around - then her breath caught. "Oh, Bonnie!"

"You monsters brought me here on purpose, didn't you?" Bonnie cried, tears filling her eyes.

"What's going on?" Damon snapped. He turned to Caroline. "What's wrong with her?"

"This is where her Dad died, you bastard!"

Bonnie wiped at her cheeks, angrily. "Don't tell me you didn't know."

"I didn't know that! I'm not the one who decided to stop the car and play the Good Samaritan in the middle of a witch-napping. What the hell is Stefan doing… Where the hell is my brother?"

And everyone in the car fell suddenly, shockingly silent - as they realized that he was nowhere in sight. In the minutes, they'd been distracted by Bonnie's realization of their location, Stefan had vanished.

The body on the road was gone, too.

Caroline gasped.

Damon swore. "I said it, didn't I? What the frigging hell!"

He reached for the handle of the door, then pausing, he turned warning eyes to Bonnie and Caroline in turn. "If both of you are not still here when I get back, I swear to…" He didn't finish but the threat in his face was clear. He slammed out of the car and started moving towards the spot where the body had laid.

"Caroline, the keys are in the car. Let's get out of here," Bonnie said urgently.

Caroline turned hopeless eyes to Bonnie. "I can't leave Stefan."

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Bonnie exploded. "It's bad enough that you're working with them against me - that you told them about my father and let them use it against me - but now, you won't even save yourself?"

"Stefan is fine," Caroline said nervously, conveniently ignoring everything else Bonnie said. She looked around the windows anxiously. Damon was standing in the middle of the road, looking around just as worriedly. "You'll see…"

Bonnie glared at the side of her friend's face. Then with a whispered spell, she sprang her door open and took off.

"Bonnie! Bonnie, stop!"

Bonnie didn't. She had plunged into the woods and now ran as fast as she could. Behind her, she could hear Caroline's voice - followed by Damon's. They might not have super-speed at the moment - but they still had longer legs and greater physical strength than her slight body. Her best chance was to lose them by twists and turns.

For a while, she thought she did, their voices fading behind her. She slowed down, exhaustion catching up with her, and tried to reach for her phone in her back pocket.

Then she heard a scream - a positively blood-curdling scream.

"Caroline!" Bonnie whispered under her breath, and she stopped, frozen. Her heart was pounding. Caroline sounded scared out of her mind. Had Damon done something to her? Or had - she remembered the vaguely familiar figure on the road - something else happened to her?

Caroline screamed again - and suddenly fell silent.

Bonnie started running in earnest. Whatever had got Caroline must have been the same thing that took Stefan. The Salvatore brothers, she could deal with. The effects of witchbane were not permanent; and soon she would be able to defend herself against them. But this - she had no idea what this was. It flashed through her mind briefly that with her magic, and Caroline's lack of powers, Bonnie could try to help. But that was insane. She'd be walking into danger herself and for what? Her friend who had betrayed her for the sake of her on-again off-again shag?

And now as her feet pounded, she was hearing all sorts of noises. Sounds of struggling, groans and blows. Sounds of being dragged along the ground. Fire? Could she smell smoke?

Her heart was pounding, her sides were aching as she reached a clearing - when a hand flung out, grabbing her wrist and then she was being lifted clear off the ground and yanked backwards into a tall, hard body.

Bonnie screamed - but it was muffled by a warm palm on her mouth. She tried to bite it, and she heard a warm chuckle in her ear that made her freeze.

She twisted in the grip - her captor let her - and she choked as she looked up to see the face of Kai Parker.

"Fancy meeting you here," he said, his eyes dancing with mischief.

She stared at him, wide-eyed, heart pounding from a mixture of panic, exhaustion and … excitement.

"Gonna scream if I let go? Devil you know and all that?"

She shook her head.

He removed his hand. He still had a firm grip on her, and now with his arms wrapped around her back, he walked backwards into the thick of the woods, dragging her with him.

"It was you on the road, wasn't it? What did you do to Stefan?"

He smirked. "Now that would be telling."

"And Caroline? Damon?"

He didn't answer but his smirk broadened.

"What did you do to Caroline?" Bonnie insisted.

"Blondie's alive… for now. Why you care, I don't know."

"I care because I don't like seeing people get hurt."

"Says the girl who sucker-punched me a few days ago." His smirk twisted into a snarl as he yanked her body hard against his. She could feel his heat, smell his scent, feel the warmth of his breath wash against her face. "Tell me, Bon, do you always kiss and kill?"

"Please let me go, Kai," she whispered, shaking - but not completely from fear.

His hand rose up to stroke her curls - his other arm still firmly holding her against him - and Bonnie told herself that she found the gesture as frightening and invasive as it had been a short while ago from another man.

"I saved your life," he murmured, his fingers tightening in her hair enough to sting her scalp. "Don't I get a thank you?" His dark eyes dropped to her mouth.

Her breath caught. Involuntarily, her tongue came out to moisten her lips.

He groaned and bent low, but his mouth only brushed against her cheek.

She whimpered. "Please." But what she was begging for, she didn't know. His mouth was so near hers. She turned her face to catch it, but he ducked, his lips landing on her other cheek. "Please, Kai."

"I want you to beg," he murmured against her skin, tasting the velvety softness from her cheek to the back of her ear. "I want you to ache, and twist and want for me."

I do, she sobbed in her mind but she said nothing, panting in earnest now.

The hand in her hair slipped out, palming the back of her head, then sliding down her back, slipping forward at her chest to palm her breast - she moaned out loud at that and he chuckled darkly - then down her waist, and curving around her ass. He yanked her to him again, and she felt him, hard and ready for her.

Her hands grabbed his belt, tugging. She hadn't even realized that her arms were free until now. But now, there was no thought of escape in her head, she wanted him too much.

"What do you want, Bonnie?" he murmured against her throat, his teeth nibbling, then soothing with his tongue. His hand had gone from caressing her butt, to sliding under her waist band. There was no belt for him to deal with and before she realized it, his fingers were in her panties.

Oh god. "Kai, please," she cried, jerking hard against him. His fingers were working their magic - their familiar wonderful magic - in her. Her head dropped on his shoulder, giving up on getting that kiss, as she rocked into his hand, tears stinging the back of her eyes.

His other hand slid from her back to her ass, pulling her so that she hopped on him, her legs wrapping around his waist. Her arms went around his shoulders, feeling his hard muscles working. He turned around and her back was against a tree, his weight crushing her after he raised her higher.

She didn't mind. Not when his fingers were strumming her like his favorite instrument, her thighs dripping while his teeth pulled down the flimsy strap of her blouse, so that he could tongue her through her bra.

"It … hooks… in the front," she gasped. She pushed into his face, not thinking of anything again - the vampires, her father, the coven, the blood on his hands - not thinking of anything beyond just how badly she needed this man's mouth, hands, cock in and on her. His whole body was moving against hers, and it was not enough to feel him through his cotton shirt. She reached for the hem, and wrapped her arms around the smooth skin underneath, revelling in the feel of his muscles moving against her palms.

He groaned around her nipple, then his mouth let her go - making her cry at the loss and the cool wet air - before travelling to dip into her cleavage. "I know," he breathed, then moved to the next.

She moaned. He was doing this on purpose, driving her to the edge but on his own terms. She was jerking against his hand desperately now, afraid that he would stop - he would pull back and leave her frustrated. The pressure in her core was growing, darkness creeping into the corners of her eyes, her magic beating against her skin, taut and ready, on the edge of losing control.

"Come for me, Bonnie," he whispered

Yes! And it happened, her magic lashing free as her entire body, soul and mind peaked and she collapsed, weak and limp in his arms.

"Oh god," he moaned, his hands working his belt and she helped him, eagerly; she gasped as he shredded her panties like paper, and then he was inside her, filling her, groaning her name against her skin, and she rode that crescendo again as he fell apart in her arms.

For a long moment, they just held each other, breathing deeply. Then his arms loosened, and she slid off that tree, now feeling the pain of a thousand, tiny bruises she must surely have now. He adjusted his jeans while she put her clothes back together, sneaking glances at him but unable to look at him directly.

She still wanted him to kiss her.

She still wanted to kill him.

When they were done, they stared at each other. The smirk on his face had gone - replaced by a twisted helplessness that mirrored her soul.

She looked away first. After a moment, he took her elbow and led her out of the woods. They walked silently until she got to Stefan Salvatore's car. It was empty.

"Where are they?" she whispered, speaking for the first time since… everything.

"What do you care?" he retorted, sounding just as before. She yelped as he all but shoved her into the driver's seat.

The keys were still in the ignition.

"Drive."

"I care about Caroline," she insisted, looking up at him. "Don't hurt her."

"I already hurt her," he said darkly. When Bonnie gasped, he rolled his eyes. "She'll wake up with a horrible headache. If the witchbane's worn off, her daylight ring will work. If not, then she'll get a little sunburnt - she's lying in the thickest part of the woods. Now… drive."

Bonnie wanted to ask him about the Salvatore brothers - but there was a darkness in his eyes that told her not to dare.

She turned the ignition - then paused again.

"We're going to kill you," she said softly. "The coven. We're going to catch you and destroy you."

His face twisted into a grin that made her shiver, and press her knees together at the same time.

What was wrong with her?

"Careful, Bonnie. I might begin to think you actually care."

"I'm not warning you!" she hissed.

"Aren't you?" he scoffed.

She gave him one last poisonous look, before she stepped on the gas and the little red sportscar flew down the road that had taken her father's life.

All the way to campus, her mind replayed the last moments in the wood over and over again. She felt satiated. She wanted him again. She was furious he hadn't kissed her. She was ashamed of herself. She wished she had seized the chance to kill him. She wondered when they'd do it again. She felt and thought and wished for a myriad of conflicting things.

The one thing that never even occurred to her was regret. Given the chance, she'd do it all over again.

She was walking into her dorm room when it hit her. The car that had been parked on the road, beside the 'body'.

She recognised it.

"Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water…"

Stefan woke up with his mouth tasting of burnt clover. For a confused moment, he wondered if he had passed out after dosing himself with witchbane - then it hit him. Someone had just force fed him some more. He could feel the lack of strength in him.

His eyes flew open in panic.

He was tied to the foot of a tree. Above him, the dark green light filtered down from the thick overcast. He was just within the edge of a cleared patch of wood, a foot or so from where the sunlight shone brightly on the incongruous sight before him a jeans-clad, dark-haired man in his mid-twenties fetching a pail of water and humming a nursery rhyme.

"Jack fell down and broke his crown and Jill came tumbling after."

He offered Stefan the wooden pail with a smile that positively screamed 'you're a sucker, if you fall for this'. Stefan stared into the clear water and shook his head.

"No, thanks and if you don't mind my asking, what the hell is going on?"

"You sure?" the guy asked, ignoring the question and staring into the pail, then shaking it so that the water splashed on the grass in what Stefan imagined was supposed to be a tempting way.

Stefan shook his head firmly.

"Good call. Probably isn't very hygienic." He flung the water into Stefan's face.

The cold shock drew out a shout from the vampire as the man laughed and laughed and laughed. And did Stefan imagine that his skin tingled a little?

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Stefan shouted

"Excellent," the maniac in front of him said between chuckles. "You're not frying so the witchsbane's kicked in again."

Stefan's heart thumped.

The other man must have read the fear on his face because he raised his hands in pacification. "Oh, don't worry. I gave you just a sip. Should last … give or take a couple of hours. Just a little longer than the time it will take that patch of sunlight in front of you to shift nearer and nearer and … well, let's hope it doesn't get to that. That's the whole point of the additional motivation."

What did that mean?

Suddenly it occurred to Stefan. "Where's Caroline? Where's my brother?"

"Blondie's hitch-hiking back to campus as we speak. And as for your older and not-so-wiser sibling… you almost drank him a few minutes ago…" The man shifted so that the well was in clear sight.

Stefan felt horror rise inside him. "You didn't… he isn't…"

"I suppose he drowned eventually in all that vervain. He's been waking up like clockwork, screaming his head off then drowning again."

"Why are you doing this?" Stefan shouted.

For the first time, the humour on the man's face shifted into something darker. "I don't like people touching my things." Then it shifted back into its manic humour. "Plus I need the truth about Nova Scotia, the quest for Expression - and what the heck - throw in Rudy Hopkins's death as a thank you to me for not killing the redundant Blondie."

"W… what?"

"I figured that either your life or your brother's should motivate you, and decided to cover both bases. Effective, right?"

Stefan shook his head slowly. "You are going to regret it."

The man chuckled. "I don't think so." He glanced at his watch. "Ooooh, ten more seconds. Let's get started, shall well?"

And just on cue, Damon started screaming.