Chapter 12: Gluttony

Date: October 19, 2019

Warnings: None.

A/N: It took me so long to write this. I'm sorry.

"Grams!" The dense fog muffled Bonnie's cry for help. Everything around her was murky. The fog faded to darkness as it settled on the ground, wafting near Bonnie's feet as she walked; afraid of what she might run into. Her vision was limited to about three feet in front of her, anything beyond that was a blur. She shuffled around blindly as she listened for a response. There was nothing; not even crickets. The Other Side was eerily quiet. There were only the sounds that came from other lost souls, the voice in your head which served as background noise, and the earth-shattering roar of the Soul Eater that lurked.

Ayanna warned her about the creature. Every so often, it would awaken and roam around, seeking souls to devour. No one knew its origin or how to defeat it. They only knew that if you encountered it, that was the proverbial end of you.

Ayana survived it for centuries. She discovered a section that the Soul Eater never visited. It was a safe ground. No one knew what was special about the area but Ayanna spent her time rescuing souls by bringing them there. She called it Haven; a play on Heaven since no one there would ever see the place. Bonnie was instructed never to leave Haven. Though safe, Haven was darker than the rest of the realm. It was nearly impossible to see in front of you. Bonnie wondered if that's what kept the Soul Eater away.

Bonnie found herself far beyond the safety of Haven. It would be remiss of her not to look for the one woman who loved her unconditionally, on earth and beyond. She ran into every ancestor imaginable, except for her Grams and she couldn't explain why. Bonnie feared the Soul Eater had gotten to her. That was beginning to look like the only rational explanation. Why else couldn't she find her?

"Gra—" Bonnie stopped in her tracks when she felt hot hair breathing down her neck. Her nerve endings went on high alert as dread overwhelmed her. Its breath smelled like decayed flesh and the heat of it nearly melted the skin right off her. Bonnie allowed fear to paralyze her for five entire seconds before she set her jaw in steely reserve and turned around to face the creature.

As she expected, it was the Soul Eater.

Nothing could prepare her for the sight before her. What stood before her looked more like a Hellhound, whatever those looked like. Its' eyes glowed white-hot, like the sun on an overcast day. It stood taller than Bonnie at about seven feet, its back arched like a feline ready to pounce. Along its back was huge spikes that could have been hair… or fur. Its' razor-sharp teeth were yellow and extended outside of its mouth and drool dripped slowly from its lips to the ground below, barely missing Bonnie. It was hyper-aware of Bonnie and looked as though it was ready to pounce at any given moment but something held it back.

"Not this one." Bonnie turned to find her grams standing behind her with the same steely reserve she'd just presented. Pride and comfort swelled in Bonnie's chest; Grams always showed up on time.

The beast snarled at Sheila. The timbre in its chest rumbled in Bonnie's feet. Without warning, the creature opened its mouth and released a long, guttural, hair-raising roar that echoed for miles in every direction. Slowly, the creature began to retreat, taking its thunderous steps with it. The breath Bonnie had been holding escaped with a sigh of relief. She was sure she had met her demise.

"Grams… I missed you so much," Bonnie greeted before moving to hug the older woman. Much to her dismay, Bonnie fell right through the apparition and that feeling of dread returned with full force. "What?"

"Shhh. Sleep, child." She had no time to protest. Everything went null.

-X-

Bonnie awoke drenched in sweat. She wasn't able to tell if her dream was just that or was it a premonition for something to come. It felt as if something was missing. Why was her grandmother suddenly in her visions? Was it Grams or was it her mind longing for her grandmother's presence. Bonnie chose to believe the latter. The entire time Bonnie was dead, she found it odd that she saw no signs of Sheila. It never sat right with her but she had to focus most of her energy on coming back to life.

The Soul Eater was all too real to Bonnie. Countless times she and Ayana escaped its clutches. Ayanna was her saving grace and since coming back to life, her thoughts often lingered on her ancestor. Despite being dead, Ayana remained hopeful throughout the centuries. Ayana's belief in her is what carried Bonnie those three months she was trapped. Still, what gnawed at Bonnie most was the fact that she saw no signs of Grams. For the first month, Bonnie searched tirelessly for her but to no avail. To calm herself, Bonnie hoped that Sheila had made it to a better place. It was thought that all supernaturals went to The Other Side but Bonnie had to believe that her Grams passed on peacefully.

Either that or she fell prey to the Soul Eater.

Bonnie shuddered. The faceless creature was the star of her reoccurring nightmares and until tonight, it had never revealed itself to her. It was creeping up on three years since she'd been resurrected and she still hadn't gotten over the trauma of death. The more she thought about it, her body temperature increased as she angrily thought about the hell she went through; coupled with the fact that no one noticed she was gone. She realized after her chat with Klaus last night that she still hadn't come to grips with it.

They dared to demand her help after everything she'd suffered through.

She gripped the bedsheets until her knuckles turned white. Indignantly, she flipped the covers back and hopped out of the bed. She braced herself, awaiting the coolness of the wooden floors to travel to her knees, but it never came. She glanced down and noticed the throw-rug beneath her. It wasn't there the night before, which meant Klaus had to have placed it there while she slept. She gently rubbed her foot across the shag rug. The plush material made her temporarily let go of the anger she felt previously.

"Damn, this is nice," she murmured. Bonnie never pegged Klaus as thoughtful, but she couldn't deny his impeccable taste and could only imagine how much he spent on it. Snapping out of her reverie, she made moves to get dressed. She owed Scooby-Doo and his gang of misfits a visit today.

"You know eventually, you're going to get sick of doing this every morning." Bonnie descended the steps to find yet another full spread of breakfast items. Even as she criticized his flair for the dramatics, she loaded her napkin with a croissant and two apple tarts. She glanced over at Klaus who sat at the furthest end of the table looking oddly normal reading The New Orleans Tribune while sipping his coffee cup of blood, she assumed.

"My staff needs something to do and the people of the 17th ward appreciate the leftovers," he explained away as he sped through an article about the local gun violence.

"I can't even begin to picture your white ass in Hollygrove," Bonnie snorted. To her surprise, Klaus chuckled and set his paper to the side. Bonnie couldn't help but notice his white Henley. It stood apart from the darker ones he usually wore. Her forest green eyes drank in his appearance as he stood and rounded the table. His black leather pants accentuated his long legs and gathered at the tops of his high-top sneakers. The necklaces he never seemed to leave the house without, dangled against his clavicle and Bonnie began to wonder when the hell she cared about his appearance.

She would never admit it aloud but, he looked good.

"By all means, darling, buy me a drink first," Klaus smirked when he noticed Bonnie eyeing him. She scoffed and gave him the finger. "Gladly! However, that would require dinner at the very least. I'm not that type of girl," Bonnie's lips twitched into a smirk despite her mean expression and Klaus grinned at her expense.

"Don't you have college co-eds to terrorize?" Bonnie glanced at her smartwatch and noticed that it was 7 am, way too early for any student to be up on a Sunday morning.

"I've always preferred witches, Love." Bonnie ignored the flirtation in his tone and sidestepped him; ignoring the smell of his cologne.

"Yeah well, this witch would prefer that you get lost." Klaus grinned again, stretching those pink lips of his across his face. She wasn't sure what it was but he seemed relaxed. Maybe it was the fact that they struck a truce but it was jarring seeing this side of Klaus. He almost seemed normal. He was beginning to remind her of Damon and his arrogance.

"Don't forget, I can still take you," Klaus threatened with no real intention behind his words except pride. Bonnie rolled her eyes and waved him off.

"Not even on my worse day," she countered. She finished up her light breakfast, mourning the food she would never eat, and grabbed the keys of the car he loaned her the day before. It was a nice S-Class Mercedes and if he knew any better, he would ask for it back before she got used to it. "Don't wait up," she called over her shoulder teasingly as she left out of the house.

-X-

The last person Damon expected to visit him was the Bennett Witch herself. It had been several weeks since her showdown with The Ripper and Damon spent his time tirelessly trying to keep Stefan from slipping off the rails. His baby brother had such an 'all or nothing' approach to everything and it was frustrating to reason with him. When he wasn't busy killing himself with guilt, he was busy killing, period. Caroline was annoying as ever but at the very least, she had a handle on her bloodlust. The blonde and the Ripper were given strict instructions to stay out of sight and not to step out of line. Damon did not doubt that Bonnie would come back to finish the job had she heard about any of them going rogue.

"Judgy…" Damon stood before her in his signature John Varvatos black tee and dark wash jeans. He reeked of bourbon and judging by the glass in his hand, his one-man party was in full swing. Damon took a step to the side as Bonnie forced her way in.

"Damon," she countered. She glanced around the parlor with her nose in the air, casing the place. "Did you stake your brother for me yet?" Before he could answer, Stefan appeared from behind him. Bonnie's expression remained stoic. "Guess not."

"Bonnie," Stefan began to speak and Bonnie didn't have to wonder which version of Stefan was standing before her. "I want to apologize for attacking you. I had no excuse." Bonnie gave him a once-over, looking for any sign of insincerity. Stefan had mastered apologies. Sometimes she wondered if that's all he ever did.

Bonnie wanted to be a 'bitch' but she refrained and kept her snarky comment to herself. She wasn't in the mood to entertain any of them. "I didn't come for apologies. I came to… where's Caroline?" Bonnie interrupted herself when she realized the blonde was missing.

"She's out; probably shopping. Her humanity is back on if that's what you're wondering." Damon answered with annoyance; not at Bonnie but Caroline. They truly did not like each other. Bonnie ingested the information and continued.

"Anyway, I didn't come here for any apologies." Bonnie measured her next words carefully; she was sure that they would not receive them well. "Klaus and I have called a ceasefire. That said, I need you all to back off. This need for revenge is only going to get you killed and while I don't necessarily care about you two, I care about Caroline." The look on Damon's face was enough to let Bonnie know that this wasn't going to go as easy as she'd hoped.

"What deal?! Bonnie, that's the enemy! When has Klaus ever been a man of his word? You trust this?!" Damon eyed Bonnie incredulously. He couldn't believe the words coming from her mouth. If anyone hated Klaus more than him, it was Bonnie. "Where is all of this coming from, Judgy?!" Damon couldn't picture Bonnie willingly making a deal with Klaus of all people. He looked at Stefan for help but the brown-haired vampire simply stared at Bonnie silently with a pensive expression. "Feel free to chip in at any time, Buddy," Damon deadpanned.

"I said what I said, Damon," Bonnie asserted. "I'm not about to explain myself to you. I'm looking out for myself and ironically, it's in my best interest right now not to have Klaus as an enemy. You may not remember how exhausting it is to be his central focus but I do. I'm always the one making the major sacrifices and doing the heavy lifting. If it's any consolation, he has no clue you guys are in town and he doesn't know what you're planning. Damon, I know you. You never let things go but I'm asking you this time to let it the fuck go, at least for now." Even as she spoke, she knew her attempts were futile at best but she had to try. Damon Salvatore never knew when to say when. It's what made him so effective in a battle but it was also his most infuriating quality.

"No." Damon dug his heels in the ground. "I don't know what he threatened you with, Bennett, but this is just more proof that we need to take his ancient ass out once and for all. I let it go for two years. Two years, Bonnie! No. I didn't come all this way to stick my tail in my ass. If you won't help us fine, I'll figure it out on my own." Bonnie's eyebrow raised at Damon's tone, she glanced at Stefan only to be met with his usual brooding and pensive expression. Bonnie shrugged her shoulders and made to leave.

"Fine. It's your funeral. Don't drag Caroline into this or I will murder you both," she threatened before disappearing from their sight. Both brothers stood in silence as they processed what happened. Stefan was the first to speak.

"Something is off," he observed. Damon gave Stefan a blank expression.

"Yeah, no shit, Sherlock." Damon's annoyance was at an all-time high. He had no patience for his brother's antics.

"No, no, no; I mean, something seems off about her." The Bonnie that threatened to pull his heart out of his chest was different from the Bonnie that showed up moments ago. He couldn't explain what it was but ever observant, Stefan smelled something fishy.

"Well, duh! She made a deal with Klaus, Bonnie would never. Not Mystic Falls, Bonnie; I don't know who this bitch is but I prefer high and mighty Judgy Pants."

"Why? Because she was easier to manipulate?" Both heads turned to find Caroline standing in the door frame that Bonnie previously occupied. The blonde was outside when she heard the exchange between the brothers and Bonnie. Shame and guilt forced Caroline to stay hidden until the coast was clear. She didn't know how to face Bonnie after their last encounter.

"That's not what he meant, right Damon?" Stefan gave a disapproving frown when Damon refused to answer. "Wow. You're no better than Klaus."

"Yeah? Well, I'm not preying on teenage witches to get them to do my evil bidding." Damon could hear the hypocrisy in his sentence as he spoke and it nearly made him cringe.

"At least Klaus is honest about his intent. All we ever do is lie to her," Stefan pointed out. Bonnie's words the night he attacked her stood out to him. He was always aware that their Elena obsession was a bit over the top but until that night, he never understood just how everyone around Elena suffered because of it. Whether they intended to or not, he and Damon destroyed their lives. The guilt was almost crippling.

"So now I'm the bad guy? Fuck all of you." Damon no longer felt like being backed into a corner so, in a huff, he stormed out of the room leaving Stefan and Caroline to process what just happened.

-X-

Beneath his complexity, Klaus was a simple man with simple pleasures. To love and be loved. However, over the last Millenia, that quote became 'To terrorize and be feared'. There was a certain type of power that came with watching people tremble with fear at the mere mention of your name. That power was addicting. He spent his human life cowering in fear of Michael. His father beat and tormented him at every turn and what came of it was a bitter and broken man. Klaus never had the opportunity to heal from his traumas as a human, so as a vampire, he spent centuries redistributing that pain unto others. Every now and then, his humanity tickled at his core and compassion slipped through. He could count those times on one hand.

A drunk and broken Bennett witch in his vestibule was one of those times.

He didn't have many regrets; none if he was being stubborn. However, he could admit to himself that maybe he jumped the gun casting the binding spell between him and Bonnie so quickly. He didn't know Resurrected Bonnie. He didn't know how much she had in common with him.

Loneliness was their greatest foe and their biggest motivator. At his core, everything Klaus did was linked to this. He pushed people away for fear that they would leave him. He sired an army of hybrids, not only to defeat his father but to create a family of individuals that he knew for sure would never leave his side.

Ultimately, none of these things sufficed.

He was in New Orleans alone. No family, no hybrids and no one to fear him. His father's words, just before Klaus drove the stake through his heart, always haunted him. "Who do you have, but those whose loyalty you've forced." True to Mikael's words, he forced her loyalty and like others he'd done similarly, she wouldn't be around long.

Now all of a sudden he had Bonnie in ways he never expected in any of his wildest dreams. He wanted to keep her. In a cruel twist of fate, that compassion that never surfaced decided that now was the time to do so. He had no guilt about anything, but after their talk, he wondered just what he'd gotten himself into.

It annoyed him that he had no real direction. After Mystic Falls, he had no goal to work towards. For most of his existence, he endlessly searched for a way to break the curse his mother placed on them. Once that box was ticked, he no longer had an agenda. For someone with eternity ahead of them, that wasn't a good predicament to be in. Not having a plan was the quickest way to self destruct and while his past behavior closely resembled self-destruction, there was always a method to his madness.

Only now, there was no method and it grated his nerves.

"I must say, Niklaus, you were never one to go into a situation half-cocked so, I'm a bit surprised." Elijah's voice crooned on the line, jolting Klaus out of his sedation.

"Not half-cocked," he countered, "I just need to focus on the end game." As always, Klaus reached out to Elijah when something was heavy on his mind. While Klaus was busy trying to gain control of the city he helped build three hundred years earlier, Elijah was on a quest, finding information for Rebekah to aid her search for finding the cure for vampirism. Elijah believed it to be a fool's errand but he wanted his sister to achieve happiness or at least a resolution.

"Quite frankly, I think you should take some time to connect with your inner wolf. Tell me, Niklaus. Have you shifted since the curse was broken; not of necessity, but for personal curiosity?" Klaus paused. He couldn't say that he had. The first time he started his transformation, Bonnie nearly killed him. Since then, he never bothered to shift. He hated feeling vulnerable, even if it was for a few moments. "You've never shifted, have you?" Elijah was an expert when it came to reading Klaus. He didn't have to be near him to do so.

"I will shift when I please." Klaus was stubborn.

"What a waste. To have waited your whole life to unlock a core part of your being, only to further suppress it. What are you waiting for, Niklaus?" Elijah didn't understand. His brother was never satisfied with what he had, even when he worked hard to obtain it.

"I said. I will shift. When. I. Please." Elijah dropped the subject.

The phone call didn't last much longer. Klaus implored Elijah to join him in New Orleans, goading him to include Rebekah as well. Elijah made no promises of Rebekah's attendance but assured Klaus that he would visit him once he was through. After hanging up with his brother, Klaus sat quietly before an art canvas staring at the splotches of paint. He wasn't sure where the direction of this painting was going but the journey always turned out to be half the fun.

"Why haven't you shifted?" The voice came from nowhere, it seemed. Klaus didn't flinch. He could feel her magic long before she entered the room.

"Eavesdropping. I didn't take you for the type." Klaus teased, not at all miffed at her invading his privacy. He wasn't talking about much; no secrets.

"You had it on speaker, Dummy." Klaus smiled. It was nice being around someone who wasn't intimidated by him. As enthralling as it was, it was sometimes tiresome… and annoying. Being around Bonnie kept him on his toes, and he didn't necessarily have to get violent to achieve this excitement. Everything about her was thrilling. The violence was just a bonus.

"Oh, to bite the hand that feeds you…" Klaus tsked.

"Oh shut up, Klaus. You do it every chance you get," Bonnie reminded. Klaus shrugged as if to say, 'touché'. He took a moment to notice her attire. A small black dress with a golden zipper down the front that held everything staunchly in place. Everything she wore hugged her curves, it seemed. Back in Mystic Falls, she dressed like a nun so Klaus barely spared her a glance in her everyday attire.

Her blonde hair took some getting used to but Klaus thought it fit her. It reminded him how different this Bonnie was from the Bonnie that nearly killed him during their first face-off. Back then, she channeled over a hundred dead witches and still didn't scratch the surface of her potential. Even now, she held back.

"I never shifted for the same reason you keep your true powers at bay." In all honesty, Klaus didn't know what being a wolf meant but from what he's experienced, it meant being vulnerable and he hated that feeling; almost as much as his wolf hated being locked away. By the look on her face, he could tell Bonnie hadn't expected his answer.

"What do you mean? I'm more powerful than I've ever been." Klaus scoffed at her retaliation.

"And yet you continue to resort to parlor tricks. When you start acting like a real witch, I'll act like a real wolf," he countered. With a roll of her eyes, Bonnie leaned against the doorjamb. She folded her arms across her chest as she scanned the room. It was dusty like most of the rooms in that house. Sheets covered mountains of old furniture that lined the perimeter of the room. In the center sat Klaus on a wooden stool with an easel in front of him. His dark gray t-shirt contrasted against his skin. His sandy blonde hair was unkempt and paint decorated his fingers. He looked out of his element. She knew that Klaus was artistic, the drawing he sent Caroline years ago was proof; however, she never dreamed that he practiced regularly, or that he was good at it. Her theory was that he compelled someone to draw that picture for Caroline.

Klaus Mikaelson was too diabolical for anything considered 'fun'.

The more time she spent with him, the more she learned about him. He was no longer the subject of her nightmares. He was becoming more… human.

She wasn't sure how she felt about that.

"My parlor tricks keep your ass in line." She was so busy daydreaming that she nearly forgot they were going back and forth.

"Something on your mind, Love?" Though he teased, Klaus was genuinely interested. Of all the people he's met, Bonnie was the most mysterious to him. He was always a sharp judge of character and could read people fairly well; partly how he stayed alive for over a thousand years.

"Have you heard from Marie at all?" Klaus's movements stilled. He wasn't sure where this line of questioning was headed. He placed his paintbrush down and slowly turned to face her with a suspicious glint in his eyes. Bonnie didn't notice. "I want to see if maybe we can change her mind about killing Marcel." At Bonnie's clarification, Klaus relaxed slightly. Paranoia compelled him to keep Bonnie away from Marie at all costs. Marie used information as a weapon and if revealing the spell he had on Bonnie ever benefited her, Marie would sing like a canary.

"Why would you ever think that would work?" Bonnie could hear the skepticism in his voice. She shrugged.

"I don't. I just don't want to repeat the same bad habits from the past. No one ever sat around and talked shit out in the past. We just assumed no one could be reasoned with and acted accordingly. Now granted, we were up against your unreasonable ass, but I know Marcel and I know Marie. At his core, Marcel just wants to be left the hell alone." Bonnie paused to give Klaus a pointed look. She would have to shelf the issue between Marcel and Klaus for another day.

"As for Marie… well, no one truly knows what her end game is, but I'm sure she wants to live in peace, too. Why can't we just come to some kind of agreement before we start slaughtering each other?"

"Shit gets done quicker this way," Klaus answered candidly.

"Yeah, and I usually get caught in the crossfire somehow. It never fails. If you guys want my help, I call the shots. Find a way to get Marcel and Marie in the same room without them trying to kill each other."

"How is this my problem?" Klaus was instantly annoyed by Bonnie's antics.

"Because I made it your problem!" Bonnie and Klaus stared each other off. They were both stubborn as mules but Bonnie had more to lose than Klaus so she refused to back down. With a roll of his eyes, Klaus folded and nodded in agreement. He wanted to wring her neck for backing him into a corner but he had to admit to himself that her taking control gave him a bit of a thrill. While he took pleasure in torture, he was truly a masochist.

A long look at his love life was proof of this. He had fallen for some of the vilest women in history; not from their brute strength, but their manipulation tactics. Tatia was the first of them. She was a master manipulator who presented the facade of innocence. Klaus was naturally drawn to purity. But like everything that captured his attention, it wasn't what it seemed.

Tatia had done a number on both he and Elijah. Which one of them she truly loved, neither of them knew, but back then, Klaus wasn't as hardened as he is now. He allowed himself to fall for Aurora de Martel. They met while his family fled Mikael. She too presented an innocent front which drew him in. She viciously broke up with him upon finding out that he wasn't the nobleman he presented himself to be and turned her back on him upon learning that his father was hunting them. The betrayal hardened Klaus for hundreds of years. Each time he opened himself up, he was viciously let down.

He was sure Bonnie would be no different. He didn't trust her. Yet every day he found himself growing more and more fond of her.

Was this an unintended side effect of the spell? He wondered if Marie had done something to him as an insurance policy. The thought of Marie betraying him made him seethe with rage. He had no interest in killing Marie but he would if he needed to.

"Careful, Love. I may have promised not to kill you but I can get creative." The tone in his threat made Bonnie remember why she and her friends spent years squirming under his thumb. Their powers made them both feel invincible. Still, nature always had a way of humbling you, even in the most ironic way.

Bonnie squared her shoulders, ignoring the jolt of adrenaline that shot down her spine and settled in her belly. Her eyes glowed as she glared at the Hybrid. "Go chew on a shoe, Cujo." It was Bonnie's way of deflecting.

"Dog jokes, how mature," Klaus bellowed behind her, watching as she disappeared down the hallway. He smiled at the middle finger she offered and kissed at her retreating figure.

He was almost shocked when he felt her magic pinch his mouth shut.

A/N: I apologize a million times. I hit a roadblock with this story something awful and kind of lost sight of where I wanted to take it. Please share your thoughts. It helps to see where you guys see this story going. Again, I apologize for making you all wait 800 years between chapters. I'm not satisfied with this one and I rewrote it several times so if it sucks, I promise it'll get better. The Klonnie scenes are there to showcase how they are beginning to evolve, however, things will be shaken up eventually once she learns what he has done.

Thank you to those that are still reading. I appreciate your support more than you know. It's what fuels me to keep going honestly.

Until next time, which hopefully won't be too long…