AN: Thank you for the reviews and reading this little story. I hope you enjoy. This is a bit short, I think, but I just needed to end it at a good place. Stay safe and be good people.
Chapter 6- Hell and High Water - Part 4
Bennett Residence
A full moon was high in the dark sky, but Bonnie's vision was limited to what was directly in front of her, which was her hands and she could make out that she was wearing her favorite black leggings and a blue oversized sweater. She felt the cool air on her face and her hands were cold as were her feet which she realized were without shoes. The dense suffocating fog surrounding her caused her to be directionally challenged, not knowing if she was walking in a straight line or in circles.
She heard the snapping of twigs, felt the fog shift as if it was being displaced and then she felt the presence of something...something overwhelming...something wanting to overtake her.
Instincts kicking in, Bonnie ran mindlessly, not knowing where she was going, just trying to get away from the thing that was chasing her. Because she now knew it was chasing her.
Breathless, sweat pouring down her face, neck and back, Bonnie continued to run. What sounded like a roaring tornado tearing and ripping up anything and everything in its path drove Bonnie forward, even as her legs burned and she cut her feet on the rough terrien causing them to painfully bleed.
All Bonnie knew was a fear that compelled her to run and so she did, she ran with the sound of her heart beating in her ears, she ran, lungs burning, straining for air, she ran...
XX
Bonnie awoke from another dream, heart pounding, gasping for air, sweaty and confused. She remembered the dream, but couldn't fathom what it meant. Was it a warning? Was it a prediction? Bonnie didn't know anymore, she was just tired of the dreams.
XX
The night was clear and the stars were out and the moon was bright and Bonnie found herself walking towards the forest beyond her house. She knew what called to her, making her leave her warm bed, it was the sound of crying. Curious, she started walking, following the cries in the night.
The crying grew louder, down the path, passing the small creek, further into the woods, deeper she went until she saw it. Under the weeping willow tree was a wooden cradle.
The cries continued.
As Bonnie walked closer she saw a miniature viking ship with norse symbols etched into the soft wood. From the bottom to half way up the cradle was painted a deep brown, the top part was painted mossy green, between the two colors was a gold stripe separating the two colors. The bow of the cradle had a mermaid intricately carved with painted tan flesh, black long curls and several different metallic shades of greens for the tail. The mermaid was less seductive and more child-like, cute and appropriate for the baby's bed. On the side of the boat shaped cradle a bronze name plate was attached, it read 'Smár Döglingr', which Bonnie had no idea what it meant.
The cries had stopped, but the baby whimpered in the cradle, drawing closer Bonnie now stood over the crib, but a very sheer netting, hanging from the tree's branches, was covering the top, so she couldn't see the child. Reaching out her hand tentatively, she moved the netting, to find a child laying on top of soft square-shaped silk pillows, of deep purples, golds, blues and greens, and covered with a thick blanket of wool, linen and animal skin. The movement caused the little babe to stop whimpering to gaze up at her.
Bonnie gasped as she took in the vision before her. She couldn't fathom any other child being more beautiful than this little boy, with dark brown curly hair framing a cherubic face with big ocean blue eyes feathered with long curled lashes, a button nose, pink lips and skin the color of sun bleached sand.
He was so adorable and she was captivated by the little tyke, reaching for him before she realized it. In her arms he smiled and cooed, blue eyes meeting green. He stared into her eyes as if he was trying to communicate his thoughts to her. His intense and steady gaze gave her deja vu, but she couldn't ascertain why.
She held the child tightly cradling him in her arms, smitten with him. She felt a warm, tiny tingle in her arms, it shocked her and she realized he had magic and his magic was "introducing" itself to hers and she felt a spark of something profound.
Bonnie didn't know how long she stood there with the baby in har arms, but a sudden sound startled her. Then she felt a menacing presence coming near, the child started to whimper again. Panicked, Bonnie took off running back home with the child bundled safely in his blanket.
She heard hissing and smelled a foul scent that was following behind, so she ran faster…
She ran until she was at her front door, stopping to open the door she looked down to make sure the precious cargo was okay, yet when she moved the blanket it was empty, the babe was gone.
XX
Bonnie woke again breathing heavily, sweaty and so very tired. She wondered about the child and the thought of him brought a sadness to her that she couldn't explain, while it also warmed her.
It had been a week since Lucy had left and every night she dreamt of Grams, or running, or an angelic baby boy or her younger self. She was tired. Tired of the cryptic dreams. She was tired of the interruption to her life. She was tired of not getting her sleep.
Every night, every fucking night the dreams came almost nonstop, sometimes overlapping, sometimes one dream would repeat itself over and over again causing her to stay awake for fear of returning to the dream.
Her Grams or the spirits or something was trying to drive her crazy, Bonnie was sure of it.
Then the dreams stopped. Bonnie thanked the goddess thinking her prayers had been finally heard and granted. And for two nights Bonnie blissfully slept without dreams. She thought that she out stubborn-ed them, that they finally got the message to leave her be.
The following night, the reluctant witch slept peacefully, dreamless. And she unknowingly succumbed to a deep slumber, so her magic ebbed out of her weary body, no longer contained by her will.
Expression moved around the room, tendrils of magic like living fog swirled and danced. Not to be outdone, spirit-born magic flowed out of Bonnie, tendrils of living gold lit up the room. Both forms of her magic swirled and mixed. An equal blend of harmonious power, the two sides of Bonnie, yet only able to exist together while she was unaware.
The united magic, like a rush of wind, filled the house, then rushed out into the night to saturate the Bennett property, causing everything it touched to come to life.
It was the witching hour and it was time for her to dream again, to dream of things she wished she could forget.
Her magic obediently returned to its mistress and Bonnie was none the wiser, but her magic knew and hummed in delight.
XX
Bonnie stood in the Salvatore boarding house waiting for Elena and Damon to Explain to her what was so important that she had to be there at eight O'clock in the morning on a Saturday.
Bonnie had plans and they didn't involve Damon and his shit, and not Elena either, although spending time with her best friend would have been fun. But recently, more like currently and steady, Elena was attached at the hip to Damon. It was pretty sickening actually, but Bonnie just went with it since Elena was her best friend.
Bonnie planned on going hiking with Matt and her boyfriend, Josh. She was planning a hiking trip since she was taking a year off before college. She needed a break from any form of school and she needed a break from Mystic Falls. So hiking it was and she needed practice to increase her cardio and endurance.
Damon poured a drink and walked over to Elena, taking her hand in his.
"A bit early for a drink isn't it Damon?
"What judgy, jealous you aren't old enough to legally drink?" He asked sarcastically and then winked as if to say 'gotcha'.
"What leech, jealous you don't have a heartbeat," Bonnie quickly retorted in a sing-song manner, giving a wink herself.
"See the kitten has claws. How cute." Damon was about to add more when Elena interrupted.
"Damon you promised," she slightly whined. "Besides this is important," we need her help, was left unsaid. Elena said with a baby voice, rubbing his arm.
Bonnie rolled her eyes.
"What is it Elena," Bonnie inquired, concerned as she walked to her friend, but also ready to get on with the conversation since she had other places to be.
Elena looked to Damon as if for moral support.
Bonnie hated that ever since Damon came into their lives Elena seemed to lose more and more of herself, always needing him to 'protect' her, being overly demanding and acting as if she was perfect just because he thought so, albeit Lucy said she was always a selfish little brat. Bonnie only saw her sweet innocent bestie.
Ever since the teenage witch could remember, Elena was her best friend, so was Caroline, but when they were around eight, Sheriff Forbes received a big promotion to homicide detective in New York and they moved away. Caroline didn't visit, but she did write to Bonnie over the years but the frequency lessened as they got older and more of life's demands took over. Bonnie missed her friend very much but she felt abandoned and so she clung to Elena more.
Most people that left Mystic Falls didn't return. It was somewhat strange, either they stayed, never leaving or wanting to venture outside of their quaint town, or they left and never looked back. Bonnie speculated that it was the supposed freedom from the supernatural world that caused an exodus and no return. Everyone in the small town was well aware of the supernatural history of the town and inhabitants that lived there or, for some reason, was always drawn to the place like flies to shit. And that is what she thought of Damon. He was a fly on shit, a vampire fly on shit.
He was the eternal shit stirrer and Elena was consistently in shit. Perhaps it was because she was a doppelgänger or maybe it was because she seemed to love rolling in the shit with Damon, Bonnie couldn't be sure.
Elena always had a need and love for attention. If she wasn't the center of it she created ways for the attention to be drawn back to her. Bonnie didn't really mind because it was Elena and she and everyone else knew it was her way and indulged her. Elena was Mystic Falls' sweetheart.
Elena's parents spoiled her and made her the center of their world, which was a bit off putting since Jeremy was her twin and seemed to be less favored. Bonnie figured it was a girl thing. As Elena grew from a child into a young adult she assumed that everyone's world revolved around her and with the return of Damon Salvatore, it seemed to be a true assumption.
Bonnie couldn't understand what Elena really saw in Damon, yeah he was pretty hot as far as looks go and he could be very charming, but then his arrogant, egotistical and narcissistic side came out and you wanted to put a stake through his heart. On more than one occasion Bonnie had given him aneurysms for this disrespectful ways of treating and talking to her.
The more Bonnie had thought about it she concluded it was his bad boy image and his supposed undying love and devotion that made Elena cling to him, because no matter how she acted he was there by her side. It was a dependent/codependent relationship. The funny thing is, Elena was dating his brother, the smarter and nicer one by far, but once she set eyes on Damon, it was over.
Elena detached herself from Damon and walked Bonnie to the couch so they could sit down.
"Bonnie, there is a bad witch after Damon and we need you to go to her or maybe have Grams talk to her." Elena said, giving the best performance of her life. Hoping that Bonnie would feel bad for her.
Bonnie looked incredulously from Elena to Damon. Damon was an idiot, is all she could think.
"What did you do? Witches aren't going to go after a vampire for no good reason, so what did you do?"
Elena hurriedly spoke up getting bonnie to focus on her again. "Bonnie, he was trying to save me. She wanted my blood and he stopped her."
Bonnie knew something wasn't right, like she was getting bits and pieces of the story. "If you stopped her what is the problem?" Bonnie knew that Damon would do anything for Elena, even pick a fight with a witch. The sad thing about it was Elena encouraged this stupid behavior because it was for and all about her.
"He stopped the one that was after me." Elena whispered reluctantly.
This was like pulling teeth, Bonnie thought, which meant he did something that made things worse and they didn't want to reveal it.
"Damon what the hell did you do?" Bonnie demanded.
"Look, the witch was after Elena, said she needed some blood. I said no, she insisted so I dealt with her." Damon revealed nonplussed.
"Meaning you killed her." Bonnie glared at him as she read between the lines.
"He had to bonnie because she wasn't going to stop coming after me." Elena implored as a few tears drifted down her cheeks. That did it, Bonnie softened her tone as she spoke, holding Elena's hand.
"So the witch that is after you, is her….what? Part of her coven..?"
"Apparently she had a sister," Damon supplied.
Bonnie's eyes widened and her hand tightened around Elena's, Damon was not stirring the shit, he was waist deep in it dragging her best friend along for the ride.
"Oh my god Damon, you have a pissed off witch out to avenge her sister after you and you expect me to do what?" "You're a fucking old vampire and you didn't think before you decided to kill a witch, which by the way I so don't approve of and you should have known better. How have you lived this long?" Bonnie was furious.
"Use that witchy juju or sister witch code you got to talk her down. Or get your grandmother to intervene." Damon acted as if he was not affected by this situation, but he knew he screwed up and his life and maybe Elena's were on the chopping block.
Bonnie stood up, "You have got to be kidding, there is no way in hell that Sheila Bennett is going to get involved in this shit show for a vampire more specifically a dumbass vampire named Damon Salvatore," she huffed.
"But for me she would, wouldn't she? Please, please Bonnie help him. She wants to kill him and I love him so much, I will die without him, please at least talk to her or something." Elena begged, now outright crying, real tears cascading down her cheeks, her eyes red and puffy.
Bonnie felt really bad for her. She didn't want her friend hurt emotionally or physically. All it took was tears, she never liked to see Elena cry. Bonnie could never handle seeing other people in pain. It killed her, like it hurt her physically. Everyone knew that.
"I'll see what i can do," she sighed heavily
XX
To be continued...