Interesting guesses everyone. Would you believe one person got it right all of the way?!?! ^_^

Still Klaus or an evil matt … interesting twist for a different story. We will have to see about them.

(Oh and this indicates someone thoughts)

~ This is a person speaking by telepathy ~

Disclaimer: Characters, places, and the like from the Vampire Diaries are the property of LJ Smith. I'm just borrowing them to create this tale. All other characters that have no ties to any other fics belong to me!

Chapter Seven

Nine twenty that morning, Damon and Bonnie left the County Clerk's Office with their marriage license. She could hardly believe that this wasn't all a dream. In hours she would be Damon's wife.

"I wonder just what kind of wedding my family can throw together by tonight. Damon, what kind of wedding would you like us to have?" Bonnie was still slightly scared that any talk of the ceremony would make him leave.

Damon shook his head. "Cara, if I didn't want this I would have never asked you. I love you Bonnie, and I am going nowhere with out my soon to be bride. As to our wedding there is only one request I have."

Bonnie sighed with relief. She was scared that all of this was unstable. But Damon had opened himself to her to show her he was truly excited about this and truly wanted her for his bride. "What is it?"

"My mother was very much like you love. She was Pagan by faith, and was raising me so. I suppose that she would have Stefan had she the chance. She did not have a handfasting as her people normally had at that time – my father forced her to convert when he forced her to be his wife. I want to have the marriage she was not allowed to have – including the handfasting." It took a lot out of him, but Damon made himself open to his Bonnie.

After all, this wonderful woman would in hours be his wife. She deserved to know everything.

Bonnie could see that telling her that much hurt her love, but she still had so many questions. "I was hoping for just that. So we're going to be handfasted. How long do you want? Year and a day, this life, as long as love shall last?"

"For as long as love shall last. This way if you ever change your mind, you will have a way out my sweet mother did not."

She could see for a moment that he was really afraid that one day Bonnie would want out of their marriage. "I'm only afraid that one day you will not want me. I have so many questions Damon."

"Ask me love." Damon said with no hint of hesitation on his part as he pulled over to the side of the road. Thankfully they had been heading for the boarding house to invite Mrs. Flowers to their wedding.

"Tell me about the woman who pulled us back together. What happened to her? Unless you don't want to talk about it." Bonnie instantly regretted the pain she put into his dark eyes.

"You deserve to know about the family you want to be married into." Damon sighed after a beat. It was so hard to face the pain and grief he had held back for so very long.

Amynta giggled as she ran through the field near the home her father had brought her too. Why her mother had been so grieved by coming to this place the young girl couldn't understand. It was so beautiful there, and she could easily see the ocean from anywhere on the main grounds.

Only one thing plagued her visit the young man who kept staring at her as if he owned her. He had yet to smile on her once. If anything he slighted her with his cold stares and disapproving remarks on how childish she acted.

She couldn't understand this Giuseppe di Salvatore. He was so cold, but her father and his wanted them to spend as much time as they had free with one another. The two men seemed so pleased at the sight of them alone, even if they did not truly care for one another. Beside he was twenty years old.

Amynta went on thanking the God and Goddess for the beautiful day and her happiness and her family, especially so for the mother who brought her up in the faith – rather than her father who was so cold because the girl preferred her mother's path to his.

She saw how these men who followed their Christ treated women. Her father once told her that all men should follow in Christ's example. But within these Christians she saw none who did as they preached on and on about. She also disliked how they separated those who did not follow their words for some place they called hell. They blamed all of the evil that men would do on something called Satan – a dark spirit who lead his demons to do in all of mankind.

To twelve-year-old Amynta this was all foreign and felt wrong. Her mother had taught her that all men are responsibly for their paths and choices in life. That all they gave out returned to them three fold. She was glad to know the Goddess and prayed that her father would one day accept her for who she was.

Then her mother called her back to the manor house. Her father stopped them, and tore the girl from her mother's embrace. "Where are you taking her?"

"Give me one last night to say goodbye and prepare her for what you have set before our Amynta." The older woman looked as if she had given up on life itself.

"Bring her back before dawn. She has much to do yet to be fit for the services." Her father sneered at them both, shoving the girl hard into her mother's embrace.

Without a word the woman rushed Amynta into the nearby woods and did not stop until they made it to a clearing. The elder woman hid Amynta under some bushes. "Stay here dearest."

She rushed ahead, hoping that the path would be clear. She would never force her beloved daughter into the servitude her awful husband had planned for the girl.

Amynta was terrified. She had no idea what was happening. After a time she heard horses. She could hear her mother whimpering.

"Come out daughter. It is almost time for your wedding."

Never in her short life had she hated her father as deeply as she did right then. That was why her mother had taken her into the woods – not for a ritual, but to escape the fate planned by her father. Amynta remained silent and hidden.

Given how the voice echoed, her father had no idea where she was. Amynta wasn't about to help him.

After some muttered whispering, she heard Giuseppe call out next. "Come to me my dear. Where are you my bride?"

"Child, don't be afraid. The words spoken by your mother were lies from the devil used to try and steal you from the one true God who loves you. Please come back to the light little one. Come back to us my little daughter." Amynta easily recognized the voice of Giuseppe's father. "She is possessed by Satan, and we are going to free her of his influence before your wedding."

(Then there will be no wedding.) Amynta decided for herself at that moment.

After a time the horses left with her poor mother. Amynta knew that she could do nothing to save her mother, but she would one day have her revenge.

Using the full moon as her light, the girl ran fast. Eventually night gave way to morning, but she continued to travel on – dodging all travelers on the roads. Nearly noon she stopped to rest at a fountain. She washed her hands and face and then drank after giving thanks to the God and Goddess.

She didn't notice the traveler until it was too late to hide. She quickly pretended to be an average traveler.

"Hello little one. What has you traveling this road on your own?" The man was handsome and seemed friendly.

Still Amynta felt this pang of fear that made her want to run for her life. "I am going home. I received word that my parents are in need of me and left last night to return to them."

It was not completely a lie, and yet not all of it was the truth. She hated to lie, but she wasn't sure if she could trust this stranger.

His dark eyes seemed shielded, as he looked her over. His long hair was so straight and dark that she saw little rainbows shimmering within the strands. After a few moments, the smile he gave her was terrifying. "So my little brother cannot keep his bride at home where she belongs. Well looks like he will owe me a bride of my own. In good time."

Suddenly the world grew dark.

Amynta awoke in the arms of the stranger. By the jerking sensations she could tell that they were on a horse. Roughly he sat her up and showed her a sight that would haunt her for all time. Her mother was standing with a noose around her neck.

"MOTHER!"

Her mother mouthed out the word 'remember', but that was all she could do. The priest kicked the chair away, and her mother jerked around until her body grew still.

"Mother." Amynta whispered. She would never forgive those who ended her beloved mother's life so horribly.

"Be grateful it was a hanging. My little brother, Giuseppe, wanted her burned to a stake the moment you saw her so her condemned shrieks of pain would teach you to obey as good Christian women should their husbands. By the way little sister, I am Amado di Salvatore."

In no time she was in the arms of her father. He turned her over to some wicked women who scrubbed Amynta from head to toe roughly while saying their prayers. Then she was whipped with a leather strap once for every hour she had delayed the wedding.

She was probed to make sure that she had not given away her virginity.

Then she was put into a white gown and marched into the family chapel.

The priest was so cold looking. "So you have finally come to give your soul to God and his son heathen child?"

Amynta started to speak out, but had no chance. Her father spoke instead. "Yes. She has seen what awaits her if she continues down the sinner's path her mother has put her on. Am I right, Amynta?"

"I saw." She wouldn't give herself willing for no one. All she could hope for now was that her true love would come to her side. Giuseppe's younger brother, Kinden di Salvatore.

"Does she give her life over to Christ and forsake all other Gods but the one true God?"

Again her father spoke for her. "She does."

The priest took Holy Water and wiped a cross on her forehead with it. "She is free of Satan at last. Now the shield you from his evil."

Amynta then saw that these priests were using the same ritual she and her mother once performed together. Water to purify everything, bread for earth (although for them it was the body of their dead martyr) and as cakes, incense for air (though they used it to keep evil away), wine (thought they said it was their Christ's blood), candles for light and protection. Amynta was not giving up her faith at all. How she wanted to laugh at them all, but she remained silent. Her mother wanted her to live and remember the truth – which she was going to do.

She took their bread and wine. All she was doing was finding a new face of the God and Goddess. For her this was a rededication ceremony. That was until the priest was nearly through with it. "And what now will be her name in Christ?"

No! She was going to lose her name as well!

Suddenly there was this feeling of peace that filled her with joy. She knew that Kinden was there, and he would protect her from what would have been her fate.

Her father spoke again. "I named her and wished that name to stand so that the devil knows what soul he has lost."

"Amynta you are then daughter."

Damon had a strange look on his face. Bonnie felt so safe. "So your mother's name was Amynta?"

"Yes. I loved her. But, Giuseppe was not mine or Stefan's father."

That shocked Bonnie. "Who then?"

"His brother – Kinden." Damon seemed so proud of that. "He was a man to be proud of. He was also our mother's true husband."

Amynta was dressed for her wedding. She hated that she was forced to be the bride of the man she hated. There were too many guards, so she could not run away again.

Without warning her ladies left the room. Kinden entered with a look of joy on his face. "My love."

"Kinden, I was afraid I would not see you again before I am forced in your brother's marriage bed." Amynta felt like breaking down.

Kinden pulled her into his arms. "He will not be your husband my love. Trust me?"

"Always."

"Then fear not. To all but us it will be as if he will be standing there at the alter, but I will be wedding you love. All he will have is your virginity. That I cannot avoid love. But it will be my children you will bear – not his. Don't ask … someday I will explain it to you."

Sighing with relief, Amynta rested in her love's embrace a moment. Then he pulled her back to smile on her happy face. "Until our wedding."

Damon chuckled. "I don't know how he did it, but Kinden did marry my mother instead of his brother – though all swore it was Giuseppe who stood at the alter and bound himself to Amynta."

"That is amazing. Could it be that Kinden was a vampire of some strength?" Bonnie preferred it when her soon to be husband was happy.

He thought silently for a moment. "I suppose that it is possible, but we will never know. Giuseppe killed him and later my mother."

Stefan was born on Beltane. Now, a full three years after, Amynta was exhausted more than when she bore Damon. She could feel her life slipping away. If only Kinden were there.

She smiled as her little first born son ran into the room. "Mother, will you come outside with me to whisper?"

"Not this day my precious little boy. I am not well my Damon." In truth she knew that she would soon be gone.

"Father will summon the doctor, and when you are better we can go outside to whisper." Damon adored his mother.

She taught him the truth and never lied. She taught him what happened to his grandmother, his mother's awful life, and who his true father was. She was the face of the Goddess on Earth for him. And his real father was the face of the God to the seven-year-old boy.

Amynta held nothing back from her young son, for she knew that he would be without her soon.

Giuseppe came in, anger etched on his face. "Boy, go back to your nurse. Your mother is ill and should not be bothered now."

"Please call for the doctor, father." Damon called the man that, but it was his true father he called his papa.

"Do as I said boy."

"My true father would take care of my mother better than you do!" Damon snapped. He hated Giuseppe with all that was in him.

Giuseppe too disliked Damon. He always wondered if the boy was his brother Amado's son. The boy looked like him, and it was Amado who brought his wife back. Still he was the one to take her virginity, and he did it so harsh there was no doubt who owned her. It still irked him that she barely whimpered as he rode her, but all of her maids swore that she called out in pleasure when they started to check on her.

"I am your father boy. Get used to it!"

"No you are not!" Damon growled.

Amynta grabbed her son hard on the arm. "Damon, that is enough. Giuseppe, he is worried for me. He doesn't know what he is talking about."

"That had better be the truth my wife." Giuseppe snapped as he left the room.

She sighed. "Damon, never speak the truth of that … not even to your little brother. Let Stefan find his own path in life. But please protect him for me. Promise?"

Damon knew that the end had to be coming. "I don't want you to die mother."

"And I would not leave you my little boy had I the choice. I know that I'm nothing to anyone. It is time for me to go." Amynta sighed painfully.

"No momma. You are everything to me. Don't go away momma." Damon felt his heart shred.

Then came a voice from the window. "And you are something to me, my wife."

"Papa! I knew you didn't go away forever!" Damon rushed into Kinden's arms.

"And have you been a good boy, my son?" Kinden acted as if he had only been gone a few hours, not three years.

"Yes papa. Please help momma. Father won't. I hate him." Damon hugged his birth father tight.

Kinden sat beside his love. "Ready to go with me, love?"

Amynta smiled weakly and nodded. Then she looked over at her son. "Damon promise me that you will take care of your brother for me. I won't be there to protect my little boy or my little bambino. He is going to need his big brother."

"I want to go with you and papa!"

Kinden ended that argument. "And what will Giuseppe do to your little brother with out you here to protect him? He needs his big brother."

"Okay. But will I see you again momma … papa?" Damon hated the idea of losing both of his parents.

"On your wedding day. We will be there." Amynta vowed.

"Won't father know that you've gone?"

Kinden hugged his son close. "We are going to take our time. We have to make him think that your mother has died. Then I'll pull her from the casket and leave. It will be a few days, then you will be told that your mother is gone."

"Be a good boy, and take care of yourself and your brother." Amynta weakly hugged and kissed her son.

"Bye momma. Bye papa. I love you both." Damon gave both a kiss.

"Giuseppe came into my room three days later and said I was going to boarding school. That my mother was dead and it was time I learned to be a productive member of Florence society." Damon shook his head. "I made myself a handful at the school until I was finally brought home and tutored for University."

"So you could keep an eye on Stefan?" Bonnie was amazed that her love has this in his history.

Damon nodded. "Once it was time for me to go to the University, I had saved Stefan's life ten times. But we were never close. He was the reason I wasn't with our parents."

"And now?" Bonnie really wanted this feud over with.

"And now. He is my brother. And we have a wedding to plan." Damon turned on the car and pulled back onto the road.

"Could Kinden have been a vampire?" Bonnie asked innocently.

Damon had never considered it before. "I suppose. It would be nice."

"Why?"

"Because, you'd meet your in-laws tonight if she is a vampire." Damon secretly hoped with all of his might that was the truth.

"Yeah, she promised to be there for your wedding!" Bonnie was excited. That would be the best thing to happen to all of them.

Damon too was hoping it would happen. He missed his real parents more than he'd ever admit to, even to his future bride.

By the time they finished at the boarding house, Damon was fully excited about the night ahead. The couple made it to her house just as Bonnie's friend Holly pulled into the driveway.

"Hey Bon-Bon!"

"I hate when you call me that Holly!" Bonnie groaned at the sneaky smile on her future husband's lips.

"I know. So what is the big time surprise you have for me … other than you look fantastic! What happened with the cancer?"

Damon spared his love from having to lie. "The last treatment tried turned out to be the one needed."

Bonnie grinned. "Yeah, looks like I'm in remission."

"Great! Is that my stunning shocking surprise?" Holly pulled her friend into her arms.

"No. I'm getting married tonight." Bonnie gritted her teeth as Holly squealed with glee right into her more sensitive ear.

"So is it that hottie on the other side of this fab car?" Holly rubbed Bonnie's arms with a chuckle.

"Yes, he is mine. And to make this better …"

Holly pouted that she missed out on a cute guy. "How can you do that? He's got a brother?"

"Not a single one. No, we want you to perform the ceremony." Bonnie couldn't wait for Holly to see Elena again – that was going to be fun.

"Oh! Thank you Bonnie! I'm so happy for you! You got my bestest friend left here …um"

"Damon Salvatore."

Holly stared wide-eyed at him for a moment. "As in Stefan Salvatore? I see the resemblance."

She was really wondering if Bonnie remembered what happened to Elena Gilbert. Bonnie knew then it was time to tell Holly everything.

It took an hour (including waiting for Holly to calm down her tears and finish hugging Elena), but finally Holly understood the story. She was so happy for her friends.

The group all sat together and planned out what was going to happen that night. It took two hours to plan and set a list of what was needed. Then the ladies and gents separated.

Damon and Bonnie slid out the back door to gain a few moments more before losing the rest of the day.

"Did you feed, Bonnie?"

She loved how he was so protective of her. "Yes love, you saw me sneak into the kitchen while Holly was having her fit of joy. Are you hungry?"

"I hunted while you were upstairs with Mrs. Flowers. What were the two of you doing?"

"She showed me this beautiful lace dress that I agreed to wear tonight. You know something old … yada, yada, yada."

Damon kissed her softly. "You still happy with this? Marrying a vampire like me?"

"I am marrying the man I love, and the man who saved my life. I have never been happier than this. I love you Damon Salvatore." Bonnie snuggled into his embrace.

Damon pulled off his jacket and put it on her shoulders. "And I love you soon to be Mrs. Bonnie Salvatore."

She pulled it on her arms and smiled as he zipped it closed. This was the moment of their lives they had both secretly desired all of their lives.

In the shadows an evil chuckle glared at the happy couple. "Now to have my fun."

He followed the ladies as they ran off to the boarding house for Bonnie's dress. What he didn't know was they weren't the only ones being followed.

"Go to the boys and when I signal get them wherever I say. I think that it is time I make good on my promise."

He smiled on his still vivacious wife.  "Have fun beautiful."

"You too handsome. And say hello to our boys for me."

"Just until you see them again."

They split up fast and followed both groups.

So how was that?

Time for trouble to hit hard.

And you guys think that your in-laws are pains!

Try her uncle-in-law … or is it her father-in-law?

And who is following who?

Do you guys hate me yet or what?