~*~
"Mr. Salvatore?"
"Yes?"
"It's Antonio, sir. You're needed here."
"What's wrong? Is there a problem?"
"Well..." A pause. "...There's been an accident."
***
"Bonnie, where are you going?"
It was well after one AM and Elena watched as Bonnie picked up her coat from the hook on the wall. Stefan had sternly told her to stay home and away from the club. She hadn't argued.
"Out...I need to get some fresh air."
"Having trouble sleeping?"
A long pause. "Yeah..."
Elena nodded, the television momentarily on mute, as she regarded her friend seriously from her spot on the couch. The redhead opened the door, a strange expression on her face; a mixture of annoyance coupled with something Elena felt was guilt.
Bonnie was halfway out the door when Elena's voice stopped her again.
"Are you sure you don't need to talk about something, Bonnie?"
The voice from the living room was quiet, concerned. Unsuspecting of her true motives.
It made her stomach hurt worse and the pounding in her head only increase.
She didn't turn around as she answered, her voice sounding unconvincing despite her best efforts, "Yes, I'm sure."
Her friend didn't reply this time, and Bonnie could sense the blue gaze on her back like white fire. Her hand tightened on the doorknob and for an instant, she turned her head partially towards the beautiful woman on the couch; her friend from childhood, one who trusted her completely. The one who got it all.
"And Elena?"
This time the blonde responded. "Hmm?"
"Thank you."
As Bonnie left, Elena sat up straighter, contemplative. Just what the hell was going on there? Bonnie had been quite silent this past few days, yes, subdued even. But unhappy? What exactly was troubling her?
Where was the perky, bubbly woman with whom Elena was supposed to be spending time with, but who obviously wanted nothing to do with her at the moment? Especially these last few days?
Supposedly, she was just needing time alone. Difficulty sleeping she'd reasoned. But was there more to that than met the eye? It had been this way for a while now. Ever since that night at the club when Elena had snuck upstairs with Stefan, into that back room and...
But Bonnie didn't know about that...Or did she? And if she did, it wouldn't bother her...Or did it?
Elena wondered if she was the only one with secrets now.
***
"1 AM is a dangerous time for such a lovely woman to be out on the streets of New York alone..."
"Go to Hell. I've got worse shit to deal with in my life. To tell the--"
In her anger, the voice didn't even register in her mind. For the moment. But then it clicked.
The soft trace of a lingering accent, the hushed but still arrogant tone...Bonnie stopped dead in her tracks as she very, very, slowly turned around to face the pair of midnight eyes she knew were staring.
Her senses went into overload as they picked up the wild, ridiculously strong Power aura that surrounded him like a cloak. It fit rather aptly. He could very well play the role of a King of Darkness -- After all, Elena had almost become his Queen. Quickly, she regained control of her own powers and took a deep breath.
"To tell the truth..." She began again, serious, "I'd rather be jumped right now than live my life."
A chuckle, black eyes boring into hers. Why had she come this way, exactly? She'd strayed from the upper-class area where Elena lived and had wandered, blindly, into a dank, dirty, and apparently dangerous area. And ran smack into one of the most Powerful vampire's she knew. (Not that she knew very many, of course...)
"What's so funny?"
"You are."
Bonnie felt humiliation that turned to rage boil in her veins. "And just what's so fucking funny about me?"
"I know why you're here." His voice was calm, controlled. It made her furious.
"Oh, do you now?" Her lips formed a nasty sneer and she watched as he took a step into the light cast by a dimly lit streetlight.
"Yes."
God, he was gorgeous. How had she ever been surprised Elena slept with him? She'd screw him right now if she wasn't so angry at him, at herself, at the world...
"And why's that?"
"You're playing the game we all play at least once in our existence. You're fighting against Fate and the way the chips fell. I know what you want. I know *who* you want."
Bonnie felt a heated flush burning brightly on her face, and she was caught between shock and indignation. She nearly choked and had to take a good few seconds to even open her mouth to speak.
"H-How did--"
"Tsk, tsk. You're not very careful with your mind, my dear," he interrupted. "Your mind was like a book to me, what, with your shields down and all..."
*DAMINT!* Bonnie mentally cursed herself. Wallowing in her depression and envy, she hadn't even thought to block her mind.
She felt the brush of another mind against hers; a silky, seductive whisp like a feather.
/Get out of my head, Damon!/
With a laugh that made her rigid knees want to buckle and give out beneath her, and turn her into a groveling puddle of mush before this sex-god's feet, he withdrew his mind from hers.
He leaned against the lamp post in that familiar, leisurely way of his, that only Damon Salvatore was capable of; as if he owned it and the entire space surrounding them.
For all she knew, he could've.
Her mouth opened, closed...Opened again...Closed. She didn't even know what to say to this man, this vampire who made her breath catch and who was laughing at her...Who, for all she knew, could grab her, have his way with her, and drain her dry, mercilessly.
At this point, would she even care? The way things were going, probably not.
"What do you want with me, anyway? Why are you wasting your time?" Bonnie's tone was harsh, her irritation surfacing finally, overpowering her sexual drive towards a man she should fear.
He looked thoughtful for a moment, pensive, as his head tilted off to one side and his arms, clad in dark, soft leather, folded across his muscular chest. Black eyes freely, shamelessly, roamed her body. She wished she'd dressed with a bit more clothing.
Not that she'd exactly mind, nor care, if he took her right here on the streets of this disgusting place. Not like she was very close at getting who she *really* wanted into her bed any time soon.
He seemed to know her thoughts and she slammed up another shield. Damon only smirked.
"Oh, believe me, Red. If I had wanted to fuck you, I would've done so a long time ago...Not," he added, tone picking up in a manner of almost a sexual purr, "that I would mind, of course. You're a beautiful woman. But...I'm not interested in your body right now."
Bonnie thrust her hands deep within the pockets of her jacket. "And what are you interested in? I asked you that already and I'd like an answer."
"What you'd like, really isn't my concern."
"Fuck you."
"Maybe later, love. I told you just before--"
"Oh, shut up!" She stamped a booted foot on the ground and her eyes were heated with anger. She didn't want to deal with this arrogant, self-centered, vain, son-of-a-bitch right now...Even if he was drop-dead sexy.
He sobered. "Touchy, aren't we?"
Bonnie made no reply.
Damon sighed, stepping closer to her with what seemed to be a defeated nod. "Alright. I see you're in no mood to play with tonight...So I'll get straight to the point."
"Good idea."
He stood directly in front of her now and let one finger lightly touch her lips. She shivered. A faint smile formed on his lips as she did this, and he let that finger wander into her sea of red tangled tresses, winding one smooth curl around his finger.
Leaning in, he lightly nipped at her bottom lip. *What is he doing?* She asked herself, as her heart started to race. He apparently felt no urge to do her before, why the sudden change of heart?
His hands sunk into the velvet spirals that were her hair, tilting her face up gently and capturing her lips with his. The kiss was brief, and she had just closed her eyes, allowing herself to give into the feeling of being wanted, when his teeth sunk into her neck. Hard.
With a strangled yelp, Bonnie went to claw at him, shove him away, kick him right in the crotch...But found herself frozen. He was stronger than even she had realized. Somehow, he was holding her completely still, paralyzed, while he did what he pleased.
/You son-of-a-bitch!/
The mind that was interlocked with hers as he fed from her, painfully no less, was silent. There were images in his mind that he didn't bother to hide from her. Detailed, openly explicit images -- Memories, rather, of a night...A night she recognized and understood to be the night he'd spent with Elena.
But Bonnie could barely focus on those reminiscent scenes, even as they played about in her own mind as though part of her own memories. She was getting weaker by the moment. With every painful suck from her neck, every flick of his tongue against her sensitive skin, caused her body to cry out in torment. She'd never been fed off of by force. And Stefan and Damon weren't kidding when they said it was no pleasure ride.
/Stop it!/ She cried out into his mind, a last heart-wrenching plea from her to him. She'd summoned it with just about the last of her strength.
Was he going to kill her?
But just as her mind remorsefully, but not totally upsettingly, accepted her fate, he roughly pushed her away, running the back of his hand over his lips.
She stumbled back, nearly falling to the pavement. With a groan, she supported herself against a building with weak, shaky legs.
Her shields had fallen when he'd began to drink from her, his own mind easing through them as she became subject to his feeding. And try as she might, Bonnie couldn't seem to get them back up.
If she'd had the strength, she would've cried. Damon's mind touched hers again and she winced.
/Do *not* fuck with me, Bonnie McCullough/
/What did I do?/ She was honesty afraid of him right now, as she had never been afraid of anyone in her entire life.
Again, he did not answer her question. But he did speak. His voice was cold and rang with authoraty. "You should fear me like no other, Bonnie. Do not think I will be so sparing next time. I won't."
She wouldn't have been able stop him if he wanted to mess with her mind a bit.
But he didn't. Not totally. Instead, he wiped her clean of most of the events of just before, replacing her agony with a groggy, drunken feeling.
"Wh..Why..Did.." It was so hard to speak, so very hard to form words. "Why did you...do that? Hurt me?"
Black eyes glimmered in the light from the street lamp, inky hair reflected rainbows. She wanted to reach out and touch him, suddenly...Her eyes, glassy and her head spinning, could barely distinguish from her confusion, fear, and lust.
"You just happened to be in the wrong place, at the wrong time...With the wrong man."
His voice was cruel and she could sense, even with her powers as burnt as they were, that beneath it, he was hurting. And he had chosen her as his outlet for his pain. Lucky her.
But her weakness had dissolved somewhat, and she found it slightly more easier to hold her head up and her eyes open. She wondered if that was his way of apologizing.
"Go."
He vanished.
***
Heavy metal doors were pushed open to reveal the flashing of revolving lights and loud, almost deafeningly so, music, pumping from amps and stereos throughout the modern club; people, human and vampire alike, crowded on the dance floor, at tables, and up above on the second level. Her feet wouldn't work right. She stumbled into the building.
Bonnie sighed, though it was unheard with the blasting, sharp sounds of electric guitars and drums, along with male and female voices shouting out lyrics Bonnie could barely discern. Something about unrequited love? *Heh. Join the job.* She felt a sneer forming on her cinnamon painted lips.
She groaned, frustratedly. Damn room wouldn't stop spinning...
Blurry honey eyes scanned the jumble of moving bodies, picked out a head of black hair and green eyes that could only be one person...Though her vision showed her three...Or was it four?
Four...Five...Six...Hell, there could be one thousand...She didn't give a damn. She'd fuck every one of them until they dropped if she could only get there, across the dance floor, to where he stood. But it was so difficult, extremely so, to even stay upright when her legs threatening to give out and her feet simply refused to walk in a straight line.
She'd been in the kitchen when the phone conversation had gone on between Stefan and someone from Ravishing Oblivion. No one had told her what the "accident" was, but now, vaguely, she could hear bits and pieces of conversation as she staggered through the room tightly packed with dancing, laughing, shouting, cursing, bodies.
"...flames everywhere..."
"...not what I heard...Seven people...!"
"...did it happen?"
"...second level...freak accident...like those light bulbs..."
"...manager, Steven? Stefan...had it under control..."
"...no one hurt..."
"...was closed for only a few hours..."
Well...This time it certainly wasn't her fault. The bulbs...Well, they had been...But, this time, she was blame free. She was partially interested in what had happened, but her mind was more focused on her destination.
If she could just get to him...She'd be alright. All she had to do was get to where Stefan was so she could reach out and kiss him. There was no reason why she couldn't...Was there?
A flash of a woman appeared hazy in her mind...She could make out long, blonde hair, twisted back off a flawless face with a clip, revealing full pink lips and clear blue eyes the color of a sky at dusk, framed with thick, dark, lashes...A stunning body and a beautiful smile that was given to the man beside her...That would be Stefan...
Oh, yes...Damn, Bonnie'd forgotten about *her*.
A loud, drunken giggle escaped from Bonnie and several people paused to look at her. "Oh, well...I can have him if I want to. She doesn't have to know!" she yelled, as though the people cared. This seemed to be ridiculously funny to Bonnie and she only laughed harder, which made her feet nearly trip over one another as she edged closer and closed to Stefan.
"If she can fuck his brother, I can fuck her husband!" Oh, boy...Was this hilarious! Bonnie was practically doubled over with laughter, though her head was thumping with an enormous headache...*Damn music...Someone should tell them to lower the volume...Do they have no respect for anyone else these days? I'm nursing a migraine here!*
Finally, Bonnie found herself before Stefan, who had been leaning back against the bar, watching the singers at the head of the dance floor. He seemed to notice her now, however, and his bright green eyes looked surprised at first, then shocked, and then concerned.
"Stefan...!" She said, overly enjoyed to see him.
"Bonnie...I think I should take you home now." He took a step towards her, about to steady her just as she reached out and slung her arms about his neck.
"Sounds good to me, baby..."Her words were slurred.
He shook his head, looking dazed and she only giggled again.
"Why don't you shut up and kiss me?"
"Bonnie, are you stoned?"
With that, Bonnie slumped, and she would've fallen to the ground if it hadn't been for Stefan supporting her, as her eyes closed, and she gave into the sheer exhaustion willingly. She couldn't fight it any longer...Bonnie wasn't even quite sure where it had come from.
In fact, she didn't even know how she had gotten here. She been outside, taking a walk...She remembered vaguely being on the wrong side of the city...Then all that she could bring forth was feeling as she had a week ago, when she'd been in this very place, drunk on Mud Slides. Now, suddenly drained to the point of collapse, she blacked out, as the darkness that had been swimming on the edges of her vision finally engulfed her.