washed-up old timer
June 2014.
Ranger, Wyoming
The weathered old truck pulled up in front of the mountain cabin and the equally old, equally weathered man with greying white skin under thick layers of grey clothing, and a shock of even whiter hair climbed out of it with a rifle over one shoulder and a deer over the other. Without bothering to lock the truck, he trudged around the cabin to the back door with his two burdens.
He dropped the carcass at the top of the steps, opened and stepped through the door, letting it swing close, once more without bothering with a lock.
But as he stepped into the dimly lit house, and hung up his rifle, he whispered a few words and magical wards snapped into place.
Patrice Lang, wizard, exile from the Gemini coven, was home.
He had been up the mountains for a week, without cell reception or any means of communication. His five years out-of-date mobile was dead where he had left it on the mantelpiece, and he found an electric outlet to plug it in, while he sorted out the fireplace.
Once the fire was roaring, he picked up the phone and glanced through the messages.
There was one from Jude, one of the other wizards who had taken up residence in Ranger, asking Patrice to call back urgently. Patrice deleted it at once. Jude still owed him money from his last 'urgent' meeting.
Then Judith Stewart had sent a series of messages, the last one just after she arrived at Virginia. All of them berating him for not coming along. He snorted to himself. While he whole-heartedly endorsed the plan to return Joshua to power, he had no truck for the politics and schemes that Judith and the Genovas were so fond of. When the time came, he would do his part gladly but until then, he was content with his own simple life back here.
The upstart had deigned to send a message, asking Patrice imperiously to call the moment he received this. Like hell he would, Patrice thought, deleting it angrily.
The only other messages in his phone were from two unknown numbers. The first was signed as the Sheriff's Department, Mystic Falls, Virginia, also asking that he call them as soon as he received the message.
Patrice stared at that one with increasing disquiet.
The last message was short, but its words were plain and it kicked up his anxiety by another notch.
And that was when he felt his wards tingle.
They were being breached. By poachers, who must have caught whiff of the carcass at the back.
He grabbed his gun, and charged his free hand with a latent hex as he strolled out the door.
Almost immediately, he caught whiff of their scent in the air, and his own hackles rose.
"Wolves, you'd best keep hunting!" he growled, his magic pushing his voice out into the cold, silent air. "Or you'll be prey yourselves soon."
Fast as a streak, a trio of grey wolves appeared in front of him. Patrice's fist clenched as he watched them shift their form until standing before him were three young, long-legged, blond men, who looked alike enough to be brothers or at least close cousins.
"Easy there, old-timer." The one in the middle smiled and raised up his hands as he felt the first wave of Patrice's magic, and its clear message:
Back off.
"This is your last warning, boys. I make no truck with mongrels."
His companions snarled, but the speaking wolf – the leader of this trio – quelled them with a look.
"You've been off the grid for a year, old man, so you probably don't know that we're all allies here."
Patrice spat on the ground. "I'm Gemini no longer; and I curse the day Joshua's mad boy took over my coven and gave it to Infidels."
The wolf's eyes hardened, but he kept the smile firmly on his face as he took a cautious step forward. "I reckon you'll change your mind when you hear what we have to say."
"Doubt that."
"It's a message from your leader, stupid old man!" one of the other wolves barked.
His own leader turned on him with a snarl, grabbing him by the scruff of the neck and shoved him, hard enough to send him flying to the ground.
Barbaric creatures.
The leading wolf turned back to Patrice, easy smile back in place. "Deepest apologies for my brother's rudeness. And for my own. Allow me to introduce myself, I am Thomas of the Randolph pack and these are my brothers. Our pack are allies with your Gemini coven. And yes, we do have a message from your leader."
A prickle of alarm worked its way up Patrice's spine. Young Parrish, Judith, the Genovas and their schemes. The cryptic messages on his phone. And now this.
"And what might that be? And why the hell is he sending wolves, not witches to deliver it?"
"How about we go out to neutral territory and discuss it?"
"The hell I will. I want no truck with you or with that kin-slayer."
Randolph merely bowed his head, and took a step back. "The other Gemini wizards in this vicinity have already accepted our invitation." His smile turned mocking when Patrice started at that. "Eight o'clock at the Drunken Lady. Drinks are on us."
In a blink, the three men were three wolves again. In another blink, they were gone.
Patrice Lang stood alone on his land, with nothing but a dead deer and his own confusing thoughts to keep him company.
May 2014
Mystic Falls
It had been almost a year since Bonnie Bennett had been in Mystic Falls and the change in her town made her heart sink. She drove through quiet streets, past closed-up shops and abandoned playgrounds, and breathed in deeply the air of fear and decay.
Damon had once joked that the boarding house was like a church – its doors were always open; and they were even now. Bonnie walked through them, thinking about how it was pointless to bar the doors from the heretics who didn't need an invitation to enter your home.
"Hello?"
No one answered. She frowned as she walked down the quiet, empty corridor. Damon had told her that they would all be here, waiting for her. But she stretched out her aura and all she sensed was emptiness.
She passed by the doors of the large living room, and a flash of memory hit her. Sitting on the couch beside Elena Gilbert and watching her friend sign the papers to become the owner of this property. Now she wondered if Elena still had possession of the house or if after her estrangement from the Salvatores, she had formally rescinded it. Would the Invitation Spell even still work, now that Elena was Cured? Or had the effect of her former death in lifting the barrier been irreversible?
Bonnie walked ahead. They were supposed to meet at the library. She'd wait there.
A few steps from the library doors, she stopped.
"Hello?"
She was sensing something, wasn't she? It was faint, barely even triggering her aura but it was there…wasn't it?
She tensed, stretching out to feel…
It felt like the rushing essence of something moving very fast through the house – faster than human speed. Too fast for her to discern its nature. A vampire?
On instinct, her magic rushed to her hands.
"Damon? Stefan? Is that you?"
But now she was certain that she wasn't just picking up one presence but two. The second stronger, steadier, familiar and yet…
Whatever it or they were, they were coming closer, close enough to…
Bonnie spun around and sent out a spell to flatten anything living within range.
Her spell rebounded down the walls of the corridor, rattling the portraits and hitting absolutely nothing.
And now that she stretched her senses again, she couldn't feel the presence. Any of them. Had she imagined the whole thing?
By now, she was standing in front of the open doors of the large, empty library. The fireplace glowing in the far side should have been welcoming, but instead it looked like a warning. Bonnie wrapped her arms around herself, suppressing a shiver that even the fire couldn't chill. Barely an hour in this town and she was already spooked. But the time for misgivings had long passed.
Where was everyone anyway?
As if on cue, her phone rang.
"Hey, Bonnie." It was Caroline. She sounded exhausted.
"Care, I'm here. At the Salvatores. Where are you guys?"
"We had a little run-in with the witch-pires," Care gasped.
"Caroline, are you OK?"
"Yeah, I'm good. We all are. We think they had come for Tyler, and we kicked their asses."
"It doesn't count if they got away." Matt's voice came through clearly. Caroline had obviously put the phone on speaker.
In the background, Bonnie could make out a laugh that sounded like Tyler's. "I'm alive so it counts for me."
"You're all together, right?"
"Yep, Bonnie." Stefan said. "Stay put. We'll be there in five."
"Not going anywhere. OK then-"
"And Bonnie." It was Damon. "Welcome back."
The line clicked shut. She stared at the phone for a little while and pocketed it.
Bonnie moved through the library slowly, taking casual inventory of everything. Nine months of living in this house had made her more familiar with its rooms than she could imagine. She knew, for example, where they hid the best bourbon. The row in the bookshelf that housed Stefan's prized first editions. She recognised that rug. She had shifted it to place under Mason Lockwood's chair prior to Damon torturing and murdering him. She moved past that quickly.
She didn't recognise the new table in front of the settee. It must have replaced the old one, the one she threw Damon into the last time she was in this house.
She sank into the settee.
She hadn't quite vowed never to step foot into the Salvatore Boarding House again. She certainly hadn't vowed never to return to Mystic Falls again – that wasn't even practical. She had friends here. Property. History going back two centuries.
So why did Bonnie feel like she had let herself down by coming back?
She was still looking at the table, and remembering, when the doors burst open and they all filed in.
Damon. Stefan. Caroline. Matt. Tyler. Even Enzo.
Caroline was her roommate. Matt and Tyler called and emailed every once in a while and they had even driven over to Whitmore during spring break and the four Mystic Falls former rug rats had had a blast. But Bonnie hadn't set eyes on either Salvatores or Enzo since last June.
"Hello, witch," Enzo said, with a slow, appreciative smile as his eyes swept from the top of her simple braid, down the boots that encased her calves and back to her face. "Now you're here, we can do some real damage."
"Enzo," she answered warily.
"Bonnie, I'm glad you made it. It's good to have you back," Stefan said carefully.
"Hey, Stefan," she said simply.
Damon surprised her by dropping into the settee and giving her a half-armed hug. She hadn't been expecting it – hadn't been quite sure what to expect after almost a year of not-quite-estrangement. But the stiff way he embraced her, and didn't quite meet her eyes spoke volumes.
That was the problem with knowing someone as well as she had got to know Damon. It was probably a huge character failing on her part – no, scratch that – it was definitely a huge character failing on her part but four months in an empty world wasn't something Bonnie could squash into a ball and throw into the trash. Even when every instinct within her told her to distrust him, to dislike him, to disapprove of him…
"I almost missed your annoying face," Damon declared.
No matter how sometimes Bonnie wished she could.
But then he'd do something like murder his mother for nearly killing Bonnie and she was right back where she started.
"I almost missed your hyperactive eyebrows," she quipped back.
Tyler clapped his hands together. "Avengers Assemble. I don't know about you guys but I think with Bonnie here Mystic Falls has just maxed out its Supernatural Creatures Quotient."
The others responded with a varying mixture of groans and guffaws at the weak pun but Tyler paid them no mind.
"Now it's time to do some natural selection. Let's drive these goddamn witch-pires out of our goddamn town."
June 2014
Mystic Falls
During the 'Crazy Heretic Attacked Bonnie' post-mortem, Tyler brought up the fact that they now had Gemini presence in Mystic Falls.
"What's his name… dude from the Council? Shouldn't we page him or something?"
The others were not overly impressed with this suggestion but Bonnie agreed with Tyler. For what it was worth, they had to use every resource available to them. She didn't even know if he was in Virginia already but it won't hurt to keep him in the loop. Ignoring the ensuing argument, she got out her phone and sent out a message, snickering a little. She had saved his contact details under 'Quentin Asshat'.
Over her head, oblivious to the fact that she had already made up her mind, the debate raged on.
"Until they send us some real help, I'm not checking in with those freaks," Damon declared.
Tyler rolled his eyes. "Can you think with your brain, and not your ego for a moment? Georgiana Parker? That name ring a bell?"
Everyone fell silent at that. They had been more focused on the attack, than that tidbit of new information.
"It can't be a coincidence, I guess?" Caroline offered first.
"With that name? From that coven? I doubt it," Tyler answered.
"So maybe the heretics are some long-lost ancestors of the ruling family of freaks?" Damon retorted. "Who cares? The Gemini don't, so why should we? We still need to kill them."
Tyler looked unconvinced. "Does the coven really know this? I don't think there was time in the wedding to exchange pleasantries. If this is new information, it might change their minds."
"Dunno, Tyler. It makes more sense that they have some sort of record of all the people they sent to the Prison Worlds," Matt said.
"It's still worth drawing it to their attention," Tyler insisted. "Maybe it won't make any difference…Maybe there's no relation at all…"
"I'm almost certain there is," Bonnie said. Even in the heat of the attack, it had struck her how familiar-looking Georgiana Parker's face was. Now that she was removed from that moment, the realisation came to her. "She was right in my face. Apart from the red hair, and before she went into vamp face, she could have been a dead ringer for Liv Parker."
Tyler started, his eyebrows shooting up in surprise.
"Doppelganger dead ringer?" Damon asked, with a mischievous grin at his brother who stared stolidly back.
"Not exactly. More like siblings. She looked more like Liv's sister than Jo."
"Even if the Gemini already know this, it's worth looking into ourselves," Matt said and Tyler shot his friend a grateful look. "We could find some way to use that to our advantage."
"I doubt that," Damon declared.
If Tyler's face was any indication, he was about to say something curt and irritated in response to Damon, but Bonnie cut him off. "We can ask the Gemini Councillor when he gets back to us. And before then, I'll give Liv a call. She should be able to give us any information on that." After, of course, she had sorted out that small matter of borrowed spell-books.
On second thoughts, maybe, Bonnie had better call Jo instead.
Stefan gave Bonnie a pointed stare. "Won't the coven leader be the best person to ask?"
The question threw Bonnie, and she stammered a response, acutely aware of the sudden silence and five pairs of curious eyes on her. "I… I mean we… well, we already asked… for help and he … he refused…"
"For help fighting the heretics," Stefan said in a patient way that irritated her. "Asking for information on a name shouldn't be a problem."
"I…"
Matt jumped in. "I say we ask Liv first. If she doesn't know, then we ask her brother."
"Besides, Bonnie was the one who went to Portland. She should know best how to deal with these Gemini," Caroline added, squeezing Bonnie reassuringly and throwing Stefan a dirty look.
He shrugged, and wisely decided to back down.
"At the boarding house this morning, we were talking about reaching out to the Vampire Hunters again," he said instead.
Matt said something in reply, but Bonnie didn't hear him, her eyes on the fingers clenched tightly in her lap. She tried to discreetly level out her unsteady breathing. When Caroline's hand squeezed her again in silent support, she leaned into her friend gratefully.
She came back to the present in time to hear Damon's startling declaration:
"Bonnie can't stay here."
Her eyebrows shot up as she watched everyone else nod in agreement.
"If the heretic attacked you here once, she can attack you here again," Matt said.
"And we can't vervain-paint here because of Caroline," Tyler added, giving Caroline an apologetic look.
Caroline sighed. "We've talked about it, guys," she said impatiently. "Put the damn paint on some of the walls. I'll be fine as long as my room is good."
"You'll be inhaling vervain every day," Stefan retorted. "It'll be in the water, too."
"I can take it," Caroline fired back. The two vampires glared at each other.
Damon rolled his eyes. "Don't take this the wrong way but: You two can go fuck yourselves."
Matt was mid-sip and he spat out his beer, laughing. Tyler guffawed.
Ignoring the shocked, furious gazes of his brother and Caroline, Damon went on with a bright smile. "So that's settled then. Bonnie moves-"
Bonnie's own urge to smile – something she had been fighting against out of loyalty to her friend – completely vanished. "Excuse you? Bonnie's right here and she's staying put, thank you very much," she snapped. Then she softened at the worried look on her friends' faces. "But I might come crash over at Matt's or Tyler's once in a while. I'll need to be in Mystic Falls anyway, to keep an eye on things there."
" Look, BonBon," Damon said impatiently, "no one knows better than me that you kick major magic butt. But that's the thing – you can't fight these things with magic. You're use-" he caught the dangerous flash in her eyes and quick amended, "you're powerless in this situation."
Bonnie was opening her mouth to retort when Caroline said quietly, "I'm the last person to ever say this but: Damon's right." She cringed at Bonnie's look of betrayal but her stance did not waver.
"It's for your own good," Matt added.
"You guys can go hang. I'm not moving out of my flat and that's it."
But Damon kept pushing and the others pushed with him. After what seemed like hours of deliberation, they finally reached a compromise. Some degree of vervain-fortification would be used in the girls' flat – and Bonnie would have some form of protection detail on her. Bonnie was laughing her head off at the latter until Matt reminded her that it was as much for preventing the heretics' from using her in their endgame as it was for her own protection.
"I don't have Expression anymore," she muttered. "They'd just be wasting their time."
"Well, we don't want them to snap your neck when they figure out how useless you are," Damon rasped, clearly pissed off that he didn't get his way.
Bonnie drew in a sharp breath, ready to fling an aneurysm at him. Only Matt's hand, suddenly squeezing her ankle, held her back.
After almost two hours and lots of beers, they wrapped up their plans. She, Damon and Matt were going to go to the morgue the next day to look at the body of the witch that had been murdered while they were in Portland. The other three would reach out to Jeremy Gilbert again, maybe even plan a road trip to his latest hunting ground. The Gilbert devices hadn't been much help. But perhaps the Hunters themselves could be useful.
But before that, Stefan was going to take first Bonnie Watch – something Damon had a lot to insinuate about, his eyes glancing mischievously from his brother to Caroline – and Stefan was going back to the mansion to get some of his stuff then return. Matt was hitching a ride with them and he hung back after the vampire brothers to bend down and give Bonnie a hug that lifted her off her feet.
"Hey, I almost forgot – welcome back."
Bonnie smiled the first real smile she had that morning.
Tyler stayed behind. He had offered to wait with the girls until Stefan came back.
"Seriously, Tyler?" Caroline quipped as he lolled on the settee with a beer. "You couldn't protect Bonnie from me."
"You sure know how to make a guy feel special, Care."
She just rolled her eyes and left to her room, for a quick shower and change. That was when Bonnie registered that Caroline was wearing what looked like the previous day's clothes.
Mmmm… Bonnie speculated, happily. She was glad to have something else to occupy her thoughts for the moment.
She pulled out her phone and rang Jo. It went into voicemail, so Bonnie left a brief message, asking for a callback without giving any specific details.
She tucked it away, looked around the room casually, and was taken aback to realize that Tyler was staring hard at her.
"Ty?" she queried, raising an eyebrow.
He reddened a little. "Hey, Bon. S-sorry, I didn't mean to eavesdrop or anything but I thought you were calling Liv?"
"Er… I figured Jo might know more, being older and closer to the leader."
He nodded, buying her hastily made-up excuse. He then gave her a rueful smile. "You know, you don't have to keep me company or anything. I'm just a sentry on duty. Plus you'd probably like to be alone right now…"
"Actually, I don't," Bonnie said honestly. "Especially if you can help get me a beer?" She had tucked her legs under her in the chair and was feeling quite cosy.
He nodded, good-naturedly and fetched a can from the fridge.
She took it with a smile and tilted her head, questioningly when he didn't return to the settee but waited, standing in front of her. He shifted his weight from one foot to another.
"Tyler, is something wrong?"
His behaviour was puzzling. Bonnie and Tyler had been close friends in elementary school but that was over a decade ago. Since then, he had been closer friends with Matt, and Elena – and, later, Caroline until that relationship had ended. Bonnie had interacted more with Tyler this last year he joined the Academy than all their high school years together. He was as invested in protecting Mystic Falls as Matt was, and she admired that about him. She knew Tyler had reservations about both Salvatores – also like Matt – but he was willing to put his misgivings aside for the common good.
Still, they weren't particularly close and Bonnie wracked her brain now, trying to figure out what this was going to be about.
Tyler finally sat down on the table across from her, and looked down at his hands. "So how was Portland?"
Bonnie stiffened. There hadn't been much briefing on the time in Portland and her botched overtures to the Gemini Council and their Praetor. Bonnie and Damon had been keeping everyone abreast while they were there so they didn't have anything new to add. Which was great because Bonnie wasn't ready for prying questions. Portland, the Gemini and Kai Parker were all rolled into one convoluted ball of hurt in her heart and she wasn't in any frame of mind to start untangling that mess. Despite the nightmarish interruption this morning, she still retained some of the serenity the night had given her and she wasn't ready to let that go.
"I hear the Saltzmans are all settled there with the babies," Tyler continued.
"Uh-huh."
"Jo must have her hands full, right? Damon said something about Liv helping out with the twins. How are they all doing?"
Oh. That.
Relief flushed through Bonnie and she bit back a smile. "Alaric, Jo and the babies all are doing great. Liv was… Liv." She watched his face. "She's staying with them. She looked good, and seemed happy enough, busy with her job and coven business."
He made a face. "She used to complain about the coven all the time. How they were all into early marriages and loads of magical babies to strengthen their power zones. Made it sound very medieval, if you ask me."
Bonnie chugged her can and waited.
"I guess she's probably dating some wizard douche right about now, counting down the days until she walks down the aisle," he added, not prying in the least. No, not at all.
Bonnie rolled her eyes. "She asked after you, too, Tyler."
He went bright red. "She did? I mean… Er… Not that I asked or anything…"
"Oh, come on, Tyler!"
He groaned a little, and covered his face with his hands.
Bonnie giggled, amused but also a little touched. Sure Liv had mentioned something about dating someone but Bonnie hadn't needed to know the girl very well to understand that was a transparent front. It was obvious that Liv's feelings for Tyler were still very much there.
Clearly, Tyler also felt the same way.
"Give her a call. You're way too old for this high school crap. You like the girl. She likes you… God knows why."
He laughed at that, his hands falling down. He looked fearful and hopeful at the same time.
Bonnie took another drink. "Don't let the grass grow under your feet, Tyler."
"We kind of parted on really bad terms, Bon. You know… the whole kill-the new leader-kill-the-coven-and-kill-herself stunt that she pulled."
"Oh, is that why you broke up?" Bonnie asked, surprised. Funny that Bonnie hadn't known this. Until now, she had assumed that Liv and Tyler had broken up because they hadn't wanted to try a long-distance relationship after Liv graduated from Whitmore. Of course, like Tyler, Liv wasn't a close friend either. Liv and Tyler were both, what Caroline would call 'second-hand friends' – Tyler was to Matt, what Liv was to Jo where Bonnie was concerned. She hadn't really given much thought to their relationship or why it ended.
"Yeah, sort of." He gave her a furtive look, his face suddenly looking guilty.
Bonnie thought she knew what he was thinking of. "I never really thought about it," she said softly, "but when you compare what she went through with yourself after your mother…"
He scowled. "That's what she said, too. It's not the same thing, Bonnie."
Wasn't it? Bonnie wondered but she didn't feel like arguing the point. "I don't know what else to tell you, Tyler…" she said, finally. "She's fine. She's got past her issues with K- her brother." That made him give her a sharp look. "They're actually kind of good with each other now. And she's still interested in you. If you're holding back because of something she did a year ago when she was grieving and upset…"
Tyler was staring at Bonnie like if she had grown two heads. "By brother you mean Kai right?"
Bonnie swallowed. "Who else?"
He shook his head. "There's no way Liv would ever be good with Kai. That's crazy talk, Bonnie."
She shrugged. "Well, as good as siblings from the same twin-murdering coven can be? I dunno. Only child here so I don't have any experience with these things…"
"I'd never have imagined Liv would ever get over losing Luke. At least not enough to embrace Kai."
Bonnie looked away from his skeptical face. "Luke would have died anyway, wouldn't he? Either that or he'd have killed Liv which isn't what he wanted. And there's this whole sharing personality thing they say the Merge is about. So K-Kai has a part of him forever. I dunno…" She said again, her voice trailing off.
She swallowed against the lump that had suddenly risen in her throat. "He saved Jo at the wedding. Took a knife in the gut that was meant for her. He saved everyone else again when he got rid of the heretics the first time…"
She glanced at Tyler's face; was it her imagination or was he looking far too perceptively at her? Schooling her features into what she hoped was neutrality, she said softly. "They're not like you and me, these Parkers. They are the walking talking definition of dysfunctional."
Tyler nodded in hearty agreement to that.
"Jo managed to get over her father and her brother both trying to kill her, enough to invite them to her wedding. I guess Liv did the same."
For a few moments, neither of them said anything.
Then Tyler chuckled bitterly. "This is probably crazy but considering the fact that she threw away 'us' because her hatred of Kai was that strong, I guess I'd feel better if she still hated him. Now I feel…" He heaved a sigh. "I… I said some things to Liv. At the wedding. She tried to apologize, asked for another chance and…" He ran his hands down his face. He looked miserable. "And I blew it."
"It's never too late, Tyler," Bonnie said simply.
He gave her a disbelieving look. "Did you hear what I said? She asked me for another chance and I turned her down."
"It's never too late," Bonnie insisted, her voice shaking slightly. "Not if you both care about each other. Don't let your pride get in the way, Ty."
He just shook his head. Then he sighed again and got to his feet. "Thanks for listening, Bon."
"I'll send you my bill."
He chuckled again. "Hey, do you mind if I-"
Bonnie forced a smile, stretching out her arms to shove him a little. "Please go. You need to make a long-distance call and Caroline and I need to have a pillow fight in our underwear."
He had started reaching for his jacket but now, he hesitated. "Er… maybe I should just stay for your protec-"
Bonnie shoved him again and they both laughed.
He hovered at the door. "Guess I'll be seeing you around Mystic Falls soon?"
"Yep. You heard what the others said. I will even be crashing at your place. I need to be on ground full-time to use my SuperWitchy powers to fight crime and save the day. Again."
He gave her another furtive glance, his face twisting with something like admiration and guilt. "Yeah. That. You take care, Bonnie."
She watched him go. Then she waved her hand at the door and the lock turned. For moments, she just let herself dwell in her thoughts, her drink forgotten in her hand. The conversation bothered her more than she liked. She had no idea why. She and some people were nothing like Liv and Tyler. Those two had dated, they had been in love. What she, Bonnie had had with him was…
Nothing.
It was nothing. It had meant nothing. To her. And maybe even to him.
Right?
Not that it mattered, she told herself firmly, ignoring the way her heart was clenching. Because whatever it had been, it was over. Had never even started.
She forced herself to think about something else, like the strange look on Tyler's face before he left. Now, what was that about? Did he feel sorry for her? Sorry that she had been dragged back into the whole supernatural business that she had strongly hinted to both he and Matt that she had sworn off?
Bonnie shrugged and finished her drink. Who knew? Who cared? She liked Tyler but his opinion of her wasn't something she'd lose sleep over. He'd better get his ass in the game or Liv would probably hook up with some hottie from her coven, or even a mundane from her firm.
Talking of Liv, Bonnie remembered the Grimoires and the message she never got round to writing to the other witch.
Bonnie had just pulled out her phone and opened the text app when Caroline burst into the living room in a storm of blonde curls and silky pyjamas.
"Thank goodness, I thought he would never leave!" She said as she dramatically flung herself on the sofa.
Bonnie eyed her friend's outfit. "PJs at noon?"
"I'm a vampire, remember? This is way past my bedtime."
Bonnie laughed, put the phone aside.
"I can't believe Tyler is still going on about that Parker witch. What's so special about her anyway?"
Bonnie was surprised. "Bit late in the day for the green-eyed monster to rear its ugly head."
"Oh please," Caroline scoffed. "We've been over for years. I just think Tyler could do better. Though that would be hard. I am such a tough act to follow."
Bonnie snorted. The two girls exchanged grins.
"I missed you, Bonnie," Caroline said softly. "Flat wasn't the same with you gone."
"I didn't think you'd spend much time here…" Bonnie said cautiously.
Caroline raised an eyebrow.
"You know… You and Stefan?" When her friend still wasn't forthcoming, Bonnie asked point-blank. "How are you guys doing?"
Caroline shrugged. "It's complicated?" She brooded for about five seconds, then her face turned angry. "I'm sorry about what he said earlier. I don't know what his deal is, these days but he has no business taking our problems out on my BFF and I'll rearrange his face the next time he does."
Bonnie didn't think Stefan's… unfriendliness – because that was what it came down to – had anything to do with his relationship with Caroline. It was directed to her, Bonnie, personally. And it started a year ago around the time that Lily Salvatore had almost killed her.
It struck Bonnie suddenly then – because a year of living apart from all this plus her determination to forget all things related to Him had caused her to push it far back in her mind – that Stefan never let Caroline in on the secret of what really happened to his mother.
"I'm not going to put up with any crap from him," Caroline said now.
Bonnie shelved away thoughts of secrets. "He'll be here soon. Think you can handle him?"
Her friend smiled nastily. "I'm putting crowns in the fold-out."
They both sniggered, although Bonnie couldn't help wondering if Stefan would end up using the fold-out at all. More likely, he'd spend most of his 'downtime' in Caroline's bedroom. The moment the thought passed through her head, the obvious innuendo followed and Bonnie sniggered some more. Clearly, she was hanging around Damon a tad too much.
Caroline glanced at her, her eyes flashing. "But enough about me. What about you? How did your trip to Portland go?"
Bonnie fought back a flinch. She loved her friend like a sister, but please no, not now. She didn't want to talk about him. She didn't want to think about him.
She answered cagily. "Haven't you been getting the updates? We're getting some inspector-type witch and no fire power, whatsoever."
Caroline bounced with exasperation. "Who cares about that stuff? I meant how did things go with Kai 'Sexy Powerful Warlock' Parker?"
"Yeah, who cares about getting help to get rid of a pair of un-killable vampire-witches ravaging through our home town?" Bonnie murmured, stalling.
"Argh! You're hopeless!" Caroline declared, and leaned over and sniffed Bonnie's neck.
"Ew! What the hell, Care?" Bonnie yelled as she recoiled. She was a little sensitive in that area at the moment.
Caroline pulled back with a scowl. "Hopeless and sexless. You reek of frustration."
"You are so gross!"
"And you are so horny. How do you stand it? If I had half of that tension bottled up inside, I'd have jumped on the first guy I met. Talking about options, there is one at least very close at hand…"
Bonnie scowled, feeling her throat tighten. "Give me his number, then. We can skip wine and roses and go straight to the hook-up."
Caroline laughed, her eyes dancing. "Well, he's thinking more long term and as for you… Yeah, right." Then she stared when Bonnie didn't say anything. "You're serious, aren't you? Oh Bonnie, you already tried that in Europe. That's not your style."
"What is my style then, Care?" Bonnie asked, swallowing against the lump in her throat. "I pretty much threw myself at him in Portland and he said…" She could barely choke out the word. "No."
Caroline's jaw dropped. "He didn't. The jerk. I'll run all the way there and tear out his heart."
"He figured out what I was trying to do. He called me out on it." Bonnie rubbed her scratchy eyes, and to her horror, saw wetness on her fingers. "Newsflash, Caroline. Your idea sucked."
"Bonnie," Caroline said softly, her voice dripping with remorse.
Bonnie almost resented her for it. She rubbed her eyes angrily. "Fuck if I care about Kai Parker."
Caroline said nothing.
"I don't," Bonnie muttered. "I'm just… tired. I've barely been home for a day and someone's already tried to kill me. I thought I was done with all this crap after Elena left. But now I'm right back in the middle of things."
"Bonnie, you don't have to do this. You never had to do this. I told you from the start. You could have always told Damon and Stefan no. I would have backed you up."
"I have to," Bonnie said, rubbing her eyes again. "I'm not doing this for…" you, any of you. But she didn't say that.
"Can we just not talk about any of this stuff right now?" Because everything all led back to the Gemini and Kai Parker and she just needed a break from the man for a few frigging hours! Was that too much to ask for? "We've got this big-ass TV and a Netflix account we never use. What's hot, these days? What do normal people watch?"
Caroline gave her a look that clearly said, 'this is not over, Bonnie' but wisely, decided to play along. "Nothing beats The Fixer. I'm going to get some popcorn."
April 2013
Mystic Falls
Kai Parker had dropped a bombshell on Bonnie the day she brought him back from 1903 and he told her what really happened on her birthday.
She was still reeling from the aftershocks.
She wasn't a coward, but it had taken her a whole day to call Jeremy Gilbert and have a much-needed conversation with the once love-of-her-life. And after that, it had taken her almost as long to call Damon Salvatore and ask to speak to him.
Then it took Damon some time to fit her into his busy schedule. Bonnie was the college student who was essentially re-doing her entire year and had taken on extra load so that she could still graduate sometime in the near future. He was the wealthy and jobless vampire.
But it was Bonnie who ended up working around her schedule to fit his.
It was that last thought that was boiling in her head as she followed Damon into the library of the boarding house.
Lucky for him, she couldn't get angrier than she already was.
"So this needs to be fast. The Forbes Humanity Rehabilitation Project hit a bit of a snag and I need to get back to the motel pronto-"
"I left you a message before I went to 1903. Did you get it?"
Something in her voice finally clued him in. He had been oblivious so far but now he stopped in his tracks and turned to really look at her.
When his eyes widened, she almost smiled.
"What's up, Bonnie?" He asked, warily.
"Did. you. get. my. message?"
He hesitated, his eyes calculating. Then he shrugged. "I did. When I was already at the motel, elbows deep in fixing your best friend, by the way."
"If you couldn't make it, you could have sent Elena to the boarding house. You could have told her that I might need back up when I came back with Kai. If I came back at all. If he didn't just kill me the moment I showed up and left my body in Winter 1903."
"You know why I didn't want Elena involved in this," he hissed.
"You didn't have to tell her about the Cure," Bonnie hissed back. "You could have just asked her to come help me."
"What's going on with you? Forget the fact that you sneaked around and did this after I had begged you…" His eyes boggled with frustration. "You knew we had this thing to deal with. I told you to wait until we got Stefan and Bubblegum sorted out, and then you and I could talk this over properly, find a middle ground that would make everybody happy but nooooo, you just had to rush over and rescue Kai – and only Kai – right that very moment. How is President Prick, by the way?"
"He'll live. So will I. Even though I could have used some of your blood when I got back. Awkward that… since you weren't there."
He had the grace to look a bit shamefaced. "Stefan really needed me at the motel. Barbie was…"
"She had Stefan, Elena, and Jo, and Alaric. Just how many people do you need to babysit one three-year-old vampire on vervain?" She raised her hand to cut off the next stream of excuses. "Save it. I knew you'd be pissed that I wasn't getting Lily's creepy heretic family. But I figured you'd still have my back when it mattered. Guess I was wrong, wasn't I?"
He hesitated again, clearly struggling with the truth – typical Damon – then he smiled charmingly. "Come on, BonBon. You know me better than that."
"You're right," she said heavily. "I do. Motus!"
The poker went flying from the fireplace and whacked him across his stomach, sending him flying across the room.
"What the hell, Bonnie?" he roared.
"I called Jeremy. We had a long talk. About my fucking birthday!"
He froze in the process of getting to his feet. A series of emotions, starting with realization and ending with a mix of guilt and defiance passed over his face. Bonnie's heart fell.
Up until then, she hadn't realized that a part of her had badly wanted Damon to have some stupid excuse for this. He forgot. He thought it wasn't important. Anything but the truth that was clear on his face:
He had deliberately, calculatingly manipulated her.
She picked up the poker with her mind and sent it – pointy end first – into his ribs.
He screamed. "Bonnie!"
"You piece of shit."
He yanked out the poker. "Bonnie…"
"You lied to me!"
"I didn't lie! I did leave that message for you!"
"You. left. a. message? That is how you 'saved' me? You couldn't even watch their backs during the spell. You left Kai and Jeremy defenseless and Liv attacked them. They could have both died and I would have killed myself for nothing!"
"OK. Hold up a sec, BonBon," he gasped, getting to his feet slowly. "Let me ask one thing… Did you just randomly have this conversation with Jeremy? Or did someone spit poison in your ear?"
"Kai told me the truth. Imagine how it felt like hearing it from him? That I had almost killed the man who saved my life?"
Damon laughed nastily. "Can't you see what he's doing here, Bonnie? He's manipulating you. Manipulating us. Trying to turn us against each other. He tried to do the same thing in the Prison World, remember?"
"This is not about Kai!" Bonnie shouted. "This is about you and me! You're supposed to be my friend and you lied to me and you were going to let me do something that I would have regretted for the rest of my life!"
"Hey! Back up a sec! I never asked you to kill him, alright? I told you. 'Here's your chance to get some payback.' How you chose to interpret that, was entirely up to you–"
Bonnie sent a chair flying into his face, that he barely dodged.
"You gave me the fucking knife!"
"Who the fuck cares, Bonnie? He did one good thing! One! That didn't erase everything that he had done before. You told me – you showed me how he tortured you. I try to help you get even and now I'm the bad guy?"
She laughed, and it was filled with bitterness and mockery. "You lie so much, it's no wonder you start believing your own bullshit."
His eyes narrowed. "Watch it, Witchy. I get it that you're upset but don't you-"
She threw another hex at him, flinging him into a table.
He yelled, and was silent.
"Damon…?" she asked, hesitantly, hating that as angry as she was, she still cared.
He tried to drag himself up. "Bonnie… Wooden table… Bad idea…"
She came closer. "Damon, are you-"
He jumped to his feet, and rushed across the room in a bolt of speed and rage and before she could blink, she was shoved back to the wall, and his hands were around her neck.
"Now, BonBon, you're going to have to get a grip."
His eyes were bloodshot and veined. He was furious.
Good.
So was she.
She screwed her eyes almost shut and he went flying back across the room. She pinned him there with her mind and fried his brains.
His shouts could probably be heard from the street.
"What's going on?"
Elena stood at the doorway, staring at the two, in shock.
June 2014
Mystic Falls
After the day Bonnie had had, her dreams should have been filled with violence, memories of the times she had encountered the heretics – 1903, Jo's wedding, even this morning.
Instead she had one of her old dreams. Herself, lying on her side on a soft bed, watching the sun climb up through a distant window, with a warm, strong presence at her back, long limbs wrapped around her tight enough to crush. But she hadn't felt smothered, she had felt cocooned, protected, in a way that she hadn't felt in a long time.
When she woke up, her consciousness pulling out of the dream reluctantly, she almost started telling herself that it was just a dream, and the person holding her might have been anyone – Jeremy, one of those randoms from Europe, heck even Brad Pitt.
But as she pulled herself into a sitting position, and stared out at the still pitch-black night through her magically mended window, she knew she couldn't keep up the lie. It had been Kai. And what had first been a dream had ended up being a premonition.
For the first time in a year, Bonnie let herself willingly remember something from that night. How it had felt to fall asleep with him alongside her, spooning her. She had felt safe, shielded from the world, as if nothing bad could ever happen to her again.
It had been a strong enough feeling that she had let him change her mind a few hours later. Strong enough that she had agreed to try…
The memories of what came after, days later, were easier, fresher to recall. Probably because she had played them over in her head so often that she could practically repeat word for word what they had said to each other.
"You haven't changed. Not really. You're still the same vindictive, vengeful, cold-blooded snake you've always been."
"So we're a perfect pair, aren't we? Because you're still the same judgmental, self-righteous hypocrite you've always been."
Swallowing the bile rising in her throat, she went to the bathroom. A few minutes later, she was at her desk, the Grimoires she had abruptly abandoned that morning waiting for her. She had got distracted when she went from looking for vampire weaknesses to researching the Cure, but she would try to be a bit more organised. She glanced at the clock at the table. It was only a few minutes past three in the morning. The best time to study, in her experience. And hopefully, if she didn't get an unexpected visit from a heretic, she'd actually get some work done. Anything to keep her mind focused, away from dangerous thoughts and memories that only led to unhappiness and regret.
An hour later, Bonnie was stretching like a cat, hands over her head and her chair tipping back. There were three open volumes and a large loose leaf suspended in front of her; and she had pulled out two incantations, the words hovering in the still air, pressing lightly against her skin. Her own personal Grimoire was also open in front of her, its pages flickering as magic scribbled on its paper. Her mind was working rapidly on an idea that had grabbed hold of her half-way through and had started taking shape.
She dropped her hands slowly to the table, and her eyes caught the tattoo on her wrist.
It was almost alarming how easily she was getting used to it. How little it bothered her now.
She whispered into the air, and the books fell gracefully back to the table. The words of the spell hovered a moment longer, then sank into her Grimoire.
She needed a break. Some tea, too. She pushed back her chair and left for the kitchen.
She was walking across the dimly lit living area to the kitchen, when a soft voice reached out through the darkness.
"Bonnie," Stefan Salvatore said.
Bonnie bit back a shriek, spinning around to see him sitting up on the fold out. He had apparently just put on his smartphone so she could see his face, eerily lit up by its glow.
For a fraction of a heartbeat, it was someone else's face she saw; someone who smiled gleefully as he opened her father's neck, while she screamed futilely into the void…
"Sorry," he said quietly. "I knew you didn't see me and I didn't want to startle you."
He had turned up an hour before Bonnie had retired for the night. Or – if she were to be honest – his appearance had sent her into her room.
She laughed awkwardly now, her heart still racing a bit. "Better luck next time. I forgot you were here." She moved quickly to the bar. "I'm making some tea." Beat. "Want some?"
"Sure. Thanks."
Even if she had remembered, she would probably have expected to find the fold-out empty and Stefan shacking up in Caroline's room. So this was a double surprise of sorts.
Everyone's love life was a sorry mess these days, Bonnie thought as she brought out two mugs.
Moments later, she placed a steaming mug before Stefan.
"Thanks," he said quietly. "Having problems sleeping in this. For some odd reason, I keep finding crowns in it."
"That's really odd," Bonnie murmured as she sipped her tea. Avoiding his suspicious gaze, her eyes landed on the table lamp by the fold-out that was switched on, then the journal that lay beside it.
"That reminds me of Elena," she said impulsively.
For a moment, he just stared at her, his face frozen. Then he followed her eyes to the book by his side, and his body relaxed. "Yeah, we had that in common. She and I. Have, I mean." He cleared his throat.
Yep, Bonnie thought. Sorry mess all around.
She was about to walk away. She and Stefan didn't have the same kind of relationship these days that they had many years ago, and she wasn't in the least inclined to sit and make small talk. But something struck her and she lowered herself into the armchair.
"Have you heard from Elena lately? The last email we exchanged was just before finals started. Nothing serious, just wishing Care and I good luck. She was getting ready for her internship in Bulgaria."
"We talked a few weeks ago. She's still there."
"So she's not in a war-zone?"
"If she was, she probably wasn't allowed to say."
Bonnie felt slightly envious. She couldn't remember the last time she spoke to Elena. Time zones and school made it hard. Caroline was even worse – not being a long-distance relationship person naturally. Yet Stefan had somehow managed a phone call to his ex.
By an association of ideas, she wondered how Caroline felt about that. Was it any wonder their relationship was so rocky?
"I guess so. I remember how crazy Care and I thought she was. Sneaking out time during our holiday to do this online language program. We didn't realise what she was planning back then." She shook her head ruefully.
Stefan was silent for a long time. "That's the thing about her, wasn't it? Once she made up her mind, she put everything she had into her decision. Stubborn to a fault."
"Strong-willed," Bonnie corrected. "And ballsy, too. Staying on in Europe, signing up for part-time medical school, part-time army medic internship," Bonnie chuckled, even as her eyes became slightly misty. "This really sounds strange, but I sometimes feel that Elena is stronger as a human than she ever was as a vampire."
"Well, she spent most of her time as a vampire being sire-bonded to Damon so what did you expect?" Stefan said.
The cold bitterness in his voice alarmed her, almost as much as the sudden hardness in his face.
"Stefan…" she said cautiously.
His gaze, which had been fixed at some unknown point over her shoulder, sharpened on her. "That's all water under the bridge now. Did you hear back from Liv Parker about the heretic's name?"
The subject had changed so abruptly that Bonnie had to take a moment to recover from the mental whiplash.
"I spoke to Jo, actually," she finally said. The older sister had eventually returned her call. "The name didn't ring any bells, but of course, we're talking at least three generations ago. She promised to dig into it and let us know. I hope she finds something. I've done a lot of research; and it looks like information about the heretics and Prison Worlds are classified even amongst the Gemini."
"All the more reason why you should have saved time and asked the coven leader directly."
"I know what I'm doing, Stefan," she said tersely.
"Jeremy and the Hunters are tied up in Brooklyn with all this vampire cult business. No help from them soon. That leaves your research…" He looked sceptical. "Caroline said you've been trying to figure out a way to fight the heretics on your own? Any progress?"
Bonnie eyed him warily. "I have some ideas."
"We'll need something more concrete than that soon," he said warningly. "They're developing a resistance to vervain. They've started coming out more often now. We were able to hold one off today, but who knows where next they'll strike? Or if you'll be so lucky if they come after you again? You need to find out why they want your Ex-"
"Stefan." Slowly, deliberately, Bonnie placed her mug on the centre table. The action took supreme self-control and stopped her from doing something rash – like an aneurysm or a Phaesmotus Incendia. "Back off."
He paused mid-sentence, the look on his face so comical that she would have burst out laughing if she wasn't so ticked off.
"I was just…"
"You know I thought it was in my head. But everyone else has picked up on it, too. So just spit it out."
"Spit out what?" he asked slowly, and the careful way he repeated his words reminded her, for the first time in a long time, that inside the body of the eternal teenager, was actually a very old-fashioned man.
"The problem you obviously have with me."
He stared for a few moments. Then he bowed his head. "You're mistaken, Bonnie. And I'm sorry if I gave you that impression."
"Oh come on, Stefan!"
"I mean it, Bonnie. I'm really sorry that I've made you th-"
"You want me to say it?"
"Bonnie-" He still wasn't looking at her and now his voice was half-pleading, half-warning. "Don't-"
"Lily."
He looked up then. His eyes were round with shock. "Lily?"
She let out an exasperated breath. "I'm sorry you lost your mom but it wasn't my fault she died."
And there it was – the elephant in the room. The secret all four of them – Damon, Stefan, Elena and she – had impossibly managed to keep for over a year.
Lily Salvatore wasn't languishing in a Prison World, as her sons had told anyone who cared to know. She had been dead since the night before Jo's Wedding, the night she almost succeeded in murdering Bonnie.
It was the brothers's decision to keep it a secret and at the time, it had seemed more incidental than deliberate. The only other person who had cared about the ripper besides her estranged sons and a bunch of dead heretics had been Enzo; and his loyalty to Lily had traits of the sire bond all over again. Telling him about her real fate would have led to unpredictable chaos. Additionally, Stefan had just wanted to close a painful chapter in their lives.
Damon hadn't wanted Elena to know that she loved a man that could kill his own mother.
Or at least, that was how Elena had explained it to Bonnie in Europe, after first swearing her to secrecy.
Now with Enzo dead, the heretics back and Elena long aware of Damon's role in ending his mother's life, all the reasons had been rendered moot. And yet, paradoxically, the truth of Lily Salvatore's fate had still stayed secret.
(To Bonnie's knowledge, only one other person knew the truth about what really happened to Lily Salvatore – and he held his peace for reasons best known to him.
Reflexively, her mind shied away from that line of thought.)
Stefan's mouth twisted bitterly. "You're the reason why Damon killed her. And if it wasn't him, it would have been your Kai Parker."
Blood rose up in her face. "He's not my-" she started sharply, then took a deep breath. "I was the last straw. Lily was out of control. Don't you dare blame me."
"I wasn't blaming you. I was simply stating a fact."
"A fact? You want to talk facts? The fact is that you have some nerve getting upset over me and your mother, Stefan Salvatore. Have you forgotten what you did to mine?" She snarled.
He met her gaze head on. "Never."
It was the first time they had ever spoken about this, she and Stefan. And Bonnie braced herself for it – the rote defense; the speech about how it had been due to Elijah's ultimatum; how anyway it had been Damon, not him, that had snapped Abby's neck; Stefan downplaying his role in it as he issued a well-articulated apology that meant absolutely nothing.
But none of that happened. He was silent as he looked at her, his face hiding nothing. The harshness in his gaze, the self-directed condemnation in it calmed her more than anything he could have said.
Bonnie nodded grimly. "Good."
The tension that had risen between them these past few minutes did not abate though, just lingered on a plateau. One fitful conversation would not be enough to unpack all the years of unaired bitterness between them – starting from that fateful night where Bonnie had thought this man's immortal life valuable enough to risk herself for his freedom.
That fateful night that Sheila Bennett had died.
Stefan sighed, breaking through her thoughts. "Lily was out of control, yes. But Damon could have been a bit more patient. I thought a few months in the dungeon… Maybe a year or so. But Kai Parker gave us no choice."
"That's not my fault."
"I'm not saying it is," he said tiredly. "This isn't even… This has nothing to do with…" He shook his head then, laughing hollowly. "I just wish… I wish things had turned out differently. I thought my mother had been dead for over a century. And you want to know the truth? She should have stayed dead." He sighed. "I wish you hadn't brought her back."
His words were like a slap across her face.
But he wasn't even aware of the impact they had on Bonnie; as he went on, "But she came back because I had switched off my humanity. And after Lily, the heretics followed. So if anyone is to blame for all this, it's me. If you've ever wondered why I went along with Damon, continued to hide the truth of her death from Caroline and everyone else… That's why."
For a moment, neither of them spoke. Stefan's gaze had turned inwards, his mind wallowing in his dark thoughts. While Bonnie's was…
Goosebumps spread all over her arms, and for the first time since she woke up, she felt the night chill.
Choosing to risk everything to save Stefan and losing her grandmother in the bargain, might have been Bonnie's first mistake as a player in this unending supernatural battlefield her lineage had drawn her into. But it hadn't been the last. Nor had it been the last time that her own flesh and blood had paid the price for her bad judgment. It was a thought that had managed to haunt her for years without providing any real retrospection.
Until she had been forced to spend half of a year in an empty planet with only the ghosts of her past mistakes for company.
"I just need to know we're on the same page," she said finally, quietly, choking back on the emotions that hovered just beneath the surface. "I was very clear when I came back. I'm not going to be a part of this if we're going to repeat the same mistakes. Hidden agendas. Secrets. Back deals. Betrayals. I'm not sticking my neck out if I can't trust you to have my back when it counts."
His eyes on her were steady. "You can. You will."
She nodded and stood up. That was as good as she was going to get.
"Good night, Stefan." She picked up her mug.
His quiet answer followed her out of the room. The last thing she saw was the light of his phone as he turned it on. As before, the glow lit up his face, emphasising harsh lines of grief.
As she walked to her room, Bonnie found herself assailed with sombre thoughts: Being abandoned and forgotten had been the worst chapter in her already crappy life, yes but… Perhaps if it hadn't happened to her, if she hadn't been forced to take that time out from life and reflect on the decisions that had led her there in the first place… And more than that, if she hadn't been made to reject those first instincts she had on her return – instincts to rationalise what she told herself were treacherous feelings towards her friends, and to re-direct her anger at anyone but them…
Perhaps, she'd still be making those same bad decisions now.
The conversation with Stefan had drained her in more ways than one, but it had also ignited something inside her. Ignoring her bed, she sat her butt on that chair and vowed she won't get up until she found a way to fix this mess, and then finally, finally turn her back on these people once and for all. She pushed herself for a good three hours, and there was light in the sky by the time she finally got up from her desk with some semblance of satisfaction.
Before she closed her eyes though, she glanced at her phone out of habit and was pleasantly surprised to see a new message from one Elena Gilbert waiting for her.
It wasn't long, and most of it was filled with mentions of places and people and medical stuff that went over Bonnie's head. But it filled her with warmth, and she carried it into a long and thankfully, dreamless sleep.
April 2013
Mystic Falls
Bonnie never quite found out what brought Elena to the boarding house that afternoon, in the middle of her discussion with Damon about appropriate ways to celebrate birthdays, the nature of friendships and the ethics of attempting to murder your rescuer.
"Damon? Bonnie?"
Curse Damon and his luck. If Elena hadn't walked in then, Bonnie would probably have aneurysmed him until he died. And not regretted it one little bit.
Instead she lifted the pain spell, keeping him still frozen, and turned on Elena.
"You… Why didn't you tell me?" Bonnie asked, her eyes wild, her voice almost hoarse with fury.
"Tell you what?"
"About Kai," Damon groaned, the aftershocks clearly still ringing through his head. "She found out he did you a little favour and helped on her birthday. That's what's got her panties all in a twist." His voice turned mean. "Is that what this is about? The little crush you had on him before? You know BonBon, you really need to get f–"
She silenced him with an angry hex. His mouth kept moving for a few moments before he realized no sound came out. His eyes boggled comically.
Elena stared at him, then Bonnie. "Bonnie…"
"Answer me, Elena. Why. Didn't. You. Tell. Me?" And Bonnie's fingers clenched into a fist.
Elena gasped, clutched at her throat. "Bonnie," she managed.
Damon shook frantically where he was, struggling against the magical hold, his eyes murderous.
For a moment, Bonnie felt like if she was standing outside herself watching this happen. A part of her was telling her to stop, that she was going too far, that these were her friends.
Another part was whispering, "They deserve worse."
"I… didn't… know…" Elena managed to gasp.
Bonnie loosened her grip on her friend, stared at her in shock. "How couldn't you have known? You were there! It was your idea. Jeremy said so. Kai said so."
Elena coughed, her voice now hoarse. "I meant I didn't know that Damon didn't tell you! I thought you already knew! I thought you knew and it didn't matter!"
Bonnie staggered back and her magic slipped – her grip on both vampires falling away.
Damon was on her in a flash, his fangs out and Bonnie was just standing there, too slow to react when a blur flew between them.
Elena.
"Damon, no."
He came to a stop inches before her, close enough that he had to stretch out his arms to brace himself from slamming into his girlfriend.
Elena stood her ground, her body rigid and immovable in front of Bonnie, her hands clenched into fists and slightly raised.
Damon sounded absolutely furious, staring at Bonnie over Elena's shoulders, with mad eyes. "The little witch needs to learn-"
"Damon, stand down!" Elena shouted.
His eyes went from Bonnie to his girlfriend in shock. "She choked you and do you know what she did to me before?"
"You're not touching Bonnie!"
The two vampires stared each other down for a long moment. In her heels, Elena was tall enough to look Damon right in the face.
Then he backed up, his hands out and a nasty smile on his face.
Elena took a deep breath, her body relaxing marginally. "You should have told Bonnie. I thought you already did. I would never have…" She turned to Bonnie. "I didn't know what you both planned for Kai until we were leaving 1903. You remember that, don't you? When we were leaving, I asked you where he was. That's when you told me you were leaving him behind."
Bonnie was still reeling, but she managed to say this much. "How could you think I would do something like that if I knew what he did for me?"
Stabbed him. Left him to die. Left him to be fed on by those… things.
She hadn't known about the heretics, she told herself now, desperately. She hadn't known she'd be leaving him to that.
"But weren't you thrilled when you found out?" a little voice whispered inside her head.
"He hurt you, Bonnie. It doesn't matter if he saved your life. He hurt you first."
So has Damon! And Stefan! And you, too, Elena! You've all hurt me, more times than I can even remember.
And do you know the worst thing you ever did to me?
But the words only stayed in her head and all she could whisper was, "Of course, it matters, Elena."
"Why?" Damon snapped. "He didn't exactly waltz in here eager-Beaver to save you. We had to pay him first."
Bonnie gasped, the laughter choking her. "By delivering a letter to his sister? That was your deal with the devil? That was the great price you paid for my life?" I've given up my freedom, my magic, my …Grams, my life for you all!
Elena shook her head. "Bonnie, Damon told me what Kai put you through. I didn't know about what you planned for him in 1903, and I won't have let you do it without knowing everything first. But … you needed to do it. You said it yourself: you needed to close that chapter in your life."
The worst chapter in my life. Where I was abandoned and forgotten, living day after day of emptiness while the rest of you went on with your lives.
It was the worst thing that ever happened to me and in the end, a sociopath that I had killed twice did more to save me than you.
"Must be nice," Bonnie said through frozen lips. "To be so used to people throwing their lives away for you that you think it's something that should ever be taken for granted."
Elena recoiled like if she had been slapped.
Damon growled. "Bonnie," he said warningly.
For a moment the three of them stared at each other, the air thick with unspoken grievances, going back further than the present discussion.
"I didn't deserve that," Elena said finally, her voice quiet.
Bonnie didn't answer.
After another long moment, Elena let out a shaky breath. "And neither does Damon. I get that you are upset that he didn't tell you everything. But he was only trying to h-"
"He wasn't!" Bonnie shouted, and she winced at the sob that burst out from her. "It was never about helping me! It was about getting his mother back. That was always what all this was about."
Elena turned to stare at Damon, and he tried to look casual and outraged but it was too late.
But still she asked… redundantly. "Damon, is this true?" As if she didn't glimpse the guilty wince on his face.
As if, after four years, anyone could still have illusions about whom Damon Salvatore was.
"The witch's gone cuckoo. Five months of isolation has finally stolen all her marbles," Damon sneered.
I'll go if you go.
The words were haunting Bonnie now with a dark epiphany.
"Kai was never going to help you without me coming along," Bonnie said, her voice shaking with the dejection. "You didn't just need my blood for the Ascendant. You needed me to get him to help you. This whole plan to 'give me closure'? To 'answer all my prayers'?" Her fingers came up and both vampires tensed. But she only curved them mockingly into air quotes. "It was just a ruse to get me to do what you wanted. You used me to use Kai. You used me, Damon."
His face shook, something like contrition wavering through the sullenness. "Maybe I was trying to do both? Get my mother out and help you? Ever thought of that?"
She covered her face with her hands and laughed into them, hollowly. "Do you know the horrible thing about knowing someone as well as I got to know you in the Prison World? It's that at the end of it all, I don't even have the luxury of being outraged. I can't even be surprised because you lived down to your worst nature."
"Watch it, Bonnie-"
"Since when have you ever tried to do anything for anyone that you weren't getting something out of as well?" Bonnie snapped.
Elena said quietly, "That's not fair, Bonnie. Damon did try to rescue you. It just never quite …"
"It just never quite worked out," Bonnie finished bitterly.
All three fell silent after that. The tension in the air was unbearable, choking with resentment, guilt, and regret.
Bonnie took a deep, shaky breath and flung her head back. "I want the truth now. All of it."
"Didn't Wonder Wizard give you all the gritty details?" Damon asked sullenly. "How he pulled you from the brink of death with his bloody, broken hands? I don't suppose he mentioned how I saved his life at the end of it all?"
"Jeremy told me that."
"Score one for me, then," he said sourly.
Bonnie shook her head, genuinely confused. "Make me understand why you did this, Damon. You knew he saved me. You knew he risked his life to do so. You knew he was changing. But you deliberately kept this from me even when you were trying to get me to see him. You came up with the idea to trap him. Why? Why would you do that? To him or to anyone?"
Damon's face turned ugly. "Get your head on straight, witch. He did one good thing. Doesn't erase all the asshole things he did in the past. Kai and I are not buddies. I don't owe him a damn thing."
Elena was staring at him, the expression on her face unreadable. He glared at her, too. "I don't. And neither do you, Bonnie, if you know what's good for you."
"This is not about Kai," Bonnie said tiredly for the second time. "It's about…" you and me. The friendship I thought we had formed in 1994.
Kai saved my life. If you were my friend, that should have meant something. My Life should have counted for something, to you, as My Friend.
But that friendship apparently only existed in 1994. Now, she was back in the real world. Where Damon was Damon Salvatore, who got what he wanted regardless of who got hurt in the process. And Bonnie was…
Still Bonnie Bennett.
The best friend. The loyal companion. Their own personal Witch Friday. Good ol' dependable Bonnie who could be counted on to put everyone before herself and not expect them to do the same for her.
Except for one person, though…
But she pushed the thought away.
"I said I wanted the truth," she reminded them tiredly. "Not about Kai and my birthday. I already know that. I want to know why Lily Salvatore was in a prison world."
Elena looked guilty, and Damon snorted. "A bit too late to start asking, isn't it?" He sneered.
Bonnie nodded sadly. "Yeah, I know. I was all caught up with wanting to gut Kai that I didn't even think to ask before. Which was exactly what you wanted, wasn't it?"
Of all things he could have done, smiling was the worst. Bonnie felt sick looking at him. She glanced at Elena's face, and was taken aback to see the same disgust she felt reflected in her friend's gaze.
"So tell me," Bonnie said in a voice that was low with disappointment and anger – most, if not all of it, for herself. "What kind of monster did I unleash into the world?"
June 2014
June 2014
Ranger, Wyoming.
"Malachai Parker is a monster. Only a fool will take him at his word."
Five pairs of eyes watched Patrice warily as he pushed his beer away.
The Drunken Lady was a rundown old hangout, more bar than diner. It was less than half empty, a handful of patrons, mostly locals, littered around the darkly lit space. A dolorous melody droned out of the jukebox, dulling most of the conversation.
The party of six eyed each other cautiously across the corner table as they sipped stale beer and talked terms.
When the wolves had finished their spiel, Patrice Lang glanced at the other pair of witches suspiciously. Jude hadn't made it, the explanation for his absence shady. Now Joeb and Hannah Hunter were giving each other the kind of looks that meant no good. And if the knowing smile on Rudolph's face meant anything, the wolves saw it, too.
Patrice glared at all of them.
"We grovel back tomorrow and I bet you he'll murder us before we've even got up from our bellies."
"You are being unreasonable, old man," the wolf replied. "I manage my clan's treaty with your coven because I studied the Gemini for years. The terms are fair. Your old leaders wouldn't have been so generous."
Hannah Hunter wrung her hands nervously. "Joshua certainly wouldn't have. And we left with him to exile. He returned to the coven a year ago, pledged allegiance. He publicly endorses Malachai…"
"Publicly," Patrice said meaningfully.
Hannah shifted, and gave her husband a glance. Joeb said nothing, his dark face as unreadable as ever.
Rudolph raised an eyebrow. "Something you care to share with the rest of us?"
Patrice opened his mouth to speak, but at that moment someone walking along the aisle bumped heavily into their table. Patrice sat closest to the aisle, and he got the brunt of the clumsy fool's weight on his shoulder. He shoved the man back, and the six at the table glared in thinly-disguised distaste as the drunken biker-clad man righted himself, grunted an apology, then shuffled away.
The small encounter had brought the eyes of some of the patrons and the barkeep to them, so they waited for some time before speaking again.
"You were saying?" Rudolph prompted, after a careful glance around. "About Joshua Parker?"
"All I'm saying is you shouldn't be too sure about his approval of his son. He took that seat on the Council to keep a close eye on the maniac, keep this coven as safe as possible with that in charge. But he's not on Malachai's side."
Joeb coughed. Hannah looked panicked. "Patrice…"
Patrice glared at them. "I know to keep my mouth shut, you pair of fools. But I know what Joshua planned on the night of his daughter's wedding. I'm not going to sit here and let these wolves tell me my own coven's business."
The Rudolph men said nothing, just kept staring at him with glinting eyes.
Patrice had more to say but Hannah cut in quickly. "We are so isolated up in the mountains here. It takes a while for news to reach us. You said the other witches have returned?"
The wolf nodded. "Most of them. I hear there's a family off the continent that the Whispering Court are still searching for. But word on the street is that the majority of the witches in exile took your leader's offer. They are gathering in Portland as we speak."
"Why is Malachai sending wolves and fairies as emissaries to witches?" Patrice asked belligerently. "They could have sent a Councilman, an Elder, heck even some Envoy who would have done this faster, tracked us down better, treated us with respect."
After another quick glance at her silent husband, Hannah nodded in agreement. "It is somewhat of an insult. No offence," she said hastily as the two silent wolves growled softly.
Rudolph merely raised an eyebrow. "When you see your leader, ask him. We are all allies these days. Maybe he trusts his allies more than he trusts the other witches in his coven."
Once more Hannah and Joeb exchanged glances.
"As isolated as you are, surely you heard of the deaths of some of your own."
Despite himself, a shiver of apprehension ran up Patrice's spine.
"Until last year, my pack had never even heard of the word 'heretic'. Your dirty Gemini secrets are out for the rest of us to wonder at." Rudolph gave them a feral grin. "And with witches being targeted... My people have a saying about the lone wolf who wanders away from his pack."
"Two dead witches is hardly a crisis," Patrice muttered, his gruff voice masking his own misgivings. "Those monsters haven't ventured out of the South since they re-appeared. Gabriel and Victor were just in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Hannah and Joeb gave him sharp glances that he didn't register.
He had heard, of course, of the deaths of the Briggs. They all had, the witches in exile. They were scattered across the continent, but they still managed to stay in contact in a make-shift Circle of sorts. The death of the mild-mannered couple had been a shock to Patrice. Despite his private thoughts about their lifestyle, and some begrudging towards O'Sullivan becoming Western Chief Envoy, Patrice had liked both men well enough. They had all advanced to Envoys at the same time as young wizards. With the Stewart sisters, they had been part of the group that served alongside Joshua, Jonathan and Martha Parker before Joshua's Ascension to Praetor and they had continued to work together for decades after, and even beyond the usurpation.
Their murders had hit Judith hard, he remembered, and now some of the things she had said before she left ran through his head.
"Two witches?" one of the two silent wolves had spoken up. He turned to his leader with a question on his face. "I thought there were three."
It was then that Patrice noticed the looks his fellow witches were shooting at him. Looks of pity and sorrow.
Alarm bells rang through his head. "What?" he spat out.
Hannah held his hand gently. But it was Joeb that spoke. "Judith is dead, Patrice. She was murdered in Virginia by the same heretics that killed Gabriel and Victor."
He slumped back in his seat, shock like a tidal wave hitting him so hard that the wind and the spirit were completely knocked out of him.
"You were up in the mountains then. We got a call from the Sheriff's department from the town where she died."
The message on his phone. He had never got round to returning the call.
"We're taking the deal, Patrice," Joeb continued. "The wolves have it right. This is not the time to stand apart from the coven. Hannah and I are returning to Portland tomorrow. Jude already left. We decided days ago, but we wanted to be here with you when the wolves spoke to you. Give you a chance to hear them out for yourselves."
Patrice swallowed against the harsh lump in his throat. Judith. Dead.
"Malachai Parker is a mad man," he said dully through the roar of noise in his head. "You're running from monsters to dragons."
"That's not what we've been hearing from those back at home. Truth is, we've been thinking of doing this for a while now, long before the heretics turned up. Away from the coven, witches are always easy prey to vampires who would use us. And... Malachai sorted out the Genovas, the Lovegoods. Even Joshua couldn't stand up to them. I think we may have been wrong about him. Hannah does, too."
"Joshua said-"
Joeb shook his head. "I know what Joshua has been saying. Or rather, what we've been told he's been saying. But Joshua's on the inside, safe and sound in the heart of the coven while the rest of us are straggling out on our own here. Hannah and I, we've lived a pretty good life. We'd like a pretty good death as well."
Patrice watched as his friends stretched out their hands to each other. Hannah pulled out her knife, and nicked her husband's palm; then he did the same to her. The Rudolph leader pulled out two sealed scrolls from his jacket and placed them into the bloodied palms.
The sight of the red two-faced seal of Castor and Pollux sent an unexpected pang through Patrice's heart.
"Compliments of the Gemini Praetor," Thomas Rudolph said gravely.
The Hunters grasped the scrolls and the seal vanished in a flash of blood-red smoke.
"You have twenty-four hours to present yourself before the Council," Rudolph said, in the same formal tones.
"Not a problem," Joeb said. He glanced at Patrice.
He looked guilty, Patrice thought wrathfully, his shock fast receding into temper. He and his wife. As well they should.
"Patrice…"
"You're fools," Patrice hissed. He stood up, pushing the table with enough force that it slammed into the wolves.
They growled, eyes glowing.
A few patrons looked their way. Hannah and Joeb looked around anxiously, but Patrice and the wolves ignored them.
"If you turn down this offer, you're fair game to everyone out there. The heretics. Even us," Rudolph snarled. The genial façade had gone. Now the man that stared up at Patrice was all pointed teeth and canine eyes. All wolf.
For one fleeting moment, Patrice almost liked him.
"Is that a threat?"
The three wolves smiled, fangs peeking through their lips.
Patrice leaned forward. "You're messenger boys, aren't you? Well, here's message from me to Malachai:
"Fuck you."
The wolves rumbled. Even the Hunters looked scandalized.
"Patrice," Hannah said warningly.
But he wasn't done. "Tell him I helped his father put him away twenty years ago and I am prepared to do so again if he tries to come after me. I see any of your faces again and I'll skin you and hang you on my wall. You too, Hunter. Hannah."
The wolves were rising, their faces twisting. Hannah and Joeb held hands frantically and he could feel their magic spiking, the edge of the shield they were raising.
Fools and cowards, he thought with one last contemptuous look at them, and with a wave of cloaking magic, he marched out of the diner.
His truck was close to the road, further than he'd like with werewolves at his back and he kept his cloak high. He didn't sense them approaching, though and reached the vehicle with nothing but his own mounting anger, grief and – yes – fear accompanying him.
He slammed into the driver's seat and placed his hands on the wheel.
They were shaking.
Gabriel. Victor. Judith.
Gone within weeks of each other.
Flashes of memory of their time as Envoys passed through his head, and he swallowed down his grief.
Memories.
Envoys.
Messages.
The message in his phone.
And that was when it hit Patrice. So clearly that he was shocked that it only just occurred to him.
Frantically, he fumbled with his phone as he started the car. He found Betty Stewart's number and was about to start dialling and driving when he realized a motorbike was blocking his car.
"What the-" he cursed. He tossed the phone aside and jumped out. The bike was abandoned and he was about to use magic to smash it out of his path when he spotted somebody weaving towards him, bottle in hand. Of course, he thought contemptously, recognizing the man coming. The drunk from earlier.
"Get this heap of junk out of my way or I'll tow it down," he roared.
The man may or may not have heard him. He still walked at the same stumbling pace, half-mumbling, half-humming. As he came nearer, Patrice realized with outrage that the idiot was singing.
He reached out anxiously with magic but the werewolves and the Hunters were still in the bar. Probably discussing the particulars of how to prostrate before Joshua's psychopath boy, he thought scornfully. If they only knew…
The drunk was close enough now to see Patrice standing by his vehicle. He stumbled to a stop, and peered at him through a dirty beard that covered half of his face.
"Problem, mister?"
"Get your bike out of my way."
"My bike?" He blinked at Patrice. Then he turned to his bike. A look of amazement crossed his face. "Well whatcha know? That's me bike there. Ain't she a beauty?"
Patrice had had enough, he reached out to the man, his hand clapping over his upper arm, a spell that would put him into nightmarish sleep already starting in his head.
The man swung his other arm – the one with the bottle – and sent it crashing into Patrice's skull.
He felt the shock before he felt the pain, and he stepped back a full foot, before he fell to his knees. Still dazed, he put his hand on his temple and saw blood.
He snorted softly, even as his vision suddenly, drastically dimmed. "You picked the wrong old man to hustle, fool."
"More like," and there was no slur in this biker's voice, no thick highlander accent in his voice. His words were sharp and clear and cut through Patrice's daze enough to make him look up in alarm. "You picked the wrong Praetor to piss off."
Patrice sent out a wave of magic, and felt it slam back into him, pain ricocheting from the base of his neck to the balls of his feet.
What the -?
The 'biker' yanked him to his feet, so that they were level enough that his fist could go flying into Patrice's face. Patrice dodged, his jaw turning right into the sucker punch that came from the biker's other fist.
He shouted this time, falling back flat on his back.
He tried and failed to get up.
A pair of boots approached his face. He barely managed to turn his head, his vision now rapidly receding, to see the man bend low enough to look at him.
Malachai Parker – the biker façade slipping off so completely that Patrice felt a shiver of alarm at the seamlessness of the glamour – was staring at him with a diabolical grin.
"So there's this washed-up old-timer that's been talking crap about me for as long as I remember; and word on the street is that I'd find him here." The grin widened, and the sight of it almost paralysed Patrice Lang, sixty-year-old practicing wizard with fear. "Hey, Patrice. What's good?"
Author's Note #1: Yes, that was Kai channeling his inner Nicki Minaj at the end. :)
As always, thanks to my dear beta, keenan24 (of "By and Down" - ).
Everyone is upset that there isn't enough Bonkai interaction - even me! LOL! But I promise once we get through this 'bridge' in the story where they just have to be in separate spaces, doing their separate things, then we'll get more of them dealing with each other. We just need to trudge through another chapter or two. But to tide you guys by... I'm a bit out of ideas for flashbacks for this time, so you can suggest anything from the past (BK-related, I'm guessing, but really just about anything is fair game) and I'll put it in the next update. Now if it's something that is already planned for a specific chapter, I will probably hold off on that. (So yeah, don't ask for the day/night after Jo's wedding. :D :D :D :D)
Until the next update. Thanks always for sticking with this story and please let me know what you think in the reviews. :)
Author's Note #2: Thanks a lot for all the lovely feedback I'm getting on the rewrite. Just a reminder that if fanfiction-net is not letting you leave a signed-in review, you can always leave one without logging in, and just sign off your name manually so I'll know who it's from.
