A/N: this is unedited and I'm sorry.

11.

The heavy metal basement door creaked open causing Sophie's head to shoot up for a glimpse. Her broken ankles were halfway healed and the gash on her face had closed up. Vampire blood did have its perks but her body was still exhausted from everything she'd been through. She was still tied up to the chair but less uncomfortably at least. Cordelia left not too long ago giving her time to stew over the words given to Sophie.

A very see through tactic but one that had merit. Sophie battled within herself, struggling to debate whether Cordelia had said it just to rile her up. Bastianna was no saint herself but as a witch she respected the lives of others sisters in the craft, especially those of her own coven. It made no sense that she would kill Jane Anne who was in support of the ritual. Come to think of it, Jane Anne didn't really have any reason to be there in the first place that fateful night. The work was mostly going to be done by the siphons then Bastianna would reap the power eventually. Perhaps she was there in some assistant capacity since she was Bastianna's mentee at the time. Not to mention she actually liked the old bag. They both held an equally feverish devotion to the coven.

She braced herself for more mind games or physical torture. Vampire blood felt metallic and dull in her mouth. Sophie hated that she had to ingest any part of these monsters but her pride wasn't so big as to make her endure the pain of a broken limb.

But it wasn't the Supreme who entered. It was her protégé. A surprise then.

She was carrying a bottle of water and a small aluminum plate with her. Her stomach turned. It was close to seven hours since she was captured and she'd yet to eat anything.

Bonnie dropped the water and the meal on the ground and pulled a discarded seat from the corner of the room in front of the French quarter witch. "I can't ask how you're doing since I'm pretty sure it's not great but I did bring you something to eat and drink. Hope that's ok with you?"

Sophie laughed weakly. "I'll be sure to recommend this place as one of the top ten to get kidnapped by. Gourmet meals and sparkling water. All a girl can ask for."

Bonnie stood up. "Water isn't sparkling unfortunately. I'm going to untie your hands for a moment to let you eat but only if you promise not to do anything stupid like run away or something."

"Run where? My feet are still on the mend, I can't do any magic, I'm pretty sure we're in the middle of nowhere and this house is crawling with at least two hybrids excluding the one guarding this room so I'd say the odds aren't in my favor if I decide to run." her words were truthful. She'd been planning an escape route since she arrived but none seemed possible without losing at least one limb courtesy of her host.

Bonnie seemed satisfied with that and helped undo her restraints. She left her feet tied though just to be safe. Klaus and Cordelia didn't know she'd come down here and didn't need to for now.

Sophie hastily tore open the food container and shoveled a large forkful of spaghetti moaning at the taste and uncaring of any table manners. It must have been a whole day since she ate anything apart from her pre capture drink and torture really took a lot out of a girl. The spicy sauce was heaven on her tongue and Sophie savored every morsel. She was halfway through the meal when she realized that Bonnie was sitting silently just staring at her as she ate. She uncapped the water bottle from the floor and took a long gulp moaning in delight at the pleasant taste of the cool refreshing water. It was good to never take these things for granted. One never knew when a kidnapping would be underway.

She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "So, they send you down here to give me final meal before my head gets chopped off?"

"I came down here all on my own." Bonnie thumbed the shiny button on her cleavage.

Sophie curled her lip. "You seem too sweet to be mated to Klaus Mikaelson. But I guess looks can be deceiving." The tethering bond that lingered between the witch and the Original surprised her when the hybrid henchman carried her upstairs to face the doppelgänger. Her magical knowledge wasn't exactly top tier since her early life was spent disregarding her heritage but even Sophie knew what a rare thing it was for a witch to mate with a wolf. And if that wolf happened to be the Original Hybrid? A one in a trillion chance. That meant this witch must be quite special.

Bonnie was not surprised the witch sensed their bond. It was getting stronger and more apparent to others. Once they fully bonded, any wolf or witch with an inkling of magic would sense it. "Technically, we're still courting but I'll admit we move fast."

"I'll admit that Klaus Mikaelson doesn't seem like the long engagement type." Sophie took another forkful of food chewing thoughtfully on a meatball. "A witch mated to an abomination." She shook her head mockingly. "It's almost poetic in a way. A real twisted sort of irony for the ancestors."

"Nature keeps the balance of all things," Bonnie spoke evenly. "If we have a bond, I'm sure it's because nature deems it fit to happen. You really shouldn't judge seeing who you were dating before." Cordelia told her all about the affair with Marcel.

"Hmm." Sophie nodded cleaning traces of sauce from her cheek with the back of her hand. "You are correct. And look where it got me. I'd take that as a cautionary tale."

"The cautionary tale would be not to give into the whims of murderous elders." Her mild empathy didn't mean Bonnie forgot exactly what they had planned for Demi.

The French Quarter witch laughed mockingly. "Look who's talking? How many witches has your mate used and discarded? How many people has he killed for sport and thirst? You know, we have stories about him. The hybrid king who wanted to be wolf so badly that he left his own city to break a curse. Your mentor isn't an angel either. That hex she put on Katherine wasn't small fries at all. It took all the power in the dark objects I'd been saving for months to break it. Hell, I'm actually in awe of her. That takes a special kind of dedication and vindictiveness that nothing but a dark heart can muster."

"I want to know why your elder is in such a hurry to do the ritual." Bonnie crossed her legs ignoring the earlier statements. Challenging them was of no use. Despite his violent temperament, Klaus respected all the witches who stood beside him. Many, like Killian and Lourdes, left their covens to join him in fact. As for killing, well, that wasn't news to her.

Sophie just stared at her not saying anything. The plate of half-eaten food was dropped haphazardly on the floor beside her chair. She leaned forward, placing both elbows on her knees to rest on them. "Are you here to beat it out of me too? I'm kind of disappointed. I thought you'd be the good cop they sent down to sweet talk the answers out of me."

"Not playing good or bad cop. I just want the answers you didn't give Klaus or Cordelia. It would be in your best interest to tell me why Bastianna is in a hurry to do the ritual now." Bonnie flexed her fingers.

Sophie threw her head back in laughter. "How quaint! The little witch wants to play big badass with her mate and mentor. Stay in school puppy because you're not even half as scary as you think you are. I've seen you around town sometimes you know. Walking all peppy and tight, carrying yourself like you think you're better than the rest of us because you happen to be protégé to a Supreme. If you were born a few state lines away you'd be backwater trash, barely able to summon some rain." The word trash was spat with a sneer. "Do me a favor and send your boyfriend back in here because he'd be much better getting answers from me by breaking a few more bones. You're nothing but a weak, spineless parasite feeding off the backs of those more powerful than yourself. I pity you the most."

The insults dug underneath her skin but Bonnie refused to allow herself get hooked on that bait. Sophie was severely disadvantaged. She had nothing but her mouth and attitude to fight with so she was lashing out in any way she could.

She took a deep breath. "You were in love with him, weren't you?"

Sophie's face showed a glimmer of something but it was clouded by anger. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"You were in love with Marcel." Bonnie said bluntly. "That's why it hurt you all the more when you thought he killed your sister."

"Shut up." Sophie gritted her teeth. It nearly made Bonnie grin. A sore point was found.

"Is it a lie?" She probed further.

"You really expect me to believe that Bastianna was the one who killed my sister? It makes no sense. Her death would serve no purpose to anyone in the coven." Sophie argued. Ever since the Supreme made the point, she'd spent her time stuck in here trying to find reasons why it wouldn't be true. Why it couldn't be true. They were doing nothing but trying to find reasons for her to betray her elder and it wouldn't happen. Sophie wasn't the biggest fan of the woman, she could admit, but murder of a fellow witch? No, it was just a trick of the hybrid and his bitches.

"You'll get what's coming to you." She said in a low voice. "You all will. Vampires and the witches who aid them are nothing but vermin. The ancestors have promised us our due. The city will be ours once more."

"The city belongs to everyone. Werewolves have lived there for thousands of years, same as witches. Everyone has lived in relative peace and harmony for so long. Why can't that be good enough for you?" Bonnie found herself raising her voice. "Is power so important that you need to sacrifice an innocent little girl, a girl who has done no harm to anyone but happened to be born into a situation she didn't choose? Is that what balance is to you?"

Sophie's jaw muscles were taut. She ran her fingers through her sweat matted hair tendrils to straighten them. The basement didn't exactly have a world-class cooling system. Her breathing was labored but her stubborn demeanor made her power through it. "Some things we have to do are hard. That is the price of power. It's the price of the gift we were given."

It was somewhat ironic. A few years ago, Sophie would have laughed her sister down whenever she began to talk like this. Of duty and sacrifice and the things the ancestors required of them. All Jane Anne wanted was for her sister to take witchcraft seriously. She got her wish but it cost far too great.

The French Quarter witch wiped her sweaty forehead. "You want to talk to me about peace and togetherness? Your mate calls himself king of the supernatural world. That title wasn't just handed to him like a prize. It was paid for in blood so don't give me that fucking kumbaya speech. All it takes is one person, one lowly vampire to drain an innocent witch, one werewolf to poison a newborn vampire, one witch to hex either of them and that truce breaks away like a piece of thread. We don't live in peace. We live in anticipation of chaos. All the witches want is for the score to be tilted in our favor."

"So that's your plan? To kill all the werewolves and vampires in the city?" Bonnie said incredulous.

Sophie shrugged one armed. "It's kill or be killed."

The Bennett witch scoffed placing both hands on her waist. "That's what your elder told you huh? That it's all about survival. Was it about survival when she killed your sister and blamed Marcel?"

"Shut your mouth you fucking bitch!" She spat with venom. "You know nothing about what happened."

"Neither do you," Bonnie challenged.

"I know enough!" Sophie shouted balling her hands into fists. Her voice reverberated over the walls. There was shuffling outside the door. Probably Dwayne wondering whether or not to enter and interfere. Bonnie told him before she came in not to come in unless she shouted for him. The chains on Sophie's feet rattled. "I've told you people all you need to know. My coven elders worked with the siphons. They're doing the ritual and we need doppelgänger blood to do it along with the girl. You've got myself and Katie down here with no way to contact Bastianna so she's probably scrambling around to contact us. You've won. What more do you want?"

It was almost believable too. The Bennett witch wanted it to truly be enough. She wanted to believe that somehow getting ahead of the FQ coven's plans meant all was well and that Demi was safe. But that niggling feeling at the bottom of her spine told her it wasn't. When she remembered Demi's chubby cheeks and happy smiles, the fearful tremble of her lip when she recounted her vision, she knew there was more to it and she couldn't let it go. In such a short time she felt so connected to the little girl, just like she felt with Klaus.

Earlier before coming down they spoke over Rebekah's phone. Demi expressed her disappointment at not being able to visit Crystal at the stables with Bonnie and made the witch promise that they would when she arrived back to New Orleans. Bonnie promised that she wouldn't miss it for the world. It was a promise she intended to keep. Not even a vindictive witch would stop her.

She inhaled deeply. "You see, you're not the first to describe me the way you did. At first glance everyone sees me as the meek, moral little witch who could never harm a hair on anyone's head or do anything bad to anyone who doesn't deserve it. My mate thinks he has to protect me from the things he does, that I can't or won't understand it. In a way, I guess he's right. I don't like killing people or hurting anyone. I don't even like fighting."

Something warm dropped on Sophie's hand. It was blood. Alarmed, she reached up to her nostrils to realize she was bleeding. Then a hot, sharp pain shot through the back of her head and she screamed in agony cradling her head in both hands. Her mouth felt like a desert, her eyes blurred until her sight diminished and she felt like her spine was being ripped from her body.

Bonnie's voice was distorted from above her. Her senses were too clouded to discern her surroundings. "But one thing people don't realize about me is that I'll do anything to protect those I care about. That little girl is one of those people."

"Stop it please!" Sophie sobbed clawing her tear and crimson streaked face. The restraints on her feet were all that kept her from falling down on her knees. Blood eventually began to drip from her ears.

"Tell me why she's desperate to do it now."

"Bastianna has cancer!" Sophie cried cupping her ears with blood stained hands. "She's dying and she needs to power to stay alive. The ancestors won't answer her pleas for healing and every other treatment has failed. With the power she gets from the sacrifice she can finally appease them and they'll help us take out the vampires and werewolves in the city." The pain stopped instantly making her hiccup in relief. Her entire body was trembling as she looked up in her disheveled and stricken state to behold the witch who stood stoically before her.

"Now was that so hard?" Bonnie's smile was sadistic and so out of character. A drop of sweat fell from the bridge of her nose which was the only hint of the effort the act had taken her.

"Who are you?" Sophie stuttered feeling fear for the first time since they began their talk. It washed over her like an icy bath, sinking into her bones. Jane Anne always said her problem was underestimating what stood before her and refusing to see clearly. It seemed like a fitting time for her dead sister's wise words to come pouring into the present.

"You don't need to know for now." with that she turned on her heels and walked out of the basement. Her hands shook as she tried to close heavy metal door. Something warm and wet trickled down her lips and she wiped it away with her palm.

Her hand came away red.

Dwayne was leaning against the wall eyeing her with concern. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." her words proved to be a lie when her knees gave way and she fell forward, narrowly escaping a face full of floor when the hybrid sped forward to grab her by the waist. Bonnie wanted to say something but her mouth felt like lead and all thought evaporated when she became consumed by the incoming darkness.

Sorry this is short guys. I'm just in a weird mood these days. I'll try to make the next chapter longer but I really wanted to focus on the interaction between Bonnie and Sophie more.