Damon woke up with a start. He had been having 'the dream' again. Even now, weeks later, she still haunted him in his dreams. It was always their last moment together.

He rubbed his eyes and searched his surroundings. At first, he had felt a bit disoriented, but after a few seconds he remembered where he was. He was still in the cheap motel. Upon realization, the muscles in his body relaxed immensely and Damon released a breath he didn't know he was holding. He wondered when he was finally going to get rid of the side effects of having been stuck inside the Phoenix stone for months.

The dark-haired vampire pulled the covers back and briefly glanced at the body lying next to him. He could see her chest rise and fall. Bonnie was sleeping peacefully. Though she did snore rather loudly.

A mischievous smile appeared on his face. Damon quietly got up and walked over to the chair where he had hung his clothes. He carefully grabbed his phone from out of his jeans back pocket and walked back over to the bed and stood next to where Bonnie was still sleeping.

This wasn't the first time that he had shared a bed with Bonnie Bennett. Back in the Prison World the two of them had shared the same bed once. It had been very much platonic. Bonnie had still been somewhat hung up on Jeremy and he of course was still very much in love with Elena Gilbert. Which he still was of course. He felt the sudden need to clarify that for himself.

The vampire hunched down on his knees so that he could be on Bonnie's eye level. He then aimed his phone on Bonnie and pressed 'record'. Bonnie none the wiser was snoring happily away, "I hate pancakes", she mumbled in her sleep.

Damon softly chuckled. Just like that he now had proof of Bonnie doing two things she had vehemently denied doing: snoring and talking in her sleep. After a minute or so of creepily recording her, Damon pressed 'stop'. A minute longer and he would have been a certified pervert like Edward Cullen. He lowered his phone and put it on the nightstand. With his now free hand, he gently stroked Bonnie's hair. Yeah stroking her hair, is much better than staring, his mind provided for him. The act caused Bonnie to stir a bit, but it didn't seem to wake her up. Staring at Bonnie made him forget about his nightmare. She had this way of calming him.

Not wanting to wake her up, he finally got up from his hunches. He then walked over to the chair and grabbed his bag and brought it with him to the bathroom.

He gave himself a once over in the mirror. No dark circles or bags under his eyes. The perks of being a vampire and a stud. He wet his toothbrush before applying the toothpaste.

While brushing his teeth, he heard the water running from the tab. He looked down, it wasn't coming from the sink. The sound of running water was accompanied with singing and giggling. "Mister sandman bring me a dream. Make him the cutest that I've ever seen",a female voice sang. It was coming from the bathtub.

Damon raised his brows in question. It couldn't be Bonnie, she wasn't up yet and there was no way that she could have sneaked into the bathroom unnoticed. He spat out his toothpaste and rinsed his mouth. He then took a deep breath and walked over to the tub. The tub was hidden behind an awful blue polka dot shower curtain. He hesitated for a moment, but then moved the curtain to the side.

"What the fuck?!" he yelled at the intruder. Two big brown eyes greeted him cheerfully.

"Oh, hi Damon", the girl said. She wore a big grin on her face and seemed almost unperturbed to his previous outburst.

Damon swallowed hard as he took in the sight in front of him. The girl was lathering herself with soap, but no matter how much soap she administered the blood wouldn't leave her skin. The water in which she bathed turned red. She was bathing in her own blood.

Damon closed his eyes for a minute. He hoped that by the time he opened them again, she would be gone. This wasn't the first time he'd seen her outside his dreams. In addition to the dreams, he sometimes saw her in waking life. And in those moments, he would close his eyes and try to will her away. Most times it worked. Only once before had she truly interacted with him.

But when Damon opened his eyes she was still there. He sighed in defeat. It was time to find out what she wanted.

"What are you doing here? And why are you wearing a bathing suit?" he asked.

She rolled her eyes at him in exasperation. "I'm trying to wash the blood away, silly".

"And to answer your second question. I'm in a bathing suit because you, mister, are not my boyfriend. No way I'm displaying my goodies in front of you!" she said, teasingly.

Her lips then pulled up into a smile. "Lend me a hand, will you?" The girl held out a bottle of soap up to him. Damon stared at the proffered limb.

"Come on now, it's the least you can do. After all my blood is on your hands", she pointed out.

Damon swiftly grabbed the bottle from her and sat on the edge of the tub and began lathering her back much to his chagrin. She on the other hand smiled in victory.

Wanting to wipe that stupid smile off her face, he said: "Didn't I tell you to leave me alone. What are you doing here?"

"You had 'the dream' again? Didn't you?" she asked sweetly. Damon gritted his teeth. Somehow, she always seemed to know how he was doing or feeling. It was like she was inside his head, which was true in a way. This was all happening inside his head. He was probably just talking to a lump of air right now. Yet it didn't stop him from engaging her in conversation.

"So, what if I did?" he asked her. He sounded hostile. "I just wanted to see if you were okay", she said. "Are you okay?"

When Damon didn't respond, she decided to ask him another question.

"Tell me how the meeting with the she-wolf went?"

He grunted. Of course, she knew about that too. He sighed yet again before answering her question.

"It didn't exactly go as planned", Damon said while he was still lathering her back with soap.

Her brows furrowed together. Concern was written all over her face. "How so?" she asked.

"She doesn't know where your family is".

The girl's face softened, and she chuckled.

"Well, that's why she has to track them down right? Geez Damon, sometimes I really wonder whether you're all good looks and no brains", she playfully ribbed him.

Damon lightly jabbed her with his elbow faking faux annoyance.

"Ouch", she said pretending to hurt badly. She then splashed some water on him.

"Hey knock it off", he said. But his protest, made her laugh and pick up the pace. For a moment Damon found himself lost in memories of simpler times.

"Earth to Damon", the young girl's voice brought him back from his musings. She had stopped splashing water on him when she noticed that he wasn't reacting anymore. He stared into her face. She looked the same as she had all those years ago. She was a ghost from his past, trapped in a snapshot of time. Just like him, she was doomed to remain forever the same.

He now realized that she obviously didn't know. Damon swallowed. "Your family….", he began tentatively.

"What about them?"

"They are gone".

"Gone where? Did they move to a different state or something?" she asked.

"Not like that. They have disappeared. No one knows where they are. Your family and the coven you were a part off, they are all gone".

The girl remained quiet for a while. Damon continued to lather her back with soap and tried to rinse it, but the blood didn't leave her skin. It was latched onto her skin.

"Oh", she said. "Well, nothing stays hidden forever".

"There is a possible lead though", Damon then revealed. He didn't like to hear the sadness in her voice. Which was odd, because he knew that she wasn't really here with him. This scene was all playing out in his mind.

The girl perked up considerably. "Tell me about it", she demanded.

He humored her. "The she-wolf said that about a year ago she was asked to track someone down. A possible living member".

"Who hired her?" the girl asked. "I didn't ask" Damon said sheepishly. He was thrown of guard by the revelation of the witch family's disappearance. And forgot to thoroughly interrogate the wolf. He now realized he should have been more adamant about that piece of information.

"You're getting sloppy" she tskd. "You used to be good at this".

"I got an address of the supposed sighting", he quickly added. He felt the sudden need to prove himself to her.

The girl then turned around in the tub to now face him. This caused Damon to drop his hands from her back.

She had a wide grin on her face. "Do you think you'll find me there?" He stared into her beautiful face. Her eyes had always shone so bright. He remembered when she had been so heartbroken because of some stupid teenage boy. The light had left her eyes. It had angered him how such an insignificant toad like that had the power to dim the light of his 'bright star'.

Up until then, he never realized how much he actually cared about her. She was just supposed to be a means to an end- opening the tomb where Katherine was in- he was never supposed to care about her.

"A penny for your thoughts", she said sweetly.

As much as he would love to see her there, he knew that it was impossible. She was dead and was only here because of the phoenix stone. And that's what he told her.

"You're dead".

"How can you be so sure?"

Damon swallowed hard and he looked away. Memories of that unfortunate night trying to grab a hold of his mind.

He blinked his eyes furiously in an attempt to keep the images at bay.

"I watched you die", he began. "There is no way you could have survived that".

Her brows furrowed. She was thinking and probably trying to choose her next words carefully.

"But a seed of doubt has been planted in your brain. Hasn't it?"

He stared deeply into her bright eyes.

"It's not possible. You died", he said.

She furiously shook her head in denial.

He then forcefully grabbed her face. She yelped a little from the surprise move.

"You're not real", he enunciated every word. Not sure if he was trying to convince her or himself.

"You're not real", he repeated a bit unsure. She searched his face. "I'm as real as you would like me to be".

Damon let out a harsh laugh and he tightened his grip on her face. He thought he heard a small cry coming from her, but he ignored it. He stared at her with his eyes widened and wild. "I'm going mad", he chuckled.

"I should just rip your head off", he said. "Perhaps that will shut you up".

She grabbed his hands, the ones who covered her face. "Please don't", she said softly.

When he saw her tear-filled eyes, he softened his grip on her face a bit. But he didn't fully release her. It's like he needed to hold on to her.

"Damon, do you regret it?" she asked so soft it almost sounded like a whisper. He didn't answer her right away, because he didn't trust his voice right now. So, he chose to pretend not to understand her.

"Regret not feeding me your vampire blood", she clarified.

"You're a witch", he spat.

"And witches have no business becoming vampires. You would lose your magic and more importantly you would have to feed on people. These are huge deal breakers for witches".

"I'm sure you would have been able to teach me a thing or two about control", she said.

They both stared at each other. A beat. And then the girl burst out into laughter.

"Who am I kidding? You and self-control", she laughed. The tears already trapped in her eyes, rolled on her cheeks.

Damon suddenly got very annoyed with her. "You should know, that when it comes to my feeding on people, I'm more than capable of controlling myself. Unlike a certain ripper vampire", Damon ranted.

The girl cleared up. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. Should I really have gotten out of control. You always could have called Lexi", she said with a smile.

Damon winced at the mention of Lexi's name. He still felt bad for what he had done to Stefan's friend. Though he wouldn't outwardly admit it.

She noticed it. "Have I said something wrong?"

Damon shook his head. "It's fine".

"Are you sure? You seem upset".

She stared deeply into his clear blue eyes. "It never ceases to amaze me, how something so beautiful could be so cold... you killed her".

Damon wanted to rip her head off. Stop her from saying anything more. But he couldn't.

He then looked at her. She didn't say anything, she just looked at him.

"You wouldn't have been happy", he then said effectively breaking the silence between them.

"But I would have been alive", she argued. "And I'm sure that together we could have made it work. I mean… sure, I'd be scared to feed, but you got these handy blood bags, right? You told me yourself that some vampires use them to feed themselves. And in the worst-case scenario I could have followed Stefan's bunny diet", she giggled nervously.

Damon shook his head. "You would have hated me".

"No, Damon, I could never hate you".

"Yes, you could, and you would have!", Damon yelled.

"You would have casted me out of your life. And I would have had to live the rest of my immortal life knowing that you hate me. And I couldn't handle that".

Her eyes darkened and her nails painfully dug into the skin on his hands.

"You left me to die and rot. Your selfishness killed me Damon", she said rather harshly.

Her nails continued to dig into his skin and draw blood. Damon winced in pain and released his grip from her face. She then let go of his hands, grabbed his face and pushed him under the water.

Damon found himself splashing and fighting against her grip, but nothing worked. Somehow, she was stronger than him. Slowly everything started to turn dark, the blood red water filled his lungs, and he found himself drowning. Drowning in her blood. His whole world turned black.

When he woke up in the tub, he struggled for air. If he saw her again, he would kill her.

"Damon, a soft voice said from behind him. She was standing outside the tub. She was about Caroline's height.

He got out of the tub and now stood before her.

"Damon, I'm so sorry. She made me do it", she said sorrowfully and then pointed to his right, where a beautiful woman was standing.

"Bree?" The woman smiled at him maliciously. And then launched at him, but before he could react or push her away. He felt a woman's back press against his front. Damon didn't register what happened, but she stumbled backwards into his arms. He caught her, and then felt the wetness on her stomach. He looked at his hands and saw blood. He laid her down on the floor and stared into her pretty face. "Damon, I'm sorry", she struggled saying. Blood coming out her mouth. The wooden stake still stuck inside her.

He felt rooted to the spot. Bree looked at the scene in horror. And then turned her attention back to him.

"It should have been you!", she screamed, and she moved closer to him. And started punching and hitting him, all the while the pretty girl on the floor kept calling out his name.

"It should have been you", it kept playing inside his head like a chant. Angry and filled with guilt, he pushed Bree from him and grabbed her throat and started squeezing it.

"Shut up!", he yelled at her. Her eyes filled with horror. "Stop", she tried to squeeze out. Slowly but surely her voice morphed into Bonnie's.

"Damon stop it", her voice croaked. He was seeing Bree, but her voice sounded like Bonnie's.

"Damon, wake up!", she yelled. Her face now started to resemble Bonnie's as well. He wanted to stop but he couldn't. He felt the life leaving her body. Now he was surrounded by three dead witches: Bree, Bonnie and the young girl Estelle.

He moved over to Bonnie's lifeless body and begged her to wake up. Estelle's corpse reanimated and the girl got up from her spot and walked over to Damon. "Help Bonnie", he begged her. Estelle knelt next to him and put her arms around him and consoled a grieving Damon into her arms. "It will all be alright", she cooed. "I'll fix it. That's what heroes do, right?"

He then felt himself slowly desiccating. As he did, he saw the rise and fall on Bonnie's chest and she woke up with a start, screaming Damon, as he burst into dust.

Damon woke up with a start, he coughed up water and screamed out Bonnie's name. He was covered in sweat and lying in bed. With his eyes, he searched the room for Bonnie but to no avail. "Bonnie, he yelled once more".

"Damon, calm down", he heard Bonnie say when she reentered the room. She came out of the bathroom.

She sat on the bed, next to him. He grabbed her and pulled her into his arms and into a hug. He didn't say anything, he just held her. She held onto him as well.

"It's okay, Damon. It was just a bad dream", she cooed into his ear. She could tell that he was in a pretty bad shape. And what had happened earlier in the bathroom, worried her. She had stumbled upon a very unconscious Damon in the bathtub. There had also been traces of blood. She pulled him out of the tub. And with the help of her magic she moved him to the bed. She then called Stefan, informing him about what was going on with Damon. He told her that he was on his way to them. She knew that Stefan had been going through the same thing with the Phoenix stone, and that he would be able to better help Damon.

Bonnie wondered about the woman plaguing Damon his dreams. But for now, she would just hold him into her arms and allow him to hold onto her for as long as he needed.

"Jennifer Montgomery, I am extremely disappointed in you. Smoking pot on your lunchbreak. You are fired". Jennifer panicked and was about to put the joint out until she saw the snickering face of her best friend trough the car window. "You bitch", she said laughing.

"You almost gave me a heart attack, thinking it was Elroy. You have this uncanny ability to mimic people their voices. You should go on America's Got Talent or something". The blonde opened the door on the passenger's side and beckoned her friend to come in.

Estelle laughed as she stepped into the car. Jennifer Montgomery was the second friend she made in this sleepy little town. The leggy blonde looked like she had stepped straight out of a fashion magazine. She loved the blonde for her bluntness and her devil may care attitude. It was a nice contrast to her sweet Ethan.

"Want a hit?" Jen asked and offered her joint up to Estelle. Estelle accepted her friend's offer and took a hit. This is how the girls spend most of their lunchbreaks, smoking pot in Jen's car on the parking lot behind the dinner.

"When you were younger, is this the kind of life you imagined for yourself?" Jen asked.

"Smoking pot in a car with a pretty blonde?" Estelle asked. Jen laughed and gently jabbed her elbow into Estelle's side.

"You're such an idiot sometimes", and she grabbed the joint from her friend's hand and started smoking again.

Estelle protested. "That's what you get for acting like an idiot", Jen playfully reprimanded her.

Estelle rolled her eyes. After a quiet minute she said, "Not exactly". "Promise not to laugh?" and she looked as her friend searchingly.

"Scouts honor", Jen said. Estelle side-eyed the pretty blond but carried on nonetheless. "I wanted to be a superhero."

Jen held her breath capturing and willing the smoke to reach her lungs, but she just ended up coughing because of laughter and then soon Estelle joined her. And both women were laughing.

"Bitch, you promised not to laugh". Estelle grabbed the blunt from the blonde woman. "I'm being dead serious though", she then said to her still laughing friend.

"Growing up I loved reading comics about all these people with superpowers. They could do whatever they wanted to do. I mean they could of used their powers to enrich themselves but they didn't. They chose to help others. Even if society wouldn't always accept or appreciate them. It never stopped them from wanting to do better".

Estelle passed the blunt back to her friend.

"I can totally see you kick ass and take names", Jen said.

Estelle stared at her friend. "Yeah?"

"And you got the scars befitting for a superhero", the blonde said.

Estelle's face scrunched up a bit at the mention of her scars but she chose not to comment on it. Instead she asked Jen the same question.

"I wanted to be a pilot", Jen answered. "That's cool", Estelle said.

There's just one problem you know".

"What is it?"

"I'm afraid of flying", Jen said.

Both women were yet again laughing. "Jen, I love you", Estelle said sobering up. "I love you too Jackie", Jen said.

"We're team JJ forever".

***
"So how are you feeling now?" Bonnie asked Damon.

"I'm fine", he said, and he downed his glass of bourbon in one go. An older woman in a booth opposite them gave him a look. So, what if it's only 11 am and he is already drinking? After the fucked-up morning he had, he deserved this drink. "I'm fine" he finally said, answering Bonnie's question.

Two green eyes stared at him, concerned. "Are you going to tell me what happened?" she asked tentatively.

He thought back off Estelle. How she had looked so pretty in her bathing suit and yet so disturbed. How for a brief moment, he had actually allowed himself to think of what it would be like if she was still alive. Or how he had thought he lost Bonnie as well.

"No", he said. And he called the waitress to their table. "Another one, please", he said. She nodded and walked away.

Bonnie looked at him with her judgey eyes. "Spit it out, Judgey", he said.

"Damon, I'm your best friend. You can tell me what happened. Let me help you".

He was touched by her sincere concern for his wellbeing, but he didn't deserve her caring for him. Just like he didn't deserve Elena's love.

"Thanks for the offer Bon Bon, but you can't save me from my demons", he said chuckling.

"If that's true, then why am I here Damon? Why not take this trip on your own?"

"Maybe I just like an audience when I self-destruct", he said and shrugged.

"Damon, who was she to you?"

Damon, who am I to you? He didn't say anything. She then walked closer to him. Am I just a means to an end?
She had asked him the same question once.

"Just a means to an end", he said, and he downed his second shot of bourbon. Bonnie was about to ask another question, but he interrupted her, "Eat your food Bonnie, it's getting cold". He then got up.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"Outside to make a phone call".

Bonnie was about to protest, but he was already close to the door now. She grabbed her phone out of her purse and texted Stefan about their whereabouts. When they had spoken earlier, Stefan had mentioned that he was on his way.

She just hoped that he got there, before Damon decided to want to hit the road again.

***
After their lunchbreak the two women returned to the dinner and continued working. All the regular patrons were there. There was an old man, Will. A truck driver who always loved to tell her stories about his travels. And she enjoyed listening to the old man. Sometimes he even brought her trinkets from his trips. She thought is was sweet.

In the afternoon a lot of teens occupied the dinner. Some did their homework dutifully and others were more invested in discussing the latest gossips and trends.

She loved observing the patrons and imagining what their lives were like. She was fascinated by the idea, that nothing and no one was what they appeared to be. Estelle herself was proof of that.

The day went by quite uneventful until later in the evening. Some guys entered the dinner and acted a bit rowdy. One of them was pretty hands on with the waitresses. He was especially 'friendly' with Jen.

Estelle was standing behind the counter taking everything in. Jen walked up to her. "Ugh, I hate those guys".

"You okay?", Estelle asked.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Just part of the job, right", Jen said and she plastered a pretty smile on her face while she left again for the table.

But it shouldn't be part of the job, Estelle thought to herself. She watched the group with keen interest. Especially the ringleader caught her attention. There was something about him specifically that rubbed her the wrong way. He reminded her of someone in her past. Someone she would very much like to forget.

By the time the guy and his friends left, Estelle was still feeling some type of way. She decided to follow the guy and his friends outside. Ignoring the odd looks Jen and Pedro-the cook- gave her.

The guy was standing next to his car, smoking a cigarette with his buddies. "Hey!" she yelled at him. He stared at her and smirked at his friends. He probably thought that he was getting lucky tonight.

Estelle moved closer to him and without warning forcefully grabbed his arm and twisted it around. He cried out in pain. "You crazy bitch", he screamed. His friends looked mortified. "Do something you idiots", he screamed at them. His friends tried to come to his aid but found themselves rooted to the spot. "I can't move", they screamed in unison.

"Did you know that they used to cut off your hand, for stealing? In some countries they still do it".

"Let go of me you bitch", he spat. "I didn't steal anything." Estelle ignored his outburst. "What do you reckon they do, to a hand that has been groping women all night without their consent. Cut it off as well?" She putted extra pressure on his arm. "No", he cried out in pain. "Please, don't!"

"Next time, you feel like feeling a woman up without her consent, you think about me and this pain you're feeling right now, you asshole." Just before she released his arm a loud crack was heard.

He fell on the ground in pain. "Bitch! You broke my arm!"

"Be glad that's all I broke", and she eyed at his privates suggestively. She ordered the others to drive him to the hospital.

Transfixed they nodded. Once they realized that they were able to move again, the guys hurried over to their friend. They picked him up, put him in his car and took off.

Estelle went back inside the dinner. There she was greeted by an astonished Jen and Pedro who had been watching the whole thing play out. "Jackie, where did you learn to do that?" Jen asked amazed.

"I wanted to be a superhero remember?" Estelle smirked.