Note: I know that no one wants to start an update off like this but i'll be quick I swear. I know many writers are getting discouraged by the lack of reviews and/or support they're receiving with their work. As much as it bums me out when I feel like I don't get a lot of feedback or whatever I would like to in the same breath express my deep appreciation for the people that do and have been reviewing my stuff. It's like the cherry on top of it all for me. I love this and my other stories so much so when someone shows how much they enjoy it, it really warms my heart but whether or not you review is your choice. Much like it's my choice to keep updating my work - this is all about my love of writing at the end of the day and that isn't ever going to change. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

I know I did ;) XO

"To fear death, my friends, is only to think ourselves wise, without being wise: for it is to think that we know what we do not know. For anything that men can tell, death may be the greatest good that can happen to them: but they fear it as if they knew quite well that it was the greatest of evils. And what is this but a shameful ignorance of thinking that we know what we do not know?" – Socrates, Greek Philosopher

Ask Bonnie Bennett about death and she'd put the kettle on and sit you down for an afternoon of conversation. She'd had more than her fill of the sacrifice, the loss, the mourning, yet she'd never had the peace of its fulfilment. She was always pulled back, always thrown this way and that between here and there, life and half-life. As if the gods themselves had it made it their mission to smite her for her goodwill. Yet now, with what started off seeming like death's final blow was turning out to be her greatest gift. She was alive again, and, by some Divine Intervention she'd been propelled into the immediate afterlife; through her soul's fusion with Damon's she'd adopted healthy doses of his vampirism in exchange for some of her magic. Somewhere in between all that they had balanced one another out, supernaturally speaking; Bonnie taking to the physicality of vampirism like a fish to water and Damon looking like he'd spent his whole life gearing up for the moments where he could send pulses of magic from his hands, sending whatever or whoever in any direction he chose.

A week had passed since their arrival to Cape Town, to the sleepy beach-side suburb of Melkbos. Bonnie and Damon had been inseparable since the morning he made her pancakes. Elena had drawn in on herself but had been as cordial and as pleasant as she could muster when she faced her friends who'd never looked happier. Stefan was in his element; learning something new every hour from Lucy and Fahada, the latter of whom he'd taken quite a shine to. Something about the jarring effect of her soft aesthetic and her lightning quick rebuttals, her sturdy gaze and her obvious power. Caroline's laughter filled the hallways and lit up every room, whether she was with Bonnie, or Enzo, Lucy or Imran. Amelia looked over the group of them as they stood, on the rooftop, watching the sunset, throwing warmth and bright burning colours over everything in sight. They were growing stronger; becoming a team, the darkness that had fell on them after the loss of Damon and Bonnie receding, making way for a new chapter in their lives. Her husband stood beside her and he let out a long, indulgent sigh and leaned in with that playful glimmer in his eye that she loved so much.

"And you said you didn't want children." He whispered before placing a kiss to the shell of her ear. She looked up at him, smiling though she was narrowing her eyes.

"I want your children," she reminded him, "None other will do." He rolled his eyes but kissed her cheek and pulled her close. Bonnie was staring open-mouthed at the view in front of her. She doubted she'd get used to the colour of the sun as it set here; it seemed different somehow, like an extra few flecks of colour were saved to shine on the shores of South Africa. She hummed happily as she rested her head on Caroline's shoulder, who threw an arm around her in response.

"This is perfect." Caroline said softly, "For so long I was holding on to the fond memories we all had but this is what I needed, what we all needed…to make more." Bonnie lifted her head then and she looked at Caroline with a mixture of surprise and affection.

"You're wonderful, you know that right?" Bonnie said and Caroline sniffled as she smiled, "Thanks for not giving up on me…I know you weren't the only one, but you, right now I'm saying thank you to you, for staying true to who you are and trying to find me even when it all seemed hopeless." Caroline pulled her into a bone-popping hug and Bonnie buried herself in the hold of her friend. Caroline Forbes, who smelled of strawberries, sunshine and home.

"Are you two quite finished?" Enzo interrupted and the girls turned to face him as he threw an arm over Damon's shoulder and nuzzled his cheek with his own nose, "Damon and I are trying to have a moment of our own." Lucy snorted and rolled her eyes, looking to the other side of her to a very quiet Elena.

"It's beautiful isn't it?" The Bennett witch said, pointing her chin towards the setting sun. Elena drew in a breath and blinked a few times before looking up to Lucy and smiling.

"It is." She agreed, though her voice was distracted and…sad, very sad. Lucy threw an arm over her shoulder.

"Chin up kiddo, we'll get you through it." Elena shot her a puzzled look. "Oh don't give me that, I can care about more than one girl with a penchant for doom," Lucy said with a quick grin, "Bonnie is my priority, she should have always been, but that doesn't mean I'm heartless when it comes to everyone else…well, as long as they bore no threat to her of course," Lucy's eyes became distant as she thought of Jeremy who had unwittingly almost torn the biggest rift between him and Bonnie by threatening Damon – lord alone knew how that would have ended. Probably with the vampire under her arm at present trying to snap her neck after she killed her 'brousin'. Nothing was black and white anymore. "You're dealing with a lot all at once and although theoretically you have forever to deal with it I suggest you get the ball rolling on being more proactive about it. Forever is meant as a celebration not a jail sentence." With that, Lucy tapped her shoulder and turned away, "If any one of you need me, I'll be in my room, ignoring you." She said with a wave at everyone else, wiggling her brows at her cousin. Bonnie shooed her off with a happy laugh, her smile still in place when Elena caught her eye.

"Night Bon." Elena said with a semblance of a smile ghosting over her lips before she too, made her way back inside.

"…Goodnight." Bonnie said, her eyes trailing after her. A sudden gasp from Stefan had her head spinning in his direction as she saw Fahada throw him backwards, onto the ground and yelled for them all to get down, her eyes locked on Imran. Before Bonnie had time to react an arrow sailed past her side, just missing her torso, whilst another sank into Damon's shoulder. She pushed him down, her eyes wild as she made sure they were all crouched down. "Fahada!" She yelled, when she saw the girl jump with unrestrained agility over the balcony down to whomever or whatever had shot at them. Looking down to Damon who had paled immensely since she last looked at him, not five seconds ago, she ripped the arrow out of him, throwing it aside when it stung her fingertips. A small part of her noted the odd inscriptions on the arrow but she'd remember that later. Now – she was going to kill someone. Looking to Caroline and the Stefan she leapt over the ledge after Fahada – a primal vengeance spurring her on. When she landed she heard Damon's hoarse voice calling to her but she was long gone. As quickly as she'd burst into a sprint, did she skid to a halt when her eyes took in Fahada. The girl had just tossed a head over her shoulder and turned to Bonnie, a single spray of blood flicked over her torso – not her own of course.

"The Superior's Hunters." Fahada said, but her eyes went up and over Bonnie's head, and the hybrid turned, seeing Imran looking at his sister and then nodded, before lifting Damon up and over his shoulder. The sight of Damon had Bonnie in a tailspin and before she really knew what was happening she was flying into the house and up the stairs to get to him, to see him, and hold him.

"Damon?!" She yelled, flying passed Elena and Lucy in the kitchen as she clung to Damon's scent, falling over herself as she reached the third floor where Imran had place him on a gurney. Damon's shirt had been torn off and the wound where the arrow had been was throbbing with the pulse of dark magic – something she hadn't encountered since her own dealings with Expression. The wound was bubbling and the sound of Damon's skin fizzing made Bonnie go almost blind with rage. She flashed to his side and held his face in her hands, the headiest potion of anger and fear running through her. She was lost somewhere in the haze of wanting to hurt whoever did this to him and the need to stay beside Damon until the colour returned to his skin. He was gasping and his chest was hitching as he struggled to breathe – so much like in his nightmares. She looked up with tear-filled eyes at Imran who was drawing some liquid from a vial into a fresh syringe. "…W-what is that?" Bonnie choked out, "Imran, who were they?"

A few days prior

After climbing up and down Lion's Head, Imran had taken them all to Camp's Bay, to frolic in the sun for a few more hours before they headed home. Unbeknownst to them they had crossed paths with a small coven of witches who were bathing in the sun nearby. There were only three of them and they all laid down, expecting nothing but a day filled with beautiful men and strong cocktails. The oldest one, a redhead had felt a tingling and looked up to see a shimmering coalesce with a small young woman's aura as she squealed and ran away from the cold water into a man's arms. He grinned and tossed her over his shoulder but it wasn't idle curiosity that caused the redhead to keep her blue eyes on them. There was a layer of supernatural film covering them; something other supernaturals were instinctually privy to and could harness from metres away of they practised long enough. And she had.

"There." She said, nodding towards the pretty caramel-hued girl who was giggling and wriggling in the hold of the dark haired man who was spinning her around relentlessly before heading to the water, much to her horror. "Her signature, why is it that colour?" The blue-haired, pale-skinned witch next to her dropped her sunglasses to look at the couple her witch-sister Kiera had pointed out. She shot upright almost immediately.

"Impossible." The girl breathed, smacking the sleeping witch next to her until she started awake. Grumbling, the brunette was pulled upright and her head turned to where the other two witches were still gawking.

"No fucking way." She drawled, still half-asleep, "There's no way."

"Look at their colours, both of them!" The Kiera hissed, her red hair flailing around her pixie features that were twisted in incredulity and disgust. "They're hybrids." She spat. "And the most unholy of them all."

"We have to call him." The blue-haired girl said, "He'll freak if he finds out before we tell him, we should have seen this coming." The brunette nodding hastily, already dreading the meeting they'd have with their Superior.

"We tag them first, there, the taller male vampire, next to them, he looks like the head of their coven," Kiera said, sizing Imran up from a distance, noticing how he was talking to them, with the mannerisms of a teacher, a leader and she smiled, "We'll tag him and then we'll go to the Superior and follow the steps he decides." The other two nodded. In a formation that came so naturally to them, they stood and packed their things; like synchronised swimmers, they sauntered over to pass the loosely assembled coven before them. The blue-haired witch bristled when she sensed the other witch among them, pure witch, flicking the nose of one of the hybrids, the girl.

"They seem…" she began but the redhead cut her off, she was about to say 'like a family'.

"Quiet Tessa," Kiera snapped, "You too Bridgette, pull it together, walls up, smiles on, got it?" the other two nodded and let Kiera fall into a rhythm that was a step ahead of them. Kiera smiled as she raised a hand to cover her eyes as she approached Imran.

"Do ya'll know where the bathrooms are? We're so lost!" She gushed in an impressive Texan accent. Imran nodded, smiling as he raised his arm to indicate where they were. Grinning at him and smiling quickly at the other women standing beside him, a blonde vampire and a brunette witch she made a quick lift of her shoulders and clapped her hands together once. The leader was tagged and he was none the wiser. "Thank you so much, have a lovely day now!" she drawled, flicking her radiant hair over a shoulder, wiggling her fingers and waving the girls to walk in the direction he'd pointed out.

Present

Imran was grim as he injected the syringe into the crook of Damon's neck. Bonnie blanched as he jabbed it in, she knew Imran was trying to help but the way Damon's back arched in response made her want to scream, like Damon was. Stefan was yelling something to Fahada, Caroline and Enzo were frozen in horror somewhere behind Bonnie and Amelia and Lucy were flying through the pages of Grimoires Amelia had assembled specifically for healing spells. Elena stood at the threshold of them room; frozen and misplaced. Her eyes were locked on Bonnie who was beside herself; her face going in and out of its vampiric state. After having heard that Bonnie was now a hybrid they'd all been shocked but supportive, but seeing her like this was somehow like the news was only just now clicking into place with Elena. Bonnie's bottom lip trembled as she went between cupping Damon's cheek, holding his hand, to rubbing soothing hands over his chest as his frame twitched and curled in agony.

"I have it!" Amelia yelled, shoving her way blindly forward, her eyes still reading over the spell. Imran moved out of the way, his face grim. Bonnie didn't want that to sink in yet; the concern and unhappiness on his face as her eyes scanned everything wildly, accurately and at a speed that was wholly unnatural. Now was not the time to get caught up in the vortex of her abilities. "Bonnie." Amelia said, for the second time Bonnie realised. She looked at the witch. Amelia was taken aback by the colour of Bonnie's eyes, the green and blue were glowing when they weren't a startling black and red of her vampire counterpart. "Can you hone the fifth element? It'll make the spell work faster I'm sure." Bonnie nodded, took the book with a quickness that bordered on impatience. Her eyes scanned the page but then something else clicked into place. She didn't need words. Not with Damon. Not with the fifth element. Not with everything that was spinning in her mind, not with the magic that was bursting at the seams to save him. Shoving the book in Caroline's hands she turned back to Damon and took in a shuddering breath and she felt the room stutter to a slowness; the sounds falling away to a thick silence as they waited with bated breath to see what she'd do.

"The fifth element," Bonnie said, placing her hands on Damon's chest as she looked opposite herself to Amelia, "It's in me, in him… I don't need a spell." Bonnie had one word in her mind: heal.

"Then, wha –" Amelia began but a bright sphere of light burst between Bonnie's fingertips as they rested on Damon. She moved then, with everyone watching, lifting her hands to cup his cheeks and dipped her head until she was a breath away from his mouth.

Come to me.

She kissed him hard on the mouth and Elena felt her stomach bottom out. Stefan's mouth fell open along with Caroline's while Lucy, Enzo, Imran and Amelia looked on gravely. Almost immediately Damon was soothed, almost immediately his panting evened out as he breathed easily through his nose. And as soon as feeling returned to his arms, they reached up to circle her waist, pulling Bonnie closer to him.

…I regret nothing.