Bonnie looked at Stefan from underneath her dark eyelashes. She asked, "Can you teach me how to bite someone without it hurting?"

Stefan glanced at a very nervous Matt Donovan. Bonnie had lured the blonde quarterback into his bedroom like a lamb to slaughter. He was almost tempted to let her drain the boy dry. However, that would surely land them both in the cellar for the duration of the blizzard and perhaps longer.

He cupped Bonnie's cheek and said, "Of course I can teach you, Bonnie. There are several ways to make feeding almost painless for a human. The best way is arousal but that isn't really an option here."

A her soft lips curled into a devilish grin. "Who said that wasn't an option? Mattie is sweet. Besides, have you seen him without a shirt? Those abs are amazing..."

Stefan expression darkened as he wound his long fingers into Bonnie's curly hair. He pulled hard enough to be painful and crushed his lips against hers. After the heated kiss, he said, "Be a good girl, Bonnie."

"I thought you liked it when I was bad," she replied with feigned innocence.

"Klaus is the only person that I intend to share you with…and only because it will make it easier to get rid of him."

Bonnie felt a shiver travel down her spine. She licked her lips and then tried to refocus. "If arousal is off the table, then give me something else. I don't want to hurt Matt."

Stefan noted the sincerity that shone in her eyes. He said, "The best method is to make the person relax before it happens. Pierce the skin quick but don't bite down too hard. Also, you don't have to suck to draw out the blood. Go for the artery in Matt's neck, the blood will bubble forth naturally. Now go have your snack because it looks like he's getting cold feet."

Bonnie nodded dutifully and crossed the room.

Matt was pacing in front of the bookcase. He was beginning to feel as if he had willingly walked into the lion's den. However, Bonnie had come to him with soft words and sad eyes. She was practically starving after having been in a trance for sixteen hours. He knew that to be true because of admissions from Lucy and Damon. Everyone had underestimated how Bonnie's magic would compromise her transition. The more powerful the witch, the more blood he or she needed. Lucy theorized it was nature's way of preventing powerful witches from completing the transition.

Bonnie stopped in front of her friend and said, "Thank you for agreeing to help me, Matt. I know...I know I haven't really been myself since Damon turned me. I won't pretend to be sorry for anything I have done but I want to assure you that I would never hurt you. You're probably the only person in this whole house that hasn't done anything to piss me off. You have always been a good friend to me, Matt."

Stefan noted that he didn't make the cut for Bonnie's woefully short list. He wondered what he had done to get on her bad side. Stefan knew it could be any number of things. It appeared their quiet little witch held grudges even if she never said anything.

Matt knew that Bonnie could be lying but he hoped that she was speaking truthfully. More than anything, he wanted to believe that his lifelong friend was still in there somewhere. "I should have been a better friend. I didn't realize that you were still struggling with your grandmother's death. Caroline told us what you said in Damon's room."

She looked into the blue pools of his eyes for a moment and then shook her head. "You're not to blame. I didn't tell anyone because I thought that I could handle it alone. Besides, you are grieving, too. I know how much you still miss Vicki. Your grief sort of went without notice, too."

He looked down at the floor while recalling the massive disaster his grief had almost caused.

Bonne took his hand and said, "Hey. I was willing to stay on the Other Side with Grams. You have no reason to feel guilty about wanting more time with Vicki. I would have done the same thing in your position."

"What does that say about us?" he asked with a sad smile.

She shrugged. "We have absent parents that leave us to cope with the world's problems alone."

Stefan frowned because he hadn't considered that Matt and Bonnie had absentee parents in common. Both of their parents were alive and well. They just didn't seem particularly interested in the well-being of their children.

Matt took a deep breath and said, "We should probably get this over with before someone starts looking for me. Damon and Alaric warned me not to let you feed from me but I trust you more than anyone else, Bonnie. I always have."

Bonnie nodded and led him over to an armchair.

Matt sat down and looked up at Bonnie expectantly.

Bonnie sat across his lap and said, "I promise I'll make this as painless as possible."

"I trust you, Bon," he swore.

She kept Stefan's instructions in mind when selecting a site to feed from. Bonnie's eyes locked onto Matt's throbbing artery. Her eyes went black as the night sky before she bit into his neck.

Matt tensed but relaxed when the expected pain didn't come. It was more of a light pinch than the stabbing feeling he had been expecting.

Bonnie sighed happily as the perfectly warmed blood flowed into her mouth. Cold blood from a bag could never compare to warm blood from a human donor. Blood from a living donor also didn't have the unfortunate aftertaste left by the anticoagulant used in the medical field. As Bonnie swallowed hungrily, she could see how easy it was to accidentally drain someone. All of her instincts told her to drink from Matt until he didn't have a drop of blood left in his body. However, she focused on the fact that Matt was her friend and that the world would be darker without him.

Matt was ignoring years of evolution by allowing Bonnie to feed from him. His fight or flight response wanted him to stop the predator stealing his life's blood. He tried to relax because a racing heart just meant more blood would leave his body faster. He relaxed more when Bonnie smoothed her hand over his hair.

Bonnie had been counting in her head. When they reached the two minute mark, she slowly withdrew her fangs from his neck. Then Bonnie pricked a finger on her fang and smeared her blood over the puncture wounds on Matt's neck. She watched as they quickly healed. She continued to sit on his lap for a moment as she tried to regain her senses.

Matt was relieved that Bonnie had been able to stop on her own. He had actually expected her to take more blood. He asked, "Are you okay?"

Bonnie hummed contentedly and nodded. She smiled up at Matt and said, "Thank you. I feel warm, full, and kind of sleepy now."

He was surprised by her response and said, "Oh. Well, I am glad that I was able to help."

Stefan approached the pair and gently took Bonnie into his arms. "If she's sleepy, then it is probably best to put her back into the trance now."

"Oh okay," Matt said. He stood on shaky legs.

He said, "You might want to increase your floods and have a cookie."

Matt nodded and walked out the room.

Stefan carried Bonnie over to his bed and laid her down. "You're a lot more cuddly when you're sated."

Bonnie yawned as she flipped him off. She kicked off her boots and asked, "Will you put me back in the dream I was in the first time?"

He stroked Bonnie's hair and asked, "Do you want to go back there?"

She nodded slowly. "It was nice and you were there, too. Nice job making my Grams' actually like you. She definitely wouldn't approve of what we're doing."

Stefan chuckled and moved onto the bed with Bonnie. He pressed a kiss to her temple. "Try to relax so that I can enter your mind again."

Bonnie closed her eyes and focused on her breathing and Stefan's large hand resting just under her breast. His presence was comforting even if she liked giving him a hard time.

It took a few minutes of prodding Bonnie's mind, but slowly he was able to create another dream world for her. It was incredibly similar to the previous one. However, it was better to return her to a place that she would want to stay. It would be essential once the pain returned.

Afterwards, he sat back and watched as Bonnie began to levitate on his bed once more. He smiled in satisfaction and then left the room.

Damon was waiting in the hallway. There was an unusual glint in his eyes. "I think we need to talk, brother."

Stefan was immediately suspicious of his brother's sudden appearance. He lifted an eyebrow and said, "Oh?"

"I think we can both agree that this…" he motioned between them "...isn't sustainable. Snapping your neck was fun but it can't continue."

Stefan snorted and leaned against the wall. He said, "We'll be gone as soon as the roads are passable. Then we won't be your problem any longer."

"Yeah that's not going to happen. There is no way I'd let you leave the boarding house with Bonnie."

He snorted, "I'd like to see you try to stop us. Bonnie won't take kindly to being caged. My little bird is ready to spread her wings. She's only humoring you and Lucy because she doesn't want anyone to get hurt."

Damon flashed a smile that was all teeth. "I have no intention of trying to 'cage' Bonnie. If she wants to leave, I won't stand in the way. But I'll be accompanying the two of you. I think a road trip is just what the doctor ordered."

Stefan blinked because Damon had caught him off guard. He figured that his brother would continue trying to appeal to his better angel. Damon didn't seem to realize that his better angels were buried too deep to be of any use right now. He huffed out a laugh, "You know what they say: two's company, three's a crowd, brother."

Damon chuckled darkly and said, "Well, it's not my fault that Bonnie has two soulmates. You can lodge all your formal complaints with her witchy ancestors."

The younger vampire frowned because that's the last thing he wanted to hear. Not only did he not want to share Bonnie with Damon, but he didn't want his brother getting in the way of all their plans. Damon could be chaotic but he wasn't ten-state killing spree chaotic. "I thought Lucy said that it wasn't possible for there to be two soulmates. She seemed fairly certain about that an hour ago."

"She held a seance while you let Bonnie lure the quarterback up here to be a meal. Lucy was told in no uncertain terms that the potion is never wrong. If both our marks glowed, then it means we're both tethered to Bonnie. She's as much mine as she is yours…"

Stefan growled and tried to grab his brother. However, Damon had been expecting him to lash out and easily zipped out of the way. "Bonnie does not want you!"

Damon shrugged and said, "That Bonnie is a little off in the head. I think you can agree with me there. There's no way to know what...or who she will want once she's back to normal. We'll just have to wait and see. Maybe Bonnie decides that she doesn't want either of us."

Stefan hated to agree with his brother but he could definitely see that happening. Bonnie wanted him right now because he was the only person willing to indulge her. However, she had made it quite clear that their tryst was over the moment it stopped being fun. Already her interest had shifted to Klaus because he was more powerful than Stefan could ever hope to be. Bonnie had every intention of seducing and the original hybrid with his help. Not that Stefan's help was even remotely necessary. Klaus had a penchant for powerful witches that he could mold. Truthfully, Stefan was trying to take a page out of his book.

"I thought you wanted Elena," Stefan hissed angrily.

Damon shrugged his shoulders. He continued with a smirk, "I wanted Elena because I thought I couldn't have her. That is no longer the case. The way Lucy explains it, the soul marks will have the greatest effect on Bonnie. She'll want the both of us. She'll need the both of us. Being away from us for too long would start to cause her genuine physical pain. As much as you don't want me involved, you're going to need me...unless you plan on Bonnie spending days at a time in a meditative trance."

Stefan's mind raced as he tried to find a way around taking Damon with them.

Damon chuckled heartily at the expression on his brother's face. "Game on, little brother. Game. On."