A/N: This story is set after 5x22. No copyright infringement intended. I don't own the characters. They are merely written in my own light, OOC. This is an AU.
Oblivion Chapter 5: Gateway
The following morning, Bonnie woke up to what sounded like birds chirping nearby. She smiled at hearing them and at the sun shining brightly through the windows of their little hut.
Bonnie soon keyed in to Damon's cool skin touching her warm skin. She folded her bottom lip into her mouth and squeezed her shoulder to her cheek, grinning like a little girl. Not only was Damon's arm resting contentedly on her waist, but his leg was resting comfortably on top of her left leg and nestled snugly against the back of her right.
She didn't want to move. Bonnie enjoyed the closeness of her friend. Damon being here in this brand-new beautiful world with her kept her from feeling lonely and it reminded her of home.
Bonnie quickly closed her eyes when she felt Damon move. He lightly dug his fingers into the side of her tiny waist as he tiredly scooted himself closer to her. He pushed his cool lips and nose into the back of her neck, sending chills down Bonnie's spine.
"Mmm," Damon moaned into the back of her neck. "It can't be morning. I just went to sleep," he said groggily, his lips brushing lightly against her skin.
"Yup. It's morning." Bonnie blushed nervously and gave a shrug. "I need to freshen my breath." She said quickly. She tried to hurry out of bed, peeling Damon's hand away from her waist, but it wouldn't budge.
"Damon." She giggled and turned to him.
"Don't go, Bon Bon. Let's spend the day in bed. We can pillow fight, paint each other's nails." Damon waggled his eyes and bit his bottom lip.
"I need to freshen up," she whined.
"I don't care about your breath, Bonnie. We finally get a good night's rest on a bed of feathers—I think—and you don't want to enjoy it?" Damon chided, hitting her softly on the head with his pillow before shoving it back under his head.
"Omigod, what do you want to do and talk about in bed?" Bonnie asked, slightly annoyed.
"What do you like to do besides fry my brain?"
"I like to do what most girls like to do, Damon. I like to shop, go out on dates, gossip, eat chocolate, and go to parties."
"Dying really put a damper on all of that didn't it?" Damon chuckled.
"Tell me about it." Bonnie smiled. "What did Human Damon like to do? Did he like to lounge around in bed, too?" Bonnie laid back down beside him, propping her head up with her hand.
"What? You don't want to know about Vampire Damon?" He mocked.
"Mm, no. He's a dumb ass." Bonnie giggled like a little girl.
"Touché." Damon pushed his brow into his forehead and smirked. "Human Damon loved to hang out in bed all day. Disobeying his dad was a top priority in his life. He also liked to ride horses, go fishing, and he liked to toss around the pigskin with his brother, and party."
"Did you and Stefan double date a lot?"
"We did a few times. We would take our lady friends to plays, horse riding, have picnics and we'd sit around the parlor, making out when the folks weren't around. The ladies loved me back then." Damon smirked in thought.
"I don't know what the ladies saw in you, then or now," Bonnie sassed.
"I resent that, Bonnie. I'm charming, sexy, and great in bed." He waggled his brow.
"I think I'm going to be sick." Bonnie pushed her finger to the back of her mouth, pretending to gag. She turned her gaze back to Damon and felt anything but sick at the sight of blue-eyed, raven-haired, handsome Damon Salvatore.
Her eyes quickly scanned his almost naked frame.
Somewhere between them laying down that night and that morning, Damon had found the night clothes that Zinnia gave to them. Her eyes kept navigating over the large bulge in the front of his shorts and the raven treasure trail that led to something that she had thought about on and off since they arrived on parallel Earth.
Bonnie took a hard swallow and then looked back at Damon who was smiling knowingly at her. She nervously cleared her throat, smiled, and pushed a faux loose strand of hair behind her ear.
"How old were you when you first had sex and what was it like?" Bonnie's question clearly was conjured up by a semi-naked Damon who lay before her.
"My, my, aren't we curious," he said with a seductive smile.
Bonnie looked away and then cut her eyes nervously back at him.
"I was fifteen, and it was amazingly hot because she was a hooker." Damon tapped his fingers against his hard abdomen, flashing Bonnie a devilish grin.
"You are so disgusting."
"Haven't we had this conversation before?" He winked and gazed at her ravenously.
Bonnie immediately became uneasy, suddenly feeling an urge to leave. "Well, I better go…and freshen up," she said timidly.
"No, stay. Let's chill." Damon grabbed Bonnie by the wrist and gently pulled her back down onto the bed.
"Damon, we can't hang out in bed all day. It would be inappropriate."
"It would not be inappropriate, Bon Bon. Let's cuddle?" He pouted.
Bonnie widened her eyes at his statement. She instantly felt uncomfortable behind his comment. "Cuddle?"
"Yes, let's snuggle, like we did in the cave when you asked me to lay next to you," he reminded her in the sweetest of voices.
"We had just experienced a life or death situation, Damon," she replied as if he were being ridiculous.
"Every second on this planet is a life or death situation, Bonnie, so what's your point?" He shrugged and furrowed his brow. "Don't you miss cuddling with Jeremy? Don't you ever feel lonely?" he asked seriously.
"Jeremy was my boyfriend. That's what couples do, and yes, I miss it. I'm pretty sure Elena cuddled you a lot." Bonnie clearly wanted to know more about his relationship with her best friend.
"Best friends can cuddle, too, Bonnie, and no, Elena and I didn't snuggle with each other. We had wild sex, we went to sleep, and when we woke up the next morning, she was on her side of the bed and I was on mine."
"Oh." Bonnie's face enhanced with a look of pity. She collapsed back down onto the bed, crossing her ankles, and overlapped her hands-on top of her belly. "We can talk. If you want to, but no touchy-feely stuff. Okay?" she issued out her wishes sternly.
Bonnie gave in against the better judgment of her mind. Lately, her body and heart were nagging at her brain. They wanted and needed things and they wanted those things from Damon, but her mind was very stubborn on the matter.
Her brain believed in being loyal at any and all cost and it was winning the battle.
"Fair enough," Damon answered and continued, "...so, what was your first time like and who with?" He rolled his eyes at the thought of Jeremy Gilbert possibly being Bonnie's first.
Bonnie's eyes almost popped out of their sockets. Why on earth was Damon curious about her sexual encounters? Oddly enough, Bonnie felt compelled to confide in him of all people about that bittersweet night with Jeremy.
"Jeremy wanted our first time to be at the boarding house-," she was cut off.
"You did what? What the hell, Bonnie?!" Damon spat, frowning up at her.
"We went to a hotel, Damon," she snapped with a roll of her eyes.
"Oh, good. Please, continue." He smirked.
"I placed candles throughout our hotel room. I wanted our first time to be really romantic and magical," Bonnie explained cheerfully, and Damon snickered.
"If you're going to laugh, I won't tell you, Damon," she said, annoyed.
"Just tell me," he grumbled.
Bonnie sighed. "It should have been a beautiful night, but it turned out horribly when two Travelers decided to pass through me while we were in the middle of making out with each other." Bonnie looked at Damon somberly.
"Damn, that must have been-," Damon watched her, disturbed. He was saddened and rendered speechless by Bonnie's shameful and pathetic expression.
He instinctively reached his hand over to rub her shoulder tenderly for comfort as they both continued to lie in bed on their feathery pillows. Bonnie's head propped up on her hand and Damon's head remained flat on his pillow.
"...so, am I to assume you two tried it again the next night and baby Gilbert rocked your world?" Damon snickered preposterously at the idea while trying to lighten the mood.
"That night was our first time," Bonnie answered, embarrassed.
"You mean Jeremy slept with you after that?" Damon sat up quickly on the bed.
"It wasn't his fault, Damon," Bonnie defended as she hopped to her knees. "I…wanted to be with him."
"Two dead people had just passed through you!" Damon hissed in disbelief. He was an incredible hypocrite in this moment. What was good for the goose was obviously not for the gander in Damon's eyes.
"I'm not talking about this anymore with you," Bonnie exclaimed, jumping out of bed, and tried rushing off to the wash room.
"Whoa. Hey." Damon vamp sped in front of her, turning her around by the shoulders, and walked her back to bed.
"We've worked our asses off since the moment we've stepped foot on this planet, and we're going to enjoy at least one day of lounging and relaxing," Damon said sternly.
"You hurt my feelings," Bonnie pouted.
"I didn't hurt your feelings. I merely made you see what a creep your boyfriend was in that moment and you didn't like it."
Damon climbed back in bed, fluffed his pillow, laid down on his back, and got comfortable. He propped his head up with one hand, crossed his ankles, and waggled his eyes at Bonnie before patting her side of the bed.
Bonnie looked at him seriously as her brain soaked up his words like a sponge. She then fiddled nervously with her fingers as she realized for the first time the gravity of hers and Jeremy's first time being together. She wondered why she was so eager to hide her pain from him and how Jeremy was so willing to ignore her suffering just so he could lay with her.
Bonnie sat mindlessly on the bed, Damon watching her carefully as she looked out into the room with a faraway look in her eyes.
"I can't hold a conversation with myself, Bonnie. Well, I could, but it won't be as fun." Damon smiled at the back of her head.
"Jeremy-," she exhaled. "He was my only contact with the land of the living when I was on the other side. He seemed to really care about me." Bonnie thought for a minute then giggled incredulously. "He went on and on about the fact that he couldn't touch me. He never once talked about a plan to bring me back. I'm surprised he even lied to you about me not wanting you to use magic to bring me back to life. He never really truly loved me. He cheated on me with a ghost. How humiliating." Bonnie's eyes watered.
"Hey, that's not true." Damon's mood mirrored the seriousness of their conversation as he sat up on the bed, pushing his legs up, and resting his elbows on his knees. "Jeremy did love you Bonnie. He was a horny teenager, and you're hot. Why wouldn't he want you?" He stated, trying to lighten the mood and make Bonnie feel better.
"Did?" Bonnie crinkled her brow, curious.
"Did what?" Damon looked at her oddly.
"You said Jeremy did love me. You don't think he loves me anymore?" Bonnie asked hesitantly.
"I don't know." Damon pushed his bottom lip up into his top one and shook his head. "I'm sure the universe has guided Stefan and Elena back to each other." He offered a fake smile and widened his eyes just thinking about it.
"Elena loves you, Damon, and I'm sure she's waiting for you." Bonnie gave him an encouraging grin.
It was now Damon's turn to mull over his own relationship, and his comment about Elena and Stefan finding their way back to each other began to weigh heavily on his mind.
"When Elena declared her love for you, how did it make you feel?" Bonnie laid on the bed, propping her chin up on her hand, and swinging her feet in the air.
"Uhhh…" Damon lost his train of thought as he watched Bonnie's beautiful toned and tawny legs. Her nightgown was extremely short, leaving little to the imagination, and he imagined that what Bonnie had between her legs was tight, hot, wet, and heaven to a cold nature creature like himself.
"Uh-," He scratched the back of his head and tried to put his focus back on their conversation. "It was nice finally hearing her say she was in love with me, and the sex was…forbidden, animalistic, lustful." He chuckled.
"O-kay." Bonnie shifted her eyes to the side and then giggled.
"When I try to think about that night with her, which was one of the happiest moments I had experienced in decades, it always gets overshadowed by the night she jumped in bed with me after I admitted to killing Aaron. I wanted her to get angry and refuse me. It was the first time that I realized Elena wasn't the same girl that I had fallen in love with."
"Oh, my God. You killed Aaron?" Bonnie asked in disbelief, forgetting everything else that Damon had said.
Damon turned a blank look to Bonnie. He should have known that their day of peace and lounging around wouldn't last forever.
"Damon, why?" Bonnie still couldn't believe that he would do such a thing to Elena, especially since they had been together.
"Because I was hurting, Bonnie," he argued in defense.
"Because you were hurting? Aaron is dead. He's not at college enjoying his life. His life was cut short by you because you were hurting. I was Aaron not so long ago. I was dead. Don't you remember?" Bonnie asked heatedly, disgust marrying her lovely face.
Damon collapsed back onto the bed, resting his forearm on his forehead and glaring up at the ceiling, trying to pretend that Bonnie's judgy eyes weren't piercing a hole through his undead heart.
Bonnie jumped out of the bed and headed for the bathroom.
"Where are you going?" Damon asked heatedly.
"Away from you" she snapped.
"You're angry with me? Are you serious?" Damon sat up in bed, again, angry.
Bonnie pushed her knee out, folded her arms roughly over her chest, and glowered.
"You didn't seem to have a problem with me when I kidnapped your boyfriend." Damon claimed, quickly moving to stand.
"I did have a problem with it, Damon, but I knew that you wouldn't kill Jeremy. I knew you were grandstanding and only trying to get Elena's attention. You and Enzo didn't need me to help you find a witch to help you find Wes," Bonnie protested.
"Well, then you don't know me, sweetheart, because I would have gladly killed Jeremy," he said coldly. For the life of him he couldn't figure out why he was so determined to tell Bonnie all his dirty little secrets. He knew she would be furious with him, but it was much deeper than that. Secretly, he wanted to be punished for what he had done to Aaron.
He hated looking back at that night. It made him want to vomit when he thought about what he had turned Elena into. She was now a worse version of herself. She made excuses for his horrible behavior, poor decisions, and then she rewarded him by having sex with him.
"You would have killed Jeremy, knowing how much that would have hurt me, and Elena?"
"Yes." Damon deadpanned, and Bonnie slapped him across the face with such force that he staggered back against the table before swiftly straightening himself.
Damon placed a hand on his afflicted cheek, astonished. He stared at her for a tick and then glowered.
"I'm out of here," he stated and then went to grab his things.
"Good!" Bonnie yelled.
"Fine!" Damon shouted.
"Great!" Bonnie screamed at the top of her lungs, pushing her body from the floor and tensing up.
"Fantastic!" He screamed again.
"Awesome! Now, get the hell out!" She screeched as she pointed her finger at the door.
"Fucking peachy, and I will!" Damon screamed back at her and slammed the door to the house with such force that it quaked.
Bonnie grabbed a vase off the table and threw it at the door.
::::::
"Chogan, you called for me?" Tupac asked as he entered his leader's chambers.
"Yes," Chogan answered. "I've asked Cheyenne to give our men three drops of the outlander's blood."
"What?" Tupac's eyes widened in horror as he walked closer to the man's desk. "You can't do that. If our men go into battle and die, they will come back as something else."
"Well, wasn't this your plan all along. To save our men?" Chogan inquired.
"We don't know a damn thing about this man's blood or how it works. All I know for certain is that his blood can heal, and I want to use his blood solely for that purpose," Tupac said sternly.
"No," Chogan said.
"No. What the hell do you mean no?!" Tupac became agitated.
"I believe the outlander is lying. He said his kind couldn't walk around in the sun, yet he does it just fine. Cheyenne told me the outlander is super strong, fast, and that he has some type of super hearing."
"It doesn't matter!" Tupac yelled, and Chogan yelled over him as he struck the desk, throwing his authority around at his right-hand man.
"It does matter! Can you imagine if we had an army of super soldiers?" Chogan bellowed madly. "We could-," he continued to talk as Tupac rushed out of the building and ran towards Bonnie's and Damon's house.
"Tupac!" Zinnia yelled after spotting her husband leaving Chogan's.
He turned slowly around to her, his face apprehensive.
"What's wrong? Where are you going?" She asked anxiously.
"Chogan has commanded that all of our men have Damon's blood before battle. He's hoping it will make them like him."
"Oh, no," Zinnia whispered in horror. "I will talk to Bonnie. I was on my way over anyway to make sure they've eaten, and that they're not in need of anything else."
"We'll go together," Tupac said sweetly. "You like the outlanders?" He asked and unbelieving look in his eyes.
"Yes. I think they are good people, and I wish you wouldn't be so mean to them."
"I have to. The male is stubborn."
"Ugh," Zinnia grunted.
The couple smiled at each other as they walked hand in hand to Bonnie's and Damon's.
::::::
Stefan, Lucy, and Enzo had a decent ride despite the fifty-five messages Elena had left on Stefan's phone and the twenty-five messages she left on Enzo's.
Stefan could kick his own ass for telling Caroline about his plans. He should have known that he couldn't trust the girl with the type "I" personality to keep her mouth shut.
Lucy had them make a pit stop in Long Island, New York. After further discussion about Luke and Liv, the older witch decided not to involve them in her plans. She had already asked Cassie Blake and Melissa Glaser to assist her with the spell and felt like their powers combined would be enough.
Lucy decided to meet her friends at a halfway point. There was no way she would take Enzo and Stefan anywhere near her friends' place of residence.
The group had been cooped up in their hotel suite a little over five hours waiting for Lucy to come up with a spell to send Bonnie a message across time and space. It was a spell that she literally had to come up with on her own. Then she had to practice the spell with her friends to make sure they got the wording just right as well as practice a few tests runs that they tried to send blindly into oblivion.
"Oh, my God. I'm fucking bored!" Enzo shouted as he laid across the bed on his back, his head hanging off the side.
"Well, leave, asshole," Stefan said nonchalantly. "Lucy, what the hell are you doing over there with dumb and dumber? Jesus, come on." He was growing impatient.
Cassie glared at him, and Melissa rolled her eyes and murmured under her breath.
"We're witches, Salvatore, not gods. We need to make sure everything is perfect before we go through with this," Lucy explained.
"Is this spell going to bring them back?" Stefan asked, frustrated.
"There is no way in hell we can bring Bonnie and Damon back tonight, tomorrow, or even next week for that matter."
"Lucy, you told me you had a plan to bring them back!" Stefan argued as he jumped to his feet.
"She did. I heard her," Enzo stated casually.
"No. That is not what I said," Lucy fibbed and became uneasy.
"You said…you didn't think you were strong enough to bring them both back which lead me to believe you had a plan." Stefan announced angrily as he pointed his finger aggressively at the woman.
"Okay. Look, right now all I have is a spell to contact Bonnie…if she's alive. At least this way she will know that we are trying to bring them home," Lucy said shamefully.
"You're lying, Lucy! You are trying to save Bonnie, only, and you are going to leave my brother to suffer!" Stefan yelled, his face beet red.
"You're being paranoid, Stefan," Cassie interrupted.
Stefan snapped and flashed to Cassie. He snatched her up from the chair and plunged his fangs deep into her throat. If Lucy Bennett were going to fuck him over, he was going to return the favor.
Stefan was a ticking time bomb, and he was desperate to bring his brother back home, and every day that Bonnie and Damon were gone he felt like his chances of bringing them back would diminish.
Enzo widened his eyes in horror and Melissa started screaming, forgetting that she was a witch as they watched the gory scene playing out in front of them.
Lucy held up a hand to Stefan, hitting him with a concentrated wave of pain. Enzo tried to interfere, but the witch quickly thwarted his brave attempt to be the hero.
"Step back, leech, or I will set your ass on fire," Lucy said through tight lips.
"Easy, love." Enzo grinned and slowly backed away.
Stefan ripped himself away from Cassie. The pain was too much for him to hang on. He ripped himself away from her, bringing a small chunk of her flesh with him. He crashed to his knees, blood dripping from his mouth as he gripped his temple, trying to massage out the pain.
"Cassie!" Melissa yelled and kneeled over her friend. "She's still alive, but her pulse is weak."
"Enzo." Lucy gestured to her friend and the vampire flashed to the woman, quickly giving her his blood.
"Stefan, you…need to calm the hell down. Now, I like you, but I will kill you if I have to. Now, I'm going to stop, and when I do, promise me that you will be a good boy?"
Stefan quickly nodded. "I just want my brother back," he stated passionately.
"I know, but if you're dead it really won't matter. Now, will it?" Lucy replied sassily.
"How is Cassie?" Lucy asked Melissa, keeping her eyes carefully on Stefan.
"She's healing," Melissa answered.
Enzo picked up Cassie and laid her on the bed.
"Just tell us how you plan on bringing back Bonnie and Damon?" Enzo asked heatedly as he straightened.
"I think Sheila opened up a portal, and when the other side collapsed Bonnie and Damon fell through."
"…and you know this, how?" Stefan spat as he slowly got to his feet and then sat down at the table.
"Because she can see dead people," Enzo mocked and Lucy rolled her eyes at him.
"Sheila visited me before the other side collapsed. She told me about her plan. She couldn't do it alone. She had to channel all of the Bennett witches, the dead and the living alike to harness enough power to complete the spell, but the only drawback to the incantation is that she didn't know how to bring them back alive, or where they would go."
"Well, if that's the case why didn't she just bring them back to life?" Stefan chuckled preposterously.
"Because if she had done that, you idiot, you and a Bennett would have died in the place of Bonnie and Damon and with the destruction of the other side you would been gone forever. Nature always has to have a bal-,"
"A balance…yada ya ya." Stefan rolled his eyes as he pulled out his phone. "Jesus. I'm going to need a drink behind all of this. I need to take this call," he said, relieved.
Once outside in the hallway, Stefan answered his phone as he leaned against the wall, stuffing a hand in his pocket.
"What the fuck do you want, Elena?" He answered rudely.
"Do you always have to be so rude?"
"Do you always have to be so fucking annoying?"
"I only want to know what's going on. Has Lucy and the others found a way to bring Damon back? I really need to be there. Please, tell me where you are."
"Things will go a lot smoother if you aren't here to fuck it up."
"Stefan. This is me, Elena. We once made a good team. This isn't you. Before Damon died, we were close. I still want that."
Stefan remained silent for several moments.
"Stefan." Elena held her phone out to look at it. He was still there, but he didn't answer.
"Stefan, I still love you. We can help each other get Damon back." Elena no longer heard background noise. "Stefan," she called once more.
Stefan held his thumb on the end button. It angered him that Elena would use the words 'I love you' so loosely. He truly hated the woman now. She did, like Damon, bring him a glimpse of his humanity, only it was on the opposite side of the spectrum.
A part of Stefan hoped that wherever Bonnie and Damon went, they were falling in love with each other.
He smiled happily at the thought of seeing him and his brother both telling Elena Gilbert that they were in love with other women. Nothing would give him greater pleasure than to see that fantasy become a reality.
"Uh, Stefan," Melissa called.
"Yeah." Stefan looked at her expressionlessly.
"Lucy is ready to start the spell."
Stefan rushed into the room behind Melissa.
"Yeah, what's up?" He asked anxiously.
"I wrote a little note for Bonnie. Do you want to add something for Damon?"
"Uh, yeah, so you're going to send a piece of paper through a portal to another world?" Stefan asked ludicrously. "Well, that's stupid."
"No, dumb ass. I'm sending it in this." Lucy handed Stefan a metal box made of titanium. She wanted to make sure whatever she sent to Bonnie wouldn't be destroyed by the elements as it passed through the gateway.
"Unf, not bad." Stefan smiled at Lucy and then sat down at the table and wrote a little note to his brother.
He told him he loved him, missed him, and then he went on to tell his brother what a nervous wreck Elena was, and that if he didn't come back, he was sure she would end her own life. He wanted to make sure his brother knew the urgency of the situation; if anyone could motivate Damon it was Elena's existence.
Stefan folded the note with love before placing it into the silver metal box. Lucy closed the container before chanting over it and sealing it shut. Melissa, Lucy, and Cassie sat around the table, joined hands, and then began to chant.
Enzo flashed to a standing position and rushed to Stefan's side as a white light began to swirl rapidly around the box, causing a wind to blow throughout the room.
The vampires didn't remember incantations being this spectacular and magical. The light blared throughout the room, making their suite seem like a beacon sitting at the top of their building.
Their hair flapped wildly in their faces as they chanted in unison with their eyes closed. After several moments of their magical mantra, the box disappeared. Once seeing the box vanish, a sickening feeling fell over Stefan.
He immediately regretted telling his brother about Elena's state of being. If Bonnie and Damon were alive and growing closer, his letter could ruin any chances they had at a blossoming love affair. Deep down he knew that if Damon suspected that Elena was on the verge of hurting herself, his brother would stop at nothing, including hurting Bonnie, to get back to her.
"Lucy, you have to stop that box from going through," Stefan stated in horror.
Lucy let out a hysterical laugh. "It's done, Salvatore," she said with a deadpan look on her face.
Stefan grabbed his temple and ran his hands through his hair in frustration.
::::::
Damon walked through the settlement cursing under his breath. Bystanders looked at him oddly and snickered at his weirdness, but he was too angry to even care.
He was begging just one person to say one thing to him out of the way. He would make them sorry that they ever crossed Damon Salvatore's path.
First, Damon wanted to kill someone. He wanted to know that there was someone in the world that was hurting as much as him.
He then wanted to go home and destroy their hut. That would make Bonnie sorry for getting angry with him over Aaron, someone who wasn't even a part of their little gang.
After Damon had thought about all the horrible things he wanted to do, he thought about what the consequences of those actions would be.
He would no longer have a cozy place to live and the town's people would probably put him and Bonnie to death.
Damon laughed at himself. He was dealing with his pain without involving everyone else and making them suffer his man-pain, too, and it felt good for him to finally be a real man.
Deep down he was relieved to be read the riot act by Bonnie, but the downside of that was that he had ruined what took months upon months of growth between him and Bonnie. Now they were back at square one, and he didn't want that.
Damon was way past merely needing Bonnie, he wanted her in his life. She was the other half of him, and it took another universe and him dying to even see it or admit it to himself.
He walked so quickly and for so long in thought about his situation that he found himself surrounded by trees. He was now in the forest, but the village was still in his view. He collapsed back against the tree, drifted down to the forest floor, rested his elbow on his knees, and overlapped his hands.
He began to reminisce over every moment that he and Bonnie had shared and everything that they had gone through together since they had been on the new planet. Damon couldn't think of one moment that was toxic or unhealthy between them.
All his encounters with Bonnie were sweet, deep, adventurous, happy, fun, filled with tension, nervousness, and passion. She was the first woman that he had ever come to respect and care for naturally and on his own terms.
Bonnie wasn't some woman that he start pursuing out of spite or revenge and then ultimately won through a sire bond. She wasn't some woman that he had come to love because he was compelled to do so. He loved her because he simply just did, and because of all her wonderful qualities.
"I need her to forgive me," he whispered as he pressed his head into his hands wearily.
::::::
"Hi, Zinnia, Tupac," Bonnie greeted dryly, a vexed expression on her face.
"Good morning," the couple greeted, and Zinnia furrowed her brow. She could sense that something was off. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. What's up?" Bonnie forced a polite demeanor.
"Where's Damon?" Tupac asked.
"He took a walk around town."
"Bonnie, you said that Damon's kind couldn't walk around in the sun." Tupac got straight down to business. There was no time for pleasantries.
Bonnie nodded curiously.
"How is Damon able to do this?"
Bonnie exhaled and then answered. "There is a way, but I won't tell you." Bonnie fold her arms over her chest.
Tupac laughed at her outrageous comment and scratched his head in disbelief.
"Look…I am not going to hurt you or Damon, but if I'm to make Chogan understand that you two are being honest, then I need some fucking answers."
"Tupac!" Zinnia yelled. "Don't be rude to our guest."
"No. I'm not going to stop until she gives me some answers. This is a life or death situation," he said to Zinnia.
"Bonnie, you will tell me what allows Damon to walk during the daylight," Tupac said through clenched lips, pointing his finger in Bonnie's face.
"Why, so, you can use it against him later? I will die before I let you hurt my friend." Bonnie slapped his finger out of her face and pushed her face into his.
"Is there a problem here?" Damon asked as he entered the home looking serious and deadly. He had heard the latter part of their entire conversation from the other side of the door.
"You say your kind can't walk around in the sun. How is this possible?" Tupac then directed his frustration at Damon.
"Because I'm the first of my kind. I'm special." Damon averted the man a fake smile.
"You're a liar that's what you are. You will go to battle with me and my men," Tupac demanded.
"Yeah…that's not going to fucking happen." Damon crossed his arms.
Damon and Tupac engaged in a heated standoff.
"Both of you put your dicks back in your holsters. Tupac you can't command Damon to go into battle with you. He's not one of your soldiers," Zinnia reprimanded.
"Chogan is giving all of our men his blood, and I need to know how this is going to affect my men and this parish." Tupac spat.
"What the hell did you say?" Bonnie finally found her voice.
"Chogan wants to make super soldiers like Damon." Tupac answered.
"Oh boy," Damon grunted, bothered.
"Damon, I know you are not one of us. You don't have to fight in our war, but will you please accompany my husband in battle?" Zinnia said imploringly.
Damon searched her beautiful face and then his eyes drifted down to the disfigurement that always seem to peep out from underneath her covering. He quickly took his mind off her scar and shifted his gaze over to Bonnie. She was still angry with him. He could see it in her eyes.
"Okay, I will go. It's not like I'm wanted around here," Damon replied.
Bonnie's mouth went ajar. She didn't want Damon going into battle. No matter how angry she was with him; she wasn't ready to see him dead or hurt. She couldn't believe that he had fixed his mouth to say something so outlandish.
"Thank you, Damon," Tupac forced out, dryly. He was a proud man. Statements like, 'sorry,' and 'thank you,' weren't words that were part of his everyday vocabulary, but he did have a hidden agenda.
"Uh, Damon, Zinnia has an illness. Our physician said there's nothing more he can do for her. She doesn't have much time left with us. Will you…can you…would you…do you…could you…I'm…look…uhh-,"
"Oh God, I could have been on the other side of the fucking planet by now," Damon spat.
Tupac glowered.
"What my husband is trying to ask, Damon," Zinnia inhaled, "Do you think your blood can heal me?" She pulled up her sleeves, revealing her disfigured and extremely scar-covered arm. "Believe it or not, this is the most attractive part of me." She laughed to keep from crying.
Damon knew exactly what she had once seeing her affliction.
"You have leprosy," Bonnie gasped.
Damon gently grabbed the woman by the wrist and studied her extremely disfigured arm before looking back at her. "You're beautiful." He trailed his fingers as soft as a feather down Zinnia's face before stealing a glance at a hypnotized-looking Bonnie.
"Try not to fall in love with me after you have my blood." Damon gave Zinnia a smoldering glance. He looked back at Bonnie, again, hoping he could get a rise out of her.
"Get on with it," Tupac snapped with his arms folded over his chest.
Veins began to swim across Damon's cheeks. He couldn't resist putting on a little show. He turned his gaze back to Zinnia and she became afraid at the sight of him. He bit slowly into his wrist and lifted it slowly to the woman's mouth.
Tupac was worried and slightly shaking in his boots. Damon glanced at his nemesis, impressed by the fact that he was able to make the fearless Tupac's heart beat a little faster.
"Today, please." Damon smirked at Zinnia.
The woman finally parted her trembling lips, at a snail's pace, before clamping down over Damon's bleeding wound.
Zinnia closed her eyes and frowned up at the taste of the vampire's blood. She suckled on his crimson liquid longer than she needed to, believing that she needed copious amounts of his blood to heal her condition. She finally pulled away from Damon. She wiped her lips with the sleeve of her top and then stumbled back to the kitchen table.
"Zinnia," Tupac called as he took the woman into his arms and helped her into the chair. "What the hell did you do to her?" He zipped Damon an angry look.
"She's fine. She's healing. See." Bonnie peeled back the woman's covering. Tupac's eyes widened in amazement.
"Here. She can lay down in our bed." Bonnie and Tupac helped Zinnia to the bed.
Once she was tucked in, Tupac asked to speak with Damon—alone, so he could fill him in about the details of the battle. Bonnie watched as the men exited the house.
Damon looked back at Bonnie, meeting her gaze. They looked at each other for a tick. Bonnie was stubborn and so was Damon. Neither one of them were ready to budge on their position, but Damon didn't need her forgiveness in this moment, but he did hope that she would at least pretend to even care that he was heading off into a dangerous situation where if someone aimed their wooden arrow just right, it would be the end of him.
Alas, Bonnie didn't flinch. Her unreadable look never turned into one of concern, panic, or great distress for him. Damon looked down at the ground in sorrow before closing the door to the house.
::::::
Stefan found himself all alone on the terrace of their hotel suite. Enzo was out on the town doing what he did best, killing people, and the witches went back to the comfort and the protection of their own room.
After the stunt that Stefan had pulled there was no way the women were going to share a suite with two serial killer vampires.
Stefan was highly surprised that he didn't go out on the town with Enzo, ripping an innocent bystander apart would do him a world of good right now, but he decided against it. He opted for pining over his brother all alone instead.
Although Stefan had turned off his humanity, he oddly still had bouts of emotional moments. Like now, out on the balcony of his suite. Happier times of him and his brother rolled viciously around in his mind, torturing him astonishingly, but he soldiered on with his good and bad memories alike no matter how much it hurt.
He recollected fights with his brother about Giuseppe, Katherine, and then there were the moments when they would sit up all night 'til the wee hours of the morning, talking about everything.
'Til this day, he still lamented all those decades ago when he convinced his brother to be a vampire and live forever with him. He did it because he couldn't stand to be without Damon, yet here he was, almost two hundred years later, forced to live in a world without his older brother and he absolutely hated it.
If he did not have the overwhelming determination to bring Damon back to life, he would gladly remove his ring so that he could meet his fiery death with dignity.
Stefan's past thoughts had quickly come and gone, and his mind began to see a future where it was only him and Damon. As the imaginary moments began to dance in his head, his phone rang and brought him abruptly back to his current and miserable reality.
He looked at the phone vacantly and decided to answer it on the fourth ring.
"Hello," Stefan answered dryly.
"Hey, it's me," Caroline announced innocently.
"I don't know anyone by the name of 'me,'" Stefan replied.
"It's Caroline, idiot."
"Oh," he said indifferently.
"All I get from you is 'oh?"
"No, you get you have a fucking big mouth. Elena has been calling me non-stop. What the hell, Caroline?"
"Sss…I know. I messed up. I told Matt. He told her because she was in such a sad state and he was completely worried about her. He assumed the information about bringing Damon back would help her."
"You should've never betrayed me," Stefan said seriously.
"Does this mean you hate me?" Caroline held the phone close to her ear, waiting for him to answer. Stefan didn't say anything to her for over two minutes, but Caroline didn't give up.
"I could never be mad at you," Stefan finally answered.
"Good." She smiled into the phone. "It's pretty lonely here in Mystic Falls. Are you coming home soon?" Caroline hopped on the kitchen counter and happily swung her dangling feet.
"Yeah, we should be back in a few days."
"Have you thought about our kiss?" She asked tentatively.
"Uh…" Stefan couldn't find the words. He let out a low chortle and Caroline blushed.
"It was nice, Caroline, but we can't be together."
"Why not, and don't say it's because of Elena? She slept with your brother. She has no right to criticize you about who you date," she scolded
"It's not about Elena. It's about me, and the fact that I don't want to hurt you. I'm not myself right now, and the last thing I want to do is lead you on," Stefan explained easily.
"I trust you, Stefan. You could never hurt me. Here you are without your humanity and you're as sweet as you can be."
"Look Caroline-," Stefan paused. "I don't want to talk about relationships. All I want right now is to get my brother back, feed, get drunk, and occasionally fuck a beautiful woman. Is that what you want?" Stefan declared seriously and waited motionlessly for her reply.
They sat on the phone for two minutes, a deafening silence between them.
"No. That's not what I want, but I do hope you get your brother back. Bye, Stefan," Caroline said gloomily and then hung up the phone.
Stefan looked at his cell solemnly and then turned his attention to the door.
He rolled his eyes at the entrance before placing his feet on the ground and slamming his bottle of bourbon down onto the table.
He flashed to the door and opened it to none other than Lucy Bennett.
"Hey." She smiled and then sashayed into the suite with a bottle of champagne and two long stem glasses in hand.
"Are you lost?" Stefan asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I'm right where I want to be," she answered sassily before sitting down on the couch, pouring some of the bubbly in to the champagne glasses.
Stefan walked slowly over to the couch and sat down beside her. "What's your game, Lucy?"
"I'm not playing a game. I want the same thing as you."
"So, this is a peace offering?"
"Something like that." She smiled. "You seem like such a sweet person the last time we met. Well, when we sort of met."
"You know what I think?" Stefan smirked.
"What?"
"I think you are a horny witch." Stefan gave a smoldering smirk, cocking his head to one side.
"Well, there's that, and maybe I just think you need a friend."
"I don't need a friend. All I need is a good bottle of bourbon and to rip the head off someone every now and again."
"Now see, that's where you and I have a problem. What happened today can't happen again. I know you miss your brother, but I can't help you…no, I won't help you if you're going to be abusive to my friends."
Stefan nodded his head and smiled as he tapped his fingers against the arm of the sofa. He then pushed himself forward on the couch, spreading his legs wide apart, linked his hands together in front of him, and flashed Lucy a ravenous look.
Stefan drifted into her for a kiss and she turned away. He grabbed her roughly by the hair at the back of her head and turned her gaze back to his.
Lucy then tried to kiss him. Her warm lips brushed up against his and he tugged at her hair, pulling her lips away before they could make full contact. He vamped up and deliberately extended his incisors.
Stefan yanked Lucy's head to the side and sunk his fangs into her neck. Lucy let him take a little of her blood before grabbing him by the hair at the back of his head and yanked him away from her. She gave him a light aneurysm. Stefan grunted loudly through the pain. He shook off the sting and flashed back in for more of her blood. Stefan pinned her down to the couch and forced her legs apart with his.
"I never figured you as the type to like it rough." Stefan grinned down at her.
"There's a lot you don't know about me." Lucy pushed Stefan onto the floor. She straddled him, ripped his shirt off, and then his jeans and underwear.
She stood over him, eased her panties off, and then squatted over his naked pelvis. She grabbed ahold of his rock-hard venous cock and guided herself down on to him. Stefan moaned, and his head hit the floor with a thud. He closed his eyes and keyed into Lucy slowly pushing herself up and down onto his long fuck stem with her strong legs.
Stefan took a hard swallow and bit his bottom lip at her wonderful ministration. Sex wasn't better than human blood, but it dulled the pain.
"How does it feel to have a real woman?" Lucy leaned into Stefan and whispered against his lips as she pinned his hands to the floor and had her way with him.
She gave Stefan another light aneurysm. "Oh shit. Shit." Stefan laughed through the discomfort before throwing his strong arms around her and greedily and happily kissed the beautiful witch.
Lucy and Stefan fucked on the floor, the coffee table, the couch, and the terrace. They rested and then went back in for more. Stefan was finally living out one of his dirty fantasies to have his brain fried while having hot passionate mind-blowing sex.
::::::
Morning had come and gone for Bonnie, yet Damon still hadn't made it back from his talk with Tupac. Zinnia slept for a couple of hours. She woke up energetic and fully healed. She was too thrilled to sit around and be a shoulder for Bonnie to cry on.
She had to share her good fortune with all her friends and family so Bonnie's problem had to wait.
Bonnie had to face her dilemma with Damon all alone. She literally had no one, not even Damon to argue with about how angry she was with him.
She decided to stop sitting around feeling sorry for herself. Though she was still exceptionally mad with Damon, she was still exceedingly worried about him going to battle, too. Damon wasn't invincible. He might have been harder to kill than everyone else, but he still could be killed and the thought of that alarmed her.
She freshened herself up a bit and then put on the adorable outfit that Zinnia had given to her. The gladiator sandals, halter top, and mini skirt fit her perfectly. After dressing she marched down to the village square and instead of running into Damon, she ran into Zinnia.
Bonnie's mouth went ajar at the sight of the new Zinnia. She was in a short mini skirt, a halter top, and boots, and she was toting a water canister and a small leather satchel. The satchel was filled with an assortment of breads and cheeses.
"You look really hot," Bonnie complemented her.
"Thanks, and I see you decided to wear the cute things I gave you. You look really beautiful, Bonnie." Zinnia prattled over Bonnie's outfit, which was like hers.
"Where are you going, on a picnic?" Bonnie radiated beamed.
"The men are leaving for battle today. I want to see my husband off and take him this care package," Zinnia said stoically.
"They're leaving, right now?"
"Yes," Zinnia answered, and Bonnie took off for home.
Instead of putting Damon together a care package, she spent the whole day mad about something he had done not so far off into the distance past. Bonnie burst through the door of their home and ransacked the place looking for the water container and the haversack that Zinnia had given to her the day before.
She grabbed a piece of the glass from the vase that she threw at Damon that morning and cut herself quickly and savagely across the hand. Bonnie squeezed her bloody appendage with all her might so that her blood would flow into the medium size opening.
Back at the gate, Damon was saddling the animal that was given to him to ride when he noticed all the couples, lovers, and family members saying goodbye to each other all around him. He looked at all of them with sadness, wishing that he had someone to be there for him.
Damon looked back down the passageway that lead to his and Bonnie's little hut. He knew he should have said goodbye to her, no matter if she said it back to him or not. He gazed at the road leading to her as if it would will her to him.
He would give anything to see Bonnie's face before he left. Even if she bitched him out the whole time at least she would be there.
Damon knew in his heart if something happened to him that Bonnie would be devastated. There wasn't an evil or selfish bone in her body. She was the most selfless person he knew, and she cared about everyone. She even gave mercy to her enemies. She didn't need to be shown or told to do the right thing, it just came naturally for her.
Damon turned his attention back to his animal and tried hard to tune out all the family moments around him.
"Damon! Damon!"
Damon snapped his head to the aisle that lead to the little hut. It was Bonnie. His mouth went ajar, and his eyes widened in amazement at the sight of Bonnie Bennett running toward him like a bat out of hell.
Bonnie was absolutely stunning in her amazon looking outfit. If Zinnia was the amazon princess of the village Bonnie was most definitely the amazon queen. The entire world stopped as Damon watched Bonnie run to him like Carmen Electra in Bay Watch.
Her breast wiggled, and her thighs jiggled as she ran to him, of all people, and he was praying to any God listening that he didn't faint at this miracle of a moment.
"I made you a care package. I brought this for you," Bonnie panted as she jogged the rest of the way to him. She looked flushed, and a blotchy bloody cloth was tied around her hand.
Damon searched her over quickly, instantly growing worried at the state of her. Bonnie took a long blink once she reached him and involuntarily drifted down to the ground.
"Whoa." Damon caught her before she hit the ground. He drifted to the surface with her in his grip. "Bonnie," he whispered worriedly.
"I'll be okay. I'm just a little weak. I had to fill your water container with my blood," Bonnie said tiredly through a lazy smile. "I only want you to feed from me. I don't want these people to know everything about you. They may try to hurt you," she explained weakly.
Bonnie was so beautiful to Damon in this twinkling. He ran his finger down her face and brushed her lips with his thumb. "You're too good for me. You know that?" Damon then bit into his wrist and placed it against her full cracked dry lips. She took a few drops of his blood and then pulled away.
"Thank you." Bonnie was grateful.
"You don't have to thank me. You, being here is thanks enough. You didn't have to come. I know you're still angry with me," Damon said sweetly as he helped her to her feet.
"I had to come. You need me, and I need you. I couldn't live with myself if you left here without me saying goodbye."
"The things I said to you about Jeremy and what I did to Aaron-," Damon was stopped mid-sentence.
"Don't think about that now."
"No, you need to hear it. I fucked up. I was wrong Bonnie. Aaron deserved to live, and I took that away from him, and I never even considered the fact that hurting Jeremy would hurt you. Can you forgive me?"
"You're asking for my forgiveness?" Bonnie looked at him astonishingly.
Damon gazed at the sun-kissed beauty lovingly as the wind lightly blew her dark tresses around in her face. He slowly trailed his fingertips across her forehead, grabbing loose strands of her hair along the way and pushed them behind her ear. The move sent chills down Bonnie's spine.
"Yes, I'm asking you to forgive me. It hurts too much to have you angry with me." He rubbed her arms briskly with his cool hands. Damon had keyed in on the goosebumps running up her arms.
Bonnie looked at Damon admiringly. She rarely saw him be a man, and being a man made him even more handsome in this moment as he looked down on her with his glistening blue eyes made possible by the moisture that had collected in them.
"I forgive you." Bonnie blushed.
"Does a guilty conscience always make you feel so sick at the stomach?" Damon let out a timid chuckle and rubbed his belly.
"Sometimes, but it's a good thing, and it means that you're halfway there."
Damon smiled at her before wrapping her up in his strong arms. He placed his hand at the back of her head and cradled her securely to him as he closed his eyes and began to gently rock her.
Bonnie stood on her toes and wrapped an arm around his neck and the other over his head and pressed him tightly to her as she closed her eyes, squeezing out a tear in the process. They held each other snugly and for as long as time would permit. They finally pulled away from each other. Damon pulled the strap of his container over his head and then took Bonnie by the hands.
"Stay out of trouble while I'm gone," he teased.
"I will, and you be careful," she said.
"I promise, and you look really nice by the way."
"You think so?" Bonnie looked down at her threads and felt over her skirt.
"Hell yeah, you look great."
"Thank you, and you're doing the right thing, Damon. I'm so proud of you."
"Then I'm definitely doing the right thing if you're proud of me." He returned her sweet gesture.
Damon immediately thought of Elena. Instead of her being proud of him and seeing him off to battle, she begged and pleaded to come along, risking her own life in the process. He squeezed his eyes together, bringing himself back to the moment he wanted to be living in.
They gave each other one last quick hug before Damon hopped on the horse-looking creature and began his slow trot into the unknown with Tupac and his men.
The men started filing out of the gate one by one. Zinnia stood next to Bonnie and they watched Damon and Tupac leave together.
Damon wanted to look back so badly at Bonnie like Tupac had done with Zinnia, but he knew there was no way he would be so lucky as to have Bonnie standing there seeing him off. He smiled outrageously at the thought of it.
Curiosity soon got the better of him. He had to know, no matter how much it would hurt to see that she wasn't there, he still had to know. He closed his eyes, took a deep sigh, and turned slowly around.
Damon's eyes widened at the sight of Bonnie Bennett still standing there to see him off. He bit his bottom lip and blinked his eyes quickly, successfully stopping his happy tears. There was no fucking way he was going to cry tears of joy at the sight of Bonnie Bennett though she deserved them.
Is she crying? He wondered. "Don't cry over me, Bonnie," he breathed.
Bonnie waved, and he waved back and quickly turned around to face the road ahead. Not only was Bonnie looking but she was lightly sobbing over him. He was winning all around.
"Kill me now, God," he whispered. A huge grin sped across his face.