When Stefan had called Bonnie this morning asking for her help, she'd basically told him to go to hell. She's been nose deep in enough vampire drama to last her a lifetime and she's sick of it. And anyway, the only time the Salvatore's even acknowledge her existence is when they need her to dig them out of a hole that they'd created themselves.. She's tired of feeling used and under appreciated. She cant help but wonder what her Grams would think of the way she's allowed the vampires of this town to use her as their own personal pawn. She's tired of tarnishing her grandmothers existence, her entire generational existence for that matter. She's done with it all.
Or she was. Until Stefan mentioned Elena's name.
Truthfully, the only reason she's been entertaining the Salvatore's instead of burning them to ashes and walking away, is Elena.
Elena is one of her oldest friends and she can't just walk away from that.
Needless to say, Elena has made some pretty reckless decisions over the past year, but those decisions can't erase the 16 years of friendship and loyalty they share.
Sitting cross legged on her living room floor, she's paging through one of her grandmothers grimoires looking for a locator spell strong enough to overpower Klaus' witch for Elena's location. She'd tried every basic spell she'd known and she just couldn't get through. Whoever this witch is that Klaus has in his pocket is way more powerful than she is ready to tangle with right now.
Running her fingers through her hair, she exhales sharply. Already exhausted by this whole ordeal.
How did this become her life? How did she become the savior of Mystic Falls? When did this become her responsibility? She's always stayed on the straight and narrow, never daring to stray off course and yet she seems to always get the shitty end of the stick while the people around her reap the benefits of her efforts.
The doorbell startles her and she ends up shattering a vase in the kitchen.
She berates herself for allowing that vulnerability to slip through as she slams the book shut and heads for the door.
She's greeted with ice blue eyes and a cocky grin and her magic itches to be released.
"Well, are you just gonna stand there and ogle me all day or invite me in, Bon?"
Her eyes narrow down to mere slits. She is already irritated by the sound of his voice. "Damon…"
Stefan steps in front of his brother and gives him a withering stare before he greets her.
"Bonnie. I know we're the last people you wanna see right now so thank you for agreeing to this. We owe you more than we can ever repay.
Bonnie and Stefan both pretend not to hear Damon's scoff.
She gives Stefan a forced smile and steps aside. "Come in."
She leads them to the small kitchen table on the far side next to the bay window where she's got various books and talismans strewn over the surface.
Stefan takes a seat in the chair closest to the window and leans forward to rest his elbows on the table while Damon hovers in the kitchen doorway, eyes darting around aimlessly. He'd never been invited into her home before today.
"You find anything?" Stefan asks, voice low and tired.
"I've been trying to find her since you called. The witch Klaus is using has to be a century old, at least. I can't break through her cloaking spell without a stronger force."
"Is there anything else we can try?"
"I don't know, Stefan. I'm still pretty new at this, ya know?" Bonnie exhales and takes the seat across from Stefan.
"Come on, Bonnie. You opened a tomb full of 500-year-old vampires and you can't do a simple locator spell?" Damon supplies, still hovering in the kitchens entryway.
Bonnie glares at him across the room. "Yeah. I had the help of my Grams. You remember her right, Damon? She died for you. How's Katherine by the way?"
Damon bares his teeth and his eyes flash a dark red.
Stefan speeds over to him, one hand pressed lightly against his brothers chest.
"Damon…" And Stefan tries to convey with his eyes, what the hell?
Damon glares at his brother for a second before he finally exhales. His eyes return to their normal color as he backs away into the next room.
Stefan turns to give Bonnie an apologetic smile and shrug. He makes his way back to the table and sits.
"I honestly don't know how you put up with him for a hundred years." She shakes her head. "I'd have killed him a long time ago."
"After a while you kinda get used to it." Stefan grins. "Also…lots and lots of bourbon."
They both smile and Bonnie feels more at ease now that Damon's no longer in the room.
"So…" Stefan taps the book sitting open in front of him. "Basic spell won't work, huh?"
Bonnie shakes her head.
"Any other ideas?"
"Well. I'll definitely need a stronger connection, that's for sure. Whatever magic this is witch is using is unlike anything I've ever felt before."
Bonnie grabs a small leather bound book from the top of the pile and drags her chair closer to Stefan.
"You see this one? The Essence of Life? This one would allow me to make a direct connection to her, open a line between us and wherever she is but I'd need more than an article of her clothing or her toothbrush. I'd need something more vital. More…her. Like…"
"Blood.." Stefan answers quietly.
And Bonnie gives him a look, confirming his guess.
"Well, I don't have vials of Elena's blood just lying around, Bonnie so…"
His face changes as it visibly clicks. "Jeremy…"
She nods."If we can't get Elena's blood, her closest relative would be the next best thing, yeah."
He's already standing to fish his phone from his pocket, heading for the front door. "Excuse me." He nods his apology as he heads to the porch for privacy and dials Jeremy's cell.
She decides to get busy gathering the other ingredients needed for the spell.
She's standing on the very tips of her toes trying to grab the Sage from the top shelf of the China cabinet when Damon's hand suddenly comes into view, snagging the sage easily. She yelps and stumbles backward, her back slamming into his front and he immediately takes a full step back, raising his hands like he knows she wants to set him on fire.
"I was just trying to help, Bon, you looked pathetic."
It would only take a second. A quick flick of her wrist and he'd be a flaming pile of nothing on the floor and she'd be rid of his smug grin and sarcastic comments for good. She considers it…pictures it in her mind as she glares at his unflinching, blue eyes piercing her as he stares right back…challenging her.
Her fingers twitch. She feels the power of her magic tingling in her fingertips and she's almost sure she's gonna make this moment the end of Damon Salvatore.
And then, as always, Elena comes to mind. She imagines the pain that would shine in her best friend's eyes when she realizes Bonnie killed her boyfriend's brother.
And just like that, control overtakes anger once again and she exhales.
She reaches out, snatching the container easily from his fingers and storming off in the direction of the kitchen.
"You are such a pain in the ass." She mumbles as she pushes past him.
"You're welcome!" He yells after her.
Stefan comes back in while she's got her head buried under the kitchen cabinets looking for her metal mixing bowl. He tells her that he hasn't been able to reach Jeremy at home or on his cell.
"That's odd. He keeps that thing glued to him like a second skin. Have you tried the grill?"
"Yeah, no answer there either."
He exhales, running his fingers through his hair, pacing back and forth. He's starting to panic again.
"I'm gonna go out and look for him. Are you gonna be okay here with…Damon?"
Almost as if he'd been summoned, Damon appears automatically in the doorway, slight grin playing at the corners of his lips
"Absolutely…" Damon drawls.
Something about the low timbre in his tone makes Bonnie's stomach flip and turn into molten lava.
She bawls her hands into fists at her sides and she sees Damon's eyes drop to her shaky hands.
He finally lets the full grin spread across his face when he drags his eyes back up her body until he's piercing her eyes with his icy ones and says…
"We're gonna have a grand old time, right, Bon?"
She grinds her teeth together as she looks over at Stefan. "Why don't you just take him with you, huh?" Her voice is shaky and her words hold a hint of desperation and she wants to kick herself for it. "Two sets of eyes are always better than one, dontcha think?"
"What's wrong, Bon? You afraid you won't be able to resist unleashing your unresolved sexual desires onto me if we're left alone?"
He's on his knees in a split second, groaning and clutching at the thick strands of hair at his temples while she pops the blood vessels in his brain over and over again.
"No, Damon." She speaks quietly and calmly knowing that he can still hear her perfectly fine through his pained growling and writhing on the floor. "I'm actually afraid that Stefan may find nothing more than your charred corpse on my floor if I'm left alone with you."
She barely registers that Stefan's grabbing at her arms, almost screaming her name.
He steps between her and Damon, blocking him from view and she finally snaps out of it and looks up at Stefan. Her breaths still coming out fast and heavy.
Stefan takes a quick glance behind his shoulder to make sure his brother is still in one piece before he turns back to Bonnie.
"Okay…he deserved that." He says, hands resting lightly on her shoulders. "And I'll take him with me if that's what you want but right now I don't know what the hell is going on out there. I'm pretty sure Klaus' witch knows about the Essence spell and I just have to pray she hasn't gotten to Jeremy before I find him."
He drops his hands and takes a step back before continuing. "I'm also pretty sure Klaus' witch has caught on to what you're doing here by now and she's probably trying to find you too. I'd just feel a lot better if I didn't leave you here alone."
She hears Damon grunting behind them as he stumbles back to a standing position. "So... what's it gonna be, Bon?" He asks, his voice barely audible under his labored breathing.
She ignores him and glares at Stefan. "You better set him straight before you leave him here with me or you might just come back to a bag of ashes." She grits through her teeth before she turns away to resume her search for her mixing bowl.
"Come on, Damon. Why don't you walk me out, yeah?" She hears Stefan whisper behind her and then the distinct thump of their boots as they head for the door.
When Damon returns about 10 minutes later, his eyes are guarded and he can barely keep eye contact with her from where she's standing over her kitchen table trying to tidy up the mess of books and trinkets she'd left there earlier.
Wow. What the hell did Stefan say to him out there. She thinks but stays quiet.
Damon steps just barely inside the threshold into the kitchen and leans against the wall. Head hanging slightly.
It's kinda weird witnessing him in this environment.
This vampire, dark in all the ways seen and unseen from his hair to his eyes, even his soul. Standing in her slightly outdated kitchen with its eggshell colored walls and linoleum floor of the same color. Various pictures of open fields and flowers hanging on the walls. Matching flower-patterned hand towels and oven mitts because her mother had an obsession.
And then you have Damon Salvatore. Standing in the furthest corner of the room, big and uncomfortable with his leather jacket and boots to match, hands buried deep in his pockets, thick black hair hanging over his eyes.
It's like a tornado in a dandelion field.
It would almost be comical if it weren't for the heavy, uncomfortable awkwardness suffocating her in the room.
She clears her throat quietly and tries her best to ignore him while she concentrates on her task.
After she'd finally finished stacking her books and putting them away on the bookshelf she starts in on gathering her trinkets and talismans.
"Hey…I know that tune." His voice low behind her.
She startles slightly, almost forgetting he was there and turns to glare at him. She hadn't even realized she'd been humming.
If he noticed her annoyance he didn't let it be known. "That's a jazz tune, right?"
"You listen to jazz?"
He chuckles. "Well don't sound so surprised Bonnie."
She turns away from him and resumes gathering her things. "It's just kinda hard to believe someone as black hearted as you could listen to something so beautiful without melting or something."
He goes quiet again behind her and she figures wherever this line of conversation was going has reached its end.
She's just about to head to her room to put her things away when she hears him shuffling closer to her.
She whirls around quickly, grabbing his left arm tightly. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
He growls low between his teeth and his eyes slam shut as he jerks back, ripping his arm from her hold.
He lifts his right hand slowly and shows her the small gold locket her mother had given her for her 7th birthday. The last birthday that she'd ever saw her. "You forgot one."
She can still hear quiet hissing between his teeth as she reaches for the necklace and her fingertips brush against his own, cold and clammy. She looks at him, and for the first time she notices a light sheen of sweat over his face, dark circles under his eyes.
"Damon. What's wrong with you?"
He looks at her and the usual bright blue of his eyes is dull, almost grey.
"Nothing. I'm fine." He grumbles and turns away from her.
"No." She grabs his shoulder and whorls him back around to face her. She's almost shocked at how easily she's able to maneuver him and notices his slight stumble as she stops him in his tracks. "Damon. This is not nothing, look at you. You acted like I hurt you when I grabbed your arm. What's going on?"
He exhales and closes his eyes. "Bonnie just leave it alone."
She sees that he's clutching his left arm lightly like he doesn't even realize he's doing it.
"Take off your jacket."
"Bonnie.."
"Take it off, Damon."
He looks at her. Almost surprised that she even cares, but complies.
He's shrugs the jacket off and drops it so it drapes over one of the kitchen chairs and spreads his arms wide. "There. Happy? No blood. I'm fine."
She grabs his left arm and jerks the sleeve up and over his elbow.
She feels him tense under her fingers and he goes stone still as he eyes her warily eye his wound.
The skin on the majority of his forearm looks like it has been eaten away. Its black and blue and mangled. She can actually feel the heat of the poison radiating from the wound where it's slightly oozing a thick black substance.
"Oh my God." She whispers, fingertips over her lips. She looks at him, eyes wide with shock. "Damon..is that…?"
"A werewolf bite. Yes." He says as he jerks his sleeve back down.
"But…isn't that wound fatal? I mean…does Stefan know?"
"No. He doesn't. And I'd like to keep it that way, Bonnie. We've got bigger fish frying."
"That bite is going to kill you! How is this not a big fish?!"
He's seriously gonna get whiplash here. "What the hell, Bonnie? Didn't you just try to flambé my brain like 5 seconds ago? Why is my dying such a big deal to you now.?"
And at that point she realizes that she is starting to panic. She's freaked out and her whole body is shaking and she can't catch her breath.
All because she just found out Damon is dying.
She doesn't know what to do with that or how to answer that so…she doesn't.
She turns away from him, pushing her hair back off her face. "We've gotta find Stefan."
"Bonnie! No! You're gonna keep this quiet or so help me…"
She turns back to face him and even though he looks like a mere shadow of himself, the fire in his eyes is enough to send a cold shiver down her spine.
"At least until after we get Elena back."
"Do you even have that long? You look like you're dead on your feet now."
"Well…technically, Bonnie…I am dead."
She rolls her eyes and gives him a shove. He stumbles back a bit and she moves to catch him but he catches his balance before she can reach for him. His glare is murderous.
She drops her hands. Then crosses her arms across her chest awkwardly, steps back.
"This is not the time for your shitty jokes, Damon. Elena is missing and, for all we know, so is Jeremy. We're gonna need all the manpower we can get and you're barely functional right now. You need to get help."
"Jesus Christ, Bonnie! I'm fine!" He steps closer to her, his chest almost brushing against hers and he flashes his fangs, his tongue brushing slowly over them before they disappear again under his gums. She draws in a startled breath and holds it.
"I'm fully functional." He growls.
They stand there for a long moment staring each other down, neither willing to break.
She starts to feel lightheaded and realizes that she's still holding her breath.
She steps back before she exhales and her whole body is still shaking.
"Fine. But if this becomes a problem, I'm going to Stefan."
Satisfied with the her response, his shoulders relax and he gives her his signature bad boy grin.
"Deal."