CHAPTER 6
Nora stood outside the door and took a breath before knocking. She went to walk away, realising how needy she might seem, when the door opened and Bonnie looked out at her with a small frown on her face. The witch was always on the defense.
"Nora?"
The brunette raised green eyes to the other woman.
"Can I come in?"She asked softly.
Bonnie stepped aside.
"Of course."
She let Nora step over the threshold and closed the door behind her.
"Is it Mary Louise?"
Nora nodded and rubbed her arms self conciously as she settled on the end of the bed. Bonnie sat next to her.
"What is it? Has she hurt you?"
"No, no nothing like that." Nora said but her voice was close to breaking so she tried to say as little as possible without getting upset.
"Then what is it?" Bonnie asked, placing a comforting hand on Nora's shoulder.
Nora bit her lip and looked up at the ceiling as if that would keep the tears from coming.
"The spell you did...it didn't work." Nora struggled to tell her.
Bonnie frowned and shook her head.
"Oh my God, Nora...I'm so sorry. I thought I did everything right, I-"
"You did...it was Valerie."
Bonnie's frown deepened.
"What? Valerie?-I don't understand."
"She gave Mary Louise a charm to protect her against it." Nora's voice was trembling now.
"Why would she do that?"
"She's manipulated Mary Louise into thinking that she knows what's best for her."
Bonnie thought back to the text that Nora had sent her.
"But you text me and said that it worked."
This time, Nora couldn't stop it and the tears rolled down her face.
"She lied to me, Bonnie. She pretended to remember. I think Valerie may have told her everything about us." Nora sobbed with a hint of anger tinging her voice.
Bonnie pulled Nora into a hug while the vampire cried on her shoulder.
"How did you find out?" Bonnie asked her carefully.
"She told me...after I proposed to her. She said-she said she loves me even though she doesn't remember loving me."
Bonnie smiled a little at the sentiment.
"So she's fallen in love with you all over again. That's kinda...romantic."
Nora stood up quickly, that anger coming to the surface.
"No! She lied to me! How can I ever forgive that?!"
Bonnie stayed sitting on the bed as she looked up at the brunette.
"Because she didn't have to tell you. She could've gone along with Valerie's plan but she didn't."
"Only because the guilt finally got to her! I mean we shared so much these last few months, we became more affectionate with each other. My God we even had-"
Bonnie held up a hand.
"I don't need to know that."
Nora stopped herself and looked down.
Bonnie handed her a tissue.
"Here."
Nora took it and muttered her thanks.
Bonnie sighed and got up slowly from the bed.
"Look, I think you should go back to the house and talk to Mary Louise about it all then I would definitely confront Valerie and it would be better if you could confront her together. Then once everything has settled and Mary Louise is agreeable, I'll try the spell again."
Nora looked up then, hope shining in her eyes.
"You will?"
Bonnie smiled and nodded.
Nora pulled her into a fierce hug.
"Thank you."
"Your welcome." Bonnie said with a slight chuckle.
Nora let her go and took a step back.
"I should probably go and talk to Mary Louise. Thank you...for everything."
Bonnie nodded.
"Hey, we're friends, remember?"
Nora smiled at that.
...
Mary Louise sat in the garden that next morning, looking down at the ring on her finger.
Valerie came out and looked at the blonde with a confused frown on her face.
"Something wrong?"
Mary Louise looked up at her with tears in her blue-green eyes.
"Nora proposed."
"And that's what's upset you?"
"No, in fact...I'd never felt happier but Valerie I couldn't lie to her anymore."
The other Heretic's eyes went wide.
"What did you do?"
"I told her...everything."
"You stupid little bitch! Why did you do that?! She was happy! Everything was going according to plan!"
Mary Louise got to her feet.
"You mean it was going the way you wanted."
"It was going the way everyone wanted, Mary Louise! The only one dumb enough not to see that was you!"
"I couldn't lie to Nora! Not now I know that-" The blonde vampire stopped herself.
Valerie narrowed her eyes.
"That you know what?"
Mary Louise avoided her gaze.
Valerie stalked towards her, backing her up against the brick wall.
"What do you know?"
The blonde glanced down at the ring and Valerie took Mary Lou's chin, jerking it up sharply so she could look into the blonde's eyes.
Her lips split into a cold grin and she smirked.
"You love her..."
Mary Louise nodded her head slowly and Valerie released her.
"Looks like I'll have to resort to plan B then."
The blonde looked at her with a nervous expression.
"What's that?"
Valerie grabbed Mary Lou by the throat and uttered a spell, knocking the blonde out cold. She let her drop to the ground before she gave her one sharp kick to the head, letting a deep red gash form on Mary Louise's head.
She then proceeded to pull out her phone and take a picture of the blonde laying there, helpless and injured. She then sent it to Nora along with a text.
...
Nora was just about to leave Bonnie's when her phone buzzed.
"That's probably her now." Bonnie said with a kind smile.
Nora rolled her eyes and checked.
IF YOU EVER WANT TO SEE HER ALIVE AGAIN, YOU'LL DO EXACTLY AS I SAY. YOU CAN START BY COMING BACK TO THE HOUSE. ALONE.
Nora's eyes widened as she scrolled down and saw the picture of Mary Louise laying on the ground. She let out a small sound of panic and Bonnie looked at the brunette.
"What's wrong?"
Nora wouldn't answer her. She couldn't.
"Nora?"
She looked up and then forced herself to remain calm.
"It's nothing. There's just something I have to do."
...
Mary Louise woke slowly. Where was she? The room was dimly lit and as she tried to move her arms, she found that they were chained. She started to panic and kept pulling to see if she could move the chains.
Boots sounded on the wooden floor and Valerie came into view.
The blonde's eyes widened.
"What did you do to me?" Mary Louise snapped.
Valerie shrugged.
"Well, I could see things weren't exactly going to plan so I had to switch it up a bit."
Mary Louise realised that they were still in the house and she wasn't sure how much time had passed that she'd been out cold but she could see Stefan's body on a table just to the right of her.
"What are you going to do?"
Valerie followed the blonde's gaze to Stefan and gave her a small smile.
"You, me and Nora are going to bring Stefan back from the afterlife. I've already told her to come here, so I don't think she will be too long."
The blonde wrinkled her nose in disgust.
"As if she would ever listen to you. She told me not to trust you." She added under her breath.
Valerie smirked.
"And yet...you still did."
Mary Louise put her head down as though she was ashamed.
Valerie crouched down in front of her.
"I'm curious, when I brought you back, you had no intention of reliving your relationship with Nora, you couldn't even fathom it... but after only a few months of pretense with the brat, suddenly you're in love? How does that happen?"
The blonde wanted to smile as she pictured Nora in her mind's eye. The girl had that affect on her.
Mary Louise looked down at Valerie, a cold grin on her lips.
"It's love, Valerie...there's no explanation for it. You just feel it and all it took was for you to force me to spend time with Nora, to act as though my heart was open to her, instead of shutting it away like I did in the begining and instead of pretending to be in love...that is exactly what happened. Love is love and I would die for her a hundred times over if it means that she never has to experience heartbreak like this ever again." Mary Louise's voice was hard and Valerie flinched when the blonde vampire turned her deadly glare on her.
The other Heretic stood and pushed her shoulder's back, feigning a look of arrogance.
"Well, your beloved will be here soon."
The blonde turned her head away and muttered;
"I'll never help you."
Valerie chuckled as she walked over to where Stefan's body rested.
"You won't have a choice. Neither of you will."
The door opened and Nora ran inside.
"Mary Lou!"
She stopped when she saw the blonde chained to a chair and Valerie standing near Stefan's body.
Nora's green eyes narrowed and she took a stance that looked like she was about to launch herself at the conniving Heretic.
"What have you done to her?" Nora growled.
"Only tied her up. I had to knock her out to do it though." Valerie said, trying to goad the brunette.
Nora looked around Valerie at Mary Louise and saw the gash on her head.
"You've hurt her." She snarled, her anger growing by the minute.
Valerie shrugged.
"I had to. Things weren't exactly going my way now were they, Mary Lou?"
The blonde remained quiet.
Nora raised her chin.
"You want to bring Stefan back. We're here now, both of us. So let's just get this over with and let her go."
Mary Louise lifted her head.
"Nora, no! I won't help her! I won't allow you to be used by her!"
Nora shook her head.
"You no longer have a say in this."
The blonde flinched at Nora's words. She knew she had deeply hurt Nora and it seemed like no matter what she said, nothing would make Nora see her as anything other than a traitor now.
Still, Mary Louise wanted to prove to Nora that she loved her. That she wasn't pretending.
"I won't help you." She told Valerie.
Valerie turned to look at Mary Louise.
"I'm afraid you won't have a choice. Nora has already agreed."
"Yes but you can't hurt Nora. She's not tied up and helpless."
"No... but I can hurt you."
Nora took a step forward when Valerie moved towards the blonde.
"Valerie..."
"Relax. I won't hurt her...much."
Nora glared at the other Heretic's back and held her hand out stretched, ready to launch a deadly spell if Valerie didn't stop.
"No, you won't hurt her at all if you want my help."
Valerie turned and saw Nora all too ready to launch an attack.
"Do you really want to do that, Nora? You're the only one cooperating."
"But I won't if you lay a hand on her again."
Valerie sighed and held her hands up.
"Fine. Just get her to see sense, will you?"
Nora nodded.
"I need you to leave us alone."
"What? So you can escape?"
"Stand outside the door for all I care but if you want me to get her to help you, I'll need to talk to her alone." Nora snapped, losing her patience.
Valerie nodded and left the two of them alone.
Author's Note- A funny ending to this chapter I know, but the next chapter will have some heartfelt dialogue. Tissues at the ready guys! Hehe. ;)
Thanks for your continued support, reviews, follows and favs. At least I know I'm not doing too bad with this one. X
