Chapter Five
"I love you" she smiled at him standing in front of her, his arms pulling her into him and she had never felt so loved or safe in his arms.
"I love you" he whispered into the nape of her neck. "And I will never stop loving you or wanting to be with you"
She started to cry against him, his arms tightening around her, holding her until she was spent. He lifted her face up to his, a bright smile lighting up his gaze but she could still see his own pain hiding behind his pale blue eyes.
"Bonnie, you are my whole life, my heart and no matter what happens I will never be too far away from your side" he lifted her up and swung her around before putting her slowly back onto her feet again, the music from their wedding song came floating to her from a distance and smiling she buried her face in to his chest while they danced under the tree house. "Remember I will never truly leave you" she heard him calling out when she was tugged out of his arms.
Bonnie opened her eyes and looked up at the ceiling, a throbbing pain in her head and sitting up she found herself barricaded in the den with them all sitting around her.
"Thank god" Carnina cried out happily with Alba's head in her lap as she sat on the floor in front of the fire. "You are awake"
She looked around and her eyes widened in shock, the whole room looked like a tornado had flown right through it. The furniture was knocked over. Debris from the torn ceiling lying on almost every piece of furniture and she had no idea how she had missed it before. She looked at Stefan sitting back against a chair, blood on his white shirt with Elena feeding him a blood bag, at his side.
"What happened" she spoke low, still in shock at the ravaged sight before her.
Stefan pulled himself away from Elena and looked over at her as she slowly got to her feet. "Caleb made his attack whilst you were out" he got to his feet and followed her eyes around the room. "He" he glanced down at the two figures down on the floor in front of the fire. "Killed Alba and staked me"
Bonnie looked at Stefan's chest and saw that the stake had gone through his heart and she frowned looking up at him.
"Luckily he missed" Elena was on her feet at Stefan's side, holding onto his elbow. "Bonnie it was horrible"
Bonnie could see that she had been crying, but she didn't know if her tears had been for Damon or Stefan, or even if they had been for them both. Slowly she sat down next to Carnina and looked down at Alba's grey face, a few tears leaking her vision, turning it blurry.
"I'm so sorry" she choked on her words, her hand on Alba's forehead, stroking back his white hair.
"It wasn't your fault" Carnina told her, a pain in her eyes as she turned them on her. "It was the way he would have wanted to go"
Bonnie sat there and looked in at the ashes in the fireplace, the fire that her and Damon had lit the night before now long gone. Her heart tugged at her throat when she thought of him. She couldn't stop picturing him lying underneath the torn down tree house, she tried to stop for her own sanity, but she couldn't help herself. Her tears started to flow and she wanted nothing more at that moment in time than to go and dig him out and hold onto him until Caleb came and killed them all. But she also knew that she owed it to Damon to fight.
"I will fix this" she promised them all, taking Carnina's hand into her own, her eyes never straying from the burnt ashes. "Then I will join you" she sent on a prayer to Damon, hoping against all the odds that he would be able to hear her now that he was gone.
"What now" Elena asked her from behind her.
Bonnie looked up into the smudged face of her best friend and smirked at her. "We go find Caleb and we kill him" she let Carnina's hand go and jumped to her feet. "Let's go" she walked out of the house, tearing the bottom of her wedding dress off in preparation for the fight.
"I didn't even know you cared" came a voice and they all turned and saw him standing there in front of them in the doorway. "But I thought that I would save you the trouble of searching for me" he sauntered into the room, angering both Bonnie and Stefan. "After all" he looked into Bonnie's face with a sneer. "You have something of mine and I want it back"
There was nothing that comforted him now that he had been taken into the darkness completely. He didn't know anything anymore. He had no idea who he was. If he was. He tried to think, but everything was blank and void of anything. Was he even a he or was he simply a thing.
He felt something stuck at the middle of him. But he had no idea what it was. There was something throbbing right at his centre and he clung onto it, no matter how much pain it brought to him.
Suddenly he remembered that he was something. He was a man. No, he was more than a man. He was. And that was when he hit a blank wall again. Floating there in the dark he let that thought slip away from him. There was something that he needed to be doing. Somewhere he needed to be. And no matter how hard he tried to remember, it kept floating away from him whenever he manged to pull up a glimmer of it.
There is someone waiting for me. But who and why? He was starting to give up all hope of ever remembering anything. He closed his eyes; it was no point in them being open as he couldn't see anything in front of him. The darkness was dense and it constantly pressed down on him, suffocating him.
A scream came from nowhere and a name hit his lips. "Bonnie" he heard the sound inside his head and then a face came to him of a pretty smiling girl with coffee coloured skin and mesmerising green eyes. "Bonnie" he whispered aloud and he heard it with his own ears that time and a second scream hit his ears and he cried out from the force of it shattering his very being and he knew that she needed him.
He fought with every ounce of his being. He had never felt pain like it before. He knew that he was dead and trapped inside his own hell. He stopped struggling to move, it was futile, and he wasn't even getting anywhere. Turing his head from side to side he saw a pin prick of light and he was hit by a thought of being able to get out and get back to her. She needed him and he wasn't about to let her down again.
Fighting the darkness pressing down on him he moved a little, sweat starting to pour down his face into his eyes blinding him. But he still struggled to move towards the light that would lead him back to her. He could still hear her screams floating to him in the dark and gritting his teeth together, he manged to turn his whole body towards the pin prick of light. A pain rippling through his entire body like an inferno. He reached out and grabbed onto something solid and he soon realised that it was a tunnel of some kind and he pulled himself inside. The inside was coated with a slimy substance and he knew that there was no way he was about to let himself lose his only grip and fall out and fail her a second time.
Pulling himself along on his stomach he dug his nails in through the slime and into the floor of the tunnel, tearing at the skin around his fingers and it burnt where he was now bleeding. It felt like he was dipping his hands into vervain. The pain got too strong and he cried out and almost lost his hand hold, but he clung on for dear life and dragged himself further into the tunnel.
A string gust of wind appeared out of nowhere and blew him back out of the tunnel and if he hadn't punched through the floor of the tunnel and grabbed on tightly underneath it, the he would have been blown back out. But he bit his lip and carried on moving forward, each time he pulled himself along he punched his hand through the floor of the tunnel and grabbed a hold and pulled himself a little further inside. He felt the bones shatter in his left hand when he was halfway through and he stopped and screamed out when the slime got inside the torn skin and he knew that he was exposing bone now even though he couldn't see anything but an endless darkness that encased him. Taking a deeper breath he pulled himself further along, punching and pulling his way as he moved slowly towards the light that was now starring to fill the tunnel, blinding him even more than the darkness ever could.
Damon cursed out loud when he felt his right wrist break with the pressure of his punch through the floor, but he took a deeper breath and gritting his teeth he continued to fight his way to the end with his eyes closed. He wasn't about to give her up for anything. No matter the pain he was in threating to make him stop, he would never stop fighting for her and she needed him. He heard another scream and he started to move faster, the pain sending red hot tears to his eyes that flowed down his face, but still he would never stop.
He suddenly felt like he was falling and he yelled out in frustration over all that work leading to nothing. He was doomed to spend an eternity in the dark fighting his way back to her and she was in trouble and there was nothing that he could do to help her.
"I'm so" he started to say through his sobs, the rest of his words falling away silently when he hit something rock solid and opening his eyes he winched when a pain hit his chest and opening his eyes he found himself once again completely covered in darkness.
He cursed out loud, the sound ringing around his head and something was pressing heavily upon his chest and he lay back closing his eyes, finally admitting defeat. He was hurting all over and something sharp was sticking into his left side. His opened his eyes and saw bright sunny skies through a crack. He hit out with both hands and lifted his legs and kicked at whatever was lying on top of him and taking a deep breathe he looked up into the sky. He was back he smiled to himself as he pulled himself up onto his feet slowly and looked around at the torn down tree house and cursed again.
Damon walked over the huge pile of debris, his body healing quickly and he tugged out a piece of wood from his side and jumped down onto the grass. He didn't know where to start looking and then I hit him like a knife to the gut when he heard Bonnie yelling at someone and he started running towards the sound of her voice.
Damon ran into the thicket and fought his way through into a little clearing and saw Bonnie sitting on the floor with her back to a base of a huge tree that he couldn't remember the name of. A guy with blazing red hair standing in front of her. He stood there and watched him, listening to what he was saying to her and he bided his time to make his move.
Bonnie was sitting with her back to a tree, her fear over taking her while Caleb stood menacingly in front of her with a stake in his hands. "Can't the littlest vampire make any magic to save herself" he mocked her, the stake inching towards her frozen body and no matter how much she fought, his spell pinned her to the tree unmoving. "Such a waste"
The stake touched her chest and he grinned down at her, digging it in a little and she screamed out from the pain that tore through her.
She looked up at him, unable to tear her own eyes away and then he had been flung like a rag doll. "You don't touch her" she heard a growl and her heart kicked started and she gazed up into blue eyes. "Didn't think that death could keep me away from you, did you" he grinned at her before holding out his hand and pulling her back to her feet.
"You tore out his heart?" she gasped at the bloodied heart in his left hand and he nodded.
"No one tries to kill my wife without ending their own first" he dropped the heart and scooped her up in his arms, squeezing her tightly. "God I missed you"
She broke down in his arms. "I thought you were gone" he stroked her hair while she cried and he couldn't stop himself from breaking down with her, shaking his head he whispered something to her that neither one of them would ever be able to understand to know what he had said to her.
Looking around at the garden he frowned at the war torn mess. "Where is Stefan and the other's" he asked Bonnie.
Bonnie quickly looked around the garden and then she saw him walking towards them both with a grave look on his face. "Where are Elena and Carnina?"
Stefan shook his head and handed over a scrap of paper that he told them had been pinned to his chest when he woke up in the bathroom.
Damon read the badly scribbled note. "I have taken the girl and the old lady to the abandoned house on pine and Gillard. You have three hours to find them before I send them both to hell, starting with the girl" Damon scowled down at the note. "It is from Josiah"
"Where is pine and Gillard?" Bonnie looked up at him, wearing the same frown that he was.
"It is on the other side of town" Stefan told her, looking at his brother. "Do you think that we can make it in time on foot?"
Damon sat down on a fallen tree shaking his head. "Is the garage still intact" Stefan nodded and Damon smiled at him. "Then we take my second baby out for a little spin"
"You have your own car?" Bonnie asked, confused by them not having used it since they had got there.
He grinned down at her as she sat down next to him. "Want to see her?" she nodded and they all headed around to the garage and Damon tugged open the door and Stefan's face fell at the sight of it.
Damon pulled off the cover and folded it up neatly and threw it onto a shelf and turning he grinned into two shocked and awed faces.
"You have a vintage Alfa Romeo spider duetto?" Stefan couldn't take his eyes off the electric blue care standing in front of them.
"Isn't she a beauty?" Damon asked as he ran his hand down the slight curve of the hood, his eyes raking her over.
"She is incredible" Bonnie didn't know what else to say, she didn't know much about cars. But she did know one thing, that this care was even better than his Camaro. "Why haven't we used it?"
Damon wiped at his face with his hand. "I didn't know if it would start" reaching into a drawer he pulled out a set of keys and tossed them to his brother. "Start her up"
Stefan didn't need telling twice and he flew into the driver's seat and turned the key, nothing. Damon scowled at the car in annoyance. Then Stefan turned it again and it roared to life and Damon's face lit up.
"I knew my baby wouldn't let me down" he opened the door and climbed into the passenger side and patted his lap. "There are only two seats and so you will need to sit on my lap"
"Is that the reason why I am allowed to drive" Stefan asked Damon who leant over and pulled the door closed.
"Of course it isn't brother" Damon's tone dripped sarcastically and he gave him a throaty chuckle. "But you are driving, so let's put feet to pedal and hit that street" he tapped the dashboard and Stefan drove out of the garage and onto the driveway before hammering it down on to the street and took the turn at the bottom of the driveway at break neck speed.
"How long do we have left?" Stefan asked him as he took another death defying turn and they went up on two wheels.
"What do I look like" Damon asked him seriously. "A psychic" he looked at Bonnie sitting on his lap and shook his head, his arms tightening around her middle to hold onto her tightly, he didn't care how quickly she would heal now, he was not letting her shoot out the windshield.
"Take the next right" Damon yelled at his brother just before they shot past it. "I said right not carry on through" Damon spat at him through gritted teeth.
"How about you tell me before we are passing the turning" Stefan hissed back as he spun the car around in a three sixty. "It would help"
"I didn't think I needed too" Damon's arm tightened around Bonnie and held her still on his lap, his other hand flat against the roof to stop himself from falling into Stefan's lap. "You drive like Miss Daisy"
Stefan put his foot down and Bonnie closed her eyes, feeling sick from the speed. "Just give me fair warning next time" he spun the car around and flew into the right turning and Damon laughed.
"A few feet down here you need to" Damon threw himself back into the seat and pulled Bonnie towards him when Stefan slammed his foot on the breaks and they stopped suddenly.
"We are here" he turned and smiled at them both and grabbing the door handle Bonnie leapt from the car and threw up on the grass verge.
"I am never" she said trying to breathe again. "Ever getting into a car with you both together"
Damon flew out of the car and laughing he pulled her into his chest and kissed the top of her head. "You are lucky then I wasn't driving" he chucked her under the chin softly. "I drive like a real person"
"No" she said shaking her head. "I drive like a real person and you" she threw at Stefan. "Drive like a manic and you" she looked up at Damon standing there with his hands in his belt loop looking at her with innocent eyes and he looked at her in question when she failed to find an answer. "I will let you know when I think of something" she scowled at him and headed down the long driveway that lead to the big house.
Walking across the over grown lawn Damon glanced across at Bonnie walking at his side and taking her hand into his. "Did Alba make you a daylight ring?"
Stefan's face fell in shock. "She doesn't have one" he stared past Damon at Bonnie who was walking through the sunshine perfectly fine. "How come?"
Bonnie shook her head, having no idea why. She hadn't even thought about it with them all fighting to survive. She looked up at Damon and shrugged her shoulders.
"Shrugger doesn't need one" Damon's heart felt lighter now, she wasn't a vampire and he hadn't heard anything so good in years.
"How come?" Stefan asked again.
"Maybe because she isn't even a vampire" Damon slipped his arm around her shoulder, stepping over a broken garden ornament.
"Oh, she is a vampire alright" Stefan retorted and Damon's head snapped back to look at him. "I watched her die then I saw her come back from the dead and feed on Alba and transition. She is a vampire"
It was Damon's turn to become confused now. "I don't understand" he stopped walking just short of the house, scratching his head.
"Maybe it is the magic you have flowing inside you still" Stefan replied, trying to get his own head around it.
"Maybe" she replied, shielding her eyes from the sun as she gazed upon the huge abandoned house.
"Wait, what" Damon looked from on to the other, wanting an explanation.
"It is a long story" Bonnie told him, shaking her head and suppressing a giggle from the look he was giving her. "But I have tried and tried and I cannot use it if I have it" she looked at Stefan. "So I don't know if I have any magic"
"So that would make you a wampire or vitch" Damon teased her kissing her on the side of her head, his face falling serious again. "Now we need to tackle this clear headed and calmly"
"Klear headed and Kalmly" Bonnie grinned past Damon at Stefan. "Both spelled with a K"
Damon chuckled mockingly, his hand slipping into Bonnie's. "You are hilarious" he raised his eyebrows. "Now we need to get in and get out"
"Without too many dying" Stefan told him as they all climbed the steps to the main door and Damon waved him away with his hand.
"If people didn't want to die then they wouldn't go around and threaten those I care about" Damon pushed open the front door and stepped inside.
"So you made it just in time to save the girl" they all looked up the flight of stairs and saw a tall blonde man with hazel eyes staring down at them, holding out his wrist to show them his watch. "But I grew bored of waiting for you all to show up and I kind of killed the old one"
Stefan had to grab a hold of Damon to stop from running up the stairs. "Calmly, remember" he whispered into his ear, both of them still watching the blonde walking down the stairs towards them.
"Quite a volatile little thing, aren't you" he smirked at Damon, who was now struggling to break free from Stefan's grip and he growled. "So you must be Bonnie?" he stopped walking and smiled down at her, the look on his face angering Damon further. "The girl that the angry one left" he stopped talking and gave her a little frown. "Ah that is it, Elena"
"Don't let him get to you" Stefan warned him in his ear, but Damon ignored him, his eyes never leaving the blonde's.
"If you hadn't guessed it by now" he shook his head with a look of pride written all over his face. "I am the one the only, Josiah and my father is or should that be, was" he looked at Stefan with a glare, his lip curled in anger. "Caleb's first born son" he looked back up the stairs when a red headed guy appeared just behind him. "This is Joseph, my younger brother"
"And we have been looking forward to you arriving" he walked down the stairs and stood next to his brother.
"Where is she?" Damon snarled through his teeth, not wanting to play games any more. All he wanted to do was kill them both, save Elena and take Bonnie home for a joint shower.
"I don't remember" Josiah laughed in his face.
"Then you had best start remembering" he growled at him, his hands clenching at his sides.
"Oh is that a threat" Joseph looked at his brother with a look of amusement.
"I think so, Joe" Josiah laughed deeply, his hand on his stomach as he bent over.
"Shall I take him out, or would you like to do it?"
Damon smirked up at them both. "It doesn't matter, because I am going to kill you both" he put one foot on the first step.
"Damon" Bonnie shouted out in alarm when she watched him being lifted off his feet and thrown into the wall behind her, knocking him unconscious.
Stefan made a run up the stairs for Josiah but Joseph stepped in his way and with a slight twist to his hand Stefan fell back down the stairs, his neck hanging at a weird angle.
"Oh the little witch turned vampire" Josiah grinned down at her standing there staring up at them. "Now what are we going to do with you?"
"So what is it going to be?" Joseph sat down on the step that he had been stood on, turning up at his brother. "Go and move the girl someplace else and I will deal with these"
Josiah nodded to his brother and ran back up the stairs and turned left and Bonnie watched him go and when he disappeared from view she turned her gaze back on Joseph.
"Now, what am I going to do with you?" she asked him and he gave her a wide grin, shrugging his shoulders.
"I could think of one way to waste away the time after I have killed your little friends there" he motioned towards Stefan and Damon lying on the floor at the foot of the stairs. "I could take you upstairs into the master bedroom and show you things you have never seen before"
She leant against the banister, willing them both to wake up. "And what things would those be then?" she asked him, pretending to flirt with him, but feeling sick to her stomach.
"Ever made out with a witch before?" he asked her and she shook her head, a plan forming in her mind. "Would you like too?" he asked her and she nodded back at him with a smile. "Let's go" he held out his hand to her and she took it and allowed him to lead her up the stairs and down the hallway and in through a set of double doors. "You are so hot" he said heading for the bed and climbed up on it.
"Mors murum" she smiled at him, throwing everything she had into casting the spell and he flew to his feet and tried to get off the bed, only to hit an invisible wall.
"You bitch" he snarled at her, fists hitting out at the wall she had flung up around the bed.
"Ah, are you trapped" she cocked her head to the side and smirked at him. "Too bad" spinning on her heels she walked back out of the bedroom and closed the door behind her. "Abscondas" she watched the door disappear before she walked back down the hallway towards the top of the stairs and looking down she couldn't find either Damon or Stefan anymore. "Elena" she thought to herself as she made her way after Josiah.
"Bonnie" Damon called out in a low whisper and got no reply. "If they have touched one hair on her head" he looked back over his shoulder at Stefan standing behind him and in a low growl that escaped him before he had even known he had done it. "I will tear out Josephine's heart and hand feed it to Jopariah"
Stefan shook his head and carried on walking behind him along the hallway. "I'll go left" he mouthed to Damon who nodded back in reply, slipping around a corner.
"Well hello miss trendy" Damon leant against the door frame, looking at the tall girl with dark blue eyes and grey hair sitting on a threadbare couch drinking a coke. "How are we going to do this?" he stood up and walked further into the den and she turned and looked up at him. "You do know that that crap will rot your teeth, right?" he wrinkled his nose in disgust, but she went back to ignoring him. "Ignorance isn't only blissful sugar" he mocked her, now standing at the edge of the couch, looking down at the top of her head. "Because once I am involved there is only pain and death for ignorance"
"So you are the brother that stole his own brother's girl and then dumped her sorry ass when you fell in love with her best friend, who strangely became your best friend" she looked up into his scowling face. "Or am I wrong" she put down her can on the floor and stood to her feet and Damon saw that she was the same height as him. "Because it is my understanding that you are the most selfish person on this planet and the worst brother ever imaginable" she folded her arms across her chest and stared at him, waiting for him to speak.
"I will say this" he said cockily, folding his own arms across his chest, keeping eye contact with her. "If none of this was going on, then you and I might have had a chance to be friends. I kind of like that bitchy little thing you have going on. But seeing as you seem to know me so much" he raised his eyebrows, enouncing each word clearly. "Then you probably know what is going to happen now" he took a step towards her and before she could utter a single word his hand flew out and decapitated her and smirking down at her lying headless on the floor he crouched down and picked up her head, holding it out and looking into her shocked face. "Ok then, you didn't" he threw the head onto the couch. "Rot away now" he smirked before walking through a door on the other side of the room, wiping blood onto his already destroyed pants.
The door was open and she could see Elena sitting down in the middle of the bed, tied up. Josiah was walking back and fore at the bottom, talking to her and she kept shaking her head back in reply.
"I will do you a deal" he told her as Bonnie inched slowly into the room. "I will save one of your friends" she saw him stop, folding his arms across his chest, Elena's face pale now in repulse. "I will save the one whose heart you shattered and kill the two who shattered yours"
"You won't kill any of them" she sat back against the wall and Bonnie moved to stand just behind him.
"I have to kill at least two of them for what they did to my father" Josiah said in a matter of fact way, like it should have been more obvious to her.
"Your father" Elena snorted, holding back a giggle. "Was a power driven mad man and he tried to kill us all and when my friends kill you, then you can join him in hell"
Josiah started to chuckle and the sound reminded Bonnie of his father. "I doubt that very"
"Somnus" Bonnie said from behind him and the words fell away as he turned and looked into her face before he fell onto the floor.
"Bonnie" Elena cried out, jumping off the bed and into her arms.
"We don't have much time" Bonnie told her, taking her hand and leading her out of the room and closing the door behind her. "Abscondas" she said as it closed and leading Elena down the stairs she bumped into Damon at the bottom.
"Where have you been?" he whispered to her and then saw Elena standing next to her and he smiled at Bonnie. "Get her out of here while I go and find Stefan"
Bonnie nodded and made her way outside with Elena on her heels. "Don't be long" she stopped in the doorway and whispered back to him and he nodded. "One is trapped on a bed and the other is under a sleeping spell" he nodded again and made his way down the hallway and turning both girls made a run for it.
Bonnie saw a low fence at the bottom of the garden just short of the trees and she grabbed Elena's hand and helped her over onto the other side. "They won't be long" she turned and looked down at the cut seeping down one side of her friend's face and a frown appeared and biting into her wrist she held it out, but Elena shook her head.
"It isn't going to help me" she replied, her hand touching the wound on her forehead. "The cure is still inside me"
"What if I drank the cure from Elena" she thought to herself. "Or would I end up losing the part of me that is still witch too" she sat down next to Elena and tearing off a little of what was left of the hem on her wedding dress, she held it to her head. "They won't be long" she whispered to Elena as she sat there with her arm around her, trying to keep her warm until the boys came back.
He made his way towards the back of the house. Every step filled him with dread when he called out to his brother and kept getting nothing back. He suddenly toppled into a wall when the floor started to shake.
"Earthquake, now" he yelled out at the universe for throwing it in his way to get Stefan out of there before the crazy twins found him wandering they're derelict home.
Pulling himself off the wall he made his way further along the hallway, trying not to fall over again with the earthquake that still rippled along the ground and he had to dodge the ceiling falling in a few times.
"Stefan where are you?" he yelled out in fear that the Josiah had woken up and had gotten there before him. He didn't know what he would do if he had destroyed him. Damon flew faster now, anxious to find Stefan. Looking down he noticed that the ground had started to split in angry zigzags leading up to the front of the house, and slowly it was already starting to sink. "Please let him be alive" he sent out to whoever heard him. "Stefan" he called out frantically. The house slopped back, sinking even deeper at the back of the house and he had to stop himself from sliding into a fiery hole that was now the den, making a fast run he leapt the few feet, landing on the other side before he toppled and fell through the kitchen door and ended up crashing into the fridge. He looked around the kitchen, his lungs taking in nothing but thick clogging smoke. "Stefan" he called out again and heard a faint reply. Coughing he covered his mouth with his hand while he scanned the kitchen, instantly finding him trapped between the sinking back door and the kitchen floor, the house continued to sink at a quick rate, threatening to cut his brother in half. Damon flew to his side dodging gaps in the floor that sunk when his feet touched the tiles. "Stefan" he cried out frightened for his brother's life as he threw himself onto the floor in front of him, grasping his hand in his.
"Damon" Stefan spoke low. "I can't move my legs" tears flowing down his face and he weakly gripped Damon's hand back. "I need to tell you something"
"Tell me when I have got you free again brother" Damon told him trying to lift the back of the house off of him.
"No Damon" Stefan cried out as the pain took his breath away. "Leave me it's too late for me" Damon's heart started to beat way too fast again, but he refused to let his emotions get a hold of him. "Save yourself"
"Stefan still the irritating little martyr" Damon chuckled turning his face away from his brothers so that he wouldn't see the pain written there. "Always such drama with you brother" he laughed again as he tried to lift the door from off him, but it was no use he wasn't strong enough to fight all the power behind it.
Damon watched a pool of blood start to form around his brother's middle, his heart ended up back inside his mind, he felt everything that he had let resurface slam back into the boulder of his heart, more chains wrapping and holding it all in place again. His inner child screamed out in pain. "You will never take him from me" he bellowed to Josiah. Damon gritted his teeth together, the force cracked his back teeth and snapping two of his front and he spat them out standing back up gripping the top of the door frame, lifting it only a fraction before he felt more power sent out to knock him off his feet. He wouldn't give up. He knew one little slip and that would be his only brother gone, forever and he wasn't about to lose him no matter what. He felt sweat start to run down his forehead and into his eyes, blurring his vision, his hands were slippery but he still held onto the door. Crying when the door started to slip away from his grasp. "No don't take him, take me instead" he called out to Josiah who ignored his pleas. He tried to lift the door frame a little higher and he almost lost his footing again, the door making a fast move towards his bother and he just caught it in time before it made contact again. "Please take me" he cried out at deafening volume and Josiah sent a flash of power towards him, shattering the window pane in the door he was struggling to hold up, slicing into his face. His tears seeping into the wounds making him cry out in pain. "I will never give up until you kill me" he yelled again at Josiah. "You want my brothers soul then you are going to have to take mine too" he bit his bottom lip almost falling over again, but he refused to give his brother's life up to them that easily. "You are going to have to kill me because only over my dead body will I allow you to take him away from me. He's my brother and you have to get through me to take him" Damon gripped the bottom of the door, feeling more power running through the wood heating it up to an antagonistic temperature burning his hands. But still he held onto the door, both palms of his hands blistering and bursting. The pain made him scream out in agony, but it would be nothing like losing his brother, so he persevered and held onto the door even tighter. That was when the wood started to splinter, the top cracking as he was watched tiny pointed pieces of wood fall down onto his brothers still body. "No" he screamed out kicking one away from stabbing into his heart. "Take me instead of him" He cried out even louder kicking away another stake before it pierced his brothers body, still struggling with the growing weight of the door and his sweaty burning hands from losing his grip. "TAKE ME" he called out again. "He's the good one, it's me that you want" a tiny stake fell from the top of the door stabbing into his own shoulder, turning the muscle to jelly, but he wouldn't allow his own weakness to kill his brother. That was when the door started to shake violently in his hands, another stake hitting his left shoulder, both his arms without any sensation. "IT WAS ME WHO TORE THE HEART OUT OF YOUR STUPID USELESS PATHETIC FREAK OF A FATHER" he snarled out almost losing his hold on the door again. "AND I WILL KILL EACH AND EVERYONE OF YOU IF YOU TAKE MY BROTHER AWAY FROM HE. I WON'T REST UNTIL YOU BECOME EXTINCT AND YOU WON'T LIVE LONG ENOUGH TO REGREET TAKING THE WRONG BROTHER. I PROMISE YOU THAT I WON'T SLEEP EAT OR EVEN REST UNTIL EVERY ONE OF YOU ARE DECEASED AND HEAVEN AND HELL CRASH INTO ONE. I WILL MESS WITH THE ORDER OF THINGS SO MUCH THAT THE WHOLE GOD DAMN PLANET WILL EXPLODE" he growled out losing his mind even more, his heart banging against his chest. "I KILLED YOUR FATHER, JOSIAH. MY BROTHER IS INNOCENT" more stakes fell from the top of the door, jabbing both his eyes out and he felt them burst before gushing down his face. "I WON'T GIVE UP SO YOU'D BETTER TAKE ME" he cried out through the pain when a stake hit his lung and he started to lose his breath, but he refused to allow him to take Stefan. He was losing control of his arms and his legs were on fire, but he wouldn't give up trying to save Stefan. "TAKE ME" he yelled out again when another stake hit out his other lung, almost flooring him, but he stood stiff still struggling to hold onto the door, each breath that he took he fought the darkness that tried to swallow him within it. By now he couldn't see or feel the door anymore, but he wouldn't allow it to move an inch from his hands. "YOU WILL NEVER TAKE HIM AS LONG AS I'M STILL ALIVE SO YOU HAD BETTER TAKE ME TOO" something told him to move to the left of himself now and when he did he felt something pierce his side, just missing his own heart. "NICE TRY" he shouted without a breath. "I WILL NEVER DROP THIS DOOR ONTO MY BROTHER" a strong power hit his mind like a bolt of lightning and he swayed on his feet, almost losing his grip on the door, crying out in pain when his ear drums imploded into his brain. He was as good as dead but he still wouldn't let them take his brother away. "THROW WHATEVER YOU WANT MY WAY BUT YOU WILL NEVER TAKE MY BROTHER AWAY FROM ME" Damon cried out, not even hearing his own words anymore. That was the moment when he felt himself fall backwards and there wasn't a thing he could do to stop himself. "STEFAN NOOOOOO" he cried out when his own body made contact with the door. "STEFAN" he screamed. "I WILL KILL YOU ALL" his voice reverberated around the kitchen, as an earthquake shook its foundations. "Stefan" he cried out, the pain was like nothing he had ever felt before, except Bonnie's death. "TAKE ME TOO BECAUSE I AM COMING FOR YOU" he suddenly felt someone take a hold of his body, lifting him. "My turn" he thought not even caring when or how Josiah destroyed him now, not when his brother was already dead. He gave himself up willingly to them. He didn't know if his eyes were open or closed at this point. But he lay back in the arms and smiled and that was when he realised that they were familiar and he whispered to them. "I will never give up on you brother" the pain took him again and he knew he was passing out.
"Damon talk to me" Stefan repeated looking down worriedly at him now. "Damon can you hear
Me?" but he just continued to smile up at him and then he passed out. Stefan picked up his pace as he ran down the back garden, slipping between the uneven bushes, with his brother in his arms. If only he would be able to make it over the edge of the little fence then they both would be safe. The whole ground started to split under his feet as he ran towards the edge of the garden, his footing slipped and he accidentally let Damon go and he watched helplessly as his brother flew through the air before hitting the trunk of a tree, flopping down onto the grass. Stefan sighed as he started to make a move towards Damon, but the ground gave way and he felt himself falling downwards. Fire spat up all around his falling body like lava, singeing his clothes and threatening to burn him alive as he fell down onto a rock, he became unconscious after hitting his head.
"Stefan" Elena yelled out in fear when she saw the whole ground open up, swallowing him beneath it.
"You stay there" Bonnie told her leaping to her feet. "I will get Damon and try and wake him for help" she darted across the fence, her heart in her mouth when she reached Damon and dropped at his side. "Wake up" she begged him, shaking him slightly. "Damon" she cried out, her heart lodged somewhere in her throat and his eyes snapped open. "Stefan" she pointed towards the fire pit and he flew up onto his feet and made a run for the flames, but she held him back. "We need a plan"
He didn't have a chance to speak his plan to Bonnie when he saw the flames rising and running he looked down into the flames and saw Stefan lying there on a rock below him and leaping in he prayed that he wouldn't end up killing them both and landing on the balls of his feet in a crouch he tried to stand up against the wall of flames. He felt them reach out and lick at his back, the pain trying to drag him down to his knees. He could hear Bonnie yelling at him over the sound of the roaring fire that now seemed to surround them both.
"Damon" he heard and turning he dropped onto his knees, crawling through the flames that were now tunnelling overhead.
"Trust you to offer yourself up for a spit roast to the psycho redheaded crew" he pulled Stefan's head onto his lap, looking up at the ceiling of flames above them and shook his head. "Roast brothers, anyone" he laughed a little, trying to stop Stefan from freaking out when he looked up at the flames.
"Damon" Stefan panted, the thick smoke flowing into his lungs.
"Death by fire" Damon said with a lump rising at the back of his throat and he smiled, despite the smoke trying to choke him. "Has got to be a hell of a sight better than death by boring old stake" he winked down at his brother's pale face, blood still flowing from the back of his head. "Anyway, at least it took a lot to take down the Salvatore brother's" he started to cough, the force of it shaking both of them.
"Damon" they both heard Bonnie yelling from above the roaring flames, the skin on Damon's face starting to blister and melt.
"We are not dead yet brother" Damon told him as Stefan gazed up in shock at his melting face and frowned. "I can still hear my heart calling out to me"
Stefan cried out in pain and Damon saw both his legs on fire and he reached over and batted at the flames with his bare hands, the skin burning. "Damon" Stefan croaked, the ingested smoke burning his lungs. "It is too late; the fire is going to destroy us"
"Ignis egressus" they both heard Bonnie yelling from above and then they could see her worried face looking into the hole down at them both and then a smile appeared in her eyes.
"I love you" Damon mouthed up at her as he slowly made his way to his feet, dragging up Stefan with him and with one bound he made it onto the grass, falling over with his brother landing at his side.
"Aw" they heard and turning to face him, Damon snarled low. "And I was so looking forward to chargrilled vampire for tea"
"Looks like it is going to be dead witches instead" Damon climbed slowly to his feet, yanking Stefan up onto his badly burnt legs and moving to stand at Bonnie's side as she came forward to flank him.
"I wouldn't be so sure cocky one" Josiah smirked at him, shaking his head. "How about we start with dead hybrid" he looked from Damon to Bonnie and he muttered something under his breath and Damon suddenly sunk onto his knees, clutching at his throat, feeling blood rush down and he started to choke.
Bonnie's hand flew up. "Gaudete" she smiled before Josiah flopped forward, lying on the ground with a broken neck. "How about dead jackass" she smirked down at him before she turned to Joseph. "Ignis" she whispered and Damon's eyes flew open when he saw him burst into flames.
"A brain bleed would have been good" he patted her on the back. "But I like fire just as much"
"Not as much fun" she turned and gave him a look and he smiled at her, taking her into his arms and hugging her hard to his chest.
"Let's go home" he whispered into her hair, taking in her scent. "We have a reception to finish"
"Sounds like a plan to me" she looked up into his smiling face and turning they both walked back down the garden with Stefan and Elena following slowly behind them.
Standing back he wiped his arm across his forehead, looking down at the hole in the ground. He couldn't believe what he was about to do and no matter how much it pained him, he just couldn't cry anymore. He felt a small hand on his lower back and glancing back over his shoulder he saw her standing just behind him.
"I'm ok" he promised her, pulling her to his side and wrapping his arm around her, hugging her to him. "It just sucks that they died because of me" leaning his head on her shoulder he closed his eyes, listening to her heart beating always calmed him down.
"None of this was your fault" she closed her eyes, wishing that she could at least take some, if not all, of his pain away from him.
"What did you do that for?" he asked her, his tone shocked and pulling away from him she looked at him, unsure of where he was going with that.
"Do what?" she asked him, confusion in his tone.
"Try and turn off my humanity" he replied sitting down and dangling his legs into the open grave, patting the grass next to him and slowly she sat down.
"I didn't mean too" she pulled a face and he chucked her softly under the chin before wrapping his arm back around her, pulling her into his side.
"Honestly, I'm fine" he reassured her, wishing that were in fact true. "I have you by my side" he kissed the top of her head, leaning into her. "You and I are going to be together for the rest of our lives and there is nothing that I want more than" the words fell away and looking back over his shoulder he saw Stefan driving towards them and getting to his feet he held his hand out to Bonnie. "Did you manage to get the ones that I wanted?"
Stefan climbed out of the truck and shook his head. "I got them both white. They didn't have any black in, so I thought white would be fine"
Damon went to open his mouth in protest, but one look from Bonnie silenced him. "That is fine" he walked over to the back of the truck and pulled the door up and saw the two caskets lying side by side in the back and with his heart somewhere in his mouth he leapt up and grabbing the handle he pulled the first on towards him while Stefan took the second one.
"Did you get Alba out of the house ok?" Stefan asked them both, worried over Damon's frame of mind.
"We did" Damon replied, smiling a little over at Bonnie standing next to the graveside with Elena and he blew her a kiss. "Carnina was a little trickier to find. But Bonnie used a locator spell and it didn't take that much longer then"
"I got the tickets" Stefan laid the casket next to Damon's and standing up he frowned at his brother. "But we don't leave until tomorrow night. So I have booked up some suites at the Grand"
"I hate that place" Damon pulled a face at him.
"You were thrown out after almost burning it to the ground" Stefan retorted.
"They're pretentious jackasses" Damon threw in as he pulled open one of the coffins.
"You tried to burn it to the ground" Stefan chuckled heading to the car with Damon and leaning against the trunk.
"Because they were pretentious jackasses" Damon retorted pushing his brother off the trunk and pulling it open. "And I did burn the whole east side to the ground" Damon said, shaking his head. "But they should never have tried to throw me out at two am for getting blood on the carpet"
Lifting Carnina out of the trunk they laid her gently into the casket and giving her one last kiss on her forehead, Damon closed the lid and locked it. Then he looked down at Alba laying there, a lump in his throat.
"You are the reason why I have the greatest love in my life and I will always be thankful for you" he whispered to his friend just as they lifted him out and laid him in the coffin next to his wife and Damon vowed that if anything were to happen to Bonnie, then he would make sure that Stefan knew to bury him with her.
"Are you ready for this?" Stefan asked him after placing Carnina's coffin on top of Alba's before lowering them into the grave and Damon shook his head.
"I don't have a choice" he stepped back to Bonnie's side and felt her slip her hand into his own.
"How do we let one friend go? Let alone two. How do we say "I'm ready now to go on without you"? How can we ever have a clue of what that really means? And of a sudden the moment is upon us, and there's no turning back. And then we know what grief is,... and guilt and love and things undone.
Try to prepare and we will fail in some way, be it subtle or looming..." He looked at Bonnie and her hand tightened on his. "But there is peace too. Peace and acceptance and overwhelming love that we maybe weren't aware of. Waves and waves of conflicting emotion, And laughter too, and memories we hadn't bothered lately to recall come flooding back in shared company... and it's all about you two, Alba and Carnina. And there's gratitude... so much of that, that we had you, such wonderful friends...Bright and shining, nobody's fool, independent, but humble too; Smart, and kind, and fun. Adventurous.. Clear headed and calm and with hearts big enough to keep the whole world alive. A part of you has passed away, but much is carried everyday within us, and will as long as we are here." He stopped talking and caught his breath, he felt like he was swaying on his feet and if it hadn't been for Bonnie's hand in his, then he would have fallen to the floor. "This may be a final tribute. A day to celebrate your lives and say goodbyes; But it's not final. Every day I'll celebrate in some way, just by the virtue of how you shaped my life, how you saved my life and gave me my life" he looked at Bonnie and she smiled gently up at him. "The absolute and incredible fortune that I knew you both, my dearest friends" he threw his two roses down onto the coffins and closed his eyes he stood there in silence while listening to Stefan filling them in with the soft earth.