4 – ENVY
Jealousy.

He could have anybody, anybody he wanted. Whether they were willing or unwilling, Damon Salvatore had the power to manipulate, devour, and control every breathing, living thing that he desired. Compelling was like taking candy from a baby – easy, amusing, and – though he didn't give a fuck – wrong. And if he so happened to come across one of those highly inconvenient human blood bags with vervain laced in their system, he had other ways of charming his victims without using his supernatural powers. A little intense gazing, one of his many charming smiles, maybe the occasional innocent hand caress, and they'd be on their knees. Humans were so foreseeable, so fucking transparent. That's why half the time, he didn't even bother to take over their minds before he fed on them. He wanted to hear them scream. Sure, their fear would always be predictable, but for some delicious reason, he simply never got tired of watching them quiver beneath his hungry gaze.

That night, Damon had originally planned on stalking through the safe neighborhoods of Mystic Falls. He was itching to turn them all into bloodbaths. But with all the risks of being caught being a vampire these days, he figured he couldn't possibly get to all the families of the neighborhood without getting away unharmed. He was fast as lightning, but he didn't feel like giving a shit whether or not he could be discovered.

His inner struggle was short-lived however, when he felt more than saw a certain green-eyed witch walking arm in arm with some guy Damon could not make out across the street. "Bonnie," he heard himself hissing. He swiftly shadowed himself behind a tree, slightly peeking his head out. Good, she hadn't seen him.

Who the fuck was she with?

Bonnie's black high-heeled boots click-clatted on the the smooth pavement, slicing through the silence of the midnight air. Damon's eyes narrowed as Bonnie and the mystery man came to a stop at her door. Damon couldn't resist eavesdropping. He grazed his hands against the tough tree trunk and did just that.

"I had a really nice time, Darren," Bonnie whispered, not wanting to be too loud. She didn't expect to be coming back home so late. She wasn't expecting to meet this stranger. A small smile played at her lips. She stared back into exceptionally warm brown eyes. Darren returned her smile, a much wider one than her own. "Thank you," she added.

"No, thank you. This is the first time I've been attracted to someone in a while," Darren admits, a nervous chuckle exiting his throat.

Bonnie's eyes widen slightly and her mouth twitches in satisfaction. Well! If that wasn't a compliment, she didn't know what was. She willingly places her hand in his offered one and he lifts the front of her hand to meet his lips. They brush slightly against her knuckles and she surpresses a giggle. No guy was that gentlemanly.

Before she could give him a modest answer, Bonnie felt her body tense up in the way it only did when she was in the presence of a specific thing.She quickly closed her eyes and released her hand from Darren's. Darren took notice and frowned.

"Did I say something wrong?" he asked, looking dumbfounded. Bonnie felt her heart tighten in sorrow as she looked up at his confused face. She needed to get him away from here. Now. She didn't want another guy hurt because of her.

Bonnie quickly shook her head. "No, it's nothing. I'm just tired. I need to get to bed. But I had a great time." She gives him the best smile she can muster before fishing out her keys from her purse, keeping her eyes trained on her door. Darren was still standing there. She looked up at him and let out a dismissive, "goodnight." He nodded and sauntered off. She let her eyes follow him until he was way out of sight and quickly shoved her keys back into her bag.

The gush of wind at her back and the way her hair flew in around her face was all the indication she needed. She swallowed and decided attacking him would be pointless. It always ended the same with Damon. Keeping her back to him, she cleared her suddenly dry throat.

"What do you want, Damon?"

"Ugh," he groaned. "So, so many things, Bon-Bon. What an utterly vague question. You gotta be a little more specific than that."

Bonnie did her best to ignore her right hand becoming a fist. She couldn't help it. She let out a deep breath and slowly turned around, expecting to find his expression smug and self-satisfied, as usual. It annoyed the living shit out of her. She could feel herself summoning her powers. If she knocked him back, she would have enough time to insert herself into the barrier between him and her known as her house. She wasn't a fool. She never invited him in and she never would.

When she finally turned herself around completely to face him, she felt her breath hitch in her throat. There was that look again. It halted her in her stance. He couldn't compell her. She knew he would never do that. But something in his eyes were trying to tell her something else. Something his mouth wouldn't - couldn't. She felt as though he was looking through her rather than at her. His icy eyes searched her emerald ones desperately. Whatever he was looking for, she was sure he'd find it if they kept up this staring contest. She swallowed as she watched his eyes darken as they slowly examined her frozen face.

Bonnie felt her body begin to shiver. She felt exposed as he gazed into her eyes. This was the closest they'd ever been without coming to blows. The thought made her head swim. That's what she should be doing. She should be attacking him relentlessly, not looking into his incredibly enticing blue eyes and trying to remember what it is she hated about him in the first place. She felt the hand holding her purse begin to weaken. She needed to get inside. She knew she did. But she could not, for the life of her, pull herself away from his intense gaze.

"You're dating?"

His words were so quiet, she was sure she'd imagined him saying it. But his raised eyebrows proved her to be right.

"That's none of your business," she murmured, her voice low. "Goodnight, Damon."

Bonnie felt her shoulder being slammed against the door, as Damon harshly turned her back around. "I'm not finished with you," Damon barked, his eyes full of rage.

Bonnie's eyes narrowed and she dropped her purse. She quickly lifted her fist, aiming for his nose as fast as she could, but it was a mere inch from her target before Damon's hand gripped her wrist tightly, causing her to cry out.

"You think this hurts?" Damon spat, speaking viciously fast. "Wait till I break every fucking bone in your little boyfriend's body. We'll see how much pain you'll be in then."

Bonnie took the opportunity to smack him with her free hand. From the way her hand stung, she'd gotten him good. His right cheek quickly turned from pale to tomato red, her hand-print clearly visible on his offended skin.

"You son of a bitch," Bonnie spat. She tried to hit him again but was warned with a slight twisting of her captured wrist. Damon ruthlessly wrapped his free hand around her throat, giving her neck a slight squeeze, warning her not to try that again.

"I know what you're doing."

Bonnie winced. He was in her ear, whispering too close. Too close...

"No," Bonnie breathed. "I know what you're doing. Quit acting like a jealous ex-boyfriend. You're not and you never will -"

His grip tightened. "Jealous?" Damon scoffed. He pulled his head back to look into her green orbs. He was trying to look nonchalant. Trying to hide how he really felt. Bonnie could see right through him. Her lips twitched into a fraction of a smirk.

"What else would you call stalking me, scaring off every single one of the guys you see me with? Don't tell me you're doing it for my benefit. What I do with my life has jack shit to do with you, Salvatore. You'd do best to remember that."

"You saw me... with Elena... didn't you?" Damon challenged, his eyes shining in the reflecting moonlight. He knew damn well Bonnie saw him and Elena. He damned well wanted her to see them. He found it was the only way he could get the kind of reaction he wanted out of the little witch. He would have smirked had said witch not been giving him such a blood curdling look that somehow didn't look right on her exquisite face.

Bonnie swallowed, her eyes darkening. "Keep your mouth shut."

Damon raised an eyebrow. "Did I hit a nerve?"

"Let me go."

Damon held her eyes for a moment. "Never," he breathed, his sweet breath tickling her face as he brought his dangerously close to hers.

Damon's intense gaze held hers, never leaving her eyes. Even though Bonnie's eyes were aching to close, to look anywhere but at him, she couldn't, for the life of her, get them to listen to her. She swallowed on instinct, trying to remember the last time she ever felt so nervous, so helpless.

That was when she felt Damon's grip on her wrist loosen and soon he had her back up against the polished wooden door of her home, his chest pressed up against hers. He sighed deeply and placed his head on her right shoulder, his forehead grazing the door. Bonnie shivered at the way the wind blew his messy dark hair up against the skin of her neck, tickling her in a way that she should have found less than arousing.

"God, Bonnie," Damon whispered, his mouth moving against her skin. Bonnie couldn't help the shudder that went through her as goosebumped pricked her shoulder blade. She felt him raise his head as he brought his mouth to her ear. "What are you doing to me?"

It sounded like a plea more than a question. Nevertheless, she refused to answer such a ridiculous question. It wasn't what she was doing to him, it was what he was doing to her. Damon was deliberately trying to claim her as his while fucking her best friend who was supposed to be with his brother. Nothing was ever fucking simple with fucking vampires - pun intended.

Damon raised his head, searching her eyes, trying to coax an answer at of her. Bonnie tried to look as impassive as she could.

"Do you love her?" She felt herself whisper. Her eyes widened slightly once she registered her words, mirroring Damon's expression completely.

This was one question she'd always wanted the answer to. She knew Damon would do anything for Elena, she'd witnessed it and more. But when he was with her, she somehow felt... different. She didn't know, more important than Elena. She didn't want that feeling to be a misunderstanding on her part. She had to know.

Damon looked like a deer caught in the headlights. "Does it matter?" he reciprocated.

Bonnie began to shiver for a different reason. Was it anger? Rage? The green monster? She didn't want to know and she didn't care. Before she knew what she was doing, she'd lifted her purse off the ground, jammed her key into the keyhole and stepped inside her house. She slowly turned around, knowing her face was etched with whatever emotion she was feeling.

Damon's expression was unreadable.

"Wrong answer," Bonnie murmured, slamming the door in his face, not giving a fuck if she woke her dad up or not. She'd endure his yelling.

At least it would make her forget about a certain walking dead man, at least for a little while.


AUTHOR'S NOTE: Forgive me for the lateness. I hate to do this to people because I hate when stories I like take forever to get updated. But, I had to edit, get my mojo back and stuff, so I had reasons. I'll try to be faster on the last updates! :)