Phantom

4

"Damon?" she asked, her voice as tiny as she felt in that moment and trembling the same as her fingers. She knew something was wrong but she could not put her finger on what it was exactly. Was it his eyes, with that strange light shining in them? Or was it his fangs, which were extended and slick with something just as dangerous as the sharp point at the end? The wound at her throat was raw and weeping the same strange, clear liquid and it left a trail of burning skin in it's wake as it rolled down and onto her shoulders.

"Sweetheart," he said in reply, stroking the side of her neck he hadn't marred, his fingers almost but not actually touching her skin. He stroked one of her legs and then the other, his touch sending both into a complete numbness that transcended anything warmth could mask or cure There was something extremely erotic about the way he gazed at her then, as she squirmed, something loving but dangerous all at the same time, and a shiver of lust traitorously moved through her. "You have no idea what seeing you quiver like that does to me..." he said in a voice that was liquid and dry all at once; it should have made her feel as if she were floating but weighed down by the feeling that something was not right.

Stefan could see, too, that something about Damon was wrong, she could see it in the wideness of his eyes. He seemed weary all of a sudden, as if somehow he had found himself in a cage with a hungry tiger and only a wooden stick to help him fight it off, and he dropped the herbs to the ground. They would be no use to him if Damon chose to lash out. He recognised this Damon only too well from the decades that Damon spent going from town to town, village to village, slaughtering whoever or whatever he found.

He forced her down when Bonnie tried to sit up on the floor, using only one hand because that was all that he needed. This little human had not even a tenth, maybe not a hundredth, of his strength and the other vampire wasn't much better. Still, there had to be some fun to be had. He leant down slowly, kissed her quick and hard, and covered her body with his in a way that was more predatory than sexual. He wanted to frighten the both of them before they could think to run – it was more fun that way because it meant they would be desperate enough to do something stupid.

Bonnie felt as though the weight of him would crush her bones as he stretched on top of her, like her ribs were about to crack as his chest pressed against her's. She and Elena had been told dozens of times how to avoid situations like this one, but anything that could help her seemed impossible now and instead of trying to escape she lay frozen beneath him, praying that it would be over before long. Would he assault her even with Stefan, his brother, close enough to see?

"Let her go, Damon," Stefan commanded, "It's me you want, it's me who you want to kill."

Damon gave a maniacal laugh and smiled wickedly as he turned to face him with a whip of his head that should have given him whip-lash, if he were human, "Hmm... yes," his eyes were on Bonnie's when he said what he did next, "the anticipation will be delicious..." and this time when he smiled it was with a promise.

The moment his back was turned to her, she saw her chance and began to crawl backwards towards the kitchen, and she even was able to her feet and two steps closer to her intended target. If Stefan could just distract him for a little bit longer then maybe should could put enough obstacles between her and Damon to have a chance of escaping this horror.

Now that they were face to face, Stefan could see clearly the evil inside his brother. His brother might have won a few points for saving Bonnie, but he could not allow this evil to grow stronger. If he were stronger he would have fought Damon until the demonic thing within gave up it's prize, but the fact was that he had never been as strong as his brother, not even when they were human and they hadn't know vampires existed.

Damon moved at a speed that rendered him invisible and took hold of Bonnie's ankle in a grip that broke her bones. She screamed but he only laughed and continued to tug at the limp ankle as hard as he had done before. She fell to the floor, the pain seeming to spread throughout the rest of her, crying and screaming his name. Her magic was not strong enough to combat this kind of evil, but she hoped her faith was as she prayed for the pain to end.

TBC