The Second Front

"I understand Lucas. I'll check with what I have here and will be awaiting your phone call. Goodbye."

Nisha placed her cell on the ledge of the Jacuzzi and reclined her head back. She lifted one leg out of the water, like a brontosaurus raising its head out of a lagoon, letting the water slowly cascade off of her smooth, auburn skin.

"It seems like Elena and her friends are growing desperate," she said. "They're wondering if I know of any black magic that could bring that spell down."

The man took his glasses off and lay them on the hotel night stand. He began removing his clothes as Nisha stared at him from the tub. Despite their soiled and putrid condition, he folded his clothes neatly on the bed, stacked them and placed them on the hotel desk.

"It's not time to bring the spell down. Not just yet," he said. His words were curt and robotic, as though he had to say them as quickly yet as clearly as he could. His voice was even, a perfect balance of treble and bass. The tone was devoid of emotion or mood, making it difficult for anyone to determine his emotional state based on the sound of his voice alone.

Nisha watched as he walked over in the nude to the nightstand to pour himself a shot of whiskey. He was short in stature, with a protruding pot belly, patches of light, curly hair covering various parts of his pale, white skin all over his body, including his stomach, back and legs. His bald head, with grey hair growing wildly around the sides and back, matched the unkempt look of his scraggly beard. Even from where she was, she could tell that he hadn't bathed in days, the stench of his body odour reaching her nostrils, already making her slightly wretch. She hated that he would always choose to come to her in such a condition. But she knew that he only did it because she hated it so.

"I've got some items—relics—that will help the doppelganger and her friends in their quest to enter Mystic Falls," he said, downing a shot of whiskey and then pouring himself another glass. "But they are a temporary fix. Your apprentice had better absorb that grimoire fast!"

"Olivia will be ready soon. I have faith in her. Am I to assume that you would like her to eventually bring the spell down?"

He downed the second glass of whiskey. "Eventually. But not yet. The—separatists—need to be kept in check. Once Olivia gains more power, she can affect a better barrier."

Reaching for her own glass of whiskey that she had beside the Jacuzzi, Nisha took a sip and leaned back again. "It's rather ironic, isn't it? You and your Father on the same side in this?"

The moment the words slipped out of her mouth, she wished she took take them back. It was her habit of getting too comfortable with him that contributed to her constant downfalls, to her constantly being punished for her transgressions. It was so easy to take him for being just an ordinary man. But he was not ordinary, and that is what excited her…and terrified her.

The man put his glass down and walked towards Nisha in the Jacuzzi. She tried to gauge his emotional state, to determine whether he was angry or disappointed. She couldn't read anything. His face was a mask, shrouding any and all hints as to his thoughts and feelings. Nisha was proud of the fact that she could read almost any man, and thus manipulate them to achieve her objectives. If she couldn't read his face, then she could read his eyes. It was the proverbial window into his soul. Very rarely had she come across a man that she had to delve that deep into him to read his thoughts, but there was no man alive that she couldn't read.

And yet, she couldn't read this one. His deep set, parallel downward eyes that made him look like he was constantly sad or depressed juxtaposed the sensation one got from looking into them. It was like looking into the eyes of a serial killer. Nisha had experienced that before, having been attacked once in Portugal by a crazed murderer, his eyes staring through her instead of at her, devoid of any love or mercy, as though she were a pesky mosquito that needed to be squashed. Looking into this man's eyes, it brought the same feelings. It excited her, but it made her fear for her soul because she knew why she couldn't read him…why there was no love or compassion or humanity in his eyes.

Regardless, Nisha moved over to the side of the Jacuzzi as the man arrived at the edge. Looking up, she ran her hands up his thighs while looking into his peerless eyes. "I'm sorry, Master. I didn't mean to—"

His face would not betray his intentions. There were no cues whatsoever that precipitated his attack. Nisha suddenly found herself lifted up out of the water with his right hand around her throat. She struggled in the air, gasping for breath as her legs dangled, occasionally bouncing off of his fat belly, grasping at his arm that effortlessly held her up. He stiffened the fingers of his left hand and jabbed them under her rib cage, hitting her kidney. She yelped in response. Soon, she began whimpering while panting and squirming, the pain of his fingers stabbing into her quickly becoming unbearable. He flung her to the floor, causing her to land hard on her right knee. Her slick, black hair spread across the tiles like an oil spill in the ocean. She sobbed while gasping for breath, clutching at her ribs where he had jabbed her with his hand.

The man knelt down beside her and gently pushed aside her wet hair that was covering her face. "Shhh, my child. Talking to me like that. You knew what lavish punishments that would bring you. Such as sick, little slut! You've always been…and always will be!"

He aggressively grabbed her hair, standing up while simultaneously pulling her up off the floor. He shoved her face into his unwashed and unkempt groin. "If you think me such an ordinary man, then it's time to do your duty, woman! But you know my rewards are equally lavish for those who please me!"

The man began cackling in a voice that suddenly didn't match the one he had been using before.

The Barriers Between Us

The trio walked gingerly to the border of Mystic Falls. Damon had a smile on his face, like the Cheshire Cat baffling poor Alice with conversation. Bonnie's smile, which was more of a smirk, was not so gleeful yet no less present. Hers was like an experienced prostitute stumbling upon a privileged teenage boy, who had all the money in the world but no power to resist her sexual advances. Valene was the more reserved of the three, an imperceptible grin on her face, signifying her relishing in the upcoming deceit all three were going to play.

Like a child at an airport who suddenly saw her father who was away for months on military deployment, Elena ran towards Damon, unconsciously employing her vamp speed. Alaric zoomed over to intercept her before she crossed the border, almost toppling backwards into Mystic Falls himself as her momentum was more than he had expected. He found his footing and held her at bay while she maintained her eyes on Damon.

The rest of the group edged closer to Alaric and Elena's position as the trio moved closer to the border as well, looking like two armies lining up to each other hoping to negotiate a peace before they descended into war.

"Damon?! Is it—is it really you?" Elena asked, happy tears cascading down her face as her hand reached around Alaric's body and into Mystic Falls.

"Of course it's me!" Damon replied, his familiar swagger on full display. "Let me show you!"

He grabbed Elena's hand and rapidly pulled her away from Alaric's grasp into Mystic Falls, into his embrace. He began kissing her harshly and awkwardly. Elena struggled under his grip and kiss, her mind suddenly aware that she had crossed the no-magic boundary while also aware that she was indeed in Damon's warm embrace. Her emotions were a swirl of contradictions, feeling panic and relief, anxiety and excitement, desire and hesitation.

Her emotions began to quiet down as she became comfortable, relaxed in Damon's familiar presence. Yet there was something off. She couldn't pin down what it was. While Damon exhibited the same passion that he always had with her, she felt it slightly different. For some reason, her mind immediately went to the moment when Klaus compelled Stefan to turn off his humanity and feed on her. Stefan's passion for her blood was profound. She couldn't help but feel Damon's passion to be equally—menacing.

She tried to put the thought out of her mind and focus on Damon's kiss until she started to wretch, the Traveler spell removing the vampire magic that sustained her life, causing her to vomit up water and saliva as she started to choke, recreating her dying moments as a human being.

Damon continued to hold her, staring at her with both interest and amusement as Elena literally began drowning in his arms.

"Damon!" Stefan bellowed. "DAMON! GET HER BACK HERE!"

Though he continued to smile, Damon's annoyance was obvious. He callously shoved Elena back over the border into Alaric and Stefan. She knelt down on the pavement, coughing and wheezing as she tried to recapture her breath, her vampire powers restoring her health. Stefan and Alaric tended to her, with Stefan looking up at his big brother with confusion and incredulity.

"Hey, what can I say, little brother?" Damon said, shrugging. "I thought she'd be fine here. I'm mean, I'm lookin' and feelin' fine myself!"

Bonnie noted the looks of bewilderment on all of their faces and elbowed Damon in his stomach before giving her friends a reassuring smile. "Don't mind him. He's suffering from a form of mystical jet lag. Our journey through the collapse of the Other Side over to here has not been easy. It's been messing with our heads a bit. You'll have to excuse us if we don't seem—ourselves."

Caroline walked up to Bonnie, smiling and teary eyed. "We're just happy to see you again! We thought we'd lost you for good. How did you get out of there? Matt said that there was something sucking up all the people on the Other Side."

"It's good to see you too, Caroline. The explanation is a lot of magical mumbo jumbo that you wouldn't understand," Bonnie said, condescension dripping off her words. "Suffice to say, my Grams was able to use her powers to return us here."

"Your Grams? Maybe you can explain all that magical mumbo jumbo to me," Abby said, stepping out from behind the others to stand in front of Bonnie.

"Mother!?" Bonnie said, coldly. "You're an unexpected factor."

"Excuse me?" Abby replied, astonished.

Bonnie blinked, and then flashed a wide smile. The change from one face to another was eerily quick—too quick for Abby's liking.

"I mean…I'm happy to see you again!" Bonnie resumed. "I just wasn't expecting you to be here. I thought you were still—away." The derisiveness on the last word was felt.

"I—I was. But then I heard about the Other Side collapsing and heard about you and your Grams being stuck over there and—"

"An exaggeration, mother! How many times have I died for these people and have come back?" Bonnie asked, the passive-aggressive tone being aimed at the group was unmistakable. "Death has no power of us!"

"Us?!" Abby asked, bewildered.

"I mean me, of course! Heh, heh!" Bonnie flashed an embarrassed grin. She looked over at Damon and Valene and then gave another wide eyed smile. "Or maybe I mean 'us.' After all, we're all here!"

Elena stood up, having recovered. "And who is your new companion?" she asked, sizing up Valene.

"Oh her?" Damon responded. Perfectly mimicking the voice and mannerisms of Al Pacino, Damon introduced Valene. "This—this here is a friend of ours. Meet Valene!" All three spontaneously erupted in laughter while Elena and the others looked on in bafflement.

"Ahhh…sorry," Bonnie said, switching from laughing to serious in an instant. "As I said, we're a bit disoriented from our ordeal."

"No—no, that's—that's understandable," Elena said, smiling uncomfortably. "But seeing as how we can't get in, why don't you guys come out?"

"Well, that's the thing," Bonnie responded. "My Grams essentially put each of us in a pocket of what's left of the Other Side. But the Traveler spell is messing with it. We can't cross outside of Mystic Falls. Go figure!"

"So, you're stuck in there while we're stuck out here?" Elena lamented, looking at Damon.

"Maybe not. We have an idea to bring the spell down, but we need the blood of the doppelgangers who helped create it. In other words, yours and Stefan's," Bonnie said.

"Speaking of blood," said Matt, glaring at Damon, "I was wondering about that couple you killed in the alley behind Mystic Falls the other night. Seems like coming back has given you quite the appetite!"

Damon walked over to stand opposite to Matt. "Well, well, well…look who's been a busy little eaves dropper! What's the matter, Donovan? Don't approve of my dining habits?"

"Not when it involves multiple innocent residents of Mystic Falls!" retorted Matt.

"It was a momentary lapse of control, Matt," interjected Bonnie. "Damon needed to feed and we couldn't get to some blood bags. That's all!"

"And the other victims?" asked Alaric.

Damon smiled and walked over to Alaric. "Buuuddddddyyyy! I'm back not five minutes and already the judgements have started?"

"You didn't answer my question, Damon," replied Alaric.

"What other victims are you talking about?" asked Bonnie.

"We heard about other victims," Elena chimed in. "We thought that it might have been Silas since he was an immortal who fed on blood too."

"Silas?" Bonnie queried. A flash of inspiration seemed to come over her as she looked at Damon and smiled. "Yes—yes, Silas! That miserable little traitor! He vowed revenge and so it must be him that's killing all these people! We have to find him and stop him."

While Alaric's face highlighted his confusion, Elena breathed relief as she looked at Damon. "I knew it couldn't be you."

"You know me so well, babe!" Damon replied, flashing his trademark smirk.

"So? How about it? Spare any of the red stuff?" Bonnie asked.

"Of course," Elena responded, glancing at Stefan. "How much do you need?"

"Before you do, I'd like to know the spell that you're going to be using to bring Traveler spell down," said Luke, breaking through the crowd after having observed the conversation from afar. "After all, my coven and every other coven I've talked to couldn't offer any solutions to bringing that spell down. And now, lo and behold, you come here and have an answer?"

"Glory be…if it isn't one half of the Wonder Twins," Damon said snidely.

"Trust me, Luke! There are secrets one learns from the Other Side. I know what I'm doing," Bonnie replied, seemingly insulted at Luke's scepticism.

"No doubt. But I'm just saying—we were all talking about how traditional magic can't work in there, and that perhaps the darkest magic might. Magic like Expression maybe? You're not seriously thinking of using something like that? And especially if Silas is in there with you, can you afford to risk using something that he could use to get free?"

Bonnie closed her eyes and shook her head, a snarl appearing on her lips. "I am not interESTED IN YOUR INEPT OPINION, CHILD! WE WANT TO BE FREE!"

Caroline, Elena and Matt stood in astonishment and disbelief, having never seen their friend possess a face of pure hatred and malice.

In a flash, as if Bonnie's face were a television screen and someone had changed the channel, her face reverted back to a calm demeanor. "Heh, heh, heh…I'm so sorry! The spell my Gram used is making us a little agitated. I understand your concern, Luke. But I as I said, we've learned things that can help us."

Luke kept his composure resolute and steady, unfazed by Bonnie's grotesque outburst. "Nonetheless, it might not be a bad idea to let me and Liv in on the spell. Maybe we can confirm if it's safe to use. Maybe we can even help you with it from out here. We wouldn't want you to do anything that could jeopardize your safety, or the safety of those in Mystic Falls."

Valene suddenly started walking towards to Luke. "You! Your—your sister. Olivia? Where is she?"

"What? How—how do you know my sister?"

Valene cocked her head to the side, glaring at Luke like a scientist glaring at a specimen. "We've heard of her."

"How?"
"Okay, this is all very fascinating but we've got a spell to bring down and blood to collect," Damon interjected.

"I think the pretty boy here is right," Istas said, walking up to the trio. "You don't want to be using a spell that could do more damage than good."

"Whoa…stop the presses! Who is this fine female gracing us with her presence?" Damon said smiling while looking Istas up and down, oblivious to the look of disapproval and displeasure on Elena's face.

"No one you need to worry about there, Mr. Versace Model. Just someone who likes keeping the peace around here."

"Well, as long as we're exchanging pet nicknames, why don't we cook up something for you? How about—our Little Red Prairie Flower? Seems rather, fitting don't ya think?" Damon asked with a wink.

It had been decades since someone could leave her speechless, but that's exactly what Damon had done. Istas stood frozen, her entire body tingling, her head throbbing, shock immobilizing every part of her being. Her confidence, her bravado, her defiance all disappeared in an instant. When she could finally move, she took a step back, all the while staring at Damon who maintained both his grin and his eye contact with her.

The connection was broken by Jeremy who stood in front of Istas. "I think they're both right. I think we should wait before giving you any of Elena and Stefan's blood."

Even though Damon continued smiling, his aggravation was brutally perceptible. "Ahhhh…little Gilbert! Do you mind? Adults are having a talk here!"

"Jeremy—honey! Don't you want to be with me? Don't you want to save me?" Bonnie pleaded.

Jeremy crossed the town border and walked up to Bonnie. He looked deep into her eyes, and began caressing the side of her face. "I'm not affected by the Traveler spell. I can be with you. And of course I want to save you. But I saw what Silas did to you. I don't want him to hurt you or anyone else again. I love you too much to let that happen. Don't you love me enough to trust me?"

It was a hunch on his part, to try and touch that part of Bonnie that he recognized, because he now knew the woman who stood before him that called herself Bonnie was not the Bonnie he knew. But he wondered if the real Bonnie was still in there somewhere. He held her gaze and continued to stroke her cheek. He focused on her face, focused on the smoothness of her skin, the lightness of her hair. Before he crossed the border, Bonnie and Damon looked slightly different than they looked after they crossed over. They looked more worn out, as though they hadn't slept in days, while their companion, Valene, still looked completely normal. Yet once inside the town limits, Bonnie and Damon looked like Valene, as fresh as the morning dew. He tried to put aside these differences that he was noticing and focused on Bonnie's face so as to bring his rapid heartbeat down. Even though, within the Traveler spell, his Hunter instincts disappeared, his human instincts did not. He could sense the danger around him. Two vampires were within striking range. One he did not know and the other he clearly did not trust. And he couldn't trust Bonnie. But Jeremy pressed forward, continuing to gently and lovingly stroke Bonnie's cheek.

The atmosphere around all of them suddenly changed. Not in any visible or tangible way, but the change was undeniable. The sudden feeling of another presence among them was intense. Whether it was one or several entities that they felt suddenly joining them, none of them could tell. But there was definitely some new intelligence among them that none of them were sure if it had been there all along and they simply hadn't noticed it, like a background noise that they just suddenly decided to focus on. Whatever the new presence was, it was radiating extremely forceful sentiments.

Indignation!

Insult!

Revulsion!

Elena and her friends observed as Damon and Valene began to flank Bonnie on either side, all three of them staring at Jeremy. Even though the three of them were of different ethnicities and skin colour, the blank, expressionless looks on their faces they all shared made it seem like they were all related somehow.

Their looks unnerved Alaric. It wasn't so much the look as it was the eyes that reminded him of a jungle cat that was ready to pounce on its prey at any moment. It was the same feeling he had when Istas and Elena were standing toe to toe. And as he stared on, he realized he couldn't help Jeremy now that he was across the border. He tried to calm his nerves but noticed his own fingers begin to jitter uncontrollably.

As Bonnie stared back into Jeremy's eyes, she slowly pulled his hand away from her face. She smiled the smile that Damon and Valene had slowly began to put on as well. "You are a stubborn bunch! Have it your way then." She stepped out from in front of Jeremy and looked at both Elena and Stefan. "Just remember—there is no telling when the spell my Grams put on us is going to expire. Within here, we are vulnerable. And the minute it goes, so does he!" she warned, pointing to Damon who winked at Elena and Stefan. With a worried look on her face, Elena glanced at Stefan, who stood with an unwavering expression.

Bonnie gazed back at Jeremy with a look of admiration mixed with disgust, as though Jeremy had made a move on the chess board that was both brilliant and disgraceful at the same time. "So sorry to cut this short, my love, but these two haven't fed in a while and need some—sustenance. Non-living, of course!"

"I–I have some blood bags in the car if you need some," stammered Matt, trying to disrupt the façade that they were pushing on all of them.

The trio gleamed at Matt with obvious annoyance. Damon finally flashed a smile at him. "No need, Donovan. I somehow think your brand just won't cut it. But thanks for the offer!"

As the trio turned to leave, Elena shouted at Damon "When will I see you again?"

Damon turned around and sauntered towards Elena. He put his right hand up against the Traveler wall, pushing against it which caused his hand to tremble. He looked deep into her eyes and reassured her "Worry not, my love. We'll be together soon. And forever! Besides, you have something…that I want!" Damon scanned her body up and down.

Elena reached up to touch his hand when Stefan swiftly grabbed her arm and stepped in between them.

"Here, brother. Take this so that we can reach you, and you can reach us," Stefan said, tossing Damon his cell phone. Damon caught it, examined it for a time and then peered up at Stefan, flashing his classic smirk.

"Triangles! Ya gotta love 'em! Thank you, brother. Looking out for me as always. I promise to return the favour!"

Damon turned and began walking back into town with Bonnie and Valene. Elena tried to say something to Stefan but he put his finger to his lips to call her and everyone else to silence, knowing that Damon and Valene could hear their conversations. He figured that if Bonnie and Damon had thought that Stefan and the rest had bought into their performance, he didn't want to let on that just the opposite was true, that none of them bought what Bonnie and Damon were selling.

With perhaps the exception of one.

Blind Eye

Tyler sat in the squad car, staring blankly out the passenger window as it zoomed along the highway, making its way back into Mystic Falls. It was well into the early morning, the dark blue of the night sky sprinkled with highly visible stars, the morning sun hinting at its arrival to anyone who focused on the horizon hard enough. And it was an exercise that Tyler found himself doing, since staring at darkened trees along the road wasn't exactly stimulating his imagination. If anything, it was pushing his mind back to focusing on the mess that he had gotten himself into.

"You haven't touched your coffee and sandwich, Tyler. You really should eat something. It's not good for you to go so long without eating," Liz said, her blue eyes glancing sideways to him before gazing back towards the road.

Her motherly attitude served to highlight just how much he missed his own mother, how much he missed having someone in his life to turn to in his time of need. It was a feeling he had already felt while being held by the Whitmore campus police department. When asked to phone a family member or guardian or even a lawyer, someone who needed to know about his situation, he realized he had no one. Not his mother or his father. Not Uncle Mason. He thought about Caroline, but felt awkward if not ashamed to be phoning her from the campus police station. He tried calling Jeremy and Matt, but neither was answering their phones. He even briefly thought of phoning Liv, but thought better of it since he didn't want to ruin whatever progress they had already made in their promising relationship.

It was seemingly by sheer luck that Sheriff Liz happened to be passing through the campus station to speak to the head of the department when she saw him there. She was the one who vouched for his release and suggested he return to Mystic Falls with her rather than remain on campus, lest any of the other football players decided to seek revenge on him.

Tyler reached down and grabbed the sandwich that was nestled beside him and began unwrapping the cling foil. "I really do appreciate you helping me out with all of this, Liz."

"Well, lucky for you, the head of the college police department did her training with me back in the day. Otherwise, I don't think she would have trusted you with anyone to leave Whitmore and go back to Mystic Falls. Now, I've read the attending officer's account of what happened, but I'd like to hear your side of the story."

"What were you doing at Whitmore anyways?" Tyler asked, his question muffled by the bite of the sandwich he had just taken.

"Following up on a disappearance in Mystic Falls. A couple has gone missing and, after doing some digging around, found out that they were staff members at Whitmore. I was hoping to find something on them and maybe see the police chief in the process, even at this hour of the morning."

"Why? What's going on in Mystic Falls?"

"You don't need to worry about that. Now stop trying to change the subject and tell me what happened. Why did you attack that player?"

Tyler shifted in his seat and then took another bite of his sandwich. "I'd really rather not talk about it, Liz."

Liz sighed. "Tyler, you're up on some very serious assault and battery charges, with multiple witnesses saying you initiated the attack without provocation. That Malcolm kid is in the hospital right now in a coma with severe head trauma. His family has brought these charges against you and will upgrade them to manslaughter, or even second degree murder, if that kid doesn't pull through. In any event, you're looking at jail time and I can't help you if you don't talk to me."

Tyler put the sandwich down on his lap and stared up at the car ceiling. "Well, maybe I don't want your help. If that kid dies, maybe locking me up would be the best thing." Tyler suddenly began chuckling as he imagined himself in prison. "Of course, then I'd have to be transferred once a month to a kennel. Unless the prison guards don't mind taking me out for a walk every now and then! HA HA HA HA HA HA!"

Liz looked over at him incredulously. "Tyler! I don't think this is anything to be laughing about. And I don't understand what you're getting at."

"A wolf, Liz! If Malcolm dies, my werewolf gene kicks in and I become a wolf once a month! And just how do you think that's going to go with the prison guards and the warden, not to mention the other prisoners, when I start tearing them all up to shreds?! The secret will be out! I'll either be killed or experimented on. You know how these institution types like their experiments. Just ask Whitmore College and their Augustine Society!"

Liz shifted her glances from Tyler to the road. "Okay, you're jumping waaaaaaaaay ahead here. Malcolm isn't dead. He's just in a coma and the doctors say the prognosis looks fair, so much so that they've allowed him to be transferred to the Mystic Falls Hospital to be closer to his family. For right now, you just have to worry about the assault and battery charges. So tell me what happened. Why did you attack Malcolm?"

Tyler crossed his arms and stared outside his window again.

"Tyler…please! I want to help."

"Why?"

Liz sat silent momentarily. She glanced over at Tyler with a sympathetic look before turning her gaze back to the road. "Seeing what Markos did to you, killing you when he shoved you back into Mystic Falls—that broke my heart. Not only because I've known you since you were a child, but because of what your mother would have thought. How much that would have hurt her to see that. Every parental figure in the lives of you, Elena, Matt and Bonnie are all gone, and I suppose I feel somewhat responsible for all of you. And that's why I want to help."

"Well, maybe you can help by asking your friend, the Whitmore police chief, to drop the charges against me. Pull some strings, perhaps?"

Liz sighed. "Tyler! I can't just make this all go away. I can't just go and turn a blind eye to what you've done. You put a guy in the hospital! You nearly killed him. I can't just pretend that didn't happen!"

Tyler turned to Liz and gave an exasperated laugh. "Seriously?! What have you been doing these past few years but turn a blind eye? Look at how many vampire victims' deaths you've covered up in order to protect the ones you love!"

"That's different and you know it! The supernatural element involved in those cases requires me to keep the truth from civilians. I had to cover up the facts in those cases to protect the unsuspecting public. It's not pretty and I don't like doing it, but it is what it is."

"But I'm supernatural. What about me?"

"You said it yourself," responded Liz. "You're not a werewolf yet."

"And yet you and the Council were so dead set against vampires that you used to hunt them down. You still meted out 'justice,' until your daughter became a vampire. That's when justice became inconvenient."

"Tyler…I'm trying to help you. But throwing all this in my face isn't exactly endearing me to you right now!"

"Well, what do you expect me to say, Liz?" Tyler said, shrugging. "You're telling me that you can't turn a blind eye when that's all I've seen you do. And while I can perhaps understand doing so for Caroline or even Elena, doing that for Damon, after all that he's done, especially to your own daughter? It's laughable that you'd claim that you can't turn a blind eye in my case."

Liz's eyes blinked incessantly, her hands gripping the steering wheel tightly while the blood rushed from her head to her hands. It took her a while to process what Tyler had just said. "What do you mean? What did Damon do to Caroline?"

Tyler shook his head and turned away, looking outside his window again. "Nothing. It doesn't matter."

"Tyler!"

He remained silent.

"Tyler! Tell me!"

"He used her, okay?! He used her as his own personal blood slave. Before she became a vampire, Damon would use her, feed on her, and do anything else that he wanted to her, and then compelled her to forget everything. She recalled all that he had done when she was turned and the compulsion was broken. But what does it matter? Given everything else he has done, all the people he's killed from Mystic Falls, does any of this really change your opinion of him?"

Tyler grabbed the cold cup of coffee, took a sip, set it down and then turned his shoulder towards the window, trying to get comfortable to get some sleep. He didn't feel like talking anymore.

Conveniently for him, neither did Liz, who wiped a tear away from her face.

Tampering

Damon's eyes flew open.

His eyes darted from right to left, scanning the room, trying desperately to find her.

"Elena? ELENA!"

He tried to move his head but found he could only do so minimally. The brightness of the room had overwhelmed his eyes for a time, but he soon got used to it, and began to see familiar mirrors all around him.

"Awww, give me a break, will ya?!" Damon bellowed to no one in particular. At least, to no one that he knew of.

He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to recapture the image that he had just seen flash in his mind's eye—that image of Elena in Mystic Falls, standing at the border, talking to him though he couldn't hear what she was saying.

The image was elusive. It seemed like a memory, but one that he himself hadn't experienced. It was a moment with Elena that he never had, but somehow had actually occurred. The image wouldn't hold still in his mind, nor did the emotions that were attached. He felt hope, relief, love and lust. Seeing those flashes of her were like seeing cracks of light in a darkened room—like wisps of clean air in a toxic chamber—like shards of jagged metal slicing his fingers as he ran his hand along her smooth skin.

Something was wrong. His emotions began changing. As the images of Elena became more steady, something inside of him, or outside of him but somehow inside of him, began feeling disgust, revulsion and abhorrence. A hatred for everything that was good that Damon felt for Elena when he saw her. Something was merging its own feelings with his. Soon, he too began to hate seeing her. He could see Elena's face, and he wanted to hurt her. He wanted to torture her. He wanted to rape her. He wanted to murder her. He wanted to see her destroyed! A brief flash of Elena choking while in his arms brought an immense and intense sense of satisfaction and gaiety to his mind.

"ELENA!"

His eyes flew open again. Breathing heavily this time, beads of sweat inexplicably forming on his body, he blinked incessantly, trying to rid the dark emotions he just felt from his mind.

"Bad dreams, Damon?"

"Bon Bon?" asked a perplexed Damon, glancing at her face in the ceiling mirror.

"Is anyone else as charming?" she replied with a smirk.

"Charming, if not unoriginal," Damon said, taking a deep intake of air, trying to get his breathing back to normal. He closed his eyes dejectedly, upset at being in the mirror room again. "Maybe try getting some better material."

"Well, looks like you woke up on the wrong side of the mirror! What were you seeing? Elena in Mystic Falls?"

Damon tried to ignore her, turning his head slightly away from her as best he could. Finally, he opened his eyes and looked back at her.

"And what if I did?"

"Well…it just means that we both perhaps were seeing the same thing," Bonnie said casually, almost depressingly.

"Really?" Damon asked, looking at her with skewered eyes. "Mine felt like memories…sort of."

"But memories of events and experiences you've never had before?"

Damon turned to her with a slight look of amazement. "Yeah! You too?"

Bonnie nodded her confirmation. "Thing is, I think they were our memories. At least, our bodies' memories."

"How do you know that?"

Bonnie shrugged. "A feeling. Somehow, it feels like these memories were implanted, along with emotions that I've never felt before. Really bad emotions."

Damon stared straight for a moment. "Ya know, in the vision I had of Elena, instead of wanting to hold her and kiss her and love her, I found myself wanting to kill her. Not me but something or someone else was beside me who wanted all of that and was somehow convincing me to feel the same."

Bonnie closed her eyes. "I felt the same thing. But for Jeremy."

"Well, we all felt that for Jeremy, even before this!" Damon said, smiling.

Bonnie opened her eyes again. "Damon! That's not funny! Especially when YOU'VE tried to kill him multiple times!"

"I've killed a lot of people, Bon Bon. Killing isn't such a big deal to me these days. You tend to get numb to it after doing it a few times."

"Don't give me that! First of all, I don't think you're numb to it. Secondly, we're talking about Elena's little brother who she—"

"Yes, her precious little brother who she has to take care of and watch over and protect and baby sit and show right from wrong and be an example to and put before herself because that's what older siblings do!"

Bonnie looked at him askew in the mirror. "Is that what it's all about? Some kind of transference nonsense? You hate Jeremy because of your issues with Stefan?"

Damon rolled his eyes. "Please Bonnie! Don't try and play psychoanalyst with me. You're in no position to judge…only child!"

"I don't need a degree to know that you're just petty. Holding on to this ridiculous jealousy of your brother for over 150 years! I knew you to be immature but you keep surprising me over and over again."

"Jealousy? Over Stefan?!"

"You just alluded to it. He was the favoured child that you always had to put before yourself. He was the one that Elena picked before you. He was the one Katherine picked instead of you. He's the one that had the strength of will to fight his vampire nature that you never did."

"He's also the one who single-handedly massacred an entire village in Mexico! Believe me, there are some things of his that I never wanted."
Bonnie lay silent momentarily, pondering on Stefan. "You know…somehow I think you do."

"What?"

"Stefan and his reputation. His notoriety. The famous 'Ripper of Monterrey!' For all the people you've killed, for all the embracing of the vampire life that you did, you never achieved that kind of fame."

"I wouldn't want that kind of fame!" Damon answered indignantly. "Do you know how many amateur vampire hunters went after Stefan over the years? Sorry, but I quite like to dine in peace, thank you very much!"

"No…no, you're jealous. I'm sure of it now. You'd love to throw that kind of history in someone's face, to let people know just how bad you are. To let people know that you're Damon Salvatore, the bad brother! To let Stefan keep his good brother status so you can wallow in self-pity," Bonnie said, the words coming through as though she was suddenly given a stream of inspiration or information. It was as though she was suddenly empathic, if only slightly, to Damon's thoughts and feelings, though she didn't know why or how.

Damon began laughing. "Self-pity? Me? Over what? Hell, I can look in these mirrors and I'm amazed at—"

"It's not on the outside that I'm talking about. It's on the inside. Yes, you're quite the catch, Damon. No question about that. But you've been rejected time and time and time again by the people you want the most, be it Elena or Katherine or even your own family, like your father. You don't think all that rejection would have an effect on you? That's why you go out of your way to sabotage the relationship with the one person who never rejected you and who was always trying to save you and draw you in and you end up hurting him and pushing him away for that."

"Enough!" Damon roared. "This isn't Therapy Time with Bonnie Bennett! I like myself just fine. And as for Stefan? He's my baby bro and I love him…doesn't mean I always have to like him."

Laughter suddenly rained down on the both of them. It was the same laughter that they both had heard before.

"Good. Good!" echoed a unisex voice. "Jealousy—hatred—anger. Let these be your mantra. Let these overwhelm you. Let these define you!"

A black shape suddenly appeared before the both of them. It was the same shape that had attacked Damon before, but this time, it grabbed Bonnie by the throat and lifted her off the floor.

"Let…*gah*…let…go of…me!"

"Insolent maggot!" chided the Warden. "How do you keep getting out of your cage and wandering in together? A mystery…one that we enjoy leaving unsolved as it means you suffer punishment from us just the same!"

"Hey! HEY!" bellowed Damon. "You want someone to play with, take me! Leave her alone!"

"We don't want you," replied the Warden.

"But we do!" Katherine suddenly interjected, naked and straddling herself on top of Damon's hips.

"Get off of me!"

"Really Damon? You're getting upset? Over her?" Katherine asked, pointing to Bonnie who was still in the Warden's grip. "Since when did you develop a soft spot for her, hmmmm?"

"I said get off of me! Let that thing take me instead."

"Why choose, when we can do both! Besides, you may have a soft spot for her," Katherine said grinning, slowly running her hand down to Damon's groin. "But you certainly have a hard spot for me!"

She bared her fangs and bit into Damon's neck, blocking his view of the Warden walking away into the mirror wall, carrying a sobbing Bonnie in its black claw-like hand.