Hey! I'm back! Thanks to everyone who has favorited and followed and reviewed this story!
Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up but I have literally only just finished it. I hit a bit of a block and haven't had much time to write over the last couple of months and will probably have even less time to write in the following months. However, I will try my absolute best to update as fast as I can and I hope you all stick around 'til then.
And without any further ado, I give you Mr. Damon Salvatore!
~ Damon ~
It was as if everything Damon knew just crashed and burned at his feet. He could feel his chest constricting and a feeling more painful than getting impaled by that tree so many months ago washed over him the moment Bonnie spoke those words. "I'm Bonnie. What's your name?" She didn't remember him. How could she not remember him? Suddenly there was another almighty tug on Damon's chest as he was smashed back into his body.
Damon gasped for breath he didn't need. He was dizzy and his head felt like there was a raging storm clouding his brain. He couldn't hear anything but the muffled sound of voices and a high-pitched ringing. His vision was white around the edges and blurry. He could barely make out four figures. What was going on? He couldn't understand. But the sensations raged on.
Suddenly a searing pain pounded from the side of his face, and everything began to slow down. The fog in his brain receded, the ringing in his ears silenced. The room came back into focus as did the panicked faces of his friends. His hearing sharpened just in time to hear Meredith's shout of outrage.
"Elena! What the hell?" Elena looked guilty and lost. No one seemed to notice Damon's sudden consciousness.
"He was freaking out! You said we had to do something!"
"I didn't mean slap him across the face! He was clearly having a panic-attack! What were you thinking?" Damon decided it was time to announce his presence. He cleared his throat loudly and all eyes were focused on him once more. Damon ran a hand through his hair in an attempt to compose himself before he spoke. Unfortunately, it seemed that Elena had also come back to herself at that moment and cut him off.
"What happened? Are you okay? Did you find Bonnie? Is she okay?" Luckily Stefan covered her mouth with his hand and spoke softly into her ear.
"She doesn't remember…" Damon mumbled looking down at Bonnie's prone body. When he looked back up he was confronted by four confused faces. "I found her, but she doesn't remember me." He elaborated. Mayhem then ensued. It was hard to distinguish between Meredith and Elena's alarmed screeches. Stefan, as usual, was trying to console Elena and Matt simply looked stunned.
Damon regained their attention with an ear-piercing whistle. "If you'd all kindly listen for once I will regale the story to you." Damon untangled himself from Bonnie and proceeded to pace as he explained what he experienced while in Bonnie's mind.
x . x . x . x . x . x . x
5 minutes later…
"Woah." That was it. The room was stunned into silence. Nobody seemed to know what else to say. It seemed to stretch on forever until Meredith decided to break the silence.
"So wait… Bonnie has created an entire world inside her head?" She raised her eyebrow, but somehow Damon doubted that she realized she was doing it. "And she doesn't remember you?"
I huffed, annoyed. I didn't need to be reminded. "Yes, Scary Mary. She didn't know who I was. And it wasn't so much a world as much as a very large field."
Elena was next to emerge from her thoughts. "Okay… So we need to talk to Ms. Flowers, and Damon, I think you should go back in there and talk to Bonnie some more and maybe snoop around a bit more." Elena was definitely back to normal, spouting orders and expecting us all to follow, which to her credit, we usually did. "Okay! Let's go!" And with that she sprinted out of the room, while the others following obediently.
x . x . x . x . x . x . x
Finding Bonnie was a lot easier the second time around. Damon guessed it was because he now knew what to look for. This time Damon emerged from the trees at the edge of the field, rather than falling flat on his face like last time – something he was more than thankful for.
This time once Damon spotted Bonnie, he took some time to really look at her. She was sitting in the grass, her legs curled up beside her, tracing her fingers delicately over the flowers. There was something different about her, Damon thought, since the last time he'd seen her months ago. She seemed lighter, as if a weight had been lifted and all traces of darkness had been burned away from within her. She looked like the Bonnie he had first met on that faithful night in the library and Damon couldn't help the grin that spread across his face at the thought. Purity radiated from her and he suddenly found himself wondering once again what her blood would taste like.
He had no idea where that thought had come from. Sure he had teased the maiden about it many times but he had dismissed the thought of drinking from her that first night. She was too young and he swore he wouldn't be the one to taint her innocence. Shaking his head to rid himself of the thought Damon decided it was time to make himself known again. He cleared his throat to catch her attention as he strolled towards her.
Her head snapped up immediately and her face lit up with joy. She scrambled up from the ground. A tiny shriek left her mouth as she lost her balance and before he even knew what he was doing Damon was racing towards her and wrapping his arms around her. She clutched his jacket in a vice-like grip as she found her footing and Damon chuckled as he noticed she resembled a baby deer learning to stand. Then her big doe eyes looked up into his and Damon's breath caught in his throat.
"You came back." She whispered breathily, seemingly just as caught up in the closeness and he was. If Damon was in his right mind he would have grinned at the fact that he still had this effect on her, even when she had no idea who he was.
"Of course I did." He whispered back. All he could focus on was the way her lips curled up happily as he spoke the words. Then all of a sudden he seemed to come back to himself and gently detangled himself from her. Coughing awkwardly, he tried to focus on anything but the fact that Bonnie – his Bonnie – was standing just inches from him after months of replaying her face in his mind as he tried desperately to remember some semblance of who he was, who she was and why it was her face that haunted his dreams and his waking thoughts.
Looking up he noted that she was blushing as she watched how her foot scuffed at the ground. She seemed to take a deep breath to steady herself before she looked up at him again. Smile gracing her face once again she reached her hand towards him hopefully. He hesitantly grasped her hand and almost fell over at the unexpected tug. Without another word Bonnie took off, striding across the field towards the cabin, dragging him along behind her.
As they reached the cabin she seemed to remember something as she came to halt so suddenly that Damon crashed right into her and the two went tumbling to the ground. As they fell Damon grabbed her around the waist and spun so he took the brunt of the fall. This however left Bonnie plastered to Damon's chest and straddling his hips.
Once Damon recovered from the shock he asked, "Are you okay? You're not hurt, are you?" He began to frantically run his hands around her body checking that everything was in one piece. When he looked down and she was blushing, he realized just what he was doing and froze immediately.
"I-I'm okay." She stuttered slightly as she tried to catch her breath and reign in her embarrassment.
"Why did you stop so suddenly?" Damon couldn't help but ask. When she blushed again he was about to take it back, but she beat him to it.
"I… I realized that you still haven't told me your name…" She mumbled nervously. Damon could have slapped himself. How could he forget?
"Oh… Damon. My name is Damon Salvatore." He spoke awkwardly. Bonnie then seemed to realize that she was still straddling him on the ground and quickly clambered off him, holding out a hand to help him up. Regardless of the fact that he didn't really need it, he accepted her help. He brushed his pants and jacket off with his hands before returning his attention to the blushing angel in front of him.
"Well, Damon Salvatore, I'm Bonnie McCullough." She held out her hand to shake. Damon however had another idea. He took her hand in his, bowed and kissed the back of her hand.
"Pleasure." His smirk returned as she blushed again and avoided eye contact.
"Do you… um… Do you want to come inside?" She timidly asked.
"I would love to." He smiled genuinely back. As much as he loved to make her blush, he wanted her to be comfortable around him. Otherwise he'd never get her to talk.
She smiled gently and beckoned him to follow her inside.
x . x . x . x . x . x . x
~ Stefan and Co. ~
"I don't know if that would help though. Maybe if we–" Stefan suddenly paused. He went rigidly still where he was sitting at the desk in the study looking through a book about ancient incantations. Everyone in the room looked up when he didn't continue.
"Stefan? Stefan what's wrong?" Elena's concerned voice rang out, but Stefan didn't respond. He did twitch however and then his head snapped in the direction of the stairs before he took off in a blur of vampiric speed. Alarmed, the others quickly followed suit.
When Stefan got to Bonnie's room his gaze immediately identified that Bonnie and Damon were safe and unmoved on the bed. Then his head snapped to the window where he locked gazes with the young girl who was perched on the tree outside. VAMPIRE! VAMPIRE! His mind screeched at him and before he could comprehend what he was doing he had the window open and was diving out at the other creature, a vicious snarl ripping its way from his throat.
The two vampires toppled to the ground below and continued to struggle for dominance. This didn't take long as even though Stefan could tell that she was an old vampire, she wasn't quite as old as him, or as well fed, as luck would have it. When Stefan gained the upper hand he struck quickly and pinned the girl to the ground, fangs bared and growling the whole time.
"Who are you?! What are you doing here?!" Stefan snarled into her face just as the others finally made their was outside and towards them. Meredith immediately made her way over to help Stefan contain the other vampire.
"I mean no harm, I swear it! My name is Adélaïde de Fontaine, and I am here to talk about that supernatural beacon of a witch that you have in there." She inclined her head towards the house.
"Adélaïde de Fontaine… Your name sounds familiar…" Stefan pondered, but couldn't figure out why her name tugged at something from his memory.
"Please, I will explain everything, but not here…" Her eyes seemed to dart to the humans then around the edge of the woods before she continued. "Please! I am here to help, I swear it! I mean you no harm, Stefan Salvatore."
x . x . x . x . x . x . x
~ Damon ~
Damon followed Bonnie into the tiny shack. The interior looked so much bigger than the outside and it practically screamed Bonnie. Every last detail of the design fit Bonnie's sweet and bubbly personality. Damon was amazed that it was even possible for a room to resemble a person and yet here he was.
"Where have you been?" Bonnie's voice broke through Damon's distracted thoughts and he turned to her, confused. She was striding across the room towards the large antique mirror near the bed. "And who were you talking to? Because it definitely wasn't me and I'm the only one around." Her voice snapped. Damon stared in confusion as Bonnie's voice rang out but her lips didn't form the words.
Then Bonnie's lips began to move and form words. "I was outside. I had to wait for him to come back." Bonnie giggled. Then she glanced over at Damon and smiled before turning back to the mirror. "Oh, you have to meet him. He just came out of nowhere!" Bonnie bounced on her toes and bounded over to Damon and dragged him towards the mirror.
Damon was panicking. Perhaps being trapped in her head had done more damage to Bonnie than he first thought. After all she was talking to someone, and it certainly was not him. He was pulled from his thoughts when he found himself facing the mirror. He gasped and his eyes went wide. There in the mirror with the same look of confused horror was an exact image of Bonnie, but this Bonnie was different from the Bonnie standing by his side, still holding his hand. She was dark. She wore a black tank top and black jeans and tall black books. Even her makeup was dark. Damon couldn't believe his eyes.
He could feel the force of his shock pushing him back into his body again though he fought against the tug, though he lost the fight entirely when the Bonnie in the mirror whispered one unbelievable word. His name. "Damon?"
Bum-bum-baaahhh! And there it is! I apologize for any mistakes, I was took excited to put it up to proofread it.. Oops..
Anyway, I hope you liked it and as aforementioned I will try to update as soon as I can!
Review, favorite, follow, whatever you want to do - it is all greatly appreciated!
Until next time my pretties!