Chapter Nine: The Witch

《Behind this smile I'm really just like you

Afraid and tired and insecure》

Athena closed her eyes and sighed heavily. Of all people right now, Damon was the last on her list of people she wanted to see. She pinched the bridge of her nose and let her hand drop back to the edge of the bed. She turned towards the window and saw Damon casually leaning up against the wall, a small breeze blowing past him. "Couldn't you have just used the door?" He shrugged lazily, "I like making an entrance." He pushed off the wall and slowly strolled around the bed and closer to her.

Damon took in her disheveled state and smirked..almost as if he knew, yet he couldn't possibly know, "You're quite the mess when you wake up. Any good dreams?" He gave her a ridiculous smirk and she felt her ears burn with fury and embarrassment. Was it even possibly that he knew? Highly doubtful, but still.

"More like nightmares." Athena mumbled aloud, fluffing her long blonde locks from out of the back of her shirt. She was sticky, sweaty and needed a hot shower. He casually picked up a few articles of clothing lying on the bed and meddled in her duffel bag. Her mouth hung open in exasperation as he pulled out a black bra and he smirked, "Looky here."

She flew off the bed and grabbed the bra from his grasp and threw it more harshly than anticipated back into her duffel, "Keep your claws off my stuff." He put up both his hands in mock surrender before eyeing her wearily, "Looks like Bon Bon came through seeing as you can walk again."

Athena froze and looked down at her legs, her hands involuntarily reaching up to her drenched shirt to feel the place where her wound had been. It was gone. Her shirt was new and now that she really looked..she had on a pair of girls sweatpants that replaced her skinny jeans she had been wearing. She could only imagined someone had changed her out of the blood soaked blouse.

Her eyes flew up to Damon's and he stood there, towering over her and trying his best to intimidate her with his mere presence. She shifted nervously with her shirt and wanted nothing more than to take it off and wring his neck with it. Her memory came rushing back and for a moment she didn't care who Bon Bon was or the fact that she could walk again.

What she cared about was the fact that Damon was going to leave her before he decided to save her. She frowned before morphing that frown into a glare right in his direction, "Don't give me that look. I saved your life." She scoffed at his tone and shook her head, "You were going to leave me!" Her outrage showed and she shook visibly, her hands balling into fists at her sides.

"Oh, quit being so dramatic. You're lucky I was even there otherwise you'd be on the road with Twiddle Dee and Twiddle Dum." Athena felt her bottom lip tremble in anger, her fists still balled at her sides. "And from what I can remember I think you liked feeding from me."

He took a step in her personal bubble and she bristled. His face was so close to hers, but she didn't move. She didn't like how her mind instantly conjured up the images of Damon in her dream..shirtless..his fangs exposed in a way that was not at all disgusting, but erotic.

As the images flashed before her eyes she lost her temper. She shoved him into the far wall with her supernatural strength, his back hitting the wall with a thud. Her hands were gripping the lapels of his stupid black leather jacket, "I did what I had to do to survive. Even if it was the most repulsive thing I've ever done in my life."

His eyes widened in realization, "Congratulations. You just took a line out of the Damon Salvatore book." It took a moment for her to understand what he meant; he'd done plenty of unspeakable things in order to survive. She had just done the same.

He narrowed his brows at her and looked down at her hands on his jacket and then back up to her eyes, "If I didn't know better, I'd think you like being in these compromising positions with me." He flashed a toothy grin and she shoved off of him rather quickly.

"You were going to let me die." She was tired, her voice dropping an octave, but the disappointment showed on her face. "You were fully prepared to walk away-" She was abruptly cut off by Damon as he rolled his eyes and spoke, "But, I didn't!" His voice had grown more stern than she'd ever heard it.

"I went against my better judgement and saved your life. Yes, I wanted to leave you. I wanted to leave you there to die so we could wash our hands of you." He stepped closer to her, knowing full well the weight of his careless words had her slightly shrinking back. "Then why didn't you?" Her words were a harsh whisper, but before Damon could conjure an answer her door opened and there stood Stefan, his brows raised at the scene before him.

"Uh, I can come back later." Stefan awkwardly joked and Athena blew out a breath. She shoved past Damon and looked to Stefan, "No, it's fine. Damon was just leaving." Damon bristled and glared daggers at Athena before maneuvering around Stefan, "She's all yours." His voice dripped with loathing and Athena felt Stefan's questionable gaze upon her. "Don't ask." Stefan raised his brows and shook his head, "Wasn't going to."

"How long was I out for?" She looked to Stefan tiredly and plopped down on the edge of the bed. Stefan leaned against the doorframe clad in jeans and v-neck charcoal gray shirt. "Couple of hours. Damon got you back in time so Bonnie could work her magic. You feel okay?" His concern was genuine and he walked in farther, sliding his hands in his pockets awkwardly, "If I had known..I wouldn't have left.."

Athena shook her head at his kind words, "Stefan, there's no need to beat yourself up over this. Those two tools walked in after you left." She paused and shrugged her shoulders, "I just feel bad to be a burden on everyone." She let out a small nervous laugh and Stefan smiled, shrugging his shoulders and walking to sit on the edge of the bed with her in a friendly gesture.

"I think at first we were a little hesitant, considering it was Klaus who was asking the favor. But, I think I speak for everyone here when I say that we all have known what it was like at some point to feel alone or to be hunted. To feel like you have no one to turn to." He paused and Athena instantly felt relaxed around him and his kind words. She offered a small smile and Stefan offered one right back.

"You really are the good brother." Stefan laughed now, his teeth flashing in the dimly lit room, "You know, I couldn't help but over hear a little of what was said before I came inside." He paused thoughtfully, and looked up to Athena with softened eyes, "Damon has his fault's, but deep down he's got a good heart." Athena shook her head, "He's got a funny way of showing it."

Stefan let out a breathy laugh himself, looking down at his hands before looking back up at Athena, "He means well." Athena couldn't help herself and she laughed lightly herself. The whole evening had been a long one and she had nearly died.

Oh, god. Klaus was going to kill all of them since she got hurt

"Klaus.." She breathed out in realization and Stefan shook his head, "He doesn't know anything yet." She nodded at his reassurance and bit her bottom lip thoughtfully, "I know I need to tell him what happened. I'd just hate for everyone here to have to fear the wrath of Klaus."

She smirked and Stefan looked at her unfazed, "We've seen the wrath of Klaus. Trust me; this will be a cake walk." She laughed lightly before asking, "So, this witch of yours…I have her to thank for walking again." Stefan nodded, "She's pretty talented. Elena and her have been best friends for a long time." Athena nodded and realized she had no idea what it was like to have to a best friend like that.

A part of her had wanted normalcy, but she was too proud of her Werecat heritage to trade it for anything.

"I'd like to meet the witch who saved my life." Athena declared, standing up and walking around to the nightstand to see her cellphone was there.

"She's still here. Elena and Bonnie are downstairs." Stefan seemed relieved and happy that she wanted to meet Bonnie. She pushed her phone in the back pocket of her new sweatpants and eyeballed Stefan wearily, "Who-uh-who changed my clothes?" Her cheeks turned a light pink.

Stefan shifted nervously and cleared his throat, "Oh, uh the girls. They said you were covered in blood, so.." He stopped and shrugged before adding, "Damon and I weren't in the room." Athena sighed with relief before following Stefan to the door, "Alright, take me to your witch." Stefan led the way and she followed down the stairs slowly, still feeling a little sore.

She was healed, she could walk and she was alive. She owed a lot of thanks to this witch. She didn't know what she had done to reverse the poison that coursed through her veins from the spelled dagger, but she was thankful.

Damon also saved your life too. She willed her mind to stop mentioning Damon.

When she rounded the corner of the stairs she saw Elena and the witch stand up from the sofa as if expecting her to come down the stairs. The witch was a little shorter than Elena, but she was everything she expected from a witch. She looked dainty and had a kind smile, but her eyes held a fierceness to them that spoke volumes of her power. Not to mention her scent was off the charts.

Athena twitched her nose and smiled as Elena spoke, "I'm so glad you're awake." She came over to Athena awkwardly and without thinking Athena hugged Elena and whispered, "I am so glad you're the one that changed my clothes."

Elena laughed nervously, but once she pulled away they shared a small look and Athena felt the stirrings of a friendship. The witch was wringing her hands nervously and Athena found her dark complexion and dark hair complimented her fierce eyes. "So, you're the witch who saved me."

Bonnie tightly smiled and nodded once. Athena did notice upon closer inspection that the witch looked flushed and there were dark circles under her eyes. Though beautiful, she looked exhausted. Athena quietly wondered if it was due to healing her and she immediately felt bad for causing her this exhaustion.

Before anyone could say anything else, Damon strolled in the room with a bottle of bourbon in his hand. He collapsed on the couch across from everyone and held his arm out in a sweeping gesture towards the witch, "Meet the one and only Bonnie Bennett, or Bon Bon as I like to call her." He raised his bottle in the air and took a swig before smiling gleefully as if he was just waiting to make the introduction of Bonnie.

Bonnie took a step towards Athena. Her eyes were wide and she looked as if she had just had a revelation, "Guys, I think I found the source of my problem." Elena and Stefan frowned, clearly confused, "What do you mean?"

Bonnie looked back towards Elena and spoke excitedly, "You know how I haven't been feeling like myself lately?" Elena nodded and Bonnie returned her gaze to Athena who was clearly not in the loop.

"That feeling magnified the moment she walked in the room."

Athena sighed, shifting nervously as all eyes were on her. Her gaze drifted towards Damon and for a brief moment he looked genuinely curious.

Until his sarcastic wise-cracking face returned and he rolled his eyes, "Great, Bon Bon is getting witchy vibes about the cat girl. Just what we need. Well, brother.." He paused, took a swig from the bottle and continued, "This should be interesting."

Everyone in the room exchanged hesitant looks and Athena felt a small bubble of familiarity towards Bonnie, but what that feeling was trying to tell her she didn't know. But, she had a feeling that she'd be finding out soon enough.