Chapter 4

"Love has the power of making you believe what you would normally treat with the deepest suspicion."

Mirabeau

Damon hovered over Bonnie on one side as Elena hovered on the other. The two hadn't moved from her side. Stefan would've said something but he understood because if the two weren't already crowding her he would be by her side as well. She had been like this for two hours and they started to worry more. He had wondered why Damon hadn't just fed Bonnie his blood but his brother had told him that Bonnie didn't like to heal magically she wanted to do it normally. He knew that his brother was fighting the urge to bite into his arm and force it down her mouth. Stefan was sure if this was a few years ago he would have done it. No questions asked. He wouldn't even care if Bonnie got mad. Somehow Bonnie, intentionally or not, had changed a part of Damon. For the better and the younger Salvatore loved what he saw.

Now he hadn't changed completely. He could still be an ass who didn't care what anyone had to say, but it was as if he wasn't as heartless when he said something. Stefan was still leaning against the wall when he heard Matt and Caroline enter Damon's room.

"How is she?" Matt asked as Caroline made a B-line for her friend.

"She still hasn't woken but she's breathing, so we figure that's a good sign." Matt seemed to let a long breath out. He was happy she was okay. "How long have you guys been in here?"

"We've been here for two hours. Ric and Jeremy left about twenty minutes ago. Anna is downstairs in the study."

"Yeah, she opened the door for us." Matt and Stefan turned to look at Bonnie. "What exactly happened?"

"We don't know for sure. One minute we were interrogating the vampire the next she was sending him flying out the chair, then he had her and then he was dead. After all that she fainted."

"Hm." He added not really knowing what exactly to say. He heard the sound of his wife's voice alerting him.

"I think you guys need to let her breath. Give her some space and come back and check on her." Caroline said getting looks from Damon and Elena.

"I guess we could leave for a few minutes." The brunette said still holding her best friends hand.

"I'm not leaving."

"Damon you know Bonnie would ask you to give her a little space." Matt said. Damon knew he was right, but he still didn't want to leave. He figured he could leave her in here for a while before he came and stayed for the night.

"Alright." He got off his bed and waited. "If I'm leaving so is everyone else."

With that everyone made their way downstairs and into the living room. Stefan sat on the couch followed by Elena who had snuggled up to him. Matt and Damon stood next to the bar.

"I'll go make you guys some tea or something." The blonde said exiting the room and into the kitchen.

"I'll just get some of this bourbon." Damon said sipping the drink he had recently poured.

"I'll take one of those." The voice said entering the room. Damon turned to see Anna coming towards him.

"Here you go." Once the drink was poured he handed it over to her and she downed it in one gulp.

"Jeremy left a few minutes ago. Why haven't you?"

"I said I would stay and see if she would wake up but it's getting late so I'm going to go check on her one more time before I leave." Anna exited leaving the four alone.

"The tea is still pretty hot." Caroline said placing the teapot on the table.

"Thank you." Elena said leaning up.

"Anything I can do." Matt looked up as his phone rang. It was Caroline's mom. He had forgotten that they had to go to dinner with her and her husband and Caroline's dad's.

"Caroline, we have dinner with your parents still."

"I completely forgot about that."

"Yeah." She looked between all three of her friends as she spoke the next line. "As soon as she wakes somebody better call. I mean when her eyes blink call."

"We got it." Stefan said not helping the smile that was on his face now.

"If I don't get that call somebody is getting their ass kicked." Elena joined Stefan in his grinning as Damon gave the blonde a smirk. She was tough still for someone who was normal in a room filled with two vampires and a doppelganger that kicked vampire ass for a living. The blonde had actually calmed his nerves after that and he appreciated it.

"Damon can I talk to you for a minute." Matt asked. Damon didn't feel like it but he followed the male to the door anyway. "What do you want?"

"Look I know you love Bonnie." He waited to hear whatever reason the blonde had called him over. "And I have no idea what the hell you two do when you're in your bedroom but could you make sure not to leave any marks, or bruises on her."

"Did Bonnie tell you something?"

"She doesn't know that I know about them. But could you please just be gentler with her?"

"Sure." Damon shut the door behind Matt. He didn't know what the boy was saying but he wasn't rough with Bonnie. Unless she asked for it of course. He treated her so delicately sometimes that Bonnie actually hated it. She would defend herself by saying she was a witch goddess and she could kick his ass if she felt like it.

Thinking about her he wanted to go be with her again. Walking by the front room he looked in and spoke. "I'm turning in for the night."

"Could you get us if anything happens with Bonnie?" Elena asked.

"Of course. Good night."

"Night." Stefan and Elena said in Unison. Damon walked up the stairs ready to be by his witch's side.

Anna sat next to Damon's bed. She had been staring at the witch. Her mother had always told her to follow her gut feeling and lately it's been giving Bonnie the red flag. She had no idea what the witch was actually hiding but it was bothering her.

Today Anna sensed that Bonnie had something to do with the vampire's escape. Actually as she thought about it there was a lot she had noticed. The lingering stares, the fact that the two looked like they were having their own conversations inside each other's head, and how angry the two had been at one another for two people who had supposedly just met. She had this intuitive feeling that Bonnie and the vamp had worked together and may have even been friends. The vampire did seem to trust the witch.

The thing that really had her mind moving was when the vampire got scared. He was glancing at Bonnie with that fear in his eyes.

She wanted to tell somebody what she found and so desperately did not want to feel, but she couldn't because they wouldn't believe her. All of these people had grown up with Bonnie, loved her and had trusted her with their lives. Hell even Anna trusted Bonnie with her own life. So to shake this feeling she had to prove it all wrong and she knew exactly how to do so.

Taking the ring out of her pocket, she held it in the palm of her hand. It was the ring the procurer had on his finger. The only type of creature that could make a ring powerful enough to protect the vampires from the sun was the servants of nature themselves. There weren't many witches that knew how to spell a ring or piece of jewelry. The only people she knew had rings were mostly made from Emily; Katherine, Damon, Stefan, Pearl, and herself. They were a part of the very few who held rings that allowed them to day walk on the planet.

Some witches were known for working with procurers when necessary so it didn't surprise her that the vampire had had one. The vamp did say he like to work with witches, only one. So she could cut Bonnie out of this right now by placing the ring on her finger because when witches used magic on anything they left behind a residue, a residue that would shimmer when in the possession of the witch who cast the spell. So if Anna put the ring on her finger and saw the ring glow, then she would have her answer.

She moved the witches hand and placed the ring on her finger. Two minutes passed and Anna was suddenly feeling relieved, but finally the ring had glowed as bright as the sun. As soon as it radiated it was dark again. She removed the ring and heard someone open the door.

"What are you still doing here? I though you left already?" Damon asked moving into his room.

"I...I..." She stuttered.

"What are you doing to Bonnie?" She knew he didn't want to hear this but he had to.

"Damon you need to listen to me?" He crossed his arm over his chest and waited.

"Okay, what?"

"It's about Bonnie. Did it bother you today how angry she got when the vampire was talking about his witch?"

"What are you trying to say Anna?"

"I think you know."

"Are you trying to say that Bonnie has something to do with the vamp?"

"Yes and so do you or you wouldn't have hit it right on the nose about what I was thinking." He paused realizing it had crossed his mind but he couldn't think that way of Bonnie. He wanted to throw himself out the window for thinking it earlier.

"The ring." Anna held the ring up to him.

"What?"He said not sure where she was going with this but then the thought occurred to him that maybe he didn't want to know.

"Anna just go. I don't feel like it." He walked past her and to Bonnie.

"Damon, she even called him by his name…" Before she could finish Damon was at her with his hands around her throat.

"Anna I said I wanted you to go." Anna was about to throw Damon off of her but something had got stuck in her throat. As Anna coughed Damon had let go of her as she fell to the ground.

"Anna?" He asked bending to her side. He knew that Anna was stronger than him so it didn't make sense as she was still kneeling on the ground holding both of her hands around her neck. Soon Stefan had appeared in Damon's door.

"What did you do?"

Damon didn't know how to answer that because he may have held her throat in his hand a few seconds ago but now he wasn't doing a damn thing. When the coughing subsided she had stood up and stared around the room.

"I think it's time for me to go." Getting herself together she looked to Damon who had been just as bewildered as her. She rushed out the room past Stefan who had no idea what had happened.

"You know what I don't want to know what the hell just happened. Next time could you try not doing it in the same room as an unconscious Bonnie?" With that Stefan left his brother standing still trying to take everything that had happened in the past five minutes in. He walked to the bed to see that Bonnie's nose had been bleeding. He threw out the next thought that was about to pop in his head and grabbed a Kleenex to wipe it up.

After the long day he finally slid into bed next to Bonnie and pulled her close to him, falling asleep to the sound of her heartbeat.

Stirring in her sleep Bonnie had finally awoken. She knew without opening her eyes this wasn't her room or bed. She figured she was still at the manor and in Damon's bed. Trying to move her arm the bandages caught her attention. She knew they must have wrapped up her arm after the stake hit her.

Looking over to the side table she saw that it read 4 a.m. For some reason she was starving and she knew exactly what she was craving. Moving out of the bed as quietly as to not wake Damon she placed her feet on the floor and slowly inched away. She threw on some shoes and a jacket moving to the door. Then second guessed it because she knew the door was creaky especially at night. In a house with vampires that silent creak could sound like a loud scratch.

Lifting the window up she looked over one more time to see Damon sprawled out over the bed. She knew she shouldn't be doing this after what just happened but she didn't have a choice. She needed to do this. She felt as though she wanted to run and tell him everything but she couldn't. He wouldn't love her anymore if he knew anything about her extracurricular activities and Bonnie loved him so much that she would take this secret to the grave with her.

She hopped out the window and levitated towards the ground. Not looking back as she run into the woods.

Stan sat in his empty complex building waiting patiently. The sound of the footsteps alarmed him and he turned to see Bonnie coming to him. "What the hell took you so long?"

"I fainted and was unconscious for about four hours."

"Are you okay?" He asked really curious.

"Yeah I had to use a lot more power than I expected." She crossed her arms.

"Sorry about that."

"What the hell were you thinking anyway? We had a plan and you just shitted all over it."

"Well I was trying to make it as real as possible maybe I should have told you what was going on." He answered standing up but the witch had helped him sit back down.

"You should've. I kept trying to stop them from killing you that I was this close to telling them that I knew you." She motioned with her hand leaving space between her index finger and thumb.

"You really got nervous around them. I mean the outbursts and the way you kept trying to protect me was really obvious." Sighing she rubbed her head. She knew she was overreacting a little too much. But she thought he was screwing up the plan.

"I know but I don't think anyone suspected anything."

"For your sake I hope so. I don't like that you have this darkness but I can't make you stop."

"You're right you can't" Bonnie took a seat next to the man. She didn't know why she liked him; maybe it was because he reminded her of her dad.

"I know this is going to sound weird coming from me but I think you should tell them."

"Tell them about all of this." Eyes wide in confusion the witch gave the vampire her full attention.

"Yeah, if they love you they'll do one of two things. Either they'll be okay with it or try to help you get out of this world."

"They'll never be okay with this. So it'll probably be the second, especially if they know the reason I'm doing this."

"From where I'm sitting that isn't a bad thing. You know in this business and supernatural environment you'll run into a lot of people who want to kill you. Good people and evil people, us procurers make a few enemies."

"But, Stan you don't operate like that. You don't do anything wrong. Not from my eyes." That's truly how she felt. To her Stan did no wrong, he killed evil people. Although he did it for other bad people, it didn't seem to bother her.

"Maybe you lingering in the darkness for so long is clouding your judgment."

"I know what I'm doing."

"I hope you do. I've seen some dark witches over time and it doesn't end well for them."

"It doesn't end well for anyone in the supernatural world."

"That's true." The two smiled at one another and Stan placed an arm around her shoulder and Bonnie leaned into it. "I've never told you why I'm so fond of you."

"You haven't but I figured it was because I had wit."

"You remind me of my daughter, Shelley. She was a witch, got that from her mother's side obviously. She was beautiful and when she used magic it showed. She loved it, though sometimes she could be stubborn."

"How come you're just now telling me about her?"

"My daughter had a bad habit. She enjoyed the dark arts. She enjoyed it so much that it ended up killing her."

"That's not going to happen to me. I have it under control."

"Is that what you call your addiction, under control?"

"It's not an addiction. I need it. As long as I do I can handle all the magic that's in me."

"That's what she thought but it took control of her and…"

"What?"

"She ended up trying to kill me and killing the people she loved, including her mother." Bonnie sat there mouth agape. "I know you're not my daughter but maybe this is a reason I didn't die that night so I could fix my mistake from the past. I want you to give this entire world up. That addiction you have to that shit you drink, playing on the dark side, lying to your friends. Just go home and enjoy all the world has to offer you because you never know when it can run out."

"Why are you saying this?" She moved out of his space staring into his brown eyes.

"I'm leaving Mystic Falls. I never wanted to be this anyway. I told all the other workers that we are out of business and the clients that I'm done."

"They weren't mad."

"Yeah they were mad as hell, but I don't care this is something I need to do. I'm going to go out into the world. You know I've never left Virginia."

"You've been alive for like 100 years, though."

"I know. I never got the chance to leave because I was building this business and doing what I thought was the right thing for me to be doing as a vampire, killing things and being evil. Looking at your friends today I could see that I could have that. Maybe someone to love or call my friends and not be alone in the world."

"You have me?"

"Yeah but you have your friends. I need to explore and I can't do that here. Especially since they think I'm dead." He got up leaving Bonnie sitting on the floor.

"Will I ever see you again?" She looked up hope in her eyes, he couldn't help but smile.

"I don't know but can you promise me something?"

"Depends on what it is?"

"Spend time with your friends laugh and enjoy yourself because that's what I regret most. I wish my wife and daughter were here now so I could hear their laughs."

"I can do that. Hey?" Bonnie said looking at his hand. "What happened to your ring?"

He looked at his hand. "It came off at the manor somewhere. Don't worry about it. I'll find another witch who can make one for me."

"Are you sure I don't mind making another one?"

"Yeah besides I'm going to enjoy the nightlife for awhile. Maybe go to Hollywood and party with famous people. I hear Charlie Sheen can throw a great party." Bonnie smiles at Stan for the last time she thinks.

She had known him for about year now and she was used to seeing him every day. It's going to be different now and she could feel it. No more late nights or lying. She was going to start as fresh like he had asked of her. She could spend more time with her friends and hopefully kick this bad addiction she had to that shit, as Stan would say, to the curb. She walked out the complex and was greeted by the sounds of the night. For the first time in a long time she felt everything was going to be okay.