Blood Witch

3

Neither of them had time to contemplate the mystery sound for long. Out of the shadows came a shape, a lovely silouette, and the whole forest seemed to become silent all at once. The wind had died until not even the leaves, the grass, the little creatures made a sound that any of them could hear. She shouldn't have had to breathe now that she was un-dead, Bonnie knew this and yet she inhaled and exhaled quickly, and the sound cut through the silence like a knife through butter. Damon was the most silent thing around, and he squeezed his arms around her the tiniest bit to confirm that he was still there – as if to add his strength to her's.

"Damon..." the thing still masked by that curtain of the darkest shadow said cooly, "What have you done, now?" There was an edge of reproach in her voice, as if he was a naughty little boy she was reluctant to scold, but also a joyful smile. Who was it who dared be happy after all the suffering he had gone through to get to this point? "You really shouldn't have done that—given the witch some of your blood... Do you have any idea what you have started by infecting her?" At first, it sounded like it could be Elena speaking, but after those words he knew differently. There was only one person, one thing, that could be so heartless as to question the saving of his beloved.

"Katherine," he growled venomously, "What are you doing here?" He could sense the power she was trying to use on him, but his mind was so focused on Bonnie that he was able to fight the compulsion to go to her with ease. He knew that this must have been embarrassing for the centuries-old Katherine, and he smiled at the small victory. He did not want to answer her, or even contemplate the question, for he knew that if he did he would start to doubt every decision he made. It was not his style to ever doubt himself – he knew he had done the right thing by taking Bonnie as he had. If he had, in fact, infected Bonnie with the vampiric disease at least now the future before them was fathomless—if Katherine did not kill them right there and then.

"Don't you want to know what happened in the parking-lot?" she asked playfully, prancing around the small space as if she were a pony and it was spring-time. She came closer then danced away before Damon could reach a hand out to touch her. It was unclear what she thought would come of this flirtation, but it probably was not what she got.

Before the idea had even fully formed it her mind, Bonnie had caught Katherine as she came close and had her knelt on the floor with her arms held at her back. She'd only meant to ask her if she would be serious, but instead she had tackled the vampire and brought her to her knees. Bonnie had never been a strong person, either in body nor mind, and after this show of her new abilities she found that she was frozen. No matter how much Katherine struggled to be free, the grip on her was as relentless as a storm out at sea.

"Why don't you tell us..." Damon replied a little dazedly, one perfectly shaped eyebrow raised. Where had his sweet, soft, innocent Bonnie gone? Not that he was complaining – he always preferred playing with fire. He smiled his dazzling smile, turned his eyes downwards, and locked eyes with his maker. She looked—no, wait—she was pitiful pinned to the floor as she was. While he too was a little disturbed by Bonnie's show of strength, he could get used to it quickly.

"Klaus." She said this like it needed no explaining, as if Klaus meant everything and anything. Damon glared and she reconsidered. "Witch."

Damon nudged her hard with the toe of his boot. "Use sentences, Katherine."

She screwed up her face in disgust for having to elaborate further. "Do you even realise what you have done, Damon? Witches aren't meant to be vampires. No self-respecting witch would ever choose to become like us, thus making hybrids like this one," she tilted her head in Bonnie's direction to indicate that she was talking about her, as if that were not already obvious, "extremely rare. If you were to sell her, for example, you could be eternally..."

Damon punched her with enough force that it threw her backwards twenty or thirty metres. Katherine made an unrecognisable sound, kind of like a strangled cat. She came at him with blinding speed, her glittering blue eyes turning to black, and scratched a line from just below his left eye to the corner of his mouth like a cat, before darting away into the trees before Damon could land another blow.

"We've got to leave FellsChurch, love," he said, as if nothing had happened, "Do you understand?" It wouldn't have made a difference if she had told him no, if he had given her the chance to answer, because he understood the danger even if she did not. Why did Klaus want her? There were too many reasons to count but if he could bet on just one it would so he could make her his tool against his enemies – like him and the others.

"I think I'm going to be sick," Bonnie whimpered quietly, her face turning green under the canopy of leaves overhead.

"I know, I feel it too." Damon told her, thinking that no words could be sufficiant to describe the unease and dread he was drowning in. No matter what happened, he would not allow his love to be broken as she had been before, not that that was an option for her now anyway.

TBC