Like A Man Possessed

By: Tracy Cook

Disclaimer: I own nothing. These characters belong to the creators of Vampire Diaries.

Couple: Bonnie/Damon

Rating: M

Warning : This fic will have serial killer Damon in it. And lots of murder and violence and smut!

Chapter Twenty

Tearing At The Seams

'If You're Right, I'll Find Every Piece Will Fit Together,

Just The Way That You Remember.'

'Knock. Knock. Knock.'

"Open up, it's the police!" Elijah called through the apartment door.

As Rebekah watched him she felt the weight of guilt on her shoulders. He was doing everything by the book. He was following the law. She felt guilty for hiding that she already knew that Bonnie wasn't home and that she was in Kansas with Damon, Stefan, and her brother. Elijah was a good man. Everything he did was to better the world. She didn't feel right about lying to him.

"I must warn you that we have a search warrant. If you do not open up we will force our way in!"

Silence filled the air and Elijah turned to look at his partner with perplexed eyes. He had expected to hear something inside when he said that. "It does not sound like anyone is here." He concluded.

"Perhaps they already made a run for it." Rebekah stated with a shrug of her shoulders. Her heart was pounding loudly in her ears, and she was fidgeting nervously as she stared at the door. She couldn't look him in the eye. She knew that if she did, he would see the lies swimming around in blue depths. He would see right through her.

"Perhaps." He narrowed his eyes at the blonde. Something seemed off about her. She seemed like she was nervous about something. 'I wonder why she is acting so peculiar... It almost seems like she knows more than she is letting on. She wouldn't hide evidence from me, would she?'

Elijah reached out and twisted the doorknob.

He furrowed his brow in confusion when the door opened easily.

"That is peculiar."

"What?" Rebekah asked.

"The door is unlocked." Elijah stated in a calm tone as he pushed the door open and took a step inside. He didn't understand why they would leave the door unlocked. 'Perhaps they were in a hurry and they forgot to lock it before they fled? Perhaps Damon killed off Bonnie and left her body somewhere in the apartment?' Those were the first thoughts that came to mind. After Bonnie helped Damon escape, he would have no reason to keep her around.

"That is odd." The blonde Brit said. "Why would they leave the door unlocked?" 'Shit! I left the bloody door unlocked!'

"My best theory, due to the way that clothes and luggage has been sprawled across the apartment, would be that they were in a hurry and forgot." Elijah started to walk through the kitchen. He noticed that drawers had been left open and the coffeepot was still on. "They must have known that the police were close on their trail and they went into hiding."

Rebekah didn't say anything as she pretended to examine the room. He was coming to all of the same conclusions she had when she searched the apartment, and that worried her. If he found out that they were hiding out at Bonnie's grams' house in Kansas then she wouldn't be able to protect them.

"The question now is, where exactly are they hiding?"

She watched him as he approached Bonnie's bedroom and her stomach twisted into knots. She had returned the pictures to the drawer, but she knew that he was going to find them. This was his area of expertise. Dissecting a crime scene. 'Thank god his area of expertise is not reading people. If that were the case I would be royally screwed right about now.'

Elijah glanced around the bedroom. He found it odd that the bed was made, yet the coffeepot had been left on. 'She didn't sleep here the night before they left. She was definitely the one who helped him escape.'

His lips were pressed tightly together as he searched the room for any sign as to where they could have escaped to. He assumed that they would have gone to stay with a relative, or at a hotel. They more than likely were not in New York City any longer. 'But where?' He took a few steps toward her dresser and he started to tug the drawers open, scanning each one with precision.

Bonnie had packed a good majority of her clothing. Which meant wherever they were going wasn't close.

'Rebekah is being awfully quiet... I wonder if she has found anything.'

He knelt down and started to pull open the bottom drawer. Inside of the drawer were all sorts of childhood memorabilia. What stood out to him though, were the photo albums sitting on top of the pile. He had found out who Elena Gilbert was by looking through Damon's photographs. Perhaps he could find out which relative of Bonnie's they could have possibly went to stay with if he looked through her photographs.

Elijah reached out and picked up one of the photo albums.

It said, 'Bonnie Bennett years 3-5' on it.

He started to flip through the pages. There were several photographs of a young Bonnie with an older woman. She didn't have any photos of her with her father and the woman in the photo looked too old to be her mother. 'She may have lived with her grandmother... She might be the one who Bonnie and Damon are staying with...' He pulled out one of the photographs and he flipped it over, hoping that something was written on the back.

The back read:

'Bonnie Bennett - 3 years old - Our new house in Kansas.'

"Kansas?" Elijah wondered aloud. 'That would explain why they packed practically all of her clothes and the entire refrigerator...'

Rebekah's heart sunk as she walked into the bedroom and she spotted her partner kneeling in front of the dresser with the photo album in his lap. He had found the same photograph she had and he knew that they were in Kansas. He would easily find out Bonnie's grandmother's name and address and then he would send police to survey the location.

"Did you find anything?" She asked, despite already knowing the answer.

"I can't be certain until I find the location of the house, but I think that they may be hiding out at Bonnie's grandmother's house in Kansas." Elijah stated, standing to his feet and walking across the room to hand his partner the photograph.

'You Are The Weight On Your Own Shoulders,

The Gravity Always Pulling You Down.'

The last thing Bonnie remembered was being wrapped tightly in Damon's strong arms as she drifted off to sleep. She could recall how relieved she felt to have finally opened up about her past and what happened with her grams. He finally knew about the darkness in her past and he had even talked about finding a better outlet for dealing with his depression.

For the first time in a while she was feeling hopeful about their future together. She knew that they were going to find out what the demon possessing Damon was and they were going to destroy it. They were going to start fresh and put their corrupt pasts behind them.

Her dreams were filled with images of what their future could be.

'She smiled as she sipped on her coffee and she stared out at the backyard from the deck.

Their sons were tossing a football to each other. Just as Stefan and Damon used to. The sunlight was peeking through the white fluffy clouds and dancing along the pond. She had never felt so content. The only thing that would make it better would be if her grams was there. She knew that her grams was looking down at her though. Protecting her, and protecting their children.

Bonnie was snapped out of her thoughts when she felt a warm hand envelop hers and she glanced across the table at Damon.

His lips were twisted up into a crooked smirk and his head was cocked to the side as he watched her with loving blue eyes. The scars still lined his wrists, but those days were behind them. Nearly forgotten.

"I love you so much, Bon-Bon." Damon said with a small squeeze of her hand.

She loved when he called her that.

"I love you more."

"Not possible." He teased.

Bonnie's smile twisted into a frown as she felt a chill run down her spine and her body shook. Something had changed. There was a weight on her shoulders. There was a darkness surrounding them. The clouds were now dark gray and lightning was flashing across the sky. The boys were nowhere to be found and Damon was different.

His smirk stretched from one ear to the other until it was consuming his face. Darkness was seeping out of his eyes, and his head snapped back, eyes rolling back into his skull.

The demon was back.

She didn't know if she was having a nightmare or a vision. The lines had blurred.

Damon stood to his feet, stretching his body, his bones cracking loudly as he stumbled into the house. The minute he opened the door and closed it behind him, everything changed.

Bonnie was no longer staring through her own eyes. She was staring through his eyes.

The house was dark and the sun had disappeared completely as he walked into the kitchen and he pulled a knife out of the drawer. His grip was tight around the knife and his mind was conflicted. The voices were louder this time, telling him to kill Kol. Telling him to kill Bonnie. Telling him to kill Stefan. Telling him to kill himself. The demon desperately wanted him to kill someone. It needed him to.

Damon was fighting the voices. He was trying to put the knife down. He was trying to force his legs to stop working. He was screaming out for Bonnie to save him. But, no matter how hard he tried, his legs continued to move beneath the weight of his body.

He had lost control again.

He was a marionette and the demon was tugging at his strings.

She watched as he unwrapped the bandages on his arms and he started to carve open the fresh wounds. Digging deeper this time. She didn't know if he would survive these cuts. His blood was spurting all over the place and dripping across the floor as he climbed the stairs and headed down the hallway. The demon tried to force him to go inside and kill Bonnie, but he fought the pull. He refused to kill her.

The demon wasn't picky though. He didn't care which one Damon killed as long as he killed one. It focused Damon's attention on the door at the end of the hallway.

Inside, Kol was sleeping peacefully.

Bonnie could hear Damon internally screaming out, pleading with the demon, calling out to a God above, trying to get anyone to listen to him and help him, but no one was there. He was all alone and he couldn't fight the darkness. He dragged his feet toward the bedroom and he reached out, twisting the doorknob and pushing the door open. Blood was still pouring from his wrists. He was starting to get lightheaded from blood loss. He was bleeding too much. He would pass out and die any minute.

She stared through his eyes, horrified by what she saw next.

He was staring down at Kol's sleeping form. His grip on the knife tight as he lifted it over his body.

Before he had the chance to stab him in the chest, brown eyes shot open and Kol rolled out of the way of the knife and started to visibly freak out. He was calling out to Bonnie and Stefan and it was evident that he didn't want to hurt Damon. He looked like he was hesitating.

"This isn't you, mate!" He tried to explain. "Please, you need to take back control. Remember who you are."

Damon knew who he was. He was trying his hardest to take back control of his body, but he couldn't. The thing inside of him was stronger than ever and it was pushing him to kill Kol. Bonnie felt sick as she watched Damon move toward her best friend and hold a hand over his mouth. Kol looked horrified. He somehow managed to twist out of Damon's grip and he was holding his arm tightly behind his back.

"You seriously need to snap the hell out of it. This is Kol, Damon. Bonnie's best friend."

Kol could have killed Damon. He could have fought back, but he didn't. He was trying to save him and that made it even harder on Damon as he turned and stabbed the man directly in the chest, cutting off the main artery to his heart. He hated himself more than ever for stabbing Kol. This time it was personal. He was killing someone that he cared about. He was killing someone that Bonnie loved. He could never come back from this, but he couldn't seem to stop.

"Please." Kol cried, blood rolling down his chin.

Damon didn't stop.

He stabbed him three more times.'

Bonnie's eyes snapped open and she shot up in bed, taking in a sharp breath. Her entire body was shaking as she looked around the room for any sign of Damon. He was no longer laying in bed with her. Her heart was pounding violently in her chest as she stumbled out of bed and ran toward the door of her bedroom. She couldn't let him kill her best friend. She couldn't lose Kol.

"Damon!" She screamed, hoping that her voice would draw him out of what he was about to do.

There would be no coming back from it this time if she was too late to stop him. This was something that would destroy everything they had built. She would never be able to fully forgive Damon for killing Kol, even if it wasn't his fault.

'Please God please let me make it on time!'

'How She Wishes She Could Stop The Clock.'

Intense pain shot through his body as he dug the knife deep into the skin and he carved the symbols into his wrists, reopening the fresh wounds. He stared down at his arms and watched as the blood started to spurt from his veins and pour all over the floor below. The cuts were even deeper this time. Damon could feel himself instantly getting woozy due to blood loss and for a second he hoped that he would die before he had the chance to kill someone he cared about.

In that moment, he could understand why his father had killed himself. He had wanted to save his sons, he had wanted to save the people who were important to him and the only way to do that was by killing himself.

Damon was tempted.

The demon inside of him was whispering in his ear. Telling him to lift the knife to his chest and stab himself. Telling him that it would be better for everyone involved if he just put an end to his miserable life.

Something stopped him though.

A hopeful thought of his future. Damon wanted to live. He wanted to get rid of the demon inside of him and start fresh with Bonnie. He wanted to sip coffee with her on the deck and talk about traveling the world as their children ran around the yard. He wanted her to curl up in his arms in front of the fireplace as she read her favorite book before falling asleep. He wanted it all. If he killed himself he would never have that. He would lose everything.

Damon Salvatore had found his reason to live.

Now he needed to find the strength to fight the demon within.

'Kill Bonnie. Kill Kol. Kill Stefan. Kill yourself.' The deep voice echoed off the walls of his skull. Repeating the same words endlessly. 'Kill Bonnie. Kill Kol. Kill Stefan. Kill yourself.'

'You can't control me anymore!' He screamed out to the voices in his head.

Despite his internal screaming, his legs were still moving beneath the weight of his body as he climbed the stairs. His blood was pouring from his arms and he was starting to get dizzy. 'You just have to fight it Damon. You can't let this thing get the best of you. Do it for Bonnie. God, where are you Bonnie!? I need you right now...'

He dug his toes into the wooden floor in an attempt to slow himself down. It didn't work though. The demon still managed to drag his feet along the floor, the skin of his toes painfully scraping off the bone.

'Kill Bonnie. Kill Bonnie. Kill Bonnie.'

The voice repeated the words as Damon stopped walking and stood outside of the bedroom he had just been sharing with the woman of his affections. She was inside, sleeping peacefully, and the demon wanted him to open the door, walk inside, and kill her. He lifted his hand and placed it on the doorknob, it was shaking as he tried his hardest to pull his hand away. He could never live with himself if he killed Bonnie. He would rather kill himself than watch the light leave her beautiful green eyes at his hand.

'Concentrate Damon. Ignore the voices and just concentrate on the light.' He managed to take control over his eyes and he closed them, forcing away the darkness and focusing on the light. Bonnie was his home. She was his safety. She was his life. His guardian angel.

His mind filled with images of her basking in the sunlight, wings sprouting from her back, arms outstretched to him.

Damon walked toward her and it was just like his dreams. She took away the darkness as she wrapped her arms around him and he lost himself in her warm embrace. For a spit second he felt safe, and in that second he regained control over his body. The demon was waging a war in his head as Damon lowered his hand from the doorknob and he turned away from her bedroom.

He refused to hurt Bonnie. He refused to kill her. She was his one special thing. She was his everything.

The calm didn't last long.

Damon's eyes snapped open and his neck cracked as the demon started to pull him violently down the hallway. The darkness inside of him was angry. It was angry that he had refused it. That he had fought it. It needed him to kill someone before the night was through. For once, Damon felt it's desperation, it's fear. 'If you won't kill Bonnie, kill Kol! You don't even like him! He wants Bonnie to himself! He broke the connection! He doesn't give a shit about you!'

He knew that the words weren't true.

Kol broke the connection because he cared about Bonnie and he didn't want to see her get hurt. He didn't have to drive them to Kansas or help them out, he was doing it because he trusted them on some level. The demon was playing off of his insecurities and his jealousy in an attempt to force him to kill the young man.

'None of that is true!' Damon tried to fight the demon, but his legs were being pulled toward the door at the end of the hallway and he couldn't seem to stop himself this time. That small spark of anger that the creature had elicited was enough to destroy the peace and light he had found when he thought about Bonnie. He was smothered in the darkness again and he was losing himself.

'It is true! He's dreaming about having sex with her right now!'

He knew that it was lying to him. It was trying to feed off of his anger. It was trying to use it to take control, but the thought infuriated him. Even if it wasn't true. He didn't want to think about anyone else sleeping with Bonnie.

Damon reached out and he twisted the doorknob to Kol's bedroom, leaving behind blood on the metal knob. His blood was rolling down his fingertips at this point and he was feeling woozy. He walked inside and approached the man's bed. Staring down at him as he slept peacefully. The young man had his nose buried in his pillow and he was humming contently to himself.

'Please don't make me do this... Please?' He pleaded with the darkness. He begged it to stop. He didn't want to hurt the innocent man, he didn't want to kill Bonnie's best friend. 'Please, God if you are up there please stop this!'

'There is no God. Kill him, Damon. Kill Kol.'

He gripped the knife tightly in his hand and he raised it over the young man's sleeping form. His heart was pounding loudly in his chest and he was trying with all of his might to hold the knife back. 'Please Bonnie, stop me. Please.'

Kol's brown eyes snapped open and filled with terror as he realized that Damon was standing over him, his eyes rolled back in his head, veins along his neck, blood pouring from his wrists, holding a knife. His heart hammered painfully against his rib cage as he rolled away from the other man just before he lowered the knife in an attempt to stab him in the chest.

The British man stood to his feet and held out his arms protectively in front of his chest. He knew how the demon killed and he wasn't about to let Damon get anywhere near his heart.

"This isn't you, mate!" He cried out desperately. He needed to remind Damon who he was and try and help him fight the demon corrupting his soul. He was tempted to run, he was tempted to kill the man standing before him in order to save himself, but he couldn't. Bonnie would never forgive him if he did that and he knew that Damon was an innocent victim to the thing controlling him. He couldn't stop himself. "Please, you need to take back control!"

Kol watched him closely.

He wasn't moving.

It looked like he was trying his hardest to take back control over his body. Now was his chance to bring him back to the light. He took a few steps toward Damon and he forced a smile onto his lips as he spoke as calmly as possible, "Remember who you are."

'Don't listen to this fucker! He dreams of screwing your woman every single night! Kill him!'

The more desperate the demon became the more vulgar it became. It needed him to finish what it started.

Damon tried to force the thoughts away. He tried to remain in control, but the demon was using his jealousy against him and it was fueling his anger with it's words. He moved toward Kol and he placed a hand over his mouth. He hated the horror that he saw written across Kol's face. He hated that he couldn't stop himself. He was going to kill the innocent man. He was going to watch the light escape his eyes and he was going to destroy every last ounce of hope that he had for a normal life along with it.

"Damon!'

Her voice broke through the trance, shattering it. His mind was no longer consumed with darkness. There was a light at the end of the tunnel and it was calling out to him. Bonnie Bennett was calling out to him. She had stopped him in time.

Kol took this opportunity to take control of the situation. He flipped around Damon and he held his hand with the knife tightly behind his back so that he couldn't stab either of them. He didn't have the chance to allow the relief of not being dead to fully rush over him, because the demon was still in control and Damon was still struggling against his grip.

"A little help here, sweetheart?"

Bonnie quickly moved across the room toward Damon. He was struggling to break free. He was struggling to kill Kol. To Kill Bonnie. To kill Stefan. To kill himself. He had to kill someone. That was what the voices kept telling him.

"Damon." She breathed out softly, staring up into his white eyes. She knew that he was somewhere deep inside and she knew that he could see her. He could hear her. He was there with her. He just needed to find himself and take control back. "I'm right here with you." Bonnie's full lips curled up into a smile and she gently reached up and traced her fingers along his jawline. "We're going to fight this together, okay? I'm not going anywhere."

'She's not here with you! She doesn't give a fuck about you, Damon! She just pities you!'

Damon ignored the voices screaming in his head and he found himself lost in her beautiful green eyes. He relaxed in Kol's grip and he lent into the soft touch of her fingers against his face. He loved the way that they felt. They reminded him of all he had to live for.

"You have to come back to us, Damon." Bonnie whispered, cupping his face in her hands. "You have to. We need you. I need you."

'She doesn't need you! No one needs you!' The demon's words were getting quieter. They were fading away. It no longer had control over him as he followed her voice out of the darkness and he made his way back home.

"Follow my voice, Damon. Come back to me." She stood on her tiptoes and she stared directly into his eyes, her fingers curling desperately against his jaw.

Damon's body started to convulse, the veins disappearing and his eyes rolling back. Bonnie was now staring into the beautiful blue eyes that she loved. She smiled widely at him, "You're back."

"I'm back." His voice cracked and he flashed her a weak smirk.

He felt lightheaded.

There was a stinging pain in his arms.

"I don't feel so good, Bon-Bon." He was losing too much blood. Kol hesitantly let go of his arm and he realized that he was covered in Damon's blood. The older man's skin was pale and he looked sick as he wobbled and lost his balance. Both of them rushed to his side as his eyes closed and he fell to the floor.

Everything went black.

'We Just Want To Be Free,

Who Is Going To Set Us Free?'

Author's Note :

I'm a little worried that people are getting bored of this fic. I really hope that isn't the case and that y'all are still enjoying it! It's actually getting close to wrapping up! I should have this fic finished by the end of the week! :)) So, please do bear with me! Thank you so much to everyone who is still reading and leaving me reviews! Y'all are amazing and your words really do mean the world to me! I love hearing from y'all!

SO! About this chapter! What do y'all think will happen now that Elijah knows what is going on? Which side will Rebekah choose? Were y'all worried about Kol and are you happy that he survived and Damon didn't kill again?! Why is this demon so desperate to kill another person!? Did you like when Bonnie pulled him out of his trance? Are you worried about Damon and his blood loss!? What do y'all want to see happen next!? I promise there is some smut coming up again shortly!

Thank you all so much for reading! I love y'all so much!

-Tracy Cook-