1,2 freddy's coming for you. 3,4 better lock your doors. 5,6 pick up sticks. 7,8 stay up late. 9,10 now's the end...The harsh laughter rushed over the tiny room and filled the air with an unholy glee. Death was in the air and the stench of it aroused as nothing else could. No one was around to witness the laugh of the mad...and the damned. *

Winter had well and truly wrapped its cold fingers around Mystic Falls, but instead of the shimmering brilliance it had before, Bonnie now felt a cold chill trickle down her spine. The blessed white had now become cold-blooded, the flurry of snow a veil to hide malevolence. The mood was no longer cheery, no longer celebratory. Matt had almost died. Someone somewhere had targeted him, and until they figured out who that someone was, the safest thing any of them could do was assume that they were all in danger. The thought of it, that her friends and family, her town, was yet again in danger from some unknown threat, had hatred shimmering low in her belly. Bonnie knew she would not stand for this, she simply had to ferret out this new threat, and she would, and destroy him like she's destroyed the others. She looked across the street and saw a familiar, friendly face. It did her spirit good to smile and wave and have it returned. This killer, whoever he was, was in for a fight he couldn't possibly imagine. Bonnie thought of the young deputy...Jesse, who had spoken with them all earlier. early-mid 20's, handsome, tall, dark haired, dark eyes. He was the serious type, Bonnie could read that in his eyes, and he wouldn't be quick to jump on a convenient excuse like rouge teens out for a joy ride. He would either be a huge help to them, or entirely in the way depending on whether or not the threat was human. Bonnie was somewhat hoping that Sheriff Forbes could keep him in line.

Bonnie stopped walking when she was in front of Elena's house. She knew that Elena had been in bad shape after she left the hospital. She and Matt had a long history and she sometimes still felt guilty about leaving him. Matt's always been a great guy, there for them all even in the midst of things he couldn't understand, and the best they could return to him was leaving him in the dark for a long time. They all felt a little guilty that he had been the one to suffer. Taking a deep breath, Bonnie walked up the dive-way to the front door and let herself in. At this point she didn't bother with knocking. The house was dark, a chilling contrast to the brilliance of the outdoors, and shadows chased each other across the walls. Bonnie almost started to turn back until she heard a thump from the upstairs bedroom. Heart in her throat, Bonnie rushed up to take the stairs two at a time to Elena's room. She burst open the door fully prepared to see her friend lying in a pool of blood and was relieved beyond thought when she saw that the room was empty. Sagging against the door, Bonnie slowly took a deep breath before shutting the door. She heard movement coming from Jeremy's room and hesitated. He hadn't come to the hospital and they hadn't spoken to each other much since she broke up with him. She's seen him though, the few times she dared come to the Gilbert house she's see him stumbling about with his drink in his hand. She knew from the stories that Elena had told her that his drinking had gotten much worse, it had gotten to a point that far exceeded his past problem with drugs and alcoholism. Bonnie started to turn away from the drama, but the noise she had heard had sounded like someone hitting the floor. She may be terribly disappointed in Jeremy, but she couldn't leave him if he had hurt himself. Taking another deep breath, she made her way down the hall to Jeremy's room.

Jeremy rested his hot head on the cool floor and tried to block out the pain in his head. He'd heard someone enter the house, and under some false pretense of heroics had decided to face whatever intruder dared enter into his home. He'd ended up stumbling into his desk, banging his head, and falling down in a heap of failure. Whoever it was that had broken in wouldn't find him much of a challenge. Jeremy smirked and tried to lift the arm that held his beloved Jack Daniels. when he couldn't quite manage it, he banged his head in frustration against the floor.

"Keep doing that and you're bound to give yourself a concussion."

Jeremy shivered as her voice traveled over him like a cool breeze. He felt the reaction in his body, she could look at him and get him hard, but more than that he felt the painful squeeze in his heart. His lips shook with the effort to hold his emotion in, and he tried again the lift the bottle to his mouth. When he failed, he simply lay back down, stumped in his own misery, angry, hurt. For her to see him this way had to have been the lowest point he had ever reached, and he turned that self-loathing into hatred for her.

"Might be that I'm praying for a concussion, best way to escape your smug sense of judgment."

She didn't back out of the room in a rush of hate like he had been hoping she would, instead she stepped further into his room, and to his extreme dismay, shut the door.

"This room smells worse than a year old Locker room that has never been properly cleaned."

Jeremy didn't answer, simply lay in his own misery and waited for her to deliver whatever she needed to in order to add her own stab to the wounds his friends had created. They used to come to him everyday to let him know how pathetic he was, and then it had simply stopped. They'd left him to his drinking and went on with their lives as if he no longer existed. They swept him under the rug like a bad joke between them and continued on. That abandonment somehow hurt more than anything he's ever felt in his life except for Bonnie's leaving him.

When he didn't have a retort for that, Bonnie's worry began to seep through her carefully built defenses. Jeremy may be in a sorry state, but his smart mouth had never before been affected. Bonnie made herself really look at him. His cloths were wrinkled and stained, he hadn't shaved in a while and tangled hair adorned his splotched face. He was sweating and the humidity of a room locked too long mixed with the sweat caused his hair to lay matted against his head. And now he had an open wound from his brief trip to the dresser on his head that was steadily bleeding and causing her to worry further. Shutting her eyes against the inevitable, Bonnie made her way over to the bathroom he shared with his sister. It was blessed clean and the cleaner air allowed Bonnie to take a deep breath. she opened the mirror above the sink and found some antiseptic. she was tempted to also take out his shaving cream and shaver, but made herself leave it. It was entirely his choice to look like a bum, and Bonnie would let him have it. when she was finished assorting all the things she would need to heal him: antiseptic, washcloth, jelly to lay over the wound, and bandages, Bonnie went back into the room where Jeremy lay exactly as she had left him.

"You are really pathetic, Jeremy Gilbert, did you know that?"

"Thank you."

Bonnie shook her head and bent to snatch his drink from his loose grip.

"Hey! Give that back to me!"

Jeremy finally jerked his head up, and swore when the room spun. He continued to swear when Bonnie ignored him and simply made her way back into the bathroom. Rising shakily, but determinedly, to his feet, Jeremy followed her into the bathroom.

"You give me back my Jack Daniels, Bonnie Bennett."

"Sit."

when he remained standing and simply glared at her, Bonnie took matters into her own hands and shoved him onto the lowered lid of the toilet. she simply smiled sweetly when he swore at her some more.

"You use curse words as a defense mechanism."

"No, I use booze as a defense mechanism and I'd like to have mine back now."

Jeremy's anger at her had only increased when she had easily overpowered him into sitting, and now it reached unmanageable proportions when she continued on with her business with that infuriating smile on her face.

"This will only take a second. Now sit still, this might sting a little."

"Ouch! shit, Bonnie!"

"Big baby. And don't swear at me, Jeremy. You know I hate it."

"Then stop torturing me."

"I'm not torturing you, I'm healing you."

Jeremy's retort against that claim was swiftly shoved back down his throat when she moved in closer to him. Her chest was right at his eye level, and he could just see the sprinkle of dusky freckles on her chest. He remembered when he used to kiss each one of them and make her giggle. There were 27. His hands shook as he balled them up against his side. She smelled like she always did, Strawberry cake and Bonnie Bennett. She leaned in closer to concentrate on her task and he felt her soft breath flutter his hair. He was totally wrapped in her. Consumed in a way he thought had been lost to him. She had been his world once. He remember when they had first started dating and he had been so unable to even let her out of his sight for a moment. They had spent every waking moment together. Jeremy shut his eyes and this time instead of blocking out the memories, he let them consume him, travel over him and take him over.

"There, Done."

Had she sounded a bit breathless? Was she as affected by being close to him as he was by her? God he hoped so. The pain in his head felt much better, but now the ache had spread to his heart.

"Gee, thanks Dr. Bennett."

"More like nurse doom to you, pal."

Because her answer made him want to laugh, Jeremy scowled at her, "Can I have my sh-stuff back now?"

Bonnie cocked her head and regarded him with that adorable little frown he used to love kissing from her lips, "Why?"

Jeremy shook himself out of her spell.

"Why? why what?"

"Why do you need it? The alcohol, I mean."

"What the fu-heck do you mean, 'Why do I need it? I need it to drown out the stupidity of the world, that's why."

Bonnie shook her head, "Than draw, paint, play video games, have sex, play sports, read a book."

"Or drink. And I choose to drink. It's no longer any of your business, Bonnie."

"You're wrong. Me breaking up with you doesn't mean I stopped considering you as a friend-"

"Than why did you never visit me? Call, write, wave, anything? You broke up with me, Bonnie, and then completely shut me out of your life!"

"That's always been your problem, Jeremy. You only think about you. Had it never occurred to you that I stayed away for my own good? Because being around you was as painful for me as it was for you? Breaking up with you killed me as much as it did you, Jeremy."

"Then why did you do it?"

Bonnie was silent. She refused to answer such a ridiculous question.

"We have to talk about it, Bonnie."

She shook her head, "You know the whole world isn't all bad, Jeremy."

Jeremy sighed at her change of subject. He knew they would never get past their issues as long as she ignored them.

"Oh, yeah it is, Bonnie. Just look at Caroline. That girl was born to be a mother and now that she is a vampire, she'll never get that chance. That has been stolen from her and eventually it'll kill her."

"Caroline can adopt children."

"Why don't you adopt a clue. Vampires can't leave paper trails. And Caroline is forever 17. Last time I checked 17 year olds couldn't adopt."

"She's Caroline. She'll find a way."

Jeremy held back his retort to that. Bonnie needed to believe it, and he wouldn't be the one to crush her optimism.

"Give me back my drink, Bonnie."

Bonnie hesitated for just a moment, and then handed him back the Jack.

"I miss you, Jeremy."

The quiet admission was wrenched from her heart, right before she fled and left him alone. Jeremy shut his eyes. There had been more than disappointment in her eyes, disappointment he could live with, there had been a thread of something reaching for him to reassure her. Jeremy knew that before, when they were together, Bonnie had always turned to him when she had been at her lowest, when she had been unsure of herself. It wasn't often, but that look, that old habit to turn to him, cut him up. Taking the bottle in shaking hands, he poured the contents down the drain. He would never be who he was, he may never again have Bonnie back the way he needed her, but he was damn sure going to be there for her if it was the last thing he did. *

You went to his house. The drunk. what were you doing in there? You aren't stupid enough to get back with him, I know you, Wildflower, so there has to have been another reason why you were there. what was it? hmm... No matter. I promised you a body, didn't I? Don't I always deliver on my promises?

"Hey, stop lolly gagging, you said you heard the noise from back here?"

Sheriff Forbes looked back at her companion as she made her way further into the woods. She was anxious to get on with the case and have somebody in cuffs. The strike against Matt hit just a little too close to home, a little too close to her baby girl, And Liz wanted these perps off her streets sooner rather than later.

"Yeah, Liz. Sounded like a bunch of punks having a little too much fun in the back of the woods there. May be that we'll find them with some of that alcohol from the Grill."

Liz nodded and turned her head to peer deeper into the woods. She never had a chance. The first blow hit her in the back and had her falling down, breath escaping in a whoosh of pain. The second and third stab to the back happened almost simultaneously and before she even had time to hit the ground. The forth stab hit a little deeper and connected to bone. Grunting with the effort to extract his knife from the bone, the killer shuddered at the sound of bone scraping against metal. The sheriff was now still, bleeding from too many mortal wounds. Turning her over, staring into her shocked, glossy eyes, the killed grinned, "Never expected this, did you? You were hitting just a little too close to the truth, sweet. Really don't need any interference from cops on this, hope you understand?"

Lifting his arms high, he swung down and buried the knife deeply into her chest. His arms rose and stabbed down again. Blood spurted and got all over his cloths, in his eyes, he smiled, and blindly now, stabbed again...And again...again...again...again...again...*