Note: First thing first, I wanted to say something to you. Reviews are a great encouragement to keep on writing this story, I don't get many but I still appreciate very much the few I get, and I needed to say this to those who are so kind to me: I am very thankful. This chapter takes part to the Missing Scene Contest over the Bamon Withdrawal Syndrome tumblr blog. The songs I used are "Closed Eyes" by The Narrative and "Dismantle . Repair" by Anberlin.
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His lashes tremble against the white marble of his skin, while consciousness reaches his body that is lying on the ground. He smells the rich aroma of the earth, the spicy scent of blood that's held magic for generations and the faint smell of honey.
His blue eyes snap open and he growls because of the lingering pain in his skull. He mutters a damn and then remembers: Little, naked feet on the grass, and Bonnie's silhouette glowing against the candlelight's around them, walking ahead without seeing him.
Damon senses the dawn approaching and the troubles that are surely already waiting for him.
The clouds hold a storm over this road
Alaric is not there, he knows. Bonnie must be inside, because he can still smell her in the air. That's good because he needs to give her a piece of his mind; what the hell has gotten into her?
But he already knows, because he knows the glint in her eyes when she is about to have fun at his expense, he knows the curve that her lips take when she has the upper hand, he knows her way of holding up her chin, all fiery and proud, the hurt and the anger that always push her to use her magic on him, and there was none of that in her when he saw her. But never-mind, he can't pass up the opportunity to hold something against her just for the fun of it, right?
Only when he finds her, he realizes with a creeping horror that she's not gonna listen.
You're dreaming
Or at least you've got your eyes closed
She lies there abandoned on the ground, like a broken doll its owner was tired of and just threw away. He can see the ripped flesh at the base of her neck and the smell of her blood is so strong that it makes him hungry and sick to the stomach because he can barely register the noise of her heartbeat and he's not totally sure he's really hearing it or simply imagining it.
Damon is next to her in a flesh, bent above her. He cages her in between his arms, keeping his palms flat on the ground, like he wants to trap her so she won't go away.
His nose is almost brushing her cheek while he tries to feel her breath on his skin, and when he does feel it, weak and faint against his lips, he feels relief washing over him, making him slightly high.
She's still alive, but he knows she won't be for long because she's slipping away fast.
"You die on me and I'll kill you," he threatens, making no sense. But nothing really makes sense anymore; not this fear, nor the urgency he feels- surely not the perspective of her gone.
And this dormant love you've built inside your stubborn ways,
Well its begging now,
for air of the silent breath of change
He bites his wrist tearing his own flesh apart with no mercy, while with the other hand he adjusts her face so that his blood will drop directly into her mouth. But she can't swallow. Bonnie is too weak to open her eyes, let alone drink from him, so he growls with frustration, scolding her.
"Why can't you ever make things easier for me? Huh?"
He takes her head gently between his hands and puts her to rest on his lap, almost cradling her. He rubs two fingers on his wrist that is already healing and brushes them on her lips, slipping them inside her mouth to force her to swallow the liquid.
"Com' on, Bonnie," he tells her, "just one drop."
It's like feeding a pet or a newborn child and he was doing so with a care and a consideration that he didn't even know he had in him; and it's quite embarrassing. Oh, hell, he really hates her!
As these waves crash against the highway cliffs...
I'm so scared they'll flood me where I sit
His blood go down her throat so slowly with her saliva, and the time that it takes to slip inside her tiny body is the very same time that could make her die - right now, on his lap, while he does his damn best for this ungrateful, judgey, infuriating person, and he just wants her to live so he'll have a chance to rub it in her face that she owes him her life, even if his debt is still greater then hers.
Damon has to repeat his actions a few more times more before she actually starts to cooperate a little and apply a light suction on the tip of his fingers. He's almost tempted to make an innuendo, to exorcise the fear, but he doesn't because she still wouldn't be able to answer back and it would be no fun, just pitiful.
When Bonnie tries to speak, to ask what happened, he shushes her.
Well the roads, they change to waterways...
They never carry home
"Later," he says, using one hand at the back of her head to raise her enough to let her drink alone from his other wrist, which he quickly rips.
He lets one hand down while she holds up the other to drink from his wrist. It's a strange moment, seeing her self-conscious of her actions, depending on him, and listening to her heart grow stronger because of his blood, while they are alone in the middle of nowhere.
Damon cradled her, and fed her and now he watches her come back to life the same way nature does after winter season.
You pull back (pull back) and you angle towards the window…
Now the rain is crashing down,
And oh my god, you're beautiful
When she decides she's had enough, and tries to move away from him, he pushes his wrist toward her mouth urging her, "A bit more," just because he doesn't want to take any chances, or maybe because - even if he won't admit it - it's nice to have something of him running into her veins and to know that somehow he is her strength: that he is inside her body; and she is now connected to him, and will be for a while.
And I'm so unsighted, still I pray you'll hold back your escape...
She does as she's told, which is a first, and when they're done, he is sure she is blushing while saying her timid "Thank you."
He bets she looked like this the first time a guy whom she had a crush on spoke to her; all embarrassed and brave and undeniably cute. Even if he's quite sure that at that time she was not made of curves and velvet; was not as inviting, flushed with the intimacy of shared blood, while she sat on the ground with no shoes and a dress that rose up just enough to make him guess what's underneath it and give him the idea of a lover that would be about to promise him the sweetest death - if it wasn't for the simple fact that he never considered her that way, that is.
Yeah we still got time
And in my mind these bends could be steered straight
They are both tense, reluctantly looking each other in the eyes now after he held on her life so strongly. After he hurt her so badly at the dance, after she gave back just as much hurt as he gave. After they've been each other's tormentors and enemies and saviors.
Reluctantly looking at each other in the eyes now that they are just Damon and Bonnie, and they are something.
Something that makes him uneasy, actually.
"Let's go."
And he doesn't give her much of a chance to protest when he holds her at his side because her legs are still weak, and there would be no point in trying to because she's practical and knows her limits. Just, she would like not to know what it's like being pressed at Damon Salvatore's side; what it feels like to have his arm around her waist, one hand sinking onto her side and the fingertips of the other one brushing against her hip, like he's ready to hold her up if she falls.
That's a funny thought for her, to know that Damon - of all people, vampires, night creatures or whatever else pop up in this hellish hole of a town - will catch her if she falls.
She just doesn't feel like laughing, realizing she really trusts him to catch her.
He follows the rhythm of her steps, towering over her to make sure she can actually walk. She feels so self-conscious that she is almost tempted to hide her face, but the only thing in which she could, would be Damon's chest and so she must endure his blue gaze, his arm wrapped around her body. Bonnie's nerves are so on alert because of his nearness that when she gets a thorn stuck in her foot she can't stop herself from crying out.
"What is it?" he asks, stilling his movements.
"Nothing," she replies, taking another step to force him to drop the conversation, but the pain is sharper than before because the thorn must have gone deeper, and she raises her heel to keep it from touching the ground.
"Stop being stubborn, Cinderella," he tells her, annoyed, taking her into his arms.
"I'm not some sort of damsel in distress, nor I am a spineless princess," she tells him, twisting in his arms so that he will let her go, but he just holds her tighter against him.
"No, you're not the princess, you're the witch and the witch never gets to the last page," this is what he realized earlier. What he realizes now - looking into her wary green eyes - is that he wants to make sure she'll be the first witch who does.
Bonnie finds herself sitting in the front seat of his car in a flash, and then she sees him getting down on one knee outside of the car.
Damon raises her leg to take a look at her foot, and when she draws it back, self-conscious and embarrassed, he just holds her ankle forcing her to stretch out the leg.
"All this advance and retreat would be absolutely seductive but this really is not the right time, bird," he tells her with an irritated expression. He would really like not to feel drawn to her, but he does, and he needs to go to Elena and forget he ever felt this way, but right now he must take care of Bonnie.
He takes a look under her foot and sees the thorn.
"It's quite deep," he says with a practical tone, "I suppose I'll have to extract it using my mouth."
"What?" she actually shrieks, and he has to hold her ankle again because she's trying to hold her knee to her chest to not let him touch her, "You're kidding me!"
Damon smiles and when she sees the gleam in his eyes she realizes that she just got it right.
"You are kidding me," she says, outraged. Her muscles relax suddenly and her foot is back in his lap.
"Couldn't really stop myself," he admits with a smirk, tearing away the thorn in the same moment.
She winces in her seat and he puts her foot inside the car, standing and then closing the door.
Inside the car there is only silence. He is very concentrated on the road and she does her best to calm down, but she really can't. The radio on doesn't help either. Damon's blood is in her system, she's very aware of the lingering feeling of his hands on her body, the air inside the car smells terribly of him, and she is incredibly sensitive to his very presence.
To put it simply, Bonnie is overwhelmed by him. Probably one of the effects of his blood working its way inside her and it's too tiring to try and resist. There's no barrier she can put up against it and her body gives in, surrendering to both his blood inside her veins and sleep.
I am the patron saint of lost causes
A fraction of who I once believed (change)
It's only a matter of time
Opinions I would try and rewrite
If life had background music playing your song
Her steady heartbeat, clear under the music, gives away her state and Damon turns his eyes on her. Now he can cease the way she made him feel concerned. Now he can just look at her to try and find out what it is about her that makes him feel almost threatened, aside from the fact that she can grill his brain any moment. But it is all pointless.
I have got to be honest, I tried to escape you
But the orchestra plays on, and they sang
What he really needs to do is tell Stefan they are deep in the shit once again, and look at Elena and feel like his usual self.
Oh, things are going to change now for the better
And oh, things a- Abruptly, he turns off the radio and pushes down on the accelerator.