Bonnie tilted her head back and let out a long exhale, watching as her breath fades into the night sky, spotting a full moon and she smiled. Remembering how her, Elena and Caroline's parents use to warn them about the monsters that came out at night when they were kids. Back then she thought that was just their attempt at scaring them into not breaking curfew or to not sneak out or some other nonsense parents try to discourage you from doing what they did when they were your age. But now she chuckled knowing that they were preparing them for the 'secrets' of this town. Along with that knowledge she can call bullshit on that even more now that she knows that the real monsters walk in the day just as well as they do the night and are not exactly on the ugly side either. Bonnie wondered what they would think of her if they knew that she was now one of what their parents had tried to warn them about, and that she was even friends with said monsters before her own transition. She knew how Liz took it with Caroline but she wasn't willing to put herself on the line. Friend or not.
With a sigh, she shook herself out of those thoughts and let her eyes return to darting back and forth between cheer practice and football practice from her seat on the bleachers. Watching as her friends keep up their act of normal teenagers. She couldn't fathom how they did it, how they haven't ripped everyone to shreds or at least tapped a vein or two. Kudos to them she thought mockingly and took a sip from her cup.
Green eyes rolled when a breeze whipped her hair around wildly. Deciding to ignore them she calmly set her cup down and pulled her hair into a ponytail. Raising her cup to her lips and returned her full attention to Matt. A smile spreading splitting across her face when she sees him tackle some random right before they hit Tyler. She was half tempted to cheer but quickly remembered that she had a role to play.
A full month into this whole no humanity thing and she learned that this was another thing she could call b.s. on. It was nice at first but after after the two week mark she grew tired of it. She felt things. Not enough to make her feel she was back to 'herself' but the basic emotions were there and she didn't like it, because she knew guilt would be making its appearance soon and she couldn't deal with that yet. She still had things to do, things to accomplish.
"I thought we agreed to you keeping a low profile." Damon said when it became clear that she was going to pretend he isn't right next to her.
"No," Bonnie replied still keeping her attention on Matt. "you and your brother tried to convince me to stay at the boarding house. I pretended to listen and entertain the idea to get the both of you to shut up and left as soon as you snuck out for a late night snack. And Stefan was sent out to do something for Klaus."
"And what would that be?" Damon frowned trying to keep his anger in knowing she was only revealing the information to get a rise out of him.
"If you really wanted to know you wouldn't still be here with me." Bonnie smiled. "What are you doing here Damon?"
"Caroline."
"Tell her that I don't feed on the locals." Bonnie fought her smile when she spotted the shock on Damon's face out of the corner of her eye. "What happened at the boarding house was just a little teaser for what I'll do if any of you get in my way. Plus I was a little bitter that you treated me as if I was nothing more than trash."
Damon blinked when he hears her break out into full Italian. Perfect accent and pronunciation and everything. She truly was full of surprises. "Bon-"
"I don't care what you have to say Damon."
"Well obviously," He remarked in a tone that made it clear he's annoyed at her reminding him that her switch was flipped. "you've gone out of your way to make it known that Bonnie the good witch is gone. But if you paid attention you would know that you were at the old witch's house. If you bury a witch near their ancestors in time and they deem a witch fit they break their rules." He revealed and watched as something akin to surprise flashed across her face but was gone just as fast and he sighed.
"You and I both know the humanity switch is just a myth." Bonnie smiled, disregarding his defense. "It works for as long as you hold on to whatever made you decide to 'flip it' and then when you're over it it's back on. You just stay in this state of void because you manage to lie to yourself. If you say anything enough, you might just start to believe it yourself."
"So-" He stops when Bonnie tapped her ear before pointing to Caroline and Tyler who looked away when they see him follow Bonnie's finger to where they're now standing along with Matt. While he knows he should be scared at how quickly she's managed to catch on he found himself smiling before sobering when he sees the brief quirk of her lips until she hides it behind her cup. Her gaze still straight ahead despite the football players and cheerleaders having left the field with the exception of Matt and Tyler. "So you're just pretending?"
"Not exactly. Whenever I see you, your brother or your obsession my anger returns and I want to rip you to shreds and burn this town to the ground. But that's not how I want to end things. I want you all to suffer first, a swift death would be too kind. Plus if I did destroy this hell hole I'd take down Caroline, Matt and Tyler in the process and they don't deserve that."
"So you're going to kill us?"
Bonnie drained the remainder of her cup and licked her lips as she crushed it. Tossed it over her shoulder before she replied. "Only if you get in my way." Her voice light, almost teasing. Afterwards she stood up and walked up the stairs of the steel bleachers to the very top ignoring Damon's calls after her as she hopped over the railing. Laughed as she free falled to the ground, and thanked Tyler with a smile when he caught her, patting his cheek lightly before walking away.
"Stefan," Bonnie drawled when the ripper fell into step with her. "what can I do for you?"
"You mean besides lift the compulsion?" He asked fighting the urge to grab her and shake her out of whatever was going on in her head. To make her go back to the Bonnie that he knew before, but he knows that even if her humanity was on he would never see that Bonnie again and he felt a whole new wave of guilt washed over him. Because while a lot of the things that happened were out of his hands. This was not one of them, Bonnie being a vampire was on him.
"Why? Is it taking over your time to compete with your brother for Elena's affections?"
"Klaus is suspicious." He answered deciding to ignore her barb.
"Wouldn't you be?" Bonnie raised an eyebrow, smiling up at him when he steps in front of her. Watching with interest as he bites his lip when she stops just before she walks right into him yet makes no attempt to put any space between them.
Stefan waited for her to step away from him, and tried to follow her lead as she held her ground staring up at him. "So you're trying to get him to do your dirty work?"
"I think it's only fair, he used you and Damon to do his. Why should I go through the trouble of finding different pawns?"
"Bonnie…"
"In case you haven't been paying attention I'm fully aware that it was either me or Elena, but that's no excuse for what you did. You and Damon decided to take the easy route. The one time I would've been willing to help, neither of you even bothered to pick up your phone. But I get it. I've been the first one to put my life on the line to save Elena so why would this time be any different? Oh wait…" Bonnie trailed off pretending to think of the difference, eyes narrowed at that being what caused Stefan to look away.
"Did you and Damon ever stop to think that maybe if you actually killed me Esther would have succeeded in killing her children? That you wouldn't still be running around for another way? That they'd be dead?"
"Elena would've eventually gotten over my death." She said, before he can even bring up that excuse. "She would've mourned me and moved on...possibly with you considering Damon snapped my neck. And let's face it you're better with the whole sympathy thing. So extra brownie points. You would've had the girl, Stefan. You wouldn't still be fighting with your brother over a girl that-"
"It was supposed to be me." He blurted his guilt getting the best of him.
Bonnie took a step back, his words hitting her like a slap to the face. "Excuse me?" She breathed staring up at him not believing her ears.
"It was supposed to be me." Stefan repeated. "Damon and I couldn't decide who was going to…" He trailed off. "So we...we flipped a coin." He finished his confession, keeping his eyes on the ground bracing himself for the blowup. When nothing happened he slowly raised his eyes back up to Bonnie and felt his gut clench at the sight of her looking at him with what seems to be tears in her eyes. He opened his mouth to say something but was stopped when he felt a fist smash into his face, sending him stumbling back and he's surprised that it actually takes him a while to get his footing considering she didn't use her enhanced strength. Eventually he managed to do so and began to feel a throbbing sensation in his nose leaving him stunned but before he could dwell on that, he saw another fist coming straight towards his eye and he blocked it opening his mouth to attempt to calm Bonnie down seeing the rage in her eyes.
Bonnie allowed Stefan to catch her hand and meets his gaze head on noting the brief flash of fear in them before snatching her fist out of his grip and twisted his arm until she heard a loud crack. Lifted her foot until it hit him in the chin and the next thing she knew she's straddling him with her hands around his throat until she's suddenly pulled off of him. Though not before managing to stomp her foot on his crotch. Picking up Tyler's scent she allowed the hybrid to hold her until she felt herself calm down.
"Run," She directed lowly the moment Stefan finally met her eyes. The vampire only doing as told when he sees her manage to escape Tyler's grip.
"Bon."
Bonnie slowly turned around to face Tyler when she heard him call her name and sees the hybrid standing behind her, wondering why he's taken it upon himself to try to be her protector. Her eyes flit to Caroline taking note of the blonde standing defensively in front of Matt and Bonnie bit the inside of her cheek when she saw the fear in his eyes and the wariness in Caroline's. Unsure of what to say she looked back to Tyler who waited until she nodded before opening his mouth.
"I know it's not exactly the right question to ask...but, are you okay?"
Bonnie's eyes went to her fist, observing the blood on her knuckles that she knows isn't her own.
"I didn't mean physically."
She looked back up to the hybrid. "How much of that did you hear?"
"Everything," Tyler answered, not seeing the point in lying. While he knew he probably would have had the same reaction Bonnie did. He also knew that once her emotions were back on―he didn't want her to have another death to feel guilty for. Justified or not.
"Then you should know the answer to that question. I know that Elena comes first but...a coin toss?" She whispered. "I didn't think that my life meant that little to them that they could decide who had the honors on the outcome of a penny."
Tyler opened his mouth to do some serious course corrections on that whole statement that Elena comes first but he doesn't get the chance, and he's torn between pulling Bonnie back into his arms and letting her go for it.
"Bonnie-"
"You can take that bullshit excuse and shove it." Bonnie cut Damon off refusing to even look at him, fighting back a laugh at his audacity to even try to speak to her right now.
"Damon," Tyler called, keeping his eyes on Bonnie spotting her roll her shoulders back. "maybe you should go." He never cared for the elder Salvatore and would be in no rush to pay respects. Tyler doubted that he would even show up to his funeral. But he knew that Bonnie wouldn't see Damon's death as doing the world a favor for forever. As soon as her humanity was back in tact, she would feel guilt even if for only for how it hurt Elena.
While normally Damon would take that as a challenge he decided to take Tyler's advice after seeing the blood on Bonnie's hands, knowing from the scent that it's not her's and quickly made himself scarce.
"I'll talk to you later Ty." Bonnie said, turning on her heel, speeding away before he can protest. Not missing the sigh that passed his lips.
"Bonnie?"
The mere sound of the voice made Bonnie want to scream but she simply kept her pace as she walked to her locker. Forced an indifferent look on her features when a face that apparently pops up every couple of hundred years appeared in her peripheral. Instead of acknowledging their presence Bonnie opted to spin the dial until she heard a soft click and opened her locker. And waited for her uninvited guest to say something knowing that they wouldn't take her hint of not being in the mood to talk.
"Bonnie, I know you're not happy with me but can you atleast…" Elena trailed off and instinctively took a step back when Bonnie finally acknowledged her. But the brunette began to breathe again when she noticed the lack of a smirk on her childhood friend's face at her brief moment of weakness.
"Can we talk?"
"About…" Bonnie inquired rifling through her locker for her notes from AP Government class, wondering why the hell she was even taking AP Gov in the first place.
"About what happened."
"You're going to have to be more specific Lena." Bonnie lilted, still searching her locker.
"I know you compelled us."
Bonnie nodded.
"Then how am I still here?"
"I lifted your compulsion and shifted it elsewhere."
Elena tensed untrusting of her own hearing. Despite everything that she's heard and seen firsthand from the former witch, she still couldn't believe how nonchalant Bonnie was acting about this. Like it wasn't a big deal at all. Elena knew asking Bonnie what she did would be pointless so she looks down at her feet desperately searching her mind for something else to say.
"I'll give you a hint, since you seem to be learning pretty quick. It's the reason why your puppies have been keeping a distance. I needed to get you alone long enough for you to deliver a message to them for me."
Elena frowned, but then a memory of herself holding up a knife to her own throat as she told Stefan and Damon to stay away from her until she comes to the boarding house forced its way into her mind. On their own volition her eyes went back to Bonnie, a look of pure horror on her face, as she stared at the girl she once called her sister, wondering how Bonnie could do something like that to her.
"Your mind is getting stronger," Bonnie observed at the look on her face, making it clear to her that Elena remembered. "that's good. Soon I won't be able to compel you. Believe it or not I am trying to help you Elena. I said help not protect." Bonnie stressed when Elena opened her mouth to voice her disagreement. "That's not my responsibility anymore, besides they showed us both in one night that they're willing to do anything for you. No need for a third party in that." Bonnie pursed her lips, narrowing her eyes at her locker until she spies a purple composition book. A smile on her face as she retrieves it and stuffed it into her bag, closing her locker. "So, I need you to tell the Salvatores to call a meeting with the Originals. As you can see I'm tired of 'laying low', and dodging Rebekah is boring me now. So I need them to get them all to the boarding house tomorrow at...about five thirty. If they can do that simple task I'll set your boyfriend free from Klaus."
Elena frowned not understanding why Bonnie would let Stefan free, especially in light of recent information. She found it hard to look at either of the Salvatores the same after that. She knew that they go all out to save her but she never expected them to do something so low. Stefan in particular.
"Can you do that for me Elena?" Bonnie looked at her, sighing when she sees the doppelgänger tilt her head in confusion. Clearly wondering why she was giving her a choice―or at least pretending to.
"I don't need to compel you to do this, I know having Stefan back will be motivation enough. However if that isn't I'll have Damon offer himself on a silver platter to Rebekah. Your choice." Bonnie shrugged walking around Elena. "If you still want that talk, you'll have to be alone. That means no one except for you and me. Not even Caroline." Bonnie stated, holding her gaze as she walked backwards until she felt as though Elena understood her terms. Offering her a small smile before turning on her heel strolled out of the front doors to the school leaving Elena alone at her locker.
"I need to see her alone." Elena said, turning to face Caroline when she saw a wisp of blonde hair in her peripheral.
"I don't think that's a good idea." Caroline shook her head remembering her outburst on Stefan a few days ago.
"Why not?"
"She's not herself right now."
"Who is?" Elena pointed out. "But I can't lose anyone else Caroline. Especially Bonnie." She offered the blonde a half hearted smile as she walked away from her, avoiding both Tyler and Matt's eyes as she strolled past them.