A/N: I've officially changed the rating of this story to M.

Song: Beggin' For Thread by BANKS

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but Julius and my words. No copyright infringement intended. This is for entertainment purposes only.

4 - Beggin' For Thread

Six Years Earlier...

Jonathan couldn't remember if he'd ever been happier. He gazed upon the young lady before him with pure love in his eyes. April threw her head back and her laughter rang out into the night air. The sound was like music to Jonathan's ear. He loved to make her smile. She slightly leaned over the bridge and looked out onto the dark water, but Jonathan couldn't tear his eyes from her long enough to appreciate the beauty of their surroundings. There was no doubt in his mind now. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. The ring was tucked safely in his inside jacket pocket, and the whole night had been going according to plan. He was going to top it off with the perfect marriage proposal.

He placed his hand on the small of her back and stepped closer to her. "April..." He was interrupted by the ringing of her cell phone. She pulled it out of her purse and looked at the ID.

"It's my mother," she reported before picking it up. "Hey Mom!...No, I'm still out with Jon..." She looked to Jonathan. "Just give me a second."

"No problem babe," he said and she wandered off a little ways down the bridge as her mother yapped her ear off as usual.

"She's a very pretty girl." The voice came from behind Jonathan. He turned and was taken aback by the woman before him. She was tall and strikingly beautiful. Her jet black hair, long and thick, cascaded down her back and over her shoulders. The slight wind was picking it up, causing it to frame her face in a flattering way. Her creamy skin was perfect and unblemished, and she was looking at Jonathan with the most piercing gray eyes he'd ever seen, which were brought out nicely by her all black attire.

"Thank you. She is."

She approached Jonathan slowly and to his surprise she softly placed her hand on the side of his face. She gazed into his eyes as she spoke. "You are absolutely beautiful," she told him. "You are not meant to be with her."

"Excuse -"

"You will not ask her to marry you." The woman's eyes dilated as she said this to him, and Jonathan no longer had a choice in the matter, "What's your name?"

"Jonathan," he answered obediently.

She shook her head. "No," she said. "You are not meant for this life, You will soon be mine, and you will leave Jonathan behind forever. Julius...you will be Julius. My Julius." She took her hand down and stepped away. She could see out of her periphery, April turning and heading their way.

I will come for you," she promised. And with a blink of an eye, she was gone.

Julius awoke with a cold dose of reality, tied to a chair, in an unfamiliar setting. He swore loudly as he tried to move but realized he was completely restrained. Damon stood before the fireplace, a drink in his hand, with his back to him.

"Finally," he said before turning to face him. "I was beginning to think I would have to start the party without you."

"Who the fuck are you?!" Julius cried.

"A friend of Bonnie's," Damon replied.

"She told you to do this?" Julius asked, angrily.

"Hey, you're the one tied to the chair which means I ask the questions!" Damon scolded. "Who are you, and why are you in Mystic Falls?"

"What does it matter to you?"

"Do yourself a favor and don't answer my question with a question," Damon warned. "Again, who are you and why are you here?" This time Julius answered him with an evil glare and stone cold silence. Damon sighed. "Obviously, you want to do this the fun way." He walked over to the table and slipped on a pair of gloves. Grabbing a bit of vervain, he waltzed over to Julius and held it threateningly above him.

"You're a sick motherfucker," Julius told him.

"And you are up to no good!" Damon said with wide eyes. "Otherwise, you wouldn't be so secretive about why you're here. Does Bonnie know?" Julius remained silent. "How do you know Bonnie?"

"I met her at that sad excuse for a bar downtown," he confessed. "Like two weeks ago. She doesn't have anything to do with me."

"Why are you here?"

Silence.

"Fine." Damon placed the vervain against Julius' face and his silence was broken by a scream of pain. "Start talking."

"Fuck you," Julius spat angrily.

With that, Damon stuffed the vervain into his mouth. "There's a lot more where this came from, buddy," Damon told him as he tried to spit it out, but Damon held it there. Julius' throat was on fire and he internally screamed as he choked on it. It wasn't until this moment, he was starting to regret ever coming to Mystic Falls.

Ten minutes away, an unaware Bonnie was being successfully distracted by her two best friends. The three girls lounged on the couch in the Bennett house, stuffing their faces with junk food and watching Mean Girls.

"Elena, have you talked to your brother today?" Bonnie asked as Damien demanded his pink shirt back onscreen.

"Yeah, he's working tonight," Elena replied. Bonnie didn't fail to notice the quick look exchanged between she and Caroline. Elena had never been a good liar.

"Okay," Bonnie said. "I'll be right back, I want some more ice-cream." She stood and Elena and Caroline kept their eyes glued to the screen as she rushed off into the kitchen. Since they'd once again arrived on her doorstep unannounced, they seemed to be trying to prevent her from contacting Jeremy. She was going to get to the bottom of it. She whipped out her cell and quickly dialed.

"Come on," she whispered as the phone rang and rang.

Just as she was about to hang up there was a click, "Hello?"

"Damon?" Bonnie asked, surprised.

"Judgy," he replied in his familiar sardonic tone.

"What are you doing with Jeremy's phone?" She demanded to know.

"What are you doing calling him?" Damon asked. "Tell Elena and Caroline they had one job!" Bonnie heard a man scream in the background.

"What was that?"

"That would be your vampire boyfriend," Damon replied. Bonnie's heart dropped. "He's being very tight-lipped about what he's doing here. I am surprised you've kept him a secret, Bonnie. What do you know?"

"Don't hurt him, Damon!" Bonnie cried.

"I won't if he starts talking," he said. "Until then..." Bonnie heard Julius howl again. "Gotta go." There was a click as Damon hung up. Bonnie cursed loudly, and when she whirled around she wasn't surprised to see Elena and Caroline standing there with guilty eyes.

"I can't believe you guys!" She shouted.

"Bonnie, we don't trust this guy," Elena said as Bonnie stormed past them. "I asked Damon not to use violence, I swear."

"But you knew he was going to anyway!" Bonnie yelled back at her as she headed toward the front door. "You shouldn't have told Damon anything!"

"I didn't have a choice!" Elena went after her. "You kept lying to us! He could be dangerous!"

Caroline vamp-sped to the door before Bonnie could reach it and blocked it. Bonnie looked back at Elena who was standing behind her like a security guard. "Seriously?" Bonnie was in disbelief. "You guys are going to try and trap me in here."

"It's for your own good," Caroline said.

"He was going to leave!" Bonnie argued. "I swear I was pushing him out. It may have been taking some time, but I was taking the non-violent approach. I would've gone there if I needed to but either way, I was going to get him out. You guys should've never intervened."

"It's too late now," Elena said, sadly. "The damage is done. Who knows what Damon has done to him, and if he lets him go now, there's no way he'll leave quietly. Vampires live for revenge."

"You don't even know him," Bonnie snapped.

"Neither do you," Caroline spoke up. "At least that's what you told us. If that's true, then you can't say what he'll do."

Bonnie didn't want to talk about this anymore. "Caroline, move," she demanded. The blonde didn't budge. "If you care about saving our friendship at all you will move."

"Bonnie, please..." Elena's voice wavered. "There may be another threat out there. We need to know. We're trying to keep everyone we know and love safe."

Realization quickly sunk in for Bonnie. "Damon is going to kill him, isn't he?" She questioned. "Even if Julius tells him everything, he's going to kill him." There was a moment of silence, as neither of the girls wanted to confirm this.

"Unbelievable," Bonnie muttered.

"If he doesn't, Julius will just turn around and try to kill him," Elena pointed out. Bonnie felt a burst of anger inside of her, and her following actions were not thought out beforehand.

In an instant, both vampires were on the floor, holding their heads and screaming in excruciating pain. Bonnie quickly opened the door and, stepping over Caroline, rushed out of the house. Their pain ceased as she got into her car. They could do nothing but listen to the sounds of her pulling away, as their emotions went from shock to disbelief to anger.

Julius' wounds weren't healing as an impatient Damon continuously vervained him. It seemed like he'd been at this forever and he'd only gotten one word out of him. A name to be exact. Valerie.

"Tell me this, Julius," Damon squatted so he was face-to-face with the suffering vampire. "If and when I kill you, will this Valerie or anyone else come looking for you?" Nothing. "I looked through your phone. Who's this person sending threatening messages? They don't want you here either, and when I called the number there wasn't an answer. Is it Valerie?" No answer. Damon sighed. "Okay, here's what I'm going to do. Because I'm nice, I'm going to kill you quick and if anyone comes for you, I'll quickly kill them too. Deal?" Julius' hazel eyes were bloodshot, and they continued to pierce into Damon as he stood. "See you on the other side, brother."

Julius let out a shout as Damon punched a hole in his chest and wrapped his fingers around his non-beating heart. Not a second later, the doors of the boardinghouse flew open, and the little witch was storming the castle. Damon released Julius' heart as Bonnie ran into the room, and before he could say anything she threw her hand up and he was flying through the air. He hit the wall with a loud thud then the floor as Bonnie ran to Julius.

"What the hell did you do that for?" Damon grumbled as he tried to gather himself.

Bonnie's eyes widened at the sight of Julius. He was bloody and sweaty, burn marks riddled his body, and his usually perfect hair was matted to his forehead. She was appalled and disturbed at the sight of him. He looked spent and defeated as they locked eyes, a sad contrast to the smug arrogance she'd seen in him prior. "What did you do to him?" She shouted back at Damon who was now standing up.

"What, are you shocked?" He asked. "Don't act brand new on me, Bonnie. You know this is what I do when I need answers. Weren't you the one who helped me do this exact thing to a certain Lockwood?"

"That was a different situation," Bonnie growled. With a small bit of magic his bindings fell away. Julius hadn't said anything since she'd come roaring in, and he remained silent as she helped him to his feet.

"You're making a mistake, Bonnie," Damon admonished. "This guy is bad news. He's after someone, and I'm sure this is the same person who's been threatening to kill him if he doesn't leave. Good guys don't usually have someone threatening their lives."

"There's a grand list of people who want you dead, Damon," Bonnie argued.

"Exactly!" Damon cried. "I'm a bad guy, I've done bad things! I'm willing to bet anything that he has too. You're not a dumb girl, you know he has secrets and they're not pretty so why are you protecting him?"

"I told him if he didn't cause any trouble there wouldn't be any problems," Bonnie revealed, her arm around Julius who was hunched over and looked ready to collapse. "There hasn't been. Not a single dead body, which is more than I can say for when you came blowing into town. I'm a woman of my word."

"I made no such promises."

"He's going to leave town and there won't be an issue," Bonnie declared. "I'm taking him out of here." Aiding him the whole way, Bonnie and Julius walked out of the boardinghouse, leaving behind the cursing Salvatore.

Bonnie helped Julius into the passenger seat of her Prius and quickly rounded the car and clambered into the driver's seat.

"Thank you," Julius finally spoke as she pulled off.

"Are you healing?" She asked in response.

"It's taking a long time," he replied. "They really fucking hurt."

Bonnie cursed to herself and decided to do something she never did voluntarily. "Here." She held out her arm in front of him. "You get greedy, you get an aneurysm. Got it?" He looked at her with surprise but she kept her eyes on the road. He gingerly took hold of her wrist and his fangs burst from his gums. Bonnie flinched as he sank his teeth into her wrist, and she was silent as he drank her blood with a gentleness and gratefulness she'd never experienced in this situation. The times a vampire had taken her blood, it had been an attack and/or an intent to kill.

It wasn't too long before he came up for air. He retracted his fangs and fell back against the seat, closing his eyes. Bonnie peeked at him and could see his wounds healing. "Better?" She asked.

"Much," he replied. There was a moment of silence, then he opened his eyes again and sat up straight to look out onto the road. "Where are you taking me?"

It wasn't until then that Bonnie realized she had instinctively been driving to her house. "Where do you want to go?" She questioned.

"My car is at the park where Busboy and your buddy back there ambushed me," he said. "How did they even get you there?"

"One of them stole Jeremy's phone and sent me a text to meet up there, pretending to be him," Julius explained. He shook his head. "I fell for the okie doke."

"You had no way of knowing."

"I have to say, aside from Elena, I'm not liking your friends too much."

"What about Jeremy?" She decided against telling him Elena was the one who sent Damon after him. She figured it wouldn't matter in the long run, so he didn't need to know.

Julius shrugged. "He's real young," he said. "Way too into his video games. Not really my thing."

"So, why would you play with him for hours?" Bonnie asked incredulously.

"I thought that maybe if your friends accepted me, you would too," he admitted. Bonnie sighed.

"They won't," she told him.

Julius nodded. "I realize that now."

"I'm sorry this happened to you," she said with a bit of hesitation. "You have to leave, Julius. For your own safety. You realize that now, right?"

He gazed at her. "Back there you said you were saving me because you'd told me there would be no problems if I didn't cause problems," he said. "You've insisted that you never want to see my face again. Why not let him kill me and be rid of me forever?" He questioned.

"I told you, I'm a woman of my word."

"Are you sure that's the only reason?" He pressed. Bonnie gave him a sideways look.

"What are you implying?"

"That maybe you think that I may not be so terrible," he concluded.

"That's a big maybe." They pulled up to the park where his Mercedes was still parked. "Wow, that's a beauty. It fits you perfectly."

Julius opened the car door and got out, Bonnie got out as well and leaned over the car. She watched Julius dig into his pockets for his keys, a panicked look overtake his face, and him start digging furiously into all his pockets.

"Do you not have your keys?" Bonnie questioned.

"No, that's not it," he replied. He sighed in frustration. "That son of a bitch still has my phone."

"Oh." Bonnie didn't consider this a big deal for a vampire. "Can't you just get a new one? You can compel yourself a free one.

He shot her a startlingly angry look. "No, I need that phone back."

"Okay, no need to get pissed at me," she said. "I'll get it back for you. Lay low tonight. Come by my house tomorrow at noon, I should have it by then. Then you've got to hightail it out of here."

The corner of his mouth curled up into that half-smile and for the first time she didn't want to physically wipe it from his face. "See you tomorrow. " He turned and unlocked his car door. Bonnie started to get back into her own car but he called her name, giving her pause. "I can't thank you enough for what you did for me tonight," he said, humbly. "I owe you for this."

"You don't owe me anything," the witch replied. "I was just doing what I thought was right."

"You're a good person," Julius assessed with a nod. "These 'people' you surround yourself with, they're the ones that are trouble. They'll just bring you down in the long run. Honestly, Bonnie, you could do better than all of them."

Bonnie couldn't shake these words from her mind for the rest of the night.

A/N: Please leave a review if you read. It really is helpful to know what you guys are thinking. Hope you enjoyed!