A/N: I have to say I love how receptive you guys have been to Julius. I was afraid everyone would immediately be Team Damon "KILL HIM OFF!" lol but you all seem to be giving him a proper chance so thank you. There is still a lot to learn about this character. Every vampire has it's demons.

Song: Know You Now by Amy Winehouse

Disclaimer: I own nothing but Julius and my words.

5 - Know You Now

"I can't believe her!" Caroline was fuming as she paced the Salvatore living-room. "She actually got physical! How could she? Bonnie has never tried to hurt us before..." This sentiment went unfinished as this recalled a certain incident from earlier in the year. Elena shifted uncomfortably in her seat at this, seeing as they'd all agreed to never speak of this certain time in her life. Elena had been running wild with her humanity switch off and had attempted to kill Caroline and Bonnie, and Bonnie had to teach her a lesson. The witch got a pass on that one, but Caroline was appalled at her actions from this particular night.

"Technically she didn't get physical seeing as she didn't touch you," Damon said.

"You know what I mean," Caroline snapped, shooting him a dirty look. "She hasn't been herself lately. She's been snappy and mean, distant. I can't help feeling like this Julius has something to do with it. It's just weird that she would be so adamant about saving him. Aside from me, Elena, Tyler, and Stefan she hates vampires." Damon smirked at her exclusion of his name.

"Poor little Gilbert," Damon said although there was no hint of actual sympathy in his voice. He took a sip from the glass of bourbon he'd poured himself. "He cheats on her with a ghost, she cheats on him with a vamp. Sounds like one is much worse than other."

"We don't know that they have that kind of relationship," Elena debated.

"Those aneurysms are a bitch, aren't they?" Damon asked, sardonically. "Is that something a girl would do to her two best friends for a guy she isn't fucking?" Elena and Caroline exchanged a look of uncertainty. "Regardless of the nature of their relationship, I don't like it. She said she would make sure he left town but I don't trust him which means I can't trust her, and now he's a threat. I want him dead."

Damon hated to admit this to himself, but it was times like this when he missed his brother, Stefan. Whenever he wanted to resort to murder, his brother was there to be the voice of reason. For the most part, Stefan liked to take the most peaceful approach possible. Damon knew for sure this would be one of those times. He could hear him now, "We should just talk to him. We don't need any more enemies. He could be a good guy. Just relax, we'll find out what we need to know." Usually, if Stefan wasn't around to ring the humanity bell, Elena would fill his shoes. This time, she remained quiet.

Caroline spoke up instead. "If we kill him, Bonnie may never forgive us."

Damon narrowed his electric blue eyes. "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."

It was early the next morning when Bonnie called Damon. He sounded wide awake when he answered the phone.

"What do you want, traitor?"

"You have his phone," Bonnie said, calmly. She wasn't going to dignify his accusation with a response.

"What, no I - oh, look here it is."

"I'm going be needing that."

"Why? It's of no use since he's already long gone, right?" Damon asked in an aggressive manner.

"Just bring me the damn phone," Bonnie demanded.

"Bonnie, you swore you would get rid of him!"

"And I meant it!" She cried. "Stop being difficult, Damon. Either you drop it off at my house or I'll come to your place and spell it out of your hands. Either way, I'm getting that phone."

"I'll come to you," he said. "I'll bring it on my way to bring little Gilbert his phone. Remember him? Your boyfriend?"

Bonnie rolled her eyes. "Don't do that, Damon."

"Why not?" He quipped. "Does Jeremy know about your relationship with Julius?"

"We don't have a relationship," Bonnie replied. "Jeremy already knows about him."

"So, you'll have no problem filling him in on last night's events," Damon said. "You know, where you did that cute thing where you brain-fried his sister, came storming into my house, threw me against the wall, and rescued the prince."

Bonnie's jaw tightened. "I never hide anything from Jeremy," she said. "He'll understand that I was trying to do the right thing. Now, bring me the damn phone!"

"I'll be there soon. You and I have to have a chat anyway."

"I have nothing else to say to you."

"Yeah, well I still have plenty to say!" Damon snapped. "I'll be there in a minute."

"Hurry." Bonnie hung up the phone and threw it down onto her bed. She sighed and fell back onto the bed. This whole situation was growing increasingly stressful. She did regret conflicting pain on Elena and Caroline, and knew they were most likely pissed and had every right, but if she hadn't Julius would've ended up dead and Bonnie would've felt even more guilty knowing she could have prevented it. She hoped Damon got there ASAP. She wanted him to have come and gone by the time Julius arrived, for obvious reasons.

The hours ticked by and there was still no sign of Damon. He wasn't answering her many calls and texts. Bonnie grew more anxious and could barely sit still long enough to eat breakfast. At exactly 12:02 her doorbell sounded. She rushed to open it to find Julius standing tall on the other side. Her heart sank.

"Fancy meeting you again," he said, with a half smile.

"I'm so sorry, Julius," she said with sincerity. "I thought I would have your phone by now, but I don't."

"It's okay," Julius said with a shrug. "Your friend has been here for over an hour, waiting me out. I think I'll just kill him, then pry my phone from his cold, dead hands." Before Bonnie could even begin to question this, a body was flying up her porch steps toward Julius. Julius turned to face them in a move too fast to detect, and threw up a stiff arm that sent Damon Salvatore flying back down, hitting Bonnie's parked car so hard it left a dent. Damon was back on his feet in a second, and both vampires stood sneering at each other, veins pulsing and fangs bared.

"No!" Bonnie shouted. "You guys are not going to do this!"

"You caught me slipping one time, mate, it's not going to happen again," Julius promised, a menace in his eyes Bonnie had had yet to see.

"If you were wise you would've left town when you had the chance. Mate." Damon added the last word condescendingly.

"Damon, don't..." Bonnie begged but he ignored her.

"Don't worry, I'll be escorting your body across state lines." Damon was charging again and before Julius could retaliate Bonnie had an impulse.

"Julius! Come in!" She shouted. Julius felt an unseen force yank him backward into her house and Damon slammed into the invisible barrier that kept uninvited vampires out. He could do nothing but glare as Julius shot to his feet.

"The little witch always there to protect you," Damon hissed.

"I don't need protection," he threw back. His anger was growing at Damon's attempt to eviscerate his manhood. He didn't ask for Bonnie's help. It was only preventing him from ripping this man's heart out. "Aren't you the one who needed Busboy to take me down in the first place. Only cowards have to constantly sneak attack."

"Step out here and say that again."

"Gladly." Julius tried to speed out the door but Bonnie threw her hands up and used her magic to push him back. She kept her hands up, and narrowed her eyes in concentration at Julius as she pushed him backward. He tried his hardest to push against it, but he couldn't fight against her power.

"Booonnniee!" He growled angrily but she didn't release the force. He hit the wall and found himself stuck.

"No one will be killing anyone!" She declared, having put her little witchy foot down. "And you bastards bent my car! Damn you!"

Damon glared down at her. "You are on the wrong side, Bonnie," he told her through gritted teeth. "Why can't you see through his good guy facade? He's still a vampire."

"I know," she said. "I don't know if he's a good guy or not. I want him gone too, Damon. But not like this."

Damon looked back up at an immobilized Julius. "Want your crappy phone back? Here." He took it out and held it up in his hand. "Take it." He whipped the phone with neck-breaking speed and it flew down the hall right toward Julius' head. Bonnie narrowed her eyes and it stopped, right before it could crack his skull open, and dropped. Now Bonnie was furious.

She spoke to Damon through gritted teeth. "Get away from my house or so help me God, I will give you an aneurysm that never stops!"

Damon glowered at her then stepped away. "I will get him," he promised. "Even if I have to go through you, I will kill him." He turned and vamp-sped away. Bonnie slammed the door shut and Julius dropped to the ground.

"You need to stop doing that!" He demanded as he got back on his feet.

"Doing what?" She asked.

"Trying to rescue me," He clarified. "It makes me seem weak. I don't need the help, Bonnie. I can take that guy out."

"Damon is almost 200 years old," Bonnie informed him. "I don't know how long you've been around, but you seem fairly new, and either way, Damon is a lot stronger than he looks."

"Yeah, so are you," Julius commented. "Who knew that small body could house such power. I really wish you wouldn't have trapped me, that guy deserves to be ripped to shreds. And I would like to pay Busboy a visit-"

"No!" Bonnie glared at him. "You will not hurt Matt."

"I don't want to hurt him." he said. "I just think he owes me an apology. A real one this time. He pretended to bury the hatchet then tried to stake me. Or at least pretended to try so that bastard could sneak up on me." Bonnie shook her head and Julius followed her into the kitchen. He settled into one of the stools and she opened up the fridge.

"Well, I did warn you about them," she reminded him, taking a bottle of water out of the refrigerator.

"Yes, I remember," he said with an eye roll. "'I have some undead friends of my own, and they do not take kindly to new friends. Get it?'" He raised the pitch of his voice mockingly. It was Bonnie's turn to roll her eyes as she held out the bottle.

"Sorry I don't have any...blood."

He shook his head. "I'm not thirsty."

Bonnie shrugged and opened the bottle to drink it herself. "Pushing you away from Damon took more out of me than I expected," she revealed after taking a big gulp. "You really are a fighter."

"You really shouldn't underestimate me."

Bonnie studied him for a moment. "When is the last time you ate?"

"Right before I got here."

Bonnie narrowed her eyes at him. "What do you eat?"

"What do you think?" Julius asked sarcastically.

"Shit, Julius!"

"What?!" He cried. "I haven't killed anyone! I've been here almost two weeks, did you really expect me not to eat during all this time?!"

"My friend, Stefan, was on an all-animal diet for years and he functioned just fine," she argued. She left out the small detail that Stefan's diet had slightly weakened him in comparison to vampires who consumed human blood.

"That sounds gross," Julius replied, his face scrunched up in disgust.

Bonnie looked at him with a deep sigh. "Well, I do appreciate the fact you haven't left a string of bodies around town," she admitted. "You obviously have self-control."

"If it didn't you wouldn't still be here," he said with a smirk. "I don't think you realize how good you always smell, Bonnie."

She wasn't sure how to respond to that, so she didn't. "How old are you?" She asked, instead.

"Thirty."

"No, I don't mean your human age I mean - thirty, really? You look younger than that - I mean, your vampire age."

"Thirty," he repeated. "That's my vampire age. I was turned when I was twenty-six years old."

Bonnie's jaw dropped. "You're only four years old!"

"Don't say it like that, it sounds weird."

"Wow, you really are brand new!" She observed incredulously. "I don't think I've ever met a vampire younger than 150. Except for Caroline and Elena, but I didn't meet them as vampires. I knew you couldn't be that old because you're not constantly bragging about how ancient you are. The biggest difference between vamps and humans is how proud vampires are of being old." Julius chuckled at this.

"How do you know so many?" He inquired.

"I didn't until my best friend started dating one," she replied. "Since then they kept popping up and I can't seem to get rid of them."

"I'm sure your powerful enough to take us all out if you wanted to," he complimented. Bonnie smiled then quickly grew serious again.

"Who is Valerie to you?" Bonnie asked. His face turned to stone.

He shot up so fast it caused Bonnie to jump. "We are not going to talk about that." He turned and started heading out.

"Why are you so secretive?!" She cried, following him.

"Why is it necessary for you to know?!"

"You want my help, don't you?" She threw at him. This stopped him in his tracks. "That's been your reason for sticking around, right? If you want help locating her, you're going to have to learn to open up to me just a little bit. I need to know that you don't have evil intentions." Julius slowly turned to look at her.

"Are you serious?" He asked. "You'll help me?"

"Why not?" She said with a shrug. "It's not like I have anything better do. I know I've been mean to you and haven't really given you a chance, but now I'm willing to try. We're going to need to build a trust with each other if we're going to work together. So tell me. Who is Valerie to you?"

Julius sighed deeply, and pondered for a moment before speaking up. "Valerie is someone that I loved very much," he confessed. "She was everything that I lived for at one point. I just want her back. I need her back, and if you can help me find her I'll be forever indebted to you."

"I knew there was more to you than just a stalky, arrogant jerk," Bonnie concluded with a smile. "You can sit in the living-room while I grab my grimoire. I'll be right back down." Julius nodded and headed into the next room while Bonnie dashed upstairs. Her phone buzzed as she fished her grimoire and a map out of her drawer. She took it out and frowned when she saw it was a text from Damon.

I took the liberty of snooping thru your bestie's phone. You should be smart and do the same. Maybe you can get an answer to what I found. HINT: Check Gallery

Bonnie shook her head and put her phone down on top of the dresser. Just like Damon to not just say what he found. She'd just given Julius a speech on trust, so to immediately snoop through his phone right after probably wouldn't sit well with him. She headed back downstairs, grimoire in hand, ready to do some magic.