A/N: Welcome back! I'm making Charlie Weber the face claim for Bryan. I finally got around to watching How To Get Away With Murder and thought he was perfect.

Read on!

Song Credit: Vultures by Vaults

Disclaimer: I only own my Original Characters. The Vampire Diaries belongs to The CW. No copyright infringement intended.

16 - Vultures

With all the force her little body could muster, Bonnie pushed against the intrusive vampire's hard chest and sent him reeling out of the vehicle. He landed with a hard thud on the road, knocking the wind out of his lungs, and before he could start to get up again, the little witch was over him, pushing him back to the ground.

"Did you just snap my boyfriend's neck?" She asked through gritted teeth, her green eyes blazing. "Is that what just happened?"

"What's the big deal?" He responded in a winded voice. "We've greeted each other like that since we first met." A split second later, Bonnie found herself on her own back, looking up into Damon's electric blue eyes. "How much have you missed me, Bon Bon?"

"What are you doing here?!" She exclaimed as he popped back up to his feet, leaving her to stand on her own. "How did you even find us?"

"Wasn't that hard, really," Damon started to explain as Bonnie brushed herself off and headed over to her fallen boyfriend. "First, common sense came into play and I realized, where would be the first place you would go? Then it hit me. Duh, what was his mission when he first came to Mystic Falls? To find his daughter who had been taken to North Carolina, so obviously you guys were going to go there. I didn't want to be on a wild goose chase all through the state so I gave your hot cousin Lucy Bennett a call, found her on Instagram, did I mention that she's hot, told her you'd been kidnapped by a vampire and asked her to do a locator spell. She pinpointed Charlotte but couldn't pinpoint the exact location in Charlotte. Then I remembered...the Kindle! You had taken it with you, and I had taken measures just in case you did something stupid like runaway."

"You put a tracking device in my Kindle?!" Bonnie asked in disbelief.

"Damn right and it was the smartest thing I could've done." Damon's eyes were wide with building anger. The sight of Bonnie on the ground, cradling Julius like a baby disgusted him. "Why are you acting like he's dead?"

"He is dead, thanks to you!" Bonnie spat.

"And he'll be up again in a few minutes because he's a vampire, remember Bonnie?"

"We need to get him out of the road before someone drives by and sees this very suspicious looking scene," she said as she stood up, attempting to bring Julius up with her. "Sometimes, it would help if you thought about what you were doing before you did it."

"Oh trust me, I thought about snapping his neck before I did it," he responded snidely, opening the back door of the Impala. "I thought about it the whole drive up here."

Bonnie rolled her eyes at him. "Help me, Damon." He huffed and with his supernatural speed, was grabbing Julius and stuffing him into the back of the Impala before she had a chance to blink. "Who's car do you have?"

"Oh, when I got to the motel I realized you guys weren't there but I saw Julius' car," he explained. "I compelled a guy leaving his room to give me the keys to his car."

"I can't believe you went through all this when I specifically told you not to come after me," she said. "And is this a solo mission?" Just as she asked the question Damon's phone began to vibrate. He pulled it out of the pocket of his black jeans and saw his brother's name displayed on the screen. He was hesitant to answer.

"Is that Elena?" Bonnie guessed, sensing his hesitancy. "Wondering where you are?"

"Nope, it's baby brother." He turned his back on Bonnie and stepped a few feet away before answering the phone. "What is it now?"

"Where are you?" Stefan asked firmly.

"Aw, so you are worried about me."

"Damon, I'm serious," Stefan pressed. "Tell me where you are. Caroline and I are going to take over."

"No need," Damon replied, shooting a look back at Bonnie, who was standing with her arms crossed looking at him disapprovingly. "I've already found her."

"Let me speak to him," Bonnie demanded, approaching him.

"Wait, you're with Bonnie right now?" Stefan asked in surprise.

Damon heard Caroline's soft voice in the background, "He's with Bonnie? Tell him to put her on. I want to talk to her."

"Damon," Bonnie was looking at him expectantly, waiting for him to pass her his phone.

"So now you're interested in talking to your friends?" He spat at her. "Didn't seem that interested when you changed your number so no one could even call you." Bonnie huffed and glared daggers at him.

"Damon, let me talk to her," he heard Caroline's voice emitting from the phone he was holding away from his ear to chide Bonnie.

He rolled his eyes and held the phone out to Bonnie. "Bunch of demanding ass women," he muttered as she snatched it from him.

"Stefan?"

"Nope, try again."

"Caroline!" A smile cracked Bonnie's face. "It's so nice to hear your voice."

"It feels like you've been gone for months already," Caroline replied. "Are you okay? Is everything okay."

"I'm fine, Care."

"What about Julius?"

"He's fine too, or he will be," Bonnie said, remembering his neck was still very snapped at the moment. "I'm sorry, for the way I left, Care."

Her friend sighed. "Your letter just seemed so final...I really felt like I may never see you again."

"It wouldn't have been forever," Bonnie reassured. "Julius and I really need a fresh start and we want it with each other, but there's things we have to take care of first."

"Are you in North Carolina to get his daughter?" Care questioned.

"And to end this Victoria threat once and for all," she said.

"Let us help you," Caroline nearly pleaded. "We were going to help you before and we're still willing to."

"I really appreciate that but I decided that I'm not going burden you guys with our problems..."

"They're not your problems, Bonnie, they're his," Caroline corrected her best friend. "You're taking on someone you love's problems, just like you always have. How many times have we asked you to put yourself at risk for us? At the end of the day, there's an innocent child's life in danger here. We're coming whether you want us to or not, so you could either make it easy and tell us exactly where you are or we find out on our own and come anyway."

Bonnie shook her head but with a small smile in appreciation of her friend. "I'll have Damon text you the address," she gave in.

"Thank you."

"See you soon, Care." Bonnie ended the call and held the phone back out to Damon. He waited expectantly.

"So...what's the game plan?"

"We're going back to the motel," she said, starting back toward the Impala.

"That's it?"

"Are you sure you want to get involved in this?" Bonnie implored him.

"Am I still standing here?"

"I'm going to ask you again." Bonnie popped open the trunk of the Impala, exposing the unconscious warlock to Damon. "Are you sure you want to get involved in this."

Damon's eyes slightly widened at the unexpected sight of Bryan, then he smirked. "Don't you know me but at all, Bon Bon?" He asked sarcastically. "This is exactly my type of party."

Just as Bonnie was pulling into the motel lot, tailed closely by Damon in his stolen vehicle, there was a groaning in the backseat. She looked in the rearview mirror to see a disgruntled Julius sitting up. "Hey babe," she said in a falsely cheery tone. "Feeling all right?"

"What the hell?" He grunted. He looked around as Bonnie parked the car. "What's going on? Is Damon here? Did that fucker snap my neck? Again?!"

"Ok, before you go getting all angry-" Julius wasn't listening as he hastened to get out of the car. Bonnie cursed under her breath as she followed, really hoping against hope there wasn't about to be another epic showdown between these two.

"You," Julius said through gritted teeth, his stance stiff and defensive as a relaxed Damon exited his vehicle.

"Oh relax, no permanent harm done," he said with a smirk.

"I should rip your fucking head off," Julius snarled.

"No!" Bonnie quickly stepped between them. "As much as Damon annoys you, he is not your enemy, Julius."

"Are you sure about that?" her boyfriend regarded her. He turned his angry hazel eyes back on Damon, who was lounging casually against his car. "What are you even doing here? Do you really have nothing better to do than follow Bonnie around like some lost, lovesick puppy?"

"Enough!" Bonnie shouted more authoritatively. "We don't have time for this! Damon is here to help us and in case you guys don't remember we have a situation in the trunk." Julius huffed and left his angry glare on Damon a moment longer before turning to Bonnie and holding out the room key.

"Here, go open the door," he instructed. She took the key and walked off. He looked to Damon. "Can I at least trust you for three seconds to make sure no one's looking while I get him out." Damon turned as Julius opened the trunk.

"Coast is..." He felt a light breeze behind him and turned back to see Julius was already gone.

Julius dropped Bryan on the floor of the motel room like a sack of potatoes. "Julius," Bonnie said disapprovingly.

"What? He doesn't deserve me being gentle." Bonnie gave him a look then a head motion toward the door he'd closed on Damon. He huffed. "He served his purpose and was a lookout. That's all the help we need from him. He can go home now."

Bonnie shook her head and opened the door where Damon was waiting patiently. "Now, that wasn't very nice," he quipped sarcastically as he entered the room.

"I can show you not nice..." Julius' threat trailed off at the sound of groaning. Bryan was coming to and struggling with the bindings Bonnie and Julius had placed around his hands and feet.

"Don't bother," Julius said, sternly. "You're not going anywhere."

Bonnie grabbed the wooden chair by the desk. "Put him here," she said and Julius roughly grabbed Bryan and threw him in the chair. He pulled more rope from his bag and proceeded to tie the warlock to the chair. The duct tape covering his mouth prevented him talking shit or screaming so he just glared at everyone in the room, long and hard.

"Stefan and Caroline are on their way," Bonnie filled Julius in. "I couldn't talk them out of it and we can use all the help we can get anyway, just to make this go as smoothly as possible."

"It's going to be a lot harder to be sneaky if we have three other people with us," Julius pointed out. "I thought we talked about this."

"Then we'll think of another way," she said.

"You know my way," Damon, who'd been lounging against the wall, spoke up. "Go in and kill everybody in sight. Including this guy, just because I don't like his face." Bryan's facial expression showed he didn't appreciate this idea.

"We have to be smarter than that," Bonnie disputed. "We'll talk about it when the others get here. I really don't want to be discussing our plans in front of him anyway."

Julius nodded in agreement, then the room fell into an awkward silence for a moment. "I'm going to go take care of getting an extra room for them," Julius offered rather reluctantly. He looked to Bryan then to Bonnie and Damon. "Watch him." He opened the door then hesitated, looking back at them once more.

"Relax, I'm not going to bite her," Damon said, snidely. Julius huffed and stepped out, closing the door behind him. Damon sneered. "He kidnaps you yet has the nerve not to trust me."

"Damon, that's enough," Bonnie said, sternly. "This beef between you and my boyfriend is getting old and I'm sick of it. It's time you both grew up."

"He's not your boyfriend he's your downfall."

"Shut up," Bonnie snapped.

"You do everything he says blindly like some stupid little-"

"I said shut up!" Bonnie shrieked angrily, jumping out of her seat. Damon was out of his own seat even quicker, both of their eyes were blazing.

"Can't handle the truth when it's about you, can you, Judgy?"

"You have your own relationship to deal with, why are you so worried about mine?"
"Because he doesn't deserve you!" Damon shouted. "And it makes me so damn angry that you can't see that!" A silence fell as Bonnie had no immediate retort to his unexpected sentiment. She crossed her arms defiantly.

"Do you deserve Elena?" She asked.

"This isn't about me and Elena."

"Let's make it about you and Elena for a second," Bonnie pressed. "She was a kind, gentle teenage girl when you met her. You were a murderous, bloodthirsty, 170 year old vampire. At the end of the day, Elena saw the good in you and her love for you was all that mattered." Damon said nothing, just glared. "Why are you here without her, Damon? This isn't something she wanted you to do is it?" No response. "That's what I thought."

He stared at her hard for a moment, then his face scrunched. "You've got to be kidding me."

"What?" Bonnie cried out as Damon suddenly pushed her head to the side to examine her neck. "What are you doing, get off of me!" She pulled out of his grasp and he shook his head in disbelief.

"You let him feed on you."

"That's really none of your business, Damon." She hadn't thought to cover the bite marks, thinking she wouldn't be seeing any of her friends.

"This guy has really got you wrapped around his finger." Damon's tone was calm but bothered. He set his blue eyes on the witch and she read the disappointment in them. A snort distracted them and they looked to Bryan, who appeared entertained.

"Got something to say, Draco?" Damon asked in a warning tone. Unaffected, Bryan's shoulders slightly shook with his chuckle. Bonnie rolled her eyes. Damon approached him.

"What are you doing?" Bonnie asked.

"Scream and I rip your tongue out of your mouth," Damon threatened him before ripping the tape from the man's mouth. Bryan released a deep breath then started chuckling again. "What the hell is so funny?"

"This...this whole thing," he said. "It's so ridiculous. And Julius is the biggest dumb ass on the planet."

"Excuse you," Bonnie said, her arms crossed.

"That idiot ruined what he had with Victoria for you," he elaborated. "He put his daughter in danger for you. Now, this asshole," in reference to Damon, "who happens to be your best friend's, boyfriend, right?" No one replied. "He has a hard-on for you, little girl. And Julius is an even bigger idiot if he thinks you haven't been batting your eyelashes back."

"You have no idea what your talking about," Bonnie snapped but his words bothered her.

"Does Julius know about the little romantic dinner you two shared while he was locked away pining for you?" Bryan asked, villainously. "No, I bet he doesn't. I wonder how he would feel about it." With every word he spoke Bonnie felt the rising urge to punch his face, a feeling she rarely experienced seeing as her magic had always been her defense mechanism. "Man, who knew you were so scandalous, Bonny Bon. Wouldn't it be sweet justice for Victoria if you left Julius for another vampire. Between that, the loss of his daughter, and the death of his first love I'm sure the guy would be suicidal. Oh, would I love to see that." Bryan's wicked smile widened and Bonnie's anger boiled over. She suddenly stepped forward and Bryan felt a force knocking him backward in his chair. He hit the floor and felt the air completely cut off from his lungs. His eyes started to bulge as he struggled to breathe and couldn't. Bonnie stood there, her eyes furious as her magic took hold of his body. Damon gave her a moment to unleash her anger before stepping to her and gently placing his hand on her shoulder.

"All right, that's enough Bon Bon," he said calmly. She ignored him as she tightened her no-hands strangle on the man. "You can't kill him right now. We need him for leverage, remember?" She was nearly shaking with rage. "Think of the little girl." Damon's tone was sardonic but it worked. Bonnie took a deep breath, closed her eyes and released the spell. Bryan sucked in a huge breath as if he'd been drowning, and he was no longer grinning when Damon pulled him up by his shirt and righted him in his chair.

"Maybe now you'll learn when to shut up," Damon said, wryly. Bryan glared at Bonnie as his breathing steadied.

"She is cute when she's angry," he said to Damon while keeping his eyes on Bonnie. "I would fuck her too if she wasn't such a little bit-" He barely got the last word out before his breathing was cut off once again. Damon had his hand wrapped tightly around his throat, the anger that was in Bonnie's eyes moments ago now in his.

"What did I tell you about shutting up," he hissed in his face. "You don't disrespect her, ever. Now, you can spend the night in the closet, jackass." Pulling him by his shirt, he dragged him chair and all to the closet and stuffed him inside it. "Almost forgot." Damon grabbed duct tape off of the desk and taped his mouth again. Bryan stared at him with murder in his eyes. "Don't look at me like that. You should be grateful. Soon enough, I'll be bringing you back to your little friends and you'll all get to die together. Nighty night." And he shut the door in his face. When he turned Bonnie was standing with her arms crossed, looking at him disapprovingly.

"Maybe you shouldn't be telling him that we're going to kill all of them," she pointed out. "I doubt he'll be cooperative when we need him to with that knowledge."

"I'll make him cooperate," Damon replied coolly. "And to be honest, I don't think you need to be going on this expedition. Let the boys take care of this one. If Julius really cared about your wellbeing he'd say the same thing."

"Ugh, will you stop it!" She cried in frustration. "I'm not going to keep doing this with you. I'm going. You 'boys' need me and you know it."

Damon started to approach her. "Maybe you're not used to people caring about you but I can name one person who cares about you," he stood before her, his eyes full of concern. "Elena. I'm not going to let my girl lose her best friend because you did something stupid for a guy." He suddenly grabbed her shoulders gently, forcing her to look into his eyes. "And maybe, just maybe, I don't want to see you die either. Then I'd really have to disembody that Victoria bitch, and your little boyfriend too."

Damon still had his hands on Bonnie's shoulders when the door whipped open. Julius' hazel eyes narrowed suspiciously at them as he entered the room. "What's going on here?" He questioned.

"Nothing." Damon stepped back from Bonnie. "Just...straightening some things out."

He looked around the room. "Where's Bryan?"

"Closet," Damon replied again. "He just kept staring at us. It was getting awkward."

Julius looked unsure for a moment, then he shrugged his shoulders and flopped on the bed. "Whatever." He picked up the remote and switched on the TV, then held out his arms invitingly to Bonnie. She settled into them and lay against his chest as he cradled her with one arm and started flipping through the channels with the other. "Your room is all set if you want to go in there and chill out until your brother gets here," Julius told Damon pointedly.

"No, I'm good here." Damon settled into the plush chair beside the bed, grabbing an unopened bag of Lays off of the night table without bothering to ask.

"Excuse you, I was saving those," Bonnie told him, her attitude back in effect.

"I'm hungry," he complained, opening the chips. "You're a terrible hostess, you didn't even offer me a drink."

"Maybe because you're an uninvited guest!" Bonnie threw back. Damon shrugged that off and proceeded to eat her chips. Bonnie could practically feel the irritation rolling off of Julius' body. Damon clearly wanted to make the pair uncomfortable in his presence, and it seemed to be working as Julius was being unusually quiet and sulky. Damon gave his unwarranted commentary on everything Julius tried to watch, ignoring everyone's obvious desire for him to shut up.

"Put on The Walking Dead," he eventually requested.

"He doesn't watch Walking Dead," Bonnie replied in a bored tone.

"What?!"

"I know," she said.

"How can you not watch Walking Dead?"

"I know," she repeated, recalling saying that exact thing to him when he'd first refused to watch the show with her.

"Way to gang up on me, my love," Julius muttered to Bonnie.

"We may not agree on a lot of things but Damon is right to think you're ridiculous for not even giving it a chance."

"I'm just not interested," he said in an exasperated tone. "Zombies aren't my thing."

"Ugh, you sound like Stefan," Damon said with a grimace. "It's not about the zombies, it's about the survivors. The show does have it's flaws."

"You can say that again," Bonnie agreed.

"Like, if I was Rick-"

"You're a Shane, not a Rick," Bonnie quipped.

"Whatever. The guy may have been controversial but he was a survivor, up until that little incident at the farm, which never would've happened to me," Damon said, "Besides, I'd rather be a Shane than an Andrea."

"Who are you calling an Andrea?" Bonnie snapped, her tone suddenly serious.

"Oh, I don't know, who in this room left their group, slept with a guy because they thought he was charming and good but turned out to be a very dark character that can end up being the death of you. Sound familiar?"

"What the hell are you on about?" Julius' annoyance was at an all time high.

"Julius is not The Governor!" Bonnie cried.

"You're right, he's not hardcore enough to rock an eye patch. You have made some Andrea-like decisions, though."

Bonnie suddenly shot up into a sitting position. "Take it back," she demanded.

"Uh...don't think I will."

"I am a Michonne all day, every day," Bonnie argued.

"You sure? Remember what Michonne did to The Governor?" Damon reminded her. "Think you'd have the balls?"

"Gah, will you two shut up about this show already!" Julius cried, dragging his fingers down his face for dramatic effect. "How is there a Governor in the zombie apocalypse? And what the hell is a Michonne?" Damon and Bonnie inadvertently smirked at each other, then Bonnie settled back onto Julius' chest, her body relaxed again.

"You two are going to drive me nuts," Julius huffed. Bonnie didn't respond because she knew he was probably right.

Bonnie's entire mood brightened at the sound of Caroline's voice. As soon as she laid eyes on the blonde, she was rushing her. The two tightly embraced. "I'm so happy to see you, Care," Bonnie gushed, as if they'd been separated for months.

"I'm so glad you're okay," Caroline said as she pulled out of the hug. Stefan, who was right behind Caroline, gave Bonnie a small smile.

"I am too, Bonnie," he said as he hugged her. Bonnie nodded gratefully then her eyes widened at the sight at a raven-haired vampire waiting impatiently for her turn.

"Elena!" Bonnie threw herself at her. "I didn't think you were coming."

"There was no way I could sit at home knowing all my friends were in danger," Elena responded.

"Thank you all for coming," Bonnie said.

"Really, thank you," Julius re-stated, putting his arm around Bonnie. Elena still hadn't spoken to or even made eye contact with Damon, and he watched her expectantly as she stepped beside him.

"Hey, Elena."

She flipped her hair and focused on Bonnie and Julius as they spoke, ignoring her boyfriend's feeble attempts to get her attention.

"We have Bryan, their witch, locked up," Bonnie revealed.

"Former witch seeing as Bonnie took his magic," Julius explained. "But even without it he's still very important to Victoria. It wasn't a part of our plan to take him, but it was an instinctual move."

"We're thinking we could use him as leverage," Bonnie explained. "Him for Valeria."

"And when that doesn't work?" Damon said.

"If that doesn't work," Bonnie said, annoyed. "We go in, take Vee by force."

"And what would we do with Bryan?" Elena questioned with a furrowed brow.

Julius and Bonnie exchanged a look. "That's something we haven't really seen eye to eye on," she said. "Which is why I'm hoping it doesn't come to that."

"It will come to that."

"Damon..."

"There's no peaceful way to go about this, Judgy," Damon reiterated. "This bitch is Katherine 2.0, with an army behind her. If these guys are willing to kidnap a human baby just to please her, they wouldn't think twice about staking any one of us first chance they got."

"If we play our cards right I think we can take them all out," Julius agreed.

"Julius!" Bonnie cried.

"I'm sorry Bon but he's right," he said. "What do you think will happen if we give her Bryan back? You think they'll just go away and never bother us again. No, she's relentless and returning Bryan is just fixing a chink in her armor."

"There's humans with her, humans I'm sure are being compelled," Bonnie argued. "I don't think they need to die."

"We can pretend we want to make a trade," Stefan offered. "As soon as their defense weakens, we attack."

"Their defense won't weaken," Julius said.

"So we sneak attack," Bonnie countered. "With Bryan's magic I have enough power to cloak multiple people. They need to see Julius or they'll be suspicious, so he can be outside with Damon, negotiating the trade. I'm not a vampire so I don't need an invitation. I can go inside undetected and grab Vee. Stefan will be cloaked to takedown whoever tries something during the trade. Elena can patrol the perimeter for any of them trying to sneak around."

"Why can't I be one of the invisible ninjas?" Damon whined.

"Because we don't want any bloodshed until we have Vee," she replied.

"There's one possibility we're forgetting," said Caroline. "They know by now that we have their guy. What if they're not even there. What if they're looking for us?"

"They'll be there," Julius promised. "And they'll definitely be formulating a plan of their own."

"So we resort to Plan B," Damon offered. "Kill everything in sight."

"When is all this supposed to be happening?" Stefan asked.

"In a few hours," Julius said. "So everyone should try to get a little bit of rest, fill up on blood. I got the two rooms on either side of us for you guys." He handed the guys room keys. Elena stepped in front of Bonnie before exiting the room. She placed her hands on the shorter girl's shoulders.

"Don't worry, Bon, everything is going to turn out okay," she assured her.

"Thanks Elena," she said. "Listen...I would hate if any of this has caused tension between you and-"

"Don't worry about that," Elena cut in. "Only important thing right now is getting that little girl back safely. See you in a bit." Everyone left, Damon and Elena taking one room, Stefan and Caroline in the other. As soon as Damon closed the door behind himself he started.

"Elena, listen I-"

"Don't." She spun on her heel, her face hardened. "Your choice spoke much louder than anything that can come out of your mouth right now."

"I wasn't trying to hurt you, Elena," Damon swore. "I was trying to help her."

"I asked you to do something for me, Damon! Me! Your girlfriend!" Elena exclaimed. "I would run into a burning building for you but I don't know if you feel the same anymore."

"Of course I do," Damon maintained. "I would take a stake in the heart for you, no questions asked."

"Yet you couldn't do this," she reminded him. "I want to help Bonnie too! You should've come back, we could've rode up here together."

"I've completely changed who I am as a person for you," he said. "Two years ago I wouldn't have given a damn what happened to Bonnie Bennett or any of your friends. If you want me to I can go back to that. Regardless, you're the center of my world, Elena Gilbert."

"I'm not going to ask you to do anything else," she said. "I did a lot of thinking on the way up here."

"Elena..."

"I think I need some time to figure things out on my own," she decided. "Maybe Whitmore in the Fall isn't the best option for me. I'm thinking somewhere out-of-state. Without you."

"You're going to leave me?"

"It's not about leaving you, it's about finding myself without you." She turned and strutted into the bathroom, leaving Damon standing there dumbstruck.

There was a coldness when Elena lay on the bed beside him ten minutes later. She turned on her side without facing him. He held his arm behind his head, wide awake, looking at the ceiling. He was completely bothered by everything, including the sounds of Bonnie and Julius making out coming through the wall, Bonnie trying to keep her moans quiet. How could they be getting it on at a time like this?

Bonnie had similar thoughts as she rolled away from Julius. "We shouldn't," she said.

"I just wanted to kiss you. I always want to kiss you, I can't help myself."

"Get some rest."

"As if I could close my eyes right now," he sighed heavily. "I'm sorry about the way I spoke to you earlier."

"What are you talking about?"

"At Vic's house, when I got into it with Bryan," he reminded her. "I told you to shut up, and that wasn't cool. I said it out of anger about the situation, not because I meant it. I'm sorry."

"You're not going to apologize for telling me to shut up about Walking Dead?" She inquired, jokingly.

"No, because I meant that. Being around you when you're around Damon is enough to drive the sanest man over the edge."

Bonnie snickered. "Okay, I'll give you a pass on that. But talk to me like that again and I'll burn your tongue off. Got it?"

"Yes ma'am. I love it when you talk dirty to me."

Bonnie laughed and playfully hit him, then they shared a soft kiss. There was a moment of silence. "I didn't know you had that photo," Bonnie spoke up. Julius looked at her curiously.

"The family photo you pulled out for Vee," she elaborated. "Of you two and April. I thought the only pictures you had were the ones on your old phone."

"Yeah, well last time I had a girlfriend discover I was harboring a photo of my ex it didn't go over too well."

"I am not Victoria," Bonnie stated sternly. She softened again. "She was your first love, the mother of your child. I don't expect you to pretend she's not important." Julius remained silent. "She was very beautiful."

He faced her. "You're beautiful...and strong and brilliant and perfect for me. If I had known Mystic Falls was hiding a phenomenal woman like you I'd have ditched the coven ages ago."

Bonnie smiled.

Stefan and Caroline were at a stand still. Julius had gotten them a room with just one bed. Both had been driving for hours, both were dead tired, and neither really wanted to give up the bed. Stefan, deciding to be the gentleman, declared, "I'll take the floor."

"No," Caroline said quickly. "That's okay. I have no problem sleeping on the floor. It's just for a few hours."

"There's no way I'm going to let you sleep on the floor."

"It's okay, really," Caroline debated but she knew Stefan wasn't going to let it happen on his watch. "Maybe we can both take the bed."

"So Tyler can rip my head off when he finds out?"

"Don't worry about that, he's understanding," Caroline said with a false smile. Stefan raised his brow at her and her smile faltered. "I'm not sure why I said that, we both know that's not true. It's nothing, therefore nothing he needs to know about."

"I'll take the foot of the bed," he offered. "I'll be the perfect gentleman, I promise."

Caroline smiled again. "I know you will. I'll be right back." She dismissed herself to the bathroom. Stefan took the opportunity to pull off his shirt, leaving him in the ribbed tank top he had on underneath, and kick off his shoes. Although it wouldn't be for long, he desperately needed some rest. He had already fallen asleep by the time Caroline emerged from the bathroom, at the foot of the bed as promised. She slid under the covers as quietly as possible as to not wake him, and before long she'd dozed off as well.

The sound of shouting woke the both of them. Stefan popped up in his bed, his brow furrowed intensely as he listened. Recognizing Julius' voice, he had ghosted out of the room in less than two seconds. There was no need for Stefan to knock on Bonnie and Julius' door, it was wide open, and the sight within was a distressing one.

Julius was on the floor by the closet, the door of which was also open and empty, crying out with what appeared to be the broken leg of a wooden chair imbedded into his chest. Stefan's eyes quickly surveyed the room as Caroline, Damon, and Elena appeared behind him. There was blood on the carpet, and neither Bonnie nor Bryan were in sight. Stefan ran to him and yanked the stake out of his chest, just narrowly missing his heart.

"What the hell happened?" Stefan questioned, fearing the answer.

Julius looked at him with tortured, blood-red eyes. "They came," he said. "They took her. They took Bonnie."

A/N: You all know what's coming. Next update, there will be fight, and heads will roll. Please leave a review on your way out. Thanks for reading!