Chapter 19

Shinichi gripped Elena and spun her so his dagger was at her throat and her back was pressed to his front- so tightly that the discomfort actually caused Elena a physical pain. Stefan stood and stared at Shinichi and Elena with horrified eyes. Damon held his stance, his expression one of anguish. Shinichi smirked.

Elena's heart beat fast in her chest, seeming to pound against her ribs. Stefan seemed at loss for words.

"You know what I want- and if you don't give it to me pretty Elena will get it." Shinichi paused, considering Stefan and Damon's expressions. "You know I will. Or... I might let the supirittsu have her."

Damon leaped for them, holding the steak high above his head but Shinichi pressed the dagger closer to Elena's throat, almost tearing skin.

"No!" Stefan cried.

Shinichi brought his hand up and, with all his Power, created a shield that Damon crashed against and fell back. "You'll never have my Power, kitsune." Damon said, sounding savage. "You don't have the strength."

Shinichi chuckled, sounding delighted- like he just got permission to take Damon's Powers. "You see what I can do, you know how much Power I already have. And with yours I can rule the underworld- and maybe yours as well... Wouldn't it be so much easier just giving them to me instead of going through this?"

Damon glanced at the growing Power between Bonnie's hands, again swelling with deep appreciation for the talented witch in front of him. "No. No, I think I'm going to make you try just a bit harder." Damon said in his cool, ironic voice.

A heavy silence filled the air, Bonnie's spooky chanting whispered in the back-round. "Uhh!" Shinichi suddenly bellowed, the dagger moving unsteadily against Elena's stretched throat. She gasped. "ENOUGH!" A sudden stream of lightening flashed across the sky accompanied by the cracking sound of thunder.

Bonnie gasped from the middle of the cemetery, the thunder startling her so absolutely she lost all concentration and the ball of light exploded in her hands. Elena screamed, and Bonnie's head snapped towards them, a look of pain and horror in her face. Then all emotion drained, her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she fell to the cold cemetery ground.

"No!" Damon roared, running towards Bonnie and holding her in his arms. "Bonnie?" He asked, his voice rough. Her face was pale and emotionless. He leaned down to her chest, pressing an ear against it. Nothing. Not the slightest heartbeat, not a breath, not a flicker of Power. He moved towards her face, pressing his lips to hers and breathing air into her lungs and pressing his hands up and down against her chest, trying to make her breathe with CPR. She wasn't responding. He pulled his mouth away from hers and stared at her closed eyelids. Something moving inside him that he hadn't felt in a very long time. Nothing like the love he felt for Katherine or the loss he felt when she left- but something completely different. "Bonnie!" He asked again, sounding slightly breathless from the pain inside his chest. "No!" He mumbled, sounding like a child. "No..."

He felt sick- crushed with devastating grief, and excruciating guilt that came on to suddenly he could hardly see straight. Then, like the crack of a whip, anger flashed through Damon and bubbled in his veins so fast he couldn't gather his thoughts. He looked to Shinichi who was looking at Damon with a cruel, wild look on his face. "Do you realize what you've done?" Damon asked, his voice sounding strained.

Shinichi held his chin high, his expression ambivalent. "She's had that coming for quite some time now, wouldn't you say?"

Damon clenched his jaw. "How are you going to carry out your master plan now, kitsune?"

"Ways..." Shinichi said in an utterly sinister tone. "The witch was only Plan A, Damon. Something as clever as me always have a Plan B."

Damon bent his head, his eyes landing on Bonnie's impassive face. That same feeling flushed through him and he suddenly didn't feel like fighting anymore. His eyes were suddenly clouded and he looked up, his face harrowed. "Just finish it." He heard himself say, his face twisting.

Shinichi smirked and tipped his head to the side, studying Damon earnestly. Then he let out a breath, as if it were 'one of those days'. "If you insist." Shinichi said.

Damon's deadpanned eyes dropped. "Yes."

Elena gasped from behind him. Stefan's voice was suddenly gravelly as it rang through the cemetery. "Brother ..."

"I just have one question." Damon asked, cutting off his brother, caring only enough to ask this one question. "Why did you choose Bonnie?" Her name felt like straight vodka in his mouth; bitter and burning. "Why did you have an infatuation with her?"

Shinichi seemed perplexed by his question, then his expression was cynical and dark. "Since this is your last request I will rumor you." Shinichi said, smirking devilishly. "I didn't. I just have a thing for Power, you see- and Bonnie had a lot of it. Also, I discovered in my short time here that there is something special in Bonnie's blood that makes vampires- or any magical creature, like a kitsune- attracted to her. Like a moth to light."

Damon felt another flash of anger at his explanation, but took it like Mutt would. "Thank you ..."

Something black suddenly flew at Damon and covered his eyes. His head was light and foggy and everything seemed dark and acrid- not that it wasn't going to be. His only reason for staying in Fells Church was for Bonnie- though he had never confessed to her this fact. His only reason for staying alive at all had become one talented, beautiful witch- whose life had just ended to quickly he wasn't sure it actually happened. Except- he was; if she was still alive he wouldn't already have this empty feeling, he wouldn't already feel the pull away from Virginia, and he certainly wouldn't have just given his life to the kitsune.

It happened, though. Damon didn't want to stay in Fells Church, Virginia anymore. He didn't want to stay alive anymore. So he gave into the darkness, gave into the drowziness, gave into the aching feeling in his chest, and gave into the kitsune.

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N/A Hang in there guys! It's not over until it has a happy ending, remember! Your in a for a treat :) XOXO- Simmy