Chapter 16:
Bonnie blinked as she opened her eyes. Her head stung and she felt the beginning of a headache. She looked around the room as a wave of deja vu hit here. It felt just like it had when this whole thing started.
"You're finally awake?" Alderson's voice called.
His tone was harsh and cold and Bonnie knew she was running out of time. She needed to find a way to make him understand why using the necklace would be a bad idea not just for her but for him too.
Bonnie looked at him. He stood leaning against the wall a harsh look across his face.
"What did you do to Malcolm?" Alderson asked looking over to her left.
Bonnie followed his eye line to where Malcolm lay.
"Just a knock out spell." Bonnie replied truthfully, no matter what Malcolm had done to her Bonnie didn't like to kill unless absolutely necessary.
Alderson stepped away from the wall and stepped towards her.
"Undo it." Alderson demanded.
Bonnie shook her head.
"So you can use him to hurt my friends I don't think so." Bonnie replied.
Alderson clenched his fists.
"You think he is the only one working for me?" Alderson asked his voice raised.
Bonnie shook her head.
"No but I do think he is the only who would stand a chance against all three of them alone." Bonnie added.
Alderson glared at her and Bonnie new she was right.
Alderson stepped towards her.
"You think by getting rid of Malcolm and letting your blonde friend escape that I can't make you do the spell?" Alderson asked daring her to tell him he was wrong.
If Bonnie was honest she knew that eventually he would be able to make her do the spell. If you tortured someone long enough you could probably get them to do anything. She cringe as she thought about draining, but she wasn't about to let Alderson know that. No matter what she would fight to the very end.
"I know you can't." Bonnie lied with as much courage as she could muster.
Alderson moved towards her, grabbing her chin. Bonnie hissed in pain, knowing it was bound to leave bruises.
"There are worst things than death." Alderson told her.
Bonnie looked into Alderson eyes and she knew he was talking from experience, but Bonnie was no fool to pain and loss either.
"I know." Bonnie replied.
Alderson eyes glazed over in supervise before he quickly covered it up. He forcefully shoved her face to the side.
"You know nothing." He said before stepping back.
Damon paced.
He had never been a patient person but not knowing what was happening with Bonnie was killing him.
Damon looked over at his brother and Caroline who were talking quietly to each other.
"How can you be so calm about this?" Damon demanded.
Stefan's eyes meet his.
"Damon, we have to trust Bonnie." Stefan said.
Damon shook his head as he continued to pace.
"Anything could be happening to her in there, we can't just sit here." Damon pointed out.
Caroline moved in Damon's path forcing him to stop. Damon glared at her.
"You think I wanted to leave her in there?" Caroline asked.
Damon frowned at her but said nothing.
Deep down he knew it wasn't Caroline's fault but Damon was worried and unfortunately for Caroline he was talking it out on her.
"You do don't you?" Caroline demanded, tears filling her bright eyes.
Stefan stepped forward and put an arm round her.
"No one is saying that Caroline." Stefan said shooting Damon a glare.
Caroline stepped away from his brothers touched as looked at Damon.
"Bonnie is my best friend and I love her more than anything and there is nothing I wouldn't do for her." Caroline said.
She took a shuddering breath as tears strolled down her pale skin.
"But I know that right now being in there would do her more harm than good." She added.
Damon slammed his fist into wall. He knew she was right but he didn't like it.
"She's right Damon." Stefan said.
Damon looked over at his brother.
"With us out here she still has a fighting chance, the moment he has one of us you know she will do anything to protect us even the spell." Stefan reasoned.
Damon sucked in a breath knowing there was nothing to do but wait.
Bonnie breath in relief as Alderson moved away. She was running out of time and she had no idea what she was going to do. She understood why Alderson had done what he did. He was a man who slowly built a family up only to have them harshly taken away from him. He lost his son, the love of his life and then his all but in blood daughter was made to forget about him. Bonnie understood why Arabella made Emily forget about Alderson, she didn't agree with it but she understood it.
"I'm sorry for what Arabella did." Bonnie said softly.
She looked up to find Alderson staring at her.
"She wanted to protect her daughter but in the process she took the last thing you had and hurt you." Bonnie explained.
"Losing Michael was heart-breaking but within time I could have dealt with it." Alderson confessed.
Tears pricked in Bonnie's eyes at his heartache.
"But when Arabella made Emily forget me that destroyed me." Alderson added.
Bonnie watched as Alderson closed his eye shielding the pained look on his face.
Bonnie could see the how much losing Emily had hurt Alderson but she couldn't understand how Alderson could have let them burn Emily at the stake.
"How could you let Emily die?" Bonnie asked.
Alderson opened his eyes.
"I can see that you love her but you still let them burn her." Bonnie added.
Alderson stepped forward.
"I tried to stop it." He confessed.
Bonnie looked at him confused and Alderson sighed.
FLASHBACK:
Lord Alderson watched Emily from the crowd as she fault against her bindings that kept her to the stake. She fault every time she heard one of her friends scream as if she could somehow escape and rescue them.
Lord Alderson looked at the women he once considered a daughter and he swallowed hard. Emily had become a fine young women someone any father would be extremely proud off. But thanks to Arabella, Emily had fault against him at every time and if he was honest she had put up a hell of a fight so much so he had be left with no choice but to compel the towns sheriff into believing that Emily was witch.
But as he stood now watching as a guard moved towards Emily a touch in hand he wasn't sure he could allow her to die.
Emily closed her eyes as if she was readying herself to die.
"Dam it." He muttered to himself knowing he couldn't let her die.
He stepped forward when someone stopped him.
"Fire is just as bad for vampires as it is for witches my Lord." His friend Malcolm's voice said.
Lord Alderson looked at Malcolm.
"I don't care." Lord Alderson confessed.
He tried to move Malcolm's arm but Malcolm held on tighter.
"Even if you can save her the damage has already been done. The world believes Miss Emily Bennett to be a witch and she will die like one, one way or another." Malcolm said.
Lord Alderson new he was right.
He looked up at his daughter once more as the flames surrounded her.
Emily screamed out in agony as regret filled his bones.
END OF FLASHBACK.
Lord Alderson would be a liar if he had said that Bonnie hadn't surprised him. She understood his reasons and she had apologised, he would like to have said that he didn't want her apologises and what she said hadn't mattered to him but that wasn't the truth. Her words has comforted him in some small way.
"I'm sorry." Bonnie repeated.
Lord Alderson slowly approached her.
"Then you'll do the spell?" he asked her.
Bonnie slowly shook her head.
Lord Alderson wanted to be mad at her but he couldn't, he knew what this spell would cost her.
"I can't, I will die if I do." She replied.
He already knew that but he hoped she would still do it.
"What have you got to lose?" he asked softly.
"I have watched you grow up I know that you have lost everything; your grams, your mother, your father and your friends use you." He added.
Lord Alderson knew it was a low blow but he would try anything, especially if it meant he wouldn't have to torture her to get his own way.
"My friends love me." Bonnie argued.
Lord Alderson gently took her face in his hands careful of the bruises he had left last time.
"Then where are they?" he asked softly.
Bonnie closed her eyes as he held her face.
"Your blonde friend left at the first chance she got and the Salvatore brothers are nowhere to be seen." Lord Alderson added.
"I told Caroline to run." Bonnie said as she opened her eyes to look at him.
Lord Alderson frowned.
"They know me well enough to know that there is nothing I wouldn't do to protect the people I love and that staying away is the only way I have even a small chance on living." Bonnie explained.
Lord Alderson stepped away, as he looked at her in surprise. She would risk everything on his humanity?
The girl was messing with his head.
"Do you regret it?" She asked.
Lord Alderson eyes darted over to her, his mind filled with unanswered questions.
"Do you regret your life with Arabella?" she asked.
Lord Alderson shook his head.
"Never." He hissed.
Bonnie frowned.
"Even after what she did?" she asked.
"Arabella thought she was doing the right thing for Emily." He pointed out.
"But she made Emily forget you that was cruel." Bonnie argued.
Lord Alderson shook his head.
"Emily needed me and I wasn't there for her. Arabella did what any mother would have done to protect her daughter." Lord Alderson defended.
Bonnie tried not to let her smile show as she argued with Alderson. He was unknowingly defending Arabella and her decisions. Bonnie needed to keep this going so he would understand and hopefully not kill her.
"She could have protected Emily another way, without making her forget you." Bonnie pointed out.
Alderson shook his head viciously as he stepped forward.
"I had abandoned them when they needed me the most." He argued.
"But you needed time to grief." Bonnie reasoned.
"I had a family and they needed me." He said.
Bonnie looked at him and his eyes widened as he realised what he had been doing.
"Even if I bring Michael back what about Emily?" Bonnie asked.
"What about Arabella?" She added.
Alderson looked at her.
"You wanted to be a family, just the four of you and I can't bring them all back." Bonnie reasoned.
Alderson looked at her.
"There is only one way for you to be a family again…" Bonnie started but before she could finish that sentence Alderson was over to her.
"How?" he demanded.
Bonnie shook her head.
"You would have to die." She replied regretfully.
Even after everything Alderson had done to her he couldn't find it in herself to hate him.
Lord Alderson stepped back and closed his eyes.
Bonnie was right he wanted his family; Michael, Emily and Arabella and not even the necklace could do that for him.
"You have to die." Her words ran through his mind.
He had been alive for hundreds of years and nothing had fulfilled him quite like his family had and he wanted that back.
Lord Alderson looked towards Bonnie.
She truly was amazing, just like the rest of the women in her bloodline.
He approached her and broke her chains with ease.
Bonnie stared at him in shook.
"What about bringing Michael back?" she asked.
Lord Alderson smiled sadly.
"You were right I want my family not just Michael." He replied.
Bonnie looked at him startled.
"What are you going to do?" she asked hesitantly.
Lord Alderson sighed.
"I want you to kill me." He replied.