Author's Note: Just a little warning. There is mention of a pedophile in this chapter, but nothing mentioned is more than what you might hear on the nightly news, so it shouldn't be a trigger for anyone, but I wanted to warn you all the same just in case. For the most part you can skip this chapter if you feel it's necessary as it's mostly meant to tie up Damon and Liz's relationship, which although important to the story arc won't leave you clueless if you skip it.

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Chapter 018

One Less Predator Hunting

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Tuesday, November 23, 2010; 9:40 a.m.

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Despite sitting in the living room, I can hear Bonnie sitting in her car out in the driveway. Her seat squeaks slightly as she leans forward and snaps the visor down presumably so she can see her face in the little mirror as she wipes at her eyes. The scent of her tears has been tickling my nose since she turned onto the street our house is on.

What happened that she's crying? Right now, she should be at school with Stefan, Elena, Jeremy, Caroline, Matt, Tyler, and Rebekah. It's very unlike Bonnie to leave school during the day, so something big must have happened to cause her to return to the house that has quickly become home to her despite it also being home to twelve current Vampires, a Hybrid, and five others including her who will one day soon become Vampires.

She takes a deep breath and then snaps the visor closed before getting out of the car and grabbing her purse and backpack.

Balthazaar, Lexi, Finn, Kol, Carys, Reyna, and Laraina were planning to go into the cave system and remap the tunnels for us today. Lexi stayed home instead of going out with them though after discovering yesterday evening that her Vampire boyfriend, Lee, whom she turned to spend eternity with, was so grief stricken about her death that a few months after he tried to kill me in Atlanta he killed himself. He died a few months before she came back as a Human.

Yes, that's another death I regret. I told her as much, and she smiled a bit and told me Lee's death wasn't my fault because despite the fact that I killed her Lee is the one who decided to kill himself. She says I had no control over that and his actions fall on Lee and Lee alone. My chest is still tight and there is a pain in the back of my throat anytime I think about it, but I'm trying to let go of the guilt since she seems so certain it's not my fault. I don't want to compound her grief by adding my guilt into the mix. Anyway, she is obviously and understandably upset, so everyone agreed she could stay home today, and if they find any Vampire free zones in their hunt today they can go back with her another day.

Besides Lexi, who is in her room towards the end of the lower Northeast wing, I am the only other person home right now. As Bonnie heads in and drops her bags by the foot of the stairs that lead to her room, I pretend I didn't listen to her as she sat out in her car for ten minutes crying.

Still, I barely contain myself, so she hardly makes it into the living room before I casually ask, "Sabrina, did you forget some—" I can't keep up the charade and cut myself off when I see her slack facial expression and trembling lips and instead ask, "Have you been crying?" I sit up straight and turn as I move my legs off the couch where I was lying reading the paper. At the concern in my voice, her tears start back up so as I fold the newspaper back up I ask, "What's wrong?"

She shakes her head and kind of nods at the same time as she tells me, "Caroline's mom called this morning. She was obviously shaken up and doing the mom thing by calling and making sure her baby was safe because they found the little girl that's been missing for three days."

I sigh and with a heaviness in my chest ask, "Shit, was it the same as the others?"

She nods with a set jaw and her lips thinned out she's pressing them together so hard, "Far as I know, yeah, Drago we have to do—"

I shake my head ever so slightly as I sigh again interrupting to ask, "Bonnie, what can we do? I talked to Liz about it the first time you told me about it, but everything she and her people have says it's a Human predator, not a Supernatural one."

Her voice trembles as she asks me, "But there's got to be something a family of Vampires and Witches can do to catch the asshole that's hunting little girls?"

I give a long slow sigh and reach out my hand to her before I tell her, "You obviously have a plan, so tell it to me, and I'll see if I can talk Liz into letting us do whatever you want us to do."

She probably knew I'd do whatever I can to help her help, but her posture still sags as she takes my hand and sits beside me. I wrap my arm around her shoulders just before she says, "Well it's not so much a plan as an idea that could lead to a plan. If the sheriff will let us see the evidence, then we could look for something the asshole might have left behind and I could do a tracking spell to find him."

I frown and ask, "How are we going to know it's his?"

She smiles a little to soften her next words, "I know you don't want to be characterized as a bloodhound, but your nose is even better than one of the K-9's the sheriff's department got last year."

I laugh at that, "Okay, so to be clear you want me to smell everything and find the common smell and then figure out what was his based on what has the strongest scent of him on it."

She nods and I can see the humor shine in her eyes briefly before she remembers the direness of the situation and the light in her eyes dies just a little, "I know it's not ideal, but somebody has to stop him, he's kidnapped, violated and then killed four little girls in the last two weeks."

I nod and pick up my phone off the table where it was sitting. After taking a cleansing breath, I dial. When Liz picks up she's obviously distracted so I tell her, "Liz I know you're busy with the little girl who was found this morning, but Bonnie and I would like to try to help you catch this monster."

I can hear her frowning as she moves to a more secluded area to quietly tell me, "Damon, it's not a Supernatural."

"I know. After you told me the details you could I agree that it's likely a Human, however, what you might not realize is that Bonnie is a Witch, and she would very much like to try to track this guy using her Magick."

She doesn't say anything for a minute then just after I hear her run her hand through her hair she asks, "A real Witch? Like really, a Witch?"

I laugh, "Liz, you find it difficult to believe she's a Witch even though you know Vampires and Werewolves exist? I think out of those three things the Witch is the less fantastical."

She chuckles though I don't sense much humor in it, "Okay I see your point. So what does Bonnie think she can do exactly, and what does she need from me to do it?"

I smile, as Liz is taking this much better than I thought she would. "Well first I'd have to smell the evidence you've collected to see if I can find a common scent that likely belongs to him and then use that to determine what actually belongs to him based on what has the heaviest concentration of his scent on it. Once I do that, Bonnie would need to be able to touch the item and could do a spell to track the owner of the object to his current location. Though I don't know the specifics as yet I know she's done a similar spell before that found Elena when she was missing, so I'm hopeful it'll work."

I pause briefly then add, "I know explaining how you found him will probably be a nightmare, but I could compel him to think you found him some other way or I don't know maybe just to tell the truth and then you could ask him about the crimes and he'll tell you everything you need. I figure the important part is stopping him before he finds his next victim."

Liz sighs and I've seen her dark look with the narrowed eyes and pursed lips directed at me often enough in recent times that I can clearly picture her face as she says, "I don't know if I'll support compelling him about how we find him but I might consider you compelling him to tell the truth. Either way I agree the important part is catching him before he can hurt anyone else. I'm still at the scene where we found the last victim collecting evidence, so I'll call you in a few hours when we've got everything collected, and then we can meet in my office and go through the evidence for all four victims."

I nod despite her not being able to see it and tell her, "Sounds good. We'll wait for your call."

I explain Liz's half of the conversation to Bonnie and then finish by telling her, "She'll meet us at her office with the evidence later today as they're still trying to collect evidence right now."

She nods as another tear escapes her eye. I let go of her while I was on the phone, so I open my arms to her and she practically throws herself into them and sits leaning against me as I hold her occasionally whispering, "We'll do our best to stop this monster."

She falls asleep a few minutes later, so two hours later when my phone rings it clearly startles her awake. When I see it's Liz calling I pick up and ask, "Liz are you ready for us?"

Her voice is strained as she quietly says, "No, he took another little girl who was playing in her front yard."

Shit, I sit up straight and ask, "What? When?"

She sighs and I hear her run her hand through her hair again as she says, "About an hour ago."

I pause and think for a minute then say, "That might actually help us. Can you get something that belongs to the girl? If so, instead of trying to track him, we can track the live victim. It'll have a better chance of working since we'll know for a fact the item is hers and it should tell us where he's got her."

Bonnie's heart is beating fast and hard as she realizes what's happened. She tugs on my arm and tells me, "Blood from a blood relative would be better if she'll let you compel someone into donating a small amount."

I repeat what she said and then Liz asks, "How will that work better?"

I narrow my eyes and tell her, "I'm not the Witch, but if Bonnie says it's better then I believe her. Plus, I know it works Liz, someone took Elena 300 miles away, and Bonnie tracked her using Jeremy's blood to within a mile radius of where they were holding her. If we're lucky like we were then there will only be one or two shelters nearby and we'll be able to find him more easily."

She's so upset she doesn't realize I've been talking to Bonnie so she asks, "Okay, obviously time is of the essence here, so how quickly can you get Bonnie out of school?"

"She's here with me now since she was so upset about the little girl you found this morning that she signed herself out of school and came home to ask me to try to help you, so we can meet you at their house any time now."

She gives me the address then I tell her, "Okay, bring a map of the area with you."

She replies, "I will, tell Bonnie I said thanks for this."

I smile, "I will. See you then."

When I hang up I say, "We need to go now, he took another little girl who was playing in her front yard."

She stands and after grabbing her purse follows me out to my Camaro. Twenty minutes later, we arrive at the Sullivan's house and Bonnie says, "God, I know Julie Sullivan. She's in Jeremy's class. I didn't know she had a little sister though."

I nod as we get out and walk up to the yellow tape blocking access to the yard and house. Deputy Jenkins is standing a few feet away so I wave him over. When he reaches me he says, "Mr. Salvatore."

I nod and tell him, "Deputy Jenkins, Sheriff Forbes is expecting us."

Liz must have warned him we were coming because he lifts the tape and he lets us into the restricted area before he walks us to the front door and knocks. Liz opens the door and steps outside as the deputy goes back to his post. Liz's shoulders are tense and she wets her lips before asking, "How do you want to do this? I'm not comfortable compelling anyone more than absolutely necessary so…"

When she trails off Bonnie asks her, "Is Julie the little girl's sister?"

She nods so Bonnie asks, "Is she here?"

When Liz nods, Bonnie continues, "Let me talk to her and we can get her to help without compulsion if possible and then Damon can just compel her to forget when we're done."

A pain flashes across Liz's face. I know she would rather we not compel anyone, but it really can't be helped, and she clearly knows that as her brows pinch together, and she nods again before leading us into the house. We go up a flight of stairs to a pink bedroom with pink glitter letters stating it's 'Mary's Room' emblazoned on the door and surrounded by colorful fairy decals.

There are more fairy decals stuck to the walls of the room as a girl who looks to be about Jeremy's age is sitting on the bed and hugging a little purple teddy bear. She's quietly crying as she stares at one of the fairies stuck to the wall, so Bonnie heads in and sits beside her. She looks up and her eyes widen at Bonnie's presence, "Bonnie, what, what are you doing here?"

She sighs and jumps in with both feet, "The sheriff knows I have a skill that might be useful in finding your sister. I need your help though. Will you come with us?"

Julie looks at the door and sees me, whom she's never met, standing in the doorway with Liz. She blinks rapidly and rubs the back of her neck so Liz says, "I'll be coming with you Julie, so you'll be perfectly safe."

Julie nods and stands on unsteady legs before placing the teddy bear down on the pillow of the bed. Bonnie picks it up and asks, "Do you mind if we take this for now?"

She looks ready to say no but Bonnie guesses at her reason, "I promise we'll give it back after we've found Mary, okay?"

She nods so Bonnie hands the bear to her and we walk out of the room and down the stairs. I compel her parents not to worry and we head to our car. Liz obviously trusts me more than she did when she first found out I was a Vampire but not nearly enough to have Julie come with us so she says, "Julie and I will follow you. Where are we going?"

I give a small nod and sigh a bit then say, "The boarding house is probably the best bet as I know Bonnie will have everything she needs to do this if you brought a map of the area."

Liz nods back, "I did."

I nod and we get into our cars. Bonnie and I don't talk on the way and I quietly say under my breath, "Please, Goddess, if you listen to the prayers of Vampires, let this work."

When we arrive, I invite Liz and Julie into the house and the Magick finds them both trustworthy and loyal to us, so they pass through the doorway with no resistance.

Bonnie bites her lip and looks down before asking, "Drago, where should we…"

I answer when it's clear she's not going to finish her sentence, "I think Liz and Julie can be trusted to know about the rooms in the basement."

She nods and leads the way. Liz's eyes widen when we go down one flight of stairs, walk down a short hallway behind the stairs and then go down another flight of stairs instead of just the one flight she likely expected. Bonnie leads us past a handful of rooms full of books and comfortable reading chairs as well as a few tables like you'd find in a library, and that's essentially what each room is, a library of Grimoires and Journals sorted by date and the ancestor who wrote them.

Almost everyone in our family has books written by an ancestor in at least one of the rooms, with Lexi and Matt being the only exceptions I can think of offhand. Even Ric is represented by all of Isobel's research and his own journals chronicling his search for me and answers as to what happened to his wife.

I bring my thoughts back to the here and now as we enter Bonnie's workroom, which holds everything she might need to do a spell including shelves of jars holding herbs and various artifacts. She stops in front of a round table and holds out her hand, "Can I have the map please?"

When Liz hands it to Bonnie, she lays it out flat on the table and then gets a charcoal burner disk and lights it and a few different herbs she takes off her shelves before running the smoke over the map. Then she tells Julie, "I need to cut your hand, it shouldn't be too deep. I don't need a lot of blood, but it's what will allow us to track your sister."

Julie bites her lip and looks at her for a long minute with wide eyes before she asks, "You're, you're a Witch?"

Bonnie nods and surprisingly the younger girl nods back then she walks to Bonnie and holds out her hand. She grabs the dagger she now knows I've passed down through the generations and last gave to Tianna and drags it across Julie's palm and then tells her, "Squeeze your hand a little and let the blood fall on Mystic Falls on the map."

She does as she was told to and then Bonnie hands her a tissue to press against her wound. She says a few words and then we all watch as the blood begins moving on the map. Julie gasps as does Liz when they notice it moving.

Finally, after a minute it stops so Bonnie leans down and looks before pointing to it and asking, "Drago, I think they're at the old quarry, but I don't remember there being any buildings out there."

I frown and tell her, "There's an old maintenance shack and a very small and very old trapper shack that used to belong to a caretaker out on the far edge of the property opposite of where we were when we went there."

Liz nods and says, "I know the buildings you're talking about. They're not much and probably wouldn't stand up to a big storm, but they're probably stable enough for someone to hide in." She talks into her radio and tells her deputies where to look.

Twenty minutes later, after Bonnie has bandaged Julie's hand, we're all sitting in the living room waiting when we hear Liz's radio say, "Sheriff, we got her. Suspect is dead. Mary's a little dirty but otherwise unharmed from what we can tell."

She sighs and smiles slightly as she tells the person, "Take her to the hospital just to be sure and I'll meet you there."

Liz stands as Julie sits sobbing into the purple fur of Mary's teddy bear. Liz shakes my hand, and I can feel the difference. This event has helped solidify in her mind that though I'm a Vampire I'm not actually one of the monsters. She smiles at me and I can see the trust that had been broken when she discovered my secret has been, if not completely restored, at least most of the way restored. I know with time Liz and I will be back to where we were before she discovered I was 'one of them'.

She then turns to Bonnie and hugs her and says, "I can't thank you both enough for contacting me and helping out. We wouldn't have thought to look there in time I don't think."

I say, "Happy to help, Liz."

She nods and helps Julie stand. Julie hugs Bonnie and whispers "Thank you."

She whispers back "You're welcome."

Then I catch the younger girl's eye and tell her, "The sheriff got a call while at your house that they found Mary and she offered to take you to the hospital to see her. You won't remember meeting me or Bonnie's involvement in finding your sister."

She nods and repeats what I said then Liz says, "Thank you," again and leads the still crying girl out to her cruiser.

Bonnie reaches for me, and I pull her into my arms and kiss the top of her head before telling her, "Well done, Sister, you just saved an innocent little girl from untold horrors and certain death."

She bursts into tears, and I move us, so we're sitting again as I pet her hair and repeat over and over, "I'm so proud of you Bonnie. You saved that little girl… and who knows how many that would have followed. Today is a good day."

She cries herself back to sleep in my arms, both of us confident that there is at least one less predator hunting in Mystic Falls and just in time for Thanksgiving.