This chapter...is a little intense. I know we've gone through Damon's guts being sprawled around like confetti and a graphic vampire feeding, but this one is still pretty gory. Just a heads up, in case you want to finish eating before reading. I know this is a short chapter, but this is where the chapter naturally broke, so I decided not to fight it. Stick around, folks-we're going down the rabbit hole.
The pain crested and broke in waves, bubbles of molten lava expanding and growing in her skull before exploding in an orgy of agony. It repeated in an endless repetition until only the pain existed, eternal and perpetual.
Gentle hands cradled her face, brushed the hair from her eyes. The pain stopped. "Elena, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry he did this to you." Bonnie drew her close, holding her as if she were a small child.
The pain receded, the sensation a faded memory already. A few feet away, Damon lay curled on his side, tiny animal grunts and twitches his only sign of life. Somehow, Bonnie continued her assault against his mind even as she rocked Elena in her arms.
"Bonnie, please. Stop it," Elena said. Her voice was rough. She tasted bitter bile.
"Shh. It's okay. Or it will be. It'll all be okay soon," Bonnie said. "We'll get through this. Just like we did with Caroline, we'll get through this."
What the hell was going on? Bonnie was almost too calm about this, too supportive. Of all people, Elena had not expected Bonnie to be the one to hold her and tell her everything was going to be all right. It was creepy. "It'll be fine as soon as you stop hurting him. Please, Bonnie. Look at him."
Elena pulled herself from Bonnie's arms, coming to kneel beside Damon. Blood dripped from his eyes, his nose, his ears, as if his brain was literally melting under the relentless aneurysms. He couldn't really die from them, could he? What if the spell wore away at him until there was nothing left? The feeble twitches had ceased, leaving him in a grim catatonia, face ashen beneath the bloody streaks. "You have to stop this."
Bonnie looked at Damon. Her eyes turned to stone, hard and unfeeling as agates. "No."
"What do you mean, 'no'? You made your point, now back off," Elena said, trying to wipe some of the blood from Damon's face. He'd be okay. Of course he'd be okay. Bonnie was just...displaying her displeasure. She'd done it before, she'd probably do it again. She'd let Damon get up, they'd exchange pithy words, and everything would be fine. Hell, at least Bonnie wastalking to her now. That was a definite improvement. Damon would heal. Fine. Everything would be fine.
"I came here to try to apologize. I miss you, Elena. I thought we could get through this, because our friendship matters more to me than anything. And I was right—we can get through anything. He's the problem." Bonnie rose from her crouch, eyes still fixed on Damon. "Get away from him."
"I'm not going anywhere." She leaned down, shielding Damon with her own body. They'd been through this song and dance before. How many times had Bonnie tried to kill Damon? It hadn't happened before. It wouldn't happen today. "A lot's happened between you and Damon. I know that-"
"He's taken everyone from me." Bonnie's voice cracked, her face a study in desolation. "Everyone I love is gone because of him. He sent Jeremy away. He murdered Grams. He turned Caroline and even fucking Abby. Now you. I'm all alone, Elena. He's left me all alone."
"But you aren't alone. I'm still here. I'm still me. Caroline, too. Abby will come around, Jeremy will come back. You aren't alone. We'll be okay, Bonnie. All of us will be okay," Elena pleaded.
Maybe she should have argued that none of those things were really Damon's fault. Perhaps Grams, but ultimately, her heart had simply stopped, as human hearts are wont to do. He'd tried to save Caroline by feeding her his blood; who could have foreseen Katherine? He'd turned Abby to save his brother, and done his best to preserve her life. Abby hadn't even deserved that kindness, the coward. As for Jeremy, Damon had merely been the instrument. But this was not the time for logic. This was a time to comfort her friend, talk her off the ledge and make her stop hurting Damon before it was too late.
But Bonnie shook her head. "He took everything," she repeated. "He has to pay. For all the lives he's taken, he has to pay. The balance must be restored." She extended her hands. "Move. I don't want to hurt you. But I will."
Damon was so still. Without a heartbeat, without the rise and fall of breath, how could she tell if he was dead? His skin hadn't turned gray, his veins hadn't risen like scars. She had to believe he was fine, and that he would be fine. Bonnie wouldn't really hurt her to get to Damon. She wouldn't. Not the sweet girl Elena loved. Elena lowered herself until chest rested against Damon's too-still body. "Do what you have to do."
She should have been afraid. Some part of her was, but not for herself. Dying...well, she'd been there, done that. Twice. The idea of Damon dying was an infinitely more terrifying idea, but as long as they went down together, it'd be all right. That's what she'd signed up for, after all. If Bonnie didn't kill them, Klaus would. If Klaus didn't kill them, the evil of Alaric's ring would. Death had lost its sting. But in her heart of hearts, Elena still believed Bonnie wouldn't go this far. Bonnie was too good for the likes of them. Always had been. She wouldn't soil her hands with their blood.
So it was somewhat of a surprise when invisible hands tore Elena away from Damon and drove her into the wall so hard her teeth rattled and the paneling cracked beneath her. Sourceless wind arose, whipping the embers in the fireplace into frenzy, Bonnie's hair floating in a devilish halo. Flames flowed from the fireplace in a glowing river of light, moving purposefully toward Bonnie. Toward Damon.
Now Elena was afraid.
Elena threw herself forward, struggling to free herself from bonds she couldn't see. It was as if the air itself had solidified around her. She strained with all her might as that dancing line of flames grew ever closer to Damon. "You can't do this, Bonnie! This isn't you. You're better than this—think of what it'll do to you. Killing him, killing the man I love, it'll eat you alive."
Bonnie's face shone, beautiful and ominous. "Watching him destroy you is eating me alive. Watching what he did to you? That's what's killing me. This is for the best." She smiled, but it was a cold and twisted thing. "You'll forgive me. Isn't that what you always do? If you could forgive him, you can forgive me."
She was going to do it. This time, Bonnie was really going to do it. No last minute attack of conscience, no unexpected savior. If Elena didn't do something, she was going to kill Damon.
Rage like Elena had never known flooded every inch of her. Black spots danced before her eyes, her skin white-hot with fury. Bonnie was not Damon's judge. She was not the arbiter of good and evil, right and wrong. Damon had his share of sins, but they weren't Bonnie's to burn away.
The witch raised her hands over her head, the flames coalescing into a writhing mass. There. With so much of her attention focused on controlling the flames, the air that held Elena captive weakened just enough. With a final, desperate lunge, Elena broke free, an inhuman growl tearing through the crackling of the flames. The fireball began to descend toward Damon, threatening to take him away forever and leave Elena locked in an endless hell without him, alone with Bonnie and her misery. No.
Fuck the balance. Damon was her balance. After all the shit the universe had thrown at her, Damon was the one consolation prize that made dealing with all the other horror and heartbreak almost worthwhile.
He was hers. He would not be taken from her.
The fire froze in mid-air when Elena's teeth met with Bonnie's throat. It evaporated into nothingness when Elena tore the witch's windpipe open, breath fruitlessly whistling through the ruined passageway. This was her enemy, and it had to be stopped. The creature became her prey, her conquest, as its sweet life's blood pumped into her mouth. Her enemy's heart gave a few last, labored beats, the arterial blood headier than any wine. Elena suckled at the ruined throat, needing to drain the last dregs. No one would threaten what was hers. No one.
"Elena! Jesus Christ, Elena," a voice said. A familiar voice. The one who belonged to her, the one she belonged to. Damon.
It was only then that Elena raised her dripping mouth from the gaping wound. It was only then that Elena saw Bonnie's eyes, fixed and staring. It was only then that the screaming began.
She didn't expect it to ever stop.