A/N: Thank you for the reviews, and thank you, loyal reader. Enjoy.

Teeter

Damon was as close to frantic as he was willing to admit by the time afternoon set in. He left the car in the garage after an hour of driving around. He searched more area on foot anyway. She wasn't anywhere downtown. She wasn't in the nearby neighborhoods; she wasn't in any outlying towns. He sat on the ledge of the tallest building for miles and fiddled with his phone. He had no clue what to do.

He tried to think of what he would do if Bonnie weren't connected to Elena. The panic prevented him from coming up with the typical answer. The truth was, Bonnie was connected to Elena. They were like him and Stefan, before Katherine, before the war, before he realized his father hated him and loved Stefan. And now he was responsible for fucking up another perfectly good relationship.

He took out a vial of blood. It was the last one he had. The afternoon sun exploded into blood red oranges and sharp golds. He stared into the sinking disk. The world stilled. He rolled the glass between his palms. The wind shifted slightly. His eyes were full of the sun when his chest expanded. Air rushed in, went nowhere, and left again. His skin tightened. Heat flushed every cell, wrapped around every nerve, flooded every synapse.

Damon blinked. He downed the blood and stood. He knew where she was.

Visions were a sporadic event. They never happened with any linear presentation, and they were always accompanied with a jolt of electricity that made her muscles tremble minutes afterwards.

This vision was more like an immersion in a memory. Bonnie was in a wooded area at night. The moon illuminated the scene. Blood tinged the air. A large group of vampires stood in a circle. Someone stood in the middle, speaking. Bonnie moved from behind a tree and came nearer. Between the gaps she discerned bodies on the ground, their limbs twisted at odd angles.

Bonnie stumbled back. Someone grabbed her arm and she screamed.

"You are safe, Bonnie Bennett. It is only a memory."

It was a man, the figure in the door. His eyes swept over her to the vampire speaking. "Listen."

Bonnie turned to find herself in the circle. Her eyes went to the corpses. The smell of blood was so thick her mind refused to believe this was simply a recollection. The man squeezed her elbow. She focused on the lone standing figure in the middle. He was young, with close cut brown hair and blue eyes. Handsome.

"The best opportunity to strike is during the celebration. The families will be in attendance. The element of surprise will be on our side this time, and we will slaughter them all, every last one."

Bonnie swallowed carefully. How could the word 'slaughter' come out so casually form such a pretty mouth? It must be a vampire thing.

Her memory guide stepped forward. "Lest you forget, someone has murdered the two oldest amongst us. There was witch activity involved as well. We would be foolish to return to Mystic Falls thinking to overwhelm the residents. A century has passed. Their vampire detection techniques may have become more sophisticated."

The young man smiled. "There are twenty of us now hydrated. Combined, our ages encompass two millennia. Expected or not, we kill." He turned his eyes to the rest. "Our friends in North Carolina are preparing for us. We depart in a fortnight."

"I will not join in this venture," the man said. The atmosphere changed to open hostility. Bonnie curled a hand into a fist. The young man narrowed an eye at her guide.

"This is not an option. Unless," the young man spread his arms, "you would like to challenge me."

Her guide gazed around the circle. She saw him nod to various people.

"I shall challenge you."

The young man's face flashed from human to vampire in an instant. "I am stronger."

Her guide grinned. The fangs descended. "Only by a decade, friend."

Bonnie gasped as the two men lunged at each other. The scene blurred and suddenly she was in a darkened room, slouched against a silk paneled wall. Candles flickered on every available surface. A woman sat at a table in the center, her palms up on the tabletop and her eyes closed. There were a number of people surrounding her. In front of her was a large book with thick yellow paper.

Bonnie walked towards the woman. It was the witch. Her hair was long and coppery in the candlelight. Black lace covered every inch of her save for her face and hands. Her lips were bright red. She whispered phrases of which Bonnie only had a vague notion. A summoning spell maybe. Or a sun spell.

"You have limited experience with witches."

Bonnie looked to her guide. "Maybe."

He grinned at her. For the first time she really saw his face. It was what Bonnie came to believe was typical of male vampires: young, angular, and attractive. This one had warm brown eyes, entirely unlike the frost blue eyes of her other vampire guide. And although he was a vampire and she hated vampires, a smile transformed her mouth. Attractive is attractive. Those brown eyes did not hurt.

"What are we doing here?" Bonnie asked.

Her guide nodded to the witch. "I wanted you to see Akiri."

Bonnie started to speak when there was a commotion. Akiri slumped forward and opened her eyes, staring straight ahead at them. The book snapped shut and the candles went out. Bonnie blinked against the darkness. She groped ahead for something solid and found a cold hand.

"Do not fear," he whispered.

The candles burst into bright white flames. Akiri sat with her eyes open, looking about the room.

"They have a device. A simple trinket, but effective. I cannot do anymore," she said.

Bonnie's guide knelt next to Akiri's chair. "You have done more than any witch should. We thank you."

Akiri placed a hand on the side of his face. "I am glad you came to me."

Bonnie watched the look that passed between them. Her guide pressed his face into her hand. Her thumb brushed the flesh under his eye.

"I must warn them Akiri."

Akiri shook her head. Her hair moved like a copper halo. "No. If you go, you will be killed. They have made their choice, Joshua, and you have made yours." She bent her head towards him. Bonne was nowhere near them, but she heard her say as though in her own ear, "I have dreamed of you for so long. Stay with me."

A brilliant suffuse of warmth coursed through her as Joshua brought his lips to Akiri's. Bonnie glanced at her guide.

"It'll never work."

Her guide smiled. "Perhaps. But for the moment, it does. And my life has been a series of moments."

Bonnie gazed upon the vampire and witch kissing. It seemed unnatural. At any moment he would drink from her. She waited. His hands went to frame her face. Akiri shut her eyes as he placed light kisses on her eyelids and cheekbones.

"I will stay."

Akiri smiled.

"She wants to protect you," Bonnie said. She turned to him but she must have turned too quickly because the world before her eyes blurred and dipped. Ground rushed to meet her and Bonnie braced for the fall.

"Bonnie?"

Damon hovered above her. His hands were locked on her arms, lifting her into a sitting position. Dry leaves crunched as she shifted. She was back in front of Akiri's house, except it was night and she was on a burnt patch of grass.

"Where's Akiri? And Joshua?" Bonnie asked.

"Who?"

"The witch who lives here, and the tomb vampire. He, they, took me through their memory, they wanted me to know…they showed me…the watch," Bonnie pressed a hand to her forehead. Damon glanced around them then frowned at her.

"Look, I don't know if this is some witch specific form of PTSD, but this house is abandoned. I found you lying here, practically in a fucking coma."

Damon pulled her up and turned her around. The house was more than abandoned. It was rotting, sinking in. Bonnie rubbed her temples. "I don't understand. I…saw them." She looked at Damon. "I saw it. I'm not hallucinating."

Damon said nothing as he stared at her, his frown increasing in intensity. "If I say I believe you, will you shut up and come along?"

"I don't need to be appeased."

"You're right. You're a big girl. I'm sorry. Can we go now?"

Bonnie stepped out of the circle. She whirled around to look at the house. She spotted the bright blue headscarf Akiri wore hanging over the porch banister. Damon didn't see it. They were there, watching and waiting.

"Bennett."

"I hear you Damon," Bonnie snapped. She strode past him to the car. Damon cast a look to the house and got behind the wheel.

While the car shot down the highway to Virginia, the house at the end of Nash Avenue resumed its original shape. Lights flared throughout the house until it was ablaze, a bright and hazy lighthouse on the bend of the cul-de-sac. Joshua playfully dropped the scarf over Akiri's head and sat beside her. She lifted the fabric from her face to grin at him.

"I told you so," he said.

"So you did. She could have brought the glimmer down, killed us all."

Joshua draped an arm over her shoulders. "You're stronger than her."

Akiri abstained from commenting. She linked her fingers through his. "I am glad you showed her that memory. It is a favorite of mine."

"I was feeling nostalgic."

They smiled at each other. Akiri rested her head in the crook of his neck. "Are they what we would have been in the beginning, if we had a beginning?"

"Maybe. But they will be different from us, I think."

Akiri kissed his knuckles. "Yes, they will be different. It will be harder for them in a way it was and never will be for us."

Joshua squeezed her gently. Akiri settled against him. They stared out into the long night, safe in their lit world.

"Elena."

"Bonnie! Where have you been? Is Damon with you? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, we're fine. I just…" Bonnie angled her head away from Damon, who only tapped an ear. Bonnie scowled. "We're coming back now. I need you to do me a favor."

"What is it?"

"I need you to stay home. You and Stefan."

"What's going on Bon?"

Bonnie swallowed the truth. It didn't go down all the way. "I'll tell you after I'm sure everything's okay. Trust me Elena," Bonnie said, staving off the inevitable follow-up inquiry. Damon snorted.

There was reluctant silence that precipitated an even more reluctant, "Fine. But I need to know what's going on. As soon as you get back."

"Okay," Bonnie promised.

Damon glanced at Bonnie's profile. "So this Akiri, she saw the watch?"

"Yes. I don't know who 'them' is though."

"Probably John Gilbert."

"Are you positive this whole covert attack will happen tonight?" Damon asked.

"Fortnight is two weeks, right? So yes, tonight."

They fell into thoughtful quietude. Bonnie picked at her jeans. Joshua and Akiri pushed through her plans for tonight. It was unnatural. A vampire in love was a perilous thing. She glanced at Damon. He thrummed the wheel. No. Joshua was different. She was in his mind, she experienced the radiance of warmth he felt when Akiri showed her love. Love. What a complete minefield. God help her from going stupid like the rest of the world. Loyalty was enough to deal with.

"I think we should get something straight before we enter phase two of Operation Save Our Asses," Damon said. Bonnie rolled her eyes.

"Let me guess, no more running off?"

"You can run off, just let me know before you do that way, should something happen to you like, I don't know, death, I can be cleared of any wrongdoing."

"When I woke up you were gone doing God knows what, so don't paint me as some toddler who slipped you in the mall," Bonnie retorted.

"Technically, you are a toddler," Damon said.

"Right, I forgot you're one of the aged."

Damon raised an eyebrow. "You should respect your elders then."

Bonnie looked at him. "You are one of the worst chaperones ever."

"And this has been the worst field trip ever. So you're welcome."

Damon flashed her a grin. Bonnie turned her head to the window and smiled.

They passed the 'Welcome to Mystic Falls' sign when Bonnie remembered.

"How did you find me?"

Damon cursed as he came upon a closed street due to the celebrations. Bonnie repeated the question.

"I don't know. I just knew where to find you unconscious."

"You just knew? Like a homing beacon?"

Damon parked near the post office three blocks from the square. "No, not like a homing beacon or a lojack system or any of that crap. I knew, I went, I found. That's it." He gave her a suspicious look. "Why?"

Heat flooded her face. Didn't she wish—didn't she want Damon with her? The thought roiled her stomach. Bonnie shook her head. "Nothing. Just curious."

"Okay. So, to be absolutely crystal, I go find the motley crew, you find Uncle John or whoever and dismantle the watch."

Bonnie nodded. She was about to exit the car when Damon caught her arm.

"Yeah?"

Damon leveled a somber gaze at her. Minutes seem to drag by when it was actually a brief two seconds. "Kill or run, okay?"

Her stomach twisted. The flush crept into her face again. "Okay."

He was gone in a breath.

Bonnie picked up the keys left on the driver seat and tucked them into her jacket pocket. "Kill or run," she repeated.

It would be that kind of night.