A/N: Part II of III. Enjoy.

The sun had just begun to set when Stefan appeared. Bonnie waited for him on the porch. They exchanged a silent greeting before Akiri joined them.

Stefan held out his hand. "We haven't been properly introduced. Stefan Salvatore."

Akiri took his hand. "Akiri Beraht." She dropped it and showed him her palm. His ring glinted in the half-light. Stefan immediately hid in the long shadows of the porch.

"That was unnecessary. I mean no harm."

"Regardless, this is my insurance just in case you do."

Two dark eyes glittered in the shadows. "The sun sets in ten minutes, Akiri. That's how long that insurance will last."

Akiri lifted a shoulder. "All the time I need. You see, Mr. Salvatore, your brother tried to murder me. I should kill him, but he's valuable to you, and Bonnie is indebted to him. She has convinced me to let him live, but I need an assurance from you."

Stefan glanced at Bonnie. "Did he hurt you?"

Bonnie said nothing. Stefan sighed. "What would you have me do?"

Akiri turned to face the sunset. "Put Katherine Pierce and your brother in the tomb."

Stefan cocked his head. "You want me to imprison Damon."

"Think of it as a way of keeping him out of trouble."

"For how long? Forever? Katherine will kill him."

Bonnie stepped forward. "She won't. We've taken care of that. He'll stay in the tomb for a week at most. And then I'll lift the spell long enough to get him out."

Akiri held out her hand. "This is all I require to forget. Are we in accordance?"

Stefan was silent for some time. Bonnie felt him watching her and ignored the silent appeal. Damon in the tomb was a special kind of karma. She couldn't outright argue against it.

Just as darkness began to descend, Stefan stepped forward and shook the offered hand. "After a week he comes out and you're gone from Mystic Falls."

Akiri smiled. "Agreed." She turned to Bonnie. "Bring them out."

Damon waited in the living room. Katherine shifted restlessly in his arms, trying to get at his blood. It made keeping the pain at a minimum impossible. Akiri was adept at torture. He admired her for this when he didn't want to rip off her limbs.

A light step brought his head up. Bonnie stopped at the rug. Her face reminded him of that night when they buried the carnie. Closed, but her eyes were splinters of steel.

"Stefan is here."

"Jimmy Carter came through. I wasn't worried."

"The sooner we do this, the sooner you heal."

Damon tightened his arms around Katherine's limp, desiccated body and stood. He grunted and nearly fell back but Bonnie had his arm.

"I thought you were done doing me favors."

"I am. I don't want to expend any more energy by carrying you," Bonnie said. She changed her grip to stand a little behind him with both hands on his upper arms. The warmth he usually felt whenever they were close dampened to cool.

"Use your legs. Let's go," she said. Damon walked unsteadily towards the front door. The pain made him sweat. He had to hand it to Akiri. Breaking off the tip of the knife and then removing the rest was ingenious. If he hadn't made her an enemy, she would be a fine addition to his shortlist of friends.

Stefan didn't hasten to him when Damon stepped out on the porch. Damon read the fury in Stefan's furrowed brow. Stefan did his best to hide the shock of seeing Katherine dry as a piece of jerky.

"She looks as though she hasn't fed in decades," Stefan said.

"I stripped the blood from her veins. She's weakened, though not completely," Akiri said.

Stefan looked to Damon. "Can you carry her?"

Damon nodded. He couldn't, not another step, but damn Stefan for riding up on his white horse. He'd rather crawl than have his brother clean up his mess and carry around the bucket.

Akiri stopped them before leaving. She slipped Stefan's ring around Bonnie's thumb. "Return when it is done. We have work to do."

Bonnie nodded. She glanced at Stefan. He came over and placed a hand on Damon's shoulder. Together they maneuvered Damon down the porch steps and towards the woods.

Not a word passed as they trekked to the tomb. The only sounds came from Bonnie stepping over twigs and leaves and Katherine muffling and groaning for Damon's blood. The moon rose slowly. The darkness deepened. The moonlight seemed to settle amongst the branches of trees, leaving those on the ground in clear black.

Bonnie went from directing Damon to following the subtle shifts of his movement. They paused once for Stefan to gauge the distance to the tomb. He pointed ahead and Damon lifted a shoulder. They veered slightly to the west. Bonnie didn't question it. Her thoughts kept her occupied.

Her foot scraped against paved stone. They had reached the tomb. Stefan led the way down. Bonnie looked up through the hole she made when she fell so long. The moon hovered above, unreachable.

Stefan said something about light. Bonnie reached out and wood brushed her fingertips. Fire instantly lit the torch. The flames flickered a few inches from her face then Stefan swept the light towards the cleft in the rock. The door had been removed. She shivered as cold, musty air drafted towards them.

"Can we go in?" Stefan asked. His eyes were grim. Bonnie dropped her hand from Damon's arm and moved towards the opening. The spell buffeted her face. It had been so strong to lift the first time, nearly impossible. It took Grams life. They were supposed to trap them all in there, Stefan and Damon, and collapse the entire thing. But Elena had begged and Stefan…Stefan was good. But he wouldn't leave without Damon. He wouldn't leave his brother.

Bonnie closed her eyes. She was presented with the same choice. It seemed she would make the same mistake.

"No, you can't."

Bonnie went to Damon and dragged Katherine out of his arms. The two brothers wore identical quizzical expressions. A fine sheen of sweat made Damon look feverish. He came forward but faltered and Stefan grasped his arm.

"I'll put her inside. You two go. Akiri won't know the difference if Damon stays away."

Bonnie pulled Katherine towards the entrance. Stefan set Damon against a wall and stopped her.

"Katherine could still overpower you in this state. Not to mention what will happen when Akiri finds out."

"I'm not as weak as you think, Stefan. And not when, if."

Stefan threw a glance at Damon. "When."

Bonnie grinned. "Don't pull the knife tip out until you stuff him in one of those detox rooms you have in the cellar. Let him suffer for a week. He deserves it."

Stefan sighed. "You don't have to do this."

"I know," she said. Stefan gave her the torch and Bonnie thrust it into the opening as she resumed pulling. Katherine strained against her but not with enough force to make it difficult.

She dragged Katherine until her arm was sore and she couldn't see the crevice opening with the torch. She deposited Katherine against a wall with bones and feathers and scraps of cloth littering the ground.

"Looks like you've finally made it to where you're supposed to be," Bonnie said. She passed the torch over Katherine's face. Her skin was gray and wrinkled, the bones of her face prominent. Her eyes opened and they were dark pits with bits of yellow. Is this what Elena would look like in decay? It disturbed her. Bonnie backed away but not quick enough.

Katherine grabbed her wrist and pulled her close. Bonnie held the torch like a club, ready to bash it into the side of her head.

"Protect…Elena," Katherine said.

Bonnie tried to break the vice on her wrist. "You're in here. She'll be safe now."

"You stupid…little girl," Katherine said. She pulled Bonnie closer Katherine's papery leather skin brushed her cheek.

"The doppelganger…must be protected."

"From who?"

"Blood," Katherine whispered. A dry lick on her throat catapulted the adrenaline through her veins. Bonnie reared up and flew back to the dirt floor. The torch snuffed out at the same time she heard a skittering laugh.

Bonnie fled.

Stefan waited until Katherine's booted feet disappeared into the tomb before going to Damon.

"How deep is it?"

Damon closed an eye. "One or two centimeters left of the right ventricle. Got your scalpel ready McBroody?"

"Shut up, Damon," Stefan said. He dug his fingers into the wound and carefully fished for the knife tip. Damon sucked in air. Stefan extracted the wood in one clean pull. Damon gasped and fell over on his side, clutching his chest.

"That witch is so fucking dead," Damon coughed.

Stefan rocked back on his heels. "She could have killed you."

"She would have killed me." Damon eased forward onto his hands and knees. Stefan's face bobbed before him.

Stefan clapped his shoulder. "But Bonnie dissuaded her and here we are."

Damon shoved his hand away. Stefan stood and went to the tomb entrance.

"Careful, you might trip and fall over your goodness and end up right where Katherine wants you," Damon said. Stefan gave him a tight smile and continued peering into the tomb.

Damon pushed himself up. He moved too slowly. He needed blood. No blood bag tonight. A young lady perhaps. He eyed his brother and shuffled over to stand opposite him.

"Well?"

Stefan gazed at him blankly.

Damon looked into the tomb. "Go ahead, Dr. Phil. Tough love me into the fetal position."

Stefan shrugged. "Nothing I say seems to make any difference to you. You do something idiotic and I fix it. This is our routine. I've accepted it."

"Really Stefan? The passive-aggressive technique? I'm disappointed in you."

Stefan watched Damon for a full thirty seconds. It was a simple look that belied the weight of years. It brought the details and the nuances of this particular discretion and those of the past to the forefront.

Stefan had always been the savior. He would always be the savior. It was a complex he remembered Stefan developing when he was little. Whenever Father got a little too tyrannical, Stefan's erstwhile goodness and belief in his brother, right or wrong, either softened or ceased the blows. Damon had come to appreciate it, as a human. As a vampire, he loathed it. Damon never looked into why, only how it affected him. To be forced to live when he wanted to die was a betrayal he couldn't overcome. No matter how many times they saved each other. He meant what he promised. But so did Stefan.

What did he want? Damon searched the cold, dark air for an answer. Honesty, to be confided in, brotherly love? He didn't know if he was capable of giving those things. But he was capable of loving his brother's girl, who happened to look exactly like their old flame? He was capable of complicated feelings for…her, the witch friend? Damon caught Stefan glancing at him.

"Akiri has to go. She's a threat."

Stefan crossed his arms. "To whom?"

Damon measured the words before he said them. Consequence and implication and all that. He rubbed the rapidly healing wound on his chest. "We can't afford to lose Bonnie to some witch with delusions. She's the trump card."

"There are other ways to keep Bonnie safe, Damon. Sane ways. Ways that don't lead here."

"But those ways are no fun," Damon said. Stefan ducked his head to hide the grin.

"To be honest, I don't know how it came to this. One minute I couldn't care less, the next I'm thinking I need to protect her. What happened in the between?"

Stefan let the question hang. It was spoken softly to the opening, the dark. He didn't know what to make of this new thing. Did it frighten him? Absolutely. It was unexpected, volatile, could destroy more than the two of them, but it was also a relief. Damon's eye was on someone else, someone who wasn't so keen to play nice and regard feelings.

"You can't treat her the same way. She's different."

Damon smiled. "They're all the same in the dark."

Stefan only looked at him.

"I know, Stefan," Damon sighed, "I know."

Bonnie leaned into a fissure of rock, listening. Her heart pounded in her ears. She shook all over. He asked what happened in the between as though he asked her and she wanted to respond, "Too much." Everything about them was too much. She kept making the same mistakes. She couldn't make any more.

She inhaled and pushed off the rock. She ran the rest of the way, bursting out of the tomb. Damon caught her, caught himself, and let her go in the matter of seconds. She didn't look at him. Instead she looked to Stefan.

"Katherine told me something. About Elena."

Stefan narrowed his eyes. "Is it worth repeating?"

"She said to protect Elena. That she's the doppelganger and that she had to be protected from someone."

Damon thought back to that someone Katherine had mentioned. "Did she give a name?"

Bonnie kept her eyes on Stefan. "No. But at least you have a clue. Someone else wants the moonstone. And we don't know of the doppelganger. It might be related to the curse."

"So we just need to find out who wants both and problem solved," Damon said.

Stefan rubbed his eyes. "We can do that back at the manor, after we fill everyone in."

Bonnie licked her lips. "This is where I'm going to have to get off."

Damon came around to face her. "What?"

"I can't be involved. There are…other things I have to do. I made a promise."

"So one supersedes the other? Because she can teach you to fly a broomstick?"

Bonnie tensed her jaw and looked past him to Stefan. "I'm sorry. I'll talk to Elena tomorrow and explain. But I can't help anymore."

Stefan nodded. "We can't do anything about this now. I'll take you back to Akiri. Maybe she'd be willing to—"

"No, I don't want her knowing. And I don't need an escort. I have more to do," she handed Stefan his ring, "take your brother home, keep him out of sight."

Stefan shook his head. "The woods are too dark, you might get lost."

"I'll be fine, Stefan. Please go."

"Hey," Damon barked, "don't talk around me." He turned to Stefan. "Go home, Stef, call the Half-Assed Brigade to assemble. Maleficent and I need to confab."

Bonnie pursed her lips. "Go Stefan. I'll be fine."

Damon and Bonnie engaged in a nonverbal, nonphysical tussle before Stefan even left the crypt. Damon waited until Stefan was out of hearing range before he let loose the first arrow.

"Akiri is insane."

"And you're such an excellent judge on sanity?"

"I am because I'm insane. We crazy supernatural people recognize each other."

"You know, I'm done talking about this. Goodbye Damon," she said. She went to climb the crypt steps but Damon blocked the way.

"You're making a huge mistake. Massive. It pains me to see you behaving with such colossal stupidity."

Bonnie stepped back. "I know why you're so pissed. No more trump card."

Damon let his words startle him for a moment. "I won't deny it. You're a weapon that's gone self-aware. But that's not all you are, Bonnie. I know that. Akiri doesn't."

"Stop saying you know me. Stop saying you know and they don't. You don't know shit. All you know is how to destroy and then joke about it."

"Bonnie—"

"Get off me," she shook off his arm and jogged up the steps out into the open. The air cooled her face but she couldn't get enough of it into her lungs. She tried to calm herself but it was too late. Something had happened when he said her name and took her arm. She was losing against the heat of closeness. It didn't make any sense and she was tired of trying to hide it, sweeping it away. There it was again, curling up her spine.

"Whenever you're around, there's this heat. It screws with my instinct to kill you. It makes it harder and harder to…not miss it. And I missed it. While you were gone scheming to kill Akiri, I missed the heat. I missed being around it. So I went snooping. And I went to Akiri and there you were."

Bonnie turned. Damon stood a few feet from her. The moonlight had moved beyond the trees to fall over the ground. She saw his face, the intensity of his blue eyes and his still mouth and the heat grew to hot. Thoughts crashed together, splintering off into more thoughts, more feelings, adding to the thing between them. The 'too much'.

"I feel it too. Ever since you tried to roast me. I thought it was a spell, retribution, whatever. Then I thought it was one-sided. And then that kiss happened." Damon shifted his weight. "It might have changed things between us, but I never meant it to stick."

"So the solution is to murder anyone else who helps me?"

Damon sighed. "Bonnie, you're not hearing me. She wants to turn a vampire into a human. It's impossible. If vampires already go against nature, then what does it mean to convert something that is dead back to actual life?"

"We go against nature all the time, Damon. Every time I save you or you me, we violate the basic rules. If we can have this connection, as fucked up as it is, then she can turn a vampire into a human."

"She's not powerful enough."

"She is. I know her strength and she—"

Damon sprang forward and grabbed her arms. "You will die!" He peered into her face, eyes narrowed. "Do you get that? Another confrontation with that witch council and you won't wake up. What do I say to Elena? Or Caroline?" His eyes practically burrowed into hers. "How do I justify letting you die to myself?"

It was like lightening struck her. Every cell electrified. Her mind went blank for a few seconds, then a wall of fire rose before her. She threw up her arms and fell back. A figure stood in the flames, so familiar. Cold sweat broke out all over and she dropped her arms with a scream. It echoed all around, doubling, tripling, until the roar of the fire and her scream were one. She lurched forward with hands outstretched and felt the solid weight of a body. It thrashed and she pulled. Blue eyes the color of early sky gazed up at her. Her blistered hands touched crisped black hair.

"Damon."

"Bonnie."

It was dark. They were in the woods. Damon cupped her face. Moisture tickled her cheeks and fractured her sight. She raised her hands to wipe it away. Her fingers collided with his. He brushed back her tears, staring silently into her face.

"It was a vision," Bonnie whispered. She fixed her eyes on his. He had been burned alive and she was there. Did she do it? The amount of energy it took to sustain an element that long with that much power—she wouldn't be capable of that for years. Another witch. Why was Damon there? For you, her mind screamed, you.

Bonnie forcibly extricated herself from him and stood away. "Consider our promise fulfilled."

"What happened? What did you see?"

"I saw you being burned alive because you won't leave me alone," Bonnie snapped. "The one thing that screws up every single plan is you, Damon. You. For once," she closed her eyes, "for once, stay out of my business, stay out of my life. Stay away." She opened them to see his face shut off.

"Then consider our truce null. Don't come around Elena. I don't want her getting caught up in whatever shit you're in." Damon gave her the once over. "You wanted me as an enemy, Bonnie. I hope I live up to it."

She blinked and he was gone. Bonnie remained immobile for five minutes until it became too much to swallow. She sank to the forest floor and covered her face with her hands. All she saw were blue eyes in a charred face.