Disclaimer: I don't TVD, no matter how much I wish I did. Any recognizable characters, plots and dialogue belong to the L.J. Smith and the CW.
A/N: Another quick thank you to everyone who has reviewed and favorited this story. You make a writer's day brighter. Also, a quick note that I have a tumblr with the same user name as here. Right now, it's a lot of writer reblogs, but also posts about what's coming up for me, story ideas that have popped up, etc. Okay, self-promotion over, and onto the story!
Bonnie
The incessant ring of her phone is what roused Bonnie from a perfectly good lazy morning. She hadn't gone to the ball the night before but had been up late reading through Grams' grimoire. With the Originals deciding to settle in Mystic Falls, she didn't know what spells might be useful to have in her repertoire. She had also listened with half an ear when Esther had come to talk to Abby before the ball. She wasn't sure what to make of what she had heard, but apparently, her time to mull it over would be cut short this morning.
She snaked a hand out from under her comforter, groaning. She clicked answer and flopped back against her pillows.
"Hullo," she answered. She hoped it sounded more like a word than the growl she heard.
"Bonnie!"
She pulled the phone back from her ear, recoiling at the sudden volume. "Jeremy? What-"
But she didn't get the chance to finish asking her question. Jeremy had already began rambling. He said something about Elena, Elijah, Esther, a spell, Matt getting hurt, and even more that she couldn't understand.
"Wait! Slow down, Jeremy," she said, managing to cut across him. His words had woken her more effectively than if he had doused her with ice water. It had been less than a day, and the Originals were already at the heart of new problems. "I need coffee, and then I need you to start over. What happened?"
She heard Jeremy take a deep breath before he began again. She put him on speakerphone as she quickly got dressed and went downstairs to make coffee. She was just pouring her first cup when he got to Elijah's visit, which had, according to Jeremy, ended abruptly only a few minutes ago.
She asked him to repeat himself again, and he complied.
"Elijah and Elena were looking right at each other - no more than ten feet between them - but neither could see the other. When I mentioned one to the other, it was like they couldn't hear me. Elena said it was like the words wouldn't process, and Elijah just looked confused."
"Definitely weird," Bonnie said. She took her first sip of coffee, sighing as it passed her lips. "It could be magic, but something like that would take a lot of power, and why? Why do that - make sure they can't talk?"
"Elena met with Esther last night," Jeremy said. "Even after she said she wasn't going to, she did."
Bonnie rolled her eyes. They should have expected that. "That's our Elena. Esther might have that kind of power. She is pulling from my family line of magic. Do you know what she told Elena?"
Jeremy passed along what Elena had said. He emphasized the bit about Elena not having helped willingly and her fear of repercussions, but then he had a question of his own.
"How do you know Esther's drawing from your family?" He sounded harried. She had a passing thought that they should all be used to this kind of thing by now, but how do you get used to the supernatural taking over your life?
"She came by last night," Bonnie said. "She talked to Abby. I didn't think it was anything too important, or I would have met with her too. I figured she just wanted to meet with us and thank us for letting her out of the coffin. I listened a bit but stayed out of it."
"And you didn't think this was something worth sharing?" Jeremy asked.
Bonnie felt her hackles raising. She had a lot on her plate. They all did. "It didn't seem like a big deal," she repeated. "When did it become required that we all share everything?"
"When a thousand-year-old witch came back to life and insisted on keeping all of her homicidal children in one town," Jeremy said. "We need to be on the same page." He was quiet for a moment, and Bonnie didn't feel the need to fill the silence. He sighed. "Sorry. I shouldn't be jumping down your throat. I'm just worried. Elena is doing her shut down and act like everything's fine thing."
Bonnie took a deep breath. "Yeah, I get that. If she wanted to keep Elena from warning Elijah about her plan, then yeah, she probably has enough power from my family to do a spell like that."
"It's more than a spell," said a new voice. Bonnie jumped and knocked her coffee over. She groaned as she watched it spread across the kitchen counter. When she turned to find the source of the voice to yell at them for scaring her, she saw a stranger smirking at her through her kitchen window. He had slightly disheveled brown hair and brown, bordering on black eyes. The longer her eyes lingered on him, the wider his smirk became. "Hello. Name's Kol, darling," he said. "And I think we need to talk."
"Is someone there?" Jeremy asked.
"He says his name's Kol," Bonnie said.
"He's one of Elijah's brothers," Jeremy said as his voice steadily rose in pitch. "The one who broke Matt's hand. Don't-"
Kol cut across whatever Jeremy was going to say, and Bonnie absently heard the phone line click off.
"I understand your boyfriend's worry, but I rather think you'll want to hear what I have to say."
The man talking to her seemed nothing like a psychopath who would break someone's hand for simple amusement at a town party. Bonnie kept her guard up, though, having learned not to trust anyone new.
"I would apologize about your friend's hand, but I think we both know I wouldn't mean it. However, I think your doppelgänger friend is in danger."
"Elena's always in trouble, and lately it seems your family is always the cause."
"This time it's my mother," Kol said. "As a witch, you know what she might be capable of. But, I'd rather not have this conversation through a kitchen window."
"I'm not inviting you in," Bonnie said as she kept her eyes steady on Kol's. They were completely unreadable to her, and she found she wasn't at all surprised. "And there's no way I'm going out there."
Kol chuckled. The sound was darkly attractive, but Bonnie shook that thought away as soon as it crossed her mind.
"I would expect no less, darling. How about a compromise? We'll meet back at the front door. You can open it, and we can talk, each from our own side of the threshold. And when your boyfriend inevitably shows up to defend you, as a sign of good faith, I won't harm him."
"Jeremy's not-" Bonnie stopped mid-sentence. Kol had no right or need to know that she and Jeremy weren't together. She nodded her head and heard the telltale sound of a vampire flashing away as she turned to pour herself a new cup of coffee.
Mug in hand, she made her way to the front door. She was unsurprised to see Kol already there. He was leaning against one side of the doorframe, as close to the threshold barrier as he could be.
"Let's talk, darling," Kol purred.
Bonnie pursed her lips at him. "Stop calling me that."
"What should I call you then, beautiful?" he asked.
"Not that either," she said. "My name's Bonnie. Bonnie Bennett."
"Well, then, Miss Bonnie Bennett, let's talk."
She stood in the center of her doorway staring at him. She lifted her cup and took a long sip as she watched him, which was when she saw Jeremy whip into her driveway with Elena's car. He was out of the car as soon as he had cut the engine. Kol stepped back as Jeremy raced for the door, and let Jeremy go to Bonnie without interference.
Jeremy looked Bonnie over quickly before he turned to glower at Kol, who had resumed his lazy pose against the door frame. Bonnie put a hand on his arm to keep his quiet while gesturing with her other hand for Kol to get on with it.
"Is this all we're expecting?" Kol asked. "I don't want to keep repeating myself, but I worry that what I'm going to tell you might incite a panic, based on what Elijah has told me about you and your friends."
"We weren't expecting anyone," Bonnie pointed out. "You showed up and decided we needed to talk, so talk."
Kol raised a brow. "Being on that side of the door makes you brave, little witch. Very well. Have you noticed anything strange about your doppelgänger since the ball last night?"
Jeremy answered with a quick yes while Bonnie was saying that she hadn't seen Elena since before the ball.
Kol focused his attention on Jeremy. Bonnie didn't like the calculating look in those dark eyes at all. However, she had learned that Originals shared what they wanted to only when and how they chose. She hated it, but in order to get information, they had to play Kol's game for now.
"What was different?"
Jeremy hesitated for only a moment before talking about Elena's withdrawal last night and what happened when Elijah visited that morning. Kol nodded along as Jeremy talked, as though none of what was being said was news to him.
He shifted before moving to sit cross-legged on the porch in front of the door. Bonnie followed his example, and Jeremy did too after a moment.
"That's what I thought," Kol said. "It's a curse of my mother's own invention, and I had hoped I might be wrong. It's come to be known as separatum animarum, and most covens have banned its use."
"I mean, it just stops them from seeing each other, right?" Jeremy asked. "That doesn't seem so bad as far as curses go."
Kol rooted around in his pocket for a moment before pulling out a couple worn pages. They were covered in runes Bonnie couldn't read, but he pointed to a few lines at the bottom. They were smaller text and written in dark, rusty red runes.
"Here is where it says that if the two people under the curse don't communicate for a length of time, they will grow progressively weaker. To the point of falling into a coma. You know the type of coma that only 'true love's kiss' can wake you from. But, that's where the wrinkle is. See, Mother's curse can only be used in the rare case of a soulmate pair."
Bonnie and Jeremy were both struck dumb by Kol's words.
"Soulmates?" Jeremy asked.
"How long can they go without communicating?" Bonnie asked at the same time.
Kol smirked at them. "Yes, soulmates. And, as for how long, that depends on the pair. I would say we have a few days, but if they start getting weaker, well…"
"We're running out of time," Bonnie said. "Okay, so that's bad. How do we counter it?"
"That's what Mother's notes are for," Kol said, again holding up the pages. He handed them across the threshold, and Bonnie took them.
"Great, but I can't read runes," she said.
"Huh. If only there were someone here who could read them and who wanted to help," Kol said. He looked around as if hoping to spot their savior, then shot a significant look at Bonnie.
"What's in it for you?" Bonnie asked.
"Clever witch," Kol said, and Jeremy growled in response. "Oh, hush, you. While I was snooping in my mother's room and finding these helpful notes, I noticed that she'd cast another spell recently. This one has a bit of a more direct impact on my life. See, Mother linked me and all my siblings together. And I have quite enough enemies on my own, but if you factor in anyone who wants to hurt any of us, well… Suffice it to say, I am quite concerned with my well-being."
"You want us to undo the linking spell," Bonnie said.
"Yes, Bonnie Bennett! Exactly. I'd rather only have my own life and back to be worried about."
Bonnie frowned as she looked at him without answering.
"But, if Elena's life isn't enough to motivate you, I have one other piece of information. When you all killed Mikael, Mother learned that when an Original is killed, their entire bloodline dies with them."
"Which means, what?" Jeremy asked.
"It means, kid, that if the beautiful Bonnie doesn't unlink us and we were to be killed, every vampire - including the Salvatores, Caroline, and Tyler - will die. It is genocide. And in case that's not enough, without unlinking us, you won't have the information to uncurse Elena. She'll grow progressively weaker until she falls into a coma, which she'll never wake from because the only person who could have saved her will be dead.
"How about it, Bonnie Bennett? Help unlink me from my siblings or lose both of your best friends while killing an entire species?"
"It's a species that never should have existed," Bonnie said, but her voice wavered. "Vampires have thrown nature out of balance."
"A thousand years ago, yes," Kol said. "But there's been a millennium for it to gain equilibrium. To kill us all now, would just throw it out of balance again."
Bonnie continued to hesitate, and Jeremy turned to face her.
"You can't seriously be debating this," he exclaimed. "It's Elena and Caroline! They're your best friends. My sister!"
"I'm a witch," she said, clinging to the tenets Grams had taught her in the brief time they had to practice together. "I'm not supposed to meddle in vampire business."
"That's never stopped you before!" Jeremy exclaimed.
Kol chuckled. "Sound logic there, kid. What's it going to be, darling?"
Bonnie closed her eyes and released a heavy sigh. "I really hate being forced into things. I know I'm going to regret this, but, Kol, would you like to come in?"
Kol jumped to his feet and stepped over the threshold.
"Wonderful. Let's save my life - or the world - whichever is a better motivator."