AN: I'm not really one for author's notes, but I just want to say a massive thank you for all of the reviews, favourites and follows. I'm not too happy with this chapter, but I wanted to get something out for you guys. Updates should be a bit more frequent now as my exams are coming to an end and I get an extra month off of school. Thanks so much guys! You can follow me on Tumblr under the same name, and enjoy my many rants about TVD; otherwise, read on and enjoy (also, see if you can spot the subtle Stefan the Bamon Fanboy moment that I put in)!

"Bonnie?" She turned her head and came face to face with the younger Gilbert who just so happened to be her boyfriend. Her abusive boyfriend. She attempted to plaster a smile on her face, but she couldn't find the energy within herself to put on a happy show.

"Jeremy." He approached her carefully, as if afraid that at any moment, she would pounce and drain him of all of the blood left in his body.

"How're you holding up?" He asked when he was a few feet away. She shrugged, doing everything in her power to distract herself from the enticing scent of his blood and the thump-thump-thumping of his heart pumping it around his body. "Bon, I-"

"What do you want, Jeremy? The only reason that I can think for you being here is if you have a death wish or you want to stake me, and seeing as the latter is more likely given your current…hunter-status, I would advise you to leave me the hell alone." Jeremy's eyes widened a fraction and his slow steps towards her faltered.

"Bonnie, I would never…I'm not here to hurt you. I would never try to hurt you." She scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"You would never hurt me? That's a joke-have you forgotten all the times when you would slap me, or push me over or kick me? Gosh, I was such an idiot! I made excuses for you times and time again, I was so freaking stupid for letting you treat me like that, and now you're going to stand there and tell me that you would never hurt me? Do you seriously think I'm that dumb, huh?" Jeremy stood there, his mouth hanging open, and Bonnie could feel herself losing her grip on her temper and bloodlust. The pounding of his heart seemed to have increased tenfold, and she could feel the veins beginning to creep across her face.

Suddenly, Damon was there, putting himself between the arguing couple and glaring at Jeremy.

"Get. Out. Now." Jeremy opened his mouth to protest, but a feral snarl from Damon sent him tripping over his own feet to exit the room as quickly as possible. Damon turned to Bonnie, his expression softening at the pained expression on her face.

"Bon-"

"I was going to kill him." She whispered, breathlessly. Damon frowned.

"You were just angry. Your emotions are heightened, so your anger becomes rage in an instant; that doesn't mean that you were going to kill him." She looked up, tears swimming in her eyes.

"No, Damon. I wanted to kill him. I was going to do it." The silence was suffocating and Damon was unsure of what to do with himself.

"Bonnie-"

"You would help me, right? If I were to turn…you would teach me?" Her voice was quiet and vulnerable and Damon had never heard a more beautiful sound in his life. Reaching for her, he tugged on her arm until her face rested on his chest and his arms wrapped around her. He buried his face into her hair and pressed a gentle kiss to the top of her head.

"I'd like to see you try to keep me away." He mumbled, his grip on her tightening as if, at any moment, she would be snatched away from him. He committed everything he could about her to his memory; the texture of her hair beneath his chin, the silkiness of her skin, her natural, slightly spicy scent, the way her soft, petite body moulded perfectly to the hard planes and sharp angles of his own, as if she had been made specifically for him, an idea which he was gradually becoming more convinced of as the two of them spent more time together. Pulling away slightly, he looked down into her eyes, which were shining a brilliant green and smiled gently.

"What are you doing to me, Bonnie Bennett?" She opened her mouth to respond, but was cut off by the sound of the doorbell ringing. A frown marred her features and he gently ran his thumb along the crease that had formed between her eyebrows, smoothing it out. "Don't do that." He whispered.

"Do what?" Her breath was coming out in short, erratic spurts, and she could feel her hands shaking, although she tried hard to tell herself that it was nothing to do with Damon's proximity and everything to do with her fragile emotions due to her newly undead status.

"Frown like that…you're too beautiful to frown." Bonnie's breath caught in her throat and for a long, intense moment, the pair just stared into each other's eyes. Bonnie's eyes lit up and then she was pushing him away, raucous laughter bubbling in her throat and spilling out of her lips.

"Oh gosh, if anyone had told me a few weeks ago that I'd be at the receiving end of your creepy everlasting devotion, I probably would have-"

"Creepy? I am not creepy!" Bonnie chuckled and pushed against his chest again, increasing the distance between them.

"You're kind of creepy, Damon."
"I am not!" The pitch of his voice rose to an almost feminine tone. "I am intense, longing, on a bad day, broody but I am not creepy." Bonnie laughed, almost manically as she danced around him, avoiding his fingers which reached for her.

"Bonnie?" Caroline's voice floated through the door and her head tentatively peeked around it. Her eyes fell on Bonnie's smiling face and Damon's playful scowl and her eyebrows rose a fraction, although she kept all judgement to herself; Bonnie had been through enough already. "Bon, there's someone here to see you." Damon frowned.

"I know I call you Barbie, but I'm sure you have enough brains to know that now isn't really a good time for Bonnie to be entertaining visitors." Caroline scowled fiercely at him.

"I know that Damon. We tried to tell her that, but she won't leave. She's insisting on seeing Bonnie, she said that she has really important news from her dad." With that statement, Bonnie's smile was wiped, completely from her face.

"My dad?" She took a step towards the door, but Damon's hand clamped around her forearm, holding her in place. She turned to face him. "Damon…" her tone was a warning.

"Bonnie, this isn't a good idea. You're still in transition-"

"I haven't forgotten that, Damon." He winced at the venom in her voice.

"Bonnie, I'm just trying to help."

"Well stop! I'm a big girl, Damon, so stop trying to help me!" Ripping her arm from his grip, she stepped around Caroline and disappeared through the doorway. Growling, he glared intensely at Caroline, hoping that, for once, looks would actually be able to kill. Unfortunately, he was not that lucky and, letting out a squeak, Caroline ducked out of his room, quickly following Bonnie down the stairs. Mumbling under his breath, he dragged his feet after the duo, stalking down the stairs to see what the mystery visitor wanted with Bonnie.

Blood.

As Bonnie rounded the corner from the stairs to the front door of the boarding house, the enticing smell of blood surrounded her. She could feel herself falling into a haze of bloodlust, but she was defenceless to stop it. Her feet, as if they had minds of their own, propelled her towards the door, the red veins under her eyes appearing suddenly. She rounded the final corner and came face to face with a young woman, probably in her early thirties, her palm sliced open and blood gushing from the wound, coating her hand a deep crimson. Her eyes were blank and unseeing as she waited patiently at the door, her hand extended before her. Her blood called to Bonnie who stared curiously at her, all the while moving closer. Her gums were throbbing as she ran a finger through the scarlet liquid and raised the appendage to her lips, licking it clean. With a guttural moan, she snatched up the woman's hand and fused her lips to the wound, gulping down her life-essence.

She was abruptly pulled off of the woman, her mouth disconnecting from her hand with a wet snap. Snarling, she blindly reached for the woman again, fighting against the barrier which separated her from the blood.

She needed more.

"Bonnie, stop! STOP!" The sound of Damon's assertive voice pierced through her hunger like a knife. She stopped struggling, becoming aware of Damon's arms clamped around her waist, again, and of Caroline having a quiet conversation with the woman at the door; compelling her. The woman turned and walked quickly away and Caroline turned to her best friend, a sad smile on her face. Bonnie looked between the two wildly, wiping the blood from her face.

"What have I done? Caroline, what did I do?" Her voice was hysterical and drew the attention of the other occupants of the house, who all came to stand in the hall, surrounding her. Her eyes flickered across all of their faces, her gaze wide-eyed and panicked, as she wiped furiously at the blood coating her face.

A searing pain suddenly emanated from her gums and she let out a piercing scream, curling into Damon's chest as her legs gave out and she fell to the floor. Jeremy took a step forwards, but Stefan held out his hand, restricting him from going any further.

"Move, Stefan." Stefan shot a deadpan look at him, but his arm remained firmly in place. "Stefan, she's in pain! Move out of my way!"

"Damon's got her." Stefan replied lowly, turning back to the scene before him, one of his eyebrows quirked in interest at watching Damon interacting with Bonnie. Jeremy growled deep in his throat and made to barrel past Stefan, but the vampire grabbed him by the throat and pushed him up against the wall. "Damon's got her, Jeremy, and the worst thing you can do for anyone right now is try to insert yourself into the situation, so grow up and stop acting like a spoilt brat who just got his toys taken from him." He calmly released the younger Gilbert sibling and turned back to the pair on the floor in front of him, seemingly unaffected by the minor showdown which had just occurred between himself and Jeremy. Jeremy scowled and clenched his hands into tight fists by his sides, but remained in his position between Stefan and Matt, whose eyes were as round as saucers as her watched his pseudo sister writhing in pain on the ground whilst being soothed by none other than Damon Salvatore, vampire asshole and man-slut extraordinaire; and yet the scene unfolding before him seemed almost…natural. Bonnie had curled into Damon's embrace, as if she had forgotten all of the terrible things he had done to her, and no one seemed to feel any inclination to stop it.

Bonnie raised her face, her eyes connecting with Damon's. Her eyes were red, veins standing out against her skin, blood coating her chin and cheeks and her new fangs shone red in the artificial light of the hall.

She was beautiful.