It's surprisingly easy for us to leave the city. I guess they don't care if you leave with the same vampire you came with, as long as he's in chains. When guards saw us approaching the gates, they opened them on their own, without me having to say a word. I even asked them for directions to the Veneficium Humus, and they explained to me how to get there without questioning my intentions. They probably thought I'm going to sell Damon to the fairies, which made me wonder does that happen a lot. Are people so vicious, or desperate, to hand them to the species that seems to hate them the most?
We started walking in the direction opposite of the one we came from, and when we were sure we're far enough, out of everyone's eyesight, I took Damon's chains off. According to the guards, Veneficium Humus is just few hours away by foot, a fact that provided relief to me. I'm tired of wandering around, wondering when are we going to approach our next destination, fearing we'll somehow miss it. It's nice to finally be certain about something around here.
"So, what's the plan here?" I ask after taking his chains off and putting them in my bag. You never know when they'll come in handy, even though the bag is that much heavier with them inside. Good thing I already ate a better part of what Arden packed for me.
"What do you mean?" I can see him furrow his eyebrows from the corner of my eye. He doesn't look at me, or raise his tone, as if he knows exactly what I'm thinking, but won't indulge me with acknowledging it. "We arrive, we break in, we find the key, we get out of there," he states, his expression never changing.
I roll my eyes. As if things are ever that simple. "Well, that's a stupid plan, and a highly unlikely scenario," I spit out, a bit annoyed he's taking this whole thing so lightly.
"Oh, Bonnie," he grins, like his only pleasure is torturing me, "You have so little faith in us."
I narrow my eyes at him. "We're going to invade a home of the species that wants you dead, and I'm supposed to have faith?" my voice almost cracks, and I'm not quite sure why.
He finally looks at me, and he keeps his eyes on me for quite a while, like he heard something in those words, something more than I meant to say. Some things are meant to go unsaid, but Damon's senses are so keen that he can even catch words playing on my tongue, or sliding out, to others often undetected, under the shadow of the tone of my voice.
Finally, when his look on me stays so long that it becomes uncomfortable, he averts his eyes. "If I spent my whole life avoiding those who want me dead, I would never have any company," he says lightly, too lightly for such a serious statement.
"If you didn't spend your whole life giving people a reason to want you dead, you wouldn't have to avoid anyone," I retort in a more serious manner.
But he doesn't get offended by it, at least not visibly. Instead, a small smile starts its dance in the corner of his lips. "Always so funny, BonBon," he says, his eyes looking straight ahead.
It's hard to read Damon, even when you spend as much time with him as I have, even when you think you have finally gotten through him, you realize there's another layer of him that needs peeling in order for you to see the real thing. He spent too much time in his cocoon. He knows how to grow new skin even before the old one's done healing.
I haven't meant it as a joke, but of course Damon would perceive my statement as such, or at least pretend that he did. All things serious frighten him to the bone.
But his tendency to call me not by my name, but by one of the ridiculous nicknames he has for me, actually warms me up from the inside. I'm always Bonnie, plain and simple. I've never had a nickname, or a term of endearment, so I've always wondered what's it like to have one. What's it like to have someone call you by a name they have given you, to have someone look at you and call you by something that's only their own, that reminds them of you?
I just wish he would choose one and stick with it, because it's hard to keep track of all the nicknames he's given me.
We walk in silence for some time, until the urge to reopen that topic overcomes me.
"I think we should wait until the night falls and they all go to sleep, at least," if I can't win, I can at least compromise with him.
A small frown appears on the bridge of his nose, making his whole face darker. "What makes you think they actually sleep?" he asks.
"Well," I cough to clear my throat. He has a good point. "I hope they do. Even if they don't, it will be a lot easier to sneak in during the night, when anyone can hardly see anything," I struggle to make my own point.
"What if they have super night vision?" he asks, like a child who just won't give up.
"Oh my God, Damon!" I raise my voice out of frustration, "They don't have super night vision!"
I have visited two dimensions, and I still haven't met a person who can get under my skin like he can. I can probably visit all the dimensions there are, and I won't find anyone similar to him.
He chuckles, clearly enjoying this thoroughly. "Of course not, Bon. That would be insane."
I clench my teeth to calm myself, because if I don't, someone might bite him for a change.
From that point, it doesn't take us long until we reach our destination. I know we're here, because the place looks exactly like it would if this were a Disney movie. We arrive at sunset, so we get a good look at the place.
Their city consists of nothing but trees. Big, green, healthy looking trees. Each tree has a door and windows on its trunk - some even have balconies. All treetops are decorated with small, round, colorful lanterns. It's like a city made out of tree houses.
It looks quite beautiful, and it seems harmless and friendly. At least that's what I'd think if I didn't know of fairies nature in advance.
There are fairies flying around the trees, conversing with hard and serious expression, or chatting with friendly, cheerful ones. Some are walking, doing chores, lifting something from the ground and throwing it in baskets on their backs.
We observe them, speechless, and I guess he has agreed with me, because we wait until the sun goes down, leaning against a tree in a near, safe distance.
Once the night falls, the fairies scurry off inside of their trees, only several fairies dressed in armors left outside, buzzing, flying around the trees, like they're looking for something. After some time they seem to give up and go home as well. Or they hide somewhere we can't see.
"Do you think we can go now?" Damon asks dryly.
I stare at the colorfully lit city, trying to detect any movement.
When I can't see anything, I nod my head in confirmation, speaking under my breath, "I can."
He either didn't hear me, or he didn't understand me, because he asks, very loudly - "What?"
I look at him, our eyes meeting halfway, mine watery, but decisive. He knows I'm up to something, I can see it on his face, because he parts his lips like he wants to say something, like he wants to stop me - the only problem is that he doesn't know what he's stopping me from.
"Obstringo," I say before he has a chance to say anything.
The chains, his chains, fly out of my bag and fall onto a well know place, clasping around his neck and wrists. He tries to fight them, to claw them off of his body, but iron and magic are very hard to fight separately, impossible to fight combined.
We stare at each other; we never break our view. He's a little bit confused, but more than that, he's angry. Not, he's not just angry, he's furious.
"Dis," I say meekly, but fortunately, my magic is not controlled by the strength of my voice.
I push him against a tree, his body colliding with the tree trunk, making a loud thump. He grimaces.
"Bonnie!" he hisses, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
I move my hand in the air. "Religo," I say, and he gets tied to a tree, unable to move.
His baby blue eyes adapt the color of a raging, stormy sea. I can't handle his look, so full of rage, rage towards me and my actions. The guilt of what I'm doing is heavy enough as it is, even though I'm doing this for his own good, to protect him. So I turn around, refusing to look him in the eye.
He hates me.
The thought breaks me from the inside. I've heard him say it. I've heard others say it. I've hated him as well.
But that seems like centuries ago. Damon hating me now, that's one of the worst thoughts haunting my mind these days.
"Bonnie, you stop this right away. Free me!" he orders me, but I can hear it in his voice - he knows that his orders are futile. I'm the one person who never complied to them, not out of fear, and not out of obligation.
"You can't go, Damon. They're going to kill you," I close my eyes to prevent the tears from leaking out.
I'm doing this for his own protection, I have to remind himself. If Damon taught me something, it's that sometimes you have to be selfish. And that, sometimes, that's not such a bad thing.
"They're going to kill me only if they catch me! Do you hear me?" he screams. I can hear the chains rattling. He's still trying to free himself. "We're stronger together. Look, I don't doubt you can do this by yourself, but wouldn't it be nice to know there's someone who has your back?" he tries to reason with me now.
I don't dare to turn around. I don't dare to face him.
"Not this time. How can I concentrate on finding the key, if the only thing I can think about is that we're in a city full of people who want you dead?" I counter him.
"Dammit Bonnie, you can't do this!"
I want to walk away. I want to leave him here, kicking and screaming. I know that his voice won't follow me all the way to the city. And Damon's a practical person, he'll stop screaming once he realizes I'm too far away to hear him.
"You can't go alone in there! I won't let you!"
He won't let me? Well, I don't think he has much of a say in that.
"Bonnie! Are you even listening to me?"
I turn around, my eyes catching his right away. "I am!" now it's my turn to yell, "I am listening to you! But I don't think you're listening to me. Or at least you can't hear what I'm trying to say. You can't go with me, Damon. You can't go, because they might harm you, and that's the risk I'm not willing to take. That's.." I choke, swallowing everything that went unsaid between us, everything that's stopping me from saying it, and I continue. "That's the risk I'm not willing to take because I couldn't bare something happening to you. I just couldn't."
That shuts him right up. His eyes go wide with surprise and confusion, his fear and anger disappearing completely.
I avert my gaze, too heavy with the words I've just said. I turn around once again. "I'll be back soon," I say as I start walking away from him.
This time, my footsteps are not followed by the sound of his voice.
When I approach the city, I put my palms on the ground and quietly mumble a locating spell, hoping I had remembered it right. I've usually used blood related locating spell, but now I'm not trying to find a person, I'm trying to find an object. I've only used it once, and it worked out perfectly, so I see no reason why it wouldn't work out the same now.
Everything made out of brass should shine and rattle slightly, if I did the spell right. I actually don't know what the first key is made out of, but they're usually made out of brass, so I decided to take a risk. I'm also hoping there are not a lot of things made out of brass laying around here, because the collective rattle would wake up the fairies for sure, or at least catch their attention if they're awake. It seems highly unlikely that they have a lot of objects made out of brass, since they live in trees. All of their things are probably made out of wood. Even if that's not the case, I'll just have to risk it.
There's a lot of risk taking involved when it comes to this plan.
When I'm done with the spell, I pull myself up and start walking into the city, as quietly and quickly as I can. I have to do this fast, but I also know that I can't cause a lot of noise, because that might get me in trouble. I wish there was a spell to make my footsteps soundless, but I'm not Harry Potter, unfortunately.
It smells so nice in here, like a mix of various fruit. Apples and oranges and lemons. Living here is like living inside of a bowl of fruit, quite literally.
The colorful lighting only heightens the romantic mood of this place. I look up at the treetops, for a moment forgetting about my true mission here, because I'm enchanted by the sight in front of me. It looks like the treetops are decorated by fireflies of all colors of the rainbow.
You can't see anything from the treetops, it's like there's nothing above it, like the world ends with the treetops. Those colorful lanterns are the closest thing they have to stars around here.
I take me eyes down and look straight ahead of me. I can't allow myself to get so off track here. I've been walking around the city for at least ten minutes, and I haven't heard any rattling, or seen any dimmed light, which makes me wonder did I even do the spell right. What if I've been wrong, what if the key isn't made out of brass, but some other material?
The spell wouldn't work then, either.
That fearful thought haunts me all the way until I can feel the ground shake underneath my feet. I stop in place, frozen. Is that an earthquake? A security measure? Am I going to get caught?
I stand there, quiet and calm, for few minutes, but no one comes. The ground continues shaking at the same pace which is, I realize, too low for a quake. I move to another spot, and as soon as my feet hit the ground, I can't feel the shaking anymore. When I move back to the old place, the shaking is still there.
The key must be underground! But how to get there?
I look around myself one more time, but I can't see anything but trees. There are no caves or entrances to the ground.
I fall on my knees, trying to find a solution, feeling quite desperate. I didn't come all this way, I didn't tie Damon up to that tree, I haven't confessed my fear to him, just to give up now.
I press my palms against the ground and whisper, as quietly, but as effectively as I can - "Patefacio."
The ground starts to shake, this time louder. I'm sure the noise is going to wake up those nearby, or catch attention of anyone who's awake, so I have to be quick. The ground above which I placed my palms starts opening little by little, a small flash of light beaming through the first crack.
"What was that?" I hear a voice in the near distance.
"I don't know," the other one replies, "It sounded like a quake, but I haven't felt anything."
The guards. Their voices are hard and stoic, serious and cold. They never went to sleep, they were just hiding, or maybe resting. I'm sure not a lot of people attack this place.
There's a small hole in the ground now, full of bright yellow light, something jumping up and down inside of it. I reach inside only to find out the hole's not that deep, and my fingers wrap around the rattling object at the bottom.
I pull my hand away in a hurry, something pressing against my palm.
It's the key! My spell has worked! Unlike the medieval skeleton key we have found in the land of the truth, this key is plain and simple, but with golden wings protruding from both of its sides.
"I don't hear anything anymore, maybe someone dropped something."
"But everyone's asleep! We should check it out."
I get to my feet and start running as fast as I can in the same direction I came from.
"Fine!" both of them agree, and soon enough I can hear their wings flapping in the air.
I feel like I've developed wings of my own, because this is the fastest I've ever run.
"Is that - " I can hear the guards voices in the distance. I'm halfway out of the city, and from this standing point I can see the tree to which I've tied Damon.
"Is that a hole in the ground?"
"It appears so. But we don't have anything valuable hidden in the ground, as far as I know."
"Still, someone broke into the city, we have to inform the others. We have to wake up the rest of the guards."
I can still hear their voices, barely recognizing the words, but they don't seem too worried about someone digging the hole in their city, which makes me wonder do I have the right key. It seems highly unlikely that they wouldn't know about the treasures hidden in their land, but maybe that's the secret only few are let in on. Citizens of the land of the truth didn't know anything about the key, either.
"Bonnie!" I can hear Damon's relieved voice once I fall into his horizon, "Thank God! I was - "
"Resolvo!" I yell, his chains falling down, freeing him with just one word. "Run! We don't have much time!" I pass him, but I can hear his footsteps behind me. Why is he behind me? He's a lot faster than I am. Is he really still protecting me, watching my back?
I don't care. I don't have time to think. There's wind underneath my feet, and adrenaline pumping through my veins. I haven't felt this kind of a rush in a long time. I did it. I really did it!
We run for at least 10, 15 minutes until he shouts my name.
"Stop! Bonnie, stop running! No one is following us!"
I obey to his words and stop, mainly because my feet are starting to hurt. There's still a lot of adrenaline inside of me, my muscles pumping with it, my brain all fuzzy, but my bones are as heavy as lead.
"What was that, Bonnie?" there's something about the way he says my name. He doesn't do it with his usual easiness, it's like those six letters are too heavy for him now, too hard and too complicated to say.
I raise my hand in the air, a small smile on my face. "I got the key," I say excitedly.
He looks at the key between my fingers, but dismisses it, as if it's nothing. As if we don't need it at all, like that small key is not one of three things that can get us back home.
All it takes is one blink, and he's in front of me, using his vampire speed to move quickly. He closes the distance between us, which surprises me.
Our faces are inches apart, our noses almost touching. He grabs my wrists, the wrist of the same hand that's holding the key victoriously.
"No, not that," he says through his teeth, his warm breath colliding with my face, "You left me there. No, you trapped me!" he's still angry about that, even after I gave him a valid explanation.
"I did what needed to be done. I went alone, for safety precautions. And you threatening me, saying you won't let me go alone?" I laugh at the mere thought of him controlling me. "You seem to forget, Damon," there's fire in my eyes, the same fire that coursing through my veins, "You don't get to make my choices for me."
"And you seem to forget, darling," his look widens, not with rage, but with passionate fury, "That you don't get to make mine for me either."
"I got the key!" I don't say these words as excitedly as I did the last time, pulling my wrist out of his hold. I know that he lets me do it, because I wouldn't be able to do it otherwise. "What does it matter how I got it?"
"What does it matter?" he roars, his voice that much scarier in the night. "It matters because you could have been caught. You talk about safety precautions, and you left me there, tied to a tree, unable to free myself, which means they would catch me eventually as well. Or I would starve to death. And what good would that do to us?"
He's impossible. He always worries. He doesn't know how to enjoy small victories, unless they go exactly like he planned. He likes taking risks, even if they mean danger, but doesn't like others doing it. It's hypocritical and..
..and, out of some reason, it's making me irrationally mad. Everything he does or says recently makes me irrationally mad. And not like it used to, not out of hatred or wrongness of his words and actions.
But out of reasons only my heart knows, but my heart refuses to converse with my brain. Maybe because it despises its rationality.
My brain is a beehive, full of thoughts I can't even begin to understand, because they're overlapping each other, refusing to be friendly and civilized. My heart is jumping wildly inside of my chest - I can feel it thumping against all 24 of my ribs. A wave of heat crashes into me, making me sweat. My cheeks are flushed, and lava has replaced all the blood in my body.
Our eyes are still locked, and they remain locked as I move towards him, placing my palms on his cheeks, and pulling his lips down on mine. Well, I don't really pull him down, we meet halfway. I have to step on my toes so he doesn't have to crane his neck in order to kiss me.
I can feel his surprise, because he doesn't kiss me back, making me feel foolish. I think about pulling away, apologizing, saying I don't know what came over me. I think about blaming it on the adrenaline coursing through me.
Just when I'm about to give up, his arms go around me, pulling me closer. My feet leave the ground, and for a moment I feel like I'm flying.
As we kiss, as our lips move synchronized, dancing to the same rhythm, I try to find the reason behind my actions. I try to realize why I kissed him, and why I continued kissing him.
His skin is so warm underneath my palms.
My mind won't let me concentrate on nothing but the kiss, though, which is how I realize this is one of those situations where a good explanation really doesn't exist. There is no reasoning behind it, only.. want.
Did I really want to kiss Damon that much?
I realize that I did. I look back at these past few days, when my look kept wandering to his lips, when my brain kept pressuring me to remember how it is to kiss him, how he tastes, how it feels like to be held by him.
I pull my hands away from his face, placing them on his arms, his muscles pulsating under my fingertips.
I don't know who's the first one to end the kiss, but as soon as our lips part, I gasp for air. The scary thing is, up to that point, I didn't even realize how much I need it.
We don't pull away from each other, though. Our faces remain only inches apart, our lips lingering close to each other, like we're still trying to steal each others breath.
He smells like fresh air and pine, alongside with that sickly scent of blood and bourbon he always carries around with himself. He smells like Damon, a scent that became too familiar to me. Not that I'm complaining.
"I got the key," I murmur.
I can hear him smile. I can hear his lips and his skin stretch into a smile. "Yes," he breathes into me, "Yes, you did."