Chapter 4: Chapter 4
Sorry for the massive delay, I was have trouble figuring out just how to outline this story. Plus the last few episodes have REALLY left me depressed, as I'm sure you guys are as well. But I know how I want to continue with this, and I have every intention of keeping this up. Thank you again for all of the wonderful reviews and encouragement, you guys are the best. Hope you enjoy.
As always, I own nothing.
The smells of sage and leather bound books permeated Bonnie's senses as she stepped into the shop. She sighed and felt the tension drain from her body. Walking into the herbal store was a bit like coming home.
Damon smirked at the giddy grin plastered across the little witch's face. It had been some time since he had seen Bonnie so genuinely relaxed. His nose wrinkled at the overwhelming odor of herbs and homeopathic remedies. An elderly woman behind the counter watched him warily from her bifocals.
"This place smells like Jimi Hendrix's VW after Woodstock. Let's get the stuff and get out of here ASAP. Mary Tyler Moore over there is giving me the creeps." He mumbled as he turned and sneered back at the old woman.
"You're right, she looks absolutely terrifying." Bonnie whispered mockingly as she eyed the woman from around Damon's shoulder.
"Hey, don't knock the vamp intuition. For all you know, she could be baking vervain laced ginger snaps."
Bonnie rolled her eyes and proceeded down the aisles. She pulled the list from her pocket and dropped needed materials into her basket as they passed them. As she came to the end of one of the shelves, a flash of light caught her eye. In the corner wall was a wooden door almost hidden by the shadows. A flicker of candlelight lit the floorboards underneath. Bonnie felt a pulling sensation in her middle drawing her towards the entryway. She stepped forward, a shadow crossed the floor. Bonnie gasped as a hand pulled at her shoulder.
"Hey, earth to Judgey, this the last of it?" Bonnie swung around, her eyes wide. Damon tensed and began searching the room for a possible threat. He felt a tremor pass through the girl in front of him and began rubbing at her shoulder. He eyed her pinched features, any residual calm had been eradicated, her face was pale, and she unconsciously bit at the corner of her lip as she kept glancing back to the wall. Damon looked over her shoulder, but all he could see were empty barrels and a dusty bookshelf. He gently steered her back to the front of the store.
"You okay?" He queried.
Bonnie shook herself, clearing the haze from her brain. "Yeah, just thought I saw something for a second." She smiled ruefully up at him, but Damon could still feel the chill coming off of her. He wrapped her in his leather jacket.
"Look, why don't I go pay for this stuff and you get some air; all the patchouli in this place would make anybody hallucinate." He looked her over once more before making for the counter.
Bonnie took a deep breathe then headed out the door. The bright sunlight blinded her as she stepped out onto the porch. She wrapped Damon's coat around her tighter, the brisk winter air nipped at her cheeks. She hadn't remembered it being so cold earlier.
Silence finally registered and Bonnie looked up to see a deserted street. The town square was empty of its usual crowd of midday shoppers. As she turned, Bonnie saw abandoned buildings to her left and right. She glanced back towards the shop, but found the glass door replaced with a wooden one, the windows dark, and shutters pulled closed.
A chill having nothing to do with the outdoor temperature stole over her body as she realized where she was. Living in Mystic Falls, she had seen numerous pictures of the town in it's early development. Somehow she had been transported back to 1903 again.
The wind seemed to sense her distress and began whipping around her, tearing and biting at any exposed skin. Bonnie pushed at the door in front of her and stumbled into the darkened room.
The shelves were very much the same, and just as overstocked as they had been in her time. She shuffled quietly forward, eying the corners for any kind of movement. A crunch of glass under her feet gave her pause. She glanced down at the crushed bottle, noting the unidentifiable herbs. As she studied them a movement to her left caused her to freeze. She looked up to find the same door she had seen before. Tendrils of light danced underneath, and Bonnie found herself standing to walk towards it. Her heart hammered against her chest as she pushed on the oak panel. Silent hinges swung inwards and Bonnie found herself in an old office. In the dim lantern light, she could just make out a small cot heaped with blankets and a writing desk on the far wall. She turned and took in the last wall, a couple of sketches were nailed haphazardly to it.
"Have to say, this place makes 94' look like a paradise, but if your here for a conjugal visit, I may just rethink my opinion of this hellhole." A voice wheezed in her ear.
Bonnie spun round raising her hand to attack but was pushed forcefully against the wall, a hand trapped her arms above her head, the other wrapped around her throat. Bright green met with fever glazed gray eyes. His skin was pale and clammy. She could feel the moisture on his palms as he squeezed her wrists and it made her cringe in revulsion.
"Kai." She sneered. "I don't know how your doing it, but if you think I'm gonna feel sorry for you just cause you keep bringing me back here, you're sorely mistaken." Bonnie glared defiantly up at him. Kai laughed derisively and leaned his body weight into her. His hot breath broke against her skin, Bonnie could almost feel the infection radiating from his body. This close up, she could see the red angry weeping puncture holes in his neck. Whatever blood he had taken from the vampire in her last dream had apparently not been enough. The warlock looked downright septic.
"That's cute, Princess, because clearly, I have enough power to be wasting on summoning you. You know, usually, you're a lot more amicable in these fantasies." His eyes dropped to roam over the rest of her body then squinted back up at her. "You're also a lot more naked too, is that the leech's jacket?"
Bonnie brought her knee up into his stomach, Kai groaned and grasped the wall to keep himself from toppling over. Using this to her advantage, the witch sped across the room and warily eyed him.
"Much as I like a little S&M, that definitely hasn't happened before." He gasped. Kai stood and sagged against the wall behind him. His breathing was labored and he seemed to be sweating even more now.
"You look like shit." Bonnie drawled. She rested a hip against the writing desk, but kept a watchful eye on the door between them. Her hand found an abandoned letter opener and she inconspicuously slipped it into her sleeve.
"Aw thanks hon." Kai rolled his eyes. "Did you seriously think I'd be the picture of health after Dracula used me for a Slurpee?"
"That was a dream," Bonnie shook her head. "This is a dream, a hallucination brought on by a mix of bad herbs being burned. You are not real."
Kai chuckled. "You dream about me often Bon? Or maybe it's your guilt getting to you?"
"Why the hell would I have anything to feel guilty about? Turn about is fair play, right Malachai? Don't be bitter just because someone got the jump on you for once." Bonnie replied smugly. Kai's eyes narrowed at her. He stood and staggered towards her till their was barely a foot between them. Bonnie shifted her weight, ready to stab him and run at the smallest threat. The muscles in Kai's jaw clenched as he watched her wary behavior.
"Is that what this was for you?" He ground out. "A way to pay me back for leaving your hypocritical ass behind? Yeah, Bon, I left you there. I left you in an empty prison world because had I even thought to bring you back with me to Mystic Falls, you would have found another way to keep me there. So I took your blood, and I took Jo's magic, and I got the hell out while I could."
"Took my blood?!" She hissed. "Call it what it was Kai! You didn't pull out a syringe and just draw up a few cc's, you stabbed me with a hunting knife!"
"And you impaled me with a pick ax first. You wanna play the honest game? Cause right now if we tally up the scores, you're still ahead in the murder me department." Kai growled. He towered over her, but Bonnie held her ground, thrusting her chin up in defiance and glaring back at him. "If you want me to apologize for taking my one shot at freedom, you won't get one. You spent four months alone and you tried to kill yourself, Bonnie, imagine what twenty years with no escape felt like." Kai watched her for a moment and then burst into maniacal giggles. He turned and slouched onto the cot, his forearms resting on his knees. "I'm not sorry I got out Bon, but I did try to apologize for hurting you, and look where it got me." He grinned and spread his arms wide. "I tell ya, if I had known just how fucked up merging with Luke would make me, " He laughed again. "I might have just skipped the whole damn thing. Having feelings has done nothing but get me into trouble since. Look at your birthday, Damon guilt tripped me into sending you that message, and then when Jeremy and I went back to keep you from taking a dirt nap with the Camaro; Liv comes up and stabs me in the back." At this, he made to turn to look behind him, grabbing at the bloodstained shirt. "Is there a target back there or something, cause your the second person to go for that spot." Kai turned back around to stare at her questioningly. Bonnie could see the sweat dripping from his forehead, the fever was escalating.
"What do you mean you and Jeremy came back? Damon wrote those notes in the map before he left, he told me." Bonnie asked. Her throat suddenly felt very tight, she coughed and rubbed at it, trying to clear the block.
Kai laughed. "Clearly Damon didn't give you the full story, but it's not like it's the first time that's ever happened before. Or likely to be the last, cause, I hate to tell ya," At this he pulled his collar away from the red welts on his neck. "Ripper momma Salvatore's friends are very much real."
Bonnie opened her mouth but was interrupted by the sound of bottles breaking. Both she and Kai moved silently to the door, peering out into the darkened room. An inky blackness met their gaze, night had fallen and only a sliver of the Aurora Borealis shown through the cracks in the shutters. Bonnie felt a shiver climb up her spine and she turned to look at Kai just as the door flew off the hinges.
Both were thrown back, Kai toppled over the cot and Bonnie landed on top of him. Splinters rained down in the room and through blurry vision, Bonnie could just make out a tall figure. She looked down to find Kai unconscious but breathing. Carefully she tucked his body further under the makeshift bed and crouched behind it. She watched the figure step closer, and as it entered the dimly lit office space, she flung the letter opener, using her magic to aim for it's heart. To her surprise and horror, the knife stopped mid air, and with a flick of a wrist, it swung back around and imbedded itself deep into her shoulder.
Bonnie grunted at the pain and scurried back as the figure came closer. She could hear a deep rattling hiss coming from it. As her back hit the wall, her eyes cleared enough to make out a man, his eyes blackened and razor sharp fangs protruding from his mouth. The witch tried to force him back, but blinding pain raced through her brain, as if every neuron had been set on fire. She shrieked in agony.
Damon stepped out onto the busy street, idly checking the bag of goods he'd just bought. The sound of a scream and honking horns brought him back to reality. He looked up in time to see a car swerve around a blank faced Bonnie Bennett, who happened to be standing stock still in the middle of the avenue.
"Bonnie!" Damon rushed over to her and pulled her into the nearest alleyway. He could still hear people yelling and cursing, and from across the road, he saw Matt Donovan beeline for them from The Grill.
"What the hell was that about?" Matt yelled. They both looked to Bonnie but the girl seemed catatonic. Damon saw a bulge under the right lapel of the jacket, as he pulled it away, he saw the knife sticking out of her shoulder. Blood was seeping into her shirt and just beginning to drip down the front. Damon cursed and bit down on his wrist. He lifted it to her mouth, but she made no effort to drink, with his other arm, he swiftly pulled the knife free.
At the feeling of the letter opener being removed, Bonnie awoke in a fury. She yelled and clawed at Damon, her eyes squeezed tight. The street lamps and windows nearby exploded, glass showered over them and the wind began howling.
"Jesus, Bonnie snap out of it!" Damon growled. He grabbed her by the arms and shook her a little. Matt grabbed her face and tried to help still her thrashing.
"Bon, look at me. You're okay, your safe." He said, stroking at her cheeks. Slowly her eyes opened and she looked between the blond and Damon.
"Matt?" She whispered. Damon released her and she slumped against Matt wearily. He wrapped his arms around her and glanced worriedly towards Damon.
"Yeah Bon, it's me. You're okay, we got ya." He looked down at her. Bonnie's hair stood in disarray, chunks of wood trapped in the tangles. She was still trembling and her face had turned a sickly green.
Damon growled as he took in the devastation, he knew this trip had been a bad idea. He glanced over to Matt.
"Keep an eye on her for a second. I'm going to get my car." He touched Bonnie's shoulder to get her attention and grimaced when she flinched. Vacant eyes perused him. "I'll be right back, Bon. I promise." He watched her nod, then sped off.
Kai groaned as he began to come to. His eyes felt like sand paper when he tried to open them. As the blurriness faded, colors and shapes began to take form. He looked across to find a blazing fire in a very familiar sitting room. Kai's head swam as he struggled to sit up.
"I wouldn't recommend getting up just yet. Although my blood healed your infection, I'm afraid I did have to drain you a bit in order to resuscitate myself and my friends."
Kai turned to find a blond man sitting in the winged arm chair across from him. The clothing was different, but the face he recognized as the vampire who had initially attacked him.
"I staked you." He said hoarsely. " How-"
"I think you'll find my friends and I not as easy to kill as our conventional vampire counterparts." The man murmured. Kai tensed noticeably. "I do not intend you further harm, Malachai. The previous encounter was unfortunate, but a necessary evil. In fact, I believe we may be of great assistance to one another."
Kai squinted at the vampire and cocked his head to the side. There was something off about the creature's aura, something he had never seen before. "Don't take this personally, but I'm not much for making deals with complete strangers who've just used me for lunch, even if they know my name." He drawled.
The blond smiled. "Then let me introduce myself. My name is Gabriel, and I think you'll find we're not so estranged from you." Gabriel leaned forward. "In fact, I think you'll come to find that we've actually have quite a lot in common."