CHAPTER 15
Do I own the Vampire Diaries? Heaven's no! If I did you guys would be way happier.
A/N: So, this one's a bit of a long one, and it get's pretty violent. I may have to change the rating soon? 4GMK
Damon watched as Elena rose awkwardly from hovering over Bonnie's body. A million and one thoughts flashed through his mind. He had lost the love of his after-life to the woman with his first loves face.
Hatred threatened to burst from him as he thought of what he would tell his daughter. How was he supposed to explain this to her?
Springing forward, he ripped Elena off of Bonnie, only to catch her awkwardly as she fell limp in his arms.
Taking a double take, Damon looked at the doppelgänger as she lay in his arms, still and unmoving, face covered in ashen grey veins.
Elena Gilbert, was dead.
His heart leapt within him, and his thoughts were spinning. He tossed her lifeless body to the floor and rushed over to his wife, who was taking breaths so small, whose heart was beating so faintly, that there was no wonder why he couldn't hear her at first.
He glanced around the room, the smell of Bonnie's blood called to him from every surface. The fight had been intense.
And he had missed it.
He almost sucked his teeth in annoyance. Of course he decided to shower instead of rushing here to see the certifiable best knockdown drag out in girl fight history.
Just great.
Biting his wrist he pressed the bleeding wound to Bonnie's mouth, massaging her throat to get her to swallow.
He smiled as her breathing returned to normal and her eyes fluttered open. It wasn't until then that he had decided to release the breath he had been holding all this time.
Biting open his wrist again for safe measure he prayed silently, thanking the Good Lord Jesus Christ for saving Bonnie.
When he opened his eyes again he noticed that his wife's arm was covered to the elbow in dark, rich blood. His eyes slowly trailed the length of her arm and settled on the fleshy lump still encased in the vice like grip of her hand.
His head snapped back to Elena's lifeless body and down to the gaping hole in his chest and it took a few moments for him to put two and two together.
Bonnie had killed Elena.
When they had disposed of the body by flame. Damon left Bonnie alone to tend to herself in the shower. From the way she put it, she had had a long morning, and with Caroline finally in vampire-detention and in desperate need of her humanity, it was about to get longer.
They made plans to stop by the lake house, relieve the compelled granny-army, and set up a new barrier around the house, just to be sure their most precious belonging was going to be safe during this whole ordeal.
Much to the blonde's chagrin, she heard the familiar steps of one of her 'best friends'.
Bonnie caught the look on her face just as she walked into the room, and she was just so not in the mood.
Flicking her wrist, a set of large, vervain laced, steel bars materialized out of thin air and set down heavily into the space before them, imprisoning the blond, toothed duo.
They were shocked and visibly stunned by the intrusion of their personal space, and drew back hissing at the proximity of the vervain.
The plants presence was so strong that even Damon cleared the room, taking a step back into the hall to both admire and loath his wife's handiwork from afar.
"Whoo! Sheesh babe, did you have to make it so strong?" Damon admonished from his safe spot just outside the door and slightly around the corner.
She smirked, throwing him a slow, sidelong glance, which he returned in kind. Seeing Bonnie so on her game lately had threw him into all sorts of fits, He was already contemplating what to do with her to take out some of the pent up energy she simply must be acquiring throughout all of this.
Chuckling darkly, Bonnie could almost hear the dirty things he was planning for them, and she smiled, acknowledging to him with her eyes that the day couldn't come soon enough.
"Eww, gross. Are you two giving each other bedroom eyes?" Caroline called from her position inside the bars.
She was standing now, clearly hedging for time and opportunity to strike. Time had matured Bonnie Bennet-Salvatore, and she was no longer a child, unlike her surviving best friend, who would forever be a child and whom she would all-too-readily put in a child's place.
Caroline was getting in line today whether that meant getting her humanity back on or getting herself killed, either way, Bonnie was not going to have someone capable of that much harm around or even aware of her daughter. Caro had better be prepared.
Taking her time and considering the small, tan woman in front of her Caroline smirked, then whistled low.
"You two must've finally did it huh?"
In the background, Damon sucked in a breath, causing Caroline's eyes to dart up and lock on to him, while Stefan struggled to his feet.
"I was wondering when that would happen."
"Well done brother. Screwing all three of the supernatural bff's. Congrats. How does it feel to have finally conquered all three of them?" Stefan smiled, revealing a perfect set of pearly whites, the canines just sharp enough to threaten, just blunt enough to tease. He shifted his gaze down to Bonnie, giving her a slow once over like he was peeling off his clothes with his eyes.
Bonnie shifted under his gaze, making a circle with her first finger and thumb, and then using the pressure to making a flicking motion with her first digit. She continued this motion while the blond due watched, seemingly uncomfortable with his suggestive gaze. He decided he would use this to his full advantage. Leering forward as close as the poison bars would allow, he licked the ends of his fangs, savoring the blood that flowed from his wounds.
"What a pity you had to put up with my brother, I guarantee I'm the better lover, ask Caroline and Elena. But no worry, I'm sure I'll show you soon enough."
His comments had the desired effect. Breathing heavily, Damon made to storm his brother, but the flicking motion she had been doing earlier, was just a diversion. She had drawn their attention away to use her Power to erect an invisible barrier, sealing Damon outside the room and effectively barring him from joining her fight.
"Bonnie!" He growled, dissatisfied with her tactics.
Turning to look at him, she leveled her gaze with his.
"I need you sharp for this one Damon. Don't let them get inside your head. Stay with me here, you got that?" Her words snapped him out of his rage filled haze, much to the vampiress' surprise.
"Damon!" She feigned shock, putting her hand over her chest and pulling a face "What would Elena say if she saw you so whipped by her best friend?"
"Nothing much," Bonnie cooed "since she's already dead."
The shock was evident on both the humanity-less vampires' faces. Something like remorse flickered over each of their faces, but Barbie was the first to recover.
"Your bluffing." He accused, while Ken looked on, something like humanity creeping up on his features.
"Nope," was Bonnie's reply.
The two behind the bars looked at her with blank faces. Almost there.
"Prove it" came Stefan's challenge. He walked right up to the cage and stared Bonnie in the eyes.
"What? You want me to bring you her lifeless heart, take you to the dorm room where her blood still wets the floor? Or did you want me to bring along her ashes and sprinkle them under your nose so you can sniff out which ones belong to her and which ones are from the bonfire that I burned her on?"
"You, bluffing. This is just some elaborate scheme to bring back our humanity. Well, it's not working Bonnie. We're not turning back on our humanity just so we can 'feel' bad about our life choices." Caroline glared at Bonnie, not wanting to believe her confession.
"Fine then. Have it your way. But let it be known that you will not get out of here without it. You need to make the choice now, you will either get with the program, and flip your little killer switches or I will burn you to ashes and sprinkle you all over my breakfast tomorrow. The choice is yours."
There was silence in the room for a few moments. No one spoke, everyone just took turns giving out stares.
Silently, Damon hoped his brother would just flip the switch, he needed all the family he could get right now.
"I'll tell you what Bon," Stefan said, inching closer to the bars, just opposite and just an arm's length away from where Bonnie stood, arms crossed and eyes dark.
"How about, no."
He lunged at Bonnie, but he was met with an aneurism that quickly immobilized him and brought him howling to his knees.
"Well, Stefan, like I said. That's the only way you're getting out of here." Caroline stood stiff on the perimeter of the action, silently contemplating her next move.
"Did you know Stefan, that there is a section of the brain, that is completely devoted to housing all the nerve receptors for pain? Yeah, when doctors do surgery, they have to make sure to steer clear of that area, or else the patient receive excruciating, I mean like, untold amounts of pain."
A small wooden pole appeared in the center of her outstretched hand and levitated over to where Stefan sat, rocking on his knees as the intense aneurism subsided.
Poised on the left side of his head, and just above the temple, the pole waited.
Eyes dark and veins wriggling Stefan stared into Bonnie's eyes, teeth sharp and bared.
"Still feeling defiant I see. Well, I'll tell you what. We can try to scale the pain if you want. Like on a scale from one to ten, one being 'nah, it doesn't hurt' and ten being like 'yaaahhhsss, it really, really hurts' what does this feel like."
Without warning, the pole sank into Stefan's brain. Small enough to feel but sinking fast enough to be unable to pull out, the little pole was swallowed by Stefan's skull, and his wound healed over it.
Now he was keeled over in pain, unable to speak but only gasp out short breaths as his body convulsed and saliva pooled out of his mouth in streams.
"Leave him alone!" Caroline shrieked, rushing Bonnie with fangs bared.
She mustn't have seen the poles there or didn't care, because she was left in utter shock when Bonnie reached through the bars and grabbed her by the hair. Pulling her face first into the poisoned bars.
Screams filled the air as blood poured from her face.
"Stop! Stop!" Caroline screamed, begging now.
"I'm sorry, we're not taking request from those devoid of humanity right now, please try again later." Bonnie quipped.
If it had been any other time, Damon would have high fived her for the quip, but now, now he was too struck with awe and a deep and profound respect for the woman who stood before him, handling vampires like they were spoiled children in need of some serious discipline. He trusted her not to take it too far, but knew that he wouldn't and could not be on the receiving end of that kind of punishment anytime soon. So he stood there, behind the wall of power, watching with bated breath as the woman he loved destroyed those she held dear.
"Please, Bonnie, please." Caroline begged. There were tears streaming down both their faces now.
"Flip it on Caro, flip it on." Bonnie demanded, still holding her friends shredded face to the bars.
"I-I can't it- it hurts." She wailed.
"I know baby, I know. Just let it in. Please, Caro, just let it in."
In a moment, the bars were gone, the pole removed from Stefan's head and the barrier lowered to permit Damon's entrance.
Instantly, Damon flashed to his brother's side, holding him for what seemed like hours until he woke up.
"Brother," Damon sighed, before Stefan's attention was drawn to the tangle of arms and legs rocking back and forth as the two friends consoled each other, wrapped in each other's arms and swallowed in a sea of tears.
This seemed to be enough to make Stefan's decision and he closed his eyes once, holding them there for a long time. When he reopened them again, remorse flooded his face and he clung to Damon, uttering again and again the phrase
"What have I done?"