Please people, even if just this once, read my notes, they're IMPORTANT: If you wish for this fic to end, don't read further, see the union between Bonnie and Damon as the end. (about that, I actually copied one of the many versions of the handfasting ceremony, and tweaked it a bit for my purpouses, hope you liked it). This epilogue is meant to work as a bridge between Promises of Hope and its sequel: Promises of Salvation, which I won't be posting for a few months (until I have written at least half of the fic) and then will update every two to four weeks. The sequel, as I've mentioned to some people already, will handle subjects that couldn't be adressed in this fic the way they were in the show (like Isobel's whereabouts, the problem with the Secret Council, Alaric finding out the truth about his wife and the relation to Elena, and quite a few more), of course, I'll be doing it my way (so you can disregaard everything that happened in the last eight chapters of the show. I'll also be introducing new characters, and new things, included of course, the doubts you may still have had left in this fic (I'm sure you all know what I'm talking about).

So, yeah, in short DON'T READ THIS EPILOGUE UNLESS YOU'RE WILLING TO READ AND WAIT FOR THE SEQUEL!

For those who are still around, enjoy!

Epilogue. It's Not Over Yet

Remembering

Your touch, your kiss

Your warm embrace

I found my way back to you

And you were still waiting

Bonnie awoke with a gasp, cold sweat running down her whole body. She straightened up in bed instantly and for a few moments had trouble identifying where exactly she was.

"Are you alright?" She heard a voice ask from beside her.

And suddenly she remembered it all: the lost memories, the cursed tomb, her magic out of control, how she was about to sacrifice herself in an attempt to save the town, the night of the Winter Dance, and her Dark Angel's arrival…She'd survived when she'd thought she wouldn't, and now, now she was as good as married to the love of her life.

Yes, she now remembered where she was, in the outskirts of Florence, Italy; her new spouse had insisted they go there for a short honeymoon, to the estate that had once belonged to his mother, the DeSantis' Villa. Grams had approved, and Elena herself had offered to make herself scarce for a week so they could tell Bonnie's father the two girls had decided to celebrate the end of term with a small trip (not that Elena minded spending a full week in the Salvatore boardinghouse…).

So she was there, in a huge bed, with red satin sheets, in her spouse's arms; and while that had the same effect it had always had on her: make her feel safe, it didn't make her forget the reason why she'd awoken in such a way. The 'dream' or 'vision' or 'flash', or whatever it was that she'd seen while unconscious, it'd disturbed her greatly.

"Little Witch?" She heard him ask, worry evident in the tenor of his voice.

"I saw something…" She whispered.

"Something, what?" He got into protective mode pretty quickly.

"I don't know." She admitted. "I don't know if it was the past, a part of what we still haven't remembered; or something that might have happened if we hadn't gotten together again, or…"

"Or something that has yet to happen." He finished for her.

She just nodded, burying her body into his embrace as much as she could.

That in itself was a bad signal for her vampire spouse; she was always so brave, so strong; seeing like that in that moment, it was a sure sign that whatever she'd seen had been very bad.

"What did you see?" He dared ask after a couple of minutes of silence.

For all answer she took his hand, laying his palm against her forehead and focused on sending everything into his own mind:

***Dream***

She was standing, unable to move, as her hands were bound behind her back, and the rest of her body was equally restrained, against a tall wooden post, a look in the direction of her feet, soon made her notice the piles of wood stacked around the post.

'No…' realization came onto her. 'Not a post, a stake, oh spirits…'

And while her current situation certainly made her nervous and at least a little afraid, it was until she raised her head again and made out the sight before her that she came really close to actually panicking:

It was her spouse, her Dark Angel, he was standing right in front of her, looking worse than she'd ever seen him. His arms were extended to the sides, and what almost made her scream was the fact that they were nailed to wooden posts behind him, or no, not nailed, staked. Blood, both fresh and dry could be seen on his hands, as well as his face, which was half black and blue; it was a frightening sight, not only for the fact that he'd been injured so badly, but also that he wasn't healing like he should. Whatever had happened to him, to them, whatever it was that had gotten them in that position ought to have been really, really bad.

"Dark Angel!" She began calling to him. *Damon!*

For quite a while she kept calling to him, first verbally, and then when her voice became too hoarse to keep on she screamed mentally; which actually wasn't easy, as she sensed that something was blocking her Power almost completely.

As if that didn't make things bad enough, suddenly something in one side of the room called her attention. She couldn't actually make out much, the room was pitch black, it was a miracle in and of itself that she was even able to see her spouse; though, on the other hand, whoever had left them there, and in such awful condition, had probably planned it that way.

*Lit-tle W…Witch…*

It took her a few moments, but finally she was able to make out her beloved's voice; she'd never heard him so weak, so…lost.

She tried speaking, but already her throat was too sore, her Power suddenly too far to be reached; she could just watch him and try to convene through her eyes how much she loved him, how afraid she was, not for herself but for him.

She'd always been that way, worrying more about others than herself, it just couldn't be helped. In this case it was even more so, this was her spouse, her One True Love, the one person she couldn't live without, and even if she could she wouldn't want to.

"T…ti amo…" She heard him speak in a very hoarse voice.

She wanted to answer in the same way, screamed how much she loved him, and it hurt her deeply that she just couldn't.

*Never…forget that.*

He'd to finish the thought in their minds, for he seemed to be just too hurt to keep speaking out loud; and even just saying three words in her mind seemed to take most of the energy that had been left in him.

She wanted to scream right then. She wasn't actually sure what hurt her more, her own wounds or his; she was sure though that she feared more for him than for herself.

And then she could sense it, someone else was in the room, a presence so dark every cell in her body recoiled from its proximity.

She began turning, her eyes narrowed, trying to force them to make out something, anything that may give her more information of where they were, why were they there, and who exactly was responsible for what was happening.

It was useless, she could see nothing, could hear nothing more except for a very low, very dark, chuckle, it seemed to make her blood run cold.

***End of Dream***

And then it was over. Then she'd woken up covered in sweat and feeling her body tired and numb, as if she'd actually been tied to a stake, with ropes cutting into her skin, the cold and darkness surrounding her and everything else.

The mere memory of that dream was almost enough to send it into hysterics, and only the tightening of her beloved's embrace managed to bring her back to reality.

"Bonnie?" Damon called her.

It was so strange to hear him saying her real name, even after everything they'd gone through. And that, perhaps, was exactly what she needed to fully return to reality.

"Damon?" She asked.

"It's alright, my Little Witch." He whispered in her ear as he pulled her back to his chest. "I'm here, we're both here, safe; we're in mamma's villa, not some psycho's abode."

"I'm so afraid, my Dark Angel." She gasped. "It all looked so real, felt so real. I was tied to that stake, like the witches of old, and you…you…"

"I'm just fine, we both are." He insisted, then showed her his hands. "See, not a wound in sight. It was just a dream…"

"No, it wasn't." She shook his head vehemently.

"It wasn't real." He insisted.

"Maybe not now." She admitted. "But at some point it might be."

"So you're convinced it was a precognitive vision?" He deduced.

"I'm afraid so." She admitted. "Something's coming, love. A great darkness is about to fall, so great I cannot see the end of it."

"Well, we always knew we had big challenges ahead of us." He reminded her.

"Yes, but this…" She began doubtful.

"And no matter how big it may be, we will deal with it when the time comes. We're both powerful, even more so together, we can handle whatever is thrown our way."

"And we're not alone. We have your brother, and Lena, and Caro, and Grams."

"True. I cannot tell you how strange it feels to be able to trust so completely in other people. Especially my brother…" he sighed. "After what happened so long ago, I just never thought I would ever trust him again, or anyone for that matter."

"I think it's good that you trust others. As much as I love being special for you, it does good to you to have others you can rely on."

"I guess so."

Silence reigned for a few minutes, until finally Bonnie turned sharply in his direction; she didn't need to say a word, he understood her better than he did himself sometimes. Without a single objection he brushed her hair away from a side of her and lowered his head, he kissed and nipped at the skin several times, until he managed to provoke a deep moan to come from her and then, timing it just right, he bit down.

A couple of seconds later Bonnie had called on her magic just enough to cut her spouse's neck so she could drink from him as he did from her.

Then there was no more need for words. She was still afraid of what may come, but she also knew he was there, he would do anything to keep her safe, and they weren't alone, they had family and friends that would stand by them no matter what.

Come what may, they would survive, together.

Together again

It feels so good to be

In your arms

Now at my journeys' end

We both made our promises

Ones that we both could keep

I vowed to come for you

If you waited for me

And you did hold

A place for me

In your heart…

First things first. THANK YOU to all my readers, even those who didn't review, I feel honored that you liked this fic enough to get this far.

Now, the piece of the song at the end is not actually the way Tracy Chapman sings it, I modified it a bit so it would fit with the end of this fic.

On to the important things. Like I had said before, this is just the end of the first part. The sequel is coming. "Promises of Salvation", there you'll finally be seeing more action, and other things (as mentioned on the note at the beginning of this chapter). Also, the story will have Stefan and Elena appearing as main characters. This doesn't mean there won't be Bamon, 'cause trust me, there will be, a lot. But I feel like I've left those two in the right place now, Stelena...they'be still got a long way to go. Technically both couples will be main characters, but Ff will enlist Stelena. Of course I'll also work with Caroline and Matt, and eventually introduced new characters and couples.

For those truly interested in the coming fic, when I've finally written at least half of it, I'll publish a teaser as a sort of additional chapter of this fic, then, one or two weeks later (depending on how much free time I have) I'll be posting the first chapter. That way you'll have an idea when to look for the fic, without having to visit my profile again and again.

Finally, regarding the fanarts, I'll be making more, of both Promises of Hope and of Salvation, I just need to find some free time.

That's all, once again thank you very much. It's been a pleasure!

Adieu!