Chapter 18

Dedication: The guest reviewer who motivated me to finish this chapter quickly. You know who you are. Sorry I kept you waiting.

Note: Again, sorry it's late, I'm trying to get them done as fast as I can, but it takes a while to come up with the storyline. Thank you guys for 70+ reviews! I hope you're enjoying reading as much as I enjoy writing. Please leave a review if you like this chapter and tell me what you want to happen next!

Bonnie had overheard Damon's speech to Stefan. Not that she could help it. Now that she was a vampire she could hear everything whether she liked it or not. She took it from Caroline's shocked expression that she, too, had heard everything. Stefan had a curious look on his face. He stared directly at Bonnie, barely taking notice of Caroline. Damon looked apologetically at Bonnie. As he should have. Bonnie was livid. Sure, a part of her loved everything he'd said in that speech. It had given her a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach that made her get the odd urge to jump out of her skin. But still, he tried to leave. Again. Without telling her. Again. So even though a part of her wanted to forget that, she knew that she couldn't. She couldn't get hurt again.

Finally someone spoke. "Good of you to join us. Your boyfriend over here was giving me some of the old-school torture-interrogation."

Bonnie shifted her gaze from Damon to his brother. "Great. I have some questions I'd like to ask as well." Stefan smiled, but looked exhausted. Bonnie didn't know what Damon had been doing to him, but it had obviously put him in tremendous pain.

Bonnie gently pushed Caroline forward. "Who is this girl?"

"Caroline Forbes," Stefan said with ease. "My turn…"

"No, no. You don't get a turn. You're the prisoner, remember. How do you know her?"

"She was friends with Elena," he said easily again. Caroline looked hurt, but didn't say anything.

Damon and Bonnie exchanged looks, but Caroline's eyes were firmly planted on Stefan's emotionless ones.

"What is your relationship with her?"

"My relationship with her? Don't have one." He said this without missing a beat, without looking away, without even flinching. Caroline's expression changed to fear, as Bonnie realised just how bad the situation had gotten.

"That's a lie," Damon continued.

"Uh, Damon… sidebar?" Bonnie asked, scratching her head.

"What?" Damon whispered frustratedly as they stood in the corner watching Caroline stand without saying a word to Stefan.

"As much as this is entertaining, it's also useless. Stefan didn't know anything before he was possessed that we didn't know, and I'm guessing that didn't change. This thing is like having your emotions off, except there's a literal barrier from you and your emotions, instead of just a switch."

"Yeah, and he's one step away from going on a murderous rampage like me and Enzo did!" Damon said.

"Not if we keep him here. Clearly our current technique isn't doing much. A few more questions, then we move on."

"Move on to what?"

"I don't know. Maybe go back to the place where we found you," she said with a shudder. Damon looked worried.

"I – I can't let that happen to me again," He said, his voice softening alarmingly.

"I – we won't let that happen to you," Bonnie said.

He looked away from her. "We should go back to questioning him. A few more, then we're done."

"Okay, we're back. The same rules apply," Damon said. 'Any questions? Anyone?" There was a pause for a second before Caroline suddenly asked, "When did you possess Stefan's body?" She sounded defeated. As though she knew they weren't going to get him back. Bonnie refused to believe that. She was going to do everything in her power to get him back and to keep Damon from slipping away again. From now on, everything would be fine. Even though she was still struggling with her vampirism, she would accept it and move on after this was all over.

Stefan answered easily. "At the mansion. I don't recall exactly when. In fact it's all quite a blur from that point." For a moment he looked confused before reverting back to his usual expression.

"He's telling the truth," Damon whispered to Bonnie.

Bonnie nodded uncertainly. She believed Damon. He had a knack for telling when someone was lying, especially with those he knew the best. Stefan was at the top of that list, even when he was virtually unreadable and emotionless.

"You know what that means," said Caroline. "We've got to go to the mansion."

Damon sighed. Bonnie saw how much he didn't want to go there and felt the sudden urge to grip his hand. She didn't, though. It wasn't the right time to do something like that, no matter what her intentions were. Instead she blurted out, "Caroline and I will go. You should stay here. Watch over your brother."

"If anyone understands what it's like to be possessed, it's me. I'm not leaving you – both of you alone with whatever that thing is."

"Someone has to stay…" Bonnie said.

"I will," Caroline said, smiling sadly. "You two go ahead. I'll make sure he doesn't try to kill anyone… again."

The car ride was silent, but not awkward. Damon kept his eyes firmly planted on the road as a tune from the '90's played softly from the car's old fashioned radio. Bonnie looked out of the window trying to drown out the sickly feeling in her stomach. The one she couldn't seem to shake. The one she hadn't been able to shake since the night she 'died'. Even when she slept or laughed or did anything remotely normal, that feeling lingered as strong as ever. It was a part of her, but it disgusted her immensely. It reminded her every day that every fiber of her being was against nature. It was a constant reminder that she had once been so in sync with nature and now she could barely look at a flower, let alone make one bloom. The constant stench of blood drowned out what was left of her humanity, but still, she would fight. She didn't have anything to fight for, but still, she would fight, like she always had.

'We're here," Damon said as the car came to a halt. He pursed his lips together. "Great."

They went to the front door and stood there for a moment.

"Oh," Damon said, smiling. "I forgot you can't go all 'Alohamora' anymore. Sorry, 'bout that, Bon-Bon." With one squeeze of his hand, he crushed the old rusted lock on the door. "They should really enchant this thing or something."

"I think the purpose of this house is to attract vampires so they can possess them. Enchantments would prohibit that."

"Good point," Damon whispered, slowly pushing the door open.

"Where do we go from here? Should we split up or something?"

Damon scoffed. "Have you ever seen a horror movie, Bon-Bon? No, we should not split up. Unless you want to die, of course."

"I might take you up on that," Bonnie said without thinking.

Damon looked alarmed. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, I was just joking."

"Yeah, you better have just been joking. I'd rather not have you die, thanks. Now come on," he said, grabbing her hand as though she could disappear any second. "Time to pay a visit to our favourite room in the house." Damon smiled uneasily.

The library was dark, aside from a few lights near the bookshelves.

"It's the same as how we left it," said Bonnie, noticing that the books that Miranda had pulled out were still out of their shelves. She felt so relieved. She pulled out the flashlight on her phone and began to explore the shelves, looking for something that might explain the situation, but she noticed that Damon hung back.

"Uh… Bonnie, we may have a bit of a problem," he said, looking like he'd just seen a ghost.

"What?"

Damon shined his flashlight down at the bare floor. For a second, Bonnie didn't know why, but then she realised. Miranda's body wasn't there. Someone had moved it.

Then as if it was something straight out of a horror movie, the door of the library creaked open.