The soles of Bonnie's feet are glued to the hardwood with sweat as she fidgets in the parlor under the penetrating stares of various sets of supernatural eyes. She shifts her weight from one leg to the other ever so slightly and catches her lip between her teeth as she waits for some word from Klaus or Elijah as to why she was requested.

Small bumps rise over her skin as she watches the pupils of the men - on either side of the dirty brunette on the couch- enlarge until the black overtakes the whites of their eyes. They simultaneously groan, roused by her presence, their jaws constricting. She had never seen fangs before Klaus had demonstrated earlier that he was in fact something she had only believed to exist in folklore, but beholding the elongated canines of the vampire strangers before her makes her think she should get used to the sight of the monsters.

"Ain't she sweet," Anne-Marie drawls, pushing herself up from the chaise, "Don't worry angel, you can come a little closer, I don't bite and neither do they -unless I say so."

Bonnie doesn't budge; she's anticipating a different direction from Klaus who has his back to her.

He hadn't turned around once since she entered the room.

"Tell her to come closer so I can get a good look at what you got," Anne-Marie orders Klaus.

Klaus makes no retort and Bonnie's anxiety heightens because she doesn't feel comfortable following this woman's request. She glances over to Elijah at her side eyeing her but she can't make out his expression, she doesn't know if his crinkled forehead is a warning for her to stay put or go. But Klaus finally snaps his fingers, murmuring for Bonnie to move from under the doorway and let Anne-Marie look at her.

She unsticks one foot reluctantly when Elijah's hand encircles her wrist and yanks her back to his side.

"Pardon me, but as this is my human, only I speak for her, and I decline Ms. Boudreaux's wish," Elijah states with ease as if it were a fact. Bonnie gasps as Elijah wraps his arm at her waist, thrusting her against him. She tries to rolls her neck up at Elijah but he has her nestled under his chin, and she wriggles to look back at Anne-Marie but Elijah was intent on keeping her face a breath away from his suit lapel.

Elijah's outburst surprises the guests and annoys Klaus who rises swiftly, knocking over the chair.

"Elijah," Klaus growls, "Step aside."

"As a loyal subject of Marcel's kingdom, I respectfully ask you to leave my home," Elijah answers, rubbing his hand over Bonnie's back trying to calm her down. She is frantic because she can't see what is happening.

"She's yo' human?" Anne-Marie laughs, "You went through all this trouble to bring back yo' bloodbag?"

"What the hell are you doing, Elijah?" Klaus yells. But Elijah ignores him, "No, not for a blood bag. But for my beloved. Marcel can surely understand a man's want to resurrect the woman he loves."

Bonnie smashes her forehead into his chest and whispers, "What are you doing?"

"Ya' mean to tell me that that pretty little thing you holding on to for dear life is yo' lover?"

There is a moment of silence and Bonnie can hear her own heartbeat before Elijah says, "I fell in love with her the moment I laid eyes on her."

Anne-Marie mawkishly puts her hand over heart and sighs, and places her fists on her hips and saunters over to the couple, "You and I both know you ain't neva even smelled this two-bit witch's snatch, let alone been her man."

Elijah's grip tightens around Bonnie, "Madam, I think it is time for Claude to escort you and your guards out."

"I'm done playing," Anne-Marie says, shaking her head as Elijah wails, crumbling to the ground, releasing Bonnie to clench the sides of his temples.

Bonnie stumbles backwards and Anne-Marie steadies her by catching her shoulders, "I'm gonna keep frying yo' boyfriend's brains until you tell me what I need to know."

Nodding wildly, Bonnie stutters, "I don't know very much, I was born yesterday. "

And even though that is the god honest truth, she knows how ridiculous she sounds as she stares into the dark hawk-like eyes of Anne-Marie and catches a blur of yellow glowing eyes behind her.

"Who are you?"

She knows this one and she steadily states, ""I'm Bonnie."

Anne-Marie shakes her violently and Bonnie wishes that Klaus had taught her more than how to close the balcony doors last night.

"Bonnie what? You ain't got a last name?" Anne-Marie spits angrily, her fingers digging into Bonnie's arms.

She closes her eyes, closes herself off to the nails embedded in her skin, turns off Elijah's screeches, and she patterns her breath to her pulse, slowing both down until she can see a name, and she moves her lips to say, "Bennett. My name is Bonnie Bennett."

Which Bonnie thinks must be the magic words because Anne-Marie lets her go and Bonnie clamors that she will tell her everything she knows if she will stop harming Elijah.

But Anne-Marie looks at her dumbly and distorts her mouth in disbelief, "How in the hell is a Bennett working for vamps?"

And before Bonnie can reply, Anne-Marie contorts her fingers into a hex, and Bonnie buckles, knees crashing into the floor, palms splayed and her back arches as she screams from the phantom needle piercing through her temples and shock waves rolling through her spine. She screams for Klaus until his name is lost into a succession of high pitched cries of pain. Her eyes are wide open but she is blinded by the white hot throbbing, convulsing from the electric shocks she begins to lose awareness.

The last thing she perceives is the blood leaking from her nose as it drips into her mouth.

And the present disappears.

She is not dying in the Mikaelson's parlor by the hands of Marcel's bottom witch. She is instead at a picnic; the balmy summer breeze clings to her as she stands in the midst of a crowd, struggling to see the Fourth of July decorated stage. She shuffles between bodies, inhaling the scent of barbecue and apple pie, and as she stands on her tippy-toes to get a look at the speaker, she recognizes the chocolate-skinned man at the mic.

And the man winks at her and speaks in Klaus's voice, "Try not to die, love."

Air.

Big gulps of air fill her lungs as she pants on all fours, falling to her side to place her hands at her throat, gasping for air. And her skull is still ringing but she braves an eye open and is met with the glassy, lifeless eyes and agape mouth of Anne-Marie's corpse crumpled next to her. And she coughs hysterically, clearing passageways for more air as she glances upward at the pair of boots inches from her head to see Klaus beaming as he held the witches bloody red heart in his hands.

BKBKBKBKBKBK

Klaus and Elijah argue as Bonnie realizes she isn't dead again but wonders if that is a good thing when she looks over the carnage in the room. There were decapitated vampires slumped in each corner and their heads were thrown haphazardly, one landing upright on the chaise -which was now beyond repair- looking as if he were about to speak, and the other head was face down covered in soot in the fireplace.

"You resurrect the Bennett Witch over our siblings in the name of war and she's not even capable of even protecting herself, "Elijah confronts Klaus, dusting off his suit from having rolled around on the floor.

Laughing, Klaus slaps his brother on the back, "She needs proper training, that's all."

They talk about her like she's not there, and she listens to them discuss her abilities as a witch as she takes up a seat next to the head on the chaise, thinking of who was the man at the mic in her pain-induced dream.

"Parlor tricks, Niklaus that is all she is able to do, do you really think she will capable to defend you against Davina?" Elijah whispers out of Bonnie's earshot.

"Oh ye of little faith," Klaus smiles, "She will do more than defend me against Marcel. She is my key to ruling the world."

Elijah scoffs, "Forgive me if I do not share the same confidence."

"That is a shame, I had assumed you would be a champion for your beloved. " Klaus says, his face darkening as he subtly questions his brother on his earlier behavior.

Elijah looks over at Bonnie, dazed and bloody, and he whispers, "I only said what I said to protect her. You will have her as a shield when what the girl needs is a friend."

BKBKBKBKBKBKBKBKBKBKBKBK

Bonnie's dress was still soaked with blood, the skirt cleaved to her thighs, sticky and damp. She was able to wipe the splatters from her face from a borrowed handkerchief from Elijah. It sat balled up in her lap now. After the brothers buried the bodies in the rose garden behind the labyrinth, Klaus had whisked them immediately out onto the road in his armored suburban. Elijah had wanted to have her examined, take her to the nearest hospital and have a doctor determine that the witch hadn't done anything harmful to her brain. His concerns were all very human.

"She's not yours to worry over, Elijah."

There was no more debate and Bonnie was carried to the car, her limp legs and bruised knees dangling over Klaus's arms.

Forty-five minutes out of the city, Klaus can't take the silence in the car and commands her to speak for she had yet to open her mouth since he ripped out Anne-Marie's heart.

He is concerned that maybe he should have listened to Elijah and taken her to a doctor.

Had the witch's work rendered her dumb?

When she still won't open her mouth, he quickly pulls the SUV across two lanes, barely missing a family of four in a Honda, hopping over a ditch and scraping the side of the suburban against a tree.

Before she can register that they haven't crashed, he bites into his wrist, blood dripping onto the leather seats and armrest and onto her ruined dress and offers it up to her, "I suggest you develop a taste for it, starting now you'll be required to drink from me regularly to keep your strength up."

She hesitates and he palms the back of her head and pushes her to meet his open veins.

Moaning and struggling to push his arm away, some of the blood makes it past her gums and the lingering numbing headache she was experiencing dissipates. She instantly feels light, like she could levitate, and she begins to suckle him, and slowly drags the blood through his veins and into her throat as he leans over her and reclines her seat so she could curl up into herself with his arm as her security blanket.

Her olive green eyes brighten and her finger tips and toes tingle as the blood spreads through her body.

"Feeling better?"

She nods with his wrist between her lips.

When the sucking becomes fainter, he removes his arm and there is a small smack as he separates his wrist from her mouth. A small smile creeps across his face as he admires his blood on her lips. He brushes her hair from her face, "Are you ready to talk now?"

She nods again and says, "Take me to Mystic Falls."

Author's Note

Thank you for reading.