Bonnie slept for as long as she could before relenting to her stress. She woke in the middle of the night, unsure of the time, but knowing that she couldn't wait any longer.
She crawled out of bed, being careful not to wake Kai, although she doubted it would work. He seemed to be a light sleeper.
She wondered if he'd always been that way or if it was because of his heightened senses. She had yet to ask. She didn't think he'd give her a straight answer. He didn't like to get too deep.
For an odd moment, she thought about Jo, wondering if anyone had taken care of her yet or if Caroline in her haste to make sure Bonnie was okay had forgotten about her entirely.
How was Alaric doing? Tyler?
She glanced back at the bed, feeling a stick of guilt claw through her gut, and then pushed it aside. She wasn't going to think too hard on that, she couldn't afford to.
She sucked in a breath, entered Damon's number into her phone and waited for his familiar voice to cross the line. He answered as though he was expecting her.
"Finally decided to surrender?" he asked.
"You could say that."
There was a long pause on the line and then he spoke again. "Seriously?"
"I ran into Lily. She had a lot to say," Bonnie added, unable to keep the hurt from her voice. Damon seemed to ignore her tone, as if she'd been the one to aggravate him.
"I'll bet. From what Enzo tells me, you turned her into a human roast."
"I wish it had been you," Bonnie said.
"You don't mean that," Damon snipped.
Of course she didn't. If the roles had been reversed, she probably wouldn't have pulled half of the shit he did over the last few days. She thought back to the wedding, to her pain and the look on his face as he'd left her to die. She'd never have been able to do it even if it was simply for the sake of pretending.
"It's the least you deserve."
"Maybe," Damon agreed. There was a sigh on his end and then he continued. "If you expect me to apologize, then you know better than most, it's not going to happen. You brought this on yourself. If you'd just listened to me, then this wouldn't have happened."
Bonnie bristled, closing her eyes to keep from lashing out. There was so much she could say, so much she wanted to say, and yet she couldn't bring herself to do it.
"Fine. You win. Where should we meet?"
Another long pause. "Police station? You know which one."
"Not happening," Bonnie retorted.
"You don't trust me?" Damon asked, pretending or almost sounding hurt.
"How about a diner? The one outside of the town you tried to get me arrested in," Bonnie suggested.
"Why there?"
"Does it matter?"
She could see him shrug in her mind's eye.
"Alright. I'll meet you there in an hour," Damon said.
"Make it two," Bonnie concluded and then hung up.
She wanted to ask about Lily and how she'd feel about that since she appeared to have other ideas, but he assured her he'd take care of it. From Bonnie's perspective he had no control over his mother and might only make things worse. Besides, what was she going to be able to offer the woman? Her heretics? She didn't even know where they were or if they'd even made it from 1903.
Bonnie fixed her gaze on the bed, on Kai who still lay prone and unmoving. If she asked him about them? After this little change, would he tell her the truth? She needed some form of insurance, something to keep Lily from ripping her head off. And where was Kai even going to go?
Bonnie dropped the phone onto the top of her bag, glanced at her watch, and got to her feet, sluggishly shifting around as she began to dress.
Bonnie's shift had woken Kai, but he refrained from moving, content to listen to her conversation with Damon, cringing inwardly.
How silly could she be to go to that meeting? Kai couldn't understand the amount of faith she put into that bloodsucking manipulator.
Bonnie sat down on the edge of the bed, not being careful this time, needing him to wake up so she could tell him goodbye or fill him in on her plans in case he had slept. "What are you going to do while I'm away?"
He heaved a sigh, rolling onto his back reluctantly, stretching with a yawn.
"How would I know what I'll do? I'll know when I do it, right?" He grinned. "And in case you wanna go now — it's stupid to go meet a vampire at night. No one will hear you scream, Bons."
"Perhaps that would apply to every other vampire," Bonnie said, lacing up her shoes. She checked each lace as if she feared they'd come loose and she wouldn't be able to escape. "Not this one. Not with me." It didn't even matter that he'd tried to rip her throat in order to stop her. That was just his impulses at work. "Did you eavesdrop?"
"Who? Me?! Of course not."
"I don't care that you did. I just want to know how much I need to repeat myself," Bonnie said, smiling softly.
"What's there to repeat?" Kai laced his hands beneath his head, eyeballing her. "You're going to let Damon screw you over one more time. Maybe, last time. And there's nothing you let me do about it."
"He won't screw me over. Not this time. What reason could he have if I'm coming to him?"
"So you wouldn't leave and stop him from helping his mommy track me down to kill."
"So why not just let me help you and tell me what you did with the heretics?"
He gave her an earnest look. "You can't help me. Or anyone, for that matter, if you're anywhere near Mystic Falls when Lily finds them."
"Finds them?" Bonnie said, twisting somewhat to face him properly. "So they're alive? Free?"
He shrugged. "Lily believes it. Although what I would fear in your shoes is that she won't find them. And then she takes it out on you."
"Can't get any worse than it already is. She's mad at me for destroying the nineteen-o-three ascendant," Bonnie said, shrugging her shoulders. "Whatever drama with the heretics is already on my shoulders. It won't be changing any time soon. Regardless of whether they're alive or not. How'd you even escape them?"
"I'm resourceful. And she's really mad at you." He made a hissing sound for emphasis.
"Okay. Better question. How'd you escape the prison world?"
He chortled. "I thought I told you that on the tape I left for you. Have you watched it? That rock full of Bennett blood... Rings a bell?"
"Rock full of Bennett blood? You mean Silas's headstone? Was he... don't suppose if you saw if he was still—" Bonnie said, cutting herself short. Kai didn't know that version of her life and they hadn't spoken in detail about the specifics that got her dead. He might have heard it here and there during her time with Damon while he was watching them. "Doesn't matter. It's as you said, you're resourceful."
She glanced down at her hands, flexing her fingers as if to test that her own magic was there beneath the surface and would protect her. She'd been doing well enough.
"I should get on the road," Bonnie said, getting to her feet. "Just one last question: are they dead?"
Kai smiled. "They were sort of dead to begin with."
"Sort of? What do you mean?"
He looked at her as if she were purposefully being slow. "Hello! Vampires, anyone?"
"So they were desiccated. Still are? How'd you manage that?"
He raised his eyebrows, "Should I feel insulted that you keep forgetting how mega-powerful I am?"
Bonnie thought about his comment, about the frivolity of it all. Had it really been that easy? It must have been, otherwise where were they?
"Is that why you didn't want to admit you'd left alone? Because the mega-powerful witch needed something to bargain with?"
Kai rolled his eyes, smirking. "I think you should get ready for your slaughter party with Damon. Or come here to wait till morning..." He gave her a jocular grin. "I'm sure we can find something to do here under these covers..."
"Slaughter party?" Bonnie echoed, chuckling. "You're being dramatic. We're going to have a conversation like two civilized people."
Even as she said it, she knew it could very well be as he'd stated. Damon wasn't exactly the type to sit and listen if he didn't agree. But with all his shortcomings, flaws and murderous impulses, Bonnie still couldn't discard what they'd had in 1994. Despite what Kai had been repeating to her like a broken record, she just needed to give that little spark of hope a chance to start a fire, however small, however dim or feeble. She needed to know there was something in Damon still capable of caring for her wellbeing, for her fears, for her needs. He'd been the closest person for her for over four months. Her anchor of sanity and hope. And life. It had to mean something, it had to.
She had to see it in his eyes.
She combed her fingers through her hair, headed to the bathroom to wash her face and check herself over. She didn't look as if she'd been pulled through a ringer or that she'd been suffering, in fact, she looked almost good.
That wasn't going to sit well with Damon.
"Okay, well, I guess I should get on the road. Will you be catching up with me later?"
"You can find me when — and if — you're free," Kai reminded. "Or, well, not, if you decide to settle with Damon and their merry gang."
"Settle? I—I don't think it's that simple. I never intended to leave Mystic Falls. My only concern is and has been his mother. I'm confused as to what this is, Kai. You should come with me."
"I strongly believe I really shouldn't."
"Why? Are you that worried they're going to try and kill you? I thought you were mega-powerful."
"Nah. Just don't wanna see any of their miserable faces. My decision's final, don't bother. Unless you change your mind and stay with me, go to Rome, Venice… anywhere." He wiggled his eyebrows, smiling.
"Rome is still an option. Just not right now," Bonnie said. She was so confused about leaving him. About letting things play out as if they were simply two lovers deciding to take some time away from one another. Was she making the right decision? Probably not. Not in either case.
He shrugged. "Then go. Because I can see it clearly you're stalling. Know why? 'Cause your intuition's still trying to scream at you from that basement you've locked it in."
Bonnie narrowed her eyes, trying to feel annoyed. She couldn't bring herself to be that. Maybe it would be easier if they left on harder terms and not on a note where it felt as if he were supporting her. Even if she knew he wasn't. She moved to collect her bag, hoisting it onto her shoulder, reaching into it one last time. "Do you even have a phone?"
"Nope."
Bonnie brought out her phone. Already inside it was Caroline and Damon's numbers. She tossed it onto the bed cover for him. "Keep that close. I'll contact you later," Bonnie stated, zipping up her bag, slowly starting for the door before she could up and change her mind.
"I don't need it," Kai said, waving a hand to send the phone flying back into her bag. "You already have means of finding me. Stop with those human crutches."
Bonnie rolled her eyes, touched a hand to the bag as the phone bounced around in there as if it had never left. "Humanity is the thing that keeps us grounded," Bonnie said as she headed for the door, slipping out into the hallway before they could continue to press the situation and get deeper into the conversation. She was already running late.
"And there she goes to get her lovely bones snapped," Kai murmured, and let out a sigh.
His phone appeared in his hand. After a few moments of contemplation, he typed in a number, frowned as he looked at it, as if trying to gauge whether he remembered correctly, then put a name to it.
He pressed the green icon for dial. There was almost no wait. He grinned.
"Howdy-do, princess-boo."
Caroline woke up with a start as the phone rang. She moved so briskly it was as if she wasn't asleep a second ago.
They'd slept off and on throughout the night but neither had been able to sleep properly. Stefan was worried about the mayhem his brother was causing and Caroline was worried about Bonnie. Neither had a solution to any of their answers nor were they any closer to finding or solving anything either. And now it looked as if they were catching up.
"Bonnie?" Caroline spoke into the receiver groggily, sounding almost guilty.
Only the voice that crossed the line wasn't her best friend.
"Kai?" Why was he calling her?
Stefan, too, was sitting up, alert and at attention.
"One and only," the cheerful voice from the other side of the line confirmed. "How you doin?"
"Fantastic," Caroline said with false cheer. She was playing for time, trying to listen for sounds of Bonnie in the background. "Where's Bonnie?"
"Oh, I've no clue. Thought you'd be the one to keep track on that, given how you're overstraining yourselves looking for her… or are you, really?"
"What do you mean you have no clue?" Caroline asked. She was sounding hysterical now. "She was with you. She is with you. What have you done with her?" Caroline was on her feet now, pacing, and Stefan was watching her, listening, considering if he needed to intervene and take over the conversation.
"All I've ever done to her was spend an awfully unwarranted amount of time trying to convince her that her idea of meeting Damon for a chat is the worst she's ever had. Guess what, I failed. Crazy, right?"
"Wait— she's going to meet Damon? When? When did she leave? Why didn't she take her phone?" Caroline asked. She didn't care that she was bombarding him with questions that he didn't have to answer. She needed him to. Stefan was already trying to call Damon again and being ignored.
"She left, like, a few minutes ago, so you're welcome for that head start. Chop-chop, losers. Your little blue-eyes with mommy issues gonna squeeze the living crap outta her when she walks into his paws." He hung up.
Caroline called Kai back immediately. To no avail. So he'd given her a piece of information, but not the full details. Where were they meeting? How would they find her?
Stefan didn't look any happier. Damon was ignoring his phone calls again.
"What do we do?" Caroline asked on the verge of a breakdown.
Stefan dashed to her side, taking her hands, forcing her to stop pacing and to calm down.
"Another locator spell," Stefan said after a moment's thought, it was the first thing that he could come up with that he knew would get an instant result. Caroline nodded, flushing as though embarrassed she hadn't thought it first, and started to dial Bonnie's mother.
"I went ahead and ordered breakfast for you," Damon said as Bonnie walked in to the diner half an hour late. It was scarcely time for breakfast anymore — now it was almost lunchtime. On the table was a stack of waffles with a creamy smiley face, a big blob of strawberry jam in the corner of its mouth as if it had just fed. She'd come to loath and love his breakfasts and this was a stark reminder of how their relationship had changed since they came back.
She pulled out a chair and sat down, feeling tired as she peered across the stack at him, taking in his expression of surprising calm.
"You bring the siphon-sucker?" he asked
Bonnie shook her head. Damon focused on his senses as if he didn't believe her and she'd been the one to break his trust. She could see it all over his face, a look she wanted to slap clean off it. She could see he didn't understand the extent of what had happened over the last few days or what he'd done to her. Nothing on his face read a hint of remorse.
"If looks could kill, Bonbon, I'd be toast," Damon continued, a smirk twitching onto the corner of his mouth. Bonnie glanced around, expecting Lily to materialize from the back somewhere. "Don't be mad. We're alone. The only reason I even brought her into this was because, after you disappeared with psycho jam-fingers, I needed more eyes on the lookout."
"The cops weren't enough?" Bonnie retorted with an unladylike snort.
"Things were tricky," Damon drawled, studying her. "But you're here now so life is good again."
"Is it?" Bonnie asked.
"You should eat," he insisted.
Bonnie wasn't hungry and nor was she in the mood for his games. Or whatever this was. She was the one that made the decision to meet up and yet it felt as though he thought he was in control.
"That's not why I wanted to meet," Bonnie stated, pushing the plate toward him so hard that it distorted the smiling face he'd taken the time to make for her.
"Hey now," Damon scolded, bracing his hands against the side of the plate as if he expected it fly off the edge. "No need to take your anger out on the waffles."
Another play on their time in 1994 and an obvious attempt at manipulation to soften her up. She'd closed her eyes to it before, assuming that their time there—although hard—had meant as much to him. She missed that version of who he was.
He dipped a finger into the cream, brought it to his mouth and fell silent for a few seconds, contemplating which button to push next.
"So where is he?" Damon pressed when she didn't offer anything. Not that he was giving her the chance to drive the conversation. Bonnie shrugged. "You let him go?"
She didn't say anything. Kai was free. She hadn't let him go, but she also hadn't tied him down. She wondered about that herself, but at the same time, she knew it was complicated. Too complicated.
"You've lost it," Damon stated. He stared at her with those blue eyes, spearing her with icy dagger after dagger. "I expected crazy, but I never expected this from you."
"I told you I have it handled," Bonnie retorted defensively. He could never just let her be. There always had to be a push back or question or some kind of breakdown before he could go with the flow. Hadn't she earned that right yet? She had sacrificed herself for him. She'd done him a multitude of favors. She'd even brought him back the cure so that he could offer it up to Elena.
And what had that gotten her?
"You're the one being handled. What are you thinking? Are you even using your brain?"
Damon leaned forward, pushing aside the waffles, no longer caring to play the remember-how-close-we-used-to-be game. He realized that strategy wasn't getting him anywhere.
"I'm thinking that I'm trying to make things right for myself. To do things different. Violence doesn't get us anywhere," Bonnie stated.
"Maybe not you," he said, his tone taking on a threatening edge. In the past it would have terrified her, made her insides squirm and her blood turn cold, now it fueled her anger.
"Think Elena would agree with that?" Bonnie snapped.
Damon's features took on an ugly sneer. "If she saw what you were doing, how you were doing it and with whom – yeah."
Bonnie had to wonder if he was right. Elena did tend to agree with him a lot more lately. The days of seeking the violent-free options long gone. They'd all changed and no one's innocence remained intact.
"Good thing she's not here to see it, then," Bonnie said.
Damon winced and his features twisted. He looked as though he wanted to reach across the table and wring her neck, perhaps even take another chunk out of it. She tensed in expectation of his attack.
"You're beginning to sound like him," Damon said, forcing himself to calm, scanning her as if he were trying to see past the defense she'd put up. "Only he would say something that cruel."
"It's the truth, isn't it? You want her wrapped up in this?"
"She already is," Damon countered, frowning as though she'd dropped in IQ. "Elena's why we're here at all, why your leashed murderer still has a head and why he'll continue to have a head after I find him. He needs to fix what he's done. And then…"
"And then what?" Bonnie asked, folding her arms across her chest, waiting on him to finish the sentence, her voice relaying how angry she was feeling again.
"If I didn't know any better, Bonnie Bennett, I'd say that grief is clouding your judgment. That you've taken one too many hits to the head. Or that maybe… just maybe… you love that freak," Damon said.
Bonnie's face paled, then warmed as if she'd been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. She didn't love him. No, there was no way. Yet the memory of his lips on hers and his hands on her body invaded her mind.
"That's it, isn't it," Damon continued nastily, jumping to his feet as if he had an ah-ha moment. His hands were balled into fists, his features twisted with rage and disgust. "I knew it. He had you from the moment he came at you with that big brother game and those doe eyes. It doesn't even matter that he killed anyone. That he killed Jo, that he maimed me or that we lost Elena. You're not running scared, you're running desperate."
She couldn't believe what he was saying. It was as if Damon hadn't been paying attention at all and had erased their recent past. Her wanting to leave Kai behind in the prison world the first time, her killing him and then fighting to free herself merely dismissed. Whatever Damon had cooked up in his brain was his only truth and she couldn't penetrate the thought process. With a motion of her hand, the plate of waffles flew from the table and launched at his chest. He grunted at the impact and took a step back. The smiley face imprinted on his shirt in a clumsy smear, the plate dropping to the floor, bits and pieces splintering in every direction.
"I—I don't know what I was thinking coming to talk to you," Bonnie said as she jumped from her chair, putting a distance between them, wanting nothing more than to leave the diner. None of the people eating around them reacted. Damon had taken it upon himself to compel them to remain calm and not bother them – as if he'd anticipated things would get out of hand.
Bonnie headed for the door, assuming he'd chase her, and pinned him in place. She dropped the spell once outside, surprised as she headed for her car when someone stepped into her. She gasped, her heart in her throat, expecting the worst and even more drama.
"Jeremy?"
She didn't know why his presence there had taken her by surprise. Maybe because she hadn't expected him to be here. Had he come with Damon? Alone?
"What are you doing here?"
Jeremy's face turned sheepish, apologetic, his mouth opening to explain himself when suddenly she felt pain in her neck, and darkness overcame her.
"Good job, Fabio," Damon said, his arm looped around Bonnie's to keep her from falling to the ground, tossing aside the syringe he'd used to sedate her, and hoisted up her body himself as if she were a doll and then into his arms. "That couldn't have gone any smoother than if it was planned. I knew you'd come in useful at some point."
"You're a dick," Jeremy said, glancing at Bonnie passed out in Damon's arms, moving to take her from him as if she were a child to be shared between them.
"Nah-uh. You lost the privilege to touch her some time ago, Jer. Remember, it's pretend. Unless you still have feelings for her?"
Not that Damon cared to find out right now. That drama was to come later. Bonnie was going to be pissed when she woke up. Damon started moving toward the car before he could answer, signaling for Jeremy to pop the trunk. Jeremy appeared reluctant but followed Damon's order. Inside Damon had laid out a blanket and pillow, more than she deserved from him, but what he'd decided to do for her anyway. That way she wouldn't be able to cry that he didn't care about her or that he was being inconsiderate. No, no. He wanted her comfortable and hopefully those claws she'd unsheathed wouldn't cut straight through him later. He set her down inside, saw Jeremy's features soften, and slammed the trunk shut.
"Let's get out of here," he said, gesturing for Jeremy to get in the car, hopping into the driver's seat. Seconds later they were on the road headed back to Mystic Falls.
After their phone call from Kai, Stefan and Caroline had waited in the car with bated breath to be directed to their next location by Abby. It took quite a bit of time, and every second was nearly painful for Caroline. She could scarcely keep still, her fingers fidgeting with the phone, her hair, the loose thread on the seam of her top…
Eventually, they pulled up to the door of the roadside diner and jumped out.
Stefan wanted to be cautious but Caroline was without restraint, rushing into the diner so fast that he'd had no choice but to follow her. He wondered if she'd even realized that she'd used her vamp speed. Not that anyone seemed to pay them any mind. There were only five people inside. One of which was a waitress crouching to pick up shards of a smashed plate which she set in a plastic pan, along with broken waffle and smeared cream.
"She was here," Caroline said, scanning the interior, moving about the diner as if she expected Bonnie to be hiding somewhere, replicating what she'd done at the western restaurant. She got same results. "They're gone."
Stefan had been trying to call his brother off and on, resorting to text messages when those went unanswered, unsure of what to do next or how to alleviate Caroline's stress. He was worried, too.
"You should try Enzo," Stefan said, seeing her brows draw together.
"And say what?"
"Ask him if they're with Bonnie."
"You think he'd tell me the truth?" Caroline asked. It's not as if they were bosom buddies. Now that Lily was back, he was all up her ass.
"Worth a shot. I might be able to talk to my mother, too."
Caroline removed her phone, her eyes still on the inside of the restaurant, taking in the many faces while Stefan had gone to talk to the waitress, compelling her to tell him what happened. Enzo didn't answer. She wondered if it was because his hands were too slick with blood. Bonnie's blood.
Her insides rolled and her mouth opened as though she was going to throw up. She dashed outside, the door thumping closed behind her with a thwack.
Stefan finished talking to the waitress who'd informed him off the scuffle between who he was sure was Bonnie and Damon and headed outside to join her. She was in the car, her lips downturned, her eyes filled with tears as she stared at something in her hand.
"What's wrong?" Stefan asked as he climbed into the driver's seat, clearly concerned.
"I found this," Caroline said, holding up an empty syringe.
"That could be anyone's," he said to be helpful, hoping to keep her positive, well aware that he'd seen a few of those lying around in his brothers arsenal. He took the syringe from her, sniffing to see if he could pick up what he might have used before tossing it outside of the window.
"Why would he do this to her?" Caroline asked.
Stefan reached to take her hand, to keep her grounded while her mind raced with the possibilities.
"I don't know, but I'm sure he won't hurt her," Stefan said, his voice soft and assuring.
"It's too late. He already has," Caroline stated, withdrawing her hands from his, staring out into the day as the sun began to rise higher and higher in the sky. "What do we do now?"
"We go home," Stefan said, unsure of what to make of what they'd found, but hopeful, that if Damon had kidnapped Bonnie that he was taking her home. Somewhere they'd be able to find her.
Caroline gave a small nod, her eyes shifting to the phone, to Enzo's number and then the one she'd seen or remembered as Kai's. She didn't dial either.
Stefan put the car into reverse, wasting no more time as he drove for Mystic Falls.
"Do we need to give her another of those shots?" Jeremy asked as they ambled across the estate at the Salvatore Boarding House. They couldn't use the basement because Bonnie had spelled it, so they'd opted to take her to the shed outside. No one needed to know they were home yet and Damon told Jeremy as much. He'd sworn the boy to secrecy, he'd even let Jeremy carry her.
"You want to kill her?" Damon asked. Jeremy reddened, his gaze on her face as though he were trying to see if she was still breathing. That was the furthest thing he wanted. He held her tighter. "Drugging her was to keep her from escaping and to save the blood vessels in my brain. No need for that now."
Once inside the shed they set her on the blanket from the trunk. She looked peaceful, and for a few seconds Damon's heart ached. A lot had happened over the four months and he had really come to admire and appreciate her. He hated that it had come to this point, but it was also necessary. She'd lost it. Her grief over Elena or whatever the hell she was dealing with was eating her up from the inside and rotting her brain. Whoever she was now, was not who he'd left in the prison world.
He shifted her hands into position around one of the wooden posts in the middle of the room, securing her wrists with a set of cuffs he'd stolen off the cops he'd compelled to hunt her in Maryland. Next he dashed into another corner and returned to Bonnie's side with a heap of heavy chains. Whistling a tune, he began to wrap them around her tight and neat, loop after loop.
"Is that necessary?" Jeremy asked, astonished by the extent of measures.
"Would you rather I cut her hands off?" Damon finished by securing the chains with a padlock.
Jeremy's eyes widened, as if he feared that Damon might consider doing that. Damon scowled, irritated that Jeremy thought he would. It wasn't as if he was trying to make her life difficult.
He was the hero in this story.
"Relax, Jer-Bear, I'm a dickhead but I don't make habit of torturing my friends," Damon said. Jeremy could argue that point. He'd had a handful of experience that said otherwise. "You, on the other hand, shouldn't tempt me." Damon made sure she couldn't move much and straightened up, working the imaginary kinks of a job well done from his back.
Then he handed Jeremy a canister. Seeing the shocked expression on baby Gilbert's face, Damon couldn't help it and laughed, throwing his head back. "Oh boy, I needed it. Real sweet to think of me like that." His face turned sober as he leaned in to Jeremy as though confiding. "It's vervain. My hero brother and his blonde sidekick are gonna get here soon, and we can't have them snatch her away just like that."
"This is insane," Jeremy tried, and raised the canister to brandish. "And this — even more."
Damon shrugged, unperturbed. "Gets the job done. It's all that matters. It protects her. Go on. Douse her in it."
Jeremy pressed his lips tight, disapproving, but found nothing to argue his points with, and did as he was told.
"What if we gave her too much of the sedative? Do you even know what you're doing?" Jeremy probed a few minutes later, remaining close to her, crouching beside her so he could properly look at her relaxed face. He'd been fighting with himself since they'd snatched her at the diner. Damon strained his ears, listening for her heartbeat, satisfied that it was steady.
"No, but neither does she. And neither do you," Damon stated, looking the man-boy up and down. Jeremy scoffed, annoyed and insulted as he moved to take a seat on an old crate.
"What do we do now?" Jeremy asked.
"We wait on sleeping beauty," he said, leaning against the post Bonnie was secured to. He'd nibbled on the gas station attendant on their last refill to make sure he'd be at full strength should she try anything. Neither spoke to the other while they waited. Jeremy scrolling Instagram, Damon taking stock of what was in the shed he'd barely touched. The last time he'd been in here was when Stefan had locked him up away from the boarding house. He supposed there had to be a form of irony in that.
Forty more minutes passed before Bonnie started groaning. First her fingers moved, then her feet, testing what her limbs could do and wincing when she strained against the chains. Jeremy watched her with a look of guilt as her eyes snapped open, confused and filled with fear that soon turned into anger when she spotted the two of them standing together. Damon had made the revelation easy on her.
"How'd you sleep, Bon?" Damon asked, pressing on before she could answer. "I know it's not the Ritz or wherever you've been staying over the last few days, but uh, it's the best I could do, given the situation."
Bonnie closed her eyes to stave of the spinning in her head, her tongue weighing a ton inside her mouth. She wanted to tell him to go fuck himself but she couldn't make her lips work. She felt the weight of the restrains and short of breath.
Damon pushed away from Jeremy's side and moved to crouch in front of her, being sure to steer clear of her legs should she try to kick him. Bonnie could be quite the spitfire when she wanted to be.
Her eyes snapped open, sensing he was close, and met his dead-on. "W-where have y-you…"
"—taken you," Damon finished, smiling brightly. "We're home."
Bonnie's face drained of the last color, her eyes closing again as if she were trying to will the nightmare aware. When they opened again, they fixated on Jeremy over Damon's shoulder.
"Don't worry. Jeremy didn't betray you. He had very little to do with what's happening—in fact—I convinced him to be here. To help. Not that it took much," Damon added as an afterthought. "He might not say it, but he also thinks that you've lost it."
"No, I don't," Jeremy retorted, blushing, moving to push off the crate so he could defend himself.
"Don't be shy, Jer," Damon cajoled, his voice taking on a low almost sympathetic tone. "We had ten hours to reacquaint ourselves and discuss everything that's happened. You said, and I quote: She's not the same as she was before. How could she do this to Elena? She's darker."
Jeremy's eyes widened. He had said that. It also had been taken out of context. Or had it? He opened his mouth to make another excuse, and Damon rose a hand to let him know he could shut it.
"How are you feeling, Bon? I know the drugs pack quite the punch. The feeling will pass, though."
Bonnie worked her mouth, her throat scratch and dry. "Water," she croaked.
"Right," Damon said and straightened up. "So stupid of me. I didn't think ahead." He glanced at Jeremy. "Doesn't look like your ex-boytoy did either." He gestured between them, doing a mental Eeny, meeny, miny, moe and winced when it ended on him. "I guess I'm it."
He headed for the door, a smile on his lips, feeling the heat in the room rise a few degrees as he left Jeremy to deal with an irate Bonnie. Now that he'd pushed a wedge between them, he felt secure in the fact that the youngest Gilbert wasn't going to up and free Bonnie anytime soon.
Not as easy anymore.
Damon slapped ham on a sandwich, along with sliced gherkins and tied it all together on a fancy plate very similar to the one she'd thrown at his chest at the diner.
"I probably shouldn't use a plate," Damon said to himself, deciding against offering her another weapon.
He moved about the kitchen, opening cupboards, searching for something he gauged would be soft and found a stack of unopened paper plates. Who knew they'd even owned them? His guess was that either Zach left it there or one of the girls had bought them. He ripped the plastic from around them, peeled off a plate and slipped the bread onto it, pouring water into a solo cup for Bonnie. He was on his way back to the shed when he heard the front door open. He considered ghosting away, forgetting his plan to feed his witchy friend, but before he could get anywhere Caroline was on him, her right hand wrapped around his throat, Bonnie's food splashed spread across the floor.
"Where is she?!" Caroline sneered, eyes blazing, her mouth set into a grim like that was uncharacteristic of her nature. "What have you done with her?!"
"Who?" Damon croaked, seeing her rage spike up another notch. If he was honest with himself, he got a perverse joy out of riling Caroline up. She squeezed his throat threatening to crush his windpipe, to pop his eyes from his skull and then she was gone.
"Where. Is. She?!" Caroline snapped, getting livid with anger. "Where's Bonnie?!"
Stefan had his arms around her, restraining her, keeping her from ripping Damon's spine out. He understood why she was mad, but to rile up Damon, to come at him with anger, wouldn't get them anywhere.
Damon rubbed as his throat as if her hands were still wrapped around them, as if the pain she'd caused still lingered there and then glanced at the food on the floor.
"You're cleaning that up," he gestured to the mess.
Stefan frowned in annoyance, his grip slipping on Caroline who elbowed him and charged at Damon a second time. This time he was ready for her. Moving before she could get her hands on him, yanking her by the hair, hauling her back until he threw her across the kitchen and onto the table.
Stefan moved to help her up, once again letting his arm settle around her waist, hauling her back against his chest with more force the second time. Damon watched them with an amused gleam in his eye. Caroline trembled, wanting nothing more than to drive the knife he'd left on the counter into his gut repeatedly. Damon sensing that urge moved to lean on the counter.
"Long trip? You two seem… grumpy."
Caroline shook Stefan free, sucking in a breath, ignoring Damon's attempts at wit. "What have you done with her?"
Stefan had moved to stand at her side now, the two flanking each other like superman and superwoman. All they needed were capes. The sight amused Damon as much as it annoyed him.
"She's fine," he answered at last. "Alive."
"Then where is she?" Caroline repeated, gritting her teeth.
"Not with Lily, if that's what you're worried about."
Caroline visibly relaxed, her gaze darting to Stefan who looked as pleased. Before the two bothers knew what to say or do, the blonde zipped away, dashing through the house in search of her best friend. When she returned, the murderous look was back in her eye.
"She's not here," she stated, taking a step toward Damon who hadn't budged from his bent over position. Stefan took a step toward her, more so to protect Caroline should she need it.
"Is she hurt, Damon?" Stefan asked.
"You think that low of me, brother?"
Stefan didn't bother to answer him since they both knew his views. Damon was a special breed. Stefan wanted him to be better and Damon could be better. That goodness was only ever temporary, and with Elena out of the picture, his reckless habits were spinning to the forefront like a sickness.
"No," Caroline retorted, speaking up for Stefan. "But I do. If you so much as—"
"—if I so much as what?" Damon returned, straightening up, looking as though he might move to attack her again. "You two forget that I was trapped with that witch for over four months. That I was the one that stepped up when she was in need of a shoulder and was going through the motions. You weren't there for her when she came back from nineteen-ninety-four. You were running around with your emotions shut off. Treating her like shit. Like you couldn't give a damn that she was back. You didn't see her fall apart and struggle to pick up the pieces. I did. Me," Damon said, emphasizing his speech with his hands. When he saw Caroline's eyes mist up he knew he had her, giving the mental knife another twist. "I know her better than most. Even you, blondie. Even if you don't want to admit it."
"That's enough," Stefan said, picking up on the wave of hurt and guilt that swept off Caroline. He'd been well aware of her insecurities and the fact that she felt as if she hadn't done enough for Bonnie. Damon shot a glare at him, his lips pinched as he stared at the two.
"I'm not trying to hurt her! I'm trying to save her from herself!"
"I'm sorry," Jeremy said after a stretch of silence. Bonnie wasn't pleading for him to free her, she wasn't crying, she wasn't doing much of anything but studying him as if he were a butterfly on a pinboard. He didn't know what to make of that and felt like absolute shit.
Usually Bonnie would feel bad herself about putting that wounded-puppy look on Jeremy's face, but today, she didn't. She'd expected this kind of stuff from Damon (at least she had in the past, now not so much) but for Jeremy to side with him, to sit there, staring at her as if he was expecting her to say something to make him feel better made her want to throw up.
Or maybe that was the aftereffects of the drugs.
She brought her knees up with effort, given the chains around her middle, and rested her forehead against them, waiting on the nausea to pass. When it did and she looked up again Jeremy was still staring at her.
"I'm sorry," Jeremy repeated, trying again as if he thought that maybe she hadn't heard him the first time.
"Stop saying that," Bonnie said, her throat sore, her words coming out in a bit of a slur. "You don't mean it."
"I do," Jeremy argued and shifted to his knees in front of her. It was as if he was afraid he wouldn't be seen or that she would continue to look past him. "I—I've missed you. I… it hasn't been the same without you and with Elena—"
Bonnie couldn't meet his eyes. Over the last few days she'd sort of forgotten about Elena. That she did feel guilty about Elena's curse because she'd promised herself she'd fix it. She didn't know how, she didn't know when, but in time she'd find a way or the spell needed to bring her back. There were tears in her eyes now, a combination of how ill she was feeling and the reminder of her best friend's demise.
And she'd slept with the person who'd done it. Maybe she did deserve what was coming. Or whatever Damon had planned for her.
"You should go, Jeremy. Leave Mystic Falls. Go back to art school."
"I was never at art school," Jeremy answered.
Bonnie felt a smile twitch onto her lips in spite of how she was feeling. "I know."
He didn't ask her how. Damon had probably told her and Alaric had probably told him.
"This place pulls you down and you're better than that," Bonnie said.
She'd seen a lot when she was floating between living and dead and she'd heard everything he'd gotten up to while she was away. Jeremy was as broken as she was. Worse, she supposed, because he had no one left anymore. Alaric wouldn't be able to be there for him like he used to before and she didn't think that Jeremy had it in him to be there for him yet, either. Not like the man needed.
Another rush of guilt crept through her when she thought of Jo. Thank God she'd cast the spell to slow down her decomposition.
"What about you?" Jeremy asked.
"What about me?" Bonnie asked, lifting her head, leaning it back against the post she was secured to. He hadn't offered to undo her restraints and she didn't ask him to.
"You should get away from here, too," Jeremy said.
Bonnie gave a bitter laugh and closed her eyes again. "I tried."
"Damon, tell me where she is," Caroline demanded.
The more time he spent spewing his heroic speech, trying to convince himself that what he was doing was right, the more aggravated the blonde was getting. She didn't agree with him. None of them were perfect and none of them had ever made the right choice. Despite what Caroline felt about Bonnie and her sudden need to help Kai, the fact of the matter was that she trusted Bonnie with her life. With all their lives. She'd earned that trust a long time ago with the multitude of times she'd saved them and sacrificed herself.
"Are you listening to me, blondie?" Damon asked. He was looking as though he was talking to a child, and technically, a few years back, she had been. Caroline wasn't that girl anymore. "You don't have the stomach to do what needs to be done."
"And what's that?" Stefan chimed in.
"Save her from herself," Damon said, looking at his brother pointedly. "By any means."
If Damon thought that he was cute by trying to play on Stefan's guilt, then he was making a mistake. Stefan and Bonnie were two completely different scenarios. There was nothing Damon could say to justify what he was doing to her. What he'd done. Bonnie wasn't evil and nor did she have her emotions off. She didn't need to be locked away. Stefan knew they weren't going to get very far trying to appeal to his rational side. Damon had his mind set. Caroline didn't understand that, her desperation to save her friend not allowing her to see it. He took a hold of her hand, squeezing her fingers gently, disappearing seconds later to check every corner of the mansion.
"Did you find her?" Damon asked once his brother returned. He looked to have gone about making himself another sandwich, ignoring the mess on the floor. Not even Caroline was trying to clean it. She'd been checking the house again, revisiting everything, wondering what she might have missed. She'd stopped trying to appeal to Damon's conscience.
"No," Stefan said, moving to Caroline's side again, taking her hand. "But I'm close."
With that, the two disappeared from the kitchen and out the backdoor, heading for the shed, Stefan practically dragging a confused Caroline behind him. It took them only a few seconds to pick up on two heartbeats. Caroline didn't hesitate to dash the rest of the way inside, scowling when she spotted Jeremy hovering close to Bonnie on the ground. She should have known he was still running around with Damon. She didn't even bother to greet him as she strode toward her bestie, practically pushing him aside, ignoring his apologies and insistence they wait. Why would she?
"Are you okay?" Caroline asked, taking Bonnie's face into her hands. Bonnie nodded, trying to shift but failing under the tight loops of chains. Caroline touched them, and yanked her hands away with a hiss of pain. Vervain marred her skin with nasty burns; they paled slowly. "That jerk!"
Stefan started to look around the shed, trying to find a pair of bolt cutters. Over the years they'd had a lot of work done on the house and a lot of things gathered.
"What the fuck are you doing?" Damon asked, appearing from out of nowhere. He had the sandwich with the paper plate and a red solo cup of water. Stefan was elbows deep in the tools, and Caroline was looking at the chains as if she were trying to laser them off with her eyes.
"What you should be doing. Setting Bonnie free," she snapped. She rushed him, slamming him into the wall, sending the bread and water flying. Damon emitted a pissed growl. "Where's the key?!"
Damon's right hand lashed out, grasping her wrist, yanking her arm, preparing to break it with a harsh snap, only to be interrupted by Stefan who'd read his intention and slammed him against the wall again. Damon growled in annoyance, his eyes rolling in Stefan's direction.
"This is not the threesome I was hoping for," Damon retorted.
"Too bad," Stefan muttered. "Just give her the key."
There was a moment Stefan thought Damon might do it but instead he didn't do anything, relaxing beneath their hands, snapping his mouth closed. Stefan drew back, pulling Caroline with him.
"Don't worry," he said, gesturing to the back of the room with his head. He'd found what he was looking for anyway, problem was it was buried beneath a whole bunch of other crap. "Just gimme a few minutes."
"You're not freeing her, brother," Damon said, his voice taking on a steel tone. Stefan still had his back turned to him, trusting that Caroline would keep Damon off him should she need to step in. Damon made to take a step forward, to dash toward his brother when suddenly blood bubbled from his mouth, his hands at his stomach, confused by the pain in his midsection.
"What the—" Jeremy muttered. His eyes darted to Damon's stomach where his hands were wrapped around a poker sticking out of his gut, pinning him to the wall like a bug from the other side, leaving him helpless to do anything. Caroline gasped, jumping to her feet in alarm.
A gust had overcome them, slamming into Jeremy, knocking his head so hard that he passed out instantly. Caroline didn't even have time to register as a screwdriver pierced her heart. Stefan's eyes widened, panic overcoming him as he saw her go down, and amid the confusion he received a nail between the eyes.
"That was a bit of an overkill," Enzo said as he glanced down at the blonde at Lily's feet. Lily didn't say anything, her gaze fixing on her eldest writhing on her hook.
"We need bindings," she said, moving toward Damon, her gaze briefly darting to Bonnie.
Enzo nodded, casting a glance at Damon, and then disappeared. Whatever he had coming to him he deserved.
"You found her," Lily said, eyeing Damon.
"I—I was g-going to c-call you," Damon gritted out lamely.
Lily gripped the poker, wiggling it a bit, making her son cry out in agony. "You're as much a liar as your witch friend. It's a wonder I gave birth to you."
Enzo returned with a bag, tossing it onto the floor, moving around the room, securing Stefan and Caroline with thick ropes Damon knew were soaked in vervain, and cut into their wrists to drain their blood and weaken them. When he was sure they wouldn't be able to break free of their bonds, he removed the screwdriver and nail, giving their vamp bodies chance to return to life. Jeremy they simply tied up, setting him against the boxes like an unruly child on timeout.
"Enzo," Damon implored, coughing up more blood. Enzo speared him an apologetic look, shrugging lightly, moving to tie his friend's feet. "You disloyal piece of—" Enzo yanked on the rope, making Damon jerk on the rod. He coughed up more blood, his body constantly fighting to heal, the pain immeasurable.
"Need I remind you that you left me to burn to death in a fire," Enzo said, flashing Damon a quick smile.
"I thought w-we were past t-that," Damon mumbled, gritting his teeth as he struggled to talk.
"We are. Just thought I'd throw that in there anyway."
Bonnie had been watching the entire scene, straining against her chains, her arms and hands already numb from pressure, fear crippled her as all the people around her went down so quickly. She had tried to cast a few spells. Motus, incendia, anything to get them away from her, but her magic wouldn't rise to the surface. As if it had been dulled. It was in that moment she knew that Damon had muted her magic. The same way Abby had once upon a time, only this time it was through whatever he'd given her.
How long before it wore off? Could be minutes, could be hours. Anything but seconds would get her maimed severely — that much was clear.
"D-don't hurt her," Damon coughed out. "I—it was me, I—made the mistake."
Enzo patted his shoulder, understanding his plight, but also knowing that Lily had a lot on her mind that needed dealing with. There was no stopping her now, unless Enzo, too, had a death wish or yearned to wiggle on a poker through his own gut.
"What mistake would that be, son?" Lily inquired, appearing in front of him in a flash. "Denying your own mother the very reason for sanity? Denying her the reason to go on? To live?" She twisted the poker, once again making him grunt at the sharp twinge, then bent it sideways as though it were nothing but a piece of rubber. She left it looped towards his side, trapping him where he was, her intense stare never leaving his blue eyes that copied hers in an undeniable fashion. "That mistake you're referring to?"
"It was m-my idea," Damon blurred, choking a bit on the blood that had rushed up his throat from the fresh injury.
"What idea, darling?" Lily asked, a deceptively kind smile on her lips. "Was it to allow little Miss Bennett to slip through my fingers and claim her all to yourself? Leaving me broken and miserable? Your own mother?"
"No," Damon said, only managing one word. The pain was making him feel woozy. He almost wished he was a mutated vampire so he could take a good old bite out of Enzo's spineless neck. "Leaving your family behind. I told h-her to destroy the ascendant." A lie. He hadn't cared one way or another. Bonnie, on the other hand, had insisted it be a stipulation of them going to 1903. She wanted to make sure Kai couldn't get out. One of their many failures.
"Oh, I wouldn't be surprised," Lily's smile grew wider as if she was admiring his thinking. "You have always been a very bright, resourceful boy. And every time it was about things a good boy should not be involved with."
Her smile slipped right off as she slapped him with force that bumped his head against the wall and nearly snapped his neck. He let out a strangled groan, and Lily moved towards Bonnie, observing her with a sharp interest of a hungry predator.
"Well, Miss Bennett, here we meet again. Allow me to hope that this time around you'll be so kind as to refrain from trying to burn me instead of providing answers I seek. For I can be cruel just as I can be generous. Which one would you prefer?"
"I don't have anything you need," Bonnie said, her words cutting off slightly due to the bout of anxiety and fear that had stabbed through her gut. She tried to hide it, to pretend otherwise but there was no way to control her body's reaction to the woman. She hardened her gaze, forcing herself to put on a brave face. "They never left nineteen-o-three. Kai assured me they're still there."
A scowl claimed Lily's features as though she was in pain, her hands balling into fists by her sides, her lips pinched.
"She's lying," Enzo supplied. "She has no idea where they are, do you, little dove?" He bent over Bonnie with his eyebrows raised.
"Where is Kai?" Lily demanded, paying no mind to his remark, her eyes boring into Bonnie.
"I don't know," Bonnie replied. She really didn't. Not that she intended to offer up the last place she'd been. She could have. Another time, if they were on opposite sides, she would have in a heartbeat. She meant what she said, despite how complicated sex had made everything. She was trying to help him. She was trying to be better.
"Yes, you do," Enzo put in. "You left him someplace, so just tell us where you saw him last, and everything will be splendid."
Despite the trembling that had overcome her, she'd turned a dark look on Enzo, doing her best to call forth her magic, wanting to fry what was left of his traitorous brain cells. "I don't know anything."
"She won't know," Damon added from the background. He'd passed out for a few seconds and came to. Stefan and Caroline were stirring with soft groans and winces. The more awake they came, the more their eyes widened in realization of what mess they were in.
"Lily," Stefan tried, scared for Bonnie and wishing once again he'd left Enzo to die in that stupid Mystic Magic truck. "Stop what you're doing."
"You both better keep your foul, lying mouths shut, boys," Lily said, her sharp glare snapping between them. "I've had enough of your stalling and lies. Every unwelcome word I hear from either of you shall cost Miss Bennett dearly."
She neared Bonnie and bent over to sweep a finger across the chains. Her lips pinched, observing the burn.
"Clever," she commented, and cast a despising look Damon's way. "And stupid. Lorenzo, please, find the means to get our little Miss out of this."
"There's a lock," he said, eyeing it, then went into the back of the shed where tools were piled up. "I'll see if I can find something here."
"Where is the key?" Lily asked Damon, approaching him again.
"Ughh," Damon groaned, lifting his head to look at his mother. "I threw it away. I decided I wanted to keep Bonbon, all freshly tied up forever."
Despite his mother's warning, he was stalling, hoping that Stefan would do what he usually does and come in swinging with his hero hair. Not even Blondie was rising to the party although he could see that both appeared to be trying to break their bonds. At least subtly.
"Lies again," she grimaced, and delivered another harsh slap that whipped his head against the wall. Then she turned to her youngest. "Where is the key? Tell me, unless you wish harm upon your pretty young lady." Her eyes glided over Caroline briefly before latching onto Stefan.
Stefan was immediately pissed with Damon when Lily turned her interest on Caroline. Bonnie was already a tough issue. "Damon has it," Stefan said without hesitation. "Only he knows where." He knew Lily wouldn't kill Damon. Not like she might anyone else.
"I see," she said in almost a sigh, and stroked her thumb over Stefan's chin like a tender mother would, admiring his face. Next second, her features hardened as her hand plunged into Stefan's chest, and her eyes locked on Damon's. "Where is the key, Damon? Do you wish to stay alone in this whole wide and cruel world? Without your closest family? Just like you have left me?"
Stefan's eyes widened and his mouth fell open. This wasn't the first time someone had put their literal hand on his heart and he doubted it would be the last. Only his mind refused to tell him that. What if his mother had finally snapped? In all the instances this was not what he'd imagined his final ends as. Caroline was beside him, reliving the last time she'd had to see him in this position and pleading softly for Lily to see reason. Damon, too, had softened, his eyes narrowing in that way of his when he'd realized he'd made a mistake.
"It's in my back pocket." And it was only the keys to the cuffs. The padlock he wasn't sure of.
Lily tipped her head sideways like an interested bird, but her hand remained buried in Stefan. "Where have you found Miss Bennett, Damon? Where has she left the boy?"
"I didn't find her," Damon stated, his voice becoming cooler. "She came to me."
"What a plot twist," Enzo commented, returning from the back, a crowbar in his hand and a glove on the other. He propped his weapon of choice in the lock and yanked. The lock broke. He pulled at the chain with his gloves hand, unwrapping it from around Bonnie.
It got easier for her to breathe, but didn't feel like magic returned.
Enzo discarded the chain and the crowbar and fished the key from Damon's back pocket, shifting him painfully on his poker, eliciting a groan from him. "Sorry, mate," Enzo offered nonchalantly, and handed it to Lily. "For the bracelets."
"Thank you, darling," she smiled. "That shall wait." She still held her hand wrapped around Stefan's heart. Her eyes came to rest on Bonnie. "Where is the boy, Miss Bennett? Will you speak the truth or you hold no warm feelings for my youngest?"
"I don't know where he is," Bonnie stated. She wanted to help Stefan but she truly didn't know where Kai was. Caroline's ignored pleading had become something of a white noise. Bonnie's heartache for her as much as she feared for Stefan. She didn't think that the woman would care if she ripped out her youngest son's heart. "I could do a locator spell," Bonnie offered now that the chains were off her chest.
Lily narrowed her eyes and yanked her hand out of Stefan's chest. She shook the droplets of blood off her fingers, and picked up a rag from one of the boxes.
"If only I felt I could trust you, Miss Bennett. Unfortunately, that is not the state of our relationship at this time."
"Where have you left him, Bonnie?" Enzo asked. "Where were you before you came here?"
"New York," Bonnie said, her voice confident despite her relief as Lily released Stefan's heart. Stefan was beginning to heal, albeit slowly. Caroline had calmed down, murmuring reassurance's Stefan's way. Damon had fallen silent. "But you're too late. He was not planning on staying at the hotel. He was moving on. Getting on a plane."
Lily approached her and crouched next to her, placed her hand on Bonnie's knee as if for reassurance. A friendly smile was on her lips, but her eyes were like two chips of ice, cold and hard.
"You keep forgetting one important detail," she said. "Vampires can hear your lies. Your body betrays you, Miss Bennett."
Lily's hand squeezed her knee like a nut in the nutcracker. All vampires in the room heard the crunch before Bonnie threw her head back screaming.
Damon's insides twisted at the sound of Bonnie's screams. Caroline was weeping. Stefan was stoic, his heart wrenched not only from the fact that his mother's hand had been wrapped around it and threatened to rip it from his chest, but because Bonnie's pain was so palpable. He wished desperately to be able to break free of his bonds. "Stop," Stefan said, his voice filled with hatred. "Stop it, Lily. That's enough!"
"Enough lies!" Lily yelled, crushing Bonnie's knee further. "Enough sneaking around and trying to mislead me! I need the truth! Or I will no longer be responsible for what happens here to people you love, my dear boys, if you love anyone at all! Because you certainly feel nothing for the woman who birthed you!"
She took her hand off the young witch who paled significantly with her brow covered in beads of sweat, and straightened up, eyeballing Caroline and Stefan.
Jeremy stirred and blinked groggily at the scene. "What's going on?" he uttered in a bit of a slur.
Bonnie was crying, unable to help herself, struggling to formulate any kind of thought past the blinding pain. Caroline glanced at Jeremy who'd put a target on his back by waking up, fearing for her friend's brother and wishing that Damon had simply stepped out into the sun without his ring. Damon wished the same. He couldn't believe how stupid he'd been.
"You better shut it, baby Gilbert," Enzo suggested. "Unless you want matters to escalate further."
"What..." Jeremy kept peering around, slowly registering the ropes around the blond vampires, the bent poker pinning Damon grotesquely to the wall, and Bonnie, crying and scared. Jeremy jerked against his restraints. "Let her go! What is wrong with you?"
"Lorenzo," Lily said, pinching the bridge of her nose.
"Shut up," Enzo barked at Jeremy, whacking him upside the head.
"Miss Bennett, are you with us?" Lily asked, bending to Bonnie once again. "You modern youth seem to be very attached to those phone devices. Would you call Mister Parker and tell him to come to us? Unless, of course, you wish for me to rip this lovely human boy's throat out with my teeth when I'm done with him."
"I-I n-need m-my p-phone," Bonnie said, hating that she was stuttering and unable to control her fear. There was too much going on and with the risk of Jeremy being hurt (the only one of them that couldn't instant heal and survive someone ripping their heart out). "I don't h-have it."
"Where is your phone, dove?" Enzo asked, then crouched next to her and patted her jacket, then checked her jeans and pulled her cell from the back pocket. He flipped through contacts, then looked at her. "Where is his number?"
"T-there's only t-t-three numbers," Bonnie said, beginning to shiver due to the pain, unable to keep her teeth from chattering or the tears from flowing. Two of the people were already here. "It's... I don't remember which one it is. C-check t-the h-history." Kai didn't have a number but hopefully Enzo wouldn't pick up on that either.
Enzo spent a few confused minutes flipping through her meek history, then gave Lily a shrug, and caught Bonnie's chin in his hand, forcing her to look him in the eye. He sympathized with her predicament, didn't wish her ill, but that situation kept spinning out of control and not without Bonnie's active assistance.
"There's nothing with his name," he said. "You better not be pulling our leg here, little bird. It's either we get Kai, or your friends and you pay too high a price. No one needs more pain, all right? Just give me his number."
"I d-don't know it by h-heart," Bonnie said, sounding pathetic and sad all at once. She almost wished he did have a number, if only to give them what they wanted in spirit. What was the harm in a phone call? She didn't blame him, though. How could she? "I told you he is gone. He p-probably doesn't even have his p-phone... how c-can h-he?"
Lily dashed to Jeremy and tucked into his neck. He cried out, blood seeping from under her lips and soaking into his shirt.
Enzo set his jaw. "You're lying to us, Bonnie. You need to stop."
"I'm not lying!" Bonnie said, cutting through the stutter and her chattering teeth. "Please, stop hurting him! He hasn't done anything! He doesn't know anything! I've given you what you want!"
Lily withdrew, licking her lips, black veins snaking under her eyes. It was hard for her, but she was making an effort.
"Next time I shall not be as merciful," she announced, releasing Jeremy's sluggish frame. "Have you questioned Kai about my family's whereabouts? Where are they?"
"He told me they were still in the prison world. That he left them there. I don't know more than that!" Bonnie said, practically shouting through her tears to be heard and for the brain-dead Salvatore to get a fucking clue. "He left! I don't know where they are! Or where he is! I don't know anything!"
Lily strolled across the barn towards Bonnie, seemingly pondering her statement with a pensive frown. "I am confused, Miss Bennett," she said eventually, standing over Bonnie. "When young Mister Parker released me from imprisonment my two sons locked me in, he made it very clear how you were his sworn enemy. How has it come to him releasing you unharmed? How come you are here, and he is somewhere else?"
Bonnie didn't know how to explain, she didn't think the woman would even appreciate what she was trying to do with him. All she was sure was that she was trying to give him a chance to be someone. Someone human. "Because he let me go," Bonnie said. What more could she say? "Do you think if I wanted to keep him anywhere, he'd stay?"
"What I think is that he would not let you go free," Lily insisted.
"Let's not forget what we're doing here," Enzo put in, and looked at Bonnie. "Where have you left him? The truth. Because New York could not be it."
"Where would I have left him then?" Bonnie asked, turning her tear streaked face on Enzo. She was so done with him. He was the worst person she'd met and she knew Damon (and Kai). She just hated how he could ping pong between being on their side and siding with Lily. "If you have the answers. Tell me. Where?"
Enzo gave her a tight smile as Lily heaved an exasperated sigh and paced. "I'm trying to help you," he said, peering Bonnie in the eye sincerely. "I don't want you to die or be maimed. Just give her what she wants, and we all can part ways. Don't make this worse, Bonnie. Because it can go so much worse yet. I bet you know it."
"I am tired," Lily announced, turning to Bonnie, her face either pleading or jaded. "I'm going to start killing you all one by one if no one tells me where my family is."
"They're dead," Jeremy said with a deadpan.
Enzo and Lily both stared at him, Enzo confused and Lily astonished. Stefan, Caroline and even Damon stared, too, all flabbergasted.
"Care to elaborate?" Enzo asked.
Jeremy gave a humorless sneer. "I thought you wanted me to shut it."
Enzo glared. "You really shouldn—"
Bonnie's scream cut through the air, making everyone jump. Lily was beyond debates and snapped Bonnie's ankle like a dry chicken bone.
Bonnie wavered into unconsciousness, her entire body going limp, her face whitening until she could feel the vomit start to form its way in her throat. Caroline was straining against her bindings again, crying as if she'd been the one in pain. She was cursing Lily, vowing some kind of vengeance that had never been uttered from her lips before. Only Bonnie couldn't hear it. Damon heard it too well. Stefan wanted to unhear it. He struggled against his own bonds, fighting as hard as he could, knowing that his mother had completely lost it and that if Enzo didn't do something she would end up killing someone. Jeremy, possibly. He was the least sturdy of all of them.
"I know where they are!" Damon spat out, giving a bitter laugh.
Lily snapped her head to him, her eyes blazing in fury. "Where?"
"They're dead!" Jeremy yelled, his eyes brimmed with tears. "If Kai left them behind, they're gone! Don't you get it? He was the coven leader and he died at the wedding! That stupid prison world is gone!"
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