Keeping her eyes on the road, Aurora made an exasperated sound and snatched her cellular phone out of Bonnie’s incompetent hands. “Nom de Dieu!* Don’t you Americans use these too?”
Bonnie glared at her dark-haired companion. “Yes, we do,” she replied icily. “However, OUR cellular phones don’t have hundreds of unmarked buttons!”
Aurora rolled her eyes and nonchalantly ran a stop sign. Bonnie sputtered indignantly.
“Are you trying to get a ticket?!”
“Believe me Petite—no policeman has ever given ME a ticket.” She smiled suggestively and Bonnie had to grin in response.
“I thought the male population didn’t interest you?” she teased.
“Normally, they don’t.” Aurora was pleased that Bonnie finally seemed comfortable with her sexuality. “But I’m not abject to flirting when it suits my purposes.”
Bonnie threw her a look of mock admonition. “I’m shocked Mademoiselle Delmonoix.”
The vampire laughed brightly and held up the cell phone. “I’ve dialed the number, all you have to do is press this button that says ‘send’.”
Taking the phone, Bonnie began to ask how Aurora had known the number, then thought better of it. She pushed the button and waited until she was patched through to Meredith and Alaric’s room. She was surprised when Stefan answered the phone. She sobered the moment she heard his voice.
“Stefan, it’s Bonnie.”
“I know,” he said quietly. “I also know you haven’t found Elena.”
Bonnie grimaced. “Then you know everything. Is Matt out looking too?”
“Yes, I believe he said he was going to check the cemetery.”
Eyes widening, Bonnie cleared her throat. “Are you sure you were talking to Matt Honeycutt? He hates it there. . .not that we all don’t.”
Stefan sighed. “He thinks she may have gone to visit her parents’ grave.”
A vague memory surfaced in Bonnie’s mind. She and Meredith crossing over Wickery Bridge to find Elena kneeling in front of her parents’ headstone. It was that day that she’d made Bonnie and Meredith swear a blood oath to help her get Stefan. What that had started. . .
“Bonnie, are you there?”
She jumped and saw Aurora glance over at her apprehensively. “Yeah, I’m here,” she told Stefan briskly. “Matt’s probably right. That’s where she used to go all the time when she was upset.”
There was a brief pause. Stefan’s voice was uncertain. “You think she’s upset?”
Her breath caught in her throat. She hadn’t even thought about the words coming out of her mouth. *Wow, the old Bonnie rears her ugly head again.* But, she’d meant what she said.
“You both are,” she replied.
He let out a deep breath. “You know us too well Bonnie. You and Meredith both.”
“What do you mean?”
“Meredith and I had a talk in the park today. You and I have something to discuss as well. You will be in touch again soon?”
She glanced quickly to Aurora who appeared engrossed in driving. “Yeah, I’ll call back. Aurora and I will keep searching until then.”
“Thank you Bonnie.” He sounded so desperate, Bonnie felt as though she wanted to cry. *God, he loves her.*
Her voice was shaky . “Anytime, Stefan.” She ended the call and stared at the phone for a moment.
“It’s that kind of love that makes you believe there is more than just evil in this world,” Aurora remarked.
Bonnie nodded, still trying to calm herself.
Aurora reached out and took one of the redhead’s hands with her own. “Are you alright, Petite?” she asked gently.
Her smile wavering, Bonnie sniffled. “I guess so. He just brought back some memories. . .and some feelings I’d kind of buried.” She turned to look out the window.
“About Damon?”
Bonnie giggled suddenly. “No,” she laughed while squeezing Aurora’s hand. “About Matt.”
“Oh.” She’d sensed the tension and history between Bonnie and the handsome blonde, but hadn’t pressed the issue as yet. However, as she observed the way Bonnie was gazing speculatively out the window, she felt now was not the time to ask for the story. She decided to change the subject.
“Speaking of Damon, have you tried to contact him?”
Bonnie smiled genuinely at her. “I was just about to.” Aurora glanced over, and the look they shared was one of true friendship. The tall vampire withdrew her hand to allow Bonnie full concentration.
Reaching out with her mind, Bonnie felt for Damon. *Damon?*
No answer. She frowned. *Damon? Are you out there?*
“Petite?”
“Something’s wrong,” Bonnie declared loudly. “He’s not answering me.”
Aurora looked confused. “Could he be ignoring you?”
The redhead shook her head emphatically. “No. It’s not that. Aurora, I can’t even FEEL him anywhere in my mind.” She gritted her teeth as the car quickly swerved off the road and halted.
“You feel nothing?” Aurora turned to her and asked incredulously.
“Nothing.” Her voice was a whisper. Her eyes were wet.
Aurora turned back to look straight ahead. She didn’t want to suggest it, but, “Perhaps he left?” She was startled by the vehemence of Bonnie’s reply.
“No! He wouldn’t do that!”
“Bonnie—“
“Drive.”
“What?”
Bonnie was rigid in her seat. “Drive,” she commanded.
Aurora pulled back onto the road, thoroughly shocked by Bonnie’s behavior. “Where are we going?”
“To find Damon,” was the matter of fact answer.
“What about Elena?”
Bonnie sighed and closed her eyes. Aurora sensed that she was still calling out to Damon. “Matt will find her.” She sounded certain. “We need Damon’s help. We have to find him.”
Aurora digested this statement. She thought again about Elisabeth. What would she say when she arrived and found that people just kept disappearing in this damn town?
*It’s not even a big town.*
“What?” Bonnie asked distractedly as she caught Aurora’s thought. Without waiting for a reply, she ordered, “Turn left here.”
Aurora turned. “Where am I driving to?”
“If I know Damon, he’ll go for nostalgia. He’s probably broken into the boarding house and has been staying there.”
*Boarding house. . .* The dark-haired vampire stiffened. There was something familiar about that. Where had she heard about a boarding house before?
“I'd recommend the boarding house just outside of town. The woman who runs it is really nice and. . .unobtrusive."
*The boy in the gas station!*
She glanced over at Bonnie. “Did you say he probably broke into it?”
Bonnie nodded. “Yeah. Mrs. Flowers died a few months ago. She didn’t have any relatives. The place has been boarded up ever since. But that was where Stefan and Damon stayed before. . .”
She trailed off, but Aurora didn’t notice. She was too caught up in her own thoughts. *Boarded up? Didn’t that boy know that the boarding house wasn’t open?*
“Make the next left.”
Aurora turned the wheel smoothly, but wasn’t paying the least bit of attention to where she was going. She almost missed it when Bonnie exclaimed, “Stop!”
She braked and looked up at what would have been a cheerful little frame house at one time. With the windows boarded up, it was sullen and foreboding. She started getting a bad feeling at once.
“Do you feel that?” Bonnie asked, echoing her thoughts.
They got out of the car. The closer they stepped to the house, the more agitated Bonnie became. “He was here Aurora. Something’s happened to him.”
When she received no answer, Bonnie turned. Aurora was kneeling, holding something red in her hands. “Bien sur,*” she muttered as she straightened up. The look on her face was one of weary resignation.
“What is that?”
Aurora held it out. “It’s the scarf Elena was wearing yesterday.”
* * * * *
1:30 P.M.
*Too many times.*
Matt’s feet traveled over the path of their own accord. There was the ruined church. *God, that crypt.*
As he descended into the valley of the new cemetery, Matt sighed. Why did he have to be the one to think of her parents? Someone else could’ve had the brilliant idea, then he wouldn’t be here again. . .alone.
Stefan had wanted to come with him, but Matt had declined. He wasn’t quite ready to be crusading with Stefan again. When they were all together, it was fine, but Matt wasn’t sure if he could deal one on one with the overwhelming Salvatore burdens. Sometimes, he felt like Stefan was slowly drowning, and he was pulling everyone else down with him.
Especially Elena. Matt had not failed to notice that she and Stefan were not candidates for the world’s happiest couple. He didn’t get it. Why couldn’t they just be happy? Hell, they’d both gotten what they wanted, right?
*Unlike the rest of us.*
He squinted as he approached a large marble headstone. It’s simple front merely said, “Gilbert”.
No Elena.
Matt looked around. He walked on, only half-conscious of where he was headed. Deja vu struck him when he came in sight of Elena’s grave. He knew that hair. . .
“Cecily?”
She looked up quickly when she heard his voice. He stopped suddenly.
“Elena!” He jogged up to her. “We’ve been looking for you everywhere.” He noticed tears rolling down her cheeks. “What’s wrong?”
She ignored the question and posed one of her own. “Who’s Cecily?”
Matt blushed. “Uh, just a girl I know. . .” he trailed off lamely.
Elena wiped at her face and gave him half a grin. “Just a girl? Do you always meet random girls at my grave?”
He smiled back at her. “Nah, just this one.” He cleared his throat. “I ran into her here one day when she was taking pictures.” Elena’s eyes regarded him coolly. “She’s a photographer,” he added uncomfortably.
“She’s the girl, isn’t she?”
“What?”
Elena crossed her arms and tossed her hair back. For a moment Matt flashed back to high school and saw her standing the same way across the cafeteria.
“She’s the girl that broke you and Bonnie up isn’t she?”
Matt’s face fell. Would he never live that down? He cast his eyes down and shoved his hands in his pockets. “Bonnie and I would’ve broken up even if—“
“Even if you hadn’t slept with someone else?”
He glanced at her sharply, but gave a soft and simple answer. “Yeah.”
She studied him for a moment longer and mused, “When I look at you, I feel like I never left Fell’s Church.”
“Sometimes I wish you hadn’t,” he admitted. “We’ve missed you so much.”
Elena sighed and looked around at her surroundings. Her eyes came to rest on her headstone. “I’m dead Matt,” she whispered.
“I know.”
Her lower lip was trembling. “I’ve missed you and the others so much, Matt. But, I can’t ever have a normal life here. It hurts not to be able to walk around the streets of my own hometown. I can’t even see my aunt or my sister.”
His forehead creased with concern, Matt asked, “Why are you here?”
She looked up at him. “I had to come. . .I was having these feelings—“
“No, I mean why are you here in the cemetery? Why didn’t you tell anyone where you were going?”
“Oh.” She turned away from him and gazed out into the woods beyond. “Everyone was asleep when I left. Stefan hasn’t been sleeping well—I didn’t want to wake him.”
“You two aren’t kosher are you?”
He saw her stiffen clearly. “I don’t know what’s going on,” she finally replied. “I just like to walk. I walk in Florence all the time. . .and I just had to walk.”
Matt began to approach her. “But Elena—“
“Don’t worry Matt. I stuck to the side roads and have been here in the cemetery for hours. No one has seen me.”
He placed a tentative hand on her shoulder and felt her shudder. “Elena—stop trying to hold it in.”
A sob choked her throat as she turned and buried her face in his chest. Matt enveloped her in his arms and held her tightly as she cried. In the midst of her grief, warmth and familiarity washed over him. This was a fond memory, something normal guys dealt with. He remembered comforting Elena. . .
“Shhh,” he whispered. “It’s going to be okay.”
She suddenly stopped crying and gazed up at him, her face inches away from his own. Something in her expression wiped away all his feelings of security.
“You’re right,” she stated clearly. “It will be okay. . .but only after it gets much worse.”
* * * * *
2:25 P.M.
*What the FUCK did I drink last night?*
That was Damon’s first thought as he woke and waited for his head to slowly clear. Then he remembered being in the basement. After that. . .blackness.
*Someone hit me!*
He opened his eyes slowly and was greeted by minimal light coming from a candle across the room. It’s flame showed cement walls surrounding him on all sides. He was sitting up against a pole of some sorts, his hands bound behind him. He pulled on his restraints and scowled darkly.
*Wooden handcuffs. Clever.*
He squirmed around a bit and felt a vague pain in his neck. Puncture wounds. Someone had fed from him!
“A vampire.” he whispered. He darted his glance around the tiny room, expecting something to come barrling out of the shadows at any moment. “Peachy.”
*I must’ve been on to something,* he mused. *For someone to go to all this trouble for little ol’me.*
He wondered where his captor was. . .and who he—thinking of Katherine—or she, was. Beyond that. . .what did they plan to do with him?
*As much as I’d love to stick around for the answer to that question, I really have other places to be.*
He stretched out with his mind and tried to feel for Bonnie’s presence. He didn’t know what time it was, but she was expecting him at her apartment. After awhile she would miss him, he knew that. He further knew that her bleeding heart would bring her out looking for him. He decided to help her out a bit.
*Bonnie!*
He thought he felt a glimmer of her mind, but it slipped away too quickly. Had someone drained just enough of his blood away to diminish his telepathic abilities?
Clenching his teeth, he tried again. *Bonnie!*
Fuck. This was getting him no where. He looked around again.
Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!
Damon felt his anger rising swiftly. Throwing back his head, he bellowed, “Where are you, you son of a bitch! Are you afraid of me? Afraid to show yourself to my face? You can only approach me from behind?!”
Silence.
He was seething. Someone would pay for this. . .
* * * * *
2:45 P.M.
*Just let her explain. This could be a coincidence. She may not know anything about Damon. . .*
Bonnie was coaching herself as Aurora pulled up to the Day’s Inn. She noted Matt’s Chevette a few parking spaces down. Had he found Elena? Something told her he had.
“He may have found the girl, but he didn’t find what we did,” Aurora said glibly as she held up the bright red scarf.
Bonnie took it from her and got out of the car. She was silent the whole way through the hotel and during the elevator ride. It was only when they reached their desired floor that she turned to Aurora. “We let her explain first right?”
Aurora nodded. “Petite, you are very worried about Damon?”
Bonnie ignored the inquiry and knocked on room 611. “By the way,” she asked off-handedly. “When is your sire getting here?”
The vampire didn’t have a chance to respond as Alaric swung the door open. “Bonnie!” he exclaimed. Then, “And Aurora.”
Aurora smiled broadly as she strode into the room. Bonnie followed, eyes peeled for Elena.
The blonde in question was seated on one of the two double beds. Matt was next to her and had his arm around her. Bonnie noticed Stefan in a chair by the window.
From the other double bed, Meredith remarked dryly, “Looks like the whole gang is here.”
With an ironic smile, Bonnie muttered, “Indeed.” Aurora threw her a look.
Stefan rose from his chair and approached her. She was surprised when he enfolded her in a warm hug. Stefan rarely touched anyone.
“Thank you for your help,” he whispered in her ear.
“You’re welcome,” she replied as she met Elena’s eyes over his shoulder. They were wide and guarded.
Stefan pulled back and noticed the red wool in Bonnie’s hand. He took it and studied it critically. Then he turned to Elena. “Isn’t this your scarf?”
Elena blanched and Bonnie’s eyes narrowed. “Funny you should mention that. You won't believe where we found it.”
