Part 16
4:45 P.M.
Aurora’s Camaro
*Could you possibly be a little more vague, Damon? I wouldn’t want to find you this century or anything!*
A string of what she only assumed could be Italian swear words filled Bonnie’s mind. She didn’t care. He could get as mad as he wanted to. . .in the end, he needed her. And if she didn’t get a concrete lead on his whereabouts within the next two minutes, his bitter Italian ass could rot.
*Are you listening to me?!*
Bonnie clenched her teeth so hard her jaw began to ache. *Of course I’m listening to you Damon,* she snapped mentally. *How can I hear anything else?*
*Remind me,* he replied in a voice dark with anger, *to snap your pretty little neck when you find me.*
“Would you two stop bickering?” Aurora pleaded.
Bonnie sighed. “Sorry,” she muttered. “He’s just so damn irritating.”
Meredith snorted from the backseat. “Irritating, huh? Is that what you crazy kids are calling it today?”
Turning to glare at her dark-haired friend, Bonnie simultaneously apologized to Damon as well.
*Sorry.*
*Yes, and maybe one day I’ll believe you meant that.*
*Why do you care if I meant it or not?*
*I don’t.*
She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. She tried to take refuge in a part of her brain that wasn’t full of Damon Salvatore, but couldn’t find one. He had completely invaded her.
*Tell me again what you see.*
*It’s not much,* he said for the hundredth time. *I’m surrounded by cement walls. No windows. . .I’m definitely underground. There’s a furnace across the room, and it looks like a bunch of shelves that have paint cans on them.*
She repeated his words for Meredith as he went on.
*And I’m not sure, but in the corner it looks like a huge mountain with teeth. . .a huge green mountain with teeth.*
Bonnie snickered. *Have you been drinking?*
*Yes Bonnie,* Damon replied sweetly. *That’s exactly what I’ve been doing. I decided I didn’t like being handcuffed anymore, so I took them off. I’ve been getting bombed for the last hour.*
*I’m sorry!* She laughed out loud and received strange looks from Aurora and Meredith.
She suppressed her laughter and told them what he’d said. Aurora smiled broadly.
“Perhaps he’s losing his sight in his old age, non?” she mused.
Bonnie smothered a giggle and looked in the rearview mirror expecting to meet Meredith’s amused gaze. Instead, the brunette looked deep in thought, her mouth set in a determined line.
“Meredith, what is it?”
Meredith looked up quickly. “He said a green mountain with teeth? And a furnace, and paint?"
Bonnie nodded, a puzzled expression on her face. “Yeah.”
“Bonnie,” Meredith breathed as she leaned forward. “Do you remember when we helped out with the school play our sophomore year?”
“Yes,” the redhead replied slowly. “We did Little Shop of Horrors.”
Aurora raised her eyebrows quizzically. “You did what?”
Meredith ignored her and went on. “We were on the props crew, remember? We helped make the plant.”
Bonnie’s eyes began to widen. Meredith continued excitedly.
“And when we were done, what did Miss Sloane the director say the plant looked like?”
“A green mountain with teeth. . .” Bonnie covered her mouth in disbelief. “Oh my God. . .”
“Hello? Strange foreign vampire who doesn’t have any idea what you’re talking about here?”
Meredith turned a triumphant smile on Aurora. “He’s in the basement of Robert E. Lee High School.”
* * * * *
Same Time
Alaric’s Jeep
“Where the hell are we going? We’ve been driving aimlessly for over a half hour!”
Out of the corner of his eyes, Alaric glanced the furious blond in the passenger seat. Matt did not look happy, but Alaric was tired of his complaining.
“No, I’ve been driving for over a half hour. Calm down Matt.”
Matt glared at the sandy-haired professor but remained silent—for all of thirty seconds. Then he turned his accusing glare on Stefan in the backseat.
“You know, I don’t get it. If Damon is so all-powerful, why does he need us to rescue him? Can’t he just break the handcuffs?”
Stefan turned his eyes away from the window blandly to reply. “Not if they’re made of wood.”
“Oh.” Matt paused, searching for another complaint. He found one. “Well, why Bonnie? Why did he choose her to play psychic hotline with?”
Stefan sighed. “You said it yourself Matt—psychic. That’s what Bonnie is. Of course Damon would contact her before anyone else. . .she’d be the easiest person to reach.”
“You’re here. Why not you?”
“Do I really have to answer that?”
Matt frowned grimly before turning back to the front in defeat. “I still don’t understand why Bonnie is so involved.”
“Bonnie is the only way,” Elena murmured, speaking for the first time since they’d got back on the road.
Stefan glanced at her curiously, but she wasn’t looking at him. Instead, her eyes were firmly fixed out her window. She didn’t appear to be focusing on anything in general though. He was about to ask if she was alright, when Alaric made a sharp right turn.
“Whoa!” he exclaimed. “Aurora just sped up a lot. It looks like they have a destination in mind.”
They drove for another minute in silence when suddenly Matt drew in his breath. “Oh damn!” he muttered as Aurora made another hairpin turn.
Stefan leaned forward and saw the cause of Matt’s exclamation. “The high school.”
* * * * *
Same Time
Robert E. Lee High School
“I’m not going to kill her—I’m just going to hurt her a little bit. That’ll be enough.”
Damon smiled to himself as he pictured several delightful ways to torture a certain annoying redhead. He couldn’t believe the way she’d been talking to him for the last half-hour. He remembered her behavior when they’d met in the graveyard.
*You weren’t so tough then, were you?*
*Neither were you.*
His head snapped up. Bonnie was near, her psychic voice was louder than ever.
*I scared you, didn’t I?* he taunted her.
She didn’t reply and Damon frowned. He hadn’t been wrong. . .he knew she was here.
Suddenly, a door on the far side of the room popped open and Alaric and Matt stumbled inside. Bonnie, Meredith, Stefan, and a gorgeous vampire that had to be Aurora followed them less clumsily.
*Where’s Elena?*
Damon smiled charmingly as they all approached and gathered around him in a semi-circle. “Why hello,” he offered in mock geniality. “Welcome to my humble abode.”
Bonnie squatted down until she was kneeling by his outstretched feet. *You don’t scare me anymore Damon,* she told him silently as her mouth curved into an elegant smile.
He met her brown eyes squarely. *Oh, but wait until I get the handcuffs off.*
She laughed and turned to the others. Alaric meanwhile circled the cement pole and knelt down behind him. “They’re wooden,” he reported.
“Well,” Meredith began logically. “We need to find something to saw through them.”
The four humans dispersed about the room, leaving Stefan and Aurora standing before Damon. Given the choice, Damon turned his eyes toward the female.
“So,” he stated. “You must be Aurora.”
She grinned beautifully. “Oui, c’est moi. Bonjour Damon, it is a pleasure to finally meet you."
His eyes traveled up and down her frame. “Believe me, mademoiselle, the pleasure is mine.”
Her grin turned into a smirk as she only shook her head wearily in response. As she walked off to join the search he heard mentally, *Don’t waste your time.*
He nodded thoughtfully, catching the drift of her thoughts. Then he slowly turned his gaze upon his brother.
Stefan had neither moved nor spoken since they’d entered the room. The sight of Damon restrained to that pole was a physical shock to him. He thought back to the last time he’d seen Damon tied up—-in the crypt. Katherine’s torture had been acute, and Elena had died saving the day. Stefan remembered also wanting to step out into the sun, and Damon forcing his lapis ring back on his finger. Damon was never weak—-even now as he faced the humiliation of capture and subsequent rescue by people he supposedly held nothing but contempt for, he was flawless in his grace. Stefan found himself responding automatically to his brother’s enigmatic grin.
“Hello Damon.”
“It’s been a long time, little brother.”
Stefan knelt down so Damon didn’t have to look up at him. He was still trying to think of something to say, when Damon spoke again. His expression was unreadable.
“I see everyone but Elena. I know she’s here.”
“She’s in the car,” Stefan replied slowly as he gazed around the room. “There’s no way she can ever set foot in this school again. She’d probably cause a riot.”
Damon frowned. “School?”
Stefan looked at him quickly. “Yeah—oh, Bonnie didn’t tell you?”
“No, she neglected to tell me where I am,” he ground out between his teeth. He shot a glare across the room to where Bonnie was balancing precariously on a stepladder, rooting through a toolbox. “I’m either going to kill her or---“ he broke off.
“Or what?” Stefan asked with a devilish grin.
“Nevermind. Now what is this about a school? Where the fuck am I?”
“The basement of the high school. It was the ‘green mountain’ thing that tipped Bonnie and Meredith off. Apparently, it was a prop they remembered from a school play or something.”
Damon rolled his eyes. “Spare me the details.”
Stefan sobered. “Why are you here Damon?”
“Why are you?”
“Honestly?” Stefan ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t know. It was Elena’s idea to come. We got here and by happy coincidence found that all hell had broken loose.”
“Yes,” Damon’s voice was amused. “I do so love it here.”
“Hence my question,” Stefan continued. “Why are you here?”
He jerked his head in Bonnie’s direction. “I am here little brother,” he began, “because that short, annoying human over there wouldn’t leave my mind in peace.”
“I heard that! And who are you calling short?”
Damon growled and Stefan smiled to himself. If this new evil in Fell’s Church didn’t show itself soon, Damon and Bonnie were going to take their respective aggressions out on each other. He wasn’t sure he wanted to be around for that.
“I found something that might work!” Meredith exclaimed. She rushed over with a small hacksaw. She handed it to Stefan who examined it carefully.
“Might as well give it a try,” he concluded. He moved behind the pole and went to work on the cuffs.
Damon grimaced as the wood grated against his skin. He was most assuredly going to find whoever did this to him and make them regret ever thinking of coming to Fell’s Church.
“So,” Alaric began tentatively, while avoiding eye contact with the restrained vampire. “Do you know who did this to you?”
Damon stared at the professor, while thinking of Elena in the basement of the boarding house. “No, I don’t,” he replied steadily. “But I plan to find out.”
“Good luck,” Meredith remarked. “We haven’t gotten very far.”
“Yes, well, you’re not me.” Damon grunted as Stefan snapped through the cuffs. He brought his arms around, silent when his muscles protested at being moved to another position. He rubbed his wrists and stood up slowly. “And I will find what I’m looking for.” He straightened his shoulders and strode toward the door, not bothering to see if anyone was behind him.
“You’re welcome!” Bonnie called bitterly after his retreating figure.
“Well,” Matt spoke up brightly. “It’s good to have him back.”
Part 17
