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Part 17

5:00 P.M.
Fell’s Church

*It gets dark so early now,* Bonnie mused as she and the others emerged from the high school building. She looked up at the sky, seeing the beautiful colors of the sunset. Momentarily forgetting the present situation, she smiled and lost herself in the brilliant hues of blue, purple, and pink.

*C’est magnifique,* came Aurora’s soft voice in her mind. Bonnie turned her smile on the beautiful vampire.

*If you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.* Damon’s psychic voice echoed in both their heads and they looked at each other in surprise. He’d never communicated with Aurora before.

*Well, of course not,* he continued wryly. *It would’ve been rude to do so before we’d met.*

Aurora snorted. *I appreciate the etiquette,* she replied blandly.

Bonnie was jolted out of her amusement when she heard Meredith’s voice beside her. “Did we miss the joke?”

“Huh?” Meredith indicated Aurora smirking with mirth, evidently still trading mental barbs with Damon. “It must be interesting to be able to communicate that way.”

Bonnie blushed at Meredith’s words. She didn’t know how it was possible, but the brunette managed to make her question all of her abilities with one simple comment. Then again, Meredith had always had that effect on her.

“It is interesting,” she finally answered. “Aurora has been wonderful, teaching me how to escalate my powers.”

Meredith looked thoughtful. She looked around and lowered her voice when she saw they were fastly approaching the cars. “Bonnie,” she said tentatively. “I won’t ask this again, but I have to know---are you sure we can trust Aurora?”

“Yes.” Her reply came without hesitation. She chanced a sidelong glance at Aurora and saw she was walking with her eyes closed and her head tilted back, enjoying the newness of the night. “I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life,” she added quietly.

Meredith nodded and let the matter drop. She looked up and frowned slightly.

Following her line of vision, Bonnie saw Damon leaning regally against Aurora’s Camaro. He was no longer communicating with Aurora, however. His attention had deviated to another source.

*The jeep,* Bonnie noted sourly. She could just barely make out Elena hunched over in the back seat, her head against the window. Bonnie couldn’t tell, but Elena was either asleep or completely ignoring the presence of the vampire staring at her. Considering whom the vampire was, Bonnie suspected it was the former. Damon couldn’t be ignored.

She jumped when she felt a hand on her arm. “Shit!”

Stefan held his hands up in surrender. “Whoa! Calm down!”

Bonnie choked back a giggle at the wide-eyed look on his face. “I’m sorry Stefan, you just startled me.”

He smiled back. “You’d think with all your new powers, you’d have felt me coming,” he teased.

“Just wait,” she promised.

His eyes twinkled for a moment just before he sobered again. “Are you guys taking Damon back to the boarding house?”

She regarded the suggestive way Damon was leaning on Aurora’s passenger door. “It appears that way,” she replied.

He nodded. “Elena’s asleep,” he remarked, confirming her earlier suspicions. “I’m going to go with Alaric to take her back to the hotel. Can you guys take Matt---“

“I’m going with Alaric too,” Matt interrupted suddenly.

Bonnie hadn’t even seen him approaching. She glanced at him oddly, but didn’t comment. Instead she turned to find everyone else, not wanting to be surprised again.

Alaric and Meredith were a few yards away, deep in a quiet conversation. Aurora, meanwhile had strolled boldly up to Damon and appeared to be forcing him to talk to her. Bonnie grinned as she took in Stefan’s next words.

“But I thought that you’d want to—“

“I need to get back to my car, and it’s at the hotel,” Matt cut in again. He saw the look of confusion on Stefan and Bonnie’s faces and sighed. “My mom paged me, and she said she’d like me to come home for dinner. She’s been kinda down lately. . .”

Stefan relaxed visibly. “Oh, that’s fine,” he assured the blond boy.

Bonnie was frozen, staring at the two of them. Matt was lying, didn’t Stefan realize that? His posture, tone of voice, even his mind was screaming out that he wasn’t telling the truth.

*Why doesn’t Stefan see it?*

Then she paused and considered a better question. *Why am I seeing it instead?*

Matt headed off toward Meredith and Alaric and Stefan turned back to Bonnie before she could come up with an answer. “I’m going to drop Elena off, then meet you back at the boarding house. Alaric will probably come with me.”

Bonnie nodded distractedly, still staring after Matt, trying to digest his words. *Why did he lie?* She narrowed her eyes. *Where is he really going?*

“Bonnie?”

Stefan was still talking, and he was giving her a weird look. She pasted a smile on her face and turned her full attention to him. “Yes?”

“What is wrong with you?”

The question caught her off guard. Not wanting to bring up Matt she blamed Damon instead. “Your wonderful brother of course. He’s been charming mental company.”

Stefan put his arm around her and grinned. Bonnie was so shocked that she almost missed his glib reply. “I think it’s going to be different this time. Damon has changed.”

She snorted. “Could’ve fooled me.” Even as she said the words, Bonnie knew she was wrong and Stefan was right. She could feel the change in Damon, and she knew that he was different.

*If you and my little brother are through being chummy, the rest of us would like to leave.*

Bonnie broke away from Stefan and headed toward Aurora’s car. Meredith and Aurora were already seated inside, waiting. *And just when I was giving you some credit,* she mentally threw at Damon.

He smiled lazily at her. *Don’t do me any favors.*

Bonnie paused before sending another retort and looked at him closely. He was certainly baiting her, but the insults had lost their sting. She could see the amusement lying just underneath the surface.

*You’re not intimidating. You know that right?*

Damon opened the passenger door and turned to look her directly in the eyes. *Soon, you and I are going to have a much needed conversation.*

Bonnie held his gaze for a moment. He was utterly serious, but she couldn’t pick up any feelings beside that. Instead, she waited for Damon to enter the car. He didn’t.

*By the way, I’m sitting up front.*

Who the hell did he think he was? *Um, I don’t think so! I--*

*Petite,* Aurora chimed in. *We must get going. Just get in.*

Bonnie fumed and threw herself in the backseat beside Meredith. The brunette turned to her and smiled faintly.

“Been banished, have you?”

Bonnie did something she hadn’t done in years. Something only Meredith drove her to do. She stuck out her tongue.

* * * * *

5:30 P.M.

She was beginning to have a hard time distinguishing between her dreams and reality. Elena felt more awake when she was asleep, and she knew that couldn’t be right. But she couldn’t deny the feelings of clarity and wholeness she had when HE came to her. It was meant to be, she was certain.

“Back so soon, Elena?”

She turned when she heard his voice behind her. “You always sneak up on me,” she admonished, while taking in his dark beauty. His black blazer was crisp and perfect, setting off his black hair, and dark eyes. The white cashmere sweater was soft and inviting. She looked down at herself and saw a beautiful shimmering dress, the color of iced violets. There was something oddly familiar about this. . .but she couldn’t put her finger on it.

Instead, she looked around. “Why are we always here in the graveyard,” she asked.

He looked around blandly. “We can change the setting.” He waved his hand and Elena gasped as furniture and walls surrounded them. She blinked then realized that they were standing in the bedroom Stefan had used in the boarding house the first time he’d come to Fell’s Church.

“What—“

“Oh, don’t tell me you don’t remember where we had our first kiss, do you Elena?”

The clothes and the room hit her. *The Homecoming Dance. . .Tyler attacking her.* She looked up into his deep green eyes. “Stefan, you saved me.”

He smiled. “Yes, and we kissed in this room. Our love was so strong and pure then, Elena. Do you want it to be that way again?”

She clasped his hands. “Oh God, yes.”

Relief swept over her as he enveloped her in his strong embrace. “Then it will be, we will make it strong again. And no one will stand in our way.”

She frowned, confused by his words. Looking up, she began, “What do you—“

The gaze that held hers was no longer green. . .it’s darkness permeated every inch of her being, filling her with fear and longing all at once.

“I mean,” he replied to her unasked question. “That I will have what I want Elena. And what I want is you.” His lips descended upon hers and cut off her response.

She was lost, swimming in emotions she didn’t know she had. She was still trying to sort out her feelings when she jolted awake.

Looking around, Elena found she was surrounded by darkness, but recognizing it as the darkness of their hotel room.

“Stefan?”

Another glance around told her she was alone. Where was everyone? She felt a sob catch in her throat as she lay back down. *Why is he never here when I need him?*

* * * * *

6:30 P.M.
Outside Bonnie’s Apartment

“Tell me again why it’s necessary for you to stay at my apartment?”

Damon closed his eyes and counted silently to ten. God, she was infuriating.

“Consider this,” he replied patiently. “Would you want to stay somewhere where you had been attacked?”

Bonnie smirked as they all got out of Aurora’s car. “I didn’t think you were the type to turn tail and run, Damon.”

He paused in the act of closing the car door and turned to face her. His eyes were glittering dangerously. *I warned you not to push me Bonnie.*

Feeling bold as Alaric’s headlights illuminated them, Bonnie replied, *Or what, Damon?*

He started toward her, but was stopped by Aurora’s restraining hand. “Alright children, that’s enough. The other’s are here, let’s go inside.”

Bonnie and Damon calmed while waiting for Stefan, Alaric, and Meredith to join them on the sidewalk. Bonnie could feel Damon’s anger radiating from him and was secretly pleased that she could get under his skin.

Aurora noted Bonnie’s amusement as they all headed inside. Meeting at the boarding had turned out to be fruitless. Meredith had claimed she was starving and Alaric wanted light to go through the boxes he’d found in the basement. Bonnie’s apartment seemed a natural solution, and the redhead had been fine until Damon announced on the way there that he was going to be crashing on her couch. Then everything went down hill.

Aurora sighed as she listened to Bonnie and Damon trading mental insults. The ride in the elevator seemed to take forever between their mental prattle and Alaric’s babbling about his “exciting find”.

When they reached Bonnie’s floor, Aurora was relieved.

*This place is a firetrap,* Damon taunted.

*It’s paid for!* Bonnie snapped back.

Aurora growled. *Would you two just fuck and get it over with?*

She had the satisfaction of hearing Bonnie yelp and of seeing Damon blink in surprise. The other three paused and stared at them in confusion.

“You guys have really got to stop doing that,” Meredith commented.

“Sorry,” Bonnie remarked shakily while glaring at Aurora. She unlocked her door and avoided all eye contact with Damon. She turned the lights on and opened the door wider for all of them.

They stepped inside and Aurora was immediately aware of another presence.

“Well, love. You certainly kept me waiting long enough.”

The others stopped behind her.

Aurora felt a huge smile break out on her face.

“Elisabeth.”

* * * * *

Part 18