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Part 18

6:30 P.M.
Bonnie’s Apartment

“Elisabeth.”

“You were expecting the Queen Mother?”

Aurora felt her smile grow wider as her sire slowly uncrossed her legs and stood fluently. She’d been lounging on Bonnie’s sofa, a glass of red wine in her hand.

“Damn,” Alaric muttered quietly. Even Meredith looked surprised.

Bonnie mentally echoed Alaric’s expletive. When she’d met Aurora, she’d been struck by her exotic beauty, but it seemed to pale in the face of the stunning vampire they were all confronted with now.

Her translucent skin seemed to glow, set off by silky smooth hair the color of liquid fire. It brushed the tops of her bare shoulders. A shiny silver halter top and matching wrap skirt molded to her slender form. At the moment she appeared to be tall, but Bonnie suspected that was because of the strappy silver heels she was wearing. Without them, she was probably no more than 5’6” or 5’7”.

During Bonnie’s inspection, Aurora had moved across the room and was now enthusiastically embracing the redheaded vampire. In her excitement, she lapsed into rapid French.

“Ca va a chez toi, ma chere?”*

“Oui,” was the French reply with a decidedly British accent. Aurora’s eyes sparkled happily and she turned to the silent group still in the doorway. “Je regrette mes amis,”* she apologized.

“I was wondering if you’d forgotten us,” Stefan mused quietly.

Aurora gestured for them all to come inside. “I would like to introduce all of you to Elisabeth Carrey.”

“You’re a vampire too,” Meredith remarked off-handedly.

“I should think so.”

“Elisabeth is my sire,” Aurora explained simply.

Elisabeth smiled indulgently and lightly stroked Aurora’s face. “And I could not ask for a better childe,”

*Interesting.*

Bonnie started. Damon’s thought was directed only at her. She’d almost forgotten he was there, she’d been intent on avoiding him after Aurora’s comment in the hall. Now she turned to see him right behind her, lounging against the wall. He met her gaze. *You knew about this?*

*Aurora called her. We need more help Damon. Aurora said she is powerful.*

Damon smiled without humor. His gaze shifted to Elisabeth, and he regarded her curiously. *Oh, she is. Can’t you feel it?*

Bonnie could feel it. Elisabeth’s power was almost palpable, thrumming just under the surface of her skin and filling the room with soft vibrations. She could tell that even Stefan, in his weakened state, had caught on to it.

Elisabeth seemed highly amused at their obvious scrutiny. “I know all of you are wondering why I’m here,” she said blithely. She looked at Bonnie with beautiful silvery blue eyes. “I’m here to help.”

“Wow,” Meredith commented ironically. “Wow, we should send up flares--come one, come all!”

“Don’t be a downer, Meredith love,” Elisabeth replied cheerily. She smiled at each of them in turn, revealing a row of perfectly white teeth. She handed her wineglass to Aurora and moved to shake all their hands. “Bitterness is so unattractive.”

Bonnie stifled a giggle when she saw Meredith’s eyes narrow in contempt. She coughed as Elisabeth enveloped her hand with her own.

“You, my dear, have got to be Bonnie.”

She was only able to nod as she gazed into Elisabeth’s shiny eyes. The waves of power that were flowing into her from the vampire were overwhelming. Warmth tingled in her from head to toe.

“I can feel your power as well,” Elisabeth stated seriously. “Aurora’s been teaching you, hasn’t she?”

“Y-yes,” Bonnie managed to stammer. She had no idea why she was reacting this way, but Elisabeth had somehow brought every single one of her nerve endings to attention. The room was veritably charged with the vampire’s energy. Looking around, she saw similar looks of surprise and awareness on the other’s faces as well. Well, except for Damon. However, he too, seemed intent upon Elisabeth, and followed every move she made closely with his gaze. Bonnie for once found herself wishing she knew what he was thinking. Unfortunately, he was veiling his thoughts from her.

“What have you done to the room?” Stefan asked bluntly.

Elisabeth turned and regarded him with interest. A look of fondness appeared in her eyes, but it quickly vanished and was replaced by amusement. “Nothing,” she answered. “I walked into it, poured myself some wine, and sat. You know the rest.”

Stefan wasn’t satisfied. “But—your power—“

“Is immense, non?” Aurora laughed. “Elisabeth is. . .well, old.”

With a look of disdain toward her childe, Elisabeth sniffed, “I beg your pardon!”

“How old?” Alaric sounded excited.

“None of your business!”

Aurora rolled her eyes. “She’s over a thousand years old. She was made by an Original.”

“Perhaps you’d like to submit my resume as well darling,” Elisabeth muttered.

Aurora turned to her sire in exasperation. “Qu’est-ce que c’est la probleme, chere?”*

Elisabeth sighed. “Aurora, I didn’t fly across the ocean to talk about myself. I have a million other things that I could be doing, but I am here. I’ve come to help stop—“ She paused.

“You don’t know what it is either, do you?” Meredith sounded pleased that the vampire was forced to admit a weakness.

“Well, I’m not a god, now am I?” Elisabeth returned. She was unfazed by Meredith’s apparent dislike. “If I knew what it was, it would be stopped by now. However, we mustn’t let uncertainty daunt us. By the way, where are Matt and Elena?”

“How do you know—“ Alaric trailed off, it being obvious he’d rather not receive an answer.

“Why are you so concerned?”

Damon’s voice took everyone by surprise. Elisabeth favored him with a broad smile, her eyes twinkling merrily.

“Hello to you too Damon,” she said.

He was not impressed. Leaving his position against the wall, he moved forward and paused next to Bonnie. “And with all of this “immense power” you’re wielding, how is it that you don’t know what is going on here?”

Elisabeth’s eyes narrowed briefly and Bonnie felt a lump in her throat.

*What are you doing?* she questioned Damon frantically.

*Making things interesting,* was his smooth reply.

Bonnie heaved a sigh and waited for Elisabeth’s angry retaliation. None came.

“I do not have to prove my power to you Damon,” she began quietly, moving toward him with slow and deliberate steps. “You feel it, as does everyone else in this room. Yet, as powerful as I am, as powerful as any vampire in this world is, we are not without our limits. I am neither omniscient nor omnipresent. I do not know everything.” She paused to make sure she had everyone’s attention, then added gleefully, “Just. . .almost everything.”

Meredith groaned. “I’ve had enough ‘My dog’s bigger than your dog’ for tonight. I’m going to make myself a sandwich.” She started toward the kitchen. “Anyone else want one?”

“Yeah,” Bonnie answered.

Alaric followed Meredith. “I’ll help, I’m starving.”

When they were gone, Elisabeth turned to Aurora. “Alright, perhaps my question can be answered now. Where are Matt and Elena?”

Aurora cast a swift look at Stefan. “Well, Elena is back at the hotel, sleeping, non?” Stefan nodded and she continued. “And Matt. . .had to go home I believe.”

Bonnie snorted, remembering Matt’s feeble lies earlier that evening. Stefan threw her a strange look, but she ignored it, not wanting to broach a subject she wasn’t sure about. She also knew that the others probably would not believe her.

*You are hiding something Petite.*

She should have known Aurora would pick up on her feelings. *I’ll tell you later,* she promised.

“Well then,” Elisabeth announced briskly. “We’ll just have to begin without them.” She returned to her seat in the middle of the sofa and looked at the rest of them expectantly. Finally Aurora got the hint and joined her. Bonnie sat on her other side, and watched as Stefan perched uneasily on the matching loveseat. Damon remained standing, although he did move closer to the group.

“Since you know all of our names,” Stefan began, “I’m assuming you also know about the situation.”

“Correct.”

“So, do you have any pearls of wisdom for us?”

Damon’s sarcasm was lost on Elisabeth. “I might,” she replied seriously. “This girl that was murdered—Caroline. What was her significance?”

“She was my—our friend,” said Bonnie. “Just like all the other’s that have died.”

“Others?”

Stefan jumped in. “She’s talking about what happened a few years ago.”

“Oh,” Elisabeth’s face smoothed out. “You mean Katherine and, oh what’s his name?”

“Klaus,” Meredith offered incredulously as she and Alaric returned to the room. She handed a sandwich to Bonnie and joined Stefan on the loveseat. Alaric took a seat on the floor, next to the coffee table. Bonnie looked down by his feet and saw the coffee stain from when she had fainted after hearing of Caroline’s death. God, had that only been a few days ago? It felt like an eternity. . .

She was nibbling half-heartedly on her sandwich, wishing she’d told Meredith to use mustard instead of mayonnaise when Elisabeth turned to her.

“And your dreams started all of this?”

Bonnie paused, wide-eyed, with a mouth full of bread. They were all looking at her expectantly.

Oh, hell.

* * * * *

Same Time
Benetio’s Bakery, Across town

Matt stirred his coffee listlessly and checked his watch for the tenth time. He hated waiting. . .even for gorgeous blondes. He paused, considering Cecily’s slender frame.

*Okay, I don’t mind that much.*

He sighed and wondered what the others were doing at that moment. Bonnie and Damon were probably bickering, with Aurora trying to keep the peace. Thinking of the way Bonnie and the elder Salvatore interacted brought a wave of jealousy over him. It was obvious that they were attracted to one another. . .he’d seen it the last time Damon had been in Fell’s Church as well. It was different now though. Bonnie had grown up, and Matt guessed Damon wasn’t able to ignore his attraction as he had before. Hence the constant fighting.

No matter how much he analyzed the situation, he still didn’t like it. He knew Bonnie wasn’t his anymore, but he couldn’t help still feeling protective of her. . .and if he had to admit, perhaps just a tiny bit still in love with her. And yet, he had lied to her and Stefan and was here waiting for the woman he had cheated on her with.

*How’s that for fucked up?*

Why had he lied? He wasn’t sure, except that he knew he wasn’t ready to tell Bonnie that he was seeing Cecily. For that matter, he wasn’t ready to tell Cecily that he was still in contact with Bonnie. He knew they didn’t like each other—that had been apparent when he’d introduced them even before he’d slept with the blond.

“A penny for your thoughts?”

He looked up to see Cecily smiling down at him, looking pale and beautiful and smelling like peaches. He hadn’t even heard her come in.

“Hey, there.” He smiled back at her as she leaned down to give him a lingering kiss. She tasted as good as she smelled.

“So, you looked deep in thought when I came in,” she said as she sat down opposite him and removed her coat. The light blue sweater she was wearing matched her eyes perfectly. “What was going on in that head of yours?”

Matt shrugged. “Nothing major,” he replied. “I was just thinking about some classes and stuff.”

*Liar!* he berated himself. Then, *Oh well, I’ve already started. . .*

She frowned, apparently catching up on his thoughts. “Are you sure? When I didn’t hear from you, I thought. . .” she trailed off and he watched her face color with embarrassment. “I mean—“

He grabbed her hands. “I want to see you Cecily.”

Her eyes lit up. “Really?”

“Yeah. I’ve just had some. . .stuff going on recently that’s kind of taken my attention away from, well, everything else.”

Cecily looked confused. “Do you want to talk to me about it?”

Matt paused, considering the absurdity of her words. Tell her about it? Ha. *Oh, yeah, well one of my friends was just murdered, and some vampires that I used to know are back in town. . .*

“Matt?”

He snapped out of his reverie. “What? Oh, I’m sorry.”

She looked at him expectantly and Matt sighed. “I can’t really talk about it, it’s something that doesn’t just involve me. I—“ he trailed off, not knowing how to continue.

Cecily patted his hand. “Matt, it’s okay, you don’t have to talk about it.”

He smiled, relieved. He leaned forward and gave her a quick kiss.

“What was that for?”

“You’re the greatest,” he replied.

She smiled happily. “Well, of course I am. I understand these things. Except. . .”

Matt looked at her questioningly when she paused. “Except what?”

“Well, I was just wondering,” she continued, unconsciously tightening her grip on his hands. “And I may be totally out of line here. . .”

He relaxed a margin, thinking it couldn’t be that bad.

“When were you planning on telling me that Elena’s not dead?”

* * * * *

* Ca va a chez toi, ma chere: Is everything okay at your place, my dear?
* Je regrette mes amis: I’m sorry my friends
* Qu’est-ce que c’est la probleme, chere?: What is the problem, dear?

Part 19