Fell's Church, 3:24 P.M.
"I don't want any soup."
"But you need to eat--"
"No."
Meredith narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips as her brain racked with frustration. "Bonnie Elizabeth McCullough, if you don't eat this soup---"
Bonnie crossed her arms resolutely and held her chin up with all the defiance she could muster considering she was in her Mickey Mouse nightgown. She'd wanted to get out of the hospital, but being transfered from that bed to the bed in her apartment was not what she had in mind. "Pulling out my full name will not help you win this battle Meredith. I hate soup. And I don't need to be treated like an invalid. I'm not sick."
Shaking her dark head, Meredith persisted. "Bonnie, the doctor said you need to take it easy for a few days. You didn't just faint, you moron! You collapsed and were out for several hours! You're lucky you didn't hit your head when you fell."
*Time to change tactics* Bonnie pushed her lips into a pout. She was getting out of this bed, even if there were casualties in the process. "Meredith, I need fresh air, not soup. I can't stay cooped up here with nothing to do--I just keep thinking about Caroline--" Bonnie's fake pout turned into a real sob at the thought of her dead friend.
Meredith hastily put down the tray she was carrying and rushed to Bonnie's side. As the small redhead burrowed into the comfort of the sudden embrace, Meredith tried to keep her voice steady. "It's okay Bonnie. The police will find whoever did this. It's okay. . ."
Bonnie sniffled and rolled Meredith's words around in her head. "It's okay. . ." She recalled the voice she'd thought she heard in the hospital. It had spoken French to her, and although Bonnie didn't understand the language, the words had been soothing.
"Meredith?" Bonnie questioned quietly.
"Yeah?" Meredith pulled away from Bonnie slightly.
Bonnie shifted on the bed so she was facing her friend. "You know French, don't you?"
Puzzlement took over Meredith's flawless features. "A little, why?"
"What does 'C'est d'accord ma petite' mean?"
The dark-haired girl frowned. "Where did you hear that?"
Bonnie ignored the question. "Do you know what it means?"
Meredith signed, resigned. "Well, 'c'est' means 'it is'. 'Ma petite' is like a pet name. It's like 'my dear' or 'my small one'. 'D'accord' I'm not sure about. I think it means 'okay or alright'. That would make sense with the rest of the phrase."
"C'est d'accord ma petite. It's okay my dear." Bonnie murmured.
"Whatever made you ask about that?" Meredith asked in a worried tone.
Bonnie smiled reassuringly and clasped Meredith's hands with her own. "Something I heard on TV," she replied. "It just sounded nice and I wanted to know what it meant." She faked a yawn.
Meredith took the bait. "You're exhausted. I'm leaving so you can get some sleep. The number to the hotel where Alaric and I are staying is by the phone. Just ask for room 611."
"Is it a king-size bed?" Bonnie teased as Meredith headed for the door.
"Don't start with me. . ." Meredith warned in a voice that wasn't really angry. Bonnie even thought she heard a low chuckle as the door shut behind her overprotective friend.
And as soon as she was sure the front door of her apartment had clicked shut, Bonnie was out of bed and getting dressed. There was no way she was sleeping. Her dream was still too fresh in her mind. "Besides," she said aloud, "Meredith knows as well as I do that the police aren't going to get anywhere with this case."
Bonnie knew she wasn't just rationalizing. She was right. The police would not find Caroline's killer. It was a simple matter. *Whatever killed her. . .wasn't human.*
Frowning as she unconciously pulled on her favorite jeans, Bonnie flashed back to the night Vickie Bennet died.
". . .found in her bedroom, reportedly covered in blood. . ."
There had been so much blood in Vickie's room. The coppery meaty smell had been overwhelming. The scene firmly replanted itself in Bonnie's brain, now intermingling with images of Caroline. She gripped the edge of her dresser, and dropped the shirt she was holding as she faught a wave of nausia. She managed one shaky breath before the sobs choked her.
*God. . .why. . .*
Bonnie felt her tears splash from her face onto her chest through the thin lace of her bra, but didn't care. She sank to the floor and gave way to the turmoil clenching in her stomach.
"Please--" she whispered to the empty room. "I can't take anymore."
The air in the room suddenly seemed to thicken and Bonnie's head shot up. It almost felt as if she wasn't alone anymore.
"Who's there?" The words were barely audible, and she was answered with silence. Still, she felt as though something was trying to reach her. . .dark eyes filled her thoughts.
*Why do I keep thinking about Damon?* she wondered.
A low chuckle seemed to vibrate throughout the room but didn't. Something still wasn't right. . .Bonnie desparately wanted to clear her head. She couldn't get Damon's eyes and his mocking voice out of her head.
"Are you frightened of me Bonnie? You don't need to be."
Her eyes widened as the pieces fell into place. "Damon's been the one in my dreams!"
*But. . .why?* Why would Damon come into her dreams and talk about her powers, yet not reveal who he was or what he wanted?
"Damn you Damon Salvatore," she muttered quietly. She thought she had figured it out, when really she still didn't know anything.
Discouraged, Bonnie drew her knees up to her chest and put her head down on them. She drew deep breaths, trying to calm her clenching stomach. She remembered the way Damon had looked before striding out of that clearing two years before. Defeat and despair had been clearly etched on his face, and when his eyes met Bonnie's for that brief moment in time, she'd seen the finality in their black depths. She heard the goodbye in his voice, even though he didn't say the word. So, why would he be back now? And if he was--did he have something to do with the murder of Caroline or Chris Bentley?
Her eyes welling up again, Bonnie felt her strength leaving her. "Damon, where are you?" she asked quietly.
There was ro reply, and she grew angry. Her jaw clenched as she stood up and wiped the lingering wetness off her cheeks. She gazed at herself in her mirror. "If he won't tell me, I'll find out for myself."
Her decision made, Bonnie finished dressing and headed for the door.
* * * * *
7:18 PM
Matt was quite sure he hated Fell's Church. Usually a pretty easy-going guy, there wasn't much in the world that he disliked. His hometown proved to be an exception. He hated it because he couldn't escape it. His parents worked day and night to pay the bills and help him out with school, but they barely managed to scrape by. Matt himself could rarely keep more than a couple hundred dollars in the bank.
Sometimes, he got in his piece of junk car (newer, because Elena had driven the old one off of Wickery Bridge, but junky nonetheless), to the edge of town and daydream about where he would go if he could travel anywhere in the world.
Such was his present case. Cruising along the roads at the edge of Fell's Church usually managed to clear his head, but not this time.
Matt felt his jaw muscles tighten. All he could think about was the way Bonnie had looked when he'd found her in her apartment the previous day. He'd literally never been more scared in his whole life than he had been when he discovered exactly why Bonnie hadn't answered his knock. He'd been an inch away from breaking down the door when he remembered that he still had the key Bonnie'd given him when they were dating. Walking in and seeing her. . .her skin an ashy gray and her eyes rolled back into her head, Matt felt as though someone had whacked him in the stomach with a sledgehammer.
"And if you add that to the nightmares. . ." Alaric's voice rang clearly in Matt's head.
*Why didn't she tell me she was having nightmares?* he thought to himself. He and Bonnie had a bond that had gone far beyond their romantic relationship. . .they were friends, the kind who told each other everything. So what had kept her from telling him. . .
Matt hit his steering wheel in frustration. *Don't be a dumbass! You know why she hasn't been talking to you.*
Yes, he did know the reason. The reason even had a name: Cecily Hilton. Well, she was a conveniant excuse anyway. She had been an an out for Bonnie, and Matt knew it. He grimaced as he remembered how distant Bonnie had been the last few weeks of the relationship. And he'd let her be distant, because he'd been stupidly wrapped up in his infatuation with Cecily. Matt had done the one thing he thought he would never do--he'd cheated on his girlfriend.
Cecily Hilton had been in his Economics class the previous semester and by will of the alphabet, sat next to him. From the moment Matt met her, she enthralled him. She was breathtakingly beautiful. In fact, if Matt were forced to admit it, she looked a hell of a lot like Elena, tall and slim, with a silky wave of pale golden hair and crystalline blue eyes. Cecily's eyes however were a much paler blue than Elena's, almost like the daytime sky. What had shocked Matt was that she even carried herself like Elena--almost as if she were royalty and owned the world. It was this attitude that made Matt wary of Cecily even while being enchanted by her looks.
They didn't speak to each other much during the first month of class, she occasionally asked to see his notes, and sometimes they chatted before class, but nothing major. Then, Professor Brown assigned the big semester project and said they could all partner up. Matt had been surprised when she'd turned to him and said genially, "How about it?"
*Doomed* He'd known the minute Cecily smiled at him and he accepted her offer. He could no more control what was happening then he could control the movement of the stars. They became partners, then friends, and eventually, lovers.
Feeling a lump in his throat, Matt pulled over and turned off the car. Driving wasn't working--maybe walking would. He sighed as he began to wade noisily through the beautiful but annoying fall foliage on the ground. *Here's to Virginia* he thought bitterly, *So much for peace and quiet*
Matt frowned as he thought back. Everything with Cecily had happened in March. But the trouble with Bonnie had started back in January. She gone to stay with her cousin Felicia over their winter break. Felicia was the one who had gotten Bonnie started on her psychic kick years before, and somehow, she stirred Bonnie's interest in the occult again. Bonnie had returned from the short vacation, brimming with excitement. He could still remember the way she'd bounced into the coffee shop to meet him when she got back. . .
"Matt! Matt!"
Matt looked up just in time to see a redheaded blur launch itself at him. He had just enough time to put his coffee down before it landed in his lap.
"Ooof!" Matt groaned teasingly as Bonnie threw her arms around him. "Matt's no longer here. You just killed him."
Bonnie laughed and pulled away slightly. "Really? Well, then I guess he doesn't get Bonnie's special 'I'm home and I missed you like crazy' kiss."
His eyes widened perceptibly. "Wait! The doctor's have managed to bring him back!" He blinked and then gazed at Bonnie as if seeing her for the first time. "Bonnie? Welcome home! I missed you so much!"
"Cute," she replied as she brought her lips to his. Matt relaxed into the embrace. If there was one thing Bonnie knew how to do, it was kiss. She had lips with a kind of skill that made a guy forget where he was. It wasn't often where Bonnie had initiated a kiss with Matt that hadn't ended with them in the bedroom. It was funny, but in high school, he'd been completely unaware of her as a female. He'd only been able to focus on Elena. Bonnie was Elena's sidekick. It was only during that fight with Klaus after they'd graduated that he began to see the petite girl for what she really was. . .beautiful, courageous, and smart in her own mixed-up way. And after they started dating. . .Matt's mind was blown. Who would've guessed that underneath Bonnie's kittenish exterior there was a confidently sexy tiger waiting to be let out?
He was still reeling from the kiss actually when Bonnie begain to relate the details of her trip. His head cleared quickly when he caught the word "Wicca".
"What?" he interrupted sharply.
She stoped in mid-sentence and gave him a strange look. "What "what"?"
"What did you just say?"
Bonnie's eyebrows raised at his tone of voice. "I said that Felicia practices Wicca, why?"
Matt frowned. "Isn't that like witchcraft or something?"
"Or something," Bonnie replied slowly. Matt could tell that her guard was up. "It's a religion actually. And it's based on nature, and celebrating the aspects of the earth."
Matt felt relief seep into his body. That sounded harmless. . .for Felicia anyway. As long as Bonnie wasn't involved. . .
"Felicia let me join in some of her circles. . .it was so relaxing, Matt. It felt--I don't know, it felt right."
Her words froze him. He literally felt his posture go completely rigid. Apparently Bonnie did as well, because she quickly left his lap and sat in the chair across from him. "Matt?" her voice was quiet.
Matt turned his face to her's. Her eyes were imploring him to understand. But how could he understand her, when she never understood him? He cleared his throat, his tongue felt like sandpaper. "Why?" he croaked out.
Bonnie looked confused. "What do you mean, 'why'?"
He felt the rage building inside of him. . .all the things he'd been longing to say two years ago, when they were busy chasing vampires, werewolves, and every other kind of evil. Suddenly, he exploded. "Damnit Bonnie! Why the fuck are you getting involved with that stuff again?!"
Her face was a mask of shock. Her jaw was practically on the table, and he'd never seen her eyes as wide as they were then. She quickly cast a hunted look around the coffee shop. Shock turned to embarrassment. "Outside!" she hissed at him, before leaving him at the table.
Grabbing his coat, he was after her in a microsecond. He caught up with her right outside of the shop, in the act of putting her gloves on. In that short time her range of emotions had settled on fury. "What in the hell was that?!" she demanded.
Deciding that he'd gone overboard, Matt gulped. He reached out and took one of her gloved hands in his own. "I'm sorry I yelled," he said. Her face relaxed a margin with his apology. "But?" she prompted.
He sighed and noticed that her teeth were chattering. The January wind was bitter. "Come on, let's walk, it'll keep us warm." He dropped her hand and they started down the street. A minute ago, he'd been full of everything he wanted to say, but now he struggled to find the words. "I just don't understand how you could want to get involved in that again," he started gently.
Bonnie hugged her arms to herself. "Again?" she questioned.
"After everything we went through with Elena and. . ." Matt trailed off lamely.
"Stefan," Bonnie supplied.
He nodded. "Yeah, I mean, all that was horrible. I thought we'd finally put it all behind us."
Now it was Bonnie's turn to sigh. "Matt," she paused, searching for what she was trying to say. "Wicca has nothing to do with what went on two years ago. Stefan is a vampire. Katherine and Klaus were vampires. Wicca has nothing to do with vampires."
Matt was undaunted. "What about Honoria Fell?"
Bonnie frowned. "Yes, Honoria was a witch, but I don't see what that has to do with me."
Matt looked at her with disbelief. "Bonnie! She possessed you! You fainted practically everyday from those stupid premonitions." As soon as the word "stupid" left his mouth, Matt regreted saying it. His girlfriend's form immediatly went stiff with indignation as she halted in the middle of the sidewalk.
"Stupid?" her voice was choked up.
*Shit* Matt thought. "Bonnie--"
"Stupid?" He could now see a fine trickle of tears running down her cheeks. "I seem to remember my 'stupid' premonitions saving a few hundred lives, Matt--including yours." She looked up into his face beseechingly. "Why can't you accept my powers?"
The simple question cut straight to Matt's heart. He wanted nothing more than to crush her in his arms and tell her that it was okay, he did accept them. But he couldn't. His fear was an invisible wall between them, and he had no idea how to scale it. Looking at her, he couldn't even explain why he was bothered so much, and she seemed almost to deflate with disappointment at his silence. She stuffed her hands in her pockets and took a step back from him.
"When you figure it out, give me a call." And then she was gone, hurrying down the street, weaving through the mass of people going the opposite way.
Shaking his head, Matt jolted back to the present. He realized he hadn't been paying attention to where he was going, and glanced around. It was familiar. *Too familiar* was his sardonic thought as he gazed around the cemetary. He was surprised to hear a bitter chuckle escape his throat. *One way or another--it always comes back here.*
He and Bonnie had made up after that fight, but there were others. He always promised Bonnie he'd try to be open-minded, but he couldn't do it. He didn't know how to tell her that her psychic powers and all the stuff she was researching, terrified him. Hearing about it brought him directly back to the helpless and trapped feeling he'd experienced his entire senior year of high school. At Robert E. Lee, Matt Honeycutt had been the king, and Elena rightfully-his queen. After Stefan Salvatore came to town, Matt's world came crashing down around him. And it wasn't just Stefan, in fact, Matt liked Stefan--they had been friends. What Matt couldn't handle was when everyone else started showing up. . .Damon, Katherine, Honoria, Klaus. He couldn't take watching murder after murder happen. First Mr. Tanner, then Sue, and Vickie. Tyler turning out to be a werewolf. . .Christ's sake--Matt used to sleep over at Tyler's house sometimes when they were kids.
Matt zipped his jacket up as he zig-zagged his way through the maze of graves. The worst part of the whole thing was that he couldn't get away from everything he feared. His family's poverty took care of that. So when Bonnie reveled in all the things that made his hair stand on end, he began to feel like he didn't know her anymore. That was when they'd started to grow apart. And when Cecily came along. . .
It was only at that moment that Matt realized where he was headed. He unconciously had been trudging the path that led to Elena's grave. Looking up from his feet, he noticed someone standing in front of her headstone. A girl. *That's strange* he thought as observed her brilliant golden hair. The closer he got, the more apprehensive he became. He knew that hair. . .
The girl looked up and noticed him approaching. "Matt!" she exclaimed.
Matt was surprised. "Hello Cecily," he replied warily. He hadn't seen her around campus for months, and now she was at Elena's grave?
"What are you doing here?" they asked simultaneously. Matt smiled briefly and Cecily laughed. Then she pointed at the stone at her feet. "Did you know this girl?" she questioned brashly. Cecily was from New York originally. It seemed an oxymoron for someone with her ethereal beauty to have such a heavy Brooklyn accent.
"Elena? Um, yeah.," he paused, not sure how to continue. "We went to high school together. We actually dated once."
Cecily's smile drooped. "Oh, I'm so sorry."
Matt was puzzled. "Why?"
Now Cecily was confused. "For your. . .loss."
"Oh." Matt said shortly. Sometimes he forgot that not everyone in the world knew that Elena was still alive. "Thanks," he went on awkwardly, "but we didn't date that long. We were really just friends."
"Well," Cecily replied, "That's still a loss."
Unable to contain his curiosity any longer, Matt cleared his throat. "So, why are you here, if you don't mind my asking?"
"Pictures," she replied simply.
Matt then noticed the camera that was hanging from her shoulder. "Oh, you're into photography?"
Cecily nodded. "I love it, I take my camera everywhere. Virginia's so beautiful, especially in the fall, with the sun setting as it is now. Don't you think so?"
Matt smiled wryly. "Uh, I've lived here all my life. Better to ask someone else."
Cecily pursed her lips. "You kidder." She looked around and her eyes sparkled. "Most people find cemetaries depressing, but I don't. They're so full of history, and life."
"You mean death," Matt corrected quietly.
"No, life. Everyone buried here had a life. . .they had a story." She again fixed her gaze on Elena's stone. "Like Elena here. 'A light in darkness'. That's got to have a story behind it." She looked at Matt hopefully.
He squirmed uncomfortably. "I'm not sure I want to talk about Elena, Cecily."
She cut him off as she took his arm. "Just take me for some coffee, Matt." She smiled brilliantly at him. "We don't have to talk about Elena."
Matt sighed in relief. "Thanks-"
"Right now," she added wickedly. "Now where's your car?"
* * * * *
Across town, same time
Aurora smiled as she followed the petite redhead down the sidewalk. She had felt the psychic waves emanating from her almost as soon as she'd hit town. This one was powerful--and in distress. Aurora had been watching the girl, Bonnie, for almost twenty-four hours, and she'd been upset the entire time.
*I wonder what she tastes like* Aurora thought wickedly as she watched Bonnie turn a corner. She knew she wouldn't find out though. This one wasn't for snacking. She seemed the most promising lead to whatever the hell it was that had brought her to this dinky little town. She didn't want to spend anymore time here than she had to.
"Perhaps I may find out sooner than I had hoped," she murmured to herself. Bonnie had quietly ducked into a small apartment complex, looking for all the world like she was trying to be one of Charlie's Angels. Aurora smiled and gracefully melted into the shadows behind her. As soon as they began heading up the stairs, the beautiful vampire smelled blood. Death, and a lot of blood.
Bonnie was heading down a hallway on the third floor, glancing around with every step. She stopped in front of a door that was covered in yellow tape. Aurora watched as she took a key out of her purse and unlocked the door. After casting one last look up and down the hall, she ducked under the tape and slipped into the apartment.
Aurora approached silently and read the yellow tape *Police line, do not cross* The smell of blood was overwhelming. She caught Bonnie's thoughts. *Caroline's apartment*
"Who is Caroline?" she wondered before catching another name in Bonnie's head.
*Damon*
