The Ritual

A/N: Hello! This is a one-shot that was inspired by a dream I had and by a RP thread I did with xX-PrincessofDarkness-xXx. It takes place in the timeline of L.J Smith's kindle books and is a version of what her Gothic wedding idea will be about. I hope everyone enjoys it :)

There needed to be a wedding in order to officially and fully conduct Bonnie into into the circle of the psychics and make her safety from her future possible fate solid.

Yes, her grandmother had apparently been right when she proclaimed that her granddaughter would die young. But there was a way to save herself from that fate and it involved having to join the circle. But to join the circle, she needed a husband...and quickly. There was no option of slowly easing herself into a marriage.

Bonnie stared blankly up at the ceiling as she allowed her thoughts to consume her, occasionally glancing up at the ruby ring that sat on her finger. In only a few weeks time, she would be a married woman...married in a ritual wedding conducted by the psychics. Being married to a member of the supernatural would officially grant her entrance into the circle.

It had surprisingly not taken her long at all to find a fiance. Shortly after she had dropped the news to the others, Bastian had very graciously offered to be the one to marry her and despite her very conflicted feelings about the proposal, Bonnie had accepted it. Only now, she couldn't help but feel a twinge of dread at the idea of tying herself to the werewolf forever.

She felt guilty for it. After all, Bastian was a good guy and he would treat her well. The only problem was that she just didn't feel that way towards him and she sadly doubted that she ever would...at least not easily. For her heart already belonged to someone else. But it was someone that could never truly be hers.

As if on cue, the sound of her dorm room door suddenly flew open and a gasp escaped the redhead's lips at the sight of who it was.

"Damon...what are you doing here?"

It had been weeks since they had really spoken to each other alone. The relationship between the Salvatore brothers and the rest of the gang was currently strained. Now that everyone knew about the stunt Stefan pulled with compelling everyone to forget him, which Damon had helped him with, everyone was having to take time to forgive and fully trust them again. Even the golden couple of Elena and Stefan were a bit more distant from each other than usual.

The vampire currently standing in front of Bonnie was dressed in his usual attire; black shirt and leather jacket, and had an almost stony look on his face. When he spoke, his silky voice was surprisingly tinted with held back anger.

"Are you really going to marry him?"

Bonnie tried to hide her slight nervousness at the question. Damon had been the one person in the group that she hadn't told about her engagement to Bastian but she supposed he had found out about it some other way.

"Yes," she eventually answered in response, a guilty expression overtaking her face. "I'm sorry that I didn't tell you but I...I was afraid of your reaction," she confessed. "I know that you don't like him...even if I don't know why you don't."

Damon, for whatever reason, had always displayed a very blatant dislike and sometimes even hatred for Bastian and Bonnie had never been quite sure why. At the beginning, she had believed it was because Damon saw Bastian as a threat but now that it was clear he wasn't, the hatred continued.

Damon didn't even acknowledge her choice of wording. "Why?" He asked, managing to put just as much steel in his voice with only that single word.

"I need to get married Damon...and soon, if I want to join the circle. And you know how important that is. It's going to stop my fate of dying young." She paused, her voice becoming softer as she continued. "Bastian offered to marry me and I accepted. He's the best chance I have."

"But do you love him?"

The dreaded question that she was afraid he would ask...

Bonnie quickly began to mentally weigh her options. She feared that she would look extremely foolish and pathetic if she admitted that she was marrying someone she wasn't in love with but at the same time, Damon would probably be able to tell if she lied. In the end, in a slightly quivering voice, she admitted the truth.

"No...I don't. But he's nice and a good person. I think I could love him eventually."

And that was the truth. Bastian was kind and generous and would no doubt make a loving and devoted husband. In fact, he would more than likely be the type of guy that Bonnie would have dreamed of marrying back when her life was normal.

The only thing standing in the way of falling in love with him now was currently standing in front of her. The vampire she was in love with but also the man who loved her best friend and could never truly be hers.

Damon was silent for a few moments as if he was contemplating or processing what she had said. When he finally did speak again, his jaw was rigid with frustration.

"You are acting like a fool."

It was the response that Bonnie had been partially expecting to hear from him, but her preparedness didn't make her any less angry about it.

"I don't have much of a choice Damon! The circle only gave me a month to find a husband...I didn't have very many options. It was either him or someone who doesn't even like me in that way."

"There's always a choice, redbird, and you made the wrong one," Damon said icily, allowing more of his anger to show. "But I am going to help you fix the problem."

And then, before Bonnie could ask him what he meant by that, he was gone; an open window and a black crow's feather the only signs that he had ever been there.

It turned out that Bonnie hadn't had to wait very long at all to find out what Damon had meant by 'helping her fix the problem'.

The next day, she was called down to have a meeting with the circle. After taking a shower, eating breakfast, and brushing her teeth, she made her way down towards the Old Wood, which was the circle's usual meeting place during their stays in Fells Church. It was a good location because it was relatively hidden from public view.

"It seems that you now have two men who wish to marry you," Bonnie McCullough," Marcella, the leader of the circle stated once Bonnie had reached the proper location. "We wanted to know if you would like to make a final choice between them."

Bonnie frowned, confused over who could be the second man to want to marry her when Marcella continued. "The vampire, Damon Salvatore, came and visited us this morning."

Bonnie's mouth dropped open in shock. No...Damon wouldn't have.

"What did he want?" She eventually asked, unable to believe the thoughts currently in her head.

"To ask to be your betrothed, of course."

Bonnie's entire being was now a whirl of several different emotions, but most of all, confusion. Why on earth would Damon request to marry her? She knew he didn't like Bastian and wasn't happy when he found out that she was going to marry him, but surely offering to take his place was an extreme course of action, even for Damon.

Marcella seemed to have taken her silence as a cue to continue talking. "I wanted to ask if you had a preference between them? Damon Salvatore or Bastian Cormac? Which one would you rather have as a husband?"

Which was worse? Marrying someone you weren't in love with or marrying someone you were in love with but didn't love you back? Bonnie wasn't sure.

"I don't know," Bonnie eventually answered lamely. "Is...there another way of deciding?"

Marcella's expression was flat. "I could always look into both of their minds...and decide which one is the one likely to be the better match for you. But are you sure you don't want to decide on that yourself?"

"I'm sure."

A few hours later, Bonnie was called down to the circle again but this time, she wasn't alone.

When she arrived at the scene, both Damon and Bastian were standing there.

Bonnie was horrified. Had Marcella told them that she hadn't been able to choose between them? The idea made her feel insanely awkward.

"The two of you both requested to marry Bonnie," Marcella clarified, as if they hadn't been entirely sure of the situation. "However, I asked her if she would like to choose between the two of you and she didn't want to be the one to make the decision."

Bonnie tried not to look at either of them, not wanting to see their reactions to that revelation. But out of the corner of her eye, she did catch sight of Damon's face...but she wasn't sure if he looked hurt or frustrated.

Marcella continued. "So I will look into both of your minds and see if I can shed some light on the question of which of you would be the better match for her in the long run."

It had ended up being a fairly simple procedure. Marcella had merely instructed both Damon and Bastian as he "peered" into their minds through a quiet chant that she murmured underneath her breath.

In the end, Bonnie was surprised by the result. Marcella eventually proclaimed that the best match for Bonnie out of the two of them was none other than Damon Salvatore. After it was over, Bonnie avoided everyone's gaze and began to walk quickly in the direction of the town, not wanting the awkwardness of the situation to catch up with her just yet.

Unfortunately, she should have known that she wasn't going to get very far. In seconds, someone had caught up to her...and who that person was put a complete damper on the plan to temporarily avoid awkwardness.

It was Damon of course.

"Well, it seems that in a very...interesting turn of events, you won't be marrying that mongrel after all, my little redbird."

Bonnie tried to ignore him, She continued to silently walk, forcing herself to not even spare a glance in his direction.

But apparently, that wasn't going to work for Damon. He suddenly grabbed her arm, gently although very firmly, and made her stop in her tracks.

"Look at me, little bird."

Realizing her efforts would be futile, she reluctantly turned to look at him, continuously not saying a word.

Her silence only made the vampire even more frustrated. "Say something," he demanded.

"I don't know what you want me to say," Bonnie replied timidly. She just wanted him to leave her alone.

"I would settle for anything at this point," Damon snapped, his voice suddenly retaining that steely tone from the night before. "Why are you so upset?"

"I'm not upset."

"There's no need to lie to me kitten. It's become excruciatingly obvious that you are. You wouldn't even spare me a glance back there."

Secretly, Bonnie wanted to yell at him...scream at him even. She wanted to tell him that yes, she was angry. She was angry because she was going to have to marry someone who didn't love her in the way she loved him. And now, she was also angry that he didn't even seem to understand why she was upset.

"I just don't understand why you did that Damon," she eventually confessed. "You don't love me."

Now the only expression she could clearly see displayed on his face was shock. He obviously hadn't expected her to express such distaste towards the situation.

"I believed you would be happy. After all, you claimed to not love the werewolf..."

Bonnie gaped at him. That's what he believed? That purely because she felt something for him, marrying him would be a nice prize for her?

"Damon..." She shook her head rapidly. "I wasn't going to be happy with either situation. If I married Bastian, then I would have been marrying someone who has feelings for me that I don't return. But now that i'm going to marry you, i'm marrying someone who doesn't love me back..." She trailed off, her cheeks heating up at the knowledge that she had basically confessed out loud that she loved him. But at the same time, she supposed that he knew she had feelings for him anyway. She turned her head to stare down at the ground. "Never mind. Just forget I said anything."

"Redbird..."

"Forget it," Bonnie replied, her voice a strange mixture of both a plea and a demand. "It's fine Damon. I...what's done is done. And I guess we'll just have to wait and see the outcome of it all."

She then turned and finally walked away. She wasn't sure if she was more disappointed or relieved when he didn't try to stop her again.

A few weeks passed and although Bonnie somewhat expected Damon to cancel their engagement, he never did. And now she was standing, in a black, Gothic-style wedding dress, awaiting to be married.

The wedding was naturally taking place in the Old Wood...at midnight, and was being conducted by the circle. It was both a wedding and an initiating ritual for Bonnie. Once the night was over, she and Damon would be technically married...and bonded together forever by a spell, and Bonnie would officially be a member of the circle.

Everything was working out. But due to the circumstances, Bonnie couldn't bring herself to be happy about it.

Marrying Damon would be a dream come true...if she knew that it was out of pure love and not in a sense of obligation and to merely keep her from marrying Bastian. But since the situation wasn't like that, it truthfully only brought her sadness. But she supposed she couldn't complain too much. After all, Marcella had given her the chance to choose between Damon and Bastian, but she hadn't been able to bring herself to.

Now, Bonnie couldn't decide if it would have been better to have simply chosen Bastian when she had the chance. At least then she would know that her future husband had feelings for her.

But it was too late to go back now and already, the circle members standing from behind were urging her to being the walk down the makeshift aisle and to her fate.

Taking a small gulp of air in an attempt to calm herself, Bonnie did as she was instructed and began to walk slowly towards the small, wooden chapel.

As she walked, she could see that most of the circle was there. It wasn't a vastly large group of people, but it was enough to make her experience a little stage fright, especially since all of their eyes seemed to be completely glued to her as she made her way down the dark and quiet aisle, that she now noticed was decorated with black rose petals.

This wedding seemed oddly suited for someone like Damon, even though she knew the ceremony had probably been planned by the circle to be like this before Damon became her new consort.

As she drew closer to the chapel, she caught sight of Damon, who was wearing a black tux, and Marcella, who was wearing a black dress of her own, although one that was much less elegant than Bonnie's in order to not draw the attention away from the bride.

After Bonnie had fully approached them, Damon gave her a small smile before taking one of her hands into his as she stood next to him and faced Marcella. What followed was fairly simple. She and Damon exchanged traditional-sounding vows and then the rings were exchanged. The ruby ring she had been wearing while engaged to Bastian was replaced with one with tiny diamonds surrounding a large emerald stone, gifted to her by Damon a few days prior. He had claimed that he didn't want her marrying him through another man's ring.

Bonnie glanced down at the beautiful ring that now sat on her finger, not really focusing on the rest of Marcella's words now that the vows had been exchanged. That is, until she heard the last few words.

"I am now able to pronounce you as husband and wife. And with this marriage, you are now a member of the circle, Bonnie McCullough. Congratulations."

And then, although the timeless words of "you may now kiss the bride" hadn't been said, she felt Damon's cool lips pressing gently against hers anyway. He ended up not kissing her for very long though and soon enough, he ended it, having kept it short and soft. Bonnie was a little ashamed to realize that she was actually a little disappointed that it hadn't lasted longer.

The following days passed by in a blur. Before the wedding, Bonnie had expected her entire life as she knew it to be changed, since she would now be Damon's wife and an official member of the circle.

But as it turned out, the days that passed went about as relatively normal, with the exception of Bonnie having to meet with the circle once a week. Although, another notable difference was that Damon and Elena hardly ever interacted anymore. In fact, it almost seemed like Damon was avoiding Elena. The observation caused a very small amount of hope to swell in Bonnie's chest but at the same time, she tried to remember that it might be because Damon was now technically married. Of course he would try to be loyal to his wife, no matter where his feelings lied. It was a very common decency.

Bonnie was thinking about all of this as she sat by the fire in the boarding house, trying to get comfortable on the old couch. She was interrupted from her train of thought at the sound of a silky, and very familiar accented voice.

"Something on your mind, little redbird?"

Bonnie reluctantly turned to face her husband, who was now seating himself beside her on the couch. She couldn't help but feel a little nervous around him. After all, they hadn't directly spoken to each other alone since she had yelled at him back in the woods before the wedding. It was strange, since they were married now, but neither of them ever took the initiative to approach the other.

"Nothing," Bonnie eventually responded. "I...was just trying to relax." Which was half of the truth.

Damon nodded and Bonnie wasn't sure if it was because he believed her or because he didn't see it as something worth arguing over.

"I was wondering if you would allow me to take you out to dinner tonight?"

Bonnie was a little surprised by the question, having not expected something so...simple. "Why?"

Damon shot her his famous 500 kilowatt smile. "Am I not allowed to spoil my wife from time to time?"

This was the first time since the wedding that he had really called her that and it caused goosebumps to raise on her skin and admittedly, butterflies to form in her stomach.

"Um...okay," she replied genuinely. "Where will we go?"

"That my dear, is a surprise."

At around 7:00 in the evening, Bonnie sat in the armchair of her dorm room, waiting for Damon to come pick her up for their...date? Either way, he was taking her out for dinner. She was wearing her best blouse; a silky piece that was colored in a pink-like red hue, a nice pair of normal jeans, and light make-up. She hoped that she was dressed nice enough for wherever they were going.

At the eventual sound of someone knocking on the door, Bonnie nearly leaped onto her feet to go answer it, despite her nervousness.

"Coming!" She called out as she began to make her way over to the door, swinging to open upon approach to reveal the handsome vampire standing on the other side of it. To her relief, he was wearing his usual type of attire, letting her know that that the place they were going probably wasn't overly fancy and she wasn't under-dressed.

Damon flashed her a dazzling smile that threatened to take her breath away and handed over the small bundle of red roses that had been sitting in one of his hands. "You look lovely tonight, little redbird."

Bonnie blushed and happily accepted the roses, giving them a dainty sniff before smiling. "Thank you."

She asked him to wait for a few moments so she could go back inside to place the roses in water and then afterwards they were off, Damon escorting her down to his Ferrari and then holding the passenger door open for her. "I hope you enjoy this. It isn't one of the...usual methods that I use to woo my dates," he said casually.

Bonnie gave him a small smile. "I'm sure it'll be great." Deep inside, the little redhead was secretly bursting with excitement and curiosity, wondering where it was that Damon was taking her. When he had first asked to take her out to dinner, she had assumed it would be an extravagant restaurant, but since that was an expected date location for him, she wasn't entirely sure anymore.

The car ride ended up being a bit awkward at the very least...the tension so thick that Bonnie felt as though someone would be able to cut it with a knife. She found herself feeling immensely thankful when thankful when it ended up not lasting very long, although she was very surprised by their current location once Damon had the Ferrari parked.

They were parked outside the Old Wood.

She turned to face the vampire with an astonished and confused look on her face and he let out a brief chuckle. "There is a basket filled with some food in the backseat. There is a fairly nice hillside with a decent view not too far from here. I thought you would like the idea of a picnic underneath the stars."

A few minutes later, Bonnie found herself seated on a wool blanket on a small hilltop as the night sky and stars hung up above her.

Damon had been right. This really wasn't the usual way he wooed women...at least, she never imagined him setting something like this up. But she liked it nonetheless.

"Are you cold?" Damon suddenly asked as he sat down on the blanket beside her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders in an almost cautious fashion. And then, despite all of the sadness she had felt during their young, strange marriage so far, Bonnie found herself instinctively leaning into him, allowing him to envelop her. At his question, she nodded once. "A little. But..."

Before she could even finish her sentence, he was offering her his leather jacket. After peering down at it hesitantly for a few moments, she put it on. It was much too big for her but it immediately took away the chilliness she had been feeling moments before. Trying to hide the fact that the very motion of him offering her his jacket made her heart flutter, she gave him a small smile. "Thank you."

He nodded and then presented her the picnic basket he had brought. "I wasn't entirely sure as to what you would have preferred to eat. But I hope this will suffice. I brought a couple of bottles of Black Magic wine, an apple, a sandwich..."

"You made me a sandwich?" Bonnie asked, her tone displaying astonishment. The idea of Damon doing something so human and normal like making a sandwich seemed...unbelievable to her.

Damon gave a short laugh, for some reason, finding amusement in her question. "No. It was a pre-packaged one."

"Oh." Bonnie's cheeks flooded with color, a little embarrassed that she had jumped to that conclusion so quickly. She was so lost in her own thoughts that she didn't realize that Damon was staring at her for the first few moments. When she did, she felt slight dismay when he couldn't read his expression and get an idea about what he was thinking about. It made her feel a bit self-conscious. "What?"

It took Damon a second to realize she had spoken. When he did, he cleared his throat before responding. "Nothing. I was merely observing you. The light from the stars makes your hair look as though it's inflamed. You look beautiful."

Was he trying to kill her? The light, colored hue that had overtaken her face from earlier deepened, and her words were stammered at she responded. "I...thank you. And...and you look...handsome. But you always do." She had been about to say 'gorgeous' which was the word that usually came to mind when she thought about Damon on a physical level, but she hadn't wanted to seem eager. No more eager than she already looked anyway.

An arrogant-looking smile crossed Damon's lips but as he continued to look at her...Bonnie saw something else. It was the same look in his eyes that he had during that night in the clearing, right before he had left Fells Church after they had defeated Klaus. As if those dark orbs held stars in them.

The tense silence was broken when Damon suddenly reached over and took one of her hands into his, his gaze burning into hers. "I want this to work."

"Huh?"

"Our...union. I want it to work," Damon clarified, his eyes never wavering away from hers. "I know that it wasn't exactly a preferred way of marriage and that you have your doubts, but I would like you to know my reasoning behind taking that werewolf's place. It was because I detest the idea of you being linked to any man that way...not unless that man is myself."

Bonnie wasn't quite sure how to react. Shock and...immense happiness coursed through her but she had no idea how to properly respond. Damon had just admitted to having genuine feelings for her. She could barely breathe. "Damon..."

He gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "Would you do me the honor of truly being my wife little redbird...to allow me to prove to you that I can be a proper husband to you, despite how this situation started?"

Tears of elation began to cascade down Bonnie's face but she was quick to give him her answer. She leaned forward and kissed him firmly, only breaking away slightly to murmur her next words against his cool lips.

"Of course I will."

The End

A/N: I have a few more ideas for this story line, so someday, I might write more one-shots continuing on from this. But idk. For now, consider it complete :)