The Aftershock
(Summer Solstice)
1
One thing I will say - I own no one in this story apart from Neve and a bunch of other extras. The only place I own is the airport and last but not least, the plot is mine but it isn't true! (Well, of course none of its true, but the thing about Meredith in later chapters… it isn't part of the story, it's just my imagination!)
Thanks to all the people who like my Vampire Diaries and The Night World stories, especially those who reviewed and have me on their 'Favourite Authors' list. This story is for you, guys! And also I want to show that I can still kick butts when it comes to vampires – they're my life, after all! Hope you like this! R &R! Later!
The ClearingBonnie flopped down onto the floor, her head swooning as her vision span. She'd never felt so happy in her whole life. Elena was in the arms of Stefan with Meredith's arms wrapped around her and Matt was holding Caroline. Bonnie was still spinning in her excitement, dizzy after so much dancing. Meredith took one look at her and knew she was about to be sick.
"Bonnie, you'd better go home." She told her, going over to help her up. Bonnie brushed her curls out of her face and giggled.
"Are you crazy? I'm not going to be able to go to sleep tonight!" she laughed, hugging Meredith hard. The taller girl's face creased into a smile, and she pulled Bonnie up to her full height.
Matt looked about and frowned. "It's getting late. We should all be home by now." He told them.
Elena sighed and clung onto Stefan tighter. "But where do I go?" she whispered, looking around. Caroline bit her lip in thought and so did the others (except Stefan, who just smiled.)
"You can come back to the boarding house with me," he said. Elena nodded and they all went to walk out of the clearing.
"Spoil sports!" Bonnie groaned, but she said nothing else. She did feel tired after all.
Bonnie – still determined to celebrate – ran on ahead, dancing and skipping and begging the others to join in. The others just laughed and said she'd been the only one who hadn't been badly hurt (Elena included – it's not everyday you come back to life). Bonnie ignored them and decided if they weren't going to party, then she'd rather be home before everyone else. She was shattered, and just wanted to lie down in her own, warm bed.
"Bonnie! Bonnie, slow down!" Elena called, latched onto Stefan. Bonnie didn't listen and she stepped out of the woods and began to walk down past the old church and the remains of Wickery Bridge.
A twig snapped. It wasn't anything underfoot; it was the sound of a heavy branch breaking above. Matt glanced upwards and scowled.
"Do you reckon Damon's watching us?" he asked, still raw that he hadn't stayed with them. Stefan stopped and looked up too, but even with his predator eyes he couldn't see anything up above them. It was too dark up there, like when he was back in the well.
Elena shook her head finally and walked on. "If he is then he should just come down and talk to us. Why is he so stubborn?" she asked no one in particular. The rest began to follow her, Stefan still standing there gazing up into the canopy.
"Guys… I really think-" he paused and his mouth dropped open. "Not you!" he cried, but it was too late. A dark form dropped down from the treetops and had leapt onto the unaware vampire before anyone could say 'werewolf'. The beast snarled and clawed at Stefan on the ground, its mouth twisted into a grotesque form of a sneer. "Salvatore," came a howl from its throat. Elena stepped forward, just as calm as if she were dealing with fighting toddlers in a playground.
"Tyler, get off of him." She commanded, staring at the wolf crouching above her boyfriend, her expression set and unreadable. Meredith glanced at her but then turned away. Looking at her was like staring at the sun - she was glowing with light. It reminded her of how she'd been when she'd sent the ghosts to carry Klaus away, how she'd looked like a warrior goddess – so beautiful and dangerous, with her golden hair billowing around her like wings.
The animal's eyes locked onto the angel before him and he snarled, getting off of Stefan and crawling, dreamily, over to Elena – like a moth drawn to a light.
"Tyler…" Elena warned - her body quivering. Her stern face evaporated into nothing. The last of her powers from beyond the grave had disappeared. Now she was no longer a vampire or an angel. She was a scared teenage girl again, and she stepped backwards.
The wolf wasn't hypnotised by her power, never had been. The full moon ducked into a flood of clouds and Tyler dropped to the floor, rising as a human again.
"I'm not going to hurt any of you," he hissed, his eyes dancing like Damon's did when he was laughing at you. "In fact, I want you all alive."
Stefan stood up; ready to pounce on the intruder when suddenly a shady figure reached out from behind and wrapped their arms around him, restraining him.
"Damon!" Matt cried out, almost running forward. Stefan could feel the cold hands even through his shirt and he knew by the delicacy of the arms and their shape that it wasn't his brother who held him back. It was a girl.
"I have the boy," the woman told Tyler, her voice deep and slurred by a Transylvanian accent. Matt would've laughed at the unoriginality if it hadn't occurred at that point. An unknown person was holding their only defence. Possibly someone who had known Klaus, or even Katherine…
"Good. Bind him for me," Tyler ordered. Caroline was scowling at Tyler, watching him intently.
"We had a deal Tyler…" she began. "What happened? I thought we were…"
Tyler turned on her and frowned, eyes blazing. "Unfortunately for you, Caroline, you didn't read out Elena's diary, Stefan wasn't driven out of town and he nearly killed me. So that's twice now. Caroline – I'm sorry, but you didn't prove a worthy business partner."
Matt scowled. "You deserve everything you get Tyler!"
"Shut up!" Tyler growled and suddenly a wave of nausea swept over Matt and he dropped to the floor, his mind reeling. It was as if someone had put him under a spell. His body seemed to fold in on itself – he couldn't move.
"The rest of them, too." Tyler frowned, turning around to face Stefan.
The woman stepped forward into the clearing and as soon as she saw her face, Meredith started screaming.
"Guys?" Bonnie looked out of her window from her spot on her bed. There was the sound of scuttling outside. She put her diary down and walked over to the pane, pressing her face against the glass. The street was empty - no one was out there. The sun shone over the houses and made it seem peaceful. She shrugged and went back to her diary. Scooping it up, she read her last entry.
21 June, 7.30 a.m.
The Summer Solstice
Dear Diary,
Oh, it's all too much to explain and you wouldn't believe it anyway. I'm going to bed.
Bonnie
Smiling to herself, she tucked it under her bed, hiding it beneath her mattress and on the bare boards of her bed.
Suddenly a black shape flitted past the window, the image teasing at the edges of her vision. Bonnie's gaze fell on her window once more.
There was a dark shape on her windowsill… a bird with wings shining with rainbows… a crow.
"Damon," she frowned, going over to the window and opening it. The bird cocked its head on one side and as Bonnie stepped back from the wall, it flew in. As soon as the bird had landed on the floor, it began to contort and Bonnie shut her eyes as a dark light shone, blinding her, and the next instant Damon was standing in her bedroom. He hadn't needed an invitation – he'd been asked in once before.
"What do you want?" she asked, opening her eyes again, hands on hips. God, he really was beautiful… she thought. She was too happy to even pretend to be mad at him. Damon shrugged and rested back on her wall, smiling in that unnerving way of his.
"I guess I was wondering whether you'd seen my brother." He said, his voice silky and dark. Bonnie shrugged, shaking in her nightwear. She felt vulnerable standing here in just her slip, talking to him. The last time they'd been completely alone he'd tried to seduce her.
"I haven't seen him since we left the woods earlier. I ran on ahead." She told him, trying to act confident when she felt like she was a mouse standing up to a cat. Damon frowned and seemed to look off into the distance, deep in thought.
"I can't feel him." He murmured. Bonnie opened her mouth, then closed it again. Vampires could feel auras, could feel other people's presence.
"You mean – they're not there?" her voice shook, her mind portraying horrific images that span webs in her brain.
"They aren't in Fells Church, that's for sure," Damon frowned. Seeing Bonnie's face, he added. "None of them are."
Bonnie bowed her head. "It's all my fault…" she began. She didn't know how but she felt that if she'd been there, had stayed with them, then she could've prevented whatever had happened to them.
"Don't be stupid, you couldn't have stopped whatever's happened." Damon hissed, reading her mind. Bonnie's head shot up. Was that Damon trying to comfort her?
"There's something else." Damon began, matter-of-factly. Bonnie wiped her eyes, tears already threatening to run.
"What?" she asked, staring at the older boy, both terrified and calm around him.
Damon smiled and looked out of the window, his arms folded and sunglasses in his pocket.
"I can't feel Smallwood around either."
Bonnie gasped and suddenly her face creased up with anger. "Tyler!" she shrieked, furious. "I can't believe it!"
"Neither can I. How could an idiot like that sneak up on a vampire? My brother should be…"
"Damon! Stop trying to get one better on Stefan, okay? He was obviously thinking about… something else."
Damon sighed in understanding. He would've been to busy fretting over Elena, too. He wouldn't still be looking for a werewolf.
"I suppose you've proved your point." He frowned. Finally, Bonnie thought, he was agreeing with something!
"Listen – can't you go into some sort of trance?" Damon asked, turning to her, his eyes like two bottomless pits, searching Bonnie's mind.
"No!" Bonnie cried. "I don't like trances. Maybe I could do a spell…"
Damon groaned and turned away. "I don't believe in magic." He grunted, his back to her.
Bonnie clenched her fists. "You should. After all, you are…"
"I am a vampire. Not a witch!" he growled.
"Then how come you believe in my trances?" Bonnie questioned, her eyes narrowing. Damon turned to her angrily, his movements sharp and forced.
"Because there are some creatures powerful enough to force others to speak what they want. Vampires, for instance." He spat, obviously thinking how stupid she was for not understanding.
"But Honoria…"
"Was a ghost – not a witch." Damon finished.
"I'm a witch," Bonnie frowned, folding her arms, stubbornly. Damon laughed, throwing his head back. Bonnie's heart tightened and she realised then that she would do anything for Damon… just to be alone with him again. Suddenly, she realised what she'd just thought and wanted to kick herself. Damon was staring at her. He'd read her mind… he knew…
"Anything?" he whispered, stepping forward and smiling, his fangs curving down and denting his bottom lip, slightly. Bonnie stepped backwards.
"Damon… Damon, we have to find the others. Damon, please…"
"What would you do exactly, Bonnie McCullough?" he teased her, stepping forward.
"Damon!"
"What?"
"Please…" Bonnie began, terrified. Her throat swelled up and she didn't know whether she was capable of saying anything else.
"Damon, please…"
Damon laughed and stopped trying to corner her. "I'm only messing with you." He said, his eyes twinkling.
Bonnie frowned. "Don't do it again,"
"I won't," he promised. "Now, where is my brother?"
Bonnie let out a deep breath and went over to the chest of drawers at the bottom of her bed. She'd started filling it with loads of Druid things - mostly candles, incense and spells.
"We need a Location Spell. Ah! Here it is," she brought out a piece of paper from her trunk, but frowned as she read the ingredients needed for the spell. "The only thing is… I need the blood of the person I'm looking -" she stopped and gasped as Damon bit into his wrist and held out the savaged hand to her.
"Anything else?" he frowned. It took Bonnie a minute to realise that Damon and Stefan's blood were the same, and she relaxed.
"An object that reminds you of them," she read. Damon looked around the room, furiously, but stopped. He looked down at the lapis ring on his finger and drew out the sunglasses from his pocket. He placed the sunglasses in her hands and then went over to the window, drawing the curtains and pushing Bonnie's wardrobe before the glass. The room was flooded with darkness, no light even highlighting the sides of the furniture.
Bonnie ran to lock her door and she switched on her bedroom light.
Damon removed his ring and when Bonnie came back, he handed it to her. Bonnie looked down at the silver ring with the blue gem embedded into it.
"Our rings are identical," Damon told her, impatiently. He sat down on her floor, and Bonnie did too, getting out a few candles and a bowl.
"I thought you didn't believe in magic," she smiled.
Damon shrugged. "There's a first time for everything."
It took a while for Bonnie to set up the candles. Damon's wrist was still dripping with blood and it took him all his power to prevent it from healing right away. Bonnie got a tissue and wiped some of the blood from his hand. As soon as it was done, he let it heal up.
"We need to put the blood into a bowl of water, and then extinguish the flame with it. All the while we have to be thinking about Stefan – we can't speak at all. If at any moment we speak then…"
"Whatever," Damon growled. Bonnie placed the bloody tissue into a bowl of water, and she lit a candle, sighing.
"God, I hate making chants up!" she hissed, bowing her head and racking her brain for an idea. "Okay, here goes…"
"Aradia the Maiden,
See where our friend lies,
Candles for fire,
Incense for the skies,
What is new is old,
What was straight is round,
Where is our friend?
Let his spirit be found."
Damon looked up at her and smiled. What was straight is round? He wanted to laugh but suddenly images of his brother swamped his mind and he could do nothing but sit and wait.
Tall and slim… dark, wavy hair… green eyes… Italy… loves Elena… Damon's brother… the boarding house… Porsche… cologne…
Bonnie was furiously thinking of things that reminded her of Stefan, sweating with the strain the spell was taking over her. It was as if she was being smothered by a blanket… she couldn't breathe, she couldn't even think about anything but Stefan. She'd completely forgotten that Damon was even in the room.
Vampire… Katherine… Klaus… white ash wood… hates Tyler… saved Caroline… friends with Matt…
All the people that Stefan had ever encountered… all the bad times that had happened were called upon in Bonnie's mind.Vickie… lapis ring… eagle…
Suddenly, it felt as if a path had opened up before her.
Both Damon's mind working up the old Stefan, remembering him from when he was a child, and Bonnie's mind recalling the new Stefan – made it clear and strong.
Bonnie went cold and she couldn't move, her breath coming in short gasps.
"Tyler… I'll kill him, I'll… Where are we? I think… I think we're in Florence… I'm not sure. There's something about this place… I g-get a vibe from it. Like… Like my tomb. That's it… I'm in the Salvatore tomb! I don't know where the girls are… Matt? Matt? He's asleep… Matt, Matt!"
"Bonnie? Bonnie!" The small girl started fitting, her body twitching. She fell backwards, moaning.
"Damon! Damon! Damon, help me! Damon, please! I'm weaker, I'm weaker, I'm -? Damon!"
"Stefan!" Damon cried, tears rolling down his cheeks. It wasn't Bonnie's voice any longer. It was the voice of a frightened little child, screaming out for help. It was how Stefan had sounded when he was younger…
"Damon! Damon please…" and Bonnie started sobbing. She curled up into a ball and started wailing, crying out. Damon was far too busy worrying about Stefan to even think about Bonnie's parents. Thankfully, however, Damon had made them fall asleep when he'd been waiting outside Bonnie's house. He wasn't stupid.
Damon held Bonnie in his arms, holding her tightly and rocking her like a baby. He wanted it to stop - this was crazy! He couldn't stand to hear his brother like this. Reduced to this… a snivelling wreck.
Suddenly, as if someone had clicked their fingers, Bonnie stopped crying and she sat bolt upright, alert. It took her a while to realise where she was and who was holding on to her.
Damon looked at her with soft, brown eyes – his insides shattered. Stefan…
Bonnie couldn't believe that she was staring into the eyes of Damon Salvatore, the real him. Even back in the clearing his eyes had still been their usual black, but now? Now he looked like a little child, adamant that he had to save his little brother but had no idea how to do it.
He opened his mouth to snap at her, to tell her to stop staring, but he knew he was defeated. The walls he'd had up ever since Katherine had 'died'… the boundaries that he pushed people away from – even his own brother – crumbled.
"Damon?" Bonnie's eyes searched his, urging him to understand.
Damon couldn't reply he was so ashamed. Stefan had always been the sensitive brother and there he was – fresh tears perched on his cheeks. He couldn't speak - his throat had knotted up. The next instant, he'd wrapped his arms around Bonnie and they were holding each other – comforting each other.
Bonnie lifted her face up to Damon's and their lips collided. They began kissing so fiercely that they wished they would never stop.
Finally, after about a minute or so, Bonnie drew away and looked around her room, confused. "But I didn't even do the ritual I…"
"Yes you did. I watched you do it!"
"Did I?" she gasped, her eyes wandering over the water on the floor and the smoking candle, the wick burning slightly from where the flame had been before.
"I guess I must have been too busy to realise…" she looked back at Damon and smiled.
"He's in Florence," Damon muttered, bowing his head. Bonnie reached out her hand and touched his cheek with her palm, using her other hand to brush his hair through with her fingers.
"Don't leave me…" she whimpered, holding onto him.
Damon frowned and loosened his grip on her. "I have to save Stefan…"
"I don't mean that and you know it." Bonnie whispered, looking up into his chocolate brown eyes. Damon's frown curved upwards and his eyes twinkled.
"Stay like this forever, Damon. Please… just be you. You don't have to be so mean all the time…"
"Bonnie, I-" Damon stopped, bowed his head and took a deep breath. Bonnie wove her fingers into his and they sat there like that for a while, neither looking at one another.
"Will you come to Florence with me?" Damon finally asked. Bonnie nodded, and rested her head on his chest. "Of course I will." She grinned.
Damon tightened his grip on her hand and bent his head down. Bonnie smiled and tilted her head to the side, freeing her hands from around Damon's waist. She stretched her neck out ready and started to unbutton his shirt.
The next second she felt his teeth dig into her neck and she bit her bottom lip, happily. It didn't hurt – not like she'd expected it to – and she waited for him to pull away.