Without You There
Comin' down the world turned over
And angels fall without you there
And I go on as you grow colder
Or are you someone's prayer?
Black Balloon by The Goo Goo Dolls
Bonnie couldn't help feeling nervous, especially knowing exactly what she was walking into. These vampires needed her for something, something that involved the church ruins and a lot of bloodshed. Of that much, Bonnie was certain. Anything beyond that still eluded her, but that was enough to steal the breath from her throat at every noise the forest made.
As she approached the church ruins, Bonnie slowed her pace. Her heart and mind were both racing as the fallen building came into view and reality hit home. She was heading straight for the beings responsible for her friends disappearance. She was heading straight for the beings that were attempting to release a flock of hungry, angry vampires from a 100 plus year old tomb. She was heading straight for death.
Bonnie let out a yelp when her cell phone vibrated in her pocket, and quickly covered her mouth with both hands. Good thing she hadn't been trying to sneak up on anyone. She pulled her phone out of her pocket once her heart rate had sufficiently slowed and looked at the text message from Caroline.
Where are you? Stefan said you were coming over here. That was like 40 minutes ago.
Bonnie felt bad about making her friends worry even more. But she knew that this was what she had to do to get Elena back. There was no other way. The vampires who had taken Elena had made that perfectly clear.
Shoving her phone back into her pocket and glancing around nervously, Bonnie forced her mind into a state of calm. She would need all of her wits if she hoped to stay alive in the coming minutes. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, listening to the forest around her.
A man's grunting startled Elena back to consciousness, and the pain that shot throughout her body made her wish for the dark nothingness of passing out again. She could feel the puncture wounds that littered her body as they continued to ooze her precious and dwindling life-force. She thought there had been four or five vampires there at one point, all draining her for their own twisted amusement and to sate their thirsts, but they moved so quickly she couldn't be sure of the number. There was just one there now- his back to her. He looked more like he was keeping others out than keeping her in. Elena's mind tumbled one thought over the next, not able to keep herself focused on any one thing. She wasn't surprised at how light-headed she felt, however; she knew she must only have the bare minimum of blood in her. Just enough to keep her heart pumping.
Elena felt her lips move as she tried to speak- to ask the vampire what they wanted with her- but she felt too tired to be able to move much. In the end, all that escaped her lips was a barely audible whimper of pain.
"Don't worry princess," a voice from the dark cooed. "Death isn't so bad." There was an evil laugh that reverberated through the dimly lit area and then she felt a hand on her thigh, inching its way up under her skirt. If she had any more strength, she would have run, moved, flinched. But as it was, Elena barely found herself with the strength to breathe. She was desperate for someone to intervene, silently pleading in her head for someone to rescue her.
"Josiah! What did I tell you about the girl?" yelled the vampire that was supposed to be guarding her, as he crossed the distance between them and yanked the other's hand away from her flesh before throwing him into the cement wall.
"We were just having a little fun," the slimeball said, gesturing to Elena, who was still frozen in place. He crushed a piece of the cement—that had broken off on impact—in his hand. His eyes glittered evilly in the poorly lit space, and Elena felt the bile churning in her stomach, knowing what he must be thinking.
"None of you were supposed to feed on her," the first vampire growled. "I explained that to you already. She is for trading purposes only. I can't risk having her dead before we get the witch."
Elena shivered involuntarily at that, and although at first she thought it was because of his words, part of her felt alarmed by something else. Something that continued to elude her as she thought about her friend's wellbeing. Bonnie had told Elena that she thought everything was happening because of her, Elena just hadn't wanted to believe it. But now the vampires were confirming her worst nightmares. Being involved in the supernatural world had brought so much grief and heartache, so many problems on her friends. And now Elena was not only worried about Caroline and what had happened to her with Matt, but she was now scared for Bonnie as well.
Josiah—the one that had tried to have his way with Elena—sneered in her direction. "She doesn't smell good anymore anyway. Not enough blood left in her to be worth drinking."
The other whirled to face her, looking over her wounds and listening intently to her heartbeat, which was considerably slower than it should have been. He swore under his breath. "Any great ideas now?" he said, narrowing his eyes at Josiah. Something about the way he spoke set off alarms all over Elena's mind, but she couldn't figure out—other than being afraid for her life and those of her friends—why he would cause this reaction in her. He hadn't threatened her or fed on her himself. In fact, he was trying to protect her and keep her out of harm's way. So why was her body reacting so violently to his voice?
Josiah shrugged. "What's one human life? You know the witch will come regardless. You've seen just how much she values the friendship and approval of this one."
It wasn't until he moved out of the shadows and Elena could get a clearer look of his face that she felt her heart rate quicken and her breath catch in her throat as all of the pieces finally slid into place.
A mind-numbingly handsome grin spread slowly across his face as Eric met her gaze. "You're right. I have seen just that."
Stefan and Damon split up following two distinct scents as they raced through the woods from the frat house back toward Mystic Falls. Damon felt that this little endeavor his brother had set up was futile, but refrained (for once) from saying so. After what Damon had deemed entirely too long to be stuck on such an inane course of action, he finally caught a fresh trail of Elena's scent. And although he would never admit it, for the briefest moment, Damon wondered if maybe his brother's plan had been a good one all along.
Stefan on the other hand, was coming up cold of any scent that he recognized, although he did come across several that seemed to linger around the old church ruins. Stefan could only imagine what that meant, knowing exactly what was inside the church, and knowing that whoever was lurking around wasn't here because of the scenery. He circled the area twice, trying to find any direction that seemed to be more prevalent than the others. He doubled back more times than he would have liked to admit, always coming up with dead ends when he picked a route. Growing frustrated with himself and nervous for the well-being of Elena, Stefan decided to go back to the Grille and see if he could match any of the scents from the woods and follow them.
As Stefan weaved in and out of trees on his frantic search to save Elena, the fact that he crossed a fresh track Bonnie's scent didn't even register in his mind.
Damon slowed down as he approached a house so deep in the woods it would have been nearly impossible to find for anyone other than a vampire. Damon assumed it was an old hunting cabin—hopefully abandoned by humans—and that breaking in and getting Elena would be a piece of cake. He ran a quick perimeter of the area, making sure that there were no guards outside keeping watch on the building. He strained his ears, pushing his abilities to their limit to be able to make out the two distinct heartbeats inside the house. One was weak, slow, barely holding on. The other was a steadier, healthy heartbeat that he knew—just by listening—didn't belong to Elena.
Bonnie felt their presence before she could see them. She knew there were three of them there in the woods, moving toward her at lightning fast speed. She barely had time to gasp before she opened her eyes and they were before her.
"So the witch—at least—listens to directions," one said.
The only woman in the group scowled and peered around the darkness. "As long as those 'darling' Salvatore brothers aren't lurking somewhere." The way she sneered 'darling' made Bonnie think that she knew them- at least Damon, anyway.
The man with dark hair and emerald eyes spoke up again. "She's not that stupid," he winked at Bonnie then. "Besides, it's not like the vegetarian is any match for us. And Damon can't take us all on at once."
Bonnie narrowed her eyes, she wasn't going to sit around and let them make a fool out of her any longer. She didn't have the patience or the nerve for that anymore. "Where is Elena?" She asked, taking a step toward the trio.
The girl, who Bonnie guessed to have been in her mid twenties when she had been turned, narrowed her gaze on Bonnie and growled deep in her throat. "Who gave you permission to talk, little witch?"
Bonnie scoffed. Despite being scared out of her mind, she found herself somewhat annoyed by the games these vampires always seemed to play. "I have a name. You know what it is. The whole 'witch' thing isn't really necessary, is it?"
The third vampire sighed, as if the antics of his comrades was tiring him. "Get on with it then, Amelia."
The female turned and hissed at him. Bonnie could feel the tensions between the two. It was obvious they weren't used to working together. Both seemed to want to be the leader. Amelia obviously didn't appreciate being told what to do.
"Yeah. Er-" the first one broke off mid-sentence. "We're supposed to be back before two. So we better get going."
Bonnie held her ground, crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm not doing anything for you until you give me Elena. You promised her safe return if I came out here."
Amelia giggled. "I don't think so sugar."
Trying not to betray any emotion, Bonnie kept her breathing slow and steady, although she knew they could hear the acceleration of her pulse. "Where. Is. Elena?" She asked again.
Amelia was in her face before Bonnie could blink, the vampire's hand tangled in Bonnie's curls, holding her head back so that her neck was exposed. "Don't you ever think that you can try to threaten, bully or overpower us, little witch. Understand?"
Bonnie nodded blankly before she was thrown to the ground, Amelia letting her go and tossing her aside like a child's broken toy. She landed on the ground with a thud, her head connecting with a sharp rock jutting from the landscape. Bonnie's hand quickly went to the back of her skull where she was dealt the blow and found warm, sticky liquid on her fingers when she examined them.
"Oops, looks like I broke her," Amelia giggled, her fangs exposing themselves over her full pouty lips.
Bonnie closed her eyes tight and slowed her breathing again, forcing herself into a calm. She harnessed the meager powers that she did possess into quickly closing the wound on her head before the vampires in her presence got any ideas.
The one with the green eyes tilted his head and looked at Bonnie curiously. "I see you are getting the hang of things quickly, young Skywalker."
Bonnie rolled her eyes, and pushed herself to a sitting position, forcing her voice to convey all of the confidence that she knew she didn't actually possess. "Parlor tricks," she replied. "But we're not here for this. So tell me where Elena is, and I will help you with whatever you want."
"Charles, I see you making eyes at the girl. You will NOT allow her to get to you." Amelia said, her tone stern. "You know how he feels about her."
One of Bonnie's brows quirked up; she couldn't help but wonder who the 'he' was that they were referring to. But nothing could take her mind completely away from the reason she was here. Bonnie didn't care about how anyone felt about her, she was there to get Elena back home safe.
Eric drew in a deep breath through his nose. "Ah, yes," he said with a smile spreading across his face. "The time is drawing nigh. I can sense her fear. It's palpable, even from here."
Elena felt herself drifting in and out of consciousness and was finding it difficult to concentrate on the words enough to make sense of them. She tried to move but even breathing was proving difficult. How much blood had those vampires taken from her?
"She's dying," Eric said, listening to her heartbeat. He grabbed Josiah by his scruffy hair and pulled him within an inch of Elena's face. If she could have tensed, she would have.
"What do you want me to do about it?"Josiah whined, looking indifferently at the brunette who was fading fast.
"Only one thing to do," Eric replied before tearing a chunk of flesh from Josiah's neck and pressing the gaping wound to Elena's mouth. Josiah screamed but didn't struggle like Elena would have expected him to do. "Drink, little queen," Eric cooed in her ear. "You shall be stronger than Katherine ever was."
Elena did as she was told, drinking the oozing red liquid in huge gulps until she didn't think she could hold any more. She did it merely out of self-preservation and not due to anything Eric repeated over and over again in her ear. Elena knew that dying with too much vampire blood in your system would bring you back as one, and she hoped that her heart was strong enough to revive itself.
Eric threw the limp vampire body across the dark basement and laughed. Finally Elena felt strong enough to be able to do anything other than breathe. Her heart and mind were both racing a million miles a minute and Eric picked up Elena's pink cellphone and dialed Bonnie's stored number. Elena could hear several rings on the other end until finally it went to voicemail. Elena's phone was crushed in Eric's palm a second later.
"Looks like your friend didn't cooperate, darling. You might end the night as an undead after all." He ran the back of his hand down her cheek and Elena spat blood and saliva at him.
"You wouldn't dare," Elena barked.
"Damn straight he wouldn't," Damon's voice rang through the shadows of the dank basement. He took a few steps toward where Eric was holding Elena tightly, his hand moving to her neck as if he might snap it at any moment. He looked Eric dead in the eye- and winked.
A/N: So… I know it was another long time between updates. Just please stick with me? It's not as easy as you might think to keep track of everyone involved. Especially when Bonnie keeps trying to steal the spotlight. (I don't know what is getting into her lately). Anywho- let me know what you thought? Thanks lovelies.