TITLE: Night Crawlers

SPOILERS: From 'Fool Me once' onward.

RATINGS: Adult content

CHARACTERS: Bonnie, Damon, Stefan, Elena, Jeremy, Matt, Caroline, Aunt Jenna, Anna & Tyler. Laila Benjamin & Uri

A/N: This is my first ever Vampire Diary story, Damon/Bonnie. Depending how this one turns out I might not be able to stop. It was 4am and as corny as it sounds, I daydreamed a whole scene between Bamon to the song wanna know what love is by foriegner *ducks* I love them. Anyway, I'm just going with the flow on this one. It IS a Damon/Bonnie fic but I will be incorporating the other storylines...Stefan/Elena, Matt/Caroline etc

SUMMARY: Some call them human slaves, while others refer to them as familiars. Those who believe and want to become a vampire are given chances to prove themselves to the leader. Soon they are terrifying Mystic falls, clearly after something or someone and won't stop until they get it.

Night Crawlers

1. Ease my Pain

Out of time, I hear your voice break through the noise, and pain, my hearts refrain. Will you please ease my pain ~ Declan Flynn

Pulling the hoody over her head, Laila leaned over her bed stuffing the pillows underneath the sheets to make it look like she was sleeping and then crept out of her window. Walking down the deathly quiet streets, Paranoia had Laila whipping her head around to see if she was still alone every other step, her hallucinations weren't out of the ordinary so the fog slowly forming around her though creepy, couldn't be real or so she reasoned.

Laila felt her left arm go instantly numb as fingers gripped her but before she could let out a scream or throw a kick, her mouth was covered by a hand and she was being dragged from the openness the streetlights offered and pulled into the darkness of the shadows. Her heart started to pump so fast and so hard that it hurt her chest but she was too weak to struggle or put up a fight, and while others would be thinking about never seeing their family again with their life flashing before their eyes, she was left with nothing but the moment.

Laila squeezed her eyes shut and when she opened them again her friend was laughing at her, her very hot about to be dead friend.

"How cute," He breathed. "Trying to kick,"

A tear came to the corner of her eye, as she leaned against the tree trying to get her breath back. "Jerk,"

"That's what you get for sneaking out so late, all alone braveheart," He smiled that brilliant white smile that Laila had grown to love so much.

"I have my pepper spray," She boasted, tapping her pocket.

He chuckled, taking a step closer to her. "Yeah, cause it saved your arse just now didn't it, princess?"

A smile twitched at her lips, she hadn't known him long, he'd just started at her school but due to illness Laila had missed his rise to school fame; however, she hadn't missed his entrance and the two had become friends. Uri was his name, Uri Osborne, British guy with a chip on his shoulder and a suaveness none of the jocks in school could begin to imitate. Laila had found herself wondering what he'd seen in her, she was just a simple girl, with a few good friends, she wasn't exactly swimming in the popularity pool. Nope, she'd been the girl who attended church every Sunday religiously, helped her parents around the house and tried to get her homework done, sometimes. Why was he with her in the woods? Why had he chosen her out of all the pretty semi-brain dead girls in her school?

Uri smirked as though he were reading her thoughts, riddled with insecurities. "Laila Elliot Benjamin, the girl who's never been kissed, the odd one,"

"How would you…"

"I'm a mind reader," He answered, eyes unwavering.

Laila tried to concentrate on what he was saying but found her focus being drawn to the thickening of the fog, usually her hallucinations involved Vampires, Demons & the Chucky doll trying to get her. Laila always had a wild imagination, though being in Mystic falls before all the animal attacks made it hard to imagine anything out of the painfully ordinary. She shook her head to clear the fog but it only lingered closer, making her feel cold.

"Do you see that?" She asked aloud, slapping her palm on her forehead for forgetting to think about the crazy and not share it with the sane, the last thing she needed was the cute guy in school thinking she was nine buckets of it.

"See what?" Uri whispered, reaching over to brush the loose strands of hair from her face. "The fog?"

Laila furrowed a brow, tilting her head to the side at his uninterrupted calmness. "You see it, you can see the fog?"

Uri nodded, biting his lower lip. "Of course I can see it silly, I'm the one doing it,"

Laila pushed off the tree finally, but quickly found she couldn't move much further than Uri's chest. "What are you doing?"

Pushing is full lips out in thought, he moved in momentarily to smell Laila's neck. "Shame, I really like you, you're...different?" Uri ducked down a little, so their eyes were level. "I wish I could help you out with your little problem too, but, ahh well," His eyes went bloodshot and the veins protruded from his face. "Can't have em' all, right?"

Bringing her hands to her sides, Laila tapped around her pockets freezing when he held the pepper spray up to his face. "Uri what's wrong with you? Your face..." she cried.

"Don't worry love, it will only hurt a lot," He whispered, before curling his fingers around her exposed neck and letting his fangs descend to puncture her pretty flesh.

Laila tried to scream but with his fingers tightly wrapped around her neck, it died on her lips.

There are stages of grief, I'm not sure how many, I don't really care. I just don't want anyone telling me I'll be okay, or that this is okay, I don't need to know that bad things happen for a reason. And, finally, I will swing for the first person who tells me she's in a better place.

I can't say goodbye yet, I'm not ready to...

Bonnie hadn't cried since that night, since she'd found her grams laying in front of her, so peaceful and serene, like it was a choice and one she was happy with at that. How could that be? She wasn't supposed to go, she wasn't ready to, there was so much Bonnie still had to learn from her, it wasn't fair.

Elena kept her head down, eyes fixed on the dirt covering the golden plaque that had grams inscription on it "Heart of Gold, Soul of magic," a single tear escaped down her drawn face as she searched out Bonnie's hand and entwined her fingers with her best friend's. Everyone Bonnie cared about was there; Stefan stood close but was careful not to stand out and blended into the background of family and friends.

A feeling at the back of his neck caused him to whip his head around and search out the feeling outside of the small crowd of people but he saw nothing, no-one.

Caroline stood shoulder pressed to Matt's, eyes wandering ceaselessly while his fixed on Bonnie's vacant stare as the reverend spoke of Sheila's shrewd but irrevocable love and unwavering loyalty for those she cared about. Jeremy was there too, he'd been around Bonnie longer than he could talk and couldn't help but feel her loss through Elena, he held on to Aunt Jenner waiting for Bonnie to look up from the lowered coffin so he could smile and show her that everyone cared. She never looked up.

Bonnie hadn't even managed a smile when her grams favourite song 'Sinner man' by Nina Simone droned on in the background while her Eulogy was read out, not once did Elena leave her best friend's side and she never would. It didn't matter that Bonnie wasn't saying anything, to everyone else on the outside of Bonnie's world she looked far away, like she was simply gazing at something that either interested or baffled her, but Elena knew where Bonnie was, she knew by the way the petite witch hadn't stopped squeezing her hand.

It rained that day, harder than it ever had before and Elena couldn't help wondering, if Bonnie had somehow unconsciously influenced the darkness in the sky that now loomed over Mystic falls, over all of them. Who was to blame for this? None of them? All of them? Was Grams going to die anyway and the spell just hurried it along was it just the spell?

The people soon dispersed to continue the service at Grams house but Bonnie found herself paralyzed and staring into the grave waiting for her, the one who'd practically raised her to jump out of the grave and be all right again. She was a powerful witch after all, how could this be real, how could this actually be happening? Questions, more than anyone could answer swam around Bonnie's already cluttered head, with the gaping hole in her chest growing bigger with each unanswered.

Elena reassured Bonnie's father and returned to Bonnie's side, hugging her still form tight as the tears resurfaced to see her best friend, her sister in such a state, it tore Elena apart. Eventually she managed to get her out of the rain and into the car, and the only time Bonnie spoke was to request they go to hers instead of Grams, she didn't want to be there with everyone else, she didn't want them to say goodbye or ask her to. Maybe Grams would come to her like Emily had; she had to see her again, even if she had to conjure a spell to do it.

Elena did as Bonnie asked and she didn't speak again for the rest of the day, Elena brought her a hot water bottle and crawled into bed beside her, resting her head on Bonnie's shoulder. "I'll always be here for you, always Bonnie," she whispered.

"We're not strong enough, even if we were able to bring the seal down, there's no guarantee that we could get it back up again,"

"Help me, or I'll do it alone," Bonnie said, holding the spell book.

Bonnie jerked forward, looking beside her to find Elena fast asleep, head buried in the pillow with a peacefulness overtaking her face. Softly pulling back the blanket she slowly slipped out of bed and out of the house, she knew where she was going. Arms wrapped tightly around herself, Bonnie felt a presence but her eye never caught it, the feeling only went away once she was inside Grams house and alone, completely alone.

Bonnie tiptoed into her Grams room as though being careful not to wake her, Grams was a light sleeper, nothing got past her, no one got in or out without her knowing about it. The young witch's heart sunk to her feet as she saw the empty bed, her body started to tremor until she was no longer able to hold herself up and landed where she'd shakily stood.

"Grams," she whispered with a shaky breath. "Please, if you can hear me..." Bonnie's tongue flicked out wetting her bottom lip and then her teeth pressed against it momentarily. "Do you think you could--could you try and make it back to me, please? For a little while longer, I need you and I'm not ready to let you go, I'm not ready to do this, face this alone. Grams I can't do this without you, I..." Bonnie's eyes searched the room as she longed to feel the presence of her world come back and comfort her but there was nothing, nothing but silence surrounding her, no static, no warmth, and no love. Bonnie's Grams wasn't coming back. "What am I gonna do without you?"

She noticed the cardigan was neatly folded on the pillow, the last thing her Grams had worn and as Bonnie reached out for it her breath left her, the tears began trailing down her face and before she could reel the emotions back in she was crying without restraint. Slowly she leaned against the carpeted floor, holding the cardigan close to her face as her body jerked with an overwhelming surge of emotions blurred into one, rippling through her entire body. "I can—"

"Yes you can baby, you can do this," Grams reassured, stroking Bonnie's unruly curls from her face.

Bonnie's chin trembled delicately. "But Grams, I need you,"

"And you have me," She smiled, placing her hand on Bonnie's heart. "Right here, baby and I ain't ever going away, you hear?"

"What do I do when I'm scared, when I don't know what to do?" Bonnie cried.

"You listen to your heart and you follow your gut, they won't steer you wrong,"

Bonnie clutched her chest, a stray tear falling as she did. "When will the pain stop, Grams?"

Gram's smiled faded and her brows now drawn cast a shadow over her face. "Only when you're ready to let go of it,"

There was a moment of silence where Bonnie questioned whether it was all real, if her Grams had really answered her. "What about when I need to talk to you, or when..."

"Hush, child," Grams cooed, brushing Bonnie's tears away with her thumb. "All you have to do is think of me, I'll always be around to listen to my sweet baby,"

Bonnie threw herself into her Gram's arms, holding her with fierceness as though if she held her tight enough she wouldn't able to go anywhere, ever. "I can't do this without you, I can't be as good a witch as you were, or Emily,"

"No, you'll be better," Her smile was wide and her eyes full of pride, as though she knew a secret that was just too juicy to reveal, not when Bonnie learning it by herself was what would make it worthwhile.

"How do you know?"

"Because I know my Grandbaby," Grams pulled away to look Bonnie in the eye. "Better than she does. I know what you are capable of and what you can and will be to Mystic falls, and all those within it." She kissed her granddaughter's forehead. "It wasn't your fault," She added, with a whisper.

"Grams," Bonnie said with urgency as she seemed to be further away than she was a minute ago, she could feel her comfort blanket being ripped from underneath her and the cold blowing in after it to remind her that she would be alone.

"Trust yourself, the rest will follow,"

"Don't leave,"

"I'm not leaving baby, I haven't gone anywhere," Grams smiled. "Out of sight but not out of mind, I love you baby,"

Bonnie sniffled. "I love you Grams,"

Bonnie stirred, she could feel her hair being brushed away gently but didn't want to wake up from the comfort of her Grams. "Grams," She muttered, taking a sharp breath a second later as her skin went cold forcing her to wake and sit up sharp-eyed. Bonnie looked down at the blanket over her and then down at the spot on the floor where she'd sworn she'd landed, she must've crawled up to the bed. The room was empty and it was still dark outside but the lingering feeling of her Grams presence lulled her back to sleep with the cardigan still close to her chest.

She hoped, prayed that in the morning something would ease her pain because it would take more than a dream to make her all better, or another visit.

The moon glowed eerily, reflecting boldly only on the vampire's shades when he glanced up, grin annoyingly smug. Uri walked up the driveway of Laila's house, wiping the blood from his mouth with his sleeve before knocking on it, he cracked his neck and then cleared his throat putting his head down as the door opened in front of him.

"Hello,"

Uri looked up slowly, the smile appearing on his face slow and deliberate. "Hello, Mrs. Benjamin, you're looking lovely this evening,"

Claudia pulled her robe together and pushed her frizzy hair back, feeling anything but lovely. "Uh, thank you Uri. I'm afraid Laila hasn't been feeling too well, she's gone to bed early,"

"Oh?" Uri looked behind him, chuckling lightly. "I'm so embarrassed, I wish she'd called me back,"

"She called you?" Claudia glanced over her shoulder again, a little embarrassed that she hadn't checked in on Laila since the night before. Working double shifts at the supermarket was not fun but she had a living to make for the both of them. Claudia had been getting home and zoning out on the sofa wearing nothing but a gown, she wasn't exactly 2010's best mom but she was trying.

"Yeah, five minutes ago she asked if I could come see her," Uri held up his bag. "I even brought homework, I think I've been blown off,"

Claudia frowned, looking over her shoulder momentarily. "Oh, uh let me just go check on her,"

"I could do that," Uri said, with a slight eagerness.

"That's okay, I'll do it," Leaving the door to swing wider open she walked back into the house towards Laila's room. "Come in Uri, it's too cold out," She called out over her shoulder.

Uri smiled, eyeing the door frame before stepping in one foot after the other, he sighed, highly satisfied with himself and closed the door shut. "Thank you Mrs. Benjamin, that's very kind of you,"

~ Fin ~