A/N: you don't need to say it. I'm awful. I know I put these at the beginning at every chapter but I'm SO SORRY. I'm really struggling with inspiration (although that Bamon hug was all it took to give me a kick up the ass) and I'm at such a busy time, applying to university and trying to sort my life out for my final exams. thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed, followed or favourited, your support means everything. I can't apologise enough and if you're still with this story, thank you so much, knowing that you're still enjoying this makes me more determined to see it through and not just give up on these stories. please forgive me and know that I'm trying my hardest to keep writing and to make it as good as I can for you all. I hope you enjoy this next chapter (it's not my best but I think I left you all waiting long enough) and keep encouraging me, it means more than you can imagine when I read all of your kind reviews :)
Elena gripped her phone tightly in her hand, resisting the urge to press 1 on her speed dial and call Damon. Her teeth clenched with the effort it took to remove her finger from the button and slam her phone down onto the table.
"You alright, dear?" Elena turned, shooting a small smile at Ms Parrish as she came to sit beside her.
"Yeah, I'm fine." The old woman took her hands in her own, rubbing her thumb soothingly across them.
"You know, I once found myself in a situation much like yours." At Elena's disbelieving look, she laughed heartily. "You may not see it, but back in my day I was a regular old heart-breaker. I met a boy when I was 19, a real bad-boy, and I was sure I was in love. My parents hated him, he smoked and rode a motorcycle, but I was smitten. Blake, that was his name, he suggested that we run away together and I jumped at the chance to have a carefree life with him. We were gonna travel across the country, to Vegas, to get married. About a week into our journey, he decided that he'd had enough and rode that blasted motorcycle off in the middle of the night. I was stranded in a motel; imagine me, a scared 19 year old, no money, no friends, nothing but the clothes on my back. It's one of the reasons I started this place, so young girls won't have to go through what I went through. So, whenever you're ready to talk about whatever happened to you, I'm here." With that, Ms Parrish stood up and moved to leave the room. Elena followed her movements with her eyes. Suddenly, she was filled with an intense rage, furious at Ms Parrish for being so damn understanding, at Damon for not loving her, at the world for always working against her. She wanted to punish someone. Pushing herself out of her seat, she sped to intercept the older woman's path whose eyes immediately widened with shock.
"I don't want to talk about it. I'm never going to want to talk about it." Her hand shot out to grab her by the throat. Ms Parrish's gaze turned fearful and her eyes filled with tears as she choked, clawing at Elena's hands and trying with all her might to pry her fingers away. The vampire could only see red, tightening her grip before tearing into the woman's jugular, relishing in her gasps of pain and the bloody gurgle as blood filled her airways, suffocating her. When Ms Parrish finally went limp and her weak breaths halted, Elena dropped her body unceremoniously to the ground, uncaring of the blood covering her face, arms and clothes. At the sound of movement from the rooms above, her head whipped at an unnatural speed to the direction of the stairs; the monster in her had emerged and she was more predator than human.
Nothing beats the taste of blood fresh from the source.
Bonnie reached across the table, sneaking one of Damon's fries from his plate as he fed Alessandra her bottle. He mock-glared at her, but quickly turned his attention back to his baby girl, smiling softly as she suckled gently. Bonnie chewed contemplatively on her food, the sight of father and daughter warming her heart. Ali had wrapped a tiny fist around one of Damon's finger which was holding her bottle; their contrasting skin tones made for the perfect picture. Pulled from her reverie by her ringing phone, she fished the device from her bag, frowning as Dimitri's number flashed on the screen once again. Excusing herself, she moved towards the bathrooms as she accepted the call.
"Dimitri, what do you want? I'm kind of busy."
"Bonnie? I need—you some—important—weird going on—Mystic Falls—" Her frown deepened.
"Dimitri? I can't hear you, you're breaking up."
"Bonnie, listen. There's something—in Mystic Falls—Jeremy Gilbert—hiding something—Damon—dangerous—don't know what he'll do to you—Ali—back to New York—"
"What? What about Jeremy? What's going on?" The call abruptly cut off and she nearly screamed with frustration. Frantically, she retrieved his contact details, grunting when it went straight to voice mail. She shoved the phone into her pocket, taking a deep breath to calm herself before returning to her table, avoiding Damon's concerned gaze.
"Everything okay?" She plastered a false smile on her face.
"Yeah, it's nothing I can't handle." His wary gaze didn't leave her face even as the waitress set down her order of curly fries on the table and she began to eat.
"Are you sure?" She nodded, stuffing another mouthful of fries into her mouth and swallowing thickly. An awkward silence followed and Damon was desperate to break it. "So…what's been going on in your life?" She rolled her eyes.
"Damon, I know that we have to interact for Ali's sake, but this, in no way, means I forgive you for what happened. If it weren't for our daughter, I wouldn't even be entertaining you, so don't mistake this for a pardon." His eyes dropped to Ali's forehead as he received her words like physical blows.
"Right…I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to…I'm sorry." She nodded, picking up a curly fry before throwing it back down onto the plate in irritation.
"You know what, I really have to get going. I have a class tomorrow and Stefan will be pissed if he doesn't get his Ali time before bed." His grip on Ali's bottle tightened infinitesimally.
"Stefan?" Bonnie shut her eyes, cursing her big mouth. "You, you're still close with Stefan?" She bit her lower lip.
"Yeah…yeah, we live together." His eyes widened.
"You…live together?"
"No, gosh no, not together, just…it's quite a large apartment. We all live together, me, Stefan, Matt, Tyler and Caroline. It was a more economical solution…" She trailed off, picking at her nails whilst Damon struggled to hold back his excitement. He had not only found the love of his life, he had discovered he had a new daughter and had a positive lead on how to track down Stefan. This trip was turning out better than he ever could have hoped.
Dimitri cursed loudly, tossing his phone into the passenger seat of his car. There was no reception on the way out of Mystic Falls and he had no clue when his bars would go up enough for him to call Bonnie back. It was a long drive back to New York and he found himself wishing he had taken a plane ride instead of driving 7 hours to follow up a dead-end lead and get yelled at by some punk kid.
Suddenly, his engine gave a loud splutter and his car jolted worryingly before slowing down. "No, no, no, come on. Don't do this." Pulling over to the side of the road, he was helpless to watch as his car came to a gradual halt. "Come on! Seriously?" Slamming his hand against the steering wheel, he forcefully pushed the door open, stepping out of the car and opening up the hood. A plume of hot smoke shot out, hitting him square in the face. He swore loudly, returning to the car to retrieve his phone. Still no cell service. Looking around, all he saw on the long expanse of road was trees. Mystic Falls was surrounded by woodland and the road was completely deserted. Groaning in a frustration, he turned back to his car, jumping at the sight of a woman leaning casually against the hood. Deep raven hair cascaded down her back in waves, starkly contrasting to her pale, near translucent, skin and onyx eyes twinkling with mirth from beneath hooded eyelids. She smirked and extended her hand.
"Well, hello there." Her voice came out in a sultry purr, a slight Italian accent adding a musical lilt to her tone. He frowned confusedly.
"Hi? W-where did you come from?" Her smile turned almost predatory as her hand dropped back to her side.
"Oh Dimitri, do we really need to get into all of that?" He took a step back, a chill spreading down his spine.
"How do you know my name? How the hell do you know my name?" She pushed off of the car, stalking towards him.
"I know a lot of things, Mr Stavropoulos. I know all about your little infatuation with one Miss Bonnie Bennett and I know for a fact that Damon Salvatore is never going to let you continue to hang around his girlfriend and daughter, pining away like a pathetic little puppy." His hands clenched into fists by his sides.
"She isn't his girlfriend anymore," he forced out through gritted teeth. The mysterious woman laughed, the light sound tinged with menace, and took a step closer.
"He's claimed her, Dimitri. She's his and he won't ever let her go. But I know a way for you to get rid of him." She sidled closer, drawing a long nail down his chest. "You see, Damon broke my heart a long time ago and I want my revenge." Peeking up at him, she pouted gently. "It's a win-win situation for us both; you get your girl and I finally get to make Damon pay." He stepped back, letting her hand drop.
"What is it that you want? How do you even know Damon?" She rolled her eyes, muttering under her breath, before plastering the smile back on her face.
"My name is Valeria and Damon is an…ex-boyfriend of sorts. He treated me very badly towards the end of our relationship and I'm very, very angry at him. I just need you to help me get close to him and I will take care of the rest." Dimitri was tempted to say yes, it would have been so easy to give in and let the chips fall where they may. However, something about the woman rubbed him up the wrong way, there was a menacing undertone to her otherwise innocent gaze which raised his hackles; as much as he hated Damon Salvatore, he would never risk Bonnie or Alessandra's safety and something told him that this woman could not be trusted.
"Look, I don't really want to get involved in Damon's business." She laughed shortly, the sound harsh and cold to match her suddenly angered expression.
"That's why you're in Mystic Falls, right? Look, Dimitri, I'm offering you a deal that will guarantee your place in Bonnie's life…maybe even her bed. You'd be a fool not to take it." He shook his head, fighting against the warm feeling that spread through him at the thought of being intimate with Bonnie.
"I'm sorry but I can't help you." She rolled her eyes, grunting with frustration. Suddenly, she was in his face, her eyes locked on his and her hand tightly gripping the front of his shirt, holding him in place. Before he had a chance to react, she was speaking, her eyes holding him captive.
"You are going to help me get close to Damon. You will not tell Bonnie what is going on and you will not stand in my way." Despite everything in him screaming with him to agree, he frowned, pulling away and snatching her hands from his person.
"What the hell was that? What are you doing?" Her eyes widened for a fraction of a second before her expression settled on mildly irritated.
"Vervain," she spat. His hand instinctively covered the chain around his neck that Bonnie had gifted him with for Christmas, a few weeks after they met. Valeria's eyes narrowed on the offending object before she shrugged. "What a waste." In a second, she grabbed the side of his head, smashing it down onto the hood of his car and watching as his form crumpled to the asphalt. The sickening crunch of bone and metal were assurance enough that he would not survive, although the blood pooling around his head wasn't an unwelcome sight either. Brushing her hands off on her jeans, she whistled and disappeared into the trees.
Detective Jonathan Kingsley wiped a weary hand down his face, squinting at the blinking screen in front of him; this 14 hour shift was really kicking his ass. Glancing at the clock, he sighed heavily. 2:33pm. Gritting his teeth, he tried to console himself with the fact that he got off at 3 and would be going straight home to sleep. Just as his spirits began to lift, his partner came rushing in, wide eyed with a stack of paper in his hand. Around him, officers were racing around, horrified looks on their faces and shocked tones to their conversations.
"Kingsley, we gotta go."
"What? What's going on?"
"We made a crime scene-a massacre at a halfway house for pregnant young girls. No survivors. The killer…he tore open their throats and let them bleed out." Jonathan stood to his feet, his horrified expression mirroring those of the officers around him. "Nate…these girls were just kids, teenagers. What type of sicko slaughters an old woman and a bunch of teenagers?"
A wolf-whistle drew Elena's attention and she whirled around to face its source. Her guard immediately rose at the sight of the beautiful woman leaning against a wall staring directly at her.
"Wow, you…you really went to town on those girls back there." She gestured to the blood staining Elena's clothes and skin.
"Who are you?" Giggling childishly, the woman pushed away from her position and walked slowly towards Elena, her heels clicking ominously on the ground and echoing in the empty alley.
"People just keep asking me that today." Extending a hand, she swiped some blood from Elena's shoulder, dipping the appendage in her mouth and moaning lowly. "There's nothing like a bit of fresh blood to get you going." Elena inhaled sharply.
"Who the hell are you? What do you want?" The woman smiled again, nodding her head in amusement.
"Yep, people keep asking me that too. I'm Valeria, and I need your help, Elena Gilbert."
"For what?" Valeria stepped around her, circling like a vulture waiting to attack.
"You see, I'm looking for Damon Salvatore. I know that you came to New York with him and I know for a fact that you're not very happy with him after her dumped you for your best friend…again." Elena flushed with humiliation and indignation.
"Why would I help you? I don't even know you? Forget it." As she turned away, Valeria let out a devious chuckle.
"Before you go…were you aware that Damon and Bonnie had a daughter?" Elena froze. Her breath caught in her throat and her eyes bugged out of her head. Slowly, she turned back to face the smirking woman.
"What did you just say?"
"I said Bonnie gave birth to Damon's daughter three months ago." She took a step closer. "And today, your little boyfriend went to go play house with the two of them whilst you were forced to find your own place to sleep." She advanced further. "Doesn't it piss you off that Bonnie got your perfect life; she's living in a quaint apartment with all of your little friends, Caroline, Matt, Stefan, she's had a sweet little baby with Damon and now he's chasing after her, desperately trying to prove what a good guy he is, that he can change for her. He never wanted to change for you, did he, Elena? He wanted to change you, but he never tried to be a better man to make you happy. He poisoned you and when he was done, he left you behind like trash to go shack up with the woman he really wants." By this point, Valeria was so close that Elena could feel her breath fanning over her face. Her fists clenched as she struggled to contain her anguish and hatred. Valeria knew just which buttons to press to get to her and, right now, she was dancing all over them. "Help me hurt him, Elena. Help me get back at Damon for all the crap he's put you through. Help me end him." Closing her eyes to ward off the tears, Elena battled with the crippling pain spreading from her heart across her whole body. It was too much; the agony was too intense, too all-consuming. Reaching down into the very depths of her being, Elena reached for her humanity switch…and flipped it off. Opening her eyes, she smirked cruelly.
"I think you and I are going to be really good friends." Valeria clapped delightedly. This was all coming together nicely.
"So…this is me." Damon smiled tightly at Bonnie before turning his head to press another kiss to the side of Ali's head. Reluctantly, he handed the baby to her mother, watching as she turned and placed her gently into the small car. He leaned against the side of the car as Bonnie fussed over their daughter, tucking her blanket closely around her and folding the detachable pram into a compact shape. Finally, she turned to face him, wringing her hands. "So…" she breathed.
"So…" He opened his arms, smiling hopefully. Bonnie hesitantly stepped into his embrace, melting into him after a few tense moments. She breathed in the familiar scent of his clothes, shutting her eyes in an attempt to ward off the memories. When she could no longer stand it, she pushed against his chest, rounding the car without a word and yanking open the driver's door.
"Bonnie, wait!" She paused at his request, refusing to meet his gaze. "I…thank you. For bringing Ali today, it meant a lot. And…I hope we can do this again sometime." She sighed deeply before nodding. "Maybe we can set up another day to meet? You still have my number, it never changed." She nodded again, her eyes trained intensely on the car door. When she moved to get in, he made a final proclamation. "Oh, and Bon? This isn't the end of us. You may think we're done, but I'm going to prove to you that I'm the guy for you. Just know that." He bent, blowing a kiss at Ali through the car window before walking away with a quick, "I'll be seeing you soon." Bonnie slipped into the car, staring straight ahead for a moment. Ali's gurgling laugh brought her out of her thoughts but, try as she might, she couldn't fight the smile which slipped onto her lips. Was it bad that Damon's parting words excited her? Was it bad that she was rooting for him to prove her wrong?