Tear the World Down - Chapter 24
Title: Tear the World Down
Author: isisizabel
Fandom: The Vampire Diaries (tv show)
Pairing(s): Bonnie/Damon; Elena/Stefan; Matt/Caroline
Rating: R
Author's Note: Spoilers through 1.22 (Founder's Day); Bonnie and Damon must put aside their differences to stop a greater threat. This fic will definitely have NC-17 chapters later. Please join evening_ground if you'd like to be able to read them as those posts will be Member's Only locked.
Previous Chapters
Tear the World Down
By: IsisIzabel
Chapter 24
The faint golden light surrounding the thick silver band with an onyx stone in its center slowly faded into obscurity as Bonnie leaned back. A pleased smile curved across her lips as she realized she had barely felt any drain on her Power at all. She let the Power she had summoned slide away as she turned her face to the window.
The bright sunlight seemed to contrast to how desperate the day was. The day of the solstice. She would summon Katherine in a few short hours. This would all be over one way or another before the day was done. The realization brought about a resigned sort of comfort.
“You didn’t have to do that,” Damon said from where he was leaning against the doorframe watching her. His eyes were narrowed in a scowl.
Bonnie looked over at him from where she sat on in the center of his bed, her legs tucked up under her body. “I wanted to. Besides, if something happens-”
“Nothing is going to go wrong,” Damon interrupted her firmly.
She looked away. “You can’t be sure of that. At least this way Jeremy will have a shot at a semblance of normalcy. Maybe he can keep Elena safe if we can’t.”
“Fine. But you didn’t need to waste your Power like that,” he said tersely, his eyes cold.
Bonnie got off the bed, feeling the waves of unease roiling between them. He was nervous, and Damon didn’t handle nervous well. She crossed the room and stopped inches from him, turning her face up to look at him. Her lips pressed together tightly for a fraction of a second before she reached for his hands.
Straightening, he frowned slightly as she placed his hands on either side of her face and held them there. Her green eyes were wide as she stared up at him.
“It didn’t drain me at all, Damon,” she assured him softly. “I’m stronger now.” The added blood he had given her last night had assured that.
His thumb swept across the curve of her cheek, his gaze unreadable. He sighed after a second and pressed his lips against her forehead quickly before pulling away as Jeremy rounded the corner.
Bonnie extended the ring to him and watched as his dark eyes lit up.
“Seriously?” he asked, unable to stop the grin that spread across his fingers. Bonnie suddenly remembered his fifth birthday when Elena had gotten him the Tonka truck he had been wanting for weeks. He had smiled like that then, too. A smile full of innocence and joy that made her heart twist for the days when all their lives were simpler.
Her eyes found Damon’s over Jeremy’s shoulder, knowing by the way his eyes tightened he felt her momentary pang of remorse.
Jeremy slid the ring onto his finger and brushed past Bonnie to go stand in front of the window. Still smiling, he held his hands up to the light. He looked back at her. “No burning.”
Chuckling, Bonnie nodded. “That’s the whole point.”
Jeremy rushed at her, moving faster than possible for a human. He grabbed her in his arms and hugged her, lifting her off her feet as he squeezed.
“OK, Jeremy,” she said, still laughing. Then she sucked in a sharp breath as his grip tightened a bit and pain blossomed across her chest. “Jer-”
Jeremy’s arms were suddenly gone and Bonnie had the vague sensation of stumbling for a second before she was set to rights. She blinked and Jeremy had been shoved into the far corner and Damon was between them.
Jeremy’s eyes were wide and apologetic. “I didn’t … Bonnie, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to grab you so hard.”
Bonnie put a hand on Damon’s back, feeling the tight muscles through his shirt as she stepped around him. “It’s OK.” She took a few steadying breaths. Having Jeremy around was something like having a baby tiger. He could be sweet and almost innocent, but also able to rip her apart by accident. He still didn’t quite understand his own strength.
“You need to be more careful,” Damon snapped, his irritation reaching a dangerous level.
“It was an accident,” Bonnie assured him as Stefan and Elena came into the room.
“We heard a crash,” Elena said, her gaze swinging from Jeremy to Damon and then to Bonnie. “Is everything OK?”
Jeremy held up his hand limply. His smile was thin and strained. “Bonnie made me a ring.”
“And he tried to kill her as a thank you,” Damon growled, shaking off Bonnie hold and moving a few feet away.
“You what?” Elena gasped, looking to her brother.
“It was an accident,” Bonnie repeated firmly, her eyes not leaving Damon.
“But you’re OK?” Stefan pressed, touching her elbow lightly.
Bonnie glanced at him, distracted by the swell of emotions radiating off Damon. “I’m fine.”
“OK,” Stefan said slowly, not needing a bond with either of them to sense the tension in the room. “I was going to take Elena and Jeremy to Alaric’s.”
Alaric Saltzman’s had been the most obvious choice in safe houses when deciding. Once he was brought up to speed on the problem, he agreed to help and was quite willing to do more than act as a bodyguard for Elena and Jenna while Jeremy was sequestered in the attic and away from Jenna. If Katherine tried anything, she wouldn’t be able to get into the house and if she did, Alaric and Jeremy could put up a fairly decent defense if needed.
“You’re getting some of those vervain darts from him, too, right?” Bonnie asked.
Stefan nodded. “Yeah. I should be back in about an hour.” He glanced at his brother but didn’t say anything.
Bonnie checked the clock on Damon’s desk. That gave them three hours until noon, when the sun was at its highest point in the sky. The plan was for her to summon the talisman a few minutes before.
Sighing, Elena moved to Bonnie and threw her arms around her friend’s neck. “Please be careful.”
Bonnie hugged her back. “I will.”
Elena pulled back, her eyes a little watery and her smile slipping. She looked over at Damon. “You be careful, too, Damon.”
He glanced at her, his lips twitching. “Aren’t I always?”
“I mean it,” Elena said quietly as she moved away from Bonnie. “If anything happens to Bonnie, I’m holding you responsible.”
His eyes darkened for a fraction of a second before he snorted and walked into his bathroom, closing the door with more force than necessary.
Elena turned to Stefan. “See? He isn’t taking this seriously. I’m supposed to trust him to protect you and Bonnie?”
“He is taking this seriously, Elena,” Bonnie told her gently. “Trust me.”
“She’s right,” Stefan told Elena, twining his fingers with hers. “Damon wants Katherine gone as much as we do.”
Elena still didn’t look overly convinced, but she let it go. She glanced back at her brother. “Ready to go?”
“Sure,” he agreed, but his eyes cut nervously to the closed bathroom door as if expecting Damon to come through it any second. He slowly walked to the door, pausing briefly to give Bonnie a half-hearted smile.
“See you soon?” he offered.
Bonnie nodded slowly, trying to scrape together a smile of her own. It was a watery one with tear pricking the back of her eyes. “See you later.”
“I’ll be back soon,” Stefan told Bonnie as Elena and Jeremy started down the stairs. His eyes drifted to the closed bathroom door. “Is-”
“We’ll be fine,” Bonnie told him firmly, folding her arms over her chest. She raised her chin a notch. “Go on.”
She waited until the front door had shut and she heard Elena’s car start up before she started for the bathroom. She only made it three steps before the door slammed open and Damon stormed out.
Bonnie froze, momentarily stunned by the look of wild panic in his eyes as they sought hers. “Damon-”
He was across the room and holding her in his arms before she finished speaking his name. His lips crushed hard against hers as he backed her into the wall, pinning her against it with his body. His mouth teased hers open, his tongue sliding wet and slippery against hers. He tasted like coffee and scotch, a unique blend she had come to crave because was completely Damon.
She tore her lips from his, dizzy from lack of oxygen as his lips moved down her jaw to her throat. Gasping, she fisted her hands in his hair, urging him down as she titled her neck to give him better access. She expected the sharp sting of his fangs sinking into her, but it never came.
He pressed a single kiss against the base of her throat and pulled back to look at her. “Not this time,” he muttered a second before his lips claimed hers once more.
His hands framed her face and then skimmed down her arms, brushing the sides of her breasts in a way that made her arch against him. He ignored her, settling his hands around her waist even as she pressed her hips against his.
He pulled his lips from hers and she whimpered in protest. Her eyes opened to see him staring at her, his eyelashes nearly brushing hers.
“We can leave,” he said softly, his thumb creeping under the hem of her shirt to brush the soft skin he found there.
Bonnie’s arms slid loosely around his neck, her heart pounding an erratic beat. “We-what?”
“We can leave now,” he repeated, his blue eyes wide and pleading. “Just us. Katherine won’t find us. We can leave Mystic Falls.”
Her eyes softened with regret. “Damon, we can’t.”
His gaze hardened, his pale blue eyes turning to chips of ice. “Why the hell not?”
“What about Elena? And Stefan? Jeremy? Katherine would kill them.”
His gaze never wavered and she knew that he could leave them all behind in a heartbeat if she agreed. Because he was scared. For the first time in over a century and a half, Damon Salvatore was scared of losing someone he cared for.
Someone he loved.
Damon had loved Katherine recklessly before she had betrayed him. It was who he was. When he gave his heart, his loyalty and protectiveness knew no bounds.
She could feel it now in the bond and see it hidden in his eyes. The soft, haunting longings of love he was burying under layers of fear and cynicism and sarcasm. Somewhere in the last few weeks the bond had manifested itself into something more, and the realization that he loved her was staggering. Even if he would never say the words aloud, the emotion was there.
Panic settled heavy in her stomach. “Damon, we can’t.”
But, God, she wanted to. So badly it made her physically ache.
His eyes closed for a fraction of a second before he nodded and pushed away from her. He turned his back on her and walked a few steps.
Bonnie swallowed the sob that threatened to escape her lips as she sagged against the wall for support, knowing her legs would never support her weight right now.
“Do you have everything you need for the spell?” he asked after a second, his voice cool and detached. He turned around and looked at her as if everything was fine.
She nodded mutely at him, unable to find her voice.
“OK.” He nodded and rubbed his jaw, his eyes not meeting hers. “Stefan will be back soon. We’ll summon Katherine in the study. I think that will-”
“Silly, Damon,” a silky voice said from the hallway.
Bonnie and Damon’s gazes locked and then their heads turned simultaneously to look at the open doorway. Bonnie forced herself into a standing position.
“If you wanted to see me,” Katherine drawled in a syrupy sweet voice as she walked leaned against the doorframe, “all you had to do was call.” Her lips curved into a wicked smile as she looked from Bonnie to Damon.
Katherine took two long steps into the room and paused. “What did you want to see me about?”
Bonnie edged closer to Damon, knowing her heart was racing and both vampires could hear it. This was bad. So much worse than any of them could have predicted, and Stefan was at least another thirty minutes from coming home.
After several long, silent seconds, Katherine sighed loudly. “Let me guess: You were hoping to kill me using the Power of the sun during the solstice?”
Bonnie’s jaw dropped open. Damon kept his cool and shrugged. “Something like that.”
Katherine laughed, grinning. “I figured as much. And how exactly were you going to get rid of this?” She picked up the necklace with the dark blue stone at the hollow of her throat.
Damon glanced at Bonnie from the corner of his eye and she could feel his tension mounting, coiling.
“How about if I make it easy for you?” Katherine moved forward so she was directly in the beam of sunlight pouring in from the window. She ripped the necklace from her throat and tossed it to Bonnie.
Bonnie caught it on a reflex and watched as Katherine spun in a slow circle. She wasn’t burning.
“I don’t need it now,” Katherine told them both, still smiling. “I have the talisman. The necklace means nothing.”
The necklace slid from Bonnie’s trembling fingers and hit the wooden floor. She took a step back and looked at Damon, who was still several feet away from her.
Damon’s eyes never left Katherine. “So what happens now?”
“Now?” Katherine repeated, tilting her head as she looked at him. “Now I kill you.”
She moved faster than either one of them could react to, pinning Damon against the far wall with brute strength.
“No!” The strangled word exploded out of Bonnie. Even as she started for them, she could do nothing but scream as Katherine pulled a stake from her jacket and buried it deep in Damon’s chest.