Chapter 18

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, The Vampire Diaries, or The Originals in any way shape or form. I just merely enjoy playing with the characters for my own, and your personal amusement…

Damon walked into the boarding house feeling exhausted and pissed off. His worry over Bella was getting to him, and while he was happy that Bonnie agreed to meet with him, his mood quickly took a turn as he got out of his car.

The scent of one of the Cullens lingered outside the door, and only got stronger the closer he moved. “I’m going to rip some glittery fuckers apart!” he called out as he walked in, turning the corner to find the blond male sitting with his brother. “Stefan. What have I told you about bringing home strays? They carry vile diseases…”

Jasper ran his hands over his pants before he stood. “My apologies for intruding. I would not be here if it were not suggested by one of the brothers.”

Damon continued to stand and stared him down, his eyes narrowing upon his words. “Stef? Care to elaborate before I rip this fucker apart and then kill you once and for all?”

“It’s true,” the young vampire answered, his tone indicating that he was not completely thrilled either. “Elijah volunteered our house for his stay. Though he had other intentions for here specifically. He wants me to keep an eye on him for them.”

“I promised them that if any threats came to town, especially from my – former family, I would help in dealing with it and if it were by my own actions, I would volunteer my life,” Jasper clarified.

“Great! So how long do you think fucktard will try his hand again so that I get to kill you all?” Damon grinned.

Sighing, Jasper looked back at Stefan before answering. “I wouldn’t wager much time. Edward is persistent and stubborn. He is obsessed with Isabella. Despite not being a trained fighter, he does have some natural abilities and can use your thoughts of your intended attacks against you.”

“I think I’ll be talking to Elijah about the decisions he makes without input from those that it affects,” Damon muttered, making his way to the bar to pour himself a drink.

Stefan followed behind, frowning at his brother’s demeanor. “How’s things going at casa Original?”

“About as well as can be expected. Bella got her memories back and she’s freaked out. She is their sister, by the way,” Damon spoke quite emotionlessly as he drank. “For the most part, everyone’s getting along with having to protect her. Seems the running theory is that the big bad coming around, that storm, is due to their aunt. Mama Witch sold her when she was just a girl to a nutbag.”

“Damn. If there is something I can do to help…”

“Keep your eyes on this fucker,” Damon answered in a snap. “The Mikaelsons already have plans to always have someone with her. If it’s not me, it’ll be one of them. I have Bonnie on her way here now to see if there isn’t something that she can find out about the big bad Auntie.”

Stefan nodded, understanding how on edge his brother was getting. “Okay. I’ll just show Jasper to a room and leave you and Bonnie be. Call if you need anything.”

“Knock yourself out,” he murmured, refilling his glass as he continued to think about everything. He was never more pleased than Bonnie arriving, quicker than he anticipated. Eying her as she walked into the room, he flashed her his signature smirk and toasted to her arrival. “Drink?”

“No thanks,” she answered, setting her bag onto one of the couches. “What is so important that you needed me here immediately?”

Damon carried his glass over and shrugged. “Bella.”

The witch raised an eyebrow, knowing how infatuated he’d gotten with her. “Is this about Katherine wanting her dead?”

“Negative Nancy. This is about my Isabella being an Original,” he announced, waiting for her to catch on.

Bonnie blinked, confused at his words. “But she’s human…”

“Reincarnated witch it would seem. She is their sister and finally got all her memories back on how she became what she is now. So, what I need from you, is a method to kill a super powered, ancient witch that is on her way to kill my girlfriend.” While Bonnie kept that incredulous look on her face, Damon continued to fill her in, each detail revealed puzzling the Bennett witch even further.

“So basically… you want me on standby to help you to take down an evil old witch that even the Originals are afraid of?” Bonnie summarized the whole story. “Why? Sounds to me we need her on our side.”

“Noooo, I need you to help me find a way to kill the bitch. Are you really willing to murder that entire family because you hate them that much? What about Bella? I thought you liked her. She only just got them back and to be frank, since they’ve been together, I actually am starting to like those assholes.”

“Damon, they’re the Originals, come on,” Bonnie rolled her eyes at him. “I mean, I know we can’t kill them, but we can at least neutralize them and get them all out of our hair.”

He ran his hand through his hair, frustrated and growing more pissed by the second. “I can’t do that. And you won’t have to worry about them for long after this witch bitch is done with. They are planning on moving back to New Orleans together and I’m going with them,” he hissed, new regrets for asking for her help rising.

Bonnie was quiet for a moment and then started to laugh, loud. “Oh, I never thought I’d see the day!”

“Well it certainly beats sticking around here where no matter what I do for all of you children, it’s shit on. At least I’ll be happy with my Bella.”

“What about your brother, Damon? You always make a point about the fact that you need to look after him despite throwing the occasional wrench into his life.”

Damon turned to look at her. Her accusation filled him with an intense rage that he struggled not to go and rip her throat out. “What about him? I’m here and you hate me because of what Saint Stefan did. I didn’t want to go through with transition and he forced it on me. He’s on his own with that – that – bitch you call a friend. I honestly don’t know what I even considered good about her because she’s nothing more than her ancestor and you are so blind to her being the cause of a lot of the trouble in town. But no! Let’s blame Damon! Damon has no regard for human life… Might I remind you that you are the one to convince me to give Caroline my blood. I didn’t want to because of the exact result and yet you still blamed me. I’m not the only one that isn’t innocent around here so you should start looking in the mirror about your own decisions instead of passing the blame off to anyone and everyone else. The Originals? Yeah I hated them at first but since Bella, they have no interest here in anything other than her. They’ve kept their distance from Elena and anything that was drummed up, it was her instigating it. Maybe you should keep your friend on a leash and promise that you will keep her away from Bella and I. Now, Bonnie Bennett. I will ask you one more time. Will you help us?”

“Yeah fine, I’ll help you, but just know that I think that this is all a huge mistake.”

Rolling his eyes, he shrugged. “The only thoughts I care about are Bella’s, and she has an aunt that is coming to steal her magic and potentially kill her. What makes you think that I care about anyone else?”

“Nothing, I’m just surprised that you care this deeply,” Bonnie shrugged. “What do you need me to do? What kind of witch is this aunt?”

Damon sat down and thought about the memories that Bella had told everyone. “Well, she is the sister to the Original witch. Bella did indicate that most of her magic involved using blood and saw her with snakes on several occasions. What we do know is that she is dead set on getting to Bella right now,” he sighed, not willing to share what the brothers told him about Klaus’ little expectation in New Orleans.

“Blood Magic?” Bonnie blinked. “I’ll have to look into that.”

“This bitch put a spell on Bella because she attempted to run away from her,” he added. “That’s why she was reincarnated so many times. Consider the number of deaths she suffered and still remembers for over a thousand years. You asked me before what I thought about leaving Stefan. You should know that she admitted that he had his own doppelgangers over the years. Not just Elena and they all took turns in killing her. This Bella? While she accepts Stefan, she will always be afraid of him, just as she is of Katherine and Elena. Keep that in mind when you wonder about who the real baddies are around here.”

She sighed. “Let’s make a deal, okay? I’ll help you, but from now on, we won’t talk on who’s on the right side or not. Elena’s my friend and she always will be, I will not allow you to villainize her for being Elena or a doppelganger.”

He smirked as he sat back on the couch. “Sure. After all, there is such a thin line between good and evil.”

“Any indication on when this Aunt will show up?”

Damon leaned back casually to look over his shoulder, out the large floor to ceiling windows where the skies were dark with an impending storm. “Hm, I’d say a day or two at most.”

Bonnie’s eyes grew big. “Fucker! I’m hitting the books, now!”

“By all means, nerd out. You’re more than welcome to anything we might have collected over the years. I’m sure that the generations of Salvatores collected some on magic. They would be in the room at the top of the stairs,” he waved her on. He was certain there might be something that may help, only no one had been in there for decades so he wasn’t what there might be.

Bonnie thought for a moment. The offer was really interesting, mainly considering the fact that she knew every witchy book in her possession from front to cover and there hadn’t been anything about blood magic in them. If there would be, she’d know. “If there are rats, shall I kill them and serve them on a platter for Stefan?”

He smiled at the joke and looked up at her. “Sure. He seemed rather pasty earlier. Our houseguest might even be interested in a sip or two. And, if you are able to maintain this truce without constant insults to my girlfriend and I, I may even be willing to part with a book or two.”

Bonnie let out a squeal of delight and headed to the room he had pointed out to her.

Damon got up to refill his liquor and smiled as he kept an ear out. It’d been ages since anyone had gone into those rooms and are merely storage now. Leaning against the bar, he closed his eyes and sighed with contentment as he heard his name being called an ass screamed in irritation, followed by a fit of coughing.

Upstairs, Bonnie looked around as she pulled her shirt up to cover her nose and mouth from all the dust that flew around from opening the door. The number of books the Salvatores owned were daunting. She had seen their collection downstairs many times and had always been impressed by it, but she never considered Damon be one to read. Sometimes she wondered if he even knew how.

Looking around the mess, she rooted through a couple piles, surprised at what she was finding. There were already a number of books she was coming across that she would love to keep. She realized that if she wanted to keep any, she’d have to be nicer to the vampire per his terms. While they weren’t unreasonable, it simply went against her nature as a witch. Biting her lip, she contemplated simply taking them.

“Don’t even consider it,” a new voice spoke up from behind her, causing Bonnie to jump.

Turning around, she found a blond male leaning against the doorframe, his arms crossed as he narrowed his eyes on her. “What are you talking about? Who are you?”

“Jasper Whitlock, ma’am, and I mean about whatever betrayal you were just contemplating. I heard what Damon offered you and I’m betting that you are considering stealing these after his generous offer.”

“I wasn’t going to do anything,” she protested, turning back to the books. “Damon asked me to help find a way to fight this big bad that his girlfriend is attracting to Mystic Falls.”

He narrowed his eyes. “It was always meant to happen at some point. It was Bella that was cursed simply because she wanted her freedom from a power hungry relative as I understand it. Are you trying to say she’s not entitled to be free and happy? Has she done anything to you to warrant such animosity?”

Bonnie opened her mouth to voice her objections about Bella, feeling offended by the strange vampire’s questions. However, she was unable to come out with a truthful response as she actually was quite nice to her despite her friendship with Elena. She knew that Elena had continuously caused problems since her arrival that the newcomer did not take out on the rest of their group. She looked back at the vampire, who stared back at her with a raised eyebrow, waiting. “What do you want me to say?”

“Something honest,” he simply shrugged. Looking around the room without coming any closer to the edgy witch, he smiled that friendly smile again. “Would it make you feel any better that when I first met Bella, I contemplated quite frequently killing her myself?”

“Didn’t you protect her? That’s what she told us at least,” Bonnie replied, turning back to flipping through the books she was finding.

“I knew she was different, but it wasn’t the fact that she might be a doppelganger or reincarnation as we all have now to come to find out. My – adoptive brother – had taken an interest in her and she simply came to know too much about us. It wasn’t safe for us, or her. Still, I never met a singular person that was ever more accepting of our nature than she was.”

“She’s a witch. It’s ingrained in us to hate your kind, or kinds,” she murmured, glancing over him again.

Jasper continued to smile as his eyes followed her movements. “Perhaps, but I firmly believe that comes down to nature versus nurture. She surprised me left and right about how she saw past our vampirism and always found those bits of humanity that we never believed we still had, that we struggle to keep a hold of. Which is one of the reasons why our coven preferred feeding on animals, rather than humans. For me, well, it is more a necessity if I don’t want to go insane.”

At that, the young witch frowned, turning her full attention onto him as she wanted to understand what he just meant. “Necessity?”

“How do you think an empath would react when feeding on their victims? To feel their fear, the last moments of life as you drain them of the blood that you need to sustain themselves? I had to live that way for decades before I even knew it was a possibility and when Alice had found me, offering me an alternative option as I’d been contemplating suicide for some time… Well, I haven’t turned back. Sure, I’ve had some slips over the years. It is very difficult with what we are and it is a constant struggle to fight the natural urges, the cravings for human blood, but before you judge the vampires you come across, perhaps you should pause and take a moment to truly learn their story. Most of us did not choose to become what we are and we struggle in our lives just as you do yours.”

Bonnie was quiet before letting out an unsteady breath. “I hadn’t thought of it that way…”

Jasper nodded, knowing she wouldn’t quite see the world in the shades of grey and bursts of color that it truly was. “We are people first, witch, vampire, wolf, or tooth fairy next. But let me give you a little more to chew on in that brain of yours. I’ve been around for as long as the Salvatores. I’ve heard of them in bits during my time in the Southern Wars, especially about Katherine Pierce. Now, you were so quick to demean Damon before, but you should take in the fact that his brother Stefan, though repetent on his bloody days and is a bit – calmer – now, has much more blood on his hands than Damon. If you are able to accept Stefan knowing his past, then don’t be so cruel to Damon when all he wants to do is the same thing his brother is doing.”

“What is that?” she asked, her eyes narrowing both in irritation and curiosity.

“They just want to live their lives happy and in peace with someone they love,” Jasper answered, turning around and walking away to leave her alone in the room.

Bonnie remained silent as she blinked at his words, then turned back to the room, looking around. She could not help but to feel a sense of guilt as she knew how horribly she treated Damon, but he was willing to offer her some of his family’s collection in return for her help in protecting Bella. Sighing, she wasn’t sure whether she should be appreciative of the new vampire she’d just met, or spiteful, as she returned to her task.

~o.O.o~

It had been a few hours, and several sneezing and coughing fits later, before Bonnie came rushing down the stairs in search of Damon. Finding him in front of the window, watching the approaching storm with his never far glass of liquor in his hand, she came to a stop feeling breathless.

“I found something,” she announced, holding up a book. Her face was flushed with anticipation, staring at him as he slowly turned to look at her with barely disguised surprise.

“You actually found something?” he asked. “I didn’t think you’d find anything useful up there to be honest.”

“Well, we will have to thank Bella for it,” Bonnie answered as she held out the book. “It was actually her journal from when you were human.”

Damon looked up from the book and glared at her. “If she had one, I would have known. She would have told me when she got her memories back…”

“She just got them yesterday and you said yourself she was overwhelmed by it all. I don’t know how you didn’t know about this journal, but it managed to find its way into your collection, maybe by the grace of God. At this point, I seriously would not question that. But what she wrote could certainly work but I want to speak to the Mikaelsons to get more information on their aunt to be sure,” she said, nearly jumping in place from her anticipation.

He reached out to take the book from her, extra careful due to its contents and author. Blinking as he opened to gloss over some of the words, he could feel a roller coaster of emotions threatening to flood him at seeing Isabella’s handwriting from the 1850 and 60s. Slowly turning a few pages, he had to stop and closed it in a blink. “Fine. I’m driving.”

While Bonnie gathered the things she came with, he waited for her at the door. Calling up the stairs, he announced their departure. “Stefan! Sparkles! Witchy and I are going over by Klaus’! Don’t wait up, though we might call you to kick some witch bitch ass!”

Stefan was silent as he watched his brother and friend leave. It wasn’t long before Jasper joined him at the top of the stairs with a frown. “Must your brother be so antagonizing?”

The reformed Ripper smiled to himself with a shrug. “Be glad he didn’t call you Glitter Dick.”