What if...? • 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑽𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝑫𝒊𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔

Chapter Fourteen

Jeremy and Caroline were at the town square movie showing, but after Stefan showed up with news that Tyler bit Damon the night of the sacrifice, the movie became more background noise than an actual distraction.

Elena had left to see him a while ago, telling the pair to stay so that at least a few of them could enjoy the supernatural crisis free day. But when Jeremy's phone rang and he scrambled to answer it, it was obvious that enjoying it wasn't going to be an option. Alaric warned them that a hallucinating Damon had escaped from the cellar and was looking for Elena.

He needed a search party, so Jeremy and Caroline split up and went searching. About fifteen minutes later, Jeremy found him staggering and coughing as he walked through the square. With Damon's arm around Jeremy's shoulder, he held him up and took him to the Grill, which was closed for the day.

He'd just called Alaric and told him where they were when he flinched, confused. Then he felt it, a burning pain in his stomach, and his ears stopped ringing - registering that the sound that had just gone off was a gun shot. The burning spread, intensified, and he touched his stomach. His hand covered in blood was the last thing he saw, before his eyes rolled back in his head and his head slammed onto the hardwood floors, passed out.

"Oh, God!" Liz blinked as the bullet from her gun shot Jeremy Gilbert right in the stomach, blood pouring from the wound and staining his shirt in a growing circle. Then he fell, and she quickly holstered her gun and rushed over to him. Right when she finished talking over the radio, asking for medical services, Alaric ran in.

"Sherrif, what's going on?...Oh my God." He fell on his knees besides her, bumping into her shoulder as she checked for Jeremy's pulse - it was still beating, but he was bleeding fast. Alaric took off his jacket, pressing it hard on the wound. "What did you do?"

"I was aiming for Damon."

Alaric picked up Jeremy's hand, focused on an antique looking ring on his finger, as his eyes swam with emotions, mild relief, confusion and then horror. "You need to find your daughter. Right now," he snapped.

"What, no the paramedics are on the way."

"Liz! Right now!"

She flinched, but stood up, moving to run out of the restaurant.

*** 

"Are you sure about this?" Bonnie asked, pacing back and forth in the old witch house.

"You've pushed yourself as far as you can go magic wise while bound. You swore you'd tell me if or when the magic of the hundred witches started wearing on you...and it has. You have to let it go now."

"But what if something bad happens - something worse, and I don't have the power to stop it?" Bonnie asked. When she walked in front of him in her pace, he took her shoulders. "How am I supposed to help anyone when I'm back to nose bleeds, what am I supposed to do?" 

"You take the weight of the world off your shoulders, and you let me help you." He brought his hands up to cup her face, and her apprehension lifted a little, replaced by his usual tingling light. His thumb gently stroked her cheek. "You can't replace nosebleeds with the risk of death...we'll find your mum, get her to lift the bind."

Bonnie tilted her head affectionately and took a breath. "Okay."

***

Before Liz could make it out of the restaurant door, Caroline ran in, alert to the smell of blood.

"Mum. Mum, what happened?" Liz didn't realise her hands were shaking until her daughter took them.

"Caroline!" Alaric yelled, and the two women rushed over. Caroline swallowed hard when she saw the mess of Jeremy lying unconscious on the floor. His blood was seeping through the jacket pressed against his wound, staining Ric's hands red. "His ring won't work on him, he needs-"

"I got it." Caroline quickly took a deep breath, exhaling deeply and slipping into the fury that connected to her vampirism instead of her hunger, considering the circumstances. Veins darkened her face, her fangs descended, and she heard her mum gasp sharply.

"Sherrif." Alaric said, voice warning. Her mother had pulled out her gun, aiming the weapon at Caroline's chest.

***

Bonnie sat cross legged on the worn floors of the witch house, eyes closed, chanting the spell she'd memorised from the grimoire still open in front of her. Luka stood behind her, watching the candles still lit from the spell she'd cast for Stefan flare. 

The wind whistled outside, and thunder rumbled through the air.

***

"Mum, it's still me." Caroline glanced at Jeremy. "I have to help him now, you're not gonna shoot me...okay?" She bit her wrist and put it against Jeremy's mouth. "Come on, Jeremy. Just drink. Go on, Jeremy. Drink." 

Three seconds passed as Caroline listened to every heart in the room beat a mile a minute until Jeremy finally swallowed, and she and Alaric simultaneously sighed with relief.

Alaric lifted Jeremy's shirt to find the wound healed, only leaving behind blood-covered skin.

Caroline looked at her mum, who had her wide eyes glued to Jeremy, but when they finally connected with her daughters, they no longer held fear, but...amazement.

A small smile tugged at Caroline's lips.

***

The candles around the room abruptly went out, and the wind quieted. Bonnie opened her eyes and sighed with somewhat relief when her exhaustion that fogged her brain started feeling distant. "It's done."