Gift

4

"I'm catching a draft out here, witchy are you going to invite me in or not?"

"Get in here, Damon."

The vampire extended a leg over the threshold quickly followed by the other and used the heel of his boot to shut the front door. Damon took a cursory glance around the apartment. It was sparsely furnished in the "broke college kid" style that was wildly popular with those establishing their independence from mommy and daddy.

He trailed behind Bonnie as she led the way through the darkened interior to a bedroom located on the left side of the hallway.

To his disappointment he could still hear the boy's heartbeat. The light from the bathroom spilled into the bedroom. When Damon took a peek inside, he saw the turned over shelf, the broken mirror, the contents on the floor. He snapped his gaze to Bonnie.

His mind began firing off questions. Had she and this dude gotten into a physical altercation? If so...Damon would take great joy in finishing whatever Bonnie started.

He cracked his knuckles. "You need me to take him out?"

"No, I need you to compel him."

Damon's shoulders slumped. "What? That's it? You need me to compel him?"

"Yes," Bonnie replied plaintively.

"You could have called Elena for that."

Bonnie did a combination of sighing and sucking her teeth. "Are you going to help me or not, Damon? This is your one shot to redeem being an asshole to me two weeks ago."

He held up his hands to simmer down Bonnie's impatience. "I've tried to apologize for that." She glared, Damon moved on. "You were skimpy on the details, but I thought you were calling me over here to get rid of a body. What happened? Did he hurt you?"

"No, I was the one to hurt him. I need the last hour erased from his memory. The only thing Hayden needs to remember is the explosive sex the two of us had. Not the fact I used magic on him."

A severe grimace twisted Damon's face into something downright demonic. He was used to compelling people to be still, don't scream, get good grades, leave his alcohol alone. He was not versed in the art of planting the idea of someone having explosive sex into their brains especially if the sex hadn't been with him.

"Are you sure you don't want me to kill him?" he tried for compromise.

"Damon," Bonnie reproached.

"I need to know what he did in order for you to turn your magic on him. You don't use magic for petty reasons."

Bonnie crossed her arms and moistened her bottom lip. "It was an accident. I had...I had a nightmare about Kai and it triggered...I lost control of my powers and Hayden surprised me," she rushed to explain. "I sent him careening into a wall and well...he was scared and wanted to go to a hospital. If he goes to the hospital he can tell what happened."

"And who would believe him?"

"That's not the point. I don't want Hayden to be afraid of me."

"If you like this guy, why not just tell him what you are?" Damon shrugged nonchalantly though that was the last thing he actually wanted Bonnie to do.

"Because...chances are fifty-fifty," she elucidated. "Either he won't believe me or he does after I show him I'm telling the truth and he's scared of me and dumps me. Damon...I don't have too many good things in my life right now, but," she stared at her unconscious lover, "Hayden helps me in his own way and for once I'm being selfish. I don't want to give that up."