Aftermath of a Last Breath

Chapter Two

-chapter two-

The creak of leather beneath his body irritated his heightened hearing as Damon tossed and turned, the bottle of vintage 1743 Samuels Family bourbon having done little to numb the pain he was within. Grief was an emotion he had denied himself for so long, he had felt it when Rose had died but there had been guilt intermingled in that period of denial and self-loathing because he had been the one to kill her. Damon had been haunted by the knowledge that Rose had died because of him, the bitch of a wolf had been there for him not Rose. What was it with stubborn women in his life, was it a reflection of the kind of woman Damon remembered his mother being? Mary Salvatore had stood up and refused to be the little wife for Giuseppe and Damon knew it had cost her several beatings with the same belt that had crossed his legs at such a tender age.

Processing the last twenty four hours, the knowledge that as much as he had loved Elena she was too broken, or was he? Shaking his head searching for clarity Damon acknowledged that it was he who was too broken for Elena Gilbert whether she was the mortal he had encountered on the road to Wickery Bridge the night of her parents death or now as the vampire whose passion and desire for living mirrored his own insatiable need to appreciate that if you lived forever you shouldn't waste it for one second. The harshest and almost impossible idea that Bonnie Bennett was dead hit him harder than anything he had ever experienced, the little witch who could bring the cruel, the soulless and immoral creatures that wanted to break apart the idyllic beauty that was Mystic Falls was gone and lying cold behind a metal door in the mortuary at the hospital and she was alone.

Bonnie Bennett had spent so much of her life alone and as Damon found himself hating the idea of her like that in death, he swung long legs off the sofa and he extinguished the fire in the grate the cool of the room quickly filling his soul. Bonnie wasn't going to be alone this night, reaching for the car keys to his beloved Camaro his eyes were drawn to the small frame that Elena had placed on the mantle piece on one of her frequent visits - it was a rare image because as ecchymotic hues took in the image and a momentary uplift of his lips Damon saw everyone together, the two missing people forever captured behind glass as Alaric and Bonnie both smiled from the image.

"I don't know if you're still here Bonnie but I can't leave your body like that, you deserve something more than a white shroud and strangers looking over you. I'll go there now and I will do what I can to bring you back, the darkest of magic, the largest amount of money I have to pay for answers. Anything because this place? This isn't home for any of us without you."

When silence became the only reply to his words, Damon left the house and the emptiness behind, the dust on the road and the quiet of the night air his only companion as time ticked by and the knowledge that he wouldn't find what he needed here without help. As if his acknowledgement of his situation had reached the miles apart, his phone rang and the number one he hadn't expected to have flash up for a long time. The very fact this person was calling him at nearly three in the morning highlighted the despair and shock of the last day had effected everyone. Even those who hid their emotions better than most.

"I thought you were leaving to celebrate in the streets of New Orleans and rain blood on those who stood in your way or rather your that of Klaus and Elijah? Oh come off it you didn't care about her, so why start giving a damn now?

You what? So because she mattered to him? Bonnie suddenly matters to you too - you're twisted Rebekah but if you can help me then who am I to deny your assistance. Call me later I need to get to her, she can't be there alone and fuck knows where that idiot of a Father is now, probably planning our destruction rather than caring about his daughter but what's new. No, I know but I do care, and I did - even Elena acknowledged it, she is.. was... someone who affected you whether you saw it or not...."