Nightshade - A Bonnie Bennett Story (Vampire Diaries / The Originals)

CHAPTER SIX

I was sitting at the bar sipping my cup of coffee and reading the news on my phone when a knock sounded at the door. After Elijah left the night before, I'd only stayed up long enough to change into something more comfortable before collapsing into bed, and for the first time in over a week, I got a night of blissfully restful sleep. It could have been the herbs, the alcohol, or some combo of the two. It may have been my little therapy session with Elijah. Talking about Enzo seemed to make it easier to breathe, and when I slipped into unconsciousness, I stayed that way for longer than I had in months. When I finally opened my eyes in the early afternoon hours, I felt better than I had in weeks.

"Coming," I called out. I hopped off the bar stool and went to the door. I glanced in the peephole and was a little shocked by what I saw. I opened the door and gave a snarky little smile.

"Two Mikaelson brothers in less than twenty-four hours. Did I win some kind of lottery or something?"

Klaus stood in the doorway, his hands folded together in front of him, that signature smirk of his firmly in place.

"Good morning, little witch. I was wondering if I might have a word with my big brother. As he didn't come home last night, I'm assuming he spent the night here. No judgements, it's just unlike him to let his calls go unanswered."

"We just had drinks and talked, you perv. Elijah didn't spend the night here. He left around midnight or one in the morning. Something like that. Is he seeing someone? Maybe he got a late night booty call."

"Elijah Mikaelson doesn't get booty calls. Too bad; it might do him some good."

"Regardless, he's not here."

"Then I shall take my leave. If you should hear from Elijah, would you mind passing on the message that I'm looking for him? A brief check-in with his family would be appreciated."

"You got it." With that, he smiled that wicked smile I couldn't forget if I tried, then turned and walked away. By the way he was acting, you'd think Elijah was a ten-year-old child instead of a grown man, an Original vampire, a hundred times that age. Not my circus, not my monkeys.

I was about to close the door when I heard a voice from down the hall.

"You're Bonnie, right?"

I poked my head out the door and looked toward the stairs, but no one was there. Great, now I'm hearing things. Confused, I turned to head back in the apartment and nearly jumped out of my skin when I saw a smiling face beaming back at me from the other end of the hall. I'd totally forgotten about the other apartment.

"Sorry," he laughed, "I didn't mean to scare you." He stepped out into the hall, drying his hands with a kitchen towel before extending one of them in greeting.

"It's not a problem. Are you Cassidy's brother?"

"Roman Dalcour, nice to meet you." I shook his hand and got a familiar little zap of psychic energy. A vampire? Thinking back, I remembered Cass mentioning something about her brother being turned. My hand jerked back, an involuntary reaction to the sensation, and I immediately felt guilty. He politely smiled.

"Don't worry, all witches react that way, but it's safer for me to let them know I'm a vampire right away than have them suspect I was trying to hide it."

"It's feels like getting a tiny jolt of electricity," I explained, rubbing the tingling from my palm. "And to answer your initial question, yes, I'm Bonnie. It's nice to meet you."

"I was going to come over last night and introduce myself, but it sounded like you had company, and I didn't want to interrupt, especially when I heard who it was."