Bennett Bound: A TVD Fanfic

Chapter 16

Note: I'm reuploading all full chapters of this book! My site is temporarily down, but I don't want you to have to wait to read.

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Diana POV - Minutes later

My heart thundered in my chest as I struggled to fill my lungs with air. Trembling, I slowly rose back to my feet. I had to check on Damon. How Marcel - and the thing possessing him - got through the Mikaelson house completely undetected was beyond me, but everyone needed to know; we had to be on high alert. Marcel would return for me; it was just a matter of when.

I clenched my hands into fists, focusing on the pain of my nails digging into the flesh of my palms to ground me and redirect my panic. Slowly, my breathing evened. I took a deep breath and darted into the hall. As I reached the top of the stairwell, voices drifted up from the bottom floor. I tapped down the steps quietly, peering around the corner to the sitting room to find the majority of the Mikaelson family crowding around Damon. And in his arms, the brunette who'd been taken by Marcel in the first place. A flood of panic surged through me and I found myself backing away from the scene. I tried to shake it off - I'd almost convinced myself that Damon's infatuation with me would wither away like smoke just as soon as the doppelgänger returned, but something within me hadn't been prepared.

I'd drifted into a part of the mansion I'd never seen before. Various portraits of the Mikaelsons and some of their esteemed comrades - or maybe valiant enemies, if Klaus were responsible for the decor - lined the walls of immense hallway. Rooms littered about on either side, most of them closed, and the ones that were open were empty when I peeked in. About midways to the end of the hall, I shook my head at how ridiculous I was being. I didn't have time to worry about some guy I'd known less than two weeks.

Before the impromptu threat-meeting with Marcel, I'd realized I made a grave mistake when I sent Bonnie and Stefan away. Not that AJ had any reason to know, there was more to the Gemini ascendants than was told. After more research in an old Bennett Grimoire and the diary of my late grandmother Sheila, I realized my mistake: I sent Bonnie and Stefan into the prison world of 1994, eternally housing a sociopathic siphon witch named Malachi Parker.

What's more was that Sheila - being the badass Bennett witch she was - held the key to unlocked that world: Bennett blood. If the siphon witch ever learned who Bonnie was, he could use her to escape. Sure, Stefan could probably defend her, but siphon witches were inherently conniving and devious - and from the entries in Gram's diary, Malachi brought those traits to an entirely new level. I had to find a way to bring her back, but I couldn't do so until Marcel and the Harrowing were no longer a threat.

Resolutely, I scoffed at myself for being so emotional and squared my shoulder, turning back down the hallway, determined to waltz right back into that sitting room with all my usual fire and confidence and explain what had happened with Marcel.

The thought sent a blanket of chills just beneath my skin and I found myself panicking again.

Calm down, Diana, I scolded myself. If he wanted to kill you, he could've done it right then and there. That thought did more harm than good to still my nerves and I hugged myself as I moved quicker down the hall. Maybe it wasn't a good idea for me to be alone anymore. Marcel could show up at any time, and no cloak could keep him out, but at least if I had another person near me, I might have a better chance at fighting him off.

Turning the corner of another hall, I slammed right into a tall, dark and overly priced suit. I blinked to see Elijah Mikaelson leaning over me with one hand on my forearm and the other snaked around my lower back to stop me, mid-fall. "Diana?" he lifted his eyebrow.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't really paying attention...just trying to find my way back to the - uh, the living room," I struggled, trying to ignore the fire beneath his touch on my back.

A smile played on his lips as he stood straight, pulling me along with him. I regained my balance and took a cautious step back as his eyes wandered over my face. "Is something wrong?" he asked, tilting his head slightly.

I pondered on whether or not I should lie, but decided against it. Elijah seemed quite intuitive and as old as he was, it was unlikely that I could get by with lying to him anyway. "Actually...yes," I gulped, my eyes drifting to the floor. "I...back in my room, M-Marcel showed up," I choked out, feeling fear overtake me again.

Elijah must've noticed as he stepped forward and placed his hands gently on my shoulders. "Marcel was here?" he asked carefully. I looked up at him and nodded, unable to speak through the tears in my throat. "Did he harm you?" his eyes narrowed as they darted around me, looking for injuries.

"N-no...I-I don't think so," my voice quivered. "He said something about the anam cara, b-but it wasn't him...he was possessed by something, s-someone and he just..." a sob broke through, "he broke right through my spell...he's coming back and I don't know when or where he'll show up..." I rushed through my words as tears spilled down my face, "a-and then there's Bonnie - my God, Bonnie! I sent her right into danger! I w-was trying to protect her and all I did was make things worse," I wailed, my entire form physically shaking. "I always make things worse," I whispered, closing my eyes as more cries escaped me.

Elijah pulled me against him and engulfed me in a hug. "Diana," his deep voice vibrated from his chest as he brushed his hand up and down my back, "none of this is your fault. We will retrieve your sister safely." He leaned back, lifting my chin with his index finger before swiping the tears from my face with his thumb. "And I can assure you, Marcel will never get his hands on you again," his eyes darkened with this vow. His thumb traced my bottom lip and my stomach flipped when he slowly leaned toward me.

Before I could react, a rush of wind whirled through the hall and when my eyes opened, Damon was staring down at me with his arms around me. Elijah was at least ten feet away at the other end of the hallway with an uncharacteristic smirk on his face as he eyed Damon. "What are you doing here...with him?

"It seemed your priorities were temporarily misplaced," Elijah responded, turning his gaze to me. "If you need anything, Diana, you know where to find me."

"If something happened, you should've come right to me," Damon seethed, glancing between me and Elijah.

I looked between them, pulling myself from Damon's arms and glaring at him. "It doesn't matter, we need to talk. All of us," I muttered, brushing past him, heading for the sitting room. I didn't bother waiting to see if either of them followed.

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Bonnie POV - 1 week later

"I should've just let you die this morning," Stefan grumbled as we followed Kai through the woods.

In the three hours we'd been walking, we learned a lot about this world and the prisoner sentenced to live here forever. In 1994, demented warlock Malachi - Kai, if you didn't want to be his next victim - Parker of the Gemini coven murdered four of his siblings and seriously injured a fifth one, his twin. To protect the rest of their coven, Kai's father and his followers created and sent Kai to a prison world with no way out - as far as they knew, which apparently was wrong. Of course Kai kept this information to himself until after Stefan offered him vamp blood when he fell through a sink hole. If he knew a way out, we couldn't let him die until we found out how, and Kai was nothing if not resourceful. I still didn't understand how he'd been here for eighteen years and managed to fall right into a sink hole. After almost two decades completely alone, I figured one would know every nook and cranny of this world.

"I don't think your little lady friend would've liked that very much," Kai snorted. "I don't know how she can't see it, but you're clearly unhinged. Definitely a murderer," he shrugged, amused.

"Says the sociopathic serial killer who murdered his siblings for fun," Stefan spat.

"Enough!" I yelled. Kai and Stefan had been threatening each other for the better part of the last week. "Can one of you stop acting like a child for three seconds?" I seethed, exasperated. I was sure I'd have no hair from tugging at it out of stress if we ever made it out of this place.

"Well, I'm eternally seventeen, so technically..." Stefan murmured, stopping when he noticed my glare on him.

"Alright, alright, Uncle Kai can fix it," Kai said, smirking as he turned to face us. "We're here," his smirk brightened into a full smile.

I looked around at the trees surrounding us. "Where is 'here?'" I asked suspiciously. I turned back to see Kai standing right in front of me.

"'Here' is where we part ways," he whispered, grabbing my forearms and closing his eyes.I tried to pull out of his grip, but I couldn't move. Just beneath my skin, a crippling sensation flooded through me, like sandpaper grating against my nerve endings. I felt myself growing weaker like...like I was losing my magic! "Kai, stop!" I screeched.

Stefan lunged toward him, distracting him long enough for me to pull away before he used his magic - my stolen magic - to force a series of aneurysms through Stefan's skull. "Bonnie, run!" Stefan growled, rushing to his feet and tackling Kai to the ground.

I stumbled backwards, turning to run when I heard the sickening sounds of Stefan tearing Kai apart, and I didn't stop until I reached the main road. Shivers cascaded through me as my mind flitted from worry to worry. What if feeding on Kai unleashed Stefan's ripper personality? What if he couldn't fight against the bloodlust? Would he come after me next?

"Bonnie," Stefan's voice called from the edge of the trees. I gulped, turning to see him covered in blood. His eyes had faded back to normal, but I still found myself retreating from him when he stepped closer. "Bonnie, it's okay. The bloodlust, it's...it's gone. It's been gone since we've been here. I'm in control, I promise," he said, reaching his hands out to me slowly. "I promise," he said again, his eyes soft.

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