Bonnie unfolded the note. In Damon's elegant script, she read:
My little redbird, congratulations on reaching the age of twenty-four. It's still ridiculously young, but at least you're not a child anymore. The enclosed comes from Egypt, and is older even than me. The bird is a falcon. A witch I met in Luxor tells me that it represents power, wisdom, and guardianship-all of which I wish for you. Be strong, be wise, be safe.
Bonnie smiled. Damon could be surprisingly sweet and sentimental sometimes.
Underneath, in a different ink, scribbled in as if he'd added it at the last minute, was:
I hear you're still running around with the overgrown wolf boy. Tell him to behave himself or he'll answer to me.
Still sort of sweet, Bonnie decided, and tucked the note in her pocket.
"Here, let me fasten it." Zander came over and swept her hair aside, hooking the necklace firmly and then placing a swift kiss on the back of her neck.
"Damon called you an overgrown wolf boy," Bonnie told him. "You're supposed to behave yourself."
"Aw, he mentioned me?" Zander said affably. "I'm touched."
Jared snorted, and Shay's eyes narrowed. Most of Zander's Pack had never really understood Damon.
Or, Bonnie admitted to herself, they'd understood him too well. When the Pack had met Damon, he'd been going through a ... difficult time. Truthfully, he'd been dangerous, and despite the fact that he'd fought beside them once or twice against greater threats, the small band of Original werewolves that protected the Dalcrest area didn't trust him.
But now that the Guardians had connected him and Elena, he wasn't so dangerous anymore. Because if Damon ever harmed a human, it would hurt Elena. If he killed anyone, Elena would die. And anyone who had seen Damon's fierce desperation when Elena was in danger knew he would never hurt her.
Besides, Bonnie thought pragmatically, the falcon weighing cool against her neck, it seemed like Damon was gone for good. Part of her missed him-there'd always been a special connection between her and Damon-but it might be better here without him. It was certainly calmer.
"Matt's here," Stefan said, glancing up from murmuring into Elena's ear. You could never surprise a vampire, Bonnie thought wryly.
But now they all saw Matt working his way over to their corner of the bar. He kissed Bonnie on the cheek and handed her a small package. "Hey," he said. "Happy birthday. Sorry I'm late."
"No problem," Bonnie said, surreptitiously feeling the present to see what it was. A DVD, she thought. "Where's Jasmine?"
Matt grimaced. "She really wanted to come, but she's on call for the emergency room," he said. "She said to tell you happy birthday and she'll take you out to lunch sometime next week instead."
"It's a pretty good excuse," Bonnie said. "You know, come to Bonnie's birthday drinks or be ready when they need you to save lives."
"Since Jasmine couldn't come," Matt said, smiling at Meredith and Stefan, "you can tell me what happened with Celine. She's dead?"
That was the one problem with Jasmine, Bonnie thought, taking a swig of her drink. She'd been dating Matt for a couple of years, and everyone really liked her, but she didn't know the truth about him, about all of them. Jasmine knew Bonnie liked fortune-telling, herbs, and "New Agey" stuff, but she didn't know she was really a witch. She knew Alaric had a doctorate in paranormal studies and folklore, but she didn't know any of that was real either; she just thought he was an academic. And she sure didn't know the truth about Stefan, or Zander and his friends, or Elena. She didn't even know Matt, not really, how he'd fought evil again and again, how strong and brave he was. She just thought he was a nice, ordinary guy.
Maybe Bonnie needed to slow down on the champagne cocktails, because she opened her mouth and heard herself say, loudly, "Matt. How can you love Jasmine, when she doesn't even know who you are?"
Matt's face stiffened, his mouth forming a tight line, and a hot flush of embarrassment ran over Bonnie. Wasn't she ever going to learn to keep her mouth shut? After a moment, Matt said stiffly, "It's safer for her this way." His light blue gaze met hers. "I just want Jasmine to have a normal life."
Bonnie's throat tightened. She remembered when she and Zander had finally told each other the truth about themselves, more than five years ago. How she'd held his hand, nervous. Normal is overrated, she'd told him, and they'd kissed, sweetly and honestly, everything open between them. She couldn't imagine keeping secrets from someone she loved for so long.
She managed to smile at Matt, although the smile felt pinched on her face, and nodded, blinking away the stinging in her eyes. "Okay," she said in a small voice.
There were an awkward few moments of silence.
"Anyway," Meredith said, with a brittle little laugh. "Since you asked ..." She began to describe to Matt the battle she and Stefan had fought with Celine.
It was a dramatic story. There were secret passages and close calls and much use of Meredith's skills and Stefan's vampire speed and strength before they'd even gotten close to Celine. But finally they'd tracked her down in Atlanta, evaded her vampire soldiers, and killed her with Elena's magic blood.
The first two times they'd told the story tonight, Bonnie had been hanging on Meredith and Stefan's every word.
This time, though, she politely stifled a yawn and glanced around. Everyone else was still riveted. Even Alaric, who was usually Bonnie's compatriot in being more interested in the magical side of fighting monsters than the physical side, was asking intelligent questions about weaponry.
She sighed, dutifully fixing her eyes back on Meredith. It was possible, Bonnie admitted to herself, that she was a little bit jealous. They hadn't asked her for help at all in tracking down Celine.