Ryan found Bonnie near the pickup truck, where the portable speaker struggled uselessly to assert itself over the overlapping laughter and conversations. Someone had turned up the volume, as if that would fix the dubious bass quality, and two girls danced awkwardly near the tailgate, spilling drinks on the ground without a care.
Bonnie had her back to him, leaning over an improvised cooler, rummaging through bottles and plastic cups.
"You shouldn't mix different things," Ryan commented as he approached.
Bonnie startled slightly and turned her face, surprised for half a second before relaxing.
"Are you following me now?" she asked, with a smile that didn't match the playful tone.
"Just making sure you don't end up getting sick." He extended his hand when she pulled out a bottle. "And also because they promised me a drink."
Bonnie laughed, handing him the bottle before grabbing another.
"Fair enough." She filled two cups with questionable precision and pushed one toward him.
"This one's for you. And this—" She raised the other cup, observing the liquid against the firelight "—is for me. To prove I haven't gone crazy."
Ryan accepted the cup but didn't drink right away. Instead, he watched Bonnie for a few seconds longer than necessary. What exactly should he say to her at that moment? Tell the "truth," admit that she was, in fact, a witch? Or would it be better to let her discover it on her own, little by little?
On second thought, maybe the first option was better. He could reveal a bit of his own powers and make her believe that he was also some kind of "witch." That way, his identity would be more stable, and the origin of his abilities could easily be attributed to magic. If necessary, he could just say he was a "Jujutsu Sorcerer," a practitioner of a magical branch created in Japan. That way, the two of them would have something in common, something that connected them uniquely. From there, getting closer to her would be simpler... and, in time, having her by his side as his woman seemed like a natural outcome.
As for Elena, he believed she would probably accept it. Her difficulty in dealing with his sexual libido was becoming increasingly evident, and besides, she wouldn't stand to see her best friends suffer. There was the risk of Bonnie and Caroline distancing themselves from her because of him, since both had clear feelings for Ryan, something Elena couldn't ignore. Her overly kind nature, combined with the emotional dependence she had on the people around her, would end up leading her to accept the idea of sharing him with other women. After all, after that night the three of them had spent with him, it no longer seemed so strange....
Hmm, should he do this now...?
Setting his thoughts aside for now—they only took an instant—he said calmly to Bonnie:
"Bonnie... I believe you."
She frowned, confused.
"Believe in what?"
"In what you saw." He stared at her with an indifferent expression: "And in what your grandmother said. You're not just someone sensitive. You're a medium... or, to be more precise, a witch."
Bonnie's eyes widened.
"Witch..." She repeated, as if testing the word in her mouth. Then she let out a short, nervous laugh. "My God. That was the term. That's exactly how Grandma talked about it, and I just forgot, I mean, I ignored it...."
Ryan smiled faintly, not that provocative smile, but something calmer, almost comforting.
"Come with me." He extended his hand. "I want to show you something."
Bonnie hesitated. For just a second. Then she placed her hand in his. The contact made her face heat up immediately, her heart racing in a way that had nothing to do with alcohol, but the smile on her lips was hard to hide...
She let herself be guided as the two of them walked away from the bonfire, the loud music, and the laughter. The orange light grew distant, swallowed by the darkness of the woods.
"Ryan..." she murmured as they walked. "Where are we going?"
"A little deeper." Ryan replied naturally. "Relax, I'm not going to kidnap you."
"That wasn't reassuring...." She retorted, but didn't let go of his hand.
As they advanced, the sound of the party disappeared almost completely. All that remained was the rustling of leaves under their feet and the distant chirping of insects.
Ryan started speaking, as if he were recounting something mundane.
"My parents used to say similar things to me when I was younger." He commented. "About us being descendants of a powerful Shaman from Japan's Heian Era...."
Bonnie looked at him, intrigued.
"And that has to do with them going back to Japan at that time?"
"Yes...." He nodded. "They wanted me to follow the family tradition."
She was about to ask what he meant by that when Ryan stopped suddenly.
He released her hand carefully and took two steps forward. Before them stood several ancient trees, thick trunks, exposed roots.
Ryan raised two fingers.
The gesture was simple. Precise.
Bonnie blinked, and she simply couldn't believe what happened next.
An invisible cut sliced through the air with a dry sound, almost like a snap. Three trees were struck at the same time. The trunks split at clean, perfect angles, and for a moment nothing happened... until the treetops began to topple slowly, leaves and branches crashing with a muffled thud against the forest floor.
Bonnie brought her hands to her mouth.
"W-what...?" Her voice faltered. "Ryan, what was that?"
He frowned slightly, looking at the result.
"I tried to cut just one. Seems like I need to adjust my energy output..."
His words somehow explained what had happened—was that him who did it? Bonnie took a step back, her heart pounding, her eyes darting from the fallen trees back to him.
"You... you did that. Without touching. Without anything." Her breath was short: "That's not possible."
Ryan turned to her then, completely serious.
"It is possible." He said. "And your grandmother was right."
Bonnie shook her head, in instinctive denial.
"No." She let out a trembling laugh. "This is some kind of trick. Illusion. I must be too drunk—"
"Bonnie." Ryan interrupted her gently. "You felt it when you touched me. You saw things. That wasn't alcohol.... Why do you think I showed such interest? Elena doesn't know about this side of the world, so it's natural that she reacted that way, but I didn't... Didn't find it the least bit strange...?"
Bonnie swallowed hard as she realized that. It was true... Ryan hadn't shown skepticism, nor made jokes, like Elena did. She didn't blame her best friend for not believing; after all, she herself hadn't believed at first. She only started accepting it when she felt "that" upon touching Ryan's hand. Even so, her first reaction was to deny it. Run from the idea. Go after a drink, as if she could drown the strange sensation that insisted on lingering. But now, her world had just become strange, since she had seen with her own eyes that it was real..... But what was her first love really....?
"If I'm not going crazy or drunk. Then... what are you?" She asked, almost in a whisper.
"A Jujutsu Sorcerer." Ryan answered without beating around the bush.
"It's a different tradition, but... it's still magic. And you—" He took a small step forward: "—you are a witch."
The silence that followed was heavy.
Bonnie felt the ground seem unstable under her feet. Part of her wanted to run back to the light, to the bad music and to Elena. Another part... wanted to know more. Needed to know more....
"Is this real?" She asked, her eyes welling up, mixing fear and something dangerously close to excitement: "Like... vampires from ancient stories real?"
Ryan didn't answer right away. He just nodded.
Bonnie brought her hand to her chest.
"My God." She let out a nervous, almost hysterical laugh. "My grandmother wasn't crazy. I'm not crazy."
"No." Ryan said casually: "You never were....."
Bonnie blinked several times, trying to process all of that. Her hands trembled slightly, and she alternated her gaze between the fallen trees and Ryan's calm face. Her heart was beating erratically, as if the whole world had turned upside down. Witch? Magic? Jujutsu Sorcerer? It sounded like something out of an ancient book or one of the stories her grandmother told at night, those she always dismissed as folklore or the delusions of an elderly lady. But now... now it was real. She felt the weight of it in her chest, a mixture of terror and disbelief that left her paralyzed.
Ryan watched her in silence for a moment, his face too calm for someone who had just rewritten another person's notion of reality. Then, a discreet smile appeared on his lips, not mocking, but mysterious, almost too serene.
"You seem pretty shaken...." He commented. "But you don't need to be afraid of this. These powers aren't a curse."
"Aren't they?" Bonnie let out a nervous laugh, running her hand through her hair: "Because, honestly, it seems a lot like the beginning of a movie where everyone dies...."
Before she could take another step back, she felt the ground disappear.
"RYAN—!"
The scream came out thin as he caught her in his arms with ease, as if she weighed absolutely nothing. Bonnie's eyes widened, her heart nearly jumping out of her mouth.
"What are you doing?!" She exclaimed, instinctively grabbing his shirt.
"Showing you that not everything in this has to be scary...." Ryan replied naturally, looking down at her. "But hold on tight."
The warning came too late.
The world simply... disappeared.
For Bonnie, everything turned into a blur of wind, light, and shadow. Her stomach churned, the air seemed to tear around them, and she tightened her arms around his neck even more, burying her face against his chest out of pure reflex, while instinctively closing her eyes....
In less than a second, maybe less than that, everything stopped.
When Bonnie opened her eyes again, the silence was the first thing that hit her.
They were up high.
Ryan set her down carefully, still keeping a firm hand on her waist until he was sure she wouldn't fall. Ahead of them, a waterfall cascaded from an impressive height, the water gleaming under the moonlight. The sound was strong but not deafening, and the fine mist created a silvery arc in the air. The forest stretched around them, vast and tranquil, as if that place were outside the ordinary world.
Bonnie was speechless.
"Wow..." It was all she could say, walking a few steps forward, cautious, as if afraid it would disappear if she blinked too hard: "Where... where are we?"
"A high point near here," Ryan replied. "I liked this place."
Bonnie turned to him, still trying to process everything.
"What was that just now?" She asked, vaguely pointing backward, to the nothing they had crossed. "We... ran?"
"Something like that...", Ryan said casually: "Body reinforcement through energy. Speed, strength, endurance. That's what allows me to move at supernatural speed..."
Bonnie blinked, surprised by his words.
"So let me see if I understand." She looked at him, still amazed: "You cut trees with the air, run faster than anything I've ever seen... and carry me like I'm a backpack."
"Basically, that's the good part of being a witch. Well, technically I'm a Jujutsu Sorcerer.... So, the correct term is Sorcerer or Shaman..."
Bonnie shook her head slowly, as if trying to organize thoughts that no longer fit inside her. The fear still existed, of course, but it was being quickly swallowed by something much stronger.
Wonder.
Because, despite everything sounding scary, it didn't seem so much when Ryan talked about it. There was something in the way he explained it, calm and almost casual, that made everything seem... incredible.
"This is..." She broke into a wide, almost childlike smile, turning her gaze back to the waterfall, to the moon reflected in the water, to the world below, so small: "This is amazing."
Ryan arched his eyebrow slightly at her reaction.
"Amazing?" He repeated.
"Yes!" Bonnie turned to him suddenly, her eyes shining. "I mean, I thought I was weird for feeling things no one else does, for my newly discovered 'medium' powers... and suddenly you tell me all this is real. But if this is real, then what else can I do? Fly? Heal people? Or... I don't know, summon spirits like my grandmother talked about?"
Ryan laughed softly, a light sound that blended with the distant roar of the water. He shook his head, amused. Bonnie's reaction was exactly what he expected. Unlike what happened in the original story, nothing bad had arisen from her "powers" initially.
In the original story, Bonnie got irritated and ended up setting a car on fire. Then, losing control of her own emotions more than once, bad accidents repeated several other times, each leaving her even more desperate with the awakening of her latent powers. Now, however, everything was different. This time, she had only had a vision. And he had confirmed that all of it was real. And that made all the difference...
She reacted like any "other person" upon discovering powers.
So, he answered her question sincerely:
"You can probably do much more than you imagine, Bonnie. But I'm not the best guide for that. My magic is Eastern, based on Cursed Energy, I know the name sounds bad, but there's nothing bad about it since it comes from emotions themselves. Yours... is Western, linked to elements, spirits, maybe even nature. You should talk more with your grandmother about this. She seems to know the right path to guide you...."
Bonnie nodded slowly, absorbing all of that. Cursed Energy sounded like something terrible just by the name, but if Ryan said it wasn't so bad, she believed him. After all, if she didn't trust him, she wouldn't have accepted holding his hand and following him into the middle of the forest, right? She had known him since she was little. She knew who he was, knew his character. Ryan had always been one of the most honest people she had ever known....
"I'll go to her house later and talk to her then.... Thanks, Ryan, I prefer knowing the truth than continuing to think I'm going crazy."
Ryan smiled, this time more softly.
"I thought you'd say that."
The silence that followed wasn't uncomfortable. The sound of the falling water filled the space between them, constant and almost hypnotic. Bonnie sat on the rock, her legs dangling over the side, and Ryan ended up sitting next to her, close enough that their shoulders almost touched.
After a few seconds, Bonnie spoke:
"Why haven't you told anyone yet about being a witch and all that?"
Ryan shifted his gaze to the waterfall before answering.
"Because this world isn't kind to those who know too much...." He said calmly. "But... one day I'll tell Elena. And Caroline too. It's better that they know the supernatural exists, there aren't just Witches or sorcerers, Bonnie. There's a much broader world than you can imagine...."
Bonnie frowned, tilting her head slightly as she processed his words. The wind blew gently up there, carrying the damp smell of the waterfall, but she barely noticed. Her mind was spinning around that final phrase, as if it were a door opening to an unknown abyss.
"What did you mean by that?" She asked, her voice low, almost cautious: "A broader world? Like... what? More witches? Or... I don't know, fairies? Werewolves?"
Ryan looked at her for a moment, as if deciding how much to reveal. Then, instead of answering directly, he asked a question that caught her by surprise.
"Bonnie, do you remember those animal attacks that happened here in Mystic Falls? The ones the police said were coyotes or something, but that left the victims completely drained of blood?"
She blinked, confused by the change of subject.
"Yes... of course. Everyone talked about it. It was horrible. Caroline's mom even investigated, but they found nothing. Why?"
Ryan leaned forward a bit, his eyes fixed on hers, serious.
"They weren't animals, Bonnie. They were vampires."
The world seemed to stop for a second. Bonnie's eyes widened, her heart raced again, but this time it wasn't excitement, it was pure shock. She instinctively recoiled on the rock, as if his words were a physical threat.
"Vampires?" She repeated, her voice trembling: "Like... real ones? Blood drinkers, immortals, horror movie stuff? You're kidding, right? It has to be a joke...."
But his face remained impassive, without a trace of humor.
"It's not a joke. They are real. That's why I said the world is bigger. Witches like you, sorcerers like me... and creatures like them."
Bonnie brought her hands to her face, trying to absorb that. Her stomach churned, and for a moment, she felt like she was going to vomit.
"My God... vampires? You mean those victims were their fault? How... how is this possible? What are they? How do they work? Is it like in the movies?"
Ryan sighed lightly, as if explaining something everyday, but kept his voice calm so as not to scare her more.
"Alright, I'll tell you what I know. Vampires are basically undead. They die with vampire blood in their system and come back; they have to drink blood for the transition. When they do that, they become vampires. They need human blood to survive; it's what keeps them strong, immortal, with super strength, speed, and fast healing. Without blood, they weaken and turn into mummies...."
He paused, letting her absorb it. Bonnie nodded slowly, her eyes still wide.
"They have emotions much more intense than a normal person..." He continued casually: "Everything is amplified: love, anger, jealousy... it can drive them crazy if they don't control it. They can hypnotize people through their eyes; they call it compulsion. They make you forget things, obey orders, anything. But it doesn't work on witches like you, or on me. And it also doesn't work if the person has verbena."
"Verbena?" She asked, frowning.
"It's an herb. If you're holding some of it, or wearing it in a bracelet, necklace, or even drinking it every day as tea, it blocks the compulsion. And more: if a vampire drinks blood from someone who has verbena in their system, they get weak, poisoned. It gives a normal human time to kill them, with a wooden stake in the heart, or wooden bullet. Decapitation works too, or fire, but the heart is the main weak point...."
Bonnie swallowed hard, imagining horrible scenes.
"And... and the sun? They burn in the sun, right?"
"Yes, they can't walk in daylight without protection. They need a ring, bracelet, or necklace enchanted by a witch for that to be possible. Without it, the sun kills them in moments. And another important thing: they can't enter your house without being invited. It's an ancient rule of magic; a living human's house is protected against them, unless you say 'come in' or something like that...."
She shook her head, the shock giving way to a mixture of fascination and terror.
"This is insane. But if vampires existed, shouldn't people know about them? How do they hide?"
"Compulsion helps with that..." Ryan said, with a somber tone. "They erase memories, manipulate people. But not all are monsters; some try to live 'normal.' But the ones who attacked... are dangerous. It's our duty as witch and sorcerer to protect the people who matter to us...."
He would protect Elena. Not out of altruism or emotional attachment, but because, in some inconvenient way, she had become important to him, something curious, almost irritating, for someone who had never truly cared about anyone. As for Caroline and Bonnie, the logic was even simpler. He would do the same for them because he wanted them for himself. They were goals not yet achieved, and he didn't have the habit of abandoning something he considered his before finishing what he had started....
_________________________
(A/N: Before anyone finds Ryan too unpleasant, it's important to remember one thing: he is technically a manipulative sociopath, someone who, at the beginning, only cares about himself. That is exactly the challenge I set for myself when writing this story — not to change him abruptly or artificially, but to develop him slowly, in a gradual, coherent, and believable way.
As for his relationship with the girls, don't expect exaggerated or melodramatic drama. The idea is to have only a small initial conflict, something more restrained, precisely to keep the tone realistic and well-developed. Before he starts dating all "three" of them, it was necessary for there to be an… let's say, embarrassing past between them. That background isn't there by accident: it was the way I found to make this dynamic more realistically acceptable within the narrative, avoiding anything that feels forced or too convenient.
Nothing here happens "out of nowhere." Relationships, feelings, and even changes in behavior come with weight, discomfort, and consequences, just like in real life.
I hope you enjoy the direction the story is going. Thank you for reading!
Did you enjoy the chapter? Then you should know that over on my Patreon you can read up to chapters ahead for just 5USD! And yes—for that price, you also get full access to all of my content. That's right: cheaper than a snack… and with way more drama, action, and guaranteed emotional damage.
The link is right below. See you there!
My Patreon: patreon.com/Adam_Kadmon
Thank you so much for your support — you make all of this worthwhile.)