Prologue
Bonnie Bennett-Salvatore was holding onto her daughter as she cried on her shoulder, while her husband Stefan, held their son. They've been dreading this moment for the past month when they found out that someone was after their children. Having to explain to them why they had to leave was the hardest thing Bonnie has ever had to do in her life, and she's removed herself from her husband's memory in order to protect him. "It's not forever, okay?" Bonnie said again, trying to reassure them and they nodded.
"Your mom's right" Stefan said holding his son tighter against his chest "And we'll call you everyday".
"We'll miss you guys so much" Bonnie said heading to her son to give him a hug while Stefan held his daughter "Your Uncle Nate will help you get settled in school, okay. I already called him so he knows you're coming, you guys remember the address?"
"Yeah, mom. Does Uncle Nate know about us?" Aiden asked hesitantly and Bonnie shook her head no "Okay, remember what we told you. Don't use your powers, please. If I can sense them then so can he, okay?"
They nodded and Stefan squeezed his daughter tighter "I'll miss you, Cam" he whispered as he kissed her forehead and the girl pulled back "I'll miss you too, Daddy".
"Okay, it's time. You guys remember the spell?" Bonnie asked as they reluctantly released their kids. They nodded before walking towards each other and holding hands. Stefan pulled his wife into his arms as they watched their children disappear in front of them, not knowing when they'd ever see them again.
Chapter 1 Away From Home
Charlotte's POV
I stopped by at work before I had to be at school when Ray walked into the man cave dressed as Captain Man "You're not going to wait for henry?" I asked as he headed to the tube. He turned around with an uncomfortable look on his face which he tried to hide "I, uh I already called Henry and he said he'd meet me there" he said trying to sound casual, and I rolled my eyes because he wasn't a very good liar.
"You know, this is probably him right now" he said pulling out his phone, which didn't even ring "Hey Henry, you're already there?" he said as the elevator doors open to reveal Henry texting on his phone "Okay, yeah well I'll see you in a minute" Ray said putting his phone back in his pocket "You see I told you Charlotte" he said turning around "You told her what?" Henry asked as they came face to face, making Ray jump from the shock.
"He wanted to leave without you" I spoke up with a smirk on my face as Ray stared at me with daggers "Charlotte!"
"What? Why did you want to leave without me?"
"Because, this guy is dangerous, okay. I've faced him before" Ray said, making me curious now because it was rare for him to have that look on his face "When?"
"He used to be Captain Man's sidekick" Schwoz said as he walked into the room. "Schwoz!"
"What?! I thought I was your first sidekick" Henry said a little hurt and Ray sighed looking at him again "Look kid, nine years ago I had another sidekick named Drex. I thought he was perfect, but Drex had a dark side so we ended up fighting and if I wasn't indestructible, he would've destroyed me Henry" Ray said solemnly, making me feel bad for him. Ray walked up to Henry and placed his hand on his shoulder "Henry, I'm asking you not to go. Go to school and please let me handle this". Something about the way Ray was looking at him must have convinced him because I saw Henry start to nod before turning to me "Come on, Char. Let's get to school"
I got up from my seat and picked up my backpack, heading towards Henry, who was standing by the elevator doors before I turned to Ray and gave him a weak smile "Be careful, Ray" I said and he nodded before he went up the tubes to go face his old sidekick.
Henry and I walked into the elevator together without saying a word, but I knew what he was thinking, he was beating himself up for not being strong enough to help Ray even though it wasn't his fault and as much as I wanted to make him feel better I knew it wouldn't help so I just let it go and waited for the elevator to take us up to junk n stuff so we could go to school, where everything was normal.
Cameron's POV
Aiden and I walked through the doors of our new high school trying not to look as out of place as we felt, but judging by the stares we were getting it wasn't working. We've been here for a week and in that time our Uncle Nate showed us around the town, which seemed smaller than Mystic Falls, if that was even possible, but there was no sign of supernatural life here so that was a good sign. It's why mom picked it after all, and he pulled some strings to get us in school, today was our first day.
"Cam" I heard Aiden say from next to me, but he wasn't looking at me, instead he was looking at the class schedule in his hands. I loved my brother to bits, but he could be so serious sometimes and if we weren't twins I'd wonder if we were even related. Mom called him my conscience because whenever I thought of doing something impulsive he was there to help me through it and even though we were in a new place, living with an uncle we didn't know, I was grateful to have him with me. "Yeah?"
"This is our class" he said pointing to the closed door. We were late cause the bell rang about 5 minutes ago, but we lost our way, which was just fantastic because now we had to walk into a class filled with students. "Are you ready?"
"No, but let's do it anyway" I said reaching for the doorknob and twisting it. I opened the door and walked inside with Aiden closely behind me. The entire class turned towards us giving us curious looks. "Can I help you?" the teacher asked from the front of the class. Aiden nudged me forward and I turned around to glare at him, I was as nervous as he was and didn't need him pushing me. I rolled my eyes when he gave me an innocent look and walked to the front of the class to give the teacher the note we got from the Principal. "Oh, so you're our new students" she said with an annoyed look on her face, which made me wonder what we ever did to her. I was about to say something I shouldn't when I felt my brother poke my back, so I kept my mouth shut and gave her my fakest smile.
"Yes, mem. I'm Aiden Bennett-Salvatore and this is my twin sister, Cameron. We just moved to Swellview about a week ago" Aiden said politely and couldn't help but roll my eyes at my brother, he was too nice. It was a good thing he had me so people wouldn't walk all over him, we balanced each other out. "If I wanted to hear about your life story I would've asked" The teacher said, much to my annoyance, "Just take your seats so we can get started with the lesson".
I sighed in annoyance, if I was being completely honest though I was glad to be done talking to that horrid woman. I couldn't say the same thing for my brother though who was a little offended because he felt everything too deeply so I nudged him, pulling him out of his own brooding head and gave him a warm smile which he seemed to appreciate it.
We found our seats pretty easily, there were two empty seats smack dab in the middle of class. "Don't worry, she's like that with everyone. I wouldn't take it personally" The girl next to me whispered, getting our attention. "So she's always that horrible? Well this is going to be great" Aiden groaned beside me, before laying his head on the desk. I shook my head at him before reaching out and rubbing his back.
"He's a bit sensitive, he's going to dread this class" I explained to the girl next to me and she smiled apologetically, mouthing an 'I'm sorry' which I just waved off with a smile.
"Charlotte, make friends in your own time!" Miss Shapen screeched making the girl next to me shrink into her seat and I groaned in frustration, this was going to be a long day.
Henry's POV
I hated doing extra credit, but being kid danger took up most of my time so my marks weren't looking so great, which meant I didn't have a choice. It was a good thing I had Charlotte though, she was my constant tutor and I can't even count the number of times she's kept me from failing.
She was actually busy helping me now before Ray called her to go back to work. I wanted to go with her, but I had to pass this test tomorrow so I had to sit this one out. Not to mention I still felt bad for not being able to help Ray this morning, I was a sidekick without any powers. What a joke, how was I supposed to protect people if I couldn't even protect myself.
This is what's been haunting me all day and staying late after school to study wasn't helping, so I decided to call it quits and headed home. I was walking down the street when I saw a girl who looked familiar walking the same direction. She was the new girl who had the twin brother, I remember Charlotte mentioning that we should make them feel welcome. I hadn't personally spoken to either of them, but she said they were nice.
I wondered why she was walking by herself this late at night carrying what looked like a bag of food. I didn't have time to dwell on it though cause that guy from the news, Drex, jumped out of nowhere and started attacking her. I went on autopilot, rushing to go help her without my suit because really, there was no time.
I reached them and accidentally knocked her food from her hands, and having her yell at me in frustration "Hey!" she turned her frustration on me while Drex got away.
"Are you okay?" I asked her, figuring it would be a bad idea to go after Drex by myself. "No I'm not. That was my dinner" she said through gritted teeth.
"Oh, I'm sorry it's just I saw you in trouble and-".
"And you assumed I couldn't take care of myself" she said in frustration, which kinda made me mad because I was only trying to help. "Because every girl you see being mugged is a damsel, right?"
"I was only trying to help" I said getting just as frustrated and she only rolled her eyes. "Yeah well thanks for your help" she said before brushing past me going the opposite direction she was headed to before.
"Where are you going?"
"Where does it look like I'm going genius, I'm going to get more food" she said and I grabbed her arm before she could get very far. "Look, I'm sorry about your food. Let me pay for your meal".
"No thanks, I think you've done enough" she said and yanked her arm from my grip before speed walking away. I groaned in frustration, this was just not my day.
Aiden's POV
I could feel her before she actually walked through the door and I already knew she was upset about something. We've always been connected, it's what made us so close. We were complete opposites and yet she was my favorite person in the whole world, I guess sharing a womb does that.
"Aiden get down here" she yelled from the kitchen and yep, she was definitely mad cause we were half vampires, she really didn't have to yell. I sped down the stairs and found her dishing out our dinner. It was her turn to go on a food run, our uncle wasn't home yet and he hated it when we went out at night so we'd cover for each other whenever he showed up and the other wasn't here. Granted he didn't know we were supernatural so I kinda understood why he wouldn't want his sixteen year old niece and nephew out late at night.
"What happened?"
"I ran into that kid from school, Charlotte's friend and he had to go all macho when he thought I was being mugged and made me drop the food. I had to go back and buy more food" she said still dishing out the food and I nodded, kinda feeling bad for that kid, but I knew my sister and she hated it when guys just assumed she was weak and couldn't take care of herself. I guess you could call her a real feminist and I always tried to not respond when she got like this cause really she just wanted someone to listen to.
"Did I miss it?" she asked, referring to the daily video call from our parents. She'd never admit it, but it was the best part of their day and probably another reason why she was so frustrated. "No, but it should be any minute now" I said with a smile and that seemed to brighten up her day a bit, even made her smile a bit.
The phone went off soon after she'd finished dishing out their food and I went to answer it "Hey mama" I said when mom's face popped up on the screen and soon followed by his dad, "Hey dad".
"Hey baby, where's your sister?"
"Right here" she said showing up on the screen and waved at them enthusiastically, "Hi baby, how was your first day?" mom asked and we just shrugged. "It was okay, except for this one teacher that's just terrible. She's so mean, mom and she totally cut Aiden off when he tried to introduce us".
"Oh, I'm sorry Babies. Aiden, are you okay?" My mom asked me. Of the four of us I was the most sensitive, it wasn't something I was particularly fond off, but mom said it's what made us fit because my sister was impulsive at times so she needed me to show her a different perspective.
"Yeah I'm good, I'll get used to it".
"Are you guys settling in okay at least?" Dad asked and we nodded, "I mean, sometimes we just want to come home, but we know that's not an option right now so we're making it work".
"We miss you guys so much" Mom said with dad nodding in agreement, "But it's best if you keep a low profile for now, okay?"
"We understand mama" Cam said, and we did. Whoever was after us was really powerful. Our mom was an immortal witch and our dad was a vampire, but it was hard for them to protect us on their own. Hybrids were in high demand in the supernatural world, and with us being the first ever to be born was a whole other story because vampires weren't supposed to be able to procreate so imagine my parent's surprise when they found out that mom was pregnant.
We spoke with our parents for another hour before we had to go do homework. It was always nice to hear from them, but it was also hard because we missed them so much and I, for one wanted this nightmare to be over. I knew Cam felt the same way even though she hid it better.
We went to bed a few hours later still thinking about how much we missed home, but this was our life now, and the sooner we accepted it, the easier it will be to stay in this town.
Cameron's POV
Aiden was going to make us late if he didn't get down here soon and I really wasn't in the mood to get kicked out of school today for blowing up at a teacher. "Aiden get down here we have to go".
In his desperate attempt to be as normal as possible he refused to use his vamp speed to get around quicker. I guess I admired his insistence on being normal, but I just wasn't willing to get up earlier just to get ready.
"Captain man barely escaped an attack from an unknown supervillain last night when he tried to save a woman from being viciously attacked. The young woman died on the scene and has been identified as Kelly Smith, a young accountant who lived in our very own Swellview. Tests showed that the 25 year old was completely drained of blood…"
I didn't hear anything after that as my blood ran cold. 'No, this could not be happening' I thought to myself as I saw the TV being turned off in front of me and turned around to see an equally horrified look on my brother's face. "Aiden" I whispered brokenly and he nodded, "Yeah, I heard".
"I don't understand, how did he find us?" I asked trying to make sense of it all and Aiden just shook his head, "I don't know, Cam" he said and came to hug me. "And he killed someone, Aiden, he killed someone because of us" I said and saw the tears forming in his eyes. I took a deep breath, trying to think clearly. We couldn't just stay in hiding while the people of this town were being killed by an evil we brought with us, and superhero, Captain man, if his attack was as bad as I though then he wasn't going to make it to the end of the day.
"Aiden".
"I know, Sis, I know" he said with a sigh and I knew he was thinking the same thing. It was time to come out of hiding.
General POV
Charlotte marched through the elevator doors of the man cave with Henry hot on her heels. They were on their way to school when they got the call from Shwoz that Ray was seriously hurt.
"What happened, Shwoz?" Henry asked the moment they saw the short man examining Ray's wound.
"He vaz on patrol last night when he got a distress call" Shwoz started telling the story. "The woman was already dead vhen he gots there, and whatever was attacking the voman turned on him and started attacking him, he barely managed to gets avay and vhen he gots heGenrere, he vas so weak, Henry" he said while Charlotte examined Ray.
"But he's indestructible, how could this have happened".
"The fact that he's indestructible is what seems to be keeping him alive right now, but the venom of whatever bit him is spreading and I don't know how much longer he can hold on".
Henry was able to ask another question when they heard the elevator ding again before the doors opened again. They thought it was probably Jasper, so when it wasn't Jasper that stepped out of the elevator they were more than a little surprised.
CHAPTER 2 Bad Ideas Will Get You In Trouble
General POV
It wasn't hard for the twins to find the man cave, they already knew who Captain man and Kid danger were and where the lair was, cause really it wasn't hard to follow their scent. Plus they hid it very badly and how the town didn't know it was them by now baffled them to no end. They never interfered though because they were supposed to be keeping a low profile, but that girl's death changed things.
"Wha- Ho?" Henry's eyes went wide at the sight of the twins in the man cave as he tried to get out the million questions that were running through his mind and Cameron rolled her eyes because they really didn't have time for this.
"Close your mouth, Hart, you'll catch flies" she said as they walked further into the room. "Um, what my sister is actually trying to say is we're here to help".
"Charlotte, who are these people?" Shwoz asked in confusion and fear because if Ray found out that strangers found the man cave then he was dead.
"Um, they are new kids at our school" she told Shwoz before turning to the twins, "What are you guys doing here? How did you find this place?"
"We don't have time for that now, how is he?" Cameron asked as she approached the make shift bed Ray was laying on. "Aiden, look" she said to her brother as she looked at the wound. Aiden followed suit and looked at the wound "The venom is spreading, fast" he said and looked at the three other people in the room who currently had confused looks on their faces. "How long has he been like this?" he asked and Shwoz was the one to answer, "8 hours" he said and Cameron's eyes went wide at the news, surprised that he survived for this long, but figured it probably had something to do with the fact that he was supposed to be indestructible.
"We have to wake him up" Cameron said to her brother who only nodded in agreement. "Mom's gonna kill us for this" Aiden said letting his guilt seep through for a brief moment.
"We don't have a choice" she said with a soft smile which he returned and grabbed his sister's hand while she placed her free hand onto Ray's chest.
The other watched the twins close their eyes as if concentrating on something. They still weren't sure what was happening right now, but the twins seemed to know what they were doing, but they still wondered how exactly they were going to wake up Ray. Their answer was soon answered after the twins said one simple word "Rennervate". Ray shot up in bed the moment the word left their lips and hunched over trying to catch his breath.
"Ray!" Henry was the first to get to his side, holding onto him so that he could sit up without hurting himself. "Ray are you okay? How did you do that?" Henry asked trying to multitask who he asked what first.
Cameron didn't answer him though, she just held onto Ray, trying to get his attention "Ray, Ray look at me" she said until the man looked at her. "What happened to me?" he asked still feeling himself go weak and if they didn't do this soon he would pass out again and probably not wake up again.
"We don't have time for that right now, Ray" she said squeezing his hand, "I'm gonna need you to do something for me, but I need you to trust me, okay?" She asked softly and released some of her energy so he could calm down a bit. Henry stood on the other side of the bed, watching her speak so gently with his boss and he could visibly feel Ray start to calm down in his arms. "Do you trust me, Ray?" he heard her ask look down in time to see his boss nod in agreement.
She smiled warmly at him before she looked at Aiden and he nodded in encouragement. She raised her wrist to her to her mouth then and bit down, opening up a wound or Ray to drink from. Everyone watched in shock as she brought her wrist to Ray's mouth "Drink" she said and saw the hesitation in his eyes before he brought his mouth around her wrist, trusting her.
Cameron let him take as much as he needed in order to heal and smiled when she saw the wound slowly heal. Henry watched in awe as the wound closed and turned his amazed look to the girl in front of him 'How in the hell did she do that?'
Ray finally let go of her arm and she used her top to wipe the blood off as her own wound healed. They all looked on in shock as her wound closed in front of them, but she ignored them and focused on Ray instead as she asked "How do you feel?"
Ray smiled up at her in gratitude "I feel amazing" he said with a chuckle and she nodded approvingly. "How did you do that?"
"My sister and I aren't human, not fully human anyway" Aiden started and Ray and the others looked at them in confusion. "What do you mean 'not fully human'?" Charlotte was the one to ask and Cameron sighed because her brother sucked at explaining things. "We are what other supernaturals call hybrids, but we were the first ever to be born instead of made. Our mom is an immortal witch and our dad is a vampire".
"Wait a minute, vampires exist?" Henry asked and Aiden nodded, "There are a lot of different creatures that go bump in the night, you've just never been exposed to them because there are those who protect humans from them, people like our parents".
"But not all supernaturals are good, some of them are seriously evil and thirst for power" Cameron added, "It's why we came here. Someone really evil wants to use us as a weapon, our parents tried to protect us back home, but our mom got seriously hurt and if she wasn't immortal then…"
"Then she would've died so they decided to hide us" Aiden said picking up where his sister left off when he saw that she was having a hard time. Henry kept his eyes on Cameron, feeling bad for them because no one deserved to be separated from their family. "The plan was to keep a low profile, we're not allowed to use our magic because he will sense it and come after us".
"But you used it anyway, why?" Ray asked wondering why they would risk their lives like this, even though he was grateful for it.
"Because there's another supernatural here in Swellview, the one that attacked you and killed that girl which means he found us anyway and we don't want anyone else to die because of us" Cameron said looking at each of them, her eyes lingering on Henry, who's been staring at her this whole time but has not said much. She couldn't decipher what he was thinking and she hated it when she couldn't read someone because she took pride in reading people, but she couldn't seem to be able to read him and that bothered her.
"How did you find out about us?" Charlotte asked and Cameron chuckled at that "No offense, but you guys are really bad at keeping a secret, and I guess the fact that we're supernatural also gave us an edge".
They all nodded in embarrassment before Ray spoke up again, "I know we probably should've led with this question, but who are you?"
"Oh, I'm Cameron Bennett-Salvatore and this is Aiden, my twin brother".
"Vhy do you have a boy's name?"
"Shwoz!" the other three yelled, making the twins chuckle.
"Don't mind him, we were thinking of giving him away anyway" Ray said giving Shwoz the death glare, but Cameron waved him off with a chuckle. "Nha it's fine, it's actually a unisex name. My mom didn't want me to have a girly name so they agreed on Cameron".
"Ohh, see Ray she didn't mind" Shwoz said, earning another chuckle from Cameron, but she stopped when she caught Henry looking at her again. It was really unnerving.
"Thank you again for saving my life" Ray said and the twins just nodded with a smile.
"So what do we do now? How are we going to stop this guy?" Henry asked, speaking up for the first time in a while.
"This is not your fight" Cameron answered looking at all of them, "Our mom felt our magic already so they're probably on their way here already so we'll take care of it".
"We're not going to let you guys fight this evil guy by yourselves, and besides this is our town and it's our responsibility to protect the people of Swellview" Ray said, in agreement with Henry. "You two risked your lives to save mine, and now we're going to do the same for you, whether you want us to or not".
"Okay, this is getting out of hand. Let's hold off on the suicide mission for now and wait until our parents get here, they'll know what to do" Aiden said and was happy that he could at least get them to agree on that. Just then Cameron's phone went off, speak of the devil and he shall appear she thought as she showed Aiden who was calling. "Hey mama, how are you?" she asked nervously as she answered the phone.
"Cameron Abigail Bennett-Salvatore!"
CHAPTER 3 When Two World Collide
General POV
Cameron hung up the phone as she walked back into the man cave after getting a tongue lashing from her mom. Aiden walked up to her with a sympathetic look on his face while the others stayed on the couch. "How'd it go?"
"She used my full name" she said and they all watched Aiden visibly cringe at that so they assumed that was probably the worst thing that could've happened. "After I got her to stop yelling at me I explained everything and she understood" she continued as they walked closer to everyone else and she took the seat Aiden previously occupied next to Henry. "She said that Dad called Uncle Damon and Aunt Lucy so they have to wait for them to come back from their honeymoon and will be here tomorrow night".
"More supernaturals?" Shwoz asked curiously and Cam nodded, "Yeah, uncle Damon is a vampire, dad's brother and aunt Lucy is a witch too, mom's cousin".
"This is so cool, I've never been around any supernaturals before" Ray said sounding like an enthused kid and Cam shook her head, "It gets old quick trust me. I mean, don't get me wrong they're family and I love em, but I just feel like we only ever see them when there's a crisis" she sighed, exhausted.
"We should go home" Aiden suggested when he saw the exhausted look on his sister's face, but she shook her head "Mom said we all need to stay where we are until they get here, so Ray, you got any spare room?"
"We can't stay here while our families are out there" Charlotte said and Aiden shook his head "They'll be fine, just call and tell them to stay inside and not to invite anyone inside" he said and she nodded in gratitude as she pulled out her cellphone to call her parents and Henry did the same.
"Are you okay?" Aiden asked his sister and she nodded in exhaustion, "Yeah, it's just going to be a long night".
"Yeah, but it's going to be okay. We'll all make it through this alive, we're not going to lose anyone here okay?" he said and she nodded. "I'm going to go and call uncle Nate, let him know we won't be home".
"Yeah good luck with that" she said and watched him walk away before making room for herself on the couch and fell asleep soon after.
"Is she okay?" Henry asked Aiden as he walked back into the Man cave hanging up the phone. When Henry was done speaking to his parents he came back to find Cameron passed out on the couch. He thought about waking her up just to see if she was okay, but he didn't want to get yelled at again so he thought against it.
Aiden looked at his sister passed out on the couch, of course she was tired, not only did she perfect a big spell, but she also gave Ray quite a lot of her blood to heal him. Their bodies weren't used to being overexerted like this, they never had to and now they were paying for it. "She'll be fine, she just needs to get some rest".
"Does that happen a lot?" Henry asked, his brow furrowed as he turned to her again. "No, we've never done anything like this before so our bodies aren't used to it".
Henry nodded feeling kinda bad that they were feeling weak from helping them. Aiden saw this and placed his hand on Henry's shoulder, "It's okay, Henry. This is a good thing, we need the practice".
"I set up some room for you guys upstairs so she can go sleep there" Ray said, overhearing their conversation. "Thanks Ray" Aiden said, walking towards the couch, but Henry stopped him. "Can I take her?" he asked, and Aiden nodded in gratitude. He really didn't feel like carrying his sister up the stairs with the way he was feeling.
Henry reached for her, lifting her up bridal style and for a minute he thought she was going to wake up, but she just snuggled close to his chest instead and Henry's breath caught in his throat at the feel of her soft skin against his chest.
Henry took her upstairs and laid her on the bed. He watched her unconsciously snuggle further into the bed, getting comfortable and he smiled to himself. He just couldn't figure her out, she looked so peaceful when she was asleep, but whenever she was awake she looked at him with disdain. He got that she was probably still mad about last night, but she had to understand that he was just trying to help and for some reason it really bothered him that she didn't seem to like him.
Henry sighed feeling a little frustrated with himself, he shouldn't care this much what she thought of him, he barely knew her. He was still thinking about it as he walked back into the man cave to find Charlotte and Aiden having an animated conversation by the computers as she showed him how everything worked. He smiled to himself, happy to see that his best friend finally found someone who spoke her language who wasn't a weirdo, no offense to Schwoz.
"What's on your mind, Kid?" Ray asked as he took the seat Cameron was previously laying on, sitting across from Ray. If he hadn't seen the state his boss was in not too long ago he would've sworn nothing was ever wrong with him. He really looked better than he has ever seen him. "Nothing, I'm just glad to see that you're okay" Henry said giving him a relieved smile. "Yeah, those kids are something, huh?" Ray said returning his smile before looking over at Charlotte and Aiden. He never believed in mythical being or the supernatural or anything like that, but after what he went though he's started to think that maybe anything is possible and he couldn't help but of Cameron as his guardian angel. What she did really restored his faith in people, the world was messed up, yes, but there were also people who were willing to put themselves through the ringer just to help someone they didn't even know, that's what a true hero was and there was no doubt in his mind that those kids were heroes.
Ray turned back to Henry and saw the same look reflected in his eyes and he knew he was thinking the same thing.
They were all sitting around the couch having pizza when Aiden felt a presence. No one else seemed to notice as they continued with their animated conversation of how Drex got his ass handed to him by a fifteen year old girl, even though she was a supernatural. Aiden told them more about why they were in Swellview and why Cameron didn't seem to like Henry.
Aiden tried to ignore the feeling of dread at the pit of his stomach, but it only seemed to get stronger. It wasn't until his sister rushed into the man cave with the same look of dread on her face "Aiden, did you-".
"Yeah" he said, cutting her off as he got off the couch while everyone else looked confused as to what was going on. "What, what's happening?" Charlotte asked frantically as she saw the worried looks on their faces. Henry and Ray saw it too and got off the couch, "Someone's here" Cameron said and immediately Ray and Henry blew some gum, turning into Captain Man and Kid danger. "How did anyone find us?" Ray asked.
"It's because of us" Aiden said looking at his sister before turning back to the group. "Our mom told us that he could sense our magic, and when we used it…"
"He knew exactly where we were" Cameron said, finishing her brother's thought. Aiden enhanced his vampire hearing to see if he could pinpoint his exact location and heard multiple footsteps walk into Junk & Stuff, "There are about three of them upstairs" he said and Charlotte ran to her station to get a visual from the security cameras. "Yep, three large males waking towards the elevator" she said and turned back to her friends "They're coming down".
"You guys need to hide. They are after us, they'll leave you alone if you leave now" Cameron told them, but Henry was already shaking his head, "Are you crazy?! We're not leaving you here to fight these guys alone".
"These are hybrids! They will kill you without thinking twice about it" she said getting frustrated with him. She was so sick of him always trying to be such a hero when he was only human and could actually get himself killed. "This is not your fight okay!" she said putting emphasis on the word 'fight'.
"No, Henry's right. We can't just leave you here by yourselves, it's not the kind of people we are" Ray said firmly and the others nodded in agreement. Cameron looked at her brother for help, but he only shrugged. This was such a bad idea, and she hated Henry for not just listening to her. She didn't have time to dwell on it though because the elevator door opened soon after and revealed the three men Charlotte saw on the monitor.
"Well look what we have here" who they assumed was the leader spoke up first as he took in the four teenagers standing before them along with a middle aged man. "Well if it isn't Swellview's mightiest heroes; Captain Man and Kid Danger".
"Yeah, I saw them on the news" another one sneered, "Two humans in costumes who think they are some kind of Superheroes just because they fight crime when they don't know what true power looks like". They all looked at the intruders, with Ray recognizing the third one at the back as the one that bit him.
"We've been looking for you" he finally poke up looking at the twins with a sinister look on his face, "Who knew all it would take to get you out of hiding was by attacking a few humans" he said looking a Ray, who seemed to sink back into himself as he remembered the vicious attack from last night. "Come quietly and we won't hurt your friends".
Cameron scoffed at that "Like we believe that" she said and he shrugged, unbothered by the fact that she knew they were lying "We're not going anywhere with you and you're not hurting our friends".
"I guess we're doing this the hard way then" the first one spoke up again before bearing his teeth and lunging towards Aiden, only to have him throw him against the wall with his magic. He hadn't gotten any rest though and Cameron could see that it took a lot out of him to do that.
Meanwhile, Ray and Henry were shooting at the other two, but it only seemed to annoy them more than anything. One of the two sped forward, making a beeline for Henry and Cameron acted purely on instinct as she intersected the attack, snapping the unsuspecting hybrid's neck and watched him fall to the floor. "Is he dead?" Henry breathed as he looked at the man's body lying on the floor. "No, and he won't be down for long" she said as they saw the hybrid that tried to attack Aiden get up off the floor.
Cameron shared a fearful look with her brother, he looked exhausted, and she couldn't protect all of them by herself. The two hybrids gave her a sinister smile because they knew it too. "This isn't a battle you're going to win kid".
"Then maybe you should stop picking on little kids and take on someone your own size" They heard someone say from behind them and the twins turned around immediately, recognizing that voice. Cameron hated crying, but she couldn't stop the tears of relief that flooded her eyes as she looked the four people she loved the most, aside from her brother, standing in the Man cave as the portal close behind them.
"Uncle Damon" Aiden whispered, and turned to his sister to make sure he wasn't hallucinating and only saw the same relieved look reflected in her eyes and all he could think was they made it.
"Who the hell are you?" One of the hybrids said from behind them only to have Damon grin menacingly at them "I'm the guy who's face will be the last you see" he said before he sped forward and plunged his hand into the man's chest and ripped his heart out, dropping it to the floor.
The other hybrid attacked him, pinning him to the floor before he was suddenly sent flying. Ray, Henry and Charlotte looked on in astonishment and awe as they watched a short petite woman, who seemed to resemble Cameron, pinned the last hybrid against the elevator door with her magic, walking slowly towards him. "You made a mistake by coming here, and now you've signed your own death warrant" she said dangerously low, looking the hybrid up and down before plunging a stake into his chest.
They watched the man's color change to grey as he dropped to the floor. They saw the man, Damon, bring the other two bodies closer, piling them on top of each other and the young woman looked down at them in disgust "Incendia" she muttered and the bodies burst into flames until nothing was left.
Stefan walked up to his kids to make sure they were okay and Cameron immediately threw herself at him, crying on his shoulders as he held onto her, relieved that they made it in time. The moment Damon and Lucy got there Bonnie could feel that something was wrong and so the two Bennett witches wasted no time before opening a portal to where their kids were.
"It's okay, Cam" he whispered into her ear, making to young girl hold on even tighter. "You okay, Aiden?" Lucy asked giving Aiden a warm hug and he nodded "Yeah, just a little tired".
"Yeah, you look it took" she said as she pulled back only to have the kid bought into a bone-crushing hug that he knew came from his mother even though he didn't have time to get a good look at her face. "I'm sorry we took so long" she whispered in his ear and he nodded against her shoulder "It's okay, mama" he said and held on tighter.
Damon approached Stefan and Cameron just as he was letting her go once she calmed down "You did good with that hybrid, kid" he said as she turned to him, giving him a teary smile. "How do you know it wasn't Aiden?" she asked and he shook his head "Your brother's a mess, he could never pull that off" he said casually before they heard an offended "hey!" come from the boy in question, and they chuckled in response "I missed you, Uncle Damon" she said and gave him a warm hug. "Right back at ya, Kid".
They continued to hug and greet each other before Aiden noticed their new friends standing on the side still reeling from what just happened, " Mom, Dad, these are our new friends. That's Ray, Charlotte and Henry" he said snapping them out of their shocked state before they came closer, relaxing a bit when they saw the warm smiles they were receiving. "Guys these are our parents".
"We're so sorry for the trouble we've caused" Ray spoke up first, getting over the shock of the entire situation, and Bonnie was already shaking her head. "You don't need to apologize, we're always taught our kids to never turn their back on someone in need" she said looking at her kids with pride before turning back to Ray, "Any one of us would've done the same thing" she said indicating to the people around her, who all nodded in agreement.
"She's right. Now we just need to figure out a way to beat this guy once and for all" Stefan spoke up from beside his wife with his daughter still tucked under his arm and Henry couldn't help but notice how much more relaxed she was with her parents here.
"Well we would like to help. Your kids, they saved my life and we want to help protect them" Ray said and the other two nodded in agreement. "Yeah, they're our friends, and we protect each other" Charlotte added, earning a smile from Aiden. For the longest time it's always been him, his sister and their parents and now they had these new friends, friends who wanted to help them and it warmed his heart.
"We'll discuss it in the morning, right now I think everyone needs to get some rest, especially Aiden" Stefan said looking at his son, who seemed about ready to pass out right then and there.
"We'll all stay here, there's plenty of room".
"Thank you, Ray" Bonnie said gratefully before grabbing her cousin's hand so they could do a protection spell to prevent any more unwanted visitors. Bonnie glanced back at her kids, relieved to see that they were okay and as she watched them with their new friends from Swellview she couldn't help, but think of the friends that helped her through the toughest time in her life and for the first time finally believed that her kids were going to be okay.
"They're gonna be just fine, Cuz" Lucy said, voicing her thoughts as she made the same observation and Bonnie nodded, looking up at her.
"Yeah, they are".
Chapter 4: Superhuman
"Why do we have to go to school?" Cameron whined to her parents as they all stood in the Man Cave after Stefan told them they had to go to school this morning.
"Because, even with everything that's going on right now, you are still kids who need an education" Bonnie said from on top of her husband's lap. "I know you kids are worried about this whole situation, but we can't let it stop us from living our lives and that includes going to school" She continued looking at the four disgruntled teenagers and remembered that she had to go to their houses to perform a protection spell there as well.
"Yeah, now come on, your uncle Damon and I are gonna drive you all to school" Lucy said getting up, dragging her husband up with her. They'd all agreed that Damon and Lucy chauffer the kids around while Bonnie and Stefan take care of the magical side of things.
The four teenagers reluctantly followed them to the elevator while Stefan watched them leave, watching Henry suspiciously. "Stop staring at the poor kid" Bonnie said, noticing the way Stefan was staring at Henry. Bonnie knew that the kid liked her daughter, with all the longing looks he's been giving her it would be hard not to notice and clearly her husband has noticed as well.
"I don't like the way he looks at her" he said in disdain and Bonnie couldn't help but chuckle. Stefan was being such a dad right now, as if he could stop his daughter from ever getting a boyfriend.
"You can't exactly stop it if she likes him too" she said with a warm smile. Stefan and Cameron have always been close and he has always been protective of her. Sometimes Bonnie thought if her husband had his way then she'd never grow up. His head snapped up at her words "You think she likes him?" He was dreading the thought of her liking a boy. She was too young to start dating, right?
"I don't know babe, but she'd definitely more hostile than she usually is when she's around him".
"And you think that means she likes him".
"It means he gets a reaction out of her, which you know is very hard to do" she said and he knew she was right. Cameron was usually laid back, a lot of things didn't get to her, but this boy seemed to get under her skin. He groaned then because he was so not ready for this and Bonnie chuckled, kissing his cheek. "I'm sorry babe, but our little girl is growing up and she's beautiful so boys will swarm, so if it's not Henry it's going to be someone else".
"Not if I kill them all" he said making his wife laugh even more and he couldn't help the smile that graced his face just from seeing her laugh. He still couldn't believe how lucky he is, he not only married the love of his existence, but they somehow had two beautiful kids. "I love you, Bonnie Bennett-Salvatore" he said before kissing her lips.
"What was that for, Salvatore?" she asked after they pulled apart. "You're my miracle, Bunny, and you have given me two beautiful children who are going to send me to an early grave by growing up too fast" he said and she kissed him again "Let it go, babe" she whispered against his lips before she pulled away completely and got up off his lap, reaching for his hand. "Let's get to work".
The four of them walked through the school hallway after being dropped off with a "Keep a low profile and don't get into any trouble" from their uncle to which Cameron only rolled her eyes at because really what kind of trouble were they going to get into, this was technically only their second day of school.
"Did mom say anything to you about what they're going to be doing today?" She asked her brother when they got to their locker and he shook his head, "Nha, but you know mom, she always has to do the research first before anything can happened" he said and she nodded because that was so true. It's probably one of the reasons her and their uncle Damon made such a good team. He was all action and she could get him to think before he acted.
"Yeah, are you feeling okay today?" she asked a little concerned, he was really exhausted yesterday and he nodded "Yeah, nothing a good night's sleep couldn't fix".
"I'm glad, having to carry me to bed probably didn't either huh, thanks for that by the way" she said gratefully, but he was already shaking his head "Henry carried you up to bed, I kinda told him about the whole exhaustion thing and he offered".
She furrowed her brows at that, not sure how to feel about it. She did want to thank him for that, not just for carrying her to bed, but for thinking about her brother too. Her thoughts were interrupted though when she saw them walking up to them returning from their own lockers. "You guys got everything you need?" Charlotte asked when they were close enough.
"Yeah, let's go" Aiden said already ushering them towards class. "You guys go ahead, I need to talk to Henry for a second" Cameron said, earning a confused look from the boy in question. The couple nodded before starting the trek to class and the two of them were left alone in the busy hallway. "What did you want to talk about?" he asked cautiously as he took an unconscious step closer to her and she was suddenly nervous about how close they were.
She was about to gather up the courage to actually say something when Henry's face was suddenly blocked from her view. For his part, Henry was shocked when Bianca suddenly came up to them from out of nowhere and started kissing him right in front of Cameron. He quickly pulled away, kinda annoyed with Bianca. "Babe, where were you yesterday? I tried texting you" she said a little whiny. He was going to text her back, but then everything happened and he's really just been distracted. "Yeah, um sorry, but listen Bianca I really can't talk right now, but I'll call you later okay?" he said before looking around her only to find that Cameron wasn't there anymore. When did she leave? He thought as his heart sank to the pit of his stomach.
Aiden watched his sister walk into class with a neutral look on her face and he could immediately tell something was wrong. Whenever she was hurt and upset it was like she reset herself, closing off her emotions to everyone, everyone but him. She shook her head as she sat down because she really didn't want to talk about it, she wasn't even sure what happened herself or why she was so upset. All she knew was that what she saw bothered her for some reason.
Henry walked in shortly after and immediately spotted Cameron sitting in her desk next to her brother. He walked towards them, taking his spot next to his best friend which was the seat behind Aiden and across from the girl who's attention he was currently trying to get, but she refused to look at him. "Cameron" he whispered as Miss Shapen walked into class, but he knew she could hear him because of her vampire hearing. "Cameron".
"Class is about to start Henry" she said without looking behind her and Charlotte gave him a confused look which he mouthed 'Bianca' and suddenly it all made sense. Charlotte never liked that girl because she always gave Henry just enough to keep him holding on while she flirted with other guys until she felt like there was a threat, then she'd become all needy and want all of his attention. Henry never saw any of this though because he was always blinded by her hotness and the last time Charlotte tried to warn him about her it almost ruined their friendship.
She knew that he liked Cameron though, anyone with eyes could see the way he looked at her last night unfortunately she didn't know Cameron enough to gauge if she liked him too, but judging by how annoyed she sounded it was clear she felt something.
Henry watched as Cameron bolted out the door the moment the bell rang. He was about to go after her when he felt a hand on his arm and turned to see Aiden looking at him disapprovingly. "What did you do to my sister, Henry?"
He sighed glancing at the door Cameron just disappeared through. "She was about to tell me something, but then Bianca showed up and started kissing me and the next thing I knew she was gone".
"Who's Bianca?" Aiden asked confused and Henry scratched the back of his head, "She's kind of my girlfriend, but I promise you I didn't know she was going to do that".
"It doesn't matter, she was just going to thank you for carrying her up to bed, especially since you made sure I didn't have to do it" he said suddenly wanting to go comfort his sister. He'd suspected that she might like Henry, but after hearing what Henry had to say he knew that she definitely liked him and now she was hurt. "Oh man" Henry said pulling him from his thought, Aiden could tell he felt guilty, and not just because his girlfriend was rude to his sister, "Dude, I know what Bianca did was super rude, but why won't she even talk to me?" Henry asked a little bit confused, he hated what Bianca did, and if he was being completely honest with himself his feelings for her have changed and what happened today only cemented that, but Cameron was constantly yelling at him or annoyed with him so why did it bother her so much that Bianca kissed him.
"No, I'm not gonna touch that, ask her yourself, but dude if you really have to ask, then you're a bigger idiot than I thought" he said before going after his sister.
Meanwhile, Cameron was getting her books out of her locker when she felt a presence behind her and judging by the scent it was Henry's girlfriend, "Can I help you?" she said closing her locker to reveal the taller girl standing in front of her. "You're the girl that was talking to Henry this morning" She said looking down at her, but Cameron's been short all her life so she was never one to be intimidated by people who were taller than her.
"Yeah, so?"
"I just wanted you to know that I'm his girlfriend" She said and Cameron nodded "Good to know" she said and then tried to walk past her only to have Bianca grab her arm and it took everything in her not to flip her over. "So I would like you to stay away from him".
"Careful Bianca, your insecurities are showing" Charlotte's voice said from behind them and Cameron felt Bianca loosen her grip before plastering a fate smile on her face. "Charlotte, how are you?"
"I'm going to be fine once you stop harassing my friend" Charlotte sassed and earned an impressed smile from Cameron. Bianca let go of her completely turning the fake smile on her, "We were just having a friendly chat, right new girl?" and Cameron looked at her as if she was insane.
"Oh I know exactly the kind of conversation you were having and if I see it again Henry's going to know as well".
Bianca dropped all pretense at the threat and walked closer to Charlotte, getting in her face, "Oh Charlotte, you of all people know that I've got Henry tied right around my finger and if you're not careful I'll make sure your friendship actually does end this time" she said before flipping her hair and plastering a fake smile again. "Besides, Henry might have a black best friend, but that's as far as it goes" she said earning the stink eye from Cameron at the implication, but Charlotte didn't seem all that surprised. "You ladies have a good day" the tall girl said because marching down the hallway, probably in search of Henry.
"Well that girl's a bitch" Cameron said and Charlotte chuckled at the comment because that was the understatement of the century, "Yeah, Henry's my best friend and I love him, but I really don't know what he sees in that girl".
"Well she's hot, I hear that's every guy's type" she said linking her arm with Charlotte's as they headed to their next class. "Except my brother" she said, stopping suddenly, feeling the need to reassure Charlotte because she really thought they might like each other judging by the look on her brother's face every time she's around her. "Yeah, he's more into the sassy nerd type" she said making Charlotte blush, even though it didn't show on her skin.
"Oh um, that's um, that's good to know" the girl said flustered and Cameron giggled in response, the girl's reaction making her day.
Bonnie and Stefan walked back into the Man Cave with Ray in toe, they've just returned from casting protection spells around the kid's houses to make sure it was at least safe for them to stay in their homes seeing as they couldn't keep them in the Man Cave forever.
"How'd it go?" Lucy asked looking up from the grimoire she was paging through while the couple was gone.
"It was okay, there was no one home so we dodged some really awkward conversations" Ray said making Bonnie chuckle because the whole way he kept complaining about how he really didn't want to explain why he was at their house when they barely knew him.
"Did you find it?" Bonnie asked her cousin and she nodded animatedly at her before turning to Ray. "What?" he asked, seeing the mischievous looks on their faces.
"Are you gonna tell him?" Lucy asked and Damon rolled his eyes from beside his wife, "Oh, can we just get on with it? They want to make you Superhuman" Damon said, not one to beat around the bush and earned a smack on the chest from his only for him to grab her hand and bring it to his lips, "You were taking too long, babe".
"Wait, a what?!" Ray asked turning towards the other couple in the room.
"A superhuman. You'll basically have the same abilities as a vampire, except the hunger for blood and immortality, but you will definitely be harder to kill" Stefan explained and Ray's confusion cleared from his eyes and was replaced with excitement. "Are you serious?! So I'll be like you guys?"
"In a sense, yes" Bonnie said feeding off his excitement. "We figured if you're really serious about helping us, let's at least give you and Henry a chance at survival against supernaturals".
Ray nodded gratefully, "Okay so what do I have to do?" he asked and Lucy got up from the couch and went to stand next to her cousin. "Nothing really, you can just stand there and Bonnie and I will perform the spell".
The two women stood around Ray, placing their hands on his shoulders and began chanting the spell. When they were done Ray opened his eyes and looked at them "Did it work?" he asked, skeptically, not feeling any different.
"Let's see" Bonnie said looking at her husband and he immediately charged at Ray. Without thinking, Ray grabbed a hold of him and threw him to the side as if he was nothing and the two women smiled at their handy work as Stefan got up from the other side of the Man Cave, where he'd landed. "Yeah, it worked. You okay there, Stef?" Damon asked his brother who nodded, "Couldn't be better".
"That was freaking cool" Ray said looking at his hands before looking up at the two women in front of him. "Thank you".
"It's no problem, Ray" Lucy said with a warm smile. "Now what?" he asked and Damon looked at his brother with raised eyebrows before turning back to the superhero. "Now we train".
Cameron felt herself being pulled into the janitor's closet after her last class and cursed herself for not sensing it sooner as she looked up at the blonde headed boy in front of her. She'd managed to avoid him the whole day, heading a different direction every time she felt he was close. She figured she must've gotten cocky and that's how she ended up in this predicament.
"What do you want, Henry?" she asked, already getting frustrated with him.
"You've been avoiding me all day" he said and she sighed in frustration, "why?"
"I'm surprised you noticed, I figured you would've been too busy with your girlfriend" she said a little louder than she intended, she really didn't know why it bothered her so much what he did with his time. "Great gal, by the way, she's a real keeper" she continued, suddenly unable to stop once she got started "Yeah, between the racism and her thinking she's better than everyone else I'm sure you guys have a great future ahead of you".
Henry stood there, a little taken aback by some of the things she was saying, stuff he's never noticed until the stunt she pulled this morning and how passionately Cameron was talking about them because they really did seem to be bothering her. He couldn't help but remember Aiden's words this morning.
"I guess I can't really blame you, you're just following your instincts just like every adolescent boy in this school and-"
"You like me" he said interrupting her, it all suddenly made sense to him. That's why she was always so hostile around him, he got under her skin and she couldn't figure out why. He's probably the first guy she's ever liked and she didn't understand what she was feeling.
"If that's what you got from that then you have a bigger ego than I gave you credit for" she scoffed, a little taken aback by his statement because she definitely did not like Henry Hart. "What I'm saying is your girlfriend's a b-" and she never finished her sentence because suddenly Henry's lips were on hers as he kissed her. She kissed him back without even realizing it and even enjoyed the kiss before she got back to her senses and pulled away angrily creating a substantial amount of distance between them. "Kiss me again and I'll kill you" she spat in anger before walking out of the closet, leaving him alone.
Henry stood there in a daze for a moment because 'whoa', before her words actually registered in his brain making him cringe. If he had any doubts about her liking him before, they were all eliminated by that one kiss, but he also realized that she was going to give him a hard time and Henry Hart has never had to work to get a girl.