The Vampire Diaries

Sheila Bennett could remember the first time she'd ever cast a spell so clearly that it almost felt like yesterday, and but, for a few wrinkles and a few grey hairs she might have been that same, idealistic teenager, campaigning for racial equality who at the same time as she was attending sit-ins or charging Police Officers armed with high pressure hoses, also discovered she was a Witch. It was a closely guarded family secret – as most things pertaining to what popular culture has termed the occult are – although Sheila's first spell, had been unexpected.

It had been triggered she later discovered by her emotions – fear specifically. She had been taking a shortcut through an alley in what was then one of the black neighbourhoods in Mystic Falls when she'd been set upon by two White Thugs, they were the typical vulgar, foul-mouthed bigots that you'd come across at any of the protests across the South at the time. But the thing that had amplified her fear was the fact that one of them was a Vampire – one who wanted her blood once he and has buddy had dealt with her.

By spearheading protests she had already painted a big red target sign on her back, these two were just being opportunistic. Her fear had however turned to bravery, she had felt warmth inside of her as she had never felt before, a light that uplifted her spirits, the Vampire dropped to the floor suffering aneurisms while his friend was slammed against a wall and left unconscious. Yes, Sheila Bennett remembered very well that first spell – probably because it was one she had used most prolifically of late, and had seen most commonly used by her granddaughter Bonnie, and now that she was back she was questioning whether that was the memory she would like to take to her grave with her, again.

It was the middle of the night as the door opened and Bonnie strode in but Sheila didn't mind, she was cooking Bonnie's favourite – her surprise casserole, although technically it had been her Mother's casserole first, Sheila had just tweaked it a little over the years – Bonnie strode around the corner and Sheila felt as though nothing had changed, it was as though she'd never really left her granddaughter, that they had always had one another. She turned around and looked at her granddaughter smiling widely at her. Bonnie's eyes were twinkling, like the stars in the sky – it was indication of her power. However she didn't seem warm, only confused – and Sheila could sense there was a turbulence in the girl. She was about to say something when Bonnie prompted her with a question.

"Grams how do you become a Witch?"

Sheila raised an eyebrow, "Become a Witch?"

Bonnie nodded, affirming that Sheila had heard her granddaughter correctly.

"Bonnie it isn't like a Club, one does not just become a Witch, you are born with the powers."

Bonnie frowned – her puzzlement had yet to depart her face.

"Why did you ask? Your not suggesting Elena wants to-"

"-no," Bonnie said definitely, at least that seemed to channel some of the confusion into amusement in the girl, "nothing like that…it's just…something happened – I think I sensed that someone tonight had powers, like you and me, but they hadn't had them before, ever before."

Sheila allowed her eyebrow to remain raised in intrigue.

"I think Matt is a Witch, or became one, I'm not sure."

"They could have just awakened in him?" Sheila suggested but immediately understood implicitly that it wouldn't have made any sense – they would have known he was at least moderately magical, or at least she would have, or known someone in that family who had been. There wasn't a drop of magical blood running in his veins, at least there hadn't been before.

Bonnie sat down at a chair at the Kitchen Table, "I'm just a little…overwhelmed."

Sheila settled, "Bonnie if you are going through something then we shall get through it together, I've seen a lot of things Bonnie, things you can't begin to imagine – confide in me. What's on your mind?"

She shrugged, "Well…Jeremy is a Vampire…my boyfriend," she looked into her Grams eyes but they only seemed encouraging, urging her to tell her more so she could understand her easily, "or ex-boyfriend…I'm not even sure where we stand anymore…Matt might be a Witch…it's…I just don't understand how everyone I care about is being sucked into this world. People just end up getting killed."

Sheila reached across and touched at her hand reassuringly, a sign to show that she was here with Bonnie and that she would understand her needs and anything else she was struggling with, Bonnie looked into her Grams deep brown eyes and suddenly felt completely relaxed, everything just seemed to float away when she was around her Grams aura.

"Bonnie, I understand it's hard for you, but as a Witch you have been born into a world beyond what ordinary teenagers go through, you have been born into a world with Vampires who prey upon people, with Werewolves who cannot control what happens to them at dawn, a world with Witches who may be cold-hearted, callous and evil – a world where those three forces are periodically at war with one another. But you are lucky Bonnie, you can see each side of the conflict, true you haven't met everything that is out there but you have experienced touches of the principal people involved and that is what matters – with Stefan and Tyler and all your other friends you can make a difference Bonnie. You just have to weather the storm, when you get to my age…well the less said about that the better," she squeezed Bonnie's hand tightly, "now how about some casserole?"

.

Elena had gone to sleep on a worry and growing anxiety and had been rewarded for it with a night of nightmares, she awoke and felt her heart skip a beat – although that was being modest, she had nearly died – as she awoke to both Stefan and Jeremy waiting for her in her bedroom, she sat bolt upright against the back of her bed as she registered the fact and then swung her head toward the door as Alaric entered, looking as tired as she felt, at that point she envied the fact that Stefan and Jeremy didn't need to sleep – and then the thought dawned upon her: her brother was a Vampire.

The three exchanged worried glances as they regarded her – perhaps they had misinterpreted her reaction to awaking to three of them in her bedroom when she only really wanted one of them to see the fact she had slept in her underwear as actually being concern for Damon – although she was concerned for Damon, he should have been back to them hours ago and his lack of presence in the room was obvious.

"What are you thinking?" Elena quizzed openly – she didn't see any point to beat about the bush.

Stefan exchanged a glance with Jeremy and then paused to look back to her, "We're thinking that…someone took Damon last night while he was on his way to the Grill…if Isobel is back then it's only reasonable to presume that the town Vampires amongst others are back: and they have good reason to want Damon dead."

"And the Werewolves – Mason Lockwood will be back." Jeremy murmured, and Elena nodded, understanding that fact.

"So what are you doing about it?" Elena prodded.

Stefan leaned back and then looked at Alaric for answers who looked equally lost, only Jeremy seemed to be maintaining a cool, in fact it was an icy cool and it was unsettling Elena to see her brother so detached, perhaps he was flirting with switching off his feelings – the fact he could shut that alright made her shudder involuntarily, violently enough that Stefan moved closer to her as though his embrace might arrest what she had felt.

"Bonnie is going to look for him, Tyler is scenting with Caroline along the route he might have taken…otherwise we don't have a lot, we though we'd wait here till you woke up and in case we heard news from either group," Jeremy murmured after a few moments silence, "what do you want to do?" he turned towards her and suddenly she felt tears filling up inside of her, the sparkle of youth was gone from his eye, overnight he had matured, grown into the skin of immortality…become wise, like a sage. His eyes were not those of a bright, fun teenager…they were those of a man twice his age who had seen the world and understood things on another level.

"Maybe it's best if we just go help Caroline and Tyler," Alaric said shooting Jeremy a look, not that Elena was even sure her brother would understand it, he seemed so aloof from everything she wondered if the emotional sentiment might bypass him entirely, Jeremy however moved, although it seemed more than a little begrudging, "we'll call you if we see anything."

"Alaric looks exhausted," Elena murmured once they left, attempted to steer away from the subject of her brother though she could tell from Stefan's look, the way his piercing hazel-coloured eyes knifed through her to her core, silently understanding everything she was dealing with and sounding out all her queries, that she wasn't going to be able to steer away from her issues surrounding Jeremy, "he needs some rest, we all do…the last few days have been…hard, for all of us."

"It isn't gonna go away Elena," Stefan replied, ignoring her stall tactic, "Jeremy will be a Vampire now for his whole life, and yeah he's changed now, but he's still in transition, he's trying things out, getting used to his new body – I wonder if you actually understand how hard that will be for him? Whatever you think about turning out as a Vampire Elena Jeremy could really use you as a sister right now, to steer him, because I doubt that Bonnie is going to be able to keep up their relationship now that he's changed: things are just going to become really hard for him and everyone around him. Caroline was bad enough, Jeremy will be worse – he's a guy…he has…urges. He needs you Elena."

She nodded – it was all stuff she'd implicitly understood before having the conversation, she just hadn't wanted to confront it: wasn't she allowed to be irresponsible and upset for once, rather than assuming the reigns of maturity and dealing with it? Couldn't she just allow herself a little respite? Clearly not.

"And he'll have me," she paused, "would you mind leaving so I can get changed?"

.

Tyler couldn't remember much of the previous night after Bonnie had tended to his wounds, he presumed she'd sent him into a trance because he woke up the next morning feeling refreshed and revitalized with only minimal scratches to attest to the violent nature of his attack. The morning had also been great because he'd woken up with Caroline in his room, he wasn't sure how long she'd been sat on the windowsill, watching him sleep, shirtless, but at least it showed that things might be moving in the direction he wanted, although he was also aware that she was the one that had been at the Grill with Matt the night before – but he would know if something had happened between them again, wouldn't he?

Caroline had seemed on edge though and they'd left early to look for Damon, leaving his Mom fast asleep in her bedroom, though Tyler had at Caroline's request left her note telling her he'd gone out for breakfast early and wouldn't be back until late – normally he preferred to leave his Mom in the dark, not that she noticed with her work about all of his comings and goings, although Caroline seemed to be obsessed with ensuring his Mom knew he was safe. She clearly didn't know his Mom all that well.

They'd scouted the most likely route Damon would've taken to the Grill, travelling through the woodland since it was shorter than the road between Alaric's House and the restaurant – although Tyler could find trace of a Vampire smell it got enmeshed with a separate odour – Katherine's and it drew short of the grill and then disappeared altogether, masked by a Wolf-stench although not one that he could recognize for definite. Caroline wasn't helping either, as much as he loved spending time with her, her own particular Vampire perfume was blocking out Damon's muskier smell, and the other odour was almost poisonous, reeking of venom and danger.

Now they were doubling back again, Tyler crunched a branch under his boot and Caroline visibly stiffened at the noise crouching before spotting the branch, split in two beneath Tyler's foot and letting out a shrill laugh before descending into giggles. Girlish cries of joy that Tyler couldn't help but smile at – perhaps the exhaustion of the past few days was slipping of her shoulders at last and she was finally letting her guard down for a few moments to enjoy the occasion.

"What do you make of the Wolf smell?" Tyler asked, cutting of the laughter straight away, Caroline laughed in a staggered fashion and then let it die out altogether before looking him in the eyes and giving him a quizzical look, as though she were trying to decide what she did think of the odour – truth be told she had more confidence in Tyler's tracking skills than her own.

She shrugged, "I think the scent smell's like yours actually, a little bit…there's the same…strength in it, the same power."

So she thought he was powerful? Was that a good thing?

He continued walking, dropping to the wood floor a few times to see if there was anything he might be able to smell and then struck gold, he picked up a leaf, coated in some red drops and then dropped back down again and focusing could now see it – glistening slightly, a trail of blood along the wood floor. He picked up the leaf and offered his finger to Caroline with a trace of the blood on it, tentatively she stuck out her stung and licked it off – if they had been plain old humans it would have been quite sensual, being as they were, Werewolf and Vampire respectively Tyler didn't read more into it than it being necessity, Caroline was the blood connoisseur after all.

She debated over it a few moments, "Vampire – but it isn't Damon's," she was sure it wasn't Damon's because she could tell things about the Vampire it had come from, she was a she obviously, but she was also old, the blood was older than Damon's because it had a harder edge to it, "they must have come this way – looks as if they were dragged too," she indicated a trail curving off to the right that they hadn't spotted before, "and the blood means wooden bullets were used – and a lot if there's this much blood and a wound, maybe they even had a stake or two thrown in for good measure."

Tyler nodded grimly as they stalked of following the trail, leaves were swept to either side indicating that something had been pulled through here, there was more blood to, across the roots of the trees that were above ground where wounds would have grazed them more painfully. He could feel rising anxiety but he wasn't sure, the woods were pretty much deserted around them – even the animals were staying well away, aware on a subconscious level that there was evil near them, predators hungry hovering nearby – and then he understood implicitly why he was so unsettled, if he had led two Vampires this way and was holding them captive then you wouldn't want anyone interfering with the prisoners – so you'd have posted sentries around the perimeter to watch them.

At that point he heard Caroline scream and was grabbed from behind.

.

Bonnie paused as Elena and Stefan drew up outside the House and she bid Elena entry to the House, Stefan went to enter and then paused on the porch, Sheila Bennett manoeuvred around the corner and realisation dawned upon him – she was alive so he couldn't enter the house without her invitation, after a few moments deliberation she reluctantly murmured, "You can come in Mr Salvatore." The greeting was formal and left him uncomfortable in the extreme – why such an icy reception from her?

He settled in the living room with Elena on the sofa, Sheila took an Armchair and Bonnie settled on the floor, from the spread of candles across the floor and the map that already looked warn from overuse Stefan judged Bonnie had been trying to locate Damon magically without luck all morning – she looked at him questioningly, as though she could judge he was thinking about her and then they turned to look at Sheila who had cleared her throat from the armchair.

"It's good to see you two," she said, although it sounded forced as though she wasn't telling the whole truth about her feelings about having returned, "and much as I'd like to help you find your brother Stefan I'm not sure that I can, I am bound to this House – whatever happened last night it can only be a temporary thing, a freak accident – and at some point we will have to go back, unfortunately I doubt that the others who returned will be so willing to return."

"Do we know exactly whose back?" Stefan probed and Sheila nodded sagely.

"Every Vampire, Werewolf or Witch that had ties to Mystic Falls since the Civil War – that means the town Vampires, it means Emily Bennett, the Lockwood Werewolves-"

"-Jenna." Elena interjected suddenly and then went quiet noting that Sheila wished to continue.

"They will have the same grievances which they died with, I should also mention Elena that since John Gilbert tied himself magically to you to ensure your survival that he too will have returned to Mystic Falls – from what Bonnie has told me and what I know understand myself, Klaus turned your brother into a Vampire and he will have a reason."

"Do you think he has Damon?" Stefan pressed.

Bonnie shook her head, "I know from Tyler and Caroline that Werewolves have Damon…and another Vampire."

"Sheila if you have anything that you think can help from the other side telling us would really help us." Stefan stated once more, looking her into the eyes and she nodded.

"Elena can I have a word?" Bonnie asked, and Elena nodded according ascent, Stefan and Sheila had already slipped into conversation, Elena stood up and followed Bonnie to the kitchen as she poured herself a glass of iced tea and handed a second glass to Elena who sipped nervously, Bonnie seemed nervous and that nervousness was transferred and amplified in Elena.

"What's up?" she questioned.

"Did you…notice anything strange about Matt, at the Grill…and last night? Anything that seemed well…different?" Bonnie prodded and Elena raised an eyebrow.

"Why?"

"Because I sensed a change in him…or at least I think I did."

"There was something weird, before I blacked out I remembered a bright light…and then when I came to he acted as if nothing had happened." Elena admitted honestly.

Bonnie nodded, her suspicions confirmed, "He's a Witch Elena, I don't know how…but he is."

.

Hope you liked Chapter 4,

Reviews and responses appreciated as always,

Acrobat,

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