Chapter 10

Forcystus5: Well, this is the last chapter of the introduction story arc. After this come the real plot developments. Oh and do yourself a favor and read the author notes at the bottom. They have an important announcement.

"Well, that was informative," Mary mused as they snapped out of the time traveling trance.

"Understatement," Cassie murmured as she processed everything.

"So, that was why your mom didn't tell you about witchcraft," Mary said after a moment of silence. "She felt too bloody guilty about getting her friends killed and refused to acknowledge that magic can also be great."

Cassie nodded slowly in understanding but she still felt somewhat mad. Her mother still had no right to keep such a secret from her. Then, her eyes widen as it all sunk in.

"My father is alive!" She gasped out. "He didn't die in the Boatyard fire, even if everyone else thought he did!

"And he is a Blackwell," Mary said thoughtfully. "Well, that certainly explains your genetic dark magic."

Then Mary smirked. "So, you are the scion of both the original light magic family and the original dark magic family? That makes you double royalty!"

Cassie chuckled. "It seems like it," She said proud of her heritage.

Then Cassie frowned. "Speaking of royalty," Cassie said slowly. "My father broke the magic block on his powers with some kind of magical medallion that was probably a family heirloom."

"Yeah, I noticed," Mary nodded.

"Well, we need to go to the boatyard and check if it's still there!" Cassie urged. "He dropped it and left so there is a chance it might still be on the boat."

"Okay," Mary said in agreement. "But we will have to run the whole way," She stated. "Your grandmother thinks we are asleep and a car heading to some abandoned dock in the middle of the night might look suspicious to any onlooker."

Cassie shrugged. "Who cares?"

And with that she opened her window and jump from the second floor to the ground bellow without breaking a sweat.

"Show off," Mary pouted.

"I heard that!" Cassie called out from the street.

Mary chuckled and jumped down as well with her vampire agility. She then smirked widely to her best friend.

"The last one to get there gets thrown off the ship," Mary cackled and she was gone with the wind.

Cassie's eyes widened and she ran like a blur of motion as her werewolf speed carried her as fast as a bullet. In just a couple minutes they left the urbanized area of Chance Harbor and headed to the coastline border of the town. Within another minute, they reached the abandoned boatyard.

"Woohoo! I won!" Mary shouted and danced in victory.

Cassie arrived ten seconds later to see her imitate a version of the gangnam style. She crossed her arms and glared.

"That's not fair," She growled. "You had a head start and you know as well as I that although werewolves can be faster than most vampires, I can't outrun a vamp as old as you."

"But you improved didn't you?" Mary laughed.

Cassie scoffed but she had to agree. Nothing motivates her like a competition. Then the two supernatural partners took in their surroundings. There were three big ships on the docks, and a few smaller shipping boats scattered around; all burnt up, all abandoned. The highest one on the middle however was the one that caught Cassie's attention.

"That's the one," Cassie said solemnly.

"Then let's go," Mary said and walked forward.

Cassie followed and after running through some old corridors they entered the room with the pole they used to tie her father. Cassie knelt down and placed her fingers on the holes of the crevice of the floor but while she could see the chain of the medallion, she couldn't reach it. So, she focused her inner magic on controlling her shape shifting abilities and in a few moments her nails turned into claws. Without wasting time, she grabbed the chain and pulled the object up. Both friends instantly gasped and were so shocked it took them a while to remember they had to keep breathing.

"That thing is…"Mary started

"…powerful beyond anything I have ever felt," Cassie said shakily.

They stared at the medallion in wonder as they memorized every part of it; from the triangle inside the circle to the tarnished silver chain.

"That thing is a powerhouse!" Mary exclaimed. "There has to be enough magical power inside there to blow up a small city!"

Cassie nodded ever so slowly. "But it feels restrained somehow," She frowned. "Like I have to activate it."

Mary stared at it more closely before nodding. "We have to figure that out then," She said. "No one will stand a chance in hell against Klaus and the rest of us if we were command such incredible power and it will give us the time and opportunity to rebuild."

Cassie couldn't help but agree. Ever since that witch hunter army crippled their forces Klaus has been more desperate than ever to break his hybrid curse. He is in need of loyal soldiers. But with such an extremely powerful magical object, all the still-living enemies of Klaus will have a really hard time to even get close enough to be in the same state as him.

Cassie stay up all night, both trying to figure out how to fully unlock the medallion's powers and to read her family's book of shadows. Mary on her part, preferred to sleep as she claimed she hadn't for 3 days. Around 4 in the morning, she made her first breakthrough on the medallion. There was a comment in one of the final pages that was signed by John Blackwell, which caught her attention immediately. It said that he was trying to help her mom increase the magical powers of the Blake Family Crystal in order to pinpoint the location of the other 5 that belong to the rest of the Circle families and that he used his medallion to do it. As she suspected, the object was an heirloom from the Blackwell family but she was mildly surprised when she read that said magical object contained the stored power of thousands of witches. It explained that some were forcibly taken either as self defense or another reason; some were just smaller portions of a witch's power instead of taking the whole core, and finally others were from witches who grew tired of their powers and wanted to be regular mortals again.

Cassie pondered on that. It certainly explain the sheer power of the medallion, although it made her somewhat uncomfortable that one of her ancestors probably used it to take powers of other witches without their consent. The hybrid witch may be power hungry but if there is anything she hates is the feeling of helplessness and she didn't like that some of her ancestors stripped away the one thing that made those people powerful.

And then she shrugged. It's not like she can do much about it now and power is power; better yet if it's from an heirloom so she might as well use it.

As she kept reading the notes, it said that when the Blackwell Medallion changed hands to the next generation, the power needs to be activated by a full circle and the notes explained the ceremony. That made Cassie smile. Now she knows how to access a massive power source.

Suddenly, her cell phone rang. Cassie gasped startled for a moment as it snapped her out of her thoughts but she then picked it up and grinned when she saw who was calling.

"Good morning Klaus!" Cassie said happily.

"Good morning sweetheart," Klaus said awfully cheery.

"You seem in a good mood," Cassie noted.

"Well, that might be because after a thousand years, I finally managed to break the curse," Klaus explained.

"That's great!" Cassie exclaimed. "Now we are even more attached to the hip!"

Klaus chuckled. "That we are, my moon princess that we are. But let's stop talking about me, it's not as I am the center of the universe or anything."

Cassie laughed at the sarcastic comment. "Well, if you want to talk about me, let's say that since I last called you, I prevented a plot from an Elder to strip me and my fellow witches from our powers, I succeeded in binding our circle, with my magic not as restrained as predicted, and I stumbled upon two magical heirlooms from respective sides of my families."

Klaus whistled. "You have been busy," He said before everything sunk in. "Wait a minute," He said in surprise. "You figure out who your father was?"

"Yes, his name was John Blackwell," Cassie said with pride.

"Hmm, now that's a twist," Klaus muttered. "But I guess it explains why you are so powerful."

"Indeed," Cassie said in agreement.

"There was a tense silence after that which made Cassie frowned.

"Is something wrong, Klaus?" Cassie asked.

The vampire/werewolf hybrid sighed. "Well, I had to tell you sooner or later so I might as well do it now," He said grimly. "I am sorry Cassie but Greta was killed last night during the ceremony to break my curse."

Cassie dropped her phone in shock. Greta, her best witch friend and greatest mentor is dead? She slowly knelt down and picked up her cell phone.

"What happened?" Cassie asked in a shakily tone.

Klaus sighed again. "A vampire known as Damon Salvatore tried to thwart my plans to break my curse and snapped her neck in an attempt to stop me. I am sorry Cassie."

Cassie felt tears of sorrow fell down her cheeks but the emotion was quickly replaced by another:

Rage!

Cassie was so angry her mouth showed fangs and her hands turned into wolf claws in pure instinct.

"And what happened to this Damon Salvatore?" Cassie growled.

"Last I saw him he was dying from a werewolf bite and I decided to let him suffer so I stop myself from ripping his heart out," Klaus said. "I know you are feeling vengeful Cassie but there is nothing to do now."

Cassie sighed and wept.

"Calm down, my moon princess," Klaus soothed. "I will try to go to Chance Harbor soon to visit you. Meanwhile, try not to do anything you will regret," Klaus said before hanging up.

Cassie sat down on her bed and kept crying. She couldn't believe the witch that had guided her for so long was dead. She owed Greta so much and now she will never get the chance to pay her back. Still sobbing, she rose and grabbed the letter from her mother. She hadn't brought herself to opening so far but she needed to feel closer to her mom even if she was dead and buried. She opened the envelop and took and the paper. With trembling hands, she read on.

My sweet Cassie,

You finding this letter means that I'm gone and for

that I am so sorry. I didn't want you to

have this life. I didn't want it for myself

either, but destiny's not easy to run from.

I hoped that keeping this secret would keep

you safe, but all I've done is left you

unprotected.

You have incredible power inside you.

People will come for it. They will come

for you.

I have no idea of the world you're

going to encounter. But find your

strength. And believe in yourself as I

believe in you. Who you are is your

greatest protection.

I will love you always,

Your mom.

Cassie hugged herself and as she laid down, she cried herself to sleep.

Forcystus5: Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Now for the big announcement: This is the last chapter of the introduction story arc. The next time I update, it will be on the profile of flower gettin' lady, the same member who posts our season 2 for our project. So, be sure to author alert her if you hadn't already. I will also post an author note to announce when the next one is redy but iw ould prefer to finish watching the last few episodes of the vampire diaries before continuing. I will post after that most likely. Although if I get more inspiration sooner, I might start earlier. Please review and hopefully see you soon!