Hey guys, I always update when I can or I have a finished chapter. Sometimes they come easy, sometimes they're hard to round off. I've been struggling lately because I feel I'm being swayed a little by what some of you are wanting verbally on the forum (not that I want you to stop telling me what you'd like!), however I keep seeing reminders that when you start to just write what fans want to see, you lose some of the integrity of the storyline – as has happened with TVD. I must avoid this, so if it takes me a little longer to write for you, please understand that this is why. I may be writing only 8 page chapters for a bit but it means that you'll get them more regularly ;-)

Someone keeps saying they don't understand what's going on? Please PM me because I can't help you if I don't know who you are.

X

Chapter 26 TH

"He took off?" Bonnie crossed her arms in concern, as Isabella tried to console Vida, who was now having a tantrum.

"Yeah. He thinks Stefan's soul is dead." Ian rubbed his eyes and took Vida to bounce her and let her suck on Damon's shirt.

"Why does he think that?" Bonnie frowned.

"He said Stefan's spirit visited Vida and then disappeared." Isabella sat down yawning.

"Is it true? Is Stefan really gone?" Ian asked and she shook her head and chewed her lip.

"I don't think so. I would have felt it, I'm sure." She mumbled.

They all fell silent, watching Vida with heavy hearts as she called out for Damon and cried.

"She knows he's gone. That he might not come back." Isabella said and Bonnie raised her eyebrows.

"He seemed like he was on a one way mission." Ian nodded in agreement.

Bonnie began to pace.

"Is there a way you can find out if Stefan is still alive somewhere?"

"I don't…" she shook her head and exhaled in frustration.

Truth was, she really didn't know where Stefan was. Was he in heaven? Some other dimension? Inside of his own mind?

They all sat down together mournfully. Vida quietened to a gurn and Ian cradled her lovingly, stroking her tears from her cheeks.

"If only you could talk." Ian cooed down at her and she hiccupped and looked up at him.

"Wait." Bonnie frowned, looking towards her. "Does she eat any real food yet?"

Both shook their heads. They hadn't been able to wean her off of mated blood just yet.

"Water? Do you give her water in between feeds?"

"Sometimes." Isabella nodded and Bonnie smiled in relief. "Why?"

"Maybe I can have a look at what she saw. See if it was Stefan." Bonnie stood up and knelt before Ian, asking for permission to hold her.

"How?" Isabella sat forward in intrigue as Ian handed her over.

Vida wriggled and began to cry again and Bonnie rocked her, hushing her as she tried to concentrate.

"Long story." Bonnie answered and focussed, closing her eyes and trying to tap into the earth magic that she'd learned.

If she could follow the water in her cells and get into her brain, she could trace the memory which had scared Damon so much.

Vida cried and struggled, afraid and Isabella began to hum softly to distract her. Ian retrieved a squeaky rubber animal from Damon's bag and handed it to her. She took it with her baby hands and put it into her mouth, chewing and momentarily appeased.

It was strange to watch someone do magic without chanting and they watched in fascination as Bonnie moved her fingers up to Vida's head. Vida became engrossed in making her toy squeak and didn't fuss any longer. A few minutes passed and Vida stopped chewing and gazed up at Bonnie's face.

Ian and Isabella watched. Bonnie slowly seemed to come back to them and rock Vida again, but now Vida was interested in Bonnie's face and dropped her toy.

"Did you see something?" Ian asked and Bonnie nodded.

"Was it Stefan?" Isabella prompted.

"No."

They waited for Bonnie to elaborate but she didn't. She stood up and held Vida back out for Ian, before rubbing her face and pacing slightly.

"I don't know where Stefan is exactly, but he's still alive. I can feel that and Vida can too."

"Yeah?" Ian asked and she nodded.

"So it wasn't Stefan in spirit form?"

"No."

"Then who was it? Damon said there was definitely a presence. That Vida knew the spirit."

"That's the problem." Bonnie chewed her lip. "I have no idea who she was."

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Beth smiled to herself, stretching out on her bed as she heard the sounds of Toby giggling. Life was good, or it had been so far. Toby had gone from being a fussy, hard work baby to being happy and calm.

She yawned and got out of bed, grabbing her robe as she checked her hair in the mirror. They had been staying with Klaus since they'd escaped with their lives, from Mystic Falls and Klaus had kept true to his word. He hadn't hatched any revenge plans or tried to force a connection between them both. He seemed changed by everything that had happened. They were becoming closer too. Toby helped with that. He adored Klaus and although it worried her that Toby may think of Klaus as his father, she couldn't help but be happy because her little man was.

She and Klaus hadn't spoken much about Jack. It was still too raw for both of them to. They both knew that he was a topic they couldn't dodge forever though, not with Toby growing and learning so quickly. Soon they'd need to start telling him about his real daddy and she wasn't sure how that was going to affect Klaus.

She left her bedroom and descended the grand staircase. For a long time she and Jack had been on the run from Klaus and hadn't had the luxury of grand homes. Now her running was over and she could breathe and relax. She walked down the stairs feeling like a movie star as her robe floated around her and Klaus walked into the hallway cradling Toby to him. She beamed at him as he glowed at the sight of her.

"Hope he didn't get you up too early." She smiled as she approached and took Toby from his arms and Klaus gave a small smile. "Did you wake up uncle Klaus?" She cooed and Toby squealed and clapped his hands.

"His senses are sharper today. He saw much farther than yesterday." Klaus said admiringly and she chuckled and lifted Toby up, placing his face in at her shoulder as she bounced him.

"I think it depends what the target is, huh?" She joked.

"A hawk." Klaus folded his arms pleased and she whistled impressed. "He saw it before even I did."

"Has he eaten yet?"

"A whole bowl." Klaus nodded. "He fed himself actually."

"That's my boy." She beamed.

They had been weaning Toby off of blood and it had been difficult to say the least. With Klaus here with her, they'd been trying to learn more of what is was to be wolf and had thought it best to try and encourage Toby's wolf senses and eating human food was one of them. It was vastly improving Toby's awareness.

Toby gurned, looking up to the ceiling and Beth and Klaus continued to chat as they walked through to the lounge.

"We should call the others. It's been a week now. They may be back to normal." Beth suggested as she took a seat at the table and sat Toby on her knee, bouncing him.

Klaus sighed a little but nodded as he took a seat across from her.

"True, the heat must be over by now." He agreed.

"Do you think they were ok?" Beth asked sincerely.

It had been Anne and Michael's first proper heat together and they had called Klaus for assistance in their fertility trigger. Stefan had seemed satisfied when Klaus had compelled it into his mind and so the other mates had discussed having the same opportunity. The only couple not on board were Karl and Monique, for obvious reasons. After suffering so great a loss of their cubs through the spell, Monique was eager to see whether they could get pregnant again. Of course, they were all grimly aware of what a difficult, if not dangerous test it would be to try and birth mated babies again – Beth and Stefan had gone through such pain and their babies had only just survived.

Klaus of course, had offered to help ensure survival of any others born but that meant that the mates had to put their trust in him completely and not everyone trusted Klaus as Beth did.

Toby giggled and reached above him suddenly and Beth looked up to the ceiling in surprise.

"What you doing little man?" She chuckled and bounced him but he was absorbed in the ceiling.

Klaus followed his gaze, his eyes narrowing as he watched and Beth chuckled unsure and looked to him.

"Is there an insect up there, little hawk eye?" She asked, trying to get Toby to look at her but he ignored her.

Toby giggled again and yawned, rubbing his eyes and relaxing back against her knee again as though nothing had happened and Klaus and Beth continued to study the ceiling.

"What was all that about?" Beth asked, still slightly amused and Klaus felt a few hairs on his body rise.

He drew a fake smile of reassurance for Beth and excused himself under the pretext of getting some wine. He walked through to his study to look at his books. He'd been studying all of the legends on the original wolf, trying to find out everything about where she'd come from, what kind of magic she had used or had access to. He'd found a lot of clippings of information here and there, but no concrete picture of who she'd been as a person.

Beth would say that his endeavours to study Grandma and the spell they'd all been subjected too were water under the bridge, but he'd lived long enough to know that you always had to be prepared for enemies returning, for magic loopholes. He sat down in his chair and exhaled, steepling his fingers to his mouth. He knew when there were spirits present normally. He'd seen his fair share and he knew the look of those who had the gift of sight. Toby clearly was one of them. The look on his face was indicative of seeing something that they couldn't.

He couldn't ignore this little episode. It meant something. He just needed to figure out what, to avoid Beth becoming worried.

Logically, if Toby could see spirits, Vida may also be able to.

He sighed and chewed his lip. Stefan had made his feelings clear. He wanted nothing to do with Klaus. Damon would inevitably follow suit. If Vida was experiencing spirits too though…it could mean something. An attack from grandma once more perhaps? Nothing could be ruled out.

What are you up to?

Beth channelled and he was roused from his reverie and smiled. Channelling. Who would have ever imagined that he would be able to channel? That he'd be special as the mates were. True he wasn't fully one of them – he'd never mated, but thanks to the spell, it had brought him close enough to them all to share this unique gift.

Perhaps he was letting his paranoia get the better of him. It was his normal reaction to a threat, but was there a threat? Perhaps Toby simply had the gift. He nodded to himself and closed his book. He'd reserve his judgement for now and simply observe Toby. No need to contact the mates unless he had to, especially not Stefan. In time Stefan would come around, but not right now.

Bring some toast, uncle Klaus.

He grinned and left the room to re-join them

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"You see, if I take this right here…" Damon smouldered at the woman propped up against the bar, "and I tuck it behind here…"

The woman was clearly inebriated but still vibrating with lust for him as he demonstrated the only magic trick he knew. The woman leaned nearer to his mouth as he grinned and flicked his eyelashes at her, when he felt a hand squeeze his shoulder.

"Damon Salvatore. Long time no see." A voice boomed behind him and he pulled back from the drunken woman, giving her a wink as he turned his head and looked innocently to his new guest.

"Miss me?" He charmed, smirking and the woman crossed her arms and gave him a smirk equally as patronising. "And here I thought I was the best you ever had Chelle." He pouted.

The woman at the bar glared at Damon's acquaintance and slid her hand up his thigh. He turned back to look at the drunkard and smiled again.

"Maybe later. Here, these are yours." He fished her panties out of his jacket sleeve and handed them to her, standing up. "Her next one's on me."

He laid a bill on the counter of the bar and the woman sagged in disappointment at his departure.

He walked towards the entrance with his new friend, smiling confidently until they were outside.

"Just how drunk are you?" She pushed him against the wall and he put his hands up in mock surrender. "You remember the last time you came around here!"

"Chelle, come on!" He pouted again. "I was hungry. Man's gotta eat."

"Yeah? Well man better shut up or he'll end up being dinner this time. Come here." She dragged him towards her car.

He slipped inside and turned to look at her, instantly losing his alcoholic appearance. He had to be careful here. He'd made a fair few enemies in his time and when he'd lived here 30 years ago, he'd made more than a few. That was while he had no humanity, no feeling, no Stefan.

Michelle climbed into the driver's seat and huffed, looking around. He studied her. Her red hair was still red, despite time passing, but had taken on much more of an afro-Caribbean appearance than before. He'd always been reminded of a Viking when looking at her in her youth – all fire and curls. He'd spared her because he'd been intrigued by how much power she may have. He'd known she would be useful to him someday.

"What are you grinning at?" She snapped and he chuckled.

"You still have fire Chelle."

She huffed but couldn't suppress a small smile as she stared out onto the road.

"What are you doing back here Damon? Seriously?" She asked calmly and he gave her an innocent smile again.

"Just passing through. Thought you could make life a bit more interesting while I'm here."

"Your kind of interesting gets people killed." She pointed out.

"True." He nodded and sighed dramatically.

"I heard you have your humanity on now. I heard rumours." She turned to study him now.

"Didn't realise my fan club extended this far." He smiled and she studied him from head to toe.

"What do you really want? You know I can't allow you to hunt here. Not after last time."

He chewed his lip subtly. Could he trust her? Was she even still the same person he'd known and called friend? He leaned towards her, widening his pupils.

"I need you to get me information." He compelled and she paused for a second before smirking at him.

"Vervain, you idiot." She sat back from him and he huffed and frowned. "What's so important that you have to compel me to help you? Who are you trying to kill?"

"I'm not trying to kill anyone. I'm looking for someone of a particular variety."

"Who? If you're still trying to find your evil brother…"

"Not him." He interrupted swiftly.

The last time he'd seen her he was still on project make-Stefan' and he'd lost track of him. She had done a locator spell that had led him straight to him.

"Then who?" She narrowed her eyes at him.

"I need a traveller. Any one of them will do."

"A traveller?" She chuckled and frowned at him. "They fly solo. What would you need one for?"

"Just a little advice."

"You realise how dangerous those people are? They hate vampires, witches…hell they hate everyone who isn't one of them." She warned and he nodded and rolled his eyes.

"Obviously."

"If it's magic you want from them, it won't go down well for you. Their magic is…" she paused and shook her head, looking out of the windscreen again as she thought.

"I need a traveller to undo old magic – one of their kinds doing." He admitted as he watched the wheels in her head turn.

He had to convince her to help him or he would be out of leads.

"Undo?" She asked and he nodded, growing desperate but keeping his cool. "What do I get out of this?"

He grinned and reached into jacket, pulling out a small bottle of liquid. She gawked and reached out to take it from him when he tucked it back into his pocket again.

"You kept it, all this time?" She croaked, unable to believe it and he nodded nonchalantly.

"Always knew it'd come in handy." He remarked.

"And if I help you, you'll give it to me?"

"Scouts honour." He said and she considered it, her eyes ablaze with possibilities.

"All I can do is make a few calls. I can't promise that someone will meet with you."

"Oh, and you were doing so well." He said sarcastically, opening the door to exit the vehicle.

She called on him, rushing out of her door and catching him at the hood as he smiled confidently.

"Please Damon, you know how important that potion is to me." She beseeched and he dropped the smile and nodded. "I'll do whatever I can, I promise you that."

"Payment in full once I have a happily little traveller standing in front of me." He dangled the bottle at her again and she sighed in reservation and nodded. "You have 12 hours."

She nodded again and he sauntered back towards the bar, ruffling his hair back into bad-boy style as he walked confidently inside.