Chapter 43

"I think that should do it," said Hope, as she finished up writing in Ottilie's grimoire. "I know we can't exactly test it out, but should we need it, it should incapacitate Marcel at the very least." They'd been working on the spell to bring down the Upgraded Original Vampire for months now, and they had both been getting frustrated with its lack of progress.

Ottilie nodded her head, chewing her lip nervously. "Do you think so? I've never made a spell like that before."

Hope smiled down at her, hoping to sooth her worries. "It's a big spell, Otti, and I can't guarantee that it will work, but all the words are right, and with enough power…"

"That's just it, Hope," interrupted Ottilie, her worries getting the better of her. "I don't know how much power I can throw at it. Every time I've tried really hard, I always end up in bed for a week!"

Hope chuckled, "tell me about it!" she said, "before I learned how to control my magic, it almost killed me! You just need practice, and a little self-belief!"

Ottilie decided not to push the subject, not wanting to bring more attention to her heart condition that already seemed to take up a lot of her life, and smiled up at Hope before thanking her for all of her help.

"Hope? Otti?" came a voice from inside the Mikaelson mansion. "Are you in the garden?"

"In the summerhouse, mum," shouted Hope, and Hayler arrived presently carrying some hot drinks for them. She handed Ottilie a steaming mug of hot chocolate and smiled as the girl sipped at it, sighing with enjoyment at the taste. "It's good, huh?"

The young girl nodded enthusiastically.

"Klaus brought the chocolate back from Belgium – they're renowned for their chocolate there," said Hayley, as she watched the two girls enjoying their drinks. "Otti, Damon is on his way to get you – he said that it's your school dance tonight and that Lexi wants to help you get ready."

"Oh yes!" cried Ottilie, suddenly remembering, "I'd completely forgotten!"

The two older women laughed at her and they stood up to head back into the house. "You've got to get your priorities straight, Otti," teased Hope, "school dance beats magic spell to conquer evil vampire any day!" Ottilie giggled, and watched for Damon's car snaking up the long drive.

"Oh my god you look sooooooo cute!" exclaimed Lexi, clapping her hands together in delight.

"You've been spending too much time with Caroline, Lexi!" replied Ottilie, sticking her tongue out at her, which Lexi returned before speeding off to go and tell Damon to get ready to take Ottilie to school for the dance.

Ottilie turned to inspect herself in the full length mirror. She smiled. She did actually look quite nice – her light blue dress complimented her dark brown curls which Lexi had expertly styled to frame her face. Lexi had also won the argument with Damon about allowing his daughter to wear a little makeup and Lexi had applied some mascara and sheer lip gloss to the younger girl's face.

Having done up the straps on her white shoes, she left her room and made her way down the stairs, spotting Damon, Lexi and Stefan all chatting together at the bottom of them, Stefan clutching an old fashioned camera.

They heard her descend the stairs and stopped chatting to look up at her in amazement.

"Wow, Otti!" gasped Stefan, before snapping a few candid shots of her grinning happily at their reactions.

"Didn't I tell you that she looked amazing?" smirked Lexi, elbowing Damon jokily.

Damon, for his part, was speechless. He felt a lump come to his throat as he watched his little girl walk down the stairs. She wasn't so little anymore, he thought, she's growing up, and she's so, so beautiful. He walked forwards to the last step to take her hand, kissing it gently, before moving to kiss her cheek.

"You look breath-taking, Otti," he whispered into her ear, "I'm so, so proud of you."

She smiled up at him and kissed him back on the cheek. "Thanks, Dad," she said, gently, watching his face for his reaction.

Turning away, he blinked away his tears of joy before clearing his throat unsubtly. "Right little lady, let's get you to that dance – Greg will be waiting…!" He smirked at her and she turned red.

"Damon…." She whined, "Greg isn't my date!"

"You'd better hope he isn't! You're never having a boyfriend," retorted Damon, leading her towards the front door.

After they'd all taken a few pictures together to commemorate the occasion, Ottilie hugged Lexi goodbye. "Thank you for helping me get ready!" she said, and Lexi smiled at her, tweaking her hair just a little.

"You're welcome, Otti!"

Ottilie moved on to Stefan. "Have a great time, sweetheart," he said, holding her to him. She smiled at him before following Damon to the car, getting in through the door he'd chivalrously opened for her.

"Ooh there's Cassie!" cried Ottilie as they pulled up at the school, "wow! She looks amazing!" She added generously, before looking around for Greg.

Damon opened the door for her again and walked with her up to Cassie and Greg. Cassie hugged her friend, squealing about how lovely she looked and Greg blushed a little, unable to take his eyes off his friend.

Damon chuckled to himself, fully knowing how the young lad was feeling, having felt the same way in his youth. Oh to be young again, he thought ruefully.

"Have a wonderful time, Otti," he said, leaning to kiss her on the head. "I'll be back at 10pm to collect you, okay? Do you guys have people picking you up later?" He looked at her two friends, who nodded and thanked him. "Alright, see you later! Don't do anything I wouldn't do…" he smirked at Otti who rolled her eyes at him, before they all disappeared into the school.

"See you Monday!" called Ottilie as Cassie climbed into her parents' car and they sped off. She turned to Greg who was standing next to her. "Have you had fun?" she asked him.

He smiled down at his friend, who was still far shorter than him, as always. "Yeah it's been great. Have you?"

She nodded. "I forgot to say, I really like your suit." She said, shyly.

Thankful it was too dark for her to see him blush, Greg stuttered back, "Oh, thanks. I like your… dress too,"

"Thank you," she managed to squeak back before they lapsed into awkward silence.

"Did you hear that?" asked Ottilie suddenly, noticing a rustling noise coming from the bushes opposite to where they were sitting. The atmosphere turned suddenly cold and she felt the urge to get away. "Greg, let's go back inside until our parents arrive."

"Okay," he replied, looking at her strangely. "Are you alright? I didn't hear anything…"

Just then, a two figures jumped from out of the bushes, zooming over to stand in front of them. "Come willingly and we won't hurt you," snarled one of the them, in a low, gravelly voice.

Greg instinctively took a step in front of Ottilie, pushing her behind him. "What do you want?" he asked, trying to sound braver than he felt.

"We want the witch," spat the other figure.

"What?!" stammered Greg, thoroughly confused. He looked at Ottilie who tried to pull him behind her, and push him inside the building.

"Greg, run!" she said urgently, and he grabbed her hand and started to run, pulling her behind him.

One of the figures zoomed over to him and Ottilie held her hands up to try and stop them from getting to him with a magic shield of some sort. Letting her own guard down in her efforts to protect her friend, she didn't see the second figure behind her, until she felt a huge impact with the back of her head, and everything went black.

Greg watched as his friend slumped lifelessly to the floor. "No! Otti!" he cried, trying to run over to her, but one of the attackers sped in front of him, and knocked him to the floor before holding a cloth over his mouth. He felt his vision going and his eyes started to close, his view of Ottilie's unconscious form gradually disappearing into nothing.