A/N: I don't own the Vampire Diaries universe. this story is the product of my imagination.
"Hey Alex," Elena started, as she drove them to the Salvatore Boarding House, "We're adopted, right? So how come you have the same bloodline of magic as Grandma?"
Alex winced at that. "I knew I had forgotten something. When you called and told me about us being adopted, the same thought had occurred to me. I couldn't ask Grandma, well, I could have, but it seemed like a rather frivolous reason to summon the dead."
Clenching his jaw, he continued, "So, I went through her journals, and get this, apparently, Grandma Alexis was Grandpa's second wife. His first wife died in childbirth, giving birth to Dad. Grandpa married Grandma three years later. Uncle John was born a few years after that. So, going by that logic.."
"Uncle John's our biological father." Elena completed the sentence, looking horrified.
"Yeah. I'm still processing that."
She took a deep breath and visibly composed herself. "Let's not do anything about this until we decide how to feel about it, okay?"
"Definitely," Alex agreed, grateful that she had taken the decision out of his hands.
"Now, before we get there," Elena changed the topic, "Alex, I need you to be on your best behaviour, please. I know how you are with whoever I'm dating. Don't do that there. Remember, they are vampires."
"Don't worry, dear sister, I'll behave. But only if they do. Plus, I could deal with a couple of vampires without even breaking a sweat, so no worries."
"Alex," she warned.
He held up his hands. "Alright, little sister, I'll be an absolute angel. Cross my heart."
They pulled up into the driveway of the Boarding House. Elena parked the car, and they got out.
Taking in the Boarding House, Alex muttered, "Looks like someone was overcompensating." His sister hit him on the arm.
Elena led the way in, not waiting for anyone to open the door. Alex threw her a look, but didn't say anything. They could hear voices coming from ahead.
The hallway opened up into a large living room. The two brothers were near the fireplace, Stefan sitting on the sofa. Damon was leaning against the mantel, a glass of what Alex guessed was alcohol in his hand. Upon seeing them, Stefan got up.
"Welcome to our home, Alexander." He said, offering a handshake.
"Thank you. You have a beautiful home, I must say," Alex replied, shaking his hand. His eyes roamed around the room, his art-loving heart doing cartwheels. "Is-is that an original Whistler?" He gaped, his eyes not moving from a huge oil painting hanging on the opposite wall.
"Yes, one of the previous owners was quite an art collector," Damon said, a smirk on his lips at Alex's amazement. "There is also a Church original hanging in the library. Not to mention a Georgia O'Keeffe watercolour in the upstairs study."
"You are into art, then?" Stefan asked, a small smile on his face as he looked at his girlfriend's twin, who was stunned even more at Damon's casual comment.
"He has a degree in Art History and Archaeology from Columbia," Elena stated proudly.
Stefan's eyebrows went up, impressed. "Wow. That's a hard college to get into. But aren't you twins?"
Alex understood what he was getting at. He nodded, "Yes, we are the same age, but I tested out of school at fifteen. I would have tested out even earlier, but my mom wanted me to have a relatively normal childhood experience."
"So, you're a genius of some kind, then?" Damon asked, not really caring about the answer.
"You could say that," Alex replied curtly.
Damon straightened up and went to refill his glass. "Let's cut to the chase. Why are you two here? Elena, I understand, but you?" He asked, staring at the grey-eyed boy.
"Well, long story short, Elena filled me in on all of the events that have occurred in the past few months."
"So, you know we're vampires. Yet you still came here, knowing we can kill you like this," Damon snapped his fingers, his blue eyes mocking.
Alex smirked darkly, "Seeing as like this," He snapped his fingers, a fire blazing up in the unlit fireplace, "I can burn you alive, it kind of levels the playing field."
"You're a witch," Stefan said cautiously.
"The correct term would be warlock, thank you very much," Alex answered, not wanting to give away that his magic was different from the run-of-the-mill wixen. "But I digress. So, what is this tomb I am hearing so much about?"
So, the whole story of the tomb was told to him, in great detail.
"There are 27 vampires entombed beneath the old Fell's Church, have been for the past century and half. And you want to open it," Alex said, rubbing his temples. "Do you realize how utterly stupid it would be, to let loose those many starving vampires. Vampires, who will no doubt be hungering for revenge against the town that captured them."
He studied the face of the black haired vampire in front of him. And said, realizing, "But you want that, don't you? Because you want revenge as well."
"Damon?" Stefan asked, half-angry and half-worried.
"Of course I want revenge. Letting loose those vampires would be the least this town deserves," Damon seethed, gripping his glass tightly.
Elena had gripped her brother's arm, and her hold had only grown tighter. Realizing that his sister was getting anxious, Alex stepped forward and glared at Damon.
"I am not letting you set 27 hungry vampires on the innocent people in town. I will try to help you open the tomb to get your lover, but those other vampires are going to stay there. If you try to set them free anyway, I swear to Hades, I will trap you in there myself. Understood?"
Damon snarled, baring his fangs. He rushed at Alex, but got thrown into the wall. Alex pinned him there with a look, the vampire snarling and struggling to get out of the grip of his magic.
"Damon!" Stefan cried out.
"I am going to kill you," growled Damon.
Alex let go of Damon, but before the vampire could do anything, Alex intoned, "Λύω."
A loud cracking noise could be heard as Damon groaned and collapsed.
"Never try to attack me or mine again. I just broke every bone below your waist. Next time, I won't be so lenient," Alex warned, his silver eyes frigid.
Elena said nothing, but her embedded nails in his skin spoke volumes of her uneasiness.
Stefan checked on his brother, who was almost healed completely by then, wariness evident in his movements. Damon hissed a breath as he stood up, but did not try to attack once more. He was glaring at Alex, but the hostility in his gaze was banked by some healthy caution.
"Alright, Merlin, you have a deal. I will only rescue Katherine and leave the others to rot. In return, you have to help open up the tomb."
"Fantastic," Alex clapped his hands, fake smiles on both their faces.
"Okay, in order for me to open the tomb, I will need to see the original spell. Do you have the grimoire of the witch that performed the spell?"
They were all seated in front of the fireplace, where the fire that Alex lit was still merrily burning.
"We are searching for it," Stefan answered. "Jonathan Gilbert was the one who confiscated all of Emily Bennett's belongings, including her Grimoire. We were planning to go through all of his journals today."
"That's a good idea," Alex said, noncommittally. "I'll also need to go to the actual site to analyse the spell. It might be that Emily Bennett keyed the spell only to her lineage. If she keyed it to her blood, then we'll only need blood from a Bennett. If she keyed it to magic, well then, we're screwed."
"Why would it be bad if Emily keyed the spell to Bennett magic?" Elena asked, a bit confused.
"Because there are only two Bennett witches in town, and both are not feasible. Sheila Bennett is old, and may not be able to do a spell of this magnitude. And Bonnie is just starting out, she can barely control her magic."
"Bonnie is an amazing witch," Elena protested.
Alex smiled at that and replied, "Bonnie does have the potential to become one of the strongest Bennett witches of all time, but she just came into her powers. When I was at the start of my training, my magic was almost impossible to control. Where I am now, is due to seven years of rigorous training. Grandma was a hard-ass about proper control." Seeing Elena open her mouth to respond, he raised a hand to silence her. "And Bonnie is a Bennett, their family has always had a more potent connection to Nature. Right now, even the simplest protection spell would give her a nosebleed."
"So what are we waiting for?" Damon butted in, looking impatient. "I'll take Dumbledore over here to go see the tomb, while you two lovebirds get a headstart on searching where the grimoire is. Chop chop!" He started chivvying them towards the door, motioning for Alex to stay behind.
With a grimace that conveyed his feelings towards Damon, Alex nodded at Elena to get her moving as she visibly hesitated, torn between staying with her twin and going with Stefan. With one last look backwards, she went out the door with her boyfriend.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Alex looked towards Damon, who was watching him with considering eyes.
"Why are you helping me to open the tomb? Don't all witches hate vampires or something?" Damon finally asked, after a few moments of silence.
"Okay, first of all, I don't judge a person by their species, that's something my Grandma taught me. Secondly, call me soft-hearted, but I am a sucker for a happy ending. Even if it is you." He made a face as he said that.
"Even if it is me?" Damon asked, mock-offended.
Alex just glared coldly at him.
"Elena has been telling tales, I see. Let's get going, then," Damon smirked, gesturing for Alex to precede him.
"You're a dick, you know that, right?" Alex said conversationally.
"Yup. Now, into the car, Harry Potter. We don't have much time. Wouldn't want that grimoire to be accidentally misplaced."
As he seated himself in the blue Camaro, Alex side-eyed Damon, "You don't trust your brother?"
"Nope. Stefan has betrayed me too many times before. And I don't trust your sister either."
The young Magus snorted at that. "Of course you shouldn't. In this case, her loyalty is to Stefan, not you. He is her boyfriend. You are just a friendly acquaintance. She's pragmatic like that."
"You sound oddly proud of that."
"I am. I taught her that. She used to be much more trusting and naïve."
"Huh. And you? Where do you stand on this?"
"This is an opportunity for me to see and unravel a complex piece of 150 year old magic. I rarely get a chance to do that," Alex said, a glint of excitement in his eye.
"You're a magic-nerd," Damon realized.
"You could say that," he replied, nonchalantly.
They pulled up near the ruins of Fell's Church. They got out, Alex looking around and trying to sense if there were any preventive measures Emily Bennett had taken. Sensing no malicious magic, they went down into the cavern.
Stopping in front of a huge slab of rock, Damon gestured to it.
"This is the entrance to the tomb. Have at it."
Alex nodded his head to indicate that he had heard it, but the majority of his attention was taken up by the sheer amount of magic emanating from the rock. He went closer, tracing his fingers against the rock surface. Glowing lines followed his fingertips as he drew a diagnostic circle.
As the glow faded, he cocked his head as he considered the feedback he was getting from the diagnostic spell. The magic on the rock was actively fighting against his, but he could still get a blurry impression.
Wait.
Oh, she was clever. Powerful and clever. The spell on the slab blocking the entrance was a potent but simple ward designed to block anyone from moving the stone. But the spell behind that was just beautiful. Emily had taken three different wards and twisted them into one seamless boundary spell.
He loved magic.
As the two of them descended down into the cavern where the entrance to the tomb was, Damon considered the young man walking beside him. In all his years of being a vampire, never had a witch taken him down as effortlessly as Alex Gilbert had. The spell he had used was also not from a language he was familiar with, and he knew a lot of languages, including Latin, which was the basis for most of the witchcraft he had come across.
Alexander Gilbert was quite the formidable warlock, and Damon had no intention of getting on his shit list. Well, even more than he already had, apparently.
They stopped in front of the tomb entrance.
Damon gestured to the tomb and said, "This is the entrance to the tomb. Have at it."
His eyes bugged out as he saw the young warlock draw something across the stone, glowing lines following his fingers. A mystical looking circle of symbols appeared and seemed to get absorbed into the rock. Damon looked back at Alex and almost took a step back.
Glowing silver eyes gazed unseeingly at the blocked entrance. Damon waved a hand in front of him, the creepy eyes unsettling him.
"Hello? Gandalf, you alright?"
At Damon's question, Alex visibly shook himself and came out of his fugue state. Thankfully, the creepy glowing eyes went away.
"Yes. I'm fine."
"Then what was that just now? Your eyes were glowing."
"It's fine, Damon," Alex reiterated, "It happens when I am performing any magic more complex than simple spells."
"They did not glow when you were breaking my bones."
"Like I said, more complex magic. The spell I used was very basic." Alex smirked. "Besides, that glowing circle you saw was a diagnostic spell. The feedback merely took some time to go through."
"So what did you learn?" Asked Damon, impatiently.
"I learnt that Emily Bennett was one clever and diabolical witch."
"Which means what, exactly?" Damon wished the warlock would hurry up with the explanation.
"There are two spells on the entrance. One on the rock, and one on the actual entrance. The one on the stone is a simple spell which prevents anyone from moving it," Alex explained. "Now, the one behind the rock, that is one complicated spell. I am very impressed. She actually twisted three spells into one gorgeous piece of magic. It does not prevent anyone from going in, but blocks any vampires from exiting. She also linked the spell to the moon and the meteor which passed earth a month ago, which ensured that the spell would not come down after her death, as spells like this require constant recharging. And lastly, she tied the whole thing to her bloodline, to ensure that only a Bennett witch could open the tomb."
"So, what does that mean? Can you open the tomb, or not?" Damon asked, not caring much for the magic geek-out that Elena's twin had just done.
"Unfortunately, Emily tied the spell to Bennett magic, not blood. If you still were in possession of her talisman, it would have been enough for me to open the two spells. As things stand now, I can get rid of the spell on the stone, but for the second spell, a Bennett witch has to do the unravelling."
Λύω (lýou): break, fracture.
A/N: Please review!