Jane excused herself to go shower. Showers always calmed her nerves and in light of recent events, she was still felt like she had a hive of wasps trapped inside her. This was a perfect opportunity for Donovan to sneak out to the courtyard. He needed to talk to Damien alone. Slowly he unlocked the heavy back door and crept his way the back of the courtyard to where he had instructed Damien to meet. It was nearly a quarter-til. He would have been here earlier, had he not been side tracked by one of the Guard's children. "Where are you going?" a small angel voice asked. He remembered her name was Marina, the youngest. "Just to get some air. It's must hotter and humid than what I am use to," he half-lied. The girl looked at him oddly, cocking her head, "Why can't I see you?" He remembered that she was Demetri's daughter, a tracker like him. Good to know his shield protected him from her, as if he needed protection from such a small child. Her saturated blue eyes stared at him curious and somewhat untrusting. "Well, why did you follow me?" he asked back. She smiled slightly, "Because I am curious. I might not be able to see you, but I CAN see Damien. He's coming here as we speak and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out it is not by coincidence. If you two are planning something, then don't. All our lives are at stake, as well as possibly your friends' lives. There is no reason to give our Masters any reason to mistrust us or think we are a potential threat. If you are up to something, then please at least be smart about it." She turned and left giving him a steely glare. She oddly reminded him of Grigsby. He liked her in an odd way. She wasn't blind and dumb like Olivia and Tiago.
Eventually he came to the hedge wall lining the courtyard. How was he going to approach this? Could he trust Damien with this knowledge? Especially with Aro's constant watching eyes and mind reading. But it had to be done. Leaving it until something happened would be worse.
"I'm guessing you wanted to talk?" the boy's voice called out. He had gotten here quicker than expected and had snuck upon him as he melted from the shadows. His eyes were still the vibrant green. "Yes," was all he responded, "have you ever heard about witches?" Damien was confused. Yes, he knew Jane and Alec had been tried as witches and burned at the stake only because they were gifted as humans. Magic wasn't real. "Is this about Jane and Alec?" he guessed. He hated not being able to sense anything from the new half-vampire. "Yes and no. Out of curiosity, what color were your mother's eyes?" Donovan asked. "Blue, but Alec and Jane's were green as humans. I got my eye color from Alec," Damien answered, "Why?"
"Because you and I are more similar than you might think," Donovan was now formulating how he might explain this, "Dhampirs, what you and I are, are genetically unable to have green eyes. We don't know why. There has never been a green eyed dhampir. Look closely at mine though." Donovan leaned down and opened his eyes as wide as he could, "What color are they?" Damien looked closely. "Blue and silver, kind of. But I see a lot of green in them," he answered confused. "Now watch closely," Donovan ordered. His eyes changed color. They turned the same color as Damien's. Emerald green.
"These eyes are the eyes of a witch," Donovan pointed to his eyes before the made them turn back to torquoise, "You inherited them from Alec somehow. The abilities of a witch are passed down from generation to generation, to the next living descendant. Through nature's convoluted loopholes, we are the next living descendants of witches. So somehow we both have been gifted and cursed with witch powers as dhampirs."
Damien's brow furrowed. "That's impossible. I'm not even sure we constitute as living creatures. Not to mention there is no such thing as magic." Donovan laughed, "Allow me to demonstrate." He opened one of his palms and waved it over the grass below them. It started slowly sizzling and smoking before catching fire. Damien was in awe. This couldn't be real. And as soon as it started it was extinguished. "Has there ever been a time where objects moved on their own? Things broke for instance?" Donovan hinted. Damien recalled his fight between Tiago. The only reason he was distracted was because objects started flying everywhere. There when he was being tortured by Caius and Aro, the mirror broke. The only common difference between the two events were both times he felt this oddly strong feeling of something snapping inside him. Damien swallowed and nodded, nervous now. "You have a lot of potential and it will escape one way or another. Many young witches have no control of their abilities and often accidently lash out with them when they are scared or angry or really excited. I don't want that to happen and it can endanger you and the people around you."
"So teach me," Damien said bluntly, "I don't want to be a stupid instrument of Aro's. Teach me and the two of us can look out for each other." So I don't feel like a freak and so alone and over whelmed. "Just what I was thinking, young grass-hopper. On one condition. You are not allowed to tell anyone about us, about witches, about magic, our trainings, nothing. I don't care if they are your family, your friends, or the love of your life. No one can know about this. If you uphold that, then I will teach you best I can. I also promise to be fair when teaching you. I personally know what it feels like to over-exert an ability. You ever feel feverish and exhausted and kind of out of it after using your ability?" Damien nodded. Finally someone understood what he felt like. "If you ever look like you doing too much, I won't force you to keep going. Unlike Aro. Hell, if anything I might force you to stop. I have to warn you, magic is a dangerous bitch. So, you want to do this thing?" Donovan shrugged. Damien liked him. "Hell yeah! Let's do this thing," Damien agreed.
"Ok the first thing I am going to teach you is how to make plants grow. It's not very exciting, but it's pretty harmless if it were not to work correctly," Donovan reached into the bag he carried out and pulled out an ancient leather bound book that smelled like sage and mothballs. "This is called a Grimoire. It's a book of spells and cures that has been in my family since books were invented basically," he quickly flipped to a page covered in flowers, "Here we go. You are going to try and read this while visualizing the grass I scorched here growing again." Donovan pointed to the burnt grass, "Visualization and intent are a huge part in making spells effective. You need to almost convince the grass to grow when speaking. You think you are ready to try? I'll help you if things get crazy."
Damien looked at the spell. It seemed not too hard to pronounce. "I'm as ready as I'll ever be," he was slightly nervous. He had never purposely used magic before. "Then let us begin."
Facias O spiritus potestatis
terrae virentia et protege
me a periculo possem arcum
illi me et florebunt ascendere vel tactu.
Damien felt an odd tingling in his hands. His mouth felt drier as he read it. "Try leaning down and touching the scorch mark," Donovan instructed, "Read it again."
Facias O spiritus potestatis
terrae virentia et protege
me a periculo possem arcum
illi me et florebunt ascendere vel tactu.
He felt light headed reading it again. But he felt this energy pulsing beneath the damaged soil. Small little sprouts had begun to pop up eagerly. It was working. He read the spell aloud again in a stronger voice.
Facias O spiritus potestatis
terrae virentia et protege
me a periculo possem arcum
illi me et florebunt ascendere vel tactu.
The ground exploded with grass, green and new. Not only did the grass that had been burned away revive itself, but any grass within a thirty metre radius was filled with vibrant life and the thin layer of Christmas' slush melt away. "Holy shit," Donovan gasped, "I honestly did not expect anything to happen on your first lesson. But that was freaking amazing!"
"Thanks, I guess," Damien felt sleepy and warm. It scared him and thrilled him that he was able to exhibit such power. Seeing Damien's exhaustion after his first spell, Donovan concluded their lesson, "I just wanted to leave you with one take away point before you get some sleep. Why do you think I had you fix the grass after I burned it?" The boy shrugged, "To show that we can be both destructive and beneficial and it is 'up to us to decide our own destiny' crap?"
"Points for being philosophical, but no. The point of that was to show how important it is to cover your tracks and make sure there is no evidence. Part of being a witch is exercising constant control and caution with everything you do," Donovan warned. They stayed out for a little while more. Damien had lots of questions about being a dhampir that Donovan was more than happy to answer. Why was he the only one who liked human food? No idea, but I like it too. Whiskey and chocolate chip cookies are awesome. Is it weird I like spending time with humans? Nope, you belong equally to both. If anything it proves you aren't a soulless monster. I stayed in touch with my mom's family too even though they hated me. Will I look older than Alec when I turn seven? Most likely. You will probably look to be the same age as me. But it depends on the person. I have friends who stopped aging when they looked twelve. This is due to stress and just weird genetic luck. Thanks. If I have any question- Don't hesitate to ask. That is why I am here.
Damien woke up yawning and with a burning throat. He was getting thirstier and thirstier each day and it was worrying him, but he placed that thought into the back of his mind. He lazily made his way to the kitchen to where he got himself a blood bag and a piece of toast with Nutella. He had class in ten minutes and liked savoring the quiet of the early morning. Donovan made his way there too by coincidence with his arm draped around Jane. He got himself the same thing and sat down next to Damien winking and smiling his Cheshire cat smile. Damien smirked back. "Glad you two have found a way to get along," Jane smiled confused by the sudden jolliness between normally the moodiest two people. "We sorted out our differences last night while you showered," Donovan sighed as Damien added, "You know. We talked, did a couple trust falls, made friendship bracelets, braided each other's hair, watched the grass grow…" Donovan kicked him lightly under the table. "Smartass," Jane huffed, "Well I'm just happy some people in our family aren't fighting."
Classes with Demetri resumed. They were now learning about the ancient tribe of the Franks, an introduction to Western Europe history, and the many covens, the quadratic formula and how to complete the square, the many conjugations of French, reading quiz on Les Mis, and finished the day learning about the Krebs cycle and photosynthesis. Heidi had gifted him with the idea of combining history, literature and international language together to help enhance learning. It seemed like it would work much better. He would try it again for their next couple units. Today was surprisingly a more relaxed day. It had been a little while since they had a normal class day. Now the children were older and somewhat more mature, which made teaching them easier. All four were paying attention and asking questions. No one was talking out of turn and there was no meanness towards each other. They all seemed more confident with themselves since they learned what their official abilities were and where it ranked them as future Guards. As a reward he let them have half an hour of free-time and no homework. He was also following Marina's advice in rewarding positive behavior rather than only punishing negative actions.
This ray of positivity continued into Felix's lessons. He decided to switch sparring partners. Olivia and Tiago would be partners for the next couple weeks since both had strength related abilities. Marina and Damien were to fight each other since their abilities were more similar. It was one of the best decisions. Olivia and Tiago were able to go all out attacking each other and fight using brute force and larger builds as strategies. Damien and Marina could effectively use speed, agility, and sensing each other's moves as theirs. Marina also loved that the matches were clean and sportsmanlike due to the fact that neither really wanted to injure the other. They played purely for points, which was more enjoyable for both. Olivia and Tiago's was pure power and aggression. They didn't care if they hurt the other, so very little restraint was used. But neither really cared, it was more of a game of being stronger and better than the other. Felix was happy with his students. By watching the small two fight at a more appropriate level he was able to see more of their strengths and they were able to actually be on the offence. They both weren't half bad. Demetri, Alec, Jane, and Donovan eventually came down to check of how things were progressing. "You guys want to join?" Felix joked. "I don't want to dishonor my best friend by besting him in front of his children," Demetri smirked.
"I'll give it a go. Points or to the death?" Donovan shrugged. He had gotten a very unwarm welcome coming here. He caught several of the Guards whispering disapprovingly about How Jane could have at least chosen a REAL Vampire, not this Halfling. He needed to prove he deserved to be here and that he was their equal. "Points. I just mopped the floor. I don't want to get blood on it again," Felix cracked his knuckles. Felix had a new appreciation for the half-vampire. He had balls. They both stood facing each other. Felix made the first move, swiping at Donovan's left cheek. He dodged, grabbing Felix's wrist and yanking as hard a possible forcing Felix's large body mass and full momentum forward. In the same fluid movement, Donovan swiped Felix's legs from under him with his right leg and wrapped his arms around his throat putting him in a tight, binding headlock. From that position he could have easily torn his head off, finishing him. Felix tapped out. Only a second had passed.
"Not bad. I'll call it a draw," Felix joked shaking Donovan's hand, "So kids, there was an example of how with enough training, you all can effectively fight. Even if you are only half immortal." Class was dismissed. Marina and Tiago ran upstairs to go play futebol outside. Olivia went to shower. Donovan and Felix left to discuss fight techniques, with Jane joined to Donovan's hip. That awkwardly left Alec and Damien alone.
"Hey, when did you get this good at fighting?" Alec teased hoping to pass it off as a compliment. Damien shrugged it off, blushing at the praise. Today was easier since it was finally a day where the fights were fair. Not to mention he now felt more confident in trusting his gut feeling when applying his skills. "You want to spar?" Damien asked. He had never seen him fight before. He was built like Alec and maybe he could gain insight on how a mature, seasoned Guard fought. "Um, sure," Alec agreed somewhat anxious. He wasn't that good of fighter, since his ability kept him more in the background rather than the frontlines. They both stood facing each other, arms up ready to defend against an attack. Slowly they circled, not breaking eye contact and risk not noticing an advance. Damien made the first move, Alec blocked. Alec made the next move, Damien blocked. This pattern followed for several minutes, just the two boys mirroring each other perfectly. Their stance, the way they snapped their arms quickly, intensity in their eyes, tight focused pursed lips, degree of bend in their knees, angling of their shoulders, all of it. Perfect copies. But not completely. Damien changed his approach. The next time he went to hit Alec, he last minute shifted his weight and snapped his leg out, blowing out Alec's left knee. Hissing, Alec buckled on that knee as Damien pounced and tackled him to the ground, pinning him. Alec rolled, pinning Damien's arms above his head. Damien countered by wrapping his legs around Alec's torso and backwards somersaulted so Alec was on bottom again. This time pressing his forearm and elbow into Alec's throat, a perfect opportunity for a kill. "Fine, you win," Alec laughed. He was impressed. His son had learned and developed his skills vastly while he was away. "You are going to be a great Guard member one day," Alec beamed proud of his son. Damien felt like throwing up at the compliment. He unfortunately knew it was true. That and the fact that Alec found it a blessing to be a Guard member and something to be proud about. He remembered how Aro had been eager to install him as a replacement for Alec. He was to be the next 'Alec'. Prince of Volterra. Immortal Royalty. What he was bred and being groomed to be. For having eternal life, he had a very narrow, predetermined future and destiny.
"Maybe," was all Damien said as he left to go to his room.