Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to The Vampire Diaries, TV show or books. However I decided to have a little play around with the characters (I would definitely like to play with Damon).
I'd like to thank everyone for their wonderful reviews so far. They genuinely do help keep me motivated to get the chapters written and published sooner.
The next morning was spent making pancakes and exploring the new house and garden before the arrival of Ric and Vincent. Caroline would be over later as she was staying behind at the school, preparing for the arrival of Jess and Ben. The now Sheriff Matt Donovan, had stopped by on his way to work to say hi and meet the kids for the first time. Damon and Matt still had a frosty relationship, and Elena doubted that would ever change, however they held a healthy respect for one another and behaved cordially, even pretending to be friendly in front of the children.
Just after lunch Vincent arrived with his bag of tricks as Damon liked to put it. Vincent was introduced to the children, and promptly did a spell to create a chocolate fountain in the kitchen aiming to befriend them, which was hugely successful with them and Damon, although not so much with Elena who didn't like the kids to eat too much chocolate. By the time they'd done, Vincent had explained he wanted to see them all individually. This type of test had been designed by Freya to find out if a child wasn't showing any inclination to be a witch even though they were born of magical blood. She'd made some for the Salvatore school, although they were rarely needed because the children of witches usually had powers similar to their parents.
The circumstances behind the Salvatore family's need to use the cup was different as Vincent already knew they were able to practice magic. Instead he needed to assess what powers were behind their magic, what practices they could make use of and what type of magical creature or witch they had the power to become. Did they only have strengthened Traveler magic, or was it something else entirely? To do this, they decided to use Elena's old room.
This was how Damon found himself sat on Elena's bed. "Okay, so this is what I want you to do." Vincent told Damon. "I need for you to hold this cup here." he placed a large wooden cup in Damon's hands, before sitting on the window seat. "Close your eyes and think about the cup real hard, and what you want it to be filled with. When I tell you to, you can open your eyes." he explained.
"Is this some kind of supernatural test?" Damon raised. "Cause I always cheated as a kid." he grinned mischievously.
"It's not that kind of test." Vincent explained. "While you've got it in your hands it'll be telling me what fuels your power." he said.
"Pft. That's easy. Magic." Damon smirked.
Vincent rolled his eyes in exasperation. "There are a number of types of magic. Spiritual, ancestral..." he started.
"Travelers?" Damon interrupted, rolling his eyes. "Because according to the supernatural family tree, Elena and I descend from the Travelers." he told Vincent.
"True." Vincent agreed. "But you've also got magic in your system which predates the travelers curse. Inside of you, maybe Elena and possibly your children, remains what is left of the original Travelers magic. A magic so powerful, it took many covens to restrict their powers, forcing them to move from place to place." he explained. "Qetsiyah was the most powerful witch in recorded history, but how much was wiped out before then? Nobody really knows where the heart of the Travelers powers truly lay. Most of the records of the types practices of the original Travelers were erased. Yes we know they practiced traditional magic, but there must have been more. They were way too powerful for it to be just that. Maybe there was another branch of magic which they used and is now extinct, well was extinct. My theory is the reason your magic is coming back more potent is because you are developing the powers of the original Travelers magic, not what they became after the curse."
"So does that make us all as powerful as Silas?" Damon frowned.
Vincent shook his head and shrugged. "I have no idea until you let me carry out the tests." he said.
"Fine!" Damon shook his head before closing his eyes.
"Okay, before we start the test, I need you to tell me what you are imagining inside the cup." Vincent told him.
"Bourbon!" Damon replied immediately.
"Good choice." Vincent smiled. "Okay, time to get down to business, he said getting his pen and paper ready to write down what he saw.
Vincent lit the candle beneath the cup and focused hard on what magic Damon was providing. The cup turned transparent, allowing Vincent to see whatever images would manifest itself inside the cup to represent the branch of magic which was the strongest inside Damon. Once filled with the bourbon Damon was imagining, only then would the test be over.
At first, the images Vincent saw were what he expected. Earth, to represent traditional magic, a face appeared who looked like Stefan, Damon's brother, although Vincent knew the face could also belong to Silas, which was more likely. This probably represented ancestral magic. A triangle, appeared, then blood, after that the cup turned dark before more and more images appeared inside the cup. All the while Vincent was frantically scribbling down what he saw, amazed by the sheer amount of images representing magic which fueled Damon and the practices he was capable of. Normally he got no more than five, seven was the most he'd ever seen, and that was Freya, Damon was already into double figures, with some images that made no sense.
Finally the cup filled with amber liquid and turned black once more. Vincent sat back, startled by what he'd seen, this was the type of power he would've expected from Qetsiyah. Although Damon wasn't showing much potential as he was barely practicing, should he ever get out of control, he would become very dangerous. Vincent just hoped Damon was the strongest of the four witches, but somehow he doubted it.
"You can open your eyes now." Vincent told Damon. "And if you want, you can drink the bourbon. It's only a little magic, and you did make it." he smiled.
"So how did I do?" Damon asked. "Do I need to cheat, or did I pass?" he winked as he drank the bourbon and looked at the cup impressed with the taste. "Although this is a decent bourbon. I might have to get practicing after all."
Vincent smiled at Damon's new enthusiasm for magic. "I've written it all down, once I go through it, I'll tell you what I know. But I can safely say there's a lot of magic in there. A lot more than I expected. However, you and me are done for now." he said, putting the cup to one side with the notes he'd made before getting another cup out of his bag. "Do you want to send Elena in for me?" he asked.
Once they'd all finished their tests, Damon and Elena sat waiting in the kitchen, watching the children playing in the garden through the window. Vincent and Ric had been talking among themselves for over forty minutes, and the Salvatore's were both getting edgy. Finally the three of them emerged from the the dining room and ushered them in.
"Do you want us to get the kids?" Elena asked as Ric shook his head solemnly.
"I've put up a barrier spell." Vincent told them. "Your children are safe outside. Nobody can find them, and they're not going anywhere."
They all returned to the dining room where Vincent had the four cups out and the notes of each individual written down. Damon and Elena sat at the opposite end of the table, holding hands, because from the looks on the faces of the others, there was bad news coming.
Damon looked at all Ric and Vincent carefully, before deciding to break the ice. "Okay, so what can be so bad, you look like just someone died." he frowned.
Vincent and Ric glanced at each other before the witch spoke. "Okay, first off all, to Elena." Vincent started. "It seems that the doppelganger in you is still affecting your magic." he said. "You have less branches of magic to draw from than Damon, except you have the doppelganger blood, which in itself is very powerful. Doppelganger blood is so powerful it more than makes up for what types of magic you can't draw from. But although you have less types of magic than Damon, the magic you can produce have is stronger. In theory you should be able to create more powerful spells. The images I saw were more varied in Damon but clearer in Elena." he said before turning to Damon. "You while not having quite as much strength, have a lot more magic you can tap into. Some you can use naturally like all witches can, but not every witch can practice every kind of magic. But until I saw you, I'd never seen a witch with the potential to use so many branches of magic." he shook his head.
"Can you stop speaking witch. Give me an example." Damon frowned.
"Okay, for example if you were both to create the most powerful storm you could using traditional magic, Damon you'd manage a category one hurricane while Elena might manage a category two, because of her doppelganger blood." Vincent explained. "But if you were to both access the most powerful types of magic you could, which wouldn't necessarily be traditional magic, you'd both probably create a category four. Damon would be able to tap into a more powerful type of magic, while Elena would use something weaker but boosted by doppelganger blood." he said.
"Okay, that makes sense." Damon nodded.
"And the children?" Elena asked.
"They're even more powerful." Vincent said. "They're seers too aren't they?" he asked as both Damon and Elena looked at each other sheepishly before nodding.
"You never told me anything about that." Ric frowned. "They're going to be starting at the school soon, don't you think you should have at least told me?"
"It's only started happening in the past few months, and we weren't really sure if they were or not. It was just little things which made us suspect they might be." Elena explained. "Knowing what they were going to get for their birthday. Guessing the ending of movies they'd never seen." she said. "Things which could easily be explained, so we didn't think anything of it."
"Except for the green light." Damon interrupted. "Whenever they predicted things, they would see a green light." he told them.
"When do these visions happen?" Ric asked.
"They have them during their dreams." Elena said.
"But not everything with the green light it the future." Damon added. "Last night both had a similar dream, Jess about me and Ben about Elena. They said we were vampires." he told them. "And we all know that's impossible."
"Maybe they can see the past and the future." Vincent shrugged. "I've never heard of anyone being able to do that, but that's for the school to work out." he said.
"We'll give them dream journals." Ric explained. "See if we can work out what kind of control they have over their visions." he said.
"That's a good idea." Elena smiled and nodded turning to Damon who raised a skeptical eyebrow.
"Journals? Really?" Anything else?" Damon asked.
"The kids are more powerful than the two of you, but if Isobel's research is anything to go by, that's not a surprise." Ric said.
Elena shook her head. "So what happens now?" she asked.
"Bonnie is already on her way to Athens." Ric told them. "She flew out last night after you got here. She's going to do some research in Greece, which is the historical home of the Travelers before they were cursed by the other witches." he said. "We've got a couple of possible leads regarding some ancient relics. There has to be something somewhere about them."
"Why send Bonbon? I thought Caroline was the one researching in Europe." Damon asked.
"Caroline is on a recruitment drive among other things." Ric nodded. "But if she spends too much time trying to research your magic, she won't have time for her main purpose of being there, so we've assigned Bonnie to solely focus on looking into your history."
"Why is it so important?" Damon frowned.
"Because, we need to know if it is your original magic being unlocked or if the cure is making you more potent." Ric told them. "If it's the first part, the cure won't be hunted by existing witches wanting more power. It might even be because you're both descended from Travelers, meaning it will only trigger the magic inside a descendant of a Traveler. The less people hunting you the better." he said.
"But nobody else will know that." Damon shrugged. "They'll still want the cure thinking it might work."
"Which is why we need to find a way to get it out of you without aging you." Ric explained.
"If this magic can increase abilities and power, we can't allow it to fall into the wrong hands." Vincent told them. "Any witch practicing dark magic would love to get their hands on something like this. If it doesn't work, it is only useful to vampires."
"Like that's not bad enough?" Damon raised an eyebrow.
"Exactly." Ric nodded. "The less people this is any good to, the better. If it's just vampires, then Rebekah and Marcel are going to sort out the guards for you both until we can figure out how to stop Damon aging. These all will be from Klaus's line, loyal to Marcel so they won't care about Rebekah taking the cure." he said.
"So that's your big plan. Get the cure out of me so I don't get older, which means no witches or vampires will be chasing me?" Damon asked.
"Pretty much." Ric replied. "We just need to know what we're dealing with."
"And the kids?" Elena asked.
Vincent hesitated for a moment. "Their magic is where we'd expect it to be. Maybe a little more powerful, but we can't tell if it is related to the cure or not." he said.
"We need more biological information on the both of you, a selection of vampires and witches, and your kids." Ric told them. "For now, we know where we're at and how to teach them at the school. Once they're settled in, we need to take blood and DNA samples from them, for you to test." he said.
"But I've never..." Elena started.
"Don't worry." Vincent smiled. "Freya and Keelin have been working on setting up a supernatural lab for a while.
"When do we need to do this?" Damon asked, although he suspected he knew the answer already.
"Do you know where Frank is?" Ric asked as both Damon and Elena shook their heads. "Well you need to think about leaving today.
"Uh uh!" Damon shook his head.
"No way!" Elena exclaimed. we haven't got time to say goodbye to the kids or explain to them properly whats going on." she said in a panicked voice.
"The house is cloaked, that should buy us a few days." Damon protested but Vincent shook his head.
"The only reason you can't do powerful spells is because you don't know how to." Vincent told them. "Your magic is unpredictable, and far more powerful than mine. A bee sting could send a power surge and completely destroy the cloaking spell."
"Well we don't get stung by a bee." Damon cried aghast.
"Just getting angry could destroy the spell." Vincent warned them.
"Damon, Elena, just calm down." Ric held up his hands to try and ease the situation.
"Look, I can cloak the house because I know how to. I could beat you in a straight fight because I know how to use magic." Vincent told them. "But if you knew even a little of what you're capable of, you'd be able to destroy me in the blink of an eye." he said.
"Don't give me ideas." Damon growled.
"Damon, he doing this for all of your sake's." Ric cried. "We all are. None of us want to see you hurt."
Elena touched Damon on the arm. "Damon." she said softly as he turned to look at her. "What if they're right?" she asked. "Getting angry is just going to lead Frank right here to Mystic Falls. Anything could happen to trigger an outburst. If either of the kids stubbed their toes they might have a rush of magic and destroy the spell. Do you want to risk it?" she asked.
"No." Damon lowered his eyes.
"We'll leave you guys alone for a few minutes. Let you talk it over. Call us when you're ready, we'll be in the kitchen." Ric said as he and Vincent left the room.
Once they'd gone Damon took Elena in his arms and they simply held each other. There were no need for words, they just needed time out to take in the magnitude of letting their children go for the time being.
"How much are we going to tell them?" Elena asked. "Do you think they need to know we used to be vampires?"
"I think it's probably best not to tell them that part. They won't be able to tell anyone who we are remember? Although they're going to need to know more about the supernatural world." Damon replied. "Harry Potter isn't going to cut it this time. Thank god they're too young for Twilight." he sighed.
"Maybe we could ask Caroline to go through the vampire stuff with them. The love and trust her, she is their aunt." Elena suggested.
"Good idea." Damon agreed. "Do you want to text Blondie or should I?" he asked.
"I'll do it." Elena said sadly as she reached into the back pocket to take out her phone.
"You're taking this awfully well Elena." Damon frowned.
"Trust me Damon, I'm not." Elena shook her head. "But the kids can't see me upset. It needs to be an adventure for them." she swallowed. "I'll cry later."
"They'll understand." Damon whispered. "We'll explain to them they're going to stay at Aunt Caroline's version of Hogwarts because they are very special. But we've got to go to the grown up version of Hogwarts which isn't in Mystic Falls."
"They're going to want to know why they have to change their names." Elena said. "We need to be a little honest."
"I've got an idea." Damon grinned. "Leave it to me."
Five minutes later they were all gathered around the dining room table. Jess was sat attentive, but Ben was itching to get back outside to play with his water gun, preferably to shoot his sister, although she'd mastered a barrier spell, which he was determined to thwart. Just as they were about to start, there was a knock at the door and Caroline waltzed right in. Jess and Ben screamed with joy before running up to her and giving her a hug. After a few moments, Caroline stood up and held their hands and walked them back into the dining room to join Ric, Vincent and their parents. Once they were all sat down Damon cleared his throat, indicating he wanted to speak. Everyone turned to look to hear what he had to say.
"Okay, so here it is." Damon addressed Jess and Ben. "You remember earlier when you had to imagine something in the cup for Vincent?" he asked as they both nodded.
"Do you know why he asked you to do it?" Elena asked.
"He wanted to see how strong our magic was." Jess replied.
"And it was very very strong." Vincent smiled. "You both could become very very powerful witches." he said.
"But you need to know how to practice magic properly." Ric said.
"Daddy taught me how to light a candle." Ben announced proudly.
"That's really good Ben." Caroline smiled at him. "But you also have to learn to control your magic, because as you get older, you will be able to do a lot more than light a candle." she explained. "Even if you don't intend to."
"Does that mean we're going to real school?" Jess asked.
Damon and Elena looked at each other before facing their children.
"Yes it does." Damon told them. "You're going to stay at Aunt Caroline's school to learn magic. You'll be there with lots of other kids who are also learning magic and what to do with their own powers." he said.
"They're not all witches." Elena told them. "Are they Caroline?" she turned to her sister-in-law.
"What else is there?" Ben asked.
"Well, we've got witches, vampires and werewolves." Caroline smiled.
"Huh. There's no such things as vampires and werewolves!" Ben announced folding his arms.
"Oh but there is." Ric said. "You believe in witches don't you?" he asked.
"Only because we can do magic." Jess frowned. "But daddy said there were no such things as vampires and werewolves when we have our bad dreams." she said.
"What bad dreams?" Elena frowned.
"Um... About that..." Damon started as Elena glared at him. "I didn't want to scare them." he smiled sheepishly.
"Why would that scare them? Not all vampires are scary!" Caroline frowned.
"Not scary?" Damon narrowed his eyes. "Have you met you?" he asked.
"Is Aunt Caroline a vampire?" Jess asked.
"Yes sweetie I am." Caroline smiled before throwing an angry glance over at Damon.
"Woah, cool!" Ben grinned. "Can we see your teeth?" he pleaded.
"Do you eat people?" Jess asked, her eyes wide with surprise.
"I have a special diet." Caroline explained. "But no I don't eat people. And no Ben I will not show you my teeth." she said.
"Well I don't believe you!" Ben scowled. "Not until you show me your teeth."
"Look, it's up to your mom and dad." Caroline told them before turning to their parents. "Damon, Elena. Can I show them?" she asked.
Elena looked over at Damon who sighed and nodded. "If the children promise not to scream or be scared then yes." she said. "Their going to see this sooner or later, so it's better coming from someone the love and trust not to hurt them."
Caroline smiled before turning to the kids. "Don't scream, I won't hurt you, I'm still me with bigger teeth." she added as the veins around her eyes protruded from her skin. The whites of her eyes turned red and her fangs grew. She held the face momentarily before it disappeared and she returned to normal.
Jess frowned. "That's exactly like what daddy looked like in my dream." she told them.
"Mommy looked the same in mine too." Ben piped up.
"That's because when we decided to dress up as vampires for Halloween, we were going to look like the real thing." Damon told them, however Jess and Ben looked skeptical at this explanation. "Look, your mom and I can't become vampires." he assured them.
"Why not?" Ben asked.
"Because we have special blood which means we can't turn into one." Elena explained.
"Can we turn into vampires when we grow up?" Jess asked.
"We don't know." Ric interrupted. "Your mom and dad are special witches and we don't know if they've passed that onto you. Which is why they have to go away." he explained.
"Go away?" Ben frowned.
"Go where?" Jess asked.
"To a special school for grownups who are witches and don't know how to use their powers." Damon smiled.
"Bullshit!" Jess swore as Damon and Elena looked at each other with shock at their daughters language.
"What did you just say to your father?" Elena asked angrily. This was not how they wanted their last conversation to go with their children.
"I said bullshit!" Jess smirked. "We were dragged out of our beds in the middle of the night. Driven across the country taking probably twice as long as normal and changing cars, what was it three times?" she said. "Then we end up here being told we're going to some magical school and you are disappearing to go to learn magic at another school. Do you really think Ben and I are that stupid? You're on the run aren't you?" she asked as Damon and Elena looked at each other uncomfortably.
"Yes and no." Caroline replied before either Damon or Elena could. "They're on the run because of their magic." she explained. "You see, the way they became witches was different to how it usually happens, they didn't start becoming witches as children or teenagers. They were all grown up when it happened. And people would want to know why." she said.
"Wasn't that what the cup test was for?" Jess asked. "And what does that have to do with us?"
"Your natural abilities have shown up as normal. But we didn't know how much power any of you had." Vincent explained. "Now we do and you are all extremely powerful witches. Now your mom and dad have absolutely no idea how to control their magic. If they got angry, they could accidentally do something real bad. You don't want that to happen do you?" he asked as both Jess and Ben shook their heads.
"The people who are looking for them know they could be dangerous and want to hurt your mom and dad, and if they find out about the both of you, they might want to hurt you as well, if they think you will get too powerful as you get older." Ric interrupted. "But to hurt you they'd have to do it now while they can. Which is why we need you at the school and learning magic as soon as we can and why we need your mom and dad to be learning how to control their magic too."
"Why can't they go to your school with us?" Ben asked.
"They're too old for our school." Caroline replied.
"And they need someone more powerful than any of your teachers to help them because it's harder to teach a grown up." Vincent explained. "And nobody there can know they are witches or that have children who are witches."
"But you said someone already knew." Ben frowned.
"They're in New York. They probably won't know we're here yet, and they don't know about you." Elena explained.
"But they'll probably work it out soon." Damon lowered his eyes.
"And how long is this expected to take?" Jess asked. "For you to learn magic?"
"We don't know." Elena admitted. "Hopefully not too long."
"People can't know you are our children until the magic is explained and under control." Damon said sadly. "Otherwise we are all in a lot of danger, from bad witches and bad vampires."
"So we're going to have to pretend you are somebody else." Ric told them. "Orphan witches. We'll change your last names. We'll make your hair and eye color different so nobody will recognize you looking like your mom or dad." he said.
"Can I have curly red hair and green eyes?" Jess asked. "Like dark red and ringlet curls?"
"Um..." Ric looked worriedly at Damon and Elena for help as to the appearance of their children.
"Remember, you can't change it once it's done." Elena warned. "It'll stay like that until we return." she said as she looked at Vincent. "Were you provided with a strong enough spell to change her that much?" she asked.
Vincent nodded. "Whatever they want." he smiled.
"Cool." Ben grinned. "Can you make me big and green like the Incredible Hulk?" he asked as everyone burst into laughter, finally easing the tension in the room.
"I think the spell has some limits." Damon frowned. "Right Vincent?"
Vincent nodded. "We can only change your hair and eye color." he said. "Your skin will adjust to the color you pick for your hair and only real human pigments can be used, not green, and you need to still look a little like you are brother and sister." he added.
"Boring!" Ben pouted. "Do whatever you want, I don't care." he said. "Just not red curly hair. That's for girls!"
"Let them both have the same color eyes, and Ben can have blond hair." Elena sighed. "Are you okay with that?" she asked turning to Damon who nodded sadly.
"Can you wait until we leave before you do the spell to change them?" Damon asked.
"Let's take them to the school, where they can get settled in, you say your goodbye's and then Vincent do the spell." Ric suggested.
"I can do that." Vincent shrugged.
"That's settled then." Caroline said brightly. "I've got your rooms ready at the school for you. We just need you to pack your things and we can go."
"We didn't have time to unpack last night." Damon told her. "There's nothing to pack."
"Then I guess it's time to show you to your new school." Ric smiled.
Thank you all for your wonderful reviews. They are always appreciated.
I know so far things seem almost the same as before and this chapter has had very little changed from the original version, but the very minor changes made so far are steering the story in the direction I'm now taking it which is very different to how it was originally planned and a much better path too. The major changes start in the next chapter.
If you like the story, please like, follow or review. Reviews inspire me, correct my mistakes, allow me to engage and answer questions. They also help motivate me to get the following chapters out quicker.
Mandzipop.