32A Time of Peace
Dislciamer: I don't own any of this.
Marina sat on the edge of her tree house, looking out at the large garden. The doors of the Boarding House were open onto the porch and she could hear her Daddy and Mommy talking inside. Marina frowned as she swung her legs back and forth.
Something was really wrong. Everyone was over at their house and as fun as it was to have all her family together, they seemed worried. They needed cheering up. Marina thought about what made her happy; so that maybe it would make others happy.
She thought really, really hard.
Rebekah had just hurried into the kitchen, trying to busy herself so that she didn't snap someone's neck with frustration. Even if his wife was human now, Stefan did not doubt she could seriously hurt someone if she put her mind to it. He was beginning to feel the pressure build himself. All they wanted was to protect Marina; they were her parents and it was an instinct that went deeper than even blood hunting to a vampire. He would know. Bonnie and Elena were looking at books, Damon and the Originals were patrolling the town lines and the others were helping the sheriff prepare for a possible attack. It was easy to feel useless when everyone else had something to do.
So Stefan turned around and walked to the porch doors to check on his daughter. He walked outside and started to call to her but his voice stopped in his throat when he took in the sight in front of him.
His garden was filled with unicorns and rainbows.
Tall white horses with glittering horns sticking out from their heads were trampling the grass and the sky above was covered with different colours. Marina stood in the middle of all of this, clapping her hands.
"Look Daddy!" she exclaimed with glee, while Stefan just stood there with a slack jaw.
Finally he found his shaky voice. "Oh no...no, honey you can't keep them!" he said, as he watched his daughter's magic nearly cause a stampede in the back garden.
Marina pouted just as Damon hurried out onto the porch, after spotting only his brother standing on the spot.
"Hey! Stef-Oh my..." Damon's eyes widened at the sight and then he promptly burst out laughing. Stefan frowned, turning to his older brother who was doubled over holding his sides.
"This is not funny! You try telling her that she can't keep the unicorns!"
Damon straightened up, tears now in his eyes. He looks at his young niece who is still pouting. "No, I'll leave that to you," he said, just as Bonnie arrived onto the porch.
She too, stopped and stared at the unicorns and rainbows.
"Bonnie..." Stefan groaned, obviously begging her to do something.
Bonnie walked to the edge of the porch and sent Marina a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry sweetheart but they are going to have to go." With a wave of her hand, Bonnie reversed Marina's magic and the garden was left with uprooted stumps of grass and a simple blue sky.
Marina looked around and huffed before she ran into the house to Rebekah. Stefan ran a hand over his tiered face and Bonnie walked over to him.
"Well, I guess we know one thing she can do; summoning that many objects at once takes a very powerful magic."
"At least it's not dangerous," Stefan replied, trying to find some positivity in the situation.
Bonnie, however, winced and added, "Maybe now, but what happens when she's a teenager and she gets angry at someone. Goodness knows what could happen."
"Yes, well sorry to pile on more problems but I saw something by the town lines behind the house. There are a bunch of werewolves and vampires gathering," Damon muttered, all humour gone from his voice. Bonnie sighed but Stefan straight out swore.
"What are we going to do about this? I don't want a hoard of supernatural creatures swarming the house for my daughter!"
"They won't swarm!" Damon argued, "They would circle hungrily before pouncing."
"This is not funny!"
"Alright!" Bonnie stepped between the brothers with her hands held up. She pointed to Stefan and stated, "Everyone will be at the house tonight so Marina will have plenty of people to look after her."
She looked over at Damon and added, "You and me are going down to the cellars to check on some ingredients I might need to a containment spell I found."
Stefan's head snapped to look at Bonnie and he started to babble. "Wait, what? Did you find a spell to help Marina?"
Bonnie shrugged carefully and replied, "Maybe; I just need to look in the cellar first."
Stefan nodded, glancing at the house before saying, "Rebekah had been using the cellar as a pantry but some of your ingredients should still be in there."
Damon rolled his eyes but strolled into the house with Stefan and Bonnie walking after him. Stefan went into the kitchen so Bonnie and Damon headed down to the cellar. Jars and various bottles and boxes were stacked up in the same places that once housed blood sucking vampires. There an over powering scent of herbs and spices but Bonnie quickly found some ingredients that would help her.
As she looked through the bottles, she heard Damon say, "Are we not going to talk about it?"
Bonnie took in a calming breath through her nose before turning around to look at him leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. "Is there anything really to talk about? I wake up in middle of a warm night in Spain to find you gone. And all you leave behind is a note to say that something is up with Marina and you need to look into a few things."
Damon straightened up and walked towards her. "You know why Bon. You would have wanted to go with me and once again we would be back to when you were eighteen and wanting to give up your life to save people."
"Saving people is what I do!"
"And saving you is what I do!" Damon retorted.
Bonnie was clenching her jaw now, trying not to set him on fire. "I get where you are coming from, I do. But Marina is a child; an innocent child. It's not just me who would give up their life for her and don't pretend that you are not one of those people."
With that Bonnie marched past him and headed up to stairs. Damon let out a sigh and could only follow after her, glad that she didn't actually set him on fire this time.
The night came quick to Mystic Falls and the Boarding House closed its doors and windows. Stefan and Rebekah had set up rooms for the Originals, Bonnie and Damon while the others had decided to stay in their own homes, even if they were just a phone call away. Stefan had looked into his daughter's room before he himself went to bed and Marina was sleeping soundly.
It was late and the moon was casting a sickly glow over the world, when Marina awoke from something ticking her face. She opened her eyes and saw a blurry shape floating in front of her. As she blinked, the shape became clear and Marina's face lit up as she watched the purple butterfly flick around the room. It was the size of her head and had red tips on its wings. Marina hopped out of bed in her blue pyjamas with her stuffed hedgehog and chased after the butterfly, which was slipped out between the crack in the door.
Quietly, she hurried after the butterfly, her hand nearly clasping it now and again. She followed the butterfly down the stairs and to the front door, which opened when Marina walked up to it. The little girl paused on her doorsteps, knowing that her Mommy and Daddy would be mad if she left the house without anyone. But the butterfly was getting away as it flittered down the driveway.
So Marina hopped down the porch steps and went after the butterfly. She followed it as it flew around the house and towards the woods. She skipped around the trees and almost caught it as it entered a field. Marina struggled to keep up with the butterfly as it went across the field but she was right beside it when it lead her into another band of trees.
The butterfly flew up and away from Marina and landed in the hand of a strange woman. With a flick of her wrist the woman made the butterfly disappear. Marina hugged her hedgehog tightly as more and more strange people appeared from the woods.
Men and woman all wearing normal clothes but they seemed so...scary. One man stopped right in front of Marina and looked down at her.
"This is the one we've been waiting for?" he asked disbelievingly as the butterfly woman.
She nodded and replied, "She may seem like nothing much but do I have to remind you that Bonnie Bennett didn't seem like much either when she started."
The man looked back at Marina grinned with sharp teeth. Marina stepped backwards and whimpered, "I want to go home."
Snorts and soft laugher rippled through the group and the man leaned down to Marina's level. "Sorry but you won't be going home."
Suddenly Marina turned around and looked back through the trees at the field. She let out a happy sigh and looked back at the vampire. "Nevermind," she said, "Everything is alright now."
The vampire looked back at the witch and cast a glance at the others before asking, "And what makes you think that?"
"My uncles are here."
The vampire's eyes barely got a chance to widen before something grabbed him by the back of the neck and sucked him into trees. Marina blinked and suddenly every vampire, werewolf and the witch were gone. She could hear noises from the woods but she stayed where she was until all was silent.
Then Damon appeared and Marina smiled, "Oh, hi Damon!"
He watched her wave at him as if they had just met one a stroll through the park. Klaus and Kol walked out from the trees, hiding the blood from their niece.
"Come on, Marina," Damon said, "Time to go home."
He picked her up and hurried back to the Boarding House with the Original brothers. Stefan and Rebekah were at the door of the house when they reached it, the light from the hallway behind them. Damon handed Marina too them and then spotted Bonnie walking towards them from the forest.
"I've strengthened the town border," she called out, "There's a new condition on it; no one can cast magic through the lines like that witch did."
Damon nodded; he was thankful that Bonnie had figured out what had "helped" Marina walk over the town line. He was even thankful to Kol, who had gone to get a late night blood bag and spotted Marina's empty bed. He looked back at his brother, who was holding his daughter tight to his chest while Rebekah stroked her hair and murmured to her. Stefan met his eye and mouthed, "Thank you." Damon blinked, not used to seeing such gratefulness in Stefan's eyes.
He nodded once before turning on his heel and going to patrol the area again. Klaus and Kol followed his lead and all three of them spread out throughout the town in a second. Damon called into Caroline and Tyler on the way to drag their still supernatural asses out of bed to help check for any other possible threats.
However Bonnie, Elijah and Finn set about locking the Boarding House down tighter; Bonnie placing a few more protection spells around windows and doors. Stefan and Rebekah took Marina up to their room for the night and Stefan had to try and explain to her what exactly had happen.
"Sweetheart," he asked carefully, "You know how I told that there are no monsters under your bed or in your closet?"
Marina nodded, her blonde curls bouncing against Rebekah's arm from their seat on the bed. Stefan cleared his throat and added, "Well, there still aren't monsters there but...there are monster outside in those woods. And that's what you saw tonight."
Marina just nodded again, replying, "Oh I know! But Uncle Klaus and Uncle Kol and Damon got rid of them. I could hear them coming."
Rebekah set her husband a confused look but Stefan just asked, "You can hear things far away?"
"Yup!" Marina exclaimed, patting her hedgehog. Stefan sighed and then his daughter looked at him with big eyes and a questioning face. "What kind of monsters were they?"
Stefan thought for a moment but then answered her. "Have you ever heard of vampires?"
Again, Marina nodded but this time she said, "Yes, Uncle Kol tried to tell me a joke about vampires once but Uncle Finn poked him in the side. I didn't get it."
Rebekah rolled her eyes at this and collected her daughter in a hug. "It doesn't matter; those monsters will never get you with all of us around."
"I know," Marina said, "And those other bad guys aren't going to get me either."
Stefan and Rebekah sent each other panicked looks and Stefan stammered out, "W-what other bad guys?"
Marina looked up at him and said sweetly, "There are more bad guys coming to town, I can hear them. But they won't hurt me right?"
Rebekah pulled her daughter closer to her before looking at her husband. "Yes, sweetheart, don't worry. As long as you stay with us, everything will be alright."
Stefan moved himself to wrap an arm around both his wife and daughter, his eyes drawn to the window. The view was of the forest and thousands on trees in it. And apparently, all the monsters that were coming for Marina.
