✓ | 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐂, Stefan and Damon

Chapter 25

Oooh, this is a good one.

Nik had been getting restless. He had been painting more than ever and nobody in the family could console him. I had already texted him about coming home with Caroline and he said it was alright. It hurt me to see my brother in such a state. I know that he would do anything to find his mate. Whoever this mate was, she would be highly loved and very protected by my hybrid brother.

Caroline, Henrik, Jer, and I were in my shared room. My mates had tried to protest Caroline being inside the house, but stopped trying once I explained to them just exactly what Bonnie had done to Caroline and her mate. What a manipulative, abusive bitch. Who the hell keeps someone away from their mate? Her other half could go feral. Caroline herself was getting antsy, one of the signs of her inner vampire getting uncomfortable with the blindness to the bond. Does Bonnie not care for anyone but herself and Elena? She seems to drop Caroline's feelings the second that Caroline has a difference of opinion. Maybe her mate would complicate her relationship with Elena and herself.

Jer and Henrik were sitting together on the couch. They had been getting really close, almost too close for comfort. The two boys, minus the usual displays of affection, acted more like lovers than best friends. I could try and write it off on Jer not having anyone else, but I had seen that look in too many people's eyes to put it behind me.

"So, how is this going to work?" Caroline asked me, putting down her handbag on the table. I come closer to her.

"I'll put my hand on your arm and siphon the magic away from you. I've never siphoned such dark magic, so I have no clue if this will hurt. I promise that if it does hurt, the pain is only because of the dark magic leaving your body. This magic is already hurting you in more ways than one. Blinding someone from their mate is shady business that usually ends up with one or both sides of the bond going feral," I explain. Jer and Caroline look quite confused.

"What do you mean by feral? Will I turn into the Hulk if I can't sense my mate?" Caroline looks worried as she looks me in the eye.

"Feral vampires are only found when mates are hidden, have gone through traumatic separation, one mate has rejected the other, or a mate has died. I think that Bonnie knows who your mate is and doesn't want you to be with them at all. She may have kept this from you, but if you reject your mate, you die. After you die, your mate will eventually go feral. Only a mate can coax a feral vampire out of that situation. She knows that you can't reject the bond, so she blocked it completely. I still can't believe that she would do that to her own friend. I guess Elena's needs outweigh yours to her. She always did seem to throw you to the side the second that Elena was in trouble," I explain to Caroline, who still looked a bit confused.

"What does a feral vampire act like? Are they rabid or something?" Henrik laughs.

"No, a feral vampire just asks like the purest form of who they are. If someone is a gentle person, the feral will be much less likely to attack. They keep their morals when they turn into a feral. Say I turned feral, I would still never attack a child or attack someone who has done nothing to provoke me. A feral needs their mate to calm them. If they have bonded with their mate, they will become hysterical when their mate leaves their side. Some ferals get overly clingy and need their mate to have physical contact with them. Other creatures have their own version of ferals, but vampires are by far the deadliest ferals," I finish with. Jer and Caroline look like they finally understand just how badly Bonnie had fucked up.

"You can tell a feral by their eyes, which will remain in their vampire form until they return to normal. Their fangs will always be out. I saw quite a few ferals while on the other side. The way they act with their mates is actually adorable. They get all soft and sweet towards them. Honestly, ferals are misunderstood. A vampire allowing their humanity to be taken over is just a response to trauma. Nobody should put someone through something that would traumatize someone in that way. Say if Astrid did go feral from a traumatic separation from her mates, she would still be Astrid, just a different version of herself. She would still need love and affection just like anyone else, she just may be a bit more jumpy and not be able to communicate properly. They talk in moans and groans. With their mates, they make cooing noises," Henrik explains the nitty gritty details of ferals.

"Enough with ferals, I doubt that we will be dealing with any of those. That is unless Nik doesn't find his mate soon. He can sense her, but she's just out of his reach," Jer looks surprised and Caroline looks sad. I know that she would never wish pain on Nik, even if she used to be on Elena's side. "Caroline, please give me your arm so I can take the spell off of you."

"Of course," she says, sticking her arm out for me to take. I put my hand on her arm, gripping it hard. Taking such dark magic was a difficulty.

The inflow of magic flowed through my body, finding itself stored in my useless magical core. I groaned, feeling the darkness that had blinded the mating bond. It had blinded me for a second before Caroline started to whimper. Sorry, Caroline, I did tell you that this would hurt a bit. The magic was flowing out, leaving a mark on Caroline's skin before I finally pulled away, having taken every last bit of dark and evil magic from her body and soul. The damned witch had bound the darkness to her soul. God knows where she learned how to do it, most likely some actual demon worshiping witch. No normal witches did magic like this. Even they respected the mating bond.

"Oh god, that feels so much better," Caroline gasps out, sitting down on the couch, sitting in between Jer and my baby brother. "I didn't know how bad it felt until it was taken away. Maybe that's why I've been so angry, my mate had been blinded by my poor vampire. I wish I could say sorry to her, she didn't deserve that."

I was exhausted. Siphoning magic was hard and even if it did give me a power boost, I did not want to use this dark magic that I had collected. There is a reason it is called dark magic. It is not to be touched, to be messed with. Mother had used this kind of magic to create a new species, to create the vampires. Does Bonnie expect to use this kind of magic to kill us? It took a toll on Esther, her being physically weak in the end, so it is bound to take a toll on Bonnie. She may be a Bennett witch, but her ancestors will put a stop to her magic if she keeps this up. The ancestors were always nitpicky about what magic they supported.

It was then that Nik decided to show up, looking at me with annoyance in his eyes. He had most likely come to complain about the dark magic residue that was bound to clog his werewolf nose for a while. When he walked in the room, he took a good look at Caroline, who had finally opened up her eyes to look at him at the doorway.

"Mate."