"Kids… the comet is coming," Grandma said irritably, looking especially at me. "This comet makes magical fluctuations stabilize, so no magic."
She said it while placing a piece of cake on her plate, and I made a face.
"Why me?" I snapped, irritated. Why the hell did I have to be warned? "I have my magic under control."
"Yes, Grandma," Bonnie said, defending me. "As much of an idiot as he is, he knows how to use magic."
Hey, no need to insult me, right?
"I know, and I trust you completely, Nik," Grandma smiled at me. "But you're still almost a demigod and you have vampire blood. The comet could affect your magic and get you hurt."
She was right. I hadn't thought about that… Magic could grow stronger, and the dormant vampire instincts inside me might surface.
"Alright, Grandma, I'll be careful," I said, and she smiled. We kept talking.
--++---
Later that day, Bonnie and I went to pick up Caroline at her house, and the sheriff was waiting at the door.
"Nik… good to see you," she said with an irritated expression, though it didn't seem directed at me. "I know you're planning to take my daughter to the comet festival tonight."
"Yes, ma'am," I replied with an innocent smile.
"I know your reputation in this town as a heartbreaker," Sheriff Forbes continued. "I guarantee you that if you hurt my daughter… you'll have a problem."
So that was it. A warning for the daughter's boyfriend. Usually it's the father who does that, but Caroline's dad is an idiot who abandoned his wife and daughter for a boyfriend.
"Don't worry, ma'am," I said confidently. "I love your daughter, and I guarantee I'll respect her completely."
"Yes, and if this idiot hurts Caroline, I'll beat him up myself," Bonnie declared with a savage smile.
"Fine," the sheriff replied, gesturing inside the house. "Caroline is in her room."
Ohhh, she wants to check if I'm a vampire? Even though she's known me since I was a kid. Cute.
I walked inside, she sighed, and Bonnie followed.
When we headed to Caroline's room, we found her wearing a red dress.
"My God… you look amazing," I said in shock, already pushing Bonnie aside.
"Don't push me," Bonnie said, slapping my hand as she tried not to be shoved.
Caroline turned slowly, clearly enjoying the dramatic effect. The red dress looked like it had been made to cause heart attacks in teenagers and anxiety attacks in sheriffs.
"Thank you," she said, spinning once just to rub it in. "It took you exactly three seconds to forget how to breathe."
"I stopped breathing at two," I replied, still stunned. "By the third, my brain had completely shut down."
Bonnie rolled her eyes hard enough to summon an ancient entity. "You two are unbearable. Let's go before the comet passes, comes back, and decides to crash into Mystic Falls just to end this."
Caroline laughed, grabbed her bag, and walked past me. I put my hand on her waist to pull her closer, but she whispered, "My mom is watching."
I straightened up immediately, wearing my best model-citizen expression. When we went downstairs, the sheriff looked at us like she was analyzing a future crime scene.
"She looks beautiful," I said politely, hands visible, no suspicious movements.
"I know," the sheriff replied dryly. "That's exactly why."
Bonnie walked past us like someone leaving a minefield. "I'll pretend I trust you, Nik. Pretend really hard."
We left the house, and the night air felt… different. Not wind, not cold. It was the uncomfortable feeling that reality itself had decided to loosen a few screws. The comet wasn't visible yet, but the magic was already there, vibrating like an exposed nerve.
I felt it first. I always did.
My blood heated up for half a second—too fast to be hunger, too strange to be normal. I clenched my fist and took a deep breath, remembering Grandma's warning. Control. Focus. No playing demigod tonight.
"Are you okay?" Caroline asked, holding my hand.
"Better now," I answered honestly. The contact helped. Emotional anchor, as Grandma would say, before complaining that emotions cause headaches.
Bonnie watched us with that look that meant I'm happy for you, mixed with if something supernatural happens, I warned you.
When we reached the main street, people were gathering, lights being hung, laughter just a little too nervous for a simple party. The sky was starting to take on a strange hue, like someone had adjusted the saturation of reality.
"The comet will appear in less than an hour," Bonnie murmured. "We need to hurry."
"Relax," I said, trying to sound confident without tempting the universe. "We still have time."
When we reached the forest, where people our age were drinking and adults were watching the sky, some stood in couples, others alone, just enjoying nature and alcohol.
High above, among the stars, something shone for the first time—a streak of light cutting through the darkness, too slow to be a meteor, too intense to be just pretty.
The comet was coming, and a surge of power filled my body. For a moment, I felt hunger—not normal hunger—and the power wasn't just magic.
It felt like I could move mountains with my bare hands. Then a wave of violent energy ran through my arm.
But Caroline took my hand again, and when I looked at her, her smile made all of it drain away.
--+++---
After the comet passed, we started enjoying ourselves. Caroline and Bonnie were dancing together when Jeremy came running toward me, desperate.
"Nik, Nik, Nik!" he shouted, and I grabbed his arm.
"What happened, kid?" I held him still so he wouldn't flail.
"Nik… Vick—Vicki disappeared," he said, nearly crying.
"So? Isn't she with someone else?" I tried to calm him down. "Vicki's known for that, and she uses drugs."
"No, man," he shook his head, breaking free. "She was with me. We were in the forest, and suddenly she vanished. No sound, nothing. And she's been cutting back on the drugs."
"Drugs… Damon," I realized. I looked Jeremy straight in the eyes. "Listen. Go to Bonnie and tell her there might be a bat around and that Vicki is missing. Tell her I went to look for her."
"I'm going with you," Jeremy insisted.
"No. Someone has to warn them. Go. Now," I ordered, already running into the forest, guided by the magical curse I had placed on Vicki.
I ran through the forest like the ground owed me answers. The curse pulled at me like an invisible thread tied to my chest. Not pain, not raw magic—direction. A constant this way pounding in my head.
The air grew colder as I moved deeper. Too quiet. The party was far away now. Then I felt it.
Blood.
Not the smell—vampires exaggerate that—but the distortion. Like something being taken from where it didn't belong.
I stopped abruptly.
There, between the trees, was Damon.
Vicki was slumped against a trunk, limp, alive—alive, that mattered—but unconscious. Damon was bent over her, eyes glowing too bright, smile too crooked.
"Drop her."
My voice came out low but firm. The kind of tone that doesn't ask.
Damon straightened slowly, wiping his mouth with his thumb like he was in a bar.
"Well, well," he said amused. "If it isn't the famous blond Bennett."
My stomach twisted—not fear. Rage.
"I'll give you one chance to run," I said angrily, raising my fingers. "If you leave now, I'll pretend you weren't causing trouble in my territory and let you go unpunished."
He laughed. Actually laughed.
"Territory? Kid, you don't—"
I stepped forward. Magic answered before my body did. The ground beneath Damon's feet hardened as if reality itself betrayed him. He stumbled and fell face-first.
"So you want to play."
He rushed me. Young vampire, but still a vampire.
I raised my hand a few meters before he reached me and threw him into the air.
Damon flew back and slammed into a tree. At least he didn't break his neck.
"You— it was you who knocked me out of the tree!" he shouted.
"Hahaha, yeah," I laughed, genuinely amused. "That was pathetic. You barely handled one hit."
"I'll kill you, bastard!" he yelled, standing up already healed.
Magic burned in my arm, but it was stable. The comet had passed, but its echo was still there. I felt the mystical power Damon was close to awakening again.
I reinforced the curse already on him, forcing that power to retreat once more. Luckily, the curse was mine—I didn't need another spell to reach him.
Damon dropped to his knees, panting, more furious than injured.
"What… what did you do to me?" he growled, his focus slipping.
"Nothing serious," I said, stepping closer as he tried and failed to stand. "Don't bother. You'll be out for at least two hours."
I carefully picked up Vicki and moved her away. Her pulse still beat. The curse on her pulsed faintly, confirming it—alive, just badly drained.
I looked back at Damon.
"If you ever come near her, Jeremy, or anyone I care about," I narrowed my eyes and raised my hand, "death will be the most generous thing that could happen to you."
He stared at me with pure hatred. Good. Hatred learns fast.
I turned away. The forest felt less dark now.
"And if you behave," I added, "with enough money… I might open that tomb for you."
I heard his heavy breathing. Before he could say anything, I snapped my fist forward, breaking his neck, and used magic to drop a tree over him.
While carrying Vicki back, I felt her pulse fading. I used magic to cut my palm and poured my blood into her mouth.
Her injuries healed instantly. I cast a light illusion to make it look like she had a neck wound.
Then I ran toward the voices.
"Help!" I shouted, drawing everyone's attention.
The comet was gone.
But the chaos… had just woken up.