A/N: Yay I have the writing bug back! I've been able to write 15,000 words the past few days which allowed me to update. I am hoping this inspiration continues because we are getting closer to the end of Season 1, aghhhhhh! Thank you all for the amazing comments for the last chapter, and I really hope you like this chapter too. Please, please let me know what you think... your theories/ideas always have me intrigued and I have been known to use a few in past chapters! Stay safe xoxo

THE TOMB

Damon looked to Stefan in disbelief, and Stefan could only shake his head.

Aella's hand took Sheila's, making the woman look at her, "He saved me grams." Her eyes focusing on her bloody wrist, "He could have tried to run, he could have hurt me, but he didn't... Damon saved me. And if there's one thing a witch doesn't do, it's owe a vampire a favor. No matter how bad they were."

Sheila frowned, "But what he did to this town..."

Aella looked back at Damon, who still seemed out of it following his lack of discovery. When she looked to Sheila, Sheila saw that same gleam in Aella's eyes that she saw when she'd stopped her doing the spell, Aella knew something.

"...I think we're going to see a very different person from now on, he just needs a chance."

Stefan frowned at Aella's words, and Aella held a hand up to him with a humorless chuckle, "I know. You've given Damon so many chances, but I think this may be the chance that finally helps him."

Elena finally asked the question they all wanted to know, "Where's Katherine?"

Aella sadly looked again over at Damon as she answered Elena. "She wasn't in there. She never was." Aella's eyes turned to the Grimoire, and her body pulled away from Sheila as she stumbled over to it, "That's why he's getting out of there."

Damon's eyes widened at her words and looked to Stefan, who could only shrug in shock.

Sheila grabbed Aella's arm when she stumbled again as she tore through the Grimoire, "I'm not going to talk you out of this, am I?"

Aella only grinned and turned back to the book, she suddenly felt her magic course through her veins as it absorbed the power of the ancient grimoire. Her hand seemed to shake, and instead of ignoring her magic, that led to her being kidnapped, Aella's hand lifted and rested above the grimoire. Her eyes lost focus, and before Bonnie could question her cousin's actions, Aella's eyes glowed bright green. The pages started flipping furiously by themselves until they stopped. And when Sheila and Bonnie looked to the page, they saw it was the spell they needed.

With a gasp, Aella's eyes focused again, and she looked down at the page, "Whoa!"

Sheila didn't need to be told twice if the magic was going as far as to find them the very spell they required, then it was fate that this spell be performed. She stood in the circle and held out her hands to her, granddaughters, "Okay, let's do this."

Aella passed the book over to Bonnie, so she could memorize the words, raising her brow at Sheila, "Nice try, Grams."

Sheila huffed in frustration, "I am fine, Aella Bennett."

Aella's memory turned to the vision she was shown; Sheila dead in bed as she and Bonnie screamed out her name. She may have already been too late, she knew her Grandmother had done several spells in the last few days, but she couldn't risk it, and so Aella shook her head once more.

"Trust us."

Sheila scowled at her for a moment before she nodded in acceptance, "Okay, baby."

Aella turned to Bonnie, "Got it?"

"Got it," Bonnie nodded, and she handed the book to Sheila.

Aella took her place in the pentagram, "We have to be quick, Anna and Pearl are still in there."

Bonnie nodded and held out her hands, only to pull back sharply when Aella took hold of hers.

"What?" Aella exclaimed.

Bonnie's eyes darted, breath suddenly heavy, between Aella and Sheila, "I've never felt anything so powerful before. It's like my whole body was electrocuted, but in a good way."

"Another sign this was meant to be," Aella grinned and took hold of Bonnie's hands, allowing her to soak up her magic for a moment until Bonnie nodded at her.

"Terra Mora Vantis Quo Incandis, per Vasa Quo Errum Signos. Phasmatos selvus Terra Mora Vantis Quo Incandis, per Vasa Errum Quo Signos." The remaining torches swelled more giant flames, just as they had done when the tomb was opened. Elena's eyes furrowed as a white circle seemed to embrace Aella and Bonnie. "Phasmatos selvus nos ex malom terra mora Vantis Quo Incandis per Vasa Quo Errum Signos. Terra Mora Vantis Quo Incandis."

A wind seemed to pick up within the cave, a wind that shouldn't have been possible. Stefan and Elena looked to Sheila and saw a worry in her eyes as the wind grew, and the light seemed to glow.

"Terra Mora Vantis Quo Incandis, per Vasa Quo Errum Signos. Phasmatos selvus Terra Mora Vantis Quo Incandis, per Vasa Errum Quo Signos."

Damon could feel the barrier weakening as he pushed on it, "It's working!"

But no one heard him, their eyes were fixed on Aella as another white glow seemed to take over her body, the spell she was reciting getting louder as she spoke. In contrast, Bonnie's seemed to quieten, "Phasmatos selvus nos ex malom terra mora Vantis Quo Incandis per Vasa Quo Errum Signos. Terra Mora Vantis Quo Incandis."

Elena held her hair away from her face as Stefan held onto Sheila to prevent her from falling from the strong winds, "Is that their magic?"

"No," Sheila shook her head, but her eyes didn't move from Aella. "That's Aella's magic. That's her mother's magic."

Bonnie was suddenly thrown from Aella towards Elena, who quickly took hold of her, and helped her up. Bonnie looked to Sheila in shock, "What the hell?"

Sheila could only shake her head in disbelief, "I don't know, baby. This is magic more powerful than us Bennett's are used to. This is her Samphire magic."

"Terra Mora Vantis Quo Incandis, per Vasa Quo Errum Signos. Phasmatos selvus Terra Mora Vantis Quo Incandis, per Vasa Errum Quo Signos."

Stefan watched as the glow brightened around Aella's body. Her eyes suddenly opened, and a bright white light flew out from them rather than their usual green. Stefan couldn't handle the tension anymore, he was getting her out of this, even if that meant keeping Damon locked away for a small amount of time. He took a step forward, but Sheila took his arm, "No. We don't know what it could do to you."

Stefan shook his head, eyes desperate to do anything, "But what is it doing to her?"

Sheila shook her head, knowingly, "That magic would never hurt her."

"Phasmatos selvus nos ex malom terra mora Vantis Quo Incandis per Vasa Quo Errum Signos. Terra Mora Vantis Quo Incandis."

With a gasp, Damon suddenly fell through the tomb barrier, and Aella's glow disappeared as quickly as it had shown up. Aella eyes squinted in confusion as she noticed she was alone in the ring. It was only when she saw Bonnie standing with a windswept Sheila and Elena did she realize something had happened. "What in the world?"

Stefan strode over to her, ignoring Damon as Aella stumbled in confusion as his arms encircled her waist Aella's eyes met his. The light left her eyes, and they returned to their usual green hue just before they rolled back, and she fainted, Aella mumbled, "Oh my Lanta!"

Stefan's eyes shot to Sheila's with worry, as the grandmother stumbled over to them both, her hand touched Aella's head as she mumbled a spell to herself. When she opened her eyes again and met Stefan's, she smiled with relief, "She's just a little exhausted."

Stefan let out a sigh of relief and picked Aella up, kissing her head as it rested on his shoulder. When he looked back up Damon was staring at him sadly, "Dam-"

Damon held up a hand and stopped him from saying anything more, "Forget it, Stefan."

He watched Damon leave the tomb, and the rest of them followed.

As they exited the tomb, Bonnie asked Sheila, "How do we know if the barrier returned?"

Sheila shrugged, "Until a few days, we won't know. Too much magic has been used there tonight, we just have to hope it held up."

MYSTIC FALLS WOODS

Caroline waited beside her friend's cars, biting her lip with worry. Stefan had called her to say it was finished but left it at that. Caroline was bursting at the bit to learn more about the events of the night. But that soon exited her mind when she saw Stefan holding Aella in his arms, and Caroline ran to the pair of them.

Taking no notice of who else exited behind them, Caroline panicked, "Oh my god! Is she dead?!"

When Aella's head left Stefan's shoulder to glare at her blonde best friend Caroline had never felt such relief, "I'm not dead, C. Dracula here just thinks I'm incapable of walking."

"Well, you did kinda faint on us, cuz," Bonnie smiled, and that's when Caroline noticed Sheila, Bonnie, Elena, and Damon behind them.

Caroline ran to her other two friends and pulled them into tight hugs, "And you're both not dead too, yeah us!"

Aella smiled at the reunion before turning her glare back to Stefan, "Will you please let me down?"

"Fine," Stefan sighed for the 10th time in the space of a few minutes.

Aella had whined she was fine as soon as she awoke, only minutes after they exited the cave. The glance he shared with Sheila let him know that her awakening at their exit wasn't a coincidence.

Stefan placed Aella down on her feet but stared her down, "You so much as wobble, and you're going back."

With a roll of her eyes, Aella sarcastically saluted her boyfriend, "Got it, Van Damme." But as soon as she stepped towards her friends, her leg buckled, she quickly turned to her boyfriend, "That was a trip."

Stefan only nodded his head, and with his own tone full of sarcasm, replied, "Sure you did."

Aella steadied herself this time and turned to her friends when her eyes caught, Damon leaned against a tree away from their group. So Aella slowly moved in his direction instead, leaning next to him, "Are you okay?"

Damon was quiet for a moment as he stared up at the full moon, then he let out a sarcastic laugh, "What do you think?"

"I think that Katherine doesn't deserve you," Aella admitted. Damon said nothing, and Aella decided to tell him all she knew, "She was never in there, Damon." Finally, Damon looked to her, and she continued, "She made a deal with one of her captures and was let free, at least that's what Anna told Ben." When Damon's eyes widened at Anna's name, Aella nodded, smiling bitterly at him, "She's known this entire time. She needed you to believe only to get her mom out."

Damon's eyes, now starting to tear, returned to the moon, and he gently whispered, "Thank you, Aella." And then he was gone.

With a sad sigh, Aella turned back to look at Stefan, who was watching her with a sad smile on his face, he'd obviously listened in. Thankful for what she had done for his brother, he mouthed the words, 'Thank you' to her. Aella shook her head and whispered so only he could hear her words, "You never have to thank me for anything, that's part of loving someone."

She stepped forward towards him only for her legs to buckle again, and before she could hit the floor, Stefan had her in his arms again, "That was not a trip."

Stefan chose to ignore her.

"Ugh!" Aella let her head roll into his shoulder. "Who gives you the right to treat me like a damsel in distress?!"

And before Stefan could open his mouth, Sheila turned her glare on her granddaughter, "I do."

"Oh, Grams!" Aella whined, "Traitor!"

Sheila smiled at Aella, "You love me." The elder Bennett turned to the other girls, "Sleepover at mine, I need all my babies with me tonight!"

Stefan and Aella chuckled as the three girls cheered and bounded to the cars. Stefan started following Sheila and nodded at the decision, "I think that's a good idea."

Aella smiled into his neck, "Yeah. It'll also let you check in with Damon." Stefan brow raised and Aella chuckled, "Enemies or not, you will always worry after your brother. Especially after tonight."

"You're right," Stefan nodded, and Aella smiled proudly, "I'm always right!"

Stefan's brow raised again, "Did you or did you not risk your life by going in that cave with Damon?"

Aella pointed to him, "That doesn't count."

"How about going off alone with a potential kidnapper without telling anyone?" Stefan seemed to raise his brow higher, which Aella tried to copy but only succeeded in making her eyes crossed.

Once again, she pointed to him, a little less confident, "That doesn't count either."

"Or how abou-" Stefan was going to continue when Aella's lips touched his, and she mumbled against his lips, "Okay, I made mistakes."

Stefan suddenly didn't care about correcting her again and deepened their kiss, both pouring the love they had for each other into it. When they pulled away, they just smiled at one another.

Caroline smiled at Sheila as they watched the two, "Young love, right?"

Sheila chuckled at the blonde, "Just love."

She opened the car door only to stumble as the exhaustion caught up to her, and Caroline took hold of her before she could actually fall, "Are you okay?"

Sheila held Caroline's arms for a moment until chuckled lightly and let go, "Just tired, child. I'm not used to being out of bed after 8."

Caroline, unaware of the number of stumbles Sheila had actually taken that day, just smiled at the grandmother and helped her into the car as Stefan and Aella walked over to them.

A/N: So that was it! Questions going into the next chapter...

Will Grams die?

Will the barrier hold up?

Did Aella do the right thing letting Damon out?

What did you think of Aella's powers?

Theories going forward?