Flames danced in Bonnie's grandmother's palm, glowing with a furious orange that lit up the dark porch.
"So beautiful…" Aiken muttered to himself, his eyes locked onto the flickering fire. He had seen many spells in his time—but never fire magic this raw, this potent. The Gemini Coven didn't specialize in fire magic. This… this was art.
He smiled faintly. I still love magic, he thought. Even after what it did to me.
Bonnie's grandmother narrowed her eyes. The flames brightened, casting a sharp light across the aged lines of her face.
"What are you?" she demanded.
"That's…" Aiken chuckled lightly. "Kinda racist, isn't it?"
The flames immediately surged higher.
"Answer me before I turn you into ashes!" she bellowed, magic crackling in her voice.
Aiken sighed, the humor vanishing from his face. "A Siphoner."
The flame trembled.
Her eyes widened, fury now laced with disbelief. A siphoner. Magic's greatest nightmare. The parasite. The cursed loophole.
"You're using Bonnie as a magic battery, aren't you?" she spat.
"No, that's not the case—"
But she didn't wait. The fire in her hand twisted violently, exploding into a whirling fireball that launched toward Aiken.
Aiken's hand dipped into his coat and pulled out a thin silver ring. He slipped it on. The dark red gem embedded in it pulsed faintly.
He raised his hand, palm outward—toward the fireball.
"Is he insane?" Bonnie's grandmother thought. He'll be incinerated before he can fully absorb it.
Not that she particularly cared.
But then—
The gem flared a blinding crimson.
FWOOOSH.
The fireball vanished into Aiken's hand like it had been swallowed by a void.
The ring stopped glowing.
Aiken exhaled slowly. His palm smoked slightly, but he was unharmed.
The Siphoning Ring.
He'd forged it using his father's old ring during one of his experiments.
The ring was enchanted with a Blood Garnet, a cursed gem often used in forbidden magic-draining rituals.
Unlike his pendant, Ecdysis, which stored absorbed magic like a reservoir, the Siphoning Ring served as a conduit—charging Aiken's absorption speed and directing the magic into Ecdysis.
And now… Ecdysis was overflowing.
He felt a surge inside him—the magic had exceeded the pendant's limits. Fortunately, he'd built in a pressure-release feature to vent excess energy or the artifact would've exploded. Even so, his body thrummed with volatile magic.
"A cursed object!" Bonnie's grandmother hissed.
"Exactly." Aiken flashed a smug smile. "Like it? I put in a lot of effort creating it."
Her eyes flared. In a blink, a burst of psychic magic stabbed into Aiken's skull like an iron spike.
"Gkh—!" His body twitched.
But then—silence. Calm. He straightened.
The magic was gone. Siphoned, effortlessly.
"Give it up, grandma," Aiken said, brushing imaginary dust from his sleeve. "Using magic against a siphoner is like trying to drown a vampire in blood."
He stepped closer, but not threateningly. His voice softened.
"I didn't come here to fight."
He glanced toward the house. "I just came to bring my Bon Bon home—"
"Stay away from my granddaughter!" she thundered, the house itself shuddering under her magic.
Aiken didn't flinch.
"Or you'll do what?" he said, still smiling.
He stepped closer, his tone shifting.
"Don't worry, grandma… I love her," he said quietly.
He looked up into her fierce eyes, expression soft now. Real.
"Right now… she's the only family I have."
Bonnie's grandmother faltered. Just a second. A heartbeat.
She gazed into his eyes and, as a witch who had seen her share of monsters, liars, and broken men—she saw truth. There, in the boy's gaze, hidden beneath arrogance and power, was something fractured. Something old and deep and aching.
A sincerity soaked in trauma.
But… he was a siphoner. The most dangerous thing to a witch. If he wanted, he could bleed Bonnie dry of her magic with a single touch. She couldn't risk it. She wouldn't.
"I don't care," she said coldly. "Find someone else to be your family."
Her voice didn't shake.
Her hand stayed by her side.
Aiken chuckled. "I have no intention to do that," he said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a beautiful, intricate bracelet. Compared to his other cursed objects, this... looked quite normal. With a casual flick, he tossed it toward Bonnie's grandmother.
"That's an anti-siphoning cursed object," he said. "I knew you wouldn't accept me easily, so I made that… to ease your mind."
Bonnie's grandmother caught it mid-air, floating it onto her open palm. Her eyes narrowed as she felt some magic inside.
'An... anti-siphoning cursed object? If this is real… it could change everything. Remove our fear of siphoners forever...' she thought, the weight of its implications immediately pressing into her.
"Try it on," Aiken said calmly.
She clicked her tongue in distaste but, after a moment of hesitation, slid it around her wrist. It fit snugly.
Aiken stepped forward and lightly touched her shoulder.
Bonnie's grandmother stiffened instinctively, bracing for the dreadful sensation of her magic being drained—but… nothing. Not a flicker. She looked up, surprised.
Aiken, however, had blood trailing from one nostril. And a moment later, the backlash launched him a few steps back. He groaned but stayed on his feet.
'It… worked. I didn't feel even a spark of my power leave me...' she thought in astonishment.
'He's… a genius. If he hadn't been born a siphoner… he might have become the greatest witch of this generation.'
"How did you make this?" she asked, staring at the bracelet now on her wrist.
"Oh… that's a professional secret," Aiken said with a lopsided grin, walking back toward her while cleaning the blood off his nose.
"So arrogant…" she muttered, clicking her tongue.
Just then, the front door creaked open. Bonnie peeked out, eyes wide with concern.
"Grandma?" she said, stepping out.
"Grandma!" Aiken called with exaggerated warmth as soon as he saw Bonnie. He suddenly hugged Bonnie's grandmother tightly.
Her brow twitched dangerously. "Move!" she barked, pushing him away with enough force to make him stumble.
"Ahi, you're so mean, grandma," Aiken said with a mock-pout, rubbing his side and chuckling.
Bonnie exhaled in relief. From the sounds inside, she had imagined much worse.
"Bonnie, you know," Aiken began, slipping his arm around her waist, "Grandma just wanted to see if I was worthy of you."
Slap!
Bonnie's grandmother swatted his hand away, her reflexes sharp. "Don't touch her," she said firmly, still on edge.
Then she quickly removed the bracelet and handed it to Bonnie. "This is a gift this… arrogant—" she held herself back from using profanity, "—this boy gave to you."
Bonnie looked down at the bracelet, eyes widening. "It's… beautiful."
She turned to Aiken. "Where did you get it?"
"It was my adoptive father's late wife's," Aiken said, his voice quieter now. "He told me to give it one day to the love of my life."
Bonnie's heart clenched. She stepped closer, forehead touching his. For a second, everything around them disappeared.
She leaned in to kiss him.
But before their lips could meet, her grandmother yanked her back, sighing sharply.
"Come on, grandma!" Aiken complained, playfully.
"Shut up," she replied flatly. "Now go."
"Grandma!" Bonnie frowned.
"Don't worry, Bonnie…" Aiken said, already stepping back. He turned one last time, glancing at her grandmother with a smug grin. "Oh, by the way—I'm still waiting on the results of your little test. Did I pass?"
Bonnie's grandmother's eye twitched violently.
'This arrogant little—' she wanted to shout, curse, maybe throw something at him.
"No," she said flatly. Bonnie groaned.
"Well," Aiken said with a grin, "I'll come again sometime soon to take the test again. Keep yourself ready, grandma."
He winked, turned, and walked toward his car.
"See you tomorrow, Bonnie," he called out, already stepping inside the driver's seat.
He started the engine, pulling away into the night.
***
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How was this chapter, guys? Liked it?
If Aiken keeps this cursed objects production up, he'll soon become Iron Man 🤣🤣🤣
Oh, also, I'm trying to vary a bit of elemental magic, wanting to make it more fantasy (not that much, I don't want to ruin TVD's power levels, just slightly improve it if I can).