A/N: This is one of two pieces I wrote for the KC Winter Wonderland Exchange. It was beta'd by the wonderful garglyswoof and was written for cruelbabydoll on tumblr. The beautiful cover is by hissaviourqueen (ffnet)/captnswann (tumblr). I hope you enjoy!

Caroline had never liked parties much.

Or, at least, not the ones her mother went to. When she watched television, parties were loud and bright, and they had laughing people and food on sticks and fizzy drinks, but these parties... They were all darkness and whispered chanting, candles flickering as strange plants burned in wooden bowls that never seemed to catch flame.

She took the juice and coloring book from her mother, frowning when she heard the girls giggling in the next room. She'd seen the twins a few times at these weird parties, and though they'd both waved and had all exchanged smiles, they were always ushered into the other room by their mother as quickly as possible whenever Caroline entered.

"Why can't I go play with them?" she asked for what felt like the hundredth time.

"Because it's too dangerous," her mother said, reaching to touch her, but faltering at the last second as she always did.

"Why is it dangerous?"

"I'll tell you when-"

"When I'm older, I know. But I'm older now than I was last year when you started keeping me in a different room. Am I sick? What's wrong with me?"

Her mother's eyes widened, and she sank down to the carpet, reaching for Caroline's shoulder. She stayed completely still, not wanting to lean in and have her mother recoil, not wanting to see the fear in her eyes, and sure enough, her mother hesitated before setting her hand on the carpet by Caroline's knee. "There is nothing wrong with you, baby," she said, her voice sure and firm even as a tear escaped from her eye. "Nothing. They just don't understand you. You're special."

"Why am I special?" Caroline pressed. "And why does me being 'special' mean that I can't play with everyone? And why is it dangerous? Am I dangerous? Is this why you never hug me anymore?"

It was so silent in the room that she could practically hear her own heartbeat, her mother looking at her as though someone had ripped out her lungs. "You're not a normal witch," she said quietly.

Caroline frowned. "I'm not a witch. I can't do magic. I tried, remember? Is this why I can't play with them? Because they're witches and I'm not?"

"You are a witch. You're a special witch," her mother whispered, reaching to take her hand, and Caroline's eyes widened as she felt her mother's hand on hers for the first time in what felt like forever, and suddenly she felt an odd pulling sensation, as though she was slowly tugging away her mother's skin. It was intoxicating, her body suddenly greedy for it, but her mother gently pulled her hand away and Caroline let her, staring down at her hands.

"What's wrong with me?" she repeated, feeling her eyes grow hot as they filled with tears.

"Don't ever say that again. You're a siphoner. You're special, not wrong. You just can't control your powers."

"What do you mean my 'powers'?"

"You can use other people's magic when you touch them," her mother said. "You have a gift, Caroline."

"So if I touch you, then I can be a witch too?"

"Well," her mother started, looking hesitant for a moment before pressing on. "The problem is that if you hold on to someone for too long, you can hurt them. Witches need magic, and if all of their magic is consumed, then they can lose their powers, or even die."

Caroline frowned as she processed this information, her hands twisting in her lap.

"I won't hurt anyone if you let me play with them. I promise."

"I know you wouldn't mean to, baby. But sometimes accidents happen. Once you can control your powers, it'll be safe to spend time with other people."

"How do I control them?" Caroline asked quickly, perking up. "Teach me."

"I don't know. We've been trying to find a siphoner to help you, but we have to be careful. Some covens are scared of special witches, and they'll want to hurt you."

"So I'll learn myself," Caroline said, feeling determination build in her gut. "I can do it."

Her mother smiled slightly. "You'd need someone to practice on that you wouldn't be able to hurt in case there was an accident."

"Oh," Caroline said softly, her eyes wandering to her juice box and the coloring books laid on the floor, an almost unbearable sadness consuming her. "Okay."

"Soon, Caroline. I promise," her mother said.

XXX

"Mom!" Caroline called, sprinting across the house and skidding to a halt in front of her mother's bedroom, her socks slippery on the hardwood floor. "Mom, look at what I can do!"

Liz looked up from her crossword puzzle. "What's going on Caroline?"

"Come see," Caroline said, bouncing on the balls of her feet, feeling like she might burst from excitement.

Liz sighed and got up from the bed, setting her newspaper and pen aside and following Caroline to the living room, where Caroline grabbed her old teddy bear from the couch. "What's going on, Caroline?"

"So I was cleaning the living room because I was doing my chores, and I found my Levibear from when I was a baby and it's got magic in it, right? Because that's how it floats?"

"Right," Liz said slowly, her eyes darting from the bear in Caroline's hand to her daughter's excited face.

"Right, so I thought about what you said about how I could drain vampires because vampires were basically dead people made with magic, so I was thinking about my bear and how it was basically just a dead thing made with magic and look what I can do!"

Caroline frowned, concentrating as hard as she could, and felt the now-familiar pulling sensation travel up her arm from the bear. She raised her other hand and Liz watched in fascination as the pillow floated into the air, Caroline becoming even more excited as she saw her mother's eyes widen.

So excited, in fact, that the pillow burst, feathers flying everywhere.

Her mother looked dumbstruck, her eyes wide as she surveyed the damage.

"I'm sorry!" Caroline said, her hands wringing as she dropped the bear. "I didn't mean to make it explode."

She found herself engulfed in a hug, her mother stroking her hair. "Why didn't I think of that?" her mother was whispering. "Why didn't I think of that..."

She pulled away as soon as Caroline started using her powers accidentally, but she sat down and re-enchanted the teddy bear (and the rest of Caroline's toys), imbuing them with power. "Practice. I'll sit here and watch."

By the end of the year, Caroline could control herself perfectly, and she learned that the other girls' names were Tatia and Elena.

They were best friends.

XXX

Caroline thrashed awake as a hand covered her mouth, instinctively sucking away the magic from whoever was touching her. "Caroline," her mother hissed, voice hoarse.

Caroline immediately stopped the drain, putting her hands up to show that she was conscious. "Sorry."

"You need to hide," her mother said urgently.

"Why?"

"Shhh," she hissed, covering Caroline's mouth again and pushing her inside the nearby closet before pulling her hand away to put a finger to her lips. "No matter what you hear, no matter what I say or what someone says to me, you stay put until I come back to find you. Do you understand?"

Caroline nodded, her heart beating fast in her chest. She could feel her mother's fear radiating off of her in waves. "What's going on?"

"No time," her mother hissed. "Remember, don't come out."

Before Caroline could answer, her mother shut the door and she heard the lock click.

"Mom?" she hissed, grabbing the doorknob and shaking it. "Mom?"

She took a deep breath and concentrated, hoping her mother had used magic to ensure the door would stay closed, but no such luck. She was well and truly trapped.

All she could do was wait.

She didn't know how much time had passed when she finally heard a man's voice downstairs, his words indecipherable. Her mother's were not.

"I don't have a daughter," her mother was saying, and she heard someone laugh, the sound of footsteps on the stairs, the man's voice more audible as he approached.

"That's a lie, and you know it. Stop trying to use magic. It won't help you. I'm immune."

"Stay away from there, vampire," her mother spat, and Caroline froze, her eyes growing wide.

She knew about vampires. They were blood-sucking monsters, the most evil of creatures. They took life without a care, murdered entire towns for fun.

There was a vampire in her house.

"Why would I need to stay away if you're truly not hiding something?" the man said, and Caroline heard the door to the bedroom open, followed by what was clearly the man's shout of pain. "What part of 'wipe out the entire coven for killing the King' are you not getting here? You murdered Marcel, and the punishment for treason has always been death. We know you have a daughter, and she'll die with the rest of you."

"Well you're wrong," Liz said, her voice firm. "She's dead. She died years ago."

"You sure about that?"

There was a few seconds of dead silence before she heard another shout of pain. "Bitch!"

"You might be immune to magic, but my wooden furniture isn't," Caroline heard her mother say, and she almost thought that everything would be okay.

And then there was a loud crack, a thump, and a disgusting squelch before the man laughed. Caroline forced herself not to shout through the tears streaming down her face, and she folded into herself, threading her arms around her knees.

"Search the house," she heard the man bark, and Caroline panicked, looking around for anything to use as a channel, her eyes lighting when she spotted an old candle.

She whispered a soft prayer to a god she didn't even remotely believe in (because at this point, it couldn't hurt) before she wrapped her hands around the taper and pulled.

She felt the familiar power fill her and hissed a spell for concealment, sighing in relief when she watched the door melt away into a wall, dropping the candle as quickly as possible so that she could channel it later to get out.

Putting her hands on her knees, she closed her eyes, trying to calm her heart's frantic beating.

Everything will be okay, she chanted. Everything will be okay.

Her eyes flew open as a crack sounded against the wall in front of her, and to her horror she saw the wall melt away to leave the door she'd hastily concealed. She stood up, reaching out her arms to prepare to drain whoever was outside, and when the door flew open, she launched herself at the person on the other side.

It was a vampire, she could tell by the sickening cold that filled her body as she latched onto him, but she focused on draining his magic, his life. Heavy footsteps pounded on the floor of the hall, and two men ran into the room. She raised her hand, ready to defend herself, and when they grabbed her by the arms, she gritted her teeth and tugged at their life-forces as well. She watched as yet another man came in, leaning against the doorway, all glinting white teeth and sparkling eyes, a hat pulled low on his forehead. He watched with mild interest as the other vampires fell to the floor, grey and cracked. She recognized him from a picture her mother had shown her once. Thierry, the King of the Quarter's right hand. Marcel had banned magic and killed anyone who disobeyed. Caroline had heard the whispers, had known that the adults were planning something, but she hadn't known they'd planned to kill Marcel.

It looked like Thierry had declared himself the new king, and he wanted to take his revenge.

She knew he was immune to magic, had heard the conversation on the stairs, and she suspected it was because of an artifact of some kind which meant it was most likely only temporary. If she could just figure out what it was... Her eyes widened as he stalked towards her, grabbing her wrists. She screamed and struggled, but he just laughed.

"I swore to wipe out your coven for crossing me, but I'm too curious about you to follow through, I think. Tell me, what are you, exactly?"

Thanks for reading! Please let me know what you think so far. If you want to read the whole thing, you can find me on Ao3 on the same username.

Hugs!