The Witch Bearer
A/N: Adult content and language.
Disclaimer: Twilight and all it's characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.
No copy-right infringement of any other books or related media is intended.
Prologue
The Swan family was an old family, hailing from England. Descendants from this family were known to be a bit strange, with odd abilities. Some were great warriors, having some form of 6th sense to know when things were about to happen, or some ability to read their opponents.
The women of the Swan line were healers, a necessity when one lived in turbulent times, and their herbal remedies were renown.
They strengthened the bloodline by marrying wealth and skills, as well as ability.
Bella's branch of the Swan bloodline traced itself back to 1763, with the introduction of the Calabrian Strigheria, or witches. Of course, the Inquisition had officially already died out, so they said, but being branded a witch still was a capital offense. The Strigheria had gone underground.
Still, rumors, whispered in the right ears, carried far and it brought the Swans to Italy, in search of fertile talent and blood.
Bella's mother, Renée Maria Cicero was a descendant of the Calabrian Strigheria, as well as her father, although his branch went back to 1763, when his great grandfather married into the line, producing Charles Swan. Bella took after her mother in the way of abilities.
In 1821, during the Uprising of Wallachia, the Swans had a noticeable presence there. Not only seeking to expand the bloodline by following rumors of Romanian princesses, but also the battles. They were warriors, of course!
Lord Arthur Swan, Earl of Merryn, had the misfortune of causing a curse to befall upon the family when he offended a Romani kumpania (tribe of gypsies) by kidnapping a young Romani woman. She was the daughter of the kumpania's seer and reputed to be even more talented than her mother in that aspect. She was betrothed to the Baro (leader) of another kumpania but was kidnapped before she could be given to her soon to be husband.
The Romani did not take this lightly, and the fact that it was a Gadje (non gypsy) that dared to take one of their own made it even worse, so a curse was placed on the Swans.
Witch Bearers, the words themselves were lost in time but it amounted to the Swan family being warriors, they would battle a great evil. When that great evil was to be fought, that generation would know by the signs given. Some lost their lives in the battle, some went on to pass on the curse to the next generation.
Bella's grandfather had died battling this great evil, but luckily he had sired three children before doing so. Bella's father had been spared the curse, never receiving the signs, but Bella had, starting at the age of ten.
When it was discovered and realized, Bella was taken and hidden away, kept safe. She was trained in the arts of Magic, Healing, Scrying, ( foreseeing the future) and in Magical battle.
The great evil that had awoken was Bella's curse to bare.
She must be the one to defeat this evil. She would be the last to do so, for if she succeeded, the curse would be lifted.
If she did not, then the curse would continue on until another 180 some years passed and another chance of ending the curse would happen, if the family line did not die out first.
A/N: So let me know what you think and review please ! !
