AN: As it says on my profile, I've been working on re-writing my stories for a while now. I like the ideas of my stories, but I was a really awful writer. My characters were Mary-Sues and the cannon characters were OOC. Ugh. I'm working to get better! Thanks for supporting me guys!

April 14th, 1508

The breeze was nice. It blew the wispy strands of my red curls across my face, tickling my nose. A light and content sigh escaped my lips. Quiet moments like this are what I lived for. I may act rash and loud at many moments, but to sit by the riverbank with a light breeze brushing against my skin couldn't be compared to anything. My fingers skimmed across the sand leisurely, relishing the silky feeling of the texture. Somewhere behind me, a twig snapped. My eyes snapped open as I stood up in a fluid movement. Anything could be out in those woods. My chest pounded in my chest, hammering against my collar bone. One of my hands was raised in a defensive way, prepared for anything.

"Oh, June. You needn't worry so much." A light voice laughed. I relaxed my stance and sank back into the sand with a smile.

"One can never be too careful out here." I chided, patting the soft sand next to me. The small blonde, one year my senior, slipped off her thread-bare shoes and dipped her toes into the calm stream. We sat in a comfortable silence for a long period of time. "How was your day?"

"Long. Father came home drunk last night again." Jane replied while she set her chin onto her knees. Her long hair fell down her back in gentle waves, glistening in the muted sunlight. My light grey eyes automatically scanned her skin for any sight of damage, narrowing when a purple bruise revealed itself on her shoulder bone.

"Jane-" I started through gritted teeth, but she cut me off.

"June, let it go. He does not mean it. He was drunk." She said sternly, her face setting into a firm expression. Every single time she gave the same excuse.

"No I will not let it go. It is not right that he abuses you. Does Alec know that this happened?" I demanded, crossing my arms across my chest. My eyes turned venomous as I stared her down.

"Of course he knows, he is my twin." She snapped, returning my look with a glare. This subject always turned into a fight.

"We could tell someone and they could do something. The council does not take kindly to men who hit their children." As usual, my attempt to sway her on her vow of silence was futile. Her glare tightened for a moment before she turned it to the forest across the stream.

"You know nobody will care. You know what the town thinks of us. Ever since we were born they've all hated us. It is surprising that they have not burnt us as the stake yet." The last part was more of a mutter to herself, but it made me frown never the less.

"Do not say things like that, Jane."

"Why? You know it is true. I know it is true. They cast us out from the church, they spit on us in the street. It is going to happen soon. They think that we're witches. They treat us like this because they think that we're witches. They're going to kill us."

"I won't let it. I will not let my father allow it."

We fell into silence again, this time not so comfortable, and listened to the stream run. I drew my knees to my chest and rested my chin on them. Jane took a similar position in a silent way to console herself. This was our usual conversation, polite and friendly to begin with and then turning into an argument. How we remained friends was a mystery to both of us.

How would one describe Jane and I's relationship? We had met when we were both looking for fabric at the local store about six years ago. I had grabbed the fabric that she was eyeing, causing a fight to break out between us, ending in my having a black eye and her a split lip. After that we became enemies for a long time, but bonded over the creek after we had met there coincidentally because both of us were too stubborn to leave before the other. I met Alec a few months after Jane and I had decided that we didn't hate each other. He was cold and distant towards me for the most part, in a scarier way than Jane was when she hated me. Both of them never really opened up to me despite my attempts to grow our friendship further. After knowing each other for six years, we developed an odd sort of friendship. They talked to me, not in public, but never revealed anything more than the abuse that they faced at home. Alec and I had grown even closer as we grew older. I had developed a crush on him in the past two years or so, after I had turned fourteen. Now that I was at the age of sixteen, the emotions grew even stronger due to my…ahem…womanly urges.

"Alec and I will have to leave. We won't be able to come back." Jane finally breathed, breaking the silence. I swallowed and nodded. Of course they would. I was being selfish wishing that they would stay while they were living like this.

"I know." I responded, my voice losing its sharp tone.

"Alec and I will miss you. You are the one person in this town who doesn't hate us." She gave a dry laugh and glanced at me out of the corner of her eye.

"I'll miss you two as well." I sigh, my frown deepening once more. I had other friends, I guess, but nobody quite like Alec and Jane.

"You do know that you can come with us." I swallowed and nodded at her statement and offered a weak smile.

"I cannot. I have my mother and my papa and sister to think about. I can't leave." Of course it was more than that. I could not leave because my training was far from over. My powers were still developing.

"Jane."

We both jumped at the sound and turned around to see Alec leaning against a tree with his usual lack of expression. My heart skipped a beat as I soaked in his appearance. Old slacks, an untucked shirt, messy hair and perfectly brown eyes that were a shade lighter than Jane's

"We have to go. Father is waiting at home."

"Good evening, Alec." I said with a shy smile. Jane took notice of my change of mood with a light smirk on her pink lips.

"June. I trust you have had a relaxing day." He replied with a curt nod and a ghost of a smile on his lips. I've seen him smile so few times, but the ghost of his smile was always waiting for me.

"You are correct. Shall I walk home with you two?" I offer, standing up and brushing the sand off of my dress. I pulled Jane up and turned back to Alec.

"It's alright. Jane and I have a few things to discuss." He declined politely. "Although you may want to be home soon. You never know what lurks in the forest after dark."

"Of course." I turn to Jane with a slightly raised eyebrow. "See I told you things lurk in the forest."

"In the darkness, not in daylight." She retorted, her smirk growing even smugger. I rolled my eyes and shook my head.

"Goodbye. It was nice to have your company today, Jane." I said with a nod in her direction. I met eyes with Alec and tried to contain my blush. "Alec."

"June."

The two twins departed together into the line of trees. As I watched the sun sink behind the horizon, I headed back to my home where my family waited. Daylight was fading from the tip of our house as I walked through the gate and into the faded white building. My mother was in her chair, reading from a leather bound book, my sister playing with her cloth dolls, and my father writing something down. Anther mundane day. And the days after were mundane as well, and soon the mundane days turned into mundane weeks, and soon a month had passed without any major even. Except for one. Alec and Jane were gone.

The reaction to this was not anything big. Nobody actually cared, although they were all grateful for their disappearance. I was the only one who seemed burdened by their absence. My mother made sure that I had almost no time to grieve about it as a way to distract me. Every day was a different and new training. New spells, new potions, and new rituals. My younger sister, Maria, was by my side the whole time as I learned, pushing me to become better. At night she would crawl into the bed we shared and curl into my side as a way to comfort me. I would run my hand through her freshly-brushed curls in a soothing rhythm until she fell asleep and I could be left to my silent thoughts.

Every day I thought about Jane and Alec, wondering where they were now. If they were dead or alive. If they had found a new place to live. Many emotions would run through me as I thought about them, a popular one being guilt. The reason that they were run out of town was because there were supposed witches living among the people of our small town. If I hadn't done that bit of magic that one day…I would always sigh and shake my head when my thoughts would lead me to this. I was young. I couldn't have known that people would notice. Jane and Alec wouldn't hate me would they if they had known, would they?

"June. Pay attention."

My mother's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. We stood in the basement of our house with four bowls full of water, earth, fire, and a ball of wind. I was supposed to put the four elements together in harmony, but so far all I was succeeding in doing was making small explosions.

"To put the four elements together, you have to bring complete and utter peace to your soul." My mother chided, standing outside of the chalk circle that connected the elements.

"I'm trying. I'm trying." I muttered, pressing my pale fingers to my temples and slowly massaging them.

"Would you rather be out looking for eligible young suitors?" My mother asked with a twinkle in her pale eyes.

"Oh please no. Mrs. Greyson has already enquired about it many times over tea yesterday." I moaned, huffing irritably. I closed my eyes once more and held out my hands with a deep breath. I felt the connection from my fingertips to each element, and urged them toward me. I brought my hands together slowly, melding the opposing elements together. I felt the resistance as they met each other, but pushed against them.

"Very goo-" My mother was cut off as a muffled scream that reached our ears. My hands fell, dropping the elements to the floor, making the air and fire dissolve into nothing.

"What was that?" I questioned, my heart racing. Our town was extremely small and quiet. A scream was rarely heard unless it was that of a child.

"Stay here." My mother commanded, racing up the old wooden steps. Maria came running down and into my arms, tears sparkling in her eyes. Her five-year-old features were buried into my stomach as she snuggled into me.

"There's scary people outside and they're hurting everyone." She sobbed, shaking like a leaf. I held her close and pressed my nose into her brown curls.

"It's alright, Maria. Muma won't let them hurt us." I assured her. This statement wasn't only made in an attempt to comfort her, but also to comfort myself. "Maria, honey, what did these people look like?"

"They were really pale and fast."

"Maria, baby, did they have red eyes?"

"Yes."

I gripped Maria even more desperately, fear growing inside of my stomach. Where was my mother? Even she couldn't handle a massive amount of vampires. I pulled away from Maria and took her hand tightly. We couldn't remain trapped down here. I yanked her up the stairs, the screaming of multiple people intensifying. I dragged Maria to a closet with a false bottom and practically shoved her inside. There was only room for one. It was used for storing sewing supplies, but now it would be used to save a life.

"Junie do not go." She cried, refusing to let go of my hand. I pried my fingers from her and bit my lip to keep from crying.

"I'll be back, honey. I promise. Just stay here. Don't come out until one of us comes to get you." I commanded in a constricted voice before shutting her in. I placed my hands on the hatch and made her scent and heartbeat almost undetectable. It was all that I could do. I was still training. After I made sure that she was safe, I ran from the house and to the front yard. The first thing I saw was fire. My mother stood in the yard, her red hair out of its usually tight bun. My father was nowhere in sight, but I saw bodies littering the streets. My heart dropped at the thought of him being one of them. I ran to my mother and stood by her side, helping her mold and move the fire to keep the pale figures at bay. Our fire worked for a good amount of time until one pale figure got too close and sunk his teeth into my mother's arm. I screamed in raged and sent a plume of fire in his direction. He fled back to a safe distance with a burn mark on his neck. Mother continued to fight with fire, sweat beading on her forehead. The fight seemed to drag on until at some unknown signal, the vampires disappeared. My mother and I took a few moments to make sure it wasn't a trick before we let our guard down. My mother swayed where she stood before falling into my arms.

"Muma, muma!" I kept breathing, lowing her to the ground. She bit her lip as a green tint crept around the edges of her face.

"June, I-I am sorry." She whispered, touching my face. Vampire venom had a fifty-fifty chance of either killing us or making us immortal.

"No, no, no, no." I cried over and over again. "Don't let me be alone. I don't want to be alone."

"Find Elizabeth Kings. She will teach you now." She said weakly, her arm falling back to the ground.

"No, no, muma. Y-you will teach me. You're going to be fine." I sob over and over again. My mother let her eyes flutter shut, causing me to panic. I grabbed her bitten arm and felt around for the venom, pulling it to my own body. "You're going to be fine. You're going to be fine."

I felt the heat of the venom begin to sear my bones and veins, causing me to let go and fall backwards. I weakly reached out to touch her neck, crying out in anguish when I felt no pulse of any kind. The mixture of physical and emotional pain made it almost unbearable. I screwed up. I didn't save my mother. I was about to die. Maria was going to be left alone in this world. I let my head fall back and a scream rip through my throat before I succumbed to the darkness.

I didn't die. I woke up later, the fire that my mother and I started was gone. My mother's body was pale and lifeless. The town was quiet. Nothing made any kind of noise. I looked at my hand in front of me and frowned. What happened? Was I immortal? I didn't feel any different. My heart pounded as I realized that I had forgotten about Maria. I stood up and wobbled to the door of my house and wrenched it open. I stumbled to the closet and dug inside to the trap door. I yanked it open and stared.

Maria was gone.

"Maria? Maria?" I shouted, standing up and searching around the house. No response greeted me. I was breathing heavily as fire raced through my veins again. This time hate-driven and rage-filled fire. I let out a loud scream and felt burning fire surround me once more as I fell to my knees. I will find who did this. And they will pay.