The Tragedy of Being a Whitmore
Chapter One: Enchantments
May 23, 2009
Amelia Whitmore was about ready to slam her spell book shut and hit her mentor, Sheila Bennet, in the back of the head with it. Based on Sheila's grimace, she had a pretty good idea what Amelia was daydreaming about. "Look, Sheila, I just can't do it, okay?! I guess I wasn't meant to do any of this stuff." Amelia turned her head and hid under a shield of blonde hair to hide the traitorous moisture in her eyes. She couldn't even do a simple tracking spell correctly. This was so like her to mess everything up like usual.
"Hush, child, it's all in that pretty head of yours! Now, go get some water and take a breath. I know you can do this." The elderly dark-skinned woman encouraged.
Amelia sniffed and did as she suggested. As she drank her ice water she fingered the dragon's breath opal talisman around her neck. It was passed down to her when her mother died and she never took it off. Amelia sighed, "I wish you were here, Mom," she muttered. As much as she loved Sheila, it just wasn't the same as having her own flesh and blood mother there to teach her spells and comfort her when she was upset or frustrated. With another disheartened sigh, she dragged herself back to the living room.
Sheila handed her the knife. "Now stop your pouting and perform this tracking spell. I'd like to find out if my granddaughter lied to me."
Amelia stayed silent as she gingerly took her elder's hand. She slid the knife across Sheila's palm and was not surprised that Sheila showed no sign of pain. Carefully, she let a few drops fall onto the map before handing Sheila a towel. Closing her eyes, she began muttering the incantation that she had long ago been forced to memorize. "Phasmatos tribum nas ex veras, sequita saguines, ementes asten mihan ega petous." Amelia glanced down at the map and saw that nothing had changed. "Dammit," She muttered under her breath, ignoring the dirty look that Sheila shot her way. This time she tried to concentrate as hard as she could. She visualized Bonnie Bennet's facial features, and her pretty black hair. Her happy smile and her bubbly personality. She started to utter the words vigorously and her voice rose in volume. She could feel the magic rising up in her. She could practically taste it. Her voice only grew louder as she felt blood begin to trickle down over her lips.
Finally, panting, she glanced down again and noticed that the blood had indeed moved to the exact location of the bonfire party that she had told her grams she wouldn't go to. A harsh laugh burst out of Amelia's lips. Sheila groaned, "Oh, Amelia, won't you please go and pick her up? I have the worst vibe… You know what, I should go with you-."
"No, no, no! It's fine. I'll pick her up and bring her back here - it's no trouble really." Amelia assured as she wiped away the blood with a tissue. She was feeling very tired, but nothing she couldn't handle. Anything she could do to help Sheila out, even if it was something small like this. She would never be able to repay Sheila for taking her in when she was just a child.
"Alright, but you be safe 'Melia, you hear? And call me if you need anything."
"Of course," Amelia shot her a reassuring smile before grabbing the keys to her old beat up pick up truck. She had worked part time at Mystic Falls Vet Clinic for a whole year before she could afford the truck, but it had been well worth it. Besides, she loved her job anyway.
It was a short ride to the party. She was only able to get through three songs of her favorite Nirvana album before she arrived. Amelia hadn't allowed herself to feel her anxiousness at being at a party until now. This was so not her scene. She had hardly gotten out of the car when she noticed a guy laying in the middle of the road. Amelia groaned - some guy must have had way too much to drink and passed out. Amelia hated awkward encounters with strangers, but she would never forgive herself if she just let this dumb ass get run over.
When she was about ten feet from him she called out, "Hey, idiot! Are you trying to get yourself killed?"
To her surprise, he turned his head and looked at her with the iciest blue eyes she had ever seen. He had dark hair and was strikingly handsome. For some reason, she felt like this was not the first time she had met him. She quickly shook the thought from her mind though - that would be ridiculous! The man smirked at her and gracefully rose to his feet. Amelia put her guard up when be began striding carelessly over to her.
"Just stargazing. It's a beautiful night." Even his voice was attractive.
"In the middle of the road? That's a little reckless." Amelia's voice was skeptical, and rightly-so.
"What can I say? I guess I'm a daredevil." He reached his hand out for her to shake. "I'm Damon-," She suddenly froze, their hands intertwined. Amelia's eyes widened in shock as she felt an empty feeling engulf her. She saw images of Elena Gilbert dressed in some ancient dress with blood all over her face. She saw images of this man, Damon, with someone who appeared to be possibly a brother. A middle-aged man shooting the brothers, and a dying plea, "Father,". There was so much blood and hate and sorrow. She saw images of torture, sex, violence, love, partying, alcohol, and self-torment. She felt like she understood this man. But she was so confused. What did this mean? Sheila had warned of vampires and Damon was obviously one of them. Why wasn't she afraid of him? What was wrong with her?
At the same time, Damon Salvatore froze. He noticed the fire opal talisman around her neck and immediately recognized her as Amelia Whitmore. The girl who's father he had killed almost ten years prior. A descendent of his tormentors. The daughter of a powerful Deveraux witch. He could physically feel her confusion and empathy pouring into him. What the hell was going on!? He jumped back away from her and veins appeared under his eyes.
Amelia inhaled sharply in surprise. But she was still terribly confused… Why wasn't she scared? Why didn't she run, or scream, or do something?
"What did you do, you stupid witch!?" And with that, he bared his teeth and sunk them into her neck for the second time in her life. Her blood tasted exquisite, but he couldn't even enjoy it. He literally felt her pain and anxiety. It wasn't like normal, where he enjoyed his prey's fear. This just felt… wrong. Before he could contemplate it any longer his brain suddenly exploded into bursts of pain. He fell to his knees and groaned. It had been many years since he had experienced something like this. "Stop! Stop!"
"W-why did you do that?" Amelia's voice trembled. She was still woozy from performing that locator spell, and now she was beginning to feel faint even from even more blood loss and the energy expended from her most recent aneurysm spell. "I-I don't understand. Something's not right-," She began backing up, starting to realize that he could kill her at any time now. "Please just let me go." She could have kicked herself - why hadn't she memorized more spells?
She was confused when he bit into the flesh of his forearm. Suddenly his arm was pressed to her mouth and she was choking down his blood. She felt pure panic - was he going to turn her?! Just as sudden as his arm was there, it was gone again and she felt fabric cleaning off her neck and her mouth. She reached for her wound in shock, only to realize that it had healed. It was almost if it were never there. Before she could comprehend what was happening, she felt him rip off her talisman. She was confused when he gripped her arms and stared into her eyes. "I want you to forget that this happened. Can't have people knowing I'm in town yet."
She smiled, "Okay," and began walking in the direction of the party.
"Excuse me, Miss!" Amelia turned around to see a handsome, dark haired stranger walking towards her. "I think you dropped this." In his hand was her mother's talisman.
"Oh, my gosh! Thank you so much!" If only he knew how much the necklace meant to her, she thought ironically.
Damon Salvatore smiled and put the necklace on her thinking about how easy it would be for him to just snap her pretty little neck… Oh well, I can always kill her tomorrow, he thought.
Amelia walked towards the party with anxiety and adrenaline coursing through her. She was confused as to why she felt so keyed up, it was just some dumb party. She was surprised that she actually liked the song that was playing - an easy tune that was on the pop station all the time lately. After searching for about five minutes, she finally found Bonnie. She was dancing with someone from their english class last year, but she couldn't remember her name.
"So, how's studying with Caroline going?" Amelia asked sarcastically.
"Amelia! Wow - you're at a party? Let me guess? Grams sent you." Bonnie groaned.
Amelia nodded apologetically, "Sorry, Bon, you know how she gets with her 'vibes'." Amelia knew perfectly well Sheila was probably right, but she had to get Bonnie to come with her somehow.
"Ugh, fine. At least I'll be the only one without a hangover tomorrow!" She linked arms with Amelia and tipsily tried to dance while Amelia led her to her truck. She had to help her up into that cab - it was not something she could manage in her impaired state, especially with heels on. After Amelia shut the door, she thought she heard movement in the forest and she paused for a moment. The hair on the back of her neck stood up and she hurried to the drivers seat, paranoid, and clutching her necklace for comfort. Once she was inside she locked the doors, breathed a sigh of relief, and shook her head in annoyance at herself.
