The next morning I was sitting at the kitchen table, large Grimores from generations sprawled out on it. Each of the fantastic Grimores had a distinct charm to them. Most were bound in leather, others in exquisite fabrics. I absolutely loved reading through them, the Latin scrawled in beautiful, but different calligraphies from different hands. I was working on creating a new Grimore that compiled all the important aspects of each of the older ones into one book in English. It was a difficult task seeing as my Latin wasn't very up to par.
My mother was at the opposite side of the kitchen, washing dishes and cleaning the surrounding areas. Bella sat opposite me at the table, working on memorizing herb usages.
"So, Sage can cleanse anything," Bella questioned aloud.
"Yes, purification is its strongest quality. It is used for protection as well. It can be burned or tinctured and misted. It can also be worn," mother replied with a smile in her voice.
There was nothing my mother loved more than taking about the Craft. Witchcraft was her whole life. It was what she knew best. And teaching it brought her great joy. I could vaguely remember when father was alive and I would run and show off new skills I had learned. I remember when I almost poisoned him, accidentally of course, with a new herbal tea I had learned. I had mistakenly added pulverized St. John's Wort root instead of Chamomile. Luckily my mother had stopped him before he had taken a sip. It wouldn't have killed him, but he could have been sedated…
Father disappeared sometime around my fourteenth birthday. Mother never told us exactly what happened to him. All I remember is that day mother had come home in hysterics. I had tried to calm here and figure out what was going on. She ignored my questions of where father was and continued to sob on the floor by the table. Bella was only eleven at the time, and was so scared and confused that she hid, listening, behind the door of her room. When mother had finally calmed down, all she would tell us was that father was gone. She never said if he was dead, only gone. As the years went on, Bella and I could only assume that he had died. However, if she or I ever brought it up, mother would become angry or ignore us altogether. So we stopped questioning and accepted what little we knew on the matter.
"Maybe father could have had advantage had he Sage on his person," Bella muttered aloud to herself.
My eyes quickly snapped up to give her a warning glare and she shrugged, looking back down at her books. I looked to mother, but she seemed to have either not heard Bella's comment or chose to ignore it. We were used to Bella's behavior, she never let anything go.
It was quickly becoming later into the afternoon and I decided to go out behind the cottage and tend to the garden. Bella decided she'd tag along with me. When we got outside, I quickly turned to her.
"Thou only hath desire to stir trouble, Bella," I questioned.
She walked around me and toward the growing sage, "I know not what thou speak of. I want only answers to simple questions," she answered with a tint of sarcasm.
"Bella, please, I beg of thou," I started, but was interrupted.
"And what of thou," she questioned harshly, "Do thou not desire to cause trouble with thou choice to affiliate with a vampire?"
"I, I do not know of what thou speakest of," I sputtered, taken by surprise.
"Of course thou doth! Him, that man whom thou danced with at the ball! Mother warned us of him," she exclaimed.
I quickly made my way to Bella and pleaded with her, "Please, Bella. Be more discrete." I continued in a quieter voice, "I assure thou, I want nothing to do with him."
"Well, he could not have compelled thou, so it was thy choice!" She noticed the pleading in my eyes, and quieted her voice slightly, "I worry about thou, sister. Thou lookest as though thou were enjoying thyself."
"I doth not know what came over me, Bella, but I promise I am being careful. I danced with him, because I did not want to make a scene. He hath told me that I hath no choice," I tried to reason with her.
"You went after him."
I paused, looking at her. I didn't have an explanation for that. She seemed satisfied by my silence.
"Be more careful then," she said, looking me in the eye, before walking back to the house. I stood there in silence, confused and frustrated.
I stayed in the garden for several more hours, tending to the herbal beds and watering the crops. When I finally went back inside, it was around dinner time. I immediately went to work helping my mother get the table set.
We all sat around the table, took each other's hands in our own and began our prayer.
From forest and stream
From mountain and field
From the fertile Earth's
Nourishing yield.
We now partake of
Divine Energy.
May it lend health,
Strength and love to us.
Blessed Be.
Suddenly we heard a crow's shrill caw. I snapped my head to look out the window and could barely make out the black bird hidden in the leaves of the trees. The sun was almost set, the blue hue of the sky quickly darkening.
"Crows signify coming change," my mother said looking at me. I looked back at her, but couldn't read the emotion in her eyes. I looked down to my plate.
Later that night, I was getting ready for bed. Bella was already in bed at her side of the quaint room. She lay staring at me. Growing annoyed, I turned to look at her, "What?"
She didn't respond.
"If there be something thou would like to say, please do."
"What change does thou think that crow shall bring?"
I looked at her for a minute before turning back to my bed, pulling the covers open. I sat on the edge.
"I do not know, but we should be ready."
"We should leave here."
I looked back at Bella. "We should, but mother will not have it. She is right, though. This be our home. Where would we go?"
Bella looked me in the eye and replied, "Anywhere but this wretched town," before turning over toward the wall and closing her eyes. I looked down at the ground and sighed.
A few hours later I was still awake, staring at the ceiling. It seemed that like these past few nights, I would again get little sleep. My mind wandered, keeping me awake. The silence of the night was thick, the only sounds were from the wind rustling the trees.
A quick and sudden loud caw broke through the silence and captured my attention, bringing myself back out of my thoughts. I turned toward the window and looked to see a black crow sitting on the window still. I looked toward Bella, who turned over, but remained asleep. I looked back at the crow whose beady eyes gleamed at me. It seemed to call to me. It stared at me for a good minute before fluttering off. My instinct overtook me and I swiftly throw off my covers. I crept toward the door, trying hard to maintain even balance on the floorboards, but they creaked with every step. They seemed to echo loudly in contrast to the silence of the night. I made my way outside, shivering barefoot in my off-white sheer nightgown. It's length allowed it to get caught on sticks on the dirt ground, my feet crunching leaves as I walked, looking around the back garden.
Suddenly my instinct was overtaken, I felt hunted. Another shrill caw sounded behind me and I whirled around. I was greeted by gleaming white teeth and hunting ice blue eyes.
"Damon," I breathed.
"A young lady such as thyself should not wander outside alone at this hour," he said. I could hear the smirk in his voice, though I could only barely make out his features. My eyes were just beginning to adjust to the pale moonlight.
"Strangers should not wander outside witches' households at this hour," I said with a threatening tone, though my voice seemed to shake.
I could now make out the ever-growing smirk on his face.
"I just wanted to visit my favorite witch."
I ignored him. "What does thou want from me?"
"Thou fascinate me, little witch." His hand stretched out toward me, as if to touch, and I flinched backward.
"I want nothing to do with thou."
"I think thou lie," he took a step forward, the hunted feeling returning as I took another step back, "I think I fascinate thou too."
"Wh-hat," I sputtered.
He smiled, "I do not wish to hurt thou."
"Then why do thou bother me?"
"I grow bored," he answered simply.
Anger rose up in me, "Boredom," I exclaimed harshly.
His smile remained. "Listen very well, Damon," I spat his name, "Thou will leave me be. I wish not to see thou again. Leave me!"
I began to walk past him and was several steps away when his hand grabbed my arm. "Let go!" I struggled, but he pulled me close to him.
"Thou fascinate me, Miss Bennett. I will let thou off when thou can stop thinking of me."
"I know not of what thou speakest." I said struggling again, which only made him pull me tighter and closer until I was against him. His other hand moved to grasp my other arm.
"Yes, thou does," he said with a twinkle in his eye. "Thou hath a fire inside thou, Bonnie. Thou may not see it, but I doth."
"And," I questioned, glaring at him.
"And it hath been a while since I hath found such a fire."
I continued to glare at him for several seconds before he smiled at me again and slowly letting go, his arms now at his side.
"How long?"
"Pardon," he asked.
I cleared my throat. "How long has thou been alive?"
"A mere seventy years, milady."
I looked at him shocked.
"What," he questioned, his eyes gleaming.
"Nothing," I responded, "I just thought it would hath been longer."
"True, there are many older than I," he paused, "but none quite as devilishly handsome," he teased.
I couldn't help but blush. He raised his hand again and brought it to my cheek, his thumb caressing it slightly. I flinched.
"Damon!" Someone yelled out from behind him. I looked over to see a man of similar stature.
"Damon, let go of her!"
"Ah, siblings do love to ruin parties."
"Siblings," I questioned quietly. Damon's hand disappeared from my cheek and the sudden lack of his touch left me feeling strange.
"Calm thyself, Stefan. I mean no harm to Miss Bennett," he said, winking at me before turning to the other man.
"We were just having ourselves a chat. Thou presence is disturbing us, however."
This Stefan made his way to us. "Seriously, Damon. What did thou do? Thou compelled her?"
"Seriously, Stefan," Damon mocked him, "I wouldn't need to, nor have I done so."
"I cannot be compelled by the likes of him," I said.
Stefan looked at me unbelievingly.
"She be here on her own free will. Now if thou would let us be," Damon continued.
"Well, not completely on free will," I countered. Damon looked at me and rolled his eyes, which would have made me snicker at how improper it was were it not this situation.
"Semantics," he quipped. He turned back to Stefan, "Brother, does thou not have something to go brood about?"
"Brother," I questioned.
"Damon, please, do not cause us trouble. Elena and I rather like this town."
"Like this town? What be there to like? A psychotic, crazed town as this? Thou knowest as well as I doth that this town mirrors the beginnings of the craze at Salem."
Damon turned back to me, "I am rather sorry about my brother, Miss Bennett. How about thou meetest me in Market Square tomorrow before noon?"
I didn't have time to answer, because he quickly disappeared in a blur before my eyes. His brother followed immediately after.
I made my way back to my bedroom, as I slowly made my way to my bed, I was stopped in the middle of the room by a voice.
"Thou were gone for a while."
I turned to see Bella looking at me suspiciously.
"I went to the washroom."
She didn't say anything else, just gave me a disbelieving look and turned back to her side. I sighed and made my way back to my bed. I laid my head down and closed my eyes.
Meetest me in Market Square tomorrow before noon.
A/N: Sorry this chapter took a bit to get up here! I hope you like it! Please continue to R&R! :)
And to make more sense of this story, here is some background information:
The Stefan, Damon, Katherine triangle did happen. Everything about that story is still true here, just in a different time period, of course. Elena and Stefan met under similar circumstances as in the TVD show. They have since gotten married and Stefan turned her. Hope that straightens some things out. :) I will not be going into more detail about Stefan's or Elena's backgrounds otherwise in this story.