Tabula Rasa
summary: "Discovering that I'm a witch is a gift. I'm your first born and as such, it's my duty, to ensure get rid of any poison that infects us further." / Or, in which Victoria carves out the path to a clean slate. [current storyline with an AU twist]
notes: I said I wasn't going to write anything multi-chaptered and I won't. This will be about 5 parts from start to end. The prologue will be short for good reason. Part 1 will drop the third week of April, when all academic things are wrapped up. All writing, including this, will pick up then. But I have Part 1 and Part 2 outlined and ready to work on already.
Background Music: "Simmer" / "Decode" Mashup – Halocene (although original artists are Paramore and Hayley Williams. Please listen to this while writing. If you search it on YouTube, you should find it. It's a cover and just fits the vibe of this prologue more.

PROLOGUE

If my child needed protection
From a fucker like that man
I'd sooner gut him
'Cause nothing cuts like a mother

—"Simmer"

It began with the ice storm after the stabbing.

The night she had stopped lingering between life and death. The night she had watched this ice storm from her window in a trance while the others had taken shelter from it. The night she had pressed a hand to her window pane and the ice formed on it like the stained-glass window of a church. It had left her skin alabaster and cool, her hands emanating a smoke of white. Victoria came back to herself, questioning how she had done it and its beauty. Even in the blizzard, and ice, the storm felt like a new part of her. A piece of her trying to place itself into the puzzle of her consciousness. Somewhere between who she was and what she was. A piece was out there, as dangerous as it was.

Victoria stared at her hands, a cool white mist of ice and then focused on a lone candle on her vanity placed there, in case the ranch's generator had given out. She somehow made the mist disappear until the warmth returned to her hands. She gazed at the candle, willing it to light for reasons unknown. A whisper of a voice told her a phrase that sounds both familiar in that it was Latin in origin and strange because she had never heard before.

"Fiat ignem."

"What?" she questioned quietly in the dark, not understanding.

The voice spoke again, soft, serene and otherworldly.

"Do not fear, child. Obey and you will understand in time."

She inhaled for four seconds, held it for seven and slowly exhaled for eight seconds, tuning into this strange energy crackling around her. All she had to listen. All she had to reach for the clarity that awaited her, but she was weary and sore. Still, Victoria was drawn that candle in the dark until she could ignore the draw to it no longer.

"Fiat ignem," she said clearly, while ice and wind raged outside.

Victoria blinked as the candle lit, a single flame seemingly bending to the movement of her hand. She passed her palm over the tip of it, and to her surprise, she felt no pain. The flame simply rose up to caress her palm as if greet her, submit itself to whatever she wanted it do. It greeted like the warmth of an embrace and made her forget.

A flash of blue lightning illuminates her room while hidden from the white out conditions outside. The flame shrinks away before it goes out. Allowing herself to feel the remnants and ice and fire in her veins, Victoria allows herself to smile because she understands.

—

An exhale.

A familiar tingling under her skin.

The way her anger made her go from frostbitten to frigid.

"He's blackmailing you for Newman," she stated plainly, because it was already known to her. Her father heaved a sigh and glanced at her not surprised. She knew her father just as he knew her. There was a pride in his smile, realization in his quiet chuckle. In his face, she saw what was the truth, what had truly unravelled in Kansas decades past. As always, his downfall was his overconfidence and it didn't take a spell, magic that hid itself within the bloodlines of generations. Adam wanted to bury not only him, but them and Newman Enterprises out of some wrong sprouted from twisted historical facts. Victoria stared at her father with steel in her eyes and a plan. "Dad," she sighed. "This wouldn't be an issue now if you had let our plan play out. He would be in jail right now. Instead, he's framing you for murder when he's trying to kill you!"

"Sweetheart…"

"No, Dad!" she raised her voice, eyes flashing. Victoria heard the glass pitcher rattle against the tumblers. The room temperature water inside her cool down to a mist before she could hear the crackle of frost and ice formation. She remembered the three-part yoga breathing technique she applied to her fourteen days of meditation, magic and self-discovery. She continued, getting her control of her newly discovered craft. "This family and company both need a clean slate. Nobody can move forward, otherwise."

"What do you propose?"

Victoria looked at her father. She took no pleasure in doing this and no matter how strange the dynamic between he and Adam was, the outcome would hurt him. Sacrifices had to be made. The police was useless and prison would not be enough. So, this was the only way. There was no other alternative. Anyone who tried to understand it would not. Victoria had examined her conscience and came to the conclusion that she could live with herself. Her hands would be blood stained, but her conscience would not be marked by any remorse.

"It's not a proposal," she replied, with a sense of finality in her tone. With Billy, there was the finality but also a true sense of goodbye. She had severed the thread that ran long yet grew thin over time for one reason for the other. She visualized it in her mind to be a long, glittering thread that shimmered with every special moment from that New Year's Eve night to the last time she had felt like she could love him for a thousand years. It spun and stretched as if on a loom that didn't stop working until it did. The thread from him to her suddenly lost its shine. Then a glittering blade in darkness she could not trace had appeared and severed it cleanly. She felt no loss, no need for sadness. It was simply a sense of finality that came with closure.

The cord cutting spell she'd performed days earlier in the chill of the night when nature was most awake had been effective. Izzy had been kind enough to walk through it and she was surprised at how cleansing it was to be free of the negative, chaotic energy. It felt when the last of her relationship with Billy had breathed its last, she was able to breathe first as a newly clear-headed woman. She was free to live, reflect, discover this new part of herself that she felt intuitively but was fighting against because she did not understand. Now, she did and she was ready. She was ready to be as she was. More than she was ready for this family to be as it was supposed to be.

Victoria was ready for the name Newman to be respected, and feared. She was ready to assume her duties as first child of the patriarch and matriarch and everything it entailed. Victoria grew tired of being a princess, the title beneath her and could bear the heavy queen's crown and her father's mantle. She would kill anyone who stood in her way. Anyone.

Gathering her composure, she faced her father. "You've always explained that the Newman family is a tree," she let a smile come to her lips and her father had the same fond memory, "and it has strong roots and grows to be healthy beautiful. But… there's rot in this tree that will choke the rest of us if it's not cut out. You, Mom, Abby, me, my children, Nick and his children…"

"He took a bullet for me."

Victoria narrowed her eyes, "He's a rabid dog who has bit the hand who fed him."

"What of Connor?"

She sighed. Her nephew was an innocent little boy. However, he was an innocent little boy with a father, dangerous to every member of this family.

"He's innocent and I feel sorry for him," she conceded, "however, my stance is unchanged. I won't change. Adam is the rot that is slowly infecting this family. Discovering that I'm a witch is a gift. I'm your first born and as such, it's my duty, to ensure get rid of any poison that infects us further. My magic is not something that can be negotiated and taken away. It's mine and something I was given," she said and declared what was the endgame. "Adam must die and he will," she added, pointedly with the intention of letting him know that not even his power could save him at the eleventh hour. This was truly a decision the council bestowed on her, and only, her. Victoria sat on the leather chair. It felt good to be back and restore order. "With the approval of The Coven, it'll be official and permanent."

"When?" her father questioned after a moment that seemed to stretch for way too long.

"Anytime from when the petition was made. In Adam's case, between 24 to 48 hours."

Victor waved a hand to cut her off, and he looked at her sharply.

"That may be too long."

"Not really. He'll have long enough to get his affairs in order with Chelsea, but not long to disappear.

"You want to save him. I can see it all of it, Dad. I don't blame you," she said calmly and shrugged. She had days and weeks of rest and talks with Sharon during the day. She spends her nights testing the limits of her abilities, how far she can stretch herself, and learning the origins of it. On the nights her parents didn't check up on her or her children didn't need her, she explored. She explored her ancestry. Some were mortal. Others were not. Her maternal grandfather, Nick Reed, a warlock zealot who committed a rapid succession if murders over a stretch of ten years before returning home. Maternal grandmother Barbara Ann Reed (née: Martin). Paternal grandfather, Albert Miller. Paternal grandmother Cora Miller (née: Lykaios; Greek ancestry, she notes) who was long-suffering, pious yet had the beginnings of prescience she did not understand so it stayed dormant until her death. Her ancestry – mortal and magick alike – stretches to Greece, Italy, England to Salem where blood of her own was shed. It's illuminating. Well, what she does understand is.

"But it's futile."

"It's Adam. Mortal law may give him time because he may get away, or bribe his way free. But this method won't. I've had Izzy appeal to the Elders regarding this matter. She tells me things look promising."

Her father heaved a sigh. "His mother was a good woman, you know."

"I know Hope meant a lot to you, and her memory means even more, but Adam cannot live this time. He won't," Victoria replied, firmly. "This isn't easy for me, having to take my brother's life. But in the long term, we'll be safe. I nearly died. I want safety and stability."

Victoria was more intuitively tuned into her connection with her father than usual these days. It was an electric cord of many colours that twisted themselves between light and dark. She saw the ice storm again, wild and white with the winds that bent the big cedar to its destructive whims and tore the sky apart. A smile of understanding came on his face as if the question had been answered between them, even with the underlying shadow of what came ahead.

"Were you granted the full extent of your abilities the night of the ice storm?"

"Yes."

Victor smiled knowingly. He knew everything. "Ah," he paused in the doorway, a twinkle in his eyes. There was sadness in them. "I sensed it. Your mother did, too."

She offered him a smile, absently playing with a black pen. "Goodnight, Dad."

"Goodnight, sweetheart."

He exited the office and told her he adored her and exited into the darkened, quiet halls of Newman Enterprises.

—

Her assistant had gone home for the night, two hours ago. The other division heads had done the same with sentiments of welcome and being glad she had recovered. It was good to be in control and know what it felt like to feel no fear, no apprehension and no tentativeness. There was a sense of calm that fell on her as if walking into a cool breeze she hadn't expected. Victoria stood up from her desk after rearranging it by tasks she had taken care of and completed and outstanding ones she would deal with in the morning.

She rose from her desk, and with a hand, levitated her coat from the distant couch near the window effortlessly. Victoria assembled light reading for the evenings which included mergers and contracts that had hung in limbo as she had and shoved them into her bag. She turned, grabbing her jacket as it floated mid-air, waiting for her. She was nearly perfect now, absorbing centuries of practice from various ancestors in the span of weeks. Maybe there was something to being still and listening, but still she had to go. Slipping her coat on, her phone buzzed in the pocket and she took it, exhaling with relief.

"Izzy," she answered, telekinetically turning down the lights and her computer. This was helping with multitasking if nothing else. Victoria didn't even have to use the button under her desk anymore. Although, it stayed in its place for the staff's sake, more than others. They were mortals and wouldn't get to know. Opening her office doors with a quick flick of the wrist, Victoria stepped outside and closed them down. Her nameplate glinted at her in the dark. "What's the verdict?"

"It's been approved. The Elders basically given you clearance. I'll have to keep Thea and Eleanor in the loop, so this goes as smoothly as possible."

"I'm aware."

Of course. Law enforcement and the highest form of government had to be smoke screens.

"However, you're going to need to do some additional work," she explained, going straight into the seriousness of the matter. Victoria expected her sunny friend and coven sister but ended up with the attorney with her feet and heart in both worlds instead.

Victoria nearly swore but instead, held herself together. "Such as?" she inquired, as her steps echoed down the hall. She pressed the down button for the elevator a little impatiently with a frown, feeling the pressure of a deadline.

"The reason the previous attempts on Adam's life were not successful was because the spirit of Billy and Chloe's daughter didn't allow it. She's very happy in the afterlife but makes periodic trips to check in, you know, like spirit does," Izzy told her, and Victoria understood Delia was as she was in death as she was life. A happy child who never, ever experienced a bad mood in the years Victoria had been honoured to know, and play some part in her life. If she had, at all. "She told me she's okay where she is, but Katie sees her."

"Katie…sees her?" How could that be? Victoria knew her daughter to be sharp, quick with an attention to memory and detail. Knowing what she knew of herself and how scientific this was, she knew genes to be a determinant to Katie being exactly like her. "Izzy…"

"Victoria, I'm saying that as Delia's father and the last person to make the attempt…" she ventured carefully out of respect for her, even though seeing Billy wasn't the problem. The memories were there, but any emotions attached to him were had faded away and did die. It was more the topic that she had a hard time. How could she drop something like this on him? Billy had a strong belief in the afterlife, she knew that. But what she was, the other part of her heritage she had discovered for herself … what their daughter could have inherited from her … Victoria didn't prepare for it and she really didn't have the time.

"I'm going to have to tell him."

"From a co-parent standpoint, yeah. He may not understand the full scope of this, but he is her dad."

"Katie's five. I want her to have a normal life. I'm an adult. I can figure this out. She can't."

"Give your girl a bit of credit. She'll still be the same kid with two big brothers, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and parents who love her. Especially, her parents. All she'll have is this special thing about her. Corrine was seven and not normal at all," Izzy laughed and the quirky individual that was her daughter. Victoria remembered having Corrine over at her house. She was just as musically inclined as Reed if not more. She was as sweet as her mother and had her father's calming nature. Victoria would walk into her house to find Reed immersed in a song-writing, her son bouncing lyrics off of her and Corrine twirling a hula hoop around her waist while singing melodies to fit those lyrics. Corrine had made it to Julliard and was still there. New York. "Corrine found it harder to come out to us than navigating magic. Brian and I already knew. We were going at her pace which is what you have to with Katie. She's a child, but follow her. When she wants to tell you something, listen."

She was going to have rip off the band-aid. Her blue eyes flickered around impatiently for that stupid elevator. Maintenance was going to have to look at that. Izzy's voice came through her phone as the elevator doors dinged and she stepped through them. They closed and Victoria pushed the button for the parking garage.

"Well," Victoria started, trading the subject of her daughter for the original, less pleasant one. "I know Billy was the last to make the attempt on Adam's life. You arranged the legal clean up."

"And did an excellent job on that," Izzy added, some of her sunniness coming back before it went away in place of incoming storm clouds that weren't sure either to release their rain or not. "Bottom line is you have to get Billy's consent so this spell can work. Something about correcting some scales of justice. Not within this realm."

"How will I know it's done?"

"Because of afterwards… your brother will just be gone. There will be a body, obviously, but what's inside? His spirit… his soul will just be gone. No trace of him in the afterlife – above or beneath. There will be no purgatory. There will be no haunting. Nothing," Izzy emphasized, gravely. "Killing him means you're killing him, body and spirit."

"Okay," Victoria said, after a moment's pause. "Is that it?"

"No. You're going to have to get Nick's help this. He knows you. Whether he's like you or parents is up in the air, I can't get a read on him. He's had death touch him a few times, but he doesn't exactly carry mortal genes. Your brother could be something. I'm not a scientist," she said, circling back to her original thought. "However, because he is your only full-blooded sibling, you need to tell him what you're about to do."

Victoria stepped through the silver doors and made her way through the short hallway before she was greeted by the clear double doors of the parking garbage. There was always someone here during the day who screened visitors while employees had identification badges. Her father still had his despite his retirement and personnel scrambled to open doors for him. Some of these personnel are decade long employees who treated her kindly as a child, showed her the ropes in their own ways as a teenager and cheered her on in her current position. Victoria remembered some were nearing retirement. She would miss them greatly. Her father had been the founder of this company, but there had been strong pillars holding Newman Enterprises up.

"I can manage that. Nick wants Adam gone as much as I do."

"Okay," Izzy said, and yawned. "It's one of those rare nights where my newborn will actually sleep right through and Jesse and Gwen will feed themselves and Tati. Corrine's in college and doing her thing. Thank goodness."

Victoria knew Izzy having a fifth child was going to be hard, but Micah was an easy baby. Her friend had struggled with depression and lived a busy, full life. She had married a mortal. A doctor she'd known half her life. Victoria liked that he was not only an excellent cardiologist, but a genuinely kind human being who balanced Izzy and her bouncy energy out. He had a natural way of being nurturing and putting people at ease. Brian still looked at his wife with love in his eyes and much as Victoria revelled in her newfound singlehood, she wished one day, someone would look at her that way and mean it. One day down the line, Victoria hoped to open her heart to someone who would love all of her as she was. For right now, she was content in being as she was and focused on her plan despite all the disclaimers it carried.

"Vickie, I'm exhausted. Most…normal thing I've said to you all night," she chuckled and yawned again. "I'm beyond tired. Thank goodness for Brian and him deciding to take a lighter workload at the hospital, so I can go back to work early. My brother's amazing with the firm when I'm not there, but between all that stuff and all of this… it's draining."

"Tell me about it," she agreed. A kid in college, two young children who depended entirely on her despite the army of support she had, and a hard but fulfilling she literally had to kill to keep. Victoria wondered if she would have had to fight this hard if she was anatomically different. Sometimes. "But aside from the manageable setback, it's been good to feel like me again."

"For real, though? How did magic feel?"

"Like…" Victoria paused, waving her ID badge at the sensor. The light changed from red to green and clicked open. The handle felt cool in her grasp and left a sheen of frost that caused a glittering effect on the silver. She marveled at it honestly and smiled. "It's like a puzzle piece I found and it's just clicked into place. It's all second nature to me now, just like being CEO of Newman is which why I know Adam has to go."

"I understand," she said, softly. "You're going to do what you have to. I'd be stupid to attempt to change your mind."

"Thank you for saying that."

"I just want you to be okay."

Victoria walked through the parking garage, casually putting her badge in her pocket and all of a sudden being keenly aware of her surroundings. Victoria promised she would and wished Izzy a goodnight before ending the call. Victoria felt her defenses go off the way a cat arched its back against the touch of an unfamiliar hand. She quickened the steps to her car, blue eyes keen and suddenly sharper. A chill crept up her back and she felt the heat of someone's gaze. Hypervigilance and anger both churned in her body as both instincts to flee and fight both roused themselves. The instinct to fight won because Victoria tired of running. She caught a ripple in the air around her like someone was being stealth and had followed her this whole time and was just now making themselves known.

Victoria inched closer to her car, quickly enough to put her bag in the back seat among children's paraphernalia and discreetly slammed the door with a discreet movement. She needed the range of movement, muttering a fire spell that split the empty parking lot in half. A literal wall of flames for her, and a slice of hell for any would-be attackers. Gone were the days of being kidnapped with her choice of life and death out of her hands. She certainly wasn't going to stabbed in the shadows.

"Show yourself!" she ordered, feeling enraged and embracing it. She had forgotten how liberating it was to be outright angry sometimes. "I know someone's there, and you'll burn if you don't reveal yourself! Do it, now!"

Victoria concentrated on creating a controlled path, scorching the ground beneath her before a scream ripped from the unseen stranger's throat. It was high pitched and full of agony. A woman. Victoria dropped her hand and the flames receded and gradually disappeared. She took tentative steps towards the woman on the ground until she gasped out of surprise and then aggravation before the remorse kicked in. She hadn't intended on doing that much harm, but she was tired of being scared.

What?

"Tessa?! Oh my God, what are you doing here?"

Tessa winced in pain, and offered Victoria an apologetic smile through the pain of a burned ankle. She tried to stand with assurances that she was would heal. Her mother had showed her how to treat burns and other injuries when she was sober, at least. Victoria caught her arm and allowed the musician to lean on her as she moved her to a white post near her car.

"I'm really sorry… Ow! I knew scaring you was a bad idea from last time…"

"Yeah," Victoria supplied awkwardly, just as uncomfortable with the whole ordeal. Tessa tried to put pressure on her ankle and cried out, being forced to sink to the ground. Victoria took off her jacket and to make sure Tessa wasn't sitting on solid ground and as comfortable as she could be within the circumstances. She met Tessa's eyes for a brief moment and nearly cringed at her handiwork. "I'm really sorry. I'm just been on edge all day…" she shook her head. "I think I can heal your ankle, but I'm going to need you to stay still," she instructed firmly. "I don't want to freeze your ankle after nearly roasting it…"

"Thanks, Victoria."

"It's the least I can do. Sit still."

Victoria had so many questions, but would ask them later. For now, she focused on using the cool properties of ice to numb Tessa's ankle. Victoria looked up to see Tessa's eyes closed and the pain in her face subsiding. Victoria enclosed a hand after Tessa's ankle and summoned enough warmth to feel the skin start to heal itself and sure enough, it did. The rough burns started heal layer by layer until Tessa's skin was uninjured and smooth.

Victoria removed her hand and examined it before Tessa looked at the end result herself.

"Ice to numb the pain, and a little warmth to speed up the healing process in the body."

"Yes, actually. My aunt's a doctor. How did you know that?"

Tessa glanced at her before looking away. "My mom. I clearly didn't follow in her footsteps as a nurse, but for some reason, it stuck, I guess. Looking back, it was good to have," she shrugged. Victoria stood, dusting off her hands and retrieved her coat. Tessa tentatively got up after her and seeing as she was able to put pressure on her ankle and stood too. "Oh, man. I don't know how to thank you again."

"Accept my apology for nearly burning you alive, and call it even."

Tessa nodded. "Okay. We're even."

"Now," Victoria said, now looking at Tessa with questions in her eyes with the cool assessing gaze to go with it, "Tessa, please be honest with me and tell me why you've come here. Clearly, you've been seeking me out. Why?"

"Oh, well, you've been summoned by the Highest Elder," Tessa revealed, honestly to her shock and slight curiosity. "You're relatively new to this and you've gotten this powerful already. I mean, I personally learned a certain of stuff before not even magick could erase my circumstances. My grandmother's things … when she died, they died with her and were buried somewhere. I left that world years ago by choice but because I love my life now and wouldn't just change, but my Nan was the closest thing to a parental figure for me and my sister. That's why I've been touring. For my music and to look for my family spell books on the low. No luck yet."

"Makes you feel more grounded to yourself…?"

Tessa smiled brilliantly, a slight blush in her cheeks. "Exactly, but I've got Mariah for that," she put on a confused face and when she met Victoria's questioning gaze. "I don't know what she wants with you, or why. It's a don't ask, don't tell type scenario. I only got instructions to find you and let you know she wanted to see you."

"Do you know when this High Elder will appear?"

"No, but I do know where if that helps."

Victoria went from assessing her to being grateful. She couldn't handle anymore mystery. No more of the cloak and dagger type business. She didn't have the emotional strength or it, or patience strong enough. "Thank you. Where?"

"Your house. Not the Ranch, but your house."

Victoria sighed, combing her hair back. She hadn't been in that house since it had become less of a home, and more or less, four less with a roof. She had worked to put a lot of love in the space between the foundation and roof and it wasn't enough. The kids loved living at the Ranch and having their grandparents around more. Katie loved being with her grandfather in the study on his lap, listening with rapt attention at whatever lesson he instilled in her and the affectionate chuckle at something she had said to amuse him. Johnny could be found with her mother, going on walks along the property with happy chatter in the distance. When it was nighttime and they got ready for bed, Victoria found herself bombarded with questions of home. When were they going home? Where they going to move? Where they still going to get to see daddy even when they did go back home? What was going to happen to Reed's room when he got back from school?

Of course, they would go home. No, the house wasn't going anywhere and their dad was always going to be able to see them. Just like they would be able to see him. All it took was calling him and he'd come running because he loved them that much. Victoria assured them their bedrooms were fine and if they wanted to decorate at some point, that would be okay. Reed's room with the bright red door down the hall was always going to be there. No, they would not be moving anywhere unless they were absolutely sure and it was something they discussed as a family. So, Johnny and Katie didn't need to worry about the house on Orchard Ave. It was good that her children were still connected to the memories that place held when now, Victoria found herself disconnected to that. It felt like going to a museum more than crossing a threshold that was still hers.

Victoria cleared her throat and politely thanked Tessa for coming to find her, despite the way things had played out tonight.

"No problem. I'm going to go home now," Tessa said, pointing a thumb behind her. "I liked the walk here so I think I'm going to do that again. Go home, binge some stuff, and hang out on the fire escape with Mariah a bit."

"Sounds nice and simple."

Tessa smiled, eyes glittering under the light of the parking garage. "Yeah, it is. But hey, if it's worth anything, I hope you figure out what you're looking for."

"I have," Victoria replied, sure. "But thank you. Goodnight, Tessa."

"Goodnight, Victoria."

Tessa started to go before Victoria stopped here. There was one thing that she needed to know and quite frankly understand. "Tessa, wait," she said, and Tessa stopped in her tracks and turned around. "That night, we kidnapped you. If you knew what you were, that means you could have killed the three of us effortlessly and no one would really know how. Why didn't you?"

"Easy. I mean, there's a code that you don't attack your own kind on purpose anyway," Tessa answered, a half-smile on her face. She was oddly peaceful in answering like she had this answer prepared because of course, Tessa had anticipated it. "Sharon was nice to me. Your mom was dangerous and I was already scared out of my mind. You scared me the most and like I told you, I don't scare easily," she revealed, eyes boring into hers. "I knew even if I had attacked you, you were far stronger than me. You'd actually kill me and be the calmest and clear headed once that was the goal. The energy that radiated of you that night. There was something about it, but you know, dark…" she trailed off, remembering before coming back to the present. "It would have been suicide to try. Having undertones of darkness in your magic doesn't always mean evil. It just means you're naturally wired to process the intense stuff. Most witches would be corrupted or twisted by it, not you. That's why I wasn't going to fight back. It would have been useless."

Tessa turned around and continued walking out of the parking garage until Victoria could no longer see her form. She exhaled from the information that nearly overloaded her and entered the driver's side of her car. The engine roared to life and Victoria left Newman Enterprises, driving on the quiet freeways to a place she once loved, but lost.

The faster she drove to her house, the sooner she would closer to her goal.

Note: Well….um, that's the prologue.

Thoughts?

Leave them in the reviews. I own nothing but the plot.

-Erika