AN: I hope you all are well and in good spirits, safe with friends and loved ones near. This is a long chapter full of exposition so I hope you can get through it but it is necessary. The following chapter will be the same. Answers and secrets will be revealed. Please enjoy and leave comments and reviews, I really do appreciate them.


Chapter 13

Bennett Residence

Sheila hurriedly walked into the house without preamble or announcement intent on speaking with her granddaughter, knowing that there was much to discuss.

She stopped, imobile in both thought and action as she stared in disbelief at the picture of domesticality that overtook her visual senses as she watched in shock and mild horror as Bonnie and Klaus sat, talking on the sofa, eating from each other's plate.

Before her Sheila saw Bonnie feed a piece of bacon to him as Klaus fed her a piece of toast with strawberry jam. They both laughed as they ate and talked and giggled into each other.

There was a peace and comfortability with the two that reminded her of an old married couple. They looked happy, even content and the looks they gave each other was full of quiet acceptance of one another and total trust. This broke Sheila's heart because she was about to destroy the tranquility that was present in the room.

"Stop," Bonnie whined as Klaus put the piece of toast to her lips then quickly moved it as she was about to bite. Klaus chuckled as he kissed her nose.

"Okay...okay...take a bite," he smiled as he repositioned the piece of toast near her mouth. "I should have known you had a huge appetite," he laughed as she took a big bite, taking the whole piece in her mouth, almost taking his finger with it.

"Oh...woah…", she mumbled as she chewed the morsel, covering her mouth. When she swallowed, she questioned, "Are you saying that I eat a lot?" She poked at him. He just shrugged and smiled, showing his lovely dimples. She grinned, shaking her head, barely able to contain her joy, "Well if someone hadn't worked up this appetite with their insatiable…"

"Ahem," Sheila quickly interrupted Bonnie, not wanting to hear any details of their "antics".

Both Klaus and Bonnie were so wrapped up in each other that they didn't notice another presence in the house or hear her footsteps. This caused both of them to quickly stand, discarding their food to partially transform ready to attack.

Sheila held her ground but fear quickly flashed across her eyes as she watched her granddaughter's eyes change color and her fingers elongate into claws. Klaus' eyes changed to a molten gold color and black veins protruded under them accentuating the change. He growled, showing his fangs, taking a stance of protector, but he didn't bare his claws.

"I don't mean to interrupt but I have been calling you for a few days now." Sheila said simply as she walked further into the living room.

"Grams!" Instantly Bonnie relaxed and ran to her grandmother, giving her a tight hug. Sheila returned the hug not taking her eyes off of Klaus. They stared into each other's eyes silently communicating.

Bonnie was glad to see her grandmother, but she was apprehensive about the unexpected visit especially in light of recent events and revelations.

Bonnie untangled herself from Sheila, taking her hand and leading her to the high-back chair close to the sofa. "Please sit," she motioned as she and Klaus sat as well.

"I have so many questions, really I do and don't take this the wrong way, but I have to ask, why are you here?" Bonnie asked as she sat on the edge of the couch leaning close to Sheila, hoping nothing bad had happened to Nikos.

Sheila looked down at her hands which were in her lap and then up again, sadly she responded, "Yes it would seem there is a lot of explaining to do." Ending her sentence she looked at Klaus. There was a tinge of irritation in her voice, which she tried to hide.

"I am sure you have many questions as do I."Sheila said, staring at Klaus.

"Well I see no better time than now," Klaus suggested, wanting to get everything cleared up, especially since he had some questions of his own.

Bonnie had felt the tension that now seemed to suffocate the whole room, but she wouldn't let it deter her from getting the answers that she wanted or stop her from feeling the amazing happiness that she felt every time she looked at or touched Klaus.

...

They had spent the whole weekend making love, talking, reading and laughing. She turned off her phone and didn't worry about anyone or anything other than Klaus. She refused to open the "Twisted Spine", not once thinking of the money she could be making or losing, or what bookshelf needed to be reorganized or moved or whatever.

Sunday evening found them curled up in Klaus' massive bed as he read to her from the journal. She was as content as a fat lazy cat, even to the point of purring, but she told him that she had to go home to tend to her plants, to make sure all was in order and to get ready for work the next day.

Klaus argued that she was her own boss and could play hooky if she so desired, but she countered saying that she had to be responsible no matter how much she was inclined to do otherwise.

He offered a compromise, the only way he would let her go would be if he came with, spending the night with her, in her bed and her home and then going to work with her the next day since he was very much interested in seeing her bookstore.

However, Monday found her playing hooky, enjoying an early morning round of sex in the shower and a harty breakfast that Klaus cooked from what he could find in her kitchen, which is why Sheila found them as she did.

...

Klaus and Sheila sat at the patio table watching Bonnie as she carried a tray of warm biscuits with strawberry and grape jam. A pot of tea, cups, plates and silverware had already been brought out as well as a pitcher of cranberry juice and champagne. It was mid morning and Bonnie was in the mood for mimosas.

As she laid everything out on the table she was glad for her insight to move their tete-a-tete to the patio, lessening the stoic mood and allowing them to enjoy the cool breeze and bright day.

After drinks were made and biscuits prepared to each person's liking the mood was set as everyone enjoyed the brief silence as they ate and drank.

Sheila wiped her mouth with her napkin then placed it down gently. "So tell me what you already have gleaned thus far."

Bonnie took a sip of her mimosa, with a frown on her face, she started, "I know that you have been withholding pertinent information about who and what I am. And I am wondering now if my parents were indeed my parents," she ended with an unhappy sigh while she looked at her speechless grandmother.

Sheila sighed, "When I was a young woman, I pursued life with an almost desperate desire to be free of all restraints. Even as a child I danced to the beat of my own drums, questioning the status quo, defying what was considered right or wrong, moral or immoral."

"It seemed like I was constantly walking a tightrope, always balancing both sides of my personality of the wild child and the dutiful well-behaved daughter and later my heritage, especially when my family moved from a small Louisiana parish where our family was well respected, held in high esteem and at the top of the social ladder to Salem, MA and then later to Mystic Falls.

"I was...as you kids say, 'woke'," she smiled as she continued, "The sixties was a time and fixed place of change, of rattling chains, of shouting out against the establishment and grasping freedoms wherever they were."

"And I grasped with both hands, tightly with no thoughts of letting go. I was tired of being told who I was and what I was and how I should behave and how I should talk. Back then being in an interracial, biracial or multi-racial family, even with money, was not a trend that many now seem to think garners praises of open-mindedness or beautiful children.

"No, it was a constant battle of not being accepted, by both cultures, one wanting you to know you still don't belong and need to stay in your place and the other feeling betrayed by perceived traitorous desire for inclusiveness afforded to them because of the shade of their skin tone, while still yet, some were ready to negate your involvement in the fight for equality due to the lightness of your skin color. Plus I had to deal with what my family thought was right and correct and wouldn't bring them shame or embarrassment."

"So when I got the call to arms, I rebelled and fought against everything. Whether it was the US's involvement in the Vietnam war, horrible laws and mistreatment of the black people which fueled the Civil Rights Movement, or dispelling the misogynistic unfounded sexist lies of organized religion, even man-made restrictive garments such as panties and bras."

"Nothing was safe from being critiqued, criticized or thrown down for a new world order and system... not the wealthy, the poor, or man-made contraceptives. And nothing was off limits or forbidden...not free love or drugs, rock and roll or alternative religions. I was all over the place, I was taking up signs, chaining trees, shouting aloud, going shirtless...braless, having sex and marching."

"And that's when I also began my quest and eventual love of other religions, whether considered new age, satanic, ancient or dead. I changed my major from law to occultism and mythology and I never turned back. And that was the final slap in the face for my family and it was then that they disowned me."

As Sheila spoke her face shone with a glow of determination, pride and fierceness. Reflecting her passion she felt at that time of her life that now she reminisced with fondness and a touch of sadness. Whether it was from past regrets or missed opportunities, she wasn't sure, but she pressed on, knowing that she had to get to the parts that were darker...much more darker. But she realized as she sat facing both Klaus and Bonnie, the time was long overdue and she owed it to both of them to tell the entire truth. She also owed it to herself to come face to face with her own demons.

"I blazed a path and grew as a woman, activist and professor, then I met an amazing man that made settling down, having children and growing old sound like the sweetest fruit from the most tempting tree. So I toned down my free spirit and basked in loving and being loved and creating a future for a big family."

" We bought a house to fill with children, but when the time came for a family...well things didn't go as planned. Miscarriage after heartbreaking miscarriage I suffered. I stomached doctors telling me 'it is normal, but don't worry, you're young and healthy, it will eventually happen' and certain "well meaning" family members telling me that it was punishment for my rebellious ways and I should repent and beg God for forgiveness and He might give me a child or I would just have to accept His divine judgement. Under the weight of such sorrow and indifference, I drowned in depression, anger and resentment."

"I withdrew from my husband and poured myself into my work with a fierceness, although my teaching became empty and hollow. But then work turned to obsession as I researched and scoured all my books and literary references of so-called pagan cultures and religions as I sought for an answer to my infertility.

"This set me on a long and lonely journey that took me to Scotland, Ireland, France, Africa, South America and across America in search of answers. I found answers and much more," she paused, taking a sip of her drink and with a heavy sigh, she continued.

"I found so much more than answers...I found a race of supernatural beings lost to myth and legend. I found the Fae and the basis of every fairytale, ghost story and urban legend."

Bonnie was enraptured in the story of Sheila Bennett, even Klaus was riveted by the on-going tale. "What happened, Grams," Bonnie asked, encouraging her when Sheila paused, touching her hand.

"I was at my wit's end. My marriage was unraveling due to years of disappointment, neglect and numbness so I took a leave of absence from work, to which Greg agreed, citing a need for space. I went to Ireland, my readings pointed there, in one last attempt to get what I wanted. There in my studies I had found tales of the Fae queen granting life to recently departed loved ones or 'helping' women conceive to her faithful followers. I spoke to the few that dared to speak to me of such things as I searched for any tangible evidence, slim pieces of proof….anything that I could grab hold of...I was desperate…I needed something to give me hope."

"Then unexpectedly, if not unintentionally, I came across a book which detailed the rituals and rites of calling upon the Fae queen and her people. It spoke of the druids' sacred place of worship where they gave burnt offerings near the great tree of life which is the gateway to the fae folk's world and home. The writings also detailed the migration of a small druid sect highly devoted to the Fae who fled to the new world due to the spread of Christianity and the persecution and death of those that did not convert."

Sheila had been looking at both Bonnie and Klaus, but now she looked down as she continued her story. " I translated and read the transcripts and texts as best I could with some minimal help, I ventured to the sacred worship place and I performed the summoning spell and fertility spell."

"After a week of waiting for something, anything to happen, I left more defeated and dejected. Little did I know that I brought something back with me."

"One night about a week after returning I couldn't sleep, I woke up drenched in sweat and on fire. It felt like my blood was boiling, like I was burning up and my ears were ringing but I could hear a voice calling to me, beckoning me. I followed the voice to the back of my house near the woods. By the light of the moon I walked barefoot,with my nightgown clinging to me from sweat, until I was in front of the big oak tree. Standing there before me stood the most beautiful, frightening and disturbing woman I had ever seen. She was strikingly beautiful with long wavy silver hair, skin the color of honey and luminous, large green eyes that seemed to sparkle. Her face was the face of an angel, but when she smirked at me there was a look that chilled my bones. She stood completely naked without shame, her breasts were shapely and full, her stomach was flat with a small pooch, silver hair covered her womanhood and shapely, muscled thighs and legs. She was curvy and looked regal and sexy and motherly and dangerous all at once."

Bonnie was so wrapped up in the story that she was sitting at the edge of the seat, leaning in close to hear every word, having questions but unwilling to interrupt. Sheila continued.

"Her voice sounded like what one would imagine honey would sound like, smooth, husky and sultry and yet it held a note of authority and ancient wisdom. When she took a step towards me I noticed her hands and feet were clawed; they were long and looked very sharp. 'You have summoned me, outlander. What do you wish from the Fae queen,' she asked, but I could tell that she already knew the answer."

"I thought I was going to pass out as I stood now just inches away from her, but I mastered my body and whispered...a child...I wish for a baby of my own."

"She extended her hand to my face and caressed my cheek with her long claws, she looked like she pitied me, then she spoke, harshly, 'You are an interloper, an unbeliever, why should I grant you thus', she questioned."

"Whatever you ask I will pay, if you grant me this, my most coveted desire, I begged, tears cooking my face as they rolled down my fevered cheeks and blurred my eyesight. She gazed upon me, tilting her head as if she was studying me, then she asked, 'Anything? Everything...even that which you already have?' I nodded frantically, "Yes to hold my own child, to love my own child, to give my husband a child, yes I would even give my own life, I declared"

"'So be it, you will have what you desire most. You will be my acolyte. Come to me', she coaxed. I walked into her embrace as now her arms were outstretched. She held me tight then she withdrew from me, holding my face with both her hands, she kissed me, but as she did I felt my lifeforce being sucked out as if she was sucking my very soul from my body. Just when I thought death was near and I could feel mortality slipping away, she stopped inhaling and started exhalin, breathing air and part of her essence or lifeforce into my mouth then I heard her speaking in an ancient tongue. I only remember the sensation of being filled completely and then I passed out."

"I woke up three days later. Greg said he found me laying out in the backyard, pale and as still as death, in fact, he thought I was dead, thinking perhaps I took my own life. Later the doctor said I had the worst case of influenza that he had ever seen. Over the next month Greg nursed me back and we reconnected. I hadn't been able to remember anything until I found out I was pregnant, then it all came back to me."

Sheila paused and took a sip of her drink, needing something much stronger for the next part of her story. She hoped that Bonnie would understand that what she was about to tell her next was done to protect her and to keep the promise she made.