Bleueeddevil06, thank you for being my beta!
Four days later, they got a frantic message delivered from Stefan. "Come, please–and help. There's blood." They knew he had the vial of vampire blood, so the three of them rushed over.
They met Mary for the first time, and she had tears in her eyes. "I drank the blood. Did it work!? Is my baby alive?!"
Elena sent Damon out of the room and laid her head on Mary's stomach. She heard the rapid heartbeat of a child. She squeezed Mary's hand and said, "your child still lives."
Tears poured out of Mary's eyes, and she clutched Stefan's hand. "Th-thank you!" she said, looking at Elena.
Rosa drew her attention. "You will find out what I did as a child. She is overjoyed to help you."
Elena nodded and grabbed the empty glass vial. She cut her wrist with her teeth and poured blood into the vial. "Here. You have more when you need it. Just be careful you don't die, or you will transition into a vampire. If you do, we will accept you; it is up to you."
Stefan looked Elena in the eyes and said, "you gave me my wife and child back. I owe you everything. Ask, and it's yours."
"Damon needs the acceptance of his family. Give me that, and we are more than even."
Stefan walked out of the room while the three women were together, and he embraced Damon. "I owe you and Elena everything."
Damon rolled his eyes. "It's Elena you owe." He hoped that Mary living didn't destroy the future of the family. Elena had insisted on helping, but he worried—had she altered the future too much? He looked at his nephew and realized that as long as Elena was still born, he didn't care. And he trusted Emily too much to believe she had fucked up the destiny spell.
Damon, the younger, walked in and said, "so far, your cock hasn't killed her, Stefan."
Damon laughed. "Salvatore cock isn't ever bad. Do you ever plan on settling down?"
Damon, the younger, frowned. "She's not interested, and seeing Stefan and Mary, I refuse to compromise."
Rosa had exited the room and heard what he said. "Who isn't interested?"
"I'd rather not say," Damon the younger admitted, blushing.
Rosa rolled her eyes, "it's odd to have any Damon that's timid."
"I'm not timid!" He objected.
Stefan laughed. "Then why haven't you gone after Isabella?"
"How? How do you know?!" He asked in horror.
"You can't imagine our family would object to her station in life," Stefan said.
"Who is she?" Rosa asked.
Stefan replied, "the Lockwood's governess."
Rosa laughed hard, "wow, what is it with Damon's and beautiful brunettes?!"
Vampire Damon asked, "you know her?"
"Yes. I've been doing…research."
He laughed. "It's called spying."
She rolled her eyes, "that's such an ugly word."
Stefan picked up on the banter and added, "even when it's the truth?"
Rosa teased, "and I thought you were a gentleman. I'm a lady, and we don't spy."
That brought Stefan up short. "Lady?"
She huffed, "well, not here in the south, but I'm born into wealth and power. I probably have more money than you after the south lost the war."
James walked in after getting an update on his dear daughter-in-law. "And it gives me hope for the future to hear that."
"Where you don't have to hide you're half black?"
He nodded and turned to Stefan. "I feared vampires and hated the council. Now I just hate the council. It would have destroyed me to lose my daughter and grandchild."
Stefan smiled at his father. "She loves you too, father. And I would have swallowed a bullet if I lost her."
Rosa walked into the hotel lobby with Damon and Elena and her eyes were instantly drawn to Frank. He raked his fingers through his hair and walked up to Damon. "May I speak to Rosa?"
Rather than be annoyed at his approaching Damon to talk to her, she blushed. He was treating her like a worthy suitor knowing her skin color. She appreciated the respect he showed, and it made her face warm.
Damon looked over at the girls. "Why don't we all go up to our room. I have a feeling this conversation is going to get…interesting."
They all went up and sat around the large carved wood table with Edwardian-era chairs. Frank fidgeted and said, "I tried to confess. Well, not confess. I don't think I'm wrong. But I tried to tell my family I'm…" he turned to Rosa and grabbed her hand. "I saw you and I was just lost. Love at first sight is stupid and then I first saw you. Your eyes hold a depth and a secret. All I want is to learn your secrets and guard them with you."
He watched as Rosa stood and grabbed an ornately carved box and a shallow copper bowl. She set them on a table and took his hand and a long dagger from the box. He didn't flinch when she brought it to his index finger and sliced it. She then squeezed out about six drops before she bandaged his finger. Next, she did the same to herself. He watched, fascinated, as she added on herbs and things and a bit of a murky liquid. She stirred it up and said a chant, and he watched the bowl and was disappointed. Nothing happened. He felt whatever she was doing had been important and it failed.
He watched her smirk at Elena, cock her head, and hold up three fingers, then two, then one. When they were all down, the bowl rattled and leveled out. Still, nothing happened with the blood and liquid.
It was Damon who said, "it didn't divide."
Rosa grabbed the bowl and box and stood then put them on a side table. "You should be pleased. This is something you wanted."
Elena giggled, "oh yeah, it's suuuch a hardship for you."
Rosa sat back down at the table. "You know I'm happy. I…I'm not against this. I just didn't need it."
Frank blushed and raised his hand. "Um…what's happening? Didn't whatever spell you did fail?"
Rosa looked at him with calm eyes. "And if I'm a witch?"
He scoffed so hard he snorted. "It just lets me in on one of your secrets that I want to know so badly."
"Damn, even I think that's a good line," Damon quipped.
"I'm not powerful, but I can do that spell," Rosa said. "It didn't fail. Our blood didn't split. It stayed together. It's an easy variation on a destiny spell my mother figured out."
"And it means?" He asked hopefully.
"That you're my destiny," she admitted bashfully. "I've never married and I was/am happy." She then looked at him. "It seems we are drawn together."
He smiled hugely at her and said, "I feel bad for you that all you get is me."
She laughed. "I have a feeling my destiny wouldn't tie me to someone ordinary. After all, my whole existence is due to the fantastical."
Damon the younger walked through the woods, hacking at weeds and saplings with his walking stick. People knew about his feelings for Isabella and that realization made him feel embarrassed on top of hopelessness.
She was perfect and her eyes shined bright, and she was so good and patient with everyone. She made him want to be a better man the way Mary made Stefan want to be a better man. He tried, but all his efforts felt like dandelion fluff in the wind.
He hacked at another sapling, this one would have been an oak tree, and heard giggling. He looked to his right and there she was. Almost like a vision in green. She was beautiful.
He turned to her as she said, "and what did that sapling do to offend you, good sir?"
The smile she had on her face made her even more radiant to him. "Can we just assume I said something clever and it was very funny? It was my black mood I took out on the sapling, but now my spirits are lifted."
"And why is that, Mr. Salvatore?"
"I would think everyone knew the smile of a beautiful woman could change a man's mood."
She blushed and did a quarter turn away from him. "You are a flirt, aren't you?"
"I am? I've heard that about my brother, but never myself. Who's been telling you lies? The Lockwoods?"
She turned back and said, "I'm a governess and…I just assumed."
He shook his head and his heart was pumping so fast he heard his pulse in his ears. "I'm not. The only one I want to flirt with is you."
"I'm a governess," she repeated, blushing and stepping back.
"And my father was the bastard son of a man who shot his oldest child. I think your breeding is more acceptable than mine, in society, in everything but wealth."
"What do you want…?" She asked hesitantly.
"Easy," he replied. "For you to walk away from me right now. Go to the Lockwoods and watch their brats. Then tonight, as you lay in bed trying to sleep, I want you to ask yourself a question. Could you love me? The second son. A man who adores you and would give you your own children to raise."
He wasn't proud of himself for what he did next. He retreated. He didn't run, but it was a close thing.