The reading Elijah chose was a simple one and complicated at the same time. Fakers would usually use broad questions or answers. My questions were a little more exact when it was a human, but Elijah was no human. His aura was different today. It was darker than it was the other day. Vary in shades of blue and gray. The dark red undertones were still there and the black shimmer. He was upset. He had lost someone. Someone close to him. Wasn't a lover; a blood relation.
"Who died in your family?" The question left my lips faster than my brain could stop it.
"If you are psychic, shouldn't you know that answer?" After yesterday, the man questions my abilities? "I do not wish to talk about it. What else do you see?"
The red undertones, they were a mystery to me. When I have seen such a vivid red meant magic had hurt the man, but it wasn't psychically hurting the man. Emotionally. Some sort of magic had damaged him; changed him. The black shimmer was nothing new since she had seen it on Marcel and the men. He was a vampire. It was how dark the black truly was. Usually, the black shimmer was more of a dark gray, but this was a thick black type. He was old. Truly old. Older than any vampire I had encountered before.
"You are an old vampire. Older than anyone I have ever met." I started to tell him what I was seeing. "Magic has changed your life; caused you pain." The feeling of a tear escaping my right eye caused me to break focus to wipe it away.
"Does that happen often?" The man asked from his seat. His long right index finger pointed to the spot on my cheek that I recently wiped. "You seem to be crying for no reason."
"Allergies." The lie just slipped out of my lips. "I lost focus of your aura, would you like me to regain it?"
"If you are a real witch, then you would not have lost focus." Before I could defend myself, he continued on "I believe that you have certain abilities. That was why I came to you in the first place. The reason for the readings, I wanted to see if you believed in your own strength. You have the abilities and the strength, you are just accepting it."
'How dare he? I have no formal training in the first place…maybe I did, but I have no memory of it. He has no idea what I have been through' Elena thought to herself.
"What were the questions you had for me?" The man changed the subject.
"Simple, what do you know about me?" I wanted to know whatever he knew about me. I had a feeling he knew more about me than I knew about myself.
"You are an immortal witch," he started out. "You weren't born immortal, you were cursed. An old witch wanted to use you as a weapon; first, she had to "protect" you. Cursed you with immortality before she began to fill you with the magic of the oldest and strongest witches that had ever lived. The spell became incomplete because someone snapped your neck." The man paused for a moment. The pause seemed like was trying to gather himself. "Then a few years later, you lost your memories. That is all I know."
Lies. He knew more, he was just lying.
"You are being vague. I want to know more." I demanded from the man who was just giving me more pieces to the puzzle. "Tell me who I am!"
"You know who you are now. I can not tell you about the past without you dying." Elijah was finally being honest with me. "You have to find out for yourself who you were."
It was frustrating to still not know who I was before six years ago. Only knowing pieces was even more annoying. Jeremy refused to talk about the past with me. Nothing would change his mind, not even when I told him I felt like I was two different people. He was being so adamant about the subject, that it caused a rift between the two of us. When I saw him three years ago for the first time since I had lost my memories, we ended up fighting. Jeremy learned that Marcel and I were researching my past. Lead to a blow out where Jeremy told me that he couldn't be around me anymore. Still, letters were sent, emails, the occasional text and rarely a call just to hear his voice. Elijah was being as cryptic if not worst than Jeremy. What was so dangerous about learning who I was? Did they not realize how I felt? I felt like there's me, who I am without my memories. Then there was another me who knew everything about me but was locked up. Jeremy and Elijah could never understand how that felt.
"Any other questions, Miss. Gilbert?" Elijah's accent tore me from the thoughts of anger inside of my head.
"The death I saw, was that past or present?" That was the last question I had for him.
"It looked like the day you lost your memories, but it wasn't. It was odd." He stated as the vision yesterday puzzled even him. "The day you lost your memories, you were stabbed in the back, but not the same place you were in your vision. That day you were stabbed right in the spine. If you were human you would have been paralyzed." The man paused. His eyes shifted and narrowed to the floor. He was trying to hide the emotion he was feeling at the moment. Was trying to pretend there wasn't a sadness in his dark eyes. A clearing of throat worked for him because when his eyes looked back up, there was nothing. No pain in the eyes. Not a quiver in the throat like he was swallowing down an invisible lump. Stoic was the best way to describe his stature. "There was more grass as well on the day you lost your memories and more people. Like I said it was odd."
"You are telling me." I muttered under my breath. The man could clearly hear me, but I showed no sign of remorse for my sarcasm. Rather I just straighten up in my chair before narrowing my eyes on the man across from me. "What was this job again? The one you want me to do for you."
"A client of mine needs help finding a friend she had lost many years ago. Apparently, he went missing back in 1920's Brooklyn. I would need you to come to Brooklyn with me, back to his old house. I would need you to go back in time to see why he disappeared."
I knew Elijah was not giving me the full story. He clearly knew me in the past or how would he know of my ability to time travel.
"You know how dangerous that is for me?" I asked the man. "The spell drains me, not my powers. My powers seem to have a mind of their own when I am weak. They tend to take me over at that state. There is also the fact, I usually die after performing the spell. Unlike all the other times I die, I don't wake up for days. Oh, and the last part, my powers will be out of control at that time. Remember that rare earthquake in New Orleans a few years ago?" I didn't wait for him to answer before I continued on. "That was me because I went back in time and couldn't keep my magic in Pandora's box any longer. How are you going to be able to control me when my powers are in control?"
"How are you so sure I can't figure out how to contain your abilities?" Elijah questioned me. Just like I had done to him, he did not let me get out an answer. "I have a contingency plan that should work for you."
"You may the old me. That girl probably knew how to control the powers within, but I don't." My answer was blunt, but it was the truth. The man may have known the old me, but he had no idea who I was.
"Who does know you?" Elijah asked. "Who knows how to control your abilities?"
"My friends. They will have to come along with us." I spoke up right away. "They are the only ones that know how to stop me from losing control."
"It is a deal." Elijah said as he stood up from the chair. His hand slipped into his pocket to pull out a card. "This has the location where you will be meeting me. I will see you tomorrow, Miss. Gilbert." With those words, he left the back room.
The chime from the front door had let me know how lucky I was that he was gone even if I still had to see him the following day. I needed a day just to process what was going on. Why did I get teary eyed around the man? What was so deadly about my past that no one will share it with me? And what am I going to tell Marcel?
The fight between Marcel and I was something I was not expecting. Marcel was usually a calm man. But just one mention of me traveling with a strange man had my protector upset. I tried explaining the situation to him, but my words just weren't right. I couldn't explain it right. The rage that came out in him when my voice mentioned the name of the "strange man", was just about the scariest I have ever seen him. The anger in him even caused his vampire side to come out.
"You are not going!" The king's roar filled the whole compound.
"Marcel, you are not my father." I reminded my friend as I sat down on the metal table. My feet rested on the single chair that stood next to the table. With my knees bent, I rested my arms on the top of my thighs and knees. "I said yes to his deal. I want to go because he knows more about me. If I don't go then I am just choosing to pretend I never had a life before."
My reason behind wanting to go seemed to calm the king down. His features returned back to the mask of his human form. "I hate when you use your amnesia." Marcel spoke with a teasing tone, while he took a seat next to me on the sturdy table. "I am coming with you."
"I already knew you were going to say that." I spoke with a small smirk on my pink lips. "I told Elijah that I would not leave without you or Davina. You two are the only ones who have been able to stop my powers from getting out of hand."
Marcel let out a small chuckle then shook his head. "We aren't supermen." He mentioned under his breath. "It is not the easy task to perform. Has a lot more killing and harming you then I would like."
My head rested on Marcel's shoulder as my hands grabbed his hand closest to me.
"I know it is hard for you, but I am glad that you kill me." Words sounded weird, but they were meant to be sweet.
"You appreciate that I ripped your heart out, snap your neck, paralyze you and have ordered Davina to do countless deaths on you?"
"I do appreciate it because you are stopping me from killing anyone. I was lucky that earthquake didn't claim any lives, but I won't always be so lucky."
My head tilted up to catch a glimpse of his face.
"I need you to come with me. I need you to prevent any damage I could cause." I told him.
Marcel let out a small sigh, but I knew what his answer would be. Anything for family.
Davina was the only one excited about the trip to New York. The girl had never been out of New Orleans before. Marcel and I tried to explain that we wouldn't be sightseeing or going anywhere other than Brooklyn, but that didn't tone down Davina's energy. I swear that girl runs on pure energy than witch magic some days.
"We should be back tonight. Just don't this place crumble to the ground while we are gone." I could hear Marcel speak to Josh and Diego from the second floor.
The man started to whisper. Marcel only ever did that when he didn't want anyone without supernatural hearing hear what he was saying, but never did he do it around me. At least he never did it around me before.
Latin whispers came from my lips to start a spell that would allow me to hear what Marcel was whispering about.
"...watch out for any vampire. I don't need an Original trying to take NOLA while I am gone. If you want to see what they look like, their paintings are by the Garden."
The whispers stopped from lips. Original? What was an Original?
"Marcel, I need a few more minutes." I called out to the vampire.
"Five minutes or we are leaving without you." A teasing tone from my friend who I was starting to question.
My feet carried me right back into my bedroom. I only had five minutes before Marcel would burst into my bedroom to see what was keeping me. I had to be fast. Went to my bookcase to grab the crystal from the top shelf that was keeping my ratty spellbook pages from falling. I got into my bed with the crystal that would help me astral project myself to just outside the Garden. Astral project was like an out of body experience. Only my spirit would leave, and my body would just be frozen in suspension.
I sat with my legs in the lotus position. My crystal was held in my cupped hands in the center. Whispers came from my lips to start the spell to take my spirit to outside the Garden. My eyes closed to find darkness. Took three deep breaths before I reopened my eyes.
The hallway to the Garden. I had never been down there before, but I recognized it. From the vampires who still had the ability to speak. To the creaky iron gate that screeched like an alarm whenever the gate was opened.
Six pictures were hung up on the walls of the hallway. Three were hung up on each of the two stone walls. The framing was aging, but the paint still looked new. It was hard to see the faces in the hallway from no light source. If I was afraid to cast a light spell because of the vampires that were only a few feet away from me. Sure, they wouldn't see me, but they would see the light that shined from my hand. It was a risk, and a risk I was willing to take on.
My thoughts focused on a picture of my hand filled with light. My eyes caught the light shooting out of my hand to see whose faces were on the painting. In the first painting was a bored man. Couldn't care if he was there or not. His jawline was hidden from his long locks. Anger. That was it. Anger in his eyes. The painting next to him looked the newest. Blonde hair chopped into a bob that drew attention to her amazing bone structure and her high cheekbones. The frame could barely be any older than a decade. The picture next to her was older though the woman in the painting looked younger than those of the last two. An annoyed bored expression was in her eyes though she held a faint smile. Each photo I had seen had varied in years. The first one, the man looked to be before the year 1000. Next one was like it was painted just ten years. Then the annoyed bored happy woman seemed to be pre-Civil War.
My body turned to find the first painting on the wall. A prideful man at least, his body had pride. His face was too scratched out. Recent scratches. My free hand touched the scratches to feel newer ones over older ones. Did Marcel do that?
The photo next to the headless man was a funny one. Not because of the pose of the man but what he was wearing. Early 1900s fashion for sure. Top hat and cane. The man looked no older than the annoyed woman from the 1800s. Matter of fact they all seemed to be connected. Like they were related.
"Elena?" My body heard someone calling for me. My time was up. My hands let the crystal fall out so my spirit would return. It was like flying through the air at a quick pace. Didn't even have a chance to steal a glance at the remaining picture.
The spirit and body reuniting caused my body to fly backward in bed, hitting the headboard. My right hand reached up to rub the lump I would have the next day from hitting the oak headboard. My eyes opened to see the gold doorknob twisting as if someone was about to enter. The free hand shot out and grabbed the crystal to hid it behind the pillows I was sitting on before the intruder entered my room.
"Are you ready to go?" Marcel poked his head in to ask the question.
"Yeah." My reply was quick out of my mouth. "I will meet you downstairs okay?"
"Sounds good."
My sigh of relief waited until Marcel was out of my sage protected room. Why was hiding things from me? In all my years of living with Marcel, I never thought of him as a secretive man. If Marcel was hiding something from me it had to be a good reason…right?
The battlefield was circled by those of each side. In the middle of them stood two warriors fighting for their side in the battle. Neither wore armor. It was against the rules for two immortals to wear armor in battle. Each side was battling for their own reasons. The woman wanted to keep the balance, didn't want one side to have more power than the other side. The man wanted to bring it all down. Wanted to destroy the entire system their ancestors built. They had been battling long before they stepped out on the field. Until stepping out, they kept their battles verbal, or small fights between the sides. Nothing was more important than winning the battle. It was why they chose immortals to fight for the sides. Only problem. They both had shadow markings on their swords. Shadow marking was the darkest magic, but also, the only magic that could kill an immortal. It was not just a battle, it was a fight to the death.
The sound of slicing pierced the sky as the audience was nearly blinded by the reflection of the steel blade in the air. Blood poured out of the fallen warrior's chest. The audience was silent for the first time since the battle started. All watched as the champion, drove the blade into the fallen warrior's chest to curse them with the shadow marking. The marking from the sword vanished from the blade only to then appear on the fallen warrior's body to remove the immortality curse.
She fell to her knees next to where his body had dropped. He was her first kill. Never did she want to kill the man, but it wasn't for her that she killed him for. Her hand touched the cheek of her old friend as she looked down into his eyes.
"Take care of them." The dying warrior managed to say as the markings were killing him. "They need you." Those were his final words.
A tear dropped from her right eye as she watched the man that was like her brother, die right in front of her. Her body shook with pain from her loss. Her focus was on the fallen warrior, just like everyone else. No one could have seen the fallen warrior's lover dart out of the crowd.
By the time the champion's lover saw the scorned woman, it was too late to stop her. The small blade with shadow markings plunged into the champion's back.
"You are a killer." The scorned woman whispered into the champion's ear before she had her neck snapped by the champion's lover. He pulled out the dagger, but it was too late. The markings were already spreading through the champion's body. She fell back into his arms while she was struggling to breathe. With the strength she had left, she cupped his cold face with her left hand.
"No. Don't die on me." He begged the woman. "You are stronger than the markings."
The woman managed to lean in to whisper her final words into his ear before her head fell back on his shoulder. Her heartbeat was barely beating. Only small breaths could be taken. The markings were getting to her slower, but they were getting close.
"No!" The man screamed out as he picked her up. "You are not going to die on me."
With inhuman speed, he took her to see the second strongest witch to prevent his lover's death at any cost.
"She can never know. She can never remember you." The witch warned him. "Not until the sun and the moon meet."
"Do it."
The pinching from the vampire next to me woke me from the dream I was having. I could have sworn, I knew them…that I lived that.
"Elena, you have been sleeping the full flight." Marcel's voice was bringing me back into the real world. "What were you dreaming about?"
My mind was muddled, what was I dreaming about?
"I don't remember." I told him the truth while scratching my head. "How far out are we?"
"A few more minutes." Marcel remarked as he was looking down at his watch. "You were supposed to keep me company since D is sleeping."
Oh, poor Davina. Never been on a plane and was afraid of them. A little sleeping spell worked wonders for the young girl. I made sure she wouldn't be waking up until the plane landed at the airport.
"I am sorry." I said as I was readjusting the way I was sitting in the chair. Brought my feet up to the seat while my arms hugged my knees. "I guess I was more tired than I thought. I haven't been sleeping all too well lately. Can't even remember my dreams anymore."
"When we get home tonight, go right to bed. I don't need any help with any of the guys tonight, and Davina will probably end up stealing Josh for a movie night." Marcel always took care of him. It was odd. Our friendship. He had been taking care of me since the night we met.
I had no idea magic was outlawed in New Orleans by order of Marcel. How was I supposed to know? Received a warning from Diego, but I brushed it off. Continued with magic until Marcel showed up at my door. Threatened to kill me unless I stopped. I told him that I needed to use it. I explained I was trying to gain memories I had lost. He was understanding. Made me a deal. I could continue magic under his roof as long as I train the young witch who he saved from being killed. What was I going to say? No? I was living in a shack, practicing magic that I barely could control.
A lot had changed since then. Davina and I were both able to control our magic. I eventually stopped trying to use unknown spells to gain my memories. For several years, I was happy with my situation. Of course, I was still working to gain my memories back. But it was taking longer than I thought. Most of that was due to me putting it on the back burner for other things. Helping out Marcel. Working with Davina. Opening up my magic shop. With things starting to come up again, I wanted my memories back more than I want anything else.
"If we get back tonight." I mumbled under my breath. With the time spell, I could be gone for days…well knocked out for days.
"Hey, I will drag your body back if I had to." Marcel joked to try to take my mind off the doom that was like. "It will all work out. I promise." Marcel place a small kiss on the top of my head. "I will protect you."
"I know that." With the secrets that Marcel was keeping, he was still the most important man in my life. He was the only one I could confide in the way I do. I don't know what I would do without him in my life.
A jolt broke the sweet moment. The tires of the plane had bounced against the ground without any warning to any of us. The bump was enough to wake sleeping beauty who was nearly curled up in a ball in her chair.
"Are we here?" The tiredness of her voice was clear.
"We are. I guess." I said while looking out the window to see the city view in sight. "Is it too late to turn back now?"
"I am afraid so." Marcel chuckle just made me roll my eyes at the vampire. He was not always as funny as he liked to pretend to be.
After we got off the plane, Marcel had gotten us a town car to take us to the location. A brownstone in Brooklynn. Not going to be weird at all meeting him there. Apparently, it was where the man was last seen. I had to travel 90 years in the past. Longer than I have ever traveled before. Last time, I performed the spell I went back ten years. It was going to be traveling that would be the hardest for me. It was the coming back. It was the fact I would not have any control of my powers to keep them in the box.
The car ride to the location wasn't bad. Sure, there was traffic, but it wasn't anything bad. We weren't sitting in an hour worth of traffic. The neighborhood the brownstone was a part of, seemed worn down. Got worse as the driver continued down the block. According to the driver, a land developer had bought up all the brownstones with plans to tear them all down. That helped explain why the job needed to get down right away. If there was no connection left, then I couldn't travel back to the right time. Even if the woman who wanted the spell done was there, it would still be difficult. I needed to latch on to something important to him. Such as the last place he was known to be alive. That was something truly significant to anchor me to missing person.
"Here we are." The driver spoke up to the three of us in the back.
The brownstone had paint chipping away. Bricks that were once red now a muddy brown. Windows were boarded up. The door was barely hanging on for dear life. The steps up were the only thing that seemed steady even with the crack in the stone. The place looked like no one had been inside since the 20s.
Davina and I got out of the car while Marcel was talking with the driver. I headed up the stone steps with Davina on my tail. My first step inside, the wood creaked from under my foot. I hadn't even put full pressure on the wood when it had started to creak under my foot. With the worry of falling through the old wood, I was careful to watch where I was going. Careful not to put too much pressure on one piece of aging oak.
"How were your travels?" The English accent floated through the air.
Didn't take me long to find the suited man. He stood near the center of the room. He wasn't alone.
A woman with dark medium length hair stood next to him. Her skin was half way between cocoa and mocha. Or a perfect mixture of the two. She was slender, but still had some curves to her body. Wore simple clothing. Nothing like the five-thousand-dollar suit that the man next to her was wearing. The woman wore a simple army green long sleeve button-down blouse, and a pair of dark wash skinny jeans. Her jeans were tucked into the knee-high dark brown faux leather riding style boots she had on. The only odd thing about the woman, she refused to make eye contact with me.
"Elena, this is my assistant, Bonnie." Elijah introduced the woman standing next to him. She had scoffed when he introduced her as his assistant.
"Elijah." Marcel's voice came up behind me.
"Marcellus. What are you doing here?" Elijah seemed to be unfazed by Marcel's threatening tone.
Wait a god damn minute. Did they know each other? They knew each other well enough that Elijah knew Marcel's full name. That took me months to learn that his birth name wasn't Marcel. I remembered Marcel's freak out from yesterday, but I just thought he didn't want me traveling with a stranger. Clearly, he wasn't a stranger to Marcel.
"He is one of the friends I spoke of," I spoke out after the shock started to clear my body. "This is Davina the other friend." Okay, the shock was still in me.
How the hell did they know each other? Why didn't anyone share that with me? Ugh, men.
"We should get started on the spell." The woman next to Elijah said. Finally, she turned her gaze to him. Those eyes. Those eyes…
"Elena?" Marcel asked me as I could feel the water falling down my cheeks. His thumb swiped against my cheek to collect the tears.
"Allergies." I lied to my best friend. "We should start." I wanted to change the subject, I wanted to get off me crying again for no reason.
"Bonnie already set up the circle and everything else." Elijah waved us to follow Bonnie and Elijah. I was the first one to move towards where they were walking to.
They really did have everything set up. The spell circle was drawn in white chalk along the floor. Candles at each of the five corners of the pentagram. A pillow in the middle of the pentagram and circle. They even already had drawn the markings along the circle for protection. Impressive, but they were still missing something I needed to go back in time.
"D. Do you mind?" I asked the young witch that had clung to my side.
"Not at all." Her hand moved above her head to enchant the writings along the circle. We needed…well, I needed more than just a few markings. The spell was strong. If I was trapped in the circle, maybe my powers would be. Davina and I have been meaning to try out the spell, but we didn't have a chance until now.
I walked into the circle as Davina was still casting the spell to keep me from getting out. Would allow others to enter and leave, I was going to be the only one trapped inside.
"Tell me the name of the man I am going to find." I ordered Elijah while I was taking my place on top of the pillow.
"Julian Lasance."
Next chapter there will be more characters showing up. Like everybody's favorite bad boy vampire. This more like a filler chapter. I just wanted to fill in some blanks, get to some points, and dive more into Elena's past.