Chapter two
Another witch in town
"Come on, Anya, we should get going," Connor said, grabbing his sister's arm and pulling her towards the door.
Anya pulled free though. "Wait, Connor. I have a few questions for Annie first," she said, frowning slightly.
Connor rolled his eyes. "Come on, Anya-" he said, but she cut him off.
"Go start the truck, alright? I'll be out there in five minutes tops, I promise," she said lightly.
Connor sighed, but nodded. "Fine, I'm leaving you here if you're not out in five minutes, okay?" he threatened, before leaving the two witches alone.
"What's on your mind, Sweet Girl?" Annie asked her with a raise of her eyebrow.
"I have a question about this Astrum Stone," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. "I don't think you're lying, but I still have my doubts about it."
"Fire away," she said. "I'll answer any questions I'm able to."
"First, why haven't the originals used the stone on themselves, if they have it? Why wouldn't they grant themselves that immortality?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Because they can't. The stone won't work on them," Annie said. "Do you know the story of how vampires were created?"
Anya nodded slowly. "Yeah, I think so. About a thousand years ago, a witch lost a child to the wolves, so she cast a spell on her husband and children and turned them into vampires, so that she'd never have to lose them. Is that right?"
Annie nodded. "Esther, was the witch's name. When she cast the spell on her family, she unknowingly created the Astrum Stone as well. It was created by an excess of magic from the spell. When Esther discovered the stone, she realized how dangerous it could be, if any of her children learned how to use it. So Esther made it so that the stone wouldn't work on the original vampires. It would simply turn to dust if they tried to use it on themselves," she explained.
"Then why do they still have it?" Anya asked curiously. "If they can't use it, why not throw it away or something?"
"Anya, I don't think you understand just how powerful this stone is," Annie said. "It's indestructible. It can't be destroyed. And if the wrong people found the stone, it could spell trouble for the originals. So they kept the stone safe from those people."
Anya nodded. That made sense. Annie was right, though. She couldn't quite grasp just how powerful, how important this stone was. It granted true immortality. Whoever took the stone's power could never die. Not from a wooden stake or a witch's spell nothing could ever kill them.
And that reminded Anya of yet another hole in the Astrum Stone.
"The first thing my mom ever taught me about magic was that everything had a weakness in this world. Nothing could be truly immortal. Nature would be unbalanced if that wasn't the case," Anya said. "If that's true- and I know it is- than how can this stone grant complete immortality?"
"The witch who does the spell that grants a vampire the immortality of the stone becomes the keeper of the stone," Annie explained. "The keeper is the only person in existence capable of killing the vampire they made immortal. They can withdraw the magic from the vampire if they wish too. That's the weakness, that's what keeps nature balanced."
Anya nodded. They wouldn't have to worry about that, though. Anya would become the keeper, and then Connor really would be immortal. It was perfect, because she'd never hurt Connor, never take away his immortality.
"Do you have any more questions?" Annie asked her.
Anya shook her head slowly. "I don't think so," she said. "Thank you, Annie, for anything," she said honestly.
Annie smiled slightly. "Good luck, Anya, I think you'll need it."
"You're probably right," Anya said, before turning around and walking out of the witch's bar.
~LIP~
A few days had passed since Anya and Connor had met with Annie. Those few days had been spent researching the originals, finding out everything they could about them. The two needed a plan, and it needed to be a good one if they were going to be able to pull it off.
"Thank you, Kelly, really," Anya said, as she hung up on the phone with a vampire who had been a huge help.
"Who was that?" Connor asked, not bothering to look up from his pages of notes about the originals.
"A vampire named Kelly," Anya explained. "She used to hang around the originals in the 14th century. She didn't even think twice about telling me everything she knew about them."
"Anything good you found out, anything useful?" Connor said, still not looking up.
"Yes, actually. Granted, the first ten minutes were mostly just about who was best in bed, but Kelly did have some helpful knowledge about them," Anya said, sitting down at the same table as her brother.
"And what would that be?"
"She told me that Elijah is the oldest, the most responsible, so it would make sense that he would have the stone. Klaus is power hungry, so he mostly has it," she said, before smiling. "So, We'll just have to go through Klaus."
Connor shook his head. "Not necessarily," he said. "I'm not focused on who has the stone, Anya. All that matters is that it's with the family. I'm more worried about how we're going to get into the family. And I think I figured it all out."
Anya frowned, a little put out. "Oh, really?" she said. "What's your plan?"
"Kol Mikaelson," he said, finally looking up from his notes. There was a smirk on his lips. "That's my plan."
Anya's frowned deepened. She was confused. What did Connor mean by that? The past three days, Anya had learned a great deal about Kol, about the entire original family. Kol was the youngest boy, the second youngest out of the whole family. He was impulsive and violent and, from what she had learned, mostly from Kelly, women frequented his bed. But a good share of them ended up dead.
Anya was a little afraid of what Connor's plan had to do with Kol.
"How so?" she asked, pushing her hair out of her face. She had a feeling she knew what Connor's plan was. And she didn't like it. Not at all. It's for Connor, she told herself silently. You'd do anything for Connor.
"From what my sources tell me, Kol has a weakness for pretty girls with long eyelashes and blunt attitudes." Connor gave his sister a pointed look. "Sound familiar to you?"
Anya's eyes widened. "You want me to, what, seduce him into giving me the stone?" she asked disbelievingly.
Connor shrugged. "If that's what you have to do," he said. "I just want the stone that'll save my life, Anya. And I know that the only way we'll even have a shot at getting it is if you somehow worm your way into Kol's heart. If you have to sleep with him in the process, fine, so be it. Just do it, okay?"
Anya tried not to flinch at Connor's harsh tone. "Fine," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "I do it, okay? Whatever you want, Connor."
"Good," he said, already focused on his notes. "Now get out, Anya. I have to come up with a more solid plan and you're distracting."
Anya nodded, and barely gave her brother a glance, before she turned around and walked out of the room.
~LIP~
Connor and Anya managed to get a small house in Mystic Falls. It required Connor to use compulsion, and he was drained of energy after, but it was necessary. Now Anya lay in bed in a small room in Mystic Falls. All she could think about was how, not even a month ago, she was lying in her bed, her mom was alive, and Connor wasn't dying. Life was normal then. Life was good then.
Now she had to seduce an original who was more than likely going to tear her throat out before she got anywhere near the Astrum stone.
More than anything, Anya missed her mom. Laura wasn't perfect. What she had done to Connor was a terrible, terrible thing to do to your child, but she was her mother. She taught Anya all about magic. She took her shopping and talked with her about boys. She was her mom and Anya had loved her very much.
And there was a small part of her that hated Connor for killing their mother. But it was hidden deep down, pushed under her loyalty and love for him, along with her fear that he'll die. But, each day, the part of her got a tiny bit bigger. Eventually, one day, it would cause Anya to snap.
When Anya finally pulled herself out of bed, she hadn't slept at all. But she had to go into town, get a feel for Mystic Falls. Maybe she'd see Kol, and get a feel for him as well.
She'd definitely get some coffee as well. But nothing would help the heavy bags under her eyes.
"Where are you going?" Connor asked his sister half an hour later, when she walked towards the door, wearing jeans and green long sleeved shirt that brought out her eyes. Her brown hair was wavy and still wet from her shower. Her bag was resting on her shoulder, her Grimoire and her mother's necklace still inside it.
"Just to go looking around the town," she said with a shrug. "Do some recon."
Connor nodded slowly. "Fine," he said. He didn't add a 'be careful.' He just went back to studying the notes about the originals he should have had memorized by that point.
Barely covering her sigh, Anya walked out of the house that would never be home to her, and got into the old truck that had a tendency to break down, and drove into town.
Her first stop was "The Mystic Grill." Coffee was still calling Anya's name, and she knew that it would be a good place to see the denizens of Mystic Falls. From what some of the many people she had talked to over the past three days of research, the town was like a Halloween party 365 days a year. Vampires, werewolves, witches, doppelgangers even. It made Anya curious.
"Here's your coffee."
Anya looked up to see a young man around her age set her coffee down in front of her. She smiled at him. "Thanks."
"No problem." Then he frowned at her. "If you don't mind me asking, are you new here?"
"Yeah, I am. How'd you know?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.
"This is Mystic Falls," he said with a shrug. "Everybody knows everybody here."
"Well, I'm Anya Lewis," she said, holding out her hand.
"Matt Donovan," he said, shaking it. "Welcome to Mystic Falls."
"Thanks," she said.
As Matt went back to work, Anya stirred her coffee and took in the business of the Grill. So far, no one in particular stuck out to her. Then she felt a presence among the body of strangers that were in the Grill. It wasn't exactly a familiar presence, but it reminded her of her family. She had the exact same feeling around her mother and her aunt and cousins. Come to think of it, she felt the way around Annie as well.
It didn't take Anya long to put it together. There was another witch in the bar.
She craned her neck, looking for the boy or girl. She couldn't help but feel a little excited. She hadn't had a lot of human contact ever since she ran away from home, and Connor was nowhere near good company. And seeing another witch would remind her of her family, of home.
The other witch seemed to sense her as well. Because a few seconds later, an almost dazed looking girl walked up to her. "Hi," she said, looking confused.
Anya beamed at her, sitting up in her seat. "Hi," she said. "I'm Anya."
"Bonnie," she replied, frowning almost. "You're going to think I'm completely crazy, but are you a-"
"-Witch?" Anya finished for her. She smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I am. And you're one too, right?"
Bonnie nodded. "How did I know that? How did you know that?" she asked, confused.
Anya shrugged. "Witches can just do that, sort of sense each other," she explained.
Bonnie looked at a loss for words. Anya was just happy to meet another witch. It put her in a better mood. "Well, why don't you sit down and we can talk about, yeah know, witch stuff-"
"Oh, no," Bonnie cut Anya off with a sigh, looking over her shoulder at the door.
"What's 'oh no?'" she questioned, already turning around. Then her eyes widened slightly. "Oh no," she whispered to herself.
Walking through the door, an irritating grin on his face, was the man Anya had to use to save her brother's life. Kol Mikaelson.
~LIP~
A/N: thank you to: Guest, Shannon The Original, UrieNanashi, BiteMeVampire1, and I'm Plotting Something Evil for reviewing!
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~Abby :)