Chapter five

Unforgivable

"Here, drink this."

Anya pressed a glass of blood into Connor's hands, and then watched him to make sure he drank it.

Hours had passed since she had come home to discover Connor vomiting up blood and convulsing on the floor. All because of his curse. His curse his own mother casted on him. Anya would never know how a mother would be able to put such a horrific curse on their own child.

Neither said anything. There was nothing to say. It was in Anya's nature to try to make people feel better. Every inch of her urged her to tell Connor that he would be fine- his little episode didn't mean anything. It wasn't a sign. But there would be no point. It was a lie, and Connor would know it. Then he'd just blow up at her for telling him pointless lies.

So, despite what Anya wanted to do, she knew better than to do it.

"Are you alright for now?" She asked her brother then. He nodded gruffly, staring at the white wall in front of him, like it might hold all the solutions to their problems. His blonde hair was full of sweat, and stuck to his pale forehead. In the corner of his mouth, Anya could still see dried blood.

With one last worried glance at her old brother, Anya turned around and made a beeline for the kitchen. From out under the kitchen sink, she pulled out a red bucket, old rubber gloves, a stained rag, and a bottle of bleach. Then she got to work

Anya spent the next hour scrubbing the floors of blood. She scrubbed and scrubbed until her hands hurt and her eyes watered at the scent of chlorine bleach in the air. But she eventually got what she wanted- the blood stains were gone, as was the smell. There were no remains of Connor's episode. It was almost like it never happened.

But then Anya closed her eyes and the first thing she saw was the image of her brother, covered in blood and sweat, vomiting up the thick, sticky blood that had previously been in his stomach.

Just then, Connor's cell phone rang in her pocket. She had been using it, since she had yet to get a new one.

"Hello?" she said quickly, praying the person who was calling was the person she wanted it to be.

"Anya, honey? You called?"

Anya gave a sigh of relief. "Annie, hey. Yeah, I did call. I need your help. Badly."

Before everything happened, the two witches Anya had always gone to were her mother and her Aunt Molly. They always gave her all the knowledge and advice she had needed when it came to magic. But since her mother was dead and calling Molly was out of the question, Anya turned to the only witch Anya knew could help.

"What happened, Sweet Girl?" The older witch asked her, and Anya could practically hear her frown.

Anya took a deep breath and lowered her voice, so that Connor had a worse chance of hearing her. "I think Connor's body is rejecting the change, because of his curse."

Anya heard Annie inhale sharply. "What happened, Anya? Start at the beginning."

"I came home a few hours ago to find my brother vomiting up blood. And he hasn't been able to keep any blood bags down ever since. I finally just gave him a glass of my blood, in case he'd be able to hold fresh blood down," she explained, before looking down at her bandaged wrist. She doubted it work, but Anya wasn't going to fail at saving Connor because she didn't exhaust every possible solution.

Annie sighed. "I think you're right," she said finally. "I think the curse finally made its way to his immune system, and now it's starting to unravel the vampire in him. Like it was meant to. How long has Connor been a vampire?"

"A month, give or take," Anya said after thinking for a bit.

"Since he's still so young, the curse will have a worse effect on him," Annie explained. "How's the plan to get the stone going?"

"It's… going," Anya said finally, her stomach sinking with every word Annie spoke. "So, what is the curse going to do? Turn Connor back into a human?"

"No, nothing can do that," Annie said. "Once a human changes into a vampire, they can't turn back. There's no spell, no stone, no nothing that is capable of doing that."

"Then what is the curse going to do to him?" Anya asked, starting to grow impatient.

"It's going to make it so that Connor is basically going to be unable to do anything a vampire can do. It won't allow him to compel, to use his strength or speed. It will basically turn him into a vegetable. And the first step in all of that is having his body reject any blood that is put into it. He'll eventually start to desiccate."

"You said we had months," Anya said accusingly. "Why is all of this happening now?"

"I guess the curse is stronger than I originally thought it to be," Annie said eventually. "Your mother was a hell of a witch."

"I know," Anya said through gritted teeth. "I wish I could say that about her being a parent."

Silence followed Anya's outburst. Eventually, she sighed. "What can I do? To slow down the curse, so that I have more time to get the stone?"

Annie sighed. "I don't know if there's anything you can do, Anya."

"No, there must be!" she exclaimed. "We're witches! We have magic! And magic has no limits!"

"No, it really doesn't," Annie admitted. "But the people who wield it do. Witches have many limits, Anya. And I'm afraid that whatever can help your brother is just out of your limits."

"I'll do anything, Annie," Anya said desperately. "Just tell me what to do, and I'll do it."

"You don't want to start down that road, Anya," she said warningly. "It's a dangerous road that never ends well."

"What are you talking about?" Anya said with a frown.

"I'm talking about dark magic."

The air left Anya. Her eyes widened just at the mention of one of the taboos of witches. Dark magic. It was especially frowned upon in the Lewis clan, as well as the other taboo of witches- vampires. Anya had grown up hearing about dark witches and the terrible things they did- as well as the terrible things that happened to them. Unlike the stories of vampires, those lessons actually sunk in.

Anya had always promised herself that dark magic was a level she wouldn't sink to, no matter what her problem was.

"You're saying that… I can help Connor only by using dark magic?" Anya's voice was barely a whisper. She felt as if dark magic was a tangible object, and it could hear her talking about it.

"Don't, Anya," Annie said. "Whatever you're thinking about doing, don't do it."

"Just tell me what will stop my brother from dying, Annie!" she snapped.

Anya felt instantly bad for snapping at the only person who had been willing to help her save Connor, but that day had been a terrible, stressful day.

Annie sighed after a long period of silence. "Dark magic will be the only source of magic that will help you, Anya. Light magic and witches would never think of any spells that would help save a vampire. But I'm warning you, and you better listen to me. This is not a path you want to go down, Anya. The things that will happen to you if you divulge into this kind of magic even once… please, Anya. Just keep looking for the stone. That's what you need to do to save Connor."

But Connor would be dead by the time Anya ever got her hands on that stupid rock.

"Thanks for all your help, Annie," Anya said in a hollow voice.

Then the line went dead when she hung up.

~LIP~

"What's going on, Anya? And don't you try to lie to me."

Anya gasped as she walked into the living room. Blood stained the couch and the coffee table, and she knew that it was the blood Connor had drank an hour and a half ago.

"What happened, Connor?" she demanded, picking up a paper towel and going to wipe Connor's bloody mouth with it. He shook her off.

"Don't try to change the subject," he growled at her. "What happened? I heard you talking to that witch." He said 'witch' like it was the mold that grew in the deepest parts of hell.

"The curse is killing me faster than we thought it was, isn't it?"

Anya flinched, but Connor remained stoic, as if none of this was affecting him. "Yes, it is," she said quietly, her paper towel fluttering to the ground. "Or, at least, Annie thinks so."

Connor sighed. "That's why I can't keep blood down, isn't it?"

She nodded. "Yeah, it is."

"And what is the magical cure, Anya?" he asked, running his hand over his face as he began pacing the room. "What spells are you going to do this time?"

"None," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. "There's nothing I can do, Connor. Mom's spell… it's stronger than we thought it was. She was a very powerful witch. Though. We both know that."

Connor frowned at her. "So, you're just going to let me die?" Anya flinched again. "What about your promise, Anya? You promised you'd save me."

She sighed. "It's… it's complicated, Connor," she said finally, feeling utterly exhausted and defeated. "The only thing that can slow down the curse is something I just can't do."

Connor narrowed his eyes at her. "And what can't you do?" Anya was young, but she was a strong witch. She was a Lewis witch, after all. All the witches from that family were powerful witches.

"Dark magic," she replied, her voice small beneath her brother's stare.

Connor scoffed. "Really, Anya?" he said, looking at his little sister like she was the most childish, immature little girl he knew.

"It's not something to joke about, Connor!" Anya exclaimed. "You know what happened to Great Aunt Penelope-"

"I hate to break it to you, Anya," Connor said, cutting her off, "but Great Aunt Penelope wasn't even a witch, let alone a dark witch. She wasn't driven insane by any dark magic and she didn't murder herself and half the village. She was a human who died in a car crash twenty seven years before you were born. Everyone just made up that story to scare the younger ones into not digging into dark shit like that. Apparently, it worked."

"That's not the point, Connor," Anya said with a shake of her head. "Even if the story's a fake, that doesn't make the consequences any less real. We both know what happens to dark witches. And I can't go down that path. Not now, not ever."

"Why not?" Connor pushed, anger lighting up his blue eyes.

"Because it's unforgivable!" she shouted. "Because if I do this, if I use dark magic even once, I'll never be forgiven for it. And I just- I can't live with myself, knowing I went against the one thing I believe in- that dark magic is something you just don't do."

Connor sighed then, as Anya ran a hand over her face. "You know what else is unforgivable, Anya?" he said quietly, causing his sister to look up at him.

"What?" she asked warily.

"Letting your brother die even when you had the power to stop it."

Anya exhaled loudly. She couldn't do it. She couldn't abandon her morals and beliefs, especially when she found herself doing just that lately.

But Anya couldn't exactly abandon her brother either.

She closed her eyes. She had promised not only Connor but herself that she'd save him, no matter what she had to do. And even though she never imagined she'd be attempting dark magic, if it was the only thing that would save her brother from dying for good…

Anya took a deep breath, her hands shaking slightly against her sides. "Whatever it takes," she said, opening her eyes to look up at her brother.

Connor smirked down at her. "Whatever it takes," he replied.

He knew full well that he had just succeeded in getting his little sister to turn her back on the last of her morals, just to save his life.

~LIP~

A/N: so I know a lot of you are wondering when Anya will finally stand up to Connor. It won't be coming for a while. But she'll start to get a life of her own the more her relationship with Connor- and Bonnie- develops. And that will lead to a fight with her brother.

Thank you to: Cassandra-Jayne, xxdarkvampireangelxx, SkullKey4758, Lovely Rain Dancer, NIGHTANGEL21, and mindyrainbowpants for reviewing!

Review!

~Abby :)