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The Witches

It had taken some persuasion, but Natalie Proctor had finally agreed to let the same funeral home that was handling the Fredrickson body take Sylvia. Sarah had finally convinced her that letting anyone else handle the body would be worse – all kinds of questions that no one wanted to answer.

She had released the body and gone to bed, sleep finally catching up with her in the early morning hours. She was a little surprised the next morning, though grateful, when she learned that Sarah had been up, making some arrangements.

Now they were at the table, catching up.

"She was supposed to be changing," Sarah told her mother, glad to finally be talking about it. "I let Elena come here, put her in danger."

"We both let her come here." Natalie said. Sarah thought she looked better than before sleeping, but could tell she was still being affected by the events of the previous night.

"You didn't know Aunt Sylvia was involved with vampires? That she was still working for the…" Sarah couldn't finish. She felt sick to her stomach when thinking about it.

"No, of course not," Natalie said with conviction. "When we decided, we all decided. She said she would change as well. She said she was changing."

"But you talked to her everyday. You couldn't tell?" Sarah demanded.

"You saw her every day too, even if you didn't talk. Maybe she felt it when you didn't reach out to her."

The accusation made Sarah a little defensive. "She never talked much to me, Mom. Not before, not after. She had no interest in me."

Natalie sighed, knowing Sarah was right. There had never been a connection between her daughter and sister.

"At least we found someone who might help us," Natalie said after a moment of silence. "Bonnie Bennett's grandmother Sheila can help us."

"Her grandmother?"

Natalie nodded.

"No," Sarah shook her head. "Bonnie said she's dead."

Disappointment showed on Natalie's face. "I'll keep looking," she managed to say.

Sarah looked at her mother for a minute. "You've been looking for years. Did you talk to Aunt Sylvia about it?"

"Yes," Natalie sighed. "I asked her to help find someone to help us change, but she always said we could do it ourselves. I don't know how to do it and she never even tried to help."

"She wasn't helping, Mom, she wasn't changing. She obviously didn't cut her ties like we did. At least we've been able to do some good here. But her, just words – to you. Not even that much to me."

"I can't believe she lied," Natalie said, staring at the cup in her hands.

Sarah followed her mother's eyes to the cup. "She invited vampires into our home. I know they were in our old house, but not here. She didn't change at all."

Sarah could tell from Natalie's expression that the discussion wasn't helping. Not only had she lost her sister, she had also been betrayed by her.

"I think the vampires can help us, Mom." Sarah said.

Natalie looked at Sarah again. "I know you do. I still don't know how I can trust them and I doubt they trust us."

"But they signed, Mom." Sarah said hopefully. "They're taking a chance on us. We're already doing what we agreed to, at least you and I have been."

"Do they know what we were before?"

Sarah shook her head. "I don't think so. It never came up. But that's not who we are anymore, we're not dark anymore."

"It's not so easy to change, Sarah. You've seen that. We've given up everything."

"It's not safe either," Sarah agreed, "judging from what happened to Aunt Sylvia. But at least I can sleep at night now."

Natalie nodded. "I'm sorry I wasn't much help last night."

Sarah understood. "It's OK. You were much more connected to her that I was."

"I'm also sorry to hear about Arthur."

Sarah nodded. "Yeah. I couldn't believe what they did to him."

"What did they do?" Natalie asked. "The same thing they did to Sylvia?"

Sarah shuddered at the thought. "Worse. I don't want to think about it, but it made me mad enough to agree to work with the vampires – with Elena's vampires."

Natalie looked sternly at her daughter. "What do you mean 'work with'?"

"I've agreed to help them sometimes, when they ask."

Natalie was shocked. "No, Sarah, you can't."

Sarah tried to reassure her. "It's OK, Mom. They'll help us too."

Natalie wasn't convinced. "Working with vampires is what got Sylvia killed. I don't want that for you."

"Working with bad vampires is what got Aunt Sylvia killed. That's not what I'm doing."

"How can you know that?" Natalie asked. "They were here for a day. Do you really think there are 'good' vampires?"

"Bonnie Bennett's ancestor worked for these," Sarah said. "Elena's doing it. If any vampires can help us, I think these can."

"Sarah, I've already lost my sister. I can't lose you," Natalie sounded almost desperate. "I couldn't bear it. I'd probably go dark again."

Sarah reached across the tale and took both of her mother's hands into hers as she looked into her eyes. "No, you wouldn't. We've decided – the past is done. We've changed."

Natalie wasn't convinced. She voiced another concern. "Do these vampires know who we were? Does Elena know what you've done?"

Sarah pulled her hands back and shook her head. "No. It didn't come up. No one needed to know it for the Agreement and we didn't get much of a chance to talk about anything else."

"Will you tell them?"

"I think I have to," Sarah said. "Since they know who we are, it wouldn't take much to learn that our family has been dark for generations. I have to tell them before they find it out on their own. It's not like I was hiding it from them, but they should find out from me."

Natalie nodded and looked at the cup her hands again. Sarah watched her expression, and thought she was thinking of Sylvia again.

"First though, we have a couple of funerals to attend." Sarah said.

The Warning

Elena woke up next to Damon again. At lease she wasn't on his lap this time. Actually, he looked like he was sleeping.

He was lying on his back on top of the covers, she was under them, fully dressed, except for shoes. This confused her at first, but she then she remembered.

She tried to quietly stretch herself – if he was asleep she did not want to disturb him.

"Elena, awake now?" Damon asked as soon as she tried to stretch her neck.

She gave up. She reached the hand nearest to him over the covers and found his as she stretched.

"Maybe." she said tentatively. He heard the hesitation.

"Are you hurting somewhere?"

"Still a little sore," Elena said. "What time is it?"

"3:30"

"Sunday, right?"

"Yes." Damon said.

Elena sighed. "I have homework to do. Even dying doesn't get you out of it." She released his hand and pushed the covers aside.

"Yeah, about that," Damon said. "Elena, Jenna knows. She knows that you died."

Elena had her feet on the ground and was about to push herself up when she froze. She slowly turned back to face him. "Damon, please tell me you didn't tell her that."

"I did. We did." Damon's face was blank now.

Elena's face looked desperate. "We can't do this to her. She can't know everything. She'll never understand."

"She doesn't know everything, Elena."

Elena closed here eyes and let out a breath. "She'll try to stop me, Damon. I have to do things, she won't understand."

"You underestimate her Elena. She always knew you were in danger. Now she knows you have help, protection."

Elena lay back on the bed again and let Damon pull her into his arms. "How can I face her again knowing that she knows."

Damon didn't respond.

"Every day it gets worse," Elena whispered. "How can I do this my whole life?"

"You're strong, Elena. You have help. Most wouldn't have lasted a day doing what you're doing."

"I'll never be done. No job will be the last. What have I done?"

Damon tried to reassure her. "Do you forget that you've saved people? Starting with me."

Elena sighed and shook her head. "You'd better be worth it," She warned, burying her head into his shoulder.

"I am." Damon assured her adamantly.