Black Star I am so sorry that I had you worried! If I had known that you were worried for my health I would have written sooner! I am glad that you enjoyed the interaction between Dalia and Kiera and I hope that you enjoy this chapter as well, and yes, I have been thinking about going on to season three. Maybe even four but I will have to see.
Guest (chapter 5) Thank you for your review I really enjoyed it and it helped to encourage me. I am sorry for not providing a description of Kiera but I purposefully did that. I found (in my experience) that unless the author is really good at it that a description of the character often destroys the story, or damages it. As a new author I did not want to do that but rather wanted my readers to be able to imagine on their own what she looked like.
Lyryenn I am so glad that you have enjoyed this story! I hope you like this variable that the story took.
Shanty-lol I hope that this was soon enough and thank you for your review :)
Guest (chapter 17) I agree that slavery is a horrible thing and I struggled as I wrote about it. I didn't want to make it so horrible that it was an endless horror after horror of experience that eventually you just want to yell at the author to kill the person already to put the character out of their misery, yet I also wanted to show that even when it is at its most kindest it is still someone trying to use her and not actually think about helping her.
Freya:
The moon shone down upon the scene that was playing out to its unswerving conclusion. Freya watched in horror as her siblings writhed in torment, her long lost mother watched in hopelessnes, and their greatest ally bound to sevitude to their enemy. All seemed lost, or was it?
There was a faint buzzing, almost like the annoying sound of a fly. It had been there before, then it was gone. It was so easy to ignore it with everything else that was going on, but now it seemed to sound even louder, insistantly.
Despite what was going around her Freya managed to focus on it and found that it was coming from The Cursed One. Now that she was aware of it she could feel the magic just humming under the surface, seeming to call out to her. Freya focused her own magic on this foreign, older, and quite powerful magic. She started mouthing an incantation so that neither her aunt, nor The Cursed One might hear her. With Freya's incantations the magic that was bound beneath the surface of The Cursed One pulsed stronger still and it seemed to now struggle even more to escape its bindings. Freya knew that it was locked within the bonds of The Cursed One's body, but if an outside, powerful force were to be willing enough, that person would be able to do it. Freya knew that she was powerful enough, but would she be willing to unlock a beast that was already powerful enough in her own right, and give her yet even more power?
As Freya was dragged to her feet and The Cursed One's hand squeazed painfully around her throat, the witch knew that she was desperate enough to be indeed willing to free the magic of this dangerous beast. "Better the demon you know then the devil you fear." She thought to herself, before wrapping her hand around The Cursed One's wrist and letting her magic flow.
The Cursed One:
The Cursed One waited on the ground for her new mistress' bidding, despairing of any hope that there might be the slightest chance of beating this woman.
"I've changed my mind." Said Dalia, turning to look at the beast that crouched at her feet. "I want you back in your human form for what comes next."
The Cursed One bowed her head at her mistress then started to change, briefly wishing she had some clothes to change into before dismissing it from her mind. Obeying the prompting from the will of her mistress She grabbed the witch and dragged her to her feet. Readying for the order The Cursed One grabbed the witch by the throat, claws extended, and waited for the command.
She nearly let the witch go in surprise when Freya grabbed her wrist and clamped on. Before The Cursed One could wrench her hand away Freya muttered something than spoke louder. "Unbind what was chained,"
The Cursed One tried to wrench her hand free but found that she could not, even with her enhanced strength. Freya had tapped fully into her magic with all the desperation she had and used it to channel more strength into her grip and magic. She chanted in another tongue and The Cursed One felt heat building where Freya gripped her so tightly. If She had not been trained out of it she would have whined at the pain bulding up on her arm.
With a final chant and a shouted. "Unbind! Set free the sides of three, vampire, wolf, and witch, unbind!" Something in The Cursed One ripped free and she found herself screaming in agony. She was unmade, every bone and nerve ending in her body seemed to know nothing but torment and agony. Her body arched, was her feet even touching the floor? All that She knew was that the only thing she could do was scream towards the heavens that watched impassively the drama that played out below. As soon as the pain started it ended and The Cursed One stood, head bowed, and panting. Her skin rippled with remembered pain and for a moment all She wanted to do was collapse to the floor and sleep for a thousand years.
The Cursed One stood but for a moment longer before her head snapped up and her gaze focused intently on her mistress.
Freya had acted too fast and the pulse of magic was too powerful for Dalia to act and all she could do was watch as helpless as her subdued enemies. That feeling of helplessness faded rapidly in the face of that pure, menevelant gaze. A harsh and guttural growl filled the space of the building, and it seemed to build in its intensity until suddenly, it was silenced. Dalia felt that the silance was more terrible than the growl of before.
1204 A.D.
Alina was excited for her time had nearly come. Her people were what was roughly translated, People of the Moon, and she was going to be their new village witch. Each generation the most talented young girls were chosen to learn from the previous witch, or witches and to carry on the tradition of magic. Sadly for the past two generations there had been only one girl each who had had the necessary talent. For years she had studied under Dagmar and she only had a little time left to study before the magic would fully be passed to her in the official celebration. She thought that it was mostly only ceramony now as she had already attained much of magic already, but there were rules to magic and if she wanted the full power to serve her people the ceremony was what was needed. She found herself wishing that she could share this burden with other girls like her, but alas, it was not to be.
She had been gone for only a little bit in order to find an herb that was important for blessing the newest addition to their village, her own little cousin. She startled when a voice addressed her.
"Please miss, could you tell me where Dagmar the witch is?" A man said, his voice not unpleasant, but still there was something about him that was not right. Magic swirled around her and warned her about the man, but his face had an earnestness to it that she could not refuse.
"My mistress is just beyond the hill, I am going there now."
"May I walk with you?" He asked.
"Sure, though I am curious for what a vampire has to do with a witch?"
He startled, obviously wondering just how she knew he was a vampire.
"Some witches have been kind to vampires before, and I was hoping that your mistress might be one of them." He answered.
Alina snorted, uncaring that it wasn't lady like as her mistress was always stressing. "Mistress Dagmar despises your kind, the only thing that would surprise me is if she didn't kill you or send you somewhere else."
"Does she really hate our kind that much?"The man asked, voice slightly despondent.
"Well on a scale of one to ten, with ten being the worst, I would say that your kind rates an easy twenty." Alina said. The man sighed but said nothing more until they reached the hut that had been Alina's home for twelve years now.
It went about as well as Alina expected. The vampire didn't even finish his request before Dagmar practically drove him away. First with words and then, when he begged her even more desperately, with pain. The vampire left and Alina received a stern talk from Dagmar about interacting with vampires. Alina thought that that was the end of it.
1205 A.D.
The ceremony was complete and Alina was the vassel of more power then she had ever thought that she could possibly hold. Where before she could sense a decent amount of magic, now it seemed that she was just flooded with power. She could see the swirls of magic all around her and magic seemed to dance and play in front of her. It beckoned her to join it in its dance, and often she found herself unable to refuse.
One day the magic seemed to take on a new tone with her. It beckoned her, not to play, but to follow where it led. Alina left in the early morning without telling Dagmar where she was going. She traveled for days on end, but she did not mind the time spent traveling. Strangers that recognized that she was a witch either reacted with fear, or gave her provisions for the road. Some, not even knowing what she was, gave her a ride on their wagon, while others let her stay in their huts or barns.
Always the magic led her onward until she came to a hut that looked simple but well cared for. Somehow knowing that this was the place she knocked and waited. The door was opened by a beautiful woman with dark eyes and a wary expression on her face.
"Please, may a traveler find shelter for the night here?" Alina asked, not willing to give anything away just yet.
The woman looked at her with suspicion before nodding and opening the door wider. "Yes, of course. Please enter."
Alina thought it might help with the woman's suspicion to introduce herself, which she did, to which the woman then replied.
"I am Mara."
Alina walked into the poor but well kept dwelling, noting the simple furnishings and the few personal belongings. The woman of the house asked in Alina would like anything to eat or drink, which the witch replied in the affirmative, then proceeded to dish out a delicious smelling stew and some refreshing, cool water.
It was not long after that that the door swung open to reveal the vampire that Alina had met just a year before.
"You." He said, mouth hanging slightly open.
"Yes, me." Alina said, setting down the cup she had been sipping while sharing some news she had picked up on the road.
"What are you doing here?" He asked, and Alina forgave him for his less than friendly tone.
"I take it you two actually know each other." The other woman in the hut said.
"Yes, we met briefly last year. Your husband had something to ask my mistress Dagmar, but she refused."
"That's where you went last year? Not to buy a calf or something but to see another witch for something that will never happen!" Obviously the woman had heard of the witch Dagmar. This was evident by the woman's voice rising shrilly and Alina felt some pity for the vampire who must surely be suffering right about now."
"I wouldn't say that what he asked for wouldn't happen." Alina said, slightly enjoying herself too much.
"You...you are willing to help us?" The woman asked, going over to her husband's side and grabbing his hand.
"How do you even know what we need?" The vampire asked.
"Yes, and what's more important is that I have the power to do it."Alina said. "As far as how I know, lets just say that my magic told me even before I started on this journey, but before I can do it I must make two requests."
"Name them and they are yours." The vampire said.
"First, what is your name?" Alina asked the vampire.
The man blinked, then said. "Agnar."
"Ok, next is how do you feel about blood?"
Alina smiled at the shared gobsmacked expression on both of their faces, and the hope that was now rising in their eyes.
The ritual commenced once the moon reached its zenith, and when Alina felt her most powerful. It was not quite the full moon, but then they couldn't very well do the ritual once the woman changed into her wolf shape. So as this night was as close as possible to it, it would have to do. She collected all three of their blood in her favorite chalice to use for magic. She had commissioned it from a traveling silversmith that had stopped in the village for a bit. It had served her well and now it would serve her again.
She had to be careful with this spell. For one she did not truly know what she was doing, but she trusted the magic to guide her ad lead her. Another, thing was that it was the combination of what should never be joined into one. The vampire, the living dead, and the werewolf, a fully alive being with its own magic. Her blood would be the binding link between the two. Uniting with magic and stabilizing the elements so that they might accept the opposites.
The magic guided her and she chanted gathering the elements of magic, and the earth. They all willingly listened to her call and the pressure around her increased until it felt like a suppressing cloak descending on her. When she uttered her last word the pressure suddenly decreased, and she knew that she had succeeded.
Giving the chalice to the couple she told them to drink it all until it was gone, then she left them to their privacy so that the magic could finish its work. When she rose in the morning and saw their faces she knew that it was done. Her magic told seemed extremely pleased with itself, and she could not help but soak in the good feeling.
Accepting the chance to eat with them before she left, she told them that she would be by in a few months so that she might check on them and the baby. Still feeling quite happy from the remnant of the magic and what had transpired last night they acknowledged that they heard her, although she doubted that they really did. She left, happy that she was able to bless someone, and with her own magic and no instruction from Dagmar no less!
When Alina returned to Dagmar she made no mention of what she had done, and Dagmar did not ask. Dagmar well knew that magic led where it would and often asked things of witches that others should have no business asking. Things were peaceful as they prepared to finish turning over the responsibilities of the village witch.
Months later Alina was left to tend the village while Dagmar was away and during that time the couple came back for her to check. Alina was pleased to find that the baby was growing strong and she was eager to tell the ecstatic parents this. Everything seemed to be going well and Alina looked forward to her life as a witch and caretaker of the village.
Sadly it was not to be. Dagmar had learned from the magical community of a baby that had been miraculously born to a vampire and werewolf, and she instantly did the math. Counting down to the days that Alina had left for a time, and Dagmar had felt magic used through their master/apprentice bond. She instantly knew what was done, and she was furious!
She found Alina alone in the forest, digging around in their secret herb garden that was warded against the supernatural. The wards parted to let her through and she gave nothing away as she came up behind Alina.
"Hello M-"Alina's voice was forever cut off as the dagger slit across her throat. Spilling the blood onto the ground and soaking the plants that she had so tenderly cared for moments earlier.
Dagmar stared at her former apprentice, feeling a little sorry that she had had to kill such a talented apprentice, but sure in her justification to do this. Suddenly a gust of magic swirled around her in a whirlwind of power and it was not happy.
"Woman, what have you done?" A voice that was not a voice demanded.
"I only did what needed to be done." Dagmar insisted, trying to justify herself. "This foolish girl …"
"She only did what I guided her to do!" The not-voice shouted, nearly sending Dagmar to her knees. "I had chosen this baby for a special purpose, and Alina eagerly did what was asked of her, but you! It was only your hatred of vampires that led you to do this, not anything to do with your responsibility as a witch or your own people!"
"I fail to see how anything of what I have done will affect anything, the baby you wanted will be born." Here she nearly spat out the word baby with all the venom in her. "And the village will bring me another young girl that I can teach. I still have some years left in me."
"Oh foolish one. You completed the ritual transferring the magic to her as you well knew. You thought that you could take back the magic and keep it for yourself for a little while longer, but now the magic remains in her blood that even now still spills into the earth. That is all that is left of the village's magic that is now dwindling away to nothing even as we speak.
"But I still have magic!" Dagmar insisted. "I can do the ritual and later I will pass it on to another!
"You?" The not-voice laughed. "You have nothing but a small remainder of what you once had. Just as the old moon must give way to the new, so it should have been with you. That is the balance that should have been, but you decided to thwart it. I will now strip you of whatever is left of your magic, just as you so easily stripped Alina of her life."
"But what of the village?" Dagmar asked, trying to come up with anything to keep her magic.
"Now you think of them? Now when their hope is lying dead at your feet? No! With magic gone they will soon leave for land that is still blessed by magic, but you, you will remain here forever. Before I strip you of your magic I will leave you with this last bit of knowledge. Because she was so willing to sacrifice a bit of herself to provide for others a blessing, a blessing that had been your responsibility to provide. I will honor her sacrifice. The baby that was created with her blood shall not loose the magic that was in Alina's blood as what was originally intended once her life was assured. Instead it will be a part of her, as much as it was a part of Alina. That is your curse, to know that the magic you tried to deny lives on in the offspring of that which you hate most! If you had done the ritual the baby would have been merely a wolf and vampire hybrid, but now she will be three. Vampire, wolf, and witch. Three in one, all because of you!"
With one last powerful gust that knocked the witch to her knees, beside her fallen apprentice, the whirlwind left her, as well as her sense of magic that had been a part of Dagmar her whole life.
With the magic gone there was nothing keeping her age and the diseases from catching up with her. Within the year the village had indeed left her, and she was left to die alone.
Present Day
Dalia could feel a change in the ring that she had created, and her magic warned her that did not bode well for her. She suddenly realized that she was enclosed with this creature that she had for so long sought to control, and by her hand had directly, or indirectly, tortured and abused throughout the ages. Dalia could step out of the circle, but there was Klaus now revived and ready to enact his own revenge.
Dalia knew that to stay and fight the enraged monster in close quarters was suicide. She was still powerful, but her instincts screamed at her to run from the enraged predator before her, and she found herself listening to them. She vanished out of the circle and ran, where hopefully The Cursed One could not find her.
The Cursed One could feel the magic pulsing throughout her body, powerful and ready to use. It did not have the rough, grading, and foreign feel that was the ring's power, but rather this was warm and inviting. It felt natural.
She could feel it in the magic when Dalia drew magic to herself and vanished, and although she lacked the training The Cursed One had trusted her instincts her whole life, and she knew that they would not let her down now. She called to the magic, unsure of what she was doing, but the magic guided her and, for one who had never trusted magic or those who used it, yet she somehow found herself trusting her own.
The Cursed One turned to smile a wolf's smile at Freya and said "time to go hunting" before vanishing just as her mistress did. The Mikaelson siblings could only stare at each other and the places where Dalia and The Cursed One had stood.
It seemed that no time had passed before The Cursed One flashed back into the room, in her wolf form, and dragging Dalia by her bloody and torn ankle. At least they assumed it was Dalia. It was hard to recognize the bloody, torn, and broken form that left a smear of blood accross the floor as she was dragged.
The broken creature that was Dalia whimpered when she was dragged before Klaus and shaken a little by The Cursed One before being dropped at Klaus' feet. The Cursed One trotted off and gave her body a nice shake before changing into human form and putting on her clothes.
Completing that She walked over to where the Mikaelson family was still standing there with shocked expressions.
"What?" She asked, coming to a stop by Dalia. The witch tried to crawl away from The Cursed One, her bent and broken fingers scratched futilely at the ground, but gave up after being in too much pain and not even managing to crawl an inch.
The Cursed One bent down and grabbed Dalia by the back of her neck and dragged her up to her knees, Dalia was too weakened to be able to hold herself up, but The Cursed One had no trouble holding the witch up with her own strength.
"I bring to you a gift." Was all that she said, then waited for what Klaus would do.
Klaus reached down and tore the ring off of Dalia's finger, not caring that the finger had also come off with it. Uncaring about the blood or the wailing of the woman at he feet he extracted the finger, wiped the blood from the ring, then placed it upon his finger.
"Mother." He called stretching his bloodied hand to his mother and taking a step back, using the same hand to gesture to his aunt as he said, "come say goodbye to your sister."
The woman hesitantly walked over to the two people who hated her the most on the planet, as well as her broken and bleeding sister. Esther couldn't help but tremble at the menevolent gaze from The Cursed One, but knew there was no other option for her. She came close to her sister but then stopped, uncertain of what to do.
"Oh come now!" Klaus said. "Surely you can do better than that for your own sister? Your very own flesh and blood? Come, I'll even make it easier for you. Luv?" He asked, turning to The Cursed One.
The Cursed One rolled her eyes and slightly huffed at the term but willingly pulled Dalia until she was on her feet and held her there.
"Go on mother, after all she is your family. Go on and give her a fond embrace, for old time's sake." Klaus said.
Esther glanced at him, hoping that she was wrong, but knowing how unlikely it was. She made the final step closer to her sister and brought her chained arms around her sister's back, and embraced her. A single tear made its way down her cheek, but that was all she allowed herself to do. She waited, knowing that this was most likely her last moment on earth.
A sudden pain blossoming in her chest confirmed it and she looked down to see the dagger, brought especially for Dalia, penetrating through her own chest and into Dalia. She closed her eyes and when she opened them she was in a meadow, the dagger gone, and her sister standing there surprised, younger, and free from the damage that The Cursed One had brought her.
The Cursed One smiled at seeing both of her enemies, the added bonus of them being witches was good as well, standing there as ash statues.
"So." She said, her voice bright and cheerful. "Anyone else as starving as I am?"
She nearly giggled, yes giggled, at seeing the incredulous gaze of Freya, Rebekah, and Elijah as they stared at her.
Klaus didn't seem too suprised but rather he gave his own bark of laughter and said. "Why not? Come Little She-Wolf, let's see what we can find to wet our appetites.
I found myself writing this chapter, then not liking it and starting another way for it to go, then not even liking that one. So I hope that you all like this chapter and I hope that you will review and let me know what you think! Not going to lie I am currently chewing my nails wondering what you all think of this and hoping I didn't make any mistakes or leave any obvious plot holes.
As a further note I was always going to have her as a witch and I thought to bring it into the story earlier, but the time just didn't seem right. With this chapter it seemed to flow and fit so I hope you liked it.
I wrote the scene with Kiera and Dalia's fight that led Dalia to be a bloody pulp, but I thought that it didn't flow quite as nice as having the siblings witness their return. Also this chapter is long enough already, so I will be doing a separate piece with it.