Chapter 10: The Witch Twins

(Jane's POV)

The halls of Caius's wing were exactly like the other castle halls. The only difference was that the lights were dimmed very low, making it look like candles were lighting the halls. I also noticed that all the windows we passes were covered by large, heavy looking dark red curtains.

"I'm sorry about my brother's behavior." I blurted out suddenly taking Raven by surprise.

"What do you mean?" she asked confused, "Alec has been a perfect gentleman to me."

"Oh no I mean him avoiding you." I said quickly.

"Oh," she looked down the hall deep in thought, "well I'm sure he's going through a hard time right now and has a lot on his mind." Does this woman ever think badly of anyone?

When we reached the end of the hall, Raven stopped in front of a heavy looking door. I noticed there was an engraving on it that read: "Raven's Study." She opened the door and followed me into a semi large room.

In the far end of the room I noticed that one corner had bookshelves with ancient looking books stored in them. In the other corner there was dark blue couch that was surrounded by sketch pads. In one corner closest to the door there was a grand piano with gold plating on the inside. A few feet away from the piano I saw a violin and a dark purple guitar. The opposite corner of the music instruments was a table with a partially completed puzzle on it. Back at the far end of the room there was a large fireplace between the bookshelves and the couch with the sketch pads. In front of the fireplace was a small coffee table, which had books spread out on it. About a foot behind the coffee table was a large dark blue sofa that looked like it could seat four people.

"This room is my private study," Raven said taking a seat on the end of the large couch. I followed sitting at the other end leaving two cushions between us. "We won't be disturbed her. Now Jane," she said kindly, "would you still like to tell me what's going on?"

"I don't know how to." I whispered looking at my hands resting in my lap.

"Start from the beginning." She said patiently, not rushing me.

Should I tell her? The only person, other than Alec of course, who knows everything about what happened to me and my brother is Aro.

"If it's too difficult to talk about Jane," Raven said softly, "I can use my gift and see what happened in the past." I looked at her red eyes for a moment thoughtfully.

It would be a lot easier, but then she will be able to see everything that happened and I didn't want that.

"No," I finally said looking back down, "it's my story to tell."

"I agree." Raven leaned back into the couch waiting patiently for me to start her hands resting in her lap like mine.

After a few moments of silence, I took a deep breath and started from the beginning.

"Alec and I were born sometime around 800 A.D in a small town in England. Back then, as you probably know, medicine wasn't very helpful to those who were very ill. When our mom gave birth to us she was suffering from a disease that had already killed five other villagers. She died shortly after we were born leaving us in the care of our father. However, our father hated us. He blamed us for our mother's death and called us 'the cursed twins.' He was going to abandon us but the laws of the village forced him to care for us. Our father was one of the wealthiest men in the village at the time. The servants he had took care of us until we were thirteen. Then our father told them to stop and told us to fend for ourselves. We were still allowed to live in his home, but as servants not family.

Alec and I were forced to steel food from the village market in order to survive. That or we could eat the scraps of food left from the servant's meals, which wasn't very much. At first we were horrible at steeling and would be caught by the village guards over and over again. Their way of punishment would be to beat us in the center of the village. Then when we got home our 'father' would whip us both. I remember Alec always taking the blame for everything that happened and being beaten a lot more than me. I knew he did this to protect me like he always does. After the beatings, when we were alone, I remember Alec would say 'it's not their fault Jane, they hurt us because they believe it's right.' Alec was always like that back then. He never blamed or hated the villagers and our father for what they did.

As the years went on though the villagers began to grow scared of us. Our gifts were with us when we were human, but they didn't take on their full shapes until we were turned. However, they did make strange things happen around us. Those who were mean to us would be hurt in some way, and those who where kind to us were given some sort of fortune. The villagers stayed away from us, we were even banned from school. The only reason why we weren't killed sooner was because the villagers respected our father."

I paused knowing the hard part of the story was coming up. Taking another deep, unnecessary breath I continued.

"Our lives continued this way for years. Steeling to survive and being beaten by our father or fellow villagers. I remember that Alec would always tell me that one day he would take me away from the hatred we lived in. He told me that one day we would leave the village, find one that would accept us, and live happily for the rest of our lives."

I smiled slightly at the thought. Alec would always talk about how our lives would be once we left the village and how we would live a life full of love and happiness. Sighing I continued.

"However, the winter we turned eighteen things took a turn for the worse. Our father had become more abusive and the villagers were growing angry at our presence in the village. One night, after Alec returned from hunting, he walked in on our father relentlessly whipping me. I remember Alec trying to get in the way, but our father would just push him away not letting up on the torture. Finally, out of desperation to stop father, Alec stabbed him with the hunting knife he had. I don't remember what happened after that because I passed out from the pain.

When I woke up in my bed, Alec was there tending to my wounds. He told me that our father was dead, but didn't say what happened to the body. I didn't care enough to ask, I was just glad that he was finally gone. After cleaning my wounds, Alec told me to get lots of rest because we would be leaving the village the following night.

The next day Alec spent his time preparing for our trip. He prepared the wagon in the farm and readied the horse our father owned as well. Throughout the day I rested and packed food for our journey. Then everything happened so suddenly.

Ten of the village guards came into the house. One of them shouted 'grab the witch!" and the next thing I knew I was being dragged out of the house. When I finally got a sense of what was going on I started kicking and screaming for Alec.

Alec was still in the barn when the men came, but the second he heard my screams he came running to help me. He didn't get very far though because six men restrained him and beat him until he couldn't fight anymore. As the men marched us through the village towards the jail I could hear the villagers through my screams shouting: 'burn the witch twins!'

I don't know how long I was in the small cell for, but eventually some guards came. They told me that my brother was currently being 'interrogated' about his crimes of witch craft. I knew the truth though. Alec was being tortured into a confession. The men started to interrogate me and every time I denied taking part in witch craft, they would whip, burn me with an iron rod, or beat me with a stick. After several hours they decided to give up for awhile. I was taken to the cell my brother was in and we were left there all alone. I could tell he had it worse than I did, like always. Alec had burn marks all over his arms, chest, back, and neck. The part of his skin that wasn't burned was covered in blood from the whipping. He was sitting against one of the back walls holding his arm which was broken. When I went to sit by him I saw that his wrists were bloody from the chins they had him in.

I remember crying as he held me with his working arm. The whole time I was telling him that it wasn't fair we were being punished, and when I said that the villagers deserved to die in pain, he agreed. When I looked into his eyes that night, they were no longer the warm caring eyes of my brother. Instead they were cold, distant, and full of hate; just like today.

After a few hours of sleep, the guards woke us up and begun their 'interrogation' all over again. I don't know which of us broke first, but we couldn't take the pain any longer and admitted to witch craft.

That evening we were taken to the center of the village and tied up to tall wooden stakes. While the village priest read from the bible condemning us to hell, the guards positioned wood and hey around us. Throughout the whole process the villagers were chanting 'burn the witch twins!'

After the priest had finished condemning us, the guards threw a lit torch on to the hey and we became engulfed in flames. At first Alec and I screamed, but soon my brother became silent just wanting the pain to stop. I, however, allowed my anger to fuel me as I shout to the villagers that they would pay for killing us. When I finally begun to lose consciousness, I heard the villagers screaming in fear and pain. I remember loving that sound. Then I felt cold water on me putting the fire out and cold hands gently laying me on the ground.

The last think I remember before a new burning pain engulfed me was someone shouting: 'Aro! The boy isn't breathing!' Then I passed out giving into the pain.

I was the first to wake up and I waited by Alec's side until he awoke. Aro told us everything that happened and what we were. Alec and I accepted our new lives vowing that we would forever despise humans and would make them suffer like we did. I remember Alec saying: 'the human vermin deserved to die,' after Aro told us about what happened to the villagers. With that statement I could tell that my kind, caring, and understanding brother was gone."

I stopped refusing to look up from my hands. My eyes were glazed over and I knew that if I were human I would be crying my eyes out.

"Jane look at me sweetie," Raven said softly after a moment of silence.

I shook my head back and forth. I can't let her see my venom filled eyes. I didn't realize that Raven had moved from her spot on the sofa until she was sitting right next to me. She put one arm around my shoulders and placed her free hand in mine. I gripped that hand not wanting her to move.

"Jane, I will try to help you and your brother," She said softly, "but I can't help Alec if he's avoiding me. Don't try to force him to see me Jane, Alec will come to me when he's ready I've seen it." I nodded showing I understood, not trusting my voice.

"Now," she said softly, "we are alone Jane so if you need to cry I am here to comfort you." With those words I burst into dry sobs allowing my head to fall in her lap. Raven rested one hand on my arm and stroked my hair with her other hand.

For the first time in my life, not including being with Alec, I felt safe and loved.

Then I wondered how our lives would have been if Alec and I had a caring and loving mother.

Would we be what and who we are today?

Author's note:

Sorry it took me so long to get this us.

So what do you think of Alec and Jane's story?

Do you think Jane told the full story?

What do you think of Raven now and her relationship to Jane?

Review Please. I will try to update as soon as possible.

Sorry it's still not very long. I just feel that if I don't stop when I do, then the chapters would just drag on. I'll try to get better at longer chapters though :)