Chapter 4

I don't own Legacies, The Vampire Diaries or The Originals, they belong to Julie Plec (and whoever else). I just own Giulia and any other OC. I'm not making any profit from writing this.

This chapter isn't betaed, any mistakes are my own and English is definitely not my first language. Constructive criticism is much appreciated, flames are not.

My spells are the results of using Google Translate to translate from English to Latin so they're probably wrong.

Spells

(Translation) : when there's no translation beside a spell it's because it comes from The Vampire Diaries, The Originals or Legacies.

Thoughts

TUESDAY MAY 19th, 2009. NIGHT.

"You," she told the guy behind the cash register with the name tag 'Slater', "are a hard man to find."

The only reason Giulia was being so dramatic, was that the closest customers were a pair of girls bent over their books in the corner farthest from the counter, and a server that was fruitlessly trying to flirt with them. There was no way a normal human could hear her.

"What?" Slater asked, confused.

She grabbed his hand over the cash register and siphoned his magic, the red glow of it was hidden by the blue cotton glove on her right hand. It had a small hole on the palm to allow for skin to skin contact, she wore it for cases just like this, where she was forced to siphon magic in public. It wouldn't do for people to see her hand glow red.

"Dic mihi, hva du vet." She whispered, staring right into his blue eyes.

Freya's mind reading spell wasn't as effective on supernatural beings, their magic would fight hers, but she wasn't trying to read his mind. Don't react. I'm a witch and I have an offer for you. Is there somewhere we can talk?

He looked spooked, but nodded. "Luke, man the counter" he called out to the teen in the corner.

Slater led her into an office in the back and gestured for her to sit on a couch while he took the one on the other side of the small coffee table.

"So, what can I do for you, Miss witch?"

"I'm Giulia," she said, holding her hand out, "Giulia De Luca."

He shook her hand, "I'm Slater, but you knew that."

"Is it your name or your surname?" she asked.

He hesitated, "Both." Seeing her disbelieving gaze he answered, "My parents named me Slater and since it's both a name and a surname, after I was turned I decided to use it as both." He shrugged in a 'what can you do' manner.

Giulia didn't know how to respond to that, or even if she should, so she moved on, "I heard you know a lot of vampires."

"I know a lot about them too," he bragged.

"I'm sure," she said in a tone that clearly meant the opposite. "I don't care about that, I just need your contacts."

"Why?" he asked.

"Because I need money and vampires will pay a lot to be able to walk in the sun again. There aren't many witches who would make daylight jewelry."

"Wait, wait." he waved his hands around and sat forwards, "You mean to tell me, that you're willing to make daylight rings? A witch willing to help vampires?"

Giulia chose to ignore his disbelief, "I had vampire friends and I need money." She sat forward too and laid her elbows on her knees, hands on the coffee table, "I do have rules."

"Of course, you do." The vampire rolled his eyes, "What is it? You won't serve anyone who killed someone?"

She scoffed, "Of course not. Do you know how many clients I'd lose?" She grabbed the paper she'd written this morning from her trusty backpack. "Here, this is a magical contract that I want all my clients to sign before I cast the spell."

The contract was pretty fair. The client agreed to buy the jewelry they wanted enchanted and pay her 200 dollars for the daylight spell and a blood lock, ensuring only they could wear the piece. Once the vampire put on the ring/bracelet/necklace/etc., they agreed to never reveal the supernatural to a human being unless said human was A - a family member, B- a lover or C – a person the vampire intended to turn. They also agreed to not kill, hurt or maim anyone in a public place and to not use their supernatural abilities in public unless it was self-defense.

"Are you serious?" he asked.

Giulia frowned, "Is there a problem? It seems pretty fair to me, I'm not asking them to change their diet, just to be discreet. Look," she pointed at the clause, " I even made sure it wouldn't affect their ability to defend themselves!"

Slater stared dumbly at her for a second, "Are you sure you're a witch?"

Giulia conjured a flame in her right hand with some of the magic she siphoned from him earlier and showed it to him. "Positive," she deadpanned.

He nodded slowly, "Ok, what exactly do you need from me?"

"Well," Giulia grinned sheepishly, "I'm willing to give you a ring, free of charge as long as you sign the contract and agree to help me set up this business. I'll even pay you 20 dollars for every client you bring me, I just have no idea how to go about it."

"You'd need a website, I can take care of it, make sure it looks fake and that only the real vampires will send a request. You'll need a post office box if you don't want to share your address..."

Giulia nodded, "Yeah, I'm not telling them that. Or my name"

Slater nodded, "Then you're going to have to set up a bank account under an alias. You'll need fake documents for that, can you get them?"

Giulia nodded, "I know a guy." She said, thinking of Sam.

"Great!" he clapped his hands, "Then you just have to open a post box under your alias. I can send the clients the contract to sign, then send it to the post box where you'll pick it up and sign it or whatever you have to do to make it magical. Then I'll have them deposit the money in your new account. They send me the jewelry, I send it to you via the PO box, then you send it back to me always via the PO box once it's done. I'll pick it up and send it to the client. How's that sound?"

"Complicated as fuck," Giulia decided.

Thankfully, Giulia had brought several sheets of blank magic contract paper. It was normal paper that had been immersed in a simple potion for several hours. Once the paper had soaked in all the liquid, a small golden triquetra would appear on the upper left corner. Which was good because no one wanted to sign a magically binding contract by mistake.

Giulia had made some as soon as she settled down at the Salvatore house, it was always good to have it handy.

Their contract was pretty basic: Slater agreed to not reveal any information except her witch status and alias to the clients, he could tell them he was under a secrecy contract, and Giulia agreed to pay him $ 20 for every client he brought her and another 30 monthly for managing her website and the deliveries. She also agreed to give him two daylight rings, free of charge, one for himself and another one if he ever needed it.

Giulia did think she should maybe pay him more, but she wasn't going to complain about being able to keep more money for herself.

On the way out, Giulia made sure to kiss both his cheeks and shake his hand, blaming it on her Italian heritage. Which, it was, her dad might be dead, but she'd grown up with him kissing everyone to say hello and goodbye so she'd picked it up. She usually reigned it in with strangers, but she did come to him to siphon his magic so she ignored her embarrassment.

§§§

WEDNESDAY MAY 20th, 2009. PRE-DAWN.

Giulia sat crossed leg on her bed, toying with a small garnet she stole in Richmond.

There was a reason she used a labradorite to channel the full moon's powers rather than the Sun's. The magic from the Sun couldn't be stored. After being immersed in the Channelling Potion from dawn to dusk, the garnet would act as a conduit from the Sun to her, but it would only work during the day, for 28 days. This meant no magic for her to siphon at night in an emergency.

The labradorite, on the other hand, would be immersed from dusk to dawn during the night of a new moon and would absorb and store the magic of every moonlit night until the next new moon. This allowed her to siphon magic from it at all hours of the day, she just had to ration it.

Unfortunately, her labradorite was still stuck on the lunar cycle from the future, so it had run out of magic. The next new moon was on the 24th, so until then, she'd need something to siphon off of.

The garnet would serve her well as long as she didn't go out at night until after the new moon. However, she'd need magic in Prestonsburg and it was unwise to go grave robbing during the day. I could just absorb as much magic as I can during the day, but what if I run out halfway through?

Giulia contemplated this for a second, she took a deep breath to control her fear and reassured herself. It's just May 2009. The Gilberts are still alive. I have all the time in the world.

She could feel a part of her fretting and screaming 'just 2 years, oh gods'. She breathed deeply and placed the palm of her right hand against the back of her left hand, close to her chest. "Papilio lux." Her hands warm, soft orange before the light gathered into the shape of a butterfly and started flying around the room.

She stared at it, without really seeing it. She saw all the times she'd seen the spell cast or had to use it. Dozens of butterflies flying around a room. Sometimes, the comfort spell didn't work, the pain and fear were too strong.

Thankfully, this wasn't one of those times. I don't have to do it tomorrow. It can wait. I'll go back once I have a reliable source of magic.