Chapter Twenty-One: Gabe Morelli
Present day
Outskirts of Albemarle, NC
With the final message typed and sent to Zara, Gabe stood in his bedroom considering all the options. He could tell Stef immediately. But how would she react? Guns blazing. That wouldn't do. Zara was right, they needed to deal with this together. He could wait for Zara to get back. That would be in a few hours. He couldn't sit around with this information until then, doing absolutely nothing. What he needed was to get more information. But who could he contact?
Suddenly he had an idea. He dialled a number and put the phone to his ear.
"Gideon, I need you to get me Winifred's number," Gabe said into the phone.
"I'm sorry," Gideon replied, "did you confuse me for a switchboard?"
"Gideon, it's important," Gabe insisted. "I know you have the numbers of all the High Coven witches."
"I would have thought you'd have Winifred's yourself, given your history with her."
Gabe's eyes shot skyward as he shook his head. Why did it always come down to this? It's been five hundred years. "Well, I don't. Could you please message me her number? I wouldn't ask unless it was urgent."
"Normally I wouldn't, but I always did cave in to the requests of handsome men, so why stop now? Fine, Gabe, I'm sending you over her number."
"Thank you." Gabe hung up, waiting for the number to arrive. As soon as it did, he sent Winifred a message.
Gabe: We need to meet. It's Gabe.
Winifred: By the Pee Dee River in an hour. You know the spot.
Well that was easier than he expected. He wondered if he should be concerned. Not that he had the luxury of acting on any concern. He had to go through with this either way.
He went downstairs, already seeing that Phoenix and Adam were awake and sitting at the table with coffees. As he passed the living area he saw balloon remnants scattered over the floor. He picked one up and then dropped it in annoyance at the mess. If he ever saw another balloon throughout the rest of his immortal life it would be too soon.
"Phoenix, I'm going out to feed shortly, I suggest you do the same," Gabe said.
"Not that I'm going to turn that offer down," Phoenix said, "but isn't Zara coming back with some blood bags this morning?"
"She wasn't able to get any," Gabe informed him. "She ran into some... complications."
"What kind of complications?" Adam asked.
"She'll explain when she gets here," Gabe said, remaining vague.
"Shouldn't we wait for Stef to wake up so she can come too?" asked Phoenix, taking a sip of his coffee.
"Firstly, Phoenix, you aren't 'coming' anywhere near me –"
Phoenix barely managed to swallow the coffee before bursting out laughing at the double entendre, slapping his hand repeatedly on the table.
Gabe took a deep breath in aggravation, shaking his head and muttering under his breath, "I'm dealing with fucking children." He waited for Phoenix to stop laughing; then to stop coughing after he'd finished laughing. When it was finally over, Gabe asked, "You done?"
Still amused and suppressing his laughter, Phoenix gave him a thumbs up.
"As I was saying... for reasons you've just demonstrated, we're going our separate ways to feed. Secondly, Stef will feed on nothing but a blood bag, you know that. She won't feed directly from humans and she certainly won't kill animals. Besides, she can last longer than us without blood." Gabe couldn't help but be irritated by Stef's principles. If there was to be any kind of confrontation with the Coven, she needed her strength. But there was no point in arguing with her. They'd been down that road too many times before and she'd never budged on the matter.
"Okay, then Stef can stay here and guard the fort," Phoenix agreed.
How true that was going to be, Gabe realized.
Forty-five minutes later and Gabe was ready to head out and meet Winifred. Stef still wasn't awake, which he was glad about. He didn't think he could see her and not tell her what had happened to Flick. The guilt would eat away at him. Not waking her was fine, he justified to himself, because she needed her rest if they were to encounter the Coven later.
With Phoenix upstairs, picking out weapons to go hunting for wildlife, Gabe slipped out the door without a word, got in his car and drove towards the Pee Dee River.
It wasn't a coincidence that Gabe had chosen this location for one of his safe houses. He had a personal, nostalgic connection to the area. Five hundred and fifty years ago there was a supernatural hysteria throughout Europe which was becoming out of control. It was far worse than anything documented in history and perhaps wouldn't be a surprise to others if they knew that the height of this hysteria coincided with a huge importation of lapis lazuli to Europe: a semi-precious stone which until that point was somewhat of a rarity in that area of the world.
Of course, witch hunts and trials were well-known at this time, but there was also a great unrest between vampires and witches. Whenever a safe community of witches had formed, the vampires soon sought to overtake it, slaughtering many with the aim of keeping just one fearful witch alive for their own personal provision of daylight gemstones. Throughout Europe, countless vampires were responsible for the trials and deaths of witches, which is why many escaped to America as soon as they learned of its discovery. The first settlements of witches in the contiguous United States were never disclosed, never documented, never discovered, and they formed from the very start of the 16th Century.
But, unfortunately for them, vampires soon followed.
Gabe was one of them.
Gabe soon found the meeting location by the river. It was the place he had first encountered Winifred in the year 1510. It was the place he was about to encounter her again after all these years.
"Gabe Morelli," Winifred said, announcing her arrival, stepping cautiously through the uneven, dry and dusty ground until she stopped a few feet from him. "You look deep in thought."
He would have liked to have said that the moment he saw her in this location again, it reminded him of the love he once had for her. Indeed, the very spot she was now standing in was also the very spot where she first brought him to his knees. Though unfortunately not in a good way. He had attempted to attack her and she had defeated him with her magic. It wasn't exactly the meet-cute of a woman's dreams.
"Is there a particular reason you chose this location, where we first met?"
"Yes, to torment you," Winifred stated matter-of-factly. "And to remind you that I can overpower you."
Gabe laughed. "I hadn't forgotten."
"You came to ask about the child, didn't you?"
Gabe nodded. "How is she?"
"Alive." Winifred sighed, regretful of the news she was about to give him. "But unfortunately she is in transition."
Gabe brought a closed fist to his mouth, trying to control his anger. He couldn't. "Fuck!" Gabe snapped. Stef wasn't going to react well to this. He paced for a while, Winifred knowing better than to disturb him while he calmed down, then finally he turned back to her, ready to speak. "Is Cristian planning on completing the transition?"
"That depends on Stefanie, and whether she gives him what he wants."
"And what does he want?"
With a knowing quirk of her lips, Winifred replied slowly, "You, Gabe."
Gabe's eyes widened. There was no way Cristian could know. With Gabe's position in the Salvatore family, Cristian couldn't really believe he'd feed Stefanie his blood, risk turning her, risk his friendship with her father, could he? "How did he find out?"
"He didn't, Gabe," Winifred said, smirking. "In fact, I only just found out myself... just now."
Gabe absorbed this information, then snorted, almost a chuckle, shaking his head in defeat. Well played, Winifred, he thought.
"Don't worry, I don't plan on telling him," Winifred said, stepping closer. "I have no desire to let anything happen to you."
"And what if it wasn't my blood?" Gabe asked hypothetically.
"Oh, come now, Gabe," Winifred urged. "We both know you are the closest vampire to her – a vampire that she would want to protect."
"What if there was another vampire she would want to protect more than me?"
Winifred smiled, her curiosity piqued. "Well, then that would be interesting," she replied, knowing better than to probe further, "if that were hypothetically the case."
As Gabe wondered whether she believed him, he realized that all this inconsequential back and forth was leading nowhere. He came for information and he was going to get it. "Speaking of vampires," he segued, "I assume that you have a vampire working for the High Coven? That it's not purely a coincidence that humans are being turned into vampires left, right and center?"
Winifred nodded. "We do. In fact, you're familiar with her."
Now it was Gabe's curiosity that was piqued. "Who is she?"
Winifred tapped one finger against her nose. "That's the Coven's little secret," she smirked.
Gabe shook his head, feeling like he was going to leave with more questions than answers. He took a moment to study Winifred. He used to know her so well. He used to be able to read her like a book. How had he lost that ability? Gabe then noticed Winifred's eyes drifting down towards his daylight ring.
There was an awkward silence, as if both suddenly remembering that this wasn't how things used to be between them. They had once made promises to protect each other. She had fallen in love with him – the vampire who had intended to destroy her settlement – and he had fallen in love with the witch he'd intended to spare as his captive. She'd put her trust in him by making him the daylight ring he'd so wanted. But then he had broken her trust by turning a young girl just as other vampires were about to descend on them. It didn't matter to Winifred that he was trying to help her. It was that action that led to her activating the spell that resulted in her punishment of immortality. She couldn't forgive that.
"I will be at the Hanging Fields this afternoon with Cristian and he will bring the girl," Winifred stated. "I have no intention of harming any of you, but you understand that I failed to protect the witches of my settlement... I will not make the same mistake of not protecting my Coven."
Gabe nodded solemnly. "I understand." As Winifred turned to walk away, he added, almost desperately, "You do realize our disadvantage? If you are able to invoke the spirits of the dead witches, we will have no chance." He made a final effort to appeal to her past affection for him. "I will have no chance."
"Who is to say," Winifred suggested before parting, "that the spirits will even allow that?"
