Elena made her way to Freya's apartment the next day at the designated time and knocked on her door. She thought about refusing to go, but Freya seemed like the type that would follow through on her threat to come get her and Elena really didn't want her showing up at her house. She wasn't ready for the others to know yet. It wasn't as if she was afraid of their reactions or anything. She might have to hear it about keeping it a secret, but that would be more annoying than anything else. She just wasn't ready for them to know. This wasn't something she was proud of. She didn't have anything against witches in general, although she would admit that she had yet to meet one that didn't let the power go to their head. Even Bonnie became very pigheaded over it. That wasn't the problem though. The problem was that this was just a connection to Esther she didn't want. She feared what she might do with it in the future.

Freya opened the door moments later. "Hello, Elena. I'm glad to see you made it. Come in."

"You didn't exactly give me a choice," Elena grumbled as she stepped inside and walked past the older witch.

"No, I didn't," Freya agreed as she closed the door. "Thank you for not making me chase after you though."

"The last thing I need is you showing up to my house," Elena said irritably.

"I can see that you're angry. That's fine. You don't have to like me, Elena," Freya said.

"Just obey you, right?" Elena asked snidely. It was similar to what Esther told her once. It only made her resent Freya more right now.

"In manners of witchcraft while you're in this city, yes. I know it's unconventional, but it's how this city is run. Now, I don't have a lot of rules, but the ones I have are none-negotiable," Freya said firmly.

"What rules?" Elena asked. She figured she might as well hear those right away, so she knew what she was up against.

"Two of them I've already mentioned. No attacking vampires unprovoked, which I don't think you'll have an issue with. The other was, of course, no magic in public," Freya said.

"I'd rather not use it at all," Elena mumbled.

"Yes, I'd gathered that. You can use it as little as you want once you've gained control of it. There are other rules. No magic involving human sacrifice. I have zero tolerance for that," Freya said in a hard tone.

"I would never do that. I've been on the other side of that equation," Elena said. She'd forgiven Nik for what he'd done, but that night would always haunt her. She could never do something like that to someone else.

"Someone tried to sacrifice you?" Freya asked with a frown. No wonder the girl was so wary of magic. She'd experienced one of the worst parts of magic.

"Someone did sacrifice me. I was saved with a spell. I'm a doppelganger, so I'm sure you can imagine my blood is valuable to magical rituals. My blood was used to reverse a curse," Elena told her.

"You don't have to answer this, but was it your mother who sacrificed you?" Freya asked. That would explain a lot. It would explain Elena's hatred for her mother and why she was so hellbent not to follow in her footsteps.

"No, but it was her fault. She created both the curse and the ritual to reverse it," Elena told her.

Freya nodded. "Anyway, I also don't allow Expression. I don't expect that to be an issue with you, given how you feel about sacrifice though," Freya said.

"What's Expression?" Elena asked. She'd never heard that term before.

Freya raised an eyebrow in surprise. She knew Elena was new to magic, but she figured she'd at least have a good sense of the different types of magic. She was at least raised by a witch. "You don't know what Expression is? Do you know the other types of magic?"

Elena shook her head. "I didn't know there were different kinds."

"Your mother didn't explain any of this to you? She didn't prepare you for when or if you got your magic?" Freya asked in disbelief.

"I didn't really spend a lot of time talking to her. I tried to avoid her as much as possible," Elena said.

"Your entire life? She had a duty to prepare you when you were growing up," Freya said.

"Oh, I only met her about a year and a half ago. I was adopted, sort of. It's a long story, but my first interaction with her was when I was eighteen, and all of those interactions were bad," Elena said.

"Sorry, I assumed things that I shouldn't have. Alright, let's sit down. It looks like today will be a strictly informational session," Freya said before leading the way to the couch, where she sat down.

Elena sat next to Freya, leaving a small space between them.

"To answer your question, Expression is a perversion of magic, at least that's how most witches look at it. It's extremely dark and volatile. It can destroy witches. Most of us won't have anything to do with it," Freya explained.

Elena nodded that she understood. "It doesn't sound like anything I'd want anything to do with anyway."

"Alright, tell me what you do know about magic. Do you know anything?" Freya asked.

"Yeah, a little, but not much. Most of what I know was from a former friend of mine. She's a witch. She found out when we were in high school. She's another reason I'm so wary of it. She let it go to her head. She thought she could do whatever she wanted. I think she believed nothing could overpower her because she was a witch," Elena explained.

Freya pinched the bridge of her nose. "See, that's the problem with witches who aren't taught about their heritage before they tap into it. They aren't taught to be responsible with it, and they think their power knows no bounds. That isn't true. Having magic is no different than having a loaded gun. You have to know how to use it responsibly or you'll hurt someone else or yourself."

"Well, I'm kind of glad I wasn't taught. I wouldn't have been taught how to use it responsibly," Elena said. Esther would've taught her to use it the way she did, and that would've been awful. What she did to Nik was proof of that alone.

"You will be now," Freya assured her. "Alright, there are many types of magic, but for now, we'll talk about two. Those are what you'll deal with the most. There's traditional magic and ancestral magic. Traditional magic is magic that comes from nature. That's probably what you have."

Elena nodded. "I think so. That's what my friend has too."

"Now, ancestral magic is what the witches of New Orleans possess. They get their magic from their ancestors, which makes them limited. A part of how they get it is by sacrificing four young girls every few hundred years," Freya explained.

"That's why you mentioned no human sacrifice," Elena said.

"Yes. It's also a large part of why things are the way they are here. When I got here, Marcel had banned magic in the Quarter because of the last ritual they did. The ritual is supposed to resurrect the girls sacrificed, but it still involves murdering teenagers, which Marcel had a big problem with. I agreed with him, but banning magic wasn't the answer either. I took control to provide a better option. The witches can practice magic and are no longer under Marcel's thumb, but they are under my rule, and I won't allow anything like that to happen again," Freya said firmly.

Elena nodded. She understood a little better now. Freya wasn't like Esther. She didn't want to control her for the sake of it. She was trying to protect witches, both from themselves and from Marcel. "Sorry for the way I acted before. It's just that from the moment I found out who my mother was, she did nothing but control my every move. I wasn't even allowed to have a private conversation without my dick of a brother reporting it to her."

"And you felt like I was trying to control you too. I don't want to control you, Elena, not like that anyway. I just need you to be in control of yourself, and I need you to use magic responsibly. As I said, I have rules, but I don't think they're unreasonable, and I don't think you'll have trouble following them," Freya said. She felt bad for the girl. She knew what it was like to be controlled. The way Elena's mother controlled her was very similar to the way Dahlia had controlled Freya.

"I get it now," she said.

"I'd like to ask you a personal question. Normally I wouldn't, but I think this is something that I need to know. The cloaking spell on you, is that to keep your mother from finding you?" Freya asked.

Elena nodded. "She's a powerful witch, and if she gets her hands on me again, she'll never let me go. She may even take me from my siblings, and they're the only thing that kept me sane. I probably would've killed myself if not for them."

"So, you're running. Well, you don't have to anymore. I won't let your mother touch you. You have my word on that. Every witch in this city will fight her if that's what it takes. I will see to that," Freya promised her. She saw herself in this young girl. She was not going to let her live even close to the hellish life she did. She would protect her.

"You'd really do that?" Elena asked in surprise. Freya barely knew her. This was their second meeting.

Freya nodded. "I know what it's like to be under a controlling witches' thumb, and to hate it so much you contemplate killing yourself. I won't let that happen to you again."

"Thank you," Elena said quietly.

"Alright, let's get back on topic. There's a lot about witchcraft you need to know," Freya said before she began talking with her about the dangers of magic, as well as the kind of things Elena could do with it and the things she shouldn't do with it.