Fic: Love Is Not a Blessing - TVD [Chapter 1]
Title: Love Is Not a Blessing
Fandom: Vampire Diaries TV
Relationships: Katherine Pierce/Damon Salvatore, Katherine Pierce/Stefan Salvatore, Emily Bennett & Katherine Pierce
Characters: Katherine Pierce, Damon Salvatore, Stefan Salvatore, Giuseppe Salvatore, Emily Bennett
Rating: General Audiences
Length: 10,602 words
Contains: mild spoilers
Summary: Katherine rises from the wreckage of war and tries to build a new life for herself.
Author’s Note: Un-beta’d. Title inspired by the song Heavy In Your Arms by Florence and the Machine [ LJ / DW]. Contains references to, and sometimes dialog from, these episodes: S1E6 Lost Girls, S5E 500 Years of Solitude.
This is an abandoned WIP. My writing time is limited right now and this story grew into something that would need a lot of time to do well, but it’s not really what I want to be spending my time on right now. I love it a lot, though, and didn’t want to just delete it. I like to think I may come back and finish it at a later date, but that’s probably really just wishful thinking. In the meantime, someone else may enjoy it. You can read Chapter 1 as a standalone story of how Katherine and Emily meet.
Chapter 1
Katherine leaned out the window and yelled, “Stop the coach!” The driver called to the horses and yanked on the reins and Katherine lurched against the door with the force of it. She shut out the sound of the horses stamping and snorting and the questioning call of the driver to focus on the screams she had just heard. They came again, weak but clear to Katherine with her hearing. It was a woman, and it sounded like she was deep in the large manor house they were driving past, the house that was burning like the rest of Atlanta.
“My lady, we should move on! Union troops are marching in and they will not wait on civilians!”
The screams came again, weaker this time. That girl had little time and Katherine felt pulled to save her, as if one girl dying amid the thousands already dead would make any difference. Her driver was right, but Katherine couldn’t seem to do the prudent thing just then. It seemed wrong to leave without trying.
She got out of the carriage and looked up at her driver, compelling him. “You will wait for me here and not abandon me.” Then she turned and ran into the great foyer of the house, straining to hear above the roaring flames and crashing beams as the house came down around her. The house was in evening shadow, except where a wall of flame off to the right cast light and shadow across the foyer littered with fallen beams and the disarray of a family grabbing what they could and leaving in a hurry. The voice came again and sounded to be above her. She ran up the great curving stair praying that the treads wouldn’t give way from underneath her, following the cries up into the attic, and pulled up short at more flames at the top of the stairs. The smoke was so thick she couldn’t see anything further than her hand in front of her, but she could hear the girl coughing and crying behind the flames. Katherine herself was coughing, her body unable to heal faster than the damage the smoke caused.
She held her breath and charged through the flames, stepping through piles of burning coals and tripping on fallen beams until she broke through to a small circle of light around a window. The girl was there, her face pressed up to the window where the glass had been broken to let in some fresh air. Her clothes and hair were burned to shreds, her skin melted and raw and breath slow and wet. She hardly made any noise any longer, yet she struggled to keep her face to the window while holding a large, heavy leather bound book clutched to her chest. Even at the end she fought for life, and Katherine couldn’t simply let her die.
Katherine gathered her in her arms, both of them gasping at the pain of being touched on raw and burned skin. The floor at the stairs gave way in a great crash, and Katherine was pretty sure she’d heard the staircase several floors down giving way minutes ago. The only way out was through the window. She kicked out the rest of the glass, kicking away some of the wood as well to widen the hole. They were likely four floors up and she didn’t know if the girl would survive the fall, but she had no other choice. She pulled her close and jumped.
She landed as lightly as she could, but even still the girl cried out in terrible pain. Katherine’s dress was burnt away, her leather shoes all but gone, too. She stood and hurried to the carriage, calling for her wide-eyed driver to open the door. She crawled inside and sat the girl on the seat, propping her up in the corner with her legs across the bench.
“How did you do that, Miss?” He looked ashen and shaken, and like he might faint.
“Get into my trunk and pull out two dresses. Nothing too fancy.” When he didn’t move she yelled, “Now!”
The girl was moaning, a slight sound that was painfully wet and raspy. Katherine bit her wrist and tipped the girl’s head back, opening her mouth enough to let the blood flow in. “Drink, girl, drink...”
The girl swallowed slightly, only the barest movement of her throat, but it was enough for the burns on her face to heal slightly. Katherine patted her cheek and murmured gentle words to her, tearing her wrist again when her blood stopped flowing. Slowly, slowly the burns faded more and the girl swallowed more strongly, drinking deeply from her wrist. When her breathing came normally Katherine pulled back to see the driver standing at the door again, dresses forgotten in his arms as he gaped at her.
She grabbed the dresses and compelled him. “You will forget you saw that and begin driving us out of town.” She slammed the door in his face. A moment later the carriage lurched into motion.
“Who are you?”
Katherine turned back to the girl, who was clutching her book but looked much less frightened than her driver had. Her dark skin was now smooth, her hair falling in a healthy curly mess to her shoulders. Katherine smiled at her.
“Who I am is not important. Let’s get you out of those clothes and into something decent, then I can drive you somewhere safe and let you out.” She reached for the book to put it to the side, but the girl clutched it closer and twisted so she couldn’t get her hands on it.
“Don’t touch me. I asked who you are. Where are you taking me?”
Katherine gritted her teeth in frustration. It looked like this was going to be difficult, and she didn’t have time for difficult so she let her will crystallize inside her and compelled the girl. “Forget about who I am, you won’t remember any of this the minute you leave this carriage anyway. You need to get dressed so I can get you somewhere safe. I’m leaving town and will drop you off anywhere you like on this side of the fighting if you tell me where.”
The girl smiled slightly, a knowing and scornful smile that Katherine didn’t like. “A vampire. I should have guessed. I hadn’t expected to find any here, but I shouldn’t be surprised. Bloodthirsty beings like you are drawn to war.”
“What?” Katherine was shocked enough to forget to guard her tongue. “How do you know about vampires?!”
The girl’s smile widened into a smirk. “Well, that’s a secret, and one that you can’t compel out of me.”
Katherine pursed her lips in thought. The girl clearly wasn’t a vampire, she’d have healed on her own the minute she was out of the flames. The only humans that knew of vampires were either those compelled for food sources, or witches. This girl couldn’t be compelled, which spoke of knowledge of vervain.
“You are a witch, then.” The girl huffed in annoyance, and Katherine gave her own smirk. “You aren’t the only one with a little knowledge. Where are you going? I may not be able to compel you, but you may as well answer me. I have no wish to harm you.”
The girl drummed her fingers on the leather of the book she still held to her chest. “I was leaving town after I had gathered my things. You may leave me where you will, and I will find my way home.”
Katherine eyed her. “All you got from the house was that book. I hope that was all you wanted, because the rest is likely ash by now.”
The girl lowered the book to her lap and folded her hands on top of it. The gesture may have looked prim on someone else, but she held her head high and somehow made it look dignified. “This was all I had. Slaves such as I have no possessions to worry about.”
“And where is home? How do you plan to get there? A slave won’t get far alone without drawing notice, and I assume you have no papers allowing you to travel.”
“I don’t, but there is a war tearing the country apart, in case you hadn’t noticed. I can slip through easily enough, and I can take care of myself.”
“I don’t doubt that you can,” Katherine said. “Regardless, you won’t get far with your dress burned to dust.” She picked up one of the dresses and held it out. “Change into something decent.”
The girl nodded and took the dress. “I’ll need help with the buttons.”
“Turn around and I’ll get them.”
She twisted in her seat and Katherine undid the buttons that were left and then turned around to face the other direction and give her some privacy. “I am Katherine Pierce.”
“Emily Bennett,” the girl said absently, fabric rustling as she pulled the dress on. “I am ready.”
Katherine turned and did up the row of tiny buttons. They were of a size and the dress fit well. “Much better,” she said, leaning back on her heels to give Emily the space to turn back around.
“Now you,” Emily said, eying her dress. “You are in just as bad a state.”
They changed places, Katherine on the bench and turned away while Emily deftly undid her buttons. Katherine dumped the dress with Emily’s and kicked them both to the door, pulling on the new dress. It smelled faintly of cedar from her chest. She would have to get rid of the burnt dresses as soon as possible before the acrid smell ruined their new clothes.
Emily did up the buttons, her fingers light and quick. “You’ll need new undergarments soon. Your crinoline has burnt up and your dress won’t hang right without it,” Emily said, settling back onto the floor after finishing.
“I have more in my trunks. I’ll change when we stop next.” She patted the seat beside her, moving over to give Emily a place to sit.
Emily smiled and sat beside her, smoothing out her dress. “It is a fine dress, nicer than any I’ve worn.”
“Keep it,” Katherine said. She felt drawn to Emily, and admired her courage. “I could use an attendant. As you can see it’s impossible to do up my own clothing, and I doubt my oaf of a driver could get it right even if I compelled him. It’s unfortunate I don’t know where you’re going. We could travel together for a while.”
Emily considered Katherine warily for a while. “I am making my way to Virginia, to Mystic Falls, where my family lives. Where are you headed?”
Mystic Falls was known to be a nexus for vampire activity and travel. It was also known to be a witch town among certain circles, somewhere you could go if you needed a witch badly enough to pay the price. It was known for its vervain, sold widely by the witches to humans as simple charms against evil. That explained a lot about Emily. Perhaps other supernatural creatures like werewolves also could be found there, or at least someone may know of where to find them.
“I didn’t have any particular destination in mind, other than needing to leave the city before war overtook us.” Here she paused and considered for herself how much to share. “My home is destroyed now, though I had no strong ties to Atlanta. It was simply a place to live for a time. It’s sometimes easier to hide one’s... flaws in a large city. Especially when there are other vampires present.”
Emily smoothed the fabric of her skirt and nodded.
Katherine decided to be bold. “I am in need of vampire company. Are there any in town I might connect with?”
Emily eyed her sidelong for long moments, until Katherine didn’t think she would answer. “I don’t know,” Emily said. “I have been away a while and they come and go, so I don’t know who they are at the moment. No doubt there are some there.”
“Would you be opposed to me accompanying you home? I cannot pay you for your help with my dressing and things, but I can get you home and feed you on the way.”
Emily raised her eyebrows, and Katherine thought she may have overstepped. “You offer to pay a slave for her services?”
Katherine waved a hand lightly. “I have been alive long enough to see slavery come and go with the political mood. I can’t compel you for what I want, so I may as well ask.” Katherine knew from experience that a witch was never a slave, no matter how she appeared. It was best to tread lightly and use flattery to get what she wanted.
Emily pursed her lips. “I think we could help each other, so yes, I will accompany you to Mystic Falls. You have my services until we arrive home, and we will proceed from there.”
“Agreed.” Katherine called out to her driver again and the carriage slowed to a stop and the door opened. “Dump these dresses along the road. We are headed to Mystic Falls, Virginia as soon as we can get away from the city. Drive the horses as fast and as long as you can to put distance between us and the city. Never open this door during daylight. Do you understand?”
“Yes, M’am.” He bobbed a quick bow, and then they were back on the road.
“I hope you don’t mind being sequestered in here during the daylight hours. I usually sleep to pass the time, then stop for breaks and some walks at night.”
“It will do fine. It’s far better than walking home,” Emily said wryly.
~~~
Katherine came awake to the sounds of Emily shifting restlessly on the seat across from her. She was fanning herself furiously, sweat standing on her brow and in the hollow of her neck. The shades were drawn tightly against the sunlight, and the carriage was dim and sweltering. She frowned at Katherine. “This is miserable travel.”
Katherine stretched. “What would you have me do? I’ll burn up otherwise.”
“Instead I’m the one burning up,” Emily muttered under her breath, fan doubling up in speed.
“It’s only been three days. You’ll strain yourself if you keep at it like that.”
“Yes, and weeks more of this. That settles it. Please give me your necklace.”
Katherine’s eyebrows shot up. “I beg your pardon?”
“I’m going to fix this situation. Please hand me your necklace, I promise to return it.”
Katherine frowned, but reached up to unclasp it and handed it across to Emily, who had her book open on her lap. She flipped through the pages before landing on the correct one. “Ahh, here we are.” She laid the necklace on the book and reached over to tweak the corner of the curtain so that a bar of light fell into the carriage.
“Wait!” Katherine yelped, shrinking into the corner of her bench away from the light.
“Rest easy,” Emily said quickly. “I won’t open it up all the way. I just need a little light.” She moved the book so it sat in the bar, the necklace glinting in the light.
Katherine relaxed a little. “What are you doing?”
Emily didn’t answer, merely closed her eyes and took a deep breath, her lips moving slightly as she murmured words too low for even Katherine to make out. She smiled in satisfaction, handing the necklace back to Katherine. “There. Put it on.”
Katherine eyed it suspiciously, letting it dangle from two fingers. “What did you do to it?”
“Do you trust me?”
Emily sat quietly, hands folded on the pages of what Katherine had learned was her grimoire, all the knowledge she and her ancestors had gathered, and the source of her power. Katherine didn’t know the depth of Emily’s knowledge, or the many ways she could harm Katherine. But she had given Katherine no cause for worry over her safety in the last three days.
“Yes, I do.” Katherine put the necklace on, only fumbling with the clasp a little.
“Then put your hand into the light.” She drew back the curtain a little more so light spilled between them bright and menacing. She waited patiently, an encouraging smile on her face.
Katherine reached out slowly, ready to pull back the second her skin started to burn in the light. To her shock, it didn’t burn. Instead she felt the warmth of a sun she hadn’t known in centuries, and her jaw dropped. She flexed her fingers in the pleasant sensation, before whispering, “What did you do?”
“I put a daylight spell on it. It will allow you to walk safely in the sun as long as you wear it,” she said, then grabbed Katherine’s hand firmly. “You must wear it to be protected! Remove it while outside and you will have mere seconds to find safety before the sun claims you again.”
Katherine swallowed thickly around tears suddenly rising hard in her throat. “Thank you,” she whispered, her voice cracked around the emotion choking her. She threw the door of the coach open and lept out, landing lightly on the shoulder and turning her face up to the sun. It was blinding, brighter than she remembered, and she closed her eyes against the glare of it and the burn of tears gathering hot and running from the corners of her eyes.
Long minutes later Emily placed a light hand on her arm. “I felt it was only right, to thank you for saving my life.”
Katherine swiped the tears away, faintly embarrassed to be crying in front of someone else for the first time in a century. “I saved your life, and so you’ve given me back mine. It seems a fair trade.” She placed her hand over Emily’s where it rested on her arm as a quiet gratitude swept through her, the force of which she hadn’t felt for a very long time. Indeed, it had been a very long time since she’d been close enough to a human to feel much of anything for them.
Emily smiled, a genuine smile that crinkled her eyes and softened the sternness of her features. “Shall we walk a while alongside the coach? It would do us both good to enjoy some fresh air.”
Katherine nodded and tucked Emily’s hand through her arm. “I would enjoy seeing the forest in the daylight. Perhaps we may see a deer, or a squirrel.”
Emily laughed. “All your decades of life and this is what you look forward to.”
“Do you know, it’s been a couple of centuries since I’ve seen a squirrel. Or a bee, or a bird. All of society around me enjoys a turn in the garden, and I have been denied that. It may be a simple pleasure, but I think today is a good day for simple pleasures.”
~~~
“So then John came back around the corner carrying the cat and the flask of whisky, completely confused that the cat hadn’t turned into his long-lost childhood dog, demanding his payment back before he had to beat it out of somebody. It took Grandmother and Uncle Peter both to convince him it had all been a joke.”
Katherine burst out laughing, a deep belly laugh that had her head thrown back against the seat and tears streaming from her eyes in minutes. Emily laughed with her, and Katherine marveled at the pleasure of sharing such a perfect moment with someone else. She had been on the run for so long, not allowing herself to stay in one place or trust anyone enough to form a friendship, that the pleasant feeling was altogether foreign.
“You have a remarkable family, Emily. That is a rare thing. Why in god’s name would you have left them?”
Emily wiped her eyes, the last hiccuping laughs trailing off. She glanced out the window, which they kept open all day now. Her gaze sombered, becoming introspective. Katherine thought she wouldn’t answer, but after a while she spoke, her voice soft with the traces of hurt she couldn’t or didn’t try to hide. “I had a disagreement with the matriarch of my coven. I made a daylight ring for a vampire that had taken up residence in our town, and I was cast out for it. It is not for us to get caught up in vampire business,” she said bitterly, seeming to quote someone.
“That was your matriarch’s view?”
“Yes, and there was no forgiveness. I developed the spell out of curiosity, and because I believed I could trust the woman.” Emily caught her eye and said firmly, “The spell can be reversed by the one who cast it, should that be deemed necessary. I would just need to get my hands on it again. It allows the witches to maintain some power over the situation to keep vampires from behaving entirely as they please.”
Katherine remembered Emily’s warning to never take the necklace off in daylight, and her blood ran cold. What if Emily became angry with her and reversed the spell out of spite?
Emily sighed and looked out the window again. “I thought it would be a way to bridge the divide between our species, to allow us to build trust and work together and stop constantly fighting and betraying each other. Grandmother didn’t see it that way, though.”
“Is there really that much fighting?”
Emily shrugged. “We do our best to keep the humans safe and out of it, but yes. Not all the vampires have respect for human life and the witches will protect what is ours, and keep the humans safe if we can. This vampire I made the ring for is one that seeks to find a balance between feeding on humans as I know you must, and not killing needlessly. I had hoped she could be a leader to establish some rules amongst the vampires, but my family likely will drive her out if they ever find out who she is. There can be no peace if the witches won’t abide by an agreement.”
“And so you wound up in Atlanta.”
“And so I did,” Emily nodded. “I was attempting to travel to Salem, my family comes from there-”
“The Salem witches! You are descended from those women?”
“Yes. I have powerful ancestors, many of whom were killed off at that time. Not all, though. My bloodline is not pure African, but the English women were the target of the town. Many of the slave women escaped the notice of those looking for demons and fled, ending up in Mystic Falls, where our bloodline mingled with the witches already here and we established a very strong coven. So I was traveling to Salem, but was captured and sold to a family in Atlanta.” She shrugged again, the gesture listless and weary. “It did not matter where. Without my coven I am nothing.”
Katherine raised her eyebrows and fingered her necklace. “This is a powerful thing you did, I would not discount yourself as nothing.”
“My power comes through the earth and can be accessed wherever I am, but also through my ancestors. When I am cut off from them, cast out of their favor, I have lost that power. Earth magic is strong, but nothing compared to combining the two power sources.”
“You miss them,” Katherine said gently, aware this was a sensitive subject and not wanting to cause pain.
“Yes, more than you can know.”
Katherine understood perfectly the pain of being forced from family, but she didn’t voice that. She merely nodded and tactfully didn’t question further.
“Would you abide by such rules, and live in a community that attempted peace between all sides? Is it such a fanciful dream that no one can see that it could work?”
Katherine smoothed her hand over her dress as she delayed answering, trying to decide how much to say. “I have no home, and cannot settle. I am not safe anywhere I go, there is one who would see me dead if they found me. That is a question I can’t answer.”
“Truly? No home or family at all?”
Katherine shook her head tightly, as much in answer to Emily’s question as to shake away memories of that bloody room from long ago. “No. I seek to end my exile, but have yet to find a way.”
“We will both be outcasts in Mystic Falls, then,” Emily mused quietly. “The vampire that I helped was named Pearl. If she is still in town perhaps she will help us.”
“You would continue to help me when we arrive at your home?” Katherine was surprised. She had expected Emily to leave for her family the minute they hit the town limits.
“Until I can win my family’s approval again, I have no family. I will be vulnerable on my own. It would suit my purposes to remain in your company. Introducing you to Pearl would be the least I could do.”
It was a risk, but she’d taken risks before. The value of Emily’s town knowledge could be invaluable, especially where other vampires were concerned. “You are aware you’ll need to act as my slave when others are present. Is that acceptable?”
Emily nodded. “It is. I have done so before, and as long as you treat me fairly I have no problem with it.”
“Then we are agreed. I will provide you with a secure position for as long as you need it in return for your aid. It will be a pleasure to have company that isn’t compelled in some way for their service.”
Emily smiled and flipped open her fan. She looked a little more relaxed than she had before, some underlying tension seeping away. She had been worried about arriving home and having nowhere to go, Katherine realized. Well, Katherine may not be compelling Emily’s service, but she would be indebted to Katherine, and that could well prove useful.
Chapter 2: DW | LJ Originally posted at http://pslasher.dreamwidth.org/63644.html. Read
comments over there.
Fandom: Vampire Diaries TV
Relationships: Katherine Pierce/Damon Salvatore, Katherine Pierce/Stefan Salvatore, Emily Bennett & Katherine Pierce
Characters: Katherine Pierce, Damon Salvatore, Stefan Salvatore, Giuseppe Salvatore, Emily Bennett
Rating: General Audiences
Length: 10,602 words
Contains: mild spoilers
Summary: Katherine rises from the wreckage of war and tries to build a new life for herself.
Author’s Note: Un-beta’d. Title inspired by the song Heavy In Your Arms by Florence and the Machine [ LJ / DW]. Contains references to, and sometimes dialog from, these episodes: S1E6 Lost Girls, S5E 500 Years of Solitude.
This is an abandoned WIP. My writing time is limited right now and this story grew into something that would need a lot of time to do well, but it’s not really what I want to be spending my time on right now. I love it a lot, though, and didn’t want to just delete it. I like to think I may come back and finish it at a later date, but that’s probably really just wishful thinking. In the meantime, someone else may enjoy it. You can read Chapter 1 as a standalone story of how Katherine and Emily meet.
Chapter 1
Katherine leaned out the window and yelled, “Stop the coach!” The driver called to the horses and yanked on the reins and Katherine lurched against the door with the force of it. She shut out the sound of the horses stamping and snorting and the questioning call of the driver to focus on the screams she had just heard. They came again, weak but clear to Katherine with her hearing. It was a woman, and it sounded like she was deep in the large manor house they were driving past, the house that was burning like the rest of Atlanta.
“My lady, we should move on! Union troops are marching in and they will not wait on civilians!”
The screams came again, weaker this time. That girl had little time and Katherine felt pulled to save her, as if one girl dying amid the thousands already dead would make any difference. Her driver was right, but Katherine couldn’t seem to do the prudent thing just then. It seemed wrong to leave without trying.
She got out of the carriage and looked up at her driver, compelling him. “You will wait for me here and not abandon me.” Then she turned and ran into the great foyer of the house, straining to hear above the roaring flames and crashing beams as the house came down around her. The house was in evening shadow, except where a wall of flame off to the right cast light and shadow across the foyer littered with fallen beams and the disarray of a family grabbing what they could and leaving in a hurry. The voice came again and sounded to be above her. She ran up the great curving stair praying that the treads wouldn’t give way from underneath her, following the cries up into the attic, and pulled up short at more flames at the top of the stairs. The smoke was so thick she couldn’t see anything further than her hand in front of her, but she could hear the girl coughing and crying behind the flames. Katherine herself was coughing, her body unable to heal faster than the damage the smoke caused.
She held her breath and charged through the flames, stepping through piles of burning coals and tripping on fallen beams until she broke through to a small circle of light around a window. The girl was there, her face pressed up to the window where the glass had been broken to let in some fresh air. Her clothes and hair were burned to shreds, her skin melted and raw and breath slow and wet. She hardly made any noise any longer, yet she struggled to keep her face to the window while holding a large, heavy leather bound book clutched to her chest. Even at the end she fought for life, and Katherine couldn’t simply let her die.
Katherine gathered her in her arms, both of them gasping at the pain of being touched on raw and burned skin. The floor at the stairs gave way in a great crash, and Katherine was pretty sure she’d heard the staircase several floors down giving way minutes ago. The only way out was through the window. She kicked out the rest of the glass, kicking away some of the wood as well to widen the hole. They were likely four floors up and she didn’t know if the girl would survive the fall, but she had no other choice. She pulled her close and jumped.
She landed as lightly as she could, but even still the girl cried out in terrible pain. Katherine’s dress was burnt away, her leather shoes all but gone, too. She stood and hurried to the carriage, calling for her wide-eyed driver to open the door. She crawled inside and sat the girl on the seat, propping her up in the corner with her legs across the bench.
“How did you do that, Miss?” He looked ashen and shaken, and like he might faint.
“Get into my trunk and pull out two dresses. Nothing too fancy.” When he didn’t move she yelled, “Now!”
The girl was moaning, a slight sound that was painfully wet and raspy. Katherine bit her wrist and tipped the girl’s head back, opening her mouth enough to let the blood flow in. “Drink, girl, drink...”
The girl swallowed slightly, only the barest movement of her throat, but it was enough for the burns on her face to heal slightly. Katherine patted her cheek and murmured gentle words to her, tearing her wrist again when her blood stopped flowing. Slowly, slowly the burns faded more and the girl swallowed more strongly, drinking deeply from her wrist. When her breathing came normally Katherine pulled back to see the driver standing at the door again, dresses forgotten in his arms as he gaped at her.
She grabbed the dresses and compelled him. “You will forget you saw that and begin driving us out of town.” She slammed the door in his face. A moment later the carriage lurched into motion.
“Who are you?”
Katherine turned back to the girl, who was clutching her book but looked much less frightened than her driver had. Her dark skin was now smooth, her hair falling in a healthy curly mess to her shoulders. Katherine smiled at her.
“Who I am is not important. Let’s get you out of those clothes and into something decent, then I can drive you somewhere safe and let you out.” She reached for the book to put it to the side, but the girl clutched it closer and twisted so she couldn’t get her hands on it.
“Don’t touch me. I asked who you are. Where are you taking me?”
Katherine gritted her teeth in frustration. It looked like this was going to be difficult, and she didn’t have time for difficult so she let her will crystallize inside her and compelled the girl. “Forget about who I am, you won’t remember any of this the minute you leave this carriage anyway. You need to get dressed so I can get you somewhere safe. I’m leaving town and will drop you off anywhere you like on this side of the fighting if you tell me where.”
The girl smiled slightly, a knowing and scornful smile that Katherine didn’t like. “A vampire. I should have guessed. I hadn’t expected to find any here, but I shouldn’t be surprised. Bloodthirsty beings like you are drawn to war.”
“What?” Katherine was shocked enough to forget to guard her tongue. “How do you know about vampires?!”
The girl’s smile widened into a smirk. “Well, that’s a secret, and one that you can’t compel out of me.”
Katherine pursed her lips in thought. The girl clearly wasn’t a vampire, she’d have healed on her own the minute she was out of the flames. The only humans that knew of vampires were either those compelled for food sources, or witches. This girl couldn’t be compelled, which spoke of knowledge of vervain.
“You are a witch, then.” The girl huffed in annoyance, and Katherine gave her own smirk. “You aren’t the only one with a little knowledge. Where are you going? I may not be able to compel you, but you may as well answer me. I have no wish to harm you.”
The girl drummed her fingers on the leather of the book she still held to her chest. “I was leaving town after I had gathered my things. You may leave me where you will, and I will find my way home.”
Katherine eyed her. “All you got from the house was that book. I hope that was all you wanted, because the rest is likely ash by now.”
The girl lowered the book to her lap and folded her hands on top of it. The gesture may have looked prim on someone else, but she held her head high and somehow made it look dignified. “This was all I had. Slaves such as I have no possessions to worry about.”
“And where is home? How do you plan to get there? A slave won’t get far alone without drawing notice, and I assume you have no papers allowing you to travel.”
“I don’t, but there is a war tearing the country apart, in case you hadn’t noticed. I can slip through easily enough, and I can take care of myself.”
“I don’t doubt that you can,” Katherine said. “Regardless, you won’t get far with your dress burned to dust.” She picked up one of the dresses and held it out. “Change into something decent.”
The girl nodded and took the dress. “I’ll need help with the buttons.”
“Turn around and I’ll get them.”
She twisted in her seat and Katherine undid the buttons that were left and then turned around to face the other direction and give her some privacy. “I am Katherine Pierce.”
“Emily Bennett,” the girl said absently, fabric rustling as she pulled the dress on. “I am ready.”
Katherine turned and did up the row of tiny buttons. They were of a size and the dress fit well. “Much better,” she said, leaning back on her heels to give Emily the space to turn back around.
“Now you,” Emily said, eying her dress. “You are in just as bad a state.”
They changed places, Katherine on the bench and turned away while Emily deftly undid her buttons. Katherine dumped the dress with Emily’s and kicked them both to the door, pulling on the new dress. It smelled faintly of cedar from her chest. She would have to get rid of the burnt dresses as soon as possible before the acrid smell ruined their new clothes.
Emily did up the buttons, her fingers light and quick. “You’ll need new undergarments soon. Your crinoline has burnt up and your dress won’t hang right without it,” Emily said, settling back onto the floor after finishing.
“I have more in my trunks. I’ll change when we stop next.” She patted the seat beside her, moving over to give Emily a place to sit.
Emily smiled and sat beside her, smoothing out her dress. “It is a fine dress, nicer than any I’ve worn.”
“Keep it,” Katherine said. She felt drawn to Emily, and admired her courage. “I could use an attendant. As you can see it’s impossible to do up my own clothing, and I doubt my oaf of a driver could get it right even if I compelled him. It’s unfortunate I don’t know where you’re going. We could travel together for a while.”
Emily considered Katherine warily for a while. “I am making my way to Virginia, to Mystic Falls, where my family lives. Where are you headed?”
Mystic Falls was known to be a nexus for vampire activity and travel. It was also known to be a witch town among certain circles, somewhere you could go if you needed a witch badly enough to pay the price. It was known for its vervain, sold widely by the witches to humans as simple charms against evil. That explained a lot about Emily. Perhaps other supernatural creatures like werewolves also could be found there, or at least someone may know of where to find them.
“I didn’t have any particular destination in mind, other than needing to leave the city before war overtook us.” Here she paused and considered for herself how much to share. “My home is destroyed now, though I had no strong ties to Atlanta. It was simply a place to live for a time. It’s sometimes easier to hide one’s... flaws in a large city. Especially when there are other vampires present.”
Emily smoothed the fabric of her skirt and nodded.
Katherine decided to be bold. “I am in need of vampire company. Are there any in town I might connect with?”
Emily eyed her sidelong for long moments, until Katherine didn’t think she would answer. “I don’t know,” Emily said. “I have been away a while and they come and go, so I don’t know who they are at the moment. No doubt there are some there.”
“Would you be opposed to me accompanying you home? I cannot pay you for your help with my dressing and things, but I can get you home and feed you on the way.”
Emily raised her eyebrows, and Katherine thought she may have overstepped. “You offer to pay a slave for her services?”
Katherine waved a hand lightly. “I have been alive long enough to see slavery come and go with the political mood. I can’t compel you for what I want, so I may as well ask.” Katherine knew from experience that a witch was never a slave, no matter how she appeared. It was best to tread lightly and use flattery to get what she wanted.
Emily pursed her lips. “I think we could help each other, so yes, I will accompany you to Mystic Falls. You have my services until we arrive home, and we will proceed from there.”
“Agreed.” Katherine called out to her driver again and the carriage slowed to a stop and the door opened. “Dump these dresses along the road. We are headed to Mystic Falls, Virginia as soon as we can get away from the city. Drive the horses as fast and as long as you can to put distance between us and the city. Never open this door during daylight. Do you understand?”
“Yes, M’am.” He bobbed a quick bow, and then they were back on the road.
“I hope you don’t mind being sequestered in here during the daylight hours. I usually sleep to pass the time, then stop for breaks and some walks at night.”
“It will do fine. It’s far better than walking home,” Emily said wryly.
~~~
Katherine came awake to the sounds of Emily shifting restlessly on the seat across from her. She was fanning herself furiously, sweat standing on her brow and in the hollow of her neck. The shades were drawn tightly against the sunlight, and the carriage was dim and sweltering. She frowned at Katherine. “This is miserable travel.”
Katherine stretched. “What would you have me do? I’ll burn up otherwise.”
“Instead I’m the one burning up,” Emily muttered under her breath, fan doubling up in speed.
“It’s only been three days. You’ll strain yourself if you keep at it like that.”
“Yes, and weeks more of this. That settles it. Please give me your necklace.”
Katherine’s eyebrows shot up. “I beg your pardon?”
“I’m going to fix this situation. Please hand me your necklace, I promise to return it.”
Katherine frowned, but reached up to unclasp it and handed it across to Emily, who had her book open on her lap. She flipped through the pages before landing on the correct one. “Ahh, here we are.” She laid the necklace on the book and reached over to tweak the corner of the curtain so that a bar of light fell into the carriage.
“Wait!” Katherine yelped, shrinking into the corner of her bench away from the light.
“Rest easy,” Emily said quickly. “I won’t open it up all the way. I just need a little light.” She moved the book so it sat in the bar, the necklace glinting in the light.
Katherine relaxed a little. “What are you doing?”
Emily didn’t answer, merely closed her eyes and took a deep breath, her lips moving slightly as she murmured words too low for even Katherine to make out. She smiled in satisfaction, handing the necklace back to Katherine. “There. Put it on.”
Katherine eyed it suspiciously, letting it dangle from two fingers. “What did you do to it?”
“Do you trust me?”
Emily sat quietly, hands folded on the pages of what Katherine had learned was her grimoire, all the knowledge she and her ancestors had gathered, and the source of her power. Katherine didn’t know the depth of Emily’s knowledge, or the many ways she could harm Katherine. But she had given Katherine no cause for worry over her safety in the last three days.
“Yes, I do.” Katherine put the necklace on, only fumbling with the clasp a little.
“Then put your hand into the light.” She drew back the curtain a little more so light spilled between them bright and menacing. She waited patiently, an encouraging smile on her face.
Katherine reached out slowly, ready to pull back the second her skin started to burn in the light. To her shock, it didn’t burn. Instead she felt the warmth of a sun she hadn’t known in centuries, and her jaw dropped. She flexed her fingers in the pleasant sensation, before whispering, “What did you do?”
“I put a daylight spell on it. It will allow you to walk safely in the sun as long as you wear it,” she said, then grabbed Katherine’s hand firmly. “You must wear it to be protected! Remove it while outside and you will have mere seconds to find safety before the sun claims you again.”
Katherine swallowed thickly around tears suddenly rising hard in her throat. “Thank you,” she whispered, her voice cracked around the emotion choking her. She threw the door of the coach open and lept out, landing lightly on the shoulder and turning her face up to the sun. It was blinding, brighter than she remembered, and she closed her eyes against the glare of it and the burn of tears gathering hot and running from the corners of her eyes.
Long minutes later Emily placed a light hand on her arm. “I felt it was only right, to thank you for saving my life.”
Katherine swiped the tears away, faintly embarrassed to be crying in front of someone else for the first time in a century. “I saved your life, and so you’ve given me back mine. It seems a fair trade.” She placed her hand over Emily’s where it rested on her arm as a quiet gratitude swept through her, the force of which she hadn’t felt for a very long time. Indeed, it had been a very long time since she’d been close enough to a human to feel much of anything for them.
Emily smiled, a genuine smile that crinkled her eyes and softened the sternness of her features. “Shall we walk a while alongside the coach? It would do us both good to enjoy some fresh air.”
Katherine nodded and tucked Emily’s hand through her arm. “I would enjoy seeing the forest in the daylight. Perhaps we may see a deer, or a squirrel.”
Emily laughed. “All your decades of life and this is what you look forward to.”
“Do you know, it’s been a couple of centuries since I’ve seen a squirrel. Or a bee, or a bird. All of society around me enjoys a turn in the garden, and I have been denied that. It may be a simple pleasure, but I think today is a good day for simple pleasures.”
~~~
“So then John came back around the corner carrying the cat and the flask of whisky, completely confused that the cat hadn’t turned into his long-lost childhood dog, demanding his payment back before he had to beat it out of somebody. It took Grandmother and Uncle Peter both to convince him it had all been a joke.”
Katherine burst out laughing, a deep belly laugh that had her head thrown back against the seat and tears streaming from her eyes in minutes. Emily laughed with her, and Katherine marveled at the pleasure of sharing such a perfect moment with someone else. She had been on the run for so long, not allowing herself to stay in one place or trust anyone enough to form a friendship, that the pleasant feeling was altogether foreign.
“You have a remarkable family, Emily. That is a rare thing. Why in god’s name would you have left them?”
Emily wiped her eyes, the last hiccuping laughs trailing off. She glanced out the window, which they kept open all day now. Her gaze sombered, becoming introspective. Katherine thought she wouldn’t answer, but after a while she spoke, her voice soft with the traces of hurt she couldn’t or didn’t try to hide. “I had a disagreement with the matriarch of my coven. I made a daylight ring for a vampire that had taken up residence in our town, and I was cast out for it. It is not for us to get caught up in vampire business,” she said bitterly, seeming to quote someone.
“That was your matriarch’s view?”
“Yes, and there was no forgiveness. I developed the spell out of curiosity, and because I believed I could trust the woman.” Emily caught her eye and said firmly, “The spell can be reversed by the one who cast it, should that be deemed necessary. I would just need to get my hands on it again. It allows the witches to maintain some power over the situation to keep vampires from behaving entirely as they please.”
Katherine remembered Emily’s warning to never take the necklace off in daylight, and her blood ran cold. What if Emily became angry with her and reversed the spell out of spite?
Emily sighed and looked out the window again. “I thought it would be a way to bridge the divide between our species, to allow us to build trust and work together and stop constantly fighting and betraying each other. Grandmother didn’t see it that way, though.”
“Is there really that much fighting?”
Emily shrugged. “We do our best to keep the humans safe and out of it, but yes. Not all the vampires have respect for human life and the witches will protect what is ours, and keep the humans safe if we can. This vampire I made the ring for is one that seeks to find a balance between feeding on humans as I know you must, and not killing needlessly. I had hoped she could be a leader to establish some rules amongst the vampires, but my family likely will drive her out if they ever find out who she is. There can be no peace if the witches won’t abide by an agreement.”
“And so you wound up in Atlanta.”
“And so I did,” Emily nodded. “I was attempting to travel to Salem, my family comes from there-”
“The Salem witches! You are descended from those women?”
“Yes. I have powerful ancestors, many of whom were killed off at that time. Not all, though. My bloodline is not pure African, but the English women were the target of the town. Many of the slave women escaped the notice of those looking for demons and fled, ending up in Mystic Falls, where our bloodline mingled with the witches already here and we established a very strong coven. So I was traveling to Salem, but was captured and sold to a family in Atlanta.” She shrugged again, the gesture listless and weary. “It did not matter where. Without my coven I am nothing.”
Katherine raised her eyebrows and fingered her necklace. “This is a powerful thing you did, I would not discount yourself as nothing.”
“My power comes through the earth and can be accessed wherever I am, but also through my ancestors. When I am cut off from them, cast out of their favor, I have lost that power. Earth magic is strong, but nothing compared to combining the two power sources.”
“You miss them,” Katherine said gently, aware this was a sensitive subject and not wanting to cause pain.
“Yes, more than you can know.”
Katherine understood perfectly the pain of being forced from family, but she didn’t voice that. She merely nodded and tactfully didn’t question further.
“Would you abide by such rules, and live in a community that attempted peace between all sides? Is it such a fanciful dream that no one can see that it could work?”
Katherine smoothed her hand over her dress as she delayed answering, trying to decide how much to say. “I have no home, and cannot settle. I am not safe anywhere I go, there is one who would see me dead if they found me. That is a question I can’t answer.”
“Truly? No home or family at all?”
Katherine shook her head tightly, as much in answer to Emily’s question as to shake away memories of that bloody room from long ago. “No. I seek to end my exile, but have yet to find a way.”
“We will both be outcasts in Mystic Falls, then,” Emily mused quietly. “The vampire that I helped was named Pearl. If she is still in town perhaps she will help us.”
“You would continue to help me when we arrive at your home?” Katherine was surprised. She had expected Emily to leave for her family the minute they hit the town limits.
“Until I can win my family’s approval again, I have no family. I will be vulnerable on my own. It would suit my purposes to remain in your company. Introducing you to Pearl would be the least I could do.”
It was a risk, but she’d taken risks before. The value of Emily’s town knowledge could be invaluable, especially where other vampires were concerned. “You are aware you’ll need to act as my slave when others are present. Is that acceptable?”
Emily nodded. “It is. I have done so before, and as long as you treat me fairly I have no problem with it.”
“Then we are agreed. I will provide you with a secure position for as long as you need it in return for your aid. It will be a pleasure to have company that isn’t compelled in some way for their service.”
Emily smiled and flipped open her fan. She looked a little more relaxed than she had before, some underlying tension seeping away. She had been worried about arriving home and having nowhere to go, Katherine realized. Well, Katherine may not be compelling Emily’s service, but she would be indebted to Katherine, and that could well prove useful.
Chapter 2: DW | LJ Originally posted at http://pslasher.dreamwidth.org/63644.html. Read
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