Daughters of the Damned

I

Being a witch brings a certain level of judgment from those around you. Of course it's not like anyone knows outright, but it's hard to deny when you walk past our house and see the crystals and herbs that hang in the windows. Mother was always the kind to heed on the side of caution. Protection to be there before it's needed rather than after the threat.

Growing up wasn't too difficult, the kids around us were more excited that we were born on the same day, somehow it held a type of magic of its own. They would ignore their mother warnings and their fathers obvious distaste for our family. But once we reached our teenage years it got harder, the looks were more obvious, the comments got louder. We just learnt to block them out, it was easy enough. A simple "silentium" was enough to ensure we could walk through the halls without having to acknowledge their words.

Rosa had more luck with that, she always had. "The Blonde Bombshell". Most of the boys in town would happily overlook our supposed curse to spend a night with her. Not that any of them caught her attention.
"Human boys are far too mundane for me" she would say, "give me a nightwalker, something fun".
Then would come the nights where she would slam open the door to our joint bedroom and tell me of the date she had set up for me with the "boy just down the street, oh he is so lovely Ellie". Her scraps were something I had become used to in life.

"Ellie, have you seen my pink skirt? I wanted to wear it tonight but I've looked through both our wardrobes and I can't find it anywhere" My sister entered in her usual whirlwind kind of state.
"If you've already looked in my wardrobe then why ask me?" I replied without looking up from the book in my hands.
"Is that Grams' Grimoire?"
"Maybe"
"I thought mom kept that in her study" With a kind of gracefulness I could only wish to poses she leaps herself onto my bed.
"She said I could borrow it as long as I had it back on the bookshelf by the morning, something about needing it for a new charm".  Suddenly I felt the wind pick up around me and the book floated out of my hands straight into Rosa's lap. "Hey! I swear if you end up breaking that somehow I'm gonna tell mom it was you that ate the last slice of cheesecake".
"You wouldn't dare" she replied looking me dead in my eyes.
"Try me" I replied with the same force.
"Fine take it, I've got a date anyways"
"The skirt is in the laundry room, I washed it last night"  I told her, already nose deep back into the grimoire.
"The  clairvoyant crap is starting to get old Ellodie"
"You're just mad you haven't specialised yet"
With that she stormed off, slamming the door behind her. No doubt I'll get a lecture off mom sometime tonight.

The locking of the front door is what bought me out of the obsession I had started with grams' grimoire. Three hours had gone by and it felt like I had barely scratched the surface. I peeked out of my window to see Rosa heading up the street, she was wearing the pink skirt. As I began to sit back down away from the window I noticed a shadow start to approach her from behind. Sitting straight back up I watched as she greeted the man as an old friend, it must be who she was meeting tonight. Not wanting to invade my twins privacy more than I am forced to, I drew the curtains and turned on the lamp that sits in the corner of the room. It doesn't offer much light but it's enough for what I need to do.

Clearing a space in the middle of the room, I pull back the carpet and prise up the floorboard, seeing everything I need sitting exactly as it always does. Rosa hasn't found my stash yet. Collecting the white candles, rose petals and the freshly blessed moon water, I make a circle with the ingredients. As i take my seat in the middle I begin to light the candles.
"ignis" The flames of the candle start to lick higher, excited by my words. "aqua, aer, terra" One by one, my offerings to the goddess begin to rise off the ground, power fills the air like electricity.

"custodire corpus eius
custodire animam suam
serva eam
dirige eam in domum suam"

With that the candle flame rose to a high and extinguished just as quickly. A simple protection spell, something we do almost daily, yet still it manages to completely drain me. After hiding my belongings once again and making sure no remnants were left behind, I dragged myself back into bed and with a flick of the hand, turned off the lamp on the other side of the room.

Sometimes, magic was awesome.

————————————
Hi, so that was the first part what do we all think? If you don't agree with the face claims then please do feel free to imagine the girls however you would like. I'll update as often as I can because I truly love these girls already.

A rough translation (sorry if it's nowhere near right"

Protect her body
Protect her soul
Keep her safe
Guide her home.