Bound || A Twilight Fanfic

Chapter 5

There would come a day when Ruby didn't have Beatrice Porter by her side. There would come a day when she wouldn't be able to roll over in her bed and find the onyx-black strands of her hair splayed over a pillow or kiss her eyelids as they fluttered in sleep. But in 1935, she didn't know that.

In 1935, she still believed they had forever. At least as long as forever could be in their human lives. And because she didn't know, she was able to live in the absolute bliss of being with her best friend.

As she brushed her hair out of the tight coil of the curlers she wore to bed, Ruby smiled at the sleeping figure of Bea on her bed. The sun had barely started to shine through the curtains, basking her pale body in the warm light of its rays. Her shoulders peeked through the white sheets, rising and falling with the evenness of her breaths. She was a vision of beauty that Ruby had been lucky enough to witness.

By the time the witch was putting on her earrings, Bea stirred from her slumber, a lazy smile tugging at her lips. "Good morning," she croaked. "You look beautiful."

"Hm, I was going for smart," Ruby chuckled. "Is it the necklace or the hair?"

"It's your face," the girl smiled. "You could play hooky, you know. Spend the day with me rather than at the university."

"A rather tempting offer," she said as she walked toward the bed, crawling to Bea. "But I'm too close to graduating now. I've already had to argue with enough men who believe that higher education is no place for a woman."

"Well, in that case, give them hell," Bea smirked. "I suppose I should do my own studying then. I do have a test this week and have gone to three classes at the most. I just don't see the point if I'm going to stay here. Magic doesn't require human schooling."

"But the coven does need to change with the times. We need to strive for better. For bigger," Ruby explained. "Living in the woods is amazing, but it keeps us secluded. Alienated. We need to find ways to blend in with society. Hide in plain sight. That's the key to survival."

"You've always had great plans for the coven. You will make a wonderful High Priestess one day."

"One can only hope," she sighed contentedly. "But for now, I can do my part in gaining more knowledge of how the outside world works. Find a way witches and other supernaturals can live amongst humans undetected. There may not be as many, but you know there are still people out there that hunt our kind. I mean, just last week, we received word of a coven in Louisiana being burnt down by so-called Modern Witch Hunters. We've learned to hide, but clearly not well enough."

"Cruelty will always be an incurable sickness in humans," Bea grumbled. "People in high school taught us that early on."

The memory made Ruby grimace. They hadn't done anything wrong. Stood by their respective lockers, the two girls had simply been talking and decided to sneak a soft caress. Ruby had only brushed a stray ringlet of hair that had fallen over Bea's eyes. But her fingers had lingered too long, and their stare was a little too intense. A pair of boys had been walking down the hallways at that precise moment and had decided that what the girls were doing was too queer for their liking.

Deeming Ruby as the instigator, they had snatched her and carried her to the nearest dumpster while calling her a slew of slurs and insults. All this while Bea cried and begged them to stop. It took everything in them both not to use their powers, knowing the punishment for using magic with humans was magic binding for an undetermined amount of time.

As the lid closed above her and the smell of trash engulfed her, Ruby promised never to show an ounce of affection to her friend outside of the protective confines of their coven. There, no one questioned or talked in whispers –although some eyes did follow them at times. But it was nothing like the treatment they endured outside. A couple of stares here and there was nothing like finding dead animals stuffed in your locker, or being unable to walk down the street without being accompanied by a big enough group, or having to stay as far away from your best friend as possible because you don't know who will attack you for what they believe.