The Bourbon Diaries ✢ The Vampire Diaries FanFiction ✢ TVD FanFic ✢ TVDU FanFic

Chapter Sixteen - Raid Vaziri

Three and a half years ago

Mystic Falls, VA

New Year's Day, 12:25am

The photographs of the spell arrived, but the witch didn't. Raid was sitting at the end of Stef's hospital bed, watching her fidget uncomfortably on the opposite side. Her arms were wrapped around her knees, her toes tapping against the bed sheets, trying to distract herself from the hunger. Stef's cell phone had been broken by Phoenix, and Raid's was who-knows-where, probably fell from his pocket in the cellar. He had offered her Adam's cell phone to call anyone that might help her through the transition, but she refused. The two vampires she knew best were Caroline and Gabe, and they were both close with her parents. She hadn't even decided if she was going to tell her parents yet.

Raid remained on Adam's phone, zooming into the photographs, studying the spell that was snapped from an ancient book. He ran a few of the Latin words through an online translator. The spell was described as emundationem peccatorum: the cleansing of sins. Some words appeared repeatedly. Sanguis... Sanguinis... Sanguine... Blood. Mors... Mortem... Mortis... Death. For a so-called purification spell, it didn't seem particularly restorative. Raid copied the incantation down on the back of a nursing chart, sensing the spell wouldn't work quite so successfully being read while scrolling around a phone screen.

A further five minutes passed. Stef's face was now tucked between her knees, her hands covering her head. Where the hell was this damn witch? Raid decided they couldn't wait any longer. He'd have to do the spell himself. Granted, he was inexperienced and had never performed an incantation unrehearsed, but this was for Stef. He wouldn't fuck this up.

"We're doing this now," he decided, Stef raising her head in relief. "Adam, see if you can find a medical trolley outside. Steal a couple of needles or lancets, and some medicine cups." As Adam headed outside to get the required items, Raid took hold of Stef's hand. "Listen, I know the spell only needs a small amount of blood from each of us, but I'm giving you permission to feed on me if you need it, okay?"

Stef shook her head. "I'm not putting either of you at risk, Raid. I won't have more than I need for the spell."

Adam returned quickly, the items in hand. Knowing he was going to be first, he took a lancet and medicine cup for himself, and gave the rest over to Stef while Raid prepared himself to read out the spell. Raid took hold of Stef's hand. He didn't know if this was a requirement, but he felt like it was needed anyway.

"You ready?" he asked her, squeezing her fingers in support.

The moment she nodded, he began, "emundationem peccatorum..."

The chant continued. Raid's voice was steady. This was the part of the incantation that didn't worry him. The translations were about sins, cleansing, transformation, and something about gems or stones, which he really hoped they hadn't needed.

The next part was where he struggled to continue. The next line had clearly been added to the spell much later and it was the following words that concerned him: "vesparum noctis".

Wasps of the night.

Vampires.

He gave a nod for his cousin to start drawing blood, and Adam used the lancet to puncture the skin on each of his fingers, squeezing blood from them into the medicine cup after each prick. When there was finally enough in the cup, he passed it over to Stef to drink as Raid continued the spell.

"...oblatio sanguinis humani..."

Stef gripped onto the bedsheets ferociously, her eyes pinched shut, as she finished the blood. It wasn't enough for her. Raid knew it wasn't going to be enough for her. He tried to speed up the spell. As soon as it was finished, he could feed her his blood. Feed her properly, whatever she needed.