Fire in the Water (Book 1)

Black out Night

On the drive to Black Bayou Lake area, Elena read some parts of the translated Grimoire, that seemed to be excerpts out of accounts of what had happened some thousand years ago-

"It is said that the history of peoples comes back as a spring, repeating itself in cycles, like the nature repeats itself over and over again as the wheel turns...it was so once before, no accounts were left except those told and retold by our forefathers, my elders...and so I will put this on this paper, for if we do not succeed to bring the plague of the hound clan down, we will not see the sun rise again. Many know of the Hundings, the hound-clan that fought many battles against the Wulfings, and each the balance somehow managed to win over, until dark magic was brought forth, allowing them to make them rise, running over everything alive that came upon their path of ruling everyone and everything. Four kings sat down before the witches ready for a Black out night.

Some thousand years ago, Anglia

Eve of the battle

 Eilif walked into the tent of Edric, greeting him warmly with a kiss.

"How are you, my love?..."- she said.

"Ready!"- he said resolved. Then he gently brushed with his fingers over her face.

"My fair lady..."- he whispered looking at her as if enchanted- "there is a certain radiance I have not yet seen in you..."

"There is a blessed reason for it, my lord... I am with child..."- Eilif said happily.

The king now looked at her in awe. To have a child with a norn was a sign of extraordinary gift.

"This is a good omen... a child!... the witches were right..."- he said embracing Eilif with great love.

Several hours later. Edric of Anglia came to the witches at a sacred spring in the heart of the woodland. The druid witches, Senae, Esther, Rosemerta greeted the king.

They asked him to place the hands above the Ulfberht sword bearing his name. Earlier they had brushed in sacred herbs entwining it with powerful magic. 

Elena and Jeremy came to Sophie for the last recap, as all the others did with their appointed witch.

"They are ready for this two"-Sophie said-"it's about magic-"but ultimatevely it is about who is more cunning and plays dirty. They will play dirty. "

Both of them took notice at what she said. It is the same as what the other witches shared.

"Good."-Sophie now told them to put their hands into the water mixed with the the Hunding blood. Sophie, as well as the other witches looked at a navigation device telling them when to start the words of the last spell. At the exact same time the Hunding witches were using their spell. All the witches could feel the surge of the balance shake within them.

Eilif watched from a distance at Elijah. She had previously visited Elena. The norn gave Sophie her blood for the spell.

Flashback
Eilif met up with Sophie early hours of the morning while they were still at the Plantage house.

"The mystical blood that flows in Elena is of the same kindred blood that flows in my son's. She comes from of Od Ana."

"Od Ana?!"-Sophie said in amazement-"that's a goodess  -Fire Mother!"
"So it is."-Eilif uttered.

It was clear to Sophie now what the Fire in the Water spell was about.

As if they were one they all picked up their swords and went to meet their opponents in the woods. It was not a fight where they would meet the opponent face to face immediately. It was a game of spook and unpredictability. 

Rebekah and Tyler set off in different directions. All their senses were on the highest alert.

"Come on...!!"-Rebekah was mentally impatient to engaged into battle, but she knew that she had to play it cool as her impatience could mean her demise.  And when it finally came down to being eye to eye with the first Hunding werewolf that came her way, she showed what skills in wielding her sword she had.

Kol struggled slightly, but he fought through his pain barrier and focused on his anger to help him in his coordination. Elijah kept close to him as he knew that Kol had the disadvantage of the Hunding bite making him still weak and therefore slower. They opted to work as a team.

Caroline and Stefan did the same.

"Whatever happens I will watch your back!"-Stefan told her before they ventured into the woods.

Caroline was tremendously nervous.

Matt and Lori proved to be as one. It was already clear in the practice that they strangely were perfectly matched.

Elena and Jeremy agreed to separate as Rebekah and Tyler did, but they made out a call if any of them was in grave danger.

Sophie knew that having them together would caused them to fret about one another, but she needed the Gilbert hunter there instead of Elijah, as the Hunding king would not suspect it. They also didn't know that it was Elena who carried the spelled Hunding blood that now mixed with her doppelganger mystical blood enhanced her abilities even more.

As Jeremy finally encountered the Hunding king, he looked smug at him, although he was fuming that the vampire was not there. The Hunding charged at Jeremy mercilessly and thought that it would kill Jeremy with one blow. Jeremy held up pretty well which made the Hunding extremely mad. Elena had heard him call out for her., but the king's minions charged at her from all sides and it seems like they were coming at her in hoards. But she was making her way slowly towards Jeremy, leaving a trail of Hunding heads behind her.

Not far away from them, Sophie tried hard to establish the link with the druid witch from her coven in the spirit world. She ignited the her blood as well as Stefan's blood and soon a strange translucent veil opened and she saw the druid witch Senae in front of her. She spoke to her now-
"You have made us very proud Sophie."
"Senae?!"-Sophie asked.
"Yes, I am Senae. Rosemerta and I are ready to entertwine the magic and break the bond of the Hunding witches. Join my hand."

Sophie did as the druid witch asked.

The witches altogether then started chanting a spell in the old celtic language. As they uttered the last world a surge of magic like a seismic wave was released breaking the link between the Hundings and their witches. At that moment the veil with the spirit world closed. Sophie slumped down on the ground unconscious.

Although they all felt the link break, it was Kol who felt the relief of the spell broken the most as the Hunding bite healed. It was now easy to defeat the remaining Hundings that still tried to fight on.