✓ | 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐂, Stefan and Damon

Chapter 52

Lol I haven't updated this in so long-

Sorry bout that. Here is a good ol chapter.

Preparing for an invisible army was what we would have to do. The only person who knew what the Gemini coven members looked like was Kai, who had taken the charge on defeating his family. I knew that this was hard for him. They were still his flesh and blood and I knew that he felt some love for them. Letting go of family was the hardest thing you can do. I know that from firsthand experience.

Whether or not someone is your family doesn't excuse their abuse.

"I doubt that my father will be coming alone. He may have brought the last remaining Gemini twins that aren't me and Jo. They're here somewhere. The problem is that they were so much younger when I got imprisoned. They will be able to recognize me, but I may not be able to recognize them," Kai says, picking up one of his knives.

"Alone or not, we have an army," Damon says, "We have more people, more power. Their magic is nothing compared to us. Plus, Astrid can just block daddy Gemini's magic long enough for me to rip out his heart."

"My old coven may be human, but that does not mean that they aren't strong," Val states. "I doubt that their ways have changed. Nobody knows that the prison world that we were in is gone. I don't think that he would be able to feel it."

"He may have and he may have not felt it, that doesn't matter right now," Kai defers, "We need to figure out a strategy here. We could use magic or we could use brute force. We have both, but our magical power could be defeated by theirs if we allow them to harness any magical objects. I know they have them. We need a precise plan."

"Hit for their leader," I say, "Kill the leader and they will fall. Isn't that how they work?"

"Precisely."

______________________________________________

Our battles had been won the same way every time, with brute force and raw magic. I had always been able to use my magic to my advantage. Never in my time as a vampire did I think that I would be facing an entire coven of witches after my own coven of heretics.

Life as the only heretic vampire had become lonely by the two hundred year mark. No matter what I did to try and ease the sinking hole in my heart, the fact that there was nobody quite like me irked my very soul. I needed someone there to share in my miserable existence, as cruel as that makes me sound.

Still, no matter how terribly lonely I got, I still pulled through. That sense that something, anything, could get better was what held me back from giving up. I couldn't just give up now, I had people who relied on me and trusted me to do what needed to be done. Surviving for over 1000 years required more mental strength than anyone could ever imagine. To pull through every time someone died, every time something went wrong, it took a toll on me.

My history had always been bathed in blood and tears. It was what made me who I was. That pain was all that I had under my belt in terms of my own experiences. Yeah, I had some good times as well, but the bad had outweighed the good for so long.

Nik was the one who had pulled me through the worst of it. The only brother that had kept me awake unless I asked him not to. Everyone else had betrayed me at least once. Don't think about it, Astrid. It's all in the past and you forgave everyone. They feel bad about it and that's what matters. The memory is punishment enough.

I remembered the first time I was daggered. It had been Elijah, who had gotten angry at me over some little thing. He grabbed that dagger from the table and shoved it straight through my heart. I wasn't out for more than a day. When Nik came home he gave his older brother the same treatment, daggering him out of pure spite.

The second time was by Rebekah, angry at me because I had stolen a man from her. That time Rebekah had stayed daggered for fifteen years. Nik couldn't forgive her for a long time. Over thirty years had passed before I was able to get them to forgive each other, with some help from Elijah and Kol. The three of us may have had fights of our own, but we were also known as the family members that had to end the conflicts. If Kol was fighting, Elijah and I would do our best to stop him from ripping people apart.

That job has become taxing. No matter how hard I try to keep everyone together, things seem to fall apart.

"Do you have the spell ready?" Kai asks from over my shoulder, looking down at my grimoire. I nod, opening the book to the correct page.

The only way that we could protect ourselves was to bind our bodies to the house. I could lift the bind and put it back up at will, meaning that it also acted as our own means for protection. No doubt the Gemini Coven would try to break my spell, but I had tied it down with my own blood and they had no samples of that.

We could trick them into thinking that they had won, gotten inside, before killing them all off. I didn't care that Alaric had ties to this woman, if she was here she would die as well. Jo would be smart in staying home with her children, being reckless as a mother doesn't look good when your kids get older and people talk about all of the crap you used to do.

Lighting up three candles I begin the chant:
"Incendere lucernam teneat lucis, teneat sanguis meus me nocte. Fiat concursus vel gladio sibi ego sum ille ad tenere ad Dominum. Cum eaque quaerite me, et reddam vota mea de pace."

"It's working," Kai notes.

Cutting my hand, I let my warm blood drip into the salt circle, "Hic jacet sanguis bestia deferet quis cladem denuntiat. Utrumque ab magicae immortalitatem sine clade bellum finire liceat."

What most witches did not know was that magic from the heart was more important than keywords that give you power. My spellwork sounded more like a prayer than anything else, but it had never failed me before.

Watching the candle burn, I finish the spell, "Alterius qui non covina meo sede hic absque scientia uel permissu. Est enim sanguis meus expectare. Huc ad me addicam legibus territorii in hanc sedem et focis."

"How do you make those spells?" Kai asks.

"Use your soul," I say, "Use whatever makes you magical. We don't have ancestors but we have ourselves. What most do not understand about magic is that it's all around us, creating and destroying anything in its path. Find it and harness it in its most pure form so it's able to bend to your will."

"How did you figure it out? That kind of magic doesn't get taught anywhere," I laugh.

"They don't call me an Original for nothing."

Translations for spells:

Incendere lucernam teneat lucis, teneat sanguis meus me nocte. Fiat concursus vel gladio sibi ego sum ille ad tenere ad Dominum. Cum eaque quaerite me, et reddam vota mea de pace. Burn the candle, bind the light, take my blood and bind me here tonight. Be it sword or clashing claim, I am the one to hold the reigns. With this spell I seek, it will bring me peace.

Hic jacet sanguis bestia deferet quis cladem denuntiat. Utrumque ab magicae immortalitatem sine clade bellum finire liceat. Here lies the blood of the beast who will bring a witches defeat. Both born of magic and made by immortality, allow me to end their war with no casualties.

Alterius qui non covina meo sede hic absque scientia uel permissu. Est enim sanguis meus expectare. Huc ad me addicam legibus territorii in hanc sedem et focis. Those of another coven shall not stay here without my knowledge and permission. They will wait for that whose blood belongs to my soul. To this, I bind myself to this territory, to this home and to this hearth.