The Vampire And The Orphan

“Ready?” Prue asked in a low voice as she lit the candle in the center of the table.

“Yes,” Lettie said bravely.

“I need your necklace to use as a talisman.”

“No,” Nathanial stopped Lettie from handing it to her, and everyone looked at him.

“It’s her only protection from Jael. You can hold it while she wears it.” Nathanial’s tone held a firmness that Prue didn’t argue with.

Lettie wrapped her necklace around her wrist, allowing Prue to gasp the stone.

Prue closed her eyes and began to chant in a language Lettie had never heard before. Prue was so small in height and stature and spoke so casually, it was easy to forget she was once a powerful witch Nathanial made a five-hundred-year oath. However, at that moment as Prue chanted her voice and eyes began to reflect the age-old power inside her she looked nearly ethereal. It, she was mesmerizing.

The energy in the room started to shift increasingly with each verse Prue spoke. The air felt colder, and a chill went down Lettie’s spine.

The candle began to flicker, and the table started to shake. Prue spoke louder and louder, and thunder roared in the distance. The candle went out, and the room went black as night.

Lettie pulled the necklace back from Prue, using its light to illuminate the room. Around the table sat Nyx, Nathanial, and Prue.

“Ella? Are you with us?” Prue asked in a deep and confident tone. “I’m here with Olette, and we seek answers.”

“You are wrong -you should not be.” Lettie recognized the raspy albeit whispery tone as Ella’s, however as she looked around frantically, she didn’t see her.

“I had a vision; I took precautions to keep it safe.” Prue rise to her feet. “Don’t let the world or Lettie suffer because I broke a rule. We need you now, sister.”

“I’m not of your coven.”

“We are still connected; all of us are connected,” Prue argued. “It’s why I had to hide. I will protect her. I have all these years.”

“We shall see about that.”

The voice was closer now, and Lettie gasped when she suddenly saw Ella across from her. Her face was as clear as day but her body was blurry; and hard to see. She wasn’t sitting at the table like the rest of them, it was like she was hovering there.

“Ella?” Lettie whispered.

“Do not be afraid, child,” Ella spoke directly to her.

“I am though Ella, I’m so afraid,” Lettie spoke softly. “We don’t know what to do and we need your help.”

“When the time comes, you will know what you must do.”

“How?”

“Your mother, Lailah, set everything in motion, child. You needn’t worry.”

“But how!?” Lettie asked anxiously.

“What about the choice? Why didn’t she make the choice?” Prue demanded.

“Who are you, who had the audacity to defy our very nature, to question me?” Ella asked her.

“These species rivalries were old five hundred years ago,” Prue scoffed. “Can we just not?”

“You turned yourself into a vampire you defied all of us by doing that. You defied nature!”

“Did I?” Prue snapped. “Oops.”

“Prue,” Nyx scolded her but she ignored him.

“What I have done, Ella, is saved countless vampires from falling into Lilith’s clutches. I taught them control over their blood lust, in turn saving countless humans from being fed on to death. In addition to that, I continue to save humans, from the rebellious street vampires, who toy with and torture them.” Prue stood up taller as she continued. “And I know these street vampires aren’t an accident. They can claim to be a rebellion against the order all they want. Its a lie. They work for the order.”

“There’s no proof of that yet,” Nyx told her as Nathanial raised his eyebrows.

“I don’t need it,” Prue said. “Our duty as witches is to protect nature and humanity. I am doing both, I just had to get a little creative in how I went about it.”

“It’ll never be accepted. You’ve blemished your entire bloodline,” Ella said stubbornly.

“Can we get over the fact Prue turned herself and get some answers, here?” Nathanial asked Ella. “I know you all hate rebels within your ranks, but it is what it is.”

“Please, Ella. Please help us,” Lettie begged.

“I did everything I was meant to do for you Lettie,” Ella said. “There isn’t anything further.”

“There are answers,” Nathanial pointed out. “Knowledge is what we seek; will you help us?”

“I do not know much.”

“Tell us what you can,” Lettie said with a soft smile.

“She found us by accident; we were a tiny coven and kept to ourselves, I was just a child then and was enthralled by her. She had an otherworldly beauty much like you, Olette. She was smart too; once she’d learned to escape Jael’s realm, she did it all the time.”

Ella paused for a moment before continuing.

“When she found us, she knew instinctively that we were witches and asked for our protection. She said it was vital to the future of the world, that we keep her safe from Jael when she was here, for the short periods she would come.”

“She would come and go back?” Prue asked and Ella nodded.

“Seemed she was seeking something here.”

“What was she coming for?” Lettie asked.

“We found out later, but it would seem your father. She kept coming and going until she found him.”

“And you protected her from Jael?”

“Yes,” Ella said, “she had light energy and could control it much like Jael can control the dark energy, the trouble was Jael had thousands of years on her. She did not have control enough over it, but with a little intervention from us and that special stone, she was able to control the light and it keeps her father’s dark energy at bay. Over time any light would make the dark energy disperse and I’m not sure why that it is.”

“Interesting.” Prue noted, “so is light Jael’s weakness?”

“The dark matter he controls yes, because he’s controlling it from outside this world. If you were standing next to him it wouldn’t help at all, he’d be far too powerful.” Ella explained.

“So getting back to the choice.. why didn’t she make it?” Prue asked.

“The choice Lailah was given would have resulted in great loss and devastation no matter her route. Therefore she hid from it and sought our help.”

“She chose not to choose?” Nathanial questioned.

“What does that mean for the rest of the world?” Prue asked.

“It meant she had another way that only she knew of. We only knew what that was once she showed up many years later. With you, Lettie. That’s when we knew she had been here seeking her mate and he was human. She said we had to protect you at all costs until you came of age. She said you would have the power to do what she couldn’t.”

“The power to do what?” Lettie asked.

“She never said.”

“The orphanage was protected, wasn’t it?” Nathanial asked.

“Yes. Lailah helped me spell the land to keep it safe from anyone non-human. Once this was done even she couldn’t stay on the land. Lettie could because she was part human.”

“So Lettie could stay there now and be safe?” Nathanial questioned.

“No, because you couldn’t stay with me,” Lettie shot him a look.

“If vampires and Jael can’t get to you... you would be,” Nathanial pointed out. “You could stay there until we figure this all out.”

“She cannot,” Ella spoke again. “She could as a child, but she’s come of age now. The fae and angel blood running through her is far more powerful. The barrier will reject her.”

“So you can’t send me away,” Lettie said irritably to Nathanial.

“I’m just trying to protect”-

"You protect me, Nathanial, you,” she said firmly. “I won’t allow you to send me away. I won’t.”

Nathanial grasped her hand. “Okay, it’s okay, Lettie. I’m not sending you away.”

But he would’ve if the orphanage had been an option. That clenched her heart and knotted her stomach. She knew he wanted to protect her but at what cost?

“We still don’t know what to do,” Nyx said. “We need answers. The earth is dying as we speak.”

“Olette will know,” Ella said.

“I don’t know! You said I’d know, but I don’t,” Lettie exclaimed. “I don’t know anything!”

“When the time comes, you will know what to do.” Ella’s voice became more distant as she faded from her sight.

“Ella! Ella, come back!” Lettie cried out as the room went silent.

Prue relit the candle as Lettie secured her necklace back on.

“What did that mean, Prue? Can you read through all the cryptic?” Nathanial asked.

“Nope,” Prue said with a sigh. “I doubt she knows more than what she’s been foretold. We need to reach your mother, Lettie; it’s the only way.”

“I will not use Lettie as bait to get Lailah to grab her,” Nathanial said firmly.

“But what if it’s the only way?” Lettie questioned.

“It isn’t, don’t you see? Ella said you would know when you need to. So let’s trust her on that and not seek out trouble.”

“It just answers, Nathanial. My mother won’t harm me,” Lettie argued.

“It’s risky. Jael could grab you. I won’t allow you to do this.”

“Nathanial...”

“Lettie, please,” he begged. “You just told me not to send you away. I’m now asking you the same. For me. Please.”

Lettie met Nathanial’s worried emerald gaze and nodded to assure him.

“For you. Nathanial,” Lettie said softly and slowly, “I won’t try and lure my mother by offering myself to Jael.”

“Promise me,” he pleaded.

“I promise,” she squeezed his hand in hers.

“But, Lettie, we need answers now!” Prue demanded.

“I trust Ella.”

Loud screams and noises halted the conversation inside the hut.

“There’s trouble up top!” A vampire ran in, eyes full of panic. “A bunch of street vampires. They must’ve followed someone back.”

“Street vampires!?” Nyx’s eyes widened, as did Prue’s.

“I need you two to go up there and end them” Prue said urgently. “If they find this hideout, they’ll find Lettie; they’ll smell her blood!”

“I can’t leave Lettie here!” Nathanial cried out and Lettie felt her blood go cold, it was one thing to argue and talk about her leaving or hiding out, another to actually be separated from him.

“I can’t go up there. I can’t be known to be alive. I need your help, Nate,” Prue begged. “Please! I worked so hard to keep this place safe.”

“It’s okay, Nathanial,” Lettie assured him, trying hard to swallow back her fears. “I’ll be okay.”

“I’ll stay and guard her; please help Nyx!” Prue begged as the bigger vampire had already darted out of the hut.

“Do not let her out if you’re a sight,” Nathanial warned, his eyes shifting from Prue to Lettie. “Lettie, if you’re in danger for even a second”-

“I know,” Lettie assured him. “I’ll make a realm.”

“She’ll be okay; please hurry!” Prue begged.

Nathanial took one last worried look at Lettie before diving off in a blur after Nyx and the other vampires.

“Why would street vampires be up there?” Lettie turned to a frightened-looking Prue.

“The order,” Prue bit her lip. “They must’ve found us... I knew we didn’t have time.”

“Nathanial and Nyx are strong. They can handle this.” Lettie assured the nervous vampire.

“This. But they’ll know where we are now and be back.” Prue was pacing. “We can’t fight than from the defensive.”

“So what do we do?” Lettie asked as the room suddenly went dark as night again.

“Prue, did you blow out the candle...why?”

“Prue?”

Pure was so fast Lettie didn’t even see her or feel it until her necklace was gone.

“Give that back!”

“I’m sorry, Lettie. We need help. You have to get us answers.” Prue cried out as she gripped the necklace behind her back.

“Prue, no! You can’t do this! Give it back!” Lettie lunged for where she heard Prue but couldn’t see a thing and missed her.

The black cloud came spinning into the room like an angry tornado. Lettie lunged again for Prue, this time grabbing her arm.

“Prue!” Lettie screamed, but it was too late, the black cloud swirled around them, wrapping them both in its dark and magnetic energy.

In the next instant, both Lettie and Prue and the cloud disappeared.