The Vampire And The Orphan

“What do you mean the earth will die?” Nathanial asked, even as Lettie was slowly nodding.

“When Jael spoke to me, he alluded to this,” Lettie explained, “he said both the fae and the earth are weakening, and that the order, doesn’t understand the connection.”

“They do. They don’t care,” Prue said with a sigh. “Why should they? All vampires need to survive is blood. If the earth becomes some barren wasteland, we still live on.”

“I thought the council represented all beings,” Nathanial questioned.

“Sure, there are werewolves, warlocks, and witches on the council for the show of it, but mark my words; the order belongs to Lilith,” Prue said with firmness to her tone.

“If the earth dies, though, the animals will starve, and so will humans,” Lettie pointed out, “What would vampires feed from?”

“She’d find farm blood and engineer food,” Prue said.

“She already farms humans for their blood,” Nyx added, “has been for centuries.”

Lettie shuddered; when Nathanial took her blood, it was always a pleasurable experience. She tended to forget that not all vampires were like him.

“So, what do we do? Jael is the oldest being on the planet and the father of all fae,” Lettie reminded them, “I am an eighteen-year-old, half-human, half-faery without wings.”

Prue laughed softly and peered at the young girl, “but your mother was born from a faery and an angel. That means you also have angel blood running through your veins and the little parlor trick you can do with realms proves that.”

“So you’re much more than a halfling,” Nyx confirmed.

“How old must my mother be? Jael disappeared centuries ago, right?” Lettie questioned.

“Yes,” Prue nodded, “angels are immortal, and a fae that closely connected to Jael, I can only assume she is immortal.”

“That means Lettie’s lifespan is likely longer then a natural human,” Nathanial mused.

“I’d assume so,” Prue agreed.

The perks were starting to roll in... longer life meant more time with her mate.

“If my mother had a choice, and one was to make the earth lush and happy, why wouldn’t she choose that?” Lettie asked, “why is she hiding from her own choice?”

“That is an excellent question,” Prue commented. “I think maybe the key to all this is her.”

“She told me not to...” Lettie cringed... trust anyone, and she was telling Prue and Nyx about her.

“Not to what?”

“Tell anyone but Nathanial about talking to her,” Lettie said with a worried look.

“You can trust me,” Prue said, “I’ve known about you all this time and didn’t say anything, right?”

“What do you want, though?” Nathanial asked with a pointed look of his own.

“The earth not drying up would be nice,” Prue said in an irritable tone, “come on, what? Are you assuming I have selfish intentions? I don’t. Nyx and I have taught and trained countless vampires’ control; we help get rid of street vampires; we want to do what we can to keep unliving on.”

“I think you want something,” Nathanial countered. “helping hunters, training vampires, doing this, it doesn’t get you into trouble with The Order, but helping us will. So why are you taking the risk? What do you really want?”

“We want Lilith gone,” Nyx spoke up. “She is playing a long game, but in the end, her goal is to reign over everyone and everything. We have been behind her this whole time playing our game, too; it’s part of why we have trained all these vampires.”

“How many?” Nathanial asked.

“A lot,” Prue said, “they will be loyal to me, but it’s not enough against her.”

“What do we do?” Lettie asked.

“You have to try to talk to your mother again. We need her help,” Prue stressed.

“I’ve looked,” Lettie said, “I didn’t think I could find anyone else in there until I found Jael.”

“She’s hiding from you,” Prue spoke thoughtfully, “how do we get her to come out before?”

“When Jael’s dark cloud was about to snatch me,” Lettie said, and Prue got an aha look on her face.

“No,” Nathanial said quickly and firmly. “No way is she going to Jael to get to her mother.”

“She doesn’t have to actually go; just make her think she’s going,” Prue said carefully.

“And if he grabs her?” Nathanial asked, “No.”

“He can’t grab me. I would need to break through to go to him,” Lettie pointed out.

“Still. I don’t like it,” Nathanial said.

“I don’t think my mother would believe it,” Lettie said slowly, “But if take the necklace off. He’ll send the cloud back, and maybe she’ll grab me then?”

“That’s even more dangerous,” Nathanial stood from the table pushing it away from him in frustration. “There has to be a way without you becoming bait.”

“It’s the only chance we have at an answer,” Prue said with a pleading to her voice.

“What if Jael gets you? She said not to let him to bring you to him, which makes it sound like he can do that with the black cloud.”

“She’ll stop him first,” Lettie said as she stood and walked over to Nathanial, “And if he does get me, I’ll leave; all I have to do is jump back out of the realm he’s in.”

“That sounds risky,” Nyx said.

“See,” Nathanial looked at Lettie and then Prue.

“What other option do we have?” Prue asked.

“I can try and seek her out again,” Lettie offered with a sigh, “Maybe knowing who she is now, I can get farther with her.”

“And if it doesn’t work?” Prue asked.

“I might have to be bait,” Lettie said to which Nathanial tensed immediately.

“No.”

“Nathanial, it is my decision to make,” Lettie said calmly, even though her heart was thundering inside; she never wanted to let him down, but the earth and the fae were at stake here.

“Let’s just revisit this after she tries again?” Prue suggested.

“I’m not giving in,” Nathanial nearly grunted his reply.

She wasn’t either, so this could get tricky...

“Why don’t you come out, get some food, and relax for a little while? You can try to reach her later?” Prue suggested as Nyx was already making his way out of the hut.

They followed Prue and Nyx out, but the mood between them was tense; she could tell this was going to be a fight, but it was one she couldn’t back down from. She’d never felt like she belonged. She never understood why she was kept locked up, why no one wanted her. Now she knew none of that mattered, Ella kept her safe for a bigger purpose, and this was it.

“Wait!” Lettie gasped suddenly, and they all turned to look at her. “Is there a way to reach someone that passed away, a witch?”

“Only with another witch,” Prue said. “why?”

“Ella,” Lettie said as she held her necklace up, “My house mother, she kept me safe my entire life and gave me this. She knows something; she must. My mother trusted her for a reason, and obviously, she was right too; nothing ever happened to me there.”

“This is true, and the moment she left, a vampire caught her scent,” Nathanial chimed in, “I believe Ella had a protection spell around the orphanage and a strong one.”

“Powerful it seems,” Prue considered this, “Ella... what’s her given name do you know?”

“Fahn,” Lettie said.

“Not familiar with it,” Prue said thoughtfully, “but names change so often.”

“She knew about me too, she put Lettie on my path,” Nathanial said.

“Could Ella be one of mine?” Prue asked.

“Greta was the last one,” Nathanial said, but his tone was dubious, ” I mean, she was so sure she was.”

“An heir could’ve been missed,” Prue tapped her chin as she thought about this, “Maybe someone had a love child and didn’t want anyone to know. It seemed odd that another witch was connected to her when I got the vision. Greta told you to come back, right?”

“How did you know that?′ Nathanial asked her.

“I saw it,” Prue said, “as I said, I still have some residual powers, and sometimes I get weird flashes.”

“It has to all connect,” Lettie said.

“I agree,” Prue was nodding as she glanced toward Lettie, “and if she is one of mine heirs, I think I can reach her if you lend me some power.”

“How do I do that?” Lettie asked.

“That necklace is a talisman. It’ll give me strength,” Prue said.

“I don’t know...” Nathanial frowned, “if she takes it off, Jael will come for her.”

“Not if we have lights ready,” Lettie reminded him,” we’ll be inside.”

“Let’s go get you fed, and we’ll try it later tonight; I’ll need to gather some stuff,” Prue grabbed Lettie’s arm and pulled her forward. Nathanial was close behind.

**

One of the hunters had cooked up a root vegetable soup that was filling and hearty; Lettie could hardly move after eating that much. She was sitting and relaxing as best she could in the hut with Nathanial.

They were waiting for Prue and Nyx so they could try and reach Ella. Prue gathered a few things for the spell she’d need to use.

“Lettie, come here,” Nathanial said quietly, “quickly.”

“What is it?” he grabbed her hands and pulled her close, pressing his forehead to hers.

She closed her eyes and let him pull her. Opening her eyes, she found them standing in the moon flowers.

“You brought me here?” she asked as she looked around them,” to seek Ella? But it’s a dream. It won’t work.”

“No, to talk freely,” he said, “without them hearing.”

“You said you trusted them.”

“I said I trusted no one,” he reminded her, “that we’d need allies, but that does not mean we fully trust them. I think they want the angel to use against Lilith.”

“Because Lilith needs to be stopped; you heard what they said.”

“I do, but there is a reason your mother had hidden away for so long; there is a reason she didn’t make her choice,” he stressed, “we need to be careful, and we are not using you as bait, not ever. I’ll lock you up myself before I let that happen.”

“Jael won’t kill me,” Lettie said, and Nathanial’s eyes widened in horror.

“He won’t,” she said, “he needs me. If not her, he needs me to set him free. If he takes me, he will not kill me.”

“No.” he cut it off as he gripped her face in his hands, “I chose to protect you, and even if I have to protect you from yourself, I will.”

“I can bring you with me,” she said, and he straightened up, “I don’t have to go in alone. But we need to try to talk to Ella. First, I need to know how to reach my mother; I must talk to her first.”

“You already chose this,” he said as he shook his head, “did I ever get a say?”

“The planet is dying,” Lettie said as her eyes welled with tears, “there are beings like me trapped and suffering. I have to do something; I have to. I probably exist because I’m supposed to do something!”

“shh, it’s okay, it’s okay,” he pulled her into his arms and embraced her. “I get it. I just... I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

The sky started spinning, and muffled voices were breaking into the air. They were being woken up. Nathanial looked irritated as she closed her eyes; when she opened them again, they were back in the hut, and Prue and Nyx were inside, staring at them.

“Done with your weird mind thing?” Prue asked as she set a bunch of candles down on the table.

“For now,” Nathanial said.

“Good, we have a séance to attend to.”