The Original Witch

Chapter 38

Along the perimeter of the room are glass cases, containing artifacts donated by the mysterious guests. I decide to walk around to look at the displays since not everyone is present in the Great Hall yet.

I notice that some of the items are witch talisman, which can appear in a lot of forms of magic. Some cases contain pieces of jewelry while others random objects. A stack of grimoires catches my eyes, making me assume that all these things donated originated from the form of magic that vampires are familiar with.

I shuffle to the back corner as the light catches a jewel, creating a shine that radiates. The case displays multiple jewels that must have belonged to royalty at one point. They are all quite beautiful, but one catches my eye. Unlike the rest, this one does not shimmer but is instead a prominent blue color. My eyes narrow at the Lapis Lazuli and then look at my daylight ring that holds the same stone.

A voice appears beside me, "That's beautiful." I nod my head in agreement as I remove my eyes from the blue stone to take in the appearance of Fred.

I offer up a smile, "Well don't you dress up well, Freddie."

A light blush forms on his cheeks, "I could say the same about you."

I revert my eyes back to the case as I say, "It's amazing that we always have a connection to our past through items like these."

Fred shifts beside me to bend down slightly to take a look as well. "Agreed, but you have a direct connection."

I immediately notice the reference to me being around for so long, "You are right about that." I direct my eyes away from the case and place a hand on Fred's cheek. I expected him to flinch in surprise, yet he does not falter. "Clear your mind."

I close my eyes and easily enter his mind as I show him my old viking village from before I turned.

"Alexia!" I look up to see the original doppleganger, Tatia. "Come to the bonfire with me." I sit outside of my house, feeding the animals we were raising to build our village.

My eyes focus on the chickens as I reply, "If I do attend the bonfire with you, I will just have to witness Niklaus and Elijah both fawning and fighting over you. I think I will pass."

A blush spreads across Tatia's face at my words, "You are wrong about Elijah! Please come Alexia. It is tradition for us to celebrate our successful voyage to the New World every year."

I roll my eyes but comply, knowing that she will not give up until I come with her. "Fine, but don't you dare try to set me up with anyone like how you did last year." I think about last year when she introduced me to Davin. Even though his name translated to intelligent, he was not the brightest guy.

Tatia giggles, remembering this as well but grabs my hand to drag me towards the rising flames and smoke in the clearing nearby.

We arrive to see the villagers dancing around the fire as two older men bang on makeshift drums. The sound from the drums cease as Father makes his way to the middle of the crowd, demanding complete attention.

He speaks up loudly, his tone firm as it always is. "It has been 15 years. 15 years since we voyaged over from Europe to this void land. Tonight we celebrate our success as we have every year since!"

People roar and clap as they support our village. Father continues, "Our community is strong and will continue growing stronger! Always remember where we came from but look onwards."

Villagers cheer for Father as the music from the drums picks back up again. The memory ends as I smile over at my friend Tatia.

I slowly remove my hand and open my eyes. Fred's eyes open as well with a stunned look as he breathes out, "wow."

My eyebrows raise at this as I explain, "I have the ability to enter people's minds but can also show them memories if they allow me to do so. That memory was from when I was still human..." I trail off at this, almost forgetting what it felt like when things were normal.

Fred, still perplexed as to what he just witnessed, responds, "So this is when your people went to America?"

I nod my head to answer his question, "Yes. Books inform you all about later Europeans discovering the new land, but my memories are proof that us vikings had been there all along."

"That's insane. It's so hard to even think about that. You must know so much."

Other than those 500 years that my family took away from me, I want to add. I instead say, "That is very true."

Our conversation dies down as the music slows, inviting people to casually slow dance if they desire to do so.

Fred offers a hand and my heart skips a beat as I place mine in his as we walk over to other couples dancing. We sway to the sound of the saxophone and trumpet.

The joking side of Fred comes out as he says in a low voice, "Even though everyone knows you're a vampire, I bet no one knows I am dancing with someone who has a thousand years on me."

I laugh at this truth, "Technically yes, but I will always be seventeen, so I think no one will be too suspicious of the age gap"

We share a smile before he chuckles and asks a more serious question. "Do you ever miss being human?"

"There are things I do miss for sure, but I also have seen so much and am much stronger now."

He acknowledges my answer without a reply as we continue to dance.

Something else stirs inside me though, so I look up into his eyes, "Hey Fred?"

His eyes gaze over to mine when my voices breaks the comfortable silence, "Yes?"

"What changed between us? I know I saved your life but how did we go from fighting to friends so fast?" Fred cringes when I say the word 'friend', but I dismiss it. We look at each other, both attempting to figure out the answer but the chance for us to speak up is interrupted when the music picks up some nuances of the song.

Couples start spinning their partners to switch and Fred does the same to me.

With a smile present on my face, I am whisked away into the hold of someone else.

The steps are easy as I follow along in sync, enjoying the ease that comes with whoever I'm dancing with. Curious as to who can dance like this, I look up into the eyes of my dance partner with surprise. I gasp as our eyes meet, "Oh my god." My voice is shaky as I demand an answer, "What are you doing here?"

Dun dun dunnnnnn, who do you think it is?

Also sidenote-I have a question for all of you lovely readers! I really want to write a few chapter in TVD universe since I have some fun ideas for the chapters. I was thinking about including 4ish chapters but was wondering if you guys only wanted the bare minimum or a few extra chapters as well? Let me know in the comments please!