We pulled up into Helena's driveway and sat there for a couple seconds. "Man I really wish my phone wasn't dead and you didn't lose yours. I think giving her a heads up that we were on our way would've been a good idea."
"Yeahh we really didn't think this through. We don't even know if she's home."
Well it was too late now. We were here and we had to go in. Plus I'm sure she'd be here. Last I knew of her, she'd been teaching music lessons to kids at her house because she had a piano. She also published a book or two every year. Creative writing was her major and it did her good.
We got out of the car and walked up to her door, nerves attacking both of us. I rang the bell and we waited patiently. I heard someone coming to the door and it opened, revealing our long lost friend Helena.
Helena, Lynn, and I were best friends back in high school. Not that we're not friends now. We're still really good friends now but back then we were practically inseparable which is why it's so weird that we don't know that she's a witch. Well she could very possibly not be a witch but if she was, it's not something she would hide from us.
"Helena" I greeted.
"Lynn! Aria! I haven't seen you guys in forever!" She had a pencil sticking out from behind her hair. It was tucked over her ear and she had some fuzzies in her tangled up brown hair. Of course she forgot to brush her hair. She always forgot to do the essential things like eat, sleep, drink, and shower whenever she was focused on something important. Once that girl set her mind to something there was rarely a chance of changing it.
"What new project are you working on now?" I asked pointing to the pencil. Lynn started plucking the fuzzies out of Helena's hair.
"A book actually. The final one of my fantasy series. Nanowrimo's coming up so I'm preparing for it. Hopefully I can go back and edit this and get it out. My publisher's growing impatient."
"That's awesome man. I'm so glad your book series worked out."
Lynn cleared her throat. She was gonna make me drop the bomb.
"Are you here alone?" I asked.
She nodded. "Yeah my parents are up at our resort and I don't have any students for the rest of the day. Come on in, I'll show the new cover I came up with."
Thank God she invited us in. Lynn and I followed her in the house, the familiar looks and smells bringing old memories of parties and sleepovers back to us. We sat down at her dining table and she pulled out a piece of paper from a drawer. It had a sketch of a lion on it with some other animals in the background.
"It looks really good." Lynn commented.
"Thanks. I gotta get it colored in soon. Working with a publishing company is so much harder than I thought'd be."
I nodded. "I can imagine with all those deadlines and requirements."
Helena pulled the pencil out and started shading something in on her paper.
I cleared my throat. "Hey so we actually came here to ask you something."
"Yeah?" She asked while shading in her drawing.
"Bare with us because it is going to sound really weird but are you possibly a witch?"
Helena stopped shading and looked up at us. "A witch?"
"Yeah like someone with magical powers." I explained.
"Why would you ask that?" She asked laughing. So she didn't say no which means either she's too amused with the idea or she knows something.
"Well because okay, this is my secret that only Lynn and a couple other people know, but I actually got turned into a vampire a couple days ago."
Helena blinked, confused.
"A vampire? Like a vampire diaries vampire?" I tried to explain. I bit into my wrist and we all watched as the bite marks quickly vanished.
Helena sat down at the table. "How? Did it hurt?"
"I met a vampire at a bar and he fed me his blood and I ended up turning. It was my choice because I wanted to be one and I like my choice. But now we're in a predicament. There's this town full of vampires and everything was peaceful but now this group of witches wants to make the town not invisible anymore and have humans found out we exist." I stopped to take a breath. "We need a witch to fight against them."
"And why would you think I'm a witch?" She asked.
"Because we creeped on this witch we knew and she had these diaries that said she had a great granddaughter named Helena Cecilia who she gave away when she was a baby." Lynn jumped in.
Helena took a deep breath. "Okay well I have been noticing some weird stuff but I thought they were just coincidences."
I frowned. "Like what?"
"Like when I'm annoyed, the lights will flicker or when I forget something, it'll appear right in front of me."
Lynn and I exchanged a look. Those were things witches were known to do, on a mild basis.
"You should ask your parents if you were adopted." Lynn said. "Just to make sure."
She nodded. "Yeah I guess so. If only I could find my phone." Her phone appeared on the table in front of and my eyes widened. Yeah that was definitely not normal.
"Here you go" I handed it to her.
She grabbed it and speed dialed her mom.
Lynn and I sat there awkwardly. She wouldn't be able to listen in on it but my ears made eavesdropping inevitable.
The line rang and her mom picked up.
"Helena! Is everything okay?"
"Yeah mom! I actually had a quick question. Am I adopted?"
There was a long pause. Not surprising considering that's not something you ask someone over the phone.
"Can we talk about this when your father and I get back home?"
"So it's true. I am right?"
"Well yes but I'd like to explain it to you. This is not something we should be talking about over the phone."
"Okay." Helena seemed a little upset and betrayed. She hung up and sat there quietly.
"What happened?" Lynn asked.
"I-I'm adopted." She replied softly.
Well this was awkward. They didn't teach you how to deal with a situation like this in high school, or college, or medical school. Geez what was the point of education if it didn't teach you the important stuff?
Helena snapped out of it and looked up at us. "Okay so how can I help?"
"Well I'm assuming you don't know how to use your powers." Lynn responded.
Helena nodded.
I sighed. "Well that's alright. Sandra had a ton of books in her cabin. We could take you with us there and hopefully you could learn from those. Only thing is we have what, like 4 days, 3 if you count today ending, to stop them." I looked outside and realized it had started to get dark now. "Crap Lynn are you hungry? It's like dinnertime now right? Sorry human hunger doesn't really apply to me anymore so you gotta let me know when it's time to eat."
"Dude it's fine and I am starting to get a little hungry. What about you Helena?" She turned asking her.
Helena shook her head. "I don't have an appetite right now." We didn't push her because in her defense, she did just find out something big.
"Okay well I'll see if there's anything in the fridge I could use to make something." Lynn got up.
"I'll charge my phone and let Damien and Zach know where we are. I don't want to but they're probably worried and pissed." I explained. "Damien's the vampire who turned me and Zach is his brother. Both nice people, in their own ways."
"I'm just going to be in my room. I just need some time alone." Helena got up and left.
I felt so bad. Her whole life she believed she came from these two perfect people. I hoped sooner or later she'd understand that her great grandmother did this for her own good. It's Helena, of course she'd understand but we should give her time and space to process it.
I searched around her family room and found an android charger. Thankfully my phone had fast charging so 5 minutes later I had enough battery to make a call. I found Damien's number in my phone. I don't remember how it even got in my phone. Damien must've put it in there when I wasn't looking after I first got turned.
The phone rang and I waited, not looking forward to this particular conversation.
"WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?" He growled on the other side.
"Chill sorry. We stole your keys and drove to our friend's house."
"What friend? Aria do you realize you could've killed someone? You're still a new vampire. You can't even control your emotions or your hunger or compel someone. If you had gotten in trouble and the humans found out, I would've been held accountable for everything!"
"I-"
"Hey sorry about him, he's just upset. Are you okay?" Zach took the phone from him and I smiled.
"Yes I'm fine thank you. He really underestimates my strength. It's not very supportive."
"Yes well I've dealt with that for centuries, you get used to it after a while."
I chuckled. "So where are you?"
"At the hotel. I came as soon as Damien told me you guys left. He was really freaking out about your friend leaving." He said that line with confusion.
"Makes sense. Did he tell you he also had sex with her after meeting her this morning?"
"She must be pretty special. He hasn't really freaked out like that over anyone since Amelia."
"She is. You'll see why when you meet her."
"Wh-"
"Where are you?!?" Damien took the phone from Zach. Geez I swear they were acting like two little kids fighting over a new toy.
I sighed. "In the town of Samuel. It's a couple hours away."
"I know where it is. We'll be there soon." He handed the phone to Zach and rolled my eyes.
"So um why are you in Samuel?" Zach asked.
"I did some reading in Sandra's diaries and it turns out she had a living great granddaughter by the name of Helena Cecilia. Coincidentally mine and Lynn's best friend's name is Helena Cecilia. We just talked to her and found out she indeed is a witch."
"That's great!"
"Well there's a slight problem. She doesn't know how to use her powers. I think we're going to stay the night here and go back to Sandra's cabin tomorrow to look over books and help her control her power. So you guys don't really need to come now."
"So you don't want to see me?" I could tell he was smirking over the phone.
"Okay you know the answer to that. I'm going to hang up now and I'll see you later." I hung up and felt myself blushing. I texted Damien Helena's address and went back to the kitchen to join Lynn. She was boiling pasta and reading a book.
She put her book down when she saw me coming. "So? Is he mad?"
"Beyond pissed. He and Zach are on their way now so they'll be here in a couple hours."
"I can't wait to meet this almost Stefan guy." She smiled.
"His names Zach." I replied, smiling from the thought of when I first met him. He looked so hot in his suit and tie. I'm a sucker for men in suits. And brown hair and brown eyes are my type of guy so he was virtually perfect. He had a bad boy background, a little too bad boy at first considering he killed his brother's girlfriend but I mean after you've been alive for that long, you're bound to do some pretty dark stuff. He hasn't been a dick to me at all and I really liked him for that. He was trying his best to be a good guy again. Damien wasn't helping with his negative attitude but I'm starting to think that's just the kind of guy he is. His bad parts just barely outweigh the good but there was no way I was telling that to Lynn. He made her happy and the way he was entranced by her makes me believe he'd do anything for her. She deserved that kind of love and devotion, especially after Chad broke her heart. Which reminded me... "Hey so remember that notebook we had in high school? With the kill list?"
She nodded. "The who we would kill if we were vampires list? Yup."
"I actually thought about that when I turned. About how once you turned, we could go down that list. I know it sounds crazy and maniacal now that I say it out loud."
"Just a little but we wouldn't be the twisted sisters if it weren't for our fucked up thoughts." She drained the pasta and poured it into a bowl.
"Do you want to add Chad to that list?" I asked handing her the bowl of pasta sauce from the cabinet.
She paused to think about it. "Nah. I mean I'm still a little hurt over him but if it weren't for him, I wouldn't have seen all those places. And I wouldn't have known that this thing I felt with Damien was unmatchable. I guess let's save him for when we both turn off our humanity and feel like going on a killing spree."
"That sounds like a plan."
Lynn and I were watching TV when we heard the bell ring. We got up to go answer the door. Just as we assumed, it was Damien and Zach. Damien and Lynn hugged liked they hadn't seen each other in ages where as Zach and I just did a quick hug as they came inside. Helena came downstairs. Her eyes were a little red and her nose looked red like she had just gotten done crying.
"Helena!" I greeted. "This is Damien and this is Zach." I introduced her to them.
They both waved as she said hi.
"So I don't want to wait until tomorrow. Let's just go to the cabin now." She stated.
"You sure?" I asked. Damien looked thrilled and Zach looked worried.
She nodded. "Yeah. I doubt controlling this magic," she looked at her hands "is easy. So I'll need as much time as I can get."
I shrugged and we all agreed to go. We got into Zach's car which was a bit more spacier than Damien's and drove off.
It was pitch black outside when we got to the cabin. Fortunately there was still electricity running when we flicked on the lights.
"You weren't kidding when you said a lot of books." Helena commented looking at the piles.
"Yup. Let's just all look through them, see if we can find some sort of guide." I directed. We all split up but Damien didn't appear to be looking at books. "You not gonna help?"
"I'm looking for a talisman. She needs to draw her power from something and usually talismans are passed down through the same generation of witches."
"How do you know so much about that?" I asked.
"I used to be friends with Sandra. She told me that. I think if I remember correctly, her talisman was a pendant."
"You're right brother." Zach chimed in. "It was a diamond pendant because her family name was Frost. Deriving from the fact that frosty snow shines like diamonds at night."
I frowned. "What else do you guys know that you haven't told me?"
"That's it." Damien replied. He paused for a second, his eyes staring off into the distance. "Crap I know where it is."
"Where?" Lynn asked.
"With her body which I buried in the woods." He used his super vampire speed and left the house.
I shrugged. "Well that's one thing we don't have to worry about finding." I picked up a tattered looking book that was sitting on a coffee table. It looked the most overused and the amount of dust on it was substantially less than the other books. I opened it to see stuff written in a scripture made of shapes and half letters. "I think I found something but it's not in English." I announced.
Lynn, Helena, and Zach joined me to look over the pages. Helena grabbed the book and started skimming through it.
"I-I can read it." She said as she flipped through the pages slowly, her eyes skimming the scripture.
"How?" Lynn asked.
Helena shook her head. "I don't know but it's like I've known this my whole life." She said in disbelief.
That was incredibly weird and creepy. "Well what does it say?"
"It's basically a manual to how to use my magic. It says my power comes from the talisman and if I really think about it and connect with it on a spiritual level, we become one and the magic will surge through me." She flipped to the second half of the book. "And this is all spells."
The tension on Zach's face disappeared and was replaced with happiness and hope. He was trying not to push me at all from the start with the whole contacting Lynn when I didn't want to thing and talking to Helena when she wasn't ready part. But I could visibly see the stress leaving and it made my heart swell with joy. We were going to save his town and no one would get hurt.
Damien came in through the door holding the diamond pendant. It was on a muddy silver chain. "Got the talisman."
I took one good look at that and shook my head. "There's no way she's wearing that right now. You just took it off a dead body." I went into the kitchen and searched through the cabinets until I found cornstarch. I poured a little into a bowl and mixed in water to make a paste. Grabbing a cloth and dipping it in the paste, I rubbed the pendant and chain clean. Medical school did pay off in the sense that you learned a lot of weird home remedies for things through general chemistry. "Here you go, all shiny and clean." I handed it to Helena.
"Thanks." She slipped it on and the diamond started shining. Helena closed her eyes and her skin started radiating light. A wave of power blasted off her and scattered across the room, knocking me, Damien, and Zach down but not Lynn. The three of us got up looking confused. Helena opened her eyes and scanned the page she was on. "It did that because it was a way for the talisman to restart and connect with its new host, me. The power only affected you three because you're supernatural beings whereas Lynn's just human." She went back to the book and began chanting a spell. She looked up at a book that was sitting on the couch next to her and it began levitating.
"Helena you did it! You used your power!" Lynn exclaimed.
"Yeah!" Helena cheered.
"There's just one problem." Zach interrupted their cheering.
"There's just one witch here. We have a whole group of them there. I'm sorry but I don't think your power alone will be enough to stop them." He said sadly.
I wanted to believe him but something in the back of my mind was nagging at me. I felt like he was wrong. Sandra said something about how her line was strong. I used my super vampire speed to run out to the car and grab the diary. I flipped to the page where Sandra talked about dropping Helena off.
In the slight chance that Helena did have powers, she would be one of the most powerful witches alive. The Frost bloodline is one of the founding witch bloodlines. Each bloodline draws their power from a stone. For us it's a diamond. If Helena did have powers, she would only be able to draw them from diamonds and a great amount of diamonds could result in a catastrophic amount of power.
Those witches at the ball weren't wearing any stones at all which meant they were probably born through inherited powers that slowly lost their magnitude along the way. Which meant Helena had a chance! I ran back to the house.
"Helena's bloodline is super powerful. She draws her power from diamonds so if we cover her with diamonds, she'll be powerful enough to defeat them."
"One problem though." Lynn commented. "Where are we going to get so many diamonds?"
"I've got that covered love." Damien replied. "Shall we head on back to Vampire Cove now?"
We collectively agreed on yes and headed out. Helena grabbed a couple more tattered books and read them on the way there with me and Lynn squishing her in the middle in the back seat. It felt like we were in high school again with our honors choir road trips. The parents in the front and the three of us in the back.