A/N: I'm alive! Without further ado... Enjoy!
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"I never thought there will be a day where I see you again," revealed Grandma Rose.
Freya was just putting Eloise on her bed. She closed the door to Eloise's room and faced the awaiting daughter. The blind werewolf chuckled.
"I thought you said you don't remember me."
Rose accompanied Freya downstairs. "I don't fully remember, but I do remember growing up with a nice sister figure until I was 15."
"Right, you're an only child in the family. Everyone else have siblings except you," Freya joked.
"Now I remember I had heard it somewhere before," Rose smiled recalling the past. "So, you're Freya now. I remember that's not how they called you."
Freya was reminded of her time with the family a long time ago. "I thought it'll be nice. After all, you're the one who called me Freya the first time."
"The goddess of war and beauty, suits you don't you think?"
"Indeed," the said woman smiled.
There was a small brief of silence. Freya decided to sit on a couch while Rose brewed her tea. After a while, the elderly lady came back with two cups of tea. One for Freya and the other for herself.
"How... How does Eli?"
"Hmm?" Freya was sipping her tea.
"She's been gone for a few years, I'm worried about her," completed Rose.
"She's okay, I guess," admitted Freya, "a bit of a wimp, but she's good with her magic."
"She was so eager when mama told the kids stories about you. Caitlyn wasn't interested in a bit, but Eleanor she was obsessed by it," recalled Rose. "She found Grandma's books I kept in the attic, and after that there was no stopping her from learning magic. I had to ask mama for help before she hurts herself."
"She's special. That much I notice," complimented Freya.
"She's one of a kind. No human can learn and master magic in the short time she had."
As they busied talking about a certain girl, the youngsters came in as if on cue. Caitlyn went to her room to take a quick shower, Astra immediately sat on Freya's lap, while Eli found her way to the kitchen.
"Grandma, do you have any snacks?" asked the young witch.
"Eleanor Jaden Reynolds, do you have no manner?" scolded the elderly, "wash your hands first!" before she walked into the kitchen.
Eli shuddered at her grandmother's voice. She instinctively answered, "yes, ma'am."
Astra chuckled at the sight. Freya held her close by her waist with one hand while the other reached out for her tea. The younger girl rested her head in the nook of Freya's neck. Her hands found their way around her girlfriend's shoulder.
"They're funny people," commented Astra.
"Do you like it here?" asked Freya after a sip of tea.
"Of course. But we can't stay here for long. Who knows when uncle Nyx might appear next or when Lilith going to turn on us."
"How is she by the way?" Freya asked referring to the other vampire.
"The same. Still lurking in the shadow whenever I turn around," replied Astra, "although I think she's shown interest in Eli."
"What about me?" asked Eli as she walked out the kitchen with a cookie at hand.
"Oh you know, I just told Freya of our training."
"Did something good happen?"
"It's not much. Let's just say Eli is superb with her power, she's just not a good teacher. She never was," blurted Astra.
Freya raised her eyebrow. "What kind of training that the two of you had without me knowing?"
"Nothing," Eli quickly answered. "I told you all about it before. It was to strengthen her physical ability."
"What kind?" pressed Freya.
"Most of the time Eli told me to run while being chased by fire balls," admitted Astra.
Freya put down her tea and gently removed Astra from her lap. Now with no obstacles between her and Eli, she dashed to the witch. Her strong arm pinned the witch's shoulder.
"What did I tell you before?" taunted the wolf, her eyes a slight darker. "If you scratch even a tiniest bit of Astra, no matter how many deeds you have done, I would..."
"Please don't kill me," Eli whimpered.
Astra immediately tried to calm Freya. She put her hands on her girlfriend's shoulders to pull her out.
"Freya, baby, it's okay. No harm was done," persuaded Astra.
After hearing this, Freya turned to Astra, ignoring Eli instantly. "What did you called me?"
"Baby? You don't like it?" Astra circled her arms on Freya's neck.
Freya smiled and closed the gap between them. "You never called me that. I love it, it's sexy when you say it."
One second she's at my throat and the next she's making out with her girlfriend, Eli thought to herself.
Astra gave her a thumb up behind Freya's back which Eli replied with an OK sign. Eli had been living with Freya for 5 years and never had she saw her this alive before she met Astra. It was still a pain for Eli especially now that she has to take care two person, but if it could put a smile on her friends then it's worth it.
"Oh... Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt," excused Jimmy who just entered the room, before awkwardly turning back.
Astra quickly broke out their make out session. She hid her flustered face behind Freya. The wolf herself had a winning smirk plastered on her face.
"Finally the torture has stopped," said Eli.
Jimmy turned to face them. "Um... Sorry about that. But I have something that I want to show you."
Freya inquired him to continue. Jimmy asked the kids to follow him. He led them to the library.
"So when you asked us about the hidden room, to be honest I have no idea what it is. The only one who knows probably just Nana, but it seems she doesn't remember anything about it," detailed Jimmy as they walked.
The middle-aged man opened up the library door. He let the rest go in first before he follows suit. He went to the locked up vault that Astra found yesterday.
"I slightly remember Nana said something about the past, but I'm not one to listen and I regret that now," Jimmy awkwardly laughed. "But I know one other person, beside Eli, who would take her words seriously. Your father, Philip."
"Dad?"
"I searched through his stuffs that we still keep, and I found this," Jimmy showed them a parchment paper that had spells written in ancient language.
"It's enchanted," gasped Eli. "Why would dad had something like that in his possession?"
"I believe Nana gave him a long time ago, and by the look of it, it must has been passed down generations," Jimmy explained.
"How do we use it? Do we just need to place it on the lock or something?" asked Astra.
The witch pondered for a certain amount of time. "I'm not sure. Only one way to find out."
Eli placed the paper on top of the lock. Then she poured her magic energy into it. But before she could do that, a flame burst in front of her face disturbing her concentration. The witch yelped in shock and nearly fell to her back.
"How many failures must you experience before you realize your foolish way would not work, Witch?"
"God damn it! Can you stop interrupting me every single time!" Eli cursed.
"Fine, try your way then and see if it doesn't destroy the only key you have," challenged Lilith.
Eli gritted her teeth. She was about to lash back, but Freya stopped her.
"I believe you would know how to use this," Freya offered.
"I'm surprised you don't."
"Reading has never been my area of expertise."
Lilith stepped into the room and stopped in front of Eli. She took the parchment from the girl and began examining it. She read what's written on it in some kind of ancient language no one knows. As the vampire read the incantation, words began to emerge from the parchment and circled Lilith's fingers and hand that she used to hold it.
The longer she read, the paper started to reveal nothing but white as the words that was once there moved to Lilith's hand. Then it was completed. The paper was now blank while her hand turned black from the writing ink. She pointed one finger towards the vault. The closer it got to the vault, the words on her hand gathered to the pointy finger, like iron to magnet. As her finger collided with the vault, the words sipped into the lock. After all words were gone, the compartment was opened.
"It's a sealing technique that the werewolves like to use. Quite practical if you know the mechanism," explained Lilith.
"Good work," complimented Freya.
"Hurray the vamp saves the day, again," said Eli sarcastically.
"Let's see what's inside," suggested Astra.
Eli opened the hidden compartment. Inside it was revealed to hold nothing more than two books, one was a really big book like encyclopedia and the other one was more of a journal with letters stuck in it. Eli gave the journal to Astra and took the second one out, only for her to recognize it.
"This is..."
Lilith was taken aback when she saw the big book. It was the book that she's been searching all her life time. It took all her self control from not ripping the book out of Eli's hands.
"Do you know what you're holding?" Lilith inquired.
"Hm? Yeah, I read it when I was a kid. I think it is an ancient cool story book. It tells story about werewolves and vampires, I thought Nana pick a story from there," replied Eli recalling her memory of the book.
"It was more than just a mere story book. Whatever you do, don't ever let Nyx or other vampires see it, better yet keep it to yourself!" warned Lilith.
"What about that book anyway?" asked Astra.
"It was something that could make the entire clan in shambles," the vampire muttered barely heard from anyone.
Lilith left with a bitter taste. Everyone else was confused but let it be. Astra moved on to the book at her hands. A journal with letters. She untied the book causing the massive amount of letters to spur out and fell to the ground.
"Ah..."
Jimmy and Eli picked up the letters. The girl then noticed one of the handwriting. She flipped it open to confirm her suspicion.
"I think it's a journal of your growth," said Astra waking Eli from her daze. "Look at the date and notes. Here, Corona age 14,
'It's been a year since that dreadful day. She has lost her smile and now living like a walking dead. I have an assumption that I am to blame. I regret ever separating her and Eirlys, but I don't know what else I can do to calm her.' -Adelyn
And there are more. Here, age 26.
'It brings smile to me whenever I see Miss Corona plays with my granddaughter, Eloise. Young Miss is an adult now, yet she act like a child whenever she plays with the kids. I guess it was because she was ripped off from her childhood that she wants to experience it once again.' -Laurel
It was signed by different people. There are some deep words in it. These are your caretakers' observation of you through out the year, isn't it?" said Astra after reading some pages of the journal.
"I suppose it is. Maybe the head witch, Adelyn, wrote something about the spell in that journal. I'm counting on you, okay?" told Freya as she patted Astra.
"Yes," Astra beamed with joy. "What about the letters? Eli?"
Eli looked up at Astra slightly in daze. She gathered all the letters to herself like they were only for her eyes to see. The witch quickly thought of a good excuse when the others eyed her weirdly.
"Umm... I'm going to check on these in the other room," she said a bit stuttered.
"Let me help you," offered Jimmy.
"NO!" Eli yelped. "I mean, I'm fine. It's no big deal," she corrected after herself.
"Are you sure? It's quite a lot," asked Astra.
Eli took a deep breath and made herself look more confident. "Yes. I'm sure. Leave it all to me. I'll finish it in no time."
"Okay then..."
Eli started to left the room with letters at hand. "I'll let you know if I find anything related to Freya."