Dance in the Dark.

[[Aster's POV]] (Get used to this. Haha.)

"How do you know him..?" Bonnie asked me, cautiously.

"I said I know of him." I replied monotoned.

"Well how do you know of him?" Damon replied coldly.

"Did you ever know his last name?" I directed to Kat.

"Yeah, Taylor. Why?" Kat replied.

"Wrong." I knew I would hate admitting this but it had to come out sooner or later. "Taylor was an alias."

"Than what was his last name?" Elena asked.

I sighed. "Shaddix." Everyone gasped. "He was born as Aliaster Maxwell Shaddix. When he was five his family was being persecuted because of a lot of killings, their side of the Shaddix 'Clan' was the darkest and most bloodthirsty. Nobody ever suspected it until the three brothers took charge when their parents mysteriously vanished.

"The last time I saw Ashton as Aliaster was probably when I was about five maybe, give or take. So he was probably around thirteen or fourteen. By time I was seven he was known as the darkest Shaddix alive. Some of the Shaddixes found that insulting because a good handful of our bloodline is very jacked up, "Ashton" was a part of that side.

"And if you think his older brothers are dead, you are most definetly mistaken. Bryan and Alex are most definetly not their real names either. They were born as Raphiel and Andrew Shaddix. Raphiel is the most tactic, Andrew is the most blood-crazy. As for Aliaster, he's the most psychotic. More than you could ever even begin to imagine."

Stefan broke the silence, "What else do you know about these brothers..?"

"I know Raphiel is in California--why is beyond any of us, Andrew is North Dakota, and as for Aliaster, he's either where Alice is or God knows where. But if he's done anything to Alice, he's going to see a side of me that would scare any blood-crazy vampire."

More silence.

It was Kat who spoke this time, "I can't picture you worse than Ashton or Aliaster or whoever he is. You're so calm and--"

"I'm worse than all three of them. I've learned to control it. To control myself and my Power. When I was a little kid I used to be a big threat to everyone because of it. That's why I was such a loner when I started at Mystic Falls High."

"But like Kat said, you're always so calm an--"

I shook my head. "If I wanted to, I could probably take down Stefan and Damon right now in under three minutes. Not even to my full extent of my Power. Ashton and his brothers think they dominate the darkness and bloodrain, they don't.

"Once, about 900 or so years ago, was the begining of the Shaddix Clan. The leader was Astra Crest Shaddix I, for whom I'm named. He always seemed so calm, until the night of the full moon.

"He never expected it, nor did any other of the Shaddix Clan, but out of no where Astra became overwhelmed with some dark Power. Some believe it's a Gift from the spirits, but most believe it to be a Curse from hell.

"There's only been two other people to have the same Power before me, a man in 1347 named Joseph DeKnight who was also actually a Shaddix and a woman, Annabella Skyes, in 1407. Joseph was killed because he was such a threat, Annalissa managed to run and control it. And Kat, you're connected to her."

"What? How?" Kat responded, very shocked and taken back.

"Because Annalissa Skyes was not only killed by Ashton and his brothers, but she was also a dhampir who married a vampire and had a hybrid daughter, but she gave you your dhampir side when you were near death. She was your Watcher. She was alive until around eighteen or so years ago when Ashton and his brothers brutally murdered her."

"But Ashton is my age. He couldn't have--"

"Ashton has been reborn and revived into a new being about eleven times already. In our clan, there's only one way to kill a Shaddix, and that's with a Shaddix. Anyone can kill a Shaddix, really, but the only way to keep them dead is with the Power of another Shaddix. It's strange, really."

"That's why he kept coming back..." Kat muttered.

I nodded. "And that's why Dylan used a resurrection spell, so Ashton wouldn't come back as a kid again."

"Well what about the spell? Can you guys do it?" Lucky asked Bonnie and Ashiee.

The two witches looked at each other and whispered some things to one another before turning back to us and telling us that they can try tomorrow on the night of the Harvest Moon.

I didn't even sleep that night.

[[♥♦♥♦♥♦♥♦♥]]

7:47p.m. the next night.

We all sat around a round table back at the boarding house. Lucky was to my left, Laura my right, and Bonnie and Ashiee were at the head of the table, Alice's slippers in the middle of the table.

"Everyone ready?" Bonnie asked.

Everyone either nodded or said yes.

"Okay, well we're not sure how this is going to work but it may because in both of our families' spell books it's the same exact spell so here we go I guess.." Ashiee said, nervously.

We were all told to place our hands on the table, palms up. I had no idea what the point was, but I didn't care so long as I could know where Alice was.

Lucky gave me the, 'You love her and you damn well know it' look which I returned with my cold, 'Shut the fuck up' look.

All the blinds and curtains were open, letting the moonlight shine in, and Bonnie and Ashiee began reciting words I'm sure Stefan and Damon didn't even know.

In the middle of the spell, my palms began to sting and I winced in pain.

"What's wrong, Aster?" Laura asked me.

"Nothing...it's just my hands..." I replied, studying my hands closely.

As the words got louder and stronger, the pain on my palms grew more sharp and unbearable which was quite unusual for me.

"Let her have contact!" Bonnie and Ashiee said. After those four words, my palms were in unbelievable pain, causing me to actually scream out.

I tried to take my hands off the table, but it's as if they were stuck there.

"Aster, what's wrong?" Kat asked, getting worried.

"I..I don't know! It's like someone's taking a knife and cutting into my palms!" I said with another scream of pain at the end.

Ashiee and Bonnie wanted to help, but I told them to finish the spell, to find Alice's aura and where the hell it was, when I looked down at my now bloody palms and began seeing white with a flicker of blue. The same shade of blue as on Alice's ballet slippers.

I opened my eyes and found myself standing in what almost resembled Wonderland from 'Alice in Wonderland'.

There was grass for miles with roses blooming in random spots and as I looked into the distance I saw a blue light, which appeared to be an aura of some kind, coming closer.

As the blue aura came closer, the surroundings turned dark and even frightening for me. That's saying something.

"Aster!" A voice cried out for me. I recognized that voice in seconds.

"Alice!" I called as loud as I possibly could, running towards the blue aura. Blue, he aura is blue...just like her slippers...

She ran straight into my arms and I just held her there as she cried. Once she looked up at me, I saw all the cuts on her face and arms. I don't know what was going on or why, but she was also in a long white dress which was also bloody from all her cuts on her sides, back, everywhere.

"Aster, you have to get out of here. I don't know what happened, but somehow I'm in some dark piece of the Spirit Realm. I can't reach Annalissa or anything and these strange people keep chasing me. I can't do anything but run and hide and somehow I think Ashton is behind this. But you must go, if you stay here too long you'll be stuck here."

"I'd rather be stuck here, Alice."

"No, Aster. You must go back. If you can open the Gate between the realms, I can make it out. But I can leave you with a connection to me," Alice said, picking up my hands with my palms up revealing a blue crescent moon on each palm.

"Alice, what is this? Is this why I was--"

She nodded. "Yes. These crests are the key into the Gate. Only you can make it through the Gate."

"Why?"

Alice shook her head. "You must go, now. Go Aster, go home. Find a way to open the Gate!"

I shot back into myself, opening my eyes to everyone around the table back in the Mortal Realm.

"She's in the Spirit Realm, a dark part of it. She's being tortured practically and we have to open the Gate. I'm the only who can get in for some reason and she left me with these," I held up my palms and Kat cried into Damon's shoulder.

This was not how I wanted to end up falling in love.

Alice Sterling-Salvatore's Quote I:

"I fell for him, he fell for me, now we're both falling into the pits of Hell because some stupid idiot trying to get payback on my mama by using me. And yet, neither of us will give up."