For What You Are

Jayne looked intently at the varnished wooden door before knocking purposefully.

She heard footsteps inside as a young woman appeared at the door. With a confused expression she asked, “Who are you?”

“Wow,” Jayne commented, “You’re the first person I’ve met who noticed I’m not Kara first time seeing me. Well done.”

“Kara has keys and a very different aura to you. So once again, who are you?”

“Jayne Perrin,” she replied. “And you’re Ally.”

“Yeah,” Ally said her confusion fading as she understood who was at the front door. “I figured I’d be seeing you sooner or later.”

“You were wishing it was later weren’t you?”

“I’d hoped,” Ally replied, stepping aside so that Jayne could enter. “You don’t happen to know where Kara went do you.”

“Contrary to popular belief, I am not her babysitter.”

“Hang on a second,” Ally said, clsing the door, “I’ll turn the stove down.”

“No point,” Jayne muttered. “I don’t think that food is getting any less burnt.”

A minute later Ally came out drying her hands with an old tea towel. “So,” she started, leading Jayne into the lounge. “What brings you to Mystic Falls?”

“Well, first of all, how did you know who I was?”

“Old family history books. You seem to turn up a lot.”

“Yeah,” Jayne replied. “I do that. Er, next question, why was Damon Salvatore able to get into this house the other night?”

“The other night? By the front door I suppose…”

“But you invited him in?”

“Was I not supposed to? No..he’s not-”

Jayne nodded in confirmation.

“So that’s what the deal with Kara’s memories was,” Ally realised. “I gave her a vervain imbibed necklace just in case.”

“Good,” Jayne replied. “At least that will protect her from people like Katherine.”

Although, Jayne thought, Katherine could probably rip it off without Kara even noticing. Don’t think about that. Wait, I came here for a necklace…

“Damn,” she muttered. “I actually came here for a necklace. Heart shaped. Made with Vervain, Rosewood, Wolfsbane and Yew?”

“Uh…” Ally trailed off making Jayne’s hopes fall.

“That was the necklace you gave to her.”

“I did,” she replied. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be, it’s really no use if you haven’t carried on the family tradition.”

“How do you know I haven’t,” Ally said.

“You noticed my aura was different, but you didn’t tell me what I was.”

“You know what you are,” Ally responded. “I’m not a practicing witch, I don’t need to be.”

“Well…”

“You want the 'favour'?”

“Does your family history detail absolutely everything?”

“No,” Ally continued. “You just happen to appear a lot. Kara was mentioned too, that’s why I offered her a place here.”

“Were you hoping I’d come along Ally?” Jayne asked intuitively.

“Most of our family has hoped you’d come along so that the burden of the ‘favour’ wouldn’t be passed on to future generations. Honestly, I think whatever the favour is was lost hundreds of years ago. My mother didn’t even know when she told me about it.”

“The favour, eh?” Jayne started, not really intending to let it be known what the favour was especially if Ally's powers weren't up to scratch.

“You going to explain it or not?”

“Well not with that tone young one.”

“A tad belittling,” Ally replied. “But I can deal with it. If you do need a witch, which I’m assuming you do considering you came to me, I can do the job. But you’d need to get the necklace back. It would be awkward if I took the necklace I gave to Kara.”

“I’m sure I can manage it,” Jayne responded, standing up. “So I guess I’ll see you as soon as I have the necklace back.”

“All right,” Ally said. “I’ll try and brush up on my skills but can you come by when Kara’s at school?”

“I’m not stupid Ally. I’ve known Kara for a lot longer than you have. But thank you for taking care of her.”

“She takes care of herself,” Ally replied. “I just thought it best that she wasn’t living in the same house as say, a psychotic vampire or an ignorant innocent who would look at her very strangely when she suddenly had memory lapses all over the place.”

“Anyway, thank you.”

“No problem,” she said as Jayne walked out of the door and closed it behind her. Quickly, Ally stood up and walked back into the kitchen, moving to turn the heat back up on the stove. Cutting herself short, she stared at the elements and questioned herself.

It had been eight years since she’d practised magic – would she still be able to do it?

“Incandesco,” she murmured, placing her hand above the pot of sauce feeling the surge of heat coming from the hot plate. In a split second she saw the sauce began to bubble and barely had time to launch herself across the kitchen before the sauce exploded.

“Wow,” was all she managed looking up at the sauce-stained ceiling from her position on the floor. Looking at her hands she recalled the power and also the fear of the power that she felt when she used magic.

Staring at her reflection in the oven she ignored her fears and smiled saying, “I’ve still got it.”