Beyond the Blood

Chapter Sixteen

Autumn looked at her calendar that was tacked up to the wall as her phone buzzed again. She didn’t even bother to look at the caller ID, knowing it would either be Damon or Bonnie calling. She had been dodging their calls for the best part of four days as she skulked in her bedroom; avoiding her sister, her brother, Jenna and most of all that book that was sat on her desk.

It was three weeks until her and Elena’s birthday. Three weeks until they turned eighteen and whatever Bree had told her at the weekend was supposed to happen. She supposed that today was going to be the day she would have to stop dodging everyone; she was going back to school. She’d feign a headache for Caroline’s sake and said she’d been laid low with annoying migraines for a few days.

She picked up her phone just as it stopped vibrating and slipped it into her skirt pocket before turning to go and pick up her bag. Elena had already left assuming that she wouldn’t be going to school today; in fact the house was empty as Jenna has gone to college for the day as well. Autumn stepped down the stairs carefully, being sure to avoid Jeremy’s slung hoodie at the bottom as a certain slip hazard.

She nearly leapt out of her skin as she opened the door and saw the figure of Damon stood immediately on the doorstep.

“What are you doing here?” she asked in shock at the sudden appearance.

“One to make sure you hadn’t killed yourself, two to drag you out of your little emo moment and remind that your brother’s the fifteen year old; not you,” he said with a slight sneer.

“Well you can see that former isn’t the case,” she said, “And I am not having an emo moment – and if you wanted to know that badly why didn’t you just come in; you’ve been invited?”

Damon faltered slightly at that, “I know I have – I didn’t want to rush you,”

“When would that have ever bothered you?” she asked with a smirk.

“It wouldn’t normally,” he said regaining himself, “But you did get some pretty shocking news at the weekend. When I was coming to terms with what I am I went underground for years,”

“Well I might do that just yet,” said Autumn leaning on the doorjamb, “I haven’t read the book… or spoken to Bonnie,”

Damon rolled his eyes, “Well you’re going to have to do it soon,”

“I figured,” said Autumn with a shrug, “I’ve been carrying it around with me since the weekend; trying to gather up the guts to read it,”

“You got it now?” asked Damon taking half a step forward.

“Yeah,” said Autumn, “Why?”

“Let’s go read it,” he said with a shrug.

“Damon – I was just on my way to school,” she said with a helpless glance towards her car.

“So?” he asked, “You’ve missed three days already – what’s one more morning?”

She hesitated and dithered for a moment before turning back to him, “Alright – but whatever shit I read in here; it’s your fault okay?”

“Nope,” Damon said, “I am not taking responsibility for that,”

Autumn raised her eyebrows at him before stepping off the porch and shutting the door, “Okay, where’s your car?”

“I didn’t drive here Autumn,” said Damon

“You didn’t really think this through did you?” she teased

“Not in the slightest,” he said, “I didn’t even know whether I’d find you in,”

Autumn rolled her eyes slightly at him, before shrugging her shoulders, “Where do you wanna go?”

“Well somewhere we can read this without too many prying eyes,” said Damon.

“The off-town campsite?” suggested Autumn, “We’ll have to go in my car ‘cause it’s a bit of a ride,”

“No we won’t,” said Damon with a grin before hoiking her over his shoulder causing Autumn to shriek in surprise. The next thing she was moving at a speed she had never experienced before - the world was blurring past her and she couldn’t help but slam her eyes shut to the rushing sensations that washed over her.

It stopped as abruptly as it had started, it came to halt and she found herself put the right way up on her feet. She clutched at her head to try and regain her balance before warily opening her eyes.

“Couldn’t we just have driven?” she asked Damon who was stood watching her unsympathetically.

“Much quicker this way,” he said with a shrug and then rolled his shoulders back, “Haven’t done that in a while. You’re heavy”

“I am not!” she said indignantly, “And anyway; aren’t you supposed to be super strong?”

Damon just smirked, “Well we can only cope with so much…”

Autumn let out an annoyed gasp and aimed a punch at his arm. It felt like punching marble and she let a huff of pain as her fingers met his bicep. Damon couldn’t help but let his smirk widen.

“You just wait,” she said ominously.

“Well you never know – all this might do to you is give you shinier hair,” said Damon, “You won’t know until you read that damn book,”

“You saw what happened that vampire last week,” she said with a shrug.

Damon’s smiled dropped slightly at that but then he just gestured for her to retrieve the book, “Just get on with it,”

She didn’t reply to his short comment but leaned over to get the book out of her bag. Bree had marked the section she needed by dog-earing the pages. Autumn flipped it open to the page in question to met by intensely small text interspersed with diagrams and pictures.

“Where do I start?” she said almost to herself.

“Well the beginning seems as good a place as any,” said Damon wandering over to her side and pointing out the section marked ‘fae’.

“Yeah I can see it thanks,” said Autumn as she began to read.

“Well…?” asked Damon after about thirty seconds silence.

Autumn looked up, “What?”

“Well I didn’t come out here to hold your hand – tell me what it says!” he said impatiently.

“Oh man you sound like a child,” she said, “Okay,”

She found the place on the page where she had got to and began to read aloud, “Faeraes are rare. Extremely rare that even those who have studied them for generations have often not met one. At any one time there can only be four in existence and they are created, not born.”

Autumn stopped, “Not born? What the hell does that mean – how could I not have been born?”

Damon didn’t say anything but motioned to the page so Autumn looked back down, “Faeraes belong to nature, they are there to protect the natural order, to aid the earth, to be in touch with the living world. The four of them split themselves accordingly to the base elements – water, air, earth and fire. Sometimes a faerae may go their entire existence without knowing the true extent of their powers – a trigger is needed for a full transformation to take place. This often happens but it has been known for a being to possess the fae and never take on their potential. Often a trigger is a supernatural or celestial event…”

“Celestial event!” Autumn exclaimed in sudden understanding, “The Comet! Bonnie was blathering on that it meant something was going to happen, that something big was happening…”

“It seems we weren’t the only things it drew to town,” said Damon thoughtfully.

“We?” asked Autumn and then thought about it, “Oh, you and your brother”

Damon didn’t say anything but the look in his eyes told Autumn that he was judging her blonde moment.

“Well how do I know which one I am?” she asked, re-reading the passage she had just read before moving on.

“Faeraes are often placed in a certain situation due to proximity to a supernatural danger, or the potential thereof. They are there in an attempt to protect the natural process, to displace the unnatural and to provide a power source to witches who may be attempting to do the same. They are the ultimate protector; placed usually in response to a spell or plea by a powerful witch. The full extent of a faeraes powers are unknown, this author having never met one, but they can manipulate nature – especially the element related to themselves –, they are possibly shape shifters, and can also move at great speeds; whether this is through flight or not is unknown. After a faerae becomes aware of themselves it is usually at their next creation date that their powers manifest…”

“Well I know that,” said Autumn half to herself, “But what’s going to happen?”

“Does it say anything else?” said Damon, scanning the page over her shoulder.

“No,” she said, “It just blathers on about witches and their need for a power source; there’s a bit later about faeraes and their relations with vampires but I think I’ll read that on my own”

“Hmmmm… well it did tell us some things,” said Damon, not pressing the issue of reading the further passage.

“But it’s still all so cryptic!” Autumn cried in exasperation, “This passage gives you some clues to go off but that just leads to further questions”

“Well you’ve got distinctly more than I did,” said Damon dryly after a moment, “I had no manual at all to go off sweetheart,”

Autumn didn’t say anything to that because she realised she was being somewhat petulant, “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to behave like a spoilt brat; it’s all just a bit overwhelming”

“Aren’t you the tiniest bit intrigued to discover it?” said Damon, “Once you have power it can be a very intoxicating thing,”

“You should know,” she said

“Naturally,” said Damon easily, “How do feel when you’ve used your powers in the past?”

Autumn paused, “Well it’s not really been a conscious thing; it’s always been in reaction to something scary or dangerous. I guess it feels like a huge rush of adrenaline and then something happens…”

At the moment it started to spot with rain, Autumn could feel it dropping onto her bare forearms and she leant over to hastily put the book in her bag so it didn’t get wet. When she stood back up again Damon was gone from the clearing.

“Damon?” she called out to the woods that were creaking in the wind. There was no reply as she turned around to see where he’d gone.

There was a sudden roar in her ear and pressure on her shoulders as she was forced back against a tree, and she saw a horrific face lined with pulsing veins, sharp teeth out of a scarlet mouth, close to her own. The reaction was instinctive; but again she felt the same rush of power through her, and expulsion of light and energy through every particle of her body. Then the face was gone. Damon was on the other side of the clearing, panting and looking at his arm in a half bemused, half interested way.

“Are you fucking crazy?!” yelled Autumn, realizing exactly what had happened, “You didn’t know what I was going to do! I could’ve killed you!!”

Damon looked across her and smiled his lazy smile, “Yeah, but you didn’t”

Autumn huffed and marched across the clearing towards him, “Well I hope it achieved what you wanted it to,”

“Yeah it did,” he said looking at his arm again where burn marks were healing fast, “When I attacked you, the rain on my arms started to boil causing me to burn. We need to test it further but I think your element might be water…”

Autumn didn’t say anything, but let out a deep huff of air, as she began to calm down somewhat.

“You’re shaking,” Damon stated, not moving back from the proximity she had put them at when she’d examined his arm.

“Are you surprised?” she hissed at him, “I just got attacked by a vampire!”

Their faces were very close together as they had this semi-argument; she watched as his tongue licked his lips before he responded.

“Well it got your some of the knowledge you wanted,” said Damon in soft, yet deadly tone.

“Well next time we test something out can we please do it without giving me the potential to kill you?” she said tilting her head to the side, refusing to back down. There was a beat as they squared each other up; much more on equal footing than when they had first met; An unquantifed power against one that was accounted for and hugely immense.

“Do you care?” teased Damon dropping the dangerous tone in his voice and breaking the tension between them.

“Well I’d prefer it if you weren’t dead,” she said lowering her voice as well to match his.

Damon smirked, his eyes never leaving hers as he did so; “Well, I guess that that’s a start. Come on then; let’s get you to school,”

And with that he turned away, widening the gap between them, and started to walk away from her. Autumn looked after his retreating back and thought that, yes, it was a start, and he sure as hell didn’t know the half of it.