Chapter 1

Present Day
FELL’S CHURCH/TOMB
The leaves on the trees that crowded the burial ground shuffled in the light wind that peacefully blew its way throughout the small town of Mystic Falls.

Alexa Summer stood silently on the grounds where her lover was locked away.
Back then, when the townspeople took one look at Scarlett’s body after it was turned to pure stone, they knew she’d fit right in with the 26 other vampires who they thought had burned. Little did they know, Savannah Bennett, the most powerful witch of that time sealed the vampires inside of the tomb beneath the Church. Alexa knew what that meant for Scarlett.
There was still a chance in bringing her back. As long as the vampire found a witch nearly as powerful as Savannah, she could get her back.

No one knew of Alexa’s presence in Mystic Falls at the moment. She’d like to keep it that way until she found her witch. She’s been watching the Bennett witch, Bonnie for a couple of days now. Her loyalty obviously lied with Judy and the Salvatore brothers.

So she’d just have to find another.

Alexa stared at the large rock of a wall that blocked her path to locating Sara. She sighed heavily before finding her way out of the tomb and outside into the cool breeze.

“Looking for something?” A voice asked.

Alexa smirked as she spun around on the heel of her shoe. “Mila Bennett. Long time no see, old friend.”

“Same here”, Mila said. “I assume you’re keeping an eye on your precious vampires?”

“No”, Alexa drawled out. “Just one.”

A knowing look crossed Mila’s face before a smile replaced it. “Scarlett”, she responded.

Alexa sighed as her eyes darted toward the cave that led to the tomb. “She’s still down there. Drying up as each decade rolls by. What do you find yourself doing here?”

“Keeping my ancestors’ wishes alive”, Mila immediately answered with folded arms.

“Savannah”, Alexa smiled warmly, remembering the first time she had met her. “She was one badass witch.”

Mila smirked. “Considering the rumors I’ve heard about you turning her in to the Council-“

“That was a long time ago”, Alexa said in a quiet voice. A moment of silence passed before Alexa turned to face Mila with a welcoming yet evil intentioned grin. “Savannah and I were once friends. But we’re friends too…right? There are no hard feelings about anything I’m sure.”

“Wouldn’t exactly call it friends but I’d say we’re closer than most”, The witch replied.

Alexa rolled her eyes. “Good enough. How about you do something for me and I do something for you in return.”

Mila shook her head. “I’m done doing favors for vampires. It always almost gets me killed. This time I doubt will be any different.”

“Mmm maybe”, Alexa said with a fake pout. “But I do recall a time in the past of me saving your life from-“

“What do you want?” Mila interjected, not wanting to relive that time in her life.

“You to unseal this tomb.”

“Are you crazy?” Mila nearly shouted with fear written all over her face. “Savannah sealed those vampires in there for a reason.”

“To protect them-“

Mila scoffed, “Yeah and to keep them from destroying this town.”

Alexa closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she tried to control her patience. “I just want Scarlett.”

“No, you don’t”, Mila whispered. “Trust me, a vengeful vampire isn’t exactly a walk in the park Alexa.”

“I am a vengeful vampire”, She mentioned. “I want those rotten brothers of hers to pay for what they did. And they will as soon as you open this tomb.”

Mila shook her head. “Why don’t you just kill them yourself?”

Alexa smiled, “I wouldn’t wanna take all of the fun away from Sara.”

“I can’t do that, sorry but no”, Mila said preparing to walk away but Alexa gripped her arm and gritted out, “You might be a witch but I can still rip that kind little heart of yours right out of your body.”

Mila swallowed but then said, “And you’ll have the entire Bennett family line haunting you for as long as you’re still breathing.”

“Trust me, I’ve run from worse”, Alexa told her matter of factly as she let her go. “Now help me or be succumbed to a lifetime of misery at the hands of yours truly. Which will it be?”

Mila sighed. “I can’t. The witches are counting on me to keep this spell locked. I don’t even possess enough power.”

Alexa began to grow impatient but she told herself that she needed to keep it together. That is if she wanted Scarlett back. “It doesn’t hurt to try”, she finally said.

She watched as still, Mila struggled with making a decision so she rolled her eyes, “Fine. Be that way. I’ll just find another witch-“

“Wait”, Mila quickly stopped her from moving. “Just Scarlett…right?”

Alexa huffed, “For the last time, yes.”

Mila nodded. “Okay. Give me some time.”

“How long”, Alexa groaned and Mila sighed. “Just a couple of days.”

“A couple of days? I swear if you’re planning to back out-“

“I’m not. I won’t. Just give me a couple of days and I’ll have the spell to break her out ready”, The witch told her.

After a few moments, Alexa finally agreed, “Fine. Where are you staying?”

“What?”

“I need to make sure you’re keeping your word and not just playing me. So where are you staying?” She asked again.

“At a motel a few blocks up.”

“Good. I’ll be checking in on you.”

Mila sighed once more as Alexa crossed her arms over her chest and brushed past her.

•••

Two days later

FELL’S CHURCH/TOMB

“Thought you said the spell was ready”, Alexa huffed with a roll of her eyes as she picked at her manicured nails.

“It is, I just need to rehearse it more. One wrong line can start us from the beginning again”, Mila quickly said as she read over her section in the book. Alexa stormed up to her, “You’re rambling. Do the spell.”

Mila rolled her eyes before placing the old, brown book on the ground of the cave. Alexa went to stand near the entryway that was until Mila began the spell. She strolled closer as her eyes never looked away.

Alexa would never admit it, but she was always curious and genuinely interested in the way witches produced and displayed their magic. She watched as Mila chanted the Latin spell but she wasn’t yet impressed.

If it were working, wasn’t the sky suppose to shoot out lightning or something? Alexa hesitated to ask what was going on because she didn’t want to interrupt the process of freeing Scarlett.
It was only a couple of seconds later that the ground beneath them began to shake. Alexa felt herself topple onto her hands and knees as the sky groaned. The clouds outside turned an angry grey and Mila’s entire body was shaking violently.
The witch gasped for oxygen as she was lifted into the air and then thrown against a wall.

The sun broke out once more as everything fell silent. Alexa furrowed her eyebrows and she quickly scurried over to Mila who breathed heavily. “What happened? Did it work?”

“I told you”, Mila cried softly, face pressed against the wall. “I can’t do this. The witches, they don’t want me doing this.”

“Screw what the witches want”, Alexa grunted and Mila shook her head. “But they’ll kill me.”

“I’ll kill you if you don’t-“, Alexa cut herself off as Mila’s eyes grew wide. “What is it?”

Mila frantically shook her head. “That’s impossible”, she harshly breathed out. “That’s completely impossible.”

Alexa whipped her head around to see that the wall which covered the actual tomb was cracked open. She sprinted up to it and pushed it open further.
Looking inside the tomb, there were dozens of desiccated dead bodies, bodies of the 26 vampires which were protected by Savannah Bennett. “You did it”, Alexa sighed happily.

Mila winced in pain as she sat up, “How?”

“Did you finish the spell?”

“Yes, but they stopped me before it could work.”

“Clearly they didn’t”, Alexa breathed out as she walked into the tomb. “Alexa wait”, Mila called out through a cough as she got up on shaky legs and followed her inside.

Mila’s breath hitched, “They all look so-“

“Dead?” Alexa finished. “Well…years of being unable to feed will do that to you.”

“Which one is Scarlett?” Mila questioned.

The vampire didn’t answer as she herself searched for the woman. But then something caught her eye. Mila noticed. “What’s wrong?”
Alexa walked to a corner of the tomb where one lone vampire lies in a shredded and now dirty, no longer white wedding dress. The stake that was used on her was still firmly inserted into her chest as well as the daylight ring which allowed her to walk in the sun was still wrapped tightly around her forefinger.
Mila appeared beside Alexa as they both stared down at the body. “Is that her?”

Alexa felt a lump in her throat as her face twitched angrily. “Yup.”

Mila then realized, “You were getting married.”

“The evening never came”, Alexa whispered feeling something she tried her best to avoid feeling for a while now. Heartbreak.

“It can”, Mila told her. “She’s right there.”

Alexa sighed before reaching into her jacket pocket and pulling out a large blood bag. “This might not work.”

“Doesn’t hurt to try”, Mila said repeating the woman’s words from earlier and Alexa nodded. She leaned over and ripped the stake from Scarlett’s chest.

She opened up the bag and poured the blood into her mouth as best as she could. Some of the blood dropped onto her arms and the rest of her body as well. Alexa left the bag on the girl’s chest before sitting back against the wall with a huff.
“How long is the waiting process usually?” Mila quietly asked as she sat down next to her. Alexa shrugged. “Not long. Few minutes at most. Could even be an hour.”

“I can’t read you”, Mila said and Alexa shrugged. “Keep it that way.”

“You seem, stoic. Not as happy as I’d expect.”

“Oh I’m ecstatic”, Alexa smiled lazily before it faded slowly. “I just…I don’t know what to expect. She could wake up and try to kill me. It’s been a hundred years or so. What if she thinks I was just stringing her along like I was Brad and Franklin?”

“Were you?” Mila asked knowingly.

“My initial plan was to just turn her without care”, She mentioned. “But then-“

“You fell in love.”

“I wasn’t supposed to”, Alexa quickly said. “It’s not in my nature.”

Mila smiled softly. “But she changed you, right?”

“She did. Which is why I’m scared for you and everyone else in this dreadful little town”, Alexa revealed turning to look at the woman. Mila furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, “What do you mean?”

She watched as Alexa’s face fell slightly. “I love Scarlett. But when she wakes up, she’s going to have a bloodthirst as you’ve never seen before. She’ll rip this town in two. And I’ll gladly stand by her side while she does it.”

Mila cleared her throat, “Is this a threat?”

“A warning. Like you said before, a vengeful vampire isn’t a walk in the park. You don’t wanna be here when Scarlett Salvatore gets comfortable”, Alexa said before they both jumped to their feet when a loud cough rang through the tomb. Alexa urged Mila to stand in the far corner out of sight for now.

She watched as Scarlett’s once stone and cracked skin turned a fair, white color. The color she was before she died. The bones in her body cracked back into place and her hair slowly grew back to its normal brunette.

Scarlett shot up to a sitting position and she breathed in harshly. She looked around in confusion before her eyes found Alexa’s.
“Alexa”, She breathed out in shock.

Alexa softly grinned. “Scarlett.”

“How am I here?” She asked, her accent from 1864 still present. Scarlett looked down at her now very much alive body with a gulp. “Last time I checked, my brother was driving wood through my heart.”

“I brought you back”, Alexa said in a small voice but heard Mila clear her throat and she rolled her eyes. “Okay, I helped bring you back.”

“Who is in here with us?” Scarlett asked cautiously.
Mila came into Scarlett’s view and the vampire’s bloodlust immediately shot to the sky. “This is Mila Bennett. She unsealed the tomb’s door and helped me bring you back.”

“Why?” Scarlett gritted out, trying to control the instinctive urge to kill the witch.

“Isn’t that what you want?” Alexa asked hesitantly as Scarlett stood to her feet. “To be alive again? To see me again?”

Scarlett scoffed softly, “It’s been years and your love hasn’t disappeared?”

“Of course not”, Alexa breathed out, walking closer. “I’ve been trying to figure out a way to get you out for a long time now.”

Scarlett’s eyes shifted to Mila. “Thank you.”

Mila gave a firm nod.

Alexa bent down and looked into hazel eyes, eyes that still held the anger and pain of a lifetime. “Let’s get you someplace other than here”, she whispered.

“Where are my brothers?”

“Alive if that’s what you’re wondering”, Mila answered.

Scarlett looked around at the tomb they were in. “We’re still in Mystic Falls.”

“We are”, Alexa said.

“And they’re here. Living. With a girl”, The Salvatore
Am impressed Mila raised an eyebrow before asking, “You can sense all that?”

“I can sense a lot of things”, Scarlett told her while standing to her feet, towering over the witch. “Your hatred for vampires being one of them.”

“I’m a witch. It’s just another normal day”, Mila said but the moment she looked into the vampire’s eyes, she felt something she didn’t often feel. Fear.

“Take me to them”, Scarlett said, never breaking eye contact with Mila who hesitantly took a step back.

“Now Sara-“

“I mean it Alexa”, she said finally looking at her. “Take me to them right now.”

“Are you trying to intimidate me? Because it’s not working. I don’t scare very easily. Perhaps it slipped your mind”, Alexa snapped and Scarlett took an angry breath.

“Maybe you should take her to the motel I’m staying at”, Mila interrupted before a vampire lover’s quarrel could break out. “I’ll give you the key and you guys can get settled.”

“Where will you be?” Alexa asked and Mila glanced at Scarlett who began to study the other mummified vampires.
“Thanks to your warning, far away from here.”

<><><>

Back at the motel, Mila returned with multiple shopping bags. “Here. I spent $235. And I stole some blood bags from the hospital to satisfy her appetite for the time being. You’re oh so very welcome.”

Alexa stood to retrieve the bags, “I owe you big time.”

“Am I done here?” Mila mumbled.

“Yeah”, Alexa said but quickly caught her arm before she could leave. “Do not come back. I mean it.”

Mila glanced quickly at Scarlett who impatiently stood with a hand on her hip by the bathroom door. “Wasn’t planning on it”, she whispered before exiting the room.

Scarlett chuckled lowly while shaking her head. “Hm, you never seemed like the type to…befriend a witch.”

“Like I said, she was the only way to set you free”, Alexa said as she rummaged through the bags of clothes. “You seemed to have learned a lot of the do’s and dont’s during your time you spent dead.”

Scarlett shrugged, “The other side has taught me the basics of it all.”

Alexa stopped her movements. “You were in the Other Side?”

“Not the one you’re thinking of. This was more of a spirit world. I of course still possessed my vampiric urges”, Scarlett informed.
“Right”, Alexa replied shortly, confusion evident in her face. There was something Scarlett wasn’t telling her. She could sense it but she decided to leave it alone for now. “Okay here, let’s get you out of this dress.”

Scarlett raised an eyebrow as she followed Alexa’s directions and lifted her arms. “Trying to get me into bed already Katerina?”

Alexa felt a laugh rising from her chest but she covered it by clearing her throat. “No, simply getting you out of this dress of broken dreams and into something more clean and comfortable. And don’t call me that.”

Scarlett watched as Alexa unzipped her dress from the back and studied her intently for a couple of seconds. “You don’t seem very happy to see me.”

“What would make you say that?” Alexa asked with furrowed eyebrows. “Of course I’m happy to see you.”

Scarlett stopped the woman’s movements and caught her by the chin. “I’m here on business terms but that does not mean we mustn’t find our way back to one another.”

Alexa slowly moved out of her hold as she muttered, “I think it does.”

“Why?”

“You want to kill your brothers for what they did to you. So do I. But I know what that means. You’ll forget about me, about us in the process”, Alexa said and she could tell by Scarlett’s eyes that she knew it to be eventually true as well.
Scarlett’s blinked and looked down at her hands. “What makes you believe this?”

“You just…you seem so different. Closed off”, Alexa clarified. “Not the Scarlett I fell in love with in 1864.”

Scarlett chuckled softly. “Well…this isn’t exactly 1864 Alexa.”

The brown-haired woman silently scoffed. “You’re right. It’s not.”

“So what do we do now?” Scarlett asked after finishing putting on her new clothes. Her past lover shrugged. “You tell me.”

“I meant about Brad and Franklin.”

“Of course you did”, Alexa whispered. “Um, Judy, we’ll start with Judy.”

Scarlett hummed. “The doppelgänger?”

“Yeah”, The curly-haired woman replied and Scarlett sighed at how much tension filled the small room. “Alexa.”

“Let’s just do this.”

“If you don’t want to-“

“I want to. What they did to you, they cannot get away with it. I won’t let them.”

Scarlett felt a surge of pride rush through her chest at Alexa’s promised devotion to their mission. “Good. I thought you lost your mojo for a second.”

Alexa smirked. “Never. Try to keep up.”