Witchy Woes

-[Rose-Marie]-

Slowly and groggily, her eyes fluttered open, taking in her surroundings and her position on the ground. Panic set in as she remembered what happened. 

Shit! Klaus must have found them. Beside her was Trevor who conveniently awoke at the same time as her. The widening of his eyes told her that the same thought crossed his mind. 

They were in a small room with only one door as the exit point, no windows on either side. It was more of a cell than a room. 

"Where are we?" Trevor asked, gaining his bearings. 

"I'm just as clueless as you are but I'm guessing there's no good answer to that." She muttered, her ears picking up footsteps. "Someone's coming."

Trevor nodded as they turned to the door which opened a moment later, a boy stepping through it. Barely a moment later, Trevor had rushed forward, fangs bared to dispatch their possible captor. 

He barely got close enough when the boy caught him by the neck, holding him in place with ease. Fear gripped her heart at the sight, Trevor was just as strong as her. Being able to manhandle him meant he'd be able to do the same to her as well. 

Trevor failed to get the hint, attempting to bite into the arm only for the boy to pull upwards, violently snapping his neck and leaving him limp. 

If this was the kind of person Klaus sent after them then they were as good as dead before they would get to him. Casually tossing Trevor's body to the side, the boy produced a handkerchief from… somewhere and lightly wiped his hands.

"I apologize for the poor hospitality but I'm glad at least one of you knows when to put up a fight." The boy said, now facing her. 

"Who are you?" She asked, her body tense. She wouldn't be able to beat him but that wasn't what she needed. She didn't survive five hundred years by being stupid. She just needed to get past him, get Trevor and hightail out of here. 

"How rude of me. I'm Nathaniel and you are Rose-Marie, I presume." The now identified Nathaniel said. There was something that threw her into confusion. 

To be this strong, a vampire would need to be ancient, many centuries old and being that old came with a lot of things. Manner of speech and articulation was one of them but Nathaniel didn't give the feeling of someone who was even half as old as her. 

Or was he just able to adapt and deceive others?

"Did Klaus send you?" She asked, trying to buy time for Trevor to wake up and distract him. 

"Not particularly. You two have been busy. Chicago, Europe, China, Portland… I dare say that you've traveled quite a bit, haven't you?" He said, with the casualness of someone talking about the weather. 

Despite her frowning exterior, she was panicking. The fact that he knew where they hid out throughout the years meant that they weren't as subtle as she thought.

"If Klaus didn't send you then what do you want? Why kidnap us in the first place?" She questioned, though her voice came out more nervous than she liked. 

"Because we can't have this discussion in public. After all, you two are the ones on the run." He admitted, making a good point. "I can't imagine how frustrating it is to be looking over your shoulder every day, every hour and every minute of your extended lives."

She stopped herself from showing her irritation at his words. He clearly had a point he was building up to. 

"Klaus, while powerful, is but a spec in a large game that is the supernatural world. He is neither omnipotent or omniscient. Most of all, he is fallible. Should I wish it, he will never be able to find you. Hell, he'd walk right past you and not know." Nathaniel said, now leaning on the wall. 

That… she didn't even know how to process that. 

"And how on earth do you expect to manage that?" She snorted derisively. 

His smirk was the only warning she got before a circle of fire lit up around her, trapping her in the spot she stood. 

Her eyes widened with a grimace as she shrunk into herself, trying to take as little space as possible to avoid the flames. Then, just as quickly as they appeared, they were extinguished. 

"What the hell?" She muttered under her breath as her eyes searched around. She didn't hear anybody else in the room or outside, leaving no doubt about it. 

"Stunning isn't it, what one could accomplish with some elbow grease and a little magic?" He said, all but confirming it. 

"You're a witch." She muttered in disbelief. 

The smile on his face became predatory. "Of course, though, I prefer the term sorcerer."

Vampires are a predatory species… they have the physical advantage over other species so how was a witc… sorcerer, able to square up tk that table. There's a lot about magic that she didn't know so maybe it's possible but just very rare? She wasn't even sure of that but it had suddenly become a possibility. 

At that moment, Trevor woke up with a gasp, scrambling to get away from Nathaniel only to quickly find his back against the wall. 

"It's about time you woke up, I was beginning to worry." The boy said, obviously not even remotely worried. 

"W-what do you want with us?" Trevor managed to stutter out. 

"Like I was explaining to Rose here, I'm here to give you an offer." Nathaniel said, now facing both of them in front of him. "Pledge your loyalty and allegiance to me and I will make sure that Klaus isn't a problem for you ever again."

"That's impossible. Nobody can escape him." Trevor argued. 

"Oh I beg to differ. See, the world is changing and it's going to continue changing. A new era is coming, it'd be in your best interest to be on the winning side." The sorcerer said with a confident smile, as if he had already won. 

-[Pearl]-

Working for a witch was…different than she expected, or maybe that had to do with Nathan than anything else. Most witches abhorred vampires, seeing them as abominations and only wishing for their destruction. 

Working for him, she expected to be met with unreasonable demands and attempts to make hers and her daughter's life hell. 

Instead, he'd kept to his word. Anna was free to socialize with the Gilbert boy, though she didn't want to anymore for some reason, and she was free to go about her task of building a life for them. 

Through some kind of spell or ward that she barely understood, the Gibbons house was safer than ever, even with the elder Salvatore's attempts to raze it to the ground. Neither humans nor vampires could enter without being invited in, which was something she had yet to see in her long life.

She had no intention of wreaking havoc in Mystic Falls so she wasn't too worried. They saw eye to eye on that aspect. Helping to keep the safety and peace was a small price to pay, after all, it wouldn't do to have her new home ravaged by new problems. 

Now, she was faced with an unexpected situation; two vampires Nathan had delivered to her doorstep just a little while ago. 

'Your new roommates.' He said before vanishing into thin air. 

The two newcomers were strong, either as strong as her or stronger. Subduing them and bringing them under his thumb only made her respect and wariness for him grow in equal measure. 

Even after so long, she struggled to come to terms with what he was. She couldn't put him under the category of 'witch', that was too simple. 

She'd stick with the term he'd insisted on being called. Perhaps 'Sorcerer' was a more apt term for something so chaotic yet fascinating.