𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙋𝙏𝙀𝙍 𝙏𝙃𝙄𝙍𝙏𝙔 𝙁𝙊𝙐𝙍
ミ★ ( bewitched, act three ) ★彡

Hours later, Jasper and Emmett walked back into their home after trying to track both scents and went to where the rest of their family were standing to discuss ideas.

     "Who was it? Was it anyone we know?" Carlisle questioned his adoptive son.

"They were strangers." Edward answered him, placing his hands in his pockets as he kept his eyes trained on Lilith who was sleeping peacefully on the couch in front of him with Dakota by her side guarding her, "I couldn't recognise their scents."

"Could it have been nomads passing through?" Esme suggested.

"Passerby's wouldn't of broken the boundary spell and then hide. There's definitely something bigger at play here." Rosalie disagreed.

Jasper and Emmett reached the room that their family was in, "The vampire scent disappeared about five miles south of Lilith's house." Emmett informed them.

"And the unknown one vanished within one." Jasper added on. The brothers had split up since there were two scents to track to save time before the scents both disappeared. Jasper looked over at Lilith and a ghostly smile fell onto his face as he realised she was still in the position she was in before they left, "Has anyone been able to get near her?"

"No, Dakota's tried to scratch anyone that comes close." Rosalie couldn't help but chuckle as she pictured Edward trying and flinching away as the black cat swiped at him, "Which is good because she needs to rest." Rose got the hint that Dakota didn't want anyone near her owner after Edward had placed her down on the couch—but, her dense brother couldn't help but try multiple times to get close and paid the price. Luckily, he didn't have to feel the pain from a cat scratch, but, would have to deal with the emotional pain on not being trusted by the feline animal.

"Either way, someone is orchestrating this." Carlisle said, "And we need to figure out who before someone gets hurt."

"Could it be Victoria?" Esme questioned, looking at Alice.

The vampire shook her head saying, "No, I would've seen her decide." Alice had been tracking Victoria's decisions for months now and nothing had changed which made her slightly worried rather than relieved.

"It has to be the Volturi." Edward figured, his mind putting together pieces that couldn't help but fit. The vampire then moved as close as he could towards Lilith, wanting to be near her to feel calm again but knowing where close enough was when he could hear Dakota growl at him when he was getting too close.

"I don't think it's the Volturi, either." Alice disagreed, "I've been watching Aro's decisions, too." After the encounter with Aro in Italy and his reaction to the Cullen members and Lilith, she thought it was best to watch the decisions made by Aro in case he came to Forks or tried to send someone to get them.

"So, we keep looking then." Emmett decided with a shrug. He liked Lilith and he didn't want to see her get hurt or killed. He could see that she meant a lot to him and his siblings even if she didn't know it herself.

"I think we might know where to start." Sierra said nervously as she and Oliver entered the Cullen home, the vampire clan all turning to look at them expectantly. The married couple looked at each other with a look of sorrow before Sierra walked over towards her daughter to gently wake her up, Dakota moving out of the way and letting Sierra get close and she quickly moved herself in front of the couch where she could keep her eyes on Lilith.

The girl slowly opened her eyes before she quickly observed her surroundings seeing that she was no longer in her home, "Oh, God, I didn't faint again, did I?" She groaned to herself as she rubbed her eyes, causing Emmett to stifle a chuckle. The whole fainting thing was beginning to become a tad bit embarrassing for her, not to mention if she fainted right after having a major panic attack in front of her ex-boyfriend.

"No." Sierra answered Lilith as she brushed the blonde hair out of her face, "But, we do need to talk about something."

Lilith quickly sat up properly as the feeling of worry washed over her so harshly that even Jasper's ability wouldn't be able to stop it; as she knew that nothing good ever came out after the words 'we need to talk'. Lilith could also tell this conversation was not going to go well considering the stressed and terrified look that was plastered on her mother's face. Sierra walked back over towards her husband's side and the two sat down on one of the sofa's before the couple entwined their hands together for emotional support for what they were about to confess. Oliver let out a long and extended exhale before looking his daughter in the eyes, "Just know that we love you so much and we never wanted any of this to happen to you." He started and Lilith could feel the anxiety building up inside of her as she could sense the conversation was not going to end happily.

Lilith turned to face Rosalie and the blonde vampire instantly recognised the look on her face and walked over towards the witch and sat down next to her and grabbed onto Lilith's hand while she nodded at Jasper to try and calm her down. Rosalie, Emmett and Esme were the only members of the Cullen family that Lilith felt that she could remotely trust at that point in time because she believed that they wouldn't of had much to say in the decision making of them leaving—Jasper was well on his way to making it onto that same list after the conversation they had a few days prior, while she struggled to want to trust Edward, Alice and Carlisle since they would've played major parts in it.

"It started before you were born, your mother and I were struggling to conceive, and it was an extremely hard and dark time for us. We did everything we could naturally and nothing was working." Oliver began to explain, "We didn't know what else to do at this point and against all objections; we went to the high priest." Oliver and Sierra had tried everything they could when it came to trying to have a baby, but, it didn't matter what spell, potion or elixir they did, nothing was sticking and it was getting to the point where the two were having issues in their relationship. They had no where else to turn and they were desperate for a child and they went to the one person they knew would help them.

Edward watched as the breath got caught in Lilith's throat at the mention of the high priest. Witches held the high priest in extreme high regard despite how terrified some people were at the thought of him—so the fact that her parents got in contact with him was a serious matter.

     "He didn't respond to our request to meet for a while because he had no reason to give us what we wanted. We meant nothing to him. But, once word got out about who we really were and where we stood in the power chain, he eventually responded and agreed to meet with us." Oliver continued, "We let him know of our struggle and what we wanted, and we even agreed to strike a deal with him as he wouldn't just give us a blessing out of the goodness of his heart."

Rosalie felt Lilith's hand clench around hers as she looked over and saw the girl trying to relax herself as she was finally getting to know her parents past—which was something she had been wanting to know for years now.

"He blessed us with a fertility spell that worked—and he was even present at your birth and chose your name, which is tradition for powerful witches in the hierarchy—but, he didn't let us know what the real bargain was until months after you were born, and that was when we realised the mistake we had made." Sierra added in, sorrow filled in her eyes as she hated what she had done and what she had brought her daughter into, "The high priest came to us and he then let us know what he really wanted from us and from you. With both of our power combined, a child from us would have power that no one would be able to compete with." Sierra let out another shaky sigh as she looked over at her husband who sent her an encouraging nod to let her know to keep going, "The high priest wanted you to be his bride and to serve him as a dark witch over the community." She finally confessed and Lilith couldn't help but gasp as she recognised this fate of hers.

"You are already more powerful than most as a regular witch but he noticed that if you were to turn dark that your power would grow by a landslide and you would be unstoppable." Oliver explained, "He told us that once you were old enough he would come for you to make preparations for the ritual to turn you into a dark witch and his wife."

Lilith pursed her lips as she felt her heart beat race like never before, she looked over at Edward who noticed the fear in her eyes and he took went to take a step towards her but a quick glare from Rosalie stopped him in his place.

"Once we found this out, we ran. We couldn't give you up to him, we loved you so much already and couldn't bear the thought of us handing you over to him like some trophy. We had friends all around the country who were willing to help once they knew our situation and they also didn't want this to happen to you." Sierra said as a tear strolled down her cheek, knowing their decisions were the reason behind Lilith's fear.

"It was easy to keep your location hidden from him when you were a child because you didn't have magic, but, we struggled to find ways to hide our locations from the high priest; until we were told that being around other supernatural creatures cover our magic tracks with theirs since the creation of their species comes from magic." Oliver continued to explain, "So, we began to move closer towards wolf packs, witch covens and vampire clans when they would agree to cover our identity on the premise that we help them out."

Lilith had to try and cover the shock reaction she felt as it finally made sense now as to why they moved around so much and why they took it so seriously when Lilith almost exposed them. She could now piece together that it was her father who was reaching out to these people instead of them reaching out to the Bailey family. But, she couldn't help but feel bad as her parents told her this story and how they would use other supernatural creatures to protect them from the high priest.

"When you got your magic, it became a lot harder because it was more magic that the other supernatural creatures had to cover, so when you would have outbursts we would have to move almost immediately, because it would give our location away to the high priest and it would make it easier for him to get to you." Sierra added on and Lilith let go of Rosalie's hand to curl herself up into a ball on the couch.

Now it definitely all made sense as to why they wanted to protect her magical identity so badly, "So, that's why you always made sure I used as little magic as possible." Lilith whispered, not able to look her parents in the eye. She felt betrayed that they had kept this from her, she believed it was an extremely important thing for her to know considering it was her life that was in danger and she was kept in the dark about it for so long.

Oliver nodded, "That and you are more inclined to turn dark quicker because of your magic use than most thanks to him."

Her emotions were all over the place in that moment, she didn't know what to think or how to feel but the one prominent emotion she did feel was frustration. They were always making sure that Lilith was open with them about everything because they wanted to be close with her, but, they kept something like this from her. Again. It was becoming a pattern where they wouldn't tell her extremely important bits of information that could impact her life, but they would flip on her if she didn't tell them something minor.

Lilith turned to face Edward with a look of betrayal as she believed that he might of known or found out and didn't tell her, "Did you know?"

Edward seemed confused for a second before Carlisle answered for him, "He had no idea. Your parents and I organised to have my mind and thoughts blocked from him when it came to this regard. We knew that if he found out, he would've told you straight away." Carlisle had agreed for the Bailey family to hide with them in Forks months before they had arrived and he had organised another treaty with the wolves as they believed it would be good for all of them. But, once his son began to fall for Lilith, he had to be careful as they believed she wasn't ready to know this news and he had Oliver block his thoughts from Edward so he wouldn't tell her as Lilith was always his main priority.

Lilith suddenly looked over at her parents, "Why now?" She asked almost angrily, "Why tell me this, now? You've had almost eighteen years to tell me and there was not a single mention of the high priest coming after me."

"We thought we were safe here because we had the Cullens and the Uley pack covering our magic and you from him, and we thought he would eventually let you go and we wouldn't have to tell you this because we didn't want you to live in fear." Oliver answered her question, "But, after they left and your magic went haywire, the pack might not have been strong enough to cover us by themselves and it must've triggered a signal and he found us here."

"The high priest was here!?" Lilith exclaimed with wide eyes as she suddenly placed the final piece of the puzzle, "He's the one who broke the boundary spell, didn't he?" Neither of the Bailey parents responded and Lilith stood up, her anger completely taking control ah that point, "Didn't he?" She repeated.

"We assume so. He's the only one who is able to break down the boundary spell of that caliber and then attempt to cover their scent with magic all by themselves." Oliver responded with a shameful whisper, "And that is most likely how the other vampire was able to enter the house." Lilith choked out a scoff as she began to pace around the room thinking about all of the bad scenarios that could happen because of the high priest.

The high priest didn't exactly have the nicest reputation and he always got what he wanted, no matter at what cost. And Lilith felt fear because if the high priest wanted her that badly, he could hurt so many people that she cared about to get to her. She had Bella, the pack, her human school friends—and she even had the Cullens and her parents that the high priest could hurt just to get what he wanted which was her.

"We'll have to coordinate now more than ever to protect you." Carlisle said to the blonde witch, "We'll take shifts guarding your house."

Lilith shook her head, "No." She said, "You don't need to give me the protection detail. We need to think about protecting the people that wouldn't even stand a chance against the high priest and whoever else broke in to my room." Lilith and her parents had magic to at least protect themselves, she had to give the wolves a warning as well in case it got ugly—but, all she could think about was how Bella, Angela, Mike, Jess, Tyler and Eric were all going to be completely unaware and completely vulnerable if the high priest wanted to go after them.

"I'm not leaving you completely defenceless." Edward argued against her decision.

"I'm not defenceless though." Lilith scoffed, "But, everyone else I care about might be."

"We'll take shifts looking after your friends, I'm sure your parents will be fine with placing a protection spell around their houses, and we can just hope that the high priest doesn't go searching too deep into your personal life to go after them." Carlisle planned.

"Let us worry about Lilith's friends." Oliver disagreed. He was going to do whatever it took to make it up to Lilith for the trouble they had caused her, "It wouldn't be good for you to be trying to juggle trying to find the solution to all of these issues when they were caused by us. You're already looking out for us, searching for the other intruder and for Victoria as well. You don't have to do this."

"And you need to try to keep yourselves regularly fed." Lilith spoke quietly. Edward looked at her and she shrugged, "Your eyes have been black a lot recently—a lot more than normal actually. I know what it means, and I know it's not good for any of you to let yourselves starve."

"The wolves will help lighten the load and I'm sure they wouldn't mind when it comes to protecting Lilith." Carlisle told his son who shook his head again, "It'll give us time to look after ourselves as well."

Lilith could see that Edward clearly hated the idea of trusting the wolves, but, it couldn't be about rivalry anymore when it came to Lilith's safety. Her safety always came first to him and he knew he had to let go of his hatred for the wolves in order to gain more protection for her. But, the thought of him not being able to protect her himself was killing him more than anymore could know.

The blonde witch let out a sigh when she saw that Edward was slowly accepting what was going to have to happen and she turned to her parents again, her eyes narrowed as she said lowly, "If anyone that I care about gets hurt because of this, I will never forgive you."