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

     Over the next few days, tensions were high in the Bailey home as Lilith refused to acknowledge her parents after the bombshell they dropped on her. All Lilith could worry about were her friends getting hurt because of her and her parents past and it made her sick to her stomach. The Cullens were constantly looking out for her human friends, taking shifts by their houses and making sure there were no unclaimed scents anywhere near the houses before they would eventually swap with the pack so the Cullens could feed. It was a good routine, but, it didn't make Lilith feel any less anxious about the possible outcomes for all of the people she cared about.

     She cried to Bella after explaining what she had been told by her parents and she begged for forgiveness after feeling like she kept dragging her friend into situations that ended up getting her hurt; and she felt like this was going to be the exact same. Bella didn't want a bar of it when Lilith wanted her forgiveness because there was nothing to forgive. It wasn't like Lilith was dragging her into these situations on purpose—and Bella could blame her clumsiness more than anything when it came to getting herself into these messes before she would blame Lilith.

     Bella wanted to get Lilith's mind off of her troubles and with Jake's permission, she invited Lilith to the party that was being held with the pack. She was sure that the pack wouldn't of minded considering how close they all were with the blonde witch, but, Bella didn't know if she should just assume she would be able to just invite anyone she wanted without asking first.

     "Are you sure this is okay?" Lilith asked as she walked alongside Bella and Jake towards the bonfire, the girl trying to shove her hands deeper into her pockets to warm herself up, "I really don't want to be a party crasher."

     "Technically, you're a council meeting crasher." Jake corrected start Lilith stopped walking and stared at him in shock. His words made her anxious feeling about being there ten times worse, "What?" Jake asked innocently.

     "That's so much worse!" She exclaimed, stomping her foot almost like a child throwing a tantrum would, "I should not be here."

     "You're okay." Jake reassured her, "Witches are held with high respect in my community; they gave us our gift. You're always welcome with us." He shrugged, "And besides, they thought it would be good for you to hear the histories."

     "The tribe's histories?" She asked, trying to make sure that they were on the same page now, "Are you really sure I should be here? I thought they were supposed to be a secret and not told to outsiders."

     "We've all got a role to play, and you're part of this." Jake continued to reassure her and try to convince her to get closer towards the council and the pack members that were sat around the fire, "It's the first time that Bella, Seth, Leah and Quil are going to hear them too."

     Bella rolled her eyes, "Yeah, and if I had also known that I was going to hear about the tribe's histories, I would've dressed a lot better. So, thank you." Jake hadn't told her that they were planning on listening to the tribe's histories so she believed that they were truly just going to a party with the pack.

     Jake smiled cheekily, "I love you." He said to her and Lilith fake gagged as Bella said it back lovingly.

     "Jake!" They heard a boy call out, who soon jogged over towards them with a large smile plastered on his face. Lilith observed him and noticed the similarities in facial features that the boy shared with Leah, meaning that had to be her brother, Seth, "It's about time you guys got here." He commented.

     "I'm a slow walker, sorry." Lilith responded sheepishly. They probably would've gotten there sooner if she hadn't of taken her sweet time getting from her house to Jake's car and then from the car to the bonfire.

     "It's cool." Seth grinned at her, "Paul's been hoovering the grub, but, I saved you guys some burgers." He told them.

     Lilith couldn't help the laugh that came out of her mouth, "Brave move to leave them unattended with Paul hanging around nearby." She joked, "They'll be gone within minutes."

     "Not with me around. I'm the newest, bestest and brightest of the pack." Seth said cockily at both Lilith and Bella, trying to impress them, "Nothing will get past me."

     "Everything will get passed you." Jake deadpanned, "Because you're also the slowest of the pack." He joked before pulling Seth's head down to noogie him, the two boys laughing as they both struggled against each other.

     A whistling sound was made and Seth slipped out from Jake's grip and poked his head out to see Billy being the one to make the sound, "Come on, your dad's about to start." He realised before jogging back to the circle.

     Lilith sat down in between Bella and Paul who had offered her a spare burger of his as she sat down and she graciously accepted it because the chances of him offering her food would most likely never happen again and it was best she took advantage of the opportunity while it was presented to her.

     Billy Black waited until everyone was sat down and he had everyone's attention before beginning to speak, his voice was calm, yet strong and loud enough to be heard over the crackling of the fire in front of him, "The Quileutes have been a small tribe from the beginning. But, we have always had magic in our blood." He started, sending a look over towards Lilith and tilting his head in appreciation like he does with all witches, "We were great spirit warriors, shape shifters, that transformed into the powerful wolf. This enabled us to scare off our enemies. And protect our tribe."

     The first chief of the Quiluete tribe was a strong powerful man, but, he feared for the safety of his people and prayed to a witch to bless him with strength to protect his tribe and his family. That witch spelled him with the gift of being able to shape shift into a wolf to scare off predators like the vampires. The witch blessed the warriors of the tribe with the ability and then continued to bless the future generations with the same ability, but, she feared that there would be too many and they would become the new predators over the more vulnerable species and made it that the future generations would only phase when danger was near—or in better terms, the rivalry species.

     "One day, our warriors came across a creature standing over the dead bodies of some of the women of their tribe. It looked like a man. But, it was hard like stone, and cold as ice. One of the warriors was so filled with rage and attacked it blindly, but, the man had such strength to be able to thwart away any attack from the warrior." Billy continued, "The other warrior was able to kill the man eventually. Our warrior's sharp teeth finally tore it apart. But, only fire would completely destroy it." Lilith instantly knew the man was a vampire from the description Billy had given. Vampires were always more conspicuous back then as they were the predatory species in the past before the shape shifters were created to protect others from vampires.

     "They lived in fear that the cold man was not alone... and they were right. A woman just like him soon came to the them, and she took her vengeance out on the village." The woman must've been the vampire's mate and she would've been so heartbroken that she wanted the village to feel a small portion of what she felt when she lost her mate, "Our elder chief, Taha Aki, was the only spirit warrior left to save the tribe after his son was killed by the woman, and there were no witches nearby to help protect the rest of the village people. He fought the woman with every fibre in his being, the thought of protecting his people fuelling him." Billy recited, "Taha Aki's third wife could see that he would lose the fight with the cold woman and needed to find a way to help the chief. The third wife was no magical being... no special powers, but, one... courage."

     Lilith felt her breath catch in her throat from the intensity of the story, reaching out to grab Paul's arm for support who wrapped his arm around her shoulders and let her lean her head on his to comfort her. She never really liked frightening stories, maybe that was why her parents never spoke to her about dark witches or her past. They most likely knew that it would terrify her and it would leave her in fear and looking over her shoulder every moment thinking that there was someone there.

     She knew her nightmares were about to increase by a tenfold after the confession from her parents; and they did, and she knew it was most likely going to happen again because of this. The past was so horrid and terrifying that she couldn't believe that people lived through these times and lived to tell about it. It sometimes made her glad that her parents sheltered her and gave her a somewhat normal childhood—but, she wished she wasn't so naive and scared now when it came to finding out about these tings.

     "The third wife used a hunting blade nearby that had been left behind and plunged it into her stomach. Her sacrifice distracted the cold woman long enough for Taha Aki to destroy her. She saved the tribe." Billy concluded the story. "Over time, our enemies have disappeared. But, one remains—the cold ones. Our magic awakens when they're near and we sense it now. We feel the threat in our blood. Something terrible is coming and we must all be ready. All of us."

     Lilith looked down at her hands. Something terrible was indeed coming, and it was her fault.

     "Hey, you're missing a pretty crazy party back there." Seth said as he walked over towards Lilith who was sat in a ball on the sandy shoreline by herself watching the waves crash on top of each other.

     Lilith turned her head to see Seth and then peaked behind him to see the pack laughing and chatting behind him in the distance having a grand time, "I'll join them again soon, I just needed a minute." She told him, trying not to worry him like she does with everyone else she interacts with—especially since she just officially met him.

     "Oh, sorry, I can leave if you want to be alone." Seth pointed pack over his shoulder, not wanting to intrude in her personal space; cursing at himself for not realising that she would've wanted to be alone.

     Lilith shrugged, "No, it's okay, you can stay if you want." She reassured him, "I just needed a moment to process everything that we were just told."

     Seth let out a puff of air as he sat down next to her, "Yeah, it was pretty heavy stuff." He agreed, "Even more crazier to know that it actually happened and isn't just some legend told by the elders, who you think are just too drunk." He said which made Lilith chuckle.

     She never knew her grandparents or knew any elders for long enough to build a strong relationship with to see them as grandparents; they never stayed anywhere long enough for her to do that and now she realised why. Those elders were protecting her and her grandparents were most likely also doing the same by keeping their distance so the high priest couldn't use them to find her. The whole thing was all so complicated and frustrating because she couldn't believe this was all happening. She didn't want to have to worry about the safety of her family and friends and herself, all she wanted to do was focus on graduating high school, getting a grip on her magic, and even focus on working out her relationship problems with Edward. But, instead she was worrying about a war that was brewing because of her.

     "You okay?" Seth asked her after she didn't respond to his comment and he realised she was deep in thought.

     The witch looked at him, "Do you think I'm a good person?" She suddenly asked, "And I mean that in a totally non attention seeking way." She added. She wanted to know if from a complete stranger, she seemed worth it.

     Because at that point she felt like she wasn't. She wasn't worth having a war over, she wasn't worth all of the pain and struggle her parents went through to keep her safe, she wasn't worth the Cullens wearing themselves thin to protect her from Victoria. She had barely done anything to them to deserve all of this, and yet, they were practically handing it to her on a silver platter.

     The young wolf shrugged his shoulders again, "Well, from what everyone has told me, you seem like the best person ever. To them you're kind, selfless, funny and everything else good under the sun." He admitted to her, "And you even made Paul like you like you're a little sister to him—and he's Paul, he doesn't like anyone."

     "But, is all that worth putting the people I care about through the worst to keep me safe?" She questioned again, she then shook her head, "Sorry, I probably shouldn't be asking you this when I only met you a few hours ago."

     "It's cool." He said again, "And just from that, I can see that you're one of the good ones. You don't ask and expect for everyone to drop what they're doing and lay down their lives for you. You worry about them and you don't want them to get hurt for you. Which makes that worth it to us."

     Lilith's nose scrunched, "How can a fifteen year old be so wise?" She questioned jokingly considering the fact that she was getting some sense knocked into her by him.

     "I'm sixteen soon." He pointed out to her, "And like I said: I'm the newest, bestest and brightest of the pack."

     "Jake also said you're the slowest." She reminded.

Seth scowled lightly, "He's also a liar, don't listen to him. I'm fast." He responded.

     "But, what if I said that Jake says you're an amazing and skilled wolf?" She challenged him smugly.

     "Then feel free to believe everything he says." Seth beamed and Lilith chuckled at him again before the two fell into a comfortable silence, looking at the waves once again. Seth let out a breath before standing up and he held out his hand and nodded his head in the direction of everyone else, "Come on, they're probably all missing you now."

     Lilith was indeed away from the party for a while and she felt that after her discussion with Seth that she felt a bit better than she was earlier and she was ready to go back. And with a much clearer head when it came to a couple of important decisions that she knew she would eventually have to make.

     Lilith took Seth's hand, and he helped her up and the two walked back towards the pack who were all clearly just having fun and enjoying themselves. She smiled as she passed by Jared who was dancing with Kim, he grabbed her and spun her around as he sung the words to the song that was playing loud and horribly, causing her to giggle and push him away when he tried to continue to yell the words in her ear.

     The blonde forgot about the horrible parts of her life for a few moments as she had fun with her friends who were like family to her now. She danced, she sang and she laughed. She was happy in those moments.

     It wasn't until she locked eyes with Sam that it all came crashing back to her. Sam knew about what her parents were keeping from her and he hid it. She could see his guilt ridden look that he sent her but she couldn't help but shake her head and sigh in disappointment. It made Lilith stop what she was doing and walk away sadly, she made her way towards the spot at the very back that had some camping chairs set up from earlier when everyone was sat and talking compared to dancing like they were doing now. She sat down on the chair and just watched as Sam followed her and sat down on the chair next to hers.

     "Hey." He started.

     "Hi." She responded, not turning to look at him at all.

     "I'm sorry for not telling you." He said to her, completely sincere with his words, "Your parents made me swear that I wouldn't so we could protect you from this."

     "I know." She said softly, "That's what everyone has been telling me—and I get that they wanted to keep me safe, don't get me wrong—but, I wish that they could believe in me a little more to be able to keep me in the loop at least, so I don't look so oblivious to things that are going on around me to everyone else."

     Sam only huffed, he had tried telling the Bailey parents that it could end up biting them back one day if they didn't tell their daughter the truth soon, but, they were extremely adamant about not telling her because they didn't want Lilith living in fear that at any moment, the high priest would come and take her away—and it eventually did. Sam trusted Lilith to make her own decisions and mistakes and she definitely should've known about a threat that was being made to her, "Well, the truth always comes out eventually, it doesn't matter how long or hard you try to keep it a secret—it always makes itself known." Sam said to her wisely, "Your parents are no exception to that fact."

     Lilith turned to look at Sam, "Do you think they're keeping anything else from me, or are the secrets truly finally over with?" She questioned him, almost nervously.

     "From what I know, you're completely in the know. But, there could also be things that your parents haven't even told me because you never know with them." He answered her question. Oliver and Sierra were quite the secretive and mysterious pair that there most likely were things that they were keeping from Lilith that Sam or Carlisle had no idea and they never would.

     She chuckled cynically at herself, "That's probably the best that we'll ever get from them as well, which is the sad part." She commented, "But, the secrets aren't done yet, because there's one that I'm holding from them."

     "And what's that?" It was Sam's turn to ask; he didn't expect her to answer his question truthfully considering that he hadn't been truthful with her, but, he hoped that she still trusted him with some other things.

     Lilith could only smile sadly as she said, "I've decided that if the high priest comes for me, that I'm going to give myself up to him without a fight." She admitted and she didn't miss Sam's shocked yet angry face that he made, "And before you argue, it's to keep the rest of you safe. I wouldn't be able to bear the thought of any you getting hurt by him because you were trying to protect me from him."

     "And why would you want to do that?" Sam questioned her, not believing that he was hearing what he was and wondering how she got to the point where she thought that was the best decision.

     "Because you guys are always sacrificing things to keep me safe, and now it's my turn to sacrifice something to keep you and everyone else safe." She answered him, "Just like the third wife in Billy's story—let's just say, it made me feel a little inspired."