Chapter 9: Awakening

The next day, Selene woke up very early. All night she dreamed of a mysterious man whom she met yesterday. Now her only dream was to see him again, talk for a while, find out his name... There were so many questions in her head. Of course, Selene knew she shouldn't be thinking of him, and certainly not in that, kind of romantic, way. He was a demon, her natural enemy. Unfortunately, Selene's heart skipped a beat at the mere memory of him, and she couldn't help it. For now, she didn't even want to wonder what would happen if Aunt Meredith found out about her feelings.

Selene stretched first, then slowly dragged herself off the bed. Her eyes immediately fixed on the Book of Magic that was lying down on the desk, the one she had gotten from Aunt Meredith yesterday. Selene took it gently in her hands and sat on the edge of the bed, setting the bulky volume on her lap, and flipped through the book several times. After the fourth time she stopped at a page that showed a portrait of a man with ebony mid-length hair, in a long black coat. The face seemed familiar at once, but when Selene saw his eyes—dark and captivating, like two black holes—she was already sure. It was the guy from her nightmare! So she read the short description next to the drawing.

"Alistair, ruler of the Underworld Kingdom, leader of the demons, powerful and invincible, but his most terrible gift is that he can resurrect dead demons. The only person who can defeat him is the so-called 'chosen one' of the sorceresses. If she succeeds, the Underworld will weaken and the other evil creatures will be left without defense, demons will not be able to return after being chased away by the sorceresses..."

Selene's eyes widened in surprise. This dream, or rather a nightmare, was a kind of vision, a vision of what could happen to her if she fails the mission. The thought terrified Selene, so she immediately closed the Book of Magic with a bang and put it on the desk. Sitting on the bed for a while, she finally looked at the window sill. There was a terribly neglected flower standing there.

“Oh God, how could I forget about it!" Selene thought, touching the dry soil in the pot. "Poor thing, it needs water, right now." she said to herself, and wanted to get up and run down to the kitchen to get some, but at the same moment a ball of water appeared in her hand. A small trickle began to ooze from it, moistening the soil in the pot, but the flower was still a bit haggard. Selene intuitively touched its petals lightly with fingertips and felt an unknown power flow through her hand. Thanks to this, the plant revived and began to bloom before her eyes at a killer pace. Therefore, Selene pulled fingers away from the plant as quickly as possible, lest its growth sometimes burst the pot. Fortunately, she managed to do so just in time, then smiled at the healthy-looking plant and its beautiful flowers.

"Amazing," Selene said to herself and knew very well that her power had just been revealed. After all, Aunt Meredith had warned her that it would. Now she just had to learn to control this gift. Selene guessed that had to learn to control so that her power would not cause more harm than good. She saw it well while treating the plant. A few more seconds and the pot would turn out to be too small, which would certainly not be good for its condition. Selene didn't understand much yet, after all, had recently learned about the world of magic, but when she felt the power flowing through, the intuition unfailingly guided her. She was a little scared of everything that was before her, but felt excited at the same time.

Selene sprang up from the bed, then pulled on jeans and a green top, at the end slipping on sneakers. Then she left the room and ran down the stairs to tell Aunt Meredith the happy news.

~~~~~~

Damon has already woken up in the Underworld, but had no idea how had come here and why had come back. All he could remember was the face of the girl he was about to kill. However, Damon felt also that he might not be motivated to carry out this mission. His own thoughts terrified him, for he felt that could not kill her because he would not survive it. But what would Damon say to Alistair then? That would not obey to the order because he fell in love with his victim? No, he certainly could not do that, for his master's anger would be terrible. Damon knew how much hope Alistair had in him, so couldn't let his master down. He felt immensely torn now, that was a nightmare. For the first time, Damon didn't know what to do, his confidence had faded almost entirely.

He sat up in bed and looked around his cave. Suddenly another thought flashed in his head and Damon immediately grabbed his head. After all, even if he quit this mission, this sorceress would die anyway. Alistair would send Salvatore and his gang after her.

"No, I can't let her die. I'll pretend to Alistair that I'm seducing her to kill her by deception... And then I'll come up with something." he decided, getting out of bed. Damon slept fully clothed, so he wore only boots and a leather jacket. After leaving the cave, however, he unfortunately came across Salvatore.

"Are you already back? Did you seriously took care of her so quickly?" he asked in a mocking tone.

"Not yet." Damon hissed. "But I'm close... I chose the tactic of deception. For now I have to seduce her, and then..." he paused, feeling that the rest would not pass through his throat, hoping that Salvatore wouldn't find anything suspicious about it.

"Oh, I see..." he looked at him carefully, then laughed. "In that case, see you soon," Salvatore tossed out casually and went on his way.

Damon took a deep breath and started walking toward the portal that led up, to the humans world.

~~~~~~

Meredith heard a soft knock, so she immediately got up from the desk where was just filling some papers. When she opened the door, saw Selene, looking very excited.

"Something happened?" Meredith looked at her a little scared.

"My power... it seems to be starting to show." Selene replied a little hesitantly.

"Really? So fast? That's... great news!" Meredith hugged her niece tightly, unable to hide the happiness.

"Fast? You mean faster than the previous chosen one?" Selene asked, slightly surprised.

"Yes, and a lot. The previous' power began to show up about six months after her birthday, not a day later... You are indeed really special." aunt replied with a smile.

"Gee, that's cool. You'll teach me to control it, won't you?" Selene looked at her hopefully, although she knew the answer, it was very obvious.

"Of course, Rita and Elisabeth will also join. With us you will master everything quickly." Meredith confirmed. "They'll be coming soon, so prepare yourself." she added hastily.

Selene gave her aunt a kiss on the cheek and flew out of the room like an arrow. Because of that, on the way, she collided with Alice.

"You are rushing like a madwoman... And only because your power has revealed itself." she said with a smile. Oh yeah, Alice was reading her mind again.

"So what? It's much earlier than my predecessor." Selene replied proudly.

"I know, I know... It's just that you have yet to learn to control it." Alice smiled and gestured to the potted plants in the living room, which shared Selene's enthusiasm and began to spread throughout the house.

"Oops...- Selene looked at "her" handiwork, slightly biting lower lip. "How am I going to reverse this?" she asked, looking at Alice.

"Just focus, you can do it, I'm sure of it. Believe me, focusing helps you master the power. Like every witch that lives on Earth, I also had to tame mine, so you can trust me." she replied reassuringly.

Selene took a deep breath and looked at the plants. She let herself be carried away by intuition, since remembered after all that it was thanks to it that she knew how to revive a flower standing in her room, and then when to stop. Selene closed her eyes and raised hands, still thinking about the plants in the living room. Just like this morning, in her room, she felt some energy flowing out through her hands. It was a very pleasant feeling, as if silk was flowing under her skin, so she smiled. After about two minutes, Selene felt someone tapping her shoulder lightly, so she quickly opened her eyes and looked around.

"See? You did it." Alice said, giving her a hearty smile.

"It's still so hard to believe. And surprisingly that felt quite easy for me to do." Selene smiled back at the words.

"I think you will learn everything quickly." Alice replied. "Maybe you could show me around the garden?" she asked.

"Sure. Come to the kitchen, the back door is the fastest way to get in." Selene took her hand and pulled her along.