Chapter 27 — Whispers of Jealousy

Teresa walked around the garden while making sure nobody interrupted Selene and Damon from meeting them. Alice let her know the whole thing, because she and Rita needed an extra ally, and Alice trusted Teresa enough that had no doubts that she would be on their side. Teresa was touched by the love story of Damon and Selene, so she thought about it constantly, but at the same time was also alert in case any disturbing vision came to her.

Marco got into the garden without much problem, because now almost all talismans were losing most of their power. Such protection was perhaps very effective against some evil spirits, but not demons. Having passed the talismans, Marco was slipping quickly between the trees now, trying not to catch any branches and therefore make any noise. He only stopped when saw the one behind the trees that had cast a spell on him. Her curly blonde hair floated in the breeze, and she looked even more lovely with that slight smile on her face. Marco wanted to talk to her, so he stepped out from behind the trees. Teresa, however, seeing a familiar demon, stepped back a few steps.

"Don't be afraid, I won't do anything to you." Marco said, seeing her reaction.

"As if I will believe you... You are Marco, one of the Salvatore's gang." Teresa replied, being still on alert. If it was a trick, she wasn't going to fall for it.

"Yes, it's true, but I really have no evil intentions, on the contrary, I want to help you fight him." replied Marco, looking at her with clear pleading in his eyes.

"Why should I believe you?" Teresa looked at him, still searching for the trick. It was hard for her to believe that suddenly another demon was taking their side.

"Because you are everything to me... I love you from the first moment I saw your face." Marco replied, looking at her almost pleadingly.

"Incredible... You succumbed to my charm." Teresa finally laughed, because after examining the structure of his aura, she was sure that had guessed correctly. "It's not love, but magic." she replied, looking at him, a little relaxed.

"It doesn't matter, I want to be influenced by it, that's why I escaped from the Underworld before my kinsmen realized that I needed a bath in the Lake of Darkness. I will fight with you against Salvatore, and I know him even better than Damon, I can anticipate his every move, we were friends after all." Marco said, a little bit excited. He looked at her with such adoration that Teresa really had to believe him. Besides, whether wanted to or not, she herself fell in love with this demon at first sight. It was a bit funny that she had been delighted with the story of Damon and Selene a moment ago, dreaming of a similar feeling and, as if on cue, Marco appeared in front of her.

"Well, guess I have no choice but to believe you. Besides, you are also not indifferent to me." Teresa replied with a slight smile.

At these words, Marco's face smiled broadly as well, and his face lit up immediately, so that he didn't even look like a demon anymore.

"Then let's go to the others. I want to help you, everyone." Marco said, looking determined and not at all afraid of the reaction he might provoke by his sudden appearance.

Therefore Teresa took him to the house. And of course, at first, Meredith, Rita, and Tess stood ready to fight.

"Relax everyone, he doesn't have bad intentions." Alice said as she read through his thoughts.

"Marco wants to help us. He escaped from the Underworld because did not want his people to submerge him in the Lake of Darkness. He was a friend of Salvatore, so his knowledge would definitely be of use to us." Teresa explained.

"Well... If he wants, he can help us. Marco for sure knows Salvatore better because he's been with him for a while, and much closer than Damon." Elisabeth said, looking at Meredith, calming down with her gift.

"That's true... God, I have never seen a charmed demon escaping from the Underworld yet. Teresa's charm must be stronger than I thought." Rita said as if to herself.

Since then, Marco and Damon have been hanging around the garden all night. It was easier for them to patrol with the two of them, although Damon was still not fully trusting Marco, but he did wasn't angry on him or anything and did not try to make friends with him by force. Marco knew very well that only his actions could prove to Damon and the rest that he really had changed, that he wanted to help and fight on their side.

Rita and Isabelle also took turns, spending the night shift in the living room, and the rest slept alertly in the guest rooms, ready to fight at any moment. Everyone knew Salvatore and the rest of his pack could attack when they least expected it, and now those demons would be even more sneaky, to increase their chances of winning the battle, after all Salvatore and the rest, in terms of quantity and overall strength, were rather in a losing position now.

Deborah was also sleeping in one of the guest rooms, but awoke in the middle of the night, drenched in a sweat. She dreamed of Salvatore for the first time in two hundred years. Deborah thought that this nightmare with him as the lead role would never come back, but when she met him again in the garden, the dream came back with redoubled strength. Deborah shifted on the bed restlessly, every rustle of leaves making her shudder. She was afraid to fall asleep again.

~~~~~~

The next day, Selene went to the garden right after breakfast and another lesson with her aunt, Isabelle, and Rita. She was supposed to meet Damon here on a daily basis, so she sat on a fallen tree trunk, waiting patiently for Damon to explore the area. Fortunately now, Marco did some work him a bit in guarding the house, so he could easily meet Selene sooner and spend a little more time with her.

Selene was sitting, drowned in thoughts, when she felt someone putting arms around her waist.

"Damon... Finally." she said, recognizing her lover instantly.

"I was looking forward to meeting you today..." Damon whispered in her ear.

"I missed you too." Selene turned to him and kissed passionately, and he returned the same.

Then they both sat down on a fallen log and began talking.

~~~~~~

Eleazar went into the garden, bored of being constantly in the living room, and Maria, by sticking to him all the time, frustrated Eleazar even more. He was just walking on until somebody's voices stopped him. Eleazar recognized Selene and some guy among them. When he looked from behind the tree, his suspicions were confirmed, because now he also recognized the boy sitting next to her. It was the demon that saved her, Damon. Eleazar knew very well that Meredith had forbidden them from meeting, so driven by jealousy, he made his way without hesitation to the house, passing through the kitchen and living room to the porch, where Meredith and Rita sat, drinking some iced tea.

"Eleazar? What are you doing here? Has something happened?" his sister asked, looking at him, surprised by his sudden appearance on the porch.

"I just want to inform that against the ban, Selene is seeing Damon. She's in the garden with him right now." Eleazar turned to Meredith, not paying attention to his older sister.

"What? How is that?" she got up quickly and almost ran towards the garden.

"How could you!" Rita said indignantly, looking reproachfully at his brother.

"What? Have I done something wrong?" Eleazar looked at her as if she were crazy.

"How can you destroy what is between them! Who gave you this right? Has jealousy completely poisoned your mind?" Rita replied, walking into the house and slamming the door hard.

It was unknown why, but hearing his sister's words, Eleazar began to regret his deed. Conscience told him that because of his jealousy he would hurt Selene a lot, and that was the last thing Eleazar wanted, no matter how badly it hurt him that was rejected by her.

~~~~~~

Meredith searched the entire garden before finding Selene and Damon at the end of it. Seeing them together made her furious.

"What was I saying?!" Meredith yelled at them.

"But aunt... Don't you understand that I love him and he loves me? How could we not meet?" Selene replied with tears in her eyes.

"I said no! If he stays here longer, I'll kill him!" Meredith shouted, ready to attack.

"Meredith, stop it this instant." a commanding tone sounded in the garden, and a moment later Elisabeth emerged from behind the trees.

"But they..." Meredith began, turning to face her.

"Let the decision on this forbidden union be made by the Council. Taking advantage of the fact that all of its most important members are present, we will convene a conference on this matter." Elisabeth interrupted her. "And there's no discussion about it." she added in a moment even more firmly, seeing that Meredith still wanted to argue.

Selene and Damon were somewhat relieved, though they couldn't be sure what decision the Council of Sorceresses would make. Soon they all headed home. Alice had notified the others of the Council's summoning, after reading Elisabeth's mind, so when she entered the lounge with Meredith, Selene, and Damon, all the sorceresses and wizards had already gathered in the dining room.

"We are all ready for a meeting of the Council of Sorceresses." Rita said, looking at them seriously, but when she looked at the pair of lovers only, a distinct sadness and compassion was clearly visible in her eyes.

Alice sat Selene and Damon at one end of the table, Elisabeth took place at the other end. Rita, Isabelle, and Meredith took their seats at her side, and the rest—Johnathan, Eleazar, Maria, Tess, Teresa, Alice, and Deborah—took their seats around the table. Marco sat somewhere to the side, by the window, on the windowsill. Thus began the meeting.