Characters: Damon, Gretel/Bella, Hansel/Clint

DPOV
It had been a few years since I had met the Witch Hunters, Bella and Clint. We originally kept in contact fairly often. That was until I ran into some trouble and was unable to send word to Bella. The two of us had really connected and I thought there might be something brewing between the two of us, unfortunately nothing ever came of it.

So, I was very surprised to run into the two of them in Rothenburg. I was traveling around Europe again, taking in the changes to the many towns I used to know. I had heard of some trouble in the nearby area and came to see what trouble I could stir up. It was a late night on the outskirts of the town and I was hunting for my next…snack. I had just found someone when I heard a cry from around the corner that sounded strangely familiar. Being the curious character I am I decided to investigate.

Her back was to me, but I would recognize Bella anywhere. I saw her feet off the ground and noticed another woman standing in front of her, muttering something under her breath. “This must be a witch”, I thought.  “Let her go you evil crony,” I shouted before my mouth caught up with my brain. The witch dropped Bella and ran off before I could capture her. Bella must have had the same thoughts as she said, “Shit, I almost had her,” and stomped her foot.

When she was finally facing me the breath left my lungs; she was even more gorgeous than I remembered. Her brown hair hung longer in its braid. And even though she was the most gorgeous woman to me I couldn’t help but snicker internally at the multitude of leaves and other flora sticking out from the braid.

She breathed my name as I did hers. I vamped to her and picked her up in a crushing hug. “Oh, pretty girl. It is so good to see you. I would have found you sooner, but so many years have passed, I didn’t think you were still living.” I breathed in her scent and felt a shiver run through her as I whispered my words into her hair. I was just getting ready to let her go when I felt the tip of an arrow between my shoulder blades.

“I suggest you unhand my sister.”

I raised my hands and turned around to face the speaker. I recognized the face on the other end of the bow just as Bella said, “Clint, put that down, it’s Damon!”

“Oh, I know exactly who he is. And he still needs to keep his hands to himself.”

She reached over and smacked the raven inscribed arrow out of my face. As his bow was lowering I noticed a scrolling motif down the front of the recurve bow; one row was of candy and below it was a woodland scene, similar to that of their home.

“Hello Clint, it’s been a long time.”

“Yes, it has. Which is why your hands don’t need to be around her waist,” he said with a pointed look.

I looked down and realized my hands were wrapped around her waist reminiscent of a lovers embrace. I slowly let go and ran a hand through my hair. It had been a long time since I had been in a situation where I didn’t want to let go.

“Might I ask what you are doing back in this area Damon, and why you haven’t responded to our letters,” asked Clint with a scowl.

“You may ask, but I prefer to answer in a place where we aren’t being watched,” I said with a look at the balcony to our left where a woman was standing watching us.

“This way,” Bella’s soft voice said before I felt her hand in mine. She guided us to a local bar and up the stairs to a room they must have been renting.

She sat down on one of the twin beds and pulled me gently to sit down beside her. Clint decided to take the chair at the desk near the end of the bed.

“First,” I said, “I must apologize for not answering any letters you may have sent. There was a time where I was kidnapped and unable to respond. In fact, I didn’t know any letters had been sent. Part of my torture was having some of my memories wiped. After I escaped I felt something was missing, so I followed the pull to Europe. It was only when I set foot in Germany that my memories came back to me. I asked around many towns for you and was led to believe neither of you walked this Earth any longer. It was only when I saw Bella in the clutches of that witch that I knew the stories were not true.” I finished my monologue with my head on my chest taking deep breaths and trying to control my emotions. Having them turned off for so long I found the ones coursing through me slightly overwhelming and difficult to control.

I heard sniffles and looked up to find Bella crying and Clint not facing me.

“What is wrong, pretty girl,” I asked softly, lifting Bella’s chin to face me.

“For the longest time I thought you had forgotten me. The letters became so sporadic and then nothing; I thought you had lost interest or had found someone else. My emotions got the best of me and I was putting us in dangerous situations. I almost got Clint killed; that was my wakeup call.”

She jerked her chin from my hand, stood and left the room. I looked to Clint with sorrow on my face. “I am so sorry,” I whispered, “I never meant to hurt her or you for that matter.”

“It was more than hurt. For the longest time she was broken. Knowing your story now I can understand, but I can never forget her actions. She was basically suicidal. I almost died because I jumped in front of a witch spelling her and took the spell on myself. If Bella hadn’t known the counter curse I wouldn’t be sitting here today. It has only been a few weeks; you will have to give her time to deal with her emotions.”

“I have nothing but time on my hands.”

“Yes, well, we don’t. The witch you scared off tonight has been eluding us quite well. She has been on a kidnapping spree collecting young girls. So far there are only ten missing by her hands. We aren’t sure why she has chosen the ones she has, but we need to stop her before anymore go missing.”

“Let me help. There was a time when we worked together and I would like to give Bella space while still being here for her.”

“Yes, your speed was a great help before. I would appreciate the help with this one, but you do need to give Bella space; give her more time to heal. And let her approach you on her terms.”

“I will try.”

At this time Bella came back in the room looking a little contrite. “I apologize for my actions. I shouldn’t have let my emotions get the better of me.”
“No, Bella. I’m sorry for coming back into your life so suddenly like this. I was just telling Clint that I would like to help both of you with this witch problem and get to know both of you again.”

The smile on Bella’s face looked to be one of relief; as if she thought her behavior had scared me away from her. “I would appreciate the help Damon. Lord knows we haven’t been able to catch her yet. She is so fast,” Bella said as her brows crinkled. “This is the second time she has tried to spell the two of us. Luckily it seems we are evenly matched in strength. I am glad you came when you did though Damon. Your distraction was what I needed to break her hold. Although, I wish I had been a little bit faster at trapping her.”

“I noticed you had your gun on you,” I said picking it up and looking at the etchings of tally marks in the butt stock. The last time I saw this gun there were only a few marks, now the buttstock was almost covered in them; a mark for each witch killed. “Why didn’t you just shoot her?”

“I would have except we needed to know about the other missing girls. We believe, we hope, they are still alive. If we kill her out right we might never know what happened to them. We try to always help the families completely if at all possible.”

“Bella just likes her happy endings,” Clint said with a smirk.

The blush on Bella’s cheeks was stunning. “Yes,” she said, “and their families deserve to know about their children; so many of them are distraught right now. They need closure.”

“We will start the search again in the morning. We should all get some sleep.”

“Yes, I agree Clint. Since I’m crashing this party I will take the floor.”

“No,” Bella started to say before I put my finger over her lips.

“Bella, it is fine. I’m going to take the floor since I don’t need as much sleep as the two of you.”

I slipped off the bed and lay on the floor. “Well if you insist on sleeping on the floor than I insist that you take one of these pillows.” With that a pillow hit my head causing Bella to giggle.

The next morning I woke to find Bella beside me on the floor, her arm wrapped around my waist and her head on my chest. I gently untangle us and stand, moving to the desk.

“At least you are trying to remain respectful.” My head shoots up to see Clint smirking at me with sleepy eyes before he rolls back over to sleep. Deciding I need to leave the room I make my way downstairs to the bar and order a breakfast platter for everyone to share.

I step back into the room a few minutes later to find Bella still sprawled across the floor. I place the platter of food on the desk top and quietly approach Bella. As I do, I see her right hand is stretched out and her fingers seem to be groping, searching for something that isn’t there. It is my hope she is trying to find me. I reach down and lift her into my arms. As I stand her head falls to my chest, her hand grasps my shirt and she whispers, “Damon.” I place her down on the bed and pull the covers up over her. After a quick and light kiss to her forehead I turn back towards the desk.

To my surprise Clint is already up, dressed and munching on an apple. He’s leaning back in the desk chair with his feet propped on the desk top. “I’m glad to see I can still surprise you vampire. And that your morals still seem to be intact. Maybe you aren’t so bad for my sister after all. However,” he said dropping his feet to floor and leaning his elbows on his knees, “make no mistake. I will kill you if I have too. Hurt her and I will hurt you. Clear?”

“You have already expressed your thoughts Clint. I have too much respect for your sister and you to purposefully hurt either of you. If I were to ever hurt your sister I would gladly let you hurt me in return.”

We silently munched on some breakfast while waiting on Bella to wake. It seems she had not been sleeping well. While we wanted to get back to the case and save the missing girls Bella being at the top of her game was important; besides, witches usually hunted at night.

Bella finally awoke and we spent the remainder of the morning discussing our strategy. The locals had talked about a place in the woods that they felt harbored magic, evil magic. One of our goals was to check this location out today. I offered to fly in my raven form overhead as a scout and after a quick lunch we set off.

I was flying overhead and noticed that not once did either of them relax from an alert stance with weapons at the ready. Clint kept an arrow knocked and pointed in front of him while Bella kept her loaded and cocked gun swiveling side to side in front of her. The two were very cautious and from hunting with them in the past I knew they would stay this tense until the witch was caught. After a few hours I spotted what looked to be a cottage coming up. I flew ahead to check it out and was appalled at how rundown the place was. No one could have been living here for some time. I flew back to show the others the way and perched myself on Bella’s left shoulder.

“You know, if you had landed on my shoulder,” Clint snickered, “I would have shooed you away. I guess Bella is an animal tamer.”

I cawed at him in annoyance and rubbed my face on Bella’s cheek when she reached up to run her finger over my beak. She knew just what to do to get the one place that always itched and I could never reach.

“Aww, who’s the pretty bird,” she cooed. I just huffed and gently nipped at her finger. As distracted as we were my keen ears picked up the snapping of a branch just in time to tug at Bella, causing her to step back. A good thing it was too as a branch came whizzing past right at that time. I jumped from Bella’s shoulder and began the process of shifting back into my vampire body. As I did so Clint swung back around right as a branch clocked him in the side of his head. Bella fired off a warning shot in the direction the blows came from only to be knocked backwards. I finished changing shapes just in time to catch her. I set her back on her feet and raced in the direction the attack seemed to be coming from. I caught a small witch, not the same from the night before, just as she was about to send another branch their way. I grabbed her up and raced back towards Bella and Clint. When I reached the clearing I found two more witches attacking our group. I snapped the neck of the one in my arms and raced towards the other two. At this time Clint was able to fire off a round and catch one in the shoulder with a spelled arrow.

Watching a witch die from a spell was interesting. Their deaths were usually tied to their affinity. For instance the witch Clint hit must have an affinity to fire as she burst into flames before dying. The witch Bella was fighting didn’t seem to be going down as easily. Looking closer I realized this was the witch they had been tracking for some time. With an evil cackle she exclaimed, “You white witch will never be able to defeat me. I have been killing Swan witches for millennia; just like your mother you too shall die by my hands.” She wrenched free from Bella’s grasp and flew off into the surrounding woods. In our pursuit of her we came across the cottage I had seen from the air. I was halfway across the clearing and past the cottage when I realized the two of them were not beside me.  I had never seen the two witch hunters stop cold in their pursuit before. When I turned back around I found them frozen with looks of shock on their face. I was just about to ask them what was wrong when I recognized the description of the cottage. This was the place that turned them into witch hunters to begin with.  A burned shell, the place would be unrecognizable to any who had not been there, or seen it through the eyes of someone who had.

The two hunters cautiously approached the cottage and pushed the creaking door open with the butt of Bella’s gun before stepping inside. The cottage had clearly not been disturbed since the two fled from here as children. Dust covered everything in the burned out shell. You could see the cage outline in the corner and the stove against the back wall. The two sifted through different parts of the house trying to get their thoughts in order. As they did so I tried imagining being held there and what they must have gone through. I was wandering around the loft when I noticed a discrepancy in two of the floor boards. I gently pried one of them up and was shocked at what I found beneath it. A journal, a wand and a locket lay within. What surprised me was the name on the journal; it was the twins’ birth mother. I gently lifted the belongings and brought them down to the others. I hated to pull them from their memories, but if this wasn’t a huge clue in the case then it was a huge part of their life and needed to be brought to their attention. When they reached me I explained that I had found a hidden compartment and showed them what I found inside. Bella took the journal and wand, collapsing on a log outside to read. Clint took the locket and gently opened it, a soft gasp escaping as he did so. I looked over his shoulder and saw an image of what had to be their mother. The scary thing was she looked exactly like her daughter, or vice versa. I heard a cry from Bella and ran to her side.

Her hand was over her mouth and she was rocking back and forth as small sobs escaped her. I wrapped my arms around her and brought her to sit sideways in my lap. I knew soothing words wouldn’t help so I chose to rock back and forth, letting her calm down and speak to me when she was ready.

“She didn’t want to leave us,” she hiccupped. “I always thought she died, but she left us to protect us. Muriel, the witch we are hunting, was hunting her. It seems when you kill a white witch you release her powers. When you kill a white witch on a full moon as part of a big sacrifice you can release her powers and absorb them for yourself. The white witch’s powers can keep you young for up to a hundred years. Muriel wanted our moms’ powers for herself. And now, they need to do the ceremony again. That’s why they are collecting girls and why they haven’t killed me, but have tried to kill Clint. They only need two more girls and me to complete their ritual. And, they need it by tomorrow night.”

“Bella, let’s head back to town and look through all of the information. Maybe we can figure out where they are and put a stop to this before anyone else gets hurt.” She nodded at Clint’s suggestion and shakily stood up. I held onto her elbow until she was steady and walked closely by her side until we had reached our rented room. After putting all of their weapons away Clint offered to get some lunch and bring it to us. I sat down on the edge of Bella’s bed and was unsurprised when she climbed into my lap, her arms wrapped tightly around my neck. I maneuvered us so my back was leaning against the headboard and gently ran my hand from the top of Bella’s head all the way down her back. I made this circuit several times before I heard Bella whisper.

“I am afraid Damon. I am afraid for those girls. I am afraid for me. I am afraid for Clint if something were to happen to me. But most of all, I am afraid of what will happen to you or I if either of us were to be hurt.”

“There is nothing to be frightened of. Neither of us is getting hurt. We will put a stop to the witches and we will save those girls. You and Clint are witch hunters and I am a vampire. We cannot be beat by anything unless we let it.”

Just as I finished speaking our door slammed open. I looked up startled to see Clint panting in the doorway.

“It happened again,” he huffed. “This time they took two girls, twin sisters.”

Bella sat up and grabbed the journal off of the desk. She rapidly began to flip through it, muttering to herself as she did so.

“Did anyone see this? Did they see who did it?”

“Yes, they flew in and snatched them right from the town square, in plain view of everyone. They took off towards the mountains. One of the locals says there is an old bear cave up there. It’s possible they are hiding in it.” I turned when Bella exclaimed.

“I found a spell. It was one mom didn’t get to try because you have to set it in motion as they are doing their own spell. We will have to get close to their hideout in order for me to attempt this. And, we will have to wait until the moon is rising and they have started their own spell.”

“We should head out to the mountains now and see if we can find where they will be performing the spell. We will need to be in position to start at the right time.” We all agreed with Clint’s plan and quickly grabbed our bags. We set off in the direction we thought the cave to be, a long hike as the locals explained. We were halfway there when we heard a cackle and Bella was blasted into the air. I heard her scream right before and excruciating pain pierced through my back. I fell forward, unable to help. I woke sometime later with a gasp as the object was pulled from my back. I sat up to see Clint holding a wooden stake, with blood running down his face.

“They took her,” he rasped. “They snatched her up and knocked us unconscious. Right before I passed out I saw them heading up the mountain. We must get to her. They will be starting the ritual soon.” I looked at him in confusion before realizing that we must have been knocked out for some time as the sun was in the noon day position. I stood on shaky legs, pulling Clint up with me. Just as we were about to leave the clearing I noticed the journal Bella had laying on the ground. I picked it up and opened it to the marked page. Luckily Bella had marked the page with the spell. Unfortunately, neither Clint nor I would be able to perform it as neither of us were witches. I tucked the journal into my coat pocket and we began heading up the mountain once again.

Night was falling as we reached the location where we thought the bear cave to be. We could see a faint light through the trees and we picked our way quietly through the brush until we found ourselves near the edge of a cliff. On the rock ledge were hundreds of witches. The one we were hunting was standing on a dais with a raised platform. Chained on the platform was Bella, the other kidnapped girls were on their knees, circling the platform and chained to its base.  As the witches began their ceremony Clint and I looked at each other, gave a nod and went our separate ways. My job was to distract the other witches while Clint freed his sister and the other girls. He was to give the spell book to his sister and lead the other girls back down the mountain.

I loved a grand entrance and drama so I distracted the witches by throwing some of their…guests over the side. Others I set aflame and in general I caused mayhem. I could feel the witches trying to spell me, but as a vampire I was immune to most things so the spells bounced right off. At one point I looked over to see that all of the girls had been unchained. Clint was starting to lead them off and Bella had the journal open on the platform. The wand was in her right hand as she began to read the spell.

I saw one witch trying to get to her. I quickly threw her off her broom and landed at Bella’s side, intent on protecting her. Just as she was on the last of the spell I felt myself being lifted into the air, a stake going through my stomach.

“Damon!” she screamed.

“Finish the spell Bella,” I gritted through my teeth. I felt the stake being shoved in deeper, reaching through my ribs but I held my groan of pain in. The witch was trying to distract Bella, but my girl is strong and with a sob turned back to the spell.

“Your Damon will die Bella!” Muriel screeched. “And when he is dead, I will kill you for your powers. Your mother tried to protect you. She died protecting you, and you will die just as she did. Say your goodbyes young Bella,” Muriel cackled.

I could see Bella shaking with sobs as she tried to concentrate on the spell. I would shift into my raven form but this would cause the stake to tear through me, hitting my heart. I had to think of a distraction for the witch and quick. As I squirmed in the air I realized I could reach the witch. I jerked her with my hands to me and began to suck the blood from her neck. Witch blood could be poisonous to vampires, but it was just the distraction Bella needed to finish the spell. As the last words left her lips the witch began to drown in her own liquid; her affinity being water I suppose. She dropped me in the process and just my luck I would land on the stake, shoving it further between my ribs and closer to my heart. I screamed in pain just as Bella’s cool hands landed on my chest.

“Finish them Bella,” I rasped, unwilling to have her in danger any longer.

“I did, the spell killed them all,” she sobbed.

“Pu…pull the stake out,” I choked. She reached for the stake and pulled it out, causing another cry to rent from my lips. Even with the stake gone I could feel the witches’ blood running through my veins, keeping me from healing.

“Damon,” she cried.

“It’s ok Bella,” I panted. “Your alive, that’s all that matters.” I could feel myself dying and knew it wouldn’t be much longer. Just as I thought I was a goner I felt blood being trickled down my throat.

“You are not leaving us again,” I heard Clint growl. “You gave me permission to hurt you if you hurt my sister. And you are not going to hurt my sister; you promised.”

I could feel his blood pushing the witches’ blood from my veins and the wounds began closing. I passed out from the pain, but at least I was still alive. I woke up back in the rented bedroom.

“Look who decided to join the land of the living,” I heard from beside me. I turned my head to see Bella resting on the desk chair, a smirk on her face. She walked over to me and leaned her hands on my chest, her lips just inches from mine.

“You are never leaving me again,” she whispered. “Witches blood is akin to Vampires I found. And as your mate, you can’t get rid of me.” With that she kissed me, a kiss I hoped would last for eternity.