I don't own any part of True Blood or their characters.

Chapter 1: The Decree

It had just rained and the puddles reflected the lonely lights of the town. Raven's steps echoed with the cold November air as the breeze ruffled the trees, shaking off the last bits of autumn. Raven shivered as she put her hands in her leather jacket pockets. It was almost midnight, the witching hour, and if she didn't rush her pace she would be late for the district meeting. Raven didn't leave her house much, so her big blue eyes took in the quaint little town of Riverport. It was a small colonial and scenic town in Vermont, of maybe 8 thousand people. As she walked up the hill past the luscious suburbs, she couldn't help but dread tonight's meeting. It had been years since she saw all her fellow witches and warlocks last, and these meetings tend to only happen under unfortunate circumstances. The last one happened four years ago when vampires came out to humanity, and it was absolute chaos. The witch community was in total panic when it happened as if they were outed themselves. Things did not go well when they tried to come out in the 10th century. Tens of thousand witches and warlocks were hunted and killed by the crusades launched by the Pope, and many witch hunts have happened since.

Raven squeezed up the pace and now that she was close to the "abandoned" church she could see figures quietly walking in groups all around her. She still felt a pit in her stomach for going in alone. Raven had lost her own coven two centuries ago and watching the covens arrive together made her feel unbelievably alone. A feeling she swallowed bitterly. Raven looked through the faces and sighed in relief, as she didn't recognize anyone.

Maybe this won't be so bad - she thought. People who knew her in this area often didn't like her much since almost all covens tried to get her to join them the second her coven was killed and she refused every single one of them - which was a really easy way to offend everyone you know as Raven found out. But make no mistake - none of these assholes wanted Raven because she was young, alone, traumatized, in danger or because they genuinely wanted her as part of their coven family. They just wanted her because it would look good to have a "pureblood" as they called it, in their covens. Petulant and elitist - traits Raven held with great disdain.

The tall wet grass brushed against her boots. This district's Church of Night sat in a field between some large old trees just outside of town. It was a small wooden church, white paint peeling, candlelight peaking through the boarded-up windows. It looked abandoned for the regular person. If only humans knew. Covens of all over the Riverport area used to gather here weekly until the vampires came out four years ago. After that, they became quite bold and territorial and it was no longer safe to gather in non-residential spaces. Vampires and witches never got along, with both sides going to great lengths to harm another. Witches did have the upper hand after they cast the Invitatio spell about four thousand years ago, forbidding vampires to enter the houses of the living without invitation - You are welcome humanity.

Raven slipped through the old creaky front doors. The inside gathered a crowd- the pews of the small church were full, and people stood near the walls and in the aisle. Candles lit the room from the sconces and the old candle chandeliers. The room was full of whispers and murmurs and the warlocks seated behind the tables upfront - the district council members - talked amongst themselves, with the exception of Elijah Blackwood. He had his usual permanent stern frown on his face and looked sourly straight to Raven. His thick brows almost burying his blue eyes in disapproval - a look she knew all too well, with Elijah being her father. He didn't even pretend he wasn't waiting for her. It was like that with him, you see what you get. Elijah was also their Bishop, the head of the Northeast American Witch Church of Night, and along with the High Priest or Priestess of each coven, they set the rules for this area of the continent. All thirteen Bishops made up the Circle of Mages, the wizard judiciary, and only answered to the Pope - the highest Wizard in all land. It was no secret that Elijah did not care for Raven one bit, bloodlines be damned. Raven broke eye contact with him before she could feel her face go hot, and with that, the loud echo of a gavel cut through the room making the murmurs fall silent. Raven had promised herself to not say a word in this meeting. There's no reason to go further up Elijah's bad witch list.

"Brothers and sisters of the night!" Elijah soared, getting up from his chair. "Thank you for travelling far and wide for this meeting!" The room stood still, with uneasiness. "I am glad everyone got here safely," he said with a softer tone.

Someone bumped her elbow, Raven turned her head only to find a friendly face - Emilia. Raven cracked a brief smile back. Emilia was a good friend, who lived up in Maine. Raven breathed a little easier with a friend in the room. Anxiety still gleaned the room. Why the fuck had the district council called a meeting?

"This meeting has been deeply overdue, and for that, I humbly apologize." He paused. There is nothing humble about you, Elijah. "The district council had great difficulty choosing on how to best go forward since the vampire's great revelation, but since Russel Edgington killed a mortal on live television we could not postpone our decision any longer."

The crowd stiffened up in confusion. What Russel did was despicable. He killed a news anchor and delivered a chilling manifesto about the superiority of the vampire race. Humans were absolutely losing it. Raven knew vampires could be impulsive and unhinged, but what was he trying to do? Start a war? But what exactly did it have to do with witches?

"I, Elijah Blackwood along with the council of the Northeast American Witch Church of Night, have gathered you all here today to hear The Decree of 2010 B.C. -" the room burst with gasps and shouts. Raven's eyes grew wide and she looked at Emilia who was equally shocked.

"Did I hear correctly? A decree?" Emilia asked her with her raspy voice. Raven stood still.

The passing of a decree was extremely rare. Raven herself had only been alive to hear one and it had been 90 something years ago. A decree was a piece of witch law, which is added through the years, although most of them have been written millenniums ago. Like the Fae Treaty Decree of 1359 A.C in which Faes agreed to not read the minds of witches, and witches were forbidden from stealing a Fae's light. The only decree Raven had witnessed in person was the decree of 1914 B.C which forbid witches from using magic in human wars. Decrees had instant magic punishments if a witch or wizard breaks them, and the consequences were usually deadly.

"Silence!" Elijah proclaimed, hitting the gavel on the table. "Silence fellow brother and sisters!" The room fell quiet once again. Elijah looked uncomfortable to proceed, he took a small sigh.

"Our siblings of the night - the vampires - made the rather bold move of coming out publicly to humankind. With the invention of synthetic blood, they claim they want to live peacefully and among humans. That they want to mainstream in society as their true selves. This, brother and sisters, puts us in peril. It only takes one powerful human to ask the question ' What else is out there'? For them to come looking for us. It is imperative that they do not find us" The room nodded.

Raven had a hunch of where this speech was going and she did not like it.

"This decree has a few items on it, so let's start -" a council member handed Elijah a scroll of parchment, which is he unrolled and read: "The Decree of Unity of 2010 B.C states that no witch, halfling, medium or psychics and other magic children shall not go covenless, as there are power and safety in numbers -"

Elijah fucking did it this time. Raven felt a wave of rage and anger hit her chest.

I will NEVER replace my coven! Raven thought with fervour. And I am most certainly NOT joining any of these assholes. The room had burst with questions and shouts. She felt Emilia's warm hand holding hers, and it was the only anchor that held her from protesting herself.

"Any coven with 12 or less shall take more in -" Elijah tried to continue in vain. No one could hear him.

"Half-bloods Elijah?!" A man shouted above all others as he stood up from the pews. " My Satan, have you lost your mind?" People in the crowd agreed.

Raven could not roll her eyes more. Raven strongly disagreed with the elitist movement that prevailed in the Church of Night. Being a witch is not like being a werewolf - where you either are or are not. Old blood, or "pureblood" covens centuries ago - full witches and warlocks, often kept to their own, and only married and had children with each other. But throughout centuries of witch hysteria and hunts, witches and warlocks were almost wiped out of the Western continent. They silently mainstreamed, marrying humans and having half-witch children - half-bloods, which can be still very powerful. Generation after generation, the witch blood had watered down significantly, so with that, their powers. These days there were very few magic children, with only trace amounts of magic: mediums and psychics, some have a good intuition, but that was about it. They were harmless. Most of them were just regular people, no knowledge of Wicca, the Church of Night, or even believe magic is real.

Raven guessed about a third of the people in this room were true half-bloods, although you could probably only get them to admit it by force-feeding them a compelling truth potion. And it was this hypocrisy, elitism and societal shame that was so prevalent in this district that made Raven dislike most witches here. To Raven, covens weren't about power, status, or bloodlines. They were about love, respect, protection, a chosen family. Raven loved her coven, and she still grieved the loss of her sisters.

"Silence!" Elijah roared one more time. "Silence before I curse you!" He threatened.

Fearing Elijah would use magic to shut them up, the church hushed, but tensions remained high.

"We cannot let magic get out there. It is crucial that magic remains a figment of the human imagination! The best way to protect us is to protect the weakest of us."

Raven wasn't sure if she was more shocked was she was being officially forced into a coven, or that her father was so progressive as to make these assholes call in half-bloods and magic children into their covens.

"How are we supposed to find them without exposing ourselves?" Another voice shouted from the crowd.

"Message by the dead." Elijah proclaimed. "After the next blood moon, be open for messages every Friday after, at the witching hour, they will find you."

Raven's mouth ran dry. This would mean spirits would haunt mediums and others who had an affinity for magic and relay our message. This plan has more holes than a colander, Raven thought. Suddenly, hundreds of people being haunted by ghosts all at once didn't seem like the best plan to maintain their society hidden. And what about play covens? Regular humans and magic children sometimes played magic in fake coven-like groups for fun, how would we separate the magic from the non-magic? What about those who suppressed their magic or didn't believe in it? After the great Satanist scare of the 80s and 90s in America, Raven was sure a lot of them wouldn't be on board with witchcraft.

"What if they don't want to join us?" Raven's voice echoed in the church. All heads turned to her, and she immediately regretted opening her mouth. There goes her promise of keeping her damn mouth shut. There was a glimmer in Elijah's eyes.

"Take them apart." He said without hesitation.

Raven was the first person to leave the meeting once the gavel struck its final hit. She felt sick to her stomach storming down the hill.

"Raven wait!" Shouted Emilia running across the field after her. Raven slowed down.

"Can you believe that man?!" Raven thundered. "Join us or die?!"

"I know. I know." Emilia shook her head.

To be taken apart was the most horrible fate of a witch. It was a ritual where someone is stripped from their powers, then most often killed. It was abhorrent how it was still even allowed. Raven was terrified of losing her powers. Of becoming mortal. Even if just before dying. Emilia let out a big sigh. She was a short witch, but beautiful. Brown hair, olive skin and the biggest brown eyes you'd ever see. She looked a lot like her sister Harriet, who belonged in Raven's former coven.

"I can't do it, Emilia, I won't do it."

"I know you won't." Emilia paused. Raven knew what she was going to say. "Move to Maine with us. I know I've tried before, but now with this stupid decree my coven has to make an exception."

Emilia's coven was well beyond capacity, at 25 witches. Usually, covens would run from 13-20 people, any bigger than that and it becomes too suspicious to live among humankind. Plus there were other heavier reasons why she couldn't join.

"I can't possibly ask Lorena to join her coven Emilia," Raven confessed.

Lorena was Emilia and Harriet's mother, who to this day very much still blamed Raven for Harriet's and her entire coven's death. Raven blamed herself too. Emilia didn't reply. They just walked down the street together in silence. The cold air blowing on Raven's long black hair.

"HOLY SHIT!" Emilia shouted. "Tomorrow is your birthday, Raven!" It was. Raven turned 454 tomorrow, but after the first 130 birthdays, it got quite boring. "Damn that's too bad we are leaving tonight, I wish I could spend it with you! We could go out, flirt with cute guys at the local bar, it would be a blast!"

Raven scoffed and her cheeks went flushed. That was her idea of a fun birthday?

"Emilia! That was fun in the 70s and 80s but I think I'm way too old for going to bars."

"Bullshit Raven, you are the best at youth spells, you look like you're what, 27?" Her looks were not what she meant, but Raven couldn't help but let a little smile slip. She spent an embarrassing amount perfecting that spell. "I mean per Lucifer when was the last time you got laid?"

Raven let a laugh out loud. "Shut up Emilia, not all of us live in a coven full of hot guys." She teased.

"Nah, that got old 10 years ago. When we age this slowly, warlock's brains take twice as long to mature. I swear I'm living with teenagers half the time."

Raven felt a little sting of jealousy. She never lived with guys before, as her coven only had 5 other women, all older than her. It would probably be incredibly loud, messy, the fights and quarrels. It sounded like fun really.

"Let me send you a gift then," beamed Emilia.

"No, no…" Raven started.

"No, I insist! I'll send a super juicy gift. What do you like? Tall blondes?" She winked. Nothing good could come out of this, Raven was sure. Before she could protest someone yelled Emilia's name from the grassy hills of the church which were now getting distant.

"I gotta go, they need me for the portal home." Emilia gave Raven one last hand squeeze. "Have a good birthday Raven. And I hope you find your coven." She said with a smile before running back to the field.

"No gifts!" Raven shouted in vain.

It was 10 in the morning or so when Raven managed to get out of bed. It was a sunny day outside of Riverport Vermont. Raven's house sat hidden in the forest, by a lake. To say Raven loved this house was an understatement. It had five bedrooms, two bathrooms, a study, a living room, a kitchen and a lovely sunroom out back, overlooking a beautiful lake. In the spring through early fall Raven had a sizeable vegetable garden: beans, potatoes, cauliflower, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, eggplants, zucchini, squash and a beautiful pumpkin patch. She had five huge pumpkins that were the last thing left to be harvested this fall. Pumpkin loaves, muffins, pies, gnocchi - she had big plans for these orange babies. She returned inside, putting her heavy pumpkin basket from her hip and onto the counter. The light shone in her kitchen through the adjoining sunroom which had a sitting area adorned with houseplants. It was by far her favourite part of the house.

As soon as the basket sat on the counter the pumpkins floated towards the sink, where the tap water started running. The broom waltzed in the kitchen, lazily sweeping a small pile of dust. Raven glanced at the radio on the counter where it turned itself on. The whole house was enchanted in some way or another. Raven spent a great deal of time enchanting every corner of the house, and she grew immensely attached to it. It was like the house was alive in a way. It even had a personality - the kitchen was often grumpy.

A knock on the door sent Raven through the living room and into the foyer. She opened the door only to find a casually dressed Elijah Blackwood holding a tiny baby pig. He daylight showed her how gray her father's hair had gotten.

"You brought lunch did you?" Raven snarled looking at the pig. She hadn't had bacon in ages.

"Is that the proper way to greet your father?" He answered. They stood on the doorway awkwardly. "I have brought you a gift -" his arms stretched holding the little teacup cup pig. "Happy birthday."

Raven took the squishy little pig from him -it was very soft and warm - as she stepped aside to let her father enter.

"Oh wow, four hundred and fifty-four! I was wondering how many birthdays it would take for you to remember. I know they don't happen very often and -" Elijah gave her a glare that made her feel instantly cold "Thanks… It should be a decent size for yuletide dinner."

"It's not for eating Raven, I've brought you a familiar." Raven blinked twice. She's had farm animals for decades, for either milk, eggs or meat, but she hasn't had a familiar since she lost her coven. Elijah walked into the living room, and she followed "Maybe it will jog your memory on how it feels to not be alone in this house."

"Oh, I'm not alone -"

"The house itself doesn't count, Raven." She frowned. It was really frustrating having her father disapprove of everything Raven was and believed in. Needless to say, they argued a lot. Her own father did not know her at all, and the little he did he disliked. Her mother died in childbirth, and Elijah left baby Raven with Agatha and what then became her coven when Raven was just little. He was way too busy pursuing a political career to bother with fatherhood. Elijah was obsessed with greatness and salvation. Being a father was far too trivial for someone "with his potential", as he put it. He visited often when she was little, but once Raven reached the age of reason their track record went sideways. Her father was just, as her sisters would put it, a colossal asshole.

They sat quietly in the living room. The kitchen's radio faintly playing in the background. The feather duster was dancing on top of the fireplace, following the ticks of the grandfather clock in the corner. The silence was deafening, more than Elijah's furrowed face, always studying and measuring her. Raven put the little pig on the floor and it started to sniff around the room, with its little curly tail bouncing. It was absolutely adorable.

"Does it talk?" Raven asked, filling the void.

"Next blood moon won't happen for a while," Elijah wildly changed subjects. "End of next summer, I think. But I have a long list of reputable covens for you Ra-"

"No." She cut him short.

"Raven I have been very patient and gave you plenty of space to grieve, but this is ridiculous. It's been two centuries! You are a Blackwood, there are expectations put on you-"

"No father, this decree is ridiculous."

"I honestly thought you would approve," he leaned back on the couch, crossing a leg. "Leaving bloodlines behind us was a fight we had how many times?"

"But to kill innocent people for it father?"

"If it means keeping our covens safe, why not? After all, I thought you of all people would understand."

"Honestly, FUCK him!" Raven shouted at the little pig who was laying on the living room ottoman. He blinked his little eyelashes at her.

Raven had spent the rest of her birthday getting… really drunk on expensive wine from her cellar. The TV was on, MTV playing on mute while she blared music on the stereo. She sang on and off, wine bottle in hand. It didn't take a lot to get her drunk, but it did take a lot to keep her drunk. Witch metabolism was awfully fast.

"I ain't joining shit!" She continued. So far, the little pig has been good company. And he was so unbelievably cute. How could she ever eat pork again?

She waltzed into the kitchen and plopped on the barstool by the island. And soon as she realized she was hungry, the fridge door opened and a pumpkin pie floated towards her. She grabbed a spoon from the counter and went at it. As everything this kitchen concocted, it was delicious. She was feeling pretty woozy, having drank so much on an empty stomach. She was not looking forward to this post-birthday hangover. Her little pig came into the kitchen, little hooves tip-tapping on the tiles.

"You need a name," Raven bent over to grab the piglet but she lost balance and fell off her barstool, crashing ungracefully onto the floor. The pig came to her, sniffing her face, tickling. "Lucifer. You are Lucifer the pig."

She lay on the warm kitchen floor, staring at the spinning ceiling. This specific spot was warm because it was near the boiler downstairs. It was the heart of the house. She grabbed Lucifer and cuddled with him while singing Amy Winehouse probably completely off-key.

A lonely witch, drunk on her kitchen floor and singing her heart out - her usual birthday ritual, plus pig. It wasn't until the pause between songs that she heard the knock on the front door. She hesitated for a second. Emilia's gift? she thought. She got up, leaving Lucifer on the floor, and stumbled towards the foyer, adjusting her hair and muting the stereo. The house fell silent once again. Through the frosted front door glass and the porch light, she could see a tall blonde figure standing outside. She opened the door.

Author notes: Hello readers!

I know I'm hella late to the fandom here, but what can you do. I subscribed to Crave for Game of Thrones and ended up finding True Blood. There is a lot of OC in this fic. Universe inspired in Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Supernatural, and Charmed. But no need to watch those shows, I will explain everything the best I can.

I don't think True Blood did witches any justice, so I'm trying to fix that. The story will follow season 4-5 somewhat closely but it will deviate after that. I have written about 7 chapters already, I will release one every week until it's done! I'm guessing it will be about 12 chapters long.

Don't forget to favourite/review!

Anyway, enjoy :)

A.N. 2: Hi there! If you are reading this, this chapter has been updated.

If you have read Book 2 you know I've started to revise this story. I'll be editing Book 1 and 2 to make sure it reads as one cohesive story from start to finish, add some details for clarity, plus I hope to get the final pesky grammar errors. The plot will not change!