Chapter one

The Astrum Stone

"Anya! Come on, let's go!"

Anya started, tearing her gaze away from the old Grimoire in front of her. Its cover was made of soft, worn leather; the pages were yellowed and torn. It was an old book, passed down through the generations. It also had been used, a lot.

For the past hour, she had been going through the pages, over and over and over again, searching for a spell, any spell that might solve their problems. She found nothing, not even in the far back of the book, where there were only old, dark spells written by some of her old, dark ancestors that were swallowed up in dark magic.

Anya sighed and ran a hand over her face. She resisted the urge to throw the book across the room. It was still her most valuable possession. It contained all of her knowledge, all of her importance. In all honesty, Anya would be nothing without the Grimoire in her hands.

"Anya! I'm not telling you again! Get your ass down here and let's g-" Connor cut off into a cough, a nasty, painful cough. Anya flinched. She could practically see the blood he coughed up into his hand, even though he wasn't in the same room as her.

"I'm coming Connor!" she shouted back, getting up off of the lumpy hotel mattress she had been sitting on for the past hour. She tossed the Grimoire into her bag, and then practically ran out of the small, cramped room she shared with her brother. Their hotel room was small, with only two beds. But it was all that they could afford.

"Are you alright?" she asked, rushing to her brother's side. There was, in fact, blood in her brother's hand. He shook her off though, and wiped his hand on his jeans.

"Fine, Anya, let's just get going. We're already late." Connor cursed and checked his watch again. He hated being late, especially for a meeting as important as the one they were about to attend.

"Relax, Connor, alright? She'll still be there even if we're five minutes late," Anya said with a light tone, trying to get her brother to calm down.

He just gave her a look. It was the look Anya received from her brother daily. It was a "you are such a child. You don't understand anything" look. It made her feel about two inches tall.

Connor narrowed his eyes at a locket that just peeked out of Anya's shirt. It was an old, silver locket incrusted with blue jewels. It had been passed down in the Lewis family for generations. It was the second most valuable item Anya owned.

"What are you wearing?" he growled, and Anya's heart skipped a beat in her chest. She hated it when Connor was in one of his moods. It seemed that he was always in a bad mood lately, though she could understand why.

"Connor-" but he already ripped the locket off of her neck and threw it across the room. Then he turned back to look at his sister, his blue eyes filled with cold anger.

"I don't ever want to see you with anything of hers ever again, got it?" he growled.

Anya nodded slowly, hoping she didn't look as scared as she felt. "Alright," she said, trying not to look at the locket across the room. How long had she worn that necklace? It meant a lot to her, it made her feel like she belonged to her family.

And that was why Connor hated the necklace so much, why he always had, especially now. Because he didn't belong, he didn't fit into the Lewis clan of witches. He never had.

"Let's go," she said quietly, "after you."

In a blink of an eye, Connor was gone from the hotel room. She sighed. He knew using his vampire abilities only made his condition worse. He just ignored her, though. Anya never had a voice around Connor. He refused to let his baby sister boss him around.

Her green eyes darted to the lonely locket in the corner. Before she could stop herself, the locket flew to her, and Anya stuffed it into her bag. Even after their falling out, Anya still felt the need to hold onto a piece of their family.

She could only hope that Connor would never find out about what she kept in her bag.

~LIP~

"Do you know what you have done, Connor? To this family?Tto yourself?"

"I did what I had to do! I am done with being the only powerless one in this family! Now I am just as strong as all of you!"

"No, I will not have it. I will not have my son become an abomination!"

"Mom, don't!"

Anya gasped as she sat up, her heart beating wildly. For weeks she had been reliving the life changing argument over and over and over again in her dreams. It was the consequences of that fight that had Anya and Connor in that car, driving off to meet a witch three hours away.

"Honey, do you know where your brother is?"

Anya looked up at her mother, Laura Lewis. Everyone always said how much she looked like her mother, but Laura had blue eyes instead of Anya's green. She had her father's eyes, while Connor had their mother's.

Anya shook her head while her attention remained on the history textbook in front of her. She had to read an entire chapter by Monday. Anya hated school, she preferred magic.

"Are you sure, Anya? You two are attached at the hip."

Anya just rolled her eyes at her aunt Molly. Her family was always constantly over at her house. The Lewis clan, they were; an unbreakable family of strong, powerful witches.

"I haven't seen him in two days," she replied without looking up from her textbook. "Now really guys. Do you want me to fail American History?"

Molly and Laura exchanged worried glances. Two days ago, Laura and Connor had had a terrible fight. They were always fighting, almost constantly. Connor always felt like he didn't belong to the Lewis clan of strong, powerful witches, mostly because he wasn't a witch. He was human, just like his and Anya's father, who had died a few years after Anya was born.

Connor also didn't agree with his family's morals. He didn't agree with what they stood for. He didn't like that they weren't using their power to their highest potential. Because of that, Anya was the only one he ever really spoke to, the only one who seemed to give a damn about him.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Laura and Molly frowned at each other, before Laura walked to the front door and answered it.

"Can I- Connor? Where have you been? I've been worried!"

Connor smirked at his mother, and she instantly could tell that something was off about her son. "Hey, mom, can I come in?"

It was those words, those four words, can I come in, that made Laura realize something really was wrong with her son. She frowned, sensing the dark aura that practically radiated from Connor.

She gasped when she finally put it together. Her eyes widened. No, Connor wouldn't be that stupid. He wouldn't ruin his life like that. He wouldn't disgrace his family like that. Connor had issues, but Laura couldn't help but think that she raised a good boy, a good son.

"What did you do?" Laura's voice came out as a breathless whisper.

Connor smirked at his mother, blue eyes full of unforgiving malice. "I think you know what I did, mom. I made myself better. I made myself a vampire."

Molly, who had been listening from the kitchen, snapped her head up at that sentence. Had she misheard? She must have. There was no way Connor would do such a thing.

Because, to the Lewis witches, vampires were abominations of nature. They were hideous, terrible, evil monsters. They were something to stay as far away from as possible. They were to be hated, and to be hunted down and killed when possible.

But Connor was always fascinated by vampires. And that was why Anya didn't mind vampires, didn't loathe them like her family, because of her brother's fascination. She always used to follow her brother around, even after she grew up. She idolized her brother, loved him while the rest of their family turned their backs on him and shut him out.

"Do you know what you have done, Connor? To this family? To yourself?" Laura shouted at her son, fury rushing through her, hot as fire.

"I did what I had to do! I am done with being the only powerless one in this family! Now I am just as strong as all of you!" Connor hissed back at her, the only thing keeping him from lunging at his mother was the protective barrier the house provided.

"No, I will not have it. I will not have my son become an abomination!"

Anya looked up from her textbook then. "What's going on, Aunt Molly?" she asked, looking to her aunt.

Molly just shook her head. "Do your homework, Anya."

She didn't listen, though. Anya stood up and made towards the front door, but Molly blocked her path. "Sit down, Anya!" she hissed at her niece.

"Why are Connor and mom fighting?" she asked, trying to sneak a peek at the argument going on at her front door.

"Your brother ruined his life," Molly said, pushing her back towards the kitchen table. "Now do your homework, for God's sake."

There was a sudden shout, and then a loud thump, that brought Anya's attention to the front lawn. She peeked out the window to see her mother chanting spells while Connor twisted on the grass in pain.

She gasped, eyebrows furrowing in confusion. Why would their mom use her magic on Connor? Why would she try to hurt her son?

Then Anya noticed the red eyes and fangs. It suddenly all made sense; her aunt's words and her mother's spells.

Connor was a vampire.

Anya had to stop her mother.

She ran from the window, pushing Molly aside. "Anya, stay out of it!" she shouted after her niece, but Anya didn't listen.

"Mom, stop it! You're killing him!" Anya shrieked as she burst out of the house and ran towards her mother and brother.

But it was too late. With a final Latin chant and a twist of Laura's hand, Connor let out a pain-filled scream, eyes rolling back into his head, spine twisting as his mother's spell ran through his body. And then he collapsed onto the ground, a sweaty heap.

Laura stared at her son with no regret. "No son of mine will be a vampire," she said coolly, turning to face her daughter.

Anya's green eyes were horror-filled. "What did you do?" she whispered.

A sudden growl filled the air. Laura looked back at Connor just in time to have him tear into her throat. Her blue eyes widened in shock as he drank her blood. And when he was done, Connor dropped his mother to the ground. Her blue eyes stared up, blank and empty.

Laura Lewis was dead.

"Mom!" Anya gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. She looked up at Connor, blood covering his face, no remorse in his eyes.

"What a bitch," he muttered.

"Laura!" A sob fell from Molly's throat as she stumbled onto the front porch. "No, Laura!"

Connor looked down at his little sister. "You coming, Anya?" he asked casually, as if they were just going to the mall or to the movies. When, in reality, they had to run now, from their own family.

Anya looked to her brother to her dead mother to her sobbing aunt. She was in shock. Her brain couldn't process what had just happened. Her gaze remained on her brother. She couldn't leave him. He needed her now. They needed each other.

"I'm with you, Connor. Always."

"We're here, finally."

Now, three weeks later, Anya and Connor were in some small town in Georgia, looking for a witch that could help them. They needed a witch to tell them exactly what Laura had done to Connor, and how they could cure him.

Ever since the spell his mother had put on him, it was almost as if Connor was slowly dying. He could feel himself grow weaker with each passing day. He coughed up blood constantly. Using compulsion drained him quickly. Both Lewis siblings were convinced that he was, in fact, dying.

"Are you Annie?" Anya asked as she and Connor walked into the bar. A young black woman looked up at them and smiled.

"That'd be me. Let me guess, you're the baby witch and vamp I talked to on the phone earlier, right?" she asked, tossing the rag she had been using to wipe glasses onto the bar.

Anya nodded. "Yeah. I'm Anya Lewis and that's my brother, Connor. He's the vampire."

Annie's eyebrows shot up. "Lewis, you say? As in the vamp-hating, all powerful, witch clan, Lewis?" she asked.

Anya nodded. "That'd be the one," she said lightly.

"Your family must've been thrilled when you turned, weren't they?" She asked Connor sarcastically.

"They weren't too happy," he admitted. Then he raised an eyebrow. "Can you help us or not?" he asked bluntly.

Anya just sighed at her brother's lack of manners. "Of course I can," Annie said. "Come on up here."

Anya followed her brother to the bar. "What are you going to do?" she asked worriedly. "Will it hurt him?"

Connor rolled his eyes at his sister. "Not in the slightest," Annie replied, offering Connor her hands. After a pause of hesitation, Connor took them.

He gasped slightly, as Annie's eyebrows furrowed in concentration. Her eyes closed and her lips pursed as she went through Connor's mind, looking for the answer to the Lewis siblings' questions. What's wrong with Connor and how can we fix it?

After a minute or so, Annie let go of Connor's hands and opened her eyes. "Uh oh," she said.

Anya's stomach sank, "Uh oh?"

She looked at Connor. "You're dying," she told him bluntly.

It was exactly what they had thought. Anya's shoulders slumped and Connor looked pale at the news.

"Whatever spell your mother cast on you, would have killed you instantly had you been human. But since you're a vampire, it's killing you slowly. But it's definitely killing you," Annie explained.

"How long do I have?" Connor asked her, his voice not shaky in the slightest, though he looked even paler.

"A couple months at the most," she answered with a sigh.

"How do we stop it?" Anya asked, her voice very shaky.

"You can't," Annie answered, looking at the young witch with pity in her brown eyes. "The only person in the world who could undo the spell is your mother, but she's dead."

"So there's nothing?" Anya pried as Connor went silent at his fate. "He's just, dead?"

"Well, I wouldn't say anything," Annie said after a second thought. "There's something."

"What?" Anya demanded. "What is it?"

"It's a long shot, is what it is. It was probably destroyed centuries ago, but-" Annie cut herself off.

"What are you talking about?" Connor asked, annoyed with the witch.

She took a deep breath. "When vampires were first created a thousand years ago, another thing was created with it. A stone, of immortality, that is. It could give one vampire complete immortality. Which means nothing could ever kill it. Not a stake or a spell, nothing. It would undo your mother's spell completely, and you wouldn't be dying any longer," Annie explained. "They call it the Astrum Stone."

"Where is this stone?" Connor demanded. He wanted it. He wanted it so badly.

Annie shrugged. "With the originals, I assume," she said. "It's their stone, after all."

Anya's eyebrows rose. "The originals? As in the original vampires? But- they're not real. They're just legends!"

Annie grinned at her. "Oh, the originals are very real. And they're in Mystic Falls, Virginia, as we speak. I know that for a fact."

Connor looked down at her sister. He was suddenly filled with hope. Maybe he wouldn't have to die after all. "What do you think, Anya?"

She sighed and pushed her hair out of her face. "I think we're going to Mystic Falls."

~LIP~

A/N: huge shout out to I'm Plotting Something Evil who pretty much came up with all the ground work for this story- the plot, the title, the character names and who portrays Connor and Anya. She's also betaing this story too. She does it all ;)

Anya is portrayed by Willa Holland and Connor is portrayed by Hunter Parrish.

We'll see some Kol next chapter, promise :)

Gimme some reviews pretty please?

~Abby!