The Limit Of Love

Part 6 - Two Tales of Magic

"Good morning, sunshine!" I called, climbing into Jenna's car as she waited for me out the front of the boarding house.

"I'm freaking out! Like seriously, how can my niece and nephew live in this world knowing about vampires and shit and not be freaking out every five minutes," Jenna replied in greeting, starting the car and driving into town.

"Whoa, Jenna, calm down, love. You've got me to help you deal with all this shit."

"I suppose you're right." She turned her head to look at me, frowning as she peered at my face. "Are you wearing glasses?"

I selfconsciously touched my glasses and pushed them up the bridge of my nose. I wasn't never normally bothered about my glasses, I thought the black square rimmed glasses suited me.

"Umm, yeah I kinda need them to read and stuff," I mumbled, crossing my arms over my chest as I sunk into the seat glancing out the window.

"I've never seen you wear them before."

"They usually get in the way, so I normally cast a spell. I don't really like doing that, it feels like cheating, using spells to improve my vision. I don't approve of vanity spells."

"I wouldn't call it vain, just practical," Jenna said as if she knew I needed the comfort from her words.

"What were you worried about last night? Was it something Alaric said?" I wondered, remembering why we were heading into town anyway.

"I was reading your notebook when he came by. I read something about how the ring he wears keeps him from dying."

"Yeah, it's a Gilbert ring, Jermey wears one too," I told her, seeing the tense nod she gave. She must have seen it on her nephew's finger.

"Why the hell would Alaric take the ring off then?" she asked and I could note the anger in her voice. She may be angry with Ric, but I knew she didn't want anything to happen to him.

"What do you mean he took it off?" There was no way Ric would take it off, not unless John had something to do about it. I remember him asking for it back at the historical tea party. Perhaps Alaric had given in and given it back.

"After we spoke, John came downstairs as I was leaving, I think he said something to Ric and Ric took off the ring before he left. I'm sure I saw it on John's finger this morning." She sounded worried and I knew she was concerned over Alaric. He hung around vampires, and I was sure there was something in that notebook about how Ric died the other day because of the wolves. It was bound to happen again.

"Look, the ring does belong to John. He gave it to Isobel after she had Elena and she wore it until she became a vampire and left it to Ric. It's understood that John wanted it back and if Ric didn't do it, John would tell you all about Isobel. In a weird sense, Ric's trying to protect you."

"I don't need him protecting me!" she groaned, pulling the car to a stop outside a nice boutique.

"Yeah, but they don't know that, Jenna, not until you tell them that you know." It was up to her when she told them, but we both knew she only had until the end of the month. Klaus would be here by then to break the curse. "I think I can make a new ring for Alaric, one he won't ever have to give back."

"You could do that?" she asked, and I could hear the happiness in her voice. She really did care about Ric, even if he was lying to her.

"It's not that hard of a spell ... okay, I've never done it before, but I'm confident it will work. I've done similar spells before. It's a simple protection charm and then a death prevention charm."

"You know, I saw your family tree last night. There's a lot of women in your family." Jenna opened the door to the shop and ushered me in. We gave a polite smile to the lady behind the till but waved off her offer for help.