An Original Awakening

Chapter 6: Valerie Tulle

AN: This is another long chapter, so the next one will finish Valerie's origin story and explain how she became a Heretic. The end of this chapter will detail how Lily Slavatore became one, herself.

Valerie Tulle 1846-1863

November 1st 1846* (*Same date and year of Stefan's birthday)

"Valerie!" the father cried out the name of his newborn daughter.

The baby girl; wide-eyed, vulnerable and confused to what was happening around her, her parents were almost worshiping her as their salvation. A family of the Gemini coven, the Tulle family was by far the only Gemini coven family next to the Parker family who had not produced a siphoner (didn't mean they never would). A coven always needed its leader, since the Parker family had errands to run, the Tulle family had been given the privilege of leading the coven. Georgina and Alkali Tulle were now tasked with the duty of raising Valerie to one day be the covens leader. Her name meant 'strong or valiant' which is exactly what would be expected for the girl who would one day maybe lead the Gemini coven to greatness.

Hope was so short lived for them and for even Valerie herself.

*****

1st November 1851

Twas the very of eve of Valerie's fifth birthday, a storm had started just outside her own home which stood as a pinnacle abode for royalty. Thunder, winds and rain swept and washed over the walls and roofs, causing dampness to pervade the walls. Easy to mop up and collect in quantitative size using wooden buckets to store the raindrops.

"No need to fear." Valerie's mother assured her.

Valerie had learned never to trust whatever any man or woman told her the first time around. Her parents treated her as a child that they had no knowledge that she was more extraordinary than any five-year-old girl. Call it intuition of you want, but Valerie could sense, somehow, that the words that came from any persons mouth was just a lie, maybe that was why her parents kept her hidden from the people and nature of the outside world. Tonight would be a night not forgotten. The empty hallway that Valerie tiptoed through in her white nightgown was slowly becoming flooded by water, but as it spread to the carpet, the water began to change colour; going from pure clean to black-red. Blood. Valerie once cut her hand trying to use a knife to cut her dinner, her parents bandaged her up and kept her away from the acute silverware; they were overly protective of her, that they were almost afraid to lose her. Blood continued dragging in thin lines from a single room, Valerie inched closer before coming to a stop outside the door that led inside to her parents bedroom. Her heart was pounding a little heavier than usual now, but one thing that Valerie had take to account that her parents taught her,

"look fear right in the eyes and then you can prove courage beyond a doubt."

Small creaking noises were made as Valerie carefully opened the door to her parents room. On the other side were her parents in bed, lying peacefully together, but...in soaked sheets...

...of blood.

"The monsters came for them, tortured them, killed them and the little girl was left alone and easy prey." the words of an old ghost story that Valerie once read from a book in her parents study.

This was not something out of a storybook, this was real. Valerie was staring at death and there was nothing here to explain what happened to her parents. Creaking sounded again, this time the window opened all by itself, probably the wind because there was nothing waiting there. Monsters - whether they existed or not, Valerie was not afraid, for if whatever had killed her parents and now left her an orphan, she would not let it frighten her and give into the susceptibility of a child's fear. She had never cried once before, not even now when her own parents were gone and she was left alone in the shadows.
  It was almost inconceivable that a vulnerable five year old child was able to stay calm and retain her own sanity regarding what had just happened and all but could still happen to her. Once outside, Valerie took a form hold of her pendant; a silver chain that stretched from the far side of her neck all the way round like an angels ring. It was a gift to her on her fourth birthday, exactly one year ago, she never once removed it as it was for her own protection; upon her fourth birthday, Valerie had discovered her siphoning abilities, drawing magic from another source or witch was her specialty, yet it was a curse at the same time. For her parents had whispered behind her back what a Siphoner is and what befalls upon their fate. Her pendant was imbued with an infinite source of magic that she drew from the magical water that gushed in the forest behind her own home. 'Water is no different whatever form it appears in' Valerie's parents had taught her that growing up, but Valerie also learned for herself that magic in some rare situations, used the clarity of water to fuel their magic;
'As a river flows, so does truth, yet a stone that falls, drops or is cast into the pool sends ripples across the clear stream further than the span of a living persons life.'
  Stealing, it might be considered, but Valerie had been drawing magic from the stream for a long time now, her pendant had enough magic sealed inside it that could give her the power to bring down all of the trees in the forest. No noise or sounds were being made that would suggest whatever the beast was that had killed Valerie's parents was still lurking in the shadows. In her bare feet, Valerie wasn't making any more sound than a simple mouse. A mouse, herself in her tiny stature, Valerie was easy prey for whatever was staring at her from the darkness of the woods that reached up high into the sky behind her house. Two clear eyes were staring back at hers, but Valerie didn't fret, but she took one step carefully after the next behind her, getting further and further away from whatever it was that was ogling her like a hawk eyeing its prey from above.
  Suddenly, a coach of horses with feet chomping and stamping were passing through the eaves of the opening in the forest that faced a vertical line to Valerie's house. A pair of black horses trotted like champions before the coach came to a stop in perfect unison with her. An aristocratic woman pulled the curtains from her window. Raven hair that was curled graced the outside plains and Valerie while she stood looking in between the mysterious woman and the mysterious pair of eyes lurking in the woods.
"My dear child...you must be frightened. Please, join me and I'll take you someplace safer than here."
  The orphaned Valerie approached the coach and entered in beside the flamboyantly dressed lady. A peculiarly convenient offering that had just saved Valerie's life would soon become a new beginning into the course of her life.
"Who are you?" she asked the woman who was too beautiful for an orphan like her to talk to.
  "Salvatore. Lillian Salvatore. But please, call me Lily." she replied.
*****
  The Salvatore estate November 8th 1851
  One week after the miraculous savior had taken Valerie under her wing, the two had journeyed far and wide before finally reaching Lily's home where her husband and two sons would now be awaiting her return. Right after the coach had made a pass around a beautifully chiselled white goblet full of roses and lilies, the horses came to a halt as the coachman approached the door and welcomed Lily and her new companion home.
Standing on the brink of the doorway to the inside of the home was a rather chunky, yet, aristocratic ally dressed man and his two sons- Lily's family, no doubt.
"Welcome home, miss Salvatore" a courteous young gentleman kindly gestured to Lily, kissing the back of her hand.
Lily approached her husband.
The man was an animal; his lips immediately attached themselves to Lily's like a horse was drinking from a pail. Valerie was content with the humble abode which she had been brought to, but even more to her amazement was the eyes that her appearance seemed to attract. The shorter boy, standing perfectly upright beside his much taller (and older) brother fixed his eyes on her like they were stone and would not move or blink for one second.
"My dear, what is this?" the discourteous man almost sneered at Valerie's ragged clothing.
"Oh, Giuseppe, this is Valerie, I found her alone, running from her home in the dark, her parents had just been butchered to death." Lily said as she inched behind Valerie and rated her two bone-thin hands on both of her shoulders.
It was plainly visible that Lily was practically a victim of her on husband - her voice was breaking and yet she almost sounding like a crying banshee when she explained to her husband of the innocent young girl that she'd brought into her own home.
"The Tulle family? This is their daughter?" Giuseppe looked sternly at the ragged, but still charmingly pretty Valerie.
Lily looked like an angel into her husbands eyes as though she was trying to compel him to change his attitude. Valerie kept her eyes in the form of a shield reflecting Giuseppe's monstrous gaze back at him. Only for one second did Valerie look down again at the young boy who could not stop looking at her.
"A lady as bright and charming as this is of course welcome in the Salvatore mansion." Giuseppe's stern face had transformed into more of a mask of brutal snickering delight.
Valerie would not let herself be fooled by the cunning act that the rather large gentleman was playing on her; not that it stopped her from putting in her own act of gratitude and allowing him to kindly stroke the smooth, gentle skin of her right hand and kiss it like she were royalty.
"You should come in, be part of your new family." Giuseppe beckoned, leading her in with his hand behind her back.
As his fat, hand travelled closer toward her waist, Valerie unhesitatingly threw herself away from the decrepit hand that was almost making her seem diseased. In her eyes, she showed no mirth, yet it was the young boy still looking at her with awe that almost made her want to show a little angelic look back.
*****
As night drew closer, Valerie was let out of the bathtub in which she had been washed and cleaned by the servants of the Salvatore mansion. More than capable of taking a bath and cleaning herself of course, Valerie saw no reason why the men and women had to wait on her hand and foot. They did however give her a beautifully white and soft nightdress for her to sleep in for the night, that was about the only nicety with which she was grateful for. Her own room was fit for a princess:
    Portraits of historical figures graced her from the walls as well as fine jewels that were sewn into the fabrics of the sheets of her bed. Curtains lay from either side of her enlarged bed that would be drawn for her by the kind lady who was quietly sewing in the chair to the other side of her bed.
The kind woman stood up and softly dusted the sheets before pulling them away from the bed for Valerie.
"You don't have to do this for me." Valerie spoke like an intuit child.
"Master Giuseppe insists." the lady replied.
Valerie door opened as Lily entered. Donning a bright red dress, Lily dismissed the kind servant.
"I thought that perhaps you might like it if I put you to sleep for tonight." Lily kindly offered.
Showing a rather small, bright smile, Valerie accepted Lily's kind offer and quietly let her small, fragile body fall onto the soft sheets of the bed. Moving the chair form the other side, Lily sat staring into Valerie's eyes like her mother used to every night she put her to bed since she was four. Enamored, Lily gazed wondrously at Valerie's pendant and held it between her palms, admiring the transparent crystal embedded between the thorn-like branches that kept it trapped betwixt.
"It's very beautiful. Is it special to you?" Lily inquired, looking amused.
"It was the last thing my parents gave to me before they died." Valerie said slowly taking it back, but keeping her own magic-siphoning abilities hidden from Lily's eye.
"For such a vulnerable little girl, you don't seem horrified by both of your parents demise." Lily said seeming a little suspicious.
"Perhaps I'm a good faker." Valerie replied before throwing her head on top of the pillow resting at the top of her large bed.
"Good night, Valerie." said Lily kissing the top of Valerie's head.
Still awake and conscious to what was going on around her, Valerie slowly felt a change grow inside of her from the growing mother-figure inside of Lily Salvatore that was budding into something more than her own mother had performed in her lifetime.
*****
Later that night, Valerie awoke for no reason; no noises had sounded, she had just been woken perhaps by her own subconscious, except, deep within her bones, Valerie felt that something was wrong. No ordinary child could have had the exact same feeling as Valerie, but her bones were still rattling like the stones did the night her parents slept through what seemed to be a gust of heavy wind.
Erupting from her bed, Valerie followed whatever it was that had suddenly made her awake from her peaceful slumber for no apparent reason. The suspicious rattling within her bones grew evermore stronger as she came across the study where he door was lying half-open and the voice of a bull was coming from within the dark and mysterious room.
"What were you thinking Lily, bring a tramp out of the dirt-ridden streets and into our home?!"
The voice belonged to Giuseppe, and he was clearly angry about something, but Valerie with her sharp wit knew that it was her whom he was scornfully speaking of. His voice did not break her one bit, instead her pain lay within and she would not allow it to be forced from her eyes in the form of tears.
"Her family had served us well before she was born, it would be our greatest sin to not care for their child now that they both perished at the mercy of a villainous creature." Lily's voice sounded from within speaking on Valerie's behalf.
"Was I not clear when I said that I never wanted any daughters?!" Giuseppe sounded disgusted.
"Yes. You were very clear, and now you have two sons, you made sure I saw to that." Lily's voice was no longer fragile, but just as filled with anger as Giuseppe's.
"You never told them?" Giuseppe was asking.
"Not a word." Lily almost sounded like she was in tears.
Secrets.
Valerie's parents taught her never to lie or keep secrets from those who she cared about. Sounded as though the Salvatore parents had kept a few things in the shadows from their two sons.
   Footsteps were nearing the open door sending Valerie back a few steps, herself. If Giuseppe came out and found her, she would be in a whole lot of trouble.
  "Giuseppe, please." Lily whispered to him, softly.
   A glass smashed as a loud smack sounded; Lily screamed, it could only mean that Giuseppe was drunk and a brute towards his wife- kind on the outside, but his inner demon was only concealed behind a respectable gentleman masquerading in a suit. Valerie had been brought into the house of a real monster now. She could only imagine how worse the real one that took away her parents could be compared to this.