Carmilla watched as her father's name was carved onto one of the walls of the Karnstein family mausoleum. Her mother, Adelaide Karnstein, had her hand on the three-year-old's shoulders. Beside her father, two more names were being carved in: his siblings. Their ashes were scattered outside earlier that day along with those of their spouses (with the exception of Adelaide who survived the encounter).

She heard someone sniffling to her left followed by someone shushing him.

"I want my mommy!"

"William, be quiet! You're making me look bad!"

"No care! Where mommy?!"

"Your mommy and daddy aren't coming back! And neither are mine!"

Carmilla stared curiously as her three-year-old cousin, William Eisen continued to make a fuss. Their other cousin, Alessandra Ivers who was only a year older than them, held him down and stopped him from running out of the mausoleum.

Adelaide moved to kneel in front of the other two children. Alessandra, or Lex as her cousins called her, immediately looked embarrassed. She shot an annoyed look at William before looking back at Adelaide.

"Aunt Adelaide! I'm so sorry! Will's just being difficult and-"

"Oh hush, dear. It's all right. I understand. I'm sure Carmilla does too. Isn't that right, love?"

Carmilla nodded. If she were honest, she didn't want to be here. It was raining outside, making the whole mausoleum colder than it normally was. It was also strange being surrounded by the names of different generations of " core Karnsteins " as everyone else liked to put it. Unfortunately for the young girl, her mother expected her to act indifferent to show all the other pureblood families that the Karnsteins are still strong even after losing three of its most influential members; that she and her cousins will be able to pick up the slack when they grew older.

Conrad Karnstein, Carmilla's father, was the Minister for Magic. He married Adelaide Morgan, a pureblood witch and a fellow Slytherin, at the age of 24. Adelaide is the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic, and currently the acting Minister.

Conrad's sister Cassandra, was the Head of the Auror Office and Lex's mother . She married Desmond Ivers who studied at the Durmstrang Institute. He later became a very skilled Hit Wizard.

The last of the three was Carina, the former Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot. She married Christopher Eisen, a Slytherin and a beater for the Montrose Magpies.

"My dear Conrad wouldn't want me to leave the children of his beloved siblings alone. Why don't the two of you come live with us? The home will be quiet after, ah, what happened to Conrad."

Carmilla perked up. Her cousins (well, specifically Alessandra. William was- no is a brat), were the only ones she looked forward to in their family gatherings. If they came to live with her and her mother, then maybe she wouldn't be so lonely.

Lex looked uncomfortable. "Aunt Adelaide, it's really too much-"

"No! Nonsense, child!" Adelaide said, putting hands on Lex's shoulders. "And it's Mother, now."

"Thank you, Au- erm, Mother." By now, Will had stopped crying and was now looking at Adelaide with wide eyes.

Adelaide smiled. "Excellent. When all this is over, there is much I have to teach the three of you."

Carmilla and Lex exchanged a look. Suddenly, the idea of living with her cousins didn't sound as appealing as it initially did

"Alessandra, darling," Adelaide said while getting up. "Please watch your cousins. There's someone I need to speak to."

==xx==

Adelaide pulled her trench coat around her and tied it tighter. A man wearing a long coat was standing a few feet away from the outside of the mausoleum. The man was smoking a cigarette which he promptly stamped out as soon as he saw Adelaide approaching.

"Report," Adelaide commanded.

The man stood up straighter before speaking. "So far, nobody suspects a thing. The papers all say that it was an accident. Though, there is one reporter who's digging a little too much."

He showed Adelaide a picture. Her lip curled in distaste when she recognized the woman.

"Barton." Adelaide scowled. If it was still possible, the air grew even colder.

The man shivered and shoved his hands into his pockets. "You know her?"

Adelaide stood up straighter. "She was a former classmate of mine." She looked pointedly at the man. "Get rid of her."

The man raised an eyebrow. "People might not believe the words of one reporter but I'm sure they'll believe the words of a dead one.

Adelaide narrowed her eyes. "Has she approached anyone about her suspicions?"

"No but she could've written her research down somewhere."

"Then destroy everything. Make sure it looks like an accident, you're good at that anyway."

The man nodded. "Yes Ma'am, understood."

"Everything must go as planned. The Light is hungry and it wants to be fed." Adelaide walked back into the mausoleum .

The man nodded and slowly slunk into the shadows.

Author's Notes:

So "core Karnsteins". Sounds confusing I know but here's how I structured their family. The ones who are considered "core Karnsteins" are either three children of the Head or (if the Head only has one) the child of each of the former core. So it's always either three siblings of three cousins. Let's say that the Head has three kids and his/her siblings have children too. The siblings' children won't be counted as the core. They can still have other kids, but they won't be prominent members who decide important stuff. But for simplicity's sake, I'm only mentioning the core. Also, Head is chosen by the previous Head so the whole "I'm the first born!" doesn't matter.

Alessandra is an OC. She's just a foil for Carmilla and William. I'll talk more about her in Chapter 1.

So mysterious guy. He's just a lackey and doesn't really play an important role. The reporter girl, however, is a little more important. How important, I don't want to say.

I already know the direction this story's going so my challenge is not to reveal too much. Also, this story will be Arrow/OUAT-style with some flashbacks that parallel the present. The "present" for the next chapters will be set when Carmilla and Will are in their 6th year and Lex is in her 7th and flashback to the previous years since starting from Year 1 is tedious.

If you have questions you can contact me on tumblr. My url's selenade (just add the rest because ff doesn't like links)