[Blood Archive Entry]
As they made their way back to the house, Darian thought of the fight yet to come, and he thought of the information they gathered, the preparations they made.
The last thought made him frown as he remembered the silver kitchen knife he was now carrying.
He thought of the signs he had managed to recreate, and when he thought of the third and possibly the most vicious one, he grinned.
Rebekah, who was already watching him, noticed the changes and decided to ask about it.
"What are you smiling like that for? You're reminding me of Niklaus all of a sudden."
Darian grimaced. "Please don't compare me to that psycho…"
"I'll have you know that 'psycho' as you say it, is my brother."
"I am sorry for you."
Rebekah facepalmed and sighed out loud. "You're a jerk."
"Haha! Sorry about that… But I just had an idea and I kind of really like it."
"Oh? Tell me about it."
"Sure!" And as he told her of what he was planning, her eyes widened and she looked at him with disbelief and a bit of repulsion. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"It's just- That is…"
"Sigh Just tell me if it is feasible or not…"
"It should be… But are you sure about that?"
"It will be better than this," Darian said as he waved the cutlery in the air.
"Fine. Do as you wish." She relented as they made a quick stop before going to the house.
The sun was already setting when they arrived in the somber haunted property.
The two got out of the car and unloaded the corpse and everything they brought.
Rebekah and Darian made a line of salt surrounding the entire house, while also accounting for the underground chamber.
Once they were done, Rebekah looked at Darian hesitantly.
"Are you sure about this?"
"Come on, Rebekah! This shouldn't even tickle. Why are you like that?"
"Excuse me for worrying! But I'm not really comfortable with a child mutilating himself in front of me."
"It's not even permanent, so why are you fretting over the small details?"
"Not permanent? But I thought-"
"It should be easy to take off after, and if everything goes alright, I could even use it in the future should the need arise… if not… well, we can just do this again."
"Why didn't you tell me this before?"
"You didn't ask! You just jumped straight to conclusions."
She just looked away, a bit embarrassed, her cheeks flushing almost imperceptibly. "So, you're not a masochist?"
"Fuck you, Rebekah!" Darian flipped her off and turned his back to her. She laughed out loud.
Darian picked up a pot made of pure iron; he grabbed the edge of it and, using his strength, he bent it into the shape of a beak.
"This should be enough…" He said, eyeing the pot. "Rebekah, help me out, will you?"
"Sure!" She shouted and grabbed all of the expensive cutlery she bought before tossing them all inside the pot. "Now, how exactly are you going to melt them? I'm not sure lighter fluid will do the job."
"I already thought of that, my dear."
Rebekah thought it felt nice how he called her dear, but also that it wasn't quite what she was looking for, and she chose not to dwell on these thoughts.
The past week was a very confusing one for the blonde vampire, as she had a lot of time to think for herself, but no matter what, she couldn't quite come to a conclusion on the single problem that had been bugging her.
It wasn't like she opposed the idea of Darian, or that she still had thoughts of Stefan; rather, she felt like there was something missing, and until she managed to find what it was, any choice she made would be the wrong one.
She eyed the child—that didn't feel like a child—by her side, her eyes sparkling as he made weird gestures with his hand. She had seen and accompanied Darian throughout the process of creating the sign to trap the ghost. Learning more about the story of his species than even his own mother. But still, he managed to create two other signs without much difficulty.
While it was true that the one he used to kill the vermin earlier was somewhat underwhelming. That was only from their point of view; any other being would see that as a devastating attack. Not to mention the usefulness of a sign that could sap beings of their strength and make the immaterial turn material.
But he was still unsatisfied, still wishing for more.
That reminded her of her own brothers.
Niklaus longed for greater heights; he wished to be free of the constraints their mother had imposed on him. He was possessive of those he cared about, deeply so.
Darian was very like him in these matters, but unlike Niklaus, he didn't manipulate or want to control the ones he cared about. He was honest and loyal, much like Elijah, but unlike Elijah, he didn't weaponize these qualities.
He was carefree and charismatic as Kol had once been, the soul of the party, one could say. But unlike Kol, he didn't enjoy breaking the limits of a person and tormenting them.
Darian was intense and caring like Finn, but he wasn't the brooding, suicidal mess her brother had become.
All in all, Darian reminded her of what family once was, but he was also so much more.
She felt the attraction towards his soul, though she felt no physical attraction, as he was still a child. She couldn't help but feel immensely comfortable being around him.
The idea of not being by his side had never occurred, and when she did try to imagine a world without him close by, she felt it was bleak and tasteless, borderline hurtful.
She didn't want things to be half-hearted; thus, when she felt something was missing from her resolve, she decided to wait until she found what was missing. It was the least Darian deserved from her.
Darian pushed his hand forward, and a bright red triangle shone in the air. Crimson flames spewed from it, going straight towards the silver inside the iron pot.
As soon as the flames met the metal, the cutlery started to deform, dropping and twisting, before finally turning into a glowing liquid.
Darian held the odd position of his fingers, the triangle rune, and the flames still bursting outwards.
Only once every bit of silver had melted did he stop.
He sighed and looked back at Rebekah, who only gave a brief nod before grabbing the iron pot's handle.
The heat barely registered in her brain, proof of how ridiculously durable she truly was.
Darian moved his hands forward, his nails turning into long claws.
Rebekah looked at him once again, and he just smiled, reassuring her.
She sighed and tilted the pot, pouting the silver on his claws.
The silver flowed smoothly through the beak Darian had improvised earlier.
Upon contact, the silver coated his claws and immediately hardened.
Once every claw was coated, he turned his palm upwards, and they repeated the process on the downside of the claws.
By the end, barely any silver was left, but they had served their purpose.
Darian moved his finger around, getting used to the added weight of the coating.
"So, your third sign creates red fire?"
"Neat, isn't it?"
"Yeah, it was kind of cool… Anyways, how are you feeling?"
"The heat wasn't a problem, and it didn't actually hurt, it's just odd having the added weight, even if I can barely feel it…"
She tossed the pot aside and smiled, relieved. "Glad to hear it."
"Now, how about we end this?"
"Yeah, I can't wait to leave this place."
"Haha! I'm sure you can't."
Rebekah grabbed one of the iron pokers, and the two moved to the porch.
They grabbed the corpse and descended to the 'peculiar' room they found earlier.