[Blood Diary Entry]
I dissolve into mist and rush past Rebekah, reforming on the doorstep of the house. A playful smile on my face.
"Come on, slowpoke, I'm hungry, and I want to get back on the road," I say with a teasing grin.
Rebekah shakes her head but doesn't say anything. She walks past me and enters the house.
The mess we made last night is still quite evident. Most of the furniture is overturned and pressed against windows or other entrance points.
As Mother is also about to enter the house, she ruffles my head and speaks in a fond tone. "I'll cook something for us. Despite knowing that all of Nico's chocolates are spiked with strange stuff, it doesn't make them smell any less appetizing. I'm quite hungry myself." She looks at Rebekah. "Will you be eating with us?"
Rebekah takes a moment to think and then answers. "I'm not in the mood to eat anything, really. But I'll have some coffee, please."
Mother nods. "Darian, help me find the ingredients. Cause I don't know where anything is…"
"Sure," I reply.
For the next three minutes or so, Mother and I scour the pantry, fridge, and cupboards for everything she needs.
"Rebekah, are you sure you want nothing besides coffee?" Mother asks.
"I am. Thank you for offering though…" Rebekah shouts from the living room.
Mother walks past me and goes to the living room, and although I can't see them, their voices are still crystal clear. "Do you want to help me in the kitchen?"
Rebekah doesn't take more than a second to answer. "I'm not really all that great at cooking. I would be more in the way than anything."
"Really? I'm surprised…"
Rebekah snorts. "I know what you're thinking. I've been alive for millennia, yet I don't know how to cook… But I should remind you that while I can enjoy food, my sustenance comes from elsewhere."
"Yeah, that makes sense."
"I'll say that I am a great pianist though…"
"You'll have to show me that sometime." Mother said.
Rebekah giggled. "With pleasure."
"Are you sure you don't want to help? You could learn something."
There was silence after she said that. I wanted to go and see what was happening, but I felt that would be a bad idea…
After a bit more silence, I heard Rebekah getting up from a couch she probably put back into place. "Let's do this then…"
The two walked back to the kitchen. Mother had an amused smile on her face, while Rebekah had a determined look.
I tilted my head in confusion.
Mother ruffled my hair again—it seems like everyone likes to mess with my hair nowadays. "You can go back to the living room. Do whatever you want; the food should be done shortly."
I raised an eyebrow. "You're kicking me out?" I quipped.
"I am." Mother spoke with nonchalance.
Rebekah was eyeing the ingredients on the counter as if they were her enemies. "Do as your mother says. Review the fight, think of how you could have done it better."
I'm really lost in this whole interaction…
I shrug and walk to the living room.
It was now a bit more organized after Rebekah put the furniture back into place.
I plop into the couch as I do as Rebekah suggested. The fight plays back inside my head, with astonishing accuracy, not a single detail out of place.
I go by every moment, every movement. Reviewing what could've been optimized or done differently. How I could have used my powers better. I even imagined scenarios where I wasn't holding back and went full force.
I played with my flames, as white sparks danced between my fingers.
I raised my other hand and started contorting my fingers in strange ways.
Soon, that familiar hourglass rune comes into view, and the Yrden sign turns the living room into a deadly trap.
I study the runes and the energy emanating from them.
Several ideas pop into my mind.
It's true that with the disciplines alone, I have access to a wide array of new abilities… But why should I stop there? Why should I limit myself?
The signs already had massive potential. Now with my chains gone, and with even more versatility, I wondered how far I could push these simple signs.
I made the sign shatter with a pulse of my energy, and the runes came undone, and the room went back to normal.
I did the same sign again, though this time I tried to imbue Obfuscate into it, just to see what would happen.
The sign flickered into life. The rune was unstable and a bit volatile. It dissolved and turned the room into a trap once more, but now the runes that painted the wall, and where once a dead giveaway that something was wrong whenever the sign was cast—now they flickered erratically, ranging from concealed to apparent.
"Curious…" I muttered.
I smile.
This has some great potential…
I muse over possible combinations, their theoretical effects, and how I could turn the simplest of gestures into devastating weapons.
I became eager to try things with the three signs I had developed, but when I looked around me, I realized that now wasn't really the best moment for experimentation.
I could quite easily destroy the house and have it come crashing down on Rebekah and my mother's heads.
And I shudder when I think about how they would react to it.
"Yikes…"
After a while, Mother and Rebekah called me.
I found a table filled with food, possibly far more than we needed to eat.
"What is the occasion?" I teased.
Mother giggled. "I had to make more, because Rebekah is an eager student."
I raised an eyebrow and looked at Rebekah.
"I found it fun, that's all."
I nodded absentmindedly.
We sat around the table, and we ate the food. We spoke about nothing in particular. I also didn't speak about my ideas for the signs, as I found this wasn't the time nor the moment for it.
Rebekah stuck to just drinking coffee, but her eyes sparkled as she saw me eat the food.
Needless to mention, I have absolutely no idea why that is…
After we were done eating, the three of us gathered our stuff, and we got inside the SUV.
A couple of minutes later, we left the abandoned city.