My tears dried up and in there place a cold numbness crawled into my chest, creeping through my veins. I fell still and quiet in Alexei's arms, his hand tracing a soothing circle on my back. I was certain it was an unconscious action on his part, because there was nothing about the man that spoke of being a comforter. 

I pushed away from him, rising up from the ground, "Thanks..." I wiped away the lingering wetness from my face with the back of my hand. The image of Cassie flashed through my mind, memories of times we had spent together growing up. Her smiling face now being traded for one with eyes wide with betrayal. He pushed up off the floor, eyes swirling with a concern that burned me. It made me feel vulnerable and weak, and I didn't like that. 

I swallowed the lump in my throat, "We should check on the others." I straightened my back and lifted my chin as I rushed from the room. I didn't want to spend waste anymore time, one person had already been lost. 

"Snowflake." Alexei growled low as he followed me out of the bedroom and into the hallway, "What the hell do you think you're doing? Get back here. You can't just run around half-cocked. We need to have a plan." It wasn't the smartest move on my part but there was no time to waste. It was possible that the dark druid was already making there next move and I needed to protect everyone else. I knew right now I was the only one capable of that until my family arrived. 

The Lycans could never fight against the druid magic, especially magic that was being strengthened by the lay line. I didn't know what I was going to do but I would worry about that when the time came. All I knew was I needed to get my hands on a weapon and the dark druid. 

"I have a--" My words died off on the tip of my tongue. I froze as I stepped out of the hallway and into the kitchen. 

The table was set up for dinner, Claudia and Calisfer were sitting across from each other. They looked as though they had gotten halfway through there meal before they were trapped in the haunting scene. I walked closer, taking tentative steps as I scanned the rest of the room. 

They were hunched over at the table, chests moving, eyes wide open as if they were staring of in a daze. I snapped my fingers near Claudia's ear in hopes of waking her from whatever trance she was trapped in but she didn't even flinch. The two of them were thankfully alive but they had been drugged. I glanced to the cups and half eaten food on their plates. The sound of glass shattering had me turning to find Alexei standing next to a broken plate, giving me shrug of his shoulders, "Was worth a shot." I rolled my eyes as he stepped over his mess and moved closer to the table, "Looks like someone is missing from this slumber party...your boyfriend, perhaps?" He remarked. 

"You know jealousy is a form of flattery." Vaughn's voice had me twisting around quickly. He was leaning a shoulder against the wall, looking almost lazy as he twirled a blade in his palm. His eyes were fixed on the knife as he spun it over and over again. Finally he lifted his face and I took a step back. It seemed different, gone was the friendly facade and it's place was the cruel mask her had been hiding. The shadows of the room seemed to play with the sharpness of his cheek bones, making his eyes look like bottomless pits. 

"You're the one whose been doing this?" I questioned slowly as my brain tried to adjust to the new information, "Why?" I took another step back, bumping into Alexei who had remained unmoved. He was at my back like a fortress made of unbreakable stones. I could feel the vibration of his energy as his beast remained poised beneath his skin, ready to attack when the opportunity struck. 

Vaughn pushed away from the wall, "You were always my favorite O'Brien. Smart. Beautiful. Ambitious. It's really a waste that you wanted so badly to be just an average human when you have the potential to be so much more. So why don't you tell me...why do you think I'm doing this?" 

I clenched my teeth together, "Power." 

"Oh come on, pops? You think I would do this just for power?" His voice rose as if he was insulted by the concept. He leveled me with his dark gaze. Alexei's hand fitted to the curve of my hip, gripping me tightly. I could feel the swell of his chest as he puffed himself up more, the beast agitated by the rising emotions in the room. 

Vaughn pointed the blade toward us, grinning, "Not just power. It's for the ultimate power." My eyes remained focused on the hand holding the knife, my gaze narrowing as my magic began to sizzle. He paused in his approach, "I had such great plans for you...if it wasn't for that thing." He lost his smile, glaring at Alexei. 

Alexei let out a snarl in response, "I'm really going to enjoy tearing your apart, loverboy."  

The room seemed to grow still, there was a subtle tensing in Vaughn's face before he pulled his arm back and launched the blade straight for my head. I moved quickly, dodging to the side only receiving cut to my cheek. Alexei let out a pained sound as the blade lodged itself in his shoulder. I didn't think about my next move. My body simply moved on it's own accord. 

I twisted and yanked the knife free from Alexei, charging towards Vaughn with a loud warriors cry. I knocked him to the ground, taking advantage of his surprise. I nailed him in the face with my closed fist, knife still in hand. I could feel his magic beginning to rise, leaking from him like vipers. The deep blue tendrils bit at my skin, burning my flesh everywhere they touched. 

I gritted my teeth, flipping the knife around and pressing it to his throat, "You want ultimate power? How about we have you pay for it with your own blood." His eyes narrowed slightly but he reigned in his magic. I got up off of him, yanking up off the kitchen floor by his shirt. He let out a demented laugh as I shoved him into the wall. 

"What is going on?" Loren questioned out of breath as she skidded to a stop at the mouth of the hallway. Niklaus was right behind her, instinctively stepping in front of her as if to protect her from any possible threats. I met Alexei's hard gaze, before I turned my attention back to Vaughn. I had him pressed to the wall with my hand planted firmly on his heaving chest. 

The rage burned in my veins, blood dripping from the gash on my cheek. My magic hissed and coiled around me like poisonous snake. "You killed her." I spoke through clenched teeth, staring into the soulless eyes of the boy I had grown up with. The boy was dead, in his place stood a man with insidious intentions. The darkness had spoiled his soul and turned him into the monster. I pressed the point of the knife harder against the soft flesh of his throat. 

"Snowflake..." Alexei took a step away from Niklaus and Loren, both of them looking tense as they kept there eyes fixed on Vaughn. "He will pay for his crimes. We will see to that but if you kill him now then he wins." 

I cast a heavy glare in his direction, "He killed his own sister. She was innocent. She trusted him and he killed her." I turned my attention back to Vaughn, his lips turned up in a smug grin. There was no remorse for what he had done. My knuckles burned white from how tightly I was holding the blade. This monster deserved to suffer, over and over, forever for what he had done. 

"Don't do this, Poppy." He was trying to reason with me, but there was no reason left in my mind. There was only a thick miasma of hatred that coated my insides. 

I let out a growl of my own, "Why are you trying to protect him?"

"I'm not trying to protect him. I don't give a damn what happens to this bastard." He snarled, "I care about you, Poppy. I'm trying to protect you." I felt my heart freeze in my chest as his words. They didn't make any sense. The muscles in my jaw ticked as I ground my teeth together. "I know what revenge does. I know what it tastes like. It will ruin you and I can't let you ruin yourself." 

I twisted my body, keeping the knife at Vaughn's throat as I met Alexei's dark gaze. I had a choice. I could let them take Vaughn, and turn him over to the council. He would be prosecuted to the fullest extent to the laws of our world. The choice for justice certainly was in line with the values that my parents had raised me to live by. 

We were to do no harm. 

We were meant to advice and govern. 

We were to keep the peace and maintain the law. 

I felt conflicted. I wanted to uphold the values I had been taught but they seemed out of place in the world I was struggling to survive in. I was learning that Justice was blind and the hunger for power took precedence over everything. The council wouldn't give two shits about what had happened to Cassie. Whatever punishment they could come up with would never be good enough.  

"I'm sorry, Alexei." I whispered softly. I knew he wanted to save me but he wasn't the hero and I didn't want to be saved.

Vaughn started to laugh as if he found the situation he was in hysterical. I gritted my teeth as I pulled my hand back quickly and knocked him hard across the face with the hilt of the blade, fisting his shirt and pulling him in closer, "Shut the fuck up or I cut your god damn tongue out." He laughed a little more, spitting blood out at my feet. 

"Poppy. Don't. He's not worth it." Alexei moved a step closer in my direction. I twisted to look in his direction, holding his gaze. He was looking at me without judgements as if he truly understood what was in my heart. I wanted to hide the darkness in me from him but I knew that was impossible. We were mates. What was in him was also in me, something I was no longer in denial about. 

"I'm sorry." I whispered again. My mind was made up. I threw my hand out, releasing my magic in the direction of the Lycans. Alexei released a roar as he was thrown back into the wall, doing everything he could to get free. Loren and Niklaus struggled beside him, growling like animals locked in a cage. 

Vaughn met my gaze as I turned my attention back to him, "You're going to take me to Cassie. You're going to take me to where you killed her." My magic burned my skin as if in retaliation to the way I was dealing with my mate, but I ignored the pain. My mind was filled with the look in Cassie's eyes as she had been sacrificed. I was going to make sure that her needless death was paid for in the blood of the one who had betrayed her. 

"Fuck you." He said with a bloody smile. 

I pressed the silver knife to his throat as I pulled him closer, "Get moving or I'll gut you here and now. I'll make sure you're alive as I remove your organs one by one." I released him with a shove in the direction of the door. My magic wouldn't hold up for long and I needed to get where I was going before the Lycans broke free. 

He let out another demented laugh as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, limping toward the door. I followed after him, each step I took felt like the weight of the world was pressing in on me from behind. 

I cast a look over my shoulder as I stepped into the open door. Alexei was already starting to turn, no longer a man but not quite a beast either. His eyes were fixed on me, "Poppy." My name spoken as a desperate plea burned me. I said nothing as I turned my back to him and stepped out of the house. The door slammed closed behind me as I used my magic to seal the door. It wouldn't hold up for long, but it should hold for just long enough. 

"Poppy!" Alexei bellowed from inside of the house. The door shuttering under the force of his will to get to me. My heart pulsed painfully in my chest as the beast roared out his fury. I didn't think I would ever be forgiven for this. I met Vaughn's gaze, face twisted up with a cheshire grin. 

"Walk." I hissed, pointing the blade at him. He turned from me and walked toward the woods, whistling a haunting tune as we went. There was a heaviness to the air, a dampness that stuck to my skin and seeped in through my skin. The night was quiet. No cricket stringed quartets and no frogs croaking there nighttime sonata. The thickness of the air seemed to grow the deeper into the woods we walked. It had me searching the shadows with awareness. 

Vaughn froze mid step, glancing over his shoulder with ominous gaze, "We're here." I swallowed the lump in my throat, closing the distance between us. I made sure to hold his gaze as I pressed the blade to his throat, he didn't attempt to fight or struggle with me. Only stared down at me with his empty eyes. 

I pushed him forward, "Show me which one." 

He smirked, lifting his hand to point over my shoulder, "That one." 

I turned my body and found my heart sputtering to a stop. I felt my lips tremble as I met the gaze of my brother, "Darren..." He was tied to the tree with thick ropes, much like Cassie had been. The images of her death still fresh in my mind.

"What the hell is--" I turned back to Vaughn with a heavy glare, my magic twisting and hissing round me as it began to build again. I reached up, fisting the cotton fabric of his shirt as I yanked him in the direction of my brother, "Untie him. Now." 

Darren met my gaze, looking rather resigned to his fate, "I'm so sorry, Poppy. So sorry." He choked back a sob, head dropping slightly in shame. I felt like invisible hands were reaching up through the earth, clawing and tearing at my skin as they tried to pull me down. I gripped the hilt of the blade tighter, making sure I kept it pressed to Vaughn's throat, "What are you talking about? Darren?" 

He lifted his face, tears streaking down his dirt smudged cheeks, "They're dead. Mom, dad...Alby..." 

I sucked in a breath, taking a half step back as I shook my head. I felt like the world was shrinking in around me, the clothes on my back somehow constricting my body. It simply wasn't true. This wasn't real. My parents weren't dead. My brother wasn't dead. They had to be alive. I shook my head, "No. You're lying." I stated firmly, swallowing back the need to scream out the agony his words had caused me. 

"They're alive." I murmured the words as I stared into the pained face of my twin, "Darren, tell me they're alive." I commanded in a hysterical tone, turning my knife from Vaughn and point it at my brother. 

"He's not going to do that because that would be a lie, wouldn't it, Darren?" A voice questioned from the shadows. I twisted around quickly, blade pointed at the unseen phantom hiding just out of view. "He is telling the truth, sweet one." A blast of dark energy sent the blade flying from my hand, lodging it in a nearby tree. I sucked in a surprise breath, eyes searching the darkness as I took a half step back, "And I know this because I killed them." My eyes widened in horror at the familiar face that materialized out of the shadows. 

My heart froze over in my chest, "Aunt Sara?"  

_______________

Song: Path to Darkness- Adrian Von Ziegler 

A/N: The Dark Druid has finally shown itself. Dun Dun Dun.