Barry wrapped a trembling hand around the cup Sif had up in front of him and carefully raised it up to take a sip. He pulled a face as soon as the liquid hit his tongue "How much sugar did you put in there?"
"A lot," Sif shrugged "Drink. It might be gross, but it'll help." She watched as Barry continued to sip at the coffee for a few more minutes until he stopped trembling quite as hard as he had before "Better?"
"What…" Barry cleared his throat, raising his hand to his unmarred throat "How?"
Sif raised an eyebrow in amusement "Let me guess… What happened? Or maybe… What was he? How is your throat healed?" When the guy across from her nodded, she inclined her head "This is going to be a bit of a long story."
"I don't care," Barry shook his head "I just… I just want to know what really happened. Because this all seems like a really tasteless dream or a prank. Oh, my God, is this a prank?"
"Why would this be a prank?" Sif frowned in confusion.
Barry shrugged "I… I mean, maybe… This doesn't seem real, you know?"
"Actually, I don't," Sif told him "I have always been in contact with the Supernatural side of our world, so… Yeah."
"You say that as if there is a whole community out there," Barry blinked "Wait, it was… Sif, right?"
Sif nodded "Yup. And there might not be a community as such but there is a lot more to this world than you know. I'm sure about it."
"Don't I know," Barry grumbled, thinking about the night his mother died. There was so much he didn't know and even more that he was sure he didn't even want to know. Okay, maybe he did but that was beside the point. This was his chance to find out more and for once not be placated "So, what was he? What are you doing here? How did you heal my throat? Are you staying here for long?"
Sif raised an eyebrow at the flood of questions coming from Barry's mouth and grinned a little "I'm sure you have a theory already?"
"You won't laugh?"
"Well, considering that you're most likely going to be right… I would be a bit of a hypocrite, wouldn't I?" Sif shot back and leaned back in her chair "Now, go on. Amaze me and I might even broaden your world a little more than I should."
Barry looked at her "You're not arrogant at all, are you?" Sif choked out a laugh, shaking her head. Barry inhaled deeply and licked his lips "He was a vampire, right? I mean, it's all kinds of crazy but it does make sense."
"You're right," Sif agreed "He and his group are vampires who haven't yet learned that it's a bad idea to draw attention to themselves."
"That's why you're here," Barry realised "Are you going to kill them?"
Sif's eyes hardened "Yes. Okay, this is how it is. Every vampire on this Earth – and there are quite a few – descend from one family. The Original family consisted of six siblings who were turned into vampires. Each of them is the head of a so-called sireline."
"What does that have to do with anything?" Barry questioned.
"Because those vampires are from mine," Sif explained "I tend to make sure that I don't leave loose ends flying around."
Barry's eye widened "Wait! If you're one of these Originals… How old does that make you?"
Sif smirked "Didn't anyone ever tell you that it was rude to ask a lady her age?" she teased.
"Sorry," Barry gulped, his cheeks turning red "I…"
"Barry, calm down," she rolled her eyes in amusement "It's fine. I'm a bit over a thousand years old now. Give or take a few years. I tend to not count anymore."
"Oh God," he breathed, his mind whirling at the information the girl across from him was throwing at him. If he hadn't been attacked a bit ago, he wouldn't have believed her. Hell, an hour ago, he had been blissfully ignorant of the dangers that were lurking in the dark. Whether that made him feel better or worse, he didn't quite know yet.
The two of them talked for a while longer with Sif explaining about the Supernatural side of the world. About witches, werewolves and the other creatures that were roaming the Earth.
Sif was about to take her leave to look for the rest of the group when Barry reached out before she could disappear through the door "I want to come along," he said firmly, holding onto Sit's arm.
Sif raised an eyebrow "Why? You're safe. Why would you go and put yourself into danger even if it does nothing for you?"
"You don't have any backup," Barry pointed out desperately. He wanted – no, needed to come along. This was the first time, he had come close to finding out what happened to his mother and there was no way he was going to let it slip away. Not without a fight.
"I can take care of myself," she shot back.
"Just…" Barry sighed, running his hand through his hair "Please, Sif."
Sif looked at him for a moment and frowned "Why is this so important to you?"
Barry licked his lips, hesitating "I need another coffee for this conversation," he muttered, gesturing at the table they had just vacated.
"I take it you're offering to pay?" Sif smirked. She had no idea where this was going but this was the most interaction she had with Humans in a while, so why bother leaving in a hurry? The rogues would still be there in an hour. And since she now had a pretty good idea where they were, it would be an easy thing to find the others.
"What kind of gentleman would I be?" Barry smiled lightly.
Sif sat down at the table "I would have rated you as the Princess who needed to be saved from a dragon by a knight in shining armour."
Barry choked out a laugh "And I suppose that would be you?"
"Hm," Sif shrugged and leaned back "Now, you were going to tell me something?"
"Yeah," Barry nodded and took a long sip from his coffee "I just don't really know where to start."
Sif tilted her head at his nervousness "The beginning is usually a good place."
"I was eleven when my mother was murdered," Barry whispered, looking down at his cup "It was late. A sound woke me up. When I got downstairs, I saw what looked like a ball of lightning." He looked up at Sif "Inside the lightning, there was a man. He killed my mom. Meeting you and seeing this whole other world… It gave me hope again. I've been trying to find out what that man was for more than ten years. My dad was arrested for her murder. Everyone told me what I saw was impossible…"
Sif looked at him for another moment in silence before she nodded slowly "And now you've seen what you thought was impossible."
"Please, have you ever heard of anything like this? You said you were old…" Barry pleaded.
"No," Sif shook her head "I – I can look into it but I never heard of a man being… lightning."
Barry's shoulders slumped "Oh, okay."
"That doesn't mean that you'll never find out," Sif pointed out "You just have to keep on looking. Don't give up on your father, okay?" She got up and sighed "Are you absolutely sure that you want to stick around?"
"Yes," Barry nodded "This is my chance…"
Sif held up her hand, stopping what he was going to say "I will say this once. Just once. I saved you once because you didn't know what was going on. If you get eaten, I'll not be stopping them again. The rogues are going to die. It's just a matter of time. Get in the way and I won't be responsible for you."
"Yes," Barry nodded, looking very puppy-like in his excitement "Done. Yes."
Sif turned around and sighed internally "What did I get myself into?"
"So," Barry spoke up after a few minutes of walking in silence "How do we find them?"
Sif stopped "Well, for now? You're going to take me back to wherever it is you're staying. There won't be much action until later."
"What do you mean?"
"The vampires I'm looking for are Nightwalkers. That means they have to stay somewhere dark during the day. An abandoned house or warehouse being the most obvious solution here," Sif explained.
Barry blinked in surprise "Nightwalkers?"
"Sunlight burns us," Sif explained quietly "There are basically two groups of vampires. Nightwalkers who can only be out at night. During the day, they hide, sleep or do whatever else they can to stay out of the sun. Daywalkers are the exact opposite. They have found a way to walk in the sun. Not a lot of vampires know the secret or a way to become Daywalkers."
"But you do," Barry pointed out, opening the door to his dorm room. He stepped to the side and let Sif in. When she froze just before the doorway, he frowned "What is it?"
She sighed "You're going to have to invite me in, Barry."
Barry blinked in confusion "Erm… You're invited in?"
"Thanks." Sif inclined her head and looked around curiously. It was cleaner than she had expected from a college student. Then again, she hasn't been around many people. It only brought pain and suffering in the end.
"So, how do we find them?" Barry questioned.
"There it is again," Sif pointed out "The 'we'. You're really serious about wanting in on this."
Barry stopped what he was doing "Of course, I am."
"Sorry, sorry." She held up her hands in surrender "That just never happened before."
"I'm not surprised," Barry mumbled "I take it most people tend to freak out?"
Sif laughed "Not all of them. But yes, the majority does tend to have a bit of a breakdown." She got up and looked over Barry's shoulder when he started frantically typing on his computer "What are you doing?"
"You said that they were most likely in an abandoned building or warehouse, right?" he asked and gestured to the screen "I'm trying to find all the possible matches within a radius of…"
"Ten miles," Sif told him when he trailed off "It's unlikely that they're straying further than that. Not with all of the victims being college students."
Barry nodded and continued to work on his computer "Okay. There are about twenty warehouses and thirty houses that could fit. Here." He shuffled to the side and let Sif look through the list.
"I think I can shorten the list a bit more," Sif mumbled, her eyes trailing over the screen. After about twenty minutes, she looked down at the paper she had been writing on "Okay, so essentially there are ten warehouses and eighteen houses that I need to check." She checked the clock and sighed "The sun won't be up for another four or five hours, so if you want to go to sleep, now would be that moment."
Barry studied her carefully "You're going to leave as soon as I am asleep, aren't you?"
Sif shrugged "Look, you really helped a lot and I thank you for that. But I don't think you should get into this more than you already are. Not with you being practically…"
"Hey, I can take care of myself," Barry exclaimed.
"But not against vampires. I'm sorry, Barry but this is where we part," Sif told him.
Barry stared at her incredulously "But you promised."
"I told you that you could come along. I didn't tell you that I would take you to the confrontation," she pointed out "You want to find your mother's killer and I can respect that but getting killed by rogue vampires isn't the answer here."
"Will I see you again?" Barry sighed, relenting against his better judgement.
Sif grinned "Maybe."
About halfway through the list of properties, Sif stopped and sighed. So far, there hadn't even been a hint of the vampires. Nothing that could point her in the right direction. What she did have was an overly curious guy who was trying to be sneaky by following her… loudly.
She flashed off, leaning against the wall behind where Barry was standing. Just when he was starting to look around in confusion, she spoke up "You do know that I could hear you from ten miles away, right?"
Barry jumped violently, pressing his hand to his chest "Shit, Sif…" he cursed "You scared me."
"Be glad that I only scared you. The rogues wouldn't have had a problem with killing you before you could blink," she pointed out viciously before sighing in defeat "You're not going to leave this alone, are you?"
"Not a snowball chance in Hell," he shot back.
Sif groaned "Fine. I see that I can't win."
The two continued on their way, walking next to each other quietly "Thank you," Barry spoke up.
"Yeah, yeah," she waved her hand "If you're really sure about this… I have an idea."
"Tell me," Barry nodded, stopping to look at her.
Sif froze when she heard something ahead of them "Shh," she hissed.
"What…?"
Barry was cut off by Sif speeding him against a wall with her hand over his mouth "I said, be quiet," she demanded under her breath "They are in there."
"You can hear them?" Barry whispered.
Sif nodded and closed her eyes for a moment "There are three of them and they know that I'm after them. Stay here. I need to hurry."
"No way," Barry protested quietly "I'm not leaving you alone."
"They are going to kill you," she pointed out.
"I can protect myself and you're going to help too, right?" he asked, almost sure of himself. Despite her earlier protests, she seemed to make sure that he was safe. Otherwise, Sif wouldn't have confronted him. After all, it would have been his own fault if he had gotten hurt.
Sif narrowed her eyes "I'm not arguing with you. Stay out of sight."
"I think it's too late for that," a dark voice spoke up from behind them.
Sif cursed and whirled around in time to catch the fist that was flying towards her face "So it is you, Cal. I was wondering who would be stupid enough to…" She broke off and dropped to the ground, avoiding the attack of the second vampire.
"Well, you know me," Cal smirked, nodding to his friend. They circled around the Original who straightened up. Sif knew what they were trying to do and honestly, it got old pretty fast. She wasn't intimidated by them.
"Still," Sif shrugged "I never thought you of all people would have been stupid enough to risk exposure."
Cal raised his eyebrow "You think I'm scared of you, Sif? You forget that I know you."
"That's what you think," Sif pointed out "You don't know as much as you think, Cal." With that, she moved to the side quickly, staking the vampire that had been behind her with the stake that she had just pulled out of her sleeve.
"Sif," Barry croaked out in fear.
The Original looked over her shoulder, seeing her new friend pinned against the wall with a hand around his throat "Let him go," she demanded. They weren't hurting him, not yet, so she still had some time to play.
Cal walked up to her and threw an arm around her shoulders "I don't think we will. You care for him and that means that he's out ticket out of here."
"You don't really think that, do you?"
"Oh, I know that," Cal told her, ruffling Sif's hair "You know, I missed having you around."
Sif crossed her arms, keeping an eye on Barry. This was starting to go too far but she wanted Cal to feel safe for now. He didn't know how old she really was. Even back in the day, she never trusted him and apparently, that proved to be the right decision. While she hadn't known that it was Cal before now, her plan was sure to work "That feeling is everything but mutual."
"Aww, Siffy," Cal cooed, running his hand down her face mockingly.
"You're even more stupid than I thought," she mumbled, rolling her eyes.
Cal raised his hand to hit her when he found his hand caught in her grip "What…?" He let out a shot when the bones in his hand shattered "How are you doing this? You're nothing."
"Do you really think that?" Sif asked, twisting his hand some more "You have risked exposure. You and your good for nothing friends. For that, you'll pay."
Cal was kneeling on the ground in front of her "You do anything to me and your friend will die."
"Who? Your dead friend?" she asked when Barry let out a small whimper when the vampire fell backwards. His hand was still clenched around the piece of wood he had rammed into the vampire's chest.
"You bitch," Cal spat "You planned this."
Sif smirked "Of course, I did. You think you're so strong. You're nothing compared to me. You're a child."
"Sif," Barry breathed, still staring at the dead man at his feet "I killed him…"
"It's fine, Barry," she told him "You're fine."
"Cute," Cal sneered.
Sif shot him a glare "You're really getting on my nerves." She let go of the hand she was still holding and as soon as the other vampire shot up, she punched her hand into his chest "Goodbye, Cal," she whispered, pulling out his heart.
A week after Sif and Barry met, Barry looked over at the girl lounging on his bed "Why didn't you just compel me?" he asked.
Sif looked up "Honestly? I have no idea. I kind of like you, so maybe I wanted to keep you around for a while. I don't know… Why?"
"I'm just wondering what you're doing with me," he shrugged.
"And you mean…?"
Barry flopped down on the other end of the bed and threw his head back "I'm a nerd. Always have been," he started "I don't understand why someone like you…" He gestured to her "Would hand out with someone like me."
"Do I look like someone who cares about you being a nerd?" Sif asked "I don't care what others think about you. You're smart and you can handle yourself in dangerous situations. You killed one of the rogues which… I still have a bit of trouble believing, by the way. But you managed and that is more than good enough for me."
"It was your plan," Barry shrugged.
Sif raised an eyebrow "Having a plan and you doing it are two different things entirely," she pointed out.
