The Prodigal Son

Derek || 24 || Warlock || "I like to play with fire, even though I know how many bridges it has burned."

[derek-summers]

“Oh, hey! Sorry I didn’t see you there at first.”

[redheadliss-deactivated20180317]

Adriana laughed at his attempt at what she thought was flirting, smirking back as she shoved the CD into her own bag, “Diva? Only a little. Just get irritated easily.” She admitted with a shrug and an eyebrow raised.

[derek-summers]

He smiled and nodded, “I know how that goes, sometimes my band mates get on my nerves too, but they’re like family so I can’t hate them for too long.” 

“I should probably drink my coffee and get going, my sister is waiting for me and she’s gonna wonder why I’m late. But maybe I should get your number and we could jam sometime.” He said with a wink.

[blackhallowshq]

Sabrina’s face turned red, whether it was embarrassment or anger, she wasn’t sure. “Why do you want to help me anyways? Thought I was too stuck up or guarded for your liking? Isn’t that why you broke up with me anyways?” She shook her head. “If I make one wrong step, it could be. And they do have the power over me, Derek. I can’t just.. say what I want to say. I can’t do everything I want to do. It’s not that simple.”

[derek-summers]

Derek sighed, remembering that his coffee had been sitting on the counter for well over ten minutes at this point. He reached down to pick it up, not making eye contact with Sabrina for a moment, “No,” he finally said looking back at her, “That’s not why I broke up with you. I broke up with you because you’re scared to be anything more that a picture in a magazine or in the paper. You’re too afraid to get into your actual feelings and let people see the parts of you that you don’t want them to see and I can’t be in a relationship with someone who’s so obsessed with being perfect.”

He knew he had to leave at this point, especially after Sabrina raised her voice and a few people looked in their direction, “I offered my help and you’re clearly shooting me down. Hopefully, you can help yourself now. If not you know how to find me.” He adjusted his coat quickly, “Good luck, Sabrina.” Derek said as he turned to leave.

[antoniamxreno-blog]

“Oh, c’mon. If anybody could survive being burned at the stake, it was witches.” Antonia replied hazily with a short chuckle. She watched as Derek stopped drinking for the time, seeing it really start to take an affect. “Don’t worry, I won’t let you die from alcohol poisoning.” She added carefully.

Antonia let a single glance in his direction drop at his next words, before she began to shake her head. “You really did do your research.” She scoffed lightly. “Publicly single for most of my career?” Her eyes narrowed in jest at that. “I’ve got to hand it to you, if you did that for every vamp you’ve met, then you might just be in good hands, though, I might just be such an easy prey because of the public eye that I’ve seem to drawn towards myself.” She grinned back over.

“I’m sure the Summers name has gone through a lot, but, before Paris, I was rather…disinterested in…just about everything. Growing up in the 16th century will do that to someone. You know, with the patriarchy and such expectations.” She finished her glass once more and then looked over Derek. “Kaden? Yeah. I’ve…we’ve been hanging out. I’ve been doing my own research on the Council at her house. Her family has plenty through their collection of journals. Why? Are you…two…going through something?”

[derek-summers]

Derek laughed, “My own guardian angel, how’d I get so lucky.” He reached across the bar to the tiny cup of peanuts that the bartender had stashed and started munching on them, hoping they’d soak up a bit of the alcohol so that he could keep drinking. “It wasn’t that hard, as you said yourself, you’ve been in the public eye a lot over the years, which is kind of impressive, how’d no one ever catch on to the whole not aging thing?”

He continued after another mouthful of peanuts, “Lately I’ve been making it my business to find out more about the rest of the supernaturals in this town. Nothings been getting done to return to a sense of normalcy,” he paused and scoffed, “As if any of us are normal.” Derek shrugged, “So I’ve just decided to take matters into my own hands and you know what they say, know thy enemy or whatever.”

He laughed, “You make is sounds so boring being alive for all that history.” Turning to look over at her he smirked, “The summers were a smaller family in the Salem area, I mean they basically can be traced back to the Mayflower, but they didn’t become big shots until they got out of Massachusetts and established a community in New York. My mom’s side stayed in the Boston area but my dad’s family line has been here since colonial times.” He reached for more peanuts but the small cup was empty. He laughed, “Sorry for the little history lesson there, I don’t know where that came from.”

He decided then that he was ready for another drink and waved for the bartender who just silently nodded, “Does that do anything to their minds? The whole mind control thing?” He was about to drink his new drink when she responded to his comment about Kaden. “You could say that,” He said flatly, “We haven’t spoken in well over a month now.” He sighed and trailed off, not really finishing his thought. 

[paper-airplanes-and-cupcakes]

Bri looked up at the man through her eyelashes with a smirk on her face. “And what makes you think girls like me cannot have fun?” She grabbed her coffee from off the counter. “I would rather meet again before I have to bring you to justice.”

[derek-summers]

Derek laughed, raising his hands dramatically, “Don’t shoot, I wasn’t assuming anything, I’m just saying out of the two of us, I’m probably going to be the one causing trouble.” He raised his eyebrow, “Well you never know,” gesturing out the windows of the coffee shop, “It’s a big city out there, how’re we going to be able to just happen to run into each other again?”

[blackhallowshq]

Sabrina started to laugh, blinking quickly to get rid of the tears that threatened to spill as she spoke. “I’m not doing this all because of you, Derek. You just hold the pieces together of something already falling apart. It’s not your fault and I don’t want your pity.” A unattractive snort came from her lips. “Please. I was lucky to have you wanting me. No one wants their name in the papers next to mine. Unless they want to use me to get there.”

[derek-summers]

Derek couldn’t help but react defensively, “I’m not asking for you to accept my pity I’m asking for you to be a big girl for once in your life and accept the help of someone who cares about you instead of throwing fits.” He caught himself, “Not everything has to be a scandal across page six, especially if you own up to it and take whatever power you think these people have away from them.”

[antoniamxreno-blog]

“Are you sure there isn’t a spell to…not make you die from alcohol poisoning? Something really old I’m sure. Back in the day, people brewed straight rubbing alcohol, so I can only imagine the lengths magic-y people went to in creating something.” She laughed again, feeling the shots hit her all at once. “I hate to enable you, but, sometimes drinking can do a man some good.” She rubbed at his shoulder. 

“Nothing juicy yet?” Her brows shot up, knowing that she had faired a pretty decently exposed life for the better part of it. “Whatever you say.” She started before leaning in a bit closer and making a face. “Hey….you can…talk to me. We’re friends, alright.” A softened smile appeared across her face and she gave Derek a sentimental look before lifting her own newly refilled glass. “To friends!”

[derek-summers]

Derek laughed, “I don’t think witches were concerned with coming up with spells to aide their alcoholism, they were more concerned with oh I don’t know, not being burned at the stake.” He was about to take another sip when he felt his head starting to spin a little, opting to take a break from pounding down the drinks for a minute. 

“Well,” he said shrugging, “I know you ran an offshoot of the nouveau magazine in Paris, I know that you’ve been publicly single for most of your career, and that before you moved to Paris you were reported living here for quite some time.” He knit his eyebrows together, “I’m surprised you didn’t know more about me to be honest. Seeing as you were here before I was born most likely.”

He clinked glasses with Antonia but put it back down immediately, strangely feeling annoyed all of a sudden, but then he remembered where this was coming from. “Speaking of knowing people..” he trailed off for a moment, “You seen Kaden lately?”

[redheadliss-deactivated20180317]

Ari almost laughed as he pulled a cd out his bag, taking it with a grin, “I don’t know whether to be impressed or pity you, but I guess you never know when a big producer is around.” She shrugged at his question, shaking her head, “Solo, I don’t work well with others, or so I’ve been told.”

[derek-summers]

Derek laughed as well, “I’m gonna say you should go with impressed. Because it makes me feel less sad.” Raising his eyebrow he continued smirking, “Plus, it’s a great conversation piece when talking to pretty girls you meet in coffee shops.”

Derek readjusted the strap of his backpack as he spoke, “uh oh, Diva...” he trailed off, letting the edge of his mouth curl into another smirk. 

[paper-airplanes-and-cupcakes]

She smiled back. “Definitely all of the above. Plus you have to pile on top of that protecting my secret identity from the masses is taxing as well. However now that I told you, I might risk you finding out which superhero I am.”

[derek-summers]

“ahh well generally speaking I normally prefer to be the bad guy, they get to have more fun anyway. But I won’t be revealing my secret identity either.” Derek took a sip of the coffee he was now holding, “Maybe we’ll meet again when I’m destroying the city and you’re trying to save the world.”

[derek-summers]

Derek’s expression stayed sour, “We’re friends, Antonia, let’s not ruin that by actually talking about each other’s problems.” He tried to flag the bartender but he was busy flirting with a group of girls who had just entered the bar. Derek sighed and turned back to Antonia, “Well ever since all this stuff with the council went down and vampires that used to be in charge started ignoring me, I did some digging into the vampire community.”

“So how is Gabriel?”

[antoniamxreno-blog]

“That’s only how friends grow closer.” She teased before lifting a brow at Derek’s bartender attempt. She nestled up closer to the counter, giving her best shot at looking flirtatious to the bartender, who came over in the new minute. “I need you to serve my friend and me first, no matter what sort of distractions walk through that door. We’re your number one customers. That’s why you’re offering all of our drinks on the house tonight.” She grinned at the man, compelling him easily while batting her lashes all the while. 

She turned back to Derek and uttered, “He won’t be a problem for you anymore. And, as far as vampires ignoring you, I can’t say we’re all the same. It is good to do some research though. What sort of digging did you do into. Anything on me?” She winked with a chuckle. “Gabriel’s seen better days. He’s been really pissy at me, and I think he just still needs to come to terms with everything that’s happened around here. Connor, the vampire that was murdered, he was the one that turned us, and was a father figure to both of us. With him gone, I’m not sure Gabriel has anybody else to motivate him in the same way.”

[derek-summers]

Derek raised his eyebrows and just watched as Antonia controlled the bartender. "It'll be interesting getting my credit card back from him at the end of the night. That is if I stay alive having you an my enabler for drinking."

He smiled coyly, "oh I've gotten a little information on you. But don't worry nothing juicy, yet." He took a sip of his new drink, "I'm sure he'll be fine once he settles down a bit. I remember how crazy I got after my mom-" he broke off, realizing what he was saying "never mind." He pointed to Antonia's glass "to friends."

[blackhallowshq]

derek-summers:

Derek shrugged, “As honest as you want to be. I think we owe each other that at least.” He understood why there was tension, but honestly, he couldn’t see the point in small talk or pretending things were any other way than they were. 

“True,” Sabrina sighed, looking down at her shoes for a second before meeting his eyes. “Then honestly…” She took a deep breath as she started talking. “It fucking sucks. It feels like everything just started falling apart since we broke up. Alcohol helps but it always impairs my judgement. I’ve been… losing parts of my memory for some reason and I can’t figure out why. But that doesn’t stop me from supplying it every night. It’s the only thing keeping me sane right now.”

[derek-summers]

Derek felt bad for Sabriana, he honestly did but he wasn't about to get back together with her just because of this. "Sabrina," he started not sure how to continue, "if there's anything I can do, just let me know ok? I really don't want to see you destroy yourself like this over me. I'm just one of the thousand of guys I'm sure are all over you."

[paper-airplanes-and-cupcakes]

derek-summers:

Derek smiled, “Well looks like this one is just a regular large Americano, not a caffeine bomb that you’re waiting for.” He picked up the drink and spoke again, “Why so much extra coffee?”

Bri shrugged when it turned out to be his. “I’m an addict.” She stated with the straightest face she could have before breaking into a giggle. “No, I just have a ton of stuff to do and think about.”

[derek-summers]

He shrugged, "hey there are worse things you could be addicted to" giving a wry smile as he finished talking. Derek raised his eyebrow, "what's got you so busy? Work? School? Saving the world? All of the above?"

[redheadliss-deactivated20180317]

derek-summers:

“I’d say we’re pretty good, I may be biased though. We just released our first album actually a few months ago.” He took a sip of the coffee, “Working all the time is better than not working I guess.”

Raising an eyebrow as she sipped her own coffee, “Damn, here, write it down and I’ll have to pick up said album and check it out!” She handed over her phone for him to type, “I love my job, we’re kind of in the same industry.”

[derek-summers]

Derek smiled, it had been a while since someone had been interested in the band. "Better than write it down," he said and turned to open his backpack, unzipping the pocket and pulling out a cd, "here take a copy."

"Oh really, so you're in a band too? Or are you more of the solo artist type," he asked with another smile.

[derek-summers]

“Free coffee? I must have missed something, I had to pay for mine.” He picked up the coffee and took a small sip.

[a-rey-blog1]

“See, it’s one of the only advantages of working here,” she managed to laugh, grinning at her co-worker behind the counter as she accepted her coffee, before turning back to the boy.

[derek-summers]

"Ahh" Derek said raising an eyebrow, "I guess you just never know when someone is an undercover barista." He shrugged, "but it's good to know I'm ordering the same thing as the pros."

He stuck out his hand, "Hi, I'm Derek."

[antoniamxreno-blog]

Derek Summers & Antonia Moreno | 2016

@derek-summers

[derek-summers]

moss agate

“I think I have a moderate opinion of myself. To be the singer of a band you have to be a little cocky, but generally speaking I’m pretty down to earth.”

[blackhallowshq]

“True,” Sabrina sighed, looking down at her shoes for a second before meeting his eyes. “Then honestly…” She took a deep breath as she started talking. “It fucking sucks. It feels like everything just started falling apart since we broke up. Alcohol helps but it always impairs my judgement. I’ve been… losing parts of my memory for some reason and I can’t figure out why. But that doesn’t stop me from supplying it every night. It’s the only thing keeping me sane right now.”

[derek-summers]

Derek’s eyebrows furrowed, “Alcohol isn’t the answer, Sabrina. Trust me on this one.” He honestly was worried about her, this didn’t seem like Sabrina to turn down a path like this. Was she really taking the break up this hard? “Have you tried just talking to someone?”