𝑨𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒔𝒎 - 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑽𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝑫𝒊𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔

「Chapter 18」

Settling in to review his progress, Elias happily crossed off the now-broken Crescent curse and freeing Freya from her prison. 

Marcel's trust was still a work in progress, and Davina...well, he would count it as "kinda" free for now.

His gaze lingered worriedly on the next unchecked objective - resurrecting Camille's brother and the wife of Vincent, potential Regent warlock. 

Grimacing, he considered options. Ask Father Kieran to show him Sean's corpse? Randomly introduce himself to Camille? Neither seemed great.

Leaning back with a sigh, Elias shook his head ruefully. Befriending strangers to exploit resurrection opportunities felt so manipulative. 

But the torment haunted Cami without closure, while Vincent's power and stability depended greatly on having his love back. Their suffering gnawed at Elias.

"I wish there was an easy fix sometimes..." he muttered. These were peoples' lives at stake, not just game pieces. Fate often seemed crueler than any story.

After agonizing in fruitless circles, with another heavy sigh Elias erased the resurrection plans from his list entirely. 

As painful as the losses were, disrupting those souls now at peace felt fundamentally wrong the more he contemplated it. Better to let events unfold naturally than meddle too heavily beyond his help.

Cami finds closure in time, and though losing his former love devastates Vincent, he still finds another love, Rose, and lives happily further down the road. 

Refocusing on the people he can safely eliminate, Elias feels his determination grow. 

Reviewing the targets on his list, the spirit possessing witch Celeste seemed the most straightforward first opponent to eliminate. 

A swift burning of her remains recently laid to rest would take little effort on his part.

Elias quickly recalled the site where Elijah had buried her between twin young oak trees at her mourning request. 

Tracking the location down required only a minor locator spell before he stood over the vibrantly flowering grave.

Whispering a quick apology to the soul, Elias ignited the bones rapidly, flames devouring all traces of connection for Celeste to cling to.

Dusting the ash from his hands, Elias crossed her name off with satisfaction. There, one vengeful spirit turned enemy neatly dispatched before she could bring harm to his friends and family here. 

On to the next threat awaiting removal from the board...

Celeste had only been the beginning. Soon enough, ALL his targets would go up in similar flames, unable to endanger those he held dear ever again. 

----

Climbing back into the car, Elias slid casually onto the seat and waited for them to depart. But Stefan only studied him silently, not turning the key.

"What?" Elias finally asked, confused by his scrutiny.

Stefan laughed mirthlessly, shaking his head. "And here you are giving me the innocent look. As if I wouldn't guess what you were sneaking off alone to go do..."

Elias shrugged, grinning playfully. "Fine, you caught me - but is a little mysterious bone burning truly so scandalous at this point?"

"Guess not," Stefan chuckled with fond exasperation.

From the backseat, Freya piped up intrigued. "So whose remains did you cremate then?"

Assuming wide guileless eyes, Elias responded "No one. Simply enjoying an evening stroll to admire the scenery."