Change is sweeping through the world, as humanity fights for autonomy, discord tears apart the foundations of the vampire order, and dhampirs return to the world after centuries of war between two powerful peoples. Dhampirs, creatures known to heral...
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Vincent couldn't help but smile as Phoenix readied himself for his nap. With how Silvia and Neil toggled day and night as their primary hours of consciousness, Phoenix had set his schedule to sleep smack in the middle of the day and night for four hours each. Dealing with the new mage-vampire alliance, the old mage order, and the vast population of society's vampires was so much work, that Neil and Silvia slept when they could.
Phoenix didn't mind so much, and he did a lot for himself. Or he did now. Damien and Ares used to be around Phoenix as much as Isis, but Vincent's mere presence made both men sick if he was loitering at the divide. It made him feel guilty, knowing Phoenix said he liked to be alone just so he could spend time with his dead grandfather without making his father's generals sick.
The child was much too kind, just as his father was. During his lifetime, Vincent had shamed Neil for such behavior, calling it weakness. Nowadays, his wife Juliana smacked him from time to time to remind him how wrong he'd been. As if seeing how his son had won over allies, friends, and his mate alike hadn't been enough. Only one person had been weak at that time. Himself.
The morning was pleasant, but after Neil and Silvia had departed, Phoenix had become restless. Solitude mattered little to Vincent's grandson, so something else was frightening him, but Vincent was unsure what to do. Phoenix's small hands trembled as he slipped on his pajamas and hopped into bed, and he took much too long getting situated. Pulling the covers over himself, Phoenix fluffed just about every pillow, patted the comforters down, and trailed the embroidered leaves until Vincent woke him from his trance.
"Phoenix, what has you frightened?" Vincent asked, sitting on the bed but shifting it none in the living plane. As an apparition who could appear to his grandson, the best Vincent could manage was hovering into what looked like sitting.
"Something feels wrong," Phoenix said, clenching his hands in the comforter before looking to him. "Will you sit with me, grandpa?"
"I am sitting with you, Phoenix," Vincent said, reaching his hand out and drifting it as close as he could to the boy's face. It was all he could offer, and he wished Phoenix would seek the comfort of someone alive more. If something was amiss, Vincent would prefer Damien by his grandson's side, that mage be damned.
Phoenix reached his hand up, and Vincent smiled as the boy tried to touch his hand. That was until he did. Warmth caressed Vincent's fingers, and Phoenix pulled on him. Gravity hit Vincent like a boulder to his face, and he fell onto the bed, sinking into it and having to lift himself with an arm to where Phoenix held his hand in his. No longer hovering, Vincent's knees were very much on the ground next to the bed.
The boy had pulled him through the divide.
"Phoenix," Vincent chastised, but his grandson clung to him, wrapping his trembling arms around his neck and holding him to his side. "I know you're scared, Phoenix, but you need to put me back. Creatures from the void can't exist in the living world without warping it."
