The New World: Afterlife

Chapter 0: The Reincarnate

Leehoimen Pickens, or just Lee for short, was the oldest living member of the Pickens family, having been alive since the 1200s. He was fairly tall, about 6'5" or 198cm, and thin with skin as pale as the snow as he was a vampire. His hair was black with a grey streak, a small amount of facial hair, and long black nails. His eyes were black with a bright teal iris and ears were more pointed than round. Leehoimen wore a white collared shirt and dark grey loose-fit pants under a black corset and dark red robes. He also had black fingerless gloves, black boots and a cane-like staff with a dark red orb with a bat that kept it in place. He lived through the Pickett era when his family were monarchs before being driven out of their kingdom for cruelty and watched as his family carried on that same cruelty throughout generations. Murder, arson, kidnapping, enslavement and tax evasion seemed to be the Pickens family tradition that was typically carried out by ones named 'Jim'. Leehoimen believed that Jim Pickett the I was being reincarnated as every few generations there would be a man almost identical to him, though they would only live for about 30 years and get grey hair early. Leehoimen hoped to maybe raise one himself just to see if they would turn out differently. He has raised others in the family as he was the guardian figure, but he had yet to raise a Jim. 
The year was 1965, around mid February to be exact, and Leehoimen figured he would visit his new baby relative. The parents were Dick and Janice Pickens, Dick was Leehoimen's many-grands nephew, but the child didn't have a name. Upon arrival Leehoimen noticed that their home didn't have doors, rather they had beads, claimed that doors were just self-imposed barriers on life or whatever. He just walked through them, he figured he'd be allowed in if there was no proper door. 
"Lee? Where the fuck did you come from?" Dick asked Leehoimen upon entry. Dick was shorter than him, had dark brown hair in an afro, a moustache and pale-light brown skin. He was wearing a shiny blue jacket with no shirt underneath and white pants. 
"I come from my mother." Leehoimen replied with a cheeky grin on his face, but Dick wasn't amused. Leehoimen then asked "Whatever, I heard you have a kid now, may I see them?"
Dick tried to push Leehoimen out, but he wasn't strong enough to move Leehoimen. He then answered "No, I don't need you influencing her, you weirdo." 
Dick then stopped trying to push Leehoimen, who put one hand on his hip and said "Says the guy who doesn't have a front door in the middle of winter." 
Dick didn't respond to that, instead he told Leehoimen "Fine, you can see the baby, but don't cast your weird magic stuff on her."
"I won't, I won't." Leehoimen responded as Dick led him to where the baby was. They were in a crib in the living room, which had nothing in it besides a table next to where the kitchen was with 2 chairs. Janice was in the kitchen just staring out the window, not moving at all. She was an average sized woman with long blonde hair, slightly tanned skin and wore a pink housecoat with star shaped sunglasses. As Leehoimen approached the crib Dick also told him "And don't turn her into a vampire either, don't need more immortals in this family." 
"Relax would ya?" Leehoimen asked in response before looking down to see a baby looking back up at him. They were wrapped in only one blanket despite it being a bit chilly inside the house. It was not a thick blanket either, rather a thin one. The baby didn't seem to be alarmed that a vampiric stranger was looking down on them. 
"What's their name?" Leehoimen asked as Dick stood beside him. He replied "She doesn't have one, we'll come up with one eventually."
"You mean to tell me you two agreed to have a kid but never came up with names for them?" Leehoimen asked again out of concern while looking at Dick. 
"She was an accident. Neither of us wanted her but it's too much of a hassle to put her up for adoption." Dick responded as Janice from the kitchen mentioned "I had names for him but you didn't like any of them." 
"Your name suggestions are shit, Janice!" Dick rather angrily exclaimed back at her as she continued to stare out of the kitchen window. The two started arguing as Leehoimen looked back down at the baby and decided to pick them up. They didn't immediately start crying, meaning they must trust Leehoimen. They were trying to grab at his hair as Leehoimen moved it away from their hands. Leehoimen then sat down on the floor with the baby and summoned his staff. The baby tried to grab the staff, which Leehoimen allowed only for them to try to chew it. Leehoimen smiled and told them "That's not a chew toy, that's a very powerful staff."
The baby did not care, they couldn't understand language yet. Leehoimen moved it away from the baby and started summoning something with it. He summoned four little green ghosts that were oval shaped and only had eyes and a small mouth. The ghosts swarmed the baby, who didn't seem to mind, but their parents did.
"Hey! What did I say about doing your magic shit on her?!" Dick asked as Leehoimen said "Those are just my friends, they wanted to meet them too."
"Whatever, your time is up. Get out." Dick told him as the baby started giggling at the ghosts. Leehoimen responded with "Just a few more minutes."
Dick glared at him and said "Fine, but after that I don't want you around her anymore. I don't need her being like you."
Dick then moved a bit away from them, leaving Leehoimen with the baby. The ghosts started telling him "He is the reincarnate. He is Jim."
Leehoimen then told the baby "So, you are Jim. You look different, much smaller than I remember you being." 
"What?" Dick asked out of genuine confusion, but Leehoimen continued with "You're going to grow up to bring more chaos to this world, I know it. You're going to be amazing."
"What are you talking about?" Dick asked Leehoimen again as he tried to take the baby, but Leehoimen moved them away from him. 
"Your child is the current reincarnation of my brother. I know that sounds crazy but my friends never lie to me." Leehoimen explained in response. Dick only looked back at him with a confused look before telling him "Lee, you are insane if you think a baby girl is somehow your long dead brother reborn or whatever." 
"Maybe I am, but I am correct this time. Give it a few years and you'll see that I'm right." Leehoimen told Dick as he asked "See what?"
"That he's Jim Pickett the Eighth, or just Jim Pickens nowadays." Leehoimen answered as he stood up, still holding his staff in one hand and the baby in his other arm, baby Jim Pickens. 
"No he- I mean she's not!" Dick angrily exclaimed as Janice came over to them and asked "What's going on?"
"Nothing that concerns you." Dick told Janice in response as Leehoimen answered "He's in denial." 
Dick quickly looked back at Leehoimen directly in his eyes and told him "And you're delusional."
"You want me to prove it?" Leehoimen asked as his staff started to glow a bit. He didn't wait for an answer, the orb started glowing bright red as the surroundings began to change. Everything became dark with vague ghost-like depictions of people surrounding one man as if they were worshipping him. It was difficult to make out any other details. 
"People will worship him like a God, he will be feared by many and more powerful than anyone before him in this family." Leehoimen explained before quietly adding "That's if he lives past thirty." 
The illusions then went away as Dick was silent for a few moments before telling Leehoimen "You've gotta have the wrong kid." 
Leehoimen gave up, he figured he would just come back later when Jim was able to comprehend speech. He told Dick in response "If that's what you want to believe then fine, but you'll see soon enough that your crazy many-greats uncle Leehoimen was right about Jim."