-Vincent-
Almost two months with living on this farm with Julie and practically with Cyprio and Grandmother. I don't know what they did all day, but I usually only really saw everyone at dinner. I had to help the family who owned the farm. I tended to cattle and crops all day, and I even watched their baby sometimes while they had to go sell their products to the locals. I also learned how to ride their horses, occasionally taking them to fun shows. The days were full of work and they were honestly peaceful. Nothing really happened. I had a beautiful routine and I loved it.
Only after dinner did things become . . . how could I say this? Interesting. I would come home to my small house around sunset. It didn't matter what time the sunset was, it just signaled the end of my work day. Grandmother would always be sitting on the floor with books everywhere, her Victorian dress puffed up like a cupcake. Julie would always be across from her intensely studying the books, memorizing every spell she could, every word she gazed upon. Julie would only glance up once to greet me, and then would look back down at her books.
Cyprio, oddly enough, would always get up from what he was doing previously when I got home and would start to make dinner. He liked to make sandwiches, but he'd make whatever we had. Cyprio and Grandmother had moved in after a week of us living here. The old house was burned down, though Grandmother never told us why. And honestly, I don't know where Cyprio used to live or why he lived with us now. Sometimes I wondered if he was completely sane. He would just sit there sometimes and stare into space. He wouldn't focus unless someone physically shook him. The man had a lot of quirks, but he was fine to be here as long as Grandmother was here too.
Dinners were usually filled with loud conversations of my training after we ate said dinners. Julie didn't like how rough Cyprio was when we sparred, but it was necessary if I were to learn how to use my new powers. Cyprio has taught me that I could control energy from souls around me. Every living thing had some sort of soul. I could tap into the energy souls emitted, which he called auras, and use it to heal, or make things from thin air. As long as I didn't use my own aura too much, or use the actual soul, only the energy said soul emitted, nothing would be thrown off balance. After I at least beat him once in a fight, which is becoming less and less hardcore, I went to sleep. Julie and I shared a room, and Cyprio and Grandmother shared the other.
I never thought of sharing the bed with Julie. We took turns sleeping on the couch I had moved into the small room. I knew Julie was almost eighteen; her birthday was in almost a week. She's just a human girl. We may both be immortal now, but I still had half a century to her not even two decades.
Today when I got home at sunset, it was different though. Instead of being surrounded by books and reading, Julie and Grandmother were waiting for me outside. They stood on the small cement porch. Fireflies were just starting to rise from the grass and the setting sun had already cooled down the dirt. I walked up the stairs of the porch and sat down my tool box. "What's going on?" I asked, pulling off the grimy work gloves I had to wear.
"It's Viktor."
My head snapped up and I looked sharply at Grandmother's grave face.
"What?"
Julie stepped forward and rested her hand on my shoulder. "Listen, you can't get mad," she said in a tone that suggested I probably would get mad anyway.
I turned my face from Julie and back at Grandmother. Even though I wasn't looking at Julie anymore, her Eyes glowed brighter than the fireflies in the dark night. "What's wrong?"
Grandmother sighed and began. "When my house was taken by flames, I discovered it was my son. He did it to cover his tracks, but it was poorly done. He had gone through my things to find a map."
Julie looked from me to Grandmother nervously. It was obvious, especially when her eyes were like night lights. I tried to ignore it and only focus on my grandma. "Please tell me the entire story."
"It was a map Cyprio had made me to get through the maze in his manor. In the center of the maze is the Void Cell he had Viktor put in," she continued in a rush.
The first thing that came to my mind blurted from my mouth. "Father freed Viktor."
Both Julie and Grandmother nodded solemnly. Grandmother spoke before I could say anything. " They are very near here. Cyprio left. He did not want to meet his other grandson."
I threw down my hat into the dirt. "Why didn't you tell me when this happened? Your house was burned almost three months ago!"
"I didn't tell either of you because it would have caused panic." Grandmother looked out into the night sky.
I ignored her comment. I raked my callused hands through my messy hair and felt my stomach knot up in dread. "Every fucking time I think my life will be rid of him."
"Vincent, you're more powerful than you were. I remember when you first saved me compared to now." Julie reached out for my hand, but I pulled away. I liked when she held my hand or touched my shoulder, but I couldn't relax right now.
"Viktor is still more of a demon than I could ever be!" I remembered when I saved Julie from my psychopathic brother. I broke three ribs and hurt for the next few weeks. He killed me once, what was stopping him from killing me again.? And I knew Father was probably urging him to do it. I may have been more powerful now, with all my abilities, but I doubted my skill.
No matter where I was, no matter what happened, my brother would return to make my life a living hell.
