The Warp and The Weft

Chapter Ten: You know that feeling? - Charlie

She almost looked disappointed in Charlie.

She came in all dramatically only to realise how little of a threat he is to anyone in this room that she immediately decided he was worth completely disregarding.

"What trouble could a baby cause? How old is he?" The girl's nostrils flared slightly as she assessed his scent "He's 10 years old if he's a day."

"He's 11 actually," Matthew said leaning back in his chair "And he's going to be more trouble than I know what to do with. His merely being here puts the entire family in danger."

"Is he a fugitive?" The girl said, "Did he break a law?"

Out of the very few things his maker taught him before disappearing all those years ago was that Vampires live by a strict set of Laws as old as history itself, not that she taught him any of them.

"He didn't break a law," Matthew said rising from his seat "His maker did."

"Wha-" The girl began before being silenced by a raised hand.

"This is a delicate situation, he is in the room because I am the only one in the entire world who can help him." Matthew began to step around his desk towards Diana. She seemed nice enough, but she smelled so sweet, like the honey that the bees in the walls of his last foster home used to make.

The girl stepped aside to make way for someone behind her. She was tall, one of the tallest girls he'd ever seen, but the boy behind her was even taller. Not only that, he was enormous in every way, his arms were thick with veins running along the inside of his forearms leading to the biggest pair of hands Charlie had ever seen. He was even taller than Matthew, not by much but taller nonetheless. He must have stood ten feet away but Charlie swore he could feel his body heat from here, but even that feeling was nothing compared to when he turned to look at the young man sitting in the chair.

His face seemed to change in an instant, an aloof almost uninterested look immediately turned to suspicion. His blue eyes narrowed in Charlie's direction, he seemed to rear up like a cat whose hackles had risen, his red hair standing on end. He almost seemed to glow in the dim light of the office, it was too bright to look at for long. Charlie blinked away some discomfort only for his eyes to open a fraction of a second later to the red-haired boy looming over him.

He made no sound, he was simply across the room in one instant and right in front of him the next. Charlie tried to shoot to his feet in retreat only for the boy to grab him by the shoulder and push him back into the chair. He was stronger than Charlie, it seemed like everyone was stronger than him these days.

This is Richmond all over again Charlie Thought, his own hackles rising with his panic Coming here was a mistake.

"Who are you?" he bellowed "Why have you come here."

Before he could fire off another question, Matthew was at his back, gripping his shoulder in an attempt to pull him back.

"That's enough, son. There's no need for this, you're only frightening him." Matthew said, his voice calm but more dangerous than ever.

"Philip, honey, what has gotten into you?" Diana said taking several steps forward only to be halted in her tracks by a look from Matthew.

Son? Philip? Charlie thought These are Matthew's and Diana's kids?

Philip, Charlie assumed his name was, turned to look at his mother. A sharp sound filled the air as rattling glass came from Philip, it was mirrored by a trilling hum from Diana in response. The sounds went back and forth several times a second, their facial expressions changing almost too fast to keep up with.