Bad Blood (MxM)

End

Milo quickly put his newfound freedom to use. After he had fulfilled his part in the deal with Duke, the man no longer insisted someone accompanied him outside, so the sorcerer decided to see the place where he had grown up.

So, for the first time in many years, Milo left through the front door of the castle.

The midday sun still shone through the clouds, giving him plenty of time to explore before needing to attend the party. After everything that had happened, even though he had every right to leave the coven and tell Duke to shove it, he didn't feel the dire need he once had to upset the man.

When he passed through the gates and faced the village in front of him, he sighed. If the place had seemed unknown and felt like a movie background when he got there, now Milo could recognize so much. Just then, when he looked at one of the little houses he had passed by when coming from the station, he realized he didn't feel any headaches any more.

All that time, his mind kept signaling to him about the truth, and yet, he wasn't able to hear himself.

To his surprise, his feet still knew their way around that place, since it hadn't changed all that much. Yes, there were many more houses. There were actual roads instead of paths of dirt. Now the stone structures co-existed with more modern brick houses. But the air felt the same - and Milo could even swear some trees were the ones he saw in his memories.

It only took him a few minutes to reach the old vineyard on the outskirts of the village.

The once big, imponent place that housed his family was now abandoned. There were broken windows and the fence around the property laid in chunks on the floor. The structures his father and his brothers used to produce the wine were rotting in the place they used to be.

He could still hear the sounds of his siblings talking and playing around the house, as they were fresh in his memory. The view of the front door caused an eerie feeling that if he just crossed it, he'd find his family in the dining room, waiting for him so they could have lunch. Yet, he knew that possibility was over a long time ago, and that he'd only find a haunted house, at best.

And still, Milo went over the pieces of stone that once composed the fence and went straight to the door. He wanted to be home one more time.

- Hey, kid! You cannot go there. This place has been abandoned for years, the ceiling might fall off on your head! - An old lady screamed from the house in front of him. The man wasn't expecting anyone to be looking, so it took him a while to calm down and realize the voice did not belong to a ghost.

When he saw her in the window of the second floor, he just tried to smile politely and nodded.

- Thank you, ma'am, but I'm aware. This is my house now.

And without offering any more explanation, he got inside the home, hearing a surprised "Oh!" behind him.

The place was totally different inside. The old stone benches were replaced by sofas, now rotten. The fireplace was still the same, even though it was covered with spider webs. Many of the old decorations changed into more "modern" ones, but a few remained the same from his memories: candle holders, paintings, and old sculptures.

He made a mental note to remember to ask Damien if the vampire had ever painted any portraits of his family.

Even without any electricity, the sunbeams were enough to cast enough light that the place didn't look scary. It didn't feel like going inside a horror movie, as Milo suspected. Instead, he could only feel an energy of love and care. The place reminded him of his parents, of his childhood. All the happiness that those walls once contained was now entangled within each stone. He could feel that the place had housed many generations of his family before becoming empty, which made him smile.