As we stood on the lawn suspended in the empty void, Sebastian and Jack opened the double doors to the vacation house. We entered and I noticed that everything was the same as the mansion except with more glass and its lacking of obsidian.
Going down the halls, I noticed that there were more portraits lining the walls. Some had only one person, and some had more; but the one thing they all had in common was their eyes. “Are these all Reapers?” Damian stopped to look at a tall girl in a black dress with an almost metallic sheen to her bronze hair and her eyes were a deep green.
“Yes. These are my half siblings. This is Jessica, and her brother, Connor is farther down the hall.” She looked at the continuing row of portraits, “So how many are there?” He looked both ways down the hallway, “As of now, there are ten. There was once eleven.”
A dark shadow crossed his face and it gave some kind of truth that he wouldn’t say. We continued through the large house and stopped in a living room lit by a roaring fire in the fireplace.
Rose sat in a large velvet chair, and Damian did the same as the rest of us stood around them waiting for someone to say something. “Hera and Trent are coming for a visit today.” Rose said matter-of-factly. She didn’t seem concerned in the least, but Damian stiffened in his chair. “When?” She glanced at him from the fireplace, “In ten minutes.” He frowned, “And how long have you known this?” She smiled, “Since we arrived.”
Damian let out a nervous breath and ran his fingers through his hair. “Well, there’s no hiding her, so I guess we’ll have to make a deal-” “And what kind of deal could you possibly make, Damian?” I whipped my head around and found that a couple had appeared out of thin air. Both had pale blond hair, and the brightest green eyes I had ever seen.
“Hello, Hera,…..Trent.” Rose spit the boy’s name out as if it were acid on her tongue. The boy, which was obviously Trent, frowned; “You haven’t aged a bit for an old woman, Rose dear.” Rose rolled her eyes and pursed her lips, “You’re doing well yourself seeing as how you’re what? One hundred-seventy?”
Hera crossed her arms, “One hundred-seventy nine.” Damian smirked, “Well, happy birthday to you then. What do you want?” The twins moved closer to the fire and Jack and Sebastian brought two more chairs for them. They sat in a half circle around the fire, “To discuss our youngest brother’s latest screw up, of course. Ingrid owes us $40. We figured it would take him at least thirty years, and she said at least fifty.
Besides that, we just wanted to…gloat a little and say our goodbyes to the last of the Reaper bloodline. Sad, really.” Damian crossed his arms, “Familiars, leave. We have some discussions that need to be addressed.” Sebastian turned and disappeared, and Jack placed a hand on my arm. “Come on, I’ll show you what we do for fun around here.”
He grinned from ear to ear and I allowed him to take me out of the room as I heard the beginnings of their discussion. “Now about the girl-”
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