8.1 – The inevitability of faith

James’ POV

“Are you sure?” Kyxa asked, her beautiful green eyes searching my face for an answer. “Your mom isn’t here yet. You can still change your mind.”

I nodded without any hesitation. It was the logical thing to do at this point. Any other choice would serve no purpose whatsoever.

Kyxa smiled. “Good. We can finally free up some space! It’ll cost less when it comes to food too.”

She gently fingered some of my hair. “I can see it…you’re close to a solution aren’t you? For Catarina?”

I took her hand in mine and kissed it.

“I’ll go get him then.”

***

No one’s POV

“This plan sounds nice, but there’s one big flaw in it. You do realize that would only work if you were a vampire right?” Assaria sneered. Annoying Velor and doing her best to insult him was about the most entertaining thing to do around here. To be entirely honest, if she hadn’t had that to do she would’ve definitely lost whatever marbles she had left.

William had a nice talent in ignoring people and now that Will hitched a ride with Catarina, the man slept most of the time. And then there’s the Weapon who seems to be in a constant state of daydream. So really, Velor was the only one she could interact with.

“Yes I am aware of that. Going back to being a vampire is the hardest part of it.” Velor replied.

Assaria suddenly realized he was truly serious about this one. For years now they’d been exchanging stupid comments and he’d been feeding her with plans he knew obviously wouldn’t work. However, he, for some reason, truly believed this was a plan that would work. And this wasn’t a plan he had cooked up on the spot. This was probably the true plan he kept bragging about…he’d finally actually told her. After years of nagging!

Still seemed like one hell of a long shot to her.

“And how are you going to go about that? To my knowledge there’s only one way to become a vampire.” Assaria said.

“There is only one way.” Velor replied, purposefully waiting for her to ask another question.

“Oh I’m sure James will turn you if you ask nicely.” Assaria mocked.

“James isn’t the only vampire around here.” Velor replied with a smirk. Assaria scoffed.

“The kids? You really think one of them is going to come down here and change you? They haven’t come back since the girl got hijacked.” The immortal woman mocked, yet she could see Velor wasn’t backing down just yet.

“Once they come down here, it’ll be simple to convince them with a few well placed words.”

“True, but you still need them to come down here. How can you be sure they will?” Assaria inquired. Of all the answers Velor could’ve given, this one was the one she had least expected. From a man like him, she’d thought it would at least be something smart.

“Faith.” Velor replied.

“Faith?” Assaria exclaimed in anger.

“Yes. Faith in my brother. Faith that he truly cannot live without me. Faith that the other William will do what I asked him to.” Velor smirked at his own answer.

“Faith…what a silly notion. There’s nothing concrete in faith. Your plan is meant to fail if you rely on faith.”

“Faith has served me well so far.”

“You bumbling fool. Faith is for those who cannot do anything!” Assaria snapped.

“I’m pretty sure this applies to my current situation.” Velor replied, watching in amusement as Assaria grew more frustrated at his responses. “You really are ugly when you’re angry.”

“Shut your mouth.”

The trap door opened with a clang and Kyxa came climbing down the ladder. Whatever conversation was being held stopped and both prisoners focused on the fairy.

“Where’s the food? I’m quite hungry you know!” Assaria complained, hiding her curiosity as to why James’ girlfriend would come down here empty handed.

“I’m not here to deliver; I’m here to pick up.” Kyxa said, giving Assaria a sneaky smile.

Assaria’s eyes drifted to the sleeping old man. Figures, she didn’t find it that surprising. It was more surprising that it had taken them this long to decide to let him go.

“Get up William.” Kyxa ordered in a stern voice as she unlocked his prison door.

William was snapped awake from his dream. Once again he felt the depression at knowing he was back in the real world. He still wasn’t used to it. He’d lived dozens of years in the comfortable recesses of his mind. There everything had been far away from real life and he could do anything he wanted.

But now Will and Liam had both abandoned him, leaving him in a decaying shell rotting in a prison. William had sometimes wished in the last few years that he could have gone back in time and told his younger self not to accept those strangers in his mind…not to run away from home just because things were a little harsh.

“What’s going on?” William asked, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

“We’re letting you go.” Kyxa replied with a kind smile as William was shocked back to reality. “Your sister is going to arrive soon so we better hurry.”

“Zyla?” William asked, still bewildered by what he had just heard.

Kyxa nodded and motioned for him to follow.

William walked down the small hallway as he tried to keep his excitement contained. He wanted to see his sister. He wanted to get out of here.

“So if we play nice and act innocent we get let out?” Assaria asked as they walked out.

“Help old ladies across the street and give your money to charity and then we’ll talk.” Kyxa replied as she closed the prison door.

The ex-witch rolled her eyes. “What a horrible come back.”

***

James’ POV

I sat by myself listening to the ‘happy’ reunion in the other room.

I wasn’t in the mood to say hi or even look at either of those two in the face. I had to think. I had to take a decision now. I’d been postponing it way too long.

And either way, mom would want to know how I managed to find William. Yeah, she doesn’t know I’ve had him in my basement for the last twenty years. There are a lot of things my mom doesn’t know, and she’s way better off for it.

She wouldn’t be able to understand. Just like she wasn’t able to understand why I’d given up Xavier.

I sighed and leaned back.

It’s not the time to think about that right now. I need to make my decision before the kids come back from school.

Ugh…I was too careless. I thought about removing the artifact from William, but…I never acted on it. Which is why I never noticed Catarina was dragon-dreaming with him. I knew she was playing with the Weapon, but not William! I didn’t think she would.

And here I actually envisioned things were going well. No. That’s false. I’d imagined I’d actually learned something about being dad.

I swung myself forwards to clear my head. Wrong thought direction. I’ve gone down that road before. What’s important right now is finding a way to get Will out of Catarina’s head.

Kyxa and I have already found a solution technically. After all we don’t have that many options. I won’t lock up my daughter, and I can’t take the chance of killing Will without harming her as well. So Kyxa and I decided to go searching for the one type of supernatural that could possibly do something about this – witches. A long time ago, this would’ve been an easy thing to do. But these days, supernaturals in general are getting scarce and the ones existing are far from powerful. To get Will out, we’ll need a powerful witch. So Kyxa has been leaving the house for a few years now, going on trips, to find such a witch…with no luck. It isn’t going well at all.

It would go a lot faster if I went. It would take me a few months, maybe a year, depending. I’d have to go from town to town and scan every mind until I found someone powerful enough to cast a spell that would free Catarina. I’m just really hesitant to leave the house for so long. I’m not worried about the occasional frustrated vampires that come knocking – Kyxa is more than enough to take care of them. I’m worried about Velor and Assaria. I don’t know why, they can’t do anything in their current state. But for some reason I have this doubt…this hesitation to leave.

But I have to get rid of it. I need to go on that trip and find a witch capable of helping us. And when I do, I’ll have them transfer Will into Velor. And then I’ll kill Velor, effectively killing two birds with one stone. I’m so tired of having them downstairs. There doesn’t feel any use to it anymore.

Alright. It’s done. I’m going to leave, and I’m going to find that witch.

I really hope there really does exist a witch powerful enough to do this.

 

So beginning the generation with a quick uh…prologue? Epilogue? (not sure…)

Because, well, I couldn’t just pick up and leave these darlings behind. Their story is still unfolding, so it can’t hurt to give you guys a few insights on what’s going on.

And no, Catarina nor Benjamin never told their parents about Rina. James and Kyxa found out on their own. James suspected it on the first night, but…there wasn’t really anything he could then. Especially when Rina was doing her best to hide deep inside Catarina’s mind.

Anyway, Generation 8 has begun! *throws confetti*